Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-12-19
HORACE AS A BOY.

I'd
PeculiarIties of the Early Life of the Great
journalistic Mothers Inluence-Queer
Habit of Reading.
Tennyson says that it is the mother
makes US most, and it was the fortune |
of Horace Greeley to have a 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 a man and of a 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 lively interest in
learning. How soon he learned to read
is impossible to state with any degree #
certainty. Some of his early trends
asserted that his mother taught him to
read before he could talk, but this is a
manifest absurdity, since the long words
would convey TO him no meaning. But
it is 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 pecu.
liar solemnity OF countenance, and would
grayely examine a newspaper, just as
other children play with The contents of
mammals work-box. At three years of
age he could read easily and correctly
books prepared for children in words of
one syllable, and at 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 singularity
it 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
he had no right to be, as his parents
lived in Amherst; but his grandfather
, pressed the matter, and as every body
, liked the youthful prodigy, there was
no contest.
GREELEY S FIRST ovERCoAT.
, In June, 1880, the Northern SD.ct1'o,
! was discontinued, and the printing office
! was broken up. The concern did no
pay. Horace Greeley, who had been il
!, !, the yearly receipt OF $40, had not savec
o cent of it. Neither had he spent
!, cent. All he could possibly spare wa
f sent to his father, who had left West
o haven, and was engaged in clearing wilc
!. land in Pennsyly ma. When his con
n nection with Mr.. Bliss closed, his ward
4 robe consisted of two ragged shirts anc
the pocket handkerchief in which they
q were enveloped, with his last half year
i wages of 500. He had sore leg, but il
r spite of this, he determined to walk t.
n Pennsylvania. Before he quilted East
n Poultney, the boarders of the tavern
o where he had so often held forth, anc
4 been the universal arbiter, determined
to display their friendly feelings anc
e good wishes in some way most usefu
e to him, so they presented him with al
b overcoat. the first the young man hao
# ever possessed for the good son rigor
r ously denied himself warm clothin,
d through the fierce winters of Vernon
/. so that he might send tne more to hi
8 parents, struggling with the difficultie
:. of wild land in Erie, Pa.