TO GENERAL JOHN A. LOGAN, XMAS EVE, 1886. [With a card of grasses, flowers, and shells from the Holy Land, inscribed "God guard you and God guide you."] As on your couch of suffering you lie And feebly turn-while dreadful spasms of pain I hear you in my fancy, faintly say: "What are they? Mere dead grasses, flowers, and shells!" And I, though absent, fain would answer you, That each of these, though dead, is living yet; And though you see in them no moving tongues, A tale miraculous and wonderful, Which, opening nineteen centuries ago, Shall wax resplendent to the very end! Those pimpernels, Scarlet and white, violet and olive-green- Grew in the very air the Christ-child breathed! That spray of grass, or this, may chance have grown The pressure of the sacred feet of God! Those modest flowers-how beautiful are they!— He taught us that the humblest of God's works Are greater than the greatest of mankind's. Aye, all of these dead grasses, flowers, and shells, Had birth and death, where Christ was born and died; Some, from the modest fields of Bethany; "What are they !—these dead flowers, grasses, and shells?" Reminders, teachers, showing all of us That even dead things may teach living truths. Sick soldier, lying on thy bed of pain, What are thy ills, to His who died for thee? G. F. D. On second thoughts, however, the writer, fearing that the reading of these lines to the General might have a depressing effect upon him, concluded to suppress them-at least for awhile. Proceeding to Calumet Place in the even ing he found the General suffering less acute pain. It had left his right arm and, Mrs. Logan--who was the only other person then present at the bedside--said, had gone to the left side, now useless. She held the open box containing the card before the General's eyes as the writer clasped his hand. The General looked his thanks, uttered a few words, and seemed to fall into a half-conscious doze. It was 5.30 P.M., when, as before mentioned, upon rising to leave him, the General twice pressed the writer's hand warmly, while the latter said: "General, it would be a mockery to wish you a merry Christmas, but I do wish you a quiet and peaceful one;" and when the General replied slowly, and as if well weighing the words, "No; not a merry Christmas, but I hope a quiet and peaceful one." Those were the last words the writer ever heard from the lips of Logan. LOGAN'S BRAVE SCOTTISH ANCESTRY-MEANING OF THE NAME ROBERT, THE BRUCE'S, VOW-SIR JAMES DOUGLAS AND THE BRUCE'S HEART-HEROIC CHARGE AGAINST THE SARA. CENS IN SPAIN--VALOR OF SIR ROBERT AND SIR WALTER LOGAN-ESTATES FORFEITED, AND THE NAME PROSCRIBED— THE LOGAN ARMORIAL BEARINGS. From Vol. II. of "Costumes of the Clans,' by R. R. McIvan, Esq., with accompanying description and historical memoranda of character, mode of life, etc., by James Logan, Esq., F.S.A., Sc. Cor. Mem. Soc. Ant., Normandy, etc.," which contains much other information touching the ClanLogan and its chiefs, the following extracts have been taken, bearing upon the meaning of the name, and characteristics of the remote ancestry of General Logan. They doubtless will prove interesting to all who read them, especially in view of the fact that the General was directly descended from the valiant crusader, Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, (or Lastalrig,) whose chivalric and romantic death is here recounted, and was entitled to the armorial bearings described: "SIOL LOGANICH-THE LOGANS. It is accounted most honorable to be distinguished by a local appellation, as it is an indication that the property from which it is derived was in possession of the founder of the tribe or family. Logan and Lagan signify a low-lying or flat tract of country, and these terms occur in various parts of Scotland, in some cases giving name to a parish, as Logan in Ayr, and Laggan in Inverness-shire. "When an individual receives a crown-charter, it is evident that he must have been a person of some consideration. It is not, however, to be supposed that he was the first who bore the appropriate name, although, in this manner, the erudite Chalmers, in his elaborate 'Caledonia,' derives the most distinguished families in Scotland. "Guillim, the celebrated writer on English heraldry, gives this account of the origin of the name: A certain John Logan, serving with the English forces in Ireland, whom the historian Balfour calls one of the lords of that country, having, upon the defeat of the army which had invaded the island under the command of Edward Bruce in 1316, taken prisoner Sir Allan Stewart, that nobleman gave his daughter, with sev eral lands, to his conqueror's son, and from this union, our genealogist says, came the Logans of Scotland, who were then represented by those of Idbury in Oxfordshire!' Unfortunately for the accuracy of this derivation, we find various individuals of the name, in Scotland, witnessing royal grants, and giving charters themselves, one hundred and fifty years before this period. In the former capacity Robertus de Logan appears frequently in the time of William the Lyon, who reigned from 1165 to 1214. As a Gaëlic cognomen, Logan was found equally in Ireland, and there seems good reason to believe that these were emi grants from Scotland. "The signatures of Walter, Andrew, Thurbrand, John, and Phillip de Logan are found among those attached to the celebrated "Ragman's Roll," a bond of fealty exacted by Edward I. of England, in 1296. The Scottish chiefs, whom that crafty monarch suspected of being too much imbued with the principles of liberty to be safely trusted at home, he compelled to serve during his wars in Guienne, and John Cumin, Lord of Badenach, and Allan Logan, a knight 'manu et consilio promptum,' were thus disposed of. "In 1306, Dominus Walterus Logan, with many others, having been taken prisoner, was hanged at Durham, in presence of Edward of Carnarvon, the king's son. "In 1329, a remarkable occurrence took place in Scottish history. Robert the Bruce had made a vow of pilgrimage to the city of Jeru salem; but the continued wars, and unsettled state of the kingdom, rendered it impossible for him to carry his long-cherished intention into effect, and, on finding death approach, he willed that the heart which had so long panted to view the scene of his Saviour's sufferings should be taken there, and deposited in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. "For this purpose, preparations were made on a scale very magnificent for the age, and a choice band of the most chivalrous Scottish nobility was selected as a becoming escort for the princely relic. To 'the good Sir James Douglas' was assigned the command, and Sir Robert and Sir Walter Logan are particularly noticed as being among the most distinguished of his companions in the pious embassy, which was unhaply fated to abortion. Passing by Spain, the gallant Scotsmen learned that the Saracens had devastated that country, and were then employed in the siege of Grenada; when it was at once resolved, that as the Moors were bitter enemies of the Cross, the duty of the expedition was to land and fight against them. In the heat of the attack that speedily followed the debarkation, Douglas, taking from his breast the silver casket which contained the precious charge, threw it into the thickest rank of the foe, exclaiming There, go thou valiant heart as thou were wont to lead us !' -when the heroic troop dashed after it with a fury irresistible. The casket was regained, but in attempting the rescue of their friend, Lord Sinclair, both Sir Robert and Sir Walter Logan were slain. "The Logans of Lastalrig were chiefs of the name in the south of Scotland, and this property, with other lands near Berwick, they held prior to the thirteenth century. "The preceptory of Saint Anthony, the picturesque ruins of which are to be seen on a small level in the precipitous ascent of Arthur's Seat, beside Edinburgh, was founded, in 1430, by Sir Robert Logan of Lastalrig, and it was the only establishment of this order in Scotland. The collegiate church of Lastalrig, a fine Gothic structure, restored and made the parish kirk at South Leith, is mentioned as early as 1170. If it was not founded by the Logans, whose castle was close adjoining, they were great benefactors thereto, and were patrons of the valuable living. "The Lairds of Lastalrig, which has been generally spelt Restalrig, although always pronounced Lasterrick, were barons of considerable note, most of them having received knighthood for national services. Some of them, also, were sheriffs of the county, and others held the dignity of Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Sir Robert Logan of Lastalrig married a daughter of King Robert II., by his wife Euphemia Ross; and a successor, of the same name, was one of the hostages given for the ransom of James I. "Leith is the flourishing sea-port of the Scottish metropolis. The land on which it is built, and the harbor itself, belonged to the Lairds of Lastalrig, and, in 1398, Sir Robert Logan granted a charter, conferring on the city of Edinburgh free liberty and license for augmenting, enlarging, and bigging, the Harbour of Leith.' . . . In 1413, he gave an additional grant of land, on which to build a free quay, and both of these charters were afterward ratified and extended by the crown." The historian proceeds, at some length, to state substantially that, owing to the close proximity of the Logan estates to Edinburgh, and the jealousies occasioned thereby, the corporation of that city and the barons of Lastalrig were on bad terms; and "finally, that mysterious affair, the Gowrie conspiracy, afforded an opportune occasion for the citizens to get rid of their superiors, and the crafty James VI. to gratify his own revenge for the raid of Ruthven, and reward his grasping favourites with the forfeited estates.' A series of letters addressed to the Earl of Gowrie were produced, alleged to have been written everie word and subscribed by' him (Logan of Lastalrig), in which he is implicated as a zealous partisan in the alleged treasonable plot. |