Wilsontown is the nearest of our Churches to Crofthead (now called Fauldhouse). It is four miles south from Fauldhouse and moorland all the way. The great part of the first two and a half miles is a very rough road, hardly passable for a horse and cart, anything but good for a foot passenger in some places even in daylight, and, of course, very much worse in the dark. About a mile and a half from Wilsontown you strike one of the roads between Edinburgh and Ayr. That is a fairly good road, but in some parts there is not even a fence to let you know in a snowstorm which is road and which is moor. That mile and a half of the Ayr road is almost sacred to me. Wilsontown is one of the places which for many years I often gave a night in the week to. I seldom stayed all night there; it was something off the usual which prevented me from walking home from Wilsontown. A number of brethren always went with me along that mile and half of a road, we parted where I struck to the left into the rough road over the hill. If it were dark, I rarely met or saw any person from parting with the brethren until I got near Fauldhouse, but all the same I often enjoyed that walk. But the many conversations I had with these brethren between Wilsontown and the place of parting, fill a pleasant place in my memory. Our conversations were generally cheerful but seldom trifling; many things concerning the kingdom of God were discussed during these walks with brethren who are now scattered far and wide, and some have crossed the river.

There is a good deal of moving about among miners, and some of the members of the Slamannan Church were at the formation of the Church at Wilsontown. In thinking about churches you know it is generally some man or a few men who stand out prominently in your memory in connection with them. But when you are looking back over the history of Wilsontown a woman's name takes first place. For many years Jane Gillon's influence was greater than any man's who ever was in it. She was turned to the service of God under the preaching of Charles Abercrombie at Drumclair, Slamannan, during the Revival of 1859. She was in connection with the Church at Wilsontown from its formation till her death a few years ago. She was the wife of a miner, and never aimed at anything above that station either in dress or any other thing - there were no airs about Jane Gillon. She had one book - the Bible, she very seldom read anything else, and the bulk of her reading was confined to the New Testament. She lived and died in absolute ignorance of the theory of music, but that did not keep her from singing, she was fond of hymns. In her youth and prime, God blessed her with a sweet voice, she had a good ear and her soul went into her singing. Her knowledge could not be called great, but she could make a splendid use in conversation of what she did know - never forward, never backward, "ready, aye ready." Her love for Christ and His Gospel outshone every other thing in her life, and she helped in many ways. She was midwife for the small place, and the women, as a rule, had confidence in her. The doctor lived at some distance and could not always be got, and in cases of sickness or accident, it almost seemed as if Jane Gillon knew by instinct what was best to do. Hence she was often called upon. Many a sick and dying pillow did Jane smooth, and her earnest pointing to Christ in the homely language of the people often found its way to the heart. This gave her an influence in another way. Our meetings had often to be made known by house to house invitation. As long as Jane was able, she did the most of that herself. She could often bring a person to a meeting that nobody else could.

Then, the house of Jane Gillon could almost be looked upon as the home of the brethren. They all visited freely there. I never went to Wilsontown just in time to address a meeting and come away again. I would have considered the evening half lost if I had done that. I aimed to be at Jane Gillon's about the time that the miners were home and free for a conversation, and miners are generally home early. It was often known what afternoon I was expected, and when this was not the case, a message was sent to those who were likely to be free for a conversation. And very many pleasant and profitable hours have I thus spent round Jane's kitchen fire. As a rule there were no reserve seats in Jane's kitchen, but Jane had her own chair at the far side of the fire which no one else ever took. I generally sat in an armchair at the other side of the fire from Jane. No others had fixed places, but sat in a half-circle in front of the fire, which was never pinched for coal.

Jane Gillon's happy, cheerful good nature hardly ever failed her. It was only when some person or persons spoke lightly of or coolly opposed what she believed to be the Word of God, that anything like a flash came from Jane.

I have now said a good deal about ordinary work at Wilsontown. I might before leaving it mention one of the unusual meetings; I had also a good many of them there. I went to Wilsontown one Sunday, not by arrangement; I was free and thought I would go there, though they did not know that I was coming. It also happened that Mr. Alexander Weir of Carluke, who has a very good voice for open-air speaking, was also impressed to go to Wilsontown that morning. Neither of us knew that the other was coming, and our friends at Wilsontown did not expect either of us. We were both early, and got to Jane's about the same time. She was delighted and informed us the first thing that the Lord had sent us. She then began, and explained to us why she was so pleased to see us. The (Plymouth) Brethren had had an evangelist there for a week. He had spent a good part of his time in misrepresenting us and trying to lower us in the eyes of the people. She gave us an outline of his work in that respect, and said, "Now I believe that the Lord has sent you two this morning, so that this afternoon or evening you may make a reply to these people and point out their errors, and the manner in which they have misrepresented us, and thus put us in our right position before the people." We said that we would have an outside meeting, but we both refused to do just what she wished. The people might think that we had just come for the purpose of attacking these men and then it might do more harm than good; we might refer to what they were doing, but we refused to make it the kind of meeting which Jane wished. She was not pleased; she insisted that we were paying too much attention to what people might say; she still thought that the Lord had sent us for that purpose, and he would hold us responsible if we did not do it. She informed us that there had been some baptisms by the "Brethren," in a stream about a quarter of a mile up the moor, on the Sunday before, and there was to be another baptism that afternoon. "Well," I said, "the open-air baptism will be an attraction, and we shall not have our meeting until that is past." It was a fine day, and as it came near the time for the baptism, the people began to flock up the moor. Just then one of our sisters came to me and said: "I have been informed that there will be no baptism. The person who was expected to be baptized has refused to come forward." I then turned to Bro. Weir and said, "That is perhaps our opportunity, let us go up and see what we can make of it." So with as many friends as we could muster without waiting, we made our way up the moor to where the baptism was expected. We found a large number of people assembled there. I spoke to them, and said that as the people they were expecting had not yet come, we would be pleased if they would listen to some things we had to say. We assured them that if the people that they were expecting came, we would give place at once. Without any preliminaries I introduced Mr. Weir. He had a very attentive hearing from the large audience. During his Gospel address he referred to some of the points upon which we had been misrepresented.

I followed Mr. Weir and had also an attentive hearing. I went more in detail into the belief of the (Plymouth) Brethren, reminding my hearers that though they were known by that name, they did not acknowledge it themselves. I pointed out where we agreed and where we differed. We explained that we did not find fault with any one for referring to what we believed; but when they did so, they should do it fairly, and our friends on the other side had not done that. If they denied anything that we had said, we were willing to meet them and give proof. When I closed, there was still no appearance of the baptism taking place, and the people dispersed.

After the meeting Jane Gillon, Mr. Weir, and I were coming down the moor together when Jane said, "You men will surely not deny now that the Lord had a hand in that meeting. These people were behaving badly toward us. The Lord put it into the hearts of you two men to come today, and He caused the very people who were misrepresenting us to be the means of gathering that large meeting together to hear you. You have now put our position fairly before the people and I am content. Yes, men, the Lord had a hand in that meeting, and the matter can rest there now."

Wilsontown along its whole history has often been defective in not having men who were ready, active, public speakers; but it has never lacked men who were strong and intelligent in conversation. Jane Gillon's work was among the sick and the erring, but when the wolf came among the sheep some of the men were far ahead of Jane then; she knew that very well, and in these circumstances she naturally fell in behind these brethren, knowing that the truth was safe in their hands.