For Colin was
a religious man and loved his Bible. He knew most of the Psalms by
heart, and often gathered groups of islanders about him to hear him
repeat them. Idlers sometimes scoffed at his fondness for the
epistle on Charity; but no one who heard him repeat it could fail
to be impressed by its teaching or to recognize the poor wanderer's
sincerity.
Colin was the recognized newsmonger of the Mainland, and it was his
habit to travel from parish to parish retailing the gossip of the
countryside. At farm towns which were situated in remote places he
was always a welcome guest. He was well acquainted with the
condition of the markets and the state of the fishing and the
crops. He knew the price of butter and of oatmeal, of cattle and of
sheep, and his information was often of great value to the farmers
in adjusting the values of farm produce. With the old men he would
laugh over the jokes of days that had been; tell them how laird had
gone to law with laird, or how poor crofters had been evicted from
their holdings for failing to pay their taxes or their rents. The
young women were always ready to hear from him who was to be
married at Martinmas, or how Nell So-and-so had been jilted; and he
often entertained the young people with strange tales of the
brownies, the trows, the kelpies, or other supernatural beings.
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