Kirsty's Glen - Chapter 2
Kirsty's Glen, by Stephanie Scott
A Book for kids who love to travel. Check back for more chapters!
Chapter 2
Back on the farm, Calum had arrived with Robert, Kirsty’s older brother, and *Ewen, her young brother. Kirsty’s mother had prepared a plentiful supper and Kirsty was just finishing laying it all out. There was fresh trout and potatoes, oatcakes with butter, potato *scones and creamy *groudie, along with hot milk and rhubarb pie. Father said grace, thanking the good Lord for His *bounteous supply.
Ewen was full of stories about his day’s adventures, as this was the first time he’d gone up to the mountain pastures with his father. Usually he stayed back helping mother and Kirsty with the daily chores as well as doing his studies. Father and Robert usually took care of the running of the farm, herding the sheep and working the farmland along with a few *gillies, Robbie, Murdoch and David.
It was hard work and sometimes they would come home almost falling into bed, but Father was always grateful to the Lord for His supply and blessings.
“Aye,” said Father, “Ewen was a great help today. We got more done than we normally could *hae managed. I thank the good Lord for giving me such a wonderful family. Allison, you have brought up a fine young lad here. He will be a big blessing to us! Well now,” he said, “let’s hae some time at the Lord’s feet tonight before we sleep. Robert, get me the Bible doon* frae* the shelf!”
Robert reached up and brought down an old Bible and handed it to Father, who started to leaf through the well-worn pages. Picking a Psalm, he started to read as they all drew close and listened carefully.
After this quiet time of vespers was finished, all gave a hand to clean up quickly. Robert, Ewen and Kirsty then went off to bed, while Father and Mother stayed up talking.
“What a lovely day it has been,” Kirsty thought. Mother had been so busy with preparations for the wedding that she had forgotten about Kirsty, and so she had been free to spend most of the day off in the hills after her daily chores were finished.
“How I love to watch the sun sparkling on the daisies and the dandelions, and the winds ruffling the purple heather like waves on the sea …”
Kirsty had seen the sea once, while she was young, when they visited some distant relatives on the Isle of Skye*. They spent two months away from the mainland, and she still fondly remembered the beauty of the sea, and the majesty that spoke so clearly of the power and might of her beloved Savior.
Yet all had not been peace and beauty. There had been trouble, as Scotland prepared for an invasion of England, and men everywhere were being sought and questioned as to their loyalties. Mother greatly worried and fretted for Father’s safety. Father thought it safer to leave the glen for awhile, until the winds of war had blown over. Thankfully, it was not long before things calmed down, and they were able to return to their beloved Highland glen.
Although things were peaceful again now, it was a time of great uncertainty in the land. The country was full of division and trouble, torn with fighting. Greedy men of power were bringing the land to ruin. But up here in the Highlands they had for the most part been left alone and not involved in any trouble, which fell mainly in the Lowlands and in England. Still, no one knew what the future held.
Yet as her father would always say: “We know Who holds the future, and as long as we have trust and faith in Him, He will direct and guide us and keep us safe!”
Father had been through troubled times before, and his faith burned the more brightly for it. He always encouraged and uplifted all around him. This gave him a good name among all around, so that they looked to him for help and guidance when times were troubled.
When Calum was young, a learned preacher stayed with his family for several years. He had been hiding up in the Highlands from religious persecution, and would work with them in the fields by day, and in the evenings teach them from the Good Book. Calum had taught this same love of God’s Word to his family. They would start every day with prayer and reading of the Word, and end it with the same. When out working or traveling, Father would use almost anything that happened or that they would see as a lesson about God’s creation, or His love and His provision.
Calum simply believed Christ loved and died for all. The Lord had given Kirsty’s father a special gift of such faith that he had on various times prayed for people and the Lord had healed them. As there was no minister in these hills people looked to Calum as a spiritual leader.
Many thoughts flew through Kirsty’s head as she lay in bed that night. She, like James, was thinking about the last time they had seen each other. She had been out in the fields years ago with Ewen and had fallen in a bog while trying to catch him, and was quite a sight when James happened upon them! She remembered how embarrassed and how silly she had felt! And today once more she had felt her face sting with shyness as he looked at her. He had changed so much now. He was looking every bit the chieftain he would become.
“Aye, it’s dreaming I am,” she thought.
Suddenly the clomp of horses’ hooves startled her! The banging on the door!
“What a commotion, and how unusual for this time of night! What on earth could it be?!”
Slipping out of bed, she peered through the small window and saw her father hastening out with someone and fetching his horse from the *byre. He then rode off into the distance. Kirsty was left with a multitude of questions racing through her mind, and it took quite some time to drift off back to sleep.
Shortly after, Kirsty again woke with a start. She looked out the attic window again, and saw her father and Lachlan, their neighbor, carrying someone into the old byre. He was dressed in clothes such as she had never seen before. This was obviously no Highlander.
“Who could it be?” She longed to rush down to Father and find out all she could, but she thought it best to wait.
((…End of Chapter 2…))
Kirsty's Glen, written and illustrated by Stephanie Scott.
You can read our interview with Stephanie here.
Check back for the rest of the book!