Strategic Management Competitiveness

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Chapter 7 – Acquisition and restructuring strategies

TRUE/FALSE

1. Evidence suggests that acquisitions usually lead to favourable financial outcomes, especially for
the acquiring firm.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: The popularity of merger

and acquisition strategies

2. A merger is a strategy through which two firms agree to integrate their operations on a relatively
coequal basis.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Mergers, acquisitions

and takeovers: what are the differences?

3. Most acquisitions are friendly transactions, whereas mergers include hostile unfriendly deals.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Mergers, acquisitions

and takeovers: what are the differences?

4. A takeover is a special type of acquisition wherein the target firm does not solicit the acquiring
firm’s bid; thus, takeovers are friendly acquisitions.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Mergers, acquisitions

and takeovers: what are the differences?

5. Most acquisitions that are designed to achieve greater market power entail buying a competitor, a
supplier, a distributor or a business in a highly related industry.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Increased market power

6. An acquisition of a firm in a highly related industry is referred to as a horizontal acquisition.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Horizontal acquisitions

7. Horizontal acquisitions increase a firm’s market power by exploiting cost-based and revenue-based
synergies.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Horizontal acquisitions

8. Research suggests that horizontal acquisitions of firms with dissimilar characteristics result in
higher performance levels.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Horizontal acquisitions

9. Acquisitions intended to increase market power are not subject to regulatory review, but they are
subject to analysis by financial markets.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Related acquisitions

10. The higher the barriers to market entry, the greater the probability that a firm will acquire an
existing firm to overcome those barriers.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Overcoming entry

barriers
11. Acquisitions between companies with headquarters in different countries are called cross-border
acquisitions.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Cross-border

acquisitions

12. Despite relaxed regulations, the amount of cross-border acquisition activity between nations within
the European Union is on the decline.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Cross-border

acquisitions

13. Acquisitions are a risk-free alternative to entering new markets through internally developed
products.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Lower risk compared to

developing new products

14. Less than perhaps 20 per cent of all mergers and acquisitions are successful.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Problems in achieving

acquisition success

15. Some finance scholars believe that high levels of debt always have a positive effect on a firm’s
management.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Large or extraordinary

debt

16. Junk bonds are a financial option through which acquiring and acquired firms can increase the
likelihood of creating private synergy of acquisition.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Inability to achieve

synergy

17. Research has shown that maintaining a low or moderate level of firm debt is critical to the success
of an acquisition, except when substantial leverage was used to finance the acquisition itself.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Inability to achieve

synergy

18. Because of additional information processing, firms using an unrelated diversification strategy
often become overdiversified compared to firms adopting a related diversification strategy.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Too much diversification

19. When a firm becomes highly diversified through acquisitions, managers often focus on financial
controls rather than on strategic controls.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Too much diversification

20. Firms often use downsizing as a responsive management strategy to attain better economies of
scale.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Downsizing

 21. Downscoping represents a reduction in the number of a firm’s employees and sometimes in the
number of its operating units, but it may or may not represent a change in the composition of
businesses in the firm’s portfolio.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Downscoping

22. Downscoping generally leads to more positive outcomes than downsizing in the long term but not
in the short term.

ANS: F PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Restructuring outcomes

23. Downscoping generally leads to more positive outcomes than leveraged buyouts both in the long
term and the short term.

ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Restructuring outcomes

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. A primary reason for a firm to pursue an acquisition is to:

A. rationalise all upper and middle management
B. achieve greater financial returns in the short run
C. avoid the risks of new product development
D. avoid competition

ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: The popularity of merger

and acquisition strategies

2. A merger occurs when:

A. one firm buys controlling interest in another firm
B. two firms agree to integrate their operations on a relatively coequal basis
C. two firms combine to create a third separate entity that conducts one given function
D. two firms agree to share certain information, but their operations remain independent

ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Mergers, acquisitions

and takeovers: what are the differences?

3. Market power is derived primarily from the:

A. creativity of a firm
B. quality of a firm’s top management team
C. size of a firm and its resources and capabilities
D. depth of a firm’s strategy

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Increased market power

4. Horizontal acquisitions increase a firm’s market power by exploiting ________ synergies.

A. profit-based and product-based
B. competence-based and capabilities-based
C. strategic-based and tactical-based
D. cost-based and revenue-based

ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Horizontal acquisitions

5. Barriers to entry represent factors associated with:
A. a market and/or firms currently operating in the market that make it more expensive and
difficult to enter that market
B. a market and/or firms currently operating in the market that make it more expensive and
difficult to leave that market
C. differentiation strategies in which a firm maximises its returns by emphasising products of
a lower quality than those found in markets without barriers to entry
D. the presence of above-average returns for a firm

ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Overcoming entry

barriers

6. Cross-border acquisitions are becoming more popular because they allow an acquiring firm to:
A. market a broader range of products and negotiate better contracts with distributors
B. increase profits, better serve customers and gain market control
C. overcome barriers to entering a new market while gaining more control over foreign
operations relative to the control offered by alliances
D. exploit resources in the acquired firm, gain new technical knowledge and access new
sources of capital

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Cross-border

acquisitions

7. ________ are more frequent than internal product development processes in high-technology
industries, as returns are more predictable.
A. Mergers and leveraged buyouts
B. Acquisitions and bidding wars
C. Leveraged buyouts and alliances
D. Acquisition and alliances

ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Cost of new product

development and increased speed to market

8. According to recent research, acquisitions remain the quickest route companies have to:
A. new markets and new capabilities
B. synergy within a portfolio of businesses
C. financial economies of scale
D. expanded economies of scope

ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Cost of new product

development and increased speed to market

9. In the long run, entering new markets with internally developed products can be less risky than
entering through acquisition, especially if the latter becomes a substitute for:
A. innovation
B. risk analysis
C. international diversification
D. strategic planning

ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Lower risk compared to

developing new products

10. Which one of the following is not a challenge in relations to post-acquisition integration?
A. Exercising good financial control
B. Melding two disparate corporate cultures
C. Building effective working relationships
D. Linking different financial and control systems
 ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Integration difficulties

11. Junk bonds are characterised by the:

A. small firms for which they are typically issued
B. high-technology firms for which they are typically issued
C. potential high returns offered to the bondholders
D. low risk to the bondholders

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Large or extraordinary

debt

12. Private synergy refers to:

A. synergy that takes place in a firm that is taken private through the use of junk bonds
B. a benefit from merging the acquiring and target firms that only one or two individuals in a
firm may recognise
C. benefits resulting from a unique set of resources that are complementary between the
acquiring and target firms in a merger
D. benefits resulting from commonly found resources that both the acquiring and target firm
have

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Inability to achieve

synergy

13. Synergies can involve the ________ assets of the firm.

A. direct and indirect
B. capital-intensive and technology-intensive
C. internal and external
D. physical and non-physical

ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Inability to achieve

synergy

14. The expenses incurred by firms trying to create private synergy through acquisition are called:
A. acquisition costs
B. participation costs
C. transaction costs
D. interaction costs

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Inability to achieve

synergy

15. Overdiversification varies with:

A. a firm’s general capabilities
B. a firm’s general resources
C. a firm’s capabilities to manage diversification
D. a firm’s resources to manage diversification

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Too much diversification

16. In acquisitions, managers do not become involved in:

A. preparing for negotiations
B. managing the integration process after the acquisition is completed
C. searching for viable acquisition candidates
D. monitoring the movements of competitors

ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Managers overly focused

on acquisitions
17. Evidence suggests that firms using acquisitions as a substitute for internally developed
innovations:
A. usually generate more innovation for each research and development dollar spent
B. outperform those that do not
C. eventually encounter performance problems
D. can leverage their core competencies across a broader range of products

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Effective acquisitions

18. One problem with firms becoming too large is that they:
A. become too easy to manage
B. often adopt a decentralised decision-making philosophy
C. gain increasing efficiencies
D. usually increase bureaucratic controls

ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Too large

19. A friendly acquisition:

A. raises the price that has to be paid for a firm
B. ensures that the top management of the acquired firm will be welcome in the newly
combined firm
C. facilitates the integration of the acquired and acquiring firms
D. allows joint ventures to be developed

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Effective acquisitions

20. As an attribute of a successful acquisition, a friendly acquisition usually results in:

A. effective integration
B. easily obtained financing
C. a long-term competitive advantage
D. animosity between the management teams

ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Effective acquisitions

21. A firm’s restructuring strategy is often driven by:

A. acquisition strategy failure
B. the firm’s strategic plan
C. prevailing industry fads
D. supplier demands

ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Restructuring

22. Which one of the following is not a restructuring strategy?

A. Downsizing
B. Leveraged buyouts
C. Alliances
D. Downscoping

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Restructuring

23. The short-term outcome of downsizing is:

A. reduced debt costs
B. an emphasis on strategic controls
C. organisational learning
D. reduced labour costs

ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Downsizing

 24. A leveraged buyout refers to:
A. a firm restructuring itself by selling off unrelated units of the company’s portfolio
B. a firm pursuing its core competencies by seeking to build a top management team that
comes from a similar background
C. a restructuring action whereby the managers of a firm, its employees and/or an external
party buy all of the assets of a business, financed largely with debt, and take the firm
private
D. an action where the management of a firm and/or an external party buy all of the assets of
a business, financed largely with equity

ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Leveraged buyouts

25. The best long-term outcomes are typically associated with which restructuring activity?
A. Downsizing
B. Downscoping
C. Leveraged buyout
D. Acquisitions

ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Restructuring outcomes

ESSAY

1. Identify and explain the seven reasons firms engage in an acquisition strategy.

ANS:
• Increased market power: Market power is derived from the size of a firm and its resources and
capabilities to compete in the marketplace. Firms use horizontal, vertical and related
acquisitions to increase their market power.
• Overcoming of entry barriers: When acquiring another firm, firms can overcome barriers to
entry and gain immediate access to a market with an established product that has consumer
loyalty.
• Cost of new product development: Developing new products and ventures internally can be
very costly and time-consuming, without any guarantee of success. Acquisitions can decrease
this risk.
• Learning and developing new capabilities: Acquisitions offer a much quicker path to a new
market than internal development.
• Lower risk compared to developing new products: Acquisitions provide a means to avoid
internal ventures, which many managers perceive to be highly risky.
• Increased diversification: Firms can diversify their product lines or business lines that are in
new markets more easily through acquisitions.
• Reshaping competitive scope: Firms can move more easily into new markets as a way to
decrease their dependence on a market that has high levels of competition.

PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Reasons for acquisitions

2. Define vertical acquisition. How does vertical acquisition lead to increased market power?

ANS:
Vertical acquisition refers to a firm acquiring a supplier or distributor of one or more of its goods
or services. Through a vertical acquisition, the newly formed firm controls additional parts of the
value chain, which is how vertical acquisitions lead to increased market power.

PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Vertical acquisitions

3. Why are acquisitions seen as an alternative to new product development? What impediments exist
in undertaking internal product development?
 ANS:
Developing new products internally and successfully introducing them into the marketplace often
requires significant investment of a firm’s resources, including time, making it difficult to quickly
earn a profitable return. Because an estimated 88 per cent of innovations fail to achieve adequate
returns, firm managers are also concerned with achieving adequate returns from the capital
invested to develop and commercialise new products.
Acquisitions are another means firms can use to gain access to new products and current
products that are new to the firm. Compared with internal product development processes,
acquisitions provide more predictable returns as well as faster market entry. Returns are more
predictable because the performance of the acquired firm’s products can be assessed prior to
completing the acquisition.

PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Cost of new product development and

increased speed to market

4. Describe the seven problems in achieving a successful acquisition.

ANS:
• Integration difficulties: It may be difficult to effectively integrate the acquiring and acquired
firms because of differences in corporate cultures, financial and control systems, management
styles and the status of executives in the combined firms.
• Inadequate evaluation of target: Acquirers that fail to complete due diligence are likely to
develop incorrect evaluations of a target firm’s value.
• Large or extraordinary debt: Mounting debt may preclude the type of investments (e.g. R&D
allocations) required for long-term success.
• Inability to achieve synergy: Acquiring firms often prepare inaccurate (i.e. overly optimistic)
estimates of synergy potential between acquiring and acquired companies.
• Too much diversification: Acquisition strategies may create a firm that is too diversified, given
its core competencies and environmental opportunities.
• Managers overly focused on acquisitions: Firms that become heavily involved in acquisition
activity often create an internal environment in which managers devote increasing amounts of
their time and energy to analysing and completing additional acquisitions. As a result, they
choose to avoid decisions that may have a bearing on the long-term performance of the firm.
• Too large: Acquisitions may lead to a combined firm that is too large, requiring extensive use
of bureaucratic controls rather than strategic controls.

PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Problems in achieving acquisition success

5. Discuss the pitfalls of too much diversification and, more specifically, overdiversification.

ANS:
The level at which overdiversification occurs varies across companies because each firm has
different capabilities to manage diversification. As related diversification requires more
information processing than unrelated diversification, related diversified firms often become
overdiversified with a smaller number of business units than do firms using an unrelated
diversification strategy. However, regardless of the type of diversification strategy,
overdiversification can result in reduced performance, after which business units are often
divested.
Even when a firm is not overdiversified, a high level of diversification can have a negative
effect on the firm’s long-term performance. For example, the scope created by additional amounts
of diversification often causes managers to rely on financial rather than strategic controls to
evaluate business units’ performances. Top-level executives often rely on financial controls to
assess the performance of business units when they do not have a rich understanding of business
units’ objectives and strategies. Use of financial controls causes individual business-unit managers
to focus on short-term outcomes at the expense of long-term investments. When long-term
investments are reduced to increase short-term profits, a firm’s overall strategic competitiveness
 may be harmed.
Another problem resulting from too much diversification is the tendency for acquisitions to
become substitutes for innovation. Typically, managers do not intend acquisitions to be used in
that way. However, a reinforcing cycle evolves. Costs associated with acquisitions may result in
fewer allocations to activities, such as R&D, that are linked to innovation. Without adequate
support, a firm’s innovation skills begin to atrophy. Without internal innovation skills, the only
option available to a firm to gain access to innovation is to make more acquisitions. Evidence
suggests that a firm using acquisitions as a substitute for internal innovations eventually encounters
performance problems.

PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Too much diversification

6. What are the attributes of a successful acquisition program?

ANS:
Although potentially problematic, acquisitions can contribute to a firm’s strategic competitiveness
in the following ways:
• The acquired firm has assets or resources that are complementary to the acquiring firm’s
core business.
• Acquisition is friendly.
• The acquiring firm conducts effective due diligence to select target firms and evaluate the
target firm’s health (financial, cultural and human resources).
• The acquiring firm has financial slack (cash or a favourable debt position).
• The merged firm maintains a low to moderate debt position.
• The acquiring firm manages change well and is flexible and adaptable.

PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Effective acquisitions

7. What is restructuring and what are its common forms?

ANS:
Restructuring refers to changes in a firm’s set of businesses and/or financial structure. There are
three general forms of restructuring: downsizing, downscoping and leveraged buyouts. Downsizing
involves reducing the number of employees, which may include decreasing the number of
operating units and may change the composition of business units. Downscoping entails divesting,
spinning off or eliminating businesses that are not related to the core business. It often occurs
simultaneously with downsizing. A leveraged buyout occurs when a party (e.g. managers,
employees or an external party) buys the assets of a business, takes it private and finances the
buyout with debt.

PTS: 1 DIF: Easy REF: Restructuring

8. What are the differences between downscoping and downsizing?

ANS:
Downsizing is a set of actions that reduces the number of a firm’s employees and hierarchical
levels. In contrast, the goal of downscoping is to reduce the firm’s level of diversification. Often,
downscoping is accomplished by divesting unrelated businesses. The firm and its top-level
managers are then able to refocus on core businesses. Firms sometimes downsize and downscope
simultaneously, a comprehensive process that yields more positive results than downsizing does on
its own.

PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: Downsizing; Downscoping

9. What is a leveraged buyout (LBO) and what have been the results of such activities?

ANS:
 An LBO is a restructuring strategy through which a firm is purchased so that it can become a
private entity. LBOs are usually financed largely through debt. There are three types of LBOs:
management buyouts (MBOs), employee buyouts (EBOs) and whole-firm buyouts. Because
MBOs provide clear managerial incentives, they have been the most successful.
EBOs have the potential to improve cooperation throughout a firm, but power struggles are
also a possibility. These struggles are more likely when significant change is required for a firm to
improve its performance.
Whole-firm LBOs, where an external company buys all of a focal firm rather than a part of it,
have met with mixed success. Often, the intent is to improve the firm’s efficiency and performance
to the point where it can be sold successfully within five to eight years. However, the cost of debt
incurred to finance the whole-firm LBO makes it difficult for companies to perform in ways that
make them attractive buys.

PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Leveraged buyouts

10. Discuss the outcome potential of the various restructuring strategies.

ANS:
Downsizing does not commonly lead to a higher firm performance. Research has shown that
downsizing contributes to lower returns for both US and Japanese firms, and stock markets in these
nations have evaluated downsizing negatively. Investors have concluded that downsizing has a
negative effect on companies’ ability to achieve strategic competitiveness in the long term.
Investors also seem to assume that downsizing occurs as a consequence of other problems in a
company. This assumption may be caused by a firm’s diminished corporate reputation when a
major downsizing is announced.
Downsizing tends to result in a loss of human capital in the long term. Losing employees with
many years of experience with the firm represents a major loss of knowledge. Thus, in general,
downsizing may be of more tactical (or short-term) value than strategic (or long-term) value.
However, it should be noted that in free-market-based societies, downsizing has generated an
incentive for individuals who have been laid off to start their own businesses in order to live
through the disruption in their lives. Accordingly, downsizing has generated a host of
entrepreneurial new ventures.
Downscoping generally leads to more positive outcomes than downsizing or leveraged buyouts
in both the short and long term. Downscoping’s desirable long-term outcome of higher
performance is a product of reduced debt costs and the emphasis on strategic controls derived from
concentrating on the firm’s core businesses. Refocusing the firm should increase its ability to
compete.
While whole-firm LBOs have been hailed as a significant innovation in the financial
restructuring of firms, they do involve some negative trade-offs. First, the resulting large debt
increases a firm’s financial risk. Sometimes, the owners’ intent to increase the efficiency of the
bought-out firm and then sell it within five to eight years creates a short-term and risk-averse
managerial focus. As a result, these firms may fail to invest adequately in R&D or take other major
actions designed to maintain or improve the company’s core competence. Research also suggests
that, in firms with an entrepreneurial mind-set, buyouts can lead to greater innovation, especially if
the debt load is not too great. However, because buyouts more often result in significant debt, most
LBOs have taken place in mature industries where stable cash flows are possible. This enables the
acquiring firm to meet the recurring debt payments required to keep the business afloat in its new
form.

PTS: 1 DIF: Hard REF: Restructuring outcomes

Another random document with
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bits from
Blinkbonny; or, Bell o' the Manse
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
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Title: Bits from Blinkbonny; or, Bell o' the Manse

a tale of Scottish village life between 1841 and 1851

Author: John Strathesk

Release date: November 27, 2023 [eBook #72243]

Language: English

Original publication: Toronto: William Briggs, 1885

Credits: Susan Skinner, Quentin Campbell, and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BITS FROM

BLINKBONNY; OR, BELL O' THE MANSE ***
 Transcriber’s Note

The cover image was restored by Thiers Halliwell and is placed in the
public domain.

Click any image to see a larger version.

See end of this transcript for details of corrections and other changes.
BITS FROM BLINKBONNY.
The Artists Bit.
BITS FROM BLINKBONNY
OR

BELL O’ THE MANSE

A TALE OF SCOTTISH VILLAGE LIFE BETWEEN

1841 AND 1851

BY

JOHN STRATHESK

With Six Original Illustrations

TORONTO
WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING ST. EAST

C. W. COATES, Montreal, Que. S. F. HUESTIS, Halifax, N.S.

——
1885
Entered, according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and
eighty-five, by William Briggs, agent for John Tod, St. Leonard’s, Scotland, in the Office of the Minister
of Agriculture, at Ottawa.
 PREFACE.
——◆——

T HESE “Bits from Blinkbonny” were grouped together by the

Author to beguile the tedium of a protracted period of domestic
quarantine. They are not only his first attempt at sustained
literary work, but they were commenced without any concerted plan.
Blinkbonny was selected as a pretty name for a Scottish village, but
the Author himself cannot fix the precise locality; and all the names
he has used are supposititious, excepting those of such public
characters as Dr. Duff, Dr. Guthrie, etc.
Owing to his having adopted the autobiographical form, the Author
has experienced more difficulty in writing the preface than any other
part of the book, as, although most of the incidents are founded on
fact, a good deal of imported matter has been required to form a
connected narrative. He also knows that in bringing together the
varieties of character and incident that an ordinary Scotch village
affords, he has passed “from grave to gay, from lively to severe,” in
some instances with injudicious abruptness, and that there are other
defects for which he needs to apologize; but as even his readers will
probably differ as to where these occur, it is not desirable for him to
dwell on them.
The Author is not in any way connected with the Free Church of
Scotland, and at the outset he had no intention of treating so largely
as he has done of the “Disruption” of 1843; if, however, he induces
the rising generation to study the past and the present of that great
movement, neither they nor he will regret the prominence given to it
in this volume.
The illustrations with which the book is embellished are
“composition” sketches; but the Author confidently leaves these to
introduce themselves.
The idiom of the Scottish language—the dear old Doric—has been to
the Author a difficult matter to render, so as to be at once intelligible
to ordinary readers and fairly representative of the everyday mother
tongue of the common people of Scotland. He hopes that he has
succeeded in doing this, as well as in preserving a few of the floating
traditions of the passing generation which are so rapidly being swept
away by the absorbing whirlpool of these bustling times, and that his
readers will follow with kindly interest these homely records of the
various subjects he has tried to portray in these “Bits from
Blinkbonny.”
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The author is delighted to find you so hurriedly called for, that he has
only time to express the hope that you will receive as kindly a
welcome as your precursor has done.
February 1882.
 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
The author gladly avails himself of the opportunity you afford him, to
express his gratification at the warm reception which Bell and her
friends at Blinkbonny have met with on both sides of the Atlantic, as
well as to make a few verbal corrections.

“The cleanest corn that e’er was dicht

May ha’e some pyles o’ caff in.”

July 1882.
 CONTENTS.
——◆——

CHAPTER I.
THE MANSE.
PAGE

The Artist and his Bits—Blinkbonny—The Author and his

Relations—The Good Folks at Greenknowe—The
Manse—Once thinking of getting married—The
Interrupted Call—Mr. and Mrs. Barrie—Bell of the
Manse—Wee Nellie—Her Illness, Death, and Grave
—“A Butterfly on a Grave” (Mrs. Sigourney), 1

CHAPTER II.
A QUIET EVENING AT THE MANSE.
Bell’s Sliding Scale—Her Pattens—The Hospitality of the
Manse—Be judeecious—James and his Skates—
Mrs. Barrie’s Experiences—Mr. Barrie’s Illness—The
Good Samaritan—A Startling Proposal, 22

CHAPTER III.
THE MARRIAGE AND THE HOME-COMING.
“The Books”—P.P.C.—Marriage Presents—“The
Confession of Faith”—Toasts—“The Frostit
Corn”—“The Country Rockin’”—Auntie Mattie—“The
Farmer’s Ingle”—Peggy Ritchie on the Churchyard—
A Lamb Leg and a Berry Tart—Mathieson’s Heid, 41

CHAPTER IV.
THE TWO SIDES OF THE CHURCH QUESTION.
Coming Events—Bell and the Seed Potatoes—Her Idea 58
of the Government—Knowe Park—Spunks—The
 Town-Clerk of Ephesus—Bell’s summing up—Daisy
—The Eve of Battle—Sir John McLelland’s Opinions
on the “Evangelicals”—Patronage—Preaching
Competitions—Little Gab—Non-Intrusion and Voting,

CHAPTER V.
BLINKBONNY AND THE DISRUPTION.
Bell’s Opinion of Knowe Park—Mr. Barrie’s Return—The
Deputation’s Visit to the Manse—Mr. Barrie’s
Statement—Mr. Taylor’s Views—George Brown on
the Crisis—His Covenanting Relics, 85

CHAPTER VI.
THE DISRUPTION AND BLINKBONNY.
The Meeting in Beltane Hall—The End of the Ten Years’
Conflict—George Brown’s Exercises—The Bellman’s
Difficulty—Sabbath Services at the Annie Green
—“Thae Cath’lics”—The Secession Church—Mr.
Barrie’s Successor—Bell and Smoking—“Hillend” on
Doctors and Ministers—A Man amang Sheep, 99

CHAPTER VII.
OUT OF THE OLD HOME AND INTO THE NEW.
Leaving the Manse—Dr. Guthrie and the Children—
Nellie’s Tibby—Well settled—Bell’s Experiment with
the Hens—Dan Corbett—Braid Nebs—Babbie’s Mill, 126

CHAPTER VIII.
BLINKBONNY FREE CHURCH.
The Disruption of 1843—Hardships—Scotch Villages and
Church Matters—The New Church—The Session
and Deacons—The Beadle, Walter Dalgleish—The
Precentorship—Psalms and Hymns—Mr. Barrie’s
New Life—Foreign Missions—The Assembly’s
Decision—The Living Child—Saxpence—“Gude Siller
gaun oot o’ the Country”—Reminiscences of Dr. Duff, 154
 CHAPTER IX.
BELL AT HOME IN KNOWE PARK.
The Three Ministers of Blinkbonny—Mr. Walker—The Ten
Virgins—The finest o’ the Wheat—Bell’s Fee—Alloa
Yarn—Bell’s Cooking—Sheep’s-head—Mr. Kirkwood
and the Potato-Soup—Dan in the Kitchen—Mr.
Gordon o’ the Granaries and the Smugglers—Dan at
Nellie’s Grave—Mr. Barrie’s Visit to Dan, 177

CHAPTER X.
INCIDENTS IN BLINKBONNY.
Miss Park on Dan—The Sweep’s dead—Mrs. Gray’s
Elegy on her Husband—The Coffin for naething—The
New School-master—The Roast Beef in the Lobby—
The Examination Committee—“Hoo’ to get there”—
George Brown’s Death—Scripture References—Mrs.
Barrie and Mr. Corbett—Dan and the Pictures—Dan’s
Bath—His Dream—Dan at Church—His Visit to
Babbie’s Mill—Colonel Gordon’s First Visit—Sir John
McLelland at the Soiree—“The Angel’s Whisper”
(Samuel Lover), 205

CHAPTER XI.
CHANGES AT KNOWE PARK.
The Dorcas Society—The Morisonian Controversy—
Colonel Gordon’s Second Visit—A Real Scotch
Dinner—Champagne—Dan an’ the Duke o’ Gordon—
The Smuggler’s Log-book—Colonel Gordon’s Will—
Dan’s Bank—The Call to Edinburgh—No-Popery
Agitation—David Tait o’ Blackbrae—The Sow and the
Corinthians—Bell woo’d—Mrs. Barrie breaks the Ice
—Bell won—Found out and congratulated, 230

CHAPTER XII.
ANOTHER MARRIAGE AND HOME-COMING.
The Forms of Procedure—Reception of the News of Bell’s 259
Marriage by Mr. Taylor, and by Sir John McLelland
—“Her Weight in Gold”—Bell’s Presents—“Hook ma
 Back”—Mr. Walker’s Violin—Bell’s Marriage and
Home-coming—The Infar Cake—Creeling—Dan,
“Burke,” and the Noisy Convoy—The Vexing Pig—
The “Kirkin’,”

CHAPTER XIII.
CONCLUSION.
The Packing at Knowe Park—The Bachelor Umbrella—
Nellie’s Box—Dan and Rosie—Dan on Evangelical
Effort—On “The Angel’s Whisper”—Bell in Edinburgh
—Home to Blackbrae—Andrew Taylor’s Criticisms, 284
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
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The Artist’s Bit, Frontispiece.

Blinkbonny, Page 6
Bell and “Daisy,” ” 70
Babbie’s Mill, ” 152
Dumbarton Castle, ” 197
Bell’s “Hoose o’ her Ain”—Blackbrae, ” 250
BITS FROM BLINKBONNY.
BITS FROM BLINKBONNY.
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