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Remembering when we were very young . . .

I REMEMBER the big smile on our father’s face, as Rita and I ran down the street to meet him, his arms outstretched to embrace us together.

I REMEMBER while I was in hospital with scarlet fever being told by a bigger boy that I would die because I had swallowed some of the tooth-cleaning powder.

I REMEMBER with shame an aunt landing on the floor, because I had pulled away the chair just as she was about to sit down.

I REMEMBER hurrying past an aggressive little boy who lived across the street, because he would run up to you and give you a punch. 

I REMEMBER that, when I was unable to go to school because of sickness, my father would come home for a quick mid-morning visit, bringing me a comic.

I REMEMBER a rough boy at school (who, it turned out, was related to me) offering to protect me from bullies. When I named a boy who scared me, he replied “Aw naw, Ah cannae fight him”.

I REMEMBER the doctor visiting me when I was unwell and commenting on the sheet of paper pinned above the bed on which I had written “KEEP SMILING”.

I REMEMBER one Christmas eve I woke up during the night and heard Santa Claus coming down the chimney. I kept my eyes tight shut, and went back to sleep.

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My maternal grandparents John Hardie 1873-1962 and Margaret (Maggie) McFarlane 1876-1963.

They were married on 12th July 1895 and had 8 children of whom our mother was the eldest.

All his working life he was an iron moulder in a local foundry, and I can still see him with his black face and hands arriving home from work.
He was continually on piece work, which meant that he was paid only for the items he produced. If a casting, which sometimes involved a whole day’s work, went wrong (not uncommon), then he wasn’t paid.
My mother once told me that, if her father ever found her reading a book, he would say, “Pearl, haven’t you anything to do?” Now, knowing my mother, I’m sure that as the eldest child she would do a great deal to help around the house. 
On another occasion she told me that he was always serious and never smiled. And then the day came when a friend of his visited, and the two of them sat talking, joking and laughing - and her father was a completely different person. She couldn’t believe it!!!

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In 2012 I was nominated for the Freedom Of Kirkintilloch. The honour was given to Frank Dunn a retired Consultant Cardiologist at Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow. He is just the seventh person to be given this honour. In 1931 the first person to be granted the Freedom of the town was Tom Johnston who later became Secretary of State for Scotland during the war in Churchill’s government.

The Certificate was presented to me by the Provost at a reception for all the nominees. 

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In “Gems of Old Scotland” by Maisie Steven (Argyll Publishing) there are some fascinating stories of life in 18th century Scotland. During that period schoolmasters were poorly paid and most of tham had great difficulty making ends meet. One schoolmaster in the Lothians was forced to carry out additional duties as “precentor, gravedigger, beadle, session clerk, and yet his whole income does not exceed £8 sterling.” (That amount of course is per annum!) The writer comments “This, with the paltry accommodation, holds out little encouragement to a teacher of any merit. Indeed, no man who possesses strength to lift a mattock or to wield a flail would accept of such a disgraceful pittance.”

Among the different customs, some were peculiar to a particular area. In Bo’ness the beadle was obviously an very important man in the conduct of funerals. He “perambulates the streets with a bell, and intimates the death of an individual in the following language:- All brethren and sisters, I let ye to wit, there is a brother (or sister) departed at the pleasure of the Almighty.” So he continued, naming the deceased and announcing the time of the funeral. And I learned that he “also walks before the corpse to the churchyard, ringing his bell.” 

I liked the cure for convulsions which was practised in one part of Shetland. “Convulsions were once very common in this parish, especially during the time of divine service; but are now quite extinct. The cure is attributed to a rough fellow of a Kirk Officer, who tossed a woman in that state, with whom he was often plagued, into a ditch full of water. She was never known to have it afterward, and others dreaded the like treatment.”

In Comrie there was a cure for backache which "is still performed and reckoned very efficacious." There is a “rock on the summit of the hill formed of itself a chair for the saint, which still remains. Those who complain of rheumatism in the back must ascend this hill, then lie down on their back, and be pulled by the legs to the bottom of the hill." 

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A great picture! This is the first of a series in my latest blog
JUST TREES
http://justtrees-butlovelytolookat.blogspot.com

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Breathless
Anon

I'm not too fit, I'll have you know,

I'm overweight and rather slow,

But when I run, I manage; though

I'm breathless!

Though in the past it was not thus,

I am not one to swear and cuss,

Except that, trying to catch a bus,

I'm breathless!

When as a youth, I used to play

With sweet young ladies in the hay,

The girls would be the ones to say:

"I'm breathless"

At sport I'd always stay the course,

I was as strong as any horse,

But now, with just a little force,

I'm breathless!

I guess my life has reached the stage

When these things happen at my age.

If all my passions I assuage,

I'm breathless!

No longer, now, do I aspire

To climb a mountain, walk on fire,

Instead I curb each wild desire:

I'm breathless!

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I expect we would all agree with the following -

“If we gathered our impressions from the newspapers alone, it would be easy to believe that there were no happy marriages, no honest bank officers, no incorruptible politicians. The discordant makes itself heard above the harmonious. Ugliness pushes beauty aside and crowds its hateful visage into the foreground.”

That comment was made more than a 100 years ago in “The Girls’ Empire.”

Well, well. as the French say "Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose" - the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"The Girls' Empire" was described as "an Annual for English-speaking girls all over the world." Examples of some of the subjects covered in the 1903 edition (and this is perfectly true) are how to avoid the evils of excessive tea-drinking, the pros and cons of cycling in a full-length skirt and how to get the best out of your carrier pigeon. I'm wondering if Amazon can supply me with a pigeon.

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NEXT POST   SATURDAY   19th AUGUST

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