SKetcher. Black Bess.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1893, 23 August 1884, Page 6 (Supplement)

SKetcher. Black Bess.

By Mas. M. L. Eatne.

Was it a dream ? We certainly did not tliink so at the tune, nor have I, ir all the years that have gone by since, had occasion t* chango my mind about it. Indeed, the conviction that it was not a dream has grown with my growth and, strengthened with my strength, and the prominence which it assumes kb a part of the events of the past confirms and sustains that conviction. If not a dream, toliat I'Jad il? There are certain psychological conditions in people of abnormal temperament in which phenomena are recurrent and unexplainable. Ton may not be able to seft ghosts in disembodiedjspirits with your natural sight, but when the friend of years tells you with the most solemn asseverations that some one long since dead has appeared to him in bodily shape, will yon, dare to deny his word or affirm that it was a .delusion,? Theeyei are wonderful mediums of vision, and the soul it an occult philosopher, and "There are more things ifi Heaved and tiartn; Horatio, " ' Than are dreamt of -in your philosophy.'' • ' The Scotch people are believeri in »acQ»dfwght. My mother, was a lineal descendant of (lie old

Scotch Covenanters, a grand, stiong woman, without (apparently) a weakness of sentiment or superstition. How gloriously she whipped us when we weie boys, not in a temper, like a virago, but with the calm force of a Spartan mother, until we had learnqd to abhor 1 lies and tale-bearing, and were able to conquer effectually the large deposit of the old Adam which muddled our moral natures. We were a largo family, one of the old-fashioned kind, regular and namorous as steps r to a stair. When my elder siiter was married and living at home I was a little fellow in roundabouts, and I often thought— with perhaps a slight tinge of dissatisfaction—that it wais like having two mothers at once. Hext to my sister came the pride and honor of oar family, Roderick, my eldest brother. He Was a tall, fair-haired lad of 22. but like a mart 61 thft world in all his ways. He was our business head, since my father's death. My father was a minister of the old kirk, and preached till ho died. Roderick was to have been a minister, too, bat he Always said no } the world's wbrk was bust for him, and it was when he was doing bis best work in the basinoss ranks, buying and selling and making a clean heap of money to add to the old estate — well might we younger ones be proud of our bf aw elder brother ; and then it was mother had her dream ! But «>(ts it a dream ? Oar mother was not a dreamer, nor did we know she had any gifc of second sight. Often wo would sit about her in the gloaming and beg her to tell as eerie stories of fetches and appearances, but she nevor did, declaring all such foolish gossip as pernicious to our minds. So she sung ns heroic songs instead, or recited the valiant deeds of her ancestors on the field of Flodden, or told us Bible stories that wera like romances as she related them in her stern, deep voicg and commanding manner and strong Scotch idiom. But as of ben as we dared, one or another would summon couiage to say in the half dialect we used in the family : " Mither, toll ns what ye saw whin fayther deed." Then her eyes would glow like two live coals deep in her head, and her voice would sound as if it came from some groat distance, and she would say in that still, soft way that has something hushed and awful in it : " Ye'H no remember the day. Bat to me it's as clear as yestreen, I waur biding at home alone, for you, Allan, waur a baby. It wanr a Sabbath, and your fayther preached as lie aye did at Ordcquill Kirk, and it waur not time for them to bo back whin I lookit out and saw your father coom up the hill ; he waur pale as death, an' I thocht it waur his last sickness, he lookit that ghostly whitp." " An' thin, mither ? " we would hurry hef with, as she stopped and looked down. " There's nothing more fo tell," she would say wearily. "It waur no your fayther at all; ho diod i' th' pulpit, a half hour afterward, wi'out a word of warning. What I saw come up the walk and which nover camo in at the door waur his wraith come to give me warnin'. Now, childron, tin awa, and vex mo no mair." When ye younger ones spoke fb Eoderick about it he always said mother waa overtired and droamod that, but we had not settled it in our own minds when what follows happened. Roderick had boon away for a week on softie business of land selling he was engaged in, and we were expecting him home on a Saturday night in time for supper with the family. But ho did not come, and we were all more disappointed than we cared to own. ( Mother did not say much, but she looked worn and put 6ut. H#r room was a small bedroom oft the living room, and she left a hot fire bnrning, for the night was cold and dreary, and she knew Roderick would be wet with the heavy wintor fog that hung over everything without. Wo did not lock or bar the door, a precaution, indeed, that we seldom took, and expecting to see Roderick in the morning, we all went to bed to moet again at the bieakfast table. That morning mother was late, a most uncommon thing for her. My sister had spoken with her, and she was getting her clothes on, so we all sat around the table With our porridge-bowls before us, and waited for the blessing which began each meal, and without which we dared not touch spoon or knife. When mother came she looked around the table and asked quickly : "Is no Roderick doon yet ' " " No, mithar," said Jinny, " Roderick is na at home the morn, sin ho did na Come yestreen." "But he did coom," said mother, "he's up yon now, sleepin'. Ye need na disturb Mm," and she bent her stately head in its widow's cap and invoked that bl636ing of which we had never yet heard one word. That it was all right we had no doubt—^we took it upon trust. Breakfast was nearly over, when met Tier looked at me and said '. "Rin oop,'Allah, and wake yonr blither." My porridge was good and I had " happed on " a teaspoon of sugar when my sister was looking the other way, so I whined : " Sind Robbie, mither ; he's through wi the vittles." Mother looked at me. I rose expeditiously enough then, and went np the well-worji stairs fhfes at a time, whistling the air of "Bonny Kiltaeny." I then kicked on Roderick's door once or twiuo. No answer. Noxt I knocked decently, and called, "Roderick! oeestin?" There was dead silence. I opened fhe door a little, then wider. There was no one there, and the bed had not been slept in. I went down stairs and told my story. My mother rose up wratlif ully and said in her sternest Voice : " An' yev'e been trifling I'll wsini y6ur jacket, Allan ! " But I wa<j not afraid. Sho did not find Roderick any more than I did. "Awa 1 to the barn," she said, as ihe came down; " he'll be there, happen." But no Roderick was there. " How coom ye to think as how the lad was at hame?" asked Jinny, as sho cleared the fable. " I saw him," answered mother, solemnly ; " I saw him wi mytwa eon. He coom in aboot twal o' the clock, and I spake wi him, but I mind he didna aiißwer. Happen he's dead, as his faythcr wan afore him. Aye, Roderick, my son, my son 1 " All unconsciously she used the pathetic Words of King David, and we children were thrilled aa if a weird prophesy had been spoken. All but Jinny; she was not a romantic young woman, and she had no superstition ; so sho said whiles she folded the cloth : " Ye dieamed it, mithdr." "Aye ! as I dreamed about yonr fayther, if ye call that dreaming," responded mother. " There he is now," cried Jinny, pointing to the window, " cooming up the hill on a gallop. Rin, children, and open the gato to him." " That Roderick 1 " I cried, contemptuously. " Why, that's a coal-black horse, and he rode away on a sorrel mare. Na, na, that is na ma gude big brither." But indeed it was, as I saw a moment later when he rose in his stirrups and waved his cap to mother in the doorway. I ducked undor her arm — our .mother was a woman of large stature — and ran away to meet my bi other. How good and handsome he looked as he put his hand down to help me on the saddlebow in front of him. " Mither thocht you waur deed, 1 ' was my first foolish remark. "Not yefc, little brother," he said, laughing lightly, "nor likely to be, please God ; ' he doffed his cap as he spoke. Mother waited on him at his late breakfast with hungry eyes, and Jinny piled up the barley cakes, each ono hotter than tho other. " You woman folk spoil me," he said, between the mouthfuls. " Now me am mither, what waur it ye dreamit aboot me ? " " It was na a droem," said mother. "Ah, noo ye ken it Was," said the laughing laddie, "or if it pleases ye to call it a vision, what waur the vision ? " "Ye will laugh at me, thin," said mother, in a low voice, " but if evor I saw ye alive wi ma twa een, I saw ye last nicht at twal o f the clock as plain as I do noo." "An' what was I doing, mithet?" We all gathered, wide-mouthed and staring, to hear what mother would say. '•I will fia say a word," remarked mother, with sudden anger, " if a' body laughs ; ca' it a dream if ye want, but listen respectful like, whiles • I talk." The Scotch are not a nation of gigglers. In a moment our faces were as set as flint. "It waur nicht, dark flicht," begai* mother, "and I hed kep' awake listenin', listenin' for ma boy to coom, for you ken it's the first time he has ever disappointed me, and I expected him every moment, happen naught had gone wrang. I wanr wide awake an' watchin' the fire i' the chim-ney-place, and whiles I thocht of him, and whiles I thocht of his fayther he is so rera like, an' theft the doc* opened sudden like, and he walked in and went oop to the fire. , I was'na surprised an' I did'na speak yet ; he took off his great-coat, an' I saw it was'na wet, an' I wondered what had kept hM dree; he hung his coat over a chair — ye know it's your way of doin'-**an' he took off his neckerchief And hung that on the chair, too, an' stood owet the coals and shivered ; thin I called, ' Art ye cold, lad?' and you never spake, nor tutned your head — an' ye were that pale I thocht ye yi&xu faint a' ridin 1 :" "And .what became of me or my double?' 1 asked Roderick gaily. ' , • , Q That I oanna t*ll. I knew no morle, for my mind was easy at your,bein\ at- hame^an' I slept' tilUate ta^ motakJ' \ *' ' t

11 That she did," said Jinny. " But where waur you, Roderick, the nicht? " "At Bailie Blaverhack's, who once went a-courtin' our good mither here when sho waur a slip of a IaBS. Eh, mither ? I'll warrant ye can blush yet, like a rose i' the sun." "Ye graceless ladl" said she, with the lovelight in her eyes as she followed his every motion, so proud and fond of him in his bravo manhood. '•And now, inither, you've often heard said 1 that one story is goad tifl another is told. 1 I rode ten miles over the heather and bracken to get ham« this morn and here I am, not deed at ft' nor fittin to be. So you re dream or vision is at fatilt this time. Now, como oat all o1o 1 ye and*, see the brave black steed that is to fill the sorrel maros placo. Black Besi is a beauty, and I got her at an even dicker." " A black horse is an uncanny baist," said my mother, gruefully. "Looks liko a mute at a fun'ral," interposed Robbie. <' Whist," said Jinny, sharply, " you're enough tb kill one in your dismal claverin 1 . Gang awa into the snnshine, and got tb.B black man out of yonr thochts." It was a bright morning after the fog, and we thronged ont with a will to see the new purchase, mother with father's plaid over hrr shoulders, the rest of us bareheaded and full of pranks. Roderick brought out the horse, a mettleaomo creature, with much whito to the balls of her eyes, and her sleek ears laid well back. Prancing and curveting, she went the rounds of the yard, Roderick holding the halter strap with a firm grip. Suddenly Black Bess cast a shoe. " Pick it np for luck," whispered Robbie. "Take tho halter, Allan," said Roderick. I was mortally afraid of the towering beast, but more afraid to disobey my brother, and I stepped up gingerly and held the halter whilo the uncanny creature sniffed at me suspiciously. Roderick stooped at that momont to pick up the shoo. Ho was laughing, mayhap, at lny sacred face, for the black brute gave a lnngo, a violent kick, and landed me on the wood-pile. Then she rushed to the barn. I scrabbled down and ran up to Rodonck. The shoe was m his hand, he was still smiling, but there was a settling in all his limbs, and in a moment ho lay in a hoop at our feet, dead— aye, dead, and the smile frozen on his face 1 It was so awfully sudden that we could not at first believe it, and oven when they told us that tho imprint of that brute beast's foot was found over his heart wo hopod against hope that ho might survive All but mother. I am an old man and my hair is lint white, but I'll never forget, no never, how she stood and looked at him without a tear or a sigh, and said to herself over and over : "It waur iia dream ! It waur na dream ! " ~-Dttioil ftee Press.