Norwich bulletin., 1916-01-28


driving my cart or walking to labor.
fully noting the true. tender or Sub
lime, from affectation and fustian. I
am convinced that I owe to this prac-
tice much Of my critic craft. such as
ssoto Ms, %ss s SsS1Gn fo y,t5 Hss
to his his verse ~1s Il Is inspirins to read
the list of his acconpiishsnents when
ono considers the brief. sad years Of
his life
Hiiarlty and Melancholy.
Many people picture Burns as Q
blithe spirit. frollcsome and gay. I
find him essentially q sad. sincere and
tragic eE ~ cannot forget e ,, that
condition entailed on me perpetual To-
Dor. had felt early some STRINGS Of
ambition. but they were the blind
gropinss Of HomeTs cyciops round
speaks Of himself as possessing "a ma
tive hiiarity' and also "a constttu-
tional melancholy" In this he was
like his people and I sometimes think
that IN every Scottish heart there turks
a latent Robert Burns. His verse is
| detect in It the underlying note Of
| tragedy. He possessed the attributes
1 of cheeriness and conviviality much as
Abraham Lincoln possessed the rich
| gift of humor and an abundant opti-
mism.
The publication, IN 1885, OF his first
volume containing, as It did, some OF
| his most characteristic poems took the
| nation by storm. Robert Heron COM
nenting upon this gays: "The country
murmured Of him from sea to sea,
| With his poems old and young, grave
i and gay, learned and ignorant were
alike transported. was, at that time
resident in Galloway and can wei
| remember how even plough boys and
maid servants would have gladly be-
| slowed wages they earned most hard
ly, and which they wanted to purchase
| necessary clothing, if they might but
l procure the works Of Burns" And
while his first edition IN 1856 brought
| pounds, it gave him an audience with
| the literati Of Edinburg whittier he
/ was invited and where he was vel
coined, Toasted and admired.
One Bright Spot.
This was. perhaps, the one bright
| spot in the life Of Burns. The man.
ner in which he bore himself in the
company Of able and talented men
/ the ease with which he took his place
the impression which he made upor
all who saw him in those dazzling days
constitute proof of his unusual per-
sonality. Sir Waiter Scott when buf
a lad OF Is met Burns in Edinburg
saw him one day with several gen.
tlemen Of literary reputation among
whom / remember the celebrated Du.
gald Stewart OF course, we young.
sters sat silent, looked and listened
His person was robust. his manner:
rustic his ccuntenance was more mas.
sive> than it looks in any of the por.
traits; there was a etrong expression
of shrewdness in his lineaments; tn,
eye alone indicated the poetic char
acter and temperament, 1t was larg,
and of dark cast and literally 9loweS
when he spoke with feeling or interest
never saw such another eye in 1
human head"
The look in the eyes of Burns-tha
wild, irradiating, elated look OF Mer
cury-has become but faded memoir.
In the minds of men. But his genius
his tenderness of heart, his humanit.
and the sweetness and charm OF hi
verse have become vital and abiding
things in this weary world.
Died at Age of 81.
After the brief Edinburgh experience
Burns dropped back into the poverty o
his workaday life, and at the age o
81, in the town of Dumfries passed int
the great unknown. The last days o
Burns were days of suffering, priva
ton, sorrow and bitterness. In April
1876, the year of his death, he wrote
Il fear it will be some time before
tune my Tyre again. By BabePs stream
J have sat and wept. have only know
existence by the pressure of sickness
and counted time by the repercussion
of pain"
| For several years prior to his death
the civilized world had been horror
stricken by the scenes being enacte
stroyed by the populace; the revolution