The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-09-27
SAD SIGHTS IN THE SCOTTISH
HIGHLANDS.

But the cottages which to the right of
our road struggled down to a rocky
stream below had no redeeming white
wash, no vines about their doors, The
turf about them was worn away. Some
were chlmneyless: on others the thatch,
where weeds did not hold it together
had broken through, leaving great holes
IN the roof. On bench tilted up
against the wall of the lowest of these
cottages sat an old gray-haired man in
Tam o. Shanter, his head bent low, his
clasped hands falling between his knees.
1t was picturesque place, and we
camped out a while under an old cart
near the roadside. Perhaps it would
have been wise if, like Mr., Hammerton.
we could have seen only the picturesque
ness of the Highland clachan, only the
color and sublimity of the huts. only the
fine women who live within them. But
how could we sit there and not see that
the plcturesqueness was not that of mis-
cry, that whatever color and sublimity
there might be-aud to the subllmity l
must confess we were blind-were but
outward signs of poverty and sdualor,
and that the hut5 sheltered not only
strong young women, but feeble old
men like pathetic figure with the clasped
hands and bent head ? We have seen
the old age of the poor when we thought
1t but peaceful rest after the work of
years. In English almshouses we have
found it in our hearts to envy the old
men and women their homes. But here
despair and sadness seemed the portion
of old age. | do not know why it was
but as we watched that gray haired man
though there was space of blue sky
just above him, and the day was warm
and the air sweet, ir was of the winter
he made us think, of the time soon TO
come when the cold winds would roar
through the pass, and snow would lie on
the hills, and he would shiver alone in
the chimneyless cottage with its one
tiny window A few miles away, men
il q fortnight throw away on their fish
ing more than these people can make in
years.
Scotch landlords rent their wild un-
cultivated acres for fabulous sums, while
villages like this grow desolate, IL when
you are in the Highlands you would still
see them as they are in the romance Of
Scott or in the sickly sentiment of Land
seer, or as a mere pleasure-ground for
tourists and sportsmen you must get the
people out of your mind just as the laird
gets them off his estate. Go everywhere.
by. stage and steamboat, and when YOU
come to a clanchan or to a lonely cot
tage, shut your eyes and pass on. Else
you must realize as we did-and more
strongly as we went further-that this
land, which holiday-makers have come
to look upon as their own, is the saddest
on Gods earth.
After Kilchrenan the road crossed the
moorland, Ben-Cruachan towering far
to our right. We came to another
wretched village down by Loeb Etive.
Here again in the sunshine was an old
man. He was walking slowly and fee
bly, up and down, and there was in his
face a look as il hope had long gone from
him. In England scarce town or vii
lage Is without its charities. But in the
Highlands, while deer and grouse are
protected by law, men are chased from
their homes, the aged and infirm are left
TO shift for themselves. think the mis-
cry of these villages is made to seem but
The greater because of the large house
which 30 often stands so close by.-lIrs.
lennell, IN HdrperS' Mdgdzine for Sep.
'ember.