AGS Magazine November 1926

THE

ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHODL MAGAZINE

ABERDEEN

priniZa for The F.,rm.er Pupils' Club at The Rosen-lout-yr Press• Volume XXX, No. 1.

PRICE ONE SHILLING.

November, 1926.

- _

EDUCATIONAL BOOKS JAMES

G. BISSET all the Class Books (New or

to supply CONTINUES 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 Books.

JAMES G. BISSET, Classical, Medical, and Educational Bookseller,

85 BROAD STREET (Opposite Marischal College).

Telephone: Aberdeen 753.

Telegrams : "CENTRAL BAKERY."

A. B. HUTCHISON BREAD BISCUITS CAKES Best Quality.

Moderate Prices.

THE CENTRAL BAKERY ABERDEEN Shops throughout the City

PEARL AND PLATINUM NECKLACES

These Necklaces can be supplied any length, and with any number of Pearls. Selection in stock at £15, £20, £25, £35, £50, £75, £100, and upwards to £1,000 for exceptionally handsome long Guards. Gold Chains with less expensive Pearls at about half the above prices.

A. & J. SMITH 191 UNION STREET, ABERDEEN

A. C. LITTLE COSTUMIER & FURRIER. Always in Stock a Large Selection of

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ALL AT THE VERY KEENEST PRICES. INSPECTION IS INVITED. EXCEPTIONAL VALUE IN MOURNINGS. The Largest Selection of Black Costumes, Coat Frocks, Dresses, Coats, Skirts, etc., in the City, at the Keenest Prices.

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' ThE HOUSE FOR

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105 UNION ST., ABERDEEN. OPEN ALL DAY SATURDAYS. Telephone 523.

BOWLERS AND

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BY THE

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Standard Quality, 21 -

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JAMES FYFE & SON PAINT ERS

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AND •

•

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OFFICE AND SHOWROOMS:

11 DEE STREET, ABERDEEN. Telephone 304

Telegrarns—" Fyfe, Painters.'

WILLIAM GRAY Tailor and Outfitter, HOLBURN JUNCTION, ABERDEEN. We are Outfitters to the Grammar School, and hold Stocks of everything for present and former pupils.

Your patronage will be esteemed.

'PHONE 2211.

ESTABLISHED 1886.

LOW'S BOOKSTALLS 39-50 New Market Gallery, ABERDEEN. Books on All Subjects and at All Prices.

150,000 Volumes In Stock.

Catalogues Issued.

'Phone 3332.

BOOKS - - - - BOUND oftoec-t . k."4

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WM. JACKSON

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BOOKBINDERS 18 BACK WYND

(ABERDEEN) LIMITED

ABERDEEN

Telephone No. 291

Established 1855.

WM. DUNCAN Hosier and Glover, ABERDEEN. 8 BELMONT STREET, -

-

Ladies' and Gent.'s Underwear.

ELLAN-ESS, made in Hawick—a Speciality.

Botany Wool Ladies' Hose and Gent.'s Socks.

A.J.S., 7'99 H.P. combination, from £80 ; 4'98 H.P., from £56 ; 3.49 H.P., from £44.

SUNBEAM, 3.47 H.P., from 63 Gns.; 4.92 H.P., from 72 Gns. LEVIS, 2.47 H.P., from £29 18s. 6d.; 3.46 H.P., O.H.V., £54 12s. 0d.

G. CUMMING, ALFORD

PLACE

(HOLBURN JUNCTFON).

Telegrams—" INLET."

Telephone 2405.

DECORATOR,

154 Union Street, Aberdeen

A. D. COPLAND, F.I.R.P.

-

Telephone No. 1891.

ARCHIBALD McKELLAR Family Grocer and Wine Merchant,

454-456 Union Street, Aberdeen. .

We Specialise in

. .

Cooked Gammons, " Sinclair's "

Belfast Smoked Hams, " Harris's "

Wiltshire Bacon.

Medicinal Wines—Vibrona, Hall's, Wincarnis, Glendenning's.

Henderson Bros.

59 St. Nicholas Street, FOP ALL KINDS OF

GRAMMAR OUTFITS, RUNNING PANTS AND VESTS, FOOTBALL JERSEYS, HOSE, CAPS AND BELTS, &C. GRAMMAR SCHOOL BLAZERS -- WITH -

CAPS

&

BADGE TO MATCH.

Specialists in Boy Scouts', Girl Guides' and Brownie Outfits.

Also Complete Outfitters for BOYS, YOUTHS, AND MEN. 'PHONE 424.

59 ST. NICHOLAS STREET.

Telephone No. 1524.

Telegrams: " Bruce, Cycles, Aberdeen."

Established 1884.

GEORGE BRUCE & SONS Holburn Motor and Cycle Works,

18 HOLBURN STREET, ABERDEEN. Wireless Goods of every description at lowest Prices.

MOTOR and CYCLE AGENTS. GENERAL ENGINEERS, Motor Cycle Agencies : Quadrant, Ivy, and Omega.

(Any other make supplied at liberal discounts.)

We Specialise in Repair Work of all makes of Cars, Motor Cycles and Cycles.

Works, 1 ALFORD LANE.

CHARGES MODERATE.

Royal (Dick) Veterinary College EDINBURGH. Principal:

O. CHARNOCK BRADLEY, M.D., D.Sc., M.R.C.V.S. After attendance on Complete Courses of Instruction in this College, Students may proceed to the Examinations for the Diploma of Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (M.R.C.V.S.), and for the Diploma in Veterinary State Medicine (D.V.S.M.).

Students.of the College may also present themselves for the Degree of Bachelor of Science (II.Sc.) in Veterinary Science conferred by the University of Edinburgh.

The College being recognised as a Central Institution under the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, Students are eligible for Bursaries granted by the Education Authorities of Scotland.

A Copy of the College Calendar may be obtained on application to A. C. DOULL, Secretary and Treasurer.

THE ROYAL ATHENAEUM RESTAURANT AND GRILL ROOM (Opposite 7 own House).

Choice Selection of Old Vintage Champagnes and other Wines.

Large selection of Havana Cigars and Foreign Liqueurs.

TABLE D'HOTE DINNER FROM 6 P.M. AT 5s. 6d.

Special Arrangements for Private Parties.

A. C. MITCHELL, Manager.

Tel. No. 2273.

Telegrams: Athenaeum.

Y1

Y2

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Y4

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Prices 42/6 to 64/6.

Y3—Youths' Suits, smartly cut, from Selected Tweeds. To fit 15 to 18 years.

Prices 59/6 to 84/6.

Y2—Well- tailored Suit of PlusFours, in smartly designedTweeds.

To fit 14 to 17 years.

Prices 58/6 to 93/6.

Y4—Overcoats for School Wear, in Lovat and Heather Mixture Tweeds. To fit 5 to 8 years.

Prices 36/6 to 49/6.

Johnfalconer&(?'

(FAMOUS FOR A

CEN,All ,

E QUARTER TOR QUALITY I

VALUE

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GROCERIES, PROVISIONS, :: WINES and SPIRITS, :: ALL

OF

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HAVANA CIGARS in Great Variety.

Telegrams : " TRAVELLED, ABERDEEN."

'PHONE 260.

Telephone 274

Established 1770

SIVIPSON & WHYTE LIMITED

`Tailors ?f. . . ,Ladies' & Gentlemen's Garments 1I SO

Naval, Military, and Clerical -

8 ALBYN PLACE, ABERDEEN

ESTABLISHED 1843.

PRINTING.

Wm. Cay & Sons

The

Central Press

funeral

(JOHN MILNE),

lani)ertalter5.

General Printer, Lithographer,

415 UNION STREET AND

209 GEORGE STREET,

AND

Stationer,

ABERDEEN. Motor Hearses and Cars

61-63 Belmont St.,

for Distant Funerals.

ABERDEEN. Telegrams—"Cay, Aberdeen."

'Pnonee Nos. 92 and 54.

Telephone No. 809.

ESTABLISHED 1813.

, A a

BY APPOINTMENT

To H.M. THE KING.

J. WILLIAMSON & SON (Ns. N. WILLIAMSON, PROPEIN I On),

Meat Purveyors and Poulterers

1, 2, & 3 MARKET BUILDINGS ('Phone 452),

ABERDEEN Branches: 35 FOUNTAINHALL ROAD ('Phone 1724).

THE SQUARE, CULTS ('Phone, Cults 2).

FRED HARDIE

D. Wyllie & Son

Photographic A rtist,

247 Union Street,

416 Union Street,

Aberdeen.

ABERDEEN •

Wyllies' Bookshop, Aberdeen ; Prompt service ; prices keen ; Established One-eight-one-four ; Car service at our door.

For every style of In- and Out-Door Group, Composite

What to do, 'Phone 402.

Groups & General

4

Commercial Photography our Speciality.

Portraiture, Etc.

TeLgrophic Addrcss:

AT

POPULAR

" Wyllie, Bookseller, Aberdeen"

TELEPHONE

PRICES. 851.

GET YOUR MUSIC AND EVERYTHING NECESSARY FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF THE ART AT

JAMES MACBETH 261 UNION STREET ABERDEEN

T

HE Firm was established over 80 years ago, and has been in the same family for three generations, with a PRACTICAL PIANO-MAKER as Proprietor in each generation.

Telephone No. 235

Telegrams : " Macbeth, Aberdeen"

For Drawing

TYPEWRITERS

Instruments

New or Second-hand —Large or Small—

& Materials

Special Second-hand Bargains in

PICTURE FRAMER AND ARTISTS' COLOURMAN

YOSTS, . . from £4 10/OuvERs No. 9, from £5 15/REMINGTONS, from £7 0/UNDERWOODS, from £9 0/-

TAYLOR

ROYALS, finest Typewriter made, from £9

SCHOOLHILL ABERDEEN

C. H. WEBSTER

Telephone 2870.

ALFORD PLACE ABERDEEN

Gem Rings of Superior Quality

WE specialize in this particular branch of our business, and request your kind inspection of our large and varied selection of

GEM RINGS GEO. JAMIESON & SON NEXT UNION BRIDGE, ABERDEEN "THE WALTHAM WATCH DEPOT"

SCIENTIFIC APPARATUS Microscopes and Microscopic al Apparatus.

Students' Requisites Slide Rules.

Mathematical Instruments.

MATERIALS Chemical Physical, Bacteriological Glassware.

Thermometers, Hydrometers.

Acids. Filter and Test Papers

Get your Photographic Requirements at

(Near Holburn Junction).

Photographic Department.

St. Nicholas St., ABERDEEN.

A Large Stock of Cameras, Plates, Films, Papers, and Accessories.

Dee361 far Kodaks and Kodak SuAelies.

Developing and Printing executed by an Expert and delivered in 24 hours.

'Phone 1624

MILNE &MUNRO

Trust the fitting of your Boy's feet to us—Aberdeen's Practical Bootmakers

Aberdeen's Leading Shoemakers 60 years ago Make us your Scientific Shoefitters TO-DAY 'Phone 1028

ELLIS & MI-TARDY 18 REGENT QUAY & 1301 UNION STREET.

Importers of Household and Steam Coals.

Delivered by Careful and Experienced Drivers.

Telephone 2889.

George Bisset Complete Outfitter and Hatter; HIGH-CLASS TAILOR AND CLOTHIER,

5 & I5 UNION ST., ABERDEEN.

Highland Outfits a 41ft

Speciality FOR BOYS, YOUTHS, AND GENTLEMEN.

•

__Willi.

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I

tiEV‘Aftet.if WE ARE SPECIALISTS IN

GRAMOPHONY We keep a wide range of HIS

MASTER'S

VOICE

EDISON MUSICAL MIRACLE AND

COLUMBIA

VIVA-TONAL

GRAMOPHONES and a complete stock of Records, including PARLOPHONE. Prices and Terms (Cash or Deferred Payment) to suit all Customers.

PATERSON, SONS & MARR WOOD Ltd., 183 Union Street, ABERDEEN.

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Aberdeen's Premier House of Entertainment and one of the Finest Theatres in the British Isles.

For full fiarticulars of this week's Programme see Theatre Bills or Advertisements in Daily Press or Train Cars.

Lessee—WALTER GILBERT.

Telephone Nos. 1881, 1883.

Acting Manager—W. LOTHIAN GILBERT.

Telegraphic Address: " Plaster, Aberdeen."

JAMES SCOTT & SON (Aberdeen), Ltd. Fire Grates :

Cooking Ranges

Antique and Modern.

AN!)

Independent Water Heaters.

Mantelpieces Wood and In Marble.

Inquiries regarding Genuine Old Chimney Pieces and Fire Grates solicited.

Marble, Mosaic, Terrazzo and Tiles It , '

Fire-places, Walls, and Floors.

,` 1 hermostove "—combined Cooker and Water Heater.

A ddress :

483-485 UNION STREET, ABERDEEN.

HOSIERY Latest Styles in Hats, Caps, Ties, Collars, Hose, Socks, Handkerchiefs, Shirts, Pyjamas, Gloves, Underclothing, Pullovers.

TAILORING Suits, Overcoats, Dress Suits, Costumes.

READYMADES Men's Suits and Overcoats, Boys' Suits and Overcoats, Showerproots, Waterproofs, Sports Jackets, Blazers, Flannel Trousers.

SPECIALITY Complete Highland Outfits for Boys.

A. & J. SCOTT 29 GEORGE STREET I I

ABERDEEN Tailors, Clothiers, and Outfitters .

•

.

•

A visit and an opportunity to serve you will be greatly appreciated Telephone No. 2299

CONTENTS. A LOWER SCHOOL CLASS FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

• .

WILLIAM KEITH LEASK MEMORIAL

facing page 31 „ 38

• • .. ..

• • • • . • Page 1 • • ..

• • • • • • NOTES ABOUT OLD BOYS ..

1, 4 • • 23 , A UNIVERSITY CLASS RECORD ..

•• • • • • „ 24 OXFORD'S DEBT TO TWO F.P.S ..

• • • • • • • • 25 THE APPOINTING OF AN ASSISTANT MASTER IN 1713 .. .. „ „ 27 • • • • • • UNIVERSITY ARTS BURSARY COMPETITION „ 28 'TIS FIFTY YEARS AGO : HERR KRUGER. BY CANON HARPER AN OLD CLASS GROUP • • • • • • • • • • .. „ 31

To F.P.s ABROAD ..

KINDROCHIT--1926..

.•

••

••

••

••

..

• • • • ..

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC FOR THE HOLIDAYS • • WILLIAM KEITH LEASK MEMORIAL • • • • .. ..

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 1£362-67 ..

•• •• ..

• • • • ..

REFLECTIONS OF A REBELLIOUS ROBOT .. ..

AN F.P.'S OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTH AMERICA . • • .

• • Two NEW BOOKS BY MASTERS ..

•• • • .

S CHOOL NOTES • • • • • 0 ..

• • • • SCOUT NOTES • • • • • • • • •• • • THE SCHOOL LITERARY AND DEBATING SOCIETY • • •• • • ..

SCHOOL RUGBY FOOTBALL . • • • • • THE FORMER PUPILS' CLUB..

THE ANNUAL DINNER • • •• • • . • THE ANNUAL BALL • • .. ..

• • • • • • • • CLUB CONSULS • • ..

• • • • A FORESTRY CAMP REUNION •• ..

•• • • •• THE CRICKET SECTION • • • • ..

• • • • • • THE TENNIS SECTION • • • • THE HOCKEY SECTION. THE RUGBY FOOTBALL SECTION . .

• • THE MOTOR SECTION ..

•• • • • •

„ „

„ „

32 33 38 39 41 45 46 47 50 52 53

„

56

12

,, „ „ „ „

,,

, , 60 ,, ,, „

„ ,, „

61 63 64 65 66 68

1836

ESTABLISHED

NORTHERN ASSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED £15,000,000

.

-

Assets

ALL CLASSES OF INSURANCE LIFE ASSURANCE BRANCH. The Company's Tables of Rates for Life Assurance include every class of Policy. Write for particulars of CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL POLICIES ESTATE DUTY POLICIES PARTNERSHIP POLICIES ENDOWMENT ASSURANCE POLICIES

CHIEF OFFICES:

ABERDEEN -

-

-

-

-

-

LONDON

1 Union Terrace.

1 Moorgate, E.C. 2.

Aberdeen Board of Directors.

A. S. R. BRUCE, ESQ.

GEORGE M. COOK, ESQ.

D. M. A. CHALMERS, ESQ. FRANCIS J. COCHRAN, ESQ.

GARDEN A. DUFF, ESQ.

Manager

•

-

A. MARTINEAU, ESQ. -

R

MACKAY, F.F.A.

Aberbeen grammar School Illaga3inc Vol. XX X.

NOVEMBER, 1926.

No. 1

The " Grammar School Magazine " is issued under the auspices of The Former Pupils' Club, in March, June, and November. All communications with regard to the " Magazine " should be addressed to the Editor (the Secretary and Treasurer of the Club), THEODORE WATT, M.A., The Rosemount Press, Aberdeen. *** Members of the Club are requested to inform the Secretary of any change of address.

To F.P. s Abroad.

If there was one thing that contributed more than another to the success of the Annual Dinner of the Former Pupils' Club this year, it was the embargo which the Committee placed on long speeches. The change was universally approved, and it is extremely unlikely that we shall ever revert to the older and drearier practice. It has, however, entailed one disadvantage. Former pupils in distant places may possibly regret the omission of those details of recent School history which were usually to be found in the reply to the toast of "The School," and it is in response to a suggestion from the Editor that these few notes are submitted. They are addressed to overseas readers only. For those at home they will have all the weariness of a twice-told tale.

It may be stated generally that the School is thriving and prosperous. There are symptoms that the abnormal growth of recent years has ceased, and it is high time that it did.

Overgrowth is as dangerous a state as undergrowth, and there will be general agreement that a school of approximately a thousand boys is big enough.

An interesting analysis, recently made by the Secretary of the F.P. Club, of the districts from which our pupils come, shows that the School has still a goodly quota from overseas.

This quota will increase rapidly when the next scheme of the Club, the provision of a Boarding House, comes to fruition.

It is hoped that the efforts of the Executive in this direction will meet with encouragement. There is abundant evidence

2

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

of the need for such a House. It would certainly add to the prestige of the School, and would help to maintain the continuity of the connexion between one generation of Grammar School pupils and another. One need not be long associated with the Grammar School to realize how strong this feeling of attachment is.

All the buildings within the area of our grounds have been absorbed, and the last vestige of the alien occupation of Westfield has disappeared. A noteworthy addition to the fabric will be the new Gymnasium, now in process of construction. It is on the alignment of the Infants' Department and the pathway leading to Osborne Place, and when completed it will be in every way dimensions, appointments, dignified appearance—a worthy addition to the existing buildings. There only remains a Swimming Pond to complete the amenities. No doubt we shall get this in time.

The staff has undergone a few changes in. its younger personnel. Promotions from the junior ranks to positions of responsibility outside are to be welcomed as attesting the value of the training which the School affords. The Heads of Departments—the safety men of the School—represent the element of stability, and it is round their names that the memories of most F.P.s will centre. The familiar figure of Dr. McLeod is, of course, removed from our midst, but he has merely transferred his activities elsewhere. He is in the best of health and spirits, and shows none of the disquieting symptoms of the "superannuated man." Another, even longer in Grammar School service, Mr. Bentley Philip, retired in June, and the Deeside Field Club stands to gain by his release from professional cares. Dr. Middleton, Mr. Murison, Mr. Edward are still with us, turning out the finished scholars who figure so conspicuously in University Prize Lists. Even the remotest of Grammarian backwoodsmen know that the School has secured the coveted position of First Bursar for four consecutive years. It would be unreasonable to expect a continuance of this record, but there is no reason why the fortunes of the School should not shine again, even though there be a period of temporary eclipse.

What of the Games and the Playing Field ? I think it may be claimed that the old tradition is fully maintained and possibly enhanced. Every class in the School has its afternoon each week for organized games, i.e. Rugby and Cricket, and a system which has now been in operation for at least five years is bearing fruit not only in a growing proficiency, but in the fostering of that games sense which makes for the building of character.

The Rubislaw pitches are improving steadily. True, there has been trouble in parts with weeds, but these are yielding

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

3

to a special treatment which will be extended to other unhealthy patches. The new Pavilion—a worthy tribute to the memory of our fallen—is proving a great boon. -Games are carried on under conditions of comfort, which must be the envy of earlier School generations.

The fixture list becomes more interesting year by year, and the number of important schools in the West and East of Scotland who offer us games is increasing steadily. This is the most effective method of improving the standard of our play. We suffer somewhat severely from our comparative isolation. It is noteworthy that on a recent Saturday we had no fewer than eight XVs playing matches.

Our Annual Sports at the end of June were an unqualified success and, financially, the best on record. It was gratifying to see such a large turn-out of F.P.s, and it is hoped that the social aspect of the Sports will become more prominent as time goes on. No better opportunity could be given an F.P. of bridging the gulf that separates him from his School days.

Nothing can damp the enthusiasm of the Scouts. Apart from Cubs there are four flourishing Troops in the School, and judging from the success of a recent sale, they are well supported. The 17th are particularly proud of an achievement which no doubt will be chronicled in the proper place.

To revert to the building, the Library has undergone fairly extensive additions to its shelves, and what is equally important, we have now a Librarian in charge, with resultant improvement both in the arrangement and in the safe custody of the collection. The Museum, one of our greatest assets, has recently had the benefit of some interesting loan collections. Here is a method by which the pietas of F.P.s abroad may find expression. Such gifts will always be appreciated, and will be gratefully acknowledged.

The Hall, the special pride of the School, has undergone no change save the addition of a few portraits to its walls.

The beautiful War Memorial was specially in our thoughts on Armistice Day, when the School paid its tribute of silence to its gallant dead. Nothing could have exceeded the reverence with which this touching little ceremony was performed.

There remains one thing to say, and that is to assure F.P.s who are sojourning temporarily in Aberdeen of a cordial welcome when they visit the School. They may count on an instant recognition—name, early misdemeanours, etc.— by one old friend—everybody's friend—William Kennedy, and under his encouraging smile one would hope that they will essay the final and most dreaded adventure, a visit to the Rector's Room.

D. M. A.

4

A berdeen Grammar School Magazine.

*** It is requested that the Editor be informed of all new appointments and interesting incidents in the careers of Former Pupils.

The dates given in parentheses after names indicate the sessions of attendance at the School.

Robert Aitken* (1897-1903), A.M.Inst.C.E., has been appointed Resident Engineer on the Trunk Road Scheme in Lincolnshire.

William McCombie Alexander* (1887-96), M.A., B.L., is at present engaged on an extensive tour through South America. At both Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires he met the Club Consuls-A. Bain Mackie and Reginald J. G. Wilson.

He is including in his itinerary The Argentine, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.

Ian Campbell Barclay* (1921-23), B.Sc., has received an appointment with Messrs. Duncan M`Neill 8z Co., East India merchants, London.

Bertram John A. G. Barr* (1909-13), who is in the service of the Mercantile Bank of India, Ltd., is at present stationed in Colombo.

Robert Bell* (1916-19), who served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Bower & Smith, C.A., Aberdeen, has passed his final examination as a chartered accountant.

Douglas Maitland Bisset* (1901-08), formerly representative in the north-east of Scotland of Messrs. Joseph Travers & Sons, I.td., London, left Aberdeen last April for a post in Singapore.

Henry J. C. Boulton* (1882-89), who for many years has been engaged in railway construction in Africa, is now constructional engineer on the Kenya and Uganda Railway and is stationed at Masindi.

George Stephenson Brown* (1910-13) at present holds a post as Civil Engineer in the Port Development Department, Hongkong.

Richard Gavin Brown* (1859-61), M.B., Deputy Inspector-General, Royal Navy, in a recent letter mentions ' Indicates Member of Former Pupils' Club.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

5

that he is now over 80 years of age and so must be one of the oldest members of the F.P. Club. He recalls that he entered the School when Mr. McLachlan was interim Rector, after the retirement of " Paddy " Evans. He regrets that he has not been able to attend a meeting of the Club since the celebration of the School's 13th Jubilee in 1906.

Edward James Bruce* (1892-95), M.B., D.P.H., who is in medical practice in Huddersfield, has been appointed Medical Officer of the Crosland Moor Institution under the Board of Guardians.

Alexander Godsman Catto (1895-99), M.A., B.D., minister of the parish of Inverkeithny from 1910, and of the parish of Aberdour from 1920, was in September elected to the parish of Duffus, Morayshire.

John Farquhar Christie* (1878- 87), M.A., M.B., has recently been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, of which he was formerly a Member.

James William Spence Cobban* (1920-21) has been in Southern Rhodesia for some years, and is at present engaged in farming at Midlothian, near Salisbury.

Douglas Paterson Cochran* (1906-15) has recently been appointed Inspector of Agencies for Aberdeen and the North of Scotland of the Royal Exchange Assurance. He entered the service of this Company in 1921.

Alastair Macdonald Cowie* (1915-20), who served as an apprentice with Messrs. Williamson & Dunn, C.A., Aberdeen, and Vaughan Nicol Dean* (1913-20), who served as an apprentice with Messrs. James Meston & Co., C.A., Aberdeen, passed in July the final examination of the Chartered Accountants of Scotland, and were subsequently admitted Members of the Society of Accountants in Aberdeen.

AN APPOINTMENT IN THE WAR OFFICE.

James Ian Cormack Crombie* (1908-21), M.A., was recently successful in obtaining a place in the open competition for the junior grade of the administration class in the Home Civil Service. After graduating in Arts at Aberdeen University in 1925 with first class honours in Classics, he studied for a time at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, until he received a temporary appointment as an Income Tax Inspector at Edinburgh. Since passing into the Home Civil Service he has been posted to the War Office. It is some years since an F.P. entered either the Home, the Indian, or the Colonial Civil Service, and we trust that before long the names of others will appear in the lists of successful competitors.

Eric Edmonston Duthie* (1910-17), M.A., has published Three Short Plays (Aberdeen : D. Wyllie & Son). The first

6

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

•

play is a realistic episode of a " dottled " Scotswoman ; the second is a picture of a silly pair of modern lovers ; the last shows the editor of " The Red Flag " visited by an Oxford Don and by tipsy Fascists.

Eugene de Faye (1873-76), M.A., D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Protestant Theological Faculty of Paris, is the author of a book entitled " Origen and His Work," recently published by Messrs. Allen & Unwin. The book consists of eight lectures in popular form, recently delivered at the University of Upsala, and is meant to prepare the way for a comprehensive critical work on Origen's literary activity and mental processes.

James Hastings Edwards* (1894-99), M.A., LL.B., has been appointed assistant to the Professor of Law in the University of Aberdeen in succession to Robert Pearson Masson* (1903-04), M.A., LL.B., who was recently made Lecturer in Roman Law. The former is a partner in the firm of Messrs.

Edmonds & Ledingham, advocates ; and the latter a partner in the firm of Messrs. Lumsden & Davidson, advocates.

Walter Angus E1msIie* (1904-10), who is an Admiralty Harbour Engineer, has recently been posted to the Royal Naval Yard, Trincomali, Ceylon.

Robert Warrender Farquhar* (1919-22), B.Sc. (Agr.), has been working for a year at the Rowett Institute and has just been sent out to Kenya Colony to engage in animal research for two years.

Edward Fiddes* (1876-81), M.A., the senior Pro-ViceChancellor of the University of Manchester, delivered at that University in November of last year a lecture entitled " American Universities," which has recently been published in book form by Messrs. Longmans. He mentions that in the United States the degree-granting institutions number between 500 and 600, and vary from universities of a worldwide celebrity, like Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and Chicago, to colleges of the most meagre equipment. The American student comes up to college far less well prepared than the English student, this being due, no doubt, to the fact that the American secondary schools are often very poor. When the student leaves the university his enthusiasm is not allowed to die. All the alumni are roped into voluntary or official organizations. These societies result in many gifts to the universities from old and successful students. One of the best sides of American life is the generosity of the public where education is concerned. " To anyone who is acquainted with the pinched finances of an English university, the stream of wealth which pours into the coffers of the American universities seems fantastic in its magnificence."

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MEDICAL REORGANIZER OF THE ARAB ARMY.

Archer Irvine-Fortescue* (1892-97), D.S.O., M.B., Major, R.A.M.C., passed in June the preliminary interpretership test in the Russian and Italian languages held by the Civil Service Commissioners. He was the only successful candidate in Russian, with 91 per cent. of the available marks, and one of two competitors who passed in Italian, in which he gained 71 per cent. of the possible total. He has just been selected for duty as British Medical Adviser with the Wizaratud-Difaa (Ministry of Defence), Government of Iraq. He will have the task of reorganizing on British lines the medical services of the Arab Army.

James Milner Fraser* (1918-20) is now an assistant architect with the West Ham Borough Council, and has been living in London since June 1925.

Graham Henderson* (1906-12), who has been with Messrs. Guthrie & Co. in the F.M.S. for the past six years, latterly as acting-manager of Sungei Ujong Rubber E.state, Rantau, Negri Sembilan, has been promoted to be manager of this estate.

William Esplin Ho11 (1889-94) is General Manager of the Bombay Uganda Co., Ltd., at the head office at Soroti, Eastern Province, Uganda.

Harry A. Holmes* (1881-85), who has been Dean of • Guild of the City of Aberdeen for the last seven years, has resigned for health reasons. As head of the Guildry he has been outstandingly successful in securing accessions to the ranks of the burgesses. Besides having strengthened the Guildry numerically, he also leaves it in an improved condition financially.

Alexander Seymour Jameson* (1908-12), who was formerly in the service of the John Duthie Torry Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., Aberdeen, has recently gone out to an estate in Kenya Colony.

Charles Hugh Croswell Jones* (1919-20) is at present working at Hodgeham Farm, Bethersden, Kent.

Cha rles Gray Kennaway* (1904-16) , M.A., B.Sc., C.A., has recently been assumed as a partner in the firm of Mitchell, Kennaway & Co., C.A., Aberdeen. For the previous two years he was employed in the office of one of the largest firms of chartered accountants in Glasgow.

David M. Kilgour* (1876-82) was at the end of October elected Dean of Guild of the City of Aberdeen in succession to HARRY A. HOLMES, whose resignation is recorded above.

Mr. Kilgour has been a member of the Guildry for 23 years, for seven of which he served as an Assessor. He is an exConvener of the Incorporated Trades.

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A berdeen Grammar School Magazine.

Robert Leslie King* (1912-24) sailed in July to take up duty with Sarawak Oilfields, Ltd., at Miri, Sarawak. Like a wise man he became a Life Member of the Club before leaving home.

George Alexander Frank Knight (1878-85), M.A., D.D., of Kelvingrove U.F. Church, Glasgow, was in September appointed General Secretary of the National Bible Society of Scotland.

PRINCIPAL ACTUARY AT THE TREASURY.

James Gray Kyd* (1891-98), F.F.A., has just been appointed Principal Actuary of the Government Actuary's Department at the Treasury, London. He entered the service of the Northern Assurance Company at Aberdeen in 1898, and was promoted to a position in the London office of the Company in 1911. In the following year he was appointed Actuary to the National Health Insurance Commissioners for Ireland, and was transferred to the chief post in Ireland of the Government Actuary's Department in 1919. Two years later he was appointed Chief Officer of the Government Actuary's Department in Scotland, and has been resident in Edinburgh since then. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland, and is at present a member of the Council of that body.

Alexander Adamson Laing* (1877-79), General Manager of the Royal Bank of Australia Ltd., Melbourne, was recently in this country for several months on holiday and spent a large part of his time in Aberdeen. He has been in Australia for over 40 years, and has much to say of the opportunities which that country offers to the right type of boy. With his long experience he is exceptionally well qualified to talk about Australia, and he will gladly advise and help any F.P. who contemplates going there.

James Ledingham* (1885-88), Glasgow manager of the North of Scotland Bank Ltd., was the subject of the opening article in the July issue of The Scottish Bankers Magazine. He entered the service of the Bank at its Ballater office about 35 years ago. He was subsequently promoted to the Head Office in Aberdeen, and steadily rose until in 1914 he was appointed assistant manager in the Glasgow office. " In 1921 he became manager "—we quote from the article—" and his enterprise is reflected in four additional branches opened in Glasgow since that time, and in the important new premises at present under construction in St. Vincent Street to meet the needs of an extending business..

The success of the Bank in the West of Scotland is largely identified with his energetic personality."

John Lendrum (1879-84), M.A., minister of the South

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U.F. Church, Elgin, is the author of a recently-published collection of stories entitled Scottish Life and Humour of Yesterday. The greater number of the anecdotes refer to the ministers of Moray and Banffshire and their encounters with parishioners. The book preserves intimate glimpses of the life and ways of last century and is full of racy humour.

Matthew Brodie Linton* (1912-24) has early commenced author with The Tragic Race (Aberdeen: W. & W. Lindsay), a drama dealing with the Brontë family. The play contains seven scenes, with dumb show prologue and epilogue, in which the spirit or ghost of Charlotte Brontë appears. We understand that the author's next venture is to be a full-length novel.

William Nathaniel Litster* (1917-24) has been for over a year working at Lodge Farm, Alderholt, in Dorset—near the borders of Wiltshire and Hampshire.

Alexander Bain Mackie* (1896-1904), who is in the service of the Royal Bank of Canada, is Honorary Secretary of the Saint Andrew Society of Rio de Janeiro. We note with interest that another F.P. is an Honorary Member of this Society, namely Harry A. Holmes* (1881-85), late Dean of Guild of the City of Aberdeen.

TENNIS INTERNATIONALISTS.

Harvey Goodwin Mackintosh* (1912-15), L.D.S., and William Bethune Stott* (1903-14), M.B., took part in the Jubilee Championship Meeting at Wimbledon last June.

In the Championship Singles, first round, Stott lost to C. F. Roupell (Champion of Royal Air Force), 6-4, 6-0, 2-6, 4-6, 6-3 ; and in the same round Mackintosh beat P. Brick (Champion of Austria), 2-6, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. In the second round he lost to Pat Wheatley (British Davis Cup player), 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1. In the Men's Doubles, first round, Stott and Mackintosh beat D. Powell and J. Pennycuick, 6-3, 6-3, 6-8, 6-2. In the second round they beat St. J. Evers and T. M. Mavrogordato (both English Internationals), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 ; and in the third round, they lost to Crole-Rees and Kingsley (Britain's International pair), 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.

Dr. Stott played with D. L. Craig (Glasgow) in the Men's Doubles for Scotland versus England, but they were beaten ; and Mackintosh played for Scotland versus England in the' Singles, but also lost.

William George Macmillan* (1916-22), B.Sc., has been awarded at Aberdeen University the Robbie Scholarship in Chemistry of the value of £100 for one year.

Alistair James Margach* (1915-22) has received an appointment on a coffee and rubber estate near Masindi, Uganda.

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Abeideen Grammar School Magazine.

Donald Middleton Marr* (1919-26) has received a five years' engagement with Malayalam Plantations, Limited, as an assistant on an estate in Travancore, and sailed for the east in September. While at the School, where he was captain of the 1st XV, he was known as Scout Marr's " little brother."

He is .6 feet 4 inches in height.

Thomas Ogston Mare (1917-20), who is a midshipman in the R.N.R., obtained his second mate's ticket in March, and was appointed fourth officer of the s.s. Clan Ranald, belonging to Messrs. Cayzer Irvine & Co., Ltd., with whom he served his apprenticeship.

Reginald Stanhope Martin* (1913-16), who has been in the Royal Air Force since 1917, and for a number of years has held the rank of Flying Officer, organized the Air Pageant at Hendon in July last. In recognition of his services he was promoted to be Flight-Lieutenant.

Christian Hoyer Millar Milne* (1881-87), M.A., Principal of Daniel Stewart's College, Edinburgh, since 1911, received from Aberdeen University in July the degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.). The work in consideration of which the degree was conferred is A Reconstruction of the Old-Latin Text or Texts of the Gospels used by Saint Augustine, with a Study of their Character. This has been published by the Cambridge University Press, and is the result of many years of labour.

David C. Milne* (1911-15) is now in the service of the Harbours and Rivers Department of Works at Perth, Western Australia.

Edwin Morgan* (1906-12), who has been in the service of the Canadian Bank of Commerce since 1912, was transf erred this year to be accountant of the Bank at Nelson, British Columbia. " It is a delightful experience," he writes, " to find oneself saturated with scenery after a number of years on the Prairie. Nelson is beautifully situated on Kootenay Lake and is the distributing centre for a large district, mostly engaged in mining, lumbering, and fruit-farming. It is fast becoming a tourist resort, and a trip down this way is well worth while."

John Simpson Ogg* (1904-07), chartered accountant, is at present in the service of the Lamson Company at Syracuse, New York.

SURVIVOR OF A HURRICANE TRAGEDY. Douglas Petfield (1912-16) was one of the twelve survivors of the crew of the steamer Eastway, which foundered during the same hurricane off Bermuda at the end of October as caused the loss of H.M.S. Valerian. He fortunately was rescued and landed on St. George's Island by the steamer

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Luciline. It appears that the hurricane struck the Eastway early in the morning of 29th October, and a response to the S.O.S. call sent out was received shortly afterwards. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon the captain was washed overboard and disappeared. An hour later the ship's bunker shifted and the vessel took a heavy list. All but one lifeboat had been smashed.

At 7 o'clock the vessel went down. The firemen and engineers remained at their posts till the last, making no effort to enter the single remaining lifeboat. The wireless operator also stuck to his post and was repeating his distress call when the vessel took her final plunge. The Eastway was a general cargo steamer of 3,655 net tons and was built at Newcastle in 1915. Petfield had just completed his term of apprenticeship and was due home to study for his officer's ticket. A brother, EDWARD PETFIELD (1908-14), was lost in January, 1916, off a sailing vessel on which he was an apprentice.

John Wilson Pope* (1910-24), who is in the Aberdeen Burgh Surveyor's Department, has passed the Preliminary (Studentship) Examination of the Institute of Civil Engineers, held in London in October.

John Rae* (1882-85), the chief general manager of the Westminster Bank, was in October elected a director of that Bank. His Election to the Board is regarded as a graceful compliment to a man who has proved himself to be a conscientious, far-seeing, and skilful banker.

HEAD OF THE CENTRAL SCHOOL, ABERDEEN.

John Watson Robertson* (1903-05), M.A., B.Sc., who has been head of the Mathematical Department of the Grammar School since September, 1925, was in October appointed head master of the Central Secondary School, Aberdeen. After graduating with first class honours in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Aberdeen University in 1909, and obtaining in the following year the degree of B.Sc., with special distinction in Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry, he was appointed an assistant master in the Mathematical and Science Departments of Robert Gordon's Secondary School ; and in 1919 he entered the service of the Aberdeen Education Authority as head of the Mathematical Department in the Central Secondary School. His departure from the Grammar School is regrettable, but it is recognized on all hands that his promotion has been very well earned.

Kenneth Mackintosh Robertson* (1907-18), M.A., has recently been gazetted Lieutenant in the Legion of Frontiersmen, and has been appointed recruiting officer for Scotland, with headquarters in Glasgow. The Frontiersmen " are a voluntary, self-governing, self-supporting body, a great patriotic society with no political creed but that of Empire,

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and are banded together as a brotherhood of men who have striven for and know the Empire from having seen its vastness and majesty with their own eyes."

Frank Miller Rorie* (1905-12), M.B., has been appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland to be Medical Officer of Aberdeen Prison.

Charles Edward Saunders* (1902-14), M.B., was in September appointed a Resident Medical Officer at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Alfred Charles Scott* (1882-89), overseer of the Administrative Department of the Post Office Telephones, Aberdeen, in the spring of this year completed 25 years' service with the Telephones, and received a presentation from the members of the staff.

Arthur Leslie Scott* (1908-14), who was appointed a student interpreter in China in 1920 and arrived at Peking in May of that year, has recently been gazetted His Britannic Majesty's Vice-Consul at Amoy.

Ian Murray Shaw* (1908-16), who for a number of years has been in the service of Messrs. Claud Hamilton (Aberdeen), Ltd., motor engineers, recently left for the East to take up an appointment on the Jerantut Estate, Pahang, F.M.S. A COMPANION OF THE STAR OF INDIA.

George Gall Sim (1892-93), C.I.E., M.A., was created a Companion of the Order of the Star of India (C.S.I.) on the King's birthday this year. He entered the Indian Civil Service in 1900, and is at present Financial Commissioner of Railways. He was created C.I.E. in 1920.

George Taylor Simpson* (1910-20) was recently home on leave from India. He has now taken up a post in the Traffic Department of the Jodhpur State Railway, Rajputana.

LIBRARIAN OF ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY.

William Douglas Simpson* (1901-13), M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A.(Scot.), Lecturer in British History at Aberdeen University, was appointed University Librarian in succession to the late Mr. P. J. Anderson at a meeting of the Aberdeen University Court held in July. There was a short leet of six candidates. With regard to the appointment we cannot do better than reproduce a leaderette which appeared in the Aberdeen Press and Journal of 28th July :— The Aberdeen University Court, in appointing Dr. W. Douglas

Simpson to succeed the late Mr. P. J. Anderson as Librarian to the University, has made a wise choice which will be heartily commended by all the users of the Library and by all interested in the welfare of the University. Mr. P. J. Anderson was one of the finest librarians in Britain, a man of wide culture, of boundless enthusiasm, and a delightful personality. The same epithets can justly be applied to his successor. Mr. Anderson will not be an easy man to follow, but Dr.

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Simpson possesses the qualities which will enable him to carry on successHe is an fully the very fine Library traditions of the last 30 years. excellent linguist ; his work in the Boy Scout movement has given him ample experience of administration—a priceless asset in a librarian ; and he has the historical sense and the love of his Alma Mater's hinterland as fully developed as they were in the previous chief of the Library.

In addition, Dr. Simpson has proved by his work in the History Department of the University that he is full of sympathy with, and understanding of, the students and their many different outlooks ; while all who know him are aware of his admirable character and his ability to make friends.

In many respects the Library is the heart of the University. The Librarian is one of the hardest-worked members of the staff ; he has thousands of precious volumes in his charge ; he has to cater for the needs of every Faculty and of every class ; he can do much to stimulate among the students the love of learning and the desire to research ; and he has to keep in touch with the trend of thought in every department of knowledge so that the Library may be up to date in its collection of books on each subject. It is to be hoped that the heavy duties of his new post will not entail the suspension of Dr. Simpson's own invaluable research work into Scottish history ; and, indeed, there could be no more fitting hobby for a librarian than such work.

As most of the readers of the Magazine will be aware, the new Librarian is the only surviving son of the late Dr. H. F. Morland Simpson, who for more than a quarter of a century was Rector of the Grammar School. He graduated M.A. with first class honours in History in July, 1918, and in July, 1924, received the degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), his thesis being—" The Castle of Kildrummy : its place in Scottish History and Architecture." In October, 1919, he was appointed Assistant to the Professor of History at Aberdeen University, and since October, 1920, has held the post of Lecturer in British History. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a Fellow of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, and a corresponding Member of the London Society of Antiquaries. He is also the local correspondent to the Ancient Monuments Board of Scotland. Although only 30 years of age, he has already a long list of publications to his credit. Dr. Simpson has inherited a very strong love for the Grammar School. He is a member of the Executive of the F.P. Club and of the Editorial Committee of the Magazine. Dr. Simpson has more recently been appointed Registrar and Clerk of the General Council of the University.

F.P.s ON THE STAFF OF ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY.

In connexion with Dr. Simpson's appointment it is of interest to record the names of other F.P.s who are at present on the staff of the University.. These are :— SENATUS ACADEMICUS. Alexander Findlay* (1882-91), M.A., D.Sc., Ph.D.— Professor of Chemistry.

John Laird (1901-03), M.A.—Professor of Moral Philosophy.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

Alexander Low* (1883-86), M.A., M.D.—Professor of Anatomy.

Robert Moir Williamson* (1882-83), M.A., LL.B.— Lecturer in Constitutional Law and History.

LECTURERS. Robert Moir Clark ( 1882-83) , B.Sc.—Agricultural Botany Charles Davidson* (1882-86), M.A.-Spanish.

George Knowles Fraser* (1907-08), M.A., B.Sc., B.Sc.(For.)—Physics, Chemistry, and Geology in Relation to the Soil.

William Wilson Fyvie* (1893-99), D.Sc.—Natural Philosophy.

Francis William Gray (1888-91), M.A., D.Sc.—Chemistry.

Robert Pearson Masson* (1903-04), M.A., LL.B.— Roman Law. William James Profeit (1885-87), M.A., B.Sc.(Agr.)— Principles of Agriculture.

UNIVERSITY ASSISTANTS. William Andrew Baxter* (1916-19), M.A.—Humanity.

James Hastings Edwards* (1894-99), LL.B.—Law. Richard Ogilvie Girdwood* (1907-15) , M.B.-Pathology.

John Grant* (1906-12), M.A., C.A.—Agricultural Bookkeeping.

Anthony Charles Law* (1918-21), M.A.—Natural Philosophy.

Walter Grieve McKinnon (1905-08), B.Sc.—Geology.

Robert Pearson Masson* (1903-04), M.A., LL.B.— Agricultural Law. James Lawson Mowat* (1915-16), M.A.—German.

Robert Semple* (1898-1905), O.B.E., M.D.—Midwifery SECRETARY TO THE UNIVERSITY. Henry Jackson Butchart* (1890-99), D.S.O., B.L.

William Evan Fraser Simpson* (1916-26) is at present studying mechanical engineering at the Glasgow Technical College and at the works of G. & J. Weir, Ltd., Cathcart— famous, as he says, for pumps, aeroplanes, and steel houses.

After leaving the School in June last, he went for a holiday to Canada, spending most of his time at his father's home in Northern Ontario. An account of his trip appears elsewhere in this issue of the Magazine. One of his fellow-passengers on the outward voyage was a former class-fellow—Robert John Gammie (1920-22), who was going out to farm in Saskatchewan.

The Indian Sandhurst Committee, appointed by the Government of India in July, 1925, under the presidency.of Lieut.-General Sir Andrew Skeen* (1880-86), K.C.B.,

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K.C.I.E., C.M.G., Chief of the General Staff of India, to investigate the means of attracting suitable Indian youths to the Army and to report on the desirability and feasibility of establishing in India an institution in which they could be trained for the King's Commission, was sitting in Bombay at the beginning of November in order finally to consider its report. The draft report was formulated after deliberations at Simla during the autumn legislative session. Sir Andrew Skeen was an absentee at this meeting, as he was unable to leave Army Headquarters owing to the absence on tour of the Commander-in-Chief.

William Clark Souter* (1893-98), M.D., has been appointed ophthalmic surgeon at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in room of Dr. Usher.

Adrian Hay Stephen* (1914-18) has taken up acting as a profession and is at present touring with a Shakespearean company.

Robert Stott* (1913-22) is at present serving his apprenticeship as a midshipman with Messrs. Alfred Holt & Co., in the Blue Funnel Line.

A CLASSICAL TRIPOS SUCCESS.

Robert Donald Strachan* (1912-19), M.A., was in June placed in Class I of the Classical Tripos, Part II, at Cambridge University. He graduated with first class honours in Classics at Aberdeen University in 1923, and subsequently went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He received the degree of B.A. (Cantab.) on 29th June.

Ian George Stuart* (1908-19) has received an appointment with Messrs. James Findlay & Co., Ltd., of Glasgow, on one of their tea estates in Assam.

James Runcieman Sutherland (1907-17), M.A., is the author of a small volume of verse entitled - Leucocholy," published last summer by Basil Blackwell of Oxford. According to The Times," ' Leucocholy ' is a word coined by Thomas Gray to describe a white melancholy, ' which, though it seldom laughs or dances, nor ever amounts to what one calls Joy or Pleasure, yet is a good, easy sort of state.' As a title it is not wholly applicable to Mr. Sutherland's verses, which often laugh and dance with a wanton freedom. Yet certainly his prevailing mood is ' a good, easy sort of state,' and he is more often given to complaining that ' young men have no leisure to be young ' and are too critically pre-occupied to take life as it comes and make songs about it, than to singing because he must. He is still, in fact, both too sell-conscious and too greedy for facile sensations to achieve any close contact with real life."

Alexander A. Thomson (1895-98) was several times

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

mentioned by Mr. Robert Williams at the annual meeting in July of Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd. Mr. Thomson, it appears, is responsible for the running of a motor car service from Katanga to the railhead of the Benguella Railway. In view of recent mineral discoveries in Uganda and Tanganyika Territory, he was asked to visit the areas in question, and, acting with great despatch and after an arduous journey, he obtained valuable prospecting rights over an area of 9;'60 square miles in Uganda, and has arranged for their immediate prospection. He also obtained some claims in the Mwanza district of Tanganyika Territory in the vicinity of the Tanganyika Diamond Syndicate's claims, in which diamonds have recently been found. Reference was also made at the meeting to the work being done for the Nile Congo Divide Syndicate

by ANDREW PEARSON THOMSON* (1894-98).

George Morrison Thomson* (1906-12) has recently been appointed schoolmaster at Corse, Lumphanan.

Frederic Ernest Boyd Turnbull* (1896-1900) has been appointed organizing secretary to the Banffshire Unionist Association.

Charles A. P. Walker* (1894-1902) of the Hudson's Bay Company, who is stationed at Grouard, was mentioned in a recent issue of the Peace River Record as having taken part in a plucky but unsuccessful effort to prevent a double drowning accident at Slave Lake, Alberta.

Robert Jackson Walker* (1916-21), who graduated M.A. with honours in History-English at Aberdeen University in June, 1925, has received an appointment in Alloa Academy.

George Watson* (1910-11) qualified in June for a certificat ' of competency as a marine engineer of the first class.

John Duthie Webster* (1879-80) of Tarves, Tillycairn, and Collynie Farms, was the subject of an interesting article in a recent issue of Bon-Accord, from which we quote :—" He is very much a native of Tarves, for there are few persons in Aberdeenshire who can say that they represent the eighth generation of their family in their district and in the family line of business. His family must trace back at least to the beginning of the eighteenth century as merchants or traders in Tarves." Mr. Duthie Webster, who is a nephew of the late WILLIAM DUTHIE (1853-55) of Collynie, carries on the branch of the North of Scotland Bank in Tarves, and is also a successful farmer. He is breeder of one of the best bulls ever used in the famed Collynie herd, which is at present a very large one.

Norman Stuart Williamson* (1915-19), who was formerly a marine engineer in the service of the Ellerman. City Line, sailing from Liverpool to India, has received an appointment as an engineer with the Scottish Assam Tea Co., Ltd., at Kharikutia, Assam, and has just left for the East.

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Robert Bertram Williamson* (1906-18), LI..B., has been appointed Law Tutor at Aberdeen University for the year 1926-27.

ANOTHER CLASSICAL TRIPOS SUCCESS.

Edward James Wood (1908-21), M.A., was in June placed in Class I of the Classical Tripos, Part I, at Cambridge University. He graduated with first class honours in Classics at Aberdeen University in 1925, and thereafter went to Trinity College, Cambridge.

John Young* (1889-94) is now in the service of the American Water Works and Electric Co., Broad Street, New York.

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY DEGREES AND PRIZES.

At the Summer Graduation of Aberdeen University degrees were conferred on the following F.P.s :— Doctor of Letters (D.Litt)— Christian Hoyer Milne* (1881-87), M.A., head master, Daniel Stewart's College, Edinburgh.

Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)— Wallace John Gill (1911-17), M.B., Ch.B., Aberdeen.

Thesis—" Fibroid Disease of the Lungs in Children.

Master of Arts (M.A.)— Eric Edmonston Duthie* (1910-17), with second class honours in English.

Norman Esslemont* (1912-23).

Duncan Campbell Robb* (1918-23).

Hamish Rutherford* (1920-23).

William Trail Wilson (1918-23).

Ninian Blundell Wright* (1910-23).

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)-William George Macmillan* (1916-22), B.Sc. (1925), with first class honours in Chemistry.

William Rogie Angus* (1915-21), M.A. Douglas Watt Duthie* (1915-21), M.A. Daniel Overbeck Wright (1915-16).

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture—B.Sc. (Agr.)— David Sinclair* (1912-21).

Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.)— Douglas Scott Cruickshank (1918-23).

Robert Hutton Duguid* (1918-23).

James Martin Gardiner* (1911-23).

Hamish Adams Greig* (1918-23).

Herbert Saunders Insch* (1916-22).

Lawrence Pierre de Loriol Williamson* (1906-14).

Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)— George Francis Alexander Macdonald* (1919-20), M.A.

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Bachelor of Law (B.L.)— Stanley Frank Walker Humphrey* (1912-22), M.A. Bachelor of Medicine (M.B.) and Bachelor of Surgery (Ch.B.)— Harry Donald Christie* (1908-21)—completed final medical professional examination with Distinction.

John Wilford Foster (1911-14).

William James Hogg* (1908-21)—completed final medical professional examination with Distinction.

Reginald Alexander Milne Humphrey* (1912-17).

Alexander Paterson* (1910-21).

Charles Edward Saunders* (1902-14).

Arthur James Walker Wilkins* (1910-11).

In the Faculty of Arts Charles Strachan* (1919-25) shared with another the Baroness de Gurbs Prize in Mathematics.

In the Faculty of Medicine Thomas Edge Anderson* (1912-21) M.B., Ch.B., was awarded the John Murray Medal and Scholarship (to the most distinguished graduate in Medicine, M.B. and Ch.B., of the year 1925-26), and the Lyon Prize (to the most distinguished graduate in Medicine of the year 1925-26).

Marriages.

(1897-98).—At Edmonton, on 9th August, JOHN Anderson MARSHALL ANDERSON, surveyor, Dept. Highways, son of Mrs. Miller Benarty, Pollokshields, Glasgow, and of the late John Anderson, sharebroker, Aberdeen, to Gertrude, daughter of Charles Driscoll, Edmonton.

Beaton (1910-14).-At 40 Whitehall Place, Aberdeen, on 22nd October, JAMES KING BEATON, only son of the late James King Beaton, and of Mrs. Beaton, 160 Skene Street, Aberdeen, to Louisa Durham, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Grant.

Dugan (1898-1907).---At St. Aidan's Presbyterian Church, Manchester, OR 23rd October, ALEXANDER MATHIESON DUGAN, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H., Manchester, elder son of Mr. and Mrs. Alex. F. Dugan, 53 Argyll Place, Aberdeen, to Annie Clelland, younger daughter of the late John Johnstone, journalist, Aberdeen Journal, and Mrs. Johnstone, Northenden, Manchester.

Garvie (1893-96).—At West United Free Church, Peterhead, on 7th September, HAMILTON ALEXANDER GARVIE, agent, Commercial Bank, Grangemouth, youngest son of the late Robert G. Garvie and Mrs. Garvie, Aberdeen, to Elma, younger daughter of Thomas Heslop and the late Mrs. Heslop, 106 Queen Street, Peterhead.

Harper (1909-14).-At Shanghai, on 8th October, EDWARD JOHN HARPER, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Harper, Seafield, Aberdeen, to Mary, third daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Douglas, Coolgardie, Banchory.

Hector (1913-17).—At Holy Trinity Church, Kingsway, London, on 10th July, WILLIAM LITSTER HECTOR*, M.B., Ch.B., elder son of Dr. and Mrs. Hector, Balmuir, Tarland, to Eileen Mary, only daughter of the late Mr. J. W. Davis and Mrs. Davis, Ilford.

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(1906).—At John Knox's Parish Church, Aberdeen, Johnston on 11th October, Joari WYNESS MATHIESON JOHNSTON, elder Son Of the late Rev. G. A. Johnston, sometime minister of John Knox's Church and Grange Parish Church, and Mrs. Johnston, Ingleside, Dyce, to Jean Helen, youngest daughter of Captain and Madame Morrison, Ellangowan, Maud.

Kinghorn (1905-14).—At Te Amawutu, Waikato, New Zealand, on 31st July, ALASTAIR HARRY KINGHORN,* son of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Kinghorn, 5 Bon-Accord Crescent, Aberdeen, to Evelyn Violet, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Oates of Te Mawhai, New Zealand.

McKenzie (1907-13).-At 68 Caledonia Road, Saltcoats, on 19th July, GEORGE HORATIUS MCKENZIE, M.A., B.Sc., second son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. McKenzie, 94 Clifton Road, Aberdeen, to Helen, youngest daughter of Mr. Charles Duguid, M.A., Saltcoats.

Marshall (1899-1901).—At the Established Church Manse, Chapel of Garioch, On 16th July, LESLIE STUART MARSHALL,* second son of the late John Marshall and of Mrs. Marshall, Vancouver (B.C.), to Annie Michie, youngest daughter of the late Alexander Patterson and of Mrs. Patterson, England Cottage, Pitcaple.

Mathewson (1909-13).--At St. Mary's Church, Aberdeen, on 4th October, JAMES WILLIAM MATHEWSON, second son of Mr. and Mrs. P. M. Mathewson, 64 Mid Stocket Road, to Dorothy, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. Bright, 6 Trinity Street, Aberdeen.

Moffatt (1906-09).—At the United Free Church, Wellesley Street, Calcutta, India, on 1st November, WILLIAM MURRAY MOFFATT, A.M.I.M.E., only son of the late W. Todd Moffatt and of Mrs. Moffatt, 68 Forest Road, Aberdeen, to Mary A. Todd, eldest daughter of the late James Todd and of Mrs. Todd, 1 Charlotte Place, Perth.

Morrice (1904-10).—At King's College Chapel, Aberdeen, on 23rd September, ALEXANDER MACKAY MORRICE, M.B., Ch.B., Southampton, son of Mr. Alexander Morrice, 126 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen, to Iolene Ruth, third daughter of Mr. James Findlay, Balquharn, Portlethen.

Petrie (1904-10).—At Vancouver, British Columbia, on 19th June, SYDNEY SINCLAIR PETRIE,* to Helen Martha, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter A. Adair.

Proctor (1908-12).—At Daviot Parish Church, on 1st November, DONALD FRASER PROCTOR,* son of the late Mr. William Proctor, Invercauld Arms Hotel, Ballater, and of Mrs. Proctor, Tillyfour, to Agnes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Beaton, Mains of Glack, Pitcaple.

Rannie (1910-16).—At Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London, S.W., on 2nd October, JAMES RANNIE,* M.D., only son of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Rannie, Stonehaven, to Mary Elaine, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Brooke, of Sidmouth, Devon.

Ross (1903-14).--At St. Andrew's Church, Penang, on 6th October, JAMES MURRAY Ross,* only son of the late Andrew Ross, jun., and Mrs. Ross, 375 Union Street, to Betty, youngest daughter of James Leith, 66 Queen's Road, Aberdeen.

Taylor (1909-12).—At the Palace Hotel, Aberdeen, on 22nd September, JOHN HERBERT TAYLOR,* only SOIL of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Taylor, 264 Broomhill Road, Aberdeen, to Mabel, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alex. MacKilligan, 55 Watson Street, Aberdeen.

Taylor (1906-11).—At St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, on 6th October, Captain JOHN WILLIAM TAYLOR,* M.A., H.M. Vice-Consul at Prague, to Margot Alice Simpson, elder daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. B. Simpson, Golspie.

Wyllie (1898-1908).—At the Palace Hotel, Aberdeen, on 1 1 th September, GEORGE ALEXANDER MONCUR WYLLIE, elder son of Mr. William Wyllie, 212 Westburn Road, to Janet Smith, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson, Alma Bank, Cults.

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

OBITUARY. William Campbell (1863-66), M.D., died at Aberdeen on 17th August, aged 76 years. A son of the late Silvester Campbell of Kinellar, who was noted as a breeder of shorthorn cattle, he graduated in medicine at Aberdeen University in 1872. He settled in medical practice at Cardiff and remained there until 1908, when he retired and came to live in Aberdeen.

The death of a younger brother, GEORGE CAMPBELL (1875-77), was reported in last Magazine.

James Findlay Cruickshank* (1912-13) died at Aberdeen on 7th November, aged 27 years. He entered the service of the Bank of Scotland, Aberdeen, in October, 1915.

William George Dean (1906-10), only son of Mr. John Reid Dean, advocate, Aberdeen, was drowned at Port Perry, Toronto, Canada, on 3rd November. He was born on 1st June, 1899, and after attending the Grammar School for some years, went on to Cargilfield and Fettes College, Edinburgh. In 1917 he left Fettes to become a cadet in the Household Brigade Officer Cadet Battalion. He was gazetted Second Lieutenant in the Scots Guards (Special Reserve) in November of that year, and served in France attached to the 1st Battalion of the Guards from July to September, 1918, when he was wounded. In the following March he was mentioned in despatches, and he was promoted to be Lieutenant in April, 1919. After being demobilized in June, 1919, he studied at Christ Church, Oxford, receiving the B.A. degree. He thereafter studied law at Aberdeen University, where he graduated LI,.B. in 1924. Subsequently he was admitted a member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen.

In June, 1925, he married the only daughter of Mr. F. Gordon Osler, the managing director of a large investment company in Canada. His death occurred while he was on a shooting expedition with some friends on a lake some distance from Toronto. The boat they were in capsized, and he was caught underneath it and drowned.

Francis William Falconer* (1889-1900), M.B., D.P.H., second son of the late Mr. William Falconer, merchant, died at Aberdeen on 11th November, aged 42 years. After graduating in medicine at Aberdeen in 1905, he was in practice for a few years at Kua7a. Lumpur, F.M.S. In 1911 he took the D.P.H., and thereafter worked in various London hospitals. When the War broke out, he joined one of the Public Schools Battalions of the Royal Fusillei s as a Private, and while serving in France was promoted to be Sergeant.

In 1916 he received a ccmmission in the R.A.M.C., and served in France, Belgium, and Germany. After demobilization he was on the staff of various military hospitals for about three years.

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Archie Reith Fraser* (1902-07), M.D., eldest son of Mr. George Fraser, of G. & W. Fraser, Ltd., printers, Aberdeen, died at Beaufort West, South Africa, on 10th July, aged 36 years. He had been critically ill for a considerable time.

After graduating in medicine at Aberdeen in 1914 he was mobilized in August of that year as a Sergeant in the 1st Highland Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C. (T.F.). In the following October he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the R.A.M.C., and served in France from March to June, 1915, when he was invalided home. His subsequent service was confined to hospitals in this country. After demobilization in July, 1919, Dr. Fraser went to Pretoria as a specialist in the South African Health Service. Later he was appointed Visiting Venereologist to the New Somerset Hospital, Cape Town, and L, , turer in Venereal Diseases in the University of Cape Town. He maintained a very warm interest both in his School and his University, and was instrumental in resuscitating the Aberdeen University Club in the Cape Province.

Harvey Hallsmith (1862-65) died at Warlingham on 12th June, aged 77 years. He was a son of the late Rev. William Smith of the Free Church, Craigmyle, KincardineO'Neil, and served as an apprentice in the North of Scotland Bank, Aberdeen. He was subsequently agent of that Bank at Invergordon for ten years, and at Buckie for over three years.

In 1891 he was appointed manager in London of the Royal Bank of Queensland, Ltd., and continued in that position until 1917, when he retired. He changed his name to Hallsmith some years ago.

Alexander Hector (1879-83), fourth son of the late Andrew E. Hector, lessee of fishings, Aberdeen, died suddenly on the Cavendish Golf Links, Buxton, on 24th October.

He was director and buyer of I. J. & G. Cooper, Ltd., Manchester.

Alexander Lawrence* (1861-62), M.A., M.D., died at Chester on 23rd November, aged 81 years. He graduated M.A. in 1866, M.B. in 1869, and M.D. in 1872. For :nany years he was Medical Superintendent of the County Asylum, Chester. He took a very keen interest in his old School.

George Erskine Marr (1886-89), eldest son of the late Surgeon-Major George Marr, died at Banchory on 22nd September, aged 54 years. He served as an apprentice with Messrs. Walker & Duncan, civil engineers, Aberdeen, and after being assistant to Messrs. Crouch & Hogg, civil engineers, Glasgow, he became chief assistant to the District Engineer, Lanark County Council, Hamilton.

Harry Jackson Marr (1881-87), second son of the late Alexander Marr of the Aberdeen Free Press, died at a hospital

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in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the result of an accident, on 19th September, aged 51 years. He served as an apprentice with Messrs. William McKinnon & Co., Aberdeen, and went to South Africa in 1896, where he was engaged as a mining engineer when the South African War broke out. He served throughout that campaign, being present at the Relief of Ladysmith. Thereafter he resided in Johannesburg.

John Munro Moir (1865-70), M.D., died at Inverness on 29th June, aged 73 years. He graduated in medicine at Aberdeen in 1876, and then started in practice at Inverness, continuing there throughout his life. He was mobilized in 1914 as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the R.A.M.C. (T.F.), and served at home until 1920 as Senior Medical Officer of the Inverness Area and Officer Commanding the Inverness Military Hospital, being " mentioned " in 1918. He was for many years Secretary of the North of Scotland Branch of the British Medical Association.

William Louis Riach (1905-15), eldest son of James M. Riach, Aberdeen, died suddenly at Prai Province, Wellesley, Straits Settlements, on 22nd November. He served his apprenticeship as an engineer in Aberdeen, and went out in 1921 to Honolulu as engineer on a sugar plantation.

William Shirreffs* (1879-81), M.B., died at Aberdeen on 7th July, aged 56 years. A son of the late Mr. Charles Shirreffs, who was for twenty years secretary of the Aberdeen Y.M.C.A., he graduated in medicine in 1893, and thereafter he was a medical practitioner in Aberdeen until three years ago, when he retired owing to ill health. He had two sons at the School—PERCY C. B. SHIRREFFS* (1913-16), who is studying medicine at Aberdeen, and HAROLD W. SHIRREFFS* (1915-16), who is engaged in farming in Alberta, as was mentioned in the last issue of the Magazine.

Francis William Simpson (1894-95) died at Totnes, Devon, on 22nd September, aged 48 years. He was a son of the late Rev. James Simpson of the Free Church, Monquhitter, and a brother of the Rev. CECIL B. SimpsoN (1898-1902), who was killed in action in France in October, 1917. F. W. Simpson served as an apprentice in the British Linen Bank, Aberdeen, and thereafter entered the service of Messrs. Williamson, Balfour & Co., of Liverpool, being for five years in Valparaiso and then in Santiago.

James Thomson (1865-66), M.A., D.D., died in Glasgow on 19th July, aged 71 years. After graduating in arts at Aberdeen in 1875, he studied with a view to entering the mission field, and in 1878 was ordained Missionary Professor of the General Asssembly's College at Calcutta. In 1882 he returned to Scotland, and two years later was appointed minister of

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the new chapel of St. Aidan's, Edinburgh. There he continued until 1894, when he was appointed to St. Andrew's Parish, Glasgow. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Glasgow University in 1914.

Edward George Watt (1908-14) died at Morningfield Hospital, Aberdeen, on 17th June, aged 24 years. He was a son of the late Mr. George Watt, insurance secretary, Aberdeen.

Frederick Arthur Watt (1872-73) died at Aberdeen on 16th September, aged 65 years. He was a son of the Rev. William S. Watt of Foveran, and after a short time at the Grammar School, he entered the service of the Town and County Bank. Being the possessor of a fine baritone voice, he gave up banking to become a teacher of singing, and was well known in this capacity in Aberdeen.

A University Class Record.

UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN: RECORD OF THE ARTS CLASS 1875-79. Edited by J. Younger Collie and W. S. Matheson. Aberdeen: Printed at The Rosemount Press for the Class, 1926.

In old days students at our Scottish Universities attending the same lectures, and in many cases for a course of four years, had a sense of union and a lasting tradition which are hardly possible under the modern system of options. Many Class Records have been published in recent years, and among them this of a Class which celebrated the jubilee of its matriculation last year will take a high place. It is a beautifully printed and bound volume, delightful to eye and touch, and it bears as its frontispiece a charming sketch of King's College by Mr. John M. Aiken, A.R.S.A. The Record has no small interest for the Grammar School. One of the two Editors is a former pupil, Mr. J. Younger Collie, advocate, Aberdeen, to whom his colleague gives " the entire credit for gathering and compiling the information about our Class-fellows."

Thirty-one members, about a fourth of the whole number, were educated at the School. Many passed direct from the Fifth Class to King's College, and there is a personal reminiscence in the reference to a group from " the Grammar" gathered in the Quadrangle on a grey November day in 1875.

Of these thirty-one, fourteen took the degree of M.A. ; seven entered the Christian ministry (one attaining pre-eminence as Moderator of the United Free Church—Dr. James Harvey) ; eight qualified as lawyers ; seven followed the medical profession, while the others found their life's work in other :dings at home and abroad. Fifteen of the band survive. The Editors are to be congratulated on the successful completion of a laborious task, which has evidently been to them a labour of love.

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Oxford's Debt to Two F.P.s.

The following is taken from The Glasgow Herald of 20th May :— Oxford is famous for its libraries. For one of these, the Radcliffe Camera, which is, without doubt, the most beautiful structure ever erected to contain books, the " city of dreaming spires" is indebted to two Aberdonians. One was James Gibbs, who was born about 1674, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Marischal College. When he was about twenty years of age young Gibbs left Aberdeen, to which he never returned, and went to Holland, where he spent some years in the service of an architect and master-builder. About 1700 the Earl of Mar happened to be in Holland, and meeting Gibbs was so favourably impressed by him that he helped him to complete his training as an architect. The next ten years Gibbs spent in Italy studying the best models, and when he returned to London his name was added to the list of architects for building fifty new churches in the Metropolis. His first design was the famous church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the facade of which, looking towards Trafalgar Square, is considered his greatest work, apart from the Radcliffe Library.

A few years before his death, in August, 1754, Gibbs sent to the Magistrates of Aberdeen, as a token of regard for his native town, a plan of St. Nicholas Church, which was used in rebuilding it.

The other Aberdonian to whom Oxford is indebted is Dr. Alexander Nicoll, whose catalogue and analysis of the contents of the Bodleian Library Oriental Manuscripts made his name famous throughout Europe, and is a gift of inestimable value to literature. Dr. Nicoll was born in April, 1793, and was the youngest son of Mr. John Nicoll, of Monymusk.

Like Gibbs, he was educated at the Grammar School and Marischal College, where, at the close of his first session, he won the prize of a silver pen awarded to the best Greek scholar.

In 1807 he went to Oxford, and after a period at Balliol College, he was appointed curate in one of the city churches.

In 1822, without having made application, he was given the Chair of Hebrew with the canonry of Christ Church. He was a profound Oriental scholar, but he had also made himself master of so many modern languages that it was said of him he could travel through every country leading to the Great Wall of China without requiring an interpreter. It was about 1817 that Dr. Nicoll began cataloguing the Bodleian manuscripts, which numbered 30,000, and were a sealed book to everyone in Oxford but this laird's son from Aberdeen. As the result of Nicoll's labours the department of Oriental manuscripts in the Bodleian is superior to that in any other European library.

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The Appointing of an Assistant Master in 1713.

In the current number of the Scottish Historical Review (October 1926) there is a very interesting article, soundly documented, upon this subject by Mr. J. G. Burnett of Powis.

In 1713, William Meston, Under Master at the School, resigned. In terms of the Mortification of Patrick Dun, Doctor of Physick (whose name one of the School Houses now bears), the vacancy was advertised, by the issue of " Programs" north and south, in the Latin tongue, and applicants were invited to come to Aberdeen and take part in a Comparative Trial. The advertisement concluded thus : " Iddrco unum quemque invitamus, hortamur, provocamus ; imo singulis classicum canimus, ut si qui hisce muniis obeundis pares se sentiant, et oblatam amplecti conditionem exoptent, arenam descendere non graventur."

Three candidates appeared, namely, David Coupar, Grammar School, Perth ; John Leslie, tutor to the children of John Sandilands of Countesswells ; and a Mr. Taylor, not further described. The trial or examination consisted of Latin Grammar and Latin Literature, and the examiners were two ministers of the Burgh and the Principal and four Regents of Marischal College. At that time the masters spent most of the session teaching the boys to read, write, and speak good Latin. In due course the judges or examiners made the following recommendation to the Magistrates and Town Council, who had the power to appoint : the Principal and Professors of Marischal College recommended John Leslie ; but the ministers, whilst admitting the superiority of John Leslie in Latin Grammar and Latin Literature, and his greater promptness in answering, nevertheless recommended David Coupar, on account of the peculiar judiciousness that he evidenced in his exposition. The Magistrates and Town Council decided in favour of David Coupar, who was, therefore, appointed one of the Masters of the Grammar School during the pleasure of the Magistrates and Council, and subject to his own good service and behaviour.

John Leslie was greatly disappointed and took legal action against the Magistrates and Town Council for a reduction of the appointment. His claim was based on two grounds: first, because the Principal and the four Regents of Marischal College recommended himself, and they were a majority of the judges ; second, the ministers preferred himself for his promptness, a very important qualification in a teacher, and promptness included judiciousness, whereas judiciousness did not include promptness.

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The Magistrates in their defence claimed discretionary power in all appointments, irrespective of the recommendation of examiners. They considered that David Coupar was best suited to teach the children of the town, and they appointed him by reason of his judiciousness.

John Leslie declared further in his claim that he was sorry to inform the Magistrates and Council that David Coupar had been " mad a good time ago and still continued, and was attended constantly by a man hyred for that end, so that he was absolutely incapable for serving in that post."

The Court decided that neither of the reports of the examiners was in conformity with the Mortification of Dr. Dun, and that a new advertisement should be issued, in terms of the Mortification. Against this decision John Leslie immediately lodged an appeal, protesting strongly that the illegal action of the Magistrates and Council had involved him in heavy expenses, and had lost him his post, for which reason he claimed as damages one thousand pounds Scots. " The Magistrates," he urged, " should blush to struggle so much against me. It can never be so much as imagined that Dr. Dun, who was a learned man, would trust Magistrates with such an ample power in a matter to which generally they are not bred, nor can be presumed to have knowledge of."

The Magistrates, to prevent John Leslie from competing a second time, claimed power to debar any candidate from entering the competition. They declined to pay any damages to John Leslie, and added, " we could have expected but little satisfaction in such an instructor for youths, from his carriage in this affair."

David Coupar had been appointed by the Magistrates on 12th September, 1713, and the Court finally rejected the appeal of John Leslie on 28th July, 1714. A new advertisement was issued, and the Minutes of the Grammar School recorded on 15th December, 1714, as follows :— " Mr. William Mackie to be Under Master as result of Interlocutor by Lipids of Council and Session in Action at instance of Mr. John Leslie."

John Leslie continued as a tutor until 1720, when he was appointed Rector of Haddington Grammar School. Eleven years later he was transferred to Dalkeith Grammar School, where he remained till his death, at an early age, in 1739.

In the First Statistical Account of Scotland John Leslie is described as cne of the ablest teachers in Scotland. Lord Brougham, in his Men of Letters, refers to him as " a very able teacher of the name of Leslie, a Gentleman at that time of the greatest eminence in his profession." Allan Ramsay calls him " a gentleman of true learning who by his excellent

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method, worthily fills his place." Ruddiman presented him with a copy of his Grammatica Latina Institutiones, bearing the following inscription in Latin :— " To John Leslie, Rector of Dalkeith Grammar School, a man most distinguished for his remarkable erudition and for his ability and diligence in teaching." John Leslie himself published a number of grammars and educational manuals, which show that he aimed at stimulating invention and judgment rather than at cramming his pupils. After his death, his son was appointed Professor of Greek at King's College, Old Aberdeen.

It was unfortunate for the School to miss such an excellent Under Master. The selection of the Principal and Regents of Marischal College was sound, for they, being teachers themselves, knew their business ; but the Magistrates and Council, who were the Education Authority of the time, yielding possibly to ecclesiastical wire-pulling, accepted the minority recommendation of two parsons.

A.A.C. •

University Arts Bursary Competition.

For the fourth year in succession the First Bursar in the Arts Bursary Competition of the University, held in June, was a pupil of the School. WILLIAM A. B. HAMILTON added to the distinction of securing the first place by taking it while a pupil in the second highest class of the School—a unique distinction, we believe. He also had the highest number of marks scored by any First Bursar in recent years, making.

863 out of 1,000. The School took three other places in the first ten—ROBERT T. S. MILLAR being placed third, GEORGE M. STEPHEN fifth, and ROBERT W. I. BAND ninth. This continued success of the School at the Bursary Competition is exceedingly gratifying, and a testimony to the thorough efficiency of the teaching in the School. We heartily congratulate the successful School candidates, of whom there were ten in all in the list, and also the members of the staff more immediately concerned with the achieving of this very satisfactory result.

The previous First and Second Bursars were :-1923-1st, WILLIAM W. GEORGESON. 1924-1St, ALEXANDER D. S. ANDERSON. 2nd, IAN A. ANDERSON. 1925-1st, CHARLES STRACHAN. 2nd, HUGH A. MURRAY.

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'Tis Fifty Years Ago. Second Series.

I—Modern Languages : Herr Kruger.

By CANON HARPER, CULROSS. At the request of the Editor I take up my pen to continue my recollections of the School fifty years ago. In those faroff days, our curriculum was severely Classical, without any alternative in the direction either of Science or of Modern Languages. Latin, Greek, English, and Mathematics formed our staple fare. Any subjects beyond these were regarded as extras—something in the nature of luxuries.* It is very different in the present day, as everybody knows. Education takes one of two directions—the Classical side or the Modern. For the learned professions, such as the clerical, the medical and the legal, a Classical training would have many advantages. For a business career and for general use possibly the Modern side, including Mathematics and Science, would be more suitable.

If half a century ago the Classical side was unduly stressed, it has under present-day conditions been unduly neglected.

But indications are not wanting that a reaction is taking place. The Classical side is being revived and is coming back to its own. This is very extensively the case, it is said, among our French neighbours.

Looking back upon it all now, it would appear to me that a combination of the two is best for a liberal education. A Classical training with a working knowledge of French and German is the ideal, as I now seem to see it. An all-round scholar should certainly be something of a linguist. The only member of the School staff fifty years ago that answered to this K.C., LL.D., who was i description is Professor A. F. Munson, our English master ; though Mr. Legge, I believe, did work a little at German.

Still, even half a century ago the Modern course was recognized, and some provision was made for teaching it.

There was, at the top of the further staircase, next to Sleigh's class-room, a tiny room that would hold twenty to thirty pupils, where the French and German languages were taught.

Our master was Herr Kruger, a bi-lingual Swiss, but I think he was more German than French. He pronounced both English and French with a strong German accent. For all that, he had an adequate knowledge of the grammar, the vocabulary, and the literature of France. He compiled a French grammar *It may be worth while to note, in passing, the practice that prevailed in the generation previous to ours. One of the ablest and most distinguished pupils of that period wrote recently to this effect : " In my time—the last years of the School Hill House—there was never any Mathematics ; one had to go to Davie Rennet or some other Master for Mathematics. A separate Master for English was first appointed in the new School—the present one."

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for beginners, and he published an excellent French-English dictionary, which I used for many years. I am informed that he translated from the German of Wiack a brochure on musical training, which was published about 1876.

Herr Kruger was a little stout man with fair hair, and very Teutonic in appearance. In some respects he was not unlike the French teacher of Muirton Academy that Ian MacLaren tells us about in The Young Barbarians ; in character he was built on much the same lines. He was clever and hard working, and he was much liked by his colleagues.

It is to be feared that we used to " rag " him unmercifully ; that was considered the correct attitude for us boys to adopt towards foreigners. We played all sorts of tricks on him.

He generally wore a fawn covert coat, which, on arrival, he used to hang up on a peg on the wall panelling behind his desk.

One day, on resuming his overcoat at the end of his class, he found both sleeves sewn up, but by that time the members of the class, including the delinquent, had dispersed all over the School grounds. The incident was never afterwards referred to either by him or by us, which was probably the wisest course that could have been taken. He possessed a tawse, of course, but I have some reason for thinking that its application was only a farce. The material of the instrument of torture was as soft as chamois leather, and it had no sting in it ; it did not even hurt. " Take one, and a good one ! " he would say, in a gentle voice that was meant to be terrible. That, indeed, was symbolic of his whole relation to us. He had an over-kindly disposition. He always assumed that we knew much more than we did—in fact, he gave us the credit of his own learning.

It must not, however, be supposed that in the department of Modern Languages it was all play and no work. The boys, no doubt, had a certain amount of contempt for the easiness and softness they experienced here, as compared with the stern discipline that they were accustomed to in the other classes. But our horse-play was never carried to extremes.

We never forgot that we were thrifty Aberdonians, and hated all waste of money. Our fees had duly been paid, and we desired to get value for them. Accordingly we worked as well as played in the class, and we tried to learn from him what he could impart to us.

Along with fifteen or twenty others I attended Herr Kriiger's French class for a year. Under his direction we went through his French grammar, an elementary exercise book, and we read a considerable portion of Voltaire's Pierre le Grand. Sometimes he set us on to write exercises in the class. He would give us some grammatical work to do, followed by a translation from English into French. About two-thirds of the exercise was expected, with an extra mark if the whole were translated.

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Another extra mark was given to the one who finished first.

We corrected each other's papers. He then called our names and took down our marks. The best record was when one was able to say—" First done, done the whole, correct, correct, correct." Prizes were given at the end of the school year, privately, in the classroom. It goes without saying that we all got one. Mine was a French treatise on entomology illustrated with numerous woodcuts of insects. It was never read, but for a long time it was among my impedimenta.

Much to my subsequent regret, I dropped the study of French after a year. Probably my experience is not uncommon.

On my first visit to the Continent, in 1887, I was ashamed to find that the boots and the chamber-maid at the hotel could converse fluently in my language, while I could very imperfectly comprehend theirs. A resolution was made on the spot to take up again the study of French seriously. A beginning was made with newspapers and current literature, followed by a course of French classics, more especially of historical works, and that practice has been kept up to the present day. It has opened up a new and vast field of interest and enjoyment.

But after all it was Herr Kruger that laid the good foundation. it is submitted that some knowledge of German is equally le. For the higher reaches of the Classics it is practically des indispensable. The Germans have long been renowned for their Classical learning. Their Greek and Latin texts are accurate, and are beautifully printed in pleasant and readable type ; their annotated editions are most helpful, illuminating, and exhaustive.

Unfortunately the members of my class had no opportunity of learning German at the Grammar School. The German class was held at a time when we were otherwise engaged, so that the language could not be studied by those who were taking the regular Classical curriculum. But it was gradually borne in upon me that it would be useful if one had some knowledge of German, even if it were only a smattering. My attainments in this direction are but slender—I know just enough to find my way laboriously with a dictionary. But even that slight knowledge has proved of much service in philosophy, in theology, and for purposes of travel. My tutor was Herr Loth, who gave us lessons at the Edinburgh Theological College in 1883. He had very much the same method of teaching as Kruger : he, too, always gave us credit for more knowledge than we had.

Frau Kruger, the wife of our master, was a charming and accomplished lady. She came of musical people, and she herself was a brilliant pianist. She was kind enough to help us in our School concerts, accompanying the songs and playing between the pieces.

A Lower School Class Forty-five Years Ago.

Top Row :—Mr. Green, George D. Low, Robert H. BonIron, Francis L. Glennie, George S. Adams, Henry C. M'Cormack, Mr. Young.

Second Row :—William Webster, Edward Ewen, Charles Helmrich, Charles Davidson, George Topham Forrest, William J. Scott.

Edward F. Clark.

Third Row :—Robert A. Henderson, Alex. W. Christie, Andrew W. Edmonston, George T. Watson, William A. Robson Alex. Tames Smith. William Ratherfoord. Charles R. Smith. Stewart S. Buyers.

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Herr Kruger left Aberdeen shortly after our time. I understand he obtained a more remunerative post in Glasgow.

All of us who knew him, and especially those of us who were his pupils, have the most pleasant recollections of the genial little man who loved us, and who was so tried by us.

An Old Class Group.

From time to time reproductions of old photographs of School Classes have appeared in the Magazine, and as these have aroused considerable interest, it is proposed to continue the series, as there are quite a number of old photographs still available. In this issue a Lower School class group of the year 1881 is reproduced, and it is believed that all the individuals have been correctly identified, although after the lapse of 45 years it could hardly be expected that any member of the class would be absolutely certain as to the identity of every individual. The following are brief notes on those who appear in the group :--George S. Adams became a marine engineer and was drowned in April, 1918, when his ship was torpedoed. Robert W. Allan joined the Army and subsequently went to South Africa. Robert H. Boulton died in 1892 while a student of medicine. Edmund J. Bulloch is in business in London. Stewart S. Buyers is a solicitor in Aberdeen. Alex. W. Christie is in business in Huntly, of which town he is also Provost. Edward F. Clark was a tea-planter in Assam and died in June, 1901. Charles Davidson was a commander in the service of the British India Steam Navigation Company and has now retired. Andrew W. Edmonston engaged in farming and died at Stonehaven in April, 1915.

George Topham Forrest is an F.R.I.B.A. and Architect to the London County Council. Francis L. Glennie was a planter in Ceylon and died at Matale in May, 1898. Charles Helmri.;h is a wholesale stationer in Aberdeen. Robert A. Henderson • was a planter in Tobago and died in. Aberdeen in November, 1916. George D. Low became minister of the United Free Church, East Wemyss. Harry McCormack entered the Post Office service. Alexander K. Robb was a major in the Durham Light Infantry and died of wounds in France in September, 1914. Arthur J. Robb is a tea-planter in Assam. William A. Robson is a merchant in Leith. William Rutherfoord was a marine engineer and was lost at sea in February, i 9 .7.

William J. Scott was manager of the Royal Insurance Company, Limited, Edinburgh, and died there in July, 1919. Alexander J. Smith is a brassfounder in Birmingham. Charles R. Smith is a grain merchant in Perth. John J. Smith was a civil and mechanical engineer, and died in Aberdeen in December, 1921. George T. Watson was a financial journalist in London and died in January, 1901. William Webster was a stockbroker in London.

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Kindrochit-1926.

To the majority of people the word " holiday " signifies a life of glorious freedom—roaming the woods, climbing hills, basking in sunshine, generally taking things easy.

A certain party of Scouts, drawn mainly from the Grammar School Troops, spent the last summer vacation in a very different manner ; with shovel, barrow, and pickaxe they worked like navvies on the second part of a job commenced in 1925—the excavation of the old Royal Castle of Kindrochit, in the village of Braemar.

This year's work was confined to the inner part, or what we had taken to be the courtyard of the Castle—excavation proved this to be a series of rooms belonging probably to an earlier period of building than the great keep uncovered last year. Altogether about a thousand tons of rubbish must have been shifted this summer, but in spite of all the hard work involved, it is indeed a holiday to look back on. The camaraderie and spirit of the camp were wonderful, and it made one appreciate more than ever the Scout movement, which can draw together such a splendid set of fellows.

Of course work did not take up all the time—hours were easy and a stop at 4.30 in the afternoon gave a long evening for rambles and games, both golf and tennis being provided by the kindness of the Braemar Golf and Tennis Clubs. As soon as the 4.30 whistle went and all tools were packed, there was a wild rush for the Clunie and a glorious swim, such as can only he enjoyed after a hard day's work among dry, limy, dusty rubbish—then back to camp for dinner—and here a word of appreciation for the cooks. It is no easy business to cater for fifteen hungry scouts, but they did it and, moreover, did it well.

There are many glorious memories attached to the ex• cavation camp of 1926. A grand hike up Beinn a' Bhuird and Ben Avon, enjoyed in spite of mist, rain, and snow ; Lochnagar conquered, swimming in the Colonel's Bed, deer stalking on Ben Muich Dhui, camp fire on an island in the Dee, old friendships renewed and new ones made.

With the Braemar Games our season came practically to and a surprise visit from H.M. Queen Mary and H.R.H. end, an Princess Mary rounded off our holiday. It is pleasing to know that Her Majesty still continues to take an active interest in our work, and her visit was much appreciated.

I should like here to thank, on behalf of the excavators, all those friends of ours who once more took such an interest in the course of the excavations and who helped us to enjoy such a happy and successful holiday.

J. E. S.

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Across the Atlantic for the Holidays.

During the last two summer vacations Grammar School boys have gone in parties to the North of France. Several others have gone alone to different parts of the Continent, but few have been as far as Canada for a holiday tour, as I went this year. Canada is 3,000 miles away, a fortnight at least being occupied in going there and returning home again ; and the expense of such an ocean voyage is a great drawback.

Some of the well-known Transatlantic shipping companies have lately instituted special passages for tourists to Canada and the United States at the cost of £35 and upwards, and it was by one of them--the Cunard Line—that I travelled.

Leaving Glasgow on 9th July, the earliest convenient date, I arrived at Montreal nine days later. The ocean trip was most enjoyable, being enlivened considerably by the sight of three whales spouting some eighty yards from the ship. I saw also a shoal of porpoises, so close that the ship struck one of them, causing spray to rise up from the water and fall on the deck.

When the ship drew near the Canadian coast huge icebergs were to be seen all around, making the weather bitterly cold.

Most of my time was spent at my father's summer residence in the wilds of Northern Ontario. He has a camp, composed of four log cabins, on the edge of a large lake, completely surrounded for miles by forest land, called " bush " in Canada. His few neighbours are mostly prospectors working on their claims in the endeavour to strike gold in sufficient quantity to make it worth while starting a mine ; foi a big capital is needed to start a mine. Most of these prospectors live alone in their log cabins, many preferring the society of a dog to that of a man. One lonely old German, who was the first white man to settle in that district, and who has lived alone there for fifteen years, used to keep in his log cabin, besides three cats and four dogs, seventeen young foxes he had caught in traps and was breeding for their fur.

Till lately a tribe of Red Indians encamped up there, but when the number of white men grew bigger in that district, the red men went away to more desolate parts, leaving one of their wigwams behind them.

Wild animals are abundant there, and although I was • not fortunate enough to see a moose or a bear, I saw many smaller animals peculiar to Canada Two skunks would prowl round the camp in search of food every evening, and although I thought them very pretty animals, I found their odour distinctly offensive. Fish teemed in the deep waters of the lake, and it is very common for a good fisherman to catch twenty in a morning, throwing back all those under sixteen inches in length.

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A broad river flows out of the lake, and by means of it communication is established with the nearest town. Canoes and gasoline boats are the chief means of transportation, though sometimes row-boats are employed Few canoes are made of birch bark nowadays, most people preferring a stronger and heavier type made of cedar wood" and covered with canvas. On my arrival at Kenogami, as this lake was named by the Indians, my father presented me with a canoe and taught me how to manipulate it. Canoes are very light, and though easily propelled through the water, are also easily upset. Until I became more proficient, I kept in four feet of water and wore my bathing suit. I was advised jocularly even to part my hair in the centre to make sure of perfect equilibrium While up in that district, I went to visit some of the gold mines in Kirland Lake. It is a mistake to imagine a gold mine to be a dirty, badly-lit, badly-ventilated hole like a coal pit. I went down 800 feet to one of the levels of the Lake Shore Mine, and was shown round by a guide. The passages, which are about ten feet high and twelve feet wide, are illuminated by electricity, while down the centre runs an electric railway for conveying the rock from the workings to the shaft. The air down there is pure, but, of course, very damp. Contrary to the belief of many people, no gold can be seen sticking out of the rock ; in fact, very little gold is seen at the mine at all, for it is a good mine which produces an ounce of gold for every ton of rock taken out.

The most interesting part of a mine is the mill. This is usually at the top of the shaft, but at a silver mine I visited at Cobalt, the rock was conveyed in large buckets by an aerial rope railway from the shaft on one side of the lake to the mill on the other. In the mill the big lumps of rock are crushed down to a fine mud, from which the gold is extracted by means of a chemical process, which I need not describe here. The grey waste mud is then thrown into a lake, or even on the surrounding ground, where it looks very untidy, for nothing will grow on it.

During my tour I visited some of the cities in Canada and the United States. I liked Montreal particularly, though there is nothing noteworthy there, except, perhaps, three Roman Catholic Chapels. The cathedral of Notre Dame,. the largest and second oldest church in the city, can accommodate 10,000 people, and is beautifully decorated both inside and outside. St. James's Cathedral is an exact quarter-scale replica of St. Peter's in Rome, and above the main entrance are the statues of the thirteen saints after whom the thirteen city divisions are named. St. Joseph's shrine, the other important chapel, is built on a small hill and has ninety-nine

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steps leading up to its entrance. The priest, Frere Andre, is a world-famed faith healer, to whom thousands of cripples come to be healed. Before entering the chapel, they must kneel and say a prayer on each of the ninety-nine steps.

There is a wall inside the building completely covered with crutches and sticks, all indexed and labelled, left behind by cured pilgrims, The present chapel is merely a crypt to a great basilica which is to be erected to the memory of Frere Andre.

Mount Royal, at the foot of which Montreal is built, is beautifully laid out in parks, and at its summit stands a huge cross, placed there by the Roman Catholics of the city. At night it is lit up and can be seen for miles.

At Toronto I visited the great Canadian National Exhibition, which is one and a quarter times the size of Wembley, and is run at a great profit for a fortnight every year. There are over eighty large buildings in the Exhibition grounds, and one of the greatest sights is the spectacular performance at night in the stadium, in which thousands of people take part.

This Exhibition was started nearly fifty years ago, and nearly every year a new building is added.

From Toronto I sailed across Lake Ontario to Niagara Falls. Many visitors who have seen photographs and heard so much of the splendour of these famous falls are somewhat disappointed when they see them in reality, expecting something far grander ; but I think they are the most wonderful sight I have ever seen. There are two falls—the American Falls and the Canadian or Horse-shoe Falls, shaped, as the name implies, like a giant horse-shoe. The latter are far grander and wider than the American Falls, and are also a few feet higher.

Here is the scene of many daring feats and many terrible accidents. Near the falls is a museum containing some of the barrrels in which maniacs, to gain cheap publicity, have floated down the river and been hurled over the precipice to be picked up by a boat near the foot of the falls. Above a shop in the town of Niagara Falls is the inscription : " Bobby Leach went over the falls in 1912. Come in and see him."

Here Blondin crossed the.gorge walking on a tight rope blindfolded and wheeling a barrow in which a woman was seated.

Someone else cycled across the gorge on a tight rope, while in a whirlpool some distance below the falls, Captain Webb, the first Channel conqueror, made a mad attempt to cross the liver. His body was caught in the whirlpool and thrown upwards in the air by the force of the water, and every bone was broken.

At night, twenty-four differently coloured searchlights, each a yard in diameter, play on the falls, forming a mag-

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nificent picture of colour against the darkness of the surroundings. The whirlpools in the river below the falls are also illuminated at night.

At Niagara Falls there is a huge power station supplying electricity to towns and cities hundreds of miles away. Visitors to the falls are invited to inspect it, and are shown round the building by the company's officials. Water is brought from above the falls in huge pipes and is made to turn gigantic turbines driving generators, some of which develop 70,000 horse-power.

Altogether half a million horse-power is developed by the seventeen generators, and yet only seven workmen are employed at the power station, and fourteen others to show the visitors what these seven can do. Each visitor is presented with a booklet telling the history of the harnessing of the falls, and also an envelope containing photographic plates of different parts of Niagara. It is of no advantage to the company to invite visitors to the works, as it is in the case of the shredded wheat factory close to the falls, where a person who has never tasted shredded wheat before comes out, after having seen the process of manufacture and sampled shredded wheat with fruit and cream, firmly convinced that no home is complete without this delicacy, and promptly becomes a life customer of the firm.

At Niagara Falls I crossed the border between Canada and the United States. There is so much trouble experienced in entering the States, even for a few days, that many tourists confine their trips solely to Canada. After filling up papers, paying taxes, and showing letters of recommendation, one is allowed to enter the States only to find that another permit is necessary in order to leave the country. However, a visit to New York is worth all this trouble.

There is nothing ancient about New York, the chief attraction being the huge skyscrapers which tower hundreds of feet up in the air. The reason for their great height lies chiefly in the fact that the ground space is very valuable, and it would not pay to erect a small building on such expensive ground. There is an old church in Broadway, with a large graveyard, built long before skyscrapers were first erected.

The space occupied by it is so valuable that it has even been suggested to lift the entire graveyard and place it on the roof of the skyscraper which would be erected on the spot ; but public feeling is strongly against this move.

The most important of these skyscrapers is the well-known Woolworth Building, in Broadway, which is 750 feet high and contains 55 stories. With the exception of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, this is the highest building in the world.

I went up to the top in the elevator and had a splendid view of the surrounding district.

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Another interesting place I visited in New York is the Statue of Liberty, as it is commonly called ; or, to give it its fuller title, "Liberty enlightening the World." This statue, which, with its pedestal, is over 300 feet high, was presented

by France to the United States in testimony of the traditional goodwill existing between the two countries. The figure is crowned with a diadem, and holds a torch in its extended right hand, while the left arm clasps a tablet bearing the inscription : " July 4, 1776." The total cost was over £90,000.

• As the statue is hollow, there is an iron spiral staircase right up to the torch, but visitors are allowed only to the diadem.

An elevator runs from the ground to the top of the pedestal, but the rest of the climb must be done on foot. At night the great torch is lit up and searchlights shine on every portion of the statue. All the important skyscrapers in New York are also illuminated at night.

At New York my tour terminated, and from there I sailed to Plymouth, ending my holiday with a train journey of over eighteen hours, noticing all the time the differences between the countries I had left and the country to which I had returned. The railway systems, for instance, differ remarkably.

British railway companies spend more money on the tracks than on the rolling stock, but in Canada it is completely the reverse. There, locomotives are much larger and carriages are made of steel. When an accident happens, the carriages are not so completely smashed as the wooden ones in Great Britain, and consequently the passengers are not so liable to be killed. Then, again, in Canada there are not armies of stationmasters, porters, and signalmen at every little station, who do nothing except when a train comes in. Under the Canadian system there are five railwaymen on each train— an engine-driver, a fireman, a guard, and two brakemen, whose duty it is to shift the points instead of having a signalman to do it at the station. When a goods train, or rather a freight train, as it is called in Canada, arrives at a station, the railwaymen on the train load the goods on the train, instead of having porters at the station to do it.

The differences in the tramway systems are also very great. In most towns there is only one fare, equal to 20., which is paid whether one travels from terminus to terminus or from one station to the next. Consequently no tickets need be printed, and no inspectors are required to see that nobody exceeds his fare stage. In some cities—New York for instance—there is only one tramwayman on each car, who drives and also sees that the passengers drop a nickel (20.) in the box by his side as they leave.

The system of directing traffic in the busy streets of New York is not that of having a policeman, or rather, a traffic cop,

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at each crossing, but by having in the middle of the street a square box raised several feet above the road, in which sits the man who controls the traffic. On the four sides of this box are sets of differently coloured lights, and by switching on and off these lights the traffic is controlled. When green shows one way, red shows the other ; green signifying, of course, to advance and red to stop. There is no need for one of these boxes at every crossing, for one can be seen right along the street.

These are only a few of the differences one notices in America. To tell of everything I saw which I thought humorous or even ridiculous would take too much time.

The queer American ways of advertising and the humorous notices of warning they put on the rears of their motor cars cause many a laugh. Americans are generally thought to be very impolite by people of this country, but I hold quite a different opinion, having found them always very courteous and obliging.

Tours of the type I made are rapidly becoming more popular every year. Many schools and universities arrange them, and large parties cross the Atlantic for a few weeks to see the largest and most promising of Britain's possessions.

On the boat on which I returned home was a party of seventy medical students from Cambridge, who were returning from a few weeks' tour in Canada and the States. Perhaps it will not be long till similar tours are arranged for boys of the Grammar School, and, once instituted, they ought to prove very popular.

W. E. F. S.

William Keith Leask Memorial.

Many readers of the Magazine, and particularly those who contributed some years ago to a testimonial to the late Mr. William Keith Leask, will be interested to learn that, mainly from the balance of funds then collected, a striking memorial stone has recently been erected over his pave in Allenvale Cemetery. It has been designed as a labour of love by Dr. William Kelly, A.R.S.A., and, it need hardly be said, is exceedingly chaste in character. As will be seen from the accompanying illustration, it appropriately takes the form of a stele of the Greek type. It is of Kemnay granite, finely axed, with a raised face sand-rubbed to take the lettering.

The rising sun introduced into the pedimented head has a symbolic religious significance. The inscription has a characteristic classical terseness. The lettering is of. unusual size, and has been cut with extraordinary care and attention to detail and spacing. The monument is undoubtedly a work of great beauty and will worthily perpetuate the memory of a brilliant scholar and a charming writer.

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The Grammar School 1862-67.

More than two years ago a paper appeared in the Magazine, written by an old boy of my class, in which I was greatly interested. He came from Orkney and entered the second class.

He was only one year at the School, but he had a most uncanny memory for names and faces, and even the clothes of the different boys, and all our doings. I meant to write to him, but alas, in the next number appeared an account of his death in Edinburgh—absit omen ! Although his memory was so good, mine is not, and I do not recall him, but it was his paper that suggested the writing of a few of my recollections of that time. At the opening of a Memorial Hall in the part of Wales where I am now living, there was a procession of the Antediluvian Order of the Buffaloes, and I fear my memories of those old days at the Grammar School will resemble those of that ancient Order.

We had one year in the Old School in Schoolhill, and then moved to the New. In that first year a Mr. MacDonald was our master, but he got an appointment abroad, for which I was sorry, as he was keen on his work, sympathetic, and human.

It was the unbroken custom for the Rector and other three* masters to turn up five minutes before nine and stand in a row in the Public School or Hall facing us boys in the playground, and then they chatted till the bell went and we all repaired to our own classrooms. One morning Beverley—always known as Dick, as he was a little lame--turned up in this Public Hall with a flower in his hand. The night before, at a literary society, a younger master had given a paper on Wordsworth, and read with enthusiasm " The Lesser Celandine." At their meeting here the following morning Beverley held out his flower to this young master saying, " Do you know what that is?" He looked at it with a supercilious air and replied, " Some vile weed." " It's the Lesser Celandine, man!" exclaimed Beverley, who at all events knew his botany.

When we moved to the New Grammar School for our second year, Still became our master. I noticed in a recent article about him in the Magazine that he was highly praised by an old pupil, especially for his enthusiasm over Horace and Virgil. I wish this had developed in our day, for I found him dull and uninteresting, inspiring no enthusiasm in the Classics or in anything else. In fact, it was a dull routine—Latin and Greek Grammar drilled into us week after week, with no idea of teaching us to read the Classics fluently as we should have been able to do. It was very different when, in our fifth year, we came under Barrack, the Rector. He was still young, full of energy and of understanding of us boys, and with a broad outlook on life. We had in all the classes a Version each week— turning a passage dictated by the master into Latin—and I * The Rector took the 4th and 5th Classes then, I think.

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shall never forget a series of Versions dictated by Barrack in successive weeks, as they were something new to our routine.

Standing up on his raised desk, with his head a little tilted on one side, he began in a clear but melodious and emphatic voice—" Dictys' brother was Polydectes, the king of the Island," and so, to my astonished ears, was opened up the story of Perseus, but it was not till he had finished his series that he revealed to us he had taken it from Kingsley's Heroes, which he recommended us to read. Long after, in reading that story to my children, I seemed to echo Barrack's intonation and rendering of the part. On another occasion he asked if any one in class could repeat " The Isles of Greece," and only one boy, William Watt, stood up and declaimed well and truly the opening verses. I suppose in most of our homes in those days Byron would be forbidden, although Burns was pardoned and admitted. What a change to read of the enthusiasm for Byron at the recent centenary, and yet in the old School, where he was a pupil, we were not once shown the desk where he sat or his name carved on his desk ! We had no class of English Literature in my time, not a line of Shakespeare, still less a play; whereas at Alexander's—the preliminary school in Belmont Street—we were at all events nourished on Milton and classical mythology, and on the day I entered the Junior Master's class, the day's lesson began with " The quaighs were deep, the liquor strong,"

and so on we went to Marmion's death, to my great joy. It was a signal loss to get no teaching in poetry or English Literature at the Grammar School in my days, and so a great contrast on going to King's College to hear Bain reading aloud in his fine voice verses from Gray's " Elegy " and some of the strongest passages from " Macbeth." In the paper I referred to at the beginning, the writer spoke of the struggle between James Low, George Davidson, and myself for the position of Dux, but indeed James Low easily beat us, and it was not till he died about the end of our fourth year that we could hope for first place. He suffered from tuberculosis and was a most kind and lovable fellow, and in spite of our constant struggle, we were the best of friends. George Davidson, I am glad to know, is still alive and well. He, John Barron, Frank Laing, and I, later on, played many a game of golf on the Links in our King's College days. There was no football club at the School in those days, and for our cricket we had to go all the way to the Aulton Links through lack of playing fields.

I must conclude with an incident which happened in our fourth year, I think, during a Wednesday Version, when we sat each a good distance apart to prevent cribbing and to give us room for dictionaries and phrase books. At my right hand was Arthur Gordon of Craigmyle House (now in the possession

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of Lord Shaw of Dunfermline), and while we were all silent and deep in our struggles to turn out decent Latin, there was a loud report dose to me with fire and smoke and sudden interruption of all our work. Arthur Gordon had in some unaccountable way come into his work with a loaded and cocked pistol in his pocket, and during some movement off it went on the side next to me. Fortunately it was pointed upwards, and the ball lodged in the ceiling, but if we had not been sitting wide apart, probably I should never have written this rather rambling and disconnected paper.

A. CRAIGMYLE. LLANBEDR, CONWAY, WALES

N.

Reflections of a Rebellious Robot.

I bow to the powerful insistence of the Editor that I should write something for the Magazine. I have put him off for a long time, but my stubbornness has been sapped by long residence in soft countries, while he remains there like a piece of granite, and is bound to win in the end. In the last issue he deftly placed me in a cleft stick, and, as you know, it is neither dignified nor comfortable to remain seated there for an indefinite period.

I am further encouraged in my task by two recent contributions which I read with the greatest interest. The first was entitled, I think, " The Musings of a Nonentity," and although, perhaps, my contribution should rightly be published in that series, I feel it is pessimistic to label oneself a Nonentity, as it presupposes that one will remain a Nonentity, a thing which no Grammar School boy should admit or anticipate.

The second article, published about a year ago, was about the games played by the boys of last century. I do not recollect that the article was signed, so for the purposes of discussion I shall refer to the writer as " William," which, alter all, he may as well have been called as anything else.

Someone said, " You are old, Father William," and therein consists my complaint. I have a grouse, and I consider a legitimate grouse, against William because he sets out to describe the games which were played in my School days, and gets mixed up in " I spy," " Kick-the-block," and " Barthe-Door." In fact the general impression of William is of a toothless old gentleman with a long white beard—say, one of the seniors when Mr. Gladstone was at school. Now I played the same games, very probably with William, and it seems like yesterday. I can still hold my own at tennis and golf, and I yield to no one in my interpretation of the Boston, the Fox-trot and the One-step, and although you might discover

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a gray hair or two, I refuse to be classed with William. You are a humbug, William ! You must be just as young as I am.

In spite of these remarks we owe a debt of gratitude to these anonymous contributors, as we cannot be all famous, and there is some consolation in feeling one serves, even though it be only in the capacity of background for the galaxy of literary talent which the Grammar School Magazine parades before the astonished eyes of the rising generation.

The foregoing is what they call in Oriental countries the Salaams. When they write a letter, they fill the first few pages with affectionate messages to every member of the family and pious hopes for the success of the crops, so if you wish to know what the letter is about, you begin at the end and read backwards. As you all know--and I am sure Archie Fortescue will bear me out in this—Arabic is written backwards, which makes it easier ; so you can skip this part, as it has no real connexion with the article I am writing. " Robot " is the root of a Slav word meaning work, but it is used generally in England to mean a mechanical workman, or in fact an automaton, which for the purposes of a wellknown play was supposed to be turned out as required, and when no longer useful returned to store. The process of turning a human being into a Robot may be a slow one, and with better education to-day he has a good chance of escaping this fate, but in spite of education and modern methods— perhaps partly because of the latter—the stay-at-home Englishman is always in great danger of becoming a Robot.

Work is stereotyped, play is stereotyped, conversation, and eventually thoughts, become stereotyped, and a man finds himself living in a groove. A few struggle, but the vast majority eventually give in and make the best of it. I see this tendency very much in the profession of banking, in which I am interested. In most of the big banks to-day the scales of pay are fixed according to length of service, so when a boy of seventeen enters the doors, he can see his whole life planned in advance until the day he dies. If he were to show any initiative or to make an original remark, he would risk being certified as a lunatic.

I have seen many young men come abroad, find life dull, or object to rough it amongst people whom they do not understand, become disgusted, and return to England to take their place in a row of Robots, flinging behind them as they go— " England is good enough for me," or " This little island will do for my natural life." Quite so, but are they good enough for England? Without being pessimistic, I am beginning to think they are not quite good enough. England is a great heritage, and one who can see it from the outside knows that better than anyone else, but this Robot danger is

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a real one, and I appeal to Aberdeen boys, on whose shoulders rests a great responsibility both for the British Empire and the World, to beware of this danger of becoming a Robot.

One of the worst characteristics of the Robot mind is its fear of those in authority. Respect we must have, but why fear ?

Great statesmen, journalists, and the heads of great businesses are human beings as we are, liable to the same failings ; and we do them very little service in thinking of them as something apart and in treating them as such. After all, the world must be run on common-sense lines, and all Grammar School boys get an excellent grounding in that virtue. After that the most important thing is the development of personality and the opportunity of thinking things out for oneself. So don't become a Robot ! If anyone tries to turn you into one, rebel with all the strength that is in you ! Men are needed to-day in every country, and Robots are of no use.

The Colonies, Dependencies, and self-governing Dominions claim many of the best of our men, and this is as it should be, but why is Europe so neglected? In the past seven years in Europe I have come across only three F.P.s, and only one of these could be said to have any interest beyond that of a tourist in the country which he was visiting. There are, in my opinion, great opportunities for young Scots in Europe to-day. We have the power of adapting ourselves to the mentality of others, 'and we quickly gain the confidence of the people we live amongst.

Besides the fact that there are opportunities in Europe, there is also a great necessity that we should be more in touch as a nation with the feelings and aspirations of Continental Powers, if we are to retain our influence for good in the councils of the Nations. Last March all the principal statesmen of Europe were wrangling at Geneva, while the great British Public was angry, and our greatest newspapers seemed flabbergasted and futile. " Why all these questions and difficulties ? " they said. " Why is it so important that Poland should have a seat on the Council of the League of Nations ? We fought Germany. We knocked her down. Now we have shaken hands and are friends again, and we thought all the other people concerned had also shaken hands with her, so why drag in all these questions ? " The great B.P., so loud in the praises of their super-diplomat three brief months previously, lost their confidence in him, and the Prime Minister was asked to choose someone else to represent us. Six months pass : Poland takes her seat at the Council of the League of Nations, and the great B.P. scarcely notices the occurrence. Nor is a voice now raised against our super-diplomat. The roaring of the lion is stilled. There is not even the bleat of a sheep.

But is it not all a little ridiculous ?

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The Robot danger is to-day much greater, owing to the profound ignorance of geography at present prevailing in the British Isles, which amounts almost to a disease. Comparatively few people can name the countries of Europe and their capitals, and the tendency to leave all foreign questions to so-called " Experts " is growing.

About four years ago, while on a visit to London from Belgrade, I was being interviewed by one of the senior partners of one of the oldest and most solid financial houses in London, who said to me—" Now, let me see, your country is a Republic ?

I said—•" No, sir, it is a Kingdom. King Alexander recently married Princess Marie of Roumania." " Ah ! yes, I recollect seeing it in the papers. The trouble of course with JugoSlavia is that it has no sea-board." " On the contrary," I replied, " it has a very long sea-board—the whole of the Dalmatian coast." He asked me to come round to his office for half an hour to teach him a little modern geography. Of course this dear old gentleman did not realize that he was a Robot, and that his fine old business was being carried on largely by its own momentum. But it is a serious thing to think that a man can wield power in the international financial world who has not taken the trouble to look at the map of Europe since the Treaty of Peace was signed.

At the General Post Office in London a few months ago a friend of mine was charged Russian rates for a cable to Warsaw, and no amount of argument would alter the opinion of the Robot in charge. Of course every Grammar School boy knows where the Vistula is, but the average British citizen places it " somewhere in Russia or Siberia."

The past seven years in Europe have been a dreadful time of uncertainty and conflict, and the most incredibly stupid things have been done in every country, and are still being done in several, because common sense is lacking. Scotland exists primarily for the supply of common sense to the rest of the world, and it is both unfair and unwise to be keeping Europe so badly equipped in this respect during these difficult times.

It is the natural wish of parents to see their sons, on leaving school or college, get into a safe job, but it is not in their real interest nor in that of our country. We see constantly from the pages of the Magazine what our pioneers have done in the past, and it is very much easier for the pioneer of to-day to be successful, because there are so few of them. Scotland, thank goodness ! is still all right, but Scots must look into this Robot danger in England and check it before it has gone too far. So if you cannot just put your bundle on your shoulder and go out to seek your fortune, try at least to be like me, a REBELLIOUS ROBOT.

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An F.P.'s Observations on South America.

* s

Probably nothing can convince one of the gradual decline of the British position in the export markets more than a trip through the northern countries of South America. Where British goods were once supreme, their supersession by goods of American and German origin is only too plainly evident.

A perusal of any commercial paper will supply the reasons, but the complacent manufacturers here, most of them supremely ignorant of the conditions in those countries, fail to visualize the tremendous and effective efforts which are being made by our competitors to secure the profitable trade which these semi-developed countries offer. Many of our manufacturers have heard that the Latin-American peoples do not like the North Americans, but even if this be so, it does not prevent their buying goods from them in ever-increasing quantities.

The " Yankees," too, are laying themselves out to overcome, and have succeeded to a great extent in overcoming, what was a prejudice, and they are facilitating and encouraging in every conceivable way the interchange of commodities with their Latin-American brethren. Facilities are given to the Southerners to visit the United States, encouragement is offered for education there, American methods are inculcated, and tourists and business men are to be met with all over those countries studying the people, their ways, their fancies, their mentality generally. Meantime the British trader is endeavouring to lay down a law that because he sells certain goods in India, these goods must, per force, be the goods for South America. The effect of such endeavour is to drive the willing client into the arms of a more tractable competitor. These observations are prompted by what I saw in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela during a seven months' tour through those countries, from which I have just returned.

Peru is developing quickly, and her destinies are guided by a most enlightened and remarkable President, Senor Leguia, who combines in his own person the polish of a courtier with the powers of an autocrat. The great need of Peru is rain, and what nature has deprived her of, the ingenuity of man is trying to supply in the way of irrigation works. The soil, if given water, is productive, but the low prices of cotton and sugar are having a temporary adverse effect on trade.

Ecuador is a very backward republic, wedged in between Peru and Colombia. Political troubles have retarded its progress, as the periodical upheavals prevent financial assistance being obtained to develop its great potentialities.

Colombia, on the other hand, is a country where the advantages of a stable government are very fully appreciated.

Financial assistance in the form of loans from the U.S.A.

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flows in freely, and the many schemes for the improvement of means of transport in the interior receive ready support.

The country has passed through a very trying time owing to a long drought, which rendered the River Magdalena, the only highway for goods to the Capital, unnavigable for several months. It is very fortunate that a most efficient au service exists for passengers and mails, run by a German concern, otherwise the country would have been in a still worse plight than it was. A scheme is now on foot to canalize the Magdalena (an American scheme again) with a view to preventing a recurrence of such a serious disaster.

Venezuela is probably in a sounder financial position than any other South American country, thanks to General Gomez, a President who wields a power which monarchs might envy.

The oil interests in Maracaibo, on the western side of the republic, have brought great wealth to the country. I was able to proceed by motor car from the eastern shore of the Lake of Maracaibo to Caracas, the Capital, and the road which has been constructed has opened up large stretches of territory and has greatly facilitated the transport of goods to and from the ports.

The prospects of business with Colombia and Venezuela are good, but until such time as the British manufacturer wakens up and realizes that antiquated methods, domineering tactics, and high prices will never enable him to hold his own against more enlightened methods, so long shall we lag behind. Let us hope that disillusionment will come before it is too late.

J. R. E.

Two New Books by Masters.

It would be interesting to have a bibliography of writings

by Rectors and Masters of the School from the days of Wedderburn, but to compile it would be an onerous task. A bibliography for even the last half century would be of considerable extent. Two Masters have recently published books— Mr. W. M. Henry and Mr. James Davidson. Mr. Henry, whose articles in the Aberdeen newspapers are always interesting, is the author of Byways round Aberdeen (Aberdeen: D. Wyllie & Son), where he discourses pleasantly on scenery and walking, and carries us along on many delightful excursions, charming us by the way with round-about chats full of witty remarks on men and things, and embellished by apt quotations from his stores of wide reading. We do not know if Mr. Henry's Muse is Urania, the lady of starry spaces and the open sky, but there is no doubt that Mr. Davidson's is one of Tennyson's " hard-grained Muses of the cube and square."

Mr. Davidson is joint-author, along with Mr. Pressland, of A Second Geometry (Oxford University Press), a sequel to Parkinson and Pressland's Primer of Geometry.

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We all'are proud when some achievement on the playingfield or some success in a scholastic competition brings the Grammar School prominently to the notice of an interested public. For ourselves, however, the success of the School in the University Open Bursary Competition had a double significance. Thanks to the Rector and the generous attitude of the Education Authority we had an extra day added to our mid-term holiday. This break in the autumn term is most welcome. H. G. Wells makes his William Clissold advocate a working week of eight days, to be followed by four days' holidays. We cordially agree with the nature of the week-end proposed, but suggest that it be tacked on to the end of the present working week. *

*

*

It is our pleasant duty to welcome Mr. J. W. Collie as successor to Mr. J. Bentley Philip, who retired last session, and also Mr. W. P. Stewart (mathematics), and to express the wish that both may have a long and happy connexion with the School. * * * It seems, however, that we gain but to lose, for two members of the staff, neither of whom has been with us for a lengthy period, will shortly be leaving the School. * * * Mr. T. E. Hutchinson has been with us for two years as a Mathematical Master, and has now been appointed Senior Mathematical Master at Keith Grammar School. Far from confining himself to the scholastic side, Mr. Hutchinson has always shown an active interest in School sport, especially in Rugby football, a game at which he himself is proficient.

We are sure that he will have the best wishes of the School for his future career.

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In a staff as large as that of the Grammar School a good many changes must inevitably occur, but it is not often that

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the same department loses its head twice in as many years.

Most of our readers will already know of the promotion of Mr. John W. Robertson to the post of Head Master of the Central Secondary School. With Mr. Robertson it has almost been a case of ave atque vale ! He came to the School after the Summer Vacation of 1925 as Senior Mathematical Master, and in the short space of time he has been with us he has shown to many possibilities in the field of mathematics hitherto undreamed of. We offer Mr. Robertson our warmest congratulations on his promotion to such a responsible post.

While we are sorry to lose him so soon, we recognize that his new post presents a wider field of action, and we wish him all success. * * * The Literary and Debating Society has started the year well. At the first meeting—a debate between Mr. Wilson and Mr. Eddison—there was an attendance of over eighty, Room III being packed to overflowing. An attractive syllabus has been arranged, including outside lectures by Dr. Mursell, Bishop Deane, Dr. Douglas Simpson, and Dr. Charles McLeod.

Fears were expressed at first that the Society would have only a small membership this year, but all expectations have been exceeded. The Society at present numbers 97. This is the largest membership in its history—at least as far as can be traced—the next best being the membership of 93 during the session 1910-11. We can only express the hope that members will show their interest by turning out regularly and taking an active part in the debates. *

*

*

This year the School played two golf matches, the annual match against the Masters, and a match against Gordon's College. In both the School team was successful. For the first time for many years the Masters were beaten, the School winning by 44 matches to 24. The second match was won by matches to 4. Both matches were played at Bieldside, and we take this opportunity of thanking the Deeside Golf Club for extending the courtesy of the green on these occasions. *

*

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The School Art Club closed for the season at the end of June. Many enjoyable outings were held, and good work was done by the members—the result of which is to be seen in the Annual Sketch Book, and in this number of the Magazine.

The membership has been well maintained, and the attend-

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ance at the excursions was very gratifying. As usual, the Club is publishing calendars and framed pictures. The calendars cost only the modest sum of one shilling, while the pictures, framed in passe-partout, cost 2/6, and those in wooden frames, 4/6. These are always acceptable Christmas presents, and it is hoped that the School will give the Art Club all the support it deserves. * * * Since last year many additions have been made both to the Lending and to the Reference Library. The Lending Library has, in addition to new works of fiction, several books on the various sports, which are intended to form the nucleus of a Sports' Library. The Reference Library has at last been brought up to date in regard to Mathematics and Science, and those who wish will be able to find books on almost every branch of these subjects. * * * Every year the School orchestra advances, and it has now been strengthened by the addition of some wood-wind instruments. Since the School resumed a performance has already been given in public—at the Bazaar held in the Music Hall by the Aberdeen Bowling Club. This was rendered all the more meritorious by the fact that, owing to the illness of Mr. Mackenzie Forbes, the performance was carried through under the leadership of a member of the orchestra. As sufficient numbers have now been obtained, a start will be made with the junior orchestra after Christmas.

*

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Seldom do the happenings in the world outside the School walls affect the lite of the School, but the early spell of cold weather made us all painfully conscious of the dispute in the coal fields. There has been little change in the temperature of the class-rooms in the morning, but after the lunch interval the rooms are decidedly colder, and towards the end of the day the ink begins to freeze in the fountain pens ! The lucky people are those who occupy the Science rooms in the afternoons, for they can always warm their fingers at the bunsens. * * *

•

Work has begun on the new Gymnasium for the School.

Judging from the size of the ground which is being excavated, the new Gym. will be much larger than the present one and, in fact, not much smaller than the Hall. When it is completed a much felt want will have been filled, as the present Gymnasium is far too small. It is anticipated that the new building will be ready for occupation next September.

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Scout Notes.

Two Scouts from the 10th (Shuttle Lane) Troop came up to Rubislaw one November evening and joined in the Scout meeting there. They were not invited ; they were not even sent by their own Scoutmaster. One of the two had been before : he had enjoyed himself, he had felt quite at home, and he thought it natural to come again and bring a pal with him. And so Toshy and his friend, without a trace of selfconsciousness, took part in Rubislaw Scouting for an evening.

For the past six months the SchoolRovers have been working their way into the lives of Toshy and his friends. An attitude of comradeship rather than of patronage has been maintained.

The east-end boy and the west-end can now visit one another perfectly naturally.

Through Scouting the Grammar is showing the way to the great Public Schools of England. Dr. Cyril Norwood, Head Master of Harrow, is emphasizing the necessity for a mutual understanding between the richer and the poorer boy.

The great danger of our country to-day, he points out, arises from the separation and the resultant mutual ignorance of its classes, and every Public School must find some way of destroying this class-consciousness. He looks to Scouting. Here, in Grammar Scouting, the way is opened.

Both classes met in Camp at Finzean in August. They continue to meet throughout the winter. Rovers help S/M Cameron and his assistants at their meeting on Thursday, and at their Scouts' Own on Sunday evening. Scouts, too, lend a hand from time to time, and Toshy and Co. return the visits on a Friday evening.

The Grammar Area, busy as it has been looking outside itself, has nevertheless found time to maintain its own high level in Scouting. Foremost places in Scouting Competitions indicate that the Troops which gain them are running on the real, sound lines. The County Flag, for the first time in many years, has gone outside the Area, but the 17th lost it for the School by the merest trifle. The Swimming Cup went to other Troops, lost by an equally narrow margin, and the 9th retained the Athletic Shield.

The best test of a Troop's condition, however, is its summer camp. Is it largely attended, is its spirit a happy one, its hygiene good, its cooking more than merely passable, its activities healthy and varied ? Put to this test the state of all four troops is excellent.

Only one new name appears in the list of summer camping sites. The 17th Troop went to Bellmuir Woods, Methlick,

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and met again an old friend in Dr. Stephen. A mile or two away, at Haddo, the 38th gloried in their first summer camp.

Remote from these and from each other the 1st and the 9th were at Glen Dye and Loch Kinord. Brown as berries, some one hundred and forty Scouts were thus, within a few days after the School's break-up, roaming the woods and the moors, climbing hills, hiking, bathing, singing their camp-fire songs, playing their games and working merrily in the out-of-doors.

A month later the 38th Troop were again in camp, this time at Cluny ; and the last Troop Camp of the season was the 9th's at Pitfichie, in September.

The patrol week-end camps which preceded and followed the summer camps ranged in a line from Elrick through Brooke's Brae, Kingshill and Murtle Den, to Banchory-Devenick and Ardoe.

Camping activities on the small scale were continued throughout the vacation in cycle tours over Scotland by Scouts of the various Troops and in the 17th hike camp around Inverey.

Inverey, and the Braemar area generally, is now thoroughly well known to School Scouts. Kindrochit was again for two months the means of giving a first-rate holiday to many, a holiday paid for in hard digging but a holiday out and out of healthy fun.

Memorable at this year's Kindrochit excavations is the night when, glowing with the day's achievement in climbing Ben a Bhuird and Ben Avon, the party heard from Colonel Watt, after dinner, that Dr. W. Douglas Simpson was the new Librarian at Aberdeen University. Jim Smith and his camp of diggers knew how to cheer.

Home again to headquarters the Troops are busy about their winter's work. The 17th Café has kept parents as well as Troop fully occupied.

With the renewal of winter activities there are invariably changes in a Troop's or Pack's personnel. Ralph Walker leaves the 1st Pack in the hands of William Walker ; Donald Marr has left the 1st Troop for an appointment in India ; Douglas Johnston has given up assistantship in the 38th to study law at Oxford ; and new assistants in the 1st and 9th respectively are Charles Murray as a Troop Leader and William Miller as an A/SM. Not yet a year old, the 38th is making for the School a fourth first-rate Troop of Scouts. A recent meeting of the Troop's parents indicates that heie, as in the older Troops, the Scouts are to have a strong and interested backing from home.

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The School Literary and Debating Society.

This year, as is noted elsewhere, the Society has a record membership, and, if the attendances are kept up, there should be a most successful session. The only snag that can be foreseen is that the large membership may tend to make the Debates rather rowdy ; but an anticipatory step has been taken in the appointment of three members as " Chuckers-out."

17th September.—At the Annual General Meeting held on this date, with Mr. Murison in the chair, the following were appointed Acting Office-Bearers :—President, J. M. Gossip ; Vice-Presidents, N. F. Henry, C. Marshall, and A. M. Scrimgeour ; Secretary and Treasurer, Wm. A. B. Hamilton ; Members of Committee—W. Craig, J. H. Ritchie, A. B. Donald, and A. MacDonald.

21st October.—On this date the Society held its first meeting for the session, when a debate on the relative merits of the Cinema and the Theatre was held between Mr. Eddison and Mr. Wilson. Mr. Eddison, opening for the cinema, referred to its cheapness and its varied and interesting programme. At the theatre one had to watch the elaboration of one theme for three hours or more. The wide range which the cinema covered and its reality were both points in its favour. Mr. Wilson, in reply, said that, as far as mere entertainment went he had to admit the cinema the superior of the theatre.

It had, however, no intellectual or artistic value, and lacked the subtle sympathy between actor and audience found in the theatre. He humorously showed the over-sentimentality of the cinema. After a short discussion, a vote was taken, resulting in a narrow victory for Mr. Eddison.

4th November.—On this evening Sheriff J. D. Dallas visited the Society and gave a most interesting and instructive lecture on " Forward Play" in Rugby Football. He described the main differences between forward play now and twenty years ago, and then went on to describe more particularly what he considered the attributes of a modern Rugby forward should be. The whole lecture was filled with interesting anecdotes, and Sheriff Dallas, on concluding, was given a most hearty vote of thanks.

11th November.—A large gathering heard on this date a lecture from the Hon. President of the Society, Mr. Murison, on the subject of " Witches and Warlocks." Mr. Murison first sketched the history of the belief in witches both on the Continent and in the British Isles, and told of the terrible burnings of reputed witches that used to take place. So many witches were burned that at one time no old woman was safe. Mr. Murison then described more fully some of the most interesting Scottish cases of reputed witchcraft. Among these was mentioned the case of an old woman who was punished for having, in her capacity as a witch, caused the death of two Grammarians by drowning. In conclusion Mr. Munson dealt with witches and warlocks in literature, and read some poems in illustration. After Mr. Murison had finished his lecture a hat-night was held.

18th November.—On this date the Society met in the Hall, when a Lantern-Lecture on " The Literary Associations of the English Lakes " was given by Dr. W. A. Mursell. The lecturer was introduced by the Rector. Dr. Mursell gave a most interesting description of the scenery of the Lake District, and told the audience how almost every spot was connected with one or other of the great literary men who had lived there. Slides of the interior of Wordsworth's house were shown, and many interesting details of the life of the poet and of his sister, Dorothy, were given. Coleridge, Southey, and Ruskin were also touched upon, and slides shown to illustrate the remarks. On Dr. Mursell concluding he was given a hearty vote of thanks.

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Syllabus for 1926-27.

1926.

Oct. 21.—Masters' Debate--J. S. M. Eddison, Esq., M.A., and R. A. Wilson, Esq., M.A. Nov. 4—Lectare-- Forward Play," Sheriff J . D. Dallas. „ 11—Lecture--"Witches and Warlocks," W. Murison, Esq., M.A. 18—Lantern Lecture—" The Literary Associations of the English Lakes," Rev. Walter A. Mursell, M.A., D.D. 25—Debate.

Dec. 2—Lecture—G. Middleton, Esq., M.A. (Cantab.), D.Litt.

(Aber.)

9—Lecture—" The Development of Modern Agriculture," A. A. Cormack, Esq., M.A., D. es L. (Rennes).

16—Sing-Song.

1927.

Jan. 6—Lantern Lecture—" Through Canada with a Kodak," Colonel E. W. Watt, M.A. „ 14—Inter-Debate with Girls' High School.

20—Parliamentary Sitting.

27—Lantern Lecture—" The Second Season's Excavations at Kindrochit Castle," W. Douglas Simpson, Esq., M.A., D.Litt., F.S.A. (Scot.).

Feb. 3—Debate.

10—Lecture—" The Labyrinth and the Minotaur," Right Rev. F. L. Deane, M.A., D.D. 17—Debate.

24—Lecture—D. M. Andrew, Esq., M.A. Mar. 3—Lecture with Experiments-" Sound," C. McLeod, Esq., M.A., D.Sc. ID

ID

ID

IP

PP

It

Pl

10

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Debate.

17—Musical Evening—J, Mackenzie Forbes, Esq., M.A.

School Rugby Football.

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Up to the time of writing the season has been very successful.

Among the matches which the School XV has won are to be noted those against Glenalmond and 1st University.

The 2nd XV also have been doing very well, and one set of House matches has been played. The following is an account of the 1st XV matches :--25th September. School v. 1st A.G.S.F.P.s.—School played a good game on the whole, but were considerably out-weighted in all departments. Score—School, 0 points ; F.P.s, 33 points.

2nd October. School v. 1st Gordonians.—Gordonians fielded a strong team, and School did very well to keep the score so low.

School forwards especially played a good game. Lockhart dropped a goal and A. Donald kicked a penalty goal. School, 10 points ; 1st Gordonians, 14 points.

9th October. School v. Gordon's College.—The game was played on a rather wet pitch, and, consequently, with a greasy ball. From the beginning School had the best of the game. Half-time score-15—0 for School. After half-time School played with the wind and tries were added in quick succession. Unfortunately the ball was too wet and heavy to make kicking easy, and as a result most of the tries remained unconverted. Score—School, 51 points ; Gordon's College, 0 points. Tries were scored by Thom (4), Macpherson (4), Saunders (1), Bookless (1), Third (2), Abernethy (1), Middleton (1), Hay (1). Hay converted three tries.

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16th October. School v. Moray (at Elgin).—The match was played in pouring rain. School played a good game, and fully deserved their win. The backs especially were outstanding. Score —School 14 points ; Moray, 0 points. Tries were scored by Macpherson (2), Hay (1). Hay converted one try and kicked one penalty goal.

23rd October. School v. Glenalmond.—The game was a thrilling one from all points of view. School opened strongly and were unlucky not to score within the first five minutes. However, Glenalmond rallied, and after some fine three-quarter runs scored twice in the first half, both tries remaining unconverted. School were unfortunate in having one of their three-quarters, A. Donald, incapacitated early in the game. Immediately after half-time, J. Thom scored after a brilliant cut through, Hay converting. The game now became very fast and hard, School forwards doing some very good work. After a dribbling movement, G. Bowes rushed over for a try, which Hay converted. Glenalmond again rallied and scored far out, the kick failing. Both sides continued to play very hard, and no-side came with the School leading by one point. Score— School, 10 points ; Glenalmond, 9 points.

30th October. School v. 1st XV 2nd Black Watch (at Elgin).— School were very unfortunate in having three of their three-quarters and one forward off. Black Watch were very heavy, but on the whole, School were unlucky to lose. Tries were scored by J. Thom (1), T. Murdoch (1). Hay converted both tries. Score—School, 10 points ; Black Watch, 11 points.

6th November. School v. 2nd Gordonians.-School opened well, and after a brilliant cut-through, Flockhart scored. The try was unconverted. Play was fairly even for a time, until Thom scored, the kick failing. Then Gordonians rallied strongly, and scored a converted try. At half-time the score was 6-5 for the School. Immediately after half-time Gordonians again scored, but this time the kick failed. For the rest of the game, School were superior to their opponents, arid tries were scored in quick succession. Scorers— Thom (4), Bowes (1), Third (1), and Flockhart (1). J. Ducat converted two tries. Score—School, 25 points ; 2nd Gordonians, 8 points.

Wednesday, 19th October. School v. 1st University.—School obtained a very creditable victory over 1st University, who fielded a fairly strong team. The forwards played a keen game, while the tackling among the backs was very good. Tries were scored by Bowes (1) and Macpherson (1). Hay converted one try. Score— School, 8 points ; 1st University, 3 points.

13th November. School v. Perth Academy.—The game was marred by an unfortunate accident. J. Hay fell and dislocated his elbow, necessitating his removal to the Infirmary. School were superior to their opponents, and tries were scored : Thom (2), Middleton (1), Macpherson (1), Abernethy (1). Hay converted one try. Score-School, 17 points ; Perth Academy, 0 points.

20th November. School v. 2nd University (King's).—In the first half School had much the best of the game, and tries were scored in fairly quick succession. After half-time, however, rain began to fall heavily and School playing against the wind, play became more even. The ball was very slippery, and only one unconverted try was scored in this half. Tries were obtained by A. Donald (2), J. Thom (1), Saunders (IL Stephen (1), Whyte (1), Scrimgeour (1). Lockhart converted six tries. Score—School, 33 points ; 2nd 'Varsity, 0 points.

•

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

55

The Former Pupils' Club.

FOUNDED 1893.

4►

Presibelit : LIEUT.-COLONEL ALEXANDER G. NICOL SMITH, D.S.O. ]Lice=president ant, Cbairtnan of /Executive : ALEXANDER MCKENZIE JOHNSTON. Secretarr ant, treasurer: THEODORE WATT, M.A., The Rosemount Press, Aberdeen.

Ttssistant Secretary: DONALD A. DAVIDSON, B.L., 6 Golden Square, Aberdeen.

Secretaries of Sections: London Section—JoHN THOM, 51 Charterhouse Street, E.C. 1.

[This Section comprises, without additional subscription, all Members of the Club resident in London, and within a radius of 50 miles.]

Rugby Section—RICHARD IRVIN, 86 Queen's Road.

Hockey Section—DANIEL J. WALKER, 22 Rosebery Street.

Cricket Section—ALEXANDER J. ALLAN, 54 Whitehall Road.

Tennis Section—P. R. WOOD, 24 Desswood Place.

Motor Section—El:mix O. HECTOR, 13 Crown Terrace.

Rates of Subscription for Membership: Life Membership . . . . . .

Ordinary Membership.— For those under 21 years of age at commencement of Club year (1st January) .

For those of 21 years of age and upwards .

5 0 0 0

2 6 5 0

Payment of Club Subscriptions.

a

For the past few years it has been the practice to remind ordinary members about their annual subscriptions by means of a slip attached to the March issue of the Magazine. This is in accordance with the Constitution of the Club. As many members dislike the idea of being in arrears with their subscriptions, it may be well to point out that these are due on the 1st of January in each year. Ordinary subscriptions may be paid for any number of years in advance, and remittances of either 10/- or 20/- would save both members and the Treasurer the trouble associated with recurring annual remittances.

•

56

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

The Annual Club Dinner.

The Annual Dinner of the Club was held in the Palace Hotel, Aberdeen, on Saturday, 6th November, the Chairman being Lieut.-Colonel A. G. Nicol Smith, D.S.O., the President of the Club. On this occasion there were no official guests and the proceedings were of a more informal character than usual. Speech-making was curtailed, and more time was, in consequence, available for entertainment in the form of orchestral music and songs.

The following is a list of the Members of the Club who were present, arranged in order of School seniority :GEORGE B. CURRIE, M.D. (1871-74).

GEORGE PI TTENDRIGH, D.D. (1872-76).

JAMES M. MUNRO (1880- 84).

A. G. NICOL SMITH, D.S.O. (1880- 88).

EDWARD W. WATT, M.A. (1883-94).

JAMES F. ROBSON (1883-95).

JAMES W. MONRO (1885-93).

DAVID SCOTT, Colombo (1886-94).

WILLIAM J. CRUICKSHANK (1887-92).

HARVEY G. FALCONER (1889-95).

H. EDGAR SMITH, M.A. M.B. (1889-97).

ALFRED SMITH (1889-96).

THEODORE WATT, M.A. (1889-1901).

HENRY J. BUTCHART, D.S.O., B.L. (1890-99).

SIMPSON SHEPHERD (1890-97).

NORMAN J. J. WALKER, M.A., LL.B. (1893-1902).

WILLIAM G. CRAIGEN, M.A., LL.B. (1894-1902).

GEORGE G. NicoL, D.S.O. (1894-1903).

JOHN A. Nicol-, M.A., B.L. (1895-99).

DAVID RONALD MACDONALD (1895-1903).

LINDSAY L. SHEPHERD (1900-07).

A. ERIC BRUCE, M.A., LL.B. (1902-15).

ALAN MCBAIN, M.A., C.A. (1903-14).

IAN MCBAIN, C.A. (1904-14).

CHARLES G. KENNAWAY, M.A., B.Sc., C.A. (1904-16).

DONALD A. DAVIDSON, B.L. (1905-15).

GEORGE ESSLEMONT (1905-15).

JAMES LEITH (1905-17).

JAMES PATTERSON, M.A., LL.B. (1906-12).

J. PATRICK JEFFREY (1906-18).

R. BERTRAM WILLIAMSON, M.A., I.L.B. (1906-18).

T. P. EDWARD MURRAY, M.A., LL.B. (1907-18).

EDGAR C. STRACHAN (1907-17).

WILLIAM B. DUFFUS (1908-16).

DOUGLAS R. THOMSON (1909-14).

J. GRAY KILGOUR (1909-16).

JULIEN NICOL SMITH (1909-16).

JOHN K. SELLAR (1910-12).

C. GORDON GRAHAM (1911-18).

SYDNEY DUFFUS (1911-17).

IAN B. MUNRO (1911-22).

ROBERT J. MAITLAND (1912-18).

ERIC M. MUNRO (1912-23).

VAUGHAN N. DEAN, C.A. (1913-20).

JOHN M. YULE (1914-19).

HAROLD ESSLEMONT (1915-19).

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

57

MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL STAFF. DAVID M. ANDREW, M.A., Rector.

JAMES DAVIDSON, M.A. G. W. J. FARQUHARSON, M.A., Ed.B. GEORGE E. HAY, M.A. (1895-1902).

CHARLES McLump, M.A., D.Sc., formerly Head

of the Mathe-

matical and Science Departments.

GUESTS OF MEMBERS. Messrs. J. D. Cameron, G. S. Fraser, Town Clerk, Aberdeen ; James Grosert, Professor Hendrick, Aberdeen University; Messrs. John M. Ironside, R. W. Johnston, James Leith, Patrick McGee, C. W. Mackie, James A. Mackie, George Macphee, L.D.S. ; J. P. Mitchell, Professor Shears, Aberdeen University ; Messrs. W. F. Sutherland and A. Wallace.

After the toast of " The King " had been, given by the Chairman, selections were played by the orchestra—Mr. Alex.

Fyfe (pianist), Mr. A. Milne Smith (violin), and Mr. E. M'Queen ('cello)—who had discoursed music while dinner was being served. " The School."

Mr. Edward W. Watt, in proposing the toast of " The School," said this was a theme for some silver-tongued orator.

The School had a long history and a great tradition, stretching into the dim and misty distances of antiquity. It stood in recorded history more than six and a half centuries ago, and down through the intervening years it had played a noble part in keeping alight the lamp of learning in the North. In Church and State, in the Services and the Professions, in all walks of life in the Motherland and the Dominions beyond the seas and outside the bounds of the Empire, Grammar School boys had shown the value of the training received in the old School, and had held their own and taken the lead wherever there was a call for grit and courage and ability.

The roll of fame was long and glorious, and the silver-tongued orator he had imagined might take all night to recount the deeds of our famous men. He would not attempt it, because we were not met for speeches, but he would like to emphasize the valuable work that had been done in Dr. Morland Simpson's Bon Record, and Mr. Theodore Watt's Roll of Pupils, and also in the Magazine. (Applause.) On such an occasion, too, we could not omit to pay a tribute to the old School, our love for which and our legitimate pride in which was the reason why we were there. Its great tradition was being well maintained. Continued progress was the note. Growth was the sign of vitality and the School was growing, in the material sense. He recalled the Westfield controversy of thirty years ago. Time had brought the justification of those who stood up for the School at that crisis. Westfield had now been incorporated in the Grammar School, and the main

58

Aberdeen Grammar School 'Magazine.

building itself in recent years had been largely extended and improved. A new gymnasium was being built, and he hoped it would not be long until there was a School swimming bath.

The Rubislaw Field, with its pavilion, was a great asset. He suggested that some generous F.P. might consider the question of putting a clock in the School tower. There were now 1,130 places in the School and 976 boys on the roll, as against 971 a year ago. He noted also that the percentage of absentees was decreasing—another sign of progress. But mere size was not everything. Quality counted, and the School's tradition was being maintained. It had provided the First Bursar for the last four years, and this year the First Bursar had come from the second highest class. (Applause.) He offered congratulations to the Rector and the staff. It was gratifying to note that service on the Grammar School staff was proving an avenue to promotion, Mr. Knox and Mr. Robertson having both been appointed to important head masterships under the Aberdeen Education Authority.

(Applause.)

The toast, which was coupled with the name of the Rector, was very enthusiastically pledged.

The Rector's Reply.

Mr. D. M. Andrew, replying, said we might claim with truth that the School was in a wholesome and flourishing condition.

The total number of pupils was just short of a thousand. He had no wish personally, and he was sure the Authority had no wish, to see any very material increase in this number.

A thousand boys was a fair handful. The boys showed a very fine spirit and an intense love for the old School, and this spirit, he was sure, would continue when, later on, they joined the Club. Athletics—that important aspect of School work—were in a sound and healthy condition. (Applause.)

They had now had a School generation of boys who had passed through the system of what was perhaps erroneously called compulsory games "—he preferred to call it organized games.

As evidence of the beneficial result of this system he mentioned that the School Medical Officer, having examined the senior boys, remarked that he had never in his experience seen a better developed, more finely knit, clean built set of youths.

(Applause.) Time did not permit him to refer in any detail , to the other manifold activities of the School, but they might rest assured that, so far as he could see, there was no declension from the splendid traditions of the past. (Applause.)

44

" The Guests."

Mr. A. M. Johnston, Vice-President of the Club, gave the toast of " The Guests,"

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

itt

IIP

4

59

Mr. G. S. Fraser, Town Clerk, on behalf of the guests, returned thanks for the bounteous hospitality extended to them. He had not the good fortune to be himself a former pupil of the Grammar School, but he had paid the highest compliment to it that lay in his power by sending his son to the School. " The Club."

Dr. H. Edgar Smith in proposing this toast said that the Club, especially to the older members, meant the Magazine and the Annual Dinner. The Club stretched its tentacles all over the world in the shape of those wonderful Consuls of ours, who were always increasing in number. The Club bridged the social distinctions, the Magazine being the keystone.

The Chairman, in his reply, said we would wish to congratulate Dr. Douglas Simpson [who was prevented by indisposition from being present and proposing the toast] upon his University appointments as Librarian, Registrar, and Clerk to the General Council. He thought the University had done very wisely, and had selected the right man for the posts. Dr. Simpson would do credit to the University and to the old School. He asked the Secretary to send a note from the gathering congratulating Dr. Simpson on his appointments.

The Chairman went on to say that he was very proud of the School Magazine ; in fact he was rather conceited about it, for he it was who proposed that the Club should take over the Magazine. It had been pointed out that a large number of their young fellows were abroad and that the way to keep them in touch with the School was through a magazine.

Since the Magazine had been taken over, it had proved not only financially but literally sound—it reached about 2,500 people every term. He did not know anything that served to keep a man young more than being held in constant contact with his old School. He held that their Magazine was easily first among all the magazines published by any school. During the War it used to come regularly to him. He was in an officer's mess together with fellows from most of the public schools in Scotland and England, and they all read the Grammar School Magazine. They declared, in fact, that they had seen no school magazine equal to it. The Magazine was the first big thing the Club took in hand. In taking it over it. made Club life, and from the purely business point of view it was a good advertisement for the School. The Club also made a fine show at the quater-centenary celebrations of the University in 1906—almost before some of the present members were born. The School never " knew itself " until then. The next big thing that was done for the School was helping to provide a playing field at Rubislaw. More recently

60

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

there had been a lot of talk about having a hostel. There wet e many fellows abroad who had children. These men did not like to send them home to get into any sort of " digs " while attending the Grammar School. A circular had been sent out to Clubmen abroad explaining the hostel scheme, and a fair response to that circular had been received. They were now going to ask that those at home who were willing to help along the hostel scheme should, by taking shares or giving donations, further the project. There was no doubt that the Grammar School wanted such a thing under control of the School authorities and of the Club. He wanted all members to think and talk about the hostel scheme and to make it the next great practical effort of the Club, whereby the boys of their old School-fellows would come to Aberdeen and be properly housed and taken care of while being educated, and whereby they would be brought up in the best traditions of the School. We could all do a little to help on the scheme, and the Club was going to make a strong effort this year to get the hostel set agoing.

Mr. H. J. Butchart gave the toast of the Chairman.

Among those who contributed to the enjoyment of the gathering were Mr. J. W. Monro and Mr. David Scott with anecdotes, and Dr. Edward Walker, Mr. W. G. Craigen, Mr. Theodore Watt, and Mr. G. E. Hay with songs.

The Annual Ball.

The Annual Ball is to be held this year on Christmas Eve, Friday, 24th December. The Large Hall and the Ball Room of the Music Hall Buildings have again been booked.

Entrance is to be direct from Union Street, and cloakroom accommodation will be provided in the East and West Front Rooms. The price of tickets will be as formerly, viz. :—Lady and Gentleman, £l. Is: ; Extra Lady, 12s. 6d. ; Gentleman only (Member or Guest), I 2s. 6d. Members may nominate more than one guest (lady or gentleman), but in accordance with the Constitution of the Club, no Former Pupil who is not a member of the Club can be admitted.

A special circular about the Ball is being sent with this issue of the Magazine to members of the Club resident in Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire. It is expected, however, that a number of members of the Club who live further afield may be on holiday in Aberdeen at Christmas-time, and it is hoped that they will come to the Ball. Any member who would like to be present and who has not received particulars about the Ball, will obtain these on application to the Secretary of the Club. As it has been decided to limit the number of tickets, early application for them is advisable. No tickets will be procurable after Wednesday, 22nd December.

ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL ROLL OF PUPILS 1795-1919 ANNOTATED FROM 1863 BY

THEODORE WATT, M.A.

B

CONTENTS.

Section

I-ROLL OF PUPILS : 1795-1863.

II-ROLL OF PUPILS : 1863-1919.

III-ROLL OF PUPILS WHO CONTINUED

28 _PINE, 1919.

AT THE SCHOOL

AFTER

APPENDICES :— A—Table showing Names and Relation of Classes, 1863-1919.

B—Roll of Pupils from 1863 to 1919 on whom Orders of Chivalry

of the United Kingdom were conferred.

C—Roll of Former Pupils on whom Honours were conferred for service with H.M. Forces in the Great War. D—" Pro Patria Mortui " MCMXIV-MCMXIX. E-Statistics.

LIST OF PLATES.

0

•

Statue of Byron in front of the School.

The School Buildings, 1757-1863.

The School Buildings about 1870.

Lieutenant Robert Grierson Combe, V.C. Rev. William Barrack, M.A., Rector, 1860-1868.

Alexander Martin, M.A., Rector, 1869-1881.

James Moir, M.A., LL.D., D.Litt., Rector, 1881-1893.

Henry Fife Morland Simpson, M.A., LL.D., Rector, 1893-1920.

The School Buildings in September 1923.

The War Memorial in the School Hall.

Cofties of the "Roll" may still be had, on afifilication to the Publishers, THE ROSEMOUNT

PRESS, ABERDEEN.

PRICE 12s. 6d. (packing and inland postage, Is. additional—for postage abroad allow for 5 lb.).

MACMAHON Artistic Portraiture Child Studies a Specialite 502 UNION STREET ABERDEEN

4

Suppliers to the Royal Household.

•

ra

SHIRRAS, LAING & CO., Ltd. HOUSEHOLD IRONMONGERY DEPARTMENT. We specially invite you to inspect our reconstructed Household Hardware Department, where stocks have been largely increased and prices considerably reduced.

In our Silver-Plate and Leather Goods Departments our prices have been revised and are now on an extremely economic basis.

Improved service is a feature of the management.

HIRE DEPARTMENT. Whist Tables, Buffet and Tea Tables, Chairs, Forms, Cutlery, Crockery, Tea Urns, Linen.

Everything for all kinds of Social Functions at very moderate prices.

No Order too large, no Order too small.

Blacksmith, Tinsmith, and Coppersmith Work by expert craftsmen.

Schoolhill, ABERDEEN. Works : HARRIET STREET. 'Phone (2 lines) : 1424, 176.

IT

Telegrams: "Lamps, Aberdeen "

PAYS TO ADVERTISE IN THE

6. ABERDEEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL MAGAZINE." FOR ADVERTISING RATES APPLY TO THE SECRETARY OF THE FORMER PUPILS' CLUB, THE ROSEMOUNT PRESS, ABERDEEN.

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

61

Club Consuls.

-

Since the last issue of the Magazine was published four additional Club Consuls have been appointed :— Robert Blake Worsley Holmes (1895), General Manager of the Palestine Railways, with headquarters at Haifa, has undertaken the duties of Consul for Palestine.

George Taylor Simpson (1910-20) has been added to the growing list of Consuls in India. He is the Club's representative in Rajputana, and is resident at Jodhpur.

Norman Alexander Sinclair (1913-16), who went out to Rhodesia in 1921 to engage in farming, has accepted the Consulship for Southern Rhodesia in succession to A. M. Bisset, whose tragic death was recorded in the March issue of the Magazine.

Graeme George Sutherland (1903-09), who is engaged in coffee and rubber planting in Uganda, has been appointed Consul for that rapidly developing country.

Full List of Consuls.

AUSTRALIA (New South Wales) :—HERBERT A. BREMNER (1893-95), Commonwealth Oxygen and Accessories, Ltd., Balmain, Sydney.

AUSTRALIA (Victoria) :—THOMAS G. WATSON (1896-99), Box 26, Stock Exchange, Melbourne.

BERMUDA :-LAWRENCE OGILVIE (1907-10), M.A., B.Sc., Agricultural Station, Bermuda.

BORNEO :—Rt. Rev. E. D. LOGIE DANSON (1892-94), D.D., Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak, Bishop's House, Kucking, Sarawak, via Singapore.

BRAZIL :-A. BAIN MACKIE (1896-1904), Royal Bank of Canada, Caixa do Correio No. 300, Rio de Janeiro.

CANADA (Alberta) :—JOHN CHARLES MURRAY LIGERTWOOD (1903-06), C.A., c/o Messrs. Marwick, Mitchell & Co., 27 Canada Life Building, Calgary.

CANADA (British Columbia) :—WILLIAM ERNEST MILNE (1881-90), 347 Water Street, Vancouver.

CANADA (New Brunswick) :—WILLIAM MENZIES KESSON (1893-98), Fredericton.

CANADA (Nova Scotia) :—GEORGE MACKENZIE WOOD (18801882), c/o Messrs. Joseph Wood & Co., Central Wharf, Halifax.

CANADA (Ontario) :—ROBERT FLEMING (1891-98), C.E., c/o Messrs. Wood, Fleming & Co., Royal Bank Buildings, Toronto.

CANADA (Quebec) :—JAMES A. ANGUS (1894-99), 340 Hampton Avenue, Montreal.

CENTRAL AMERICA (Guatemala) :—CHARLES H. MOIR (1873-76), 6a Avenida Norte Prolongacion No. 1, Guatemala, via New Orleans and Puerto Barrios.

CEYLON :-DAVID SCOTT (1886-94), c/o Messrs. Lewis Brown & Co., Colombo. (At present in residence at 36 Rubislaw Den South, Aberdeen.)

CHILE :-JAMES ALEXANDER RHIND (1902-04), The AngloChilian Consolidated Nitrate Corporation, Tocopilla.

62

A berdeen Grammar School Magazine.

CHINA (Shanghai) :—Acting Consul-EDWIN GARLAND TAIT (1892-94), The Small Investors Co., Ltd., Shanghai.

CUBA :-ALLAN CUNNINGHAM ANDERSON (1907-12), Royal Bank of Canada, Havana.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA :—Captain JOHN WILLIAM TAYLOR (19061911), M.A., F.R.G.S., His Britannic Majesty's Vice-Consul, Prague.

F.M.S. (Negri Sembilan) :—DONALD TRENCH SKEEN (18951899), M.B., Seremban.

F.M.S. (Perak) :—WILLI AM PATERSON (1900-03), Teja Estate, Batu Gajah.

F.M.S. (Selangor) :--DAVID GRAEME ROBERTSON (1900- 09), 1 Robertson Road, Kuala Lumpur.

FIJI :-KENNETH JAMES ALLARDYCE (1894-95). Nabavatu.

FRANCE :—WILLIAM GRAY (1884-94), 11 Rue Louis le Grand, Paris (2e).

GERMANY :—JAMES GORDON DANIELSON (1896-1901), Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Monckeberg Strasse 27, Hamburg, 1.

GOLD COAST COLONY :—WILLIAM MILLER (1894-?), Resident Engineer, Takoradi Harbour Works, Sekondi.

INDIA (Assam) :—WILLIAM H. G. HALLY (1889-96), Singlo Tea Co., Ltd., Jaboka Division, Sonari P.O. INDIA (Bengal) :--G. F. ROSE (1881-92), c/p Messrs. Andrew Yule and Co., Ltd., 8 Clive Row, Calcutta.

INDIA (Bombay) :—GEORGE ALEXANDER THOMSON (19031906), Chartered Bank, Bombay.

INDIA (Central Provinces) :—JOHN HALL RITCHIE (1903-09), M.A., B.Sc., Agricultural Department, Jubbulpur.

INDIA (Madras) :—Rev. Principal WILLIAM MESTON (1881-86), M.A., D.D., Christian College, Madras.

INDIA (Punjab) :—WILLIAM NORMAN LESLIE (1892-95), M.A., B.L., Southern Punjab Railway Co., Ltd., Ferozepore.

INDIA (Rajputana) :—GEORGE TAYLOR SIMPSON (1910-20), Jodhpur State Railway, Jodhpur.

INDIA (Travancore) :--JOHN FORBES FRASER (1879-83), Travancore Tea Estates Co., Ltd., Bonami, Peermade P.O. INDIA (United Provinces) :—ALEXANDER MACGREGOR WILLIAMSON (1908-11), c/o The Cawnpore Woollen Mills Co., Ltd., Cawnpore.

NEW ZEALAND :--Dr. THEODORE GRANT GRAY (1895-1901), Government Buildings, Wellington.

GRANT Provinces) :—CAMPBELL (Northern NIGERIA Mc KENZIE (1910-12), Gombe, Bauchi Province.

NIGERIA (Southern Provinces) :—Dr. WILLIAM EDWARD GLOVER (1896-98), c/o The Principal Medical Officer, Lagos.

PALESTINE :-ROBERT BLAKE WORSLEY HOLMES (1895), General Manager, Palestine Railways, Haifa.

POLAND :—J AMES BRYCE CLARKE (1896-99), Anglo-Polish Bank, Warsaw.

RHODESIA (Southern) :—NORMAN ALEXANDER SINCLAIR (1913-16), Midlothian Syndicate, Midlothian Farm, P.B., Salisbury.

SOUTH AFRICA (Cape Province) :—Dr. ALEXANDER MARR GEDDES (1897-1903), Grove Avenue, Claremont, Cape Town.

ABERDEEN.

TEA ROOM. GRILL ROOM. On Union Street Level.

LOUNGES.

This Hotel, maintained with every modern comfort and convenience, is the premier and best appointed Hotel in Aberdeen, and is owned and managed by the London and North-Eastern Railway Company.

Personally patronised by Their Majesties The King and Queen, and Royal Family.

Covered way from Station Platforms to Hotel Entrance, and Passenger and Luggage Lifts.

Porters in RED COATS attend all trains. .

Electric Light, Lifts, Central Heating, Garage, etc.

Private Luncheons, Dinners, Weddings, Dances, Meetings, Celebrations, etc., specially catered for.

-

Telegraphic Address—

Telephone No.—

" PALATIAL, ABERDEEN."

2920 Central (4 Lines).

FOR TERMS APPLY TO MANAGER.

THE

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

*

63

SOUTH AFRICA (Natal) :—DAVID STRACHAN (1893-1902), 19 Hulston's Buildings, Durban..

SOUTH AFRICA (Orange Free State) :—DOUGLAS GORDON BISSET (1890-1900), Castor Siding, Private Bag, Bloemfontein.

SOUTH AFRICA (Transvaal) :—JAMES MOIR (1881-93), M.A., D.Sc., Government Laboratory, Box 1080, Johannesburg.

SOUTH AMERICA (The Argentine) :--REGINALD J. G. WILSON (1905-11), British Bank of South America, Ltd., Buenos Aires.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS (Penang) :—JOHN RHYS DANSON (1897-1903), Municipal Office, Penang.

STRAITS SETTLEMENTS (Singapore) :—JOHN IVO DAWSON (1900- 04), c/o Messrs. Guthrie & Co., Singapore.

SUDAN :—J AMES LORIMER SOUPER (1898-1909), P. W. D., Wad Medani.

SUMATRA :-EDWARD PERCY BARNETT (1895-1903), The Bandar Sumatra Rubber Co., Ltd., Bandar Pinang, P.O., Galang, E.C., Sumatra.

UGANDA :—GRAEME GEORGE SUTHERLAND (1903-09), Bulyango Estate, P.O., Masindi.

UNITED STATES (Chicago) :—THOMAS B. G. HENDERSON (1894-1900), 1715 Illinois Merchants Bank Building, Chicago.

UNITED STATES (New York) :—WILLIAM MACKINTOSH (1893-96), Royal Insurance Co., Ltd., 84 William Street, New York.

UNITED STATES (Island of Hawaii) :—LOUIS WILSON (18721875), Hilo, Hawaii.

WEST INDIES (Tobago) :—KENNETH REID (1901-04), King's Bay. WEST INDIES (Trinidad) :—ARCHIBALD YOUNG (1885-93), cio Messrs. Alston & Co., Ltd., Port of Spain.

A Forestry Camp Reunion.

0

On the evening of Friday, 1st October, a re-union of fifteen members of the Forestry Camps of Gledfield (1918) and Dunphail (1919) was held in hearty fashion at the Royal Athenaeum. Mr. Charles Davidson, M.A., who had been in charge of those camps, was the guest of the evening, and there were present a few other friends, making the number up to twenty. " C.D.," replying to his toast proposed by S. D. Ross, mentioned how pleased he was to see again the old faces of the forestry camps of Gledfield and Forres. He was no longer a dominie at the Grammar School, and in fact hoped he had never appeared to them as such, but rather in the same manner as the German Professor who paused to bow low to his class each morning, for, said he, were there not the potential brains of eminent statesmen, scientists, or explorers before him ? The Grammar School was famed not so much for its first bursars but rather the men it produced. He was glad to have shared in the joys and sorrows—if stolen fruit could be called a sorrow— of those camps at Gledfield and Forres. Those places had a great attraction for him, and he had revisited both since. At Forms he had been greatly touched to find their old camping ground a mass of poppies, with the Canadian soldiers' cross in the centre—a veritable patch of Flanders. Loud and prolonged cheers greeted " C.D." when he resumed his seat, followed by " For he's a jolly good fellow."

After a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. W. B. Pigge for his work in organizing the dinner had been passed, the company proceeded to the Theatre to finish a pleasant evening.

S. D. R.

64

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

The Cricket Section.

The Cricket Section has not had a very successful season, owing to the fact that several of the best players have left Aberdeen or are playing for other Clubs. The Section played 16 matches ; 4 were won, 10 lost, and 2 drawn. Sixteen evening matches were played ; 5 won and 11 lost.

The best individual performances were :— BOWLING. A. McBain . . 4 wickets for 37 runs against Mannofield XI. . 6 wickets for 80 runs against Huntly.

A. McBain . . 5 wickets for 6 runs against Royal Asylum.

A. McBain .

A. J. Allan . 4 wickets for 17 runs against Royal Asylum.

A. M. Gauld . 4 wickets for 9 runs against Banchory. . 4 wickets for 20 runs against Banchory.

A. J. Allan J. F. Richardson. 4 wickets for 23 runs against Aboyne.

J. F. Richardson. 4 wickets for 13 runs against Balmoral.

A. M. Gauld . 4 wickets for 32 runs against St. Ronald. . 7 wickets for 18 runs against Gordonians.

A. J. Allan . 5 wickets for 40 runs against Stoneywood.

A. J. Allan . 4 wickets for 22 runs against Arbroath.

A. M. Gauld BATTING. . 44 against Huntly.

J. Lindsay .

A. McBain . . 47 against Royal Asylum.

A. D. Mackintosh 48 against Gordonians. . 40 against Stoneywood.

A. Wilson .

C. H. Webster . 71 against Huntly.

CATCHES IN SATURDAY MATCHES. J. Lindsay-3 J. R. Donald-6 A. M. Gauld-2 J. R. Leith-6 A. McBain-2 A. J. Allan-5 A. D. Mackintosh-2 F. King-5 A. J. Wilson-1 A. Wilson-5 J. F. Richardson-4 BATTING AVERAGES AT SATURDAY MATCHES. Times Runs. Average.

Innings. not out. .

4 0 104 26 .

C. H. Webster 4 1 78 26 J. R. L. Cruickshank 13.3 7 1 82 .

A. McBain . .

6 1 48 9.6 J. R. Donald .

11 98 8.90 0 J. Lindsay .

13 107 8.46 0 A. D. Mackintosh . .

2 0 16 8 A. W. Grafton .

10 2 62 7.7 A. Wilson .

10 1 62 6.87 .

A. M. Gauld. . 13 0 6.30 82 J. F. Richardson . . . 13 3 60 6 A. J. Allan .

6 6 .

1 0 W. W. Porter . .

8 1 36 5.14 A. J. Wilson 7 3 22 5.5 . .

J. B. Smith .

1 0 5 5 J. S. R. Cruickskank 5 2 0 10 .

F. R. Sleigh 4.80 7 2 24 . .

R. Symmers 0 45 4.09 . . . 11 F. King 28 3.5 8 0 . .

J. R. Leith .

2 2 1 0 . .

T. Robertson 3 1.5 0 . .

2 J. L. Wilson

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

65

BATTING AVERAGES AT EVENING MATCHES. Times Innings. not out. Runs.

Average.

8 .

0 A. D. Mackintosh 100 12.5 . .

9 2 W. W. Porter 81 11.76 . 16 2 143 J. R. Richardson .

10.21 0 .

12 115 J. R. Donald 9.58 2 . 15 110 A. J. Wilson .

8.46 13 2 91 J. B. Smith . .

8.27 1 104 8 F. King . .

14 13 .

2 0 6.5 J. L. Wilson .

5.76 14 1 75 G. A. C. Walker .

5 5 0 A. J. Allan .

1 .

4.57 0 32 J. R. Leith . .

7 50 4.54 .

R. Symmers . 12 1 8 .

2 4 .

0 A. W. Grafton F. Robertson . .

6 2 10 2.5 .

10 1.66 C. R. Pollock .

6 0 6 . . 6 1.2 J. A. Lewis 1 BOWLING AVERAGES AT SATURDAY MATCHES. Overs. Maidens.

Runs. Wickets. Average. .

3 8 1 8 J. R. Donald 0 .

2 1 A. Wilson .

0 9 9 A. M. Gauld. .

60 13 159 17 9.35 .

154 30 A. J. Allan .

356 35 10.17 .

83 14 225 20 11.20 A. McBain J. F. Richardson .

95 16 273 23 11.86 9 38 125 8 15.62 C. H. Webster .

27 0 114 7 16.28 J. Lindsay .

17.5 J. R. L. Cruickshank 11 1 35 2 1 77 2 38.5 F. King . .

19 BOWLING AVERAGES AT EVENING MATCHES. Runs. Wickets. Average.

Overs. Maidens. .

6 2 15 3 5 Leslie King 53 315 57 5.5 J. F. Richardson .

168 F. King . .

41 10 98 17 5.7 J. R. Leith . .

2 0 7 1 7 3 122 14 8.7 38 A. D. Mackintosh .

229 21 10.90 A. J. Wilson 82 14 . ` 19 9 44 4 11 A. J. Allan .

1 .

3 0 12 12 C. R. Pollock 2 15 .

7 1 30 J. L. Wilson

The Tennis Section.

This year, on the whole, we experienced good Tennis weather.

Play commenced in April and finished in September, after an enjoyable season. The opening Mixed Doubles Tournament was won by the Captain, J. W. Benzie and partner. The large expansion in the membership of the Section shown last year has not continued, due probably to the very wintry conditions which prevailed during May. Although the turn-out of members this year might have been better, a general improvement in the standard of play is noticeable, and in several enjoyable matches the team did well. The Singles Tournament, which was well supported and promised to be interesting, was not played to a finish owing to dislocation caused by the holidays. The Tournament progressed sufficiently far, however, to indicate the likely winner in J. W. Benzie.

66

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

The subscription to the Section is now fixed very low compared with that of other Tennis Clubs, and three good hard courts are provided. Interested Former Pupils should communicate with the Hon. Secretary, P. R. Wood, 24 Desswood Place, Aberdeen, who will be pleased to furnish any particulars required.

The Hockey Section.

ori

The prospects of the Hockey Section for the ensuing season are by no means gloomy, though we have, unfortunately, lost W. N. Stewart, our last year's captain, who has gone to 'Varsity. Stewart has been one of our best and most consistent players for many seasons, and the place of such a player is difficult to fill.

Of the four games played up to date we have drawn two and lost two, drawing with Aberdeen and St. Ronald, and losing to Mackie Academy F.P.s and 1st 'Varsity. Although these results do not look too promising, the team, with a little more experience, should do well. Up to the present the weather has been rather unfavourable, and consequently the pitch is in a very bad state.

The Second XI has started well in the Junior League. Two matches have been won and a like number drawn. As in previous years this XI is composed mainly of new members, who, although lacking in experience, show signs of promise.

F.P.s are again reminded that Hockey presents opportunities for enjoyment and exercise of skill such as are provided by few other sports, and new members may be assured of good and regular games.

Prospective members should communicate with the Secretary.

The Office-bearers for season 1926-27 are as follows :-1st XI— Captain, F. R. Aitken ; Vice-Captain, J. Ewen Wilson ; Hon. Secretary and Treasurer, Daniel J. Walker, 22 Rosebery Street, Aberdeen. 2nd XI—Captain, W. J. Adair Nelson ; Vice-Captain, R. B. Williamson ; Hon. Secretary, Ian Rennie, 60 Desswood Place, Aberdeen.

•

The Rugby Football Section.

This year the Section has lost several of last season's regular playing members, including J. W. L. Bain, J. R. L. Cruickshank, and G. N. Gordon, who have gone over to the University, and W. L. Ferrier, who has been playing for the newly-constituted Bankers' Club.

This has necessitated considerable re-organization of the 1st XV backs, who now, at the middle of November, show signs of settling down to a useful combination. The forwards, on the otber hand, strengthened by the inclusion of one or two of last year's School XV, have done well since the beginning of the season, and give promise of being one of the finest packs the F.P.s have had in recent years.

Scottish Rugby Union Trials.

N. Begg, N. Esslemont, J. G. Kilgour, J. M. McLeod, J. F. Richardson, and R. C. Scrimgeour played for Aberdeenshire v. Inverness-shire ; Begg, Esslemont, Richardson, and Scrimgeour played for North v.

Midlands ; and Begg, Richardson, and ScrimgeoUr were chosen to play for North v. South.

1st XV Results.

Sep. 25.

Oct. 2. „ 9.

• 16.

• 30.

Nov. 6.

7

. . v. School, at Rubislaw . . v. Edinburgh Academicals, at Rubislaw v. Hillhead High School, at Glasgow . . v. Aberdeen University, at King's v. St. Andrews University, at Rubislaw . . . . v. Bankers', at Rubislaw

.

• .

• .

•

Won 41-0 Lost 3-19 Draw 0-0 Draw 6-6 Won 9-6 Won 22-0

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

67

2nd XV Results.

Sep. 25.

Oct. 2. „ 23.

30.

Nov. 6.

v. 2nd School, at Rubislaw . v. Gordon's College, at Seafield v. Bankers', at St. Machar (L) v. 2nd University, at King's v. 2nd School, at Rubislaw .

Oct. 9. „ 16. „ 23.

v. 2nd Bankers', at Rubislaw v. 2nd Gordon's College, at Seafield . v. 3rd Varsity, at Rubislaw .

• •

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

. . . . .

Won 37-0 Won 23-3 Lost 0-5 Won 11-6 Lost 3-6

. . .

Won 17-0 Won 47-0 Won 46-0

" A" XV Results.

• • •

1st XV Matches.

2nd October. v. Edinburgh Academicals.—Playing downhill in the first half, F.P.s more than managed to hold their own territorially, but the Academicals were the first to score. Thereafter Insch, with a good run, during which he avoided three attempts to stop him, scored for F.P.s far out on the left. At half time the score was 5-3 against F.P.s.

In the second half the superior weight of the Academical forwards began to tell, with the result that their backs got more opportunities, and the F.P. defence not being too sound, their opponents scored several times. Final result-19-3 for Academicals.

F.P. XV—J. M. McLeod, P. J. Walker, N. Esslemont, B. Esslemont, H. S. Insch, J. Yule, R. C. Scrimgeour, J. McLeod, J. F. Richardson, R. Irvin, J. Abernethy, R. Bain, N. Begg, A. Gray, J. G. Kilgour.

9th October. v. Hillhead High School F.P.s.—F.P.s in the first half had to play against a high wind, but by strong forward rushes, in which Abernethy and Richardson were prominent, they kept the game well in the Hillhead half, though they failed to score. In the second half the F.P. backs got more of the ball, but passing broke down, due largely to the strong wind behind. The game ended a draw—no scoring.

F.P. XV—J. M. McLeod, P. J. Walker, J. B. Smith, N. Esslemont, B. Esslemont, J. Yule, R. C. Scrimgeour, J. McLeod, R. Irvin, N. Begg, R. Bain, J. Abernethy, J. F. Richardson, J. McDougall, D. M. Wood.

16th October. v. Varsity.—Great interest was taken in this match as the 'Varsity were expected to be much stronger than last year, and, as foreseen, a close game resulted. 'Varsity backs got most of the ball, mainly due to Lawrence's hooking in the scrums, and scored twice in the first half, notwithstanding good tackling by F.P.s.

In the second half F.P. forwards, who were lasting better than the 'Varsity, brought off several good rushes, and were also able to give their backs more of the ball, as the result of which Middleton scored a fine try, his determined running taking him over the line, though tackled. After this F.P.s went all out to equalize. Richardson broke away and passed to Abernethy, who scored far out just before time.

Result—a draw, 6-6.

In this game Scrimgeour was tried at centre three-quarter instead of scrum hall, J. M. McLeod being brought from full-back to fill his place. The experiment was a complete success. A feature of this game was the quick breaking up and strong tackling of the F.P. forwards.

It is interesting to note that of the 'Varsity team, no fewer than twelve were F.P.s, which shows the important part the School takes in fostering Rugby in Aberdeen.

F. P. XV.—H. S. Insch, J. Middleton, R. C. Scrimgeour, N. Esslemont, B. Esslemont, J. Yule, J. M. McLeod, J. McLeod, J. F. Richardson, J. Abernethy, R. Irvin, R. Bain, N. Begg, I. McDougall, J. G. Kilgour.

30th October. v. St. Andrews University.—This game was noticeable

68

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

for the great speed at which it was played, notwithstanding adverse weather and ground conditions. The F.P. re-arranged back division proved a success, and three tries were all scored as the result of threequarter moves, Scrimgeour, N. Esslemont, and Middleton being outstanding. The St. Andrews forwards were far superior to their backs, and their rushes were often dangerous, though J. M. McLeod was, by plucky defending, often successful in stopping them. 'Varsity forwards, however, scored twice. J. McLeod and Abernethy were prominent for F.P.s in several fine dribbling rushes. Result-9-6 for F.P.s.

F.P. XV.-H. S. Insch, B. Esslemont, J. B. Smith, R. C. Scrimgeour, J. Middleton, N. Esslemont, J. M. McLeod, J. McLeod, N. Begg, J. Abernethy, J. F. Richardson, R. Bain, I. McDougall, A. Gray, J. G. Kilgour.

The Motor Section. " The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley " can equally well be applied to motor cycles and young " bloods," and this season it may be applied even more so. Hardly had our season commenced when the General Strike broke over the country, disorganizing everything.

The Section did its bit—G. Esslemont, R. Fowell, E. Gilchrist, I. Munro, and N. Taylor volunteering for despatch-riding at Perth. The members left in town also did noble work, and one of the committee holds the record for a run between the Old Aberdeen Town House and Union Grove on a Thornycroft bus.

This year the events were started earlier than in previous years.

The following is a brief summary :25th April. Opening Run.—A glorious day and a good turnout made for success, and a " follow-the-leader " run to Torphins was thoroughly enjoyed. Some atrocious tracks were gone over, but apart from losing three members en route no incident worthy of note took place.

22nd May. Hill Climb.—Cairn o' Mount. This event, postponed from 8th May, was run up the North side. The number of competitors was small owing to the after-effects of the strike. W. Bryce enlivened proceedings with some very hectic riding, his machine leaping into the air as he surmounted the last hummock. Results250ec class, O. Fairweather (B.S.A.) ; 350cc class, H. Wilson (A. J.S. ) ; 600c.c. Class, W. Bryce (Norton).

5th June. Cullerlie Speed Trials.—The " flying half mile " is one of the most popular events, and with a lovely day the turnout of both spectators and competitors was very gratifying. I. Munro thrilled the crowd by shedding a rear tyre 200 yards from the finish when travelling round about ' 90 "—good riding won, and he safely brought the machine to rest, and despite all this clocked 24 seconds.

Results-250c.c. class, E. Gilchrist (New Imperial) ; 350c.c. class, " P. Ussey " (New Imperial) ; 600c.c. class, E. A. Sinclair (P. & M.) ; Open class, " P. Ussey " (New Imperial).

10th June. Speed-judging test. A very wet day thinned the number of competitors at this evening run, held at Park. C. Lamb (Aerial) proved to be nearest to the 20 m.p.h. average.

7th August. Gymkhana, Hazelhead.—Held in conjunction with the Aberdeen and District Motor Club in aid of charity, a fine afternoon's sport was witnessed by over 300 spectators. The different races, however ludicrous, all called for skill, and grass proved to be a most treacherous surface for riding on. Dashing out and in along a line of posts was easy compared with carrying a bag six feet deep filled with straw, but when it came to dipping for cherries in a barrel of flour, or eating a stale bun without water, many a competitor bowed his head to defeat. The first local game of motor cycle

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Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

•

r

69

football was played between teams representing the organizing clubs.

With six a side the game was fast and furious, and the spectators were kept thrilled throughout. Machines were not spared, and the teams played with great dash. The F.P.s had the better combination and ran out winners-1-0.

14th August. Speed Trials, Cullerlie.—The second series of speed trials was favoured with glorious weather, and an enjoyable afternoon was spent. Results-250c.c. class, E. Gilchrist (New Imperial) ; 350c.c. class, " P. Ussey " (New Imperial) ; 600c.c. class, C. Brown (P. & M.) ; Open Class, C. Brown (P. & M.).

18th September. The J. G. Michie Cup Reliability Trial.--A typical autumn day may have been responsible for the good entry, but this event is always popular. It was a great pity Mr. Michie was unable to be with us owing to a breakdown of his car. He takes a keen interest in the club, and especially in this trial, and we were all his guests at tea at Tarland. The route was extremely stiff, and Tarland once more kept its reputation as a district for trials. Had the weather been wet the trial would have been stiffer, but nevertheless four inches of mud was found on one observed hill, thanks to • the industry of the observers with a couple of spades, a couple of pails and a nearby stream. The Dandy splash, a quiet stream five feet wide and six inches deep, was found to be thirty feet wide with very still water, and still waters run deep—in this case to exactly 174 inches. The competitors, all in innocence, left the Bridge of Dee at minute intervals and were instructed to follow the blue dye, which was found to twist hither and thither up Hilldowntree, through Park, joining the Slug road, breaking off to Strachan, up by the Cairn, past Feughside to Torphins, all of which proved easy going.

The old road to Kincardine O'Neil was included, and passing Pitmurchie, Lumphanan was reached and the stiff going commenced with the old Tullochvenus road. Easttown hairpin, covered with mud, took marks for a few. Here N. Taylor was slow and sure, while C. Lamb and S. Hurry, coming round together, were excellent. A brake test followed, and then a rough moorland track led along the shores of Loch Kinord, whence a goat track led up to the Burn o' Vat. This track was an " observed hill," and C. Lamb was the only one to survive with a clean sheet for it. Thereafter Logie Coldstone was passed and the Dandy Splash followed, to fail all the entry.

F. Nicol was the only one to keep his engine running. Results— J. G. Michie Cup—C. Lamb (Aerial) ; First Class awards—C. Brown (P. & M.) ; N. Taylor (Cotton) ; and S. Hurry (New Imperial).

The Section is greatly indebted to all those who have assisted in observing and time-keeping at the various events, and takes this opportunity of expressing its appreciation of their work.

A life membership scheme has been evolved, and full particulars can be got from the secretary, E. O. Hector, 13 Crown Terrace, Aberdeen.

It is of interest to hear of the success of two club members in Open Events outwith Aberdeen.

Ian B. Munro, riding his 1098c.c. Brown Blackburne at the Southport New Year Sand Races Meeting, won the Unlimited Standing Mile and the Flying Kilometre, the latter at 95 miles per hour. At St. Andrews Sand Races he won the six lap unlimited race. During T.T. week in the Isle of Man he got third place in the open Long Leap at a Gymkhana. He also gained a Silver Medal in the Scottish Six Days' Trial. , i Edwin O. Hector, riding his 344c.c. Zenith, won a Silver Cup in the Scottish Six Days' Trial, and a Gold Medal in the International Six Days' Trial held this year in England. He also gained a Silver Cup and a Gold Medal at Glasgow in the open Highland Two Days' Trial, and the open Scottish Western 12 hours' Trial.

70

Aberdeen Grammar School Magazine.

List of New Members of the Club.

LIFE MEMBERS. Anderson, David (1895-1901), M.A., M.B., 2 Glebeland Avenue, S. Woodford, London, E.18.

Kennaway, Charles G. (1904-16), M.A., B.Sc., C.A., 16 Gladstone Place, Aberdeen.

King, Robert Leslie (1912-24), c;o The Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Co., St. Helen's Court, Great St. Helen's, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.3.

Lyon, Frank Taylor (1915-18), Taylor Street, Batley.

O'Connor, W. J. (1909-17), M.B., Princess Mary's Hospital for Children, Cliftonville, Margate.

Sleigh, Frederick Roberts (1914-17), M.B., The Cedars, Coggeshall, Essex.

ORDINARY MEMBERS. Abernethy, James S. (1925-26), Balmain, Fettercairn, Laurencekirk.

Band, Robert William Ingram 78 Beaconsfield (1924-26), Place, Aberdeen.

Bell, Robert (1916-19), 40 BonAccord Terrace, Aberdeen.

Chalmers, Alexander (1917-26), 75 Beaconsfield Place, Aberdeen.

Cooper, George A. (1918-25), 80 Union Grove, Aberdeen.

Craigmyle, Roy (1912-16), 212 Union Grove, Aberdeen.

Du ffus, Sydney (1911-17), 54 Rubislaw Den South, Aberdeen.

Dugu id, Frank B. F. (1919-26), Dee Bank House, Ballater.

Duncan, Eric Henry Weir (191826), Hillcrest, Anderson Drive, Aberdeen.

Dunlop, Ian Fergus (1915-24), c/o Cranstoun, 5 Quarry Cottages, Portobello, Edinburgh.

Gill, John Paterson Beveridge (1920-26), 45 Beaconsfield Place, Aberdeen.

Johnston, Douglas Harold (1913— 26), 395 Great Westetn Road, Aberdeen.

Jones, C. Hugh C. (1919-20), Hodgeham Farm, Bethersden, Kent.

Law, Arthur E. (1898— ? ), 14 Fetteresso Terrace, Stonehaven.

McConnach, Wm. Alex. (1920-26), 53 Irvine Place, Aberdeen.

Macdonald, James Morton (192426), 7 Dorset Road, Merton Park, Wimbledon, London, S.W.19.

McDougall, Ian Anderson (191526), 7 Carden Place, Aberdeen.

Marr, Donald M. (1919-26), 62 Hamilton Place, Aberdeen.

Middleton, Edward (1921-26), 163 King Street, Aberdeen.

Middleton John (1920-26), 35 Mile-end Avenue, Aberdeen.

Millar, Robert Taylor Stewart (1925-26), 73 Loanhead Terrace, Aberdeen.

Pirie, John R. K. (1923-26), 20 Bon-Accord Square, Aberdeen.

Rennet, David L. (1914-26), Newton of Pitfodels, Cults.

Riddell, George Alexander (191526), 43 Salisbury Terrace, Aberdeen.

Roy, Sydney H. G. (1920-26), 97 Desswood Place, Aberdeen.

Simpson, William E. F. (191626), c/o Mrs. Bond, 87 DunLangside, Road, drennan Glasgow.

Stephen, Adrian H. (1914-18), 24 Holbum Road, Aberdeen.

Stephen, George Mackie (1920-26), 89 Fountainhall Road, Aberdeen.

Stephen, William Legge (1902-04), M.B., D.P.H., Springbank, Methlick.

Storrie, Ian Hay (1921-26), 26 St. Michael Square, Gloucester.

Storrie, William Charles (1921-26), 26 St. Michael Square, Gloucester.

Tawse, James Stewart (1913-26), 54 Beaconsfield Place, Aberdeen.

Yu nnie, Robert P. (1921-26), The Ridge, Pitfodels.

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SAFE MILK SUPPLY. ROBERT COULTER'S

WESTFIELD DAIRY, LIMITED. HEAD OFFICE AND CREAMERY:

61, 71, 73, 77 LEADSIDE ROAD. BRANCHES: 185 Victoria Road, 196 Rosemount Place, 86 Walker Road, 34 Urquhart Road, 1 South Crown Street, 85 Victoria Road, 2 Cotton Street, AND

Bridge Street, Ballater.

'Phone 354.

Established 1879.

HUTCHISONS' High Grade Attaché and Suit Case Makers, Fancy Leather Goods, Ladies' Handbags, etc.

Models

Prices

Exclusive

Popular

r+leei Air-tight Cases and Zinc-lined Chests for Foreign Climates.

Repairs receive Prompt and Careful Attention.

94 KING STREET 11 BACK VVYND 21 PALMERSTON ROAD

ABERDEEN Telephone 1994 (Private Exchange).

The Schoolboys' Clothiers.

We offer you the best value in the trade, every garment is guaranteed for Quality, Fit, and Finish— Consider the Quality, then compare the Price.

Boys' Trench Coats, strong and serviceable, fit Boys 8 to 16 years.

In Navy Waterproof, from 13/3 to 15/6 In Drab Rainproof Gab. „ 20/- to 24/6 In Navy Rainproof Gab. „ 22/- to 36/According to size.

)

Grammar School Blazers, lined sleeves and double shoulders, single or doublebreasted, from 13/-. Caps, 2/6, with badge.

Badges, 2/6, for Blazers. Belts, with badge buckle, 2/6. Tles, 1/-, 1/6, 2,6.

\ .

Special value in Navy or Tweed Knickers, 3/11 to 5tx.

ALEX. SCOTT & CO., 58 St. Nicholas Street, ABERDEEN. TELEPHONE 122.

The Ideal Gift for Friends Abroad.

WE PACK AND POST FOR YOU.

ELL &

FINGERI

'SITER

•

&CAKE

MITCHELL & MUIL, Ltd., Aberdeen.

WING COLLARS FOR ARE

EVENING

STOCKED

IN

DRESS

QUARTER

SIZES

249-251 UNION STREET ABERDEEN (Opposite Royal Northern Club), 'Phone 1293

MeV. Eithen anb $ons 'painters & 'Decorators 335 Vinton $treet • — • aberbeen.

W. KENNAWAY, Ltd. BAKERS and CONFECTIONERS,

5 and 7 Holburn Street.

Luncheon and Tea Rooms,

173 Union Street, ABERDEEN

SPECIALTIESWEDDING CAKES. SHORTBREADROYAL DEESIDE IN TARTAN TINS, ALSO A LARGE SELECTION OF PLAIN AND FANCY ICED CAKES.

M. GERARD Watchmaker, Jeweller, and Silversmith } II

UNION

STREET

(WEST)

ABERDEEN THE

HOUSE

FOR

VALUE

WITH AN UP-TO-DATE STOCK Watches, Clocks, Diamond and Poarl Jewellery, Silver and Electro-Plated Goods, &c., &c.

Telephone 447

Jewellery, Watch and Clock Repairs a Speciality

Established 1891 i

James Angus BOOT MANUFACTURER and REPAIRER, 2 ROSEMOUNT PLACE,

ABERDEEN. OUR SPECIALITIES: Boots of all kinds made to measure.

Those having Bunions and Corns should give us a trial.

Our own make of BOYS' FOOTWEAR is well known for Durability.

REPAIR DEPARTMENT is complete with Modern Machinery for turning out good work. Moderate charges.

WORKS

-

ALWAYS D I N N E R S U I T S

-

-

41-47 and 52i SKENE SQUARE

SOMETHING

NEW

IN

DRESS

WEAR. F R

O M FRED WATT, MEN'S WEAR SPECIALIST.

23 Bridge Street, Aberdeen.

Telephone No 2300.

Works : Rosebank Place.

'

5 G U I N E A S

telephone 3515.

Ifelegraphic Address : " Undertake, Aberdeen."

GORDON & WATSON FUNERAL UNDERTAKERS AND MOTOR HEARSE PROPRIETORS

12 HOLBURN STREET (Holburn Junction) ABERDEEN

ABERDEEN

ABERDEEN

EDUCATION

AUTHORITY.

GRAMMAR

SCHOOL.

(FOUNDED PREVIOUS TO 1256.)

Rector

-

-DAVID MIDDLBTON ANDREW, M.A.

HE GRAMMAR SCHOOL provides for Boys a complete course of Study, both Elementary and Secondary, Classical and Modern.

The School, which is organized in three Departments—Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools—contains excellent laboratories handsomely furnished and equipped, including a Chemical Laboratory, Science Theatre with Physical Laboratory attached, Natural Science Laboratory, Art Room, Gymnasium, Workshop, Botanical Garden, Library, Reading Room, and Museum.

Pupils in the Lower School are prepared for the Control Examination of the Education Authority, while the Senior Classes are examined for the Day School Certificate (Higher) and the Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department, passes in the latter examination being recognised as exempting from further examination in the corresponding subjects of the Preliminary Examination for graduation in Arts, Science, Law and Medicine at the Scottish Universities.

The situation of the School in the West end of the City is open and healthy. The Class-rooms are large, and the Grounds for Recreation include separate Play-grounds for Juniors and Seniors, Tennis Courts, and a field for Cricket and Football.

T

ABERDEEN HIGH Headmistress

SCHOOL

FOR GIRLS.

(ALBYN PLACE.) Miss LUCY L. WARD, B.A. (Loud.)

HE HIGH SCHOOL provides a liberal education for Girls from 5 or 6 to 18 or 19 years of age, and aims at fitting them for home life and for professions open to women.

The School buildings occupy an excellent and spacious site in the West end of the City. The furnishings and equipment of the School comprise, in addition to numerous Class-rooms fitted up with many modern conveniences for teaching purposes, an Assembly Hall, Gymnasium, Art Rooms, a Lantern Room, a School Library of 2,000 volumes, spacious Cookery and Laundry Rooms, and a suite of Laboratories of the most approved description for the teaching of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

The School is organized in three Departments—Infants, Primary, and Secondary.

The Classes in the Infants and Primary divisions are graded in accordance with the requirements of the Scottish Code. The pupils are prepared for the Control Examination of the Education Authority. Pupils in the Secondary Department are prepared for the Day School Certificate (Higher) and the Leaving Certificate of the Scottish Education Department. The subjects of study include—Scripture, English with History and Geography, Mathematics, Classics, Modern Languages, Experimental and Domestic Science, Art, Class Singing, and Physical Exercises.

Pupils whose parents desire it are taught Theory and Practice of Music (Pianoforte, Violin, and Organ) in preparation for the Examinations of Trinity College of Music, London, and of the Associated Board of the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music. Advanced pupils are prepared for the Licentiate of the Royal Academy.

T

Information as to Fees, Scholarships, Courses of Study, etc., at the Grammar School and High School for Girls is given in the School Prospectus which may be had free on application to the Director of Education, Education Offices, 22 Union Terrace, or to the Rector or Headmistress respectively.

CAREFULLY

.

THOUGHT-OUT STYLES .

.

Good Quality Material.

The very latest Good

designs.

workmanship,

and

very high-grade mountings are the main features in the attractive selection of

OVERCOATS sold here, Every Coat has that fine appearance which denotes a really smart Coat.

JrAll sizes in stock in many different ranges at the

Keenest Prices Possible

PATRICK McGEE TAILOR AND

OUTFITTER

27-33 BRIDGE STREET, ABERDEEN Telephone 618

Civil Service and Business Institute Principal - J. Strath Wishart, F.Inc.S.T.

BURNETT'S CLASSES The largest and most successful Tutorial Institute in the North for Shorthand, Typing, and all Business Subjects, General Education, University Prelims., Professional and Civil Service Exams.

TYPISTS SUPPLIED CROWN For Testimonials, Business Circulars, MSS.. etc.

TYPEWRITING Gammeter Duplicating-20 to 20,000 copies— OFFICE perfect work.

10 NORTH SILVER STREET ABERDEEN ESTAB. 1885.

-

'PHONE 830.

LET THE BOY'S FEET CROW AS THEY SHOULD Get them fitted with their Footwear at JOHN A. DUNN'S, where you can see for yourself exactly how the boy's feet rests in the inside of the shoe by the aid of our X-RAY Shoefitting Machine, as illustrated.

Agent for "Start-rite" Footwear.

Ilr1111111111 ErIll1

Repairs done with either Leather or Gutta-Percha.

'Phone 138.

JOHN- A. DUNE, 46 UNION ST., ABERDEEN.

PRINTED AT THE ROSEMOUNT PRESS, ABERDEEN.