Letter from Pat1 to Jean2 on Monday
Heard Missell thrush at Firs 24th
Touch of frost again this morning. Calm dull not unpleasant day. Hard frost at night. ‘Phone to see Melville, Philiphaugh.3 Drove to Hospital, Dunsdale, Firs, Philiphaugh (where I opened an abscess in Melville’s tonsil) and town. At 1 (along with Meikle4) I amputated Andrew Smith’s prepuce under Chlor[oform].5 Went to evening service. Ross6 preached well from “Ye Believe then in one God : ye do well : the devils believe + tremble.”7 After supper had to go down to Lindean to see a child of a man Reddie.8 Cycled.
1 Patrick Rodger Stewart ‘Pat’ Muir (1879-1961), Dr Muir’s only son, living in New Zealand since 1902.
2 Jane Henderson Logan ‘Jean’ Pike née Muir (1877-1941), Dr Muir’s eldest daughter.
3 Charles Melville (1853-), servant. Born Clyne, Sutherland, he was recorded at Philiphaugh Mansion, 1901 Census.
4 Robert William Meikle (1870-), medical practitioner. Born Inveraray, Argyllshire, recorded at Gowanbrae, Selkirk, 1901 Census.
5 Andrew Smith is so far unidentified.
6 The Reverend Andrew Ross (1871-1942), Church of Scotland clergyman, who had moved to Selkirk in 1903 and was there until his retiral with the exception of a period in early 1918 when he was in France with the Scottish Churches Huts.
7 James 2:19.
8 There were two households named Reddie in Galashiels in the 1901 Census but neither can be linked to Lindean.
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/7, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1904]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 