OCCUPATION OF THE PEOPLE. 185 



rope gave way, and the lad fell into the sea. There was 

 a considerable ground swell, and the poor boy had sunk 

 once or twice before his father could rescue him, but at 

 last he was taken into the boat almost lifeless. This 

 elicited from the father the simple remark, "Eh I I'm 

 thinking thou's wat, Tarn." 



x 



The saying that those born to be hanged will never be 

 drowned, is probably no truer of hanging than of other 

 deaths. Tarn was reserved for a different but scarcely 

 less enviable fate. An acquaintance of the old man's, 

 years afterwards, reminded him of Tarn's escape, and 

 asked him what had become of him, to which the father 

 replied in the same indifferent tone : " Tarn ? our Tarn ? 

 Oh 1 Tarn gaed awa' to a far country, and the haithens 

 ate him." 



This anecdote I know to be perfectly true, and I have 

 as reliable authority for another of the same kind. 



A man was one day gathering eggs on the face of a 

 precipitous rock, and while creeping cautiously yet fear- 

 lessly along a ledge little broader than the sole of his 

 foot, he came to an angle round which he must pass. 

 The wall-like steepness of the rock and the narrowness 

 of the ledge made this under any circumstances difficult 

 and dangerous. The difficulty, however, grew into aa 

 apparent impossibility, when he found on reaching the 

 corner that he had the wrong foot first. To turn back 

 was impossible, to get round while his feet were in that 

 position was equally so. 



The danger was observed by the friend who related the 



