United States or Uzbekistan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The warlock of Essendean, they say, had made a mirror in which men could read the future; it must have been of other stuff than burning coal; for in all the shapes and pictures that I sat and gazed at, there was never a ship, never a seaman with a hairy cap, never a big bludgeon for my silly head, or the least sign of all those tribulations that were ripe to fall on me.
The next day, Sabbath, August 27th, I had the occasion I had long looked forward to, to hear some of the famous Edinburgh preachers, all well known to me already by the report of Mr. Campbell. Alas! and I might just as well have been at Essendean, and sitting under Mr.
His name was Henderland; he spoke with the broad south-country tongue, which I was beginning to weary for the sound of; and besides common countryship, we soon found we had a more particular bond of interest. For my good friend, the minister of Essendean, had translated into the Gaelic in his by-time a number of hymns and pious books which Henderland used in his work, and held in great esteem.
Then it was that they had my story from me, bit by bit, from the time that I left Essendean, with my voyage and battle in the Covenant, wanderings in the heather, etc.; and from the interest they found in my adventures sprung the circumstance of a jaunt we made a little later on, on a day when the courts were not sitting, and of which I will tell a trifle more at length.
My clothes themselves were all earnestly re-ordered; and the most trifling circumstance, such as where I should tie my hair, or the colour of my ribbon, debated among the three misses like a thing of weight. One way with another, no doubt I was a good deal improved to look at, and acquired a bit of a modish air that would have surprised the good folks at Essendean.
My father and mother, since they are both dead, I shall be no nearer to in Essendean than in the Kingdom of Hungary; and, to speak truth, if I thought I had a chance to better myself where I was going I would go with a good will." "Ay?" said Mr. Campbell. "Very well, Davie. Then it behoves me to tell your fortune; or so far as I may.
He got a paper book out of a drawer and set it before him open. "Well?" said he. But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless. "Come, come, Mr. Balfour," said he, "you must continue. Where were you born?" "In Essendean, sir," said I, "the year 1733, the 12th of March." He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book; but what that meant I knew not. "Your father and mother?" said he.
If an hour's walking would have brought me back to Essendean, I had left my adventure then and there, and returned to Mr. Campbell's.
The sun began to shine upon the summit of the hills as I went down the road; and by the time I had come as far as the manse, the blackbirds were whistling in the garden lilacs, and the mist that hung around the valley in the time of the dawn was beginning to arise and die away. Mr. Campbell, the minister of Essendean, was waiting for me by the garden gate, good man!
He got a paper book out of a drawer and set it before him open. "Well?" said he. But I had shot my bolt and sat speechless. "Come, come, Mr. Balfour," said he, "you must continue. Where were you born?" "In Essendean, sir," said I, "the year 1733, the 12th of March." He seemed to follow this statement in his paper book; but what that meant I knew not. "Your father and mother?" said he.
Word Of The Day