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Title: Wee Macgreegor. Author: J J Bell. A Project Gutenberg Australia e. Book *. e. Book No.: 1. Language: English. Date first posted: March 2. Date most recently updated: March 2. This e. Book was produced by: Jon Jermey. Project Gutenberg Australia e. Books are created from printed editions. Australia, unless a copyright notice. We do NOT keep any e. Books in compliance with a particular. Be sure to check the. You may copy it, give it away or re- use it under the terms. Project Gutenberg Australia License which may be viewed online at. GO TO Project Gutenberg Australia HOME PAGEby. J J Bell. AUTHOR OF . THE STORY OF THE BOOK. I. INTRODUCING THE ROBINSON FAMILY. II. A VISIT TO THE ZOO. III. AUNT PURDIE'S TEA- PARTY. IV. ON ROTHESAY ESPLANADE. VI. MRS M'OSTRICH GIVES A PARTY. IX. MACGREGOR'S NEW HAT. X. A QUESTION OF PERSEVERANCE. XI. AT GRANPAW PURDIE'S. XIII. MACCREGOR INDISPOSED. XVI. THE SUNDAY- SCHOOL SOIREE. XVIII. GRANPAW PURDIE COMIES TO TEA. XIX. FELLOW- TRAVELLERS. XXII. SHIPS THAT PASS. XXIII. MRS M'OSTRICH GIVES ANOTHER PARTY. XXIV. NEW YEAR'S EVE. IMAGESINTRODUCTION. THE STORY OF THE BOOKEvery book, even the least important, holds a story not printed on its. It may be an interesting and illuminating story, worth telling for its. The story of the present little book has a certain oddity, but that alone. I should. say at once that I am setting it down mainly because, when my friend, Robert D. In a way, it must be. His. parents kindly conceal, as they suppose, their doubts; his brothers and sisters. Still, he goes on, ever seeking, in particular, to improve his. In those earlier. I had been writing short stories for one of its associated papers, the. Glasgow Weekly Herald, and then, one day, the Editor of the latter, Mr A. Dewar. Willock, invited me to come to his office. I had never beheld an Editor, nor. I knew done so, and it is no exaggeration to say that I entered his. I was received by a young man, Mr. George C. Porteous, then sub- editor—afterwards Editor—who did. He. talked about my work and advised me where to send certain stories which had not. I took, with fortunate. After that I called on him occasionally, without invitation; yet my. I could have introduced myself to any other. One night I wrote a small poem. None of those early efforts have been. I have a vague recollection that it dealt with Spring, a Girl. Daffodils or, maybe, a Dicky- bird. That does not suggest. I sent it to Mr Willock. Evening Times, Two. I increased by six copies—why, I do. On my next visit to Mr Willock he took me to another room, and kindly. Mr Michael Graham, thereby opening the door to a fairly long. Evening Times. For a year or so my. I sent in about. half a column of prose. I have never, I am sorry to say, kept a diary, but. I can still see myself. Glasgow on a . But ought it to be so. Is there no inspiration. As the old Devon saying has it: A woman, a spaniel, a walnut- tree—The more you beat 'em, the better they'll be. I would except at least the spaniel, and insert the mature brain, which, I. In other words, the thing we. At all events, this. I. got . Came a Saturday, when I felt I was going. The family was from home for the week- end. Late in the day I left. A last. resort—something serious. There was an early edition of Hakluyt's Voyages. I took down a volume. I should be glad if a friendly psychologist would inform me as to the. Hakluyt and a working man, with his. Argyle Street, on a Saturday afternoon. The only. lead I can give him is this. Ten years earlier, on board a Firth of Clyde. Glasgow 'Fair Saturday,' I had heard a distracted. It was necessary, of course, to employ the vernacular, which I had. Glasgow Exhibition of 1. I am well aware that I have been suspected of eavesdropping on tramway cars. Glasgow, or. Lowland, dialect; but the truth is that, just as I have never deliberately. While I was familiar with the older men in my. I feel certain. that I acquired little or nothing there. Indeed, I cannot doubt that from the. I was. seven, fell all the quaint words and phrases—many of them embodied in. So I sat down to write the first . It certainly did not strike me as. W. W. On the Monday it did not appear any brighter, but. I sent it off. to Mr Graham, with an apologetic note, and prepared myself for its. Yet, on the Friday afternoon there it was, in all the comfort and. I still expected a letter, saying it had been. On the following Monday I went in to see Mr Willock, pretending that it was. Mr Willock laid one hand on my shoulder, gave me a hearty. Somebody—I. am sorry I do not remember who it was—suggested collecting them into a. I was going to be married in the autumn, and, while I had no. I thought it would be fun to have such a. However, it seemed that even the fun was to be denied. The publishers to whom, in turn, I submitted the material were quite. They generously admitted that the little sketches were amusing, but. Westwood Oliver, whose assistant I had. Scots Pictorial. He was, as always, sympathetic. He told me that. his little company could not venture on the risks of book publication; then. Macgreegor might have a modest sale in Glasgow and the. West, and that if I cared to guarantee 5. One of my brothers then sportingly offered to. There was so little material that the ordinary size of page had to be. Barry Pain's. Eliza—6 by 3. I wanted the price to be sixpence, but deferred to. Mr Oliver's theory that anyone who would rashly give the smaller coin for such. The title was to be simply. Macgreegor, and the early editions were printed with the solitary word at the. At the last moment, however, as the cover was going to press. Mr Oliver suggested the addition of the . Some drawings were hurriedly obtained, but all were rather commonplace. Then. Mr Oliver gave an order for 3. I had almost implored him to. And by now you will be agreeing that I had not very much to do with Wee. Macgreegor. I was married in October, and my wife and I went to live in a quiet place on. Clyde, some five- and- twenty miles from the city. The book was published on. November, and we wondered anxiously what was happening to it. A week. passed; then came a telegram from Mr Oliver. The first printing was exhausted. By the end of the year the sales were 7. The Press notices were extraordinarily generous. One in the Glasgow Evening. News, by Neil Munro, whom, though he lived just across the water, I was not to. Later, when the. circulation had got to 5. Another notice, by William Archer, in the Morning. Leader was the book's best London introduction. There was much pleasant correspondence from all parts of the world, even. Sober- minded persons called it a. For some reason, best known to themselves, the publishers did not. Hassall drawing; possibly they felt it was not . Most of. them displayed effigies of little boys—in one instance, I believe, of a. Highland costume, obviously copied from outfitters'. We had a copyright edition printed in Canada, but these American. Messrs Harper & Brothers, New York, published an. Boyd, but, naturally, the big demand was. This is not the place for. I have quoted some already—but, having heard so many. I may take this opportunity of stating that the sales of. I do not. suppose that many of those flimsy copies are in existence to- day. When Mr. Oliver's company went out of business, the publishing of Wee Macgreegor was. Messrs Mills & Boon, London, who by including its sequel. For a time, too, it had considerable prosperity. The Dally Mail . Nelson &. Son took it into their remarkable series of . Some of those boys were. They could sell the book to its author. In 1. 91. 1, Mr Alfred Wareing, Director of the Glasgow Repertory Theatre. Wee Macgreegor on the stage, and in December. It was. produced by Harold Chapin, the brilliant young playwright and fine soldier lost. War, and myself. The big difficulty at the outset was to. I still wonder what we should have done. R. Mc. Clellan, of the Evening News—the. Willie Elliott, a messenger- boy, was fourteen, little for his age. He had no ambition to become an actor, but the. I suppose, seemed worth his while. It was my duty to take him through his. English. Eventually, thanks to the untiring patience of the chief producer. As far as I know, it was the only part he ever played. When. the War came he enlisted in the Gordons, was three times wounded, and is now, I. Canada. The play ran for seven weeks at the. Royalty, and was afterwards taken on a short tour. As drama, it was without. Wee Macgreegor—as small boy—has not been screened. Nor has it been. translated into any foreign language, though I have a record, dated 1. Frenchman who threw down the pen—and perhaps threw. German. philologists have written pleasant letters about some of the words, such as. Two letters. I particularly prize: one from a little girl in Ross- shire, who asks me to. Whether he deserves it is not for his author to say. The earlier editions are dedicated to A. Dewar Willock and to Michael. Graham, and to their Memories; and now I am happy to be allowed to dedicate. James Willock, Editor of the Glasgow Evening. News. ABERDEEN, October 1. I. INTRODUCING THE ROBINSON FAMILY? Ye'll get yer gundy the morn. Ye micht think shame o' yersel'. It's thae. sweetie shopes that's makin' him hungry. But I've tell't him he's to get nae. See an' get baurley. John, an' wee Jeannie'll get a bit o' 't. So ye wull, ma daurlin'! Wee Jeannie expressed. A wee bit. taiblet 'll dae the laddie nae hairm. An' fine I ken ye like a bit. But ye've shairly no' furgot whit the doctor. Macgreegor wis lyin' badly efter ye had him at the Exhibeetion. He. said Macgreegor had a wake disgeestion, and we wis to be awfu' carefu' whit he. An' I wis readin' in the Companion jist the ither nicht that there wis. But I'm gey sweirt to pey sae muckle fur whit I can. An' Macgreegor's needin' a new bunnet. Jist you gang in, Lizzie, an' buy whit ye've got yer e'e. We'll see aboot a bunnet efter. Dod I ye maun ha'e yer Ne'erday, wumman. She's gettin' a big lassie—are ye no'. Him an' me'll jist tak' a bit daunner up an' doon till ye come. Yer Maw wud gi'e 't to me if she kent ye. I got a sate in the shope.
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