The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-18
IN THE HOME LAND OF
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
VIM. E. Curtis Writes From Edinburgh on the
Great Scotch Writer and His Traits
Interesting Anecdotes.

three generations back, since 1887, have
been engineers, building and looking
after the lighthouses on the bleak coast
of Scotland. The present superintend-
ent of Scottish lighthouses, Mr.. David
Allan Stevenson, is the sixth member
of the family who has held that post.
They have built some of the most diff
cult and dangerous character, and have
been accustomed to all kinds of weather
and compelled to endure constant ex-
posure and danger, not only from the
stormy North Sea, but from the cruel
cliffs that lie along that desolate coast:
These are Thy works, o Father; these
Thy crowns,
Along the yellowing sunset and all
night
Among the unnumbered stars of God
they shine.
Stevenson was very proud of his an
cestry and the achievements of his
father and grandfather and the bless
ings they brought to the storm tossed
mariners. He frequently pays them
tributes in his writings. His father
was deeply disappointed because Rob-
ert IS delicate health and literary dis
position did not permit him to follow
the same professions:
The Writer'S characteristics.
The son inherited the slight consti-
tuition, the quick and brilliant intelli-
gence, the deep sentiment and magma
ton, and the undercurrent of humor
and oddly which gave his mother no
less distinct individuality than that of
his father. She showed the same char
aeteristics Robert inherited from her.
He had her quaint sayings, her eeeen
tric ways, and her dreamy moods.
They tried him at law, and he was
admitted to the bar. His mother want
ed him to be minister, but he declin-
ed. They tried him at several other
things and sent him to the University
of Edinburgh, where he earned mas
ter's degree, but the lean, slim, delicate
lad with long, brown hair and soft,
whimsical eyes cared no more for ro-
nance than for mathematics, and en-
belhshed his notebook with rhymes
that were sometimes tender and some
times tart.
His maternal grandfather, Rev. DR..
Balfour, pale, tail, venerable man
with snowy hair, was pastor of the
Presbyterian church at Colinton, and is
described in "The Manse.'' On the
fathers side also successive genera
tions were austere Calvinists, and the
author was brought up in the strictest
manner. From early childhood he was
educated in a deeply-rooted knowledge
of the Bible, the Westminster Cate
chism, FOx's Book of Martyrs, and the
Tales of the Covenanters, - which d.
vided his time and attention with the
poems of Allen Ramsey and Robert
Burns and the historic novels of Sir
Walter Scott. The infexible CaIvinism
of his father was softened to him by his
mothers sweetness of nature and
brightness of faith, and, when he grew
to manhood he made creed of his own
which is expressed in the prayer I have
quoted and in other of his writings.
There are many people here who
knew Stevenson in boyhood and relate
many anecdotes of his peculiarities, for,
like all men of genius, he had them
very distinctly in his manners, in his
dress and in his habits He was fond
of bright eolors and wore ridiculous
costumes even when he was a child.
And when he came to be man he
went about the streets in blue velvet
coats, flaming yellow ties and queer
hats that he picked up somewhere. no
body knew where. He wore his hair
long upon his neck and in other WAYS
he attracted ridicule by his attire; but
he seemed to enjoy it, was never an
noyed by the stares and the criticisms
he constantly met with, but in later life |
he gradually modified his dress and
once wrote from Samoa that he had
adopted orthodox coats and ties.
His Hunt for Life and Health.
He was scarcely out of the university
when he was compelled to leave Edin-
ourgh on account of the climate. He
TREY many places before he found one
where his lungs would let him live.
His wanderings brought no permanent
to his health. but I'M
loubtedly prolonged his life. He
t have survived five years if
ne had remained in Edinburgh.
He spent much time in the United
States-in the Adirondacks, in Arizona
md in California until in 1890. While
'ailing about the South Seas he visited
Samoa and became so fascinated with
he climate and the people that he
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