The times., 1899-09-03
SCOTCH COUNTRY HOUSES.
There Hospitality Ia Both Novel and
Interesting.


cross the border a new face greets you, a
new speech, strange gait, a mixture OF
slowness and shrewdness. The Scotch ae-
centuate their differences and are proud
of them. The scenery, tco, alters, writes
Lady Violet Greyille in the London Tele-
graph" In early August the hay still lies
in the fields, the crops flourish uncut, the
flower beds glow in a bravery of roses,
pinks, and mignonette, while peas, straw
berTi S, cur; a -ts and r sps as t Iud wife
calls them, rejoice the eye in the kitchen
garden. As you drive from the station cat
tie browse knee-deep in rich meadows be-
side you, thistles, heather, wild mustard,
foXglove, harebells, meadowswest, tall
grasses, and ferns deck the roadside, below
you murmurs the clear, brown trout
stream, and above you rise violet hills,
where the soft mist fingers The air feels
fresh and crisp; it is invigorating, unlike
the hot atmosphere of the town.
The Scotch welcome is hearty and hospi-
table. Your host looks, and is, really glad
TO see you. His board groans under right
good things-butter. honey Scotch mutton.
yenison, grouse, and scones that the south
ron has appropriated TO his use, yet which
are never equal in flavor and succulence
when eaten out of the own country Your
panse of wood and the distant hills. There
IS freedom in the vista, and freedom in the
house from city conventions. Men rise ear
| ly and wear knickerbockers kits, stout
boots or brogues. A smell of goatskin from
the sporrans pervades the breakfast room,
mingled with the odors of coffee and por-
ridge; girls are bright and active dressed
simply in their homespuns and cotton
skirts. Fly rods and guns litter the hall
and back premises, keepers and gillies hang
about the yard; in the distance the peat
smoke rises, curling into pale blue rings.
and the skrl of the bagpipeS falls pleasantly
on the ear. Bustle peryades the house until
| the sportsmeen have departed; then comes
iulI while the ladies decide on their va
| rious avocations. Women are athletic now,
| they refuse to be left at home with the pro-
| visions and the babies. Some girls go out
| fishing for the day, with shortened petit
coats and alluring little Tam oShanter
, caps on their heads; others join the male
members of the party at lunch. and walk
on for hours across the heather; others
again shoulder a gun themselves. while
more timid spirits prefer to sketch or read
| beside the river.
The mistress of the house is never ex-
pected to entertain her guests. neither in
the shooting lodges. which are of elastic
yet eXiguous proportions nor in the cas-
] ties, where society is more conventional.
There are ponies to ride, carriages to drive
| in, the pleasant tea picnic for ALL which
plays a great part in Scotch country
| houses To begin with. it is more OF a
| meal than in England; one is hungry just
returning from long tramp over the
moors, or one eats it on the heather under
a crag. having boiled the kettle and but
tered the scenes oneself 1t requires art
| to be a good tea brewer under thsse cir
| cumstances. Not everyone can make a
| fire burn out of doors. Some people have
! a happy knack of succeeding where others
| fail miserably. II is often the mere i'm
pertinent sense of victory that carries off
the palm. While life is thus passed out
of doors. under rough and healthy condi-
| tons climate ceases to be the tyrannical
factor il is in towns. A few drops of rain,
| which spoil a new top-hat and take the
| freshness from Parisenne toilette fall
| harmless on Harris tweeds and cloth caps.
! The mist. which England people call rain.
freshens up faded complexions and gives
a peculiar brilliancy to the skin. No one
| catches q cold on a moor, even though
peticoats are wet and boots drenched. One
enjoys a happy immunity from chill and
clothes must be changed when one returns
| at evening.
In the shooting lodge evening toilette is
! not de rigeur. Smoking suits are pre-
ferred, teagowns, and pretty demi-toiettes
| suit the weary sportsmen and women,
whose adage is early to bed And the sleep
is pure and wholesome. No dreams follow
simple dinner, temperate drinking. and a
maximum Of pure mountain air imbibed
during the arduous climb. Muscles
strengthen, limbs feel young again, nerves
grow like iron. The man who studies his
health will prefer a Scotch moor to any
foreign baths (where society initiates a lit
tie season of its own, vague copy of the
one just concluded1, even TO a yacht or a
seaside resort, for in Scotland everyone
takes exercise, and il is exercise under IA :
vorable conditions that restores tone TO the
jaded system.
The elderly man who cannot walk as he
used in the days gone by may ride pony,
one of those stout canny beasts that carry
deer, do not tire and will not fall, even on
mountain side, with tufts of heather and
boggy places impeding his progress; the
more placid angler may ply his rod in
stead of the gun, and spend long, quiet
hours with the salmon, rocked into dreamy
enjoyment by the rush of water and the
buzz of the insects in the warm air. Gar
dens, too, are a pleasure.
Every Scotch lady loves her garden. It i
from her that her English sister copied the
practice of growing a herbaceous border in
the kitchen garden, and rendering ii a spot
of delight on a summers day Creepers
suckle. the jessamine, the tropaeolum, rho
dodendrons, pines OF all kinds, Towering
shrubs flourish under damp conditions and
the graceful birch and clustering mountain
ash add variety and beauty TO the shrub
berry. Scotch gardeners are always famous
perhaps because their perseverance. theil
energy, and their resourcafulness are Sc
taxed by the capricious climate. An exact.
ing woman makes an unselhsh husband
and a bad climate makes a careful gar.
dener. All the big noblemen's seats il
Scotland are famous for their gardens, thei
conservatories, and their forced fruit. II
the same way. the Scotch dairymaid hold
her own. She still milks her patient cowt
and takes a pardonabie pride in her butter
Though the noble lassie is well educated
and ambitious. she sticks TO her work ant
| does well, as becomes a descendant OF he
shrewd and homely forbears.
The dogs that pervade Scotch houses ar
a race by themselves. Besides the upiver
sal collie, now so inaDpropriately chosel
: for the pet of a fine London lady's bou
I doir. nearly every place has its own spe
E cialty in dogs. There are the Black Noun
; deerhounds the Skye terriers the Dandi
Dinmont, the haired terrier. the Low
land sheepdog different as much as pos
sible from the Highland), the rough collie
/ and innumerable other varieties. Ever
home owns its dog. and faithful guardian
E they are playing with the children, keep
/, ing watch over them. driving the sheep
i following the deer. and sometimes carrying
: On a little private raid of their own in tn
e rabbit-swarming coyerts, for muzZles ar
e at present unknown in their happy land
Vegetable Lore.
Our bodies require certain amount o
: mineral matter, or nourishing salts, 70
| health Chalk iron, phosphorus, natron
!, are ALI needed and they are found in th