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To see what we've added to the Electric Scotland site view our What's New page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm
To see what we've added to the Electric Canadian site view our What's New page at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
Best Whisky in the World' Is No Longer Scottish
A Japanese whisky has been named the "best in the world," upstaging traditionally favored Scottish brands, which did not make it into the top five, according to a new ranking. Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 was awarded the title by whisky connoisseur Jim Murray, whose 2015 edition of the Whisky Bible will be published next week, the Daily Mail reported.
Described as "near incredible genius" for its "nose of exquisite boldness" and finish of "light, teasing spice", Murray gave the drink 97.5 marks out of 100. Yamazaki is Japan's first and oldest distillery, established in 1923 by Suntory's founder Shinjiro Torii. For the first time, no Scottish distillery was ranked in the top five, according to the Daily Mail, which got an advanced copy of the guide. Varieties of Scotch whisky have been crowned best in the world in two of the last three years - Old Pulteney's 21 year-old single malt in 2012 and Glenmorangie Ealanta in 2014.The Whisky Bible, launched in 2003, provides detailed tasting notes on 4,500 whiskies.
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Kenneth Roy's panorama of post-war Scottish life, "The Invisible Spirit", is out in paperback from Birlinn early next week. It is not too early to be thinking about that 'perfect Christmas gift'. This book is not perfect. But, at 544 pages, it should keep you going until Hogmanay. To order your signed copy direct from the Scottish Review, for you or your proverbial friend, click below. 15 quid, post and packing free.
You can order it online at http://www.scottishreview.net/
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I got several more emails in saying they liked the idea of having a story in each newsletter so will now add one for each issue.
Electric Canadian
Kendra MacGillivray
Added an article about her... From Cape Breton to Tokyo, Dallas to Denmark, Edinburgh and back to the Glencoe Dance Hall, Kendra MacGillivray has play them all.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...a-MacGillivray
History Islands and Isletes in the Bay of Fundy
By J. G. Lorimer (1876)
I added a pdf of this book which you can download at
http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/nb/fundy.pdf
Ralph Connor
Added a page for this Author and Minister which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/makers/connor_ralph.htm
Rev. Dr. Charles William Gordon, or Ralph Connor, (September 13, 1860 – October 31, 1937) was a Canadian novelist, using the Connor pen name while maintaining his status as a Church leader, first in the Presbyterian and later the United churches in Canada. Gordon was also at one time a master at Upper Canada College. He sold more than five million copies of his works in his lifetime, and some of his works are still in print.
Best of Luck
How a Fighting Canadian won the thanks of Britain's King by Alexander McClintock, Late Sergeant, 87th Battalion, Canadian Grenadier Guards, Now member of U. S. A. Reserve Corps (1917) (pdf)
You can download this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...00mccluoft.pdf
The Flag in the Wind
This weeks issue was compiled by Clare Adamson.
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org and there is a Synopsis this week.
Electric Scotland
Enigma Machine
Added puzzle 86.
An alternative to your crossword puzzle and created by a Scots Canadian, Doug Ross.
You can join with others in our community trying to complete these at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...le-amp-Whistle
You can get to the puzzles at http://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/enigma/
Highland Rambles
And Long Legends to Shorten the Way by Thomas Dick Lauder (1837).
Added two more articles...
Somnosalmonia
Legend of the Last Grant of Tullochcarron
You can read these articles at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...uder/index.htm
The Life of Andrew Murray of South Africa
By J Du Plessis.
Making progress with this book and now up to Chapter XIII. Educational Undertakings and Visit to Europe and America.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rray/index.htm
Carron Company
John sent in some information about the Carron Iron company that are quite shocking and we've added this to our page where they are discussed at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../industry3.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Got in section 1 of the November issue which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
A New View of the War of Independence
The role played by Celtic Scotland.
THE part played by the North of Scotland in the War of Independence has been consistently ignored by Scottish historians. They have always taken it for granted that the War of Independence was won by the Lowlands of Scotland, though they have not explained how and whence Bruce obtained the adherents who made his early successes, and consequently his ultimate success, possible. Professor Hume Brown, in his history, does not discuss the point. Mr. Andrew Lang observes: But we still ask, how did he achieve any success? The nation as a whole was not yet with him (that his later forfeitures of his enemies proves) ; patriotism, properly speaking, was as yet rudimentary. The Commons had fallen away after Wallace’s death; of the nobles some were indifferent, many were bitterly hostile, holding Bruce in deadly feud. Rome, since 1304. no ally, was now an embittered foe, because of Bruce's sacrilege, and he lay under excommunication—then, and much later, a terrible position. Who composed Bruce’s forces while he wandered in Galloway? A few knights, probably, with some hundreds of broken men from Kyle, Annandale, Carrick, and the Isles. Sir Herbert Maxwell, writing of Bruce’s campaign against the Earl of Buchan, says: ‘For several months after this we hear no more of either Bruce or Buchan. It is quite likely that Buchan’s inactivity was the result of the growing popularity of Bruce and the idea of independence. failing some such reason, it seems amazing that such a favourable chance of capturing or crushing the of the Scots was allowed to slip. It seems clear, therefore, that these writers are unable to explain who formed the armies which Bruce led to victory. Mr. Andrew Lang, however, goes a step further. In an appendix to the first volume of his history, headed ‘The Celts in the War of Independence,’ he says: ‘The War of Independence was won by the Lowland Scots (in origin many of English descent) lighting under the standards of leaders more or less Norman by blood. There is not, I think, historical evidence to support so emphatic a statement.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/bruce/bruce.htm
Great Founders of Falkirk and Glasgow
Added information on two more persons to the index page of this collection. You can view this at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...n/founders.htm
The Heart of Scotland
Painted by Sutton Palmer, Described by A. R. Hope Moncrieff. This the third book in the series.
There are really excellent colour paintings of various places in Scotland and the commentary from Hope Moncreif is always interesting. You can view this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/art/bonnie/ where you will also find the two other books in this series.
Our Christmas Party
By Old Merry (1867). (pdf)
I was looking for an interesting story to add to the December issue of he Canadian Templar when I came across this book and so thought I'd share it with you. There are some good stories in it and here is the Table of Contents...
Preparations
The Party
The Meandering Musician
Great Reform Debate and Demonstration
Round the Fire after Supper
Frozen up. W. H. G. KINGSTON
A Rescue in the Rocky Mountains. R. M. BALLANTYNE
Lost and Found. EDWIN HODDER
Castle Connor. MONA B. BICKERSTAFFE
The Black Dragoon. SIDNEY DARYL
A Christmas Dinner at Dr. Lickemwel's R. HOPE MONCRIEFF
A Wild Yule E'en. CYNTHA
Conclusion
You can download this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...00hoddiala.pdf
The Emigration of Highland Crofters
In a letter to the Lord Advocate by Rowland Hill MacDonald (pdf)
The opening paragraph sets the scene...
MY LORD,—
The writer does not presume to forecast the lines upon which the Government mean or are likely to legislate with the view of ameliorating the unhappy circumstances of the great mass of the crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and of amending the present unsatisfactory relationships existing between themselves and their landlords, which circumstances and relationships have been prominently before the mind of the country for the last few years,—have recently been very clearly portrayed and stereotyped, so to speak, in the exhaustive Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed in March 1883, for inquiring into the condition of these people,—and have more recently been brought to a crisis by the necessity which has arisen for sending a naval and a military force to restore order in Skye, and to prevent further lawlessness in that quarter. But it is no presumption to anticipate that, whatever legislation on this subject may be in the near future, emigration under Government auspices will, of necessity, be an important factor in it, or must speedily follow as a supplementary enactment.
You can read the rest of this by downloading the pdf at
http://www.electricscotland.com/book...00macdgoog.pdf
Lowland Tartans
Added an article about Lowland Tartans in pdf format to our Tartans page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/tartans/index.htm
Blair Castle
Found a neat wee book about Blair Castle so added it to the site at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/trav...air_castle.htm
Atholl Illustrated
Tourist Guide to Pitlochry, Killiecrankie, Blair Atholl and Kinloch Rannoch. Added this pdf file to our Pitlochry page at:http://www.electricscotland.com/travel/pitlochry/ where you can also view hundreds of my own pictures that I took while staying in this area of Scotland.
Report by the Crofters Commission
On The Social Condition of the People of Lewis in 1901, as Compared with Twenty Years ago. This is a pdf file that I've added to the foot of the page at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...tern_isles.htm
THE STORY
The Founding of Cavendish in Prince Edward Island
Here is a chapter from this book which will paint a picture on how they settled the land...
Progress is always relative.
In the fanciful quotation with which we began the preceding chapter William Simpson, "a tall, good-looking, blond, blue-eyed man" and Janet Winchester "his beautiful young wife", travelled from the boat landing by dog team over snow and ice in the dead of winter, to build themselves a log cabin, their future home at New London. Such would have been progress.
(How this supposed bride and groom got to a boat landing in Prince Edward Island during the dead of winter is not explained).
But there is nothing fictional about the reality of the progress made by this pioneer family and their descendants during the years following their venture of faith into the new life they had chosen.
We can only surmise at their reasons for making the move.
Far from them being bride and groom we have learned that William and Janet were in their mid-fifties with ten children ranging in age from thirty-one to eleven years when they went to Cavendish.
Why would a couple, well past the prime of life, who had settled themselves in the growing capital of the colony, leave the established order with its security, and go into the forest In a completely unsettled area to begin anew?
Perhaps it was the Scottish love of the land and the feeling of well-being it gives. We know that this was a factor in William’s character. Had he not acquired land in Prince Town for each of his four sons, ten years earlier?
Perhaps it was concern for the economic well-being of his children and the belief that in the land more than anywhere else was economic stability and the assurance of prosperity.
And there may have been an even more compelling reason.
We know that William and Janet and their family, including their sons-in-law, were people of firm religious convictions. From the beginning there has been a strong tradition of high moral standards which has come down through the generations.
Rev. Theophilus DesBrisay, rector of the Parish of Charlotte who founded St. Paul’s Church in Charlottetown, was so concerned about the low moral standards prevailing in Charlottetowri that, while he carried out most of his church duties there, he established his home in the rural community of Cove Head.
It may well be that the Simpsons, with McNeill and Clark shared this sentiment.
Some may suggest that if this was a concern it was not logical to move to an area which had none of the institutions of religion, - no church, no clergyman.
But it must be remembered that the whole tradition of the Presbyterian Scot was that the parent assumed responsibility for the spiritual nurture of his children, while at the same time giving his devoted service to his church as a partner and aid. But the home with its teaching and influences was paramount.
The parent did not say "do as I say, not as I do". He realized that consistent example was the best teacher. Today’s society could benefit from more of this philosophy.
Mary McNeill Lawson, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved Aunt Mary, in old age wrote a long letter to one of her nephews in which she outlined the history of the early McNeill families.
Referring to her grandfather John McNeill she says:
"He married Margaret Simpson, daughter of William Simpson, who had emigrated from Morayshire, Scotland, a man of rare ability and Christian character, whose descendants filled a large space in the moral, intellectual, and religious development of the country".
We can picture the family conferences with regard to the proposed move, lasting over a considerable period of time.
And we can be very sure that the choice of site was not made lightly. These were intelligent, knowledgeable people who would carefully explore the potential locations with a view to finding arable, fertile, stone-free, reasonably level land, preferably with access to the sea. Fish were an essential part of the early economy.
We think there is no doubt that they carefully examined a number of possible sites. The years have proven the wisdom of their final choice.
The 1790s in Cavendish were years of beginnings. It is fashionable today to refer to the "horse-and-buggy" days some with nostalgia, others in a derogatory sense.
But the 1790s were pre-horse-and--buggy. There were no buggies because there were no roads. On foot, by boat, at best on horseback were the means of transportation.
The telegraph was still over forty years in the future and it would be eighty-six years before Alexander Graham Bell was to say on March 10, 1876 "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you" and initiate the telephone.
It was an age of slow movement but it was an on-going period.
Progress was slow in keeping with the pace of the day, but there was progress. It was predicated on initiative, hard work, and intelligent use of the ingredients at hand.
There were no supermarkets, no department stores, no trades people, not even a little country store, practically no money. Except for the few things they had brought with them, they were strictly limited to what the land and the sea could provide and their ability to adapt such provision to their uses.
The summer of 1790, in addition to the founding of a community, saw the more personal beginning of at least two, probably three farm units. William Junior and son-in-law William Clark certainly built their cabins soon after arrival, and in the spring of 1791 son-in-law John McNeill with his small family joined the group.
Shelter had been provided by means of log cabins, crude and cramped, but still shelter and still "home".
Fuel was abundant for the stone fireplace and water was procured from a nearby brook.
To ensure a winter supply of water it is probable that a well was dug during the summer. The digging of a well was always a high priority.
The digging of a round hole five to six feet in diameter proceeded downward until an underground stream was reached which would provide a sufficient flow of water to meet the requirements of the home and the farm.
Having "struck water" at whatever depth, the next step was to build a circular stone lining leaving a core some three to four feet in diameter, from the bottom to the surface.
Next they would build the working mechanism for raising the water, a windlass, a round log about five or six inches in diameter with a handle at one end, mounted on two upright posts.
To the windlass was attached a rope with a bucket which was lowered by the windlass, filled with water and raised to the surface.
The final step in construction was the safety factor, a wall built around the well from hewn logs to a height of two and a half to three feet, often with a hinged cover. Children must be prevented from falling in.
Hand pumps, windmills for pumping water, and plumbing of all kinds were a much later development.
Water had to be carried from pump to house, heated in pots over the open fire until such time as stoves became available. The kitchen range of the mid-eighteen hundreds had a copper tank which held perhaps four to five gallons and gave a fair supply of warm water as long as there was fire in the stove.
Every home had a large wash tub and the drawing and heating of water for the Saturday night bath was a major operation, where there were several children. Since there was no bathroom, a corner of the kitchen was curtained off. While number one was having his bath the water was being heated for number two and so on until each had had a turn.
The toilet was a two holer out back. A hole was dug in the ground and the little building hauled over it. When it became filled a new hole was dug, the building moved, and the original hole leveled with clay. Toilet tissue was unknown,not even an Eaton’s catalog.
When sufficient land was cleared to provide pasture for livestock, every effort was made to lay out fields so that there would be access to a brook for summer watering. In winter the animals went to a trough near the well.
Fields for pasture meant fences to keep the livestock out of the crops. Here again the pioneers turned to the forest and the "snake" fence came into being.
Logs four to six inches in diameter were cut to a length of ten to twelve feet and split with an axe and wedge. The split logs were then laid, with the ends criss-crossed at a sufficient angle to hold, until a zig-zag fence three and a half to four feet high was laid.
The building of such a fence entailed a great deal of labor but once built it would last for many years and would turn all animals, including sheep.
There was little furniture, partly because there was little available space, and most of what they had was home made on the spot.
Pine was plentiful and easily worked. An experienced man with a broad axe could hew a plank almost as smooth as if it were sawn. it is even possible that they brought a saw and a plane with them.
Before water power was harnessed to drive a circular saw, which came fairly early, an ingenious method was devised for using a crosscut saw to make planks and rough boards.
A pit would be dug a little deeper than the height of a man and a frame built above it to carry a log.
A crosscut saw was about five feet long with large teeth and a round handle at each end.
One man would station himself above the log, the other in the pit below, and they would draw the saw up and down through the horizontal log to cut a board or plank.
It was slow, hard work but with large trees it did not take many planks to cover a considerable surface, for instance a floor, or to make necessary furniture.
In any case a table and benches were necessary, as were bunks for sleeping. The bunks were of wood, boards with a lip around to hold the mattress, and were usually double deckers and double bunks.
The mattress covers would have been brought with them, empty. The material available, initially, for filling them was dry grass which made a quite comfortable bed.
Later, when grain had been harvested, straw was used as a filler and later still, after poultry became a part of the farm menage, feather pillows and eventually that ultimate of luxury and warmth, the feather bed, came into being.
These early mattresses were called ticks although the name tick properly refers to the cover only. Funk and Wagnalla defines tick as "the stout outer covering for a mattress",
With limited space shelving was important and boards would be sawn for this purpose.
It was not long before benches were partially replaced by chairs, with the rocking chair and the kitchen lounge becoming the last word in comfort.
The Simpson home was past the need of a crib but this piece of furniture would be an essential in the Clark and McNeill homes, and soon in that of William Junior.
As time went on open shelving gave place to kitchen cupboards and chests of drawers, all home made from local materials but many of them showing a high standard of workmanship.
Without doubt one of the essential pieces of furniture which our founding families would bring with them was a spinning wheel.
And very early sheep would become an essential part of the livestock of the farm. The family was almost completely dependent on sheep’s wool for clothing and blankets.
The process leading to a home spun suit or a pair of socks or mitts began with the growth of an annual fleece of wool by the sheep.
This was shorn, usually in early June, when weather was warm enough that the sheep would not catch cold.
Foreign substances had to be picked out by hand, a slow, tedious task because the wool usually collected a mass of seeds, burdocks, dried leaves, twigs, pebbles and whatever other small objects with which it came in contact.
Following washing in several waters or, in an openwork basket in a flowing brook, the wool being continuously agitated, the fleece was dried outdoors. During this period there was a certain amount of bleaching. During the process of washing, the wool became badly matted.
To prepare the fiber for spinning it had to be picked over again and the fiber disentangled. This was done, up to a point, by hand.
Then carding came into play, a process whereby two hand cards were used, wooden rectangles about four by nine inches, with a handle, each filled on one surface with small nails or steel pins. The cards were dragged across each other forcing the fibers to lie parallel, removing any remaining impurities and arranging the fibers in the form of a small web.
The web was then drawn into a loose strand called a roll, as part of the preparatory process for spinning.
This was a summer procedure. Spinning, the process whereby the fibers were made into yarn or thread, was often left for the long fall evenings. For the women, many winter evenings were spent knitting socks, mitts, sweaters, stocking caps and other pieces of wearing apparel.
There were few early settlers who failed to develop a skill in weaving. There were few whose outer garb and often whose inner as well, was not the product of their own farm, the wool carded, spun and woven in the farm kitchen.
Our founding families could not go out to a shoe store and buy footwear. They had to make their own. To make shoes they had to have leather, and to get leather they had to tan the hides of the cattle or other animals they raised. This meant that they had to convert an easily decomposed substance into one that would resist putrefaction and stand up to long wear.
It is not our purpose to go into the lengthy and somewhat involved process of tanning. Incidentally the name tanning comes from the tawny, yellowish brown color of the finished product.
Having prepared the hide the actual tanning was done with an astringent acid procured from the bark of one of several kinds of trees such as hemlock, oak, willow or sumac, all of which were available.
The acid toughened the skin, condensed it and coagulated all the albuminous matter to preserve it from rotting.
Having prepared the leather, wooden lasts had to be carved to the approximate size and shape of the foot to be fitted and the making of the shoes would proceed.
When they were ready to wear, sheep tallow was rubbed in, and later applied at intervals, to make them water resistant.
Home made harness was also necessary and was made from the leather tanned at home.
Since William and Janet's son-in-law William Clark was a shoemaker our founders were probably better shod than the average pioneer family, and their beasts of burden had more comfortable harness.
As years passed, itinerant Shoemakers began to go from home to home, staying with the family until they made the shoes and harness required. But the settler still had to provide his own leather.
Shoes had no laces and were usually at least ankle high, often knee high, and quite tight fitting. Hence, inside every kitchen door was a wooden boot-jack which fitted over the heel to assist in removing the shoe.
Kerosene had yet to be discovered and electricity was far in the future. For light, in addition to the glow of the fire, they had to make candles. These were made in tin molds, round cylinders, closed at the bottom, except for a small hole through which the wick was anchored. They were usually a little under an inch in diameter and often attached in a group, of four or eight, or more.
The ingredients were a fiber wick attached to the bottom of the mold in the center and to a cross piece above to hold it in place. Melted tallow was then poured in and left to harden thus forming the candle.
No home can operate without soap, but again these early settlers had to depend on their own resources. They had brought with them tested recipes using only materials readily at hand.
They knew nothing about the chemical balance necessary between the fatty acids from beef tallow or lard and the alkalies provided by the hardwood ashes they used. Scientists did not learn these secrets till early in the nineteenth century. But they knew that their recipes worked.
While the log cabin was made as draft proof as possible, the heating system was not too efficient, and fire was not ordinarily kept on overnight. Winter nights could be very cold. So for bed warmers planks, or sometimes stones, were heated before the open fire and put in the bed, sometimes also put at the children’s backs to retain heat.
In the preceding pages we have tried to picture something of life as it was during the first decade in Cavendish.
There were four log cabins along with whatever out. buildings had been erected. William and Janet Simpson with their younger children were near the junction of the two lakes. Immediately to the west was William Jr. and his wife Mary Millar. Next to him on the west were William and Helen Simpson Clark. To the east, having arrived in 1791, were John and Margaret Simpson McNeill.
By 1800 each of the three younger men had young families of several children.
It is also probable that James, the third son, who married Nancy Woodside in 1798, built a cabin on his hundred acres to the west of William Clark. Fourteen years were to elapse before he moved to Bay View, the next district to the west and established the homestead on which the writer was born and grew up.
You can red more of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../cavendish.htm
I did take a few pictures of the area but as it was winter the ground was covered in snow. You can see these athttp://www.electriccanadian.com/canada/040301.htm
And Finally...
Some more stories from The Book of Scottish Anecdote...
A GOOD OLD HORSE
There was, about 1790, in a village to the south of Haddington, a very small black Galloway (of the Shetland hreed), not exceeding eleven hands high, which was foaled in the year 1743, and in '45 was ridden at the battle of Preston pans. This animal, though forty-seven years of age, looked remarkably fresh, and could trot above nine miles an hour, for several hours together; had good teeth, ate corn and hay well, and had not, to all appearance, undergone the least alteration for twenty years.
A SERVICEABLE PSALM
It is on record that one of the chaplains of the Marquess of Montrose, on being condemned to die, as an expiation for the crime of attending his master in some of his exploits, and being upon the ladder was ordered, as was usual, to give out a psalm to be sung. Expecting a reprieve he named the 119th, which the officers attending the execution were compelled to comply with. It was fortunate for hm that he selected the longest psalm, for before they had sung it three parts through the reprieve came, and his life was spared. Any other psalm would have hanged him.
A STURDY HIGHLAND SHEPHERD
A shepherd in the "rough bounds" of the Highlands, scrambling over the rocks on the side of a high mountain, fell and broke his leg. No one knew that he was in that part of the hill, and the place was so lonely, that he had no hope of ever see!ng a human face again. It was in vain to call for help, where there was none to hear. He tried to persuade his dog to go home and alarm his wife and children; but the poor animal, who saw his distress, without thoroughly comprehending his meaning, only went a few yards from him, sat down on the rock, looked at him, looked homeward, and howled. As the day advanced, love of life, and the thought of his wife and children, roused him to exertion. With his broad tape garters, and stripes of his plaid, he lashed the broken limb to his fowling-piece, and leaning on the but end as a crutch, made his way down the precipitous side of the mountain, crossed the river, reached the cottage (two mile. farther), recovered, and was as well as ever.
THE HON. HENRY ERSKINE
The generous character of the Hon. Henry Erskine, as an advocate, in endeavouring to secure justice to even the very poorest and humblest clients, was well known. A poor man, in a remote district, when strongly advised by his solicitor not to enter into a lawsuit with a wealthy neighbour, on account of the expense in which it would lead him, is said at once to have replied - "Ye dinna ken what ye say maister; there's no a puir man in a Scotland need want a friend, or fear an enemy, as lang as Harry Erskine lives!"
You can learn more about him at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...kine_henry.htm
That's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm
To see what we've added to the Electric Canadian site view our What's New page at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
Best Whisky in the World' Is No Longer Scottish
A Japanese whisky has been named the "best in the world," upstaging traditionally favored Scottish brands, which did not make it into the top five, according to a new ranking. Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 was awarded the title by whisky connoisseur Jim Murray, whose 2015 edition of the Whisky Bible will be published next week, the Daily Mail reported.
Described as "near incredible genius" for its "nose of exquisite boldness" and finish of "light, teasing spice", Murray gave the drink 97.5 marks out of 100. Yamazaki is Japan's first and oldest distillery, established in 1923 by Suntory's founder Shinjiro Torii. For the first time, no Scottish distillery was ranked in the top five, according to the Daily Mail, which got an advanced copy of the guide. Varieties of Scotch whisky have been crowned best in the world in two of the last three years - Old Pulteney's 21 year-old single malt in 2012 and Glenmorangie Ealanta in 2014.The Whisky Bible, launched in 2003, provides detailed tasting notes on 4,500 whiskies.
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Kenneth Roy's panorama of post-war Scottish life, "The Invisible Spirit", is out in paperback from Birlinn early next week. It is not too early to be thinking about that 'perfect Christmas gift'. This book is not perfect. But, at 544 pages, it should keep you going until Hogmanay. To order your signed copy direct from the Scottish Review, for you or your proverbial friend, click below. 15 quid, post and packing free.
You can order it online at http://www.scottishreview.net/
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I got several more emails in saying they liked the idea of having a story in each newsletter so will now add one for each issue.
Electric Canadian
Kendra MacGillivray
Added an article about her... From Cape Breton to Tokyo, Dallas to Denmark, Edinburgh and back to the Glencoe Dance Hall, Kendra MacGillivray has play them all.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...a-MacGillivray
History Islands and Isletes in the Bay of Fundy
By J. G. Lorimer (1876)
I added a pdf of this book which you can download at
http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/nb/fundy.pdf
Ralph Connor
Added a page for this Author and Minister which you can read at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/makers/connor_ralph.htm
Rev. Dr. Charles William Gordon, or Ralph Connor, (September 13, 1860 – October 31, 1937) was a Canadian novelist, using the Connor pen name while maintaining his status as a Church leader, first in the Presbyterian and later the United churches in Canada. Gordon was also at one time a master at Upper Canada College. He sold more than five million copies of his works in his lifetime, and some of his works are still in print.
Best of Luck
How a Fighting Canadian won the thanks of Britain's King by Alexander McClintock, Late Sergeant, 87th Battalion, Canadian Grenadier Guards, Now member of U. S. A. Reserve Corps (1917) (pdf)
You can download this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/forc...00mccluoft.pdf
The Flag in the Wind
This weeks issue was compiled by Clare Adamson.
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org and there is a Synopsis this week.
Electric Scotland
Enigma Machine
Added puzzle 86.
An alternative to your crossword puzzle and created by a Scots Canadian, Doug Ross.
You can join with others in our community trying to complete these at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...le-amp-Whistle
You can get to the puzzles at http://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/enigma/
Highland Rambles
And Long Legends to Shorten the Way by Thomas Dick Lauder (1837).
Added two more articles...
Somnosalmonia
Legend of the Last Grant of Tullochcarron
You can read these articles at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...uder/index.htm
The Life of Andrew Murray of South Africa
By J Du Plessis.
Making progress with this book and now up to Chapter XIII. Educational Undertakings and Visit to Europe and America.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rray/index.htm
Carron Company
John sent in some information about the Carron Iron company that are quite shocking and we've added this to our page where they are discussed at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../industry3.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Got in section 1 of the November issue which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft/index.htm
A New View of the War of Independence
The role played by Celtic Scotland.
THE part played by the North of Scotland in the War of Independence has been consistently ignored by Scottish historians. They have always taken it for granted that the War of Independence was won by the Lowlands of Scotland, though they have not explained how and whence Bruce obtained the adherents who made his early successes, and consequently his ultimate success, possible. Professor Hume Brown, in his history, does not discuss the point. Mr. Andrew Lang observes: But we still ask, how did he achieve any success? The nation as a whole was not yet with him (that his later forfeitures of his enemies proves) ; patriotism, properly speaking, was as yet rudimentary. The Commons had fallen away after Wallace’s death; of the nobles some were indifferent, many were bitterly hostile, holding Bruce in deadly feud. Rome, since 1304. no ally, was now an embittered foe, because of Bruce's sacrilege, and he lay under excommunication—then, and much later, a terrible position. Who composed Bruce’s forces while he wandered in Galloway? A few knights, probably, with some hundreds of broken men from Kyle, Annandale, Carrick, and the Isles. Sir Herbert Maxwell, writing of Bruce’s campaign against the Earl of Buchan, says: ‘For several months after this we hear no more of either Bruce or Buchan. It is quite likely that Buchan’s inactivity was the result of the growing popularity of Bruce and the idea of independence. failing some such reason, it seems amazing that such a favourable chance of capturing or crushing the of the Scots was allowed to slip. It seems clear, therefore, that these writers are unable to explain who formed the armies which Bruce led to victory. Mr. Andrew Lang, however, goes a step further. In an appendix to the first volume of his history, headed ‘The Celts in the War of Independence,’ he says: ‘The War of Independence was won by the Lowland Scots (in origin many of English descent) lighting under the standards of leaders more or less Norman by blood. There is not, I think, historical evidence to support so emphatic a statement.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/bruce/bruce.htm
Great Founders of Falkirk and Glasgow
Added information on two more persons to the index page of this collection. You can view this at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...n/founders.htm
The Heart of Scotland
Painted by Sutton Palmer, Described by A. R. Hope Moncrieff. This the third book in the series.
There are really excellent colour paintings of various places in Scotland and the commentary from Hope Moncreif is always interesting. You can view this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/art/bonnie/ where you will also find the two other books in this series.
Our Christmas Party
By Old Merry (1867). (pdf)
I was looking for an interesting story to add to the December issue of he Canadian Templar when I came across this book and so thought I'd share it with you. There are some good stories in it and here is the Table of Contents...
Preparations
The Party
The Meandering Musician
Great Reform Debate and Demonstration
Round the Fire after Supper
Frozen up. W. H. G. KINGSTON
A Rescue in the Rocky Mountains. R. M. BALLANTYNE
Lost and Found. EDWIN HODDER
Castle Connor. MONA B. BICKERSTAFFE
The Black Dragoon. SIDNEY DARYL
A Christmas Dinner at Dr. Lickemwel's R. HOPE MONCRIEFF
A Wild Yule E'en. CYNTHA
Conclusion
You can download this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...00hoddiala.pdf
The Emigration of Highland Crofters
In a letter to the Lord Advocate by Rowland Hill MacDonald (pdf)
The opening paragraph sets the scene...
MY LORD,—
The writer does not presume to forecast the lines upon which the Government mean or are likely to legislate with the view of ameliorating the unhappy circumstances of the great mass of the crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and of amending the present unsatisfactory relationships existing between themselves and their landlords, which circumstances and relationships have been prominently before the mind of the country for the last few years,—have recently been very clearly portrayed and stereotyped, so to speak, in the exhaustive Report of the Royal Commissioners appointed in March 1883, for inquiring into the condition of these people,—and have more recently been brought to a crisis by the necessity which has arisen for sending a naval and a military force to restore order in Skye, and to prevent further lawlessness in that quarter. But it is no presumption to anticipate that, whatever legislation on this subject may be in the near future, emigration under Government auspices will, of necessity, be an important factor in it, or must speedily follow as a supplementary enactment.
You can read the rest of this by downloading the pdf at
http://www.electricscotland.com/book...00macdgoog.pdf
Lowland Tartans
Added an article about Lowland Tartans in pdf format to our Tartans page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/tartans/index.htm
Blair Castle
Found a neat wee book about Blair Castle so added it to the site at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/trav...air_castle.htm
Atholl Illustrated
Tourist Guide to Pitlochry, Killiecrankie, Blair Atholl and Kinloch Rannoch. Added this pdf file to our Pitlochry page at:http://www.electricscotland.com/travel/pitlochry/ where you can also view hundreds of my own pictures that I took while staying in this area of Scotland.
Report by the Crofters Commission
On The Social Condition of the People of Lewis in 1901, as Compared with Twenty Years ago. This is a pdf file that I've added to the foot of the page at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...tern_isles.htm
THE STORY
The Founding of Cavendish in Prince Edward Island
Here is a chapter from this book which will paint a picture on how they settled the land...
Progress is always relative.
In the fanciful quotation with which we began the preceding chapter William Simpson, "a tall, good-looking, blond, blue-eyed man" and Janet Winchester "his beautiful young wife", travelled from the boat landing by dog team over snow and ice in the dead of winter, to build themselves a log cabin, their future home at New London. Such would have been progress.
(How this supposed bride and groom got to a boat landing in Prince Edward Island during the dead of winter is not explained).
But there is nothing fictional about the reality of the progress made by this pioneer family and their descendants during the years following their venture of faith into the new life they had chosen.
We can only surmise at their reasons for making the move.
Far from them being bride and groom we have learned that William and Janet were in their mid-fifties with ten children ranging in age from thirty-one to eleven years when they went to Cavendish.
Why would a couple, well past the prime of life, who had settled themselves in the growing capital of the colony, leave the established order with its security, and go into the forest In a completely unsettled area to begin anew?
Perhaps it was the Scottish love of the land and the feeling of well-being it gives. We know that this was a factor in William’s character. Had he not acquired land in Prince Town for each of his four sons, ten years earlier?
Perhaps it was concern for the economic well-being of his children and the belief that in the land more than anywhere else was economic stability and the assurance of prosperity.
And there may have been an even more compelling reason.
We know that William and Janet and their family, including their sons-in-law, were people of firm religious convictions. From the beginning there has been a strong tradition of high moral standards which has come down through the generations.
Rev. Theophilus DesBrisay, rector of the Parish of Charlotte who founded St. Paul’s Church in Charlottetown, was so concerned about the low moral standards prevailing in Charlottetowri that, while he carried out most of his church duties there, he established his home in the rural community of Cove Head.
It may well be that the Simpsons, with McNeill and Clark shared this sentiment.
Some may suggest that if this was a concern it was not logical to move to an area which had none of the institutions of religion, - no church, no clergyman.
But it must be remembered that the whole tradition of the Presbyterian Scot was that the parent assumed responsibility for the spiritual nurture of his children, while at the same time giving his devoted service to his church as a partner and aid. But the home with its teaching and influences was paramount.
The parent did not say "do as I say, not as I do". He realized that consistent example was the best teacher. Today’s society could benefit from more of this philosophy.
Mary McNeill Lawson, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved Aunt Mary, in old age wrote a long letter to one of her nephews in which she outlined the history of the early McNeill families.
Referring to her grandfather John McNeill she says:
"He married Margaret Simpson, daughter of William Simpson, who had emigrated from Morayshire, Scotland, a man of rare ability and Christian character, whose descendants filled a large space in the moral, intellectual, and religious development of the country".
We can picture the family conferences with regard to the proposed move, lasting over a considerable period of time.
And we can be very sure that the choice of site was not made lightly. These were intelligent, knowledgeable people who would carefully explore the potential locations with a view to finding arable, fertile, stone-free, reasonably level land, preferably with access to the sea. Fish were an essential part of the early economy.
We think there is no doubt that they carefully examined a number of possible sites. The years have proven the wisdom of their final choice.
The 1790s in Cavendish were years of beginnings. It is fashionable today to refer to the "horse-and-buggy" days some with nostalgia, others in a derogatory sense.
But the 1790s were pre-horse-and--buggy. There were no buggies because there were no roads. On foot, by boat, at best on horseback were the means of transportation.
The telegraph was still over forty years in the future and it would be eighty-six years before Alexander Graham Bell was to say on March 10, 1876 "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you" and initiate the telephone.
It was an age of slow movement but it was an on-going period.
Progress was slow in keeping with the pace of the day, but there was progress. It was predicated on initiative, hard work, and intelligent use of the ingredients at hand.
There were no supermarkets, no department stores, no trades people, not even a little country store, practically no money. Except for the few things they had brought with them, they were strictly limited to what the land and the sea could provide and their ability to adapt such provision to their uses.
The summer of 1790, in addition to the founding of a community, saw the more personal beginning of at least two, probably three farm units. William Junior and son-in-law William Clark certainly built their cabins soon after arrival, and in the spring of 1791 son-in-law John McNeill with his small family joined the group.
Shelter had been provided by means of log cabins, crude and cramped, but still shelter and still "home".
Fuel was abundant for the stone fireplace and water was procured from a nearby brook.
To ensure a winter supply of water it is probable that a well was dug during the summer. The digging of a well was always a high priority.
The digging of a round hole five to six feet in diameter proceeded downward until an underground stream was reached which would provide a sufficient flow of water to meet the requirements of the home and the farm.
Having "struck water" at whatever depth, the next step was to build a circular stone lining leaving a core some three to four feet in diameter, from the bottom to the surface.
Next they would build the working mechanism for raising the water, a windlass, a round log about five or six inches in diameter with a handle at one end, mounted on two upright posts.
To the windlass was attached a rope with a bucket which was lowered by the windlass, filled with water and raised to the surface.
The final step in construction was the safety factor, a wall built around the well from hewn logs to a height of two and a half to three feet, often with a hinged cover. Children must be prevented from falling in.
Hand pumps, windmills for pumping water, and plumbing of all kinds were a much later development.
Water had to be carried from pump to house, heated in pots over the open fire until such time as stoves became available. The kitchen range of the mid-eighteen hundreds had a copper tank which held perhaps four to five gallons and gave a fair supply of warm water as long as there was fire in the stove.
Every home had a large wash tub and the drawing and heating of water for the Saturday night bath was a major operation, where there were several children. Since there was no bathroom, a corner of the kitchen was curtained off. While number one was having his bath the water was being heated for number two and so on until each had had a turn.
The toilet was a two holer out back. A hole was dug in the ground and the little building hauled over it. When it became filled a new hole was dug, the building moved, and the original hole leveled with clay. Toilet tissue was unknown,not even an Eaton’s catalog.
When sufficient land was cleared to provide pasture for livestock, every effort was made to lay out fields so that there would be access to a brook for summer watering. In winter the animals went to a trough near the well.
Fields for pasture meant fences to keep the livestock out of the crops. Here again the pioneers turned to the forest and the "snake" fence came into being.
Logs four to six inches in diameter were cut to a length of ten to twelve feet and split with an axe and wedge. The split logs were then laid, with the ends criss-crossed at a sufficient angle to hold, until a zig-zag fence three and a half to four feet high was laid.
The building of such a fence entailed a great deal of labor but once built it would last for many years and would turn all animals, including sheep.
There was little furniture, partly because there was little available space, and most of what they had was home made on the spot.
Pine was plentiful and easily worked. An experienced man with a broad axe could hew a plank almost as smooth as if it were sawn. it is even possible that they brought a saw and a plane with them.
Before water power was harnessed to drive a circular saw, which came fairly early, an ingenious method was devised for using a crosscut saw to make planks and rough boards.
A pit would be dug a little deeper than the height of a man and a frame built above it to carry a log.
A crosscut saw was about five feet long with large teeth and a round handle at each end.
One man would station himself above the log, the other in the pit below, and they would draw the saw up and down through the horizontal log to cut a board or plank.
It was slow, hard work but with large trees it did not take many planks to cover a considerable surface, for instance a floor, or to make necessary furniture.
In any case a table and benches were necessary, as were bunks for sleeping. The bunks were of wood, boards with a lip around to hold the mattress, and were usually double deckers and double bunks.
The mattress covers would have been brought with them, empty. The material available, initially, for filling them was dry grass which made a quite comfortable bed.
Later, when grain had been harvested, straw was used as a filler and later still, after poultry became a part of the farm menage, feather pillows and eventually that ultimate of luxury and warmth, the feather bed, came into being.
These early mattresses were called ticks although the name tick properly refers to the cover only. Funk and Wagnalla defines tick as "the stout outer covering for a mattress",
With limited space shelving was important and boards would be sawn for this purpose.
It was not long before benches were partially replaced by chairs, with the rocking chair and the kitchen lounge becoming the last word in comfort.
The Simpson home was past the need of a crib but this piece of furniture would be an essential in the Clark and McNeill homes, and soon in that of William Junior.
As time went on open shelving gave place to kitchen cupboards and chests of drawers, all home made from local materials but many of them showing a high standard of workmanship.
Without doubt one of the essential pieces of furniture which our founding families would bring with them was a spinning wheel.
And very early sheep would become an essential part of the livestock of the farm. The family was almost completely dependent on sheep’s wool for clothing and blankets.
The process leading to a home spun suit or a pair of socks or mitts began with the growth of an annual fleece of wool by the sheep.
This was shorn, usually in early June, when weather was warm enough that the sheep would not catch cold.
Foreign substances had to be picked out by hand, a slow, tedious task because the wool usually collected a mass of seeds, burdocks, dried leaves, twigs, pebbles and whatever other small objects with which it came in contact.
Following washing in several waters or, in an openwork basket in a flowing brook, the wool being continuously agitated, the fleece was dried outdoors. During this period there was a certain amount of bleaching. During the process of washing, the wool became badly matted.
To prepare the fiber for spinning it had to be picked over again and the fiber disentangled. This was done, up to a point, by hand.
Then carding came into play, a process whereby two hand cards were used, wooden rectangles about four by nine inches, with a handle, each filled on one surface with small nails or steel pins. The cards were dragged across each other forcing the fibers to lie parallel, removing any remaining impurities and arranging the fibers in the form of a small web.
The web was then drawn into a loose strand called a roll, as part of the preparatory process for spinning.
This was a summer procedure. Spinning, the process whereby the fibers were made into yarn or thread, was often left for the long fall evenings. For the women, many winter evenings were spent knitting socks, mitts, sweaters, stocking caps and other pieces of wearing apparel.
There were few early settlers who failed to develop a skill in weaving. There were few whose outer garb and often whose inner as well, was not the product of their own farm, the wool carded, spun and woven in the farm kitchen.
Our founding families could not go out to a shoe store and buy footwear. They had to make their own. To make shoes they had to have leather, and to get leather they had to tan the hides of the cattle or other animals they raised. This meant that they had to convert an easily decomposed substance into one that would resist putrefaction and stand up to long wear.
It is not our purpose to go into the lengthy and somewhat involved process of tanning. Incidentally the name tanning comes from the tawny, yellowish brown color of the finished product.
Having prepared the hide the actual tanning was done with an astringent acid procured from the bark of one of several kinds of trees such as hemlock, oak, willow or sumac, all of which were available.
The acid toughened the skin, condensed it and coagulated all the albuminous matter to preserve it from rotting.
Having prepared the leather, wooden lasts had to be carved to the approximate size and shape of the foot to be fitted and the making of the shoes would proceed.
When they were ready to wear, sheep tallow was rubbed in, and later applied at intervals, to make them water resistant.
Home made harness was also necessary and was made from the leather tanned at home.
Since William and Janet's son-in-law William Clark was a shoemaker our founders were probably better shod than the average pioneer family, and their beasts of burden had more comfortable harness.
As years passed, itinerant Shoemakers began to go from home to home, staying with the family until they made the shoes and harness required. But the settler still had to provide his own leather.
Shoes had no laces and were usually at least ankle high, often knee high, and quite tight fitting. Hence, inside every kitchen door was a wooden boot-jack which fitted over the heel to assist in removing the shoe.
Kerosene had yet to be discovered and electricity was far in the future. For light, in addition to the glow of the fire, they had to make candles. These were made in tin molds, round cylinders, closed at the bottom, except for a small hole through which the wick was anchored. They were usually a little under an inch in diameter and often attached in a group, of four or eight, or more.
The ingredients were a fiber wick attached to the bottom of the mold in the center and to a cross piece above to hold it in place. Melted tallow was then poured in and left to harden thus forming the candle.
No home can operate without soap, but again these early settlers had to depend on their own resources. They had brought with them tested recipes using only materials readily at hand.
They knew nothing about the chemical balance necessary between the fatty acids from beef tallow or lard and the alkalies provided by the hardwood ashes they used. Scientists did not learn these secrets till early in the nineteenth century. But they knew that their recipes worked.
While the log cabin was made as draft proof as possible, the heating system was not too efficient, and fire was not ordinarily kept on overnight. Winter nights could be very cold. So for bed warmers planks, or sometimes stones, were heated before the open fire and put in the bed, sometimes also put at the children’s backs to retain heat.
In the preceding pages we have tried to picture something of life as it was during the first decade in Cavendish.
There were four log cabins along with whatever out. buildings had been erected. William and Janet Simpson with their younger children were near the junction of the two lakes. Immediately to the west was William Jr. and his wife Mary Millar. Next to him on the west were William and Helen Simpson Clark. To the east, having arrived in 1791, were John and Margaret Simpson McNeill.
By 1800 each of the three younger men had young families of several children.
It is also probable that James, the third son, who married Nancy Woodside in 1798, built a cabin on his hundred acres to the west of William Clark. Fourteen years were to elapse before he moved to Bay View, the next district to the west and established the homestead on which the writer was born and grew up.
You can red more of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../cavendish.htm
I did take a few pictures of the area but as it was winter the ground was covered in snow. You can see these athttp://www.electriccanadian.com/canada/040301.htm
And Finally...
Some more stories from The Book of Scottish Anecdote...
A GOOD OLD HORSE
There was, about 1790, in a village to the south of Haddington, a very small black Galloway (of the Shetland hreed), not exceeding eleven hands high, which was foaled in the year 1743, and in '45 was ridden at the battle of Preston pans. This animal, though forty-seven years of age, looked remarkably fresh, and could trot above nine miles an hour, for several hours together; had good teeth, ate corn and hay well, and had not, to all appearance, undergone the least alteration for twenty years.
A SERVICEABLE PSALM
It is on record that one of the chaplains of the Marquess of Montrose, on being condemned to die, as an expiation for the crime of attending his master in some of his exploits, and being upon the ladder was ordered, as was usual, to give out a psalm to be sung. Expecting a reprieve he named the 119th, which the officers attending the execution were compelled to comply with. It was fortunate for hm that he selected the longest psalm, for before they had sung it three parts through the reprieve came, and his life was spared. Any other psalm would have hanged him.
A STURDY HIGHLAND SHEPHERD
A shepherd in the "rough bounds" of the Highlands, scrambling over the rocks on the side of a high mountain, fell and broke his leg. No one knew that he was in that part of the hill, and the place was so lonely, that he had no hope of ever see!ng a human face again. It was in vain to call for help, where there was none to hear. He tried to persuade his dog to go home and alarm his wife and children; but the poor animal, who saw his distress, without thoroughly comprehending his meaning, only went a few yards from him, sat down on the rock, looked at him, looked homeward, and howled. As the day advanced, love of life, and the thought of his wife and children, roused him to exertion. With his broad tape garters, and stripes of his plaid, he lashed the broken limb to his fowling-piece, and leaning on the but end as a crutch, made his way down the precipitous side of the mountain, crossed the river, reached the cottage (two mile. farther), recovered, and was as well as ever.
THE HON. HENRY ERSKINE
The generous character of the Hon. Henry Erskine, as an advocate, in endeavouring to secure justice to even the very poorest and humblest clients, was well known. A poor man, in a remote district, when strongly advised by his solicitor not to enter into a lawsuit with a wealthy neighbour, on account of the expense in which it would lead him, is said at once to have replied - "Ye dinna ken what ye say maister; there's no a puir man in a Scotland need want a friend, or fear an enemy, as lang as Harry Erskine lives!"
You can learn more about him at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...kine_henry.htm
That's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair