Says he, ae day, "Robert, my man, gin ye will aye unnerstan' afore
ye du as ye're tellt, ye'll never unnerstan' onything. But gin ye
du the thing I tell ye, ye'll be i' the mids o' 't afore ye ken 'at
ye're gaein' intil 't." I jist thocht I wad try him. It was at
lang division that I boglet maist. Weel, I gaed on, and I cud du
the thing weel eneuch, ohn made ae mistak. And aye I thocht the
maister was wrang, for I never kent the rizzon o' a' that beginnin'
at the wrang en', an' takin' doon an' substrackin', an' a' that. Ye
wad hardly believe me, Mr. Ericson: it was only this verra day, as I
was sittin' i' the kirk--it was a lang psalm they war singin'--that
ane wi' the foxes i' the tail o' 't--lang division came into my heid
again; and first aye bit glimmerin' o' licht cam in, and syne
anither, an' afore the psalm was dune I saw throu' the haill process
o' 't. But ye see, gin I hadna dune as I was tauld, and learnt a'
aboot hoo it was dune aforehan', I wad hae had naething to gang
rizzonin' aboot, an' wad hae fun' oot naething.'
'That's good, Robert. But when a man is dying for food, he can't
wait.'
'He micht try to get up and luik, though. He needna bide in 's bed
till somebody comes an' sweirs till him 'at he saw a haddie
(haddock) i' the press.'
'I have been looking, Robert--for years.'
'Maybe, like me, only for the rizzon o' 't, Mr. Ericson--gin ye'll
forgie my impidence.'
'But what's to be done in this case, Robert? Where's the work that
you can do in order to understand? Where's your long division,
man?'
'Ye're ayont me noo.
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