LECTURE AT FIRST CHURCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 21

LECTURE AT FIRST CHURCH.

The hall of First Otiurch was densely crowded on the lsb to hear the Rsv. James Gibb lecture on i'lau Maclaren as an Interpreter of Scottish Life and Ch&rac&er."" For two hours Mr Gibb encbaioed thf attention of hia audience, aow moving them fto hejirf.y — and sowebicaee, usdeeei, uproarious — laughter, and again touching the feelinga Whioh are akin to tears. A glance at many of the typically Scotch f*ce» prasbut showed how deeply their posB^scarc fiferfe affected by the lecturer's delineation of the nobler Scottish characteristics, and fry sac ex tracts reaA from lan Miclaren in illustration of tee sime. These were read with porfecb appreciation o r tbe text ; the lecturer, who manifestly was deeply sensible of th« humour and pathos of what ho read, succeeded admirably in conveying this to the audience, and he was again and again applauded. The lecturer pointed oaf that lan Maclaren had rendered literature and humanity a grsafc service iv showing the " pathos andsublima of life " in the lives of the poor and humble. The poet's vocation was to find out the good that is in everything, and by it to beautify the hard realities of existence. Lan Maclaren was not a poet in the ordinary acceptation of the term, bat his sketches had afs least this poetic quality. Tha service rendered by the sketches was next said to be, in the judgment at least of Scotsmen, heightened by the fact that the c-.iaracter they depicted was that of Scottish men. It would be a of supererogation to construct an apology for Scotland. She had a hiitory of her own, her sons had a character of their own, and while they had * all admiration for the redoubtable men who ,dwelfc on the English side of the border they might be fargiven if they kept a still warmer place in their hearts for their own land, if they thought that in proportion ta her bizo and numbers Seofcland had done more for the welfare of the British Empire than tbe English themselves. Long might Scotia's sons and daughters continue to cherish an ardent attachment to their fatherland. For larger ends than belong to Soofcland Scotchmen must hold fast to what was native to their soil. Preceding to speak of the dis- • tinctive features of Scottish character, the lecturer gave the first place to their all-powerful loyalty to conscience, their deep faith in divine government and the sovereign power of God. Next their attachment to the kirk and their fondness for sermons' and theology were discussed. It had been said that a taste for sermons betokened .the extremest form of intellectual destitution. /The lecturer was Sony that the clever young men who wrota such things could not fall into the hands of Elspet Maofadyen, the sermon-taster of the glen. The question of the school was next handled. The reticence and frequently alleged hardness of the Scottish character were then discussed. Reticent the Scots ware, and hard exteraally, but not hard at heart. They were keen business men, do doubt, but their generosity to the church and the cause of philanthropy was universally known. Tbe humour and tenderness of the- Scottish character were successively dealt with, and these and all the other characteristics mentioned were fully illustrated by extracts from the sketches and by incidents and anecdote* drawn froaa other sources. During the eveuiug Mrs J. Todd sang with much taste and feeling " Oh, sing to me the auld Scotch saogs" and " Auld Robin Gray," Miss Brown gave a successful rendering of^the "LaD<i o' the Leal," fend Mr A. Sutherland sang "Scotland yet" ■with considerable vigour.

Whila a men waa in » pigstje the other day n'e i.'sb seized with a fit;, and while in that state one of the piga chewed off the fore part of the fingers of one fjf his hands. He was brought with all expedition to the Southland Hospital, where he is progressing favourably.