IV 

 OVER THE BORDER 



THE enterprising Englishman penetrates 

 into many lands, and by reason of much 

 travel he may come to regard them all 

 more or less as a matter of course. Let 

 him, however, for the first time cross the Border 

 into Scotland, and if it be daylight I warrant he 

 will sit up and be pleased to take notice. The 

 Scots have a very beautiful country. They have, 

 moreover, a character which perhaps owes some- 

 thing to that possession. They have attracted 

 attention, commanded respect, the wide world 

 over. They are the same abroad thousands of 

 miles away as at home. What more refreshing, 

 when conversation is of the Old Country in, say, 

 an overseas mining community, than to hear 

 about the "pur-r-ple hcather-r " in the good Scots 

 tongue. How happily the accent clings ! They 

 are a wonderful people, these Scots. There is no 

 room for argument. That they are the salt of the 

 earth even themselves agree ! Who says they 

 haven't humour ? That libeller cannot have 

 visited them in their native heath. They are a 

 serious folk, but, when they have a mind to 



