Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush Page 23

  I had just finished my tea, and was nursing my wrath at his staying out the whole day, when the door of the room (we had but one, and that was shared in common with the servants) opened, and the delinquent at last appeared. He hung up the new English saddle, and sat down before the blazing hearth without speaking a word.

  “What detained you so long, James? You ought to have had half an acre of land, at least, ploughed to-day.”

  “Verra true, mistress; it was nae fau’t o’ mine. I had mista’en the hour; the funeral did na come in afore sundoon, an’ I cam’ awa’ as sune as it was owre.”

  “Was it any relation of yours?”

  “Na’na,’ jest a freend, an auld acquaintance, but nane o’ mine ain kin. I never felt sae sad in a’ my life as I ha’e dune this day. I ha’e seen the clods piled on mony a heid, an’ never felt the saut tear in my een. But puir Jeanie! puir lass! it was a sair sight to see them thrown down upon her.”

  My curiosity was excited; I pushed the tea-things from me, and told Bell, my maid, to give James his supper.

  “Naething for me the night, Bell. I canna’ eat; my thoughts will a’run on that puir lass. Sae young, sae bonnie, an’a few months ago as blythe as a lark, an’ noo a clod o’ the airth. Hout! we maun a’ dee when our ain time comes; but, somehow, I canna think that Jeanie ought to ha’e gane sae sune.”

  “Who is Jeanie Burns? Tell me, James, something about her? ”

  In compliance with my request, the man gave me the following story. I wish I could convey it in his own words; but though I perfectly understand the Scotch dialect when I hear it spoken, I could not write it in its charming simplicity, – that honest, truthful brevity, which is so characteristic of this noble people. The smooth tones of the blarney may flatter our vanity, and please us for the moment, but who places any confidence in those by whom it is employed? We know that it is only uttered to cajole and deceive; and when the novelty wears off, the repetition awakens indignation and disgust. But who mistrusts the blunt, straightforward speech of the land of Burns? for good or ill, it strikes home to the heart.

  Jeanie Burns was the daughter of a respectable shoemaker, who gained a comfortable living by his trade in a small town of Ayrshire. Her father, like herself, was an only child, and followed the same vocation, and wrought under the same roof that his father had done before him. The elder Burns had met with many reverses, and now, helpless and blind, was entirely dependent upon the charity of his son. Honest Jock had not married until late in life, that he might more comfortably provide for the wants of his aged parents. His mother had been dead for some years. She was a good, pious woman, and Jock quaintly affirmed “that it had pleased the Lord to provide a better inheritance for his dear auld mither than his arm could win, proud an’ happy as he wud ha’e been to ha’e supported her, when she was nae langer able to work for him.”

  Jock’s filial love was repaid at last. Chance threw in his way a cannie young lass, baith gude an’ bonnie, an’ wi’ a hantel o’ siller. They were united, and Jeanie was the sole fruit of the marriage. But Jeanie proved a host in herself, and grew up the best-natured, the prettiest, and the most industrious girl in the village, and was a general favourite with young and old. She helped her mother in the house, bound shoes for her father, and attended to all the wants of her dear old grandfather. Saunders Burns, who was so much attached to his little handmaid, that he was never happy when she was absent.

  Happiness, however, is not a flower of long growth in this world; it requires the dew and sunlight of heaven to nourish it, and it soon withers, removed from its native skies. The cholera visited the remote village; it smote the strong man in the pride of his strength, and the matron in the beauty of her prime, while it spared the helpless and the aged, the infant of a few days, and the patriarch of many years. Both Jeanie’s parents fell victims to the fatal disease, and the old blind Saunders and the young Jeanie were left to fight alone a hard battle with poverty and grief.

  The truly deserving are never entirely forsaken; God may afflict them with many trials, but he watches over them still, and often provides for their wants in a manner truly miraculous. Sympathizing friends gathered round the orphan girl in her hour of need, and obtained for her sufficient employment to enable her to support her old grandfather and herself, and provide for them the common necessaries of life.

  Jeanie was an excellent sempstress, and what between making waistcoats and trousers for the tailors, and binding shoes for the shoemakers, – a business that she thoroughly understood, – she soon had her little hired room neatly furnished, and her grandfather as clean and spruce as ever. When she led him into the kirk of a sabbath morning, all the neighbours greeted the dutiful daughter with an approving smile, and the old man looked so serene and happy that Jeanie was fully repaid for her labours of love.

  Her industry and piety often formed the theme of conversation to the young lads of the village. “What a guid wife Jeanie Burns wull mak’!” cried one.

  “Aye,” said another; “he need na complain of ill fortin who has the luck to get the like o’ her.”

  “An’ she’s sae bonnie,” would Willie Robertson add, with a sigh; “I wud na covet the wealth o’ the hale world an’ she were mine.”

  Willie Robertson was a fine active young man, who bore an excellent character, and his comrades thought it very likely that Willie was to be the fortunate man. Robertson was the son of a farmer in the neighbourhood; he had no land of his own, and he was the youngest of a very large family. From a boy he had assisted his father in working the farm for their common maintenance; but after he took to looking at Jeanie Burns at kirk, instead of minding his prayers, he began to wish that he had a homestead of his own, which he could ask Jeanie and her grandfather to share.

  He made his wishes known to his father. The old man was prudent. A marriage with Jeanie Burns offered no advantages in a pecuniary view; but the girl was a good, honest girl, of whom any man might be proud. He had himself married for love, and had enjoyed great comfort in his wife.

  “Willie, my lad,” he said, “I canna gi’e ye a share o’ the farm. It is owre sma’ for the mony mouths it has to feed. I ha’e laid by a hantel o’ siller for a rainy day, an’ this I maun gi’e ye to win a farm for yoursel’ in the woods of Canada. There is plenty o’ room there, an’ industry brings its ain reward. If Jeanie Burns lo’es you as weel as your dear mither did me, she will be fain to follow you there.”

  Willie grasped his father’s hand, for he was too much elated to speak, and he ran away to tell his tale of love to the girl of his heart. Jeanie had long loved Robertson in secret, and they were not long in settling the matter. They forgot, in their first moments of joy, that old Saunders had to be consulted, for they had determined to take the old man with them. But here an obstacle occurred, of which they had not dreamed. Old age is selfish, and Saunders obstinately refused to comply with their wishes. The grave that held the remains of his wife and son, was dearer to him than all the comforts promised to him by the impatient lovers in that far foreign land. Jeanie wept, but Saunders, deaf and blind, neither heard nor saw her grief, and like a dutiful child she breathed no complaint to him, but promised to remain with him until his head rested on the same pillow with the dead.

  This was a sore and great trial to Willie Robertson, but he consoled himself for the disappointment with the reflection that Saunders, in the course of nature, could not live long; and that he would go and prepare a place for his Jean, and have everything ready for her reception against the old man died.

  “I was a cousin of Willie’s,” continued James, “by the mither’s side, an’ her persuaded me to go wi’ him to Canada. We set sail the first o’ May, an’ were here in time to chop a sma’ fallow for our fall crop. Willie had more o’ the warld’s gear than I, for his father had provided him wi’ sufficient funds to purchase a good lot o’ wild land, which he did in the township of M—, an’ I was to wark wi’ him on shares. We were amang the first settlers in that place,
an’ we found the wark before us rough an’ hard to our heart’s content. Willie, however, had a strong motive for exertion, an’ neever did man wark harder than he did that first year on his bush-farm, for the love o’ Jeanie Burns. We built a comfortable log-house, in which we were assisted by the few neighbours we had, who likewise lent a han’ in clearing ten acres we had chopped for fall crop.

  “All this time Willie kept up a correspondence wi’ Jeanie; an’ he used to talk to me o’ her comin’ out, an’ his future plans, every night when our wark was dune. If I had na lovit and respected the girl mysel,’ I sud ha’e got unco tired o’ the subject.

  “We had jest put in our first crop o’ wheat, when a letter cam’ frae Jeanie bringin’ us the news o’ her grandfather’s death. Weel I ken the word that Willie spak’ to me when he closed the letter, –’Jamie, the auld man’s gane at last; an’ God forgi’e me, I feel too gladsome to greet. Jeanie is willin’ to come whenever I ha’e the means to bring her out; an’ hout, man, I’m jest thinkin’ that she winna ha’e to wait lang.’

  “Guid workmen were gettin’ very high wages jest then, an’ Willie left the care o’ the place to me, an’ hired for three months wi’ auld squire Jones, in the next township. Willie was an unco guid teamster, an’ could put his han’ to ony kind o’ wark; an’ when his term o’ service expired, he sent Jeanie forty dollars to pay her passage out, which he hoped she would not delay longer than the spring.

  “He got an answer frae Jeanie full o’ love an’ gratitude; but she thought that her voyage might be delayed until the fall. The guid woman with whom she had lodged sin’ her parents died had jest lost her husband, an’ was in a bad state o’ health, an’ she begged Jeanie to bide wi’ her until her daughter could leave her service in Edinburg, an’ come to tak’ charge o’ the house. This person had been a kind an’ steadfast frin’ to Jeanie in a’ her troubles, an’ had helped her to nurse the auld man in his dyin’ illness. I am sure it was jest like Jeanie to act as she did; she had all her life looked more to the comforts of others than to her ain. Robertson was an angry man when he got that letter, an’ he said, –’If that was a’ the lo’e that Jeanie Burns had for him, to prefer an auld wife’s comfort, wha was naething to her, to her betrothed husband, she might bide awa’ as lang as she pleased; he would never fash himsel’ to mak’screed o’ a pen to her agen.’

  “I could na think that the man was in earnest, an’ I remonstrated wi’ him on his folly an’ injustice. This ended in a sharp quarrel atween us, and I left him to gang his ain gate, an’ went to live with my uncle, who kept the smithy in the village.

  “After a while, we heard that Willie Robertson was married to a Canadian woman, neither young nor goodlooking, an’ vara much his inferior every way; but she had a guid lot o’ land in the rear o’ his farm. Of course I thought it was a’ broken aff’ wi’ puir Jean, an’ I wondered what she wud spier at the marriage.

  “It was early in June, an’ the Canadian woods were in their first flush o’ green, – an’ how green an’ lightsome they be in their spring dress! – when Jeanie Burns landed in Canada. She travelled her lane up the country, wonderin’ why Willie was not at Montreal to meet her, as he had promised in the last letter he sent her. It was late in the afternoon when the steamboat brought her to Cobourg, an’ without waitin’ to ask ony questions respectin’ him, she hired a man an’ cart to take her an’ her luggage to M—. The road through the bush was vara heavy, an’ it was night before they reached Robertson’s clearin.’ Wi some difficulty the driver fund his way among the charred logs to the cabin door.

  “Hearin’ the sound o’ wheels, the wife – a coarse, ill-dressed slattern – cam’ out to spier wha’ could bring strangers to sic’ an out-o’-the-way place at that late hour. Puir Jeanie! I can weel imagin’ the flutterin’ o’ her heart, when she spiered o’ the coarse wife ‘if her ain Willie Robertson was at hame?’

  “ ‘Yes,’ answered the woman, gruffly; ‘but he is not in frae the fallow yet. You maun ken him up yonder, tending the blazing logs.’

  “Whiles Jeanie was strivin’ to look in the direction which the woman pointed out, an’ could na see through the tears that blinded her e’e, the driver jumped down frae the cart, an’ asked the puir lass whar he sud leave her trunks, as it was getting late, and he must be aff.

  “‘You need na bring thae big kists in here,’ quoth Mistress Robertson; ‘I ha’e na room in my house for strangers an’ their luggage.’

  “ ‘Your house!’ gasped Jeanie, catchin’ her arm. “Did ye na tell me that he lived here? – an’ wherever Willie Robertson bides, Jeanie Burns sud be a welcome guest. Tell him,’ she continued, tremblin’ all owre, – for she telt me afterwards that there was somethin’ in the woman’s look an’ tone that made the cold chills run to her heart, –’that an auld frind frae Scotland has jest come aff a lang, wearisome journey, to see him.’

  “‘You may spier for yoursel,’’ said the woman, angrily. ‘My husband is noo comin’ dune the clearin.’’

  “The word husband was scarcely out o’ her mouth, than puir Jeanie fell as ane dead across the door-stair. The driver lifted up the unfortunat’ girl, carried her into the cabin, an’ placed her in a chair, regardless o’ the opposition of Mistress Robertson, whose jealousy was now fairly aroused, an’ she declared that the bold hizzie sud not enter her doors.

  “It was a long time afore the driver succeeded in bringin’ Jeanie to hersel’; an’ she had only jest unclosed her een, when Willie cam’ in.

  “‘Wife,’ he said, ‘whose cart is this standin’ at the door? an’ what do these people want here?’

  “ ‘You ken best,’ cried the angry woman. ‘That creater is nae acquaintance o’ mine; an’ if she is suffered to remain here, I will quit the house.’

  “‘Forgi’e me, gude woman, for having unwittingly offended you,’ said Jeanie, rising; ‘but mercifu’ Father! How sud I ken that Willie Robertson – my ain Willie – had a wife? Oh, Willie!’ she cried, coverin’ her face in her hands, to hide a’ the agony that was in her heart, ‘I ha’e come a lang way, an’ a weary, to see ye, an’ ye might ha’e spared me the grief, the burnin’ shame o’ this. Fareweel, Willie Robertson! I will never mair trouble ye nor her wi’ my presence; but this cruel deed o’ yours has broken my heart!‘

  “She went her lane weepin,’ an’ he had na the courage to detain her, or speak ae word o’ comfort in her sair distress, or attempt to gi’e ony account o’ his strange conduct. Yet, if I ken him right, that must ha’e been the most sorrowfu’ moment in his life.

  “Jeanie was a distant connexion o’ my aunt’s; an’ she found us out that night, on her return to the village, an’ tould us a’ her grief. My aunt was a kind, guid woman, an’ was indignant at the treatment she had received, an’ loved and cherished her as if she had been her ain bairn. For two whole weeks she kept her bed, an’ was sae ill, that the doctor despaired o’ her life; and when she did come amang us agen, the rose had faded aff her cheek, an’ the light frae her sweet blue e’e, an’ she spak’ in a low, subdued voice; but she never accused him o’ being the cause o’ her grief. One day she called me aside and said –

  “‘Jamie, you ken’d how I lo’ed an’ trusted him, an’ obeyed his ain wish in comin’ out to this wearisome country to be his wife. But ‘tis a’ owre now.’ An’ she passed her sma’ hands tightly owre her breast, to keep doon the swellin’ o’ her heart. ‘Jamie, I ken that this is a’ for the best; I lo’ed him too weel, – mair than ony creature sud lo’e a perishin’ thing o’ earth. But I thought that he wud be sae glad an’ sae proud to see his ain Jeanie sae sune. But, oh! – ah, weel; I maun na think o’ that. What I wud jest say is this’ – and she tuk a sma’ packet frae her breast, while the saut tears streamed doon her pale cheeks –’he sent me forty dollars to bring me owre the sea to him. God bless him for that! I ken he worked hard to earn it, for he lo’ed me then. I was na idle during his absence; I had saved enough to bury my dear auld grandfather, an’ t
o pay my expenses out; an’ I thought, like the guid servant in the parable, I wud return Willie his ain wi’ interest, an’ I hoped to see him smile at my diligence, an’ ca’ me his dear, bonnie lassie. Jamie, I canna keep his siller; it lies like a weight o’ lead on my heart. Tak’ it back to him, an’ tell him frae me, that I forgi’e him a’ his cruel deceit, an’ pray God to grant him prosperity, an’ restore to him that peace o’ mind o’ which he has robbed me for ever.’

  “I did as she bade me. Willie Robertson looked stupified when I delivered her message. The only remark he made when I gied him back the siller was, ‘I maun be gratefu,’ man, that she did na curse me.’ The wife cam’ in, an’ he hid awa’ the packet and slunk aff. The man looked degraded in his ain sight, an’ sae wretched, that I pitied him frae my heart.

  “When I cam’ home, Jeanie met me at the yet. ‘Tell me,’ she said, in a dowie, anxious voice, –’tell me, cousin Jamie, what passed atween ye.’ Had Willie nae word for me?’

  “‘Naething, Jeanie. The man is lost to himsel’ – to a’ who ance wished him weel. He is na worth a decent body’s thought.’

  “She sighed sairly; an’ I saw that her heart craved after some word or token frae him. She said nae mair; but pale an’ sorrowfu,’ the verra ghaist o’ her former sel,’ went back into the house.

  “Frae that hour she never breathed his name to ony o’ us; but we all ken’d that it was her lo’e for him that was wearin’ out her life. The grief that has nae voice, like the canker-worm, lies ne’est the heart. Puir Jean, she held out durin’ the simmer, but when the fa’ cam’, she jest withered awa,’ like a flower nipped by the early frost; an’ this day we laid her in the earth.