The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-01-31

drawing room with the ladies' and it is
said that Lady Jane, the Duchess of Cor
don, was completely carried off her feet
by the young poet Sir Walter Scott was
then fifteen years of age when Burns
visited Edinburgh, and among the other
incidents that Scott refers to on that
occasion was seeing Burns shedding
tears over a print representing soldier
lying dead in the snow his dog sitting
in misery on one side, on the other side
his widow with child i'm her arms. He
says of Burns, His person was robust
his manners rustic, but not clownish.
His countenance was more massive than
it looks in any of his portraits. There
was a strong expression of shrewdness in
his features, the eye alone indicated the
poetic character and temperament. 1t
was large and of dark cast and literally
glowed when he spoke with feeling or in
terest. | never saw such another eye in
a human head
1t was soon known among the best
people i'm Edinburgh that Burns had ar
rived and the people FASTENED to make
his acquaintance. Among the first to do
this was "A man of rank, Lord Glencaren.
Also such men as Dugal Stewart, Harry
Erskine, Hugh Blair, Adam Ferguson,
DIR. Robertson, Lord Eglinton, and many
others. while Henry Mckenzie, the Man
of Feeling" wrote favorable article in
the Lounger on his poems. In fact Burns
society was sought by the nobility and
gentry and by the literary lords of the
period, professors, historians and men of
letters. They dined him and Wined him,
and listened to him eagerly for his con-
versation always bristled with wit and
freshness.
He increased his popularity in Edin-
burgh by the publication of a new and
enlarged edition of his poems which he
very ingenOusy dedicated to the noble
men and gentlemen of the Caledonia
Hunt i'm a page of manly prose that com
pletely captiVated the men to whom it
was dedicated. A part in which he says.
'The poetic genius of my country found
me as the prophetic bard of Elijah did
Elisha and threw his inspiring mantle
over me. She babe me sing the loves the
joys, the rural scenes and rural pleas
ures of my native soil in my native
tongue. / tuned my wild. artless notes
as she inspired. She whispered me to
come to this ancient metropolis of Gale
donna and lay my songs under your hon
ored protection. l now obey your dis
tates."
the pring of 1887 i'm Edinburgh and with
the coming on of summer he resolved to
return to the farm at Mossgail. He was
anxious to help his family who were
impoverished. he being now in position to
do so from the sale of his second edition.
He was also anxious to be of help to
Jean Armour who was now a mother. 1t
may be said that this was not a wise
move on the part of Burns to have offer
ed assistance at this time, but it was
certainly very human thing to do, and
Burns was very human whatever else
he may have been. The Armour family
received him kindly now, no doubt be-
cause of the popularity that had come to
him as poet in EIdinburg. Shortly after
his arrival at the farm he married his
bonnie JEAN who ever remained a faith
full wife till his death.
The next twelve months i'm the life
of Burns may be briefly told. He re-
turned to Edinburgh not this time to be
dined and wined, but with serious bust
ness problems on his mind And now in
his deep meditation, he not only recalled
the events of the past, but with some APP
prehenSion he looked into the future.
He was well aware that he had won dis
tinctiOn as a poet, but how long did that
distinction remain? He was famous today,
tomorrow he may be forgotten. But
famous or forgotten there were those
who We're dependent upon him, and they
must have bread and since he was not
sure that he could earn it with his head,
he must earn it with his hands which
were strong and willing. So he leased
farm at Ellisland in Dumfreshire. and
having obtained an appointment from the
Board of Excise then poet, farmer and
exciseman with his wife Jean began life
anew at Ellisand. He had left his
wife and child at Mauchline while he
built his cottage at Ellisland and there
he personally helped dig the foundation,
collect stones, sand, carted lime and
tended the masons and carpenters at the
same time giving careful attention to the
cultivation of his new farm. Robert
Burns was happy at Ellisland. happier
than he had been for years before yes,
and for the years that followed at Ellis
land. 1t was during this time that he
wrote the lines showing the condition of
his mind
''To make happy freside chime
To weans and wife,
That's the true pathos and sublime
OF human life
Here at Elisland he attended strictly
to his work and for time was sober
and Industrious. His mind was active
and his poetical vein more productive
than it had been at Edinburgh. Here he
wrote a poem in strong commentator of
his wife, ''Of A the Arts the Wind Can
Blaw." He also wrote at this time his
great poem. Tam O'Shanter." AS farm
ed and eXciSeman he was kept very busy,
buster than he had ever been before He
hired help to care for the farm but the
Excise work he must do himself, at the
same time must see that the hired help
did their work in proper manner. His
excise work covered ten parishes which
required his riding about two hundred
miles a week. We have reasons to be-
lieve his work was not always of the
most pleasant nature judging from a
dOggrel he wrote at that time:
Searching aud wife's barrels
Och hone the day,
That clarity bann should stain my
laurels,
But what'n We say
While Burns was no doubt a model eX-
ciSeman he was neither model nor
prosperous farmer, for here as elsewhere
both the earth and the elements were I'M
kind to him. He worked hard. denied
himself suffered in his mind because he
was not more successful. but all in vain
and after three and half years at Ellis
land he gave it up and moved into the
town of Dumfres. Dumfries, evidently,
was not the most charming place to live
in and Burns missed the coy cottage
at Ellisland farm with it's beautiful out
look of woods and waters, but at Dunn
fries he had a mean little home to live
in and the streets were narrow and dirty.
There were no doubt some bright spots
more that were dark, darker than he
monotonous they were wearisome and
humilating and his proud and impulsive
spirit rebelled against much that was in
evidence about him. France was at this
time in the throes of the revolution.
Burns was suspected and even accused
openly of being in sympathy with the I'M
rlly element. He was not always pru
dent in his speech and his utterances
were often magnified to his official and
social disadvantage, and because of it
all be was greatly troubled. To show
how keenly Burns felt that he was in
the disfavor of the people of Dumfries,
it is related that on one occasion when
one of his Young friends who on riding