My grandfather could give particulars of his ancestors for six generations before him; and the only point of the tradition I feel proud of is this. One of these poor islanders was renowned in the district for great wisdom : and when he was on his deathbed, he called his children around him and said, "I have searched carefully through all the traditions of our family, and I never could discover that there was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If therefore any of you should take to dishonest ways, it will not be because it runs in our blood. I leave this precept with you : Be honest." Should I in the following pages perchance fall into errors, I hope they will be regarded as unintentional, and not as indicating that I have forgotten our ancient motto. This event took place at a time when the Highlanders, according to Macaulay, were much like the Cape Caffres, and any one could escape punishment for cattle-stealing by presenting a share of the plunder to his chieftain. Our ancestors were Roman Catholics; they were made Protestants by the laird coming round with a man who carried a yellow staff", and the new religion went long after- wards, perhaps it does so still, by the name of "the religion of the yellow stick."
Finding his farm in Ulva insufficient to support a numerous family, my grandfather removed to Blantyre Works, a large cotton manufactory on the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow; and his sons, who had received the best education the Hebrides afforded, were gladly taken as clerks by the proprietors, Monteith and Co. He himself was highly esteemed for his unflinching honesty, and was employed in the conveyance of large sums of money from Glasgow to the works. In his old age, according to the custom of that company, he was pensioned off, so as to spend his declining years in ease and comfort.
My uncles all entered His Majesty's service during the last French war, either as soldiers or sailors; but my father remained at home, and, though too conscientious ever to grow rich as a small tea-dealer, yet by his winning ways he made the heartstrings of his children twine around him as firmly as if he could have bestowed upon them every worldly advantage. He reared xis in connection with the Kirk of Scotland — an establishment which has been an incalculable blessing to that country — but he afterwards left it, and for the last twenty
