The Seaforth News, 1932-05-19, Page 3THURSDAY, MAY 19, 19a
THESEAFORTH NEWS.
PAGE THREE:
The :Land of -Burns
Auld Ayr -The Auld Clay Big -gin'
The 'Burns Club—Welcome To
T1te,ISons of the Poet. &c.
(Qontinued froth last week)
Yet read the vanes which know
not death,
'Few nobler ones than Burns'are
there;)
Aid few have • worn a greener
wreath
Than that which bsnr.s his hair,
At the conclusion_ of our last letter
five were at Ivilwnnni.ng'onour way to
'Auld' Ayr, wha'.mne'er a town sur-,
''passes for honest men and (bonnie
lasses." an ,due time we reached our
train and went on to Ayr, and put up
at Ram'say'•s Longe Iio'tei,` a well -'kept
temperance house _very much fre-
srlquented by commercial travelers.
The landlady Was a` very kind, oblig-
ing woman, and Save me, S 'feel ,sure,
the 'bes't room in her house. r .IQ was
good enough for .aking, a may men-
tion that one never sees the landlord
in Scotland •at .a,11—this dealings are all.
with the .landlady of the house—whose:
:husband is often engagediii some
other business. tAfter, having taken up
any room and deposited ;my valise, I
(s'ta'ted, that II was going to swank out
to the banks 'nrf the Doon ' to see
see Burns' Cottage, Monument and
other places of interest, and that I
'would examine Ayr on the following
'd'ay. 1laving received the proper in-
structions from the good lady, we
started by way of the "Race Course"
road.: We set out from IGeneral Neill's
statue, ,passing lbetweetwo Tows of
'houses. that onthe right being
Alloway -Place; that onthe left,
(Burns` Terrace. We soon reaohed'the
"Race Course;" which 'has in its vicin-
ity some very fine villa residences.
The "course" is said to 'be one .of .the'
]best' in Scotland, and has been the
scene of many a contest, by the best
horses of 'the day. 'Further on in
Trout of us. we observed a hill of con
siderable 'heigiht, and upon inquiry
told that it was Carrick Hill We
:walked on until we reached the _low
bridge of Doon, when we turned to
the refit 'by a broad road, which we
were fortunate in having overtaken
a person who was well ' acquainted
with the country, and as usual I trade
'free to ask for'inforntation, which was
cheerfully given. iWe observed a
splendid mansion on the right, which
we were told was •the residence of
the late, fames Baird, )Esq., of the
famous iron firm. The mansion in
question is constructed in the pure
iElizabethian style and its beautiful
gardens slope. to' the Doon river. We
passed on until we reached the othef
end of Greenfield Avenue, and then
turned ' a short , distance to the left
.When' We found ourselves at Burst's'
;' C'ottage. This is one of the places
we resolved to visit when we set foot
in Great Britain. A sight of this
"Auld Clay Biggin" had more charms
for me ;than a glimpse of the `Empress
of India, notwithstanding the loyal
feelings with which we regard the
British Queen. This feeling is ex-
st,erien'ced by nearly all tourists from
COSIXOEMEZ
this side of the Atlantic—we night
say by all—for
All ask the cottage of his birth,
Gaze on the 'scenes be loved
and sang,
And gather feelings, not of earth
a-Iis woods and streams amang,
IWe entered the cottage and stood
on 'the, ,clay 'fl'o'or, viewed, the table'
with many a name carved on it,
which had been used by the poet's
father and mother, bhe fire place 'wi'th
its grate and tongs, the recess', in the
'wall with a bed in it the place where
the original ,bed ,once stood, wdhere
purns was born on the 25th day of
anuray, 9;7159, and, a stormy might it
was, too, and was quaintly referred to
by the poet in the following lines:
1 •
Our monarch's hindmost year but
ane, •
Was five and twenty days begun
'Twas then a .bl'a'st o' 'Januar' win'
IBlewhanssel`in on Robin.
IFobr fellow 1 The "Januar' 'w'in"'
never cea$ed to, blow upon hint,.
though at times he (would
;Snap his fingers pair and hearty,;
IB•efore its face,
until he finally ; succumbed to the
chill blast •in ,the thirty-eighth year of
'his age. Upon the night of the poet's
birth the house was rent by the .storm
'and the ahild and its mother had to
the removed to a house opposite. The
Place where the house in question
stood was also shown us. 3t is .re-
placed .by; a neat cottage. 'T'he rent
in Burns' cottage is still seen. at ,is,
easier to imagine than to; describe my
feelings while gazing on .the identical
spot where Burns' voice was+ •first
heard and where he first saw the light
of day. His light then':'was easily ex-.
tlinguished; it was fli'ckerin'g in its
•socket, but it grew brighter and
stronger until it :illumined the whole
earth, and is to -day shining. with ever
increasing power and splendour, un-
dimmed by the years that have ,gone.
'First the l3ants of Dooii beheld it,.
Then his own hand was its span.
Till the world became his empire,
And his home the heart of, man.
We now visited the kitchen, which
was in former days the chief apart-
ment. and where until lately visitors
met to drink to the immortal memory
of Burnes close to his natal spot—and
we were told that many a carousal
had taken place there—bet this is ail
changed now, and no intoxicating
liquors are allowed to be sold on the
premises, however, we drank to the
immortal memory of our favorite
'poet in a cup of good strong coffee,
which was .prepared in the spacious
hall behind. • ,This hall was founded
on the peot's natal day in 1847, the
first stone "being laid. with Masonic
honors by' the late Maxwell Dick, •Esq.
of Irvine, an enthusiastic admirer of
't'helB'ard. Within this hall the'p'oot's
'birthday is annually celebrated by
Burns' Club of Ayr and !Alloway. At
the celebration of 1859, the gifted and
eloquent 'Hartley Waddell presided
and spoke with great ability. Here
also on the 1'Sth of Aug 1A71, the
centenary of Sir Walter Scott, aewih_.
cr brilliant son of !Scotland, was cele -
brat ed.
ele-brated. :We now looked into the
memorial rotor' where ,,we saw many
beautiful and iiitere�sting relies of the
Bard, such as photographs and fancy.
work; likewise specimens of his hand-
writing,. which last •ware ,intensely
interesting to us as showing the ori-
ginal copies of some of his poetics as
well as one of his books accounting.
fior collections he had made 'while
acting as exciseufan,' ,lab'orin'g, for his
indislpensable daily, bread. Froth the
door of the cottage a large field was
pointed out to tis where 80,000 people
collected on the 6th of Aug. in the
year 1844, to welcome, Borate' three!'
sons to the,land'of theirfather. lihere,
never was sdilch an •assembly, nor
such enthaisiasmi 'Seca ifs' Ayrshire..
'Am'on'gst those present were the .Earls
o!f ,Eglington, ,Prof. Wilson, 'Sir;Archi-
!bald ,Allison, the late Lord President
Boyle, Sir John McN:eil,l,'the late Prof.
Aytoun, Sherrill 'Glassford' Bell,
,Dotr"gilass Jerrold, Noel Paton, RSA.,
besides Mrs,, Begg. and poees sister,
and his three sons; 'Robert, the eldest
liieut=Oolon'el Willliain Nicol, his
second, and Major James Gleneairn,
his younge'st. 'The field in•whic'h-tie
great. banquet celebration was held is,
agriculturally, one df the finest in
Ayrshire. It is situated on the. Banks
of the Doon. This finished my inspec-
tion of the "clay .+biggin" where the
Scottish Homer was b'orui, and writ-
ing my name in the visitors' book, to
testify to the fact that one of his ad-
mirers from ISeafonth, in Canada, had
made a pilgrfmage=if not to his
shrine, at least to the honored spot
that gave'•' him birth -we prepared to
.depart. ;My mind' . wandered back
through the vista of years, to the•
primitive woods of old Lanark, where,
when as yet a mere boy, I began to
peruse the poetical works of the Ayr-
shire ploughman. 'The beautiful ori-
ginal thoughts so plainly and happily
expressed took a firm hold on my
boyish mind even then, and that hold.
that, grasp, has become firmer and
"stronger with advancing years. I
thought ofthe time that I; had been
reproved by one of the "uncoo guid"
land! "rigidly "righteous," because I
'spent more time reading, andseetned
to think more of the works of the
sweet .singer of Scotland than of the
"sweetsinger of Israel," and of the
reply w'hich in my 'innocency I gave,
not intending by any means to reflect
upon the "guid 'book," nor 011 the
"Man ,after God's own heart." Lt was
bhis:. "If the Psalms of David were,
written in as fine a style as the poem's
of ,Burns, I would read them, with
greater interest too." d was young
then. II hope .I 'have come` now to
appreciate the wnitings of the shep-
herd king as ,well as those of the un-
crowned king amongst men. There
were •few books in the early daysto
which I refer, and we might' have
said in the language ` of Alexander
McLachlan:
"1 hae butfour books and I read
them by turns,
'There's the Bible, Scott's wor-
thies, JohnBunyan and Burns,"
and therefore one can hardly imagine
the extreme' pleasure, with w'hic'h
during these long wintry nights,
while' seated by the blazing log fire,
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we perused such poems as the Cotter's tread, but of all such we would say,—
Saturday Night, Tann OtShanter,
Wan was made to Mourn. The Twa Let then' rave, let them rave,
He is quiet in his grave.
Dogs, or Burns Address to Mary in 1
Heaven. !Lt was an intellectual feast 1 THE MAN OF THE HOUR.
—a "pleasure never to be forgotten. I. The motto in the little frame on
And ,oh 1 the songs of Burns 1 What Paul von Hindenburg's desk has turn-
a gratification 1 What a power 1 It ed yellow with age.
stirred the innermost recesses of the], "Ora et'labora," it reads. Pray and
heart. 'They were the songs of the Work.
people, and suited to the people of
every land.
10'111 the song of the people are
voices of power,
That echo in many a land;
They lighten the heart in the
sonrowful hour,
And quicken the'labbr df hand;
They gladde nithe shepherd on
mountain and plain,
IA.nd the sailor that travels the
sea;
IThe poets have chanted us many
a strain,
But the songs of the people for
Inc.
tit is not my intention 'to write a
criticism of the life of Robert Burns,
That has been done by many an able
hand. (His works will take' care of
themselves. II anionly giving expres-
sion to the feelings which stirred in
my , bosom wandering as a stranger
among the scenes the poet has con-
secrated by his genius. The saddest
act, to our mind, its his short, lonely
and eventful life, was the coldness
and neglect with which 'he was treated
by the people ,amongst whom : his
weary ashes repose. The people of
Dumfries, however, are proud of him
now and have erected' a handsome
monument to his memory. It was
,unveiled by the Earl of Roseberry
while'I was in Edinburgh, and, since
then the same .nobleman has headed a
deputation
which asked ed and obtained
permission to place his bust in the
"poet's corner," in Westminster Ab -
they, so that his fame now .rests on a
soli') basis, and his own words to
(Booby Jean when he.was dying,' have
become fully verified,"they'll think
more of me,:a hundred years hence
than they do now." ;While walking
through )Westminster Albtbey we felt
and expressed the want, saying to a
fellow 'Canadian, '"Why is.' Robbie
.(Burns not 'here?" If ever we visit
that venerabble edifice again—a-
mongst its .numerous constellations of
mighty'mep o'fgenius. we will see
(Scotland's greatest' poet. !Burns : is
und'oub'tedly the truest poet of his
countrymen and in originality is set-
ond to'iron:e in any clime, 'while in hia.
keen perception of the beauties' of
•nature and in fervent expression of
deep feeling he is unsurpassed. In
looking back through thevista of
years and pondering over the grief of a
short and checkered `:Career, and then,
gazing on the dazaling halo •rl glory
that surroun'd's his poetic brow, we
may well endorse' the sentiments of
the, poet,—
Great is 'his glory and +the grief
is past.
His fame is safe in the; hands of
posterity and is,destine'd' to shine signing of the .Loctirno Pact on Nov.
brighter and' brighter until the purr 28 of that Year' year, cenrenhin'g peace 1"
and' perfect` day. True, he still has ,western E'uro'pe and wiping out the
has dotractors amen.gst'those •w'io ere o'd Frasico-IGernt'ait feud Aver-Alsace-
allways ready and wabl'in.g .to rush 151 orraine.
where "visaracid''better•inen''fear to thtder his presidency, Germany
today—looking back ,over more
than fourscore active'. years, Paul von
Hindenburg conitinues to observe its
counsel. IGenmany has called him to
its service again. His work -and his
faith—go on.
President Of the !German Reich, his
strength was needed by a republic
faced with grave .problems. Here is
the man whom the nation called from
retirement in 1914 to lead: ilts armies,
Here is the man whom it called from
retirement in '1925 to lead it in the
path of peace. Now, a nation search-
ing for the road to stability calls a-
gain for his firm and guiding hand.
Each period of his service -has -seen
itlte now venerable Field Marshall
-
President grow in stature. Unwit-
tingly he expressed it himself during
the heat of the ,political crisis. last fall.
He was maligned and attacked. But
he did not give way to anger.
"I''hate no one," he declared. "At-
tacks on my person reach no higher
khan the heel of my boot."
No higher than the heel of his boot!
An adequate picture of the way in
which President von Hindenburg
towers above the rivalries of the mo-
ment, above party strife and bicker-
ings—at work for the Fatherland.
To. understand - hint, one must re-
call that many who voted for him in
1925 expected hini to restore a mon-
archy. They overlooked the inscrip-
tion that stands over the mantel in
his country home in Neudeck. 'Loy-
alty is the marrow of honor." The
°P•ield Marshal kept his oath to the Re-
public. More than any single factor
in Germany, he has been responsible
for unity and calm.
His stalwart figure stood strongly
behind bis chancellors, strengthening
their hands -Dr. Gustav Streseinann,
returning Germany to a place of hon-
or among the nations of the world;
Dh. (Heinrich Bruening, at work on
the ,problems of economic and finan-
cial rehabilitation.
Yet this is not to class hint as a
figurehead. It is an open secret about
the presidential palace—that u n os-
tentatious building.' on the Wilhelm
strasse, 'above which )flies its 'blac'k
Republican eagle—that documents
submitted for the presidenttiai signa-
ture are never signed until President
von Hindenburg has carefully con-'
sidered then. More often .than n'at'
he has been known to brush aside
draftsprepared tor hint to sign. Tak-
ing up the quill, which he still uses.,
he writes his orwn version, signing It
in the same bold handwriting.
One of the first important ,acts of
President von Hindenburg :after his
election ori' April '26, 11925,' was the
plied for membership in the League •
of Nations and became a member
Sept. 3, 1926, receiving •a seat on the -
'Leagues Council. Thus 'Germany had-'
won back .its position among the na-
tions. of the world. It was under Pre-
sident von Hindenburg that Dr. Stre-
setnann signed the Pact of Paris out-
lawing war. "He who knows war,
wants peace," the Field Marshal had
'once said—knowing from both bril-
liant victory and defeat, the need of.'
i nation to prosper by :peaceful means.
(Perhaps he gave the greatest proof'
of this when he signed the Young
plan 'on March 11th, 4930: Public feel
ing against this. plan, stirred by as
people's referendum organized by the.
Nationalists, was running high in
many quarters, Many o'f his
friends opposed it,
Mut President von Hindenburg'
'derstood Its values. It lessened, 1
'many's burden under the Dawes r
It brought a temporary solution of a
very difficult and dangerous situation,
at led directly *tothe evacuation d
the Rhineland on June 30.
A week later the Reich President'.'
also signed the German -Polish liquid
ation treaty. So aroused was public
opinion in litany quarters that the Pre-
sident explained his signature publicly
in a letter sent to the ,Chancellor. With
the evacuation of the 'Rhineland in
1930, there' were no mare foreign sol-
diers on. German territory. More thaw.
100 -decrees- have been issued by him:
its two years, classified in 'three groups.
to bring clarity into 'German finane
by freeing the Reich 'front 'cont.;
tions to the unemployment insurai
Salaries of government officials so
what recklessly increased a few yi
ago, were reduced. Heavy taxes weir-
introducedo
t .put an end to continua`.'
borrowing. The second series is re
garded as saving Germany's econoni
structure 'from collapse under threat-,
erred' withdrawal of foreign- money. .
The banks were rescued and reor-
ganized, the Reichsbank, fighting with
its back 19 the wall, was helped by
measures curtailing ,transactions in
foreign. . exchange, joint stock com-
panies .were forced to give insight it
their ,financial status, the bourse v
closed for many months to prew
unrest from being carried into
people, At that time, the Preside -4,
sent an 'appeal for a moratorium on,..
reparations which was arranged.
The third group .of decrees compri.
sed Germany's self-help action. Undo"
the guiding hand of the Chancellor,
and with President von Hindenburg -•
watching every s'te'p, (Germany .entered
the gigantic experimenit of' arti-
ficially lowering its cost of- produc-
tion and cost of. living. )Everything
Was cut, 'The Reich's budget, the sal-
aries of the governntenit 'officials, the
wages , of the worlcm'en, , unemploy-
ment. doles, war, 'pensions, cartel and'
retail prices, renfts and fares. The re-
adjustment of prices was completed.ti,
January o!f'this year.
Betty: D'o Yon know,Icer'
kissed me twice last night bef,
could stop him,
Peggy:, Good' gracious 1 . \
cheek!
Batty: Both.