Grampian Club > Scotland, social and domestic

210 Scotland, Social and Domestic.
years ago, a gentleman travelling in the district visited
Craigach Well on the morning when the neighbouring
populace made their annual pilgrimage to its waters.
The following occurrence took place : — Jock Forsyth, a
person of middle age, and much esteemed in the locality
for his unaffected piety, stooped down and drank of the
Well. Having performed the rite, he rose up, and uttered
these words of prayer, — " Lord, Thou knowest that
weel would it be for me this day an' I had stoopit my
knees an' my heart before Thee, in spirit and in truth,
as often as I have stoopit them afore this Well, but
we maun keep the customs of our fathers."
In the year 1859, the writer joined a funeral party
at Stirling, which had assembled to conduct the body of
a person in humble life to the parochial cemetery.
Perceiving that the corpse was conducted in a direction
opposite to that in which the place of interment lay,
the writer inquired as to the cause of the movement.
He was informed that it was deemed " unlucky " to
bear a corpse past a certain well which stood in the
direct route, and that hence a circuit had been arranged.
Those who frequented wells for healing purposes
deposited votive offerings by their margins, in honour
of the saints to whom they were dedicated. These
were of the simplest kind, consisting of patches of
cloth, bits of thread, and shreds of useless apparel.
Frequently a small tree or bush grew close by the
fountains, and to the branches of these the offerings
were attached. The practice of using rags as charms is
not peculiar to Scotland. Hanway, in his " Travels,"
describes the practice as common in Persia ; and Park
found it among some African tribes.
After the Reformation, the civil and ecclesiastical