Gilpin observer., 1905-11-16


Standing on the clean "hearthstane,"
and looking into the "wee bit ingle,"
"Cotter's Saturday Night" took new
significance. We realized that from
scenes like these, old Scotia's grand
eurs rise" Here the quiet lad gazed
into the Pickering embers and caught
the inspiration of his life. In the face
of the tall, worn cotter and priest
like father" the lad saw that nobility
which was glorified in "A mans a
man, for a that" In these two rooms,
the peasants butt and ben, the lad
lived seven years. The father proved
a iuckless farmer. and the life was
one of grinding toll.
In the Darkest Days.
At Mount Oliphant, the story of
work and want was repeated Fate
was against the pious farmer, For.
tune derided him, and the wolf growl-
ed at the door. Poor crops resulted
from poor soil and poor seasons and
later, the gay poet looked back on
these dark days as combining "the
cheerless gloom of a hermit with the
unceasing moil of a galley slave" But
book of songs was his delight, and
whether following cart or plow, the
verses cheered his work.
Thoughts of the years of struggle
crowded upon us, as we stood by the
cold hearth and gazed into the dead
ashes. which, like the poets life, had
flickered into brightness and died
out. All about us was poor, and err q
and old. An old-time portrait on the
wall, marred and defaced by tourists,
was formerly the sign outside tnt,
house. Beyond the living rooms was
the long, row of stalls and cowsheds
of the guide mans farm. The best
room is now small emporium. fitted
for the relic hunter. The new part,
all spick and span. serves as lunch
room and museum for curios.
With sadness we shifted the scene
from the birthplace. quiet. peaceful
Ayr. to the burial place of Burns
that dirty, brawling town, Dumfries.
What pit wherein to sink his noble
self How the change must have
rasped his finer nature! But the
poets crown had fallen in the dust.
The farm, chosen in the interests of
poetry rather than produce, had
failed. Friends had deserted. The
struggle for bread was maintained
through the groveling duties of the
excise. We challenge a more pathetic
picture. The gay. reckless lover,
the social success, the divine poet. the
national singer. reduced to the role OF
petty detective among the Solway
smugglers. prying for Illicit beer
trade among the housewives, This
or starvation-for the wee, toddlin'
things at home. So for business he
seized the kegs and levied the fines !:
bur for pleasure he dropped to the
boisterous, rollicking crew at the tav.
ern- Amid this moral darkness there
was no lessening of the mental light.
From out of the depths sounded the
sweet strains of his Tyre. These last
five years at Dumfries were the songs
for shekels and he rapturously rolled
ont his ditties, caroling the gay notes
like bird on the wing.
"A Mans Man."
The year 1895 opened NTH that
pheit-tdAi " iittuoH. n man Il
man for a that Over a hundred
years this battle Cry of equality has
thrilled the world. 1t is a synonym
OF the poets name. This noblest
paean of the peasant bard will ever
be the watchword of humanity. By
life's flickering candle the last love
cong was penned. Then the light
died out IN the socket. The discard.
ed poet became a dead hero. and a