Apparitions > Aloway Kirk, or, Tam o' Shanter, a tale

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the scene of action with Tam o'-
Shanter and the Witches. The
Kirk stands without a roof in the
midst of the Burying ground. The
walls of the Kirk were repaired^ few
years ago, by some of the heritors,
with a view to keep up the name of
the place. The old bridge on
which Tam’s Mare lost her tail, is
still standing, although condemned
by the road Trustees, not for age,
but for the rising ground, on both
sides of the river, and another mag-
nificient bridge is built, about a gun
shot from it. The friends of Burns
who meet annually in the cottage,
to celebrate his birth day, subscrib¬
ed a sum adequate to the value put
on it, as old material, were it taken
down ; the auld brig of Doon now
stands as a monument to the poet’s
.memory.
In Burns’s infant days he owed
much to an old woman, who resid¬
ed in his father’s family, remarka¬
ble for her ignorance, credulity and