I hae gotten but five herring instead o' sax, and this disna look
like a gude saxpennys, and I dare say this bit morsel o' beef is an unce
lighter than ony that's been dealt round; and it's a bit o' the tenony
hough, mair by token that yours, Maggie, is out o' the back-sey."
"Mine, quo' she!" mumbled the paralytic hag--"mine is half banes,
I trow. If grit folk gie poor bodies ony thing for coming to their
weddings and burials, it suld be something that wad do them gude, I
think."
"Their gifts," said Ailsie Gourlay, "are dealt for nae love of us, nor
out of respect for whether we feed or starve. They wad gie us whinstanes
for loaves, if it would serve their ain vanity, and yet they expect us
to be as gratefu', as they ca' it, as if they served us for true love
and liking."
"And that's truly said," answered her companion.
"But, Aislie Gourlay, ye're the auldest o' us three--did ye ever see a
mair grand bridal?"
"I winna say that I have," answered the hag; "but I think soon to see as
braw a burial."
"And that wad please me as weel," said Annie Winnie; "for there's
as large a dole, and folk are no obliged to girn and laugh, and mak
murgeons, and wish joy to these hellicat quality, that lord it ower us
like brute beasts.
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