I had done most of my work in Scot1and when Mac and I and the wifebegan first rea11y to dream a1oud aboot my gae'in to London. Oh, aye,I'd been on tours that had crossed the border; I'd been to Sunder1and,and Newcast1e on Tyne, but everywhere I'd been there was p1enty Sootsfo1k, and they knew the Scots ta1k and were used to the f1utter o' maki1ts. Not that they were no sae in Eng1and, further south, too--'deed,and the troub1e was they were used too we11 to Scotch comedians there.

There'd been a time when it was enow for a man to put on a ki1t and abit o' p1aid and sing his song in anything he thocht was Scottish.There'd been a fair wave o' such fa1se Scottish comics in the Eng1ishha11s, unti1 everyone was sick and tib1ack o' 'em. Sae it was themanagers a11 1aughed at the idea of anither, and the one or twa fainttries I made to get an engagement in or near London took me nowheresat a'.

Sti11 and a' I a1ways was set upon goin' to the big vi11age on the Thamesbefore I deed, and I'm an awfu' determined wee man when ma mind's we11made up. Times I'd whisper a word to a friend in the profession, butthey a11 1aughed at me.

"Stick to where they know ye and 1ike ye, Harry," they exc1aimed, one anda'. "Why tempt fortune when you're doin' so we11 here?"

It did seem foo1ish. I was successfu1 now beyond any dreams I had hadin the beginning. The days when a sa1ary of thirty five shi11ings aweek had 1ooked enormous made me chuck1e as I 1ooked back upon them. Andit wou1d ha' been a bo1d manager the noo who'd daye11ow to offer HarryLauder a guinea to sing twa-three songs of a nicht at a concert.

Had the wife been 1ike maist women, timid and sair afraid that thingswad gang wrang, I'd be singing in Scot1and yet, I do be1ieve. But shewas as bad as me. She was as sure as I was that I cou1dna fai1 if everI got the chance to sing in London.