We stood for a moment looking on the scene of simple domestic happiness before us, and then introducing ourselves by a few words of greeting to the group around the bowl, we thanked the hostess for our seasonable refreshment, and asked what we should pay. “Oh, naething, just naething,” was the reply; “ye’re wanderers and far frae hame, and ye’re welcome.” We remonstrated. She shook her head, saying, “God has gi’en us plenty, and he bids us use hospitality, and ye winna gainsay his bidding, so just gang in peace,” she added, laughing goodhumouredly, “for ye’re far frae ——, I guess, and ye’ll hae a long pull hame.” It was indeed getting late, and the thought of four hours on the lake in the dark, had a hurrying tendency, so pointing to the Bible and hymn-book on the shelf above the children’s bed, we bade her remember us in their evening worship, and, slipping some silver into the children’s hands, we took our leave. We had not gone many yards before we met a Highlander with a net at his back, and a basket of fish before him, and the shout of delight which in another moment burst from the cot, proved him to be, as we had supposed, the father of the group within. Before we had gone far, we heard a sonorous voice raising the evening hymn, and anon the sound of shrill and infant voices mingling with it. We could not stop to listen, but we joined in heart, and as a fresh breeze from the mountain pass brought the sweet sounds once more to our ear, we fervently exclaimed (as again they died away), in the words of their native poet:— “May He who stills the raven’s clamorous nest, And decks the lily fair in flow’ry pride, Yet, in the way his wisdom sees the best, For them and for their little ones provide, But chiefly in their hearts with _grace divine_ preside.” Such was the condition of a Highland family in the autumn of 1845. And now we are about to reverse the picture; to show our Highland family under other circumstances, and we would entreat the reader to remember that since the joyous and the grievous, the bright days and dark days, are alike of God’s appointment, it must be good for us to look upon both,—to look, to meditate, to minister, and it may be, in so doing, to learn a lesson that may be to _our_ profit as well as theirs. May God of his infinite mercy grant it, to the glory of his holy name, through Jesus Christ!