The life of James McCosh; a record chiefly autobiographical

Contents

Page James McCosh, 1811-1894 1

Chapter

I. Ancestry 3

Chapter I Ancestry

TN the parish churchyard of Straiten, a village of Ayrshire in southwestern Scotland, which is situated on the banks of the Girvan Eiver, and not far from Loch Doon, stands the tombstone of Jasper McCosh, who died in 1727. The earliest recorded ancestor of James McCosh, he lies among the forefathers of his race, — a stock renowned for their devotion to principle amid the persecutions attendant on the misguided efforts of Charles 11. to impose episcopacy upon the Scotch Presbyterians. The name is Celtic, and the McCoshes, sons of foot, are scattered throughout the neighboring counties, being numerous also in Irish Ulster, whence, in all probability, they emigrated into Scotland. But they had become in time so intermingled with Anglo-Saxon blood that they were an integral portion of the true Lowland Scotch. The "wild Scots of Galloway," as they were called in the earliest days, were merged in the Teutonic migrations which peopled England and southern Scotland, being so anglicized that many of the McCosh clan, for example, translated their Celtic name into the English equivalent, and under the name of Foot or Eoote settled in various portions of Great Britian. The descendants of Jasper McCosh laid no claim to aristocratic descent, but they were for all that a proud family. Moral and charitable, they cherished their independence, and considered the virtues of industry and frugality upon which it was based as second only to their devotion and piety. For twenty years their ancestors had endured persecution and even martyrdom for " Christ's crown and covenant," as they designated their ecclesiastical principles ; and although much had occurred in the interval to revolutionize the character of their faith and conduct, they were still proud of the noble endurance, the lofty purpose, and the undying heroism of their ancestors. Though they belonged to what is generally designated the middle class, they were people of substance and refinement, being for the most part large farmers, tending their flocks and herds on the hills above, and cultivating the dales below with assiduity and success. To be one of this class, to have neither poverty nor riches, is a decided advantage for the student of human nature, since it enables him, without the separation of any social stratum, to hold easy intercourse both with those beneath and with those above.

The farmers of the lands " between hill and dale " in Ayrshire were favored by neither soil nor climate, and were forced to hard labor, careful management, and great frugality in order to increase the store which they had inherited from those who for ages had been engaged in the same struggle. Originally the land had been divided into small plots, granted to the retainers and dependents of petty chieftains, who paid their rent by fighting in their masters' quarrels, whatever these might be. With the advance of civilization, such services had become less and less valuable to the owners, while the progress made in agriculture necessitated not merely better tillage and the

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use of improved implements, but required for the best economy that the size of the holdings should be greatly increased. The minor tenants had therefore become tradesmen or farm-servants, or else had emigrated, the small farms having been absorbed in the larger ones. The proprietors had become in large measure absentee landlords, spending their increased revenues in travel, or in introducing their families to the higher circles of London society. Finding it easier and more satisfactory to collect their rents from a single large tenant than from a number of petty ones, they favored the substantial farmers at every point, and left the peasantry to desert their little homes and become artisans in towns, or else to wander into foreign lands and become wealthy, successful colonizers in all parts of the globe. For ages these plain people, enlightened by their parish schools and their church, had been evolving a well-known type of character which is admirably delineated in the autobiographical notes of Dr. McCosh given in the next chapter. The " canny " or " able " Scot is a cosmopolitan, present wherever there is work to do, money to be got, and honor to be won. At home they displayed their powers in the only line open to them, namely, in their farming, which they brought to a state of perfection unsurpassed, if indeed equalled, in any other land. This was made possible only by the capital of the larger farmers, but in the process it was impossible to form and consolidate a body of peasant farmers, who might have lived contentedly at home as good citizens, and have prevented the development of many unfortunate social tendencies. It has been good for the world that so many of Scotland's ablest sons have settled in other countries ; but there was a time in their own when their high idealism and sturdy courage were sorely missed.

Andrew McCosh, a descendant in the third generation of the Jasper before mentioned, and the father of James, lived at a time when the state of society in Scotland, though picturesque and interesting from a human point of view, was deplorable in regard to morality and piety. By good management and thrift he became the tenant of half-a-dozen small farms, aggregating in all about a thousand acres, for which he paid as many pounds to the proprietor in annual rental. He was, of course, an intelligent man, and thoroughly capable in the management of his affairs. From him his famous son inherited his fondness for that quiet reflection to which the sire, like many of his race, was much given. The notice of his death in the local paper, " The Ayr and Wigtonshire Courier," bears testimony to his virtues, and to the esteem in which he was held in the neighborhood. It was probably written by the Kev. Dr. Paul, a nephew of the Sir Henry Moncreiff so influential at the time; he was then pastor of Straiten, and afterwards became minister of St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. The eulogium runs as follows: "Died at Carskeoch, July 9th, 1820, Mr. Andrew McCosh, for many years tenant in that farm. We notice the death of that excellent and exemplary man with feelings of deepest regret. By this neighborhood, in which he lived, we scarcely believe a greater loss could be sustained. To his family and connections he was ever kind, sympathetic, and faithful, and such, from the natural sweetness of his disposition, he probably would have been, even though he had not been actuated by any higher feelings. In his transactions with mankind his great object was to do

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justly. His unaffected simplicity of manner, his freedom from artifice and guile, were proverbial among all who knew him. His modesty spread a covering over all other virtues, improving what it was intended to conceal. The property with which God had entrusted him he seemed to consider as a loan which would afterwards be required at his hand with interest. As a friend of the poor, his loss will not soon be forgotten. Poverty, sickness, and old age always found in him a sympathizing heart, a relieving and protecting hand. Cheerfully did he perform the offices of kindness of which his Saviour had set him an example. The poor, the maimed, were admitted to his home and served from his board. He knew that they could not compensate him, but wherever these were the effects and expression of a Christian faith, we know that they will be remembered at the resurrection of the just."

That this measured praise was well merited seems clear to all who knew Dr. McCosh intimately. The memory of his God-fearing parents was one of the strongest influences in his life. His own tribute to them is as follows : " I was only nine years of age when my father died, in 1820, but I remember so much, and saw so much of his work remaining, as to know that the account given above is correct ; and I am proud of it. Almost every evening a beggar, or a family of beggars, was apt to appear about nightfall ; they got a bed in the stable, and a substantial supper and breakfast. I remember that my father kept in his kitchen a poor idiot man, whom we youngsters used to plague, and that we were rebuked for it. He gave homes to several poor women on his farm. He was kind to all poor relatives, sending them meal, and carting coals for them. This kindness was always shown in a delicate way. We were four miles from the parish church, our house being on the Doon, and the church being on the Girvan, and we often spent the interval between the forenoon and afternoon services in the home of a genteel family, whose father had lived by smuggling claret and brandy, which he carried up from the sea-coast by a band of armed men and horses into the interior. The strong hand of the law was brought to bear upon him, many sharp fights took place between him and the soldiers, and he was reduced to poverty. We carried with us into the man's house a considerable stock of provisions, of which we partook ourselves, and left the larger portion to the family. We children were ordered to say nothing about it to any one.

" The story of the way in which my mother's uncle treated a sturdy beggar became well known in the neighborhood. My grand-uncle, on giving him blankets for the night, asked him what security he would give that they should not be stolen, and was assured that he gave God Almighty as security. Next morning the man and blankets were off, with no hope of their casting up again. The thief wandered all day among the mists of the mountains, and in the evening he asked quarters at the same house without knowing it to be the same. My uncle saluted him, told him he had given good security, and invited him to stay one night more, and the beggar was so impressed with the scene that there was no more thieving.

" My mother, Jean Carson, was the daughter of James Carson, a large farmer in a wild, moorland district of Scotland at the top of Loch Doon. When my father

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took her to his home as his wife, she is described as a modest and retiring young woman, but as the cares of a family were thrown upon her, her native energy developed, and she ruled well her household. She was early left a widow with a large family, consisting of six daughters and myself, whom she reared with care and tenderness, and showed great skill and ability in the management of the farms she was left. On her mother's side, she was connected with a well-known Covenanting family, named McClymont. Her father's family were Scotch Covenanters, who had fought at the battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Brig, and maintained for twenty-eight years the liberties of Scotland, and had often to hide in the dens and caves of the earth on the banks of the Stinchar, near the house of the persecutor. Sir Archibald Kennedy, of Culzean Castle. One day Mr. McClymont returned home, and looking out of his window he saw a company of soldiers riding furiously towards his house, and had only time, before they reached it, to hide among some raspberry bushes. They demanded of his wife where her husband was, and she said that they might seek for him. Then they insisted that they must have food for their horses, and she pointed them to a hay-stack. They placed a guard over the dwelling, and began to cut down the hay. One of the troopers, seeing the tempting raspberries, started to pull them. She saw that her husband was in danger, but she was equal to the emergency. She pulled berries till she found one with a large worm in it, and showed it to the English trooper, who was so disgusted by the sight that he returned to the hay-stack, and her husband was saved. I am sure that I owe much of my character by heredity to this woman."

Chapter II 1811-1824

WAS born on April 1, 1811, at my father's farm-house, called Carskeoch. If any one has a choice of a place of birth and training, let him fix upon a farm-house (I learned when in Ireland to commit Irish Bulls), and always to be under a father or mother, without whom no external advantages can benefit the child. The boy is thus surrounded with objects fitted to interest him and call forth his energies. Here I wandered at my own free will, following my thoughts and fancies among green and heather, hills and valleys, among trees and rocks and brooks (Scottice burns). Here I became interested in wild plants, such as lilies, roses, meadow-sweet, and foxgloves. Here I found birds flying, chirping, or curiously building their nests. Here I had sheep and lambs (every boy should have his motherless lamb as a pet) ; here I had horses and foals, hens and ducks, geese and turkeys. Here I had my collie dog, called "Famous," and my pony, called " Cuddy." The boy should watch the ways of all these creatures ; he should care for them and feed them; in short, should make them his friends. I had to hold intercourse with servant lads and lassies tending the cows and working the horses. It is a sphere fitted to call forth reflection and independence. It was in such a scene that I was reared, in a good stone house, with comfortable rooms and bed-rooms, and a garret where the men-servants slept; grouped around about were the farm buildings, — a milk-house, a stable, a barn, and a cart or carriage house.

Carskeoch was pleasantly situated, within a quarter of a mile of the river Doon, about ten miles from its mouth, on the bay ^ of Ayr, and with a considerably wide view all around. Following the river upwards, we had first extensive meadows, now cut up by lately discovered iron works, then a romantic glen, through which the river flowed from the lake above, and on that lake a ruined castle which was famous in the days of Bruce. I do not believe that natural scenery has had so much influence on character as is sometimes imagined, but I know that Loch Doon, on which I have so often fished, and the wild scenery between Ayrshire and Galloway, have created within me that intense taste which I have for mountain scenery. Following the Doon downwards we have " Ye banks and braes of bonnie Doon," and, at the mouth, Eobert Burns's birthplace. The river flows from east'to west ; north of it are heather hills, and south of it the cultivated fields of Scotland, running on towards England. The region was never visited by Sir Walter Scott, who was the main instrument of making romantic certain parts of Scotland, and so is not as well known as some other districts not so romantic.

I may here give a picture of the character of the district with which I was at one time so well acquainted. The region had passed through stirring scenes in the days of Wallace. Now and then some knowing man showed

1 A recess of level ground surrounded by hills.

me a tree in wliicli the Scottish patriot had hid from his English persecutors. We all knew the " barns of Ayr," which he had burned. In the Reformation and post-Eeformation periods there had been fierce contests among the barons of Ayrshire and Galloway. Afterward there had been a strong Covenanting movement in the southwest of Scotland, among a people who had been trained by their ministers in the stern principles of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and were resolved to resist the prelacy which was attempted to be imposed on them. There must have been much religious life in the days of the Covenant, otherwise the people would not have submitted to such privations ; the hearts of the great body of the people must have been deeply moved, otherwise they would not have submitted to such suffering.

But the religious life in later ages had been suppressed by the blight of moderation, and now religion had very much disappeared. Immorality followed, and there was a low tone of duty among the people, while drinking and licentiousness prevailed. The stream which had rushed over rocks and precipices was now flowing through a level plain. The people had comparatively few traditions, and the young were not much interested in them. The Eeformation had done little but set aside the fables of the Middle Ages. The Patronage Act of 1711, which took away the power of appointing ministers from the heritors and parishioners, and gave it to patrons who often forced worldly ministers into the pulpit, had effaced the remembrance of the glorious struggles of the Eeformation and the Covenant. There were tombstones in nearly every parish which told of men who had been sliot for Christ's Kingdom and Covenant, but these were now moss-grown and little attended to. The great body of the people, immersed in matters connected with the cultivation of their land, admitted that these old worthies had been very good men, but congratulated themselves on living in more enlightened times.

The few traditions took a superstitious turn. When I was a boy, an old lady told me that her father, who was one of the tenants, had been among those who bore the body of Sir Archibald Kennedy, the persecutor, to his grave. It was a dark and furious night. At first the coffin was so heavy that they could scarcely carry it. As they entered the graveyard, a black raven was heard croaking from a tree above them. Suddenly the coffin became lighter; the contents had evidently been carried away. In the same night, and at the same hour, a fiery ship was seen crossing the Bay of Ayr at a tremendous speed. A bold skipper challenged it, " From whence to where," and the answer was, " From Hell to Kirkoswald, to Sir Archibald Kennedy's funeral." A few minutes after, the same ship was seen returning, and was again saluted, "From whence to where," and the answer was, " From Kirkoswald to Hell, bearing Sir Archibald Kennedy."

It was during the last century that the character of the Lowland Scot was formed. That character is a distinctive one. It is different from that of the inhabitants of the other countries of the British dominion. The Lowlander is nearly as obstinate as the Highlander, but he is not so fiery. He has not the impulsiveness and flightiness of the Irishman, his wit, or his warm display of friendship or enmity. He is naturally of an anxious spirit, though he tries to hide it, being in this respect like the Yankee. He has not the self-sufficiency of the Englishman, who carries his point by his good sense and composure. The Scot is proverbially " canny," that is, cautious in taking up his position, but apt to be obstinate in holding by it. He is strongly bent on being independent, but if it expose him to danger, slow in exhibiting it. When he sets out on any undertaking it is very difficult to make him turn back. The following incident is characteristic. I remember being placed on one horse, to lead a second horse behind me by a halter ; I held by the halter till I was pulled over the horse's tail, • — a very picture of the young Scotchman sticking by a cause which he might easily abandon.

The common people of Scotland attained a considerable amount of intelligence at an earlier date than any other community in Europe. This they owed to John Knox, who insisted on having a school in every parish, an academy in every burgh town, and a university in every large city. In every school the Bible was taught ; in some districts it was the Book of Proverbs that was used as a text-book, and helped to give the people their shrewdness. I have to add that the Shorter Catecliism, drawn out by the Westminster divines, was committed to memory in the schools, and in nearly every family, and being the best logical compend of the system of doctrine laid down in the Bible, it gave to the people the logical turn for which they are distinguished in their thoughts and expressions. This education did not and could not produce the genius of Burns, of Scott, or Carlyle, but it came out in the massive sense by which they were distinguished among literary people. Douce Davie Deans and Jeanie Deans (and I may add Effie Deans) are perfect pictures of Scottish characters.

Of all the people I have met with, the Scotch have the least of what we call " manners " in their intercourse with the members of their family, with their neighbors, and with the world generally. The Scot loves his wife and family, and would make any sacrifice for them, but he seldom or never utters a word of compliment to them. He doubts the sincerity of such words and acts, and is apt to regard them as hypocrisy, having some selfish end in view, and speaks of them as Frenchified and unworthy of an honest Scotchman. I confess I have often been repelled by the cool manner in which Scotch people, after long absences or in critical emergencies, often meet with each other. I remember going up to a most excellent man to comfort him when he was trying to restrain his tears as he hung over the body of his son, just deceased. I was chilled when all that he could utter was, " This is a fine day, sir." We can thus account for some of the oddities of Thomas Carlyle. I have known a number of ministers like him. He was at one time nearly becoming a minister, and a curious minister he would have been. We are amazed to read that he was often cold and indifferent, at times rude to his wife ; but he loved her all the while, and would have died for her at any time.

Scotchmen are often described as being cold and selfish, but the bareness is only on the surface, beneath which there is often a well of tender affection. With no pretensions or promises, they stand by their families and friends as resolutely as any people on the face of the earth. When they give their assent, possibly in few words, it is commonly found tliat you can trust them. The parts which they acted at the Eeformation, again in the Covenanting struggle, and at a later date in the Free Church movement, are proofs of their resolution and courage on great questions of principle. I have often thought that it would be better for themselves, and for their influence over their fellow-men, if, instead of restraining and concealing their feelings, they would allow them full expression, as the Irish do.

In the seventeenth century the Lowlands of Scotland had been ploughed and harrowed by the great Covenanting struggle. For a time the fruits were reaped in a general religious life throughout the country, with family worship in most of the households in which there was a profession of religion, where also young men and women were trained in the doctrines of the Shorter Catechism. But all this was changed when the Government sanctioned the Patronage Act of 1711, taking away the power of appointing ministers from the parishes, and giving it to the Patrons, — the crown with its political ends claiming one-third of the benefices, and the other two-thirds being given to private noblemen or gentlemen who had no interest in the spiritual welfare of the people. The result was the formation of a class of ministers who were called Moderates, because they often preached on the text, " Be moderate in all things," and sought to allay the heats of the previous century. Young men of a worldly spirit were appointed to the ministry, commonly well educated and of good manners, but with no spiritual life.

I have before me a volume of sermons by the minister who baptized me, — an accomplished man who afterwards became the Professor of Moral Philosophy in the

University of St Andrews. It is gracefully written, in short and well-constructed sentences, and it has fine sentiment ; but it does not contain one sentence of gospel truth, that is, of Jesus set forth as the Eedeemer of sinners. Blair's sermons, so graceful yet so powerless, were the models all over the country among the younger ministers. They were greatly admired by young men and women of note, but had no moving influence on the great body of the people, as they did not speak of sin and salvation, - — subjects which the latter would have understood from their own experience.

The degeneracy in religion was followed by a degeneracy in morals. It is a law of God's government that religion is the main instrument of keeping up a high morality in a district, and that where religion loses its hold, the restraints on vice are removed. It was so in Scotland in the latter two-thirds of the last century, and in the earlier one-third of this. In particular, two vicious habits, which have exercised so prejudicial an influence on Scottish character, became prevalent at this time. First, there was intemperance. The great body of the people did not drink to excess, but there was use of ardent spirits on all occasions, — at christenings, at weddings, at all family and all social gatherings. The farmer could not sell a horse, a cow, or a calf, without being obliged to give drink to the buyer. On IsTew Year's Day the children were accustomed to give presents to their teacher, the boy and girl who gave the largest sum being king and queen for the day (I was king for several years), and the teacher had to give them toddy to drink. The consequence was that many young men, including a number of my companions, one of them a most amiable young man, and a dear friend of mine, fell before the temptation. When at school I often saw staggering along the streets the most gentlemanly farmer in the neighborhood, the largest manufacturer, and the village blacksmith and carpenter. Every here and there were parishes in which the minister was apt to join in the festivities, and had to be helped home by his people. I knew a case in which the people gathered at a funeral, and drank so hard that when they arrived at the burial place, several miles off, they found that they had forgot to bring with them the cofhn and the corpse.

A second prevailing vice was the illicit intercourse of young men and women. This was very common before marriage. The minister of a neighboring parish had been guilty of it. This state of things was to a large extent produced by the secretiveness of the Scottish character, by the determination of the younger men and women to have their love-affairs thoroughly concealed. The fathers and mothers, and the master and mistress of the farms, did not allow an open courtship. The ploughman came stealthily to the farm-house, and indicated his presence in the way spoken of in the song, " Whistle and I'll come to you, my lad." The young woman went out to meet her lover, and the two walked in some hidden path, or took refuge in the barn. It has to be added that the life after marriage was in general kept absolutely pure. I am sorry to recall by way of exception that the master of the coal works corrupted the wives of many of the work people in my neighborhood by giving them small presents.

The consequence of all this was that there was no healthy public sentiment on these subjects. The drinking men were genial, and commonly very popular. The falls of young men and women were readily excused. The Kirk Session exercised discipline, but the rebukes on the cutty-stool were of a coarse description, and tended rather to harden the character.

It is easy to see how, under these circumstances, young Eobert Burns was so easily led astray by the flax-dresser in Irvine, when he went to live there. I can speak on this subject with confidence, for I was born fifteen years after his death, on the same river which he has made so famous, and I know the circumstances in which he lived. When he came back from Edinburgh, in which he had been so well treated, he declared he had found as much wit and talent among " the jolly bachelors of Tarbolton " as in the highest literary circles of Edinburgh. But he adds that he had not met with a pure refinement of mind among females until he visited the metropolis of Scotland. Burns's example, his perpetual outflow of wit and humor, and some of his poems circulated among the people, tended to foster the views of which I have been speaking. The tradition is, that when he got into a jovial party in his later life, his expression was in the first instance dull, and his countenance flat enough, but as he drank the rounds of toddy he brightened amazingly, and kept the whole table in a roar. There were no temperance societies in those days to raise a public sentiment against the evils. The scholarly preaching in the churches had little effect on the great body of the people. As a rule, the moderate clergy favored young Burns. The most devoted clergy were exposed by him and his friends to ridicule.