The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-08-10

is an unreliable old ''tongue of the town" to
this day. But the ridiculous relic of an
ancient canny deal would have been RACED
to the ground 100 years ago, were it not the
treasure-hOuse of stacks of rusty war-pikes
ready for valiant service, when the excise-
man-poet reused every body in Great Britain
with.
Does naughty Gau invasion threatf
Then let the looms beware, sir:
There's wooden walls upon our seas
And volunteers ON shore, sir,
The NTH shall run to Corsincon,
The Criffel sink in Solway,
Ere we permit foreign Zoe
On British ground to rallyi
The" auld brig" built by the devout De-
Vorgllla over 700 years ago, when London's
population did not exceed 30, 600 souls, and
Wnicn still spans the NTH below the New
briuge, the latter completed before Burns
death, does not possess 1.-THE the interest
because oil It's having sustained wondrous
Kingly cavalcades and been fought over by
countless border legiOns that it does for
having lnnumerable times been the haunt
OF TINS one man, and because, Sin his suit
Oh plain dark clothes with his swOrd-caue in
hand and his children by his side, he loved
to loiter upon it, or wander about near it,
upon the White Sands, or near its western
approach along Marvellous sunny braes
Not a stones throw from its last red old arch
is the spot where Burns, on his first appear
ance in Dumfries, clad in the familiar blue
made us unconsciously associate with his
sturdy figure, just after the publication of
the second edition of his poems, was made
an honorary burgess, the burgess ticket to
the already ilustriOus plowman reading:
The said day, 4th June, 1877, Mr. Robert
Burns, Ayrshire, was admitted burgess Of
this Burgh with liberty to exercise and en-
Joy the whole immunitles and privileges
thereof as freely as any other does, may or
can enjoy; who, being present, accepted the
same. and gave his oath of burgess-ship to
his Majesty and Burgh in common form"
But for Burns Dumfries would not to this
day be so well known as Kalamazoo. Sdil,
the marvellous condensation of these
pompous old nobodies made Burns free
man. He had been but q hind until this
memorable 18th June, 1881" AT the foot
of George Inn Close, Irish street, is little
1t VAS here at a county ball that
the gentry were gathered on an autumn
evening OF 1894, when the now
PovERTY-sTRICKEN
Poet passed and was given the universal
rejection" OF cut direct by all save the
noble David McCullOch of Ardwell which
made those concerned, as well as their de-
scendants, Infamous to this day. Near
this was the hall Of st. Andrews Masons'
Lodge to which Burns belonged and which
he made famous. Its record for April IA,
1886, Burns present" is the last minute
Containing the poets name. At the corner
of Shakespeare street and Queens place
stands the little old Thegter Royal, which
was opened in 1890, Burns being present,
and of whose first weeks career he wrote
so enthusiastically to his friend Nlcol:
" Their Qhe perfQrmerso merit and charac-
ter are indeed very greaT, both on the stage
and in private life, not worthless creature
among them. There have been re-
peated instances of sending away six aud
eight and ten pounds night for want Of
rooul."
Then aside from countless lesser facts
and places of association there is the old
Globe Tavern" in which, unhappy as the
fact for contemplation, one seems now to
almost hear his thrilling voice, mingled
with the laughter of Syme, Maxwell, Land
lord Hyslop and his wife, Meg, and their
siren bar-maid, "Anna of the gowden
locks" as the poet recites some new rhyme
that the good-feIlowship OF the place has
prompted, or sings thUse songs OF old Scot
land he had rescued from lll-fltiIg senti-
ment and welded to his own deathleSs
verse; there is in the staunch little cottage
and its memories of the hours he passed in
it with his family, or at the "folding-down
desk, between the fire window in his par
lOr, transcrlblng in his bold, round hand
the remarks which occurred to him on Mr.
Thomson's last letter, together with some
of his own recently composed songs; there
is old st. MichaePs Parish Church, whose
now most precious memorial is the place
pointed out where Burns and his family
Worshlped; and at last, tine great mBu-
solemn itself, in st. MichaePs kirk yard,
where the poet, his bonnie Jean and all
their children, in an undivided family, are
at rest, EDGAR L. WAKE8IAN.
Copyright 1880