let us go into the house for some supper, and give me a glass of raspberry
whisky, to keep me from taking cold, as I have been out too long in the
night air, and feel chilled with the damp of the river." Helen was gone to
bed by her mother's advice, but she could not sleep till she heard that
John had returned safely.





CHAP. V.


Next morning, when the family assembled in the study, for the morning
service, Mrs. Martin observed, that Helen still looked pale and unwell;
but Helen said she did not feel ill, only as if she was very tired, and
had caught a cold. Her mother replied, "then my dear, you must not go to
church this morning; for though I disapprove very much of people absenting
themselves from the public worship of their Maker, upon every light and
trivial excuse, I think it wrong, when they are really ill, to go out,
even to church; as by that means they often endanger their lives. Such a
sacrifice is not required of us; and we act much more wisely by remaining
at home, in such cases, nursing ourselves, and taking care to spend our
time, not in idleness, but in our own private devotions."

In Scotland, the observance of Sunday is strict, but nor morosely severe.
It is considered by the peasants as their grand day of innocent
recreation. Nothing that is trifling, or that can any how be done on
Saturday, is left for the Sabbath. The men are all shaved on Saturday
evening; and they would even scruple to gather a cabbage out of their