The good man accordingly availed himself of the opportunity to get hold of the minister, and lay their difficulty before him.

He returned in time to resume his own place, and when they had started again, the gentleman who had advised him, finding him not much disposed to voluntary communication, asked if he had seen the minister.

"O ay," he said, "he had seen him." "And did you propose the question to him ?" "O ay." "And what did he say ?" "Oh, he just said he didna ken; and what was mair he didna _care!_" I have received the four following admirable anecdotes, illustrative of dry Scottish pawky humour, from an esteemed minister of the Scottish Church, the Rev.W.Mearns of Kinneff.

I now record them nearly in the same words as his own kind communication.

The anecdotes are as follow:--An aged minister of the old school, Mr.Patrick Stewart, one Sunday took to the pulpit a sermon without observing that the first leaf or two were so worn and eaten away that he couldn't decipher or announce the text.