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CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
What's new on ElectricCanadian.com
The Flag in the Wind
Through the Long Day
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
Scottish Poets in America
Elsie Inglis
Robert Burns Lives!
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
Memories Grave and Gay
Chronicles of Gretna Green
A Scots Boy's World Sixty Years Ago
Donna's Cultural Page
Homespun (New Book)
Folk Tales and Fairy Lore
Clan Leslie Society International
Electric Scotland News
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Had my eye surgery this morning. So far I haven't seen things through a pink tinge which is a good sign. They tell me it could take up to 4 weeks for everything to settle in but hopefully just a few days. The one thing I did notice when I went into the toilet to take of my eye patch was that the toilet was a bright white whereas with my other eye it seemed more cream than white. And so colours are certainly brighter. The sharpness of vision is not yet there but they did say it would take a few days and of course the first thing I did was to put in my eye drops. And so we'll see how things develop.
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I posted up the St James Priory Newsletter for December which is a good read and you can download the pdf version at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...-December-2011
In there you'll find an interesting item on the way you might look at giving Christmas Presents. Also a great article on how 4 deers were saved when they went out into the water and appeared to be asking a boat for help and some pictures to go with it. And perhaps we've discovered the largest freemasonary site in the world in Scotland and lots more to read. While it is a Knights Templar production there is much of interest and I don't just say that as I'm the newsletter editor as many contributed stories for it.
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And as we are getting near to Christmas I thought I'd also wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. You can get to our special Christmas page at http://www.electricscotland.com/index98.htm
I might add that you can have some fun with the Kids with our "Dress the Chief" program where they can design their own Christmas Card. You can get to that at http://www.electricscotland.com/kids/dress1.html
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/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
ElectricCanadian.com
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http://www.electriccanadian.com
Nothing much added this week as I'm back working on Electric Scotland and this will likely continue for a couple more weeks. I did copy two new items between Electric Scotland and Electric Canadian as while out of Scottish books they were to do with Canada.
Canada in 1865
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...canada1865.htm
By Charles MacKay LL.D. MacKay was a famous editor and journalist and this is part of his report when he visited Canada in 1864 to report on what Canadians thought of Confederation.
George Millward McDougall
The Pioneer, Patriot and Missionary, the author's father. (1888)
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...dougallndx.htm
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks Flag was compiled by Jim Lynch which is actually a smaller edition that usual for him with no Scots language or Gaelic column. Lots to read in the Synopsis though.
I still see comments on how we should be part of the EU and I have yet to see any comments about why it might be better not to join the EU. I also heard that James Wilkie (SDA) was in touch with the editor and so had hoped to see some discussion on this. Why would you want to gain independence just to throw it away by being a member of the EU? It makes no sense to me at all and what is more it makes no sense for the Flag to ignore this topic and not even discuss it. If they think we should be a member of the EU then why won't they make a case for membership against non membership? Why don't they unpick the SDA's paper on "Scotland in Europe" to show us how it would be better for us to be in the EU?
I noted also today that Scotland's unemployment rate is now higher that the UK as a whole. Now I must say that I do support Scottish Independence but ignoring these kind of issues is not going to get a majority for a YES vote. Given the state of the Global economy and especially in Europe does not make it easy for any governing party.
I also noted the headline in the Scotsman neewspaper "Alex Salmond under fire as 25,000 more Scots out of work" but I guess what concerned me somewhat was the comment in the final section of this article...
Meanwhile, Scottish Tory finance spokesman Gavin Brown said he was astonished Mr Salmond’s high-profile Council of Economic Advisers had failed to hold a formal meeting at any stage in 2011.
The last meeting of the group, which now includes the economist and Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz, was in September 2010.
The next scheduled gathering is in the new year.
Mr Brown said: “In a week that we have seen the worst retail figures and unemployment increasing beyond the rest of the UK, people will be staggered that the Council of Economic Advisers has not met this year and, indeed, there will be a gap of around 14 months without a meeting.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The Scottish Government published its response earlier this year to the previous Council of Economic Advisers’ last report.
“The term of office of the previous CEA ended at the election, the new CEA membership was announced by the First Minister last month and will meet for the first time next month.”
Just because we suport the SNP and want Independence doesn't mean we have to accept everything the SNP does as correct. We should be able to quiz them and have an honest debate. While I mention the SDA I should be clear that they also support the SNP's drive for Scottish Independence but they do aim to become a real political party to oppose the SNP once we gain that independence.
Anyway... I will now get off my own soapbox but do hope that the Flag will start answering some of the real concerns that people do have.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Through the Long Day
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Or Memorials of a Literary Life during half a century by Charles MacKay LL.D. (1887)
This week have added...
Chapter IX - Assassination of President Lincoln
Chapter X - Canada in 1865
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mackay/
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
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We've added more to this disctionary...
Scottish Language Letter F
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...eson/index.htm
Scottish Poets in America
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With Biographical and Critical Notices by John D, Ross (1889)
Now added...
Kennedy, James
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...rica/index.htm
Elsie Inglis
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By Eva Shaw McLaren
Have now completed this book by adding...
Chapter VIII - The Suffrage Campaign
Justice of claim appealed to Dr. Inglis—Worked from constitutional point of view—Founding of Scottish Federation of Suffrage Societies—Dr. Inglis's activities for the cause—Tributes from women who worked with her—Description of meeting addressed by her
Chapter IX - Scottish Women's Hospitals
Dr. Inglis at the outbreak of war: Full of vigour and enthusiasm—Idea mooted at Federation Committee Meeting—Rapid growth—Hospitals in the field in December
Chapter X - Serbia
Dreadful condition of country—Arrival of Dr. Soltau and Dr. Hutchison and Unit—Dr. Inglis's arrival in May, 1915—Fountain at Mladanovatz—Letter from officer who designed fountain—Dr. Inglis and her Unit taken prisoners in November—Account of work at Krushevatz—Release in February, 1916—Tributes from Miss Christitch and Lieut.-Colonel Popovitch
Chapter XI - Russia
Dr. Inglis's start for Russia in August, 1916—Unit attached to Serb Division near Odessa—Three weeks' work at Medjidia—Retreat to Braila—Order of three retreats—Work at Reni—Description of Dr. Inglis by one of her Unit—Account of her last Communion
Chapter XII - "If You want us Home, Get them Out"
Serb Division in unenviable position—Dr. Inglis's determination to save them from wholesale slaughter—Hard work through summer months to achieve their safety—Efforts crowned with success—Left for England in October, bringing her Unit and the Division with her
Chapter XIII - "The New Work" and Memories
Landed at Newcastle on November 23, 1917—Illness on voyage—Dr. Ethel Williams's testimony to her fearlessness in facing death—Triumph in passing—Scenes at funeral in Edinburgh—Memories
You can read these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...glis/index.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
Added Chapter 129 - Vindication of Highland Mary by Norman Paton.
I am always looking and asking, and sometimes outright begging, various people to contribute to the pages of Robert Burns Lives!. Most have been willing to share their work with me while a few never will. Their loss! And it doesn’t matter to me if they have a PhD behind their names or not. They may write great books on Burns while the others of us represent Burns in newsletters, local papers or during the “Burns Season” at our Burns clubs. I like both types as Burns is “the” common denominator.
When a politician was asked how he would vote on a bill to permit drinking whisky on Sundays, he replied, “Well, some of my friends are against it, and some of my friends are for it, and I am for my friends!” Actually what I look for is one’s love for Burns and a sense of honesty about him - two sides of the same coin. They do not have to agree with me on my thinking nor is it imperative for us to be “cut off the same bolt of cloth” or “cuss” in the same places. I’m not interested in their politics or place in society. They can be president or professor of a university, an author, or a layman like me.
However, if I think they are wrong about Burns, I do one or two things: not print what they send me (I’ve had a few of those) or rebut what they say (I’ve done this a couple of times too). The problem with the latter is I burn a lot of energy and sometimes it is like riding a calliope - one gets off where he got on and he hasn’t been anywhere. I usually leave the rebutting to those who are scholars as they are more gifted about Burns and can do a much better job.
This brings me to our guest today: He came recommended by one I trust, listen to, look up to, love, and respect as much as I do any man on earth. In the words of my friend, our writer today is “one of the good guys”. I welcome him to these pages because he identifies with the phrase “hard working stiff”. Over the years his career took him to the Clyde shipyards as a draughtsman and later on to shipbuilding and structural engineering. If my Daddy, who could easily be described as a “dirt farmer” and latter on after losing his farm in the Great Depression, a drayer, was alive, he would say as we sat around the supper table, “He’s one of us”. That’s a pretty good recommendation in my book because my Daddy did not have much to say but when he did, you learned rather quickly to listen.
The article below on Highland Mary was written for the Greenock Telegraph and was restricted to 600 words due to their newspaper format. One of my beloved heroes in literature, Ernest Hemingway, used to write over a thousand words a morning when he was on a roll. While this is not a long article, I’d like to think that Hemingway would pronounce it to be a “beautiful story”. Oh, by the way, his Sunday name is Norman Paton but his friends call him Norrie.
So now we have two articles back-to-back on Highland Mary, one by a scholar and one by a layman. Hope you enjoy both of them as much as I did.
In closing, Susan and I recently enjoyed being with our little family enjoying Santa and Mrs. Claus at our Atlanta St. Andrew’s Society Christmas party. I received my usual gift from him – a small bag of coal! No matter, I still believe in him, and he knows when he needs me, I am willing to be his elf. Merry Christmas, everyone!
(FRS: 12.14.11)
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives129.htm
You can read the other chapters in this series at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
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By James Grant M.A. (1876).
Added this week...
Part II - Schools after the Reformation
Chapter III - Protection of Schools
Chapter IV - Visitations and Examinations of Schools
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...urgh/index.htm
Memories Grave and Gay
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Forty Years of School Inspection by John Kerr LL.D.
Have added chapters 16 - 20 this week which can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...ries/index.htm
Chronicles of Gretna Green
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By Peter Orlando Hutchinson (1844)
We're now up to Chapter XIV. - Dick o' the Cow, and the Laird's Jock.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...etna/index.htm
A Scots Boy's World Sixty Years Ago
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By George Ernest Philip (1922)
We've now added...
Chapter I. A Manse Bairn of Last Century,
Chapter II. Home on the Old Govan Road,
Chapter III. Home on the Old Paisley Road,
Chapter IV. A Boy's Box of Books.
Chapter V. Early School Life,
Chapter VI. At the Glasgow Academy,
Chapter VII. More Academy Memories,
Chapter VIII. Aberdeenshire Holidays,
Chapter IX. Other Holidays,
You can read these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/boys/index.htm
Donna's Cultural Page
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Donna came up with a selection of good ideas for organising things at home which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...s/crafts38.htm
Homespun
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A Study of a Simple Folk by Annie S. Swan (1894)
This is a collection of stories of "Simple Folk" and to give you a flavour of how the stories are told this is how the first chapter starts...
ABOUT nine o'clock on a summer evening four Beild worthies forgathered in Bawbie Windrum's public, and there sat down to have a nip and a crack. Bawbie herself, a fearsome-looking old hag, with a big, clean, white mutch which made her coarse, large-featured face seem even less comely than usual, sat knitting in her corner of the bar, hard by the till, which was her chief concern in this world, whatever it might be in the next.
It was a poor sort of bar, though many a Beild body got "fou" standing in it; the whole hostelry indeed was unpretentious in the extreme. It consisted of a but and ben, the "but" being Bawbie's living room, the "ben" a taproom provided with a long table and wooden benches on either side of it. The stone floor was sanded, and though fairly clean smelled evilly, very doubtful tobacco being smoked perpetually therein. It had no decorations, unless two china dogs on the mantelpiece could be called such; and it had one picture on the yellow-ochred wall—a highly coloured likeness of Burns' Highland Mary with four lines of poetry beneath. The window was very small, the panes of that knotted greenish glass which you never see anywhere but in the Beild and places like it; on this account no blind was required, as it would have taken a very sharp-eyed person to see through it. It had been tried often by Leeby Morison looking for her man, before she actually went in to fetch him out. He was there that night, one of the four; but I shall return to the company presently, when I have told you about the house.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter01.htm
The index page shows you what other chapters are coming at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...spun/index.htm
Folk Tales and Fairy Lore
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In Gaelic and English Collected from Oral Tradition By Rev. James MacDougall (1910).
I've been collecting collections of oral tradition stories for some years now. Those of you that have been following progress on the site for some years will know that I was sad to learn that so much of this oral tradition has been lost over the years. That makes any collections very valuable resources so when I find a new collection am always keen to add it to our store of knowledge.
This week I stumbled on this publication by James MacDougall and this time we see both the origional Gaelic text as well as the English translation. I've thus added this book in pdf format to our Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition page which you can get to at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/waifs/index.htm
I also added to this page the book...
Ancient Scottish Ballads
Received from Tradition and Never before Published with Notes Historic and Explanatory
This publication also contains an appendix which provides sheet music of some of these ballads making it an even more valuable collection.
Clan Leslie Society International
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Got in a copy of their december 2011 newsletter which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ters/leslieint
And finally...
I thought I'd mention that Donna Flood is doing a great job in providing us some thought provoking articles in her column in our community. http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...of-Donna-Flood
This is one she wrote recently and it shows how much pleasure you can get for next to nothing in cash terms...
Truly I’m getting more like my Dad everyday. Over the years even after his death I have had the opportunity to suddenly be enlightened by the meaning of this or that phrase, circumstance, event in history and on and on.
My daughter cooked a turkey and did all the wonderful trimmings of pumpkin, pecan, pies, dressing, cranberry sauce, and so on and so forth.
It was our job to get the house ready for guests. At a total loss for anything different to decorate the table I wandered out to Lowes. On a rack outside were these lovely little cabbage plants marked way down. Fifteen of them were dirt cheap. As I wagged the box of them into the kitchen my mind began to be at a loss of how to use them to decorate. With no great creative foresight I simply began to wrap the square containers that held these lovely little leafy things in aluminum foil. Something about the colors seemed perfect for each other. After there fifteen were all wrapped with shiny foil, places in the kitchen almost called out for their presence. Atop the refrigerator, lined up on the middle of the long table, stuck here and there throughout
the room.
How appropriate they were and the term of endearment, Mon Petit, came to my mind. Some find it laughable that, 'my little cabbage', should be a term of endearment. For some reason that part of the French reasoning came to be made clear to me.
“How pretty are these little cabbages, with leaves so fresh, clean and green. Truly how beautiful they are.” And so it is, after I’m gone my children and grandchildren will remember this years dinner with the thought of everyone admiring the table setting and other little cabbages around the room. Maybe they will be interested enough to learn about our French ancestors, too.
So it goes with the bubbly mind of an artist. Tomorrow I must go for a canvas to do a painting of one of the little cabbage. The size will be 11x14 so that copies can be made of it and laminated to mail to our guests and give the original to my daughter for her to hang in her kitchen which is decorated with touches of that same green. Of course, the title will be “Mon Petit.”
Now you know how the mind of this artist works. Really there is nothing spectacular or great about it but does follow the thought that “An artist is never impoverished.”
Lots more like this in her forum and well worth a browse.
And Ranald just phoned me and he left me with a wee story.... When I die I hope I just go to sleep like my grandfather... and not screaming and shouting like the passengers in his car.
And that's all for this week and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair
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Electric Scotland News
What's new on ElectricCanadian.com
The Flag in the Wind
Through the Long Day
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
Scottish Poets in America
Elsie Inglis
Robert Burns Lives!
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
Memories Grave and Gay
Chronicles of Gretna Green
A Scots Boy's World Sixty Years Ago
Donna's Cultural Page
Homespun (New Book)
Folk Tales and Fairy Lore
Clan Leslie Society International
Electric Scotland News
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Had my eye surgery this morning. So far I haven't seen things through a pink tinge which is a good sign. They tell me it could take up to 4 weeks for everything to settle in but hopefully just a few days. The one thing I did notice when I went into the toilet to take of my eye patch was that the toilet was a bright white whereas with my other eye it seemed more cream than white. And so colours are certainly brighter. The sharpness of vision is not yet there but they did say it would take a few days and of course the first thing I did was to put in my eye drops. And so we'll see how things develop.
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I posted up the St James Priory Newsletter for December which is a good read and you can download the pdf version at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...-December-2011
In there you'll find an interesting item on the way you might look at giving Christmas Presents. Also a great article on how 4 deers were saved when they went out into the water and appeared to be asking a boat for help and some pictures to go with it. And perhaps we've discovered the largest freemasonary site in the world in Scotland and lots more to read. While it is a Knights Templar production there is much of interest and I don't just say that as I'm the newsletter editor as many contributed stories for it.
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And as we are getting near to Christmas I thought I'd also wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. You can get to our special Christmas page at http://www.electricscotland.com/index98.htm
I might add that you can have some fun with the Kids with our "Dress the Chief" program where they can design their own Christmas Card. You can get to that at http://www.electricscotland.com/kids/dress1.html
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/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
ElectricCanadian.com
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http://www.electriccanadian.com
Nothing much added this week as I'm back working on Electric Scotland and this will likely continue for a couple more weeks. I did copy two new items between Electric Scotland and Electric Canadian as while out of Scottish books they were to do with Canada.
Canada in 1865
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...canada1865.htm
By Charles MacKay LL.D. MacKay was a famous editor and journalist and this is part of his report when he visited Canada in 1864 to report on what Canadians thought of Confederation.
George Millward McDougall
The Pioneer, Patriot and Missionary, the author's father. (1888)
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...dougallndx.htm
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks Flag was compiled by Jim Lynch which is actually a smaller edition that usual for him with no Scots language or Gaelic column. Lots to read in the Synopsis though.
I still see comments on how we should be part of the EU and I have yet to see any comments about why it might be better not to join the EU. I also heard that James Wilkie (SDA) was in touch with the editor and so had hoped to see some discussion on this. Why would you want to gain independence just to throw it away by being a member of the EU? It makes no sense to me at all and what is more it makes no sense for the Flag to ignore this topic and not even discuss it. If they think we should be a member of the EU then why won't they make a case for membership against non membership? Why don't they unpick the SDA's paper on "Scotland in Europe" to show us how it would be better for us to be in the EU?
I noted also today that Scotland's unemployment rate is now higher that the UK as a whole. Now I must say that I do support Scottish Independence but ignoring these kind of issues is not going to get a majority for a YES vote. Given the state of the Global economy and especially in Europe does not make it easy for any governing party.
I also noted the headline in the Scotsman neewspaper "Alex Salmond under fire as 25,000 more Scots out of work" but I guess what concerned me somewhat was the comment in the final section of this article...
Meanwhile, Scottish Tory finance spokesman Gavin Brown said he was astonished Mr Salmond’s high-profile Council of Economic Advisers had failed to hold a formal meeting at any stage in 2011.
The last meeting of the group, which now includes the economist and Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz, was in September 2010.
The next scheduled gathering is in the new year.
Mr Brown said: “In a week that we have seen the worst retail figures and unemployment increasing beyond the rest of the UK, people will be staggered that the Council of Economic Advisers has not met this year and, indeed, there will be a gap of around 14 months without a meeting.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The Scottish Government published its response earlier this year to the previous Council of Economic Advisers’ last report.
“The term of office of the previous CEA ended at the election, the new CEA membership was announced by the First Minister last month and will meet for the first time next month.”
Just because we suport the SNP and want Independence doesn't mean we have to accept everything the SNP does as correct. We should be able to quiz them and have an honest debate. While I mention the SDA I should be clear that they also support the SNP's drive for Scottish Independence but they do aim to become a real political party to oppose the SNP once we gain that independence.
Anyway... I will now get off my own soapbox but do hope that the Flag will start answering some of the real concerns that people do have.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Through the Long Day
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Or Memorials of a Literary Life during half a century by Charles MacKay LL.D. (1887)
This week have added...
Chapter IX - Assassination of President Lincoln
Chapter X - Canada in 1865
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mackay/
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
----------------------------------------------
We've added more to this disctionary...
Scottish Language Letter F
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...eson/index.htm
Scottish Poets in America
-------------------------
With Biographical and Critical Notices by John D, Ross (1889)
Now added...
Kennedy, James
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...rica/index.htm
Elsie Inglis
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By Eva Shaw McLaren
Have now completed this book by adding...
Chapter VIII - The Suffrage Campaign
Justice of claim appealed to Dr. Inglis—Worked from constitutional point of view—Founding of Scottish Federation of Suffrage Societies—Dr. Inglis's activities for the cause—Tributes from women who worked with her—Description of meeting addressed by her
Chapter IX - Scottish Women's Hospitals
Dr. Inglis at the outbreak of war: Full of vigour and enthusiasm—Idea mooted at Federation Committee Meeting—Rapid growth—Hospitals in the field in December
Chapter X - Serbia
Dreadful condition of country—Arrival of Dr. Soltau and Dr. Hutchison and Unit—Dr. Inglis's arrival in May, 1915—Fountain at Mladanovatz—Letter from officer who designed fountain—Dr. Inglis and her Unit taken prisoners in November—Account of work at Krushevatz—Release in February, 1916—Tributes from Miss Christitch and Lieut.-Colonel Popovitch
Chapter XI - Russia
Dr. Inglis's start for Russia in August, 1916—Unit attached to Serb Division near Odessa—Three weeks' work at Medjidia—Retreat to Braila—Order of three retreats—Work at Reni—Description of Dr. Inglis by one of her Unit—Account of her last Communion
Chapter XII - "If You want us Home, Get them Out"
Serb Division in unenviable position—Dr. Inglis's determination to save them from wholesale slaughter—Hard work through summer months to achieve their safety—Efforts crowned with success—Left for England in October, bringing her Unit and the Division with her
Chapter XIII - "The New Work" and Memories
Landed at Newcastle on November 23, 1917—Illness on voyage—Dr. Ethel Williams's testimony to her fearlessness in facing death—Triumph in passing—Scenes at funeral in Edinburgh—Memories
You can read these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...glis/index.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
Added Chapter 129 - Vindication of Highland Mary by Norman Paton.
I am always looking and asking, and sometimes outright begging, various people to contribute to the pages of Robert Burns Lives!. Most have been willing to share their work with me while a few never will. Their loss! And it doesn’t matter to me if they have a PhD behind their names or not. They may write great books on Burns while the others of us represent Burns in newsletters, local papers or during the “Burns Season” at our Burns clubs. I like both types as Burns is “the” common denominator.
When a politician was asked how he would vote on a bill to permit drinking whisky on Sundays, he replied, “Well, some of my friends are against it, and some of my friends are for it, and I am for my friends!” Actually what I look for is one’s love for Burns and a sense of honesty about him - two sides of the same coin. They do not have to agree with me on my thinking nor is it imperative for us to be “cut off the same bolt of cloth” or “cuss” in the same places. I’m not interested in their politics or place in society. They can be president or professor of a university, an author, or a layman like me.
However, if I think they are wrong about Burns, I do one or two things: not print what they send me (I’ve had a few of those) or rebut what they say (I’ve done this a couple of times too). The problem with the latter is I burn a lot of energy and sometimes it is like riding a calliope - one gets off where he got on and he hasn’t been anywhere. I usually leave the rebutting to those who are scholars as they are more gifted about Burns and can do a much better job.
This brings me to our guest today: He came recommended by one I trust, listen to, look up to, love, and respect as much as I do any man on earth. In the words of my friend, our writer today is “one of the good guys”. I welcome him to these pages because he identifies with the phrase “hard working stiff”. Over the years his career took him to the Clyde shipyards as a draughtsman and later on to shipbuilding and structural engineering. If my Daddy, who could easily be described as a “dirt farmer” and latter on after losing his farm in the Great Depression, a drayer, was alive, he would say as we sat around the supper table, “He’s one of us”. That’s a pretty good recommendation in my book because my Daddy did not have much to say but when he did, you learned rather quickly to listen.
The article below on Highland Mary was written for the Greenock Telegraph and was restricted to 600 words due to their newspaper format. One of my beloved heroes in literature, Ernest Hemingway, used to write over a thousand words a morning when he was on a roll. While this is not a long article, I’d like to think that Hemingway would pronounce it to be a “beautiful story”. Oh, by the way, his Sunday name is Norman Paton but his friends call him Norrie.
So now we have two articles back-to-back on Highland Mary, one by a scholar and one by a layman. Hope you enjoy both of them as much as I did.
In closing, Susan and I recently enjoyed being with our little family enjoying Santa and Mrs. Claus at our Atlanta St. Andrew’s Society Christmas party. I received my usual gift from him – a small bag of coal! No matter, I still believe in him, and he knows when he needs me, I am willing to be his elf. Merry Christmas, everyone!
(FRS: 12.14.11)
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives129.htm
You can read the other chapters in this series at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
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By James Grant M.A. (1876).
Added this week...
Part II - Schools after the Reformation
Chapter III - Protection of Schools
Chapter IV - Visitations and Examinations of Schools
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...urgh/index.htm
Memories Grave and Gay
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Forty Years of School Inspection by John Kerr LL.D.
Have added chapters 16 - 20 this week which can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...ries/index.htm
Chronicles of Gretna Green
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By Peter Orlando Hutchinson (1844)
We're now up to Chapter XIV. - Dick o' the Cow, and the Laird's Jock.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...etna/index.htm
A Scots Boy's World Sixty Years Ago
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By George Ernest Philip (1922)
We've now added...
Chapter I. A Manse Bairn of Last Century,
Chapter II. Home on the Old Govan Road,
Chapter III. Home on the Old Paisley Road,
Chapter IV. A Boy's Box of Books.
Chapter V. Early School Life,
Chapter VI. At the Glasgow Academy,
Chapter VII. More Academy Memories,
Chapter VIII. Aberdeenshire Holidays,
Chapter IX. Other Holidays,
You can read these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/boys/index.htm
Donna's Cultural Page
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Donna came up with a selection of good ideas for organising things at home which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...s/crafts38.htm
Homespun
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A Study of a Simple Folk by Annie S. Swan (1894)
This is a collection of stories of "Simple Folk" and to give you a flavour of how the stories are told this is how the first chapter starts...
ABOUT nine o'clock on a summer evening four Beild worthies forgathered in Bawbie Windrum's public, and there sat down to have a nip and a crack. Bawbie herself, a fearsome-looking old hag, with a big, clean, white mutch which made her coarse, large-featured face seem even less comely than usual, sat knitting in her corner of the bar, hard by the till, which was her chief concern in this world, whatever it might be in the next.
It was a poor sort of bar, though many a Beild body got "fou" standing in it; the whole hostelry indeed was unpretentious in the extreme. It consisted of a but and ben, the "but" being Bawbie's living room, the "ben" a taproom provided with a long table and wooden benches on either side of it. The stone floor was sanded, and though fairly clean smelled evilly, very doubtful tobacco being smoked perpetually therein. It had no decorations, unless two china dogs on the mantelpiece could be called such; and it had one picture on the yellow-ochred wall—a highly coloured likeness of Burns' Highland Mary with four lines of poetry beneath. The window was very small, the panes of that knotted greenish glass which you never see anywhere but in the Beild and places like it; on this account no blind was required, as it would have taken a very sharp-eyed person to see through it. It had been tried often by Leeby Morison looking for her man, before she actually went in to fetch him out. He was there that night, one of the four; but I shall return to the company presently, when I have told you about the house.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter01.htm
The index page shows you what other chapters are coming at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...spun/index.htm
Folk Tales and Fairy Lore
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In Gaelic and English Collected from Oral Tradition By Rev. James MacDougall (1910).
I've been collecting collections of oral tradition stories for some years now. Those of you that have been following progress on the site for some years will know that I was sad to learn that so much of this oral tradition has been lost over the years. That makes any collections very valuable resources so when I find a new collection am always keen to add it to our store of knowledge.
This week I stumbled on this publication by James MacDougall and this time we see both the origional Gaelic text as well as the English translation. I've thus added this book in pdf format to our Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition page which you can get to at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/waifs/index.htm
I also added to this page the book...
Ancient Scottish Ballads
Received from Tradition and Never before Published with Notes Historic and Explanatory
This publication also contains an appendix which provides sheet music of some of these ballads making it an even more valuable collection.
Clan Leslie Society International
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Got in a copy of their december 2011 newsletter which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ters/leslieint
And finally...
I thought I'd mention that Donna Flood is doing a great job in providing us some thought provoking articles in her column in our community. http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...of-Donna-Flood
This is one she wrote recently and it shows how much pleasure you can get for next to nothing in cash terms...
Truly I’m getting more like my Dad everyday. Over the years even after his death I have had the opportunity to suddenly be enlightened by the meaning of this or that phrase, circumstance, event in history and on and on.
My daughter cooked a turkey and did all the wonderful trimmings of pumpkin, pecan, pies, dressing, cranberry sauce, and so on and so forth.
It was our job to get the house ready for guests. At a total loss for anything different to decorate the table I wandered out to Lowes. On a rack outside were these lovely little cabbage plants marked way down. Fifteen of them were dirt cheap. As I wagged the box of them into the kitchen my mind began to be at a loss of how to use them to decorate. With no great creative foresight I simply began to wrap the square containers that held these lovely little leafy things in aluminum foil. Something about the colors seemed perfect for each other. After there fifteen were all wrapped with shiny foil, places in the kitchen almost called out for their presence. Atop the refrigerator, lined up on the middle of the long table, stuck here and there throughout
the room.
How appropriate they were and the term of endearment, Mon Petit, came to my mind. Some find it laughable that, 'my little cabbage', should be a term of endearment. For some reason that part of the French reasoning came to be made clear to me.
“How pretty are these little cabbages, with leaves so fresh, clean and green. Truly how beautiful they are.” And so it is, after I’m gone my children and grandchildren will remember this years dinner with the thought of everyone admiring the table setting and other little cabbages around the room. Maybe they will be interested enough to learn about our French ancestors, too.
So it goes with the bubbly mind of an artist. Tomorrow I must go for a canvas to do a painting of one of the little cabbage. The size will be 11x14 so that copies can be made of it and laminated to mail to our guests and give the original to my daughter for her to hang in her kitchen which is decorated with touches of that same green. Of course, the title will be “Mon Petit.”
Now you know how the mind of this artist works. Really there is nothing spectacular or great about it but does follow the thought that “An artist is never impoverished.”
Lots more like this in her forum and well worth a browse.
And Ranald just phoned me and he left me with a wee story.... When I die I hope I just go to sleep like my grandfather... and not screaming and shouting like the passengers in his car.
And that's all for this week and hope you all have a good weekend.
Alastair