Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-27


High THOUGH his titles, proud his name,
BounGless his wealth. as wish can claim;
Despite .lose tides, power, and pelt,
The wretch. concentrated all IN self,
living. shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust. from whence he sprung,
Uu,yent. u-loaored and Unsung -
And every SON and daughter of Scotland
here. or elsewhere, can truthfully add to
what our noble countryman has said that
if such wretch does breathe, his native
land Is not the land we left"
Whenever and wherever Scotchmen meet
10 commemorate this or other national an
niversaries; aud fond memory carries them
back to the dear land and days of their
childhood, when they wandered upon the
banks of the Clyde or Doom, or sailed over
Lock Lomond-b beneath the shadow of
Dumbarton castle-or were boys again,
with kale stalks reminding their neighbors
that it was Halloween; they viii exclaim
with Sir Walter Scott:
80 Caledonia! stern and wild,
Meet nurse of q poetic child!
Land Of brown heath and shaggy wood,
Land OF the mountain and the flood,
Land of my sires! What mortal hand,
Can e CT unite the filial band,
That knits me to thy rugged strand?"
l know that it is wholly unnecessary for
me to remind the sons and daughters of
e'dear auld Scotia" of what it is that
makes Scotland-aside from the mere fact
that it Is our birthplace-near and dear to
every Scottish heart. But 1 imagine that
you wish me to tell our friends, of other
nationalities present, of the glories and
WORTHLESS of Scotland.
Iregret, first, that it is not possible for
me, within the time which custom
has allotted to me, to respond to the senti-
ment proposed, and do anything like
Justice. to Scotland-her scenery, her his
tory. the achievements of her sons and
daughters, her institutions, and many 9th
er Distinguishing features; and regret that
have not the ability to DO so, if 1 had the
time. To do Justice to the subject would
require much more eloquent tongue than
mine; for the glory of Scotland consists in
all of these.
Her scenery presents a panorama OF all
that Is grand, romantic and beau
tiful; every part of it associated, in
history, song and story, with incidents
which are illustrative of, and immortalize,
the heroic spirit Of her people. Though
comparatively small in area, Scotland pos
sesses a greater variety of interesting
scenery, and places OF interest than most
other countries of the old world. The
admirer of grand and rugged mountains,
and casteallted bluffs Will find in the
Grampian range, and snow crested Ben
Nevis, and 'lOfty Ben LomOnd," and 9TH
ers, all that he could reasonably desire
They do not attain the altitude of the
Himalayas, or the Alps, but they are inf
nitely superior in romantic beauty-wlth
their many charming glens, streams and
picturesque lakes with which they are in
terspersed-all filed with memories
of Rob Roy, Roderick Dhu and
the different Highland clans, and whose
beauty and charm is embalmed in song
and story, and made familiar to the stu
dent of standard literature throughout
the civilized world, by Sir Walter Scott IN
the Waverly novels, and THE Lady of the
Lake" The searcher for less wild and
rugged scenery, will find in the "Lowlands"
that which will rival, in charming beauty,
the fairest portion of other lands. From
Greenock to Glasgow, and from Glasgow
to what is termed ''the land of Burns"
on the south, Edinburgh and
Stirling on the east, the 1ndented
sea coast on the west, and the beautiful
lake-dotted district of the north, he will
find each and every part of it equally IA
nous with the Highlands in the romant c
history of the country. No one, who has
ever travelled through Scotland, will won
der at our enthusiastic admiration for the
natural beauties of our native land, or our
doubts as to Como being fairer than Kat
rine or Lomond; or the scenery upon the
Rhine being grander than that up the Firth
of Clyde to Glasgow. But it is when we
enter the temple of Scotland's fame that
we find that which, more than
all, causes rs to be proud of the land Of
our birth. First is the Vulnerable COM
pany of her bards, IN the front ranks of
whom stands "The Ayrshire Plowman''-
Robbie Burns-Whose anniversary we cele-
brate tonight. So numerous are they
that it would be folly to attempt to make
special mention OF them all here. The
history of Scottish poetry begins with,
what are termed, the poems of Osslan-
who is supposed to have fourished in the
second or third century of the Christian
era. In fact poetry seems to have been IN
digenous to the soil. Chambers, in his
Encyclopedia of English Literature"
names some forty or fifty of them,
as worthy of mention, as authors, who con-
tributed to make that branch of English
literature the magnificent structure which
it is-beginning with Barbour, archdeacon
of Aberdeen, who in 1857 wrote ''The
Prince'-a poetical history of King Robert
Bruce, and asserting Scottish independ-
ence, and next Wyntonn, prior of st.
Serfs monastery, of Lochleven, who in
1920 wrote in poetry what he termed the
EOriginal Chronicles of Scotland" He
continued his list OF Scottish poets worthy
of note, showing them to have existed in
numbers in every succeeding century until
he comes down to and includes the famil-
lar names of Smollett, Wilson, Tannahill,
Hogg-the ''Ettrick hepherd'-Cunning
ham, Montgomery, Pollock, Campbell,
Scott and Burns.
Next to these stand her worthy sons,
whose intellectual superiority has earned
for them place in the worlds temple of
fame. her orators and statesmen, with Frs
kline and Brougham in the foreground; her
authors and historians, in the front rank
of whom stand Macintosh, Allison, Rob
ertson, Hume, Wilson (perhaps better
known to some as Exit North") and Car