Page:Watty and Meg, or, the wife reclaimed.pdf/18

 18 REW WAY OF RAISING THE WIND; OR, Habbie Simpson and his Wife.

[This highly humorous and truly Scottish pro- duction celebrates an adventure of the renowned Habbie Simpson, which actually occurred. Habbie appears to have been rather a privileged character, for besides being the best piper in the west country, he was possessed of many eccentricities, the oddity and originality of which always rendered him a wel- come and amusing companion. That he was re- garded as no common character may be inferred from the fact that a statue of him, pipes and all, was erected in a prominent niche of the steeple of Kil- barchan, his native village, where it yet stands a very significant testimony of the esteem in which he was held.] I pit nae doubt but ye've a' heard tell o' Habbie Simpson, the piper o' Kilbarchan; but I'm no think- ing ye ever heard the story that I'm gaun to tell ye aboot him and his wife, Janet. Weel, ye see, it sae happened that Habbie, like mony mae now-a-day, was geyan fond o' a wee drap o' the blue, and as the story gangs, sae was his wife, so that it geyan often happened that when Habbie yokit the fuddle, Janet ahe yokit it tae. Noo, it's an auld saying, and a geyan true ane, tae, that when a cannel is lichtit at baith ends, it sune burns dune, and it was sae veri- fied in the present case; for Habbie waukened as morning after a hard fuddle, and says to Janet- "Rise, woman, and see if ye can get me half-a-gill, for, oh! my head is like to split." "Half-a-gill!"