_SONS OF THE ISLES._ _There is a spell woven by restless seas,_ _A secret charm that haunts our Island air,_ _Holding our hearts and following everywhere_ _The wandering children of the Orcades;_ _And still, when sleep the prisoned spirit frees,_ _What dim void wastes, what strange dark seas we dare,_ _Till where the dear green Isles shine low and fair_ _We moor in dreams beside familiar quays._ _Sons of the Isles! though ye may roam afar,_ _Still on your lips the salt sea spray is stinging,_ _Still in your hearts the winds of youth are singing;_ _Though in heavens grown familiar to your eyes_ _The Southern Cross is gleaming, for old skies_ _Your hearts are fain and for the Northern Star._ DUNCAN J. ROBERTSON (_“Chambers’s Journal.” By permission._) [Illustration: _“The wonder and the glory of all the North” (p. 69)._] [Illustration] The Orkney Book Readings for Young Orcadians Compiled and Edited by John Gunn, M.A., D.Sc. Author of “Sons of the Vikings,” “The Boys of Hamnavoe,” etc. Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd. London, Edinburgh, and New York PREFACE. This is a book about Orkney, for use in Orkney, designed and for the most part written by natives of Orkney. It owes its origin to the Edinburgh University Orcadian Association, the members of which realized the desirability of preparing for use in the schools of Orkney a book adapted to the special conditions of the Islands. Educationists now recognize that Knowledge ought, like Charity, to “begin at home:” this is true of every branch of knowledge—history, geography, literature, and the rest. They might even adopt with an educational reference the saying of the wise man, “Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.” An attempt has accordingly been made in this book to present to the young folks of Orkney a general view of their homeland, some description of its past and its present, and some knowledge of its naturalistic and its humanistic aspects, with the object of awakening their interest in their own Islands, in order that from this centre their knowledge may advance the more surely to the sweep of a wider horizon. For, like Charity again, while Knowledge must begin at home, it must not remain at home.