Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-01-01
MEMORIES OF SCOTLAND.
The Wars of OId-The Work of Scott
and Rurus

Standard. IHe OcOtcnmen NAV tai K
loudly in parliament of not receiving
their fair share of time or OF taxes
but these walls are intended strictl v
for external application. At home
they are far too prosperous to com
plain, and it would i'll become a race
which is gradually efecting a peace-
full subjugation of the English to com
plain of their union with a kingdom
which for a long time past they nave
virtually governed. North of the
Tweed there are few feuds. The re-
bellions of 1715 and 1745 were mere
local risings, and no more deserve to
b. classed as Scottish" revolts than
the uprising of the Bechuanas or the
Beers are worthy of being described
as revolutions in the Cape colony.
Even now, they are all but forgotten,
except for the wealth Of SONG and
story which they have bequeated to
our common tongue, and 10 the halo
of romance which they have thrown
over d country which, however.
beautiful in itself, was at the tine of
Nnloh connected vita few incidents of
much Interests to the outside world.
Indeed, when we regard the Scotland
OF Queen Anne, it is hard for the
average Englishman to associate it
with any history, except the exploits
OF Brace and Wallace, who were
Norman knights: a confused mass of
border forays and northern rayages,
and the heroic sufferings of the Gov
enanters IN protest against the perfidy
of the Stuarts, to whom, despite their
! nnQrtInSSnpSC nf h.
chung SO Senacis usly. But we regret
fully conclude that even yet English
men take little interest in Bannock-
burn or Falkirk, and. were it not for
"Marmion, might feel as cold over
| the name of Flodden as they do when
| Cressy or Lutzen meets their eve on
the pages Of history. To Scott and
Burns are in reality due the romance
that surrounds modern Scotland and
| the Scotch. The one enveloped their
wars and their misfortunes with
halo Of glory; and the other by the
| deafness songs with which he has in
terwoven the spirit of the race, has
insured for their country place in
the hearts of the lettered world which
it can never lose. Even that rebellion
which, happily for the Celts and their
handful of southern sympathizers.
was crushed once and for ali, has left
behind 1t nothing more irritating than
the MODEST garland of ballads possess
ed by any nation on earth. And the
happlest feature la such gatherings as
that OF to-day is that the most loyal of
Britons-even her majesty's ministers
may chorus a lament for Bonnie
Prince Charlie" or wish that ''the
king may have his own again, know
ing that neither aspirants can be in
terpreted enormously, since Scotland
is the most loyal of the queens domin-
ions, and was weaned from lis senti-
mental attachment to the Stuarts long
even before the last of the pretepders
left for ''the land of the leaI.''
Vet a Scotchman-even a i4uwiano.
Eng Saxon Scot-still
feels as he crosses the border that he
is entering a country the manners, the
ideas, and the traditions of which are
strange TO him. In many respects,
indeed, the Caledonian, when he first
comes to London, or even more So to
any English provincial town. is less at
home than he is IN France, Scaudina-
via, or Germany, and possibly finds
1t not much easier to understand the
rude dialect of Somerset or Yorkshire
than he would the language oil Bra
bant of the Platt.Deutsche of Fries.
land. Nor, judging from the efforts
or the currant carlcaturists, or the ar
ray OF the conventional stage Scotch
man, is North Britain less of foreign
land to many who are familiar enough
to half the continent. A Scot with
out XII t, a snuff null, and a bonnet
would be no more recognized by the
play-goes as properly clad than would
an lrishman without knee breaches,
shillalah, and a dudeen. Even the
promoters of the Caledonian dinners
have gradually got indoctrinated with
the same idea, since they request their
guests to appear in Highland dress"
though not century ago the great
grandsires of most of these gentlemen
regarded it as the costume of thief.
and to this day kilt on the streets of
Edinburgh of Glasgow is considered
certain sign that the tourist season
has set IN, or that English sportsmen
are GA their way to the north. In
truth, to ask the Lowland Sect. or the
Scandinavian of the east coast and
the northern isles, to appear in a kilt
and ''skenedhu," is about as absurd as
to request the guests at Fourth of
July dinner to masquerade la wan
pun and vermilion paint. Nor is It
less in keeping with truth to reiterate
that Joke" of Sy dney Smith about
the incapaclty of a Scotchman to un-
derstand a jest, which half of the
amusing tales in the English tongue
are fathered by the Scotchmen, and
no race, with the exception of the
Americans SO dearly love a pleasant
tale Another legendary characters
tic of the North Britons is their
"clannishness." When Sir David
WIlkie ruled the hanging committee,
the best room in the Royal academy
was known by the unkindly name of
Scotland Yard" So pronounced was
their capacity for sticking to each
al on1 fnI;nor vi