13. At these primitive tea-parties the utmost propriety and dignity of deportment prevailed. No flirting nor coquetting'— no gambling of old ladies nor hoyden' chattering and romping of young ones-no self-satisfied struttings of wealthy gentlemen, with their brains in their pockets-nor amusing conceits, and monkey divertisements, of smart young gentlemen, with no brains at all. On the contrary, the young ladies seated themselves demurely3 in their rush-bottomed chairs, and knit their own woolen stockings; nor ever opened their lips, excepting to say, Yes, sir, or Yes, madam, to any question that was asked them; behaving in all things, like decent, well-educated damsels. As to the gentlemen, each of them tranquilly smoked his pipe, and seemed lost in contemplation of the blue and white tiles, with which the fire-places were decorated. 14. The parties broke up without noise and without confu sion. They were carried home by their own carriages, that is to say, by the vehicles nature had provided them, excepting such of the wealthy as could afford to keep a wagon. The gentlemen gallantly attended their fair ones to their respective abodes, and took leave of them at the door. WASHINGTON IRVING. 109. LILIAS GRIEVE. THERE that lay stretching around, or dow¬ upon St. Mary's Loch;1 for it was a time of religious persecution. Many a sweet cottage stood untenanted' on the hill-side and in the hollōw; some had felt the fire, and had been consumed; and violent hands had torn off the turf roof from the green shealing of the shepherd. In the wide and deep silence and solitariness of the mountains, it seemed as if human life were nearly extinct. Caverns and clefts, in which the fox had kenneled, were now the shelter of Christian souls; and when a lonely figure crept steal 1 Coquetting (ko kåt' ing), treating with insincere marks of affection; trifling in love.-- Hoy' den, rude; bold; rough.-- De mure' ly, solemnly; with downcast eyes.- Loch (lôk), lake.- Un tên' ant ed, unoccupied; uninhabited.— Shéal' ing, a Scotch hut; any humble dwelling. 4 ingly from one hiding-place to another, on a visit of love to some hunted brother in faith, the crows would hover over him, and the hawk shriek at human steps, now rare in the desert. 2. When the babe was born, there might be none near to baptize it; or the minister, driven from his kirk,' perhaps, poured the sacrament'al water upon its face, from some pool in the glen, whose rocks guarded the persecuted family from the oppressor. Bridals' now were unfrequent, and in the solemn sadness of love. Many died before their time, of minds sunken, and of broken hearts. White hair was on heads long before they were old; and the silver locks of ancient men were often ruefully3 soiled in the dust, and stained with their martyred blood. 3. But this is the dark side of the picture; for even in their caves, were these people happy. Their children were with them, even like the wild-flowers that blossomed all about the entrances of their dens. And when the voice of psalms rose up from the profound silence of the solitary place of rocks, the ear of God was open, and they knew that their prayers and praises were heard in heaven. If a child was born, it belonged unto the faithful; if an old man died, it was in the religion of his forefathers. The hidden powers of their souls were brought forth into the light, and they knew the strength that was in them for these days of trial. The thoughtless became sedate; the wild were tamed; the unfeeling made compassionate; hard hearts were softened, and the wicked saw the error of their ways. 4. All deep passion purifies and strengthens the soul; and so was it now. Now was shown, and put to the proof, the stern, aus tere, impenetrable strength of men, that would neither bend nor break; the calm, serene determination of matrons, who, with meek eyes and unblanched cheeks, met the scowl of the murderer; the silent beauty of maidens, who with smiles received their death; and the mysterious courage of children, who, in the inspiration of innocent and spotless nature, kneeled down among the dewdrops on the greensward,' and died fearlessly 'Kirk (kerk), church; meeting-house.- Brld' als, marriages.—3 Ruefully (rð' ful ly), sadly; mournfully.—Austere (ås tèr'), severe; harsh. Im pên' e tra ble, not to be affected or moved.- Unblanched (unblåncht'), not whitened; not made pale with fear.—'Green' swård, the grassy surface of the land; turf. by their parents' sides. Arrested were they at their work, or in their play; and, with no other bandage over their eyes, but haply some clustering ringlet of their sunny hair, did many a sweet creature of twelve summers ask just to be allowed to say her prayers, and then go, unappalled, from her cottage door to the breast of her Redeemer. 5. In those days, had old Samuel Grieve and his spouse suffered sorely for their faith. But they left not their own house; willing to die there, or to be slaughtered, whenever God should so appoint. They were now childless; but a little granddaughter about ten years old lived with them, and she was an orphan The thought of death was so familiar to her, that, although sometimes it gave a slight quaking throb to her heart in its glee, yet it scarcely impaired' the natural joyfulness of her girlhood; and often, unconsciously, after the gravest or the saddest talk with her old parents, would she glide off, with a lightsome step, a blifhe face, and a voice humming sweetly some cheerful tune. The old people looked often upon her in her happiness, till their dim eyes filled with tears; while the grandmother said, "If this nest were to be destroyed at last, and our heads in the mold, who would feed this young bird in the wild, and where would she find shelter in which to fold her bonny' wings?" 6. Lilias Grieve was the shepherdess of a small flock, among the green pasturage at the head of St. Mary's Loch, and up the hill-side, and over into some of the little neighboring glens. Sometimes she sat in that beautiful church-yard, with her sheep lying scattered around her upon the quiet graves, where, on still, sunny days, she could see their shadows in the water in the loch, and herself sitting close to the low walls of the house of God. She had no one to speak to, but her Bible to read; and day after day, the rising sun beheld her in growing beauty, and innocence that could not fade, happy and silent as a fairy upon the knoll, with the blue heavens over her head, and the blue lake smiling at her feet. 7. "My fairy" was the name she bore by the cottage fire, where the old people were gladdened by her glee, and turned 'Im påired', injured: lessened.—2 Mòld, the ground.—3 Bỏn'ny, hand some; merry. away from all melancholy thoughts. And it was a name that suited sweet Lilias well; for she was clothed in a garb of green, and often, in her joy, the green, graceful plants, that grew among the hills, were wreathed around her hair. So was she dressed one Sabbath day, watching her flock at a considerable distance from home, and singing to herself a psalm in the solitary moor; when, in a moment, a party of soldiers were upon a mount, on the opposite side of a narrow dell. 8. Lilias was invisible as a green linnet upon the grass; but her sweet voice had betrayed her, and then one of the soldiers caught the wild gleam of her eyes; and, as she sprung frightened to her feet, he called out, "A roe! a roe! See how she bounds along the bent!" and the ruffian took aim at the child with his musket, half in spōrt, half in ferocity. Lilias kept appearing and disappearing, while she flew, as on wings, across a piece of black heathery moss, full of pits and hollows; and still the soldier kept his musket at its aim. 9. His comrades called to him to hold his hand, and not shoot a poor, little, innocent child; but he at length fired, and the bullet was heard to whiz past her fern-crowned head, and to strike a bank which she was about to ascend. The child paused for a moment, and looked back, and then bounded away over the smooth turf; till, like a cushat,' she dropped into a little birchen glen, and disappeared. Not a sound of her feet was heard; she seemed to have sunk into the ground; and the soldier stood, without any effort to follow her, gazing through the smoke toward the spot where she had vanished. 10. A sudden superstition assailed the hearts of the party, as they sat down together upon a hedge of stone. "Saw you her face, Riddle, as my ball went whizzing past her ear? If she be not one of those hill fairies, she had been dead as a herring; but I believe the bullet glanced off her yellow hair as against a buckler.' "It was the act of a gallows-rogue to fire upon the creature, fairy or not fairy; and you deserve the weight of this hand, the hand of an Englishman, you brute, for your cruelty." 913 'Cush'at, a ring-dove or wild pigeon.- Superstition (su per stish' un), a false belief in some remarkable or uncommon appearance or event.'Buck'ler, a shield; any thing buckled on to defend the person from spears, arrows or blows. And up rose the speaker to put his threat into execution, when the other retreated some distance, and began to load his musket; but the Englishman was upon him, and with a Cumberland' gripe and trip, laid him upon the hard ground with a fōrce that drove the breath out of his body, and left him stunned, and almost insensible. 11. The fallen ruffian now arose somewhat humbled, and sullenly sat down among the rest. "Why," quoth Allen Sleigh, "I wager' you a week's pay, you don't venture fifty yards, without your musket, down yonder shingle3 where the fairy disappeared;" and, the wager being accepted, the half-drunken fellow rushed on toward the head of the glen, and was heard crashing away through the shrubs. In a few minutes he returned, declaring with an oath, that he had seen her at the mouth of a cave, where no human foot could reach, standing with her hair all on fire, and an angry countenance; and that he had tumbled backward into the burn, and been nearly drowned. 12. "Drowned?" cried Allen Sleigh. 66 Aye, drowned; why not? A hundred yards down that glen the pools are as black as pitch, and the water roars like thunder; drowned! why not, you English son of a deer-stealer?" "Why not? because, who was ever drowned that was born to be hanged?" And that jest created universal laughter, as it is always sure to do, often as it may be repeated, in a company of ruffians; such is felt to be its perfect truth, and unanswerable simplicity. 110. LILIAS GRIEVE-CONCLUDED. 5 FTER an hour's quarreling, and gibing, and mutiny, this disorderly band of soldiers proceeded on their way down into the head of Yarrow, and there saw, in the solitude, the house of Samuel Grieve. Thither they proceeded to get some refresh 1 Cům' ber land, the most northwest county of England.- Wager (wa' jer), to bet.-Shingle (shing' gl), a stony place.-- Burn (bễrn), a brook or small stream.-Gibing (jib'ing), using reproachful words; ridiculing.— Mú' ti ny, disobedience of orders; opposition to the anthor ity of their commander. |