Recollections of a Speyside Parish

[Alastair]

By James Thomson (1902)

Preface

FOURTEEN years ago the first edition of my "Recollections of a Speyside Parish" were issued in book form. The criticisms passed upon it by the press, and the favourable reception it met with by the public, were a pleasant surprise to the Author. The issue was soon sold out, and he thinks the present a favourable time for the issue of a second and enlarged edition. The social and domestic conditions of life on Speyside have undergone such a revolution since the Author's boyhood, that he feels sure the inhabitants of Strathspey cannot fail to be interested in a record of the obscure and simple lives of the people before the iron horse invaded the Strath. The present generation cannot possibly realise how homely and primitive the modes of living were sixty years ago. The Author rejoices in the marvellous advance that has taken place during that time in all the conditions of life amongst the people of his native district. His earnest desire is to put on record the impressions left upon his mind by the sayings and the doings of the people among whom he spent his early days. Their homely joys and the vicissitudes of their every-day life left upon his mind impressions that death alone can efface..

You can read this book where each chapter is a pdf file at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/speyside/

Alastair