Biggar and the House of Fleming

BIGGAR CHURCHYARD. 145
who died in 1763, -when she was a child. Her mother, whose
name was Janet Watson, outlived her husband fifty-three years,
and died in 1816, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.
Miss Kello was a lady of considerable personal attractions,
great amiability of disposition, and of fortune somewhat beyond
persons in her station of life. The charms of her person were
set off to advantage by the neatness and elegance of her dress,
particularly on Sundays, when she attended divine service in
the Burgher meeting-house at Biggar. Some of the rigid
members of the Session proposed that she should be called
before them to be rebuked and admonished for what they were
pleased to style her inordinate love of dress, and for the time
she misspent every Sabbath morning at her toilet. Mr Low,
her pastor, who knew her well, said that it would be gratifying
to know that all the members of the congregation spent as much
time as she did at their private devotions. No young woman
entered the old town on whom all persons smiled so compla-
cently, and none enjoyed a larger share of admiration and re-
spect. It is a proof of the impression which she made, and
the estimation in which she was held, that, though it is upwards
of seventy years since she was laid in her grave, her name is a
household word in Biggar to this day.
As might be expected, Miss Kello had many suitors for her
hand. They were, in fact, as numerous as those who came to
woo ' Tibbie Fowler of the Glen.' Farmers, lairds, students,
and tradesmen were all ambitious to secure her favourable re-
gard. One of her most persevering suitors was William Sim,
then schoolmaster at Quothquan, a rare compound of bitter
envy, spiritual pride, lofty aspirations, and learned pretensions,
to whom we have already referred. A suitor of a far higher
stamp made advances to her at one time, and was accepted.
This was the famed Professor Lawson of Selkirk. The day
for the nuptials was fixed, and the intended bride and her re-
latives had made all the necessary arrangements. The Pro-
fessor had a most extraordinary memory for all kinds of sacred
and human learning, but it appears that he had a most un-
accountable obliviousness regarding some of the most important
concerns of this world. At all events, he forgot the time that
he had stipulated for the marriage. The banns were unpro-
claimed, and the lovely and amiable maid of Skirling Mill was
K