"
Lord Lyveden inquired: "Do these meetings take place at particular
periods, such as harvest time, or is it over the whole of the year?"
_Answer_: "The whole of the year; very commonly the young man visits the
young woman once a week."
Lord Chelmsford said: "In England that would be called _keeping
company_. It is a very extraordinary way of keeping company when the
parents allow their daughter to go out with the young man at midnight,
or the young man to come into her bedroom."
_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.
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