"Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or freeman fa',
Let him follow me!

"By oppression's woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains,
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!

"Lay the proud usurper low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow!

Let us do, or die!"

- Robert Burns.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A STATE.

What constitutes a state?

Not high-raised battlements or labored mound, Thick wall or moated gate;

Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned;

Not bays and broad-armed ports,

Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; Not starred and spangled courts,

Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.

No; men, high-minded men,

With powers as far above dumb brutes endued, In forest, brake, or den,

As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude; Men who their duties know

But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain,

Prevent the long-aimed blow,

And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain

These constitute a state;

And sovereign Law, that state's collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate,

Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill.

-Sir William Jones.

TRUE PATRIOTISM.

Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
"This is my own, my native land"?
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathes, go, mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures swell.

High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from which he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

FOR A' THAT, AND A' THAT.

Is there, for honest poverty,

That hangs his head, and a' that?
The coward-slave, we pass him by,
And dare be poor, for a' that!
For a' that, and a' that,

Our toils obscure, and a' that;
The rank is but the guinea's stamp;
The man's the gowd for a' that.

What tho' on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hodden-gray, and a' that;

Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
A man's a man, for a' that.

For a' that, and a' that,

Their tinsel show, and a' that; The honest man, tho' ere sae poor, Is king o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie, ca'ed a lord,
Wha struts, and stares, and a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that;
For a' that, and a' that,

His riband, star, and a' that,
The man of independent mind,
He looks and laughs at a' that.

A king can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, and a' that;
But an honest man's aboon his might,
Guid faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, and a' that,

Their dignities, and a' that,

The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth,
Are higher ranks than a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a' that,

That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth,
May bear the gree, and a' that;

For a' that, and a' that,
It's coming yet, for a' that;
That man to man the warld o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

The Revolution reached our parish years ago, and Drumtochty has a school board, with a chairman and a clerk, besides a treasurer and an officer. Young Hillocks, who had two years in a lawyer's office, is clerk, and summons meetings by post, although he sees every member at the market or the kirk. Minutes are read with much solemnity, and motions to expend ten shillings upon a coal-cellar door passed, on the motion of Hillocks, seconded by Drumsheugh, who are both severely prompted for the occasion, and move uneasily before speaking.

It is difficult to live up to this kind of thing, and my thoughts drift to the auld schule house