could open and look down into four or five feet of water. The door was

usually locked and only used when the well was cleaned out. The day I was

looking for a place to put my fish the padlock had been left open, so 1 opened

the door and slipped the fish into the well. I could only visit the well when I

thought there would be no adults around. Then 1 used to drop in a small

earthworm and watch the fish devour it.

‘I do not know exactly how long the fish were kept in the well, but one

day, I overheard a neighbour tell my father that there was a trout in the well

and they were speculating as to how it had got there, and worse still, I heard

my name mentioned. I baited a small hook that evening and managed to

catch one. What happened to the other fish I do not know, but I never saw

it again as the door was then kept locked. The interesting thing was that the

fish had grown to about twice its original size. If the water in the well had

been contaminated, as has been said, I have been told by experts that the

fish would have died.’

The late Archie Webster, raconteur, told the following story;

‘I was plough ing at Blebo on land belonging to Dr. Low. The share gie’d

a dunt on a muckle flat stane. I cried on the grieve. He cam over and said

“Brak it up, Erchie, brak it up”. But I said, “Na, na, it micht be auld. Hae

a word wi’ the laird. He gae’d tae the big hoose and cam runnin back shouting

“leave it alane, Erchie, leave it alane. The laird’s phoned St. Andrews ‘varsity

and they’re sendin oot an archangel tae inspeck it”.’

As Dr. John Thompson, former Rector of Madras College adds, ‘Unfortu-

nately, the written word cannot convey Archie’s intonation or his chuckling

delight in the story’.

There are many more stories that could be told which, in their own parti-

cular way reflect life in the past.

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