Craftsmen. 159 



A craftsman who found place somewhere between 

 the classes who really earned their bread by the sweat 

 of their brows and the class who were utterly given 

 over to sorning and vagabondage, was the horner 

 nearly allied to the "tinkler," whose office was to 

 " clout the cauldron." The horner supplied the com- 

 munity with spoons ; and the essential implement of 

 his craft was the wooden " caums," wherein the. horn 

 cut up and partly dressed after being reduced to 

 a state of greater pliability by heating, was moulded 

 into the form of a " cutty." The horner was of course 

 a peripatetic ; and as he tramped about, he easily 

 carried his kit of tools and a moderate supply of horns 

 in a rough wallet slung over his shoulder. He was 

 not particular about his workshop. It might be in the 

 open air, by a convenient dykeside ; or, if the weather 

 was bad, in the barn or other outhouse belonging to- 

 some friendly person who did not begrudge him quar- 

 ters for a night or two. The crafts of " tinkler" and 

 horner were followed generation after generation by 

 certain families of " cairds," habit and repute. One 

 of these families, of the name of Young, furnished a 

 noted thief and prison breaker, who, for the offence 

 of mortally stabbing a fellow caird, ultimately termi- 

 nated his career on the gallows. A younger and less 

 notorious scion presents himself as a good type of the 

 vagabond horner : a wandering, homeless being, alien 

 to the comforts and hating the restraints of civilised 

 life, ignorant and totally unlettered, yet not without 

 a certain technical knowledge of his own, and a certain 

 untutored mannerliness of address. Such was Jock 

 Young, secundus, the horner, who nourished in the early 

 years of the present century. Among his extra-pro- 

 fessional accomplishments, Jock was a deft and willing 

 dancer, and, when fit occasion offered, would foot up the 

 Ghillie Callum or Highland Fling to his " ain sowff," 

 for the delectation of his friends and patrons. Like 

 every true and pure-bred caird, Jock dearly loved 



