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Show FAMED BOBBY BUMS EVENTS IN LIFE OF SCOTIA'3 GREAT POET. Dark Timet In His Career the Result of Unfortunate Environments Was Once on the Point of Leaving Mia Native Land Forever. (Special Correspondence.) Tho poet of Seminal, Robert IJiirnn, wns born two miles intith of Ayr, In tho neighborhood of Alloway kirk nnd tho old bridge of Doon, on the Suth of January, 1709. Tho cottago was a clay ono and hnd been constructed by his father. William llurnes, tho father, who Rpelled his nnmo with tho extra e, was an ndmirnblo typo of Scottish yeoman, nnd much superior to tho people with whom ho dwelt In dally contact, for ponsnnt ho never wns. Thus tho poet. I Burns' Monument, Ayr. Robert Rums, nnd he was first born, 1 Inherited a a -neral nnp. rn r ty. a sen I BltivenMB mid bum quillty from his f ither, and fioin Mi mother n love I for song nnd ballad nnd n most excel lent memory. When Hums was 10 his family removed re-moved to I.ochloa. Hero Rums attended at-tended dancing school and his brother (Jllhort telli us that Ills brother Robert Rob-ert was almo3t ecnstnntly In love. In his l'lth jcax Rums, still attending dancing ecliool and Btlll falling in love, still becoming ncqualnted with tho Insldo of Jolly taverns, seems to liavo met (mid liked) various smugglers smug-glers who frequented his rugged coast mid to liavo been attracted by their lawless ways. Just at this time too, ho had boon jlltod by a sweetheart, and tho reckless llfo of tho smug- glers 'nfforded ample opportunity for Ills feelings and morbidness to work themselves off. About this tlmo Hums becumo nn enthusiastic Mason. After tho death of their father In Ayr, Rums and Ills brother Gilbert bought a farm and removed to Moss-glel, Moss-glel, Rurns being now 21 years of ago. nnd come to his full strength of limb, nnd brnln, nnd health and passion. pas-sion. As a young yeoman on his own account ho mixed moro freely with tho society of tho country roundabout. Tho fortunes of tho young man at this tlmo wero intricate and rather bad. Tho farm was paying but poorly poor-ly or not nt all, and his unfortunate relations with Jean Armour wero at a crisis. Rurns resolved to leave tho country nnd made arrangements to net as bookkeeper In Jamaica. Rut, dlfllcultles (till Increased, Rums hnd Insulllcle-.t monoy to pay his passage to Jamaica. Upon tho nilVlco of his friends and acquaintances acquaint-ances ho resolved to publish his verses, written from tlmo to time and read or Bting In merry company or to his brother and sisters. Hums know tho poetry possessed merit, and The first edition of Rurns' poems wns quickly exhnustod, thanks to the Inflnnco of hla friends, and they ndvlsod nd-vlsod n second edition, to bo published pub-lished In Edinburgh. Accordingly. I Rums went to tho capital, arriving ! there the 2Sth of November, 17SC. IM-i IM-i burgh! As Rurns afterwards wrote: ".ilma! Hcotiu s tinning seat! All b.ill thy palaces and towers!" Ills arrival In Rdlnburgh appears to have been an historical event, much more so than he or his friends nt (he time Respected. For nonic time nfier his nrrlval, Hums sent most of his tlmo nlmlesly wandering about tho city, tho Bights new lo his oyes and brain and mind. Ho soon got to work, however. Influential In-fluential friends soon found for him a publisher. Still other friends wrote for him favorable crltlclims, and tho poems themselves had already prepared pre-pared tho way for the young man, who was regarded nt this time as a phenomenon, and ho was nsked hith er nnd thither, often from friendliness, friendli-ness, cft-n for d.vrr Ion, and sometimes some-times for rrer" curuj"ll. In 17SS Bums mimed Jean Armour Ar-mour and cut off h'i last ties with Kdlnl urpli. purchased a small farm at Klllsl.ind and neceptcd tho olllco of exciseman. Rums himself has left on record that this tlmo and tho few succeeding years was tho happiest happi-est period of his life. Ho had friends, with whom ho kept up n constant cone.sponiler.ee; he had a wife and children who loved him: ho was secure se-cure upon his farm, 'vlth his commission commis-sion ns exciseman to fall hack upon. Hero at Klllsland, In the full tldo of health nnd spirits. Rurns dashed oft that Incomparable poem, "Tam O'Shnnter." Hero In tho Tarn O'Shaater tavern, as It Is now called, Rurns tells us, "Act inaket nlht, Tarn had sot planted unco rlRht; Knst by nn hide blarlni; finely, T reaming swats, that drank divinely. Ami bo on, through the entirety of that famous poem, with Its Bwlng and Its dash, on until wo remember now how wo trembled as a child when, pursued by all tho wltchos and elves and devils, poor Tain dashes wildly on, "well mounted on his gray mars Meg," until thoy como to tho "Rrlg o' Doon." Tho farm at Klllsland turned out badly, and Rums lost considerable of his splendid health and spirits. Ho sold tha farm and romoved his family fam-ily to Dumfries. At this tlmo Rurns wroto the unfortunate un-fortunate treasonable verses at tho Inn of Stirling on tho window pane. Dumfries began to regard Rurns with a dark lower. Tho political times wero troublous; religious affairs wero In deep commotion. And wo finally hear of Rums, at a dinner party, whon tho health of Pitt was proposed, Jumping upon his feet nnd quickly proposing tho health of "Goorgo Washington a better man," and of 1 Alloway Kirk. In the quiet churchyard here many members of the Burns family are Interred tho adIce, therefore met with his consideration. And It Is Indeed n curious hlsti rlcnl Tnet that the poems that Scotland now r.'gnrds as tho most precious In her po (session should have been published In order to raise monoy sulllclout to onnblo their author to flee tho country Ml the world has heard ol "Highland "High-land Mary '; all the world has not heard ho.v Rums and "Highland Mury" bccime acquainted: Indeod, their lovo affair Is rather obscure. Hut sufnetrnt Is It for us that Rums loved her as he !oo1 no other worn ii anC that Biuno n? hU best and rust verges were liuplred and In scribed to her his being sulky thnt his toast was not received with favor. Ho was In a chronic state of Irritation Irrita-tion ngainst himself nnd against the world In general at this period, although al-though wo aro glad to knor tho period peri-od was short. This ts tho darkost hour of Hums' life, nnd wo Ilko to 'hlnk how quickly tho sky cle.ticd. In 170.") he wrote and published tho patriotic pa-triotic song. "Docs Haughty Gaul In-vat-Inn Threat?" This song Immediately Immedi-ately became popular, and showed at onco to tho world that tho heart of tho writer was sound to the core, and that ho wished to s'eer n firm but cheerful middle courp during those troublod times |