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tiend lamb scouthered, his butter made into cats’ paws, his cheese was swarming with mites and maggots, and full of holes for the mice to play at hide and seek. Frequent were the admonitions he had given to the maid servants, and was still turning them off, but the last was still the worst. For although his studies had again and again driven him to mountains of thought, and perplexities enough to make any man rin red wud, his ears were deaved and his heart sick with complaints, and turmoil; plain speech and mild admonition had no effect with the servants, who only turned the worse on his hand the longer he wanted a wife; they broke the hinges of anger, the bands of good nature they burst in two, they hated the door of civility, nothing was heard but thunderbolts of reproach, and poor Magopico had to help-mate to soothe or assist him in the midst of his distresses; to attempt to talk to them of working was quite odious; na, na, they maun a’ be ladies. One had a sweetheart and she must have her ears bored; off she sets for that purpose, saying she was gaun to chase the cow frae the corn rigg, so dinner was entirely neglected; another would gossip for whole hours with her neighbours, and her excuse for being so long absent was that she had been mucking the byre, that the grape had broken, and she had to go to
