[Old Mortality Complete, Illustrated by Sir Walter Scott]@TWC D-Link bookOld Mortality Complete, Illustrated CHAPTER I 11/20
He considered himself as fulfilling a sacred duty, while renewing to the eyes of posterity the decaying emblems of the zeal and sufferings of their forefathers, and thereby trimming, as it were, the beacon-light, which was to warn future generations to defend their religion even unto blood. "In all his wanderings, the old pilgrim never seemed to need, or was known to accept, pecuniary assistance.
It is true, his wants were very few; for wherever he went, he found ready quarters in the house of some Cameronian of his own sect, or of some other religious person.
The hospitality which was reverentially paid to him he always acknowledged, by repairing the gravestones (if there existed any) belonging to the family or ancestors of his host.
As the wanderer was usually to be seen bent on this pious task within the precincts of some country churchyard, or reclined on the solitary tombstone among the heath, disturbing the plover and the black-cock with the clink of his chisel and mallet, with his old white pony grazing by his side, he acquired, from his converse among the dead, the popular appellation of Old Mortality. "The character of such a man could have in it little connexion even with innocent gaiety.
Yet, among those of his own religious persuasion, he is reported to have been cheerful.
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