The book Arran; - Cook Clan

IMPROVEMENT AND EMIGRATION 209
point where we started, and the scorned eighteenth century
may have something to say for its religious worth after all.
But undoubtedly these experiences did leave a mark and a
memory of a continuing character in the religious life of the
island.
For one thing, and it is no small thing, they probably
determined the attitude of the Arran people in the great
ecclesiastical conflict which was shaping itself by the time
that younger generation had come to maturity.
Some personal notes may here be introduced. The first
comes from a lady's letter of September 6, 1823, to a relative
in Prestonpans, She is evidently a Congregationalist and
residing at Sannox, where the minister of that denomination
there, fruit of the Haldane visit, was the Rev. Alex. Mackay,
' rather a vague preacher,' the correspondent complains ;
' much respected here, though as a preacher not so well liked
as a Mr. M'Millan an established minister.'
The people here are remarkably decent and civil, many of them
pious, almost all of them have worship twice a day in their families.
I think my mother would like this place very much, it is so mild and
so- retired and the scenery is so beautiful. She would have great
pleasure in going into the cottages which are scattered up and down
the glens and conversing with the people. It is a great source of
amusement and interest to us—and they are all so civil.^ To-morrow
is the communion here, and though he is but an indifferent preacher,
he has excellent assistants. He takes no part in the duties of to-
' Paterson says of the people : ' They are very polite and insinuating in their
address, and rarely exhibit those awkward and boorish manners so common on the
mainland ' (p. 144). Of the Kilmorie people, in the New Statistical Account, it is
said, ' In their manners they are courteous and affable, having little of the awkward
embarrassment which the Highland peasantry generally manifest in addressing
strangers and superiors.'
For Kilbride, in his very able contribution, the Rev. Dr. M'Naughton writes
'The people exhibit in their manners a curious mixture of the Highlander and Lowlander,
with the bland courtesy of the former . . . they have learned to blend no
inconsiderable share of the bluff and sturdy independence of the latter. The Highland
character, however, decidedly predominates.'
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