Oor ain folk times

T.H".E HEJVS' CONFERENCE 139
shopkeeper ; ' I'm tellin' ye thae's naethin' but doos'
eggs.'
A gleam of suppressed glee sparkled in the eyes
of the quiet, self-contained, little woman, as, slowly
taking up her basket and cloth, she dropped a semi-
curtse3 T and said :
'Weel, ye see, Maister Elshender, the fac' is, that
oor hens hae haen their conference i' the back yaird ;
and they jist made up their minds that it wisna
worth their while tae rax themsel's for eggs at ten-
pence a dizzen.'
What Davit said when Mistress Paitterson retired,
had better be left unrecorded.
I am not sure but it was this couple, Davit and Meg,
of whom an anecdote is recorded as follows : They
had never made any return to the numerous friends
at whose houses hospitality had often been dispensed
and accepted by the close-fisted couple. A hint
having been given to Meg on one occasion that a
return ' tea-pairty ' would only be the correct thing,
she explained the situation thus : ' Weel than, ye see
it's jist this w'y ; I've aye been wantin' to hae a
tea an' a dance, but Davit hauds oot for a denner
an' a drink, an' so atween the twa o's we've ne'er
made up oor minds which it's tae be.'
Neither ' the tea ' nor ' the denner ' ever came off.
Here is yet one more story of the temperance
lecturer sort, which we may call The Letter and the
Spirit.
An old ' wifie ' who had a weakness for whisky
had been prevailed upon to take the pledge. Shortly
afterwards, she called upon a rather ' drouthie neebor,'