Red — red is her lion in war — 
     
     Rampant with liberty — freedom’s avenger, 
     
     Wild is the gleam of her tartans afar! 
     
     The clang of her buckler still rushing to danger, 
     
     Her claymore’s decision! — the bound of ambition! 
     
     For who with his laurels our Thistle could mingle, 
     
     Or when were the eras could boast of such Heroes 
     
     As conquered with Wallace, Bruce, Oscar, and Fingal! 
     
    
   
   
    
     Free—free is the feast in her halls, 
     
    

    
     Where whisky and love o’er the heart like a spell come, 
     
     Kind — kind hospitality calls 
     
    

    
     “The longer you tarry, the warmer the welcome!” 
     
     O’er ocean’s rude foam still ye Scotians may roam still, 
     
    

    
     And wealth like your ain mountain drift fall upon you. 
     
     But ne’er shall ye find a crony so kind 
     
    

    
     Or a country so dear as Auld Caledonia! ‘2 
     
    
   
   
    
     Little more than a decade after this first major commemoration of 
     
     the feast, the “Sons of St. Andrew” became an affiliated member of the 
     
     Highland Society of London. In the interim, they advertised their St. 
     
     Andrew’s Day shindigs and filled their celebrations with dining — always 
     
     including the famed Scottish Haggis — drinking, speeches, toasts, and 
     
     songs. Of these, perhaps the most impressive were the songs, for this 
     
     period before the birth of the Highland Society of Prince Edward Island 
     
     seemed the golden age of song-writing for St. Andrew’s Day. All were 
     
     composed in honour of particular Observances of the day and there was 
     
     at least one written each year (there were three for the 1826 celebration). 
     
     All lavished praise on the fearsome deeds of Scottish heroes, the beauty 
     
     of the motherland, the eminence and beneficence of their patron saint, 
     
     and (by no means, the least of their priorities) the excellence of their well- 
     
     loved “barley bree.” The following three illustrate the extent to which 
     
     the Scots’ self-esteem had survived beautifully, even grown in strength, 
     
     as the years on the Island and the generations of Island—born Scots 
     
     continued. The first two were presented during the 1826 festivities; the 
     
     third, in 1828. 
     
    
   
   
    
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