324 Four 'ill-Hand in Britain. 



The bands of a district meet and compete for prizes, 

 which stirs up wholesorrie rivalry and leads to excel- 

 lence. We saw eight gathered for competition in one 

 little town which we passed, and the interest excited by 

 the meet was so great as to put the town en fite. I do 

 not know any feature of British life which would strike 

 an American more forcibly than these contests. We 

 should try one here, and, by and by, why not an inter- 

 national contest — the Dunfermline band playing the 

 " Star-Spangled Banner,'' and the Pittsburgh perform- 

 ers " Rule Britannia." Yes, that's right ; I insist upon 

 " Rule Britannia " — that is the nation's song ; I am 

 growing tired of " God Save the Queen " — even such a 

 model as the present one — for the strain is only per- 

 sonal, after all. I wish Her Majesty well, but I love 

 my country more. ".Rule Britannia " is the national 

 song. 



I hope Americans will find some day more time for 

 play, like their wiser brethren upon the other side. 



We came to the crossing of the Spey to-day to find 

 that the long high bridge was undergoing extensive re- 

 pairs and closed to travel. In America it would never 

 have occurred to us that a bridge could be closed while 

 being rebuilt, but in the science of bridge-building Brit- 

 ish engineers are a generation behind us, because they 

 have not had to build so many. However, there was 

 nothing for it but to follow down the stream until an- 

 other bridge was found. When we did find it, we saw a 



