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EAMBLES NORTHWARD, 175
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
We Will Take At Random Some Fifty People...
her misfortunes , spinning * industriously with her wheel in return for the hospitality she receivedMarjory Gilzean lived on till the
summer of 1790 , when she breathed , her last in peace and comfort , beneath the roof of a friendly neighbour . It so happened that a
traveller of the name of Gilzean was at that particular moment passing * through Elginand hearing accidentally of the death of
, this singular and unfortunate woman , ordered a coffin for his namesake at his own expense , and gave a sum of money towards the
funeral expenses . Time went on , and old Marjory and her sorrows were fast sinking
into oblivion , when , in the autumn of 1811 , a stranger visited the town of Elgin , and , repairing to the cathedral , made particular
inquiries for the grave of Marjory Gilzean . " Eh , sir , " replied the keeper , " I dinna ken where the puir
worthless body lies . " " I knew , " said the stranger , with emotion , " that my mother
was poor , but I never heard till now that she was worthless . " The strang * er was General Anderson , of Indian renown ; Marjory ' s
bairn nursed in the Piscini of the ancient lavatory ! He had entered the army , gone with his regiment to India , and there won
rank and wealth . At his death , General Anderson bequeathed two hundred pounds
per annum to the daughter of the Mr . Gilzean who had provided for his mother ' s burial , and left , besides , a goodly sum for the foundation
and endowment of an institution at Elgin , for the reception of a certain number of the old men and women of the town : an
institution well worth a visit , as are also the schools erected and supported by another bequest of General Anderson , for the education of boys
and girls . From Elgin to Forres , still by rail , is a ride of half an hour .
Forres is a charming little town on the supposed site of the ancient Varris of Ptolemy , _aoid is the last on this coast of that chain of
Roman Stations which stretched across the central chain of the Grampian Mountains . A high bank , flat on the top , at the west
end of the town , is pointed out as the site of the Hoxnan camp ; but there is better evidence of this site having been chosen by the
Earls of Moray for the erection of a fortress , of which a portion of the walls and dungeons remains .
The country around Forres is of the most beautiful kind . The soft undulating range of the Clunie Hills , crowned with pine woods
and golden with gorse and furze , encircle it upon the south , and , traversed by paths in every directionthese hills form the favorite
, resort of the towns-people . Near one of the approaches to these walks is a celebrated carved obelisk , called Sweno's Stone , supposed
by some antiquarians to have been erected in celebration of the final expulsion of the Danes from this coast in the reign of
Maicolm II . Little , however , is really known of its origin or purpose .
It stands about twenty feet high , and is covered on all sides with
Eambles Northward, 175
EAMBLES NORTHWARD , 175
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1859, page 175, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111859/page/31/
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