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IMPRESSIONS OF A CANADIAN
VISITOR.
BY C. C. JAMES, M.A.,
Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Ontario.
I HAD seen London from an
omnibus, had taken a hurried run through Shakespeare's country, and
rambled about the quads of Oxford, had visited several unfrequented
spots of old Ireland, and had come back for three or four days in that
enchanted region, the lake country of England. Here I would gladly have
remained for my full holiday, but I must surely see Edinburgh and the
Glasgow Exhibition before returning. My first daylight view of the
former showed me the old castle on the impregnable rock. That one view
at once dispelled all doubts as to my decision to cross the Cheviots.
Though not a Scotsman I revelled in Edinburgh, and would again fain have
prolonged my stay there, but a sense of duty called me away to Glasgow
and there I enjoyed myself to the full.
What were the impressions
to a Canadian? First of all, the people were well dressed,
intelligent-looking, thoroughly enjoying themselves, in many respects
reminding one not a little of a crowded day at the Toronto Industrial.
Then one was struck with the orderliness and good management of the
Exhibition. And lastly, when one began to examine the exhibits, he found
that a week, a month even, would be none too long to see everything of
interest. A hasty examination of the Canadian exhibits was one of great
satisfaction, for Canada had the largest and most complete exhibit of
natural and manufactured products of any foreign country, and one felt
that here, at least, was a proper and satisfactory presentation of our
resources— piles of gold nuggets from the Yukon, stacks of coal from
Nova Scotia, wheat from Manitoba and North-West, furs and forest
products from British Columbia, fruit from Ontario, to say nothing of
our cheese and butter, our hams and bacon, and the magnificent
harvesting machinery from half a dozen well-known Ontario firms. And,
what was most noteworthy, the Canadian building was crowded with
interested, inquiring sightseers—canny Scotsman learning, perhaps, their
first lesson of a country to which so many of, their fellow-country men
had gone to gain a good living, and in many cases affluence.
But the treasure house of
the Exhibition was the magnificent Palace of Art that will stand under
the shadow of the university for all time as a permanent gift of the
Exhibition of 1888 and 1901. Surely never before has Scotland gathered
together such a collection. The public galleries, the private halls, the
municipal buildings of all Scotland, even the Royal palaces, contributed
works of art that alone would repay a trip across the Atlantic. But what
shall we say of the exhibits illustrative of Scottish history and
archaology? With the catalogue of 278 pages—itself a model of the
cataloguer's art and a prize to bring home—one could study the history
of old Scotland from the days of Roman occupation; yes, from even an
earlier day, for here are the old stone implements, the crosses and
sculptured stones of prehistoric days, and the interesting relics of the
crannogs. Here are to be seen ancient Roman canoes, also a coracle just
such as has been used for twenty centuries. Here are cinerary urns,
nearly a dozen, still holding the charred bones. One becomes confused
with the collection of reproductions of ancient slabs, shafts and
crosses sculptured and engraved.
Are you interested in
Mary Stuart? Here are relics by the score, all described with historical
settings. John Knox is here with seventeen portraits. Over 150 exhibits
illustrate the Covenanting times. A couple of hundred exhibits carry us
through the Jacobite days. Allan Ramsay, James Hogg, Joseph Black and
Patrick Bell are all remembered. David Livingstone and General Gordon
have their sections, and as for Bobbie Burns one must carefully look
over the half hundred relics. Sir Walter Scott, of course, is there in
portrait and manuscript. Portraits of noted Scots, in oil and medallion,
meet us by the score. Case after case of swords and dirks, of crossbows
and pistols, every one with an historic legend, tell us that the Scots
have ever been a race of fighters. Domestic life is not overlooked, for
here are "my lady's shoes," the Highland brogues, pouches and brooches;
here are the wheels and reels, distaff, candlesticks and cruisies, bowls
and ladles, "taffet hens," mulls and mills. With a shudder we look over
the man-traps and manacles, the jougs and thumb-screws, the stocks and
the terrible headsman's axes. The memorials of Glasgow fill five hundred
entries in the list, and it is interesting to note that most of them are
loaned by the corporation of the city. In addition there are hundreds
from other burghs. Then comes a magnificent collection of ecclesiastical
relics.
But the Scotsman is not
given entirely to war and to religion, he must have his sports and
games, and so several rooms are given to yachting, falconry, bowling,
golf and curling. There were to be seen many original paintings that
have been reproduced in our sporting periodicals. We close our tour with
a view of the "Royal Heads," trophies of the chase in the Scottish deer
forests.
The Glasgow Exhibition
was intended to interest and instruct the people, and well has it done
this, for the exhibits were fine and the people came in. crowds from the
opening day to the closing of the gates. It was intended to pay for
itself, and well has it done this, for there is a handsome surplus to be
used in the permanent building that is a credit to the city and that
will stand for centuries as an art museum. The people of Glasgow laid
their plans carefully, and they have the satisfaction of knowing that
they carved out their plans with the shrewdness that is characteristic
of their race. The Exhibition is another proof of the appropriateness of
the old description, "the canny Scot." |
