The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-28


fortune. James Atkins had gone to Liverpool
as a common hand to lade and unlade vessels.
He now owns several ships himself
There would seem to be some design in the
analogy of sound in a few Of our old Saxon
words: such as hurry skurry, furry; shatter
batter clatter; dash, smash, clash, hash slash ;
rumble, grumble, tumble, stumble, &c.
But the gathering Of ideas was much more
important matter than learning words to com
lnunicate them. The prudent Dutchman said
he wanted money before he bought purse to
put it in.
Ny father, like all other Irisbmen, was a
weaver, and generally kept three looms going.
1 used to GO iato the weaving shop to watch the
process of manufacturing linen. They would
ial uae.on the seq. beside them, where | would
listen to their songs and watch the busy shut
tie. Thread after thread, thread after thread,
by process slow but sure, would soon add an
inch or two to the web. Then they would move
forward the temples, take their polishng-stone
and rub the cloth off smooth, then proceed as
before. There was also Lilliputian weaver, to
whom Tom Thumb would be a giant, who set
up his establishment in my fathers shop. He
never asked permission, or paid rent yet be-
heve he was entirely welcome. | watched him
with astonishment and delight. His quick
movements, the fneness of his thread, the
transparent thinness of his web, and the in
genious little bunk where he slept beside his
work, all excited my curiosity. | inquired how
he peeled his praties, when his fingers were so
wee. To my astonishment | learned that our
gentleman was too nice to eat potatoes at all.
He caught flies and Toasted on them. They
were his bread and his milk, his potatoes and
his whisky.
In the kitchen, as well as in the shop,
found amusement and instruction. My parents,
although poor, kept two pianos, and my mother
was a superior performer. From morning till
noon, from noon till night, the music was un-
ceasipg She had a great variety of songs, but
on the instrument she played single tune.
When the sailor spins yarn he stops his song,
but whether my mother sung or was silent, she
always spun her yarn. In the barn watched
the hecklers dressing the fax on their heckles,
which sounded like Jewsharp. When the
hecklers came, it was a great thing to get stay
ing from school. In the fields, too, the fax
presented many phases for observation. When
it first sprouted up with its little round leaf,
when at full height it assumed the beautiful
blue blossom, and afterwards when it presented
the green ball, which we used to spin like a
top, it was alike interesting. Nor was it less
amusing to see the laborers pull it, water 1t,
dry it, and break with the crig, preparatory to
scutching. Perhaps, if had been old enough
to take part in these operations, the drudgery
of the labor might have destroyed its poetry,
especially as a Sudden flood, when flax was be-
ing watered, sometimes made it necessary to
rise at highland plunge into drenching rain,
to keep the labors of the year from being
carried away in night, but at that age l ex-
perienced the interest without the tolls OF hum
BILE life. Last of all, got once to the scutch
mill, where ] saw men, envelOped in dust and
dirt, stick handfuls of the slightly bruised stalks
into hole, and Immediately bring it out soft,
plant fax. asked William what wrought the
flying round. OF the whole process of linen
manufacture, from the sprouting to the bleach
sing &c thA ssebvfihis attracted my aftAida. the
most, because itwas soIapid.
Observing birds was also large part. of my
home study. At first, l only knew birds in
general Some were large and others small
but ] could not distinguish one from another
The first knew separately was the robin red
breast, the smallest of Irish birds, except the
wren, then the house sparrow, and after that
the swallow. Whenever | got one or two had
start made, and to learn after to distinguish
the lark, the thrush, the maybe, DC, was an
easy matter.
One year, there was lark's nest at the
foot OF our lane. ] took my sister Martha BY
the, hand, to show her the precious curiosity
She slipped her hand into the nest, and took M
one of the gray spotted eggs. | snatched at il
to put 1T back. She said, a. only want to looR
at it," As might be expected, 1T was broken
She Immediately returned it to the nest, and
we both hurried home, with guilty conscience
William was somewhere near, and found on
what we had done What q tremendous scold
ing did get Many time SINCE, when mprI
blamewortby, have given back jaw, but nov
| took il all patiently, and every word went to
my heart II said the bird would forSttke tht
nest, ! asked what f0rsdke was. He said shf
would go away, md never come back to il
again.
Hugh said, once, :" Ny, but the thrush i.
strict abou. her nest"
| asked him what he meant by strict. He
said she was careful to select hidden place
| and if any one found it before she had laid heI
eggs, she would go away Immediately, and
build another. This gave me but an indefinite
idea of the word, but by degrees ! found its
full import For long time ! never thought
of applying the word canning to anything but
bird that was arttnl III conceaGng her nest
We commonly learn the definition Of ordinary
words by noticing simply the connection in
which they are used. But in this way ! made
some notorious blnnders.
Bu and by" was a phrase WHICH ] had
heard 30 often that | thought understood il
perfectly, but imagined it meant after q great
while. | had generally heard it used when
was promised something, and knew, or at least
thought, that that something was generally very
long coming, and sometimes had to be asked
half dozen of times. Amen, coming in my
PRAYERS Immediately after forever, | thought
meant eternaly, and not till had learned my
catechism did ! find that i had totally differ
ent. meaning.
The school teacher used to say, For one
fraction would fog you, and, unless my mem
DRY misieads me, be would sometimes say one
half fraction. | asked William how much a
fraction was. He said it was half farthing
OF course he was but guessing at it, His mis-
take was very natural, for it was evident he
meant something of the smallest value. Now
he knew that penny contained two happen
nies, and Q ha penny contained two farthings
and so he thought farthing ought to contain
two fractions; and so it did.
| sometimes mistook the meaning of words
by thinking Of words nearly similar in sound
Floq | never heard till | went to school, and
then heard it every day. | knew what clog
meant, for 10 Hanna's gross dog had 9 clog
fastened to him, and 1 thoPght that logging
meant beating a scholar with blocks. We had
two cows. Ny father sent one away to dis
lance to pasture. William said to me, Jamie
horney is gone TO craze; when COW grazes
she goes away and stays long time, and then
comes back" Soon after that, in school, the
teacher went end slapped him and another
scholar till they both cried, and then told theHl
that was for gazing around them. had not
forgotten the definition of Craze, and thought
thai If grazing meant leaving the farm, gazing
meant leaving their book.
wers q language constructed on the princi-
pie that similar sounds would convey similar