The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-05
POETRY OF ROBERT BURNS
SUBJECT OF HENRY wARRUM's Lee
TURE AT MADISON, WIS.
Burns Made His Life Chart for
Those who sailed the Seas az
Intempcrance.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal
MADISON, Wis. Dec. 4.-Henry Warrun1s
of Indianapolis. lectured here tonight on
Robert Burns" under the management OF
the Unitarian Guild. The lecture was en-
Enthusiastically received by large audience,
including the usual quota of demonstrative
college students.
The lecture dealt with the life. poetry and
message of Robert Burns. Mr. Warrum's
lecture was an eloquent special plea for the
poet and a defense of his life. In speaking
OF his intemperanee the speaker said:
This tender and unselfsh man was will
ing TO make his life chart that those who
sailed such seas might see the most pa
thetic shipwreck on the shores OF time
With reference to his other weakness Mr..
Warrum said: He loved all womankind
from Clarida to Mary Morrison and from
Highland Mary to the Lass That Made
His Bed He wrote songs TO Jennie and
Molly and 'Eppie and Peggy and Eliza
and Bessie and Mamie and Jessie and
Phillis and ChIoris,' and the Lassie with
Yint White Locks and the Lovely Lass Of
Inverness and the Bonnie Lass of AL
bany,' and then he wrote one song dedi-
Gated 10 them all:
Her noblest work she classes, o;
Her prentice han she tried on man
And then she made the lasses, o.
Ladies, before you pass judgment on
Burns, remember his gallant love for your
sex, remember the gracious things he said
about you, remember that he wrote the
songs you sing when your hearts are run
ming over. Poor Burns first sang them as
he followed his pillow with the songs OF q
vagrant heart, but songs that have nlled
| the world with melody"
Mr. Warrum dwelt on the natural and
| spontaneous character OF Burnss poems,
| most of which were conceived while ploW-
| ing; that his transcendent pity LED MIN 10
write OF the weak ana helpless. ae naa
| phe to the sea. He was the poet OF the
| lowly. The daisy touched him 10 tears:
He was the master genre poet OF all
| time" Mr.. Warrum continued. lie saw
1 the beauty of the rustice scene, felt the
| glory of homely toll and realized the art
! that lies unheeded in the common things
| of life The country roadway, field and
| ingleside grew eloquent, TRANSPORTED, as
| they spoke TO him and through him OF the
mingled joy and pathos OF existence When
| he wrote of village lie you saw the drouthy
| neighbors gathering at the inn. And when
| he sang the sylvan scene you caught the
scent of hawthorn and heard the linnet >
strain. And yet over all-over the Jocund
| billie and the joyous bird. fell the
shadow without which the picture were
untrue"
Mr.. Warrum said Burns started TO write
| a tragedy and quit because he felt unequal
| to the task. And yet he wrote tragedies.
when his pillow destroyed the nest OF the
| field mouse-when he saw the wounded
| hare limp by-when he crushed the modest
daisy. crushed and gave 1t amaranthine
| life-these were all tragedies TO him..
Comparing the Scotch poet with Byron
and Shakespeare, whom the lecturer called
| Apollos of poetry. whose harmonies were
| for the elect, the lecturer called Burns the
| Pan of poets, and said, he took reed.
his peasant dialect, and with IL charmed a
world. and in its compass gathered all the
| elemental griefs and joys. tears and Smiles
| sobs and laughter of the race.
| Burns's message democracy, the es-
| sential kinship and equality of man. lie
| did not try 10 magnify the great, nor paint
the picturesque. He glorified the lowly.
| psalms. His verse was for the common
man, for lusty youth afeld. or for the
| ingleside of age He lived in the dawn OF
revolution and was the supreme poet or
equality and fraternity. Looking back
through the century just gone. the gentlest.
| noblest figure of that twilight hour when
liberty's gate swung open like the gates OF
morning. is the Seotchman farmer-poet his
| hands upon his pillow and on his lyric lips
| democracys grand song.
In conclusion the lecturer said: 1.-THE
| poetry of Robert Burns was n spring that
! dubbed from the earth; that came because
God sent it-apart from public haunts. per-
haps not easy of approach. whose rough
grasses and green mosses might stain the
knees, but where men gladly kneel and
drink-a spring whose waters flow through
lives made richer, by loves made sweeter.
into a humanity made nobier-a spring that
shall flow and be hallowed while men have
thirst"
Mr. warrum will deliver the same lecture
tomorrow night at Fond du Lac. His ad-
dress tonight marked his first appearance
on the lecture platform. and those who
heard the lecture tonight pronounce II one
of unusual beauty and strength