The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-27

grand march was led by Chief w. c. Mcintosh and Miss Mcintosh. Danc- ing was kept up with much spirit until the "wee short hour ayont the twall." The music was supplied by Fichtps or chestra and Professor Hill prompted. ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR PHELPS
 Professor w. Lyon Phelps gave the annual address on Robert Burns" He said in substance:
 Robert Burns was born in 1759 in a clay cottage which his father had built. He did not have the advantages of school, but was fortunate in having an excellent private tutor. We are great ly indebted to this private tutor, for he gave Robert Burns great deal of in- struction in literature, especially in the literature of England, and Scotland.
 "The childhood of Burns was spent in poverty. His fathers life was con- stant warfare to keep starvation from the door. He was not one of those men who are poor, but rent pews in church and then do not pay> He was brave fighter and went down in his struggle against poverty with flag flying.
 Robert Burns early fell into bad habits. I do not believe in stating portion of a mans life without stating the whole, so I will say nothing further than that from these bad habits Burns never fully recovered. At twenty-five Burns went to work on farm. He was very poor and labored hard all day in the fields. His best poems were writ ten at this period, at night, when he was weary with his hard days work. Tn 17S6 he went to Edinburgh, where he was admitted into the most polite and cultivated society. His perfect honesty and sincerity at once won him a place here In 17SS he got himself appointed a gauger. Some say this is the most prosaic occupation that poet could be put to, but I agree with Carlyle that it was the best that he could do in his re- duced circumstances. In 1791 he was fired with zeal for the ideas of liberty and equality of the French revolution He died in 1796 at the age of thirty seven years, cut off in the prime of life.
 "The tragedy of Burns life lies in thathe was born and reared blow boy, but with angelic aspirations. He ought to have been born to wealth and all the luxuries which are suited to na- lures like his. He was fitted for wealth and society by his natural tastes as was Tennyson. It is far more difficult for one to be good in poverty. But Burns was surrounded by the sordid environ ment of life, and in such circum- stances as these he did as Carlyle says the best he could. His environments and the weakness of his temperament bore him down and doubtless cut off many years of his life. I do not know sadder tragedy than this.
 Previous to Burns Scotland had pro- duced no great masters in literature. Burns gave his life to Scottish litera- ture and he was followed by those other great masters, Water Scott, Thomas Carlyle and Robert Louis Stevenson, the great novelist of to-day. He did more than this, however, for the litera- | ture of the eighteenth century to which he gave the freshness and honesty which it utterly lacked before him. Burns perfect honesty and perfect nat uralness you see when you compare him with Byron, who, although great poet, is often insincere and poses for effect This insncerity in Byrons poetry saps it's very strength away. Burns poetry, cn the other hand, is perfectly natural. I may say that God is behind all the best in poetry, music and art. Isn't it | strange that all the learned and edueat- l ed men of Scotland should be passed over, and Burns, the poor blow boy, made the master poet? All our civili- zation is the product of suffering and all our great poems are the product of li suffering And thus, also, Burns poet ry was the result of his great suffering. 1 "The masterpieces of Burns are his | Scot dialect songs. He it was who ar ticulated the thought of the Scottish people, He was a perfectly natural singer He always says what he means and reported accurately what he has seen. He found his inspiration in his own heart, and not in English history" " The following were the various con- mittees who had charge of the celebra- l tion:
 Committee of arrangements-Pet ! Stirling, chairman; John Hume, treas 1 urer; James Mustarde, secretary; W. l c. Mcintosh and John MacLauchlan | Jr.
 1 Reception committee Alexander Wilson, Samuel MacLauchlan, John
 Brown. Andrew Currie and Thomas | Aitchison.
 Ushers-Robert D. Pryde, Charles
 Munro, William Paterson, George Mun-
 TO and Daniel MacAulay
 Floor committee-Chief W. C. McIn.
 tosh, manager; Alexander Wilson, John
 Menzies, R. D. Pryde and John Mac ! Lauchlan, Jr.
 The artists of the occasion were the
 Balmoral quartette. composed of Mrs
 Olivia Campbell Schafer, soprano; MT
 George Fulton, tenor; Miss Jessie How
 ard Matteson, contralto; MT. Walter
 Bruce, baritone; Mir. J. c. Gould, cornet ] aRpprn I1a