In "Smeddum", Meg, a hard-working woman from the North East of Scotland, raises her children on a farm along with her partner Will. After Will's death, Meg aggressively sets about ensuring her children marry well, but allows one daughter, Kathleen, to make her own choices. Before Kathleen's emigration to Canada, Meg reveals why Kathleen has "smeddum", the ability to use her own free will regardless of social convention. Meg also reveals that she, like Kathleen, had not married her partner.

Significant detail is used by Lewis Grassic Gibbon to increase understanding of character. His repeated reference to horse imagery when detailing Meg Menzies, for example, increases our understanding of her character. Her strength to be,

"brisk as ever, like a great roan mare"

and...