ABSTRACT
That Burns was brought up to have a sense of responsibility is evident from the many instances of his accepting his responsibilities for his actions. The ignorant often criticize him for his moral lapses, but he accepted responsibility for them, as is witnessed by his provision for the children he fathered out of wedlock. To a much lesser extent Burns may have lacked in responsibility towards Mary Cameron, an Edinburgh servant girl who was made pregnant by him in the spring of 1787. Financial payment was made to her and Burns's responsibility for her condition acknowledged, but as no child is ever recorded as having been born to her, the matter ended there. This sense of accountability was helped to form in Burns by a number of experiences in his early upbringing. His first awareness of life was in a home where a serious-minded father and industrious mother instilled their early lessons of diligence in the fulfilling of domestic duties.
