THE SCOT

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 92, 19 April 1920, Page 3

THE SCOT

LECTURE BY MR. T. WATSON.

"The Scot—ln War, Love, Life, and Humour," was the subject of a lecture delivered' by Mr. Thomas Watson, of Feilding, at the Town HaU Concert Chamber, under thb auspices of the Burn 6 Club, on.Saturday night. In the early days, said Mr. Watson, the Soots had bravely withstood the valiant cohorts of the mighty Caesar, and had maintained the liberty of their land against all attacks. > At Bannockburn thejr had more than held their own against England, and when union between the two peoples at length came, it was at their own free will. Since then the Soots had contributed of their bravest and best to Britain's armies. The lecturer sa^d that Scotchmen lay under the imputation of being mean in money matters. But no greater libel was ever perpetrated on any people, and no people was ever in this respect more misunderstood. (Applause.) Born and bred under the hard, natural conditions obtaining in "Caledonia stern, and wild," the Soots had perforce to be not only a hardy but necessarily a frugal and an industrious race. They could only oxist by practising the greatest frugality arid en'erirv. It was also said that the Scot possessed no sense of humour;. but he maintained, on the contrary, that they possessed a sense <of humour in a higher degrto than any race in Europe or anywhere else. '(Applauee.) As for poetry, more than two-thirds of the poetry of Britain came from north of tho Tweed. Indeed, Lord Brougham, a noted authority on these matters, put it much higher than that. Her songs were richest in sentiment and feeling,, and- in Burns. she had, he held, the greatest singer of any country or any ago. (Applause.) Mr. Watson recounted the bravery of the' Scots' throughout the Indian Mutiny, at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, in the Peninsular War, in.the Crimea, and in latei wars. An excellent national musical programme was contributed by Mrs. M'Leod and Messrs. Martin Duff, Charles Moore, and ■•■ Verdi M'Kenzie, while a number of Highland dances were prettily performed by Miss Daisy M'Lellan ami juveniles.' Pipers Donald Scott and Donald Young played the accompaniments for the dancing.