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

.. DONALD DINNIE OF ABOYNE. 23 upwards of fifteen years carried on business on his own account. Shortly afterwards (1869), he took over a hotel business at Kincardine O'Niel, where he remained for three or four years, and then bought the lease of the Royal Ury Hotel, Stonehaven, but on the expiration of the lease Dinnie had to make room for another tenant. Donal' next bought K.intore Arms Hotel, at Auchinblae. At Stonehaven he had done remarkably good business in carriage-hiring and funeral undertaking, the latter in particular having proved most lucrative. As a consequence, Dinnie put much faith in his new venture at Auchen blae, as there was not a hearse in the district for miles round. Here he set up a pretty large establishment, prepared to bury the entire population at short notice, and on the most reasonable terms. But the business hung fire, as it were The people were in no hurry to die, and when they were finally compelled to leave the vale of tears, they preferred to be carried as their fore– bears had been, and Donal's hearse and horses stood idle. Before going to Stonehaven he went to Dundee, where a nice little hotel was in the market, and had almost concluded the bargain when he discovered that the backyard was a few feet too small to admit of practice with the hammer. Of course, negotiations were immediately broken off. Dinnie himself maintains that this story is untrue, as the hotel referred to didn't have a backyard, and that the reason he did not take the place was that the Magistrates would only grant a public-house, and not a hotel, license. It is a beautiful little story, however, and so characteristic of Dinnie that it ought to be true. In the Colonies Donal' has abo carried on hotel busine s and carriage hiring, and has been the possessor of some of the fastest trotters in Australia, where his horses ha :·e won several races. The last business Dinnie carried on in the Colonies was a restaurant at Auckland, New Zealand. Leav-