Matheson Collection > Modern Gaelic bards

202 MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
MALCOLM MAC FARLANE.
Born 1853.
PAISLEY'S reputation for having produced a
numerous progeny of the "tuneful brethren" is
well known, and who has not heard of the pointed
and neat sign-post maxim coined for that town by
Beaconsfield. The author of a recent work on Gaelic
literature has expressed an opinion to the effect that
the Gael must now, and in the future, " keep his eye "
on the populous towns and cities of the South when on
the quest for the best living Gaelic bards. Accepting
his dictum as regards the present, although hoping for
a better order of things in the times to come, the
seekers' eyes are pointed by the maxim in the direction
of Paisley, Now, a proverb is sometimes a mere
will-o'-the-wisp ; yet at other times it may be a true
guide. On this occasion we are not landed in a morass,
for from Paisley emanated the sweet Gaelic lyric, " Mo
Dhachaidh," which
" Invites the eye to see and heart to feel
The beauty and the joy within their reach,
Home and home loves, and the beatitudes
Of nature free to all."
In these times of greedy lust for gold and self-
aggrandisement we have much need to listen to the
message of our Gaelic bards, for they, one and all, teach
that " worth makes the man," In " Mo Dhachaidh " a
Highland cottage is dressed with love's own fancies,
and human happiness is summed up much in the
manner of Burns when he said —
" To mak' a happy fireside clime
To weans and wife,
That's the true pathos and sublime
Of human life."