midnight
However , I have always been of opinion that the thought of the precentor in his box gave Cree a fleeting sense of humour . Tammas and Hendry Munn were the two paid officials of the church , Hendry being kirk-officer ; but poverty was among the few points they had in common . The precentor was a cobbler , though he never knew it , shoemaker being the name in those parts , and his dwelling-room was also his workshop . There he sat in his `` brot , '' or apron , from early morning to far on to midnight , and contrived to make his six or eight shillings a week . I have often sat with him in the darkness that his `` cruizey '' lamp could not pierce , while his mutterings to himself of `` ay , ay , yes , umpha , oh ay , ay man , '' came as regularly and monotonously as the tick of his `` wag-at-the-wa ' '' clock . Hendry and he were paid no fixed sum for their services in the Auld Licht kirk , but once a year there was a collection for each of them , and so they jogged along . Though not the only kirk-officer of my time Hendry made the most lasting impression .