“You told me you had travelled all over the world.  You have seen London, New York, Calcutta, Melbourne, and other places.  If you made a fortune like that man what place would you make your home in old age?” His eye glistened as he said: 

     “Ah, there’s no place like Tromso.”  This is in the arctic
     circle, six months of night, but he had been born in Tromso. 
     Home, sweet, sweet home!

Among the conditions of life or the laws of nature, some of which seem to us faulty, some apparently unjust and merciless, there are many that amaze us by their beauty and sweetness.  Love of home, regardless of its character or location, certainly is one of these.  And what a pleasure it is to find that, instead of the Supreme Being confining revelation to one race or nation, every race has the message best adapted for it in its present stage of development.  The Unknown Power has neglected none.

CHAPTER XV

COACHING TRIP AND MARRIAGE

The Freedom of my native town (Dunfermline) was conferred upon me July 12, 1877, the first Freedom and the greatest honor I ever received.  I was overwhelmed.  Only two signatures upon the roll came between mine and Sir Walter Scott’s, who had been made a Burgess.  My parents had seen him one day sketching Dunfermline Abbey and often told me about his appearance.  My speech in reply to the Freedom was the subject of much concern.  I spoke to my Uncle Bailie Morrison, telling him I just felt like saying so and so, as this really was in my heart.  He was an orator himself and he spoke words of wisdom to me then.

“Just say that, Andra; nothing like saying just what you really feel.”

It was a lesson in public speaking which I took to heart.  There is one rule I might suggest for youthful orators.  When you stand up before an audience reflect that there are before you only men and women.  You should speak to them as you speak to other men and women in daily intercourse.  If you are not trying to be something different from yourself, there is no more occasion for embarrassment than if you were talking in your office to a party of your own people—­none whatever.  It is trying to be other than one’s self that unmans one.  Be your own natural self and go ahead.  I once asked Colonel Ingersoll, the most effective public speaker I ever heard, to what he attributed his power.  “Avoid elocutionists like snakes,” he said, “and be yourself.”

[Illustration:  AN AMERICAN FOUR-IN-HAND IN BRITAIN]

I spoke again at Dunfermline, July 27, 1881, when my mother laid the foundation stone there of the first free library building I ever gave.  My father was one of five weavers who founded the earliest library in the town by opening their own books to their neighbors.  Dunfermline named the building I gave “Carnegie Library.”  The architect asked for my coat of arms.  I informed him I had none, but suggested that above the door there might be carved a rising sun shedding its rays with the motto:  “Let there be light.”  This he adopted.