OLD IDENTIANA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1892, 15 May 1890, Page 34

OLD IDENTIANA.

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One of our oldest identities was " Mac "—" — w hether the name was M'Donald or M'Gregor (I think the latter) it is not so easy to remember, there were really so many " Macs " in Otago, and we used to call them all " Mac " for short ; but it does not matter in thi3 case, for the gentleman's real name turned out to be Sinclair. He had assumed the " Mac " for some family reason — not to evade justice or anything of that kind. I heard Captain Cargill blame him once for deceiving them all in this > respect, and " Mac " gave him his usual answer to all such accusations, which I grieve to say were very f ruquent — " 'Deed and I never deceived you ; you needna hae been sic gouks as to believe me an' ye had no likit." The first time I saw " Mac " a young lady kindly pointed him out with her spoon — " There's • Mac,' " says she. And there was Mac, sure enough, sitting " supping his parritch " — a fat, elderly man, with a bald head,' and a light grey eye full of fun, mischief, and cunning, such as one sees nowhere but in a true Scotchman's head. We used to have porridge to breakfast first, and after that there were steaks, chops, &c. (at the Royal), and the young lady (who was of tender years) preferred the latter to the former. Porridge is no doubt a very nice dish (for those who like " them "), but a little goes a long way with most people, and I have noticed that children often rebel on the matter of " supping their parritch," and it is considered quite a meritorious thing for a child to do so without grumbling. In the present case there was a difficulty of this nature, and the young lady was not easily " learned " to sup " them." The only inducement that had any effect upon her was that she had scanty locks of light flax, and it was her great desire to rival another little girl, whose hair was abundant and dark. Her mother was trying to persuade her that the only way to gain her desires was to sup plenty of porridge. " I'm no sac sure o' that, mither," says she. " There's ' Mac '," pointing him out with her spoon, "he sups mair parritch than wad do ten or'nary men, an' his heed is as bald as a biled turnip."

" Mac " was very fond of a practical joke, and there was a good deal of roguery of a ceitain description about his character, but he was not a bad fellow by any means : a better boon companion could not be, nor a more general favourite, and if he would take you in, it was more for the fun of the thing than anything else. No one could be angry with " Mac," and a really cruel act would be foreign to his nature. I would rather have trusted " Mac" where the heart was appealed to than many a man who made more professions. He used to be fond of amusing us all with reminiscences of his youth. One of his tales was that he broke the window of a confectioner's shop in Princes street, Edinburgh, and the shopkeeper rushed out, and seeing him close by collared him at once, but "Mac" assured the man the deed had been done by two boys who had disappeared round the corner, and after looking attentively in "Mac's" face, the shopkeeper was so struck with his intense look of innocence and truth that he took him into the shop, and regaled him with as many tarts as he could eat to make up for his unjust suspicions. Another story of " Mac's " was that he was up an apple tree one starry night, when he espied the farmer, who was a big man with a very prominent stomach, lying on his back underneath, with a big stick, quietly waiting for ••Mac" to come down. "Mac" continued his work aa if quite unconscious of his danger, and after his pockets were fall, he

I dropped suddenly full on to the old gentleman's stomach. " Oh, • Mac ' ! " we all cried, for " Mac " was quite a 16 or 18 stone man 1 '• Ou aye, but I was but a laddie then, an' no sac big as I am the noo." "Oh 1 oh 1 " cried the old farmer ; and " Mac," rebounding as from a springboard, fled and was swallowed up in the gloom of night, apples and all. But " Mac " did a few tricks in Otago too, and one he pjayed on a lawyer was a good sample. It was on Mr ; but no, I won't mention names. I don't suppose he is alive now, but still he may be, and he might not like to hear ie, and I do nob know how far the Otago Witness' circulation may extend. " Mac " had a place somewhere by the Taieri, Bast or West, and he wanted to raise some ready money for some purpose. He got all his affairs nicely arranged, except with regard to some cattle, and on these he had raised a sum of money considerably beyond their value, lent to him upon their security by the lawyer aforesaid. However, " Mac " got up " so early in the morning before the light of day," and made tracks for Jacob's River, driving his cattle in a great hurry before him, to get them on board of a ship that was there waiting to convey " Mac " and his stock to some better land where bills of sale are unknown. Mr Lawyer, of course, heard of this the very next day, as " Mac " had accidentally let out the secret to some of his friends, and news of that kind travelled very fast in those days " Mac's " track was a broad one, and easy to follow, and down it in a great hurry rode the man of law, so that he overtook poor " Mac " somewhere the other eide of the Mataura river. They had a parley, of course. " How could you take me in like that, ' Mac ' ? " says the lawyer. " 'Deed I took none of ye in, Mr . You needna hae lent me the siller." It was an awkward case for the lawyer, who had no legal means of stopping the runaway, and certainly no physical ones, as he was not half " Mac's " size. So " Mac," being a good sort of fellow, made a fair bargain with him, and sold him the cattle. The price, it is true, was pretty smart, but the lawyer was better able to pay that than let them be put aboard ship and taken goodness knows where. So " Mac " was contented with a reasonable payment over and above the already too heavy one advanced, and having concluded the arrangement the lawyer was glad to hire " Mac " and his dogs to drive the cattle back to Dunedin. On the way they became quite friendly again over their whisky toddy, and when the lawyer wished to know what "Mac" would do about the ship — " Hout ! tout ! " he replied, " the ship, is it 1 Where wud ye be thinkin' there was ony ship ava, mon 1 Where wast I was taken the beast to but yer am place, mon, and I was jest ganging straight for it had ye kent the truth o't." When his friend reproached him with having deceived and overreached him, " Mac " had his usual answer ready — " No, mon, I deceive no man ! an ye were gouk eneu' to believe me it was yer am fault." And so it was the Old Identity found a, market for hiß cattle. Next week I shall mention some more of my old acquaintances, but I cannot give them so long a chapter.

Old Otago.