A Century's Changes. 59 



became populous with busy workers, and at the dinner hour I 

 have been told, when " the piece " had been eaten or the milk 

 and sowens supped, there was sometimes a good deal of " daffin'." 

 The old Laird of Sliaw, the man who bought the first gig, told a 

 worker, Jean of Barnsdale, one day that her peats were ill shaped, 

 whereupon Jean was at the pains to instruct him, " Theyr'e no 

 cuissen for their shape, laird ; theyr'e cuissen to burn." Coals 

 were to be got no nearer than Annan, and it was only the 

 lairds anr] better class of farmers who ever thought of burning 

 them. Smithy coals were brought from so far away a place as 

 Carlisle by the farmers in turn, as part payment of their accounts. 

 Another form of payment to the blacksmith was that of giving 

 corn — "sharping corn," as it was called— five stocks for keeping 

 the plough irons of a pair of horses going for a year. Our present 

 blacksmith's father had it to tlie laist. He died 33 years ago ; he 

 ■was probably the last blacksmith in Scotland who received this 

 form of payment. It is onf^ of the innumerable illustrations, 

 ■which are quickly being forgotten, of the former scarcity of 

 money. 



There has also been a great change and improvement in the 

 farming of land. There is an old coui)let that runs — 



There lies in Corriehill between the wet and the dry 

 As much gold as Corrie parish could buy. 



The author of tiiat interesting volume " The Bard and the Bfjlted 

 Knight" calls attention to this, and he says the gold has been dis- 

 covered. The late Mr Jardine of Corrie and his factor, Mr 

 Glover, discovered it in the form of a rich layer of clay, and 

 took it up, and turned it into tiles, with -which they dried the 

 land. There has, finally, been a change in the dwellings of the 

 people, a change which may be described generally as that from 

 thatch to slate. The cottages are for the most part well built ; 

 and inside, for order, brightness, comfort, and good taste, they 

 stand second to none in Scotland. 



As this is no antiquarian paper in the proper sense of the 

 word, no distinct contribution to antiquarian knowledge, I may 

 be pardoned for finishing with a bit of poetry. It touches in its 

 great way upon what I liave been touching on in my small way, 



change : — 



Nothing can be as it has been before ; 

 Better, so call it, only not the sanie. 

 To draw one beauty into our heart's core, 



