ODDS AND ENDS. 



The most extraordinary inscription on a gravestone that 

 ever met my eye was brief and to the point, it left so much 

 to the imagination, which is a great matter with this kind 

 of thing. Thus it ran : 



Sacred 10 il.e memory of John Hayes, fisherman, of this town, who died 

 lOth March, 1841, aged 39. 



Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. 



I cannot for the life of me understand what John could have 



done to merit this. 



* * 



I have known some men who have drawn on their 

 imagination for their fish, and on whisky for their 

 imagination. 



* * 



Two friends of mine, fishing opposite to one another in 

 the Eamont, hooked, one of them a swallow, and the other 

 a chaffinch, at the same moment. 



An ancient boatman of Kinross, whose acquaintance 

 I made on Loch Leven many years ago, had been 

 privileged in his young days to row Sir Walter Scott about 

 the lake and round the Castle Island, during the time he 

 was gathering material for " The Abbot " ; and in reply to 

 my question as to what Sir Walter was like, the boatman 



