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Chapter I.
Forbears.

Early in February, in the year 1819, a sturdy Perthshire Highlander, mounted on one of the hardy ponies of the country, might have been seen wending his way from a cottage situate in the Valley of the Tay, near the junction of the arrowy Lyon with that noble river—his face turned in the direction of Killin, at the western extremity of Loch Tay. He carried tenderly, stowed away in the neuk of his plaid, under shelter from searching winds, a little child, the elder of twin boys who had been born to him on the fifth day of that month, leaving their mother in such a condition of physical prostration as quite unfitted her for maternal duties. A suitable nurse for the younger twin had been found at Aberfeldy, but the elder one was sent under his father's care to Killin, to be put into the hands of a foster-mother who had been provided for him there.

In those days, the Highland roads were mere tracks, and the era of stage-coaches had not yet dawned; the only mode of communication, therefore, page 2between distant points of settlement was that which our traveller now adopted. He had been furnished with a bottle of milk for the child's refreshment, but as he knew many of the farmers by the way he had not much occasion to use it: for he had no difficulty in getting mothers to supply the wants of his little charge, and to render such attentions as the case required.

Thus, in ten hours, including stoppages, the journey of seventeen miles was safely and successfully accomplished, and the child was confided to a foster-mother, under whose care he remained for four months. But the result was disappointing. At the expiration of that time, his father, believing that the infant was not in a thriving condition of health, paid the bill, and—depositing him once more in the neuk of his plaid—carried him back to his home.

It became apparent, however, that, from some cause or other, an arrest had been laid on the natural healthful development of the child. In the following year, therefore, when his mother's health was fairly re-established, she carried him daily for a bath at the junction of the Rivers Lyon and Tay—a distance of just a mile from her home. The ablution over, and a drink of new milk administered, the child was wrapped in a soft blanket, fed again on reaching home, and then laid down for a three-hours' sleep. A manifest improvement set steadily in, and before the summer months had passed his skin had become as soft as silk, his head was covered with hair "as curly as the forelocks of a black-faced tup," and his whole physical renovation was undoubted and complete.

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The child who was thus exiled in early infancy from home, and at length restored to robust health by the unwearied devotion of a loving mother—under the blessing of God on the means employed—was Donald McNaughton Stuart, who said in this connection:—"My mother's faith in the healing virtue of the water where two rivers meet and mingle, in a draught of new milk, and in three hours' subsequent sleep was always strong and well grounded, and I have inherited her faith in a course so kindly and sympathetically carried out."

His father (Alexander Stuart) was the son of a miller, who had leased the farm along with a mill on the banks of the Lyon. The miller died in his prime, leaving issue two sons and a daughter. His widow, who was one of the proscribed McGregors, was a member of a family who were long-headed, and had the credit of seeing further into the future than any of their neighbours. Her sister, who lived to an advanced age, was consulted by the Hill people about their health—temporal and spiritual. She was also a widow who feared God, and sought His direction in all her undertakings, such as prescribing for sick men or sick cattle, or sick souls. Certain nervous troubles took wing at her touch, and in answer to her prayers and simple remedies. She had one child, who grew up by her side, and whom she loved with the greatest ardour. "He was affectionate," Dr. Stuart wrote, "but self-willed. He had a ferry on the Lyon, knew everybody, celebrated in song the notabilities of the Glen—those who attracted notice by the singularity of their deeds, whether in the domain of virtue or of page 4popular profligacy. Her prayers and her long labours failed to exorcise the spirit of evil which kept possession, to the close of life, of part of his nature. An auctioneer by profession, he attended the fairs of the surrounding country, and his booth never failed to attract buyers. He died before his time, which was due in part to the free and easy life he led, and to the social customs of his age and country. I regarded him much as I regarded some of the heroes of the Old Testament—a man of faith, and of strong passions to which he sometimes readily yielded."

Alexander Stuart inherited from his mother a love of adventure and song, and a readiness to help those who had fallen, irrespective of the character which they bore. On the death of his father, he left his younger brother in possession of the farm, on condition that his sister should always have a right to its shelter; while he apprenticed himself to the builder of Taymouth Castle, which was then in course of erection—an undertaking which extended over several years—and which is still admired for its architecture and finished workmanship. In pursuit of his trade, his engagements led him into different parts of the country, and he left the stamp of his handicraft on mansions and bridges and buildings of no mean order. He had a long engagement on the Great Northern road from Perth to Inverness. A serious difficulty occurred in carrying that highway across an extended moss field, beyond Blair Athol. When the surface was broken, the material carted to form the road speedily disappeared. On the suggestion of Alexander Stuart, bundles of heather were page 5laid in order on the moss, as a foundation for the loam and metal to rest upon, and it was found that no part of that great road, extending one hundred and twenty miles in length, stood the traffic with less cost to the community than the section crossing the moss field of Drumwachtair. Stephenson, the inventor of the locomotive, was met by a similar difficulty in taking the railway over a moss field near Manchester. After repeated efforts to form a basis with materials which disappeared as soon as they were deposited, he constructed hurdles, to which bundles of heather and cuttings from young trees were firmly bound, and placed them on the morass, as a foundation on which his ballast and sleepers might rest, and no more stable section than that which traversed the bed of moss was found on that great historical line of railway.

Alexander Stuart married the only child of John McNaughton, who had been in the service of Lord Breadalbane for over fifty years. He was the son of one of Breadalbane's tenants, who lived on the braes of Acharn, on the southern banks of Loch Tay, and within two miles of Kenmore. When Great Britain deemed it necessary to prevent the permanent occupation of Lower Canada by the French, recruits were needed to effect this consummation. To the Highland landlords the Government looked for help in this direction, and for the service which they thus rendered, they received, it was said, commissions for the cadets of their houses, and sometimes gifts of English gold. However that may be, it was intimated to the tenant that two of his three sons page 6must enlist. Donald, the younger brother, complied; but John, a youth of twenty-five years, decided that he would not become a soldier for the pleasure and profit of the Laird, and one evening, when he had ascertained that a kidnapping party intended to visit his home under cover of the night, he put away a parcel of oaten cakes and the heel of a kebbuck in the neuk of his plaid, and set off over the hills for Comrie, near Crieff, and continued his journey until he reached the Scottish Borders in Berwickshire. He soon got employment at wages considerably in advance of what he could earn in Breadalbane, and such quality of food as was quite unknown in the Highlands. For three years he sojourned in this land of promise, and took home with him—fruit of his frugality and industry—the sum of one hundred pounds. He received a right hearty welcome from his parents, who persuaded him to remain among his own people. The money he lodged in a Perth bank, and there it remained till the year 1852, when Alexander Stuart, his son-in-law, gave up his farm, and resolved to settle in a part of the country more accessible to his children. He looked after this money, and found that the hundred pounds had become so considerable a sum, that a small freehold was secured, and something over to keep the fire lowing.

"My grandmother McNaughton," the Doctor said, "coming home one night by a lonely Fort, surrounded by bush and well-trimmed grassy walks, had a vision of troops of ghosts who had 'taken an airing,' and were conducting themselves without any regard to Christian propriety. Gathering together her page 7energies, she hastened home in panic, and was in consequence prostrated by serious illness, on which paralysis supervened and afflicted her for many years. In those days, the Haldanes, who sold their beautiful estate near Stirling, with the intention of devoting themselves and their means to missionary work in India, found that the East India Company had assumed an attitude of hostility towards Christian Missions. Their aims in that direction being thus frustrated, they selected pious students and others to preach the Gospel in the Highlands and villages of Scotland. A Mr Dewar, who afterwards became Principal Dewar of Aberdeen University and a distinguished minister of the Church of Scotland, was one of those thus appointed to labour as a missionary in the upper reaches of the Tay, during six months of the year. He visited my grandmother, and held service in the house, to the benefit of the family and neighbourhood. I often heard my mother speak of his services, and of the estimation in which they were held. Moderatism then prevailed in the Perthshire Highlands, and the light which dispersed the thick darkness, was carried thither by the Haldane missionaries, and, later on, by William Burns, the Campbells of Lawers and Glen Lyon, and McKenzie of Ardeonais."

When the time for the baptism of the twins came round, the minister insisted that they should be taken to the manse. The baptismal party was considerable, the procession being led by two pipers, who played at intervals Marches, which, they insisted, shortened the way by more than one half. After a brief, but not page 8unimpressive service, the party returned, and partook of the usual refreshments, which were never awanting at Highland marriage, baptism, or funeral. While relating this incident, the Doctor said: "I do not give it the seal of my approval. But in those distant days, social celebrations were not all evil. They brought together neighbours and relatives, who, while manifesting their sympathy by rejoicing with the happy and weeping with the sorrowful, had their own better nature strengthened by its appropriate exercise'