Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-01-04
WALTER SCOTS REGRET.

We can learn something even from
IN ciielny, and friends failures may
instruct us. That is the sort OF educa-
ton which Il biography should give. Sir
Walter SCOTS. especially theS portion
which narrates his hovhood, gives it.
Sir Walter Scott was Il Sicklv lad. The
fact partly accounts for his low stand
ing at school His master called him "a
stupid boy but lived To- reverse this
Judgment. and the pupil t" regret that
he had not given more attention To- ms
etudirs II would at this moment ne
wrote, in the days of his fame, "give
hall the reputation have had the good
fortune 10 acquire, il | could rest the re-
manning part upon Il solid foundation OF
learning and science" The sentence
should he pasted in every boys text
book
Though poor scholar, Young Scott
was IN Unsuitable reader, and often sur
prised his elders 10y the miscellaneous
knowledge he possessed.
He read with delight books OF history
travels. poetry, fairy tales, romances,
and Eastern stories. lie and Il congo
NAL friend would choos some nook on
the face of an almost inaccessible hill
and, climbing up t" it, SIT for hours
reading or telling each other stories
which We're always "to he continued. y
The boys memory was Il tickle ally
it retained only what pleased him, bnt
that it never forgot. lie left school with
Il great quantity of general but liar
ranged information. Later in life he
l:imented that his reading had been sc
desutory in his youth. "My appetite
for books" he wrote, "was as ample
and discriminating as it was indefati.
gable; and since, have had, too fire.
quently, reason TO repent that few ever
read SO much, and TO SO little purpose. y
Though Scots reading was unreg-
ulated, his mother looked after the
education Of his heart. She was gifted
with good taste and with a natural
sensitiveness to noble ideas. The boy
used to read aloud to her Pope's transla
ton OF Homer AS is common with
boys, his enthusiasm was aroused by
descriptions OF battles. But when ht
came to passage which expressed gen
erous sentiments, she made him pause
and by questions drew his attention t,
them.
The mothers training bore fruit
The novelist awoke one morning to FIND
himself, not famous, he had been tha
for years, hut Il ruined man. His folly
in living as Il noblcman and his blin(
trust in his publishers, had bankruptcc
him.
Then the mothers training in tn,
noble ideas OF justice, right, and con
science asserted itself. "tiive mt
time" he said to his creditors, "and
will pay you every penny" He sa
himself down to his desk to write of
six hundred thousand dollars OF debt
Within ten years he had written book,
enough to ameliorate his affairs an'
bring peace to his mind
Rheumatism stitiened his fingers. III,
wrote in spite of it. He began to hop.
that he would soon be free from debt
when paralysis struck him. He insiste,
on being helped to his desk When h.
found that his pen rolled ont of hi,
II, rveless fingers, he fell back in hi.
chair and wept He was laid in his bee
and never rose from it till his body Wa.
lifted into it's coffin.
One lesson of this life, that which
peeps out from the boys habit o
desuItory reading and neglecting hi.
studies, we have already limited at ii.
bitterly deplored it.
But the old romancer, dying at tn.
top and yet working to pay his debts
while a graphic lesson in honesty, is ;
pathetic warming against the foolish
vanity which tempts to extravagan
living.