Most ago they had Sir James Bell in the civic chair as Lord Provost of the city. In olden times they had the Black Douglases and the Red Douglases, and he was perfectly certain that it would take little research to discover the " Grey-bells" of that ilk. (Laughter.) He was perfectly serious; for they had only to look at their worthy guest to see that as the years had gone on he had developed in a very high degree the family characteristics. If his forefathers did not go over with the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620 it was doubtless because they were there already. (Laughter.) With regard to Mr Gribbel's character he must speak with bated breath. The most flattering reports had come about his character and worth. From London they had received word that Mr Gribbel' was about the best specimen of the American that had ever crossed the Atlantic. (Applause.) Putting that aside, they all knew of his connection with that organ of public opinion, the Philadelphia Ledyer. of them would remember the extracts from the Ledger that appeared in the London and Scottish daily papers, showing that the Ledger had been strongly pro-Ally, and he could corroborate that from correspondence which he had had with Mr Gribbel. After the first few letters the subject of the Glenriddel Manuscripts dropped out of the correspondence, and the war took its place. He (the Chairman) remembered telling him about his own sons, and Mr Gribbel replied that even that brought the war nearer to him and to his door, and when the American Nation sprang to arms the sons of their guest were amongst the first to land in France. (Applause.) Some of them had returned home, but one at least had shed his blood in the great cause for which they were all fighting. Proceeding, the Chairman said that he considered it a very high honour to present the album in name of the Burns Federation. first they had thought of presenting him with a testimonial of some kind or other. but they had some difficulty in coming to a conclusion as to the form it should take, and at last they made up their mind to present him with an illuminated address. This took root and grew, and then they appealed to the Scottish artists, who responded to them in the most generous spirit. (Applause.) He need not say a single word as to the pecuniary value of the album. All he need say was that it was a Glasgow production and executed in the highest style of the art. Their friend, Mr Connell, had made sure of that. (Applause.) Its value would doubtless be enhanced in the future, when the Gribbel Album would be carefully scanned in order to discover the early efforts of the grand old masters of the At Glasgow School. (Applause.) It only remained with him now to call upon their worthy Secretary, Mr Amos, to read the text of the illuminated address, and he might tell them that it was not an array of meaningless words, because the matter had been remitted to a special committee, and every word and every phrase had been carefully weighed and considered. When they heard these words from the lips of Mr Amos they were to understand that these honestly but insufficiently conveyed to Mr Gribbel their opinion of him as a man and their sense of gratitude for the great benefit that he had conferred upon the Scottish Nation. (Loud applause.) Mr Amos read the address, which was in the following terms: "To John Gribbel, Esq., of Anstell Hall, Wyncote, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. “SIR,―The Burns Federation, representing many thousands of the admirers of Robert Burns throughout the world, take the occasion of your visit to Scotland to offer you their heartfelt thanks for your generosity in restoring to Scotland the great collection of the Poet's writings known as the Glenriddel MSS. "These precious relics seemed irretrievably lost to Scotland till they came into your hands, when you unhesitatingly showed your appreciation of the most fitting place for their permanent preservation and your wisdom in the arrangements for making them available for inspection and study in Edinburgh and Glasgow. "Your generous action has evoked throughout Scotland feelings of the warmest gratitude. We here seek to express that gratitude in a volume containing, besides this address, drawings of scenes associated with the life and writings of the Poet-the works of eminent Scottish artists. We ask you to accept the volume, accompanied by the earnest hope that it will be cherished by yourself and your descendants as a reminder of a nation's gratitude called forth by your munificence. WM. WALLACE, ALEX. LAWSON, JAS. SIVEWRIGHT, Hon. V.-P.'s. D. M'NAUGHT, Pres. THOS. AMOS, Hon. Secy. GEO. A. INNES, Hon. Treas. HUGH M'COLL, J. JEFFREY HUNTER, ALEX. POLLOCK, The Chairman then called upon the company to pledge the toast of "Mr and Mrs Gribbel and Family" in an overflowing bumper. 66 The toast was honoured with tremendous enthusiasm, and He's a jolly good fellow " was sung with great heartiness. Mr Gribbel, on rising to reply, received quite an ovation, the company springing to their feet and cheering vociferously. "He would have to be a very insensible man, " said Mr Gribbel in his opening sentence, "who could sit in his chair here to-night and hear unmoved the things that Mr M'Naught has said, even if one's own judgment could go so far as his kindness has gone. I confess to you that had I known the embarrassment that might present itself to me standing before you to-night, I think that Scotland would have got the Glenriddel Manuscripts anonymously." (Laughter and applause.) Proceeding, Mr Gribbel said that their kindness had made an impression not to be put into words -it could only be felt; and as long as consciousness endured, the kindness of Scotland to him for doing a thing for which he deserved no credit he simply did it because he loved to do it would be gratefully remembered. When he sent these manuscripts to Scotland he had the impression that they would be received and given a permanent home, which was all he sought for; but he little thought that Scotsmen, aye, and Scotswomen, the wide world over would express to him the gratitude he had received in hundreds and hundreds of letters. Nearly four years ago, being a little racked in nerves and suffering from sleeplessness, largely due to the war and the attitude of the American Government in holding out of it so long, he made up his mind to get away from civilisation, away from business and correspondence, and after some wandering he found himself in the Arizona desert. There he was told that some distance off he would find a Scotsman named Campbell. This man had been at a trader's post there for forty years. out dying of tuberculosis, and, like every other Scotsman, he found the very thing he was hunting for. He found an atmosphere that he could breathe and live in, and during all these years he had been out there thriving, and had amassed a competence, but he was a bit short-grained in the temper. (A voice-“ Like a Scotsman again," and laughter.) About six o'clock one evening as he and his friend were going over the Divide, they saw a dry lake in front of them, and he said to his friend, "We're coming to Campbell's." They went over the lake-they called it a lake, though there had been no water in it since the Flood-and he saw against the sunset two little bumps, as they seemed to be, in the landscape. He said to his friend, "That is Campbell's "; and as they drew up in front of the store they saw the old man sitting on an up-ended box, leaning over another box on which lay an unopened book, on the top of which was an open book. Campbell had spent forty years in that wilderness, dealing with ranchers, Indians, and cowboys, and the book he was reading was Locke's On the Human Understanding. He had gone He tried to get into conversation with him, but did not succeed very well. He walked around him and behind him, and discovered that the unopened book was Chambers' Encyclopædia. He continued his efforts to get into conversation with him, and finally the old 66 He loosened out," as they said in the States. man loosened out " 66 Mr JOHN GRIBBELL, Philadelphia, U.S.A. to the extent of saying "Whaur are ye frae ?" (Laughter.) He said that he was from Philadelphia. After a little Campbell asked, What may be your name?" and he replied that it was Gribbel. Without looking up, Campbell asked, "Are there many of your family there?" and he answered, "No." went on reading for two or three minutes, and afterwards asked, "Did you ever hear of John Gribbel in Philadelphia ?" He (Mr Gribbel) said that that was his name, and the old man continued Then the old man reading Locke's On the Human Understanding. 66 66 (Laughter.) After a while he said, Do you do any reading yourself?" He answered Yes," and added that he got a great deal out of British poets. "Do you read Burns?" asked Campbell. "Yes," said Mr Gribbel, "Burns is my chief joy." Then the old man unfolded his arms and put out his hand and said, “Are you the man ?" and he replied, "I am." (Laughter and applause.) And yet the Scot was said not to be sympathetic or sentimental! It was only the ignorant who made such an assertion. Campbell insisted that he (Mr Gribbel) should sleep in his own bed that night, and would not allow him to erect his tent on the sands. In the morning he asked the old man how he came to know about the Glenriddel Manuscripts, seeing that he had not been at Los Angelos or San Francisco or Chicago for forty years. Ah! man," was the reply, "I have been taking in an Aberdeen journal for forty years." When he (Mr Gribbel) came to leave he had to settle with Campbell for some stores, and the amount was paid even to the changing of half-a-cent-that was a business transaction; but when he offered to pay for the hospitality that had been extended to him the old man would not hear of it, and he (Mr Gribbel) had to apologise for insisting upon it. Lying on the counter there was a copy of the Saturday Evening Post, to which he (Mr Gribbel) had given a good deal of attention, and when Campbell turned round to give him his change he looked up to him with a sarcasm not to be put in words, and said, That's nothing for the like o' you-it is purely commercial." (Laughter.) Proceeding, Mr Gribbel said that he had often remarked in the States that he had not a drop of Scottish blood in his veins. He was very glad that night to have got the assurance—and he would have made the journey to Scotland to have got it-that the Chairman had made; for he had been hugging the delusion that whilst he was not Scottish by ancestry, perhaps they would have a place for him because he was a Scot in his choice of their love. He was glad to have the Chairman's assurance that somewhere in his line there was a Scottish root, and in order not to disturb it he undertook not to search closer into his ancestry. (Laughter.) While he was not Scottish by ancestry, he rejoiced to say one thing out of a full heart, that he was Scottish by posterity-(laughter) for all his grandchildren were Douglases and Campbells. Shortly after the Glenriddel Manuscripts were sent to Scotland a great Scottish newspaper had paid him a compliment that he prized very highly. In a leading article it said: Mr Gribbel says that he has not a drop of Scottish blood in his veins. Be that as it may-let the truth be told, he is fit to be a Scotsman." (Applause.) The measure of gratitude expressed in that article he had never seen equalled. It had been his great privilege as a boy from seven to fourteen years 66 |