THE CALEDONIAN SOCIETY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2290, 8 December 1891, Page 3

THE CALEDONIAN SOCIETY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib,—A wee.drappie o’ Glenlivet pits queer notions - into folks’ heids, an’ gars them flay, unco things. I’ve been readiu’ your report of the speeches at the CaleCaledonian bankit, an’ I see some o’ them said they were cosmopolitan, an’ some o’ them said it. was a democratic society, an’ Mr Twomey had the cheek to say that Caledonians were the descendants o’ Irishmen'! ; Jiiist fancy the idea o’ a canny Scot bein’ the descendent o’ a hotheaded Irishman'! ' That’s nae better than John.; Bull ca’in’ a Chinaman a foreigner in Hong Kong. Noo aboot a democratic society gettin’ up a dinner at 5s a heid when 5s a day is thooht big eneuoh wages for werkin’ men. That would mean gettin’ a’e diet a day to themsel’s when they are workin’, an’ naethin’ ava tae their wives an’ weans, nor themsel’s either on Sabbaths an’ ither days they are no’ workin’. Nae, nae, a’in ower hard heided for believin’ that societies wha get up big dinners are democratic. But genuine Caledonians are. democrats. Nae booin’ an’ scrapin’ wi’ - them, They . despise your class affairs. Oor national poet registered a national sentiment when he wrote— 1 .... The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man’s the gowd for a’ that.” If we are tae ha’e a Caledonian Society it maim be permeated wi’ Caledonian sentiments an’ characteristics. If you want to mak’ it a cosmopolitan society, ca’d the C osmopolitan Society. If you want to ca’d the* Caledonian Society, mak’ it Caledonian. Every true Caledonian, I may say every true man, is cosmopolitan, as far as he can be sae withoot Obscurin’ his ain nationality. When I come across a man wha isna’ prood o’ his country I aye conclude that his country has nae cause tae be prood o’ him. It needna’ be exexclusive as tee membership tae mak’ the Caledonian Society exclusively Caledonian. But only as tae the characteristics it represents. Bankits and fancy balls are nae Caledonian characteristics, they are purely English, an’ therefore oot p’ place when promoted by a society ca’in’ itsel’ Caledonian. If their social gatherwere o’ a kin’ to come wi’in reach o’ a’ plaases, an’ what it costs extra for fancy dresses an’ big feeds devoted tae somethin’ usefu’—such as a scholarship—they micht ca’ themsel’s Caledonians an’ democrats, I dinna want you tae tell me that it’s no’ the society’s, money. A’m no’ blamin’ anybody for meddlin’ wi’ money they ha’na a richt tae dae any- ■ thing they like wi’. But they ha’e nae jicht to affront Caledonians wi’ sic’ angaums. Utility is a salient point in the character o’ every true Scot.; e’en their amusements are arranged wi’ a view tab be usefu’. Athletic sports began to be an amusement among them when muscular powers bore the gree, an’ since brain power has become likely to tak’ the place o’ muscle edication has instinctively become the Caledonian watchword. Hence the foundin’ o’ scholarships by Caledonian societies. Oor Temuka freends ha’e some intentions in that direction tae. I’ve heard that the hot place is paved wi’ gude intentions : that is, wi’ gude intentions that ha’e never been carried oot. The way to carry oot gude intentions is tae hae nae glaikitness till the gude has been accomplished.— I am, etc.,, . A SpjUg o’ the True Heather,