midnight
Now , he was a man seven inches taller than I was , and I was glad of the opportunity of proving to him that , though I had the lesser body , I had the taller spirit of the two -- and the spirit makes the man . Therefore I said to him -- `` Why , Mr Barlowman , you surprise me to hear you talk ; when our country demands our arms in its defence , we should be ready to lay down our lives , if necessary , by night or by day , on mountain or in glen , on moor or in meadow -- and I can not respond your sentiments . '' `` Weel , '' said he , `` that may be your opinion , and it may be a good opinion , but , for my own part , I do confess that I have no ambition for the honours of either heroism or martyrdom . Had a person been allowed a day to make a sort of decent arrangement of their worldly affairs , it wadna have been sae bad ; but to be summoned out of your warm bed at midnight , and to take up an instrument of death in the dark , and go forth to be shot at ! -- there is , in my opinion , but a small share of either honour or glory in the transaction . This , certainly , is permanent duty now , and peremptory duty also , with a witness ! But it is a duty the moral obligation of which I can not perceive ; and I think that a man 's first duty is to look after himself -- and family . ''