United States or Albania ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
But the delight of the walk of three miles over hill and dale and moor and farm to Mr. Lammie's! The boys, if not as wild as colts that is, as wild as most boys would have been were only the more deeply excited. That first summer walk, with a goal before them, in all the freshness of the perfecting year, was something which to remember in after days was to Falconer nothing short of ecstasy.
Robert had not hitherto understood it this wail of a pastoral and ploughing people over those who had left their side to return no more from the field of battle. But Mr. Lammie's description of his grandfather's rendering laid hold of his heart. 'I wad raither be grutten for nor kissed, said he, simply. 'Haud ye to that, my lad, returned Mr. Lammie.
Especially at John Lammie's was he received with a perfection of hospitality; as if that had been the father's house to which he had returned from his prodigal wanderings. The good old farmer begged that they would stay with him for a few days. 'I hae sae mony wee things to luik efter at Rothieden, afore we gang, said Robert. 'Weel, lea' yer father here. We s' tak guid care o' 'im, I promise ye.
It had two shelves in it full of books. Now, although there were more books in Mr. Lammie's house than in his grandmother's, the only one he had found that in the least enticed him to read, was a translation of George Buchanan's History of Scotland. This he had begun to read faithfully, believing every word of it, but had at last broken down at the fiftieth king or so.
'Here, Meggie, said the chairman, 'there's yer shillin'; and ye jist gang to Miss Lettie, and gie her my compliments, and say that Mr. Lammie's here, and we haena seen him for a lang time. And' the rest was spoken in a whisper 'I'll sweir to ye, Meggie, the weyver body sanna hae ae drap o' 't. Meg withdrew once more, and returned.
Lammie's great boots, ran home and up the stair to his own room, seized his violin with eager haste, nor laid it down again till he could draw from it, at will, a sound like the moaning of the wind over the stubble-field. Then he knew that he could play the Flowers of the Forest.
Sometimes, to aid his aspiration, he would take a bit of paper, make a hole in it, pass the end of the string through the hole, and send the messenger scudding along the line athwart the depth of the wind. If it stuck by the way, he would get a telescope of Mr. Lammie's, and therewith watch its struggles till it broke loose, then follow it careering up to the kite.
'Weel, I hae aften wonnert what gart ye burden yersel' wi' that Shargar, as I understan' they ca' him, said Mr. Lammie. 'Jist naething but a bit o' greed, returned the old lady, with the nearest approach to a smile that had shown itself upon her face since Mr. Lammie's last visit. 'I dinna understan' that, Mistress Faukner, said Miss Lammie.
Lammie's Sunday boots, which, from their size, made it so difficult for him to get along, that he did not go far from the doors, but revelled in the company of his violin in the corn-yard amongst last year's ricks, in the barn, and in the hayloft, playing all the tunes he knew, and trying over one or two more from a very dirty old book of Scotch airs, which his teacher had lent him.
Shargar was even more divinely employed at the time than either; for though he had not had the manners to thank his benefactor, his heart had all the way home been full of tender thoughts of Miss Lammie's kindness; and now, instead of confessing sins that were not his, he was loving her over and over, and wishing to be back with her instead of with this awfully good woman, in whose presence there was no peace, for all the atmosphere of silence and calm in which she sat.
Word Of The Day