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CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
Electric Scotland Community
The Flag in the Wind
Geikie's Etchings
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
Ten Tales by Sir Harry Lauder
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
Traditions of Perth
Glasgow and it's Clubs
The Scot in England
Commercial Relations of England and Scotland 1603 - 1707 (New Book)
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
A Sassenach's Stravaig
Robert Burns Lives!
Electric Scotland News
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I got in a book from David Thomson called "Fishermen and fishing ways" by Peter F Anson. David tells me that Peter was well known for his illustrations and paintings of the life of Fishermen principally in the North East of Scotland. He's asked us if we could make this book available on the site and we're happy to do so. As there are copious illustrations in the book we'll scan it into a pdf file. This will be my next project.
And as it happens I also got in a copy of "Back to the Sea", an introduction to Peter Frederick Anson and his life on the east coast of Scotland. This is a short book by Bruce and Harris on behalf of the Banffsire Maritime & Heritage Association. The proceeds from sales of this book and others go to help the Association and can be purchased from their web site at http://www.banffshiremaritime.org.uk
Peter died in 1975 so we hope this will also be a tribute to his life and work.
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For those that enjoy Scottish History you might be interested in purchasing a subscription to the "History Scotland" magazine which comes out bi-monthly. They have a web site at http://www.historyscotland.com/
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I might add that in our Electric Scotland Community where you read this newsletter we also have a forum for "What's New on Electric Scotland" at http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...at-s-New-on-ES
Part of the reason for having this forum is so that you can give us some feedback on what you think of the various books we're publshing on the site. You do of course need to be signed in as a member to be able to post.
However, we'd certainly welcome your comments on the various threads we post up there as that will tell us whether you like them or not and also if you'd like to see more on the subject.
We also have a General Posts forum where you can add your own comments on our more general offerings like are you happy with getting content delivered by pdf files or would you prefer text or even if you don't mind either way. This forum can be used to discuss anything to do with our ElectricScotland sites of ElectricScotland.com or ElectricScotland.net and our offerings.
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I also heard of the new web site Qwiki which is in Alpha at the moment. I think this may lead to being one of the big new web sites and as a wee example visit http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/Scotland
ABOUT THE STORIES
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Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
Electric Scotland Community
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We've been having a wee discussion on why Scots did so well a century and more ago but seem not to be doing so well today. I'd certainly encourage you all to get involved to see what we might learn from each other.
The thrust of the discussion is to do with why the Scots were so successful all over the world and yet not showing nearly that same success today.
In trying to find an answer to this I have noted that a century and more ago our children were very involved with the church. This meant that when ministers visited their parishioners they would also examine the children to check that they knew their Bible. I have often been impressed that many of these children could quote entire passages of the Bible. I know the Bible is not read nearly as much today as it was then... but I also don't know what if anything has taken its place.
The fact that Scots children could quote entire passages means they must have developed a very good memory which must have stood them in good stead when they went to school.
The another factor is school discipline. Look at the quote "Spare the rod and spoil the child". In doing so many accounts of social life and biographies I have already noticed that teachers seemed to be quite cruel in the old days and laid into the kids with cane and tawse. Often you hear about this treatment but at the same time the children have then gone on to do amazing things in the world.
In these days there was no social security or a National Health Service. And so even from 100 years ago or even 50 there have been great changes in the way children are brought up in Scotland.
Perhaps our older members can comment on what it was like as they grew up. For example I never remember allergies being even mentioned as I was growing up yet here in Canada it seems almost everyone has an allergy to something. Is that because there are so many chemicals in our food and water and in our homes with all the cleaning products we have?
I feel we should do an investigation into how children were brought up say 100 or 150 years ago or longer and compare that to how they are being brought up today. Like in the old days and even my own days at school when we got free time we could roam around wherever we wanted as long as we were home by a certain time. It seems kids these days are much tighter controlled. Even at my Boarding school I was able to take my bike and cycle miles away from the school.
Today the State looks after us from the cradle to the grave... is this a good thing? It also seems to me that children were closer to their family than they are today.
Anyway... I have up on the site many books that discuss our social life in the old days along with quite a few biographies in which they relate their school days. This might be a starting point in some new research on this theme.
And so we'd welcome any comments you may have in the different ways we were brought up and are being brought up.
We also added a couple of "Play by Post" games, one on chess and one on checkers. You get to play one on one with another member of the forum. We're not sure if this will be of interest or not but thought we'd make these available and would welcome any comments you may wish to make.
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org/forum.php
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is now available Compiled by Jamie Hepburn. In this issue he is looking at the problem of getting the big retailers to fork out some more money to help Scotland.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Christine McKelvie MSP has sent in here first diary entry for 2011 which can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mckelvie
Geikie's Etchings
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This week we've added more etchings...
Hallow Fair
Fishwife Smoking
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ikie/index.htm
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
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And of the Border Raids, Forays and Conflicts by John Parker Lawson (1839). This is a new publication we're starting on which is in 3 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Invasion Of The Danes - 787
Capture Of Inchkeith - 1549
Siege Of Broughty Castle - 1550
which starts Volume 2.
A nice wee account of the "Invasion of the Danes" which starts...
In the eighth century, during what is termed the Pictish period of Scottish history, the then singularly constituted governments of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, produced the celebrated Pirate Kings of the Northern Seas, called the Vikingr, perhaps unexampled in the annals of Europe. As the Goths, the Huns, and the Vandals, were the scourges of the human race by land, the Pirate Kings were long the scourges of the ocean, infesting almost every country, and plundering every vessel which fell into their hands.
"Till the eighth century, however," observes a learned historian, "the Vikingr confined their odious piracies to the Baltic. They now pursued their destructive courses on every sea and on every shore in Europe. They first appeared distinctly on the east coast of England during A.D. 787.
You can read these accounts at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
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By Cuthbert Bede (1861)
This week we've started Volume 2 with...
Chapter XVIII - Cantire's monarch of mountains, and its legends
Chapter XIX - On the Moors
There is abundant variety in the landscape that I am endeavouring to sketch. It might be said of the parish in which Glencreggan is situated, as Christopher North said of his own native place (only for "loch" we must read "sea"): "It was as level, as boggy, as hilly, as mountainous, as woody, as lochy, and as rivery a parish, as ever laughed to scorn Colonel Mudge and his Trigonometrical Survey." And this applies to the general features of the landscape, which, in its details, is much as follows.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/glencreggan/
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
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A Series of Anecdotal Biographies chiefly of Scotchmen, Mostly by James Paterson and Edited by James Maidment (1885)
This week we have added...
The Royal Edinburgh Volunteers
George Paton, Bibliographer and Antiquary
The Last Lord Pitsligo
Dr. William Cullen, Professor of Chemistry
William Brodie: Tried for Breaking into the Excise Office
George Smith, Accomplice of Deacon Brodie
Here is how the account starts of George Paton, Bibliographer and Antiquary...
Mr. George Paton was a keen bibliographer and antiquary. His father, Mr. John Paton, a respectable bookseller in the Old Parliament Square, was one of the committee of philanthropic citizens, who, in conjunction with the worthy Provost Drummond, originated that invaluable institution the Royal Infirmary. The facts and circumstances in the history of Mr. Paton, the younger, are scanty. He received a liberal education, but without any professional design, having been bred by his father to his own business. This, however, he relinquished, on obtaining a clerkship in the Custom-House, at a salary for many years of only £60. In this humble situation, the emoluments of which were subsequently augmented to .£80, he continued during the remainder of his long life, apparently without the smallest desire of attaining either to higher honour or greater wealth.
The chief aim of his ambition seemed to be the acquisition of such monuments of antiquity as might tend to elucidate the literature, history, and topography of his native country. His father had been an antiquary of some research, and at his death left a valuable collection, which the subject of our sketch took care, by every means within the compass of his narrow income, to augment. As illustrative of the strong bibliomania both in father and son, it is told of them, that whenever they happened to meet with any curious publication, instead of exposing it in the shop for sale, they immediately placed it in their private library. By singular regularity in the arrangement of his time, and strict frugality, Mr. Paton not only discharged his duties in the Custom-House with fidelity, but found leisure to acquire a degree of antiquarian lore, and was enabled to increase his curious collections to an extent seldom attained by a single individual.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/vol149.htm
The other entries can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/index.htm
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
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Painter and Artist and a man of considerable talents.
We have now completed this book with...
Chapter XI. Personality — Postscript and also the Appendices.
To say that the style was the man is in McTaggart's case to use no merely conventional phrase. For, in all essential respects, his art is a mirror of what he was himself. No one who knew him well could ever have expected him to paint otherwise than he did, and this is particularly true as regards the later part of his career, when his personality and his painting were alike fully developed. Like his art, his character combined richness and variety with a large and noble simplicity. Moreover, as in his painting, this was expressed in all his relationships with an engaging spontaneity to which transparent sincerity gave depth and fullness; and, while a rich and genial vein of humour and a sympathy and understanding, quick and tender as a woman's, sweetened a nature which inclined to take a serious view of life and its responsibilities, a rare courtesy of manner made intercourse with him easy and delightful.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rt_william.htm
Ten Tales
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By Sir Harry Lauder (1908)
We found this charming wee book and thought we'd add it to the site. We've added the last 2 tales...
The Heatin' o' the Hoose
"Doon the Water"
and you can view these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...entalesndx.htm
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
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Relating to the Districts of Appin, Glenlyon and Breadalbane by Duncan Campbell (1886)
We have now added chapters 25 to 30.
In chapter 28 we learn...
THE influence of friends, and the remonstrances of those who were then at the head of the War Department, and who wished, with the American war looming in the near distance, to retain him in the service, failed to alter the Coirneal Dubh's determination to retire as soon as possible after the tragical death of the reprieved marine. He returned to his home at the beginning of May, 1772, and on the 30th of that month, gave his brother, the captain, a discharge on settled accounts for intromissions as his factor, during the four years from Martinmas 1767, to the end of 1770. It appears from this account, that besides having paid to them the small sums due from their father's nearly bankrupt estate, the colonel had, as soon as he could, settled, most generously, liberal annuities on his three unmarried sisters. His old nurse, also, figures in the account for house rent and aliment, and other old dependents of the family and needy relations participated in his generosity. After his return he increased his benefactions. Very little of his rent ever went into his own pocket. His half-pay, prize money, and savings, however, brought him in more income than he required; and so in course of years he grew rich without an effort. He was abstemious and simple in his habits, and kept very little company, although those who visited him were treated with Highland hospitality. Towards the local gentry he had a stand-off air which made him more respected than popular among people of his own class. The Earl of Breadalbane, and Mr. Duncan Macara, the minister of Fortingall, were, outside his own family, his only intimate friends. He became much interested in the minister's son and only child, David Macara, who died forty years later at Quatre Bras, at the head of the Black Watch, a colonel in the army and a Knight Commander of the Bath. David Macara, however, had no intention of becoming a soldier, when his youthful dreams of ambition and abundant hopefulness amused and cheered the Black Colonel. He studied medicine, and served long as a doctor in the East Indian Company's service, before he took up the sword. Angus Robertson, from Chesthill, the lad he selected for his gillie when he entered the company's service, went seven times with him to the East Indies. Dr. Macara caught the infection of the national fighting spirit at the outbreak of the great war with France, and having saved a good deal of money, and seen, also, a good deal of fighting, he had no difficulty in changing his profession, and in getting on in the army with more rapidity than younger men, with smaller means, and less ability.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter28.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lyon/index.htm
Traditions of Perth
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Containing Sketches of the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants during the last century by George Penny (1836)
We've now added Pages 65 to 94 and the first article is about Reformers and Friends of the People which starts...
Shortly after the conclusion of the war with the American States, the country began to direct attention to political grievances, and the cry for Reform became the order of the day. By the most unprincipled stretch of power, the kingdom of Poland had been dismembered and divided between the three leading despotisms of Europe. A strong feeling of commiseration for the sufferings of that brave but unfortunate people prevailed in this country, which was expressed in resolutions passed at numerous public meetings. In this neighbourhood, John Richardson, Esq. took a prominent part. Sums were also collected for their aid; but these efforts were unavailing before the overwhelming tide of oppression, or were only useful in assuring the unfortunate Poles that there were some portions of their fellow men who sympathised whh them in their sufferings. In these demonstrations Perth waa distinguished. Among the numerous eloquent speakers which the occasion called forth, a young man of the name of George Mellis waa remarkable for his vigorous and impassioned eloquence.
You can get to these pages at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/perth/
Glasgow and it's Clubs
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Or Glimpses of Conditions, Manners, Characters and Oddities of the City By John Strang LL.D. (1857)
This week we've added "Glasgow from 1777 to 1783 — Morning and Evening Club".
Previous to the opening of the Glasgow Coffee-room, or News-room, at the Cross — which took place about the year 1782 — there was no regular rendezvous for quidnuncs, — no public place where the citizens could assemble to peruse the English or Scotch newspapers, and discuss their contents. It was then needful for the gobemouche, thirsting for news, to hurry to some well-frequented tavern where, for the accommodation of regular visitors, there was always kept in readiness the necessary political pabulum to satisfy his cravings. The period to which we refer was one of great interest and excitement; but it was one, also, when locomotion was in its infancy. About that time the communication with the metropolis, either of Scotland or of England, was most tedious — so much so, that a London newspaper of nearly a week old was looked upon as a novelty. To remedy in some measure this great inconvenience, Provost Buchanan was sent to London, in 1778, to endeavour to obtain a more speedy communication, by post, between the two cities — the intercourse being then only thrice a-week through Edinburgh. But it may be argued, from a subsequent entry which appears in the Council Records, dated 28th September, 1781, that although something, consequent on the chief magistrate's visit, had, in the interval, been done to better matters in this respect, still the Corporation and the citizens seem to have remained far from being satisfied with the Post-office authorities of the day, and to have been loud in their demands for improvement.
You can read this book as we get it up at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...w/clubsndx.htm
The Scot in England
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By John Herries McCulloch (1935)
This week we've added...
Chapter IX - The Scot in English Business
Chapter X - Eight Scottish Prime Ministers
Chapter XI - The Scot in English Agriculture
Chapter XII - "Scots Wha Hae For England Bled!"
which now completes this book.
In "The Scot in English Business" the account starts...
The first Scotsman who dabbled successfully in finance in England was King James VI. He was constantly talking about money and his acute need of it, and the fact that he managed things so well as he did on his slender and uncertain income indicated that he had a business head on his shoulders. He was not above selling titles to swell his purse, and he was always on the look-out for private undertakings that gave promise of producing substantial dividends. On more than one occasion he took a half-interest in enterprises of that character—with or without the sanction of the promoter—and it is a curious fact that his gambles were invariably successful. [When Hugh Middleton proposed building the first canal that supplied London with water, King James took a hand in the scheme, paying half the cost of construction. For this, however, he demanded half the property. Actually, he received thirty-six "King's Shares", which King Charles sacrificed for £500. At the end of the last century one of these undivided shares sold for £94,900I]
A far more constructive and dramatic force in English finance, however, was William Paterson, who founded the Bank of England in 1694. This Scot really understood the principles of private business and public finance. He combined sound business sense with spacious ideas about the development of the Empire, and the curious contradiction of his life was that he established the most powerful financial institution that England has ever seen, and then led Scotland to the greatest financial disaster that she has ever encountered.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...and/scot09.htm
You can read all the chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nd/scotndx.htm
Commercial Relations of England and Scotland 1603 - 1707
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By Theodora Keith (1910)
This book is a continuation of me trying to tell the story of Scotland and its relationship with England.
In the Preface is starts...
ENGLAND and Scotland are very different from one another, both religiously and politically, and we are apt to form an impression that the development of each nation was separate and distinct, while occasional incidents brought them into conflict. On closer consideration, however, this view of the relations of England and Scotland appears inadequate; they are indissolubly linked together as parts of the same island; there are similar elements in the population of each, and they have been affected by the same influences from time to time. They have had so much in common throughout their history that any movement, which took place in one, has reacted, in some fashion, upon parties and affairs in the other realm. The influence of the more advanced upon the smaller country has been patent all along, for conscious efforts have been made, again and again, to organise the Scottish kingdom on an English model. On the other hand, the effect of the political affinities of Scotland on the schemes of English monarchs can never be left out of sight; and the influence of popular movements in Scotland, on the affairs of Church and State in England, becomes obvious in the Elizabethan and Stuart periods. By keeping this constant and intimate interconnection in mind we may sometimes get a clue to guide us through a maze of incidents that seem to be capricious and unintelligible.
You can read more of this and the first two chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mercialndx.htm
John's Poems
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John Henderson sent us in a couple of new poems...
Ye Aye Can Wauchle Roon
Wee Laura
I should mention that most of John's poems have background music to them but can only be heard using Internet Explorer. I'm told the background music tag was a Microsoft created one and as it is thus not part of the standard the other browsers don't make use of it.
John's poems can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerels.htm
These new poems will be found at the foot of the page.
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
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Compiled by Beth Gay
The February 2011 issue is now available and includes quite a story about The Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games which I'll copy here...
To quote Mark Twain, “The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” After the vote and decision to hijack the games - a 29 year tradition - and move them from Gatlinburg, it must have seemed there would no longer be a Scottish festival in Sevier County. Gatlinburg and the surrounding community stand as committed today to our Scottish heritage and tradition as we did in 1981 when the games were first held here. A committment to our Celtic ancestry and a promise to continuing the education of our Celtic legacy to our current and future generations.
So, contrary to the rumours of our untimely demise, a new, creative, and revitalized group of passionate people joined in the comon cause to perpetuate this event - just like we have for the last 29 years in the same town and at the same site, with our arms open to our Scottish brothers. Ready once again to welcome you to our area and celebrate the traditions we both stand for. Planning is well under way for the 30th Annual Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games on 13-14 May 2011 at the Mills Park event site. Our original Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games have been held here in Sevier County for the last 29 years and we are proud to continue that tradition into our 30th year.
30 years: Same Event, Same Location!
What are Sevier County’s media outlets saying about the failed attempt to relocate Gatlinburg’s Scottish Highland Games? The three local press articles below represent the consensus of what happened earlier this year when members of the board of directors of the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games secretly and quietly slipped out of Gatlinburg, home of the games for the last 29 years, and moved the games to a college campus in another county.
News: The Mountain Press - 7th December 2010:
Dan Smith: Games still planned in Gatlinburg. There is an event that takes place in Gatlinburg every May where men run around in skirts and a sound similar to pigs being squeezed to death takes place. In reality, those are men in kilts, and the pigs are really bagpipes. These are the Scottish Highland Games. There is a rumor going around that the games have moved to Maryville next year. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Let me explain the situation. At our games in May, I noticed that the name had changed on the T-shirts and other literature. Instead of Gatlinburg Scottish Festival & Games, it read Smoky Mountain Highland Games. I thought this to be odd, especially after 29 years of having Gatlinburg in the title. It was later in the summer that I read an announcement in the paper that said the Gatlinburg games had moved to Maryville. I then realizied that we had been duped. Our games were being stolen from us by underhanded means. That is why they changed the name of the games, since they couldn’t use the Gatlinburg name in Maryville next year. In talking to some other former board members of those games, I concluded from their stories that even while on that board, they were treated rather shabbily.
The board rules had been changed in a backroom meeting that took the usual 24 board members and reduced it to just seven voting members. Some of those board members quit in protest and were disgruntled - rightly so. This was something like a political coup, where the government is taken over in the darkness of night when everyone is asleep.
Why did they do this? The answer that was given in the paper was that they had outgrown the space in Gatlinburg and had to have a bigger venue to operate. This is not true. First of all, I was on that board while it was still in Gatlinburg from 2005-2009. I know how many clans attended the Gatlinburg games: anywhere from 32-40. One year in the early 2000s we had 55 clans and there was no talk of moving then. We would average about 35 clans from year to year and that was a steady number for a long time. Not many games in other cities are growing these days. They have reached their max and have settled in at that current number, as we had. I believe that most of the board members were from Knoxville and just didn’t want to travel to Gatlinburg any longer. Some financial incentive was given to the board to come to Maryville with our games. I don’t know the dollar amount, but don’t believe it was all that much. The City of Gatlinburg provides far more monitary incentive for these games than Maryville.
To leave Gatlinburg in a lurch like they did is indefensible. Did they think of the history that had been built for 29 years? Did they consider the people of Gatlinburg, like the hotel and restaurant people that counted on the games each year? They did not. They did satisfy their own egos and their lust for power.
So are the games gone? No! Our games will go on in May 2011, on the second weekend of that month instead of the third. They left us; we are still here for Gatlinburg and always will be as long as the city wants us. Yes, we had to get a new name because the new Maryville group has the legal right to the old name. We are now The Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games.
The new board for the Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games: President Brian Papworth, Vice President Neil Morley, treasurer; Jeff Ownby and me as secretary. We are working tirelessly and meeting every Monday to get this project going, as we plan the events that are a tradition in Gatlinburg.
Remember this: The games did not move. The old board left their friends and started a new games, with a new name in another town. We have merely stepped in to fill a gap left by those who have deserted their post. We solicit your help. Slainte (to your health).
- Dan M. Smith is a Cincinnati native and Gatlinburg resident. He is the author of the forthcoming book “So Far from Forfar.” His son is serving in the Air Force. E-mail to dan0729@yahoo.com.
You can read this issue at http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft
A Sassenach's Stravaig
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Friday 5 June 2009 -- Galloping around the Highlands
I had been so engrossed in what I had been seeing, doing and photographing that two months had slipped by since my previous posting.
This posting was therefore a condensed account of where I'd been and what I'd done. No lustrous flowing prose, then, but bullet points and headlines.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/trav...hitehead03.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
This week we have another arricle entitled Robert Burns’s Reputation as the “Genius” of Scotland By Dr. Corey E. Andrews.
For the past two weeks, Susan and I have been traveling and as we sat in our hotel room in Paris, I began to mull over what to put on the Robert Burns Lives! web site this week. Corey Andrews kept popping up in my mind. He is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Youngstown State University. I’ve never asked Corey for an article to have him say no. He is an enthusiastic Burnsian with an outstanding scholarly background, giving him great standing within the Burns academic community. Just as importantly, Corey is esteemed by laymen like me. So, as I reached out to him from across the Atlantic with a request for an article, Corey’s immediate reply was: “Frank, so nice to hear from you. I’d be happy to send along my article for Robert Burns Lives! Let me know and I’ll send it along asap. Best, Corey”
I must tell you it doesn’t get much better than that for a fellow who does not mind begging for Burns. From our emails back and forth I learned that Corey is working on a larger project called Reading Robert Burns: Gender, Reputation, and Reception, 1776 - 2009, and the article below is part of that much anticipated essay. Visions of a Paris dateline soon disappeared because of a compact schedule coming to a rapid close, a last-night dinner with Parisian friends, and a 10½ hour flight back to Atlanta staring us in the face.
Thanks again, Corey, for always “being there” when called upon to assist with our web site. However, you can keep that cold weather up your way and not let it slip down South again! By leaving for London a day earlier than scheduled, we were able to get out of Atlanta before the snow and freezing rain descended on the area and shut down the world’s busiest airport for two days. How bad was it? Grandkids Ian and Stirling enjoyed an entire week out of school! We missed the beauty and misery that comes with snow-covered hills, impassable roads, lost electricity, empty bread shelves and sold-out milk cases. Yes, we had mighty cold weather in London, Glasgow and Paris, but Corey’s article on our Bard, Robert Burns, will warm your hearts as today we remember and celebrate his 252nd birthday! (FRS: 1.25.11)
You can read this article at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives105.htm
You can also read all the other articles at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
And to finish...
A Scotsman moves to Canada and attends his first baseball game.
The first batter approaches the batters' box, takes a few swings and then hits a double.
Everyone is on their feet screaming 'RUN!!!'
The next batter hits a single.
The Scotsman listens as the crowd again cheers 'RUN!! RUN!!'
The Scotsman is enjoying the game and begins screaming with the fans.
The fifth batter comes up and four balls go by. The Umpire calls: 'Walk.'
The batter starts his slow trot to first base. The Scot stands up and screams, 'RRun ye lazy bast**ard rrrrrrrrrrrun!'
The people around him begin laughing.
Embarrassed, the Scot sits back down. A friendly fan notes the man's embarrassment, leans over and explains, 'He can't run - he has four balls.'
The Scotsman stands up and screams: 'Walk with PRIDE Laddie.'
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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Electric Scotland News
Electric Scotland Community
The Flag in the Wind
Geikie's Etchings
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
Ten Tales by Sir Harry Lauder
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
Traditions of Perth
Glasgow and it's Clubs
The Scot in England
Commercial Relations of England and Scotland 1603 - 1707 (New Book)
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
A Sassenach's Stravaig
Robert Burns Lives!
Electric Scotland News
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I got in a book from David Thomson called "Fishermen and fishing ways" by Peter F Anson. David tells me that Peter was well known for his illustrations and paintings of the life of Fishermen principally in the North East of Scotland. He's asked us if we could make this book available on the site and we're happy to do so. As there are copious illustrations in the book we'll scan it into a pdf file. This will be my next project.
And as it happens I also got in a copy of "Back to the Sea", an introduction to Peter Frederick Anson and his life on the east coast of Scotland. This is a short book by Bruce and Harris on behalf of the Banffsire Maritime & Heritage Association. The proceeds from sales of this book and others go to help the Association and can be purchased from their web site at http://www.banffshiremaritime.org.uk
Peter died in 1975 so we hope this will also be a tribute to his life and work.
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For those that enjoy Scottish History you might be interested in purchasing a subscription to the "History Scotland" magazine which comes out bi-monthly. They have a web site at http://www.historyscotland.com/
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I might add that in our Electric Scotland Community where you read this newsletter we also have a forum for "What's New on Electric Scotland" at http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...at-s-New-on-ES
Part of the reason for having this forum is so that you can give us some feedback on what you think of the various books we're publshing on the site. You do of course need to be signed in as a member to be able to post.
However, we'd certainly welcome your comments on the various threads we post up there as that will tell us whether you like them or not and also if you'd like to see more on the subject.
We also have a General Posts forum where you can add your own comments on our more general offerings like are you happy with getting content delivered by pdf files or would you prefer text or even if you don't mind either way. This forum can be used to discuss anything to do with our ElectricScotland sites of ElectricScotland.com or ElectricScotland.net and our offerings.
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I also heard of the new web site Qwiki which is in Alpha at the moment. I think this may lead to being one of the big new web sites and as a wee example visit http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/Scotland
ABOUT THE STORIES
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Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
Electric Scotland Community
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We've been having a wee discussion on why Scots did so well a century and more ago but seem not to be doing so well today. I'd certainly encourage you all to get involved to see what we might learn from each other.
The thrust of the discussion is to do with why the Scots were so successful all over the world and yet not showing nearly that same success today.
In trying to find an answer to this I have noted that a century and more ago our children were very involved with the church. This meant that when ministers visited their parishioners they would also examine the children to check that they knew their Bible. I have often been impressed that many of these children could quote entire passages of the Bible. I know the Bible is not read nearly as much today as it was then... but I also don't know what if anything has taken its place.
The fact that Scots children could quote entire passages means they must have developed a very good memory which must have stood them in good stead when they went to school.
The another factor is school discipline. Look at the quote "Spare the rod and spoil the child". In doing so many accounts of social life and biographies I have already noticed that teachers seemed to be quite cruel in the old days and laid into the kids with cane and tawse. Often you hear about this treatment but at the same time the children have then gone on to do amazing things in the world.
In these days there was no social security or a National Health Service. And so even from 100 years ago or even 50 there have been great changes in the way children are brought up in Scotland.
Perhaps our older members can comment on what it was like as they grew up. For example I never remember allergies being even mentioned as I was growing up yet here in Canada it seems almost everyone has an allergy to something. Is that because there are so many chemicals in our food and water and in our homes with all the cleaning products we have?
I feel we should do an investigation into how children were brought up say 100 or 150 years ago or longer and compare that to how they are being brought up today. Like in the old days and even my own days at school when we got free time we could roam around wherever we wanted as long as we were home by a certain time. It seems kids these days are much tighter controlled. Even at my Boarding school I was able to take my bike and cycle miles away from the school.
Today the State looks after us from the cradle to the grave... is this a good thing? It also seems to me that children were closer to their family than they are today.
Anyway... I have up on the site many books that discuss our social life in the old days along with quite a few biographies in which they relate their school days. This might be a starting point in some new research on this theme.
And so we'd welcome any comments you may have in the different ways we were brought up and are being brought up.
We also added a couple of "Play by Post" games, one on chess and one on checkers. You get to play one on one with another member of the forum. We're not sure if this will be of interest or not but thought we'd make these available and would welcome any comments you may wish to make.
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org/forum.php
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is now available Compiled by Jamie Hepburn. In this issue he is looking at the problem of getting the big retailers to fork out some more money to help Scotland.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Christine McKelvie MSP has sent in here first diary entry for 2011 which can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mckelvie
Geikie's Etchings
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This week we've added more etchings...
Hallow Fair
Fishwife Smoking
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ikie/index.htm
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
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And of the Border Raids, Forays and Conflicts by John Parker Lawson (1839). This is a new publication we're starting on which is in 3 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Invasion Of The Danes - 787
Capture Of Inchkeith - 1549
Siege Of Broughty Castle - 1550
which starts Volume 2.
A nice wee account of the "Invasion of the Danes" which starts...
In the eighth century, during what is termed the Pictish period of Scottish history, the then singularly constituted governments of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, produced the celebrated Pirate Kings of the Northern Seas, called the Vikingr, perhaps unexampled in the annals of Europe. As the Goths, the Huns, and the Vandals, were the scourges of the human race by land, the Pirate Kings were long the scourges of the ocean, infesting almost every country, and plundering every vessel which fell into their hands.
"Till the eighth century, however," observes a learned historian, "the Vikingr confined their odious piracies to the Baltic. They now pursued their destructive courses on every sea and on every shore in Europe. They first appeared distinctly on the east coast of England during A.D. 787.
You can read these accounts at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
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By Cuthbert Bede (1861)
This week we've started Volume 2 with...
Chapter XVIII - Cantire's monarch of mountains, and its legends
Chapter XIX - On the Moors
There is abundant variety in the landscape that I am endeavouring to sketch. It might be said of the parish in which Glencreggan is situated, as Christopher North said of his own native place (only for "loch" we must read "sea"): "It was as level, as boggy, as hilly, as mountainous, as woody, as lochy, and as rivery a parish, as ever laughed to scorn Colonel Mudge and his Trigonometrical Survey." And this applies to the general features of the landscape, which, in its details, is much as follows.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/glencreggan/
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
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A Series of Anecdotal Biographies chiefly of Scotchmen, Mostly by James Paterson and Edited by James Maidment (1885)
This week we have added...
The Royal Edinburgh Volunteers
George Paton, Bibliographer and Antiquary
The Last Lord Pitsligo
Dr. William Cullen, Professor of Chemistry
William Brodie: Tried for Breaking into the Excise Office
George Smith, Accomplice of Deacon Brodie
Here is how the account starts of George Paton, Bibliographer and Antiquary...
Mr. George Paton was a keen bibliographer and antiquary. His father, Mr. John Paton, a respectable bookseller in the Old Parliament Square, was one of the committee of philanthropic citizens, who, in conjunction with the worthy Provost Drummond, originated that invaluable institution the Royal Infirmary. The facts and circumstances in the history of Mr. Paton, the younger, are scanty. He received a liberal education, but without any professional design, having been bred by his father to his own business. This, however, he relinquished, on obtaining a clerkship in the Custom-House, at a salary for many years of only £60. In this humble situation, the emoluments of which were subsequently augmented to .£80, he continued during the remainder of his long life, apparently without the smallest desire of attaining either to higher honour or greater wealth.
The chief aim of his ambition seemed to be the acquisition of such monuments of antiquity as might tend to elucidate the literature, history, and topography of his native country. His father had been an antiquary of some research, and at his death left a valuable collection, which the subject of our sketch took care, by every means within the compass of his narrow income, to augment. As illustrative of the strong bibliomania both in father and son, it is told of them, that whenever they happened to meet with any curious publication, instead of exposing it in the shop for sale, they immediately placed it in their private library. By singular regularity in the arrangement of his time, and strict frugality, Mr. Paton not only discharged his duties in the Custom-House with fidelity, but found leisure to acquire a degree of antiquarian lore, and was enabled to increase his curious collections to an extent seldom attained by a single individual.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/vol149.htm
The other entries can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/index.htm
William McTaggart, R.S.A., V.P.R.S.W.
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Painter and Artist and a man of considerable talents.
We have now completed this book with...
Chapter XI. Personality — Postscript and also the Appendices.
To say that the style was the man is in McTaggart's case to use no merely conventional phrase. For, in all essential respects, his art is a mirror of what he was himself. No one who knew him well could ever have expected him to paint otherwise than he did, and this is particularly true as regards the later part of his career, when his personality and his painting were alike fully developed. Like his art, his character combined richness and variety with a large and noble simplicity. Moreover, as in his painting, this was expressed in all his relationships with an engaging spontaneity to which transparent sincerity gave depth and fullness; and, while a rich and genial vein of humour and a sympathy and understanding, quick and tender as a woman's, sweetened a nature which inclined to take a serious view of life and its responsibilities, a rare courtesy of manner made intercourse with him easy and delightful.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rt_william.htm
Ten Tales
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By Sir Harry Lauder (1908)
We found this charming wee book and thought we'd add it to the site. We've added the last 2 tales...
The Heatin' o' the Hoose
"Doon the Water"
and you can view these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...entalesndx.htm
The Lairds of Glenlyon: Historical Sketches
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Relating to the Districts of Appin, Glenlyon and Breadalbane by Duncan Campbell (1886)
We have now added chapters 25 to 30.
In chapter 28 we learn...
THE influence of friends, and the remonstrances of those who were then at the head of the War Department, and who wished, with the American war looming in the near distance, to retain him in the service, failed to alter the Coirneal Dubh's determination to retire as soon as possible after the tragical death of the reprieved marine. He returned to his home at the beginning of May, 1772, and on the 30th of that month, gave his brother, the captain, a discharge on settled accounts for intromissions as his factor, during the four years from Martinmas 1767, to the end of 1770. It appears from this account, that besides having paid to them the small sums due from their father's nearly bankrupt estate, the colonel had, as soon as he could, settled, most generously, liberal annuities on his three unmarried sisters. His old nurse, also, figures in the account for house rent and aliment, and other old dependents of the family and needy relations participated in his generosity. After his return he increased his benefactions. Very little of his rent ever went into his own pocket. His half-pay, prize money, and savings, however, brought him in more income than he required; and so in course of years he grew rich without an effort. He was abstemious and simple in his habits, and kept very little company, although those who visited him were treated with Highland hospitality. Towards the local gentry he had a stand-off air which made him more respected than popular among people of his own class. The Earl of Breadalbane, and Mr. Duncan Macara, the minister of Fortingall, were, outside his own family, his only intimate friends. He became much interested in the minister's son and only child, David Macara, who died forty years later at Quatre Bras, at the head of the Black Watch, a colonel in the army and a Knight Commander of the Bath. David Macara, however, had no intention of becoming a soldier, when his youthful dreams of ambition and abundant hopefulness amused and cheered the Black Colonel. He studied medicine, and served long as a doctor in the East Indian Company's service, before he took up the sword. Angus Robertson, from Chesthill, the lad he selected for his gillie when he entered the company's service, went seven times with him to the East Indies. Dr. Macara caught the infection of the national fighting spirit at the outbreak of the great war with France, and having saved a good deal of money, and seen, also, a good deal of fighting, he had no difficulty in changing his profession, and in getting on in the army with more rapidity than younger men, with smaller means, and less ability.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter28.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lyon/index.htm
Traditions of Perth
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Containing Sketches of the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants during the last century by George Penny (1836)
We've now added Pages 65 to 94 and the first article is about Reformers and Friends of the People which starts...
Shortly after the conclusion of the war with the American States, the country began to direct attention to political grievances, and the cry for Reform became the order of the day. By the most unprincipled stretch of power, the kingdom of Poland had been dismembered and divided between the three leading despotisms of Europe. A strong feeling of commiseration for the sufferings of that brave but unfortunate people prevailed in this country, which was expressed in resolutions passed at numerous public meetings. In this neighbourhood, John Richardson, Esq. took a prominent part. Sums were also collected for their aid; but these efforts were unavailing before the overwhelming tide of oppression, or were only useful in assuring the unfortunate Poles that there were some portions of their fellow men who sympathised whh them in their sufferings. In these demonstrations Perth waa distinguished. Among the numerous eloquent speakers which the occasion called forth, a young man of the name of George Mellis waa remarkable for his vigorous and impassioned eloquence.
You can get to these pages at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/perth/
Glasgow and it's Clubs
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Or Glimpses of Conditions, Manners, Characters and Oddities of the City By John Strang LL.D. (1857)
This week we've added "Glasgow from 1777 to 1783 — Morning and Evening Club".
Previous to the opening of the Glasgow Coffee-room, or News-room, at the Cross — which took place about the year 1782 — there was no regular rendezvous for quidnuncs, — no public place where the citizens could assemble to peruse the English or Scotch newspapers, and discuss their contents. It was then needful for the gobemouche, thirsting for news, to hurry to some well-frequented tavern where, for the accommodation of regular visitors, there was always kept in readiness the necessary political pabulum to satisfy his cravings. The period to which we refer was one of great interest and excitement; but it was one, also, when locomotion was in its infancy. About that time the communication with the metropolis, either of Scotland or of England, was most tedious — so much so, that a London newspaper of nearly a week old was looked upon as a novelty. To remedy in some measure this great inconvenience, Provost Buchanan was sent to London, in 1778, to endeavour to obtain a more speedy communication, by post, between the two cities — the intercourse being then only thrice a-week through Edinburgh. But it may be argued, from a subsequent entry which appears in the Council Records, dated 28th September, 1781, that although something, consequent on the chief magistrate's visit, had, in the interval, been done to better matters in this respect, still the Corporation and the citizens seem to have remained far from being satisfied with the Post-office authorities of the day, and to have been loud in their demands for improvement.
You can read this book as we get it up at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...w/clubsndx.htm
The Scot in England
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By John Herries McCulloch (1935)
This week we've added...
Chapter IX - The Scot in English Business
Chapter X - Eight Scottish Prime Ministers
Chapter XI - The Scot in English Agriculture
Chapter XII - "Scots Wha Hae For England Bled!"
which now completes this book.
In "The Scot in English Business" the account starts...
The first Scotsman who dabbled successfully in finance in England was King James VI. He was constantly talking about money and his acute need of it, and the fact that he managed things so well as he did on his slender and uncertain income indicated that he had a business head on his shoulders. He was not above selling titles to swell his purse, and he was always on the look-out for private undertakings that gave promise of producing substantial dividends. On more than one occasion he took a half-interest in enterprises of that character—with or without the sanction of the promoter—and it is a curious fact that his gambles were invariably successful. [When Hugh Middleton proposed building the first canal that supplied London with water, King James took a hand in the scheme, paying half the cost of construction. For this, however, he demanded half the property. Actually, he received thirty-six "King's Shares", which King Charles sacrificed for £500. At the end of the last century one of these undivided shares sold for £94,900I]
A far more constructive and dramatic force in English finance, however, was William Paterson, who founded the Bank of England in 1694. This Scot really understood the principles of private business and public finance. He combined sound business sense with spacious ideas about the development of the Empire, and the curious contradiction of his life was that he established the most powerful financial institution that England has ever seen, and then led Scotland to the greatest financial disaster that she has ever encountered.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...and/scot09.htm
You can read all the chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nd/scotndx.htm
Commercial Relations of England and Scotland 1603 - 1707
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By Theodora Keith (1910)
This book is a continuation of me trying to tell the story of Scotland and its relationship with England.
In the Preface is starts...
ENGLAND and Scotland are very different from one another, both religiously and politically, and we are apt to form an impression that the development of each nation was separate and distinct, while occasional incidents brought them into conflict. On closer consideration, however, this view of the relations of England and Scotland appears inadequate; they are indissolubly linked together as parts of the same island; there are similar elements in the population of each, and they have been affected by the same influences from time to time. They have had so much in common throughout their history that any movement, which took place in one, has reacted, in some fashion, upon parties and affairs in the other realm. The influence of the more advanced upon the smaller country has been patent all along, for conscious efforts have been made, again and again, to organise the Scottish kingdom on an English model. On the other hand, the effect of the political affinities of Scotland on the schemes of English monarchs can never be left out of sight; and the influence of popular movements in Scotland, on the affairs of Church and State in England, becomes obvious in the Elizabethan and Stuart periods. By keeping this constant and intimate interconnection in mind we may sometimes get a clue to guide us through a maze of incidents that seem to be capricious and unintelligible.
You can read more of this and the first two chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mercialndx.htm
John's Poems
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John Henderson sent us in a couple of new poems...
Ye Aye Can Wauchle Roon
Wee Laura
I should mention that most of John's poems have background music to them but can only be heard using Internet Explorer. I'm told the background music tag was a Microsoft created one and as it is thus not part of the standard the other browsers don't make use of it.
John's poems can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerels.htm
These new poems will be found at the foot of the page.
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
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Compiled by Beth Gay
The February 2011 issue is now available and includes quite a story about The Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games which I'll copy here...
To quote Mark Twain, “The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” After the vote and decision to hijack the games - a 29 year tradition - and move them from Gatlinburg, it must have seemed there would no longer be a Scottish festival in Sevier County. Gatlinburg and the surrounding community stand as committed today to our Scottish heritage and tradition as we did in 1981 when the games were first held here. A committment to our Celtic ancestry and a promise to continuing the education of our Celtic legacy to our current and future generations.
So, contrary to the rumours of our untimely demise, a new, creative, and revitalized group of passionate people joined in the comon cause to perpetuate this event - just like we have for the last 29 years in the same town and at the same site, with our arms open to our Scottish brothers. Ready once again to welcome you to our area and celebrate the traditions we both stand for. Planning is well under way for the 30th Annual Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games on 13-14 May 2011 at the Mills Park event site. Our original Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games have been held here in Sevier County for the last 29 years and we are proud to continue that tradition into our 30th year.
30 years: Same Event, Same Location!
What are Sevier County’s media outlets saying about the failed attempt to relocate Gatlinburg’s Scottish Highland Games? The three local press articles below represent the consensus of what happened earlier this year when members of the board of directors of the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games secretly and quietly slipped out of Gatlinburg, home of the games for the last 29 years, and moved the games to a college campus in another county.
News: The Mountain Press - 7th December 2010:
Dan Smith: Games still planned in Gatlinburg. There is an event that takes place in Gatlinburg every May where men run around in skirts and a sound similar to pigs being squeezed to death takes place. In reality, those are men in kilts, and the pigs are really bagpipes. These are the Scottish Highland Games. There is a rumor going around that the games have moved to Maryville next year. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Let me explain the situation. At our games in May, I noticed that the name had changed on the T-shirts and other literature. Instead of Gatlinburg Scottish Festival & Games, it read Smoky Mountain Highland Games. I thought this to be odd, especially after 29 years of having Gatlinburg in the title. It was later in the summer that I read an announcement in the paper that said the Gatlinburg games had moved to Maryville. I then realizied that we had been duped. Our games were being stolen from us by underhanded means. That is why they changed the name of the games, since they couldn’t use the Gatlinburg name in Maryville next year. In talking to some other former board members of those games, I concluded from their stories that even while on that board, they were treated rather shabbily.
The board rules had been changed in a backroom meeting that took the usual 24 board members and reduced it to just seven voting members. Some of those board members quit in protest and were disgruntled - rightly so. This was something like a political coup, where the government is taken over in the darkness of night when everyone is asleep.
Why did they do this? The answer that was given in the paper was that they had outgrown the space in Gatlinburg and had to have a bigger venue to operate. This is not true. First of all, I was on that board while it was still in Gatlinburg from 2005-2009. I know how many clans attended the Gatlinburg games: anywhere from 32-40. One year in the early 2000s we had 55 clans and there was no talk of moving then. We would average about 35 clans from year to year and that was a steady number for a long time. Not many games in other cities are growing these days. They have reached their max and have settled in at that current number, as we had. I believe that most of the board members were from Knoxville and just didn’t want to travel to Gatlinburg any longer. Some financial incentive was given to the board to come to Maryville with our games. I don’t know the dollar amount, but don’t believe it was all that much. The City of Gatlinburg provides far more monitary incentive for these games than Maryville.
To leave Gatlinburg in a lurch like they did is indefensible. Did they think of the history that had been built for 29 years? Did they consider the people of Gatlinburg, like the hotel and restaurant people that counted on the games each year? They did not. They did satisfy their own egos and their lust for power.
So are the games gone? No! Our games will go on in May 2011, on the second weekend of that month instead of the third. They left us; we are still here for Gatlinburg and always will be as long as the city wants us. Yes, we had to get a new name because the new Maryville group has the legal right to the old name. We are now The Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games.
The new board for the Gatlinburg Scottish Highland Games: President Brian Papworth, Vice President Neil Morley, treasurer; Jeff Ownby and me as secretary. We are working tirelessly and meeting every Monday to get this project going, as we plan the events that are a tradition in Gatlinburg.
Remember this: The games did not move. The old board left their friends and started a new games, with a new name in another town. We have merely stepped in to fill a gap left by those who have deserted their post. We solicit your help. Slainte (to your health).
- Dan M. Smith is a Cincinnati native and Gatlinburg resident. He is the author of the forthcoming book “So Far from Forfar.” His son is serving in the Air Force. E-mail to dan0729@yahoo.com.
You can read this issue at http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft
A Sassenach's Stravaig
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Friday 5 June 2009 -- Galloping around the Highlands
I had been so engrossed in what I had been seeing, doing and photographing that two months had slipped by since my previous posting.
This posting was therefore a condensed account of where I'd been and what I'd done. No lustrous flowing prose, then, but bullet points and headlines.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/trav...hitehead03.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
This week we have another arricle entitled Robert Burns’s Reputation as the “Genius” of Scotland By Dr. Corey E. Andrews.
For the past two weeks, Susan and I have been traveling and as we sat in our hotel room in Paris, I began to mull over what to put on the Robert Burns Lives! web site this week. Corey Andrews kept popping up in my mind. He is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Youngstown State University. I’ve never asked Corey for an article to have him say no. He is an enthusiastic Burnsian with an outstanding scholarly background, giving him great standing within the Burns academic community. Just as importantly, Corey is esteemed by laymen like me. So, as I reached out to him from across the Atlantic with a request for an article, Corey’s immediate reply was: “Frank, so nice to hear from you. I’d be happy to send along my article for Robert Burns Lives! Let me know and I’ll send it along asap. Best, Corey”
I must tell you it doesn’t get much better than that for a fellow who does not mind begging for Burns. From our emails back and forth I learned that Corey is working on a larger project called Reading Robert Burns: Gender, Reputation, and Reception, 1776 - 2009, and the article below is part of that much anticipated essay. Visions of a Paris dateline soon disappeared because of a compact schedule coming to a rapid close, a last-night dinner with Parisian friends, and a 10½ hour flight back to Atlanta staring us in the face.
Thanks again, Corey, for always “being there” when called upon to assist with our web site. However, you can keep that cold weather up your way and not let it slip down South again! By leaving for London a day earlier than scheduled, we were able to get out of Atlanta before the snow and freezing rain descended on the area and shut down the world’s busiest airport for two days. How bad was it? Grandkids Ian and Stirling enjoyed an entire week out of school! We missed the beauty and misery that comes with snow-covered hills, impassable roads, lost electricity, empty bread shelves and sold-out milk cases. Yes, we had mighty cold weather in London, Glasgow and Paris, but Corey’s article on our Bard, Robert Burns, will warm your hearts as today we remember and celebrate his 252nd birthday! (FRS: 1.25.11)
You can read this article at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives105.htm
You can also read all the other articles at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
And to finish...
A Scotsman moves to Canada and attends his first baseball game.
The first batter approaches the batters' box, takes a few swings and then hits a double.
Everyone is on their feet screaming 'RUN!!!'
The next batter hits a single.
The Scotsman listens as the crowd again cheers 'RUN!! RUN!!'
The Scotsman is enjoying the game and begins screaming with the fans.
The fifth batter comes up and four balls go by. The Umpire calls: 'Walk.'
The batter starts his slow trot to first base. The Scot stands up and screams, 'RRun ye lazy bast**ard rrrrrrrrrrrun!'
The people around him begin laughing.
Embarrassed, the Scot sits back down. A friendly fan notes the man's embarrassment, leans over and explains, 'He can't run - he has four balls.'
The Scotsman stands up and screams: 'Walk with PRIDE Laddie.'
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com