Mr. Airlie […] conducted monthly entertainments during the winter at the Gartnavel Asylum.  We, “the pros.,” assisted him.  Those were grand nights, and I must say it was a cheerful house on those occasions.  We usually arrived there at six o’clock in the evening, and gave our first concert in what was called “the swell portion”.

The inmates at that time mixed with us, and some of the more talented took part in the programme.  Many a funny incident occurred at the gathering there.  I remember at the swell affairs an old gentleman who was a fine flutist, and who would persist in playing.  Strange to say, when once he got started, like Tennyson’s “Brook,” he seemed to go on for ever, and we had a great difficulty in getting him to stop.