3i6 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



eyed girl, the eldest daughter of Magnus Anderson, 

 an active, well-to-do fisherman. All his children 

 were, of course, Mansons.* When about fourteen 

 years of age, Osla had come to our house in the 

 capacity of a little nursemaid, but as she grew older, 

 had been promoted to be housemaid ; and a tidy, 

 clever, faithful servant she had proved, greatly liked 

 and trusted, as she well deserved to be, by all our 

 family. She had not a few suitors amongst the 

 young fishermen; but although many of them were 

 regarded as quite eligible, she was in no hurry to enter 

 into the state of matrimony. She was decidedly 

 fastidious, and just a little bit coquettish, and the 

 young fellows found that her heart and hand were 

 not to be won quite so easily as perhaps they 

 had imagined. Amongst her numerous lovers, she 

 greatly preferred Ned Winwick ; nay, she did not 

 deny that she even liked him, but said she did not 

 think she liked him well enough to marry him, and so, 

 without point-blank repulsing his suit, she had always 

 put him ofif with one excuse or another. When Ned was 

 a boy of twelve, his father had been drowned in Davis 

 Strait. His widowed mother and her six children, 



* Fifty years ago the ancient custom of Shetland in regard to the 

 use of patronymics was still quite common, although not universal. 

 Children did not usually adopt their father's surname, but his Christian 

 name converted into a surname. Thus all the children of Henry 

 Thomson would be Hendersons ; and supposing their Christian names 

 to be James, Andrew, Magnus, Peter, Bartel, their children in turn 

 would be Jamesons, Andersons, Mansons, Petersons, or Bartelsons. 

 This old custom has now almost entirely disappeared. It may be 

 added that married women very rarely took their husband's surname, 

 but bore to the eud of their days their own maiden name. 



