Comparisons are Odious. 57 



to arrangement, with only part of a load. He then 

 perceived that the object of the arrangement was to 

 show how much more they could do than he could, 

 and to depreciate him by the contrast. They began 

 to chaff him, saying that his cartfuls would be mis- 

 taken for molehills. He made no attempt to com- 

 pete with them under the conditions of the moment, 

 knowing well that they would not work in the same 

 way in the master's absence. He merely said that to 

 make his small cartfuls more easily seen, it would be 

 better for them to empty their carts on separate 

 ridges, and that they would see better in that way 

 how the comparison stood by Saturday. The 

 brothers thought that there was no occasion for this, 

 but the laird had been hearing and seeing all that 

 had been going on, and for some reason of his own at 

 once sanctioned the proposal. It was adopted with- 

 out further delay, each unloading his cart on the 

 ridge allotted to him. When the first ridges were 

 filled, they were to follow on with others in the same 

 order. 



Next morning the laird, as usual, was off to Glas- 

 gow. When work began in the field, the brothers 

 were not showing the same zeal as they had done 

 the day before, while David went on as usual. Ac- 

 cordingly on Saturday, when the laird made his 

 appearance after breakfast, he saw that David's 

 ridges were not the worst clad. Nothing was said, 

 but he seemed to understand well how matters stood. 

 There was no more chaffing on that score, and things 

 went on pretty smoothly, as it was seen that the 

 laird could judge for himself, and that David was 



