Men of Muscle, and the Highland Games of Scotland, etc.

THE TAIT FA~llLY. Tait, and there he won the first prizes for running, jumping, .and leaping. At the Crystal Palace, London, against 32 runners in one heat, Gavin won the first prize of £25. At the Royal Oak Running Grounds, Manchester, he defeated Siahalbison, the mile champion, 200 yards, £ 25 a-side, and won several other handicaps for substantial money prizes in the same p;ace. In a 300 yards scratch race at Edinburgh, Gavin broke the tape first, Cobbler Wood being second, and Tom Carruthers third. We visited Gavin lately, and found the veteran as full of enthusiasm for athletics as he was said to be when a young man. He thinks a deal of Downer, and would give worlds to be young again, if for nothing else but to try issues .against the once amateur champion. Gavin, like his other brothers, is a big man, 5ft. 11 in. in height, with legs long enough to suit a man a foot taller. The length of leg from the knee to the ankle is particularly striking. Gavin is tx– -ceedingly modest, and when speaking of some of bis victories even tried to find excuses for the men whom he had -defeated. He is much respected in the village where he resides. William seems to have been the pct of the family. John trained him and brought him out as an athlete when he was scarcely 20 years old. In this William had an advantage over .almost all his contemporaries, who ha e generally had to earn their living while practising, and without the aid of such a capable instructor as John Tait. However, all the instruc– tion in the world will not make a champion unless the stuff is to hand, and William Tait had the material in him, he --:was another of the same breed. Here let us pause to remark that, with the e ·ception of the Highlander, there is no class of men more suited to athleticism than the Border men-the Armstrongs, the Grah::uns, the Scots, the Taits, etc.,-seven in all is the