166 The Elders Journey. [FEB. 



smash." In vain he went forth in the morning to make the tour of the 

 parish, seeking whom he might devour ; he returned home on the chap 

 of two, an hungered both in soul and body ; and although the sensual 

 appetite did not fail to find ample satisfaction, Mr. Dick being a rare 

 hand at the kail, the bowels of the spirit remained still croaking. On the 

 occasion, indeed, of the renewal of the covenant, by the public dispens- 

 ing of the typical elements, which happened twice a year, he found some 

 employment for those mental faculties that were running all the rest of 

 the year to seed : but even these occasions at last partook of the sameness 

 which had began to make life tiresome, if not nauseous. It was pleasant, 

 on the sabbath of the sacrament, to be permitted to approach in public, 

 as it were, even to the veil which is before the ark of the testimony ; but 

 this was only one short day out of six months. It was pleasant, too, to 

 think that from his mouth alone proceeded the orders for the prepara- 

 tion of the sacrifice ; and that, like Moses, when he descended from the 

 Mount, his lips had given command anent, ' ( the table and his staves, and 

 all his vessels and the shew-bread ; the candlestick also for the light, and 

 his furniture and his lamps, with the oil for the light " but it was with- 

 out opposition that those commands were given without a single argu- 

 ment with his brother elders dumb dogs, that barked not and, in 

 process of time, the whole affair became flat, stale, and unprofitable to the 

 stirring spirit of Ebenezer. 



Now, there was a man, named Timothy Me Aslam, who had been a 

 sojourner aforetime in the town of Dodrum, in the very human capacity 

 of Eben namely, as a clothier or cloth-merchant and who, on the 

 pressure of circumstances, had removed to the larger town of Skreigh, 

 where he took root, and flourished exceedingly, and became in due 

 time an Elder of the Kirk. It is said on high authority, that " a pro- 

 phet has no honour in his own country ;" but although this was true in 

 regard to Timothy, while he tarried among his own people, yet he had 

 no sooner began to spread forth in his new Canaan, than the fame of his 

 goings-out and comings-in returned back to his former abiding-place, to 

 some of the inhabitants thereof as an incense, and to some as a stink in 

 the nostrils. Eben heard of the success of his townsman with a patron- 

 izing air of satisfaction, which encouraged such of the wayfaring inha- 

 bitants as visited Skreigh at the periodical markets to bring him frequent 

 news of his brother in the spirit. But although this was pleasing at first, 

 and indeed encouraging, in the midst of his own strugglings and wrest- 

 lings ; yet, when these had ceased, and he became absolute master of 

 the field of strife, it was but reasonable to expect some cessation of the 

 " sough." But either the deserts of Timothy increased, or the townfolk, 

 having found out a subject pleasing to their friend, were unwilling to 

 part with it ; for the clamour of disinterested praise, in place of subsid- 

 ing, seemed to swell the higher and louder at every note. The fame of 

 his distant friend appeared at length to overtop, as it were, his own suc- 

 cess ; and, from conquering substantialities, Eben came to fight with 

 shadows. The gaunt form of Timothy never left the sight of his mind ; 

 his deep, but querulous voice, rung for ever in liis ears ; if he prayed in 

 secret, a louder hum rose over and cloaked his words like a mantle; if 

 he argued, an opponent, unseen and unheard but by himself, turned his 

 wisdom to foolishness ; if he slept, his spectral enemy squatted on his 

 breast, like the nightmare. 



At this time, a dispute of a speculative nature raged in the kirk of 



