a teacher, even his authority was no match for the enterprising juveniles of Laurencekirk. If they did not indulge in the pastime of pulling wigs, it was possibly because there was no wig to pull; and their love of frolic manifested itself in another way. The school-wall was lathed; but at a certain part, whether by chance or design, there existed a hole, through which the ingenious pupils were in the practice of drawing the end of a rope which they had previously attached to the rafters. The rope was passed round the leg of a form on which some girls were seated. Very frequently a sensation was produced when, by what appeared an invisible agency, the whole form of girls were found sprawling on the floor. The trick was not speedily discovered, for the simple reason that when the form was upset the rope was left free to find its usual place of concealment. The only drawback was, that it could not be produced oftener than once at a single meeting. There was never any difficulty in the way of having a boy on the rafters equal to the occasion when it presented itself.

In consequence of his increasing infirmities, an arrangement was entered into with Mr Scott, in terms of which he resigned the office of schoolmaster, and was re-elected along with William Pyper as his assistant and successor. This is almost the only case in which such an appointment was ever made, there being no provision for it in any Act of Parliament, but an indirect allusion in the Act constituting the Schoolmasters' Widows' Fund. In the month of January 1816 the session record bears: "Mr Scott, who had been schoolmaster of this parish and session

clerk for fifty-seven years, died on the 3d of this month, in the seventy-sixth year of his age."

William Pyper, A.M., who had entered upon the office of assistant-schoolmaster in 1815, remained only for a short time in the parish, having been appointed to the parish school of Maybole, 15th May 1817. An expression of regret is recorded that "his connection with the parish of Laurencekirk, which had been attended with so much advantage to the rising generation, was so soon dissolved." He was afterwards a master of the High School of Edinburgh, from which honourable situation he was advanced, in 1844, to the Professor's Chair of Humanity in the University of St Andrews. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him, and he continued to occupy the chair until his death, which took place on 10th January 1861.

George Begg was the next schoolmaster, and he continued in the office until removed by death, 1st July 1834. For some years he also performed the duties of burgh-clerk.

William Farquhar, A.M., entered upon the duties of the session-clerkship 26th September 1834, having previously been appointed schoolmaster. He was related to Mr Farquhar of Johnston, and was the son of the Rev. Alexander Farquhar, minister of Pitsligo. He became a licentiate of the Church, and was an acceptable preacher, a revered master, and a much-respected man. On the 6th August 1843, he resigned the office of schoolmaster, having been presented to the church and parish of Forglen. His farewell appearance in the pulpit of Laurencekirk was rendered the more impressive on the audience

He

that its effect upon himself was overpowering. had scarcely entered upon the duties of his new sphere when failing health unfitted him for their discharge, and he died early in the year 1845.

David Gordon Primrose Smith, A.M., a native of Aberdeen, had for some time acted as assistant in the school, to the full charge of which he was appointed on Mr Farquhar's resignation. He also was a licentiate of the Church, beloved by his pupils, and held in universal esteem. Endowed with natural gifts of a high order, and possessing an inexhaustible fund of humour, he was a genial companion, a wise counsellor, and a constant friend. Feeble health, besides impairing his usefulness in the discharge of his duties, hindered the advancement of which his great talents gave early promise, and to which those who knew him best looked forward with greatest confidence. The few years of his incumbency were sadly marred with intense suffering, from which he found relief only in death. He died at Aberdeen in 1849, and a venerable clergyman of the city, who had known him from childhood, remarked at the side of his open grave"There lies one who, if life and health had been spared to him, would have certainly come to fill one of the highest positions in the Church of Scotland."

John Keppie was appointed schoolmaster in 1849, and the thirty years of his tenure of office have witnessed many changes which are undoubted improvements. The old parish school, with its two rows of heavy benches separated by a narrow passage-the only space available for class drill-was probably an advance upon the convenience and comfort enjoyed by Ruddiman and several of his successors. One

can only imagine now with what astonishment those worthy men would have looked upon such edifices, devoted to the art of tuition, as the public and infant schools, which are so commodious and well adapted for their respective purposes. It will be for the

school boards of the future to see that these material improvements are not neutralised by any permitted decline of scholastic efficiency. It is to teachers of the stamp of Mr Keppie, and a large majority of his predecessors, that Scotland owes its reputation. With few if any exceptions, they were men with a university training, from whose tuition in these humble buildings pupils were fitted to pass directly to the classroom of a university. A well-educated teacher will surmount many material difficulties, but the most wisely designed and greatest abundance of outward appliances will never supply the deficiencies of an imperfect education on the part of an instructor.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

VILLAGE TEACHERS.

The labours of the successive schoolmasters of the century have been supplemented by a number of teachers of various degrees of efficiency. Margaret Croll, daughter of a farmer in the parish, deserves honourable mention as for many years a successful teacher in the village. A school in Johnston Street was conducted by a succession of tolerably efficient

teachers, of whom the most successful was James Menzies, who was also burgh-clerk for a term of years, and who, about 1837, removed to a more important situation in Montrose. Dominie Robb must still have a place in the memory of some of the pupils on whom, with such persevering diligence, he inculcated the necessity of learning to "sound the broad A." Tradition gives the names of one or two of earlier date—worthy men, but indifferent teachers. One was given to abstruse investigation, in the course of which he sometimes arrived at wonderful results, as when he gravely announced to his pupils one day, "Wi' a' the calculation that I can calculat', Pace Sunday happens on a Fuirsday this year." James afterwards became a shopkeeper, and carried his methodical habits from the school-desk to the counter. customer asked him for a file of a given size and shape. The particular parcel was taken down, slowly unrolled, and, the first file being extracted, returned to its place on the shelf. "But, James, I should like to select one for myself." "Aweel"-and the parcel was once more on the counter, to be deliberately unrolled, have the file replaced in it, and be consigned again to its usual position-"aweel, is there onything else you want?" "But I haven't got the file yet." "Aweel, but if you canna tak' it as I get it, you winna get it ava."

A

Another, who ultimately found a more suitable occupation as messenger-at-arms, was for a short time a teacher in the village. Whatever his literary qualifications may have been, they were marred by an unfortunate defect in his speech. He sounded the combined letters th always as s, and young Laurence