The Mill and the Miller. 147 



Pennan," they said, when a man had a task before him 

 difficult enough to bid defiance to his unaided strength. 

 Pennan, in Aberdour parish, was the site of the quarry 

 which furnished millstones for the greater part of Aber- 

 deenshire and Banffshire.* And in the time when there 

 were neither properly made roads nor wheeled vehicles 

 capable of bearing so heavy a load, it is not difficult to 

 believe that the bringing home of a millstone from a dis- 

 tance of perhaps half-a-dozen miles or more, was an onerous 

 business. The mode adopted was simply that of trund- 

 ling it on its edge all the way, by the most direct route 

 available. They got a long and stout stick, which was 

 called " the spar," put through the eye of the millstone, 

 and firmly wedged there. The spar projected from two 

 to three feet on one side, and perhaps fifteen feet, or 

 more, on the other, the long lever being used to keep 

 the stone on its edge, the other in the way of guidance 

 as the stone moved onward. Over the millstone was 

 fixed a rough wooden frame. Four, or perhaps six 

 horses, were yoked to the front of this frame, which 

 had a steering tree attached behind, while its con- 

 struction admitted of the spar turning round like the 

 axle of the " tumbling " cart. One experienced man 

 steered ; another kept by the short end of the spar ; 

 while the general body of the suckeners managed the 

 long end, or held on behind by ropes attached to the 

 frame, to prevent the millstone running off on the down- 

 ward gradients. Despite every precaution, it would 

 occasionally get too much way on a declivity and over- 

 power all concerned, creating dire confusion ; or by some 

 unhappy chance it would have its equilibrium so dis- 

 turbed as to get suddenly upset on the short end of the 

 spar, throwing the hapless suckeners, who hung grimly 

 on at the other end hither and thither, or tilting them 

 up in the air. These experiences were neither pleasant 

 nor safe ; and hence came the common saying, " Mony 



* The millstone found here is a coarse sandstone, or conglomerate 

 of the Old Red Sandstone formation. 



