, 1890-08-21


the fair "whcn Burns Instantly eyed
n bird hanging In IA cage above the
child's head, and said: eff tina,
bird speaks there's no use Of another
speaking bird In this house while
that lassle's to the FORE" and left
the cabin with the remark: "Wc're
In hurry now, but when we return
from the fair Wen examine the
muckle black kistP, How when he
caught "auld widow Jenny" OF
Dunscore, In possession of large
stock of sInuggled tobacco, and, from
public knowledge of the case, was
compelled TO make seizure,
he did It In this extraor-
dinary fashion. Jenny" said
Burns gravcly, "I knew this
would he the upshot." Then to
Lewars, his assistant, Here,
Lewars, take note Of the number of
rolls, as l count them. Now, Jock,
did ye ever hear an auld wife num-
bering her threads before check
reels were invented? 'Thou's ane,
an thou's no ane, an thou's ane
out'--listenvn AS he counted and
handed out the rolls, every other
one was dropped into "auld widow
Jenny's" lap.
And so In u larger sense, because
Burns came into u loving familiarity
with everything, object or place
which he gave lasting life from the
devotion of his poetic genius, OF
made as 1t We're II part of himself by
if.l t,,f. Ia
letters to his Literary friends, those
who wander here feel almost the
thrill of II personal companionship
with not only the past but the man.
The Solway Firth, when the tide is
in or out, is u magical arm of the
sea because the exciseman Burns
bravely captured smugglers upon it,
and because lis mere name ebbs and
flows throIgh the measure of his
verse. Mist-crow Crifiel loom
Ing above, is now u land mark IN
literature as we'll AS In topography
and since Burns time has had the
attention ofa Longiellow, u Words.
worth, n Ruskin and u Carlyle, be-
cause OF Just two lines he penned:
"'rhe NTH shall run to Corsincon,
And Criifei sink to Solway--"
before a foreign foe should be per-
mitted to rally on British ground.
One has not hundredth part the
interest in that finest &c
clesiastical ruin In the South
Of Scotland, Sweetheart ABB
hey, which stands by Niths-
mouth at Crlnels feet, or In that
other majestic ruin, Carlaverock
castle, unquestionnbly the choicest
specimen OF castellated architecture
in the whole of Scotland, as in old
Brow well, not two miles from the
latter; where Burns made his last
stand against death, only to be
borne home 10 the Mill street cot
tage, In Dumfries, to die. And this
Brow well has been singularly over
looked by lovers of Burns visiting
Nithsdule. 1t is distant but an
eight miles tramp south from Dunn
fries, OH the Ruthwell road. 1t il
locally called "the Broo' Brow,
aud lies at the brow of the Locher
Moss, a few hundred feet back from
the Solway tide-edge. An ancient
"clachan" or prehistoric stone cir
Gle once stood near, and the half
dozen stone houses of the neigh bor-
hood have taken the name Of 1.-THE
uuld clachan o. the Broo.n These
houses, as In Burns time, are rude
structures, merely hinds' houses.
The road to Ruthwell, which is but
IA mile or 80 distant, winds past the
place; and II little delving into an
tiquities makes curious aud not alto
gcther improbable the conjecture
that Ruthwell-Ruth heing Lngllsh
for the Cache Ruadh, red--wns the
name for the locality originally COM
prislng that village, the Red Well
itself and the clachan or stone circle
for the celebration OF Pagan rites
and cereinonials. For Brow Well,
of whose waters Burns for months
vainly partook. is truly red well
being strongly impregnated with
iron. Tradition, too, places Brow
We'll among those possessing niirac-
ulous powers. Stepping lew feet
from the roadside toward the Sol
way, there is found deep pit open
to the Firth ut the south. In the
center of this Is the well, square, but
II few inches deep, and perhaps
five ieet across; altogether more
IA stone basin than IA well, to which
three stone steps descend. The
water filling 1t trickled through IL
spout from the base of the bank
"Urow" above; aud its overflow
iorlus IA tiny burn which, whipping
and broadening in its descent, Is re-
inforced by other halt.hIdden rills
from Locher Moss, until il cuts u
clear and distinct way through the
reddish gray sands of the SUlwuy.
III this dreary place Burns re-
mained, taking the waters of "The
Broo," from the middle of April
until the middle of July, 170o. His
only companions were his thoughts
ana his worn pocket-Blble.n His
eyes could rest upon but one scene
the roaring or sobbing Solway and
the darkening range of the English
hills on the Cumberland side of the
Firth. Remembering ii all. that is
one line Of English shore whose
mystic mists To my eyes seem end
lcssly fraught with tinge OF dulur
and sadness.
For pleasanter associations and
memories than those of Brow Well
cluster about the upper Nithsdale
region. Here, not two miles from
Duniries, is that lovely ivy.grown
ruin, Lincuden abbey, at the con-
fluencc of Cluden and the NTH.
Just beyond, to the east, is Dals-
winton hall, where lived the gener-
Gus aud ingenious Patrick Miller,
notable not only for his connection
with the earliest experiments in