Martha Spreull/A New Bursary

by Henry Johnston

CHAPTER IV.

A NEW BURSARY.

HE Lord be praised, I dinna need to tak' in ludgers noo. Since the removal by death of Jen Spreull, my late first cousin—the last o' the Trongate Spreulls—as I have already telld ye, my temporalities have been provided for. Still-an-on, I canna forget the student lads that ate at my table and broke my furniture. At this moment I have in my hand four as touching sermons as ever were penned, by ane o' my divinity boarders, wha left them as payment in kind for six months' diet. Anither ane, wha had a turn for music, left me a fiddle-case; and a companion o' his, a doctor body, wha used to blacken his face wi' a brunt cork, and sing like a "Christy Minstrel,' left ahint him a concerteeny wi' maist o' the keys broken, as a' I am ever likely to get for a hale session's up-keep and attendance. Yet I must alloo I passed through my rooms in George Street some as nice lads as ye could clap eyes on; but as the feck o' them were puir and had a bitter struggle, it has been borne in on me that I should mak' some observes in this chapter on the subject o' edication, and get twa or three things aff my mind that sooner or later I ettle to say.

In looking ower an auld batterless history lately, that I got wi' Jen Spreull's books, I saw that in the year 1494 an Act was passed i’ the Scottish Parliament whereby “ all barons and freeholders who do not put their sons to the schule, frae they be sax or nine years of age, sal be fined £20 ”—a gey sensible thing.

Again, in 1579, the Scottish Parliament set its face against vagrants, and passed the following enactments for putting down strong and idle beggars atween the ages o’ 14 and 70 years, viz.:—•“ That their eares may be nailed to the Trone or to anither tree, and their eares cutted off, and that they be banished the countrie ; and gif thereafter they be found againe that they be hanged.”

But a student wis rewarded by a special leeshins to beg, and wis privileged to ask alms. The words are:—“All vagabond schollers of the universities of Sant Andrew’s, Glasgow, and Abirdine, not licensed by the Kector and Dean o’ Facultie of the universitie to ask alms,” etc., showing clearly that this privilege did exist. Nob, though our students i’ the present day are driven to mak’ gey queer shifts, such as leaving sermons, fiddle-cases, concerteenies, and such-like in liquidation o’ their lawfu’ debts, I wudna like to see it coming to this frae door to door wark wi’ them. It wis different wi’ beggars in auld times; a guid han’ could mak’ ten shillings a-day and his meat; but noo, hooseholders have plenty to do keepin’up greedypaupers and poor-law ofiichials let-a-be gi en’ charity to gangerals and ither necessitous folk. A far better plan wud be a sliding-scale o’ fees so that a’ classes o’ the community, frae the prince to the labourer’s son, might enjoy the benefits o’ a college edication. In the earlier history o’ the college thae things were managed better,! think. Then the classes were within the reach o’ the puirest, and the fees were arranged to suit the social rank o’ the student. Sons o' the nobility and barons o’ Scotland were to pay annually at least £3. Those o’ the second rank, though well enough aff, but inferior in rank to the barons, were to pay £2; those of the third rank had to pay £1; while the poor were admitted free.

It's no’ for the like o’ me to offer an opeenion as to whether a plan like that wudna work noo, but I sometimes wonder whether the class-rooms i’ the new College are no’ big enough, and for that maitter empty enough, to alloo the admission o’ a few student callants free at the beginning o’ each session. Suppose there were ten vacancies every year, and that these were open to the cleverest laddies in oor Board Schules; I think that wud gie such additional glory to the building, without making the Professors puirer, as might tend to bring the College authorities and the community into closer sympathy, and wud, I am sure, be nae loss to the College i’ the lang run.^[1] Noo, I am no’ a business wumman mysel’, and coontin’ was a thing I never could thole; but I ken if ye put past a certain slump sum it will produce so much a year o’ sterling siller as interest, and, that sum, ye might set aside and ca’ it a bursary, if ye felt so inclined.

I am aware what a bursary is—having seen it in operation, for I have passed a good wheen bursars through my hands— clever billies some o’ them were, though whiles as daft as yetts in a winy day—but the relief and comfort this twenty, thirty, or fifty pounds a year afforded them, often made me sit doon wi’ tears in my een and bless the memories o’ the men that had gi'en my hard strugglin’ laddies sic timeous help. There are plenty o' folk wha could braw-an-weel afford to lay aside siller for this purpose without missing it; and maybe they wudna be loatb to do sae if they had seen, like me, the happiness which even a sma’ eek to the students’ slender means affords, but I mak’ nae pretence o’ kennin' ither folk's duty. I only hope to be able to see my ain, and this leads me to remark that it is my serious intention to establish a Spreull bursary—Providence did a real mindfu’ thing in takin’ awa’ my cousin Jen before she had time to mak’ a will to put the Trongate property past me, the which I jalouse she had the heart to do if she had been granted time. It is therefore my bounden duty, as a Christian wumman, to do what good lies to my hand, so far as my means will alloo, and as naebody kens better than I do the scrimpit diet some college-bred callants are reduced to, I think my intention will commend itself to your approval.

Let me say here that I dinna believe in posthummous leeberality; as the Rev. Dr. Dousimweel used to say—“ there are nae pockets i’ the shroud. ’ I aye thought that wis a gey grim and cauld-rife remark: but ane I wud nevertheless humbly commend to folk wi’ siller by them—for mysel, whatever pleasure there is in doing good I wud like to enjoy it during my lifetime. I had three several consultations wi’ Maister Fleming, who made a note o’ my instructions, as he ca’s them—though I don’t like the word, for its no' for the like o’ me to instruct a professional, no’ to say a college-bred man—and I think the bursary will be something like this:—Bed, board and washing in my ain house, wi’ a wummanly care ower the moral wellbeing o’ the bursar during the term o’ holding the same.

I must alloo I wis puzzled by a word Maister Fleming used —a foundation, I think he said it wis. At first I couldna’ see the sense o’t ava, but the mair I think on t the mair I see the beauty o’ the word, for health is needfu’ for study, and a good diet for a growing callant lays the foundation o' a healthy constitution.^[2] I am no’ just clear as to the time I should gi’e to each bursar, but I think it is likely to be four years, or for such time during that period as he behaves himsel' to my satisfaction. I have definitely settled this, hooever, that it will be open to a’ puir students o’ the first year—but naturally a preference will be given to the name o’ Spreull.

1. A most excellent Dr. Threshie should here admirable and now suggestion commend to which that my learned body, friend the Senate, for their thinks serious I consideration, the which I take the liberty of doing with all humble and respectful sincerity.—Ed.
2. An erroneous, albeit it, an ingenious application of the word, meaning in law, as I feel bound to explain it, from which anything is supported.—Ed.