The Port Gibson reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 185?-1857, 1854-04-26
Boyhood of Distinguished Men.

DRYDEN displayed no evidences Of more
than ordinary intelligence until he reached
p,atnre manhood: and johnson says Of Gold
smith. that he was "a plant that lowered
late" Schiller was a very idle scholar, and
mpeh fonaer of ball and leap-frog than OF
hooks. The most interesting thing told OF
him as n child by his biographer IS, that once
in the midst of a storm Of thunder aud light
nino he climbed a tree, and when asked BY
his narents why he did 50, replied, whispering
F" That tho lightning was very beautiful, and
no wished 70 see where it was coming from.
This story. II correct, furnishes an iliusira-
tion of the manner IN which the young mind
delights to seek information for itself IN Its
own way. Perhaps a still more characteristic
aneedote i, TINT told Of Smcaton, the archI-
,ect Of the Eddystone Lighthouse, Who when
bov in netticoats. was one day discovered
on the top of his fathers house. IN the act oi
fixing the model Of windmill, which ne
had constructed
Bnt the GREAT majority of the most distin-
cuished men-especiaily Of those distinguish
ed for their power-have been altogether un-
DISTINGUISHED in their boyhood. Sir Isaac
Newton. perhaps our greatest man. stood very
low in his class at school. though he was fond
Of mechanical pursuits and Of drawing vari-
ous natural objects. Sir David Brewster says
of him. that when he arrived at Trinity
College, he brought with him a more slender
norton Of science than falls to the lot OF or
dinary scholars but this state Of his acquire
ments continues his boerapher) was perhaps
not unfayarable to the developement OF his
mental mowers. Unexhausted by premature
Growth. and invigoraIed by healthful repose,
his mind was better fitted to make those Wig
,,rous and rapid shoots which soon covered
with foliage and fruit the genial soil to which
it had been transferred.
The distinguished Sir Humphrey Davy
said of himself: 81 consider it fortunate that
I was left SO much to myself when child,
and nut upon no particular plan Of study;
and that enjoyed so much idleness at Mr..
Coryton's school, perhaps owe to these
circumstances the little talents that lrave.
and their peculiar application. What am
have made myself. | say this without van
ity, and in pure simplicity of heart" And
it is 60 in fact. Every man who achieves
greatness does so, not through his acquire
ments under teachers when boy but through
bis self-education after he has become man.
We might adduce an immense number Of
instances Of positively stupid boys who have
become distinguished and highly useful men,
For instance. Isaac Barrow, the great divine
was in his boyhood chiefly distinguished by
his propensity for fighting in which he got
many bloody nose and his father used to
say, that If It pleased God to take from him
any Of his children, he hoped it might be
Isaac, who was the least promising of them
all. And that prodigYof learning, DIR. Adam
Clark, when a boy, was never happier than
when trolling large stones about" caring
nothing for learning or reading Of any SORT
But at this kind Of work he became un-
commonly hardy" though his father pro-
claimed him to be a most "grievous dunce. "
Thanks to Adam Clark's power Of rolling
about the large stones, in his bOyhOOd, he was
afterwards able to roll abOutlarge thoughts IN
bis manhood.
Napoleon and Wellington we're both dull
BOYS The former is described by the Ouch
ess d'Abrautes, VINO knew him intimately when
a child, as having good health and in other
respects he was like other BOYS" And she
adds: Ny uncles have thousand times as
sured me that Napoleon, in his bOYhood, had
none of that singularity Of character attribu-
ted to him."