DUNEDIN BURNS CLUB.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 18

DUNEDIN BURNS CLUB.

\ I The monthly meeting of the Burns Club was held in the Art Ga!ler\ on ihe 29 r h. ,jnd atracted, as usual, a very large attendance. '. The programme submired w-as well up to the club's high standard, and was another instance of the virihtv of the Dunedin ' i Burns enthusiasts. The President (Dr k Stenhouse) occupied the chair, and was \ery happy in his open.ng remarks. [ Piper J. " M'Donald appropriately inauguL rated the prooccding-s in historic manner, and the choir was heard to advantage in a number of artist cally rendered part . songs. During the evening a number of very enjoyable musical items were contri- \ , buted by Miss Johnstone, Mi=s H. A. Brem- ' ncr, Miss Shepherd, and Messrs Da\idson, \ j E. Uwn, T. M'Dowell. A. M'Lood, and \' E. Parker. In almost every instance an . encore was demanded and complied with. [ ' Miss E. Wright, w ith her customary ; ability, presided at the niar.o and played r the accompaniments, whilst Mr J. Da-wd- , son conducted the choir and acted as j musical director. | R. L. STEVENSON AXD SCOTLAND. s ' The chief speaker of the evening was Mr r W. C. MacGregor, who delivered an ad- . diess on "R. L. Stevenson and Scotland," and in the course of his remarks said: — [ "It may fairly be urged that the subject I have chosen has little or no apparent [ connection with Robert Burns or his poetry. To that my answer is that Steven- , son was at once a student, a critic, and '. an imitator of Burns, and. further, that the two were strangclv alike in being Seotj tish men of letters, who both died in comi parative youth, leaving behind them imperishable works — in each case markedly more catholic and broad-minded than I might have been expected from Ihp narrow and somewhat bigoted environment of their earlier days. In one of his essavfi Steven1 son himself has told us lhat 'Burns is better known among Enerlish-speaking c races than either Pitt' or Fox.' Fifty * .years hence, it may well ho that the same ' flattering remark will hold good of Robert Louis Stevenson himself. To the student 3 of Stevenson's writings the title I have i adopted for this paper will to some extent t speak for itself and indicate the probable 5 nature of its content*. My object, in 1 brief, is to make manifest as lucidly as J may be the relation of R. L. Stevenson to ' his native land, and to ascertain how far ' tl<at relation influenced and gave colour ? to his life and writings. We are all aware t that Stevenson was a nure Scot by birth - and training ; that he was born and r brought up in Edinburgh, attending the - academy and university of that tity, and J ultimately becoming an advocate at the - Scottish bar. The latter half of his too 1 short life, however, was spent in the main 1 far from 'Caledonia stern and wild,' wan- > d-ering, in fact, from country to country in a - vain search for that ideal climate which I might perchance enable his frail but indomitable fcedy to achieve some measure 1 of health and strength. With this end i in view he visited in turn t^e South of - Eneland Centra.l France, the Riviera, ' Switzerland, the Eastern States, and Caliy fornia, and finally settled down in far r Samoa to end his days in exile, oonvineed f by bitter experience that the climate of b his native land vas too cold and ungenial i for his feeble frame. At the age of 30 - he maTriod in San Francisco an American » lady* and thenceforth, until his death, some 1 15 years later, regained, in effect, a c ' literary vagrant,' as lie called himself, re- ) visiting hut own country at Icr.g Intervals,

and always at imminent risk to his health. With such a life history as that of "R. L. S." one woud expect his earlier ! works to be strongly coloured by his ultraScottish environment, and his later writing's less national and more cosmopolitan in their outlook. It would seem natural, and almost inevitable, to find tho first literary ; products of a delicate youth — trained in the strict and narrow paths of Presbyterian I Scotland 50 years ago —in the main an ! echo of the prevailing parochial sentiment surrounding him. Again, after emerging [ into the wider vision of experience and travel, such a writer as Stevenson should , normally have shaken off the shackles of his early training, and given to the world books in prose and veise less Scottish and I more catholic. What, on the other hand, I are the facts? We find in effect that from his earliest efforts Stevenson struck out i a path for himself- quite aloof from that j line of least resistance indicated by his | -education and upbringing. —and continued ' to the end of his career to produce literature, original and brilliant, indeed, but essentially ditFerent in doctrine and quality from what might have 1 been expected at the hands of one j who was a grandson of the manse and the a on of an ultra-Calvimst. Stevenson was primarily and essentially an artist, and the morality underlying his art was certainly not that of John Knox or even of Moses, but more resembled the Sermon on the Mount. A true citizen of the world, . cosmopolite in life and in letters, he sent his joyous message far and wi-de to all ' countries and all the ages, and is eminently • free from the cant of pro-N incialism and of | bigotry alike. And vet, running through | all his works— his essays, his novels, his I veraes. — there is a strong undercurrent of | Scottish national feeling." Here and there I we find an expression, a sentiment or an j allusion, that conveys to the ' brither I Scot ' who reads it at Home or abroad a 1 subtle, hidden meaning that he fondly ! hones is meant for him alone. And the | older poor Stc-venpon grew the further away from Bonnie Scotland he found himself, the nearer he crept to that grave which always appeared to be yawning for ' his emaciated body the more he wemed tb ' yearn for the land of his birth, the more I outspoken an.l pathetic bocamo his references to hi 6 nafhe city. It would be an | easy ta/=k to cite from the pages of Stevenj ?on numerous passages in prose and verse in proof of his deep-seated affection for Scotland in sreneral and for Edinburgh in particular. Time will not permit me here i and now to do more than refer to one or two. Pel haps the most characteristic of all is the chapter he wrote (while in California,) entitled ' The Scot Abroal.' " Mr MacGrecror concluded by reading a lengthy extract from " The Scot Abroad " and the lines to Crorkett. lie concluded: — "Such, then, is a sketch of the relation of R. L. Stevenson to his native land ; such ww the influence — racy, benignant, uneffaeeable— of Scotland upon Stevenson himself; and such are some few of the many reflections of that same kindly influence anparently in the pages he has left behind him as a. legacy to his gi-tfeful fellow countrymen."

On Saturday last Halfmoon Bay was alive with shoals of pqrpoisee. This is a sure indication that the fish swarms have got into the neighbourhood. From other sources of information we learn that the island fishermen are not neglecting the ; opportunity that the presence of the fisb. provides. — Southland Time*