THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 

 
 THE MAGIC CIRCLE
 
 THE 
 
 CHANNEL- STANE 
 
 OR 
 
 SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS 
 
 fftrst Scries. 
 
 Oh ! for the channel stane ! 
 
 The fell good game the channel stane ! 
 
 There's no a game that e'er I saw, 
 
 Can match auld Scotland's channel stane. 
 
 THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 RICHARD CAMERON, 18 GEORGE STREET 
 
 MDCCCLXXXIII
 
 THE CHANNEL - STANE. 
 
 r ~P'HE chief object of this work is to collect, and 
 put together in a convenient and handy 
 form, the fugitive literature relating to the Game 
 of Curling. The Prospectus recently issued set 
 forth, that, with the assistance of subscribers 
 forwarding such information as came to their 
 knowledge, the matter might be easily effected. 
 To a certain extent this has already been ac- 
 complished, and we are in hopes that as the 
 work progresses, more material will be forth- 
 coming, whereby not only a comprehensive but 
 at the same time an exhaustive collection may be 
 the result. To further this object, all interesting 
 references to the game, whether in prose or in 
 verse, should be forwarded to the Editor, to be 
 made use of in their proper time and place. 
 
 It will be our endeavour to render each Series 
 as interesting and amusing as possible, by select- 
 ing from the common stock poems, historical 
 
 545216
 
 4 THE CHANNEL STAKE. 
 
 notices, songs, and anecdotes in proper pro- 
 portions. 
 
 Returning our best thanks to the gentlemen 
 who have so promptly and willingly accorded 
 permission to reprint articles in which they hold 
 a proprietary right, and to all who have kindly 
 forwarded literary contributions, we trust that 
 further assistance will be cheerfully given in 
 carrying the work to a satisfactory issue. 
 
 Sufficient material is in hand for a Second 
 Series, which will be issued shortly. 
 
 The Third Series will contain a "Bibliotheca 
 Curliana," which will embrace, so far as has been 
 ascertained, every separately printed production re- 
 lating to the Game of Curling, but in order to 
 make this very important portion of the work 
 complete and accurate, the Editor hopes that early 
 intimation of any such (either privately printed 
 or published) in possession of subscribers will be 
 made to him. J. M. 
 
 EDINBURGH, November 1883.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CURLING ..... . 7 
 
 COPINSHA STONES . . . . . . 20 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE SANQUHAR 
 
 CURLING SOCIETY . . . . . . 21 
 
 WHEN MARYBURN PLAYED BROOMHILL . . . 3 r 
 
 GALL'S GABIONS . . . . . . . 5 2 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF KILMARNOCK . . 58 
 
 SONGS. 
 
 THE ROARING GAME . .65 
 
 NORMAN MACLEOD'S SONG . . 66 
 
 THE CURLER'S ADDRESS TO HIS KOWE . . 68 
 
 HERE'S TO THE GAME THAT WE LO'E . . 69 
 
 PAROCHIAL SPIEL . 70 
 
 SOOPIN'S UP. 
 
 SoUTERING . 7 l 
 
 ANCIENT CURLING STONE . . . 72
 
 O CONTENTS. 
 
 PACK 
 
 DYKE STANES ....... 73 
 
 CANADIAN CURLING . . . . . . 73 
 
 CAST-IRON MISSILES . . . . . . 74 
 
 DR WoTHERSPOON . . . . . . 75 
 
 HENRY DARNLEY . . . . . . 75 
 
 SINGULAR SHOT ...... 75 
 
 CURLING STONES FOR CANADA .... 76 
 
 THE REV. ADAM WADDERSTONE . ... 76 
 
 KlLCONQUHAR KEEN CuRLING .... 78 
 
 FFAT OF STRENGTH ...... 79 
 
 WOODEN BLOCKS ...... 80 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 THE MAGIC CIRCLE .... (Frontispiece) 
 
 THE ROARING GAME. BY A YOUNG LADY. . . 63
 
 CURLING. 
 
 TT7HEN a black frost seals up the ground, and 
 ice covers our ponds and lochs, among the 
 amusements then open to those north of the 
 Tweed there is none more healthful and exhila- 
 rating than the game of curling, the mode of 
 playing at which we shall presently explain for 
 the benefit of our non-initiated readers. This 
 " manly Scottish exercise," as the old poet Penny- 
 cuik calls it, is, as we once before hinted, the 
 worthiest rival of golf in Scotland. Alas, how- 
 ever, it fights this battle under immense dis- 
 advantages ; the good old times seem to have 
 passed away, when for weeks on end, 
 
 O'er burn and loch the warlock Frost 
 A crystal brig would lay, 
 
 and good ice might be confidently counted on for 
 a long time. But being a pastime solely depend- 
 ing upon ice, and good ice, for its existence, this 
 only makes the ardent votaries of the game the
 
 8 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 more eager to take every advantage of such 
 fleeting chances as the variable winters of our 
 day send them. Night has often been added to 
 day, when the interest in a great match has been 
 more intense than the frost, and the ice has 
 shown any signs of passing away. 
 
 It is always a trial for a curler to see a sheet of 
 ice unoccupied ; and when, on a Sunday, the 
 "crystal brig" on some fine loch lies smooth and 
 keen, who has not seen hopeful enthusiasts taking 
 a glance at the virgin expanse, with expression of 
 countenance impossible to misunderstand I The 
 marvel is that the strong temptation is so uni- 
 versally resisted, and that .no effect has followed 
 the example set by that Bishop of Orkney two 
 centuries ago, whose " process," says Baillie in his 
 Letters, " came before us ; he was a curler on the 
 Sabbath-day." 
 
 | No game promotes sociality more than curling ; 
 none unites on one common platform the different 
 classes of society better than it does. 
 
 The tenant and his jolly laird. 
 The pastor and his flock, 
 
 . join in the game without patronage on one side
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 9 
 
 or any loss of respect on the other. Harmony 
 and friendly feeling prevail ; and if, on the ice as 
 elsewhere, all men are not equal, it is because a 
 quick eye, a sound head, and a steady hand make 
 now the shepherd, now the laird, " king o' a' the 
 
 core." 
 
 j Though so eminently a Scottish game, evidence 
 goes to prove that the pastime was brought to us 
 from the continent not very long ago three 
 hundred years or so. Some ultra-patriotic curlers 
 claim for it indeed a native origin, or at least one 
 lost in the mists of antiquity, citing a passage in 
 Ossian to prove that the Fingalian heroes beguiled 
 their winters with the game, because in one 
 passage it is said " Swaran bends at the stone of 
 might ;" but this notwithstanding, it is quite clear 
 that, as in the case of golf, we are indebted to 
 outsiders for the first rough sketches of the " roar- 
 ing game." t The technical language of the game 
 is all of Low Country origin, and it is supposed to 
 have been introduced into this country by the 
 Flemish emigrants who settled in Scotland about 
 the end of the fifteenth century. No mention of 
 it is made by any writer for long after this ; but 
 
 B
 
 io THE CHANNEL-STANE; 
 
 it must have been well known in 1 607, for Cam- 
 den, in his Britannia, published in that year, says 
 that in the little island of Copinsha, near the 
 Orkneys, " are to be found in great plenty ex- 
 cellent stones for the game called curling." * 
 f At this time and for long after, the game ap- 
 pears to have been merely a rough kind of quoiting 
 on ice ; indeed for a great part of the last century 
 its common name in this country was Kuting. 
 The stones of that day, rough undressed blocks 
 so different from the polished missiles now 
 used had no handle, but merely a kind of hollow 
 or niche for the finger and thumb, and were evi- 
 dently intended to be thrown for at least part of 
 the course. Since these days, great strides have 
 been taken in the improvement of the game ; now 
 it is highly scientific, and with its many delicate 
 strokes, its "wicks," calculations of angles, of 
 force, and of bias, it may without presumption be 
 called the billiards of ice. Jin some places, how- 
 ever, the old game with its primitive implements, 
 
 * The Editor of The Curlers' Magazine, published at 
 Dumfries in 1842, states that this "rock has since been found 
 to be useless for any such purpose." ED.
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 1 I 
 
 usually flattish stones from the bed of the nearest 
 stream, still holds its place under the name of 
 " channelling." ; 
 
 In the bead-roll of curling are no such mighty 
 names as those that golf boasts of; our winter 
 game has not got mixed up with historic events 
 and personages, as the older pastime has ; but 
 what her devotees lack in greatness is made up 
 by the intense affection shewn by them in all ages 
 for their favourite sport. It appears to have been 
 a great game with poets. Allan Ramsay and 
 Burns allude to it, and a host of minor bards have 
 sung its praises at varying lengths, but with uni- 
 form appreciation of its excellences. One of the 
 most eloquent passages in Christopher North's 
 Winter Rhapsody deplores the failing popularity 
 of the game in his later days ; for like many 
 other good things, curling has had its ups and 
 downs in this world. In some few districts where 
 it once flourished for a time, the interest in the 
 game has died out ; but of later years the estab- 
 lishment of so many clubs has given a new impetus 
 to the game, which now prospers in its season 
 beyond all former experience. The south-western
 
 I 2 THE CHANNEL-STAKE J 
 
 districts of Scotland were long the chosen home 
 of curling, and the players of Lanark and Dum- 
 friesshire were specially renowned for their great 
 skill in the art ; but now it has spread over the 
 whole country, and the grand matches of the 
 Royal Caledonian Curling Club witness the 
 friendly rivalry of worthy foemen from Maiden- 
 kirk to John o' Groat's, and excite the enthusiasm 
 of branch clubs south of the Tweed, and even 
 across the Atlantic. 
 
 At Edinburgh, perhaps as much as at any 
 other place, has the game prospered within the 
 last century, though in one point the game has 
 lost a recognition it once had, if we believe the 
 old tradition that, about a hundred and fifty years 
 ago, the Town-Council used to go to the ice in 
 all the pomp and circumstance that it now reserves 
 for the Commissioner's procession, with a band 
 playing " appropriate airs" before it, which dis- 
 coursed sweet music while the fathers of the city 
 gave an hour or two' to the game. The citizens 
 then played on the Nor' Loch, a sheet of water 
 which in those days divided the Old Town from 
 the New ; when it was drained they went to the 
 ponds at Canonmills, and subsequently to Dud-
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 1J 
 
 dingston Loch, where arose the Duddingston 
 Curling Club, instituted in 1795, which has done 
 great things in infusing a new spirit into the game. 
 Among its members have been many fine curlers 
 and good fellows, famed in other fields than this ; 
 and even if the Club had done nothing beyond 
 giving us the capital songs of Sir Alexander 
 Boswell, Miller, and many others, it would have 
 still deserved well of its country. 
 
 Of late years, however, there has arisen a 
 mightier than it the RojaL^aledonian Curling 
 Club now forty years old, which numbers among 
 its members most curlers of note, both at home 
 and abroad; and to which are affiliated all the local 
 societies, who once a year, when the weather 
 permits, send their chosen champions to contend 
 at the grand match held under the auspices of 
 the Royal Club. 
 
 Let us now see how the game is played ; and 
 first we shall give what is perhaps the earliest de- 
 scription of the game on record, that given by Pen- 
 nant in his Tour in 1792. " Of all the sports of 
 these parts," he says, " that of curling is the 
 favourite, and one unknown in England. It is an
 
 14 THE CHANNEL-STAKE J 
 
 amusement of the winter, and played on the ice by 
 sliding from one mark to another great stones of 
 from forty to seventy pounds weight, of a hemi- 
 spherical form, with an iron or wooden handle at 
 the top. The object of the player is to lay his 
 stone as near the mark as possible, to guard that of 
 his partner, which had been well laid before, or to 
 strike his antagonist's." 
 
 The game is played on a carefully chosen piece 
 of ice called the " rink," which should be forty-two 
 yards long, unless special circumstances such as 
 thaw and consequently " dull" ice require it to be 
 shortened. This piece of ice should be as level, 
 smooth, and free from cracks as possible ; there is 
 usually a trifling bias, which, however, to the 
 skilled curler rather adds interest to the game, 
 as it calls forth additional science in the play. 
 
 When the rink is chosen, a little mark is made 
 at each end ; this is called the " tee ; " and near 
 that point stands, in his turn, each player, whose 
 object is to hurl or slide his stones to the opposite 
 end, by a swinging motion of the arm. Each 
 player also endeavours to place his stones nearer 
 the tee than those of his opponents. In this
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 15 
 
 respect curling is precisely similar in principle to 
 the well-known game of bowls. Round the tees 
 are scratched several concentric circles or 
 " broughs," a foot or so apart from each other, 
 by which means the distance at which stones are 
 lying from the goal is seen at a glance at any 
 time during the continuance of the " end." In 
 the normally long rink, a scratch called the hog- 
 score usually made wavy, to distinguish it from 
 any accidental crack is drawn across the line 
 of play near each end, eight yards from the tee ; 
 and any stones that have not had impetus enough 
 imparted to them to carry them over this line are 
 " hogs," and are put off the ice as useless for that 
 end. A common number of players in one rink is 
 eight four against four; but in some places more 
 play on one side, and in others less, according to cir- 
 cumstances. As a general rule, each man plays two 
 stones. The game is counted by points; and each 
 stone of a side closer than their antagonists' nearest 
 is a point which scores towards the game. It will 
 be observed that " tees," " broughs," and " hog- 
 scores " are in duplicate, for as in quoits and 
 bowls, ends are changed after each round.
 
 1 6 THE CHANNEL-STANE J 
 
 As in bowls so in curling, the office of " skip " 
 of each side is usually given to the best player ; 
 and on his tact and judgment, besides knowledge 
 of the exact amount of confidence he can place 
 on the skill of each of his followers depends 
 
 much of the success of his side. His chief 
 
 __, 
 
 is to stand at the tee for the purpose of directing 
 and advising the play of each of his fellows, 
 always playing last himself, that the critical shot 
 on which perhaps victory or defeat hangs, may 
 be in the best possible hands. Thus, in a rink of 
 four players a side, the skips stand directors until 
 their third men have played both their stones ; 
 upon which they proceed to the other end and 
 play theirs. 
 
 i The course of a game is generally something 
 (like this, though in no sport are there greater 
 variations, or more circumstances calling forth all 
 that judgment, skill, and experience only can 
 teach. The "lead" or first player's object is simple : 
 he tries to " draw " his shot that is to play his 
 stone up the ice towards the end where stands 
 his skip directing, so that the stone may lie if 
 possible within the rings ; and if he is a skilful
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 17 
 
 player, his stone rests say a few feet short of the 
 tee. The lead of the opposite side probably does 
 as nearly the same, or with a little more force 
 applied he perhaps knocks out his opponent's 
 stone and lies in its place. Each of the leads 
 having played two stones, the turn of the second 
 player now comes. If an opposing stone lies 
 near the tee, this player tries to change places 
 with it by driving it away ; but if a stone of his 
 own side is next the tee, his play will be to 
 " guard " it that is, to lay his own stone in a 
 direct line before it, so that the enemy may be 
 less likely to dislodge it. As the game proceeds 
 it gets more intricate the stones round the tee 
 may have been so placed that the "winner" is 
 perfectly guarded from direct attack. Then is 
 the time for the display of science: an experienced 
 player by a cunning twist of the wrist may make 
 his stone curl so as to carry it past the one that 
 is supposed to guard the winning stone ; or he 
 may hit a stone near the winner in an oblique 
 direction, and so cannon off it on to the winning 
 stone and knock /'/ away. This last is called 
 " wicking," and is exactly a stroke of the same 
 kind so necessary in billiards. 
 
 c
 
 1 8 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 And so the game goes on a game of give and 
 take ; but as Graeme says, who can 
 
 Follow the experienced player 
 Through all the mysteries of his art, or teach 
 The undisciplined how to wick, to guard, 
 Or ride full out the stone that blocks the pass ! 
 
 Stories innumerable are told of the delicate feats 
 of aiming performed by enthusiasts of the game ; 
 and it is wonderful what skill is often shewn in 
 the shots taken by good curlers with their un- 
 wieldy looking weapons ; the narrow " ports " or 
 openings between two stones that they can make 
 their missiles pass through, and the dexterity they 
 shew in calculating the bias of the ice and the 
 exact amount of angle necessary to make their 
 cannons. This too, with stones thirty or forty 
 pounds in weight ! 
 
 Each player provides himself with a broom to 
 sweep up the ice before a too lazy stone; and upon 
 judicious sweeping much of the game depends. 
 The shouts of "Soop! soop!" that follow the signal 
 of the skip; the excited gestures of the "capering 
 combatants; " the constant cries of victory or defeat 
 after the frequent changes of fortune; the general 
 exhilaration of spirits attending a healthy and ex-
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. I 9 
 
 citing exercise in the bracing air of winter all 
 tend to make the scene an extraordinary one. 
 Of course if, instead of the ordinary match or game 
 among the members of a club, we are witnessing 
 a ' bonspiel ' or match between two rival clubs or 
 parishes, the excitement is much intensified. 
 Wraps put on by the careful good wives' hands 
 before the curlers left home are recklessly cast 
 aside , brawny arms vigorously ply the besoms ; 
 strong lungs shout out encouragement ; and the 
 engrossed combatants await the issue of a shot in 
 all the attitudes so cunningly portrayed in Sir 
 George Harvey's well-known picture. Of course 
 the point of most breathless interest is when 
 perhaps one shot must decide the game. Hear 
 how that inimitable curling song-writer, the Rev. 
 Dr Duncan, describes that moment : 
 
 A moment's silence, still as death, 
 Pervades the anxious thrang, man, 
 Then sudden bursts the victor's shout, 
 Wi' hollos loud and lang, man ; 
 Triumphant besoms wave in air, 
 And friendly banters fly, man, 
 Whilst, cold and hungry, to the inn 
 Wi' eager steps they hie, man ; 
 
 where awaits them the true curlers' dinner of "beef
 
 20 THE CHANNEL-STAKE; 
 
 and greens;" to which simple viands the appetites, 
 sharpened by the keen frost, do ample justice. 
 And if a temperate tumbler of toddy is emptied, 
 what then? A merry evening is spent; and how- 
 ever keen the contest has been, or strong the 
 rivalry between closely matched parishes, we can 
 always say with the old song : 
 
 They met baith merry in the morn, 
 At night they parted friends. 
 
 During these jovial evenings, " in words the 
 fight renewed is fought again," and many stories of 
 past curling are told one of which we shall take 
 an early opportunity of offering to our readers. 
 (Chambers'* "Journal, No. 732, $th January 1878.) 
 
 COPINSHA STONES. " Dark coloured-species 
 of limestone apparently dense and durable." 
 
 " We also saw lately a pair of curling stones, 
 belonging to Principal Baird, which he brought 
 from the Isle of Copinsha, interesting to curlers 
 as being associated with the first historical notices 
 of the game. Camden is mistaken, however, in 
 calling them * excellent' for upon trial, accord- 
 ing to a well-known connoisseur, they are found to 
 be worth ' not a rap.' >; Mem. Curl. Mabenensia.
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 21 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM "THE HISTORY OF THE 
 SANQUHAR CURLING SOCIETY." 
 
 (By JAMES BROWN, Esq., Secretary.) 
 
 r I ""HE author having kindly placed his book 
 at our disposal, we have much pleasure 
 in giving the following interesting extracts from 
 it. 
 
 CURLING STONES. 
 
 The material of which curling stones have 
 been at different periods made in Sanquhar has 
 been very varied in appearance and quality. For 
 long, large numbers were made of a stone found 
 in the parish, particularly in Lochburn, a small 
 burn running round the eastern side of Sanquhar 
 Moor, which came to be called Sanquhar Black. 
 These stones are coal-black in appearance, and 
 are very hard. They are highly thought of on 
 account of their extreme durability and the keen- 
 ness with which they run on drug ice. The 
 supply of metal has been almost exhausted, and 
 it is rare that a block of the real stuff can now be 
 obtained. So long as the supply of blacks was
 
 22 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 abundant nothing else almost seems to have been 
 used, for the greater part of the very old stones 
 that are in existence are made of that material. 
 Metal of a grey description also abounded in the 
 beds of the streams, particularly in Crawick. 
 These were called "Crawick Greys," and were 
 very keen. Very large and beautiful greys are 
 to be found likewise in the bed of the Nith, in 
 the neighbouring parish of Kirkconnel, and on 
 the farm of Rigg there, which are, however, par- 
 ticularly subject to "drys,"and it is only now 
 and again that a really sound block can be 
 obtained. The supply of u metal " becoming 
 rather limited the curlers of Sanquhar were com- 
 pelled to look out elsewhere, and from time to 
 time all known kinds have been tried in succession. 
 The tastes of Sanquhar curlers are in these matters 
 rather fastidious, and so each sort has been 
 "popular by turns and none for long." "Bur- 
 nocks." got out of the Burnock water in Ochiltree, 
 Ayrshire, have long held a high place in curlers' 
 esteem. They are a beautiful mixed grey, and 
 are durable and keen. " Craigheads," from the 
 farm of Craighead, near the village of Crawford-
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 23 
 
 John, are likewise good stones. Their peculiar 
 excellence is the property they have of being 
 very keen on soft ice and in water ; a great 
 drawback to their general adoption is their great 
 brittleness. Some do stand well, and any curler 
 is fortunate who has a pair of that sort, but as a 
 rule they are very easily broken. "Ailsa Craigs" 
 are made of blocks of a granite-like appearance 
 got at " Paddy's mile-stone," which run well also 
 on soft ice. There are two distinct kinds, one 
 of a greenish, and the other of a pure grey 
 colour. They are large in size in proportion to 
 their weight, so large as to be objectionable; they 
 are also pretty expensive, but they make a showy 
 and handsome pair of curling stones. " Crieffs " 
 only became known to the curlers of this district 
 a dozen years ago or so, through certain members 
 attending at that time one of the great matches 
 between the Clubs north and south of the Forth 
 by whom several blocks of that metal were 
 purchased. The "Crieffs" are of a great variety 
 of colour, black, green, and white, while some 
 resemble tortoise shell, and are rather pretty, but 
 they do not appear to possess, beyond great
 
 24 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 durability, any special excellence from a curling 
 point of view. A few from Muirbrack, in the 
 parish of Carsphairn, have also been made. They 
 are of a peculiar reddish colour, light in propor- 
 tion to their size, and run well. Among them 
 all, however, those which have best kept their 
 place in popular favour are Blacks, Burnocks, and 
 Craigheads. 
 
 Curling stones from the specimens which still 
 remain appear to have been in former times 
 rather rudely formed. They are circular in 
 shape, the bottom being ground and polished, 
 but otherwise they are comparatively rough. 
 Great improvements have from time to time 
 been made on the style of manufacture, and now 
 they are made quite elegant in shape and are 
 beautifully finished. The stones made by Mr 
 Kay, Ochiltree, and others, in that neighbour- 
 hood, ground and polished by machinery, are the 
 very perfection of manufacture. At first, curling 
 stones appear to have been all single-soled with 
 strong iron handles of a rectangular shape, one 
 end of which was run in with lead or other stuff 
 into a hole cut between the centre and side of
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 25 
 
 the stone, so that when lifted by the handle the 
 stone was balanced in the hand of the curler. 
 Good handles of the kind are still made, which 
 are called Dalmellington hands, at which place 
 probably they were first brought out. In place 
 of the handle being fixed into the stone, however, 
 a bolt of iron is fixed into the side hole which 
 protrudes about an inch or an inch and a half 
 above the level of the top of the stone, on to 
 which the handle is screwed by a little iron pin. 
 These handles are used largely in New Cumnock 
 and adjacent parishes. In Nithsdale, however, 
 the handles now almost universally used are 
 centre handles of a swan-neck form made of steel 
 or brass mounted along the upper horizontal 
 spike with hardwood of various kinds, polished, 
 which gives them great variety of style and a 
 very handsome appearance. For handles of this 
 form those made at Wanlockhead stand unrivalled, 
 but there being no patent for their manufacture 
 we observe that makers in other places have taken 
 them as a model and are bringing out very good 
 imitations. In the case of single-soled stones, 
 these centre handles have a screw of about an
 
 26 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 inch and a half in length and half an inch in 
 diameter, brought out from the plate by which it 
 is screwed into the socket which is fixed into the 
 centre hole of the stone. With double-soled 
 stones the hole is drilled right through the centre 
 of the stone from top to bottom ; through this 
 hole there passes an iron bolt on which the 
 handle (the plate of which is drilled) is screwed, 
 and which bolt is counter-sunk into each sole. 
 
 LOCHS. 
 
 The lochs or ponds used by the Sanquhar 
 Society are three in number, the Black or Old 
 Sanquhar Loch and the Green Loch, both on 
 Sanquhar Moor, and the " Ward," on the farm 
 of Blackaddie, situated within a very short 
 distance of the town. Of the first named, Dr 
 Simpson in his History of Sanquhar says " It 
 occupies a considerable breadth and is of great 
 depth, having in the middle of it a little island 
 on which in former times a building has 
 existed." . ..." It appears from the boggy 
 nature of the ground surrounding the loch that
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 27 
 
 the loch itself is not artificial, but " a natural 
 basin containing the present waters." 
 
 This was for many years the principal loch for 
 curling. The game was, however, played on 
 several strips of water which collected in hollows 
 in some of the fields round the town. In one 
 which was in a field on the farm of Townhead 
 between the old and new roads a notable game 
 was played between the wives of Sanquhar and 
 Crawick Mill, who were directed by men. The 
 game was, we understand, played with all the 
 spirit and determination which usually characterise 
 female fights. Upwards of forty years ago leave 
 was obtained from the Town Council of Sanquhar 
 to construct a loch on the farm belonging to the 
 Corporation, to be used as a curling pond, and 
 to be let off during summer. The first site tried 
 was found unsuitable, and another selected, which 
 was found to serve the purpose admirably ; a bank 
 or damhead of considerable length was erected at 
 great expense, by means of which several acres 
 of ground can be put under water, forming a 
 handsome and capacious pond which bears the 
 name of the Green Loch. The rights of the
 
 28 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 Curlers to the use of this loch during the winter 
 months are protected by a clause inserted by the 
 Town Council in the lease granted to the tenant 
 of the Moor farm, on which it is situated. After 
 the construction of the Green Loch, the Black 
 Loch was seldom played upon, as (from the fact 
 that there are several springs in it which do not 
 readily freeze, and that a young lad was some 
 years ago drowned there through the breaking of 
 the ice) it had come to be regarded as a rather 
 dangerous place. 
 
 The Ward Loch, situated (as has been stated) 
 on the farm of Blackaddie, was last granted to 
 the Curlers by the Duke of Buccleuch in the 
 year 1857. This was n t, however, an original 
 grant, but the restoration of a privilege enjoyed 
 at some previous time but withdrawn during a 
 period of thirty-five years. How long it had 
 been enjoyed previous to its withdrawal and 
 what was the reason of its being so withdrawn 
 do not appear in the records of the Society. 
 The letter from His Grace's Chamberlain on the 
 subject says " The Curling Society of Sanquhar 
 are to have the privilege of forming and maintain-
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 2p 
 
 ing a curling pond on the farm of Blackaddie 
 during the pleasure of the Duke of Buccleuch on 
 that part of the lands called 'The Ward,' such 
 pond to be continued from the ist November to 
 the ist of March in each year." This privilege 
 was kindly renewed in the year 1872, and is a 
 great convenience to the Society. 
 
 The forming and maintaining of these Lochs 
 have of course entailed upon the Society a con- 
 siderable expense. Some hundreds of pounds 
 have in this way been spent at one time and 
 another, but what is that to a Society of Curlers 
 bent on the enjoyment of their favourite game. 
 The more wealthy have contributed handsomely, 
 and not a member who had the ability but is 
 found ready to bear a fair share of the burden. 
 
 JUVENILE CLUB. 
 
 In the earlier years of the history of the 
 Society there was, as is elsewhere stated, besides 
 the regular rinks which played all the public 
 games, what was called the " corps-de-reserve," 
 composed of the youngsters who were learning
 
 50 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 the game, and who were presided over by an 
 officer appointed by the Society. This appoint- 
 ment was made annually at the business meeting 
 of the Society for many years, the last holder of 
 the office being the late James Black, burgh 
 officer, in 1854, since which time, till recently, 
 the practice would appear to have been abandoned. 
 This was revived in 1872 by the formation of a 
 Juvenile Club,* to which a medal, raised by public 
 subscription, was presented, and which is played 
 for annually in the same way as the medal of the 
 Senior Club. A " corps-de-reserve " was ap- 
 pointed by the Society with the customary 
 powers pertaining to that office. That appoint- 
 ment is presently held by Mr William Murdoch. 
 The Club consists of five rinks, comprising within 
 its ranks, we have no doubt, many who will at 
 some future time maintain the honour and fame 
 of the parish in curling. 
 
 * It would be well if other clubs followed the good 
 example set by the Sanquhar, and brought up their youth in 
 the way they should go.
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 7 I 
 
 WHEN MARYBURN PLAYED BROOMHILL." 
 
 (By "RoCKWOOD.") 
 
 TT is a common saying that " On the turf as 
 under it all men are equal." This is no 
 doubt so far true, but there is no equality like 
 that of men met on the icy bosom of some quiet 
 moorland loch in Scotland to engage in the 
 " roaring game." / According to your ability as 
 a curler is your station in the rink, the peasant 
 meets the peer on an equal footing, pride is un- 
 known, and poverty is not recognised, not even 
 debt. Politics there are none on the icy board, 
 and the most ultra-Radical will rush forward with 
 open hand to congratulate the most unyielding 
 Conservative on the successful manner in which 
 he has drawn a shot to the tee, or removed the 
 winning stone of the opposing rink.' While the 
 frost lasts there is no agricultural distress, no law 
 of hypothec, nor game law; all is curling and 
 "beef and greens," dinners and whisky toddy, 
 and good cheer. Nor are the poor forgotten, 
 for each day parish rinks meet to play matches
 
 32 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 in which the stakes are meal for to fill the mouths 
 of the destitute, or coals to replenish their fires, 
 and keep them warm during the cold weather. 
 And what a grand game is curling ! " Ay, ay, 
 curling is the best of all games, to be sure," says 
 the enthusiast. It may be pleasant to the racing 
 man to witness the horse which he has backed to 
 win him a fortune shoot out from his "field" 
 near the post at Newmarket, and win by a length 
 or so ; but what about the feverish half a minute 
 just before; and ask the keen courser how he 
 felt before the roar which tells him how his dog 
 has drawn out a clear lead for first turn in the 
 last tie for the cup on the Altcar plains. No, 
 there is no gambling fever in curling ; and yet, 
 what an amount of healthy excitement. Can the 
 " supple-wristed " golfer, as he sees his ball swing- 
 ing to the sea-breeze which comes over from 
 Arran, clear the Cardinal at Prestwick or roll 
 "dead" from a long put in the velvet turf of 
 North Berwick, feel more proud then than when 
 he sees his stone tread a port which the opposing 
 rink thought impassable, and with a " soop " or 
 two from the besom of the skip lie shot at the
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 33 
 
 tee ? And you yachting men of blue serge and 
 pipe-clayed shoes, glorious and free as your pas- 
 time is, ask John Houston of "the terrible Fiona" 
 whether he prefers the "heep, heep, hurrah!" 
 as he shoves the helm " up " and " all standing " 
 gybes through the smoke of the winning gun to 
 the loud roar which proclaims his success in 
 "chipping a winner" on the pond of the Thistle 
 Club at Largs. No ; for genuine enjoyment, 
 say sportsmen of all classes in Scotland, " gi'e me 
 curling." But for a " bonspiel." 
 
 In the memory of the oldest curler of the 
 Maryburn Club, it had been customary for that 
 club to play against the Broomhill. Other 
 matches fell to be played in season Maryburn 
 against Marchdale, Maryburn against Dryford, 
 &c. but the match of the season, and one of 
 the first to be played owing to the fickleness of 
 frost, was the most interesting, that against the 
 men of Broomhill. Nor from the Broomhill side 
 was it looked at from a less interesting point of 
 view ; indeed, it had been the taunt of Broomhill 
 men all summer on the bowling-green and in the 
 cattle showyard, that however successful the
 
 34 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 Maryburn might be in other games and pursuits 
 the Broomhill men were their superiors on the 
 ice. It was in vain for the men of Maryburn to 
 argue that so far as records had been kept they 
 had won as many contests as the Broomhill lads, 
 and that for the last ten years the contest had 
 resulted u game and game." The answer of 
 Broomhill to that was "We had not a losing 
 rink out of our full six against you last year." 
 This was true, and " sair to thole," and so when 
 the last frost set in hard as a horn each skip or 
 captain arranged his rink, and from sunrise to 
 sunset it was nothing but "soopin'," and "gairdin'," 
 and "drawin'," and "liftin"' and all for practice 
 to beat the men of Broomhill. On the Broomhill 
 pond they were scarcely less idle. 
 
 It is about the fifth day of the strong ice, and 
 the players are some shoving them before them 
 with their brooms, and some drawing them behind 
 them with strings taking their curling stones to 
 the Potlid Cottage, or Curler's Haven, as the 
 little brick building on the bank of the pond has 
 been named, when the Secretary, in a quiet 
 inofficious way, draws a letter from his pocket,
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 35 
 
 and with a shout of "Are ye here, skips a'?" 
 intimates the contents, which are, that the umpire 
 of the Royal Caledonian Club, who had been by 
 arrangement elected joint umpire in the annual 
 bonspiel, appointed that Maryburn and Broomhill 
 should meet, six rinks a-side, on Loch Downan, 
 at eleven o'clock on Thursday first. 
 
 "That's the morn, lads," adds the Secretary, "so 
 get your rinks in order. Whatever men are 
 gaun maun tell the stanes they want tae Wattie 
 Anderson, and he'll have them at the Loch side 
 the morn's mornin'. I only hope the best of ye 
 
 will hae nae excuse." 
 
 There is considerable agitation amongst the 
 
 skips of the different rinks and their men, the 
 
 former wishing to have as strong sides as possible. 
 
 And so the questions run: "You can go, 
 
 Dugald?" "Ay;" and "YouTamson?" "Weel, 
 
 I'll try." 
 
 "Oh, nae tries; ye're doon. Can you get, 
 
 Wilson?" 
 
 " Oh, I could get, but it's market day the 
 
 morn, and I would " 
 
 " Oh, never mind market days ; ye're doon 
 
 that mak's the rink."
 
 36 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 In this manner rinks are made up, and with a 
 parting dram at the nearest "howff," arrange- 
 ments are made for conveyance to Loch Downan, 
 a nice quiet moorland sheet which lies central to 
 the two clubs, or about five miles from Maryburn. 
 
 Keen nips the frost during the night, and the 
 curler wakes delightfully in the morning to find 
 the windows dimmed with fantastic wreaths. 
 There is a crust of ice on the water in the ewer, 
 but without feeling cold he laves himself as if he 
 were at a mountain well on a summer day, re- 
 flecting, as he thinks of the calm sheet on Loch 
 Downan, that " the stanes will be hirstlin' ayont 
 the day." Breakfast of the " halesome parritch" 
 over, he dons his topcoat and muffler, and pulling 
 his Kilmarnock bonnet well over his ears, with 
 curling-stone handles suspended at each side from 
 his shoulders by a string, and broom in hand, he 
 is off for the Black Bull, the usual place of ren- 
 dezvous. Here by the time of his arrival are 
 gathered full four or five of the Maryburn rinks, 
 and here, as the late Dr Norman Macleod used 
 to sing, are 
 
 "There's braw J. O. Fairlie (he's there late and early), 
 Better curlers than he or Hugh Conn canna be."
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 37 
 
 Though the beards and moustaches of each are 
 grizzled with their frozen breath, and the per- 
 spiration on the loose threads of their Tweed 
 homespuns into a nice fretted silver work, they 
 never complain of cold. Fresh and ruddy, they 
 are anxious for the fray. The traps to convey 
 them to Loch Downan come rattling round the 
 corner from the back-yard, and there is a general 
 roll-call of skips. " Here ye are, callants ! " cries 
 the leader of the rink so denominated. " Are 
 ye a' here?" "A' here? ay and fit! " replies 
 his leader. All rinks are full but Tarn Wilson 
 of the Townhead, who dashes up excitedly as if 
 afraid of missing the game amidst a volley of 
 banter from all sides. Packed as close as herrings 
 in a barrel, they are now all ready for the road, 
 and the machines are soon rattling along the road 
 to Loch Downan, five miles off. It is not long 
 after nine and the sun is shining out, and giving 
 a beautiful tinge of pink to the snow-white 
 draperies of the trees the graceful larch and 
 the thin trailing garments of the birch. The 
 whole forest is in ball costume of the finest 
 muslin and lace, and the dress of each tree would
 
 38 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 excite the envy of the most lovely clad belle of a 
 West-End assembly. Through frosted arches 
 and arbours, here and there frightening a wild 
 duck from the unfrozen water at some burn linn, 
 the Maryburn party rattle along, the chaff and 
 fun in the carriages keeping pace with the horses. 
 A slow climb up a steep hill or brae brings them 
 on the moorland, and after going a mile at a brisk 
 pace Loch Downan appears in view. Sweetly 
 nestled 'midst bracken and heather, it rarely 
 mirrors the face of man in the summer time, save 
 it be that of the anxious shepherd searching for 
 some wandering ewe that likes to be alone at the 
 lambing, or the sportsman in August who, too 
 done up to take his straight line in the beat, 
 steals along the edge, not unexpectant of a chance 
 shot at a snipe. Save the blackcock who likes to 
 sit on the birch trees which fringe its top, and the 
 merry little coot, there is little life even " during 
 the season '' at Loch Downan. 
 
 Soon the curlers, however, come rattling for- 
 ward to the muster place, some in gigs, some in 
 the now common waggonettes of the village 
 posting establishments, and not a few farmers
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 39 
 
 on foot, having come some three or four miles 
 across the country as the crow flies. Wattie 
 Anderson is earliest of the henchmen forward 
 with the carts, and has fixed the gathering-place 
 on the bank " the same place," he will tell you, 
 believing in luck, as " the cairt was set doon 
 when Maryburn giedBroomhill that awfu' thrashin' 
 this time sax years." As each curler arrives, he 
 picks out his stones from the crowd the minister, 
 his neat, little light-grey "32-pounders" from the 
 rock of Ailsa Craig; "Big" Davidson, from the 
 Upper Ward, his 44-pound Crawfordjohns; while 
 cautious Jamie Creelman, from Ayrshire, screws 
 his "siller minted" prize handles in a beautiful 
 new pair from the deep blue " channel " stane of 
 Burnock Water. The skips assemble round the 
 umpire at his call, and the names having been 
 written on pieces of paper are placed in two hats. 
 The first draw results in nothing of importance, 
 nor does the second ; but when 
 
 MARYBURN (DAVIE HOGG), against BROOMHILL 
 (J. WILSON), 
 
 is read there is a cheer all round, for the two
 
 4O THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 crack rinks of the clubs have met. The rules to 
 be observed are, adds the umpire at the finish of 
 the draw, the rules of the Caledonian Curling 
 Club. Soon all are engaged in sweeping the ice, 
 and setting the "crampits," and the battle com- 
 mences. Directions and expostulations, with 
 shouts of "Up hands, and soop him up," follow 
 so quickly that a stranger might imagine that one 
 of those ancient clan feuds were being settled. 
 As the late Sir Alex. Boswell used to sing in 
 describing a match between two imaginary skips, 
 it is said : 
 
 " Dambuck. Johnnie Gray, mak' this your rest, 
 A guid, calm shot is aye the best ; 
 He's fled, it's raging like a pest 
 
 Oh ! what's come owre you, Johnnie ? 
 Lochsidc. Stand on, Peat Bog, and gie's a gaird, 
 I ken ye can play cautious, laird ; 
 Just lie ahint our stane a yaird ; 
 I like ye weel that's bonnie ! " 
 
 Davie Hogg, the skip of the " Minister's or 
 Manse " rink, as it had been called, has taken up 
 his position on, the tee alongside of " lang John 
 Wilson, of the Broomhill Gallants." Davie, it 
 had been remarked once or twice during the
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 4! 
 
 morning, "is looking real respectable." Not that 
 he is particularly well dressed, but that a new 
 jacket, or what is better known in Scotland as 
 " a sleeved waistcoat," a body of tweed, to which 
 thick sleeves of moleskin have been attached, had 
 taken the place of the threadbare coat, which, 
 stained and tattered with working the freestone 
 blocks at his trade of mason, had made him con- 
 spicuous on the home pond. There was but one 
 place it could come from everybody knew, and 
 that was the Manse ; indeed the truth was that 
 the minister, who was reputed fully better at 
 curling than at preaching, had Davie's condition 
 considered long ere the frost set in, and the 
 garment was the joint production of the needles 
 of his wife and daughter. No one, however, 
 dared to joke the skip on his new coat, and the 
 close survey of his fellow-workman and drinking 
 companion in many a heavy bout Walter 
 Anderson finishing up in a slow wink was 
 the nearest thing to an allusion to it. Not 
 that Wattie envied him ; for, with a bottle of 
 whisky in the inside of his moleskin rag and a 
 glass in the side pocket, he considered he had
 
 42 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 the finest job in the world, running from rink to 
 rink treating the players to a dram, and on each 
 occasion scoring one for himself. Even Davie 
 Hogg would have envied Wattie's situation at 
 another game ; but whatever could be said about 
 him, he at least preferred curling to drink. 
 
 Slowly the game progressed, the minister play- 
 ing well, and receiving the greatest praise from 
 Davie; and Davie, "drawing," "chipping," and 
 " inwicking," in a most wonderful manner, earned 
 every thread and button of his new coat. Let 
 "Lang" John Wilson play his best he was no 
 match for the Maryburn mason. At the twelfth 
 head, however, owing to the bad leading shots 
 of "The Manse rink," Broomhill lay four shots, 
 and though Davie played a careful in wick with 
 his last to reduce the count, it proved in vain, and 
 Maryburn's lead of five at the time was reduced 
 to one. The next 'head the Broomhill men got 
 level, and Davie Hogg became both anxious and 
 dry. Fortunately, Wattie, who was flitting about 
 from rink to rink carrying good news and bad- 
 how " Brown was five up but Currie was six 
 down," how " Campbell was peels at the tenth
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 43 
 
 head," &c, all of which information, now grad- 
 ually becoming more interesting, is retailed with 
 a dram, arrives on the spot. 
 
 The Maryburn men have a good " still one " 
 all round from the same glass, and generously 
 help their opponents, but on the Maryburn men 
 the whisky seems to have most effect. The 
 minister " soops " harder than ever, and Davie, 
 relieved by "a bit oath" when the former goes 
 down the rink, shouted more clearly and lustily, 
 and encouraged his men. Thanks to a " roarin' " 
 shot from Davie, which lifted the Broomhill 
 winner, Maryburn scored two, and added another 
 to it the next head. An odd shot they lose at 
 the sixteenth, so that on starting the seventeenth 
 the Maryburn are two up, with only four heads 
 to play. The game is now getting very exciting, 
 and to beat his opponent is quite enough of 
 success for Davie to think about. But Wattie 
 is at the rink side again with bad tidings. No 
 more interesting information was carried by 
 Wellington's aides-de-camp at Waterloo than 
 Wattie carried on Loch Downan from rink to 
 rink. Eagerly the Maryburn men crowd round
 
 44 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 him to hear with silence that " Currie was down 
 five at the twentieth head ; " that " Brown was 
 four down at the nineteenth ; " and that " unless 
 Davie Hogg has half a dozen shots to spare, 
 Maryburn will have to gang hame a second time 
 a loser." 
 
 Thanks to the good leading of Jack Hodge, 
 and the careful play of the blacksmith, Watson, 
 and the minister, Davie has been enabled, without 
 much skill on his part, to add another to his 
 score, and at the end of the eighteenth head the 
 game is marked Maryburn (Hogg), 18; Broom- 
 hill (Wilson), 13. Slow and careful is the curling 
 for victory in the nineteenth, every player doing 
 what was asked of him, but with his last, John 
 Wilson makes such a beautiful " inwick " on to 
 the face of his first and second, which are on the 
 edge of the tee, with his last stone, that without 
 a grumble the game has to be called Broomhill, 
 14; Maryburn, 18. Both skips whisper to 
 their leads to be cautious, and the twentieth head 
 commences with some splendid play, every stone 
 being put down according to direction. Not a 
 stone is tee high, and when the minister goes
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 45 
 
 down to play he has poor choice before him, as 
 Broomhill lie two shots both well guarded. There 
 is nothing for it but to lift the guard with his 
 first, and in doing this he is fortunate in partly 
 clearing off the guard to the second also. " It 
 was weel played weel played. I couldna ha'e 
 askit better," said Hogg. But the next stone 
 from the opposition partly closed the channel 
 again. Yet a little more than half of the shot 
 was bare, and it was impossible to draw past 
 guard and remove it. Never did the minister 
 exhort Davie to give up the dram-shop and lead 
 a better and more exemplary life (for Davie's only 
 claim to a character was based on the fact that 
 he "skippit the minister's rink") than he did the 
 minister to be careful and cautious. "Jist tak' 
 hauf of the stane, and for the sake of the whole 
 parish of Maryburn dinna be strong jist a canny 
 cuff on its cheek, and lie yersel'." Cautiously 
 does the minister deliver his stone on the ice. 
 That it is rightly laid on is certified by the cry of 
 Davie to " wait on him, boys ; oh, but he's richt, 
 oh, but he's a gran' ane ! " 
 
 "Not a co we! not a cowe. He's just the
 
 46 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 strength." ' A rub of his own besom, as he clears 
 the guard, gives it a little extra strength, and 
 knocking out the winner, it lies first shot. A 
 shake of the hand not the cool, formal hand- 
 shake of every day, but a firm grasp, and an up- 
 and-down motion like the working of a pump- 
 handle convey the intense feelings of apprecia- 
 tion of Davie Hogg to the minister. The stone, 
 however, can be removed, but this the next stone 
 fails to do, and Davie claps a splendid guard to 
 it, just two feet over the hog score. "Lang" 
 Wilson, however, is not to be denied admittance 
 to the inner circle, and raising one of the outlying 
 shots of his side it removes the minister's 
 champion, and Broomhill is again the winner, 
 and with a stone well guarded. The "wick and 
 curl " in-shot of Davie fails, and Wilson counts 
 his head without playing his last stone, which if 
 played up amongst the others might alter posi- 
 tions unfavourably for his own side. The 
 " crampits " are now laid for the last head the 
 game standing: Broomhill (Wilson), 15; Mary- 
 burn (Hogg), 1 8. So far as the game goes, the 
 odds are much in favour of the latter; but it is
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 47 
 
 the honour of the -whole parish they are playing 
 for, and in comparing the totals of four rinks 
 which have finished, Maryburn is two down, while 
 the fifth rink (Currie's) playing their last head 
 are also two down, and, as Wattie Anderson 
 remarks " lying verra bad." It is a serious 
 business, and the players who have finished 
 crowd round the rinks of the "cracks" to see 
 the end, but quietly, on the suggestion of the 
 umpire, withdraw to the bank, as their weight at 
 either side is liable to cause the ice to sink and 
 twist. Play commenced by the Maryburn man 
 striking out a "potlid " shot of the Broomhill and 
 leaving his own in its stead. The Broomhill shot 
 is out of line and a little strong, goes " through 
 all ice," and is dead. The Maryburn man puts 
 in a splendid short guard just inside the house- 
 so far so well, there could not be a better com- 
 mencement. Broomhill failing to lift the short 
 guard, the Maryburn man, according to Davie's 
 directions, puts down another guard just over the 
 hog score, so that there being now two stones in 
 direct line between the player and the winning 
 shot, it is not possible to remove the latter
 
 48 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 directly. The Broomhill fourth stone is wasted 
 on the outer guard, as it took it a little too full, 
 and running it out without doing damage, lies a 
 half-guard in its stead. The Maryburn fourth 
 stone is a grandly drawn second shot, just clear 
 of the guards, and the Broomhill fifth missing to 
 catch the latter on the face and wick or cannon 
 on to the winner, the minister "claps on a bonnie 
 gaird," which completely stops any inlet in that 
 direction. The third shot is beautifully drawn 
 on the right side for Maryburn, after the opposing 
 player had failed to draw past the guard and 
 catch the winner, and then " Lang " Wilson and 
 Davie Hogg, amidst not a little excitement, walk 
 down the rink to put up the last four stones of 
 the game. " Lang " Wilson takes the advice he 
 himself has given to the last player, and tries a 
 nice draw past the half-guard on the edge of the 
 hog, but succeeds only in removing without doing 
 damage to the short guard inside the house. 
 Maryburn lies three, and it is certainly Hogg's 
 play to completely cover the winning shot. This 
 he certainly has played to do, but his stone taking 
 a half-curl to the right as it finished, Wilson is
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 49 
 
 left with a port which allows him a by no means 
 certain, but possible, draw to the winner. Though 
 he is down-hearted with the knowledge that he 
 cannot win the game, he plays it to perfection, 
 and, amidst cries of, " Weel curled, sir," " Oh, 
 but it's a rare ane," Hogg sees his winning stone 
 removed, and that of the opponent's lying almost 
 in its stead a little more open, perhaps, but a 
 difficult shot to take. As the minister and he 
 study the positions of the stones, much in the 
 same manner that a chess-player watches his 
 knights and pawns, Watty arrives with the by 
 no means cheering intelligence that Currie has 
 lost a shot the last head, and that Maryburn is 
 down five shots on the total of the other five 
 rinks. Unless, therefore, the winner can be re- 
 moved, Maryburn will be beaten. Remove the 
 winner, and Maryburn lies three shots, which, 
 with the three the rink has to the good, gives 
 victory to the parish. 
 
 Slowly Hogg walks down the rink turning 
 round every few steps to see how it looks. It is 
 a hard shot to play not half of the winner is 
 clear but it must be removed for the honour of
 
 50 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 Mary burn. Refusing a dram proffered from 
 Wattie, he wipes the sole of his stone clear with 
 his "cowe," also the ice in front of him, and 
 taking a good, clear, straight look, as a rifleman 
 would look at a target, at the objectionable stone, 
 he raises his arm, and the curling destiny of 
 Maryburn is out of his power. A yell of ecstacy 
 from the minister, who is down on his knees 
 looking along the ice, assured him the shot is a 
 good one. " He's got him, he's got him fair." 
 " He's on the gaird," cries the opposing side, but 
 slowly, for it was not too hard delivered ; the 
 stone draws past everything save the winner, 
 which is knocked clear of the house, and Davie 
 Hogg lies first shot, and the rink four up, so that 
 Broomhill has been beaten by two shots. If 
 there has been any doubt on the bank as to the 
 result of the match, it has been removed by the 
 hearty manner in which the minister shakes hands 
 with the skip not to say the wild dance of 
 Wattie Anderson, followed by his production 
 from his inside pocket of the bottle. No dram 
 could have had a greater relish than that which 
 follows, for a keener match at curling has never
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. fl 
 
 been played. Soon all are seated in the carriages 
 again, and driving home through the keen, grey, 
 frosty atmosphere, which follows the sundown. 
 Flushed with victory, all are as happy as birds in 
 summer, and nothing prevails but good humour. 
 There is a halt at the Manse, and great is the 
 joy of the kind wife of the minister to hear that 
 Maryburn has won, and that the Manse rink 
 saved the game. 
 
 And Davie Hogg's health is proposed in the 
 Manse dining-room with three times three ; ay, 
 and the minister is proud too to hear from Davie's 
 reply that he did his duty that day, and "is a 
 credit to the rink, let alane the parish ; " and the 
 pockets of Davie's new coat are sorely tested with 
 the present of a pound of tea for his wife, and 
 some "odds and ends for the bairns," which 
 evince the kindness of the Manse folk. What a 
 night, too, follows at the Black Bull after the 
 beef and greens. Tumblers and hot-water jugs 
 serve the purpose of stones, and the games are 
 fought over again. Then follows that good old 
 curling song of the Ettrick Shepherd's from the 
 Blacksmith, with a chorus lustily joined in by all
 
 52 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 " I've played at quoitin' mony a day, 
 And maybe I may da'et again, 
 But still unto myself I say, 
 This is no the channel-stane. 
 Oh, for a channel-stane ! 
 The fell guid game the channel-stane ; 
 There's no a game that ere T saw 
 Can match auld Scotland's channel-stane." 
 
 And with a chorus to the last verse of " Soop 
 him up," "Hurra! curlers we," to the last verse, 
 ends the match and the account of that memorable 
 day "when Maryburn played Broomhill." (From 
 " Stories of Scottish Sports. ") 
 
 GALL'S "GABIONS." 
 
 The following extracts are taken from the 
 " Muses Threnodie ; or, Mirthful Mournings on 
 the death of Mr Gall," by Mr H. Adamson, 
 and explain the meaning of the word "Gabions." 
 This work contains very early references to both 
 the games of golf and curling. The original edition 
 was published in 1638 and is now practically ex- 
 tinct, and even the reprint of 1774, with explan-
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 53 
 
 atory notes and observations by James Cant, is 
 by no means common. 
 
 The two following poems were composed by 
 a citizen of Perth, a gentleman of considerable 
 reputation for wit and learning ; they have been 
 erroneously called and known by the name of 
 " Gall's Gabions." 
 
 The first contains a ludicrous and hudibrastic de- 
 scription of the furniture of Mr George Ruthven's 
 closet, which that venerable old gentleman used 
 to call his Gabions, being a collection of many 
 curiosities humorously described by our facetious 
 poet. It is beyond the reach of ordinary capa- 
 cities, therefore it is seldom taken notice of by 
 common readers. 
 
 The next poem is an elegiac lamentation on 
 the death of Mr John Gall, a young gentleman, 
 handsome, facetious, and learned. The poet 
 keeps himself behind the curtain, and introduces 
 Ruthven and Gall upon the stage, who are the 
 only speakers, who give an account of the 
 antiquities of Perth and its environs. Gall 
 appears throughout the poem to be the principal 
 person; therefore custom has falsely given the 
 name of Gall's Gabions to both poems.
 
 54 THE CHANNEL-STAKE; 
 
 The attentive reader will soon perceive that 
 the first poem which is short ought to be called 
 Ruthven's Gabions, if a name must be given to 
 it, and it has no manner of connection with the 
 second, where Gall only appears. 
 
 The meaning of the word Gabion, as it is used 
 in the poem, is not to be sought for in any 
 dictionary ; it was of the venerable old gentle- 
 man Mr Ruthven's own coining, and it was well 
 enough understood among his select friends to 
 mean nothing else but the miscellaneous curi- 
 osities in his closet, humorously described in the 
 poem. 
 
 We perceive that the warmest friendship sub- 
 sisted between this triumvirate of literati. 
 
 Mr George Ruthven was descended from the 
 noble family of that name. He was a physician 
 and surgeon in Perth, and about ninety-two years 
 of age when the two poems were published at 
 the request of the celebrated Sir William Drum- 
 mond of Hawthornden. He was about thirteen 
 years old at the Reformation, and remembered the 
 magnificent religious houses with their stately 
 steeples, and was capable to lament their ruin in 
 1559 by the fury of the populace, which was
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 55 
 
 discountenanced by Knox, who regretted the 
 desolation of these noble buildings. 
 
 Mr John Gall, younger (his father being of 
 the same name), was a merchant, well educated, 
 of sweet dispositions and pregnant wit, and much 
 esteemed. His premature death of a con- 
 sumption, occasioned the following elegiac de- 
 scriptive poem. 
 
 Henry Adamson, the author of the two poems, 
 was educated for the pulpit, and appeared to 
 have been a gentleman of considerable abilities, 
 and a good classical scholar ; he wrote some 
 Latin poems above mediocrity. His relations 
 were of considerable rank among the citizens of 
 Perth. He was the son of James Adamson, who 
 was Dean of Guild in 1600, when Gowrie was 
 murdered, and was provost in 1 6 1 o- 1 1 . Our poet 
 died unmarried in the year after the poems were 
 published. He was known to and esteemed by 
 Drummond of Hawthornden, the poet laureate of 
 that age. Mr Adamson was importuned by his 
 friends to publish the two poems ; he resisted 
 their solicitations, but the request of his friend 
 Mr Drummond at last prevailed. Here follows 
 the poem.
 
 56 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 The Inventory of the Gabions in Mr George 
 Ruthven's closet or cabinet. 
 
 Amongst innumerable other articles we find 
 
 " His hats, his hoods, his bells, his bones, 
 His alley bowls, his curling stones ; 
 The sacred games to celebrate, 
 Which to the Gods are consecrate." (Page 5.) 
 
 Again at page 17 
 
 THE MUSES THRENODIE. 
 
 Of Mr George Ruthven the tears and mournings, 
 Amidst the giddie course of fortune's turnings, 
 Upon his dear friend's death Mr John Gall, 
 Where his rare ornaments bare a part, and wretched Gabions 
 all. 
 
 THE FIRST MUSE. 
 
 " Now first my Bowes begin this doleful song ; 
 No more with clangors let your shafts be flung, 
 In fields abroad, but in my cabin stay, 
 And help me for to mourn till dying day. 
 With dust and cobwebs cover all your heads. 
 And take you to your matins and your beads; 
 A requiem sing unto that sweetest soul 
 Which shines now fainted above other pole. 
 And ye my clubs, you must no more prepare 
 To make your balls flee whistling in the air : * 
 
 * " Perth stands in the middle of a beautiful green about an 
 English mile in length, and divides it into two, called the 
 North and South Inches, where the inhabitants have for ages
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 57 
 
 But hing your heads and bow your crooked crags, 
 
 And dress you all in sackcloath and in rags : 
 
 No more to see the sun or fertile fields ; 
 
 But closely keep your mourning in your bields; 
 
 And for your part the trible to you take, 
 
 And when you cry, make all your crags to crake, 
 
 And shiver when you sing, alas ! for Gall ! 
 
 Ah ! if our mourning might thee now recall ! 
 
 And ye my loadstones of Lednochian lakes,* 
 
 Collected from the loch where watrie snakes 
 
 Do much abound, take unto you a part, 
 
 And mourn for Gall, who lov'd you with his heart. 
 
 In this sad dump and melancholick mood, 
 
 The burdo'wn ye must bear, not on the flood 
 
 Or frozen watrie plaines, but let your tuning 
 
 Come help me for to weep by mournfull cruning. 
 
 And ye the rest my Gabions less and more, 
 
 Of noble kind, come help me for to roare ! 
 
 And of my woefull weeping take a part, 
 
 Help to declare the dolour of mine heart : 
 
 How can I choose, but mourne ? when I think on 
 
 Our games Olympick like in times agone." 
 
 exercised themselves during the spring and autumnal seasons 
 with golf clubs and balls. This pastime is interrupted 
 during the summer season by the luxuriancy of the grass, 
 which affords rich pasture for the milch cows belonging to 
 the inhabitants." 
 
 * "Lednocb is situated about four computed miles north from 
 Perth, on the banks of Almond River ; about this place the 
 best curling stones were found. The gentlemen of Perth, 
 fond of this athletic winter diversion on the frozen river, sent 
 and brought from Lednoch their curling stones." 
 
 H
 
 58 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF 
 KILMARNOCK. 
 
 BY ARCHIBALD M'KAY. (3110 EDITION, 1864.) 
 
 PAGE 114. A writer of the olden time, when 
 speaking of this district, says " it abounds in 
 strong and valiant men ; " and several remarkable 
 instances of longevity among the inhabitants of 
 Kilmarnock during the last century are on record, 
 ene of which is that of a porter, named John 
 Craig, who was able to carry parcels at the 
 advanced age of 105. Another is that of an 
 individual who, according to the Kirk Session 
 Records, had reached the wonderful age of 1 1 8 
 years.* Perhaps it was mainly to out-door re- 
 creations and athletic sports and games, which 
 were then common, that the men of Cunningham 
 were indebted for that robustness of constitution 
 alluded to. In the more genial months of the 
 year, bowl playing, f throwing the stone, wrestling, 
 
 * "1716, Septemr. 1 8. To ane old man ane 1 1 8 years, 
 on precept, 1 2s. Scots." Kirk Treasurer's Book. 
 
 t In a minute of Council, dated 5th March 1764, mention 
 is made of " a Shooting Prize of ^5 " having been placed,
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 59 
 
 &c., were the principal pastimes ; and, in the 
 winter season, " When Boreas blew his blasts"sae 
 bauld," the game of curling, which prevailed here 
 as far back as the year 1644, was a favourite 
 amusement. The curlers of one quarter of the 
 town would frequently challenge, as they still do, 
 those of another, and persons of all ranks, young 
 and old, would join in the bonspeil. 
 
 about the year 1740, in the hands of a Mr Paterson, "towards 
 erecting a bowling green, and purchasing bowls, as being 
 thought a more agreeable diversion than shooting." 
 
 J We have never heard any of our aged townsmen talk of 
 the May-pole, or of the rural festival of the " First of May " 
 being observed in the district. The following entry, however, 
 in the Town Treasurer's Book for 1780, would imply that 
 it was celebrated about that period : " Paid Robert Fraser, 
 for dressing a May-pole, 2s. 6d. sterling." 
 
 The May-poles, or " Simmer Trees," as they were called, 
 were prohibited by Act of Parliament in the reign of Queen 
 Mary. " And gif onie women," says the Act, " or uthers 
 about simmer-trees sing and makis perturbation to the Queenis 
 Lieges in the passage throw Burrowes and uther Landward 
 Tounes : the women perturbatoures for skafrie of money or 
 utherwise, sail be taken, handled, and put upon the Cuck-stules 
 of everie Burgh or Towne." After the restoration of Charles 
 the Second, this apparently harmless festival was again revived ; 
 and it is still customary, we believe, for the youths of several 
 places in Scotland to "go a Maying" on the first day of 
 May.
 
 60 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 The scenes of their contests were usually the 
 mill-dams in the vicinity, where with the best of 
 feeling they strove with each other for the palm of 
 victory; and when their "roaring play," as Burns 
 terms it, was over, it was not uncommon for them 
 to meet together by some "canty ingle," where 
 they would regale themselves with "pap-in,"* or 
 home-brewed ale, the favourite beverage of the 
 time, and spend the evening in mirth and harmony. 
 
 The Cross, too, strange as it may appear, was 
 sometimes converted into a curling pond. The 
 late Robert Montgomery, Esq. of Bogston, who 
 was the eldest son of Bailie John Wilson, 
 merchant, Kilmarnock, and who adopted the 
 name of Montgomery on inheriting the above 
 named estate, told our informant, the late James 
 Dobie, Esq. of Crummock, Beith, that his father 
 (Bailie Wilson) curled, in 1740, at the Cross of 
 Kilmarnock, for twenty-three successive days, ex- 
 cepting Sundays. The water was raised from a 
 well probably the present Cross Well and was 
 dammed up for the purpose. The winter of 1 740 
 was very severe, and long talked of as the hard 
 winter. 
 
 * A mixture of small beer and whisky.
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 6 I 
 
 At the present time, Kilmarnock contains many 
 keen and scientific curlers ; and judging from the 
 minute book of one of the oldest clubs, they have 
 often won laurels in their contests with the players 
 of other towns. 
 
 Besides the facility afforded by our streams for 
 the practice of the game, there are two excellent 
 lochs in the district, one at New Farm, rented 
 by the various clubs, and one at Craufurdland 
 Castle, to which the proprietor of that ancient 
 mansion makes all welcome. (Here follows an 
 account of the game, as published in the "Kilmarnock 
 Treatise on Curling") 
 
 " It has long been practised in the parish of 
 Kilmarnock. As a proof of this, we find it 
 stated in the Life of the celebrated William 
 Guthrie, who in the year 1644 was ordained 
 minister of Fenwick (then called New Kilmarnock, 
 and separated in 1642, from the parish of Kil- 
 marnock), that he was fond of the innocent 
 recreation which then prevailed, among which 
 was playing on the ice."* 
 
 * Other games, such as shovel-board, seem to have been 
 practised in the olden time in Kilmarnock, and to have drawn
 
 62 THE CHANNEL-STANE J 
 
 A curling stone, said to have been used by 
 Mr Guthrie, is still preserved at Craufurdland 
 Castle. Compared with those of the present 
 day it is truly antique in appearance. 
 
 A neatly executed monument, bearing the 
 following inscription, was recently erected to the 
 memory of Mr Guthrie in the churchyard of 
 Fenwick : " In memory of the Rev. William 
 Guthrie, first minister of this parish, and author 
 of the Christians Great Interest. Born 1620; 
 ordained, 1 644. Ejected by Prelatic persecution, 
 1664: worn out by labours and sufferings, he 
 died 1665, and was interred in the Church of 
 Brechin. His active and self-denied ministry, 
 through the Divine blessing, produced a deep 
 and lasting impression. This stone is erected, 
 1854, as a token of gratitude, by the Christian 
 public." 
 
 forth the censure of the ecclesiastical authorities. For example, 
 we find the following regarding it in the Session Record : 
 "March 23 1693. This day report was given to the Sess. 
 of some intimly and unseasonable gamin at shufle-board, which 
 the Session resented, and appointed it to be discharged."

 
 SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 65 
 
 THE ROARING GAME. 
 
 GONE are the vernal charms of flowery May, 
 Fled Summer's prime, and tints of Autumn gay ; 
 Congealed by Frost are glassy Lake and Stream, 
 'Mid Snow and Ice grim Winter reigns supreme. 
 
 Forth trooping from their haunts a boisterous crew, 
 With motley garb, but genial hearts and true ; 
 Heedless of wintry blast, of pastime fond, 
 They speed like clansmen to the Curling Pond. 
 
 And now, 'midst tongues and careless glee, 
 With many a homely joke, and sally free ; 
 The jostling Stones and Cramps obstruct the way, 
 And hopes run high, in prospect of the fray. 
 
 Drawn are the Rinks, where lines and curves combine, 
 The Tee, the House, Hogg Score, and Central Line ; 
 The Cramps are laid, the Champions ready stand, 
 With eye intent, and trusty Broom in hand. 
 
 Pause we awhile, to note the presence there 
 Of forms familiar, and of prowess rare ; 
 Knights of renown in Curling Heraldry, 
 And Landers, Mentor of the D. C. C.* 
 
 Right well, I ween, are known through country side, 
 The Jousts redoubtable our teams provide ; 
 The stubborn foeman's ranks must yield the day, 
 Opposed by vet'ran Skips like DAWSON, CRAIG, or GRAY. 
 
 * Dalkeith Curling Club. 
 
 I
 
 66 THE CHANNEL-STANE J 
 
 Now each, in turn, will utmost skill display, 
 To " dirl " the Stones along the slippery way ; 
 Excited SWEEPERS coax the laggards on ; 
 All speak at once, and furious grows the fun. 
 
 The fitful tide of battle ebbs and flows, 
 Excitement waxing warmest near the close ; 
 Till waving BROOM and ringing shout proclaim, 
 A well earned vict'ry in triumphant strain. 
 
 No angry feeling ever lingers here, 
 
 The panting warriors join in NIP or BEER ; 
 
 The savoury PIE invites us to repast, 
 
 And each extended hand is warmly grasped. 
 
 Oft in the coming years, with memory fond, 
 Will I recall those fights on LOTHIAN POND ; 
 And chant, in measured verse, the growing fame, 
 Of Scotia's Winter sport, " THE ROARING GAME." 
 
 JOHN J. STITT. 
 
 NORMAN MACLEOD'S CURLING SONG. 
 
 " ANOTHER of his favourite songs was one he 
 composed while on a visit to a friend in Ayrshire, 
 who was an enthusiastic curler. Norman, who 
 never even attempted to curl, heartily enjoyed the 
 exciting scene on the ice, and the keenness dis-
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 67 
 
 played by ' tenant and laird ' as they strove 
 together for the honours of the ' roaring 
 game ' : 
 
 " CURLING SONG." 
 " Air * Come under my plaidie.' 
 
 " A' nicht it was freezin', a' nicht I was sneezin*. 
 * Tak' care,' quo' the wife, ' gudeman o' yer cough.' 
 A fig for the sneezin', hurrah for the freezin', 
 For the day we're to play the Bonspiel on the loch ! 
 Then get up, my braw leddy, the breakfast mak' ready, 
 For the sun on the snaw drift's beginnin' to blink. 
 Gie me bannocks or brochan, I'm aff to the lochan, 
 To mak' the stanes flee to the ' T ' o' the rink. 
 
 Then hurrah for the curling, frae Girvan to Stirling ! 
 
 Hurrah for the lads o' the besom and stane ! 
 
 Ready, noo ! Soop it up ! Clap a guard ! Steady, noo ! 
 
 Oh curling abune a' the games, stands alane. 
 
 " The ice it is splendid, it canna be mended, 
 Like a glass ye can glowr in't an shave aff yer beard ; 
 And see how they gaither, comin' owre the brown heather, 
 The master and servants, the tenant and laird. 
 There's braw J. O. Fairlie, he's there late and early, 
 Better curlers than he or Hugh Conn canna be ; 
 Wi' the lads frae Kilwinnin', they'll send the stanes spinnin', 
 Wi' a ivhurr and a curr, till they sit roun' the ' T.' 
 Then hurrah for the curling, &c. 
 
 " It's an unco like story, that baith Whig and Tory, 
 Maun aye collyshangy, * like dogs owre a bane ; 
 
 * Quarrel.
 
 68 THE CHANNEL-STAKE J 
 
 An' that a' denominations are wantin' in patience, 
 For nae kirk will thole * to let ithers alane. 
 But in fine frosty weather, let a' meet thegither, 
 Wi' brooms in their hauns, an' a stane near the * T * ; 
 Then ha ! ha ! by my certies, ye'll see hoo a' parties 
 Like brithers will love and like brithers agree ! 
 Then hurrah for the curling, &c." 
 
 " Memoir of Norman Macleod, D.D.," 
 Vol. II. p. 223. 
 
 THE CURLER'S ADDRESS TO HIS KOWE. 
 
 Air " The Nameless Lassie." 
 
 IN summers past I've seen the bloom, 
 
 On mossy bank and knowe ; 
 
 I'll ne'er forget thy youthful prime, 
 
 My bonny broomy kowe. 
 
 I've garlanded thy yellow tops, 
 
 I've lain beneath thy bough, 
 
 I've revell'd mid thy sweet perfume, 
 
 My bonny broomy kowe. 
 
 As mem'ry green recalls the past, 
 
 My heart is set alowe, 
 
 Wi' moistened een I gaze on thee, 
 
 My bonny broomy kowe. 
 
 Time tells on baith, your pith has gane, 
 
 And wrinkled is my brow. 
 
 * Endure.
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 69 
 
 We're no sae fresh as we hae been, 
 My bonny broomy kowe. 
 
 You're wizzened sair, and maist as thin, 
 
 As hairs upon my pow. 
 
 I doubt our days are nearly done, 
 
 My bonny broomy kowe. 
 
 Time warps us a', and makes us stiff, 
 
 E'en curlers keen, I trow ; 
 
 Sae be content, your fate is mine, 
 
 My bonny broomy kowe. 
 
 When death comes o'er me, let my grave 
 
 Be sacred frae the plough ; 
 
 For cypress, plant a golden broom, 
 
 That yet may be a kowe. 
 
 Nor rest nor peace shall ere be yours, 
 
 A' curlers hear my vow, 
 
 Unless there grow abune my head, 
 
 A bonny broomy kowe. 
 
 W. A. PETERKIN (Cabsrfeidgh). 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Air " Here's to the year that's awa." 
 
 HERE'S to the game that we lo'e, 
 
 We'll drink it in strong mountain dew ; 
 
 And here's to ilk ane 
 
 Wha can play up a stane 
 
 On a rink that is keen, strong, and true.
 
 7O THE CHANNEL-STAKE J 
 
 Here's to the cauld wint'ry blast, 
 
 That gars our hearts beat true and fast ; 
 
 And the next toast we'll drink 
 
 Is the loud roaring rink, 
 
 Auld Scotia's sons play to the last. 
 
 E. P. 
 
 PAROCHIAL SPIEL. 
 
 BETWEEN THE PARISHES OF NEW CUMNOCK AND SANQUHAR, 
 JANUARY 25, 1848. 
 
 THE curlers keen o' Black Johan, 
 Wi* those of Wanlockhead, man, 
 For Cumnock loch, in contest teuch, 
 Up winding Nitha sped, man. 
 
 The morning star shone frae afar, 
 The way was dry and clean, man ; 
 Their hearts beat high their skill to try, 
 On glassy field convene, man. 
 
 New Cumnock sons, wi' brooms and stones, 
 Their Sanquhar friends salute, man ; 
 'Twas shaking hands through a' the bands, 
 And scatheless the dispute, man. 
 
 The tickets drawn, then man to man, 
 Upon the glittering field, man ; 
 By hand and eye, each scheme they try, 
 Might fa', but never yield, man.
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 71 
 
 'Twas roaring play throughout the day, 
 The ice was smooth and keen, man ; 
 Just measurement gave all content 
 Who round the tee convene, man. 
 
 Onlookers here, from far and near, 
 Sped over bog and lea, man, 
 From banks o' Doon and Crawfordjohn, 
 Came here the play to see, man. 
 
 Swart Sanquhar got twa extra shot, 
 They were so near a par, man, 
 In humour good they all conclude 
 The bluidless icy war, man. 
 
 When spiels begin, how they may en', 
 Or who may victory claim, man, 
 'Twas said of old, and now enrolled, 
 Ice is a slippery game, man. 
 
 From " Poems and Prose Tales " by 
 James Kennedy, Sanquhar, 1848. 
 
 "SOOPIN'S UP." 
 
 " SOUTERING." There were, towards the close of 
 the last century, a rink of seven players upon 
 the Lochmaben ice, all shoemakers by trade 
 Scotice, Soutcrs. So expert in the curling art 
 were those Knights of the Lapstone, that for a
 
 72 THE CHANNEL-STANE ; 
 
 number of years they not only fought and con- 
 quered all who opposed them, but conquered so 
 frequently, without allowing their opponents to 
 reckon even a solitary shot, that the phrase arose 
 we soutered them. So vain at length did they 
 become, that they set the whole of Scotland at 
 defiance upon the ice. They were, however, at 
 last completely overthrown by a specially selected 
 rink of local players. 
 
 Of these doughty carls, to give an idea of 
 their collective prowess, it was said of Deacon 
 Jardine that he could birse a needle with his stone: 
 />., he could wick a bore so scientifically, that he 
 would undertake, having first attached, with a 
 piece of shoemaker's wax, two needles to the 
 side of two curling stones just the width of the 
 one he played with apart, and upon two stones 
 in front, similarly apart, and in the line of direction, 
 having affixed two birses, to play his stone so ac- 
 curately that in grazing through the port it 
 should impel the birses forward through the eyes 
 of the needles. 
 
 ANCIENTCURLING STONE. "Last week, while
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 73 
 
 the foundation of the old house of Loig, in 
 Strathallan, was being dug oat, a curling stone 
 of a very different shape and texture from those 
 now generally in use in that district was dis- 
 covered. It is of an oblong form, and had been 
 neatly finished with the hammer. The initials 
 'J. M.' and the date '1611' are still distinctly 
 legible, having been deeply though uncouthly 
 engraven. This discovery affords a curious and 
 striking proof of the antiquity of the game of 
 curling." Caledonian Mercury, 2oth December 
 1830. 
 
 "DYKE STANES." Forty years ago (1813) 
 the stones were generally selected from dykes in 
 the neighbourhood (Neilston Parish); but on one 
 occasion a player borrowed a shoemaker's lap, or 
 beating stone, which gave him such an advantage 
 in playing, that the others declined playing with 
 him unless it was laid aside. CAIRNIE. 
 
 CANADIAN CURLING. A Canadian farmer at 
 Quebec, who had seen the game for the first 
 time, gave the following description of it: " J'ai 
 
 K
 
 74 THE CHANNEI.-STANE ; 
 
 vu aujourd'hui une bande d'Ecossois qui jettoient 
 des grandes boules de fer, faites comme des 
 bombes, sur la glace; apres quoi, ils crioient 
 soupe, soupe; ensuite, ils rioient comme des foux; 
 je crois bien qu'ils sont vraiement foux." To- 
 day I saw a band of Scotchmen, who were throw- 
 ing large balls of iron like tea kettles on the ice, 
 after which they cried, "soop, soop," and then 
 laughed like fools. I verily believe they were 
 fools indeed. CAIRNIE, 1833. 
 
 About the period the foregoing story was 
 written, cast-iron missiles of 45 Ibs. to 65 Ibs. 
 weight were used by the members of the Mon- 
 treal and Quebec Clubs instead of curling stones. 
 They were found not to run so well as whin 
 stones in mild weather, or when the sun shone 
 bright and warm ; but in general they answered 
 their purpose fully as well, besides possessing the 
 great advantage of not being liable to be broken. 
 
 CAST-IRON MISSILES. These castings for 
 curling with were made by Mr Edington of 
 Glasgow. They were cast hollow, i o inches by 5 
 inches, weighing 36 Ibs., and had one sole case
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. /5 
 
 hardened. They required an experienced player. 
 Being so keen, they had to be played with the 
 greatest caution, and answered particularly well 
 for drug ice. 
 
 DR WOTHERSPOON, Minister of Beith in 
 1745, was a keen and earnest curler. He came 
 often to Lochwinnoch while the frost lasted. He 
 frequented Strand's Inn with his curling compeers. 
 One Saturday after a tough match, he, with his 
 party, dined there, and sat till eleven o'clock at 
 night. Strand's wife, Margaret Orr, a douce and 
 a serious Christian, patted him, and whispered a 
 hint about his public duty, the next day being 
 the Lord's day. He replied loudly, " A minister 
 who could not shake a sermon out of his coat 
 sleeve is a silly cuif." 
 
 HENRY DARNLEY, during the severe winter 
 he was forced to spend at Peebles, was much 
 employed in curling, chiefly on a meadow which 
 formed part of the glebe. 
 
 SINGULAR SHOT. The following curious
 
 76 THE CHANNEL-STAKE ; 
 
 occurrence happened on the Ayrshire ice. 
 Two parties were playing a short distance from 
 each other a quantity of snow, scraped off the 
 rinks, lying between. The player having to take 
 the winner, and being requested to play with all 
 his strength, missed his aim, but his stone went 
 over the intervening ice, and bulwark of snow, 
 and actually struck off the adverse winner upon 
 the neighbouring tee ! ^ Should an inter- 
 polating shot of this kind be entitled to count ? 
 Mem. Cur. Mab. 
 
 CURLING STONES FOR CANADA. In 1829 two 
 hundred pair of " Ailsa Craigs " were shipped to 
 Canada for the use of the clubs out there. 
 
 THE REV. ADAM WADDERSTONE, Boghead, 
 2ist October 1842. There is a very good 
 anecdote told of the Rev. Adam Wadderstone, 
 who for twenty-three years was minister of the 
 parish of Bathgate, and died in August 1780. 
 Mr Wadderstone was a most excellent man, and 
 in the temporal as well as in the spiritual happi- 
 ness of his parishioners took the most lively in- 
 terest. Of the manly and spirit-stirring game of
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 77 
 
 curling he was a most enthusiastic supporter, 
 and almost upon every occasion headed his flock 
 in their encounters with the neighbouring 
 parishes. John Clarkson, a highly respected 
 and worthy elder of his session, also a " true 
 son of the broom," having, very late one Satur- 
 day evening, received a challenge from the people 
 of the parish of Shotts, to meet the curlers of 
 Bathgate early on the following Monday, was 
 nonplussed how to communicate the joyful in- 
 telligence to his clergyman, being afraid to disturb 
 him while preparing his prelections, or to arouse 
 him out of his balmy repose. After many qualms 
 of conscience, and several hours of restless anx- 
 iety, he made up his mind to inform him of it in 
 the session-house on the Sunday morning. The 
 pastor no sooner entered, than John said in a low 
 tone, " Sir, I've something to tell you there's 
 to be a parish play with the Shotts folk to- 
 morrow at " " Whisht, man, whisht ; O fie 
 shame, John; fie shame; nae speaking to-day about 
 warldly recreations ! " The parson, however, just 
 as he was about to enter the kirk-door, having 
 wheeled suddenly round, returned to his friend,
 
 THE CHANNEL-STAKE : 
 
 who was now standing at the plate, and whispered 
 into his ear " But whan's the hour, John ? I'll 
 be sure and be there ! !" The foregoing anecdote 
 is recorded in the words of the writer, a gentle- 
 man well known to us as a good and keen 
 curler, and who can vouch for its authenticity. 
 
 KlLCONQUHAR KEEN CURLING. Although 
 
 we believe that there is an occasional crook to be 
 found in every man's lot, we never knew, until 
 we read the following anecdote, that there was 
 a jftxed crook peculiar to the curlers. We are 
 anxious to know if the individual referred to had 
 acquired what is the perfection in the art of 
 curling, in our opinion, the twist of the hand, in 
 delivering his stones, the art by which he can 
 overcome biases of the ice, and can really play 
 round his opponent's stones : " KILCONQUHAR, 
 1842. To show that our forefathers were as 
 keen upon the ice in this place as what the 
 present generation is, we have the following re- 
 lated to us by an old curler: That it was no 
 uncommon thing, about fifty or sixty years ago, 
 that they, after playing a whole day on the ice,
 
 OR, SWEEPINGS FRAE THE RINKS. 79 
 
 would retire at twilight, and have a little refresh- 
 ment, and start to it again quite fresh, and play, 
 by the aid of lanthorns lighted, until the crow- 
 ing of the cock warned them to drop. It also may 
 be stated, that, in the long and severe winter, 
 about twenty-eight or thirty years ago, that an 
 individual here played for six weeks, all day, ex- 
 cepting a few days' intermission, and that his hand 
 actually kept the position of a person's hand after 
 he has done holding a stone in his hand, and that 
 it kept the crook for a very considerable time 
 afterwards. The same individual is still a keen 
 curler." 
 
 FEAT OF STRENGTH. We are informed that 
 there have been instances of throwing a curling 
 stone one English mile upon ice. It was no uncom- 
 mon thing in days of yore, and there are many still 
 alive who have done it, to throw across the Kirk 
 Loch from the Orchard to the Skelbyland a feat 
 not much short of the above. Upon the occasion, 
 we believe, of a match with Tinwald, Laurie 
 Young, the strongest player amongst them, 
 challenged the Lochmaben party to a trial of
 
 8O THE CHANNEL-STANE. 
 
 arm. Their president stepped out, and taking 
 his stone, threw it v/ith such strength across the 
 breadth of the Mill Loch, that it slotted off the 
 brink upon the other side, and tumbled over upon 
 the grass. " Now," said he to Laurie, " go and 
 throw it back again, and we'll then confess that 
 you are too many for us." Mem. Cur. Mab. 
 
 WOODEN BLOCKS. A correspondent mentions 
 having heard that wooden blocks were formerly 
 and may possibly still be in use in Arran. The 
 Editor would feel obliged for any particulars as 
 to size, weight, description of wood, manner of 
 preparing the blocks, and the experiences of those 
 who have played with them. 
 
 Communications for the EDITOR, should be addressed to the 
 care of the Publisher, Mr RICHARD CAMERON, 1 8 George Street, 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Turnbull f Sfcari, Printers, Edinburgh.
 
 WORKS ON CURLING. 
 
 \/fR CAMERON can still supply Copies of the following interesting 
 Works, and would recommend early application to be made, as 
 the very limited issue is nearly exhausted: 
 
 Curling : Jl?e (Blorious pastime. 
 
 Account of the Game of Curling, by a Member of the Dud- 
 dingston Curling Society, 1811. Also, SONGS FOR THE 
 CURLING CLUB held at Canon-Mills, 1792. These two 
 Rare Publications are beautifully re-printed on hand-made paper, 
 with Introduction, Glossary of Phrases, &c. Sm. 410, vellum. 
 53. 1882. 
 
 Only 250 Copies -were PRIVATELY PRINTED. 
 
 Gbe IRilmarnock treatise on Curling. 
 
 A beautiful Reprint of the Rare Original Edition of 1828, on 
 Dutch hand-made paper, with Introduction. Sm. 410, vellum. 
 55. 1883. 
 
 Only 250 PRIVATELY PRINTED. 
 
 RICHARD CAMERON, 
 
 Antiquarian & General Bookseller, 
 1 8 GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH, 
 
 Has always in stock a Jlne collection of scarce and interesting Books on 
 Antiquities, History, Topography, Fine Arts, Ballad and Scottish Poetry, 
 The Drama, Sporting and Angling, fac. 
 
 CATALOGUES SENT FREE ON APPLICATION.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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 MAR 1 7 196V 
 
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