The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-07-19
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From the Cincinnati Dollar Times.l
THE CHIEFTAIN'S CURSE
BY. RICHARD EVERETT.

Here might Tell his Switzerland renew, -
Or TyTol peasant cease to sing OF home;
And the bold eountrymen of Roderiek Dhu
From scenes SO genial never seek to roam
CHocoRUA's Cliff is the name of tall
grey crag in the interior of one of the
New England States. The sourround-
ing country is noted for its wild and pic
turesque scenery, and there is scarcely a
hill or stream, that has not its little ro-
nance or vague legend. Here Coffee
and Whalley, the exiled English judges,
had for long time a secret .home-re-
garded by the people with supers.itious
reverence Here, In a dark cavern,
was shot the great spotted catamount,
which desolatep the sheep folds, and car
ried off several children of the first set
tiers. The Pisquatoqua Indians made
the wide valley a camping ground, and
the great rock is still pointed out
where their council-fre was won't to
blaze. From othe baldc peak near by,
Chocerua pronounced his bitter curse on
the pale-faces, ere he leaped to the bro
ken rock-paved abyss that gapes below.
Of this last circumstance we will make a
short sketch. fasalHt. Il -st tIE-i
Donald .M'Kenzie dwelt with his wife
and two children near the shore, of Ioeh
Lommond, in {" Bonnie Scotland7 He
was an intelligent, educated man, brave,
and possessing that restless and indomi-
table spirit that the Highlander seems
to inherit from the associations about
his mountain home. He took promi-
nent part in the political troubles of his
eountry-opposed the Stuarts, and there
fore, Charles II on ascending the throne,
placed M'Kenzie''s name on, the list of
traitors whose bodies. were, on. the
first convenient occasion, to be !" short
tened by head" This became known
to the bold partizan. and he at frst-de-
termined to stay and meet his fate like
man who held his. principles dearer
than life But the love fer his family,
for his wife, who had shared his hopes
and fears, and his son and daughter
looking to him for instruction and. coun-
sci, made him resolve to seek an asylum
In what was then the wilds of America.
A few families from his neighborhood
joined him, and they secretly and sadly
embarked I'VE shall not dwell on the
scene of parting from tie old homestead
that for half century had been In the
hands of their family, or how from the
deck they watched old Scotia's coast
fading from their lingering eyes; and
how weeks after, they gazed wistfully
oyer the wintry sea to catch the outline
of the American shore Ia land Of toler-
alton and freedom. '1 - a-'.
( They landed, and hearing that come
of their countFymen were settled few
miles in the interior, the adventurers at
once Joined them: Fhey were delighted
with the country, SO much like their own
dear land. Mountains, hills, foaming
streams and sweet lakes, were all around.
Mr.. M'Kenzie built his log cabin, in a
grove of tall naples, near a bubbling
brook, and aided by his son Allan, clear
ed away the forest for his new wheat
field Ss1u io = r.ftsEE br;G 15g 5zIsfr.lrlI r-tr
Z "Why, father" said Nelly, " if
we can only make the heather and the
blue bells grow here, it viii be almost
like homeP' But the heather, that
bloomed so fragrant on their native hills,
would uot thrive where thewinters were
so severe, and the simple people wept
when the fact became apparent, 50 dear