The Boy In The Train..

My BlipFoto subscribers will know I live in what used to be the Headquarters of the Nairn Corporation in Kirkcaldy. Nairns was at one time the largest manufacturer of linoleum in the world, and for many years, due the the smell of the linseed oil in the manufacturing process, people could smell Kirkcaldy before they could see it.

In 1913, Mary Campbell Smith, the wife of the head teacher at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, wrote the poem "The Boy In The Train" for the school journal. It went on to become a popular poem for children for many years.

The above picture of the poem, is on the wall of Kirkcaldy railway station. Appropriately enough, it is carved in Linoleum manufactured by Nairn's of Kirkcaldy.

I am not aware of any other poems by Mary, but if she did write more, none have been as popular as this.