The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-08-03
M Immortal Presence There, the
Lustrous Soul Of a Peas
ant Serf.
TAe Sad Story OF the Vicissitudes
Of His Life, Love and
Death.
dOw-Panes-The Burns Cottage
AT the Grave.

lBbaeisa Correspondence Of THE INDEPENDENT
Dulu1rxs, Scotland. July 1O.-Border
1frs and border minstrelsy have given the
y(2Aole south Of Scotland heritage of I'M
d9ng interest and enthrallment. Coming
upon II with eyes looking out of the depths
OF history and sentiment, every object in
nature marshals host of armored spectres
ffbm tho crowded cloister of a romantic
iiid thrilling past. But there is another
Sad an immortal presence here. As the
A&sbandry of peace heals tho scars of
Bloody battle, as the very flowers of the
field in precious compensation thickest
grow whore carnage and fury leave their
deepest stains, there came to this wrath
Ink region q lustrous soul so simple and
Mgged. sweet and grand, tender and majes-
tac. weak and mighty. that, throughout the
weird. wild land in which it blossomed, ma
ture seems to pause in endless shine and
bloom. Out of the stain and scar, out of
intolerance and bigotry, out of ignorance
came one rustic serf whose humble plough
share turned beneath the furrow of his
brief toll all the ha9eed. superstition. in
tolerance of a thousand warning years.
One Scottish southland peasant voice not
only fused into illimitable tenderness all
6cotia's stern and granite soul, but gave
imperishable songs to the universal human
heart.
To all the people of Scotland so dear has
the memory of this man become, that three
of the southwestern shires of tho kingdom
-as Ayrshire in which the peasant-poet
was born, Observation-Disclosures, where he
wandered and sang, and Dumfriesshire,
where he lived. loved, sang and died-are
known only as Burns Land" However
winsome are the memories of his early life
beside the Doom, in Ayr; however stamped
By the wondrous coinage of his genius,
which like some magic alchemy trans
formed all things Burns tonched. or named
or knew, to gold. the braes and burns of
Kirkoudbright may be; to my fancy fair
Dumfriesahire was the imperial palace of
his world wide realm; and this gray old
town of Dumfries itself his very throne,
Here flows the whipping NTH. from It's
sources in the Lead and Lowther hills,
where With his faithful wife Jean he
wrought those brief and happiest days of
his life. Here still stands the house on
Bank street; formerly the "Wee Vennel,' -
the three little upper rooms of which were
his first lefty" home. The old tavern
where he registered and sang. is Just as hs
left it. His last earthly habitation was the
same humble cottage you now find along
hide the Dragged School, in Burns street
known g Mill street in the olden days
And in the stately mausoleum beneath tn
shadows Of ancient st. Nichael's kirk, sur
rounded by tho graves and monuments O
1hooo Who for so years went before hin
into the inhnits mystery. he lies asleep
tine ard loyal Jean still near him. and al
fheir bairns beside them in the wakeles
ret.
You or pileEimina here to the shrine o
UpxnoWill 6yut inv0lnntartly recall the prin
efoal tnGi6eots q his career previous TO hi
k1ni6ent3na Nth the old border city Q
D51lfioG This en- ~ best told. PARTIAL
kA lGo1oGo a. o<horA In the period b
5SD W1S. HI = ~ ags Of "a years, an
- q - SonS 1791s uhsa b can