of the commons too, were hiding for their lives, that I, then a very young woman, was left in charge of the house, my father and all the servants being engaged at their planting, and my mother, who was in delicate health, not having yet risen. I was busy preparing breakfast, when a very old and infirm man came to the door, and in the humblest manner requested to be allowed to warm himself by the fire. He was trembling from cold, and I not only requested him to enter, but hastened to place a chair for him, and make the fire warmer for his comfort. After sitting a little time, he asked if I could give him a little bread and milk, and I immediately brought some, and placed the milk on the fire to take the chill from it. As I gave him the bread, a small morsel fell on the floor, and I touched it with my foot to put it out of the way among the ashes, when the old man immediately stopped me : 'Do not that!' he said, trembling from cold or from emotion; 'never waste bread! The time has been that I have given gold for a handful of drammack,* kneaded in a soldier's bon net. They that waste bread may fear that they shall one day come to want it!' And as he said this, he stooped down and picked up the crumb I had dropped, and, cleaning it, put it reverently into his mouth.

“I saw, as he stretched forth his hand, that it was fair as a lady's, and that his linen, though coarse, was very clean; and as soon as I could, without alarming him, I asked if I could serve him in any thing farther, as I thought I heard my mother call. I went to her, securing the outer door in passing, (for I feared he might be some person in trouble,) and told her what I had seen. She immediately sprung up to dress herself, requesting me to stay where I was, and in a very few minutes she was in the kitchen, closing the door after her. As I immediately heard her sobbing, I ventured for a moment to look into the room without disturbing them,

* Meal and water.

when I saw my mother on her knees at the old man's feet, and bathing his hands in her tears. It was Lord Pitsligo!

"After many sufferings from age and illness, and many hairbreadth escapes in various disguises, and from living often in holes where scarcely a wild creature could have lived, he had drawn towards his own estates, to live the short period he might be allowed to live, or die among his own people; knowing that if they could not save him, he should at least have their sympathy.

:

"He had been driven from a cave in the neighborhood, in consequence of having been dragged by some soldiers, who did not know his person, to discover the scene of his own concealment; and where, if he had been found, instead of in its neighborhood, he would certainly have been secured he had since, therefore, been less comfortable. On a part of his estate there were some large cairns, called the Cairns of Pitsligo memorials, as it is thought, of former battles and buryings. On the top of these the shepherds had formed hollows, in which they might sit sheltered, and yet see their herds. In one of these the old nobleman had taken up his abode, because he could see from it to a distance around, and on occasion creep into a hole that had been scooped out in it, so as to be just capable of receiving him, and even of concealing him, if not narrowly sought for. There he spent many days, looking upon his ruined residence, and upon the lands no longer his, and envying, doubtless, the humblest laborer upon them; and there he had passed the cold and cruel night preceding this interview.

"I well remember," said my old friend, "the thick carpeting of his spacious dining-room, its curtains of velvet deeply fringed with gold, and the proud looks of himself and his ancestors, as they were pictured on its walls, now ruined and blackened by the fire of the destroyer. I had even seen his proud bearing, as, walking on the sea-beach between his castle and the humbler but still beautiful residence of his near neighbor Pittulie, he endeavored to persuade him

to join in the rising for the prince; and the solemn courteousness with which he rode through the village, as he departed for the expedition, bowing on all sides to his tenants, who had come reverently to see him leave them; and, young as I was, I could not but contrast all this with what I now saw.

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"My mother, suspecting I might be anxious, came out, and hurried me before her, putting her hand on her lips, at the same time, to impose silence. When we reached the bed-room, she broke out afresh, regretting beyond every thing that he must again encounter the cruel season, almost without the possibility of their supplying him with any comforts. A blanket, however, or blankets, were, I suppose, carried that night to the cairn, and also some food and drink. He was soon after conveyed to Auchiries, where he lived long, and, after many escapes, at last died in peace. Every body in the neighborhood knew of his residence. The very children would go and peep through the chinks of the garden door as he sat reading, but they never breathed his name. The farm on which the cairn where he was concealed is situated, though now disjoined from his estates, is called the farm of Lord'sCairn' to this day, and will never be named without a recollection of the cause; nor shall I ever forget the lesson the poor fugitive taught me, never to waste bread." "

6

LESSON XXVI.

The Law of Kindness.

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL.

It is well known that Quakers, or Friends, have adopted the non-resistance principle, or the law, "Overcome evil with good." The founder of Philadelphia, William Penn, was completely armed with the spirit of this principle. When he

visited this country, he came without cannon or sword, and with a determination to meet the Indians with truth and kindHe bought their land, and paid them; he made a treaty with them, and observed it; and he always treated them as men.

ness.

There were some fertile and excellent lands which, in 1698, Penn ascertained were excluded from his first purchase; and, as he was very desirous of obtaining them, he made the proposal to the Indians that he would buy those lands, if they were willing. They returned for answer, that they had no desire to sell the spot where their fathers were deposited; but to please their father Onas, as they named Penn, they said that he should have some of the lands. This being decided, they concluded the bargain, that Penn might have as much land as a young man could travel round in one day, beginning at the great river Cosquanco, now Kensington, and ending at the great river Kallapingo, now Bristol; and, as an equivalent, they were to receive a certain amount of English goods.

Though this plan of measuring the land was of their own selection, yet they were greatly dissatisfied with it after it had been tried; for the young Englishman chosen to walk off the tract of land walked so fast and far, as greatly to astonish and mortify them. The governor observed this dissatisfaction, and asked the cause. "The walker cheated us," said the Indians. "Ah, how can it be?" said Penn; " did you not choose yourselves to have the land measured in this way? "True," replied the Indians; "but white brother make a big walk." Some of Penn's commissioners, waxing warm, said the bargain was a fair one, and insisted that the Indians ought to abide by it, and if not, should be compelled to it. "Compelled!" exclaimed Penn; "how can you compel them without bloodshed? Do you not see this looks to murder?" Then, turning with a benignant smile to the Indians, he said, "Well, brothers, if you have given us too much land for the goods first agreed on, how much more will satisfy you?"

This proposal gratified them; and they mentioned the quantity of cloth and number of fish-hooks with which they would be satisfied. These were cheerfully given; and the Indians, shaking hands with Penn, went away smiling. After they were gone, the governor, looking round on his friends, exclaimed, “O, how sweet and cheap a thing is charity! Some of you spoke just now of compelling these poor creatures to stick to their bargain, that is, in plain English, to fight and kill them, and all about a little piece of land."

For this kind conduct, manifested in all his actions to the Indians, he was nobly rewarded. The untamed savage of the forest became the warm friend of the white stranger; towards Penn and his followers they buried the war-hatchet, and ever evinced the strongest respect for them. And when the colony of Pennsylvania was pressed for provisions, and none could be obtained from other settlements, - which scarcity arose from the increasing number of inhabitants not having time to raise the necessary food, the Indians cheerfully came forward, and assisted the colony by the fruits of their labors in hunting. This kindness they practised with pleasure, because they considered it an accommodation to their "good father Onas" and his friends. And though Penn has long been dead, yet he is not forgotten by the red men; for many of the Indians possess a knowledge of his peaceable disposition, and speak of him with a tone and feeling very different from what they manifest when speaking of those whites who came with words of treachery on their tongues, and kegs of "firewater" in their hands, and oppression in their actions.