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CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
Electric Scotland Community
The Flag in the Wind
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Poems of George Alexander Rodger
Memoirs of the Jacobites
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
Our New Zealand Cousins
Our Australian Cousins (New Book)
Memoirs of Robert Dollar
Life of the Rev. Thomas Guthrie D.D.
A Scot in China of Today
The Life of Hugh Miller (New Book)
The Fall of Canada
Scotland's National Borders
The Settlers in Canada (New Complete Book)
Edible Wild Plants
Early Travellers in Scotland
Electric Scotland News
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We had a fire at our place and while mostly contained to the kitchen there was considerable smoke damage. We also lost power and had to power up a generator and of course had to also clean out our servers as they are in the basement but the firemen had to knock a hole in the basement wall to help clear out the smoke. So all in all a bit of a tough day. That was why we were down for a time. We are now on temporary power thanks to our next door neighbour but hope to be fully back next week after the final fire inspection.
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The big news this week for me will no doubt be a big yawn for you all. Essentially we've been stuck on an old 2003 server because I use Microsoft Front Page to publish to the site and that product is not supported on the 2008 platform. There was a company that said they were working on getting a release that would mean I could publish to 2008 and this week they've announced it is now available! YEAH!
So this coming week we'll be looking to move the main electricscotland.com and .net sites over to the new server which is much faster and also has a lot more facilities. This also means we'll be able to get our mirror server up at Simon Fraser University as a remote backup meaning if we ever go down that server will simply take its place.
So great news for me and hopefully as we get moved over and make use of a lot of new facilities that will mean something good for us all.
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As I'm due to give a talk in Quebec about the Scots connections with France and in Canada I've been keeping an eye out for material that I could use. This week I discovered a book about "The Fall of Canada" which is actually the story of the British takeover of Quebec. In it there are a couple of significant Scots and so I dug in a bit more and found some pdf files about them which I've added to the site and I'll tell you more about this below.
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Have also started on another biography for which more below. This is part of my own investigations into the lives of significant Scots to see if we can spot any commonality in their upbringing and way of life that would give us a clue as to why Scots were so successful both at home and abroad.
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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I've downloaded some new games for our Arcade and have just transferred them to Steve so hopefully he'll get them up shortly for you to check them out.
And yes due to the fire he hasn't managed to get them up yet but hopefully next week.
On a more serious note out good friend Marie Orr has passed away... here is the obituary...
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Marie P. (Brown) Rimasse, 90, of Fair Lawn, NJ passed away on Friday, July 8, 2011 at home surrounded by her loving family. Born and raised in Essex County, NJ, she resided in Saddle Brook for fifty-five years before moving to Fair Lawn eight years ago. Proud of her Scottish roots, she was a member of Electric Scotland. Marie will be remember for her love of animals.
Prior to retiring, Marie was a registered nurse. Her forty year career in nursing included employment with Passaic General Hospital, Saddle Brook Hospital and also private duty care.
Beloved wife of the late Howard Rimasse. Loving and devoted mother of Kevin Rimasse and companion, Aileen Gilbert and Patricia R. Adler and husband, Wendell. Dear sister of Elizabeth Brown, Margaret Van Brunt, George Brown and the late Anne Estes, Amanda Monaghan and Arthur, Allton and William Brown.
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I'm sure many of our old regulars will know of Marie from her many postings in our various online communities over the years. You can post a comment at http://www.vpfairlawn.com/obituaries...ry.asp?id=4041
And Euan posted up an interesting wee video at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...=5847#post5847
He says... A small video from the movie Roxanne and Zeus, never saw the movie, but sure looks like a nice sappy one.
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org but of course if you are reading this you're already in it :-)
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is now available compiled by Jim Lynch.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
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 4 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Restoration of James I
Scottish Colony of Darien
Battle of Halidon Hill
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Poems of George Alexander Rodger
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Added some more poems...
Strathardle Gathering
In Memory of Doublet
which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/rodger.htm
Memoirs of the Jacobites
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Of 1715 and 1745 by Mrs Thomson (1845) in 3 volumes. We intend to add a chapter a week until complete.
I've now added "Sir John MacLean"
The account starts...
The name Maclean, abbreviated from Mac Gillean, is derived from the founder of the clan, "Gillean n'a Tuaidh," Gillean of the Rattle-axe, so called from his carrying with him as his ordinary weapon, a battle-axe. From this hero are descended the three principal families who compose the clan Maclean, who was also designated Gillean of Duart.
It is related of Gillean that, being one day engaged in a standing on the mountain of Bein't Sheala, and having wandered away from the rest of his party, the mountain became suddenly enveloped in a deep mist, and that he lost his track. For three days he wandered about; and, at length exhausted, threw himself under the shelter of a cranberry bush, previously fixing the handle of his battle-axe in the earth. He was discovered by his party, who had been vainly endeavouring to find him, insensible on the ground, with his arm round the handle of the battle-axe, whilst the head of the weapon rose above the bush. Hence, probably, the origin of the crest used by the clan Maclean, the battle-axe surrounded by a laurel-branch.
To Gillean of the Battle-axe various origins have been ascribed; truly is it observed, that "there is little wisdom in attempting to thread the mazes of fanciful and traditionary genealogies.'45' Like other families of importance, in feudal times, the Macleans had their seneachie, or historian; and, by the last of these, Dr. John Beaton, the descent, in regular order, from Aonaglius Turmi Teanebrach, a powerful monarch of Ireland, to Fergus the First, of Scotland, is traced.
A tradition had indeed prevailed, that the founder of the house of Maclean was a son of Fitzgerald, an Earl of Kildare,—a supposition which is contemptuously rejected by the historian of this ancient race. "In fact," he remarks, "from various sources, Gillean can be proved to have been in his grave, long before such a title as Earl of Kildare was known, and nearly two hundred years before the name of Fitzgerald existed." It appears, indeed, undoubted, from ancient records and well-authenticated sources, that the origin of Gillean was derived from the source which has been stated.
When the lordship of the Isles was forfeited, the clan Maclean was divided into four branches, each of which held of the Lords of the Isles; these branches were the Macleans of Duart, the Macleans of Loch-bay, the Macleans of Coll, and the Macleans of Ardgour. Of these, the most important branch was the family of Duart, founded by Lachlan Maclean, surnamed Lubanich. This powerful chief obtained such an ascendant at the court of the Lord of the Isles, as to provoke the enmity of the Chief of Mackinnon, who, on the occasion of a stag-hunt, formed a plot to cut off Lachlan and his brother, Hector Maclean. But the conspiracy was discovered by its objects; Mackinnon suffered death at the hands of the two brothers for his design ; and the Lord of the Isles, sailing in bis galley towards his Castle of Ardtorinsh in Morven, was captured, and carried to Icoluinbkill, where he was obliged, sitting on the famous black rock of lona, held sacred in those days, to swear that he would bestow in marriage upon Lachlan Lubanich his daughter Margaret, granddaughter, by her mother's side, of Robert the Second, King of Scotland : and with her, as a dowry, to give to the Lord of Duart, Eriska, with all its isles. The dowry demanded consisted of a towering rock, commanding an extensive view of the islands by which it is surrounded, and occupying a central situation among those tributaries. From the bold and aspiring chief was Sir John Maclean of Duart descended. The marriage of Lachlan Lubanich with Margaret of the Isles took place in the year 1366.
You can read the rest of this long story at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter09.htm
You can read the other chapters as we get them up at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/jacobites
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
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An Appreciation of his Social and Religious Outlook by Ian M. Fraser (2002).
Added another chapter to this account...
Social Conviction
You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/graham/
Our New Zealand Cousins
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By James Inglis (1887)
We now have several more chapters up of this book...
Chapter XVII.
The Bluff—Bleak and inhospitable view—Miserable railway arrangements—First impressions—Cheerless ride to Invercargill—Forestry neglected—Shameful waste—The Timber industry—Necessity for reform—Pioneering—The usual Australian mode— The native method—A contrast—Invercargill—A large farm—Conservatism of the farming classes— Remenyi's anecdotes.
Chapter XVIII.
Education in New Zealand—School buildings—Opinion of a high authority—The order of educational arrangements—Professor Black's mining lectures— Scheme for instruction to miners—Technical education—Political parasites.
Chapter XIX.
The farming industry—Technical education for farmers —An agricultural department a necessity—State of farming in Australia—Slovenly methods—New products—Necessity for experiment—Village settlement—Water conservation—Futility of a protective policy.
Chapter XX.
Good-bye to the Bluff—A rough passage—Tasmania in the distance—Coast scenery—A nautical race— Ocean fisheries—Neglected industries—Fish curing —Too much reliance on State aid—The view on the Derwent—Hobart from the sea—An old-world town—"No spurt about the place"—Old-fashioned inns—Out into the country—ATasmanian squire— The great fruit industry—A famous orchard— Young Tasmanians—The hop industry—Australian investments—The Flinders Islands—A terra incognita—Back to Melbourne.
Chapter XXI.
Summary—Importance of the colonies sometimes overlooked at home—Their commercial importance— Fields for capital—Mineral wealth—Farm products —New Industries—Field for farmers—Liberal land regulations—Openings for artisans—For labourers —Free institutions—A land of promise for willing workers—Inducements for seekers after health and lovers of the picturesque—The clouds clearing— Returning prosperity—The peace and unity of the Empire.
Appendix
And this now completes this book.
Chapter XVIII starts...
To turn now more to the social than the physical features of the colony. After the neatness and numbers of the churches, perhaps the next thing that most strikes a reflective observer is the atten*tion that is paid to education, as exemplified in the number of schools, colleges, seminaries, and other educational buildings one meets. Although pos*sessing a considerably more rigorous and mutable climate than New South Wales, the school build*ings, as a rule, are not nearly so pretentious and expensive in New Zealand as they are in the former colony. This one fact alone speaks well for the practical nature of the people. In New South Wales enormous sums of money have been needlessly spent in erecting stone buildings far in advance of the requirements of the times. The schools are mostly built of wood in country dis*tricts in New Zealand. They are comfortable and neat. The children generally are taught together in class on the floor; but in the benches and at the desks the boys occupy one side of the school and the girls the other. The school furniture is fully up to modern requirements. All the teachers I met— and I tried to get speech of as many as I could— were very intelligent, and possessed of considerable esprit de corps. In such cities as Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, &c., the high schools were indeed quite palatial looking, and some of the private educational institutions were not more admirable in their interior arrangements for the comfort and health of the pupils, than imposing externally from an architectural point of view.
I had the privilege and good fortune to meet some of the highest and most honoured authorities on educational subjects in the colony. I found a very generally expressed opinion that the existing system errs on the side of liberality. The burden of the educational impost presses heavier on the people every year. In fact, free education is felt by many now to have been a political blunder. It was never wanted. In the bitter outcry against sectarian teaching on the part of large masses, the advocates of free education stole a march, and succeeded in getting their whole programme of free, secular, and compulsory education swallowed entire, like a bolus. Many now think that the giving up of the revenue derived from fees was a useless, nay, a harmful surrender. What costs nothing, say they, is generally not valued much by the recipient, and anything which tends to sap the citadel of personal responsibility and individual independence is bad for the self-reliance of the citizen.
You can red the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter18.htm
You can get to the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nzcousins/
Our Australian Cousins
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By James Inglis (1880)
Having now completed Our New Zealand Cousins above it is now time to move on to James Inglis's next book "Our Australian Cousins".
Why was this book written? Principally to satisfy the questionings of many friends in India and the old country, who continually write me such queries as these:—How do you like Australia? "Would you advise me to come out? Is it healthy? Is there any sport to be had? Are the people really nice? Could a man, with a small income and a large family do any*thing out there? and so on. I have honestly tried to detail my own experiences in such a way, that they shall be usefully suggestive to my friendly catechists and others like them, and yet be sufficiently interesting to command the suffrages of the general reader.
I do not profess to be a polished writer. The graces of my style are perhaps conspicuous by absence, yet I would have the critic know, that I have no opportunity of correcting proofs. Add to this that my book has .been written mostly on holidays, and late into the night, after an active day's duty in the city, when both hand and brain are somewhat jaded. It has required no slight sense of duty, and a desire to do some public good to keep me up to my self-appointed task.
I have incorporated letters that I wrote to The Pioneer when acting as special correspondent for that paper, and I have tried to write naturally, truthfully, and as I felt; where I have made extracts from news*papers and books, I have acknowledged the obligation, and here again thankfully do so to my unknown friends in council.
It may be asked what acquaintance I have with my text, and whether I am competent to speak as a critic, when I refer to colonial social manners and customs, politics, institutions and peoples. I can only say that I have been a colonist since I was about eighteen years of age. In New Zealand, I was by turns cadet on a sheep-run, gold-digger, travelling agent and general utility-man, turning my hand to what first presented itself, for I was young and ardent, and willing to work and did work hard. In India I was for twelve years Indigo planter and manager of large estates. Since I returned to the antipodes, I have been journalist, traveller, special correspondent, newspaper manager, and am now secretary of an insurance company. I claim therefore as a traveller, and an observant man, to know something about the colonies. The success of a former book, and the very favourable criticisms it received, has emboldened me to commit this present volume to the winds and waves of public opinion.
I honestly love Australia. It has become a healthy, happy home to me, after I had been given up by my medical friends as almost a hopeless case. I like the Australian people—the young people especially— and I want my book, if they read it, to do more than merely amuse, I want it to awaken thought. They will find here, written by no unfriendly hand, with no bias or prejudice, the opinions of a cosmopolitan. I have spoken strongly on colonial public life, and public men, and public measures, but not more so than the subject deserves.
The future of Australia lies in the hands of her young men. If they use the mighty power they possess, and send the right men to their parliaments and councils, and purge them of corrupt government, and look on things with a wider and more compre*hensive vision; say less, and act more, in fact: act righteously and honestly and loyally, and if my pages of sporting recollection, scenic description, and straightforward criticism, shall conduce in the least degree to this result, I shall think my night oil has burned to good purpose.
I am under great obligations to Mr. R. Scott of Newcastle, for fishing and shooting notes, and to Dr. S. T. Knaggs of the same city for much kind assistance, and to Mr. Gr. Ranken, "Capricornus," for much counsel and kindly help.
JAS. INGLIS.
Strathfield, Sydney, N.S.W.,
August, 1879.
We now have the first chapter up which can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/auscousins/
Memoirs of Robert Dollar
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By the Robert Dollar Company in 2 volumes (1917)
We now have more chapter up...
Chapter Thirteen. Conditions Improve in China
Chapter Fourteen. Interesting Descriptions of Interior China
Chapter Fifteen. An Epoch Making Voyage
Chapter Sixteen. Commissioners Separate to Reunite Later
Chapter Seventeen. Leave for the Orient as Special Delegte of P. P. I. E.
Chapter Eighteen. Sail for Home on the "Mongolia"
Chapter Nineteen. A Journey to Great Britain and Return
In Chapter Thirteen we learn...
We arrived hack in Hong Kong on the 6th of February, 1909, visited Canton, and spent several days in looking over our business interests and in endeavoring to develop and increase them.
Hong Kong has improved greatly in the past few years. When we first visited it we could look from the veranda of the Hong Kong Hotel over the bay, but now it is built up solid for one block in front of it. The buildings are from four to five stories, and all of them are of cut stone which gives the city a solid appearance. The streets are well made and kept clean. The hill rises so steep and close to the water that there will never be street railways except on the two or three blocks fronting the harbor. The Peak Railway, which operates by cable, to the top, is perhaps the steepest road in operation.
From a commercial point of view this is the best port in the world. It is a free port in every sense, there being only a small hospital tax charged to each ship—about $30.00 Mex. for a seven thousand ton steamer. Pilotage is not compulsory; in fact pilots are not used or required except to show the captains where they are to berth, and while all vessels have to lay at anchor (there being only berth" at the Kowloon wharves for four steamers), the manner and facilities for handling cargo cannot be surpassed.
The steamer "Bessie Dollar" arrived Saturday afternoon, too late to do anything, aud as no work is allowed on Sunday she commenced to discharge six thousand tons of coal, Monday. The following Saturday she sailed with two thousand tons of cargo, having been in port just one week and handled over eight thousand tons of cargo. All this accounts for this port having risen to the second place in the world's commerce. No quarantine officers, no customs officers, no restrictions whatever; just come in and go to work getting out or receiving your cargo. Compare this with Newcastle, Australia, where they thought they had done wonders for us in loading six thousand tons of coal in twelve days, with its quarantine restrictions; customs troubles, compulsory pilotage, and compulsory tugboat assistance, all of which are no more necessary than they are in Hong Kong. In fact, I consider it less difficult to navigate a steamer into Svdney than into Hong Kong. So I came to the conclusion thai Australia is a good place to keep away from.
I visited the dockyard of the Taikoo Dockyard Co. (Butteriield & Swire), who will have the most complete repair shops and ducks in the Far East. Their large dock is complete, and in use it can take a ship eight hundred feet long. Then they have three marine railways alongside of it that can haul up vessels of three thousand tons gross. Their shops are under construct!! »n where they will make every thing required for a ship. They also propose to build river and coasting steamers. They have spent over twelve million dollars gold, and everything is most up-to-date and substantial as far as it is done. The dock is blasted out of solid rock, and it will take from four to five months before everything is in working order.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...1chapter13.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/rdollar/
Life of the Rev. Thomas Guthrie D.D.
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This is another new book we're starting on another famous Scot but this time on the home front.
We now have up the following chapters...
Chapter IX. - National Education.
Chapter X. - Free St John's, Moderatorship.
Chapter XI. - Efforts in the Temperance Cause.
Chapter XII. - Miscellaneous Incidents and Movements.
Chapter XIII. - The Pulpit—Platform—Society—Person.
Chapter XIV. - Writings and Travels.
Chapter XV. - Illness—Death—Funeral—Conclusion.
The Platform Sayings, Anecdotes and Sayings or Thomas Guthrie D.D. (pdf)
Autobiography of Thomas Guthrie D.D., and Memoir By his sons Rev. David K. Guthrie and Charles J. Guthrie M.A. (pdf)
And this now completes this book.
In Chapter IX we learn...
From the part that Dr Guthrie took in the promotion of ragged schools, and the earnestness with which he sought for them State support, it will readily be inferred that he held decided and liberal opinions on the general subject of education. He was a warm supporter of the Lord Advocate — James Moncreiff's Education Bill of 1855, "feeling," as he has put it, "that the first duty of the State is to educate her people, and the last to hang them: believing that her first duty is to prevent crime, and her second to punish it; believing that the first duty of the State is to build schools, and her second to build prisons; and believing that the State should charge herself with the duty of seeing that no child within her borders goes without education," he had no hesitation in pleading that education should be made compulsory, as he does in these words :—
"Why does the State take care that the child of every mill-spinner should be taught, and punish the party for neglecting it, and not take the same care of the children of the Grassmarket and the Cowgate? The law does not allow a man to starve his child; it is very cruel, it may be said, to starve the body; very cruel, it is true, and the State interferes with the liberty of the subject there. But if it is right in the law to compel the parent to feed his child's body, is it right in the law to allow him to starve his child's soul! Suppose the law did not compel him to feed his child's body, death would step in, and relieve society of the evil there; but if it does not compel him to feed the child's mind, what happens? The untaught child, in nine cases out of ten, becomes a burden, a nuisance, and a danger to the State.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter09.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/guthrie/
A Scot in China of Today
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Compiled by Ron Dow
Got another article in from Ron...
A day out at ZHONGSHAN park Guangdong China
This is sure opening up my eyes as to what you can find in China. Hope you are enjoying these accounts and all the pictures Ron is sending in. Mind that all the pictures are thumbnails and so each one is clickable to a larger image.
You can get to these articles at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../dow/index.htm
The Life of Hugh Miller
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A Sketch for Working Men (1862)
The following Sketch of the Life and Character of Hugh Miller, originally formed a series of articles which appeared in the Northern Daily Express, tinder the heading, "Sketches of Working Men." These articles excited considerable interest at the time of their appearance, and the Compiler of these pages thought it desirable to give them a form in which they would obtain a wider circulation and exert a more permanent influence than could be expected from isolated articles, running through a long series of the numbers of a local newspaper. He therefore applied to the Proprietor of the Northern Daily Express for permission to reprint the Sketch in its present form.
To this application Mr. J. H. Rutherford, Manager of the Express, courteously replied, and stated, that there was no objection to the compilation of the articles referred to, and the applicant was at perfect liberty to quote his authority.
It only remains for the Compiler to express his earnest wish, that the reading of his little book may be as useful to all into whose hands it may fall, as its compilation has been to him.
And so another new book we're starting
The life of Hugh Miller is that of no ordinary man and is fraught with no ordinary lessons. The triumphs achieved by such a man as George Stephenson were great triumphs, but not so great nor beneficial in their issues as those achieved by Hugh Miller. The Northumbrian miner had, doubtless, greater difficulties to contend with in prosecuting his education in the department of letters than any which met the Cromarty mason; for the latter received a more liberal education in school than boys in the rank of life in which he was born generally receive in any part of Scotland. The difference between George Stephenson and Hugh Miller does not lie so much in the relative range and grasp of their mental capacities, as in the relative value to mankind of their respective life labours; and although those of the former fill a larger space in the world's history, there can, we think, be no doubt that the life of the latter will ultimately yield more precious benefits to the species than even that of the former. The stock from which Hugh Miller sprung was a right noble stock; and it is proper, before attempting to unfold his life, that we devote some attention to his progenitors. Next to information respecting a great man himself, we naturally desire information regarding the line from which he descended. What would mankind not give to know intimately what sort of man the father of Shakespere was, for example! Some meagre details we indeed possess of that gentleman, but these serve rather to whet than to satisfy our curiosity respecting him. Fortunately for us, Hugh Miller wrote the story of his own life before his eye was dim or his natural strength abated; and in that delightful book, "My Schools and Schoolmasters," he has not only drawn himself in juster proportions than any one else could have done, but he has presented us with a striking portrait of his father, and bold outlines, which the imaginative reader ean easily fill up, of his grandfather and several of his more immediate relatives.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/miller/
The Fall of Canada
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A Chapter in the History of the Seven Year's War by George M. Wrong (1914)
This is a book I'm starting to work on as mentioned in the news portion above. While the book won't be available for a while yet I have managed to find some extra information on a few Scots that were prominent in this campaign so have made these available at the foot of the page. They include...
Ramezay, Claude De
Famous Firesides of French Canada
By Mary Wilson Alloway (1899) (pdf)
Life of General, the Hon. James Murray
A Builder of Canada with a Biographical Sketch of the family of Murray of Elibank by his descendant Major-Gen R. H. Mahon C.B., C.S.I. (1921) (pdf)
You can get to these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...da/fallndx.htm
Scotland's National Borders
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A couple of years back I got in a pdf explaining where Scotland's national Borders are. The reason is that there have been various attempts by the Westminster government to alter these borders and this document attemps to lay these out and the legality of such attempts. We now have an updated version of this document as at July 2011 and so I have replaced the old file with this new one.
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...al_borders.htm
The Settlers in Canada
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An entire book for you to read in 40 chapters.
I came across this book and thought I'd have a read of it and to my mild astonishment I completed it at one sitting and enjoyed it very much indeed. While it was written for an adult audience it would also make a great read for children and give them something of an insight into what it means to settle a new land.
Unlike my usual method of doing books I decided to post this book up complete in one go. I guess as I enjoyed it and read it at one sitting I thought you might also want to do so yourself.
Hope you enjoy it and you can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/kids/settlers.htm
Edible Wild Plants
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This is an interesting book about edible wild plants in North America.
INTRODUCTION BY ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
MORE than once I have been called to write the introduction to a book treating on some aspect of nature that was much in the line of my own interests; and usually had no difficulty in penning the few pages that were called for. But the introduction to a book by Oliver P. Medsger proved a wholly different undertaking. Why this should be the case will be better understood when I describe my first meeting with this man of the woods. It was at Woodland, New York, in the camp of Harry Little (Sagamore), that my good luck sent me out on a forest walk with Medsger; and every yard of our trip was made delightful by some bit of information about the myriad forms of wild life around us forms with which I had been superficially acquainted all my life, but which I never really knew, because I had no exact names, no knowledge of their virtues.
It reminded me of an incident in my early life in the West. A prairie-born girl was asked by her mother what her dream of heaven would be. The child's whole life had been in the home circle on the Plains; so she said simply: "Heaven is a place with a big shady tree, and an angel sitting under it, who never says, I don't know when asked a question."
In my own childhood and youth, I suffered beyond expression from the knowledge-hunger, from the impossibility of learning about the abounding wild life around me. And now, when it seemed almost too late, I had found a competent guide. I know now why his Indian name is "Nibowaka," the "Wise Woodman."
"This man has opened and read the book of nature," I said."And, more than that, he loves it, for his knowledge embodies not only the names and qualities of the plants and trees, but also the poetical ideas about them, and pleasant little rhymes and fancies that fix the bird or flower in memory and give it the romantic glamour so vital to the lover of the woods."
That walk was one of many in the years that followed; and the joy of the first was not exceptional. The qualities of his talk were the same a mingling of science and art, encyclopedic information and romantic joy in the woodland world of beauty. Thus you see why I was possessed of a sense of being overwhelmed when confronted with the responsibility of writing this introduction. As a matter of fact, I made many attempts during the last year, and cast each aside in turn.
But the book is in press, I must keep faith with the printer. If an introduction is meant to be an adequate proclamation to the world of a new arrival among its books of worth, then I must put this also in the fire and give up the attempt. But I am in hopes that it will serve, if only to announce to all the heart-hungry forest folk that here is the book I longed for so much in my youth here is the angel of the prairie girl. I know it will serve the coming wood-wanderers as it would have served me. It will be the book I dreamed of the key to the woods.
The book is in pdf format and can be downloaded at http://www.electricscotland.com/agriculture/edible.htm
Early Travellers in Scotland
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A very interesting book which give us some wee windows into Scotland in history.
This is an interesting book and it does reveal some interesting information about Scotland. Here are a couple of examples...
THE SCOTS ON THEIR MILITARY EXPEDITIONS
(Froissart, Chronicles, vol. i. chap. 17).
THE Scots are bold, hardy, and much inured to war. When they make their invasions into England, they march from twenty to four-and-twenty leagues without halting, as well by night as day; for they are all on horseback, except the camp-followers, who are on foot. The knights and esquires are well mounted on large bay horses, the common people on little galloways. They bring no carriages with them, on account of the mountains they have to pass in Northumberland ; neither do they carry with them any provisions of bread or wine; for their habits of sobriety are such, in time of war, that they will live for a long time on flesh half sodden, without bread, and drink the river water without wine. They have, therefore, no occasion for pots or pans; for they dress the flesh of their cattle in the skins, after they have taken them off; and, being sure to find plenty of them in the country which they invade, they carry none with them. Under the Haps of his saddle, each man carries a broad plate of metal ; behind the saddle, a little bag of oatmeal: when they have eaten too much of the sodden flesh, and their stomach appears weak and empty, they place this plate over the fire, mix with water their oatmeal, and when the plate is heated, they put a little of the paste upon it, and make a thin cake, like a cracknel or biscuit, which they eat to warm their stomachs: it is therefore no wonder, that they perform a longer day's march than other soldiers.
A FRENCH ARMY IN SCOTLAND THE FRENCH OPINION OF
THE SCOTS (1385) (vol. ii. chaps. 2 and 3).
News was soon spread through Scotland that a large body of men-at-arms from France were arrived in the country. Some began to murmur and say, "What devil has brought them here? or who has sent for them? Cannot we carry on our wars with England without their assistance? We shall never do any effectual good as long as they are with us. Let them be told to return again, for we are sufficiently numerous in Scotland to fight our own quarrels, and do not want their company. We neither understand their language nor they ours, and we cannot converse together. They will very soon eat up and destroy all we have in this country, and will do us more harm, if we allow them to remain amongst us, than the English could in battle. If the English do burn our houses, what consequence is it to us? We can rebuild them cheap enough, for we only require three days to do so, provided we have five or six poles and boughs to cover them."
And so in the first example you learn how the Scots went to battle and in the second you get a sense of how they survived the many wars that went on in Scotland.
There are many wee accounts throughout this book which give us valuable insight into Scotland in the old days.
You can download this book in pdf format at http://www.electricscotland.com/books/pdf/early.htm
And finally...
Options Open
Dr James Simpson, whose book "At Our Age" looks at the ageing process, tells of the woman who called on her aunt and was surprised when she answered the door wearing a hat. Naturally, the woman asked if her aunt was going out.
“Oh no dear. I always put my hat on when someone comes to the door. If it’s someone I don’t want to see, I say I’m just going out. But seeing it’s you, I’ve just come in.”
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
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Poems of George Alexander Rodger
Memoirs of the Jacobites
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
Our New Zealand Cousins
Our Australian Cousins (New Book)
Memoirs of Robert Dollar
Life of the Rev. Thomas Guthrie D.D.
A Scot in China of Today
The Life of Hugh Miller (New Book)
The Fall of Canada
Scotland's National Borders
The Settlers in Canada (New Complete Book)
Edible Wild Plants
Early Travellers in Scotland
Electric Scotland News
----------------------
We had a fire at our place and while mostly contained to the kitchen there was considerable smoke damage. We also lost power and had to power up a generator and of course had to also clean out our servers as they are in the basement but the firemen had to knock a hole in the basement wall to help clear out the smoke. So all in all a bit of a tough day. That was why we were down for a time. We are now on temporary power thanks to our next door neighbour but hope to be fully back next week after the final fire inspection.
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The big news this week for me will no doubt be a big yawn for you all. Essentially we've been stuck on an old 2003 server because I use Microsoft Front Page to publish to the site and that product is not supported on the 2008 platform. There was a company that said they were working on getting a release that would mean I could publish to 2008 and this week they've announced it is now available! YEAH!
So this coming week we'll be looking to move the main electricscotland.com and .net sites over to the new server which is much faster and also has a lot more facilities. This also means we'll be able to get our mirror server up at Simon Fraser University as a remote backup meaning if we ever go down that server will simply take its place.
So great news for me and hopefully as we get moved over and make use of a lot of new facilities that will mean something good for us all.
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As I'm due to give a talk in Quebec about the Scots connections with France and in Canada I've been keeping an eye out for material that I could use. This week I discovered a book about "The Fall of Canada" which is actually the story of the British takeover of Quebec. In it there are a couple of significant Scots and so I dug in a bit more and found some pdf files about them which I've added to the site and I'll tell you more about this below.
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Have also started on another biography for which more below. This is part of my own investigations into the lives of significant Scots to see if we can spot any commonality in their upbringing and way of life that would give us a clue as to why Scots were so successful both at home and abroad.
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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I've downloaded some new games for our Arcade and have just transferred them to Steve so hopefully he'll get them up shortly for you to check them out.
And yes due to the fire he hasn't managed to get them up yet but hopefully next week.
On a more serious note out good friend Marie Orr has passed away... here is the obituary...
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Marie P. (Brown) Rimasse, 90, of Fair Lawn, NJ passed away on Friday, July 8, 2011 at home surrounded by her loving family. Born and raised in Essex County, NJ, she resided in Saddle Brook for fifty-five years before moving to Fair Lawn eight years ago. Proud of her Scottish roots, she was a member of Electric Scotland. Marie will be remember for her love of animals.
Prior to retiring, Marie was a registered nurse. Her forty year career in nursing included employment with Passaic General Hospital, Saddle Brook Hospital and also private duty care.
Beloved wife of the late Howard Rimasse. Loving and devoted mother of Kevin Rimasse and companion, Aileen Gilbert and Patricia R. Adler and husband, Wendell. Dear sister of Elizabeth Brown, Margaret Van Brunt, George Brown and the late Anne Estes, Amanda Monaghan and Arthur, Allton and William Brown.
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I'm sure many of our old regulars will know of Marie from her many postings in our various online communities over the years. You can post a comment at http://www.vpfairlawn.com/obituaries...ry.asp?id=4041
And Euan posted up an interesting wee video at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...=5847#post5847
He says... A small video from the movie Roxanne and Zeus, never saw the movie, but sure looks like a nice sappy one.
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org but of course if you are reading this you're already in it :-)
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is now available compiled by Jim Lynch.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
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 4 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Restoration of James I
Scottish Colony of Darien
Battle of Halidon Hill
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Poems of George Alexander Rodger
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Added some more poems...
Strathardle Gathering
In Memory of Doublet
which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/rodger.htm
Memoirs of the Jacobites
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Of 1715 and 1745 by Mrs Thomson (1845) in 3 volumes. We intend to add a chapter a week until complete.
I've now added "Sir John MacLean"
The account starts...
The name Maclean, abbreviated from Mac Gillean, is derived from the founder of the clan, "Gillean n'a Tuaidh," Gillean of the Rattle-axe, so called from his carrying with him as his ordinary weapon, a battle-axe. From this hero are descended the three principal families who compose the clan Maclean, who was also designated Gillean of Duart.
It is related of Gillean that, being one day engaged in a standing on the mountain of Bein't Sheala, and having wandered away from the rest of his party, the mountain became suddenly enveloped in a deep mist, and that he lost his track. For three days he wandered about; and, at length exhausted, threw himself under the shelter of a cranberry bush, previously fixing the handle of his battle-axe in the earth. He was discovered by his party, who had been vainly endeavouring to find him, insensible on the ground, with his arm round the handle of the battle-axe, whilst the head of the weapon rose above the bush. Hence, probably, the origin of the crest used by the clan Maclean, the battle-axe surrounded by a laurel-branch.
To Gillean of the Battle-axe various origins have been ascribed; truly is it observed, that "there is little wisdom in attempting to thread the mazes of fanciful and traditionary genealogies.'45' Like other families of importance, in feudal times, the Macleans had their seneachie, or historian; and, by the last of these, Dr. John Beaton, the descent, in regular order, from Aonaglius Turmi Teanebrach, a powerful monarch of Ireland, to Fergus the First, of Scotland, is traced.
A tradition had indeed prevailed, that the founder of the house of Maclean was a son of Fitzgerald, an Earl of Kildare,—a supposition which is contemptuously rejected by the historian of this ancient race. "In fact," he remarks, "from various sources, Gillean can be proved to have been in his grave, long before such a title as Earl of Kildare was known, and nearly two hundred years before the name of Fitzgerald existed." It appears, indeed, undoubted, from ancient records and well-authenticated sources, that the origin of Gillean was derived from the source which has been stated.
When the lordship of the Isles was forfeited, the clan Maclean was divided into four branches, each of which held of the Lords of the Isles; these branches were the Macleans of Duart, the Macleans of Loch-bay, the Macleans of Coll, and the Macleans of Ardgour. Of these, the most important branch was the family of Duart, founded by Lachlan Maclean, surnamed Lubanich. This powerful chief obtained such an ascendant at the court of the Lord of the Isles, as to provoke the enmity of the Chief of Mackinnon, who, on the occasion of a stag-hunt, formed a plot to cut off Lachlan and his brother, Hector Maclean. But the conspiracy was discovered by its objects; Mackinnon suffered death at the hands of the two brothers for his design ; and the Lord of the Isles, sailing in bis galley towards his Castle of Ardtorinsh in Morven, was captured, and carried to Icoluinbkill, where he was obliged, sitting on the famous black rock of lona, held sacred in those days, to swear that he would bestow in marriage upon Lachlan Lubanich his daughter Margaret, granddaughter, by her mother's side, of Robert the Second, King of Scotland : and with her, as a dowry, to give to the Lord of Duart, Eriska, with all its isles. The dowry demanded consisted of a towering rock, commanding an extensive view of the islands by which it is surrounded, and occupying a central situation among those tributaries. From the bold and aspiring chief was Sir John Maclean of Duart descended. The marriage of Lachlan Lubanich with Margaret of the Isles took place in the year 1366.
You can read the rest of this long story at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter09.htm
You can read the other chapters as we get them up at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/jacobites
R. B. Cunninghame Graham, Fighter for Justice
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An Appreciation of his Social and Religious Outlook by Ian M. Fraser (2002).
Added another chapter to this account...
Social Conviction
You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/graham/
Our New Zealand Cousins
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By James Inglis (1887)
We now have several more chapters up of this book...
Chapter XVII.
The Bluff—Bleak and inhospitable view—Miserable railway arrangements—First impressions—Cheerless ride to Invercargill—Forestry neglected—Shameful waste—The Timber industry—Necessity for reform—Pioneering—The usual Australian mode— The native method—A contrast—Invercargill—A large farm—Conservatism of the farming classes— Remenyi's anecdotes.
Chapter XVIII.
Education in New Zealand—School buildings—Opinion of a high authority—The order of educational arrangements—Professor Black's mining lectures— Scheme for instruction to miners—Technical education—Political parasites.
Chapter XIX.
The farming industry—Technical education for farmers —An agricultural department a necessity—State of farming in Australia—Slovenly methods—New products—Necessity for experiment—Village settlement—Water conservation—Futility of a protective policy.
Chapter XX.
Good-bye to the Bluff—A rough passage—Tasmania in the distance—Coast scenery—A nautical race— Ocean fisheries—Neglected industries—Fish curing —Too much reliance on State aid—The view on the Derwent—Hobart from the sea—An old-world town—"No spurt about the place"—Old-fashioned inns—Out into the country—ATasmanian squire— The great fruit industry—A famous orchard— Young Tasmanians—The hop industry—Australian investments—The Flinders Islands—A terra incognita—Back to Melbourne.
Chapter XXI.
Summary—Importance of the colonies sometimes overlooked at home—Their commercial importance— Fields for capital—Mineral wealth—Farm products —New Industries—Field for farmers—Liberal land regulations—Openings for artisans—For labourers —Free institutions—A land of promise for willing workers—Inducements for seekers after health and lovers of the picturesque—The clouds clearing— Returning prosperity—The peace and unity of the Empire.
Appendix
And this now completes this book.
Chapter XVIII starts...
To turn now more to the social than the physical features of the colony. After the neatness and numbers of the churches, perhaps the next thing that most strikes a reflective observer is the atten*tion that is paid to education, as exemplified in the number of schools, colleges, seminaries, and other educational buildings one meets. Although pos*sessing a considerably more rigorous and mutable climate than New South Wales, the school build*ings, as a rule, are not nearly so pretentious and expensive in New Zealand as they are in the former colony. This one fact alone speaks well for the practical nature of the people. In New South Wales enormous sums of money have been needlessly spent in erecting stone buildings far in advance of the requirements of the times. The schools are mostly built of wood in country dis*tricts in New Zealand. They are comfortable and neat. The children generally are taught together in class on the floor; but in the benches and at the desks the boys occupy one side of the school and the girls the other. The school furniture is fully up to modern requirements. All the teachers I met— and I tried to get speech of as many as I could— were very intelligent, and possessed of considerable esprit de corps. In such cities as Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, &c., the high schools were indeed quite palatial looking, and some of the private educational institutions were not more admirable in their interior arrangements for the comfort and health of the pupils, than imposing externally from an architectural point of view.
I had the privilege and good fortune to meet some of the highest and most honoured authorities on educational subjects in the colony. I found a very generally expressed opinion that the existing system errs on the side of liberality. The burden of the educational impost presses heavier on the people every year. In fact, free education is felt by many now to have been a political blunder. It was never wanted. In the bitter outcry against sectarian teaching on the part of large masses, the advocates of free education stole a march, and succeeded in getting their whole programme of free, secular, and compulsory education swallowed entire, like a bolus. Many now think that the giving up of the revenue derived from fees was a useless, nay, a harmful surrender. What costs nothing, say they, is generally not valued much by the recipient, and anything which tends to sap the citadel of personal responsibility and individual independence is bad for the self-reliance of the citizen.
You can red the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter18.htm
You can get to the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nzcousins/
Our Australian Cousins
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By James Inglis (1880)
Having now completed Our New Zealand Cousins above it is now time to move on to James Inglis's next book "Our Australian Cousins".
Why was this book written? Principally to satisfy the questionings of many friends in India and the old country, who continually write me such queries as these:—How do you like Australia? "Would you advise me to come out? Is it healthy? Is there any sport to be had? Are the people really nice? Could a man, with a small income and a large family do any*thing out there? and so on. I have honestly tried to detail my own experiences in such a way, that they shall be usefully suggestive to my friendly catechists and others like them, and yet be sufficiently interesting to command the suffrages of the general reader.
I do not profess to be a polished writer. The graces of my style are perhaps conspicuous by absence, yet I would have the critic know, that I have no opportunity of correcting proofs. Add to this that my book has .been written mostly on holidays, and late into the night, after an active day's duty in the city, when both hand and brain are somewhat jaded. It has required no slight sense of duty, and a desire to do some public good to keep me up to my self-appointed task.
I have incorporated letters that I wrote to The Pioneer when acting as special correspondent for that paper, and I have tried to write naturally, truthfully, and as I felt; where I have made extracts from news*papers and books, I have acknowledged the obligation, and here again thankfully do so to my unknown friends in council.
It may be asked what acquaintance I have with my text, and whether I am competent to speak as a critic, when I refer to colonial social manners and customs, politics, institutions and peoples. I can only say that I have been a colonist since I was about eighteen years of age. In New Zealand, I was by turns cadet on a sheep-run, gold-digger, travelling agent and general utility-man, turning my hand to what first presented itself, for I was young and ardent, and willing to work and did work hard. In India I was for twelve years Indigo planter and manager of large estates. Since I returned to the antipodes, I have been journalist, traveller, special correspondent, newspaper manager, and am now secretary of an insurance company. I claim therefore as a traveller, and an observant man, to know something about the colonies. The success of a former book, and the very favourable criticisms it received, has emboldened me to commit this present volume to the winds and waves of public opinion.
I honestly love Australia. It has become a healthy, happy home to me, after I had been given up by my medical friends as almost a hopeless case. I like the Australian people—the young people especially— and I want my book, if they read it, to do more than merely amuse, I want it to awaken thought. They will find here, written by no unfriendly hand, with no bias or prejudice, the opinions of a cosmopolitan. I have spoken strongly on colonial public life, and public men, and public measures, but not more so than the subject deserves.
The future of Australia lies in the hands of her young men. If they use the mighty power they possess, and send the right men to their parliaments and councils, and purge them of corrupt government, and look on things with a wider and more compre*hensive vision; say less, and act more, in fact: act righteously and honestly and loyally, and if my pages of sporting recollection, scenic description, and straightforward criticism, shall conduce in the least degree to this result, I shall think my night oil has burned to good purpose.
I am under great obligations to Mr. R. Scott of Newcastle, for fishing and shooting notes, and to Dr. S. T. Knaggs of the same city for much kind assistance, and to Mr. Gr. Ranken, "Capricornus," for much counsel and kindly help.
JAS. INGLIS.
Strathfield, Sydney, N.S.W.,
August, 1879.
We now have the first chapter up which can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/auscousins/
Memoirs of Robert Dollar
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By the Robert Dollar Company in 2 volumes (1917)
We now have more chapter up...
Chapter Thirteen. Conditions Improve in China
Chapter Fourteen. Interesting Descriptions of Interior China
Chapter Fifteen. An Epoch Making Voyage
Chapter Sixteen. Commissioners Separate to Reunite Later
Chapter Seventeen. Leave for the Orient as Special Delegte of P. P. I. E.
Chapter Eighteen. Sail for Home on the "Mongolia"
Chapter Nineteen. A Journey to Great Britain and Return
In Chapter Thirteen we learn...
We arrived hack in Hong Kong on the 6th of February, 1909, visited Canton, and spent several days in looking over our business interests and in endeavoring to develop and increase them.
Hong Kong has improved greatly in the past few years. When we first visited it we could look from the veranda of the Hong Kong Hotel over the bay, but now it is built up solid for one block in front of it. The buildings are from four to five stories, and all of them are of cut stone which gives the city a solid appearance. The streets are well made and kept clean. The hill rises so steep and close to the water that there will never be street railways except on the two or three blocks fronting the harbor. The Peak Railway, which operates by cable, to the top, is perhaps the steepest road in operation.
From a commercial point of view this is the best port in the world. It is a free port in every sense, there being only a small hospital tax charged to each ship—about $30.00 Mex. for a seven thousand ton steamer. Pilotage is not compulsory; in fact pilots are not used or required except to show the captains where they are to berth, and while all vessels have to lay at anchor (there being only berth" at the Kowloon wharves for four steamers), the manner and facilities for handling cargo cannot be surpassed.
The steamer "Bessie Dollar" arrived Saturday afternoon, too late to do anything, aud as no work is allowed on Sunday she commenced to discharge six thousand tons of coal, Monday. The following Saturday she sailed with two thousand tons of cargo, having been in port just one week and handled over eight thousand tons of cargo. All this accounts for this port having risen to the second place in the world's commerce. No quarantine officers, no customs officers, no restrictions whatever; just come in and go to work getting out or receiving your cargo. Compare this with Newcastle, Australia, where they thought they had done wonders for us in loading six thousand tons of coal in twelve days, with its quarantine restrictions; customs troubles, compulsory pilotage, and compulsory tugboat assistance, all of which are no more necessary than they are in Hong Kong. In fact, I consider it less difficult to navigate a steamer into Svdney than into Hong Kong. So I came to the conclusion thai Australia is a good place to keep away from.
I visited the dockyard of the Taikoo Dockyard Co. (Butteriield & Swire), who will have the most complete repair shops and ducks in the Far East. Their large dock is complete, and in use it can take a ship eight hundred feet long. Then they have three marine railways alongside of it that can haul up vessels of three thousand tons gross. Their shops are under construct!! »n where they will make every thing required for a ship. They also propose to build river and coasting steamers. They have spent over twelve million dollars gold, and everything is most up-to-date and substantial as far as it is done. The dock is blasted out of solid rock, and it will take from four to five months before everything is in working order.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...1chapter13.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/rdollar/
Life of the Rev. Thomas Guthrie D.D.
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This is another new book we're starting on another famous Scot but this time on the home front.
We now have up the following chapters...
Chapter IX. - National Education.
Chapter X. - Free St John's, Moderatorship.
Chapter XI. - Efforts in the Temperance Cause.
Chapter XII. - Miscellaneous Incidents and Movements.
Chapter XIII. - The Pulpit—Platform—Society—Person.
Chapter XIV. - Writings and Travels.
Chapter XV. - Illness—Death—Funeral—Conclusion.
The Platform Sayings, Anecdotes and Sayings or Thomas Guthrie D.D. (pdf)
Autobiography of Thomas Guthrie D.D., and Memoir By his sons Rev. David K. Guthrie and Charles J. Guthrie M.A. (pdf)
And this now completes this book.
In Chapter IX we learn...
From the part that Dr Guthrie took in the promotion of ragged schools, and the earnestness with which he sought for them State support, it will readily be inferred that he held decided and liberal opinions on the general subject of education. He was a warm supporter of the Lord Advocate — James Moncreiff's Education Bill of 1855, "feeling," as he has put it, "that the first duty of the State is to educate her people, and the last to hang them: believing that her first duty is to prevent crime, and her second to punish it; believing that the first duty of the State is to build schools, and her second to build prisons; and believing that the State should charge herself with the duty of seeing that no child within her borders goes without education," he had no hesitation in pleading that education should be made compulsory, as he does in these words :—
"Why does the State take care that the child of every mill-spinner should be taught, and punish the party for neglecting it, and not take the same care of the children of the Grassmarket and the Cowgate? The law does not allow a man to starve his child; it is very cruel, it may be said, to starve the body; very cruel, it is true, and the State interferes with the liberty of the subject there. But if it is right in the law to compel the parent to feed his child's body, is it right in the law to allow him to starve his child's soul! Suppose the law did not compel him to feed his child's body, death would step in, and relieve society of the evil there; but if it does not compel him to feed the child's mind, what happens? The untaught child, in nine cases out of ten, becomes a burden, a nuisance, and a danger to the State.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter09.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/guthrie/
A Scot in China of Today
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Compiled by Ron Dow
Got another article in from Ron...
A day out at ZHONGSHAN park Guangdong China
This is sure opening up my eyes as to what you can find in China. Hope you are enjoying these accounts and all the pictures Ron is sending in. Mind that all the pictures are thumbnails and so each one is clickable to a larger image.
You can get to these articles at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../dow/index.htm
The Life of Hugh Miller
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A Sketch for Working Men (1862)
The following Sketch of the Life and Character of Hugh Miller, originally formed a series of articles which appeared in the Northern Daily Express, tinder the heading, "Sketches of Working Men." These articles excited considerable interest at the time of their appearance, and the Compiler of these pages thought it desirable to give them a form in which they would obtain a wider circulation and exert a more permanent influence than could be expected from isolated articles, running through a long series of the numbers of a local newspaper. He therefore applied to the Proprietor of the Northern Daily Express for permission to reprint the Sketch in its present form.
To this application Mr. J. H. Rutherford, Manager of the Express, courteously replied, and stated, that there was no objection to the compilation of the articles referred to, and the applicant was at perfect liberty to quote his authority.
It only remains for the Compiler to express his earnest wish, that the reading of his little book may be as useful to all into whose hands it may fall, as its compilation has been to him.
And so another new book we're starting
The life of Hugh Miller is that of no ordinary man and is fraught with no ordinary lessons. The triumphs achieved by such a man as George Stephenson were great triumphs, but not so great nor beneficial in their issues as those achieved by Hugh Miller. The Northumbrian miner had, doubtless, greater difficulties to contend with in prosecuting his education in the department of letters than any which met the Cromarty mason; for the latter received a more liberal education in school than boys in the rank of life in which he was born generally receive in any part of Scotland. The difference between George Stephenson and Hugh Miller does not lie so much in the relative range and grasp of their mental capacities, as in the relative value to mankind of their respective life labours; and although those of the former fill a larger space in the world's history, there can, we think, be no doubt that the life of the latter will ultimately yield more precious benefits to the species than even that of the former. The stock from which Hugh Miller sprung was a right noble stock; and it is proper, before attempting to unfold his life, that we devote some attention to his progenitors. Next to information respecting a great man himself, we naturally desire information regarding the line from which he descended. What would mankind not give to know intimately what sort of man the father of Shakespere was, for example! Some meagre details we indeed possess of that gentleman, but these serve rather to whet than to satisfy our curiosity respecting him. Fortunately for us, Hugh Miller wrote the story of his own life before his eye was dim or his natural strength abated; and in that delightful book, "My Schools and Schoolmasters," he has not only drawn himself in juster proportions than any one else could have done, but he has presented us with a striking portrait of his father, and bold outlines, which the imaginative reader ean easily fill up, of his grandfather and several of his more immediate relatives.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/miller/
The Fall of Canada
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A Chapter in the History of the Seven Year's War by George M. Wrong (1914)
This is a book I'm starting to work on as mentioned in the news portion above. While the book won't be available for a while yet I have managed to find some extra information on a few Scots that were prominent in this campaign so have made these available at the foot of the page. They include...
Ramezay, Claude De
Famous Firesides of French Canada
By Mary Wilson Alloway (1899) (pdf)
Life of General, the Hon. James Murray
A Builder of Canada with a Biographical Sketch of the family of Murray of Elibank by his descendant Major-Gen R. H. Mahon C.B., C.S.I. (1921) (pdf)
You can get to these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...da/fallndx.htm
Scotland's National Borders
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A couple of years back I got in a pdf explaining where Scotland's national Borders are. The reason is that there have been various attempts by the Westminster government to alter these borders and this document attemps to lay these out and the legality of such attempts. We now have an updated version of this document as at July 2011 and so I have replaced the old file with this new one.
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...al_borders.htm
The Settlers in Canada
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An entire book for you to read in 40 chapters.
I came across this book and thought I'd have a read of it and to my mild astonishment I completed it at one sitting and enjoyed it very much indeed. While it was written for an adult audience it would also make a great read for children and give them something of an insight into what it means to settle a new land.
Unlike my usual method of doing books I decided to post this book up complete in one go. I guess as I enjoyed it and read it at one sitting I thought you might also want to do so yourself.
Hope you enjoy it and you can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/kids/settlers.htm
Edible Wild Plants
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This is an interesting book about edible wild plants in North America.
INTRODUCTION BY ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
MORE than once I have been called to write the introduction to a book treating on some aspect of nature that was much in the line of my own interests; and usually had no difficulty in penning the few pages that were called for. But the introduction to a book by Oliver P. Medsger proved a wholly different undertaking. Why this should be the case will be better understood when I describe my first meeting with this man of the woods. It was at Woodland, New York, in the camp of Harry Little (Sagamore), that my good luck sent me out on a forest walk with Medsger; and every yard of our trip was made delightful by some bit of information about the myriad forms of wild life around us forms with which I had been superficially acquainted all my life, but which I never really knew, because I had no exact names, no knowledge of their virtues.
It reminded me of an incident in my early life in the West. A prairie-born girl was asked by her mother what her dream of heaven would be. The child's whole life had been in the home circle on the Plains; so she said simply: "Heaven is a place with a big shady tree, and an angel sitting under it, who never says, I don't know when asked a question."
In my own childhood and youth, I suffered beyond expression from the knowledge-hunger, from the impossibility of learning about the abounding wild life around me. And now, when it seemed almost too late, I had found a competent guide. I know now why his Indian name is "Nibowaka," the "Wise Woodman."
"This man has opened and read the book of nature," I said."And, more than that, he loves it, for his knowledge embodies not only the names and qualities of the plants and trees, but also the poetical ideas about them, and pleasant little rhymes and fancies that fix the bird or flower in memory and give it the romantic glamour so vital to the lover of the woods."
That walk was one of many in the years that followed; and the joy of the first was not exceptional. The qualities of his talk were the same a mingling of science and art, encyclopedic information and romantic joy in the woodland world of beauty. Thus you see why I was possessed of a sense of being overwhelmed when confronted with the responsibility of writing this introduction. As a matter of fact, I made many attempts during the last year, and cast each aside in turn.
But the book is in press, I must keep faith with the printer. If an introduction is meant to be an adequate proclamation to the world of a new arrival among its books of worth, then I must put this also in the fire and give up the attempt. But I am in hopes that it will serve, if only to announce to all the heart-hungry forest folk that here is the book I longed for so much in my youth here is the angel of the prairie girl. I know it will serve the coming wood-wanderers as it would have served me. It will be the book I dreamed of the key to the woods.
The book is in pdf format and can be downloaded at http://www.electricscotland.com/agriculture/edible.htm
Early Travellers in Scotland
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A very interesting book which give us some wee windows into Scotland in history.
This is an interesting book and it does reveal some interesting information about Scotland. Here are a couple of examples...
THE SCOTS ON THEIR MILITARY EXPEDITIONS
(Froissart, Chronicles, vol. i. chap. 17).
THE Scots are bold, hardy, and much inured to war. When they make their invasions into England, they march from twenty to four-and-twenty leagues without halting, as well by night as day; for they are all on horseback, except the camp-followers, who are on foot. The knights and esquires are well mounted on large bay horses, the common people on little galloways. They bring no carriages with them, on account of the mountains they have to pass in Northumberland ; neither do they carry with them any provisions of bread or wine; for their habits of sobriety are such, in time of war, that they will live for a long time on flesh half sodden, without bread, and drink the river water without wine. They have, therefore, no occasion for pots or pans; for they dress the flesh of their cattle in the skins, after they have taken them off; and, being sure to find plenty of them in the country which they invade, they carry none with them. Under the Haps of his saddle, each man carries a broad plate of metal ; behind the saddle, a little bag of oatmeal: when they have eaten too much of the sodden flesh, and their stomach appears weak and empty, they place this plate over the fire, mix with water their oatmeal, and when the plate is heated, they put a little of the paste upon it, and make a thin cake, like a cracknel or biscuit, which they eat to warm their stomachs: it is therefore no wonder, that they perform a longer day's march than other soldiers.
A FRENCH ARMY IN SCOTLAND THE FRENCH OPINION OF
THE SCOTS (1385) (vol. ii. chaps. 2 and 3).
News was soon spread through Scotland that a large body of men-at-arms from France were arrived in the country. Some began to murmur and say, "What devil has brought them here? or who has sent for them? Cannot we carry on our wars with England without their assistance? We shall never do any effectual good as long as they are with us. Let them be told to return again, for we are sufficiently numerous in Scotland to fight our own quarrels, and do not want their company. We neither understand their language nor they ours, and we cannot converse together. They will very soon eat up and destroy all we have in this country, and will do us more harm, if we allow them to remain amongst us, than the English could in battle. If the English do burn our houses, what consequence is it to us? We can rebuild them cheap enough, for we only require three days to do so, provided we have five or six poles and boughs to cover them."
And so in the first example you learn how the Scots went to battle and in the second you get a sense of how they survived the many wars that went on in Scotland.
There are many wee accounts throughout this book which give us valuable insight into Scotland in the old days.
You can download this book in pdf format at http://www.electricscotland.com/books/pdf/early.htm
And finally...
Options Open
Dr James Simpson, whose book "At Our Age" looks at the ageing process, tells of the woman who called on her aunt and was surprised when she answered the door wearing a hat. Naturally, the woman asked if her aunt was going out.
“Oh no dear. I always put my hat on when someone comes to the door. If it’s someone I don’t want to see, I say I’m just going out. But seeing it’s you, I’ve just come in.”
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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