Waterbury Democrat., 1901-07-19
DEATH OF ROBERT MACKIE.
Kindly Remembered by Employes of
 the Waterbury Buckle Company.


 we'll known and highly respected eiti- zens, died this morning at his home. 721 South Main street, after an H. ness of several weeks. Although his health had been poor for the past lEilf year or so still he remained at his work until the latter part of June, when his condition became so critical that he was obliged to give up. Mir Mackie was born at StewartOn, Ayrshire, Scot land, seventy years ago and resided in his native country until about fifteen years ago when he came to Waterbury and soon after obtained a position at the Waterbury Buckle company, where he remained until his health failed. When the custom of locking the gates in the morning was first introduced at that factory, Mir Mackie was in stalled as doorkeeper. and while he liked the job at the start, still he soon tired of it and requested to be put at something else. He hated the idea of turning the key in the lock when he saw some one hurry.ng along wllOwant- ed to get on the inside, but happened to be trifie late. and many man and girl, too, was 'smuggled' in unknown tO luc DOSS LII OpSl lAc SOOa OAAASSo FOA Mir Mackie, whe although very faith full employee never had any qualms of conscience about stretching a point in order to save the hands from having k to pass into the shop through the of flee, where they invariably encounter ed the superintendent, who although he rarely ever did anything worse than smile at the tardy corners unless the practice became chronic, still that smile in many instances meant more than a frown and q. calling down from some body else Whenever MT Mackie was "called'' for letting people in after schedule time he used to get out of it by finding fault with the lock, which for some unaccountable reason always refused to work just right while there was anyone on the outside. Another favorite excuse for infractions of the rule was that beyy of girls pushed the gate in wl.ila ne w:ls trying 10 close it and then disappeared so quick ly that he could not tell who they were And then his watch used to be out of tune and the noise of the ma chinery used to prevent him from hearing the whistle. After time he got away from the gate and became q general utility man about the factory, but no matter -what'positiSn heshappen- ed to fill he always held the confidence of his employers and the respect and esteem of his shopmates, all of whom considered him the best gate tender the company ever had.
 Stewarton is about twenty miles from Ayr. the b'rtl, place of Robert Burns. Scotlands, aye the whole worlds, cherished bard. and when MT Mackie grew to manhood he traversed that district and could tell interesting "reminiscences of his visits to the scene of the home of Robbie Burns. He could recite Burns poems in good shape, but in order to understand him thoroughly one would have to be vers- ed in Scotch dialect. for MT Mackie talked the language he heard i'll the time of his boyhood and appeared to take pride in telling his friends that that was his mother tongue. His fay- orites among Burns poems, if it might be said that he thought more of one | than he did of another, were Man Was aAfde to Mourn and the ''Cottiers' Saturday Night" Many q time he in | terested his shopmates by the rendi- ton of these and other effusions of Burns. Once in while when tired, but brimful of good humor he would step over to some one whom he knew appre- l ciated his literary turn of mind and l whisper in his ear the following from one of the above named productions: 70, death; the poor mans. dearest
 friend,
 The kindest and the best,
 | Welcome the hour my weary limbs
 Are laid with thee at rest.''
 MT Maekie kept in touch with cur rent events in Scotland so much so ir fact that he knew almost as mucl about what was going OH there as if ht had never leftithe place. He received Ipapers from there regularly and reat l them carefully. Once in q while wheI something of more than ordinary inter est appeared in them he called the at tention of some of his newspapei friends tc it and in this way succeeded i'll getting it into the local papers st that as many interested parties as pos sible might see it. It is net over : 1lonth ago since an article appeared il the Democrat taken from one of hi papers and he promised the reporte, at that time to give him another soon but Immediately after this meeting tn. old gentleman was obliged to remain in the house and the next thing the re porter heard of him was that he hat been called away.
 Mir Mackie leaves a widow, two sons four daughters and one sister, Rober and Joseph; the Misses Mary and Az lnes; Mrs James Stewart of Bridgeport Mrs A. c. Steer. His sister, Miss Isa belle Mackie. resides in Glasgow.
 The funeral will take place Sunda, afternoon at o'clock with seryic
 at the house by the Rev 0. E. Grange of the Third Congregational caui ch ali, interment in Riverside cemetery. Tn
 deceased was a prominent member o the Waterbury Burns club.
 Srsnttsss E:.Fai.aeE TxpUunt.