REMINISCENCES, 
 
 OR 
 
 t 
 
 A FEW GLIMPSES FROM OVER THE SEA. 
 
 BY 
 
 J-^nSTET. 
 
 1 -^^,\\. 
 
 3 $3/7^ v^ 
 
 Philadelphia: 
 
 COLLINS & CO. 
 
 1891. 
 
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 t1 [ 
 
 THE LIBRARY j 
 OF CONGRESS 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 COPYRIGHTED, l8oi, 
 
 By N, J. H. COLLINS. 
 
 Qa^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The present volume is composed mainly of a record 
 made for future personal reference and pleasure as the 
 scenes came to view— not intended for the public, 
 An after-thought led to the contribution of the Notes 
 as a serial to the columns of the Christian Instruc- 
 tor under the title " Reminiscences." The author is 
 almost surprised at her yielding to the request of 
 many friends to put them in the form of a book. The 
 journey over the sea was in company with her hus- 
 band, his brother and sister. If but a little of the 
 delight and intelligence realized by the author shall be 
 gathered by the reader, the publication shall not be 
 regretted. The Reminiscences have been to a limited 
 extent revised, and a few pages have been added. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. — Across the Ocean and into England, . . i 
 
 II. — Warwickshire — Leamington, .... 14 
 
 III. — London — Windsor, 33 
 
 IV. — Scotland — Roxboroughshire, .... 47 
 
 V. — Edinburgh, 55 
 
 VI. — Stirling — Perthshire, 94 
 
 VII. KlLLIEKRANKIE St. ANDREWS, . . . . 1 l6 
 
 VIII. — Glasgow — The Lochs, 167 
 
 IX. — Rothesay — Ben Nevis, 184 
 
 X. — Strathaven — Drumclog, 195 
 
 XI. — Martyr Land — Ayrshire, 208 
 
 XII. CUMNOCH AlRSMOSS, 220 
 
 XIII. — Dumfries and Environs, 229 
 
 XIV. — Wigtown — Farewell to Scotland, . 239 
 
 XV. — Across the Channel — Belfast, . . . 252 
 
 XVI. — Giants' Causeway — Londonderry, . . 264 
 
 XVII. — Dublin — Queenstown, 280 
 
 XVIII. — Newfoundland — Home, 291 
 
LEAVING OUR HOME. 
 
 One of the salient features of American civilization 
 is the disposition to move about over the face of the 
 earth. With resistless impelling force, citizens of this 
 country turn outward to all points of the compass for 
 education, for pleasure, for profit and for all the varie- 
 ties of stimulus that round out the humanity of our 
 existence and make it terse, available and fortified. 
 Americans are Jewish in many features. They are 
 willing to live in any place, to go anywhere, to endure 
 anything for profit first, and then for experience or 
 education, and lastly, for pleasure. They are always 
 tugging away at the problem of profit and loss. 
 
 Nerve force is very expensive, and our percentage 
 of loss in that line very often far exceeds the sum of 
 the gains in the other lines. Frequently there is an 
 alarming deficit in the nerve force before we have the 
 least conception of the drain that is accomplishing the 
 mischief. The cause of this want of balance may be 
 climatic, or it may be induced by the magnitude of the 
 country we have in control, which we are in a hurry 
 to subdue and replenish with corn and wheat and 
 counting-houses and banks and what not. Possibly it 
 is the intermingling of races cropping out that gives 
 us such versatility and revolves us so freely to all the 
 ends of the earth. Certain it is, that a great mass of 
 
2 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 us Americans, speaking at large, are always either at 
 the station ready to go some place, or packing our 
 trunks for departure, or else we have just arrived from 
 some journey, with the feeling that it is just the way to 
 make the world move. To stay at home and be satis- 
 fied and treasure our nerve force and do some calm, 
 quiet thinking is the exception. We have all this nice 
 time of staying at home in view. After awhile, it will 
 become the fashion to stay at home ; for everything 
 moves in cycles. 
 
 Our little company, with American blood and in- 
 stincts and aspirations, were ready June 22nd, to em- 
 bark beyond the seas on the " Queen," of the National 
 Line. Our preliminaries were few and simple, because 
 out of a fair investment in physical health our balance 
 had for some time been moving over to the debit side 
 of the column, and we had become largely in arrears. 
 
 We sailed out of New York harbor at six P. M. We 
 were brimful of expectancy and satisfaction with our- 
 selves and all the world besides. In a dream of years' 
 standing, it was the first tangible thing that had ap- 
 peared. The dream had had periodic, and often 
 indeed spasmodic, returns ; but it always faded as doth 
 a dream of the night. Now it was at least the dawn 
 of fruition. Just as the heavy machinery began to send 
 a delightful thrill of life through the ship, and she was 
 trembling preparatory to tossing grandly out into the 
 sea, a thunder storm burst upon us, and the rain fell in 
 torrents. The cabin passengers were not numerous, 
 but they were very intelligent and companionable, and 
 disposed to be gracious toward each other. Most of 
 us stood on deck watching the lights on shore fade into 
 
COMFORTS ON BOARD. 3 
 
 a far-off glare upon the glancing water, till the rain 
 had drenched the upper deck and was pouring through 
 the canvass in little streamlets. Quite early in the 
 evening, the passengers slipped away, one by one and 
 in groups, till all was quiet along the outer line. It is 
 not necessary to explain the reason for this early re- 
 treat, as the sea was quite rough. 
 
 The word state-room sounds well. To the uninitiated 
 it has a dignified, majestic ring, as if constructed for 
 princes and potentates; but contact enlightens one. 
 An oblong structure amid-ship seven feet by four, put- 
 ting the figures at the stretch, Egyptian darkness inside 
 except when artificially lighted, two shelves neatly fur- 
 nished for sleeping purposes, a toilet corner, and the 
 inventory is taken. One at a time was the order of 
 exercises when retiring; but we were rocked to sleep 
 before we intended it. In the morning the buoyancy 
 of the merry crowd that bade farewell to land the even- 
 ing before had effervesced, and the great majority were 
 too flat to rise. A few forlorn figures supported them- 
 selves on deck, and one here and there appeared at 
 table, with blank and solemn face gazing on vacancy, 
 terribly disgusted with the outlook; while from the 
 state-rooms came occasional ominous sounds, as if 
 there was not perfect peace behind the scenes. The 
 sea was still tumbling and tossing like an angry torrent, 
 and the infirmity of sea-sickness continued unabated 
 all day long and increased, till the victims attained the 
 limpish quality of a rag whenever the perpendicular 
 was attempted. 
 
 Another morning came and the mists began to roll 
 away, food tasted better than sawdust, and we set 
 
4 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 about thrusting aside the feeling that it was the sum 
 and substance of foolishness to undertake the voyage. 
 There was, however, a fragrance about old ocean that 
 was delightful, even when she turned tormentor and 
 scowled most of us to our couches to do penance for 
 seeking with her such close and exclusive companion- 
 ship. But in three days she smiled graciously upon 
 most of the human freight, and drew them upon the deck 
 of our gallant ship to watch the ever-changing billows 
 and meditate upon the power and majesty and good- 
 ness of God "who has measured the waters in the 
 hollow of his hand," and who "sitteth upon the circle 
 of the earth." How applicable seemed these words as 
 they flashed upon the mind: "Who hath gathered the 
 winds in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a 
 garment? who hath established all the ends of the 
 earth? what is his name and what his son's name, if 
 thou canst tell?"- The winds, the waves, and all the 
 elements are his servants and obey his commands per- 
 fectly. This was the one grand elevating thought that 
 became an ever-recurring solace as the nights darkened 
 and the days dawned upon the waste of ocean. 
 
 As the sea became smooth, we could sit with our 
 feet on the jibboom and contemplate the circle of the 
 deep, ourselves perched upon its loftiest point. The 
 passengers all reappeared on deck, having donned their 
 holiday faces and, with one consent, melted into social 
 family relations and settled down to business. The 
 ladies got out their bundles of gossip, untied them and 
 exhibited their choicest pieces, and their suavity and 
 confidential manner increased with the hours. They 
 also unrolled several varieties of knitting, some kinds 
 
THE SABBATH. 5 
 
 useful and some otherwise, and set up their stitching 
 and embroidery, as if they meant to stay awhile. The 
 whole contour of humanity on deck resembled Bar- 
 num's happy family. If any one had any clashing 
 points in her nature they did not appear. The gentle- 
 men, however, were rather objects of pity. Their 
 occupation had been left behind. They could not sell 
 goods, nor trade horses, nor operate a bank, nor pursue 
 any of the genial activities of that nature; so they just 
 wandered around and talked and disputed about the 
 little nothings that are apt to come up at such fruitful 
 times, and watched for whales and sea-serpents. 
 
 There were seven ministers on board, five of them 
 Episcopal, and on Sabbath we had an Episcopal service 
 in the morning, and after that, we four constituted our- 
 selves into a family, read our Bibles "verse about," and 
 stopped for frequent and profitable expositions of the 
 portions read. At one P. M. of this day, while w r e 
 were at luncheon, the ship gave a startling pitch, fol- 
 lowed by another and another. We sought the upper 
 deck and found we had sailed into the track of a recent 
 storm. Looking east, the ocean seemed piled against 
 the sky, and the lengthened acclivity had the appear- 
 ance of a succession of hills and valleys in desperate 
 conflict, and we seemed to be sailing up and down the 
 inclinations. Our vessel met these great swells and 
 mounted them gallantly, sometimes shipping a wave 
 that washed the upper deck, and again dipping into the 
 valley, as if we were to sink into the seething tumult 
 to rise no more. The ride was fearful, but grand and 
 sublime beyond description. At sunset the pitching 
 ceased, but a new danger appeared. We were passing 
 
REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the banks of Newfoundland, and a heavy fog prevailed, 
 suggesting the possible presence of icebergs to stimu- 
 late the interest. They are ugly things at sea, so 
 Captain Robinson told us, and that we were sailing 
 one hundred miles south to avoid contact of that kind. 
 The passengers all seemed religiously inclined, and 
 they revered the Sabbath by putting away week-day 
 pleasures and generally deporting themselves well. In 
 the evening of this Sabbath at the suggestion of one 
 of our number, we held a most interesting prayer- 
 meeting, to which all were invited. 
 
 Monday morning we were all safe and the danger 
 past. The ocean furnished a peculiar charm in the 
 great expanse of water, the ever-changing blue of sky 
 and sea, the swish and shock of the great waves as 
 they often met in combat, and in the mighty corrugated 
 swells that rolled and heaved like hills and valleys in 
 convulsions. There came also at times the exhilaration 
 and impetus of the far-off lands we had long desired 
 to see. How insignificant we felt, facing such majesty 
 and power ! 
 
 "Who go to sea in ships and in 
 Great waters trading be, 
 Within the deep these men God's works 
 And his great wonders see." 
 
 Enough of life appeared upon the wild waste to give 
 delightful variety. Sea gulls and a tiny little bird, 
 always on the wing, escorted us out almost to mid- 
 ocean. The little fairy creature, brilliant in color and 
 trembling with nervous action, earned its living by 
 picking crumbs that fell from the ship's pantry, often 
 resting for a moment on the crest of a wave, but 
 
LIFE IN THE SEA. 7 
 
 always with extended wing. Schools of porpoises 
 sometimes challenged the ship for a race; and the in- 
 teresting little nautilus, with sail spread, fled from the 
 path of the vessel, as if its home had been invaded. 
 The most exciting display of "life on the ocean wave" 
 was a naval engagement that meant death by both 
 parties. The combatants were two sword fishes and 
 an immense whale. Our sympathies went out to the 
 whale as it dealt rather mild and aimless blows with 
 its forked tail, while the other two, one on either side, 
 lashed their victim with their glittering white swords, 
 and made the deep "boil like a pot." They sailed out 
 of sight before the contest was fully decided; but the 
 swords would win and not even permit an inglorious 
 retreat on the part of their foe. As the day advanced 
 we sailed into close quarters with a whole community 
 of whales. They showed no disposition to become 
 acquainted, but fell into confusion, enveloped themselves 
 in showers of spray from their mast heads and fled for 
 their lives, like the Syrians when they left their tents 
 and their horses behind. One of these huge monsters 
 of the deep, perhaps lost from his fellows, was so near 
 the path of our vessel that we could almost lay our 
 hands upon him. The great awkward creature seemed 
 stunned for a moment, then wheeled and sped rapidly 
 away, his back skimming the surface and the water 
 spouting in jets from his head. His locomotion was 
 very rapid, and he soon disappeared and was lost to us 
 amid the waves. It was a joy to see living creatures, 
 if only for the moment. Doubtless the sea is as full 
 of life as the land; but life in the ocean has unlimited 
 facilities for hiding itself in the numberless compart- 
 
8 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ments afforded by such a deluge of water. We would, 
 no doubt, be astounded with a glimpse of them. 
 
 The passengers were by this time very sociable, and 
 exhibited their various traits of character. Each had 
 a burden of sorrow or a fountain of joy all his or her 
 own. The great world was here in miniature. There 
 were the funny man with comic song and jest, the mute 
 man with the outgoings of his soul in pantomime, the 
 poet, the artist and the elocutionist. These, with their 
 promising talents, differing in position but equal in 
 degree, often gave us specimens of progress. Some 
 of the participants in this species of entertainment 
 were quite in the bud and in the bloom of life. "Briar 
 Rose" was rendered by as sweet a girl "as e'er drew 
 breath," and the mute never refused to give us one of 
 his admirable and mirth-provoking stories. Our 
 Captain was an English gentleman, and that means 
 considerable. Always polite and thoughtful, he was 
 never officious, nor did he indulge in offensive favorite- 
 ism. He labored for the enjoyment and well-being of 
 all the passengers. His home had been on the sea for 
 twenty-seven years, and he had never lost a vessel. 
 
 When we had been out about nine days, he proposed 
 to make use of the diversity of talent on board, and 
 organized for an entertainment to be given on deck 
 the next evening. A committee of arrangements was 
 appointed, a program made out and the performers 
 notified. As the evening approached the sailors en- 
 closed a large space with canvass, decorated it with an 
 array of lights, mounted a platform and filled the arena 
 with rows of chairs. The gathering was very similar 
 to such scenes on land; scenes in which we in youthful 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 9 
 
 days were one of the actors. At the hour, the ladies 
 put on their gayest attire and, accompanied by hus- 
 band or gallant, captured en route, filed in at different 
 times and chatted till the curtain lifted. During a 
 recess in the affair a collection was lifted for the Sailors' 
 Orphans' Home in Liverpool. At that time there was 
 a record of thirty-three thousand sailors that sleep in 
 the sea. 
 
 We all felt happy over this little episode, and we all 
 moved a little closer together after it and became very 
 sympathetic. We were cut off from the outside world. 
 Every sort of calamity might befall our homes and 
 surroundings, but not a whisper of it could reach 
 us; we were deaf to telegrams and annoyances of that 
 kind. Our business relations and all our affairs might 
 be desolating enough, but we did not know it. We 
 had a right to assume that all was well and be content. 
 So should God's children'always feel. They have a 
 right to assume that all is well and will be well. They 
 have the promises that Christ bears their burdens and 
 carries their sorrows. They do not know the future. 
 We did not know anything outside of our little com- 
 munity, and we cheered one another and in faith rolled 
 away all care. 
 
 A second Sabbath came and went as did the previous 
 one; and in the gray dawn of the second Monday 
 morning, the purpling hills and cliffs of Ireland greeted 
 us with gladness in the freshness of this Green Isle of 
 the sea. The scene thrills the senses yet with strange 
 intensity, as we remember how the broad sunlight 
 crept over sea and land and brought into bold relief a 
 most resplendent setting of cottages, white as a snow 
 
IO REMINISCENCES. 
 
 drift, and fields of grain and verdure, softened into a 
 rare mosaic. Ireland played " bo-peep" with us on one 
 side, and the chalky cliffs of Wales attracted us on the 
 other all the way through St. George's Channel, till 
 we entered the Irish sea, when we were soon sailing 
 up the Mersey. 
 
 On the morning of the Fourth of July, our natal day, 
 we went on shore at Liverpool. We kept our demon- 
 strations in our own bosoms from instincts of politeness, 
 and entered the custom house by way of introduction 
 to a foreign land. The officer of this department sat- 
 isfied himself that we carried neither tobacco, firearms 
 nor British books reprinted in the United States, and 
 then permitted us to go on our way. Others did not 
 fare so well. They carried some one or other of these 
 contraband articles, and their dry goods were all ex- 
 posed and subjected to the most searching surveillance. 
 The duties of the custom house were so tedious, as we 
 had to wait our turn, that when we reached the outside, 
 we did not indulge in a particle of gushing, but we just 
 walked decently along as if we were used to English 
 streets and English atmosphere. Still the gratification 
 was immense and as acute as a surprise, but we were 
 careful to keep our feelings from the English, lest they 
 should vaunt and overvalue themselves. We were fond 
 of England and proud of her, but thought it wise to 
 hold some things in reserve till we got better acquainted. 
 
 It was not in our plan to tarry long in Liverpool; 
 so, after a few unimportant purchases just to fix it in 
 our minds that we had been there, we took the train 
 for the heart of this fair domain, through a region of 
 great beauty — of bloom and color and thrift that re- 
 
ON THE TRAIN. I I 
 
 sembled a fruitful and neatly kept garden. There was 
 not a misplaced splint, not a ragged edge to any enclo- 
 sure, not a broken limb to any tree, not a tangled, 
 unkempt hedge, nor anything to be seen but that 
 which spoke of refined and cultivated care. The cosy 
 little carriages of the train invited sociability among 
 the passengers, and our English fellow-travelers during 
 this ride were very communicative as well as interested 
 in the pieces of intelligence we gave them in exchange 
 for their civility. The railroad carriages are divided 
 into separate apartments, and each one holds a handful 
 of passengers, but they do not seem dangerous and 
 giant-like as ours do. The doors of these playful little 
 cars shut with a click, and the inmates are imprisoned 
 till they arrive at the next station. 
 
 We had to keep our wits sharpened to appear 
 equal to the occasion, so as not to entail breaches of 
 etiquette on our native land. One of the proprieties 
 that troubled us was our place at the stations. The 
 stations or depots were divided into first, second and 
 third class, and we were almost certain to forget and 
 find ourselves in the wrong one. The railways are 
 kept in complete order. All the embankments are 
 sodded and smooth as a lawn. The crossings at the 
 stations are carefully guarded, passengers being com- 
 pelled under heavy penalties to cross the track, where 
 crossing is desired, over an elevated way. 
 
 As we journeyed we frequently came in sight of 
 handsome parks studded with grand old trees, in some 
 cases almost concealing with their strong, thick-set 
 arms some noble country-seat or castle whose Island 
 history may have commenced near the Christian era. 
 
1 2 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The real history of England begins with Julius 
 Caesar; all previous history is more or less fabulous. 
 The people, however, were not mere savages when the 
 Romans entered the Island before the Christian era. 
 They practiced many of the arts of life ; mining and 
 smelting their native tin for different purposes, and 
 raising cattle and cultivating cereals. They were navi- 
 gators, sailing far from home and over tempestuous 
 seas. They were also brave and obedient to proper 
 authority. They were divided into tribes, and their 
 religion was Druidism. Such were the conditions of 
 the people the Romans found. In most aspects they 
 were such a people as Europeans found when they 
 entered America. Such people do not replenish a land 
 nor subdue it to their use. The Romans introduced a 
 higher civilization, and the springs of national life were 
 stirred by the mixture of new blood with the blood 
 of the nation itself. Mighty changes followed, and 
 the tribal chiefs of the whole province were merged 
 into one national ruler. Egbert, an exile from Kent 
 at the court of Charlemagne, became a humble pupil 
 and follower of the great conqueror. The young Eng- 
 lishman gained the esteem of his teachers, and when 
 he returned to his native land, Charlemagne gave him 
 his own sword as a parting gift; but he had imparted 
 to him during his stay something infinitely better; he 
 had taught him how to organize society. Egbert came 
 back to England as king of Wessex,and during a reign 
 of thirty-six years he consolidated authority and took 
 the title of King of all England. Many and fierce were 
 the struggles for life that followed, until the united 
 province became the power she is to-day. Trials de- 
 
TRUE PROGRESS. I 3 
 
 velop character, and she has had a goodly share ; but 
 from each period of her wrestling she has risen stronger 
 than before. No nation has ever had a steadier growth 
 in all that makes a nation noble and strong. The aim 
 has been steady, the object has been kept ever in view 
 and the certainty of reaching the object is contained 
 in that chart to which England, more than any other 
 modern nation, has given heed for generations and for 
 centuries. 
 
14 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 II. 
 
 In the waning of the afternoon we came into War- 
 wickshire, the very " Heart of Merrie England." We 
 had previously resolved that when we came to this 
 garden spot, we would take it in somewhat leisurely, 
 much of it on foot, that we might catch the spirit of 
 its mysterious beauty. There are villages and hamlets 
 and peaceful country life amid bright green trees, lovely 
 meadows and rich pasture fields. Besides, there is the 
 halo of stirring life gone long ago, buried down deep 
 in the past, and yet lingering in old-time spots, in 
 quaint, lowly cottages with little, narrow, peaked 
 windows peeping out from the dust of ages, and en- 
 throned as well in castle hall and tower, moat and 
 drawbridge. 
 
 After a little airing at Rugby with its memory of 
 "Tom Brown's School-days," we passed on and spent 
 the night at Guernsey Hotel, a temperance house in 
 Leamington. In every feature this establishment was 
 the perfection of neatness, which can be applied to the 
 whole city, the streets and door-yards being as clean 
 and solid as a polished floor. The city has a popula- 
 tion of twenty-two thousand, and is celebrated for its 
 mineral waters. It is indeed a great attraction as a 
 watering place. The "Royal Spa" received its name 
 when Queen Victoria ascended the throne, and since 
 
LEAMINGTON. 1 5 
 
 then it has become the delightful health resort it is to- 
 day. I do not mean that the place is loud and gaudy 
 and vulgar, but, on the contrary, very genteel and 
 quiet and exquisite in taste. Many of the private 
 houses are inside a high stone wail, with the name of 
 the family on the gate. There is an air of exclusive- 
 ness and modesty grateful to those who enjoy an 
 unobtrusive life removed from the glare of the multi- 
 tude. 
 
 Very many modern mansions in America rival and 
 even greatly surpass these homes in grandeur and dis- 
 play, but it will take long years to give them the lustre 
 of generations, a lustre that brightens with years. To 
 remind us that we were near Kenilworth, there were 
 such names on the close-fitting gates as "Robsart 
 Place" and "Leicester House." These houses were 
 planted back from the street and, where a view could 
 be obtained, embowered in rare plants and clinging 
 vines. The old church of St. Paul is an interesting 
 relic with its well-kept, ancient graveyard attached, 
 enclosed with most beautiful lime trees, their branches 
 interwoven so as to make a continuous enclosure. The 
 " Royal Spa" sends out a gush of health-giving waters, 
 and there are a number of other perennial fountains, 
 some saline and others sulphuretted saline. They are 
 near the river Learn, upon which the city is situated, 
 and upon whose sloping banks there is a handsome 
 park. 
 
 The ancient town of Warwick, the first Parliamentary 
 Borough in the kingdom, is two miles away, and thither 
 we went, making the journey on the top of a tram-car, 
 which is just a long coach moving on a tramway and 
 
1 8 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Elizabeth's ambitious favorite, Robert Dudley, Earl of 
 Leicester. The crypt contains the ashes of the Earls 
 of Warwick since the founding of their house, and the 
 stone floor of the church is a paving of gravestones, 
 the inscriptions almost entirely erased with the march 
 of centuries. It is a beautiful building, and one loves 
 to linger and study it; but these fine buildings are not 
 essential to Christianity; they are rather a mark of a 
 corrupt Christianity and were reared in corrupt times. 
 The early Christians had none. They worshiped on 
 the hillsides, in the forests, in the caves, in the cata- 
 combs, and conserved a pure gospel. The Scottish 
 Reformers had none; and where can we go for a more 
 sublime conception of the love of God in Christ than 
 to those pure times? 
 
 It was not the handsome mediaeval church nor the 
 ancient gateway that drew us to the town of Warwick. 
 There was another vision of beauty and interest in 
 reserve that hastened our steps and brought the reali- 
 zation of many a day-dream. The stately towers, the 
 lofty turrets, the frowning battlements and the spacious 
 halls of Warwick Castle, the best preserved building 
 of its kind in the Brittish Isles, had been the object of 
 many desires awakened long ago. Now the vision 
 was fruition as we stepped inside the ponderous gate- 
 way which, with the high, solid stone wall, shuts out 
 all obtrusiveness. 
 
 The classic Avon and a deep moat, now dry, sur- 
 round the entire grounds inside this heavy stone wall. 
 The approach to the castle from the outer gate is by a 
 broad, winding road cut out of the solid rock, over- 
 arched by the branches of a wilderness of trees. The 
 
A GRAND RELIC. 19 
 
 rocky sides of this roadway are draped and festooned 
 with ivy and creeping plants. There are sudden bends 
 and sharp angles made by the architect in constructing 
 the road. Some of them would conceal a handful of 
 stalwart warriors in helmet, steel and claymore, who, 
 having the advantage of position, could hew down a 
 hundred assailants and keep the rest at bay. The idea 
 of defense to the death, no doubt, was in the mind of 
 the architect. This rock-bound road continues about 
 four hundred feet, when it turns to meet two massive, 
 fortified towers and an embattled wall, in the centre of 
 which is the gate into the inner court. This gate is 
 highly ornamented and flanked by towers connected 
 by an arch, while creeping everywhere over it are the 
 tendrils and glossy leaves of the English ivy. 
 
 The gate is still guarded by the portcullis, a relic of 
 feudal days, and it holds in possession many memories 
 of storm and siege, of prison house, of death and de- 
 spair. Within the inner court the scene that met our 
 gaze was bewildering. The massive stone structure, 
 "majestic in the moss of time," stands upon a rocky 
 knoll forty feet high, the base of which is swept by the 
 Avon. Masses of foliage from rare old trees give 
 kindly welcome, although they shut out much of the 
 light of day, while beautiful plants and graceful shrubs 
 cluster in artistic knots and borders, and the modest 
 daisy stars every foot-fall, making glad the landscape 
 to prince and peasant. History tells us that Ethelfleda, 
 daughter of Alfred the Great, built on this spot a keep, 
 in modern parlance a prison or dungeon, in 915, and 
 hints that a fortress was erected here at the Roman 
 invasion. It became an important fortress about that 
 
20 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 time, and although frequently damaged by assault, it 
 has always risen again stronger than ever. 
 
 Early in the fifteenth century, the eldest son of the 
 Earl of Salisbury married Anne, the only child of 
 Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. By this 
 marriage he obtained the broad lands of the Warwick 
 family, took their name and became a prominent figure 
 in history during the dark days of the civil war of the 
 Roses and was in many a sanguinary conflict. From 
 that period the Earls of Warwick have been conspicu- 
 ous, and their influence in later times has fostered 
 literature and the fine arts. Some pieces of art inside 
 and shown to visitors are not dnly costly, but of ex- 
 quisite workmanship. The present Earl of Warwick 
 is said to be a gentleman in the true sense of the word, 
 benevolent, cultured and unambitious. He permits 
 the state apartments of this castle, where he resides 
 part of the year, to be opened to visitors during six 
 days of the week. The Sabbath is excepted. This 
 permission was quite an event to us, and the day was 
 an ideal one viewed from all points of the compass. 
 
 From the outer court we entered the great hall, 
 sixty feet long by forty-two wide and twenty-six feet 
 high. The floor is bare, but highly polished, and the 
 walls are thickly hung with the armorial trappings of 
 the heroes of war and of the chase. The floor has a 
 number of mounted figures in sheeted armor that must 
 have puzzled the wearer when called to mount or dis- 
 mount or to perform any of the operations that require 
 a free hand. The punch-bowl of the olden times 
 stands on a pedestal in this room and would hold a 
 hogshead of the vile stuff. When this lordly hall gave 
 
A SCENE OF BEAUTY. 21 
 
 princely entertainment in days of yore, most probably 
 this bowl was brimming full, and so, doubtless, were 
 the courtly visitors. 
 
 We stood at the wide window and looked out upon 
 a scene of enchanting loveliness. The Avon was trill- 
 ing and murmuring forty feet below, clasping the 
 remains of an old mill jutting from the castle rock, 
 while bush and shrub and long branches of ivy clung 
 to the rocks and were mirrored in the clear water. A 
 giant tree, a cedar of Lebanon dating from the Cru- 
 sades, lifted its great glistening arms adorned with the 
 richest dark green foliage we had ever seen, and rested 
 them lovingly against the heavy walls of the castle, as 
 if they had been sworn friends for hundreds of years. 
 My heart went out to this tree, and I wanted to just 
 touch it with my fingers; but I would have been sus- 
 pected for attempting what was forbidden ; so I lingered 
 in silent admiration as a fragrant odor from the land 
 of milk and honey came up from its thick boughs. 
 Palestine, the birth-place of our Christianity, and 
 England, its cradle, had here joined hands in loving 
 embrace. 
 
 We followed on through the Red Drawing-room, the 
 Cedar Drawing-room, the Gilt Drawing-room, and a 
 host of other rooms and corridors, all adorned in hand- 
 some style with costly furnishing in old and rare 
 paintings, in antique and curiously carved furniture, 
 much of it inlaid with pearl. There were also rare 
 pieces of art of priceless value to the owner. The 
 State Bed-room is hung with beautiful tapestry, and 
 the bed hangings are of rich crimson velvet. Queen 
 Victoria, while making a tour of the country in 1858, 
 
22 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 visited this castle and occupied this bed-chamber. 
 
 Outside once more there confronts the visitor the 
 great keep, with battlemented walls. The more modern 
 and inhabited parts of the castle are ranged in a semi- 
 circle and include the servants' rooms, the stables and 
 all the paraphernalia of an old and noble house. This 
 curving line of great buildings looks out upon a smooth, 
 velvety lawn, starred with daisies and bordered with 
 beautiful trees. Peacocks and game fowls scampered 
 over the dainty bit of pasture and eyed us with a saucy 
 air, as if saying, We are not plebian. In the outer 
 court there was an extensive park. There were flower 
 plots and winding walks, there were rustic bridges and 
 bowers of fairy beauty and long, magnificent drives, 
 sweeping through a densely wooded park, many of the 
 trees being cedars of Lebanon, their dark green tufted 
 tops making a most beautiful setting amid the paler 
 green of elm and beech, sugar, oak and sycamore. We 
 came suddenly upon a large flower plot, the central 
 piece being, the Warwick Vase. This fine specimen 
 was discovered in a lake at Tivoli, purchased by the 
 the present Earl's grandfather and placed here. It is 
 of white marble and would hold one hundred and 
 sixty-one gallons of water. The idea of vastness and 
 strength prevails all around, although the garniture is 
 very beautiful and lends enchantment to the scene. 
 Solomon, the wisest of men, has painted a more gor- 
 geous scene and written beneath, ''Behold, all is vanity 
 and vexation of spirit." 
 
 Visitors to the heart of "Merrie England" must not 
 forget to visit Guy's Cliffe, two miles distant from 
 Warwick Castle and said to be connected with it by a 
 
GUY'S CLIFFE. 23 
 
 subterranean passage. It is a place of great antiquarian 
 celebrity, much older than Warwick Castle, beiug 
 founded by Guy, first Earl of Warwick, and at the 
 close of his life converted into a religious house. The 
 redoubtable Guy\ Earl of W T arwick, was a veritable 
 son of Anak, as we judge from his monstrous sword, 
 shield, helmet and breastplate exhibited in the Porter's 
 Lodge at the Castle gate. The walk to Guy's Cliffe 
 from the town of Warwick is a charming one. It was 
 a fair sample of a rural scene in England. The hay- 
 makers were afield, the hay sending out a delicious 
 odor, the hedge rows were tidy and sweet, the pasture 
 fields soft and wavy and an immense private park on 
 one side of the way, thickly set with noble trees, gave 
 us the songs of birds and the busy hum of insect life 
 and industry. Wild roses in full flower clambered here 
 and there, burgamot scented the air, and the soft 
 crimped leaves of the stinging nettle beguiled us into 
 a touch for which we paid the penalty. 
 
 The pretentious rural life of all England, and indeed 
 of all Britain, is hidden inside high, heavy stone walls, 
 clasped with a latticed gate, through which such eager 
 visitors as we may view the lovely scenes afar off. The 
 venerable mansion at Guy's Cliffe is reached by an 
 avenue of overaching elms in perfect order as to neat- 
 ness and trim, and so dense as to conceal all of this 
 great house, except part of the front. The present 
 incumbent of this princely seat is a lady of some sixty 
 years. She has not dared to enter the marriage rela- 
 tion because, forsooth, her title and estate would be 
 forfeited should she choose her lord out of her family 
 line, and in that line there has not been found a mate 
 
24 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 for her; so this fair scion of a noble house grasps her 
 titles, her lands, her keys and, perchance, her happiness 
 and remains mistress of the situation. 
 
 As a rule, tourists are not admitted to the houses 
 and grounds of the nobility when the occupants are at 
 home. This being the case, disappointment settled 
 upon our faces, until we were directed into a by-way, 
 where the stately mansion stood out in all its glory. 
 We sat down by the side of a pool of the Avon where 
 swans were sporting and in the shadow of an old 
 Saxon mill of fabulous age, very picturesque and in- 
 teresting; and we picked up bits of current history 
 from an English farmer and his wife who were rusti- 
 cating here for a day after the harvest toil. The 
 courtyard of this noble house is hollowed out of the 
 solid rock. The house itself rises out of part of the 
 same rock high above the river Avon, and the walls 
 of some of the apartments are nothing less than parts 
 of this great perpendicular rock. Under the edifice 
 and at the sides of it are several caverns and cells hol- 
 lowed out in mediaeval times for hiding places, mayhap, 
 but most probably dungeon walls for victims of the 
 Roman Catholic Church. All these caverns are con- 
 nected with the chapel by subterranean passages, 
 which of itself is very suggestive of thumbscrews and 
 the rack. The invincible Guy himself is said to have 
 spent the last years of his misspent life as a hermit in 
 one of these cells on penance duty, and in it the giant 
 sleeps his last sleep along with his countess. 
 
 Strong and deep within every fibre of our nature is 
 the principle that we are offenders, that we deserve 
 only wrath and displeasure, and that the wrath is 
 
THE GREAT QUESTION. 2$ 
 
 something fearful, something more than humanity can 
 bear. Hence in all ages there has existed a disposition 
 to supplicate, to endeavor to please the Being offended. 
 This is the underlying principle in every form of idol- 
 atry. The Jews made broad their phylacteries when 
 Christ was on earth. The Roman Catholics multiply 
 their penances and Protestants heap up a treasure of 
 good works, too, which at the great day will prove but 
 "wood, hay and stubble," because the Lord is not in 
 any of them. " How shall man be just with God?" is 
 the question. Nothing can be of greater moment, nor 
 of more solemn import. Unassisted by revelation and 
 the light it sheds, we are undone. Reason, philosophy, 
 science give no hope; they only lead to darkness for- 
 ever; but the true light shines in the Word, and 
 justification through the merits of Christ is the only 
 way to eternal life. In the justified and adopted child 
 of God, good works flow from union to Christ, and are 
 a well-pleasing sacrifice. They are not in any sense 
 meritorious, nor in any sense a purchase of favor, but 
 are the grateful outflow of a heart touched with fire 
 from off God's holy altar. Pitiful and sordid indeed 
 are all penance performances wherever found. 
 
 We sat and thought, and we walked and thought, as 
 we strayed back to our hotel in Leamington. We could 
 almost feel the tremor of those mighty throes that 
 ushered in the Reformation from Popery. How inspir- 
 iting the convulsion that loosened the prison doors for 
 the poor captives in bondage to Rome and said, 
 "Look unto me and be ye saved!" And will we fit 
 up those prison walls anew and get out the bolts and 
 bars? There is reason to fear we will. "Oh, foolish 
 
26 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and slow of heart to believe!" We repeat our errors 
 continually. 
 
 Our way led us into glimpses of farm-life. Cattle, 
 fat and well-tended, grazed in the fields, or stood con- 
 tentedly in the shadow of some great oak tree. A tree 
 is valued in Britain. The landscape is everywhere 
 brightened with perhaps a profusion of trees; at least 
 an American farmer would think so, grudging, no 
 doubt, the room it subtracted from bread-winning. 
 But Englishmen have their way, and it seems as 
 though it is to be their way. 
 
 The farm-houses were not fine, but comfortable, with 
 a savor of old-fashioned hospitality in the wide porches, 
 with their air of quiet and rest, and in the dreaminess 
 under the English walnut trees that flourished on the 
 lawns. Leamington has burst its boundaries and has 
 very handsome suburban residences, some of them of 
 great beauty and taste. Everywhere there was a pro- 
 fusion of flowers kept with great care. The rose, the 
 emblem of England, was indeed a royal beauty. 
 
 Our visit would have been incomplete without a 
 ramble to Kenilworth, the once proud home of Robert 
 Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The story of his young 
 wife, Amy Robsart, is so pathetic and so interwoven 
 with the existence of Kenilworth that the name of the 
 one calls up the other. The stately ruins of this castle 
 are on an elevated rocky site commanding a wide view 
 of the country around. It was erected in the reign of 
 Henry I., and when Queen Elizabeth came to the 
 throne, was presented to Robert Dudley, Earl of Lei- 
 cester. The whole estate is now the property of the 
 Earl of Clarendon, who carefully preserves this relic so 
 
KENILWORTH. 2/ 
 
 replete with interest. The outer wall of the gigantic 
 structure once enclosed seven acres, a part of which 
 was a pleasure garden, with avenues and grottoes. In 
 the centre of this plot stands the lordly castle, a most 
 picturesque ruin. Vast portions of the ancient pile 
 still stand, but deserted, dismantled, sinking slowly but 
 surely into dust. It is departed grandeur, a sad re- 
 minder of the transitory nature of human greatness. 
 It is but a wind that passeth and shall no more be 
 known. 
 
 The Leicester Gate-house is in excellent preserva- 
 tion, four stories high, with beautifully carved windows, 
 and flanked on each side by octagonal towers. There 
 are other towers, innumerable and spacious halls 
 and chambers and drawing-rooms in one mass. The 
 The Great Hall measures ninety feet by forty-five. 
 This magnificent apartment still shows the tracery of 
 exquisite workmanship. The great window that must 
 have shed a flood of soft light upon this hall is a marvel 
 in delicate and fancy shaping. One corner of this 
 window is gone. The floor of the hall has disappeared 
 in the mould beneath, and here and there the stones 
 are crumbling and mingling with the gray and vener- 
 able tints of old age. In one compact whole, there 
 are broken arches and tottering stairways and lofty 
 towers and desolate chambers and long, tattered cor- 
 ridors still keeping their identity in the vastness of the 
 princely fabric. The decay is prolonged by the mas- 
 siveness and strength of the entire work. The old 
 builders wrought well. They spared neither time nor 
 pains. They first made an outer casing of good stone, 
 filling in the space with rubble stones and pouring 
 
28 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 over it molten cement which when cold was a solid 
 mass of resistless masonry. 
 
 The keep, the citadel of the castle called Caesar's 
 tower, is among the most perfect parts of the ruin. 
 Adjoining it are three kitchens. Their use can only 
 be deciphered by certain marks; and beyond these is 
 Mervyn's Tower, said to be the prison of Amy Rob- 
 sart, Countess of Leicester. From the top of this a 
 fine view of the country is obtained. The landscape 
 is undulating, quiet and lovely. The purple haze of 
 this perfect day enriched the horizon, and the warm 
 sunlight photographed the woods and fields, the silvery 
 brooks and the far-off homes and villages with indelible 
 accuracy. Over the mouldering stone work there are 
 creeping vines and ivy and tufts of flowering plants 
 that relieve the desolation, and the daisies flourish and 
 bloom in the courtyard and lift their modest heads in 
 every nook, while here and there are fine old trees and 
 among them beautiful holly trees. 
 
 The gateway constructed for Queen Elizabeth is still 
 intact, and we passed under the arch made for the regal 
 lady. The Earl of Leicester possessed this goodly 
 castle of Elizabeth's queenly bounty, but the gift, along 
 with other favors, aroused such vaulting ambition as 
 wrecked an unscrupulous man. The Earl would be 
 grateful to his Queen; hence he would have her visit 
 Kenilvvorth and see the ordering of his abode. He 
 spent £60,000 in enlarging the castle and improving 
 the grounds, and prepared for entertaining the Queen 
 in a style of splendor and magnificence unknown in 
 modern times. The Queen loved attention and display 
 and unwittingly smiled upon the adulation and homage 
 
ROYAL FEASTING. 29 
 
 laid at her feet by the lordly owner of Kenilworth. It 
 was innocent gratitude she thought, no doubt, for he 
 had a wife, the gentle, confiding and high-born daugh- 
 ter of Sir Hugh Robsart, whom the Queen had never 
 seen. By this visit she hoped to meet her in her own 
 stately halls. The Earl of Leicester was consumed by 
 other thoughts. Dark intrigues and wicked purposes 
 were behind the scenes in his mind. He would push 
 his countess out of the way by foul means and be the 
 husband of Queen Elizabeth. The thought grew, nur- 
 tured by an ungodly ambition, and when the Queen 
 rode with her cavalcade along the wide avenue con- 
 structed for her alone and over the deep moat that 
 bounds the castle on two sides into the courtyard, the 
 Earl seemed about to pluck the flower of English 
 royalty. 
 
 For seventeen days the Queen, the ladies of her 
 court, thirty-one barons with wives and daughters, and 
 four hundred servants were feasted and entertained in 
 the chase, in sports, in music and good cheer of the 
 most costly kind. No one had ever seen such mag- 
 nificence. Courtly ladies in handsome silks and laces, 
 in glittering jewels and rich embroidery roamed with 
 the freedom of the olden time and laughed and jested 
 and sported like other specimens of humanity. The 
 whole scene is suggested by the grandeur of the ruin. 
 The sequel shows that Queen Elizabeth died a virgin 
 queen, her royal consort the English nation, and Rob- 
 ert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, sleeps beside his third 
 countess, Lettuce, in the old church in Warwick. 
 England's Queen was too sagacious, too wise and too 
 stern in her moral integrity to look with the slightest 
 
30 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 favor upon the Earl's revolting scheme. During this 
 feast she inquired for the wife of his youth, and the 
 Earl evaded the question. She songht for her, and 
 when the monstrous iniquity was revealed, she de- 
 throned her favorite; but her misplaced confidence 
 hung like a shadow over her princely head till she lay 
 down for her last sleep. 
 
 Cromwell reduced this castle, dismounted the towers, 
 drained the moat, destroyed its beautiful walks and 
 grottoes and rooted out its pleasant places. He then 
 divided the great estate among his followers. But 
 when the Stuarts were restored, Charles II. gave it to 
 an ancestor of the present Earl of Clarendon. We left 
 the ruin with chastened feelings. Peering into the dark 
 wilderness of solemn yew trees that flanked the ap- 
 proach to the castle gate, one could hear a murmuring 
 among the soft fringes of verdure that swayed from 
 the long branches, like a dirge over departed glory. 
 Almost in silence we walked back to the village. The 
 lesson was too deep, too overwhelming for words. We 
 wanted it for instruction. We wanted it for a beacon 
 to be a signal guard against all earthly ambitions, and 
 to say to them, "These rocks mean certain death. 
 They are a putrifying graveyard that sends forth 
 nothing but an unsavory odor." 
 
 We would have been delighted to return to Kenil- 
 worth at night to visit it by moonlight, as many parties 
 were doing, The stillness of night and the soft, silver 
 light of the moon in desolate balls and towers call 
 forth sounds strangely human. At such times the 
 wierd mysteries and memories of days that are gone 
 steal back into the heart, unlock its fountains and hold 
 
AN OLD CITY. 3 1 
 
 up to view all we have ever been. Such reflections are 
 not useless. 
 
 Before taking the train for London, we spent a few 
 hours in the hoary city of Coventry, situated almost 
 in the center of Warwickshire. It is thought to have 
 been built by the ancient Britons, and if its narrow, 
 crooked streets, almost like footpaths, and its quaint 
 little houses reminding one of toys in the shop windows 
 are any indication of such remote origin, Coventry 
 certainly can claim the honor. If there is, or ever has 
 been, comfort in these little cells of houses, it is not 
 apparent now. There is shelter in them, possibly 
 warm shelter; and we must not forget the age that 
 produced them. It is recorded that in 1096, when the 
 Danes invaded England, they destroyed a religious 
 establishment here. The iniquity that afterward ran 
 riot in the Roman Catholic Church was then in its 
 formative state, and these little closets may have 
 housed many that made them Bethels, trysting places 
 for their Lord and Saviour. In those days wants were 
 very simple, and the sentiment suited their state, 
 
 "Man wants but little here below, 
 Nor wants that little long." 
 
 These houses are built on the street, the outline of 
 the front twisting as the street does, and not a break 
 in the line, neither alley nor side entrance to relieve 
 the monotony. However, the monotony is broken by 
 each abode differing in form and feature. A brick 
 dwelling is sandwiched between two stone ones, and 
 the next series may be a mixture of materials, being 
 built from what was left of the other three, and so on 
 
32 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 throughout the long line. Dirty, bare-footed children 
 played in the street, a host in themselves, especially of 
 ugly ideas, and brazen-faced, bare-footed women stood 
 in the doorways and peeped from the little windows. 
 The stone sills and floors were worn to the socket by 
 the feet of many generations. We seemed to disturb 
 their lazy, animal quiet by hastily walking along the 
 path or street about ten feet between the solid rows; 
 for the women crowded the doorways and gazed, and 
 villainous looking men shook themselves and followed 
 us suspiciously. Our visit was a sort of raid to them 
 and their attitude was defiance. But Coventry has a 
 new and beautiful part over against this dolor and dirt, 
 so clean and handsome, it seems like another hemi- 
 sphere. The various manufactures of Coventry are 
 celebrated, and the old part is in the rear. 
 
IN LONDON. 33 
 
 III. 
 
 In London! We hardly knew it, we were so occu- 
 pied with the inconsiderable affair of finding our 
 baggage that had preceded us some days. We got 
 down from our dignity and fumed about the driver of 
 our cab and said he was superlatively stupid because 
 he could not at once find our quiet hotel in great 
 London. He was patient, though, having been steady- 
 ing himself with a glass or two. But it took some of 
 the poetry out of London to be driven hither and 
 thither with frequent halts to inquire for Tranter's 
 Hotel, Bridgewater Square. Had our baggage been 
 at our feet and the ride without incident, our ideas 
 might have soared with great advantage to our litera- 
 ture. 
 
 Our hotel was situated within the walls and gates 
 and bars of the old Roman city. We were just where 
 we wanted to be, and when we entered the door, one 
 of the first things that confronted us was our baggage. 
 But catch us admitting for a moment that there was as 
 good order in transmitting baggage in England as in 
 America. No! we stuck to it that Brother Jonathan 
 could beat the combined world in everything, even in 
 the ingenious matter of boasting about it. 
 
 The most striking thing in London is the general 
 immensity, the miles and miles of housetops and via- 
 3 
 
34 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ducts and the network of streets and dark alley-ways, 
 all of which produced a feeling of loneliness amounting 
 almost to fear. Think of a corporate city of five 
 millions each one of whom must have something to 
 eat and wear and a few square feet to sleep upon at 
 night! The abodes generally must be swarming hives 
 and the streets a teeming mass, outside of working 
 hours. Our quarters were comfortable, and after a 
 few ludicrous mistakes, (such as rising in the morning 
 at six, expecting to breakfast at seven, before even 
 London crickets were aroused from slumber,) we took 
 on London life quite gracefully. Ten in the morning 
 is the hour for opening business. At nine a few pedes- 
 trians were astir on the streets, which were as clean as 
 a floor, having been carefully swept during the night. 
 The old adage, "The early bird catches the worm," is 
 meaningless in London. However, we were greatly 
 helped in sight-seeing in having an intimate friend, 
 Prof. Ormsby, resident in the city; and soon High 
 Holborn became familiar and Piccadilly interesting, as 
 we sat at the edge of Hyde Park and watched the 
 ceaseless flow of life in splendid outfit of carriage and 
 crest roll leisurely along this wide street. Nobody 
 hurries in London; it is not genteel. The side of Pic- 
 cadilly opposite Hyde Park is a succession of residences, 
 the homes of the nobility. To us they were strikingly 
 plain and unpretending in architecture. There was 
 nothing of the swell outlines of American moneyocracy. 
 There was dignity, though, even in the buildings and 
 carefully preserved age ; for the architecture was not 
 modern; and everywhere there was an air of seclusion 
 and retirement and gentle dignity that was refreshing. 
 
A MIXED POPULATION. 35 
 
 This street is very long and ample. Hyde Park is a 
 tramping ground for hosts of humanity and cannot, 
 therefore, be kept in fine order as to avsnues and 
 flowers. Looking at the busy life here, we realized 
 that the great city shelters innumerable races. It is 
 an epitome of the whole world, a collection of many 
 wholes. London must do an enormous amount of 
 work; she is forced to do it to keep herself alive. 
 There is much ugliness to be seen, many filthy rook- 
 eries that have to be left out in order to have a genial 
 glow on the picture. The notes that strike most im- 
 pressively sound out from the human mills that grind 
 along her network of arteries and keep things moving. 
 Often there are mournful cadences and discordant 
 trills that may well enlist the sympathies and the ener- 
 gies of those whose hearts are yet tender. "An ounce 
 of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Do we 
 remember this when we sow carelessly in our families? 
 when we spare the rod? when we foster pride? when 
 we wink at deception? when we permit laziness and 
 prodigality? Do we remember this when we add to 
 the simple appointments of New Testament worship? 
 when we take slice after slice from the sanctity of the 
 holy Sabbath, and when we disregard our solemn 
 covenant engagements to honor our profession by 
 living up to its requirements? I am convinced we do 
 not, and that here lurks the poison that has engendered 
 and still feeds the festering sore, not only in London, 
 but all over our own broad land. The cure for Israel's 
 idolatry was an irksome captivity of seventy years. 
 God will send judgments for violation of his laws, and 
 we ought to discern it in the fruitage we are seeing 
 
36 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 • 
 
 now in the violation of the laws of God, and get back 
 to the simplicity of true gospel worship. Then the 
 poor and the depraved will feel at home in places of 
 worship, and they will feel that touch of humanity that 
 vibrates the heart strings. A pure worship is a mighty 
 leveler. It is in the balm in Gilead. 
 
 Near our hotel was St. Giles' church, with an old 
 graveyard attached. We entered this church through 
 Cripple Gate to see the resting places of John Milton 
 and Rev. John Foxe, author of Foxe's "Book of Mar- 
 tyrs," as also to see the church in which Cromwell was 
 married. One side of this church and a portion of the 
 old Roman wall stand side by side. The old wall is 
 oj" Ragstone and large Roman bricks. There are 
 tombs inserted in the wall and standing at its base, 
 with ivy creeping over them, the whole enclosed in a 
 strong iron railing. 
 
 We shall select but a few of the interesting places in 
 London and notice them briefly, because the story has 
 been so often told. St. Paul's Cathedral is in the 
 midst of a graveyard. Indeed it is a resting place 
 itself for a host of noble sleepers. The building is 
 stately and imposing outside and the inside is magnifi- 
 cent. It overpowers and captivates with its vastness, 
 its gorgeousness, its symmetry, its strength, shadow- 
 ing every part in the perfect harmony of the whole. 
 While contemplating its immensity, we were reminded 
 of Sydney Smith's witticism when the attempt was 
 made to introduce artificial heat into the Cathedral: 
 "You might as well attempt to warm the whole 
 County of Essex." 
 
 The most striking portion is beneath the great dome, 
 
ST, PAULS. 
 
 37 
 
 which is supported by eight immense piers, each forty 
 feet wide, and the dome is one hundred and forty feet 
 in diameter. At the base of the dome is the whisper- 
 ing gallery ; the faintest whisper articulated close to the 
 wall being distinctly intelligible at the opposite side. 
 This dome towers three hundred and sixty-five feet 
 above the floor of the cathedral. From the top those 
 on the street below resembled a colony of Liliputians 
 scampering hither and thither. The length of the 
 structure from the front portico to the farther end is 
 five hundred and ten feet. The shape is a Latin cross, 
 the breadth of the cross being two hundred and 
 eighty-two feet. The floor is of marble in mosaic, and 
 the sides and pillars are richly ornamented. The 
 transepts and aisles are studded with handsome tombs 
 to perpetuate the memory of a long line of England's 
 heroic dead, whose lives have ennobled her and lifted 
 her to a proud place among the nations of the earth. 
 The most impressive design to us was the memorial 
 of Sir John Moore, the youthful Scottish hero who in 
 the moment of victory fell on the field of Corunna in 
 Spain. He is represented as having received his death 
 wound, and the fallen figure is being borne away by 
 two of his men. They "raised not a stone," they 
 "carved not a line" on that distant field; but the 
 memory of the gallant officer is green and fresh here. 
 The work is of Parian marble and of exquisite work- 
 manship. 
 
 As a grand monument, St. Paul's is intensely inter- 
 esting, but as a place of worship, cold and sad. While 
 we were viewing the interesting tombs, the afternoon 
 service on Saturday began, with pomp and circum- 
 
38 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 stance, with peals of two great organs, the echoes 
 answered by thirty boys with white surplices and 
 wands in their hands. Those who as an audience 
 engaged in the worship did not exceed twenty-five. 
 They were far outnumbered by those on dress parade 
 who were conducting the worship. It is sufficient to 
 say that the attempt to worship rose no higher than a 
 brilliant display of millinery with all its emptiness and 
 effrontery before the Most High God who dwelleth 
 with him that is humble and of a contrite heart, and 
 brought vividly to mind the " weak and beggarly ele- 
 ments" of bondage. We could not find any worship 
 in it, nor aught for a sin-sick soul. 
 
 Another day we looked in upon the Tower of Lon- 
 don, with its heavy walls, its dungeons, its towers, its 
 prisons, its ponderous gates, bars and arches. The 
 chain of buildings covers eighteen acres and enfolds 
 many volumes of keenest sorrow, despair and death, 
 dating from the time of William the Conqueror. It 
 overlooks the river Thames and introduces itself to 
 that historic stream through a wide arch called the 
 Traitors' Gate. Sir Thomas More passed under this 
 arch, and Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katharine 
 Howard and Lady Jane Grey and the Dukes of Som- 
 erset and Suffolk and many others, all of them to 
 death. Queen Elizabeth passed under the archway, 
 sent thither by her sister Queen Mary; but in the 
 providence of God Queen Elizabeth was to be the 
 entering wedge of England's prosperity, and she burst 
 the bonds and came forth. 
 
 We reached the second story in Beauchamp's Tower 
 by a narrow, winding stone stairway which opened 
 
TOWER OF LONDON. 39 
 
 into a dark and dismal prison made deeply interesting 
 by a number of significant carvings on the walls. One 
 of the inscriptions is the name " lane," supposed to 
 to have been cut by Lord Guilford Dudley, the hus- 
 band of Lady Jane Grey, who, with his father and 
 brothers, was imprisoned in this dreary place. Through 
 a dark, narrow passage we found our way into the cell 
 where Sir Thomas More, the discarded favorite of 
 Henry VIII., spent the last sixteen days of his life 
 upon earth. The little room is about four feet square, 
 with a stone seat projecting from the bare wall. A few 
 straggling rays of light through an aperture in the wall 
 only add to the horror of the loathsome place. It was 
 perhaps a relief to the noble prisoner when he laid his 
 head on the block on Tower Hill, July 5, 1735. 
 
 By special favor we were shown the royal chapel. 
 It is the best specimen of Norman architecture in 
 England. Beyond it in the next room is the spot 
 where the dynamite was thrown a few months before 
 our visit. The Jewel Tower contains the crown jewels 
 enclosed in a double iron cage encased in heavy plate 
 glass. There are several crowns and sceptres belonging 
 to different sovereigns, all very beautiful and glittering 
 with jewels and diamonds. The crown of Queen Vic- 
 toria occupies the highest point in the vaulted cage 
 and literally blazes with jewelled rays. We had never 
 imagined its grandeur — so gorgeous, so resplendent 
 with brilliant light. The number of diamonds in it 
 amounts to almost three thousand, with nearly three 
 hundred pearls, arranged with rubies, sapphires and 
 emeralds. Its value is £2,000,000. The glittering 
 mass is only worn on state occasions, which must be 
 
40 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 matter of rejoicing to the royal wearer, as the weight 
 would certainly give ordinary mortals a violent head- 
 ache, if nothing more. 
 
 But the chambers and the armory and the long line 
 of apartments, which in the past were used as a resi- 
 dence for kings, is a weariness; and we stepped out 
 into the open court to breathe freely. There we en- 
 countered Tower Green, a square in the center of the 
 court. Here is the block where the gentle and ac- 
 complished Lady Jane Grey and the gay and beautiful 
 Anne Boleyn laid their heads, and they sleep near by. 
 Lady Jane went forth to die on a Monday morning, 
 after seeing her husband's head brought back in a cart 
 from Tower Hill. Her countenance was calm, and 
 there were no tears in her eyes, and she prayed all the 
 way to the block. She had refused the offices of a 
 priest sent to examine her, saying, u I ground my faith 
 upon God's word and not upon the Church." 
 
 How thankful we should be that times have changed! 
 What a record of woe this great building presents! 
 All will never be told; but enough is written in living 
 lines. We see the same grim and heavy outside walls 
 that have absorbed so much sorrow and veiled it from 
 the world. We see the same dark, narrow passages 
 along which the victims were hurried, and the same 
 bare and bleak inside walls that held captive the noble 
 prisoners. Heavy shadows linger in the whole fabric, 
 and they are stained with tears and scarred with sighs 
 and groans. But we were obliged to hasten. The 
 moat around this immense structure is now dry and 
 planted in flowers, and the whole is strictly guarded 
 by day and by night under careful military control. It 
 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 4 1 
 
 serves a purpose in this age — that of showing the 
 mediaeval government of a castle tower in active ope- 
 ration. 
 
 Not far from the Tower are the Parliament buildings, 
 stately and ample, and in close proximity is Westmin- 
 ster Abbey. To our dismay, the main part of this old 
 and magnificent structure was closed to visitors because 
 of the late display during the Queen's jubilee; but 
 perhaps we saw enough. We passed along the old 
 deep and mouldy cloisters, with their ponderous stone 
 doors which produced a creeping sensation as if we 
 had been struck with an ague. We paused before 
 crumbling tombs, but had not time to find out the 
 character of their contents. A few steps led up to the 
 Chapter House, a beautiful octagonal building in Gothic 
 style. For nearly three hundred years the House of 
 Commons sat in it. Here Sir William Wallace was 
 tried and sentenced to his awful death. Here Sir 
 Thomas More received his death sentence, and here 
 the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings was held. 
 This part is very interesting and the whole Abbey, so 
 old, so beautiful, so majestic, is preserved with the 
 utmost care. 
 
 Another day dawned and we visited the Chapel 
 Royal and the Palace of Whitehall. Here Henry the 
 VIII. lived, and from here he issued his arbitrary de- 
 crees and indulged his petulance and self-will and 
 tyranny. His odor is a' bad one, and every inch of 
 him makes a leaf in the history of despotism. He was, 
 however, though very unwittingly, an obedient servant 
 of Him who said of another potentate, " I will put my 
 hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips," &c. King 
 
42 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Henry meant it not, but he became a strong force in 
 pushing forward the Reformation. God makes the 
 wrath and the follies and even the vices of men to 
 praise him by overruling all for the good of his chosen 
 ones. The wickedness of the wicked afflicts the just; 
 but the rod in the hand of a tender Father only makes 
 the traveler mend his pace and hasten home. Eventu- 
 ally God will punish the stout heart of him who 
 rejects his counsel. Within this palace were spent the 
 last days of Charles I. Upon a projection at the 
 central window he laid his head on the block in 1649. 
 
 In the chapel attached to Whitehall, Gladstone at- 
 tends service, as also the royal family when in London 
 over Sabbath. The Queen's seat remains as it was 
 during the life of Prince Albert. It is under a canopy 
 and vacant. She has not attended service there since 
 his death. The chapel is quite plain and almost severe 
 in style. It gets its dignity from its age and its history 
 and its occupants. Wealthy congregations in America 
 would tear it down and build with all the modern con- 
 veniences, such as a kitchen, a cook-stove and a larder; 
 but we were happy to see it as it is and would not 
 change a line of its architecture. 
 
 The river Thames was a disappointment when we 
 saw it first. It was dark, sluggish and so narrow it 
 could be swallowed by each of several of our rivers, 
 and it would not be noticed. We know, however, it 
 is a grand highway and bears on its bosom the com- 
 merce of nations. Utility redeems anything. 
 
 Kensington Gardens are very handsome, and the 
 Albert Memorial at the entrance to them is grand and 
 artistic in design, and the grouping and chiseling are 
 
SMITHFIELD. 43 
 
 \ r ery fine in effect, and very imposing in its massive- 
 ness. 
 
 The system of underground railroads is the perfec- 
 tion of city locomotion. The whole of compact 
 London is a network of tunnels or arteries, through 
 which the life of this great city is circulating noise- 
 lessly and healthfully, without the least disturbance to 
 the teeming life above ground. The stations are 
 handsome buildings that open on the streets, and a 
 stranger would pass them without guessing their use. 
 Inside, a flight of steps leads down to the railway. 
 
 One of the most interesting spots is Smithfield. It 
 is marked by a tablet in the wall of an old building. 
 Upon the tablet are these words: "The noble army of 
 martyrs praise Thee." Queen Mary Tudor lighted 
 the fires of Smithfield to burn the saints of the Most 
 High. Here John Rodgers was burned at the stake, 
 Feb. 4, 1555. The picture of John Rodgers with the 
 fagots piled around him in the New England Primer 
 has touched a symathetic chord in many a youthful 
 heart and led them to inquire what he died for. At 
 that time Smithfield was an open space outside the 
 city limits. Quite near is the old prison-like church 
 edifice where the infamous Bishop Gardiner served the 
 Roman Catholic hierarchy and his Queen, called in 
 history bloody Mary. Bishops Bonner and Gardiner 
 were pliant tools in the hands of an autocratic power 
 that brooked neither dissent nor inquiry. The spirit 
 is Antichrist, and it is not reformed in this day of light 
 and knowledge and can never be, for its end is de- 
 struction. It is only biding its time for another 
 onslaught, meanwhile grasping here and there after 
 
44 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the power that gives it force. Not far away is New^ 
 gate, the ghastly prison in which Rodgers and Hooper 
 and Bradford and others languished till their breath 
 went out in the flames. 
 
 Fleet Street has a rich flavor of poets and literary 
 characters. In one of the quaint, gabled old houses 
 Dryden wrote his verses, and in a solitary room looking 
 out upon a little court, Oliver Goldsmith enjoyed his 
 literary life, and he sleeps not far away in the church- 
 yard of Temple church, in an obscure place. The 
 British Museum is a wonder. It would take volumes 
 to do it justice. London is j ustly proud of its invaluable 
 treasures. Here are the famous Rosetta Stone and an- 
 tiquities from all the ancient countries, the oldest 3800 
 years old, a vase dedicated to the sun god at Sephar- 
 vaim. 
 
 A Sabbath in London was as quiet and clean and 
 orderly as a Sabbath in the country. We heard 
 Spurgeon preach to a great multitude. He was of the 
 people, plain, impressive and sympathetic. His theme 
 was Jacob's blessing upon the two sons of Joseph. 
 He was earnest and natural, without the least effort at 
 display. True eloquence is in the soul, and the most 
 princely when the words are so simple a child can 
 understand. It is a strange fatality, a fearful delusion 
 when men preach themselves and hide Christ Jesus, 
 thus feeding their own vanity and starving the flock. 
 It is told of Mr. Spurgeon that at one time when 
 speaking to the students, he lamented the coldness and 
 indifference that prevailed, and upon his suggestion 
 they joined with him in observing a day of fasting and 
 prayer. In such devotion lies the secret of his power. 
 
WINDSOR CASTLE. 45 
 
 We had a strong desire to see Queen Victoria, the 
 centre of power of this truly great British nation. We 
 hardly hoped for the pleasure; but at a venture we hied 
 away to Windsor Castle in the early morning, and 
 were well rewarded. Windsor Castle, where the Queen 
 resides, is situated on the Thames about twenty miles 
 from London. The Castle is interesting for its antiquity, 
 having been a favorite residence of the English mon- 
 archs since the time of William the Conqueror. It is 
 on an elevated plateau and slopes directly down to the 
 bed of the river Thames, which at this point is a nar- 
 row, meandering stream, very pretty and picturesque 
 and possibly quite deep. The whole grounds enclose 
 1 3,000 acres, all of which is kept with scrupulous care. 
 Queen Anne's Avenue of elms is three miles long. 
 The park contains the oldest planted trees in England. 
 There are oaks of more than iooo years. 
 
 The group of buildings constituting this immense 
 fabric is beyond description in pen pictures like these. 
 The strength, the massiveness, the symmetry and ele- 
 gance of this castle brought to mind the feelings of 
 the Queen of Sheba when she saw the splendor of 
 Solomon's home and equipage. We stood in mute 
 wonder and amazement. It was too extensive for 
 comprehension in a single day. The Queen's apart- 
 ments and immediate grounds are very handsome and 
 closely watched by royal guards who are on duty day 
 and night. The Queen and her suite were to visit 
 Hatfield, the home of the Marquis of Salisbury, in the 
 afternoon of the day; and we were kindly invited by 
 a merchant who knew we were Americans, to a seat 
 on his balcony to witness the Queen's cavalcade come 
 
46 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 down the hill for her special train. There were two 
 state carriages, each drawn by four iron-gray horses. 
 The Queen rode in the rear one. Beside each carriage 
 rode a royal guard, and one was mounted on the lead 
 horse of each. Both carriages had outriders. They 
 were just men in uniform mounted on a pillion at the 
 rear of the carriage. The Queen and her grand- 
 daughter, the Princess Alice, occupied the rear, and 
 facing her sat Prince and Princess Henry of Batten- 
 berg. The Queen was fresh and rosy looking, and she 
 shied a little as the handsome horses swept a curve in 
 the street, the act giving us a good view of her royal 
 person. She may have been frightened at the pranc- 
 ing horses, or she may have been half conscious that 
 some curious eyes were fastened upon her. They 
 were admiring ones though, for there were many 
 lookers-on who honor the British Queen. The Prin- 
 cess Beatrice looked modest and simple, with a rosy 
 English face. All admit she honors the parent who is 
 as much mother as Queen. 
 
I N SCOTLAND. 
 
 47 
 
 IV. 
 
 It is perhaps true that beauty is an element of the 
 mind — that it is the peculiar construction of its tastes 
 and education that invests scenes and places with at- 
 tractions all its own. A place endeared to us by 
 pleasant associations, whether of history, poetry or of 
 early memories, is of all others, 
 
 " Beauty to the eye and music to the ear." 
 
 We left London the morning of July 14th for an 
 all-day ride through England into the border-land of 
 North Britain. Dear old Scotland! When we reached 
 it, the mysterious spirit of another age full of grand 
 events and with far-off voice was on the face of the 
 land, was in the very air, and was snuffed with an un- 
 usual thrill. The very breezes seemed kindly and near 
 of kin, while the sheep on the hillsides lifted friendly 
 and softened faces, and the cows nodded a welcome as 
 they nipped the dainty pink clover heads in happy 
 content. The cottages were all built of stone and 
 were of a sombre hue, like the history of the times 
 that reared them. For two and even three hundred 
 years they have served their purpose. The thatch has 
 been refitted time and again, but the gray old vine- 
 clad walls remain solid and stately and dignified with 
 age. 
 
48 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The ancient city of Hawick was our first objective 
 point. It has a population of 40,000, busy with wheel 
 and loom. It is situated upon the "Teviot's tide," a 
 gentle stream whose waters are as musical as its name. 
 The historic part is densely packed upon a narrow 
 street that angles up a steep acclivity, the sight of 
 which recalls the days of border chivalry, when belted 
 knight rode to battle, dashing up and down the ancient 
 street, scattering terror far and wide. Another and far 
 more deadly foe now holds the inhabitants of this 
 quarter in thralldom. That enemy is strong drink; 
 and it revels with impudent face all along the way. 
 But there is a new and thrifty Hawick which will 
 eventually lift the dark shadow from this reeking relic 
 of the past. Branching at the base of this street is a 
 tortuous way to a rapid elevation upon which stands 
 the oldest kirk now in use in Scotland. Quaint and 
 storied, it looked out from the midst of a throng of 
 dead, so dense that one remarked, "Few can win to be 
 buried there now." 
 
 Melrose lies eight miles away. Its old Abbey upon 
 the Tweed, the Eilden Hills, Abbotsford and Millrig- 
 hall have long had a pleasant sound; and was it a 
 dream or was it real that right there " old Melrose rose 
 and fair Tweed ran"? To verify it "we sought the 
 convent's lonely wall," beautiful even as it crumbles to 
 ashes. The fingers that wrought the shapely stones 
 into such marvelous beauty and symmetry have been 
 dust these many years, and their works are slowly but 
 surely passing away too. Enough remains to tell of 
 its former greatness. It is a poem in stone. "Was 
 never scene so sad and fair," wrote Sir Walter Scott. 
 
MELROSE ABBEY. 
 
 49 
 
 It was built, as all the ancient churches were, with 
 nave, aisles, chancel, transepts, cloisters, &c. Beneath 
 the aisles lie the noble dead of many generations. 
 Under the floor of the chancel repose the ashes of 
 Alexander II. and the Black Douglass. The good Sir 
 James Douglass lies close to the heart of Robert 
 Bruce, whom he served so faithfully. A gush of feel- 
 ing came over a lady visitor, and she stooped and 
 kissed the spot where the heart of King Robert lies. 
 The grave of Michael Scott, the wizard that figures in 
 the ''Lay of the Last Minstrel," is pointed out, and 
 the low, steel clenched postern, now black and grimy. 
 Under what was once the broad arch of the groined 
 roof, is the heap of rude stones upon which Sir Walter 
 sat "in the pale moonlight" and wrote, 
 
 " The moon on the east oriel shone, 
 Through slender shafts of shapely stone." 
 
 There are eight side chapels, now roofless. In 
 Reformation times they were used as burial places. 
 The capitals of the great pillars are well preserved and 
 of excellent workmanship. No two are alike, and all 
 represent some plant or flower. Many of the carvings 
 are Scripture history. 
 
 Melrose Abbey was founded in 1 1 36 by King David 
 I. of Scotland, and its delicate tracery was all executed 
 by the monks, who must have numbered among them 
 many skilled artisans. The Abbey yard is also full of 
 the ancient dead. One of the inscriptions is very 
 beautiful. It is as follows: 
 
 " Earth goeth on the earth, 
 Ghat 'ring like gold ; 
 
50 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The earth goes to the earth 
 
 Sooner than it wold ; 
 
 The earth builds on the earth 
 
 Castles and towers ; 
 
 The earth says to the earth, 
 
 All shall be ours." 
 
 Tender and modest daisies are everywhere, and the 
 grounds are handsomely kept since the Abbey became 
 the property of the Duke of Buccleuch. 
 
 Upon the tangled grass among the ancient graves in 
 the Abbey yard of Melrose we sat in the stillness and 
 pictured to ourselves the old life from each broken 
 shaft and ruined window and then, turned from this 
 seat of departed glory. Up the steep and long ac- 
 clivity from the classic waters of the Tweed we slowly 
 took our way. The sky overhead was beautiful. Fleecy 
 clouds played with the sun, and the air was fresh and 
 bracing. The surroundings w r ere so novel and delight- 
 ful that the temptation came to go on foot the journey 
 of seven miles we had in view. There was a fascina- 
 tion about such a move we could not put away. One 
 needs to be alone with nature to enter into its spirit 
 and revel in its perfect harmony. 
 
 The inhabitants of the whole country seemed to be 
 minding their own affairs: for not a straggler, nor an 
 idler was to be seen upon the thoroughfare. The 
 birds sang in their "leafy bowers" amid the hawthorn 
 hedges and skipped from limb to limb of the great 
 trees that swayed their arms upon the hill-sides. 
 These hill-sides, and even way-sides, were thickly set 
 with grass and daisies and wild flowers that were like 
 a soft carpet beneath our feet. Every outlook was a 
 
 
A RAMBLE. ^j 
 
 new page. There were the Eilden Hills, with their 
 great shaggy sides brown and almost bare; yet little 
 companies of sheep picked and slept upon the terraces 
 within the shadow of a quiet nook where a conventicle 
 had been held in the days of the covenant. The high- 
 way was as smooth as a floor, and the hedges, as far 
 as vision wandered, were as neat and trim as a dainty 
 flower garden. The summit of this long acclivity 
 brought us to Bowden Moor, beyond which was a 
 long stretch of hilltops, exhibiting forest and harvest 
 land, farm-houses and "cattle upon a thousand hills," 
 in most pleasing variety. The sun was creeping down 
 toward evening when we reached the quiet hamlet of 
 Midlem, at the edge of a beautiful "holm," with grain 
 fields and meadows interspersed. The thatched cot- 
 tages, the flowering dooryards, the quaint old stone 
 hedges and the happy content were a story in them- 
 selves. 
 
 Here had been the early home of Rev. Robert 
 Armstrong, who, in 1796, was sent by the Associate 
 Synod of Scotland to missionate in the United States. 
 He settled in Kentucky; but on account of slavery he 
 and his congregation emigrated from that place in 
 1804, and settled on Massie's Creek, Greene Co., Ohio. 
 In Midlem he had been taught at his mother's knee 
 the gospel truth and the faithfulness that characterized 
 his after life. Here under the ministry of Rev. Andrew 
 Arnot he was led to choose the sacred office of the 
 ministry for his life work, and to endure hardship as a 
 good soldier of Christ; and here he had worshiped in 
 the quaint old church on the hill. An aged citizen, 
 whose house stood where a castle of the Douglass had 
 
52 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 once lifted its proud towers, told us what turn to take 
 at the "braeheed" to reach Millrighall, and we passed 
 on, delighted that the dear spot, the home of so many 
 precious memories, should be so near. The old Asso- 
 ciate Presbyterian manse of early Secession times was 
 by the wayside. From this dwelling Rev. Andrew 
 Arnot was sent by the Associate Synod of Scotland 
 to America in 1753 in answer to a petition of some 
 persons who had emigrated from Scotland and Ire- 
 land. Mr. Arnot was accompanied by Rev. Alexander 
 Gellatly, and these two ministers organized the first 
 Associate Presbytery of the United States. 
 
 But a few steps farther, and there was the old Hall 
 itself, nestled at the side of a wimpling burn, the sound 
 of which reached our ears with a pleasant murmur. 
 The stream was bordered with immense sycamore and 
 larch trees, their great arms reaching out over it in a 
 friendly companionship. From the highway the en- 
 trance was quite a long incline, as if protection from 
 enemies was in the mind of the builder; and the Hall 
 was as strong as a fortress in ancient days. All was 
 of stone, even to the floor of the hall. The ceilings 
 of both stories were low, and the windows deep and 
 suggestive. Just under the eaves was a sun-dial, cut 
 into the stucco work of the outside wall. A second 
 story window looked out upon a beautiful landscape. 
 There, too, was the spring, its waters crooning softly 
 as they fled away from the roots and the shade of a 
 sturdy old hawthorn, doubtless a century old. The 
 moss-covered garden wall, with its abundance of 
 gooseberry and black currant bushes, was just as we 
 anticipated. The evenings were chilly, and the ingleside 
 
COUNTRY HOMES. 53 
 
 in the old Hall was precious and grateful, as also the 
 refreshing hospitality of the occupants that was given 
 in unstinted measure. The memories that crowded 
 thick and fast produced a sort of awe that crept over 
 us as if in the presence of the dead, the blessed dead 
 who have died in the Lord, and whom we long to 
 meet in that other world where the ransomed will be 
 forever praising God. 
 
 When the morning dawned upon another day we 
 traversed much more of field and forest, hill and dale, 
 as carefully kept as a park, till we reached the mansion 
 houses and grounds of Reparlaw and Catshawhill — 
 intensely interesting in their old age. The lairds of 
 those two houses sleep upon the hill-side at Lillieslief, 
 and generous hospitality is now dispensed there by 
 other hands. These two mansions have the same 
 architecture, the same deep windows, the same thick 
 walls, the same stone hall, the same ponderous key, 
 almost one foot long, that are common elsewhere in 
 these ancient houses, as if each one was cast in nearly 
 the same mold. 
 
 Nether-Raw, a more modern mansion, with its 
 grounds, adjoins and is handsomely kept, both indoors 
 and out. Neatness seems to be the pride of the farmer 
 here, instead of broad acres, slovenly cultivated, as is 
 so often the case in America. The names of these 
 estates all have a meaning, just as they did in Bible 
 times. Lillieslief is a hamlet not far away, whose 
 houses are clustered upon one street. They are small 
 and neat. The inhabitants have two churches, Estab- 
 lished and United Presbyterian, in which most of them 
 worship. The place was a center in early Secession 
 
54 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 times, and their house of worship still stands, but is 
 now the United Presbyterian church. We crossed a 
 deep moss to reach Lillieslief, out of which was dug in 
 modern times a stone baptismal font, probably con- 
 cealed there in covenanting days. It stands in the 
 church yard and is about three feet high, with a deep 
 bowl cut in the top. We have lingered upon these 
 places because they were the homes of a precious an- 
 cestry. They are also fair samples of the country 
 homes of Scotland. The scene was impressed in 
 childhood days and because it was, it was indellible. 
 We were better able to enjoy the real scenery the pic- 
 ture of which in true lines had been fixed by many a 
 story of rural life in Scotland. It gladdened us to find 
 it so true to former conceptions. 
 
EDINBURGH CASTLE. 
 
 55 
 
 From the crystal waters of the Ettrick and the Yar- 
 row and the home of the poet James Thomson and 
 the scenes hallowed by James Hogg we were whirled 
 into Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. 
 
 " There watching high the least alarm," 
 
 her ancient castle first claimed recognition. It seemed 
 like an old friend, and we greeted it with a gush of 
 feeling. It is situated upon a precipitous rock 300 
 feet above the valley below, and is only accessible at 
 one place. This entrance opens into the esplanade, 
 upon which a Highland regiment in full dress was 
 under drill. The measured tread and the evolutions 
 of these men of fine physique in cap and kilt were 
 very picturesque and interesting. The dress is unique, 
 and yet quite becoming. It is well fitting and grace- 
 ful, and yet every muscle has its full power. Not one 
 of them but looked the soldier and the athlete with 
 "the will to do and the soul to dare." The record of 
 these Highland regiments marks them first in the 
 anuals of British warfare. 
 
 The castle gives evidence of being carefully pre- 
 served; yet its hoary old age cannot be concealed, 
 neither does any one want to conceal it, " The beauty 
 of old men is the gray head." Almost reverently we 
 
56 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 crossed the draw-bridge over the moat and entered 
 the castle through the Portcullis gate. The grating of 
 its ponderous bars and savage bolts has sounded the 
 death knell of many a victim. The gate is underneath 
 the old state prison, where the Marquis and the Earl 
 of Argyle and many others were confined previous to 
 their trial and execution as martyrs for Christ. Pausing 
 for a while, it was easy to recall the perilous days when 
 might made right, when mailed knights were always 
 ready with lance and battle-axe, when siege and sally 
 were the only vacations the toilers enjoyed. 
 
 The immense structure of solid masonry, with great 
 high walls of the same, is rooted in the foundation 
 rock and is a closely written page of siege and tragedy, 
 royalty and despair. In early history this stronghold 
 was the only refuge for the whole settlement against 
 an invader. The peasantry built little thatched cot- 
 tages for homes, and they often fled from their enemies 
 to the castle, lighted hither by the flames of their 
 burning dwellings. A favorite home for the Stuart 
 kings was found inside the castle walls, though it was 
 a prison house for them betimes as well. Mary, the 
 Queen of Scotland, found shelter here when sorrow 
 and misfortune began to thicken around her. A 
 shadow of her touching and impressive life seems to 
 linger about the premises, in the gloomy waiting room 
 of the Queen and in her little bed chamber, so quaint 
 and uncomfortable. It is all a relic, and it contains 
 many individual relics, such as the old Scottish crown, 
 sceptre, sword of state, and the chest in which they 
 were concealed during the stormy times. The castle 
 has stood on its craggy height since the tenth century 
 
THE SCOTCHMAN. 57 
 
 and will doubtless stand for centuries yet; for Britain 
 has the good taste to preserve her interesting antiqui- 
 ties so historic. 
 
 Voices of the past ages multiply as we pursue our 
 way along Lawnmarket till it is lost in High street. 
 Could anything have been more weird and strangely, 
 solemn and impressive than the old houses of ten sto- 
 ries, with pointed gables and crow-feet adornments with 
 which the street is lined? They have been the dwell- 
 ings of princes and nobles and are of immense propor- 
 tions, so as to shelter both chief and retainer, the 
 lodgings of the latter looking out upon narrow closes 
 or passages between the great houses. This capital 
 city, Edinburgh, overflows with an unsurpassed interest 
 in the annals of nations. Almost every footfall awak- 
 ens some thrilling story of a people that in the past 
 were always struggling. 
 
 In the heroic age the strife was often with each 
 other. In more modern times it was a hand-to-hand 
 fight with the Evil One in the form of mystic Babylon 
 enthroned at Rome. Danger and trials develop char- 
 acter; and this severe training made the Scotchman 
 what he really is on the pages of history — hardy, 
 frugal and distinguished for sturdy independence. All 
 along he has resolutely maintained the right to live 
 and own himself, the right to do his own thinking and 
 exercise his own judgment. This phase of life has 
 made him generally terribly in earnest, so much so 
 that he clung determinedly to what he undertook till 
 it was pushed through. 
 
 Most of these characteristics remain to-day and can 
 be traced without difficulty. With the Scotchman's 
 
58 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 intensity there is a caution and a reticence that seeks 
 to conceal the inmost feelings. Consequently, as some 
 one has said, he leaps with intensity, but looks well 
 before he leaps. Such traits no doubt occasioned the 
 witticism of Sidney Smith that rt required a surgical 
 operation to get a joke into a Scotchman's head. This 
 judgment could not have been serious, for the truth is 
 his humor is original, rich and racy. The national 
 character is also portrayed in the political, religious 
 and ecclesiastical struggles of the nation. A people 
 with less grit and persistence would have bowed before 
 the blasts that have so often swept over them. But 
 they only made this people stronger and lifted them 
 into a grander life. 
 
 The echoes of this life are very distinct and thrilling 
 as we pause before St. Giles' church where the name 
 of the great moral hero, John Knox, is held in grate- 
 ful memory. God raised him up and fitted him for the 
 niche he filled in the crucial time, when the enemies 
 of truth fancied they held the citadel. The ashes of 
 this brave soldier of the Lord repose beside his church, 
 while around are the ancient dead beneath the pave- 
 ment, dust mingling with dust, awaiting the awakening 
 trumpet that shall call every one to life. It is closely 
 paved with flag stones, and stranger and friend and 
 foe tread upon the sleepers. The grave of John Knox 
 is marked by a small stone in the pavement, the stone 
 having an iron ring attached to it and in it the initials, 
 "I. K." It is there as a silent witness against the 
 ritualistic modern worship in the old spot where he 
 once with such masterful eloquence proclaimed the 
 truth without fear or favor, and leveled his barbed ar- 
 
A DECLINE. 59 
 
 rows, fresh from the word of God, against the idolatry 
 of the Romish Church. Now, alas ! this same idolatry 
 is creeping into this church stealthily and with impu- 
 dent face. 
 
 Idolatry has the same nature in all ages. It does 
 not exist simply in the gross form of bowing down to 
 wood and stone, but is just as daring and displeasing 
 to God when we essay to worship him in any way not 
 appointed in his word. God did not say to Aaron 
 that he should not make a golden calf to ornament the 
 worship. He simply did not tell him to do it. Idol- 
 atry is coming into this church under the guise of 
 greater sanctity and increased administration of the 
 ordinance of preaching — a preaching service being 
 held in it every weekday afternoon, except Saturday. 
 It apears in the splendor of the service, in the sensa- 
 tional hymns artistically rendered with organ accom- 
 paniment, in the gilded symbols and in the stately 
 marching of the officiating clergymen. There is here, I 
 much fear, the glitter and display of the idol's temple 
 that evokes devotion from stately pillars, from memory 
 tablets and exquisitely stained windows, that throw a 
 flood of soft, bewitching light on pillared arches of 
 rare workmanship and aisles and panels of great 
 beauty. All this is descriptive at this date of the 
 grand old historic Church of Scotland, as represented 
 in St. Giles. What a deformity! The Church "is most 
 adorned when unadorned." The Bride, the Lamb's 
 wife, is only lovely when attired in the garments pur- 
 chased for her by the Bridegroom and prescribed by 
 him. Everything else is but tawdry, fading finery, 
 insulting to the spiritual Head of the Bride. 
 
60 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 We turned away from the weekday service in St. 
 Giles with feelings of inexpressible sadness; for we had 
 so longed to see it arrayed in the beautiful garments 
 once so fitly worn. Janet Geddes sleeps well after her 
 encounter with the Dean of Edinburgh; but certainly 
 some descendant of the brave woman is needed to 
 pitch at the service in St. Giles that same " cutty stool" 
 which still has an existence in the Museum of National 
 Antiquities. St. Giles is the oldest place of worship 
 ill Edinburgh, being first mentioned about the middle 
 of the thirteenth century. No event in the history of 
 the country, either joyous, sad, or tragical has not 
 sent a thrill of feeling within the walls of old St. Giles. 
 
 Hard by is the ancient Parliament house, appropri- 
 ated since the union of Scotland with England to the 
 use of the Supreme Courts. The early Parliaments 
 were held in different places, Scone, Perth, Stirling and 
 Edinburgh being so favored. In 1295 the three es- 
 tates of the realm — the bishops, the higher barons, 
 and the representatives of the burghs, were first made 
 constituent parts of the Scottish Parliament. At a 
 critical period in Reformation times a famous Parlia- 
 ment was held in Edinburgh in August, 1560. 
 
 Where High Street ends the Canongate begins, and 
 right there, almost in the middle of the street, stands 
 an antique dwelling which is pointed out as the old 
 home of John Knox. It is built of ashler stone; its 
 walls are thick and solid; its windows small and 
 peaked, and the entrance into the second story is from 
 the outside by a flight of steps planted upon the street. 
 It is thought to be the oldest residence in the city. It 
 was once the costly home of the Abbot of Dunfermline. 
 
A PICTURE. 6l 
 
 The sides of the room are in wainscoting, and there 
 are historical pictures on the wall. One of Queen 
 Mary is very suggestive. The royal listener is stand- 
 ing, though the audience is seated, and she is bending 
 forward eagerly as Knox, with a fervid glow on his 
 face, addresses his audience from a pulpit still in exist- 
 ence. The Queen is anxious to convict Knox and 
 have him executed for treason. Her face, therefore, 
 reveals the closest scrutiny and the most bitter and 
 determined resentment. Pages of her blighted life 
 come to the light in this picture. The little study of 
 Knox is here, and the high-backed chair and the west 
 window from which he addressed the surging multi- 
 tude below, when too sick and feeble to be taken to 
 St. Giles. One almost listens for the voice of him who 
 loved God so ardently and Scotland next to his Lord. 
 
 At the beginning of any grand' epoch or triumph of 
 principle there must of necessity be self-denial and 
 earnest effort. At such times there is something active 
 and virulent to combat, and it requires the utmost 
 vigilance on the part of the friends of truth to save it 
 from waste and destruction. The best work is done in 
 the face of severe opposition. As some one has said, 
 11 In the field of theology there is no militant virtue, 
 unless there is an active end to oppose." 
 
 A chapter of history may be useful at this point, 
 and we digress for a little to give a faint idea of some 
 of the suffering Scotland had to endure. 
 
 On the morning of the day when the Parliament of 
 1560 was to be held, Knox and his friends were assem- 
 bled in solemn council. The Parliament about to meet 
 was to ratify or reject the Confession of Faith, so im- 
 
62 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 portant to Scotland's civil and religious liberty. The 
 people were armed and watching anxiously, apprehen- 
 hensive of a collision between the Reformers and the 
 Romanists. A petition was presented by Knox and 
 his friends asking, "I. That the doctrine of Transub- 
 stantiation, Justification by Works, Indulgence, Purga- 
 tory, Pilgrimages and Invocation of Saints should be 
 abolished by Parliament. 2. That the profanation of 
 the Holy Sacraments be prevented and the discipline 
 of the ancient Church restored. 3. That the Pope's 
 usurped authority may be abolished and the patrimony 
 of the Church be used for the sustentation of the 
 ministry, the establishment of schools and the support 
 of the poor." The Reformers were so well organized 
 and so firm that the petition was granted. The Con- 
 fession of Faith drawn up by Knox and his friends 
 was then submitted and passed with enthusiasm. The 
 Papal party was so utterly routed by the power of 
 truth that they scarcely lifted a voice against it. Thus 
 the Confession of Faith of the First Reformation was 
 declared the Standard of the Protestant Church of 
 Scotland. 
 
 The Parliament of 1560 was the most influential 
 that had ever met in Scotland; it really represented 
 the nation, and by its late acts had instated the Refor- 
 mation and deposed the Papal power. The enactments 
 of Parliament were now presented to Mary and her 
 husband, at the French court, for their approval, but 
 the deputies were dismissed without an answer. In a 
 few days after this occurrence, Mary's husband, the 
 king of France, died, and the now widowed queen, 
 having lost all power at the French court, was willing 
 
DUPLICITY. 63 
 
 to return to her own land as Queen of the Scots. 
 Hence in August, 1 561, Mary landed in Scotland 
 among a people devoutly loyal, provided their allegi- 
 ance to their earthly sovereign did not conflict with 
 their allegiance to the King of kings. Mary was a 
 woman of matchless beauty, of high accomplishments 
 both in manner and speech. Her mother's dissimula- 
 tion and her father's jealousy of the royal prerogative 
 had been intensified by her education and her religion. 
 Had she been educated differently her reign might 
 have blessed the world. But she was the dupe of bad 
 counsels — a despot inspirit and practice and recklessly 
 opposed to the best interests of her country. The 
 Reformers very soon learned that Mary could not be 
 trusted. She knew that the Protestants were the most 
 numerous body in the kingdom, that they possessed 
 all the power, and she resolved to dissemble her real 
 feelings, saying that it was her will that the religious 
 system established should be undisturbed. At the 
 same time she had been taught, and she believed that 
 it would be the crowning glory of her kingdom to bring 
 it back to Papal sway. The Popish princes not only 
 promised her support in chastening her rebellious sub- 
 jects, but in prosecuting her claims to the English 
 crown. 
 
 It is evident from her correspondence with foreign 
 ambassadors that it was her fixed purpose to restore 
 the Roman Catholic religion at the first opportunity. 
 This required the Reformers to be exceedingly vigilant. 
 Knox was specially fitted to contend for the faith 
 against Mary's duplicity. The deputies sent to France 
 were charged to promise her nothing more than the 
 
64 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 private exercise of her religion. But Mary, on the first 
 opportunity, ordered the celebration of high mass; 
 thus confirming their fears of her determination to 
 allow the Reformed Church to stand only till it was 
 safe to overthrow it. While the idolatrous rite was in 
 progress threatening crowds gathered, and although 
 Knox tried to quell the tumult, he did not succeed till 
 much damage was done to the chapel. He had several 
 interviews with Mary during which he did not hesitate 
 to warn her of her sins, and when from vexation at his 
 reproof she burst into tears, he said, "Madam, in 
 God's presence I speak. I never delighted in the 
 weeping of any one. I can scarcely abide the tears 
 of my own boys when my own hands correct them; 
 much less can I rejoice in your Majesty's weeping." 
 When Knox was asked his opinion of Mary, he said, 
 "If there be not in her a proud mind, a crafty wit and 
 an indurate heart against God and his truth, my judg- 
 ment faileth me." Her whole life was a struggle 
 marked by her hostility to the Reformation, and Knox 
 was brave enough to speak the truth even to a beauti- 
 ful queen. He was more true, more heroic, more 
 kingly than all the race of Stuarts. He had a right 
 in God's name "to reproVe, rebuke and exhort with all 
 long suffering," and he did it fearlessly and with gene- 
 rous intent. Instant in season and out of season he 
 lived with one great aim, and under his watchful care 
 the Reformation crystalized into order and became 
 more and more a part of the people. In all this Knox 
 was not only an active agent, but the agent above all 
 others in bringing it about. He did not obtain all he 
 sought, especially with regard to providing for the 
 
 
THE REFORMATION. 65 
 
 support of the Church and of education throughout 
 the country. Still, he accomplished a great radical 
 work destined to be consolidated after many years. 
 
 When Mary's scandalous conduct drove her from her 
 throne and finally from her native land, the Earl of 
 Murray, an earnest Reformer, was appointed regent 
 during the minority of Mary's only child James VI., 
 which brought peace to the Reformed Church. Par- 
 liament met in December, 1567. John Knox preached 
 at its opening and exhorted them to begin with the 
 affairs of religion as without it they would have no 
 success. Thanks were then returned to God for the 
 free course of the Gospel throughout the kingdom. 
 Parliament then ratified all the acts passed in 1560 in 
 favor of the Reformation, and provided that no prince 
 should ever afterward exercise authority in the king- 
 dom without taking an oath to maintain the Protestant 
 religion and that none but Protestants should be ad- 
 mitted to any office except those whose rights were 
 hereditary. When the first General Assembly was 
 held there were but twelve ministers. Seven years 
 afterward there were two hundred and fifty-two minis- 
 ters, four hundred and sixty-seven readers and one 
 hundred and fifty-four teachers for the congregations. 
 The intervening years had been spent in a continual 
 struggle against a queen bent on the destruction of the 
 Church by every artifice that craft and malice could 
 suggest. But the Church only waxed stronger. Its 
 progress in doctrine and discipline was equally rapid. 
 It was accomplished not by might nor by power, but 
 by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts. There was a 
 wonderful outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church 
 5 
 
66 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of Scotland when the walls of her temple were being 
 built in such troublous times. There is perhaps no 
 clearer proof of this outpouring than when a Church 
 unswervingly follows the course pointed out in the 
 word of God and refuses to turn aside from motives 
 of policy, expediency or human prudence, and no 
 surer evidence that she has forsaken God than when 
 she begins to mould her measures into conformity 
 with the fashions and tastes of the world. 
 
 Time passed along till it was evident the career of 
 John Knox was drawing to a close. Worn out with 
 incessant labors, his voice had become so weak he 
 could no longer be heard in St. Giles' Church, and an- 
 other minister was called as his colleague. He labored 
 while he could bear even to be propped up and lay 
 down to die when he could labor no longer. When 
 suffering from debility, he visited St. Andrew's Church 
 where he began his ministry, and roused himself to 
 preach there once more. He was lifted into the pulpit 
 by a friend who said as he went on with his discourse, 
 he became so active and vigorous that "he was lyke to 
 ding the pulpit into blades and flie out of it." On the 
 evening of October 29, 1572, John Knox fell asleep in 
 the full assurance of faith, with this prayer for Scotland 
 upon his lips, " O Lord, raise up faithful pastors who 
 will take charge of thy Church." 
 
 Upon the death of John Knox the Church of Scot- 
 land reeled like a storm-tossed vessel without a pilot. 
 There were breakers ahead, and toward them she 
 drifted. Almost immediately Episcopacy began to lift 
 its head and show its colors. And although Andrew 
 Melville returned from Geneva to his native land to 
 
A REFORMATION. 6? 
 
 enrich the Church with his learning and piety, yet the 
 tide in favor of bishops and a Liturgy set in so 
 strong that a new struggle became very apparent. 
 James VI. was proclaimed king in his twelfth year, 
 and promised upon his accession " to do everything in 
 his power for the advancement of true religion as 
 presently professed in the realm." But he developed 
 into a weak and vascillating prince, and early gave 
 evidence that the standard of faith reached by Knox 
 and carried on by Melville was too pure and spiritual 
 for a vain and tyrannical king and his dissolute com- 
 panions, who strove with all their power to advance 
 the prelatic element as best suited to royalty. 
 
 The year 1581 was also an important one in the 
 history of the Scottish Church. The king had two 
 favorite companions who were Romanists, and whose 
 influence over him was very great. The idea took 
 possession of the people that they were agents of the 
 Pope for the overthrow of the Reformed Church, and 
 a panic seized the nation. The pulpits denounced 
 Popery and condemned the conduct of the king. 
 James became alarmed, and to avert the threatened 
 calamity he caused a confession of faith to be drawn 
 up abjuring all the corruptions of Rome. It was drawn 
 in the form of an oath and is known as The First 
 National Covenant of Scotland. This covenant was 
 subscribed by the king and all his household, and 
 measures were taken for its circulation and subscrip- 
 tion in every parish. The king, however, was not 
 sincere in this, neither could he be trusted. In 1584 
 Andrew Melville preached on a fast day upon the 
 address of Daniel to Belshazzar. He claimed that it 
 
68 REMINISCENCES- 
 
 was the duty of ministers to apply examples of God's 
 mercy and judgment in other ages to kings and princes 
 and people of their own times. For this he was ar- 
 raigned before the king and his council and condemned 
 to imprisonment in Blackness castle. Melville and his 
 friends felt that if he submitted to imprisonment he 
 would never come out alive, and he fled to England. 
 
 When Mary of Scotland was executed in England 
 in 1587, there followed a time of general alarm. The 
 Popish princes entered into a league to suppress the 
 Protestant faith. Presbyterianism revived and a greater 
 advance was made than the ministers dared to hope 
 for. Various causes were at work to bring this about. 
 The country was in a fever of excitement over the 
 murder of the late regent, "the bonnieearl of Murray," 
 as he was called; and the Popish Earl of Bothwell was 
 in arms against the king. But as soon as this danger 
 was past, James yielded to flattery, and when in the 
 following year the Popish lords entered into a conspi- 
 racy with Spain to subvert the Reformed religion, the 
 indifference of the king gave great anxiety to the 
 Presbyterians and brought them to feel that God was 
 pleading a controversy with them. 
 
 When the General Assembly met in 1596, the first 
 thing that came before them was an overture concern- 
 ing national reformation. It was proposed by Rev. 
 John Davidson to the Presbytery of Haddington and 
 approved and transmitted to the General Assembly. 
 The dangers and difficulties through which the Church 
 and nation had passed, and which were still threaten- 
 ing them made them of one mind, and the overture 
 met with unanimous favor. It seemed to be the 
 
COVENANTING. 69 
 
 universal feeling that the sins prevailing were causing 
 the displeasure of heaven and called for repentance 
 and humiliation. A form of confession was drawn up 
 specifying the sins to be repented of. The ministers 
 agreed to meet alone and engage in a solemn act of 
 confession and supplication for divine aid. Davidson 
 was appointed to preside. He so earnestly poured out 
 his soul in confessing the sins of the ministry that 
 every heart was deeply touched. While they were in 
 this frame of mind, he asked them to turn to the pri- 
 vacy of their own souls and acknowledge personal 
 guilt before God. For a quarter of an hour nothing 
 was heard but sighs and half stifled sobs. Every eye 
 streamed with tears as each minister searched the dark 
 chambers of his own heart. They rose from prayer, 
 and lifting up their right hands, they entered anew 
 into solemn covenant with God to walk in his ways 
 and be more diligent in their work than they had ever 
 yet been. It was also appointed that this solemn cov- 
 enant should be repeated in the several Presbyteries 
 and even in the congregations of the Church. Cheerful 
 and prompt obedience was everywhere given to this 
 command, and it was the means of stirring up the 
 whole ministry to unwonted zeal and earnestness in the 
 discharge of their duties, lest some soul in the provi- 
 dence of God committed to their care should be lost 
 through their neglect. There was such reverence for 
 God that it excluded every other fear. It seemed in- 
 deed to be the preparation for the wasting conflict 
 soon to come — the fiery trial which was to test their 
 attachment to their principles. It was the spiritual 
 strength that gave life to the Church through a period 
 
JO REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of dreary oppression as the food given to Elijah by the 
 angel nourished him in journeying through the wilder- 
 ness; otherwise "the journey was too great for him." 
 
 King James acquiesced in the revival of Presbyteri- 
 anism under the pressure of circumstances and soon 
 repented it. Andrew Melville waited upon him and 
 expostulated with him, and seizing the king by the 
 sleeve, he fearlessly called him "God's silly vassal." 
 Said Melville, "As I have told you divers times so I 
 tell you now, there are two kings and two kingdoms in 
 Scotland ; there is Christ Jesus the King of the Church, 
 whose subject king James is, and of whose kingdom 
 he is not a king, but a member." In March 1603, 
 Queen Elizabeth died, and James was proclaimed king 
 of Scotland, England and Ireland and took peaceable 
 possession of his new dominions. When he left Scot- 
 land he approved of the Presbyterian Church, saying 
 he intended no change in its government. As soon as 
 he was seated firmly on the English throne he turned 
 to his favorite maxim, "No bishop, no king." To him 
 the most solemn promises were but empty words, to 
 him oaths were fetters of iron to Presbyterians and 
 only threads of gossamer to kings and potentates. 
 Stealthily and step by step James imposed Episcopacy 
 upon Scotland. In 1605 he prohibited meetings of the 
 General Assembly unless called by the king. In 1606 
 he restored the bishops and declared his own power 
 absolute in things spiritual. In 1608 he banished the 
 most faithful Presbyterian ministers. 
 
 The nation now buckled on its armor and with 
 strong and courageous heart waited for the contest. 
 Rev. Mr. Welch had been banished fourteen years; his 
 
CHARLES I. J l 
 
 health failed, and he longed to return to his home. 
 His wife was a daughter of John Knox. She made 
 her way to the king and entreated him to permit him 
 to return. He replied he would if she would persuade 
 him to submit to the bishops. She answered, lifting 
 her apron as if receiving his falling head, " Please your 
 majesty, I would rather receive his head there." In 
 the winter of 1624 the king issued a proclamation 
 commanding the observance of Easter throughout 
 Scotland under pain of severe punishment. But before 
 Easter came his kingly sceptre was demanded by a 
 Monarch more powerful than himself. King James 
 died March 1625, and his only surviving son, Charles 
 I., was proclaimed. 
 
 When Charles I. took the reins of government in 
 England, the Presbyterian party entertained a faint 
 hope that the new king would remove some of the 
 causes of discontent. They accordingly sent Rev. 
 Robert Scott of Glasgow, to present a supplication 
 craving a redress of grievances. Charles had been 
 carefully educated by his father in all his views respect- 
 ing the nature and extent of the royal prerogative; he 
 also inherited his hostility to the non-conforming min- 
 isters, and his answer was that he would maintain 
 prelacy as established in Scotland by his father in all 
 its extent and at all hazards. The feeling of anxiety 
 was increased by his marriage with Henrietta of 
 France, a Roman Catholic princess. In 1629 there 
 were symptoms of division in the prelatic party. The 
 younger and more flippant prelates were impatient 
 and anxious to make progress which stimulated the 
 rash disposition of the king, and he ordered that all 
 
72 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the ceremonies of the English Church should be re- 
 ceived in Scotland. 
 
 In the following year the younger prelates began to 
 introduce organs, choristers and surplices in their own 
 churches. The older and more prudent prelates op- 
 posed the measure as dangerous in the excited state 
 of the country, and the innovation did not make much 
 progress. It must not be thought that during these 
 years of despotism and wrong there were no faithful 
 witnesses for the truth. The Head of the Church 
 kept the precious spark alive. In 1637 Charles issued 
 a proclamation commanding the English Liturgy to be 
 used in all the churches in Edinburgh, and the minis- 
 ters were ordered to make the announcement from 
 their pulpits on the coming Sabbath. All the ministers 
 promised to obey but Andrew Ramsey. For refusing 
 he was promptly suspended from the ministerial office. 
 To the private members in Edinburgh this announce- 
 ment was like a trumpet call to arms. During the 
 week numerous meetings for prayer and consultation 
 were held. Vigorous tracts and pamphlets were circu- 
 lated condemning the Liturgy, and a murmur of 
 indignation was heard far and wide like the muttering 
 thunder that proclaims the tempest. 
 
 July 23, 1637, the perilous experiment was to be 
 made in St. Giles' Church; and on that morning the 
 Dean of Edinburgh, attended by the civil officers and 
 many of the prelates, prepared for the service. The 
 vast edifice was crowded, many no doubt being at- 
 tracted by the novelty of the proceedure. A deep, 
 calm melancholy pervaded the assembly with all the 
 evidence of the white heat before the outburst. When 
 
A crisis. 73 
 
 the Dean appeared in his surplice and began the Lit- 
 urgy, instantly an old woman called Janet Geddes 
 started up, exclaiming: " Villain, dost thou say mass 
 at my lug!" and hurled at the Dean's head the stool 
 on which she had been sitting. Then followed a scene 
 of uproar and confusion. Missiles flew from every 
 quarter at the Dean. The women invaded the desk 
 with thaeatening words till he threw off his surplice 
 and fled. The Bishop of Edinburgh attempted to re- 
 store order, but it only added to the flame, as they 
 cried: "A Pope! a Pope! down with anti-Christ!" In 
 the church of the Greyfriars there was no popular 
 outburst, but there was loud weeping, wailing and 
 lamentation. The prelatic party was not prepared for 
 this popular wrath. They expected murmurs from the 
 people, but not obstinate resistance. 
 
 This despotic measure acted like a spark thrown 
 upon a train of gunpowder. The Presbyterians 
 crowded to Edinburgh from all parts of the kingdom, 
 bringing with them many hitherto lukewarm noblemen 
 whose fervor was kindled into a glow by the king's 
 imperious command. They were animated by one 
 firm resolution to defend the purity and freedom of 
 their national religion. They sent a petition to the 
 king pleading that the Liturgy should not be forced 
 upon the people. Charles replied that the bishops 
 acted by his express authority, and that he approved 
 the Liturgy as having nothing in it prejudicial to the 
 ancient religion in Scotland, and closed by denouncing 
 their meetings as conspiracies, forbidding them in fu- 
 ture under pain of treason. The proclamation was 
 read in Edinburgh and at once followed by a protest 
 
74 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 from the Presbyterians under the leadership of Alex- 
 ander Henderson, a man of talent and intrepidity 
 whom God raised up to defend the liberties of his 
 Church. Wherever the king's proclamation was read 
 the protest of the faithful Presbyterians was read also, 
 and seemed to unite them more firmly in their opposi- 
 tion to these encroachments. Affairs were approaching 
 a crisis, and nothing seemed to remain but armed re- 
 sistance or entire surrender of civil and religious liberty. 
 The Presbyterians felt in this emergency that they 
 must have some decided and permanent bond of 
 union. Alexander Henderson, with others, became 
 convinced that the Church and nation were suffering 
 the natural consequences of their own defection, and 
 calling to mind how greatly God had blessed the pre- 
 vious covenants in which they had engaged, they came 
 to the important conclusion that it was their duty and 
 only safety to return to God and renew their covenant 
 engagements to him. 
 
 To the people of Seotland the idea of renewing 
 their covenanting engagements was reassuring, and it 
 revived their drooping spirits. They felt that a de- 
 cisive step was imperative to preserve civil and religious 
 liberty, and in obedience to a call from the ministers 
 and nobles sixty thousand Presbyterians assembled in 
 Edinburgh to concert measures for preserving the 
 purity of their worship, as well as to defeat the devices 
 of their enemies and cement their own union by a 
 solemn obligation. On the Sabbath, February 25, 
 1638, the ministers preached to crowded audiences of 
 deep-thinking men and women on the duties and 
 perils of the hour and the defections of the Church 
 
LOYALTY. 75 
 
 and nation. In this way the idea of renewing the 
 National Covenant was joyfully accepted and in a 
 marvelous way, so much so that to the surprise of the 
 ministers the people generally were strongly inclined 
 and even anxious to renew the covenant. All worldly 
 considerations seemed to vanish, and they were ani- 
 mated with one desire to recover the purity and liberty 
 of the gospel as before established. Some few had 
 doubts, but these doubts were wonderfully removed. 
 They were careful to declare that they acknowledged 
 the civil authority of the king, but disowned his eccle- 
 siastical supremacy or headship over the Church. 
 They therefore inserted in the bond the duty of sub- 
 jects to obey the king and defend his person. Alex- 
 ander Henderson and three others wrote the bond, 
 which consisted of three parts: I. The old covenant 
 of 1 5 8 1 . 2. The acts of Parliament condemning Popery 
 and ratifying the acts of the General Assembly. 3. 
 The special application of the whole to present cir- 
 cumstances, binding themselves to adhere to and defend 
 the true religion against all innovations. It concluded 
 with a bold and eloquent exhibit of the reciprocal 
 duties of kings and subjects, breathing a lofty and pure 
 patriotism. This bond was denounced by the prelatic 
 party as a treasonable compact. But some of the 
 ablest lawyers of the time, including the king's advo- 
 cate, defended its legality upon the ground of the 
 usage of the kingdom and the royal sanction in days 
 gone by. 
 
 At length the important day, March 1, 1638, arrived 
 in which Scotland was to renew her solemn covenant 
 union with God. The day was observed as one of 
 
j6 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 earnest fasting and humiliation. After sermon in the 
 Greyfriar's Church in Edinburgh, in which the suppli- 
 cants were assembled, the covenant was read, and 
 Lord Lansdown addressed the assembled multitude in 
 an impressive and eloquent address on the importance 
 of union at this critical time and of perseverance in 
 the good cause which they had espoused and also ex- 
 plained and vindicated the object of the covenant. 
 Rev. Alexander Henderson offered a prayer of remark- 
 able power and earnestness, and a solemn stillness, 
 deep, unbroken and sacred fell upon the Assembly. 
 They felt the near presence of the majesty of God to 
 whom they were about to vow allegiance. The noble- 
 men advanced first, and with uplifted hands solemnly 
 swore to observe the duties which the covenant re- 
 quired. Then came the ministers, after which thousands 
 of every rank passed forward and took the oath with 
 breathless reverence and awe, as if each one felt alone 
 in the presence of the Searcher of all hearts. The 
 vast sheet of parchment, more than fifteen feet square, 
 was soon so full of names that numbers could only 
 sign their initials. Rapture and tears of joy were on 
 every face. When all inside the vast church had sub- 
 scribed, Scotland's covenant was carried to the 
 churchyard and spread on a level gravestone to get 
 the signatures of the throbbing multitude that waited 
 outside. Here the intense emotion of many burst 
 out in loud weeping and shouts of fervent exclamation. 
 Some added to their names the words, "till death," 
 and some opened their veins and subscribed with their 
 own warm blood. Then, as if moved by the one 
 Eternal Spirit, with low sighs and faces streaming with 
 
CHARLES ALARMED. *JJ 
 
 tears, they lifted up their right hands to heaven and 
 "joined themselves to the Lord in an everlasting cove- 
 nant that shall not be forgotten." No compulsion was 
 needed, and it is certain none was employed, and great 
 care was taken to prevent incompetent persons from 
 subscribing. Copies of the bond were transmitted to 
 the several Presbyteries throughout the kingdom and 
 were subscribed by all ranks with the greatest enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
 The high privilege of the occasion and sublime 
 pathos of the scene in the Greyfriar's Church sheds 
 even to this day a hallowing influence. Says one: 
 "Never, except among God's own peculiar people — 
 the Jews — did any national transaction equal it in 
 moral and religious sublimity." On the evening of 
 that day, after the deepest and most intense emotion 
 without the slightest confusion or tumult, that mighty 
 multitude of sixty thousand Covenanters went quietly 
 away to their own homes, with their souls filled with 
 holy joy and spiritual elevation by the power of the 
 sacred pledge they had given to be faithful to their 
 country and their God. The prelates were struck- with 
 dismay at this demonstration. Charles summoned his 
 council, and the Scotch bishops were urgent for repres- 
 sive and severe measures. When this news reached 
 the Covenanters, some of the leading men went north 
 and explained the covenant to the people among the 
 highlands. Great numbers subscribed the covenant 
 and the kingdom was so united that the prelates fled 
 from the country. This made the prelatic cry for 
 repressive measures a doubtful question, and the per- 
 fiidous king opened negotiations by sending the 
 
yS REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Marquis of Hamilton with instructions to pretend 
 friendship so as to detect their plans. But the Cove- 
 nanters were on their guard, and they refused to 
 negotiate unless the Marquis would meet them in 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 In the meantime the Covenanters kept a general fast 
 in a solemn and impressive manner to fit them for the 
 approaching struggle. As a precautionary measure 
 they placed a guard on the castle of Edinburgh to 
 prevent a surprise, and an immense multitude flocked 
 to the city of both sexes. There was a greater multi- 
 tude than at the signing of the covenant. As Hamilton 
 rode slowly along the line of about sixty thousand 
 persons with six hundred ministers drawn up in solid 
 phalanx, not with clashing arms and fierce battle-cry, 
 but with earnest and fervent prayers for religious 
 liberty, he wept and said he wished the king could 
 witness a scene so affecting and sublime. The Cove- 
 nanters presented a supplication containing grievances 
 and asked a free General Assembly and a free Parlia- 
 ment. Hamilton delayed his answer and, while the 
 negotiations were pending, the king was practicing the 
 most treacherous dissimulation. He was busy all the 
 time levying forces, collecting military stores and pre- 
 paring a fleet to suppress his faithful subjects. Upon 
 this discovery the Covenanters called a General As- 
 sembly which had not been permitted to meet for 
 twenty years. Because of this, true Presbyterian 
 principles were almost lost in many places. The lead- 
 ing ministers were obliged to send deputies to many 
 of the Presbyteries with instructions regarding some 
 of the principles of their profession. The Assembly 
 
VIGOROUS ACTION. 
 
 79 
 
 was to meet in November of this year, and for three 
 days before, the Covenanters were engaged in hum- 
 bling themselves before God and crying to him in 
 earnest prayer for direction. When the Assembly met 
 Alexander Henderson was chosen moderator. The 
 king's Commissioner was present and protested against 
 every measure, complaining that the Assembly was 
 vitiated by the admission of elders as members of 
 Assembly and ordered them to dissolve under pain of 
 treason, which they refused to do, and he withdrew. 
 An act was then passed annulling all the corrupt As- 
 semblies which had established prelacy, and the 
 innovations they sanctioned were declared illegal; also 
 an act was passed restoring to all the courts of the 
 Church the enjoyment of their constitutional privileges 
 according to the Book of Discipline, together with an 
 act forbidding the induction of any minister in any 
 congregation against the will of the congregation. 
 Presbyteries were also directed to see that schools 
 were established and supported in their bounds. After 
 prayer, praise and the benediction, Henderson ad- 
 journed the Assembly, saying, "We have now cast 
 down the walls of Jericho. Let him that rebuildeth 
 beware of the curse of Hiel the Bethelite." This was 
 the starting point of Scotland's second Reformation. 
 Its great illuminating principles pierced into the very 
 core of Scotland's heart and there deposited its vital 
 energies. The benefit and the influence of this solemn 
 covenant in which the Scottish people had engaged 
 has extended beyond the age and the nation in which 
 it originated. It may not be generally acknowledged, 
 but still it is true, that Great Britain and America owe 
 
80 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 their constitutional freedom at this hour to the influ- 
 ence of that compact. It saved Scotland from the 
 subversion of her liberties and animated the patriotism 
 of England in her struggle to cast off the yoke of the 
 house of Stuart. This Scripture will apply to them, 
 "And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I 
 will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I 
 will purge out from you the rebels and them that 
 transgress against me." 
 
 When the General Assembly met in July, 1642, it 
 was evident Scotland would be involved in the mad- 
 dening whirl of civil war now raging in England, and 
 the Assembly gladly received a communication from 
 the English Parliament saying it was their intention to 
 call an Assembly of divines " to frame such a Confes- 
 sion of Faith, Catechism and Directory for Worship 
 as might lead to uniformity between the churches," 
 and requesting Commissioners from the Scottish 
 Church to assist in their deliberations. 
 
 The General Assembly met again in Edinburgh, 
 August 2, 1643, with the feeling that another crisis 
 was upon them. They first set apart a day for fasting 
 and supplication for Divine direction. Henderson was 
 chosen moderator, and in a few days Commissioners 
 arrived from England to confer with the Assembly. 
 Hostilities had actually commenced between the king 
 and his Parliament, and the opposing armies were in 
 the field; consequently, the Commissioners proposed a 
 civil league between the two kingdoms for mutual 
 defense. But the Assembly urged a religious union 
 for the establishment of uniformity in religion. This 
 proposal was finally agreed to and the covenant was 
 
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 8 1 
 
 renewed under the title of the Solemn League and 
 Covenant and embraced by England as well as Scot- 
 land. 
 
 This famous document consisted of an oath to be 
 subscribed by all classes in both kingdoms. They 
 bound themselves to preserve the reformed religion in 
 doctrine, worship, discipline and government, and to 
 promote its reformation according to the word of God. 
 Henderson wrote the covenant and it was heartily 
 adopted by the Assembly with tears, whispered 
 prayers, and thanksgivings and emotions of the deep- 
 est solemnity and awe. It was then taken to the 
 convention of estates and by them unanimously ratified, 
 and transmitted to England where it was accepted and 
 solemnly sworn by both houses of Parliament. This 
 international compact is one of the noblest in its nature 
 and principles that ever bound a people together. It 
 was presented to and subscribed by the people in both 
 kingdoms. Meanwhile the celebrated Westminster 
 Assembly met by authority of the two houses of the 
 English Parliament, July I, 1643, and remained in 
 session in London four years. It was to consist of one 
 hundred and twenty ministers, thirty laymen, of whom 
 ten were lords and twenty commoners. The Scottish 
 Church was represented by Alexander Henderson, 
 Samuel Rutherford, George Gillespie and Robert 
 Bailie, ministers, with the Earl of Cassilis, Lord M^it- 
 land and Archibald Johnston, elders. The Westminster 
 Confession of Faith, Catechisms Larger and Shorter, 
 and the metrical version of the Scripture Psalms now 
 in use in the purer Churches in Scotland was the result. 
 The Scotch divines were able, learned and deep-think- 
 6 
 
. 82 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ing men of undoubted piety and attachment to their 
 principles and well acquainted with Presbyterianism. 
 Their theological writings are still standard works and 
 show how discriminating they were and how closely 
 they walked with God. 
 
 When Charles II. by a strange freak of royalty was 
 placed upon the English throne in 1 660, the Cove- 
 nanters hailed the event with mingled rejoicing and 
 trembling. It was the restoration of their ancient race 
 of kings. He had taken both covenants and solemnly 
 sworn to defend the Presbyterian Church. They 
 therefore had some reason to hope they would be per- 
 mitted to worship God after the form so dear to their 
 hearts. But the king had been educated to keep no 
 faith with Protestants, and as soon as he was securely 
 seated on the English throne, he began to labor for 
 the overthrow of Presbytery and the re-establishment 
 of Episcopacy. A similar attempt ruined his father; 
 but England then was disaffected to the royal govern- 
 ment and sympathized with the Scots. The intervening 
 years brought a change. Presbyterianism had never 
 sunk into the English heart, and they were now zealous 
 alike for monarchy and prelacy; so that the overthrow 
 of Presbyterianism was attended with little risk to the 
 throne. Should there be astonishment at the rapid 
 transformation from the subscription of the Solemn 
 League and Covenant to the re-establishment of 
 prelacy, let the reader turn to the history of Israel and 
 Judah under their kings. When Elijah rebuked idola- 
 try by fire from heaven, the people cried, " The Lord, 
 he is the God," and in a short space of time this 
 servant of the Lord was compelled to fly to the 
 
A NOTED MARTYR. 83 
 
 wilderness without friends for protection or even open 
 sympathy. 
 
 With the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne of 
 their ancestors a new era of the Church of Scotland 
 began — an era of intense suffering and exalted endur- 
 ance that stamps it as one of the refining periods which 
 was to take place in the latter days. The restoration 
 of Charles II. without conditions was a sort of frenzy 
 — a reaetion from the radicalism of Cromwell's reign. 
 It became epidemic and swept through Scotland with 
 irresistible power. 
 
 One of the first acts of the restored monarch was 
 the execution of the Marquis of Argyle, a powerful 
 nobleman, a true Scotchman and a faithful Covenanter. 
 The king feared him and contrived to get him out of 
 the way by charging him with disloyalty during Crom- 
 well's reign. The amnesty granted to English subjects 
 was withheld from Scotland, and this able parliamentary 
 leader, incorruptible statesman, with a soul for a king, 
 was decoyed to London upon pretense of friendship, 
 and while there was arrested and thrown into the 
 Tower. A hasty trial followed ; but his death was a 
 foregone conclusion, and he was condemned to be 
 executed in two days after his trial, and his head to be 
 affixed to the Tolbooth. The intercession of his eldest 
 son, Lord Lorn, was of no avail, and the order was 
 executed. When going to the scaffold he said, "I 
 could die like a Roman, but I choose rather to die like 
 a Christian." He ascended the scaffold with great 
 composure and spoke some time in vindication of hi* 
 conduct. Said he, "We are tied by covenants to reli- 
 gion and reformation. Those who were then unborn 
 
84 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 are yet engaged, and it passeth the power of all the 
 magistrates under heaven to absolve from the oath of 
 God." He said he feared not death, for the Lord had 
 heard his prayers and had given him courage. 
 
 The next victim was Rev. James Guthrie, minister 
 of Sterling. He was one of the ablest and most fear- 
 less of the ministers. His offense was having written 
 a pamphlet entitled, " The Causes of the Lord's Wrath," 
 and declining the king's authority in things purely 
 ecclesiastical. During his trial he proved that his 
 declinature was agreeable to the word of God and the 
 practice of the Church; but it was to no purpose. His 
 enemies thought his death would strike terror into the 
 faithful party, and he was condemned to die as a traitor. 
 The prelates remembered with bitterness and hatred 
 the Assembly of divines at Westminster, and, together 
 with the king, were afraid that Presbyterians should 
 again dictate terms to them. On the day of execution, 
 Guthrie spoke an hour upon the scaffold. He was 
 feeble from long imprisonment, and said, "I have 
 founded my speeches, writings and actings on the word 
 of God, and on the doctrine, Confession of Faith, and 
 laws of this Church and kingdom — upon the national 
 covenant of Scotland, and the Solemn League and 
 Covenant." A moment before the axe descended, he 
 cried, "The covenant — the covenant shall yet be Scot- 
 land's reviving." 
 
 Such is a brief outline of the causes which led to the 
 period of bitter and relentless persecution, including 
 what is called the "killing time," and which lasted 
 twenty-eight years. During these years it is computed 
 that over eighteen thousand persons suffered death in 
 
THE REVOLUTION. 85 
 
 some form for their religion. Besides this, hundreds 
 suffered in most loathsome dungeons and perished 
 through cold, hunger and fatigue while wandering 
 among the mountains and over the moors, of which a 
 record has not been kept, " but under the altar and 
 about the throne of the Lamb, where their heads are 
 crowned and their white robes seen, an exact number 
 will at last be found." 
 
 Charles II. was succeeded by his brother, the Duke 
 of York, as James II. of England. He distinguished 
 his brief reign by open and persistent attempts to ad- 
 vance Popery and by other acts of tyranny and fraud, 
 and the nation roused herself in obedience to an irre- 
 sistible impulse and threw off the hated yoke of the 
 Stuarts. William, Prince of Orange, who was married 
 to Mary the daughter of the king, was invited by the 
 most influential men in the kingdom to take the reins 
 of government and give aid in maintaining the liberties 
 of the country. The Prince of Orange had long been 
 watching the tyranny of James, and after counsel and 
 deliberation he put to sea for England, landing in No- 
 vember, 1688. James, wretched and despised, fled to 
 France, and the revolution took place without a 
 struggle. 
 
 The room where the Scottish Parliament met is a 
 study. The ceiling is finished in carved oak, and the 
 walls are adorned with pictures and statues of distin- 
 guished men. The handsomest piece of art in it is a 
 stained glass window on the south side. The subject 
 is the Inauguration of the Court of James V., 1537. 
 The king is in the act of presenting the keys of the 
 city to the Lord Mayor. James is in royal robes of 
 
86 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the most gorgeous pattern and is seated upon his 
 throne. His feet rest upon a scarlet velvet cushion, 
 his arm, in graceful drapery, is extended, and the poise 
 of the figure is indicative of the ease and dignity of 
 the Stuarts. There are many other figures, among 
 them noble ladies. The Archbishop of Glasgow and 
 the Abbot of Cambuskenneth are in long flowing 
 robes of purple and scarlet velvet, slightly thrown open 
 to reveal a lining of most delicate contrasting shade. 
 These haughty churchmen really outshine the king in 
 the rich and splendid coloring of their costly robes. 
 It is easy to guess the arrogance and persistence of 
 their claims to dictate terms to potentates. 
 
 Where the Canongate, or gate of the Canons, opens 
 or continues from High Street once stood the Nether- 
 Bow-Port with its ghastly record. Along this narrow 
 street are curious old houses, where noble lords and 
 court ladies intrigued and played their game of life, 
 very much as fools are doing to-day. This street has 
 not only been the scene of battles fierce and dread, 
 but beautiful and stately ladies and brave and princely 
 men have made it resound with merriment and glitter 
 with the splendor of their equipments, as they moved 
 in magnificent cavalcade from palace to castle. It 
 teems with human life to-day as it did then; and it is 
 gay too, but the gayety is of a different sort. From 
 many of the upper windows of these princely houses 
 the week's washing of poverty is fastened upon poles 
 and shoved out to the breeze, as flaunting waves of 
 canopy over the street, their many colors presenting a 
 patten of modern crazy work. 
 
 The saddest of memories will present itself, and we 
 
HOLYROOD. 
 
 87 
 
 recall the eventful life of Mary the Queen of Scots, as 
 
 the palace and Abbey of Holyrood come into view, 
 
 the latter one of the finest specimens of mediaeval 
 
 architecture. It is indeed a grand ruin, a crowded 
 
 chapter in the archives of generations. There is the 
 
 sleeping dust of kings and nobles who have fought 
 
 their fight, much of it an evil one. Within these walls 
 
 and pillars of exquisite sculpture, within these windows 
 
 and entrances of rare carving, an idolatrous worship 
 
 long lifted its ugly head and filled a brimming cup in 
 
 the scene which placed Riccio in a gory grave near 
 
 the palace entrance. Not a vestige remains of the 
 
 storm and passion and tragedy that once raged here. 
 
 The roof is gone, and the tender, carefully kept grass 
 
 is starred with daisies so white and pure, they almost 
 
 seem to have intelligence. Inside the palace the air 
 
 of abandonment is oppressive. Mary of Scotland 
 
 holds court here no longer. That which represents 
 
 her beauty, her taste, her magnetism is itself a faded 
 
 glory, but intensely interesting still. Had she been 
 
 moulded otherwise in early days, how grand her life 
 
 might have been, and how she might have blessed 
 
 humanity! Her face in the long banqueting hall and 
 
 picture gallery is remarkable for an expression of that 
 
 duplicity which characterized her intercourse with her 
 
 best and bravest subjects. The expression of her face 
 
 in our day has been much improved by modern artists, 
 
 and, I doubt not, is ideal. The palace is heavy and 
 
 cold looking, and one misses the warmth, the life, the 
 
 glow of human forms and voices. 
 
 11 "We never speak our deepest feelings ; 
 Our holiest hopes have no revealings, 
 Save in the gleams that light the face." 
 
88 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 In silence, but with a tumult of emotions, we turned 
 from the palace of Holyrood and its environments, 
 after a lingering look at the chambers of ancient 
 royalty, at the narrow, winding stone stairway closed 
 by the low postern, lighted by little windows, all sug- 
 gestive of the dark intrigues which the Stuart race of 
 kings never scrupled to project. This venerable seat 
 of royalty was once a convent, and, like many others, 
 was founded by David I. early in the twelfth century. 
 Queen Mary's apartments are very interesting. They 
 remain as they were when occupied by the unhappy 
 princess. On the opposite side of the court are the 
 state apartments, a colonnade upon all sides looking 
 out upon this court. To the palace is attached a 
 handsome park, and the whole is shadowed by Salis- 
 bury Crags and Arthur's Seat. The latter is a rocky 
 upheaval 822 feet high, and is celebrated for many 
 historical events. 
 
 The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, as we 
 reached the top of Nelson's Monument on Calton Hill. 
 The city lay at our feet, a busy hive of industries, in 
 many cases perchance, of ugly industries, with an out- 
 put of evil contiuually. But it was only a fair scene 
 at that distance; and so we mused and admired. Far 
 off was the quiet sea, with promontory and bay and 
 the Frith of Forth like a wide gateway for the silver 
 sea to thrust in its surplus waters. Through the clear 
 atmosphere could be seen the Bass Rock and the 
 towers of Tantallon Castle on its rocky crest. There 
 the haughty Douglass once held almost regal court, 
 and with that pride that " goeth before destruction," 
 menaced the throne of the Stuarts with his power and 
 
HISTORIC PLACES. 89 
 
 prowess. The Bass Rock, however, possessed the 
 keenest interest; for in its dark dungeon the martyrs 
 suffered in the flesh, while they sang praises to God 
 and gave thanks to him for permitting them to suffer 
 shame for his name. 
 
 Calton Hill rises abruptly to a height of three hun- 
 dred and fifty-five feet and seems to terminate the 
 growth of the new town to the east. Waterloo Place 
 is located at the terminus of Prince's Street. On this 
 space the Post-office, Bridewell and the Jail are situ- 
 ated, and leading up from this place is the avenue to 
 Calton Hill. There is a handsome monument on it in 
 honor of Professor Dugald Stewart, the eminent Scot- 
 tish metaphysician, who aimed his blows at the infidel 
 metaphysics of Hume and the rationalism of France. 
 The National Monument in memory of the heroes 
 who fell at Waterloo is still unfinished. The whole 
 crown of the hill is adorned with promenades and used 
 as a public park. 
 
 We have not forgotten the Grassmarket under the 
 audience of the frowning guns of the castle. It is now 
 simply a very wide street bounded on either side by 
 old buildings and used as a grain market. It is very 
 innocent and quiet looking at this date; but a wail 
 comes from the dust of centuries which guides to a 
 circle of stones out in the street, the spot where the 
 martyrs laid their heads upon the block in defense of 
 Christ's crown and covenant. 
 
 Looking out on this street from a gentle elevation 
 is a court of the dead for many generations. It is 
 Greyfriar's church-yard of fragrant memory. It was , 
 long ago a garden and a burial place for a monastery, 
 
90 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and four hundred years of interments have formed a 
 crust of three feet over some of the most precious dust 
 of the ages. Here lie James Renwick, the Marquis 
 of Argyle and many other noble martyrs for the truth 
 of Christ, "who loved not their lives unto the death." 
 They sleep together, and the whole spot is covered 
 with a dense growth of most fragrant mint which 
 emits savory odors like the memory of the sleepers. 
 A monument tells the story of these martyrs. 
 
 On the other side of this city of the dead and 
 branching from it is the long, narrow, dark and 
 ghastly avenue of death, where the fifteen hundred 
 Covenanter prisoners from Rullion Green and Both- 
 well Bridge languished and starved among the graves 
 for eight months, without shelter from winter's storm, 
 till most of them were taken to the "building of God 
 not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The 
 daisies now star the beautiful grass, and all is peaceful 
 as a summer day. What hath God wrought by these 
 martyrs as instruments? Would that we clung to 
 their faith with a grasp as strong and undying as 
 theirs! God will yet require it at our hands, if we 
 permit his precious truth, even little by little, to slip 
 out of mind. One of the intensely interesting spots 
 is the flat stone upon which the parchment was spread 
 in 1638, containing the National Covenant. We stood 
 supporting ourselves against the iron railing that en- 
 closes the stone and called up the very presence of 
 that scene that still speaks of an exalted heroism and 
 an undying patriotism born of the kingdom of heaven 
 and echoing still the sublimity and pathos of the act 
 all along the line of the succeeding generations. 
 
THE SCOTCHMAN. 9 1 
 
 Among the modern monuments in Greyfriar's 
 church-yard are those of Dr. Thomas McCrie and Rev. 
 Adam Gib. Most of the old monuments are built 
 into the wall of the yard. One is in memory of 
 George MacKenzie, the King's advocate in persecuting 
 times, and whose record is deeply stained with blood. 
 It is in the form of a temple. Mothers were wont in 
 other days to bring their refractory children to terms 
 by a threat to shut them up at night in the enclosure 
 where bloody MacKenzie lies. 
 
 Instead of walls and gates and bars, the old"Edina, 
 Scotia's darling seat," is enclosed within a new city. 
 The historic part is thus preserved and protected. The 
 combination of the old and the new is literally a stone 
 city that seems to have arisen out of a rock bed as 
 part of itself. The new structures, as well as the old, 
 have broad foundations. They intend to stay. The 
 thick walls and buttresses are elements of strength and 
 solidity and are never sacrificed to mere attractiveness 
 and airiness. They are the embodiment of Scotch 
 characteristics, the nation impressed upon its architec- 
 ture, the life and history of the people written in stone, 
 graven in the rock. The historic Scotchman has the 
 same general features, sturdy, fearless, with a firm and 
 sinewy grip upon the underlying principles of God's 
 Eternal Truth that cannot be moved or shaken. In it 
 lies the secret of that determined purpose that has 
 distinguished Scotchmen in the records of the past. 
 Everything earthly, however, has its ebb and flow, and, 
 as in our own land, spiritual life has fallen into the 
 under-tow that leads to a struggle to preserve the 
 faith once delivered to the saints. But God has not 
 
92 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 left himself in this land without a witness. There are 
 brave and true hearted ones holding aloft the banner 
 of truth and praying and waiting for God's time to 
 revive his work and turn back the current of ritualism 
 and rationalism. 
 
 Edinburgh represents Scottish literature and refine- 
 ment and has done so for a long series of years. 
 Passing along the principal thoroughfares and meeting 
 the people, strangers cannot fail to notice the evidences 
 of gentility in the quiet, subdued manner and in the 
 chaste and becoming attire. Especially is this so 
 along Prince's Street. It is a wide and handsome 
 avenue about one mile in length, the houses being 
 built only on one side. The other side opens into a 
 capacious valley that was once a loch, but is now 
 artistically laid out in walks and flower plots, smooth 
 lawns and crystal fountains. This handsome street 
 and the valley run at right angles to the old part of 
 the city, so that one passes through the dim vista of 
 years into the new and beautiful with very little effort. 
 The goods displayed in the windows along Prince's 
 Street are arranged in excellent taste; but persons en- 
 tering are not urged, nor even asked to purchase. 
 They are permitted to examine them to their hearts' 
 content ; but the vender usually neither converses nor 
 betrays any wish to sell what he holds for that 
 purpose. 
 
 There is no more interesting city than Edinburgh. 
 The memory of it is food for years. Of all cities, 
 from our standpoint, it has the greatest number of 
 features to make life desirable. On the Sabbath the 
 streets, even the main thoroughfares, were as quiet as 
 
CHANGING. 93 
 
 the most secluded rural place. Not a vehicle was seen 
 or heard. When the hour for church service came, 
 the streets thronged with serious faces in neat and 
 clean, but not gaudy attire; and it was easy to con- 
 clude they sought their respective churches for worship. 
 This is their habit, their inheritance from John Knox, 
 improved upon in after years as the second Reforma- 
 tion came on. Woe to the influence that would change 
 this peaceful atmosphere into one of bustle and 
 worldly pleasure as is being done elsewhere! 
 
 It is sad to know that along with the new life, the 
 handsome public buildings, tasteful homes and streets 
 and costly and beautiful churches, the religious life 
 here, as almost everywhere, is grasping for the sensa- 
 tional to stimulate failing spirituality. The effects of 
 such a course cannot yet be seen; but coldness and 
 indifference are sure to follow. Sensationalism is 
 intoxication, and the stimulant must be increased con- 
 tinually to satisfy the craving. Progress in the divine 
 life is necessary to its existence, and it is the joy of the 
 believer and the food of the soul to get new views of 
 divine truth, new views of God's providential dealings 
 with us, not only in great events, but in the atoms that 
 turn the scale and give the balance here or there. 
 That which merely excites the nervous system and 
 stimulates the brain only leads into forbidden paths 
 and does not nourish the soul, nor give it healthful 
 longing for spiritual growth and enjoyment. There 
 can be no higher intellectual enjoyment than the study 
 of the doctrines of God's holy Word that distil as the 
 dew in their emanation from the divine mind. 
 
94 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The interesting places in Scotland are close together, 
 so that a few miles upon the railway brings a traveler 
 from one of these places to another. They are indeed 
 in a cluster and, in some measure, each dependent 
 upon the other. Thirty-six miles north of Edinburgh 
 is Stirling, called "the city of the rock." It is a place 
 of much historic interest. Stirling Castle, once the 
 seat of royalty, is picturesquely situated upon a rocky 
 height with drawbridge and moat, a stout gateway and 
 portcullis and all the equipments of an ancient fortress. 
 There are indications that the precipitous rock was 
 used as a watch tower before the Roman invasion. It 
 was probably used as such by the Scots in conquering 
 the Picts. It was a place of great strength in ancient 
 warfare and figured prominently in the struggles of 
 Wallace and Bruce for the independence of Scotland. 
 Modern warfare would tumble all these stones into a 
 mighty heap with a few blasts. But in its day it was 
 defiant and impregnable. 
 
 During the reign of Malcom Canmore, Stirling be- 
 came the capital city. Within the walls of the castle 
 the Parliament House, the palace and chapel still 
 stand. It was one of the favorite homes of the Stuarts. 
 Here James II. was born, and in the Douglass room 
 
STIRLING. 95 
 
 this potentate, in a fierce dispute with the Earl of 
 Douglass, enraged with his insolence, killed him. He 
 then pitched him out of a second story window, and 
 the ill-fated earl lies buried where he fell. James III. 
 spent most of his time in the castle, and, broken- 
 hearted, rode from this place to meet his foul death in 
 a little hamlet near by. Here James V. was crowned, 
 and his favorite walk about half-way up the rugged 
 steep through a tangle of bushes and trailing vines is 
 still pointed out. Queen Mary was brought here when 
 a helpless infant to be crowned Queen of the Scots. 
 So also was James VI., John Knox preaching the 
 coronation sermon. Among the relics exhibited are a 
 communion table used by John Knox, dated 1500, and 
 the pulpit he used when in Stirling. 
 
 The view from the Castle wall is magnificent. The 
 battle-field of Bannockburn can be distinctly seen, as 
 also the bit of forest land which deceived the English. 
 The windings of the Forth upon which Stirling is 
 situated lie like a band of gleaming silver upon the 
 Carse of Stirling, its graceful links including forest and 
 hill and dale, with grain fields and gardens and homes 
 spread out upon the landscape. To the north the 
 Ochil Hills in dark purple stand sentinel. Upon one 
 of the spurs called Abbey Craig there is an elegant 
 and imposing monument in the baronial style to Sir 
 William Wallace. From west to north are the frontier 
 Grampians, peaked and pinnacled with the summits of 
 Ben Lomond, Ben Cruachan and many others. It 
 certainly is one of the most gorgeous and delightful 
 panoramic views to be seen anywhere. 
 
 Stirling is near the border of the Highlands, and 
 
g6 reminiscences. 
 
 Gaelic names are abundant. These names have a 
 German sound and remind one of the fact that the 
 Gael has some of the features of his kindred, being an 
 offshoot of the same great family. Greyfriar's church 
 is in the shadow of the Castle, and has an interesting 
 burial ground attached. Many of the stones are so 
 old as to bear inscriptions in the early English. There 
 are also handsome statues of the most celebrated mar- 
 tyrs and leaders in Scotland's reforming times. A 
 group in Parian marble of the Wigtown martyrs, 
 Margaret McLachlan, Margaret Wilson and her young 
 sister, the last leaning over an open Bible, is most 
 tender and touchingly beautiful. The figures are life 
 size, and all are enclosed in a glass covering. The 
 statue of Ebenezer Erskine is among the rest. 
 
 On the slope of the Castle hill is the church building 
 where Rev. Ebenezer Erskine preached at the time of 
 the defection in the Church of Scotland that led to the 
 Secession in 1733. It was in this his own church that 
 he was forbidden to preach by the magistrates. He 
 came to the church as usual on the Sabbath after the 
 deposition of the brethren for conscience' sake, and 
 found the church door locked and the people assem- 
 bled outside. As was his custom he carried his Bible 
 with him, and to avoid acts of violence in forcing open 
 the doors, he led the way for the vast assemblage of 
 people to an open space beneath the frowning battle- 
 ments of the Castle, with the Grampian hills in the 
 distance, the links of the Forth and the beautiful 
 landscape around. But that which added significance 
 and sublimity to the scene was the earnest congrega- 
 tion of pious worshipers, who listened devoutly to the 
 
OLD PLACES. 
 
 97 
 
 solemn truths uttered by their minister with unusual 
 earnestness. The church building has a long sloping 
 lawn in front, is large and in good condition, with two 
 front doors and an ornamental window. It has an air 
 of country quiet now, and at the Union of the Seces- 
 sion and Relief Churches in 1847, went over to the 
 United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Erskine's 
 remains lie in a mausoleum in front of the church. 
 The old bridge of Stirling still spans the Tay. Near 
 it the battle of Stirling was fought in 1 297, Sir William 
 Wallace gaining the victory over the English. Cam- 
 buskenneth Abbey lies in the valley of the Forth. 
 The tower remains entire and is a fine specimen of 
 Gothic architecture. The murdered James III. and 
 his Queen were interred near the high altar. Recently 
 the remains were reinterred, and Queen Victoria has 
 erected a handsome tomb to the memory of her kins- 
 man. In honor of the dead Queen, a princess of 
 Denmark, the arms of Scotland and Denmark are 
 united. Important lessons can be learned here as we 
 listen to the voices of a time long past. They are full 
 of meaning, full of the struggles and the achings and, 
 perchance, the schemings of those whose dust and 
 ashes are so quietly sleeping here. 
 
 " How sweet to know 
 The trials which we cannot comprehend 
 Have each their own divinely proposed end. I 
 
 ne traineth so 
 For higher learning, ever onward reaching, 
 For fuller knowledge yet and his own deep teaching." 
 
 How sweet to know that God has a purpose from 
 all Eternity, that not one of his purposes can ever fail 
 7 
 
98 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of accomplishment. " I am the Lord, I change not." 
 Judgment does not always immediately follow trans- 
 gressions of the divine law, nor is the cause of the 
 righteous always immediately vindicated; but every 
 case is in the hands of an unerring Advocate who will 
 render a perfect verdict, and who will in his own time 
 bring to naught the devices of the wicked. 
 
 The English kings for long years had an evil eye 
 toward Scotland. They wanted her people to exist as 
 vassals of the English crown, and hence took every 
 advantage that such a policy mapped out. In Scotland 
 the law of succession was often imperiled and open to 
 disputes as to the rightful ruler. In the twelfth century 
 a dispute of that nature was settled by elevating Mal- 
 colm IV. to the Scottish throne. The new king was 
 only twelve years of age and not at all capable of 
 guiding the affairs of a nation, especially at a critical 
 time. Having visited London, in his first interview 
 with Henry II. of England, the English king treated 
 him as a subordinate prince and subjected him to many 
 indignities. Malcolm returned home to meet the in- 
 dignation of the Scottish people and nobles, because 
 he had submitted to the humiliation. They revolted 
 against the idea of Henry's assuming to rule over 
 them. Malcolm was succeeded by his brother William 
 II., and the new monarch began his reign by courting 
 the favor of the English king; but in the course of his 
 reign the want of heroism in the Scottish king was 
 rewarded by his capture and detention in England as 
 a prisoner of war. His liberty was only obtained by 
 the disgraceful surrender of the independence of Scot- 
 land. This state of affairs was the signal for insurrec- 
 
SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 99 
 
 tions in Galloway and in the Highlands; everywhere 
 there existed unrest and revolt. 
 
 Near the close of the century Henry died and was 
 succeeded by Richard Cceur de Lion. The attention 
 of this monarch was wholly taken up with the third 
 crusade which he headed in person. He wanted large 
 sums of money to carry out his plans, and he obtained 
 the desired supply by renouncing all pretended rights 
 in the sovereignty over Scotland. By the middle of 
 the thirteenth century new sovereigns in both king- 
 doms were acting their part in life's drama. Henry 
 III. was on the throne of England and at once began 
 to assert the old claim. His successor was Edward I. 
 his unscrupulous son. Soon after his accession, Alex- 
 ander III. of Scotland was accidentally killed, and the 
 heir to the throne was a little girl called Margaret of 
 Norway. A long minority was much to be dreaded, 
 and from other considerations her right to the throne 
 was disputed, and Bruce and Baliol were brought for- 
 ward by their respective partisans. In the meantime 
 Edward resolved to annex the kingdom of Scotland to 
 his own dominions, and the result of all this was that 
 the land was rent by rival factions and surging and 
 seething with discontent. 
 
 At this important period William Wallace, rightfully 
 called "The Deliverer of Scotland," came to the front. 
 Personal wrong and grinding oppression roused him 
 to revolt, and he nerved his arm to strike for the 
 liberty of his country. It is well for Scotland to honor 
 her Wallace. By his gallant struggle for freedom he 
 enlisted the sympathies of the world in her behalf and 
 opened the way for her future greatness. Sir William 
 
IOO REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Wallace belonged to an ancient family whose home 
 was Ellerslie near Paisley. He was muscular, well 
 formed and of unusual strength and courage. Being 
 taunted one day by some English officers at the garri- 
 son about the depressed condition of the country, he 
 slew them and raised the standard of revolt, anci col- 
 lected a body of men to whom he imparted his own 
 invincible spirit. 
 
 A species of guerilla warfare was inaugurated which 
 was very successful, especially in inspiring the people 
 and uniting them to cast off the hated English yoke. 
 In a spirit of revenge the English burned the house at 
 Ellerslie and murdered lady Marian, the wife of Wal- 
 lace. From that time forth Wallace gave his life to 
 Scotland, and after a number of successful conflicts, 
 was chosen by the people Guardian of the Kingdom. 
 He at once began to reconstruct, to correct abuses 
 and to establish defenses for the kingdom. Edward 
 lost no time in preparing to invade and lay waste the 
 kingdom. With an army of eighty thousand he 
 marched into Scotland. Wallace meantime made 
 haste to ? meet the emergency. At this turn in affairs 
 the gallant deliverer encountered the selfish jealousy 
 of the Scottish barons who were envious of his renown 
 and military prowess, and at this critical time withheld 
 their support, and Wallace was sacrificed. After the 
 fatal battle of Falkirk he resigned the office of Guardian 
 of Scotland, but was eventually captured through the 
 treachery of a pretended friend, taken to London and 
 there drawn and quartered after being subjected to 
 most inhuman cruelties. 
 
 Scotland now lay bleeding and at the mercy of Ed- 
 
BANNOCKBURN. I 01 
 
 ward. A crisis was upon the nation, and after the 
 ominous lull that precedes the storm Robert Bruce 
 appeared upon the scene, caught up the banner of 
 Scottish liberty and held it aloft till it waved free and 
 untrammeled on the hard fought field of Bannockburn. 
 The whole course of events that rapidly flowed at this 
 time reads like a romance. It is intensely interesting 
 as the unfolding of one of God's gracious purposes to 
 a people that he designed for a place in the forefront 
 of his army against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
 Every one who loves Scotland remembers Bannock- 
 burn with kindling enthusiasm. It was the full fledging 
 place of her liberty that had been nurtured by the 
 blood of Wallace and thousands of her sons, until 
 strength was given her to cast off her chains and her 
 slavery and be a free people. It is no wonder then 
 that we, with Scotch ancestry, looked out upon the 
 scenes here with a full heart From the Wallace 
 Monument where there are many relics of the time a 
 multitude of thoughts came pressing forward telling a 
 weird and mornful story of Scotland's woes and how 
 her enemies at this very outlook were scattered as 
 chaff before the wind, and the independence of the 
 country was established on a solid basis — a basis se- 
 cured at a fearful cost. Hence it has always been 
 prized. They planted their feet upon it determined to 
 stand there, and have since then resolutely resisted 
 every effort to enslave them, whether coming from 
 Church or State. No mortal can estimate the grand 
 results of the struggle maintained until victory was 
 won. The harvest is being gathered through the 
 generations in the impulse given to the spirit of na- 
 
102 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 tional freedom, and the nations of Christendom are 
 taking to themselves the boon more and more. 
 
 Like the settings of a mosaic, the memorable 
 places in Scotland have all their distinctive position 
 in history, all their several shares in completing the 
 pattern, all 
 
 " Some little chips to cut with care minute, 
 Or tint, or grave, or polish." 
 
 Of the setting, the city of Perth is among the fairest. 
 In historical antiquity and natural beauty it ranks 
 with the highest. It is situated upon a broad sweep 
 of the river Tay, a majestic stream whose home is in 
 the Highlands. This city is called the gate of the 
 Highlands. Its original name is said to have been 
 Bertha or Berth, and as the initial letters in the Gaelic 
 are interchangeable, in the course of events the name 
 became Perth. There is a tradition that the city was 
 built by the Romans under Agricola, A. D. 83. In 
 early times.it was the most important town in Scotland 
 and was a prominent figure in the wars and sieges and 
 raids thai so often desolated the land. This city was a 
 center for the operations of Sir William Wallace, and 
 afterward of Robert Bruce in rescuing the crown of 
 Scotland from "proud Edward's power." The city 
 was captured by Cromwell for the commonwealth, 
 1 65 1. The last scene, however, of carnage and deso- 
 lation was in 1745, when a party of Highlanders took 
 possession of the city for Prince Charles Edward. 
 
 Perth was one of the royal residences of the kings 
 till James I. was foully murdered in 1437 within the 
 walls of one of its monasteries. James, the first Stuart 
 
A REFORMER. 
 
 o3 
 
 king, was talented and highly cultivated. He had 
 been imprisoned in England in his youth by Henry 
 IV.; but he was permitted to pursue his education 
 until he became an accomplished scholar as well as 
 a master in the science of government. To this was 
 added shrewdness, sagacity and indomitable courage. 
 When the youthful monarch gained possession of his 
 throne the country was the scene of much disorder 
 for want of a firm hand to enforce the laws. Since 
 the death of his ancestor, Robert Bruce, the power of 
 the nobles had increased, while that of the crown had 
 proportionally waned. When James became fully aware 
 of the turbulence of the nobles he exclaimed earnestly, 
 "Let God but grant me life, and throughout my do- 
 minions I shall make the key keep the castle and the 
 bush secure the cow, though I myself should lead the 
 life of a dog to accomplish it." 
 
 He at once took steps to humble the power of the 
 feudal aristocracy. Some of them were imprisoned 
 for their lawless deeds, and others were treated with 
 great severity. The Highlands especially were in a 
 state bordering on anarchy. The chiefs Jiving in 
 almost inaccessible fastnesses surrounded by their vas- 
 sals, often defied the law and robbed and murdered at 
 their pleasure. To meet this difficulty James marched 
 north at the head of an army and summoned a parlia- 
 ment to meet in the strong castle of Inverness. He 
 ordered the chiefs of the marauding clans to attend 
 this meeting of Parliament, and they did not venture 
 to disobey. As they entered the hall of this castle 
 fifty of the turbulent chiefs were seized and put in 
 irons for trial. Two of them were beheaded for mur- 
 
104 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 der and oppression. Meanwhile James prosecuted his 
 plans for controlling the nobility and promoting the 
 interests of the kingdom; but some of the nobles of 
 his court hated him and entered into a conspiracy to 
 take his life. The king resolved to keep the holiday 
 festival in Perth, and hither he came, though repeatedly 
 warned of the hostility of some of his court. On the 
 fatal evening the king and his retinue were occupied 
 in amusements till near midnight. At a given signal 
 the conspirators entered and found the king talking 
 gaily with the queen and her ladies. He soon discov- 
 ered their murderous intent and fled to a vault in the 
 monastery, whither they pursued him and stabbed him 
 to the heart. 
 
 Previous to that period Parliament often met here. 
 It was considered the metropolis of Scotland and was 
 celebrated for the number and grandeur of its ecclesi- 
 astical buildings. The only one which has survived 
 the stormy period of the Reformation is St. John's 
 church, founded by David I., the date mentioned in 
 the charter being 1130. In this church John Knox 
 preached his celebrated sermon exposing the idolatry 
 of Rome, which so roused the indignation of the mul- 
 titude against Romish impositions that when next day 
 they were insulted by a priest, the destruction of the 
 monasteries and all Roman Catholic religious houses 
 began and was continued until the devastation was 
 complete. Knox disapproved the mob-spirit and said 
 it was done by the "rascal multitude." It is significant 
 that at the present time we are not only aping the 
 ritualism, the grand music and the vestments of that 
 day, but the architecture of our churches is taking on 
 
QUIET WORSHIP. 105 
 
 the same style, and there are indications that we are 
 running into religious establishments, self-appointed, 
 and consequently exceedingly dangerous. 
 
 After each visitation Perth has risen more beautiful 
 than before, and so it is fair Perth still. The ancient 
 palace of Scone is one of the attractions. It is situated 
 outside the city limits, and is at present the seat of the 
 Earl of Mansfield. When the Culdee worship pre- 
 vailed in the North of Scotland, one of their simple 
 religious houses was erected beside the palace. When 
 costly religious establishments were beginning to 
 flourish in the Roman Catholic Church, this place of 
 worship was superseded by an abbey. The early 
 Scottish kings were all crowned at Scone, upon the 
 famous coronation stone now in Westminster Abbey 
 beneath the throne. It is said to have been transferred 
 from Ireland to Scotland by the Scots. 
 
 We spent a Sabbath in Perth. It was a beautiful 
 day, and all was as quiet in the streets of the city as 
 if we were far from the haunts of men, till three 
 church bells sounded in concert, making a musical 
 combination that will ever be a reminder of Perth and 
 its quiet worship day. At the proper hour we found 
 our way to the Original Secession church, Rev. Robert 
 Morton pastor. The worshipers were attentive and 
 gave earnest heed to the words of truth and soberness 
 that fell from the lips of the pastor. We worshiped 
 with this people both at the morning and afternoon 
 service. It was in this church that Rev. William 
 Wilson, one of the four original Seceders who left the 
 Established Church on account of her Moderatism, 
 preached. Rev. Mr. Wilson was related to the mar- 
 
106 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 tyred Guthrie of Stirling who suffered in the Grass- 
 market, Edinburgh. His father had been compelled 
 to fly to Holland in persecuting times, but came back 
 in the train of William, Prince of Orange. Mr. 
 Wilson was a diligent student and a preacher of great 
 power and unction. His theology was a living, active 
 principle flowing out from a pure perennial fountain. 
 When quite a youth he joined the reforming party in 
 the Established Church, and ever stood firm and un- 
 flinching against the dead formality that crept on the 
 Church at the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
 He was the literary leader of the Secession of 1733 
 and their first theological professor, and was held in 
 very high esteem by his brethren. 
 
 In 1740, the first Sabbath after the final act of cen- 
 sure was passed upon the seceding brethren, Mr. 
 Wilson was refused admittance to his own church by 
 the civil authorities. He spent that morning in prayer, 
 and the breakfast was almost neglected by the whole 
 family. One aged servant, who had been in the family 
 from her youth, on that morning remembered vividly 
 the scenes of the Covenanting days, when she crept 
 stealthily out with food to a wild and gloomy moss 
 where Mr. Wilson's father was concealed. This 
 memory made her anxious for the son, and as Mr. 
 Wilson passed out of his closet toward his church, she 
 said, "Tak' tent, Mr. William, tak' tent what yere 
 doing; for I fear if things gang on this way, I'll get 
 yere meat to carry to the moor, as I did yere gude 
 father's afore ye." A great multitude thronged the 
 church, and as Mr. Wilson requested admission and 
 was refused, a low murmur ran through the throng. 
 
REV. MR. WILSON. \0"J 
 
 The aged ones wept, while the younger ones threat- 
 ened violence. Mr. Wilson exclaimed, "The Master 
 whom I serve is the Prince of Peace," and as the 
 words rang over the wedged multitude, the tumult 
 was stayed, and the vast assemblage followed the 
 minister to the Glover's yard, where he preached a 
 powerful sermon from the text, "Let us go out, 
 therefore, with him without the camp bearing his re- 
 proach." 
 
 The Synod of Stirling and Perth met in Perth in 
 1732, and as retiring moderator Rev. Ebenezer Erskine 
 preached his famous sermon from the text, " The stone 
 which the builders refused is become the head stone 
 of the corner." This sermon was the starting-point 
 of the Associate Presbyterian Church which grew into 
 a power in after years. 
 
 Monday morning we strolled over the city, taking 
 in Kinnoull Hill with its cliffs and woods and the two 
 handsome parks called North Inch and South Inch. 
 These parks are both on the right bank of the Tay. 
 They contain each about one hundred acres, and the 
 city lies between them. The puzzling question is 
 sometimes put, "Why is Perth the smallest city in the 
 world?" The answer is, " It is situated between two 
 Inches." 
 
 We spent a part of Monday in the hospitable home 
 and in the delightful companionship of Rev. Robert 
 Morton and family. There is nothing more precious 
 on earth than the meeting of kindred spirits. Mind 
 recognizes mind as readily as faces are recognized, 
 with this difference, that mind discovers and selects its 
 counterpart, though they may never have met before. 
 
IOS REMINISCENCES. 
 
 We also enjoyed, and profited by, the acquaintance of 
 Mr. Dewar, then editor of the Perthshire Courier. 
 
 We had been told, when the prospect of this visit 
 was but idle and misty dreaming, that Dunkeld was a 
 jewel — that it was indeed "beauty lying in the lap of 
 terror," and such we found it, after a rapid ride fifteen 
 miles north of Perth. At the station Birnam Hill, 
 bristling with its old records, looked invitingly upon 
 us, and the station-master, a fine specimen of a 
 Scotchman, read our thoughts and said, "You can 
 make the top of Birnam Hill before you sleep." He 
 procured a small boy to set us on the right path, and 
 we began the climb at once of 1324 feet. The way 
 was through a mass of ferns and shrubs and trees and 
 tangled vines so dense that night seemed impending. 
 But we pushed on to the top where we found " Great 
 Birnam Wood," associated with the usurper Macbeth 
 and his dethronement by Malcom Canmore, a wood 
 no longer. The trees have long since disappeared, 
 except two in Dunkeld, said to be more than 1000 
 years old. Had it not been for the heather in bloom- 
 ing buds, the top of Birnam Hill would have been 
 bleak and bare. 
 
 On one bold brow overlooking the Tay was a cairn, 
 or mound of small stones, from the top of which a 
 British flag was floating, and away on the most com- 
 manding summit another cairn and flag relieved the 
 loneliness. Not a sign of human habitation was to be 
 seen. However, it was far from lonely to us. At the 
 base of the hill is a gorge traversed by the Tay, called 
 the "Mouth of the Highlands." Here we saw the 
 heather for the first time in pride upon its native 
 

 THE STORY OF MACBETH. 109 
 
 heath, and we sat down among the branches and 
 stroked it kindly as we would the friend of our child- 
 hood. Every outlook was full of meaning. There 
 were hills and gorges to the right of us, hills and 
 gorges to the left of us, and the same in front and 
 rear. It is all classic ground immortalized by Shake- 
 speare in his tragedy of Macbeth. He found the tale 
 of Macbeth in Scottish chronicles, and he dressed it 
 in the imagery of his fruitful brain as an example of 
 wicked ambition and the remorse that succeeds it. 
 The story is confined to the Scottish period in the 
 eleventh century. In the ninth century the Scots and 
 Picts became one people under one sovereign, Kenneth 
 Macalpine, an able and vigorous prince. Two hundred 
 years of invasion and robbery and bloodshed brings 
 us to the period of the story. Duncan ascended the 
 Scottish throne A. D. 1033. Macbeth was the ambi- 
 tious chief of the remote district of Rosshire. His 
 wife, lady Macbeth, was of the royal line. In her 
 youthful days the succession was disputed, and she 
 was compelled to fly for her life. She sought refuge 
 at the stronghold of Macbeth and eventually became 
 his wife. Revenge and ambition operating together 
 prompted these two to murder the " gracious Duncan," 
 and Macbeth mounted the throne. The chief of the 
 clan of the murdered king resisted his authority and 
 was joined by Macduff, chief of the crown rights of 
 Fife. These two powerful chiefs determined to place 
 the rightful heir, Malcolm eldest son of Duncan, on 
 the throne of his ancestors. The rival claimants with 
 a considerable following met in mortal combat on this 
 hill, at that time "Great Birnam Wood," and one of 
 
IIO REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Macbeth's strongholds. The usurper was defeated 
 and utterly routed, though not killed at that time. 
 Ultimately Duncan's son, Malcolm Canmore, was 
 seated on the throne, and his judicious and energetic 
 reign forms an important era in the early history of 
 Scotland. 
 
 There is enough in the unvarnished history of 
 Macbeth to give genius such as Shakespeare had a 
 foundation upon which to construct a thrilling story; 
 but who does not know that real life is stranger than 
 fiction? As the infinite transcends the finite so our 
 lives woven by the great Architect stand out infinitely 
 superior to any creations of the finite. Malcolm Can- 
 more was crowned at Scone near Perth, and out of 
 gratitude to Macduff he rewarded him and his suc- 
 cessors, the Lords of Fife, with the important honor 
 and privilege of placing the kings of Scotland on the 
 throne and of leading the van of the Scottish army 
 wherever the royal banner was displayed. The honor 
 of the chiefs of Fife was transferred with the crown 
 when James VI. became king of England, and they 
 retain it to this day. Thus the crown of England was 
 as much honored by the alliance of their Queen's 
 grand-daughter with Macduff as Scotland was honored 
 by the advent of a princess. The Macduff estate be- 
 longs to the present Duke of Fife. 
 
 While we gazed rain clouds began to obscure the 
 hill-tops in front of us and to drop their burdens, 
 sometimes in driving sheets that began to approach 
 us. We heeded the warning and began the descent 
 so vigorously, we lost our way amid the dark under- 
 growth upon the sides. Visions of the " Babes in the 
 
DUNKELD. I I I 
 
 Wood" flitted for the moment; but at length we 
 struck the path and arrived at our hotel at 10 p. m; at 
 which time the twilight still lingered and the rain 
 clouds were gone. 
 
 Dunkeld is of unknown antiquity. In the Pictish 
 period it was often the seat of royalty. It is clustered 
 upon the Tay. and literally surrounded with great 
 rocky upheavels so precipitous that they cannot in 
 many places be scaled. Years ago, these towering 
 craigs were bare. Neither forest nor shrubs adorned 
 the great seamy sides and gorges in the brown rock. 
 They looked so savage and gloomy that they prompted 
 a criticism from Robert Burns. Some genius of the 
 forest concluded to experiment by shooting quantities 
 of seeds of different kinds of trees and plants in the 
 fissures. In due time a thick growth of tree and plant 
 life appeared, and now the leafy bowers and shades of 
 verdure upon Craigy-Barns and other points and craigs 
 are charming. 
 
 Dunkeld has a hoary cathedral of great interest. 
 Upon the spot a religious house was founded by the 
 students of Columba about the time of the conversion 
 of the northern Picts from Druidism. Columba, in the 
 true missionary spirit, bearded Druidism in its strong- 
 hold, enduring hardships, pushing his own way and 
 organizing centers wherever he could till the whole 
 Highlands were permeated. It was no known fault 
 of his that his work was eventually exchanged for 
 spiritual decline along with Rome. That decline had 
 the promise of better days, however. Gray hairs are 
 often here and there upon the Church, and she knows 
 it not. Dunkeld possessed the primacy of the king- 
 
1 I 2 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 dom for some time, having an illustrious monastery 
 where literary and scientific studies were pursued as 
 well as theology. The religion of the Culdees was 
 comparatively pure, and they were most self-sacrificing 
 and indefatigable missionaries. 
 
 Almost all the learning was possessed by the clergy 
 during the dark ages. They were not- only the recipi- 
 ents of the knowledge of history and science, but they 
 studied medicine and the arts. They were the sculp- 
 tors, the painters and the poets of the age. The 
 mouldering remains of those magnificent baronial and 
 ecclesiastical dwellings were the work of their hands. 
 They must have toiled for the love of it; for they were 
 herded together in communities and never permitted 
 the pleasure of ruling "wife and wee uns" at their 
 own fireside. The nobility at this period thought it 
 was beneath their dignity — it was weak and womanish 
 — to spend time on learning; and not a single Scottish 
 baron could write his own name. The wife of Mal- 
 colm Canmore, Queen Margaret, could read, and she 
 encouraged letters; but her royal husband disdained 
 the art as entirely too stupid for a great prince. When 
 the Stuart kings came to the throne learning began 
 slowly to assert itself. An amusing story is told of a 
 Highland chief who attended a meeting of parliament 
 in Edinburgh with a suitable retinue, and when the 
 time for return came, he was accompanied by the king, 
 who was perhaps James I. and who desired to take a 
 hunting tour through the Highlands. The Stuart 
 kings were famous, in modern parlance, for " swinging 
 around the circle." The chief was anxious to entertain 
 the king in his castle with the honor and magnificence 
 
ILLITERATE CHIEFTAINS. I I 3 
 
 due to royalty, and he hastened a swift messenger to 
 his wife with a missive bearing two words which he 
 intended to represent "spits and ranges;" but his im- 
 perfect chirography made the reading appear to his 
 wife, "pikes and riders." It was no uncommon thing 
 for a chieftain in those days to be engaged in a hand 
 to hand conflict when he went from home on affairs 
 of state, and the spirited lady with true wifely instincts 
 hastily armed two hundred vassals and despatched 
 them to meet her lord. When the king saw the for-:* 
 midable array of "warriors true," he was greatly 
 alarmed, thinking there was treachery. But the ludi- 
 crous mistake was explained, and perhaps the chief 
 took a few more lessons in penmanship and deported 
 himself more intelligently in the future. 
 
 Dunkeld House, near the cathedral, is an incomplete 
 palace of the late Duke of Athole. It is now the 
 residence of the Duchess dowager of Athole. It has 
 beautiful and extensive grounds, being traversed by 
 fifty miles of walks and thirty miles of carriage drives. 
 The whole is enclosed in a high stone wall, so that the 
 lowly peasant can see none of its beauties, except the 
 graceful tree tops that will not hide themselves. 
 
 Eager to get on in our sight-seeing, we were soon 
 aboard the train for Blair Athole, a small and picturesque 
 village among the Highlands belonging to the Athole 
 family. Blair Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Athole 
 for many generations, is situated on an eminence 
 rising from the Garry river, and is surrounded on all 
 sides by the most majestic of Highland scenery. The 
 huge rocky shoulders of Schiehallion rise bold and 
 stately to an altitude of 3533 feet. Ben-y Gloe, the 
 8 
 
114 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 king of a rocky range, is smooth and perfectly bare. 
 Its brown surface, mottled with silver grey, glistened 
 in the sunlight, as if some fearful monster, tired of its 
 own weight, had fallen asleep in the clouds. At its 
 feet a cluster of neat little cottages were nestled. One 
 no larger than an ordinary chicken coop, neat as a pin, 
 and with vines and flower plots, was the summer home 
 of two cultivated ladies from Edinburgh. Ben-y 
 Vrackie towers in another direction above billowy 
 hills and slopes and ranges. 
 
 The Tilt river literally tilts and leaps and foams over 
 a rocky bed down from these heights, being joined on 
 its journey by little tributaries that dart and dance and 
 brawl till their golden waters are lost in the Tilt. The 
 glen through which the river passes, called Glen Tilt, 
 is of exceeding beauty. The God of nature has per- 
 fected the adornments. The hand of man is not seen, 
 not even in broken shrubs and trees, nor in mutilated 
 fern beds. Such trespass is not permitted. All this 
 stretch of hill and dale for miles the prosperity of the 
 Duke of Athole, of an ancient and honorable family 
 that gave kings to Scotland from Duncan to Alexan- 
 der. Blair Athole is one of the first places mentioned 
 in Scottish history. The old castle is not occupied by 
 the present Duke. He resides in a stately modern 
 castle in the midst of a handsome park near Blair 
 Athole. The large park connected with the establish- 
 ment is a marvel of beauty. The old parish church is 
 near by, and in a vault under one of the aisles of this 
 church was interred the remains of John Grahame of 
 Claverhouse, the brutal persecutor, and who was killed 
 at the battle of Killiecrankie shortly after he was made 
 
THE PROSPECT. I I 5 
 
 Viscount Dundee. The darling hills of the Highlands 
 are poetry itself; and to them is added the variety of 
 maiden and lover, the chase, tragedy and carnage to 
 tinge and shadow them with the drapery of romance. 
 These hills and haunts have been wrought in glowing 
 colors by gifted pens, and heroic figures stand out in 
 bold relief as warriors. But how different were they 
 from the Christian warrior who combats the evils that 
 enslave men, and who severs the chains which bind 
 the oppressed! When will men learn that only by the 
 peaceful influence of the gospel in the hands of the 
 heralds of peace can turmoil and passion in all its 
 envy and vindictiveness be put away from the earth? 
 These hills and valleys have been reddened with the 
 blood of many slain. The present gives promise that 
 those bloody scenes have gone forever. The promise 
 is in the religion of the people. 
 
Il6 REMINISCENXES, 
 
 VII. 
 
 The earliest inhabitants of Great Britain were of 
 Celtic origin, it is thought, and passed over from Gaul 
 long before the Romans had any knowledge of the 
 country. The difference that now exists in language 
 and manners is due to accidental and local circum- 
 stances. The names of rivers, mountains, &c, indicate 
 a common origin. The Romans found Scotland in- 
 habited by twenty-one tribes, similar to the tribes of 
 Indians in our own land. They were a pastoral people. 
 Their religion w T as Druidism, and the manner of bury- 
 ing their dead was similar to that of the natives of 
 America. Their ornamental works in stone and 
 earthen ware that have been rescued from old ruins 
 are also similar. The tribes were all designated Cale- 
 donians by the Romans, meaning the people of the 
 woods. When the Romans abdicated, the name 
 "Caledonian" disappeared, and this same people were 
 called Picts. Eventually a people called Scots passed 
 over from the north of Ireland and established them- 
 selves in Scotland. Fierce wars ensued; but as men- 
 tioned before, in the ninth century the two nations, 
 Picts and Scots, were united under one sovereign, 
 Kenneth Macalpin. Both peoples were of Celtic 
 origin, their union was a happy one, and the name 
 
THE HIGHLANDERS. I I 7 
 
 « Scotland" eventually dispossessed all other names. 
 The Saxons from England gradually took possession 
 of the south, or Lowlands, of Scotland, and became 
 fixed during the changes and enterprises of nations, 
 while the Celts occupied the mountain fastnesses of the 
 Highlands and retain to this day many of the features 
 of a separate people. 
 
 They have all along been distinguished for courage 
 and hardihood. The mountain air, the outdoor life 
 and their contempt for the enervating influences of a 
 high civilization have made them robust and fearless. 
 Deeds of daring and exalted trust characterized even 
 the women. When some of the Highland clans raised 
 the standard of rebellion in 17 15 and proclaimed the 
 Pretender, a Catholic, as James VIII., the Lady of 
 Culloden House, a Presbyterian, was mistress of the 
 situation. The rebellious chiefs with their clansmen 
 stormed Inverness and its castle, marched upon Cullo- 
 den House and demanded its surrender. The master 
 of the house, a descendant of one who had signed the 
 Covenant, was from home, but the Lady of Culloden, 
 equally faithful, replied, " My husband has left me the 
 keys of this house with the custody of what is in it, 
 and I will deliver them to none but himself." She 
 then hastened to perfect the defenses, and James was 
 repulsed. 
 
 We were now fairly within the domain of the heroic 
 Highlander, and night found us sheltered in a High- 
 land cot at the north end of the Pass of Killiecrankie 
 and at the edge of the village of Altgirneg. It was 
 just such lodging as we desired. The lowly dwelling, 
 the simple furnishing, the genuine kindness were rep- 
 
Il8 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 resentative in character, but not more so than the 
 small, sharp black eyes of our Highland hostess, who 
 lived alone and could give us bits of history that were 
 very entertaining. We slept soundly, fanned by moun- 
 tain breezes and lulled by the now softly falling waters 
 of the Garry, upon whose banks this dwelling was 
 situated. The next morning we rose with the sun, 
 and having previously arranged for an early breakfast, 
 the porridge from meal of home manufacture, scone, 
 butter, gooseberry jam and tea were served in our own 
 room, and so early, the few inhabitants in this wild 
 and romantic region were still asleep. The Scotch 
 people do not move early in the morning. They 
 realize that Rome was not built in a day and are, 
 therefore, careful of their reserve force. At the north 
 end of the Pass of Killiecrankie the Garry river ceases 
 its dash and its roar, and is driven into narrow bounds 
 by almost impassable cliffs. These cliffs are torn and 
 rent into great fissures and deep gorges, rugged and 
 hungry looking and as defiant and frowning as great 
 Avild beasts at bay. From the top of these hanging cliffs 
 the water seems to wind like a black serpent half hidden 
 among the great fragments of rock. It is as if the 
 huge mountain had been violently rent asunder to an 
 unfathomable depth and the water had been thrust 
 into the chasm as into a prison house. At intervals 
 the water breaks into a cascade, and the transit of this 
 volume of inky blackness into a tumbling mass reflects 
 a rich golden tint that is most fascinating. 
 
 This narrow Pass is fully two miles long, with an 
 ever-changing variety of this sublime scenery. The 
 whole is traversed by a roadway in excellent order, 
 
 
KILLIECRANKIE. I 1 9 
 
 overhung in places with long mosses and ferns and 
 heather, and the "bonnie blue bell." We walked on 
 and on, with each new view a surprise and delight, till 
 we reached Garry Bridge, beyond which was a stretch 
 of meadow dotted with black-faced Highland sheep. 
 Among the sheep in friendly companionship at least a 
 dozen hares were feeding. But they quickly scampered 
 into the deep copse at our approach. At another turn 
 in the road, a pair of startled pheasants skipped from 
 their hiding with a familiar whirr. Their habits are 
 the same as the pheasants of the mountains of America, 
 but the tail feathers are very long, drooping and of 
 brilliant colors. 
 
 This Pass is made famous by the battle of Killie- 
 crankie, fought in July 1689, between the royal forces 
 of William Prince of Orange and the Highland clans 
 for James II., under the lead of Claverhouse, at this 
 period Viscount Dundee. 
 
 After the accession of William and Mary in 1688, 
 Scotland had to be reconstructed in both Church and 
 State. King William willingly permitted the Presby- 
 terian form of Church government to prevail in 
 Scotland, and the Parliament that met soon after in 
 Edinburgh abolished Episcopacy. They then read 
 over the Westminster Standards at full length and 
 received them anew as the Standards of their faith. 
 The Presbyterian Church was again recognized as the 
 national Church; but there remained some elements 
 of discord. The reconstruction of the civil power was 
 very difficult, the obstacles resembling in many fea- 
 tures the arduous and perplexing complications that 
 presented themselves at the close of our civil war. 
 
120 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 While the three estates of the realm were laboring to 
 harmonize the factions, a civil war broke out in the 
 Highlands. King James did not yield his crown 
 without a struggle. He fixed upon Dundee for a 
 leader and proposed active operations. The Highland 
 clans at this period feared a strong and settled govern- 
 ment, lest it would interfere with their marauding 
 pursuits. They also hated the powerful family of 
 Argyle whose vast estates had been declared forfeited 
 by the Stuarts and bestowed upon some other clans, 
 but which had now been restored and the clan received 
 into favor by King William. Hence a coalition of 
 clans with a promise of help from Ireland was projected 
 in favor of the exiled dynasty. The Jacobite chiefs as 
 they are known in history were all either Roman 
 Catholics or Episcopalians. 
 
 Dundee sent the fiery cross throughout the High- 
 lands with the cry, "The mustering place is Lochabar," 
 and with a small force pounced upon Perth, appropri- 
 ated the public funds in the name of king James, 
 dispersed the troops of king William and sent the 
 officers prisoners to the Isle of Mull. Gathering force 
 to his army he marched in the direction of Blair 
 Athole and took possession of the important fortifica- 
 tion and castle situated on an eminence commanding; 
 the vale of the Garry and the Pass of Killiecrankie. 
 It was only through this narrow Pass that the royal 
 forces could reach the district of Athole, not even a 
 foothold could be obtained on the sides of the wild 
 rocky steeps that are a wall on either hand of this 
 remarkable way. 
 
 General Mackay led the royal forces up this narrow 
 
TUMMELL FALLS. 121 
 
 and desolate Pass, and met the Highlanders a few rods 
 north of this village of Altgirneg. The Highlanders 
 were victorious; but as the clash of battle was fading 
 out, Dundee fell dying, pierced by a bullet in a vital 
 place. A black undressed stone, six or eight feet high, 
 marks the spot where he fell. His death changed the 
 defeat into victory for King William. 
 
 At the bridge of Garry we left the highway to visit 
 the Falls of Tummell and the Queen's View. Tum- 
 mell river for some distance above the fall is a roaring 
 cataract, and the leap when it comes is not a fearful 
 one, but is rather a laughing, frolicking one, and must 
 have brought pleasant thoughts to Queen Victoria as 
 she sat upon a great rock and reveled in the scene. A 
 monument now marks the spot where she sat. Balmoral 
 Castle is not very far distant, and the Queen has visited 
 all this magnificent scenery, often having to ride on 
 horseback over the rocky and tangled steeps. 
 
 It did add interest to the scenes to know that the 
 Queen of all Britain was charmed with these views; 
 not alone because she is Queen of a great people, but 
 because her greatness has not despoiled her of true 
 womanhood. She is the queen of virtue and gentle 
 dignity in her own court. Her noble stand for wo- 
 man's most exalted position has reflected throughout 
 the land, and Britain's daughters are distinguished for 
 modesty and gentility and the qualities which really 
 beautify women. She must be a woman of force and 
 persistence, notwithstanding she has little voice in state 
 affairs, to so reform the court circles and impress her- 
 self upon them in such a marked degree and preserve 
 the deep-seated affection ol her people as well. A 
 

 122 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 distinguishing mark of leadership is the impress of 
 one's self upon those around. 
 
 In our journeyings it was an easy transition from 
 the wild and absorbing beauty of the Highlands to 
 hoary St. Andrews, its origin concealed by the mists 
 of antiquity. We meet with similar transition in our 
 lives by passing from one scene of pleasant labor to 
 another totally different, but equally pleasant. It is 
 that delightful variety that God often gives his children 
 and which, over against the most harassing responsi- 
 bilities, makes up the "all things that work together 
 for good" for his children. From sorrow to gladness 
 is often but an unexpected turn in some minute affair. 
 The more unreservedly we give all our plans into God's 
 hands, the less will we be burdened with the every day 
 operations of life. 
 
 St. Andrews sits by the sea and is fanned continu- 
 ally by ocean breezes. Its chief attraction, however, 
 is the memories that crowd around it and connect it 
 intimately with the most interesting period in Scottish 
 history. The Reformation from Popery took strong 
 and healthy growth in St. Andrews, and as the first 
 great Reformation which took place in Scotland, its 
 echoes are reverberating there still. 
 
 Before the dawn of day sends out its shadows there 
 are unmistakable signs and sounds that tell the day is 
 coming. It steals upon the senses of every living 
 thing; even the atmosphere heralds the morning light. 
 The same is true of the moral world. It is governed 
 by the law of cycles; there is the midnight hour, and 
 all the gradations till the light begins to struggle with 
 the darkness, and finally to cast off its fetters. This 
 
ST. ANDREWS. I 23 
 
 change is accompanied with significant signs not mis- 
 taken by those who love and maintain a close walk 
 with God. When Scotland was completely within the 
 iron grasp of Rome the true witnesses were slain in 
 the streets, and the Romish Church rejoiced over them 
 and made merry. But ere long the spirit of life from 
 God entered into them, and there were signs of ap- 
 proaching revival of the true doctrines. 
 
 In 1322 a German reformer, Walter Lollard, was 
 burned at the stake at Cologne 'for preaching against 
 the mass, extreme unction, penance and the domineer- 
 ing authority of the Pope. His doctrines silently 
 found their way into England and Scotland, and his 
 followers, called Lollards, were zealously opposed to 
 the Romish hierarchy. In 1324 John WycklifTe was 
 born. He studied at Oxford, England, entered the 
 priesthood and in 1 363 took his degree and began a 
 course of lectures on divinity at Oxford, where he as- 
 sailed the corruption of Rome and proclaimed the 
 great doctrines of Christianity which it was the policy 
 of that corrupt Church to conceal. He afterward held 
 a conference with one of the Pope's commissioners 
 which gave him such an insight into Papal doings that 
 he styled the Pope Anti-Christ and began the work 
 of translating the Scriptures into the English language 
 and circulating them among the common people. He 
 employed a great many poor priests, who went from 
 village to village distributing parts of the Scriptures as 
 fast as he translated them. The Papacy was alarmed, 
 and he was ordered to appear before a Synod in Lon- 
 don and answer for his conduct. His defense was 
 unavailing. His books were ordered to be burned, 
 
1 24 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and he was banished from Oxford. He died soon 
 after. He was a courageous and earnest man, who 
 made such a strong impression upon his age that it 
 glowed all along the years reaching to the Reforma- 
 tion. 
 
 The doctrines of Wyckliffe were eagerly received 
 among the adherents of the Culdees in Scotland. 
 The growth of these doctrines was such that the 
 alarmed Romish powers, twenty-three years after his 
 death, secured a statute for burning heretics. Accord- 
 ingly, we find John Resby, an Englishman and a 
 pupil of Wyckliffe, preaching his doctrines with great 
 boldness and zeal to the Scottish common people who 
 heard him gladly. He was apprehended on a charge 
 of heresy and brought to trial, and after a most cour- 
 ageous and eloquent defense, he was condemned to 
 the flames. This intrepid witness and first martyr for 
 the truth in Scotland was burned at Perth, 1407, along 
 with his books and other writings. The .blood of the 
 martyr proved the seed of the Church. Some of his 
 books escaped the flames and were carefully preserved 
 by his followers. They held secret meetings for dis- 
 cussing his doctrines and resolutely determined to 
 adhere to them, although afraid openly to avow them. 
 It is certain that the new opinions steadily gained 
 ground in Scotland; for an act was passed for their 
 suppression by the Parliament which assembled at 
 Perth, 1424. In 1433, twenty-five years after Wyck- 
 liffe's disciple was burned at the stake in Perth, Paul 
 Crauer, a Bohemian, was burned in the public square 
 at St. Andrews for the same faith. 
 
 He was a man of great learning and of remarkable 
 
THE CASTLE. I 25 
 
 dexterity in argument. He had been sent by the 
 reformers of Prague to open a communication with 
 the brethren in Scotland. By profession he was a 
 physician, but only practiced for the purpose of gain- 
 ing a favorable opportunity of teaching the reformed 
 faith. He was instrumental in making many converts. 
 In the account of his trial given by his enemies, he is 
 spoken of as an emissary to a numerous body sharing 
 the sentiments of himself and countrymen. When 
 brought to trial, he courageously owned his opinions 
 and met his death with a composure and faith that 
 powerfully influenced the minds of the people. 
 
 A century passed away with its growth and prepa- 
 ration for lifting a pure worship out of the sink of 
 corruption in the Romish Church, and then the struggle 
 began. The evidences of the ghastly and revolting 
 scenes of the sixteenth century are abundant in St. 
 Andrews. The Castle, a stronghold erected about the 
 year 1200 upon a rock knoll washed by the tide, has 
 been the scene of ecclesiastical intrigue, of broken 
 hearts, of intense suffering, of tragic death and of 
 many a triumph of faith over the devices of the Evil 
 One. The great massive front of the Castle and much 
 of the walls and abutments remain and exhibit a 
 solidity and strength that is astonishing. Neither 
 fiction nor the study of the sciences can give the pure 
 and exalted pleasure that the study of history affords, 
 because all along its pages the finger of God is dis- 
 played in matchless wisdom and grandeur, directing 
 every event and every purpose of man to the end di- 
 vinely appointed in the counsels of Eternity. The 
 hearts of kings are in his hand, and he turns them as 
 
126 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the rivers of water are turned. By little, as well as by 
 great things, the chain of events with its many links 
 is forged to bind them all to his own great purpose. 
 
 James IV. fell on the fatal field of Flodden, and 
 during the minority of the young king James V., the 
 writings of the Continental divines, John Huss, Luther 
 and Melancthon were introduced into Scotland, as 
 appears from an act of Parliament (1525) strictly for- 
 bidding the importation of all such articles. At this 
 time there appeared upon the scene a youth of royal 
 lineage, Patrick Hamilton, possessing high mental en- 
 dowments and designed for the Church. He was born 
 in Glasgow in 1504 and educated at the University of 
 Paris. In his infancy his wealth and position obtained 
 for him the Abbacy of Ferae as a foretaste of the 
 honors to which he might aspire. But while his 
 friends were planning for him a splendid career of 
 worldly pomp and power, his heavenly Father was 
 fitting him for the martyr's crown. His studious 
 habits and condemnation of the corruptions of the 
 Church aroused the suspicions of the clergy, and young 
 Hamilton took refuge on the Continent. Here he en- 
 joyed the friendship of Luther and Melancthon and 
 obtained a more complete knowledge of the doctrines 
 of the Reformation and of divine truth. As these 
 principles took hold of his mind he longed to tell them 
 to his countrymen. The return to Scotland of this 
 gifted preacher attracted great numbers, and his in- 
 structions were received with the greatest eagerness. 
 His high birth, the elegance of his manner, and his 
 earnest appeals rendered his influence almost irresist- 
 ible. The clergy saw no safety to their cause but in 
 
CARDINAL BEATON. \2J 
 
 his destruction. He was brought to trial at St. An- 
 drews, upon a charge of heresy, condemned to be 
 burned at the stake in 1528, in the twenty-fourth year 
 of his age. Patrick Hamilton was the first Scottish 
 martyr. As the flames blazed up around him his 
 voice rose calm and clear, " How long, O Lord, shall 
 darkness cover this realm?" "Lord Jesus receive my 
 spirit." His death did more for the cause in Scotland 
 than a lengthened lifetime could have done. Men 
 began to inquire why Patrick Hamilton was put to 
 death, and several priests were induced to defend the 
 doctrines of the Reformation. Archbishop Beaton 
 Spoke of burning them in the hearing of one who 
 replied, "Burn them in the cellar then; for the smoke 
 of Patrick Hamilton has infected as many as it blew 
 upon." 
 
 David Beaton, a man of talent and towering ambi- 
 tion, succeeded his uncle, James Beaton, in the Arch- 
 bishopric of St. Andrews in 1539 and was raised to 
 the rank of a Cardinal. He early determined to use 
 more severe measures against the reformers, and many 
 were brought to the stake. The Cardinal resolved to 
 watch the youthful monarch, James V., lest he should 
 form an alliance with Henry the VIII. of England by 
 marrying his daughter, and thus be led by the example 
 of Henry to favor the Reformation. He artfully united 
 with James in his purpose to reduce the power of the 
 feudal barons, and succeeded in persuading James to 
 marry a French princess, a bigoted Catholic. In this 
 Castle the infamous schemes of Cardinal Beaton were 
 prosecuted by which he hoped to crush the Reforma- 
 tion and rivet the chains of Popery upon bleeding 
 
128 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Scotland. His cruel delight in the sufferings of the 
 reformers was characteristic of the power he repre- 
 sented. 
 
 George Wishart was a man of good family, of fine 
 scholarship and singularly eloquent. He first appeared 
 as a teacher in Montrose, and for presuming to instruct 
 his pupils in the Greek Testament he was threatened 
 with prosecution and obliged to leave his native coun- 
 try. After extended travels in England, Germany and 
 Switzerland, he returned to Scotland and began to 
 preach the doctrines of evangelical truth with such 
 persuasive eloquence that his audiences wept and 
 trembled as he preached, and many renounced Popery. 
 Scotland was now all unconsciously preparing for a 
 warfare. The seed fell on "good ground." God had 
 given to Scotchmen an ardent love of freedom, keen 
 conscientiousness and a firm sense of what constitutes 
 the grand and beautiful in character, with enthusiasm, 
 earnest devotion, and contempt of suffering whenever 
 it fettered independent thought and action. Upon this 
 ground Wishart scattered the seeds of Christian 
 knowledge which were afterward quickened into active 
 growth by the courageous and faithful testimony which 
 he bore to the truth at the time of his martyrdom. 
 He preached with great acceptance in Montrose and 
 Dundee and afterwards to multitudes in Ayr and 
 Mauchlin. A plague broke out in Dundee. Disre- 
 garding the danger, he hastened to the people, 
 preaching the gospel and relieving their spiritual and 
 temporal wants. The Cardinal and his emissaries 
 were enraged and attempted to take his life by the 
 hands of an assassin. Wishart escaped and came to 
 
DEATH OF WISHART. I 29 
 
 Haddington, beset by enemies, but he was attended 
 during his stay by John Knox who was a young man 
 and tutor at that time to the family of Douglass. But 
 the time of his martyrdom was at hand. He was im- 
 prisoned and afterwards taken to St. Andrews for trial. 
 The Cardinal applied to the Regent Arran for the 
 appointment of a civil judge to preside in the case. 
 The Regent was startled by the wickedness of the 
 measure and wrote to the Cardinal not to precipitate 
 the trial but to await his coming, as he could not con- 
 sent to the death of any one till the case was very 
 fully examined. The Cardinal was afraid of delay. It 
 would be such a signal triumph over heresy that he 
 determined not to turn from his purpose. He wrote 
 haughtily to the Regent that the Church did not need 
 his consent and proceeded with the trial at once. 
 When Wishart was brought before the council of 
 Bishops and heard their accusations he replied that he 
 took his stand upon the Holy Scriptures, refusing to 
 believe anything that could not be established by their 
 authority and accepting whatever they taught. 
 
 As might have been expected, he was condemned 
 to be burned at the stake, the execution of the sentence 
 to be effected the next day. The greater part of the 
 night was spent by Wishart in prayer. Next morning, 
 after spending some time alone in prayer, he was led 
 out by two executioners. The Cardinal had ordered a 
 stake to be fixed in the ground and packages of gun- 
 powder placed among the kindlings, and lest his 
 friends should attempt to rescue him, he had the guns 
 of the Castle turned upon the spot and issued a public 
 order that no one should pray for him under pain of 
 9 
 
1 30 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the severest censures of the Church. When Wishart 
 was brought to the stake he prayed thus three times, 
 "O thou Saviour of sinners, have mercy upon me. 
 Father in heaven, I commend my spirit into thy holy 
 hands." To the crowd gathered around him he said, 
 " I beseech you Christian brethren, be not offended in 
 the word of God, for the afflictions ye see prepared 
 forme. Suffer patiently for the word's sake. 'Fear 
 not them that kill the body, but have no power to kill 
 the soul.' I do not fear this grim fire; my faith is such 
 that I know I shall be with my Saviour to-night." 
 
 The death of Wishart was regarded by the Romish 
 Church as a great triumph, and the Cardinal was com- 
 plimented for his energy and boldness. But the 
 feelings of the people throughout the country were 
 shocked by the cruelty and disgusted by the illegality 
 of the proceeding. The mild and blameless character 
 of Wishart was universally known, and great numbers 
 were persuaded that he suffered in defense of the pure 
 gospel of Christ. So much popular indignation was 
 excited against the Cardinal, and it gained such 
 strength with a few individuals, that they formed a 
 conspiracy and took his life. His assassination was 
 never justified by the Reformers, but in the providence 
 of God by this means they obtained possession of the 
 Castle of St. Andrews, and invited John Knox to 
 enter it as a place where he might conduct the edu- 
 cation of his pupils in quiet and security. God had 
 brought Scotland into great tribulation, but he was 
 near to aid her and was preparing for her a reaping 
 time. 
 
 One of the wonderful things to be seen in the rocky 
 
THE DUNGEONS. I 31 
 
 floor of a small vaulted chamber of the Castle's Sea 
 Tower is the Bottle Dungeon, a dark, dismal prison 
 twenty-four feet deep. At its yawning mouth it is 
 four feet in diameter. The depth of the neck is eleven 
 feet, after which it widens like a bottle, till at the bot- 
 tom it is sixteen feet in diameter, as we realized when 
 a torch was lowered to the bottom. Says John Knox, 
 "In this place many of God's children were impris- 
 oned." It is known that George Wishart and John 
 Roger and Henry Forest were long kept here. 
 
 After examining the points of interest inside the 
 walls of the Castle, our friends led the way to a deeper 
 and more awful prison house even than the Bottle 
 Dungeon. It was discovered only about twelve years, 
 ago, while one was digging the cellar for a new house 
 across the street from the Castle. The passage to this 
 dungeon is subterranean and enters the rocky founda- 
 tion upon which the Castle rests a few feet beneath the 
 surface. The cut from end to end is about one hun- 
 dred and fifty feet through solid rock, and the entrance 
 to the dungeon is about four feet in diameter. The 
 way is gradually downward in its course, and by fol- 
 lowing a groove cut in the floor of this way one can 
 walk by stooping considerably. At a point some 
 seventy feet from the entrance there is an opening in 
 the floor, and the passage through it was narrowed to 
 about fifteen inches in diameter. It has been enlarged 
 recently, and a ladder is placed so as to give easy ac- 
 cess to a large chamber below, hewn out of the rock 
 which is some thirty feet under ground. This chamber 
 is twenty-two by thirteen feet, and has two deep cells 
 opposite each other. 
 
132 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 In company with most interesting friends in St. 
 Andrews who were thoroughly posted in history, we 
 made the descent into this gloomy and suggestive relic 
 of a time that had tried men's souls. Each of us car- 
 ried a lighted candle, and upon reaching the chamber 
 we stood amazed at the evidences of torture that was 
 probably the fate of the prisoners immured within the 
 walls. In very early times it may have been used as a 
 sally-port. At the opening into the chamber one man 
 inside could have held a thousand enemies at bay. It 
 is difficult, however, to get rid of the idea that it has 
 been used for a prison in persecuting times. There is 
 good reason to believe that Alesius was imprisoned 
 here shortly after the death of his friend and co- 
 laborer, Patrick Hamilton. While standing there we 
 extinguished our lights, that we might enter more 
 really into the feelings of those who for days and 
 weeks slept and waked in this cold, damp dungeon 
 amid darkness that could be felt and with no sound to 
 break the awful stillness save, perchance, the dash of 
 the breakers in a storm at sea. In this darkness with 
 strangely solemn feelings we all joined in singing the 
 23rd and 121 st Psalms. The words never seemed 
 more precious, nor did they ever sink deeper into the 
 heart, though they have so often kindled a glow that 
 can never die. As the sounds reverberated and sank 
 to silence, the agony of those dreadful times came up, 
 and the echoes were sepulchral and almost startling. 
 
 We were prepared by this visit to the Castle for the 
 contemplation of one of the most magnificent passages 
 in Scottish history. It has been said that " Robert 
 Bruce battled for a crown; but John Knox battled for 
 
JOHN KNOX. I33 
 
 the truth." Both won after a long struggle, chiefly by 
 the might of their single arm. But the lustre of John 
 Knox far outshines that of Robert Bruce. Knox was 
 an iron-hearted hero who never feared the face of man 
 and served God in spite of devils, Popes and kings. 
 He was noble, truth-loving, a hater of sham, never 
 sparing himself; a real hero. His history possesses 
 the greatest interest. Born in Haddington of poor 
 parents, in the year 1505, he was destined for the 
 Church. He received a collegiate education, and in 
 due time became an honest priest. The principles of 
 the Reformation made a deep impression on his mind, 
 and he adopted them silently and surely. He spent 
 much of his time teaching and pursuing his studies. 
 He took charge of a class of gentlemen's sons, and 
 being invited to bring his pupils to the castle did so 
 without hesitation. His manner of teaching was very 
 impressive. He daily read to his pupils the word of 
 God and explained as he read and catechised them 
 publicly. Many attended these examinations and were 
 so much profited by them that they proposed to him 
 to enter the pulpit and preach the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ. But Knox had such an idea of the sacred- 
 ness of the office that he utterly refused. 
 
 Shortly after this the Reformers felt it their duty to 
 give him a formal call to the office of the ministry. 
 Thus publicly called Knox felt he could no longer de- 
 cline with a clear conscience. Abashed and bursting 
 into tears he withdrew to the secrecy of his own 
 chamber where he remained alone for many days 
 undergoing a mighty conflict. Strengthened by this 
 communion with God he began to preach the ever- 
 
1 34 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 lasting gospel. In his assaults upon Popery Knox 
 took higher ground than any of his brethren had yet 
 done. In a public assembly he said he did not doubt 
 that the Romish Church was the synagogue of Satan, 
 and the Pope the man of sin spoken of by Paul. 
 This courageous declaration produced a strong sensa- 
 tion. On the following Sabbath he preached to a 
 crowded audience in the parish church of St. An- 
 drews, taking for his text the 24th and 25th verses of 
 the seventh chapter of Daniel. He maintained that 
 the Romish Church was the wicked, blaspheming 
 power spoken of in connection with the fourth beast 
 and boldly declared the Pope anti-Christ. At this 
 time the Reformation in Scotland really began. From 
 this time it was clear there could be no compromise, 
 no appeal to any other standard than the word of God. 
 This sermon produced an extraordinary impression. 
 It shook the confidence of multitudes in the Church 
 of Rome, and many forsook her communion. It was 
 said, " Others struck at the branches of Popery, but 
 Knox struck at the root to bring down the tree." The 
 priests and bishops were alarmed, and felt that some- 
 thing must be done to stem the tide of opposition. 
 They had tried fire and sword, but the Reformation 
 only appeared in greater purity and gathered greater 
 strength. The archbishop of St. Andrews now sum- 
 moned Knox to appear before a convention of priests 
 to answer for the charge of preaching heresy. In the 
 public disputation which followed, the Popish clergy 
 took the ground that the Church had power to appoint 
 decent ceremonies and gave as an instance the band in 
 baptism as significant of the roughness of the law and 
 
a discussion. 1 35 
 
 the oil as significant of God's mercy. Knox replied, 
 " If you may invent ceremonies and give them a signi- 
 fication at pleasure, then the ceremonies of the Pagans, 
 Jews and Mohammedans may all be adopted, if you 
 only take care to give them some plausible interpreta- 
 tion." He argued further that the only safe rule was 
 to take the Holy Scriptures for a guide and introduce 
 no form of worship unless commanded by God himself. 
 The clergy replied that many things might be done 
 without express authority of Scripture, such as asking 
 drink when thirsty. Said Knox, " Liberty is expressly 
 allowed in meats and drinks, but no such liberty in 
 religious observances. The command is to add nothing 
 to the Scriptures and take nothing from them." 
 
 One of the priests then attempted to prove the 
 divine authority of their ceremonies from the text of 
 Paul where he speaks of building gold and silver and 
 precious stones, wood hay and stubble upon Christ the 
 foundation, affirming that these things were the cere- 
 monies of the Church which she has built upon Christ 
 by authority of the apostle. Knox met this argument 
 by inquiring what fire it was that the ceremonies of 
 the Church like gold, silver, etc., were able to abide. 
 If the fire was the word of God, then it was clear that 
 as we are commanded not to add to this word nor to 
 take from it, the ceremonies of the Church were con* 
 demned as a human addition to the institutions of 
 God. "They could abide the trial of the word only 
 as the thief abides the trial of law and is condemned 
 to be hanged." The priest still insisted that we are 
 not so closely bound to the word as Knox supposed, 
 and said, "That the apostles had not received the Holy 
 
1 36 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Spirit when they wrote their epistles, and that they 
 were inspired afterward and then instituted the cere- 
 monies of the Church." This foolish answer made 
 Knox exclaim, "If that be true I have been so long in 
 error, and I think I shall die in my error." The priest 
 was confused and said, "The Church was a safe and 
 impregnable fortress." Knox quickly replied, "The 
 spouse of Christ can have no power or authority 
 against the word of God." The priest cried out, 
 "Then ye will leave us no Church at all." Knox with 
 cutting irony said, "There was a Church mentioned in 
 the Book of Psalms — the congregation of evil doers — 
 which they might have without the word; but as for 
 him, he would abide by that Church which had Christ 
 Jesus for its great pastor and whose leading character- 
 istic was to hear his voice and to turn away from the 
 voice of strangers." 
 
 The Popish clergy were confounded. They could 
 not answer the keen logic of Knox. At the same 
 time they saw that public discussion only gave wider 
 circulation to his views, and they hastily closed the 
 conference. It was like bearding the lion in his den 
 for Knox to combat almost single-handed such an 
 array of antagonists. But his strength was in his 
 cause, and he knew it and rested there with unshaken 
 confidence. After the trial the priests met for consul- 
 tation. They felt they had lost ground by the experi- 
 ment. The Castle was held by the Reformers, and the 
 people were anxiously inquiring after the truth. The 
 priests decided to fill the pulpits on the Sabbath with 
 their most learned men so as to keep out Knox. 
 Hitherto they had been too much taken up with 
 
A TEMPORARY REPULSE. I 37 
 
 pleasure to preach on the Sabbath. They also resolved 
 to avoid all controverted points or any cause that 
 would excite the people and try by all means to divert 
 their minds and lull them into security. 
 
 Knox, however, continued his work preaching on 
 week days and instructing the people, till at length the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was publicly dispensed 
 free from Popish superstition. The adherents of Rome 
 were in a rage, but they were held in check by those 
 who kept the Castle and had her guns and fortifica- 
 tions in possession. They therefore concluded to 
 apply to France for aid. She promptly sent them a 
 fleet of galleys and a body of troops to reduce the 
 Castle. The little garrison made a brave defense, but 
 they were greatly outnumbered by disciplined troops 
 and were compelled to surrender. The sentiment of 
 the people had grown into such a power by this time 
 that the Romish party feared to take the lives of Knox 
 and his associates, and they were sent to France as 
 prisoners, and against the express stipulations of the 
 treaty they were confined to the galley as slaves and 
 treated with the utmost cruelty. 
 
 Tradition points out the high and wide front window 
 of the Castle as the one from which Cardinal Beaton 
 in hateful pride reclining on velvet cushions witnessed 
 the burning of the gentle and pious reformer George 
 Wishart. The place of the burning is thought to be 
 immediately in front of the Castle. 
 
 All these precious things of history came vividly to 
 mind as we stood on the spot where the storm had 
 raged with such a burning heat, and where such a 
 grand structure grew out of the ashes. 
 
1 38 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 " A patriot's blood 
 May for a time insure to his loved land 
 The sweets of liberty and equal laws: 
 But martyrs struggle for a brighter prize 
 And win it with more pain. Their blood is shed 
 In confirmation of the noblest claim, 
 Our claim to feed upon immortal truth, 
 To walk with God to be divinely free, 
 To soar and to anticipate the skies ; 
 Yet few remember them." 
 
 Another most interesting spot is the Cathedral, 
 founded in 1 160, and its ancient burial places. The 
 Cathedral is a magnificent ruin 358 feet long inside the 
 walls. Three stone coffins of unknown antiquity lie 
 upon the ground enclosure, and there are tomb stones 
 in the south transept dated 1 380. 
 
 Among the graves of more modern date are those 
 of the eminent divines, Samuel Rutherford and Thomas 
 Halyburton. With our excellent friends we spent 
 profitable hours here, as also at the remains of a 
 Culdee house of worship near by and adjacent to the 
 little hillock by the sea where Henry Forest and 
 Walter Mill, the Reformers, were both burned at the 
 stake. Both were tried and condemned to death 
 within the walls of the Cathedral, as were also Patrick 
 Hamilton and George Wishart. The interesting places 
 in St. Andrews can scarcely be counted. In the long 
 and bitter contest between the Reformers and the 
 Romish Church, and afterwards between the Presby- 
 tery and Prelacy, the clergy of St. Andrews played a 
 prominent part, John Knox being the leading spirit 
 of the former conflict. A volume of interesting church 
 records in the hand-writing of John Knox is being 
 transcribed. 
 
DUNDEE. 1 39 
 
 The institutions of learning are very interesting. 
 St. Mary's College has within its enclosure a hawthorn 
 planted by Mary the Queen of Scots. It is large and 
 thrifty and was at the time of our visit growing scarlet 
 with a profusion of berries clustering among the dark 
 green leaves. The finely carved oak pulpit of John 
 Knox — the one he was "like to ding into blads and 
 flye out of" — is well preserved. Not far away, at the 
 College gate is the spot where Patrick Hamilton was 
 burned at the stake. This day was well spent, and a 
 pleasant savor still lingers. 
 
 In the evening we bade our friends, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Flemming, farewell and took the train for our quarters 
 in Edinburgh. At Leuchars we tapped the main line 
 south which passes the edge of the city of Dundee, 
 and which gave us glimpses of its flourishing manu- 
 facturing interests with a sight of its beautiful harbor. 
 Dundee figures prominently in history and is said to 
 have been the first Scottish corporation that publicly 
 renounced Romanism. At this point the river Tay 
 broadens into a deep arm of the sea and is two miles 
 wide. As our train sped across this expanse of water, 
 the remains of that earlier Tay bridge, so sorrowfully 
 remembered, lilted its slender dismantled piers here 
 and there out of the trackless waste. The horror of 
 that fearful night crept over us. The hungry, howling 
 storm was pictured on those broken remains, and the 
 agony of that burden of human life, that was in a 
 moment swept into the remorseless sea to be locked 
 in its depths, was chiseled into the slender spiral of 
 piers that yet remain to tell the story of that awful 
 night. We could not escape the shadow of it till we 
 
140 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 reached the Frith of Forth, where a fine sail of six 
 miles brought us to Edinburgh again and gave us a 
 view of the substantial bridge then being erected to 
 span the Forth. Our next day was one of special 
 enjoyment. We lunched with Rev. William Nixon, 
 D. D., and then as the guests of Mr. James Gemmell 
 whose home is in the city and who intelligently loves 
 his native land, we visited the environs of Edinburgh. 
 The day was perfect — not a cloud overhead — and the 
 breezes whispered softly as we drove , quickly out of 
 the city. We took in a view of Newington church 
 building and graveyard, the scene of so much in the 
 life of the lamented Dr. James Begg, beside many 
 other places of interest. From the grand Scottish 
 highway we turned aside to visit Roslin Castle and 
 Hawthornden. 
 
 Both of these places are interesting and are con- 
 nected by a narrow glen of exceeding beauty through 
 which passes the waters of the Esk. So quiet is the 
 stream at this point that one may reach the verge, 
 where the bank cuts precipitately into yawning caverns 
 and great broken fragments of brown rock, tossed as 
 if by a tempest, and not be aware of such a frightful 
 leap. The water lies still and deep and black, in 
 places half hidden by copsevvood and cliff. The ruins 
 of the Castle stand upon a rocky promontory that 
 overhangs the river. The only access to this once 
 proud Castle is over a high bridge that spans a deep 
 incision in the rock. It is gray with age. Mosses 
 and lichens now creep over the seams and fissures in 
 the stout walls so surely dropping into dust, just as the 
 haughty barons of Roslin are crumbling beneath the 
 
THE PENTLAND HILLS. 14I 
 
 pavement of Roslin chapel, many of them intered in 
 complete armor, with titles so numerous they are a 
 weariness to the flesh. This chapel was founded in 
 1446, and it is said to be the finest specimen of Gothic 
 architecture in all Scotland. Hawthornden was the 
 residence of the poet Drummond, the first Scottish 
 poet to write well in English. It is picturesquely 
 situated upon the edge of a cliff with dreamy surround- 
 ings that invite the ideal. All has passed away but 
 the memory and the lessons that remind us so keenly 
 that we too are dust — that the earthly house has at 
 least entered the autumn, when the leaves drop here 
 and there as dust mingling with dust. 
 
 Our route lay next along the southern slope of the 
 historic Pentland Hills. They extend southerly for 
 sixteen miles and are a succession of ridges and 
 crowns and gentle slopes. They are nowhere frowning 
 or shaggy, but are clothed in the softest verdure, upon 
 which played that afternoon the lights and shadows 
 painted by a sunny sky. As evening approached and 
 the sun became low, the undulations of this mountain 
 stretch glowed in the warmth of the sun's rays, and 
 every top was kindled, while the shadow of some shel- 
 tered spot became more marked by contrast. Sheep 
 grazed here and there, and sometimes cattle fed upon 
 the slopes, while at the roadside at intervals were the 
 thatched cottages of the lowly peasant with their 
 flower plots and modest surroundings, reminding one 
 of the fine pastoral poem of Allen Ramsey, "The 
 Gentle Shepherd." The scene of the poem lies in this 
 region, and on our way often we crossed 
 
 " A trotting burnie wimpling through the ground, 
 Its channel pebbles shining smooth and round." 
 
142 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The way was enlivened by anecdote and story 
 illustrating Scottish life and character. The apt, 
 matter-of-fact characteristic was referred to in the 
 following little story: A minister riding at the head 
 of a funeral procession overheard a young man, who 
 was trying to drive some frightened and refractory 
 geese, say angrily, " The devil hang the geese." A 
 little farther on, another specimen was trying his skill 
 in driving some pigs that were in the same temper as 
 the geese, and he shouted, " The devil -choke the pigs." 
 The minister looked up at this juncture and said, 
 " Bide a wee, my man, the devil is back a bit hanging 
 some geese, and he'll be here soon to choke the pigs." 
 To show the partisan spirit once so rife, we had this 
 admirably told anecdote. An old lady was in the 
 habit of praying for her minister whose name was 
 Andrew Thompson. Not far away was a minister of 
 the same name whom she did not like at all. She was 
 overheard praying fervently for Andrew Thompson, 
 and at the close she added, "It's no Andrew Thomp- 
 son down the brae, but Andrew Thompson up the 
 brae." On we sped till we reached a gateway leading 
 into the battlefield of Rullion Green. 
 
 At this place there is a long and steep slope of the 
 Pentland Hills. Its brow is densely wooded, and at 
 the edge are the graves of fifty Covenanters who fell 
 on that field. A monument in an iron enclosure tells 
 the story. Two of the sleepers are ministers, who, 
 among the many thousands of that time, gave their 
 lives for civil and religious liberty. The Covenanters 
 were led by Col. Wallace. They had marched rapidly 
 from Dumfries and Lanark, having renewed the cove- 
 
RULLION GREEN. 1 43 
 
 nant at the latter place, at the same time declaring 
 adherence to the king and requesting the re-establish- 
 ment of Presbytery. They expected to be joined by 
 great numbers from Edinburgh and vicinity; but these 
 were held in check by Gen. Dalzell's trained forces. 
 Upon this spot, after a long and tiresome march with 
 undisciplined men who were wet, cold and hungry, 
 Col. Wallace gave battle, and, though the men fought 
 with desperate courage, they were totally routed. 
 Dalzell's men were greatly superior in numbers; con- 
 sequently many prisoners were taken and after fearful 
 torture met a martyr's death. 
 
 Through struggle and contest the truth wins its 
 way, and godliness is strengthened and purified. Noth- 
 ing is more fatal to genuine progress than stagnation 
 and indifference. The reason why the Canaanites 
 were not at once destroyed was to teach Israel war — to 
 prevent them from falling into weakness and effemi- 
 nacy resulting from ease and pleasure. Self-defense 
 and daring deeds develop truth and all heroic qualities. 
 Our Saviour said to his disciples, "When ye hear of 
 wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled, for such 
 things must needs be." The oppressions to which the 
 Church has been subjected have been overruled for 
 good, though God sees and takes vengeance on the 
 enemies of his truth, and they reap the reward of their 
 wicked devising. But it is when Zion is assailed that 
 her defenses are made strong. Out of every contro- 
 versy the Church has come with truth more clearly 
 defined; and though we are now, without doubt, in the 
 reflex wave of speculation and human invention in the 
 Church, yet they shall all be broken to pieces, and 
 
144 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again." It is the 
 glad promise of the Master that the rising shall be in 
 grander power. All experience accords with this 
 promise. 
 
 At the clachan of Carlops we turned for home, and 
 the stars were "i* the lift," ere we reached the hospit- 
 able home that furnished us this gladsome day. The 
 next morning our farewells were all to be made, and 
 we left the city of Edinburgh forever; at least so we 
 felt. But we revisit the storied streets, the ancient 
 halls and the homes of our dear friends there; for the 
 imprint is fixed upon our memory, and will stay and 
 throb while life lasts. 
 
 With the leave-taking we cast a parting glance at 
 the Castle of Edinburgh, and the old life at its feet, at 
 one time a busy scene of human passions in wildest 
 tumult. We also caught a glimpse of the Free Church 
 Assembly Hall under the shadow of the Castle, occu- 
 pying the ground of one of the old and interesting 
 historic houses of Edinburgh. The palace of the in- 
 triguing Mary of Guise, the mother of Mary Queen 
 of Scots stood there, with the handsome wood carvings 
 and panels of her time, till removed for this building. 
 
 The sight of the Hall brought to mind the period 
 of 1843, one of Scotland's modern memorial eras. We 
 refer to the disruption in the Established Church that 
 originated the present Free Church of Scotland. It 
 was a grand Reformation which brought into the 
 arena of conflict and arrayed on the side of truth many 
 earnest men. Drs. Chalmers, Welsh and Candlish 
 were leaders in the reform movement. The late Dr. 
 James Begg, so valiant and powerful for a pure wor- 
 
A GRAND SCENE. 1 45 
 
 ship till his lamented death was, although quite a 
 young minister, distinguished as a courageous standard 
 bearer for the Free Church party. It must have been 
 a most solemn scene when the separation actually took 
 place, as man by man, they filed out into the open air 
 and falling into procession, marched for Tanfield Hall, 
 the appointed place of meeting. There was no haste, 
 no confusion accompanying this exodus from the 
 Church of Scotland. The crowd outside did, indeed, 
 welcome them with waving handkerchiefs, and a deep, 
 half-suppressed shout echoed from the thousands that 
 crowded the streets and filled the doors and windows 
 and even the housetops. No police force was neces- 
 sary to clear the way. The mass divided respectfully 
 by a sudden impulse and left a way open in the middle 
 of the street for these venerable defenders of religious 
 liberty to walk four abreast. 
 
 It is no argument against such conflicts in defense 
 of the truth that the love of many will wax cold, that 
 they will fall away from their first love, and therefore, 
 it is not necessary to stand in the breach and display 
 a banner for Truth, Our armor, as pilgrims passing 
 through this wilderness way should always be buckled 
 on ready for present duty. 
 
 "Aye do the thing that's nearest han';'* that thing is 
 present duty; results are with God. We battle against 
 an insidious foe that knows our frailties better far than 
 we know them ourselves. But we have been overtaken 
 by laying off our armor and slumbering by the way- 
 side; present duty requires us to be doubly active and 
 earnest to get back into the strait and narrow way 
 that leads to Life Eternal. No gilding nor worldly 
 IO 
 
I46 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 blandishments should make us hesitate, present duty 
 is clear. The Free Church crisis was one of those 
 grand and stirring epochs during which the Church is 
 revived and made to shine. The time may not be dis- 
 tant when God will arise and plead his own cause and 
 revive his work in this once highly-favored land; for 
 the present ecclesiastical state is not satisfactory. As 
 in the natural, so in the moral and religious world, it 
 is pleasant to glide softly down the placid stream, and 
 yet there is a higher and holier joy that springs from 
 rugged duties we are ordered to perform. 
 
 The train moved on toward Glasgow in sight of 
 Langside and the Kirk of Shotts. The latter is memor- 
 able as one of the places where the Holy Spirit was 
 wonderfully poured out in 1630. It followed a season 
 of fasting and humiliation and confession of sin when 
 the persecutions of Charles I. were pressing with such 
 severity. It was the spiritual food that nourished 
 them and strengthened them to engage in the National 
 Covenant eight years after. The Lord's Supper was 
 dispensed at Shotts at this time to a multitude from 
 the surrounding country. The services were unusually 
 solemn and devotional. When Monday morning came 
 there was such reluctance to separate that they decided 
 to spend the day in thanksgiving services. The result 
 was a remarkable awakening; nearly five hundred 
 persons experienced a change of heart. The means 
 used were the simple teaching and preaching of the 
 Word, all powerful to convert the soul that lies in sin. 
 The outgrowth of this was the sowing of the goodly 
 seed of gospel truth throughout Clydesdale. 
 
 Langside is famous in history as the spot where the 
 
THE LOCHS. 147 
 
 unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots fought her last 
 battle. She escaped from Lochleven, her prison-house, 
 instantly took horse and defied her enemies. News 
 of her escape spread like wildfire and her friends 
 flocked to her standard. The Regent Moray at the 
 head of the Government party met the forces of the 
 dethroned Queen near this village of Langside. The 
 tide of the battle was disastrous for her and ruined 
 her cause. The deluded Mary, mounted on a fleet 
 horse, waited on an eminence in sight till she saw the 
 rout of her troups. When the suspense was over, she 
 gave rein to her steed and rode sixty miles without a 
 halt and took refuge in the Abbey of Dundrennan in 
 Galloway. It was at the conclusion of this terrible 
 defeat that she threw herself upon the protection of 
 Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 Thursday, August I ith, we were off early to catch 
 the first train for the Lochs, and after a ride of twenty- 
 five miles we reached the south end of Loch Lomond, 
 the Queen of Scottish lakes. An open steamer waited 
 for the passengers to convey them over the placid 
 waves of this magnificent sheet of water, some thirty 
 miles long, gemmed with beautiful islands and shaded 
 by mountains. Where we entered the shore was 
 gently sloping. There were lordly mansions and 
 beautiful lawns with ancient larch trees and beds of 
 roses and rare plants artistically arranged. These 
 homes were sandwiched with fields and groves and 
 softly swelling hills. 
 
 Very soon, however, the scene changed, and this 
 smiling landscape became another grade of beauty. 
 Foothills appeared overhanging the lake and rising 
 
I48 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 abruptly. They were bare of trees, but green as 
 emerald. They soon became mountains that mirrored 
 themselves in the clear water, so transparent and 
 golden, the fish could be counted as they fled from us. 
 The mountains became more majestic and lofty as our 
 steamer dashed the water from her prow; yet beauty 
 never departed from these bold bens and lofty acclivi- 
 ties. Not the least among the beauties were the lights 
 and shadows that chased each other, producing a most 
 pleasing variety. Ben Lomond is the prince among 
 them all. He lifts his bold, bare head above the 
 clouds, and looks down protectingly upon the waters 
 he loves. This great mountain terminates in a conical 
 peak and is three thousand nine hundred and twelve 
 feet above sea level. On the north it rises abruptly, 
 exhibiting a precipice two thousand feet high, while on 
 the south it declines gently. The top of his head-dress 
 was a hoary brown, and all else of the huge monster 
 was lost in cloudland and in the number of crowns and 
 pinnacles that pressed close to his side for shelter, and 
 peeped and shied at us as we quickly passed. The 
 summits were all bare and craggy and frequently 
 broken into deep fissures and dark caverns and per- 
 pendicular passes, through which some sparkling rill 
 often leaped foaming into the loch. 
 
 Among these mountain fastnesses the famous outlaw, 
 Rob Roy or Robert McGregor Campbell, once held 
 high carnival and long defied the laws of his country. 
 He was nicknamed Roy from his red face and hair, 
 which Roy described in Gaelic. He knew every foot- 
 fall of these dangerous rocky steeps and lofty prom- 
 ontories and once saved his life by concealment in the 
 
ROB ROY. I49 
 
 same cave at the foot of Ben Lomond, where Robert 
 Bruce once concealed himself from the English. Rob 
 Roy was not the ignorant, hard-hearted desperado he 
 is supposed to have been. He was very kind to the 
 poor, and in those days when might made right, he 
 often stole cattle and sheep from the rich to feed the 
 poor who were neglected by the haughty nobles. In 
 early life he married Helen, a daughter of Glenfalloch, 
 whose estates included Inversnaid at the head of this 
 Loch, and settled down to quiet life in the Highlands 
 of Balquhider. Being a powerful athlete, he resented 
 every wrong till almost every hand was against him, 
 and he eventually became skilled in both wit and 
 prowess. The little Highland cottage in a nook in the 
 mountain where he won his bride is still standing, and 
 the spot was pointed out where a clansman of the 
 Duke of Montrose caught Rob Roy in the early period 
 of his lawless capers and held him by his kilt over a 
 craggy height that overlooked the loch and gave him 
 a profound and healthy shaking. He died in his bed 
 in 1738, and sleeps beside the lovely waters of this 
 loch. Rob Roy undertook to do what the laws of his 
 country could not do at that time. Highland chiefs 
 then disputed their rights with potentates, but now 
 they respect authority, kind but firm and unflinching. 
 The wholesome exercise of authority in both State 
 and Church is exalting and ennobling. It is God's 
 mode of governing the world. It soon sits easy upon 
 all classes and wins their respect; for all need the 
 check rein. 
 
 At Inversnaid we were jolted and tilted in a wagon- 
 ette up a rocky way five miles long that often sheered 
 
I50 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 suddenly into a yawning precipice so dark and deep 
 the eye could not fathom its depth. There was an air 
 of solemn grandeur about this scene, and our party 
 lapsed into silence to take it in. In the days that have 
 gone by, the great clans in kilt and tartan have often 
 mustered here, and with war to the knife clambered up 
 over these great rocky walls and gaping passes. At 
 the wayside stood a shepherd's shieling, neat and cosy, 
 looking over against the bleak and desolate slopes 
 upon which the black-faced sheep nipped the short 
 grass. Loch Arklet, a mountain tarn by the wayside, 
 added to the lofty grandeur of the scene, and we 
 longed to stay a few days and revel in its sublimity. 
 
 While we were still wrapped in this wild and lonely 
 beauty, Loch Katrine and the Highland village of 
 Stronachlachlar dawned upon us. The Loch is a gem 
 of rare beauty. It is the scene of Scott's " Lady of 
 the Lake." Grandly the poem trilled from the parting 
 water as we skipped over it in a ferry boat and echoed 
 from the spurs and ridges that "sink down upon the 
 deep." There, too, were the patches of "bracken 
 green" and purple heather, making "the rugged 
 mountain's scanty cloak" one of many colors. Every- 
 where gleamed the lovely heather. Ellen's Isle was 
 ablaze with it among the graceful vines. One almost 
 expected a light shallop to put out from one of the 
 bays, bearing a chieftain's daughter with "satin snood 
 and silken plaid." The Loch in olden times was called 
 Loch Cateran because of the caterans or freebooters 
 that frequented the gorges and dark passes in the lofty 
 bens that surround it. The water was clear and 
 sparkling with a tint of gold as its waves rolled away 
 
GRAND SCENERY. I 5 I 
 
 from the path of the vessel, and imagination ran riot 
 as we neared the farther shore. Spread out before us 
 was a picture of rare loveliness. Pulpit rocks stood 
 out boldly, amid their foliage "the briar rose with 
 streamers green," and "the narrow inlet still and 
 deep," was haunted with the shadows of the great pass 
 at hand. 
 
 We disembarked and took open carriages through 
 the Trossachs, which is Gaelic for the Bristling Moun- 
 tain. It is not a misnomer. Such great rifts of bare 
 rock towering to such a dizzy height and the great 
 gorges and fissures between, dark and cavernous, made 
 us feel how puny man is and how infinite the power 
 that spake it all into being. It was here that bits of 
 Sir Walter Scott's poem flashed upon our memory, 
 and we found ourselves repeating line after line of his 
 fitting description of this wild glen. 
 
 " The western waves of ebbing day 
 Kolled o'er the glen their level way. 
 Each purple peak, each flinty spire 
 Was bathed in fl iods of living fire. 
 But not a setting beam could glow 
 Within the dark ravines below, 
 Where twined the path in shadow hid 
 Round many a rocky pyramid, 
 Shooting abruptly from the dell 
 Its thunder-splintered pinnacle. 
 Round many an insulated mass, 
 The native bulwarks of the pass." 
 
 The glen called the Trossachs is about one mile 
 long and is traversed by a little stream of water flowing 
 from Loch Katrine to Loch Achray. The road winds 
 along its brink and the sides are tangled steeps, wild 
 
I $2 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and irregular with a border of hazel and birch and 
 mountain ash so dense that, although mid-afternoon, 
 the shades of night seemed impending. Above it like 
 sentinels were "the bold cliffs of Benvenue" and 
 Benawn, with his "forehead bare." There, too, was 
 Beuledi, Gaelic for " Hill of God," and Duncraggan 
 guarding Glenfinlas, once a hunting-ground for the 
 kings of Scotland. The whole resembled a mass of 
 broken mountains in irretrievable entanglement. - con- 
 fusedly hurled," and yet appearing in shapes of lofty 
 beauty and sublimity wonderful to behold. The scene 
 along the glen and in the dells leading from it are 
 illustrated in the " Lady of the Lake." It is indeed 
 surpassingly grand and majestic, 
 
 "So wondrous wild, the whole might seem 
 The scenery of a fairy dream." 
 
 At length at the foot of the mountain spur the road 
 turns and Loch Achray, "The Lake of the Level 
 Field," invites attention. It is flanked on one side by 
 rocky splintered heights, clothed in " copsewood gray" 
 mingled with "the pine tree's blue." The road at a 
 great elevation skirts those heights and winds over a 
 heathy slope with the Loch in full view. It is nature 
 in her wildest scenes, a fit place for stirring story. It 
 was the familiar home oi nature's children, the wild 
 clansmen of other days. Over it has often sped the 
 swift-footed messenger with the Fiery Cross, sounding 
 the dreaded slogan of Clan-Alpine. Here too Tartan 
 has met Tartan in deadly combat, and the blood of 
 many hearts has stained the heather. But we turn to 
 a fairer picture, 
 
GLASGOW. I 5 3 
 
 11 Pipes of the misty moorland, 
 Voice of the glen and hill, 
 The drone of highland torrent, 
 The song of lowland rill." 
 
 The sweet sounds of the Gaelic pibroch were in the 
 very air and echoing over mountain glen and glade 
 
 " Full tenderly and blithesomely," 
 
 as when the clans held a gala day. We drove rapidly 
 dow r n the inclination — too quickly for the music of the 
 moments. We wanted to walk over it all and stay a 
 night or two and pull the pretty foxgloves blooming 
 by the wayside, quite unconscious that craggy upland 
 was not without them, nor without the sheep that 
 grazed among the heather. When we drew up at the 
 clachan or village of Aberfoil, the day's experience 
 was a vision of beauty fadeless as the great rock up- 
 heavels, the splintered pinnacles, the craggy gorges 
 and the rippling rills of this w r onderful scenery. Here 
 we took a train that whirled us rapidly into Glasgow. 
 Glasgow is a mart for many nations and peoples 
 and tongues. The Hibernian, the Frenchman, the 
 American, and indeed it seemed every nation was 
 there mingling with the Scotch as the prevailing ele- 
 ment, but not exclusively the controlling one. It 
 seemed a city of another people than that of any we 
 had seen. In some of its features it might be called a 
 fast city, quite American in its bustle and haste and 
 confusion of tongues. The Glasgow vender of mer- 
 chandise means business. These venders are very 
 genteel, but they create the impression that the pur- 
 chaser must look out for himself. They at once make 
 
154 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 it clear that there are two sides to a question of pur- 
 chase and never take time to mention any but the 
 winning qualities of an article. 
 
 Glasgow has grown as rapidly as any other modern 
 commercial city and exhibits the various problems of 
 "large commercial cities in America. New industrial 
 and social conditions have forced themselves upon all 
 such cities. They have latent and lurking evils that 
 may well alarm the philanthropist. Glasgow is self- 
 made. More than a century ago it entered upon the 
 important enterprise of deepening the shallow river 
 Clyde into a harbor and ocean highway, and when the 
 day of iron ships dawned, Glasgow was prepared to 
 make them for all the nations. In the meantime, as 
 one enterprise begets another, textile and chemical 
 manufactures sprang up and grew, until Glasgow is 
 now one of the greatest centers of industry and com- 
 merce in the world. 
 
 The Cathedral of Glasgow is the crowning piece of 
 antiquity and art, and the citizens are justly proud of 
 it as a piece of mediaeval workmanship. Its age is at 
 least one thousand years, and its preservation is com- 
 plete, having escaped the ravages of war in every 
 period of its existence. The outside appearance is 
 not strikingly imposing. The ground upon which it 
 stands is a little inclined toward a valley that skirts it, 
 and the yard is a close pavement of stone slabs mark- 
 ing the burial places of the ancient and honorable 
 dead. The inscriptions are so defaced few of them 
 can be read; so that the mind is left free to ponder the 
 vanity of human greatness. It •passes as a summer 
 cloud, fades as the autumn leaf, and the bearer of the 
 
THE CATHEDRAL. I 55 
 
 burden — for greatness is a burden — has finished the 
 pilgrimage of life and is lost to this world in the 
 eternity beyond. But if he is united to Christ, the 
 rest is glorious. 
 
 The Cathedral inside is a perfect blaze of exquisite 
 beauty. The great, massive pillars that support the 
 groined roof are not less than ten feet in diameter at 
 the base. They are all fluted and finished with hand- 
 some capitals and stand in a double row. Under the 
 mighty dome they are increased in size and beauty 
 and are also thicker set. There exists the usual cathe- 
 dral style of nave and aisles and transepts and chancel 
 and a number of distinct and separate places for wor- 
 ship. The windows are modern works of art, most 
 of them executed in Munich. They are all rich and 
 beautiful, some of them magnificent, and each one is 
 the gift of some noble house. These stained windows 
 darken the interior so much that the worshipers have 
 to use gas light, while the fine stone floors have a cold 
 and uncomfortable look. It is a place of worship for 
 the Established Church, and the apartment is gorgeous 
 indeed with the trappings of wealth. The great organs 
 and the exhibit of finery produce only sadness when 
 one remembers the historic Church that attained her 
 greatness by taking down the organs of Catholic 
 Rome and returning to a pure and spiritual worship. 
 
 The crypt is dark and deep with an arched stone 
 ceiling handsomely carved. St. Mingo's well, set forth 
 to the deluded people as having miraculous power in 
 the days of priest and monk, is in the crypt, and his 
 stone coffin stands near upon a pedestal. It is prettily 
 carved, doubtless by his own fingers; for monks were 
 
I 5 6 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 not idle then, and they were not only the learned of 
 that period, but the artists and architects as well. 
 When the Romish Church was in the pride of her 
 power, there was a subterranean passage between this 
 Cathedral and Rutherglen, two miles out, where all 
 the work was finished, so that the great structure, like 
 Solomon's Temple, rose as if out of the earth, without 
 the sound of hammer or tool or a knowledge of means 
 of conveyance. The dark rooms, the alley ways and 
 suspicious looking places in this underground apart- 
 ment were very suggestive of thumbscrews, the rack 
 and the frying-pan; anyway, we breathed freer when 
 we regained the outside. At the north end is the spot 
 where Jerome Russell and John Kenneday were 
 burned for having embraced reformed doctrines. 
 
 An avenue leads from the Cathedral to the Acropo- 
 lis, the modern city of the dead. The way to it leads 
 over the Bridge of Sighs, spanning a little burn that 
 dashes over a cascade into a ravine below. The 
 Acropolis is situated upon a rocky knoll overlooking 
 the great city and is very beautiful. In ancient times 
 it was covered with great dark fir trees and is sup- 
 posed to have been a place where the Druid priests 
 performed their savage rites. The first sale of lots in 
 this cemetery was to the Jews, who require a burial 
 place of their own. The place is separated from the 
 rest and is handsomely ornamented. Immediately 
 under the capital of a pillar, said to imitate Absalom's 
 pillar, is a piece of fret-work formed of Hebrew letters 
 into the words, "Who among the gods is like unto 
 Jehovah?" On the shaft of the pillar is the following: 
 " Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, 
 
THE UNIVERSITY. 157 
 
 Where shall ye flee away and be at rest ? 
 The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave, 
 Mankind their country — Israel but the grave." 
 
 On the very summit of the hill is the towering 
 monument of John Knox. His statue, with Bible in 
 one hand and the other outstretched, crowns the lofty 
 square pedestal. Another to the memory of Dr. Dick, 
 author of " Dick's Theology," is elegant and beautiful. 
 In one corner of the grounds in a quiet shady spot, is 
 the grave of William Motherwell, one of Scotland's 
 sweetest poets. His most tender and touching poem 
 is "Bonnie Jeanie Morrison." There is nothing in the 
 whole range of Scottish poetry to equal it except 
 " Highland Mary." Motherwell was a citizen of Glas- 
 gow and died at the age of thirty-eight. 
 
 The University of Glasgow was founded in 145 1 
 and has had much to do in forming the religious and 
 literary complexion of the country. Thomas Camp- 
 bell, the poet, was once a member of the college and 
 one of its brightest ornaments. The "Pleasures of 
 Hope" were written while he was a student there. 
 
 In the beginning of the eighteenth century Rev. 
 John Simson, Professor of Divinity in the University, 
 began to teach doctrines contrary to the Standards of 
 the Established Church. He was not alone in his 
 opinions. In many quarters the doctrines of free grace 
 were insulted and Arminian sentiments defended. 
 When the Assembly met in 17 14, attention was called 
 to the matter; yet the ruling party in. the Church re- 
 fused to notice it. Among the unsound doctrines 
 taught were the the following Pelagian errors: "That 
 it was inconsistent with the justice and goodness of 
 
I58 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 God to create a soul without any original righteous- 
 ness or any disposition to do good; and that the souls 
 of infants since the fall are as pure and holy as the 
 souls of infants would have been created, supposing 
 man had not fallen. That there are means appointed 
 by God for obtaining saving grace, which means when 
 diligently used with seriousness, sincerity, and faith of 
 being heard, God has promised to bless with success, 
 and it is not above the reach of our natural ability 
 and power." These sentiments, so opposed to Scrip- 
 ture and the Confession of Faith, were openly avowed 
 by Mr. Simson, yet he was neither removed from the 
 professorship, nor censured for teaching them to the 
 students. The ruling party in the Church dismissed 
 the case by simply saying that the professor enter- 
 tained some ideas not necessary to be taught in 
 divinity — that he had used expressions that could be 
 used in an unsound sense, and therefore he must be 
 careful in future. The conduct of the majority in the 
 Assembly was viewed with alarm by a large portion 
 of the private membership. They felt there was a 
 rapid decline from the purity of the faith and a great 
 indifference to the cause of truth. Corruption in 
 worship and error in doctrine seemed to be making 
 rapid progress in the national Church. At this crisis 
 some ministers noted for piety and faithfulness, as well 
 as talent and learning, and who possessed the confi- 
 dence and affection of the people, united their efforts 
 to counteract the progress of error by diffusing among 
 the people sound and scriptural doctrine. This was 
 the occasion of a heated controversy in the Church, 
 the effects of which were long felt and which was 
 
ERRORS IN THE CHURCH. I 59 
 
 in many respects necessary to the interests of religion. 
 
 This condition of things was the occasion of the 
 issuing of several publications relating to the vital 
 doctrines of Christianity. It was also the occasion of 
 the republication of a book called the "Marrow of 
 Modern Divinity." Rev. Thomas Boston accidentally 
 saw a copy of the book when visiting one of his 
 members and recommended it to some of his brethren 
 as placing in a clear light the difference between the 
 law and the gospel. It was in the form of stirring 
 dialogues which brought into bold relief the peculiar 
 doctrines of- grace. The book became a favorite 
 among the people and threw the clergy into a fer- 
 ment, which showed clearly that the Church had lost 
 much of its zeal for Calvinistic truth, as well as its old 
 polemical acumen. 
 
 When the Assembly met an act was passed strictly 
 prohibiting any one to recommend the '■ Marrow of 
 Modern Divinity," either by printing, writing or 
 preaching. The sum of the passages condemned was 
 that there is an assurance in the nature of faith; that 
 the offer of salvation is to everyone who hears it; that 
 believers in Christ are delivered from the law as a 
 covenant of works so as to be no more under either 
 its commanding or condemning power; that the fear 
 of hell as a punishment and the hope of heaven as a 
 reward ought not to be the motives of obedience to 
 believers. The Assembly strictly forbade the people 
 to even read the book. This act caused great anxiety 
 and distress to many excellent ministers and to many 
 of the people, and they at once took steps to have the 
 obnoxious measure repealed. A representation signed 
 
160 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 by twelve ministers was placed before the Assembly in 
 1 72 1, calling attention to the fact that precious truth 
 had been condemned by prohibiting the reading of the 
 "Marrow." The case did not come up till the Assem- 
 bly met in 1722, when it explained its act of 1 7 20 
 upon pretense of modifying it, but retained its worst 
 features and ordered the brethren who had signed the 
 representation to be rebuked. These brethren sub- 
 mitted to the rebuke, but had previously prepared and 
 subscribed a protest which one of their number imme- 
 diately laid upon the table of the supreme court, in 
 which they declared their determination to still preach 
 and bear testimony to the truths condemned by the 
 Assembly. The Assembly would doubtless have dealt 
 severely with them and perhaps turned the Marrow 
 men at that time into Seceders had it not been that a 
 royal letter came enjoining peace at all hazards, and to 
 this mandate the Assembly bowed in submission. 
 
 However, the Marrow-men were subjected to great 
 annoyance from their brethren. On the part of some 
 it arose from a want of clear vision of divine truth. 
 The connection between the law and the gospel was 
 understood and defined by the Marrow-men and is the 
 same as that held by evangelical Churches to-day. 
 But a large majority of the clergy were at no pains to 
 understand divine truth. 
 
 Four years after this date it became notorious that 
 Professor Simson was teaching to the students views 
 more dangerous than those of the previous time. He 
 denied the necessary existence of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and when charges were brought against him he 
 took refuge in evasive replies and metaphysical dis- 
 
MODERATISM. l6l 
 
 tinctions in order to mislead. The Marrow-men plead 
 for his deposition, but he had numerous and powerful 
 friends who manceuvered to have him retained in the 
 Church, but prohibited from teaching. Against this 
 decision Rev. Thomas Boston stood out as a solitary- 
 protestor, he being the only one of his party who was 
 a member of Assembly that year. It was plain that 
 the Church of the Second Reformation had fallen into 
 serious decline. The preaching of a free and unre- 
 stricted gospel was frowned upon and the power of the 
 pulpit circumscribed in a great measure. Where, in 
 times gone by, the sermon was wont to contain 
 "doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righte- 
 ousness," it had now degenerated into a short, point- 
 less essay, with no unction or spirituality of tone — 
 with no comfort or refreshment to a waiting congrega- 
 tion. The people asked for bread and received a 
 stone. Moderatism held sway and was determined to 
 punish and weaken all opponents. The people 
 groaned under the yoke of patronage, and the condi- 
 tion of the Church was deplorable. At every meeting 
 of Assembly a great deal of time was taken up in 
 considering cases of appeal where violent settlements 
 were made. In 1730 twelve cases are recorded as 
 coming up for adjudication, and this Assembly refused 
 to permit reasons of dissent from their judgment being 
 entered on the records. The wonder is that such 
 arbitrary proceedings were borne so long and so 
 patiently. 
 
 A result of all this was the alienation of the people 
 from the Established Church and the determination of 
 some of the ministers not to submit to such biased 
 11 
 
1 62 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 enactments. This brought into prominence Rev. 
 Ebenezer Erskine, Rev. William Wilson, Rev. Alex- 
 ander Moncrief and Rev. James Fisher, the fathers of 
 the Secession Church of 1733. The act of Secession 
 was a means of conserving those Reformation princi- 
 ples which had cost them so dear in days gone by and 
 was welcomed by the people all over the country. In 
 two years seventy applications for supply of preaching 
 were made by people who were in sympathy with the 
 views of these heroic men. 
 
 The University buildings are ample and imposing 
 and situated in the midst of handsome grounds that 
 speak for themselves. The library was established 
 before the Reformation and is now a valuable collec- 
 tion. There is a fine assortment of minerals, coins 
 and anatomical preparations. The University is a sort 
 of nucleus for the city and the citizens are justly proud 
 of it. 
 
 Near the center of the city is George's Square. In 
 it is a fine statue of James Watt, the man who has 
 done so much to extend the prosperity and glory of 
 Glasgow. Born in Greenock, he was the greatest me- 
 chanical genius of the age. It was his inventions 
 applied to the steam-engine that made it the means of 
 erecting all those huge factories and keeping their 
 innumerable wheels and spindles and power looms in 
 motion. Steam has added millions to the annual in- 
 come of Glasgow, and wonderfully increased its 
 commerce, as it has that of the whole world. In this 
 square is a mounted statue of Sir John Moore, a citi- 
 zen of Glasgow whose memory has been greatly 
 honored by the Scottish people because he was one 
 
BOTHWELL BRIDGE. 1 63 
 
 of their bravest patriots, and who is the subject of 
 those exquisite lines beginning, 
 
 " Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 
 As his corpse to the ramparts we hurried ; 
 Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
 O'er the grave where our hero we buried." 
 
 There is also a colossal statue of Sir Walter Scott 
 here. It stands upon a fluted column, and he is repre- 
 sented in an easy attitude with a shepherd's plaid 
 enveloping his body. 
 
 The system of street railways or "tram lines," as 
 they are called there, is very convenient and cheap, 
 and the water supply is all that could be desired. 
 Years ago the city authorities obtained exclusive con- 
 trol of Loch Katrine in the Highlands, and the water 
 is brought to the city through great water pipes for 
 many miles. The management is such that the works 
 pay for their own maintenance and enlargement, while 
 the water is abundant and most excellent. There are 
 some wide and handsome streets in Glasgow, while 
 others are narrow and crowded with a population that 
 know nothing better than squalor and wretchedness. 
 The problem is yet to be solved, How are the lapsed 
 masses to be reached in all our large cities? The out- 
 look for them is dreary indeed. 
 
 The environs of Glasgow furnish bits of precious 
 history. Among these places are Rutherglen and 
 Bothwell Bridge, both of which we visited on a soft, 
 dreamy day at the close of summer. Rutherglen is 
 now a thriving suburb of the city. It was at this 
 place that, on the 29th of May, 1679, a party of eighty 
 
164 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 horsemen on the anniversary of the restoration of the 
 Stuarts, rode into the town and extinguished the bon- 
 fires kindled in honor of the day. This party 
 belonged to the chased and tossed Covenanters, and 
 they publicly burned all the acts of the Scottish Par- 
 liament in favor of Prelacy and affixed to the market 
 cross a protest against the proceedings of the govern- 
 ment since the Restoration. The government took 
 alarm at the bold act and placed the infamous John 
 Graham of Claverhouse at the head of a body of 
 troopers with full power to put to death all who were 
 found in arms. 
 
 An outgrowth of this proceeding was the battle of 
 Bothwell Bridge, fought between the opposing forces, 
 June 22, 1679, and very soon following the eventful 
 day of June 1st, of the same year at Drumclog. 
 Bothwell Bridge is six miles from Glasgow and is 
 skirted by the town of Hamilton, a pretty village on 
 the south bank of the Clyde in possession cf the Duke 
 of Hamilton, whose Castle and grounds are close at 
 hand. The Clyde at this point gives no hint of its 
 importance at Glasgow. It is a shallow, silvery 
 stream, flowing over a pebbly bed and between 
 flowery banks and green pastures, innocent and for- 
 getful now of the carnage that once stained its waters. 
 The present bridge is a fine structure; the old one has 
 passed into history. A rude monument evidently 
 locates the old bridge upon the site of the new one 
 and keeps in memory that fearful day. There is not 
 space here to discuss the reasons for the slaughter and 
 defeat of the Covenanter army encamped at the period 
 of the battle on Hamilton moor where the village of 
 
A CRUEL FATE. 1 65 
 
 Hamilton now stands. There were reasons; but the 
 one that should satisfy us is this: It was in the pur- 
 pose of God that the saints on earth at that time, the 
 excellent ones, should be farther tried and made meet 
 for the inheritance in heaven. " In the world ye shall 
 have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have over- 
 come the world." Not the slightest fragment of 
 suffering will God give to his own children that is not 
 necessary to make them white and clean and ready to 
 enter the mansions on high. 
 
 The bridge over the Clyde at that time was but 
 twelve feet wide, with a gateway in the center, an ex- 
 cellent fortification for the Covrnanters who held the 
 bridge at fearful odds till their ammunition was ex- 
 hausted; and then the merciless slaughter began. 
 Four hundred fell in the battle and lay upon the field, 
 and twelve hundred surrendered at discretion and were 
 marched to Edinburgh, tied two and two and im- 
 prisoned in Greyfriar's church-yard. There they 
 remained closely watched for five months, sleeping 
 at night among the graves without shelter or protec- 
 tion from inclement weather and without nourishing 
 food. The ruthless dragoons, not satisfied with the 
 havoc, scattered over the neighborhood and put all to 
 death whom they even suspected of being Presbyte- 
 rians. 
 
 The great majority of the persecuted ones were 
 staunch supporters of monarchy and had no sympathy 
 with republican principles. They took up arms 
 simply in defense of the Protestant religion, Presby- 
 terian government and their civil rights and liberties. 
 Nor did they resort to extreme measures till every 
 
1 66 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 other avenue was closed. The perfidious Charles II. 
 was the rod of God's anger, the staff in his hand, to 
 perform his work in preserving a pure worship these 
 many years. The actors in this scene were chosen 
 instruments to bring it all to pass. Charles Stuart and 
 his minions meant it not for the purifying of the 
 Church; therefore their punishment came after, while 
 by trials the Church was beautified and lifted into 
 clearer light. May it not be that she shall only arise 
 and shine when she has passed through another period 
 of fearful suffering? This seems to be the uniform 
 mode by which the Head of the Church brings back 
 his people when they forget their obligations to him 
 and their relation to divine truth. The dross and 
 filthiness must be burned away before the Bride can 
 gracefully wear her adornments. The Day of the 
 Lord burns as an oven. 
 
ROTHESAY. 167 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Rothesay, on the Island of Bute, had possessed for 
 us a very pleasant sound for at least a decade. It was 
 the abode of precious friends and therefore, it was with 
 kindling feelings we sought the Broomielaw and em- 
 barked in a steamer down the Clyde. A short sail 
 brought us to Dumbarton Castle, situated on a rocky 
 steep five hundred and sixty feet high, one mile in 
 circumference. In stern and solitary majesty it stood 
 with the walls partly fallen and halls desolate. The 
 valley of the Clyde was anciently called Strathclutha, 
 and Dumbarton was the Capital and Castle of the 
 Strathclyde or Strathclutha Britons. Dumbarton is 
 the Balclutha of Ossian, meaning a bulwark. He says, 
 "The thistle shakes there its lonely head." The only 
 genuine Scotch thistle grows wild on this rock. 
 
 This rock-sealed Castle has been famous from the 
 earliest periods of Scottish history, and many sad 
 memories cluster around it. It was the scene of the 
 betrayal of Sir William Wallace by the "fause Mon- 
 teith." When Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was five 
 years old she was given in marriage by the nation to 
 the boy Francis, heir to the throne of France, and 
 arrangements were at once completed to have her sent 
 at that tender age to be educated at the court of 
 
1 68 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 France until she was old enough to have the nuptials 
 celebrated. The young Queen accompanied by the 
 four Maries, who were to be her companions, was 
 brought to Dumbarton Castle to embark in a French 
 fleet floating in the river beneath the walls of the 
 fortification. She was then playful and happy and 
 left her native land to re-enter it and drink a full cup 
 of bitterness which was filled by the unwise policy of 
 the nation. In after years when overtaken by sorrow 
 and disappointment — a fugitive and despairing — she 
 sought this Castle as a refuge for a weary head and a 
 wayward heart. From it she rode to Langside to 
 watch eagerly the result of the battle that led to her 
 pathetic imprisonment and death. The Castle has 
 often been besieged and was once taken by scaling 
 ladders on a dark and misty night. 
 
 As we sailed the river widened, and the dark, dye- 
 stained water that is constantly receiving a great 
 burden of impurities from the numerous and immense 
 textile factories along its banks, became purer and put 
 on a brighter aspect. The Great Eastern, the vessel 
 employed in laying the first ocean cable, was lying at 
 anchor near the mouth of the river and greeted us as 
 we passed. It has since been sold for its material, 
 being too large and clumsy for use. Towns and 
 clusters of houses line the banks of the Clyde, among 
 them the historic city of Greenock. As we approached 
 Rothesay, the hills of Argyleshire and the peaks of 
 Arran presented a charming view. 
 
 Rothesay, the capital of the Island of Bute, has a 
 mild climate and is delightfully situated in a semi-circle 
 that seems to clasp its beautiful bay as if it were a 
 
AN OLD RELIC. 1 69 
 
 choice setting. It is the prince of watering places in 
 Scotland, and in summer is quite a resort. We were 
 not long in finding our warm-hearted friends, who not 
 only extended the hospitalities of their home, but 
 visited the places of interest with us. The royal 
 Castle of Rothesay still stands, and is in a good state 
 of preservation. There is no record of its age; but 
 it is supposed from events mentioned in history to 
 have been constructed in 1098. During the fierce 
 struggles between Bruce and Baliol for the Scottish 
 throne, it was a bone of contention and was held by 
 each hostile party at different times. When Robert 
 Bruce was securely seated upon the Scottish throne, 
 this Castle became one of the seats of the royal family. 
 His eldest son became the Duke of Rothesay, and the 
 title has now descended to the Prince of Wales. It is 
 still surrounded by a moat and has a drawbridge and 
 portcullis with a dungeon, deep and dark. The en- 
 trance to the latter is from the wide hallway now 
 mouldy and desolate. The wall of this dungeon is 
 circular and twelve feet thick. The whole structure is 
 of stone, the oldest part being of a pinkish hue and 
 so solidly made with a stone cement, now one of the 
 lost arts, that it cannot be broken at the joints. 
 
 In a little chamber six feet wide, the broken-hearted 
 king Robert III. died. This once proud home of 
 kings is but a monument of the past and is most in- 
 teresting as such. What is now considered comfort 
 in living it never could have possessed. It was simply 
 a stronghold, a defense in that lawless period. The 
 courtyard contains the walls of the chapel of St. 
 Michael which served as the royal chapel, and there 
 
170 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 are other buildings within it which probably furnished 
 shelter for the town's people during a siege. The 
 oldest hawthorn tree in Scotland is in the courtyard. 
 It has a diameter of two and one half feet. It is bent 
 with age, yet it is still green and flourishing and is 
 preserved with the greatest care. The ancestors of 
 the Marquis of Bute, who is the lord of the island, 
 occupied the Castle part of the time during the last 
 century. The present Marquis is scrupulously careful 
 to preserve the gray ruin, and to even add to its 
 attractions by a supervision that neglects nothing to 
 show it in a favorable light. 
 
 Rothesay as a place of residence is very attractive. 
 Its industries do not employ a rude population, and 
 the professional tramp is excluded by the " we jaw of 
 water" which separates Bute from other portions of 
 Scotland. The walks and drives over and around the 
 island are very fine, as we realized by a spirited drive 
 over the same and along its bars and promontories by 
 the kindness of our friends. The. sea air was delightful 
 and invigorating and the prospect charming. The 
 lofty hills of the island of Arran in the distance, Goat- 
 fell being three thousand feet above the sea, with the 
 trembling sea between and the towering peaks of 
 Argyleshire and its border of blue sea in another 
 direction, presented a scene of rare loveliness. There 
 were also stretches of purple heather in its wealth of 
 flower and fragrance, and quiet homes dotted it here 
 and there. All these homes pay tribute to the great 
 Marquis of Bute, whose princely home is on Mount 
 Stuart. The Marquis does much to beautify this 
 island and develop its industries. He is a Roman 
 
A BEAUTIFUL RESORT. 171 
 
 Catholic, a wealthy and aggressive one, though his 
 antecedents were Episcopal. His munificent endow- 
 ments for his Church in Scotland are causing consid- 
 erable alarm. His immense wealth is enabling him to 
 purchase valuable property and turn the buildings into 
 Catholic schools, as he has done in the Shires of Ayr 
 and Fife. 
 
 Rothesay is famous for salt water bathing. The 
 absence of dangerous tides and quicksands renders it 
 quite safe, even to those who are not swimmers. 
 Boating is also much enjoyed as a pastime, and hun- 
 dreds of boats of all sizes play and sport upon the 
 placid waters of the bay. The water supply of the 
 city is good and the city has a neat and tidy appear- 
 ance. A citizen's fair was in progress during our stay 
 which was thronged with fun-ioving people. The 
 extemporized hall resounded with merriment, and the 
 various bazars not only displayed large quantities of 
 fancy articles, but many of handsome pattern and 
 execution. One of the attractions was a live member 
 of Parliament, who stood at a bazar in the center of 
 the hall and handled the articles with the ease and 
 dignity of one who could play this part well in life's 
 drama. We carried away with us a lively recollection 
 of this important and gentlemanly personage. 
 
 On the Sabbath we worshiped in the Free churches; 
 in the morning in the Free Gaelic on Chapel Hill. 
 The devotional spirit of the worshipers and the 
 mournful cadences of a language that is passing away 
 were very impressive. In the evening the same minis- 
 ter preached in another church in English. The 
 Sabbath was to us a day of precious rest, always 
 
172 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 coming with its sanctifying influence as an earnest of 
 the quiet and joy of heaven. We cannot imagine 
 what a pandemonium the world would be without this 
 gift to man. We can only approximate the confusion 
 and wickedness by looking upon the heathen world in 
 its wretchedness and woe. Let us be very jealous of 
 any encroachment upon the holy Sabbath. 
 
 Early on Monday morning we steamed out of 
 Rothesay Bay on board the Columba for Fort Wil- 
 liam. Our friends gave us a "Scotch convoy" as far 
 as Ardrieshaig and pointed out the interesting places 
 as we moved along the winding way. On the one 
 side the lofty bens and jagged promontories of Ar- 
 gyleshire, with their green carpet of ferns and mosses 
 stood sentinel, while on the other side were the gentle 
 slopes and coveys and green banks of Bute. We 
 were sailing leisurely toward the Highlands of Scot- 
 land, indeed looking out upon them and recalling bits 
 of song and story that spoke of courage true. Fiery 
 ardor whispered in the winds and echoed from height 
 to height and thrilled around ruined castles and 
 thatched cottages overlooking the watery way. 
 
 The Kyles of Bute are a most charming surprise. 
 The sea here narrows and twists around points and 
 promontories, till the water appears only as a small 
 silver cord lost in front amid towering hills which 
 apparently stop farther progress. But suddenly the 
 boat shoots from its hiding and glides into a broad and 
 beautiful sheet of water with gentle undulations, at the 
 side of which stands the pretty and thriving village of 
 Tighnabruaich, a Gaelic word for House of the Brae. 
 A government officer, a typical Scotchman, belonging 
 
A PLEASANT RUN. 173 
 
 to Clan Lamont, was on board, and after the introduc- 
 tion it seemed to be his delight to refer in his conver- 
 sation to as many unpronouncable names in the 
 Highlands as possible. His speech was rapid and 
 interesting and gave us a John Gilpin tilt after the 
 meaning. Any inquiry brought him to a halt laugh- 
 ing. He was familiar with every point in the journey, 
 and entertained us with incidents and legends by the 
 score. 
 
 We were soon sailing in Loch Fyne,with the village 
 of Tarbert nestled on its banks. It is the fishermen's 
 home, and this loch is their harvest field. Dozens of 
 small boats with black sails, manned by fishermen, 
 were out upon the water plying their trade, this being 
 the season for those delicate and toothsome fishes, the 
 herring and salmon. Those of this loch are deservedly 
 famous. Overlooking the town is an old Castle built 
 by Robert Bruce in 1 326. At Ardrieshaig on Loch- 
 gilphead, the " convoy " ended, and we were transferred 
 to the Linnet for the Crinan Canal. The canal is nine 
 miles long, with nine locks at short spaces for a start. 
 We preferred to walk from lock to lock and revel in 
 the stretch of most magnificent scenery. At Cairn- 
 baan we lunched upon genuine Highland oat cakes, 
 butter and milk. The habitations are all banked 
 against the solid stone of a great mountain that cuts 
 down in almost a straight line to the base. Cairnbaan 
 means white cairn and gets its name from the location 
 of a cairn in which was found a stone coffin. The 
 scene all along was one of lonely grandeur, at times 
 weird and ghostly. Peaks and crags with dark, 
 mossy dells and bounding waterfalls were often all in 
 
1^4 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the view at one time, as well as the characteristic piper 
 in kilt and tartan, blowing his bagpipe for a few pen- 
 nies. He was always accompanied with at least half 
 a score of hungry, bare-footed children of both sexes, 
 whose occupation was to scramble after the pieces of 
 coin scattered indiscriminately by the passengers. 
 Some of them had bright faces that started a sugges- 
 tion that a jewel was waiting for the modeling knife 
 and the polish. 
 
 As we sailed on, the peaks became cloud-capped 
 and frowning like an embattled host sleeping upon 
 their arms. A human habitation was not thought of; 
 and yet we sometimes came upon a little garden spot 
 in the wildness with a neatly thatched Highland cot, 
 whitewashed and tidy. A cow, some sheep and some 
 fowls, and the simple wants of these mountaineers 
 seemed to be supplied. The rowan tree grows here 
 on its native soil, and often from some projection amid 
 the green foliage of the tree hung great bunches of 
 scarlet berries in such profusion and richness as we 
 had never seen it elsewhere. It certainly had donned 
 its holiday dress. 
 
 Sailing close to the mainland of Argyleshire, which 
 is called the district of Lorn, the scene is enlivened 
 with ruined Castles, old and enchanting, and houses 
 of greatness among the rifts of rock which once served 
 as a defense. Among them is Downie House, where 
 the poet Campbell spent part of his early life, and 
 where he wrote " Lord Ullin's Daughter," the scene of 
 the fine ballad being in the neighborhood. Very soon, 
 however, we were in the waters of the broad Atlantic 
 fringed with "Dark Mull" and its bold black bluffs and 
 
OBAN. 175 
 
 lofty mountains. We passed, historic Kerrera and 
 Gylen Castle, once a stronghold of the MacDougalls 
 of Lorn. Dunollie Castle, the chief stronghold of the 
 Lords of Lorn, is most picturesquely situated on a 
 tongue of land that projects far out in the water. The 
 ivy-clad keep is standing, but all else of the great 
 structure is a heap of stones and broken walls and 
 ruined terraces. A lineal descendant of this house is 
 Colonel MacDougall whose mansion stands near the 
 ruin. He still preserves the Brooch of Lorn, snatched 
 by his ancestor from the shoulder of Robert Bruce. 
 
 Oban, a beautiful city rapidly rising to importance 
 as the capital city of the West Highlands, stands out 
 boldly, and it quite captivated us as we touched the 
 pier. This city is a summer resort for tourists, who 
 can from that point easily reach all the lovely and in- 
 teresting places in the Highlands. 
 
 Soon we entered Loch Linnhe, greeting Dunstafnage 
 Castle at the water line upon a wooded peninsula, with 
 the mountains of Ben Cruachan for a background. 
 Dunstafnage is thought to be of Pictish origin. For a 
 long time the famous coronation stone brought from 
 Ireland by Fergus, afterwards taken to Scone and now 
 in Westminster Abbey, was kept in the Castle. It 
 was the seat of government till 845, when king Ken- 
 neth MacAlpine removed it to Scone. A little farther 
 on are Ossian's Falls of Lora, and by and by comes 
 Stalker Castle, formerly one of the seats of the power- 
 ful family of the Stuarts of Appin, who warmly 
 espoused the cause of the Stuarts in the Rebellion of 
 1745. A cave is pointed out as a place of concealment 
 after the battle of Culloden, until Prince Charles es- 
 
1 76 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 caped to France. As our steamer slowed up to the 
 pier at Ballachulish, we caught sight of the great bulk 
 of Ben Nevis, his crown with half his body clothed in 
 impenetrable mourning, tearful in cloudland. 
 
 Ballachulish is situated at the edge of Loch Leven, 
 the entrance to Glencoe, the latter not only celebrated 
 for the terrible massacre of the MacDonalds by the 
 Campbells, but also for the wildness and sublimity of 
 its scenery. The valley of Glencoe is eight miles long 
 and is traversed by a mountain stream called the 
 Cona. The shadows of evening were gathering as we 
 entered Loch Leven and the district of Lochaber in 
 Inverness-shire. The dusky lines increased and grew 
 almost human as they fell away from view in the 
 dreamy darkness ere we reached Fort William, our 
 destination. We found lodging in the McGilvry 
 Hotel — a temperance house of the Waverly class. 
 Scotland is battling manfully with the demon, strong 
 drink. In many rural places it is banished, and even 
 in Edinburgh it would be, if the voice of the majority 
 were heard. O ! how we long for her to rise in majesty 
 as in martyr days, and strike at the root as Knox did 
 that of Romanism! The drink traffic everywhere is 
 only evil and that continually, and God will in his own 
 time destroy it and disappoint all its supporters. Let 
 us all see to it that we have clean hands in dealing 
 with this system of iniquity. 
 
 Fort William is a Highland town of about 5000 in- 
 habitants, situated on Loch Aber at the head of the 
 Caledonian Canal. The foundation is an immense 
 rock that rises from the Loch, and the town clings to 
 it confidingly. The houses are so compact that the 
 
BEN NEVIS. 177 
 
 whole seems like a great castle with turrets and towers 
 and halls. After a refreshing sleep and a substantial 
 breakfast and the purchase of canes, we began to take 
 in a most bewildering scene of new and rapturous 
 beauty. We, with other tourists, took the way to 
 Ben Nevis along the banks of the clear and swift 
 running Nevis. Before and around us were giant 
 masses of mountain heights whose sterile altitudes 
 were among the clouds. It was not one but many, 
 although Ben Nevis is the monarch of them all. The 
 great Ben lifts itself abruptly and proudly. Looking 
 up, it seems an immense solid wall lost in the clear 
 sky overhead. It is conical in shape, twenty-four 
 miles in circumference at the base and 4406 feet high 
 above the sea, near which it stands. 
 
 With eager looking, we passed the lowly, rural 
 scenes along Glen Nevis and with alacrity began the 
 ascent. As we climbed we were struck dumb with 
 the singular variety and luminous beauty and vastness 
 of the panorama extending in every direction. The 
 wild hills of Lochaber were aflame with touches of the 
 sunrise, and the countless shoulders and peaks of hills, 
 stretching away to Glencoe and Morven in the east 
 and Arisaig in the west, soon took on the tints of 
 purple and rose and gold and gray. The day was un- 
 usually helpful to our purpose. Not a cloud was to 
 be seen, and the atmosphere was remarkably clear. 
 The pathway up the steep mountain side was a sharp- 
 turning, zigzag one cut out of the everlasting rock, 
 and it often ran at the edge of a dizzy precipice, over 
 which hung festoons of ferns and long mosses. Great 
 gorges and roaring cataracts regaled and frightened us 
 12 
 
I78 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 by turns, as we pursued our way and wonderingly 
 rose higher. The waters of the Loch two miles away, 
 lay like polished silver, and at our height, as still as 
 the azure above us, while the mighty mountain began 
 now to tower above the wilderness of lower hills that 
 crowd around it. There were dots of houses far away 
 and strips of pasture with sheep so small, at our dis- 
 tance they seemed only in miniature. 
 
 At about one half the height a warm glow lit up 
 the granite peaks and scars and fissures of the monster, 
 as we lingered for a breathing spell on a bit of level 
 caused by the lifting of a huge shoulder of the moun- 
 tain. Upon this level space was a dark tarn or loch, 
 as still as the grave, in a semi-circle of masses of rock, 
 perhaps 2000 feet high. Nothing could be more 
 desolate, more suggestive of the wraiths and voices 
 and apparitions that still linger in old ballads and 
 mountain firesides. Each tourist silently pursued his 
 or her own way, so that we were alone in the awful 
 solitude. Between our path and the brink of the tarn 
 was a deep, impassable moss, out of which spouted a 
 clear, golden stream of water that leaped into the 
 abyss below. A bridge spanned the burnie, and after 
 resting our now weary feet, we began to discuss the 
 next move. Thinking we had already as much as we 
 could digest, we spoke of returning. 
 
 A small party came upon us as we sat by the way- 
 side, looking up ruefully at the interminable field of 
 bare, broken granite, the summit still far out of sight. 
 These persons were very cheerful, and their words so 
 stirred our lagging zeal that our resolve was quickly 
 made, and we zigzagged up and up more leisurely, 
 
IMPRESSIONS. 179 
 
 now often pausing in mute astonishment at the sub- 
 limity of the scene. The hand of feeble man was not 
 here. The God of the universe spake to us and we 
 were silent and abased; we were but puny worms of 
 the dust; a few moments more and we were to pass 
 forever. But our God is a mighty one, the Lord of 
 hosts, who abides forever. "Thou didst cleave the 
 earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee and they 
 trembled; the overflowing of the water passed by." 
 
 And now there were no steep mossy slopes scarred 
 with numberless water channels; a single streamlet 
 leaped and brawled in a chasm with a refreshing 
 sound. Our vision caught nothing but blocks and 
 chips of sterile rock, heaps upon heaps apparently 
 rising perpendicularly into the sky. There were no 
 more soft outlines. The bleak gray masses were 
 sharp and angular, and every spear of vegetable life 
 had fled. The path over the splintered rocks became 
 sharper, and the upward struggle seemed one of insur- 
 mountable difficulty. Great memorial cairns of the 
 gray rock were erected at intervals to relieve the 
 monotony, and we were enlivened and cheered by 
 other climbers up and down. At 3 P. M. we reached 
 the summit and were richly rewarded. 
 
 " O for a sight of Ben Nevis ; 
 Methinks I see him now, 
 As the morning sunlight crimsons 
 The snow-wreath on his brow." 
 
 The top encloses about ten acres, clothed with the 
 sharp pointed gray rock, tossed and broken as if by 
 some violent convulsion. At one edge a great fissure 
 opening deep in the rock leads off to a frightful preci- 
 
180 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 pice more than IOOO feet deep. In this fissure the 
 snow lay compact and icy, as if it had lain for years. 
 The view was the most strikingly sublime we had ever 
 seen. As far as our range of vision, nothing was met 
 but a perfect wilderness of crowns and peaks in 
 thoughtful attitude and in stern, immovable majesty. 
 There seemed to be thousands of them, with Ben 
 Nevis as king upon an exalted throne now clear as 
 amber. We had time to look in speechless wonder, 
 and then the mist closed the scene like a curtain, 
 leaving a waste of impenetrable gray. This formless 
 vacancy of vapor seemed to approach and completely 
 encircle us; so that we were afraid to move lest we 
 should step suddenly down iooo feet. It lasted but a 
 minute, and the gray gulf parted asunder and the 
 radiant sunlight glinted upon the wavy masses of rock 
 and lighted up with most inspiring brilliancy the 
 thousand bens that crowded each other from sea to 
 sea. An army they were, giving honor to this king 
 of their realm. The air was buoyant, the situation 
 unique, and the feeling came that we were suspended 
 between the earth and the heavens and needed but 
 slight exertion to sail from point to point at will. 
 While we were amazed at the majesty and power of 
 God, a dense cloud again enveloped us, and we stood 
 cloaked and bonneted with a thick gray mist. The 
 great mountain had shut out all intruders for a season 
 of rest, and we could hear nothing but the dripping 
 water leaping into the gloomy abyss below. 
 
 The bleak and lonely solitude upon the top of Ben 
 Nevis is brightened by a little caravansary, where a 
 pleasant welcome awaits tourists, and we were glad to 
 
 
. life's journey. 181 
 
 rest awhile in the warm and friendly shelter and re- 
 fresh ourselves with a cup of hot tea, scone and butter. 
 Great Britain has established an observatory on this 
 top for scientific purposes which is supported at con- 
 siderable cost. Nine months of the year the summit 
 is inaccessible, so that all provisions, coal, and the 
 necessaries of life have to be transported on the backs 
 of mules during the remaining three months. A 
 genial party of tourists adding to the pleasure of their 
 travel by taking photographs with instruments which 
 they carried, took advantage of a sunny moment and 
 all present grouped together for a picture, which was 
 quite a success on the part of the mountain. 
 
 At 4 P. M. we began the descent. The ascent oc- 
 cupied six hours and there were some forebodings lest 
 darkness should catch us far from shelter. But the 
 evening was now clear, and we often made time by 
 slipping from point to point of the zigzag way. The 
 mellow light of evening was waning into the silver 
 clear twilight when we reached the tarn, and night 
 seemed closing upon the world when more than one 
 third the distance was to travel. There was still a 
 glow in the west that reflected the delicate shading of 
 the retreating bens up Glencoe, and we hasted to 
 make the best of our time. Once we wandered from 
 the way in trying to shorten our journey, and the 
 horror of being lost amid such desolation confronted 
 us, as well as our approach to a fearful precipice. 
 Nothing is gained and much nearly always lost by 
 leaving the beaten path in passing through a danger- 
 ous and wilderness way. It was to us an example of 
 life's journey through the wilderness of this world. 
 
1 82 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 That journey is short at farthest. Eternity has no end. 
 How suicidal to leave the beaten track of God's 
 plainly revealed will along which the saints, the dear 
 ones in God's sight, have trodden in all ages. They 
 have left memorials and tablets and beacon lights at 
 every turn to cheer us on and strengthen us, and the 
 journey can neither be shortened nor made more 
 beautiful by a deviation from what God has directed, 
 either for practical life or worship. Faithfulness in 
 this course cheered the hearts of our dear fathers and 
 mothers who have gone to our Father's house from 
 this land, and the same path would not only cheer, but 
 elevate and enonble us, if we would follow it and 
 avoid the pitfalls and precipices and desolation of new 
 and forbidden ways. 
 
 We made the descent in five hours, and the shadows 
 of night had fallen, enfolding the shepherd and the 
 sheep, the hills and the valleys and all the creeping 
 things of life in balmy sleep when we reached the base. 
 Here we were joined by the two lively Highlanders, 
 tourists who had captured the mountain top and all 
 that was on it in their view. One was a MacDougall 
 of Lorn and the other a Stuart. Their interesting 
 conversation and the events of the day beguiled the 
 minutes and refreshed us till we reached our little 
 hotel, where a home-like and kindly welcome awaited 
 us, and we listened to the cheerful sallies from the 
 tourists around the tea table and forgot our weary 
 feet. A friend gave the following as characteristic of 
 the Highlanders. Donald from the Highlands was em- 
 ployed on a boat plying between Glasgow and 
 Greenock. When they were well on their way, a 
 
 
A CHARACTER. 1 83 
 
 woman who was a passenger came to Donald and told 
 him to put off her basket at the next pier. When the 
 pier was reached Donald prepared to execute her will; 
 but the woman came forward and said, imperiously, 
 " It's no this pier, but the next one." The same thing 
 was repeated at the approach of the second and third 
 piers, the woman each time vociferating loudly, "I 
 dinna want it off there." Donald lost his patience 
 and told her to take her basket and go to the infernal 
 regions. She was highly incensed and went to the 
 captain. The captain called for Donald, and he con- 
 fessed, saying that she pestered him so, he could not 
 help it. The captain told him he must apologize to 
 the woman or he would lose his place. "But what 
 shall I say?" said Donald. "Tell her you did not 
 mean it." Off started Donald, thinking discretion 
 better than valor and asked the woman if she was the 
 one he had ordered to another world, and she replied 
 indignantly that she was. "Ah weel," said Donald, 
 "the captain bid me to say to ye that ye need'na go 
 there the noo." 
 
1 8 4 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Highlands of Scotland are somewhat unequally 
 divided by a chain of beautiful lochs, running through 
 the Great Glen of Caledonia, forming some of the 
 wildest and richest scenery in the world. The High- 
 landers are the primitive race. Many of them speak 
 the Gaelic, an energetic tongue that is fast dying out. 
 They are remarkably acute, courteous and agreeable, 
 and love with intensity their native heath. 
 
 The religion of the Highlands is ably set forth by a 
 late writer in the Original Secession Magazine. 
 From it we glean a few facts. This writer thinks there 
 is a marked difference between the religion of the 
 north and south of Scotland, and that it may be 
 traced to the conservative views of the Highlanders 
 and their dislike of introducing fashion into religion. 
 He also thinks that a Covenanter of the seventeenth 
 century would regard the Highlander's views of doc- 
 trine, discipline and worship as harmonizing with his 
 own far better than those of the South. In the houses 
 of the poor crofters and cotters a little shelf of books 
 will be found. In addition to the Bible and Shorter 
 Catechism are Pilgrim's Progress, Rutherford's Let- 
 ters, Boston's Fourfold State, the Scots' Worthies and 
 the sermons of Erskine, Flavel and Owen. A con- 
 
SETTLED FAITH, 1 85 
 
 versation with the humble owner of these faded vol- 
 umes would reveal the fact that they were read and 
 marked and digested. The doctrines and experiences 
 of the owner would be found in perfect agreement 
 with the views of the writers. This writer found even 
 the boatmen in the extreme Highlands discussing the- 
 ology in a way that showed that religion was their 
 life and was in harmony with the doctrines of the 
 Confession of Faith. 
 
 Among national transactions, few events will com- 
 pare with the solemn signing of the Covenant in 
 Greyfriar's church, Edinburgh, in February, 1638. At 
 that time the aged Earl of Sutherland from the ex- 
 treme Highlands was deeply moved, and the first to 
 affix his signature to the National Covenant. Among 
 modern divines in the Highlands, Dr. Kennedy, of 
 Dingwall, was a power. He won the hearts of the 
 Gaelic people by gospel preaching and stood as a wall 
 of adamant also with the Highlanders against hymn- 
 singing and instrumental music. He viewed with 
 suspicion the revival movements of our time as lead- 
 ing to superficial views of divine truth and unscriptural 
 practices. He endorsed what Hugh Brown of Liver- 
 pool wrote in his note book: "The greatest marvel of 
 Moody and Sankey's work is not the conversion of 
 souls to God, but the conversion of Presbyterians to a 
 little, tooting American organ." And thus the High- 
 lander of to-day stands in the old paths, the paths our 
 fathers trod. 
 
 When morning dawned we took passage for Glas- 
 gow. A Scotch mist prevailed, and the magnificent 
 scenery was in cloudland. But we were much inter- 
 
1 86 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ested and amused with a little party of Highlanders 
 who were herding a flock of black-faced sheep at the 
 bow of the boat. They shouted in Gaelic to their 
 Gaelic sheep and they understood it. We had to 
 confess to one instance in which the sheep were in ad- 
 vance of us. 
 
 The incident brought to mind one of Dean Ram- 
 sey's anecdotes. During the French war two old 
 ladies were on their way to the kirk. One said to the 
 other, "Was it no a wonderfu' thing that the Breetish 
 were aye victorious over the French in battle?" "Not 
 a bit," was the reply; "dinna ye ken the Breetish aye 
 say their prayers before ga'in into battle?" The other 
 replied, "But canna the French say their prayers as 
 weel?" Quickly the response came, "Hoot! the jab- 
 bering bodies! who can understand them?" 
 
 Our hearts were lingering in the North of Scotland, 
 when we set our faces toward Glasgow; for we had 
 hoped to go farther and visit Inverness. But time 
 does not wait for tourists. They have no more immu- 
 nities from its rapid transit than the rest of mankind, 
 and we submitted to the inevitable. If we could at all 
 times bring our aspirations into subjection to the 
 divine mind perfectly, and so realize the full extent of 
 that truth, "All things work together for good to them 
 that love God, to them that are the called according 
 to his purpose," then we would be more occupied 
 with "diligence to make our calling and election 
 
 sure." 
 
 " All is best, tho' we oft doubt 
 What the unsearchable dispose 
 Of highest wisdom brings about, 
 And ever best found in the close." 
 
 
STRATHAVEN. 1 87 
 
 The Sabbath we spent in Glasgow and worshiped 
 with the Original Secession congregation that worships 
 on Mains Street. We heard two excellent sermons by 
 Rev. Mr. Smiley, of Stranraer, who occupied the pul- 
 pit that day, the pastor, Prof. Aitkin, being absent. 
 Early the next morning we took the train for Strath- 
 aven, sixteen miles south of Glasgow. Strathaven is 
 situated on the strath or valley of Aven water; hence 
 its name. It is a clear, sparkling stream that dances 
 merrily on to the sea distributing dewdrops over a 
 smiling valley and awakening to life plant and shrub 
 and flower. The ground rising from the Strath is un- 
 dulating, reaching in a gentle swelling of hills and 
 slopes to quite an elevation, from the top of which the 
 country around is a lovely panorama including many 
 interesting places. 
 
 The village has burst its boundaries and is spreading 
 out over the uplands in beautiful modern dwellings 
 making handsome suburbs. Historic Strathaven has 
 the narrow streets with sharp turns and the projecting 
 corners, suggesting defense and the coming of a deadly 
 foe. These old streets branch off from the main thor- 
 oughfare at any angle that seems most secure for the 
 dwellers in the compacted buildings that form a sort 
 of bulwark along the way. A little song-loving stream 
 dashes through the place to the Aven and is spanned 
 by one of those quaint old bridges elevated in the 
 center and about wide enough for a modern cart to 
 get safely over. The villagers live in this quiet nook, 
 satisfied with its joys and tender memories which are 
 infinitely better than the gaieties and feverish ambi- 
 tions of a great city. " Content in the low vale of 
 
1 88 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 life" is a princely inheritance. But it is possessed by 
 the few. 
 
 The absorbing industry of this place has been silk 
 weaving in the past, performed entirely upon hand 
 looms. On some streets the click of the shuttle and 
 the pounding together of the gauzy threads of silk 
 make cheerful notes of industry. Much of the hand- 
 loom work, however, is being superseded by machinery, 
 while the industry is enlarged to include other fabrics. 
 
 Strathaven is more than seven-hilled. Its founda- 
 tion is exclusively hills and abrupt valleys. Upon the 
 highest crest stands the ruined Castle of Lord Avon- 
 dale whose life went out obscurely and suspiciously 
 many years ago, and his houses and lands passed into 
 other hands. There is nothing left now of the Castle 
 except the solid walls and desolate windows and door 
 openings. It is even scarcely picturesque. We climbed 
 over crags and herbage to the top and found only a 
 scene of waste and mould upon lintel and door post. 
 A story of a dark plot and a deed of violence haunts 
 the deserted halls, but the actors have all passed from 
 the scene, and only tradition remains. 
 
 In the old graveyard, upon a beautiful slope that 
 overlooks the country for miles, two martyrs of the 
 Covenant sleep beneath the grass and daisies. William 
 Patterson and John Barrie await upon this knoll the 
 resurrection morn, when death shall be vanquished, its 
 sting removed, and the awful solemnity with which it 
 is invested in this life shall for the believer be turned 
 into unspeakable joy. Christ will not disown one of 
 his blood-bought children. Not one of them that 
 loved not their lives unto the death for him shall 
 
CLAVERHOUSE. 1 89 
 
 perish. Precious is their dust and their memory is 
 blessed. Strathaven honors her martyr dead and has 
 erected a monument to their memory with suitable 
 inscription. A modern cemetery is added to the an- 
 cient burial place and is well kept and attractive. 
 
 About half way up the acclivity on which the cem- 
 etery stands is a solidly built inn more than two 
 hundred years old. It is two stories high, heavy 
 looking, with masonry dingy and unkempt, as if it 
 were shunned by the light of day. It possesses a 
 tragic interest. When martyrs for Christ's crown and 
 covenant were falling thickly upon mountain and upon 
 moor, and Death on his pale horse seemed triumphing 
 over Scotland, this village was thrown into consterna- 
 tion by the arrival of a body of royal troopers. They 
 dashed into the town on a quiet Sabbath morning, 
 June I, 1679. The brutal John Graham of Claver- 
 house was their commander. He rode up to this inn, 
 took an upper room and called for breakfast for 
 himself and suite. While sipping their wine by the 
 west window they could plainly see companies of de- 
 voted Covenanters wending their way from diverging 
 points to a retreat at the edge of a moss five miles 
 away in the Parish of Avondale called Drumclog. 
 
 The worshipers were to celebrate the last supper of 
 our Lord in the open air and enjoy that communion 
 with God that hunted and persecuted ones receive 
 with most delightful spiritual relish. This fiend in 
 human form, inflamed with wine, thoroughly aroused, 
 sounded the alarm and called "to horse." Away he 
 galloped at the head of his dragoons to slaughter and 
 disperse this conventicle. He thirsted so for blood 
 
I90 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 that, seeing a man taking a drink from a well by the 
 wayside, he interrogated him as to his destination, and 
 not receiving a prompt answer, shot him through the 
 heart. This was preparatory to the wicked drama en- 
 acted in the afternoon of that day. 
 
 We had now entered what may be safely termed 
 martyr land. It includes the West and South of 
 Scotland and is rich in historic memories of the Cove- 
 nant. All lands are proud of their patriot sons — a 
 generous and noble pride, born of the gratitude we 
 ought to feel toward those who hazard their lives for 
 the public weal. The memory of Bruce and Wallace 
 still stirs the heart of Scotland. But she has an added 
 enthusiasm in a deep and fervent love for her martyr 
 sons. They sleep their last sleep on mountain and on 
 moor, in quiet graveyards and on mossy hillsides. 
 The author of The Homes, Haunts and Battlefields of 
 the Covenanters beautifully writes: "There is nothing 
 which so much strikes the pilgrim among the Scottish 
 mountains, especially in the southern and western dis- 
 tricts, as the frequency with which he so unexpectedly 
 comes upon the Martyrs' cairns, or the more ambitious 
 monuments which have been raised by an admiring 
 posterity to men whose mouldering bones have had a 
 burial of blood in those days of darkness and death." 
 
 The morning of August 24th was crisp and fresh, 
 and a few minutes after the dawn we were seated in a 
 wagonette — an open, light-running vehicle — provided 
 by our friends who accompanied us. Our destination 
 was the battlefield of Drumclog, five miles distant, and 
 our way was the identical highway which Claverhouse 
 galloped over for his bloody work on that calm Sab- 
 
DRUMCLOG. 191 
 
 bath morning, June 1, 1679. There were now green 
 fields and carefully kept hedges. There were contented 
 flocks of sheep and herds of fine cattle. It was a 
 smiling landscape, an upland with gentle swells and 
 tinkling streams of water. By the wayside a moss- 
 covered well of water was pointed out. It looked 
 picturesque and refreshing as if a blessing was in it, 
 and so, doubtless, it has been a blessing to myriads. 
 It has given out its beneficent waters for hundreds of 
 years. It is called the Well of Wallace. Beside its 
 curb the tragedy before referred to was enacted. A 
 way-faring man was taking a drink from this well as 
 Claverhouse rode past, and because the man did not 
 quickly answer a question impudently put to him, the 
 tyrant raised his pistol, shot him and left him dead 
 upon the spot. As we approached Drumclog the out- 
 look changed into a dreary moorland, with huge 
 heathy hills, interspersed with morasses and stretches 
 of blooming heather. The whole range is intersected 
 by moss hags, or deep, ragged gulleys that have 
 broken through the black vegetable soil out of which 
 grows the heather, and which conceals great beds of 
 peat moss that may yet be found to be the best fer- 
 tilizer in the world. 
 
 When we reached an eminence called Calder Hill, 
 we saw a monument enclosed in an iron railing about 
 half way up the steep. This is the spot where victory 
 was achieved by the Covenanters on that memorable 
 Sabbath day, begun with earnest praises and agonizing 
 prayers to God and ended in bloody carnage. The 
 hill slopes down to a little meandering stream of water, 
 which was at that time a deep moss hag, spongy with 
 
192 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 swamp and mosses. On the opposite acclivity the 
 Covenanters were assembled for worship. They had 
 come by families, the lisping infant and the gray head 
 with trembling pace by the aid of a staff, with the 
 robust and hardy sons and daughters of a most perilous 
 time. They knew the danger. Every soul was aflame 
 with appeals to God for help in this time of need. 
 What child of God has not passed through such mo- 
 ments of agony, buoyed above terror with the arm of 
 omnipotence always sufficient? The worshipers had 
 posted sentinels on different points adjacent and had 
 seated themselves for worship on the green sward 
 overlooking this gloomy expanse. The morning Psalm 
 had been sung, "the melody of joy and praise," and 
 earnest prayer had been offered to their covenant- 
 keeping God. The following is from an officer who 
 fought that terrible day: "We had assembled not to 
 fight but to worship the God of our fathers. We were 
 far from the tumult of cities. The long, dark heath 
 waved around us; and we disturbed no living creatures 
 save the lapwing and the heather-cock. As usual we 
 had come armed. It was for self-defense. * * * 
 The venerable Douglass had commenced the solemni- 
 ties of the day, and was speaking of the evils of 
 tyranny. Our souls were on fire at the remembrance 
 of our country's sufferings and the wrongs of the 
 Church. In this moment of intense feeling our watch- 
 man posted on the neighboring heights fired his 
 carbine and ran toward the congregation. He an- 
 nounced the approach of the enemy. We raised our 
 eyes to the minister. 'I have done,' said Douglass 
 with his usual firmness, 'you have the theory, now for 
 
THE BATTLE. 1 93 
 
 the practice; you know your duty. Self-defense is 
 always lawful. But the enemy approaches.' He 
 raised his eyes to heaven and uttered a prayer — brief 
 and emphatic." Instantly the aged men, their gray 
 hairs streaming in the wind, with the women and 
 children, fell back singing one of Israel's grand old 
 prophetic war songs, and the able-bodied men fell into 
 battle array singing with the retiring multitude, 
 
 " There arrows of the bow he brake, 
 The shield, the sword, the war 
 More glorious thou than hills of prey ; 
 More excellent art far. 
 
 " Those that were stout of heart are spoiled, 
 They slept their sleep outright ; 
 And none of those their hands did find, 
 That were the men of might. 
 
 " When thy rebuke, O Jacob's God, 
 Had forth against them passed, 
 Their horses and their chariots both 
 Were in a dead sleep ca-t." 
 
 At the edge of the deep moss hag they planted 
 themselves to meet the rapidly advancing foe. There 
 was no panic, but there was Christian courage of men 
 who dared to do right because their God was to them 
 the God of battles. The royal troops came on at a 
 gallop, and being unacquainted with the marshy na- 
 ture of the ground, the Covenanters saw the moment 
 of advantage, leaped the moss hag and charged the 
 enemy. The royalists were totally routed. They 
 turned and fled, leaving a number dead upon the field. 
 Claverhouse had given orders to shoot all prisoners, 
 13 
 
194 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 but he so narrowly escaped with his own life that the 
 order was disregarded. 
 
 Much of the moorland of Drumclog is now re- 
 deemed and under cultivation. The moss hag is a 
 pleasant streamlet. An academy where boys and 
 girls are educated stands beside its waters. The mon- 
 ument where victory was gained is of gray granite, 
 stately in style and pleasing in effect. After fixing 
 this most interesting spot in our minds, we drove on 
 over these royal highways banked on either side with 
 green hedge-rows and drew up at Loudoun Hill, a 
 wild and rock-bound eminence, rising abruptly out of 
 the expanse of hill and dale. Upon this craggy 
 height, one mile from Drumclog, stood the sentinel 
 that gave the alarm on that eventful Sabbath morning. 
 We toiled and climbed to the top of the rock, perhaps 
 300 feet high, and sat down among the gray mosses 
 and gazed upon a scene of rare loveliness. There 
 were mansions and farm lands and evidences of thrift 
 and enterprise everywhere, in contrast with that 
 gloomy other time in which the present prosperity 
 had its birth. 
 
AN OLD TOWN. 195 
 
 X. 
 
 At Newmilns in Ayrshire we bade our kind friends 
 good-bye, after visiting the interesting places with 
 them. Newmilns is a manufacturing town upon Irvine 
 water. Nottingham laces are woven here and delicate, 
 gauzy silks for the India market. The weaving of 
 these two frail textures is very interesting, revealing 
 great ingenuity and taste on the part of the inventors. 
 The fabrics are among the marvels of human inge- 
 nuity. 
 
 The town is rich in historic lore, like all the West 
 country. It has an old part, so distinctly old, so de- 
 cidedly the type of the heroic age that a strange 
 sensation crept over us as we looked at the habitations, 
 quaint, compact, irregular, with the marks of many 
 generations stamped upon every feature. At intervals 
 there were closes and projections and dormer windows 
 indicating means of defense. 
 
 Upon a slight elevation stands a small ancient castle 
 of the 1 2th century, now called the Ducat Tower. It 
 resembles a great heap of rude stones. The windows 
 are simply openings into a dark and dingy interior, 
 and desolation is written upon every outline. It 
 stands, because Scotland, as England and Ireland, re- 
 veres her marvelous history. This is one of her 
 
196 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 monuments. We would not regard it with favor, and 
 would sweep it away; but why should we wish to 
 destroy one link in the perfect chain, when God in his 
 wonderful purposes brings such strong and beautiful 
 light out of darkness? God's own redeemed ones 
 have nothing of which to glory. They are dug out 
 of the darkness of natural heathenism, and the thought 
 should humble them, and often they should look back 
 and rejoice in the new life that stands out strong by 
 contrast. During what is called in history "the killing 
 time," this Castle was used as a fortress for the royal 
 troopers. From the battlement the Covenanter John 
 Law was shot in his own yard. His house now stands 
 in the shadow of the Castle. It, too, is rude and 
 homely with a little garden attached; and in this gar- 
 den the Christian hero fell dead, pierced by a ball sent 
 by one of the troopers. A tablet high up in the gable 
 end records the sad story. When the hardened soldiers 
 of the crown were ordered out in the evening exercise, 
 they severed the head from the body of this devoted 
 and faithful servant of the Lord, and played foot-ball 
 with it on the village green. These brutalized soldiers 
 understood not that they had sent one of God's ser- 
 vants home to sing the song of Moses and the song 
 of the Lamb. 
 
 In the evening we took the train for Kilmarnock, a 
 thriving city of some 40,000 on Irvine water in Ayr- 
 shire, and registered at Veitch's Temperance Hotel on 
 Portland Street. As the sun was yet high in the 
 heavens, we took a run out to Kay Park, a lovely spot 
 bounded on one side by the softly flowing Irvine water. 
 A wooded hill ranges through the Park, and on its 
 
KILMARNOCK. I97 
 
 highest terrace stands the Burns monument, a tasteful 
 affair with rooms in it in which are relics and memo- 
 ries of the national poet. Kilmarnock claims the 
 honor of publishing his first book of poems, thus 
 giving that encouragement his genius and his poverty- 
 needed. The volume has recently been republished, 
 and the poems as they issued from the pen of the 
 plowman poet are in many respects different from the 
 after issues. The grounds of the Park are ample. 
 They are the gift of a townsman to whom the citizens 
 gave the name of their Park. It is pure benevolence 
 to the great army of toilers to provide such a sweet 
 spot, where they can come as families or as as indi- 
 viduals and drink bountiful drafts from the ocean of 
 air. As well can they learn refinement from the 
 delicate shades and perfumery of flowers and the glad 
 trill of the birds in the great branches of the stately 
 trees. The new city, in handsome modern dress, is 
 encircling the Park and even extending far beyond it. 
 At night we slept the sleep of a well spent day, and 
 next morning we rolled back the weight of years to 
 take in a sad but very interesting picture in the market 
 cross. A ring in the pavement marks the spot where 
 one of the Covenanters was beheaded, and he sleeps 
 in Laigh Kirk yard. In the same yard is a monument 
 to three others, prisoners taken at Bothwell Bridge, 
 and who were sentenced to exile and perished at sea 
 with a great many others. Ayrshire and the valley of 
 Irvine water were early noted for being the home of 
 an enlightened and pious peasantry. They took a 
 vigorous part in the Reformation from Popery and 
 made a firm and decided stand against the perfidy of 
 
I98 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the Stuarts. Laigh Kirk is very ancient. The clumsy 
 old tower bears the date of 141 0. The inside is curious 
 indeed, with high, jail-like windows and odd little 
 patches of pews as if the hearers were graded. Seats 
 for the choir of singers were in the center, and the 
 books, purporting to be books of praise, were largely 
 modern hymns of a most vapory quality, with nothing 
 to nourish the soul and make it strong and buoyant. 
 The glory is rapidly departing from this historic 
 Church, and more martyrs will soon be needed. 
 Wherever mere sentiment is fed and cultivated, the 
 stronger qualities of the soul that take hold upon 
 Truth because it is truth and resolve to hold it up be- 
 cause it emanates from God, are weakened, and in the 
 flight of years are crushed to the earth till some 
 powerful upheaval of the social and religious life 
 wakens it to a revived existence. But woe to those 
 time-servers that yield it for a mess of pottage! 
 
 The scene changed as we walked out to Dean 
 Castle, the country-seat of the Earl of Kilmarnock 
 who lost his head on Tower Hill, London, for taking 
 part in the rebellion of Prince Charles Edward in 1745. 
 It is now the property of Lord Portland, and a hand- 
 some home it is. The original Castle is a cumbrous 
 pile of stone, deserted but picturesque. By its side is 
 a stately mansion in the midst of rare flowers and 
 trees upon a lovely lawn, all exhibiting exquisite taste 
 and keeping. A clear, sparkling stream of water, with 
 a rustic bridge-way and a landscape of exceeding 
 beauty forms the background. Our way led through 
 the new city where were handsome homes with care- 
 fully trained flowering plants. No home was so lowly 
 
A GOOD INFLUENCE. 199 
 
 but that the inmates could intelligently tell the habits 
 of the plants they cultivate, the food they require and 
 their botanical name and class. Flowers have a refin- 
 ing influence, and it was a pleasant surprise to us to 
 see even in the lowly cots this evidence of gentility. 
 
 During the persecutions of the Stuarts Ayrshire 
 was a stronghold of the Covenanters. The ancient 
 divisions of this Shire were Kyle, Cunningham and 
 Carrick. To the old and fortress town of Carrick in 
 Ireland many of these Covenanters fled during perse- 
 cuting times, and with that strength of purpose that 
 characterized them everywhere, clung to a pure faith, 
 and 
 
 " Planted on the Castle wall the Banner of the Blue, 
 And worshiped God in simple form as Presbyterians do." 
 
 This hallowed memory still lingers and can be seen 
 and felt in the deportment of the people. In spite of 
 whatever may be said against religious establishments 
 there are facts that speak louder than theories. A 
 savor still remains of the sowing time and consequent 
 establishment of the religion of the Reformation. 
 That savor was seen in those who sat at tables in the 
 hotels. Very many of them bowed their heads in 
 silent prayer before beginning the meal, and especially 
 in this West country the Sabbath is still a delight, a 
 quiet and honored day of rest. If the nation and 
 people will serve the Lord with all their heart, he will 
 give them laws and rulers after his own mind, in har- 
 mony with a pure religion. Kings' hearts are in the 
 hand of the Lord, and he turns them as the rivers of 
 water are turned. It is God that gives Christian rulers 
 
200 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and laws running parallel with the divine law, which 
 is neither more nor less than an established religion. 
 Such should be our aim, our earnest desire, and diffi- 
 culties would vanish, because it is the coming of the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 The railway to the city of Ayr was through a 
 blooming moorland. The heather lifted it,s head 
 weighted with purple flowers and often crept close up 
 to some evergreen shrub or feathery fir tree to enhance 
 the beauty. Long mosses in different shades crawled 
 along the surface and encircled knots of flowers with a 
 soft, downy outline and a gracefulness most pleasing 
 in effect. 
 
 Our lodgings were at Cowan's Temperance Hotel, 
 kept "by a handsome woman of good address. Tem- 
 perance hotels outside of the larger cities are mostly 
 kept by ladies and are certainly a success. The day 
 was fine, and we took a carriage for the boyhood 
 home of Robert Burns. The cottage is by the high- 
 way; a low stone biggin of most humble appearance. 
 No doubt the memory of this home suggested "The 
 Cotter's Saturday Night." Burns' father was a godly 
 man and was wont morning and evening to turn over 
 "wi' patriarchal grace the big ha' Bible" and worship 
 God with his family. The "big ha' Bible" is there, 
 worn and brown with age, but the father and mother 
 sleep in Alloway kirkyard. The quaint old fire-place 
 is there and the cupboard and dresser and the bed- 
 stead built into the wall, upon which baby Robert 
 frolicked and prattled in his infancy. 
 
 Everything indicates the humble and pious life 
 of the parents at whose fireside the dreaming boy 
 
THE HOME OF BURNS. 201 
 
 unconsciously caught the healthful precepts that 
 gleamed at times like jewels, despite the waywardness 
 that so often surprised and captured him. A short 
 ride brought us to his monument in the midst of a 
 carefully kept little park or garden of rare blooming 
 plants, with avenues and borders of creeping plant 
 life. It is washed by " Bonnie Doon," clear and 
 sparkling as when the poet boy roved its banks and 
 listened to the warblers that almost broke his tender 
 heart. The monument contains a room of consider- 
 able size with relics of the poet. The most thrilling is 
 the Bible he gave to Highland Mary with her name, 
 Mary Campbell, inscribed with his own hand. 
 
 Quickly the mind turned to the "banks and braes 
 and streams around the Castle of Montgomery," to 
 sweet Afton water, where gently flowing, the Highland 
 maiden stemmed its clear tide with her snowy feet, 
 her native charms holding the youthful plow-boy in 
 such loving bondage. It seems to be the almost 
 universal verdict of Scotchmen that Burns was to a 
 large extent governed by his surroundings. The poet 
 was in him; so was his genial, social nature. He 
 attracted men of letters and social position by his 
 fruitful genius, and in such companionship the drink 
 habits of the age fastened themselves upon him with 
 a tyrant's grasp. His will power was feeble. The 
 hero was not there. The greatest conqueror is he 
 who conquers himself. The loss of Highland Mary 
 by a sudden stroke of death plunged him into excesses 
 that must always shadow his character; although it 
 was at intervals during this very time that he gave to 
 his countrymen and the world those mournful cadences 
 
202 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 so replete with pathos and beauty that they seem the 
 vibrations of his heart strings. 
 
 "The auld brig over the Doon" and the new brig 
 are almost side by side, quite near enough to be en- 
 vious and ugly with each other. The moss grows 
 upon the auld brig, and its high archway affords 
 scanty room for crossing, but the new bridge is in 
 modern dress, straight and ample in accommodations. 
 However, it cannot boast a keystone to its arch. 
 " Alloway's Auld Haunted Kirk" is but a stone's cast 
 distant. The kirk is a roofless ruin. Built into its 
 high gables are numerous tablets in memoriam, and 
 the sleeper lies under the floor. The kirkyard is 
 crowded with the dead, many of them titled, but none 
 of them are so interesting as the family of Burns. 
 Death is a mighty leveler. " Thou hast all seasons for 
 thine own, O death!" Alloway Kirk stands upon a 
 knoll beside the Doon. The place is lonely, and yet 
 it is a pleasant loneliness; for the "banks and braes of 
 bonnie Doon" are green and velvety and fringed with 
 trees and shrubs, among which the birds twitter and 
 speak their joy from many a leafy bower. 
 
 We had a delightful ride back to the city, taking the 
 highway that led past the late home of Mrs. Begg, 
 the devoted sister of the poet. Ayr has handsome 
 suburbs that are growing in the direction of the home 
 of Burns. The undulations of hill and dale are very 
 beautiful, as are the glimpses of the sea indenting the 
 shore. The building material of the new and hand- 
 some residences in the modern quarter is a cream gray 
 stone that takes a beautiful polish and has a cheerful 
 effect. There is a fine beach at Ayr, and many 
 
THE CITY ON THE SEA. 203 
 
 bathers were in the surf. Throughout Scotland the 
 ladies and gentlemen have different places for bathing. 
 In no case are they permitted to mingle in bathing 
 attire. 
 
 The tired feelings vanished in a sound sleep, and in 
 the morning we pursued our sight-seeing along the 
 one long street of the old town, with its close and 
 narrow alley ways, its projections and curious nooks 
 and angles: the whole is venerable with years and 
 gray with the dust and ashes of many generations. 
 A Free Church edifice projects into the street of this 
 ancient quarter and is a conspicuous object of interest. 
 A clock upon this church performs an important duty 
 to many of the inhabitants, being placed high up in 
 the lofty steeple so as to be seen far and wide. A 
 long walk brought us to a cross street which leads 
 over the "auld brig of Ayr," spanning the river Ayr 
 and leading to Newton-upon-Ayr. The bridge is 
 constructed after the ancient pattern, rising high in the 
 center with a narrow roadway, suggesting the old 
 Roman idea of defense. At this point Ayr river is an 
 arm of the sea, a harbor for vessels. It is along down 
 from its home in the lofty Cairntable and through 
 Wellwood's dark valley that Ayr, gurgling, kisses her 
 pebbly shore. 
 
 We were directed to St. John's church and its old 
 graveyard where the martyrs lie. In 1650, when 
 Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland, he took possession 
 of Ayr and turned St. John's church and its graveyard 
 into a fortification. When leaving the place, doubtless 
 from motives of piety, he gave a large sum of money 
 to the trustees to be used in renovating this church. 
 
204 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Within a few years it has been modernized inside, 
 adorned with costly memorial windows and rich trap- 
 pings that in the dim light awaken the feeling that we 
 have suddenly been let into a cathedral of the six- 
 teenth century. The outside walls of heavy masonry 
 have many tablets and memorial stones. On one 
 occasion the Scottish Parliament met within the walls 
 of this church to confirm the title of Robert Bruce to 
 the throne of Scotland. The dead lie around and 
 about in packed masses, heaps upon heaps, generation 
 after generation of those who lived and toiled and 
 filled out their destiny and then lay down to sleep in 
 the kindly earth till the waking time shall come. 
 Seven of these were martyrs of the Covenant: James 
 Smith, Alex. McMillan, James McMillan, John Short, 
 George McKertny, John Graham and John Muirhead. 
 They were taken prisoners at Pentland, were executed 
 at the market cross and lie side by side. On a 
 suitable monument is inscribed the story of their 
 sufferings and death. It is a quiet nook where these 
 martyrs lie. Little is heard of the din of the city, but 
 the melody of the gentle river, the classic Ayr, brings 
 a hush and a thrill that is grateful and soothing. Ayr 
 proper lies on the south bank of the river and is con- 
 nected with Newton-upon-Ayr by the"Twa Brigs" 
 of Burns. When Cromwell held the city, St. John's 
 church and grounds included the citadel and from ten 
 to twelve acres of ground. All the ground is now 
 covered with houses except the burial place attached 
 to the church. The citadel stands near the sea. It is 
 a high, strong-looking building, a relic of the past and 
 preserved as such. 
 
 
MAUCHLINE. 205 
 
 We left the town of "cakes and bonnie lassies" re- 
 gretfully, because there were many foot-prints in the 
 vicinity of special interest. We halted at Mauchline, 
 famous now for its extensive quarries of red sandstone 
 that admits a fine polish and is used in many regions 
 for building purposes, trimmings, &c. The contrast, 
 when used with the cream-colored stone of Ayr and 
 other places, is very pleasing. Mauchline is a quaint 
 old town on the Ayrshire railway line to Dumfries. It 
 is jotted down in its place with the prevailing idea of 
 defense. A struggle for life is written on its unadorned 
 exterior. It has, however, a new and thriving part, 
 and handsome suburbs. The dwellings of stone in the 
 old part are rude structures. No artist hand shaped 
 the stones or ranged them for effect. These houses 
 stand in line and out of line, just as the builders 
 thought would be safest for "wife and weans" when 
 fierce marauders came. Even Mauchline Castle is of 
 undressed stone without unnecessary ornament. This 
 Castle has thick, heavy walls, a battlement and a nar- 
 row, circular stairway as an escape. In one of its rooms 
 Robert Burns and Jean Armour were married, the 
 then proprietor being a warm friend and admirer of 
 the poet. Mossgiel is about one mile away. The 
 unfortunate Burns plowed and sowed the fields of 
 Mossgiel; but his thoughts were more upon the "wee 
 mousie" he disturbed than the thrift the plow would 
 bring, and more enraptured with the birds and flowers 
 and pebbly streams than the grain he scattered. The 
 house of Sonsie Nancie, where Burns wrote "The 
 Jolly Beggars," is standing and looks suspicious, as if 
 it still had a glass too much. The low warped build- 
 
206 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ing has a forbidding aspect, as if conscious of guilt in 
 the ruin it had wrought. It is still a place of ruin, and 
 lures the drinking victims by its blazoned sign, "Sonsie 
 Nancie." But what singled out Mauchline as a place 
 of interest to us was the ashes of her martyrs. Some 
 lie in the churchyard, and five sleep upon the village 
 green. A monument with a suitable inscription marks 
 where they lie, and a tablet in the stone wall tells 
 where these Christian soldiers fell. Their names are 
 Peter Gillies, John Bryce, Thomas Young, William 
 Fiddison, and John Bruning. They were executed 
 upon one gibbet in 1685. They were hurried to exe- 
 cution without trial and were not allowed time for 
 prayer or a parting word with the dear ones left 
 behind. After the execution a hole was dug in the 
 place where the monument now stands, and they were 
 all thrown in together like brutes. These were dark 
 and dismal days, days that tried men's souls. To the 
 unbeliever not one ray of hope streamed from the 
 horizon; but the children of God knew it was the 
 darkness before the dawn. They saw it by faith, and 
 so they triumphantly yielded their lives that the king- 
 dom of grace might be advanced. Their sufferings 
 are fresh in the hearts of their countrymen, and 
 
 " Their names, their memories, their renown 
 Shall pass to latest ages down." 
 
 The name Mauchline is of Gaelic origin, meaning 
 "a place of water springs." It is at least twelve hun- 
 dred years old, a battle having been fought here in 
 681 between the Strathclyde Britons and the Irish 
 Scots. In 1 1 56 the monks of Melrose erected a house 
 
HUMBLE WORSHIP. 207 
 
 of worship. After the Reformation began George 
 Wishart came to preach. A party refused him the 
 church, and he replied, "Christ is as potent in the 
 fields as in the kirk," and withdrew to an open moor 
 near by and preached for nearly three hours with 
 wonderful power to a great multitude. Reformations 
 do not usually begin in fine church buildings or among 
 fashionable worshipers. The Jews were reclaimed 
 from idolatry by being deprived of their beautiful 
 temple and left to worship God by the rivers of 
 Babylon where they hanged their temple harps upon 
 the willows, or to kneel before the windows that were 
 opened toward Jerusalem. The apostles went every- 
 where preaching the gospel without regard to the 
 convenience of church buildings. The greatest refor- 
 mations in ancient or modern times began and pro- 
 gressed under privation. 
 
208 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 XL 
 
 The rain was sifting down upon the broad land- 
 scape when we reached Cumnock upon Lugar Water, 
 and we quickly sought a lodging place. We found 
 one in a quiet home and soon forgot our wayfaring in 
 the warmth of a cheerful room and a cup of hot tea. 
 Next morning the rain clouds withheld their burden, 
 but rolled and tossed onward in heavy, threatening 
 masses, reminding us of the dark days of the Covenant 
 when it was death to be true. It was no marvel that 
 our reflections were quickened by the surroundings, 
 and that the stirring scenes enacted there two hun- 
 dred years ago became almost a reality. 
 
 Cumnock is quite elevated, commanding an exten- 
 sive scope of country. A range of green hills and 
 gentle slopes can be distinctly seen from this place. 
 Among these hills the Nith has its source, and upon 
 one of the crowns is a deep moss hag overhung with 
 tall heather. The spot is called Crossgellioch and 
 tells a pathetic story. In 1685, four humble followers 
 of our Lord were returning home, after having been 
 to hear Rev. James Renwick preach. They were very 
 tired with travel, and wishing to avoid the highways, 
 they lay down in this dark and dank place. Ere long 
 Colonel Douglass who, doubtless, had hounded them 
 
THE TRUE HEROES. 209 
 
 with a band of soldiers, came upon them suddenly and 
 shot three of them instantly, while the fourth made 
 good his escape. The country people stealthily buried 
 them where they fell among the mosses and heather. 
 After the Revolution Settlement in 1688, a plain stone 
 was erected to mark the spot where Joseph Wilson, 
 John Jamieson and John Humphfrey lie. Says Mr. 
 Todd in " Homes, Haunts and Battlefields of the 
 Covenanters," "When the foundation of the monu- 
 ment was being dug in 1827, a very wonderful dis- 
 covery was made. The bodies of the three martyrs 
 were come upon lying side by side, only a little way 
 beneath the surface in their hosen and their plaids, 
 fresh and undecayed and looking as if they had only 
 been buried yesterday, so that their very features 
 could be plainly seen, as they lay there in their mossy 
 bed in all the indescribable placidity of death." The 
 antiseptic properties of the peat moss in which they 
 lay had no doubt embalmed their bodies. 
 
 In a quiet graveyard in Cumnock repose the ashes 
 of Alexander Peden — "Peden the Prophet," as he is 
 still called by the peasantry, the devoted friend of 
 Richard Cameron and the Covenanted Reformation. 
 He was hunted upon mountain and upon moor, among 
 the wilds of Ayrshire, Galloway and Avondale by 
 those who thirsted for his blood, but he was not 
 captured. His escapes were wonderful. Often a flying 
 mist upon some lonely moor or heathy hillside con- 
 cealed this servant of the Lord till the danger passed. 
 Five weary years he spent as a prisoner in the dismal 
 fortress on the Bass Rock. His last place of conceal- 
 ment was in a cave near this place. This cave looks 
 14 
 
2IO REMINISCENCES. 
 
 out upon the Lugar near its junction with Ayr water. 
 The entrance to it is very narrow and quite concealed 
 among the overhanging cliffs. Here he evaded his 
 pursuers and often preached at conventicles; but 
 exposure and trials brought on his last sickness, and 
 he was buried in Auchinleck churchyard, two miles 
 from this place. Six weeks after his interment a body 
 of brutal soldiers were sent to this place to tear out 
 his wasted body. They broke open the coffin, tore 
 off the winding sheet and left all exposed to wind and 
 storm for a few days. Then, as if in a rage at being 
 cheated by death out of the pleasure of hanging him, 
 they buried him at the foot of the gallows in Cum- 
 nock. The hideous old gallows has passed away, and 
 there the Christian hero sleeps beneath a broad stone 
 that records his virtues. Soon after the interment, 
 two hawthorn trees sprang up, one on each side of the 
 flat stone, and their branches now lovingly entwine 
 above his resting place and seem at a distance to be 
 one tree top. As we stood by his grave we could but 
 contrast the present with that time when the dens and 
 caves of earth were the homes of them " of whom the 
 world was not worthy." 
 
 As the morning waned toward noontide, the heavens 
 looked kindlier and gave us patches of blue sky 
 amidst the feathery fields of mist, sometimes gray and 
 dark and again white as the driven snow. It was 
 Saturday, and the outside world grew more and more 
 propitious, when our friend, Mr. Todd, called in a 
 wagonette to conduct us to Airsmoss. We were 
 whirled rapidly over the smooth road through the 
 invigorating air now becoming a pure rosy amber 
 
ON THE WAY. 2 1 1 
 
 after the rain. With historic memories all the way of 
 such a thrilling nature I sometimes felt that I dreamed, 
 and that the delight would vanish as dreams do, 
 leaving only a pleasant savor. The way at times lay 
 over hills and beneath frowning cliffs, between sloping 
 points and over rippling rills. Again it ran by the 
 side of soft green pasture fields shadowed with great 
 patriarchal trees, a refuge for the cattle and sheep that 
 grazed contentedly upon the swelling undulations. As 
 we advanced, the landscape was cast in a rougher, 
 shaggier mould, giving us at intervals silvery streams 
 that murmured their songs all the days and all the 
 nights. One wild and lonely place, dark with over- 
 hanging bush and shrub, was marked as the spot 
 where a body of English troopers were surprised by a 
 band of hastily gathered Covenanters and completely 
 routed. The troopers were conducting a number of 
 prisoners to Edinburgh. They were the friends and 
 neighbors of these Covenanters, and among their 
 number one of their ministers whom they had tied 
 fast to the horse he rode. The minister and all the 
 prisoners were rescued. But during the skirmishing 
 and fighting the minister was utterly helpless to defend 
 himself, and consequently was so injured that he died 
 shortly after. It cannot be that these godly men 
 struggled in vain. Not one pang of all their suffer- 
 ings for Christ's sake is forgotten by him. He knew 
 just when they were born into the kingdom. He had 
 appointed every step of their way and has all their 
 testimony in his keeping yet. The fashion of this 
 world passes away. It is as empty as sounding brass, 
 but the word of the Lord abides forever, and its 
 
2 I 2 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 fashion never changes. Its watchword is, "The Lord 
 my Banner." 
 
 As we journeyed we came in sight of long ranges 
 of hills sketched upon the horizon. To the east 
 among these hills rises Glenmuir water, which flows 
 south through a sequestered glen. Among the North- 
 ern slopes Ayr water has her home where, gurgling, 
 she kisses her pebbly shore till lost in the harbor at 
 Ayr. Here, too, is "Wellwood's sweet valley." The 
 lofty Cairntable is in view and many a rocky glen and 
 fastness. These hidings not only sheltered the fleeing 
 Covenanters, but formed for them nature's bulwark 
 where great numbers of them met by stealth to hear 
 the Word at the mouth of God's faithful servants. 
 These meetings were called conventicles and were 
 most precious to the hunted fugutives. 
 
 Just beyond the classic Ayr lies the moorland farm 
 where John Brown of Priesthill was shot by Claver- 
 house at his own door in the presence of his wife and 
 children, his only offense being that he served God 
 too faithfully for the minions of Charles II. We had 
 scarcely time to get the bearings of these interesting 
 places whea we entered upon a wide stretch of dreaiy 
 moorland. Neither trees nor shrubs were to be seen, 
 but instead were hundreds of acres of the most luxu- 
 riant heather in all its wealth of delicate purple flowers. 
 The long, feathery branches lifted themselves out of 
 their home of most exquisite mosses, attracting a 
 great army of bees that hummed incessantly "around 
 the breathing flowers." These mosses are of many 
 colors and send up long, downy shoots, often six 
 inches long. Within the compass of a few feet there 
 
AIRSMOSS. 213 
 
 were the most brilliant shades of crimson and pink, 
 as well as many varieties of green and orange. The 
 sun, the shade and the wet, spongy soil are the influ- 
 ences at work to produce this diversity of color. 
 
 The place where Richard Cameron and his com- 
 rades fought and fell is a green knoll rising gently out 
 of the waste of swamp and heather, the swamp full of 
 moss hags and the knoll almost inaccessible even on 
 foot in the driest summer, Cameron and eight of his 
 devoted followers quietly sleep where they fell, and a 
 monument marks the spot. Feelings of the deepest 
 emotion came and went, as we plucked the gowans 
 that grew in luxuriance over the ashes of the dead. 
 The "wee, modest, crimson-tipped flowers" seemed to 
 rejoice as they lifted their heads ** upon the lone and 
 wild Airsmoss," where reposes the dust of God's pre- 
 cious ones. 
 
 Our friend read "The Cameronian's Dream" stand- 
 ing beside the monument. His voice was rich and 
 full, and as the sounds floated away the scene described 
 came vividly to mind, thrilling us with intense emo- 
 tion. The desolate moor almost encircled us and 
 stretched far and wide, only relieved by the swaying 
 heather, an ocean of purple gently waving in the 
 breeze. The eventful morning was pictured in vivid 
 coloring. There was the little army of Covenanters, 
 foot and horse, drawn up in battle array where we 
 stood. Toil-worn and wasted with hunger, they were 
 compelled to give way before twice their number 
 under the command of a violent persecutor, Bruce of 
 Earshall. The fleeing footmen find a refuge among 
 the moss hags, the dead and dying lie upon the grassy 
 
214 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 knoll. Of the nine whose lives are ebbing fast, one is 
 Rev. Richard Cameron, the man of God. He en- 
 gaged in prayer just before the battle, using these 
 words three times, " Lord, spare the green and take 
 the ripe." He had a firm conviction that he should 
 die that day. When he washed his hands and face in 
 the early morning, he spread his hands on his face and 
 said, "This is their last washing. I have need to 
 make them clean; for there are many to see them." 
 As the enemy approached, he said to his brother, 
 " Come, let us fight it to the last. This is the day I 
 have longed for and the death I have prayed for — to 
 die fighting against our Lord's enemies. This is the 
 day we will get the crown." 
 
 The head and hands of this Christian her were cut 
 off and, with shocking barbarity, presented to his 
 father, a prisoner in the Tolbooth in Edinburgh, with 
 the inquiry if he knew them. The old man kissed 
 them and said, "They are my own dear son's. Good 
 is the will of the Lord." These bloody relics were 
 fixed on the Netherbow Port, the hands in the attitude 
 of prayer. Said one of these gross persecutors, "There 
 are the head and hands that lived praying and preach- 
 ing and died praying and fighting." The headless 
 body rests with his brethren beneath the sod, where 
 we are listening to the beautiful lines of James Hyslop, 
 beginning with these words: 
 
 " In a dream of the night I was wafted away 
 To the muirland of mist, where the martyrs lay, 
 Where Cameron's sword and his Bible are seen 
 Engraved on the stone where the heather grows green." 
 
 The home of young Hyslop, the author, was in 
 
monteith's cave. 215 
 
 sight of where we stood. It was a fine subject for a 
 youth of poetic temperament. The grandeur of the 
 scene and the sublimity of the event were the food 
 upon which the youthful poet fed. Sleep on till the 
 resurrection morn, ye who are dear in God's sight — ye 
 ransomed ones who stand before the great White 
 Throne! It is fit ye should sleep here! We turned 
 homeward with chastened feelings and with a fuller 
 realization of the word of Truth, " In the world ye 
 shall have tribulation." 
 
 The sun shone and the birds sang to us as we 
 found our way back. Glenmuir water regaled us on 
 one side and Bello water sang us a song on the other. 
 The two mountain streams unite and form the musical 
 Lugar. At the junction there is a celebrated cave 
 where Monteith, the original discoverer of the mode 
 of manufacturing illuminating gas, spent his leisure 
 time experimenting till he perfected his invention. All 
 the way was martyr-land. Here they were driven 
 from their homes, and there they were shot, as beside 
 the rippling streams they sang the songs of Zion. 
 The rest of this ever to be remembered day was .spent 
 at Breezy Hill Cottage with our ardent friend of the 
 Covenanters, whose pen pictures in " Homes, Haunts 
 and Battlefields of the Covenanters" are vivid and 
 inspiriting. The next day was Sabbath and we wor- 
 shiped in Auchinleck two miles away, with the 
 Original Secession congregation, of which Professor 
 Spence is pastor, and who gave us two excellent 
 sermons. 
 
 It seemed like a romance that we should be traver- 
 sing the very nooks and shelter spots made almost 
 
2l6 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 sacred by the faithful contendings of that shining 
 cloud of witnesses that still brightens the land. 
 There is nothing so illuminating as faithful contend- 
 ings. It is true that it hardly ever produces an 
 immediate effect. Neither of two parties ever admits 
 at once that the party maintaining steadfastly the 
 truth has brought conviction to the other, because 
 that would be humiliating to human nature, an ac- 
 knowledgment of defeat that the old man of sin 
 within us finds hard to make. But the seeds of con- 
 viction are planted, nevertheless, and sooner or later 
 they will ripen, and their possessors will come forward 
 emancipated. The first question with us should 
 always be, Does the principle under discussion agree 
 with the will of God as given to us in his word? It 
 should never involve questions of self-interest or mere 
 time-serving; for they all fade as do the falling leaf, 
 while the years of the truth are eternal. 
 
 Monday morning dawned bright and cheerful, a 
 foretaste of the pleasant hours we spent in the home 
 of Professor Spence in Auchinleck. In the old grave- 
 yard, now handsomely kept, is Peden's tree planted on 
 the spot where the old tree flourished for many years, 
 and was regarded with affection as a silent witness of 
 the desecration of Peden's resting place. A handsome 
 church building adorns the center of this churchyard, 
 and it is further interesting as the place of sepulture 
 for the Lords of Auchinleck for generations. We 
 walked back, taking in leisurely a fine view of swelling 
 hills and cultivated farms, a picture of peace and 
 thrift, bringing to mind the blessing that has flowed 
 from the dark days " when the minister's home was on 
 
AFTON WATER. 217 
 
 mountain and moor." Such sowing in sorrow brings 
 back the sheaves with rejoicing. 
 
 We visited by invitation the handsome pleasure 
 grounds of the Crichton family, which was a bewilder- 
 ing mass of rare flowering plants and curious tropics 
 in leaf and spiral, as well as a fine specimen of grape 
 culture as it is done in Scotland. The vines were all 
 under glass cover, nothing but the roots being outside. 
 Clusters of the most luscious grapes and the largest 
 we had ever seen hung from the vines. Like the 
 clusters of Eshcol, in order to be transported a branch 
 with one cluster would have to be borne between two 
 upon a staff. In the afternoon we took the train for 
 Dumfries, escorted to the depot by our warm-hearted 
 and genial poet friend, Mr. Todd. Our farewells were 
 made with kindly wishes, and our hearts were aglow 
 with memories of the covenanting days to be met on 
 our way. 
 
 The District of Galloway, including the shires of 
 Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown, suffered more 
 severely than any other place during the persecution 
 that followed the restoration of the Stuarts. No dis- 
 trict is richer in memories of the Covenant. The var- 
 iety of scenery was a constant delight as we whirled 
 along. The deep woodlands, the overhanging cliffs 
 and the dark glens lent a pathos to the scene; for they 
 once echoed the tramp, tramp of bloodthirsty dragoons, 
 searching for the life of those of whom the world was 
 not worthy. Along the lovely banks and hills of 
 "sweet Afton water," far marked in their course by 
 many clear, winding rills, there were solitary moorland 
 tracts during the perilous days of which we write that 
 
2 1 8 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 were uninhabited and only visited by fugitives. In 
 the wilds of this district of Galloway the youthful and 
 gentle James Renwick, the last martyr for civil and 
 religious liberty, spent many days, preaching often on 
 the lonely moors and desert mountains and in remote 
 and lowly cottages. Sometimes he was attended by 
 few, and again by great multitudes. Sweet and most 
 precious were these seasons of refreshment which, like 
 a dew from the Lord, fell upon the hearts of those 
 who met by the wells of salvation flowing in the 
 wilderness. 
 
 It is told of James Renwick that once, when preach- 
 ing at a conventicle in a wild and sequestered place 
 in Galloway, a party of troopers came in sight. Ren- 
 wick fled and took refuge in an inn in Newton-Stewart 
 and immediately went to his room. The troopers, 
 cheated of their prey, hunted him till night, and then 
 found refuge in the same inn. After they had supped, 
 the officer of the party asked the host if there was 
 not some intelligent person in the house with whom 
 they could beguile the moments till bed-time. The 
 host applied to Mr. Renwick, not suspecting who he 
 was. Mr. Renwick came and made a deep impression 
 upon his auditors. Long before daylight next morn- 
 ing, Mr. Renwick arose, made himself known to his 
 host and sought refuge among the solitudes of the 
 mountain steeps. In the morning the officer again 
 called for the gentlemanly stranger who had pleased 
 him so much, and was told who he was. Said the 
 officer, "If he is James Renwick, so harmless, so dis- 
 creet, and so well-informed, I, for one, will pursue him 
 no longer." 
 
 
A TURNING POINT. 219 
 
 We passed through the important borough of San- 
 quhar, the scene of stirring events. It is situated upon 
 the Nith and has its ruined castle, once the home of 
 the Lords of Sanquhar, and dating its existence from 
 the ninth century. Sanquhar is best known from its 
 connection with the Covenanting struggle. We are 
 told that the solitary places around this place are 
 many and deep, and thither the Covenanters were 
 wont to speed for hiding places. It was literally the 
 Church in the wilderness, from which she came forth 
 tried like gold in a furnace of fire. The Sanquhar 
 Declaration of 1680 has immortalized this place. It 
 was prepared by Richard Cameron and was the pivotal 
 test of that trying time. This Declaration declared 
 fealty to God as alone Lord of the conscience and 
 made the perfidious Charles II. tremble on his throne. 
 Richard Cameron, his brother and about eighteen 
 others rode into Sanquhar, dismounted, formed a 
 circle, and sang one of the songs of Zion and, after 
 fervent prayer, fixed a copy of the Declaration to the 
 market-cross. This noble stand for truth shook the 
 tyrant James II. from his throne forever. The town 
 has a very ancient look, as if heavy with years, but its 
 history is full of interest. Kirkconnell has a martyr 
 history. On the moor near by five Covenanters were 
 shot by Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg, who scoured all 
 the district of Galloway with fire and sword. 
 
220 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 XII. 
 
 The evening was far spent and night was enfolding 
 the landscape when we arrived at the city of Dum- 
 fries. We found a comfortable home in a temperance 
 hotel on English Street and waited for the morning. 
 
 Dumfries is called the Queen of the South. It is 
 situated in the Vale of the Nith, with gentle acclivities 
 and bold elevations bounding it on every side. The 
 golden-hued waters of the Nith sweep along its 
 western border, and the bold brow of CrifTel stands 
 sentinel over its green banks and watches its majestic 
 march to the sea. Dumfries is thought to be as old 
 as the Roman invasion. It was raised to the dignity 
 of a royal borough in 1 190, and the old part is not a 
 modern mushroom place, but gray and venerable and 
 picturesque and storied. The name in earlier times 
 was Drumfres, a Gaelic word meaning a Castle in the 
 Brushwood. It was included in the ancient and ex- 
 tended province of Galloway. 
 
 In the early period of the Scottish monarchy, 
 Galloway was independent of both the Scottish and 
 Pictish kings. They were a distinct people governed 
 by their own laws. In ancient chronicles the warriors 
 of Galloway are described as strong, fleet of foot, 
 remarkably bold and very expert in aiming their 
 

 CIVILIZED. 221 
 
 javelins. Their habits, as of all the peoples of 
 Scotland at that age, were very similar to the habits 
 of our own American Indians. The men of Galloway 
 not only watched and held the English borderer at 
 bay, but they furbished their swords to meet the 
 Highlanders in battle array. The deadly feuds, so rife 
 in those days, are now almost lost in oblivion. And 
 how was the marvelous change wrought? Not by 
 fighting, but by interchange of the civilities of Chris- 
 tian life. Thomas de Galloway, married Isabel, 
 daughter of the Earl of Athole, a powerful Scottish 
 nobleman of the royal line, and Alan, the Lady 
 Isabel's brother, heir to the lordship of Galloway, 
 married a daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon, a 
 proud English nobleman; and thus gradually during 
 the flight of years their mutual wrath was transformed 
 into the happy cement that now binds all parties. 
 The bit of wonderful history revealed in dates and 
 records of the Scottish tribes lends a strong coloring 
 to the hopes for the future of the North American 
 Indian. When the light of Christianity dawns, the 
 darkness of Paganism takes flight. 
 
 The morning of August 31 dawned with threatening 
 clouds overhead. Great Criffel put on his night-cap 
 and went asleep in our very presence. But the rain 
 only fell in sprinkles, and from the heights of Max- 
 welltown we viewed the beautiful vale of the clear 
 winding Nith, with its banks and braes, its fertile fields 
 and refreshing groves of trees. The historic town 
 was spread out beneath us and beyond the river. We 
 crossed the river on the old bridge erected in 1280 by 
 Devorgilla, granddaughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway 
 
222 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and sole heiress to her grandfather's estates and titles. 
 This lady Devorgilla was the grandmother of John 
 Comyn, Earl of Badenoch, whom Robert Bruce, Earl 
 of Carrick and Lord of Annandale, slew at the port 
 of the vennel which we enter at this old bridge. 
 
 They were competitors for the Scottish crown which 
 was at this time usurped by Edward I. of England. 
 The two proud barons met on this dreadful day in 
 apparent friendship; but on the way to the monastery 
 for worship the claims of the rivals were discussed, 
 and Bruce in a towering passion accused Comyn of 
 basely betraying the liberties of Scotland to Edward, 
 the haughty tyrant. "You lie!" was the response of 
 Comyn, when Bruce, heedless of consequences, 
 plunged his dagger into the heart of his rival. The 
 retainers of both parties flew to arms, and before the 
 sun went down the English garrison was driven out 
 and the free standard of Bruce was floating from the 
 turrets of the Castle. Thus the first step toward 
 Scotland's deliverance from English bondage was 
 taken. It was the dim prelude to brilliant Bannock- 
 burn. 
 
 The Port of the vennel is still there, and as we 
 turned into Greyfriar's Street, the suggestive placard, 
 "Comyn's Court," attracted our attention. It is a 
 small court, perhaps twelve feet square, enclosed 
 within dingy walls falling to decay, only famous now 
 because here John Comyn fell, and the liberty of 
 Scotland had its birth. An extensive monastery once 
 covered much of this ground and included this court. 
 The monastery is gone. Gone too, is the Castle of 
 Dumfries, though large and substantial in the early 
 
DUMFRIES. 223 
 
 period of its history. The streets here are very nar- 
 row and crooked, mere alley-ways, and the houses are 
 high and compact. 
 
 The newer part of the city gives it the right to be 
 designated the Queen of the South. Buccleuch Street 
 is wide and spacious, with handsome residences. All 
 the streets of the modern part are wide and clean and 
 lined with beautiful and substantial homes. High 
 Street hums with business and is thronged with mer- 
 chandise. 
 
 The handsome statue of Robert Burns is on this 
 street. It rests upon a pedestal six feet high. The 
 design is very suggestive of what Burns was. He is 
 leaning against the trunk of a tree with his right hand 
 on his heart, his left hand holding a bunch of "the 
 wee, modest, crimson tippet flower," which he seems 
 about to address. His bonnet lies at his feet beside 
 his dog Luath, and close to these are two "weesleekit, 
 cowran, timorous beasties" and "the big ha' Bible." 
 On each paneled side is an inscription selected from 
 the beauties of his pen. Mrs. Hill of Edinburgh fur- 
 nished the model for this fine piece of art. In another 
 part of the city, in St. Michael's churchyard, he sleeps 
 "after life's fitful fever," and a handsome mausoleum 
 marks the spot. 
 
 The churchyard is an interesting city of the dead. 
 It has been used as a burial place for more than seven 
 hundred years and contains nearly four thousand 
 monuments. Its most interesting spot, however, is 
 where three martyred Covenanters sleep their last 
 sleep. They were brothers of a true, heroic band who 
 struggled for freedom of conscience and by their 
 
224 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 death secured the prize for us. Being dead, they yet 
 speak, and we should cherish their memory and imi- 
 tate their virtues. Their names are William Grierson, 
 William Welsh and James Kirk. Their graves are 
 marked by three venerable and wasted tombstones, 
 and above these lowly stones is a handsome monu- 
 ment of granite erected in 1834 to perpetuate the 
 memory of the noble army of Nithsdale martyrs. 
 Our sight-seeing was greatly facilitated by the kind- 
 ness of an excellent family, who spared no pains to 
 add to our pleasure and profit. The father of this 
 family, Mr. John McClure, who added so much to our 
 enjoyment, has recently been gathered home and 
 sleeps in St. Michael's kirkyard. 
 
 We reserved a few hours for a walk along the Max- 
 welltown side of the golden Nith and at the edge of 
 fat pastures, to visit the ruins of Lincluden Abbey. It 
 is situated upon Cluden W r ater near where the river 
 widens into a linn or pool of water; hence its musical 
 name. It was erected about 1 150 by one of the Lords 
 of Galloway and remained a convent for two hundred 
 yoars. It was then enlarged and converted into a 
 collegiate church for the powerful family of Douglass. 
 At this period Douglass had succeeded to the rights 
 and titles of the Lords of Galloway. The present 
 picturesque and beautiful ruin on the Cluden, a tribu- 
 tary of the Nith, combines three styles of architecture 
 — the Gothic, the Norman and the Scotch Baronial. 
 The lawn belonging to the Abbey is square and still 
 clearly defined. It is well kept, smooth and soft as a 
 carpet and is bounded on one side by the swift waters 
 of the Cluden. Much of the ornamentation of the 
 
A RURAL DRIVE. 225 
 
 Abbey remains. The roof has fallen in; yet enough 
 is left to testify to the power and influence of 
 Douglass. There are many tombs inside, as well as 
 stone coffins lying in the ante-rooms. The most elab- 
 orate tomb is that of Margaret, the daughter of Robert 
 III. of Scotland, Countess of Douglass and Lady of 
 Galloway and Annandale. The tomb is built into the 
 wall in the form of an arch, handsomely carved in 
 stone, with nine shields emblazoned with arms cut 
 upon the front of this elaborate tomb. All the honors 
 of the house of Douglass have fled. Its vanity re- 
 mains as a beacon light so distinct "that he may 
 run that readeth it." 
 
 The afternoon of August 31, we took in the environs 
 of the Queen of the South. Hill and dale, city and 
 country seem linked in kindly fellowship and their 
 history is inseperable. Our drive was over a most 
 beautiful undulating landscape with clear, pebbly 
 streams of water, interspersed with farm and farm- 
 house, and over all a halo of peace and plenty. Our 
 first pause w r as at Irongrey church, ivy-clad and gray 
 with age, situated on a knoll in the midst of many 
 graves marked by modest stones, old and moss-grown. 
 Here sleeps Helen Walker, the heroine of real life 
 whom Sir Walter Scott made famous as Effie Deans. 
 Sir Walter erected a table tombstone over her grave, 
 with a lengthy inscription, closing with the following: 
 " Respect the grave of poverty when combined with 
 love of truth and dear affection." 
 
 Not far from this are to be seen the celebrated 
 Communion Stones of Irongrey. They are situated 
 in a sequestered hollow among the hills and remain 
 15 
 
226 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 as they were when the persecuted Covenanters were 
 wont to assemble from the face of their enemies to 
 meet their pastors, who had to steal forth out of the 
 dens and caves to administer to the people the precious 
 memorials of the love of the Saviour. The Communion 
 Stones of Irongrey consist of tables and seats cut out 
 of the solid rock. As we journeyed further, we haked 
 to visit a grassy hillside in a lonely place shaded with 
 fine old trees, where sleep two martyrs of the Cove- 
 nant, Edward Gordon and Alexander McCubbin. 
 Four of their companions were shot at sight like 
 beasts of prey, but these two were pursued to this 
 spot and hanged. A small monument over their 
 graves has this inscription: "Hanged without law by 
 Lagg and Captain Bruce for adhering to the word of 
 God, in 1685." Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg, one of 
 the perpetrators of this foul deed, sleeps quite near 
 the spot in an obscure country graveyard, enclosed in 
 a high stone wall, much neglected, dreary and forbid- 
 ding as the acts of the persecutor. We turned from 
 it with a feeling of relief. 
 
 A short ride brought us to Ellisland, the home to 
 which Burns brought Jean Armour. It is a poet's 
 home beside a murmuring rivulet, with grassy, wooded 
 banks and wildwood flowers. It has fine fields and 
 beautiful clover nooks; but something else than the 
 thrift of farm life sang in the brain of Burns. 
 
 ■' For him the plowing of those fields 
 A more ethereal harvest yields 
 Than sheaves of grain." 
 
 The humble house remains as it was when Burns 
 
ELLISLAND. 22"J 
 
 occupied it. Ellisland, the home of the poet for a 
 term of years, is about four miles from Dumfries. 
 Here he wrote "Tarn O'Shanter," "The Lament, of 
 Mary, Queen of Scots" and "To Mary in Heaven." 
 The last was composed when he was tormented with 
 poverty and disappointment. It is told of him that he 
 lay down on his back in one of his fields at night, 
 with his face gazing at the stars, till the beautiful lines 
 were complete in his mind, and then he came into the 
 house and penned them. Had Burns lived now, he 
 could not have written " To Mary in Heaven." His 
 debts would not have troubled him in these halcyon 
 days. The house is a low fabric of three rooms beside 
 the Nith. It is built of rubble stone, and much of the 
 work of building was performed by himself. From 
 the highway there is a long lane between hawthorn 
 hedgerows leading to the house, and the banks of the 
 hedges are alive with the daisies Burns loved so ar- 
 dently. The house and surroundings are quite rustic. 
 He died at the age of thirty seven in a humble house 
 of three rooms on an obscure street in Dumfries. 
 
 An object of deep interest was a rugged, lofty hill, 
 to which tradition points as the spot where some of 
 the Nithsdale Covenanters were pinioned and rolled 
 down over the rocky surface to be torn to fragments 
 ere they reached the base. Over many places in this 
 vicinity Sir Walter Scott has thrown the luster of his 
 genius. The last earthly resting place of Robert Pat- 
 terson, the "Old Mortality" of Sir Walter, is in 
 Bankend churchyard. A modest stone marks the 
 spot on which is engraved a mallet and chisel. Near 
 by is a loch where steam was successfully applied to 
 
228 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 navigation, though the invention is said to have been 
 stolen from the inventor, as has often been done. On 
 our way we met many wild and lonely strongholds. 
 There were caverns and chasms and loud rushing 
 streams of water that furnished a hiding place for the 
 persecuted ones. 
 
 A curious place for the antiquary was an irregular 
 circle of Druidical stones, twelve in number, probably 
 a mystic number, the diameter of the circle being 
 perhaps two hundred feet. The stones were heavy, 
 undressed and standing upright. The historic village 
 of Closeburn and Drumlanrig Castle, one of the resi- 
 dences of the Duke of Buccleuch, were objects of 
 interest on our way back. The shadows of night 
 were gathering when we arrived in the city and the 
 evening passed in delightful conversation, refreshed as 
 we were by the most fragrant tea and the most deli- 
 cious mutton and accompaniments. We added our 
 testimony to that of many others that Galloway 
 mutton maintained its integrity still. 
 
THROUGH GALLOWAY. 229 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Early next morning we bade adieu to the Southern 
 Queen, to its closes and its wynds, to its old memo- 
 ries, to its precious martyr-dust by the wimpling Nith 
 and on her guardian hillsides. 
 
 •* In mony a border battle ye bore a double share ; 
 In mony a feudal foray ye suffered sad and sair. 
 
 The morning was cool. Our destination was 
 Wigtown, and our way lay through Galloway, the 
 Lords of which, in early times were petty sovereigns. 
 In the "killing time" in all the region through which 
 we were to pass, the sons of the Covenant were nume- 
 rous and devoted and consequently, much exposed to 
 the brutal treatment of Sir Robert Grierson of Lagg 
 and Sir John Graham of Claverhouse. On many a 
 moorland path on our journey where the sunlight now 
 sleeps peacefully, the fleeing Covenanters once sped 
 like the panting hart, and among the rocks and crags 
 now gray with the hoar of time and lifting their 
 points from patches of golden and brown mosses and 
 lichens, they found a hiding place, often creeping 
 stealthily among these native fortresses. 
 
 The glens and hillsides were in a tearful mood this 
 morning, and the mists were curling in wreaths and 
 festoons from the streams and valleys. The scenery 
 
230 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 is very fine and has been called the Southern Tros- 
 sachs. John Bright, the distinguished statesman, once 
 visited Galloway and exclaimed: 
 
 " Land of the mountain strath and stream I 
 Is it reality, or but a dream ? " 
 
 It was to us a dreaming time strangely real and pa- 
 thetic. In the days of peril many of the Covenanters 
 of Galloway spent their time in these dark and dismal 
 caves and dreary forest glades beside the torrents and 
 their rocky ramparts to worship the God of their 
 fathers. Very many of them sleep on these solitary 
 moors, where the sighing winds and the soft murmur 
 of the mountain streams sing their requiem. 
 
 It was autumn now, and the season was exhibiting 
 her bounties. The harvest rigs shed a golden gleam, 
 and the tints so charming in the death of the leaf and 
 plant greeted us at every turn. Americans, with their 
 generous acres of bounteous prairie land, would no 
 doubt wonder how such a land as this could support 
 its people. There are indeed difficulties in this line; 
 but the Scotch are an economical people; they are in 
 every walk of life a thrifty people who will compel 
 ends to meet. Difficulties are friends in disguise. 
 Many persons regard it a duty to struggle with diffi- 
 culties and conquer them; but there are few who look 
 upon them as their best friends. The force used in 
 contending with and overcoming difficulties passes 
 into the wrestlers and is assimilated, and they grow 
 stronger with every effort. The little child learns to 
 walk after many a tumble; but he perseveres and 
 grows stronger and eventually conquers. Tree life 
 
A HARDY LIFE. 23I 
 
 grows vigorous as it wrestles with the blast, and plant 
 life as it wilts under the beaming sun. Difficulties 
 met and overcome make one strong, self-controlled, 
 independent and ready again to conquer. To such 
 we can look for courage, force, heroism and self-sacri- 
 fice. Such qualities developed in the Scotch by their 
 very difficulties and made them all they appear on the 
 historic page. The most sublime chapters in any 
 history recount the difficulties in the pathway of civil 
 and religious liberty. The Scotch conquered them, 
 and it made them mighty in word and deed. 
 
 To-day every difficulty, every effort is taken out of 
 the way of the youthful traveler. Parents have been 
 blest themselves by beneficent efforts to procure for 
 their descendants the easy chair upon which to rest 
 every muscle, the convenient street car to save the 
 beneficial walk and the housemaid to rob them of 
 healthful household care and labor. Even in the do- 
 main of education, its difficulties are softened and 
 made easy, and so it follows that a set of weaklings in 
 body and mind are to take the place of the fathers. 
 Who has not observed the lack of strength and pur- 
 pose in the religious thought and life of to-day? 
 There is a superabundance of lip-service, but does it 
 take a conquering hold of the heart and life? Does it 
 send to the Word to search after its deep truths as for 
 hidden treasure? I trow not. Ezekiel by the Spirit 
 says what I would write: "They sit before thee as my 
 people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do 
 them; for with their mouth they show much love, but 
 their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, 
 thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that 
 
232 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instru- 
 ment." 
 
 While these thoughts were taking shape, we drew 
 near to Newton-Stewart, pleasantly situated upon the 
 banks of the Cree, surrounded with interesting and 
 attractive scenery. This place was founded by a 
 younger branch of the Stewarts — Earls of Galloway — 
 and has historic memoirs that include the site of the 
 battle between Edward Bruce and the English. A 
 short ride brought us to Wigtown, our objective point. 
 The railway to this place is one of those quiet single 
 lines, destitute of hurry and bustle, that imparts to 
 surroundings a peaceful, dreamy radiance affecting 
 even the sheep and cattle that contentedly graze and 
 nibble on the hillsides. The morning was not very far 
 spent, and the rather leisurely moving train gave 
 grateful opportunity for gazing on the magnificent 
 view on each side of us. A mass of hills in countless 
 curves and crests overlooked Newton-Stewart and 
 followed us in waves and ranges, their wooded tops 
 glittering in the sunshine like the irridescent sheen of 
 a peacock's neck. Alternating with these hills were 
 reaches of rich, arable land and alluvial scenery. As 
 we neared Wigtown, there were rocks and caves look- 
 ing out upon a smooth bay and a bold promontory 
 plunging into the blue sea and planting itself abruptly 
 in the ocean with an air of bold defiance. Off in the 
 distance, a magnificent view of the hills of Cairnsmore 
 and Minnigaff were outlined upon the landscape in 
 irregular ranges that ran out to meet the sea. 
 
 The ancient village of Wigtown is situated upon a 
 hill overlooking Wigtown Bay, a basin of the sea, and 
 
THE FRUIT OF SUFFERING. 233 
 
 is a place of great antiquarian interest. It is bounded 
 on the North by the clear waters of the beautiful 
 Bladnoch that lose their identity in the sea near by, 
 and across the Bay is the old Castle of Baldoon, the 
 scene of the tragic story embellished by Sir Walter 
 Scott in his "Bride of Lammermoor." But what at- 
 tracted us to this place was its martyr memories. 
 
 " We honor their name, 
 
 And the heavenly flame 
 That burned in their bosom bright ; 
 
 And pray that their heirs 
 
 May, with zeal like theirs, 
 Stand up for the good and right." 
 
 The simple story of the Wigtown martyrs is one of 
 the most pathetic in history. Along with the martyr- 
 dom of Stephen, their sufferings are incontestible 
 proof that the Angel of the Covenant, who brought 
 his Israel through the wilderness of Sinai, is none the 
 less interested in bringing his people in every age 
 through the wilderness of this world to their promised 
 rest. The noble army of martyrs have done more to 
 advance the kingdom of grace by their sharp and pa- 
 tient sufferings than the multitudes of those who in 
 quiet times have professed and preached the truth, 
 and who have never been called out by fiery trials to 
 show the energy and endurance of their principles and 
 the power and preciousness of God's love in the 
 heart. We much fear that if persecution should come 
 now, professors would fall off "like leaves in wintry 
 weather." It often seems as if God is preparing for a 
 winnowing season, because professors of religion can 
 be anything that will promote their worldly interests. 
 
234 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 These are sought first, and convictions of truth are 
 held in abeyance. Such dishonesty with God has a 
 reflex action upon business relations, and trust in hu- 
 manity is reduced to a very small minimum. This is 
 so even among loud professors of religion and, most 
 lamentable of all, even among those who are leaders 
 in modern reform movements. 
 
 The story of two of the Wigtown martyrs is as 
 follows: Gilbert Wilson and his wife, who lived near 
 Wigtown, conformed to Episcopacy when persecution 
 began in the reign of Charles II. Mr. Wilson was in 
 easy, comfortable circumstances and had three child- 
 ren, Margaret aged 1 8, Thomas 1 6, and Agnes 1 3. 
 The children had often attended the preaching services 
 of the Covenanters, and the truths they taught sank 
 deep into their hearts and became a part of themselves. 
 Though so young in years, they would not conform to 
 Episcopacy nor attend service in the parish church; 
 neither would they take the oath renouncing the 
 Covenants, which oath in the year 1685 was forced 
 upon men and women all over the land, particularly in 
 the South of Scotland. Persecution was at once insti- 
 st'uted against them, and these children fled to the 
 glens and caves and moss bogs for hiding places, and 
 their parents were forbidden to harbor them and 
 heavily fined for the faith of their children. Thomas, 
 the son, escaped to Flanders and entered the army of 
 William, Prince of Orange, and after the Revolution 
 Settlement, served King William in the Castle of 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 The two daughters wandered as fugitives through 
 Carrick, Galloway and Nithsdale, sharing the dangers 
 
MARTYRED WOMEN. 235 
 
 and toils of other fugitives for Christ's sake, till upon 
 the death of Charles II. there came a lull in the 
 bloody work, and the two homesick pilgrims returned 
 to visit their parents. They stopped with a friend 
 near their home for a few days to see whether it 
 would be safe to proceed farther. This friend was 
 Margaret McLauchlan, a widow sixty years of age, 
 of more than ordinary knowledge, wisdom and pru- 
 dence and of exalted piety and devotion. She firmly 
 resisted the abjuration oaths and when opportunity 
 offered, listened to the persecuted ministers and joined 
 sweet counsel with them in prayer and praise. She 
 also gave the fugitives food and shelter. Accordingly 
 on a Sabbath morning, when they were at family 
 worship, the house was surrounded by a body of 
 troopers, and they were all cast into the Thieves' 
 Hole, an abominable prison of Wigtown yet in exist- 
 ence. They were all then brought to trial before Sir 
 Robert Grierson of Lagg and Colonel David Graham, 
 brother of Claverhouse, the latter then being sheriff 
 of Wigtown. They refused Episcopacy and were at 
 once condemned to death, the sentence being that 
 upon the nth day of May, 1685, they should all 
 three be tied to stakes within the floodmark in Blad- 
 nock Water where the sea flows at high tide there to 
 be drowned. Mr. Wilson was permitted to become 
 bondsman for his daughter Agnes on account of her 
 youth in the sum of £180, which upon her return 
 home was declared forfeited, and the now impoverished 
 father was compelled to pay the bond. The sympa- 
 thizing friends of young Margaret used every argu- 
 ment to induce her to renounce the Covenants; but 
 
23$ REMINISCENCES. 
 
 she kept her integrity with a cheerful face, accounting 
 it honor to suffer for Christ and his truth. 
 
 The barbarous sentence was executed at the time 
 appointed. The aged widow and the youthful Margaret 
 were led by the rude soldiery past the old kirkyard, 
 where they were to repose in death's slumber, down 
 the steep bank to the water's brink. Crowds of 
 sympathizing friends lined the way; but they dared 
 not manifest the slightest emotion. The older wo- 
 man's stake was farther in the floodtide, so that her 
 earlier death might terrify the other, but it only 
 strengthened her, and when asked by the fiends what 
 she thought of her friend now in the agonies of death, 
 she said, " I only see Christ there wrestling in one of 
 his members. We are not the sufferers. It is Christ 
 in us; for he sends none a warfare upon their own 
 charges." 
 
 The death of Margaret Wilson was a most trium- 
 phant one. As the hungry sea dashed against her, 
 she sang in a clear voice that was heard above the 
 hoarse roar of the angry billows: 
 
 44 Let not the errors of my youth, 
 Nor sins remembered be : 
 In mercy, for thy goodness' sake, 
 O Lord, remember me. 
 
 44 The Lord is good and gracious, 
 lie upright is also : 
 lie therefore sinners will instruct 
 In ways that they should go. 
 
 44 The meek and lowly he will guide 
 In j udgment just al way : 
 To meek and poor afflicted ones 
 He'll clearly teach his way. 
 
MONUMENTS. 237 
 
 11 The whole paths or the Lord our God 
 Are truth aud mercy sure, 
 To such as keep his covenant 
 And testimonies pure. 
 
 "Now, for thine own name's sake, O Lord, 
 I humbly thee entreat 
 To pardon my iniquity; 
 For it is very great. " 
 
 She then repeated the eighth chapter of Romans and 
 prayed fervently as the wild waters swept over her 
 head, the quivering crest of each wave rising higher 
 and higher. Thus were these two souls emancipated 
 from their clay tabernacle and transported to the 
 house of many mansions. 
 
 The scene of the drowning is still pointed out. It 
 is now a marshy meadow of the sea, the course of 
 Bladnoch water being considerably changed during 
 the more than two hundred years that have elapsed ; 
 but there is the same steep bank, down which they 
 came to the water and the old kirkyard by the way 
 where they lie side by side. An iron railing encloses 
 the spot, and the sleeping dust of three other Wig- 
 town martyrs is included in the enclosure. Each one 
 is marked by an ancient tombstone, that of Bonnie 
 Margaret Wilson being a raised flat stone with a 
 touching inscription in ancient lettering and orthog- 
 raphy recording the strength and beauty of her faith. 
 
 On a knoll called Windyhill is a handsome monu- 
 ment to perpetuate the memory of several local 
 martyrs. Their names and their history are inscribed 
 on panels of the monument, and there are seats 
 around it to refresh visitors who climb the hill. This 
 
23§ REMINISCENCES. 
 
 hill commands a fine view of the surrounding country, 
 and Wigtown — historic Wigtown — is planted at its 
 base. In early times this was an important place. 
 Many centuries ago a monastery, the outlines of which 
 can yet be traced, stood upon the opposite bank from 
 the old kirkyard. It was founded by Devorgilla, 
 mother of John Baliol and Lady of Galloway, and 
 was a lodging place for the monks of Scotland when 
 on pilgrimages to St. Ninian, at Whithorn, the first 
 Christian establishment in Scotland and which is situ- 
 ated some distance nearer the point of the promontory. 
 Doubtless good cheer and a jolly time awaited these 
 lazy clericals when they turned aside at Wigtown to 
 tarry for a few days and nights. During our stay we 
 were accompanied by an interesting friend in the town, 
 Mr. Gordon Frazer, at once poet and historian. He 
 has since, though comparatively a young man, gone 
 to his reward. He was a pious man, lamented the 
 innovations in the Church and loved Scotland and her 
 martyr memories with intense devotion. He sleeps, 
 most probably, in the beautiful new cemetery that he 
 took so much pains in showing us. 
 
WHAT OF SUFFERING? 239 
 
 XIV. 
 
 It is often questioned, and with a degree of plausi- 
 bility, whether anything was gained by all the suffering 
 and bloodshed that wasted the country for so many 
 years. That question can only be answered by a 
 careful study of the word of God. Human prudence 
 can never answer it. There was a battle, and the issue 
 was victory. The popular notion that truth can make 
 progress without meeting opposition is a complete 
 delusion. Christ came to send a sword and to kindle 
 a fire, and the sword must be used and the fire must 
 burn till the dross that hides the pure metal is con- 
 sumed and the time comes for Christianity to triumph 
 over all false systems. It cannot help but triumph, 
 for God has promised it and is able also to perform. 
 We are but instruments in his hand for accomplishing 
 his work, often "his strange work." The blood of the 
 Lamb ran like a silver cord through all the self-sacri- 
 fice and heroism of the martyrs. Love of life was 
 strong, but love of Christ was stronger. 
 
 To-day we have unbounded reason to praise God 
 for the blood of the martyrs. We can hardly estimate 
 the blessedness of that time when Scotland renewed 
 the Covenant in 1638; when the Spirit was poured 
 out from on high as floods upon the dry ground; 
 
24O REMINISCENCES. 
 
 when a nation seemed to be born in a day; when it 
 could be said of Scotland as of Judah, "And all Judah 
 rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their 
 heart and sought him with their whole desire, and he 
 was found of them, and the Lord gave them rest 
 round about." History testifies to the great reverence 
 for sacred things that prevailed at that time; the hu- 
 mility, the love and the joy, each esteeming the other 
 better than himself. 
 
 It was the day of the Redeemer's power in saving 
 the country from absolute despotism. It begat a 
 strong desire to have vital godliness prevail among all 
 classes. The means used for this end were the faithful 
 preaching of the gospel, public examinations of the 
 people and Presbyterial and pastoral visitation. At 
 pastoral visitation the pastor put such questions as the 
 following to the heads of families: "Have you been 
 conscientious since last visitation in maintaining secret 
 prayer, family worship, in waiting on the public ordi- 
 nances of the gospel, and in aiming at maintaining a 
 walk and conversation becoming the gospel?" The 
 ministers and elders were questioned with regard to 
 their duties. They were asked if there were any pro- 
 fane swearers, any drunkards, any Sabbath -breakers 
 among them. Such were some of the means used for 
 making the people feel that godliness is profitable unto 
 all things. 
 
 Writers say that the revival of religion at this period 
 was so great that fighting and swearing almost ceased. 
 The drinking which had previously abounded was so 
 abandoned that a drunken man was scarcely to be 
 seen. Most of the drinking places were closed, the 
 
RELIGION AND PATRIOTISM. 24 1 
 
 keepers saying, " Their trade was broken, people were 
 become so sober." Scotland never enjoyed such an 
 effective temperance law as was her covenanted Refor- 
 mation. This law was the oath of God, sworn in his 
 name, in agreement with his word and in defense of 
 his cause. The Covenanters felt bound to God and to 
 one another, and like large hearted, enlightened and 
 true patriots, they sought to have the glory and happi- 
 ness of this land extend to other lands. One result 
 was the work of the Westminster Assembly, the 
 grandest exhibition of truth outside of the Bible, 
 though greatly disparaged by many who have pro- 
 fessed agreement with it. Years of sore trial and 
 fiery persecution followed the high privileges enjoyed 
 then, because they were unsteadfast in his covenant. 
 But the blessings of civil and religious liberty so 
 dearly bought by a witnessing remnant through 
 twenty-eight years of fiery trial were secured to com- 
 ing generations. The Reformers w r ere both builders 
 and soldiers, like Nehemiah and his brethren who built 
 the walls of Jerusalem, each with his weapon by his 
 side. The enemies of the Reformation were almost 
 universally enemies of civil liberty. 
 
 Religion fosters the love of country as well as the 
 love of God, of kindred and of home, and enlarges 
 the heart to the whole brotherhood of man. The 
 Bible is full of patriotism. It breathes and weeps and 
 exults in the Psalms and in the prophecies. Look at 
 the patriotism of Moses choosing to suffer affliction 
 with the slaves of Egypt rather than be heir to Pha- 
 raoh's throne, and of Nehemiah turning from the 
 honors of the imperial court of Persia out of love to 
 16 
 
242 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the city of his fathers, inspiring the little band of 
 exiles that the walls might be built in troublous times. 
 Why need Queen Esther care for the children of her 
 people? She was mistress of a throne, yet how self- 
 sacrificing in that trying time! "If I perish, I perish." 
 How full of this spirit was Paul, with his great 
 heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for his 
 kinsmen according to the flesh. It was the spirit of 
 our great example, Christ, who endured the wrath of 
 God and death for his people. It was this exalted 
 patriotism that was the mighty moving power in the 
 hearts of the Reformers and martyrs in every age. 
 
 The liberty enjoyed by Britain to-day and by these 
 United States was fostered and kept alive on many a 
 bloody field and many a wild and lonely moor. Is it 
 too much to believe that those thrilling words of Rev. 
 James Guthrie, as he passed from the scaffold into the 
 glory within the veil, are still ringing along the ages 
 and will yet be the watchword when God sends a 
 reviving time: "The covenants, the covenants shall 
 yet be Scotland's reviving." When it comes, it must 
 be heart work. It is when the Lord brings the third 
 part through the fire and refines them as silver is re- 
 fined that he says of them, " It is my people, and they 
 shall say, The Lord is my God." 
 
 The truth inwrought in the heart of a people by 
 means of trial and suffering will longest and most 
 effectually endure. No lesson is more persistently 
 taught by the Saviour than that every faithful witness 
 must bear his cross. "Except a man deny himself 
 and take up his cross and follow me, he cannot be my 
 disciple." The sufferings of the apostles and primitive 
 
GUILT OF DECLINE. 243 
 
 Christians were inseperably connected with that won- 
 derful success which accompanied their efforts to 
 spread abroad the knowledge of Christ by the gospel. 
 Suffering produces zeal, earnestness, devotion, and 
 leads to a firmer hold upon the truth and a larger 
 experience of its power, as it becomes deep-rooted in 
 the soul. Without it views of truth will be superficial, 
 flimsy, fanciful, evanescent. It is such a condition of 
 mind respecting the truth that is the most alarming 
 characteristic of the Church in this age. The false 
 idea has taken hold largely of professing Christians, 
 that religion can be pleasantly mingled with almost 
 all kinds of worldly enjoyments, that there need be no 
 deathly antagonism. On the other hand, Christianity 
 has always gained its grandest and most enduring 
 triumphs when the world was putting forth its most 
 desperate efforts to crush it. Thus it was in Scotland. 
 So it will ever be. 
 
 Those who decline from the purest and highest at- 
 tainments are held by the Head of the Church to be 
 the most culpable in their unfaithfulness. For nearly 
 nineteen hundred years the Jews have been made to 
 exemplify this truth. They were the only people in 
 formal covenant with God. They forsook that cove- 
 nant and were perfidious in it. When they shall ask, 
 " Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto this land? 
 What meaneth the heat of his great anger? then men 
 shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of 
 the Lord God of their fathers which he made with 
 them when he brought them forth out of the land of 
 Egypt." Jewish history is typical of all Church 
 history. The purest condition of the Church since it 
 
244 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 was planted by the apostles was that which Scotland 
 enjoyed under the Second Reformation. The profes- 
 sion of the Westminster Standards not only secured 
 to Scotland the continuance of that measure of pure 
 religion which has so long blessed her, but has spread 
 its influence through the institutions of this land. It 
 has been the acknowledged source both of the great 
 power of the Presbyterian element in this country 
 and the excellency of our civil and religious freedom. 
 
 What shall be the result of our perfidy if we yield 
 up to the enemy this precious inheritance to which we 
 are bound by the covenants of our fathers? Do those 
 who join in the outcry against these attainments know 
 what they are doing? Have they considered the con- 
 sequences so sadly depicted in the experience of those 
 who forsook the Lord God of their fathers? Let us 
 be warned in time. 
 
 The elements of error that troubled the Church 
 during her early struggles, though existing in some- 
 what different forms, are asserting themselves at 
 present more vigorously than ever. The old principles 
 of infidelity seek to distort every discovery in science 
 into an engine for the overthrow of respect for the 
 Bible. Materialism substitutes the beauties of nature 
 as the representatives of divine holiness in place of 
 the holiness and spirituality of divine truth, the image 
 and glory of Christ, and the gaudy displays of ritual- 
 ism for the simplicity of the means of divine institution 
 by which only this glory can be seen. The principle 
 of divine inspiration is attacked by pretentious Bible 
 scholars, with the virulence of assured success, and 
 human powers are exalted above the divine. Human 
 
STRUGGLES NEEDED. 245 
 
 thought, however, moves in cycles, as do the heavenly 
 bodies which observe their appointed rounds. Modern 
 thought that so impertinently vaunts itself to-day is 
 old and circles round in its natural orbit. That which 
 has been will be. The opposition to evangelical truth, 
 in its main outline, is the same to-day as in days 
 gone by. 
 
 The errors that assail the Church have their recesses 
 in history where, sifted and analyzed, they are laid 
 away and catalogued. When opportunity occurs they 
 are brought out with new titles. Under the surface 
 may still be read the old titles, Arianism, Socinianism, 
 Rationalism, Pelagianism, Sabellianism. These are 
 the engines with which the evil one seeks to break 
 down the battlements of the Church. But in propor- 
 tion to the greater energy and malignity with which 
 they are used will the completeness of their destruction 
 be realized. 
 
 But the struggles of the Church will make her 
 victory the more illustrious in the end. Sometimes 
 the hearts of God's people become discouraged in the 
 midst of their struggles through the languishing of 
 their faith in the promises. But not only does the 
 character of their great Captain assure the victory in 
 the fact that he is their leader, but enough has been 
 fulfilled of these promises to give abundant assurance 
 that they shall all be fulfilled in the final grand con- 
 summation of the overthrow of all enemies. It may 
 be now the evening time. The light may be small as 
 the cloud which Elijah's servant saw rising from the 
 sea. But there shall be a brighter effulgence. With 
 what a refreshing influence shall weary hearts hear 
 
246 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the voice of the watchman as he cries, " The morning 
 cometh!" As the victory is assured, so it will not be 
 long delayed. As progress in material development 
 is now most rapid and great movements in the course 
 of human achievements amaze us with their magni- 
 tude, the providence of God will not be behind in 
 applying these to the advancement of the kingdom of 
 Christ. The great systems of iniquity that once re- 
 quired the operation of truth for ages to uproot them, 
 are now overthrown by the same power as in a day. 
 The providence of God is preparing the way for the 
 Spirit's work. Short and sharp and terrible will be 
 the final conflict when God shall " arise to shake terri- 
 bly the earth." The fire shall burn up the "wood, 
 hay and stubble," but will bring out the " gold, silver 
 and precious stones." To maintain purity of doctrine 
 and worship, the Church Militant must be a struggling 
 Church. Her warfare is not yet accomplished; she is 
 to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the 
 saints against a wily foe who is represented as coming 
 down with great wrath, knowing his time is short. 
 The sensation that leads in new and doubtful paths is 
 so delightful and so persuasive that we neglect to 
 bring every act and principle to the true touchstone. 
 It is but a trifle — the turning aside is but for a mo- 
 ment, and yet how far reaching the consequences! 
 The sin of Jeroboam has not yet spent its strength. 
 These principles come to the front in contrasting 
 Scotland's reforming days with the present. 
 
 " The pilot as he nears the bay, 
 Refuses at the helm to stay, 
 The vessel on destruction's way 
 
POLI I ICAL WRONGS. 247 
 
 Is headlong driven. 
 And yet the wind that blew astray, 
 Was wind from heaven." 
 
 A glance at the present political condition of affairs 
 in Scotland reveals the fact that there are some wrongs 
 to be righted. The land system of Scotland, and 
 indeed of all Britain, is an oppressive one. Individual 
 owners of land are very few; consequently the few 
 own vast tracts of land that have been transformed 
 into game preserves for the pleasure of the lordly 
 owners. This is notably so in the Highlands, and the 
 small farmers, or crofters, are not only reduced to a 
 few in number, but their holdings are so small in area 
 that it is impossible to keep the wolf from the door, 
 unless they engage in fishing or some other occupation, 
 while millions of acres lie idle for the use of sportsmen 
 alone. The crofter cannot give a high education to 
 his children, nor make life an idle one for them. The 
 "auld clachan," the Gaelic word for "a circle of 
 stones," and used in ancient times for a place of wor- 
 ship, is quite rustic, and the food of the home circle is 
 plain but substantial and health-giving. There is a 
 growing demand for land division and land reform, 
 which will no doubt come at no very distant day. 
 
 We of America manifest great impatience at the 
 existing state of things in the British Isles; but we 
 forget to clear our own skirts. We have the Indian 
 and the Negro on our hands. What of them? We 
 cannot shift responsibility in their case. They have 
 belonged to the soil for hundreds of years and, as a 
 class, they are still oppressed, down-trodden, hated, 
 the light of knowledge withheld, robbed, scorned, and 
 
248 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 almost every indignity heaped upon them. Their 
 condition is not so pleasant as that of the crofter. 
 
 I do not wish to draw a picture of the crofters and 
 of Highland life too sombre for reality; for eminent 
 writers have testified that they are pre-eminently a 
 religious people, well instructed in the doctrines, dis- 
 cipline and worship of the Second Reformation and, 
 therefore, able and anxious to indoctrinate their 
 children at the fireside. A late writer mentions having 
 seen in the lowly houses of poor crofters and cottars a 
 little shelf of well-thumbed books that had descended 
 from father to son and were, perhaps, two centuries 
 old. These books were evangelical, every one of 
 them food for the soul, while the minds of the dwellers 
 were deeply spiritual and weaned from the world. It 
 is just to say that something has been done to right 
 some of the wrongs of the crofters. The " Crofters' 
 Act" of 1886 fixed fair rents and canceled arrears 
 impossible of liquidation, the adjustment of which is 
 in the hands of a Commission. An American writer, 
 who gives his impressions from personal intercourse 
 with these people, says: "But all these crofter and 
 fisher folk of Scotland, east and west, possess the 
 rugged qualities of integrity, honesty, loyalty, with 
 an undemonstrative, but sincere hospitality, rendering 
 them ever patient and steadfast in their lowly lives, 
 and a folk it does one good to come among and 
 know." 
 
 The time now drew near for our departure from 
 "the land of the leal," teeming with hoary memories 
 and the lights and shadows of ancient glory that still 
 alternate among the hills and glens and play over the 
 
ADIEU TO SCOTLAND. 249 
 
 moors and straths. Would that the vigor and unself- 
 ishness, the lofty inspiration and the exalted heroism 
 of a people that fed and refreshed themselves at the 
 fountain of living waters would revive and assert 
 themselves among the Scottish people and among us, 
 their descendants; for the times need it. The enemy 
 comes in like a flood; comes in, not as of old, with 
 fire and sword, but with more subtle tactics. The 
 Church is corrupted by flatteries much harder to be 
 resisted than persecution. Satan tried it upon Eve 
 and was successful, and ever since he has wielded it as 
 one of his choice weapons. 
 
 We were leaving Scotland confessing our love and 
 admiration for her. We had tasted her generous 
 hospitality and kindliness all through our journey. 
 We had felt the kinship asserting itself stronger than 
 ever before, thrilling every nerve with happy recollec- 
 tions as, homeward bound, we turned thither our faces. 
 
 We had visited moss-clad ruins and shattered arches, 
 ancient castles and crypts and precious spots where 
 the martyrs lie, till we began to wonder what principle 
 within us caused such interest not only in the burial 
 places of the dead, but in the works of the dead. The 
 answer came: It is the touch of nature that makes the 
 whole world akin. It makes us realize that some day 
 we shall lie down too and be forgotten below till the 
 last trumpet shall summon all alike, whether from the 
 crypt of the royal cathedral or from the resting places 
 under the blue vault of heaven, where the shadows 
 come and go; where the gentle rains fall and the 
 golden light gleams in summer time, in autumn time 
 and in all seasons. 
 
250 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 As the train that carried us from Wigtown bore us 
 in the direction of Stranraer, we added our testimony 
 to the words of our poet friend, an ardent Scotchman: 
 
 "We're quate, decent bodies in Wigtown toon, 
 Na gi'en tae climb up an' knock ither folk down. 
 We leeve a' sae quate, 
 Sae douce and sedate, 
 Baith wee folk an' great, 
 Here in Wigtown toon." 
 
 There was not much of incident by the way as we 
 traveled to Stranraer, where we were to spend the 
 evening and night; so we had time to reflect and 
 retrospect. The whole journey through Scotland was 
 a succession of delightful surprises. We knew it 
 would be delightful, but had fixed in our minds just 
 where the little episodes of delight would come in. 
 Suffice it to say, they did not come according to our 
 plan, but after an infinitely better one and greatly 
 transcending our own, because these plans emanated 
 from the divine mind. So impressed were we with 
 the goodness and perfect ordering of our heavenly 
 Father, that the thought came, Perhaps heaven will be 
 a succession of happy surprises. 
 
 Stranraer is situated on an arm of the sea and has 
 the characteristics of other Scottish cities. From this 
 point we were to ship for Ireland early next morning. 
 A night's sound sleep and several acts of kindness 
 from our hostess of the comfortable temperance hotel 
 was a pleasant memory of Stranraer. As the steamer 
 sailed away we watched the shore recede from sight, 
 and thoughts were busy with farewells to dear Scot- 
 land. We thought of her virtues and her graces that 
 
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. 25 I 
 
 together have given her strength and beauty; each 
 without the other is defective. We thought of the 
 blessings of a people who worship the Lord Jehovah, 
 who revere the Sabbath and the institutions of the 
 Word, and we longed for a reviving time, a Third 
 Reformation that shall sweep away every false founda- 
 tion — a reviving time that shall react upon the 
 churches in our own land, in Ireland, and throughout 
 Christendom; the time to favor Zion, the time when 
 her walls shall be salvation and her gates praise. 
 
252 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 XV. 
 
 It cannot be said that we sailed across the North 
 Channel to Ireland in a gallant bark. There was. no 
 poetry in the narrow little cutter that bore us over. 
 Transportation was the only idea in the make-up of 
 the vessel, although among its human freight were 
 ladies of quality. But the sea as it rolled and tossed 
 and crested its waves had lost none of its majesty and 
 power. It was still our Father speaking to us in this 
 mighty work of his hands. As we sailed out into the 
 sea, Ailsa Craig, called " Paddy's Milestone," towered 
 in lofty and solitary grandeur to the height of twelve 
 hundred feet and is said to be two miles in circumfer- 
 ence. It is a bare, bleak rock away out in the fretful 
 water miles from land, and not a living thing is to be 
 seen on its surface. All were on deck sniffing the salt 
 sea air delightfully and busy with their own thoughts 
 and their own destinations, when rain drops began to 
 fall briskly, and all sought refuge below. After reach- 
 ing shelter, the most sensible thing to do was to go 
 asleep, which we hastened to do to get even with the 
 sea, otherwise we would have been very sea-sick. 
 When our vessel landed us at Larne, it was amusing 
 enough to be interesting to see a number of forlorn 
 faces pulling themselves into the car for Belfast, and 
 
 
INTO IRELAND. 253 
 
 when seated, gradually resuming their normal state. 
 Sea-sickness is not to be coveted, even though it 
 should be a Scotch-Irish attack. 
 
 Our introduction to Ireland was in a first-class car, 
 very neat and comfortable, and filled with gentle ladies 
 of unexceptional deportment and noble enough look- 
 ing to be princesses. Whether they hailed from 
 Scotland or Ireland it was impossible to tell, as their 
 speech did not betray them, they not having learned 
 the' garrulo-usness of the home element called Yankee. 
 That individual would doubtless have known the 
 name, age and pedigree of each occupant before 
 traveling many miles, or at least tried the game of 
 finding out. 
 
 The railroad followed close along the shore of 
 Lough Larne to the terminus of the Lough, and then 
 took up the shore of Belfast Lough, thus giving us all 
 along the journey to Belfast glimpses of the sea with 
 a beautiful shore line, here and there adorned with 
 comfortable homes and prosperous villages. The 
 Loughs mentioned are just arms of the sea, and we 
 could not distinguish between them and the Firths and 
 some of the Lochs of Scotland. The names of the 
 same things and the different spelling were only a part 
 of the many things in which these two peoples differ, 
 though such close neighbors and so near of kin. 
 
 We stopped long enough for a view of the historic 
 town of Carrickfergus, situated upon Belfast Lough, 
 about ten miles from the city. Its chief feature is its 
 picturesque Castle, supposed to have been erected in 
 the twelfth century. It stands upon a rock about 
 thirty feet high, projecting boldly into the Lough 
 
254 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 which bounds it on three sides. It commands the 
 entrance to the Lough and has lately been remodeled 
 so as to include the defenses of modern warfare. In 
 1608 a wall sixteen feet high was completed, enclosing 
 the entire town, portions of which are still standing. 
 In 1690 William Prince of Orange landed with his 
 army at this Castle, just twelve days before the battle 
 of the Boyne. The rock on which the king stepped 
 at the landing is still used for a landing rock. 
 
 It took but a few minutes to reach Belfast, and with 
 the unlocking of the car door began the analysis of 
 this new world. We were surprised to see such a 
 resemblance to New York and Philadelphia. The 
 reason was quite clear. The influx from over-popu- 
 lated Ireland to these cities has impressed itself upon 
 the people in feature, in form, in gait, in accent, and 
 even in modes of speech. The incoming has been 
 strong enough to create an atmosphere affecting the 
 manners of the people. There was the same begging 
 for patronage that we see at home, arousing the same 
 feeling in us to send them all adrift. We, however, 
 selected the jaunting car for transportation purposes. 
 The funny little jaunting car is certainly a product of 
 Ireland, a sort of embodiment in the line of vehicles 
 of the native wit and availability of that commodity 
 in the Irish race, as the following will illustrate: An 
 Englishman whose home was in America was visiting 
 Ireland and seeing a donkey said to a son of Green 
 Erin near by, "There is a native Irishman." The 
 electric spark kindled in an instant and the reply came, 
 " Arrah! he has never deserted his native land nor been 
 ashamed of his tongue." Their wit flashes and scin- 
 
BELFAST. 255 
 
 tillates and overpowers and captures with that easiest 
 and most pleasant weapon, the application of the 
 ludicrous side to the affairs of every day life. 
 
 Our lodging place was engaged at Patterson's Tem- 
 perance Hotel, No. 7 College Square, about two miles 
 distant, and we fixed ourselves on the jaunting car 
 delighted with the prospect of such a long ride. 
 These cars are low, two-wheeled apparatuses, with an 
 open seat ranged over each wheel, back to back. The 
 drivers perch at right angles to the passengers. The 
 above named appliances, including a very slender and 
 precarious arrangement to hold by, is about the sum 
 and substance of the whole make up. It is drawn by 
 a little bit of a horse, not much above the pony 
 variety, that makes quick, short steps, thus lending a 
 cutting or sawing motion to the concern. With flour- 
 ish of whip and rein, away we clattered, our feet 
 dangling not very far from the cobble stones over 
 which we raced so swiftly. Between laughing at the 
 novel ride and the effort to hold on we were satisfied 
 when the machine drew up at our hotel. 
 
 We were met by a gentlemanly host who knew of 
 our coming and gave us our room at once. The 
 ordering of the house was excellent, our room neat 
 and tasteful and, after a night's sound sleep we woke 
 to find the rain pattering from a leaden sky. It was 
 the morning of the 4th of September, and the rainy 
 season had certainly come. We looked out upon the 
 street, and pedestrians were moving hither and thither 
 as unconcernedly as if they were only out for a bath. 
 Few carried umbrellas or seemed conscious of any 
 discomfort. Time to us was precious, and we remem- 
 
256 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 bered the old adage, " When in Turkey, do as turkeys 
 do." We therefore, as far as that particular went, did 
 as the natives and marshaled ourselves into the streets 
 armed with what protection we could raise. 
 
 Belfast is the principal city of the County of Antrim 
 in the province of Ulster. It is situated at the head 
 of Belfast Lough upon an alluvial deposit reclaimed 
 from the marshes of Lagan Water; consequently it is 
 but slightly elevated above sea level. On the land 
 side it is picturesquely bounded by ranges of hills, 
 among them Cave Hill, whose rugged, rocky sides 
 rise 1 185 feet above the sea which it overlooks. As 
 we pursued our way along the wide and well-kept 
 street, now reconciled to the rain which nobody 
 minded, it was easy to see the life and prosperity and 
 business qualities of this handsome city. 
 
 Before profane history found its way into books, 
 there was an almost unmistakable record of events 
 and of races and tongues stamped in resemblances of 
 these races, in coincidences, in old ballads and tradi- 
 tions. Enough of this exists to venture upon the 
 assertion that from some central point of an over- 
 populated district in Asia, successive waves of colonists 
 and ambitious conquerors cut loose from the parent 
 stock and rippled out like waves in all directions, some 
 of them eventually reaching what was in olden times 
 called the uttermost parts of the earth. There these 
 offshoots set up for themselves and planted another 
 center of existence. Ireland and Great Britain, as 
 well as France and Germany, were early peopled by 
 the celtic race that originally migrated from Central 
 Asia. 
 
ST. PATRICK. 257 
 
 The Roman Empire in time became co-extensive 
 with almost the entire known world, but from some 
 cause, perhaps internal dissensions, the Roman army 
 never set foot on Ireland, nor did it ever penetrate the 
 natural fastnesses of the Highlands of Scotland. 
 These two sections of the original Celtic race for 
 long years succeeded in maintaining a kind of tribal 
 independence. 
 
 Ireland is divided into four provinces, Leinster, 
 Munster, Ulster and Connaught, which were once 
 ruled by independent princes. These provinces are 
 now subdivided into. counties. 
 
 The story of the introduction of the gospel into 
 Ireland has an earlier date than that of the missionary 
 labors of St. Patrick. It seems almost certain that it 
 was introduced in a very humble way among the 
 Pagan population by the private and personal efforts 
 of members of the Christian Church of Gaul. It is 
 believed now that St. Patrick was born in Scotland, in 
 the valley of the Clyde, and that he came first to Ire- 
 land as a captive slave. He was born near the close 
 of the fourth century in a Christian family in Scotland, 
 and was baptized, but did not experience conversion 
 till, as a captive boy, torn from his parents, he was set 
 to herd cattle upon the bleak sides of Mount Slemish 
 near Ballymena. The Spirit of the Lord works when 
 and where and how he will. Thousands and tens of 
 thousands of conversions were folded up with the 
 work of this unknown slave boy and which eventually 
 changed the entire history of Ireland and the national 
 religion. The Christian Church was then compara- 
 tively pure. The writings of St. Patrick now extant 
 17 
 
258 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 do not recognize any other spiritual head of the 
 Church than Christ, nor do they contain allusions to 
 the superstitions of Rome. 
 
 There are prominent facts in connection with the 
 idea that Ireland and Scotland are indebted to each 
 other. Ireland was the home of the Scots. They 
 embraced Christianity as taught by the self-denying 
 and devoted Patrick and passed over to Scotland in 
 the beginning of the sixth century. They established 
 themselves upon the western coast and eventually they 
 and the Picts of the North became one people. 
 
 As we are upon the relations between Scotland and 
 Ireland, other points of interest come to the front. In 
 1 175 Henry II. of England obtained from Adrian IVY, 
 the only Englishman who ever occupied the chair of 
 St. Peter, authority over the whole of Ireland. Pope 
 Adrian ordered all the natives of Ireland to obey the 
 king of England. This remarkable document was 
 issued in the twelfth century. The introduction of the 
 Feudal system followed this transaction, and in it can 
 be recognized the germ of the "Land Question" 
 which has disturbed the people ever since. The 
 theory of the Feudal system was, that all the land 
 belonged to the king, who had the right to make 
 grants of land to his followers, who in turn rendered 
 him the services of themselves and their retainers. 
 The grant of land soon became hereditary and passed 
 to the owner's heirs without the consent of the tenants 
 and if the heirs failed or became attainted for treason 
 the land reverted to the crown. 
 
 To carry out all the provisions of the system, the 
 whole structure of society had to be revolutionized, 
 
POLITICAL DIVISION. 259 
 
 and in attempting this the Irish rebelled, regarding it 
 as a high-handed invasion of their rights. A confed- 
 eracy was formed near the close of Henry's reign, and 
 the English were driven out of the province of Muns- 
 ter. But no sooner was success at hand than the 
 Irish Celts, as they are doing to-day, fell to quarreling 
 among themselves, and the English regained all they 
 had lost. But Ireland would not down; she remained 
 as troublesome as ever. In the seventeenth century 
 the earls of Tyrconnel and Tyrone were accused of 
 treason; but before it was proved against them they 
 fled. This was taken as evidence of their guilt, and 
 Ulster, the whole of the North, was placed at the dis- 
 posal of the English king. Thus the map of Ulster 
 became a clean chart for King James I. to draw upon 
 as he pleased, and hence an entirely new order was 
 instituted. The object of James was to introduce a 
 Protestant and anti-Irish element which should even- 
 tually supersede the native Catholic element. This 
 move was called the " Plantation of Ulster." 
 
 The land was soon occupied, principally by the 
 Scotch, many coming from the near coast of Argyle- 
 shire and, most probably, lineal descendants of the 
 Ulster Scots who had established themselves in Scot- 
 land eleven centuries before. It was an act of wise 
 and sagacious statesmanship and a source of benefit 
 and blessing not only to the colonists, but to the 
 native population among whom their lot was cast. 
 The colonists had seen troublous times in their own 
 land. They had been trained there by hard discipline. 
 They knew how to fight for liberty of conscience, and 
 they also knew how to work. Hence the wilderness 
 
26o REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of Ulster became a fruitful field, while walled towns 
 arose in the midst of waving grain fields and rosy 
 orchards. They were precisely the men to form a 
 strong and self-reliant and prosperous population. 
 The plantation also brought with it the blessings of 
 civil and religious liberty. It is a fundamental of 
 Scottish Presbyterianism that " God alone is Lord of 
 the conscience," and this is the underlying principle 
 of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 Many noble and gifted sons and daughters of the 
 Scottish Church were driven by persecution at differ- 
 ent times to seek refuge in Ireland. Thus we see the 
 mutual obligation existing between the two countries 
 and how they are bound together. It is mainly frat- 
 ernal and should not be otherwise, looking at the 
 proximity of the two countries, the Mull of Kintyre 
 being but twelve miles across the water from the coast 
 of Antrim in the province of Ulster. 
 
 In the city of Belfast we did not feel as if we were 
 in a strange land. Indeed the city is quite American 
 in many of the features to which I have already 
 referred, caused by the waves of emigration that have 
 swept our home shores from time to time. The gait 
 of pedestrians was familiar. The persistence of mer- 
 chants in selling their goods and wares had a savor of 
 our own land, and even the smile of welcome that 
 greeted purchasers brought back visions of our early 
 home where the proprietor was an intimate in the 
 family. We had reasons abundant to add to the testi- 
 mony of others that a kinder-hearted, more generous 
 people do not exist. They are quick-tongued and, 
 perhaps, quick-tempered, and wit and humor flow 
 
A GOOD PEOPLE. 26 1 
 
 spontaneously. There are anomalies in their national 
 character which may spring from the contest growing 
 out of the mixture of races. In the nature of things, 
 where two or more races are associated they absorb 
 one another, and the traits of all who are represented 
 crop out here and there, and contradictions in nature 
 ensue. 
 
 We were certain of one thing, so far as we could 
 discern; in Ulster "unhappy Ireland" was a farce. 
 There was the thrift and enterprise of a sturdy race, 
 the intense love of country and home and kindred 
 that distinguish the Celtic races. There was also the 
 resolute Puritanism of the Ulster colonists, the only 
 Protestants who could impress the Catholic peasantry, 
 because the vital heat of Protestantism had been 
 kindled in their hearts long ago. The Irish Presbyte- 
 rian Church at the last census had a membership of 
 482,557; the Episcopal Church a membership of 
 639,574, besides a number of congregations of Asso- 
 ciate and Reformed Presbyterians over against a 
 Roman Catholic membership of 3,960,891. 
 
 Presbyterianism has maintained its position in Ire- 
 land under difficulties of no ordinary character. For 
 two centuries penal laws were executed against them 
 far more severely than against the Roman Catholic 
 population. Their worship was proscribed, their min- 
 isters imprisoned and, until within fifty years, there 
 were no public schools, nor could their ministers be 
 educated at home. All this because Episcopacy was 
 the established religion. Yet they flourished during 
 this dreary period; their very difficulties training them 
 and fitting them to take a foremost place in the coun- 
 
262 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 try for intelligence, morality and enterprise. Says a 
 late writer, "Since the original Ulster Plantation, there 
 have been various emigrations from Scotland into 
 Ireland. Up to the last few years indeed the Irish 
 Presbyterian Church was constantly receiving from all 
 parts of Scotland accessions of men, many of whom 
 came to be regarded as among the most intelligent, 
 practical, devoted and generous members of her com- 
 munion. In Dublin, Belfast, Derry and other influential 
 centers this Scottish element has been and is a great 
 source of solid strength to the Church ; while through- 
 out the south and west the familiar designation * Scots 
 Church' on many a humble conventicle proclaims its 
 own story." These scattered congregations represent 
 the various Presbyterian denominations in Scotland, 
 and as a rule the members live peaceably with the 
 native Celts. 
 
 Belfast is a church-going place, and on the Sabbath 
 all business and bustle were suspended. Although 
 the rain poured all day, the congregations with which 
 we worshiped were well represented. Dr. Chancellor, 
 Reformed Presbyterian, in whose church we worshiped 
 in the morning, gave us an excellent sermon, clear and 
 decided in doctrine and tender and modest in delivery. 
 In the evening we worshiped in the church of which 
 Dr. Hanna is pastor. It is a large and handsome 
 church edifice and in spite of the rain was well filled 
 with fine looking people. A grand and imposing 
 Catholic church is near by, and we mistook it in the 
 mist for Dr. Hanna's church and were about to enter 
 with the crowds that were hurrying in. After a mo- 
 ment's reflection, however, we put the query to a 
 
PLEASANT FRIENDS. 263 
 
 young woman, "Is this Dr. Hanna's church?" The 
 reply leaped into her face with a scowl, and we read it 
 before the answer came. 
 
 Monday the rain fell, likewise Tuesday and the rest 
 of the week; but we regarded it not. The universal 
 testimony was: "No harm in it in this climate." Out 
 the Antrim Road we went, through as handsome a 
 suburb as can be seen anywhere and climbed up the 
 side of a steep acclivity that we might look over the 
 city. A British fleet of warships was lying at anchor 
 in the Lough, and as we looked out upon the whole 
 scene of water and sky, of city, hills and dales we 
 thought it very beautiful and felt increased interest in 
 the longing that this people have for encouragement 
 to foster and develop their industries and thus give 
 circulation and education to that thrift and skill that 
 seems to be pining in some parts of Ireland for want 
 of an outlet. Belfast and all Ulster are wide awake; 
 but a part is not equal to the whole. If one member 
 suffers, the whole body feels it. 
 
 In Sydenham, a suburb of Belfast, we found warm- 
 hearted friends whose homes were a delight, where the 
 social gathering at the fireside glowed with a warmth 
 and a welcome very refreshing to us, and which will 
 always be a happy memory. Here we spent a Sab- 
 bath in pleasant companionship and worshiped with 
 the congregation of which Rev. Mr. McDermot is 
 pastor. It is a handsome suburb and is growing into 
 a very desirable place to live. 
 
264 REMINISCENCES, 
 
 XVI. 
 
 With headquarters at Belfast, we took a run out 
 through Ulster as far as the Giants' Causeway. At 
 Port Rush we came to the sea, and from this thriving 
 little place we were transported in an electric motor 
 car along the sea-coast to the Causeway, a distance of 
 eight miles. The coast is high and rock-bound. 
 Looking out upon the sea, these rocks are split and 
 serrated by the ceaseless gnawings of the waves and 
 are cut into caves and chasms and bridges and avenues 
 through which the sea rushes and dashes its spume to 
 the top of the cliff. Many of the rocks are mottled 
 with a chalky substance that exhibits curious forma- 
 tions. One resembles a colossal human face. 
 
 Dunluce Castle is situated upon one of the rocky 
 promontories washed by the sea. Its turrets and 
 towers are dismantled, and the whole of the vast 
 fabric is hoary with an age so distant and obscure that 
 its history can only be picked out of the mists. 
 Doubtless it was an important stronghold when Ire- 
 land was peer among realms. The Causeway was 
 quite a surprise; a more curious formation than we 
 had expected to see. It is a cropping out of a mass 
 of basalt from 300 to 500 feet thick and covers an 
 area of 1200 square miles. The basalt is uncovered 
 

giants' causeway. 265 
 
 at the Causeway and dips under the sea. It is colum- 
 nar and is an unequal pavement formed of the tops of 
 polygonal columns fitting as closely as masonry. The 
 columns are mostly hexagonal, though some are five, 
 seven, and nine-sided. One column is a triangular 
 prism. Each column is divided into joints that fit 
 perfectly, the concave at the end of one length fitting 
 into the convex of the other. The basaltic columns 
 at this place are uncovered for a length of nine hun- 
 dred feet. In places the columns are broken off below 
 the level of the sea, and the cavities or wells are filled 
 with salt water. The sides of these are brilliant with 
 the most exquisite sea mosses and ferns and lettuce 
 that stream out in the clear water and give glimpses 
 of the depth. The bottoms of the wells are covered 
 with tiny shells in delicate shades of coloring. Upon 
 examination these mosses were found to be alive with 
 sea shells so small they could scarcely be detected 
 without the aid of a glass. 
 
 While we were exploring the marvelous w r ells formed 
 by the missing columns of basalt, and gathering from 
 the sides of the wells sprays of mosses in a great 
 variety of beautiful tints, heavy rain drops startled us, 
 and without being satisfied we were compelled to re- 
 trace our steps. By this time all the beggars and 
 venders of fancy articles along the way were in full 
 flourish, and the former would certainly have been 
 successful, had it not been that we had seen plenty of 
 their ilk before. When we reached our car the rain 
 had begun to pour. The abundance of rain and the 
 salt atmosphere in Ireland gave to verdure of all 
 classes a richer coloring in shades of green than we 
 
266 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 had noticed elsewhere, so that the shout of the Hiber- 
 nian, "Green Erin, my darling," "first gem of the 
 ocean," " first flower of the sea," is not simply the 
 gush that accompanies happy associations. 
 
 At Port Rush we branched off to take in the inter- 
 esting city of Londonderry, situated on the river 
 Foyle. Our hotel on Foyle Street was managed by 
 an Irish lady of fine presence and most kindly deport- 
 ment. She saw our plight from the constant rain and 
 ordered a fire which was as refreshing as the tea and 
 table garniture that soon followed. Next morning the 
 sky was dark and frowning; but we had to make the 
 most of our time in both cloud and sunshine and were 
 early on the march. It seems to rain without effort in 
 both Scotland and Ireland. A visitor once referred to 
 this fact in the presence of a Scotch boy who lived in 
 Greenock, saying, "Why, it rains all the time in Scot- 
 land." "Naw," was the cool reply, "it sometimes 
 snaws." A few items of history may be referred to 
 here to show why this quaint city is so replete with 
 interest. 
 
 Ireland has been and is even now the scene of plots 
 and counterplots. In 1641 the bitter feeling of the 
 native Irish broke out in fearful insurrections. The 
 Protestant population of Ulster were driven from their 
 homes, butchered and thrown by hundreds into Bann 
 river and the Blackwater and flung over the bridges 
 by a disorderly force called "the Catholic army." 
 
 After the first shock of the revolt, England had to 
 steady herself; for she was in a death-struggle with 
 Charles I. which ended with his \>eing beheaded at 
 Whitehall. This was the occasion far the native Irish 
 
CATHOLIC INTRIGUES. 267 
 
 to declare that the Roman Catholic religion should be 
 restored to its pristine glory; while the Ulster Protest 
 tants withstood this move and, wherever they dared, 
 earnestly subscribed the Solemn League and Covenant 
 along with their brethren in England and Scotland. 
 Eight years of rebellion and bloodshed and disaster 
 brought Cromwell upon the scene. He with his army 
 broke the backbone of the rebellion in Ireland and 
 returned to England, leaving his work incomplete. At 
 the restoration of the Stuarts, the weak and vacillating 
 Charles II. of England, as a policy measure, sub- 
 scribed the Solemn League and Covenant, acknowl- 
 edged the sin of his father in marrying his idolatrous 
 Catholic mother and denounced the peace concluded 
 with the " bloody Irish." This step enraged the 
 priesthood, and they again appeared at the front as 
 leaders of the old Irish party. In the meantime, 
 Charles II. secretly changed his religion for that of the 
 Church of Rome in the face of his oath to adhere to 
 the Solemn League and Covenant, and resolved to 
 assist the Catholics in Ireland in regaining their 
 power. The exiled priesthood came quietly back, and 
 Jesuit schools were re-opened. The Protestants were 
 alarmed and saw in embryo the bitter struggle that 
 was to follow. Protestants and Catholics watched 
 each other for five years, the smouldering fire keeping 
 all the while its fatal burning. Charles and his brother, 
 the Duke of York, a bigoted Catholic, intended re- 
 modeling the army to the exclusion of Protestants; 
 but before the execution of the plan could be effected, 
 Charles died and the Duke of York was proclaimed 
 king of Great Britain and Ireland as James II. The 
 
268 REMINISCENXES. 
 
 new king placed a fanatical Roman Catholic at the 
 head of affairs in Ireland and gave him the title of 
 the Earl of Tyrconnell, which increased the bitterness 
 and suspicion that divided the Protestants and Cath- 
 olics. 
 
 At this crisis William Prince of Orange landed in 
 England, and James precipitately fled into France. 
 The priests knew that William was not in a condition 
 to coerce the Irish party at once, and they declared 
 for the house of Stuart and exhorted their flocks to be 
 ready for an uprising. The Protestant population was 
 given up to pillage, and Tyrconnell determined to 
 reduce the North to submission before they had time 
 to organize. The Protestants retreated, burning the 
 bridges after them and finally made a stand behind 
 Lough Foyle, and 30,000 persons sought refuge 
 within the walls of Londonderry, or Derry, as it is 
 familiarly called, that being the ancient name. Tyr- 
 connell appealed to France and the exiled Jesuits for 
 help. The latter landed in Dublin in March, 1689 
 and summoned a Parliament. The first act of this 
 Parliament was the passing of an ordinance securing 1 
 the independence of Ireland along with the restora- 
 tion of King James. The Earl of Tyrconnell began 
 to plot with the Catholics as to the best plan to crush 
 the Protestants and seat James in Ireland as its Papist 
 king. The Protestants of Ulster, as has been noticed 
 before, had by thrift and industry changed a wild and 
 profitless country into a flourishing seat of trade and 
 manufactories, and at this period they had entirely re- 
 covered from the massacre of 1641. 
 
 The citizens of Enniskillen and Derry watched with 
 
SIEGE OF DERRY. 269 
 
 ever increasing anxiety and discrimination the attitude 
 of the Irish Government and the temper of the Cath- 
 olic element around them, while they energetically 
 prepared to defend themselves. The work of Tyr- 
 connell in two years placed the army entirely in his 
 power. But when he attempted to quarter his Popish 
 army in the town of Enniskillen, the brave citizens 
 rose and repelled the attempt. Derry at once caught 
 the flame and secured its gates against a similar at- 
 tempt. As a sort of soothing powder, a Protestant 
 garrison was placed in Derry under the command of 
 Lieutenant Colonel Lundy, and Enniskillen and the 
 Maiden City proclaimed William and Mary as their 
 sovereigns and abided the issue with mounted guns 
 and unsheathed swords. The Catholic population 
 prepared for plunder, and the army under Tyrconnell's 
 lead began to reduce the Protestants of Ulster to sub- 
 mission. As the terror-stricken inhabitants fled, the 
 army desolated the country, and the people took 
 refuge within the walls of Derry. Lundy was either 
 a coward or a traitor. He therefore pronounced the 
 place untenable and counselled submission. But a 
 soul-stirring story of heroic bravery and more heroic 
 fortitude was yet to unfold, and God raised them up a 
 deliverer. Rev. George Walker, an Episcopalian, fled 
 to Derry, and in the dismay which followed Lundy's 
 defection, inspired the people with bolder resolutions, 
 and they stood for their lives. Lundy fled, and Rev. 
 George Walker was appointed governor of the city. 
 There were thirty thousand people to feed, and provi- 
 sions were scarce. By the 30th of April the city was 
 invested by Tyrconnell's army, and the bombardment 
 
270 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of the city at once began. Apparently the city of 
 Deny was an easy prey, as it is situated upon the 
 slope of a high hill facing the river Foyle. The be- 
 leagured city had but twenty cannon; but they had 
 brave and resolute men to man their guns and brave 
 women to inspire a lofty courage. As the bombard- 
 ment proceeded their courage rose, and after six weeks 
 of siege and sortie, they held their ground firmer than 
 ever, even though the terrible famine looked into their 
 gaunt faces. England promised relief; but O! how 
 tardy it seemed to a starving people! Hope deferred 
 made the heart sick. No friendly ship could sail up 
 the river without being exposed to a deadly fire. The 
 banks were bristling with the foe and with destruction. 
 Across the narrow part of the river from fort to fort 
 was a boom of timber joined by iron chains and fast- 
 ened on either shore with the strongest cables. Is it 
 any wonder the slow torture of despair was beginning 
 to creep over the city? 
 
 A cathedral crowns the hill upon which the old part 
 of the city is built. At the time of the siege it was 
 a prominent object, and the missiles of the enemy 
 often fell within the cathedral enclosure. While it was 
 a conspicuous mark for the fire of the foe, it was at 
 the same time an excellent, though dangerous look-out 
 for the besieged and anxious watchers within the city. 
 After longing days and weary nights had passed, from 
 the top of this cathedral, an English fleet was sighted 
 in Lough Foyle, an area of the sea that receives the 
 waters of the river Foyle. Signals were exchanged, 
 but the fleet lay at anchor unable to proceed farther. 
 At length hope began to sink like lead in dark waters; 
 
FAMINE STRICKEN. 27 1 
 
 provisions were dealt out by ounces and only sufficient 
 to sustain life. Fever and dysentery ensued and 
 claimed victims by hundreds. Gunpowder was still 
 plenty, but cannon balls were entirely exhausted. The 
 courage of the resolute men, however, rose to loftier 
 daring, inspired by the patriotism of a band of young 
 men called "Apprentice Boys," who moulded brickbats 
 in molten lead and fired them at the enemy. 
 
 The resistance of the city for such a length of time 
 was very humiliating to King James, and at the end 
 of two months he issued a proclamation to the effect 
 that if the city was not surrendered within a certain 
 time, his army would collect all the Protestants within 
 thirty miles of the city and starve them to death out- 
 side the walls. It was not a vain threat. The aged, 
 the children and women with infants in their arms, 
 were driven in flocks toward the beleaguered city. 
 Many lay down and died by the way, and those who 
 were spared to reach the city sat down in the shadow 
 of the walls and starved for three days; those inside 
 not being able to spare them any food. Such brutal 
 treatment called for prompt and decided measures. 
 The soldiers of the besieged army erected a gallows 
 in sight of the foe and issued a counter proclamation. 
 Its burden was death on this gallows to every Catholic 
 inside the walls, if their friends were not allowed to 
 return to their homes at once. The threat had the 
 desired effect, and the famishing crowd outside the 
 walls quickly melted away. 
 
 The famine in the city was terribly severe. Horse- 
 flesh and dog-flesh were fast failing, but still this 
 noble band encouraged themselves in the God of 
 
272 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 battles. Meanwhile the siege went on, and batteries 
 were planted nearer and nearer the brave city. It was 
 now the last of July, 1689. Rev. George Walker 
 preached on the Sabbath and earnestly exhorted his 
 hearers to persevere, because God in his own time 
 would hear their cry and grant them deliverance. 
 Soon after from the outlook on the top of the cathe- 
 dral the watchers descried a movement in the Lough. 
 In a few moments more they saw three vessels parting 
 the waters and steering for the mouth of the Foyle. 
 The forts of the foe guarding each side of the river, 
 opened their guns, and the fire was fiercely returned 
 by the fast speeding vessels. "They are within a 
 mile of the boom and not a shot from the foe has 
 turned them from their purpose," rang from the top 
 of the cathedral over the trembling city, and hope 
 revived. A few moments more and word from the 
 same point sped like an arrow, and from lip to lip the 
 joyous tones rang out, proclaiming, "The foremost 
 vessel is the Mountjoy of Deny." On and on she 
 came and proudly and fearlessly dashed at the boom. 
 It snapped asunder at the shock and drifted in the 
 current; but the reflex action drove the gallant vessel 
 ashore, and she lay helpless on her beam ends. With 
 blanched faces, with quivering lips and throbbing 
 hearts the famishing city watched as the moments 
 flew, and hope and despair alternated in the intense 
 anxiety. The next vessel followed in quick succes- 
 sion, and at the opportune moment fired a broadside. 
 The Mountjoy righted herself, and the three vessels 
 passed in safety and struck out for the landing. "We 
 are saved! W r e are saved!" went up from the hillside 
 
THE WAR ENDED. 273 
 
 with a shout and was prolonged in deafening peals, as 
 the vessels discharged their cargo of provisions. That 
 night the wasted garrison within the walls of Derry 
 fed on something better than a pitiful allowance of 
 oatmeal and horse-flesh. 
 
 The next evening, at night-fall, the foe was sullenly 
 retreating, after continuing the siege one hundred and 
 five days. As the sun of August 1st gleamed on the 
 waters of Lough Foyle, the army of James, a mix- 
 ture of French and Irish Celts, was marching away on 
 the road to Strabane, with a loss of eight thousand 
 soldiers. The horrors of such a civil war can scarcely 
 be imagined, nor can the blessings of peace be over- 
 estimated. 
 
 The cathedral is still in existence and is a well-pre- 
 served and handsome piece of ancient architecture. 
 It is an object of great interest, as it stands surrounded 
 with a densely packed city of the dead. Very many 
 of these died in the siege and in the straitness to 
 which they were reduced. Forty of the brave defen- 
 ders of Derry lie in one spot. A high green mound 
 of earth, crowned with a monument, tells to each 
 generation what the sleepers fought and died for. 
 They are dead, but they speak. Their dauntless valor 
 and patient perseverance saved the Protestant cause in 
 the fierce struggle against the despotic house of 
 Stuart and the Church of Rome. They tell us too, 
 the battle will have to be fought again. The old spirit 
 is there still, and none know better than the Ulster 
 Protestants what that spirit is. 
 
 An avenue angles from one of the principal streets 
 and leads to the cathedral gate. This avenue on one 
 
274 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 side is studded with comfortable homes closely set and 
 without dooryards. An intelligent lady stood in the 
 door of one of these houses as we passed and seemed 
 to invite exchange of words. Our queries were con- 
 cerning the siege; but before she replied she drew 
 near to us and lowered her voice lest a Catholic 
 neighbor two doors away should hear her. She said 
 the Catholics were watching with intense interest the 
 slightest move on the political chess-board. 
 
 The walls of Derry, such an impregnable defense at 
 that time, remain as they were, bristling with heavy 
 guns in close embrasure all around the ancient part of 
 the city. They are now an agreeable promenade and 
 verify the thrilling story so deeply interesting. A 
 triumphal arch was erected in 1789 to commemorate 
 the event. A tall and handsome monument has been 
 placed near the wall to the memory of Rev. George 
 Walker, Governor of the city during the siege, while 
 opposite stands the Memorial Hall of the Apprentice 
 Boys who were an important factor in the defense. 
 
 The hill upon which Derry is situated commands a 
 large scope of country that gives evidence of thrift 
 and comfort. There is here, as elsewhere, a new city, 
 with beauty all around. In this new part Magee 
 College is a prominent object, while up and down the 
 Foyle are handsome homes with beautiful lawns and 
 grand old trees, showing the taste and easy living of 
 the owners. Would that all Ireland could see as the 
 North does, that industry and enterprise and the fear 
 of God will emancipate them, and that a disposition to 
 abandon the old rebellious feeling would enlist the 
 sympathies of the British Government to open up in- 
 
DOWN THE LOUGH. 275 
 
 dustries for the people and give them heart to work ! 
 The development of some vigorous industries to de- 
 stroy Satan's workshop would settle the Irish question. 
 
 The evening of Sept. ioth we left Derry, happier 
 and wiser for realizing in some measure the perils and 
 the privations of the siege of 1689 and the importance 
 of the crisis that was upon the Protestant religious 
 element of all Ireland. The rain fell in fits and gusts 
 upon a pleasing landscape, as the train moved on over 
 a level plain toward Castle Rock. There were glimpses 
 of the restless sea on one side, with occasional broad 
 stretches of bay and inlet, and on the other side farms 
 and dwellings, with frequent views of bold headlands 
 of brown, ragged rock, over which the rain was send- 
 ing in a succession of leaps and dashes many a foam- 
 ing waterfall. There were pleasant traveling compan- 
 ions inside the car, which made a sunny atmosphere 
 there, even though the sun in the heavens had been 
 hidden for days. 
 
 Castle Rock is a watering place out on the lip of the 
 sea. The great waves roll up to the very door-yards 
 of the boarding-houses. It is a modest, comely spot, 
 as winning as the fair and rosy Irish maidens we fre- 
 quently met. Two such maidens were in our car 
 and listened with rapt attention to descriptions of 
 America. When we selected our lodging place for 
 the night, one of these young ladies, to our surprise, 
 answered the bell and met us at the door with a kindly 
 smile of welcome, and we felt quite at home. The 
 season was over and the boarders were all gone, but 
 the moaning sea was still there, and at night from our 
 bed-room window, we gazed long upon its white-cap- 
 
276 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ped surface, as it wrought in the fury of a storm, the 
 moan having increased almost to a shriek. In the 
 morning the storm was spent, the rain had ceased, the 
 sky was brighter, and while breakfast was preparing, 
 we ran down to the beach and stood out upon the 
 rocks lost in admiration. There were kind friends 
 here whom we visited and from whom we learned 
 more of the hospitable intent of the people. As our 
 train was to leave soon, there were handsome flowers 
 given us by this family and many kindly greetings ex- 
 pressed to friends in America. 
 
 Coleraine upon the historic Bann claimed a few 
 hours as we journeyed south. This city, four miles 
 from the sea, is a pleasant and thriving place, celebrat- 
 ed for the manufacture of fine linens. The river Bann 
 is navigable for small vessels to this place, and its 
 business interests seemed quite lively. Here, too, we 
 found a most genial home. Friends in America were 
 our passport to its kindly welcome. A cup of steaming 
 tea and accompaniments sealed the friendly compact 
 and made hostess and guests as garrulous as if we had 
 jogged along together for years. In this instance there 
 was no ice to be broken nor chill to be removed; all 
 was warmth and freshness at the beginning, and when 
 our good-byes were made, we caught up the glow and 
 carried it with us. 
 
 Soon our faces were turned farther southward to- 
 ward Dublin, the capital city, and across the river 
 Boyne, famous as the scene of the battle between 
 Willian Prince of Orange and James II. In June, 1690 
 the Prince landed at Carrickfergus and took supreme 
 command of the Protestant army. His strict discipline 
 
DISCONTENT. 277 
 
 and unselfish example restored order and enthusiasm 
 to his troops, and he marched southward and occupied 
 the northern bank of the Boyne, where he was con- 
 fronted with James' army on the opposite side of the 
 river. Here James was defeated, and the fate of 
 Ireland and the Stuart kings was decided in an Irish 
 Armageddon. The pusillanimous James fled to Dub- 
 lin early in the day. He who had the infamous 
 courage in earlier days to gloat over the bruised and 
 crushed Covenanters in Scotland, took good care 
 never to expose his cowardly head in battle. An 
 obelisk one hundred and fifty feet high marks the 
 scene of the engagement. 
 
 The state of the country at the close of the war was 
 indescribably wretched. It had been desolated from 
 end to end by the opposing armies. It had been im- 
 possible to sow the land. The herds had been de- 
 stroyed, and the people were on the verge of famine. 
 The Protestants and the English government had 
 suffered so much in gaining the ascendancy that for 
 self-protection they held the reins of government with 
 an ever tightening grasp. The lawlessness of the 
 period made such a course imperative. During much 
 of the eighteenth century the Irish party was rent by 
 factions. There was always a reserve force in the 
 native Irish Celts, the Roman Catholics, that was 
 sullen, muttering and menacing. The priests held 
 them in bondage. They were naturally a religious 
 people, but ignorant, superstitious, degraded and 
 poverty-stricken. The more the priests were pro- 
 scribed by Parliament and the more sternly they were 
 forbidden to enter the Island from the Continent, the 
 
278 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 more they swarmed to the Island as a sort of penance 
 for their evil deeds — a courting of persecution for 
 reward, or as so much laid up against purgatory. 
 These poor people grew stronger in their attachment 
 to the priests and to a religion that permitted them to 
 remain in hopeless ignorance and that pandered to 
 their legends and superstitions. Very different was it 
 with the Celts in the Highlands of Scotland. They 
 too, rebelled and for a time lived in almost savage dis- 
 content, and as a correspondent says, "the ambassadors 
 of the gospel had to deal with warlike people, wild in 
 sin and delusion." But God gave to them seeing eyes 
 and hearing ears and understanding hearts, and at this 
 writing the Scottish Celt is the truest conservator of a 
 pure religion in the larger Churches in all Scotland. 
 
 For seventy years after the battle of the Boyne, the 
 Irish Celt rested in apparent stupor, and there were no 
 outward signs of a rising; but the bitterness and the 
 heart-burnings were there. To their condition they 
 never assimilated. When George III. came to the 
 throne, a loyal address was presented by the Roman 
 Catholics. It was well received, and the Catholics 
 lifted up their heads, and forthwith the country was 
 infested with an ill-begotten crop of secret societies. 
 There were the Oak-Boys and the Hearts-of-Steel- 
 Boys and the White-Boys and what not. The Hearts- 
 of-Steel-Bcys made war on the landlords. These 
 landowners would not live in Ireland; but they held 
 the land, and the tenants were at the tender mercies 
 of the rent-collector. The White-Boys swore ven- 
 geance against these middle-men and raided the 
 southern counties, pulling down fences and meting 
 
SECRET SOCIETIES. 279 
 
 out destruction; while the Oak-Boys were sworn to 
 redress all grievances. Riot and idleness was the 
 result. The secret societies so hopelessly interwoven 
 with our own political fabric are of the same slimy 
 fold. They are the force that moves our political 
 machine. They know no God in Christ, and the 
 spirit of resistance is in them as strong as in the 
 Irish, if occasion should call it forth. But the saddest 
 feature is, that the Church at large bows to this 
 Moloch, greedy to share its worldly honors. 
 
280 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 There is a time to sow and a time to reap that 
 which is sown. If we sow the wind, we shall reap the 
 whirlwind. If we sow good seed it possibly will 
 bring forth a hundred-fold. George III. indulged in 
 some wild sowing. He was an adept in cool dissimu- 
 lation, indolent and obstinate; very liable to mistake 
 wrong for right and then, sullen and immovable in his 
 positions. The causes that led to the war with the 
 American colonies furnish an example of his cast of 
 mind. George III. pursued as perverse a course 
 toward Ireland as he did toward America. He starved 
 her industries, destroyed her trade and otherwise 
 disregarded her interests. Meanwhile the French 
 Revolution thoroughly alarmed the king with the 
 danger of arousing democratic principles, and with 
 good reason; for at this time Lord Edward Fitzger- 
 ald, an Irish nobleman, and a member of the Irish 
 Parliament, plunged himself into a dark conspiracy 
 for the overthrow of the English government. A 
 French fleet sailed for the coast of Munster; but a 
 furious gale sprang up, and the fleet was swept out to 
 sea and ruined. 
 
 The government in Ireland was panic-stricken at 
 the prospect of an insurrection with all its fearful rav- 
 

 UNION WITH ENGLAND. 28 I 
 
 ages. When the year 1798 approached, there were 
 risings almost all over the country. The Roman 
 Catholics were pitted against the Protestants, and 
 bloodshed and terror hung like a dreary, impenetrable 
 curtain over the Island. The condition of the country 
 at the beginning of 1799 was still more deplorable. 
 Trade was ruined, credit was shattered, and the whole 
 of Ireland was practically in a state of siege. 
 
 Wiliam Pitt, then Prime Minister of England, had 
 long had his heart set upon a legislative union of the 
 two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland 
 was in such a condition of lawlessness and unrest that 
 the time seemed opportune for its accomplishment as 
 the only safe measure for the country. In some parts 
 of Ireland the idea of union was well received; but in 
 Dublin the opposition was strong. Sir John Parnell, 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, denounced any such 
 movement, and he was promptly dismissed from office. 
 The government in England struck where it was able 
 and struck vigorously. In the first encounter in the 
 Irish Commons the union party was beaten ; but the 
 union grew in favor, and in January 1800, the Irish 
 Parliament met for the last time. The United King- 
 dom hereafter was to be represented in one Parliament, 
 to meet in London. 
 
 Had Ireland in the South shook herself free from 
 priestcraft and priestly rule when the American Colo- 
 nies were struggling for their independence, she would 
 have been as happy and as prosperous and as loyal 
 to-day as Ireland in the North. That there are wrongs 
 to be righted all freely admit. The British Govern- 
 ment is not perfect; but let every one put a shoulder 
 
282 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 to the wheel and lift in harmony, and the burden will 
 melt away in the industries that will spring up and in 
 the prosperity that will ensue. The dreary Irish 
 question will then be settled, and the quaint old Castle 
 and Parliament House in Dublin will be preserved and 
 cherished as antiquities of the nation. They mark 
 her progress. Such sowing would bear good fruit, 
 while the quarrelling, the dictation of the priests and 
 the longing for the unattainable will bring forth naught 
 but the worthless chaff that changes position with 
 every breath. 
 
 We were greatly interested in what we saw when 
 we arrived in Dublin in the forenoon of September 1 3. 
 The fame of the capital city as a place of great beauty 
 had fixed itself long ago, and we were not quite pre- 
 pared for the decay and even sadness that prevailed. 
 Coming from Belfast to Dublin, the vigor of the one 
 made its absence in the other more apparent, no 
 doubt. In the nature of things, there ought to be the 
 marks of maturity and even, perhaps, of old age; but 
 Dublin ought not to have reached the height of its 
 possibilities at this stage, nor do we think it has. 
 When the people have a mind to work and a mind to 
 accept the situation, she will rise triumphantly of her 
 own free will and vie with other cities in putting on 
 beautiful garments. Dublin, however, is very inter- 
 esting and storied as it is. There are also many marks 
 of nobility upon the outlook. But the date of its 
 prosperity is away in the past, and the shadow of a 
 great sorrow seems to hang over the city. And why 
 all this? There is much here that is very lovely. 
 Phcenix Park is a beautiful spot, ample in extent and 
 
WHAT IS NEEDED. 283 
 
 containing one of the handsomest national historical 
 monuments we had seen. As we saw it, there were 
 many things that should arouse the people from appa- 
 rent slothfulness. 
 
 Coming in from Phoenix Park, explanations began 
 to dawn upon us. We met six Catholic priests in a 
 body, marching two and two. They were fat-fleshed 
 and pompous. They symbolized the suction that is 
 draining the life of the Catholic part of the Island. 
 Pitiful indeed is the prospect, so long as this section 
 submits to the check-rein of such leaders. The citizens 
 of the flourishing North of Ireland were at pains to 
 tell us that they deprecated Home Rule and looked to 
 England with longing eyes as the conservator of their 
 weal. The key to the situation is not the old and 
 worn-out cry of Home Rule that only feeds the dema- 
 gogue. All will be changed by such development as 
 will give the masses here education and commercial 
 growth, thus dispelling their sorrows in the new and 
 absorbing life consequent upon such a state of things. 
 Late developments prove that Home Rule, were it to 
 prevail, would vanish in a quarrel. The people are 
 the victims of schemes. They are helpless in the 
 hands of unscrupulous agitators. A strong race would 
 react against these circumstances in the way of their 
 development, and they would not be held down. The 
 very difficulties they encounter would make them 
 stronger at every step. But a weak people stagnate 
 and sink down in discontent, easily becoming the tool 
 of politicians. 
 
 The old Parliament House and Dublin Castle are 
 ancient and interesting landmarks. The former is now 
 
284 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the Bank of Ireland. It is massive and chaste in de- 
 sign. The Castle is used as a residence for the officers 
 of the English Government and is quite plain in 
 appearance. Dublin, in Celtic Dubh-linn, meaning a 
 black pool, is situated on the river Liffey where it 
 flows into Dublin Bay. It is not a manufacturing 
 center. People go there to spend money, not to make 
 it. It could be made a very handsome city — and 
 doubtless was such in happier days. 
 
 Our next adventure was in the city of Cork, an- 
 ciently spelled Corrock, a Celtic word for swamp. 
 After passing the beautiful environs of Dublin, our 
 route lay through a wasted country — wasted in its 
 full significance — wasted because its capabilities are 
 undeveloped. Time is wasted when it is permitted to 
 fly without being occupied. Goods are wasted when 
 they are left to mould and become moth-eaten, and 
 food is wasted when left alone to ferment or to become 
 rancid. Such wasting applies to this region. Prodigal 
 living and lavish expenditure are a wasting process 
 both morally and financially; but this feature does not 
 enter into the aspect here. Thrift and enterprise have 
 not yet entered this region. Thrift and enterprise are 
 noble qualities when the motive is noble. If one 
 practices economics and by it saves money to prevent 
 being burdensome to others in sickness or old age, 
 saves that all obligations may be discharged, saves, 
 even from self-gratification, to have something to give 
 to the poor and needy, the motive is noble. God 
 will in some way or other bless it. Such thrift and 
 enterprise are the kernel of all genuine prosperity, 
 exalting the character and making life a blessing in its 
 
WANT OF THRIFT. 285 
 
 true significance, because of the divine approval. 
 
 The important lesson to be learned by this part of 
 Ireland is the dignity of labor for specific ends, for the 
 purpose of opportunity to rise above its present 
 level. The women must do more, much more, than 
 sit in their doorways smoking their pipes and gossip- 
 ing. They must keep the pigs from the doorstep, the 
 chickens away from the fireside and the geese from 
 the pool at the back door. What a shaking up and 
 around and sidewise they do need! As we saw them 
 they were fat and sonsie under such a regime. Their 
 frilled caps and blue cloaks were never wanting, and a 
 low grade of enjoyment they seemed to possess in full 
 measure. But their vision of thrift and success seemed 
 to extend no farther than the potato patch and a small 
 field having for its principal crop thistles and stones 
 and its incumbent a couple of sheep, perchance a cow, 
 while the pigs and the geese clustered variously, but 
 oftenest in the doorways. Marks of evicted tenants 
 added to the dreariness of the scene. The thatch of 
 the bleak cottages hung in tatters, the windows were 
 gone and desolation was sinking into ruin. 
 
 Many a thrifty woman of to-day could take any one 
 of these same unkempt houses and holdings and make 
 it blossom as the rose. She could do it and leave the 
 other sex out of the question. She would pick the 
 stones out of the field and fit it for bearing grain. She 
 would tether the cow and the sheep and feed them in 
 a corner. She would kill and eat the geese and banish 
 the pig to a stye. Even the chickens could be taught 
 orderly habits, so that cleanliness might thrive, and all 
 the available patches of earth bring forth abundantly 
 
286 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 for the use of man. When such thrift prevails, the 
 landlord's pittance, which is just a tax for the right to 
 live and enjoy life on what he rightfully owns, will be 
 counted on and paid. A friend visited Europe re- 
 cently. He was gazing at the low thatched cottages 
 on the west coast of Ireland in company with a bright 
 Irish girl from New York who was returning to visit 
 her native land. Our friend said, " The houses over 
 yonder on the hills appear to be constructed so that 
 dwelling-house and cow-house are under one roof." 
 "Aye," said she, "and the gintleman in the corner to 
 pay the rint." She meant the pig by the "gintleman 
 in the corner," which is often kept in a corner of the 
 room and frequently sold to pay the rent. 
 
 Where such thriftlessness as we saw prevails, the 
 landowner is to be pitied. Many of the landowners 
 are ruined and cannot get the most meagre support 
 from lands upon which they are dependent for their 
 daily bread. In some cases ladies of high birth have 
 no other income than some Irish estate manned with 
 thriftless tenants, who will neither pay a tax for the 
 right a home on it nor peaceably leave for another 
 occupant. It is Roman Catholic life as exhibited in 
 the South of Ireland. It is careless, narrow and im- 
 provident. The pigs and the geese, and the dirty, 
 laughing and frolicking children are in the foreground, 
 and the mothers take up plenty of time to sport with 
 all these grades of animal life. 
 
 The landscape is for the most part bare and sad. 
 There are long, black tracts of desolate bog, and 
 where the peat has been removed, the water has filled 
 the space, its dark, silent depth augmenting the loneli- 
 
THE BLARNEY STONE. 287 
 
 ness. We do not forget to mention some charming 
 pictures. There were mountains and a sweep of hills 
 and silver streams and here and there well kept farms. 
 In such places there were flourishing crops and green 
 pasture fields; but such pictures were the exception. 
 Sometimes we came upon a ruined Castle overlooking 
 a bright stream of water, and here and there a curi- 
 ously wrought round tower, so ancient that the date 
 and purpose can only be conjectured. 
 
 As we neared the city of Cork we greeted the little 
 village of Blarney. It has a Castle erected in 1449 
 by Cormac McCarty. Near the Castle are the groves 
 of Blarney, and on the summit of the Castle tower is 
 the Blarney stone, the kissing of which is irresistibly 
 potent in flattering one out of his wits. The true 
 stone is under the parapet and can only be kissed by 
 the applicant of that kind for favors being held by the 
 heels and thumped against the wall. We did not 
 want to rob Ireland of a full cup of that kind of virtue; 
 so we were content with looking at it; and if, per- 
 chance, a stray shot of the commodity should strike 
 us, we could absorb it without so much fatigue. 
 
 The city of Cork suggests "Paddy from Cork;" and 
 "The tip of the morning to you, sir," sits easily and 
 naturally upon those who court patronage. The 
 coachman presented his case and his moving appli- 
 ance, a bit of a Tom Thumb swinging machine 
 suspended over four .low wheels, to which entrance 
 was furnished at the farther end. It held but two; and 
 away we inmates clattered over the stony street, while 
 "the tip of the morning" was left to sound for other 
 comers. In spite of a certain air of squalor, the 
 
288 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 sadness felt in Dublin did not appear here. It may be, 
 expectancy played its part. We expected little and 
 were not disappointed. The city is finely situated 
 upon the slope of a hill commanding a beautiful undu- 
 lating country, though the older part of the city lies 
 upon a reclaimed swamp. It has an excellent harbor 
 and the best of opportunities for trade. There is a 
 park lined with grand old elms and here in Cork 
 "Shandon Bells" ring out their silver music. 
 
 Still the pattern is very sombre, indeed very dark. 
 There are four monasteries, two nunneries, a fine 
 bishop's palace and a Catholic cathedral. Five sixths 
 of the population are Roman Catholics, and drinking 
 and brewing seem to be the prevailing industry. In 
 the middle of one of the principal streets there is a 
 monument erected to Father Matthew, the Catholic 
 apostle of temperance, which is quite opportune, as 
 otherwise we could hardly have guessed he had any 
 devotees in this place. 
 
 September 16th we were to sail from Queenstown, 
 and we arrived at this point the day before. Queens- 
 town has a high-sounding name, and its situation is 
 one of exceeding beauty. It half encircles a lovely 
 bay, so calm it only glanced in the sunlight. Ships 
 ride there in almost perfect safety. The city rises 
 from the expanse of water, terrace after terrace, and 
 makes a magnificent birds-eye picture. But it is one 
 of the things to which distance lends enchantment. 
 Such squalor and wretchedness and slipshodism we 
 had not seen anywhere. Contentment sat upon the 
 faces of women and children and men who together, 
 were reeking in filth and almost every discomfort. 
 
A DISAPPOINTMENT. 289 
 
 Their wretched dwellings or hovels were planted like 
 pigeon holes along range after range of terraces that 
 served as a contrasting border, or may be, a back 
 door yard for a grand and imposing Catholic church 
 in marble and statuary that crowned the hill. The 
 cathedral is still incomplete, but of costly workman- 
 ship. The builders are looking to America for the 
 means to complete it, and it will doubtless absorb 
 many thousands of our money. There was the key 
 to the situation. As Israel under the lead of the 
 vacillating Aaron, when they despoiled themselves of 
 their jewelry and adornments, and, simple and forget- 
 ful, danced around a golden calf, so these untutored 
 people give of their earnings, almost to starvation, 
 certainly in stupidity, to mount a glittering idol where 
 they can see it and feast their dull eyes upon it, thus 
 neglecting their household duties as Jewish maidens 
 and matrons did when they capered around their idol. 
 When we alighted from the car, a rather decent 
 looking young man accosted us who was a runner for 
 a hotel. After we had disentangled ourselves from the 
 swarm of beggars and other hotel runners, we decided 
 to follow the first named youth, for which he seemed 
 quite grateful. His tongue was apparently pivoted in 
 the middle and so loosely hung, it operated all around; 
 and as we moved along by the side of our guide, he 
 discoursed on a number of topics. At length he, with 
 an eye to business, gave us some masterful passages 
 on the beauty of the unfinished church, saying with 
 apparent innocence that Queenstown expected Amer- 
 ican visitors to furnish most of the money for the 
 completion of the grand structure. We did not 
 19 
 
29O REMINISCENCES. 
 
 respond as he hoped, but we said with emphasis, 
 "That's what's the matter with you. You build these 
 fine churches and starve in idleness and expect others 
 to help you out." He collapsed, and his tongue did 
 not move again till we reached our hotel. 
 
 We felt humiliated when we thought of being on 
 the spur mistaken for the kind of travelers this hotel 
 wanted. Its principal guest was a Rev. Mother Supe- 
 rior from San Francisco, Cal. She was fat, fair and 
 beyond forty, with a long, pretentious dangle of keys 
 and beads and a large cross. She was to be a passen- 
 ger on our vessel, the "Egypt," which was to sail on 
 the morrow, and, therefore, received all the attention 
 the house could spare; at least it was all spent before 
 it reached us. The room assigned us was a wilderness 
 of disorder, and we had to parade the streets until it 
 was tidied. We endeavored to satisfy our hunger at 
 what appeared to be the second table, consoling our- 
 selves with the idea that there would be but one night 
 of it. 
 
A REVIEW. 291 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 We had now seen the Englishman in his home, the 
 Scotchman at his "ingleside" and the Irishman in his 
 castle. We found much in them all to admire and be 
 proud of; for we are all of one blood. Each of these 
 centers or nationalities has adapted itself to new con- 
 ditions or environments, and we have done the same. 
 I mean that these peoples, although one in heredity 
 and having many characteristics in common, in other 
 traits of character are very unlike, having been 
 operated upon by influences that arose out of their 
 different conditions. Heredity produces the charac- 
 teristics of the past and always leaves a margin for 
 adaptation to new physical and moral conditions. The 
 sunshine, the winds, the climate, the wealth or poverty 
 of the soil, the struggles for civil and religious liberty, 
 indeed all things external with which a people come 
 in contact are moulding and chiseling the forms of 
 existence into new ones, or modifying the old ones. 
 We see this principle at work in members of the same 
 family when separated far from each other. 
 
 The Scotch have a scant soil and a bleak climate, 
 and yet no other country has so interwoven in its 
 history the charms of poetry, philosophy and science, 
 nor so firmly fixed them upon the one enduring span 
 
292 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of Christ's Crown and Covenant. Her history is sub- 
 lime and thrilling, and will be so as long as she keeps 
 fast by the word of God. That alone makes a nation 
 sublime. Ireland, once a stronghold of Christianity 
 and learning and a peer among the nations, is crushed 
 between the upper and nether millstones of opposing 
 parties. Healthy efforts on the part of the North 
 show themselves like bright beams of sunshine in a 
 clouded sky. But the elimination of the Catholic 
 clergy from Irish politics is the only hope of peace 
 and prosperity for the whole of Ireland. Otherwise 
 the old fetid quarrels will be forever looming up to 
 destroy the best hopes for her. 
 
 We are accustomed to think England is old. But 
 she retains all the vigor and vitality of youth. Age is 
 a relative term. Some things develop slowly and live 
 long. "The growth of things excellent is slow." 
 Men of age and experience and ripe judgment bear 
 the weight of empire, and the younger men bide their 
 time patiently. The British Empire has hardly reached 
 its prime, although a thousand and half a thousand 
 years ago her ships went forth to conquer the races of 
 the Northern Sea. To-day the British Empire is 
 mistress of the oceans, and the sun never sets upon 
 her possessions. These islands are indeed "precious 
 stones set in the silver sea." We have the most ear- 
 nest wish that they should keep up a standard for a 
 pure religion resting upon the only solid foundation 
 stone, the only precious stone and building the silver 
 and the gold, not wood, hay and stubble that will not 
 survive the fire. Proud church buildings, the great 
 and the small organs, priestly robes and stately step- 
 
TO SEA AGAIN. 293 
 
 pings, and even great learning and research, are simply 
 nothing in God's sight. Nay, they arc less than 
 nothing and vanity. They never feed a hungry soul, 
 nor clothe it with the garments of praise. But they 
 do excite the nervous system and stimulate it to 
 unhealthy action. They also delude and eventually 
 destroy. 
 
 On Friday at I p. m. we sailed away from the har- 
 bor to reach the "Egypt" standing out to sea. The 
 tender bore away a motley crowd from this point; 
 men, women and children in many stages of poverty. 
 When all were on board, our handsome, well-ordered 
 vessel was responsible for eleven hundred and thirty- 
 four souls. 
 
 We were again upon the sea, upon the waste of 
 ocean that rolled between us and our own land, and 
 we entered upon its enjoyment. Away we tossed, at 
 times skimming like a bird, a very feather on the sur- 
 face of old ocean. The sun had dropped its fierceness. 
 The asmosphere was of a brilliant blue. There was 
 but little toying of the wind, just enough to delicately 
 ripple the water; and not a cloud in the sky; no, not 
 even so much as a shred of vapor; not even one the 
 size of a man's hand. Following us was a long line 
 of water, glancing astern like shimmering white satin, 
 and the steamer moved stately and resplendent. We 
 greatly enjoyed the sweet, cool freshness of the salt air 
 breathing upon the face of the waters and its briliancy 
 as it sparkled under the sun, while we watched the 
 receding coast-line in its many forms and colors and 
 bade all our journeyings in these lands a fond farewell. 
 
 Days and nights came and went upon the deep and 
 
294 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 left a mark somewhere. To some of us, perhaps, the 
 record is only on the pages of eternity. In no other 
 condition did eternity seem so near, so real, such a 
 tangible thing. A momentary mishap, and we are at the 
 door of another world. On the Sabbath at eight A. M. 
 we were all startled by the sudden stop of the ponder- 
 ous machinery. The vessel ceased its throb without a 
 flicker or note of warning. For seven hours we 
 drifted helplessly before the wind. Consternation was 
 in many faces; for we could hear the omii^ous sound 
 of hammers and axes below. The officers of the vessel 
 were non-committal as to the real trouble, and the day 
 wore away with forebodings. We had a sermon at 
 ten A. M., and the rest of the day we kept the Sab- 
 bath in our room. 
 
 In the afternoon, when life began to circulate again 
 in the great engines, we noticed that its pulsations 
 were slower and the throbs had a labored sound, as if 
 every one was to be the last. 
 
 But the morning dawned, and the strange, irregular 
 pounding of the machinery called forth no more re- 
 marks. The weather was fine, the sea was beautiful 
 and of a green-glass, clear color, glancing in the sun- 
 light. At times the horizon was broken by the outlines 
 of a steamer advancing majestically, but it disappeared 
 with only a friendly salute. 
 
 Sometimes at night there was a magnificent display 
 of those peculiar electric conditions of the atmosphere 
 that made each wave as it bounded away from the 
 bow of the vessel a broad glare of flame, as bright as 
 consuming fire. The pathway astern was a long, 
 broad belt of rolling, tumbling, seething flame emitted 
 
STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT. 295 
 
 from the screw of the steamer and streaming out to 
 the line of water and sky. All over the ocean the 
 crest of each wave as it rose burst out into flame. It 
 was a grand spectacle not to be forgotten. 
 
 Friday morning, September 23, the sea was very 
 tempestuous and our staunch vessel rolled consider- 
 ably. The waves lashed against the port-holes and 
 we were in a dense fog, moving very carefully. After 
 breakfast, Captain Sumner assembled all the cabin 
 passengers in the dining hall and announced that the 
 immense shaft that operated the steamer's screw was 
 badly cracked, and the vessel was, therefore, in such a 
 disabled condition that it was not safe in view of pos- 
 sible stormy weather to attempt to proceed to New 
 York. He, therefore, had been steering for the nearest 
 port, St. John's, Newfoundland, for two days previous, 
 where the damage to the steamer could be repaired. 
 He farther stated that the coast of Newfoundland was 
 very foggy and the mouth of the harbor at St. John's 
 difficult to find, and if he could not find it, the only 
 thing that could be done was to proceed to New York. 
 
 The words fell like thunderbolts. Faces blanched 
 and lips quivered, and after a few moments' silence, 
 the situation was discussed in subdued tones. We 
 committed ourselves anew to Him who commands the 
 winds and the waves, who feeds the ravens when they 
 cry and lets not one sparrow fall without his care. All 
 day long the doleful fog-horn sounded, and as night 
 approached the vessel ceased her pounding, and we 
 were again drifting on the billows, while the click, click 
 of several hammers reached us from below. Wild 
 stories of shipwreck and disaster began to circulate. 
 
296 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 They came from intelligent men, navigators who were 
 on board and professed to know just where we were, 
 and where lay dangerous rocks and reefs. Perhaps 
 they did know; for their faces were full of dismay as 
 they pointed out our position on their charts. 
 
 For two hours we drifted at the mercy of the waves 
 in a fog so dense we could see it creeping around us, 
 when we were again assembled and the captain an- 
 nounced the impossibility of finding the harbor. He 
 said the machinery had undergone a thorough exam- 
 ination, and after consultation, they had decided to sail 
 for New York. Late at night we took refuge in our 
 stateroom and went to sleep. "The angel of the Lord 
 encampeth round about them that fear him and deliv- 
 ereth them." The next day was Saturday, and in the 
 morning at breakfast the peculiar quivering motion of 
 the vessel ceased, and again we drifted in impenetrable 
 fog. The day wore away, and the captain would not 
 be interviewed. Passengers often gathered closely in 
 groups and talked with anxious faces. 
 
 In the evening we were again called together, and a 
 messenger from the captain announced the following 
 to eager listeners: "We are now ready to move and 
 can safely make New York." When the moon rose 
 we were astonished to find it on the wrong side of the 
 vessel. No more announcements were made, and we 
 went to sleep that night conscious that we were rocked 
 on the same dangerous coast of water that carried us 
 the night before. We talked over the peril, and the 
 thought took possession with wonderful power, The 
 important thing is to be ready, with oil in our vessels 
 and our lamps trimmed and burning. When morning 
 
A NARROW ESCAPE. 297 
 
 dawned, we were helpless on the ocean. No one, not 
 even the captain, knew where we were, in the most 
 dismal of fogs — a fog that could be felt. It crept over 
 the vessel, so that objects at the farther end of the 
 ship could only be dimly outlined. The fog-horn 
 grew almost sepulchral in tone that Sabbath morning 
 and sounded every few seconds. By and by it seemed 
 to be answered and faces brightened. But listeners 
 caught the sound of breakers and hope became 
 fainter. God was giving us a display of his care and 
 kindness and compelling the gay and flippant crowd 
 to keep the Sabbath better than it would otherwise 
 have been done and making them willing in some cases 
 to learn its lessons. 
 
 At ten A. M. the fog lifted sufficiently to show us 
 our peril. We were in a small bay or nook of the 
 ocean bounded by tall, perpendicular rocks perhaps 
 two hundred feet high, and our disabled vessel, that 
 could not reverse its wheel because of its condition, 
 was but a few feet from the rocks. The echo from 
 these rocks had been the answer to our fog-horn, and 
 the breakers were dashing against this riven, rock- 
 bound shore. The vessel was turned slowly out of its 
 dangerous position and kept along the coast. At 
 three P. M. a government pilot came on board and 
 with him came relief to the weary, waiting passengers. 
 We moved very cautiously; for the fog had again 
 settled upon us, obscuring everything but occasional 
 glimpses of dark, towering, dripping coast-line. At 
 five P. M., while most of us were crowded on the 
 upper deck expectant and hopeful, the deep, heavy fog 
 parted from the sea and ascended like a curtain, 
 
298 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 leaving a line of amber beneath. The cloud canopy 
 rolled on and up, revealing the mouth of the harbor 
 clear and well defined, as if a door had swung open 
 upon hinges that were fastened in rocky buttresses two 
 hundred feet high, and the city of St. John's — the city 
 of our deliverance — rose before us, terrace upon ter- 
 race. It was the very haven we desired to see. " Oh ! 
 that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and 
 for his wonderful works to the children of men." The 
 cloudy vestment hung just high enough to let us in as 
 we sailed in the narrow channel only five hundred feet 
 wide. Great masses of dark, tumbling vapor were 
 piled high on the dark, precipitous rocks on each side 
 and were a wall unto us. We had cried unto the 
 Lord, and we felt that he had heard our cry and 
 wrought a great deliverance. These apparently mar- 
 velous things impress us. But our lives are full of just 
 as wonderful escapes. Every day, every hour, every 
 moment of our existence, our frail life trembles in the 
 same balance. Scenes of danger make us more con- 
 scious of the easy turning of the scale; but it is none 
 the less true that a soft breath — a vapor — vibrates it, 
 and we drop into eternity. 
 
 The physical features of Newfoundland are interest- 
 ing. It is situated near the highway of traffic between 
 the Old and the New World and is separated from the 
 continent of North America by a strait only twelve 
 miles wide. The coast is deeply indented with bays 
 and harbors and is everywhere rocky, massive and 
 abrupt. In some places the rocks rise to a perpendic- 
 ular height of one thousand feet. It was apparently 
 heaved out of the sea by some fearful convulsion and 
 
NEWFOUNDLAND. 
 
 299 
 
 left to cool in an irregular mass. The edges and 
 elbows of this mass are fretted and cavernous, and 
 against them the sea scolds itself into a frenzy. It 
 threatens and howls as the tide lashes the escarpment, 
 each rising wave crested with, and bearing in its 
 sweep, long stretches of feathery foam. A peculiarity 
 of this coast is seen in the great depth of ocean at the 
 base of these rocks, so that a shipwreck on the coast 
 is usually most fatal. There are also a great number 
 of islands and groups of islets and rocks, the latter 
 scarcely seen above water, thus rendering navigation 
 along the coast difficult and dangerous. 
 
 Newfoundland is the oldest English colonial posses- 
 sion. The Government is representative and consists 
 of a Governor and Legislative Council appointed by 
 the crown, and a House of Assembly elected by the 
 people every four years from seventeen electoral dis- 
 tricts. The inhabitants are almost entirely of British 
 origin, the native Indians having entirely disappeared. 
 The last one disappeared in 1823. The climate is so 
 modified by the ocean that it is cooler in summer and 
 milder in winter than the same latitude on the conti- 
 nent. We were told that it is very unusual in St. 
 John's for the mercury to fall below zero in winter or 
 to rise above eighty in summer. There is, however, 
 this discouraging feature, that the coast atmosphere is 
 almost always damp and foggy, caused by the meeting 
 and intermingling of the cold Arctic current with the 
 warm Gulf Stream. In February and the spring 
 months great quantities of icebergs drift along the 
 east coast, producing a chilling atmosphere; but they 
 come laden with myriads of seals, and it is one of the 
 
300 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 chief industries to capture them and prepare their fur 
 for market. 
 
 What are known as the Banks of Newfoundland lie 
 southeast of Cape Race, the most southern point of 
 the Island. They are rocky, submarine platforms 
 with a depth of water varying from one hundred and 
 twenty feet to over five hundred, and many hundred 
 miles in length. These banks, three distinct ones in 
 number, are the natural homes of cold-water fish, 
 especially the cod. Codfish are more abundant here 
 than in any other place on the globe. 
 
 The city of St. John's has a population of 30,000. 
 Its principal thoroughfares are semicircular, shaping 
 themselves in harmony with the frontage of the harbor. 
 The city is decidedly a British child, neat, but in sub- 
 stantial rather than costly dress. Our influx came as 
 a sort of raid upon the city. The citizens were taken 
 by surprise; there was no time to exhibit themselves 
 in gala dress, but those we met were very genteel and 
 exerted themselves not only to welcome us, but to 
 make us believe this was the garden spot of the earth. 
 Had it not been for the fog that enveloped every 
 living and inanimate thing, we might have been 
 coaxed into at least a partial acceptance of the state- 
 ment; for the face of the country — as viewed from 
 one of the lofty castellated bluffs overlooking "The 
 Narrows" through which we sailed on the eventful 
 Sabbath evening previous — strongly resembles parts 
 of Scotland. There was the same kinds of ranges 
 and crowns of hills with strips of forest and farm land, 
 as if this island had floated off from North Britain and 
 set up for itself in high style. The farm-houses looked 
 
AN OUTLOOK. 301 
 
 comfortable and cozy, and the outlook was rather 
 pleasing. From the top of this rock which, by the 
 way, was fortified with parapet and bastion, we 
 counted four lakes. There are many lakes on the 
 island; one has a regular tide like the ocean. The 
 heather grows green on the hillsides, though a differ- 
 ent variety from what we saw in Scotland and Ireland. 
 We saw the Newfoundland dog on his native heath; 
 and a number of the passengers invested in the infant 
 variety of that species. There was a rage for souvenirs 
 of our advent into this quarter of the earth; but we 
 did not want a dog, not even one born on the soil. 
 
 We were much interested in the curing, drying and 
 stacking for commerce of great quantities of codfish, 
 and the distributing of squids to the outward-bound 
 fisher-boats. Squids are a kind -of small fish used for 
 bait in codfishing, the handling of which, at that time, 
 was making the political sky squally between us and 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Our great ship lay at anchor in this beautiful and 
 peaceful harbor, and when we visited the coast, we had 
 to climb down, one at a time, a rather shaky rope 
 ladder that landed us in the bottom of a little row- 
 boat; and from there the oarsman pushed lightly off 
 to shore with two or sometimes four passengers. The 
 mishap to this vessel was a harvest to such traffickers. 
 Our boatman was a lad of some eighteen summers. 
 He hailed from Glasgow and seemed a hardened 
 sinner. Not the least abashed, he told us he had run 
 away from home, shipped as a hand on a sailing 
 vessel bound for this port, and when he landed and 
 received his wages, he went to a drinking saloon. The 
 
302 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 next day he woke to consciousness in the lock-up 
 without a penny and friendless. We talked kindly to 
 nim and called up the image of his mother; but the 
 daring, frolicking boy did not seem to feel. His 
 mother may have been no better than himself; there 
 are hosts of such. 
 
 The afternoon of September 29 (Thursday), the 
 ship was ready for the bounding billows, although we 
 scarcely believed it; for from the time the broken 
 shaft was lifted out and the new one of solid steel 
 twenty-two inches in diameter lowered into the hold, 
 there was gratuitous information heralded about every 
 hour that we would be ready to sail the next one. It 
 was only true when the great anchors were lifted and 
 we felt the swing of the vessel as she turned into "The 
 Narrows" homeward bound. As a parting salute, the 
 dense fog changed base and became a drizzling rain 
 and, farther on, a pour.. Until darkness set in, the 
 coast line presented the same rocky ramparts, as if it 
 guarded the island from all intruders, and old ocean 
 hurled itself against it and fell back in a shower of 
 spray. During no time did we enjoy the steamer's 
 wafting and rocking on the ocean more than the sail 
 of 1200 miles from St. John's to New York. The 
 visit to a country at the expense of the Company not 
 included in the original plan, notwithstanding its dan- 
 gers, was full of interest, and we had learned more in 
 this way than we had anticipated. A thirty-one days' 
 residence in a ship including the outward and return 
 journey made us somewhat familiar with such life 
 on the ocean, and we were almost loath to part 
 with it. In five days more we were landed in New 
 
THE END. 303 
 
 York harbor — " Home again from a Foreign Shore." 
 We had seen God's wonders in the deep; we had felt 
 his good hand upon us in all our journeying, shaping 
 every event, directing every step, deepening and 
 strengthening convictions of truth, making us stronger 
 for work and for warfare, stronger to run our race that 
 we may win the prize and wear the crown, equipped 
 for that home where, 
 
 " The work is done and the rest begun, 
 And the training time forever past, 
 And the home of rest in the mansions blest 
 Is safely, joyously reached at last." 
 

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