The Rural Magazine, and Literary Evening Fire-Side, Vol. 1 No. 07 (1820)Various
General
The Rural Magazine, and Literary Evening Fire-Side, Vol. 1 No. 07 (1820)
Various
Agriculture; Agriculture -- Periodicals
The snow began to drift so fast, that before he had reached the
head of the Glen, there was nothing to be seen but a little bit
of the wooden rail of the bridge across the Sauch burn. William
Grieve was the most active shepherd in a large pastoral parish--he
had often passed the night among the wintery hills for the sake
of a few sheep, and all the snow that had ever fell from Heaven,
would not have made him turn back when Hannah Lee was before him;
and as his terrified heart told him, in imminent danger of being
lost.--As he advanced, he felt that it was no longer a walk of love
or friendship, for which he had been glad of an excuse. Death stared
him in the face, and his young soul, now beginning to feel all the
passions of youth, was filled with phrenzy. He had seen Hannah
every day--at the fire-side--at work--in the kirk--on holydays--at
prayers--bringing supper to his aged parents--smiling and singing
about the house from morning till night. She had often brought his
own meal to him among the hills--and he now found, that though he
had never talked to her about love, except smilingly, and playfully,
that he loved her beyond father or mother, or his own soul. "I
will save thee, Hannah," he cried with a loud sob, "or lie down
beside thee in the snow--and we will die together in our youth."
A wild whistling wind went by him, and the snow-flakes whirled so
fiercely round his head, that he staggered on for a while in utter
blindness. He knew the path that Hannah must have taken, and went
forward shouting aloud, and stopping every twenty yards to listen
for a voice. He sent his well trained dogs over the snow in all
directions--repeating to them her name "Hannah Lee," that the dumb
animals might, in their sagacity, know for whom they were searching;
and as they looked up in his face, and set off to scour the moor,
he almost believed that they knew his meaning, (and it is probable
they did) and were eager to find in her bewilderment the kind maiden
by whose hand they had so often been fed. Often went they off into
the darkness, and as often returned, but their looks showed that
every quest had been in vain. Meanwhile the snow was of a fearful
depth, and falling without intermission or diminution. Had the young
shepherd been thus alone, walking across the moor on his ordinary
business, it is probable that he might have been alarmed for his own
safety--nay, that in spite of all his strength and agility, he might
have sunk down beneath the inclemency of the night and perished.
But now, the passion of his soul carried him with supernatural
strength along, and extricated him from wreath and pitfall. Still
there was no trace of poor Hannah Lee--and one of his dogs at last
came close to his feet, worn out entirely, and afraid to leave its
master--while the other was mute, and, as the shepherd thought,
probably unable to force its way out of some hollow or through some
floundering drift.--Then he all at once knew that Hannah Lee was
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