They're rich an' can afford it, an' forby
they need them an' we don't. I think I'm fine as I am."
"Fine as ye are!" with bitter scorn in her tones. "Ye'll never be fine
wi' a mind like that."
"Wheesht, woman Nellie! You're no feart. Dinna talk like that. We micht
a' be strucken doon dead!"
This usually ended the discussion, for Scots people generally--and the
workers especially--are always on very intimate terms with the Deity,
and know the pains and penalties of too intimate allusions to His power.
Yet, with all her discontent, Mrs. Sinclair found life very much easier
than it had been, for now that she had some of the boys started to work,
she had made her house "respectable," and added many little comforts,
besides having a "bit pound or twa lyin' in the store." So she looked
ahead with more hope and a more serene heart. Her children were well-fed
and clothed, and the old days of hunger and struggling were over, she
thought. Geordie was now taking a day off in the middle of the week to
rest, as there was no need for him to slave and toil every day as he had
done in the past. After all it would only be a very few years till he
would no longer be able to work at all.
Pages:
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140