"Gif Ye did as Ye sould Ye might haif as Ye would."

    When a torrent sweeps a man against a boulder, you must expect him to scream, and you need not be surprised if the scream is sometimes a theory.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish author, poet, essayist, critic
"Virginibus Puerisque."

    The dignity of a great hall bearing tributes to creative men, ancient clans, education, and nobility of freedom is felt in the Scottish Room.

    The oak doors are adapted from the entrance to Rowallan Castle in Ayrshire. Above the doors and cabinet are lines from The Brus by John Barbour. On either side of the sandstone fireplace are matching kists or chests. A portrait of Scotland's immortal poet, Robert Burns, dominates the overmantel. Above the portrait is the cross of St. Andrew, Scotland's patron saint. Bronze figures representing 13th- and 14th-century patriots, William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, stand on the mantel near an arrangement of dried heather. The blackboard trim bears a proverb found over a door in 1576: "Gif Ye did as Ye sould Ye might haif as Ye would." Names of Scots are carved on blackboard panels and above the mantel. Student chairs are patterned after one owned by John Knox. An aumbry, or wall closet, provided the inspiration for the display cabinet.

   The plaster frieze bears symbols of 14 clans whose members served on the room's committee. The wrought-iron chandelier design was inspired by an iron coronet retrieved from the battlefield at Bannockburn (1314). Bay windows, emblazoned with stained-glass coats of arms, represent the Universities of Glasgow, St Andrew's, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh. Near the bay's crewel draperies is the room's cornerstone, carved with Scotland's national flower, the thistle.