Then who has so unexpectedly appeared among us, nor As regards the social intercourse and amusements of the worthy burgh, these were simple, and, on the whole, harmless. low the value of the "beef and greens" which many of the clergy now curl for on the ice; and no pain was inflicted equal to that which others with rod and line give the silvery trout or noble salmon. I believe, indeed, they only played for an exchange of counters, and nothing was lost on either side but-yes, I must confess it-occa sionally Miss Peggy Henderson's temper; yet, oh! call it not bad temper when compared with what thou hast seen often among clergy and people— 'twas a mere feeling of righteous anger against the Sheriff's want of judgment— "Like the snow-flake on the river, A moment white, then gone for ever!" Old Ned Fleming was one of the most steady players, and best partner at whist. The propriety of in any way countenancing whist or private dancing were points on which Dr. Yule and Mr. Purdie differed. "Well, dear brother," the doctor once said to Mr. Purdie, "perhaps you are right, and I am wrong. For myself, the society of more than one or two friends is at all times tiresome. I prefer the quiet crack at the fireside; nor do I, with my books, my family and my employments, depend in any degree upon such things to keep me cheerful. But it is not so with others. There are in daily life a number of little frets, crossings, and annoyances, that do not wound or cut, but only scratch; and there are weightier things that are apt to lie too heavy on the mind. Now, it seems to me as if God, in His great bounty, and in addition to loftier and nobler resources, had provided what I may call set-offs, balances to these-which help to divert the mind from its little pains, and to make us walk with a smoother brow over the roughnessess in our path. Among these are the so-called trifles that amuse men, and give them gentle excite. ment, such as the innocent joke, the tale, the song, the play of fancy, harmless games, and the like, within doors, -with fine manly games for those who can join them, out of doors. These are not, and cannot indeed be, the pillars, not even the lightest pillars which support the house of our life; but only its ornaments, its fancy decorations, that give pleasure without evil, like those many. coloured small flowers with which God covers the fields, or the many notes from small birds with which he fills the air, all of which add so much happiness to our sober walks of duty." Dinner parties were rare, but "tea and supper” ones occurred weekly during winter. I need not say that the company did not vary much, nor was the entertainment very sumptuous. When these houses were built no one could tell; but the small windows, low roofs, screw passages and stairs, spoke of a primitive age. Some of the most respectable were up wide closes, and within courts, and up flights of wooden stairs, with large balustrades, not unlike the houses now seen in Germany; so that I suspect Dutch smugglers had something to do with their construction. They were possessed by the same families as far back as the records of the burgh extended. Persons like the colonel or captain, who had been long absent from home, returned, as soon as possible, to the old nest in which they had been hatched and reared, there to fledge and rear a progeny of their own. The large black knocker at Miss Peggy Henderson's door had an oval brass plate over it, which once bore the name of her father; but nothing could be deciphered now but the beginning of a capital H, whose larger half vanished in polished brass. These houses seemed temples to the worthy people who possessed them; and the handsomest mansion, I am sure, would have failed to attract them out of those little rooms made dear and sacred by the memories of a past life, and of ancestors who had lived there, and of friends who gave to life half its charms. But I am forgetting the tea and "But, my dear doctor," replied Mr. Purdie, supper. Well, these dining-rooms and drawing-"think how liable these are to abuse, and how rooms could not hold a London rout, but they held, nevertheless, a goodly number; and matters were so contrived that the young folks were able to have a dance in one room, while, in a small anteroom, some of the "old people" had a hand at whist. The gambling was not deep! It was far be they have often been abused!" "True, my friend, true; a very serious consideration," replied the doctor, "and one which a wise man dare not overlook. But this is ever a difficulty connected with the enjoying any of God's gifts, and a constant test of our faith and obedience." .. Are not these amusements too frequent, doctor?" Possibly they may be so; but all are home by ten o'clock, and if we don't let amusements for the young flow out in small rivulets, they are apt to become great floods of most dissipating excitement. I think the frequent meeting of young men and young ladies much more wholesome and purifying to their affections and morals than such meetings as those horrid things, large public balls, which seldom, I am glad to say, are required in our town." "But I fear young men may contract bad habits, Doctor?" "It is just to hinder them from contracting those social habits so big with evil when they meet by themselves in clubs and taverns, that I advocate our present system of social intercourse. I have considered this question long ago abroad, and I think I am right. I am glad to see our young people meet frequently in the presence of their friends; and, if you notice, my dear Mr. Purdie, you will observe that it has never hindered their attendance at our religious meetings on week days or on Sabbath days, nor have I ever had cause to doubt the good tone of morality among them." And then, after a pause, he added, with a sigh, "Oh, sirs! Satan is a robber of much treasure that belongs to us; and I am not willing to part with any that I can keep from him, and use in the name of Him who alone gives us all things richly to enjoy." The inhabitants of the burgh had also a peculiar stamp of character. There were in it no manufactories, properly so called. Most families had a small garden, at a cheap rate, near the town, and often a pasture for a cow. The wheel hummed at every fireside. The habits of the people were temperate, and such a thing as a drunken woman was utterly unknown. There was an ample supply of peat in the moorlands not far off, and of fish at their door, besides the herring, which was the principal source of trade in the place. Some larger craft, belonging to several wealthy small shopkeepers, traded with America in timber, and with other foreign ports. Of beggars there were not a | few; and of "fools," or half-witted characters, there was a sufficiently large number. How many who bore names in addition to their Christian one, it would be hard to say. But these were the very pets and choice companions of the place ::-"Daft Jock" and "Peter Humphy," with "Kate the Queen" and "Waterloo Jean," and a host of others, were the Punch and Illustrated News of the burgh. All these were public beggars, and were made welcome to "the bite and the sup" each Saturday. The inhabitants thus voluntarily taxed themselves for their support; but each paid his own share in a handful of meal, a few potatoes, or a bowl of hot broth, with words of kindness or fun; and in return, got the news of the country, or a display of the peculiar drolleries or character of the well-known familiar beggar. So it was that none ever wanted, and all seemed cheerful and contented. But these beggars were great protectionists, and never permitted any free-trader from afar to share their privileges. Well, reader, try and pardon this dreaming upon paper of what I like to remember, even if it suits not thee. 'Tis an old story. The burgh is all changed now. The doctor and Mr. Cruickshanks, and Mr. Purdie, sleep among almost all who then lived as their flock, and few know their graves. Tall brick chimneys send wreaths of smoke over the town. Rows of marine cottages, like railway station-houses, line the shores of the loch. A daily steamer roars at the quay. Politicians like mosquitoes buzz and bite in the town-hall. Beggars and fools are incarcerated in workhouses. Several more churches have been built. A newspaper has been started, which periodically devotes a column to letters demanding or giving explanations between the leaders of opposing ecclesiastical and political factions, which letters begin, "My dear sir," and end with "sir," and give each other the lie. But with all this religion itself does not seem to flourish. Neighbours are not more loving; nor business men more honest; nor the people more pure, sober, or happy. CHAPTER III.-YOUNG NED'S EDUCATION. Ned's education was, in "secular" things, excellent. No less so was his religious training; though, perhaps, that was by no means cut and squared in the exact pattern of what passes nowa-days under that name. The captain's theological knowledge was not, as may be supposed, profound. But there were, nevertheless, a thousand truths moving to and fro in that bald head, without order or method, which by no power could he deliver over to the tongue. How one of our scientific infants would have puzzled him! And there was a light too, and peace in that heart, which shone in his face, and was felt in his mind, and spread an atmosphere of gentle goodness and genuine truth about him, that stayed the harsh judgments of those who were disposed to condemn him because he could not express himself in their fashion; and who forgot that there are in advanced years those who, by reason of untoward circumstances which attended their early upbringing, must yet speak and think as children in knowledge, never having reached that Christian manhood when childish things are put away. But I believe the Captain, after all, had more of this manhood than any one suspected, though his growth was rather stunted by the storms he had encountered. Never was a man who had a more refined sense Pray, don't say that, my dear sir, before your son," said a prim, excellent old lady one evening to the Captain. "Don't say what, ma'am?" he asked, with a voice which had never been heard so loud since he led his men to board the enemy; "I say so, and will say so, till I die: do what is right'and," he added, rising from the old arm-chair, and striding across the room with his arm extended, "and defy the devil and all his hosts!" "Rather say, Captain Fleming, if it is quite the same to you, in the words of Scripture: Resist the devil and he will flee from you.'" "I take it, madam, we are agreed," said the Captain, "and that it comes much to the same thing in the end; for the only way to resist him that I know of is, I say again, to do what is right; that makes him sheer off, depend upon it." With help from above!" Amen," said the Captain, resuming his seat in peace. was thus a remarkable combination in his government, of extreme patience and forgiveness-a large toleration in some things, with a stern and uncompromising strictness in others. Many boyish scrapes and follies were gently chid; but not a shade of deceit, or cruelty, or disobedience, or selfishness ! These were instantly seized with the iron grasp of an old man-of-war's man! What! sleeping on watch, my lad !-rouse up!" was often the only salutation when a small fault was suspected. I remember once-it is as yesterday !—an adventure into which we were led by Ned Fleming, which might have been a serious one. That book of witchery, Robinson Crusoe, had fallen into Ned's hands. I believe it was given him by his father, and was the first book of fiction-yet to him all truth-which he had ever read. It seized hold of his brain-kept him sleepless-filled his imagination with the love of wild adventures and daydreams, all of which were transferred into three companions, each of whom perused Neddy's fascinating volume. Now, five or six miles off the mainland on which we lived, and out of sight of our small seaport, was an island. I have never been there since, but it is now before my eyes; and hardly is it possible to conceive a more beautiful spot. The space of ground which forms its surface is not more than four or five acres in extent; but that space is green as an emerald, with an undulating surface, broken here and there by grey lichen-covered rocks, overhanging shady nooks; in one of which is a clear spring that throbs like an infant breathing in its mossy bed. The margin of the island is pure white sand, which sweeps rapidly beneath the clear sea, and is everywhere scooped into miniature bays, with sheltering "Yes, Ned, my boy," he would sometimes say, "do you what is right, never mind what people say, or think, or do, nor what you suffer-obey your great commander: you know what I mean" —and he would pause, and look at his boy in silence, pointing upwards, and nodding his head slowly-"that's it!-through storm and calm, fair and foul, steer right on by the compass." "That's God's will," he would often say, "Neddy, for He likes a man to do what is right in every-rocks of slate. But the gem of the island are the thing ;" and so the Captain never prescribed, as far remains-yet hardly remains, so perfect is the as I ever heard, another reason for his son doing, building-of an old chapel, still roofed in, with or not doing, anything than that one—“you know two Iona crosses, which stand erect among the reit is right, and pleases Him, my boy." mains of old flat tombstones around Macormic's cell A few sheep were the only inhabitants of the island, which was rarely visited but by a casual fisherman. Beyond the island, and outside of it, were some scattered islets, then one or two larger ones farther out; while the line of the horizon, farther still, was formed by the great Atlantic. posal made by Neddy-long concocted, at first breathed as a bare possibility, then entertained until it appeared probable, and at last adopted as something very serious, but yet having a touch of Robinson Crusoe in it-was, that four of us should get possession of the Captain's fishing-boat; save what money we could; purchase a store-(sixpence worth, probably !)-of provisions, and with four fishing-rods, matches to kindle a fire, our Skye terrier, a blanket each, a cat, and, I think, some potatoes to plant for future use,-to go off and There were many things, as I have already stated, peculiar in old Ned's method of home education. This did not arise from any theory upon the subject which he had imbibed and made a hobby of. No doubt he had rules of his own to guide him, though, for his life, I believe, he could not have defined them; nor, perhaps, did he even suspect the existence of any such. But his love to his boy made him really wish to make him happy; and the love of what was right made him wish, above all things, that his boy should be and do what was right; while the underlying common sense of the Captain aided him wonderfully as to the best way of attaining these ends. One peculiarity of the Captain's was his singular knack in distinguishing between a boy's failings, and what was positively bad in his conduct. There The pro 1 take possession of the island, and live there a wild life as long as we could! The adventure so far succeeded, that we really reached the island, for we were often in the habit of fishing and sailing. I well remember what a terrible business was the parting the night before in silence with our parents, whom we did not expect to see for a long time! But what an evening on the island that was! How bitter was our disappointment,-first, at finding no goats to hunt, and then, worst of all, no wood to make a fire; then our search in vain for a lonely picturesque cave to live in, which, of course, we expected to be all ready for us; our terror for the inside of the chapel where the saints' bones were so silent, so solitary; our first unsatisfactory meal after a long fast, and pain at finding all our provisions finished by it, without any visible means of supply; our uncomfortable rehearsal of a sleep, long before bed-time, in our blankets among the rocks; our attempts at fishing miserably failing, having forgot to bring bait; our conviction, hourly becoming stronger, that we had made asses of ourselves, and yet feeling ashamed to confess it; our longing to go home, and yet no one liking to be the first to propose it, until, as night was drawing on, we thought of going to the boat, when, lo! she was left by the tide high up on the beach, from which we could not budge her! Then came horror at the thought of spending even one night, and a hungry one, with the saints' bones, where we had resolved to spend weeks! The first chapter in our romance of life, unless some Friday" appeared, was about to end in a tragedy. Oh, young fancy! how beautiful art thou! what realities to thee are dreams! what dreams are realities! But the man Friday did appear without our having first seen his footsteps. I shall never forget the delight with which we descried the well-known boat of old Dugald Wilkie the fisherman, that, unperceived by us until close to the island, was, with four oars, pulling homewards from her day's fishing. We hailed her! Dugald was more amazed than we were by the meeting : "What the sorrow pit a wheen callants a' this gate frae hame !—and what might have come ower you if I hadna come ! -and what would the Captain say!" etc. old man and his son Peter, with the two Nicols, seemed angels from heaven sent to deliver us! Our boat was soon launched, the island left; but, alas! the cat, to our great grief, was left behind. In sheer playfulness, the creature evaded every attempt to seize her. 66 man The It was very late at night when we reached home. Now, I will not say how our parents dealt with us; but I overheard a part of the interview between old and young Ned. The prompt question as to where he had been? the transparent answer; the why and the wherefore? and the extreme 66 difficulty of a reply; something about "Robinson Crusoe," expecting to kill goats," and "live on hunting,"-and "become manly," and "come back, in some weeks, and tell stories about the island, and all they had seen," etc. Now, the Captain neither raged, nor scolded, nor thrashed Neddy; but sent him, without supper, to bed, promising to inquire into the matter; and next day walked with his boy, and told him how natural it was to think as he did; but how wrong it was to conceal anything from his father and mother; and what anxiety it had cost them; what a wretched day they had spent; and what if he had never come back? and how he liked a brave manly boy, but not one who would act unkindly, or who would wish to be independent of command, and be his own master, and go off without leave, etc.; until poor Neddy was heartily ashamed of himself, and burst into tears, and begged his father to trust him once more, and he would never forget to tell him all he meant to do before he did it. "I would have given him, Captain Fleming, had he been my son," quoth old Pearson the elder, "such a good sound drubbing as he never would have forgotten-never!" "Pooh! pooh! my good sir. Don't tell me. Never saw flogging in the navy do good. Kept down brutes: never made a man yet. Neddy could stand flogging with any boy, and never wince a muscle; but can't stand me, Pearson; can't stand me; for he knows I love him." 'But such a thing, Captain Fleming, as setting off to " "Pfui! Not so bad, Pearson; not a lie, nor cruelty, nor disobedience. No orders given. It was brave, sir! Some stuff in him. Sailor blood, Pearson. Tempted by Robinson Crusoe. The best book ever written. I forgive the boy. But I'll wager you he does not forgive himself." The Captain was right. Where boys are open, truthful, sincere, affectionate, how seldom is any other control needed than authority guided by love, and the reasonableness of the authority shown to the heart and conscience! Flogging is too often but a coarse short-cut to go the ends which ought to have been sought by patient, loving, wellprincipled education; and is a revenging on defenceless weakness the fruits of our own neglect. Let it never be resorted to until true love-that is, wise and righteous love-has been fairly tried, and tried in vain. The severest scold Neddy got was from old Babby. He had lost her cat! Horrible to relate, Babby herself was missing next day, and the Captain thought his household had gone mad; until an old fisherman, in fits of laughter, let out the secret that Babby had gone off with Wilkie to the island for the cat! And sure enough she appeared before evening, her eyes gleaming, abusing the sea and boats, and “bad boys" for having decoyed Ned. But the cat, as she coiled her back, with erect tail, and purred round the leg of the Captain's chair, restored happiness to all. "Puir cratur!" said Babby, "if ye had only seen her sitting on the auld Saint's Coffin like a warlock, and hoo she cam doon louping and whinging to meet me! She wad hae come to nane but me or the Captain-my bonnie lass!" There was another feature in the Captain's mode of training Ned, which I never knew fully till in after years; though it was (to my great good) explained in some particulars by Neddy himself. What I allude to was his custom of giving his boy a very vivid picture of the peculiar sins, temptations, and difficulties he should meet with when he entered the world as a young man, freed from all parental restraint. The Captain did this when alone with his boy, and always with a very solemn manner. "Suppose now, my boy," he would perhaps begin, "you met a young fellow like yourself, who had been brought up among a bad set-poor fellow-and had no great notion of what was right, and that he asked you to go and sup with him. Well, suppose you go; you meet there soand-so"-and then the Captain would dramatize the whole scene of this supper of careless living lads, with its temptations, from first to last! These pictures from real life were varied as Neddy grew older, until immediately before his departure from home, when fourteen years old or so, the boy had as thorough an idea of the world he was entering on, as he well could have gained, even from his own personal observation. "By whom?" re"By scoundrels, I you, meekly asked Mrs. Fleming. This And I believe the Captain was also right in this. The Bible was the great Book for educating God's people of yore; and the young, as well as the old, were to hear and be taught the whole law, and to be made familiar with every precept in it. was not the principle of concealment of evil from, but of its revelation to the young. The fact that parents have to deal with is, that evil, as it exists, must be known and discovered by their children on entering life; and the question is, how this discovery is to be made?—and whether it is not true wisdom to communicate it at fitting times and seasons, with the awe, the reverence, the holiness becoming one who points out the terrible snares and depths of Satan to a person who must encounter them, so that the young shall see them in their true light, as God reveals them, and fear them, and fly from them; or whether the risk will be run of having vice revealed to the ear, or the eye, by a companion, or some agent of Satan ; and presented in such a false light as to make it possess the imagination, and win the heart, and gain the will, and finally master the soul by the power of blinding, hardening and tyrannizing habit! "Be not ignorant of his devices," is a precept for the young as well as the old. Only let the parent or teacher see well to it, in what spirit Satan's devices are revealed, lest the very teaching may be a device to gain the young as his pupil. "I am not sure, my dear,” his wife would say, "how far this plan of yours is judicious. You see he will find all this out time enough for himself; let his young innocent heart be kept free from all such knowledge at present." "Until he gets the devil, or some servant of his, to teach him!" exclaimed the Captain, rising up as usual, and pacing back and forward, when excited; "listen to me, Mrs. Fleming, I know the world; you don't. I have seen its villanies, and all its sins; you have not. Now, I tell you, he must sail through it; he must sail among all its shoals, its breakers, its reefs, and encounter its gales;-why should I not give him a chart? Why not clap a buoy in a channel he might enter, but where there is no water to pass? Why not tell him the tides The education given by the mother was someand currents? Why not tell him where there is what different, and more strictly what is termed safe anchorage? Why not tell him how to escape "religious," but yet had its own peculiar method land-sharks and water-sharks, and give him signs about it. She used the Catechism sparingly to discover pirates, with all their false colours? but wisely, nor did she impose many tasks in Why not, my dear?-I have suffered shipwreck, prose or verse. But she had an easy, quiet, and I'll save my boy from it if I can!" “Will | natural, loving way of speaking to Ned, not on forhe not be taught soon enough?" quietly and mal occasions, but when he was sitting, perhaps, at |