Two Ladies of Ayr.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 43, 6 May 1875, Page 6

Two Ladies of Ayr.

i No finer complement was^'ever- paid to any burgh in " braid-Scotland" than is contained in; the parenthetical couplet of " Tan* O'Sbanter" which speaks/0f, , ",.', rr ~ "Auld Ayer v whW ne'er A tdori surpasses; , r.Fpr honest mei^aud. Ronnie lasses." Whatever may have been' th'e D case r itf tße poet's day , : there can; be no question that in respect/to at least.one part ;pf this eulogium facts have amply indicated its justice in the time that has elapsed since poor- 1 Burns passed away from this earthly scene.^.T^ye are just now reminded pf two of the •• bonnielasses" of Ayr wtio confer special lustre on the place of their nativity. A delightful paper ih"this ,m"onth!B7*^raser ' on "Sir Charles Bdl," brings before us that Miss Sbaw.pf Ayr, r whd^be'came the wife of the brilliant burgeeh who . discovery in physiology since Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood-— thlitiof the functions of the; nervous system. Both as to heart and.head, Charles BeU was truly a great man, and Marion, Shaw was worthy to be the wife of such a one as he.- Hi» letters to berjbefore marriage ? in which he tells tier of all his early struggles in London, are sufficient of themselves to indicate that she. was no. ordinary young woman : and when he brought her to the new hone c which he.hadprepared for her, andhimself, in Soho Square, it .was the beginning of a wedded life that proved to } be of the rarest felicity 1 v " I watch her ever," he writes to his T brother, George,— at Edinburgh, who was married ito < Met ei^tQT, yfygfc the ;ani •. mated colour in her cheeks is as Bunshine .. to me." . Stie r en ; tered with, higlj intelligence as well as the keenest sympathy into hil?professional struggles and work ; and we 1 find her writing.when^e was about Co 1 ventnre the^reat Btep of-takmg the MedicaLSchool in Great' WindmiU Street^coDnected jwjth the Huritjarjian^i/m^ny T 9^hfr, Ulustejgous 'men — *'- Charles did not sleep all night ; he wafeeaine with «Oh; May, ; it will be a noble musiuiri;^^ WheniSirjGharJes Bell died he was resting his anguished head, on the shoulder of the r devoted wife Who r fias ; teen the chief comfort and light of his earthly pilgriaQage.^-^he:(F s«cpnd „ Ayi^A^y is fought tomiod^bvihe/ recent death of the jpoetrector oYßiigby, the Rev. John Moultrie, ttiVbright Etonian who will long be remembered not) only; tforfbisjown. , gxoellent literal wori r but-.as_ihejßarly and "bosom friend#&?rged^nd^^<»uJay. A .£ike"Eady Bell, Mrs Moultrie was is native of Borns'a town. A of J)r^Fergußson, a gentleman' wno iiaa L greatly- distinguished himself in the Peninsnlar war. She was bora at MohifsWdddy, and ctheMoXfwe do Inot reqlaire to addt^atfihe^a^^, Bist|r of o Mr^am§B ( Eergusson, jtae celebrated writer on 'arcnitecture'^rid'arenae^togyiC^lMiss F^i^iiS^ofi W'aß^altSrid&rof sgajfi&j^ej^x n . wooing on. the partpf* tne*yonng^En 7glißhmanlhat ' Bbe':had8 be' : had been won. ' ' MrMoultrie ba^ni^el^ reUtea,dtt'^rt.^iipf ); i^rPpjems, he wrote the lines entitled *""¥<Jrgefr ! ifliee," and they proved^ irresistible; the faifJOne at length: relentingnaijdimakiag him the^hap-. TAuSf yfdvfae jjr^^jfand life'a ywnngr tpmance, Henceforth to f^away^ffWdii»sSv&a"i Tf H lothpcloar,dayUghtjof reality I Yfet'for'th'e ipim of Jjome three yean or more The Tißfon seemed to tarry ; household cares So long we khewnotpwr the-pjeaannt Honmi, Since then, the prime of life. J$ Those who tad ofelbesf ippportojiitieß of forming a jadgment testify ffiaf Mrs Moul-- ' «f ie^wai iodeedcfhcDlnoilel og wife. One of these witnesses, wntmg in 'We- t *Ataettiiettm,lißiiyß. r lther9oiw i ere.. rt two • women who brightened the good B^ecwr of Ruiby^fllui^bis^tootber.cwTiQ.iwaSi^fuU of humor, character, and intellect as her son, and bis wife, " who, for nearly forty years, was the pride of the house, and its nwfiteri? II ASoth^r writer, whose descrip-r tion appears in the • Times,' says that till Tull^fenerp^ndyetofT^weetne^^to ; childrea at Met knees, orderly, accuaiite^ ; mad buanesaJike^W be ; say, lively, radiant." TheTtown naa no lea^fouliangoits b,e^ ; aff ithaeemaf to . ns, which, in a eingle generation|wi*?|)rbBell and Mrs Moultrie^^weet Aywiiire "' fiowl^B j^^pl^tsdl^s^^^b^^ where^ they- nbb^fisusta^ea^&Fdredit'bf :