The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-03-19
TALES OF THE BORDER
THG GHOST or cAIRVBURM.
nWA
BY ALHxANDKR 1sTHuSB.

1u Tue IuIulWout VI OuI ptUuico vi
future story" which we made at the ter
mination Of @ The Ghost Of Howdycraigs. T"
We may presume thus g.
II would be both trite and bombastic to
say, as some orators have done, that time
rolls on" and yet it is wholly owing to
their having been 80 often repeated, that
such sayings excite no interest, and the sub
jects to which they refer pass unnoticed ;
for, however we may forget the truth, or
however the regular recurrence Of evening
and morning, summer and winter, seed-time
and harvest, may make US callous to the
result which these revolutions are destined
10 produce, nothing can be more certain
than that Time never pauses in his career
His progress may be observed, not only in
great events which give birth to new eras in
the history of the wOrld--in the overthrow
of ancient empires, the extinction Of ancient
dynasties, and the discovery of new cOun-
tries: it may be traced in the occurrences of
every year, every month, and almost every
day. The connections of families, the num-
bers of which they are composed, their re-
lative pr1tiOn in society, and their pros
poets in life, are undergoing perpetual
changes ChaDgeable rs are the fortunes, so
are the minds and emotions Of men: one
hour they laugh, another they weep; and,
perhaps, the very next hour they laugh
again while events the most important and
the mos. tritiing, the most solemn aad the
most ludicp0us, mingle together, and follow
each other BY Law which fools our powers
of investigation, and battles our under
standing.
Eighteen years had wearily elapsed since
the period at which the former part of this
history concludes; and The Ghost of HosCdy-'
crGigs was nearly forgotten. Betsy Brai-
kens, who was then only girl, was now
fullgrown woman, who, for the last eight
or nine Of the above mentioned years,
would not have been irreconcilably offended
with well-looking sweetheart for proposing
to make Eer his wife. Her brother
James, who, in the same interval, had ar
rived ut mans estate, had been endeavoring,
NOT very successfully, for some time past to
establish himself as a merchant in Perth
and his cousin, Sandy Crawford, whom the
reader will reeolIect as the herd laddie at
Howdycraigs, had, by the death Of bis
father, been promoted to be tacksmau Of
GARY burn upon which place be resided
with his mother Jenny Jarvis, too, with
whose birth the preceding story concludes,
was by this time lass upon whom those
who were neither too young nor too old
might have looked with as much interest at
least as it is common to bestow on . maiden
in her eighteenth year. 1t is also probable
that she herself had begun to steal an occa-
sional glance at the young men of the dis
trict, as she saw them passing on the road,
or assembled at thoir rustic sports and to
recollect, when her mind was otherwise un-
occupied, that one was tall, that another
had dark eyes, that a third had a smiling
countenance and, perhaps, that fourth
united all these charms in his proper person.
It was the middle Of winter, or what is
commonly called "the daft days." which
has long been a season Of festivity TO the
rich, and, in so far. as circumstances will per
init, to the poor also. The cottagers were
invited to each others houses, to spend an
evening. in forgetfulness of care. Cakes,
cheese, and sle,supplied them with cheap,
and, at the same time, CHEEKY repast The
old people talked Of by-gone times, and the
feats of dexterity or strength which they
had performed in their youth, with all the
enthusiasm of heroes when fighting their
battles over again !" while the young ones
looked in each others faces, and laughed
heartily at little jests. unprecedented
compliments were paid in off.handed pro-
fusion old and incredible stories were re-
vlved and, in the words Of Goldsmith,
news much older than their ale went
round !" but, whatever might be their age,
at such seasons they were certain to produce
as much merriment as upon the occasion
when they were first produced. To con
clude the picture
. The napry rsrk'd vi mantlipg 'resO,,
Aud -hed hesrt inspiring stream;
| And lunun pipe and sneeshin mill
Were handed round vi richt guid-WilL"
Sandy Crawford aud bis mother had beer
invited TO +" either cakes" and spend th,
evening with John Jervis and bis wife
They came, according to custom and, afte
the cheese, the oatsn bread, and the ale hat
been sent round in the usual manner
" Troth, Nelly" said Margaret Craw
ford, addressing her hostess, your Jenny
turned perfect woman ! declare. Sic a
odds there's on her within the last twa
month MOny time j look at her whe
she's gaun past /; and, to say tho truth. y
may weel be proud o yer dochter, for
dinna see BONNER lassie i the bale eOur
tryside than she is.
:. Beauty is only skin-deeP," sal
Nelly, with q smile Of satisfaction. wbic
. showed how highly she appreciated Il
quality in her daugbter. which she Pretende