The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-12-20

HORACE As A BOY.
Pee uiiaritics Of the Early Life Of the Great
Journalist-A Mothers lnfiuence-tlueer
Habit of Reading.

Pecuiiaritics Of the Early Life ofihe Great
JournaIist-A Mothers Inhuence-Qucer
Habit OF Reading.
Tennyson says that il is the mother
makes us most, and II was the fortune
OF Horace Greeley TO have mother
who, to the virtues she inherited from
the Woodburns, added many OF her
own. Mrs. Greeley was the favorite of
the township, the natural protector of
the weak, the born consider Of the
afflicted, the inevitable friend and ally
OF every child in the neighborhood.
She WAS great reader, and remembered
all she read. She loved agricultural
pursuits, was fond of flowers and OF bees,
and had passion for walking. After
working in the fields and the garden,
doing the labor of man and OF wo.
man, too, during the day, she would tell
the old Irish stories she had learned
from her grandmother all the evening.
To these stories the boy Horace listened
greedily as he sat on the floor at her
feet, the glow from the wood fire light.
ing up his pale face and white hair.
She spun as she narrated, while her
boys attention was divided between the
turning wheel and the animated eyes of
his mother. Doubtless these passages
awoke in the boys mind thirst for
knowledge and a lively interest in
learning. How soon he learned 10 read
IS impossible to state with any degree #
certainty. Some of his early trends
asserted that his mother taught him 10
read before he could talk, but thi. is a
manifest absurdity, since the long words
| wnnlI him M RI
1t is a fact that before he was quite two
years old, he would be upon his back
and holding the Bible in his tiny hands,
would pore over the leaves with a pecu.
liar solemnity OF countenance, and would
gravely examine newspaper, just as
other children play with the contents of
mamma's work-box. At three years of
age he could read easily and correctly
books prepared for children in words of
one syllable, and 1T four he would un.
hesitatingly tackle any of the thirty or
forty volumes which comprised his
fathers library. One of his peculiarities
was the extraordinary variety of pos
lures in which he would read, seldom sit
ting down comfortably like an ordinary
mortal, but generally prefsrring to lie
on his back, or TO curl himself up into
an uneasy ball. or To stretch himself out
on his stomach. From this singu.arity
1T resulted that he could read a book
right side up, upside down or sideways,
to the great establishment of the neigh
bors, who looked upon him as little
conjurer. About this time, though
under age, he attended the district
school OF Londonderry, where, indeed,
| ha hal Whit to
lived in Amherst; but his grandfather
pressed the matter, and as everybody
liked the youthful prodigy, there was
no contest.
GREELEYS FIRST ovERCOAT.
In June, 1880, the Northern .SD.ctaor
was discontinued, and the printing off
was broken up. The concern did not
pay. Horace Greeley, who had been in
the yearly receipt OF $40, had not saved
q cent of it. Neither had he spent
cent. All he could possibly spare was
sent to his father, who had left West.
haven, and was engaged in clearing wild
land In Pennsylv ma. When his con-
nection with Mr.. Bliss closed, his ward.
robe consisted OF two ragged shirts and
the pocket.hankerc in which they
were enveloped, with his last half years
wages of $50. lie had a sore leg, but in
spite of this, he determined to walk to
Pennsylvania. Before he quilted East
Poultney, the boarders of the tavern
where he had so often held forth, and
been the universal arbiter, determined
to display their friendly feelings and
good wishes in some way most use ful
to him, so they presented him with an
overcoat. the first the young man had
ever possessed for the good son rigor-
ously denied himself warm clothing
through the fierce winters Of Vermont
so that he might send the more to his
parents, struggling with the difficulties
OF wild land in Erie, Pa.