The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-10-26

away, al lut lOdN-AtstNt VI q loAiE
Z pair of stairs, huge wagOnette,
already FLIED with People This was the
Stra;hglass coach" so MY companion said.
Two seats were reser we'd beside the driver.
These We scrambled into, and before the
tram had steamed out of the station our
coach was rolling heavily away toward q
region of silence eternal For when the
Strathglass coach finally stops, some 50 or
lo miles west OF Beauty. in every direc-
ton save that from whence it came, is
land that has never known a road or a
wheeled vehicle. Once under the old clan
system it was peopled with a grand and
noble race. From clearance after clearance
and eviction after eviction it is now more
lone and silent than when skin-clad helots
hudded in its StrathS and glenS and savage
pagan rites were celebrated within its olden
stone circles and clachans. To-day its very
fu0t-paths and bridle-pathS are given over
IL the game-keeper. the gillle and the red
deer. Perhaps hundred graye-faced crofters
may occupy every hundred square miles Of
land. Landlordism has eXterminated the
-laudest portion of the Scottish people
throughout the entire north of Scot
land precisely as, with famine and Balfour-
Ism. il Is gradually but surely numbering an
entire race in Ireland. The Green Isle is
range for London butchers, and Inc Scottish
Highland, from the Gramp!ans TO the
ocean rim around the whole north OF Scot
land and to the outer cliffs Of the Western
Isle. is already simply vast game pre- serve
Tor London SpOTtSmen. But Gods sunlight
never shOne on so romanticaily beautiful
land: and the inexpresSible pathos OF II all
msts your eyes as they look in vain for the
homes where a whole race has been pun
uered of its heritage.
fa-fr ofat,1 n
pie who,
DESPITE ALL INJUSTICE AND LOSS.
still cling to the mountain eeries which gave
them birth, our cOach-lOad was completely
typical One huge, grave fellow was a
blacks mith who leased little forge far up
the strath, where he still starved along, now
and then getting driblet of work in Shoeing
the horses kept at the gentry's hunting
lodges Another man held few acres of
land and a dreary old inn at the edge of the
Strath, were occasionally gIllies loitered and
dropped few pence, or at odd Intervals,
lords and ladies, from freak or accident OF re-
qulring shelter, flung few pounds into his
groyelng hands. Three were crofterS pure
and simple with Tam O. Shanter hats, buShy
boards, hollow cheeks, bloOdless faces, and
deep-sPt blue eyes that seemed ever set upon
some far object, as If intently endeayGrlDg
TO solve the riddle of their lives of endless
want aud wretchedneSs. There were two
women. One WIS a eotter's wife, miSer-
ably clad, with an ailng child which had
been taken a score Of miles to Beauty that
physician might see il, as no doctor lived in
all his vast region from sea to sea. The
other was a scraggy old guldwlfe, travel
worn, but brayely making her way back to
some Highland croft, with few pounds in
her pocket from among the herrlng-curing
crews at Wick or LerWick in Shetland.
What she had earned would keep the thatch
over her famlly's heads another year. An
ether, a man, sleek and well-fed. was from
Lord TweedmOuth's great pOlled Angus
stock farm and lodge. far up the
strath: and stll another was strath
merchant who dealt in "sweeteS "
and neal in a little hut by Fasnakyle
Bridge. Then there was the driver, earnest
and awful, because intrusted with her
MajeSEy's mall-pNuches; myself next to him
on the box. ard, to complete the party,
my c0mpanion, Free Church minister to the
tiny fold in Grand Strathglass and resident
in the Free Church manse, by Fasnakyle.
And how [ came to be a guest OF this man
who. capable of filling New \ OTk pu pit, Is
passing a devoted and SdcTllcldl HE among
tie lowly of these tempeSt-ridden noun
tains. has a spice of humor in it worth the
telling. He had been cycling in Norway,
ana. returning to Scotland, came to the same
little hotel which housed me in Edinburgh.
With like Sympathies and lOngingS to know
all strangers can tell each other, we had
tUmbled into an acquaintance and mutual
liking at breakfast; were IN my own room
directly, feastiGg on pile of several hun
bred delicious old volumes had dug out Of
the secondhand shops of Edinburgh; and
While thus gosthering at each other in a glo-
nous way we were suddenly overtaken by a
little romance.
Bursting into the room in great state OF
trepiditiOn our kindly landlady OF
ST. ANDREWS,
Mrs. Steele. breathlessly stated in the rich
Il N1HrNa Al
npr and 4 wedding Itself were in the process
of spelling for the want Of "meenister."
They had come all the way from Alloa,
poor souls, with kith and kin, and their par
son had missed the ferry, and everything
and everyb, dy would be ruined if my frieni
"dinna COON ava doom the coffee-room an
join the puir bodies directly"
No; my friend was obdurate. 1t was
his vacation. Besides, how did he know
they were fright in their lines" But
the brisk iandlady had him there. She
had been SchOul-teacher; had already
examined their - lines herself; and the
pair were entitled to succor on that score.
No. again; because he had been cycling,
was IN grays and knickerbUckers, to
boot; and who ever heard of a clergyman
the regulation black? But l had him
there; and soon saw him clapped inside a
black evening suit of my own. But oh,
Scotch perversityl he had no white collar
and chnker. Then | cornered him again
this time with a Yankee paper collar and
now sure of victory, for unier these con-
djti0ns we got him to the landing below.
Here he baked completely. On how
slight a thread hung the fate Of this
wretrhed couple theni He had not the
form OF service with him, and proceeding
without it was utterly out Of the question.
Bless those secondhand books, this time
they were the recourse. / babe the land
lady hold the man of prayer, and with WIS.,
ions of loss and the aroma of Il scorching
dinner prompting, she held him like wise.
in moment more | had bounded to my
room, with emotions Of defeat hope, vic
tory, had swept my eyes along the mil
deNed covers OF my secondhand books, and
finally bounced with exultant delight upon
little brown volume OF 1886, AMBER
sons Minister'S Directory" Bounding
back to our captured meenister,"
placed this in bis hands, opened at page
II, and before he could offer further protest
that vigorous Scotch laBdlady and myself
had him in front of the biushing bride and
bridegroom, perspiring through an Estab-
lishcd Church form of marriage ceremony
and in 10 minutes time Isabella Mccarthy
Cameron and Charles Macdonald, burgh
aud parish of Alloa, shire OF Clackman-
nan, Kingdom of Scotland, were made
name down with boldness and flourish
as one of the witnesses; the S. rosy cheekit
Alloa girls accompanying the pair had hus-
tied the bride until the window paues rat
tied, for the one first rubbing her left Shout
der will first be married; with laughter and
jest ana many a sally at tho captured parson,
we all partook of the wedding dinner. done
10 turn, and all the more gtaciously served
as the landlady got two prices for
AT LEAST TWO PLATES OF IT.
My friend surely got sovereign for his
enforced clerical labors; and /, with the
good fortune ever favoring those who rescue
love-lorn folk from plight and distress, was,
In turn, perforce made to come to the gori-
Gus North with my home in a sweet old
Inanse where | could see, for so long as my
fancy willed, life as it truly is in the very
heart of the TemOtest Highlands of Sent