Ye've heard tell o' generals,
when their troops war rinnin' awa', haein' to cut this man doon,
shute that ane, and lick anither, till he turned them a' richt face
aboot and drave them on to the foe like a spate! And the trouble
God took wi' Jacob wasna lost upon him at last."
"An' what cam o' Esau, sir?" asked a pale faced maiden with blue
eyes. "He wasna an ill kin' o' a chield--was he, sir?"
"No, Mappy," answered the master; "he was a fine chield, as you
say; but he nott (needed) mair time and gentler treatment to mak
onything o' him. Ye see he had a guid hert, but was a duller kin'
o' cratur a'thegither, and cared for naething he could na see or
hanle. He never thoucht muckle aboot God at a'. Jacob was anither
sort--a poet kin' o' a man, but a sneck drawin' cratur for a'
that. It was easier, hooever, to get the slyness oot o' Jacob, than
the dulness oot o' Esau. Punishment tellt upo' Jacob like upon a
thin skinned horse, whauras Esau was mair like the minister's powny,
that can hardly be made to unnerstan' that ye want him to gang on.
But o' the ither han', dullness is a thing that can be borne wi':
there's nay hurry aboot that; but the deceitfu' tricks o' Jacob war
na to be endured, and sae the tawse (leather strap) cam doon upo'
him."
"An' what for didna God mak Esau as clever as Jacob?" asked a
wizened faced boy near the top of the class.
"Ah, my Peery!" said Mr Graham, "I canna tell ye that. A' that I can
tell is, that God hadna dune makin' at him, an' some kin' o' fowk
tak langer to mak oot than ithers.
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