as at that sweet spot where life has come in upon us, and love been
wrapped around us! Burns sees the humble cotter finish his family
service in the presence of his little ones, and then, to show a further
duteous regard for the souls intrusted to his care, kneel again with the
wife:
The parent-pair their secret homage pay,
And proffer up to Heaven the warm request,
That he who stills the raven's clamorous nest,
And decks the lily fair in flowery pride.
Would in the way his wisdom sees the best,
For them and for their little ones provide;
But chiefly in their hearts with grace divine preside.
"From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs," sings the sweet
poet, and this very poem has touched a chord in the hearts of all
humanity, in every clime, and nearly every tongue, that has almost
doubled that Scotia's fame. "A house without family worship," says
Mason, "has neither foundation nor covering." "Measure not men by
Sundays," says Fuller, "without regarding what they do all the week
after." "Educate men without religion," said the Duke of Wellington,
"and you make them but clever devils."