Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 7, 1899

'riJE CELTIC MONTHLY
1G5
alphabet, I hope, in the same way soon — nut
only say it. Hang up the trumpet to the rafters ;
and, when you hear of whooping cough being in
the place, boil a handful of your dry flowers and
leaves for a quarter of an hour, and give the poor
"whooper" a drink now and again, until the
whoop has all gone, driven out by the power of
the anemone. But the fairy flowers can do
more for you. If you boil the flowers in vinegar
instead of water, pour some into the palm of
your hand, and snuff it up your nostrils at the
beginning of a cold, it will cut it short there and
then. Lang .syne, the anemone was called the
Pasque flower, or flower of the great Easter
feast of the Resurrection, from the time of its
blossoming. Pasque, or C^isg in Gaelic, comes,
they say, from a Hebrew word meaning to " pass
over"; and the fine and delicate flower of the
winds may well remind us of the light aerial
body in which, some day, helpful like an anemone,
or helpless like a long word, we shall pass into
the better life.
I should like to write a few more letters — B
for broom, C for chamomile, and a 'big big D " for
dock, which catches the "microbes" while the
doctors are looking for them. Above all, H for
heather — that sturdy red warrior of the hills.
He only differs from his brother heathe« by one
letter. Both take their names from the wild
places they inhabit ; and neither of them has
fallen under the civilising influence of the Young
Men's Christian Association of New Jersey City,
U.S.A., whose president, Rev. Mr. Hoagland,
(he takes his name from a useful farmyard
enclosure, though he "spells it with an a Sauny!")
thinks dancing in the kilt "indecent", and
would only allow a young Highlander to "have
his Hing" within the inexpressibly decorous
restraint of Yankee bell-mouthed breeches. But
the very thought of such virtuous enclosures as
NewJersey City and their "associations" givesme,
for the present, a "scunner" at literature; and
sends me out to the heather, with a headache.
No ! with a slight congestion of the cerebrum,
accompanied by a neuro-idiopathic determination
to the cerebellum.
Tunuilt, Eastei- 1S!1!I. J- A. CAMPBELL, of Barbreck.
*lf anybody chances to want the others they will,
I hope, find them before long in a little Herbaiy
which the Peasant Arts Society of Ijoudou is going
to publish for me. f need not say that such an
Alphabet for Highland schools should be iu Gaelic.
The Clan Maomillan Society have just com-
pleted a very successful session. The membershij)
roll has been largely increased, and the treasurer
has a balance of £120 on hand. The Rev. Dr.
Hugh Macmillan was re-elected chief ; Mr. Donald
Macmillan, Partick, president ; Mr. Robert Mac-
millan, secretary ; and Mr. Donald Macmillan,
Main Street, treasurer.
DR. JAMES MACRAE, HUNTLY.
[gilN ihc country town of Huntly,
1/ Aberdeenshire, lives and
^ labours Dr. James Macrae,
I the subject of this sketch. Of
Highland descent from the Mac-
raes of the Black Isle, Dr. Macrae
is a typical specimen of his clan, which has
always been conspicuous for the stature, strength
and other physical endowments of its clansmen
individually. Educated as a boy at the Gram-
mar School, Aberdeen, James Macrae passed
from that seminary to King's College, whence
after taking the degree of Master of Arts, he
proceeded to the study of medicine at Marischal
College. In the Medical School as a student he
highly distinguished himself in all his classes,
being in the examinations always near the head
of the lists, and not infrequently gaining a prize
or a medal. Graduating Master of Surgery and
Bachelor of Medicine in l8*j9. Dr. Macrae at
once proceeded to London, whence, after gaining
some exi)erience iu the hospitals there, he went
on a sea voyage which extended over several
months. He visited the Cape, Madagascar, and
the Island of Mauritius.
On his return home Dr. Macrae was invited
by Dr. Wallace of TurriH" to act as his assistant,
and this post he held for upwards of three years.
In Turriff' the doctor was one of the most popular
men in the district. From the town of Turriff
Dr. Macrae moved to his present abode, where
he has been for the past five years ; and where
he has made for himself a name and reputation
for skill as a medical practitioner equalled by few
in the county. Possessed of a large and lucrative
practice, the doctor devotes all his energies
to his work ; and in the wide district over which
his practice extends there are few men who bulk
so largely in the esteem and goodwill of the
inhabitants as does Dr. James Macrae. The
doctor is quite a young man yet, and there can
be little doubt that, in the days to come, an even
more prosperous future awaits him.
Dr. Macrae graduated Doctor of Medicine in
1898, and the photograph here presented was
taken on that interesting occasion.
THE COMRADES:
A TALE OF THE 7Sth HIGHLANDERS.
|pra|HE\' first met as recruits on the parade-
W^ ground of Fort-George. Ronald hailed
IjJ^ from the banks of the Spean, Angus
from the banks of the Findhorn. Their ancestors
often met in deadly conflict in the days of old.
Ronald's great-great-grandfather fell in a cattle-
lifting expedition in the braes of Strathdearn ;