Rollo in Scotland

Mr. George and Rollo also went to visit Melrose Abbey, which is a very beautiful ruin in the south part of Scotland. While they were there they visited Abbotsford, too, which is the house that Walter Scott lived in. Walter Scott amused himself, during his lifetime, in collecting a great many objects of interest connected with Scottish history, and putting them up in his house; and now the place is a perfect museum of Scottish antiquities and curiosities.

Melrose and Abbotsford are in the southern part of Scotland, not very far from the English frontier. After visiting them, Mr. George and Rollo proceeded by the railway to Berwick, which stands on the boundary line; and there they bade Scotland farewell.

1

The conversation was a discussion, and not a dispute, for it was calm, quiet, and good-tempered throughout. A dispute is an angry discussion.

2

An estuary is a sort of bay, produced by the widening of a river at its mouth. Scotland is remarkable for the estuaries which are formed at the mouths of its rivers. They are called there friths.

3

It would have been better if Waldron had described the kilt; but I suppose he thought he could not describe it very well. It is a garment peculiar to the Scotch. It consists of a sort of sack or jacket, with a skirt attached to it below, which comes down just below the knees. The skirt is plaited upon the lower edge of the jacket, and hangs pretty full.

4

The boys had seen a party of sappers and miners, as they are called, that is, military engineers, who were established on the top of Ben Lomond, in a hut which they had built there. They were employed there, in connection with other sappers and miners on the other mountains around, in making a survey of Scotland.

5

For engraving of Stirling Castle see page 10.

6

A boudoir is a small private apartment, fitted up for a lady, where she receives her intimate and confidential friends.