The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-01-26
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Xix mapping bird, wee helpless
thing,
Mat in the merry months o. spring,
Delegated me TO hear thee sing,
What comes o. thee?
Whan wilt thou cover thy chitter-
ing wing
An close thy ee?'
The very devil himself, instead of
being cursed and damned. is treated
to dissertation on his misdeeds, re-
monstrated with, and taken leave OF
in that verse with which you are all
familiar:
" But fare we weel, auld MCKEE ben,
Gin we wad TAX thocht au' men,
Ye aiblius MIGHT. I dinna ken,
Still haze a stake.
I'd wac to think o you black den
Fen for yer sake
This may be carrying sympathy
beyond the bounds, but the humor of
that passage has never been surpassed
that l know of.
mo man in whose heart filial love
and the love of his neighbor had not
a very large place could have written
the Cottar's Saturday Night, and as
we all know Burns dearly loved the
lasses o.. That is why he wrote the
best love songs that ever have been
written. AS Carlyle says of his songs
generally:
They do not affect to be set to music.
but they actually and in themselves are
music
LAS Burns heart was big enough, so
was his genius comprehensive enough
to embrace and illustrate all subjects.
and that is just why he was real
poet, which means a true poet, Tor
verse that is not true, that does not
see nature face to face without coat
and without affectation may be fault
less as rhyme, but it is not poetry and
is doomed to oblivion.
ut is his intimacy with and thorough
understanding of nature that enables
Burns to reach all hearts. He does
not stand apart and tell how the Cot
tar's Halloween is celebrated or what
happened when Willie brewed peck
O. maui He actually sees it all and is
taking part as he writes in the devo-
tons, the frolic, or the conviviality,
and so enables the reader to picture 1t
to himself and see it, too, and enjoy 1t.
Scotland has produced many emil
nent men whom she delights to honor,
ing and so gifted as Robert Burns, her
favorite son. His big heart syTnpa-
thized with all sorts and conditions of
men, from the Earl of Glencairn TO the
jolly beggars, and his splendid genius
enabled him to express that sympathy
so as to reach all mems hearts; that, j
take it, is why all sorts and conditions
>Of men unite to do honor to his MEM
oy on the 18th of January.
There are many sides to Burns lit
erary work l have briefly sketched
what l think is the great feature Of
it, and shall not attempt anything
further in that direction.
Il should like, however, to say few
words about the man, and let me say at
once, and / take the liberty of saying
it on behalf of the Thistle Club, that
we are not met here tonight to apollo
gize, in the slightest measure, for Rob-
ert Burns.
mo doubt, there is still a remnant
of the 'uncoguid' that think or affect
to think that the celebration of his
birthday might with advantage be left
alone; that his was not a good exam
pie; that he was this, that and the
next thing-and by no means worthy
of being celebrated Burns being
mortal, was not perfect, but with all
his imperfections we are proud of hin.
and let me say that it took just the
sort of man that Burns was to do what
he did and place him on all but the
very highest pinnacle of literary fame.
I'VE may regret the rantin' roarin'
episodes, the pints O. wine and gowden
locks, but we must admit that it took
them all to produce Aud Lang Syne'
and fMagunnie's Ava as well as Tam
O. Shanter' and the Lad That Was
Born in Kyle
90 He'll haze misfortunes great and sma'
But aye a heart aboon them "a;
He'll be a credit till us "a
Well a be prood o Robin. Srs.se1
William Love, with his violin, set
the hearts of the Scots tingling by the
rendition of some popular Scottish airs.
George Smithies presided at the piano.
Mr.. j. Stewart praised the name OF
Robert Burns in a highly appreciated
poem composed by himself
The toast, Scotland" was responded
to by Thomas Black. He spoke If
the honor of being born in Scotland,
and of what that country had done to
put England in the high position she
now holds. He then dwelt upon some
of the great men that bonnie land had
produced-Hugh Miller the great ge-
ologist; James Watt, the inventor OF
the steam engine; Walter Scott, Thorn
as Carlyle, Robert Burns, and others,
forming a galaxy of poets; and DaVl1