Scotland/Scots > Licht frae the smiddy o' Saunders Dinwuddie

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NO FELLOWSHIP WITH EVIL-DOERS.
the stage-players, the singers and fiddlers, and
harlequins, wha draw out the puir folks frae their
ain firesides, and keep them gapin’ and glowerin,
and hotehin’, and lauchin’, up e’en to the howe
o’ the nieht sometimes.”
“ Saunders, how can you, a man of sense, be
such a simpleton as to imagine that the great and
the rich must pay for the amusements of the
working-classes ? Their philanthropy does not
go that length. It only goes the length of
temptation, no further. The purpose of the
whole thing is to divert poor mortals, and keep them
out of harm’s way, and from looking too narrowly,
perhaps, into affairs that will not bear very close
scrutiny.”
“I see, Sir, or I think I ha’e a sma’ inklin’ o’
the drift o’ the great folk. They think the puir
are cornin’ ower close ahint them in the march o’
intellect; sae closely as to tread down the heels
o’ the gowden slippers o’ the great; and, there¬
fore, that chiel Lowe would ha’e the workin folk
keepit down and trampit down in the
mud and mire o’ common ignorance. The time
for that auld nonsense is gane by, and Lowe will
find himsel' to be a descendant o’ the cratur that
frichtit John Gilpin’s horse. Lords, and earls,
and dukes lecturin’ to puir sinners, wha earn
their bread by the sweat o’ their face ! hech, Sirs,
changed times ! They may talk, and spout, and
lecture as lang as they like, but I can tell them
that there is nae sma’ number o’ the workin’ men
wha ken a hantle mair than they wha ca’ them-
sel’s their betters ken onything about.”
“ You are diverging from the subject in hand,