FROM FLODDEN FIELD.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 7 November 1925, Page 13

FROM FLODDEN FIELD.

AFTER 412 years there has come an end a feud, the last of its kind in- Scotland, which, particularly in its earlier days, by its bitterness left its mark on the history of the Scottish borderland. On September 9, .15.13, on the stricken field of Floddcn, the men of the Forest, among whom were the souterr, or shoemakers of Selkirk, were hard pressed and sorely in need of help from the terrible barrage of arrows put down by the English boWmen. There was only one source that help could come from, and that was the wing of the Scottish army commanded by Lord Home, who, with his men of the Morse, had crumpled up the English flank. But it did not conic, for, having done his bit, and probably because his men had looted as much as they could conveniently carry away, Home idly stood by and saw the remainder of the Scottish army cut to pieces. The souters, rather than retreat, died, and the sole survivor who returned from the fatal field, bringing with him' a captured pennant, which is still pre-

LONG FEUD ENDED

served, did not forget to toll tli. men of the Forest were deserted by Home end the “craw he’rted men o’ the Merse.’’ Every year since then the return ox that- lonely survivor has been commemorated, and a flag is carried to the Merest Cross and waved or cast three times above the bearer’s head. The centuries-old-feud is brought to mind by the singing of the Common Riding song with its curse on the Earl of Home and the men of' the Merse: — It ’s up wi ’ the souters o’ Selkirk, And doon wi ’ the Earl o ’ Home. And up wi’ the lads o’ the Forest, And doon wi’ the Merse to the dc’ih The present Earl of Hume is not actu \ ally of the same line as the Lord Home (or Hume) of evil memory, but he bears the same titles and is a Hume, which was enough for the souters. On this occasion, however, he received a special invitation from the townspeople to come and participate in the Common Riding, and this he accepted, taking part in all ceremonies with as much enthusiasm as any true-born soute who had ever “licked* the birse. ’’