The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1902-01-11

, tourists, but it is doubtful if the Rev. A.
riddles and his faithful assistant see or
appreciate their picturesque side. The
men OF the little island are all strong and
SCurdV, deeply religious according to their
lights and much attached to the cliffs and
barren shores of their far northern
nome. Some of them spend their lives on
inc Island or the waters which sweep
around 1t. and have no desire to 20 he
YONG the lands and seas their fathers
Knew knew. Ihey fish. and gather the sea
III. Td,o'' ana, their eggs for their livelihood
Inc eggs or the sea birds they gather. at
inc imminent risk Of their lives. from the
cle1tS OF the vast crags which rise ner-
Felulcularly from the waters hanoinp
over the face Of the crags by ropes made
largely OF hair. A youth of st. KiIda
considers himself rich if he has a rope
into which is woven hair from, tho heaa
or his best girl" All the women ~ g.
klda save their "combings'' in order
mat they may be woven into the ronea
ny Whlch their men folks" swine. from,
the ulzzy heights when they go to gathe,,
the eggs of the sea fowl
AROUND the crags of St. Kilda wheel IN
nochs OF thousands 'the fulmar hying
Iree, and these birds are cant,,reS 10
great numbers by the st. Ki1dans w.,
the sale of their feathers 2 considaro HI
pront is derived; that is, considerable tn
ne ~: hlldans, for their wants are sim
PIE ana rev, and they lay not I'D treas
ures on earth. Money cannot tennt the
81. hfida men to sell one of their rones
OF mar They are moral, temperate and
ny i ,tiustrlous'~In all respects they are mod
eis, except When 1t comes to a matter OF
religion. Then they are as. hard and
gloomy as their native crags, and as I'M
loVely as their sterile shores. PerhaDs If
is their wild and rugged SURROUNDINGS
the constant dwelling in a place whera
the natural is so wild and terrible that If
lakes on semblance Of the supernatural
that affect their minds and tincture their
religion with it's somberness and it's hard
and unbending characteristics. When
a1ter their hard, rude lives the people Of
ST. k1lda come to die, their bodies are
buried IN burying grounds as unlovely as
can be imagined. Round places on the
barren .hillsides, where an opening in the
cliffs makes a little place for a cove and
Sloping bank, are encircled by rude
stone walls, and there these people lie.
awaiting the final trump, in stern and
gloomy majesty. g
All the world will be interested to know
the outcome of the present situation in
st. kilda. 1t is such unique situation,
and so out Of gear with this age and it's
prevailing spirit, that it attracts with an
irresistible fascination. What a story the
Rev. A. Fiddes and his faithful assistant
will have to tell il ti~y survive and yield
not to those who have risen against
them; and what a tragedy the story will
be If they starve to death.
In either event the story from the pen
of some man who understands and can
touch the secret springs of action Of these
hard Scots would be one worth reading.
1t seems as if the story of the "reelee-
gious deefeeculty' in ST. Kilda ought to
be written by Ian Maclaren. He never Inn
agined, even ir his best moments a stua-
alton which had more possibilities in it
for man Of his peculiar genius than il
by the situation at St. Kilda.