St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-05
Something About John Mack
intosh, Aberdeen's Shoe
maker Historian.
One Of the Most Distinguished
Personalities Of His Sec
tion Of Scotland.
He Went Quietly to Work
and Ovepcame Imperfec-
tions of Education,
And Wrote One Of the Best
Histories of His Native
Land.

Broad street, Aberdeen, has several
claims to distinction. Lord Byron when
| a boy had his home in Broad street. and
there, too, for a number of years has
lived John Macintosh. news agent.
and author of the ''HiStory of Civiliza-
| ton in Scotland" in four big volumes
Scotland" in the "Story of the Ma
tons" series, "The Valley of the Dew
eron." and other works-one of the
most noted personalities. says the Pail
Mall Gazette, that the North country
| has of recent times produced. Mackin-
| tosh was born in humble circumstances :;
| he is in humble circumstances still.
! He has had hard struggle many a
time to earn a living in very humble
way, but, surrounding the difficulties
| of animpertect education. and display
| ing an industry which no circumstances
| could weary, has produced what has
| been described as one of the most COM
| plete histories of Scotland ever written.
| A representative recently visited Aber-
! deem and had the~ privilege of chat
with the shoemaker historian.
81 found Mr.. Mackintosh," he writes.
"busy at work in his little shop. Round
the shelves were ranged copies of his
| famous book, while the counter was
| covered with daily and weekly newspa-
| perS. We were soon engaged in an in
| tereSting conversation. and between the
| visits OF customers he confided 10 me
! many particulars of his life and his
| methods OF work. His dialect is broad
and pronounced Aberdeenshre.
| John Macintosh is now fifty-seven,
! but he bears his age well. He is a
native of the parish of BOtriphnie, in
Banffshre. Scotland has always been
| fortunate in its parish schools, and what
| education Macintosh received was OBJ
| tanned at one of them. But only very
rndimentary knowledge of the three r rs
| must have sufficed in his case, tor at the
! to obtain living. The conditions of agri-
| cultural labor are still very hard in
| these northern countries, with their un-
| congenial climate; they were harder
| when Macintosh was boy, but they
| aided in the development of those stern
and hardy qualities of character which
| he has since displayed. Anxious to bet
| ter his position the future historian,
| after few years. was apprenticed to q
shoemaker, and as he grew to manhood
| worked in the various districts in the
| counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Kin
| caroline. He was always great reader.
| and perused whatever book he could
procure. He had an idea that he might
write history of his country some day,
and as opportunities presented them
| selves he extended the range of his
| study and was constant in his efforts for
the requirements of knowledge.
Mr. Macintosh settled in Aberdeen in
| 1864 and opened small news agents
| shop, first in the Gallowgate and subse-
| quently in Broad street. He was now
| within reach of more books than ever
| before. The splendid library of the
| university was easy of access, and he
| spent many hours among its treasures.
| The idea of his life's work gradually
| took definite form, and he was finally
| able to carry it to successful termina-
! ton under conditions which would have
| daunted most men, but which only
made him strive and work the harder.
| On my shop counter lie recently
| wrote, amid the noise and hustle of
these stirring streets, the four volumes
! of my history were written and the
| proof sheets corrected and revised, all
being done while customers were com
! ing in and going out and constantly in
! terrupting NE.
4
the history of my country for long
| time before l commenced the task. |
| thought at first | would begin with the
! reformation period, and thirty years ago
l read definitely with that object in
view. began collecting materials for
| my great work as long ago as 1860. The
| form my book eventually took was de-
| cided upon some twenty-four OF twenty
| five years ago. The history begins with
| the earliest traces of man in Scotland,
| and treats of the development and
| history of civilization down to the pres
| ent time
| "How long were you engaged on the
| first volume" "A long time; in fact,
| about five years in all. 1t was pub.
lished in 1878. The second volume was
| produced very much more rapidly. 1t
| treats mainly of the sixteenth century
| and much of the information it contains
was drawn from original records. Some
| eighteen months were occupied in
| writing it and seeing it through the
| press. 1t appeared at the end of 1879.
| The Seventeenth century down to the
| extinction of the Jacobite rebellion is
| dealt with in the third volume. j had
/ not previously studied this period so
| carefully, and | was engaged on the
volume altogether some three years. 1t
| contains an outline of European philos-
| ODhy which took more out OF me than
| all else besides. The fourth and last
volume was in some respects the easiest
| of all to write 1t deals with the Eight
4 eenth and Nineteenth centuries, and
| contains history of Scottish phioso-
| ply. a subject of which l was well
versed. In fact. for this portion of my
book was specially complimented by
Prof. Veith, of Glasgow uniyersity-no
mean authority, as you will readily adj
| NIT
"'Your work, altogether, then, must
! have occupied you many yearsp
| "'From the time began to write the
| first volume till the last one was pub
| lished was about nineteen years. But,
| of course, was engaged studying the
general subject much longer than that
During what portion of the day was
| most of your work done" In the early
morning. | always preferred the morn
| ing sunlight to the midnight oil. | was
usually up at o'clock and at once COM
menced work on my manuscript In the
| shop here. For several hours at that
| time of day there were few customers,
| and in the light mornings especially |
made good progress. From March on
| to October l got through lot of work.
| | generally devoted five days week to
| literary labor-of course had always to
attend to my shop--and | was able to
complete about eight or nine pages per
| day.,
lyon have written another history?'
| Yes. / am the author Of Scotland in
| the Story of the Nations series, but
that was of courses very much less la
borious task than my other book. Ut Oc-
| 0nrnio6 for iftfIQ nvqr fWalva