It's your Electric Scotland newsletter meaning
the weekend is nearly here :-)
You can view what's new this week on Electric Scotland at
http://www.electricscotland.com/update.html and you can unsubscribe to
this newsletter by clicking on the link at the foot of this newsletter.
See our Calendar of Scottish Events around the world at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/calendar_help.htm
CONTENTS
-----------------
Electric Scotland News
The Flag in the Wind
The Scottish Nation
The Celtic Monthly
The Southern States of America
History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia
Scottish Canadian Newspaper
The Greatness and Decline of the Celts
Poems and Stories
Sketches of the Wild Sports & Natural History of the Highlands
Scotland in the Middle Ages
Clan Newsletters
Scotch-Irish in America
The Lincoln Monument - Edinburgh
Robert Burns Lives!
ELECTRIC SCOTLAND
---------------------------------
Quiet week here at Electric Scotland other than the usual work. I have noted
in "Scotland in the Middle Ages" reference to Haliburton, a Scot trading
with Holland and other countries in Europe. As it happens I do have a book
about him and intend to get that up on the site at some point.
As noted last week I have now made a start at the "History of Scotland" by
Tytler but do want to complete a couple of other books before publishing
this on the site.
I also acquired a single copy of the Scottish American Journal of 1869 which
is in very fragile condition. It is double tabloid size so have contracted a
local company to scan this in for me and hope to have it back next week.
I should add that while it may be possible to acquire other copies it is
still my remit to provide you with a good introduction to all things
Scottish so even by providing a single copy of a publication it will at
least alert you to the publication itself and thus you may be able to view
other issues at rare book libraries.
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
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 at the link at the top of this newsletter and pick up poems and
stories sent into us during the week from Donna, Margo, Stan, John and
others.
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
------------------------------------
Mind that The Flag is now in two sections (1) Political and (2) Cultural.
It's Jim Lynch's turn this week and amongst other articles he covers the SNP
Conference, Our Trident nuclear deterant, and a fascinating debate over Sir
George Mathewson. According to the RBS website, under Sir George's
leadership RBS income grew from £1.4bn in 1992 to £25.6bn in 2005, with
profits increasing over that period from £32m to £8.3bn and market
capitalisation increasing from less than £2bn in 1992 to more than £60bn in
2005. Today RBS is one of the largest global banks, generating more than 40%
of its profits from overseas and employing more people in the US than Nike
worldwide. Makes a good read! :-)
Peter in his Quotes section gives us this week...
Hugh MacDiarmid (born Christopher Murray Grieve) (1892-1978)
If theres a sword-like sang
That can cut Scotland clear
O a the warld beside
Rax me the hilt ot here,
For theres nae jewel till
Frae the rest o earth its free,
Wi the starry separateness
Id fain to Scotland gie
.
(Separation (To Circumjack Cencrastus) 1930)
------
Sir George Mathewson
I do not share the fear of [Scottish] independence which is currently being
fostered by those who have most to lose by a change in the status quo and
those who see Scotland as a source of safe seats, thus guaranteeing their
role over the United Kingdom.
(Letter, The Scotsman 16 March 2007)
-----
Alexander (Alex) Elliot Salmond
I have never said that Scots are better than anyone else and I never will.
But I shall not let anyone from Westminster, from Holyrood or anywhere else,
from any party, or from any newspaper, tell us that we are less capable than
any other nation.
(Speech 18 March 2007)
------
Brian Souter
The fears and smears about independence are insulting to both the
intelligence and self-respect of Scots.
We are a distinct society, an ancient European nation, who have a right to
self-determination and I believe we can become a great nation again.
(17 March 2007)
------
The Scot Wit section gives us...
A traffic policeman insists that he pulled over a very geriatric driver on
the M8 who was causing a huge back-log of vehicles by only driving at eight
miles an hour. When the policeman questioned him, he said he thought the
signs for the M8 was the speed that you had to drive at. While the officer
was putting him right, he noticed a little old lady sitting next to the
driver looking fair peelie-wallie.
"Are you all right?" asked the policeman.
"A am nou." she replied. "Nou that we're aff the M90!"
You can read the Flag, listen to the Scots Language, enjoy the Scots Wit and
lots more at
http://www.scotsindependent.org
Linda Fabiani MSP sent in a 3 week diary entry ending 13th March 2007 which
you can read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/fabiani/070317.htm
As she's heading into the election campaigning right now we're a bit
uncertain as to the frequency of entries in the weeks ahead but hopefully
we'll hear a bit about what she's up to on the campaign trail :-)
You can view MSP Linda Fabiani's weekly diary entries at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/fabiani/index.htm
Email Linda at
Linda.fabiani.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
The Scottish Nation
----------------------------
My thanks to Lora for transcribing these volumes for us. She has almost
recovered from the finger fracture and hopes to start again on the volumes
around April.
Now moved onto the F's and added this week are Frendraught and Fullarton.
Here is how the Fullarton entry starts...
FULLARTON, a surname derived from the barony of Fullarton in the immediate
vicinity of the town of Irvine in Ayrshire. Traditionally, it is said that
the first of the name in Scotland had an Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin
[Robertsons Ayrshire Families, vol. ii. p. 85], and is supposed to have
accompanied Walter, son of Alan, ancestor of the high stewards, from
Shropshire in England, about the beginning of the twelfth century. As
Walter, soon after his arrival, received a royal grant of the counties of
Kyle (called from him Kyle Stewart), and Strathgryfe, now Renfrewshire, it
is affirmed by Chalmers and others, that many of those who accompanied him
obtained from him grants of land in that district, and the progenitor of the
Fullartons is believed to have been of the number.
The name Fullarton, anciently written Foulertoun, is obviously of Saxon
etymology, and is conjectured primarily to be derived from office or
occupation, such as that of a fowler. This conjecture derives probability
from the fact that one Galfredus Foullertoun, whom there is reason to
believe belonged to a branch of the family which settled in Ayrshire,
obtained from Robert the First a charter of some lands in Angus, together
with the hereditary office of fowler to the king in that county, in which
office he and his successors were obliged to serve the royal household with
wild fowl when the king arrived at Forfar castle, where this fowler was to
be entertained with a servant and two horses. Nisbet states that the
original charter is in the earl of Haddingtons Collections. [Heraldry, vol.
i. p. 339.]
The first of the Ayrshire family named in unquestionable written evidence is
Alanus de Fowlertoun, who lived before the middle of the thirteenth century,
and died about 1280. In 1242 he founded and endowed out of his lands a
convent of Carmelite or White friars at Irvine. His son, Adam de Fowlertoun,
received a charter from James, high steward of Scotland, of the lands of
Fullarton, which has no date, but must have been granted between 1283 and
1309, the period in which James held the office of high steward.
Adams son, Reginald de Fowlertoun of that ilk, was the father of Sir Adam
Fowlertoun, who had a new charter from Robert, high steward of Scotland,
dated at Irvine, April 13, 1344, of the lands of Fullarton, Gaylis, &c., in
Kyle Stewart. Of an active and energetic character, in the beginning of
October 1346 he accompanied the army under David the Second into England,
and was one of the knights created by that monarch before passing the
border. At the disastrous battle of Durham, on the 17th of the same month,
he was taken prisoner, along with the king. On the release of the latter,
October 3, 1357, Sir Adams eldest son, John Foulertoun, younger of
Foulertoun, was one of the twenty hostages left in England, until payment of
the kings ransom. He was much in the interest of King Robert the Second,
both before and after that prince, the first of the Stuart kings, ascended
the throne, and for his long and faithful services, he obtained various
grants of land in his own neighbourhood. He frequently occurs as a witness
in the charters of that monarch, when he is designed dominus de Corsbie,
having, among others, received a charter of the lands of that name. By his
wife, Marjory, a lady of the Stewart family, he had two sons, John and
David. John, the elder, predeceased him, leaving a son, Reginald, who
succeeded his grandfather, on his death, about the year 1399.
You can read more of this entry at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/fullarton.htm
You can read the other entries at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/index.htm
The Celtic Monthly
---------------------------
A magazine for Highlanders
This is the final issue of the 3 volumes I had acquired.
This contains...
The Late Provost of Cambeltown - Mr H. D. B. MacTaggart, Beauly Priory and
its Associations, Reminiscences of Bagpipes in many Lands, Celtic Notes and
Queries, The Birth of Simon Fraser Lord Lovat of the '45, Death of Captain
Douglas Wimberley of Inverness, Clan MacKay Society, The Clan MacFarlane in
Glasgow, The Clan MacMillan, An Old Pipe Tune, Highland Snobs, The Alan
Cameron Relics, The Adventures of Fionn in Connaught, Notes on the Celtic
Year, Gaelic Proverbs, The Kilt Threatened, Patrick MacDonald's Collection
1784, Our Musical Page, Luathadh or Waulking.
Here is bit from this last issue...
CLAN MACKAY SOCIETY.
At the Annual Business Meeting of this Society held on this occasion in
Edinburgh, an encouraging report was submitted by the Council, dealing with
the Society's benevolent and educational work. The following were elected
Office-Bearers for the current year: President, William Mackay, writer, 30
Bath Street, Glasgow; Vice-Presidents W. D. Mackay, U.S.A., Edinburgh; L.
M. Mackay, Commercial Bank, Edinburgh; James Mackay, Gladstone Terrace,
Edinburgh; Donald Mackay, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow ; George Mackay,
Strathmoro Gardens, Glasgow; and John Mackav, Golf hill Drive, Glasgow. Mr.
James R. Mackay, C.A., 219 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, was re-elected as
Hon. Treasurer, and Mr. William Mackay, 7 Roseburn Place, Edinburgh, as
Edinburgh Treasurer. Mr, David N. Mackay, solicitor, 93 West Regent Street,
Glasgow, was elected Hon. Secretary, and Mr. John Mackay, S.S.C., 37 York
Place, Edinburgh, Secretary.
It was agreed to widen the Society's Bursary Rules, so that girls might be
eligible to compete.
The new President, Mr. William Mackay, is a well-known Glasgow lawyer. He
was born in Ayr, and educated in that town and at Edinburgh University. He
was qualified as a Law Agent in 1893, and has for many years been a partner
of the well-known firm of Nelson & Mackay, 35 Bath Street, Glasgow. His
appointment has given great satisfaction to clansmen in both Edinburgh and
Glasgow. His first appearance in the Presidential Chair will be made on 19th
December, when a Mackay Reunion will be held in Glasgow.
THE CLAN MACFARLANE IN GLASGOW.
A meeting for the purpose of forming a branch of the Clan Macfarlane Society
for Glasgow and the West of Scotland was held in the Christian Institute,
Glasgow, last month. There was a large attendance. Mr. James Macfarlane
presided. After an expression of views it was unanimously decided to form a
branch, and the following office-bearers were appointed: President, Mr.
James Macfarlane, 22 Gallowgate; vice-presidents, Captain Macfarlane and Mr.
David MacFarlane: secretary, Mr. James Macfarlane, of Messrs Macfarlane &
Thomson, 51 Bath Street; treasurer, Mr. Livingstone Macfarlane, Bellshill. A
committee was appointed, and it was remitted to them to draw up rules for
the consideration of the members at a future meeting. The newly-formed Clan
MacFarlane Society must depend more upon its septs than upon the clan itself
for an accession of members.
The clan was scattered at an early period. After 1624 there was a general
deportation of the members of the clan to different parts of the kingdom,
where they assumed various surnames. Many settled under different names in
Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. It is hoped the Clan Society will compile a
complete list of the septs of the clan, and how they assumed their sept
names. A history of Clan Macfarlane is also wanted. There was a short
history written in Now York in 1893 by Mrs. C. M. Little. In 1784 the barony
of Arrochar, which for six centuries had been in the possession of the
Macfarlanes, passed into the hands of strangers, the Fergusons of Raith
purchasing it for £28,000. Thirty-seven years afterwards Sir James Colquhoun
bought it for £78,000.
THE CLAN MACMILLAN.
The twentieth annual gathering of the Clan Macmillan Society was held last
month. Ex-Bailie Donald MacMillan, Patrick, chief of the Clan Society, who
presided, said the land question was one which all Highlanders ought to
study, because on its settlement depended the material welfare of their kith
and kin. It was being forced on their attention more and more by the fact
that emigration was draining the country of the flower of their peasantry.
He spoke of the various measures passed in the last 30 years to deal with
the land in the Highlands. Now they had got the Scottish Land Act, so long
delayed that it was proving abortive, the best of their rural population
having left their shores. What was wanted was a Land Purchase Act similar to
what had been given to Ireland and was proving so satisfactory there.
Bailie D. MacMillan, who is chief of the Clan MacMillan Society, belongs to
the Lochaber branch of the clan. This branch resided at Loch Arkaig at an
early period. They had possessions on both sides of the loch, and reigned
supreme as ''Clann Ghille Mhaoil Abrach.'' They were among the most loyal
retainers of Lochiel. From Loch Arkaig the clan, as tradition says, was
removed by Malcolm IV. (1153-65) and placed on the Crown lands of Loch Tay,
in Perthshire. The estate of Lawers belonged to them, and they were to be
found there long before the Campbells held possession in that district. From
Lawers they were driven by Chalmers in the reign of David II. Some of the
dispossessed MacMillans emigrated southwards to Knapdale, on the Argyllshire
coast, and others to Galloway, The Knapdale branch soon attained
considerable power and influence.
You can read more of this December 1912 issue at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/celtic/december1912.htm
You can see the issues to date at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/celtic/index.htm
The Southern States of America
----------------------------------------------
Published in 1909.
Added this week are...
The History of Louisiana - Chapter III
Louisiana in the Federal Government, 1812 - 1861
The History of Louisiana - Chapter IV
Louisiana during the War between the States and the Reconstruction, 1861 -
1877
The History of Louisiana - Chapter V
Modern Louisiana, 1876 - 1909
Here is how Chapter V - The History of Louisiana starts...
Significance of the Year 1876.
The year 1876 in the annals of Louisiana is one fraught with unusual
significance. It is the year that marks the end of alien control of the
state's political destinies. It is the year that marks the beginning of the
period in which the state's best citizens reassumed their political
heritage. To understand its importance one has but to review the events of
the ten years preceding this date.
The armies of the North had come and gone but the followers and hangers-on
that flock like wolves and vultures in the rear of advancing hosts remained
behind to inflict the curse of the carpet-bagger upon the land. The
disfranchisement of the native whites under the reconstruction constitution
of 1868 and the elevation of the ignorant, easily manipulated, freedom-mad
blacks to sudden citizenship gave political control to imported plunderers
whose creed was greed, whose highest gratification was extortion and whose
exultation was that of the thug and blackmailer, their hands being at the
throat of a sovereign state and their victim being a time-honored
commonwealth.
The Curse of Carpet-Baggery.
What Louisiana suffered at the hands of these corruptionists may be in part
indicated by the following figures: In one year (1871) the legislative
expenses for a short session were $626,000 or $6,150 for each member of the
legislature. In four and a half years (1868-1872) the expenditures of the
government amounted to $26,394,578 and in two years (1868-1870) the bonded
debt of the state was increased from six to twenty-five million dollars. The
total cost of carpet-bag misrule has been estimated at more than
$106,000,000.
The provisions of the constitution of 1868 reeked with insult and injury to
a people unusually high-tensioned with the pride of race. All who
participated in the civil and military service of the late Confederate
States of America were peremptorily disfranchised or forced to make most
humiliating pledges and admissions. To accept office one had to swear
specifically and formally to accept the civil and political equality of all
men. All schools established exclusively for any one race were expressly
prohibited.
Crushed by their late defeat, the best people of Louisiana could interpose
little organized opposition even after the removal in part of their
political disabilities. Appeals to the ballot box counted as naught. For
them the right to vote was hedged about by discouraging and arbitrary
conditions. Ballots cast were nullified by Returning Boards made up of
partisan and unprincipled characters. For the natural guardians of the
state's welfare there were few of the fruits of political victory, for when
they endeavored to install their legally and duly elected state officers,
usurpers backed by Federal bayonets barred the way.
The Wresting of the State from Alien Control. How then did the state come
into its own and its citizens reestablish self-government? The answer to
this question calls for the examination of three salient factors. The first
of these was military and included the clash of battle; the second was
political and it touches to this day the conscience of the nation at large
at a most sensitive spot; the third was personal and before the personality
of the leaders brought to the front during a time that applied supreme tests
to courageous manhood, we stand, uncovered, in reverence and admiration.
Let us consider the first factor. When under the so-called Kellogg rιgime
taxation became confiscation; when the New Orleans police force became a
state military constabulary, responsible only to the governor himself; when
rights and liberties guaranteed by the Federal constitution were outraged by
unspeakable insolence entrenched in office, there came a time when men with
red blood could no longer submit.
One fair day the people of New Orleans were called upon to assemble in mass
meeting at the foot of the historic Henry Clay monument in Canal street.
What was done on that occasion is known to all. Earnest and eloquent
speakers addressed the assembly: grim determination steeled the hearts of
the listeners. Immediately there was an arming of the citizens, a forming of
companies, an uprising, not of an uncontrollable mob, but of free men whose
part in the re-establishment of free government in Louisiana was as
heroically played as was that of any Revolutionary patriot when this right
to free government was first won. A battle took place at the head of Canal
street between citizen commands and the "Metropolitan Police," the latter
equipped with Gatling guns. Gen. Fred Ogden led the citizens. Gen. James
Longstreet, who had become a Republican, commanded the Metropolitans. For
the first time in his life, the Confederate general once so honored by his
countrymen heard the old rebel yell given forth by forces opposed to him.
The result of the battle was that the hirelings were scattered in every
direction, fleeing to every conceivable place of concealment. Eleven of the
citizens were slain, many wounded. No more sacred a spot in New Orleans, a
city famous for its historic memories can be pointed out than Liberty Place
where these martyrs fell and no more memorable a day can be found in the
calendar of Louisiana's history than Sept. 14, 1874.
In twenty-four hours the usurping, self-elected government was swept away
soon to be reinstated by Federal military authority. But the cause for which
blood was shed was not lost. Great indeed must be the provocation to cause
such uprising and such risk of life. The attention of other states was thus
attracted to their suffering sister. Public sentiment all over the country
expressed itself against arbitrarily directed Federal military interference
in local governmental affairs. When the next contest of ballots two years
thereafter took place, Federal bayonets were withheld and with the
withholding there was sounded the death of carpet-baggery and alien
misgovernment was at an end.
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/south/south50.htm
The book index page is at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/south/index.htm
History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia
----------------------------------------------------------
By J. L. MacDougall (1922)
Inverness County is part of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. I am now up to the
District Sketches which contain a ton of genealogical information. You can
read the chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/canada/inverness/index.htm
The Districts added this week are...
East Lake Ainslie
West Lake Ainslie
The Marshes, West Bay District
Here is how the account of East Lake Ainslie starts...
This is an interesting division of Inverness County. It comprises all the
territory along the water front from Scotsville to Head Lake, and projects
into the hinterland so as to take in the settlements of Mount Pleasant,
Keppoch and Piper's Glen. The land rises very gently from the lake inward
for half a mile, and then lifts abruptly into towering hills and mountains.
The front farms are well cleared and cultivated, and the natural scenery is
very pretty. To the early immigrants this handsome lake, hidden in the
wilderness, was always a happy relief. It was a glorious break in the spell
of the forest. We imagine we hear some of the old settlers, after a hard
day's toil, singing in soliloquy as follows:
"How sweet at set of sun, to view
Thy golden mirror spreading wide,
And see the mist of mantling blue
Float round the distant mountain's side."
Trout Brook, about five miles south of Scotsville, is a well-known resort of
anglers. This brook finds its source in excellent springs at the foot of the
mountains, and when the trout come up from the sea to the lake they are
attracted at once by the cool waters and green shades of this rippling
stream. Hosts of dyspeptic desk workers, from far and near, come here for a
cure in vacation time. In a week or two the virtue of the treatment can be
seen in the happy faces, the lilting songs, and the glad Gaelic of these
convalescent knights of the rod and reel.
The residents of this district are, we think without exception, lineal
descendants of the generic Highland Scots. The settlers fronting on the Lake
are all Presbyterians, having their own resident minister, and their own
church and manse. The people living in the rear sections are chiefly
Catholics belonging to the parish of South West Margaree. We doubt that
there is a rural section in Nova Scotia, of the size of East Lake, that
turned out more Presbyterian Ministers than did this district in the last
century. We know one family here who has five sons in the Presbyterian
Ministry, two in the medical profession, and one, a live, progressive farmer
on the homestead. The regular pursuits of these good people would appear to
be farming and theology.
Turning to the political arena, we find that this district gave a senator to
the Parliament of Canada, and a Lieutenant Governor to the Province of
British Columbia in the person of the late Hon. Thomas Mclnnis. This
deceased gentleman was not, in any sense, sup-ior to his East Lake
neighbours and contemporaries, but he hearkened to the voice that said "Go
West, young man, and grow with the country." We are pleased and proud to
think that the late Senator Mclnnis did grow with the new West. Before going
West he had graduated in medicine, and was a man of talent. Even assuming
that high social positions and material gains were the real motives for his
achievements, he still deserves credit. He was a penniless man in a wild
country; he Had to fight his way through; he had aim and determination; and
worked with tact, courage, hope and success. At the same time, we are glad
to know that not many of his East Lake friends and neighbours could be
tempted to "go and do likewise".
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/canada/inverness/chapter36.htm
You can read the rest of the chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/canada/inverness/index.htm
Scottish Canadian Newspaper
--------------------------------------------
Added another issue of this newspaper...
May 14, 1891 at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/scotscan/issue25.htm
Feature story this week is about Loch-na-Garr.
The Greatness and Decline of the Celts
--------------------------------------------------------
by Henri Hubert (1934).
Our thanks to Alan McKenzie for scanning this in for us.
Added this week...
The Romans in Italy, Spain, and Gaul to The Greatness and Decline of the
Celts.
These are .pdf files for which you need the Acrobat reader.
THE independence of the Celtic world was nearing its end. In addition to the
Germanic danger, one yet more urgent appeared. The Roman Republic was
preparing to complete its domination of the Gallic countries. In Italy [Chapot,
CCCXI, English pp. 122 ff.] something still remained to be done. The four
great Gallic peoples had been crushed, and what remained of them had been
reduced to the status of civitates fζderatζ. But the condition of the Celtic
or Ligurian peoples on the outskirts was very uncertain, and remained so for
a long time.
In the first century the peasant culture of the Cisalpine country was still
entirely Gallic and no change seems to have occurred there when the Cimbri
came in. After the end of the Cimbric invasion the policy of founding
colonies was at once resumed. In 100 one was erected at Eporedia (Ivrea), to
keep watch on the country of the Salassi. As a result of the Social War, the
towns of the Insubres and Cenomani obtained Latin rights by the Lex Pompeia
of 80. This privilege, which was of certain advantage to the towns, which
were incorporated in the Italian municipal system, but of doubtful benefit
to people living in the country, completed the breaking-up of the old
nations. A few years later Sulla made the Cisalpine region a province,
Gallia Cisalpina, which was attached to Italy in 42 and broken up.
Colonization was carried on after the Civil War by expropriations and the
distribution of land to veterans. The Gallic peasant was the sufferer.
You can read this at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/celts/index.htm
Poems and Stories
----------------------------
Margo has continued her series "Apollo's Soldiers" and we're now up to
Chapter 24 which you can read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/kids/apollondx.htm
Margo has send in more Children's poems which you can read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/kids/poems/index.htm
Stan sent in another poem in It's Time for Scotland series, One Big Swick!
at
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/banff/scotland13.htm
Sketches of the Wild Sports & Natural History of the Highlands
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Charles St. John (1878).
Have made more progress with this book which you can read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/nature/sketches/index.htm
Chapter XX
The Sandhills of Morayshire: Description of; Origin of Foxes:
Destructiveness and Cunning of; Anecdote of Roe-hunting in the Sandhills
Anecdotes.
Chapter XXI
Death of my First Stag.
Chapter XXII
The Findhorn River Excursion to Source Deer-stalking Shepherds Hind
and Calf Heavy rain Floods Walk to Lodge Fine Morning Highland
Sheep Banks of River Cottages.
Chapter XXIII
Findhorn River Bridge of Dulsie Beauty of Scenery Falls of River Old
Salmon-fisher Anglers Heronry Distant View Sudden Rise of River
Mouth of River.
Chapter XXIV
Migration of Birds in October Wild Swans: Pursuit of; Manner of Getting a
Shot; Two Killed Habits of Wild Swan.
Chapter XXV
The Water-Ouzel: Nest; Singular Habits; Food; Song of Kingfisher: Rare
Visits of; Manner of Fishing Terns: Quickness in Fishing; Nests of.
Here is how chapter XXIII starts...
Nothing can exceed the beauty of the river and the surrounding scenery when
it suddenly leaves the open and barren ground and plunges at once into the
wild and extensive woods of Dunearn and Fairness. The woods at Dunearn are
particularly picturesque, in consequence of the fir-trees (at least those
near the river) having been left rather farther apart than is usual, and no
tree adds more to the beauty of scenery than the Scotch fir, when it has
room to spread out into its natural shape. The purple heather, too, in these
woods forms a rich and soft groundwork to the picture. What spot in the
world can excel in beauty the landscape comprising the old Bridge of Dulsie.
spanning with its lofty arch the deep black pool, shut in by grey and
fantastic rocks, surmounted with the greenest of grass swards with clumps of
the ancient weeping-birches with their gnarled and twisted stems, backed
again by the dark pine-trees? The river here forms a succession of very
black and deep pools, connected with each other by foaming and whirling
falls and currents up which in the fine pure evenings you may see the salmon
making curious leaps. I shall never forget the impression this scenery made
on me when I first saw it. The bridge of the Dulsie, the dark-coloured
river, and the lovely woodlands, as I viewed them while stretched on the
short greensward above the rocks, formed a picture which will never be
effaced from my memory. I cannot conceive a more striking coup d'oeil, nor
one more worthy of the pencil of an artist. On these rocks are small flocks
of long-horned, half-wild goats, whose appearance, with their shaggy hair
and long venerable beards, adds much to the wildness of the scene.
The blackcock and the roebuck now succeed the grouse and red-deer. The
former is frequently to be seen either sitting on the trunk of a fallen
birch-tree or feeding on the juniper-berries, while the beautiful roebuck
(the most perfect in its symmetry of all deer) is seen either grazing on
some grassy spot at the water's edge, or wading through a shallow part of
the river, looking round when half way through as timid and coy as a bathing
nymph. When disturbed by the appearance of a passer by, he bounds lightly
and easily up the steep bank of the river, and after standing on the summit
for a moment or two to make out the extent of the danger, plunges into the
dark solitudes of the forest.
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/nature/sketches/chapter23.htm
Scotland in the Middle Ages
-----------------------------------------
Sketches of Early Scotch History and Social Progress by Cosmo Innes
(Professor of History in the University of Edinburgh. 1860).
I have up Chapter 8 this week...
Chapter VIII - Early Dress and Manners (Pages 227 - 250)
Early utensils Cups of glass Boats and galleys Scotch pearls valued in
the twelfth century Costly horse trappings and armour Early manufactures
Ancient herring fishery Mines of gold, silver and iron, worked Early
trade Riches of the burghs Berwick Cnut the Opulent Munificence of
the burgesses of Berwick and Roxburgh Ship-building at Inverness in the
thirteenth century Coal worked Merchandise Commodities traded in, in
the twelfth century Duties of export and import Customs of Scotch ports
in the fourteenth century Old burgher life Magistrates Merchants'
ledger of the fifteenth century Halyburton, a Scotch merchant settled at
Middleburgh His correspondents, persons of all ranks in Scotland, up to
the Prince, Bishop of St. Andrews Scotch goods consigned to him Wool
Hides Skins Salmon "Claith" Returns in Wine Malvoisie Claret
Rhenish Canvas Fustian Velvet Damask Satin Spices Roman Bulls
of dispensation for marriage Tayssillis Soap Rice Sugar valans
Scroschats Sugar lacrissie Sugar candy Feather beds Candlesticks and
hanging chandeliers Pewter dishes Dornyck Table linens Arras
coverlets, pots, and pans Ryssil broun (cloth) satin Bugles, silk and
gold thread (for embroidery) Bear Almonds Raisins Figs Olives
Apple oranges A signet of silver, and one of gold The bishop's round
seal and long seal Silver chalices Board cloths with towels and
serviettes Flanders cloths Bonnets Caps An orloge mending Raised
work A gown of ypres, black lined with say Doublet of camlet Pair of
hose Kist of iron work Plate A mat for the Bishop's chamber Tiles
for his chamber floor Woad and Bryssell Books of both laws Review of
Scotch trade.
Here is a bit from this chapter...
From the ancient lives of the saints our first authority as to the state
of the country we learn something of the dress and manners of the people
of Scotland in the seventh and eighth centuries. We find they used chariots,
that they manufactured swords and other weapons, probably those articles
of bronze now so commonly dug up, especially in the west of Scotland, that
they used cloaks of variegated colour, apparently of home manufacture, and
fine linen, which must have been of foreign production. The bodies of the
dead of high rank were wrapped in it.
In the churches there were bells, but only handbells probably, and very
likely not often cast, but hammered and riveted, a kind of which we have one
or two curious specimens remaining.
Adomnan mentions drinking-cups of glass as in use among the Picts. Ale was
made at home, and wine, which must have been imported, was also used.
They had boats or coracles of leather on the rivers, and galleys built of
oak, and carrying sail. Even in their leather boats they went to sea, and
performed long voyages, at least from Ireland to Orkney. In their galleys,
the missionaries of lona crossed the stormy and dangerous sea to the
Shetlands and Iceland.
At a later time, we escape from the ideas of mere barbarism, in finding the
pearls of Alexander I. [Angl. Sacr., II. 236.] (in the beginning of the
twelfth century) much celebrated, and the object of envy to a church
dignitary of England. The same magnificent monarch bestowed an estate on the
church of St. Andrews, and along with it, as the symbol of possession
according to a knightly fashion, an Arab horse, with its furniture of
velvet, and a suit of Turkish armour. [Wynt, vol. I. p. 286.]
Befor the lordis all, the king
Gert than to the Awtare bring
Hys cumly sted of Araby,
Sadelyd and brydeled costlikly,
Covered with a faire mantelete
Of precious and fyne welvet,
Wyth his armwris of Turky,
That Princes than oysid generaly,
And chesid mast for thare delyte,
With scheld and spere of sylver quhwite,
With mony a precious fayre jowele.
Some of the privileges granted by King David I to his burghs bring us
acquainted with a manufacture which must have been extensively carried on in
several districts of Scotland, and perhaps in all its villages. This was the
making of cloth, which we learn from the charters I formerly brought under
your notice, was both dyed and shorn (tinctus ettonsus). We have, too, the
trades of weavers, litslers, that is, dyers, and fullers, very early
enumerated among the burgher classes all, I think, pointing to a
manufacture of our native wool into a cloth of somewhat higher quality than
that fabric of wad (or wadmail), a coarse home-made cloth which formed a
part of the rent of farms in Shetland and Orkney, and I believe all over
Scandinavia.
Still, in the reign of David, and even in that time of prosperity of which
his reign was the commencement, the native produce of our country, its ides
and tallow, its wool and furs, was chiefly exported unmanufactured. It would
be something did we find proofs in his reign that there were Scotchmen of
enterprise and skill enough to trade to foreign countries; but the
foundation of that assertion is scarcely sufficient. It amounts only to an
allowance of delay in actions in burgh, in cases where the party is abroad
in parts beyond sea, in pilgrimage vel in negociis suis, which may, indeed,
mean engaged in trade, but may evidently refer to any other occupation or
affairs.
From better evidence we learn of an extensive herring fishery, and of the
use of that fish as almost a staple article of food. Off the isle of May was
a favourite fishing station, where the vessels of all the neighbouring
nations met English, Scotch, and Flemings. Thither the Abbot of Holyrood,
in the reign of William the Lion, was in the habit of sending his own men to
fish a fact we learn from a charter of that king, granting them the common
exemptions [S. Cruris, No. 28.] from distraint for the debts of others while
so employed in their fishery.
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/middleages/chapter8.htm
You can read the other chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/middleages/index.htm
Clan Newsletters
------------------------
Added the Spring 2007 newsletter of the Clan Wallace Society which you can
read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/wallace/gleidhidh%20spring%202007.pdf
Scotch-Irish in America
----------------------------------
By John Walker Dinsmore (1906)
Making good progress on this book with the first 11 chapters up now and here
is how Chapter 11 starts...
The farm work was of the hardest kind and done in the hardest way. Two
generations of men wore themselves out in getting the land cleared of the
giant forests, and for many years, their fields were full of stumps and
roots, making cultivation extremely troublesome. Their implements were of
the rudest and clumsiest kind. Their grain was reaped with sickles and
threshed with flails. Their axes, hoes, shovels, plows, and other
implements, were made by themselves, or by the blacksmith, and were of the
most awkward pattern and roughest workmanship. Every vehicle was clumsy and
heavy, home-made or neighborhood made. All this added to the toil and
drudgery of their lives.
At the same time, these people had high ambitions for their children, and
great interest in building up the kingdom of God, and their country. They
attached very great importance to education, and did their best to provide
it for their posterity. There were no public schools, and each neighborhood
had to make provision for itself. Hence subscription schools were set up and
supported by those who had children to send. The school-houses were of
unhewn logs, with puncheon floors and seats, and no desks. One such stood on
the farm of my ancestors where their young people received such book
training as they ever had. The teacher was always called "the master," and
was usually a college student or graduate. He was apt to be one who knew his
business as that business was then thought of. Sometimes he had a fixed
boarding-place, but usually he boarded "round among the scholars." As a rule
he was a strict disciplinarian. He used the rod with great freedom and
frequency, and apparently with great gusto. Several floggings a day were not
uncommon. Even in my time as a boy this was so.
In my own childhood, however, there was a small school-house of brick in the
district. From end to end ran a narrow aisle, the door being at one end and
the master's desk at the other. On either side, facing the aisle, were
un-painted benches running lengthwise of the house, in rows, each bench
being for two scholars, the boys on one side, and the girls on the other.
The boys benches were dreadfully hacked with jack-knives, though this had to
be done very surreptitiously else there was sure to be a flogging. The main
studies were spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar and
general history. These were studied with great thoroughness. There was
little chance for scamping the work. The master was too sharp and the beech
was too handy. Besides, the Shorter Catechism was taught on Saturdays. Think
of that! Upon request of parents children could be excused from this study,
but such requests were rare. The master sat on a raised platform at one end
of the room, and right behind him, within easy reach above his head, were
two hooks on which reposed several beech or hickory rods, called "wattles,"
and which were uncommonly tough as a rule. He had easy and swift
surveillance of the entire school, and on slightest provocation, the handy
wattle was quickly seized, and the master descended on the cringing
offender. Somehow I escaped this ordeal except once or twice. One I well
remember. It was a Saturday afternoon, and, for some reason, I fell into a
stubborn fit in my catechism. I knew it thoroughly from end to end, forward
and backward, but this time I sullenly refused to recite the answer to the
thirty-first question, that about Effectual Calling, and so I got the wattle
good and hard. I was a very small boy then, but from that day to this, that
particular answer has been indelibly impressed on my memory. That old
teacher is long since dead, but I respect his memory. He did what he
believed to be his duty.
In the early settlements the cabin, the meeting-house and the school-house
followed one another in swift succession. Very soon also classical schools
were set up by the ministers. These far-sighted ministers wished to give the
young fellows from the woods a chance to learn Latin, Algebra, and other
such subjects, and especially did they plan to prepare young men for the
ministry. Great and urgent as was the need of ministers in the new
settlements, they would not rush untrained men into the ministry. They would
have none but classically educated men. Before 1790, in what is now
Washington county, there were three such classical schools in operation.
They were very humble and ill-equipped institutions, but they did a great
work, and out of them grew Washington & Jefferson College, one of the most
useful in this land. As the population increased, these schools increased in
number, and all over that general region fifty years ago, these parochial
academies were found. They took boys from the plow, boys who would not have
thought of going two hundred, or one hundred miles to learn Latin and get
ready for college; these schools took up these boys and started them on
their career. Multitudes of them have made a useful career, and some of them
an eminent one. These parochial academies have been nesting-places of useful
men, useful in every honorable line of life.
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotsirish/america11.htm
The whole book can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotsirish/americandx.htm
The Lincoln Monument - Edinburgh
--------------------------------------------------
In memory of Scottish-American soldiers
THE STORY OF THE MONUMENT.
IN the summer of 1890, Mrs M'Ewan, widow of a Scottish-American soldier,
called on Mr Wallace Bruce, United States Consul at Edinburgh, to aid her in
securing a pension from the Government in Washington, as her husband had
recently died. The proper proof was obtained and the pension granted. One
day when she called at the Consulate, Mrs Bruce chanced to be present, and
became interested in her story: how Sergeant M'Ewan, wearing the blue army
coat with brass buttons, came to the mill in Galashiels where she was
employed, and how, in recesses from work, little groups would gather about
him as he told incidents of the war. She said she had read 'Uncle Tom's
Cabin,' and the poetry of Whittier, which, she thought, chimed so sweetly
with the songs of Burns.
One day this soldier told the story of his life and won her. Some years
afterwards they came with their little family to live in Edinburgh. Sickness
entered the household, the father was unable to work. He applied to the
Government for a pension, but failed, as he was unable to connect his
ailment with exposure on the field. Mrs M'Ewan told Mrs Bruce how she and
her children had worked for five shillings a-week to keep husband and father
from the poorhouse, and gave with singular pathos the account of his last
illness: how he loved to have the old gun near at hand where he could touch
it; how he told the doctor on one of his last visits that he had nothing to
give him but his sword, and the kind-hearted doctor replied that it was his
business to save life, not to take it, and that he wished neither the sword
nor any other recompense but pleasant remembrance, and the wife said, "We
will keep the sword for the laddie"; and at last, when the poor soldier,
after long months of suffering, died, they found the gun under the coverlet
beside him, pressed close to his heart.
Mrs Bruce asked where he was buried, that she might go with Mrs M'Ewan and
place some flowers on his grave, although Decoration Day had passed; but the
widow answered, with tears in her eyes: "The ground in the common field is
all level; I couldna mark the spot. In fact, the next Sabbath after his
death I visited it with the bairns, and we found another mourning group had
possession. Another body was being buried in the same grave."
This story, told in the beautiful Border language of the Tweed and the
Yarrow, suggested to Consul Wallace Bruce the idea of a burial-place in
Edinburgh for Scottish-American soldiers. He wrote to several American
friends, and talked with others who, visited at the Consulate. All heartily
approved of the plan. Some time afterwards Mr Bruce was walking on the banks
of the Tweed, near Peebles, with Lord Provost Russell, of Edinburgh. He told
Mrs M'Ewan's story, and the following day wrote a letter to the Lord
Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council, asking for a plot in one of the city
cemeteries. The request was cordially granted. It then occurred to the
Consul that the spot should be marked with a memorial worthy of the site in
the very heart of the beautiful city.
You can read the rest of this account at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/lincoln_monument.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
----------------------------
By Frank Shaw
Stuart Leyden has held pastorates in Rumson, New Jersey, Easton, Maryland,
and Waukesha, Wisconsin. For the last ten years, before retiring in 1989,
Dr. Leyden did interim work throughout America. His last church ministry was
at the Roseville Presbyterian Church, a 2,000 member church in Roseville,
California. He is a former adjunct instructor at the University of South
Carolina at Beaufort, where he taught Introduction to the Bible as
Literature and Comparative Religion. He currently serves as part-time
pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church near the border of Cherokee and
Forsyth counties in Georgia. He and his wife Donna have ten grandchildren
with another on the way.
Dr. Leyden earned the above degrees respectively from Wheaton College,
Edinburgh University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Temple University.
Rev. Leyden says, I have two cousins in Glasgow, and more distant cousins
on the Isle of Skye where the MacDonalds live in peace with the MacLeods.
But I do have a great grandmother who was a Campbell. I attribute all the
peculiarities of my personality to that MacDonald-Campbell union!
Our readers should find his article interesting and thought provoking. The
Church of Scotlands Life and Work asks, Was the free-loving, hard-drinking
Robert Burns a moral reprobate with no interest in his immortal soul, or a
man for whom Christianity was a powerful influence? Our guest writer, as
you will see, is quite capable of drawing his own conclusions.
And you can read those conclusions at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/frank/burns_lives27.htm
And that's all for now and I hope you and your families all have a great
weekend :-)
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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