72 DUMPEIESSHIEE AND GaLLOWAY A CENTURY AGO. 



It is hardly too much to say that in country places, with the 

 exception of the weekly services in the church on Sundays, there 

 was hardly a single religious ordinance the celebration of which 

 was not an excuse for unbridled conviviality. The yearly or half- 

 yearly celebrations of the holy communion, marriages, baptisms, 

 funei'als, all were occasions marked by one feature in common — 

 an unstinted fliow of whisky. For much interesting information 

 on this subject I am indebted to Mr William Wilson, of Sanquhar, 

 many of whose notes were taken down in past years from the lips 

 of old people who had been witnesses of the scenes they 

 described. 



The celebration of the holy communion was, of course, the most 

 important religious event of the year. It was a veritable festival, 

 unfortunately apt to be one of a most unseemly character. The 

 gathering- into a village or small rural town of perhaps seven or 

 eight ministers to aid in conducting- the services, and of a crowd 

 of intending communicants, many of whom had frequently walked 

 twenty miles to be present, inevitably resulted in much crowding 

 and confusion. Refreshment was necessary, and between the 

 services both public-houses and private dwellings of hospitable 

 residents were crammed. Whisky flowed freely, and only too 

 often the whole gathering assumed more the aspect of a fair than 

 of an assembly met for the celebration of a specially solemn 

 religious service. Even at the table where ministers and elders 

 dined together excesses were by no means uncommon, such as in 

 these days would lead to very summary deposition of the offenders. 

 One circumstance, related in connection with Sanquhar, is terribly 

 significant of the tone of sentiment resulting from these abuses. 

 The truck system was then general with the miners at Wanlock- 

 head, but ten shillings were allowed to each man for the expenses 

 of going to Sanquhar for the sacrament. It being found that the 

 greater part went in drink, the amount was reduced to half-a- 

 crown. One of the heavy drinkers of Sanquhar, meeting a con- 

 vivial spirit from Wanlockhead, asked how it was he saw him so 

 seldom now. " We never see ye at the sacraments noo,'' he added. 

 " Na," responded the miner, "things are geyly changed noo. 

 The sacraments are no worth a haet. They're only half-a-crown." 



Of marriages it is needless to speak. Everyone knows well 

 enough in what a regular orgie a rural marriage commonly ended. 

 I fear it might be said commonly ends, even in these days, when 



