Three generations

97 A YOUNG COUPLE
men of Cupar did not refuse to turn an honest penny
and add to their limited incomes. The near neigh-
bourhood provided a well-known race-course. Once
a year there was a meeting for races, continuing for
a week. These horse-races were largely attended, not
to say by the nobility and gentry of the county, but
by magnates from all parts of the country, in keeping
with the general advance in travelling from place to
place already visible in the middle, as well as in the
upper, class. There was an " ordinary " for meals in
the principal hotel, where visitors, if they chose, could
dine and sup together. There was a succession of
balls in the handsome County Hall, for the benefit of
the ladies who accompanied the gentlemen on these
occasions. But as to furnishing superior sleeping
accommodation for the week, neither the best nor
the worst inns had resources to meet the urgent re-
quirements. Such lodgings as were to be had in the
town were equally inadequate. There was nothing
for it save that the professional residents should lay
aside their privacy and let the main part of their houses
for the week. During the interval the men and women
crammed themselves into holes and corners. For their
obliging temper in subjecting themselves to this in-
convenience, the tenants of the houses secured the
patronage of the mighty among their countrymen and
a handsome enough douceur, which was left to the
generosity of the donors.
So spirited and enterprising a woman as my mother
readily availed herself of the windfall, rendering the
discomfort less to her husband, who heartily disliked
the arrangement, by sending off the children to the
care of their aunt and uncle at Blebo Mills, and by
persuading my restive father to endure the ordeal.