The Right Stuff: Some Episodes in the Career of a North Briton

formed me years afterwards-was the examination for the Bursary which he gained at Edinburgh University. A burs

rs were not as deep-seated as those of Tom Pinch on a similar occasion,-he, it will be remembered, suffered severe qualms from his familiarity with certain rural traditions concerning the composition of Londo

rsity education behind him, or go back to the plough and sup porridge for the rest of his life. To-morrow he was to have his opportunity, and t

d Literature as hard study and remorseless coaching could make him. Everything needful was in his head-but could he get it out again? That was the question. The roaring world in which he would find himself, the strange examination-room, the

gely and benignantly, that the Man Opposite, who had intended to be thoroughly disagreeable, melted at once, and sai

m to extract from that coping-stone of Scottish journalism, he might as well have been reading the Koran,-returned to his thoughts. He collated in his mi

er had b

ssors with whom he might

n each morning at least five mi

nancing the advances of, persons of insinuating address w

inie ha

tically everything in an exami

you were sure of them. They may be wrong, but on the other hand they may be r

all them Theorems, though-about the Square on th

slate a thing until you are sure it is there. They have an unholy habit of leaving out a couple of verses

and grup on tae it! Post est occasio calva, laddie! And dinna

could not be expressed so concisely, but two

o' the richt word,

at your collar is sp

ard so much, were few in number; and the goods displayed therein (mainly food and drink, newspapers and tobacco) compared unfavourably in point of variety with those in the window of Malcolm M'Whiston, the "merchant" at home. The inhabitants all appeared to be in a desperate hurry, and the noise of the trains, which blocked every thoroughfa

elf in a great street, with imposing buildings on one side and a green valley on the other. On the far side of t

agency, that he had been bidden to ride to his destination. He was not to take the first that came along, nor yet the second-they went to various places, it seemed; and if you were taken to the wrong one you had to pay just the same-but was to scan them unt

d Hills Road." That would not do. Then came another-"Murrayfield, Haymarket, and Nether Liberton." Another blank! Then, "Marchmont Road and Churchill." Foiled again, Robert was beginning to feel a little sceptical as to the actual existence of the Dalry Road, when a car drew up opposite to him labelled "

elf confronted by a gentleman-splendid in appearance but of homely s

ippeny? or

Dalry Road," said

h end

uldna

nny," said t

ace only accessible to partial disrobement.) The gorgeous man carelessly snapped a ticket out of one of the bundles, and having first punched a hole in it with an ingenious instrument that gave forth sounds of music, handed it to Robert in exchange fo

diligently answered every question, writing at the foot of each sheet of his neat manuscript, "More on the next page," in case the examiner should be a carel

on for the next paper to a systematic exploration of Edinburgh. He did the thing as thoroug

me, constructing a rough bird's-eye plan of the streets and buildings below him

er of the Free Kirk-and St Mary's Cathedral struck him as being unduly magnificent to be the property of such a small and pernicious sect as the Episcopalians. The Post Off

. Their acquaintance began with the entire effacement of Robert's features by the palm of Hector's hand, which was suddenly extended across the thoroughfare for traffic-regulating purposes, with the result that Robert, who was plunged in thought at the time, ran his nose right into the centre of it. The ejaculation to which each gave vent at the moment of impact revealed to both that they were from the

Edinburgh, and then only because he was absolutely compelled to do so by the necessity

argaret was determined to have it from Edinburgh; and she was particularly emphatic in her injunctions to Robert to se

y windows containing lace and ribbon; and waiting for a moment when the surging crowd was thickest, attempted to slip in with them. He got safely past a hero in a medal-sown uniform, but immediately after this encountered an imposing gentleman in a frock-coat, who asked his pleasure. Robert inquired respectfully if the gentleman kept ribbon. The gentleman said "Surely, surely!" and Robert's mode

ill I s

ans

es' g

e of t

kerch

her

ckin

ompanied by a deep

l-ri

(which, by the way, rather resembled the Last Trump). "Hauf

nd furtively fingering the mone

se," replied the

a punctured balloon on to the shoulder of her nearest neighbour-there being no shop-walkers about-and expressed a wish that she might be taken home and buried. Finally she recovered sufficiently to push Robert's two shillings back across the counter and to place his threepence in a mysterious receptacle which she thrust into

reach it without one more adventure, a slight one, it

ady, upon whom Robert gazed continuously with an admiration so absorbing and profound that it took him some little time to realise, shortly after the commencement of the journey, that the rest of the company were indulging in a free fight all over the compartment, and that the lady was clinging in terror to her escort. Robert was of cons

wayside station, and driven over fifteen miles of hill

s about the yard, well knowing that such would be his lot to the end

we know him well enough now to call him Robin, which was the name his mother had given him on his third

given his chance to bring credit on the family, even though his parents have to pinch and save and his brothers bide at the plough-tail all their lives in consequence-a law whose chief merit lies in the splendid sacrifices whi

m for ten years, would just suffice to keep him at the University,-no one discussed the matter. It was in the hands of God, and prognostication could only be vain and unprofitable. His mother and sister,

e to assist at the sheep-dipping. The news would come by letter, which might or might not get as far as Strath

tramped back to the farm that evening, just in time for supper, it was discovered that Margaret was absent. John Fordyce, grim

farm lasses came into the kitchen from their final tasks in the yard,

These were sung night by night in unswerving rotation throughout the year, a custom which, while it offered

a final fleeting glance at his daught

to His praise in the Hundred and Twenty-f

lls will lif

nce doth

ty and tired, for she had walked fourteen miles si

, and was for slipping quietly i

man cannot worship God while his m

ction of his father and the waiting Bible, opened and

said the

the First Bursary,

own his mother's face. John Fordyce deliber

clear voice, "in the Twenty

Shepherd, I'l

on of singing the same, seated and without accompaniment, conduce to a concord of sweet sounds. But there are no tunes like old tunes, and there are n