The Journey of Jeannie Deans

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Want to read more? Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month. On a small round table the "big ha' Bible" usually lay open, and though " household affairs would often call her hence," it was observed by her visitors that when she lacked leisure to read continuously, she sometimes glanced at a single verse, and then appeared to ponder the subject deeply. A thunder-storm, which appalls most females, had on her quite an opposite effect.

While the elemental war continued, it was her custom to repair to the door of her cottage, the knitting-gear in hand, and well-coned Bible open before her; and when questioned on the subject by her wondering neighbours, she replied, " That she was not afraid of thunder, and that the Almighty, if such were his divine pleasure, could smite in the city, as well as in the field. It has been reported, too, that she sometimes taught children to read, but as no one about Clouden remembers this fact, I am inclined to regard it as somewhat apocryphal.

Helen, though a woman of small stature, had been rather well-favoured in her youth. On one occasion she told Elizabeth Grierson that she should not do as she had done, but "winnow the corn when the wind blew in the barn-door.

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I regret that I am unable to fix the exact date of the principal incident in Helen Walker's life. I believe, however, that it occurred a few years previous to the more lenient law anent child murder, which was passed in At this time her sister Tibby, who was considerably younger, and a comely girl, resided in the same cottage; and it is not improbable that their father, a worthy man, was also alive.

Isabella was courted by a youth of the name of Waugh, who had the character of being rather wild, fell a victim to his snares, and became enceinte, though she obstinately denied the fact to the last.

The neighbours, however, suspected that a child had been born, and repeatedly urged her to confess her fault. But she was deaf to their entreaties, and denied all knowledge of a dead infant, which was found shortly after in the Cairn, or Clouden. The circumstance was soon bruited abroad, and by the directions of the Rev.

Mr Guthrie, of Irongray, the suspected person, and corpus delicti, was carried before the authorities for examination. The unnatural mother was committed to prison, and confined in what was called the "thief's hole," in the old jail of Dumfries - a grated room on the ground floor, whither her seducer sometimes repaired and conversed with her through the grating.

Sleep for nights fled from her pillow; most fervently she prayed for help and succour in the time of need ; often she wept till the tears refused to flow, and her heart seemed too large for her body; but still no arguments, however subtle - no entreaties, however agonizing - could induce her to offend her Maker by swerving from the truth. Her sister was tried, condemned, and sentenced to be executed at the termination of the usual period of six weeks.

The result is well known, and is truly as well as powerfully set forth in the novel. Immediately after the conviction, Helen Walker borrowed a sum of money, procured one or more letters of recommendation, and without any other guide than the public road, began to wend her way to the City of London - a journey which was then considered more formidable than a voyage to America is in our day. Over her best attire she threw a plaid and hood, walked barefooted the whole way, and completed the distance in fourteen days.