The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-01-25

man of the people, the Scottish
Thistle Club and its guests, paid high
tribute last evening at Elks' Hall, the
occasion being the annual smoker and
corncert in honor of the birthday of
| the bard.
When Chief Rae called the assem-
blage to order there were not less than
| 200 men at the long tables which lined
: the spacious hall, and as the guests
and members had been gathering for
a half hour, and the corks had been
drawn for that time, there was no time
spent in waiting for the enthusiasm
which had been provided. All was good
nature and excellent feeling from the
very first; there was not sound which
Jared and not a sentiment which did
not find a responsive chord in the
breasts of the many Scots, whose saint
was being honored in speech, song and
story.
' The toasts to the President of the
United States, to the King and Queen
of Great Britain and the Land of Burns
were drunk standing, and the cheers
which rang through the building and
out into the street, told that the sons
of the Highlands were not weak-luus,
, ed, as they were not lacking in patriot
ism. So it went through the evening;
there was not a note but of joy and
good feeling, and there was never a
moment when the spirit of the great
singer was not in evidence, welding to-
gether the men of the north and the
guests from SUMMER climes. It was an
evening of poetry, and the spirits of
all from chief to lowliest clansman,
from distillery to brewery, We're at the
highest, and though the latter were
put down, the former rose accordingly.
THE PROCEEDINGS.
! Toastmaster Rae, fianked by Consul
! Hoare and Judge Estee, called the as
, semblage to order and said the Occa-
sion was one which called true Scotch
men to honor the memory of the
worlds great poet. He welcomed the
guests in the name of the Scottish
! Thistle Club and introduced Mr.. Rob
ert Cation, who spoke to the toast,
, The Immortal Memory OF Burns"
saying:
MIR. CATION HEARD.
met once more to celebrate-may I say
to render thanks for one of Gods great
est gifts to Scotland-tlle poet Burns. 4
similar and even greater gift had been
sent, 200 years earlier, to England-the
poet ShakeSpeare-and Shakespeare
Mark Antony says: The evil that men
do lives after them; the good is oft in
TERED with their bones: so let 1t be with
Caesar" Whatever it may have been
with Caesar, it certainly has not been SO
with Burns. Burns failings and short
cpminEs are inferred with his bones in
the kirkyaird o Dumfries; his worth and
work bring help and joy and comfort to
the whole EngliSh-speaking race, and
il is meet that We, along with thousands
of our countrymen throughout the world,
should mark our appreciation of what
he did for us.
our friend. the man in the street."
may-and sometimes does-ask, well,
what did he do, anyway" 1t may be
answered. 1 think, that his poetical
genius. his God-given insight and knowl-
edge of nature has made poets of us all.
don't mean that Burns has taught us
to write verse. by any means. There's q
deal of poetry, however, that will neither
rhyme nor scan, and a great deal more
in the heart and mind of man that never
finds expression at all. We are poets in
so far as we can appreciate poetry. and
do mean that Burns songs and poems,
from their spontaneous simplicity and
sincerity, have taught us that apprecia-
tion. to some extent Take this, for in
stance:
Wee modest crimson tippit floo'er
Thou's met me in an evil 'oor,
For 1 maun crush amang the stoor
Thy slender stem:
To spare thee moo Is past my poo'er
Thou bonnie GEM"
This addressed to a mountain daisy
a common, everyday gowan is surely
one of the simplest, if also one of the
sweetest. things in creation; but 1t. Is
Just such sweet, simple things that make
up the beauty of the summer day in
bonnie Scotland. We all feel that
Burns feeling was the same in kind, oul
so much greater in degree, that he had
% give preston to 1t. and, taking the
crushing of the daisy as his text, ne
proceeds to enlist our sympathy for mis-
fortune in general. The degree of SYM
pathy we feel will show how much or
the poetic Imagination we possess Take
another instance, one which will appeal