LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2384, 23 November 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

OUR COLONEL'S SIOEY.

("London Society.")

•Ton all know Sandy McPheraon?" said our Colonel.

• Intimately 1' ' Perfectly !' 'As well as my own brother, sir 1 * most cf ns replied, though, if tho truth bo told, there was not a man at that mess table who had ever heard of Mr Mai'hersen before. You see it waa tho commanding officer who Bpoke, and it waa always risky saying him nay when he (xpected yen. ' They used to call him you recollect 'the Great Unwashed,' a vulgar but appropriate soubriquet neverthelesa,' continued the chief, 'Great, on account of his burly and proolously ugly person ; unwashed, by reason of his accredited temt acquaintance with brown Windsor, spting water, and the function of the dhirzcesKoA dhpbies—i.c, tailors and washer women of the land. ' On his col Too estate in tho mountains, nnd among his undraped and unacrubbed coollies, this disregard for the comforts and conveniences of life went for nothing, perhaps it was even in keeping with the surroundings ; but when he came down to the city, walked in its public gardens and espla nade, or showed with its dwells at the band, his appearance was something too outrageous, and his brother K.C.B.'s, Knights of the Coffee Berry, and not as you might suppoae of the Order of tho Bith, dressy men hereabouts, whatever else they are on their plantations, cast him completely in tho shade by their get-up and gorgecusnesa. ' As for the spinsters and young widows of tho station, by 'Mars, Bioohus, Apollo, virorum,' ai Colonel Damas in the p'ay puts It, there was scarce one but who fought «hy of admitting him into her presence as a morning visitor, much less as a suitor, though many of these blooming ladies were on the sharp look out for the silken chains of matrimony, and Barkli—that is to say, McPheraon —was, as they knew, willing. ' But, disadvantages of person and attire notwithstanding, ho was a right good fellow, this same gentleman. He was honeßt, hardworking, thrifty, tlnp'e minded ; and from being a mere adventuter without Interest, friends, or money, ho had, self-helped only, saved up the bawbees little by little ; had bought patch after patch, aoro after ao;e, of virgin land ; cut down its timber, cleared it, planted it; and now he had down free from incumbrances on Ailea Craig, as ho called his property, as pretty and fruitful a coffee eßtate as could be found in one of the most picturesque districts of this lovely island. But it was a poor, ungarniahed, comfortlees, higgledy piggledy sort of a homestead, that same dwelling house, for whatever e'se friend Sandy had done toward the beautifying and fertilising of bis land, his roof tree, like his wardrobe, had been utterly neglected. Both wanted just exactly what be thought they did—the wife element to Bet them ship- shape and presentable ; and as you have heard before, for that desideratum he was on the qui vive, ' Then, as a last resource, he sought among Mb brethren of tho berry around counsel as to the most advisable method of getting the so.needed help-mate, and the first man he consulted was Herr Thai a successful and rich German, whose estate bordered on Ailsa Craig. ' So, fo,' said the personage, 'zero is nothing moro easy. Zave off zit ragget beard, burn in z i fire '/. sse old clodes not fit for 'Oundsditch or any Juden Strasse. Buy von big tob, mine frend, get zomo Europemuster coat?, and zan return to 25 frauleins and vidder-fraus vid z 9 monlsh b3gs in ze 'ands. If zey vill not 'avo zdu zay vill take zi rupee ; tiost 'em for zat, my zon.' But the recommendation was unpalatable, and to a great extent impracticable, bo another Jidus Achates wa3 appealed to, one Jack le Gesto, a man much addicted to chaff and practical joking. ' In this land of pearls and precious stones, no go, dear boy,' said Mr le o>. 'From Dondra Head to Point Calam're—north, south, east, west—the women won't look at you. Give up hunting, then, in theßO ofttrod colonial field?, and draw the home oovers. Don't yon happen to know any bonnie lassie in your own "Caledonia stern and wild," or a pretty colleen in the oisle of shillelaghs and shamrocks, who would be glad to shore carry and lice with yon? Go and try those parts; if not, have a haphazard shy at where 1 hail from, tho Channel Islands, Spins—ay, and preoious goodlooking ones, too—are ss plentiful there as coooannts are here, aid, maybe one of them might be induced to clear out in your favor. Failing those islets, I know of no other dodge than indenting upon one of those co-opera-tive associations which furnish everything, even to a better-half. But mind, old man, they keep a rooster for foreign service in their offices. Firat lady on the list, plain or pretty, first for duty. Yon pays yonr money but you don't take your ch uce.' But these suggestions were also considered infeaiible, and set aside. Presently, however, a thought struck McFherson. 'Le Geate,'said he, 'when I was a boy there lived in the neighborhood of my father's manae a widowed lady with two or three, then wee, very wee, daughters. From what I recolleot of them their means were cramped, not to say scanty, but they were of good blood and form. One of tho children, tho eldest if my memory serves ma, was oalled Zfßo—Effie Needum, and promised to be bonny, for I can fail t'y recall her blue eyes, flaxen hair, rosy complexion and jimp little figure. If sho is alive she must be close on thirty, for it is many years since I came out here a stripling, and was Chinna Doray (Anglice, little master) on the Paycock estate, as my kind master styled that property. Mrs Needum knew me well —better indeed than I knew her. I wonder if she and the bairns be In the land of the leal or the living ? ' ' Write indirectly and inquire.' And Sandy did bo, and ascertained that his old acquaintances, Miss Effia included, wero still alive, and proudly bearing up against the res augusta domi. Armed with such intelligence he once again returned to Le Geste.

• It's all right now, Mao,' eald he; 'your oourse is clear as day. Sond t> ' chit' to materfamilias N. ; tell her that you are well to do in the world, own lands and cattle, manservants and maidservants; that yon want to settle; that as a whipper snapper you liked—no, better say loved—Miss Effie, and ask her in plain English to come out and marry you. Above all things, though, be sure and send your photograph ; you are not such a very, very bad-looking chap, Sandy, if you would only dress like a Christian and not like a coolie.'

'So tho letter was written, submitted to Le Geste's inspection, sealing, posting, and in due course was received by the Neednms, in whose little household it created no small amount of astonishment and was much spelled and pondered over, especially by the damsel most conoerned—still a comely if even a somewhat passe body—and who, after a while, consented to go out and wed her suitor.

'After all, mother dear,' blio said, 'he has a house and home for me; maybe, by and by, for yon too, Jennie ; and I'll do what I can to help you. It's the beat thing for me. And really Mr McPheraon—or I suppose I ought to call bim Alexander—is yet yonng and not bad looking. Quite the oontrary—very, very nica looking ; see the photo he has sent us.'

'And Miss Jennie quite agreed with her elder sister that Mr McPheraon was a beauty.

•Well, my bairns," said tho old lady, 'I can't gainsay you but that the portrait is winsome and douce enough, but as I call to mind the boy Sandy, the son of the minister, he was not nearly so seemingly and well favored. But it is, indeed, lang syne since I set eyes on him, and likely he has got handsomer, as be got older ; some men do.'

' Then everything being settled. Miss Needum accepted her kismet, agreed to go out, and her lover, open handed, honorable, true, aa I have already told you ho was, sent the wherewithall for passage and outfit. (To be continued,')