Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1888-09-29
IN BONNIE SCOTLAND.
gsd Sights In the Highlands Seen by an oo'
serving Lady Writer.


Rut the cottages which to the right |
Of our road struggled down to rocky
stream below had no redeeming white
wash, no vines about their doors. Inc
turf around them was worn away.
Some were chimneyless; on others the
thatch, where weeds did not hold IL
together, had broken through, leaving
great holes in the roof. On bench
tilted up against the walls 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 Il
picturesque place, and we camped out
while underan old cart near the road
side. Perhaps it would have been
wise if, like Mr.. Hamerton, we could
have seen only the picturesqueness OF
the HIGHLAND cIachan 6nty Rn,y ihdi dni9 eoff55c IRE
fine women that live within them But
how could we sit there and not sec
that the picturesqueness was that OF
misery, that whatever color and sub
Unity there might be = and to the
sublimity must confess we were blind
were but outward signs OF poverty
and squalor, and that the huts sheltered
not only strong young women pu'
feeble old men like that pathetic figure
with the claspcd hands and BEN
head? We have seen the Ole
age OF the poor when we though
it but a peaceful rest altel
the work of years. In English aims
houses we have found it in our hearts
to envy the old men and women thei
homes. But here despair and sadness
} seemed the portion OF old age, | d'
not know why it was, but as we watches
: that gray haired man, though ther
G was a space of blue sky just above him
$ and the day was warm and the al
II sweet, it was of tho winter he made u
+ think, of the time soon to come whe
r the cold winds would roar through tn
pass. and snow would lie on the hills
c and he would shiver alone in the chin
y ncyless cottage with its one tiny vii
e dow. A few miles away, men IN
2, fortnight throw away on their fishln
T. more than these people can make
:" wears. Scotch landlords rent the
I'd wild uncultivatcd acres for fabuIoI
X sums, while villages like this gro
d dcsolate. If when you are in the Hlg
nc lands you would still sec them as the
Id are in the romance Of Scott or In u
1t. sickly sentiment of Landseer, or as
10 mere pleasure ground for tourists al
M. sportsmen, YOU must get the people o
of your mind, just as the laird &c
'rt them off his estate. Go everywhel
SC, by stage and steamboat, and VIII
~, Won come to a clachan or to a lone
,te cottage, shut your eyes and pass
lis Else you must realize as we did-a
ap, more strongly as we went further
nr. that this land, which holiday-mak'
lcy have come to look upon as their o"
the is the saddest on Gods earth.
op' After Kilchrenan the road cross
ate the moorland, Ben-Cruachan towerl
far to our right. We came to anotl
the wretched village down by Loeb Ell
ine Here again in the sunshine was an
,sr MN man. He was walking slowly Il
son fccbly up and down, and there v
Who a look in his face as if hope had lc
sea gone from him. In England scarce
mS ncs town or village is without its chi
the ties. But in the Highlands, wi
or deer and grouse are protected by Ii
use men are chased from their homes,
ora, aged and inirm are left to shift
-eed themselves. | think the misery
for these villages is made to seem but
Cni' greater because of the large ho
", which so often stands close bt.-l
Mr. PcnncH, IN Harper'S Magazine.