Page:Tales for the farmers' ingle-neuk (2).pdf/9

 creasing the object of fear, 'here, tak' him; he's an ill bairn. This mode of education was so contrary to all my ideas of propriety, that I could stand it no longer, and I hastily opened the door. The child, a fine little fellow about four years old, uttered a loud scream of despair as soon as he saw me, and, starting up, ran into a corner, where he hid himself behind a table; whilst his elder brother and sister, who were sitting by the fire, sprang with equal marks of horror into a bed, and covered themselves with the bed-clothes. The mother, too, was at first evidently confused and alarmed; and I am sure, if the bogle man himself had made his appearance, he could scarcely have created greater consternation. After having, amidst all this noise and bustle, with some difficulty introduced myself to my sister-in-law, whom I had never before seen, I was received with a very hearty welcome, and my name-son George, the eldest boy, who, ashamed of his fears, came slinking out of bed, was despatched to carry the tidings of my arrival to his father.

"My dear brother came quickly in from the field, and received me with a smile of such tender affection, that I totally forgot the disagreeable scene I had witnessed, till the little culprit behind the table, cured of his fears, but finding himself overlooked and neglected, suddenly brought himself into notice, by bursting out anew into a bitter squall of vexation and disappointment. My brother, after his wife had briefly explained to him the circumstances of the