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This is a book about Golspie and we are making this available as a pdf download but I have ocr'd the Introduction for you to read so you can decide if you'd like to download it.
Part of the Introduction I'll copy here...
We had left the pleasant uplands of Glen Shee for the sands, the waves, the bracing breezes of Nairn—and to our dismay Nairn was full already. We had then turned our eyes to the varied coastline opposite, stretching away for league upon league toward the Orkneys, and had resolved to try Tain. We had found Tain peaceful and picturesque—but alas! its shores were not for the feet of the paddler or the spade of the digger, and so we had sped northward still, to Golspie. And at Golspie we had found all that we craved. On the north of the bay, where we first sought it, there was just sand enough—we had not yet seen the miles of smooth sand which lie south of the village. Before us, across the steely sea rose far and dim the line of Moray hills; while in front of us the seabirds swam, wheeled, and settled. Behind, brown kye and snowy geese were dotted over a broad belt of green pasture. To left stood the woody heights and gleaming turrets of Dunrobin. To right swept a low shore backed by a crescent of mountains. And Golspie Burn! with its beautiful fall, babbling rapids, and clear pools of brown water! its rocks and trees and ferns and mosses! and its dusky rabbits scudding away wherever we bent our steps! Yes, certainly we should have found content at Golspie—even if the Sutherland Arms had been less homelike; even if our host, the Duke's whilom gardener, had not joined to it one of the most delightful of simple old-fashioned gardens; even if every noontide a robin (or was he an enchanted prince?) had not come in at the window and by his example gracefully invited us to partake of the newly spread luncheon.
I had gone into the village one morning to buy something, and as I came back the boys and girls were at play in the steep playground which slopes down from the School to the road. I stood looking at them, and especially at a game which some of the girls were playing. They were dancing in a ring, reciting as they danced, and then they would suddenly reverse and dance the other way round, still reciting. Presently some of the younger ones—children of perhaps seven or eight— came down and formed a ring in the road before me. In a minute or two some of the older girls did the same. I thanked them all and spun up a sixpence for them to scramble for: then they had to go back into school and I went on to the Sutherland Arms. There I sat down and wrote the proposal for a prize-competition from which you will find some extracts at p. 328.
Not being quite certain how that proposal might be generally received, I took it to the Minister of the Established Kirk at Golspie, Dr. Joass, a geologist and archaeologist of far higher than 'local' rank, and always ready to help those who come to him. Armed with the assurance of his sympathy, I next approached Mr.James H. Loudon, the then master of the school, now a master in Kelvinside Academy, Glasgow. He at once entered heartily into the plan, and it is to him that I owe the possibility of carrying it out.
You can read the rest of this Introduction and get to the book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...spie/index.htm
Alastair
Part of the Introduction I'll copy here...
We had left the pleasant uplands of Glen Shee for the sands, the waves, the bracing breezes of Nairn—and to our dismay Nairn was full already. We had then turned our eyes to the varied coastline opposite, stretching away for league upon league toward the Orkneys, and had resolved to try Tain. We had found Tain peaceful and picturesque—but alas! its shores were not for the feet of the paddler or the spade of the digger, and so we had sped northward still, to Golspie. And at Golspie we had found all that we craved. On the north of the bay, where we first sought it, there was just sand enough—we had not yet seen the miles of smooth sand which lie south of the village. Before us, across the steely sea rose far and dim the line of Moray hills; while in front of us the seabirds swam, wheeled, and settled. Behind, brown kye and snowy geese were dotted over a broad belt of green pasture. To left stood the woody heights and gleaming turrets of Dunrobin. To right swept a low shore backed by a crescent of mountains. And Golspie Burn! with its beautiful fall, babbling rapids, and clear pools of brown water! its rocks and trees and ferns and mosses! and its dusky rabbits scudding away wherever we bent our steps! Yes, certainly we should have found content at Golspie—even if the Sutherland Arms had been less homelike; even if our host, the Duke's whilom gardener, had not joined to it one of the most delightful of simple old-fashioned gardens; even if every noontide a robin (or was he an enchanted prince?) had not come in at the window and by his example gracefully invited us to partake of the newly spread luncheon.
I had gone into the village one morning to buy something, and as I came back the boys and girls were at play in the steep playground which slopes down from the School to the road. I stood looking at them, and especially at a game which some of the girls were playing. They were dancing in a ring, reciting as they danced, and then they would suddenly reverse and dance the other way round, still reciting. Presently some of the younger ones—children of perhaps seven or eight— came down and formed a ring in the road before me. In a minute or two some of the older girls did the same. I thanked them all and spun up a sixpence for them to scramble for: then they had to go back into school and I went on to the Sutherland Arms. There I sat down and wrote the proposal for a prize-competition from which you will find some extracts at p. 328.
Not being quite certain how that proposal might be generally received, I took it to the Minister of the Established Kirk at Golspie, Dr. Joass, a geologist and archaeologist of far higher than 'local' rank, and always ready to help those who come to him. Armed with the assurance of his sympathy, I next approached Mr.James H. Loudon, the then master of the school, now a master in Kelvinside Academy, Glasgow. He at once entered heartily into the plan, and it is to him that I owe the possibility of carrying it out.
You can read the rest of this Introduction and get to the book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...spie/index.htm
Alastair