OUR FIRST SUNDAY. 41 



sermon in that small Highland kirk earnest, simple, 

 and of moderate length. I was pleased that our 

 English friends escaped hearing one of the elaborate 

 discourses still too common in our Church, and 

 which seem composed with a purpose of raising 

 doubts among the elders, and setting the young to 

 sleep ; and, instead of being bored with " fifthly, I 

 shall now proceed to prove," we had a plain Chris - 

 tianlike sermon, to comfort the good, and make bad 

 men ashamed. All thought and said, Amen, with 

 the worthy pastor; and, on walking back, Ward 

 remarked that the clean, homely aspect of the 

 mothers and children, the strong wiry men, and 

 the venerable patriarch in the pulpit, brought to 

 his mind the old covenanting stories. 



It was such fine weather, that when we came to 

 the inn, we agreed to walk home., So the carriage 

 was sent off and we had lunch, and, after some 

 chat with the kindly family, set off for a quiet 

 walk through the glen. 



It was pleasant sauntering along in the still 

 Sunday afternoon, a quiet which seemed intensified 

 by the soft piping of the little hill birds and the 

 murmur of the burn. 



On arriving at the Lodge, we chose what books 



