- 3 months ago
Moving from Kinraddie to the mill town of Segget, Chris Guthrie is now married to a young and idealistic minister, Robert. Her unease grows as she struggles to understand the dark moods that engulf her new husband as his vision for the town is met with resistance.
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00:30This land with its springs and winters,
00:56and all the sounds of it
00:57that had once been a passion of the blood and spirit
01:01of those I loved and knew
01:03who died in France.
01:08For many, a decent thing had gone out of Kinraday with the war,
01:12but only one had come in,
01:15and that was the new minister.
01:19Cahoon was his name, Robert Cahoon.
01:24And the story went round that he was son to the old minister
01:27that made a try for Kinraday Kirk before the war,
01:31and minded him well.
01:33The one who preached about beasts and the golden age,
01:37that the dragon still lived,
01:40but sometime they'd die,
01:42and the golden age come back.
01:44And before he'd been there a month,
01:48he made himself fair objectionable,
01:51for he chummed up with the ploughman,
01:54sometimes didn't wear a collar that fastened at the back,
01:57and he spoke as though Christ had meant Kinraday.
02:01Folk grew fair and comfortable.
02:03Worse than that,
02:08next there came scandalous stories that he'd taken up with me.
02:13And, truth to tell,
02:16nearly every evening of the week,
02:19he'd ride up to Bluweary.
02:20You'll be leaving Bluweary now that it's been sold?
02:28At the end of the term.
02:31There's no living to be heard from the place.
02:34Only memories.
02:37Your memories are your own.
02:41It's you I want, Chris.
02:42Yes.
02:42Then she's yours.
02:52Oh, my dear.
02:55Maybe the second, Chris.
02:58Maybe the third.
03:01But Ewan has the first,
03:03forever.
03:07There is a purpose of marriage
03:09between Christy and...
03:10The very next Sunday,
03:11he stood up in the pulpit
03:13and, calm as ever,
03:15read out the bands of Robert Cahoon,
03:17bachelor of the parish,
03:19and Christine Tavondale,
03:21widow,
03:22also of the same parish.
03:25You could have heard that pen drop.
03:28And now I have an announcement to make.
03:31And then he told them that next Saturday,
03:33the Kinraday Memorial
03:34would be unveiled by Bluweary Loch.
03:41I had finished with that life that had been.
03:50All the love I'd given to my Ewan,
03:54dead, lost, and forgotten,
03:55far off in France.
03:58Now I would stand by a stranger's side,
04:01sleep in a stranger's bed,
04:03while he loved me,
04:07and me him.
04:09Nearer to his mind than I'd been to that of the body
04:12that lay mouldering in France,
04:15quiet and unmoving,
04:17that had moved to my kisses,
04:20that had stirred and been glad in my arms,
04:23in my sight,
04:25that had known the stinging of rain in his face
04:28as he ploughed the steep regs of Bluweary Bray,
04:31and come striding from his work
04:33with that smile on his face,
04:36and his clumsy hands,
04:38and his tongue that was shy of the things
04:40that his eyes could whisper so blithe.
04:45Finished, too,
04:47that wild, strange happening
04:49that had come to me
04:51the last harvest there was
04:52but one of the war,
04:54when,
04:55with another,
04:58but I wouldn't think of that,
05:02part of an old sad dream that was done.
05:06Had Rob remembered the happening at all?
05:10His last hour of all in a Flanders trench?
05:14I thought that maybe he had not at all.
05:18You gave men the love of your heart,
05:21and they'd wring it dry to the last red drop,
05:25kind,
05:27dreadful,
05:28and dear.
05:31And deep in their souls,
05:34whatever the pretense they played with you,
05:37they knew it a play,
05:39and life waiting out by.
05:41But this was new.
05:47We both slept late from our marriage night.
05:50And as the winter light seeped grey into the bedroom of the manse,
05:55Chris Cahoon,
05:56who had once been married to Ewan,
05:58and before that time was Chris Guthrie,
06:01had lain and thought and straightened things out,
06:04like a bayon rubbing its eyes from sleep.
06:10Still,
06:11one flesh I was made with a minister,
06:14and if ministers ate as well as they loved,
06:17Robert would be hungry enough when he woke.
06:19Hello?
06:39You'll be El's Queen,
06:40the new maid?
06:42Aye,
06:43that's right.
06:44I'm Mrs Cahoon.
06:48And you call me Mrs Cahoon.
06:50And you get up smart in the mornings as well.
06:54Else we'll be needing a new maid at the manse.
06:58Yes, Mum.
06:59I'm sorry.
07:02My name's not Mum.
07:05It's just Mrs Cahoon.
07:08It just shows you the kind of thing that happens
07:10when a crater gets a bit steep up on the world.
07:13Faith, it is that else.
07:15And who's she to put on airs?
07:17The daughter a bit fair, my gist.
07:19And the wife of another killed in the war.
07:22Aye, well.
07:24I'm told she was recht fond of him, Charlie.
07:26Them that are fond of their men
07:28don't marry as close as that
07:29in the death of the first.
07:31If you ask me,
07:32it was the minister's cellar she had in mind.
07:35Aye.
07:35Aye.
07:41Are you fond of me, Charlie?
07:43Els?
07:50Hmm?
07:51What's the virgin princess like?
07:53Now there's a thing to ask.
07:56Will she be like you?
07:58Oh, but Bonnie are a lot.
08:00Is she like you under your clothes, I mean?
08:02Oh.
08:03That's bushes.
08:08Well, that's very nice, I'm sure.
08:11Get out of my kitchen and stop keeping me off my work.
08:16I get on fine with else now.
08:22She's gone from the Ewan.
08:23If only I could stop her calling me ma'am.
08:29But I say you married me for my money.
08:31If you bide in Kinraday
08:34and any old tales told about you,
08:36the very trees will rise and snigger it at you.
08:38To be honest,
08:41when I first learned that your stipend was 300 pounds a year,
08:45I did feel a bit of resentment.
08:48Oh, why was that?
08:49It seemed so much.
08:51When the folk in the land that did all the work that really was work,
08:54they only got a third of that.
08:56The family's three times as big.
08:58Do you still feel that?
09:00No.
09:02With a man's to run and a maid to keep,
09:05the money goes nowhere.
09:07And you with your hand never out of your pocket
09:09for this or that charity.
09:11Oh, well,
09:12a minister's expected to be foremost in that kind of thing.
09:15You'd give the shirt off your back
09:17and sign your vest if it didn't stop you.
09:20They're welcome to your socks.
09:23Dear, give me the damn things.
09:25Oh, Robert, they need mending.
09:26What? Waste your life when you'll soon be dead?
09:29You're no gonna slay for me, my girl.
09:31You won't like holes in your socks.
09:32We'll buy a new pair.
09:34Come out for a chat.
09:35The weather's cleared up.
09:38We came at last on Bluweary's Bray
09:41and looked down on the windy merns.
09:45Queer it was to be with him here on Bluweary Bray
09:48that once was mine.
09:52We walked over the shoulder to the loch
09:54and the standing stones
09:55to which I'd fled for safety
09:57and compassion
09:59so often and oft when I was a quine.
10:03I could smell the winter smell of the land
10:06and the sheep they pastured now on Bluweary
10:09in the parks that once came rich with corn
10:12that Ewan had sown
10:13and we both had reaped.
10:15Ewan, dead, still and quiet
10:25not even a body
10:28powder and dust
10:31he with whom I'd planned my life and my days
10:34in the times to be.
10:36Oh, once I'd seen in these parks the truth
10:43and the only truth there was
10:46that only the sky and the seasons endured
10:50slow in their change
10:52the cry of the rain
10:55the whistle of the winds on a winter night
10:58under the sailing edge of the moon.
11:00it was Ewan
11:05oh, Chris
11:09he won't grudge at me
11:12Ewan
11:18no
11:21it was time himself
11:24I'd seen haunting our tracks
11:27with unstaying feet
11:28Robert was always out and about
11:35in the work of the parish
11:36marrying this soul
11:38and burying that
11:39christening the hopeful souls new come
11:42to pass in their time
11:44to marriage and burial
11:45sometimes a black, queer mood came on him
11:50he would pass me by on the stairs if we met
11:55with remote, cold eyes
11:58and a twisted face
12:00the first time it happened
12:08my heart near stopped
12:11but Robert came from his mood
12:15and came seeking me
12:17sorry and sad for the queer black beast
12:21that rode his mind in those haunted hours
12:24near the end of the war
12:27near the end of the war
12:27I was gassed
12:28mustard gas
12:31oh
12:35Robert
12:37I never knew
12:40my lungs are well enough now
12:42I'm sure of that
12:43but
12:43it was months before I could breathe right
12:47sometime
12:50the shadows of that time come back
12:53thank you mr stewart
13:00very nice to see you
13:01a minister he was
13:03but with a near empty church
13:06the war had finished a lot of folks fondness for curcs
13:11but soon we had other things to worry about
13:15for else was taken ill on us
13:18I'd grown to like else
13:21in spite of her clake
13:22she'd tried nowhere since that very first time
13:26instead
13:28she was over-unctious
13:30men
13:32feet of the lord on the hills
13:38who's the lord?
13:40that's a tough one Ewan
13:42he's something insured
13:44our father and mother
13:46our end and beginning
13:48my mother's here
13:49my father's dead
13:51a natural sceptic
13:53come off that chair
13:55there's over many of your kind
13:58already squatting their hands
13:59on the thrones of the mighty
14:01eh?
14:02listen
14:03behave yourselves
14:04that'll be Elsie's lad come to visit her
14:06oh
14:07they've been right kind to me Charlie
14:10her and the minister
14:12dozing me with medicine
14:13bringing me my food
14:15the minister?
14:16he did last night
14:18brought up my dinner
14:19him in his shirt sleeves
14:21me and my nightie
14:22I couldn't stop blushing
14:24I'm not surprised
14:25he just cried
14:27oh say fellas
14:29you needn't be shy
14:31I'm old and I'm married
14:33well you're pretty enough
14:35faith that's no way for a minister to be talking to his maid servant
14:39he was joking you gummer ill
14:42and don't you go spreading that story all over the merns
14:45otherwise folk will be saying he slept with me
14:48I promise a winner
14:50doesn't it seem right to tell stories about them
14:54you've fair changed your tune
14:56you that's a big as clay can can raddy
14:59don't get much chance these days
15:03another house is the mistress's eye glad of some news of what's happening
15:08and Jack gets it direct from the maid
15:11but Mrs Gohan's nae like that
15:14she just listens and nods maybe
15:18like nae from her way but hardly a yea or nae for an answer
15:23acting like gentry again
15:25I thought so at first
15:27but Santa saw that she just didn't care a button about what other folks said or did
15:32that's fair unnatural
15:34you must feel guile lonesome when anybody to talk to
15:38aye
15:40times
15:42burying, marrying, baptising
15:46looks everywhere that's sour the milk
15:49my congregation getting smaller every week
15:53there's hardly a kirk in the merns it isn't the same
15:55I know
15:57with mine it's worse
16:00the ploughmen have as little liking for me as the farmers
16:04the one says to hell with ministers and toffs
16:06the other says to hell with ministers like me
16:08we're too friendly with the ploughmen
16:10so it's take your wife for a jaunt next Sunday
16:12up the how
16:14or to her cousin in Briechen to show off the new car
16:16but my job's to minister
16:20and minister I will
16:22though
16:24it's near that already
16:31Lord
16:32but for you Christine I was daft to come here
16:42why do you say that?
16:44the countryside's dead
16:46not dying
16:48I can do neither good nor ill here
16:51I'd like to try for a kirk some other place
16:54you'd leave Ken Ruddy?
16:56there's work to be done in the towns
17:00would you like a town?
17:05fine
17:09a town would be fine
17:11well then
17:14not a town
17:24else
17:26what's the matter?
17:28nothing
17:30that is
17:32me and Charlie Edwards
17:33why?
17:36what happened?
17:38nothing happened
17:40he just said that a dude's talking about his work
17:43with no thought of anything hell on his mind
17:46of course I didn't want anything to happen
17:50but at least he should have tried to make good that he did
17:54it's only nature that a man should want to
17:58especially if I look as bunny as he says I do
18:02it's alright Els
18:06I understand
18:08sleep
18:11you'll be fine
18:13you're tired now
18:15and you've talked so long with your lad
18:22if I ever hear any speaker like you at the minister
18:26I'll blacken their eyes
18:28or their character
18:30or both
18:31you'll mind what we were talking about last month?
18:45I said I'd look for a place that was half town and half country
18:49well I think I've found it
18:51where?
18:53Seget
18:54it's old minister Greg died a while back
18:57drank himself to death I'm told
19:00I'm to try for his Kirk
19:04Seget
19:06that's where Els comes from
19:08well then she'll be going home
19:10else might not be too keen on the notion
19:12why's that?
19:14she told me a bit of poetry that someone there had made up
19:18oh Seget it's a dirty hole
19:21a Kirk without a steeple
19:23a midden heap at Il Cador
19:24and damned uncivil people
19:30well I think I might manage without a steeple
19:33and as for the rest we'll make them both civil and clean
19:37what do you say?
19:41you haven't gotten the Kirk yet
19:43just wait
19:45for a soon will
19:48and three Sundays later
19:50we set out for Seget
19:51Robert to preach there and me to listen
19:54am I going too fast?
19:56fast?
19:58it's like at a funeral
20:00like at a funeral?
20:04oh Chris
20:06never change and grow English polite
20:09not even in Seget when we move into its manse
20:11if we settle into its manse
20:14there's others after the stipend
20:17you'd best preach a good sermon
20:18yes
20:20do you mind how Christ was tempted of the devil?
20:23so was I till you spoke just now
20:26tempted?
20:28I'd made up my mind I'd butter them up in my sermon
20:31just for the chance of getting out of Kinraday
20:33settled in Seget and on with some work
20:35well I won't
20:36I won't
20:38you won't?
20:39oh by God
20:41I'll give them a sermon
20:43a pillar of cloud by day
20:45a pillar of fire by night
20:47a pillar
20:49there's hardly any wind in the heights today
20:55the clouds are just standing still
20:59those clouds Robert, what are they?
21:03Cirrus
21:06they bring fine weather
21:33aye
21:34to whom's this name?
21:35from Kinraday
21:36and for fit I hear of him
21:37I have no motion to vote for the creature at all
21:44they are only a pair of two a year
21:46and half his congregation's gone
21:48they'll be the only wife that listen to him
21:50she's a interfering in preaching at folk
21:52it didn't they hear him
21:54and for by that he's married some coin from the parish
21:56there's nothing worse a minister can do but marry a woman who kens the Kirkfolk
22:01I've promised
22:03what did you mean when you said he was a interfering in the preaching at folk?
22:06just that
22:08he's got some guy queer notions I've dealt
22:11aye
22:12do you think he might be strong on the temperance?
22:15likely he'll be all for the total abstinence
22:17the same as McDougal Brown
22:19it's no concern of any minister if folk fancy a dram now and then
22:21maybe not
22:22but you could be putting up the shutters on the Segett arms yet well
22:25damn it
22:26I'm not having him ruining my trade
22:28man you've changed your tune
22:30you were guy happy when the only other inn in Segett was closed by the local option
22:34that was different
22:35one's enough
22:36pay no heed to Ogilvy
22:38Cahoon's no teetotaler
22:40didn't he offer me a dram when I went to see him?
22:43aye well whatever he is
22:44he can't be worse than the two we've heard already
22:47right mealy-mouthed old carols they were
22:49likely this Cahoon will be as mealy-mouthed as the others
22:54and at last they bound Samson to a pillar
22:57but he woke from his stupor and looked round about
23:00and cried that the Philistines free him from his bonds
23:04and they laughed and they feasted
23:06paying him no heed
23:08sunk in their swine-like glores of vice
23:11their gods were idols of brass and of gold
23:15they lived off the sweat and blood of man
23:18crying to one another
23:20behold we are great
23:22we endure and not earth itself is more sure
23:25pleasure is ours
23:27and the taste of lust
23:29wine in our mouths and power in our hands
23:32and the lash was heard on the bowed slaves back
23:35and maybe it was because it was spring
23:38you come
23:40that folk heard Robert's voice like the wind they'd hear up in the hills
23:43fine
23:45and safe as they listened below
23:47for who could he mean by Samson but them
23:51ground down by the rents they had to pay to their Mowat lairds
23:55maybe it was that
23:57or maybe it was because folk had aye prided themselves in Saget
24:01in taking no heed of what others said
24:04but I could sense he'd held them
24:07Mowat was a strong and meaty sermon he preached
24:11he can feel a deal a bit deal
24:14what did he think of his wife?
24:17oh she seemed decent and quiet
24:29well that's the end of my chance Chris
24:32though I'm glad I preached what I felt and thought
24:35they liked the sermon
24:37and I think they liked you
24:39they hadn't a notion what the sermon meant
24:42themselves the Philistines and someone else Samson
24:44well I made it as plain as plain
24:47to yourself
24:51anyhow we'll see
25:02dear God what's this?
25:14is the Reverend Mr Cahoon indoors?
25:19I'll see
25:21what name shall I tell him?
25:22you can't find my name Elce Queen
25:24gang and tell him
25:26Peter Pete's here
25:28come in
25:29and wipe your feet on the mart
25:30come in
25:31huh
25:32come in
25:33come out
25:37come out
25:41mum
25:42it's Peter Pete from Saget
25:44he's an elder of the kirk
25:45I like the man in the pulpit to speak plain, plain, Mr. Cahoon.
25:51We had one Billy here afore the war,
25:54prude and stuck up like a bubbly jokey was.
25:57English.
25:59And he never learned to speak right.
26:01When he came to the prayer for the royal family,
26:04he'd bless them and finish with an all but the Prince of Wales.
26:09All but the Prince of Wales?
26:11And I wondered what the hell hailed them at the Prince of Wales.
26:14And when I tackled the creature,
26:17he gave a bit snifter and laugh and said,
26:20to his Scotch ears,
26:21he supposed that all but was who it sounded when he said Albert.
26:27So mind you, speak plain.
26:32Robert, what is it?
26:35Chris, you're now looking at Segert's minister.
26:37Robert!
26:39Oh, I'm so happy for you.
26:41And I've promised that never as long as I live
26:44will I pray for all but the Prince of Wales.
26:49We had a fine day for the flitting to Segert.
26:56Come away in.
26:57There's a bra for you in the kitchen.
27:00Will Melvin, who owned the Segert Arms,
27:02hired a lorry for us
27:03and brought John Muir to help.
27:05John Muir was a roadman,
27:09but he was the Kirk's grave digger as well.
27:14I think we best leave that till last,
27:16else it's my best tea service.
27:18There I was,
27:26lying at the bottom of the grave,
27:28when it twisted under
27:29and it was getting dark.
27:31Well, I cried
27:32and I cried again.
27:34And as luck would have it,
27:36the old minister heard
27:37and came and looked down.
27:39Who is it he cried?
27:41Oh, we've been introduced,
27:42I cried back.
27:43So stand on no ceremony.
27:45Don't.
27:46Get a ladder.
27:46Ah, right, well,
27:53this is a flitting,
27:54not yet a funeral.
27:55Ah, well,
27:56it'll end in that come time.
27:57All right.
28:16As we went, I turned and looked back at Kinradi.
28:35The moors that smoothed to the upland parks
28:38chased Drachen had ploughed in the days gone by.
28:42Peasy's Knapp, Upper Hill, Caddistan.
28:46Then, last of them all,
28:50blew weary upon its ancient bray,
28:53silent and left and ended for me.
29:02That's the mills.
29:03Home for the second one.
29:16There's a singing second tune.
29:18There's a road to heaven and a road to hell.
29:19There's a road to Mikkel, folks.
29:20There's a road to heaven and a road to hell.
29:21There's a road to Mikkel, folks.
29:23There's a road to Mikkel, folks.
29:26That's the road to Mikkel, folks.
29:30There's a road to heaven and a road to hell.
29:34That's the road to Mikkel, folks.
29:38I thought I'd use this room as my new study.
30:08what do you think Chris? I think it hasn't been cleaned or dusted in months you like
30:23the place though don't you? I like it fine. are we down and help bring the
30:29furniture up?
30:38you'll be the new minister. I am that. Robert Colquhoun.
30:40you'll be the new minister. I am that. Robert Colquhoun.
30:42you'll be the new minister. I am that. Robert Colquhoun. I can your name. Mine's Diehl. I'm an elder of the Kirk.
30:44I don't know but it's my bit firm.
30:46I am that. Robert Colquhoun. I can your name. Mine's Diehl. I'm an elder of the Kirk and a neighbor. It's my bit firm.
31:02you passed the Meikle Boggs. It's my foreman George Sands. Pleased to meet you.
31:18I saw the lorry go by and I know right well the sore job it is to do a flitting without much help.
31:24oh that's right kind of you. Chris come and meet our new neighbor. Mr. Diehl of the Meikle Boggs.
31:32he smiled slow and shy. Diehl of the Meikle Boggs. and all the time he was smiling there shy.
31:40he looked to me like a highland bull with his hair and horns and maybe other things.
31:48there was something in his shyness that made me shiver.
31:54this will be your bed I'm thinking.
31:58and what else are you thinking?
32:00you'll be the new minister's bit me, eh?
32:04there's damn the media about me.
32:18you'd think the earl would have quietened me now.
32:22a man who canna keep off of women by the time he's reaching 60 or so.
32:26he should be lipped and tethered in a cattle court.
32:28sorry ma'am.
32:39faith that was a nunke of thing to carry up three flights of stairs.
32:42that was my father's bed from Blue Weary.
32:46aye.
32:56what are those ruins up there?
32:58eh?
33:02oh that's the Cames.
33:04you've surely heard of the Cames of Sigget.
33:08i'd heard of them.
33:10build it when Sigget was no more than a place where the folk of old time
33:14had raised up a camp.
33:16with earthen walls and free stone dykes.
33:20and had died.
33:22and had left their camp to wither under the spread of the grass and winds.
33:28until a Lombard knight who had fought with the Bruce.
33:30built his castle there.
33:32and brought far off from his Lombard home.
33:36folk of his own blood.
33:38weavers.
33:40who tore down the green walled circle of the ancient camp.
33:44and set their streets by the second burn.
33:52the castle's been a ruin for centuries.
33:54burned down it was.
33:56and some say it was no accident.
33:58and it might be so.
34:00for the Sigget folk had a feud with the Mowits that owned the place.
34:04i heard they still own most of the town.
34:06oh they do that mum.
34:08and a right puckle of money they've made out the place and its mills.
34:10cause them had brought the spinners in for Bervie to work the mills.
34:16oh long before the war that was.
34:18hell spoken tinks at the heart.
34:20you don't sound over fond of the spinners.
34:22who is?
34:24they're not Sigget folk at all.
34:26it's near twelve mum.
34:28and Dana's ready.
34:34i thought we might as well eat out here.
34:36aye.
34:38he'll give us the strength to carry the table then.
34:40it was solid oak that is.
34:42then a hell of a weight.
34:44i thought it might be somebody's father's.
34:46i thought it might be somebody's father's.
34:48i thought it might be somebody's father's.
34:50faith i'll need new errands afore a day's done.
34:52and the lorry will need a new bark oxal.
34:54if you'd all like to sit down.
34:58oh thank you.
35:14god bless our food and make us good.
35:16and pardon all our sins.
35:18for jesus christ's sake.
35:20amen.
35:24right.
35:25let's start.
35:38faith mrs cahoon.
35:39that fair was a grand spray.
35:41it was that mistress.
35:42are you sure you've had enough?
35:44there's plenty more potatoes in the kitchen.
35:45no no.
35:46i couldn't hear another spoonful without bursting.
35:48and i'll hear a pack of neeps to finish hewing after i'm done here.
35:52aye.
35:53a meekle bog's old nut thank you for falling asleep and doing it.
35:55aye would nut.
35:57mind this weather will no last much longer.
35:59i can smell the rain coming from the north.
36:01you come from the north yourself don't you?
36:04aye.
36:05how did you care not?
36:07from your accent.
36:09and the way you said spoon.
36:11i should.
36:12spoon.
36:13aye.
36:14i should.
36:15i should.
36:16i'm feech myself.
36:18from cairndoo up by the barmican.
36:20cairndoo.
36:21oh i can it fine.
36:24then you're a guthrie.
36:26my father was john guthrie.
36:28john guthrie.
36:30oh we minded him long up in hect.
36:32emma noen trygway farmed.
36:34oh.
36:35i felt myself colour with sheer pleasure.
36:38my father could farm other folk off the earth.
36:42then i fell in a dream as i heard them talk.
36:46the rooks were cawing up in the ewes.
36:49and i thought how they'd fringe the pattern of my life.
36:53birds and the waving leafage of trees.
36:57peewits over the lands of echt when i was a bairn with my brother will.
37:04snipe sounding over blue weary loch as i turned in unease by the side of ewan.
37:10and here now.
37:12the rooks and the ewes that stood to peer into the twisty rooms of the manse.
37:17that night i slept in fits and starts.
37:22waking early in that strange quiet room.
37:26by the side of robert.
37:29sleeping so sound.
37:31then it was the notion suddenly arose.
37:35to go up to the canes.
37:38and watch the east grow pale in the dawn.
37:54i thought of robert.
37:56was his dream just a dream?
38:00was there a new time coming to the earth?
38:03a time when those folk down there in segget
38:06might be what robert said all men might be.
38:10companions with god in a terrible adventure.
38:23as ill luck would have it, ag multery saw me go home.
38:28she cleaned out the school did ag.
38:31and some folk called her the segget dispatch.
38:35ag was real shocked.
38:38for the cames was the place where spinners and tinks would go of an evening.
38:42and lie in the grass and giggle and smoke.
38:45and do worse than that.
38:47don't you agree?
38:50you can imagine what she was up to.
38:52it's all over segget mum.
38:54the story is that you spent last night up on the cames cuddling and saucing with a spinner.
39:00faith? by the sound of it. i didn't waste much time.
39:04it's no laughing matter mum. what are you going to do?
39:08me?
39:12i'm going to my bed. that's all.
39:15you! i'm moultrie!
39:25for me?
39:26aye you! you're well called the segget dispatch. i spreadin' your lies and your slanders.
39:31well i'm going to see to it that you're sacked from your job at the school.
39:34oh do you hear her? i've never said an old word about anybody in my life.
39:39you said a guy for you about mrs cahoon. i'm warning you.
39:42you never catch you.
39:43just a minute. just a minute. i have no threats being made.
39:46are you the one they call feet?
39:49i am constable simon leslie. and who are you?
39:52i'm else queen from the manse and don't interfere.
39:55you ag moultrie, if you lay your tongue on mrs cahoon again.
39:58well, what was she doing up on the cames at that hour?
40:02if it's on here your business, she was looking at the hills and the sunrise, you feel.
40:07did you never hear yet of folk that did that?
40:12no. i ever did.
40:16whoever had.
40:19folk shook their heads when they heard that tale.
40:23if the woman at the manse wasn't fair just a bitch,
40:26you could only suppose she was daft.
40:29i found it took nearly a fortnight to get the house tregg and neat.
40:35but at last it was done.
40:39i closed my eyes.
40:42in a minute i'd get up and go to bed.
40:46i know.
41:01let's go and look at saget at night.
41:17can you mind that folk will do that sometime?
41:29some night far off for times to be.
41:32do what?
41:33or maybe a lad and his lass as we are.
41:36walking like this.
41:38wondering about saget.
41:40the things they said and did and believed in those little houses.
41:44the moon the same.
41:46the hills to watch.
41:48i think it most likely they'll find the moon and the hills enough and not bother about saget.
41:52there's honeysuckle somewhere.
41:57it reminds me of blue weary.
42:01my god.
42:11what a slummoch.
42:13oh i don't know.
42:15she's a fine pretty young lass.
42:17chris you can't mean it.
42:19not this.
42:20this quine looking like a constipated calf.
42:22no robert.
42:24i don't mean it.
42:27may god forgive them this horror.
42:31will you look at the olive branch?
42:33still at least it's not a bundle of grapes.
42:41it would hardly be grapes.
42:43can't you see she's looking gently away from the saget arms?
42:47you might well laugh.
42:49folk won't think it's a joke when we've altered things.
42:51this trumpery flummery put up in stone.
43:11have you seen you?
43:12i thought i saw him on the road going up to the canes.
43:14seeking the high places already.
43:16look up to the worm.
43:18get wet through.
43:19look at those clouds up by truster.
43:22just summer rain.
43:25oh oh.
43:26it comes.
43:27look at him.
43:28he's soaked.
43:29i was but i'm dried now.
43:30look.
43:31they found us up in the canes.
43:33oh that's been there a long time.
43:34what is it?
43:35did they use it for ploughing?
43:36no.
43:37they used it for killing.
43:38it's a spear you and man from the daft old days.
43:39where would that be Robert?
43:40oh centuries ago.
43:41likely from the time when fenella who was wife to the sheriff of the mayor.
43:44laid a trap for king kenneth.
43:45you can tell him after he's changed into draughts.
43:48you can tell him after he's changed into draughts.
43:49what is it?
43:50you got him?
43:51he's soaked?
43:52i was but i'm dried now.
43:53look.
43:54they found us up in the caves.
43:56oh that's been there a long time.
43:58what is it?
43:59did they use it for ploughing?
44:00no.
44:01they used it for killing.
44:02it's a spear you and man from the daft old days.
44:04where would that be Robert?
44:05oh centuries ago.
44:06likely from the time when fenella who was wife to the sheriff of the man's laid a trap for king kenneth.
44:12you can tell him after he's changed into dry clothes.
44:15now upstairs and change.
44:17folk have dug up there for treasure before now and found old swords and the like.
44:25you know Chris
44:27i was stuck for a theme for tomorrow's sermon.
44:29i think i've just found it.
44:31what?
44:32in large old spearhead?
44:34aye.
44:36chris
44:37tomorrow i launch my campaign on seggard.
44:55oh hello john.
44:56aye.
44:57now you're keeping in mysterious yourself.
44:59oh i'm fine john.
45:00just fine.
45:01faith saw you look.
45:02you dick well with seggard.
45:06what on earth's that?
45:13oh that's mcdougal brown the postmaster.
45:16he's down to square preaching some special religion of his own.
45:20i didn't know my husband had any competition.
45:23faint little competition.
45:25brown's made maybe two or three converts in all the years he's been preaching.
45:29no no.
45:30it'll be a fair concourse of folk at the kirk today.
45:33now is there anything the minister needs doing?
45:35no john nothing.
45:38oh well.
45:39if he hasn't any orders i'll take away back and tug at the bell.
45:42thou shalt say again to the children of israel
45:50whosoever be of the children of israel
45:54or of strangers that sojourn in israel
45:58that giveth any of his seed unto molech
46:01and the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
46:08o worship the king of glorious above
46:17o great holy sing his power and his love
46:25a shield and defender
46:27a shield and defender
46:30the ancient of days
46:34a brilliant in splendor
46:38and girded with grace
46:46is there no deliverance for me
46:50from the throne of indwelling sin
46:54new
47:19Water as you wash your dirty daughter
47:21And I shall be white till I'm a whitewash on the wall
47:25Have you no respect, you, John Cronin?
47:30Have you no respect for the Lord's Day at all?
47:33Damn it, but not have you.
47:35Aye, have faith.
47:37It says in the Bible that if you have faith, you can move a mountain.
47:41That'll be earthproof.
47:43You move back the mounts there before your very eyes.
47:46Aye.
47:48Come on, MacDougall.
47:50Move a mountain.
47:52Though you're mere used to moving sand into your sugar.
47:55We...
47:56We will now sing Rock of Ages.
48:01And where's the rock of your faith?
48:08Rock of Ages, the wash on the wall of me
48:13Let me hide myself in my feet
48:18Wash me in the wall
48:19Wash me in the water
48:21Oh, John, you should be ashamed of yourself.
48:24Can you not leave the man alone?
48:25Oh, my God, here comes Anandise.
48:27Come on, lads.
48:28Sing on the wall.
48:29Sing on the wall.
48:30The blood that ran on this ruined blade
48:33Ran for things that men of that time believed would endure
48:36And be true and be true till the world died.
48:39And now they are gone.
48:40And now they are gone.
48:42They are not even names.
48:43Their lives and their deaths we know to be foolish
48:46A clamor and babble on little things
48:50So might men of the future
48:52Look back on this segget here
48:54Not of antique times
48:56And see the mean-like life of our streets
48:59And ape-like chatter as the dark came down
49:03For change imperative awaits the world
49:07As never before, men can make it anew
49:10Men of good will and steadfast faith
49:13All history is no more than the babble of a horde of apes trapped in a pit
49:19Let us see that we clean our pit corner here in segget
49:24There is hatred here
49:26Fear and malaise
49:28The squabbling of drunken louts in the streets
49:31Poor schools, worse houses
49:34We can alter these things
49:36We can alter them now, not waiting the world
49:39Robert had launched his campaign on segget
49:42But the effect wasn't what he expected
49:45And I knew that a four-night game
49:49The story would spread that the minister had called Harry Hogg, the provost
49:54A monkey
49:56Well, what do you expect?
49:58Is gentry and dirt, John Cahuna may well warrant
50:01That a interfere in our houses and streets
50:04Aye, did you hear him preach against folk tucking a dram now and then?
50:08And if he himself wasn't a drunk, then I'm daft
50:11Him with his spears and his stars and his apes
50:14Apes, apes
50:15Aye, if it was all I know about apes
50:18Him glaring at me like a thronged god
50:20If he comes from monkeys himself at him say it, then they sneer at folk a bit or bleed
50:24Aye, Mr. Gerriss, I wonder if I might have a word with you
50:27Of course
50:28Is it young Ewan?
50:30No, no, no, it's a venture I have in mind
50:32I'm hoping to enlist your support and of course that of the other teachers
50:36I propose to set up a committee
50:38A sort of league composed of people like yourself
50:40The doctor, the leading people of segget
50:42And maybe young Mowat when he comes home
50:45Indeed, Mr. Cahun
50:46And what would be the purpose of this league?
50:50Well, I suppose I made it as plain as I could in my sermon
50:52There are things that need doing in segget
50:55Spinner's houses are a disgrace
50:57Your own school needs improvements
50:58And that's only a beginning
51:00Why waste your time?
51:02No one wants any changes here
51:04I'm sorry to hear you say that
51:07The folk of segget only need leadership
51:10The folk of segget?
51:12Don't be a fool, Mr. Cahun
51:14Leave the swine to stew in their juice
51:16To say a thing like that, Chris
51:27And him, the headmaster
51:28What did you expect?
51:30I expected him to be an ally
51:31That's what I expected
51:32Let the swine stew in their own juice
51:35He meant his fellow folk in segget
51:37Dach, what's the use?
51:39Minister, minister
51:39What is it, Mr. Lesnar?
51:41It's infernal just
51:42Aye, that's what it is, infernal
51:44These tanks spend us treating a man like that
51:46You'll have to do something, Mr. Cahun
51:48What are you talking about?
51:50Down in the square
51:50MacDougal Brown was having a bit prayer meeting
51:53And a ween a spinner showed up
51:54And my young Dave
51:56That young joke Cronin
51:57Had must call the man he'd be tain out and lipped
51:59Aye, I mean when I was a loon up at Garvick
52:02There was a time when
52:03Well, I'll hear that again, Mr. Lesley
52:04I've no time to waste
52:05I'm sorry, Mr. Lesley
52:09I'm sure my husband didn't mean any harm
52:12Aye, aye, Mrs. Cahun
52:14Whatever you say
52:15Only a tiring old fool
52:21As I knew
52:23And he'd come on Robert in that mad black mood
52:29Robert
52:32Who prayed to that god of his I couldn't believe in
52:36And I minded I'd once said that the Scots were never religious
52:41Had never believed as other folks did
52:45No
52:48Not even Robert himself
52:52That god he believed was the father of men
52:55Who'd conquer yet with all the legions of hell to battle
53:00I knew that he knew he followed a dream
53:05With the black mood real
53:08And his hopes but mists
53:11Cloud Howe continues next here on BBC Four
53:24Watch the whole of a Scot Square trilogy at any time
53:27On BBC iPlayer
53:29On BBC iPlayer
53:29Music by Pimbal
53:34AOS
53:35On BBC iPlayer
53:38Please host
53:40Can you see me as a guy whoャンディ?
53:42Or thou know whoah's son?
53:42I'm not very serious
53:43Of his orvi
53:44When he was born
53:44And I was a father of men
53:45I was never even amigo
53:46I'm not a guy whoah's son
53:47What is a boy
53:48I'm not a boy
53:49He had a father of men
53:49I'm not a boy
53:50He had a father of men
53:51I'm not a boy
53:51I'm not a boy
53:51I'm not a boy
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