Scotland/Scots > Wilson's tales of the Borders and of Scotland > Volume 3

THE MART OF AN AGED SPINSTER.
81
those of her own sex who are below what is called a “ cer¬
tain age” (what that age is, I cannot tell), think themselves
privileged to giggle at the expense of their elder sister.
Now, though there may be a degree of peevishness (and it
is not to be wondered at) amongst the sisterhood, yet with
them you will find the most sensitive tenderness of heart,
a delicacy that quivers, like the aspen leaf, at a breath, and
a kindliness of soul that a mother might envy—or rather,
for envy, shall I not write imitate ? But ah! if their his¬
tory were told, what a chronicle would it exhibit of
blighted affections, withered hearts, secret tears, and mid¬
night sighs!
The first spinster of whom I have a particular remem¬
brance, as belonging to her caste, was Diana Darling. It
is now six and twenty years since Diana paid the debt ot
nature, up to which period, and for a few years before, she
rented a room in Chirnside. It was only a year or two
before her death that I became acquainted with her; and I
was then very young. But I never shall forget her kind¬
ness towards me. She treated me as though I had been
her own child, or rather her grandchild, for she was then
very little under seventy years of age. She had always an
air of gentility about her; people called her “ a betterish
sort o’ body.” And, althoug Miss and Mistress are be-
comirsg general appellations now, twenty or thirty years
ago, upon the Borders, those titles were only applied to
particular persons or on particular occasions; and whether
their more frequent use now is to be attributed to the
schoolmaster being abroad or the dancing-master being
abroad, I cannot tell, but Diana Darling, although acknow¬
ledged to be a “ betterish sort o’ body,” never was spoken
of by any other term but “ auld Diana,” or “ auld Die.”
Well do I remember her flowing chintz gown, with short
sleeves, her snow-white apron, her whiter cap, and old kid
gloves, reaching to her elbows; and as well do I remember