, 1890-09-25
IN BONNY SCOTLAND.
Visiting Home Haunts of
Newhaven Fisher Folk.
ANCIENT FlSHERMAN'S VILLAGE
People of Simple Habits, Pleasant
Manners and Light Hearts
How They Live.
Especial Correspondence OF tho Sunday
REVIEW

Especial Correspondence OF tho sunday
REVIEW
NEwHAvEN, Scotland, Aug. ls.-
Whenever we think at all of fisher
folk, we usually associate them In
our fancy with sea-walls of sublimity
or shore.reaches of barrenness and
desolation. Sea-gulls lowering near;
skeleton craft bleaching in wind and
weather.; tide-swept coves, wind
whipped and grewsomo; vary the
picture. But the harvesters of the
deep ever recall pictures of sea rage,
wrath and wreck.
The most noted fsher-tolk In the
world, these of Newhaven, are
differently environed. Their sea-
haunts, upon and at the ocean mouth
of the transcendcntly beautiful
Firth of Forth. are of surprising
loveiness. Their home.haunts are
not In q dreary coast hamlet pound
ed and howled Mt increasingly by
the sea, but In their own quaint,
quiet city of 5000 souls. They are
not periodically subjects of starva-
ton and charity; but live in ample
comfort both In their sturdy fishing
crafts and their clean, picturesque
1 habitations. They are neither
sodden nor ignorant, but are bright,
earnest and healthy minded. Only
the romancer can find n more hope
less element of pathos among them
than among ordinary folk. 1t
would he difficult to paint them rs
extraordinarily picturesque, If we
except their women folk who are all
that, save when in their "kirk
brats" or fnery, of Il Sunday, when
they will then compare favorably
with any smart American worship
ers. They are never drunkards nor
any other manner Of swine. They
do not favor customers with Bill
ingsgate, of the foul order at any
time, and the other sort OF forglva-
Die objurgations aud expletlves are
only ready for application to those
not possessing their own excellent
manners. They speak too good
English to have pride in Scottish
dialect. Their superstitions chiefly
hint at penalties for dishonesty. In
truth, there Is not enough about
them, save that which is upright,
sturdy and fine, to attract those
who travel for the thrill of being
shockcd; for they are one and all
sturdily honest, humbly God-fear-
ing, tenderly kind.
AN ANCIENT FISHING VILLAGE.
Because they have ever been rep
resented in the magazines and
reviews rs an odd, rough and
uncanny lot, and have found them
upright, sturdy and fine, 1t is q
delight to let the world know some
thing about them and their environ
ment asthcy really are. Newhaven
as n fishing village Is very ancient
indeed. In the early part of the
fifteenth century 1t was designated
"Our Lady's Port of Grace, from II
mite of chapel dedicated to the
Virgin Mary and st. James; and II
bit of the ruin of this edifice is still
to be seen in the old deserted burial
ground In the center of the place.
But 1t owes Its later Importance to a
speculative whim on the part OF
James W., who, in 1906, erected
here rope-walk, docks and ship
building yard. In the latter was
constructed that then most marvel
Gus leviathan of the sea, James
war-ship, Great Michael, the
largest ship the world had
then known, whose sides, amid
| l,E llnI l.
ten feet Thick The Great Michael
was 240 feet long and so feet wide;
was armed with many heavy guns,
and three great bassils, with no less
than 800 moyennes, falcons, quarter
falcons, sllngs, pestilent serpentines,
and double days, with hacbuts, cul-
vcriiies, cross-bo ws and hand-bows
was manned with 800 mariners, l2O
cannoniers, and 1000 soldiers; and
was In other respecta so wonderful
that TO this day the monster is re-
called whenever new fishing craft
; enters the harbor; for such Is always
"the bonniest Newhaven boat synG
Michaei's time.' The only other
noted incident ever occurring ut
Newhaven was when, in Septem-
ber 1850, sixty stately galleys and
other ships anchored here, and the
queen mother, with the most brill
liant company ever assembled In
Scotland, sailed out of the Forth on
her way to visit her daughter Mary,
in France. But the city of Edin-
burgh, whose great port
was, and Is, the city OF
Leith, fearing the growing prestige
of the "new haven" purchased the
entire place from James W., in 1910,
at a good round sum; and for the
last $50 years, while the little port
has remained simply an extension
of old Edinburgh and Leith, up the
south side of the Forth, Newhaven
has had but "a slUmberous growth.
To-day 1t comprises 5000 souls,
over 4,5O0 of these are fishermen,
fish. wives and fishers children. Ii
Is u little world 10y itself. Its popu'
lation arc people by themselves.
In spite of the tram-cars that comt
as far as they dare from the great
city and halt by the v'llage-side; In
spite of the railway that brings and
takes vast crowds Of curious visitors
in spite of the tremendous steam
ship and vessel life and Its splendid
panorama before their very eyes; ir
spite of the chu rches, missions and
national schools, wedged between
their curious habitations; and II
spite of their nccasing friction o
their daily contact with the fine
activities of splendid city, housing
the brightest and most cultivated
people In Great Britain; they suiiel
no diminution, no impingement, NJ