DR. WADDELL’S account tells the story as follows, and appends the note, “This being from Mrs. Burns’s own mouth, supersedes all other accounts:”
“The first time ever Mrs. Burns saw the Bard was in Mauchline. His family then lived in Mossgiel, about a mile from the village. Mrs. Burns, then about seventeen, was spreading clothes on a bleach-green along with some other girls, when Burns passed on his way to call on Hamilton. He had a little dog which ran on the clothes. Mrs. Burns scolded, and threw something at the animal. Burns said:-
‘Lassie, if ye thoght ocht o’ me, ye wadna hurt my dog.’
Mrs. Burns thought to herself ‘I wadna think much o’ you at ony rate.’ She saw him afterwards at a dancing-room and got acquainted.”
