Helen1 + Winifred2 went to Picture House. Between frost + fresh. Some sleety snow. Shower in forenoon. Streets very slushy. Saw 10 cases walking and finished by 1. Archie McIntyre3 improving. Old Willie Stoddart4 very weak. John Elliot5 a little better + can almost touch the top of his head with left arm. Got letter from Dora6 which I sent to Jean7 as I was writing her. She can get the shop + house8 for £1000 + Campbell9 offers to give her a bond for £600 at 5% [and] after paying interest + Feu duty she would have £14. 15. 0 left for taxes + as her present rent is £56 she would save something.
1 Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper.
2 Margaret ‘Winifred’ Armitage (1874-1970), daughter of William Armitage, cotton merchant, and Margaret Petrie Armitage née Mills. Winifred’s sister Dorothy had married Francis ‘Frank’ Muir (1877-1972), electrical engineer and son of the Reverend Gavin Struthers ‘Guy’ Muir, Dr Muir’s brother.
3 Archie Sibbald McIntyre (1896-), motor mechanic, recorded at Eastfield, Viewfield Park, had injured himself getting out of a car on 20 November.
4 This may refer to William Stoddart (about 1850-), retired shepherd, recorded as a boarder at Deloraine Hope, Kirkhope, in the 1921 Census.
5 Perhaps John Elliot (about 1848-), retired forester, recorded at the Old Toll House on the Selkirk – Bowden road in the 1921 Census.
6 Andrina Dorothy ‘Dora’ Muir (1882-1978), nurse and Dr Muir’s youngest daughter, who was living and working in Egypt at this time.
7 Jane Henderson Logan ‘Jean’ Pike née Muir (1877-1941), Dr Muir’s widowed eldest daughter. She had married, 15 June 1920 at Mayfield U.F. Church, Newington, Edinburgh, Frederick Charles Pike (d.1921), theatrical agent.
8 Jean ran a tea shop in Newington after the First World War. Presumably this is what she wanted to buy.
9 Campbell is unidentified.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/26, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1923]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 