An Autobiography | Page 6

on account of
the fires and the grate cleaning, but the wages were less. My mother
gave the top wages in the district, and was considerate to her maids, but
I blush yet to think how poorly those good women who made the
comfort of my early home were paid for their labours. You could get a
washerwoman for a shilling or 1/6 a day, but you must give her a glass
of whisky as well as her food. You could get a sewing girl for a shilling
or less, without the whisky. And yet cheap as sewing was it was the
pride of the middle-elms women of those days that they did it all
themselves at home. Half of the time of girls' schools was given to
sewing when mother was taught. Nearly two hours a day was devoted
to it in my time.
A glass of whisky in Scotland in the thirties cost less than a cup of tea.
I recollect my father getting a large cask of whisky direct from the
distillery which cost 6/6 a gallon, duty paid. A bottle of inferior whisky
could be bought at the grocer's for a shilling. It is surprising how much
alcoholic beverages entered into the daily life, the business, and the
pleasures of the people in those days. No bargain could be made
without them. Christenings, weddings, funerals--all called for the
pouring out of strong drink. If a lady called, the port and sherry
decanters were produced, and the cake basket. If a gentleman, probably
it was the spirit decanter. After the 3 o'clock dinner there was whisky
and hot water and sugar, and generally the came after the 10 o'clock
supper. Drinking habits were very prevalent among men, and were not
in any way disgraceful, unless excessive. But there was less drinking
among women than there is now, because public opinion was strongly

against it. Without being abstainers, they were temperate. With the
same heredity and the same environment, you would see all the
brothers pretty hard drinkers and all the sisters quite straight. Such is
the effect of public opinion. Nothing else has been so powerful in
changing these customs as the cheapening of tea and coffee and cocca,
but especially tea.
My brothers went to the parish school, one of the best in the county.
The endowment from the tiends or tithes, extorted by John Knox from
the Lords of the congregations, who had seized on the church lands,
was more meagre for the schoolmasters than for the clergy. I think Mr.
Thomas Murray had only 33 pounds in Money, a schoolhouse, and a
residence and garden. and he had to make up a livelihood from school
fees, which began at 2/ a quarter for reading, 3/6 when writing was
taught, and 51 for arithmetic. Latin, I think, cost 10/6 a quarter, but it
included English. Mr. Murray adopted a phonic system of teaching
reading, not so complete as the late Mr. Hartley formulated for our
South Australian schools, and was most successful with it. He not only
used maps, but he had blank maps-a great innovation. My mother was
only taught geography during the years in which she was "finished" in
Edinburgh, and never saw a map then. She felt interested in geography
when her children were learning it. No boy in Mr. Murray's school was
allowed to be idle; every spare minute was given to arithmetic. In the
parish school boys of all classes were taught. Sir David Brewster's sons
went to it; but there were fewer girls, partly because no needlework was
taught there, and needlework was of supreme importance. Mr. Murray
was session clerk, for which he received 5 pounds a year. On Saturday
afternoons he might do land measuring, like Goldsmith's schoolmaster
in "The Deserted Village"--
Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, And even the rumour
ran that he could gauge.
My mother felt that her children were receiving a much better
education than she had had. The education seemed to begin after she
left school. Her father united with six other tenant farmers in buying
the third edition of "The Encyclopedia Briannica," seven for the price

of six. Probably it was only in East Lothian that seven such purchasers
could be found, and my mother studied it well, as also the unabridged
Johnson's Dictionary in two volumes. She learned the Greek letters, so
that she could read the derivations, but went no further. She saw the
fallacy of Mr. Pitt's sinking fund when her father believed in it. To
borrow more than was needed so as to put aside part on compound
interest, would make the price of money rise. And why should not
private people adopt the same way of getting rid of debts? The father
said it would