"THE NATURALS."

Otago Witness, Issue 2928, 27 April 1910, Page 82

"THE NATURALS."

By R. W. Reid

OLD SCOTTISH CHARACTERS

The village "naturals," or innocents, once so familiar throughout Scotland, are now numbered with the days that have gone. School boards, parish and county authorities are apparently responsible for their disappearance. No doubt school life and education have aided in giving tone and strength to many a feeble'mind, and enabled the owner to rank as a normal member of village and rjiiral society. Where those agencies have failed, when the frailty of intellect has prevented response to the uplifting and humanising agencies of the- present time, the unfortunate individual has found a retreat, protection for himself and from himself, in an asylum or similar humane institution.

Down to ■comparatively recent times half-witted, q'ueerly-compounded creatures were to be found in almost every village and along every countryside in Scotland. In Ireland to-day the type may still be met wjith in public, though to no great extent. In County Down, not so longago, the writer saw an elderly, tall, bigboned man fantastically decorated with yellow band and sash and with knots of yellow ribbons sewed on his clothing from his socks to his tall hat. He was the local "natural." Someone, several years ago, remarked that the village innocents were lasi numerous in England that in Scotland, and received the enigmatic explanation that in the south villagers usually all belonged to one category, so that no great differences could be observed among them. What amount of brain power said category possessed was not mentioned. The man who assumed, or was given, the character of village fool was often not without a considerable amount of shrewdness and intelligence. If an expert at clever repartee, or even at uttering home truths in quaint form, his fame was quickly established. A hundred and fifty years ago or more almost every "big house" had its fool and mirthmaker; .nor is it so very long since our royal courts contained their jesters—a vocation, by the way, requiring abundant wit, excellent humour, and immense tact. Without the latteir quality jokes and merrymaking at someone's expense, while delighting' a section of the ludience, frequently incensed the victims, and that with most unhappy results to the jester.

Shakespeare has presented the world with a brave, if motley, array of immortal clowns and Merry Andrews; but it is Sir Walter Scott who has depicted, likewise for all time, the "innocents" of the village and the mansion. First on the list is Davie Cellatly, wh) ruled the roost at Tully-Voolan. the Perthshire seat of our friend Baron Bradwardine. Edward Waverley fust encountered Davie in the gardens of Tully-Veolan, and was immediately struck—as well he foe—with the odditv of his appearance and gestures. "Sometimes this mister wight," we read, "held his hands clasped over his head, like an Indian J'ogue in the attitude of penance;. sometimes he swung them perpendicularly like a pendulum on each side and anon he slapped them swiftly and repeatedly across his breast, like the substitute used by a hackney coachman fur his Usual flogging exercise, when his cattle are idle upon the stand, in a clear frosty day. His gait w(as as singular as his gestures, for at times he hopped with great perseverance on the right foot, then exchanged that supporter to advance in the same manner on the left, and then putting his feet close together he hopped upon both at once. His attire also waft antiquated and extravagant. It consisted in a sort of grey jerkin, with scarlet cuffs and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet lining; the other parts of the dress corresponded in colour, not forgetting a pair of scarlet stockings, and a scarlet bonnet proudly surmounted with a turkey's feather." It is well for the sanity of our policemen that an apparition such as this is unknown in New Zealand. Sir Walter's "natural" is no extravagant fiction founded solely upon imagination. The class was common in his day, and Davie may have been drawn from life. Scott, in his notes to Waverley, remarks that he is ignorant how long "the ancient and established custom of keeping fools has been disused in England." Swift, he points out. wrote an go Staph on the Earl of Suffolk's fooWwhoae nam© wa.S Dickie Pearee." In Scotland, h® gdSS 6ft to say, the custom till fate in the last, the aevenitftenth. At Gfamfc Oasite (t3i« Ea.fl 0f Strathmwe's Scottish home) is preserved the dress bi QM 6f *.he iestee, vWy handsofflft ani

ornamented l with many bells. Sir Walter knew of a Scottish nobleman of the first rank who, about the year 1785, had a fool who stood by the sideboard while dinner was in progress and occasionally mixed in the conversation. He, however, came to grief, having carried the joke too far. Not satisfied with proposing marriage to one of the young ladies of the family, he went the length of publishing the •banns betwixt her and himself in the parish church. Evidently this lively individual thereby fell from grace, and lost his pleasant, if somewhat trying, situation. In those days noblemen enjoyed much greater power than they do today, a-nd the unfortunate Merry Andrew may have "got the bullet"—to use a New Zealand phrase—in a manner at once summary and lealistic. Between 30 and 40 years ago the present writer knew of more than one member of the "natural" type in Scotland. He, for example, retains a vivid recollection of Tarn Dog (Doig), whose habitat was the picturesque village of Kirkinch, in the Howe of Strathrnore. Kirkinch then was bereft of its "public," and the nearest place where liquid, and potent, refreshments could be obtained was the town of Meigle, some three miles away. Tarn was not only half-witted, but he must also have been a bit of a ne'er-do-weel. He, however, was sufficiently clever to avoid legitimate work of every variety. How he managed to subsist the writer at the moment is unable to say. But he succeeded in frequently getting tipsy in Meigle, and it was then, and while on his homeward, heavily-laden journey, that he gained in personal valour and in public prominence. Tam, however, could always have his bravery promptly dissipated by some one not far off shouting loudly, "Sook the koo, Tam Dog" ("Suck the cow"). This cryptic utterance contained allusion to an alleged episode in Tarn's career, and always produced the one unaltering, brief, and forcible rejoinder. But 7-m suffered at intervaJs from depress'."!. On those occasions he was painiiV.y meek, Miougr not always quite Curate in his self-depreciation. . "Puir, puir, Tam Dog." .a householder would hear in the stillness of the night from the neighbouring roadway. "Puir Tam Dog! cauld, weet, and weary; aye, and hungry, too." This on a warm, rainless summer night was not always a true description of Tarn's physical condition. But it invariably effected the purpose in view, and the wayfarer would continue on his way rejoicing. Meigle market was a vastly important day to youngsters then. Merry-go-roundis, cheap-jacks, sweetie stands, gingerbread stands—all were there in glorious and gorgeous array. What we considered an immense gathering came together in "the loan of Meigle." The writer will always remember seeing there an "innocent" from the scattered hamlet of Washington, his pockets stuffed with gingerbread —we called it gingebread those times, —his arms full of toy horses, a most inane simper upon his face. His age was probably 40 years. He was "Daft Chairlie," a veritable "innocent." Innumerable stories about "naturals" linger in rural Scotland, and their recital still enlivens many a weary field and lonely fireside. The class has been of infinite service to writers of the "kail-yaird" order. But many liberties have bsen taken vvith these later "naturals" of the imagination, with the result that they seldom resemble the real specimens once known in the North. The "kail-yairders," amazingly clever though they be, are not all Sir Walter Scott's. Take one of Crockett's characters by way of example. "Daft Jock Gordon" figures in "The Lilac Sun-; bonnet" ; but he' is brutal and debased'. He crouched "beast-like" in the heather, sprang on Greatorix with a "whinnying rush," set his teeth in hie throat "growling like a tiger lapping fresh blood." That is not a prettv picture to contemplate ; nor is it true to the character of the real "innocent." The latter was precisely what the appellative given him. signifies. He was inordrinately simple; vain perhaps, but inoffensive. Barrie delineates the type with softer outline in spite of the drawback that the majority of his "Auld Licht" worthies are more or less "characters." A "character" in Scotland, be it noted, is a subtle subject to analyse. Cree Queery is of the class, yet removed from it by the sheer pathos of his life's story. Vanished now from village and strath, from farm, "toon," and "big hoose," are the wights who too often wlare regarded with feelings chiefly of amusement. The unfortunate ones are now cared for under legal regulations and! according to modern systems. But it is doubtful if their lot ds har/pier now than it was in olden days. They belong to Auld Scotland of the past, to times which were less strenuous than the present are, and to a people who looked with sympathy, and sometimes a little awe, upon) those whimsical, gay, irresponsible members of the human family. The world is too busy now for "innocents" of the old kind. Perhaps it is better that it should be so.