Gordonhaven : Scenes and Sketches of Fisher-Life in the North.
By "An Old Fisherman." (Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier, Edinburgh.) —Here we have some pictures, manifestly drawn from the life, of the tragedy and comedy of a life which is fall of both elements. Past and present are mingled together, for change is making itself felt even among the eminently conservative fisher-folk ; and there are doubtless some things in which change was to be desired. It is to be hoped that no longer would a lad, coming into the fainily sitting. room and seeing his father on the only available seat, say to him, "Rise, Jock, an' lat me sit doon," and be obeyed, too. Superstitions, too, are giving way. Fishermen would now hardly leave six men clinging to the keel of an upset boat without helping them, because it is deemed unlucky to save a drowning man. The strange revival experiences will probably recur. Nor is it unlikely that the consciences of the Gordonhaven Free Kirkers will be equally sensitive when it is touched through the pocket, as it was in the matter of the "Manse-tax."
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