. The land of heather . travel far to find people more kindly andwhole-souled. They make hospitahty a fine art, andif you asked a favor, even of some old farmer in gar-ments that would shame a scarecrow, it was sure to begranted with a courtesy that won your affection on thespot. Another attraction which the Drumtochtianspossessed in common with all the Scotch was theirpeculiar patois. The burr was always present, andthey never failed to roll their rs, while a ch wassounded low in the throat in a way that made youwonder enviously how the children had ever caughtthe knack of pronouncing it. Whe
. The land of heather . travel far to find people more kindly andwhole-souled. They make hospitahty a fine art, andif you asked a favor, even of some old farmer in gar-ments that would shame a scarecrow, it was sure to begranted with a courtesy that won your affection on thespot. Another attraction which the Drumtochtianspossessed in common with all the Scotch was theirpeculiar patois. The burr was always present, andthey never failed to roll their rs, while a ch wassounded low in the throat in a way that made youwonder enviously how the children had ever caughtthe knack of pronouncing it. When reference wasmade to anything diminutive the ending ie or y wascommonly added, and the word thus softened andcaressed was very pleasant to the ear, and a decidedimprovement, I thought, over plain EngHsh. Theonly time I had any doubts about this extra syllablewas wh^n a woman spoke of her Marys Httle gravy,not meaning any portion of the family bill of fare, butthe spot in the burial-place where lay a child she A Rural Hamlet 15 Perth was the commercial centre of the district,and business or pleasure, or more likely a combina-tion of the two, took most of the people of Drum-tochty there very frequently. The Kildrummie trainwas not the only public conveyance thither. Twice aweek a short omnibus, or brake as it was called,made the journey, starting from Drumtochty in theearly morning and returning the same evening. Theround trip was twenty-two miles. It was not as tire-some as one might fancy — at least that was my expe-rience on the only occasion I took advantage of thevehicle. I recall the return journey with most inter-est. The brake stood by the curbing on Perths chiefstreet ready to start when I climbed in. A momentlater the driver came out from a near public, mountedto his seat and off we went. But we had not gone far when a small boy in atradesmans apron came shouting along the streetafter us with a great bundle in his arms. Other boys,nearer, took up the cry,
Size: 1300px × 1922px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1904
