It roars, and rolls, and hills do shake, And heavens do seem to rend; And should the fierce unquenchéd flame Through the dark clouds descend, Like clay ’twould grind the hardest rocks, Like dust the strongest brass, And prostrate pride and strength of man Like pride and strength of grass. And now the broken clouds fall down In _groff_ rain from on high; And many streams do rise and roar, That heretofore were dry. And when the red speat will be o’er, And wild storm pass’d away, Rough stones will lie upon the fields, And heaps of sand and clay. But I, though great my sins, am spared, These fields to turn and tread: Which surely had not been the case If Jesus had not died. _Quod_ JOHNIE O’ THE SHORE. [Sidenote: MEGGIE O’ THE SHORE.] Johnie’s sister Margaret (after his death she seems to have fallen heir to his title, for she then became Meggie o’ the Shore) survived her brother for many years, and died at an extreme old age, about the year 1785. The mill, on its falling into other hands, was thrown down, and rebuilt a full half mile further to the west, but the cottage was spared for Meggie. She had always been characterized by the extreme neatness of her dress and her personal cleanliness, by her taste in arranging the homely furniture of her cottage, and her hospitality: and now, though the death of her brother had rendered her as poor as it is possible for a contented person to become, she was as much marked by her neatness, and as hospitable as ever. On one occasion, a Christian friend who had come to visit her (the late Mr. Forsyth of Cromarty), was so charmed with her conversation, as to prolong his stay from noon until evening, when he rose to go away. She asked him, somewhat hesitatingly, whether he would not first “break bread with her.” He accordingly sat down again; and a half cake of bread and a jug of water (it was all her larder afforded) were set before him. It was the feast of the promise, she said, “Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure.” Her circumstances, she added, were not quite so easy as they had been during the lifetime of her brother, but the change was perhaps for the better; for it had led her to think much oftener than before, when rising from one meal, that God had kindly pledged Himself for the next.