Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-11-02
An Augusta Teacher Abroad---Letter No. 2.

icing the border we left behind
- oyerpowering English Formally
u ding the tall silk hat and cane, for
h'., .aut these latter articles the Eng
r.br,an never goes out on the street
I,.,., our advent in the Lowlands. lew
I'd unpretentious houses took the
To- of the more picturesque Eliza
p ass ones Of northern England.
We arrived in Dumfries Saturday
~, infenling to leave the next day.
n'e' rce in a Scottish village on d
%. ~ there we had to remain. until
S"nday released us from the Puritani-
~, avs which still govern the coun-
xo cars run. nothing is sold. ana
w. ne ruins. fields and rivers are
o-.' 81 he casual tourist But rs
n ~, is typical Scotch place. we
clad 10 be there on day when
oo,ld see it at its best.
s,ar,ing out sunday morning we went
,.ba+ might be called the slums OF
,,,,r,fries where in Il mean tumbled-
ISn.r house. amidst much squalor and
Jir+ pohert Burns lived; and there IN
~ INNER room where only a Fireplace
mains TO tell the story of that tragic
,.o the Angel of Death visited il on
,ha very day that the Angel of Lie
hrought a little soul to the room oDpo-
.;,a the one in which the poet lay dy-
ing. 81,
Firms grave is in the churchyard {"
&, Michael where Il fine piece oi
4 's.,,.uarv represents him barehealed.
nth his ever present tam in one hand.
I while his other grasps flower
tvreathed pillow, and above the Muse OF
Poetry is lowering, about to enfold him
wifi her drapery. Indeed in many
tsnuares there are statues placed there
= nv Rurns' countrymen. who recognized
TOO late the genius of the poet. and the
statues seem hollow mOCkery when
we think that with the money that was
mt into the cold marble the necessities
4 Il ne might have been purchased. ana
| thyboet,s life prolonged many years.
Burns mother well said, aye. Ron
Die. We asked for bread and they gave
Re q stone
XWishing ia hear a Presbyterian ser
kiee We enteredtSt. Mcl,aeTs, and sat
Il Burns pew which was almost the
nst one in the church. There we cav
6e Women in 4If Sorts Of impossible
-. ard puppies and reds. there too.
heard the paraphrases sung, there
"A we heard q serpon which carried
a century or two back. and we We're
fyinT tile church 3 in a Retrospective
S6cd when we were brought abruptly
back TO the present by seeing two
Ai6ericans perched Ton q chair in the
EpIdale Of the street, taking a moving
kricture Of st. Michafl's and its parish
Honers. They were ss,irrounded oy thu
Fever present smaH IkSfSet urchins, who
/ stood Misunderstanding. there eld-
ers passed on disguised to see such a
sacrilege in the town
That afternoon we walked out Ito
Lincludon Abbey along; the river Nth
where we picked the t''wee modest
crimson tipped flower" the daisy dis.
cribed by the poet arl xcy-ossed st1as
so rickcty that they musl have beer
there during Burns lifetime. ATiv-
ing at the Abbey we enjoyed the ruins
of this twelfth century structure, ant
that was all. for the custodian abeO'
4 lutely refused to give US any infOrnIa
tion probably because it was Sunday
Not picture Of it could we buy. mol
\ on our way back could we even pur.
chase glass If milk. Yet for all thai
4 we enjoyed the day even though we
were always escorted by some of ths
B smallfolk of Dumfries.~MhO probabl.
looked upon us as some relatives Of ths
American Indians. raA |~
"a From Dumfries to, Glasgow we went
where It poured so hard that we bough,
graincoat. then as .iffor spite the sur
Il came out. and otenjoy the cityAs mucI