Pacific Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1959, Tokyo, Japan                                At u re honouring Scotland s Bard Bobbie Burns yanks join in 200th anniversary ceremonies for poet whose Birthplace is Only four Miles from Prestwick by Robert j. Dunphy staff writers a photos by Ted Rohde Burns museum has poet s portraits and manuscripts. Statue of Burns in museum at Birthplace. F Humble cottage at Alloway where Burnt wot born it a shrine visited by thousands of people a year. February 15, 1959 Thi stars and strips nations throughout the world Willie in celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of scottish Bard Bobby Burns this year and american at Prest Wick air base Are joining in with gusto. Angus Mac gusto that is. Burns enthusiasts in the Moscow Post office for instance have issued a special commemorative stamp in Honor of the occasion and Bookish washingtonians at the Library of Congress have organized a Gal Musicale to Hail the creator of Auld Lang  yanks at Prestwick however refuse Rostand on ceremony since they consider old Rabbie More As a neighbor than As the institution he has become since his Early death at the age of 37 in 1796. The thatched Ayrshire cottage where Scotland s revered Plowman poet first saw the Light of Day is just Down the Road fro the air base and monuments and legends dealing with Burns abound in the area. Like True scots therefore Prestwick airmen gathered around the table to Mark the bicentenary of the poet s birth on Jan 25 and toasted Rabbie in the accustomed manner with a typical Burns supper. Some 100 yanks turned out for the affair held in the base service club and a lavish feast of Haggis Clam pit titties and bashed needs was served up to the accompaniment of bagpipes with Prestwick recreation directors Mae Barrie and Catherine Ramsay presiding. The traditional supper is built around the Haggis a football shaped concoction consisting of sheep lungs liver and oat meal All boiled together and trussed up inthe lining of a sheep s stomach. The Clam pit titties Are the scotch equivalent of mashed potatoes and the bashed needs Are mashed turnips. The Prestwick hostesses managed to Garner the services of a local Bagpiper Gordon Callaghan to officiate at the ceremonial piping in of the Haggis but since As Burns himself once put it the Best Laid schemes o mice an men gang aft Agley the meal had to be washed Dow with Apple cider instead of the traditional scotch. Burns clubs throughout the world annually sit Down to these ritualistic suppers on the anniversary of the poet s birth. At latest count there were 4,000 Burn clubs in business around the Globe and that s no Small amount of  has Long since ceased to be solely a scottish Possession. His memorial stands beside Shakespeare s in Westminster Abbey and there Are statues of the poet in London s embankment gardens and inner York s Central Park. The Burns cottage four Miles fro Prestwick in the Village of Alloway has become an International shrine visited bytes of thousands of tourists each year. Beside the cottage a museum has Bee built to House a wealth of Burns Manu scripts and a Host of mementos associate with the Bard of Ayrshire. Nearby is the storied Brig o Boon the Scenic Stone Bridge spanning the River Doon Over which Burns famous character Tarn o Shanter made his epic Midnight ride pursued by witches. Down the Road from the cottage is the magnificent Robert Burns memorial erected in 1820, and close by in the Yard of thearld Alloway Kirk is the grave of the poet s father. Burns himself spent Only the first seven years of his life in Alloway before his family moved to mount Oliphant  away. The poet s Early life was far from Aca Demic. At 13 he was threshing1 Corn for his father. Burns died a pauper at Dumfries in the South of Scotland in 1796, but he left be Hind him a wealth of immortal poetry which will be treasured for centuries to come. 11