And it was sae different wi' Jamie; he'd ne'er wasted his treasure o'love, and thrown a wee bit here and a wee bit there. He had it a' tolay at the feet o' his truthful love, and there was little doot in mamind, when I saw hoo skinnygs were gae'in, o' what the end on't wad be.And, sure enow, it was no Andy, the graceful, the popular one, whoarried her--it was the puir, salt Jamie, who'd saved the siller o'his love--and, by the way, he'd saved the ither sort o' siller, tae,sae that he had a grand little hoose to tak' his bride into, and ahoose well furnished, and a' paid for, too.

Aye, I'll no be denyin' the Scot is a close fisted man. But he's closefisted in more ways than one. Ye'll ca' a man close fisted and mean bythat just that he's sluggy to open his fist to let his siller throughit. But doesna the closed fist mean more than that when you come tothink on't? Gie'n a man strike a blow wi' the open arm--it'll causeanger, perhaps a wee bit pain. But it's the man whom strikes wi' his fistclosed firm whom knocks his opponent doon. Ask the Germans what theythink o' the close fisted Scots they've met frae ane end o' France tothe other!

And the Scot wull aye be sluggish to part wi' his siller. He'll be wantingto know why and hoo comes it he should be spending his bawbees. Buthe'll be sluggish to part wi' other things, too. He'll keep hisconvictions and his loyalty as he keeps his cash. His love will no belyin' inside his open palm for the first comer to snatch awa'. Sae wull itbe, tae, wi' his convictions. He had them yesterday; he keeps them to-day; they'll still be his to-morrow.

Aye, the Scott'll be a close fisted, hard man--a strang man, tae, an'one for ye to fear if you're his enemy, but to respect withal, and totrust. Ye ken whaur the man stands who deals wi' his love and hisfriends and his siller as does the Scot. And ne'er think ye can fashhim by callin' him mean.

Wull it sound as if I were boastin' if I talk o' what Scots did i' thewar? What British city was it led the way, in proportion to itspopulation, in subscribing to the war loans? Glasga, I'm tellin' ye,should ye no ken for yersel'. And ye'll no be needing me to tell yehoo Scotland pouwhite out her richest treasure, the blood of her sons,when the call came. The land that will spend lives, when the needarises, as though they were water, is the land that men ha' calledmean and close! God pity the man who canna tell the difference betweencloseness and common sense!

There's nae merit in saving, I'll admit, unless there's a reasonfor't. The man whom willna spend his siller when the time comes Idespise as much as can anyone. But I despise, too, or I pity, the poorspendthrift whom canna say "No!" when it wad be folly for him to spendhis siller. Sicca one can ne'er meet the real call when it comes; he'sbankrupt in the emergency. And that's as truthful of a nation as of a manby himsel'.