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To
David
the
Sabbath
services
were
the
least
of
his
duties
.
He
had
come
to
Woodilee
with
his
heart
full
of
the
mighty
books
which
he
would
write
in
the
solitude
of
his
upper
chamber
.
The
chief
was
that
work
on
the
prophet
Isaiah
which
should
be
for
all
time
a
repository
of
sacred
learning
,
so
that
Sempill
on
Isaiah
would
be
quoted
reverently
,
like
Luther
on
the
Galatians
or
Calvin
on
the
Romans
.
In
the
autumn
evenings
he
had
sketched
the
lines
of
his
masterpiece
,
and
before
the
great
snow
he
had
embarked
on
its
prolegomena
.
But
the
storm
made
a
breach
in
his
studies
.
He
felt
himself
called
to
more
urgent
duties
,
for
he
was
a
pastor
of
souls
before
he
was
a
scholar
.
His
visitations
and
catechizings
among
his
flock
were
his
chief
care
,
and
he
began
to
win
a
name
for
diligence
.
On
nights
when
even
a
shepherd
would
have
kept
the
ingle
side
,
David
would
arrive
at
a
moorland
cottage
,
and
many
a
time
Isobel
had
to
welcome
in
the
small
hours
a
dripping
or
frozen
master
,
thaw
him
by
her
kitchen
fire
,
and
feed
him
with
hot
ale
and
bannocks
,
while
he
recounted
his
adventures
.
He
was
strong
and
buoyant
,
and
he
loved
the
life
,
which
seemed
to
him
to
have
the
discipline
of
a
soldier
.
His
face
high
-
coloured
by
weather
,
his
cheerful
eyes
,
and
his
boyish
voice
and
laugh
were
soon
popular
in
the
length
of
the
parish
.
"
He
is
a
couthy
lad
,
"
said
the
old
wives
,
"
and
for
a
man
o
’
God
he
’
s
terrible
like
a
plain
body
.
"
Also
he
took
charge
of
the
children
.
In
Woodilee
there
was
no
school
or
schoolmaster
.
There
were
three
hundred
communicants
,
but
it
was
doubtful
if
more
than
a
dozen
could
read
a
sentence
or
write
their
names
.
In
the
Kirk
Session
itself
there
were
only
three
.
So
David
started
a
school
,
which
met
thrice
a
week
of
a
morning
in
the
manse
kitchen
.
He
sent
to
Edinburgh
for
horn
-
books
,
and
with
them
and
his
big
Bible
taught
his
class
their
rudiments
.
These
were
the
pleasantest
hours
of
the
day
for
master
and
children
,
and
weekly
the
gathering
grew
till
there
was
not
a
child
in
the
kirkton
or
in
the
farm
-
towns
of
Mirehope
and
Chasehope
that
would
have
missed
them
.
When
they
arrived
,
blue
with
cold
and
often
breakfastless
,
Isobel
would
give
each
a
bowl
of
broth
,
and
while
the
lesson
proceeded
she
would
mend
their
ragged
garments
.
Indeed
more
than
one
child
emerged
new
clad
,
for
the
minister
’
s
second
-
best
cloak
and
an
old
pair
of
breeches
were
cut
up
by
Isobel
-
-
expostulating
but
not
ill
-
pleased
-
-
for
tattered
little
mortals
.
David
was
more
than
a
private
almoner
.
He
and
his
Session
had
the
Poor
Box
to
administer
,
the
sole
public
means
of
relieving
the
parish
’
s
needs
.
Woodilee
was
better
off
than
many
places
,
in
that
it
possessed
a
mortification
of
a
thousand
pounds
Scots
,
bequeathed
fifty
years
earlier
by
a
certain
Grizel
Hawkshaw
for
the
comfort
of
the
poor
.
Also
there
was
the
weekly
collection
at
the
kirk
services
,
where
placks
and
doits
and
bodles
,
and
a
variety
of
debased
coins
,
clinked
in
the
plate
at
the
kirk
door
,
and
there
were
the
fines
levied
by
the
Session
on
evil
-
doers
.
In
the
winter
the
task
of
almoner
was
easier
,
for
there
were
few
beggars
on
the
roads
,
and
those
that
crossed
the
hills
came
as
a
rule
only
to
die
,
when
the
single
expense
was
the
use
of
the
parish
coffin
.
Yet
the
administration
of
the
scanty
funds
was
a
difficult
business
,
and
it
led
to
David
’
s
first
controversies
with
his
Session
.
Each
elder
had
his
own
favourites
among
the
poor
,
and
Chasehope
and
Mirehope
and
Nether
Fennan
wrangled
over
every
grant
.
The
minister
,
still
new
to
the
place
,
for
the
most
part
held
his
peace
,
but
now
and
then
,
in
cases
which
he
knew
of
,
he
asserted
his
authority
.
There
was
a
woman
,
none
too
well
reputed
,
who
lived
at
Chasehope
-
foot
,
with
a
buxom
black
-
eyed
daughter
,
and
whose
house
,
though
lamentably
dirty
and
ill
guided
,
seemed
to
lack
nothing
.
When
he
opposed
Chasehope
’
s
demand
that
she
should
receive
a
benefaction
as
a
lone
widow
,
he
had
a
revelation
of
Chasehope
’
s
temper
.
The
white
face
crimsoned
,
and
the
greenish
eyes
looked
for
a
moment
as
ugly
as
a
snarling
dog
’
s
.
"
Worthy
Mr
.
Macmichael
.
.
.
"
he
began
,
but
David
cut
him
short
.
"
These
moneys
are
for
the
relief
of
the
helpless
poor
,
"
he
said
,
"
and
they
are
scant
enough
at
the
best
.
I
should
think
shame
to
waste
a
bodle
except
on
a
pitiful
necessity
.
To
him
or
her
that
hath
shall
not
be
given
,
while
I
am
the
minister
of
this
parish
.
"
Chasehope
said
nothing
,
and
presently
he
mastered
his
annoyance
,
but
the
farmer
of
Mirehope
-
-
Alexander
Sprot
was
his
name
-
-
muttered
something
in
an
undertone
to
his
neighbour
,
and
there
was
tension
in
the
air
till
the
laugh
of
the
Woodilee
miller
broke
it
.
This
man
,
one
Spotswood
,
reckoned
the
richest
in
the
parish
and
the
closest
,
had
a
jolly
laugh
which
belied
his
reputation
.
"
Mr
.
Sempill
’
s
in
the
right
,
Chasehope
,
"
he
cried
.
"
Jean
o
’
the
Chasehope
-
fit
can
manage
fine
wi
’
what
her
gudeman
left
her
.
We
daurna
be
lovish
wi
’
ither
folks
’
siller
.
"
"
I
am
overruled
,
"
said
Chasehope
,
and
spoke
no
more
.
Little
news
came
in
those
days
to
Woodilee
.
In
the
open
weather
before
the
storm
the
pack
-
horses
of
the
carriers
came
as
usual
from
Edinburgh
,
and
the
drovers
on
the
road
to
England
brought
word
of
the
doings
in
the
capital
.
Johnnie
Dow
,
the
packman
,
went
his
rounds
till
the
snow
stopped
him
,
but
in
January
,
when
the
weather
cleared
,
he
broke
his
leg
in
the
Tarrit
Moss
,
and
for
six
weeks
disappeared
from
the
sight
of
men
.
But
Johnnie
at
his
best
brought
only
the
clash
of
the
farm
-
towns
and
the
news
of
Kirk
Aller
,
and
in
the
dead
of
the
winter
there
was
no
chance
of
a
post
,
so
that
David
was
buried
as
deep
as
if
he
had
been
in
an
isle
of
the
Hebrides
.
It
was
only
at
Presbytery
meetings
that
he
heard
tidings
of
the
outer
world
,
and
these
,
passed
through
the
minds
of
his
excited
brethren
,
were
all
of
monstrous
portents
.
The
Presbytery
meetings
in
Kirk
Aller
were
at
first
to
David
a
welcome
break
in
his
quiet
life
.
The
one
in
November
lasted
two
days
,
and
he
,
as
the
youngest
member
,
opened
the
exercises
and
discoursed
with
acceptance
on
a
Scripture
passage
.
The
business
was
dull
,
being
for
the
most
part
remits
from
the
kirk
sessions
of
contumacious
heritors
and
local
scandals
and
repairs
to
churches
.
The
sederunt
over
,
the
brethren
adjourned
to
the
Cross
Keys
Inn
and
dined
off
better
fare
than
they
were
accustomed
to
in
their
manses
.
It
was
then
that
Mr
.
Muirhead
in
awful
whispers
told
of
news
he
had
had
by
special
post
from
Edinburgh
.
Malignancy
had
raised
its
head
again
,
this
time
in
their
own
covenanted
land
.
Montrose
,
the
recusant
,
had
made
his
way
north
when
he
was
least
expected
,
and
was
now
leading
a
host
of
wild
Irish
to
the
slaughter
of
the
godly
.
There
had
been
battles
fought
,
some
said
near
Perth
,
others
as
far
off
as
Aberdeen
,
and
the
victory
had
not
been
to
the
righteous
.
Hideous
tales
were
told
of
these
Irish
,
led
by
a
left
-
handed
Macdonald
-
-
savage
as
Amalekites
,
blind
zealots
of
Rome
,
burning
and
slaughtering
,
and
sparing
neither
sex
nor
age
.
The
trouble
,
no
doubt
,
would
be
short
-
lived
,
for
Leven
’
s
men
were
marching
from
England
,
but
it
betokened
some
backsliding
in
God
’
s
people
.
The
Presbytery
held
a
special
meeting
for
prayer
,
when
in
lengthy
supplications
the
Almighty
was
besought
to
explain
whether
the
sin
for
which
this
disaster
was
the
punishment
lay
with
Parliament
or
Assembly
,
army
or
people
.
To
David
the
tale
was
staggering
.
Montrose
was
to
him
only
a
name
,
the
name
of
a
great
noble
who
had
at
first
served
the
cause
of
Christ
and
then
betrayed
it
.
This
Judas
had
not
yet
gone
to
his
account
,
was
still
permitted
to
trouble
Israel
,
and
now
he
had
crowned
his
misdeeds
by
leading
savages
against
his
own
kindly
Scots
.
Like
all
his
nation
he
had
a
horror
of
the
Irish
,
whose
barbarity
had
become
a
legend
,
and
of
Rome
,
whom
he
conceived
as
an
unsleeping
Antichrist
,
given
a
lease
of
the
world
by
God
till
the
cup
of
her
abomination
was
full
.
The
news
shook
him
out
of
his
political
supineness
,
and
for
the
moment
made
him
as
ardent
a
Covenanter
as
Mr
.
Muirhead
himself
.
Then
came
the
storm
,
when
his
head
was
filled
with
other
concerns
,
and
it
was
not
till
February
that
the
Presbytery
met
again
.
