The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1935-02-01
for there are not so many pure HE
landmen nowadays in the glen.

IauOIueu nowadays IN the gen.
My mans and kirk are, isolated on
n side Of the burn, but on the otner
side, so close that I can. keep q v1g1ant
eye on them, are the Five Houses IN q
Row, which the English say Incorrectly
but with nj evil design contain all n
congregation I can depend upon for a
wet day, On the contrary there Is a
hantle of small farms in the glen, r
bye shepherds sheilings and bothies,
and an occasional roadside Digging OF
clay and divot in which may be both
man and beast; truly, when I chap l
seldom know which will come to n
door. T.;
The English, who make use OF many
old words that even our Highlandnlen
have forgotten, call the Five Houses
the "clachan." They are one story
houses, whitewashed and thached, and
if no to miss any diversion that may
be passing by. A coarse grass grows on
the road in lines as straight as potato
drills, and carriage folk who do not
keep the ruts are shaken most terrible.
One Of the English told me that his
machine sometimes threw him so high
in that air that when he was up there
he saw small lochs hitherto unknown
to man, and stopped his horse II
fished them. The English, however, who
have many virtues though not OF a
very solid kind, are great exaggerators.
The carriage folk, except when she
lets what is Familiarity called the Gand
House Of the English, consist of Mist
ress Lindinnock alone, who is called
(but never to her face) the Old Lady.
She has two spirited ponies, but not so
spirited as herself. She goes to Edin-
burgh while the Grand House is let,
and excepting myself Con account of my
o~ffice), is the chief person in the glen.
She has been a fine friend to me,
but I have sometimes to admonish her
for a little coarseness in her language.
I grieve to say that this lady of many
commendable parts plays cards, and I
ono saw her at it. Her adversary was
a travelling matchmaker, one of those
who traverse the whole land carrying
a wooden box of watches or his back,
with a dozen more ticking in his many
waistcoat pockets. They were playing
for high sums, too. the old lady sitting
inside one of her windows and the man,
body outside it, O a stool. I think
this is done to preserve the difference
in rank, but when I denounced her for
it she said the object was to make
| all right for her future, as the players
| being on different sides of the window
took away the curse.
The English, of course, have depart
| ed long since, and will not be seen
again till next years shooting time
comes round. On the day they left
they came up to the manse to remind
the diary, and when I protested that I
did not even Know how to begin, they
| said in their audacious way, "You could
begin by writing about us. IT have
taken them at their word, though they
little understand that I may have been
making a quiet study Of them while
they thought I was the divert.
AS I say, I have found them to be
very pleasant persons, so long as you
make allowances for them that n
could not be expected to make for his
own people. The bright array of their
kits is a pretty bit of color to lis.
the trousered people of the glen. They
have a happy way of skimming life that
has a sort of attraction for deeper but
undoubtedly slower natures. The way
they riot with their pockets is beyond
words; I am credibly Informed by Posty
that they even have worms sent to
them by post in tins. They are easy
to exploit for gain, as Posty was quick
to see, and many a glass of - has
he, to my grief for I am a totaller), got
from them by referring to himself as
"she." I have written hat with a dash
because, now I come to think of 1t
! I have never heard it spoken by the
! glen folk. One might say that it is thus
pronounced by them.
They invite you to partake, and you
are dull in the uptake if you don't I'M.
derstand of what you are being asked
to partake. They make a complete
sentence by saying of a friend. HE is
one who on a market day." and leav-
ing the rest to the listeners common
| sense. Similarly they say, "He never
unless he is in company" or, H just
at a time, because he is lonelylike."