Page:History of Duncan Campbell, and his dog, Oscar (2).pdf/10



10 bed in the kitchen, to which I was confined by ill- ness many days, during which time I suffered the most dreadful agonies by night, always imagining the piper to be standing over me on the one side or the other. As soon as I was able to walk, I left Dewar, and for a long time durst never sleep alone during the night, nor stay by myself in the day time.' The superstitious ideas impressed upon Duncan's mind by this unfortunate encounter with the ghost of the piper, seem never to have been eradicated; a strong instance of the power of early impressions, and a warning how much caution is necessary in modelling the conceptions of the young and tender mind, for of all men I ever knew, he is the most afraid of meeting with aparitions. So deeply is his imagination minted with this startling illusion, that even the calm disquisitions of reason have proved quite inadequate to the task of dispelling it. When ever it wears late, he is always on the look out for these ideal beings, keeping a jealous eye upon every bush and brake, in case they should be lurking be- hind them, ready to fly out and surprise him every moment; and the approach of a person in the dark, or any sudden noise, always deprives him of the power of speech for some tine. After leaving Dewar, he again wandered about. for a few weeks; and it appears that his youth, beauty, and peculiarly destitute situation, together with his friendship for his faithful Oscar, had in- terested the most part of the country people in his behalf, for he was generally treated with kindness. He knew his father's name, and the name of his house: but as none of the people he visited had ever