COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 305 



of them not to relax in their endeavours, but to strive 

 to be more efficient at every successive training. 

 He congratulated them on the satisfactory number 

 of recruits that season. He thanked them for the 

 honour they had done him in inviting him to that 

 banquet, and now how could he thank them for that 

 most magnificent present? One of his earliest re- 

 collections went back to 1824, when his father was 

 presented with a silver lamp by the members of the 

 old Fifeshire Yeomanry when he retired from their 

 command. That lamp was now a valued heirloom 

 at Charleton, and he felt very proud that they, many 

 of whom were probably the grandchildren of those 

 men, should have done him the honour of presenting 

 him with that gift. In the year 1862 the Cupar 

 troop presented him with a very beautiful clock, and 

 on the 1 1 th of last month the Forfar troop presented 

 him with that cup (pointing to a handsome silver cup 

 on the chairman's table), and now they had put the 

 crowning stroke on all with that valued and valuable 

 gift. On an occasion such as this it was difficult to 

 find words to express one's feelings, and he could 

 only conclude with the simple and sincere words, he 

 thanked them most heartily. 



" Captain the Earl of Rosslyn, in proposing the 

 ' Past Members of the Fife Light Horse,' spoke of 

 the pleasure it gave the younger members of the 

 regiment to have so many of the old veterans there, 

 that they might see what the younger members 

 were. The chairman was a new man in the colonelcy 

 of the Fife Light Horse, anxious to do his best to 



VOL. II. 20 



