The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-03
Special Contributors.
THE BIRTHPLACE OF BURNS.
By REV. ]. W. HANSON, d. d.

!.
The advantage of Glasgow as the
point of departure to the tourist, is,
that he can 60 almost anywhere in
Scotland, where there is anything Of
first rate interest, and see the chief
things to be seen, and return the same
day,-with the single exception of Edin-
burgh, where he should have at least
week. No other place is 80 well loca-
ted in this respect. A day of active
sight seeing is as much as the average
tourist can "take in" at once, and it is
far better to go from home in the morn
ing and return at night, and take the
next day or two to digest his observa-
tions, than to keep on from day to day,
so tired large part of the time that he
does not really enjoy the scenes through
which he passes, and SO omits many of
the details from sheer exhaustion. Be-
sides, the expense is thus immensely
diminished. He lodges and boards at
home, and by procuring noon lunch,
is under no obligations to hotels, the
most expensive item in foreign trip.
BY all means let the tourist who would
see SEQ tland thoroughly and economi
cally, make Glasgow his hub, and each
days excursion spoke in his wheel.
He can thus see the whole of the won
derful land without being really tired.
Is f.rainea III & iassots on the aaofnings
we had determined to visit the haunts
Of Burns But Ben Ledi declared it
would be fair on the West Coast, and
we have learned to put implicit trust in
Ben, who is not, as the unsophisticated
American might suppose, an individual
of that name, but one of the highlands,
ben, in Gaelic signifying mountain, and
Ben Ledi is the point whence the wealth
er is announced.
Sure enough, we had scarcely left
Glasgow when lovely Spring sky ap-
peared, and a delightfully."- pleasant day
began. A ride of forty miles, costing
there and back, ninety cents, with four
cents at the Burns cottage, and four
cents at the Burns monument, includes
the cost for only those who desire to
be taken ia, invest six cents at the ho
tel at the "Brig o'Doon," and descend
to a "shell grotto' to see the "statuary"
which is caricature of an old woman,
near the grotto, sitting outside, and
seen a great deal better than on nearer
view, for it is one of those objects to
which distance lends enchantment."
1t is the only swindle we found in the
neighborhood. But we anticipate.
The route to Ayr, is, of itself, an at
tractive one. We pass along the banks
of the White Cart, through Paisley,
one of the busiest and most active of
manufacturing cities, containing many
objects of general interest, and cele-
brated as the birth place of the poets,
Tannahill, and Robert Pollok. 1t has
a fine old abbey ruin, originally founded
as priory in 1859, and became an alb
hey in 1248. 1t was destroyed by the
English, and rebuilt after Bannock-
burn. 1t was in Elderslie, two and
half miles from Paisley, that William
Wallace was born, "A. D., 1850. After
Paisley comes tombstone, on the Black
Cart, brisk manufacturing city, and
near by are elegant modern castles and
homes of wealth and luxury. AT
Lock kwinnoch, small loch appears,
then Kilbirnie village and Loch, and
the ruins of the castle of the same
name, and the ancient seat of the earls
of Crawford, Dairy, Kilwinning, Eg-
linton Castle, Irvine, Troon, Monck-
ton, Preston, and then Ayr. An abbey
ruin, of A. d. 1140, is at Kilwinning,
and here Free-masonry was introduced
into Scotland. Scott in Old Mortality
refers to Kilwinning. In Eglinton, in
1889, the famous Eglinton tournament
was held. In Irvine, John Calf and
James Montgomery were born, and here
Burns tried to earn a living as flax
dresser, till his shop was burned. If
there were no supreme objects at the
end of the journey, this ride itself would
be Of great interest, passing fells, lochs,
rivers, castles, ruins, the seaside, and
all the variety that makes Scotland the
ideal of the picturesque. We reach
ayr, at the mouth of the river of the
same name, and finely located on both
sides of the river, and along the sea-
shore, in a little over an hour. A