Heely, heely, Tam, ye glaiket stirk—ye hinna on the hin shelvin o' the cairt. Fat hae ye been haiverin at min? That cauff saick'll be tint owre the back door afore we win a mile fae hame. See't yer belly ban' be ticht aneuch noo. Woo, lassie! Man, ye been makin' a hantle mair adee aboot blaikin that graith o' yours, an' kaimin the mear's tail, nor balancin' yer cairt, an' gettin' the things packit in till't.

William Alexander

Johnny Gibb of Gushnetneuk is ain o the maist byordinar warks scrievit in Doric.  It first cam oot in pairts in the Aiberdeen Free Press in 1869-70 afore it wis publisht is a buik in 1871.  It is a radical wark aboot the fecht fir democracy an richts, throuw the Great Disruption o the Kirk in 1843.  It spiks aboot the fecht for fa hid haud o grun, the fecht atween lairds an bigsy fairmers on ae haun and cotters an sma crafters on the ither.

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WILLIAM  ALEXANDER 

William Alexander wis born it the fairm o Westerhouse, Rescivet in Chapel o Garioch in 1826.  He wis the aulest loon o James Alexander (1789-1856) fa hid a smiddy in sma craftie and his damie Anne Wilson (1802-1889) fa hailt fae Aul Rayne.  He wis skweelt it Daviot.  He gotten yokit warkin on the fairm bit a mishanter led tae him lowsin a leg fan he wis twinty.

It wis a lang recuperation and he lairnt himsel shorthaun an gotten active we the Aiberdeenshire an Banffshire Mutual Instruction Union.  Throuw es, he got freenly we William McCombie o Cainballoch, the philosopher an economist, an ain o the maist impressive self-lairnt chiels in the North o Scotland
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McCombie gied Alexander a richt grounding in 'the leading philosophical tendencies of the age' as weel as a job it the Aberdeen Free Press.  Alexander wis the main support o his late father's young family.  Fan he wis 41 eers aul, he merriet Anne Allan, a schoolteacher.  They hidna ony bairns.

On Tuesday 28 Septimmer 1869, the first pairt o Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk appeart in the Aberdeen Free Press.  It is aboot the life o the eponymous hero, Johnny Gibb, cotter o Gushetneuk in the Parish o Pyketillim in Aiberdeenshire.  Johnny is a chiel fa leads the successful revolt of the small farmers agin established authority in baith politics and kirk.  It is radical an revolutionary view of the centrality and significance of the common man, and offers a radical solution to the crisis in land ownership,

Alexander war being influenced by John Stuart Mill as weel as contemporary French socialist thinking.  It came to be regarded as a classic of nineteenth-century Scottish fiction. A masterly study of power and its ramifications at every social level, the work deals with the struggle to control the land and the impact of the great disruption of 1843, the most dramatic event of nineteenth-century Scottish history.

FA  WIS 
​WILLIAM  McCombie?

William McCombie wis born on Mey 1809, the loon a sma fairmer it Cairnaballoch oot by Alford. He only got a basic skweeling an wis taen on as orraman on his fadder's fairm.  Bit, the loon hid a taste fir lairnin and jynt the local debating societies.  He scrievt a series o essays fit got published in London in 1835 we the title 'Hours of Thought'.  Fan aye warkin on the fairm he sterted tae contribute articles tae the papers an tae the British Quarterly Review.  In 1849, he jynt the Aberdeen Gazette and syne became the editor in 1853 chyngin its name tae the Aberdeen Free Press. 

He bed as editor the rest o his life.  McCombie wis a stalwart for the Liberal Pairty in the Nor-East and a supporter o the Free Kirk, baith of fit were strong in Aiberdeen.  Under McCombie, the Free Press suportit mony causes, including universal suffrage, a radical idea it the time.  His ‘Hours of Thought’ wis taen oot in a third edition in 1856 an his ither buiks includit ‘Unity and Schism,’  ‘Moral Agency,’ ‘Life and Remains of Alexander Bethune,’ ‘Capital and Labour,’ 1846. ‘Essays on Education,’ ‘Modern Civilisation,’ 1864, an ‘A Pamphlet on the Irish Land Question’. He deid in 1870.  
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FIRST  PAIRT  AIBERDEEN  FREE  PRESS  ​28  Septimmer  1869

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ALEXANDER'S  PREFACE  TAE  THE  THIRD  EDITION

The intention of the writer was to portray, as faithfully as he could, some forms of character not uncommon in the rural life of Aberdeenshire a quarter of a century ago, at least; the effort being to make the purely ideal persons introduced literally true to nature, as it had manifested itself under his own eyes, or within his own experience, in their habits of thought and modes of speech.

Illustrations of real life, mainly of an old-fashioned sort, and of a local dialect, which is getting gradually pushed into the background, or divested of some of its more characteristic forms of expression, have been attempted, rather than anything in the nature of a formally constructed story.

The only remark that it seems necessary to offer, in addition to the foregoing sentences, is that the present edition contains a Glossary for the benefit of English readers and others unacquainted with the peculiarities of the Aberdeenshire dialect. 

He was a active in aa kynes of civic wark in the toon, being a member o the New Spalding Club and the Aiberdeen Philosophical Society, as weel as active in Liberal politics and mony gweed warks for the city.  In 1887 he was gien an honorary docorate o Law be the Varsity o Aiberdeen.  

Alexander deid at his hame, 3 Belvidere Street, Aiberdeen on 19 Februar 1893.  He wis beeriet in Nellfield Cemetery in the toon.  The bust o him on the memorial wis deen be Pittendreigh MacGillivray. 
His wife Anne survivit him until 1922.

Maist o Alexander's wark (he scrievit five mair novels) wis jist tae be found in auld newspapers far it is wis orginally published until the 1980s fan The Laird of Drammochdyle and My Uncle the Baillie, were taen oot in buik form in 1986 and 1995. Baith o them deal we toon as weel as kintra, we the sair lives o the peer in toons as weel as we fairmers and cotters. 

CLICK ABLO TAE KEEK IT THE HAIL BUIK

MAIR aboot johnny gibb an doric

MAIR ABOOT WILLIAM aLEXANDER

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Gushetneuk's opening lines include the famous phrase "ye glaiket stirk".  This was later immortalised in popular culture as The Glaikit Stirk, the pub in Auchterturra by the comedy trio ​Scotland the What.  

FIN  OOT FIT THE  FOLLAEIN  WIRDS  MEAN....

GUSHET  &  GUSHETNEUK

COTTER / COTTAR

HANTLE 

SEE  FIT  YE  CAN  FIN  OOT ABOOT  THE DISRUPTION  in   1843   ONLINE AN  FOO   IT  IS  A THEME  IN JOHNNY  GIBB  OF  GUSHETNEUK

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CLICK  ABLO  FIR  WILLIAM  ALEXANDER'S  BUIKS