UDDINGSTON:

Some Village Vistas.

"Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain;
Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain.

How often have I loiter'd o'er the green,

Where humble happiness endeared each scene!
How often have I paused on every charm,

The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm,

The never failing brook, the busy mill,

The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill.

These were thy charms-nor all these charms have fled."
-GOLDSMITH (slightly altered).

N former chapters we have dwelt at times some

IN

what regretfully on the many changes which have taken place in our village, but it would be a mistake were we to suggest that the experience of the years is all loss with no gain to match. The rural features of the district have indeed suffered, and streams formerly clear as crystal are now offensive both to nose and eye, while many a lovely spot has been sadly marred by that sworn enemy to natural beauty-the coal pit and its surroundings. Yet with these drawbacks our surroundings are lovely still, and the village itself, although the "auld toun" is rapidly disappearing, is

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-UDDINGSTON CROSS.

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cleaner and prettier than before, although there is still lacking the softening influence of trees, which does so much when present to make even the humblest architecture pleasing. This is mostly felt in the Main Street, where the buildings, with some outstanding exceptions, give a dignified appearance to the street, but have not the effect which would have been produced by a due mingling with them of nature's greens. This feature we should expect to find more in evidence in modern villages, for in these days of projected garden cities we are apt to forget that if we do not realise this first of all in the village, we are not likely to have it in the town. New Uddingston, let it be confessed, is a suburb of Glasgow, and the principal buildings are necessarily the villas of those who in their inmost heart always hear the voice of the city calling, calling, and who generally yield to the voice of the charmer in the course of the years. This accounts for some peculiarities of village organizations, one very marked feature of these being that while the Glasgow section give them but scant recognition, the village party leave them very much alone, a very unfortunate characteristic for those who have some idea of local patriotism. There are exceptions, of course-the village library, for instance, was founded in 1868, and still exists in a spasmodic sort of way; while the literary society has all but completed thirty years of existence.

As regards public buildings, there is little to record. There are the public halls, near the Caledonian

Station Square, which are largely used for entertainments of a kind, but there is still lacking a central institute which would form a kindly home to little organizations and clubs which have as their aim intellectual stimulus and recreation of the purest kind.

With churches the village is well supplied, the principal denominations now being represented. First as regards seniority is the old U.P. Church, now sinking its name but not its strenuous individuality in the less distinctive name of Park U.F. Church. It has many claims to consideration, having been the first regular church in the village, while by its clock-a gift from the village people-it asserts its right to give the time to the district. On the opposite side, but nearer the Caledonian Station, stands her sister church,

Chalmers' U.F. Church, still known as the Free Church, and, even in her name, showing a disinclination to sink her individuality in the new regime. Standing near the junction of the Old and New Glasgow Roads there is the Established Church, not wholly on nor yet wholly off the busy ways of men, and with one pathway leading to the castle and another to the busy highway, it would seem as though it stood at the meeting place of past and present. Farther along the Bothwell Road, one of the prettiest buildings in the village is the S. Andrew's Episcopal Church. Unassuming on the outside, it has already with its green garb of ivy the mellowed effect of years, and perhaps comes nearest, so far as appearance goes, to the ideal village church. On the Old Mill Road is situated the Congregational Church, which has taken her full share of past work in the village, and is still strong for service. Recent years have seen an addition to the denominations in the shape of a new Baptist Church; while the opening of the new Roman Catholic Chapel marks a new departure in the village so far as this church is concerned.

As regards schools, the village is able to show an unbroken chain of scholastic architecture-evolution with no missing link-from the little room in School Road off Bellshill Road, and the Free Church and Parish Schools in Bellshill Road, to the latest developments in the Grammar School and Muiredge School; but to the question of education itself we must devote a separate chapter.