Trees lend their grace to the tee and to the further borders of the green at the first hole, and so we have the Trystin' Tree, the term ' tryst "meaning. at one and the same time, a rendezvous, an engagement, or a journey undertaken by more persons than one. who are to travel in company and the termination of whose lourney is "the tryst." The "Trystin' Tree" figures in many old Scots ballads, the burden of which is the tender passion. It has never been vulgarised.

The sun rose sae rosy, the gray hills adorning, Light sprang the lav'rock and mounted sae hie,

When true to the tryst o' blythe May's dewy morning, Jeanie cam' linking out owre the green lea.

So wrote Hector MacNeill in that charming song, "Jeanie's Black E'e." You will find it in the other ballads of rare quality, but it is not in favour in those of lighter vein. Heaven is spoken of reverently as "the last tryst," and from that surely we can judge the profound poetic value the Scot ascribes to the beautiful word. Here at Gleneagles it has been chosen to describe a scene of natural enchantment, an alluring prospect of verdant meadowland, heathery muir and trim lawn crowned with the green glory of the guardian pines.

And if once more you turn to Scottish poetry for a reference you will not fail to find what you seek.

The evening sun has closed the day,

An' silence sleeps on hill an' plain. The yellow moon is on her way,

W'i a' her glintin' starry train, The moment dear to love an' me,

The happy moment now is near, When by our lonely trystin tree,

I'll meet my lov'd Eliza dear.

Or again -

We sat beneath the trystin' tree, The bonnie dear auld trystin' tree, Where Harry tauld in early youth His tender tale of love to me.

So wrote Tannahill in one of his many ballads, and with such strains ringing in memory you may take your way to fresh pastures.