The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-02-16
3EV.ACANT. CHAIR.
A Thrilling Domestic Story,


You havo all heard of the Cheviot mour
tains. If you have not, they are rough
rugged, majestic chain of hills, which poe
might term the Roman wall of nature
crowned With snow, belted with storms, SUI
rounded by pastures and fruitful fields. an
still dividing the northern portion of Grea
Britain from the southern. With thei
proud submits piercing the clouds, ant
Sdeir dark, rocky declivities frowning upor
the glens below, they appear symbolicai o
che wild and untamable spirit of the Dor
derers who once inhabited their Sides
We say, you have all heard Of the Cheviots
and know them to be very high hills, like .
huge clasp riveting England and Scotland
together |; but we are not aware that you
may have heard of Marchlaw, an old, grey.
looking farm house, substantial as modern
fortress, recently, and, for aught we know
to tho contrary, still inhabited by Peter Ell.
liot, the proprietor of some FIVE hundred sur
rounding acres. The boandar;so of Peters
farm, iadeed, were defined neither by fields,
hedges, nor stone walls. A wooden stake
here and stone there, st considerable dis
tances from each other, were the general
landmarks but neither Peter nor his neigh
bors considered few acres worth quarrel
ing about; aud their sheep frequently Wis,
tied each others pastures in friendly way,
harmopipasly sharing family dinner, in
the sss4pirit as their massses maGaithsua.
selves ice at each others tables.
Peter was placed in very unpleasant cir
cumstances, owing to the situation of March
law House, which unfortunately, was built
immediatly across the ideal line dividing
the two kingdoms and his misfortune was,
that, being born within it, he knew not
whether he was an Englishman or Scotch
man. He could trace his ancestral line no
farther back than his great grandfather, who,
it appeared from.the family Bible. had, to-
gether with his grandfather and father,
claime,lf Nfafchlaw as their birth place.
They, however, were not involved in the
same perplexities as their descendant. Ebe
sparlor was distinctly acknowledged tosbo in
Scotland and two.thirds of the kitchen "a
as certainly allowed to be in England his
tL.ss .aSes..ors wsss. horn in the roop paas
the parlss. aud, therefore, were Scetstiasn
beyond question; but Peter, unluckily, be-
ing brought into the world before the death
of his grandfather, his parents occupied a
room Immediately over the debatable boun-
dairy line which crossed the kitchen. The
room though scarcely eight feet square, was
evidently situated between the two coun.
tries but, no one being able to ascertain
what portion belonged to each, Peter, after
many arguments and alterations upon the
subject, was driven to the disagreeable al
tentative Of confessing he knew not what
countryman he was. What rendered the
confession more painful was, it was Peters
highest ambition to be thought Scotch
man. All his arabic land lay on the Scotch
side ;his mother was collaterally related to
the Stuarts and feHs families we're more
ancient or respectable than the Elliots.--
Peters speech, indeed, betrayed him to be
a walking partition between the two king
doms, living representation of the Union /;
for in one word he pronounced the letter r
with the broad, masculine sound Of the
North Briton, and in the next with the Ii.
quid barr of the Northumbrians.
~ Peter, or, if you prefer it, Peter Elliot,
Esquire, Of Marchlaw, in the counties of
Northumberland and Roxburgh, was, for
many years, the best runner, leaper and
wrestler between Wooler aud Jedburg.-
Whirled from his hand, the ponderous bull
let Mhisxed through the air like pigeon on
the wing and the best putter on the Bor-
s4daiisd from compesitioss As feath-
s.eF inshis grasp, he seized the unwieldy ham.
fn64s Pt II round and round his head, &C.
eonpapying with agile limb its evolutions
swiftly as swallows play around circle, and
hprled g from bis hands like shot from a
!; tide, till antagonists shrunk back, and the
ppectatofs burst into shout. "Well done
) 0jte tslss Squire forever p once exclaim.
Sef4lie observer Of titles. esquire
tArs ye squirting at?" returned Peter
sMConfound ye {! where was ye when was
christened Squire My names Peter Elliot
your man, or onybody's man, at whateve,
they like |"
Peters soul was free, bounding, and
buoyant as the wiDd that carolled in ze
phyr, or shouted in q hurricane, upon hi,
native hills; and his body was thirteen stone
of healthy, substantial fesh, stepped in tbs
spirits of life. He had been long married