ROBERT BURNS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1934, Page 13

ROBERT BURNS

! HIS MEMORY HONOURED

ANNIVERSARY SUPPER

j A largo gathering of admirers of Scotland's national poet, Robert Bums, >vas present at the anniversary supper held, by the Wellington Burns Club last evening.

;, In the absence of Mr. Donald. Macfarlane, Mr. Johannes C. Andersen presided. At the official table were the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), Councillor J. Burns, Messrs. R. H. Nimmo, James Craigie, P. C. Watt, D. McLaren, i\V. D. lorns, E. B. Paton, A. F. Dickson, Mesdames E. Hume, J. Burns, J. C. Andersen, and Miss I. Dickson. After'the loyal toast had been honoured, the customary ceremony "of piping in ■ the haggis was performed. Mr. Angus Graham led the procession ! with the pipes. Mr. E. B. Paton then recited the famous "Address to tho Haggis," by Burns.

j In toasting "Tho Immortal Memory of Bobcrt Burns," Mr. Craigie said that it took' sincerity, reality, and sheer merit to stand the test of' time. Anything that was hollow or hypocritical was bound to fall. Burns, though dead 138 years, was as much loved as ever. That night they were met together to honour and to revere his name. The celebration would run right round tho world until it reached the poet's own country. There- was no other man, no other name in literature, that could cause such a stir; there was no name so loved as that of Burns. He had moved more hearts of men and women than any man in the last century.

Nevertheless, no man had been more fiercely attacked, said Mr. Craigie. Burns had been ■ unfortunate in his biographers, and no doubt many of the audience had been surprised at the ignorant and erroneous opinions held by many regarding the great poet. He had his faults and failings, but he was, above all, sincere. -From the beginning, he had had strong passions and a- temperament which led him into temptations beyond the comprehension of an ordinary mortal. Mentally and physically he was endpwed with great gifts. His eyes, his beautiful and musical voice, his eloquent, witty; conversation, combined to make him tho favourite of the wealthy and cultured in a hard-drinking age. There was no shadow of hypocrisy in his writings; he hated it. He told frankly of his follies as well as his joys. No other man had had his faults laid so open before'tho eyes of men. The people of one age could not judge those of another. Burns was a hard drinker because he- was sociable. Ho drank through' good-fellowship,' and was far from.being a habitual drinker. Pitt, and other statesmen; of the day, probably drank four times as much as Burns, primarily because oi the ago and of their greater wealth. After the death of their father, Robert Burns cared for his brothers and sisters lovingly, and also worked on the , farm with his brother alone for £7 a year, continued Mr^ Craigie. Whe,ri appointed to the arduous .duties of the Excise Department, his wago was not a princely one, nor was he at any time wealthy, but when he died he owed no man. His wife herI self said that ho had never frowned on her. Against those truths there was nothing t6 put forward. No- man existed who could look down on Burns. Though he hated cant, he was funa.i-. mentally religious.' "Let he whois without sin cast the first stone," concluded Mr. Craigie; "let the spots on Burns's sun be lost in tho luslic of his 'rays'." ■ Other toasts were given during the cvoning, and items wero contributed between the goodies by Mr. Val .Totics nml Missfq Peggy Jones ancl Hope Flaw-'. Mr. V. Wakelm was accompanist. ■