It is good against the Gout ; it comforts the heart and strengthens the memory ; and the flowers , put into a Glasse , close stopt , and set into ane hill of ants for a month , then take it out , and you will find a liquor which comes from the flowers , which keep in a vial ; it is good , ill or well , and whether man or woman . '' And then , in the minister 's own hand , was added : `` Likewise for sprains , rub it in ; and for the cholic , a great spooneful in the hour . '' To be sure , I laughed over this ; but it was rather tremulous laughter ; and I was glad to get my bundle on my staff 's end and set out over the ford and up the hill upon the farther side ; till , just as I came on the green drove-road running wide through the heather , I took my last look of Kirk Essendean , the trees about the manse , and the big rowans in the kirkyard where my father and my mother lay . CHAPTER II I COME TO MY JOURNEY 'S END On the forenoon of the second day , coming to the top of a hill , I saw all the country fall away before me down to the sea ; and in the midst of this descent , on a long ridge , the city of Edinburgh smoking like a kiln . There was a flag upon the castle , and ships moving or lying anchored in the firth ; both of which , for as far away as they were , I could distinguish clearly ; and both brought my country heart into my mouth . Presently after , I came by a house where a shepherd lived , and got a rough direction for the neighbourhood of Cramond ; and so , from one to another , worked my way to the westward of the capital by Colinton , till I came out upon the Glasgow road . And there , to my great pleasure and wonder , I beheld a regiment marching to the fifes , every foot in time ; an old red-faced general on a grey horse at the one end , and at the other the company of Grenadiers , with their Pope 's - hats . The pride of life seemed to mount into my brain at the sight of the red coats and the hearing of that merry music . A little farther on , and I was told I was in Cramond parish , and began to substitute in my inquiries the name of the house of Shaws . It was a word that seemed to surprise those of whom I sought my way . At first I thought the plainness of my appearance , in my country habit , and that all dusty from the road , consorted ill with the greatness of the place to which I was bound . But after two , or maybe three , had given me the same look and the same answer , I began to take it in my head there was something strange about the Shaws itself . The better to set this fear at rest , I changed the form of my inquiries ; and spying an honest fellow coming along a lane on the shaft of his cart , I asked him if he had ever heard tell of a house they called the house of Shaws . He stopped his cart and looked at me , like the others . `` Ay '' said he . `` What for ? '' `` It 's a great house ? '' I asked . `` Doubtless , '' says he . `` The house is a big , muckle house . ''
`` XXXXX , '' said I , `` but the folk that are in it ? ''
Ay Colinton Essendean Glasse Grenadiers Shaws drove-road first kiln kirkyard