Page:History of Duncan Campbell, and his dog, Oscar (1).pdf/11

 11 him as if he had been their own ſon, clothed him in blue drugget, and bought him a ſmart little Highland bonnet ; in which dress he looked so charming, that I would not let them have peace, until I got one of the lame. Indeed, all that Duncan said or did was to me a pattern, for I loved him as my own life. I was, at my own request, which he persuaded me to urge, per- mitted to be his bed-fellow, and many a happy night and day did I ſpend with Duncan and Oscar. As far as I remember, we felt no privation of any kind, and would have been completely happy, if it had not been for the fear of spirits. When the converſa- tion chanced to turn upon the Piper of Dewar, the Maid of Plona, or the Pedlar of Thislestane Mill, often have we lain with the bed clothes drawn over our heads until nearly ſuffocated. We loved the fairies and the brownies, and even felt a little partiality for the mer- maids, on account of their beauty and charming songs; we were a little jealous of the water-kelpies, and al- ways kept alsof from the irightsome poois. We hated the devil most heartily, but w. were not much afraid of him; but a ghost ! oh, dreadful! the names ghost, spirit, or apparition, somded in our ears like the knell s of destruct ur, and our hearts sunk within us as if pierced by the cola icy. shaft of death. Duncan herd- ed my father's cow's all the ſummer-ſo, did I-ve could not live asunder. We grew fishers so expert, that the speckled trout, with all his art, could not elude our machinaticus ;'we forced him from his watery cove, admired the beautiful shades and purple drops that were painted on his sleeky sides. and forthwith added him to our number, without reluctance. We assailad the habitation of the wild bee, and rifed all her accu- mulated ſweets, thongh not without enconntoring the moat determined resistance My father's meadows abounded with lives; the were almost in every swath -in every hillock When the swarm was large, they would beat we off, day after day. To all these despe