TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



811 



your countrymen in his book called 1 Friend Mac- 

 donald, 9 9 9 I said, and I told him the story about the 

 Jew and the Aberdonians. He laughed until I 

 thought he would fall off the mule he was riding. 

 " Thon's na sae bad," he said. Riddell was an 

 Aberdonian, and, good fellow that he was, (for 

 he has crosse "burn") always enjoyed a joke against 

 his countrymen. " Weel, what aboot the prayers ; 

 if it's good as that 111 tak back what I said 

 aboot the French.' 9 I then related the story 

 about the prayers by the Scotch minister for fine 

 weather for the crops and a particular sort of 

 weather to enable him to save his hay. I had just 

 read " Friend Macdonald " and it was fresh in my 

 memory. Here it is, as far as I can recollect it ; if 

 not in the exact words it is a fair substance. 



6 6 The hay making season came round in a cer- 

 tain district dn Scotland and it was arranged that 

 the minister should pray for appropriate weather ; he 

 accordingly prepared to do so, but in order to be sure 

 of that which suited his own case best — for he also 

 had hay to make while the sun shone — he knelt down 

 in his bedroom window which overlooked the hay 

 field. As he prayed a strong gust of wind came and 

 scattered the hay right and left. The minister lifted 

 up his eyes in horror and said : " Oh Lord, that's too 

 bad ; I didna ask for a tearin, blusterin, roarin win, 

 I asked for a soughing, soothing, dryin win to save 

 the hay. ' ' Riddell, who was an elder in his 6 1 Kirk, ' 9 

 was pleased at the joke. I believe he also, dn due 

 time, got the sort of weather that suited him. 



