“A NIGHT WI' BURNS”

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1934, Page 9

“A NIGHT WI' BURNS”

DEVOTEES FOREGATHER. FUNCTION AT NEW PLYMOUTH. There was a gathering of the clans, at New Plymouth last night. From north, south and central Taranaki and even from so far away as Wellington they had come. The bond of-unison was pride in Scotland’s greatest bard, “the ploughman who suddenly began to sing”—in short, it was a “Burns supper.’’ The atmosphere was correct in every detail. Candles in bottles, sawdust* on the floor, tartans on a wall, heather and tartan on the tables, a clever reproduction of the window in Burns’ cottage at Alloway on another wall, and. a copy of a famous portrait of the poet brooding over the room. There were “tawties and herrin” to eat, and a dram of guid strunt and a brew o’ maut to cheer the hearts of the devotees, ' The songs were Scottish—most of them were Burns’ compositions—so were the humour and the talk, while the enthusiasm was unbounded. The toast of the evening, “The Immortal Memory,” was in the capable hands of Mr. W, G. Simpson, Hawera. He followed the advice of one of the greatest of Burns’ interpreters and relied upon quotations from the poet’s own works to give his message. And what a message it was! Satire and contempt of hypocrisy demonstrated “Holy Willie’s Prayer”; Tenderness and philosophy in the “Ode to a Mouse”; Burns’ deeply religious personality in the “Cottar’s Saturday Night”; his love song at its best in “To Mary in Heaven”; his call to national pride, and to ■ the beginning of social reform in the claim that “a man’s a man for a’ that,” and then his rollicking dramatic song of “Tam o’ Shanter.”

Very deftly Mr. Simpson wove all these into the fabric of his sketch of Bums’ life and work. He showed how Burns had awakened the peasantry of Scotland from their double bondage of poverty and bigotry, shackles which pressed harshly upon so many, of the years in the. poet’s short life. It was a wonderful story of a wonderful genius, and everyone present felt the wisdom of leaving Burns to give, his own message in his own words. Of course there was the haggis, duly piped in by Piper J. McKinnon, and with Bums’ ode recited by Mr. Simpson. Nor did the conviviality confuse itself to the principal celebration. The loyal toast was followed by “Caledonia” (Mr. Forbes Brown), “Scottish Traditions” (Mr.‘ H. E. Carey), "Scottish Humour” (Mr. A. M. Brown, Auroa), “The Visitors” (Mr. F. Ba'ird), "The Ladies” (Mr. J. Cunnison), and “The Entertainers” (Mr. R. Bennoch). To add to the gaiety songs were sung by Messrs. Bennoch, F. Baird, C. Evans, C. McLeod, Simpson, Austin and. Cunnison. Mr. P. Fredric was pianist, and Mr. J. Austin proved a chairman who knew how to combine geniality with due decorum.