NOTES FROM SCOTLAND.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 1, 26 September 1907, Page 13

NOTES FROM SCOTLAND.

LORD ROSECERY'S GIFT TO EDINBURGH. AM ANCIENT HISTORIC MANSION.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

Glasgow, August 1,

The citizens of Edinburgh are fortunate! Lord Roscbory has just presented them with a valuable gift — a gift beyond price — the ancient historic mansion known as " Lady Stair's House," standing in a close of tho Lawnmarket. .Tho original house has been wrought into the history of Edinburgh l'or the .greater part of three centuric3, during which , time it was the residence of many celebrated men, who, i:i the course of their lives, holp.-d to make the history of the nation. Since it,ceased to bo the residence of nobility, other houses havo grown up around it, shutting it in, and quito obliterating tho beautiful old garden. Additions to the original structure have boon made; and of lato years' many and various have been the occupations carried on in it. Yet thero still survives, amidst all the vicissitudes of fortune, tho doorway with its moulded lintel. After 300 years, tho date 1622 can still be deciphered, as well as tho words: "Fearc tho Lord and Departe from Evil," placed there by tho pious founders, William Gray of Pittendrum, and Geida, his wife.

In the reign of Charles 1., a certain Sir Archibald Primrose, then Clerk m the Privy Council, married, as his second wife, tho daughter of this Sir William Gray, - and sho. bcoamo the mother of the first Earl of Rosebery. Tims in that distant part were woven threads that to-day unite the present bearer of both names with tho ancient mansion. Tho widow of a cortain Viscount Primrose married Lord Stair in 170 G. As a downger and a second time widow sho took -up her residence in this Edinburgh close, since known by her name. She was a woman of great character and vivid personality, ar.d tili her death was a great leader of society of that day. Her lifo had been adventurous.

Neither of her matrimonial ventures appear to havo boon quite .happy. She figures in Sir Walter Scott's story " Aunt Margaret's Mirror." Some ten years ago Lord Rospbery took tho house under his protection; cleared away the surrounding buildings, and restored it. as far as possible to its original design. It is to be devoted to tho purposes of a municipal museum. OBITUARY. Two men, much about tho same age, each prominent in their- respective towns, passed away within a few days of each othor, Mr. John Warrack and Mr. James Daly.

Mr. John Warrack, shipowner of Edinburgh and Loith, was widely known in both East and West Scotland. Ho was not only a practical business man, but also 'an authority on maritime law and insurance — on which subjects lie contributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Mr. James Daly was well known ili Glasgow, and did equally good work, but did not come so prominently before tho public, for he shunned publicity though lie worked hard for tho betterment of his poorer fellow townsmen. His life was a hard struggle, for when only a boy of twelve years he was teaching tho children of farmers, as well as the rough miners, of his native village, and by this means helping his mother to maintain tho family of four. Later, when a master in tho Cannongato School, Edinburgh, _ho resigned, and exchanged the birch rod for the yard measure. Coming to Glasgow he ontered a business firm, but soon acquired a business of his own, which during his lifetime he increased so rapidly that he has left his two sons in possession of ono of ths foremost drapery establishments in Glasgow.

A notable headmaster has also just passed away in tho llev. Dr. Guuion Rutherford. Though, owing to illhealth, ho ■ resigned some, six years ago, ho yet lives in the memory of many prominont men of to-dav. From 1883 till 1901 ho was head of Westminster School, and was ono of the foremost schoolmasters of his time. n

GLASGOW FAIR.

Glasgow Fair is just over, and holi-day-makers an everywhere returning. Tho local Press in unanimous in praise of tho improved behaviour of tho working-class visitors at the maincoast resorts on this, their annua! holiday. In the place of tho rowdy horse-play and noisy brawls of dirty ill-dressed peoplo, who mado themselves dreaded by tho orderly inhabitants, there como now quiot, woll-hc-havod folic, enjoying themselves in a resonablo way. Credit for this happy result is claimed equally by many parties —temperance enthusiasts, educationalists, and other social workers. T ; truth is that probably all have i tributed, in that they havo hel;» to establish a higher standard of life among the poorer classes, and to no one agency alone does the credit belong.

Certainly the enormous crowds at the largo railway stations were most orderly; and, if some men had enjoyed themselves not wisely but too well, they wero tho noticeable exceptions. I wonder how this question of drink would strike a visitor from Dunodin? There is a terrible prevalence of tho vice in Glasgow, noticcslily among the women, and this is having an appalling effect on tho poor little children, judging by th.o misshapen little objects swarming about the poorer streets. To. thoso who havehrd hrd rhrhrrr A RELIC OI' 1 OLD TIMES. To thoso who are not familiar with the term "Glasgow Fair" it may ho interesting to know that it is a unique relic of old times, and that nothing similar exists in any other inldtistria centro. Originally it was a real fair, but so entirely have times changed that, instead of folk flocking into tho town, tho wholo population flocks out of it. Glasgow fairly empties itself. All who can afford to havo gone sometime previously, but with the coming- of the second week of July all works and factories are closed and the entire male population is compelled to take a holiday, varying from a week to a fortnight.

It is not like tho London exodus, for there it io the well-to-do who fly to tho country, but here it is preeminently tho' working-classes and "lit-tlo" tradespeople. Quito poor people take their whole families away. Among tho improvident ones, and those thirsty souls who drink when tho wife and bairns aro starving, there is much real distress when "their man is thrown idle." But "Fair-timo" is such an established custom, that, from tho Now Year onward, look-a-head folk save up for it: even quito young boys and children put into some sort of savings-banks so as to treat themselves to a holiday and tho necessary fine clothes.

Tho whole city is kilo, only thoso remaining at work whoso labour is indispensable to the community. It is quite common for notices to ho pasted -up that "This shop is closed for Fair-holidays"—sometimes for a few days—sometimes for tho full two weeks. Even ordinary landladies expect to got away, bo woo betide the inconsiderate lodger who does not arrange to bo absent at this time. In my ignorance' I staved on—and received unceremonious dismissal 1 CHEAP MARRIAGES.

''Hogmanay" is the old name for this holiday. By an old usage the labouring classes can avail themselves of a cheap form of marriago before the sheriff, from whom they rocoiyo .permission to havo their marriages registered. ■ Thirty-one conplcs applied this year and the applicants iscluded members of various classes—a coal merchant, a commercial traveller (by the way I find these commercial travellers of very various grades—not all are the comfortable portly persons that frequent the hotel ordinaries of market-towns), car-drivors, artisans. A doubt seems to be arising as to whotber theso marriages are really regular- ,

That charming coast town, Ayr, has a fine novr race-course within a few minutes from the steeple. It is to bo opened formally in Septembor by tho Duke of Montrose. Ayr has a fine record as a racing centre, for as early as 1698 thero is an entry on the minutes of tho Town Council that: "A silver disc was prosentod to bo raced for on the sands." Thero are to be tlireo fixtures annually, consisting of a two-days' meeting in April, and again in July and August. With such advantages Ayr will become the Scottish Newmarket.