ROBERT BURNS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1966, 24 January 1914, Page 7

ROBERT BURNS.

0 AN EVENING WITH THE POET. Such is the fate of simple hard, On life's rough oceair lucUlees Starr ci 1 Unskilful lie to note the card Of prudent lore. Till billows rage, nnd gales blow hard. And whelm htm o'er I Such fate to suffering worth is giv'n Who long with wonts and \voe6 has stnv n, By human pride or cunning driv'n To mis'ry's brink, Till wrenched of every star but Heaven, lie, ruin'd, sink I ■ Ev'n -thou who mourn'st the Daisy's fate, That fato is thine-no distant date; Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives elate Pull on thy bloom, Till crueh'd beneath tho furrow's weight, Shall be thy doom! Robert Burns was tilling the fields in tho -April-of 1786, and-his plough turned down p. mountain dajsy. That day he composed tho linos which form one of, the Mveetcst of his many tender pooiiiS. He dedicated it ta moiintaiit daisy, and in his reflections on the fate of the little crimson-tipped flower the great philosopher cbiicoived-in verse a vision of his ovn life and end, more touching b.v far than aiiy biography .of him. The immortal verses quoted aro from the poem referred to. Bums wrote greater than beautiful vcrs6; he wrote patriotic poetry'around which Scots all over the world rally to-day as one united nation. To pay tribute to tho memory of tho poet, Wellington Seots gathered in tho municipal chamber of the Town Hall last night in largo numbers. The gathering was organised hv the Scottish Society, .and. was presided over by.Chief .B. Thomson and Chieftain Win. White. •

A very neat address on Burns was delivered by Air. J. Cniigie, M.P. for Timaru, ivlio brightened his specch by allowing the poet to speak for himself wherever advantage was to be gained bv it. To speak fittingly- and fully of 'Burns, he admitted, was not possiblo with him; such flights were (inly for-jr genius equal unto the poet himself. But .he brought-,with warm and grateful heart his sprig and laid it oii tho poet's tomb. . Jlr. Craicio traversed tho fact that many asjlersions -were cast upon Burns's character, and these ho indignantly thrust aside. , He made no attempt to presont him in tho light of a saint, .but he proclaimed some of his, virtues, and lifted him above tho level of the, jovial, intemperate , rhymester which, some regard him as. Ho naturally lit first upon Burns's frankness and independence as -the most outstanding of his virtues. Ho described him as a Mali of strong passions,- a warm and sympathetic nature, a charming personality, a brilliant conversationalist, and said truly that theso one ami all led him into temptation. Burns was lion- • ised, but praise and patronage never turned, his head. He was invited to tho company of lords, but he looked up ■to nono of-thorn. One error he never mad Was the sin of, hypocrisy; lie told ail his faults freely and frankly. Not even RouSscau, in his confessions, laid open his faults so frankly as did Burns in his poet'B epitaph. . t There aro those who say that Buriiß was ignorant, and wrote _in _ Scotch because, he was nnskilleu in English. For these, the lecturer .spared a' few minutes. He mentioned that many of the'jioet's great literary contemporaries though they thought his verso wonderful, reckoned his prose letters even greater. _. Still moro did they .value his conversation. I'hcy declared that lie would lihvo been great. whatever his avocation or his bent, and that lie was greater than his poems indicatedBurns was capable of masterly expression in English, but it. was in . the Scotch ..tongup ..that; M ho -...rose to his great height's, •'• "Jlr. . Crnigib quoted Emerson's f .. v .. th^t;.. work. r fjnJy ,histbry v |]'rt,tio'agr-s qt'..a,!languagc macle'. classic by ; the goniufi of a single ..man,. Byron would have .given a, lot to have' written, somo Of Burns's lines, and Scott had regarded a . snatch -of. his. verso as so packedwith meaning that it would servo to supply tho themes for a thousand love tales. Touching tho problem of environment, Mr. Craigio referred to Carlylo's dream of Burns's greater groatness had he only been, born rich. The lccturer rejected Carlylo's opinion, and accepted Byron's —that if Burns had been horn wealthy ■there- would have resulted smoother verse; but no immortality. For • ono thing there would have boon no "Cotter's Saturday Night." Circumstances combined to mako Burns the poet of his native land; ho was a patriot burning, to do something for his native, land. And what had he done for Scotland? This! -The stern suppression of tho Jacobite; rising , had almost quenched tho spirit of tho Scot. All had to thank Robert Burns for making/Scots prouu of their nationality. . Burns lit a flame when tho.firo was burning low. It was the flame of patriotism, which ran through tho future generations, and Without, patriotism a nation's prosperity was as'a house built on sand.

In addititfii to Jlr. Craigie's lccturo tho following items of entertainment wore given:—Two selections, lion, pipers of tho society; song, "Com Rigs Aro Bonny," Mr. A. Oakey; Highland fling, Miss Daisy M'Lellan j recitation, "Tho Cotter's Saturday Night," Miss Betty Purdom; song, "Angus M'Donald. Miss M. Allan: song, "Flow Gently, Sweet Aftou," Jlr. T. Newton'; sword dance. Miss Daisy M'Lellan; recitation, "Preparing to Receivo yisitors" (from Barrio's "Window in Thrums"), Miss Betty Purdom;.. and song, "To Mary in Heaven," Mr. A. Oakey. Miss Ethel 21. Bartley was accompanist.