ESSAY ON SCOTLAND

Evening Star, Issue 20980, 19 December 1931, Page 3

ESSAY ON SCOTLAND

[By an Australian*School Girl.] Scotland is a braw weo land on thenorth of England. It has water nearly all round it and whisky oyer a largo portion of it. The population is about four and a-half millions, including Ramsay MacDonald. It has a peculiar language of its own, and if one can pronounce it coherently it is an infallible test of sobriety. It possesses considerable mineral wealth but’ very - little of it finds its way out of the country. Gold has at times been discovered in certain districts as well as in pockets of certain natives. Tho best-known exports are Harry Lauder, Peter Fraser, and Scotch whisky, though sufficient of tho latter is retained in the country to satisfy the demands of homo consumption. Tho chief import in recent years is Winston Churchill. Tho national dress of Scotland is tho kilt, which is a kind of petticoat. In pattern it resembles a chess board, but in cold weather tho wearer finds it more like a draft board. It is believed to have been invented because the aboriginals were unable to find trousers big enough to get their feet through. The bagpipes provide a wind instrument which is said, when blown, to produce a tune. On numerous occasions in the history of wars, Scotch regiments have marched to death listening to the strains of the bagpipe, though it is not known whether their willingness to meet the former was inspired by the desire to escape the latter. Scotland has produced many wellknown men, among them being Robert Burns, believed to have been a poet. It ,is usually denied that he was born in Battersea. His most famous poems arc ‘ Scots Who Have' and ‘ Stop Your Tickling, Jock.’ In Scotland for a couple to declare themselves man and wife in the presence of witnesses is tantamount to marriage, though there’s often a tendency to dispense with the witnesses. The chief national characteristic is reckless expenditure.