|
By Rev. G. M. Milligan, D.D.,
Toronto
NEXT to his own county
for all that is beautiful, every Scotchrnan places Perth. This is proof
sufficient of the pre-eminent attractiveness of this fair shire. In the
summer of 1897 I had a most delightful ten days' holiday in this
charming country. I shall never forget the afternoon and evening spent
at St. Fillans, a picturesque village at the eastern end of Loch
Earn—especially the evening. An hour before midnight my travelling
companion and I went out to view the scene before retiring to rest. What
a scene! Stretching away to the west some seven miles, the lake lay
placid as a mirror. On its bosom a short distance from us, the isle
where the Neishes were murdered by the MacNabs reposed in such profound
sleep that it had entirely forgotten the tragic ''thing behind." The
moonlight glanced upon the eastern end of the Loch through the foliage,
presenting the appearance of molten silver bubbling up from subterranean
wells, or silver lamps carried round and round by invisible. hands. The
hills crept down to the margin of the Loch like varders guarding its
very sleep. So great was the stillness that one could fancy he might
hear a leaf fall. A misty, dreamy light suffused all the landscape. In
that eerie hour in such environment, with the wierd past in so romantic
a setting, who needs feel ashamed that either he or his fathers believe
in ghosts? |
