The evening Argus., 1871-01-24
RnHERT HURNe.

warm and bright in the bosoms o. o
trymen. They do reverence 80 ' -.
clusiveiy to his writings. b1' - =,
character. Each succes's Ao
S-.-.~ v;ll;os and anxious to render
800 70 him as the preceding year.
wa..suo. ma, be the opinion of his other
-. r.rv few, we apprehend, will dispute
-. ,l.;p Of Bnrns to be ranked as the first
-r.o,x writer's. His songs are the broad
f,sndation upon which his present fame re-
poses, the surest guarantee of its perpetuity;
and if every volume which contains them
were blotted out of existence, these and
these alone, incorporated as they are in the
unwritten language of the heart, would in
sure his name lasting and greasful remem
brance. They are part of our very selves;
they enter into and make ups portion OF
the souls furniture, they ante-date our mem.
orie.. Who of us can recollect when OF
where We first heard Coming through the
Rye "John Anderson My Joe," or that
best and dearest sof all, "Auld lang Syne p
What revolution, social, political or religious
can shake that one single simple song from
the pedestal to which it has been elevated
BY the united voice and sympathies of man
kind? 1t is friendships holiest hymn, and
made sacred BY every association that can
enshrine and immor,ahze the offspring o.
umsn genius.
Perhaps the finest trait in the writings Of
Burns and the one which more than any
other has made him dear to the great mass
Of the people, is his broad and genial hu
manity, his hearty, energetic democracy
1t shines out in almost every stroke OF his
pen. While none has deeper scorn than
be for what is mean and iguoble, no cne
has a keener appreciation or warmer pruise
for those essential qualities OF our higher
and better nature, which We ell recognize as
belonging to the most exalted type of man
hood. The glitter. of wealth, the tinsel Of
| rank and station, win no respect from him
unless beneath them glows an honest and
honorable heart. The verses beginning
ais there for honest poverty
That hangs his head and q that
are worth an hundred essays On the dignity
of labor The author of "Childe Harold,
from amid his luxurious revelings in Ven
etin palaces, poured forth that stream o
gloomy misanthropy:: which has poisoned
more minds than Voltaire, and dishgure'
the finest poem in the world. Burns, out o
the depths of his poverty and misery .
Dunfries, raises this voice of hope and en-
couragenens for his fellow men. The on,
was a nobleman BY birth-she other, noble
man by nature.
We admire aud reverence Burns, the pos,
but after all We keep our love for Burns, tn
man. His life, stained BY faults and marre
By lmperfections, was yet grand and nobl
one. Grand, because it is an example of
splendid triumph wrung by the unassiste'
forces of intellect from the grasp of "shos
twin jailors of the aspiring mind, low brit
and iron fortune"-noble, because throug
ell the trials of his brief and stormy dsy
the dignity of that imperial soul, thoug
sorely shaken, was never uttered defaced
This is which brings him SO close to us
this i, is which has made his name house
hold word alike among the lofty and the low
~, and which, tomorrow night, in every spo
where the Anglo-Ssxon race has penetrated
from the China sea to the Pacific ocean
from the perpetual frosss of the pole to tn
changeless sunshine of the tropies-wi
gather a company of select and kindre'
spirits around the festal board to drink t.