The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1893-09-16

The Two Lands of Burns-Ayrshire
His Birthplace and the Scene Of Hi
T Early Struggles and Dumfriesshir
Where His Later Years We're Passe
Their Separate Reminders of SEQ
tia's Best Loved Bard-Interestin;
Identification of Poet with Places
The Doom From its Source to the Sea
AYR, SCOTLAND, Sept. 2, 1s93-Ii
that broad and measureless sense il
which poet of the people knits hi
personality adorably into the heart:
OF an entire nation, all of grand OLD
Scotia is truly the Land of Burns.
In a closer geographical respect
where both personality and genius
have been all pervading, and have
left on every hand some memory o.
association and enduring reminder
of the bard's actual presence, there
are, provincially, distinctively two
Burns Lands" in Bonnie Scotland
These are Ayrshire on the Firth
of Clyde, and Dumfriesshire, on the
Solway Firth, adjoining counties OF
southwestern Scotland. From the
top Of Merrich Mountain in the
northern part of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
which wedges strip of glorious hill
country up to the north between the
two former shires, to which | had
tramped to wander down the Doom
from its very source, the sight can
traverse the entire breadth of both
the Ayrshire Land of Burns and the
Land of Burns of Dumfriesshire.
There is not another scene in all the
world more Taught with glowing
natural beauty; not anothe one more
mournfnlly sweet and tender in gen
tie and pathetic memories.
To the eye the panorama of all the
lovely land in which the brief life of
the bard was passed is practically
complete. TIE the mind all the vast
host of his poetic creations, the ioy
and sadness of the man in their do
ing; the perjury, struggle, glory and
despair, from birth to death, are here
massed with overwhelming impress
iveness. To the west is Ayrshire. at
first, by the birth spot near pleasant
Ayr, sunny and low beside the sea.
Then, following the vale of the Doom.
1t comes all the way to your feet, in
gentle uplands. then in rugged hills
and shadowy burns, and finally in
huge mountains and savage glens.
Passing over into Dumfrieashire, the
mountains spread into broad. luXn.
rions wales One, where the mur-
murlng NTH winds to the Solway.
Is dream of opulence and rest
Then as the spires of old Dumfries
town blend with the ragged SoIwav
edge, "hoary Criffel" looms threaten
ingly. Al last ii CLINT of blue shows
where is Brow Well, from which the
poet, close to death, was carried back
to the little Dumfries cottage and
his loyal Jean; and like tiny daz.
zling cone Of white is seen the dome
of the huge mausoleum where old
Scotla's dearest bard is at rest in
eternal peace.
The two shires and their very to-
pography-the western sea and its
soft shores, the wales, the uplands.
the midshire rugged heights, the
sweet valley where the bard's most
fecund and the happiest hours were
passed at Ellisland beside the NTH.
the lowering mountain again, the
CLINT of the sea and a nations grave
powerfully suggest the two epochs
of Burns eventful life. AYRSHIRE
saw his youthtide; his feverish, fer
vent early struggles. Dumfriesshire
gave the only blessed calm he knew;
the sad and desperate later days;
and yet it was in Dumfriesshire that
the great heart grew still. Ayrshire
glories in his birthplace, the scenes
of his youth, the unfolding of his
genius, the first acknowledgement
of his fame. Dumfriesshire is glori.
fed by his ripper fame, his better ac-
eomplishment, even by the pathos of
his latter days, and by the precious
heritage of cherishing his mortal re
mains.
Though here to wander by the
Doom, to which the mind unconsci-
ously reverts at mention of the poets
name, while pilgriming among the
countless shrines created by his liv-
ing presence in these two shires. and
looking down along the flaming shaft
of light that links his genius and
world girding human love and mag
nanimity to the fadeless Immortality
OF his name, | cannot but feel that
the scenes which most breathe to the
beholder the spirit of ineffable pathos
and tenderness belong to the second
epoch of his life, and lie along the
NTH instead of clustering about "the
banks and braes O bonnie Doom"
True, from where you may stand
here with me on Merrick's heights
the Ayrshire shrines. almost within
the limit of vision, are rich and
countless. You may not discern
each one with the naked eye, but you
can plainly see where all may be
found in short days journey.
The spires of Ayr seem almost
beneath your feet. Just outside the
rim of verdure shutting in the city,
where faint curling line of misty
purple outlines the sinuous course of
The Doom as it nears the sea, are the
low rooted matched cottage where
Burns was born, beside the splendid
seat of Roselle, on the little farm of
seven acres which was rented bv the
poets father, and the spot where the
Gypsy bag foretold, as the father
was riding in haste for the doctor.
that.
Well a be proud of Robin.
Not half mile distant can be de
serted the rotting bell-tower of AL
loway's Auld Haunted Kirk" All
about are the scenes of Tam o. Shan
ter" and near on a slight eminence
can be seen the white, colonnaded
shafts of the great Burns monument.
But few miles TO the northeast in
pleasant champaign country, now
dotted by thriving villages and
threaded with emerald lines of hedge.
coppice and plantations, are Tarbol.
ton and Manchine, hut four miles
apart.