Life and Literature Part 122

Alone I walked the ocean strand: A pearly sh.e.l.l was in my hand; I stooped and wrote upon the sand My name, the year, the day.

As onward from the spot I pa.s.sed, One lingering look behind I cast; A wave came rolling high and fast And washed my lines away.

And so, methought, 'twill shortly be With every mark on earth from me.

The above pretty lines are only superficially true. No man can live on earth without leaving, "footprints on the sands of time," which will influence those who come after him for good or evil.

1692

EMULATION IN A SCHOOL.

More is learned in a public than in a private school from emulation: there is the collision of mind with mind, or the radiation of many minds pointing to one centre.

--_Dr. Johnson._

1693

THE DAME--SCHOOL.

Here first I entered, though with toil and pain, The low vestibule of learning's fane: Entered with pain, yet soon I found the way, Though sometimes toilsome, many a sweet display.

Much did I grieve, on that ill-fated morn, When I was first to school reluctant borne; Severe I thought the dame, though oft she tried To soothe my swelling spirits when I sighed; And oft, when harshly she reproved, I wept, To my lone corner broken-hearted crept, And thought of tender home, where anger never kept.

But soon inured to alphabetic toils, Alert I met the dame with jocund smiles; First at the form, my task forever true, A little favorite rapidly I grew: And oft she stroked my head with fond delight, Held me a pattern to the dunce's sight; And as she gave my diligence its praise, Talked of the honors of my future days.

--_Henry Kirke White._

1694

It has been remarked that some [1694:A]duxes at school and prizemen at the university have run too soon to seed, and in after-years been heard of no more; while on the contrary,--comforting fact for the parents of dull boys--not a few who have become distinguished men made no figure at all in their educational career.

--_From Memoir of Dr. Guthrie._

FOOTNOTES:

[1694:A] Top of the cla.s.s.

1695

EARLY TRIALS OF DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS.

It is related of Dr. Adam, the celebrated rector of the High School of Edinburgh, that when at college he had to be content with a penny roll for his dinner. Similar, though more severe, were the early trials of Samuel Drew, also of Edinburgh. At the age of ten he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, a calling which he continued to follow long after he had become celebrated as an author. For days and days together in his early life he was too poor to spend even a penny for his dinner; and he was accustomed, when dinner-time came, to tie his ap.r.o.n-string tighter to lessen the pang of hunger, and go on with his work till evening. Through years of hards.h.i.+p and drudgery his courage never forsook him; amidst ceaseless labor he strove unremittingly to improve his mind, studying astronomy, history, and metaphysics; and finally, from the humblest circ.u.mstances, he rose to occupy a conspicuous place as an author, a philosopher, and a metaphysician.

The life of Balzac too, the French author, whose brilliant abilities won for him at last such wealth, fame and influence in France, is a type of many a literary career. At the age of twenty his wealthy parents wished to make him a notary. He announced his determination to become an author. "But" urged the father, "do you not know to what state the occupation of a writer will lead you? In literature a man must be either king or a hodman." "Very well," replied Balzac, "I will be king!" The family left town; the youth was left to his fate in a garret, with the magnificent allowance of twenty-five francs a month. The first ten years he fought with poverty and all its evils; the second decade made him his own master. These ten years, says a writer in a British magazine, were years of glory, wealth, and luxury. He had won the literary crown, as in youth he predicted. His later residences were palaces, richly decorated, and full of rare pictures, statuary, and valuable curiosities.

--_From "Getting on in the World."_ --_By William Mathews, LL. D._

1696

_Scotland_:--With a rigorous climate and a small country, much of it wild and untillable mountain and moor, and with fewer people in the whole country than in the city of London, and to-day she wields an influence in the world out of all proportion to her population and resources. In fact, the Scotch are in many respects the greatest people of modern times.

--_From "A Year in Europe."_ --_By Walter W. Moore, D. D., LL. D._

1697

Love the sea? I dote upon it--from the beach.

--_Douglas Jerrold._

1698

How sweet it is, mother, to see the sea from the land, when we are not sailing!

--_Archippus._

1699

THOUGHTS AT SEA.

There is something grand, even to awfulness, in the thought of utter helplessness which you feel at sea. Sky and water--with no living thing visible over the vast expanse--for days together just your own vessel with its human freight--and G.o.d! To a thoughtful mind there is no surer teaching both of humility and trust.

--_Punshon._

1700

Old people see best in the distance.

--_German._

1701

'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it.

--_Shakespeare._

1702