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Persons interested in literature — and who of us isn’t interested in some form of it, if only Westerns or mystery stories? — such persons may well be reminded that 1959 is a year rich in centennial celebrations of great literary events. <\/em>The year 1859 was exceedingly rich in literary productions that won lasting fame. It saw the publication of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “Professor at the Breakfast Table”, of George Eliot’s “Adam Bede”, of Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”, to which many of us got our first introduction in high school. In 1859 George Meredith published his “Richard Leverell”, and in the same year the world first saw the Dickens novel that is probably better known to Americans than any other of his works. Though not such a masterpiece as “David Copperfield” nor so delightfully humorous as “Ptckwick Papers”, that 1859 novel “A Tale of Two Cities” was for many of us our earliest introduction to the work of Charles Dickens.<\/p>\n The year 1859 was also famous for the publication of two world-renowned books, one in political theory, the other in science. The former was John Stuart Mill’s great essay “On Liberty”; the latter was Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species”, the most important work in the field of biology that the world has ever known.<\/p>\n But Colby College is recognizing still another centenary in this year of 1959. Professor Emeritus Carl Weber has been spending the past year on a Centennial Edition, very carefully annotated, of the “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”, for it was just a hundred years ago that the literary world was startled by the publication of an English translation of the verses by the immortal tentmaker of Persia. Dr. Weber’s new edition of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece will be a notable contribution to scholarly investigation of the Rubaiyat.<\/p>\n But what I want to talk about tonight is not a 1959 centenary, but rather a bi-centenary, a 200th anniversary. On January 25, 1759 there was born a man whose poetry is still enjoyed and loved by millions of persons allover the world. He was the Scotch poet, Robert Burns. Because of the fine Scotch families of Waterville and Winslow — the Stobies, the Nivisons, the Burgesses and many others I cannot let pass unnoticed the anniversary of the great poet of Scotland.<\/p>\n Last month on January 25, 1959, the occasion of Robert Burns two hundredth anniversary was celebrated in many parts of the world. In London, where 500 Scots gathered for dinner, a huge cake had been made in the form of Burns’ cottage in Ayrshire, and the Burns Club of Cleveland, Ohio, sent a message of greeting. In faraway Singapore a toast was drunk to what Burns used to call the three worst enemies: drink, the devil and Englishmen. In Rome televiewers gathered to hear an Italian woman sing Burns’ songs in a theater in Venice. In Chicago 1,400 Scots attended a special service, where many were dressed in kilts, and where the heather-decked altar was draped in Royal Stewart tartan. In Nairobi in central Africa was flown from Scotland haggis to supply supper for 200 guests. In Paris a huge Burns dinner was held in the American Legion Club. And, of course, in Scotland itself celebrations were numerous and memorable. An unusual event was the laying of a wreath at the base of the famous Burns statue in Ayr by a representative of the Russian Embassy in London. The Russian said that the poetry of Burns had won the hearts of Soviet readers and that more than 600,000 copies of Burns’ poems translated into Russian had been circulated in that country since the October Revolution of 1917.<\/p>\n On the morning of last January 25th the 300 year old bell of the Auld Kirk of Alloway, scene of the witches’ dance in Burns’ narrative poem, “Tam O’Shanter”, was rung for the first time in 50 years. Its last ringing had been for a similar service in 1909, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the poet’s birth.<\/p>\n It would be supposed that, when a writer has been dead for more than a century and a half, everything that could ever be known about him would have been long ago discovered. But only last October there came to light a letter, hitherto unpublished, which was written about Burns by Burns’ great contemporary, Sir Walter Scott. Scott wrote the letter on April 26, 1830 to the ninth Earl of Dalhousie, asking his help for Burns’ impoverished widow.<\/p>\n For the text of that letter I am indebted to a loyal Scotsman of Waterville, John Burgess, who has kindly given me the January 26th issue of the famous Edinburg newspaper, “The Scotsman”, in which for the first time this interesting letter of Sir Walter Scott has been published. Scott wrote in part as follows: “Your Lordship is probably aware that the widow of the celebrated Robert Burns still survives. She has borne with firmness and dignity all the distresses connected with a limited income. She has two sons in India, to whom she must look for her chief support. For some time she has received enough from her elder son, James Glencairn Burns, to meet minimum expenses. Now James has lost his commissariat appointment in Bengal, and William has long been unable to help. I cherish the hope that the fame of the deceased parent and the affecting circumstances of the once Bonnie Jean’s old age may yet interfere in behalf of James Burns and restore him to army favor.Jean does me the honor to suppose I may have some influence in her son’s behalf. I cannot refuse her request, knowing that no man can feel more than your Lordship interested in the honor of Scotland and what she owes to Robert Burns. I know of no better way to honor great men who have departed from us than to show kindness to those who were nearest and dearest to them. Such action is surely better than raising monuments and holding fetes. I can only hope that your Lordship will judge Captain Burns’ omissions with a forgiving eye.<\/p>\n “Your obliged and most respectful humble servant, Walter Scott.”<\/p>\n So much for the great poet whose only connection with Waterville is through those fine citizens of Scotch blood whose fathers and grandfathers built to a great industry the Hollingsworth and Whitney Company, and to other descendants of the land of tartan and heather who may now be living in central Maine.<\/p>\n Now let us turn to our more familiar subject — our own Maine of days gone by.<\/p>\n One of our regular listeners, Edson Smith of Clinton, has sent me a Civil War letter written in the early days of the war from Alexandria, Virginia by a soldier in the new Union Army. This is not one of those intimate family letters, written to mother or sister or sweetheart; but just a letter to a masculine friend back home. Unfortunately the writer’s last name is undecipherable, but his first name was Robert and the man to whom he wrote he addressed as Friend George. This is what, only a few days after the Battle of Bull Run, this soldier said:<\/p>\n “After I left you we stopped in Troy and were greeted by over 6,000 people. We were cheered all the way down the Hudson, in some places by quite a multitude. We arrived in New York at 7 PM. Then we were drawn by horses two miles into the City, then marched a mile to our barracks. There they placed guards around us to keep us from going into the city. New York folks gave us a flag to take with our regiment as we went on to Philadelphia. We arrived there at 11 AM and after dinner started on for Baltimore. We had not gone a mile out of Philadelphia when we were informed that we should see trouble in Baltimore. Our colonel had every man hold his gun at ready, and we looked carefully at every person we saw till we came to Baltimore. There we saw not a smile on anyone’s face, but we went through unmolested, and marched on to Washington. We took up quarters a mile from the capitol building, and there we remained until July 10, when we got marching orders for Alexandria. Yesterday we took six Rebel prisoners. Last night Rebels were shot as they advanced on our guards. When asked to give the countersign, they turned to run, but got what they deserved. Today we have just received orders to march tomorrow to Richmond with 25,000 men. By next Sunday we shall see some fighting and the next time I write I may be able to tell you something interesting. Give my love to all my inquiring friends. Don’t try to write me at Alexandria or Richmond. A letter sent to me in care of the regiment at Washington will be sent on to me. Your friend, Robert.”<\/p>\n Now here is a letter written two years after the close of the Civil War, in 1867, by a lawyer in Biddeford to a young man in Waldoboro who was anxious to work in the new Pepperell mill in Biddeford:<\/p>\n “Dear Sir: Yours of the 7th came to hand yesterday on my return from Alfred, where I have been most of the time for three weeks attending court. I should think you would not have much difficulty finding a boarding place here in a private family, but board and room may cost you as much as $4.50 a week, without washing. I have to pay for myself and wife in a private home $10 a week and take care of our rooms. I furnish our own wood, lights and washing. We have, however, two rooms on the first floor, which makes quite a difference. How do your Good Templars flourish?”<\/p>\n The Biddeford writer’s question about the Good Templars reminds me of something about that old organization that may interest Waterville listeners. A prominent member of the Waterville Lodge of Good Templars was Samuel Osborne, the Negro janitor of Colby College, whom Col. Stephen Fletcher of Colby’s class of 1859 brought out of slavery from Culpepper, Virginia to Waterville in the spring of 1865, about a month after Leers surrender at Appomattox. That autumn Sam was able to bring his wife, daughters and aging father to Waterville. The father became the college janitor, and when he died in 1867, Sam took his place. Sam remained the greatly loved custodian of the college for 36 years until his death in 1903.<\/p>\n The Good Templars were the temperance enthusiasts of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. An organization of men determined to fight the social evil of alcoholic beverages, they were for the male sex what the WCTU was for the women through the first quarter of the next century. In 1887 Sam Osborne was elected a delegate from Maine to the national convention of Good Templars at Richmond, Virginia. What a day it must have been for Mr.Osborne when he arrived, as a free delegate in a white man’s order, in the Old Dominion state where only 25 years earlier he had been a chattled slave!<\/p>\n But Sam’s greatest trip as a Good Templar came fifteen years later in 1902, when he was sent to the International Convention in Stockholm. There he was given the honor of being color bearer of the American delegation, and he proudly carried the Stars and Stripes in the parade through the Swedish capital.<\/p>\n On Sam’s return everyone was eager to hear about his trip; so he agreed to deliver a lecture in the Baptist Church in Waterville. It was a capacity house and Sam gave everyone his money’s worth. No forty-five minute lecture would satisfy Sam. One listener later commented that, if his job at the college had not demanded his attention early in the morning, Sam might well have been still talking after daylight.<\/p>\n Frederick W. Padelford of the Class of 1896 was in Waterville that summer, and one day encountered Sam Osborne on the campus. Knowing that Sam had been one of six Good Templar :delegates of six different races presented to the Swedish royal family, Dr. Padelford asked, “Sam, did you have any conversation with them?” “Oh yes, sah”, Sam replied, “I talked to de princess.” “What did she say to you, Sam?” “She say to me, Sam, how ole be you?” “What did you tell her?” “I said, Princess, dat’s for you to find out. How ole be you?”<\/p>\n And with that story about Colby’s beloved Samual Osborne, janitor, we must say Good Night for Old Time’s Sake.<\/p>\n Year: 1959<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #410, Broadcast on March 1, 1959<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[800,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}