My Boyhood and Youth 



sometimes had difficulty in finding our way 

 home unless a servant with a lantern was sent 

 for us ; but during the Dandy Doctor period the 

 school was closed earlier, for if detained until 

 the usual hour the teacher could not get us to 

 leave the schoolroom. We would rather stay 

 all night supperless than dare the mysterious 

 doctors supposed to be lying in wait for us. We 

 had to go up a hill called the Davel Brae that 

 lay between the schoolhouse and the main 

 street. One evening just before dark, as we 

 were running up the hill, one of the boys 

 shouted, "A Dandy Doctor! A Dandy Doctor!" 

 and we all fled pellmell back into the school- 

 house to the astonishment of Mungo Siddons, 

 the teacher. I can remember to this day the 

 amused look on the good dominie's face as he 

 stared and tried to guess what had got into us, 

 until one of the older boys breathlessly ex- 

 plained that there was an awful big Dandy 

 Doctor on the Brae and we couldna gang hame. 

 Others corroborated the dreadful news. "Yes! 

 We saw him, plain as onything, with his lang 

 [8] 



