The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-18
SONS OF SCOTIA.
Small r. Q preentation Among Gotham's
Cosmopolitan Population.

Small r preentatiOn Among GOtham's
Cosmopolitan Population.
Among the various nationalities which
contribute their quota to the making up of
the population of New York city, the most
community probably on the
face of the globe, the Scottish national
ity ranks among the smallest, writes John
L. Wilson in Harper's Weekly. It is not
strange that it should be so. Scotland has
never had large population. AS compared
with either of her two nearest neighbors,
England and Ireland, with the former es-
pecially, Scotland, in point of population,
has always ;tS been exceedingly small To O.
the larger cities, especially in the west, the
entire population but slightly exceeds
1000, 600. It has really been wonderful
how this small nationality has sent
its sons and its daughters in such
numbers all over the earth. In every Brit
scented; and it would be difficult to And
foreign country into which Scotsmen have
not forced their way. 1t is significant, al
so, that wherever You find them they are an
element of force at or near the front.
Macaulay likens the Scotsman, in one of
his we'll known passages, to piece of cork.
Sink the cork where yon may, It will rise to
him where you may. leave him only liberty
of action. and he will make his presence
felt; he will work his way to the surface of
society.
The Scot owes something to nature.
There is intrinsic excellence in the race.
There is the ring of genuine metal in the
material out of which he is made. Whether
YOU regard him as Celt or Saxon, or quail
fed compound of both, there is in him su-
perior racial excellence, which time and
hard experience, mental, moral and religious
training, have undoubtedly qualified, but
have not deprecated. In some of the finer,
softer, more amiable and more attractive
aspects of human nature Scotsmen may be
found wanting as compared with the men
various elements which constitute the
real worth of the individual man
solidity of character, purpose, en-
ergy, resource, determination, endur-
ance and self-relianoe-the typical Scot.
fish man has few if any superiors. He is q
mate, to a niggardly soil, to the Presby.
terrain church, and to the parish school. In
spite of an Unborn stubbornness-an uncon.
querable unwillingness to be driven. O,
sold, or played upon, or made use of-he
has faculty of taking advantage of favor
ing circumstances when they offer; and
| when he lays hold there is bulldog tena-
city in his grip. For the use of others, the
Scot is not the most adaptable of men. II
is to his honor that it is SO. For his OWE
purposes, and in pushing his own way, he il
adaptable enough. OF the general &C
curacy of these statements it woulG
not be difficult to multiply proof
In Canada the reins of power hay,
been held by Scotsman for the bes
part of two generations. Sir John Mac
donald has found but one man worthy t.
be called a rival, and he has been a coun
tryman of his own. In the older Aus
tralian colonies, where they have opportu
Mites similar to those offered in Canada
Scotsmen are more often than otherwise Al
the summit of power; and they are fore
most. not SO much as politicians. or office
seekers. or sells servers. but as men seeking
the welfare and advancement of the colon,
or community. II is unnecessary, however
to linger in foreign parts seeking examples
We have them in abundance in fhess
United States. and we are far from bein,
without them in the immediate neiehbor
hood, aud especially in the city q Nev
York.