Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-04-09
Humanity of Burns.

cally speaking-the temperature OF the
mental or moral zone through which 1t
Is =, Hected for its results. When 1t Is
restricted to the frigid atmosphere of
tba intellect it rarely contains fructify-
mo heat. Its rays are fosforescent, and
res.mble those passionless beams of
the moon, under which glaciers may
cl;,teu but never melt. But that light
Which comes flashing forth from u
bright brain through the tropical lati.
tndrs of emotiOn-the tOrrid zone OF
the heart, resembles those golden
dc dds of etfulgance the god Of day
uours upon the thirsty earth from his
car of fire, warming and Weakening into
life the seed slumbering in that great
mothers bosom until the eye is made
brighter by the blushiDg beauty. and
the air softer by the graceful incense
of fl ,wers and of fruit. Robert Burns
VA, one of the anointed few, the light
of whose genius is inextiDguishable.
b, cause its rays are ruddy with tiDts Of
tenderness. The dignity of his intel
lect is asserted in the force and free ia
miliarity with which he grusped great
tn, cries involving human wants, inter
es,s aud rights. But his memory is
not indebted to the breadth of his brain
for his fame, but to those genial CLEANS
Of heart-llght with which his genius
dissolved the frosts of formality and
tillcd his sad songs and pathetic poems
Wit, fragrant bouquets of sentiment.
Verify was he of royal lineage-a mon
arch born, ordained from on high to
wear the crown AMI wiel the scepter
of " feelings throne" Sympathy was
tho cardinal tenet of his faith -sympa-
thy for every breathing creature be-
low tue stars sentenced to suffer. 80
! morbidly sensitive was his nervous or
ganzltion to the effect of woes wall
ings that it mattered not from what
500 &c they emanate |, they never failed
to touch responsive chord i'll his no
biz bosom, and frequently to elicit soft
and awcet strains of mournful music
from his muse, rs is illustrated III his
apOstrofe to the wood trk:
"Sty, was thy ltl mat unkind,
Aud heard theo Az the careless wind?
o. nocht but love and sorioT joined,
SIC notes OF wo, cUald wauhen.
Tom tcll'st o nv r-endlng care,
o. sp'echl"ss Bri"t aud lark d 'spsir;
Fo pl'y'r SAX, sweet btrd, M mair,
o. my poor heart is broken"
The practical tilosoier who deals only
in exact facts would doubtless brand
such emotional exubernnce with some
such opproDrious ep,thet as weakness,
but. If weakness it he, it Is u weakness
pregnant. paradoXicil rs 1t may Sound,
of power. Tears are stigmntlZed ~
symbols of Weakness, but when they
flow from fountain OF p' ilunthropl iy
---Nnen they sparkle III involuntary
tributes of symp .thy--when they come
gushing forth, even through marble
heart If you please, under the tails
manic touch of the wand of genius as
the water did from the rock in the will
derness when it WAS smltten by the rod
of Moses, then they frequently inspire
sympathy and always command re-
spect, which is no mean proof of power.
CIR at is the pity that the world is not
afflicted with more of such weakness
and less of the brutal strength of apa-
A thy. When it comes to be, if it ever
does, we'll have a brighter and a better
world than We now have. Then We
may indulge the fond hope that Man
to man the warld DER, will brothers
be, aud o. that" It's to the vast
wealth of his sensibllity-to its hu-
MANNING influence, Burns memory is
indebted for the rank it holds to-day
in the reverence of mankind and for
tho influence his genius yields
wherever his songs are sung and his
poems read in elevating and enrolling
human nature. Had Robert Burns
been robbed of that weakness no 1" lin
gering star had ever ushered in the
early morn" of his fame and the atra-
mental shades of oblivion that now
shroud millions of ambitious aspira-
tious and disappointed hopes would
simply number one more on the al
ready long list of forgotten names -
ANDREW II. H. DAWSON, ESQ.,, in Home
Journal.