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Design Leadership and Management
Design Leadership and Management
A Case Study in Singapore

Garry Tan
University of Western Australia, Australia and
Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore
and
Anne Chapman
University of Western Australia, Australia
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-94-6351-153-7 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-94-6351-154-4 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-94-6351-155-1 (e-book)

Published by: Sense Publishers,

P.O. Box 21858,
3001 AW Rotterdam,
The Netherlands
https://www.sensepublishers.com/

Printed on acid-free paper

All Rights Reserved © 2017 Sense Publishers

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the
exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and
executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures and Tables vii

Abbreviationsix

Chapter 1: Overview of the Issues 1

Introduction1
Background and Context 2
Rationale for the Study 3
Key Concepts and Definitions 7
Overview of the Research Aims, Questions, and Methods 14
Overview of the Findings 14
Conclusion15

Chapter 2: Background and Context 17

Introduction17
Globalisation and the Rise of the Asian Economies 17
Transition from Information/Knowledge to Cultural/Creative Industries 21
International Trends in Design Policies 25
Singapore’s Transition to the Cultural and Creative Economy 28
The Singapore Government and Disciplinary Development 29
Conclusion31

Chapter 3: Literature Review 33

Introduction33
Literature Theme 1: Transitions to Leadership and Management Positions 33
Literature Theme 2: Design Leadership Development Education 36
Literature Theme 3: Design Talent Management 38
Literature Theme 4: Design Community and Practice 39
Literature Theme 5: Design Policy and Strategy 44
Research Gaps 53
Conclusion53

Chapter 4: Methodology 59
Introduction59
Conceptual Framework 59
Research Design 63
Methods of Data Collection and Analysis 68

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Trustworthiness and Ethical Considerations 72

Conclusion73

Chapter 5: Case Study Findings 75

Introduction75
Case 1: Design Managers 78
Case 2: Design Consultants 83
Case 3: Design Entrepreneurs 87
Overarching Themes from the Case Studies 90
Perspectives of Design Leaders on the Design Profession in Singapore 95
Conclusion97

Chapter 6: Overview of Findings 99

Introduction99
Findings on Design Leaders 99
Level 1 Findings: Design Leadership Transition (DLT) 100
Level 2 Findings: Design Leadership Development Programme (DLDP) 103
Level 3 Findings: War for Talents (WFT) 108
Level 4 Findings: Design Eco-System (ECO) 111
Level 5 Findings: Asian Design Hub (ADH) 114
Overview of Themes 118
Conclusion129

Chapter 7: Theory and Discussion 131

Introduction131
Level 1 DLT Theory: Self-cultivation 132
Level 2 DLT Theory: Developing Expertise 136
Level 3 DLT Theory: Groom Talents 144
Level 4 DLT Theory: Build Design Industry, Community, and Society 155
Level 5 DLT Theory: Improve Policies and Relationships 161
Conclusion165

Chapter 8: Conclusion 167

Introduction167
Overview of the Study 167
Alignment with Business Literature/Theories 169
Recommendations174
Implications for Further Research 179
Conclusion180

References181

Index191

vi
 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

FIGURES

Figure 1. Structure of the cultural and creative industries in Singapore 42

Figure 2. Cultural and creative economic policies in Singapore 48
Figure 3. Framework for identifying industrial design leaders as panels 65

TABLES

Table 1. Difference between designers & design leaders 40

Table 2. Design value in context 41
Table 3. Summary of themes and research gaps 54
Table 4. Who-what-where-how framework 57
Table 5. Unpacking the guiding questions 61
Table 6. Framing the five guiding questions 64
Table 7. Three types of design leaders in Singapore 67
Table 8. Panel of participants 68
Table 9. Research questions and research gap relationship 76
Table 10. DLT theory level 1: Self-cultivation 132
Table 11. DLT theory level 2: Developing expertise 137
Table 12. DLT theory level 3: Groom talents 145
Table 13. DLT theory level 4: Build industry, community, and society 156
Table 14. DLT theory level 5: Improve policies and relationships 161
Table 15. Level 5 leadership 169
Table 16. Five practices of exemplary leadership and the leadership
challenge  170
Table 17. Authentic leadership 171
Table 18. Five principles of leadership for learning  171
Table 19. Intentional change theory 173
Table 20. Five levels of leadership 174
Table 21. Table of recommendations based on research 175

vii
 ABBREVIATIONS

ACCA Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts

ATLAS.TI Atlas.ti Qualitative Data Analysis Software
ADH Asian Design Hub
BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa
CAQDAS Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software
CIDS Creative Industries Development Strategy
DCMS Department of Culture, Media, and Sports (UK)
DLDP Design Leadership Development Programme
DLT Design Leadership Transition
DC Design Consultants
DE Design Entrepreneurs
DM Design Managers
DSG DesignSingapore Report
DSG-2 DesignSingapore Report 2
DSI DesignSingapore Initiative
ECO Design Eco-system
ERC Economic Review Committee
FDI Foreign Domestic Investments
ICSID International Council of Societies of Industrial Design
MCD Ministry of Community Development
MICA Ministry of Information, Culture and the Arts
MNC Multinational Corporations
MTI Ministry of Trade and Industry
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
RCR Renaissance City Report
RCR 2.0 Renaissance City Report 2.0
SME Small and Medium Enterprises
SSIC Singapore Standard Industrial Classification
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation
WFT War for Talents

ix
 CHAPTER 1

OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

INTRODUCTION

This book reports research aimed at developing understanding of design leaders’

transition to design leadership and management positions in Singapore. Design is a
key sector of the cultural and creative industries, which are of great consequence to
social and economic well-being both internationally and in Singapore. The Singapore
government has transformed Singapore from being an information-driven industry in
the early 1980s, to a knowledge-based society in the early 2000s and finally, arriving
at a thriving creative economy (MICA, 2008). Singapore’s transformation has
highlighted creativity as a source of strategic advantage in present-day managerial
and political lexicon (de Fillippi, Grabher, & Jones, 2007).
This study is located in context of the development of the creative industries
in Singapore, with a particular focus on the design sector (MICA, 2003). The
government’s creative industries policy seeks to position Singapore as a global hub
of multimedia and design capabilities. Design leadership is critical to this enterprise.
This book seeks to inform policy and practice in design and deepen knowledge
of design leadership. The challenge for the study was to review design leadership
transition in Singapore in light of the Asia Pacific war for talents and Singapore’s
drive to become the design hub of Asia. The research was conducted from 2009 to
2015, being framed by the Design Singapore Initiative (DSI) Phase II, a national
collaborative strategy to promote and develop design excellence.
For the purpose of this study, design leaders are individuals who find themselves
in a position of leadership or who choose to lead in a design team or design
organisation. Design leaders act as design advocates, promoters, or interpreters
that connect and support design expertise according to the company’s agenda and
competencies. Their role is to direct and control, eliminate uncertainties, deal with
variances from the grand plan, understand the whole system, see its connections,
foresee the responses of people and design and execute appropriate interventions.
Similarly, design leadership is defined as having the aim of helping organisations
envision the future and ensures that design is used to turn those visions into reality.
In contrast, design management’s focus is on the management and integration of
assets, activities, resources, and processes to foster creativity and originality to
create sensible solutions that achieve corporate objectives.

1
CHAPTER 1

The overarching goal of the research was to develop theory on design leaders’
transition to design leadership and management positions in Singapore. To this
end, the qualitative study sought the experiences and perspectives of industrial
design leaders and produced rich descriptions of their transition to leadership and
management positions. Theory was generated in the form of theoretical propositions.
Based on the empirical and theoretical outcomes of the research, recommendations
are made later in this book for professional and educational practice, policy and
further research in design leadership to benefit the industrial design community in
Singapore. Importantly, this study provided design leaders a voice that “explains the
significance of a Design Singapore Initiative (DSI) under the rubric of the Creative
Industries” (Lee, 2004, p. 13).
The remainder of this chapter is presented in four main sections. The first section
provides a brief outline of the background and context of the study, highlighting the
significance of Singapore as a case for investigating design leadership in the creative
industries. The second section presents the rationale for the study. The third section
describes the key concepts and definitions employed in this research and book. The
fourth section provides an overview of the research method. The chapter concludes
with a structured overview of the chapters to follow.

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Singapore’s successes and achievements in education are well documented

(Gopinathan, 2007; Holden & Hamblett, 2007; Pedersen, Oster, & Truelsen, 2011;
Sharpe & Gopinathan, 2002). However, according to some scholars, its development
ethos and survival ideology had previously marginalized the development of arts
and culture resulting in a labour force that is not suitable for the creative economy
(Holden & Hamblett, 2007; Low, 2002; Ooi, 2010; Sharpe & Gopinathan, 2002).
Singapore’s creative economy has subsequently emerged as the key differentiation
strategy for integrating the humanities, business, and technology to enable the
governance and ‘solution-finding’ of this nation state. The nation’s strategic
transition to the creative industries marks a dramatic shift to an economy that makes
use of the knowledge of its citizens to generate value and prosperity (Yue, 2006).
The Renaissance City Report: Culture and the Arts in Renaissance Singapore was
accepted and unveiled in Parliament in 2000. The report proposed six strategies to
achieve the goal of making Singapore a world-class city of arts and culture in the 21st
century … (i) develop a strong arts and cultural base; (ii) develop flagship and major
arts companies; (iii) recognise and groom talent; (iv) provide good infrastructure and
facilities; (v) go international; and (vi) develop an arts and cultural “renaissance”
economy (MITA, 2000).
In 2003, the Creative Industries Development Strategy (CIDS) was released.
It categorised the creative economy into three groups: Arts and culture, design,
and media. Policies associated with each group sought to promote the growth of
Singapore’s creative economy with a view to making the nation into a “New Asia

2
 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

Creative Hub” (DSG, 2009, p. 17). The Design Singapore Initiative was launched
in 2003 as a key platform of the CIDS. The outcomes of this initiative are: For
Singapore to be a leading design hub in Asia; to evolve a distinctive design and
brand identity for Singapore products and services; for design excellence to be
a competitive advantage for local enterprises; and to create a pervasive design
culture to raise the general level of design awareness and discourse. The overall
objective is to create an awareness of effective design that integrates into all aspects
of business, leisure, recreation, public service, and education in Singapore (MTI,
2003). The present study was conducted over the duration of the Design Singapore
Initiative (2009 to 2015). These CIDS and Design Singapore Initiative, including
its phases of implementation are described in detail in Chapter 3 of this book. It is
worth noting that the Design Singapore Initiative, however, focused on new studio
leaders, studios with excellent practices, and the wide-spread adoption of design
thinking in Singapore companies instead of a focus on policies in design leadership
and management as a national strategy.
Within the above context, Singapore is significant as a geographical area for
research into the creative industries because of its status as an ‘intelligent’ city;
the world’s first digital economy. It is also one of the most Western-oriented,
economically successful and globalised cities in the world (Brown, 1998; Chong,
2006; Chua, 1998; Gopinathan, 2007; Holden & Hamblett, 2007; Lim, 1999;
Yue, 2006). Globalisation, Information Communication Technology (ICT), and
the nation’s ambitions to be a knowledge-based economy make human capital,
especially intellectual capital more critical to Singapore than physical capital (Low,
2002; MICA, 2003; MTI, 2002). Further, Singapore is special in the region because
it is the only country in Asia to harness the shift to the creative economy as a lasting
national cultural policy. Singapore is a distinctive choice for this study because of
its focus on human resources for survival, and its competitiveness is imperative as
compared with other Asian nations. Singapore’s greatest resource is the creative
abilities of its citizens (MTI, 2002, 2003); design plays a central role in developing
this resource.

RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY

Alan Topalian (1990) defined a design leader in two ways, as an organisation’s

position in the market, or an individual who finds himself in a position of leadership
or who chooses to lead. This paper focuses on Alan Topalian’s second definition
of an individual as a design leader. In this light, design leaders are individuals who
find themselves in a position of leadership or who choose to lead in a design team or
design-driven organisation. They act as design advocates, promoters, or interpreters
that connect and support design expertise according to the company’s agenda and
competencies. Their role is to direct and control, eliminate uncertainties, deal with
variances from the grand plan, understand the whole system, see its connections,
foresee the responses of people and design and execute appropriate interventions

3
CHAPTER 1

(Karp & Helgø, 2008). As such, design leaders require the continuous mandate to
lead their subordinates in initiating constantly evolving changes in an ever-changing
environment.
The aim of design leadership is to help organisations envision the future and to
ensure that design is used to turn those visions into reality (Nam & Jung, 2008).
In contrast, Design management’s focus is on the management and integration of
assets, activities, resources, and processes to foster creativity and originality to
create sensible solutions that achieve corporate objectives. In this light, the principal
source of poor design is poor design management. Poor design management only
becomes apparent when the lack of design knowledge and experience limits the
progress of a design project or the organisation (Topalian, 1984, 1990). Alan Topalian
suggested that for a more professional approach, it is necessary to bring the design
function into focus and explain the demands of efficient design management practice
(1984). However, there is little research dealing with the transition to leadership
and management positions within the general management knowledge domain. To
add, there is a dearth of research in the design knowledge domain, particularly in
the context of designers’ career trajectory and particularly in the context of design
leadership in Singapore.
In general, scholars have welcomed the age of design management (Walton,
2007), however, this appears to be centred mostly in Europe and the United States,
where design management practices are more established. In Asia, especially
Singapore, there is insufficient discussion on design management practices. This
book is an attempt to address these gaps by providing empirical evidence of the
phenomenon of transition to design leadership and management positions in a
Singapore setting and by using qualitative research to provide an in-depth analysis
of this phenomenon. The existing corpus of research in the transition to design
leadership and management position is severely limited. However, literature within
the generic design management domain has revealed five interconnected research
gaps that led to five themes that frame this research.
The first research gap identified by scholars highlights issues with the transition
to design leadership and management, especially problems experienced by design
managers at the middle level (Gorb, 1992). According to Gorb, the hardest task is to
educate newcomers to senior design management ranks, who through many years
of work, are conditioned by the attitudes of their immediate supervisors. He says:
…the task of education continues as newcomers join the senior management
ranks. At the bottom levels, among young people with fast-track careers such as
MBAs, there has been similar success, but the effort continues with every new
class. While these people will be working for many years, their effectiveness
is inevitably conditioned by the attitudes of their immediate bosses, the middle
managers. It is among this group of middle managers that the hardest task
remains. Successful managers find it difficult to accept that they need a new
expertise; less successful ones find it difficult to take new ideas on board.

4
 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

In-house programmes are perhaps the best way to educate these people, but
insufficient resources make it a slow process. (Gorb, 1992, p. 21)
This problem with middle level managers is also identified by Alan Topalian,
but with an emphasis on design managers who have had little prior design or design
management experience. Alan Topalian points out that these managers at functional
or tactical level often think that competencies other than design, such as in marketing,
production or project management transfers easily into an equivalent competence in
managing design, however they are often uncomfortable when it comes to handling
design projects, resulting in a superficial approach with indifferent results (Topalian,
1984, 2002). These problems with middle level managers in the design management
domain have led to concerns over the transition to design leadership and management
positions. These concerns, discussed further in Chapter 3, include the challenges in
dealing with the shift towards team-based and temporary work, increasingly flexible
and gate-keeping roles, and a greater focus on relationship-based work.
The second research gap highlights the need to improve design and designer
education, especially design professional development, and cross-disciplinary
perspectives from design academia, and design practice. According to Yang, You,
and Chen (2005), design education had failed because the capabilities of design
graduates globally are not up to a level expected by employers (Yang et al., 2005).
To add, there is an increasing need for talents that have an international perspective
and in-depth experience working in multinational corporations (Ooi, 2010). The
Singapore government supports the training of more designers and allowing a
greater influx of global design talents into Singapore (MTI, 2002). The challenge for
Singapore now is the shortage of locally trained talents with an international outlook
and an appreciation of the Singaporean perspective.
Also, according to Rausch (2005), there is the need for professional development
to draw a distinction between the development of design leaders from the education
about design leadership. He points out that potential design leaders may learn of
leadership and motivation theories that provide an array of insights, however they
may not realise how these insights apply to a specific decision (Rausch, 2005).
This can be a disadvantage for companies that urgently need design leadership in
an increasingly competitive environment like Singapore. There is also the need for
cross-disciplinary perspectives between design education and design practice (Wolf,
Davis, & Vogel, 2002). According to Wolf et al.:
Current undergraduate design programmes do not make students aware
of the challenges of design management, nor do they describe the types of
management that exist. Graduate programmes are not much better. Leaders in
education and industry must recognize this gap in education and work together
to correct it. (2002, p. 36)
These problems with design education identified by scholars in the design
management domain led to concerns about design leadership development and the

5
CHAPTER 1

design leadership pipeline in general. These concerns are further addressed in the
literature review in Chapter 3, which includes a discussion on the ephemeral nature
of design and the need for champions in design leadership and management, the
need for continuous upgrading and lifelong learning, and the need for accreditation
and recognition for professional development in the design industry.
The third research gap highlights concerns with talent management, with a
focus on the war for talent in the Asia Pacific, and the need to develop studios with
excellent practices in Singapore. Singapore’s conversion from an information-
driven industry, to a knowledge-based society, to a flourishing creative economy
today (MICA, 2008), emphasises the significance of creativity in its strategy for
economic growth and survival. Globalisation has fuelled the aggressive economic
growth in Asia and promoted talent mobility (Florida, 2005, 2008; Senge, 2006).
This has accelerated the talent brain drain because “the best and the brightest talents
often find attractive compensation packages overseas because of global competition
for the best talent,” this results in severe “talent shortages” in China and the Asia
Pacific region (Ooi, 2010, p. 25). For Singapore, there is an increasing need for
talents that have international perspective and experience working in multinational
corporations (Ooi, 2010). For some scholars, Singapore’s development ethos and
survival ideology had marginalized the development of arts and culture resulting
in a labour force that is not suitable for the creative economy (Holden & Hamblett,
2007; Low, 2002; Ooi, 2010; Sharpe & Gopinathan, 2002). Research identifies the
need for leaders to develop an excellent design studio culture (MTI, 2003). This
studio design culture should encourage cultural sensitivity, to overcome cultural
disadvantages, and to be more inclusive and urgently encourage diversity in the
workplace (Bassett-Jones, 2005; Chiu, 2001; Jacobs, 2005; Littrell, 2002; Quaglieri,
Penney, & Waldner, 2007; Vaiou, Konstantatos, & Siatitsa, 2009). These concerns
on talent management are further addressed in the literature review chapter, which
discusses the war for talents, the need for designer career trajectories, and good
practices in design management; issues addressed in this book.
The fourth research gap highlights concerns related to the design community
and design practice, especially in light of the failure shown by the top-down design
leadership style and the need for new studio leaders. According to Clews (2008),
the top-down leadership style is a source of concern in managing design as it would
not produce design outcomes of the level of rigour, consistency, attention to detail
or within the scope of a bottom-up approach driven by the designers (Clews, 2008).
Similarly, Gorb observed that there is a difference between the working styles of
a designer and design leader. A designers’ working style is practical, with a strong
focus on the “how” of problem solving (Gorb, 1992). According to Gorb, designers
are inductive in bringing business value and emphasise on the importance of
“capable” educational routes to a successful working life. For design leaders, their
style of working is theoretical with a focus on the “why” of the problem (Gorb,
1992, p. 20). Design leaders bring business value by seeking knowledge deductively
and emphasising the importance of “reflective” educational routes to a successful

6
 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

working life (Gorb, 1992, p. 20). In light of the failure of top-down leadership
and the differences in working styles between designers and design leaders, it is
unsurprising that scholars in the creative industry suggest the need for a new breed
of global generalists (Kyung Won Chung, 1998; Gibson & Kong, 2005; Porcini,
2009; Yukl, 2013). The literature highlights the fragmented design eco-system,
the significance of the structure of the design community, and the future of design
leadership being highly relational in nature.
The fifth research gap addressed in this book focuses on concerns with design
policy and strategy, especially with the impact of design policy in Singapore, and how
they help develop a stronger design culture in Singapore (DSG, 2009). Design and
design leaders need an environment that supports both creativity-nurturing situations
together with opportunities for stimulating creative conflicts with competitive
co-workers and an exposure to complex jobs led by design leaders who display
supportive non-controlling styles (Cummings & Oldham, 1997). This environment
must constantly adjust and adapt the context to maximize the innovation potential
and creativity of designers and ensure that the essence of their work is not swayed
by the times or be merely novel solutions (Chan, 2001). Singapore is one of the few
countries globally to set tangible objectives for developing its creative economy.
This is despite it being the newest entrants in the race towards being a cultural and
creative city in Asia and the world. These concerns regarding design policy and its
strategy are further addressed in Chapter 3, in its contextual review of the creative
industries in Singapore from their creation to the latest Design Singapore Initiative.
As has been noted, there is a dearth of research into design leadership and
management in the context of Singapore. By canvassing the views of design
managers, design consultants, and design entrepreneurs in Singapore, this book will
make a significant contribution to understanding the current transition to design
leadership and management positions in Singapore.

KEY CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

Definition of Design

Design is ephemeral/design helps businesses. There is no single authoritative

definition of the word design (Findeli, 2001; Jevnaker, 2000). In fact Findeli said,
“there are almost as many different definitions of design and design process as there
are writers about design” (2001, p. 295). As such, it is helpful to return to the root-
word for a clear definition. In German, design or Gestaltung means “the creation of
form,” while in English it refers to “the conception, or creation of mental plan for
an object, action or project” (Jevnaker, 2000, p. 104). Common to these German
and English root-word meanings, is the meaning that design transforms existing
solutions into preferred ones. What should be noted is that the definition of design
changes with time, according to markets and business strategies, consumers and
their lifestyle needs, and technological trends (Findeli, 2001; Jevnaker, 2000). What

7
CHAPTER 1

is significant about design is that it helps businesses to brand, grow and compete
(de Mozota, 2003; Evans & Shaw, 2004).

Design mergers with moral and ethical considerations. Latour (2000) states that
design is a humbling process because a designer only adds to an idea and does not
facilitate foundational changes. Design, he adds, demands that the designer have an
eye for details, and requires that s/he creates meaning through that process. Therefore
design is almost always never new but remedial. Latour argues that “by expanding
design so that it is relevant everywhere, designers take up the mantle of morality as
well” (Bohemia, 2000, p. 6). Because “materiality” and “morality” is “coalescing,”
designers will be subjected to the ethical critique of his clients and peers (Bohemia,
2000, p. 5).

Design defines products and/or services. Ralph and Wand (2009) however, provide
the clearest, most thorough and holistic definition of design to date. They define
design (noun) as “a specification of an object, manifested by an agent, intended to
accomplish goals, in a particular environment, using a set of primitive component,
satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraints” (Ralph & Wand, 2009, p.
109). Ralph and Wand also defined design as a transitive verb; “to create a design,
in an environment (where the designer operates)” (Ralph & Wand, 2009, p. 109).
They cite six classes of design objects identified as the outcomes of design. The
design outcomes are “physical artefacts” (e.g. single component or composites),
“processes” (e.g. business workflows), “symbolic systems” (e.g. programming
language), “symbolic scripts” (e.g. essays, graphic models, software), “laws, rules
and policies” (e.g. criminal code), and “human activity systems” (e.g. design
projects, committees, and operas) (Ralph & Wand, 2009, p. 111).

Design involves industrial production. In the context of Singapore’s creative

industry and of the present study, the definition of design and its outcomes are limited
to physical artefacts, processes, and human activity systems. Anecdotal evidence
shows that many designers and design leaders in Singapore are holding onto a
traditional Bauhaus view of the definition of design. As such, design is very much
concerned with the pressure for industrial production and its constant focus on the
fitness of an object for purpose and market (Cross, 1983).

Definition of Industrial Design (ID)

Product design a sub-field of industrial design. According to Erlhoff and Marshall

(2007), the terms product design and industrial design, or more accurately industrial
and consumer product design, are used interchangeably because they ultimately both
have similar objectives, processes, technologies and spectrum of output possibilities.
However, product design is generally considered a sub-field of industrial design
because of a perceived craft-based approach to the design process (Jevnaker, 2000).

8
 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

Similarly, the term industrial design is seen as somewhat outmoded with its historical
links to the Industrial Revolution. To add, the term “industrial” also implies a
“greater emphasis on the manufacturing aspects” in the product development process
(Jevnaker, 2000, p. 310).

Characteristics of industrial design 1: multidisciplinary. Industrial design has two

major characteristics. Firstly, it is multidisciplinary. It consists of considerations
for form, material, construction, ergonomics, user convenience and friendliness,
safety, produce-ability, reliability, serviceability, user instructions, aesthetics,
packaging, transportability, point-of-sale display, cost-effectiveness, quality, product
image, corporate image and ultimately, user satisfaction and profitability for the
manufacturer (Topalian, 1986, p. 53). Multidisciplinary approaches to problem
solving, Alan Topalian, (1986, p. 57) warns, must go beyond multidisciplinary teams
to multidisciplinary thinking or “integrated” thinking (Topalian, 1986, p. 57).

Characteristics of industrial design 2: culture, innovation and technology.

Secondly, industrial design is concerned with culture, innovation, and the
humanization of technologies (ICSID, 2008). The International Council of Societies
for Industrial Design (ICSID), the world governing body for industrial design
societies, expanded on the existing definitions of industrial design, describing it as
the central factor of innovative humanisation of technologies and the crucial factor
of cultural and economic exchange and a creative activity whose aim is to establish
the multifaceted qualities of objects, processes, services and their systems in whole
life cycles (ICSID, 2008).

Singapore: industrial design is object design. In Singapore, the Ministry of

Information Communications and the Arts (MICA), the governing body that
oversees the creative industries in Singapore classifies industrial design as object
design (Pinnow, 2011). Object design is the broadest term in listing all activities
related to industrial design but is not suitable in describing activities specifically
related to industrial design. In this book the term industrial design is preferred over
the lengthier and more accurate term industrial and consumer product design due to
its wider acceptance internationally.

Management of Design and Design Management

10 Assumptions about design management. According to Alan Topalian (2002),

there are ten assumptions found within design management. The first assumption is
that design is a strategic resource, having the ability to create wealth due to its capacity
to ideate and deliver products and services to exceed customers’ needs and aspirations.
Second, design management assumes that innovation is vital for global players
and, whether consciously or not, innovation plays a part in all design. Third, design
management assumes that design leadership generates ideas that reveal tangible market

9
CHAPTER 1

expectations via research and user experience testing. These ideas also demonstrate
the ability to add value and provide differentiation in a cost effective way. Fourth,
design management assumes that all activities in business, and design activities are
manageable. It believes that design decisions are similar to business decisions in that
they are either “hard” or “soft.” Fifth, design management assumes that professional
management requires a rigorous approach to design management. This presents
an intellectual challenge in business. Sixth, design management assumes that high
standards are unachievable without reorganising products, services, and operations of
business services. It believes that it is necessary for all staff to have a deep sense of
pride and concern for design standards. Seventh, design management assumes that
effective design is integrated into all principal categories of design. Design integration
requires work to be coordinated across major disciplines and stages of projects, with
implicit decisions followed through from project to project, whenever appropriate.
Eighth, design management assumes that it takes a significant improvement in design
management performance to influence design standards in business. Ninth, design
management assumes that effective design management requires appropriately skilled
and committed middle managers. To be successful, enlightened senior executives must
in return support these middle managers. The tenth assumption of design management
is that design enlightenment is not part of the business culture. As such, only capable
specialists from outside the business domain can provide the formal training required
in design management. These ten assumptions underpin the development of design
management as a rigorous discipline on par with established disciplines in business.
An understanding of these assumptions will allow for a better appreciation of design
management in practice.

Management-of-design is a subset of design management. The terms management-

of-design and design management are often used interchangeably, as it is an emerging
field of study and a discipline found within the management science (de Mozota,
2007). The term management-of-design is defined as the strategies in which design
is being managed in a department or a design firm (McBride, 2007). Its role is
limited to design activities within design management, such as project management,
and building construction. As such, there is stronger preference for the term design
management, which is seen to have a broader definition (McBride, 2007).

Design management is strategic management of creative assets. Design

management has a predominant emphasis on strategic management of creative
assets. It can be defined as a way of managing the creative process to foster
creativity and originality and a discipline of design practice that aims to integrate
all its resources and activities towards creating the most appropriate solution for
achieving corporate objectives (Kyung Won Chung, 1998). From this viewpoint,
it is observed that design management is value-orientated, qualitative and creative,
while business management is profit-orientated, quantitative and administrative in
nature (Walton, 2000). McBride calls it “design-minded leadership” as it deals with

10
 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

the intangibles of the new economy (McBride, 2007, p. 22). Design management
also covers a wide spectrum of inter-related design activities like research and
development, strategy and planning, team building and value-management (Kyung
Won Chung, 1998; Topalian, 2002). Design management has three functional levels,
namely operational, functional, and strategic (Topalian, 2002).

Problems in design management. One of the common pitfalls in design management

is project mistakes caused by management errors. According to Ravasi and Lojacono
(2005), managerial tasks and their related problems; specifically within the product
development and the organisational development phases. These management errors
can be broadly classified into two categories, namely those that deal with ideas and
those that deal with people and processes (DCMS, 1998a). Some examples of the
management errors in dealing with ideas are mistaking incremental innovation with
radical innovation, killing-off ideas too soon, and choosing ideas based on operational
issues and not based on customer needs. Similarly, some examples of management
errors that deal with people and processors are not carrying out the development
process diligently, losing focus of the overarching goal, and having no design
champion within the organisation. In addition, design leaders have an over-reliance
on a set of design process within a design team and there is still no proof that utilising
the design process alone will secure a better idea (Austin, Steele, MacMillan, Kirby,
& Spence, 2001).

Design management now focuses on design leadership. The focus of design

management had changed from one with an emphasis on managing the cost of design
operations, to one with a focus on leadership, revenue generation and future-building
(McBride, 2007). In this book the term design leadership is preferred because the
term management of design has a more limited scope and is concerned with the
business strategy and not the human relations aspects of design.

The Four Definitions of Design Leadership

Design leadership has four distinct definitions that reflect the phases through which
it has evolved over the last thirty years. These evolving definitions require design
leaders to take on roles with greater scope and responsibilities.

Effective use of resources. The first and most traditional definition of design
leadership is the effective deployment of resources by a manager according to the
company’s objectives (Erlhoff & Marshall, 2007; Hollins, 2002). The work scope
is that of a project co-ordinator, or a manager of a design project. This definition is
influenced by the focus on project management in the 1980s.

Market leadership. The second definition of a design leader is that of market

leadership or the eminent position of a product line in a “business enterprise”

11
CHAPTER 1

(Topalian, 1990, p. 39). This definition is influenced by the focus on production in

the 1990s.

Advocates design & design expertise. The third definition of design leadership is
concerned with individuals who act as design advocates, promoters, or interpreters
that connect and support design expertise according to the company’s agenda and
competencies (Bucolo, Wrigley, & Matthews, 2012; Jevnaker, 2000). This definition
is influenced by the focus on marketing and branding in the 2000s.

Designs with and for people. The fourth definition of design leadership is designing
with people or co-design, as contrasted to designing for people. This definition
became popular after 2005 and is influenced by co-design and its focus on customer
experience and satisfaction. Design teams co-creating products and services with
consumers, and these objects can also have some intangible economic, social and
aesthetic values (Eisermann, Gloppen, Eikhaug, & White, 2005).

Design leadership as contrarian/strategic thinking. Design leadership can also

be defined by the way design leaders think. It can be observed that prominent
design leaders often take contrarian views in order to secure insights into problems.
Intellectual and moral subversion is a leadership responsibility that engenders trust,
and a compound of qualities that includes respect, listening to and valuing the
views of others; personal regard, intimate and sustained personal and profession
relationships; competence, the capacity to produce desired results in relationships
with others; and personal integrity and honesty in everyday interactions (Elmore,
2005; MacBeath, 2007). This contrarian view looks at everything a project holds
differently, and seeks to do things better. This inadvertently leads to having a
desire to seek out fresh perspectives, and to question basic assumptions in order
to secure radical insights. Design leaders do this in combination with their deep
interest in people and flair in communication skills. Design leaders have a general
predisposition for intellectual discovery and a natural curiosity for people and
things.

Design Leadership as Team/Bottom-up Leadership

The research literature suggests that design leadership can also happen in teams.
Increasingly, design leaders need to adopt team leadership and bottom-up strategies
in managing design and design projects. This happens when task complexity increases,
and it becomes impossible for design leaders to handle everything. Team leadership
strategy requires team integration and individual expertise to be well-developed
and independent (Singh & Bhandarker, 1990). Bottom-up leadership strategy is
idea-based and originates from knowledge workers when they become engaged in
pushing the boundaries during problem solving. Bottom-up leadership is directed
upwards and ends once senior managers accept the team’s proposal. It is a valid

12
 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

way to approach strategic diversification in a saturated market (Nam & Jung, 2008).
Both team leadership and bottom-up leadership strategy are recommended for the
creative industry (Clews, 2008; McCrimmon, 2009; Vaiou et al., 2009).

Design Leadership as Organisational/Visionary Leadership

Design leadership can also influence the way in which an organisation behaves and
reacts. Due to the design leaders’ contrarian outlook, design organisations are often
subversive places. They require a quality of leadership that is a constant irritant
so as not to allow it to slide into intellectual complacency. This contrarian view
and constant irritation is also a constant reminder of its sacred mission in education
(MacBeath, 2007). Design organisations that offer a contrarian view are an alternative
to the banality of mass media, the conceits of the designer culture and a sex-obsessed
popular culture via the processes of subverting common sense, challenging received
wisdom and inert ideas (Whitehead, 1929). Design leaders are seen as change agent
or catalyst of change who navigate or guide their organisation to turn those visions
into reality (Clews, 2008). In the process, they look after many aspects of their
organisation simultaneously (Singh & Bhandarker, 1990; Ughanwa, 1988b). To add,
design leaders are expected to ensure that design is used in organisations and to
envision its future.

Leaders and Design Leader

Leaders are defined as people who direct and control, eliminate uncertainties, deal
with variances from the grand plan, understand the whole system, see its connections
and interconnectedness, foresee the responses of people and conceptualise and
respond with the appropriate interventions (Karp & Helgø, 2008). From the many
definitions provided above, a design leader is first of all a leader within a design-
orientated organisation. The leader must be trained in a design specialisation and
have the appropriate design credentials and experience. In addition, the design
leader must also have access to a broad design network that will ensure their
success within that role. Finally, a design leader is expected to have documented
accomplishments, supported by a portfolio of successful works that is up-to-date
and relevant. For this book, design leadership is taken to be an essential function
of design leaders.
According to Alan Topalian (1990), a design leader can be defined in two ways:
First, as an organisation’s position in the market; and second, as an individual who
finds him/herself in a position of leadership or who chooses to lead. In the context
of this book, the conceptual framework of this study was guided by Alan Topalian’s
(1990) second definition. It identified three different categories of design leaders,
of which only design leaders in category one (1) were selected. Category one
(1) design leaders are defined as “Industrial design leaders who manage industrial
designers” and can be subdivided into three groups, namely “Corporate Design

13
CHAPTER 1

Leaders or Design Managers,” “Consultant Design Leaders or Design Consultants”

and “Technical Design Leaders or Design Entrepreneurs” (see Table 7).

OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH AIMS, QUESTIONS, AND METHODS

To reiterate, the aim of the study was to develop theory on design leaders’ transition
to design leadership and management positions in Singapore.
The general research questions were:
• What are the meanings and understandings of design leaders regarding the
transition to design leadership?
• What are the aims and intentions of design leaders with regard to the transition to
leadership positions?
• Are design leaders’ perspectives on the transition to design leadership influenced
by their interactions at their workplace or community? If so, in what ways?
• What strategies do design leaders use in the transition to design leadership, and
how significant are these strategies for them?
• What do design leaders believe contributes to the success of these strategies?
The study is a qualitative study, privileging the voice of design leaders. Located in
the interpretivist paradigm, it employed grounded theory methodology in generating
theory in the form of theoretical propositions. The study developed collective case
studies of three groups of design leaders on their experiences in transitioning to
design leadership and management positions in Singapore. The case study approach
sought to draw out the complexity of the cases through constructing rich descriptions
of phenomena under study (Punch, 2005; Yin, 2009).
The research canvassed the perspectives of 15 design managers, design
consultants, and design entrepreneurs on the transition to design leadership and
management positions in Singapore. Data was collected through semi-structured,
in-depth interviews, documents researcher memos, and participants’ reflective
journals. The data was analysed according to grounded theory methods, and
involved the identification of open, focused, and axial coding in the process of
theory development. The analysis was guided by the inductive analysis approach of
Miles and Huberman (1994), and supported by computer-aided qualitative analysis
software, Atlas.ti.

OVERVIEW OF THE FINDINGS

This study found that the transition to design leadership and management positions
in Singapore progresses through five sequential levels: Level 1 Self-cultivation;
Level 2 Developing Expertise; Level 3 Grooming Talents; Level 4 Building Industry
and Community; and Level 5 Improving Policies. The empirical findings led to the
development of the Design Leadership Transition Theory in the form of theoretical
propositions related to the levels, as follows:

14
 OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES

Proposition 1: Awaken to the Desire to Lead

At Level 1 of the design leadership journey, a designer is awakened to the desire to

lead, has a self-awareness of how their actions affect others, and develops a desire
for continual self-cultivation. Designers who aspire to be design leaders seek to
develop character, competencies, and thought leadership.

Proposition 2: Desire to Develop Deep Expertise

At Level 2 of the design leadership journey, aspiring designers leaders are design
team leaders within their company. Design team leaders aim to develop deep
expertise via a master-apprentice approach, to diversify design in Singapore, and to
develop “T-profile” design professionals in Singapore.

Proposition 3: Able to Groom Design Talents

At Level 3 of the design leadership journey, design team leaders are design managers.
Design managers aim to groom talents, and they do this by managing their design
talents, managing their design project work, and managing the experience designers
have in their studio practice.

Proposition 4: Able to Build Industry, Community, and Society

At Level 4 of the design leadership journey, design managers are design directors.
Design directors aim to bring about transformative change to the industry with
design strategy, to the community with inter-disciplinary/multi-disciplinary design
approaches, and to society with participatory approaches.

Proposition 5: Able to Improve Policies and International Relationships

At Level 5 of the design leadership journey, design directors are chief design officers
or owners of their design business. Chief design officers and owners of design
businesses support, promote and refine existing policies, and make suggestions for
new policies in the creative industries that benefit Singapore, and Singaporeans and
their relationship with Asia and the world.

CONCLUSION

This chapter has provided an overview of the study described in this book, which
generated theory about the transition to design leadership and management positions
in Singapore. Chapter 2 describes in further detail the background and context to
the study. Chapter 3 reviews the intersecting bodies of literature that informed the
study, highlighting gaps in the literature that support the rationale for the study.

15
CHAPTER 1

Chapter 4 describes the methodological framework of the study and outlines the
methods that were employed. Chapter 5 presents the empirical findings in the form
of three collective case studies. Chapter 6 presents an overview of the findings
according to the central research questions. Chapter 7 presents the theory of the
transition to design leadership and management positions in the form of theoretical
propositions. Chapter 8 concludes the book with a summary of the study, as well as
recommendations for practice, policy, and further research.

16
 CHAPTER 2

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

INTRODUCTION

This chapter describes the background and context of the present study of design
leaders and their transition to design leadership and management positions in
Singapore. The first section of the chapter addresses the concept of globalisation
and its impact on the rise of Asian economies. It draws attention to the positive
and negative effects of globalisation on developing economies. The second section
explains how the information/knowledge economy has transformed into the cultural
and creative industries. The third section cites a major research study that reviewed
international design policies, highlighting key trends. The study identified key
strengths of Singapore’s design policy, as well as vulnerable points. The final section
of the chapter describes Singapore’s transition to a cultural and creative economy.
This section highlights the need for urgent action by the design industry to develop
leadership and management talents in Singapore, further supporting the rationale for
this study.

GLOBALISATION AND THE RISE OF THE ASIAN ECONOMIES

Globalisation

Globalisation is the most significant geo-politico reality; a multifaceted, liberal, and

liberating process that involves a shift from international to transnational networks
of trade, investment, and finance (Brown, 1998; Gopinathan, 2007; Koh, 2007; Lim,
1999; Power, 2000). Globalisation has created a cultural corridor that provides easy
access to information, technology, and entertainment (Florida, 2005, 2008). As such,
many developing nation-states now have access to a technological and competitive
level playing field in the global market place (Brown, 1998; Chong, 2005; MTI,
2003; Senge, 2006). Globalisation has brought about pervasive, inter-related global
issues that are complex or ‘wicked’ in their challenges (Coyne, 2005; Johns, 2009).
These challenges often need multidisciplinary or trans-disciplinary perspectives and
cross-border teamwork (Austin et al., 2001; Tanzi & International Monetary Fund,
1993).
Globalisation promotes talent mobility (Florida, 2005, 2008; Senge, 2006) because
“the best and the brightest talents often find attractive compensation packages
overseas because of global competition for the best talent” (Ooi, 2010, p. 25).

17
CHAPTER 2

The aggressive economic growth within Asia has created an increasing demand for
skills and talents, resulting in Multinational Corporations (MNCs) facing severe
talent shortages.
According to Stiglitz, globalisation has six distinct characteristics (2003). The
first characteristic of globalisation is knowledge and the free flow of knowledge
and ideas globally which transforms societies, policies, and institutions. The second
characteristic is trade; global trade is a well-studied phenomenon and is proven
to have a direct relationship with economic growth. The third characteristic is
labour, especially the impact of labour flow. Labour flow is at best ambiguous, and
one of the least studied aspects of globalisation. As such, labour flow is an area
for exploration in this study. The fourth characteristic of globalisation is foreign
direct investment (FDI), which brings in capital that has less cyclic volatility than
portfolio capital, access to foreign markets, technology, and human capital. FDIs
in return strengthen the growth of the economy. The fifth characteristic is capital
market liberalisation, which allows for the free flow of short-term capital around
the world (Stiglitz, 2003). The sixth characteristic of globalisation cited by Stiglitz
is that the modern world is consistently and invariably homogenised by it (Yang,
2003, p. 2).
In light of the above characteristics, globalisation has had significant and positive
results on: the flow of ideas; the flow of talents; the spread of literacy and education;
and the setting up of institutions and policies that aid economic growth (Johnson,
2002; Koh, 2002). According to Johnson (2002), the greatest impact of globalisation
is the exponential increase in scientific knowledge after the mid-19th century. This
increase in scientific knowledge enabled rapid progress in agricultural technology
that freed up labour in rural areas. As a direct result, cities have thrived and real
capital incomes have increased in the Western world. This scenario has encouraged
knowledge production through higher educational institutions creating virtuous
cycles of improvement (Johnson, 2002).
Of significance to the present study, Johnson (2002) reports that countries have
had far better economic growth, as is the case of Singapore, when they accept the
need for research institutions and carry out policies that enhance growth. Policies
that enhances growth often relate to the protection of private property, the rule of
law, enforcement of contracts, protection of individual rights, democracy, support of
the market, and a fair, non-corrupt system of public finance. However, governments
throughout the world do not always adopt these institutions and policies that are
associated with economic growth, often leading to direct and disastrous effects to
the nation’s economic performance (Johnson, 2002).
The negative impacts of globalisation are somewhat nuanced and the indirect
result of economic growth (Johnson, 2002; Latif, 2004). While new knowledge
creates growth, it also causes the rapid replacement or obsolescence of skills due
to the need for further growth. Similarly, economic growth causes debilitating
dislocations. The significance and number of dislocations occur according to the
degree of integration of a nation’s economy into the world economy, and the need

18
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Availing himself of the credulity of his countrymen, he pretended
to hold frequent intercourse with a spirit or genii, still much
distinguished in the West Highlands under the appellation of Glastig.
This he turned to excellent account, as the stories which his partisans
fabricated of the command he had over the Glastig, and the
connexion between them, terrified the people so much, that few
could be prevailed upon to watch their cattle at night, and they thus
fell an easy prey to this artful rogue.
Archibald’s father having died early, his mother afterwards
married a second husband, who resided in a neighbouring island.
When she died, her son was out of favour with his stepfather, and he
was refused the privilege of having the disposal of his mother’s
remains, nor did he think it prudent to appear openly at her funeral.
He however obtained accurate information of the place where the
corpse was lying. One dark night, he made an opening in the
thatched roof of the earthen hut, and the wakers being occupied in
the feats of athletic exercise usually practised on these occasions, the
body being excluded from their sight by a screen which hung across
the house, Archibald carried it off to his boat like another Æneas. He
also got possession of the stock of whisky intended for the occasion,
as it lay in the same place—thus discharging the last duties of a pious
son with little expense to himself.
A fatal event at length occurred, which rendered it necessary for
the man to retire from trade. He made a descent on one of the small
islands on that coast, and had collected the cattle, when the
proprietor (who had information of the circumstance), made his
appearance to rescue them. Archibald was compelled to yield up his
prey, but one of the villains who accompanied him levelled his
musket at the gentleman, and shot him dead from the boat.
The robber was fully aware of his danger, and, with the assistance
of a fair wind, he shaped his course for the mainland. He pushed on
with all possible speed, and arrived at Inveraray before sunrise the
following morning. Having information that Stewart of Appin was
then in town, he watched his motions, and at an early hour saw him
on the street in conversation with the sheriff of the county.
Archibald, who was an old acquaintance, saluted him, and his salute
was returned. When Appin parted with the sheriff, Archibald
complained that he had taken no notice of him the preceding day,
when he accosted him in the same place. Appin said he was
conscious of having seen him, but that he was much hurried at the
time, and hoped he would excuse him. The robber’s object was
accomplished. Appin had no doubt of the truth of what he said; and
on his trial for the murder, an alibi was established in his favour,
from this very extraordinary piece of address. Some of his crew were
afterwards taken in Ross-shire, and executed there by order of the
Earl of Seaforth, though the actual murderer escaped punishment.
Archibald, however, never again plundered on a large scale. He died
about the middle of the 17th century, and his name still stands
unrivalled for cunning and address in his calling.—“Traditions of the
Western Highlands,” in the London Literary Gazette.
 THE MURDER HOLE:

An Ancient Legend of Galloway.

Ah, frantic Fear!
I see, I see thee near;
I know thy hurried step, thy haggard eye!
Like thee I start, like thee disordered fly!
Collins.

In a remote district of country belonging to Lord Cassilis, between

Ayrshire and Galloway, about three hundred years ago, a moor of
apparently boundless extent stretched several miles along the road,
and wearied the eye of the traveller by the sameness and desolation
of its appearance: not a tree varied the prospect—not a shrub
enlivened the eye by its freshness—not a native flower bloomed to
adorn this ungenial soil. One “lonesome desert” reached the horizon
on every side, with nothing to mark that any mortal had ever visited
the scene before, except a few rude huts that were scattered near its
centre; and a road, or rather pathway, for those whom business or
necessity obliged to pass in that direction. At length, deserted as this
wild region had always been, it became still more gloomy. Strange
rumours arose that the path of unwary travellers had been beset on
this “blasted heath,” and that treachery and murder had intercepted
the solitary stranger as he traversed its dreary extent. When several
persons, who were known to have passed that way, mysteriously
disappeared, the inquiries of their relatives led to a strict and anxious
investigation; but though the officers of justice were sent to scour the
country, and examine the inhabitants, not a trace could be obtained
of the persons in question, nor of any place of concealment which
could be a refuge for the lawless or desperate to horde in. Yet as
inquiry became stricter, and the disappearance of individuals more
frequent, the simple inhabitants of the neighbouring hamlet were
agitated by the most fearful apprehensions. Some declared that the
death-like stillness of the night was often interrupted by sudden and
preternatural cries of more than mortal anguish, which seemed to
arise in the distance; and a shepherd one evening, who had lost his
way on the moor, declared he had approached three mysterious
figures, who seemed struggling against each other with supernatural
energy, till at length one of them, with a frightful scream, suddenly
sunk into the earth.
Gradually the inhabitants deserted their dwellings on the heath,
and settled in distant quarters, till at length but one of the cottages
continued to be inhabited by an old woman and her two sons, who
loudly lamented that poverty chained them to this solitary and
mysterious spot. Travellers who frequented this road now generally
did so in groups to protect each other; and if night overtook them,
they usually stopped at the humble cottage of the old woman and her
sons, where cleanliness compensated for the want of luxury, and
where, over a blazing fire of peat, the bolder spirits smiled at the
imaginary dangers of the road, and the more timid trembled as they
listened to the tales of terror and affright with which their hosts
entertained them.
One gloomy and tempestuous night in November, a pedlar-boy
hastily traversed the moor. Terrified to find himself involved in
darkness amidst its boundless wastes, a thousand frightful
traditions, connected with this dreary scene, darted across his mind:
every blast, as it swept in hollow gusts over the heath, seemed to
teem with the sighs of departed spirits; and the birds, as they winged
their way above his head, appeared, with loud and shrill cries, to
warn him of approaching danger. The whistle, with which he usually
beguiled his weary pilgrimage, died away into silence, and he groped
along with trembling and uncertain steps, which sounded too loudly
in his ears. The promise of Scripture occurred to his memory, and
revived his courage: “I will be unto thee as a rock in the desert, and
as an hiding-place in the storm.” “Surely,” thought he, “though alone,
I am not forsaken;” and a prayer for assistance hovered on his lips.
A light now glimmered in the distance which would lead him, he
conjectured, to the cottage of the old woman; and towards that he
eagerly bent his way, remembering, as he hastened along, that when
he had visited it the year before, it was in company of a large party of
travellers, who had beguiled the evening with those tales of mystery
which had so lately filled his brain with images of terror. He
recollected, too, how anxiously the old woman and her sons had
endeavoured to detain him when the other travellers were departing;
and now, therefore, he confidently anticipated a cordial and cheering
reception. His first call for admission obtained no visible marks of
attention, but instantly the greatest noise and confusion prevailed
within the cottage. “They think it is one of the supernatural visitants
of whom the old lady talks so much,” thought the boy, approaching a
window, where the light within showed him all the inhabitants at
their several occupations; the old woman was hastily scrubbing the
stone floor, and strewing it thickly with sand, while her two sons
seemed, with equal haste, to be thrusting something large and heavy
into an immense chest, which they carefully locked.
The boy, in a frolicsome mood, thoughtlessly tapped at the
window, when they all instantly started up with consternation so
strongly depicted on their countenances, that he shrunk back
involuntarily with an undefined feeling of apprehension; but before
he had time to reflect a moment longer, one of the men suddenly
darted out at the door, and seizing the boy roughly by the shoulder,
dragged him violently into the cottage.
“I am not what you take me for,” said the boy, attempting to laugh;
“but only the poor pedlar who visited you last year.”
“Are you alone?” inquired the old woman, in a harsh, deep tone,
which made his heart thrill with apprehension.
“Yes,” said the boy, “I am alone here; and alas!” he added with a
burst of uncontrollable feeling, “I am alone in the wide world also!
Not a person exists who would assist me in distress, or shed a single
tear if I died this very night.”
“Then you are welcome!” said one of the men with a sneer, while
he cast a glance of peculiar expression at the other inhabitants of the
cottage.
It was with a shiver of apprehension, rather than of cold, that the
boy drew towards the fire, and the looks which the old woman and
her sons exchanged made him wish that he had preferred the shelter
of any one of the roofless cottages which were scattered near, rather
than thrust himself among persons of such dubious aspect. Dreadful
surmises flitted across his brain; and terrors which he could neither
combat nor examine imperceptibly stole into his mind; but alone,
and beyond the reach of assistance, he resolved to smother his
suspicions, or at least not increase the danger by revealing them. The
room to which he retired for the night had a confused and desolate
aspect: the curtains seemed to have been violently torn down from
the bed, and still hung in tatters around it; the table seemed to have
been broken by some violent concussion, and the fragments of
various pieces of furniture lay scattered upon the floor. The boy
begged that a light might burn in his apartment till he was asleep,
and anxiously examined the fastenings of the door; but they seemed
to have been wrenched asunder on a former occasion, and were still
left rusty and broken.
It was long ere the pedlar attempted to compose his agitated
nerves to rest, but at length his senses began to “steep themselves in
forgetfulness,” though his imagination remained painfully active,
and presented new scenes of terror to his mind, with all the vividness
of reality. He fancied himself again wandering on the heath, which
appeared to be peopled with spectres, who all beckoned to him not to
enter the cottage, and as he approached it, they vanished with a
hollow and despairing cry. The scene then changed, and he found
himself again seated by the fire, where the countenances of the men
scowled upon him with the most terrifying malignity, and he thought
the old woman suddenly seized him by the arms, and pinioned them
to his side.
Suddenly the boy was startled from these agitated slumbers, by
what sounded to him like a cry of distress; he was broad awake in a
moment, and sat up in bed; but the noise was not repeated, and he
endeavoured to persuade himself it had only been a continuation of
the fearful images which had disturbed his rest, when, on glancing at
the door, he observed underneath it a broad red stream of blood
silently stealing its course along the floor. Frantic with alarm, it was
but the work of a moment to spring from his bed, and rush to the
door, through a chink of which, his eye nearly dimmed with affright,
he could watch unsuspected whatever might be done in the adjoining
room.
 His fear vanished instantly when he perceived that it was only a
goat that they had been slaughtering; and he was about to steal into
his bed again, ashamed of his groundless apprehensions, when his
ear was arrested by a conversation which transfixed him aghast with
terror to the spot.
“This is an easier job than you had yesterday,” said the man who
held the goat. “I wish all the throats we’ve cut were as easily and
quietly done. Did you ever hear such a noise as the old gentleman
made last night? It was well we had no neighbours within a dozen
miles, or they must have heard his cries for help and mercy.”
“Don’t speak of it,” replied the other; “I was never fond of
bloodshed.”
“Ha! ha!” said the other, with a sneer, “you say so, do you?”
“I do,” answered the first, gloomily; “the Murder Hole is the thing
for me—that tells no tales; a single scuffle,—a single plunge,—and the
fellow’s dead and buried to your hand in a moment. I would defy all
the officers in Christendom to discover any mischief there.
“Ay, Nature did us a good turn when she contrived such a place as
that. Who that saw a hole in the heath, filled with clear water, and so
small that the long grass meets over the top of it, would suppose that
the depth is unfathomable, and that it conceals more than forty
people, who have met their deaths there? It sucks them in like a
leech!”
“How do you mean to despatch the lad in the next room?” asked
the old woman in an undertone. The elder son made her a sign to be
silent, and pointed towards the door where their trembling auditor
was concealed; while the other, with an expression of brutal ferocity,
passed his bloody knife across his throat.
The pedlar boy possessed a bold and daring spirit, which was now
roused to desperation; but in any open resistance the odds were so
completely against him that flight seemed his best resource. He
gently stole to the window, and having forced back the rusty bolt by
which the casement had been fastened, he let himself down without
noise or difficulty. “This betokens good,” thought he, pausing an
instant, in dreadful hesitation what direction to take. This
momentary deliberation was fearfully interrupted by the hoarse
voice of the men calling aloud, “The boy has fled—let loose the
bloodhound!” These words sunk like a death-knell on his heart, for
escape appeared now impossible, and his nerves seemed to melt
away like wax in a furnace. “Shall I perish without a struggle?”
thought he, rousing himself to exertion, and, helpless and terrified as
a hare, pursued by its ruthless hunters, he fled across the heath.
Soon the baying of the bloodhound broke the stillness of the night,
and the voice of its masters sounded through the moor, as they
endeavoured to accelerate its speed. Panting and breathless, the boy
pursued his hopeless career, but every moment his pursuers seemed
to gain upon his failing steps. The hound was unimpeded by the
darkness which was to him so impenetrable, and its noise rung
louder and deeper on his ear,—while the lanterns which were carried
by the men gleamed near and distinct upon his vision.
At his fullest speed the terrified boy fell with violence over a heap
of stones, and having nothing on but his shirt, he was severely cut in
every limb. With one wild cry to Heaven for assistance, he continued
prostrate on the earth, bleeding and nearly insensible. The hoarse
voices of the men, and the still louder baying of the dog, were now so
near, that instant destruction seemed inevitable; already he felt
himself in their fangs, and the bloody knife of the assassin appeared
to gleam before his eyes. Despair renewed his energy, and once
more, in an agony of affright that seemed verging towards madness,
he rushed forward so rapidly that terror seemed to have given wings
to his feet. A loud cry near the spot he had left arose in his ears
without suspending his flight. The hound had stopped at the place
where the pedlar’s wounds bled so profusely, and deeming the chase
now over, it lay down there, and could not be induced to proceed. In
vain the men beat it with frantic violence, and cried again to put the
hound on the scent,—the sight of blood satisfied the animal that its
work was done, and it obstinately resisted every inducement to
pursue the same scent a second time.
The pedlar boy in the meantime paused not in his flight till
morning dawned; and still as he fled, the noise of steps seemed to
pursue him, and the cry of his would-be assassins sounded in the
distance. He at length reached a village, and spread instant alarm
throughout the neighbourhood; the inhabitants were aroused with
one accord into a tumult of indignation—several of them had lost
sons, brothers, or friends on the heath, and all united in proceeding
immediately to seize the old woman and her sons, who were nearly
torn to pieces in their furious wrath. Three gibbets were at once
raised on the moor, and the wretched culprits confessed before their
execution to the destruction of nearly fifty victims in the Murder
Hole, which they pointed out, and near which they suffered the
penalty of their crimes. The bones of several murdered persons were
with difficulty brought up from the abyss into which they had been
thrust; but so narrow is the aperture, and so extraordinary the depth,
that all who see it are inclined to coincide in the tradition of the
country people, that it is unfathomable.
The scene of these events still continues nearly as it was three
hundred years ago: the remains of the old cottage, with its blackened
walls (haunted, of course, by a thousand evil spirits), and the
extensive moor, on which a more modern inn (if it can be dignified
with such an epithet) resembles its predecessor in everything but the
character of its inhabitants. The landlord is deformed, but possesses
extraordinary genius; he has himself manufactured a violin, on
which he plays with untaught skill,—and if any discord be heard in
the house, or any murder committed in it, this is his only instrument.
His daughter (who has never travelled beyond the heath) has
inherited her father’s talent, and learned all his tales of terror and
superstition, which she relates with infinite spirit; but when you are
led by her across the heath to drop a stone into that deep and narrow
gulf to which our story relates,—when you stand on its slippery edge,
and, parting the long grass with which it is covered, gaze into its
mysterious depths,—when she describes, with all the animation of an
eye-witness, the struggle of the victims clutching the grass as a last
hope of preservation, and trying to drag in their assassin as an
expiring effort of vengeance,—when you are told that for three
hundred years the clear waters in this diamond of the desert have
remained untasted by mortal lips, and that the solitary traveller is
still pursued at night by the howling of the bloodhound,—it is then
only that it is possible fully to appreciate the terrors of “The Murder
Hole.”—Blackwood’s Magazine, 1829.
 THE MILLER OF DOUNE:
A TRAVELLER’S TALE.

Chapter I.
In the reign of James the Fifth, the mill on the Teath, near Doune,
was possessed, as it had been for abune a century, by a family of the
name of Marshall.
They were a bauld and a strong race of men, and when the miller
of whom we’re now to speak was in his prime, it used to be a
common saying in the kintra, “Better get a kick frae a naig’s foot,
than a stroke frae John Marshall;” and even now that he was
threescore and one, there were unco few that liked to come to grips
wi’ him. But though John kent he need fear nae man, and would
carry things wi’ a high hand when needfu’, yet he was onything but
quarrelsome, and was aye mair ready to gree wi’ a man than to fight
wi’ him; and as he was a gash sensible man, and thoroughly honest,
he had mony frien’s and weel-wishers, and was muckle respeckit in
the hale kintra side.
John’s family consisted of twa sons and a dochter, who had lost
their mither when they were but weans. The eldest, James, was as
like what his father was at the same age, as twa peas; only, if
onything, a thought stronger. William, the next, was mair slender;
but though he couldna put the stane, nor fling the fore-hammer,
within mony an ell o’ James, yet he could jump higher than ony man
he had ever met wi’; and as for rinnin’, naebody could come near
him. Of Jeanie Marshall we need say nae mair than that she was a
sensible, spirited, light-hearted lassie, the pride of her brothers, and
her father’s darling.
 It happened ae night, as the miller was coming back frae gien his
horse a drink at the water, that he heard something cheep-cheeping
in the grass at the roadside, and every now and then it gied a bit flee
up in the air, and then doun again; and upon looking at it again, the
miller saw that it was a robin chased by a whuttrit, which was trying
to grip it; and the miller said to himsel, “I canna thole to see the puir
bit burdie riven a’ to coopens afore my very een;” so he banged aff
the horse, and ran and got it up in his hand, and he let drive sic a
kick at the whuttrit, that the beast gaed up in the lift, and ower the
hedge, just as if it had been a kuisten snawba’.
On lookin’ at the robin, John saw some straes stickin’ to’t wi’ burd-
lime, which had stoppit it frae fleein’, and he begood to pike them
aff; but Clod, who was a restless brute, and was wearyin’ for his
stable, tuggit and ruggit sae at the helter, that the miller could come
nae speed ava. “And now,” says the miller, “gif I set you doun, puir
thing, as ye are, some beast or anither will come and worry ye; and
it’s no in my power to get on that dancing deevil’s back wi’ ae hand—
sae gang ye in there;” and he lifted up the flap o’ his pouch, and pat
in the robin.
Now, John Marshall kentna that a’ this time there was a man at
the back o’ the hedge wi’ a cockit gun in his hand, ready to shoot the
whuttrit; but who, when he saw the miller jump aff his horse, took
doun the gun frae his shouther, to watch the upshot o’t; and when he
heard what the miller said, and saw him put the robin in his pouch,
he thought to himsel, “I maun ken something mair about this man;”
sae he follows the miller at a distance. And when he sees him come
out o’ the stable, and into the house, and the door steekit, and a’
quiet, he slips up to a window which was a wee bit open, and whaur
he could hear and see a’ that gaed on. The first thing he sees is the
miller and his family preparing for family worship, for that was a
thing John Marshall ne’er missed; and after the psalm was dune, the
miller spreads the Bible before him, and pittin’ his hand into his
pouch for his napkin, to dight his spectacles, out comes napkin, an’
burd, an’ a’.
“’Od,” says Jeanie, saftly, “gif my father hasna brought hame a
robin.”
“Whaur got ye the bit robin, father?” said William.
 “Ne’er ye mind, William, my man,” said the miller; “I’m gaun to
read ye a part o’ the Word o’ God, and that will do ye mair gude than
onything I hae to tell ye;” and as he pat out his hand to tak the corner
o’ his napkin, the robin gied him a dab. “Aye, neebor!” says the
miller. “But ye’re no to blame, puir beastie, for ye wasna to ken
whether I meant ye ill or gude. And now that I think o’t,” continued
the miller, “I’ll pass by our regular order the night, and read ye that
chapter whaur we’re tauld that no even a sparrow shall fa’ to the
grund without the Lord wills it.”
When he had finished it, they a’ went doun on their knees, and the
miller, amang ither things, prayed that He, wha took care even o’ the
bit burds o’ the air, would watch for their welfare, and gie them grace
to resist a’ temptation, and to live a gude and a godly life, like men
and like Christians. And when it was ower, and Jeanie was putting by
the Bible, a dirl comes to the door.
“See wha’s that, Jeanie,” cried the miller. Sae Jeanie opens it, and
when she comes back, she says, “It’s ane John Murdoch, father,
wha’s travell’t a gey lang bit the day; but gif it’s no convenient to tak
him in, he’ll just trudge on.”
“Bring him ben, lassie,” quoth the miller. Sae in walks John
Murdoch, a plain, honest, kintra-like chiel; and “Guid e’en to you,
miller,” says he.
“The same to you, frien’,” says John Marshall; “and sit ye doun,
and pit by your bonnet. We’re gaun to hae our parritch belyve, and if
ye’ll tak your share o’ them, and stay a’ night wi’ us, we’ll mak ye
welcome.”
“Wi’ a’ my heart,” says John Murdoch, sitting himsel down. “And
ye’ve gotten a bit burdie on the table, I see,—but it’s a wee douf ways,
I think.”
“Ou aye,” quoth the miller, “the puir thing’s gotten a bit fright the
night; and it’s a’ stickin’ wi’ burd-lime, and I kenna how to get it aff.”
“Let me see’t,” says John Murdoch, “I hae some bit notion o’ thae
things.” An’ he took a’ the straes aff it, and dighted and cleaned its
feathers, and made it just as right’s ever.
“And whaur’ll we put it now?” said he.
“’Od,” quoth the miller, “it would amaist be a pity to put it out at
the window the night; sae, Jeanie, see, if there’s naething to haud it
till the morn’s morning.”
“We’ll sune manage that,” said Jeanie, takin’ doun an auld cage.
The robin being safely disposed of, John Murdoch began to speak
to the miller of a heap o’ things, and he had the best o’t on maist o’
them; but when he cam to speak o’ kye, and on kintra matters, “I hae
ye now, man,” thought the miller; but faith he found John Murdoch
his match there too; and he said to himsel, “Od, but he’s a queer man
that, sure eneugh.” And John Murdoch gaed on tellin’ a wheen funny
stories. The miller leugh and better leugh, and Jeanie was sae ta’en
up about them, that in she rins twa handfu’s o’ saut instead o’ meal
into the parritch, and them sauted afore. Sae when they’re set on the
table, John Murdoch gets the first platefu’; and when he tastes them,
he says very gravely, “No that ill; but maybe ye’ll hae run out o’
saut?”
“Saut!” cried William, “do they want saut?” and in gangs a
spoonfu’.
“Gudesake!” cried he, turning roun’ to John Murdoch.
“What’s wrang with them, William?” said the miller.
“Ou, naething, naething, father—only they’re as saut’s lick, that’s
a’.”
“Gae awa wi’ your havers,” cried Jeanie; “let me taste them. Bless
me! an’ how in a’ the wide warl’ could that happen? I ne’er made sic a
mistak in a’ my days, an’ I canna account for’t in no gate.”
“Now dinna ye gang and vex yoursel about it,” said John Murdoch,
“for they’ll just gaur the yill there gang doun a’ the better.”
“If that’s the gate o’t,” cried the miller, “they’ll need strong yill frae
the first; sae, Jeanie, put ye that sma’ thing by, and bring the ither.”
“Na, na, gudeman,” says John Murdoch, “if we do that, wee’l be
fou; sae let’s begin wi’ the sma’ thing first, and we can tak the strong
yill afterwards, at our leisure.”
“Weel, weel,” said the miller, “sae be’t.”
Sae after supper they fell to the strong yill, and to crackin’, and the
miller took his share in’t, but nane o’ his family said onything maist;
but they couldna keep their een aff John Murdoch when he was
lookin’ at their father, though they found that they couldna look him
steady in the face when he turned to them, just frae something in his
ee, they couldna tell what.
“And it’s a bonnie place this o’ yours, miller,” said John Murdoch;
“and nae doubt you and your folk afore ye hae been a gey while in’t.”
“’Deed hae we,” said the miller, a wee gravely, “and, as ye say, it’s a
gey bonnie bit place.”
John Murdoch was gaun to ask something mair about it, but he
stopped on getting a particular look frae Jeanie, and changed the
subject; but the miller noticed it, and guessing the reason, said to
John Murdoch, “Ye see, frien’, that me and my forefathers hae had
this place for about twa hunder years, and we’re sweert to leave’t,
and my bairns ken that, and dinna like to speak o’t.”
“And what’s makin’ ye leave’t?” says John Murdoch; “that’s to say,
if its no ony secret.”
“Ou, nane ava,” says the miller; “it’s just this, ye see: its owner
thinks that it’s worth mair rent, and maybe he counts on our gien
him mair than the value o’t rather than gang awa, sae he’s just put
the double on’t, and gang we maun; for to stay here at that rate,
would just rin awa wi’ the wee thing I hae laid by for my bairns,
which I would be sweert to see. It’s no very muckle, to be sure; but I
can say this, John Murdoch, that it wasna gotten either by cheating
or idleness. However, we needna weary you wi’ our concerns, sae
come, we’s drink King James, and lang life to him.”
“Wi’ a’ my heart, miller,” quoth John Murdoch. “And nae doubt
ye’ll a’ be gaun to the sports that’s sune to be hauden at Stirling; they
say there’ll be grand fun, and I was just thinking that your auld son
there wadna hae a bad chance o’ winning at puttin’ the stane, or
flinging the mell.”
“And I ken,” cried Jeanie, “wha wad hae some chance at the race,
gif there’s to be ane.”
“Dinna brag, bairns,” said the miller, “and then, if ye’re waured,
there’s naething to be ashamed o’; but whether we gang there or no,
time will show; in the meantime, Jeanie, bring anither bottle o’
strong yill.”
“Miller,” quoth John Murdoch, “ken ye what hour it’s?”
“Me!” said the miller, “not I—maybe half an hour after nine.”
 “Because it just wants five minutes of eleven,” quoth John
Murdoch.
“Five minutes o’ eleven!” cried the miller, “and me no in my bed!
Faith, then, frien’, since ye dinna seem for’t yoursel, we’ll just let the
yill stan’, and be aff to our nests; sae a gude soun’ sleep to you.”
“And the same to you and yours,” quoth John Murdoch, as he raise
and gaed awa wi’ William.
 Chapter II.
Next morning the miller’s family were up and out at the usual
hour; but John Murdoch, who had wearied himsel the day before,
and who hadna, maybe, been used to sae muckle strong yill at ance,
lay still; and it was aught o’clock when he cam into the kitchen and
bade Jeanie gude mornin’.
“And how’s the gudeman? and is he out or in?”
“How!” cries Jeanie, “he and the lave hae been up and out at their
wark three hours syne.”
“And what are ye gaun to be about, my dawtie?” says John
Murdoch.
“I’m gaun to wash the kirn,” says Jeanie.
“And suppose I haud it for ye, and help ye?” says he.
“Weel aweel,” says Jeanie, “gin ye like; we’ll hae’t the sooner
ower.”
And John Murdoch did his best, and was very active; and when a’
was dune, he says, “An’ now, my dawtie, what am I to get for helping
ye?”
“Nae mair,” quoth Jeanie, “than the thanks ye hae gotten already.”
“But in my kintra,” says John Murdoch, “when a lad helps a lass to
clean out a kirn, he aye gets ae kiss at least.”
“We ken naething about thae fashions hereabouts,” says Jeanie,
“sae haud ye out o’ my gate!”
But as she passed him, John Murdoch, who thought she wasna in
earnest, drew her suddenly to him, and he had ta’en twa or three
kisses before Jeanie could recollect herself; but the next minute she
threw him frae her, and catching the ladle, she ran to the parritch-
pat on the fire, and whipped aff the lid; and if John Murdoch, who
saw what was coming, hadna darted out at the back door, he wad hae
had it a’ about him; as it was, a part o’ the het parritch played splarge
aff the wa’ on his coat.
 “And now,” thought John Murdoch, “is this real anger, or is’t put
on?” and he stood a wee bit aff, joking an’ jeering her.
“Aye, aye,” says he, “ye’re makin’ an unco wark about it, just as if
ye hadna been kissed a dozen times frae lug to lug, an’ by as mony
lads, and no said a word about it.”
“Ye notorious vagabond that ye are,” cried Jeanie,—“but I’se sort
ye for’t;” and she flung down the ladle and ran to loose the muckle
dog.
“Ye’re surely no gaun to set the dog on me?” says John Murdoch.
“Am I no?” says Jeanie, drawing and working wi’ the collar wi’ a’
her might.
John Murdoch, seeing her sae determined, slips to ae side, and
gets his gun frae whaur he had hidden’t.
“And now, Jeanie,” cries he, “haud your hand, for see, I’ve a gun.”
“I dinna care gin ye had twenty guns,” said Jeanie, who had now
unbuckled the collar, an’ held it in her hands; “sae tak leg-bail an’ aff
wi’ ye, my man, or Bawtie comes to ye.”
“Jeanie,” quoth John Murdoch, “I’m ready to walk awa peaceably,
since it maun be sae; but I’ll no be hunted frae your father’s house
like a thief an’ a scoundrel; sae keep up your dog, if ye’re wise.”
“We’ll sune try that,” says Jeanie, loosening the collar; “sae at him,
Bawtie! an’ we’ll sune see him rin.”
But John Murdoch stirredna ae step, and when Bawtie made at
him, he keepit him aff for a while, till the brute gettin’ below the
muzzle, made a dart at him; and if John Murdoch hadna jumped
quickly to ae side, he wad hae gripped him; as it was, he took awa ane
o’ the tails o’ his coat. And when Jeanie saw that, she was in a terrible
fright, for she didna wish him hurt, and thought he wad hae ran for’t
when she loosed the dog, and she cried wi’ a’ her might for Bawtie to
come back. But the beast wadna mind her, for he had gotten twa or
three gude paps on the nose, which made him furious; and sae when
he’s gaun to mak anither spring, John Murdoch, who saw there was
naething else for it, levels at him and lets drive; and round and round
the beast gaed, and then ower wi’ him; and when Jeanie saw he was
killed, she set up a great screigh, and ran till him, abusing John
Murdoch.
 “I’m sorry for’t, but it’s a’ your ain faut, Jeanie,” says he, “an’ canna
now be helpit; sae fare-ye-weel.” An’ as he gaed awa, William comes
runnin’ in at the other side o’ the house, an’ cries to Jeanie to ken
what’s the matter.
“It’s a’ John Murdoch’s doings,” cried Jeanie; “he first affronted
me, an’ now he’s killed poor Bawtie.”
“An’ which way is he gane?” cried William.
“Out that gate,” said Jeanie; and away went William like a shot.
But John Murdoch, who had heard what passed, and didna want
to hae ony mair to do in the matter, coured down ahint some bushes
till William was passed; then rising up, he took anither direction, an’
thought he had got clear o’ him, but as he was stappin’ ower a dike,
William got a glimpse o’ him. Doun he comes after him at a bonnie
rate; an’ as he gets near him, “Stop, ye rascal!” he cries to him; “ye
may just as weel stop at ance, for ye may depend on my laying a
dizzen on ye for every hunder ell ye mak me rin after ye.”
And when John Murdoch heard that, the blude gaed up into his
brow, an’ he was thinking o’ standin’ still, when he hears James cry
out,—
“What’s the matter, William? An’ what are ye chasing the man
for?”
“He’s misbehaved to Jeanie, an’ shot Bawtie,” cried William.
“Then taigle him, just taigle him, till I come up,” cried James.
“It’s needless,” thought John Murdoch to himself, “to fight wi’ twa
o’ them, an’ ane o’ them a second Samson, and to mak an
explanation or apology wad be ten times waur, sae I’ll e’en pit on;”
an’ aff he gaed at nearly the tap o’ his fit. After rinning a gude bit, he
looks o’er his shouther, an’ seeing naebody near him, he thinks
they’ve gien’t up; but just as he’s coming to the end o’ a bit wood, he
sees William, wha had ta’en a nearer cut, just afore him; an’ round he
comes on him, crying, “Now, my man, I hae ye now,” putting out his
hand to catch John Murdoch; but John drave down his hand in a
moment, an’ clapping his foot ahint William’s, an’ whirling him to ae
side, “Tak ye that, my man,” says he; an’ William gaed down wi’ sic a
breinge, that the blude spouted out frae his nose, an’ the hale warld
gaed round wi’ him.
 It was a wee while or James cam up, an’ when he saw William
lying covered wi’ blude, “The Lord preserve us,” cried he, “the
callant’s killed!” an’ he sat down beside him, an’ got William’s head
on his knee, an’ tried to recover him. By an’ by, William opens his
een, an’ when he sees James, “After him, after him,” cries he, “an’ no
mind me.”
“After him,” says James, “an’ the man a mile agate already? It wad
be nonsense for me to try’t.”
“Then let me up, an’ I’ll try it mysel,” cried William.
But James held him fast. “The deil’s in the callant,” says he, “to
think o’ runnin’, an’ him no able to stand his lane. Lie still, I tell ye!”
And William, who knew it was in vain for him to strive with his
strong brither, thought it best no to struggle ony mair. When he had
gotten quite round again, James helpit him up, an’ as they’re gaun
down to the water for William to wash himsel, they meet Jeanie
coming fleein’ up the path; and when she saw William’s bloody face
and claes, she clasped her hands thegither, an’ would hae fa’en, if
James hadna keppit her. When they questioned her about what had
happened, she tell’t it to them honestly frae first to last, and blamed
hersel sair for being sae angry an’ rash, when, after a’, the man meant
nae ill; but the thought o’ what Geordie Wilson might think if he
heard o’t, an’ the shootin’ o’ Bawtie thegither, had perfectly
dumfoundered her. “However,” continued Jeanie, “I’m thankfu’ that
things are nae waur, an’ that the man’s awa.”
“Aye, he’s awa,” says James, “but gin him an’ me foregather again,
I’se promise him the best paid skin he e’er got since he was
kirstened.”
“Weel, weel,” said Jeanie, “but I hope ye’ll ne’er meet; an’ now we
must gang and pit puir Bawtie out o’ the gate, an’ think on something
to say about him, and about John Murdoch’s gangin’ awa sae early,
before our father comes in to his breakfast.”
 Chapter III.
The time was now drawing near for the sports to be held at
Stirling, and William was aye wanting to speak to his father about it,
and to ken if they were gaun; but Jeanie advised against it. “If ye
speak till him, and fash him about it enow,” says she, “it’s ten to ane
but he’ll say no, and then, ye ken, there’s an’ end o’t; but gif ye say
naething, and keep steady to your wark, like enough he may speak o’
gaun himsel; sae tak my advice an’ sae naething ava about it.”
William did as Jeanie wanted him, but still the miller didna speak,
an’ now it was the afternoon of the day before the sports were to
come on, an’ no a word had been said about them; an’ William was
unco vexed, an’ didna weel ken what to do. When he’s sitting
thinking about it, the door opens, an’ in steps their neebour,
Saunders Mushet, just to crack a wee; an’ by an’ by he says, “Weel,
miller, an’ what time will ye be for setting aff the morn’s morning?”
“Me!” said the miller, “an’ what to do?”
“What to do?” says Saunders, “why, to see the sports at Stirling, to
be sure; you’ll surely never think o’ missing sic a grand sight?”
“An’ troth, Saunders,” says the miller, “I had clean forgotten’t. ’Od,
I daursay there’ll be grand fun, an’ my bairns wad maybe like to see’t;
an’ now that I think o’t, they’ve dune unco weel this while past,
especially William there, wha’s wrought mair than e’er I saw him do
afore in the same space o’ time; sae get ye ready, bairns, to set out at
five o’clock the morn’s morning, an’ we’ll tak Saunders up as we gae
by.”
This was glad news to the miller’s family, an’ ye needna doubt but
they were a’ ready in plenty o’ time; an’ when they cam to Stirling,
they got their breakfast, an’ a gude rest before aught o’clock cam,
which was the hour when the sports were to begin; an’ grand sports
they were, an’ muckle diversion gaed on; but nane o’ the miller’s
family took ony share in them, till they cam to puttin’ the stane, and
flingin’ the mell.
“Now James, my man,” says Jeanie, squeezing his arm.