4 The Caledonian Club — its continuing 
     
     role 
     
    
   
   
    
     What though we Scotchmen may agree 
     
     To differ somewhat now and then, 
     
    

    
     Each in his own opinion free, 
     
     Unflinching as a Grampion Ben, 
     
    

    
     No kirks or creeds divide us here, 
     
     Alike Conservative and Grit, 
     
    

    
     As one rejoice to toast and cheer 
     
     The day an ’ a’ wha honor it. 
     
    

    
     Anonymous' 
     
    
   
   
    
     The enthusiasm and zeal cultivated by generations of Scotsmen for 
     
     the Caledonian Club didn’t begin to fade until the late 19305. The 
     
     members seemed as energetic in the first decades of the twentieth century 
     
     as were their predecessors in the final decades of the nineteenth. No new 
     
     plans were introduced during this time; the growth of activities had 
     
     stopped. But those with the club in the 19105 and 19205 held onto all the 
     
     old events and celebrations, even inflicting new sparks into some oc- 
     
     casions when they felt sparks were needed. That the club emerged from 
     
    

    
     ‘ the 19305 with its operations intact is a credit to the members of the day. 
     
     That it survived at all the period afterwards, from the beginning of 
     
     World War I through the end of World War II, is a credit to the Scottish 
     
     stubborn nature. 
     
    

    
     This stubbornness, this determination to keep tradition alive in the 
     
     cold, stark light of twentieth century modernity was acknowledged as 
     
     essential to club durability even before the century began. During the 
     
     end-of—century celebrations of the Burns Concert and St. Andrew’s Day, 
     
     more than usual emphasis was placed on the Scot’s duty to his past, his 
     
     heroes, and his British brothers. A Guardian newsman’s glowing tribute 
     
     to Robert Burns before the concert that year is not only a good example 
     
     of a Scot’s undying love for Scotland, it is also a heartfelt plea to other 
     
     Scottish Islanders to keep alive Scotland in their memories: 
     
    
   
   
    
     In the hearts of his countrymen a hundred years after his 
     
     death Burns holds the foremost place. So it is that as men of 
     
     Scottish blood have gone to the ends of the earth they have 
     
    
   
   
    
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