'Alloway's kirk haunted wall' is preserved with such faithful care, that this year it looks very much the same as it did when Burns knew it. As a ruin, apart from the interest with which the poet has invested it, it possesses nothing to attract attention. Two end walls, which once supported a gable roof, and two low side walls, all without ornament of any kind--without gothic tracing or oriel wonders--without even graceful ivy flung over its ruggedness--are all that remain of Alloway, if we except the old bell, which yet hangs in the little belfry; a sign board below insulting visitors by requesting them not to throw stones at it! The little churchyard of Alloway continues to be a burial place; but the gravestones seem, in many instances, sadly inconsistent with the poetical associations of the place. As at Dumfries, the business occupations of the deceased are mentioned; and we find here the family tombs of 'Robert Anderson, molecatcher,' of 'James Wallace, blacksmith,' and the like. David Watt Miller, who was buried here in 1823, was the last person baptized in the old Alloway kirk--his tombstone recording the fact. Near the entrance to the graveyard, and opposite the new gothic edifice which has taken the place of the old kirk, is the slab to the poet's father and sister, thus inscribed: 'Sacred to the memory of WILLIAM BURNS, farmer in Lochie, who died February 13, 1784, in the 63d year of his age. Also of ISABELLA, relict of JOHN BELL; his youngest daughter, born at Mount Oliphant, June 27, 1771; died December 4, 1858, much respected and esteemed by a wide circle of friends, to whom she endeared herself by her life of piety, her mild urbanity of manner, and her devotion to the memory of BURNS.'