Facts and traditions collected for a family record

132 PACTS AND TRADITIONS.
The widowed father married again in January 1770, and James never
felt towards his stepmother the affection which his own mother had
inspired. I may mention here the tradition of a curious incident which
had happened in the house at Hanuastoun in the olden days, and was
handed down to my father. An old woman was lying dead in her cotiin,
when a broom in the same room vaulted into the air and struck the
ceiling. The old woman was, of course, " a witch." The mechanical expla-
nation of this unusual phenomena was, that the coffin, not being adequately
supported, fell down, and in doing so gave such a fillip to one end of
the broomstick as to occasion the strange somerset above mentioned.
The youth in the less travelled parts of Scotland, especially in hilly
districts like the Glenkens, were at that time (indeed still, though in a
less degree) brought up in hardy simplicity. In the house and out of
it, except on Sundays, they wore no shoes or stockings ; oatmeal served
them for breakfast and supper. Doubtless in these respects my father
was treated like other young people about him. I remember his men-
tioning a little incident, shewing the rarity of luxuries. On one occasion,
when the " gudeman " of the house was away from home, and James
and the other children were supposed to be too young to take much
notice, the stepmother stealthily indulged herself in a cup of tea. The
circumstance dwelt on my father's memory, as tea was then considered
a luxury to be used only when visitors were present.
Thanks to the laudable desire for education in the Scotch of all ranks,
my father was enabled to acquire the rudiments of reading, writing, and
arithmetic, probably at the parish school of New Galloway, distant four
or five miles from my father's house. In riper years, he contended with
and gradually overcame some of the deficiencies of his education ; and,
recollecting his own early struggles in this respect, was most careful that
his children and other young persons under his influence should receive
the advantage of good instruction.