was not of infrequent occurrence--they would run to his assistance and
help to untangle the hook; they would often search for and carry to him
worms to serve as bait. Both kinds of service were sure to be rewarded
by a piece of "black sugar," as Bell styled licorice, which he always
carried with him for use in such emergencies.

"We bairns," she explained, "were niver feared o' the priest. I weel
remember hoo my mither chided me for usin' sic freedom wi' him--I had
lived sae lang in the hoose wi' him, ye ken, that I wes whiles gey
familiar in my speech. Well, when he askit me one day--juist as a
joke, ye ken--to tak' a snuff oot o' the wee boxie he aye carrit, I
tossit my head and said (ill bred as I wes!), 'Fuich!' Mr. McGillivray
wesna' angered; he juist laughed oot an' says he: 'Weel, lassie, ye
couldna' ha' said worse to a dog!' But I got mair words frae my mither
aifter, an' a strappin' as weel, an' to bed wi'oot supper. It learned
me to be mair respectful-like to the priest!"

This anecdote recalled another. "I mind weel hoo I got my first bonnet
through Mr. McGillivray. In they times, ye ken, sir, it wes aye the
fashion to wear large bonnets o' Tuscan straw, an' a lassie o' foorteen
wes surely auld enough for siclike--I said to mysel'. So when the
priest cam' to oor hoose aince, I made sae bold as to get him to ask my
faither to buy me a bonnet for Sundays, next time he went to the toon
o' Aberdeen. My faither wouldna' ha' done it for me, but he did when
the priest askit him, and I got my bonnet! But I doot I wes a bit o' a
favorite with the priest, sin' I herdit his coos sae lang."

However free the children may have been in their intercourse with the
old priest, I gathered from Bell's narrative that the grown-ups rather
feared him. His methods were certainly such as would be considered