Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-09-21

broad and measureless sense in which a
poet of the people knits his personality
adorably into the hearts of an entire
nation, all of grand old Scotia is truly
the LAND Of Burns" In a closer
geographical respect, where both per-
souality and genius have been all'per-
vading, and have left on every hand
some memory of association and endur-
ing reminder of the bard's actual pres
ehce, there are, provincially, distinct.
lively two Burns Lands" in Bonnie
Scotland.
These are Ayrshire, on the Firth of
Clyde, and Dumfriesshire, on the Solway
Firth, adjoining counties of southwest
ern Scotland. From the top of Merrick
Mountain in the northern part of Kirk.
cudbrightshire, which wedges strip of
glorious hill country up to the north be-
tween the two former shires, to which |
had tramped to wander down the Doom
from its very source, the sight can ira
verse the entire breadth of both the
Ayrshire Land of Burns and the Land
of Burns Of DumfriesshiTe. There is
not another scene in all the world more
fraught with glowing natural beauty;
not'another one more mournfully sweet
and tender in gentle 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.
To the mind all the vast host Of his
poetic creations; the joy and sadness of
the man in their doing; the perjury,
struggle, glory and despair, from birth
to death, are here massed with over
whelming impressiveness. To the west
is Ayrshire, at first, by the birth-spot
near pleasant Ayr, sunny and low be-
side the sea. Then, following the vale
of the Doom, it cumes 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 Dumfries-
shire, the mountains spread into broad,
luxurious wales. One, where the muir
muring NTH winds to the Solway, is a
dream of opulence and rest. Then as
the spires of old Dumfries town blend
with the ragged Solway edge, "hoary
Criffep' looms threateningly. At last a
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 dazzling cone of white
is seen the dome of the huge mausoleum
where old Scotia's dearest bard is at
rest in eternal peace.
The two shires and their very
topography-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 his happiest hours were passed al
81 ND Ia he hn =,
mountain again, the CLINT of the sea anc
nations grave-powerfully sugges
the two epochs of Burns eventful life
Ayrshire saw. his youthtide; his feverish
fervent, early struggles. Dumfriesshirt
gave the only blessed calm he knew; the
sad and desperate later days; and yet il
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 &C
acknowledgement of his fame. Dumfries
shire is glorified by his ripper fame, hi
better accomplishment, even by tn,
pathos of his later days, and by tn,
precious heritage of cherishing hi
mortal remains.
Though here to wander by the Doom
TO which the mind unconsciously re
while pilgriming among the counties
Bhrines created by his living presence il
these two shires, and looking dow
along the flaming shaft of light tina
links his genius and world-girdin
human love and magnanimity to tn
fadeless immortality of his name, | car
not but feel that the scenes which mos
breathe to the beholder the spirit of il
aft "a Taf md l.ala a
the second epoch of his life, and II
along the NTH instead of clusterin
about "the banks and braes O. bonn
Doom" True, from where you ma
stand here with me on Merrick's heigh
the Ayrshire shrines, almost within IL
limit of vision, are rich and counties
You may not discern each one with d
naked eye, but you can plainly s,
Journey.
The spires of Ayr seem almost beneat
your feet. just outside the rim of We
dure shutting in the city, where a fai
curling line of misty purple outlines Il
stnuous course of the Doom as it nea
the sea, are the low-roofed thatch,
cottage where Burns was born, besit
the splendid seat of Rosolle, on the lit
the poets father, and the spot where d
Gypsy nag foretold, as the father w
riding In haste for the doctor, that
Well a be proud of Robin.
Not half mile distant can be desert,
the rotitng bell-towero of "Alloway's Au
Haunted KIRK" Ali about are II
scenes of Tam o. Shanter," and ne
on slight eminence can be seen b
white, colonnaded shafts of the gre
Burns monument But few miles
the northeast in pleasant champail
country, now dotted by thriving villag
and threaded with emerald lines
hedge, coppice and plantations, are Tia
bolton and Mauchline, but four mil
apart.
At the former was laid the scene
"Death and DIR. Hornbrook,n and it W
here that the pathetic parting Of Bur
and Highland Mary occurred. You C,
see the square tower of Mauchli
Castle, whose owner, Gavin Hamilic
became Burns patron, and will knc
that at this village was Johnnie Dow
house, and still remains unaltered I
public house of "Poosie Nansie," see
Of the Jolly Beggars;" while over the
but mile and half west of Mauchli
is the noted farm of Mossgiel, once CO
Quoted with such ruinous herosm
the poet and his brother, Gilbert. II W
here that the "Cotter's Saturday Nigh
and others Of Burns greatest poe
were written, and where the poet, af
preparing to fly to Jamaica and ST
denly being called by Dr. Blackjack
Edinburgh, from which he had return
in triumph, was clasped in his poor {
mothers embrace while her ecstatic II