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  • May 1, 1878
  • Page 27
  • THE SCOT ABROAD.
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The Masonic Magazine, May 1, 1878: Page 27

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Page 27

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The Scot Abroad.

Bavarian , remarking my bewilderment , Avhispered to me that it ivas Suvarov himself . He chattered for a minute or tivo ivith his officers , and then , looking hard at me ( I suppose he thought I looked rather greener than the rest , ancl wanted to give me a start ) asked in Russ , which one of the others interpreted for me , " How many stars are there in the sky ?' ' " None at present , " answered I in French ; " they only come out at night !" The old felloiv laughed A \ 'hen they repeated ivhat I had said , and told me I ought to

have been a Russian ; ancl ivith that he bolted out as sudden as he came in , ancl I never saw him again . It Avas a few clays after our glimpse of the enemy ' s menage , that the first taste of retribution overtook my friend the Englishman . We ivere strolling through the camp ivith a Turkish officer , whose acquaintance we had made the day before , and the interpreter was abusing the Scotch to his heart ' s contentas usual , whento his utter

, , astonishment ( and to mine , too , for that matter ) Hassan Bey turned upon him , and broke out fiercely , ' ¦ ' I'll tell ye ivhaat , ma mon , gin ye daur loivse yere tongue upon ma country like thaat , I'll gie ye a cloot on the lug that'll male' it tingle fra this till hahWe'en !" You should hai'e seen the Englishman ' s face ; I think I never saw a man really thunderstruck before . " Why , good gracious ! " stammered he at length , " I thought you were a Turk !"

" And sae I am a Turk the noo , ma braiv chiel , " retorted the irate Glasgoiv Mussulman ; and a better ane than yell ever mak ' , forbys , for ye ken nae mair o' the ivays than my faither ' s auld leather breeks , that ne ' er traivvelled further than jist frae Glasgae to Greenock , and back again ; but Avhen I gang hame ( as I'll do or it ' slang , ifit . be God's AVUII ) I'll jist be Wully Forbes , son o' auld Daddie Forbes o' the Gorbals , for a' that ' s come and gane !"

At that moment , as if to add to the effect of this Avonderftil metamorphosis , a splendidly dressed Hungarian , Avhom I remembered to have seen among the Russian officers , AA'ith ivhoni we had dined , called out from the other bank of the stream that separated our outposts from the enemy ' s ' , " Wully , mon , there ' s truce , the noo for tiva hours ; jist come ivi' me , and we'll hae a glass o' whusky thegither !" At this second miracle , the interpreter's face assumed a look of undefined apprehension , Avonderful and edifying to behold—exactly the look of Moliere ' s "Malade Imaginaire , " when he began to Avonder Avhether there AA'as really anything serious the matter with him .

" Isn t that fellow a Hungarian 1 " said he , in a IOAV , horror-stricken tone . ' What on earth makes him talk Scotch ?" " Perhaps he ' s got a cold , " suggested I ; " but I must tell you that some of our sai'ants hold a theory that Scotch ivas the original language , to Avhich all nations ivill one day return ; ancl this looks rather like it , doesn't it 1 " " Scotch the original language ! " shrieked my companion ; and , breaking off in the middle of his sentence , he subsided in a silence more oppressive than words .

A feiv days after this , a scouting party , of AA'hich I had the command , took a Russian officer ; and , in order to cheer him up a bit under this misfortune , I asked him to dine AA'ith me , the party being completed by my friend the interpreter . Luckily our prisoner ivas a good hand at French , of ivhich AVO both kneiv enough to go on ivith ; so the conversation Avent smoothly enough , except that my Englishman , AVIIO thought no small beer of Mmself as a philologist , would keep bringing out scraps of ivhat he imagined

to be Russ , making the disconsolate captive grin like a fox-trap Avhenever he thought no one ivas looking at him . At last , after we had drunk each other ' s health all around , and finished Avhat little wine Ave had , the Russian called on me for a song ; and as I didn ' t ktioiv any in Russ , I gave him a French one instead , Avhich I had picked up on the voyage out . Then our interpreter followed on with an old Latin drinking song ( which our new friend seemed perfectly to understand ) ; and Avhen he had finished ,

turned to the Russian , and said A'ery politely , " Won't you oblige us ivith a song yourself ? it ought to go all round . " The Russian bowed , leaned backed a little , looked at us both Avith an indescribable grin , and burst forth in the purest native dialect with " Auld Lang Syne . "

“The Masonic Magazine: 1878-05-01, Page 27” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 29 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmg/issues/mmg_01051878/page/27/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
In Memoriam. Article 1
"HIS END WAS PEACE." Article 1
AN HERMETIC WORK. Article 2
A BRIEFE OF THE GOLDEN CALF OR THEWORLDS IDOL. Article 4
THE EPISTLE OF W. C. TO THE READER. Article 4
PAPERS ON THE GREAT PYRAMID. Article 6
THE ADVENTURES OF DON PASQUALE. Article 9
BIDE A WEE, AND DINNA FRET. Article 11
THE WORK OF NATURE IN THE MONTHS. Article 12
AMABEL VAUGHAN. Article 18
MASONIC HYMN. Article 21
DE. MOON'S WORKS FOE THE BLIND. Article 22
IS IT A PROMISE, OR A DECLARATION ? Article 24
THE SCOT ABROAD. Article 26
"HAIL AND FAEEWELL." Article 28
THE OTIGIN AND REFERENCES OF THE HERMESIAN SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY. Article 29
ON THE TESTING AND STRENGTH OF RAILWAY MATERIALS, &c Article 32
A FAREWELL ADDRESS Article 36
DISCOVERY OF ROMAN REMAINS AT TEMPLEBOROUGH. Article 37
I WISH HE WOULD MAKE UP HIS MIND. Article 39
LOST AND SAVED ; OR NELLIE POWERS THE MISSIONARY'S DAUGHTER. Article 40
PRAYER ON THE SEA. Article 46
NOTES ON LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. Article 46
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Scot Abroad.

Bavarian , remarking my bewilderment , Avhispered to me that it ivas Suvarov himself . He chattered for a minute or tivo ivith his officers , and then , looking hard at me ( I suppose he thought I looked rather greener than the rest , ancl wanted to give me a start ) asked in Russ , which one of the others interpreted for me , " How many stars are there in the sky ?' ' " None at present , " answered I in French ; " they only come out at night !" The old felloiv laughed A \ 'hen they repeated ivhat I had said , and told me I ought to

have been a Russian ; ancl ivith that he bolted out as sudden as he came in , ancl I never saw him again . It Avas a few clays after our glimpse of the enemy ' s menage , that the first taste of retribution overtook my friend the Englishman . We ivere strolling through the camp ivith a Turkish officer , whose acquaintance we had made the day before , and the interpreter was abusing the Scotch to his heart ' s contentas usual , whento his utter

, , astonishment ( and to mine , too , for that matter ) Hassan Bey turned upon him , and broke out fiercely , ' ¦ ' I'll tell ye ivhaat , ma mon , gin ye daur loivse yere tongue upon ma country like thaat , I'll gie ye a cloot on the lug that'll male' it tingle fra this till hahWe'en !" You should hai'e seen the Englishman ' s face ; I think I never saw a man really thunderstruck before . " Why , good gracious ! " stammered he at length , " I thought you were a Turk !"

" And sae I am a Turk the noo , ma braiv chiel , " retorted the irate Glasgoiv Mussulman ; and a better ane than yell ever mak ' , forbys , for ye ken nae mair o' the ivays than my faither ' s auld leather breeks , that ne ' er traivvelled further than jist frae Glasgae to Greenock , and back again ; but Avhen I gang hame ( as I'll do or it ' slang , ifit . be God's AVUII ) I'll jist be Wully Forbes , son o' auld Daddie Forbes o' the Gorbals , for a' that ' s come and gane !"

At that moment , as if to add to the effect of this Avonderftil metamorphosis , a splendidly dressed Hungarian , Avhom I remembered to have seen among the Russian officers , AA'ith ivhoni we had dined , called out from the other bank of the stream that separated our outposts from the enemy ' s ' , " Wully , mon , there ' s truce , the noo for tiva hours ; jist come ivi' me , and we'll hae a glass o' whusky thegither !" At this second miracle , the interpreter's face assumed a look of undefined apprehension , Avonderful and edifying to behold—exactly the look of Moliere ' s "Malade Imaginaire , " when he began to Avonder Avhether there AA'as really anything serious the matter with him .

" Isn t that fellow a Hungarian 1 " said he , in a IOAV , horror-stricken tone . ' What on earth makes him talk Scotch ?" " Perhaps he ' s got a cold , " suggested I ; " but I must tell you that some of our sai'ants hold a theory that Scotch ivas the original language , to Avhich all nations ivill one day return ; ancl this looks rather like it , doesn't it 1 " " Scotch the original language ! " shrieked my companion ; and , breaking off in the middle of his sentence , he subsided in a silence more oppressive than words .

A feiv days after this , a scouting party , of AA'hich I had the command , took a Russian officer ; and , in order to cheer him up a bit under this misfortune , I asked him to dine AA'ith me , the party being completed by my friend the interpreter . Luckily our prisoner ivas a good hand at French , of ivhich AVO both kneiv enough to go on ivith ; so the conversation Avent smoothly enough , except that my Englishman , AVIIO thought no small beer of Mmself as a philologist , would keep bringing out scraps of ivhat he imagined

to be Russ , making the disconsolate captive grin like a fox-trap Avhenever he thought no one ivas looking at him . At last , after we had drunk each other ' s health all around , and finished Avhat little wine Ave had , the Russian called on me for a song ; and as I didn ' t ktioiv any in Russ , I gave him a French one instead , Avhich I had picked up on the voyage out . Then our interpreter followed on with an old Latin drinking song ( which our new friend seemed perfectly to understand ) ; and Avhen he had finished ,

turned to the Russian , and said A'ery politely , " Won't you oblige us ivith a song yourself ? it ought to go all round . " The Russian bowed , leaned backed a little , looked at us both Avith an indescribable grin , and burst forth in the purest native dialect with " Auld Lang Syne . "

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