The Warslin' Lea is the expanse on which well-matched opponents wrestle to obtain victory. To struggle with difficulties is to warsel: it is sometimes warsell or warstle.

The wail's wrack we share o't, The warstle and the care o't, Wi' her I'll blithely bear it, And think my lot divine.

wrote Burns in "My wife's a winsome wee thing." The term Lea is universally understood. It is simply "a meadow," or in pure Scots the virgin turf on the slope of a ridge -

The broom, the brier, the birken bush, Bloom bonnie o'er thy flowery lea,

An' a' the sweets that one can wish,

Frae Nature's hand are strewed on thee.

wrote Tannahill, and we have another fine reference in the verse of Hums' beautiful lay, " My ain kind Dearie " -

Gie me the hour o' gloamin' gray. It mak's my heart so cheerie O,

To meet thee on the lea rig. My ain kind dearie, O.

Over and above these have the passionate lines of that lovely song "Meet me on the Gowan Lea,"the refrain of which is as follows:

So we have the Lea or Lee where destiny is often decided, and one that in Braid's opinion forms the greatest seventeenth hole he ever saw or played. Something of the characteristic dourness or never-say-die spirit of the Scot is frequently shown in reply to the enquiry "How are you getting on ? The Scot, as often as not, will answer " Oh, I'm aye warslin' aw a' "; or again, he may be heard to express the hope, in face of troubles, that he may manage to "warstle through." You may gather from that how significant is the term Warslin' Lea tor the penultimate test.