Page:Martha Spreull by Zachary Fleming.pdf/56

44 mysel’ if moneyed folk had just been there to see the dead earnestness o’ the puir laddies, they maybe wudna be sae loath to gie them a helpin’ han’ wi’ their edication.

Let that be as it may, they were as fine a set o’ raw, earnest, growin’ callants as ony kind-heartet man or wumman either could wish to feed. Whan they had dune, Maister Fleming made a beautifu’, feelin’ speech, and telt them that though fifteen o’ them must be disappointed, they werena to be cuisten doon; they had only to persevere wi’ the same earnestness they had shown that day and the barriers that stand i’ the wye o’ human progress wud gae doon afore them.

It wis an encouraging speech, I must alloo; and as they filed past at scalin’-time, makin’ an unco noise on the wooden flair wi’ their heavy feet, a mist cam’ ower my een, insomuch that I lost sicht o’ them and had to turn awa’ and look oot o’ the window for a meenit to get the better o’ my feelin’s.

Weel, it wis gey droll, but the settlement o’ wha the bursar wis to be fell to mysel’ at the hinner en’. The twa best callants were sae equal in cleverness that Dr. Threshie, wha is a most conscientious man, wis sair put aboot to ken what to dae—so a thocht cam’ into my head—

“ Will ye let me settle it ? ” quoth I.

“ Wi’ pleesure,” says he, “for in troth ye may tak’ either and no’ gae far wrang.”

“ Weel,” quoth I, “ye hae soundit them back and forrit in halesome secular lear, and wi yer wull I wud like to yock them for twa meenits on The Question Book. I maun ken hoo they stan’ with regaird to speeritual knowledge.”

Weel, if ye’ll believe it, this exerceese made a great impression on my ain mind, for while ane of them—as bonnie-faced, blue-e’ed a laddie as ever ye saw—didna miss a word frae the very start till we wan on to “God’s wrath an’ curse,” the