The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-23
THE BIRTHDAY OF BURNS
Anniversary to Be Celebrated on
Next Friday.
Washington Admirers of the scotch
Bard TO Have Their Usual Banquet.
stormy Life-Reared in Poverty
and Ended His Existence in Need.

and Ended His Existence in Need
Next Friday. January %. will mark tbs
anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns
On that day will be celebrated in ever,
town in this country, in fact whereye
the English language is spoken, the ma.
tiyity of the great peasant-poet of Scot
land. In Washington the Caledonian Clui
will give its customary banquet, and il
other cities the countrymen CT Burns, wht
are, in many cases, formed into organi@a-
tions for that express purpose, will honor
the memory of their iIlustrious bard.
Robert Burns first saw the light On Jan
uary %, 1903, in a small cottage by the
wayside, near the bridge. of Doom, two
miles from Ayr. He was early aceus-
TONED TO poverty, nor was he ever en-
tirel! absolved from its sufferings Thus
Burns received little regular schooling
but iabored behind his fathers pillow
from his early boyhood. Nevertheless he
managed TO learn TO read, and even mas
tered the rudiments of geometry. H was
extremely studious, and while working
in the fields generally had book in his
hand, whose contents sometimes occu-
pied his attention, perhaps, more than
the pillow.
This kind of life," he writes, 1.-THE
cherries gloom of a hermit and the IN
ceasing toll of a galley slave, brought me
to my sixteenth year. Nevertheless all
nature had a wondrous eloquence and ten
oerness for him as eyineed in his Lines
to Field Mouse" whose nest he uninten-
tionaily overturned with his piow. 1t is
common mistake, however, to suppose
that Burns was an ignorant peasant whose
poetic utterances were the effects OF pure
inspiration. He read constantly and with
the greatest enthusiasm, forming his style
upon many models and constantly refining
his own productions. He was cheered in
his youthful days by vague STRINGS of
ambition. which he pathetically lkens to
the blind cropping Of Homer's Cyclops
round the walls of his cave"
Burns refers to his intense SUSCEPTIBLE
ty to the homeiiest aspects of nature
which throughout characterized his genius
He wrote: Scarcely any object gave me
more-I do ..ot know if / should call it
pleasure-brt something which exalts and
enraptures me, than to walk in the shell
tered side of a wood or high plantation in
cloudy winter day and hear the stormy
wind bowling among the trees and raw
ing over the plain. listened to the birds.
and frequently turned out of my path lest
should disturb their little songs or
brighten them to another station
In ISL Burns went to Irvine to learn
tbs trade of flaxdresser at was he
says, IAN unlucky affair. AS we were
giving welcome carousal to the New
Year, the snop took fire and burned to
ashes; and l was left, like true poet,
without a sixpence."
In 1884. Burns family migrated TO Mos
Eel, where he lived and worked, during
four years, for a return scarcely equal TO
the wage OF the commonest lsboTer in this
day. His first volume of poems was pub
lished at Klimarncck in June, 1856 1t
contained some Of his most justly celebrat-
ed poems, the results of his scanty leis-
ure at Lochlea and Mogsgiel for instance,
The Authors Prayer" the Address to
the DELL. The VISION and The
Dream Halloween - The Cotter's Sat
urday Night" Man was Made to Mourn
and some Of his most popular songs. This
collection OF poems so brilliant and origi-
nal in style, SO excellent in every sense.
and so universally appealing. took his au-
dience by storm. THE country murmured
of him from sea to sea- with his po-
ems, says Robert Heron. ''old.and young,
grave and gay, learned and ignorant. were
alike transported l was at iha' time resi-
dent In Galloway. and can well remember
how even plowboys and maid servants
would have gladly bestowed the wages
they wanted to purchase necessary cloth
ing if they might but procure the works
OF Burns. This first edition only brought
the author G 90 direct return. but it in
troduced him to the iiterati of Edinburgh,
whittier he was invited, and where he was
welcomed, Toasted, admired, and pstroniz- I
Cd
PORTS went from these meetings whe--
Or haa Seen rrofsese.s and tu-1-
p tine O. writer Bpplel
IN 1853 S1z1E Jork b. aaa fa1m 81 El- 4
'isiaud on The NTH. settled there mar .
-ied. lost his small stock g. Money. and /
A9Sie among other pieces, "Auld Lang /
syne,' and Tam O. shanter." IN 1871 |
he removed to similar post at Dunn
'ries worth go. In the course of the
following year. he was asked to edit and |
supply the Melodies of Scotland, with |
and Accomplishments for the |
D:anoforte and violin, the poetry by |
Robert Burns" To this work he con- |
tributed about one hundred songs, the !
best of which are now ringing in the ear |
Of every Scotchman from New Zealand |
TO San Francisco. For these. original |
ana adopted, he received a shawl for his |
wife, picture by David Allen, repre- |
senting the "Cotter's Saturday Night"
and 50. The poet wrote an Indignant |
letter. and never afterward composed for |
money
The closing years of Burns life were
by that gloom and melancholy |
which had been fitfuIly ma n fest ed
throughout his entire life In April. 1876.
he wrote: Il fear it will be some time be- |
fore tune my Tyre again. BY Babel's
streams ! haze sat and wept ] have only |
known existence by the pressure of sick
ness and counted time by the repercus-
sions of pain. close my eyes in misery |
and open them without hope / look on
he vernal day and say with Ferguson:
Say. wherefore has an a,i-indulsent heaven
Life to the comiogtless and wretched givenf
On the 4th of July he was seen to be
lying On the 18th he wrote to his cousin
ior the loan of SO to save him from
'aEsing his last days in jail On the 21st
le. was no more. On the 25th when his
asst son came into the world he was6
ed with local honors. the volun
he company to which he belonged firing
hree vol]eys over his grave, contrary 10
me Of his last requests 10 a friend not
o have the awkward squad fire over him.
A SPECIAL APPEAL ALLOWED.
he kiechbocfer EmbezzIe
Trial AguIn Posfuaued