Category: Writings
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Nature in the Raw
Barrowsgate is invited to the opening of a Public Bathhouse. Note: This was republished in 1950 in the Huntly Express and was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in 1958.
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Soothing Syrup
Barrowsgate eavesdrops on a conversation on the bus between two women, one of whom thinks she has got herself a coat at a bargain price. Note: An English language version of this was published in the Buchan Observer on 09 February 1937 in the ANZAC column.
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An Echo of Muckle Friday
Two of Barrowsgate’s newspaper colleagues decide to go to Muckle Fair in Aberdeen, pretending to be Buchan farm labourers looking for work. “Muckle Friday” was originally held in medieval times at the festival of Michaelmas on 29 September when the produce of the harvest would be sold in the stalls of the markets, and labourers…
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Canadian Emigrant 1908
Jim’s apparently autobiographical story “A Canadian Emigrant” was serialized and published in four parts as “A Colonist in Canada Twenty-Five Years Ago” by “Hugh James” in the Bon Accord in May and June 1934. Jim revised it and it was published again as “Call of the Golden West – Recollections of Thirty Years Ago” by…
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Thrift
Barrowsgate thinks that Mrs B is fairly thrifty, but knows of a lady in Torry who could teach her a thing or two.
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Beauty Unadorned
Barrowsgate is surprised to hear from a stranger on the train that he is not as handsome as he thought he was. He asks the readers what they think.
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The Third Degree
Barrowsgate describes the ideal characteristics of a Policeman. Note: An English language version of this was published in the Buchan Observer on 26 January 1937 in the ANZAC column.
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Glenmuchty
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Glenmuchty runs a big farm and is always looking for workmen but nobody stays long because he works the men hard all day and is mean. He wasn’t always that way – only since he got married. This verse was published in the London Scottish Regimental Gazette in May 1934 and in the Aberdeen Book…