Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-06-21
"The Best Man Wins Her.

HID away in the loveliest part 0
! Perthshire, nesting among the often
sung Braes of B&lqUhidder, lies Loci
+ Voei.-Fl5,Cyrr- aaras Of sazl4icsF1 FloI
/ Roy lived and dieE1; and where. in tht
4 quiet lonely kirkRsrd rests ftClan Al
pins omen and her aid.7 There are
/ FAIGregors still in the clachan of Balqu
! hidder, AI'GregOrs who speak with glis
/ tening eye and heightened color of the
/ chief, and amongst whom no tales are
/ 50 popular as those which treat of the
wild days when the clan with the ''namC
nameless by day" was at once the terror
I and protection of the country. Every
/ child knows the story of the feuds be-
! tween the M'Larens and the I'GregOrS
1 and how the Stewards of Appin, coming
/ to help their kiusmen, were met by the
| clansmen at the clachan, where ROE
/ Roy challenged any one Of Appin tC
single combat, eager, by even such per
sOnal hazard, to avert the horrors of a
/ battle. They will tell you, too, how the
great Duke Of AthOI exhausted his time
and patience trying to catch Rob Roy
and the story of the funeral, when La
dy GlenfallOch, thinking her brother
was slain, sprang upon the Duke, and,
dragging him from his horse, gave him
such a taste of the tenderness of the
N'GregOrs that he took timely warning
and retired, leaving Rob to bury his
mOtherin peace and quiet.
Some ten years ago a descendant of
Rob ROy's, Helen M'GregOr, was the
beauty of Balquhidder. Helen was a
fair, blue-eyed, gOlden-haired lassie,
with whom life had been one long
laugh, and to whom the world seemed
to bear neither frOWns nor clouds. Her
father, Tam M'GregOr, was a farmer,
and welI-tO-dO for his station /; his sons
helped him on the hills, and Helen was
tidy hand in the house, quite able to
take many cares from her mothers
shoulders.
Their cottage stood away from the
clachan, near the foot of the Meal
mach. A lovely little steading it was
too, with high gray rocks on one side,
on the other an oak and birch wood,
among the branches of which the soft
summer breezeS, when they had kissed
the lake into a ripple of delight, would
sigh, and whisper their pleasant songs
Of brighter and warmer lands.
Tam's cottage had served the wants of
many a generation of AT'GregOrs, here a
little and there little being added. as
the Ownlzer's family increased or his for
tunes prOspered. The thatch was mat
ted together by a fiOuTishing growth of
various plants, Wallf1Owers and house
leek predOminating. Roses and honey
suclzle hOurished in the narrow border,
and, clustering round the windows, met
gay and thriving geraniums, yOtive off
erings from the gardener at Glenbuckie,
who was one Of Helen's many admirers.
Helen being fancy-free herself, was wont
to make joke about tlOYe and not car
ing for either fairs or gatherings, escaped
much Of the gossip which attaches to
other girls. Yet, quietly as the little
maiden lived, she could no more avoid
lovers than can the violet hide away her
treasures from the bee. "LOve will ven
ture in whar he darna weel be seen,"
and accordingly HeIen's lovers were
neither few nor slack in making their
way to the farm; while, much to the
girls disCOmtit, her mother took pride
TO herself in counting the stalwart, we'll
tO-dO lads who would take a place by
the ingle-nOol1, and while talking to the
farmer, of the ewes, wool, and markets,
would hope to catch a stray glance, kin
der, than usual from Helen; who, how
ever, went on with her spinning as if no
eyes were seeking hers, and there was
no such thing as love or wOoing. And
many a lad doubtless thought with Hob
bic Elliott, that "whirling a bit stick
WI thread trailing to it, " was butpOOr
and tiresOme work.
One man came Oftener than all the
rest, so often that it was whispered about
that Helen and Duncan were courting,
nor did Duncan attempt to denv what
he wished in his inmOst heart was true
He had loved Helen long, and had only
waited for a farm to enter the lists Open-
ly. Now he had farm and decent
house to take a wife to, he thought the
right time had come; and soon, seeing
he had the good Will of both father and
mother, he was content to wait patient
ly until some happy day when Maggie's
heart would waken up, and his love
meet its reward. And if Duncan was
patient, it was because, never having
doubted his success, he experienced a
sort of qualification in beating down his
passion, or anticipatinp from distance
the time when Helen would spin by his
own hearth, and pay him back tenfoId
for what she made him suffer now.
The honest folk in Balquhidder called
Helen a lucky lassie, and watched the
counting with general interst, not un-
mixed with envy, for Duncan was one
of the handsOmest and steadiest of the
young men; more than that, and what
perhaps went even further among the
girls, Duncan was the champion wrest-
Ter, runner, and hammer-thrower, and
twice had he carried OF prizes from the