_Answer_: "Yes; the parents know no other way of doing it. I have
reasoned with the parents often when attending a case of illegitimate
birth, pointing out to the parents how it is they have been led on, but
they cannot imagine any other way of doing it; their daughters must have
husbands, and there is no other way of courting."

Mr. Justice O'Hagan asking--"Does it prevail generally in Scotland?" was
answered--"Universally among the agricultural laborers."

In reply to an inquiry by Mr. Dunlop, whether these young men lived
under any kind of supervision and knowledge of their masters, or whether
they could go out and in as they pleased, Dr. Strahan stated that
"plowmen, for instance, very often live in _bothies_, or in the farm
house; they get out after all are in bed, out of the window; or, if they
live in a bothie, without any trouble. They go to the neighboring
farm-house, they knock at the window, the girl comes to the window, and,
if she know the young man--or, after a little parley, if she does not
know him--she either comes out and goes with him to an outhouse, or he
comes into her bedroom. You must remember that they have no other means
of intercourse."

"That is the point you press so much?"

"Yes; a young woman cannot see either a sweetheart or an acquaintance in
any other way. I believe if it was not for fear of being out at night,
the girls would visit one another in the same way; they have no other
means of visiting; the customs of the country are such that a young man
could not be seen going in day-light to visit his sweetheart."

Mr. Justice O'Hagan: "If the father knew that the young man was coming