Incredible as it may seem we have now been in existence for three years! A friendly critic wonders what we will do when our stock of material for the "Magazine" runs out. She can be reassured that instead of diminishing our supplies are ever increasing. We have no need to scrape the barrel; our widow's cruise is ever at hand! But we do want more contributors, and in especial from that group coming under the Society's interest in Natural History. We have in this number a thoughtful contribution, and as they read it, some of our readers will feel a little sad at the fluffy kitten which rejected a good home for its freedom in the wild. We need, if it permissible to use the names of our illustrious fellow publications - Observers and Record-ers! A series of pre-history articles has been planned and the editor looks forward to the filling of a very obvious gap in the Magazine's contents.

Telephone messages, letters and personal contacts between the public and the members of the Magazine Committee give us our so-far never ending source of ideas. It is gratifying to hear from overseas Kintyreans that we keep them in touch with, or in some cases, bring them in touch with their homeland. An American subscriber tells us that his copy passes through several hands, while an Australian, revisiting the land of her birth took time to telephone the editorial headquarters (sic!) and promised a future letter. As our readers follow the reasoning in "The Great Pestilence" many may not realise that it came from Australia where the former doctor of Southend now lives. He, an Argyllshire man by birth and upbringing tells that his elder brother was the first child to be born in Campbeltown's Barochan Place, when his father was on the staff of the old Grammar School. Dr. Maiden has now handsomely fulfilled a promise made when the Magazine was first projected.

An American member of our Society on a recent visit made use of our Library, and has given to it a copy of her recently published book "To Make a Home in Pioneer Cass County Illinois." Her "widowed great grandmother left Southend with a grown-up family of eight sons and one daughter and the latter's husband: how different were the family migrations of the 19th century from the 20th century emigrants, who were generally single men, although many of them sent back here for wives, or fetched them, when they had settled down in a new country.

To our subscribers and readers, whether overseas or in our native Kintyre, we give thanks for their kind encouragement, and to all we wish a happy and prosperous New Year.

Copyright belongs to the authors unless otherwise stated.