Scottish Love

In no other country was the great and engrossing business of courtship conducted in so romantic a manner as among the rural men of Scotland as the following shows:

Excepting among the higher classes, who have time entirely at their own disposal, night is the season in which rural “lovers breathe their vows,” and in which their rural sweethearts “bear them.” Let the night be “ never so wild,” and the swain “never so weary,” if he has the engagement upon his hands, he will perform it at all hazards; he will climb mountains, leap burns, or wade rivers, not only with indifference, but enthusiasm; and, wrapped in his plaid, he will set at nought the fury of
the elements, the wrath of rivals, and the attacks of the midnight robber.

Many instances have been known of young men, who toiled all day at the plough, the harrows, or the scythe,
walking fifteen miles to see their sweethearts, after the hour of nine in the evening, and returning in time for their
work on the ensuing morning. And this, be it observed, was not done once or twice, but repeatedly, week after week, for several months. Twenty miles of a journey, upon an errand of such a nature, is regarded as a trifle, by many a young farmer who has a spare horse to carry him.

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