The story of Haig's life until the time of the Great War, was the
opposite of spectacular, and even in it, his personal prowess was kept
studiously in the background. With him it has always been: "My men did
thus and so." Yet in his quiet way he has always made his presence
felt with telling effect. He has been the man behind the man behind
the gun.
By birth Haig was a "Fifer," which sounds military without being so.
He was a native of Cameronbridge, County of Fife, and came of the
strictest Presbyterian Scotch. If he had lived a few centuries back he
would have been a Covenanter--the kind that carried a Bible in one hand
and a gun in the other. He was born, June 19, 1861, the youngest son
of John Haig, a local Justice of the Peace. His mother was a Veitch of
Midlothian.
The family, while not wealthy, was comfortably situated. The Haig
children grew up as countrywise rather than townbred, having many a
romp over the rolling country leading to the Highlands. But more than
once on such a jaunt would come the inquiry: "Where's Douglas?" (We
doubt whether they ever shortened it to "Doug," as they would have done
in America.) And back would come the answer: "Oh, he stayed by the
house, the morn. He got a new book frae the library, ye ken."
Douglas was, indeed, bookish and was inclined to favor the inglenook
rather than the heather.
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