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 Electric
Scotland's Weekly Email Newsletter
   
  
Dear
Friend
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/rss/whatsnew.php and you
can unsubscribe to this newsletter by clicking on the link at the
foot of this newsletter. In the event the link is not clickable
simply copy and paste the link into your browser.
See our Calendar of Scottish Events around the world and add your
own at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/calendar_help.htm
CONTENTS
--------
Electric Scotland News
The Flag in the Wind
Books of John McDougall
Poetry and Stories
Book of Scottish Story
Biographical Record of the County of Kent, Ontario
Robert Burns Lives!
Oor Mither Tongue
John's Scottish Sing-Along
Songs of Lowland Scotland
"Curdies" a Glasgow Sketch Book
The Life and Public Services of Henry Wilson
A Voice in the Wilderness
The Story of Scottish Rugby
Folk Lore in Lowland Scotland
White Australia, The Empty North, Reasons and Remedy (new complete
book)
Fallbrook Farm
ELECTRIC SCOTLAND NEWS
----------------------
I seem to be working on too many projects these days and I'm even
forgetting what day it is :-)
Some of the projects won't see the light of day for many months but
they can take up a lot of time getting to the finish stage. Just one
example is building our own radio station. This is one where only
members of our Aois Community will be able to listen to it. Problem
is that you need to seek permission from the artists to play their
music and this is very time consuming. So far we do have quite a
number of permissions but we do need lots more hence the time it
takes to contact them and to receive a reply back.
I am also trying to get some expert forums up where real experts
will volunteer time to add regular articles and be around to answer
questions. Finding these experts is also very time consuming and
even when you do find them and manage to get their ok for the
project it can also be very time consuming to get them to start
posting.
We`re also looking at how we might develop certain forums like our
Celtic Music Forum. What we`d like to do in there is work with
YouTube so that we can post a new thread which would be dedicated to
an artist or group. The idea is that we can post an initial message
in the thread with their name as the Title. We`d then like to seek
out some information on them and put that up in the message and then
add a link to one of their videos on YouTube. This would let anyone
then reply to the thread with any additional information. But as you
likely guessed this is a time consuming process. We`d also like to
add a url to their own web site and so provide a good amount of info
on each as well as letting people see and hear them through the
YouTube video.
Today when I am doing this newsletter I`ve already spent some 2
hours in just dealing with emails that I got in overnight. I devote
some of each day to ocr`ìng in books I think you`ll enjoy. As I work
on books I often note a reference to another book and so I also take
time to see if I can find any more information on the book to see if
it would be worth adding to the site.
I`ve also been working on a project to tell you a story of modern
Scotland but this has turned out to be a very long term project.
There is actually no single source of information about a council
area of Scotland and no decent overview of Scotland as a whole. I
have spend considerable time doing research on this and writing to
many people to see if they can help. I am really no further forward
on this but I keep trying. Like this type of information is freely
available in Canada about Canada but all I`ve found about Scotland
is all copyright and so far I`ve not been given permission to use
any of it other than the standard 300 words which is really a total
waste of time.
And so just thought I`d let you know we have lots of plans for the
site but they are time consuming and we do get hicups on the way.
Like Steve was meant to have fixed the Live Chat, put up the new
arcade system, etc. BUT his mother had to have a back operation and
when she did have it it went wrong and Steve has had to spend a lot
of time helping her. On Saturday when he was going to get these
things done his mother fell and hurt herself so he had to take her
to the doctor and otherwise look after her so needless to say our
planned work didn`t get done.
Such are the joys of looking after a web site :-)
-----
I will be starting 2 new books tonight and so depending on your time
zone you`ll either see them tonight or tomorrow. They are...
Journal of a Lady of Quality
Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies,
North Carolina and Portugal in the Years 1774 to 1776
That an incredulous reader may not have to speculate regarding the
genuineness of the Journal, the editors hasten to say that it is no
twentieth century fabrication, but that the manuscript from which
the present text is printed is known as Egerton, 2423, and is even
now in the British Museum. It is a quarto volume labelled "Travels
in the West Indies and South Carolina, 1774, '75"; and in the Museum
Catalogue it is entered as a "Journal by a Lady, of a Voyage from
Scotland to the West Indies and South Carolina, with an account of
personal experiences during the War of Independence, and a visit to
Lisbon on her return 25 October 1774—December 1775." Quite a long
description that, but withal an inaccurate one; and surely he was a
careless retainer of the British Museum who did the labelling, for
even a cursory reading of the beautiful manuscript shows that "North
Carolina" should be substituted for "South Carolina," and that the
narrative itself deals, at most, with only the preliminary events of
the American War for Independence and continues nearly to the
beginning of February, 1776.
As a narrative, the Journal falls naturally into four parts, dealing
respectively with the voyage from Scotland to the West Indies; with
life and experiences in the West Indies at Antigua and St. Kitts,
and the voyage from St. Kitts to the Cape Fear River; with life on
the Cape Fear just before the American War of Independence; and,
finally, with the various adventures and experiences of Miss Schaw
and her companions in Portugal on her way back to Scotland. Nowhere
in our manuscript does the name of the author occur, and, for the
most part, the names of persons referred to are in blank; so that
only after much following of clues and searching in the records of
England, Scotland, Ireland, the West Indies, and America have the
editors been able to trace the careers of those who play the leading
parts in the story. With the blanks filled out as far as possible,
with but few corrections in spelling and capitalization, and with
here and there a change in the diverting, but somewhat erratic,
punctuation, the Journal, in the form now presented, is the same as
that of the British Museum manuscript.
END.
Recollections of Marshall Macdonald, Duke of Tarentum
Edited by Camille Rousset, Translated by Stephen Louis Simeon (1893)
IN the month of May, 1825, the sexagenarian Marshal Macdonald, left
a widower for the third time, was plunged in the deepest grief. by
his previous marriage he had only daughters; the last marriage,
solemnized scarcely four years before, and which had terminated so
sadly, left him a son, heir to his name. It was for this child still
in the cradle that, far from Paris, far from the conventional
consolations and condolences of the Court, the Marshal undertook—not
to distract, but to occupy the isolation caused by his sorrow —to
note down the various stages of his long and glorious career. He did
not pretend to write memoirs; they are merely recollections destined
for the child who was alone to see them in the future. Sixty-five
years have elapsed since they were penned; more than fifty have come
and gone since the Marshal died, and his grand-daughter, the Baronne
de Pomrnereul, has thought that, in the interest and for the
advantage of history, as well as for the reputation and fame of her
ancestor, the moment has come to lift the veil which, until now, has
covered these 'Recollections,' and has entrusted to me the task of
revealing them to the public. It is a great honour, for which I am
grateful to her. I could not help feeling respectful emotion as I
turned over those pages impregnated with sincerity, and which
breathed forth truth like a refreshing perfume. On no occasion, nor
in any presence, did Macdonald conceal his thoughts, even when with
the greatest of men, with Napoleon or with Louis XVIII.
There is no single erasure or alteration in this manuscript of 472
folio pages; there are consequently a few incomplete sentences, of
which it has been found necessary to restore a word or two. With
these exceptions, and with the omission of a few intimate details of
precious interest for the family, but not for anyone unconnected
with it, the text has been treated with the respect it merits.
END.
I also found an account of a trip he made to old family lands in
Scotland from an old account in the Celtic Monthly and have added
that to the account.
I`ll tell you more about both books in next weeks newsletter but
keep an eye out on our What`s New page for where they can be found
at
http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
-----
And just to say we're playing around with our site header on our
index page only. The index page is actually the only page on our
site that does not have the common header and so is ideal to try out
any changes.
Our site is rather old and so we still use tables to keep things in
place and all the new standards say that tables should be eliminated
if possible. So we're working on trying to do this with our header
as a first step. Once we're satisfied we have got it working
correctly then we'll propagate it to our site header and thus across
every page on the site.
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 or on our site menu.
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks issue was compiled by Jim Lynch. Jim as always provides a
good cross section of articles along with his Synopsis articles.
Always a good read.
You can read the Flag at
http://www.scotsindependent.org
Christina McKelvie MSP's Weekly diary is not available as the
Parliament are now on the Summer recess. Mind you Linda Fabiani did
manage to get a few articles to us over the recess so that`s really
not an excuse! :-)
Books of John McDougall
-----------------------
We've now added more chapters to the first book, Forest, Lake and
Prairie...
Chapter XXI
Continue journey - Old "La Gress" - Fifty miles per day
Chapter XXII
Fort Pitt - Hunter's paradise - Sixteen buffalo with seventeen
arrows - "Big" Bear.
Chapter XXIII
On to White-fish Lake - Beautiful country - Indian camp - Strike
northward into forest land.
Chapter XXIV
The new Mission - Mr. Steinhauer - Benjamin Sinclair.
Chapter XXV
Measurement of time - Start for Smoking Lake - Ka-Kake - Wonderful
hunting feat - Lose horse - Tough meat.
Chapter XXVI
Mr. Woolsey - Another new mission.
Chapter XXVII
Strike south for buffalo and Indians - Strange mode of crossing "Big
River" - Old Besho and his eccentricities - Five men dine on two
small ducks.
Here is chapter XXV as it's quite short...
NIGHTS and days, and months and seasons, I found, were the
measurements of time out here. Minutes and hours would come by and
by with railroads and telegraphs. If you questioned anyone about
time or distance, the answer would be, "In so many nights, or days,
or moons." The Indian had no year; with him it was summer and
winter.
We left White-fish Lake Friday evening, having with us for the first
few miles "KaKake," or "the Hawk," and some of his people, who were
returning to Saddle Lake. "Ka-Kake" was far more than an ordinary
personality. His very appearance denoted this. The elasticity of his
step, the flash of his eye, the ring of his voice —you had to notice
him. To me he was a new type. He filled my ideal as a hunter and
warrior.
From Peter I learned that he was brave and kind, and full of
resource, tact, strategy and pluck; these were the striking traits
of this man, by whose side I loved to ride, and later on, in whose
skin-lodge I delighted to camp.
He had figured in many battles, and been the chief actor in many
hunting fields. He had surpassed other famous buffalo hunters,
inasmuch as he had ridden one buffalo to kill another.
To do this, it is related that he and others were chasing buffalo on
foot, and coming to an ice-covered lake, the surface of which was in
spots like glass, some of the buffalo fell, and Ka-Kake, with the
impetus of his run, went sliding on to one of them, and catching
hold of the long, shaggy hair of its shoulders, seated himself
astride of its back. Then the buffalo made an extra effort and got
to its feet and dashed after the herd, and Ka-Kake kept his seat. In
vain the animal, after reaching the ground, bucked and jumped and
rushed about. Ka-Kake was there to stay—for a while, at any rate.
Then the buffalo settled down to run and soon overtook the herd,
which spurted on afresh, because of this strange-looking thing on
the back of one of themselves. Now, thought Ka-Kake, is my chance.
So he pulled his bow from his back, and springing it and taking an
arrow from his quiver, he picked his animal, and sent the arrow up
to the feather in its side, which soon brought his victim to a stop.
Then he took his knife and drove it down into his wild steed, just
behind his seat, and feeling that the buffalo was going to fall, he
jumped off to one side, and thus had accomplished something unique
in the hunting-field.
Around at the end of the lake our roads diverged, or rather, our
courses did, for we found very little road through the dense woods,
as we bore away north and west for Smoking Lake, where we expected
to find Rev. Mr. Woolsey. Pathless forests, and bridgeless streams,
and bottomless muskegs were some of the features of the scene we now
entered. Our progress was slow, and instead of reaching Mr.
Woolsey's Saturday night, or early Sunday morning, we lost one of
our horses by the way, and did not reach Smoking Lake until Monday
afternoon. By this time our provisions were about finished, and had
not Mr. Woolsey killed an ox the day we arrived, we, and others
also, would have gone supperless to bed that night. As it was, we
had the privilege of chewing at some of the toughest beef I ever
tackled—and my experience along that line has been a very wide one.
The book index page where you can get to the other chapters is at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mcdougall/forestndx.htm
Poetry and Stories
------------------
Also got in the famous nursery poem `Wee Willie Winkie` which you
can read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/miller.htm
John Henderson has continued his Recounting Blessings series about
him being brought up in Scotland. He had added chapter 70 and you
can see the whole series at
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/blessings.htm
Got a lot of stories up in the article service from Donna this week.
You can also read stories in our Article Service and even add your
own at
http://www.electricscotland.com/article
Book of Scottish Story
----------------------
Thanks to John Henderson for sending this book into us.
This week he's sent in a new story `The Last of the Jacobites` by
Robert Chambers
Here is how it starts...
I had occasion to mention, at the conclusion of my " History of the
Insurrection of 1745,” that after that period the spirit of
jacobitism became a very different thing from what it had formerly
been; that, acquiring no fresh adherents among the young subsequent
to that disastrous year, it grew old, and decayed with the
individuals who had witnessed its better days; and that, in the end,
it became altogether dependent upon the existence of a few aged
enthusiasts, more generally of the female than the male sex.
These relics of the party—for they could be called nothing else—soon
became isolated in the midst of general society ; and latterly were
looked upon, by modern politicians, with a feeling similar to that
with which the antediluvian patriarchs must have been regarded in
the new world, after they had survived several generations of their
short-lived descendants. As their glory lay in all the past, they
took an especial pride in retaining every description of manners and
dress which could be considered old-fashioned, much upon the
principle which induced Will Honeycomb to continue wearing the wig
in which he had gained a young lady’s heart. Their manners wer
entirely of that stately and formal sort which obtained at the
commencement of the eighteenth century, and which is so inseparably
associated in the mind of a modern with ideas of full-bottomed
perukes, long-backed coats, gold-buckled shoes, and tall walking
canes. Mr Pitt’s tax, which had so strong an effect upon the heads
of the British public, did not perhaps unsettle one grain of truly
Jacobite powder ; nor is it hypothetical to suppose that the general
abandonment of snuff-taking by the ladies, which happened rather
before that period, wrenched a single box from the fingers of any
ancient dame, whose mind had been made up on politics, as her taste
had been upon black rappee, before the year of grace 1745.
The can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/books/story/story93.htm
All the other stories can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/books/story/
Biographical Record of the County of Kent, Ontario
--------------------------------------------------
Our thanks to Nola Crewe for sending these into us.
ALEXANDER YOUNG. Probably few names are better or more widely known
in the County of Kent than that borne by Alexander Young, one of the
prominent and substantial residents of Harwich township. He was
born April 3, 1844, son of George and Janet (Robertson) Young.
George Young was born February 19th, 1809, in Roxburghshire,
Scotland, on the banks of the river tweed, and died on August 14th,
1890, at the age of 81 years. He was the only son of Charles Young
and Agnes Nisbet. His father being accidentally killed three months
before he was born, he lived principally with an uncle, and went to
school until he was ten years of age, when he removed to Paisley and
assisted in keeping a toll-gate for a couple of years. going to
Glasgow at the age of twelve, he was apprenticed to a cabinet maker
and builder for a term of seven years. having completed his
apprenticeship he worked a year or two as a journeyman, acquiring
the reputation of being one of the best mechanics in the city. He
soon commenced as a master builder, at what was then considered an
unusually early age, entering into partnership with John Stewart.
they carried on an extensive business as cabinet makers and
builders. Between 1830 and 1840 Mr Young erected or superintended
many of the finest blocks in Glasgow and so high did he stand as an
architect and builder that when in 1836 the city contemplated the
erection of new public buildings, he was chosen to visit some of the
principal cities of England, including London, Liverpool and
Manchester, to inspect their public buildings and report on same.
His plans and suggestions were adopted. Dissolving the partnership
mentioned he carried on the business himself, owning his own
quarries and lumber yard, and employing from three to five hundred
men. He took a leading part in all affairs tending to promote the
political and commercial interests of the city of Glasgow, and the
corporation rewarded him be presenting him with the freedom of the
city, an honour he regarded with just pride as long as he lived.
You can read the rest of this bio at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/kent/young_alexander.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
-------------------
By Frank Shaw
I want to talk with you on a subject very dear to my heart and to
share some thoughts and observations. I am fiercely loyal to people
and things I believe in and love. When, in the early 1990s, I
learned of my Scottish heritage, I jumped feet first into learning
all things Scottish. I was consumed by family background research
and eventually discovered that my branch of Shaws came from the wee
Isle of Jura off the Argyll coast. I read and studied Scottish
history and over time have accumulated several thousand Scottish
books for my library. My grandson Ian had a Shaw kilt before he was
born. Susan and I usually agree on most things, but on this
particular subject we are where we were the first time we discussed
it – I love it but she does not.
I’m talking about Scotland’s national dish – haggis. By us not
coming to a consensus on haggis, however, is a mixed bag (no pun
intended) since it is a huge benefit to me. When we attend Scottish
functions, she always helps herself to the haggis and then gives it
to me later on during the meal. What a great date she has been for
over 35 years! You see, not everyone likes or loves haggis. I do,
unashamedly!
Let me share one brief word about meat products. Country singer
Jimmy Dean, who has been in the sausage business for many years and
whose name is still proudly displayed on his product, once said, “If
you like sausage, don’t ask what it’s made of”. Unfortunately, not
all haggis is created equal so the same can be said of it, too.
Because of how it was made hundreds of years ago, today’s haggis is
sometimes misunderstood. A good haggis maker, like Caledonian
Kitchen in Lewisville, Texas, will give you a tasty product. Theirs
is my favorite American commercial haggis, and they will serve it up
to you with “Premium Quality” sirloin beef, Highland beef, lamb, or
for the faint of heart, there is a vegetarian haggis.
You can read the rest of this article at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/frank/burns_lives67.htm
Oor Mither Tongue
-----------------
An Anthology of Scots Vernacular Verse by Ninian Macwhannell (1938)
and our thanks to John Henderson for sending this into us.
We have new poems up this week by...
BROWN, JAMES:
The Fisher
BUCHAN, JOHN:
The Shorter Catechism
The Eternal Feminine
Fisher Jamie
which you can read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mither/
John's Scottish Sing-Along
--------------------------
Provided by John Henderson
This week we've added...
The Road An' The Miles Tae Dundee
You can find these songs at
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/henderson/singalong/index.htm
Songs of Lowland Scotland
-------------------------
From the times of James V, King of Scots, A book of c. 600 pages of
songs published in Scotland in 1870, and arranged in episodic form
by John Henderson.
We've added a further 30 or so pages this week, Pages 124 - 161, as
a pdf file which you can get to at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/songs/index.htm
"Curdies" a Glasgow Sketch Book
-------------------------------
By Hugh S. Roberton
We've added another chapter this week...
Chapter XI - Foyle and Kitty
These are all pdf files and I have to say I'm really enjoying these
stories and getting a good chuckle at the same time :-)
You can read these at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/curdies/
The Life and Public Services of Henry Wilson
--------------------------------------------
A new book we're starting about the Late Vice President of the
United States by Rev. Elias Nason and Hon Thomas Russell (1876)
We have now made more progress on this book by adding chapters IX to
XV.
Here is how Chapter XIV starts...
ABRAHAM LINCOLN was nominated for the presidency by the Republicans
in convention at Chicago in the month of May, 1860; and John C.
Breckinridge in April following, at Charleston, S.C., by the
proslavery Democrats. The other candidates were John Bell and
Stephen A. Douglas. The main question between the two leading
parties was freedom, or slavery, in the immense Territories of the
Union; or, in other words, shall free, or servile, labor have the
ascendency in this country? Long and carefully, both in and out of
Congress, had Mr. Wilson studied this question under every form and
bearing; long had he contemplated the tremendous interests involved
in the issue of the question; and he therefore threw himself into
the contest with unfaltering energy, addressing vast and
enthusiastic audiences in many States with. eloquent and effective
words of warning, counsel, and encouragement. In an address at
Myrick's Junction, Mass., on the 18th of September, in reference to
the paramount question of the parties, he said, -
"Issues growing out of the existence of human slavery in America are
now the paramount issues before the nation. Shall slavery continue
to expand? shall it continue to guide the counsels of the republic?
or shall its expansion be arrested, its power broken, and it forced
to retire under the cover of the local laws under which it exists?
These issues loom up before the nation, dwarfing all other issues,
and subordinating all other questions. Public men and political
organizations are forced to accept the transcendent issues growing
out of the existence of slavery in America.
"The American Democracy, which for twenty-five years has borne the
banners of slavery, won its victories, and shared in its crimes
against humanity, though broken into fragments, struggles on,
faithful still to the interests of slavery. Breckinridge and Lane
accept the creed of slavery expansion, slavery protection, and
slavery domination; Douglas 'don't care whether slavery is voted up
or voted down;' and Johnson, commended by the Massachusetts
Democracy at Springfield for his 'honest and fearless promulgation
of Democratic truth,' proclaims that it is best that capital should
own labor.' The American Democracy, demoralized by slavery, has
ceased to speak of the rights of man: it now speaks only of the
rights of property in man. The Republican party, brought into
existence by the aggressions of slavery upon freedom, cherishing the
faith of the founders of the republic, and believing with their
chosen leader, Abraham Lincoln, that 'he who would be no slave must
consent to have no slave,' pledges itself, all it is, all it hopes
to be, to arrest the extension of slavery, banish it from the
Territories, dethrone its power in the National Government, and
force it back under the cover of State sovereignty."
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wilson/chapter14.htm
The rest of the chapters can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wilson/index.htm
A Voice in the Wilderness
-------------------------
By Duncan Shaw (1995)
We've now completed this book by adding the following chapters to
this...
Stones of memory
Life through wisdom
You can read these chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/bible/voicendx.htm
The Story of Scottish Rugby
---------------------------
By R. J. Philips (1925)
We`ve now completed this book by adding the following chapters...
Chapter III. School Football
Chapter IV. Edinburgh and Glasgow: Inter-City Rivalry
International Football
Chapter V. Scotland v. England
Chapter VI. Scotland v. Ireland
Chapter VII. Scotland v. Wales
Chapter VIII. Scotland v. France
Chapter IX. Antipodean Visitors
You can read these chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/sport/rugby/index.htm
Folk Lore in Lowland Scotland
-----------------------------
By Eve Blantyre Simpson (1908)
we have now completed this book with...
Chapter III
The Scandinavians
Chapter IV
Fairies
Chapter V
Fishermen's Superstitions
Chapter VI
Flowers and Birds
Chapter VII
Witches and Wizards
Chapter VIII
Fairs, Festivals, and Funerals
Chapter IX
Adages and Omens
Here is a bit from Chapter IV - Faries...
"Up the airy mountain
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a hunting
For fear of little men,
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together,
Green jacket, red cap
And white owl's feather."
WM. ALLINGHAM.
GIPSIES, to the novelist, have proved themselves invaluable allies,
helping them to work the machinery of their plots by guiding heroes
successfully through woods or wastes, protecting them from robbers,
and extracting them from seemingly impregnable prisons. To the
teller of tales by the fireside the fairies take the gipsies' place,
and become the helpers and unravellers of the webs the fates have
woven round the central figures of their story. The fairies in the
annals of folk lore are a host in themselves. They have remained
pre-eminent in the popular creed for centuries, and as Sir Walter
Scott says: "They are a most pleasing legacy of fancy." The giants
who walked the earth in days of old, as centuries rolled on grew too
monstrous to associate with human beings, but their antitheses, the
fairies, obtained an entrance into people's hearts and homes long
lingered, nay, still remain there, welcome guests, for there is no
doubt that the fairies who won their way deep into the affections of
mortals, and had a seat by every hearthstone when the world was
young, still dwell with us. They have been the companions and
delight of countless generations of children. Fairy lore and its
moral teaching has remained indelibly fixed on their memories from
youth to second childhood. Giants live only in fable. Fairies, as in
the days of yore, are our intimate friends. Their gifts are
treasured by the descendants of the receivers of these fairy
favours, and there are amongst us some who still believe in the
existence of the little people. We have heard a man, holding a
responsible public position, telling a well known American publisher
of a sweet melody his aunt had heard played around her at a burn
side in his native county, in the North of Scotland. The harmony of
sound dwelt in her mind, so she returned home lilting the cadence of
this weirdly-beautiful music, and jotted it down and rendered it to
her family circle.
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/folklore/folklore4.htm
You can read the other chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/folklore/index.htm
White Australia, The Empty North, Reasons and Remedy
----------------------------------------------------
By J. N. MacIntyre (pdf file). Provides some very interesting
information of this MacIntyre and what he achieved for Australia.
Mr. Maclntyre is to be commended on calling attention to the need
for populating our Northern areas. The empty North menaces
Australia. Its continued existence as a nation depends on our first
line of defence being manned. It is not our back door we are leaving
unguarded. It is not our back yard that is empty. The historical
processes, the evolution of Internationalism, has made Northern
Australia our front garden. That we have allowed it to be neglected,
that we have built behind a wilderness, and then slothfully
neglected to improve and beautify and protect the area from which
our well-being may be assaulted, our independence be threatened, is
unthinkably stupid—and criminal. If Australia is to be held—it will
be held in the North. If Australia is to be free from the aggression
of marauders, it will only be because we have taken time by the
forelock, and made it impregnable. It can only be made impregnable
by settling the empty, inviting, healthy—but now neglected—North,
with men who will make it their homeland, their holy of holies,
their own. Empty North Australia menaces all Australia. The problem
is Australia's. The menace must be removed by Australian action.
Whatever differences, mental or moral, may exist in the minds of
man, the..truth of the old adage remains unfractured, "God helps
those who help themselves." To-day Australia can help herself
effectively. If she continues in the "to-morrow" habit, a not
distant "to-morrow" may dawn with an alien flag afloat over Northern
Australia, and then the only continent, with "one people, one flag,
one destiny," will have become a land of warring interests, a land
of clashing strife, a land on which the sun of peace has set, a land
facing the bloodreal dawning of discord, schism and dissension. Mr.
Maclntyre preaches a sane doctrine of Australianism for Australians.
He shows where we have failed to make Australianism efficient. He
points out our duty, not as the man of letters in, polished periods,
but as the man of action, the man who has lived in the empty North
and has seen all that its "vacuity" portends, who has read the
portents and speaks as an Australian from the depths of his
first-hand knowledge, the man who knows that until we set out to do
our duty to Australia by making Australia safe for Australians, by
utilising to their uttermost our Australian assets and
potentialities, by making full use of our glorious heritage, the
motto upon our coat of arms is a braggart's boast, or worse still, a
weakling's aspiration. In his own way, the author has shown how to
make good, the words that inspired the earliest Australians.
—
Advance Australia.
JOHN H. C. SLEEMAN,
Cliveden Mansions, Gregory Terrace,
Brisbane, 31st Jan., 1920.
I came across this book while looking for anything new on Scots in
Australia. It is in pdf format but certainly is an interesting read.
You can read this at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/australia/whiteaustraliaem00maci.pdf
Fallbrook Farm
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I got in a wee update about this heritage project to preserve an old
Scots farm. I also found a few interesting links to council meetings
about the project so have posted all this up in updates 21 - 25
which you can read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/canada/fallingbrook.htm
And that's it for now and hope you all have a good weekend :-)
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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