Jane Helen Findlater > Green graves of Balgowrie

THE GREEN GRAVES OF BALGOWRIE
many subjects were very quaint in consequence.
They grew up utterly ignorant of the outside world,
and having only a verbal knowledge of any of the
facts of life. Reading, which, with the addition of
writing, was their only accomplishment, will not,
after all, teach a child much if nothing it reads is
explained to it. “ They will grasp the forces that
sway the world better, if they come to understand
them without preconceived ideas, ” wrote Mrs.
Marjorybanks.
So the children had lived on year after year
untaught, and probably would have remained
ignorant even longer, if an accident had not sent
them a teacher who happened to please their
mother.
One damp November afternoon, a few months
after the arrival of Mrs. Marjorybanks and her
daughters at Balgowrie, as they returned from
their usual walk, a riderless horse feeding by the
roadside attracted their attention. Mrs. Marjory¬
banks looked up and down the lane for the owner
of the horse, then she stepped up to the beast, and,
taking it by the bridle, turned its head towards
Balgowrie.
“ Someone has met with an accident,” she said.
“We will send Silence to the village to make
inquiries.”
The little girls were quite pleased by this amusing
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