The Mankato free press., 1912-02-02

From Thursdays Daily. p,
q With Scotch tam-o'-shanterS and
heather everywhere present, the Ma.
pie River Burns club held their fifty
fifth annual celebration at Mapleton
yesterday. Over three hundred and
fifty people were served with haggis,
and incidentally other edibles, at the
banquet which was served in the
Catholic, church parlors. |
The program for the celebration
commenced with the election of of.
ficers early yesterday afternoon. All
of the old officers were reelected
and they are: President, T.. B. Tay.
lor; vice president, William HOWE.
son; secretary, a. ]. Ellis; treasurer,
William Morrow. With this election
Mr.. Ellis cutters upon his twenty.
ninth consecutive year as secretary.
Mr.. Ellis protested against reelec-
ton, but the members insisted upon
his accepting his office again.
At the banquet the guests were
seated at long tables and when all
were seated the haggis was brought
in. President r. B. Taylor led the
piper, Captain Sinclair of Minneapo-
lis, and haggis bearers around the
tables and then deposited it at the
front of the hall. A. j. ELLIS, Sec
retary of the club, then gave Burns
address to the haggis, and his rem
dering of this wonderful Scotch
poem was splendid. The piper wore
his kits of Stewart plaid and the
haggis bearers, William Morrow and
wv. L. Mcqueen, wore the Scotch
dress. This is the twenty.sixth con-
secutiye year that Mr.. Morrow has
been haggis bearer at this annual
Burns event.
PROGRAM at the Opera House.
After the banquet the people as
sembled at the opera house and
good old fashioned visit was in
dulged in. From club having orig
inally about a dozen families, the
organization has grown to a mem
bership of about one hundred and
fifty families. Only one member OF
the original number was present last
night-M. M. Pratt. One other char
ter member of the club is still liv-
ing, but was not present. He is
George Mckay of Bass Lake.
During the past year David Will, a
charter member, passed away. Mr..
Will was always an active member
of the club and until last year he
sang at every meeting of the club
the. glorious Scotch song, "Rantin'
Rovin' Robin" Last year Mr.. Will
was present and his little grandson,
Bruce Ellis, sang the song. Master
Ellis sang it again this year. This
song is one Of the things which has
been looked forward to for years
and little Bruce Ellis sings it like
a true Scot.
Among the club members from
away were Alec Russel and son,
Mitchell, of New Ulm; Charles E.
Ware of Bingham Lake, and William
Aitkin of Sandstone. 80
~ Letter From William Hall.
Before commencing. the formal
program Of the evening, A. j. Ellis,
the, secretary, read a letter from
William Hall, who has been in the
Burns club for "A number Of years
until this year. He has moved away
from Mapleton, but had found a
number of Scotch in his new home
and they were planning to celebrate
Burns day. ~
; Mayor j. II. Dobie of Mapleton
gave the, address of welcome. He
spoke of the good advertising the
Burns celebration had given the
town and how it was known as a
Scotch town. He said that Maple
ton was proud of beihg so typically
Scotch but that there we're other ma
tionalities there who helped the
citizens of Mapleton be, a united peo.
pie.
Address Of Welcome.
James A. Howieson was intro
duced as the silver-tongued orator Of
the Maple and he responded to the
welcome in an eloquent manner. Ma
jor George Sinclair of Minneapolis,
in his kits then played the pipes.
He was .encored, and his daughter,
Miss Mary, and his son, George, In
kits, played the pipes. The bag
pipes were a leading part Of the
program and the Sinclair family ham
died them in a mastery manner.
Bruce Ellis then sang "Rantin'
Rovin' Robin" which was spoken Of
Rev. s. Banks Nelson Of the Park