An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Deo-gréine > Volume 3, October 1907-September 1908

AN DEO-GREINE.
7i
each end of the stall stood a pair of very handsome
fire-clay pedestal vases, sent to Mr. and Mrs.
Robertson of Auchenlecks by an octogenarian
clansman. The Clan Donnachaidh from far and
near, from Orkney to Cornwall, and from Texas to
a mine called after the Clan in a remote part of
Australia, sent offerings. One of the contributors
was Mrs. Arnot Collingwood, Elgin, a great grand
niece of the ever gratefully remembered Flora
Macdonald. Mrs. Stewart Robertson of Edradynate
—who looked after the east side of Strath Tay—
had likewise a large collection, local and from
abroad One exhibit from a friend, who had been
many years in South Africa, was (in addition to the
belt sold to Princess Louise), a weapon called a
“ Boleallores,” used for catching wild horses and
ostriches. It consisted of three round stones
covered with hide, and attached to three plaited
thongs, which diverge from each other, and form a
centre. When thrown at the legs of an animal
running at full speed, it twists round its legs and
brings it violently to the ground. Mrs. Stewart
Robertson had also some cocoa nut fibre curtains
from Africa. Blair and Dunkeld contributed hear¬
tily. A very interesting gift was a piece of Rannoch
tartan, spun and woven in bygone years in Ran¬
noch, and presented by Mrs. John Robertson, for¬
merly at Old Blair. A curious old harp was given
by Mrs. de Salles la Terriere, and was bought by
Lady Dorothea Ruggles Brise. Lady Helen
Stewart Murray got some things from Kashmere.
and also candlesticks, photo frames, boxes, and
mother-of-pearl and olive wood souvenirs from
Jerusalem. Mrs. Rutherford Lindsay of Ashintully,
through a friend at Florence, procured some valu¬
able specimens towards her contribution. Two
new schools of art have been started in Italy to
revive its old supremacy, the School of San Georgi
Rimini, with very delicately coloured silk work on
the finest canvas. It was a piece of this, “ carna¬
tions on a crimson ground for sofa cushion,” that
Princess Louise bought, and also a small table-
centre in fine lace and drawn cambric from the
other school called the Arnari. There was also a
long strip for portiere, with clusters of peaches,
nectarines, &c., worked in colours, which was
bought as soon as exhibited. Hand-made lace
d’oyleys and pillow case, “ hanging ” handkerchief
bags, &c., were also sold, and some Norwegian
china. At the entrance to the stall a tub full of
small objects, to be obtained at sixpence a dip,
brought in much money.
In the Perth collection was a very fine tripod
stand of hammered iron, supporting a hammered
brass flower stand, all worked by hand, and pre¬
sented by Mr. Peter Macgregor, blacksmith, Kin-
noull Street, Perth. This was bought by Lady
Stewart of Grantidly ; as also the historv of the
Clan Gregor up to 1775, two volumes, by A. G.
Murray Macgregor. A box of valuable bead neck¬
laces and curios from South Africa, collected by a
brother of Major Lauchlan Forbes, was given by
Mrs. Drummond Hay of Seggieden, who also con¬
tributed many useful shawls. Miss Drummond
Forbes gave a dozen pin-cushions in the shape of
large red fungi; her sister, Alice, photographs
taken last summer in the neighbourhood of Glen-
shiel; and Miss Edith Drummond Hay a series of
her own hand-painted post cards, with admirable
figures of Highlanders. Mrs. Badenoch Nicolson
gave a web of light grey tweed, which she wove at
her own loom. This was bought beforehand by
Mrs. Matheson, Murray’s Hall, Perth, who kindly
allowed it to be exhibited. Mrs. Fred. Mackenzie
worked a large dinner tablecloth, with border of
drawn thread and openwork, with which the cor¬
ners were elaborately adorned. Another smaller
was contributed by Mrs. T. Macpherson ; and a
beautiful white shawl, knitted by Mrs. Roy, Spring-
bank, and her sister, Miss Robertson. Twenty two
copies of a hymn, translated into Gaelic by Mrs.
Bryson, were presented mounted on cards. Six
pairs of beautifully finished curling stone handles
were sent by Mr. James M'Leish, plumber. Mill
Street, Perth. A bed-spread (worked by several
ladies, was presented by the Misses Macnaghten,
secretaries of the Perthshire Stall), of separate
thistles worked on squares in a conventional style,
and united by open-work insertions From the
Carse of Gowrie, Miss Christian Stewart Richard¬
son sent numerous woollies and small garments,
worked waistcoats and many dolls, in addition to
cash for half of her stock sold at a preliminary sale
at Glencarse, which realised ^15, and comprised
the model of a cottage, the interior carefully fur¬
nished, all made by the children of Captain and the
Hon. Mrs. Drummond of Megginch. Shawls,
cosies, and table centres, beautifully worked, were
innumerable. Each Vice-Convener had reason to
be both gratified and grateful for the beauty and the
quantity of articles brought in by their committees
and receivers of work, and by the individual devo¬
tion to the cause of all, to give whatever was in
their power to the Feill, and all at our stall have
happy memories of it, and of all the fellow-workers
we met, and of the hearty crowds of Gaelic-speaking
people who enlivened the halls and cheered our
hearts. We all heartily hope the results of our
three days’ “market” will bring real benefits to
our fellow Highlanders.
XV An Clachan.
BY MRS. D. CAIRNS MACLACHLAN.
To the city resident, whose “ heart is in the
Highlands,” a visit to the Clachan at the Feill came
like an oasis in the desert to a thirsty traveller.
Coming in from the heavy atmosphere of a crowded
town on a November night, the visitor suddenly
found himself amid the oft-remembered scenes of
his young days, breathing the peat-reek in the air,
and listening to the soft-toned Gaelic, all loved
associations of his “ ain folk ” in the far-off shieling
in his native glen.
He had not sought them, and yet they had come
to him—these everlasting hills, the moody tarns,
the silent loch and the dancing burns, glinting in
the sun-set glow of an autumn day, while the trees,
with their fading leaves now tinted ruddy, brown,
and gold, still sheltered “ the little kirk at hame.”
How real it all seemed. One dear old woman,
with tears in her eyes, appeared to have forgotten
the surging crowd around her, and stood gazing
wistfully away over the sheilings to the painted
canvas, where the hills of Glenquoich appealed to
her as the friends of her happy girlhood. Truly
Colin Mackintosh had done his work well, when
his representations imparted so faithfully the im¬
pression of reality.
In the moss and straw thatched sheilings, with
their tiny windows, all was life and happy inter¬
change of greeting. “ Ceud mile Failte ” was truly