Issuu

Vol. V., 1Ro. 2.

Januarv, 1902.

•

Educational Books. JAMES G. BISSET C

ONTINUES to supply all the Class Books (New or Second-hand) suited for the Requirements of the Higher Educational Institutions in the City, at the Lowest Prices.

N.B.-BEST VALUE IN STUDENTS' NOTE BOORS.

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CONTENTS. ‘)t Frontispiece

PORTRAIT OF Mr. MACKIE

NOTES ABOUT OLD BOYS

To VIRGIL

SCHOOL NOTES

IN MEMORIAM-CHARLES LYALL GRANT LIBRARY

" REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD 1 "-II.

By W. K. L.

DID BACON WRITE SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS ? OUR 'VARSITY LETTER -

FORMER PUPILS' CLUB, 1901-1902 SCHOOL FOOTBALL NOTES I

SWIMMING

OUR CONTEMPORARIES -

69 -

CORRESPONDENCE " DEBATER " NOTES

73 75

SHORTI.IRND

and

TYPEWRITING.

C. M. LAWRENCE, tbc Elbert)ccn %cbool of Zbortban, 19 CROWN STREET. Prospectus on

Telephone 875.

application.

wri- TEXT BOOKS * Of all lkinb9 (NEW AND SECOND-HAND), AT

D. WYLLIE & SO

247 UNION STREET, ABERDEEN.

JOHN C. M'LEOD, HATTER,

UNION

STREET,

School a OULD respectfully intimate to pupils of Grammar authoas Badges, Glengarry and Cap of Large Stock and Pants, Bathing Belts, Jerseys, rised; also, Football

Costumes. Tennis, and Boating Jerseys, Great Variety of Football, Cricket, Shirts, Jackets, Belts, Trousers, Knickers, Sweaters, Cowls, Caps, and Hats.

TROPHY

AND

CLUB CAPS

MADE

ORDER.

Club & other Fancy For Summer—Straw Hats, with &c. Puggarees, Bands, Guards, CAPS, cOe. NEW STYLES FELT HATS, TWEED Umbrellas. and Braces, Ties, Scarfs, Collars, 1902.

MAXWELL H. MACKIE, Esq., M.A., Senior French Master, Aberdeen Grammar School.

T F-I E

Orammar SciNof Maga3ine. Vol. V.

JANUARY, 1902.

No. 2.

TUE Christmas Holidays are over again, and the School has now settled down to the usual work. We believe that many are not at all sorry to return, as the weather during the holidays has not been very suitable for holiday-making. Scarcely one day passed without its rain and storms, and any hopes we cherished before the vacation of skating were thrown to the winds. Under such conditions even School seems more pleasant than wandering aimlessly about the streets, studying over and over again shop windows, or reading the latest fiction. If it is not too late, we would commence this number by wishing our readers a very happy New Year. •

Since our last number came out, a very important incident has taken place—namely, the appointment of Mr. Craigen to the vacant post of Chairman of the School Board. After a little delay, Mr. Craigen was chosen, and we feel sure one and all will congratulate him on his election. We publish in this issue our second of the series of articles "Remember the Days of Old." The author's initials are well known in Aberdeen, and they have figured in our pages before. They are also to be seen in the

The Grammar School Magazine.

" Famous Scots " series of biographies, where they take an important place. Our other article, " Did Bacon Write Shakespeare's Plays? ", ought to prove very interesting to the higher classes and to all people interested in this subject. Much doubt is felt on this question, but this article may perhaps solve difficulties for many. We have resolved to start a new feature in our Maq. with the New Year, namely, a 'Varsity Letter. This ought to prove interesting, as we shall see from time to time what is going on at the University. We find that many of our contemporaries have notes of their Colleges where there are any.

b an

We have reserved a portion of the Mag. for Answers to Correspondents. We dropped this for a time, as the letters we received were not up to a certain necessary standard, but now we have resolved to do our best at answering conundrums which are sent in to us. We shall answer only two or three at a time ; consequently several will have to be held over. Mr. Maxwell H. Mackie, M.A., who forms our frontispiece, really needs no " Note " to accompany his portrait. He seems to be an integral part of the Grammar School ; indeed the School without him is inconceivable. He came to us in 1881, and so has taught us the " illigent" French tongue for over twenty years. He has travelled widely in France and Switzerland, and was for some time resident in the former country for the purpose of learning the language on the spot. We need hardly comment upon Mr. Mackie's genial good nature, nor upon his power of repartee, which is great, for all who were members of the Cycling Club can remember the Honorary Captain's fund of stories. And what member of the " Debater " does not remember " The Adventures of Jimmy Brown"? There is, however, another side to Mr. Mackie's nature—when necessary ; but we shall draw a veil over that at present, and merely say that, even after twenty years of service, Mr. Mackie's popularity is still on the rise.

We have to thank Leonard J. Smith for his splendid sketch for our new "Footer" heading. Smith has a knack of drawing, and we hope to have something more from his pencil.

*Ar

School Notes.

The " Footer" season is wearing over, and the School will do well if it plays the rest of its fixtures as well as it has played the past ones. Out of 8 matches played it has won 7 and lost one—a very creditable performance. Macrae, the Captain, left the School early in the season, and W. W. Jameson has been elected. to the vacant position. D. B. Nicol has taken Jameson's place. The School will miss Macrae as a very dashing forward. We are pleased to see how many fellows turn out for practice on Wednesday and Saturday. We are specially pleased to see how many of the VII V are taking part in the game. About half of the team are from the VII., and the competition for places has never been so keen. We hope this will long continue, as it is a very good sign and a very fitting one for a School famed for football as we are. Our 2nd XV. is not behind the 1st as regards winning. Although it has played only two matches, it drew one and won the other. Here again we see several of the VII. taking places. Our 1st XV. has its colours and caps, but what about the 2nd? We have heard nothing about getting these for the 2nd, but we do not see why it should not have them. Perhaps by another year we may see the 2nd in possession of caps. The Literary and Debating Society is to be congratulated on the success it has had during the present season. Although it has only two members who have been in office before, it has raised a syllabus no less strong than in former years. The Society has had admirable lectures, and the debates were well chosen and well argued. We are delighted to see the number of VII. fellows who are members of the Society this year. This is a very promising sign, and a great encouragement to the officials. Many, aforetime senatores pedarii, have now arrived at the stage of letting their voices be heard in the debates, and there seems no lack of good common sense in the Society. We are looking forward to the second half of the syllabus, which promises to be as good as the first. It is not too late to join yet, and all boys who can come on the days chosen should join, even though they come only for the purpose .of listening.

The Grammar School Magazine.

We heard a whisper going round about a Jury Night. This would be a splendid feature in the syllabus if done well, but perhaps it would be rather a stiff piece of work for schoolboys to undertake. It was tried once before, and —well, it was not a complete success. However, next year, it may figure on the syllabus, and we shall look forward to seeing it. Perhaps, after all, it would be better to wait till we go to the 'Varsity. There is one small annoyance which is felt in the " Debater," and that is the fact that certain boys, among whose number are several Former Pupils, come down while the " Debater" is sitting, and bang the doors and throw stones and earth in at the windows. The " Debater" has already treated one case of this sort, and is prepared to treat more cases if necessary. Another thing we are sorry to see in the " Debater" is the number of members who come in late to the lectures. This is not so annoying at ordinary meetings of the Society — -but at lectures, to see members straggle in by ones and twos at different times of the lectures, is nothing short of disgraceful. We know that this is a great annoyance to the lecturer, as it takes his mind from his subject, and also the attention from his listeners, and we would appeal to the fellows to come up a little more punctual in future. G. H. Mair has been appointed Assistant Secretary of the Literary and Debating Society. Our F.P.'s have at last wakened up (mirabile dictu), and become energetic. This we find from the syllabus of concerts, balls, and smoking concerts which they are holding this season. The part of the syllabus which is past has been a great success, and the next part promises to be even more successful. The opening meeting of the Club was all that could be desired, as was the concert held on 21st December. The Secretary and several others of the Club have compiled a list of members, and have raised a very good number. We would advocate the claims of the Club, and advise every boy to join it when he leaves School, whether he will be resident in Aberdeen or in the " uttermost parts of the earth." Many will learn with pleasure that G. S. Russell and

School Notes.

Theodore Watt have joined the editorial staff of Alma Mater. If all the other members of the staff work as energetically as these do, no difficulty should be found in raising the already high standard of Alma Mater. Mr. Alex. Martin (F.P.), formerly Rector, has intimated his desire to present to our Museum Dr. Melvin's gold watch and chain, with seals attached. The last are described as a very characteristic feature in Dr. Melvin's attire—none more so, perhaps, except the familiar snuffbox. On his death the watch was given to Dr. Gerard, from whom it passed to Mr. Martin. The School is glad to have this interesting relic, the more so as it possesses so few. No place could be more appropriate than the School which was his whole life and work, and we thank Mr. Martin very warmly for his generous and interesting gift. The Reference Library is almost filled up, and will present quite a pleasing view when the rest of the books arrive. The School Board are considering the question of added to the buildings a new Library and Reading Room and a new and more suitable Infants' Room. If this plan is carried out, probably the present Library and the former Lunch Room will be turned into a Museum, and lit by windows pierced through the roof. While we are on the subject of the Reference Library, we should like to say a word about the Lending Library. We consider it is being used most unfairly, the membership being only a very small percentage. We are surprised to see how few Upper School fellows have joined. Their number can be counted on one hand. This is surprising, considering the fact that the literature for the most part is suitable for the Upper School rather than the Middle. In fact the Librarians have more work in dusting the books to keep them clean than in handing them out. We are sorry to hear that the Rev. Mr. Ward has had a bad attack of pleurisy. We hope Mr. Ward will enjoy better health than he has been having. We welcome Mr. Duncan, who has joined the School staff, and we hope he will have a long and pleasant stay with us. Mr. Duncan has been appointed to the 1st Middle.

The Grammar School Magazine.

Do some fellows in the School imagine that the Editors of this Mag. are poor, underfed creatures who have not time to snatch a meal? We concluded that some thought this when one day we discovered a biscuit and several sweetmeats in the Magazine Box ! We would prefer contributions of the right sort, namely articles, poems, notes on School matters, or anything to interest the pupils. We can assure the thoughtful donors of these gifts that though we may look thin we occasionally get time for a proper meal. The Rector's lecture for February is to be " The Centre of the World." This smacks a little of Jules Verne, but from various " threats " dropped to the VII. those Patres Conscripti seem to suspect it means Rome and the Orbis terrarum. A collection was made in December on behalf of the Children's Clothing Association, and the amount realised was £3 lls. We welcome our new Janitor, Mr. Kennedy, and hope he will have a long stay with us. Everybody will come to our " Finale " at the end of February. The actors are hard at work and under the stage-managership of Mr. Morrison, who so successfully engineered our last dramatic performance. The farce should be a complete success. G. S. Russell is acting as assistant stage manager. Mr. Morrison and he will be able to give valuable tips to the new actors. The Concert part of the programme, we hear, is to be exceptionally good, and altogether the programme is inviting. So come with your sisters, your cousins, and your aunts." A most successful rendering of " As You Like It" was given in the School Hall in, December by Miss M. Williams. There was a very good attendance of the School, and a good number of Albyn School ladies were present also. Miss Williams gave the plot of each scene, and chose the most important parts of the dialogues. Miss Williams' interpretations of certain parts brought forth rounds of applause from the VII and VI. We were surprised to see the gallantry exhibited by the West-End boys, who thought that young ladies could not go alone without an escort to the far end of Queen's Road.

School Notes.

At a meeting of the remains of the Cycling Club Committee (1898-1899) held in November last, the Honorary Captain, Mr. Mackie, moved that the surplus funds be given to the School Library. The Secretary seconded the motion, and it was declared carried nem. con. By the time this appears in print a new system will be started in the School, namely, correspondence between Mr. Mackie has French boys and boys of our. School. caught on very it has and School, in the idea the started well. In fact the VII. volunteered almost to a man, while the lower classes are no less enthusiastic. The idea of this correspondence is to try to create a friendly feeling between the French and English schoolboys as well as to teach each the language of the other. A little regret was expressed in the VII. when they heard that the correspondents were to be of the male sex. We have to congratulate the Swimming Club on the very successful season it has had. This is greatly due to the exertions of D. H. Williamson, the Captain, who has done a great deal to improve the Club. At the annual meeting, held on the 13th January, the accounts were read, and we congratulate the Swimming Club on the magnificent balance it has to show. Very many of the old office-bearers are holding positions again, and several new ones have been The Swimming Club is an institution in the elected. We shall not School which deserves every boy's help. attempt to enumerate here all the benefits pertaining to the Club, for their name is legion, but we would remind the School that members of the Club receive admission to the Baths at a reduced rate, and that arrangements are being made to teach those who cannot swim, but who wish to learn. We hope the School will give the Club its heartiest support this coming season. We have received a copy of the handbook containing of members of the Former Pupils' Club. This is a list a most admirable production, and reflects great credit on those who had to do with publishing it. The cover, which contains views of the old and new Grammar School, was designed by Mr. Samuel Pope, Jun. Mr. Pope deserves great praise for designing so artistic a cover. We hope to see this handbook every year. We have also received statistics of the Club. Last year the membership was 222. A very good This year it is 370, an increase of 148. year's work ! Go on and prosper, F.P.'s Club !

The Grammar School Magazine.

IT is proposed to hold for the first time in the long history of our School a Founders' Day Celebration. The provisional date is October.

The examiners of the University of Edinburgh recommend that the Vans Dunlop Scholarship in Public, Civil, and Constitutional Law be awarded to Alexander Morrice Mackay, M.A. Mr. Mackay, who is well known as the son of the late Mr. Robert Whyte Mackay, graduated at Aberdeen University in 1895, with first-class honours in Classics and Mental Philosophy. From Aberdeen he proceeded to Cambridge, where he also had a very distinguished career. It may not be generally known that we boast among our " Old Boys" the Chess Champion of Scotland. Dr. Ronald Macdonald, son of the Rev. Dr. C. C. Macdonald, of St. Clement's Church, holds that position at present. And further, another of our " Old Boys," the Sheriff-Substitute of Sutherland, Mr. Thomas Mackenzie, M.A., who was at School about 1851, held the Chess Championship of the North. Mr. A. F. Murison, once our English Master, has just accepted the Chair of Jurisprudence in University College, London, in addition to the Chair of Roman Law which he has held for the past. eighteen years. Dr. Hunter (F.P.) resigned his Roman Law Chair to take the Chair of Jurisprudence, so he held the same two chairs, but in succession, one after the other. Mr. Edmund Robertson, M.P., succeeded Dr. Hunter in the Roman Law Chair, and Mr. Murison succeeded Mr. Robertson. The second chair, which he has accepted, is very specially interesting, because the first occupant of it was John Austin, who practically founded the science of Jurisprudence.

Notes about Old Boys.

Professor Stewart Dingwall Fordyce Salmond, D.D., Principal of the Free Church College, Aberdeen, had the honour to receive the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Yale, U.S.A., on the occasion of its centenary celebrations. We understand that our learned " Old Boy " had some amusing experiences in America, so our Debating Society should make haste to ask him to favour it with a lecture. It would be a great success. The Rev. Mr. Clark, son of the U.F.C. minister of Kingswells, has been appointed minister of the U.F.C., Aberlemno. •

Sir James Reid, Bart., G.C.V.O., K.C.B., LL.D., M.D., M.A., etc., etc., has been appointed Physician-in-Ordinary to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. J. F. Crombie has taken an honourable place in the examination for entrance to Sandhurst. Mr. Strachan, who is bracketed Seventh Wrangler, is an Aberdonian. He entered the Aberdeen Grammar School in 1885, and passed through the entire course of education there till 1895, when he proceeded to the University as third bursar. During his undergraduate career he took a foremost place among the students of his time in Mathematics, Physics, and Natural Science, graduating M.A. in 1899 with first-class honours in Mathematics. In the same year he took the B.Sc. degree. At graduation in Arts he was awarded some of the principal University prizes—the Simpson Mathematical, the Greig Prize in Natural Philosophy, the David Rennet Gold Medal, as also the Town Council Gold Medal to the best student of the year. From the University of Aberdeen he went to Cambridge, entering at Clare College and taking a high place in the scholarship competition there. Shortly after he went to Cambridge he gained the Fullerton Scholarship of Aberdeen University. Both at Aberdeen and Cambridge he took an active part in College matters. He was recently been appointed president of the Clare College Debating Society. It is worthy of mention that Mr. Strachan has taken his high place in the Tripos after a course at Cambridge of less than two years, the ordinary time being three years.

The Grammar School Magazine.

We regret to announce the death of the Rev. W. Bruce, D.D., Newmachar, who had a distinguished career at the School, and had the reputation of being one of the best - versionists " of his time.

Two interesting and important books by " Old Boys " One of them is "Horae Latinae," by have appeared. the late Robert Ogilvie, LL.D., the Chief Inspector It is a collection of phrases of Schools for Scotland. and of hints to help in the discrimination of Latin Its price (12s. 6d.) is, however, somewhat Idioms. prohibitive. The other is " William Garden Blaikie: an Dr. Recollections of a Busy Life." Autobiography. Blaikie sketches the Grammar School of his day (18281833), with Melvin (" Grim Pluto ") at its head. In his class was Professor David Masson, of Edinburgh. He left us as Dux. Why are not these volumes added to our F.P.'s bookshelf ? We regret to announce the death of Fleet-Surgeon Walter Lawrence, R.N. Born in 1819, he was thus one of our oldest F.P.'s. He saw much service in the slave-trading districts on the West Coast of Africa, and in Australian waters when Botany Bay was notorious as a penal settlement. His vessel was stationed at New Zealand during the Maori War. Mr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, M.A. (Oxon.), F.Z.S., the distinguished scientist, has taken the further degree of Doctor of Science.

Sir John Gilmour of Montrave has with great good taste commemorated that brilliant and brave soldier, the Earl of Airlie, in the minds of the youth of Dundee. Sir John opened the High School Recreation Ground, and, referring to the services of the late Earl, intimated that he was giving to the Sports Club a silver cup, to be called the Airlie Cup, " in memory of the gallant officer who had died on the field of battle." We congratulate our neighbours of Dundee. Perhaps some generous person, on reading this, may feel inclined to confer a similar honour on us.

Notes about Old Boys.

Allah is great ! Some of those who read this may even see • the opening of our Recreation Grounds. It is with feelings of justifiable pride that we announce that the membership of our Old Boys' Club is close upon 400, and that there is a clear balance in hand of about £30. Well done, Mr. Secretary and officials ! The programme of events for the season is a very full one, lectures, dances, smoking concerts following each other in rapid succession, and all of them have hitherto been entirely successful. Surely it will now be possible for us to get the splendid photographs, presented to the School by Mr. Louis Wilson, framed in suitable frames and hung on our rather gaunt walls. And when Mr. Reid, F.G.S., C.E., who gave us the benefit of his exciting experiences in China lately, has sent the Chinese curios he promised us, we shall be well equipped.

TO VIRGIL. (With apologies to the late Lord Tennyson.) ROMAN Virgil, thou that singest

Ilion's temples, robed in fire : Source of schoolboys' sighs and groanings, Source of students' righteous ire. After Caesar's Commentaries, Boys thy pages next peruse, And they wonder as they read them Why 'tis thee that Masters choose. " Light among the vanished ages " (So at least the Laureate said), All our maledictions cluster Round thine own devoted head. " Now the Rome of slaves hath perished "— Would thy works had perished too— Every generation reads thee, But discovers nothing new. I salute thee, Mantovano : I, who, weary of thy lays, Cannot find the will to utter Any verses in thy praise.

The Grammar School Magazine. CHARLES LYALL GRANT.

IT is with deep regret that we have to announce the unex-

pected death of Lieut. Grant, R.A., which occurred at St. Lucia, West Indies. Little did we think, when we saw him so well and so keen for work but a few short months ago, that he was visiting his old school for the last time. He was at that time full of tender reminiscences of the happy days he had spent with us both in our class rooms and in our fields. It was to his enthusiasm that we owe the success of our swimming club when it was first started. If we remember rightly, his name is engraved on the silver challenge cup presented by the Rector for swimming. His interests at school were not confined to one subject, but were widely spread ; wherever a society or club wanted a helping hand, Charlie Grant was ready. Hungnam non paratus might well have been his motto. Swimming, football, volunteering, botanising, to all these he gave up the time he could spare from his more serious studies. To know him was to love him. His charm of manner was irresistible. After a brilliant career at school and college, he entered the Royal Artillery, making a deliberate choice of the lovely but treacherous island of St. Lucia in order to engage in his favourite botanical studies. This choice he made in spite of the remonstrances of those who feared the effects of that feverish climate on his somewhat delicate constitution. And the end came suddenly; the brilliant career was checked ere it was well entered on ; and we are left to mourn sincerely "one whose promise was indeed great." LIBRARY. now in full swing, and, thanks to our THE Library is assistants, the work is progressing favourably, although we have not much room in front of the counter, which was moved to give more room for the Reference. As we are likely to have a new Library, we must put up with such small grievances. NEW BOOKS.—G. H. Mair has presented two vols. of the " Windsor Magazine." There have also been added 3 vols. " Black and White," 2 vols. " Strand Magazine," 2 vols. " Pearson's Magazine," "Acton's Feud," by Fred. Swainson, and - Tales of Greyhouse," by R. S. Warren-Bell. MEMBERSHIP.-Improving, but could be much better. A. L.

Remember the Days of Old.

"REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD! " II. EHEU FUGACES (1868-73). " 0 those days ! I ne'er shall see the like ! I had not buried then so many hopes ! I had not buried then so many friends!! And the bright faces of my young companions Are wrinkled like my OWD, or are no more." 'LONGFELLOW, " The Spanish Student" (Act lit., Scene 3).

A VERY great change has come over the School since my days. A friend informs me that there are now Literary and Debating Societies, Cinematograph Entertainments, Lectures, Concerts, together with organised Cricket and Football Clubs. I believe, too, there is a Magazine, ably conducted, with a staff, all in complete contrast with the surreptitious journal of stitched version-paper that circulated below the seats. It used to have a novel, short stories, and even original poetry, which I understand is now given up for serious contributions from Admirals, Colonial Governors, Presidents of the Royal Scottish Academy, and other lights of former days. My friend also tells me that, on a visit to some such lecture, he was much impressed by the great change for the better in the manners and the appearance of the boys. He seemed surrounded by a body of young aristocrats. But one thing deeply moved him—no one seemed to be eating on the sly. Truly a great change ! Either boys now are systematically overfed or underfed, or they seem tamely content with four meals a day ! People tell me science has been tampering with the Gulf Stream, and that climate is milder: so that boys, being no longer like Esquimaux, eat much less. Certainly we no longer see the Short Loanings impassable, an avalanche in the Leadside, with piles of snow rendering King Street inaccessible, or Gilcomston Dam swarming with skaters. Here I only chronicle the fact that I can no more see boys stealthily eating pies in the Back Wynd, going round the Market Gallery munching a carrot and a stalk of rhubarb, or fondling a turnip. Then a boy was eager to put his friend "up to a good thing" in eatables, as he maybe now confides a good investment in Chartereds or in Mexican Grand Trunks ; for to have kept such information to, himself would have led to his ostracism as a bloated capitalist or selfish individualist. If a novelty appeared in a shop window, the news spread ; if an apple-ship lay at the foot

The Grammar School Magazine.

of Market Street, there was excitement; while the baker that had the contract for the " cloddies " to the Poorhouse could aspire to a reputation. There was nothing we could not eat, from mealy puddings and potted-head (from a shop in Chapel Street) to locust beans and liquorice-root. A sweetmeat called "Turkish Delight," introduced about 1870, marked an epoch to us quite as distinct as the Norman Conquest in 1066, as also did some little niggers made of clammy and weak black sugar juice and flour, the taste of which I feel yet at this minute. Cinnamon, cloves, gum, alum—all were chewed or sucked. Lockhart and Salmond's candy was sold in the Market under the clock, while a shop in Carmelite Street had a shortlived " boom " in soft toffy balls. Davidson, the druggist in the same shop at the top of Crown Street, supplied the sherbet. One boy—James Davidson, a handsome little fellow from the Cape—used to make our mouths water by describing the fruit that a penny could buy there, often lamenting his harder allowance in the North. Yes, we are eating much less now than then. It may be, and I trust it is, the triumph of mind over body. All the same, I regret it, and maintain that the British Constitution then was reared on the solid rock of four meals a day, plus. I think that, as we ate more, so we also read more ; but it was in a wild, scrambling sort of fashion that perhaps was no great gain. Looking back to what we did read at that day, I see that there was little interest taken or guidance given, and that in the indiscriminate reading of books our eyesight was often irretrievably ruined. Books were books then, and it was the constant use of penny novels and boys' papers, together with the cheap reprints of Messrs. Routledge, that did the mischief. Such ought never to have been allowed; but there was no School Library, and we had to find ourselves. Accordingly, a boy would go wandering about for days in the playground with Fenimore Cooper's " Lionel Lincoln," or " The Last of the Mohicans," in a sixpenny edition of small double-column type that must have ruined any eye. I must have read penny novels and tales about Indians and pirates enough to stock a shop, and I certainly do not regret having done so, though I do now think much could and should have been done in supporting and extending the interest in the ordinary school work. I never read " Robinson Crusoe" till I was a tertian, and " The Pilgrim's Progress " I went through at the same time. Nowadays " I should," like Dr. Johnson, " not give a farthing" for a boy that did not

Remember the Days of Old.

know both thoroughly. At earlier schools the Bible and Shorter Catechism were the regular Sunday work for Monday, and I regret that Scripture History and Geography have never been the subject of study in the Grammar School, while I also strongly maintain, with the great historian Freeman, that a sound knowledge of the Acts of the Apostles is about the best piece of political and historical training a boy can get. I remember Dr. Clyde some years ago condemning the School for its neglect of Classical History and Geography. Has the modern craze for results and examinations quite ousted sound learning and religion from the School? Boys who then read most sedulously often read too widely, or they were discouraged by their parents, who regarded a penny novel as a short cut to the gallows, and Captain Mayne Reid and Marryat as the fathers of all scamps and stowaways. I fondly hope the gallant captains are now standard in the School Library, sound in every way as they are. We never heard of Gilbert White's ' Natural History of Selborne"; a little fat duodecimo about animals circulated from hand to hand, printed (if I remember) by Milner & Sowerby, of Halifax. Then we had also some of the Rev. J. Wood's books about the seaside and shells, but any boy with a real fancy for such studies had a hard time of it between Colenso's "Arithmetic" and "Bain's Grammar." He could only creep up to the Museum in Marischal College, on Saturday afternoons, to establish affectionate terms of intimacy with the stuffed polar bear, the St. Bernard dog, and the crocodile, along with the nurses and children that then frequented the place. I believe they teach Music now in the School, and I hope it is true, though that miserable Bursary Competition may prevent it. The brightest and best men I have known in two Universities have been those that were never so little alone as when alone, so long as they could lose themselves for hours over a piano or violin. I except the flute, for no good and moral person ever plays that—or chess. Long after Colenso, Barnard Smith, Todhunter, Euclid, and other miscreants are in their dishonoured graves (we sadly want an educational sort of Kitchener to hang or shoot such rebels), the sense of harmony will exercise a profoundly beneficial influence on life, and I often think that the late Professor W. Robertson Smith wrecked his career over that curiously manifested lack in his books of the sense of humour, proportion, and the fitting. " Music," he once said, " is perfect torture to me." I fear we are now in for

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a cry for an engineering department in Broad Street, together with extended laboratories, lavatories, and what not, and that a Chair of Music is so hopeless a dream as never once to have occurred to any anonymous donor. For a long time yet the distinguished stranger, on visiting Aberdeen, will be taken by Provosts to the New Market, the Fish Market, and the Mitchell Tower as exhausting Bon-Accord. Plato and Aristotle were strenuous in their insistence on the educational value of music. But of course that Bursary Competition still blocks the way, and that doughty Aberdonian who declared that he knew only two tunes—" the ane was the Auld Hundredth and the t'ither wasna "—will never really die. What is a man profited if he gain the first bursary, that ruin to the life of hundreds, and miss in life an innate sense of harmony, dignity, and order? Turn to Longfellow's picture, in his " Tales of a Wayside Inn," of the great Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, and then think of the sordid lives and the want of all true education with American millionaires, now heralded as the perfect men, robbing God and man on six days of the week and panting hard to run tramways on the seventh! Our songs then were neither many nor striking, for after all they were not encouraged. Anyway we were better off than with the vulgar trash in the University Song Book. They tell me that " Daisy Bell" and " O, listen to the Band ! " were for long the rage in Aberdeen drawing-rooms, and I am sorry to hear it, or the run after London actresses that it implies. Ours were ancient or sentimental. There was a shop window of a musicseller, in the little street running from Golden Square to Diamond Street, that boys frequented for the latest songs, serious and comic, and there I certainly acquired an extensive repertoire of old-fashioned ditties and melodies that would have creditably set up a modern music hall singer. Boys early in the School had " Annie Lisle," which about 1867 was introduced into town by a French harpist and his daughter playing opposite the School gates. Our one serio-comic was— "Oh, you'll meet me in the lane, love, when the clock strikes nine, In ecstasy again, love, to call thee mine ; My heart with love is burning, my brain is almost whirling With loving thee so wildly, my sweet mountain rose."

Juvenile sentiment ran on " The Sailor's Grave" (" Our bark was far, far from land ") and " The Officer's Funeral," the last of which affected us all for the sake of the horse

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Remember the Days of Old.

rather than for the man. There was one ambitious little operatic snatch of four lines, which I have never heard again since that day—

)

" What fairy-like music comes over the sea, Enchanting the senses with its charming melody? 'Tis the voice of the mermaid, as she floats o'er the main, And mingles her note with the Gondolier's strain."

But the most popular, as we advanced, were Charles Mackay's well-known and rousing stave of " Cheer, boys, cheer," and his song set to music by Henry Russell, sung by that composer more than fifty years ago in the Square Room of the Music Hall, and by countless emigrants all over Australia and Canada— " Rouse, brothers, rouse ! the way is long before us, Free as the winds we love to roam ; Far through the prairie, far through the forest, Over the mountains we'll find a home."

Highwaymen were justly at a discount in the School in my time, through the disappearance of the older class of penny dreadfuls, but the dashing and gentlemanly pirate was a favourite, if not too fond of blood and of (why overdo a good thing?) making his prisoners walk the plank. Thus the old sang by an American, Angus Reach, was much affected for the tune, that even yet does me good to hum— "Set every stitch of canvas to woo the freshening wind, The bowsprit points to Cuba, the land lies far behind. Filled to the hatches full, my boys, across the sea we go With twice five hundred niggers in the stifling hold below."

Of course I know that a great historian, J. R. Green, was against the " drum-and-trumpet " theory of history, but I know equally well that he will never convince boys. The pirate may have become a tradition in the School since Byron's days, who, like Stevenson, was partial to such persons. But if we at a distance admired him, our genuine admiration was unreservedly given to the wonderful kind of midshipman in Kingston's stories, who would always smuggle himself into the stern sheets of the boat as she pushed off, and who, when the admiral was wounded, rushed with his drawn cutlass and pistol to the front, leading the hardy tars to victory with doubloons and pieces of eight, inevitably marrying Donna Inez, the only and lovely daughter of the Spanish Governor. I wonder how many boys have ever heard these songs. Not one, I fear. The idea occurs to me here why the School has never had a song-book of its own. Such a little waistcoat book I have seen in the possession of Eton and Harrow

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boys, and I venture to suggest to the Rector that such a compilation would greatly add to the tone and esprit of the School. If he thinks of having one, I pray him not to be too hard on the pirate above. Put him in, if even as a warning I cannot learn what games are now played. We had no ground, so that our only amusements were cricket and marbles. A ball may, in a desultory way, have been kicked about ; but it was not football. The combined vocabulary of the modern devotees of cycling and golf could not equal the long acquired terminology used thirty years ago in marbles, when the devotion to the game was keen. I see children yet in poor streets playing the game on the kerbstones, but, as Robinson Crusoe says of the beasts in his island, " their tameness is shocking to me." They play listlessly, the old joy of battle is gone, and I hurry past them sadly, as if the light of my life were quite gone out. In summer boys would play at the back, long after hours, and so delay the tea arrangements at home. Two would unite in a " haver," or partnership, and the joy—deep, calm, holy—of one visiting the other periodically to audit the account, if the total in the green baize bag ran to hundreds and to the value at most of a shilling, would pass words. Kitchener and his weekly Boer-haul seems quite pale to it. Parents cried out and formed Stop-the-War Committees, for with good players the lining of no jacket, trousers, or waistcoat could long withstand the strain of captures and surrenders. Saturday was given to cricket. Boys gathered about Crown Street or the foot of Ferryhill Brae to proceed about 9 a.m. to the Links to see matches. There they stayed— " from morn to dewy eve, a summer's day "—till past 5 p.m., straggling home weary up past the old powder magazine, or up Constitution Street. How Nature stood it I cannot say, for the sole refreshment was a halfpenny cake of gingerbread and a penny bottle of spruce beer. For as long would boys congregate round the old Holburn Cricket Ground, where streets now run, great in averages of the leading batsmen and the technical slang. How tame now reads the report of a cricket match as compared with the airy and racy style affected of old! Why, I declare, the newspapers describe Maclaren's Australian Eleven as if it were grave English Literature. But then—" Japp then skyed Lily White over the pavilion, carpeted the next for four, snicking a couple in the following over. A row in his timber-yard then dislocated his partnership with Tom

Remember the Days of Old.

(Humphry), when the rot set in, the Dead March from the wicket to the pavilion being the order of the day." Page, Duke, and Cobbett were the great makers of the bat then. A copy of verses hung up in a small case in the old scoringbox of the Aberdeenshire we regarded then with awe, and I heard from a friend, who saw it this last summer, that it still exists, doubtless the very oldest asset or possession of the club. The lines were on Alfred Mynn, the great player for Kent, about half-a-century ago or more. I am sure many " Old Boys " all over the world would be very pleased if these lines could be reproduced in the pages of this magazine„ as a memory of other days. On Saturday nights boys read their penny papers ; then, after their long and weary walk, they had their tea and their early bed. When neither marbles nor cricket came in season, Saturday would hang heavy. The town has changed so much, since the diversion of the Dee, that I have much difficulty in repicturing to myself the old harbour and the ferry from Footdee to Torry. I never hear dulse cried about in the streets without remembering the old days about the lighthouse and the Bay of Nigg, or feeling some touch in common with Lord Balmerino, stopping on the way to execution in the Tower, in 1746, to buy " ha'penny blobs," or big gooseberries, and so fancying himself again at the High School of Edinburgh. To visit Maidencraig and its waterwheel was not to be lightly undertaken ; like Cults, it seemed so far off. To fish for flounders at Donmouth was popular, but the ambition was to get a permit from Jonathan Mess, the corn merchant, who had some proprietary right over the salmon fishing at the Cruives. How many letters were addressed to that suffering man I cannot say: to have attended to them would have needed a staff of clerks. I know only one boy that secured it, though I now see that his father did, without much material diminution of trout. Nowadays I hear of parties, concerts, and all sort of amusements for boys inside and outside School. During all my five years I think I was once or twice at Hamilton's Diorama and at the old circus in Bridge Street, quite changed in surroundings since then. I never heard of a boy being at a pantomime or a professed concert. The 1868 First Class under Dr. Beverley must have been. about 60 in number, and I could swear to or identify them all. I see them all yet in tiers—and tears. About nearly a half are dead or unknown. Six became Bajans ; two graduated. Four live in Aberdeen. Of the rest ' all are gone, the old familiar faces "—scattered far and wide.

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Looking back over all those years, I am willing to believe that things have improved with our School. In my time it was a period of transition : it had left the old building and felt strange in the new. It was ruled by the Town Council, and possibly they meant well, " particularly well," as Mr. Micawber said of his son ; " but I have not yet found that he carries out his meaning in any given direction whatsoever." Often the School was left without prizes, till some Old Boy came forward to provide them out of his own pocket. I fear there was not very much system, and certainly nothing was done to create any feeling of affection for the place. It is the same with the University. There has of late been a monstrous beating of tom-toms over that Extension Scheme, but it really deceives no one, and there are not a dozen people living who actually care one straw for the University of Aberdeen. Much has been done of late to put the Grammar School on a proper footing in relation both to the town and the whole North of Scotland : but much yet remains. We all know how much Thackeray did for his old School of the Charterhouse. Southey says John Wesley, on his annual visits to London, had such a predilection for it, also, that he made it a custom to go all over the scenes of his boyhood. When one thinks. of the thousands that have passed through the Grammar School and—make no such visit ! Perhaps if the School Board were to appoint a body of Governors, to aid it and advise it in all such matters as never can be, for social and educational reasons, satisfactorily handled or carried out by a changing and shifting class of people like a School Board, much could be done. The School, as Virgil said of Troy, is antiqua, multos dominat per annos. Such a link, I venture to think, would prove of the highest service both to the School and to the Board itself. W. B. L.

Bich Bacon Write Shakespeare's Plays?

DID BACON WRITE SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS? " A little learning is a dangerous thing."

A SALUTARY maxim, finely expressed ! But how few take it to heart as applying to them! This little learning is most dangerous when its possessor has also an overweening idea of his own importance and a brazen audacity in expressing his opinions. And such are many of those who maintain that Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays. I do not intend to reason with them: they are impervious to reason. My remarks are addressed to any unwary mind that has been captivated by their noisy demonstrations and almost made to believe that there is after all something in this recurring delusion. It is comparatively easy to gain a cheap reputation for cleverness by starting some heretical opinion about a book. The recipe is simple. First set up some arbitrary standard : show that the book falls short of the standard: ergo, the book is a fraud. Then sit dawn, not like little Jack Horner in his corner, but on the housetop and bawl to the passers-by to come and admire your smartness. In this way one could prove that Scott did not write "Kenilworth." Scott had a deep knowledge of History : " Kenilworth" contains very gross anachronisms and historical blunders: ergo, Scott could not have written "Kenilworth." The truth is—the methods of the Higher Criticism are fine-edged tools that only the master-craftsman can use: when babes and sucklings handle them, we may expect blunted tools, gashed fingers, spoiled furniture. Even when some who are not babes and sucklings in literature take upon them to act as Higher Critics, the soberminded man can only shudder at the mess they make, and—decline to accept their conclusions. Nothing is sacred from their hands, be it " Genesis," or the " Iliad," or " Beowulf," or the " Nibelungenlied." This book, this chapter, this sentence, this verse, this line even was, they say, written by A, that one by B, that other by C, and so on to Z. Then they will print for you the work thus treated, and give a different colour to every one of their very hypothetical authors, till a page will look like a map of England brilliantly coloured to show counties. " Iris dipt the woof " is too good to say of their feat ; for there is harmony in the rainbow. And the Higher Critics cannot agree among themselves which is to be red and which blue, and so on. The plain man may, therefore, be

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pardoned if he prefers to consider none of them right, since they are very ready to prove each other wrong. Any unprejudiced mind will acknowledge how difficult criticism is. Besant and Rice wrote several novels in conjunction. Now let any twelve men take each a copy of " Readymoney Mortiboy," and independently find out what was written by Besant and what by Rice. I venture to assert that no two decisions would agree, and most likely every one would be erroneous. An ingenious somebody has, in burlesque, proved that " Tam o' Shanter" was not written by Burns, who of course had not the requisite learning, but is made up of the work of three writers. The earliest writer composed the weird witch part, which was localised (and debased) by having Ayr and Tam o' Shanter superimposed. Finally, about the time of the wars in America in the 18th century (hence the tomahawk), came a third poet, an Englishman probably, or an Anglicised Scot, who re-worked the whole, and introduced such English passages as "But pleasures are like poppies spread." I have dwelt thus long on this kind of criticism to show its perils and its absurdity, and when unskilled hands attack Shakespeare's plays, and argue that Bacon wrote them, one does not know whether to laugh or weep. Americans have been extremely prominent in these attacks. Truly it has been. said, "Yankees rush in. where angels fear to tread." But besides regular critics who declare that Shakespeare's plays possess qualities which prove them Bacon's, not Shakespeare's, we have those who pin their faith to the cryptogram or cipher. Let us take the cryptogram first. Bacon had a great belief in cryptography, and composed more than one cipher. Now, say 'cute Yankees and others, in the Folio Edition of Shakespeare, 1623, Bacon inserted a cipher claiming the works as his. So complicated is this mare's nest of a cipher that it is past belief except for those who will be persuaded. But how did Bacon get it inserted ? Did he cheat or bribe the publishers? Bribery and Bacon go easily together. How did he permit Ben Jonson to prefix such a laudatory poem, in which Shakespeare is hailed as the first of all dramatists of all ages? " He," says Jenson, •

" He was not of an age, but for all time."

And again, " Look how the father's face Lives in his issue, even so the race Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly shines In his well turned and true filed lines."

Did Bacon Write Shakespeare's Plays?

Here Jonson definitely declares that, Shakespeare by nature and training was able, and alone able, to produce those plays. So we are asked to believe that Bacon permitted Jonson to trumpet forth in the clearest way possible Shakespeare's pretensions, while Bacon's true claims were buried in cipher. Credat Judaeus Apella, non ego. But the latest craze on this point goes further. Mrs. Gallup now asserts Bacon's cipher to exist in several other Elizabethan writers, and she discovers a translation of Homer by Bacon, in cipher. This, however, a critic has proved to be less akin to Homer's Greek than to Pope's English of a century later. But a cipher, where it does exist, is not easy to manage ; or rather it is too easy. In the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, is the famous cipher of 666, the number of the beast. This has been interpreted in a curious multiplicity of ways. To one interpreter it means Nero, to another Mohammed, to a third Napoleon I., to a fourth Napoleon III., and a fifth Mr. Gladstone. Such being the risks of a real cipher, what must be those of an imaginary one? Now to disclose a secret. Using the cipher method, I have found that of the present Grammar School Staff, one has his name embedded in Burns's poems, another has his in Scott's. But for personal reasons I cannot divulge more. Turning now to the other assailants, we find a favourite attack is to say that Shakespeare had too little scholarship, especially Classical scholarship, to write the plays. Here Jonson's " small Latin and less Greek " is regularly quoted or misquoted. The phrase is torn from its context in the eulogy I have already cited. What Jonson says is that though Shakespeare had " small Latin and less Greek," he had not merely out-topped his contemporaries in England but was so great that Jonson is content to " Leave thee alone for a comparison Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come."

No sign there, surely, of the depreciation of Shakespeare that the dangerous "little learning" of those mudthrowers attaches to the phrase ! But I think those critics are confusing two very different things—a knowledge of the contents of Classical authors, and Classical culture. Now Shakespeare never studied the Classics till their spirit entered into his very being : we do not find in his works the subtle aroma of the Classics as we do in M. Arnold or Tennyson : he is not full

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of Classical learning like Milton. In his Roman plays Shakespeare shows just such knowledge of Classical stories as could be got from translations. The Elizabethan Age teemed with translations, and we can identify the very translation of Plutarch that Shakespeare used, following it even in its mis-translations. For a dramatist to adopt a plot from Greek or Latin or Italian argues in. itself absolutely nothing as to his attainments in any of those languages. Shakespeare's want of Classical scholarship comes out in his dressing his Romans in the Elizabethan doublets and cloaks and hats—an anachronism that Bacon would not have been guilty of. Again, the assailants collect from the plays and from Bacon's works passages of similar import, and triumphantly say that Bacon must have written them in both cases. Why might not Shakespeare have written both? Why might not Bacon have borrowed from Shakespeare? But there is no need of any such explanations. Every age has certain ideas of its own, and, as literature reflects the spirit of the age, the same ideas are naturally represented in similar phraseology. In works of the last half-century how often do we meet with the words evolution, natural selection, survival of the fittest, in various combinations. Must we then assume that all the poetry and fiction containing those ideas thus expressed came from the pens of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer? Then we are told that the mastery of legal terminology in the plays could only be Bacon's. We are certainly not shut up to this one conclusion. Besides, the Bacon theory does not explain Shakespeare's mastery of medical science, of natural history, of the Bible, of music, of war, and, still more, his deep insight into man's spiritual and mental nature, his heart, his mind, his soul. The greatness of Shakespeare's plays is on the Baconian theory inexplicable, but easily understood when we believe that Shakespear's many-sided genius produced the plays. I wish to put these questions to the Baconians : —What was Bacon's motive or advantage in the deception? Or did Shakespeare in his masterful way force Bacon to it? Why did not Bacon openly claim the plays after Shakespeare's death? How did Bacon find time to write the plays in the midst of his busy life as M.P., as SolicitorGeneral, as philosophic writer? Bacon spent infinite pains on his own works, revising them again and again in manuscript, polishing and changing ; then he saw them through the press so carefully

Did Bacon Write Shakespeare's Plays?

that they were well nigh faultless as regards printers' errors. Yet the Folio of Shakespeare's plays, which the Baconian say Bacon brought out with the hidden cipher, simply swarms with blunders. Again, Bacon was fond of getting his works produced in Latin, because he thought they had thereby most chance of immortality. English, he said in a letter to Toby Matthew, would " play the bankrupt with books." Why did he then lavish such a wealth of ideas in the plays, and leave them for English to play the bankrupt with ? I do not believe that Bacon had either the mental or the moral greatness equal to the task of writing Shakespeare's plays. It is true that Bacon was in genius second only to Shakespeare, but still he was second ; and Bacon's genius was that of the philosophic scientist : Shakespeare's that of the imaginative poet. How different are they in style of writing and in treatment of the same subjects! Bacon wrote poetry—of a kind, but anyone who thinks Bacon as a poet fit to write Shakespeare's plays, simply shows his own unfitness as a judge of literary matters. Compare Bacon's poetry with passages from " Hamlet" : note Bacon's feebleness and Shakespeare's incomparable greatness. Or read Bacon's Essays " Of Love" and " Of Marriage and Single Life, and mark his failure to get at the heart of those subjects, compared with Shakespeare's glowing treatment everywhere, be it happy love or tragic, that of a Rosalind or a Juliet, of a Portia or an Ophelia. Think of the miserable moral shipwreck that Bacon was—" the wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind," as Pope calls him; think of the almost Machiavelian want of principle that quivers through several of his essays. How could he have uttered the numerous diatribes of Shakespeare's plays against hypocrisy and empty show? I remember Bacon's essay " Of Truth," but I see nothing in it to warrant the assumption that he could have risen to the height of that passage in " Hamlet "— " This above all : to thine own self be true, And it must follow as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Bacon's great biographer Spedding will have none of this fantastic theory. He says it is " like asking me to believe that Lord Brougham was the author not only of Dickens' novels, but of Thackeray's also, and of Tennyson's poems besides." How was it that Shakespeare's contemporaries—some of

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them keen rival playwrights—never discovered this great cheat? How have the greatest thinkers in the world never dreamed of such an absurd explanation of Shakespeare's plays? How has it fallen to " a troop of less than half educated people," to "raw Americans and fanatical women," to invent this mare's nest? For myself, rather than be in the right (if that were possible) with Delia Bacon, Ignatius Donelly, and Mrs. Gallup, I would be in the wrong (which is impossible) with Tennyson and Browning, with Coleridge, Lamb, and Wordsworth, and Goethe and Heine, with Ben Jonson and Milton. W. M.

OUR 'VARSITY LETTER. DEAR EDITOR,

A parrot was once uncovered rather suddenly in a parrot show, and the first remark that it made was : " What an awful lot of parrots ! " (" Awful " is not the exact word that the wicked bird employed, but I suppose that as yours is a respectable periodical we must substitute it for the real one.) Well, the thing that strikes a Grammar fellow first when he enters College is " What an awful lot of Grammar chaps ! " Famous " Debater " orators, famous athletes, famous " grinders "—all are here again, and not only so, but many of the two former classes are directing the affairs of the academic republic. Here, as elsewhere, " 'tis not alone in scholars' lore " that they excel. The Presidential chairs of the S.R.C., the Liberal Association, and the Debating Society are all three ably occupied by IV. B. G. Minto, M.A., who held within our own recollection the offices of Hon. Librarian, as well as Secretary and then Vice-President of the " Debater" at School ; and, in point of fact, there are few if any of the speakers that received their early training in the old Society that can equal him in fluency and eloquence generally. Among other F.P.'s " in high places " are T. S. Slessor, M.A. (Vice-President of the S.R.C.), R. D. Keith, M.A. (President of the Medical Association), and W. Stephen (Secretary of the Literary Society and Treasurer of the Liberal Association), as well as several more who hold offices on the Staff of Alma Mater. These lines may perhaps be read by some F.P. students, and therefore we

Our 'Varsity Letter.

would venture to appeal to them to give the University Societies the enthusiastic support that they gave to those of the School. It is surprising and disappointing to see students who were members of the " Debater" Committee sitting in the gallery at the meetings of its big brother at Marischal. 5.30 is a very inconvenient hour, as we know to our cost, but, if a student can attend at all, he can give the Society the benefit of whatever powers of oratory he may have—however small. How often have we been told that our schooldays are the happiest period of our life? We should not like to say, for fear of making too small a calculation. A Bajan of say three weeks' standing will agree with that remark most enthusiastically ; in fact he will agree with anything, for he is fully persuaded that a Bajan's " lot is not a happy one ! " A Bajan must live and learn in all submission, and there is no quality so much admired in him as humility. He must give his opinions with all due deference, and not as in his last year at School, saying or implying, " Behold the laws of the Medes and Persians, which changeth not !" If he tries that sort of thing, he may find himself gently ( ?) lifted from his seat in the Humanity Class, and as gently "passed up," till he reaches the gods, or rather the goddesses, whence he will retreat with bashful swiftness. He must not be embarrassed by the questions addressed to him at the S.R.C. Heckling ( ?) Meeting, nor must he object to such personal queries as " Is the candidate in love? " " Has the candidate ever had the measles?" etc. He is there to amuse the audience, and must remember that. Speaking of Heckling Meetings, however, those at Marischal were this year far more " successful " than those at King's. Candidates got so heated in the latter College that their audiences thought they required cooling, and held them under the cold water tap for that purpose ! We hear, too, of another candidate—presumably a First Year Medical-who was holding forth on a table against which the front row of " Hecklers " were resting their feet, when all at once " down came the table, and lambkin, and all." He fled, with the " meeting " in full cry. In the field of University politics the only matter of outstanding interest this year has been the Extension Scheme. Everyone knows, of course, that the £25,000 necessary to secure a similar sum from Lord Strathcona, was collected before Christmas, largely, if not chiefly, owing to the exertions of Lord Provost Fleming on whom we hope the University will confer the only reward she can: but this is another story.

•

The Grammar School Magazine.

In conclusion we may say that the Magazine seems to be much appreciated here, especially by those who know anything about editorial work. By the way, the President of the S.R.C. some time ago made a remark to us about " an excellent letter in the G. S. Magazine on the School Debater." Could that be the letter? (Pax, gentlemen !) THENSAIIROCHRYSONICOCHRYSIDES (F.P.).

FORMER PUPILS' CLUB, 1901-1902. THE officials for this year are as follows :— President—H. F. Morland Simpson, Esq., M.A. (Cantab.) Hon. Secretary and Treasurer— Alfred W. Edwards, Esq., Solicitor, 267 Union Street. Committee— Mr. W. H. Baird. Mr. Theodore Watt. „ J. Everard Rae, M.A. Dr. James Crombie. „ W. Dickie Smith, M.A. Mr. G. Stanley Russell. „ J. C. H. Macbeth. „ J. W. Milne. , „ W. K. Watt, M.A. „ C. M. Kerr. „ C. T. Christie. „ T. B. Robertson. „ A. G. Smith. „ F. H. Fraser. Mr Harold Merrylees. Representatives from Affiliated Clubs— Cricket Club, . . Dr. J. F. Christie. Dramatic Club, . . Mr. C. Davidson, M.A. Football Club, . . Mr. Samuel Pope, Jun. •

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SYLLABUS. 1901. Nov. 14. ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING and SMOKING CONCERT, at 8 P.M. Dec. 6. SHAKESPEARIAN RECITAL—" As You Like It," by Miss MINNIE WILLIAMS, in School Hall, at 8 P.M. Dec. 21. CONCERT in School Hall, at 8 P.M. 1902. Jan. 10. LECTURE--" Personal Experiences in China" (Illustrated by Limelight Views), by ALEXANDER REID, Esq., A.M.I.C.E., M.E., F.G.S. (F.P.), in School Hall, at 8 P.M. Jan 11. SMOKING CONCERT, at 8 P.M. Jan. 17. CLUB BALL, at 8 P.M. Feb. 7. CINDERELLA, at 8 P.M. Feb. 21. DINNER, at 7 P. M. March 1. SMOKING CONCERT. at 8 P.M. June 21. SUMMER EXCURSION. Oct. 24. FOUNDERS' DAY CELEBRATIONS.

School Football Notes.

1ST XV. FIXTURES. GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2ND E.P.'s (October 12).—The School opened their season by playing the 2nd F.P.'s. The F.P.'s won the toss, and played down towards Westfield, and not long after the commencement J. Lyon got a mark in the School 25. From this he kicked a beautiful dropgoal. After this the play was more equal, and each 25 was visited in turn. The Grammar forwards were heavier than their opponents, but their three-quarters could At half-time the F.P.'s led by three not get past. points. In the second half the School played up better. D. B. Nicol, getting the ball from Grant, and running up the touch-line, scored far out. The try was not improved upon. Shortly before time the School forwards pressed, and Munro got down on the ball. Jameson converted the try. In this half the School got several free kicks within an easy distance of the posts, but none of them were kicked. The final score was School, 8 points ; 2nd F.P.'s, 3 points. GRAMMAR SCHOOL v. 2ND 'SHIRE (October 19).—The 'Shire, who played two men short, lost the toss, and had to play with the sun in their faces. From the kick-off, play settled down in midfield. After a fine run by Anderson, who passed everyone, and would have scored if he had not been overtaken, play was transferred to the 'Shire's 25. Soon after this Anderson got behind, but the kick failed. The game in the second half was mostly confined to the 'Shire's 25. The 'Shire in this half had to touch down several times. Occasionally the 'Shire forwards got to

The Grammar School Magazine.

mid-field, but Baxter always found touch with his kicks. With a fine run Nicol got behind. Nicol took the kick, and almost kicked it. Several times the Grammar were on the verge of scoring, but the 'Shire always prevented them from crossing the line. Baxter nearly succeeded in kicking a goal from a mark. The game ended in a win for the School by 2 tries (6 points) to nil. GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. 1ST GORDON'S COLLEGE (October 26).—The Grammar won the toss, but played up against the sun, and from the kick-off the ball was taken into the Gordons' 25. Once or twice play was taken into Grammar territory, and once the Grammar had to touch down. In the first half the Grammar three-quarters did not pass well, and were always held by the opposing forwards before they could get away. The first try was obtained by Nicol after a fine run. As a high wind was blowing, Jameson failed to convert. In this half L. Smith, Lillie, and Nicol also scored. None of these tries were converted. In the second half the School had the wind and the sun behind them. This half was a succession of tries. Nicol played a good game in this half, and the other three-quarters also played well. Nicol's kicking was especially good. He kicked a drop-goal from the field, a penalty goal, and converted a try. Tries in this half were converted by Jameson (3), Grant (2), Anderson (2), Lillie (1), and D. Williamson. (1). Three of these were converted. The game ended in a win for the Grammar School by 49 points (3 goals, 10 tries, 1 dropped goal, and 1 penalty goal) to nil. GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. UNIVERSITY B. (November 2).— This fixture was played at the School Grounds in the morning. The School kicked off towards the west, and, as the kick was not returned, the play settled in the 'Varsity 25. The 'Varsity had to touch down several times, and the School once. About the middle of this half Jameson scored far out, and Nicol converted with a splendid kick. At half-time the score was—School, 5 points ; University B., nil. The School, playing down, had the advantage of the wind in the next half. The School had to play this half one man short, as Taylor had to retire with his shoulder hurt; in the first half he had played a splendid game. Tries came pretty rapidly. They were gained by Jameson (2), Nicol (2), Grant (1), and Macdougal (1). Nicol, Jameson, and Anderson each converted one. Nicol almost kicked a penalty goal, the ball striking the uprights. The game ended in a win for the School by 27 points (3 goals and 4 tries) to pi/. Mr. A. B. Butchart acted as referee.

School Football Notes.

In this match the Grammar forwards dribbled too hard sometimes, and thus several opportunities of scoring were lost. GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. 2ND NOMADS (November 9).—This match was not played owing to the weather. GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. 2ND DUNDEE HIGH SCHOOL F.P.'s (November 16).—The High School not being able to play, a match was arranged with the 2nd Dundee High School The School team was without Lillie, Taylor, F.P.'s. The team left Aberdeen by Shepherd, and Anderson. the 10.20 train, and, after luncheon, proceeded to the High School's Recreation Ground. The ground was hard and the air frosty. The School won the toss, and Dundee kicked off. The kick was well returned, and a series of scrummages took place in mid-field. In this half play was very equal, being mostly in mid-field. Play was in midThe second half was far field when the whistle blew. more exciting, as the Grammar had got accustomed to the ground. H. Macpherson kicked off, and, following up, scored. Nicol converted. After this the School continued to press, and Jameson scored twice. Both tries were converted. Shortly afterwards Grant dropped a lovely goal. A. Williamson nearly scored, but was held on the line. After this Dundee came away with a rush, but a free kick Just before time some of the Grammar gave relief. forwards got down on the ball. , The try was not converted. A hard game ended in a win for the School by 22 points (3 goals, 1 try and 1 dropped goal) to nil. After the match the team was entertained to tea by the F.P.'s. After tea, Jameson thanked the F.P.'s for their kindness, and he hoped that the fixture would be an annual one. Singing Monro was indulged in until the time of departure. officiated at the piano. Aberdeen was reached at 10.5. GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. UNIVERSITY A. (November 23).— This match was played at the School Grounds in frosty weather, the ground being very hard. The School kicked off, and play settled down in mid-field. The 'Varsity pressed, and play was transfered to the School 25, and the School had to touch down three times. Peterkin nearly scored, but slipped owing to the state of the ground. When the whistle blew at half-time there had been no scoring. After the kick-off the play was pretty even, but after a little the 'Varsity came away with a rush, and Sutherland scored. This was the first time the School's line had been crossed this season. The try was converted by Johnson. Shortly afterwards the 'Varsity scored again, but the kick

72 •

The Grammar School Magazine.

failed. The Grammar then pressed, and L. Smith scored, but Nicol failed to convert. Soon after Nicol made a good attempt at goal with a drop kick. The 'Varsity pressed in their turn, and scored through one of their forwards, but the try was not improved upon. Just before time D. Williamson scored for the School, and Nicol, with a good kick, converted. GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. 2ND 'SHIRE (November 30).—This match was played at the School Grounds before a fair number of spectators. After some play in the 'Shire 25, during which some of the Grammar three-quarters nearly scored, play was taken to the centre, where it remained until half-time. At the kick-off one of the Grammar team was off-side, and from the maul the 'Shire broke away. After a little the Grammar in their turn pressed. The 'Shire forwards then getting the ball rushed up the field and scored. The try was converted. Shortly after the kick-off Nicol scored far out, and the kick was converted. The game began to get rather rough, and Monro, of the Grammar, had to retire. Just before time Macdougall scored for the School, but the kick failed.- At time the score was—School, 8 points ; 'Shire, 5 points. CLASSICAL V. MODERN.—This match was played on Wednesday) December 4. The Classical's side from the start began to press, and soon scored, but the try was not converted. The Classicals continued the pressure, and the Moderns had to touch down several times. The second try was obtained by Taylor, but the kick failed. The Moderns could not make headway against the Classicals, and Nicol and Johnstone scored, but neither try was converted. In the second half the Moderns woke up, and the game was of a more give-and-take nature. L. Smith scored for the Moderns, and Taylor for the Classicals. Neither try was converted. The game ended in semidarkness in the Moderns' 25. The Classicals thus won by 15 points (5 tries) to 5 points (1 goal). GRAMMAR SCHOOL v. 2ND F.P.'s (December 7).—From the start the Grammar attacked, and within a few minutes a free kick was granted to them. Nicol converted with a good kick. The F.P.'s pressed, but H. Macpherson and A. Williamson broke away with a fine dribble, and Macpherson scored. The kick failed to bring out the full points. A. Johnson had hard lines in not scoring, but he slipped just before he came to the full back. Just before half-time L. Smith scored, and Anderson converted. In the next half, although the School had perhaps the best of the game,

School Football Notes.

they failed to score. Anderson played a splendid game at back. The game ended in a win for the School by 11 points (1 goal, 1 try, and 1 penalty goal) to nil. GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. 1ST F.F.'S (December 14).—This match was not played. 2ND XV. FIXTURES. 2ND GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. 1ST GORDON'S COLLEGE.—This

match was played at Bing's in wet weather, and the 2nd were one man short. Gordon's College had the best of the play in the first half, but were unable to score. In the second half the game was more equal, and play ended in a pointless draw. W. Paterson played a good game for the School. 2ND GRAMMAR SCHOOL V. 2ND GORDON'S COLLEGE.—This

match was played at the School Grounds on November 30. A few minutes after the kick-off the Gordons scored from a five-yards' maul, and the kick succeeded. The Grammar then pressed, and Johnstone scored. AI'Bain converted the try. In the second half the play was mostly confined to the Gordons' 25. The Gordons made occasional rushes, but they were always checked. In this half Johnstone scored twice, and M`Lean once. M`Bain converted two, and almost kicked the other. The score at time was2nd Grammar School, 18 points (3 goals, 1 try); 2nd Gordon's College, 5 points (1 goal). D. H. W. CORRESPONDENCE. WE have been receiving many letters of late from different

sources, on all subjects under the sun, and we think that we should answer them as far as space permits. Therefore we start in this number to do so, and we shall be pleased to receive any letters from pupils or others, which we shall endeavour to answer to the best of our ability. CICER0.—Yes ; we think there will be in the Reference Library several of the books you mention. We do not know when it will be opened, but it should not be very long in doing so. EXCHANGE.—Read the note we had some time ago about not putting our Exchange Mags. in the Reading Room. We shall, however, be very glad to let you see them in the Library. PALMISTRY.—We do not profess to be experts in this. If you so much want your destiny read, why not try a gipsy? You will get an ominous destiny from her for a very small sum.

The Grammar School Magazine.

To the EDITOR of the ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL MAGAZINE. SIR,-In the report of the Athletic Sports in your last number, I regret to say that the name of Alex. Walker, Esq., LL.D., was substituted by mistake for that of Alex. Walker, Esq., M.D. I apologise both to the latter gentleman and to yourself for the blunder.—Yours faithfully, G. S. R To the EDITOR of the ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL MAGAZINE. DEAR SIR,—On behalf of the Committee of the University Rugby Football Club I have to ask you to kindly publish the following reply to a paragraph which appeared in your October Magazine in connection with the F.P.s' Rugby Club. My Committee regret that a reply should be necessary, but cannot allow such flagrant misstatements to remain undenied. My Committee request me to give an absolute denial to the statement, which can refer only to the University Club, " that two players—one of them an old School . Captain—had, during the fortnight previous to the meeting, been engaged in an all too successful canvas of Former Pupils," and also to state that no canvas was engaged in by any responsible official of the Club. Had canvassing been engaged in, my Committee consider that they would have been quite within their rights, as they contend they have the first claim on Students from wherever they may have come. They have to thank the Rector for the straightforward way in which he dealt with this paragraph in his address as President of the F.P. Club. As Mr. Simpson made very clear, the unwritten but recognised rule everywhere is that a man attending the University is bound in honour to give the University the first chance of his services before all other Clubs, and his old School next, ' and not vice versa. Further, my Committee consider that the F.P's. Rugby Club was not formed to prevent men playing for their University, and are proud of the fact that so many of the old School Captains have considered it their duty to give their Alma Mater the benefit of their services.—Yours, &c., on behalf of the University Rugby Club, FRED. H. WELSH, Hon. Sec. [We would point out that the facts published in the paragraph referred to were communicated to us.—ED. A.G.S.M.]

Debater Notes.

75•

EXTRACTS FROM THE MINUTE BOOK OF THE LITERARY AND DEBATING SOCIETY. I am much indebted to G. H. Mair for the help he has given me in, preparing these Minutes for the Magazine. —J. G. D.

FRIDAY, October 4.—The Society met on the above date in Room XTX., at 7 p.m., when Mr. Alfred Macleod delivered an excellent and instructive lecture, entitled, "Can you Speak?" Mr. Charles Davidson occupied the chair, and introduced the lecturer in a few appropriate words. Mr. Macleod, being called upon to commence, began his paper by explaining the title, which, he said, did not apply to orations and public speeches, but to ordinary common conversation. The lecturer gave examples of local talk, showing how very indistinctly and in what a slovenly way the ordinary labourer conversed. Passing on to the art of reading from that of speaking, Mr. Macleod recited a fine old Scotch ballad, stating that he thought the Scots far superior to the English in ballad-making. The lecturer finally gave the Society some practical hints as to how to conduct a debating society. When the lecturer had finished, the usual votes of thanks. were accorded, and Mr. Davidson and Mr. Macleod left the room. The President then assumed the chair, and had the new syllabus read to the Society. The roll was made up and subscriptions taken. The final part of the evening was taken up with debates, J. Rae, G. S. Russell (F.P.),, and J. Milne, being the chief speakers. The meeting closed about 9 p.m. Friday, October 11.—The Society met on the above date in Room I., at 7 p.m., J. Rae presiding. The minutes of last meeting were read and approved. The debates for the evening were well discussed. The first subject was— " Is Aberdeen in a proper condition for defence ? " No vote

The Grammar School Magazine.

was taken on this subject. The next debate was—" Would the School be better under the Town Council than under the School Board ? " For the former, W. J. Cruickshank, G. S. Russell, and the Secretary spoke ; for the latter, G. E. Hay, J. Milne, and A. Williamson. The debate was well discussed and lasted forty minutes. The voting was equal, but, by the Chairman's casting vote, the "School Board" won. "Desultory or systematic reading?"—former, J. Milne, G. S. Russell ; latter, A. Williamson, A. Lyon. The votes proved, by 12 to 5, that the members preferred "desultory reading." J. M. Milne now assumed the chair. T. Gray and N. Dunn were proposed and seconded as members. The meeting broke up about 9 p.m. Friday, October 18.—The Society met on the above date in Room I., at 7 p.m. The President took the chair. The minutes of last meeting were read and approved. The business of the meeting was "Magazine Night." The Secretary led off the criticisms by attacking the letter and foot-note on pp. 39-40 of the Magazine, and by reading some correspondence between the Committee and the Editor. W. W. Jameson supported the Secretary. G. S. Russell opposed both the Committee and the Secretary, making several sarcastic remarks about the latter. He was supported by J. Rae, W. Rae, and T. Watt, and other former pupils. The discussion lasted about an hour, and was closed by J. M. Robertson's supporting the Secretary, and a vote of confidence being passed in the Editor, who replied to his cheers in a short speech. Few criticisms were made on the other parts of the Magazine. H. Dunn had a small argument with G. S. Russell about a portion of the Magazine, which the former considered bad grammar. All appreciated the article entitled, " What's in a name?" The leaving certificates and the athletic sports were also discussed. The meeting adjourned about 9 p.m. Friday, October 25.—The Society met on the above date in Room XIX., at 7 p.m., when Professor Davidson, LL.D. (F.P.), delivered a most interesting lecture, entitled, "Winchester and the Alfred Millenary." A. Williamson presided in the unavoidable absence of the Rector. The lecturer opened his lecture by explaining what was the nature of the ceremonies in connection with the great King Alfred's Millenary. He also gave us a general sketch of what happened at those ceremonies. Limelights were thrown on the screen, showing clearly different parts of Winchester—the Cathedral, the Abbey Gate, Wolvesley, the College, and other famous places. The lecturer was

Debater Notes.

loudly cheered at the close of his lecture. The Secretary proposed a vote of thanks to him, which was very well responded to; and Mr. Charles Davidson thanked the President for so admirably performing the duties of Chairman. Friday, Nov. 1.—No meeting was held on this night owing to a Shakespeare Recital. Friday, Nov. 8.—The Society met on the above date in Room I., when "Heckling Night" was held. The President presided for the Conservative candidate—J. Rae; and W. W. Jameson for the Liberal—J. Milne. Rae read his paper amidst a Liberal babel. He spoke on the War; on Federation ; and on several other present-day topics ; and, after a lively and long heckling, was at last permitted to sit down. Milne gave a shorter paper than his opponent; but it was as much to the point. He condemned the War; but thought that it should be continued now that we were so far on. Milne was heckled amid a good deal of confusion. Votes were taken, which proved that the Liberals had a large majority, having 23 to the Conservatives' 11. The proceedings lasted one hour and a half. Friday, Nov. 15.—The Society met on the above date in Room XIX., G. S. Russell (F.P.), presiding, when Mr. J. N. Carmichael delivered a lecture, entitled, " Our Homes and how to keep them Healthy." Mr. Carmichael began far, far back, even as far as Adam ; he traced buildings, their progress in shape and construction, right through the Egyptian, the Greek, and the Roman periods, quoting passages in support of his remarks from Pliny, Herodotus, and others. Mr. Carmichael, in dealing with British Architecture, showed interesting diagrams, on the limelight screen, of present-day houses. He explained these in an able manner, going through the matter in a general way, and then taking it technically. The lecturer gave us some interesting facts in connection with St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Peter's, and the Houses of Parliament, showing their masonry construction. The limelights were both clear and interesting. At the close of the lecture, the Chairman thanked Mr. Carmichael in a flattering speech. He said he was much struck by the lecturer's knowledge of the classics, and also by his general knowledge on the subject of building. J. T. Soutter thanked the Chairman and the Secretary, Mr. Mackie, who manipulated the lantern. Friday, Nov. 21.—The Society met on the above date in Room I., J. Soutter, Vice-President, presiding, when a debate was held, entitled, " Manual v. Intellectual Labour."

The Grammar School Magazine.

The President upheld Manual ; and J. Rae (F.P.), former Vice-President, stood for Intellectual Labour. Neither of the papers was of great length. The discussion which followed the debate was lengthy, G. S. Russell, H. Robertson, W. Jameson, A. Hay, and the Secretary being the chief debaters. Williamson won the debate by 9 votes, the numbers being 19 for Manual and 10 for Intellectual Labour. Several debates were held after this one, amongst which was "Boarding Schools v. Day Schools." Almost the whole assembly were in favour of the former. Herbert Dunn figured in the next debate," Was it expedient to turn .out from office two of the most experienced Baillies at the last election?" Dunn declared that the Council should not have done such a thing, and he was supported by G. S. Russell and the Secretary, while J. Rae and W. Jameson opposed him. One or two more debates were held and the meeting adjourned. Friday, November 29.—The Society met on the above (late in Room I., at 7 p.m., the President being in the chair. The minutes of last meeting were read and approved. The business for the evening was the debate—" Will the Carnegie Trust do more good than harm ?" The Secretary spoke for the affirmative, and J. T. Soutter (Vice-President) for the negative. Both delivered their speeches without the assistance of a paper. In the discussion which followed, J. Rae (F.P.) said he thought the speakers had wandered from the point. This led him into a difference with W. W. Jameson, and some rather hot words ensued. The value of Aberdeen degrees was discussed, and none of the members seemed quite sure which degree Aberdeen was most famous for. Most members seemed to think that the Trust would pauperise the nation. The voting resulted in favour of Soutter (22 votes to 18). Impromtu debates were held after this. The question was raised, "Is it right that the VII. be given the power of punishing boys who disturb the Society." The debate was the warmest the Society has 'held this year. J. Macpherson condemned the idea of such .a thing. He became eloquent as time went on, and, wandering from the point, began to rail against the VII. in A very unreserved manner. Macpherson was badly supported. The VII., on the other hand, defended their form with great vehemence, the Secretary, A. Munro, W. M. Anderson, and W. W. Jameson, being the chief speakers. Macpherson, having had a warm discussion with the Pre:sident on a point of order, now left the room, and the meeting adjourned.

Swmming Club.

Friday, December 6.—The Society met on the above date in Room I., at 7 p.m. No minutes were read, in order to give more time for the business on hand, " Parliamentary Night." J. T. Soutter occupied the post of Speaker, and the discussion was opened by the Liberal leader (W. W. Jameson) attacking the Government. He dwelt at some length on the inefficiency of the Navy, and on the War. The Secretary for the Colonies (J. G. Danson), replied in a scathing speech in which he showed up the many Liberal divisions. W. J. Cruickshank attacked the Government on the Wars in South Africa and China, and the Secretary for War (J. Macpherson) replied. The Agriculture Question was raised and replied to by the President of the Board of Agriculture (J. D. Fiddes) in an eloquent speech. He wandered on to subjects entirely apart from Agriculture, and at last ended by talking of torpedo-boat destroyers. The chief speakers on the Government side were A. Munro, J. Rae, J. G. Danson, J. Macpherson, C. Garland, and J. D. Fiddes, and on the Opposition, W. W. Jameson, W. M. Anderson, W. L. Grant, W. J. Cruickshank, G. H. Mair, and H. Robertson. The voting resulted in a win for the J. G. D., Secy. Liberals of 28 votes to 15. SWIMMING CLUB. of this Club was held on Monday, meeting annual THE January 13th, 1902. The Rector was in the chair' The accounts for the year were submitted to and approved of by the meeting. They showed a balance in favour of the Club of £9 7s. 8d. The office-bearers were then elected D. H. W. Williamson was re-elected Captain; C. Walker, Vice-Captain; and W. W. Jameson was appointed Secretary. The Committee of last year were re-elected, and H. Middleton, J. Macpherson, and H. Macpherson were appointed to fill vacancies. The following are the detailed accounts EXPENDITURE.

INCOME.

Carried over from 1901, £5 14 4 . 2 8 0 Membership, 1901, Made at Aquatic Sports, 10 19 10

Total, Balance in hand,

. £19 2 2

Hire of Baths, Cornwall & Sons, Lewis Smith, . Playfair, . Macmillan, . Scott Chalmers,

. . . . . .

. £1 14 . 0 15 . 0 13 . 5 2 . 1 5 . 0 5

Total,

. £9 14 6

0 0 0 0 0 6

. £9 7 8

The Committee hope that there will be a large increase of membership this season, as additional facilities will be -offered for teaching new members to swim. D. H. W. WILLIAMSON, Captain.

The Grammar School Magazine. " OUR CONTEMPORARIES."

WE beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of the following Magazines :— "Glasgow Academy Chronicle" (2), " Edinburgh Academy Chronicle " (3), " Rolandseck School Magazine," " St. Andrew's College Magazine" (2) (Grahamstown, South Africa), " The Nelsonian," " The Erasmian," " The Washington Jeffersonian" (U.S.A.), " High School Sentiment" (2) (Parsons, Kansas), " The Manwoodian," " The Olavian."

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL MAGAZINE

Published Quarterly throughout the School Year. The Magazine may be obtained from the Janitor, at the School; James G. Bisset, Bookseller, Broad Street; and D. Wyllie & Son, Booksellers, Union Street. The Annual Subscription to the Magazine is 2s. ; or, post free, 2s. 6d., at home or abroad. All subscriptions should be forwarded to the Business Manager of the Magazine, Grammar School, Aberdeen. Back numbers of the Magazine since 1885 may be had on application to the Business Manager. All literary communications should be sent to the Editor, Grammar School, Aberdeen. Correspondents must enclose their names, not necessarily for publication.

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