The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-07-29
TALES OF THE BORDERS
GLEANINGs OF THE COVENANT.
BY PROFESSOR THOMAS GILLESPIE.
+" HELEN PALMER

Helen Palmer was originally from Cum
herland her parents were Elglish, but her
father had removed with Helen, an only
daughter, whilst yet child. to the neigh
borhood Of Closeburn Castle, to smal
village which still goes by the name d
Crollchapel. There the husband and
father had been employed originally as for
ester on tie estate Of Closeburn, belonging
t. Sir Roger Kirkpatrick, and bad after
wards become chamberlain or factor on be
same property. Peter Palmer was supe
rior man. He bad been we'll educated for
the time in which be lived, and bad been
employed in Cumberland in keeping ac-
counts for a mining establishment. TIE
death, however, in childbirth, of his be
loved and wel-b wife, (she had mar
red below her station had, for some time,
d.sgusted him with life, and bis intellects
bad nearly given way. Having committed
several acts of insanity, so as to make him
self spoken Of in the neighborhood, be took
Z EoSutgh, fiittipg, with his child ard n
faithful nurse, and, wandering north and
north, at last fixed his residence in the
locality already mentioned, where he was
soon noticed as a superior person By the
Laird OF CloSeburn, and advanced as has
been stated.
Helen Palmer was the apple Of her flth
er's eye; be would permit no one but the
nurse to approach her person, and be him
self was her only instructor be taught her
to read, to write, and to calculate accounts f;
in short, every spare hour be had was spent
with little Helen. There you might see
him, after dinner, with Helen on bis knee,
his forest dog sleeping before bim, aud a
tumbler of negus on a small table by his
side, cOnversing with bis child, a. be would
have done with her mother holding her
out at arms length, to mark her opening
features aud then again strIining her to bis
bosom in a paroXysin of tears.
Just my Helen-my own dear Helen
anew y he would say" oh, my Child
my child dear, dear art thou to Thy poor
heart broken father but will live for thee.
i will i've with thee and when thou
diest, child, thou shalt sleep on this breast,
thou shall be buried, child, in thy father :
dust and thy mother and we shall meet,
ard | will tell her Of ber babe Of that
babe which cost ber so much, and we will
rejoin in divine love for ever and ever -
Oh, how beautiful is paternal affection
the love Of an only surviving parent fol
an only ch.ld-and she female. 1t i:
beautiful as the smile OF Providence on
beuevolence-it is strong as the bond which
binds the world to a common centre-it is
enduring as the affections which, beng
cherished on earth, are matured above!
As Helen grew up, her ,ye kindled, hel
brow expanded, her cheeks freshened into
the most delicious bloom, and she walked
on fairy footsteps Of the most delicate i'm
preston. Her feet, her hands, her arms
her bust, her whole person, spoke her a
once the lady Of thousand descents-age,
had modelled her into aristocratic symmetry
But with all this, there was a rustic simpli
city about her, an open, frank, unaffecting
manner, which seemed to say, as plain a,
any manner could, +" | am not ashamed o.
being my fathers daughter" When Heller
Palmer had attained her sixteenth year
she was quite woman-not one of your
thread-paper bulrushes, which shoot up
wards merely into unheshed gentility bu
round, firm Widespread, and formed vo-
mana bonnY lass, invested with all the
delicacy and softness of complete lady
Her bodily accomplishments, however, were
not her only recommendation her MIND
was unusually acute, and ber memory wa,
stored with much and varied information
She knew, for example, that the age il
which she lived was one Of cruelty anC
blOodshed ; that the second Charles, who
at that time, filed the throne, was sensu
al tyrant; that Lag, Clavers Douglas
Jobnstone, and others, were bloody perse
eutors and that even Sir Roger Kirkpat-
rick himself, the humane and amiable il
many respects, was a friend Of the castle
of the court-and would not permit am
Of the poor persecuted remnant to TAX
refuge in the Inns Of Creehope. or in an,
of the fastnesses on bis estate of Closeburn
All this grieved Helen's heart; but be
father had taught b h,r that it was her duty
as well as his own, to be silent on suc
subjects, and not to give offence to on
whose bread be was eating, and who's
patronage be bad enjoyed to 50 great al
extent
There were frequent visitors, in thos'
days, at Closeburn Castle. In fact, wit
all the chivalric hospitality Of ancient time
and Of an ancient family, Sir Roger kept
in manner, open house. During diOnel
the drawbridge was regularly eleyared, and
for couple Of hours at least, none migt
enter. This state ceremony had cost th