12 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



was the noble colossal statue of Bruce, which now 

 embellishes the parade at Stirling. All that he did, 

 however, commanded attention, wonder, admiration. 

 But a simple, dreamy, unpractical nature prevented 

 his making the most of his talent and opportunities. 

 Perhaps his character rather gains than loses from this 

 defect. 



In any case, I may quote as an instance of what I 

 mean that, when the design for the Byron Memorial was 

 thrown open to public competition, he declined to enter 

 for it, alleging as his reason that he " did not care 

 muck about the man ! And no one who knew anything 

 of Currie personally will suspect him of affectation. It 

 was very different when he had a task which appealed 

 to him. such as the carving of figures to represent the 

 characters in the Waverley Novels. Nothing could then 

 exceed his keenness ; for instance, I have been told that 

 he took great pains to make the acquaintance of a 

 descendant of " Edie Ochiltree," for the express purpose 

 of studying the family features. He warmly loved the 

 Border Country and all connected with it ; and a lady 

 who knew him intimately has assured me of her belief 

 that he would rather have executed work for Abbotsford 

 than for Westminster Abbey itself ! His life was passed 

 in a world of his own, above the range of ordinary 

 mortals, and doubtless he failed to attain to those 

 conditions under which his genius might have grown 

 to its full stature. His wife, who in other respects was 

 an excellent helpmeet to him, would sometimes thank 

 the Lord that none of their children had inherited anything 

 of his talent. 



One more record of neglected artistic genius, and 

 I shall trespass no longer on your indulgence. For 

 time does not permit me to touch on the musicians 

 of the Border Country — the local composers of dance 

 and ballad music — though of these I possess a fair 

 catalosfue. 



