Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-19

hills" have within two or three centuries
come under the general appellation of "the
Brownies" These are possessed of every
good and evil characteristic, qualification
and power occasion may require In their
elhsh relations with men. They are vari-
ously known also as "those restless folk, !"
"men of peace" and 'guid neibor." The
name "fairy' and "elf," though certainly
sweet in sound, is extremely distasteful to
the authority of rhyme one of their num-
ber is said to have provided for settling the
matter:
Gin ye ca me imp or elf,
l rede ye look weel to yourself;
Gin ye ca me fairy,
IN work ye muckle tarrie (trouble),
Gin guild neibor ye ca me,
Then guild neibor / will be;
But gin ye ca me seelie ewicht(merryman),
I'll be your freend bath day and NIGHT!
But "brownies" they remain, despite
these express commands. This term is
generic and covers all sprites and fairy
powers of good or i'll. Still they eeem in
the popular mind to comprise several di-
visions There is certainly an intermediate
class of spirits residing in the air to whose
agency floods, storms and tempests are as
cribed by the Scottish lowly, though they
possess no distinctive title. Then there are
the water-bulls and horses of the North, of
the lochs and streams, as stoutly believed in
by the peasantry who now live beside them
as they were centuries ago. And the
brownies, as body, seem to be divided
into those whose engagements are of gen.
eral nature, and those whose duties are
strictly confined to affairs of the house
hold.
Part the ELS Played in Building.
Those nameless elfs and spirits of the air
which control the vargaries of Scottish
weather have much to attend to and ae-
count for. They are not only constantly
employed in dispensing togs, mists and
tempests but unless their wishes have been
invoked and directions duly followed, all
structures, especially churches and dwell
ings, are liable to destruction. 1t was not
SO very long ago that the sites of many his
toric structures in Scotland had their origin
in this sort of interference. Work upon
the ancient church of Old Deer, in Aber-
deenshire, was constantly interfered with by
the "restless folk" until its site was
changed from the hill of Bissau to Taptil-
lery, at the express command of sthe Spirit
of the River" there.
Every time work was begun on the walls
of Mauldslie Castle in Lanarkshire, what
was completed by day was razed by the
fairies at night, until voice from the de-
bris repeating,
Big (build) the house where It should be,
Big it on Maurs Lee,
was needed, when the fairies themselves
aided in the completion of the castle. A
precisely similar action of the fairies ac-
counts for the building of the castle of
Melgund, in Forfarshire, on low ground,
veritably in bog, rather than on neigh
boring hill The castle of Cowthally, Lam
AYRSHIRE, remains where it stands to-day,
because the fairies, defying the first Somer-
Vile, who had taken it by storm, in his
efforts to destroy the old castle and build
more imposing one on a new site, actually
"dung down at NIGHT" every stone his work
men laid during the day, until the stubborn
nobleman desisted, and restored the old
castle on its original foundations of iron,
for which the fairies had some sort of
liking.
They Still Have Their Influence.
And as evidence that these wee
I personally know of the chang.
ing of seven crott-home sites in
Inverness and Ross shires during the past
four years, and one in Aberdeenshire within
a year, on account of their peasant owners
absolute belief that they have received such
elfin commands.
AS to the mermaids of the lochs, they
still exist past all dispute-at least with
their friends, the Highlanders. The rail-
ways, telegraphs and newspapers, like the
heartless poachers they are, have "sweeped"
or seined them well out of the lowland
shires. They are and were both dangerous
and benefcent personages. In olden times
they were not above giving recipes for
brashes, ringworm and other common all
ments. To-day they have all retreated to
the shadowy Highland lochs, where they
find comfortable fiat stones to sit upon, and
there, while combing their masses of long
yellow hair, sing in plaintive tones much
that is i'll or good to be heard. know one
canny auld wife of Northern Perthshire
who gets along very comfortably through
her confidential relations with a mermaid
that at present passes the summer season at
Loch Ranoch.
The Brownie of the Household.
But the genuine household 'brownie" is
the most loving and lovable of all Scottish
elfs. He is never idle in all good Office to
the Iowly home of the countryside, where
you may never fail Of finding him, if you do
not enter his realm in the spirit of cavil
and scofing. There in each simple home
and heart he sits enthroned with every
of benevolence and affection. He
not only works with giant might to assist
in blowing the land, harvesting the crops,
guarding the grain and minding the herds,
but in every little household drudgery of
guidwife and bairn he lends q helping
hand.
No i'll can come but that he has Tended its
cruelest touch. No sorrow can fall upon
the household whose hurt would not be
deadlier were it not for his kindly and
palliative powers. And in all the stern
though glorious old land O. cakes, his
benefcent influence adds zest to every
peasant Joy. They are not useless folk,
these. If we could only get more of them,
with those who own and love them well,
through the New York Barge Office, there
would be fewer red flags to worry about in |
our own fair land.
EDGAR i. WAKEMAN,