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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1940-05-09, Page 6PAGE SIX THE SEAFORTH NEWS From The or o se $, "And, Robert. as I write to you here in the Intendant's palace (what a great, wonderful place it is! 1 feat I do not hate it and its luxury as 1 ought!), the bird is beside the in a ease upon the table, with a little win- dow open, so that it may come out if 'it will. My brother lies in the bed asleep; I can touch him if 1 put out my hand, and I am alone save for one person. You sent two messeng- ers: can you not guess the one that will be with me? .Poor Mathilde, she sits and gazes at me till I almost fall weeping. But she seldom speaks, she is so quiet --as if she knew that she must keep a secret. For. Robert, though 1 know you did not tell her, she knows—she knows that you love me, and she has given me a little wooden cross which she says will stake us happy. "My mother did not drive her away, as I half feared she would, and at last she said that I might house her with one 0f our peasants. Mean- while she is with me here. She is not so mad but that she has wisdom too, and she shall have my care and friendship. "I bid thee to God's rare. Robert. I need not tell thee to be not dismayed. Thou haat two jails, and one wherein I lock thee safe is warm and full of light. If the hours drag by, think of all thou wouldst do if thou went free to go to thine own country—yet alas that thought!—and of what thou wouldst say if thou eouldst speak to thy Alixe. "Postscript. --I trust that they have cared for thy wounds, and that thou hest light and food and wine. Voban hath promised to discover this for me. The soldier Gabord, at the cites del, he hath a good heart. Though thou cans[ expect no help from him, yet he will not be rougher than his orders. He did me a gond service once, and he likes me. and I him. And so fare thee well, Robert. I will not languish; I will aet. and not be weary. Dost thou really love nue?" When 1 had read the letter. I hand- ed it up to Gabord without a word. A show of trust in hint was the only thing, for he had knowledge enough of our secret to ruin us, if be chose. He took the letter, turned it over, looking at it curiously. and at last, with a shrug of the shoulders. passed it back. "'Tis a long tune on a dot of a fiddle," said he, for indeed the letter was but a small affair in bulk. "I'd need two pairs of eyes and tele- scope! Is it all Heart -o' -my -heart, and Come-trip-in-dewey-grass—ah0? Or is there knave at window to bear m'sieu' away." I took the letter from him. "Listen," said I, "to what the lady says of you, And then I read him that part of her postscript which had to do with him- self. He put his head on one side Iike a great wise magpie, and "H'm—ha!" said he whimsically, "aho! Garboi'd the soldier, Gabord, thou hest a good heart—and the birds fed the beast with plums and froth of comfits till he died, and on his sugar tombstone they carved the words, 'Gabord had a good heart.' " "It was spoken out of a true spirit," said I petulantly, for I could not bear from a common soldier even a tote of disparagement, though T saw the exact meaning of his words. So I add- ed, "You shall read the whole letter, or I will read` it to you and you shall judge. On the honour of a gentleman, I will read all of it!" "Poom!" said he , "English fire- eater! corn -cracker! Show me the 'good heart' sentence, for I'd see how it is written—how Gabord looks with a woman's whimsies round it." I traced the words with my fingers, holding the letter near the torch, "'Yet be will not be rougher than his orders,'" said he after me, and "'lie did me a good service once.' " "Comfits," he continued; "wel, thou shalt bave comfits, too," and he fish- ed from his pocket a parcel. It was my tobacco and my pipe. Truly, my state might have been vastly worse, Little more was said be- tween Gabord and myself, but he re - timed bluntly to carry message or let- ter to anybody, and bade me not vex him with petitions. But he left me the torch and a flint and steel, so 1 had light for a space, and 1 had any bless- ed tobacco and pipe. When the doors clanged shut and the bolts were shot I lay back 00 nay ('00(11. 1 was not all unhappy, Thank God, they had not put chalet; on me, as Governor Dinwiddie had done with a French prisoner at 'Williamsburg, for whom I had vainly sought to be ex- changed two years before, though he was my equal in all ways and im- portance. Doltaire was the cause of that, as you shall know. Well, there was one more item to add to his in- debtedness. My face flushed and niy fingers tingled at thought of hint, and so I resolutely turned my meditations elsewhere. and again in a. little while I seemed to think of nothing, hat lay and bathed in silence, and indulged 111y eyes with the good red light of the toren, inhaling its pitchy scent. I was conscious, yet for a tiros I had no thought: I was like something half animal, half vegetable, which feeds, yet has no mouth, nor sees, nor hears, nor has sense, but only lives. I seemed hong in space, es one feels when going from sleep to waking --a a long •lane of half numb life, 'before the open road +t1 fall eonscfonsness IA reached. At fast 1 was aroused .li, the strid- den cracking- of a knot in the 1neh I saw that it mould last but a feat hours more. 1 determined to put it out, for I might 'he allowed no more light, and even a few minutes of this torch every clay would be a great boon. So 1 took it from its place, and wa' about to gmeuc'lt it in the moist earth at the:foot of the 'wail, when 1 remembered my tobacco and my pipe. Pan you think .how joyfully I packed full the good ',brown bowl, delicately filling in every litte corner. and a: last held it to the flame, and saw it light? That first long whiff was like the indrawn breath of the cold, star- ved hunter, when, stepping into his house, he sees food, ,fire, and ,wife his °hearthstone. Presently 1 ,put nut the torchlight, and then [went 'back to my roach and .sat down, the howl shining like a star before me. 'There and 'then a •punpose came 10 me—something which would keep my brain from ttxndering, my nerves from fretting and wearing, for a time at least. I determined to write to my clear Alixe the true history of my life. even to the gratine---and after -of this thing which ,Was bringing me to so i11 a .pass, But I eves in darkness. I had no ,paper, pens; nor ink. After a deal of thinking I carne at last to the solution. I would compose the story, and learn is thy heart. sentence by sentence as 1 001111 10sed it. So there and then i began to run hack over she years of my life, even to my first re 0emlberan'ces, that 1 might see it front first to last in a sort of whole and with a kind of measure- ment. Rot when 1 began to dwell upon my ah.ildllood, one little thing cave birth to another swiftly, as you may see one flicker in the heaven multiply- and 'break (upon the mystery of the dark, ,filling the night with clusters of stars. As I thought, 4 ,kdpt drawing .spears of the dungeon corn between my fingers softly (they had come to the like comrades to enc), and presently there flashed upon the the +very first memory of my life. It had never come to me [before, and 1 know now that it v. -as the ibeginning of 001- 551004knowledge: for •we can never know till •we can remember. When a child remember, Abat it ;cess or feels it has 'began life. T Trot that rt r„ !edtion into the let- ter which I wrote 'ilia., and it ;hall. he set: dawn forth str-h and in little space, though it took m ,revery many days and wer.k; to think it rrnt, no give each -word a fixed 7iace, .sr,, •bhat It should go it m1 n:_•: mind no more. Fiwery phrase of that ,tory as I told. It is as Fixed as ,tone in my memory. 'Yeit it m:nst not be 1hcrughd I can Igiee ail 'here, 1 .shall set down only a few things, but you shall fund in t hem the vpinit of the wvhole., I will cone at once to the body of the letter, CHAPTER S'I.X , 1 would have you know of -what I atn and /whence I name, though I :have given you !gdintipses in the .past. That done, I ,will +nnske .plain shy 1 ani changed with this that puts dry lifein danger, which would make you Iblush that ,you over know acre if it were true. And I will show you first a picture as it runs before me, sitting (here; the corn of my dungeon garden twining in my fingers:— "A multiplying nvidth of green grass spotted with white flowers, an upland where sheep ibrowsed on a carpdt of purple and Old and green, a tall rock on a hill where bird -<!perched and Wa- tered, a blue sky arching over all. There, sprawling in a ':garden, a child palled at long blades of grass, as 'he :watched the thirds flitting about the rocks, and heard a IONV voice Coming drown the wind. Here in any dungeon I can hear the voice as 1 shave not heard it since .That 'day in the year 1730 ---that o.oice stilled so long Aga, The air and the ,words conte floating down d for the mord:, 'I knew years aftenwards): 'Did ye see the white Cloud in the 'glint a,' the sun? That's the brow and the eye •4 ay Ihait'nie. Did ye ken the red bloom at the bead o' the mag? That's the rase in the cheek o' any bairnie. Did ye hear the gay lilt n' die ' lark by the. Ihurn? That's the ivoice of my hairnie, my dearie. Diad ye smell 411e wild -went in the green •o' the wood That's thee (breath 0' aur .ting o' my bairnie. Sae I'll gang ansa' halm, to the shine o' the fire, - '1'it the cot 'where 1 lie wi' my,bairnie.' '" These twords carte crooning over the [grass of 'dirt .little garden at Bad - more which •was by any mother's home. '1'dtere 1 ,was born one day io June, though I was reared in the busy .streets of Glasgow, where my Mather vas a [prosperous ntere'hant and famous for his part: and honesty. "1 see myself, a little child of no great strength, for 1 was, indeed, tine only one of qty family who livc;l past infancy, and my mother feared ;lie should Bever brim me 11 p, Si t', too, 1. in chat picture, tali, delicate, kind yet firm of dace, but 'with a strong 'brow, matter which ;'hone grave .gray eyes and manner so distinguished that none might dispute her •kins'Itip to the renowned. 4lontrose, who was lifted so high in dying, though his gallows eras bait shirty •feet, that all tine world lies seen him there. There was one ether in that picture, standing near my mother. and dookitn•; at me, nvho often used to speak of our great an- cestor—my grandfather. John 1lit- thell, the trettticntan of !labium., a, he was called, out of regard for his ancestry and his rare merits. "I have hint well in mind: his black silk breeches and wbite stock- ings and gold seals, and two eyes that twinkled with great humour when, as he stooped over me, I run my head between his calves and held hint tight. I recall how my mother said, '1 doubt that I shall ever bring hint up,' and how he replied (the words seen[ to come through great distances to me), 'He'll live to be Montrose the second, rascal laddie! Four seasons at the breast? Tut, tut! what o' that! 'Tis but his foolery, his scampishness! Nae, nae! his epitaph's 00 for writingtill you and I are tuck- ed i' the sod, my Jeanie. Then, like Montrose's, it will be— 'Tull l:dinburrow they led him their, And on a gallows hong; They hong hint high abone the rest, He was so trim a boy.' "I can hear his laugh this minute, as he gave an accent to the words by stirring me with his stick, and I caught the gold head of it and carried it off, trailing it through the garden, till I heard my mother calling, and. then forced her to give me chase, as 1 pushed open a little gate and posted away into that wide world of green, coming quickly to the river, where I paused and stood at bay, I can see my mother's anxious face now, as she caught me to her arms; and yet 1 know she had a kind of pride, too, when my grandfather said, on our return, 'The rascal's at it early. Next time he'll ford the stream and skirl at ye, Jeanie, from yonner bank.' "This is the first of life that I re- member. It may seem strange to you that I thus suddenly recall not only it, but the words then spoken too. It is strange to me, also. But here it comes to me all on a sudden in this silence, as if another self of me were speaking from far places. At first all is in patches and confusde, and then it folds out—If not clearly, still so I can understand --and the words I re- peat coma as if filtered through many brains to mine. I do not say that it is true—it may be dreams; and yet, as I say, it is firmly in my mind. "The next that I remember was climbing upon a chair to reach for my grandfather's musket, which hung across the chimney, 1 got at last upon the mantlesheif, and my ]lands 'were on the weapen, when the door open- ed, and my grandfather and my father entered. 1 was so busy I did not hear therm till I was caught by the legs and swung to a shoulder,. where 1 sat kicking. 'You see his tastes, William,' said my grandfather to my father; 'he's white o' face and sling o' body, but he'll no carry on your hopes.' And more he said to the point, thought what it was I knew not, But I think it to have been sug- gestion (1 heard hint say it later) that I would bring Glasgow up to Lin- den by the sword (good doting soul!) as my father brought it by manufac- tures, gaing honour thereby. "however that may be, I would not rest till my grandfather had put the musket into my arms, I could scarce- ly lift it, but from the first it had a charm for rte, and now and then, in spite of my mother's protests, I was let to handle it, to learn its parts, to burnish it, and bye'and•bye—I could not have been more than six years old—to rest it on a rock and fire it off. It picked -My shoulder roughly In firing, but I know I did not wing as 1 pulled the trigger. Then 1 got a wild hunger to fire it at all times; so much so, indeed, that powder and shot were locker up, and the musket was put away in my grandfather's chest. But now and again it was talc en out, and I made war upon the un- resisting hillside, to the dismay of our neighbours in Balmore. Feeding the fever in my veins any grandfather taught me soldiers' exercises and the handling of arms; to my dear moth- er's sorrow, Inc she ever fancied me as leading tt merchant's quiet life like nay father's, hugging the hearthstone, and finding joy in small civic duties, whileshe and my dear father sat peacefully watching me in theirde- cline of roars, "1 have told you of that river which flowed near my father's ]rouse. At this time most of my hours were spent by it in good weather, for at last my mother came to trust me alone there, having found her alert fears of little use. But she would very often come with me and watch me as 1 played there. 1 loved to fancy myself a miller, and my little mill -wheel, made by my own )rands, did duty here and there on the stream, and many drives of logs dill. 1, in fancy, sew Into piles of lumber, and loads of flour sent away to the City of Desire. Then, again, I macre bridges, and drove mimic armies a- cross then; and if they were enemies craftily let then[ partly cross, to tumble them in at the moment when part of the forces were on one side of the stream and part on the other, and at the mercy of my men. "My grandfather taught me how to build forts and breastworks, and 1 lay in ambush for the beadle, who was my good friend, for my grandfather, and for half a dozen other village folk, who took no offence at my sport, but made believe to be bitterly afraid when 1 surrounded then[ and drove them, shackled, to my fort by the river, Little by little the fort grew, until it was a goodly pile; for now and then a village youth helped me. or again an old man, whose heart, maybe, rejoiced to play at being child again with tie. Years after, whenever I went back to Balmore, there stood the fort, for no one ever meddled with it, or tore it down, "And I will tell you one reason why this was, and you will think it strange that it should have played such a strange part in the history of the village. as in my own life. You must know that people living in se- cluded places are mostly supersti- tions. Well, when my fort was built to such proportions that a small lad- der must he used to fix new mud and mortar in place upon it, something happened. "Once a year there came to Bal- more—and he had done so for a gen- eration— one of those beings called The Men, who are given to prayer, fasting, and prophesying, who preach the word of warning ever, calling even the ministers of the Lord sharply to account. One day this Man came past my fort, folk with him, looking for preaching or prophecy from him. Suddenly turning he came inside my fort, and, standing upon the ladder against the wall, spoke to them ferv- ently. His last words became a legend In Balmore, and spread even to Glas- gow and beyond. "'Hear me!'" cried he, 'As I stand looking at ye from this wall, calling on ye in your natural bodies to take refuge in the Fort of God, •the Angel of Death is looking ower the battle- ments of heaven, choosing yeout, the sheep frae the goats; calling the one to burning flames, and the tither into peaceable habitations. I hear the voice now,' cried he, 'and some soul among us goeth forth. Flee ye to the Fort of Refuge!' I can see him now, his pale face shining, his eyes burn- ing, hie beard blowing in the wind, - his grizzled hair shaking on his forehead. I had stood within the fort: watching him. At last he turned, and, seeing me intent, stooped, caught me by the arms, and lifted me upon the wall, 'See 'you,' said he, 'yesterday's babe a warrior to -day, Have (lone, have done, ye quarrelsome hearts, Ye that build forts here shall lie in dark some prisons; there is no fort but the Fort of God. The call- comes frae the white ramparts. Hush!' he added sol- emnly, raising a finger, 'One of us goeth hence this day; are ye ready to walk i' the fearsome valley?' "I have heard my mother speak these words over often, and they were, as 1 said, like an old song in Balmore and Glasgow, He set me down, and Hien walked away, waving the frightened people back; and there. was none of them that slept that night, - "Now comes the strauger thing, In the morning The Man was found dead in my little fort, at the foot of the wall. Henceforth the spot was sacred, and 1 ant sure it stands there as when I last saw it twelve years ago, but worn away by rains and winds,. Again and again my mother said over to me his words, 'Ye that build forts here shall lie in darksome pri- sons'; for always she ]lad fear of the soldier's life, and she was moved by signs and dreams. But this is how the thing carne to shape my life: "About a year alter The Man died, there came to my gr'andfather's house, my mother and I being present, a• gentleman, by nine Su' John Gothic, and he would have my mother tell the whole story of The Man. That being done, he said that The Man was his brother, who had been bad and wild in youth; a soldier; but repenting had gone as far the other way, giving up place and property, and cutting away from all his Itis, "This gentlemal took much notice of me and said that he should be glad to see more of me. And so he did, for in the years that followed he would visit at our hone in Glasgow when I was at school, or at Balmore until my grandfather died. "My father liked Sir John greatly, and they grew exceedingly friendly, walking forth in the streets of Glas- gow, Sir John's hand upon my father's arm. One day they came to the school in High Street, where 1 learned Latin and other accomplishments, together with fencing from an excellent mss- ter, Sergeant Cowie of the One Ilun- tlredth Foot. They found me with my regiment at drill; for 1 had got full thirty of my schoolfellows under amts, and spent all leisure hours in mustering, marching, and drum-beat- iug, and practishrg all manner of dis• cipliee and evolution which 1 had been taught by my grandfather and Sergeant Dowde. "Those were the days soon after which came Dettingen and Fontenoy and Charles the Pretender, and the ardour of amts rat high. Sir John was a follower of the Stuarts, and this was the one point at which he and' my father paused in their good friend- ship. When Sir John saw me with my thirty lads marching in fine order, all fired with the little sport of battle', —for to me it was all real, and our sham lights often saw broken heads and bruised shoulders— he stamped bus cane upon the ground, and said in a big voice, 'Well done! well done! For that you shall have a hundred pounds next birthday, and as fine a suit of scarlet as you please and a - sword front London, too,' "Then he came to me and caught me by both shoulders. 'But alack, alack! there needs' some blood and flesh here, Robert Moray.' said he. 'You have more heart than muscle.' This was true, I had ever been more eager than my strength—thank God, that day is gone!—and some- times, after Latin and the drill of my Lightfoots, as I called them, I could have cried for weakness and weari- ness had I been a girl and not a proud lad. And Sir John kept his word, lik- ing me better from that day forth, and coining now and again to see me at school,—though he was much abroad in France—giving many a Vinod to my Lighttoots, who were no worse soldiers for that. His eye ran us over sharply, and his head nodded, as we marched past him; and once I heard him say, 'If they had had but ten year's each on their heads, toy Prince!' "About this time my father died— that is, when I was fourteen years old. Sir John became one of the exe- cutors with my mother, and at my wish, a year afterwards, I 'was sent to the university, where at least fif- teen of my Lightfoots went also; and there I formed a new battalion of them, though we were watched at first, and even held in suspicion, be- cause of the known friendship of Sir John for rte; and he himself had twice been under arrest for his friendship to the Stuart cause. That he helped Prince Charles was clear: his estates were mortgaged to the hilt. (To Be Continued,) Tommy had fallen and upset a dish of. prunes. Picking himself up he de- Blared: "That's lucky." "Luc'ky?" demanded his mother. "What's lucky?" "It's lucky I don't like prunes!" THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1940 PROFESSIONAL CARDS MEDICAL SEAFORTH CLINIC Dr. E. A. McMaster, M.B„ Graduate of University of Toronto, 1 D. Colquhoun, M.D., C.M., Grad- uate of Dalhousie University, Halifax, The Clinic is fully equipped with complete and modern x-ray and other up-to-date diagnostic and thereuptic equipment, Dr, Margaret K. Campbell, M.D., L,A,B.P., Specialist in Diseases in Infants and Children, will be at the Clinic last Thursday in every month from 3 to 6 p.m. Dr. F. J. R. Forster, Specialist in Diseases of the Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat, will be at the Clinic the first Tuesday in every month from 4 to 6 p,m. Free well -baby clinic will be held on the second and last Thursday in every month from 1 to 2 p,m. JOHN A. GORWILL, B.A.,M.D, Physician and Surgeon In Dr, H, H. Ross' office, Phone 5J W. C. SPROAT, M,D., F.A.C.S. Surgery Phone 90-W. Office John St., Seaforth DR. F. J. R. FORSTER Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Graduate in Medicine, University of Toronto, Late Assistant New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute, Moorefield's Eye, and Golden Square throat hospitals, London, Eng. At Commercial Hotel, Seaforth, third Wednesday in each month from 2 to 4 p.m. Also at Seaforth Clinic first Tuesday in each month. -63 Waterloo St., Stratford, Telephone 267. MARGARET K. CAMPBELL, M,D, London, Ontario Graduate Toronto University Licentiate of American Board of Pedi- atrics, Diseases of Children At Seaforth Clinic, last Thursday af- ternoon, each month, AUCTIONEER GEORGE ELLIOTT, Licensed Auctioneer for the County of Huron. Arrangements can be made for Sale Date at The Seaforth News. Charges moderate and satisfaction guaranteed F. W. AHRENS, Licensed Auction- eer for Perth and Huron Counties. Sales Solicited. Terms on Application, Farm Stock, chattels and real estate property. R. R. No, 4, Mitchell, Phone 634 r 6. Apply at this office. HAROLD JACKSON Licensed in Huron and Perth Coun- ties. Prices reasonable; satisfaction guaranteed. For information, write or phone Harold Jackson, 658r12, Sea - forth central; Brucefield R.11,1, Watson & Reid REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE AGENCY (Successors to James Watson) MAIN ST., SEAFORTH, ONT. All kinds of Insurance risks effect- ed at lowest rates in First -Class Companies. The McKillop Mutual Fire Insurance Co. HEAD OFFICE—SEAFORTH, Ont. OFFICERS President, Win. Knox, Londesboro; Vice President, W. R. Archibald, Seaforth; Secretary Treasurer, M. A - Reid, Seaforth. AGENTS F. McKercher, R.R.1, Dublin; Johte E. Pepper, R.R.1, Brucefield; E. R. G. Jarmouth, Brodhagen; 'James Watt,. Blyth; C. F. Hewitt, Kincardine; Wm. Yeo, Holmesvilie, DIRECTORS Alex Broadfoot, Seaforth; Wllliam, Knox, Londesboro; Chris Leonhardt, Dublin; James Connolly, Goderlch; Thomas Moylan, Seaforth; W. - R. Archibald, Seaforth; Alex McEwing,. Blyth; Frank McGregor, Clinton; Hugh Alexander, Walton. Parties desirous to effect insurance - or transact other business, will be, promptly attended to by applications• to any of the above named officers• addressed to their respective pest- officee. "Now, Willie, you must not be selfish. You should let your brother have the sled half the time." "Yes, mother," replied the lad, "I d0. I have it going down the hill and he has it coming up, "What is the most pathetic picture in the World?" "A horse fly sitting on a radiator cap." • 4