RE BOBBY BURNS.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 689, 2 December 1921, Page 5

RE BOBBY BURNS.

(To the Editor).

Sir, —I am disappointed. I thought you had: found a man with a rapier, but to my sorrbw I find', on his own statement, that “Digger” is only one of those whom Bunyan so welL describes as the “Man with the MucK* mke. n He says, to start with, that en«f/has to be tolerant with Scots iiv-defence of their national poet. I did but remark that his “joke, he says it is so, was a little bit cowar._L\jy and he shows his tolerance in this torrent of “stodge” directed at Scots and at Burns. I am glad he evidently realises >that it is cowardly inasmuch as he rakes up an authority, 1 such as it is, to show that “de mortius nil nisi bonum” should not apply to isuch as he. Still, I prefer the British idea, that to hit when the ■, other fellow can't hit back is cowardly, and further,, that to seek the I shelter of a street boy s mis-spell, js I a further proof of cowardice. fc>o dearly, howevei;, does “Digger' love his “joke ” that he hopes it will circuiate in tlie neighbourhood. of the I Styx. Well, perhaps, that is the proper neighbourhood for it, and if that is the height of his ambition, I do not grudge it to him. I wonder who ever thought of, shall I

graduating poets. One cannot compare (things utterly different, say, a muck-rake, w,ith a pen. Perhaps some day he may find places in his list fcr the late Poet Laureate and Rudyard Kipling. He is entitled to his opinon, and .it will be of good assistance to the ages to come. I make no defence for the scraps from Burns which the muck-rake has scratched up, nor for similar scraps wh'jich he may scratch up from Ovid, Horaces,, Byron, and even from bis lauded Shakespears. Any unexpurgated edition will give him plenty, and when he has finished there are lots of others to keep him busy. Men do not want them, only judges of poets like “Digger’’ collect them,. He has no diffculty in locating the position of Burns and Shakespeare on his somewhat general roll, but if bis own doggerel is a fair sample of his own efforts then one may be pardoned for questioning his right to the judicial chair. I had thought it might be possible to journey a bit with him. But no. I utterly refuse to visit “stodge” heaps. I do not want the “dank” gathered there. That wav lies the plague.' May I suggest there is still God’s clear sky above, sheddjtng plenty of clean rain, and the lower atmosphere distilling refreshing dew without the fatal germs which accompany the other. To “Digger ” more in sorrow than in anger, I say “Vale et vale.” To you, Mr Editor, "thanks for your courtesy, but I shall noit again trouble you re the “Digger.”—l am etc.