The date is August 7, 1926, and the British American newspaper is reporting on the recent Scottish Home picnic. “Scots from Chicago and suburbs and from outside points 150 miles distant attended the very enjoyable picnic of the Illinois St. Andrew Society. Superintendent Cora J. Cummings welcomed one of the biggest and happiest crowds since the Home opened . . . ”
“There was a variety of entertainment, including a hotly-contested soccer battle, with picked players from the Bricklayers, Thistles, Canadians and White Rose teams doing steeler work, from which the ‘Brickies’ emerged victorious.”
“Thomas Catto, John McClurg and Jamie Shepherd managed the program and deserve immense credit for its success. The Chicago Highlanders’ Pipe Band under Major Sim was heard at its best and shared the musical honors with the Chicago Scottish Choir under the able baton of J. Burlington Rigg.”
“The choir’s concert was one of the features of the day. Soloists were Mr. And Mrs. Tom Smith and Capt. Rigg. Miss Birdyce Mills was the accompanist. Charles Meldrum gave a humorous reading. A quintette of pretty and clever Scots dancers charmed the gathering: Julie Stevens, Marie O’Hara, Dorothy O’Hara, Cathaline Stringer and Bengie McLennan.
Dr. W. F. Dickson was in conversation with John T. Cunningham, and they agreed that the Scottish Home was unequaled as a retreat for aged compatriots. “It needs only one thing to be perfectly equipped.” “What’s that?” Queried John T. Cunningham? “An auto,” was the reply, “to take the old folks to the station, a mile away.”
“And so this week a handsome Maxwell Sedan, a five-seater, rolled up to the Home entrance and Mrs. Cummings and her charges were told that, at last, they had something appropriate to put in the Home’s commodious garage.”
Wayne Rethford, Historian
Scottish American History Club
Illinois St. Andrew Society
wrethford@comcast.net
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