TAKING THE WATERS.--Are the Falls of Foyers worth preserving?
That depends on another question--What are the Falls of Foyers? They
are the finest cascade in Bonny Scotland, and the B. A. C., or British
Aluminium Company, intends to take all the water out of them to turn
its machinery with. Not, mind you, a mere inappreciable rill, but the
whole river! "Ma Foi-ers!" exclaimed _Mr. Punch_ in his best French,
when he read the correspondence on this subject in the _North British
Daily Mail_, the _Glasgow Herald_, and other northern papers; "shall
this vandalism be allowed? No! Foyers must be preserved for-years to
come!" It seems that a Dr. COMMON, a director of the B. A. C.,
has been explaining to the Inverness Field Club that the Falls won't
actually be destroyed--only there will be no water in them! Yet, by
his name, this director should defend all common rights. We hope he
is rare. The B. A. C. (or Brazen Assurance Company) must learn the A
B C of respect for natural beauty, or Mr. BRYCE will have to
introduce an "Access to Waterfalls Bill." There is yet time to save
the chief Wonder of Loch Ness; and a year hence let us trust that the
following Wordsworthian stanza will apply:--
Full many a glorious scene has _Punch_
Saved by his winsome page;
And from the B. A. C. this Fall,
A lovely, powerless, hopeless, thrall,
Was rescued by the Sage.
So let it foam! And time will come
When every tourist raider
At this Cascade will give three cheers
For every good Casc-aider!
* * * * *
[Illustration: LOCAL COLOUR.