The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1955, Blaðsíða 32

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winter 1955
A Visit In Bonnie Scotland
This summer it was my pleasure to
visit Scotland. Come with me and 1
will take you to some of the places of
interest I was privileged to see.
The Empress of Scotland docked at
Greenock on the Firth of Clyde about
six-thirty dn the evening of May 23rd.
There was an air of excitement as
many of the passengers were return-
ing “home” to visit relatives and
friends after several years’ stay in Can-
ada and other parts of the world. Scot-
land welcomed us with open arms with
the sun shining over the hills and the
heavens a deep azure blue. My com-
panion was a Scottish girl who was
visiting relatives in Scotland and I
was received as a relative, too. I shall
always feel a special kinship for the
Scottish people, but particularly, of
course, for my new found cousins.
Burns Cottage, Alloway, in Ayrshire,
is visited by hundreds of tourists every
year. In the Burns Cottage Catalogue
the opening paragraph is —“When on
15th December, 1757, William Burnes
married Agnes Broun, daughter of a
Kirkoswald farmer, he brought his
bride to the ‘auld clay biggin’, built
by his own hands, which has since be-
come one of the chief shrines of world
pilgrimage. Here, in the ‘but’ or
kitchen, was born to them their eldest
son, the Poet of Humanity, in the
widest sense of the words, upon whom
‘a blast of Jan war’ win’ blew hansel’ on
the twenty-fifth day of the year 1759.
William Burnes, as the surname was
spelled, owned the cottage until 1781,
when it was bought by the Incorpora-
tion of Shoemakers in Ayr for £160.
They rented it to various tenants one
of whom turned it into an ale house.
They realized the value of their
property and made it attractive to
patrons of the ale house and to visitors
who came to Robert Burns birthplace.
In 1881 the Alloway Burns Monument
Trustees purchased the property from
the Corporation and have made it a
national shrine Which is open to the
public. There is an admission charged
for the upkeep of the cottage and
property. It is kept in excellent state
of repair and is a credit to the trustees
of the fund. There are many articles of
furniture, etcetra, in the cottage and
museum. To mention a few—Robert
Burns writing desk, an oak chair, Holy
Bible, several letters written by the
poet, as well as original manuscripts
of his poems.
Perhaps the two most famous lochs
in Scotland are Loch Lomond and
Loch Katrin. All lakes in Scotland are
called lochs with one exception, Lake
of Menteith. A drive around Loch
Lomond on a bright sunny day is a
must for the traveller. There are towns
and hamlets along the way where one
could spend hours. The countryside is
so peaceful with cattle and sheep graz-
ing on the hills. One feels very humble
in the places made famous by the bards
of old.
At one point on Loch Lomond,
about twenty-five feet off shore, there
is a statue of a three year old boy
which bears the inscription, “To Our
Beloved Son.” The story goes that a
little boy drowned at that point and
bis parents erected the statue in his
memory. There is no name so his ident-
ity is not known.