The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-23
LAND O'oAKEs AND BoBBIE BURNS
Hon. Thomas NJ. NorwOOd's Recent
Speech Before st. Andrews Society

Speech Before st. Andrews Society
AT the recent annual dinner of the st.
Andrews Society. Hon. Thomas NJ. Nor
wood responded to the toast of 1.-The Land
O. Cakes and Bobbie Burns" The speech
was regarded by all who heard it as a
literary masterpiece, and the requests for
copies have been numerous. At the So
licitation of the stewards, Judge Norwood,
as soon as his official duties would per-
NIT, furnished them with copy.
The after-dinner speeches at the St.
Andrews are limited to ten minutes, but
it is safe to say that within the brief
time allotted, Judge Norwood provided for
the society a speech which, as a literary
treat, deserved to rank with the speeches
which he delivered in congress on more
momentous occasions. Judge Norwood
said:
''What patriot ever heard of the Ameri-
can revolution without thinking at once
of Washington? Whoever thinks of the
French revolution without seeing the CO.
lossa figure of Napoleon rise up before
him like the airy specter of the Broken?
Who ever studies and admires the strength
and richness of our English tongue with
out thought of Shakespeare? And what
man or woman whose soul ever scars on
the rhapsody of song, whose heart beats
in synchronous cadence with the poets
rhymthmic measure, or through whose
| veins has ever swept the fiery current or
| loves mad passion, or has even once felt
"the nympholepsy of some fond despair
ever hears the name of Scotland, Scotia
| or Caledonia, without the instant vision
of the genius of Robert Burns?
when Scotland presents her noble Off
spring to the greatest emperor of all the
earth, public opinion, and with just ma
ternal pride exclaims, these are my jew
elsr she can, without fear of exciting tilal
| jealousy, aequiesce in the judgment OF
| mankind, that Robert Burns is her
brightest jewel-her child of genius.
Nor does this concession by a loving
mother consign her other sons to second
rank in comparison with those of any
| other race, age or cline.
''Cal her roll of fame from Allan Ram
say to Walter Scott, and there swells from
Soctia's lofty peaks standing out like ma
lures grand cathedral organ, diapason
of minstrelsy that rolls over land and
seas, thrilling every English-speaking soul
with its majestic harmony.
"From the age of Wallace and Bruce
there stretches line of dauntless heroes
whose glowing ashes will kindle every pa
triots torch so long as valor shall be
admired and freedom shall be dear to
the heart of man.
along the track of four centuries we
behold a succession of philosophers,
statesmen, scientists and metaphysicians
whose logic is as strong as the algebraic
| problems of her own Playfair, whose rep
utations are as firmly grounded as the
| granite base of her mountains, and whose
learning, rich as the honey of Mount Ida,
| is stored away in every en-
ligntened land for the luxury and
/ of all
we raise our eyes from things terrestrial
to things celestial; when we glance from
| the congregation to the priest at the altar
we see in John Knox reformer, who
ranks with Luther; one who
man. the founder of a mighty
church that has grown with all the Vigor
| of his great soul, and a character that
rises above the multitudinous sea of man.
| kind as Ben Lomond above the lakes. Rug
| ged nature brings forth men of rugged
strength and from no historic spot or
cline has there ever sprung a stronger,
| Drawer more patriotic race than the clans
that rushed at the slogans call, with
! bonnets and spears and Bonded bows
| from the Businesses, valleys and neither Of
| Scotland, in defense of honor and home.
But not in the
Land O. cakes and brither Scots
Nor
''Nor in any other land, since the birth of
| Abel, the gentle Sheppard, unto whom
! the Lord had respect, down to this fes-
tive hour, has there been born of woman
more than one Robert Burns.
mot as a scholar, not as a dia..
lecticion who can split the ninth part Of
| hair, not as statesman, warrior artist,
or scientist, was he great. He was no
| specialist-his genius was universal. He
was not born great. He had not great
ness thrust upon him, but he was
King O men for a that for he
/ achieved greatness.
'No man ever rose from manager so hum
BILE to a habitation so regal, for his dwell
| ing place is the heart of enlightened man.
No one ever struggled up through so thick
| a mesh of tangled distractions and rose
! in triumph to win an immortal crown.
And he achieved this triumph, as Her
! cules performed his marvellous labors,
| with his own unaided strength. And, yet,
| his nature was compounded of many
| weaknesses and great power. His outward
| barriers were no more burden than were
| his natal inarmities. With the one war
| ring against his nober, diviner part, and
! the other pressing on him as the world
| on Atlas, he rose when millions could not
| have moved. His was a constant warfare
| of the spirit against the flesh. Christian,
| in his journey to the Celestial City met
! Apollyon in his path and in one desperate
| struggle NanqulSneu MIN, out Burns ana
Apollyon journeyed together and his life
was daily battle with this enemy of tho
SOUL first binding him by the witchery
of love and tempting him with the ius-
! cious charms and symmetry of Jean Ar
mour; then swirling him into debauching
bacchanalia; then maddening the naughty
pride that genius feels when bound by con-
Ventionalities imposed by inferior souls,
like CULVER bound by Lilliputians. And
| through all these and many more tempta-
| tions, and at all times, hungry ruin had
aim in the wind
"And yet mankind hesitate to say
whether the moral greatness of Burns was
not loftier than his genius. He was artist
of the highest order but he was, also,
philosopher and sage Like Goldsmith, he
touched nothing he did not adorn,' but
the moral of his tales and songs surpasses.
If possible the beauty and the richness Of
their casing. Who but Robert Burns could
have distilled from a subject so repulsive,
and have framed In so rich a setting, the
imperishable gem
"'Oh wad some power the giftie gle us
To see oursePs as others see us;
1t wad from many a blunder free us,
And f0o1fQb poffoa