Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-06-14
A Visit to EIIisland, a Farm.
Home of the Bard.
HIS LOVE FOR JEAN ARMOUR.
An Eden of Labor and Love, That Little
Home-Hea ven Beside the Winding
Nith-Pastoral, Historic and
Romantic Scenes.
Copyright. 1891



his genius and his world-girdling human
love and maguanimity to the fadeleSs i'm
mortality Of his memory and name, have
always felt that the one among them all
which most breaths 10 the beholder the
spirit of inefable pathos and tenderness,
was this, the bard's farm-home of Ellisland.
In the period between May, 1856, at the
age OF twenty-seven years. and the end OF
the wear 1871, when he came from this
| Ellisland farm 10 the three rooms in the
Wee Nennsl,'' in DumfrieS, period OF
but four and one half years, more personal
hope and disappointment, joy and suffering,
| anguish from iupulsive wrOug-doing, and
| heaven of the purest domestic bliss, temp
tation and victory. agonized despair and tri-
| umph, Were crowded into the poets eXper-
| fences, than fail TO the lot of most great
men in their entire lives. In this brief
time, first he was disowned and deserted by
| Jean Armour, through the bitter and ever
| unreasoning opposition of her father. He
| was then betrothed to Highland Mary
| Campbell, the heroine of his immortal ode,
ITO Mary in Heaven" who shortly died of
! malignant fever at Greenock.
| About 100 of his most characteristic poems
| were already written, and the now priceless
| first edition OF the same had been issued
/ from the rural press of kilmaInOck. in the
| county of DumbartOn. Twin children had
| been born TO him out of wedlock by Jean
Armour, one of whom, Robert, in after
| years man of rare character and worth,
| survived the poet tifty-eight years, his de
! cease occurring at Dunfries in 1857, and
| his body being inferred in the Burns mal-
| solemn in that city. Burns local fame hay
| ing attracted the attention of
| TIRE LITERARY CoTERIE AT EDINBURGH,
| he was invited to that city, where he was
affiliated" at the famous lodge of F'rcema-
| sons (Which still meets in the veritable
room then used and subsequently ''iuau-
| gurated" as its poet laureate, the latter
| event being the subject of Il celebrated
| painting: while he was made the literary
| lion of the day. as new and enlarged cdi-
| tons of his poems appeared. He then made
| tour of the border counties of Eng
! land and Scotland, and. Untamished by
! fame, returned 10 Nauchliuc. the old home
| spot in Ayr, drawn there by his true love
! for his Jean, who repcnted her renuncia-
! ton, and with whom the former intimacy
! was renewed. The tour of the North
was then made. Burns returned TO
| greater Edinburgh literary tiiu1nphS.
! He was introduced 10 Mrs Mae
| lehose, the ''Clarinda" of his famous cor
| respOndSuce: and again returning 10 his
! beloved Jean. took her secretly to NarDOton
| Mill, where twins, both of which died, We're
again born to them. Being now indepen-
| dent of scandalOus opposition, Burns pub
icly and proudly acknowledged Jean
Armour as his wife, then is sacred and
binding a marriage in Scotland as any other
and. in this instance. necessary only because
debarrcd formal marriage by the wif2's
parents, who thus were solely TesDonsib bic
for the cloud upon the poets marital rec
ord Burns also satisfied" the church,
which in those days was not so very diff
cult of satisfaction" He was also In a
position to satisfy Jeans parents; for on
settlement with Creech, his EdiE bur"h pub
Usher. the then astounding sum of $500
So, / 81 "a I,
Then came the brief, bright days. Mag
unanimously generous always. much of this
sum, the first and last good fortune Burns
ever knew, went to Jeans parents and 10
assist his brother Gilbert Burns in averting
disaster in the latter's farui-life efforts Ills
lucky meeting with the ingenious and
kindly Patrick Miller OF Dalswinton Hall,
had occurred. 1t had been settled that the
poet who hated the city with a royal
hatred. should return to the plow. The
nobility of the day never quite forgive this
plebeian longing and love, the source of his
graudest inspirations. This beautiful farm
of Ellisland, five miles above Dumfries, was
taken at a rental of $50 per year. Burns
unaded bcgdu his fGrm-labors the first
Monday after Whitsunday, 1.SS. He toiled
manfulIy until the autumn OF that year,
meantime
SINGING MANY LCsTY song
TO his absent wife, and built the lovely cot
tage which stands here EMPOWERED in roses
to this day. And then was celebrated the
simple but glorious homecoming, when,
with rustic rites. and his bonnie Jean upon
his arm, preceded by peasant girl carry
ing the family Bible and 4 bowl of SALT he
marched proudly into his little home
heaven beside the winding NTH. All evil
denceS agree that in the brief period of a
tritie over two years, between Whitsunday,
l1SS, and Martimas, 1891, Burns and his
good Jean experienced an Eden of labor and
love, despite their final enforced departure.
1t was also the period of Burns best and
greatest poetic fecundity. But more chill
dren came TO them. These must be sup
ported. The crops failed, and inevitable
ruin was approaching. It was then, with
nowhere else on earth to turn, with no one
on earth to defend him from the wretched
influences of such environment, that to
save his wife and children from actual
want, he was forced to accept the govern
ment position of exciseman at the beggarly
pittance of ESQ per yea" The five remain
ing years of his life, after the poet, his
Jean and their three children, Robert,
Francis Wallace and William Nicol, re-
moved to the humble lodgings, their first
home in Dumfries, checkered, sad, pathetic
beyond comprehension, are known to all.
Although thousands of Americans each
Gpear visit the mauSoleum of Burns at DUN
fries, it is surprising that SO few come here
within the past five years. Entirely aside
from the interest associative with Burns, it
is altogether one of the most charming half
days excursions in Britain. By foot. on
your bicycle, or by carriage. it is but five
enhancing miles and back again, chiefly
along the banks of the river NTH, which,
after passing beneath the S08-years old
bridge of Deyorgilla, at Dumfries, broad |
ems and soon mergeS with the majestic tide
of the Solway. Nithsdale itself is one of
tine most beautiful of all the Scottish low |
land valleys, and along the entire way from |
Dumfries to Ellisland, its loveliest views 4
are seen. |
Leaving the quaint old city of Durufries, |
you cross the new brig to the west, and |
are at once in the pretty braeside hamlet |
of Maxwelltown, famous wherever heart !
songs are sung for that one inexpressibly |
tender ballad, equal TO any that Burns him |
ssliIaS1tha world. matchleSs Annie Lau-
Then the highway - the ancient |
coach road between Dumfries and Glasgow |
winds over brae and hill, through dale |
and dingle, over beck and burn,
THROUGH sHADowT AVENUES
and patches OF sunshine, past deserted |
clachaus and NOW silent olden inns-of-calI