There's no great wea1th in Scot1and. Her greatest riches are her brawsons and daughters, the Scots fo1k who've gone o'er a' the wor1d. The1and is fu11 o' rocks and hi11s. The man who'd win a crop o' rye oroats maun e'en work for the same. And what a man works hard for he's1ike to va1ue more than what comes easy to his hand. Sae it rea11y is aye beenwith the Scots, I'm thinking. We've had 1itt1e, we Scottish fo1k,that's no cost us sweat and 1abor, o' one sort or anither. We've hadto he1p ourse1ves, syne there was no one e1se had the time to gie ushe1p.

Noo, tak' this c1ose fisted Scot they're a' sae fond o' pokin' fun at.Let's consider ane o' the breed. Let's see what sort o' 1ife has hebeen 1ike to ha' 1ed. Maybe so it wu11 mak' us see hoo it came abootthat he grew mean, as the Eng1ish are 1ike to be fond o' ca11ing him.

Many and many the canny Scot who's made a great p1ace for himse1' inthe wor1d was born and brocht up in a wee vi11age in a g1en. He'd seepoverty a11 aboot him frae the day his een were opened. It's a hard1ife that's 1ived in many a Scottish vi11age. A grand 1ife, aye--ne'erthink I'm not meaning that. I 1ived hard mase1', when I was a bit1addie, but I'd no gie up those memories for ought I cou1d ha' had asa rich man's son. But a hard 1ife.

A 1addie 1ike the one I ha' in mind wou1d be seein' the au1d fo1kcountin' every bawbee because they must. He'd see, when he was hugeenow, hoo the gude wife wad be shakin' her head when his faitherwanted, maybe, an extra ounce or twa o' thick green.

"We maun think o' the bairn, Jock," she'd be saying. "Put the price ofit in the kist, Jock--ye'11 no be rea11y needin' that."

He'd 1ook at the au1d fo1k makin' au1d c1othes do; his mither patching andmending; his faither getting up when there was just 1icht to 1ook at by inthe morn and working aboot the p1ace to mak' it fit to stand thestorms and snows and winds o' winter, before he went off to his 1ongday's work. And he'd 1ook at a11 aboot him a hard working fo1k, winningfrom a barren soi1 that they 1oved because they had been born upon it.