John Strathesk

“ Barrie’s housekeeping was the admiration, to many it was the miracle, of the parish and district. She was a good manager, and with such a helpmate as Bell, she made her income do wonders. To the poor, the manse was always open for judicious help; the hospitality of the dining-room and parlour was substantial and becoming. ”

“ Barrie summed up with: “In fact, be judeecious. [39] Practise economy, not parsimony; use the world as not abusing it; owe no man anything but to love one another,—a debt that can never be fully discharged. Love begets love.”
Glancing at the timepiece, I saw that the hour was rather later than I imagined; and having risen, I was thanking Mrs. Barrie for her hearty counsel, and had added that I hoped she would call at Greenknowe before the marriage, and be as kind to Agnes as she had been to me. I saw by Mrs. Barrie’s eye that she had me again. ”

“ It was taken for granted that the family would remove to Edinburgh; and Bell had so long been a part of it, as much so, in fact, as either Mr. or Mrs. Barrie, that although she was indirectly included in the feeling of general regret, she did not form a distinct element in the case.
“GIN A BODY GREET A BODY.”
When, therefore, it became known that she was to be married to David Tait of Blackbrae, I may say without exaggeration that the news was received with heartfelt delight. All who had come much into contact with Bell esteemed her highly, and those who knew her best liked her most. ”

“ James now took speech in hand: “My name’s James Barrie, and this is Mary, and this is Lewie. We’re flitting from the manse over yonder;” and he pointed in the same direction as Mary had looked. But Dr. Guthrie, thus suddenly brought into contact with this stern reality of the Disruption, had again to apply to his snuff-box, and was in the act of taking it out of his pocket when Sir John McLelland drove up to the post office and alighted. Dr. Guthrie and he knew one another as members of Assembly, and they shook hands cordially, Sir John expressing surprise at seeing the doctor there. ”

“ It had been Nellie’s porridge dish, and still contained a pair of little slippers, a small copy of Watts’ hymns in scarlet binding, and some bits of broken china with gold on them—Nellie’s pennies.
These and other memorials of “Bell’s bairn” were daintily taken out by Bell; but she was not quite well-bred to Mary when doing this, as she studiously turned her back on her, and kept her from getting near the drawer. After its contents had been beautifully packed in the little box, she closed, wrapped, and roped it, saying, “I’ll carry you mysel’. She’ll never need to flit—she’s hame A’ways.” ”

“ Bell liked the Colonel for his own sake. He was a fine type of the old Indian military man,—courteous, interesting, and still handsome despite his advanced years. Generally she had some tasty soup or other slight refreshment ready for him, which he thoroughly enjoyed; and he told Mrs. Barrie that her cook did more to make him well than the doctor.
Mr. Kirkwood often referred to Bell’s potato-soup in terms which the Colonel thought absurdly high. On one of his visits, little Gordie asked him if he would like to see the new chickens. ”

“ They want the pay and the place, but kick at the terms—wish these all one-sided; and when the law steps in with quiet dignity and strict justice to protect the rights of proprietors, ministers, and people alike, and to insist on these being administered according to express statute, the men who vowed to abide by the law either set it at nought, or demand its subservience to their revolutionary ideas. They wish liberty without control, privileges without conditions, and power to exercise despotism without appeal. ”

“ In contemplating the Edinburgh call, it is possible to conceive that Bell might have been one of Mrs. Barrie’s difficulties, for life in a town would not suit her at all. What would she do without Daisy? for so all her cows were named, prefixed in order to distinguish them by the colour of each, so that Bell had had during her stay in Blinkbonny a brown Daisy, a black Daisy, etc., and now she had a ginger Daisy. ”

“ Ye’ll see that we’re putting a better house on the Knowe Park? It’s a nice stance. The old cottage was done, so we’re putting up a good plain house; but the plasterers have dilly-dallied; they’re a provoking set.”
We were now in the garden. Bell’s first remark was, “This is no’ like you, Mr. Martin; but, however, I want to ask ye a secret” (so Bell put it) . “Can you tell me if Mr. Barrie’s gotten a call, or if he’s likely to get a call, to ony other kirk?” ”

“ The social element in religion was greatly promoted by the soirees and meetings of that nature held in connection with the Free Church. Mr. Barrie used to tell of Mr. Taylor’s usual welcome when he dropped in of an evening: “Come away, Mr. Barrie, ye’ll spend an hour wi’ us. There’s a great deal o’ religion in sociality, an’ there’s far ower little sociality in our religion—for that’s what I think is the ‘communion of saints,’ it’s just sociality—gude neibourship, as far as our firesides are concerned.” ”

“ Barrie called on Dan, and that Bell, for whom before the Disruption she had a great respect, was on such intimate terms with him that she actually allowed him to sit in her kitchen, and even tried to make a Free Churchman of him, she was exceedingly bitter in her remarks on the subject.
One day Mr. Walker chanced to call, and she expatiated to him on the burning shame she felt at such ongoings.
“The Free Church folks must be hard up for supporters when they have to go to such a worthless vagabond and try to make a Christian of him. It’s a [206] disgrace, a scandal—it’s sacrilege!” ”

“ After the first round of games, in which all the guests—old and young—took part, and the seniors had shown their skill, these mostly settled to be spectators, all the while enjoying the frolics of the young folk as much as their own canty cracks, whilst the younger portion had the carrying on of the fun, which they did right merrily. ”

“ Well, the party in the Church of Scotland that call themselves the ‘Evangelicals,’ as if they were the only true preachers of the gospel,—a most unwarrantable and impertinent name for any party to assume, or rather to adopt, for they parade it so offensively that it betrays their former orphanage, and they strut about in the plumes they [75] have stuck on themselves, calling their opponents ‘Moderates,’ as if that were a term of contempt. It would be more consistent if they’d let their moderation be known to all men;—but that is by the bye. ”

“ James Barrie, now a promising young student, heard Mary wondering who would give away the bride, and he expressed to Mrs. Barrie his desire to do so; but his mother thought he was rather young, and had intended to ask Mr. Taylor, when another applicant for the honour appeared.
Mr. Tait, the schoolmaster, was calling on Mr. Walker on parish business, and, as his uncle David of Blackbrae had told him of his intended marriage, and “trysted” him for “best-man” the day after Bell and he had “made it up,” he was the first to give Mr. Walker the news. ”

“ I hope you consider yourself a very lucky man?”
I made as nice a reply as I could. Mrs. Barrie repeated her husband’s “You must take an egg with us;” and laying the half-darned stocking into her work-basket on the back table, she looked into a cradle that stood in the cosiest corner of the room, and seeing that all was right there, she said, “I must see that the other little folks are happit before I sit down,” and left the room. But before I tell of the evening’s quiet enjoyment in the manse parlour, I will say something about the inmates of the manse itself. ”

“ During the prayer was heard an occasional “amen,” and there was a unanimous “amen” at its close, a very uncommon thing in such exercises in Scotland.
All had shaken hands with George, and were bidding good-bye to each other, when George said: “My freends, I’m gaun to ask a favour. I am a descendant of John Brown o’ Priesthill, the carrier that was shot by Claverhouse. I hae his Bible and Psalm-book, and table and arm-chair. I wad like them to be used at the Annie Green on Sabbath by Mr. Barrie. ”

“ Tait, I cannot refrain from expressing my delight. I’ll need to try the fiddle, and see if it will quiet me. Bell mistress o’ Blackbrae! They’re [271] made for one another. It never struck me before, but it’s perfection.”
“BAITH MICHT AND MAIN.”
He got the “wee” fiddle down from its peg in the study, and marched up and down playing almost furiously several old Scotch tunes, and occasionally singing a line or a few words of some of them, such as “A thrifty queen was Kate Dalrymple,” “We’re a’ gaun to the waddin’, Lassie, will ye gae?” “Hey the bonnie! ho the bonnie! hey the bonnie breastknots!” ”

“ One night, when David was in the kitchen, Mrs. Barrie went “ben” and said, after the usual courtesies had been exchanged: “Mr. Tait, I see that you are going to take Bell away to Blackbrae, reason or none, and I wish you much joy; a wife like Bell’s a prize not to be got every day, and you may consider yourself lucky to have won her. I’ll see about another servant to-morrow, although I never expect to get one as good as Bell. You must never think about waiting till the term. Marriages break all terms ”

“ Many others enjoyed the homely hospitality of Blackbrae. Dr. Stevenson, one of the hardest wrought members of the hardest wrought class of men in Scotland, namely, the country surgeons, often took pot-luck there, and he never had to ask for a “cinder,” although at the same time he was very sparing in his use of Bell’s bottle. But he found her so well provided with many things, little in themselves, but invaluable to poor invalids, that he made her his “Lady Bountiful,” and found her always not only ready and willing, but, as Mr. Barrie expressed it, “pre-eminently judeecious.” ”

“ The money contributed little to his personal comfort, but he occasionally helped his poorer neighbours. Bell tried to get something for the missionary cause. His answer was barely civil: “Send siller to the niggers! no’ very likely!” Dan’s nature was a secretive one; few could make anything of him, none much to boast of, for on all emotional subjects he was “cabined, cribbed, confined.”
The Free Church of Blinkbonny heard with mingled feelings, chiefly, I must confess, composed of deep regret, that the “Wishart” church in Edinburgh had resolved to call Mr. Barrie to be their pastor. ”

“ He’s a decent, honest, sterling man, your uncle—a great friend of mine” (Mr. Walker’s forte was friendliness—his heart was larger than his head) ; “a fine, a very fine man. Then Bell; Bell’s a—it beats me to tell what Bell is. She’s the cleverest an’ best servant in Blinkbonny; but she’s more—she’s—she’s Bell Barrie, and that’s the pink o’ perfection for a farmer’s wife. She’s a tocher in hersel’. Bell for a manager—Bell for a garden, or hens, or cows, or cookin’! ”

“ Many of these noble compositions of Christian genius are now used as vehicles of praise, and they unquestionably have their place and power in the service of song; but the older folks still maintain that they want “grup;” and the early Scottish Church found ample material for expressing its aspirations or presenting its tribute of grave sweet melody in the old Psalms of David.
For Mr. Barrie the summer was one of special excitement. He was much occupied with his own congregation, and with the affairs of the Free Church of Scotland generally. ”

“ You will find Mrs. Barrie’s counsel sound and practical, so we’ll join her in the parlour;” and suiting the action to the word, he lifted the lamp, and asking me to follow him, made for the snug parlour, where he announced me as “a subject of compound interest now, not simple as before.”
Mrs. Barrie was carefully darning a stocking, which she laid on the table as I entered, and shaking my hand with great heartiness, she said, “I need hardly wish you a happy new year, Mr. Martin. You are as sure to be happy as anybody can be sure of happiness in this world. ”

“ There was the usual gathering of noisy children round the bride’s door, waiting for the coppers scattered on such occasions; and as they scrambled for them, we got into the drosky, and were driven home, followed by an increasing number of children cheering in an intermittent way, all anxious to be in time for the “scatterin’ o’ the ha’pennies,” which had to be repeated at the bridegroom’s door. ”