“It may do the crittur nae guid i' the tail o' the day, but he paid for's bit o' ground, an' he's in's richt to occupy it.”
The custom was to push the coffin on to the wall up a plank4, and then let it drop less carefully into the cemetery. Some of the mourners were dragging the plank over the wall, with Davit Lunan on the top directing them, when they seem to have let go and sent the tinsmith suddenly into the air. A week afterward5 it struck Davit, when in the act of soldering6 a hole in Leeby Wheens' flagon (here he branched off to explain that he had made the flagon years before, and that Leeby was sister to Tammas Wheens, and married one Baker7 Robbie, who died of chicken-pox in his forty-fourth year), that when “up there” he had a view of Quharity school-house. Davit was as truthful8 as a man who tells the same story more than once can be expected to be, and it is far from a suspicious circumstance that he did not remember seeing the school-house all at once. In Thrums things only struck them gradually. The new cemetery, for instance, was only so called because it had been new once.
In this red stone school, full of the modern improvements that he detested9, the old dominie whom I succeeded taught, and sometimes slept, during the last five years of his cantankerous10 life. It was in a little thatched school, consisting of but one room, that he did his best work, some five hundred yards away from the edifice12 that was reared in its stead. Now dismally13 fallen into disrepute, often indeed a domicile for cattle, the ragged14 academy of Glen Quharity, where he held despotic sway for nearly half a century, is falling to pieces slowly in a howe that conceals15 it from the high-road. Even in its best scholastic16 days, when it sent barefooted lads to college who helped to hasten the Disruption, it was but a pile of ungainly stones, such as Scott's Black Dwarf17 flung together in a night, with holes in its broken roof of thatch11 where the rain trickled18 through, and never with less than two of its knotted little window-panes stopped with brown paper. The twelve or twenty pupils of both sexes who constituted the attendance sat at the two loose desks, which never fell unless you leaned on them, with an eye on the corner of the earthen floor where the worms came out, and on cold days they liked the wind to turn the peat smoke into the room. One boy, who was supposed to wash it out, got his education free for keeping the school-house dirty, and the others paid their way with peats, which they brought in their hands, just as wealthier school-children carry books, and with pence which the dominie collected regularly every Monday morning. The attendance on Monday mornings was often small.
Once a year the dominie added to his income by holding cockfights in the old school. This was at Yule, and the same practice held in the parish school of Thrums. It must have been a strange sight. Every male scholar was expected to bring a cock to the school, and to pay a shilling to the dominie for the privilege of seeing it killed there. The dominie was the master of the sports, assisted by the neighboring farmers, some of whom might be elders of the church. Three rounds were fought. By the end of the first round all the cocks had fought, and the victors were then pitted against each other. The cocks that survived the second round were eligible19 for the third, and the dominie, besides his shilling, got every cock killed. Sometimes, if all stories be true, the spectators were fighting with each other before the third round concluded.
The glen was but sparsely20 dotted with houses even in those days; a number of them inhabited by farmer-weavers, who combined two trades and just managed to live. One would have a plough, another a horse, and so in Glen Quharity they helped each other. Without a loom21 in addition many of them would have starved, and on Saturdays the big farmer and his wife, driving home in a gig, would pass the little farmer carrying or wheeling his wob to Thrums. When there was no longer a market for the produce of the hand-loom these farms had to be given up, and thus it is that the old school is not the only house in our weary glen around which gooseberry and currant bushes, once tended by careful hands, now grow wild.
In heavy spates22 the children were conveyed to the old school, as they are still to the new one, in carts, and between it and the dominie's whitewashed23, dwelling-house swirled24 in winter a torrent25 of water that often carried lumps of the land along with it. This burn he had at times to ford26 on stilts27.
Before the Education Act passed the dominie was not much troubled by the school inspector28, who appeared in great splendor29 every year at Thrums. Fifteen years ago, however, Glen Quharity resolved itself into a School Board, and marched down the glen, with the minister at its head, to condemn30 the school. When the dominie, who had heard of their design, saw the board approaching, he sent one of his scholars, who enjoyed making a mess of himself, wading31 across the burn to bring over the stilts which were lying on the other side. The board were thus unable to send across a spokesman, and after they had harangued32 the dominie, who was in the best of tempers, from the wrong side of the stream, the siege was raised by their returning home, this time with the minister in the rear. So far as is known, this was the only occasion on which the dominie ever lifted his hat to the minister. He was the Established Church minister at the top of the glen, but the dominie was an Auld33 Licht, and trudged34 into Thrums to church nearly every Sunday with his daughter.
The farm of Little Tilly lay so close to the dominie's house that from one window he could see through a telescope whether the farmer was going to church, owing to Little Tilly's habit of never shaving except with that intention, and of always doing it at a looking-glass which he hung on a nail in his door. The farmer was Established Church, and when the dominie saw him in his shirt-sleeves with a razor in his hand, he called for his black clothes. If he did not see him it is undeniable that the dominie sent his daughter to Thrums, but remained at home himself. Possibly, therefore, the dominie sometimes went to church, because he did not want to give Little Tilly and the Established minister the satisfaction of knowing that he was not devout35 today, and it is even conceivable that had Little Tilly had a telescope and an intellect as well as his neighbor, he would have spied on the dominie in return. He sent the teacher a load of potatoes every year, and the recipient36 rated him soundly if they did not turn out as well as the ones he had got the autumn before. Little Tilly was rather in awe37 of the dominie, and had an idea that he was a Freethinker, because he played the fiddle38 and wore a black cap.
The dominie was a wizened-looking little man, with sharp eyes that pierced you when they thought they were unobserved, and if any visitor drew near who might be a member of the board, he disappeared into his house much as a startled weasel makes for its hole. The most striking thing about him was his walk, which to the casual observer seemed a limp. The glen in our part is marshy39, and to progress along it you have to jump from one little island of grass or heather to another. Perhaps it was this that made the dominie take the main road and even the streets of Thrums in leaps, as if there were bowlders or puddles40 in the way. It is, however, currently believed among those who knew him best that he jerked himself along in that way when he applied41 for the vacancy42 in Glen Quharity school, and that he was therefore chosen from among the candidates by the committee of farmers, who saw that he was specially43 constructed for the district.
In the spring the inspector was sent to report on the school, and, of course, he said, with a wave of his hand, that this would never do. So a new school was built, and the ramshackle little academy that had done good service in its day was closed for the last time. For years it had been without a lock; ever since a blatter of wind and rain drove the door against the fire-place. After that it was the dominie's custom, on seeing the room cleared, to send in a smart boy—a dux was always chosen—who wedged a clod of earth or peat between doorpost and door. Thus the school was locked up for the night. The boy came out by the window, where he entered to open the door next morning. In time grass hid the little path from view that led to the old school, and a dozen years ago every particle of wood about the building, including the door and the framework of the windows, had been burned by travelling tinkers.
The board would have liked to leave the dominie in his whitewashed dwelling-house to enjoy his old age comfortably, and until he learned that he had intended to retire. Then he changed his tactics and removed his beard. Instead of railing at the new school, he began to approve of it, and it soon came to the ears of the horrified44 Established minister, who had a man (Established) in his eye for the appointment, that the dominie was looking ten years younger. As he spurned45 a pension he had to get the place, and then began a warfare46 of bickerings between the board and him that lasted until within a few weeks of his death. In his scholastic barn the dominie had thumped47 the Latin grammar into his scholars till they became university bursars to escape him. In the new school, with maps (which he hid in the hen-house) and every other modern appliance for making teaching easy, he was the scandal of the glen. He snapped at the clerk of the board's throat, and barred his door in the minister's face. It was one of his favorite relaxations48 to peregrinate the district, telling the farmers who were not on the board themselves, but were given to gossiping with those who were, that though he could slumber49 pleasantly in the school so long as the hum of the standards was kept up, he immediately woke if it ceased.
Having settled himself in his new quarters, the dominie seems to have read over the code and come at once to the conclusion that it would be idle to think of straightforwardly50 fulfilling its requirements. The inspector he regarded as a natural enemy, who was to be circumvented51 by much guile52. One year that admirable Oxford53 don arrived at the school, to find that all the children, except two girls—one of whom had her face tied up with red flannel—were away for the harvest. On another occasion the dominie met the inspector's trap some distance from the school, and explained that he would guide him by a short cut, leaving the driver to take the dog-cart to a farm where it could be put up. The unsuspecting inspector agreed, and they set off, the obsequious54 dominie carrying his bag. He led his victim into another glen, the hills round which had hidden their heads in mist, and then slyly remarked that he was afraid they had lost their way. The minister, who liked to attend the examination, reproved the dominie for providing no luncheon55, but turned pale when his enemy suggested that he should examine the boys in Latin.
For some reason that I could never discover, the dominie had all his life refused to teach his scholars geography. The inspector and many others asked him why there was no geography class, and his invariable answer was to point to his pupils collectively, and reply in an impressive whisper:
“They winna hae her.”
This story, too, seems to reflect against the dominie's views on cleanliness. One examination day the minister attended to open the inspection56 with prayer. Just as he was finishing, a scholar entered who had a reputation for dirt.
“Michty!” cried a little pupil, as his opening eyes fell on the apparition57 at the door, “there's Jocky Tamson wi' his face washed!”
When the dominie was a younger man he had first clashed with the minister during Mr. Rattray's attempts to do away with some old customs that were already dying by inches. One was the selection of a queen of beauty from among the young women at the annual Thrums fair. The judges, who were selected from the better-known farmers as a rule, sat at the door of a tent that reeked58 of whiskey, and regarded the competitors filing by much as they selected prize sheep, with a stolid59 stare. There was much giggling60 and blushing on these occasions among the maidens61, and shouts from their relatives and friends to “Haud yer head up, Jean,” and “Lat them see yer een, Jess.” The dominie enjoyed this, and was one time chosen, a judge, when he insisted on the prize's being bestowed62 on his own daughter, Marget. The other judges demurred63, but the dominie remained firm and won the day.
“She wasna the best-faured amon them,” he admitted afterward, “but a man maun mak the maist o' his ain.”
The dominie, too, would not shake his head with Mr. Rattray over the apple and loaf bread raffles64 in the smithy, nor even at the Daft Days, the black week of glum65 debauch66 that ushered67 in the year, a period when the whole countryside rumbled68 to the farmers' “kebec” laden69 cart.
For the great part of his career the dominie had not made forty pounds a year, but he “died worth” about three hundred pounds. The moral of his life came in just as he was leaving it, for he rose from his death-bed to hide a whiskey-bottle from his wife.
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1
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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dyke
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| n.堤，水坝，排水沟 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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soldering
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| n.软焊；锡焊；低温焊接；热焊接v.（使）焊接，焊合( solder的现在分词 ) | |
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7
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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8
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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9
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cantankerous
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| adj.爱争吵的，脾气不好的 | |
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11
thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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12
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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14
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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15
conceals
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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16
scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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17
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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18
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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19
eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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20
sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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21
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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22
spates
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| n.大量( spate的名词复数 )；（河流）暴涨；发洪水；（人）口若悬河 | |
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23
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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27
stilts
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| n.（支撑建筑物高出地面或水面的）桩子，支柱( stilt的名词复数 )；高跷 | |
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28
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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29
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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30
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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31
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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32
harangued
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| v.高谈阔论( harangue的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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35
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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36
recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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37
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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38
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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39
marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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40
puddles
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| n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
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41
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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42
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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43
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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44
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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45
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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47
thumped
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| v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
relaxations
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| n.消遣( relaxation的名词复数 )；松懈；松弛；放松 | |
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49
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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50
straightforwardly
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| adv.正直地 | |
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51
circumvented
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| v.设法克服或避免（某事物），回避( circumvent的过去式和过去分词 )；绕过，绕行，绕道旅行 | |
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52
guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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53
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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54
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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55
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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56
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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57
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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58
reeked
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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59
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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60
giggling
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 ) | |
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61
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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62
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
raffles
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| n.抽彩售物( raffle的名词复数 )v.以抽彩方式售（物）( raffle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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65
glum
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| adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的 | |
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66
debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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67
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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69
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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