Evening star., 1937-01-10
BY JESSIE FANTS EVANS.

BY JESSIE FANTS EVANS.
~ NE hundred and seventy-eight
~ year. after his birth on Jsnu, .,,aa.
ary IS, such lines as these
from the poems Of Robert
Burns. first poet laureate of Free
masonry as he was the first poet OF
the common people. have made them
selves . place in our everyday speech:
sThe best laid schemes O. mice
and men
Gang aft a-gley."
MANS inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands
mourn"
"Oh wad some power the giftie
So see CURSES as others see us!"
"The rank is but the guinea's
stamp.
The mans the gowd for a. that"
These love songs Of this Scottish
bard Of the people. MY Luv's Like q
Red, Red Rose" Highland Mary" and
Bonnie Doom" have likewise enduyed
with increasing fame. They, too, be-
long to the world at large because Of
the universally of their sweetness and
the tenderness Of their appeal.
Appropriately, one of the largest
and most complete collections extant
of the works of Bobbie Burns is housed
here in the city which is the seat Of
one Of the worlds great democracies-
in q shrine of Masonry-the Temple
Of the Supreme Council Of the Thirty
third and Last Degree of Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
for the Southern jurisdiction Of the
United States on Sixteenth street at S.
In a room especially set apart for
their custody and care are $500 vol
umes containing practically all of the
editions Of Robert Burns poems pub
lished throughout the world with the
exception Of the original 1886 Kilmar-
mock edition, published in Scotland.
Hew Morrison. librarian Of the Car
negie Public Library of Edinburgh,
and his associate, william Thompson,
who came to the United States with
him. especially to make a catalogue of
this Washington collection have said,
cit Is almost without q rival We are
impressed by the number and rarity
Of its editions which are beyond what
Is In the British Museum and exceeded
only by the Mitchell Library collection
In Glasgow"
Collection Monument.
This collection in its entirety is a
monument in itself to its collector and
donor. William r. Smith. 32d degree
Mason Of Washington, who for many
years prior to his death. was superin-
tendent of the United States Botanic
Gardens when they we're located
directly below the Capitol on Penn
sylvania avenue.
Born Scotchman, he was a great
lover OF Burns. his interest in all that
pertained to him. becoming the COM
pelling avocation Of his life.
One of the volumes in the collection.
contains this significant inscription,
This book belongs to literary cairn
OF Robert Burns collected by w. r.
Smith, whose mission In life was to
Honor him whose mission on earth
was to preserve the dignity of man
with soul erect"
Another carries this bit upon its fiv-
leaf, Inspired by thee. the gardener
Door
AN soul degrading meanness
Our teacher. savior. saint are
thou,
Immortal Rooert Burns"
An interesting portrait of the donor
OF this collections shows him with a
strong, forceful face and keen eye,
from which look forth a spirit of kind
illness and kinship with his fellows.
yet one senses a forthrightness which
would go to the heart of any sham
and the zealotry Of your true Scotch
man who would serve a chosen cause
relentlessly.
OF him a distinguished fellow Ma
sonic brother said at the time shortly
after his death that the Supreme
Council took over his Burns collec-
tion, He was a lover Of Washington,
O beloved member of the Oldest In
habitants Association. and q man who
erappled friends to his soul with hoops
Of steel"
Endowed with a practical nature
and Of inherently rugged force, Rob-
ert Burns was the sentimental en-
thusiasm Of the life of William R.
Smith. His supreme wish Is carried
out in that the collection which was
Of his existence thing apart, is
today and forever preserved intact
and freely accessible to the public at
large"
This was made possible through
the cooperation of the Supreme