Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 5

THE EDITOE IIs^ CANADA. 395
had one aud all acted so agreeably and attentive to every one of ns on
our way ont. Here I was in my usual good luck. I had the pleasure of
again meeting my old friend of the Xew York Caledonian Games on my
way out, the Hon. Thomas "VVaddell, President of the N"orth American
United Caledonian Association, who had just come in on a special visit
from Pittston, Pennsylvania. Soon after I was in charge of my old
counsellor and guide, Duncan Macgregor Crerar, now known to the reader
in another and more interesting capacity, and he informed me that the
annual meeting of the St Andrew Society of Xew York, which was to
come off in a few days, would be a splendid affair, and that he had a com-
plimentary ticket awaiting me, sent by the President of the Society, John
S. Kennedy, a native of Glasgow, and tlie head of the banking firm of
John S. Kennedy & Co., New York. At this magnificent banquet I met
about 200 of the leading Scotsmen of the City and State sitting down to
celebrate their 123d anniversary of the patron saint of Scotland in a right
worthy manner. The President, in proposing the toast of the evening, made
an excellent and neatly delivered speech, in which he advocated liberality
among the members, and expressed his thorough conviction, that if the
Society's funds ever became exhausted or much reduced from the calls of
charity, the well-to-do Scots of jSTew York would always furnish them
with the necessary means to relieve every case of real distress occurring
among their Scottish countrymen ; and he stated, as a matter of absolute
certainty, that no deser-ving Scot, widow or child, without distinction of
rank or creed, would ever be allowed to suffer or be dismissed from the
care of the managers without the aid and brotherly sympathy for which
his countrymen were so famous throughout the world. The Eev. and
famous Dr Taylor, of the Ncav York Tabernacle, and a native of Kilmar-
nock, delivered an eloquent address on " The Land o' Cakes ;" indeed, the
speech of the evening ; wliile he was almost equalled in matter and sur-
passed in eloquence by the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, President of the
St Nicholas Society — a genuine wit. I also had the pleasure of hear-
ing the great Dr jNIacCosh, who made an interesting speech, but it was
clear that the platform was not his best forte. Among those whom I had
the pleasure of becoming acquainted with here were WiUiam A. Paton, pub-
lisher of the New York World, a native of Edinburgh, and a thoroughly
patriotic Scot ; John M. Morrison, a native of Aberdeen, holding the high
and responsible position of Manager of the Manhattan Bank, and who
had been for many years Treasurer of the St Andrew Society ; John H.
Strachan, a wealthy barrister, brother of the Avell-know Advocate of the
same name in Edinburgh, and of the better-known London publisher and
editor of the Contemporartj Reviexo ; and several others high up in New
York society and an honour to their native land. 1 repeatedly met my
old Inverness friends, mentioned in my fu'st letter — Paterson, and Har-
combe, and Mitchell, from near Grantown, Strathspey, all good men and
true ; and on the evening of my departure who did I come across but
another Invernessian, John Eorbes, so well and familiarly known on this
side as the " Duke of Portland." I never saw him looking better, and
he was what I expected to find him, open-hearted and kind as ever, and
insisted on driving me to the ship. And last but not least, I met
!Major Manson, my old Caithness friend, again and again, extending every
kindness, civility, and information that one could expect even from a
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