“Should the weather be rough, and you nevertheless obliged to come to town, do not think of riding, but take the Blucher.* Remember your health is of consequence to your family. Pray, talk generally with the notables of Darnick—I mean Rutherford, and so forth, concerning the best ordering of the road to the marle; and also of the foot-road. It appears to me some route might be found more convenient than the present, but that which is most agreeable to those interested shall also be most agreeable for me. As a patriotic member of the community of Darnick, I consider their rights equally important as my own.
“I told you I should like to convert the present steading at Beechland into a little hamlet of labourers, which we will name Abbotstown. The art of making people happy is to leave them much to their own guidance, but some little regulation is necessary. In the first place I should like to have active and decent people there; then it is to be considered on what footing they should be. I conceive the best possible is, that they should pay for
* A stage-coach so called which runs betwixt Edinburgh and Melrose. |
| 124 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“We are delighted to hear that your little folks like the dells. Pray, in your walks try to ascertain the locality of St John’s Well, which cures the botts, and which John Moss claims for Kaeside; also the true history of the Carline’s Hole. Ever most truly yours,
“I hope Mrs Laidlaw does not want for any thing that she can get from the garden or elsewhere.”
