A COUPLE OF PRETTY STORIES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1429, 15 February 1888, Page 6

A COUPLE OF PRETTY STORIES.

A couple of pretty stories have become current this week — one of an honest Celt the other of an honourable Saxon. One is furnished by the ' Herald, ' the other by the ' Brooklyn Eagle.' As stories they are amongst the best of their kind The first relates to the chief incident of a visit paid to the Queen of Loch Shiel and Glenfinnan, where the gathering of the clans took place soon after the landing of Prince Charles of Moidart, and where the Eoyal Standard was raised in August, 1745. Glenfinnan is a narrow glen, flanked on both sides by lofty and craggy mountains, some twenty miles north-west of Fort William, and takes its name from the little river Finnan, which runs through it and falls into Loch Sbiel at its eastern extremity. It was on a slight eminence in the centre of the glen that the standard was erected. A monument now marks the place. The visit of the Queen to Glenfinnan was for the purpose of seeing the memorable scenes connected with the courageous and romantic, but ill-fated, attempt of Prince Charles to re-con-quer the kingdom of his fathers. Her Majesty naturally wished to learn all she could of the local traditions and legends of the Prindfe and the rising. As her suite did not include a historian, the right thing to do was to procure the assistance of a Highland laird, the local authority on the subject. Curiously enough, this gentleman was in no way eager to obey the Eoyal summons. However, he came at length, and the queen began to question him as to the movements of the 'pretender.' We can imagine the flash of fire that reddened the old man's face even at the Eoyal use of such a libellous word. Without hesitation, without even taking a pinch of snuff, the magnificent old rogue actually laid his unhallowed paw on Her

Majesty's shoulder, and said in the grand old tragic style, 'He was no pretender, tnadara ; he waa our King !' Had Her Majesty not been a true woman on this occasion, but a foolish man, we can imagine what the Royal response would have been. There would have been something about eyes without blessing in it. But the absolute knave had a lady to deal with, and the Queen said, in the most courteous style. ' I beg your pardon, I ought not to have used that word : I should have said Prince Edward Stuart.' It does not appear that the Queen went upon her knees to the gruff old Jacobite, but she humoured him by stating the consoling fact that she, too, had ' Stuart blood in her veins.' A common Highlander would have thrown up his glengarry, cracked his thumbs, contributed a step or two of the Highland Fling, and offered Her Majesty a 'caulker' of peatreek. But not so this uuconverted Pagan. ' Stuart blood ' in her veins ! ' Yes, I know it,' he said, ' and were it not for that you would not be where you are !' Her Majesty's attendants were rather startled by the words, and no doubt some of them would, on the slightest hint, have struck a skene dhu in the wretch's ' powels.' But, as may be guessed, the Queen rather liked the style of the man, and took his words in so kindly a manner that his heart melted towards her, so that they parted good friends. Her declaration on returning from her visit was remarkable. ' I have just met,' said the Queen, 'one of the most honest men in my realm.' The Highlanders are sometimes blamed for their supple knees in the presence of rank ; but if the truth must be told, it is only in the North, ' the country of worth,' as Burns calls it, where such noble specimens of honesty and independence are to be found.

The other story is one of true love. A young Glasgow gentleman and a young American, lady who was being educated in this city, fell in love with each other, and were betrothed. The lady went home to America and nursed her grandfather through his last illness. The work exhausted her vital energy, and she was stricken down with fever. This was in Savannah, and before she was thoroughly better, the earthquake shocks acting j upon her feeble nerves entirely destroyed her sight. Finding from her medical advisers that her case was hopeless, and that she was doomed to spend her life in darkness, she wrote to her fianc6 in Glasgow releasing him from his engagement. Did the young man whine and play the coward ? No ! Like a true man he declined to accept his freedom. He took the first steamer for America, and rushing to the arms of his darling declared that he loved her, and would marry her in spite of her calamity. One pair of eyes would bo enough for a couple of true hearts. This declaration acted like heavenly galvanism on the lady's system, and with the improvement of her health came the restoration of her sight. It was a miracle of love. Love, they say, is blind, which means that it is blind to impediments and impossibilities. In this case it was far-seeing ; it crossed the howling ocean, and gave sight to the victim of faithfulness and steadfastness of heart. The hero, as the ' Brooklyn Eagle ' informs us, is a member of Messrs Blackie and Sons, the great publishing firm of Glasgow and London, and the heroine is a niece of the late President Arthur. It is a beautiful little story, and gives the world assurance that, in spite of a chss of cynics, the human breast still beats to the old tune — the music that created 'Paradise, and makes the idea of redemption a devine reality. As a love story this case presents a noble and beautiful contrast to some that have come to light in recent years. At least two occurred in consequence of that Iliad of fraud, the City Bank failure. Two ' gentlemen ' were courting two ladies, whose cbarma, as it turned out, consisted partly of bank shares. When the bank broke the shares disappeared, and so did the gentlemen lovers — the heartless sneaks ! The result to the ladies was in one case death from a broken heart, but in the other a heroic and successful struggle with the world. To the base heart maiden poverty is a loathly bride ; but with love and truth poverty may be worthy to sit on a throne, as waß the Beggar Maid, in whom kipg Cophetua saw an Angel of Light.