. The land of heather . A Wee Brig ower a Burnie. XII THE SABBATH AND THE KIRKS. pulpit,As tone in OF the several leadingreligious denomina-tions in Scotland,that known as the Free Kirkpossessed for me the greatestattraction. I must, however,confess I am only familiarwith religious Scotland as astronghold of were three branches ofthis faith — the EstablishedKirk, the or UnitedPresbyterians, and the FreeKirk. But the last seemed tohave the most honest inde-pendence, vitaHty, and enter-prise, and to draw to itsas a rule, the strongest and most original a Fr
. The land of heather . A Wee Brig ower a Burnie. XII THE SABBATH AND THE KIRKS. pulpit,As tone in OF the several leadingreligious denomina-tions in Scotland,that known as the Free Kirkpossessed for me the greatestattraction. I must, however,confess I am only familiarwith religious Scotland as astronghold of were three branches ofthis faith — the EstablishedKirk, the or UnitedPresbyterians, and the FreeKirk. But the last seemed tohave the most honest inde-pendence, vitaHty, and enter-prise, and to draw to itsas a rule, the strongest and most original a Free Kirk as any which I attended wasa certain glen of the southern Highlands. The 222. A Garden Rose The Sabbath and the Kirks 223 building was of stone, very plain, and of modest these things it was like most country churches ; butthe interior was not so characteristic, for it had beenrecently modernized, and had an incHned floor andsteam heat. Still, the pews were uncushioned, andthere was no organ. Indeed, organs are almost neverfound in rustic houses of worship, and are rarities evenin the large towns. Service was supposed to begin athalf-past eleven, but it was customary to allow someleisurely minutes of grace for the benefit of the be-lated. Shortly before the appointed hour, the littlebell in the kirk cupola commenced a hurried tinkHng,and the village ways, which hitherto had been veryquiet and deserted, were enlivened by groups of so-berly dressed worshippers faring on foot toward thechurch. On arriving at the edifice it was to benoticed that the men were in no haste to go inside,but lingered at the kirk gate or around the porchand visited. When the time
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