RENT DAY AT INVERHORSA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14150, 29 February 1908, Page 14

RENT DAY AT INVERHORSA.

By G. M. "Martinmas is coming again, and the factor will be here next month. Dear me! how the years come and go, and how the rent becomes more and more burdensome. Last year I had ten shillings extra clappcd on because Lauchy was caught snaring tome muir hens. The year before it was five shillings because I trenched and drained a piece of the croft. This year, I suppose, it will be another five shillings because I have improved the bothy and put up box-beds for the boys and girls. For this dry stone and turf hut and those two or three acres of bogland I have to pav six pounds a. year! Bad luck to them! how they tax me and suclc the life-blood out of me. My fathers lived here all the days of their lives, and never paid anything for the land but loyalty to their country; and now for the keep of one cow and a sod hut to shelter me I have to pay six pounds every Martinmas; ! Aye, that is a good bit—over ono hundred.pounds an acre—that I shall haye to pay for it.in my life time. A pretty penny, my certies! a pretty penny! •What bogland' in this muir is worth that mcnev? What' did the laird pay for it, I wonder? A few shillings per acre, maybe, for I hear the boys fay that £ood land can be bought in the south for some t,e'i to twenty pounds an acre. Fancy that!—a freehold of the best for ten pounds, and a leasehold of the worst for owe hundred pounds! Rents must be an invention of the devil to harass poor mortals. I wonder they don't rent us the air and tk wafer.- Just you' leave them, for-they will try .it right enough, and then revolution, murder, and chaos. But the laird don't, know me,' and I don't know him. He is none of us, never comes near .raj has'ao interest ! in us, and hates us as vermin, His factor is no better than himself—just a scourge of the evil one, to strew the uttermost farthing out of us. I wonder how this has all come about, and ltow it is that one man owns all the land arid the ninety-and-nine have to beg of him the privilege of tilling a barren acre or two to eke out a miserable existence: But it's no use my racking my brain oyer these questions: the rent has to be paid, or put we go, and the roadside or the poorhouse is a cold, cold shelter. Well; the queyag will have to go;'.the.market is next week, and the poor beastie Wjll have to be, sold. The fishing was a'failure, aiid what can a poor man save on eighteen pence and two shillings a day, and that only on odd days? Thank God ! we have two bolls of oatmeal in the girnal, a barrel of salt herrings in the torn, and taties enough till spring time. I have two pounds saved from •my year's earnings, Beauty mil fetch me two pounds, and I must beg or borrow the odd pounds. Umpli! it' is a hard, hard task, Sandy; • man; but we must face it." ;• Such were the musings of Sandy 'Gunn, a poor crofter or; tenant, at will on the estate of Lord'- Ardan in the autumn of 1870. The "fair day" arrived; poor Beauty, 'midst the sobs and tears of the children, was haltered, and led to the market. She was born there, lived under the same roof, heard their tales, joined in their fun, and was considered as much a member of the family as any one of them. When leaving the old home she gave one long, low groaning bellow, as much as to say, ' Goodbye, my friends; I am going at a victim of man's inhumanity,to man." "Father will have to sell you, Nan, some day," said Roney, " for the factor always wants his money, and mother won't sell dad, and there's nothing else to sell." This logic was irresistible. Nan burst into tears, and to soothe them Boney declared he would kill every factor in the world. Lite that night Sandy returned home with the news that ho had sold Beauty for two pounds ten shillings, and borrowed the edd thirty shillings from John Sinclair, the merchant. The wilt was now secure, and a home and food in prospect for the coming winter. The children were all in bed, so Sandy and Ma 17 sat down together and joined in family worship. The book opened at the 24th. Psalm, and Sandy read: " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." "Do you hear that, Mary?" said Sandy. " Aye, 'aye, Sandy; but men's hearts aro hard, and the good Lord will come in his own time. Go on, Sandy." In his prayer that night Sandy' th'anked the Lord most fervently for the rent being in hand, and a home and food in promise through the coming year. Martinmas Day arrived. The factor and his clerk drove up to the 'hotel in a fine landau, drawn by a beautiful pair of dark ba"s. Several of ■ the tenants were in waiting, clad in home-spuns, wide Kilmarnock bonnets, and shepherd tartan plaids. There was 110 demonstration; their spirits were crushed, and Factor Hardman was nothing to them. Henry Hardman was quite, lately 'a .London -lawyer's clerk, and from the stool of managing clerk to Messrs Wise, Lend, and Screw he became factotum for Lord AM an at Inverhorsa. He had nothing in common with the people he ruled over; they were serfs in his estimation, and they would remain so for all lie eared. At 11 a.m. precisely the great rent-roll l>ook was opened in the hotel parlour. Factor Hardman stood with his back to the lire, and his eye upon the ground officer at the door. The clerk sat at the table with the rent book before him, ready for business. A timid knock comes to the door. " Come in," says Factor Hardman; and in conies Rory Eraser. " Good morning, sir." "Your name, sir?" "Rory Frater." "Four pounds ten shillings," said the clerk. "Stop a moment," says (Factor Hardman. "The ground officer tells me, Rory, that you have added a room on to.your house." " Well, sir," said Rory, doffing his Kilmarnock bonnet, " I have made a new room for my mother. I had to do it, or ■ let her "go to the poorhouse, and, ( sir, while Rory Friser has hands and health to work no mother of his will enter that death trap." "Well, Rory, yon have taken a person into your house and added a room to it without his lordship's approval, and so your rent is increased by ten shillings a year." To the clerk: "Note that Rory Eraser's rent is five, pounds per annum hereafter." Rory deposits the four pounds ten shillings, lifts his reoeipt, looks daggers at the factor, and departs without words or salute. " Aye, man, you're fined ten shillings a year for sheltering your poor, old mother," mutters Rory. "I have to beg of his lordship if I can take lier into my house, indeed! Well, I'll see the factor and his lordship to h before I do any such thing. Lord forgive me for that wicked thought; but, then, Lord, what cruelty you allow one man to practise upon another, especially when it comes lo land dealintr." "Rory, Rory!" said a neighbour, standing at the hotel bar; "won't you have a dram before you go home?" " Yes, Allis'oer, yes, I have had a dram— a pretty stiff one, too, for it burned my heart so nnicli that there is room for 110 more," and Rory departed, afraid to trust himself 'midst friends or foes. " lan Grant, of Dalmore," shouted the ground officer; and lan stepped' forward, the very embodiment, of stalwart, robust manhood. " By the bye, lan," said the factor, "the gamekeeper reports that two of your sons were seen shooting mountain hares last winter. How say you?" " Well, 6ir, the boys did shoot one or two hares on our own ground; but, you know, sir, Dalmore is a hill farm, and in the winter the hares and deer destroy a lot of our turnips and young grass." " That, may be,' 1 said the factor; "but, then, it is illegal to shoot any game with. out.his lordship's permission, and, besides, you save the gamekeeper a lot of trouble watching you." " Maybe," said lan; "but if he would keep his game e.way there would be 110 trouble for him oi',mc." "You are defiant, lan; you are defiant; audi for this and the sbaoting of gamo]

you shall take notice to quit your farm at next team day, and in the meantime pay p, fine of fivo pounds." Strong man though he was, this harsh and outrageous sentence made him quail "Leave Dalmore, Mr Hardman! Leave Dalmore, after my people being there for over a hundred years! Surely not—surely not! It will kill the old people, and' it makes me curse my kind. Two hares, five pounds, and leave Dalmore! Umph! Is there a God in heaven? Is vengeance His.prerogative?" lan paid his rent, but no fine. Ho compressed his lips, lowered his eyebrows, clasped his plaid round his body, and departed a broken and dispirited man. Sorrow, anger, venqcance, even murder, were alternately depicted upon his face, but with a supreme effort and silent prayer he mastered the situation, and said : Get thee behind me, Satan, for I shall not spill this man's blood." • Lin bestrode his Sheltie, and set off for home. Jo those who saluted him he had nothing to say, and seemed to forget his existence. Leave Dalmore, leave Dalmore! It is impossible! Let me die here! Oh, Death come and .sweep us all away from our worldly miseries!" . Wh&t s the matter, lan? 1 ' paid his wife, las the Sheltie stood alt the door waiting for her master to dismount. Leave Dalmore, leave Dalmore! Oh, tl)ey he d d, for ever more!" tol > 8 " 10 matter, mv husbaid? Whats the matter, my lan? Has the factor ordered us to quit- Dalmore?" • Yes, Jess, my lass, that's it; and I'm mad and ready to shed blood, God has handed the world over to the devil, md we are> now at liis mercy." The old folks heard the news, and in, the calmness of years said,- "lan, it ia the will of God; His purposes are beyond our knowing, and be assured that out of this evil will oome forth good. We •will die here and ,be laid beside our •people; as for you and the family, we'l, ■you had better sell off and go to New Zealand. We hear that plenty of land •can bo bought in -that oountry for a pound an acre. Think of that, lan; to be your own landlord, and not scraping and bowing to any man for the privilege of tilling his land. Then, too, lan, a number of your acquaintances and countrymen are there, and they .-write home that they all have pieces of land of their own, and axe not frightened of landlords, or factors, or, poorhousevs. Go to New Zealand, la.n, and .the Lord will Me® you." That winter old Simon and Kitty Fraser were gathered to their fathera and'laid in the Dalmore churchyard. Lan said they were murdered, and no man contradicted him. In the meantime lie had' plucked, up courage, arranged to sell hi 6 stock and belongings, curbed the laws s.r.d therr makere, and sdt sail for t-he new landIt was a terrible wrench, however, to leave Dalmore, and many tears and heartburnings were the outcome. "No more leasehold for me," said lan. "I'll have a piece of land of my own, be it large or small, and I'll no more hold mv home at tie mercy of my fellowman. Hereafter I shall trust neither landlord, nor government, nor laainit in the matter of land dealing. I shall have my home as my very own, and flo main will ever persuade me to the contrary, Dalmore, I tell you I shall per;petuate your name and traditions in the now land, and curie all landlords and factors while life ksts me; Oh, I am wicked, my heart is full of bitterness,' and I must ,prav and ask forgiveness." "Sandy Gunn," cried the ground officer as lie opened the parlour door. "Well, Sandy," said the factor, "I hoar you have greatly improved your house." "Yes," said Sandy; "the family is igraiwing ; we only ihad a, 'but' anu a- 'ben,' and the wife said we must have separate rooms for the boys and girls, so I erected an inside wall and put up two box-beds." . "Is that all? Have you not made the ■ben' rnuoh larger?" "Oh, yes," replied Sandy-,, "but the 'ben' ,came off the 'but,' and the clcset, too." , "Well, 'those improvements' are worth six shillings a year more, 6o ( the rent hereafter will be six pounds six shillings sterling." ' ■ "Well, well, sir," sriid Sandy, "we poor bodies have no choosing. We are compelled .to live like brutes, half-starving and in constant fear, or else quit the country. We are-the slaves of our masters, and we .cannoi help oid-elves. I cannot leave the country, for I have no money, and I have a large and helpless family. It's a great. ; «ity that God did not give us wings; but if He had there would have been no landlords nor factors'to harass us. Do your worst, sir, for I have the Lord's word that he will help me." "What audacity and spinvt of independence the fellows have," 6aid Factor Hardman, as Sandv disappeared. "How they all itntot the Lord, and. how little He does for them!. Well, 'tis a. blessing 'or We and some others they are possessed of such religious convictions, but, oh, what splendid material goes to waste!" Tenant after tenant entered- tit© parlour. All their acts for the last 12 montlh were recorded. The gamekeeper had his report-book in, and so 'had the ground .offioer. The .state of the game, of their homes, lands, crops ,etc., was entered in tho3e books. Nothling was too insignificant for Factor Hardman to notice, and .nothing was too paltry for liie servants to record. One year the tenants held a meeting to discilis the land Question. The questions -were: "Tenancy at will versus leases," "Leases versus freehold," and "Violence versus submission." Danny Sutherland, the ruling elder, was chairman, and opened the meeting with prayer.. After a stormy debate it was decided that "tenancy at will was slavery": "rented lands, no matter by whom owned, were adangerous instrument of oppression and a/ begetter of all manner of evils"; that freehold was the' only sata tenure," and that "violence was contrary, to the .Word of God." It was thereafter resolved : "That any young man and woman in the district should bo advised to strive to emigrate to one or other of the colonies, where abundance of freeholds could be procured by th<»-e desirous of them." The minister heard of the meeting, arid applauded his elder at tlie outcome. ,f No bloodshed. Danny, \yj bloodshed," said he. "Remember the cornone cheek, 'turn to bim the oilier also.'" mand, ' If thy neighbour smite thee on the

"Aye, aye, minister," said Danny, "I know lit; it's grand teaching; but empty stomachs and sore hearts are not. conducive to Christian clmiiitj, and 1 am more than surprised at the moderation of the people, However, the lairds and the factors—indewl the whole country—have made lam to whip Mirer own* backs,There'e a rod in pickle for Scotland, as 6uro as my name is Daniel" Lord Ardan was duly informed of the meeting and of its results. "A good riddance, said he; "let the vermin go, and I shall fill the country with game and double the rents for two months' occupation in the year. . "Yea, my lord," said old Sergeant Swaneon, the lodge-keeper, "but game won't defend you, nor pay the taxes of the country. I fear' me 'tis tho case'of Goth and Rome over again." .« "Not at all, sergeant, not at. all. My hope is in gold, for it can do anything and everything," said his lordship. "Maybe it can, and maybe it cannot," said the sergeant, " but it did not save Rome, nor will it save Scotland. No, no, my lord: 111 faroa the land, to hastening ills a proy, Where gains do multiply andl men decay."