Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-01-01
MEMORIES OF SCOTLAND.
The Wars of OId--The Work of Scott
and Burns.

Standard. The Scotchmen may talk
loudly IN parliament of not receiving
their fair share of time or of taxes
but these walls are intended strictl Y
for external application. At home
they are far too prosperous to com.
plain, and it would i'll become a race
which is gradually eBecting q peace
full subjugation of the English to com.
plain OF their union with kingdom
which for long time past they have
virtually governed. North of the
Tweed there are few feuds. The re-
bellions Of 17l5 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 o. song and
story which they have bequeated to
our common tongue, and 10 the halo
of romance which they have thrown
over a country which, however.
beautiful in itself, was at the titse of
unioh 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 Bruce and Wallace, who were
! Norman knights: a confused mass of
border forays and northern ravaoes.
and the heroic sufferings of the Gov
enanters in protest against the perfidy
/ OF the Stuarts, to whom, despite their
/ heartlessness, a section of the nation
! chung so senaci usly. But we regret
! fully conclude that even yet English
men take little interest in Bannock-
burn or Falkirk, and. were it not for
1 'Marmion," might feel as cold over
the name Of Flodden as they do when
/ Cfessy 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 a
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 a place in
the hearts Of the lettered world which
it can never lose. Even that rebellion
which, happily for the Celts and tAeir
handful of southern sympathizers,
was crushed once and for all, has left
behind 1t nothing more irritating than
the noblest garland of ballads possess
ed by any nation on earth And the
happiest feature in 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-
1 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 leal
Yet Scotchmsn--even l4uwIauu,
English-speaking, Saxon Scot-shll
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 a
home than he is IN France, Scaudina-
via, or Germany, and possibly finds
! 1t not much easier to unders tand the
rude dialect of Somerset or Yorkshire
than he would the language OF Bra
bant of the Plat Deutsche of Fries
land. Nor, judging from the efforts
/ OF the currant carcaturists, 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 B. a snuff null, and a bonnet
/ would be no more recognized by the
I play-goes as properly clad than would
/ an irishman without knee breeches. a
/ 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 a kilt on the streets of
Edinburgh of Glasgow is considered
a certain sign that the tourist season
has set in, or that English sportsmpn
are on 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 kilt
and 'skenedhu," is about as absurd as
to request the guests at Fourth of
Jmy dinner to masquerade in wan
pun and vermilion pant Nor is it
less in keeping with truth TO reiterate
that Joke" of Sy dney Smith about
the incapacity of a Scotchman to un-
derstand a Jest, which half of the
amusing tales ia the English tongue
are fathered by the Scotchmen, and
no race, with the exception of the
Americans so dearly love pleasant
tale, Another legendary characters
tic of the North Britons is their
"clannishness. When Sir David
WIlkie ruled the haneisg 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