The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-27

: L4OI 10 naturally anu property, dlIl4OSl
exclusively taken up with a distant
land and its great poet who lived
| century ago.
New England and Scotland-A Com
parison.
1t has always seemed to me, how
ever, that there is something peculiarly
alike in the atmosphere of New Eng
land and of Scotland. The land of the
f0refathers across the sea and the home
Of their descendants here have many
points in common. There are noun
tains and lakes in New Hampshire
much like those of the Highlands, and
the Lowlands with their rolling coun-
try, abundance of water and small
farms are not unlike parts of Connec-
ticut and Massachusetts. In so far as
climate is concerned neither land can
make very good showing. A Scotch
mist is bad enough, but as DR.. Holmes
said of our own changeable weather,
I'VE have no climate, only samples"
1t is, however, not SO much in physical
as in moral qualities that the two
lands seem to me alike. Both have de-
Veloped rugged manhood, exalted pa
triotism, strength of religious convic-
ton. The Scotchman and the Yankee
are alike shrewd in business. There
is the same stream of manly, vigorous
youth, poor in pocket, but rich in re-
source, and high in purpose, flowing
to-day from the farm houses of Con-
necticut to the gates of Yale univer-
sity, as have from generations gone up
from the Scotch countryside, to drink
of the wells of learning at Edinburgh
or Aberdeen. And then too the people
of both show the same love of free
! dom, the same contempt for show, the
same devotion to high ideals, the same
emphasis on family life, the same re-
gard for religion. There are vices, too,
which we have held in common, notice
ably to dogmatic statement, but it is
the virtues I have mentioned which
most give us oneness. Business sagac-
lty, love of freedom, devotion to edu-
cation, emphasis on the life of the
home, respect for rugged manliness of
character, reverence for God. where
can these characteristics of Scotland be
found reproduced with clearer marks
than in this section Of our own coun-
try? The likeness, the kinship is so
strong, that We are not surprised to find
that our own Jonathan Edwards has
influence Scotch thought as profound
ly as he did ours, Or that Ian Maclaren,
the gifted author of the Doctor of the
Old School, feels so peculiarly at home
in the atmosphere of New England.
Let me give one illustration that
will brine fhiS noYoporicnT1 81 he.
fore. There is no New England poet
whose lines seem so much part and
parcel of our soil as Whittier and his
Snow Bound" a classic in almost ev-
cry farm house of these six states, is
easily the poem which represents with
the most perfect fidelity the old home
life of our American forbears. / think
that you will agree with me, too, when
say that the poem of all poems most
true to the genius of Scotch life is
Robert Burns THE Golfers Saturday
Night" And when you read these
poems, representative of the best life
of the two lands you cannot fail to
recognize that. Scotland and New Eng
land have much in common. The life
at least in the old days, had the same
simplicity, the same respect for plain
Flooding industry and sober worth" the
"woodfire's blaze" gave the same even
ing cheer, the family provided the same
unit, the gospel of work had the same
recognition, life was centred on the
same God, religion REVEALED through the
pages of the same book. Those two
poems let one more truly into the SIM
pie, hearty, sturdy life of rural New
England and rural Scotland, and most
Of both are rural, than any histories
of which I know. And it is the COM
mon elements in the two pictures which
have made these commonwealth of
ours and the ancient land of Caledonia
to be both Nurseries of giant men,
And now that I have tried to make
peace between the land of your birth
and that Of your adoption let me turn
your thoughts to the hero of this even
ing, the hero of all Scotch evenings,
Robert Burns.
Burns Love For His Land.
The most marked characteristic Of
Burns poetry is its patriotism. He
has what he was himself fond Of call
ing "a tide of Scottish prejudice" His
soul is afire with love of Scotland. It
is of her heroes that he sings, it is her
virtues that he praises, it is her lochs
and moors, trossachs and tarns that
stimulated the Muse with him. He
was Scotch to the core. Some poets
feel that they must go beyond the seas
for their inspiration and to some dis
tant age for their themes. Not so with
Burns. The Caledonia which he him
self knew with its wild scenery, its
hard working, high souled people, its
homely rural life, was sufficient for
him. Scotland to him lis a wee bit
country but it has ''muckle, pith and
spirit" and to one with any vision and
power Of expression, the poets ma
terials lie near at hand.
Burns local pride, home devotion,
love Of country call it what you will,
was so strong that he could little I'M
derstand the feelings of those literary
men who go abroad for their subjects
Here are few lines which show this
characteristic strongly. They are taken
from his Epistle to William Simpson:
9TH Illissus, Tiber, Thames and Seine
Glide sweet in mony tune flu line!
But, Willie set your fit to mine,
And cock your crest,