At the time of the Reformation there was a great scarcity of ministers, and therefore from 1560 to 1573 most parishes were served by laymen, who were known as "readers." In 1574, Coldstone had assigned to it its first minister, in the person of James Reid, to whom was given at the same time the charge of Coull, Kincardine O'Neil, Banchory-Trinitie and Birse. In this very wide field he was assisted by readers, but the services of his own readers he paid for out of his own munificent salary of sax score pounds, being the equivalent of ten pounds sterling.

The list of Ministers succeeding Mr. Reid so far as I have been able to ascertain, is as follows:—Rev, David Strauton, who continued to 1597; Rev. James Lesh continued till 1601; Rev. James Strachan, already named 1608-1633; Robert Forbes, who departed out of this life Jan. 12th, 1675; John Forbes, 1677 to about 1680; John Shepherd, who, "After he spent his life in love to God and mankind, died Mar. 1st, 1748, aged 74." James Mclnnes, who died 10th Oct., 1777 in the 62nd year of his ministry and the 88th of his age. Rev. Robert Farquharson, from 1777, to 1826. "Rev. Andrew Tawse, for seven years Minister at Grey-Friar's Church of Aberdeen, who, in the eighth year of his Ministry in this parish and 47th of his age, while conducting the solemn service of God's House on Sunday 15th Dec., 1833, was called from the faithful discharge of his pastoral duties, and expired in presence of his sorrowing people.' Rev. John McHardy, born Jan. 1785, from 1833 to 1866. George Davidson, from 1866.

With the exception of Mr. Strachan. whose frugal tendencies have been already noted, little seems to be known of any of the eight ministers who proceeded Rev. Robert Farquharson. Whatever their influence, in their own times, may have been, we cannot doubt that from their labours, good, or bad, was sown the seed, the harvests of which for generations to come, will continue to be reaped.

ROUPS, SALES and THE BELLMAN

It is extremely difficult to estimate the spiritual condition of the people in any particular age or country. Not infrequently what is deemed by a contemporary historian worthy of record happens to be something in the estimation of the writer, abnormal or out of the usual. The same is true in even greater degree of unwritten tradition, which usually preserves what to the first narrator, seemed out of the common. Perhaps the kind of evidence most worthy of credence comes from the written meditations of some earnest soul whose ideals as to Christian life are pure and high, and who yet deplores, as he depicts, conditions actually existent around him. Such evidence comes from very early times, through St. Ternan, whose name is perpetuated in the modern name of a town about 17 miles distant from Cold-stone, known as "Banchory Ternan." That good man records that in his time public roups, or sales, of farm stock and other merchandise were held at the Church door on Sunday mornings, just before the commencement of church service. That practice, he observes might be amended. Before the 18th century dawned, that pious wish, so modestly expressed, had found fulfilment. By that time the lowing of the cattle had indeed ceased, but the echoes came into the new century through the advertising of such sales, and other matters of a purely secular nature, which still persisted. Throughout the 18th century not only were newspapers scarce and little seen by the large majority of the people, but many there were who could not read. So it was necessary that some means of advertising should be adopted which was understood by all. Advantage was therefore taken of the weekly assemblies at church for public worship, to whom the bell-man would announce (for a fee, no doubt) the roups, or sales, and all matters of public interest claiming attention during the current week. The echoes of one of the last of such announcements thus declared at the door of the church of Coldstone has come down to modern time. It was delivered by the ground officer of the estate of Invercauld, who, in announcing the letting of a number of farms in that estate, finished up his harangue in the following words, which, and which alone, the echo still repeats "Bogstone and 'Hill o'Bogstone an' the half pleuch o' Knocksoul, an' a' to let, an' a' to let."

The lowing of the oxen is no longer heard, and the bell-man no longer suggests thoughts of their presence to the minds of assembled worshippers, yet few perhaps of the most devout will say that in the hour of most solemn worship the ox does not at times obtrude his unwelcome visage in the sacred tabernacle of mind and heart.

THE REVEREND ROBERT FARQUHARSON AND HOW HE GOT SETTLED.

Regarding Rev. Robert Farquharson, a whole chapter might be written. In his contribution to the Old Statistical Account of Scotland, dated 1793, to which more extended reference was made in a previous chapter, he informs us that the parish of Logic Coldstone is a vice-patronage, the crown and Invercauld having the right to present a minister alternately. The annual stipend of the ministry he says is "forty-five pounds, two shillings and one penny and eleven bolls of victual, thirty-two of which were bear (barley) and two glebes."

Added interest would have been given to his contribution had he been pleased to give us his version of the story of his settlement as parish minister. Such a story would have given, as from the inside, a practical illustration of the working of patronage then, and for half a century thereafter, existing as a public scandal and cause of trouble to the church of Scotland.

That incident surely deserves a place in this story. In Mr. Michie's "Logie-Coldstone," to which I am indebted for much information about the parish, appears a quotation from "Scott's Fasti," in the following words:—"Robert Farquharson A.M. transl. from Kirkmichael, Abernethy Parish 3rd Nov. 1779 (delay arose from a competition regarding the patronage which was claimed also by the Crown and Charles Karl of Aboyne, against whom the Court of Session decided 5th Feb. and 17th of the latter year").

Of this competition or dispute, there was no lack of evidence at the time, and echoes of the fray, as between the two presentees Rev. Robt. Farquharson and Rev. Thos. Gordon had not ceased to vibrate in the district when we left in 1866. Both appointees believed apparently that possession availed not a little in matters ecclesiasical and spiritual as well as in those of civil law, and each determined to secure for himself prior entry into the pulpit. I am not clear as to the mode of procedure under the obnoxious Act of Queen Anne, passed in 1711, by which, in gross violation of the terms of the Union between England and Scotland, solemnly entered into only four years before, patronage was forced by the English majority upon the Scottish church and people. At first it was understood that the consent of the presbytery was necessary to make a legal settlement. Soon it became evident that while an unwilling congregation and the presbytery might debar an unwelcome presentee from ecclesiastical service, they had no power to withhold from him or otherwise dispose of the Stipend attached to the office. It was not long however until the law courts determined that any presentee of the church, unless morally disqualified, must be inducted and Ordained by the presbytery into all the duties and privileges of that Sacred office Then it was that trouble arose. The unwillingness of the people was overcome sometimes by military force. Indeed I have read one minister's story of his own settlement under such extraordinary circumstances. The people in his case had nailed up the church door in the face of the presbytery and a squad of soldiers. The Serjeant proposed to break down the door, but the presentee, afraid that the heritors might not be pleased to be called on to make good the repairs, suggested entry by the window. As the presentee was thus effecting his entrance by the window he was met from within by a scripture quotation delivered in a stentorian voice :—"He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold but climbeth tip some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." A member of presbytery, unable to get near enough to lay his hand on the head of the kneeling presentee, reached his objective with his cane accompanying his action with the remark "timmer tae timmer," which was regarded as anything but kind. The name of the parish as I remember was "Dalmailing." I should have been disposed to say "an enemy bath done this," but that the author goes on to show in detail the progress made from year to year under his ministry.

In the Coldstone case the people took no part. Probably they were too little alive at the time to be aware that a wrong was being done. So far the presbytery had taken no action, and no doubt the service was designed to correspond with what in more spiritual days had been regarded as a trial service, affording the people an opportunity of testing the acceptability of the presentee. Most likely the (late for this trial sermon had been fixed by the presbytery. Both presentees, at any rate, were on hand the same (lay. First came Mr. Gordon's four sturdy men who posted themselves to guard the door. It was a vain precaution. When Farquharson came, "he rode all unarmed and he rode all alone," but hastily dismounting, whip in hand, and wearing the garb of Old Gaul, he brushed aside the quaternian guard, and thus attired, and before the astonished guard had realized the situation, marched straight into the pulpit and preached his first sermon unopposed.

I heard the story from many sources but none of my informants ever mentioned any delay in assuming his Pastoral duties, or any legal process necessary to render his incumbency valid. No doubt can exist as to the accuracy of the report quoted by Mr. Michie which would seem to imply a vacancy of two years ending in a legal settlement. Most likely he had held the Position undisturbed, by virtue of possession, without induction by the Presbytery, pending the decision of the civil courts, of which in Scotland the highest is The Court of Session whose decisions stand, subject only to review by the House of Lords, on appeal. At that time, not only were questions regarding the settlement of ministers in the national church subject to review by the civil courts, but reference was had to them, and decisions by them rendered regarding the discipline of the church itself. There were case, in which ministers, who had been found by the ecclesiastical courts guilty of gross immorality, and therefore deprived of their status as ministers, and of their official position with its emoluments, who yet, on appeal to the Civil Courts, had been restored to their former position and incumbency and emoluments. The position was indeed intolerable, and became the occasion of several secessions from the Established Church, and was what ultimately led to the great Disruption in 1843.

Mr. Farquharson belonged to that branch of the clan who owned a small estate known as "Alergue," if not himself the owner of that property. There was no blood-relationship between him and our branch of the family so far as I know, but it so happened that my grandfather's farm, and the manse with the glebe-farm were side by side, with only the public road between them, and relations between the two families were close and exceedingly cordial.

For some reason Mr. Farquharson had been made a Justice of the Peace, a distinction probably accorded him out of respect to his connection with the Alegrue family and estate, not less than for his fitness in other respects. Altogether he was a man under authority, and not slow to put all his powers in active exercise when occasion seemed to demand it. He was referred to by his people as 'prophet, priest and king.'

One of his reported sayings, surviving through the intervening century, gives some indication of his character, "I remember a good turn seven vicars, but an ill turn, I remember fourteen." Another, to the same effect which I had from an old lady who knew him well, was "I'm a good friend but a damnable enemy."

"WE DAURNA BREW A PECK O' MAUT

Up to the middle of the eighteenth century the common drink of the people of Scotland was ale, which was brewed in every farm house, and under the name of "twopenny," publicly sold at the price of two pence a Scotch pint (which, I believe, was much larger than the English pint). It was made from malt, but was not usually of alcoholic strength sufficient to product intoxication.

In 1725 there was passed an Act imposing on each bushel of malt a tax of sixpence. Of course the purpose of the Act was clearly the raising of revenue, which of necesity must ever be a burden upon the public. At first sight the choice of malt as a subject for excise purposes would seem quite unobjectionable. Malt was in no sense a necessity, and a decrease of its consumption in the form of ale in the several households of the nation could hardly of itself be regarded as hardship or injury to the health, morals or prosperity of the people of Scotland. And yet, innocent as the Act seemed, it is said to be seen the cause indirectly of the flood of drunkenness and inebriety that for generations was to be the curse of Scotland. When the large quantity of malt required for each family is considered, it is not surprising that the new tax was found to be a burden too heavy to bear, unless the people were prepared to content themselves with a much less copious use of their favourite beverage. The new tax, in a country so poor as Scotland then was, so raised the price that the use of ale in any considerable quantity, among the common people at least, became an impossibility. It was therefore deemed necessary to find a substitute at Iess expense, and this was not far to seek. Though then almost unknown in the Lowlands, whiskey from an early period had been manufactured and used in the Highlands of Scotland, and stills were there already in all the glens prepared to evade the tax, and pour forth streams of so called "Aqua Vitae" upon the thirsty land, at reasonable price. The new beverage seemed to meet abundantly the craving for alcohol, whether created by the old "twopenny" variety or not, but the satisfaction was only seeming, for the name "Aqua Vitae," as applied to it was soon found to be a misnomer. True of it, with terrible emphasis, was the saying of Our Lord, "He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again." More vain are its promises than those of the briny deep under a tropical sun to slake the thirst of the sailor perishing on its bosom for want of but a cup of water fresh and pure, distilled from the clouds of heaven.

The supply of the new beverage was abundant. Not only was it carried from the highlands, but fleets of vessels began to smuggle into the country ardent spirits from all the countries of Europe. With Highland producers and foreign smugglers, the whole of Scotland was in sympathy. They regarded all attempts to control or suppress the traffic as an English invasion of the liberties of their country, and consequently few seizures seem to have been effected. The spirit of the time is reflected in the old Jacobite song, already quoted in another connection:--

"We daurna brew a peck o' Maut
But Geordie, he maun fin' a faut,
And tae oor kale we scarce get saut
For want o' Royal Charlie."

On his advent in 1777 Mr. Farquharson found the illicit manufacture of whiskey almost universal in Coldstone. My impression from what I have heard is that a thorough search would have disclosed the fact that almost every farmer in his parish, had on his farm or in some secret place in the hills an illicit still in which he was either directly or indirectly interested. Agricultural methods were exceedingly primitive, laborious and unremunerative, and the intelligence that was yet to visualize the possibilities of soil and climate and to devise and adopt means and methods for their enlightened exploitation had not yet been Awakened. The barbaric instincts of a ruder period, under which the hand of power or of cunning had been wont to appropriate, without pretence of remuneration, the hard-earned fruits of a neighbour's industry, had happily passed. But not yet had come the realization that participation in a traffic that in no case is of real value to the ultimate consumer, adds nothing to his comfort, health, wealth, happiness or well-being, or to that of his family, but on the contrary tends ever to debase and destroy what is noblest and best in himself, and to rob his family of the means of subsistence, was and must ever be, in its very nature and essence, a sin scarcely less heinous, and in its effects on society little less destructive and disastrous, than were the sword and dagger of the semi-savages of a former generation.

In Mr. Farquharsons day, the terrible evil of strong drink was not realized, and on the part of the people there was no consciousness of wrong-doing when they took part in the manufacture and use of intoxicating liquors. Unchecked, therefore, by moral considerations or consciousness of wrong-doing it is little wonder that the poverty-stricken community should have availed themselves of the opportunity, now as it seemed, providentally afforded them, for a more remunerative disposal of the produce of their farms. It is true that the partial abandonment of ale and the substitution therefor of whiskey as the national beverage had not the effect immediately of advancing the price of the latter. An increased demand for the produce of their stills was, however, immediate, and most of the farmers were therefore directly engaged in that industry. If there were any not so engaged there were none who did not participate in the advantages arising from the traffic, inasmuch as the many stills in operation made an insatiable demand for barley, which naturally rose to prices otherwise unattainable. In itself, the traffic was highly demoralizing. The very fact that it could not be openly prosecuted, but must needs be carried on stealthily and in secret, while outwardly a pretended compliance with the law had to be maintained, could not fail to be destructive of all that was true and honourable in the character of the offenders. Indeed, so sternly does Nature, and that means Nature's God, demand obedience to her royal law of truth and honour, that the Stamp of her approval is withdrawn from the brow of the offender who, under whatever temptation, persistently continues the pretence of being other than what he knows himself to be.

There were other aspects of the traffic not less deplorable. The business, necessarily secret, was not always safe in daylight, and was therefore carried on largely at night. Around the still met young men, and, as I have heard, voting women too, In such an atmosphere, the conversation and conduct, uncontrolled by any recognized authority, can be imagined. Idle and drunken habits were contracted by some, a disregard of human law, was fostered in all, and other immoralities indulged in, in the darkness, soon became manifest in the light.

THE MINISTER ON THE BENCH

Violators of the law were tried by Justices of the Peace, and Mr. Farquharson the new minister, was seemingly always one of the two locally employed for that purpose. His sympathy was invariably with the accused, and any poor person could always depend on him for the most lenient treatment possible under the law. One poor woman to whom the payment of the usual fine of six-pence was no light matter, was frequently before the Court. For her, her minister had special sympathy which he habitually manifested by himself paying her fine. In dismissing her he was accustomed to say, "My good woman, here's your sixpence, go away home." The time came, however, when the fine was raised to twenty pounds sterling, and once again this "good woman" was at the bar of Justice. As the case opened, Mr. Farquharson's colleague on the bench said sarcastically "Let off your wifie for a sixpence, today, Mr. Farquharson, if you dare." Mr. Farquharson scored with the reply "It's the first request that you have made and it shall be granted." Then, turning to the culprit he dismissed her with the usual formula, plus the usual sixpence but with the warning never to try the like again.

In Mr. Farquharson's day, and probably still, most of the people in the parish depended for fuel almost exclusively, on turf and peat from the hill. The turf was cut with what was known locally as a "flachter" spade, in thin flat slices, perhaps about 10 x 15 and about 3 inches thick. The non-English name of this "spade" indicates its early origin, and therefore some description of its construction and use may be of interest. In cutting turf, the terrain was usually lined and rutted or cut perpendicularly to a depth equal to the required thickness of the turf by an ordinary spade into rectangular sections corresponding with the superficial dimensions of the turf, the cutting of the under part of the several turfs being left to be performed by the use of the flachter spade, which therefore required considerable force. Its cutting part was about the width of the turf, its handle long, with a cross piece about two feet or more in length attached to its upper end. In operation, the cross piece was not only convenient for the use of both hands but also for the application of the superior strength of the thighs in urging forward the cutting edge as it disengaged the turfs successively from the subsoil, and also made easy the work of tilting them out of the way as each succeeding turf was negotiated.