138 EEMINISCENOES OF THE LEWS. 



heart sank within me ; and, but for my bright 

 home, I beheve I should have gone too. But 

 Providence was very kind to me. 



There still existed another Saxon in the 

 long island — a true one too — with whom I 

 had already smoked the calumet of peace, and 

 with whom before we separated, I entered into 

 the strongest bonds of amity. This individual 

 was the Episcopalian clergyman of Stornoway 

 — whom for short we used, or I used, to call 

 Shippy — and an excellent, good man he was. 

 He was a true specimen of an upright, con- 

 scientious being, with good brains, and that 

 rare gift of common sense. By common sense 

 I don't mean worldly sense ; but that instinct 

 that sees what is the right thing to do, 

 and never swerves one inch to right or left, 

 to please the " Devil, the Pope, or the Pre- 

 tender," and thus gains respect, and by re- 

 spect a following also. His preferment was 

 not very large — one hundred pounds per 

 annum ; but then Stornoway was not in those 

 days a very dear place to Uve in, and its mer- 

 chants were not ''the princes of the earth." 

 The duties of his cure were not onerous, but in 

 their discharge he managed to secure the good 

 opinion of both the Established and the Free 

 Church ; and when he left the island to take a 



