The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

300 The HigJilanci Monthly.
thoughts, would he feed his beloved pets, removing each
in its turn from his bosom, and regarding it with a piteous
expression of tender benevolence. Then there was Ceit
Mhor and Ceit Bheag—that is to say, Big Kate and Little
Kate. Ceit Mhor believed herself to be a literary person.
She always carried a bottle of ink, and nothing gave her
half so much gratification as seeing this vessel replenished
by some considerate friend. Wherever she went in her
wanderings, she kept a sharp lookout for feathers of uncommon
size, of which, when she had obtained a sufficient
number, she would cross the county, that they might
undergo the penknife of a certain trusted minister. On
entering any house, she would ask eagerly for pieces of
paper, and occupy every available moment in writing ; but
what she meant to put down no man could say, for she was
altogether unlettered. As for Ceit Bheag, she occupied
her time and energies as though her mission in life had been
to carry a heavy burden. She went about picking up all
the old pieces of iron that came in her way, until she could
boast a great sackful of the same, besides a considerable
quantity which she carried distributed over her person.
Thus weighted, she crept slowly along, altogether happy.
Like many of her class, she possessed a peculiar vein of
sly humour, as may be shown by one out of many anecdotes
which were related of her :
—
Once upon a time, in the course of her peregrinations,
she found a package lying on the road, where it had been
dropped by some one ; and, opening it with much glee, she
immediately appropriated its contents. But feeling some
twinges of conscience, as she afterwards explained, she
attended church on the following Sunday, and, as the congregation
was dispersing, she proclaimed that she had
found a pa'^kage containing a little bit of white pudding
and certain other odds and ends, which she did not care
further to particularise in public. The result of this
announcement was that no one in the parish would own to