...if I had ink of the rosy morning...

[anteros_lmc]

I've spent all night writing Christmas cards and I'm completely cross-eyed! I was listening to Waterson:Carthy while I was writing and these verses from When I First Came to Caledonia caught my ear...

Now if I had pen from Pennsylvania And if I had paper of snowy white And if I had ink of the rosy morning A true love letter to you I'd write, I put my foot on the deepest ocean As far from land as once I could be A-sailing over the deepest water A woman's love'd never bother me.

Isn't that lovely? Caledonia in this instance is not Scotland but a coal mine on Cape Breton island. Judging by the lyrics the song must have been written by a Scot and quite possibly one from my part of the world, as many Lewis people emigrated to Nova Scotia in the 19th and 20th centuries. There are many versions of this song but Norma Waterson's is one of the best. You can read the rest of the lyrics here.

Comments

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

My maternal grandmother was born on Cape Breton Island at Mabou. Her first language was Scottish Gaelic. So maybe we are distant relations. :)
I have a friend who is wildly enamored of Nova Scotia and wants to live there. I'm afraid that, due to my grandmother's tales, I think of it as a lovely but godforsaken place. She led a very harsh life there.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Really? Perhaps we are distantly related! Canada is full of Scottish émigrés of course but the Hebrideans tended to go to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton was where most of the people from Lewis ended up. Two large emigration ships sailed from the Hebrides in the 1920s, the Canada and the Metagama, perhaps your grandmother's family was on one of them?

They left to start a new life of course but the life they found was starkly similar to the one they left behind with all the same social and economic problems. I can well believe your grandmother had a hard life. The language and culture thrived though and even now there is still a strong cultural and musical connection between Lewis and Cape Breton.

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

No, my grandmother's family arrived on Cape Breton in the 19th century. The old farm, which is now planted in blueberries, was in family hands until several years ago. I was offered the chance to buy it, which I sometimes regret that I refused (there was a local farm manager, but I would have been an absentee landlady by many miles!).
No electricity until 1950, I believe, and they used to scrub the floors with sand. My hands hurt even thinking of it!
Edit: One of the MacLean ancestors came from the Isle of Rum which sounds like a good place. :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I was offered the chance to buy it, which I sometimes regret that I refused
Tough decision to take I can imagine. I appreciate that taking on a property like that, and one so far away, would be a huge commitment though.

they used to scrub the floors with sand.
Just like holystoning the deck!

One of the MacLean ancestors came from the Isle of Rum which sounds like a good place
Rum is one of the largest of the Inner Hebrides, but it has a very smallest population. The whole island is owned by Scottish National Heritage and there there has been considerable debate over recent years regarding expanding the community. I've a sneaking feeling that the island was depopulated completely at one stage but I could be wrong about that.

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

You are correct--in the 1820s, the son-of-a-bitch landlord (who apparently was Scottish from his name) evicted the residents from Rum in favor of sheep. Their hereditary lord who still owned the lands (some MacLean) apparently had no problem with it. So some of my ancestors were tenant farmers who were "clearanced" from their lands.
Lord Branwyn teases me that I am actually a "Dane." :D

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It's hard to over-estimate the impact the clearances had on the the Highlands and Islands both in terms of the population and the landscape. People wax lyrical about the beautiful solitude of the Highland glens while forgetting that these same glens used to be home to thriving communities. And of course one of the saddest aspects of the clearances is that many of the Highlanders who were cleared had little option but to emigrate to North America where they then forced the indigenous populations of their lands. Tragic.

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Lovely!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous isn't it? :)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

The singing is lovely, but the lyrics are the thing for me. Like being eviscerated by words. (I am more of the words side of things, and you know I cannot sing.)

Hard work, and miserable isolated conditions lead to poetry. I stand in awe.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I thought you might like this :) It's beautiful isn't it? I love the lyrics. Especially Donald Norman's daughter who makes good tea :)

Hard work, and miserable isolated conditions lead to poetry. I stand in awe.
Yes. You hit the nail on the head there. There are so many beautiful songs written by the Scottish émigrés to Nova Scotia and so many of them speak of absence, longing and hardship. One of the most beautiful is called An Ataireachd Ard, I'll see if I can find a decent recording to post for you.