Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-06-05
MUDAL IN JUNE.

Mudal. that comes from the lonely mere,
Silent or whispering, vanishing ever,
Know you OF aught that concerns IL hCrcf
You, youngc-t of all Gods creatures, river.
Born ola Yesterdays summer shower
Ana hurrNiug ON with a restless motion,
Silent or Whispering, every hour
To lose yourself in the great lone ocean.
Your banks remain; but you go by,
Through day and through darkness swiftly
sailing:
Say, do You hear the curlew cry.
And the -nipe in the nighttime hoarsely
wa ling!
Doyou watch the wandering kinds in the morn;
Do you hear the grouse-cock crow i'll the
heather;
Do you see the lark spring up from the corn,
All in the radiant summer weather.
o Mudal stream. how little you know
That Meenie has loved you, and loves you
And while to your ocean home you flow.
She says sood-by to her well-loved river!
o see you her now-she is coming anigh-
And the flower in her hand her aim diseoses;
Laugh, Mudal, your thanks as your hurrying
For she filings you rose in the month of
roses
Well, that was written as long ago rs last
midsummer: and was Meenie still as far
away from him as then, and as ignorant as
ever of his mute worship of her, and of
these verses that he had written about herr
But he INDUCED in no day-dreams. Nee
ME was as near to him as he had any right
to expect giving him of an assured and
constant friendship; and as for these pass
ing rhymes, well he tried to make them
as worthy of her as he could, though he
knew she should never see them polish
ing them in so far as they might be said
to have any polish at all, in honor of her;
and, what is more to the point, at once
cutting out and destroying any OF them
that seemed to SAVIOR either of atlectation
or echo. No; the rude rhymes should at
least be honest, and of his own invention
and method; limitations he could not,
even in fancy, lay at Meen,es feet. And
sometimes, it is true, IL wild Imagination
would get hold of him ; Il whimsical thing
that he laughed at: suproslng that life
the actual real life here at Inver- Mudal-
were suddenly to become a play, a poem
a romantic tale, and that Meenie was to
fall in love with him, and he to grow rich
all at once, and the Stuarts of Glengask to
be quite complaisant, why then, would it
not be a line thing to bring all this colec-
ton of verses TO Meenie and say, There,
now, it is not much, but it shows you |
have been thinking of you all through
these years"Y Yes, ii would be a very tine
thing-in Il romance. But rs has been
said, he was one not giYen 60 day dreams,
and he accepted the facts of life with much
equanimity and when he had written
some lines about Meenie that he regarded
with little affection, as suggesting, let us
say, something of the glamour of her clear
Highland eyes, and the rose sweetness of
her nature, and the kindness of her heart,
and when 1t seemed rather pity that she
should never see them-if only as a tribute
to her gentleness offered by perfectly I'M
biased spectator-he quickly reminded
himself that it was not his business to
write verses, but TO trap foxes and train
dogs and shoot hodiecrows. He was not
vain of his rhyInes-eXcept where Meenie &
name came in. Besides, he was very
busy person at most seasons OF the year
and men, women and children alike
showed considerable fOndneSS for him
so that his life was full of sympathes and
interests and altogether he can not be re-
garded, nor did he regard himself, as d
broken-hearted or blighted being. His
temperament was essentially Joyous and
healthy; the passing moment was enough
nothing pleased him so much as to have q
grouse, or II hare, or ptarlnigan, or d
startled mind, appear within sure and easy
range, and to say: Well, go on. Take
your life with you. Rather pleasant day
this why shouldn't you enjoy it as wei
as ?'
However, on this clustering day anC
brilliant morning he had not come all the
way up hlther merely to get 4
brace of hares for Mrs. Murray, nor vet tC
bea distant spectator of the salmon. fishing
going on far below. Under this big rocl
there was II considerable cavity, and righ
at the back of that he had wedged in &
wooden box lined with tin, and fitted
with lid and lock. 1t was useful il
the autumn; he generally kept in it a bot
tie of whiskey and few bottles of soda
water, lest any of the gentleman should
find themselves thirsty on the way HON,
from the stalking, But on this occasion
when ne got out the key and unlocked the
little chest, it was not any refreshment a
this kind he was after. lie took out
copy-book-a cheap, paper covered thing
such as Is used in Juvenile schools IL
Scotland-and turned to the first page
which was scrawled over with pencillet
time of rain, for there were plenty o
smudges there. 1t had become habit o
his that, when in these lonely ramhle