renting two or three acres in addition to his own, less than one acre of
glebe; and the humblest drudgery which the cultivation of these fields
required was performed by himself. He also assisted his neighbours in
haymaking and shearing their flocks, and in the performance of this latter
service he was eminently dexterous. They, in their turn, complimented him
with the present of a haycock, or a fleece; less as a recompense for this
particular service than as a general acknowledgment. The Sabbath was in a
strict sense kept holy; the Sunday evenings being devoted to reading the
scripture and family prayer. The principal festivals appointed by the
church were also duly observed; but through every other day in the week,
through every week in the year, he was incessantly occupied in works of
hand or mind; not allowing a moment for recreation, except upon a Sunday
afternoon, when he indulged himself with a newspaper, or sometimes with a
magazine. The frugality and temperance established in his house were as
admirable as the industry. Nothing to which the name of luxury could be
given was there known; in the latter part of his life, indeed, when tea
had been brought into almost general use, it was provided for visiters,
and for such of his own family as returned occasionally to his roof, and
had been accustomed to this refreshment elsewhere; but neither he nor his
wife ever partook of it. The raiment worn by his family was comely and
decent, but as simple as their diet; the homespun materials were made up
into apparel by their own hands. At the time of the decease of this
thrifty pair, their cottage contained a large store of webs of woollen and
linen cloth, woven from thread of their own spinning. And it is remarkable
that the pew in the chapel in which the family used to sit, remained a few
years ago neatly lined with woollen cloth, spun by the pastor's own hands.
It is the only pew in the chapel so distinguished; and I know of no other
instance of his conformity to the delicate accommodations of modern times.
The fuel of the house, like that of their neighbours, consisted of peat,
procured from the mosses by their own labour. The lights by which, in the