BURNS CLUB.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9169, 16 July 1891, Page 4

BURNS CLUB.

• —. ■ The monthly meeting of the club was helc last bight at the Stuart street Oddfellows' Hall, when there was an excellent attendance, and Mi A. 3. Barns (president) occupied the chair. On the platform were also Dr Stenhouse and Mr J. Gillies. The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, intimated that the committee had decided on last Monday evening that the meetings of the club would in future be open to members and their lady friends. This decision had not been made so public as it might have been, and he would therefore ask them to kindly bear in mind that the meetings were held on the third Wednesday of each month, and he trusted they would make a note of it, so that the club mighc be saved some advertising expenses. It was alio intended to make the quarterly meeting night a " big nicht." They would remember that on a previous occasion he bad vindicated the private character of their poet, basing his remarks upon a description by his (the speaker's) grandfather. He had now to tell them that the vindication had been more than amply verified by the publication of a little memoir which had just appeared in Scotland, and was intended only for private circulation among the descendants of the poet and their immediate friends. He read a short criticism of the book from the People's Journal. He hoped to be instrumental iu removiog the embargo of private circulation and to procure some copies for local circulation. Even though only one copy could be prooured (which surely could bo " begged, borrowed, or stolen,"—laughter) endeavours would be made to procure a local reprint. The book to which he had referred contained the most complete refutation of the charges against Burns' habits, and would enable them to truthfully put down the habit of apologising for them, at present unfortunately considered necessary. Burns was not) a debauchee. He never indulged except in a social or congenial company, and he never failed on his return at night, no matter how late the hour, to go to the bedside of his children and assure himself of' their comfort. Burns had to be saved from himself, for ha felt the most bitter repentance for any excess, to the effects of which he was constitutionally extremely susceptible. Mr Gillies, vice-president, made a few remarks.and in the course of them pointed out from a key the famous characters represented in a print snowing Buftis at the house of the Duchess of Gordon, reading "The Cottar's Saturday Night," and surrounded by a brilliant assemblage. He then gave a reading descriptive of Burns' visit to Edinburgh in 1786, and of the publication of the first editien of the poems. Mr Hamilton, after essaying " The land o' the leal" in different settings, and resigning himself to the evident fact that his " forte" was not sentimental singiug, gave a recitation in a side-splitting manner. The choir, numbering about 30 and under the leadership of Mr Francis, sang " The bonny woods o' Cragjelee," and afterwards during the evening, in an evidently acceptable manner, " Roy's' wife," and the " Birks o' Aberfeldy." Mr Robertson contributed " The battle of Stirling" in fine style, Mr J. B. Thomson a recitation in a " pawky," and Mr Muir a song, "The' miller of Fife," in an amusing manner. Dr Stenhouse delivered a few remarks as to " Tarn o' Shanter," which many considered the most remarkable of Burns' poems—although he (Dr Stenhouse) preferred " The cottar's Saturday night,"—and demonstrated that the hero of the tale was no fictitious personage, but a man named Tom Reid, who had been in the employ of Burns' father, and who afterwards bore the patronymic of the farm," Shanter," which he had leased. Dr Stenhouse narrated the subsequent events of Tarn's life after his identification with the hero of the poem, and the cirenmstnnces attending his dcatb. After the chairman hail asked for a vote of thanks to the choir, the hall was cleared, and such as felt disposed disported themselves to the music of the pipes. Dk us Jongh's Light-Brown Cod Liver Oil.— PALATABLKNESS AND TUB FACILITY WITH WHICH IT 18 DIQESTHD ABB DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OT Db dk Jongh's Cod Liveb Oil. Dr Granville, F.R S., author o£ " the Spas of Germauy," writes :— ' Dr de Jongh'a Light-Brown Cod Liver Oil does not cause the nausea "aud indigestion too often consequent on the administration of the Pale Oila. Beinjj, moreover, much more palatable, Dr Granville'a patients have themselves oxpressed a preference for Dr de Jongh's Light-Brown Cod Liver Oil." Sold only in capsuled Imperial Half-pints, Pints, and Quarts, uy all chemists. Sole Consignees, Ansar, Harford, and Co., 210 High Holbom, London th3