Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-11-07
III isfeIianeons
ELISHA KENT KANE.

&~N |
The following is a passage from DR.. Elders BIZ.
~cgraphy of Dr. Kane, just now being published
BY Childs e. Peterson, Philadelphia.
His frame was admirably fitted for all manner
Of athletic exercises, and his impulses kept it well
up to the limits Of its capabilities, daring and 90
ing every thing within the liberties Of hoy-liie with
en intense seriousness of desperation which kept
domestic rule upon the stretch, aud threatened, as
certainly as usual wi h boys whose only badness is
their boldness, to bring down evcrybOdv's gray
hairs in sorrow, &c. 1t was not the monkey
mirthfulness nor the uhprincipled recklessness oil
childhood that he was chargaable with, but some
thing more Of purpose and tenacity IN cxaoling
Difference and enforcing equity than is usually al
lowed to boyhood. To arbitrary authority he was
a regular little rebel. There Was nothing OF pas
sive submission in his temper. and he did not over
lay it with the little hypOcrisies OF good'b0y no!i-
ey. He was absolutely fearless, aud, withal, given
to indignation quite up to his own measurement
Of Wrongs and insults, and he had n pair OF little
fists that worked with the steam.powcr Of passion
in the administration Of distributive justice.
which he charged himself with executing at all
hazards. In right of primogeuiture, lie was pro
tector to his younger brothers, aud was not yet
nine years old when he assumed the office with
oil it's duties and dangers.
AT school, about this time, with o brother two
years younger under his care, the master ordered
his protege up for punishment. Elisha sprang
from his seat, and interposed with a manner which
had rather more of demand than Of petition in 1t
Don't whip him he's such a little fellowship
me-" The master. understanding this to he mutt
ny, which really was intended for n fair conpro'
mise, answered, III whip you too, sir" Strung
for endurance, the sense of injustice changed his
m BOD to defiance, and such fight as he was able to
make quickly converted the discipline into q fra.
cas-. and Elisha left the school with marks that re-
CURED explanation.
When he was ten years old, four or fve neigh
Dor boys. Gil bigger than himself, who had climb
ed upon the roof of a back building in his father s
yard, were amusing themselves by shooting putty
wads from blow guns at the girls below. Elisha,
attracted to the sppt by the outcry of the injured
party, promptly undertook the defence, and in the
firm tone OF a young gentleman offended, required
them to desist and leave the premises which, of
course, was instantly answered by n broadside lev
elled at himself. Fired at the outrage, he clltched
the rainspout, and climted like q young tiger to
the roof, and was among them before they could
realize the practicability Of the feat and then he
had them, on terms even enough for a handsome
settlement Of the case. The roof was steep and
dangerous TO his cowed antagonists, but safe to his,
better balance and higher courage, and they were
at his mercy for 10 one could help another, and
he was more than a match Tor the best OF them, IN
o position where peril Of q terrible tumble was
among the risks Of resistance. Forthwith he went
at them seriatim. till, severaly ard singly, he had
cuffed them to the fall measure of their respective
deseryings, But not satisfied with infiicting pun
ishment, be exacted penitence also, and he pro-
eeeded to drag each of them IN turn to the edge
OF the roof, and, holding him there, demanded an
explicit analogy. Before he had finished putting
the whole party through this last form Of purga-
ton, little Tom, who had witnessed the perform,
ance from the pavement below, greatly terrified
by the imminent risk Of a fall, which would have
broken a neck or two mayhap, called out, Come
down, Elisha oh. 'Lisha, come down! Elisha
answered the appeal in the spirit of the engage:
ment, No. Tom, they ant done apologizing yet"
lie took no sauce from any body. He couldn't
understand why he should, and it was hard and
risky 20 make him know that he must Tor he wa'
equally fertile in expedients and bold in execution
On the wharf one day, when he was not ye,
twelve years old, an insolent rntIan, big enougi
aud wicked enough to break every bone in the lad
body, aroused his wrath by an intolerable piece o
rudeness. Resistance and redress seemed impos
sible, but submission was com pietely so. lie saw
his opportunity a rope fixed to the end of a cram
hung within his reach, and the rufhan stood iairl,
in tie track Of it's swing. He seized it, and run
ming backward till it was tightly stretched, h
made o bound which gave him the momentum o
a sling, and planted his knees like a shot III tn
fellows face, levelling him handsomely, and vit
a spring he put himself under the protection o
the by ISLANDERS, who had witnessed and admire
the performance.
So Elisha earned the character of q bad boy
while he was in fact, exercising and cultivating tn
spirit of Q brave one. Goody.good people, yer
naturally, did not understand him then they d
now. Elisha never reformed he just perSiste
until he performed what was in him to do. lh
rills. so tortuour and turbulent near the springs
rolled themselves into q river in time, and regula
cd their rush without losing it.
It Il said that education forms the commo
mind :" 1t is more certain that las the twlg
bent, the trees inclined.' This boy, at least, VIZ
the father of the man. 1t was utterly inpossib
to fashion his young life by veneering 1t with Il
proprieties which are supposed to shape it in
goodness. lie may not have known what
should be in the future, but he knew what he mu
be in the present. and he. happily. did not limb
himself by forced com pliances. Difncult, DARN
and desperate enterprises, not only useless, b
recklessly wild, under the common standard
Judgment, worked in him ike one possessed. .
ten years Of age he studied the weather, watch
the m"on, and carefully scanned the opportunitl
Afforded by the nights for scaling fences, clamb
ing over out.houses, and getting into the treetol
ali round the square that was overlooked by !
dormitory. Wherever o cat could go, he woul
and escapes from the s~ky-light by way OF
kitchen-roof and through the trap.door to the va
and thence abroad to enjoy an unmatched and
molested rambling. clambering, and t~umbling,
forded him o seriously heightened delight.
took nobody into his confidence except his b
felloS but this was voluntary and generous,
he was bent upon training him for similar ACHE
ments. One instance will illustrates:
The back building was two stories high,
front three, and the houses which fanked
kitchen were three stories. To relieve the dl
of the kitchen chimney from the eddy of
buildings which ~embayed it, it was carried up
a shaft sixteen feet above the roof. There it st
at tho gable, in provckingly tempting. altitn
and the point that concerned cur little hero v
how W get to the top OF 1t?
"uow should he get to the top Bless m
exclaims ONE considerate parsonage OF corr
habits and cautious judgments. why should
Elisha would have answered him, II must, an
wonder why | should not ?" Very certainly tn
would have been two opinions on the matter
any wise body had been consulted. But the Ii
desperate needed no advice. The thing was t.
done, and il was done. 1t required some engin
ing. butt was all the better for that. 1t is
mere muscle and hardihood that will carry a {
TO the North Pole. lie must have some seize
and snnaa tacklinn alnnn with him and the