MORE ABOUT THE “REAL BURNS”

Dunstan Times, Issue 3516, 6 April 1931, Page 3

MORE ABOUT THE “REAL BURNS”

ANNUAL TRIBUTES TO NATIONAL BARD SIR HARRY LAUDER'S UNCONVEHTIONAI ADDRESS Thomas Carlyle's saying that “ Burns is a theme that cannot easily become either trite or exhausted,” received further proof of its truth on the occasion of this year’s anniversary of the poet’s birth (January 25). At many gatherings throughout the country “The Immortal Memory” was pledged, and addresses were given by writers, politicians, ministers, and others. Two women made notable contributions to the eulogies of the poet this year—the Lady Margaret Sackvillc and Mrs Catherine Carswell (says the ‘ Weekly Scotsman ’). PLEA FOR CHARITABLE VIEW. Sir Harry Lauder proposed the toast of “ The immortal Memory ” at the annual festival of the' Portobello Burns Club. When Sir Harry Lauder rose to address the gathering he was accorded a rousing reception, the crowded gathering rising to cheer him loudly and to sing, “ For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” Then came the speech, not quite the usual Burns oration, but the Burns tribute that one expected from the speaker. it was not all speaking either, for at one point Sir Harry bad occasion to refer to “ O’ a’ the airts.” He did not read the words; lie sang the song. But this was not the only Lauder song of the evening. After “ The Immortal Memory ” had been pledged in solemn silence, Sir Harry announced that ho had had some words sent to him which be had set to music, and lie wished the audience to join in the chorus. So the company, led by the principal guest, joined heartily in the singing of a iuw Lauder ditty, with a rollicking tune and the refrain “ Pin your faith on the Motherland.” In the course of his oration Sir Harry Lauder said : In travelling I have read at times the barking of puppets at Burns. Had Burns been alive those puppets would have eaten from his hand and licked his fingers. _—. In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind’s concern should be charity. Burns was a master builder in God’s creation. It is no exaggeration to say “ the truer and deeper our manhood is the finer and more enduring will be the thing we build.” HAUNTED BY RELIGION. If Burns was not in the conventional sense of the term “ a religious man,” no one can deny that he was a man haunted by religion. Deep down in his soul were religious instincts, which lie could not suppress and which flash out in moments of deep emotion. Recall the closing stanza of ‘To a Mouse ’: — Still thou arc blest compar’d wi’ me! The present only toucheth thee; But, oh! 1 backward cast my e'e

On prospects drear! in' forward, tho’ I canna see. I guess an’ fear!

Once only, when his genius was soaring, he let this deep instinct have its way and the result was the poem by which he is chiefly remembered in many a Scottish home—‘ The Cotter’s Saturday Night.’ Is there anything else in Scottish poetry we could put side by side with this? After quoting from ‘ The Cotter s Saturday Night,’ Sir Harry continued;

Let us thank God to-night for all that, brilliant and inspiring, even while we deplore the tragedy and suffering that lay behind it, and if we are ever tempted to rashly judge this man whose head was often among the stars even when his feet were in the mire, let us hush our judgment with his own tuneful words;—

Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler sister woman; Tho’ they may gang a kennin’ wrang, To step aside is human.

Brither and sister Scots and friends, I give you—and you will receive in solemn silence —the toast, “ The Immortal Memory oi Robert Burns.” THE PRESENT-DAY “ LASSIE.” The toast of “ The Lasses ” was proposed by Councillor John Hay, vicepresident of the club, who handed a beautiful sheaf of flowers to Lady Margaret Sackville. Lady Margaret Sackville, in reply, said she wondered what Robert Burns would have made oi the j 'cscnt-day girls. She expected things would have been as before, because, though fashions changed, the hearts ol men and women remained very much tho same. “NO FOOL ABOUT WOMEN.” ‘Robert Burns, the Man Who Understood Women,’ was the subject of an oration given at the Scottish Women’s Club “Burns Nicht” supper in Edinburgh, by Mrs Catherine Carswell, whose recently-published book on the life of the poet aroused some controversy. Mrs C; irswcll said that what the male Bnrnsian would not always face was that his idol not merely fell in love here and there with women, but that be everywhere deeply liked the nature of women. Robert Burns was always emotionally honest where women were concerned. And women would ultimately forgive anything in a man except emotional dishonesty towards themselves. Burns’s songs ol love and Ins narratives of domestic life would remain always as fresh as when they were penned. lie would still he immortal as the man who understood the heart ol a girl and tho soul of a woman. In tin' long run it might he the women wlio would keep his memory for ever green. (Applause.l Miss Joan D. Bruce, who presided, said that this was the club's second Burns supper. BURNS PANELS FOR ALLOWAY. Two plaster panels have been erected at the Public Hall, Alioway. r l lie Hall, alter being remodelled by the late Sir Robert Lurimer and his partner, Mr John F. Matthew, was given to Allo-

way by Lord Glentanar; and the erection of the panels now completes the gilt. The panels are each 19ft long. The subject of the first is ‘The Do’irs Awa’ Wi’ the Exciseman,’ and the second panel depicts ‘The Jolly Beggars’ in Poosie Nancy’s Inn. BUB NS AND THE NATIONAL TONGUE. The Very Rev, Charles L. Warr, Dean of the Thistle, impressed a large company at the annual dinner of the Burns Club of London on January 23 by a speech which, after a many-sided estimate of the genius and character of Burns, made a strong plea for maintaining the spirit of nationality in face of a rapidly-changing Scotland. Mr Warr, proposing “The Immortal Memory,” said that when Burns’s poems were first published the nation was roused once again to a recognition that its own native tongue there abode not coarseness and crudity, but a strength and a flowing mobility, a capacity for expression that gave it just cause to put forward the claim to be in fact a noble language. They were nearer the truth if they accepted the view, as someone said, that it was Burns who for Scotsmen raised their national tongue from the dunghill and left it on a throne. Referring to the “Changing face of Scotland,” and to the increasing interest in Scottish traditions, Mr Warr declared that he was an Internationalist because he was a Christian, but nationality was a noble ideal, even though men had frequently degraded and perverted it. In the struggle for the preservation of Scottish nationality no alien could be more powerful than those clubs which find their common inspiration in the genius of Robert Burns. MR ADAMSON’S TRIBUTE. It was a eulogy of a man who loves him, said Mr William Adamson, the Secretary of State for Scotland, returning thanks for the appreciation of his oration in moving “ The Immortal Memory” at the annual dinner of the Edinburgh Burns Club in the North British Station Hotel on Saturday night. Mir Allan Stevenson, president of the club, occupied the chair, and among others present were Lord Provost T. B. Whitson and the Lady Provost; Sir Joseph Dobbie, and Mr Robert Duncan, vice-president of the club.

Mr Adamson, proposing the toast, said that all classes of our people, from the King on the throne—someone had said that the “ King’s Quhair ” was equal in some respects to the best of Chaucer—had contributed towards the making of our great wealth of poetry. Even such an ardent admirer of everything Welsh as Mr Lloyd George had had to admit that the Scottish hymns wedded to their strains of melody were superior to the Welsh —and the Welsh had a very rich heritage of song and poetry. Burns was not only the first great poet who emerged from the common folk; he was also the first who found in them his continual theme and source of his inspiration. And yet the appeal of his genius was universal, and peer and peasant worshipped with equal fervour at his shrine WOMEN ADMIRERS.

Giving ‘ The immortal Memory ’ address at the Women’s Educational Union in Glasgow, the Lady Margaret Saekville said that Robert Burns, who seemed for a long time an exclusively masculine possession, was so no longer. She believed that women were especially qualified to understand poets, principally because poets needed such an immense amount of looking after. Burns needed feminine understanding. She felt quite sure that he never really grow up, though he adopted, at times, an amusingly grown-up pose, like a small boy on bis best behaviour. He broke bounds often enough, in the manner of a high-spirited schoolboy, and got punished accordingly. She did not believe that any woman would ever write or speak bitterly concerning Burns, as they might—conceivably and justifiably—about Byron. AT THE POET'S TOMB. In accordance with the custom that has prevailed in Dumfries for many years, the Provost and members of the Town Council, together with representatives from the various local Burns clubs, visited the poet’s tomb in St. Michael’s Churchyard. Provost Brodie deposited the usual floral tribute on behalf of the citizens of Dumfries, and another from the Federated Caledonian Society of South Africa. Dr Livingston, president of the Dumfries Burns Club, placed a beautiful wreath on the grave on behalf of Colonel Walter Scott, New York, U.S.A., an entluisiasti.: admirer of the poet, and Mr M. H. M'Kerrow, burgh chamberlain, deputised for the Calcutta Burns Club, who sent an equally magnificent tribute.