THE AUTHOR'S LAST VISIT. 437 



him, being of opinion that this loss of blood was the first 

 serious cause of his death, which did not take place, 

 however, for more than six months after. How very ill he 

 must have been, to allow himself to be " hurled in a wheel- 

 barrow," only those who knew the unconquerable mettle 

 and high pride of the keen old soul can fully understand. 



After this, he was less able to walk about, and had to 

 be more carefully watched, to prevent his going far from 

 home. But this needful care the stout spirit took very ill 

 with he had always been so very self-reliant and so accus- 

 tomed, above mostmen, to do for himself even the most 

 detailed domestic offices. He declared to the close of his 

 life, even when most helpless, that his good nurse "took far 

 ower muckle charge o'm ; " and he used to oppose her 

 assistance, saying that "that even his mither cu'dna hae 

 done mair for him when he was a bairn ; and he wasna 

 gain' to be made a bairn o' noo ! " Yet with all this, his 

 appreciation of her kindness was very high, and it was 

 frequently so expressed to herself and others. 



I was very desirous to see the old man again, especially 

 after I heard that he had become so weak, fearing that he 

 might pass away before I should accomplish the visit. The 

 winter f 1881, which was, as will long be recalled, one of 

 the severest within the memory even of the aged, quite 

 prevented my undertaking the journey across the uplands 

 of Banff and Aberdeen, where the snow was unusually 

 deep and where the railways were frequently blocked. At 

 length, with the milder weather of March, I succeeded in 

 reaching the Vale of Alford once more, six months before 

 his death. The very day I arrived, the third of the month, 



