Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-07
AMERICANS LOVE scoTIA.s BARD.
A Priceless Collection of Burnsiana
in Washington.
From the Booknan.

From the BookmRn.
Not long ago. whan new material for
the Henley edition of Burns was being
sought at home and abroad. a certain mod
est Scctchman, living in the United States,
had an original manuscript autographed
and sent to the publishers In making
acknowledgment of his courtesy on page
4O3 of the third volume. recently published.
they write him down as Mr.. w. r. Smith
of Cincinnati, Ohio There can be no rea-
sonable doubt that a Mr.. w. r. Smith
does reside in Cincinnati, Ohio. Perhaps
several of them. But he Mr.. w. n. Smith
who possesses an original Burns manu-
script resides. and for forty-three years
has resided in Washington city super
intendent of the Botanical Gardens. At
present. Furthermore, he is president Of
the Society of American Florists, and for
over generation he has been widely
known i'm this country the friend of
many distinguished men. He has always
been at home to them in his little red
brick cottage, which nestics well hidden
just under the white majesty of the Cap
itol and at peace in the green plant world
Of its own.
The treasure of this house, as it is the
pride of his heart, has long been his
Burns collection, which fills a small room
apart from his general library. How in
teresting this collection is may he Inferred
from his own statement that II contains
two hundred separate dated editions OF
Burns out of the six hundred editions
which he says nave been published
throughout the world. To this treasure
house of his beloved poet he expects to
add other volumes. to be obtained from
the Mitchell library of Glasgow, which
leads all others in Burnsiana- The affec-
ton with which he still plans for the fur
Their enrichment of his hoard is passion
that began In youth. The first shillings he
ever earned, he says, were captured at a
village school examination. In the dread
full presence of the dominic and the min
lister the class had been called up to re-
cite. member by member, stanza in turn,
Gray's Elegy. They soon stuck. "'You go
on with it, Dux," commanded the dominic.
Go on with 1t he did; and two shillfngs
were laid in his palm for this feat of men,
Dry; whereupon he took to his heels and
spent his prize for his first volume of
"Bobbie"
Among his rare editions he reckons one
published at Alexandria, Va, in 1913, dur
ing the war with England. Only two cop
les of this, he says, are known to be In
existence Another is the first American
edition. Another is the second American
edition, to which belonged the Washington
copy now owned by Representative Cabell
of Illinois, and held to be priceless. As to
the final disposition of his Burns library,
he thought at one time of sending 1t to
a Masonic institution in Kentucky, owing
to his friendship for the late Senator Beck
of that state, another rugged Scotchman
whose portrait hangs on the library wall.
He has since thought of leaving IL to
Princeton College. out OF regard for the
late President McCosh. But his preference
is TO have it housed at last in Washing
ton, in a room that he would like Mr. An
drew Carnegie to build for II there instead
of the one the millionaire is understood
to have offered TO build In Pittsburg. 1t
would be a pity ever to have the collection
removed from Washington. where 1t Is
so often visited. When Craibe Angus
wanted the loan of it las. year for the
Burns celebration at Glasgow. Mr.. Smith
declined to send it, being loath to disap-
point his American visitors. In this con-
nection he quoted with some feeling a re-
mark once made by Mace of Burns: "A
Scotchman always begins by finding fault
with my uncle; but the Americans-they
never find fault with him." A Scotchman
must come to this country, insisted Mr..
Smith. to find out what I. means to love
the poet of Scotland.