[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

PETER GAMKAITH.
which invariably had the effect of elevating his head a couple of inches
higher, and adding materially to the length of his stride.
At church, too,
on Sabbath, Peter maintained his warlike character, the gun alone being
laid aside in respect to the sanctity of the day. One night as he was
wending his way home from the " tented field," apparently without arms
of any kind, a country lad who knew him determined to give Peter's courage
a trial.
Sallying from the hedge at an unfrequented spot, he accosted
our hero in a gruff manner, and demanded his purse.
Not at all surprised,
Peter drew a pistol from his pocket, and presented it at the pretented
highwayman, saying, with much coolness and irony of expression, " Tak'
care, lad, it's dangerous 1" The robber, we need scarcely add, speedily
left Peter master of the field. There are many amusing anecdotes told
of "Merry Peter." Once, when catechised by the Rev. Mr Walker,
minister of Dalrymple parish, the question put to him was, " How many
Gods are there " Peter replied correctly enough in the W'ords of the
Shorter Catechism.
"But," quoth he, assuming the office of catechist
in his turn, " can you tell me, Mr Walker, how many deevils there are "
On one occasion Peter advertised the raffle of an arm-chair, at his castle.
A great number of people attended from various quarters of the parish,
in expectation of enjoying an evening's amusement. The chair, much
to the disappointment of the expectant throng, was nothing more than
the large stone in front of the door, that had taken so many horses to carry
to Perclewan, on each side of which he had placed a railing,
in imitation
of a seat ! Most of Peter's anecdotes, however, and the flashes of his
wit, are of that homely and practical character that bids defiance to the
pen. His great hobby through life seems to have been the building
of houses. He feued a steading at one time in the Newton of Ayr, and
had proceeded a considerable length with the walls—the stones for which
he carried himself all the way from Balsaggart Hill,
a distance of nearly
four miles—when, getting tired of the undertaking, he disposed of the feu
and the walls to a person who finished the tenement.
He began another
house, in Dalrymple, which he also failed to finish. The feu, like all the
others in the village, ran for ninety-nine years.
" Could your Lordship,"
said Peter, addressing the Earl of Cassillis, '•' no mak' it the even hundred
" When you come back," said the Earl facetiously, "I will give
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