The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-08-24
Special to THE SUNDAY CALL

special 10 IHE SUNDAY CALL-
Ts5CCLEFECHAN Scotland, July %,
" ls9O.-Lying between Eskdale on the
k@@17 east and Nithsdale on the west is the
sweet and pastoral Annandale, though not
among the most noted, yet one of the most
lovely valleys of the Scottish border. To
the leisurely and sentimental pilgrim larry
ing among its pleasing scenes, it appeals
with goodly fascination. 1t is but tiny
vale, thirty miles long, the River Amman,
from which it takes its name, having its
source in the Hartfell Mountains, and
winding with gentle flow through and
between Characteristic Scottish villages,
its banks dotted with humble crofts,
larger farmsteads, and all the lang syne
features Of countryside Scottish homes.
Though the little valley Is accorded no
special fame among the Scottish people
themselves, and is scarcely ever visited by
tourists, to me 1t seems that IN lew par
tculars it possesses extraordinary interest
Within the distance OF one days tramp
across five parishes, through which winds
the gentle Amman, can be seen one OF the
most ancient, and certainly one of the most
historic, castle ruins in Scotland, the first
home in Scotland of Robert the Bruce, at
Lochmaben; the birthplace, at Amman, of
the greatest and most unfortunate OF all
Scottish preachers. Edward Irving; the
wonderful phenomena, the tides OF Solway
Firth, which are perhaps better observed
from the great Amman viaduct connecting
England with Scotland than at any other
spot along the Solway shores; and the BIRTH
place and burial-place of the one phlloSO-
pier, essayist and critic who has I'M
dOuetedlY left deeper impression upon in
telltCtUal minds in Great Britain and
America than any other individual WHIP
ever adorned and perpleXed this country
grabbed, crafty, mighty and glorious old
Thomas Carlyle.
At about the center of Annandale in the
parish Of Lochmaben, are eight curious lit
tie lakes, shallow and with sedgy shores.
In these are found the yendace fishes from
five to six inches in length, nowhere else
dlscOverable in Great Britain, of brilliant
silveTy appearance, and IN anatomy and tia-
vor much resembling those famous Amer
lean ciscoeS which in June attract such
hosts OF anglers 10 the shores of Lake
Geneva in Wisconsin. They are the most
delicate fish known to the British gour-
maud. Their heads are extraordinarily
marked in puce-colored transparent sub
stance, with the perfectly defined
FIGURE OF A HEART,
Through which. when freshly caught, the
brain may be seen. Along the haughS and
mOsS-bankS Of the lOchs the deadly adder
lurk and the peasantry Will tell you that
these dreadful reptiles are kept down by
their implacable foes, the herons, which are
certainly continually seen lodging in and
out among, and lowering oyer the surround
ing reeds and MOSES. About mile from
the ancient burgh town of Lochmaben, on
tOngue-shaped peninsula which extends in
to the lake called the Castle-loch, are found
the ruins of the Grandest for tresS the Bor-
der ever knew. Whether or not it was the
original residence OF the Bruees, granted by
David l. in 1924 or an enlarged successor
built in the thirteenth century, il covered
sixteen acres of ground, and is known
to have beeE absolutely Impregnable
before the invention OF gunpoW-
DEF. II was a stupendous and magnificent
pile, and the care ana perfection with
which it was built are attested in the i'm
mense walls still traeeable, and in the fact
that though its masonry has been exposed
10 the clements for 600 years, one Will to-
day as often break the stone itself as sepa-
rate by strokes of sledge-h2mmer tile
stone and mortar with which the walls
were constructed. 1t seems unfortunate
that so noble a ruin could not have been
given better care and preservation. one
half OF the structures OF Lochmapen Ourgh
have been built from the material IN the
majestic stone-pile. COw-hOuSeS and byTe-
walls for a half dozen miles in every
direction disclose the source from which
their material was ravaged by pro-
truding molding, splendid ashlar Work or
grinning gargoyles; it is said that citizen
OF Lochmaben burgh warns his shlns at the
identical pair of jambS which once rested
on the paternal hearth Of Bruce, and the
old key to the outer gate OF the majestic
nile in which had been nurtured the proud
est line of Scottish patriot kings, on being
discovered a half century since by the
leaden-headed binds of the district, was
regarded as such an antiquarian prize, as 1t
weighed several pounds, that II was at
once turned over to the LochmaDen black-
smith for conversion into pair OF utllI-
tartan turf-spades.
The prim and ancient town OF Amman, at
the side of the Solway where the, Amman
water flows into that estuary, is burgh OF
quaint, old granite homes, inhabited by
Quaint, old granite Scotch folk, rich, con-
tented, indolent Great square houses,
great, square doors, great, square windows,
with great, square faces IN them. tell the
story Of olden thrift, and old border PROV
ess. with now and then quiet era OF as
profitable smuggling, whose headquarters
were n the sheltering port. Somehow the
broad, cool, shaded, silent streets and de-
serted wharf-sides recall Salem town, on
our New England coast, and IT'S mayor OIL
romance when the old shippers sailed home
with their wondTOus riches and curlosltles,
nat always peacefully got in the Indies,
East and West; and the Annanites Will
match Salem's
GALLONS HILL
With its old castle site and its dark deeds
Of'YalOr and blood in place OF Salem's Gus
tom House and the desk where the gentle
Hawthorne toiled, they will bring you to
the old Academy, now stately residence,
where Carlyle once was schooled, and where
he was afterwards its master in mathemat-
les; and for Salem's memories of Mather
they Will recall for you the wonderful ca
reer of that inspired and holy man, Edward
Irving, whom, for living too closely to his
divine Model, the stern old Presbytery de-
graded from holy orders; and then they
Will take you to the little house in Butt
street, Fish Cross, where he was born. and
over whose door the simple inscription, AT
this house Edward irving was born 4 Au-
gust, 1892 He left neither an Enemy nor A
Wrong Behind him. Will remain through
time, Frightening epitome Of endless
fame, while those who broke his sanity life
and heart will molder in forgotten graves.
Leading from Amman to the English side
of the SOlway is a vast railway yiaduct one
and half miles in length. One cannot re-
sist the temptation to cross this into rock
grit Cumberland; for at its southern APP
proach is one of the oldest little villages
along the whole English border This is
Bowness. 1t consists Of one long, compactly
built street, perched up there above the
wild SOlway tides like an eagles nest Sc
curely hung upon some erag-edSe, OUTPUT
ting above a sea-swept preclpice. nat
brave old houses have these Bowness t0lk;
every one solid as n castle. Like the Loeb
maben people who transformed the mighty
castle OF the Bruces into matter-of-fact haD-
itations and impregnable cOw-sheds, the IN
habitants Of BOwnesS secuted the further
utility Of ancient Roman walls, and as the
it was in good time transformed into huge
walled houses, with here and there In their
hard facades weird old Roman altar, by
way Of unconscious history and grim, as
sertive witness of primitive iconoclasm.
e These men of the Cumberland border are
fishermen and Statesmen" The latter
term applies, in the two northwest counties
OF England, WestmOrland and Cumberland,
to those who farm their own land, If it does
not exceed a half acre in area; and lands
dpeppn6n6 ppDturlPs
families Some are both statesmen" and
fishermen; and all are descended from CEN
turie5-old line of men who could equally
well turn their hands to the pillow, to
smuggling, 10 the temporary bloody trade
of moss-tToopers. or to the nets. And it was
not so very long ago that salmon were so
plentiful 10 the Solway that servants eDgag-
ing to masters on the English or Scottish
side of the firth stipulated that salmon or
other fish should not be given them oftener