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weekender january 24 1387 pll j t walters speaker at mar- kham district veterans burns supper by ed rogers should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syierobert burns 17591796 robbie burns birthday jan 25 ushers in another year of celebration for scotlands national poet in markham the duchess lindners and the veterans club will mark his 228th birthday with ceremony drink and food and markham has its own burns enthusiast jt walters will share his wealth of know ledge about the ayershire poet as markham district veter ans guest speaker tonight burns is the first world poet says mr walters heis a man who was for the people a man for the earth he spoke from his heart in his short 37 years he nev er left scotland but his work has survived two centuries and traversed the world he wrote songs and poems of love and lassies religion markhamite toasts bard at local burns supper death and the devil didnt escape his pen a humanist to his core friends even flowers and animals received his love mr walters 56 was born two miles from the burns cot tage in ayr a seaside port in the lowlands on the west coast of scotland he is a frequent speaker on burns and each time the goose bumps get in to me when i get started he says ceremonies at burns din ners have evolved into elabo rate affairs said mr walters who was a correctional ser vices officer for 28 years after moving to ontario he describes the order of ceremony during a burns sup per first the head table toasts the lassies present one re sponds with thanks then the haggis which burns called the great chief- tan o the puddin race is brought to the head table by two bearers to the accompani ment of bagpipes the haggis a sheeps sto mach filled with meat oat meal fats and spices is sliced open the diners toast the hag gis with drambuie and drip what remains in their glasses into the open haggis after dinner the speaker toasts the immortal mem ory of robbie burns and be gins his speech the scottish bard began his first notebook of poems with this introduction there is certainly some connection between love and music and poetry i never had the least thought or inclination of turning poet till i once got heartily in love and then rhyme and song were in a manner the spontaneous lan guage of my heart from that beginning the witty poet songwriter song collector conversationalist and satirest began a career that made him a legend during and long after his time burns first gained national prominence with his july 1786 book poems chiefly in the scottish dialect known as the kilmarnock edition it con tains most of his best poetry in cluding the twa dogs the cotters saturday night scotch drink and to a mouse in the kilmarnock edition burns omitted some of his more radical poems so as not to offend his genteel edinburgh audience this however did not end his critical opinions in bannockburn he wrote nows the day and nows the hour see the front obattle lour see approach proud ed wards power- chains and slavery this poem and others about the monarchy along with his views on the french revolu tion brought him before the excise board eventually burns himself became an exciseman a tax collector and held the position until he died burns was intent on preserv ing scottish folksongs and airs he became virtual editor of james johnsons fivevolume scots musical museum travelling throughout the is land he completed fragments of old scottish melodies that would have died without his hand and wrote hew verses to many burns never accepted money for compiling the songs he be lieved it was his duty to his be loved scotland scotlands national hero also wrote original ballads and songs of love friends drink and work george thomsons jfour- volume select collection of original scotish airs contain the bulk of burns songs includ ing auld lang syne which translates to old long ago or for old times sake mr walters said that burns heard an old man at a corner humming a melody liking it so much burns gave it the words that are sung new years eve round the world no burns biography would be complete without some re ference to his love life a man of many amorous adventures burns had 14 chil dren nine of them illegiti mate but stresses afficionado walters he took them all under his roof jean armour whom he mar ried gave burns his first chil dren at that time in scotland mutual consent after consuma- tion constituted legal mar- raige robbie burns scottish bard however mrs armours father forced her to renounce the vows and she bore twins out of wedlock in september 1786 an affair with agnes macleh- ose produced one of burns greatest songs on parting with her to remarry jean armour two years later he wrote ae fond kiss had we never lovd sae kindly had we never lovd sae blindly never metor never parted we had neer been broken hearted these lines give burns immortality as far as im concerned says mr wal ters speaking in his own ayr shire accent burns worldwide reputa tion has also earned him count less names according to mr walters to the irish he is the boyo in america the allamerican in australia the cobbler in russia the bolshei in eng land the good old bloke and in africa the bwana in scotland along with many other names he is called the ploughshare poet buy where the professionals shop when the model homes are being furnished 2 out of 3 professionals will have come to supreme lighting for those beautiful fixtures supreme offers solid brass fixtures works of art beautiful hand cut crystal chandeliers by schonbek and of course stiffel lamps for that special table 5822 14 litos diameter 20v body length 22 toial length 42 sale 1150 1 in quality 1 in pricing 1 in savings stiffel 7511u almond ceramic with bright old bras finish vanilla box pleated shade height 32 inches sale s toio halo jooo hhti all sizes finishes on sale now1 a classic chandelier in cast polished brass 12 lile 28 height 28 wido sale 1500 399 these are not 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