lear was her yellow hair,
Whereon the red bluid dreeps.

* * * * *

"Then with his spear he turned her o'er;
Oh, gin her face was wan!
He said--'You are the first that e'er
I wish'd alive again.'"

Of the thirty-seven persons in the castle, Lady Towie, her stepson,
her three young children, and her retainers, none escaped the
holocaust; the roof of the keep fell in and carried them down into the
flames. So perished one of the bravest and most spirited women of her
times. The retribution which, in the later circumstances of the feud,
was wrought upon those responsible for this massacre does not concern
us here. The heroism of Lady Towie's defence of Corgaff Castle has
furnished a theme for other poets than the obscure bard whom we have
quoted; the bravery to the point of rashness which she displayed
endears her to the heart of the Scotchman who glories in the deeds of
courage of his race.

One of the sweetest stories of devotion to be found in the history
of Scotland's women is that which centres about the knightly house of
Cromlix and Ardoch. Sir James Chisholm was born in the early part of
the sixteenth century, and, as a youth, was sent to France for the
completion of his education. Before his departure he had exchanged
with fair Helen Stirling, of the house of Ardoch, vows of undying
affection. This young lady, because of her beauty, had achieved wide
local celebrity, and throughout the countryside she was called "Fair
Helen of Ardoch." The two young people had been brought up in each
other's society, and, as they grew in years, began to feel for each
other that tenderness of sentiment which, while they were yet in their
teens, led to mutual avowals of love. Their parents were not averse
to the match, after the young people should have arrived at a more
suitable age for marriage. The course of their love ran smoothly,
until the separation came by Sir James going abroad. As their
relatives were not favorable to a correspondence between the young
people, the good offices of a friend were invoked. He received
the letters of both parties, and saw that they were sent to their
respective destinations. The correspondence went happily on; his
letters were full of pleasing gossip about the belles and beauties of
France, of society and manners, everything, indeed, that a young lover
of reflective and poetic temperament would be likely to pen to the
lady of his heart from