130 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



Not far from the shoemaker's, stood the post office, 

 kept by Willie Mitchell, another tailor, who was also 

 sheriff-officer for the district ; professional fiddler at wed- 

 dings and like social gatherings ; a sort of " crambo-clink " 

 poet on local themes ; and a noted teller of old-world 

 stories, with which, as a friend says, "he was crammed 

 to the moo'." 



One of the chief characters of the place was the 

 eccentric innkeeper at Mayfield, close by Whitehouse 

 station, Willie Davidson, who had once been a carpenter. 

 He was generally called "Auld Mayfield," according to 

 the aristocratic custom of the Scotch, in naming a man 

 from the place he occupies. He often went under the 

 name of "the Auld Dogger," but for what reason is unknown. 

 Mayfield " inn " consisted of a long one-storeyed, thatched 

 house, which stood parallel to the great road to Aberdeen, 

 and was a kind of change house for the numerous travellers 

 who then passed that way, in these ante-railroad times. 

 The nature of the establishment was fully displayed on 

 a signboard at the east end, next Netherton, with an inti- 

 mation running thus, " Entertainment for Men and Horses 

 by William Davidson," done in rustic lettering. It was 

 crowned by the arms of the neighbouring family of White- 

 house a red lion rampant. This was also " a hameart 

 dune job," of that truthful type that caused a soldier in 

 Stonehaven to say that he was billeted " at the sign of the 

 monkey," a similar scarlet representation of the ill-used 

 king of the forest ! 



" The Dogger " was very peculiar in all his ways. A 

 decided stutter added to the irresistible style of his talk, 

 but this impediment seemed only to whet his appetite for 



