My Boyhood and Youth 



mind the story of a boy who in climbing a tree 

 to rob a crow's nest fell and broke his leg, but 

 as soon as it healed compelled himself to climb 

 to the top of the tree he had fallen from. 



Like Scotch children in general we were 

 taught grim self-denial, in season and out of 

 season, to mortify the flesh, keep our bodies in 

 subjection to Bible laws, and mercilessly pun- 

 ish ourselves for every fault imagined or com- 

 mitted. A little boy, while helping his sister 

 to drive home the cows, happened to use a for- 

 bidden word. "I '11 have to tell fayther on ye," 

 said the horrified sister. "I'll tell him that ye 

 said a bad word." "Weel," said the boy, by 

 way of excuse, " I couldna help the word comin' 

 into me, and it's na waur to speak it oot than 

 to let it rin through ye." 



A Scotch fiddler playing at a wedding drank 

 so much whiskey that on the way home he 

 fell by the roadside. In the morning he was 

 ashamed and angry and determined to punish 

 himself. Making haste to the house of a friend, 

 a gamekeeper, he called him out, and requested 

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