[Muir's tribute to Robert Burns.]
THE PASADENA EVEJN1NG STAR: SATURDAY, JANUARY 26. 1 SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE FORGOT AND NEVER BROUGHT TO MIND Robert Bums, Scotland's national bard, would have been the happy man the night could he ha' dropped in on the crowd of prominent men who assembled in the Colonial room of the Hotel...
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Scholarly Commons
1907
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| Summary: | THE PASADENA EVEJN1NG STAR: SATURDAY, JANUARY 26. 1 SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE FORGOT AND NEVER BROUGHT TO MIND Robert Bums, Scotland's national bard, would have been the happy man the night could he ha' dropped in on the crowd of prominent men who assembled in the Colonial room of the Hotel Maryland last evening to do honor to his memory. It was a Burns night from start to finish and everything but the Scottish plaid was in evidence which could justly be credited to the Clans. The banquet in honor of the 148th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, given by the local Scotchmen at Hotel Maryland last evening, was one of the most informal yet elegant affairs which has been given in Pasadena this season. It was indeed a gathering of the clans. The Macdonnells and the McCaments were represented as well as the Me- Phersons and the Stewarts. All of the good old Scotch names, which are becoming so common in America, were represented and' even a new clan was annexed to the fellowship before the evening was over—the "Bobbie Mc- Burdettes." It was the fellowship of a nation which has long ago faded from political power but which has not lost itself in a hundred years of intermingling with other races. As was said last night, "A Scotchman would be ashamed to be anything else but a Scotchman." Among those gathered around the board were many of Pasadena's most prominent citizens, men who lead in the business and literary world. When the Scotchmen marched into the Colonial music room which was converted into a banquet hall for the evening, a most artistic sight met their eyes. Manager D. M. Linnard of the Hotel Maryland had caused two long tables to be set in white linen and fine napery studded with candles and decorated in strings of smilax and red carnations. The speakers' table was at the north end of the room and connected the two long tables running the length of the apartment. Potted ferns and palms added to the mission effect of the room, making it at once artistic and home-like. Red and green fire was lighted in the outer court after the guests sat down and with the lights turned off the two colors blended exquisitely in illuminating the banquet hall through the big French windows. The menu, though set before Scotch- EMORY OF BURNS IS FITTINGL Y HONORED BY LOCAL SCOTS Pasadena Men of the Kilts, Though They Do Not Wear Them Every Day, Have Jolly Time at Banquet. WEE BOBBIE MacBURDETTE MEETS MATCH IN BRIGHTNESS but of the de hote which makes the chef of Hotel Maryland famous. The names were somewhat unusual, as is shown in the following copy: Welks frae the Firth o' Forth Sowans in Jugs Saut Nits Soor Plooms Kail frae Aberdeen Fleuks Champit Tatties Cauld Rostit Stot, wae Wee Peas Tattie Scones Uscabae frae Glenvet Wee Doos, wae Trimmlin Bob Hotchpoch Snow Puddin Aryshire Curds Farls o' Oatcakes Kaughphy Needless to say the American born Scotchmen were guessing what was coming next, but by the end of the evening there were those who "shifted their kilts." Following the dinner the orchestra played "Auld Lang Syne" which concluded a number of goed old Scotch pieces such as "A Gay Gassoon" selections from "Rob Roy" "The Thistle" and "Comin' Through the Rye." The president of the club introduced Mr. J. A. Buchanan, who in a well- worded speech took the floor as toast- master of the evening, expressing for each one present the admiration and love for Robert Burns, Scotland's great and humble poet whom the world has come to love. In the absence of John Muir, who was to have delivered an address, Mr. Buchanan said that he had asked Dr. F. S. Seeley to read a speech which Mr. Muir had written. Dr. Seeley said that he did not feel men, savored nothing of breakfast food equal to the occasion in such well- (J -O-C-l3-0-C-a-O-O-C.C. .c-.o-.o-o-o-o-.o-.o. .a.9.o-.e-9.i -B."B.-fr" .|.|iii A ;&1ers t i Have no superior for the purpose for which it is intend- I ed. It is invaluable where quick heat.is desired, say 1 in a bedroom, sick chamber, bath room, nursery, heating water for shaving or light cooking. No smoke. No odor. No smut. Nothing to get out of order. Costs cent an hour to operate. Price fjjl.OO. 56 NORTH FAIR OAKS AVENUE chosen words that when he asked the president to read the manuscript of Mr. Muir instead, the president said Dr. Seeley was obviously the most fitted to read it. Dr. Seeley explained that he was unequal to the task and asked Robert J. Burdette to read the manuscript. Dr. Burdette was caught napping for once in his life, for he said, "I am unable to read anything but print." "Well, this is type-written" replied Dr. Seeley, and for once the famous humorist was caught without a word and amid the general laughter he accepted the address, which he read. It is, in full, as follows: It is surely a fine thing to stop now and then in the throng of our common everyday work to contemplate the works and ways of God's great men, sent down from time to time to guide and bless mankind. And it is glorious to know that the greatest of all that have appeared in the last Century was a Scotsman, Robert Burns. And therefore we Scotsmen tonight are celebrating the birthday of not only the greatest of Scotsmen but one of the greatest of all the world's great men. Robert J. Burdette nonplussed, Seward A. Simons playing the piano and singing songs and everybody talking Scotch and -.eating oatmeal, was the net result of the Burns memorial banquet at the Hotel Maryland. The descendants of the Highlands had a right royal evening and a most successful celebration. It was a thoroughly representative body of men and Pasadena was proud of them. wife and bairns, deserted by his canny fault-counting friends. But in the. midst of it all he knew something of lihe worth of his short life's work. "The sterling of his honest worth" he said, "no poverty could debase" and his independent British mind oppression might bend but could not subdue. And when.lying forsaken in the shadow of death he said to h4a despairing wife, "Never mind, I'll be more respected a hundred years after I am dead than I am now." How gloriously this proph-cy has been fulfilled! His fame began to grow from the day of his death, and year by year it 1-as grown higher and brighter, cheering and enriching all mankind. In the halls of fame there is none like his. "The birthday of no other human being i.; so universally celebrated" and as Lord Rosebery well says, "He reigns over a greater dominion than any empire the world has yet seen, and his name excites a more enthusiastic worship than that of any saint in the calendar" And this marvelous evergrowing adi.iring devotion is perfectly natural. Could Burns have seen it how glad he would have been. What is the secret of it all? It is his glorious inspiring genius derived from heaven, with glowing all-embracing sympathy. The man of science, the naturalist, too often loses sight of the essential oneness of all living beings in seeking to classify them in kingdoms, orders, families, genera, species, etc., taking note of the kind and arrange- ~+.+ + e—9 a~0""C • * e o o • p"'0"0—o—g Qi;-ju4i.-iMJjHiaMij| | iiiji n'lifiii- | r—ri . .-.i.— .-,. , ||||i||| HIMH' IIIIIHIIIIII ment of limbs, teeth, toes, scales, hair, feathers, etc., measured and set forth In meters, centimeters, and millimeters, while the eye of the poet, the seer, never closes on the kinship of all God's creatures, and his- heart ever beats in sympathy with great and small alike as "earth-bom companions and fellow mortals" equally dependent on heaven's eternal love. As far as I. knw none in all the world so clearly recognized the loving fatherhood of God as our ain Robert Burns, and none in whose heart there flowed so quick and kind and universal a sympathy. Call to mind his field mouse, "Wee sleekit cowrin' tim'rous beastie" turned out of house and home, its store of food scattered, and cold winter coming on; the tender pity for the silly sheep and cattle, and ilk hopping bird "wee helpless thing" shelterless in a winter snowstorm; the wounded hare crying like a child—the unfortunate daisy, "wee modest crimson-tippet flower" crushed amang the stoure. He extended pity and sympathy even to the deil, entering into his feelings and hoping he might perhaps be able to repent and escape from his gloomy dem "Hear me auld hangie for a wee, An' let poor damned bodies be; I'm sure sma' pleasure it can gie, E'n to a deil To skelp an' scaud poor dogs like me An' hear us squeel! But fare you weel auld Nickie-ben, O wad ye tak a thought an' men! Ya aiblins mught—I dinna ken, Still hao a stake I'm wae to think upo' yon den Even for your sake." Nothing could abate one jot his passionate love for Scotland. In his early days in tho midst of poortith cauld and the weary endless battle for bread he thus tells his patriotic ambition. "A wish that to my latest hour Will strongly heave my breast, That I for poor auld Scotland's sake Some useful plan or book might make Or sing a song at least." And he sang: "Scots Wha Hae With Wallace Bled" "A Man's a Man For A' That" "The Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon" "Mary in Heaven" "Auld Lang Syne" "The Cotter's Saturday Night" charming and electrfying the great and lowly alike, and showing that "From scenes like these,, old Scotia's grandeur springs, that makes her loved at home, revered. abroad." These and many others he sang in the few troubled years alloted him and made all the world his debtor. But Scotland's debt is in . several ways peculiar. He brought her forward into bright light and made her great and glorious among the nations, and ,he saved the grand Scottish language when it was in danger of sinking in English. Though unfit for science it is wonderfully rich in love-words for telling "A' ihe pleasure o' the -.art, the lover and the friend." And HE PASADENA EVENING STAR: SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1907. BOBBY BURNS 15 NAE FORGOT IN PftSJP Able Speeches by Prominent Men, Music, Poem and - Song Make Up Delightful. Evening at Maryland. NEW CLAN OF SCOTS QUICKLY DISCOVERED [Continued From Page 15.] Burns' poems are enshrined in gude braid Scots the world will never allow it to perish. None in this land of plenty can realize the hardships under which Burns' immortal work was accomplished. Of what, we call education he had almost nothing. He was brought up on the Bible in his father's auld clay biggin. This was his school and college, his. poor neighbors and the fields and the sky his university. He sang untrained like a stream or a bird, while under the crushing weight of doure unchangeable poverty—a kind of poverty unknown in America where doors open everywhere to affluence and ease. When he was in the fullness of strength of early manhood, standing, five feet ten, his great eyes flashing, such eyes as .Walter Scott said he had never seen in any other countenance; as bold and brave and bonnie a chiel as ever trod yird, he toiled from daybreak till dark digging, plowing, /reaping, thrashing for three dollars a month! On my lonely walks I often thought how fine it would be to have the company of Burns. And indeed he was always with me, for I had him by heart. On my first lpng walk from Indiana to-the Gulf of Mexico I carried a copy of Burns' poems and sang them all the way. The whole country and the people, beasts and birds, seemed to like them. In the Sierra I sang and whistled them to the squirrels and birds and they were charmed out of foar and gathered close about me. So real was his companionship he oftentimes seemed to be with me in the flesh however wild and strange the places where I wandered—the Arctic tundras so like the heathery muirlands of Scotland, the leafy Alleghanies, icy Alps and Himalaya, Manchuria, Siberia, Australia, New Zealand—everywhere Burns seemed at home and his poems fitted everybody. Wherever a Scotsman goes there goes Burns. His grand whole Catholic soul squares with the good of it all, therefore we find him in everything everywhere. Throughout, these last hundred and ten years thousands of good men have been telling God's love; but the man who has done most to warm human hearts and bring to light the kinship of the world is Burns, Robert Burns, the Scotsman. JOHN MUIR. Following Mr. Muir's address Mr. Buchanan called upon Dr. Burdette. Mr. Burdette caught every one with his first words when he said, "The campaign is not quite on yet and I am not out for anything, so I may say that I am a Scotchman; on the seven-, teenth of March I may say that I am an Irishman and so on for the rest of the birthdays of the year. But no matter I am glad to be able to lay a tribute to the memory of the man; who has never died and who never will die. The language made permanent by Robert Burns will live for ever." Continuing, Dr. Burdette spoke of the life of Robert Burns, of how I he had lived and become famous after he was dead while through his life he was looked upon as reprobate and a de- bauche. He spoke of the faults of the great poet as being forgotten and the virtues of his life living with his works. He went on to speak of the Scotch dialect being perpetuated by Burns the same as the dialect of Indiana had in later years been perpetuated by James Whitcomb Riley. Particularly did Rev. Burdette bring out the democracy of Burns and of how his prophecy had come true that a "Man's a Man for au that, and au that." ' "Burns preached ahead of his time"' said Dr. Burdette in closing. "He was a man of gifted talent, a great poet and a prophet. I am glad to be present -and -pay tribute at the board set in honor of this man who was loved little in his youth, but whose memory I pray God may continue to live and be loved in years to come as it is today." Dr. Garret Newkirk, in a short address, paid tribute to Robert Burns, in flaking of his as "poet, humorist, her, patriot and prophet, whose 3 standing for patriotism, love of l:.,.e and common honesty will live through all time to come." Dr. Newkirk gave several selections from Burns' poems which fitted in well with the hour, leaving a deep impression on his hearers. Seward A. Simons, who followed, spoke of the closeness of Burns to the average American who was of Sotch descent and without being urged .yielded to the desire of the banqueters and seated himself at the piano and sang in a soft voice "Flow Gently Sweet Afton" which so touched the banqueters that he was enchored until he recited "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" after which he sang "Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon" and ended his tribute with the Scotch National Hymn. The musical side of Mr. Simons has not been portrayed heretofore, but hereafter it will be counted on by all those who heard and appreciated his singing last evening. The reading of "Tarn O'Shanter" in typical Scotch dialect by the president was one of the most enjoyed of the many treats of the evening. The president read the poem for what there was in it, which is much, and when he sat down there was many, a good Scotchmen present who vowed he had never appreciated "Tarn O'Shanter" so much before. Judge C. J. Willett closed the program of the evening by speaking of the pictures drawn by Burns in his poems and touching upon some of the less known facts of the poet's life, gained from a recent visit to the home of Burns while touring through Scotland last fall. Following a vote of thanks to Mr. Linnard for his kind and courteous treatment as host, the entire company sang "Auld Lang Syne" in true Scotch fashion. Among those present were: T. A. Buchanan, Joseph Welch, Seward A. Simons, Fred Stuart Seeley, J. O. Mc- Cament, C. C. Brown, J. C. Macdon- nell, F. G. Cruickshank, Paul S. Hom- berger, Saniel Innes, W. D. Russell, Argyle Baker, Mac D. Snowball, W. B. Loughery, William H. Vedder, Colin Stewart, F. W. Buchanan, George R. Ingalls, Harley Newell, James H. Cam- bell, C. W. Buchanan, L. C. Freeman, T. J. Eginton, John H. Kennedy, H. S. Chisholm, T. P. Lukens, James H. Gaut, Thomas Nelmes, V. G. Ward, Eckford Dodds Tyler, Joseph J. Blick, W. R. Carrothers, George Penny, Mathew Sla- vin, Oscar Terrmen, J. W. Ketchum, R. H. Miller, B. P. Stacey, T. D. Allin, H. C. Hotaling, James Clarke, John Johnson, Sherwin Smith, J. W. Wood. R. H. McLarn, A. G. Stanham, A. G. Hollaway. H. jQ. Clark, Peter Robertson Kenderick, C. D. Sargent, J. C. McPherson, Charles J. Willett, Gar- ett Newkirk and "Bobbie Mac Burdette." Linoleums and Matting. Quality and prices are right at the Rug House, 25 N. Marengo Ave. Linoleums and Matting. Quality and prices are right at the Rug House, 25 N. Marengo Ave. "Spuds" White Salinas Burbank's. The Fiske Jubilee Singers will give a concert for the benefit of the West Side Congregational church on Monday evening, January 28th, at S o'clock at the Y.M. C. A. auditorium. Admission, 35 cents. !Kuranaga's Princess of Japan Tea L the Favorite of All Tea Drinkers. j A Restful Place to Lunch! I When are you Coming to Lunch? 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