2l6 PAST AND PRESENT OF verity by grants to the widows and orphans and to members of the society upon the loss of wife or children. During the past ten years there has been paid as follows: To widows and orphans, $387,879.24; sick ben¬ efits and medical attendance, $695,395.72; funeral benefits, $209,127.00; total, $1,282,- 401.96. Total membership of society to date, 20,100. Such are the aims, such is the history and such the work which has been done by this national society. It recognizes no class dis¬ tinction; it is Englishmen's safeguard and support for Englishmen. It offers a cordial invitation and welcome to all deserving de¬ scendants of the motherland. Its motto is "Fidelity,"—fidelity to country, fidelity to our fellows, fidelity to self. This practiced faithfully in public and private life, in all our relations and in the daily rounds of duty, makes the society a noble peer of the most desirable institutions of its kind in the world THE CALEDONIAN ("LIT, By John MacSwain . Soon after Prince Edward Island , then called St. John's Island, became a British possession, there was a large influx of Scot¬ tish emigrants from the Highlands and some of the western isles. Landlord tyranny and religious persecution were causes con¬ tributing to the earlier emigration, particu¬ larly those between 1772 and 1800. First among them was that led by Capt. John Mac - Donald, chief of Glenaladale , which arrived here in 1772. These people settled in the northeastern sections of Queen's and King's counties. Other parties followed during the years intervening between the arrival of the first and 1800, settling generally in King's county. * Another important arrival of emigrants took place in 1803, un¬ der the patronage of the Earl of Selkirk , of that time, forming a large and important set¬ tlement in the southern part of Queen's county. Glenaladale and many of his fellow exiles were men of considerable substance and, being favorably located, soon found themselves in comfortable circumstances. Before the end of the century, reunions of * Much of what is contained In the earlier part of this narrative has been obtained from the excellent papers on Scottish Associations in Prince Edward Island , by Senator McDonald . families and relatives, particularly those con¬ nected with the chief by the ties of blood or clanship, were common. The chief was ac¬ customed to entertain many of his clansmen on the 30th of November, the festival of St Andrew. In this way the memory of their native land was perpetuated, family legends and the exploits of clansmen recounted, and the athletic contests of their forefathers remembered. Smaller parties from time to time arrived afterwards, and occasionally individuals from the South of Scotland came to cast in their lot with their countrymen of the north. These pioneer Scottish heroes with toil and many difficulties felled the forest and cleared the land for cultivation. We may well im¬ agine the hardships endured, and the difficul¬ ties met and overcome in the earlier years even if we had not evidence of it in the earb records of many families. In the course of time, as the advantage of Charlottetown as a place of meeting were recognized, a regularly organized society, known as St. Andrew's Society, was insti¬ tuted for the due celebration of St. An¬ drew's day. A record of the dinner of 1824