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Tous les autres exemplaire!< originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une teUe empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — *► (meaninq "CON- TINUED "K or the symbol V (meaninp i:\t?"). wnichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole -^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. -'1 1 ABERDEEN AND ITS FO 3lk, PROM THE 20!'? TO THE 50!" YEAR OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. BY A SON OF BON-ACCORD IN NORTH AMERICA. -,.^\ Etheroal Power ! \Yh08e smile, at noon of night Recalls the far-fle4 spif't "f deliftht ; Instils that musing, melfi-ncholy mood, Which charms the wise, and cletatee the good; Blest Memory, liail ! B'geri, MONTREAL : DAWSON BROTHERS. TORONTO : JAMES CAMPBELL AND SON. 1868. I! iUlptfjf aiitibffnf, ti)ou bfrtall* of all toiwia, SDfjt lampf of tpautip, bountt>, anD ilit^entaaf ; ®nto t1)p i^fabfn asrenUft tfjp rtnoton t'B, ©ff jprtue, toiflDome, anD of toortl)(neB»f ; Wt nottt is tl)p name off noblrneaap, Unto tf)e coming off our lustp ^upen, €^e toale off toraltljp, guib tJjerr, anU merrineaap ; 38fp bU'tlir anb bJisafalle, brug^e off abprbeinp. ********* -The Queens (of James IV.) Reception at Aberdeen, hy William Dmibar, the Scottish Laureate. May, 1511. * Brightest, from bevj/f, a precious stone. II .ffzffz? PEEFACE. The following pages were written for occupation and amusement, during a portion of xnj leisure time, in the course of the summer of 1867. They appeared under the title of Hcminiscences of Aberdeen, in the iicottish American Journal, published in New York — a news- paper of the highest class, extensively read both in North Anierica and in the mother coui'try, to the I*ro- prietor of which I am under obligations for his couxtesy on several occasions. I have reason to believe that these " shreds and patches" were, upon the whole, favourably received on this side of the Atlantic, by a good many who cherish associations connected Tih Scotland ; and, . they ' may probably a-Tord some interest to the dwellers in my nati e city, I have been induced, at the suggestion of some esteemed friends in the "braif toun," to publish them in their present iLihape, They are now submitted, as tTiey originally appeared in print, with a few unimportant emen- dations. I have, however, added some graphic anecdotes, communicated to the Journal in question by diflferent correspondents, in notices of the remini- scences contributed after my papers had appeared, along with a few sketches of individual character, which it has since occurred to me to include. I have ;i3dim VI PREFACE, n ai«o been kindly allowed to draw on the recollections of a few friends in Aberdeen, long known and cherished, for some note- worthy additions now made. In preparing this little venture for the press, I have profited by the valued directions and advice (spontaneously afforded) of Mr. Lewis Smith, whose lengthened experience as a Publisher so well enables him to direct the " 'prentice hau' " of a candidate for the honours of Grub Street like myself. This brochure lays no claim to literary merit, its aim and style not being intended or calculated either To point a moral or adorn a tale. T was induced to gather the motley collection together and put it in print, by the consideration that I might perchance be able to invest my reminiscences with some little interest, there being few people of ordinary intelligence, however limited their sphere for ols rvation, who cannot say something more or less woi-thy of record of the scenes and incidents of their past life, and of the folk among whom their lot has been cast. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that, like all Aber- donians I have ever met with, whose fate has led tnem to encounter the cares of life elsewhere over the world than within the "city of St Nicholas," I lookback with genial recollections on the days when I used to tread its familiar precincts — The Gueetrow, Gallowgate, and Green, Eke Fittie, Broadgate, and Broadford, A' the four bows o' Aberdeen — Our ain " braif toun" o' Bon- Accord. PBEPAOE. VU Nor need I add that I should consider it an honour to be able so to depict my associations connected with the city and its inhabitants, as to uphold in some degree the credit and regard with which the sons of Bon- Accord invest the place of their birth and education. In this attempt to delineate the salient points of character peculiar to the various individuals spoken of in this little tome, I have done my best to keep off forbidden ground ; and while, in regard to some of them, I may unintentionally have incurred the impu- tation of so colouring my statements as to fulfil only the first portion of Othello's request, when he charges his friends in speaking of him, to Nothing extenuate — I trust it wiU be found that I have not overlooked its conclusion— Nor set down aught in malice. I am not sure but that, in connection with some portions of these reminiscences, I may be dealt with by the reader after the fashion depicted by Shen stone in anticipating the critic's award on one of his produc- tions : — As he who now with 'sdainful fury thrill' d, Surveys mine work ; and levels many a sneer, And furls his wrinkly front, and cries " What stuff is here ?" Such criticism may, however, be expected after what has been said even of that great Epic itself, which ranks among the loftiest in the realms of poetry — Thus, of your heroes and brave boys, With whom old Homer makes such noise. The greatest actions I can find, Are, that they did their work and din'd— fill VI 11 PREFACE. Heeing that I cannot claim for the personageH whom my unskilful pen has attempted to portray either the celestial origin, or the heroic attributoii with which " the blind old man of Scio's isle" has invested the actors m his famous story. But, notwithstanding the imperfections of this brochure, it may yet perhaps be allowed to take rank with many another more imposing product of the art of typography, in one respect at least, viz. — that though neither of portentous dimensions, nor very lofty in its aim, it is, after all, a Book, and, being so, I am entitled to plead for it the dictum of a critic, whose ability will not be disputed — > A book's a book, although there's nothing in it. City, North Amebica, 8ept&>t\^er, 1868. II %htx)ittn antr |ts ^alk CHAPTER I. THE FAMILY CIRCLE. Gay hope is theirs, by fancy fed, Less pleasing, when possesi ; The tear forgot as soon as shed, The sunshine of the breast : Theirs buxom health, of rosy hue : Wild wit, invention ever new. And lively cheer of vigour bom ; The thoughtless day, the easy night, The spirits pure, the slumbers light. That fly th' approach of morn. Oray. I FEEL that, to introduce my little sketches to the reader, in a manner not too much savouring of egotism, is a task " approaching to onerousness ;"* and, having ventured to commence in a domain with * The expression here quoted I once saw employed in an official report, which happened to come under my notice, by the late Mr. John Kay, teacher in the Aberdeen Prisons. In addressing the Prison Board, in this document, he designated himself as "your teacher," and being evidently fond of "fino writing," even on the most trifling details connected with the routine of his humble office, he made use of the phrase in question in rounding-oflF a paragraph stating the difficulty he experienced in finding anything to say more than he had al- ready said in previous reports. The task, he averred, was one "approachinc; to oneroueness," B 2 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. SO many personal belongings as that of the family circle, of whom, in days long gone by, I was a mem- ber, I may probably lay myself open to the charge of obtruding details, which, unless in rare instances, can afford interest only to those more immediately connected with the circle itself. I shall, however, go no farther than the attempt to delineate a few traits of ordinary character, and the narration of one or two every-day incidents in the " trivial round " of domestic life, as it is passed among the middle classes in my native city. I have nothing to chronicle beyond what might be related in de- picting the 'associations clustering round many another Scottish family in this rank of life ; and in this unpretentious ccmpilation of my recollections of those to whom I was bound by ties which no time should either impair or efface, I shall withdraw the veil that, to the outer world, ought to be kept suspended over Their homely joys, their destiny obscure, only so far as to enable me to present a faithful outline of tho "short and simple annals" treasured in my memory. Not the least prominent character, in the picture which my recollections enable me to draw of the household, is our faithful nurse, Kirsty T — — , who was in every respect a worthy type of the old- fashioned Scottish domestic servant — a class whose attachment and fidelity Dean Ramsay has so well illustrated. She deserves a grateful notice at my hand, for, as the family quiver became replenished, as a mem- THE FAMILY CIRCLE. 6 she had work enough among us, and did it well. Tii the nursery Kirsty ruled supreme, having a dele- gated power (which I here testify she never abused) of applying the rod of correction. She laid down the law after the fashion of the Medes and Persians, and her decrees were never called in question by either head of the household. Her custom was to threaten offenders against her code with what, to ua in the nursery, was a fate too awful to be adequately realized — the being " harled afore the judges," by whom, clad in cocked-hat, wig, and robes, and at- tended, by their gorgeously-arrayed trumpeters, the town is visited, in spring and autiunn, when they ^o on circuit. Kirsty had a grandly-sounding lyric, where or how picked up T know not, which she used to repeat to us, m illustration of the dread power vested in these dignitaries — Doom, (loom for the robbers ! Call, call Tor the judges ! Them that's clear needs not fear Although the judges do draw near. To her " laddies," when encouraging them to the fulfilment of her behests, she held out the prospect that, by obeying them, they might, some day, be- come either a laird or a minister — these being the two orders in the community whom Kirsty specially honom'ed. She was very particular in regai'd to the saying of our " gweed words/' especially at night, for it often happened that her hands were too full in the morning to allow her to attend so closely to this portion of our duty. Kirsty had not the faculty of tune, and her attempts to sing for our amusement were lamentably deficient in this requisite, but the b2 4 ABEfiDEEN AND ITS FOLK. deficiency was made up by her heartiness. The songs she liked best were Allan Ramsay's "O'er Bogie," (a stream flowing past her native town, Huntiy), "The Smith's a Gallant Fireman," the first line of which, " Lang, lang wad I want or I took a hireman," she rendered with great emphasis, and " Johnnie lad :" Johnnie's nae a gentleman, And Johnnie's nae a laird, But I wad follow Johnnikie, Although he were a caird. And it's you, and it's you. And it 8 you, my Johnnie lad, m drink the bucMes o' my sheen, For you, my Johnnie lad, Kirsty had an extensive collection of Scotch nur- sery rhymes and stories, some of which, I believe, have not hitherto appeared in print. Besides a immber of these simple compositions given by Mr. Robert Chambers in his admirable collection, such as, "Tingle, lingle, lang tang, wha's this deid?" " The cattie sits i' the kiln ring, spinnin', spinnin'," " This is the way the ladies ride, jimp an' sma', jimp an* sma'," Kirstie had the following, which does not appear to have come under Mr. Chambers' notice : — [Said to a child getting a ride on the nurse's knee,] The carle raid to Aberdeen, to buy white bread. But lang or he cam' back again, the carline she was deid, Sae, he up wi's muckle stick, an' gae her oVr the head, Cryin', Fie ! rise carline, an* eat white bread ! Rhymes attached to the Christian nayie had a 11 THE FAMILY CIRCLE. 5 great attraction for Kirsty. Thus we had from her many a repetition of Tam o' the lyxrn, wi'a wife an'a mitber, They gaed a' to the kirk thegither ; as well as — Peter, my neeper, Had a wife, And he couldna' keep her. He pat her i' the wa', ^ud lat a' the mice eat her ; and other ditties, which the lapse of time has failed to eradicate from oiir memories. Kirsty was a good many years in the family, and, when long-protracted illness obliged her to leave us the parting took place with much regret on both sides. Her reign in the nursery reminds me of a kitchen maid, Nelly D , who was with us for a time, along with her, and with whom Kirsty sorted well. This gii-1 played me a terrible trick, on one occasion, when I was some three or four years old, the dread recollection of which yet cleaves to my memory. I had left the nursery, and had gone into the kitchen, in which I was amusing myself, when, buddenly, in came, as I thought, a dreadful rudas^ the terror of all the infant population of the town, Jean Carr by name, the common account of her habits and propensities being that sho carried off bairns, to eat them at her leisure. After being threatened, in tones which sounded in my affrighted ears as no other than Jean's own savage lingo, I was seized, and incontinently borne off, frozen with hor- ror, to a dark cellar, in the arms of her adroit per- sonator. To my great relief, however, I was, by and by, addressed in Nelly's usual good-humoured 6 ABERDEEN AND ITS POLK. tones, and brought by her again into the light of day, after she had doffed the duds in which she had ingeniously disguised herself for the occasion. Nelly had some quaint peculiarities, her manner being abrupt and decisive. One of her principal reasons for liking Sunday above other days of the week was that, getting the latter half of that day to herself, she " wad spen' the nicht wi' her mither, an' get green tea an' a penny bun," these being her favou- rite dainties. Another prominent individual in the family pic- ture is a maiden aunt, whose kindly disposition continued throughout her life to endear her to a tribe of nephews and nieces. She used with great glee to tell a story of one of us laddies as affording an amusing instance of childish " pawkiness." When we paid her a visit, whether singly or in a body, we had the pleasing prospect of receiving a "jeelie piece," which was discussed with all the relish in- duced by such delicacies. On a certain occasion, one of us, a youngster of some three years old, visit- ing her singly, in charge of the nwBe, had, in eating his piece, soiled his clothes to such an unpardon- able extent as to call down auntie's solemn rebuke, the offence being considered so great as to induce her to pass sentence on the little culprit of being deprived of pieces by her in all time coming. At the next visit to auntie, paid singly, as it happened^ the offender was received in her usual couthy way, and the conversation went on between her and him as if the offence, so severely reprimanded at the last visit, had never been committed. Time passed THE FAMILY CIRCLE. 7 on, however, and there seemed to him no likelihood of the coveted dainty being forthcoming. Many longing looks were cast by the youngster at the region in which he knew were stored the materials for pieces. These looks auntie saw " wi' the tail o' her e'e," but took no apparent notice of them. At last, after having relapsed into silence for a time, the little fellow asked her the question — apropos of nothing which had passed in the previous conversa- tion, but the drift of which she at once perceived — " Have ye a towel, auntie 1" " Aye, my laddie," she answered, " twa or three, but what wad ye want wi' a towel ?" To this the little man replied, hesi- tatingly, " I wadna spoil mysel', auntie." " Fat wad ye spoil yoursel' wi', my laddie 1" was the next query, when the final object of the colloquy on the part of the juvenile was at last revealed on his say- ing, in the most winning tones he could adopt for the occasion, " 0, wi' the piecie, ye ken, auntie." It 's needless to say that the diplomacy thus practised proved irresistible, and a good-sized piece was ad- ministered, out of auntie's " aumrie." Another of my aunt's favourite stories referred to a queer character, with a decided " want " — to use that expressive Scotticism — who, by the bounty of friends, enjoyed a small annuity, sufficient to main- tain him in tolerable comfort. He boarded with a decent " widow womuxi " occupying the lower part of the house in which my aunt resided, his occupa- tion when in-doors being the repairing of fiddles, after a style of his own. He prided himself as ex- celling in two other pursuits — fiddle playing, and fishing with the rod ; but his scraping on catgut rtfta 8 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. iM was a terrible infliction on all human ears in the neighbourhood, and in his piscatorial attempts, often as he essayed the gentle art, he was equally unsuc- cessful, for he was never known to have captured even a " bandstickle." His disposition was not like that of genial Isaak Walton, within " whose cheer- ful heart," (as he himself discourses), "wisdom, peace, patience, and a quiet mind did cohabit," but was gruff and taciturn, and though he was quite harmless, his kindly hostess had often great diffi- culty in overcoming his sullen humours. One day he had gone, rod in hand, to fish in his favourite stream, the Tile Bum, in the Auld Town Links, when the weather suddenly changed, and a severe storm of wind and rain came on while he was at the bum side. He was so long in returning home that his hostess became uneasy about him, fearing lest he might have met with an accident. At last his step was heard by her watchful ears ascending the common stair. She anticipated his knock, and opened the door to her lodger, whom she found shivering with cold, and wet to the skin. In her blandest manner she greeted him with, " Come awa, my peer (poor) fiddlerie, ye're unco caul' an* weet the day." Bouncing past her, he sped at once to his quarters, saying only — but that in his gruffest fashion — " Deil fiddle oot the fite (white) o' yer een." Philosophers and schoolmen have speculated, aud ponderous tomes have been written, on less in- teresting and important questions than that sug- gested by this saying, viz., why the white of the eye should bo fiddled out rather than the whole of that bodily organ ! THE FAMILT OIROLE. 9 I have many reminiscences, both grave and gay, of our family life, and of the training and discipline to which we laddies were amenable under the paren- tal roof. On this subject, both our parents, while truly kind, and disposed, like sensible folk, to make all due allowance for youthful peccadilloes, regulated their code of discipline according to the royal sage's proverb, " He that spareth the rod hateth his son : but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." It was only, however, on comparatively rare occasions, when some grave breach of parental authority had been committed, that recourse was had to the " tards," of which it could not be affirmed, as the Duke says in " Measure for Measure," Now as fond fathers Having bound up the threat' ning twigs of birch, Only to stick it in their children's sight For terror, not for use ; in time the rod Becomes more mock'd than fear'd. I well remember both the appearance and the effects of the tards which my father carried in his pocket, its application being in his department of the household regime. It was not of very porten- tous dimensions, but when smartly laid on, its effects were akin to those of the class of appliances, characterized in modern Pharmacopeias as " stimu- lant and rubefacient." We were thus trained to regard the commandment standing fifth in the deca- logue as of equal authority with the rest ; and I feel certain that every member of the large famil;; thus dealt with, now surviving, is convinced that in ad- hering to this code of discipline — more followed in Scotland, perhaps, than in other countries — our parents gave us good cause to cherish their me- I'M ! 10 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. mories, from having acted as they did in the regu- lation of our conduct, and the formation of our principles and character. In connection with the administration of discipline in the family, I may be allowed to notice an amus- ing incident. On a certain occasion, some tliree or four of the laddies had got into trouble in regard to some " ploy " of a mischievous kind in which they had been engaged, and which, when detected by the parental authorities, was considered of so glaring a character, that, to prove they were determined, in the regulation of the family, to be "a terror to evil- doers," the culprits were sentenced to the direst and most extreme punishment known in the household. The sentence was pronounced, as it happened, in the afternoon, but, to render it more impressive, its execution was deferred until the offenders should have undressed for bed. Being conscious of the magnitude of their offence, and knowing that the authorities with whom they had to deal stuck pretty closely to their word, the laddies did not, it may be supposed, get through the time intervening between the announcement of their threatened doom and its anticipated experience in The way in which in due degree They sweeten'd every meal with social glee. The heart's light laugh applauding every jest, While all is sunshine in each youthful breast, but the hours passed somehow. At length came the dread moment when the tards was expected. They waited aiid waited, each moment of suspense seem- ing more bitter in the endurance ; but no sign was given by the administrator of discipline that he in- ll!l^ L<'': ... „> ~J THE FAMILY CIRCLE. n tended to execute his sentence. At last they resoWed by a coup-de-main to bring their state of suspense to an end, and the boldest of the culprits, leaving the bed-room in which they were expecting their fate, called down stairs in a voice sufficiently loud to be heard by the authorities in the room below, " Father, come up and gie 's our licks, for we winna sleep till ye dee 't." This bold appeal averted the threatened punishment, for neither father nor mother could resist giving way to a hearty laugh at the oddity of the request. The fact was, that something had occiured in the course of the evening to occupy my father's attention so closely as to have made him forget all about the sentence which had caused so much disquietude to the offenders. We had handed down to us by a grandmother, I believe — a matron of the school cf speech and manners prevailing among the middle classes in Scot- land about a century ago, who died in my mother's girlhood — a stock of Scotch proverbs and quaint sayings, some of them peculiar to the district in which the " Granite City " is situated, and all more or less worthy of record. I shall note a portion of them at random, without attempting any classifica- tion : " Saut ! quo' the Butor, when he ate the coo and worried on the tail." I suppose this to mean that if it is attempted, by inadequate means, to overcome a difficulty, already almost vanquished, the feat will not be accomplished. *• When your head's fite (white), ye wad hae 't curlin'." This refers to the custom of wearing hair powder. 12 ABERDEEN AND ITS POLK. i It is intended as a reproof of unreasonable ex- pectations. " Ye've neither been biggin' kirka nor placin' ministers." You have been engaged in some kind of question- able occupation. " Spit upon *t, an* ca 't thegither wi' a atane." Said when too much ado is made about a trifling cut or scratch. " When that fa's oot, we'll sec twa meens (moons) i' the lift, an' anithor i' the aiss midden." Said to express most forcibly the improbability of better conduct for the future. ** Na ! but for questions ye ding, Ye wad speer the doup frae a peer (poor) wife." In reproof of inquisitiveness. **Yer mou' is like the scutter-hole (out of which the mucHn' is effected) o' a byre." Spoken in reproof of uncleanly habits in eating, m -^4 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. II > i . w Augustus) — until the publication took place. 1 owed it to my training at the Grammar School, under Dun and Melvin, thit mv name found a place, though not a very prominent one, on that list. I shall not enlarge on the feeling of pride, and the sense of incipient manliness with which, like most of my youthful fellows, I donned the red gown worn at the college, glorying in the epithet of "Butterie," bestowed by the street urchins on freshmen in Aberdeen. Nor is it worth while say- ing anything regarding my career during the first session in the Greek class, under Dr. Robert J. Brown, that kindly and now venerable men, who retired from active duty on the union of King's and Marischal Colleges, some seven years ago. The humanity class, as above stated, was under charge of Dr. Melvin. Before entering the classes in the second session, the usual preliminary examinations had to be under- gone, and I remember a scheme, practised with success, whereby, at the examination in Greek, it came to be known what particular passage from the authors read during the first session was the subject of trial ou the occasion. The students were called up to the public hall of the college, where the examination took place, in the order of their Chris- tian names (Alexander, Charles, David, &c.), and, on going through the necessary ordeal, each retired to seats in another part of the hall, there to remain until the whole business of the day had been concluded. By inquiry at the sacrist, it was ascer- tained that these seats were ranged close to the liiii M SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAT3. 35 windows overlooking the college grounds below, where the students were lounging about waiting their turn to be called up to the hall. It was arrang(;d before the first student went up that, on his going to these scats after being examined, he should place his cap in a particular place in one or other of the windows, in view of His fellows below, such place to be indicative of the author selected. It was thus, almost at once, discovered that the exiunining professor had selected the tragedy of (Edipus at Colonos. By the same kind of signal, given in turn by each of the first few students who went up, the page and even the very lines selected were discovered, and thus the great majority of the dass went up well prepared for the ordeal, the difliculties in the passage being all surmounted with apparent credit. No such chance, however, was given for the other branches in which entrants in the classes taught dm'ing the second session had to be examined, as the trials for these took place in another room not affording the opportunity of prac- tising such a scheme. n • . :i if The course of study during the second session em- braced Latin, Greek (advanced). Mathematics, and Natural History — the first two of these branches being taught by Drs. Brown and Melvin, as in the first session. The Mathematical chair was held by Professor John Cruickshank, who still survives, although, like his quondam colleague, Dr. Brown, not now in active duty. Ho was a most efticient teacher, well versed in every branch of the science, as well d2 36 ABERDEEN AND ITS POLK. aa an excellent man of business, in his capacity of secretary and treasurer to the College. He ruled his class with a decidedly firm, though gentle hand, and I do not recollect a single instance of an attempt being made by any student, however unruly elsewhere, to question his authority, nor, except on one occasion, when he delivered a really touching farewell address, at the close of the session, did I ever hear a "ruff" in the class-room. He was a thorough gentleman in his treatment of the stu- dents, wliile the business of the class was going forward, although he could say severe things at times in reproof of carelessness or stupidity. Thus, a luckless fellow had been called on for several days in succession to demonstrate the propositions in Euclid forming the subject of study at the time, but he failed on each occasion in going beyond the first few steps in the demonstrations. At last, conscious of his inability to make anything of the proposition finally put to him, he did not rise from his seat, as usual, when called on, indicating thereby his state of unpreparedness. Dr. Cruickshank look- ed him steadily in the face for a few seconds, and then said, in his usual quiet, precise manner : " Is your bottom glued to the seat, sir ? " This brought the young fellow at last to his legs, but failed in getting him to open his mouth. After another short pause, the Professor again addressed him, in the same manner, " Now, sir, you may sit down again." I certainly did not envy his mental condition after such a rebuke. On one occasion, he called up a student, saying "Alexander, will you be so good as demonstrate SCHOOL AND OOLLEQB D.'.YS. 87 nor. the 47th proposition of the first Boo^i 1 " Alexander stood up, showing visible signs of fear, and after enunciating its terms correctly, made a plunge at it. He had evidently conmiitted it carefully to memory, letters of the alphabet and 'all, as in Flayfair's Euclid ; but as Dr. Cruickshank had put other letters on the black board to designate the various lines and angles in the figure, poor Alexander failed. The Doctor encouraged him to try it again, at the same time, with great kindness, going over the first steps of the demonstration with him. Alexander made a second attempt, and failed ; again the worthy Professor came to the rescue, and again the luckless student tried his best in vain. At last, the Doctor turning round from the board and looking keenly at him over the flat tops of his spectacles, said: "Sit down. Sir! You have mistaken your calling ; you ought to have been a shoemaker." (a.) At another time, one of his class was called upon to demonstrate a proposition in the sixth book of Euclid. Poor G broke down three or four times, and each time the Doctor tried to smooth the way for him. At last, his patience, which had been well tried, having become exhausted, the Doctor said " You remind me, sir, of one walking between two high walls, who, not content to travel on the road between them, is determined to overleap one of them. Sit down, sir." (h.) (a.h.) These anecdotes are given by a coutributor to the Scottish American Journal, dating from 73, Crown Street, Newark, New Jersey, who thug speaks of Dr. Cruickshank : 38 ARERDEEN AND ITS POLK. I remember an instance in which, by the remie- sion of a fine incurred by absence from the class, without an adequate excuse, Dr. Cruickshank proved his admirable skill in maintaining discipline, as well aa his knowledge of the characters of the youth with whom he had to deal. Two of my class-fellowa (one of them I may mention, subsequently an officer in the Indian aiTny during the mutiny in 1857, whose sad fixte with that of his attached and heroic wife formed one of the most terrible episodes in the story of that period) had absented themselves from the Mathematical class for two days in succession, in order to enjoy the rarely obtained opportunity of skating in the Auldtown Links. When asked by the Professor, on their next appearance, to account for their absence, they made no reply, but at once tendered the fine incurred. His remark on the occasion (I repeat it almost word for word) was — "I infer from your silence how you have been occupy- ing your time in this weather. I do not like having either to impose or to receive a fine. I would rather, therefore, not have your money on this occasion, but I trust to your honour, gentlemen, that this will not occur again." The youths themselves, as well as the whole of their class-fellows, were effectually gained by this mode of dealing with the offence in question. I am sure none of the nu- " In common with all his pupils, I retain a profound respect and love for him. I think he was the best teacher I ever saw —dear, methodical, and never using a word too many, while each word fell as a sunbeam. # * # Not a session passed without many proofs of his great kindness of heart, such as giving lapsed bursaries, procuring private teaching, &c., for deaerving students. His own career was a noble struggle." \ nasn' SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS. 39 raerous students passing through his hands closed their connection with him as the Mathematical Professor without forming the same well-founded estimate of his sterling worth as I did. Dr. James Davidson, who held the chair of Natural History, was pretty far advanced in years when I joined his class, and had well nigh lost whatever faculty he may have ever had in preserv- ing order among his students. He was a man of an easy disposition, and not naturally disposed to rule despotically, but, when provoked by the dis- plays of turbulence and disorder which too fre- quently took place in the class, he fxued smartly. These often arose out of little matters, so much tinctured with the ludicrous, that even the most attentive and best disposed students could not help enjoying the rich scenes witnessed on such occasions, and, to a certain extent, countenancing the tricks played and breaches of discipline committed by the more unruly members of the class. I shall give, as I proceed, a few of the more prominent of my reminiscences of the session spent in the Natural History class, in illustration of these scenes. Dr. Davidson did not teach the science of Natu- ral History in accordance with the generally under- stood idea of the meaning of these terms, but his lectures and illustrations proved him not unworthy of ranking in the path of science on a par with the Ancient sage philosopher Who had read Alexander Ross over. They were generally instructive, and deserving of ft 40 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. being characterized as "verra enterteenin'." He commenced his course of lectures by explaining the ideas held by the ancients as to the nature and properties of matter. Referring next to the labours of the alchemists, of which he gave an interesting history, and noticing the inestimable service done to Science when Bacon, at last, a mighty man arose, Whom a wise King and nature chose Lord Chancellor of both their laws, he then passed on to a description in detail of the simple substances, or elements, in their three forms — solid, liquid, and gaseous, and the various com- binations of these, whether found in nature or pro- duced by human skill. On two days of the week he illustrated the subjects on which he had been lecturing by experiments, having materials and apparatus for the pm-pose at hand, kept in a little closet attached to the class-room, a peep into which reminded one of the ingredients specified in Surly's speech to Subtle the alchemist : — Chalk, merds, and clay j Powder of bones, scalings of iron, glass, And worlds of other strange ingredient Would burst a man to name. His prelections were thus explanatory rather of chemistry than of the science of natural history. The experiment days were looked forward to with considerable interest by such of the students as desired to profit by the course of instruction thus imparted, while, to the less quietly-disposed portion of the class, they afforded an opportunity, always embraced, of " letting off the steam," to their own SCHOOL AND OOLLEOE DATS. 41 gratification and the annoyance of the " duketer," as he was termed, his attention on these occasions being necessarily called off the discipline of the class, and concentrated upon the experimenting table. His first set of experiments, I remember, was intendad to illustrate the distinctive properties of acids and alkalis, and their diflferent effects on vegetable colours. Some irreverent youth had (years before I was at College) characterized the vegetable solutions thus operated upon as " cabbage bree," a designation handed down from one set of the doctor's students to another. So when he happened at any time throughout his course of experiments to be occupied in the illustration of a subject less interesting as regards visible efifects than that referred to, he would be saluted by some one or other of the " black sheep " in the class say- ing, in a feigned voice, " That's nae worth, duketer, gie's yer cabbage bree." In those days, before gas had come into such universal use for lighting pm-poses, the class-rooms in Marischal College (the dingy-looking building in existence before that which now ornaments the town) were Ughted with tallow candles. One of the tricks played the Doctor was to wet the wi ;ks of the two candles attached to his desk or rostrum, so that although these had been tipped with turpentine by the college janitor before being lighted, the efifects of the wetting were speedily manifested, and, after sundry hissings and sputterings, both of the caudles went out, leaving the doctor in comparative darkness. This necessitated the janitor being sent for to provide fresh candles, while to discover the 42 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. delinquent, the whole class was called npon, one after another, from the catalogue, to " declare upon honour " their knowledge on the subject of the de- linquency. This method of getting at the authors of such tricks, which I have witnessed the Doctor put in operation on several occasions, it is perhp needless to say was never successful. Another candle-trick was unwittingly suggested by the Doctor himself. He had been speaking of the nature and properties of glass, and had referred to the little toy known as glass bomb- shells, which explode, with a sharp report, into dust, on being thrown with some force on the ground, or on com- ing into contact with flame. Somii one or other of the class on the look-out for a chance of getting fun, having procured some of these bomb-shells, took a convenient opportunity of embedding them in the candles (which were hung in a frame fro' the roof of the class-room), in such a way as escape the notice of the janitor when he came to light up the room. Taking a few congenial spirits into confidence with him, it was arranged by the youth in question, that when each bomb-shell went off*, which they all did, blowing out and destroying the candles, a yell of surprise and affright should be given by those in the secret. The scheme suo- ceeded quite to the expectation of its contriver, and the Doctor's bewilderment and utter confusion, aa well as the row on the occasion, may be readily conceived. He was, on one occasion, illustrating the modus operandi of volcanoes when in a state of activity by having ignited in a crucible a quantity of chemicals> SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DATS, 43 which, compounded according to the art whereby ancient Sidrophel could Spit fire out of a walnut ehell, Which made the Roman slaves rebel ; And fire a mine in China here, With sympathetic gunpowder — heaving and tossing, sent iip such dense clouds of suffocating vapo\ir as soon filled the room. The Doctor was speedily lost to view, Jis he tended the miniatiu-e volcano, and, amid cries and yells, " Oh, duketer ! ye've chokit us ; we'll a' be smored," tfec, the whole class rushed out to the college gi'ounds, glad to breathe the fresh air again. There was no more experimenting for that day, the Doctor's vol- cano having gone more energetically to work than he had calculated upon when compounding its in- gredients. In connection with his propensity to resort to the imposition of fines as a modt »f upholding the di»r cipline of the class, I may l te an incident which struck me as very droll at thi 'rae I ^\ tnessed it. The bulk of the youths attending Scotch colleges, it is needless to say, are not gifted with the possession of much pocket-money, ready to be disbursed at immediate call. In consequence of this well-known state of matters, the Doctor's habit was to collect every Friday morning all the fines he had imposed during the previous week, of which he kept a re- gister in a little book for the purpose. It happened, however, on the occasion to which I refer, that thje Doctor, to his surprise, got his money "down on the nail." It was an experiment day, and, as usual, when the Doctor was thus engaged at his table in 44 ABERDEEN AND ITS POLK. ¥:% front of the benches, in which his students were seated, they rose up to their feet, leaning over the book-boards in front of each seat, to get as good a view of the table as possible. While the experi- ments were going on, a young fellow on the second seat from the table jocularly gave the student im. mediately in front of him a smart slap on the back, which coming unexpectedly caused him to turn round, and call out to know who had hit him. The Doctor immediately left ojff his experiments to in- '^uire into the matter, and the delinquent's confu- sion speedily betrayed him as the originator of the disturbance. Having confessed his delinquency, he was addressed : — " Duncane P " (the Doctor, according to academical practice, using the Latin vocative for the christian name), " I fine you a shilling." D. P., taking the coin instantly from his pocket, and stretching over the intervening seat, laid it down with a whack on the table within reach of the Doctor's hand, saying, " There's your money, Doctor." I well remember the burst of laughter which greeted this sally, and the hearty "ruff" \/hich the youth received from the class. The Doctor, however, took the money, without further comment. The largest fine he was in the habit of imposing was five shillings — a breach of discipline of greater enonnity than he considered could be dealt with by a pecuniary mulct being referred to the Senatus Academicus. I remember at least three occasions on which this sum was paid over to the Doctor. The first; was, I think, for " cheek" given to him in the class-room. The fine was paid over by the SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS. 45 transgressor, on this occasion, mostly in farthings, a piece of impertinence which so irritated the Doctor, that he was on the point of referring the youth to the dealings of the Senatus. On the uext occasion, a student (whose many drolleries while at school and college have not impaired his efficiency as the staid vicar of ), had to pay this sum for having treated the Doctor to some ten minutes' imprison- ment in the class-room after dismissal of the class, by holding the " sneck" of the door on the outside. He had hoped to escape detection, and bolted in- continently on quitting hold of the " sneck," but the Doctor happened for once to be too nimble for him, recognizing his tormentor beyond doubt, and he had to pay the pipar for the escapade. The third oc- casion on which the five shilling fine was imposed afibrded the Doctor great satisfaction. One of the students (whose subsequent eminently useful and exemplary career does him credit) had got hold of a pitchfork which, during the Doctor's lectures, he for a whole fortnight kept constantly twanging in con- tact with the under side of the book-board. The Doctor had remonstrated in vain, and had put the class " on honour" without discovering the author of this irritating infliction, till at length he had the satisfaction of witnessing the pitchfori; in the hands of the delinquent, who, emboldened by his long success, was flourishing it about with the intention of continuing the twanging of it. The fine was im- posed, con amove, on this occasion by the Doctor, who rejoiced in his victory so long desired and so hardly won. Although, as it will thus be seen, there was a chro- 46 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. nic state of warfare between Dr. Davidson and some of his students throughout the session, it is right to state that at its close he took leave of the class with the expression of kindly feelings towards every student in it, and I believe that he cherished no animosity towards even those whose conduct had most annoyed him. The information he commu- nicated by his lectures and experiments was well worthy of being treasured as carefully as the worthy skipper in Donihey and Son did in his practice — "when found, make a note of, " and it may fairly be said of the Doctor that he played a useful part in the arts cuiTiculum of the college during his tenure of the Natural History chair, in which he was succeeded by the eminent naturalist, the late Wm. McGillivray, LL.D. The work of the third session lay mainty in the Natural Philosophy class, taught by the late Dr. William Knight, of whom, in a paper which appeared in Maeinillan's Afagazine, Professor Masson says : " Lecturing to us thus, we saw a man in the prime of mature life, of middle height, of fairish or pale complexion, with a fringe of scant fair hair about the temples and round by the ears, but bald a-top, so that his head looked of the laterally com- pressed type, long from back to front, rather than round, broad, or high. On the whole, it was a handsome enough face, but with a cui-ious air of lurking irony about the corners of the mouth." There was a peculiarity, however, about Knight's face, when seen sideways, which this writer has not noticed. The first time I recollect being struck SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS. 47 with it was at one of the annual visitations of the Grammar School by the Magistrates, Professors, and Clergy, among whom the Doctor regularly appeared on such occasions. The expression his features wore when thus seen forcibly suggested the idea of a cat watching its prey, aud ready for a sj^ring, and that this was no mere fancy confined to myself I was convinced a good many yeai's after I first saw him by a droll circumstance. I was looking through a lot of second-hand books about to be sold by auction, when I came upon an abridgement of Lavatcr's physiognomy, containing copies, on a reduced scale, of some of the more interesting plates in the large work. Among these is the well-known one, illustrative of the physiog- nomy of the feline tribe, containing a head so ludi- crously like Dr. Knight's, that some person, through whose hands the book had passed, had written the Doctor's name below the head in question ! Professor Masson goes on to say : — " But Knight's greatest personal pcculiiu-ity — a peculiarity known to us before, from his appearance in the public hall, but now noted more particularly — was his voice. Though, as we came to know afterwards, he was an unusually muscular man — so that, in an experiment testing the degi'ee of force necessary to pull asunder two metal hemispheres, he could easily, planting finnly his somewhat out-bowed legs, pull towards him, or across the room, with his left hand only, the strongest student selected to pull against him — his voice was remarkably feeble and of high pitclu" Professor Masson's paper so well describes 48 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. Knight's method of teaching his science, and so ftilly illustrates his personal peculiarities, that there is little left for me to say on either of those subjects. He ruled his class without having recourse to fines, for, as the writer in question says, notwith- standing his feeble voice, " he governed us tightly, and now and then tongued us with a sarcastic scurrility which no other professor ventured on, and which was far from pleasant." On one occa- sion, I recollect, he manifested this propensity in a way which fully verifies the latter part of the state- ment just quoted. He was at the apparatus-table engaged in illustrating by models the mechanical power developed by the wheel and axle, and having occasion to speak of the employment of this kind of mechanism on board ship, he mentioned the nauti- cal term vdnch. Happening, just as he did so, to cost a glance round the class, his quick eye detected a smile on the faces of some of the students at this word. He stopped his work for an instant, and said, " Some of you bkvckguards who smile at this word know it better spelled with an g." Dr. Knight followed the academical practice of preceding the business of the class in the morning by a prayer, which he uttered with his eyes open, ana looking keenly round among the students dur- ing its delivery. His stock of prayers was limited to two — the Lord's Prayer and another of his own composition, of about equal length, each of these formula) serving in turn for the whole week. In connection with the Doctor's habit of looking round the class during prayers, I may relate an incident told me by a student not of my class. A certain SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS. 49 youth had annoyed him on more than one occasion, and had been sharply rebuked. The measure of his guilt, however, was filled up by his coming one morning into the class-room (lateness was with Knight a great fault) just as the Doctor was con- cluding the prayer, which happened to be that first above mentioned. The youth in question opened the door and entered the class-room just as the last Bpntence commenced. It was delivered with an addendum, in his sharpest tones and without pause, " For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever. — Amen. You're late, you brute !" The Doctor did not excel in the classics or in mathematics, and could not compose Latin fit to stand the scrutiny of Melvin's " version "-makers. On 0^') occasion, he ventured to give the invitation to the opening prayer in the Latin language ; but, instead of using the word precemur (let us pray), he employed the term precamur. The students disre- garded a call made in bad Latin, and remained in a sitting posture. Dr. Knight thought for a little, and, perhaps, guessing the true state of the case, made another venture, and called ^^ precamus" Still not a student budged. After another equally vain attempt to get the students to respond to his call, the Doctor's knowledge and patience were both alike exhausted, and giving up the attempt to be academic, he said, in a tone of mingled petulance and good nature — " Very well, then, my lads, let's have a bit of a prayer." The students were all on their legs at once, and the prayer went on.* * This anecdote is contribut'-i by "A.M." to the Scottish American Journal, aloug with another of the Rev. Dr. Kidd, in a sequel page. E m 60 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. I concur with Professor Masson in the belief ex- pressed by him, at the end of his paper, that " a good many more memorabilia of Knight might be collected, all consisting of such-like satirical out- breaks, tending to the disintegration of one's juve- nile reverence for conventional beliefs and customs ;" and I should be glad to see some of his quondam students add to the collection. Having commenced my training for tie business to which I was bred while ui Dr. Knight's class, I did not complete the four years' curriculum by attending the Moral Philosopliy class, and I there- fore here conclude my rambling account of my associations connected with Marischal CoUege. CHAPTER III. m THE CLERGY IN ABERDEEN. Judge not the preacher ; for he ia thy judge. If thou mislike him, thou conceiveat hira not. God calleth preaching folly. Do not grudge To pick out treasures from an earthen pot. The worst speak something good : if all want sense, God takes a text, and preacheth patience. George Herbert. Op the clergy in Aberdeen, both of the Established Church and other denominations, who laboured in their vocation during the time I dwelt in the " braif toun," I have a good many reminiscences. Before recounting such of these as I deem note- worthy — which I venture upon with the freedom claimed in the couplet — Shall I speak plain, and, in a nation free, Assume an honest layman's liberty ? but with no improper or unfriendly spirit, I may advert to the notoriety the people of Aberdeen have acquired in choosing their clergy upon the principle illustrated by the proverb, " Far fowls hae fair feathers ;" the instances having been comparatively "few and far between" in which, when the vox popidi prevailed in clerical appointments, natives of the place were the successful candidates. Many a preacher, however, whose earliest ambition it was, with the local attachment of a native, to " wag his pow in a poopit " within " the four bows o' Aber- £2 52 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. deen," but who failed to obtain a settlement among his kith and kin, has won name and fame elsewhere ; and, in after days, when reverting to his disappoint- ment, he could afford to contemplate it with no other feeling towards the flock that had failed to appreciate his gifts, than that the loss was theirs, not his. In my notices of this order of the com- munity, I shall, therefore, have to deal mainly with individuals who, though, in the exercise of their sacred vocation in the good city, they became in time Aberdouians in habit and feeling, were originally " incomers," and thus not endowed by nature with the idiosyncrasy which, in things both sacred and secular, entitles the natives to the pre- eminence they enjoy as " canny." To an Aberdonian, it affords ground for genial recollection and association, as well as for genuine respect towards the clergy of all denominations in the town, that, as a class, they have for long taken a zealous and efficient part in furthering works of charity and benevolence, and have devoted fully more of their time to the management of schemes having this object in view than is generally exacted from " the cloth " in their capacity as leading citi- zens in Scottish towns. I cannot help also noting this further circum- stance, that, although during the series of stirring events crowding the page of Scotland's ecclesiastical annals during the last thirty or forty years, differ- ences have arisen among them, on topics which past history shows no sooner arise to agitate men's minds than Debate, like sparks from flints* collision spring — THE CLERGY IN ABERDEEN. 63 the clergy of Aberdeen have yet, upon the whole, in their bearing to each other, afiforded no unbefit- ting illustration of the truth embodied in the quaint old verse : — Behold how good a thing itjia, And how becoming well, Together such as brethren are In unity to dwell. pcum- |rring stical UfFer- past inda The earliest of my recollections goes back to the days of the late Dr. Ross of the (old) East Church. The alFectionate Kirsty, before-mentioned, used in my infancy to take me along with her to this Church (which she attended) on the Sunday fore- noons. Before the service commenced, we generally had a walk through the Town's Churchyard, by which the East and West churches are surrounded on three sides, and I remember her on one of these occasions directing my attention to a grim work of art on a monument, erected some two hundred years ago (Ardo's Tomb, I think, upheld by the city fathers from the revenue of a " mortification " left for that purpose by the local magnate whom it commemorates), representing in basso-relievo a re- cumbent human skeleton. Kirsty's sermon on the occasion, illustrated by a text from a headstone in the neighbourhood (Isaiah xl. 6), "The voice said. Cry," &c., must have been more effective in adher- ing to my memory, as it has, at least in its drift, than all the sermons of Dr. Ross, of whose personal appearance even I can recall only a vague and im- perfect recollection. There is a little story, still current in Aberdeen, 54 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. in which this worthy man figures, ilhistrative of the propensity, prevailing more in Scotland than in either of the sister countries, to talk of and criticise the sermon, on the " skailin o' the kirk." In the old East Church, built in ante-Reformation times, there was an entrance to one of the ugly galleries by a door connected with a flight of steps from the outside. On a certain occasion, when the Doctor was preaching, this door had been accidentally left open, and, as tho weather was cold, he felt uncom- fortable, as many people in the church did. He paused in the course of his sermon, calling to the beadle, and pointing to the proper quarter, " John, shut that door." This functionary obeyed, and the Doctor went on with his discourse. As the story goes, when the congregation were wending their several ways homeward through the churchyard, on the services being concluded, two " auld wives " were overheard in conversation commending the various telling points in the Doctor's sermon, the one of greater skill as a critic saying to the other, " Eh ! he was bonnie," on this, that, and the other subjects in the sermon which had struck her more particularly. The other less pretentious critic could add nothing as her quota of criticism but the sagacious remark, " Eh, woman, but was na he bonnie o' the door ?" * The College Church, or Greyfriars, as it has since * A learned friend, bailing from the west of Scotland, tells tne that this story is narrated in relation to the preaching of another minister in his quarter of the country. I take leave, however, to claim it as indigenous to Aberdeen. THE OLERQY IN .VDERDEBN. 55 been called, was in my early school-boy days under the ministry of the late Dr. Paull, subsequently for many years the respected incumbent of the parish of Tullynessle, and one of the leaders of the Mode- rate party in the Synod of Aberdeen and in the General Assembly during the stirring conflict which eventuated in the Disruption. My only remini- scence of him as the minister of the College church, has reference to the rather mincing and afifected style of speaking which he practised in the earlier days of his clerical career — a habit which he latterly almost entirely got rid of, and which, even had he continued it, would have been more than compensated for by the power he manifested both as a preacher and a debater. It is well known that Aberdonians "tak a gweed moufu' o' the word," and they used to illustrate Dr. Paull's style, when commenting upon it, by quoting the Scotch version of the first line of the 47th psalm, " All people clap your hands," which, as enunciated by him, they said, became " All people clip your hens." id, tells ibing of e leave, Another worthy man, of whom the days of my boyhood and youth afford me some noteworthy reminiscences, was the Rev. John Thomson, M.D., minister of Footdee chapel, erected in 1829 into one of the city charges, the territory assigned to it being designated the parish of St. Clements. A tradition among the Doctor's people was that, when he first came among them, he used, on being sent for to visit the sick, to ask whether his aid was required " for the body or the soul !" His con- gregation at this time was very small, and his 66 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. income as their nniuister corresponded. It is not, therefore, inconsistent with the careful and econo- mical habits which he followed throughout his long life, to presume that he did not in these days object to "earn an honest penny" by the exercise of the secular profession to which (as well as the sacred) he had been bred. Long before I knew him, however, he confined himself entirely to his clerical duties. He was a little thin man, and wore a scratch wig curiously cocked up over his brow. His manners, of the old school, were formal and precise, and these he carried with him into the pulpit, his delivery and action having much quaint- ness about them. One of his favourite gestures during the deliveiy of the emphatic passages in his prayers was to throw back his head, fixing his eyes on a point in the roof of the church directly above him, while he uttered the first part of the sentence, and then to lower his head till his eye rested on the floor of the pulpit, when the remain- ing portion of the sentence was enunciated, all this time his arms down to the elbow being held close to his sides, his hands directed upwards, with the palms outwards. A clerical friend, who sometimes officiated for the doctor, told me that the first por- tion of this his favourite attitude was said among the Doctor's brethren in Aberdeen to resemble nothing so much as a hen holding up her head after drinking, to complete the process of gulr: water down her gullet, and I have of( m struck with the odd aptness of the co. seeing him in the attitude in question. Dr. Thomson vas very careful and ecouom ;aJ THE CLERGY IN ABERDEEN. 57 in all matters involving pecuniary expenditure.* He had four daughters, two of whom predeceased their parents by a good many years. The monu- n 1^ • In appending this note, which I am induced to do from the recollection of this gentleman's economical habits, I beg to disclaim any wish to insinuate that ho descended to the level of actual meannessy as that term is understood on this Bide of the Atlantic, more especially in the Few-nited States, where it is not considered necessary to practise the virtue of thrift to the same extent as in Scotland, and other " Europlan" countries. Dr. Thomson would not have been reckoned a ••mean man" in Scotland, and this addendniii may therefore be considered as to some extent tnal-apropos. 1 cannot, how- ever, resist the opportunity here afforded of depicting the illustrations of the term which I heard, on the occasion of one of my visits to New York city a few years ago. I spent an evening with a friend residing at a village distant about 16 miles from the city, and, in the course of conversation after dinner, he happened to advert to some project then on hand in the locality, in which he intended to take part. It appeared that he had inadvertently omitted to inform his wife, who was sit- ting with us at table, of his intention ; and in rallying him on his forgetfulness, the lady jocularly concluded by saying to him ••you're a mean man, J S , you're a meau man !" I heard this characteristic again attributed, on the following evening, but then the speaker was not in joke. To pass the time, and endeavour to gather something noteworthy of the people frequenting the hotel, where I put up during my stay in the city — that famous monster establishment, the " St. Nicholas," in Broadway — I sauntered for a while round the bar-room, which was crowded with an assemblage composed partly of the guests then quartered in the house, and partly of casual visitors. Some were engaged in " liquoring-up," the usual multiform " drinks," — " cocktails," " slings," "smashes," •* cobblers," "stone-fences," "pick-me-ups," "chain-hghtnings," *• moral-suasions," &c., being in constant requisition. Some were gathered in groups, earnestly discussing the national or local politics of the day, according to the free and out-spoken manner of the country, while others talked of dollars and cents, and descanted on the various methods whereby a man can "make his pile." In the course of my saunter through the bar-room, I came upon a group, one of whom was talking in a loud voice and gesticulating excitedly in reference to some individual 58 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. ment wl ich he erected on the churchyard wall over the grave of these ladies indicated this propensity in the Doctor. The inscription on it ran thus : ** Erected in momory of the Rev. , minister of Footdee, who died , aged — years, and of , his wife, who died , aged — years. They were blessed with four daughters," * 82 ABERDEEN AND ITS POLK. nents, and in consequence his chapel was crowded, both by Catholics and Protestants, during the whole course of his own controversial lectures. On one of these occasions he stated that he had come to the resolution of engaging in the controversy with great reluctance, and that nothing but an im- perative sense of duty would have made him enter the lists. He said that he desired to live in peace with all mankind, and to " let be for let be," but his opponents had resolved to pursue another course. He concluded his explanations by saying : — " They hae brocht sax ministers against me, my freens, and ane o' them (naming him), I wad hae thocht, sud hae keepit oot o' it, considerin' a* things, and they've pitten forrit, in the front rank, that michty, michty man, John Murray." The point in the allusion to the minister " that sud hae keepit oot o't " lay in the circumstance that a very near relative of his was a Roman Catholic, and a devout member of Mr. Gordon's congregation, while the epithet applied to Dr. Murray (afterwards minister of the Free North Church), arose from his the congregation, not very numerous, consisted mainly of the local creme de la creme. Her reply, in her usual Doric, was, •' I gaed to the kirk the first Sunday afternoon after Sandio Davidson cam till's, but he brocht sic a trail o' folk wi' him, and I was sae scunner't wi' the smell o* broth an' ingans, that I vow'd I wadna gang back, excep" to the forenoon's preachin'." It is, perhaps, needless to explain to Aberdonians wherein the point of the old lady's would-be-scornful saying lay — namely, in the vulgarity, in her estimation, of the new-comers in dining *' between sermons," on the plain but wholesome fare, which I doubt not yet continues to grace the Sunday's dinner table of the burghers of the "braif toun," instead of, as she did, at a later and more fashionable hour of the day, and on dishes of a more pretentious order than " broth and beef." Dwded, 1 whole )n one ome to sy with an im- a enter I peace B," but mother saying : me, my rad hae erin' a* t rank, " The hat sud 5 that a lie, and gation, wards om his THE CLERGY IN ABERDEEN. 83 01 y of the ric, was, Sandio wi' him, ana, that lachin'." rein the -namely, n dining "e, which er table did, at ishesof fame as a stirring preaoher and a debater on the Evangelical side in the Established Church Courts. After the excitement caused by this controversy had subsided, as it speedily did, Mr. Gordon pur- sued the even tenor of his way, continuing through- out his long life to discharge his duties in the quiet unostentatious way so congenial to his nature. g2 iia 'k.. x#. v^, ra-- lAAAGc EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 // V •i^v/ fe^^ fA 1.0 I.I :f iiM iiiM It M 12.0 1.8 1.25 u 16 «4 6" ► p /i > ^ y Photographic Sciences Corporation ^■. ^^ s \ V •Q^- ^\ ^ 9) > f"', 'f!'','" 6^ X V' <> % ^^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. M580 (716) 877-45C3 i<'.r ^ iV ^ CHAPTER IV. NOTABLE CITIZENS. Sncb a roan ii; ;li'' Might be a copy to these younger times. Which, followed well, would demonstrate them now But goers backward. S7ialcspea/re. T nAVE already referred to the epithet "canny" conferred upon the folk of Aberdeen par excellencey by such as claim not to belong to the capital of the "Yorkshire" of Scotland. My intercourse with men since I left it has satisfied rae that, along with that characteristic — which no individual system of scholastic training can impart — Aberdonians in ge- neral bear about with them the readily distinguish- able marks of the quality of the education already reverted to as imparted in the town, a quality which fails not, to whatever region it is carried, to bestow Upon the throng'd abodes of busy men An air and mein of dignified pursuit — and I say so with no desire either to induce cr encourage a vainglorious spirit, for my sentiments are shared by those bound to Bon-Accord by no such ties as are cherished by her sons, wherever Aberdonians have to make their way in the world. Out cf the many citizens of Aberdeen, of whom I retain the recollection, it is pleasant in looking back on the " days o' lang syne," to recal the once-familiar NOTABLE CITIZENS. 85 cr buts no iver lineaments of not a few who have exemplified in their character, each in one aspect or another, the attributes enumerated in the lines : DiBcreet, who men as books have known. Brave, generous, witty, and exactly free From loose behaviour, and formality ; Airy and prudent ; merry, but not light ; Quick in discerning, and in judging right : In reas'ning cool, strong, temperate, and just j Obliging, open, without hnffing, brave ; Brisk in gay talking, and in sober, grave j Close in dispute, but not tenac'ous ; tried By solid reason, and let that decide. But as most of those who crowd m^ ''".lory's page " pursued the even tenor of their vfay' 'lout ex- hibiting, to a noteworthy extent, such peculiarities as would have invested chem with special interest, I select from my store only the following reminis- cences. The most prominent among the citizens of Aber- deen, in my day, was the 1: te Provost James Had- den of Persley, the leading partner of two ext onsive manufacturing firms in the town. It is to this gentleman's public spirit and ability that Aberdeen owes its reputation as a well-built and elegant city, the fine streets forming the principal thoroughfares, as well as the beautiful bridge of one arch spanning the Denbum Valley, having been projected by him. He was also the prime mover in the scheme for supplying the town with water from the Dee, and he took an active interest in the improvements on the hai'bour, which have done so much to increase the prosperity of the town. The following humble tribute to his memory is Mi i 86 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. unao- here offered, and it is hoped it may not be CMjptable to his surviving fellow-citizens : — "SI MONUMENTTJM QU^RIS, CIECUMSPICE." Lo ! on yon Northern Ocean's bill'wy strand. Where rock and cliff give place to bent-clad sand, A City stands — in aspect chaste and fair — Pattern of skill, with " plummet, rale and square." Here Art has shap'd what Nature left awry. And progress marks each scene that greets the eye ;.' While, ne'er the past forgetting, genial taste Sustains each antique reUc undefac'd. See stately streets, by granite fabrics lin'd. Displaying simple grace, with strength combin'd. Ton central valley, mark how boldly spann'd By one proud arch, with daring genins plann'd. Behold a healthful stream, in conduits led. Through aU the City's bounds its bounties spread. See many a gallant bark now crowd the Port, To which but pigmy craft could once resort. Th' admiring stranger asks whose master-mind. On progress bent, these various schemes designed ? «'Twas HADDEN'S mind," the denizen replies, ** In project fertile, and in judgment wise." Agnin the stranger asks — " Has Bon-Aooord No statue rear'd, or column to record A lasting tribute to her prescient son, Of gratitude so well, so justly won?" The answer follows — apt, and promptly found — ** 1/ monument you seek, look all around !" He was an excellent man of business, punctual and attentive in the discharge of his many public duties, and exacted from the employes connected wtth the public bodies in the town, over whom he jiresided, ex-ojicio, the same punctuality in keeping appointments as he himself practised- He admi- nistered a rebuke, ever after remembered, on an occasion when the ofl&cial he was to meet did not ^4)ear for a minute or two after the exact time. NOTABLE CITIZENS. 87 nao- Having heard the apology offered — ^that the indi- vidual in question had been so closely occupied in preparing for the meeting as to have inadvertently overlooked the lapse of time — Provost James said to him, " Sir, tae expectation entertained by your employers of your appearing first at these meetings, as you ought always to do, is one of the reasons why they remunerate you as they do." He was much respected by the whole community, even in the stuTing times which preceded the passing of the Burgh Reform Bill, of which, being a staunch Tory, he was an opponent. The system of self- elections, which led to the passing of that measure, obtained in Aberdeen, as in other Scotch burghs, and, in consequence, the civic dignities ran in diques and families, often from one generation to another. It thus happened that the chief magis- tracy of the city was held for many years alternately by Mr. Hadden and his brother Gavin, of Union Grove, a gentleman of good administrative abihty, though not so far-seeing as Provost James. The drcumstance of their thus occupying by turns the highest civic position in Aberdeen, I once saw rather humorously referred to in an inscription, scribbled on the wall of a barber's shop, when, in my boyhood, I had to wait my turn for the exercise of the tensor's art. The couplet ran thus : — Twa hauchty Haddens wore the civic croon { Gavin gaed up when Jamie cam doun. s -iL ? I; One of the most prominent among the public men of Aberdeen, in his day, was the late Mr. Wil- liam Carnegie, advocate, who filled the office of 88 ABERDEEN AND ITS POLK. Town-Clerk for nearly forty years. Had the town ill his lifetime been honoured by royal visits, as it has been since his death, it is likely we sh uld have had such commemorative prints as that which was published on the occasion of Her Majesty's landii^ in Aberdeen in 1848. No picture of the kind would have been complete without containing in the foreground his stately and imposing figure. He was tall, and inclined to stoutness, with a handsome set of features, and always dressed well, generally preferring a claret-coloured coat, which he kept buttoned up to the chin, and light drab pantaloons, and he continued to the last to wear hair powder, delicately scented with violets. Mr. Carnegie had somehow acquired the reputation of being, as re- garded business qualifications and general intelli- gence, what is expressively called " a mufi"." This was, however, a mistake. I have been told by those who came much in contact with him in mat- ters pertaining to his public duty, that he acquitted himself most creditably, and that his official corres- pondence and the records of procedure drawn up by him show that he possessed abilities a good deal above the average. The reputation referred to arose, as I believe, more from his having given way to habits of mental laziness, than from anything else. Thus, it is said, that he would not take the trouble himself to sum up a few columns of figures, if he could get a clerk to do it for him, nor would he make or mend a pen as people generally needed to do before the introduction of steel pens. He was fiery and imperious in his temper, and ruled his dependents, the clerks in the Town-House, and NOTABLE CITIZENS. 89 the town aerjeants, with a rod, not of u*on certainly, but nearly as formidable, in the shape of a porten- tous walking-stick, cut from the garden of Hugo- mont, on the field of Waterloo, which was known in the Town-Honse as " The Clerk's Hugomont." Mr. Carnegie wag bom i\nd grew up in the days when, as Dean Ramsay rea arks, conversation could not be conducted without tho " accompaniments of those absurd and unmeaning oaths, which were once considered an essential embellishment of polite discourse." Like most people who had acquired the habit of swearing, he had doubtless come to think of these " accompaniments " in no more grave light than that " oaths are but words, and words but wind," and he manifested the habit more especially on occasions when anything occurred to ruffle his temper. His favourite oath was applied, not like Jack Tar's, to the " eyes," but to " your blood, sir.'* His utterances in this line, howevei might have afforded r. good illustration of the faculty possessed by the Perth writer, commemorated by the Dean, who " didna sweer at onything particular, but juist etude in ta middle of ta road, and swoor at lairge.** He was the terror of street and coal porters, who were in the habit of transgressing the police regu- lations of the town, by walking, with their loads, along the side pavements, instead of keeping " the crown of the causeway." When such transgressors caught a glance of him coming along, armed with his formidable Hugomont, they quickly left the forbidden territory, well knowing what they had to expect from him. I once saw him turn a shore porter, bent double under a heavy bale of goods, ^:|i i 90 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. i 11- off the pavement in Marischal Street, which, in those days, was the only thoroughfare between the Harbour and Castle Street, and which is so steep in its inclination, that even powerful and stalwart men, such as the shore porter.> are, could not carry heavy loads up the street without using the smoother side pavement. A little story is told of his wrath on an occasion when, being in a quar- ter of the town where he was not so well known as in the vicinity of the Town-House, one of a lot of boys, through whom he passed, called after him, " Eh, man, the neck o' your coat's a' fite." This condition of the garment in qu estion was caused by the use of hair powder, and the urchin's offence, which the Olerk resented in his wonted style, was accounted for by the rarity of that peculiar fashion, clung to throughout life by only two other persons in Aberdeen, within my recollection, the late Mr. John Booth, publisher of the Chronicle newspaper, and Provost George Henry, recently deceasjed. In evidence of Mr. Carnegie's reputed mental inferiority, there used to be quoted the answer he made when under examination before a committee of the House of Commons relative to the subject of a bill promoted before Parliament by the authorities of Aberdeen. He was asked by counsel, " How long have you been Town Clerk of Aberdeen?" To which he replied, "Ever since my father died." This answer has an apparent tinge of weakness in it, but it can readily be accounted for by the con- sideration that the counsel had no doubt been Instructed by Mr. Carnegie in all the local matters bearing on the subject under considen^tiou by the NOTABLE CITIZENS. 91 oommittte, among -which was the circumstance that Mr. Carnegie's father had been his immediate predecessor in the office of Town Clerk. One can readily suppose, therefore, that he had gone to be eacamined befoie the Committee, with the idea that he would merely have to repeat what he had pre- viously communicated to counsnl in private. Other stories are related of Mr. Carnegie, tending in the same direction, the point of which lies in his having been the victim of practical jokes, perpetrated upon him by the knot of acquaintances with whom in his earlier days he used to dine at Affleck's — an establishment in a close in Exchequer Row, long noted for its recherche entertainments — in the Lemon Tree Tavern, famous in particular for Finnan haddocks and crab claws — and elsewhere. These jokes, (some of them rather rough,) were, it is said, amply atoned for by their perpetrators, and the Clerk's chagrin ^~ mollified by the subsequent conduct of his waggi i friends towards him. It must not be inferred, however, that Mr. Carnegie, bachelor as he remained throughout life, had any title to be classed among such worthies as Sir Walter Scott depicts figuring at " High Jinks," or at the symposia, chronicled by Lord Cockbum in his Memorials. In my day, at any rate, the Clerk was most regular and temperate in his habits, and emjoyed, on the whole, very good health, his only ailment being the aristocratic complaint of gout, from which he occasionally suffered. Having come into office as Town Clerk, and per- formed his public duties from year to year under the regime of a close Tory Town Council, Mr. Car I I 93 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. negie shared the sentiments of the City Fathers on the question of Parliamentary and Burgh Reform, when so much political excitement prevailed, An J some for brooma, old boots and shoes, Bawl'd out to purge the Commons' House, and he looked upon the passing of the Reform Bills of 1831 and 1832 in the light of a revolution. * The dreaded measure, however, once passed, was found by Mr. Carnegie to be by no means so formid- able in its aspects as he had anticipated, for after the electoral rolls for the Burgh had been made up by him — a piece of duty which had yielded him a good many fees, he said one day, in the course of conversation in a bookseller's shop which he fre- quented : " Reform is not such a bad thing after all. It has put nearly three hundred pounds in my pocket." He had the reputation of being somewhat dose and stingy in money matters, but I have been * The new order of things, both in the Parliamentary and Municipal representation of the Burgh, was not acquiesced in by the Conservative electors for some years, although, being greatly outnumbered by the Liberal party, they had but a poor chance of regaining their former ascendancy. Attempts were made, at different periods, on the seat of Mr., afterwards Sir Alexander, Bannerman, the first M.P. for Aberdeen, after the passing of Earl Grey's famous measure of 1831, who held it *' against all comers," till he resigned in 1847, and was suo- ceeded by the late Captain Diugwall Fordyce of Brucklay. A good many anecdotes, illustrative of the Aberdonian character, could doubtless be related, in connection with these election contests, but as I did not take any part in them, I can give only one — told to me by the late Conveaer Alexander Mortimer — of the late worthy and respected Deacon William Levie, who in the practice of the craft of King Crispin, long plied awl and hammer in his little unpretentious shop, at the south-east corner of Commerce Street. Being a staunch Tory, the Deacon was a member of the Election Committee when the late Ad* NOTABLE CITIZENS. 93 told that he did many kind things in a quiet iinoa- tentatious way. His domestic servants were well treated and remained long in his establishment, which was presided over by an unmarried sister, who survived him, a kindly gentlewoman to whom he was much attached. The late ProTost Jamos Milne long occupied a leading position in Aberdeen. He was best known by the designation of Bailie, having been originally appointed to that office while a member of the Town Council, under the Tory regime. For some cause or another, he differed from his colleagues in the corporation, and left the Council, taking up there- after with the Whig party in the town, on whose .1 ■ i'k i ll miral (then Captain) Sir ^ rthur Farquhar camo forward as a candidate for the representation of the City, in opposition to Mr. Bannerman. The Captain was frank and easy in manner, ttB became his profession, and the members of his Election Committee assisted him in his canvass with great zeal and heartiness. Though under the middle size in statnre, he was handsome, and was always " weel pnt on " in dress. Sir Arthur had made an appointment to call for the Deacon at his shop, on a certain day, in order that, together, they might canvass the electors in the neighbourhood, with whom the latter was best acquainted. The would-be M.P., however, for some reason or other, did not make his appearance at the hour appointed, and the Deacon had to wait so long until Sir Arthur arrived, that he had almost despair d deeing the candidate that day. At last, to the great joy of the long expecting Committee- man, whose place of business was filled with acquaintances gathered for the occasion, the Captain was descried coming along, and on his entering the shop he was greeted with an ardent and demonstrative reception — the Deacon saying to him in hie couthiest tones— "Come awa, my bonnie Sir Erthurie, ye' re here at last, I thocht we wisna to see ye the day." The Deacon's greeting, though it contained an allusion to Sir Arthur's petite stature, was cordially received, and the intend- ed canvass duly proceeded. u ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. accession to power after the passmg of the Reform Bill, he was appointed Senior Bailie, and on the death of Provost James Blaikie, he was elected Provost and Chief-Magistrate, with the general approbation of the citizens. Provost Milne, who had somehow been irreve- rently nicknamed " Birdie," was plain and homely in his manners, and, except when oti his p's and q's, spoke the broadest Doric. When sitting on the bench administering justice in the Police Court — a portion of his duty of which he was very fond — ^he took great pains in investigating the charges against the unlucky culprits brought before him. I was present in court on the first occasion when the Reform Magistrates, (as they were called,) com- menced their reign as "a terror to evil doers,** Bailie Milne being in tlie chair. In regard to this tribunal, a general expectation had prevailed among the community that the newly elected dignitaries would shed greater lustre on the bench from which they were to dispense justice than had their self-chosen predecessors, and that the Police Court would henceforth, under their ad- ministration, verify, in its attributes, the description given of the critical Forum in the Rosciad, of which we are told that there Rose a tribunal : from no other court It borrow' d ornament, or sought support i No juries here were pack'd to kill or clear, No bribes were taken, no oaths broken here ; No gownsmen, partial to client's cause, To their own purpose turn'd the pliant laws. Each judge was true and steady to his trust, As Mansfield wise, and as old Foster just. Many people were thus attracted to the soene I 1 c J c t a t a NOTABLE CITIZENS. 96 to witness the first judicial display of the Reform Magistrates, and the " chaumer " was consequently- crowded to the door. It happened that the first person who appeared in the dock to answer to a charge of assault and breach of the peace, was the late well known Geordie Weir, tailor, whose figure, curiously " crookit like an izzit," had earned him the cognomen of the " Partan " — his diminutive proportions recalling Potruchio's tirade against the tailor — Thou thimble, Thou jard, three-qnartera, half-yard, quarter, nail, Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cncket thou. The Parten pled his case with volubility and address, reiterating, in almost every sentence, the statement, " Pm a humane man, sir Bailie, Pm a humane man." Bailie Milne bestowed great pains in the examination of the witnesses in the case, and I remember his formula, when examining a witness, on what he considered a point of importance, was, " Noo, jist answer me this ae question." The result was that the charge of assault and " batterification " (as Mansie Waugh, the renowned tailor of Dalkeith, calls it) was found not proven against the Parten, * me * On a certain anniversary of King George the Third's birth-day, the Parten, then in the hey-day of his youth, having imbibed rather freely, got into a squabble with eonie one on the street, and a row was likely to be the consequence. A tall and burly sailor coming along interfered and insisted on knowing the cause of the disturbance. Not liking the tar'a formidable appearance and determined manner, the little man attempted to propitiate him by answering, " Oh, its only a tradesman on a bit of a spree." On which. Jack, who waa a few sheets k the wind, seized the Parten by the " scruff 96 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. and ho retired from the dock with his reputation as a " humane man " unimpaired. Mr. Milne, being of a kindly disposition, and ready to look at the fair side of things, was not a very stem ruler while he sat dispensing justice among the hapless wights of both sexes who came into the clutches of the police, and his sentences were thus as lenient as the interests of justice would allow. In both the public ofSces which he filled, he acquitted himself creditably, devoting almost his whole time to his official duties, and dis- pensing the rights of hospitality with no niggard hand, in his old-fashioned house in the Gallowgate, where his major domo, " Black Tom," the negro, as well known in the town as Provost Milne himself, reigned supreme. At a riot which took place in Castle Street, on the evening of one of the late King William's birth- days, Provost Milne, though an old and not over- robust man, behaved with great pluck and spirit, in attempting to disperse a turbulent and mischiev- ously-disposed mob of roughs, who had let fly a shower of stones at the Town-House windows, by which almost every pane of glass in them was o' the neck," with one hand, and by the seat of his inex- prcisibles with the other, and, holding him, thus grasped, at arm's length, walked about for a while among the crowd which had gathered, in the character of a showman, as- snmed for the occasion, saying, "Come here, good people, come here and see a tradesman on a bit of a spree ! " By the time the Parten was again set upon terra firnuif he waa no longer desirous of continuing his ** spree." To those who can recal his odd-looking figure, the idea of such an exhibition must be amusing. NOTABLE CITIZENS. 97 [as- M ras lose an broken. He led a small body of police in charging the rioters - And bravely threw himself among Th' enemy i' th' greatest throng j But what could single valour do Against so numerous a f oe ? In this " forlorn hope " adventure, he was " crown- ed," hustled, and " put in chancery " by the ring- leaders ; but some of these fellows were captured, and paid smartly for their share in this emeute^ while Provost Milne was deservedly complimented for the courage he had displayed. There have been few men whose lot it has been to hold office in Aberdeen, in the service of their fellow-citizens, more deserving of a tribute of re- spect than James Milne, who died at a good old age, universally esteemed by the people among whom his useful and honourable career was passed. The Town-Serjeants of Aberdeen have long oc- cupied a prominent place among the public func- tionaries of the town. Although a large portion of their duty consists in attendance on the Provost and Magistrates, they do good service as criminal officers within the city limits, and they acted as constables until the introduction of the regular police force, which has guarded the lives and pro perty of the citizens for the last five-and-thirty years. The most efficient member of this body of Town-Serjeants was the late Simon Grant, whose very name was, for nearly fifty years, a terror to all evil-doers within the jurisdiction of the Magistrates. Grant was about the middle size, lithe and active m 98 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. in his movements, and remarkably fertile in expe- dients for hunting down criminals. He was also plucky and determined, and fought bravely In many desperate attempt* Of warrants, exigents, contempts — in apprehending and securing his prisoners. He seemed to have been fitted by nature for the busi- ness of a detective, and displayed great foresight and intelligence in making his investigations, so that there were few instances in which he was baffled in tracing the jDerpetrators of evil deeds. Most of the hapless beings who came through his hands in his professional capacity had cause eventu- ally to rue the skill, by virtue of which Although they nothing would confess. Yet, by their very looks he'd guess, And tell what guilty aspect bodes. Who stole, and who received the goods. There are many stories told illustrating the won- drous skill he manifested in his not very inviting vocation, ever regarding his destined prey As (poets sing) Grimalkin, to domestic vermin sworn An everlasting foe, with Avatchful eye, Lies nightly brooding o'er a cbinky gap, Protending her fell claws, to thoughtless mice Sure ruin — and for his abilities ho was often highly compli- mented by the authorities. One of these may be cited as a sample of the manner in which he brought his experience into operation. A very daring burglary had been committed during the night in a house at the west end of Aberdeen, a large quantity NOTABLE CITIZENS. m ipii- be [ught iring in a itity of silver plate and other valuables having been carried oflF. The robbers left no trace behind them, to indicate either the perpetrators of the deed, or the manner in which their booty had been disposed of. The case was put into Grant's hands for investigation, and knowing, as he did, all the suspicious characters about the town, he fixed upon two or three as the probable depredators. He then set about the difficult, but to him the interesting and exciting task of tracking out their movements for some time before, as well as subsequent to, the night of the robbery. After a minute and very careful investigation, he came to the conclu- sion that the plunder must be secreted in a house in College Street, occupied by one or more of the gang or their confreres. Entering this house with his assistants, and carrying in his hand, as he usually did, a small walking cane, he cast his eyes rapidly over the rooms, and, finding that a pretty large portion of the plaster of the coiling had been recently repaired, he poked his cane tlu"ough the still damp material, when he had the gratification of finding, secreted among the rafters, all the stolen ai ..oles of which he was in search. The biu-glars were convicted and sent to the Hulks. Grant's skill and success became known omong the criminal authorities throughout the whole of Scotland, and he was often employed out of Aber- deen in cases of difficulty. His wcll-knowna figure, wearing the scarlet swallow-tailed coat indicative of his office as town-scrjoant, long filled the pubhc eye in Aberdeen, and on his death, at an advanced age, his remains were honoured by a public funeral — a h2 m 100 ABERDEEN AND IT8 FOLK. mark of respect seldom paid at the interment of one in his rank of life. .; i si 'Ma P m The last of the Town House worthies, flourishing in my day, of whom I have any note-worthy re- collections, is the late John Home, Town House Keeper, who occupied this post upwards of forty years. In figure he was rather tall, with good features, though very lean. F il louge were his legges, and ful lene, * Yliko a staf, ther was no calf yseno ; and, like the character depicted by Chaucer, he had a " kittle" temper ; — The Reve was a slender colerike man, His berd was sbave as neighe as ever he can. When angry, he could discharge, after the fashion of many of his betters, a pretty heavy battery of strong expletives, but such explosions did not last very long at a time, and his usual sedateness speedily returned. John was so long custodier of the Town House, including the wine cellar — Wei coude he kepe a garner and a biune, that he had come to consider himself almost as the owner of the building and all its appurtenances, and he used to resent the slightest allusion to any oversight that might have occurred in the execution of his duty, for he evidently seemed to think " he could do as he liked with his own." In the old close corporation days, when the revenues of the ** Guild Wine Fund" were spent to a great extent NOTABLE CITIZENS. 101 of of ast as ces, any tion 'he old the ;ent on breakfasts,- " snacks," and dinners, by the Council and their friends, John Home was an im- portant personage. He was an excellent caterer, and there are legends in the Town House of his skill in providing Finnan haddocks, " parten-taes," Highland honey, and other toothsome cates for breakfast. On these occasions when good cheer was dispensed, it was the unvarying experience of the Council and their guests that John Did all the stores produce that might excite With various tjxstes the burgher's appetite. He was also a good judge of wine, and had a pretty large stock of various brands under his charge in the Town's wine cellar. John was a Tory of the most uncompromising order, and looked upon the Burgh Reform Act as a measure which would drive out of the Town Coimcil suih gentlemen as the Haddens, Baillies Cruden, Galen, and others, among whom all John's associa- tions lay, and of letting in, as he said, " a puckle souter an' tailor bodies, an' sic like trash." He therefore entered into the spirit of a Lament, written after the passing of the Burgh Reform Act by one of the clerks in the Town House, of which I happened to see a copy at the time, commencing thus : — In the year eighteen hundred and thirty-three, A very great change in this house is to be ; The cler)ts, town-aerjeants, town's drummers, and all, Must speedily, out of its door, " tak' their crawl." The new Town Council, however, came into power, without causing any such dire effects, hut '11 102 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. John continued, for a long time tifter the new regime began, to lament over the departed greatness of the city corporation ; and although at their meetings he received each member of the Reformed Town Council with a low bow and a gracious smile, as he ushered them into the Council Chamber, he used to sneer and scoff behind their backs, at " the bodies," us he called them, contrasting them with the race of dignitaries whom they had sup- planted. John thus proved himself an " auld sneck-drawer," by the way he treated his new masters, but he became in time reconciled to the order of things which has prevailed since 1833, in the disposal of the Town's revenues. Towards the close of his life, passed in single blessedness, John manifested some concern about the arrangements for his funeral and interment. In connection with this, I may relate a saying of his to one of the clerks in the Town House, after the public funeral of the late much respected Baillie Harper. On the occasion referred to, John asked this young man what sort of a place the churchyard of Forgue was, where the Eaillie's remains had been inten-ed. He was answered that nothing was known on the subject. John's next query was, " Faar div ye lie ?" He was duly informed on this point, and he then proceeded to say : — " I gang to Dyce, ye see. It's a bonnie kirk-yardie, an' oh man, it's fine and dry." This was uttered in a tone of great satis- faction, and it was evident that he appreciated the peculiar quality which, according to him, charac- terised the spot of earth where his dust was to repose. NOTABLE CITIZENS. 103 John's instructions in reference to his funeral were carried out to the letter, and he " rests his head upon the lap of earth" in the " bonnie dry kirk- yard" referred to. A story is told of his obsequious politeness towards the Provost in office at the time when George IV. visited Scotland. John went to Edinburgh, in the retinue of the Provost and Magistrates of Aberdeen, who paid their respects to the King in that city, upholding, by their hand- some equipages and weU-dressed attendants, the dignity of the town they represented. On one of the state occasions, in which John Home figured in his official livery, he happened to get rather a severe fall. The Provost having asked, in a voice of concern, whether he was hurt, John answered with a low bow, and in his most fitting tones, " Quite the reverse, my lord." Peace be to his ashes. With all his peculiarities he was a faithful servant, and did his best in his sphere to uphold the dignity of the town. 5; Aberdeen has, at no period of her history, fallen behind other towns in the possession of characters. The best known of these, some forty or fifty years ago, was the late eccentric Robbie Troup, grocer and general dealer, whose unpretentious and not over-orderly-kept place of business was a shop in an old-fashioned tenement in Castle Street. Many stories are told illustrative of Robbie's humour and eccentricity. The following have never, I believe, till now, appeared in print. On a certain occasion, when the late Principal Brown, of Marieohal College, was in Pobbie's shop, 104 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. which he frequented for a chat, the conversation turned to the practice of . smuggling, which was roundly condemned by the Principal. Robbie attempted to defend the practice by the usual arguments adopted by those who think it no great sin to break the revenue laws. The Principal, however, would not listen to Robbie's special pleading. To close the argument, he quoted the text, " Render to Ccesar the things that are CsBsar's," which ho expected would shut Robbie's mouth. It failed to do so, for he rejoined, " Aye aye, Aye aye, that's a' verra weel o' you, Princi- pal, preaching's your trade, an* sellin' the drappie drink's mine, but ye see our Ceesar's sic a greedy Cajsar, he would seize a'." On one occasion a servant girl hurriedly entered his shop and asked for a gill of vinegar. " I'm verra sorry, my lassie," Robbie said, " that I hae nae ony but fat's soor" Not perceiving at once the absurdity of this remark, the girl replied, " Aweel, than, I doot it winna dee," and immediately left the shop, his joke thus depriving Robbie of a customer. Robbie's fame as a dealer in every article of which merchandise could be made, whether con- nected with his business as a grocer or not, was well known to his fellow citizens, and he rarely failed to supply, out of the miscellaneous stock of articles on his premises, any demand that might be made " from a pin to an anchor." It is related that a townsman well acquainted with Robbie, on one occasion, talking with a friend from England about Troup's miscellaneous stock, laid a bet of NOTABLE CITIZENS. 105 some amount that whatever article might be asked for would be furnished by Robbie on demand. As the story goes, the Englishman kept his own coun- sel as to the article he was to purchase, and the two wagerers visited Robbie's shop next day, to have the bet settled. Robbie was asked " if he had any sentry-boxes in stock," to which he re- plied, " Oh, aye ; I was at the sojers' barracks the ither day, at a roup o' auld stores, and I bocht a sentry-box. Come awa' oot to the back-yard and see 't." The stranger at once acknowledged that he had lost the bet. Robbie is said to have made a good deal of money, and his business continued to flourish till his death, when he was succeeded in it for a time by the late genial and accomplished William Duncan, so long the efficient Treasurer to the Police and Water Commissioners of the city. |-,i of on- as ly of be ed Ion d of The people of Aberdeen were long familiar with the tall and not very gainly figure of the late James Andrew Sandilands, of Cruivcs, a gentleman of kindly disposition, who dispensed his hospitality to a small circle of friends in his house in Belmont Street, which was presided over by his sister. Miss Paul, that being tlic family name. On account of his tallness he had got conferred upon him the so- briquet of " the Panorama," and ho was mifortu- nately subject to the mfirmity of a stutter in his speech, which made it difficult for those not intimately acquainted with him to understand what he said. When he sang, however, which he some- times did on festive occasions, he betrayed no 106 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOJ^K. symptom of the infirmity in question. I once heard him at an anniversary party in the Lemon Tree, that famous hostehy, sing, in capital style, the ancieni ditty : — Amo, amas, I love a lass, As a cedar, tall and slender. The cowslip's grace, of the nominative case, And she's in the feminine gender. Horum, scorum, sunt divorum, Harum, scarum, divo, Tag-rag, merry-derry, perriwig and hatband, Hie, hoc, horum, genitive. Mr. Sandilands spent his life in bachelorhood, lavishing his regards on a tribe of elegant little dogs of the King Charles' breed, that trotted around him as ho walked along the streets, the admiration and envy of all dog-fanciers in the town. These pets were carefully attended to by a henchman, Peter McDonald by name, who followed the voca- tion of a street porter. Mr Sandilands, during his life, gave away a good deal of his means in charity, which he bestowed in a quiet and unostentatious way, and all his servants and dependents were greatly attached to him. The list of notable citizens who figm'cd pro- minently in the town in my day, is by no means complete, without including others than those of whom I have attempted to chronicle my recollec- tions, namely — Count Duthie ; James Ignatius Massie ; William Philip, of Philip & Taylor (the lively and eccentric " Baillie " Philip) ; Peter Brown (the first), auctioneer, glib of tongue and full of humour ; Convener Affleck j Deacon Robb, NOTABLE CITIZENS. 107 the facetious singer of " The Little Farthing Rush- light ;" Alexander Webster, advocate ; Dr Alex- ander Fraser ; and last, though not least, except in point of stature, " Budsie" Elgen, teacher of Navigation. I leave other chroniclers, however, to illustrate the peculiarities of these worthies, and of sundry Aberdonians not named, regarding each of whom, it may be said, in one respect or another, Take him for all in all, Wo shall not look upon his like again. f I- .«'' I! CHAPTER V. STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. But deem not this man useless, Statesmen ! ye Who are so restless in your wisdom — ye Who have a broom still ready in your hands To rid the world of nuisances ; ye proud Heart-swollen, while in your pride ye contemplate Your talents, power, and wisdom, deem him not A burden of the earth. Wordsworth. I come now to notice a class of characters of the humble order of mendicants, venders of almanacs, and other et ceteras, and generally the members of the fraternity who earn a precarious living on the streets. Of this motley tribe, Aberdeen had, in my day, a goodly share, and their several peculiari- ties are worthy of being noted, for, since the passing of the Scottish Poor Law Amendment Act, upwards of twenty years ago, most of these luckless wights have been immured in poor's houses, and, as Charles Lamb says in hif? " Complaint of the Decay of Beggars," " the all-sweeping besom of sectarian reformation — your only modem Alcides' club to rid the time of its abuses," has been plied " with many-handed sway to extirpate the last fluttering tattei-s of the bugbear mendicity" from the town. The people of Aberdeen were long familiar with the picturesque and venerable figure of an " ancient mariner," who, with "lyart haflfets wearing thin STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. 100 its rles of •i&n rid ith ing un and bare," sat for some years during my boyhood at the gate of Gordon's Hospital, hat in hand, craving an alma. His figure would have afforded a most fitting study for a painter, desirous of portraying the lineaments of a mendicant, such as appears in the picture, with the legend " Date obolum Belisario.^^ His pitiful story was chanted in plaintive tones and measured cadences all day long, while he turned his sightless orbs upwards — a spectacle well calculated " to move sweet charity." His mournful lay was : — I am a poor old creature — Both lame and blind — in great distress ; I ploughed the raging sea For more than thirty years, And lost my precious eye-sight, And the use of my limbs, At Kingston, in Jamaica, By a heavy flash Of thunder and lightning ; O you that is Christian parents of chillren— That you may never See any of your dear little ones In my deplorable state ! It was a peculiarity of old ** Thunder and Lightning," as he was called, that at whatever point in his story a copper might be dropped into his outstretched hat by a passer-by, the donor was rewarded with a fervent " God bless you" — while the stoiy was continued without pause. This gave rise to a practice adopted by some of those in the habit of bestowing a trifle on the venerable old fellow, of dropping their coppers into the hat just as he had uttered the words " Kingston in Jamaica." The consequence was that they were rewarded with a fervent " God bless you by a heavy flash of thunder 110 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. and lightning." This worthy, and really devout mendicant, was affectionately tended by his wife, who led him to and from his station, and kept his habiliments always clean and tidy. A little anecdote is related illustrative of the pious and resigned feeling he always manifested. He was, on one occasion, being led along Justice Street, a locality, like the Cowgate of Edinburgh, famous for brokers' shops — ^when, by some mischance, he stumbled, and fell over an article of furniture standing on the outer edge of the side pavement. When picked up and asked whether he had been hurt, his reply was " Oh, no, thank God, there is no danger done," uttered in his usual plaintive and fervent tones. His venerable figure continued to adorn the town (if I may so speak) for many years, and he obtained, by recounting his " pitiful story," enough to meet the wants of himself and his wife. When increasing ago and infirmity had unfitted him for pursuing his humble vocation, he was taken in charge by the parochial authorities and sent to his native parish, where ho was properly cared for till his death. One of the most noted characters in my day in Aberdeen, was a little nimble old fellow, who went by the name of Jumpin' Judas. He either had, or affected to have, a " want ;" and the only means he had of earning a scanty living was by the sale of " Drunken Summonses," and by singing, to a tune of his own, the ballad of " Maggie Lauder." His usual place of resort was the plain-stones in front of the Town House, and his appeaiance on STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. Ill 111 lent or ms lale a ir." in Ion the scene always attracted an admiring crowd, particularly of juveniles. He was lithe and active in his motions, and bounced about as he called out in a peculiar, tremulous kind of voice, " Drunken Summonses, gentlemen ; Dnmken Summonses, tow derum" — holding out a bundle of broad sheets in his hand, as he offered them for sale among the spectators. He carried a little stick, which, when selling summonses, he disposed of under his arm- pit. When about to commence his musical per- formance, the stick came into requisition. Having cleared a space of some six yards each way, he stationed himself at one end of the " clearing," and, grasping the stick by the middle with his right hand, the arm being elevated above his head, he began the exhibition of his powers as a vocalist. Each line of the ballad referred to was trolled as he skipped from one end of the clear space to the other alternately, the stick being rapidly twirled all the time to give effect to the performance— A speaking Harlequin, made up of whim, He twists, he twines, lie tortures every limb. It was really laughable to see the keen-eyed, brisk little fellow, go through his droll exhibition, and his antics reminded one of the Scotch saying, *' Happin' like a hen on a het girdle." By some means or another, Jumpin' Judas at one time became possessed of a cast-oft' suit of livery, including a cocked hat, and in this gorgeous array he had his portrait taken by some local artist, of which coloured prints were publislied, and found a ready sale, Judas being a general favourite in the it 112 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. town. He was depicted in his most characteristic attitude, while singing " Maggie Lauder," hopping on one leg, the other being deftly employed in executing the " shuffle and cut" of the Highland fling, the right arm held up, and his hand grasping the little stick ready to be twirled. Jumpin' Judas continued for many years to minister to the amuse- ment of the people of Aberdeen in his grotesque fashion, and when his little figure was missed from the plain-stones, there were fow of them but thought " they could have spared a better man." In my schoolboy days, Aberdeen was frequently visited by a daft character, who went by the sobriquet of " Moorikan Room," and was said to live, Robinson -Crusoe fashion, in a hut among the woods of Udny, some ten miles from the town. " Moorikan," it was generally believed, was a Dane by birth, and the only survivor of the crew of a Danish vessel wrecked on the Black Dog, a rock on the sands, a few miles north of Aberdeen. The legend about him was that he was picked up in a state of insensibility, and on his recovery it was found that his reason was completely shattered. The only English words which he could speak, when he was thus found, were those forming the name by which he went ever after. By " Moorikan Room" he meant to say American Eimi, that being a beverage he must have become acquainted with in his seafaring experiences. This unfortunate fellow, though not tall, was strong and well built, but like his ancient prototype Caliban, was inclined neither to Fetch in firing At requiring, Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish — STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. 113 and he could never be got to do any work. He wandered about the country as a mendicant, making his wants known more by signs than by speech, for he never learned more than a few words of the vernacular of the district. He was very fond of a dram, which he asked for by the two words already quoted. His usual attire, thread-bare and tattered, was a soldier's red coat, trousers of any kind, and a shako, decorated by himself with a variety of feathers. In those days the peace of the city was under charge of the six town Serjeants, and it thus happened that the juvenile part of the population could indulge in a row in any quarter of the town more or less distant from the Town House. " Moorikan," therefore, on making his ap- pearance in the Gallowgate, by which he generally came into Aberdeen, was saluted by a crowd of boys, who, shouting his name, ond +hronging round and hustling him, speedily roused his vengeance. At such times his appearance was anything but inviting, every feature being convulsed with passion. His assailants were glad to take to their heels, followed by him throwing stones and brick- hats, which, fortunately for them, seldom did any damage. When let alone, " Moorikan" stalked ibout the streets in an aimless, vacant way, heeding no one except when, in his peculiar manner, he solicited charity. Having myself witnessed " Moorikan" in a rage (although I never joined in tormenting him), I had a salutary dread of his stalwart arm and of the cudgel which he often carried, but, being once in a house, on the occasion of one of his visits there, I found that the poor I 114 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. fellow could appreciate to some extent an act of kindness done to him. It must be many years since his pilgrimage ceased, but I never learned how he was cared for at the last. \ There are few Aberdonians, whose recollections extend back for some thirty years, but can readily recall the well-known figure of Turkey Willie, as he groped his way along the streets. Willie was certainly anything but a beauty. He was blind of one eye, and with the other he squinted so horribly that the eye-ball had almost disappeared behind his nose. He had an ungainly stoop, and when walking along, his head was held to one side, his body jerking backwards and forwards at every step he took. He generally carried under his arm a well-fed specimen of the gallinaceous birds in which he dealt — most commonly a turkey. In habili- ments and person he realised, almost to the letter, the description given in Thomson's graphic lines (in the Castle of Indolence), of one of the " hapless wretches," whom he depicts as with base dunghill rags yclad, Tainting the gale, in which they flutter'd light j Of morbid hue his features, sunk, and sad ; His hollow eyne shook forth a sickly light j And o'er hia lank jaw-bone, in piteous plight, His black, rough beard was matted rank and vile ; Direful to see, an heart-appalling sight ! His wife's appearance and attire were very little less repulsive tlian those of her liege lord, and it thus required some courage on the part of the matrons, who wore customers of Willie's, to do business with either of the unsavoury pair. His STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. 115 stock of poultry lived in family with him and his wife, and the condition of his house inside may thus be readily imagined. I once had occasion to enter it, and the recollection of what I then witnessed is anything but pleasant. Willie drove hard bargains, and, if he could, he would have exacted unconscionable prices for his poultry ; but the careful and economical house- wives of Aberdeen seldom allowed themselves to be over-reached by him. He continued to ply his trade for many years, and had reached about four- score when he died. ■-! I Ittle Id it Ithe do iHis Contemporary with Turkey Willie was another well-known character, Willie Godsman, who held a badge from the civic authorities, entitling him to exercise the rights and privileges of a licensed mendicant. In person Godsman was as ugly as a satyr. His forehead was low, his eyes gray and fish-like, his nose curiously perked up at its extremity. His nose thirls black were and wide, and His mouth as wide was as a forneis. Add to this that he was endowed with one of the most marked peculiarities of the famous Sir Hu- dibras — His back, or rather burden, show'd As if it stoop' d with its own load — also tliat a deformity in one of his feet obliged him to use a crutch in walking, and Willie's not very engaging portrait is complete. He had a difterent beat for every day of the week except Sunday, when i2 116 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. he regularly went to church. In going his rounds he carried capacious wallets, in which he stowed away the broken meats and scraps bestowed upon him by the families whom he visited. Through they were lined with many a piece Of ammunition, bread and cheese — jind his calls were made with unvarying punc- tuality. Willie was neither greedy nor imgrateful, and I never heard of an instance in which he misconducted himself in plying his humble calling. When the town was in difficulties, some fifty years ago, a number of squibs were publislied reflecting upon the Town Council's management of the corporation funds, and in one of these broad sheets Willie was introduced as lamenting that his " broth was ta'en awa'." He was furnished by some wags with a supply of this stinging satire to he hawked through the town ; but his career as a vender of this document was speedily stopped by the magistrates, who threatened, if he persevered in distributing it, to take from him his badge. Notwithstanding Willie's lowly condition and un- gainly appearance, he had contrived to get a wife, who must have proved a good manager, for he was always clean and decent in liis clothes on Sundays. This couple had a daughter, who gained the affections of a pretentious and dandified journey- man tailor, a man of colour, who, it is said, made a good husband. Willie's figure and belongings for many years fomied an " institution" in the town, and he died at an advanced age. STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. 117 Among the characters of whom I retain the recollection there was one who went by the name of Preachin' Sandie. He was a native of some town in Forfarshire, and had been bred to the trade of a heckler, which he gave up after a time, having found it, as he said, " owre stoury" to suit him. He then took up the street preaching line, and visited in succession a number of towns, including Aberdeen, remaining for weeks in each place in the exercise of his office, to which he was self-ordained. When he wished to hold forth he looked about for a suitable spot where he thought it likely he might attract an audience. Having chosen his stand- point, he doffed his hat, which he laid on the ground in a convenient position to receive the expected coppers. He then said off a prayer, his eyes all the time wandering round watching his chances of pecuniary success. After this he gave out the text, and proceeded with his discourse, which had the usual introduction, " heads," and improvement of the subject, and his service was concluded by another prayer. His stock of sermons was limited, for I never knew of his having more than two. I recollect, however, an occasion when I happened to be one of his audience, and heard him talk as if he intended to increase his store of this commodity. Some boys among his audience having complimented him on the excellence of his sermon, he accepted the compliment, although ironically paid, and replied : — " It is a gude ane, nae dout, but I'm leamin' a muckle better ane — the Prodigal. Jist wait till ye hear it." Sandy owed his gifts as a preacher, such as these were, entirely to 118 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. his good memory, and his only object in holding forth was " to mak' an easy livin'." This became known among the juveniles of the town, who, instead of putting coppers in his hat, as he ex- pected, iised to fill it with pebbles off the street. When this happened, Sandy's clerical decorum was thrown to the winds, and he tongued them heartily, giving vent to a volley of oaths and curses. It is perhaps charitable to conclude that this queer character wanted at least " tippence i' the shillin'," as the saying is, otherwise he could not have gone on for years as he did, making a trade of sacred things. The last I saw of him was about five-and- twenty years ago. Among the peripatetic venders of odds and ends thi'ough the streets of Aberdeen, in my day, there was none better known than a blind man, who went by the appellation of " Belfast Almanacs." He was led about by a boy, and called his wares in harsh, grating tones, which might well have caused his audiences exclaim — List to tliat voice — did ever discord hear Sounds 80 well fitted to her untun'd ear P His refrain was — " Almanics, Royal Belfast Almanics, for the enshooin' year." He then elevated the pitch of his voice, as he uttered the remainder of it — " small horn redd in' combs, stoot an' strong, for a ha'penny the piece. Moose traps and loose traps. Superior French penny blecknin'." This poor fellow must have contrived to make a STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. 119 tolerably good livelihood out of the miscellaneous articles in which he dealt, as he was always " weel put on, ' and appeared to conduct himself properly. If I am not mistaken, he was received into the Blind Asylum m Huntly Street on its being opened — that useful institution for the erection and endowment of which the many inmates who partake of its benefits may well bless the memory of its founder, Miss Cruickshank. One of the most notable of the street characters in Aberdeen about thirty years ago, was a fine hearty Englishman, who earned a livelihood by making and selling through the streets the dainty known by the name of " Chelsea Buns." He lived, if I am not mistaken, in Littlejohn Street, from whence he issued forth about five o'clock in the afternoon, dressed in a white blouse, and bearing a large wicker basket slung in front with a strap aver his neck, convenient to his hand. The cakes in which he dealt were covered with a tidy white doth, and his whole get-up was calculated to inspire the assurance that his " Chelsea Buns" had been cooked with all due regard to cleanliness. His beat did not extend beyond Gallowgate, Broad Street, and Upperkirkgate, and his basket was generally emptied in the course of an hour, for his buns were eagerly purchased, and highly prized as an edible at the thrifty tea tables of the dwellers in that quarter of the town which he frequented. Ho had the jolly honhommie of a well-fed Englishman, and it was pleasant to witness his free and inde. pendent bearing, as he turned himself round and f If!' 120 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. round, while disposing of his dainties, proclaiming thczi in a fine sonorous baritone — Chel-sea buns, Chel-sea buns, hot Cbel-sea buns. This well-doing fellow, humble though his sphere was, it has struck me, might, not inaptly, have had applied to him, for the diligence and assiduity which he manifested in following his lowly, though useful calling, Longfellow's beautiful lines : — Each morning sees some task begun. Each evening sees its close : Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. It is generally believed tLau " Chelsea Buns," as he was called, made a good deal of money during the time he remained in Aberdeen, and none of his numerous customers would have gnidged him his success. The notice of this character recals to my recol- lection a class of street-venders who flourished in great numbers in my schoolboy days. The com- modity in which they dealt was mutton pies, carried in a tin stove, heated by a lamp. They did not appear on the streets until near the time when " The curfew tolls the knell of parting day," which, according to immemorial usage, is proclaimed from the city bells at eight o'clock, p.m. When that hour approached, they commenced their peregrina- tions, enlivening the shades of evening by the cry — I i: (Vi ^ -G- 3± -«y- All hot, Smok - ing hot! STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. 121 The pies vended in this fashion found customers mostly among the poorer classes, there being u general suspicion among the better-off portion of the community, that the flesh of other animals besides the sheep entered into the composition of those viands. That there was actually some tnith in this, I am satisfied from a tonguing-match I heard between two pie-men one day as I was passing along the Castlehill. These young fellows were abusing each other to their heart's content when I approached, and as I passed them the one said to the other, " Your pies is made o' auld horse," to which the rejoinder was, " And yours is made o' mice banes." This fraternity by and by disappeared, the manu- facture of mutton pies having been commenced and successfully carried on for many years by a man of the name of Sutherland, whose cuisine (combining a refectory on a limited scale) was in the Uppcr- kirkgate, opposite the head of the Guestrow. Sud, as he was called, did a roaring trade, and his pies, excellently cooked and abounding in a luscious gravy, always " warm, reekin', rich," became cele- brated throughout the town as an economical and toothsome dish for lunch or supper. I believe the manufacture of this commodity has been carried on and now flourishes in the same tenement, and the fame of Sud's pies has descended to his successors in the business.* * Mutton pies compounded, cooked, and served with their appropriate " sappy " gravy, in the artistic style achieved by Sud and some of the adepts contemporary with him in the mysteries of pie-crust architecture in Aberdeen, were, in my 122 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLK. Most Abcrdonians of my ago will recollect an ancient-looking pawky fellow, who wore the old- fashioned Scottish blue bonnet, with its accompany- ing knee-breeks, and gained his living by the sale of firewood, from a wheel-barrow, which he trundled through the streets. His talk afforded a most schoolboy dajB, a dainty ranking almost on a par with the succulent dish, of which tho gentle Elia, in a certain famous " Dissertation," so eloquently descants ; and, adapted, as they were, to aU the " nicotics of gustation," they deserved an encomium little less fervent than that which he pronounces when he says : — " Of all the delicacies in the whole mundus edibilis, I will maintain it to be the most deUcate — ■princeps obsoniorum." Of one feast, in particular, on this dainty, I still treasure a grateful recollection, although my share of the banquet was only half of a pie, whose modest proportions brought a price no higher than a penny. A grammar school chum having com- municated to me the pleasing fact of his possessing a bawbee, and it happening that I was at the same time the lucky owner of a coin of the same denomination, we agreed to put our cash into a common fund, and go on "joint-adventare" in spending this " fund in medio " on one or other of the edible delicacies within the reach of onr exchequer. Some time was spent in deliberation, on this, to us, important subject, as we walked along the streets — every Loyish dainty, including * candy -glue," Jeannie Milne's rock, " gray pizz," " sweetie wigs," cheese-cakes, and other cates coming up in due succession for consideration. At length happening to approach the odour-laden region of a mutton-pie factory in George Street, our minds till then distracted how to choose, were at once made up. The Gordian Knot was cut, and, vnth a courage equal to the occasion, we entered the establishment, ordering a penny pie to be served on a plate, with a spoon for each of the two, and, seated at table, one on each side, we leisurely discussed our pie, having first " drawn a score" on its tempting top-crust, to ensure an equal share to each. The kindly matron in charge of this humble refectory was as attentive to her juvenile customers on the occasion, as if our order had been for a dozen of "tippenies." Of the other delicacies above referred to, I must speak with a grateful sense of the ever-recurring relish with which they were enjoyed, when the possession of a stray copper had enabled STREET VENDERS, MENDICANTS, ETC. 123 fitting illustration of the broad hard Doric of the district, and he abounded in " chatt"" as he disposed of his useful commodity. He made known his presence by calling out in sharp distinct tones, ** Sticks, my bonnie lasses, wooden sticks, crackin' dry." On one occasion he was engaged in selling his sticks with his usual volubility, when the Rev. Mr. (now Dr.) Spcnce happened to pass. On seeing him, the old fellow exclaimed, " Sticks, my beloved brethren, sticks," employing an expression which this rev. gentleman occasionally used its youthful owner to invest in any of tliem. They each deserve in a greater or less degree a tribute such as would entitle them to as warm a nook in the memory of those who in boyhood's lightsome days were wont to enjoy them, as Shenstone kept for the dainty forming the theme of his lines: — Ah ! midst the rest, may flowers adorn his grave, Whose art did first those dulcet catea display ! A motive fair to learning's imps he gave, Who cheerless o'er her darkling regions stray ; Till reasou's morn arise and light them on their way. T , fame of one kind of " candy-glne" especially, was estab- fished among several generations of Grammar School boys. It was sold in a " shoppie " in Mutton Brae, where a good-sized *• bawbee' B-worth" was given, and it was artistically flavoured with lemon. Jeannie Milne's rock, sold by her in her con- fectionary shop in Netherkirkgate, was sui generis. No other confectioner in town sold rock so much prized as hers, and in weighing il she placed the copper tendered in the scales for a weight, thus giving exact value for the money. " Gray pizz," especially when toasted over the fire, were highly relished, and, as a good-sized "cogie"-ful was obtainable for a bawbee, they were a favourite investment. Of the " sweetie-wig" — long, I am afraid, among the edibles that were— every Aberdonian who knew its virtues must speak with the genial recollection of having had it administered as a " piece" ; and, when eaten with jelly, it was a tit-bit worthy of discos- sion by Apicius himself. 124 ABERDEEN AND ITS FOLR:. L 111 ills sermons. This will give some idea of " Sticks' " style of doing business. H'^ was a great favourite among servant girls, whoso good graces he gained by his jokes. He must have made a decent livelihood, as he was always clean and orderly in his appearance. The last of the peripatetic dealers whom it occurs to me to notice is the well-known " Quill Charlie." This strange character was bred a quill- dresser, but, having proved an indifferent hand at this occupation, he devoted himself to the trade of hawking quills and steel pens, which he carried in a tattered carpet bag, going his rounds among lawyers' offices, merchants' counting-houses,