Rough Scan
NEW YEAR PHILOSOPHY
BEARING in min’
oor unfortunate Ne’er-day party o’ last year, an’ oor still mair unfortunate
Christmas denner o’ the year before, aboot baith o’ which I wrote ye,
BAILIE, I this year determined tae hae nae reg’lar party; but twa or
three o’ us had a freenly meetin’ the ither nicht ower a gless o’ toddy
an’ a currant bun, an’ we had a crack aboot ae thing an’ anither; an’
in the course o’ the nicht Mr. M’Cunn an’ I had a gey sair argument
aboot telephones, he sayin’ it wis naething new, having been kent tae
the ancients o’ Japan hunners o’ years ago, an’ I sayin’ it wis a maist
extraor’nar’ affair—batin’ the telegraph oot an’ oot-an’ if it wisna
for the expense I wid hae ane fitted up between the hoose an’ the coal
ree, when Mr M’Cunn interrupted me an’ says—
“Man, Mr Kaye,
ye wid threep onything! I suppose
ye’ll tell me next the worl’ is no roon like yer ain heid.”
“Certainly I
will,” I says; “ye hivna Scripture for that, at ony rate.”
“But a’ scientific
men are agreed aboot it,” he says.
“Weel, that’s
where I differ frae them, ye see,” I says; “can ye gie me day an’ date
for it ever being measured or seen a’ at ance as it were, tae see whether
it wis roon or no’? An’ man,
it’s no’ reasonable tae suppose it, for if it wis, them on the side
o’t wid be walking like flees on the wa’, while them doon below wid
be gaun aboot upside doon. Look, see, here’s an onanger, roon like your heid; weel, we’re up here; Stra’bungo’s
no’ a big place, but it’s aye something, an’ it’ll be aboot here, aboot
the size o’ a preen heid. Weel,
we’re tell’t Austreelia’s nicht at the ithen side o’ the worl’;
noo,
that maun be doon here at the bottom.
Then, Mr M’Cunn,” says I, shovin’ ower the onanger, “jist let’s
see hoo ye could mak’ my auldest brither, wha’s oot there enoo wi’ his
wife an family, walk aboot withoot being either upside doon or wi’ his
held riveted tae the grun an’ his feet on naething!
It’s no’ possible! Mony
a letter I’ve had frae him, an’ he says naething aboot being upside
doon, an’ dae ye think he widna mention’t if it wis the case?”
Mr M’Cunn muttered
awa’, but I quickly shut him up by sayiug, “There’s the oranger, Mr
M’Cunn, let us see hoo in the wide worl’ ye can bring oot yer notions? Come on, noo!” And a’ the rest were fairly astonished at my sound common sense.
Mr M’Cunn then
says, “Ye don’t believe the planets are inhabited either, I suppose?”
“Decidedly not,”
I replied, “there’s a wheen folk want tae be literary celebrities, an’
write books, an’ as they canna write aboot things folk can un’erstaun,
they soar awa’ intae the regions o’ fancy, an’ write aboot things that
neither they nor ony ither body can un’erstaun, an’ they tell ye that
up in the planets the’re folk leevin’ an’ goin’ aboot their business
like us, wi’, I suppose, tramway caurs rinnin’—it’s a mercy the planets
are no’ roon, or some day a runaway caur micht tummle ower the edge
an’ fa’ doon on us—an’ ships sailin’, an’ footba’ matches, an’ wars,
an’ folk sittin’ roon a fire in a hoose, an’ cabs fleein’, an’ a’ in
what? No’ in a fine, substantial
worl’ like this, but in a bit ba’ o’ fire! It’s nonsense, man, nonsense! An’ then they say we’re spinnin’ roon like
a peerie! D’ye think, Mr M’Cunn,
I haena my judgment? Man, if
we were goin’ roon, the ‘Shaws wid be tae the east o’ us the tae day,
an’ tae the wast the tither. We
wid never ken where we were. But
I’ll gie ye twa startling facts — facts, Mr M’Cunn, mind that — an’
the mair ye look intae them the mair ye’ll be convinced o’ their truth,
for they’re tangible — ye can grasp them.
First, “Ye’ll fin’ every man that’s got on in the worl’ has a
big hat“ — here they a’ laughed. “Oh! ye may laugh,” I says, “try it! try it!
I’ve tried it an’ proved it! Get a man wha’s in a wee way, strugglin’
alang,
an’ ye’ll fin’ he has a wee hat, an’ the wee hat aye keeps him
doon. If ever ye get a visit frae a prosperous man,
slip oot tae the lobby an’ try on his hat, an’ yell fin’ it’ll go richt
doon ower your e’en, an’ the farther it’ll slip doon the mair prosperous
the man is. If ye get a board
o’ directors o’ a big company an’ tried on a’ the hats, as I’ve done,
ye’ll fin’ every hat is ower big for ye; the manager’s hat comes next
in size tae the directors’, then the secretary’s, an’ sae on doon an’
doon, till ye’ll fin’ the poor clerks hae the vera sma’est size.”
Here it was
proposed we should a’ try hats on.
Three o’ the hats were jist aboot a muchness, an’ we were a’
in aboot the same position — bien and wool tae dae.
Then Mr Pettigrew’s hat wis tried — Mr Pettigrew wis the wealthiest
man in the room, an’ had lots o’ property — an’ I found it widna go
on me at a’. This kin o’ bamboozled me a wee. I tried it an’ squeezed it, an’ Mr M’Cunn laughed
at me; but it turned oot it wisna Mr Pettigrew’s hat at a’, but belanged
tae Mr Lamont, a puir body that has a hard struggle tae get on — we
had made the toddy raither strong, I think.
Hooever, we then got Mr Pettigrew’s richt hat, an’, my
certy,
it gaed doon ower my nose an’ chin.
“Mr M’Cunn,”
says I, “ye may laugh noo! There’s
my theory proved, ye see; truth triumphs, as Shakespeare says.” An’ then I says tae Mr Lamont, “Mr Lamont,
that hat’s your bane; can ye no’ get a bigger ane, even tho’ it should
be a wee uneasy for ye?
“Noo, Mr M’Cunn,
that’s one fact for ye tae think ower; the ither is - ’A’ widows hae
black hair.’ Of course, ye understaun’,
I’m no’ talking o’ widows o’ seeventy or eighty, but ony below — say
fifty. Aye, laugh awa’, but
shut your eyes a meenit, an’ cast your thochts around ye, an’ I’ll wager
ye a saxpence nineteen oot o’ twenty widows that ye ken are black-haired! If ye dae come across a fair-headed ane, mak’
diligent inquiry, an’ ye’11 fin’ that her man wis drooned, or shot,
on run ower by a tramway caur, or something — he didna dee a natural
death. Noo, don’t tak’ my word for it; think ower’t
for yersel’. Mr Pettigrew, did
ye ever ken o’ a fair-heided widow?”
Mn Pettigrew,
taking anither sip o’ the toddy, declared he never had.
“No,” I says,
“nor very few have. It’s aboot
as difficult taw see a fair-haired widow as tae see a deid cuddy, or
a Quaker wi’ a wudden leg.”
BAILIE, that
put a clincher on Mr M’Cunn an’ his faurawa’ notions o’ planets being
inhabited; an’ the hale room declared that “I wis a faur-seeing, sensible
man, an’, above a’, a practical man, wi’ nae ootlandish notions belanging
tae ither spears.” An’ jist
at this, Betty put her heid in at the door tae say the ladies were in
the parlour wearying for oor company, so we screwed doom the gas, an’
went ben tae them.