The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

56 1he Highland Monthly.
SCENES OF LONG AGO.
[all rights KESF.RVED by the AITHO
I.—THE LAST OF THE PENSIONERS.
METHINKS that I do see him still, as once upon a
day long ago, he approached a merry pack of
prankish youngsters grouped in front of the Parish School.
While I write, there rises before my memory, in a dull
grey light, which I think must have been that of an April
day, the whole scene as it then appeared, within the wide
sweep of the Grampians, but, most vividly of all, the figure
of this old soldier.
How often has it recurred to me, just as it does to-day!
A tail, lithe man, of iron-grey whiskers and strongly
marked features, of tough rather than massive frame, well
advanced on the down-hill of life, but still suggestive of a
powerful grip.
As he stalks along gloriously, with a scarlet vest
fashioned out of the once familiar tunic, and a broad blue
bonnet adorned with tartan bordering and red top, the
womenfolk of the village are reminded that the Pen-
sioners' Day has come round again, and 3/oung and old
hasten to their doors to peep and smile a welcome. The
veteran has just left the inn, and nothing loth to renew old
acquaintance while he takes his way he crosses and re-
crosses the little street. He is stooping slightly forward,
which may be due to the weight of years, as a certain
unsteadiness of gait may have been occasioned by the
forced marches, battles, and sieges through which he had
served his King.
The band of urchins, of whom I formed probably the
youngest, received him with ringing shouts of various pitch
and cadence, some crying one thing and some another
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