Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-01-26

geIirg step. with satchel and book, went to
the hum bic school, while at home the mas
ter and the mistress taught.
IAN o, be sure to fear the Lord Away,
Le.t in temptations pain ye gang sstray: sH''
Implo' His counsel an assisting might,
They never sought in vain that sought the Lord
Thus instructed he grew apace, and next
we find him a whistling pillow boy, turning
1.-THE cruel coulter thro' poor mouser's cell.o
He studied, he worked, he prayed, he loved,
he sufiered-he sang until one day he wrote
his name. Robert Burns, Poet" (Ap-
plause.] And one hundred years from the
day this child was born every city in the
civilized world celebrated his anniversary.
Historians, poets philosophers, orators, and
the great men of all LANDS paid him homage,
while the lOwly sang his praises. TonO man
was ever such homage paid before, and 1
think RnseI, R may SAFELY say that the name OF
to more hearts than any other except alone
OF Him who was born in a manger, toiled,
suffered and died that we might live. From
whence came this wOndrOus power? How
did he win this priceless gift OF universal
love? 1t was not bought with money. The
price he paid was the Undiscovered hut. the
sterile land, the poverty, the sorrow, the
labor, the suffering life among the lowly.
Scotland, her mountains, her glens, her
lakes, her rivers, her battles, her heroes, her
schools. and her affairs, win his inspira-
ton. Nature, with her rod, touched his
heart, and pure limpid streams of SYM
patty, Of charity, OF loyalty, of purity,
sprang fortn-heart speaking to heart. This
Is why all men have given him an immor-
talffy as tender, loving and blessed as he
there are a few cold bloOded, : puritaAical-I
beg pardon of the puritans, Pharlsees, who
see In Burns the scoffer, the wine -bi bier, the
reveller, the keeper of low company. They
stand upon pedestal of ice and look down
upon his warm, loving heart, and feel no re-
sponsive warmth i'm theirs. Even such must
He performed his duty faithfully: he was
economical in his expenditures; he stole no
stamps, and though his salary was only fifty
pounds year, he asked no back pay, de-
manded no increase, he passed no crooked
whisky. [Great laughter.I To be sure.
he was now and then late at his office,
but like Charles Lamb, went home
son, with all his elOquence, with all the facts
In the case, forgetting his sworn duty as a
prosecuting officer, and throwing into the
ginary infamies of the most Infamous adj
f2inistratiOn of ancient or modern times
could not have forced from q jury OF his peers
a verdict Of guilty"
"Then fill the sparkling goblet high,
And let no discord siain it;
Lei Joy 1llume each manly eve,
To Burns To Burnsi The King of Song!
Whose lyre shall charm all ages,
Adorn his deathless pages"
AT the close of the address, delivered in
excellent style and with effect, Mr.. Samuel
V. Noyes entertained the audience with
some very pleasing vocal selections, well
rendered, which were followed by the
ADDRESS OF HON. j. PROCTOR KNOTT.
Hon. j. Proctor Knott, of Kentucky.
spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman, when I received the very
complimentary notice that was expeated to
be present and address you this evening il
occurred to me that the gentlemen who had
1t in charge to arrange the programme for
the occasion had certainly committed most
possible reason why they should consider
me capable of ontributing a single addi-
tlonal ray to the respondent halo which will
forever encircle the Immortal name of Scot
lands favOrite bard. 1t is true mad always
felt proud, and perhaps somewhat more
piOus and patriotic than most pet,Jfe on Ac
count OF my direct descent from the sturdy
old Covenanters who fought for the faith Of
their fathers at DrumclOg and Bothwell's
Brigg, aid whose descendants signed the
original declaration of independence a.
Mecklenbe. gh. laughter and applause Yet
i could not scarcely refrain from exclaiming,
Holy Willie:
What ys was ], or my generation,
But sin ce have listened to the address OF
the distinguished gentleman, whose elo.
quent periods still tingle though every fibre
and tissue OF our souls and hold as under
the spell OF some delicious enchantment,
am satisfied you will agree vita me in the
opinion that they have been guilty of a still
ought to be sufficient to blast their reputa-
ton as literary caterers for all time to
come-the miserable, objectionable mistake
az at a FESTIVAL like the present, of bringing on
the bacon and cabbage after we have had the
straw berries ana ice creaLl. [Laughter.l 1t
Is but charitable to suppose, and perhaps
but justice to the ger tlemen who invited me,
to say that am here tonight purely by mis-
take. tLaughter.l For / cannot ina CINE
that they could have had any secret malice
against me which they wished to crafty by
ons Of the most dut
life-the humiliating predicament OF being
compelled to realize, to its fullest extent,
UTTER AND AFFECT POVERTY
OF thought and expression when measured by
the theme upon which 1 am expected to
speak. For what can say of the genius OF
said a thOsand times, and that, too, with an
elegan ce, beauty and force of diction far
beyond the reach Of any power that pos
any genuine lover Of his ENTHUSIASTICALLY
to those whose halcyOn days were spent on
the "banks and braes O. bonnie Doom" or by
the classic waters OF "the winding Ayr
that could make the pulse beat faster or the
eye grow brighter than the simple mention
OF the poets name!
marked it as most singular fact that you
may take one by one the brightest stars in
all the wOndrOus constellation of Scottish
genius; you may recite, If you could with an
angels tongue, the story of their sublime
achievements in arms and in art, in science,
in literature, in history, in politics, in
poetry, in philosophy, or in theology, and
you will fail to excite such q flame of ma.
tional pride and enthusiasm in any genuine
ScOtchman's bosom as will be kindled by
simply mentioning the name of Burns
IApplausel You may inscribe their names
high as you will on the scroll of human fame,
and he will write the name of his country's
rustic poet high above them all, [applause;l
even above that OF Sir Walter Scott, the
mighty monarch OF the human heart.
Who on minds high steep could stand
Ard marshal with his scepterod hand
The whiriwind and the cloud,
Ard write a name too bright to die,
In lightning traces on the sky. Applause
The secret source of that mysterious mag
netism which invariably attracts the warm
reverent affection of the Scottish heart to
the Ceathlefs memory OF their cOuntry's
poet, and which will abate no jOt of its re.
siktless power while Ben Leonard stands or
the Tweed rolls onward to the sea, lies far
deeper than the
MERE SENTIMENT
OF national pride, passionate pride. 1t is
not because he delighted to delineate, in
their own beautiful and expressive dialect,
the delicate shades of Scottish feeling or the
peculiarities Of thoughts and manners ex-
hibited In the life of the Scottish peasant. It
is not because his graphic pictures Of moral
lie, his marvellous descriptions Of local
scenery, his resistless burst of rarest humor
and the radiant brilliancv Of his m o. lo