Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1842-01-07
NJ O S s. S / d Z.

had been poor man all the days Of his life,
which were not few, for his thin hair was
now waxing gray. He had been born and
bred on the small moorland farm which he
now occupied; and he hoped to die there,
as his father and grandfather had done be-
fore him, leaving family just above the
more bitter wants of this world. Labor,
hard and unremitting, had been his lot in
life; but although sometimes severely tried,
lie had never repined; and through all the
mist, and gloom, and even the storms tina,
had assaled him, he had lived on, from year
to year, in that calm and resigned content-
ment, which unconsciously cheers the hearth
stone of the blamelcSs poor.
With his own hands he had ploughed,
sowed, and rcaped his often scanty harvest,
assisted,as they grew up, by three sons, who
even in boyhood were happy to work along
with their father in the fields. Out of doors
or in, Gilbert Ainslle was never idle. The
spade, the plough-shalt, the sickle, and the
hail, all came readily to hands that graspcd
them well; and not a morsel of food was
eaten under his roof, or a garment worn
there, that was not honestly, severely, nobly
earned. Gilbert Ainslc was a slave, but il
was for them he loved with sober and deep
affection. The thraldom under which he
lived God had imposed, and it only served
to give his character shade of silent gravity.
but not austerc; TO make his smiles fewer.
but more heartfelt to calm his soul at grace
before and after meals; and to kindlc it in
morning and evening prayer.
There is no need TO tell the character of
the wife Of such man. Meek and thought.
full. yet gladstone and gay wi,hal, her hands
helped to bar the door against want. Often
| children that had been born TO them. ,hev
had lost three: and as they had fed, clothed
and educated Them rcsnectoblv en- Ait ,l,o,,
give them who died a ,csprctnblc funcr,l
The living did not crndre 10 give M. for n
| while, some of their daiy comforts. for fine
sake Of the dead and BOUGHT. with the ljtlc
sums which their industry had saved deccn,
MORNINGS worn on Sabbath. and then care.
| fully laid by. or the seven fiat snrv;vod
two SONS were farm-servants in the neoh-
borhood, W lille three DAUGHTERS and two sans
remained at home, grown and GROWING nm. a
small, happy, hardworkino household.
Many cottages arc there in Scotland like
Mos2-side, and MANY such humble and yir.
tuuus coaccrs as we're now beneath ifs roof
Of straw. The eve of the passing traveller
| may mark them, or mark them not, but thew
stand peacefully in thousands over all the
land: and most beautiful do they make il
through all its wide valleys and narrow oleps
its low homes encircled By the rocky walls
of some bonnv burn-its green mounts cl,-
ted with their little crovrnr groves of main,
trecs--is yellow cornfc!ds-i,s hare. pas,o-
raj hill-sdes, and all its HEALTHY noors. on
whose black bosom lie SHINING or coocca nd
glades of excessive ycrdnrc. inhabited bv
flowers, and visited ONLY BIZ the rnr.Ny;ng
bees.
Moss-side was no, beautiful to careless
or hasty eye; but when looked on and sur
vey cd, it seemed a pleasant dwelling. Its
roof, ovcrgrown with grass and moss, was al
most AS green as the ground out Of which its
weaiher-stainrd walls appeared to grow
The moss behind it was separated from a
little garden, by narrow slip of arabic land,
the dark color of which showed that it had
been won from the wild, by patient industry
retained. 1t required a brigh, sunny dav to
make Moss-sidc fair: but then it was fair
indeed and when the little brown moorand
birds were singing their short songs among
the PUSHES and the heather, or lark perhaps
lured thilher through some green barley field
for its undisturbed nest, rose ringing all over
the enlivcncd solitude, the little bleak farm
smiled the paradise Of poverty. sad and ai-
tecting in It's lone and extreme simplicity.
The boys and girls had made some plots
of flowers among the vegetables that the lit
tie garden supplied for their homely meals
pinks and carnations, brought from walled
gardens Of rich men farther down in the cul-
tivaed stra,h, grew here with somewhat d.
minshed lusturc IL bright show of tulips had
"A strange beauty in the midst of that moor
land and the smell! of roses mixed well with
that Of the clover, the beautiful fair leaves
that loves the soil and the air of Scotland.
and gives the rich and balmy milk to the
poor mans lips.
In this cottage Gibcrt's youngest child, IA
girl about nine years Of age, had been lying
for a week in fever. 1t was now Satur-
day evening, and ninth day of the disease.
Was she to live or die E! 1t seemed as if but