He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar,-
‘Now tread we a measure!’ said young Lochinvar.
So stately his form, and so lovely her face,
That never a hall such a galliard did grace;
While her mother did fret and her father did fume,
And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume;
And the bride-maidens whispered, ‘’Twere better by far
To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar.’
One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear,
When they reached the hall door and the charger stood near;
So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung,
So light to the saddle before her he sprung! –
‘She is won! We are gone, over bank, bush and scaur;
They’ll have fleet steeds that follow,’ quoth young Lochinvar.
There was mounting ’mong Graemes of the Netherby clan;
Forsters, Fenwicks and Musgraves, they rode and they ran:
There was racing, and chasing, on Cannobie Lee,
But the lost bride of Netherby ne’er did they see.
So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
Have ye e’er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?
Sir Walter Scott
Esse on the driveway, circa 1900. This photo was very useful when restoring the verandah.
Harry Aldridge, circa 1895. Sadly, nothing remains of the original garden.
Two views of Baddow House in the 1940s. The dirt track is now the corner of Queen and Russell streets.
Negotiation day: Anne and Ian pose by the old water pump outside the scullery.
Baddow House as it looked when they first saw it. The low flat roof is the dingy, fibro kitchen soon to be demolished.
Section of the Big Crack. All the loose bricks had to be removed, exposing the back of the cedar panelling inside the living room.
Pud at work, plastering one of a pair of old church corbels onto the exterior wall.
The house encased in scaffolding – a horrifying expense.
Anne, jack of all trades, hard at it. But the worst job of all was sanding the cedar.
Northern aspect of the finished house, complete with new verandahs.
Aerial view from the south, taken on Anne’s horror flight. Note the box gutter dividing the main roof in two.
BAYPHOTOS
The new kitchen was well worth the wait.
KATE JOHNS
The finished dining room after Mother Mary’s visit. Note the sparkling silver.
KATE JOHNS
Anne and Ian on their wedding day. Tucked into Ian’s sock out of sight is the skean dhu that went with his grandfather to the Boer War.
A Grand Passion Page 25