Romish Church. It is the speech of a pardoner-of one who dealt in miracles and traded in holy relics and absolutions: "My potent pardons ye may see With help of books and bells. Of Finn Macoull, the richt chaft blade, Of good hemp, soft and sound; Needs never to be drowned. The tail of auld St. Bridget's cow, The gruntle of St. Anton's sow, Which bore his holy bell; Wha ever hears this bell to clink Give me a ducat for to drink, He shall never gang to hell. For cock, hen, goose, or gryce, The effect of this and similar productions on the public mind, already attuned to such feelings and sentiments in regard to the errors and absurdities of the Romish Church, was altogether irresistible. Lindsay's satirical work tended more toward the overthrow of Popery in Scotland than any other circumstance previous to the Reformation. His poems were in every mouth, and were equally appreciated by the learned. and the unlearned. Among the lower orders he was especially popular. His broad humor delighted them. The every tongue. He became the mouthpiece of the common people and gave their opinions vocal and lyrical utterance. For nearly two centuries he occupied the position that Burns does in our day. He was essentially the national poet of Scotland. He had not the exquisite lyrical grace of Burns, nor the versatility of Dunbar, but he had higher purposes and nobler aims than either. He perceived the pernicious influences that were sapping the national life, and by rare tact he made opportunities for striking the hardest kind of blows at the ignorance and credulity of the time. In his hands the corrupt clergy became the laughing stock of the people of Scotland. John Knox came along and finished what David Lindsay began. In many respects Lindsay was the greater of the two. He had the finer judgment. His private life was spotless and beyond reproach. No honest man ever spoke an unkind word of David Lindsay. Among a corrupt clergy and a licentious nobility he was a paragon of all the virtues. In many respects he was greater as a man than as a poet. He had the making of a great statesman in him, but, like King James I and other reformers, he was in advance of his time. In the Scottish Parliament he represented Cupar, and in 1547 he had the honor of being among those of the reformed faith who called John Knox to take upon himself the office of a public preacher. He married in his early manhood Janet Douglas, who had charge of the queen's robes, a relative of Gavin Douglas, the poet priest, but there does not seem to have been much communion between the two poets. Douglas, the elder of the two, had died prematurely in London before Lindsay had blossomed into his real character as a poet and a national reformer. With Dunbar he seems to have had no kind of relationship. Doubtless the gaiety of Dunbar was not pleasing to the austere and high-minded Lindsay, who, in his Puritanical ideas of plain living and high thinking resembled John Milton. In fact, David Lindsay was the first of the Puritans, unconsciously to himself, but true in his effect on the life and character of the people of Scotland and, incidentally, of England. It may be readily imagined that the Romish clergy hated Lindsay with an abiding hatred. All their malignant designs against him came to nothing. During the regency of Mary of Lorraine, the clergy procured an act to have Lindsay's "buick" burned. Whatever satisfaction that may have afforded them, it only tended to increase the popularity of his work, and in an age when many lesser men were brought to the stake for heresy, it is remarkable how the most accomplished and dangerous offender of them all escaped. It is only to be accounted for in the fact that they knew and recognized his strength with the rich, as well as with the great mass of the people. The last we hear of David Lindsay is in 1567. Queen Mary was then in the middle of her career of deviltry, which ended at Carberry Hill. Lindsay's heart was with the Reformation, but the fires of his fine intellect had burned low. The place and period of his death and burial are unknown. He had fired and fanned the popular mind and pointed the true path to a higher and a better national life, and it was time for him to be going. As a great national character, his name is enshrined among the foremost in the annals of Scottish history. As a poet he is not yet entirely eclipsed in the glittering galaxy of stars of a greater glory and higher magnitude, but he is not yet forgotten. As Walter Scott wrote of Lindsay nearly a century ago: "Still is thy name in high account And still thy verse hath charms, MY WEE, WEE DOUGIE. A lassie plays wi' hairt o' man As she wad wi' a thistle down, Gin yince its caught in web o' love, The sport o' ilka smile and frown. She binds it fast wi' silken cords, Wi' curls and knots o' yellow hair, And toys wi' it and plays wi' it As wi' a jewel rich and rare. But gin wealth sings her siren song, A dougie haes a leal true hairt, He cares na for the hodden gray, The man beneath the tattered coat, Gin yince he lo'es he lo'es for aye. Should storm-clouds lower wi' eyrie swirl, He aye clings closer tae the side, And shares the cold and crust alike, The beatings o' misfortune's tide. My wee, wee dougie's loving hairt, I look down in yer saft brown eyes, And ken I hae na truer frien' This side the glint o' heavenly skies. The Order of Scottish Clans. Nearly twenty-five years have elapsed since the organization of the Order of Scottish Clans in America, and it can now safely be said that no other society of a Scottish kind established outside of Scotland has risen to such popular favor or bids fairer to a continuing career of usefulness as the order has done. Since the organization of the Scots' Charitable Society of Boston, which has seen over 250 years of continuous existence, there have been innumerable associations of the Scottish people resident in North America. These associations were mostly of a purely social character and their influence entirely confined to the immediate locality of their meeting places. They were short lived and ephemeral. Perhaps the most important attempt at an association embracing societies in distant localities occurred in 1870 when the North American United Caledonian was established. Beyond regulating some methods of practising some athletic games it never accomplished anything. Its meetings brought together men who were satisfied with having a brief period of social relaxation, and while this feeling is a good one as far as it goes, it does not go far. The association was short lived. It is already forgotten. The societies from which it sprang have also almost passed away. The introduction of athletic games into the life of the American people has rendered their further existence almost useless. When the Order of Scottish Clans was established, its founders took care to retain all that was brightest and best in the older and decaying associations, and added the new and vitalizing feature of mutual benefit and life insurance. With careful management and such changes as were deemed necessary from time to time, the movement grew into popular favor with the great body of the industrial classes. The meetings of the Royal Clan brought together delegates from every part of North America, almost entirely men who had been identified with the building up of the order in their various localities, and the general result of their work has been of the most gratifying kind. While the social spirit of fraternity has been broadened and deepened, the commercial integrity of a great system of protection has been promoted and proved by the prompt payment of every just claim. The future of the order is clearly defined. The impulse that leads people who have gone to a far country to come together, to stand by each other, to comfort and to cheer each other finds in the Order of Scottish Clans the best means of gratification. In the order the social element finds full scope, the athlete can show his physical prowess to the admiring multitude, the vocalist can warble the songs of Scotland, the orator can "spread himself," the philosopher can moralize on the vanity of human life, and even the thoughtless may be induced by the fine teachings of the order to "tak' a thocht an' mend." Interwoven with these and other vital features is the grand lesson of self-reliance which the order teaches. The provision which the encouragement of thrift among its members inculcates the prep aration for sickness or misfortune which it constantly teaches, the large provision. which the order makes for those who may be dependent upon its members. The protection of the widow, the care of the orphan, the relief of the distressed, the comforting of the sick, the warm and intelligent interest in the welfare of the unemployed, the encouragement of the good and gifted among the orderthese are the leading moral and intellectual qualities and the attributes of the order, crowned with the fine thought of the poet Burns, that "To mak' a happy fireside clime To weans an' wife, That's the true pathos and sublime O' human life." BIENNIAL CONVENTION. The regular biennial meeting of this great order of Scottish clans, with a membership of about 8,000, will be held at Cleveland, Ohio, during the third week of August, commencing Tuesday, the 18th. Over one hundred clans from all parts of the United States and Canada will send delegates to this important Royal Assembly. Through the kindness of a number of clan secretaries, we have been favored with brief sketches of their clans and portraits of their representatives. The present officers of the Royal Order of Scottish Clans are as follows: W. H. Steen, royal chief; Walter Scott, past royal chief; Peter Kerr, royal secretary; James Hill, royal treasurer; W. McKnight, royal tanist; George Taylor, royal counselor. Royal Chief William H. Steen Holds a responsible position as head and leader of nearly eight thousand stalwart Renfrewshire, Scotland, in 1849. When about 7 years of age his family moved to Kilwinning, Ayrshire, where, when less than 10 years of age, he entered the coal pits as a collier lad. From there he went to historic Kilmarnock, where he lived four years; thence to Stevenson, and when about 16 he came to America, locating at Pottsville, Pa., where he was employed in various capacities at the mines. After two years at Alliance, O., he moved to Braidwood, Ill., in 1870, where he followed his occupation as a miner until 1883, when he embarked in the insurance and real estate business." Royal Secretary Peter Kerr, O. S. C. "But much of the success of the O. S. C. is due to Peter Kerr, the royal secretary of the order. He was born in Cape Breton, Victoria County, Nova Scotia. He is a Canadian by birth, though of pure Highland extraction, his father being a Sutherlandshire man and his mother a MacIntosh from Inverness. After receiving a common school education, he came to Boston and took a course in a business college. He joined Clan MacGregor, No. 5, Quincy, in 1882, and has since that time been a tireless worker for the good of the noble order. The following year he was elected secretary, and two years later became chief of the clan, a position which he held for three years. At the Chicago convention of Scottish clans in 1887 he was elected royal secretary, which position he has filled with marked distinction, and to the prosperity of the order. An office call will convince one of his excellent social qualities; a look at his books and papers will reveal his high executive ability; a debate on the floor of a moot room will soon demonstrate his accurate knowledge of his business, and of his skill and effectiveness in dialectics." Mrs. Fouver, M.D. ROYAL PHYSICIAN OF THE O. S. C. Royal Counselor George Taylor. Mr. George Taylor, ex-Mayor of London, Canada, and Royal Counselor of the Order of Scottish Clans, was born at Stirling Castle, Scotland, August 6, 1849. His father, James Taylor, of Caithness, Scotland, early in life enlisted in the British army, leaving the service after a period of twenty-two years, as Sergeant-Major of Her Majesty's 93d Highlanders. During this time the regiment was for some years in Canada, the knowledge of it probably influencing Taylor's parents to return to it, which they did in 1857, settling in London, Ont. After school days Mr. Taylor followed |