The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-12

sweet and cool and winsome. AT that time
II you are abroad alone the silent churches.
the huge auberges, the tremendous ram
parts, the vast archways, the dim porticoes
and the shadowy balconies seem to whisper
anew their tales Of romance old, their mys-
tertes Of chivalrous and knightly days.
but soon from this patio, from that mar
row thoroughfare. another silent archway,
from huge barred doors that open and close
with startling click, come funeral forms
clad In somber black They glide along
with bowed heads. Their advent has been
80 sudden, and their number is at once so
great that you are filed with surprise
and dismay. But these do not remain.
For a soft and delicate hand, as If by &C
cident, with a swift motion changes the
folds of the fdIdettd, and the pretty faces
OF 500 Maltese maids and matrons are one
by one turned roguishly or kindly to yours.
Then you realize that the faithful fair of
Valletta are on their way to early mass,
and you stand there, hat Ia hand, yourself
a reverent worshiper, mentally blessing
one and all for their piety and pretty
gracious ways.
In the vast geography and panorama Of
travel certain places and objects take on
special duplication and significance. At
least this Is true in my own experience as a
Wanderer. never see in any port little,
squatty, high-pooped brig with its two,
tiny, square-rIgged masts, but my mind in
stantly reverts to Barcelona and the sunny
harbors Of the Riviera. A basket Of eggs
in a grOcer's window no longer recalls the
boyhood farm days but a certain barren
ledge upon the western sea wall Of Fitful
Head. where beneath the deafening screams
Of sea-fowl / saw not thousands
but millions Of sea-fowl eggs. The
falntest odor OF sugar or syrup
brings back the screechinR of ships
wenches as oceans of muTky sweets are be-
ing slowed in holds in the harbor of Havana.
An emigrant Russian Jew In his quaint
patriarchal habit, flashes back upon my
mind the dumb suffering OF these folk In
Craoow. ANY muffied Italian shivering
over his charcoal stove and tray of chest
nuts watts to my Imagination the odor Of
the steRming polenta, or brings again to
sight the fair chestnut groves of Lombardy
and Tuscany; and so on through an indefi-
mite reach Of suggestive seeming and asso-
citation.
But the most dreamful, mystic, almost
pathetic suggsstiveness always comes with
picture or sight Of the palm tree. Cuba,
Spain. Majorica, Malta, Morocco, Algeria
always return with emblem Of dolorUus
isolation and inexpressible loneliness 1t
hints of the camel, the Bedouin, the desert.
In art, in story, in fact, 1t ever suggests the
endless hOpelessness and impossibility of the
barriers between the races that sUbsist
upon and rest beneath TO- and those who
know and love the maple, beech aud oak.
/ wish to record a conclusion from ex-
tended observation in favor of the lowly
women OF Scotland. We have all read
much in books, and in the prints where
names are not often enough signed to sweep
ing generalizotions regarding foreign peo-
piles, to the effect that lowly women of
Scotch towns and cities are all wofullY adj
dicted to drink. l do not believe it.
They drink, but neither do all nor even any
important percentage indulge in liquor at
all. Those who do, often get "cheery,n and
no doubt they would be better Off without
IL. But l have never seen a Scotch woman,
high or low, IN or out of Scotland, even
in the most wretched wynds and closes
of Edinburgh or Glasgow, approaching
thn5 emphatic condition termed lighting
drunk
So, too, am inclined to believe that the
drinking prowess of Scotchmen has been
greatly exaggerated Scotch literature,
especially that portion giving expression TO
Scotch life and customs of a century ago,
is certainly full Of the humor aud pathos of
drunkenness. Perhaps Sootchmen were
drinkers of valor then but there is not
more moderate and we'll ordered people to-
chiefs, and, later, OF the small nobility and
country notables are no more. From the
great st. Andrew feastS down through the
countless grades of social festival and cheer
TO the simple heart-lghtenings Of the
fisher-1olk, beside the wild sea-lochs, who
were once almost savage in their thirst for
strong drink, guzzling and drunkenness are
almost unknown. "Tay"-and oceans OF
this-''the cup that cheer but not inebri-
atauN hoc alp1Oak universally niErlaOnd tho
fry 1Lsquebdugh Of old.
Il a fondness for liquor fingers in Scot
land as a class popularity, it still holds
among those children of the mist" those
impetuous, canny, though ever winsome
Higblanders Of the north. In my wander
ings among them l have found one curious
characteristic. They are born religious dis
putants. Warm up the cookies of thelc
hearts with a drop OF peat whisky, and
they are masters Of polemics. IL is then
that they will stoutly assert that Adam
spoke Gaelic, and that the Bible was origi-
nally written in Gaelic. AS a Highland
clergyman of Strathglass once told me:
lone glass makes them doctrinal en-
thusiasts; two sets them expounding every
point upon Classification Adoption and
'Sanctification in an ecstacy of argu-
mentative frenzy; and, sometimes think,
with another, they would stop on their way
into heaven and hotly engage st. Peter
himselfn
Many anecdotes are still related In the
north of Scotland concerning the drinking
habits of the HiGhlanders. One old shep-
herd of Glen Affric fell i'll and was cut
down by his physicians to an allowance Of
two ounces Of whisky per day, on pain OF
death il this should be exceeded. Wholly
ignorant Of the exact quantity, yet rnni-
nativeIy whimperlng over his misfortune,
he stealthily called his grandson to his bed
side and asked
Bobby, dye ken yer tables. nool"
GAY, grafay'r, n try me thenP
Roo mickle be two oonces, moor
"Twa oonces?-twa oonceBl Hoot Sag
teen drachms max tn oonce; sax"
"Twa times saxteen drains tn day"
shouted the sick man uproar1ously. The
Lord be praised for sio ceevil dochterp
Another Highlander had been brought to
his death-bed from exposure and hard drink
ing. His fearful family and the minister
stood by his bedside praying for some token
of repentance In his last moments. The
minister noticing q strange light in his eyes
bent over him and esgerly inquired:
SANDY, Sandy, what is the greatest
wish Of your soulP
''For a MIGHTY Loeb Lommond of
whuskyW
The minister was staggered, but almost
pitifuIly continued his entreaty with, But
what is the second? 0. mon, mon, remem-
40, az, guild meenister," gasped Sandy
family; r-another-Loch--L ommond-
o'-wbuskyl" EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.