102 



Indiana University Studies 



There were many, however, of a different type. Good kind friends and 

 literary acquaintances, not a few, gathered around the Shepherd's hos- 

 pitable table. "In illustration of this", says the Rev. Henry Scott Rid- 

 dell, "that on a day when a certain individual came to dine with the 

 Shepherd and his family only, as they themselves expected, fourteen 

 additional persons, before the day was done, dined in the house." . . . 

 The day of the fourteen diners might be an extra chance day, but every 

 morning, noon, and night, especially throughout the summer and autumn 

 months, brought more or fewer to his house whom he loved to see. 

 Those who came in carriages or on horseback, to call, or by appoint- 

 ment, were less difficult to deal with; because they came at regular 

 hours ; they had their refreshment and it was over ; but those who 

 haunted the hills and holms of Yarrow for their scenery, or its lakes 

 and streams for their trout, came almost at all hours. Many, as well 

 as the writer of this, have marvelled how Mrs. Hogg's patience became 

 not oftentimes utterly exhausted; but if the lord of the little bein ha' 

 was a poet whom nature, of her own free will, made generous, the lady 

 was no less a philosopher versant in all the inexhaustible friendliness 

 which supplies dry raiment to the wet, and food and rest to the weary, 

 and the smile of welcome departed not from her countenance, nor the 

 law of kindness from her tongue. 



"To a friend", the Shepherd once said, "my bit hoose", looking back 

 at it, "is e'now just like a bee-skep, fu' o' happy living creatures, an' 

 nae doubt, like a bee-skep, it vnll have to cast some day when it can 

 haud its inhabitants nae langer."' 



Hogg was a firm believer in elementary education, and, to 

 further it in his neighborhood, he established a little school 

 upon his farm, and boarded the schoolmaster in his own house. 



During Hogg's later years, both at Mt. Benger and after 

 his return to Altrive Lake, he wrote many poems and short 

 stories for the popular annuals of the day, some of which were 

 edited by his personal friends. The Anniversary was edited 

 by Allen Cunningham; others to which he contributed were 

 Friendshiiys Offering, The Forget-me-not, The Souvenir, The 

 Book of the Seasons, and The Club-Book. 



In 1829 he returned from Mt. Benger to Altrive Lake, a 

 sadder and a wiser man. But if Hogg was always meeting 

 with financial disaster thru his own foolhardiness, he was also 

 always quick to rise upon the crest of hope's wave. He was 

 not long cast down but set about the task of redeeming his 

 fortune thru his pen. He was at this time a regular con- 

 tributor both to Blackivood's and Erase fs Magazines. It 

 was soon after his return to Altrive Lake that he conceived 

 the notion of the Altrive Tales which in turn led to his quarrel 



- Mrs. Garden, page 176. 



