The Huron Expositor, 1976-01-01, Page 15By W„ G. Strong ,'
As We kause"on the threshold ,of, another
New Year, let us reeall•those words written by
Minnie Louise flaSkins and immortalized by
the kite King George V!...,"•And I said to the
• 'ran wlio stood at the gate.of the year,'Give
me a light that I may tread' safely into the
'unknown', and.he replied, 'Ctrl out - into the
darkness and „put your hand ,in the hand of
God.. That shall he to you better than light and,
safer than a known' way.' ".
The old year, has slipped through the glass•
of, tittle,' taking with it a portion of our-life. FoV
some 'a face :has 'faded, a voice has been'
stilled, ,a chair made vacant,
''The. Moving Fittger writes; and hirin.g. writ
Moves on nor all thy piety nor wit
. Shall lure it hack to cancel h all a line
Nor all your- tuars'v..a'sh out a' word of it:"
Scattered like broken alabaster ,boxes our
precious ambitions lie about us and our sky
often is darkened by the low-hanging clouds'of •
disappointment and.despair.. .But today we
stand again on the- threshOld or doorstep of
Eternity - the Land of Beginning 'Again where
the New Year woos us with/an enchanting
hope-. Here we plight our troth to the 'Mystic
',Comrade by our. side Who teaches ps to read
the meaning of life in the light of its high,
hours. Each morn the world wrapped in
winsome smiles will unfold and we know that
the best is yet to be, All through the year we
shall follow a'Friend who W•alketh by our side.
"He will never leave us,
He will not forsake;
• His eternal covenant
'He will never break, ,
Resting on Hid prorhise,
What have we to' fear?
God is all sufficient
Eor.-the, coming- year-" alavergalK
------''tfanualv the first month of the 'year „in the
oregorian calendar is named after :farms, a
mythical' Roman, deity endowed With \
'knowledge of all the past and of all fhe future
and, therefore, able to adopt the wisest
measure for-the welfare of the people. 'He is
represented i ,with two faces - the • .
one lookinOo the past, the other to the future,
As we stan-ds on the brink of the New YeAr do
we cringe with .cauiiouSness dr'clo welunge
in 'with, confidence? Here we are reminded pf
the words spoken by Joshua to the children of
Israel at the'Jordati, ''Ye have not,passed this
way heretofore. Sanctify yourselves for
tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among
. -
There is something alluring, soillething.
inspiring in the dawning of,a New Year, a year
that has not been sullied by disappointnient or
mis-adventures. The New Year should always
be one of opportunity, a time for'reflection. a
'time for choice. Each new. day is a page
unturned in the book Of life, a leaf unwrit. Otir
ignorance of the future and the uncertainty of ' ,
life's•issues make living take on the aspect of
-an adventure 'despite the 'fact that the.,
unknown too often makes men and 'nations
cautious and prudent.
Life has:been referred to a's 'a joUrneyArwe-'
actually believed that life was a j ourney and
awakened to the fact that 1976 will occur once
only in the world's history and only once in
our lives, what stirring there would be within
each one of us to resolve to make the most of
the New Year ahead, to live every moment of
it and to treat, as infinitely ••precious,• its-,
responsibilities a's well as its opportunities. It
Kill take per,sistence, perseverance and
labouriotts effort to keep in the direction that
-tea'ds to successful fUlfiltrient. Each day is a •
special .gift, an open rnvitation to make a
creatively happy experience. The world is
filled with -challenges as the New Year dawns,
_ challengei that ery lor..res ponses. _There s
reason to believe' that mankind must
inevitably fall finder the burden but as wings
are to the brrd or";ai Is to. the boat, we have the'
full responsibility of using-our /re'sOnr-&-s .arid
carry on. ,
' hems. 'con pare'd-to-a-racerrittrajog'-
or.a dash but a long clistan,ce -event. are' •
entered, There are no exceptions. Nothing
can keep us ,out of the race. In early Roman
times such events were run off in the
amphitheatre where a mult4.tude of spectators
constituted the gallery, We red in 'Hebrews
12.1, "Whe?fore seeing we also are
compassed about. .with so great a cloud 'of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight which.
cloth. so easily best us and let us run. with
patience the race that is set before us."
These concluding words were penned by,..
that renowned American preacher and
theologian, Jonathan Edwards: "Resolved to
live with all my might while .1 live. Resolved
never to 'lose one moment of time but to
improVe it In the. most profitable .way'I can.
Resolved never to: do anything which 1 would
despise or think meanly in another. Resolved
never to do anything out of revenge.Resolved
never to do anything which I should be afraid
to do if it were the last hour oil my life.". May
tli'se be your resolutions for' 19761
"Hail the New Year. Let .each• preCious
moment
Be counted a gem beylnd value in cost.
Let's spend not one hour in' ,useless
endeavour .
For time that is-wasted is time that is lost,
The :ykftrciglht new horizons will constantly
~tve
To those who march onward ,with banners
unfutlled.
---,-Have'faith in the futtire, Shout the ,glad
tidings . _ .
A flapp• NeW Year. wortderfttl--".
you,"
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SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, THURSOA, JANUARY 1„1976 St CONO SECTION 1A 47. 8A
4 fr '
jipsi way to see Scotland
Rent a cottage aid get to know The loc9is
Competing, in national dress, in Scotland's
Highland 'Games.
jarnes9, R. Scott, well known Scaforth
author , achieved "a long held ambition .last
summer when he .visited 'Scotland and the
,communities from which. his ancestors. .had
come to Huron early in the last c'entury...In this .•
two part series he, describes his impressions of
Seotlandas he found it en his visit and tells of
the people.. he met.,
.Mr...!Scott. is the.author of "l'he Settlement"'
of Hurcing'ount4- as well as a number of other
histories and. -pplitical articles. He"resicies in
Seaforth.
(By James Scott)
There are many 'factors which bri'ng Visitors
to Scotland, the most obvious one is economic.
• With the shocking decline in 'the•vallie. Of file
pound sterling, thotisands of English peOple
who used to take their holidays somewhere on
the continent can no longer afford it so they
come to Scotland instead. Conversely. the
• EtiroOcatiseome to Scotland because they get
more f6r 'their money especially the Germans
(I vlas constantly meeting Germans)' ('hose
\--n-rtfrk is the world's most valuable currency.
The same appliesto Nort Iv Americans. Many
of IN who couldn't hZVe afforded the trip in, •
the old days can do it now, because our dollar
buys much more..
Money. ofeoinse. is nqei: enough in itself.'
• Yon have to. get soni&hing seitisfying for it/ ,fn
. Scotland th ere is notch mine than its virtually
untouched natural beauty. Thereqtre places to • • go and things to .see.•
- TO' start from the time. of your arrival
presumably, if you.fly. at Presto icks you arc
close to either Glasgow or •Ayr. Don't go to
Glasgow unless yo u are catching a train or .
bus fir" sonless:here else, It is Scotland's
busiest, dirtit,, biggest city. But Ayr, now
-that is something else. A pleasantly bustling
town with plenty of good places to stay 'and .
eat. it iS the heart of the Burn's country.
Within' its borders are the cottagi, where
• • Burns was born (indeed the bed he. was born
in),. the adjoining Burns MuSeum and first .
'down 'the street Allway Kfrk (roofless); the
Brig 0' Doon and the mie6cent ' Burns
Memorial .Mont1 meat surrounded by its'
equally 'magnificent gardens. RiQt in' the
centre of Ayr is another Burns statue and the
Tam 0' Simmer Museum which you can't
miss because it iclose by the Wallace Tower
("Scots wo' *allace bled") which.
stands proudly in' the Middle, of the High
Street. = the sidewalk goes through , it.
Besides this there. are daily tours out of Ayr
which can take the tourist to Many interesting
places.
- •
Guided Tours
There is much to recommend using these
guided tours by "buswherever they • arc
available because the driver has a carefplly
prepared "spiel" • and will point out and'
explain all sorts of things which, otherwise,
you will miss,
. On the other. hand.. the _complete, pickage
tour is not for me. They only hit the high
points and somehow you lose the sense of ,
'oneness with• the country and its people. This
you get by renting a car - at a reasonable rate -
for All or part of the trip. Since 40 m.p.h. is
good speed on Scotland's narrow 'winding ,
roads (except on the carriage ways, our,
equivalent of freeWayST yeity Ve-V6i7 '66018'
"the countryside with time to Spare to take in:
the scenery- stop to examine anything which
'catches your eye and, above all, talk to the
• people.
Scotland, of course,, is more than scenery. If
you are of Scottish de'sc'ent,..there is the'
fascinating business of trying to trace 'your
ancestors. The place to start is at Andrew's
House inEdinburgh, the centraLstori2house of
all Scotland's, genealogical information. It
helps to know where your ancestors came
from and tl part"sh church they attended.
Then, 'with St. Andrew's help. )014 can go
through parish records, visit churchyards,and
who knows what you will find.,?
, No Miracles
Howev4r, don't expect miracles-. In my case ..
all wits well hack to 179.1.. Then problems'." The
fresh-faced, obliging yo' Ong lady. at St.
Andrew's House couldn't keep from laughing
when she heard my 'name. "A Scott from
Bedoule Parish", she-exclaimed: "Mere arc
nothing but Scotts there and if' you can sort .
themout, yetuf re better than we arc!" She was'
right, . of course, but I'm stubborn too.
Someday, when I haft more time for it, I'll go
hack there and show them.
On this trip the re was too 'much else to see.
The castles, for instance. Not being rich on the
fruits of Empire, Scotland unfikeEngland is nal
dotted by "stately homes".There.are large,
eomkortable looking Laird's stone 'mansions
hit comparatively few great .castles., I would
recommend Calzean (pronounced Callane)
'south' -oTA'yr, the ancestral seat ;of the
once-pow:Mitt Kennedy..- Clan (All the
KenneciNs were not Irish nor did they':
emigrate to' Boston). Then • in thP
'Highlands there is Inver,ary... still used. by the
chief of Clan Campbell. tbe Duke of Argylle-,.
blit.part of it open to thtt pubH, Blair Castle„is •.
good too. Ther e are lots .of others but either
they. are •in,..r.nins (Yictims of ceninries.el Clan
warfare or owned by nobles' still' rich enough' ' '
not to have, to supplement.their incomes by' .
showing off - to tourists. t Edinburgh, of
course 'is a Military castle but you can •go '
thr6ugh it. Jedburgh Casa, 'for a .reasori
could not discover, waSonce turned into 7i _jail
and, onte inside, that.is what it is. About a
hundred years ago it was closed because it
was 'consikierad 'too comfortable. ,,Today's
'prison reformer, \votdd be horrified. ,
Of' part icti.laT. interest to me wasiAbbo7sford
- nrit a castle but the great mansion. built OYI:.Sir
Walter Siixi,. Full, of treasures and ,relies frOm:
'the part of Scotland which he tc d in-
prose prose antiliktry.. it iS , tierertheleSs' ,a sad-
memorial. When the -publishing, house in
which fte.)rivested Went `bankrupt. Sir Wafter'
cost-Tit-that tic singtedianiredly, would pay
buck every peritny isiv,ing. He by Writing.
the gre:-Rest literature; Scotland had ever
produced - and at the yo,s`t of his life. He
literally wrote hiMself to death. One stands at
the great writing desk at AbbotsfordAnd sees
the lonely figure of genius drislig trinisell
,even harder and harder unti4 air obligations
were met and, exhausted. he died.
To Sir Walter . •
Not all I emus are ma'de . on the battlefield
and Scoll..nd rewioniies this. In the middle of
Princess Streoer in Edinburgh towers the
greateSt memorial in Scotland . to Sir
Walter. •
•
:\nother Scottish ciclight is Highland
Games, Thesestart et) about a thoucand veal's
• ago. The were desired by' the chiefs of the
clans to find out w ho were trio strongest and
fleetest of foot among their followers..Thday
they follow much the same pattern. The
ents .• still include putting, the
stone. throw ing the stone and tossing, the
b caar,, th4,' :,"light events" 'are ,ronning 'and
juniping contest;."10 these has e been iicl,ed
piping and daneing ev ems hich., these .daYs.
Oen include the Iris.h• Jig!
•
The Games rim from the last Saturday in
May to, the second Saturda y in September.
Any tourist bureau can tell you when and
where, Game's Day, wherever it decurs,
involves the whole community. .Everybody
turns outy quite a few wearing the kilt.
Now wearing the kilt in Scotland is a
strange thing. After Bonnie Prince -Charlie
(who turned Out to he not so 'bonnie but a bit
on the stupid Stuart side) was soundly
trounced at Culloden (a much romanticized
battle) the Scots Avere Sorbidden to Wear the
kilt. To this day they point.to this decree as' a
prime example of.English oppreSsion. Brut the
fact is they have -been allowed to wear their
national dress since 1782 and today practically.
no one wears it. They much prefer American
blue jeans. •
This is but one example of the disturbing
ambivalence of today's Scotsman.-He talkS a
gran gdnw but tell To
,
o -often he doesn't — of lie
can't — play it. Like all the rest of the
Western World he exploits his part but he
doestot always perpetuate its values, -
Change's
As the French saying goes 'Nothing
changes, but change itselt".• I, was foolish to
expect to find exact counterparts of the kind of
Scotsmen our ancestors were. In the last 150
years the S'cots have changed just as we all
have but not so uch inScotland as in North
America.c
Just the sam key are bus: trying to
• reconcile the new with •the old. The old
, begrimed buildings of the •University of
Edinburgh on its High Street contrast sharply
with the new, modern red brick buildings of
the main campus of the suburbs. On the island
of Iona, generally regarded as the birthplace
of Scottish christianity (it is not; Fergus Mor
'started a Christian mission in Kintyre, 70
years before St. Columban cime.to lona) the
first cathedral in Scotland was restored in
1910.
The sante thing' applies to th, .famous
Ediriburgh Festival, started in 1947. This is
one of the great Festivals of the Wot'ld bait it is '
not Scottish — it is international, It ,i,s not as
Scottish as our own Stratford Festival is
Canadian — we have more Canadian' '
participants. But it is magnificent.' Here I saw
the best musical I've experienced in 15 yeat:S.
• — Pilgrim, based, would you belileve it, on
Bunyan's Pilgrim's' Progress. The now
world-famous ,Edinburgh ,Military Tattoo, for
which you line up an hour in advance although
you• have reserved seats, is n t
• Scottish. In September,. 1975,
priteticaly all the . pipe and. drum events from
Australian regiments, plus Maori • dancers.
From Canada came Vancouver's Beefeaters
Banl,(how? English can you get?). The only
Scottish' events were 'regimental motorcycle•
and artillery drills. But just' to remind you that
you are in Scotland after alt.'. the show ends,.
with a dramatic Ione piper, spotlighted op the
parapets of Edinburgh' C,a'.stle— playing a
pibroch. Other 'Scottish Canadians have told.
me ,it broUghftears to their eyes. Not me 4.- I
.kept thinking of the, Maori dance , the
Canadian Pseudo -' Beefeaters, pan the
Scottish military Motoreyelists• who were jus.
like motoreyele_boys anywhere else. —
, • Rent a Cottage .
But there is still a Scotland not iust geared
for gullible tourists, TO find it, do what we did.
Rent a cottage for a week or More and ,get
know the people of the community. We chose
ti
Ardfern.. it has one shop - we would call it a
general store — and a small hotel Which
served excellent dinners at reasonable rates
— the Galley of Lorn. Besides, it ,was close to
several centres from which one could take
interesting trips.
We aringlecl .with the people' of the area.
attended the local horse show (mediocre
(bought
but lots of competitive spirit);
tickets for a 'prize of assorted whisky
donated by the local Laird - and lost, of
course.
.21;
Best of all; through friends, 1 was invited
into a' Scottish home for dinner. A modest,
comfortable place whose hostess, without
effort, combined Scottish .formality and
respect for' traditional valueS with warm,
hospitality as it is peculiarly and particularly
practised by the Scots: , \
I was "home" at laSt. Back to my boyhood
Scotland; despite necessary' change, still
stands firm. Thank you, Sheena, and the
memory of ,lan. '
-~, ~
[This concludes a two part article by Mr.Scott]
included
a
Take a pause
to start
the New year