Page:Martha Spreull by Zachary Fleming.pdf/118

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BOUT the time my faither became a laird through the failure o' Henry Hernbane, the country wis being torn to pieces by the controversies that led to the Disruption o' the Kirk o' Scotland. That wis an awfu' time wi' their moderates and their evangelicals, their forced settlements and their ungodly presentments. The folk were desperately in earnest, and everybody took sides and focht like mad. The pairish we belanged to wis as quarrelsome owre the great questions o' the Headship o' the kirk and spiritual independence as the lave o' the country; but it happened that for a time the main point wis a' but forgotten in view o' anither that nearly rent the ranks o' the congregation in twain, and caused an unco hub-bub.

Dr. Drumlie, oor minister, wisna in very robust health—being subject to attacks o' jaundice—so they appointed a helper and successor—ane Horace Haveral, a gey dandyish kind o' a chiel, wha had a great weakness for red stockings. Noo, the twa ruling elders o' the pairish were William M'Nab, the tallow-chandler, and Daniel Nicolson, ane o' the tobacco lords. Baith men had marriageable dochters; and as the young minister wis single, it wisna against the course o' nature that he should look round the congregation to see where he could get a guid wife.