The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-01-01
I'm sure sma' pleasure II can gee.
Fen to a dell.
To scelp and saud poor dogs like me
And hear IL %soueal."


And he plainly tells him further that
he need not be thinking he Is going 30
catch him.
And now. Old Cloots. I ken ye're think
A certain Bardie's r%antin', drinkin'.
Some luckless hour will send him linkin'
To your black pit:
Put. faith, he'll turn a corner, Jinkin,
And cheat you yet"
But. fare you weel. Aud Nickie-benl
Oh. wad ye take a thought and menu
This suggests the goodness Of Uncle
Toby. who, when DR.. Slopp told him
the devil was the father Of all evil and
lies. and was damned already. *
am sorry for IT. Quoth my uncle Toby"
THE Jolly Beggars" Is one OF his best
creations. Light and airy and soft Of
movement. yet sharp and precise In de-
tails. Every face is a portrait, and the
whole a group clear In photography"
Carlyle gives this the palm Of all Burns
works. because OF the finish and complete
ness with which II Is carried out. Tn
method and form OF this cantata is COM
piete in all It's parts. Hence l cah at
tention TO II. but time does not permit OF
many extracts:
Life is all a variorum,
We regard not how It goes.
Let them cant about decorum
Who nave characters to lose.
A fig for those by law protected.
Liberty's a glorious feast!
Courts for towards were erected;
Churches built to please the priest"
This is the jovial. ragged rig. coming
from the interior Of Poosie Nancie's.
where were ~carousing a molly bank Of
tinkers and beggars.
OF course, IL Is not expected. In a paper
OF the limits of this one. that many OF
Burns best things. even. can be men
toned.
We must now come TO those beautiful
songs Of his. and should everything else
go the "mouldy ways of time" his songs
will live forever:
But still the elements OF sang
In formless tumble right and rang
Went floating In his brain"
And O.. the songs OF Burns! Who can
tell what influence for good they have
had on the destiny OF men and women
young and old? Who can doubt but that
the spirit Of them. like holy oil. has
flowed through society and softenea and
smoothed the hard and brittle parts into
true friendships and gentle manners; that
they have tempered with mercy the as
pcrity OF the law. and covered with the
mantle OF cheTity many trembling Gull
prits?
The wisdom Of the state in Parliament
assembled have made the laws. Robert
Burns. from his inner consciousness has
made the songs. The spirit and body Of
the laws are evanescent and changeaOle.
But the spirit and body Of the songs Of
Burns will never vanish, nor ever change.
Who here cannot recall the pictures and
scenes Of haiCyOn days. when a soft light
shone over "A group Of father and mother,
children and friends? Young. middle aged
and old, gather under the family root
tree. and voices mingling in unison, or
perhaps one voice alone. Young men OF
other families. perhaps. have dropped in
for the evening, and the sweet and gentio
maiden will take her place, and a manly
form. with loves message In his looks.
Will stand by her and turn the leaves of
the music, and with tender love and
sympathy in her voice she will sing:
Flow gently, sweet Alton. among thy
green hraes;
Flow quietly. sweet river, the theme of
my lays;
My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring
stream,
Flow gently, sweet Alton, disturb not her
Dreams
Or see a dear, rogulsh ~lass-~ho perhaps
Il0G v 80 VhF
Of her admirers tell about his "scapes by
flood ard field" or, maybe, been telling
the old, old story TO unwilling cars
get up and go 10 the Old piano, and, witt
- merry twinkle in her eye. carol out:
Aud nature swears the lovely dears
Her noblest work she classes. O;
Her prentice hand she tried on man.,
And then she made the ~lassiss, o."
Or we may recall the sweet and sorrow
ful throD of MARY in Heaven
my Mary dear, departed shade!
Where is thy place Of bissful rest?
See'st thou thy lover lowly laid?
Hearst thou the groans that rend his
breast?"
Who has not heard this beautiful sona
without feeling the tear rise in the heart
and gather to the eyes?
And then. with ~piaintive voice. wef
hear the old John Anderson, my Jo.'
which limns out I'm the two most pathetic
verses in the language. a picture OF the
hopes and the joys and sorrows that nj
up and seal these lives of ours.
And then We have this exquisite touch
| Of "A regret beyond all healing:
Had we never loved sac kindly,
Had we never loved sac blind!y,
Never met or never parted,
w Z ndu lt II NtNh bANhNh w.
And with the throb of this song
"Deep az first love, and wild with all re-
gret'-
the sweet and gentle maiden and the
manly form beside her shall find thei;
! hearts attuned, and there win be no aftei
parting between them.
And then we may see that same rogulsh
Young lass, with the merry laugh and
-.g-1.tF-r qua uifh a nrpftV imitation OF
ovness tune her voice to
Gin a body meet a body.
Coming through the rye;
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry"
And now, when the evening wanes' all
will swell out in unison "The Worid ;
| Grand Anthem" which sougis through
the heart strings. making them 10 Viorate
with the old sweet memories or nome
and the days that are no more, anu
with the long sweep of the melody ana
the words yelling up from the Gcep anu
sacred places of the soul
"Auld Lang Syne" is at once an anthem
/ and a benediction. 1t is needless. In this
day and tim to resort to the critics art
| The verdict has gone forth, and Burns
head has been crowned by all the Eng
| ush-sDeaking people with the sacred
aureole of genius.
1--WE are not to sit in judgment on tina
sacred head"
His songs have passed into the air we
breathe. They are real, and seem to De
| things rather than words they are laugh
ter and tears. "He had tears IN AIM
| and consuming fire. The world has seer
no such national lypist. All Scotland Is
in his verse. He has made 1t the home
of romance. The people do not read Sc
much for excitement or kr owledge. pu'