Oor ain folk times

88 OUR SCHOOLMASTERS
boy to the teacher, and very impressively confided him
to his care, saying :
' Ye see, sir, if he get the grace o' God, we mean to
mak' a meenister o' him.'
' Ay ! ' said Fenton ; ' an' if he dinna get the grace o'
God, what then 1 '
' Oh weel ! ' said the parent, with a sigh of resignation,
'in that case we'll jist hae tae mak' a dominie o' him ! '
A good story, in this connection, is that told by the
genial and lovable old Professor Blackie. He was
asked to procure a teacher for a Highland parish school,
and had received numerous applications — amongst
others, one from a student in his own class, named
Macfadyen. He called the young man up, and said :
'Dugald, the teacher must be married. Are you
married 1 ' ' No,' was the reply ; ' but I know a
goot, godly wumman in ta Hielants, who iss bose
willing ant able.' That settled it.
Our first dominie was a gentle, sallow-faced, rather
asthmatic, but scholarly man, of the name of Mitchell.
He was an inveterate smoker, and had apparently an
absolute horror of fresh air : so that in this gloomy
den, with the blazing fire at one end, every aperture
carefully shut, and the reek and breath from some
sixty or seventy damp scholars ascending like incense
into the steamy atmosphere, one can easily imagine
what a depressing effect their surroundings must have
had upon the poor little unfortunates, who were
supposed to be here 'drinking deep of the Pierian
spring ' ; and it is little wonder that, after a few years
of this incessant hard work and dismal environment,
poor Mr. Mitchell succumbed.