The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-17

connection with his duties as exciseman;
and, it is told with pride, he knew by name
every man. woman and child IN all Niths-
dale. Their hearts all went out to the man,
for had he not lived as they lived; had he
not known the things they knew; joyed and
suffered in all the humble things in which
they had joyed and suffered; and were not
his songs the rythm rhyme and soul of
their own vague hungerinRss No one who
tering here and there where he fingered,
need 20 to the books for tender things about
Burns. These people all have them in the
very core of their hearts, with glowing
faces, at their tongues end.
Everywhere your wanderings may lead.
at this farmhouse you will learn of unre-
ant incident; at another, of an old adven
ture; now of perhaps forgivable royster-
ing; then, of some blessed help in time of
need; again, of fsstivity of which he was
the life; and here again. of PRAYER: Prayer
from Burns? Yes, prayer of the living and
lowly that somehow those spiritual excise
men" who delighted to league the poet:ex-
ciseman with "Auld Hornie' had no time
from their "higher' parochial duties to
minister there. And It does one good to
hear these whose fathers before them treas
these of Burns own tenderness How the
poet gauger, ever leaning to tie side of
mercy, once came to "auld Kate Watson. of
Thornhill, in the publican's trade for fair
day without license, and when it was his
sworn official duty to confiscate her goods
with q meaning wink, Kate, are ye mad
Don't 70 know that the supervisor and
will be in on ye in the course of forty min
utes /? Goodbye t'ye at present" How. at
the Kirkpatrick Durham fair. where he
came upon another brewing, and: having
cl,ol >f& hn INN NJ fhA CQhIn
if such had been going on. servant can.
nily replied: 1--WE haze ma license for That's"
whereupon a wee lAssie innocently con-
fessed that "the muckle black kist (chest)
is fu' o. the bottles O. yill (ale) that mither
sat a. up NIGHT brewin' for the fair!'-
above the child's head, and said: III that
| bird speaks there's no use of another speak
| ing bird in this house while that lassie's to
the fore;' and left the cabin with the re-
mark: We're in hurry just now; but
when We return from the fair we'll exam
had caught 'auld widow Jenny" of Dun
| score, in possession of large stock OF
smugoled tobacco, and, from public knowl-
edge of the case, was compelled to make a
seizure. he did it . in this !, .e ez;
would be the upshot." Then to Lewars. his
assistant, Here. Lewars, take note of the
number Of rolls, as / 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-'listenv' As he counted
and handed out the rolls. every other one
was dropped into ''auld widow Jenny's'
lap.
And SO in larger sense, because Burn'
| came into q loving familiarity with every
thing, object or place which he gave lasting
| life from the devotion of his poetic genius
| OF made as it were part of himself by it
mention in his rare and winsome letters Il
his literary friends, those who wander her
feel almost the thrill of personal compan
| ionship With n 1t only the past but the man
The Solway Firth, when the tide ID IN Q
out. is q magical arm of the sea because tn
exciseman Burns bravely captured SNUG
glers upon it. and because its mere nam
Gibbs and flows through the measure OF hi
| verse. Nist-crowned Cri6el looming aboy
Il in Topography. and since Burns time hs
!, had the attention of a Longfellow.a Words
worth, Ruskin and Carlyle. because 9
Just two lines he penned.
The NTH shall run to Corsincon.
And Criffel sink to SolwAy-"
} before foreign foe should be permitted
| rally on British ground. One has not
hundredth part the interest in that 6nel
, | ecclesiastical ruin in the south of Scotland
> | 6Weethsart Abbey, which stands BY NTH
. | mouth at CYiGers feet, or in that other mi
. jsstic ruin. Carlsverock castle. unquestio,
9 ably the choicest specimen of castellate
: architocture in the whole of Scotland, as
, old Brow Well. not two miles from the 10
, dedah, ooly - - borne bono TO The HI