Hooky Crewe was driver; so-called because an iron hook was his substitute for a right arm: Robbie Proctor, the blacksmith, made the hook and fixed it in.

Crewe suffered from rheumatism, and when he felt it coming on he stayed at home.
Sometimes his cart came undone in a snowdrift; when Hooky, extricated from the fragments by some chance wayfarer, was deposited with his mail-bag (of which he always kept a grip by the hook) in a farm-house.
It was his boast that his letters always reached their destination eventually.

They might be a long time about it, but "slow and sure" was his motto.

Hooky emphasized his "slow and sure" by taking a snuff.
He was a godsend to the post-mistress, for to his failings or the infirmities of his gig were charged all delays.
At the time I write of, the posting of the letter took as long and was as serious an undertaking as the writing.

That means a good deal, for many of the letters were written to dictation by the Thrums schoolmaster, Mr.Fleemister, who belonged to the Auld Kirk.