Where ghosts walk : the haunts of familiar characters in history and literature . laid, and the interstices are filledwith mortar. The bed-place is a nichein the wall opposite the chimney—a com-mon feature in Scottish farmsteads andcottages. It is between three and fourfeet deep, and a trifle over five feet long,and is filled by a bed covered with a darkcounterpane of homespun. The openfront is protected by a coarse network ofwire, as royal regalia and delicate worksof art are shielded from lawless curtains, that, when closed, hid bedand occupants, are pulled back to revealrecess
Where ghosts walk : the haunts of familiar characters in history and literature . laid, and the interstices are filledwith mortar. The bed-place is a nichein the wall opposite the chimney—a com-mon feature in Scottish farmsteads andcottages. It is between three and fourfeet deep, and a trifle over five feet long,and is filled by a bed covered with a darkcounterpane of homespun. The openfront is protected by a coarse network ofwire, as royal regalia and delicate worksof art are shielded from lawless curtains, that, when closed, hid bedand occupants, are pulled back to revealrecess and furniture. Bedstead there isnone, the bedding being laid upon a ledgeof like material with the stone and plas-ter walls. A valance hangs from it tothe floor. The alcove is a darksome hole, evennow that modern prejudice has cut a win-dow of fair size in the front wall of thelowly room. All the daylight that madeits way to the eyes of the new-born babyboy, one hundred and thirty-nine yearsagone, stole in through an opening eight-een inches deep, filled with four six-inch. Only a But an a Ben 21 panes of glass, set in a heavy sash. Thiswindow looks out upon a grass-plot thatthen formed a part of the sma crofttilled by William Burns, Farmer, as heis described upon the family grave in Al-loway Kirkyard. We gasp involuntarily as the civil cus-todian tells the story of the solitary win-dow, and points out that there was noouter door to the but. Her consolatory remark, There wasthe light from the fireplace, of course,helps us to reconstruct for ourselves ascene with which she and other improve-ments have nothing to do. The faint blue reek pervading the roomfrom the low peat fire in the grate gives atouch of local atmosphere essentially Scot-tish. The fire burned more brightly onthat stormy January night of i 759. Weclose our eyes and see the mother, weakand thankful, in the shadowy recess, thegroup of kindly gossips bustling abouther and the new-comer, and the proudfather receiv
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyorkgpputnam
