27 November 1923 diary of Dr John Stewart Muir (1845-1938) of Selkirk

Pretty keen frost : calm. Dull. There was little or no “come”.¹ Motored to Curror Street, Raeburn Meadow + up to Fastheugh.² The going was much better, the track being free of snow + mostly frozen. H.³ + W.⁴ went to a tea party at Pollok’s⁵ with Mrs Mack⁶ who looked in here on her way back. Did some work on Record Cards.⁷

¹ A word used regularly by Dr Muir “CUM, Come, n.2 “A thaw” (Rxb. 1927 E. C. Smith Braid Haaick 10, come); “moisture in the air” (m.Dmf.3 c.1920, cum); “sweat on ice when frost begins to yield” (Dmf. 1925 W. A. Scott in Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 22, cum). [kʌm]” [Source: ‘Dictionar o the Scots Leid’].

² Dr Muir had previously attended Elizabeth Hutchison at Fastheugh, grid reference NGR NT392,289, at the west end of Black Andrew woods on the south side of the Yarrow Water.

³ Helen Frances ‘Mousey’ Muir (1880-1963), Dr Muir’s third daughter and sometime housekeeper.

⁴ 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.

⁵ John Pollok (1858-1938), sometime Town Clerk, Procurator Fiscal, and Clerk to the Property & Income Tax Commissioners.

⁶ Dr Muir’s good friend Agnes Mackintosh née Watson, formerly Harper (1859-1946) of Elm Park, Selkirk.

⁷ The record cards of the Muir and Graham medical partnership.

[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/26, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1923]