1940-10-17 — Page 19

Thursday,

DONALD DUCK

"TWO FEET, BIX INCHES HIGH,

AND FOUR

INCHES WIDE!

Cher 1940, Walt Diner Pindocilone

9-10

World Kielty Rewrand

CITY MUSEUM

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH

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SCOTLAND'S STRANGE CASTES

think with com.

W placency of the strange

castes of India, of the odd and picturesque types of the Bal- kana or Spain, but now how many of us realise that Scot land in her time has produced unusual coterica every whit as romantic and "by-ordinar"-- as witness the Clan Vic n'oster, "the Men of the Hide," "the Jockeys," the "Horsemen,** and others whom I propose to drag from obscurity.

Indeext, I 0731 convinced that England. Ireland, and Wates.com- bined could not reveal such a col- lection of fantastic folk Scotland of a couple of centuries ago, and I am amitting much obvious *preuliars"

Kypsies. tinklers, "professed piensants." and their kin.

the

It is from Martine, in his "De- scription of the Western Islands." that we catch our only glimpse of the Clan Vic n'ovter, which even In his time, the early eighteenth century, had become almost ex- tinct, only one of its members re- maining alive. They were to be found, he tells us, in the lainny of Ionn, nad "are said to have been porters.' '

Ho derives their name from "Ostlari!," which in Latin means "Doorkeepers" or "Doorwards," so that they may have been a sept or family dedicated to the service of the portnis of the Abbey and monastery in the sacred tale. He adds that a tradition existed that St. Columba, the apostle of the Western Isles, because of misdemeanour committed by them, jald 口

"Clan," curse upon the dooming them to dwindle to the number of Ove individuals and to rerna.n for ever at that number.

some

The legend added that whenever a child was bom to any of the ve the whole quintet lay unter the fear of speedy extinction. "I found one only of this tribe Itving in this Isle," says Martine, "and both he and the natives of this and of all the Western Istes unanimously de clare that this observation acver felled; and all this little family is now extinct except this one poor Ivan."

Satan in Sutherland

If "The Men of the Hide" were seemingly more numerous than the Clan Vic n'oster, they appear to have been equally elusive. Their country of origin was Sutherland and they appear to have composed the membership of a society with distinctly occuli, nol Buy Satanic leanings.

We are told that the Satanic majesty in person visited the shire

Hollywood

EORGE' Zucco, the Man-

Gerber character-

actor, recently insured himself against losing his English ac- cent.

This was one of the unusual policies handled by the Landi- Kennel Company, Lloyd's repre- sentatives In Hollywood, They hove handled many more, some of them so unusual that they had to cable to London for instructions.

the Norwegian“. Greta Nissen star, has insured her back against injury mainly from sunburn.

That was an interesting case," said Mr. Keanel. "We had to get. a physician to describe her back for the purpose of the poller"

Then there was Patricia Moroni The Paramount: studios wanted to. advertise the fact that she was

Lo studio officials that oman might conceiv

Box they

for the express purpose of recruit- ing them. As a travelling cloak, he word the hide of a bull, with horns complete, and upon this skin, na

parchment, he scribbled, the UNICA of bis печ adherents.

на

So numerous were these that the entire surface of the hide was #iled with naines, 80 that the Dend was compelled to jot several Inter entries upon the horns which served him as a head-ciress,

During his stay in Sutherland, he was encountered by the Laird of Cabachy. who found him nice-spoken gentleman'

From this tendition the men vi Melness and district ena 10 be known nu-na-Stovi, "the Men of the Hide," a soft imprachment they were wont to resent by Anti-

Those who have some arquaint- ance with Highland folklore will easily

recognise in the "well- spoken" gentleman of the hullbide no dreadful Satanic figure, but rather a late and solitary priest of

the the ancient Celtie rite of talchairin, in which the seer prophet laid himself down beside - a waterfall wrapped in a bu hide to receive enlightenment from the genius or presiding spiril of the solitary place concerning events to come, a proceeding described by Sir Walter Scott in the notes to his "Lady of the Lake."

The Beggarly Jockics

And who were the "Jockeys"? Well, they had no connection what- ever with the stable, if they may in some sort be associated with Pegasus. For they were a wander- Ing caste of Scottish poets ar ballud-makers who appear to have survived unt the end of the seventeenth century.

to re-

In his entertaining book, "The State of the See of St. Andrews,* written in 1683. George Martine says of them: To our fathers' ime and ours something remained and still does of this ancient order, And they are called by others and by themselves jockies, who co about begging, and use still to

ike the sluggornes of most of the true ancient surnames of Scotland from old experience and observa tion. Some of them

have dis- roursed, and found to have

reason and discretion. One of them told me that there were not now twelve of them in the whole isle; but he remembered when they abounded. so as at one time he was_one_of Ave that usulle met at St An- drews."

John Coivil, a Scots minister, who died in 1007, and who is re-

membered by his apostasy from Presbyterianism, remarks in his Latin funeral oration on the death of Queen Elizabeth: "When I was boy I heard the beggarly jockles resite certain homely verses 08- cribed to Thomas the Rhymer, reputed prophet."

Pipers and Fairies

More interesting are the several piper castes which

Has

formerly

The Insurance

applied for what they called "ove insurance."

It

This made a newspaper. item. also made a lot of work for the underwriters, but Bnally they pro- duced a policy which led the bill,

This promised to pay" MS Morison £250 a week, up to £6,500, should she be “prevent- od from pursuing bar, profession owing to matrimonial entangle - ments.”~~ The studio paid the premium for a short time, but if Miss:: Morison wanta the; insure cance to continue fi will cost her

another £750.

flourished In the Highlands. The most fatouts of them were the gifted Mae Crimmon family, nt- tached to the Macleods of Dun- vegan, and the only less celebrated MayArthura, the hereditary plpers f1f the MacDonalds. The Mac Crimmens bad their hendquarters nt St musical "college" in the tenement of Borernig, pear Dunye- gan, which they held rent-free, while the MacArthurя pursued their craft al Peingown.

The rivalry between these two pibroch societies was intense, and tradition bnd It that either alde was supported and encouraged by fairy patrons, who were ballover do mupply Usein with enchanted

eveu un necasion with

needs and bagpipes

Sometimes the fairles quarrelled among themselves about the re- speçlive merits of their proteges. ວ່າມາຕ < the Macphersons, too, received atmilar gifts from the elves, particularly that performer who with presented with the black abunter of Clan Chattan by hi fairy sweetheart, in the same way on young John Mue Crimmon re- ceived silver chanter from a fairy damsel at Boreralg in return for his inspired playing.

Weird Horsemen

"The Horsement The Horsemen's Soelety!" How the far North sill rings with the tradition of that name. Even to-day its mysteries are said to continue, and by many a farm fireside in the long winter evenings strange tales of this weird brotherhood are recounted.

Well do I remember from boy- hood days how deeply impressed by its glamour were our sonsy maidservants from the North and how "kweer" they were to speak of it.

There was a "Horseman's word," the knowledge of which conferred strange powers, but to reveal it would assuredly entai? conse- quences the most terrible.

1mm

After much burrowing, I given to believe that the Horse- man's Society was a secret brother- hood of farm servants of the ploughman class who, after finish- ing their apprenticeship, were duly initiated into it to the accompani- ment of strange rlies, including trick-riding on horseback, and ä good deal of what might appro- priately be called "horse-play."

About forty years ago a farm servant sued another in the Sherift Court at Aberdeen for the return which he had of a pound note, nak him to reveal "the horseman's pocketed the note, but refused to word." The canny Aberdonian had

divulge, the mystic term.

could tell you of queer folk in the remote covers of the Wester Isles, of a type utterly foreign to the inhabitants, whose business was to gather whelks, of hereditary guardians of sacred wells and stones who still held office not many decades ago, of seers and the last sad ministers of decuying trades.

Strangest Policies

Nelson Eddy, Metro-Goldwyn's baritone star, recently applied for insurance against losing his voice, and also against any disfigurement of his face. This application, of course, is in the more serious cinas,

"It's like un accident polley, In which a mechanic gets 25,000. If he loses his hands," Mr. Lundi ox-. plained. “He makes his' Ilving. with them. Mr. Eddy makes his with his voice and face, SASAM

*"We'd pay up if his razor slipped one morning and made ft Impossible for blm to work. before the cameras. Even if he arət, a bol which laid him on

We have not had to pay aingle loas on any of this business, Mr. Lundi sald. Most of it would seem to be written chiefly for "publicity purposes. While we don't @seek that, the premiuma... so far

have been net pröst,' and 'we candy not complain about that!

we'd pay

The main business of the agency in cast insirutice, whereby n«pro»-

ducer insures against loss, berauen

THERE. IT'S DONE! NOW BRINO HIM IN 1

October 17, 1940.

By Walt Disney

PAGE

ARMY

GOES

SALVAGING

SALVAGE at home is a thing of vital import-

ance and has at last come into its own. Botter late than never—and after all it was late in 1917, or perhaps early in 1918, that the value of salvage on the battlefields at least was suf- ficiently realised for the Army Authorities to appoint salvage parties to go round the shell- torn terrain in France and Belgium, and so save thousands of pounds and much vital material

preserved. as are colls of wire, waterproof sheets and many other valuable articles. All are duly collected and carried to a general dump beside the "dry-weather track," as the near-by notice nd- visca. vivid

These salvage parties were mostly composed of C 3 men, fellows who had been wounded or who had become unfit for the continuous strain of the front linc. I have memories of one day spent with such a party, having volunteered to take charge during the temporary absence of their own N.C.Q.

A "Miracle"

WDX

It

Northern in

France, about the St. Loger district, and ny party rattled up in an Army lorry that sounded as if its-best days were gone and forgotten. So much so that, as they jumped down, Downy Pedlar, the White-

said to chapel humorist,

the driver:-

"W'en we gits back to-night, ale cock, remind me, will yer, to put the ole bus оп top o' the salvage. If someone don't, she will jest gradually fide away-like a blinkin' ghoust. Sye cully," an unother idea got hold of him "che ain't a ruddy ghoust now, is

she?"

Fokker "Eggs"

4

"Blind Bart," who wears large round spectacles, because, as Dusty Miller says, "He can't believe his mwn eyes, and who is making painful way towards the dump, carrying a dozen blankets which obscure his poor sight further, and attempt to trip him at every alternate step, suddenly disappears into a shell-hole filled with a filthy green water. When he enterges, to the accompaniment of loud de- imands for an encore from his un- Teeling mates, he is dyed a rich green.

"Dyed for 'is bleedin' country!" exclaims Downy Pedlar, pretend-

to weep.

ing

A couple of Fokkers fly overhead and throw down at us about a Aozen

small "egg-bombs"—little things of the shape and size of duck CLES. Vicious

little brutes. they are, too, and intended to catch the fellows who throw themselves on the ground, for they burst straight along that level.

Dusty Miller catches a splinter

MacPherson removed a disrepul- able clay pipe from his mouth." "Dinna be datt, Downy," he said. "She's nae ghost tae bring us tenure mile. She's a bloomin' miracle."

The driver got down, spluttering with wrath. Now look "ere," he cried. "I'm Jest about fed up with yer remawks, see? May u blinkin' bomb go oft at the first ammuni- tion dump you find. S'long."

"Stong, Bill," they called after him cheerfully. "an' may a wheel come off an' ditch yer ve miles from 'ome."

All fashionable compliments be- ing thus disposed of, they imme- diately got busy at their job of work, spreading out so as to cover us inuch ground as possible..

The Burial Party.

And what a day it was. Jerry's long-range guns were for ever, at most unexpected moments, search- ing the ground won from them two days back; and twenty times we had to take shelter in shell holes.

njong the check, and his remarks something-to-endeavour to forw get. MacPherson adds to his fury by suggesting that the scor really an improvement.

Great Job

We scrounge tea from an AS.C. dump, and sit down to a lunch of bully-beef sandwiches and scalding tea, have a smoke, and are back at the job in an hour.

Larking and chaffing like parly of schoolboys, ducking periodically from shell and bomb, but steadily increasing the dump by the roadside,

Then the same old bus comes rattling along, the driver grinning a friendly welcome, which changes to a scowl as the shivage party begin chanting:

"It's the ghost of John James

Christopher Benjamin Binns, Comes here battering, clattering, just like same rusty ole tins, An' the thing we want to know, Es, will it last for an hour or so. We think to salvage it should go...

Poor old Benjamin Binns,"

They are absort, waving?

shouting. was

One Incident that the men thought an excellent joke when a burial party, searching the ground for the bodies of our own men first of all, and sheltering in a large shell-hole, were themselves buried by the explosion of a big shell,

Our salvage party rushed into the

open

and

"So-long farge," and go clattering down the "dry-wea ther track" towards camp

and dinner. A great crowd! A great job, salvage!

J. C. Gratiam.

and began digging Vichy Breaks With

frenziedly, well knowing that, I any were left alive, every split second counted. To our joy we were able to rescue the whole bunch of five men.

Then the ragging began with Downy asking, "Wot's the best thing to do wiv i burial pawty, boys?" and the framedinte answer, "Bury the blighters." y "long"

The

resurrected burial party goes of muttering to itself, and our party resumes is scavenging And what a rich field to work in Lack of material there is none rather are we embarrassed with the wealth strewn broadcast. The trail of war is blaxod in potential wealth of all feinds, closely

I Shrapnel helmets, blood-stained tunics, gas-rauske, khelle bombe, Tifles, equipment, Gerpes hide covered.

boots, shell-cases,” and

of illness sinong hia autors dufingi koHuts are takers down and the wo the production" afins

and the corrugated))írón - cüreli

Holland

German Pressure

The Picas service of the Dutch Government in London announces that their diplomatic relations with the Petoin Government will be sus. ponded. The Potain' Government in- formed the Dutch Minister at Vichy that they felt themselves compelled to take steps to this effec£

In authoritative Dutch circles the Franch decision has been received with regret, Relations with France bad remained courteous and friendly after the armistice of June 18, and it Is felt that the Potain" Government is acting only under strong, pressure from Germany, which cannot tolerate the presence of a Dutch Légation at Vichy, enjoying the sun diplomatie privileges, including the freedom of

ming their Government by con fidential means of the situation in Frifice.

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