The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-01-30
MANKATO FREE PRESS.

him as the idle singer of an idle lay.
Pharisees in the church and oppressors
in the state knew better than that
They felt these immortal sarcasms,
which did not die with the utterer, but
lived on to work out their divine COM
mission"
The land o. cakes! The cakes! 1t is,
of course, a vain regret that | cannot
take you upon a descriptive tour
, through this dainty and enhancing coun-
try. | will not attempt it, for | have
never seen its hills and dales, its locks
and bonnie braes, its briggs and castles
and abbey of the Scott country. Eye
witness is the only excuse for descrip
ton. We may read from the diamond
tipped pens of travellers of the country
of Ayr, where Burns was born, a pict
, uresque region on the southwest coast of
Scotland. Alloway, with its famous
kirk, is located not far from the town
of Ayr. The river Ayr, where Burns
parted from that sweet and lovely mai
| uen-Highland Mary-fows past into
the Firth of the Clyde And the Doom
is another quiet stream which adds en-
| chantment to the scene
All, how the poet drank in and
lived the beauties of his world. I'm
pulsive and passionate, he had the won
derful gift of sympathy with humble
things and humble men, and that SYM
pathy found voice.
| He himself said it,
"Gie me spark of Natures fire!
that's a the learning l desire;
Then though l drudge thou dub and
mire,
At pillow OF cart,
| My Muse, though homly in attire,
May touch the heart"
When the Bard of Ayr and Dumfries
spoke in the conventional accents of po-
lite society, as he did at Edinburgh, his
lirreproachable verses were left in OBJ
security, but when he addressed a field
| mouse, "Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, timorous
beastie," or sang the praises of the
! Banks and Braes o. Bonnie Doom" he
became the idol of every Scottish heart,
and took his place with the great lyrical
poets OF the world. As Thomas Carlyle,
another prominent Scotsman in the
world of letters, says of him: ga wild.
impetuous whirlwind of passion and fac
ulty slumbered quiet there; such heav-
emily melody dwelling in the heart of it;
a noble, rough commences homely, rus
tic, honest; true simplicity of strength;
with its lightning fire; with its soft,
dewy pity, like the old Morse Thor, the
peasant god" As long as mankind shall
/ feel and appreciate the simple delights
iof sunshine and shadow, of leafy trees
:, and running brooks, of love and friend
ship, so long will they turn to Scotland
| for their expression in song, and so long
will they crown the brow of Robert
Burns with tender, loving tributes
Scotsmen, let us be true to the nobili-
ties of great past Let us preserve in
all their original simplicity those price
less virtues of industry, economy, integ-
rity and valor which render the history
| OF Scotland deathless, adding to them
such wisdom and prudence as better
training and wider experience have given
us! Shall we not forget the crudities
and the vices of the dead save as they
shall warn us from a course of sin? We
are glad that we are all Americans
Americans with roots reaching into the
soil of an elder land and nation. for.
thence we may draw those instincts of,
national independence, crushed out there
to find their highest expression in this
newer growth. Let U.S. thanking God
with humble hearts for all his gracious
blessings, pray to him to direct us in be-
slowing upon America all the wit and
strength of bonnie Scotland. which we
possess.