The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-02-16
HE VACANT. CHAIR.

n AhA9nS DVhCcsA0 otoIy..
You have all heard of the Cheviot noun
tains. Ifyou 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, sur
rounded by pastures and fruitful fields, ant
still dividing the northern portion of Grea
Britain from the southern. With theil
proud submits piercing the clouds, and
their dark, rocky declvities frowning upon
the glens below, they appear symbolical Of
the wild and untamable spirit of the bor.
derers who once inhabited their Sides
We say, you have all heard Of the Cheviots,
land know them to be very high hills, like a
huge clasp riveting England and Scotland
together; but we are not aware that you
may have heard of Marchaw, an old, grey
looking farm house, substantial as modern
fortress, recently, aud, for aught we know
to tho contrary, still inhabited by Peter Ell
liot, the proprietor of some five hundred sur
rounding acres. The boundaries of Peters
farm, indeed, were defined neither by fields,
hedges, nor stone walls. A wooden stake
here and stone there, ct considerable dis
tances from each other, were the general
landmarks /; but neither Peter nor his neigh
bors considered a few acres worth quarrel
ing about; and their sheep frequently WIS.,
tied each others pastures in friendly way,
harmopiously sharing family dinner, in
the saNeepirit as their mastsfa mada.thsma-
selves free 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,
claimede Marchlaw as their birth place
They, however, were not involved in the
same perplexities as their descendant. The
parlor was distinctly acknowledged to- be in
Scotland and two.thirds of the kitchen we're
as certainly allowed to be in England his
.tLise ANCESTORS were. born in the room oyer
the parler, and, therefore, were Scotehipen
beyond question; but Peter, unluckily, be-,
ing brought into the world before the death
of his grandfather, his parents occupied
room Immediately over the debatable boun
dary 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, alter
many arguments and alterations upon the
subject, was driven to the disagreeable al
tentative of confessng 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 aud few. families were more
ancient or respectable than the Elliots-
Peters speech, indeed, betrayed him to be
a walking partition between the two king
dems, a 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 burr 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 and Jedburg.-
Whirled from his hand, the ponderous bull
let whizzed through the air like pigeon on
the wing aud the best putter on the Bor-
ders quaiied from competition. AS feath-
scr in, his grasp, he seized the unwieldy ham
mer, swept it round and round his head, ac-
companying with agile limb its evolutions,
swiftly as swallows play around circle, and
hurled it from his hands like shot from a
rife, till antagonists shrunk back, and the
spectators burst into shout. "Well done,
Squire the Squire forever!' once exclaim-
si Sd servile observer of titles. esquire
via arc ye squirting at?' returned Peter.
4'Confound ye where was ye when l was
christened Squire My names Peter Elliot
your man, or onybody's man, at whatever
they like !"
Peters soul was free, bounding, and
buoyant as the wind that caroled in ze-