I disclaimed a Popish sense for my ejaciilation ; and
he seemed to accept my disclaimer with unusual facil-
ity, and ran on once more upon what had evidently be-
coiSe a favorite subject.
" We fand her in Sandag Bay, Eorie an' me, and a'
thae braws in the inside of her. There's a kittle bit, ye
see, about Sandag ; whiles the sook rins strong for the
Merry Men ; an' whiles again, when the tide's makin'
hard an' ye can hear the Boost blawin' at the far-end of
Arcs, there comes a back-spang of current straucht into
Sandag Bay. Weel, there's the thing that got the grip
on the Vhrist-Anna. She but to have come in ram-
atam an' stern forrit ; for the bows of her are aften
tinder, and the back-side of her is clear at hie-water o'
neaps. But, man ! the dunt that she cam doon wi'
■when she struck ! Lord save us a' ! but it's an unco
life to be a sailor — a cauld, wanchancy life. Mony's the
^liff I got mysel' in the great deep ; and why the Lord
should hae made yon unco water is mair than ever I
■could win to understand. He made the vales and the
pastures, the t)onny green yaird, the halesome, canty
land —

And now they shout and sing to Thee,
For Thou hast made them glad,

as the Psalms say in the metrical version. No that I
■would preen my faith to that clink neither ; but it's
bonny, and easier to mind. " Who go to sea in ships,"
they hae't again —



THE MERET MEN.
And in
Great waters trading be,
Within the deep these men God's works
And His great wonders see.
