That sweet home is their delight,
And thither they repair
Communion with their own to hold!
Peaceful as, at the fall of night,
Two little lambkins gliding white
Return unto the gentle air,
That sleeps within the fold.
Or like two birds to their lonely nest,
Or wearied waves to their bay of rest,
Or fleecy clouds when their race is run,
That hang in their own beauty blest,
'Mid the calm that sanctifies the west
Around the setting sun.
WILSON.
I may confess, without thinking shame, that I was glad when I found our
nebs turned homeward; and, when we got over the turn of the brae at the
old quarry-holes, to see the blue smoke of our own Dalkeith, hanging like
a thin cloud over the tops of the green trees, through which I perceived
the glittering weathercock on the old kirk steeple. Tammie, poor
creature, I observed, was a whit ree with the good cheer; and, as he sat
on the fore-tram, with his whip-hand thrown over the beast's haunches, he
sang, half to himself and half-aloud, a great many old Scotch songs, such
as "the Gaberlunzie," "Aiken Drum," "Tak' yere Auld Cloak about ye," and
"the Deuks dang ower my Daddie;" besides "The Mucking o' Geordie's Byre,"
and "Ca' the Ewes to the Knowes," and so on; but, do what I liked, I
could not keep my spirits up, thinking of the woful end of the poor old
horse, and of the ne'er-do-weel loon its master. Many an excellent
instruction of Mr Wiggie's came to my mind, of how we misguided the good
things that were lent us for our use here, by a gracious Provider, who
would, however, bid us render a final account to him of our conduct and
conversation. I thought of how many were aye complaining and
complaining, myself whiles among the rest, of the hardships, the
miseries, and the misfortunes of their lot; putting all down to the score
of fate, and never once thinking of the plantations of sorrow, reared up
from the seeds of our own sinfulness; or how any thing, save punishment,
could come of the breaking of the ten commandments delivered to the
patriarch Moses. Perhaps, reckoned I with myself, perhaps in this, even
I myself may have in this day's transactions erred. Here am I wandering
about in a cart; exposing myself to the defilement of the world, to the
fear of robbers, and to the night air, in the search of health for a
dwining laddie; as if the hand that dealt that blessing out was not as
powerful at home as it is abroad. Had I remained at my own lapbroad, the
profits of my day's work would have been over and above for the
maintenance of my family, outside and inside; instead of which, I have
been at the expense of a cart-hire and a horse's up-putting, let alone
Tammie's debosh and my own, besides the trifle of threepence to the round-
shouldered old horse-couper with the slouched japan beaver hat. The
story was too true a one; but, alack-a-day, it was now over late to
repent!
As I was thus musing, the bright red sun of summer sank down behind the
top of the Pentland Hills, and all looked bluish, dowie, and dreary, as
if the heart of the world had been seized with a sudden dwalm, and the
face of nature had at once withered from blooming youth into the
hoariness of old age. Now and then the birds gave a bit chitter; and
whiles a cow mooed from the fields; and the dew was falling like the
little tears of the fairies out of the blue lift, where the gloaming-star
soon began to glow and glitter bonnily.
What I had seen and witnessed made my thoughts heavy and my heart sad; I
could not get the better of it. I looked round and round me, as we
jogged along over the height, down on the far distant country, that
spread out as if it had been a great big picture, with hills, and fields,
and woods; and I could still see to the norward the ships lying at their
anchors on the sea, and the shores of Fife far far beyond it. It was a
great and a grand sight; and made me turn from the looking at it into my
own heart, causing me to think more and more of the glory of the Maker's
handiworks, and less and less of the littleness of prideful man. But
Tammie had gotten his drappikie, and the tongue of the body would not lie
still a moment; so he blethered on from one thing to another, as we
jogged along, till I was forced at the last to give up thinking, and
begin a twa-handed crack with him.
"Have you your snuff-box upon ye?"--said Tammie. "Gi'e me a pinch."
Having given him the box, I observed to him, that "it was beginning to
grow dark and dowie."
"'Deed is't," said Tammie; "but a body can now scarcely meet on the road
wi' ony think waur than themsell. Mony a witch, de'il, and bogle,
however, did my grannie see and hear tell of, that used to scud and
scamper hereaway langsyne like maukins."
"Witches!" quo' I. "No, no Tammie, all these things are out of the land
now; and muckle luck to them. But we have other things to fear; what
think ye of highway robbers?"
"Highway robbers!" said Tammie. "Kay, kay; I'll tell ye of something
that I met in wi' mysell. Ae dark winter night, as I was daundering hame
frae Pathhead--it was pitmirk, and about the twall--losh me, I couldna
see my finger afore me!--that a stupid thocht cam into my head that I wad
never wun hame, but be either killed, lost, murdered, or drowned, between
that and the dawing. All o' a sudden I sees a light coming dancing
forrit amang the trees; and my hair began to stand up on end. Then, in
the next moment--save us a'!--I sees anither light, and forrit, forrit
they baith cam, like the een of some great fiery monster, let loose frae
the pit o' darkness by its maister, to seek whom it might devour."
"Stop, Tammie," said I to him, "yell wauken Benjie. How far are we from
Dalkeith?"
"Twa mile and a bittock," answered Tammie. "But wait a wee.--Up cam the
two lights snoov-snooving, nearer and nearer; and I heard distinctly the
sound of feet that werena men's--cloven feet, maybe--but nae wheels. Sae
nearer it cam and nearer, till the sweat began to pour owre my een as
cauld as ice; and, at lang and last, I fand my knees beginning to gi'e
way; and, after tot-tottering for half a minute, I fell down, my staff
playing bleach out before me. When I cam to mysell, and opened my een,
there were the twa lights before me, bleez-bleezing, as if they wad blast
my sight out. And what did they turn out to be, think ye? The de'il or
spunkie, whilk o' them?"
"I'm sure I canna tell," said I.
"Naithing mair then," answered Tammie, "but twa bowets; ane tied to ilka
knee of auld Doofie, the half-crazy horse-doctor, mounted on his lang-
tailed naig, and away through the dark by himsell, at the dead hour o'
night, to the relief of a man's mare seized with the batts, somewhere
down about Oxenford."
I was glad that Tammie's story had ended in this way, when out came
another tramping on its heels.
"Do you see the top of yon black trees to the eastward there, on the
braehead?"
"I think I do," was my reply. "But how far, think ye, are we from home
now?"
"About a mile and a half," said Tammie.--"Weel, as to the trees, I'll
tell ye something about them.
"There was an auld widow-leddy lived langsyne about the town-end of
Dalkeith. A sour, cankered, curious body--she's dead and rotten lang
ago. But what I was gaun to say, she had a bonny bit fair-haired, blue-
ee'd lassie of a servant-maid that lodged in the house wi' her, just by
all the world like a lamb wi' an wolf; a bonnier quean, I've heard tell,
never steppit in leather shoon; so all the young lads in the gate-end
were wooing at her, and fain to have her; but she wad only have ae joe
for a' that. He was a journeyman wright, a trades-lad, and they had
come, three or four year before, frae the same place thegither--maybe
having had a liking for ane anither since they were bairns; so they were
gaun to be married the week after Da'keith Fair, and a' was settled. But
what, think ye, happened? He got a drap drink, and a recruiting party
listed him in the king's name, wi' pitting a white shilling in his loof.
"When the poor lassie heard what had come to pass, and how her sweetheart
had ta'en the bounty, she was like to gang distrackit, and took to her
bed. The doctor never took up her trouble; and some said it was a fever.
At last she was roused out o't, but naebody ever saw her laugh after; and
frae ane that was as cantie as a lintie, she became as douce as a Quaker,
though she aye gaed cannily about her wark, as if amaist naething had
happened. If she was ony way light-headed before, to be sure she wasna
that noo; but just what a decent quean should be, sitting for hours by
the kitchen fire her lane, reading the Bible, and thinking, wha kens, of
what wad become o' the wicked after they died; and so ye see"--
"What light is yon?" said I, interrupting him, wishing him like to break
off.
"Ou, it's just the light on some of the coal-hills. The puir blackened
creatures will be gaun down to their wark. It's an unyearthly kind of
trade, turning night intil day, and working like moudiewarts in the dark,
when decent folks are in their beds sleeping.--And so, as I was saying,
ye see, it happened ae Sunday night that a chap cam to the back door; and
the mistress too heard it. She was sitting in the foreroom wi' her specs
on, reading some sermon book; but it was the maid that answered.
"In a while thereafter, she rang her bell, being a curious body, and aye
anxious to ken a' thing of her ain affairs, let alane her neighbours; so,
after waiting a wee, she rang again,--and better rang; then lifting up
her stick, for she was stiff with the rheumaticks and decay of nature,
she hirpled into the kitchen,--but feint a hait saw she there, save the
open Bible lying on the table, the cat streekit out before the fire, and
the candle burning--the candle--na, I daur say I am wrang there, I
believe it was a lamp, for she was a near ane. As for her maiden, there
was no trace of her."
"What do ye think came owre her then?" said I to him, liking to be at my
wits' end. "Naething uncanny, I daur say?"
"Ye'll hear in a moment," answered Tammie, "a' that I ken o' the matter.
Ye see--as I asked ye before--yon trees on the hill-head to the eastward;
just below yon black cloud yonder?"
"Preceesely," said I--"I see them well enough."
"Weel, after a' thochts of finding her were gi'en up, and it was fairly
concluded, that it was the auld gudeman that had come and chappit her
out, she was fund in a pond among yon trees, floating on her back, wi'
her Sunday's claes on!!"
"Drowned?" said I to him.
"Drowned--and as stiff as a deal board," answered Tammie. "But when she
was drowned--or how she came to be drowned--or who it was drowned her--has
never been found out to this blessed moment."
"Maybe," said I, lending in my word--"maybe she had grown demented, and
thrown herself in i' the dark."
"Or maybe," said Tammie, "the de'il flew away wi' her in a flash o' fire;
and, soosing her down frae the lift, she landit in that hole, where she
was fund floating. But--wo!--wo!" cried he to his horse, coming across
its side with his whip--"We maun be canny; for this brig has a sharp
turn, (it was the Cow Brig, ye know,) and many a one, both horse and man,
have got their necks broken, by not being wary enough of that corner."
This made me a thought timorous, having the bit laddie Benjie fast asleep
in my arms; and as I saw that Tammie's horse was a wee fidgety; and glad,
I dare say, poor thing, to find itself so near home. We heard the water,
far down below, roaring and hushing over the rocks, and thro' among the
Duke's woods--big, thick, black trees, that threw their branches, like
giant's arms, half across the Esk, making all below as gloomy as
midnight; while over the tops of them, high, high aboon, the bonnie wee
starries were twink-twinkling far amid the blue. But there was no end to
Tammie's tongue.
"Weel," said he, "speaking o' the brig, I'll tell you a gude story about
that. Auld Jamie Bowie, the potato merchant, that lived at the Gate-end,
had a horse and cart that met wi' an accident just at the turn o' the
corner yonder; and up cam a chield sair forfaughten, and a' out of
breath, to Jamie's door, crying like the prophet Jeremiah to the auld
Jews, 'Rin, rin away doun to the Cow Brig; for your cart's dung to
shivers, and the driver's killed, as weel as the horse!'
"James ran in for his hat; but, as he was coming out at the door, he met
another messenger, such as came running across the plain to David, to
acquaint him of the death of Absalom, crying, 'Rin away doun, Jamie, rin
away doun; your cart is standing yonder, without either horse or driver;
for they're baith killed!'
"Jamie thanked Heaven that the cart was to the fore; then, rinning back
for his stick, which he had forgotten, he stopped a moment to bid his
wife not greet so loud, and was then rushing out in full birr, when he
ran foul of a third chield, that mostly knocked doun the door in his
hurry. 'Awfu' news, man, awfu' news,' was the way o't, with this second
Eliphaz the Temanite. 'Your cart and horse ran away--and threw the
driver, puir fellow, clean owre the brig into the water. No a crunch o'
him is to be seen or heard tell of; for he was a' smashed to pieces!!
It's an awfu' business!'
"'But where's the horse? and where's the cart, then?' askit Jamie, a
thought brisker. 'Where's the horse and cart, then, my man? Can ye tell
me ought of that?'
"'Ou,' said he, 'they're baith doun at the Toll yonder, no a hair the
waur.'
"'That's the best news I've heard the nicht, my man.--Goodwife, I say,
Goodwife; are ye deaf or donnart? Give this lad a dram; and, as it
rather looks like a shower, I'll e'en no go out the night.--I'll easily
manage to find another driver, though half a hundred o' the blockheads
should get their brains knocked out.'
"Is not that a gude ane noo?" quo' Tammie, laughing. "'Od Jamie Bowie
was a real ane. He wadna let them light a candle by his bedside to let
him see to dee; he gied them a curse, and said that was needless
extravagance."
Dog on it, thought I to myself, the further in the deeper. This beats
the round-shouldered horse-couper with the Japan hat, skinning his
reeking horse, all to sticks; and so I again fell into a gloomy sort of a
musing; when, just as we came opposite the Duke's gate, with the deers on
each side of it, two men rushed out upon us, and one of them seized
Tammie's horse by the bridle, as the other one held his horse-pistol to
my nose, and bade me stop in the King's name!
"Hold your hand, hold your hand, for the sake of mercy!" cried I. "Spare
the father of a small family that will starve on the street if ye take my
life!! Hae--hae--there's every coin and copper I have about me in the
world! Be merciful, be merciful; and do not shed blood that will not,
cannot be rubbed out of your conscience. Take all that we have--horse
and cart and all if ye like; only spare our lives, and let us away home!"
"De'il's in the man," quo' Tammie, "horse and cart! that's a gude one!
Na, na, lads; fire away gin ye like; for as lang as I hae a drap o' bluid
in me, ye'll get neither. Better be killed than starve. Do your best,
ye thieves that ye are; and I'll hae baith of ye hanged neist week before
the Fifteen!"
Every moment I expected my head to be shot off, till I got my hand
clapped on Tammie's mouth, and could get cried to them--"Shoot him then,
lads; shoot him then, lads, if he wants it; but take my siller like
Christians, and let me away with my poor deeing bairn!"
The two men seemed a something dumfoundered with what they heard; and I
began to think them, if they were highway robbers, a wee slow at their
trade; when, what think ye did they turn out to be--only guess? Nothing
more nor less than two excise officers, that had got information of some
smuggled gin, coming up in a cart from Fisherrow Harbour, and were
lurking on the road-side, looking out for spuilzie!!
When they quitted us giggling, I could not keep from laughing too; though
the sights I had seen, and the fright I had got, made me nervish and
eerie; so blithe was I when the cart rattled on our own street, and I
began to waken Benjie, as we were not above a hundred yards from our own
door.
In this day's adventures, I saw the sin and folly of my conduct visibly,
as I jumped out of the cart at our close mouth. So I determined within
myself, with a strong determination, to behave more sensibly for the
future, and think no more about limekilns and coal-pits; but to trust,
for Benjie's recovery from the chincough, to a kind Providence, together
with Daffy's elixir, and warm blankets.