Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-07
HARRY LAUDER

KIM HY is everybody crazy over
Nv Harry Lauder?" This uues-
ton has been heard so often
during the last few days that we will
try to answer it. Harry Lauder is the
latest (but we hope not the lasG of, a
long line of brilliant Scotsmen who
have shown what is learnedly called
'perfervidum ingenium Scotorum." The
enthusiastic genius of the Scots will
carry forward to lengths of achieve
ment only limited by his physical en-
durance any son of the heather who
makes up his mind to win" In his
own way, in his own field, Harry Lau-
der is not less remarkable than was
| Wilson, the workingman who turned
ornithologist; David Livingstone, the
workingnan who became a missionary
and an African explorer; Robert Burns,
the worl1ingman who became the poet
of all the plain people of all the bis
world:
What though simple fare we dine,
Wear holden grey and a that?
Gle fools their silks and knayes their Wine,
We daur be pur for a that!
Burns knew better than to believe all
people who wore silk and used wine
could be described by his harsh names,
but he believed in violent contrasts and
he was not always COVER parteeclar."
And his lesson was that the poor who
have the courage of their poverty were
not debarred from successful achieve
ment. This is the lesson of the life of
Harry Lauder, and is one of the rea-
sons why this Scots laddie has such
hold on the hearts of the people. In
every country he visits he is welcomed
by the men who "wear holden grey
and a. that" And yet he is the fore
most solo entertainer of his age. Why?
The reason is exactly the same as the
reason for the otherwise inexplicable
popularity of the "yailyaird" and "brier
bush" books: Lauder is a close analyt-
ical student of human nature, and a
masterful exponent of certain droll,
whimsical, odd and striking phases of
it with which he is thoroughly IA
miliar.
The man who describes best the life
he knows best will, other things being
equal, bring the whole world to his
book to his play, or to his entertain
ment.
Lauder might not recognize himself
in the role of a scientist or an investi-
gator. yet he is one of the foremost So
Geological students and demonstrators
of his day and generation. His types
are reproductions. He is a faithful
copyist; but for what he reproduces he
went not to libraries and picture gal
leries, but to the coal pits, the country
byways, "doon the waiter" the village
street, "Glesca. Fair the butt-an'-ben,
the "pit-heid," and (tell it not in Gath)
the vicinity of the public hoose" on a
Saturday nicht.
His sketches are as true to life as
those of the cleverest artist with pencil
or brush who ever carried a sketch
book "Donal Blate," or bashful Don
al, with his ingenious sweetheart who
helped him pop the question; Sandy
MacNab, the supposedly confirmed
bachelor who brought to naught the
predictions of his friends by taking
unto ulIubtll Il WALt anu llldhlIlS u
"splendishus affair" of the wedding;
Jock McGraw, the tipsy man who
doesn't give a-straw," and the Scot
tish exile looking forward to the time
when he will return to his sweetheart
and to Bonnie Scotland-these are all
true characters.
And because of their reality all the
world takes an interest in them. zone
touch of nature makes the whole world
kim" and WE'RE A. JOCK THAN
SONS BARNS"
For these reasons Harry Lauder is
famous; and because of his triumphs
over obstacles which most men find in
superable, as well as because Of his
consummate analytical art, he deserves
all the fame he has won.