Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Thoughts On The Distress In Scotland And Ireland.
lights of our Craft ; and that svith the Lodge of Tarbolton , the enviable distinction rests , and is fondly cherished , of having been " honoured " svith his supreme command . A reference to his name on this occasion , and for my present purpose , is I think neither umvise nor ill-timed ; for Burns , ever in heart the same unsophisticated peasant-child of nature , svas himself doomed , like too many of his gifted race , to struggle svith poverty and distress ; yet even amidst all this the breathings of his l
yre , svhich svere the solace of his misfortunes in his cottage of home , are nosv among the chaste adornings of ancestral halls arid abbatial edifices . Claiming , as some of us can , Burns as a Brother Scot , whilst all must regard him in the endearing light of a Brother Mason , let us hope , from the latter consideration , that as sve are told the
" Soul nf the poet win resoe'er Reclaimed from earth , his genius plumes Her wings of immortality , " he may so " Suspend his harp in happier sphere , "
as to asvaken throughout the svide extent of our Order , svithin the four cardinal points of Heaven , those active feelings of benevolence svhich are among the better elements of human nature , and svhich the svorld ' s convictions have long since declared to be characteristics co-equal svith the assertion of national rights , the advancement of social interests , the improvement of moral capacities , and the cultivation of the holiest affections of a great , a free , and an enlightened people .
Again to those tourists svhose eye has been familiar svith the numerous islands and picturesque islets svhich are so remarkably characteristic of the coast scenery of Scotland , especially on its western shores , the visitations of famine and pestilence that nosv afflict its inhabitants in lochs , islands , and mountains , must be sources of deep regret ; inasmuch as none could have gone from the Firth of Cl yde round " the svestern coast , the Hebridesthe Orkneysthe Shetlandsand thence along the northern
, , , and eastern coast to Aberdeen , svithout being deeply sensible hosv much has been done , even svith adverse circumstances to contend svith , to promote the moral and reli gious culture of the great mass of the people . Educated taste , and a corresponding amplitude of gratitude , must under the existing state of things animate those svho have , from personal observation , made themselves acquainted svith the accurate and superior
cultivation ot the sou in Scotland , its svell ordered farmsteads , as evidences of the industry svhich distinguishes its hardy sons . Whilst those there are svho svill not be less mindful of the claims upon them , because they have , svith a bright sky above them teeming svith glosving sunshine , trod the heather-clad hills , —gazed on moor and mountain scenerylearnt a lesson from the naturall y fertile and verdant country svhich surrounds many Scotch cities—or , encircled by a grand range of acclivities , visited the renosvned spot where Ben Lomond rises in front in
majestic grandeur—or thence proceeding , amidst greater beauties of nature , and charms of earth and sky , and sea and air , to Loch Katrine through mountain-pass valleys , have trod on the very ground svhich tlie " Great Magician of the North" has rendered familiar to us as the scene of the life and exploits of the Macgregor—and next feasted their eyes upon " Ellen ' s Isle , " of svhich the same immortal spirit of song says : — " The western waves nf ebbing day Roll'd o ' er the glen their level way ; E . ich purple peak , each tlintv spire , SVas bathed in Hoods of livinir lire .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Thoughts On The Distress In Scotland And Ireland.
lights of our Craft ; and that svith the Lodge of Tarbolton , the enviable distinction rests , and is fondly cherished , of having been " honoured " svith his supreme command . A reference to his name on this occasion , and for my present purpose , is I think neither umvise nor ill-timed ; for Burns , ever in heart the same unsophisticated peasant-child of nature , svas himself doomed , like too many of his gifted race , to struggle svith poverty and distress ; yet even amidst all this the breathings of his l
yre , svhich svere the solace of his misfortunes in his cottage of home , are nosv among the chaste adornings of ancestral halls arid abbatial edifices . Claiming , as some of us can , Burns as a Brother Scot , whilst all must regard him in the endearing light of a Brother Mason , let us hope , from the latter consideration , that as sve are told the
" Soul nf the poet win resoe'er Reclaimed from earth , his genius plumes Her wings of immortality , " he may so " Suspend his harp in happier sphere , "
as to asvaken throughout the svide extent of our Order , svithin the four cardinal points of Heaven , those active feelings of benevolence svhich are among the better elements of human nature , and svhich the svorld ' s convictions have long since declared to be characteristics co-equal svith the assertion of national rights , the advancement of social interests , the improvement of moral capacities , and the cultivation of the holiest affections of a great , a free , and an enlightened people .
Again to those tourists svhose eye has been familiar svith the numerous islands and picturesque islets svhich are so remarkably characteristic of the coast scenery of Scotland , especially on its western shores , the visitations of famine and pestilence that nosv afflict its inhabitants in lochs , islands , and mountains , must be sources of deep regret ; inasmuch as none could have gone from the Firth of Cl yde round " the svestern coast , the Hebridesthe Orkneysthe Shetlandsand thence along the northern
, , , and eastern coast to Aberdeen , svithout being deeply sensible hosv much has been done , even svith adverse circumstances to contend svith , to promote the moral and reli gious culture of the great mass of the people . Educated taste , and a corresponding amplitude of gratitude , must under the existing state of things animate those svho have , from personal observation , made themselves acquainted svith the accurate and superior
cultivation ot the sou in Scotland , its svell ordered farmsteads , as evidences of the industry svhich distinguishes its hardy sons . Whilst those there are svho svill not be less mindful of the claims upon them , because they have , svith a bright sky above them teeming svith glosving sunshine , trod the heather-clad hills , —gazed on moor and mountain scenerylearnt a lesson from the naturall y fertile and verdant country svhich surrounds many Scotch cities—or , encircled by a grand range of acclivities , visited the renosvned spot where Ben Lomond rises in front in
majestic grandeur—or thence proceeding , amidst greater beauties of nature , and charms of earth and sky , and sea and air , to Loch Katrine through mountain-pass valleys , have trod on the very ground svhich tlie " Great Magician of the North" has rendered familiar to us as the scene of the life and exploits of the Macgregor—and next feasted their eyes upon " Ellen ' s Isle , " of svhich the same immortal spirit of song says : — " The western waves nf ebbing day Roll'd o ' er the glen their level way ; E . ich purple peak , each tlintv spire , SVas bathed in Hoods of livinir lire .