Our Ain Folk

[Alastair]

Being memories of Manse Life in the Mearns and a Crack aboot old times by James Inglis (1894).

I should have mentioned this boom before but better late than never as my mother used to say.

Preface...

I WAS in hopes that this book would have been published about the time of the Disruption Jubilee Celebrations of last year, but when it was nearly finished I met with a sudden and serious accident, which for months compelled me to give up all active mental and physical exertion. My father was one of the heroes of the Disruption movement, and the main motif of this book is to show what he did and suffered in those stirring times 'for conscience' sake,' I have used part of the pamphlet which he himself began to write, but never finished, and which he wished to leave to his sons and friends as a record and vindication of the active part he took in that memorable conflict. Other fragmentary materials have reached me from time to time, from various sources, and I have endeavoured to weave these into a connected and readable narrative; and it appeals primarily to all who, by descent or sympathy, take a personal interest in the history of that splendid struggle for liberty of conscience and freedom of action in regard to church government, which is known as 'The Disruption of 1843.'

I am hopeful, however, that my book may appeal to a wider circle of readers, namely, all who are interested in the old homely rural life of Scotland. I have tried to give glimpses and sketches of many of the quaint customs, the curious oddities of style and dress, the old-fashioned habitudes of thought, and the strongly-marked individualities of the older generation, which are fast vanishing before the breath of so-called modern progress. I humbly trust that my descriptions of the glen, the village, and country town life; the school games and schoolboy rhymes, the rural industries, the queer characters, the humorous episodes, the peculiar institutions, the intellectual and religious outlook of the older generation, etc. etc.,—may interest the general reader, and form an acceptable contribution to the deeply-interesting volume of Scottish history reminiscence and portraiture which has been enriched by such masters of the craft as Gait, Scott, Dean Ramsay, Barrie, Crockett, George MacDonald, and many others.

With such I do not seek to class myself, for I have found the demands of my own large business as a merchant, and my pretty active participation in the public life of Australia, almost more than enough to tax my energy and industry to the full. Indeed, I increasingly find that political and commercial pursuits are becoming more and more incompatible with the exercise of the literary faculty, so that I am keenly conscious of the literary defects of this volume. I have had to work at it amid distractions that at times proved almost overwhelming, and which more than once have forced me to suspend my task altogether.

In sorting my twenty years' collection of materials, I have had to set aside a multitude of stories of Scottish wit and humour, most of which I do not think have ever been printed. This collection is now almost ready for the press, and if the reception given to the present book be as encouraging as I am told by partial friends I may venture to expect, then my original collection of 'Mair Scotch Stories' may shortly be published.

To my genial friend, Professor M'Callum, of Sydney University, I must express my thanks for many a pleasant word of kindly encouragement.

JAMES INGLIS.
'Craigo,' Strathfield, N.S.W.,
1st July 1893.

This book can now be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...folk/index.htm

Alastair

[Alastair]

Re: Our Ain Folk

In his book he mentions that he'd like to write a book about Scottish humour. Well I eventually found the book "The Humour of the Scot" which he subsequently wrote which I've added to the index page of this book at the link above.

I read through some of it and I like the way he puts into context the humour stories he tells. This may well be a book that you'd like to download to your computer and just dip into it as you get the time.

Here is what he says in the Preface...

In collecting the materials for a former book, Oor Ain Folk, I noted down from time to time many Scotch stories, which, although scarcely perhaps applicable to the more restricted scope and personal character of that volume, were yet, in my opinion, worthy of publication in some permanent record, as bearing on the always interesting story of the evolution and grovvth of any marked type of national character. Beyond a doubt the Scottish character is one of the most marked, yet most piquant and interesting, in the wide range of complex diversities that make up the sum total of our common humanity. It is trite, but true, that the study of individual character, and how that merges into the growth of national character, has always had a deep human interest, not only to the ordinary rank and file, but certainly to every thoughtful and observant man. Now in the illustrations which are afforded by current anecdotes, by individual peculiarities, by odd customs, by phases of thought or habit, even when these are accidental and transitory, it is recognised that in these the historian, the politician, the philosopher, and the moralist, may oft find his richest material, so that even the mere story-teller and gossip-monger, the retailer of anecdote received at second-hand, finds his appropriate place — humble, yet, perchance, more useful than even he himself may realise—in the great temple of human history, the vast, complicated fabric of man's development and destiny. Well, I pretend to no higher role than that. In this volume I do not put forward any claim to originality — I am but a humble scribe; and I am led into this train of thought by the reception accorded in the Press to the simple record of family life, which, under the homely title above alluded to, jumped at once into a popularity which was to me as grateful as it was unexpected. Nor has the appreciation been confined to my own countrymen. Commendations of the most cordial and kindly nature have come to me from all quarters ; and I have been asked to lose no time in furnishing to apparently troops of expectant readers, my promised further budget of Scottish story and reminiscence. This let me try to do in my own unpretentious wslj. Now that suggests an illustration.

My father, the old minister, was a good musician and a clever fiddler, and he was waited on by a humble 'wricht' one day with a home-made violin, which he wished the minister to try. It was certainly a unique instrument—a rare fiddle, in fact, but scarcely a Stradivarius. The complacent builder was asked, referring to the material:—

'An' hoo did ye mak' it, Davie?'

'Oh, minister,' responded the beaming artist, 'I made it a' oot o' my ain heid.'

'Ay, Davie,' was the dry rejoinder, 'an' I've nae doot there's eneuch wid left, tae mak' anither.'

On another occasion my father had been announced to preach in the Masonic Lodge at Tarfside, up in
Glenesk. Nearing the building, he met the custodian, old Peter Duncan, and asked:—

'Are there mony fowk come, Peter?'

'Oo ay,' said Peter, 'there's a gey pucklie; but I'm thinkin' there'll be nae fun till ye gang in an' begin.'

And now for the application.

I found, as I have said, that after writing Oor Ain Folk I had enough material left in my head for another book; so in the humble hope that the gentle reader may find the present volume not altogether 'wooden,' but possessed of some interest and not a little harmless 'fun,' and under the encouragement of former leniency and kindness, let us, acting on Peter's hint, without further preface, just 'Gang in and begin.'

JAS. INGLIS.

Alastair