44 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



eight, a meal much enjoyed. Potatoes which had 

 been scraped before boiling were transferred from the 

 saucepan to a large bowl in front of the fire, the 

 household forming a semicircle round it. Either with 

 a large fork or the wooden "beetle" the potatoes 

 were mashed up, milk was poured upon them, and 

 then the ram's-horn spoons soon emptied the bowl. 

 Neither in winter nor in summer did the programme 

 include any consumption of beer or wine or spirits. 

 The food, it must be understood, was nourishing in 

 its quality, abundant in quantity, and well cooked to 

 suit the tastes of those who used it and throve upon 

 it. The simplicity of manners at meal-times made up 

 in part by the saving in time for the want of refine- 

 ment, and there was no cause for grumbling where 

 master and man dipped in the same dish with one 

 another. 



The literary resources of such a farm were very 

 limited. The regulation stock of books comprised 

 only the Bible, Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," The 

 Shorter Catechism, and Brown's " Proofs." The last 

 work contained the passages of Scripture on which 

 the statements of the Shorter Catechism were 

 grounded. To this library David by some chance 

 was able to add Mungo Park's " Travels," and it will 

 be seen later on that this book made a deep and 

 lasting impression on his mind. In those early 

 days, however, his fondness for reading so secular 

 a book on the sabbath was looked upon with much 

 disfavour. 



From "The Monastery," by Sir Walter Scott, a 

 tale of the Reformation period, some sentences may 



