Young Barbarians

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Pages: 145

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About this book

The contents list chapters titled, among others, Speug, Bulldog, Nestie and A Famous Victory. Peter is called Speug, which is Scotch for a sparrow, for his impudence, his courage, his endurance, his general cockiness and his extraordinary ingenuity in mischief. The text says it would be brazen falsehood to say that Peter was a scholar, and that he sat unashamed at the foot of every class.

On a day of license the boys shout, cheer, yell and whistle, and bombard all and sundry with pellets of paper shot from little elastic catapults, until at last Bulldog rises and demands silence for the Provost. The Provost explains at wide intervals that he is glad to see his young friends, and that he had once been a boy himself, to which the boys answer with howls and a unanimous shout of No. Bulldog takes up his position early, just in front of the tent, and never moves till the match is over.

About the author

Ian Maclaren

Ian Maclaren was the literary name used by John Watson, a Scottish minister and writer associated with the Kailyard school of fiction. He became widely known for stories of rural Scottish life, including Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, while publishing sermons and religious reflections from his experience in the Presbyterian ministry.