, 1890-08-21
He HAD A BIG HEART.
The Poet Burns a Very Bad
EXCISE Man.
GAVE lRANSGRESSORS A CHANCE
Wandering wakeman Meets the
Sweet Singers G. eat Grand
daughter F'aoo to Face.
Copyright isoo.l
AMMAN, Scotland, July Is

VI tuc iiltsii DuEuo WIN Iuttcs SethN
and memorial in old Dumfres town,
there Is far more pleasant associa-
tion To be found between Burns the
poet-farmer, Burns the poet-fnrmer-
exciseman, Burns the poetexcise-
man, and the lovely valley Of the
NTH. Burns boyhood is legacy
to the winding Doom, In Ayr. The
activities of his manhood are her.
itage to the Nth, aud the dale or
vale through which 1t makes its
songful way to the Solway and the
sea. The etymology of Its name is
Gaelic, az Is true of nine-tenths OF
the names of natural features of the
country, and of the cities, towns and
villages of to-day in Scotland as
well AS In Ireland. Neithe was the
Gaelic water-god; hence Meth,
and NTH; and more lovely
stream could not have been found
In Scotland for honoring, or being
honored by, the name. Coming
from Its crystal cradle among the
mountains Of Eastern Ayrshire, II
wimples along In southwesterly
course, watering the royal burgh ol
Sanquahar and the ducal village
of Thornhill, thence passing the
stupendous mass Of Drumlanrlp
castle which looks down upon the
plain with lis sinnumerable windows,
"like great presiding idol, the EN-.
bodied genius of feudalism." Near
this, the sister stream and dale of
the Clyde are reached by the lofty
pass Of Enterkin. Farther to the
south the bordering mountain
ranges press the Nth closely ut
Auldgirth bridge; and then its
vale broadens, giving place for my
riads Of exquisite burns, braes and
lesser dales. Soon the Nth, after
passing Elllsland, the lovely farm
home of Burns. is Joined by the Clu-
den water-which, at Irongray, but
four miles TO the westward, mur-
murs past the grave of Helen
Walker whom Scott immortalized
rs 'Jennie Deans"-beneath the
shadows Of Lincluden Abbey ruins,
when now, broad and melodious
over glittering shadows. or slowly
moving over quiet depths, the river
sweeps under the red bridge.arches
Of Dumfrles, and for eight miles To
the Solway Firth flows stately OH
through u shining and spacious
plain like that of Lombardy in
miniature.
There Is not In all this fair do
main castle, a gentlenan's seat, "a
manse, u farmhouse, "a cabin, or an
old roadside inn that existed In
Burns time which does not pre-
serve some relic of the poet, or
some memory of his actual pres
ence. The rich and great regard
these as their most priceless heir
Ioems; but the tenderness with
which the lowly preserve
the most trifiing tradition Of
what Burns did, or said, or of some
accidental meeting or kindly visit,
possesses he deepest significance.
He was essentially of the lowly.
He was ever Ill ut ease among the
gentry and nobility. His great,
generous heart was keeuly alive to
the humble folk about him; and
even as gauger, the most dreaded
and hated capacity in which law
ever took form, In the es of the
Scotch of that day, and of the Irish
of a no remote time, there was IA
love for Burns through the valley
countryside that knew no bounds.
He rode on his horses, "Peuasus and
Peg Nicholson" 200 miles each
week in connection with his duties
NJ exciseman; and, IL 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 rhythm,
rhyme and soul of their own vague
bungerlngs? No one who will
come among this peasantry to-day,
lettering here and there where he
fingered, need go to the books for
tender things about Burns. These
people all have them In the very
core OF their hearts and, with glow
Ing faces, at their tongues end.
Every where your wanderings
may lead, at this farmhouse you
will learn of unrecor led kindness;
ut the next, of some pleasant Incl
dent; Mt another, of an old adven-
ture; now Of perhaps forgivnble
roysterilg then, of some blessed
help In the time of need; again,
of festivity of which he was the
life; and here again of PRAYER.
Prayer from Burns? Yes, prayer
with the living and at the couch of
the dead, among those so lowly that
somehow those spiritual excise
men" who delighted to league the
poet-excisemun with "Auld Horniep
had no time from their "higher',
parochial duties to minister there.
And IL does one good to hear these
whose fathers before them treasured
his memory, tell scores of tales, like
these of Burns own tenderness:
How the poet-gauger, ever leaning
to the side of mercy, once came to
"auld Kate Watson" of Thornhln,
In the publican's trade for a fair-day
without license, and when it was
his sworn official duty to coniiscate
her goods and land her In gaol, he
only said to her with meaning
wink, "Kate, are you mad! Don't
ye know that the supervisor aud