Ayr

“ Ayr is one of the objective points of nearly every tourist who enters Scotland. Its associations with Burns, his birthplace, Kirk Alloway, his monument, the "Twa Brigs," the "Brig O' Doon," and the numerous other places connected with his memory in Ayr and its vicinity, need not be dwelt on here. An endless array of guide-books and other volumes will give more information than the tourist can absorb and his motor car will enable him to rapidly visit such places as he may choose. ”

“ And at first he made a jest of the matter, as indeed I meant it.
'Never fear,' he said, 'there will always be enough fools in Ayrshire to get more. Maybole shall have its share of these.'
And indeed that hath been the repute of our town and countryside ever since Ayr water first ran over its pebbles!
Yet when I pressed the Dominie further upon the matter, he waxed thoughtful. His face, which was not naturally merry, took on a still sterner expression. Presently he put his hand within his blouse and pulled out a little string of beads, such as Catholics wear to mind them of their prayers. ”

“ Jim Stafford, himself, was wholly occupied with handling the reins, as they drove through the crowded streets. The Misses Gladys, Ethel, and Rosamond Ayr were making themselves as painstakingly agreeable to [8] the men beside them as if it had been their business to divert attention from all the others present, and the married woman, who was acting as chaperon to the party, was the most cold and unapproachable of the lot—or so Carter had concluded, when one of her cousins had given her a casual introduction to Mrs. Emory, as “Miss Ayr of Virginia.” ”

“ Arrol, who was knighted in 1890, did not take a large part in public affairs. He was deputy lieutenant for the county of Glasgow, J.P. for the county of Ayr, and for fourteen years (1892–1906) he represented South Ayrshire in parliament as a liberal-unionist. In 1885 he bought the estate of Seafield, at Ayr, built a house there, took pleasure in gardens, and collected pictures. ”

“ The old town of Ayr, so intimately connected with the memory of Burns, by his birth near it, by his poem of the Twa Brigs, by the scene of Tam O'Shanter, by the place of his monument and the festival in his honor, and by other particulars, is a quiet and pleasant old town of some twenty thousand population. It lies on a level, sandy coast, on land which, in fact, appears to have been won from the sea. Though lying close on the sea, it has no good harbor, and therefore little commerce, and no manufacture of any account. ”

“ Woollen manufactures are extensive, particularly carpets and bonnets; lace goods are largely made; Kilmarnock is a centre of engineering and of dairying education. Goods made include explosives, boots and shoes, chemicals, and leather. Chief towns, Ayr, Kilmarnock, Irvine, Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston, Maybole. Ayr and Buteshire send three members to Parliament. Pop. 267,600 (1918) .
Ayrer (ī ́rer) , Jacob, a German dramatist of the sixteenth century, who almost rivalled Hans Sachs in copiousness and importance. He was a citizen and legal official of Nuremberg, and died in 1605. ”

“ The first settlers in Mount Ayr were David Edwards, Oran, Give, Chester Stancliff, B. B. Dunning and A. G. Beal who located there in 1855. Dr. E. Keith was the first physician and Henry Crabb the first merchant. ”

“ Pringle, there is not such another minister’s wife, both for economy and management, within the jurisdiction of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and to this fact the following letter to Miss Mally Glencairn, a maiden lady residing in the Kirkgate of Irvine, a street that has been likened unto the Kingdom of Heaven, where there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage, will abundantly testify. ”

“ The harbour of Ayr is a dangerous one, and to attempt to regain it were to encounter greater danger than what might eventually await the navigators upon the open seas. For a length of time they beat between the isles of Arran and the Firth of Clyde; when at last the [Pg 15] wind changing, the breeze blew fair from the north-east, while the staunch vessel proceeded on her watery way. ”

“ After a pretty long trial of the most ardent reciprocal attachment, we met by appointment, on the second Sunday of May, in a sequestered spot on the banks of Ayr, where we spent the day in taking a farewell before she should embark for the West Highlands, to arrange matters among her friends for our projected change of life. ”

“ English hero—American girl. Aline wants her Canadian. I see her American. Dispute. Must decide soon. Reading up Galloway makes me want to go there. Aline says rush straight on to Ayr, and save time. Hate saving time! Worst economy. More time you spend, more you have. Must go along coast of Ayr, anyhow. Once lined with strongholds of great families. See Dunure, Crossaguel, and deuced lot of others.
"Keats visited Burns's birthplace. Wrote sonnet there. Look this up.
"Burns sought out, along banks of Ayr, places where Wallace was supposed to have hidden. ”

“ It is a useful treatise on the various styles of Persian handwriting, enriched with many illustrations of manuscripts, and numerous notes proving considerable research. On his return to England in 1796 he was gazetted major in Lord Ayr's regiment of dragoons stationed at Carlisle, and there he married, on 6 March 1796, Julia, daughter of Lieutenant-colonel John Irving, and left the army for good. ”

“ Although the victory of the republicans deprived him of a portion of his property, enough remained to enable him to return to Scotland and to purchase Sauhrie, an estate in Ayrshire lying on the old high-road between Ayr and Maybole. ”

“ It is a pathetic little museum, with intimate relics and countless pictures of Burns, each one making him look entirely different from all the others. By and by we went on to the monument, the strange classic temple that had loomed out of the twilight as we came to Ayr. The road from town to the monument was the way of Tam o' Shanter's wild ride, or almost the same; only there's a tram-line now to spoil the romance, if one chooses to let it be spoiled. As for me, I'd scorn to let romance be broken by an object so dull as a tram-car. ”

“ To think that a man born there would have a monument like what I saw made me think of my earlier years. I can yet remember the names of the places in passing to and from the place.
Ayrshire has plenty of rivers, and on the Clyde years afterwards I saw where it began just a little burn. It was pointed out to me while I was in the train travelling from London to Glasgow. But I must keep to the far-away times. Ayrshire is divided into districts, and what always perplexed me was when a neighborhood was called a burgh. ”

“ Coil or Water of Coyle — a tributary of the River Ayr. ↑ 142. Lugar or Lugar Water — a tributary of the River Ayr. ↑ 143. Greenock — a town and port in Schotland the north of Ayr. ↑ 144. The banks of Garpal Water is one of the few places in the West of Scotland, where those fancy-scaring beings, known by the name of Ghaists, still continue pertinaciously to inhabit. — R. B. (?) ”

“ Ayre directed their walk to the very same seat on which she and Haddington had sat. As they passed, either romance or laziness suggested to Kate that they should sit down. Ayre accepted her proposal without demur, asked and obtained leave for a cigarette, and sat for a few moments in apparent ease and vacancy of mind. He was thinking how to begin.
"Ought one ever to do evil that good may come?" ”

“ Ayres, who, already the representative of the Society, had now been appointed Government Agent and Surgeon. One of the first measures of the new agent was to have the town surveyed and lots distributed among the whole body of colonists. Many of the older settlers found themselves dispossessed of the holdings improved by their labor, and the colony was soon in a ferment of excitement and insurrection. Dr. Ayres, finding his health failing, judiciously betook himself to the United States. ”

“ With an armed escort of Sioux Indians, Ayres started back with his prisoner. He parted with his escort at Camp Robinson, and at Pine Bluffs boarded a freight train, and took up quarters in the caboose.
About 3 o’clock of the next morning after taking passage on the freight, Mr. Ayres found himself minus the prisoner to capture whom he had risked so much and undergone so many hardships. He had allowed the man to be out of his sight for a moment, and that moment had been embraced by the fellow to regain his liberty. ”

“ Ayre rang the bell, and ordered a new breakfast; as he did so he took up Morewood's letter and put it in his pocket.
Eugene went on talking with gay affectation about his American experiences. Only when he was through his breakfast did he approach home topics.
"Well, how's everybody?"
Ayre waited for a more definite question.
"Seen the Territons lately?"
"Not very. Haven't you?"
"No. They weren't over there, you know. Are they alive?" ”

“ In a village in Ayrshire there are three persons noted for being inauspicious to meet, and fishermen (upon whom as a class this superstition has a strong hold) are much dissatisfied at meeting any of them. ”

“ I had often admired the taste with which the whole had been planned and carried out, and turned to my neighbour to ask if he had not a good word to say for at least that little property. ‘Ou ay,’ was his remark, ‘its a bonny bit place. The only thing it wants is soil.’
AN AYRSHIRE MILKMAID
The farm-servant changes more slowly than his master. When resident in Ayrshire I frequently entered into talk with the ‘hinds,’ as they are called, and found among them some intelligent men. ”

“ The boy tumbled out of the tent again; and pulled down the curtain as he went, but Captain Ayres had plenty to tell his mother now. His pen flew over the paper.
"In one of our raids on a village last week, I found the prettiest brown boy in the world. His people are dacoits, and he thinks his father has been killed. He knows a funny sort of broken English, and he has devoted himself to me. He was nearly starving when we found him, and I had to carry him eighteen miles into camp. He never leaves me, and I have just had to chivy him off to sleep. ”

“ Your information as to your own family is intensely interesting, and I should not wonder but what you and we and old John Stevenson, 'land labourer in the parish of Dailly,' came all of the same stock. Ayrshire - and probably Cunningham - seems to be the home of the race - our part of it. ”

“ A person will not be long in Buenos Ayres without picking up acquaintances with its inhabitants; amongst whom are some very intelligent young men. I have sometimes thought it would give me pleasure to conduct one of them to England, to be—not exactly a Mentor (needing that myself) , but a sort of escort to him in the modern Babylon, London ”

“ Aymar was, indeed, employed by some young men to point out, by help of the wand, the houses of ladies who had been more frail than faithful. But at the end of the seventeenth century in France, this research was not regarded with favour, and put the final touch on the discomfiture of Aymar. So far as we know, the hunchback of Lyons was the only victim of the 'twig' who ever suffered in civilised society. It is true that, in rural England, the movements of a Bible, suspended like a pendulum, have been thought to point out the guilty. ”

“ Having thus received his impression, Aymar left the cellar, and, guided by his rod, or rather by an internal instinct, he ascended into the shop, and then stepping into the street, he followed from one to another, like a hound upon the scent, the track of the murderers. It conducted him into the court of the archiepiscopal palace, across it, and down to the gate of the Rhone. It was now evening, and the city gates being all closed, the quest of blood was relinquished for the night. ”

“ There Aymar felt violent agitation, his cheeks flushed, and his pulse beat with rapidity. He penetrated the crowds of soldiers, but did not venture to use his rod, lest the men should take it ill, and fall upon him. He could not do more without special authority, and was constrained to return to Lyons. The magistrates then provided him with the requisite powers, and he went back to the camp. Now he declared that the murderers were not there. He recommenced his pursuit, and descended the Rhone again as far as Beaucaire. ”

“ Aymar looked up, and they both scrambled to their feet.
"Eulalie de Morsan has just arrived, Aymar," Laurent heard Avoye say, as Aymar went over the bridge towards her. "She is going to stay the night. I came to tell you; Grand'mère is asking for you."
On this news Aymar made no comment; he merely thanked its bearer for her trouble. And as Laurent, inwardly cursing the moment chosen by Mme de Morsan for her arrival, went up to the house with the cousins, he learnt that the lady was on her way home from Aix-les-Bains or somewhere, and had elected to pay them a visit en passant. ”

“ I then took a speedy leave of Ozoro Esther, the reason of which I told her when she was following me to the door. She said, "When shall I lay my hands upon that idiot Aylo? The Ras would have done any thing; he had appointed you Palambaras, but, upon conversing with Aylo, he had changed his mind. He says it will create envy, and take up your time. What signifies their envy? Do not they envy Ras Michael? and where can you pass your time better than at court, with a command under the king." I said, "All is for the best, Aylo did well; all is for the best." ”