At the village of Helensburgh we stopped a little while to call upon Mrs. Bell, the wife of Mr. Bell, the inventor of the steamboat.  His invention in this country was about the same time of that of Fulton in America.  Mrs. Bell came to the carriage to speak to us.  She is a venerable woman, far advanced in years.  They had prepared a lunch for us, and quite a number of people had come together to meet us, but our friends said that there was not time for us to stop.

We rode through several villages after this, and met quite warm welcome.  What pleased me was, that it was not mainly from the literary, nor the rich, nor the great, but the plain, common people.  The butcher came out of his stall, and the baker from his shop, the miller, dusty with his flour, the blooming, comely, young mother, with her baby in her arms, all smiling and bowing with that hearty, intelligent, friendly look, as if they knew we should be glad to see them.

Once, while we stopped to change horses, I, for the sake of seeing something more of the country, walked on.  It seems the honest landlord and his wife were greatly disappointed at this; however, they got into the carriage and rode on to see me, and I shook hands with them with a right good will.

We saw several of the clergymen, who came out to meet us, and I remember stopping, just to be introduced to a most delightful family who came out, one by one, gray-headed father and mother, with comely brothers and fair sisters, looking all so kindly and home-like, that I would have been glad to use the welcome that they gave me to their dwelling.

This day has been a strange phenomenon to me.  In the first place, I have seen in all these villages how universally the people read.  I have seen how capable they are of a generous excitement and enthusiasm, and how much may be done by a work of fiction, so written as to enlist those sympathies which are common to all classes.  Certainly, a great deal may be effected in this way, if God gives to any one the power, as I hope he will to many.  The power of fictitious writing, for good as well as evil, is a thing which ought most seriously to be reflected on.  No one can fail to see that in our day it is becoming a very great agency.

We came home quite tired, as you may well suppose.  You will not be surprised that the next day I found myself more disposed to keep my bed than to go out.  I regretted it, because, being Sunday, I would like to have heard some of the preachers of Glasgow.  I was, however, glad of one quiet day to recall my thoughts, for I had been whirling so rapidly from scene to scene, that I needed time to consider where I was; especially as we were to go to Edinburgh on the morrow.

Towards sunset Mr. S. and I strolled out entirely alone to breathe a little fresh air.  We walked along the banks of the Kelvin, quite down to its junction with the Clyde.  The Kelvin Grove of the ballad is all cut away, and the Kelvin flows soberly between stone walls, with a footpath on each side, like a stream that has learned to behave itself.