STIRLING BURNS STATUE.

PROVOST BAYNE'S GENEROUS GIFT.

THE UNVEILING CEREMONY.

TIRLING possesses an average number of memorials

STIR

of the great and gifted Scotsmen of the past, but hitherto the ancient and historic town has been without a monument of Scotia's National Bard. This deficiency has now been made good in the magnificent Statue of the Poet gifted by Provost Bayne to the town of his adoption, and which was unveiled on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 23rd September. Owing to the untoward circumstances of the European War the unveiling ceremony was on a much less comprehensive scale than would otherwise have been the case, and the invited company included only members of the Town Council, the principal Town's Officials, the Office-bearers and Committee of the Stirling Burns Club, of which Provost Bayne is a member, and a few friends of the donor.

The public were not, however, to be denied participating in the event, and a large crowd of townspeople gathered round the statue, an interesting feature being the attendance of several hundreds of Territorials from Ayrshire who were quartered in the town at the time.

The platform company having assembled, Provost Bayne said :-

They were met under somewhat watery circumstances that day, but there was a crowd of gentlemen round them who were afraid neither of rain nor powder and shot. (Cheers.) They would allow him to say how proud he was to see present so many brave soldiers ready to fight for their King and country, and he asked the surrounding multitude to show their appreciation of the brave fellows who were prepared to go to the front and do their duty.

(Cheers.) In other circumstances they might have had a larger gathering, but the statue having been erected had to be unveiled, and he hoped the company assembled there would not regret turning up for a very short time for that ceremony. He was a great admirer of the Poet's writings, and it was a delight to him to have been

privileged to present that statue to the town. He trusted that when unveiled it would be to the satisfaction of the citizens, and he knew it would be, because Mr Hodge had staked his reputation on the statue. (Cheers.) They had expected Dr Carnegie to be with them on that occasion, but he had had to return to the United States earlier than anticipated, and he called upon his daughter to unveil the statue. (Cheers.)

Miss Bayne, having drawn the cord and revealed the features of the Bard, there was a burst of cheering. Miss Bayne was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers by Mr John Craig, a former President of the Stirling Burns Club.

The Provost having formally handed over the statue to the custody of the Town Council,

Bailie Thomson, the Senior Magistrate, accepted the gift on behalf of the community :

They lived, he said, in troublous times; and living as many of them did within cry of Bannockburn, the battle-ground upon which their forefathers gained their liberty, it was fitting, he thought, that they should recall that in these later days they had also experienced agonies-agonies for the men who had gone under on the plains of Europe in the cause of liberty against despotism. (Cheers.) It was appropriate, therefore, that they should be receiving at the hands of their worthy Provost such a gift-a gift commemorating the man who stood, if ever man stood, for the coming of the time when "Man to man the warld o'er shall brithers be." (Cheers.) They hoped-their hope was still deferred, but their faith clung to the belief that the day of better things was coming. In that statue they had a gift which any municipality Si. cotland, and many communities outside Scotland, would be delighted to accept. The fame of the subject was world-wide, and it was not necessary to remind them that there was a power of attraction about a man largely human, and there was no need to preach about Robert Burns's humanity. They need only refer a questioner to a perusal of the Poet's pages. (Hear, hear.) To the Provost he would say that

they received with deepest gratitude his gift to them on that occasion, and received it all the more readily knowing that it was accompanied with the wherewithal to keep up the monument, if not for all time, for many days in the future.

(Cheers.)

The Bailie then called for three hearty cheers for the Provost, and for Miss Bayne for the part she had taken in the day's proceedings.

The cheers were heartily given, and the Provost having expressed his acknowledgments, the proceedings terminated with the singing of the National Anthem.

The Territorials present struck a pleasant note in singing heartily verses of several of the Poet's songs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE STATUE.

The statue, which is of bronze, has been placed in the commanding position between the old and new town formed by the triangular plot of ground between the Corn Exchange

Road and Dumbarton Road, and faces towards Albert Place. The figure is poised in an easy but graceful attitude, and the sculptor, Mr Albert H. Hodge, of Glasgow, and Bedford Gardens, London, has given a fine conception of the Poet, representing him as he appeared in his Edinburgh days. The pedestal on which the bronze figure stands

66

is of the finest selected grey Aberdeen granite, nine feet two inches square at the base, and twelve feet high, the total height altogether being twenty-one feet six inches. The weight of granite in the pedestal amounts to about eighteen tons. On the top base in large raised letters appears the name "Robert Burns," and the middle base is richly carved, showing Scotch Thistles in bold relief. There are four bronze panels, these forming representations of "Burns at the Plough," scenes from The Cottar's Saturday Night" (the expectant wee things), and "Tam o' Shanter" (Alloway Kirk), and "The Guiding Star," while the frieze on the top of the die has in raised letters, "Then gently scan your brother man, still gentler sister woman.' The cap is beautifully carved in bold relief. The pedestal was executed to the design and models of the sculptor by Messrs Kirkpatrick Bros., Manchester, and the bronze work was cast by Mr A. B. Burton, of Thames Ditton, Surrey.

The cost of the statue, &c., is understood to have amounted to about £2000.

ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR RAIT.

The invited company afterwards adjourned to the Golden Lion Hotel, where afternoon tea was served.

Provost Bayne, having given the toast of "The King," called on Professor Rait to propose The Immortal Memory of Burns.”

BURNS'S ATTITUDE TO WAR.

HIS PATRIOTISM AND LOVE OF FREEDOM.

Professor Rait, who was very heartily received, said :—

We are met here to-day, a domestic-almost a familygathering, to celebrate, as simply as we can, an occasion which deserved, and which in happier times would have received, the dignity of a less informal though not a more sincere applause. We are here, in a month of our national history whose deeds outweigh the events of many years, on a day of anxious straining for news of what has