Sprigs of White Heather

Front matter

BY JOHN O' GOWRIE " 'Twas a sprig of heather white That my love gave me that night When I asked her if she cared More for me than for the laird LONDON JAMES CLARKE & CO 13 Fleet Street TO THE KINDLIEST OF HEARTS AND THE READIEST OF HELPING HANDS 1 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK CONTENTS. AT MELDONBRAE MANSE WINDOW— .AGE Joy after Years of Despair, . . i Kirsty's Wedding, . . .14 The Young Minister's Kiss, 25 The Heretic, . . .45 The Outcast, ..... 57 THE WEE KIRK— The Day of Small Things,. . . 71 The Coming of Winterly, ... 79 An Abundant Entrance, ... 87 THE AULD KIRK PRECENTOR— Handel's Sad Wooing, ... 99 Peggy's Return, . . . .109 Not Parted in Death, . . . 118 the st1ckit doctor— The Edinburgh Coach Passenger, . 127 The Doctor's Sacrifice, . .138 Of Such is the Kingdom, . .150 CONTENTS.

PAGE THE WASTREL, ..... 161 THE SCHULE— The Auld Dominie, . . . .175 The New Dominie, . . .181 Hughie's Story, . . . .186 The Scholar, . . . .198 A ROMANCE OF "THE WELLS," . . 211 THE STORY OF LAIDLAW'S MILL— The Babylonish Garments Found, . 229 Loved and Lost, .... 238 A Lost Page Found and Re-read, . 251 The Rivals, ..... 260 The Power of a Lie, . . .270 Lily Defies Her Father, . . .281 The Desired Consummation, . .291 AT MELDONBRAE MANSE WINDOW. ■0- JOY AFTER YEARS OF DESPAIR. O ! lover's eyes are sharp to see, And lover's ears of hearing, And love, in life's extremity, Can lend an hour of cheering. All sunk and dim her eyes so bright, Her form deca/d by pining, And through her wasted hand at night You saw the taper shining. Ere scarce a distant form was kenn'd She knew, and waved to greet him ; And o'er the battlement did bend As on the wing to meet him. — Sir Walter Scott. [" T is a bright morning in June, and I have thrown ■*■ open my study window to allow the sweet fragrance of the hawthorn and new-mown grass to play about my books, for they have been denied.

A The rich fumes of the Havana are not pleasant in the morning, however enjoyable they may be at night. Elders are fond of burning weeds, and there were six of them here last evening — able bodied, and sound in lung and head were they. The minister's curling reek need not count. From the study window Meldonbrae is not an imposing place. Grim Claverhouse could not find it, though he crossed the Minchmoor to slay our fathers. He passed by their door and saw them not. It was as well for him. Perhaps for our fathers. Benjamin Brodie envies my position. "You're neighboors dinna borrow frae ye." But a row of tombstones gives little inspiration, if, to quote Benjamin again, " You'll save hearse expenses when ye dee. You're nice and near." The one or two humorous epitaphs that I can read, whilst sitting in my study, have long since lost their wit, which never compensated me for the cold shivers I have experienced as I have looked out at midnight and seen — you know what.

Chapter I. Just

below the Auld Kirk there stands, girt about by a clean cut hawthorn hedge, the neatest cottage in Meldonbrae. Its little porch is covered with honeysuckle and roses, whilst the garden in front delights the eye with the varied hues of flowers in their season. Long as I have lived in Meldonbrae, I never opened the gate that leads to Laurel Cottage. I have often looked at the consumptive looking woman that sits in the porch in the warm summer days. I have oft wondered how the weary winter months are spent. Now and then I have looked up to the windows and caught her eyes, that drooped, that moment. When she came to bear the name " Outcast " I know not. As she was supposed to be a Roman Catholic, I thought I understood the meaning of her sobriquet, but, like others, was mistaken. Dalwinnie was an ideal pastor, a virtue that is not worth cultivating in these days when minis terial calls are only sought for to help the receiver socially.

He often passed " Laurel Cottage," but never had the courage to enter. He knew the priest from Pealty called once a week, and took it no Protestant was wanted. But his heart grew troubled. He compromised matters therefore. " A fine morning this is for you," he said, one exceptionally bright spring day. " I'm glad to see you are able to be out again," and he hastened down the road as though pursued like a second Tarn o' Shanter, before she could say, "thank you, yes, I'm glad summer is coming." It took him weeks to stand at the gate and carry on a few minutes' conversation. He hardly knew whether to rejoice or mourn when she in vited him into her garden to receive some flowers. But from that day she regularly was wheeled to the Auld Kirk, wind and weather permitting. " I've wronged Miss Greenley by my unkind thoughts and stupid bashfulness," he said to me at tea, after his first visit at the house.

" I've often wondered who took such an interest in that grave in the north corner yonder. It is Miss Greenley. ' It's not because she's a Romanist they call her the ' Outcast,' but because of her abhorrence of the curse of Scotland — drink." It was many months, however, before he told me her story.

Chapter II

" Nearly twenty-one years ago Miss Greenley was courted by a young farmer of this district. He was well off and well connected, and when the engagement was announced, it was generally voted to be a good match. Miss Greenley is a woman with a warm, affectionate heart ; one who. if she loves, loves well. She was overjoyed at her good fortune of winning the love of Roy Falconer, and expressed her joy openly. As they walked through the fields, or climbed the hills, or wandered by the side of the Ouhair. she was the envied of evenheart. ' You can well imagine her sorrow therefore when Roy announced, two months later, that he in tended leaving the Glen and settling in Edinburgh. Everyone expected that they would be married at once. But they all expected wrongly, for she continued to live with her mother in the Glen.

"During the first six months of his abode in Edinburgh, Falconer frequently visited the Glen. Various rumours had begun to float about the Glen concerning his Edinburgh life, and the wise ones shook their heads, and the envious ones de clared, ' I told you so.' Of course, everybody noticed that Miss Greenley was much paler than she used to be. However, when it was announced that Miss Greenley was to be married in six months' time — New Year's Day — each began to condemn the other for the false things they had repeated about Mr. Falconer. " All the country-side had arranged to give Miss Greenley a present. Preparations on a scale never heard of before were made for the wedding. In due time dresses were made, invitations sent out and accepted, and Hunchback Hood, the fiddler, engaged. The night before the wedding had arrived, and so had Roy Falconer, but the worse of strong driiik.

There was not a person in the Glen but would have given their right hand to save Miss Greenley from the blow they saw was coming upon her. They advised him not to go and see her till morning, and quoted authorities which declared ' the bridegroom should not see the bride till the wedding hour.' They doctored him. They tried force. It was all useless ; he would see her, and at once. " Miss Greenley had heard he had come by the four o'clock coach, and had hastily prepared tea, and stood at the window impatiently, expecting him every minute. He came, but she fled in horror, with a face as white as the snow on the Glen hills, the moment she beheld him. He tried to follow her, but was prevented from doing so by her mother. He appealed to Miss Greenley to come and speak with him, but she resolutely re fused.

In great anger he left. " Mrs. Greenley, and a few of Miss Greenley 's most intimate friends, went upstairs to comfort her. After a while her sobbing became less violent, and in a little she had control of herself again. " ' Helen, dear, don't you think you had better go to bed, and I will get you some tea ? ' " ' No, mother ; I have much to do, and little time to do it. Would you bring up my writing desk, Jeannie ? ' " ' You should na hae taken it sae sair tae heart, Helen. A man is to be excused at his wedding time if he taks a little owre muckle.' "' I am sorry I cannot agree with you. What he can do now he can do at other times with a similar excuse.' " ' But, Helen,' said another of her friends, 'even if Roy was accustomed to take a little drink, you could easily pull him straight after you were married.' " ' Maggie, I never mean to try it,' she said, with much emphasis.

" The writing-desk having been brought, she put before them writing-paper and pens. " ' You must help me to do what is right,' she said to them, appealingly. But they were amazed at her commands. "'Break off the wedding just because he got tipsy ! ' they uttered in amazement, whilst they thought in their heart ' her love has not been very deep, anyway.' " She was so unreasonable. ' Write what I dictate. If you will not do it, I will' And to every person who had been invited to the wedding there was sent that night a letter, signed by her own hand, which said, ' I much regret to state that there will be no wedding to-morrow. It is postponed indefinitely.' " Every letter was signed by her heart's blood. She had overcome, but at infinite cost. Those who knew her family history understood her de termination.

Had not two brothers and a father perished in a drunkard's grave ? When Roy Falconer came to breakfast next morning a letter awaited him. It was very short, but it caused his face to change into all colours, and to make him hastily leave his breakfast and hurry up the Glen : — " ' My dear Roy, — The state you were in last night has made it impossible for our wedding to take place to-day. I have written to all who xvere invited to tell them so. — Your loving Helen.' " What took place in that interview between Roy and Helen I never fully learned. He was heard to plead for forgiveness, and vowed never to touch the drink again. He confessed he had been habitually drinking for a long time. He got very angry, and spoke of the disgrace it would be to him if they were not married. She stood un moved.

Before she could ever wed him he must HE A THER. abstain a whole year, as a proof that he meant never to touch it again. If he loved her as much as he said this would be no great hardship. " He returned to Edinburgh, and she took brain fever, and lay for a time between life and death. Not until consciousness returned did Falconer come to the Glen, and it was only for an hour or so. After her convalescence she went to the south of England to recruit. During her absence it became a public secret that Falconer was drinking as hard as ever. Every heart beat in sympathy with Miss Greenley when the year ended and no word of the marriage was heard. Occasionally, Helen would go to Edinburgh for a week at a time, and once she went to London. At the time people did not know the meaning of those journeys.

Now they do. She was seeking to reclaim him. It was all in vain. Year after year he went lower and lower. " One August people were horrified to see Roy Falconer come along the Glen road. He was a wreck of his former self. He made for Miss Greenley's home, and when she opened the door to him he only muttered, ' Helen, I'm come to die beside you, dear,' and fell at her feet. The doctors had told him it was only a question of days, and, despite his weakness, he had crawled to the Glen. When the trees were stripped and bare he was buried in yon quiet corner. Folk say those quiet days, when together they watched for death, were happy hours." The story seemed to fill Dalwinnie's mind with sadness. " ' I suppose the folk have thought she had driven him to his death, and so made him an " outcast," ' I said. " That's it. They gave her the title, and have cruelly left her alone. You'll come with me some day to see her ? " And I assented.

Chapter III

" It was when the village rang with conflicting stories about Dalwinnie and Miss Murray that he was sent for by Miss Greenley, who lay dying. He was too tormented in mind to converse with the dying, and begged me to go for him. But when I entered her room, the cloud of disappoint ment that passed over her face showed me it was of earthly, not heavenly things she wished to speak. E HEATHER. "'You must go, Dalwinnie, although every eye in the village is looking at you. They will soon get the true story, and there will be peace.' " He looked at me sadly, and I did not know that in his desk were lying two lawyer's letters demanding within so many days money that equalled a year's salary. And, poor lad, he had none to help him in this hour of extremity, for most of Christians want profit for their help, by seeking carefully for every item of your life's history before they save you from destruction.

When you are ruined they lift their hands in horror and cry — Had he but told us ! Dalwinnie would rather be destroyed and die than satisfy curiosity. " ' It wasyou I wanted to see, Mr. Dalwinnie. It is not comfort in dying : I need none. It is a happy day for me when the heart ceases, and this weary cough no longer hurts me. I shall see him! And Dalwinnie knew she referred to Roy Falconer. ' I have liked you because you were like Roy. Such men are scarce. I heard you were troubled, and that sister is worrying you again. You never told me why she worried you so much, but Professor Murray, to lower you in my esteem, has done so. I abhor that man. Go to yon desk and open it, and you will find a letter there addressed to you. Open it when I am dead. Take that blue packet also, it is my dying gift to you, and will end your sorrows of one kind (I believe it had £600, he never told me how much).

Will you stay with me till I die? Mother died as the hour struck, and I feel that is my time. Pray with me.' And she fell back exhausted. " It was a strange scene. She persisted in candles being lit. He then gave her the Lord's Supper with elements left by the priest. In her rambling she prayed first as a good Catholic would do, and then as a Protestant. And peace came when the clock struck six."

Chapter IV

It is not that men are less curious than women, they take more pains to disguise it. When the doctor had said, " she is dead," Ronald longed to open that letter. He hurried home to the Manse and tore off the covering. HE A THER. 68 " ' I have left you all my property on one condition — you remain unmarried all your life. If I have asked too much of you, the will directs you are to be allowed .£200 a year in the event of your marriage.' How grandly noble ! How deliciously feminine ! It took Dalwinnie a shorter time than most imagined to come to a decision as to what he would do. With his debts removed, his sister sent to a home, he started for a long holiday, and arranged to preach in London on his way home. He intended to stay there fourteen days at least, as he had heard Margaret Murray was in London.

Margaret had indeed been earning her living by teaching in London. To-night, as she thinks it is six months since she left Meldonbrae, all her darkest thoughts have arisen, and she weeps in her loneliness. Time does not seem either to have chilled her love or softened her grief. The unutter able agony of rejected love fills her heart, and she hides her face in her hands. Soon afterwards, lay ing aside her books, she went to her room and slept. It is a quiet Sabbath morning, and Margaret wends her way to the church at Manor Park. The world seems filled with brightness, and gradually she drinks in its spirit. After the service, she comes away with glowing heart and radiant smile. Friends greet her as she passes homeward. " Will you walk over to Trinity to-night, Miss Murray ? There is a special preacher there, who is causing quite a sensation in London.

Come in to tea early, and we will walk over together." Mrs. Willis never thought of a refusal, and bade good morning. A crowded congregation awaits the preacher, and seems quite impatient until the first part of the service is over. As they sing the hymn before the sermon, there emerges from the vestry the preacher — a young man — pale-faced and sad looking. Soon his voice, with a good Scotch accent, is heard giving out the text, " And who is my neighbour ? " Margaret starts and looks. Her pulse quickens, and her heart throbs violently. A sickly feeling seems to pass over her. She forces herself to listen, and looks intently. Yes ! it is Ronald. His face is even more pinched, but the same glow is in his eyes ; the same fervency fills his voice, and, with thrilling power, he pleads for the dawn of the age of brotherhood.

Margaret " wonders who has filled the place at his side she hoped to occupy." " Why is his face so pale and haggard ?" Meanwhile, her faintness threatens to overcome her. The church is suffocating. Slowly she rises from her seat and prepares to leave. Hardly, however, has she risen, before the preacher's eyes turn towards her. Apparently there is no recog nition. She moves towards the door, but turned to give one last look at the preacher before retiring. He stopped suddenly in the midst of his discourse ; trembling with great excitement, and, heedless of the multitude of eyes fixed upon him, he uttered, in a clear peremptory voice, the one word " Mar garet," as he hastily left the pulpit. Margaret stopped, turned, and fell prone to the ground. A hundred hands were ready to lift her ; but, almost before them all, Ronald had reached the prostrate form, raised her in his arms, and borne her to a fit resting-place.

Restoratives soon brought her to consciousness, and explanations followed. There was an abrupt termination of the service, much to the scandal of many, but to the joy of the lovers. And as Mrs. Dalwinnie she came to Meldonbrae. THE WEE KIRK. ■0- THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS. ' I usual stillness of Meldonbrae, on the ■*■ Sabbath, was broken by the whispers of little groups of persons who seemed oppressed with a heavy burden. The snuff consumed was prodigious. " I'd ca' oot th' sodgers and compel th' Free and a' ithers to come back to The Kirk," said Elder Grahame. " Th' Professor wanted to try them for schism and cut them off frae th' Church o' God," chimed in another. " But what's Dalwinnie sayin' aboot it ? " " He's been tae ' Tappan ' and tell't him that Truth is owre big a thing to be comprehended by ony ae class o' mind, and if they hae something new o' God's grace to tell, th' Lord's blessin' be upon them," said the Kirklands farmer.

" I doot he's owre heretical himsel' to tak muckle heed o' th' heresies o' ithers. But we hae oor duty at this 'oor, and maun dae it." And they began their duty by not replying to Kirsty's " Braw morning this." The first meeting of the new kirk was a serious matter to Kirsty. True, the parish kirk was not an elegant building, but to worship God in a ballroom ! That troubled Kirsty. She had ac cordingly been there often during the week. All remnants of a ballroom were removed. Bits of tweed patterns that had never been cut up were laid down as carpets. Her costliest white table cloth covered the table which was to serve as pulpit. She had coaxed Gilroy to paint one or two simple texts to adorn the wall. It looked, therefore, not so unlike a place of worship as most imagined it would. " Tappan," being the preacher for the day, had assumed a white tie, which he managed to keep clean, although he snuffed eighteen times in thirty minutes.

Had the occasion been less serious, there would have been much laughter THE DA Y OF SMALL THINGS. 73 at the inappropriate places where he took snuff. " We are no charged wi' schism this day by ony whose judgment is worth heeding. We dinna leave th' kirk o' oor faithers and mithers without tellin' oorsels they will hae tae ken oor reasons when we meet them abin. Hae they no made some pairts o' th' Auld Kirk hallowed to us ? I ken they hae. Yet we are here this day cuttin' oorsels off frae freends and sacred associations, because th' glory o' God demands it. "The Auld Kirk, thro' th' corruption o' th' age, and her connection wi' and subjection to the State, hath defiled hersel', and made it impossible for a' that wish to hasten th' comin' o' th' Lord to remain in her midst langer. A curse is upon us for oor backsliding, and in repentance we are here this day.

" But we hae mair reason to come oot frae her. Her gospel is nae gospel. I hae muckle respect for th' sovereignty o' God, but mair for His love. I ken God can dae a' things, but I see He leaves mony things He could dae alane. He has mony mysteries in life for us to puzzle owre, but th' way to solve these mysteries is no to send th' biggest half o' th' race to an undying torture and elect a wheen ithers, that are no always the choicest o' lives. Na, na, we are here to-day to say, ' God is Love ' ; to preach ' God willeth no th' daith of ony one ' ; that He giveth grace to all to repent, and if they dinna, it is because sin is allowed in their hearts. ' Whosoever will' is oor proclamation, and owre oor native land this message is to spread." But there was another peculiarity of this new kirk that " Tappan " made no reference to in his address.

It was shown, however, by all, as they sat down together to the Lord's Supper. The wine used was some black-currant Kirsty had made a month before, and non-intoxicating in its effect. I tasted it one Monday, and must say, whilst not unpleasant to the taste, it would not tempt some I knew to take those " tastes " that compelled the "cup" to be renewed every ten persons. It was the evening meeting in the ballroom, however, that excited most attention, for all were invited. Every seat was occupied, and " Tappan " again preached. But he coughed more than he snuffed, and for an explanation thereof Hughie Maclaren must be applied to. THE DA Y OF SMALL THINGS. 75 " We'll smeek them oot wi' oily waste " he said to Tarn Brown and a few others, " but afore we dae it let's hae a game o' ' rickety tic' " "Tappan" had scarce begun to pray before a rattling of half-a-dozen buttons could be heard against the window.

Could you trace the black thread that works the buttons, you would find Hughie Maclaren on the top of a water-barrel, and Tam Brown behind a chimney on the roof of the ballroom. Please notice that the motion of their arms corresponds with the click of the buttons on the window panes. It was just as the sermon commenced that Tam Dobson sniffed the first " reck " from the oily waste. He knew what it could mean, but, being the Sabbath, he scarce believed any boy would dare to " smcek " that day. But coughing became general. " Tappan " even began, and before the sermon was nearly finished, the room had to be cleared. Tam Dobson was wroth, and, gliding round the back, spied Hughie on the water-barrel. It was only a thin plank on which Hughie stood. Tam, with his fist, knocked it on one side, and before Hughie could save himself he was im mersed.

He was rescued and taken horizontally into the ballroom to make confession. But by this time the ballroom was empty, for the " smeek" had done its work effectively. But the Wee Kirk had come to stay in Meldon brae, even although the Professor used his utmost to get the Laird to eject them. " Turn them oot, Professor ? " asked the Laird in astonishment. " And what have they done ? Has Kirsty shamed her husband ? Is Tam Dobson a poacher? Does Andra shame the town with drunken ways ? Are they not a set of godly men and women, trying to serve God according to their light ? Am I to carry on the work of Claverhouse in this generation ? Man, I'm surprised at you. To boast of being Cameronians, and then wish to destroy this new Cameronian teaching." " But, Laird, their teaching is pure heresy, and against the Confession of Faith."

" Mark my words, Professor. This heresy of theirs will dominate the churches of this land before fifty years have gone over its head. Your theology and Confession of Faith will have to change before long ; yes, and along the line of Andra's teaching, or I'm no the Laird." THE DA Y OF SMALL THINGS. 77 But the Professor was not to be daunted, and, to the surprise of Eckford and Wilkison, who kept small shops, the Auld Kirk folk never entered their doors. " They think to make ye submit, Wilkison, by withdrawing their custom, but you'll no want as long as I hae a penny," said Tam Dobson. I cannot tell you what the members of the Wee Kirk of those days endured through the petty tyranny of some in the Auld Kirk. Wilkison had to go and work at Pealty, walking fourteen miles a day. Eckford had to live at Gala, and came home on Saturday.

But as soon as the Sabbath came, every member deposited their florin towards building a kirk. It was the persecution they endured that made the Wee Kirk. When " Tappan's " son won the heart of Nelly Grahame, the Elder refused his consent because " Tappan " had left the Auld Kirk. Nelly said nothing, but went on a day to Edinburgh, and was married before the Sheriff, and then went next Sabbath to the Wee Kirk, to the consternation of the Elder. Even the children in the village were divided. ' Wee " Kirk and " Auld " Kirk were as strong rallying cries as any in the border frays. It seldom came to stone-throwing, but it often was sticks. Every day during winter there was a warfare on the "Cuddy's Brig" with snowballs, made effective by dipping them in the burn. "Tam Dobson hae sent me .£100 tae build, and I hae pit ma savings tae it, £40 in a', and I move we build at aince," said " Tappan."

And this settled the position of the Wee Kirk. Ty7" IRSTY was mighty proud of the Wee Kirk -*- *- when it was built, and magnified her office as deacon's wife. " Tam, dae ye ken ye can see th' Tweed frae th' pulpit ! And th' auld hoose o' Quhair tae. Sic a view ! There's nae grave-stanes to depress oor minister !:: which was a palpable hit at the Auld Kirk. The clean new stones of the Wee Kirk looked so much better than the lichen walls of the Auld Kirk, that the children of the latter were sorely tried. " Ah, bit ye hae nae gallery to yours." " No, bit oor stanes are clean," was an effective reply. " Oor kirk's bigger than yours. Gosh, we could pit twa o' yours in oors." " Maybe ye could, bit wha would hae a stane floor after oor braw clean wood ? " " We hae seven windows in th' Auld Kirk," the champion of that place quietly retorted, feeling uncertain of his ground.