Rollo in Scotland. Jacob Abbott

Contents

      I think that Mr. George was quite right in his idea, that the true remedy for the spirit of restlessness and mischief that Waldron manifested was to employ him, or, as he metaphorically termed it, to load him. And as this volume will, perhaps, fall into the hands of many parents as well as children, I will here remark that a great many good-hearted and excellent boys fall into the same difficulty from precisely the same cause; namely, that they have not adequate employment for their mental and physical powers, which are growing and strengthening every day, and are hungering and thirsting for the means and opportunities of expending their energies.

      Parents are seldom aware how fast their children are growing and increasing in strength, both of body and mind. The evidences of this growth, in respect to the limbs and muscles of the body, are, indeed, obvious to the eye; and as the growth advances, we have continual proof of the pleasure which the exercise of these new powers gives to the possessor of them. The active and boisterous plays of boys derive their chief charm from the pleasure they feel in testing and exercising their muscular powers in every way. They are always running, and leaping, and wrestling, and pursuing each other, and pushing each other, and climbing up to high places, and standing on their heads, and walking on the tops of fences, and performing all other possible or conceivable feats, which may give them the pleasure of working, in new and untried ways, their muscular machinery, and feeling its increasing power, and in producing new effects by means of it. They get themselves into continual difficulties and dangers by these things, and cause themselves a great deal of suffering. Still they go on, for the intoxicating delight of using their powers, or, rather, the irresistible instinct which impels them to use them, has greater force with them than all other considerations.

      We see all this very plainly in respect to the action of the limbs and organs of the body; for it is palpably evident to our senses, and we feel the necessity of providing safe and proper modes of expending these energies. Since we find, for example, that boys must kick something, we give them a football to kick; which, being a mere ball of wind, may be kicked without doing any harm. And so with almost all the other playthings and sports which are devised for boys, or which they devise for themselves. They are the means, simply, of enabling them to employ their growing powers and expand their energies, without doing any body any harm. We know very well that it is not safe to leave these powers and energies unemployed.

      But we are very apt to forget that there are powers and faculties of the mind, equally vigorous, and equally eager to be exercised, that ought also to be provided for. The strength of the will, the power of exercising judgment and discretion, the spirit of enterprise, the love of command, and other such mental impulses, are growing and strengthening every day, in every healthy boy, and they are all clamorous for employment. The instinct that impels them is so strong that they will find employment in some way or other for themselves, unless an occupation is otherwise provided for them. A very large proportion of the acts of mischievousness and wrong which boys commit arise from this cause. Even boys who are bad enough to form a midnight scheme for robbing an orchard, are influenced mainly in perpetrating the deed, not by the pleasure of eating the apples which they expect to obtain by it, but by the pleasure of forming a scheme, of contriving ways and means of surmounting difficulties, of watching against surprises, of braving dangers, of successfully attaining to a desired end over and through a succession of obstacles interposing. This view of the case does not show that such deeds are right; it only shows the true nature of the wrong involved in them, and helps us in discovering and applying the remedy.

      At least this was Mr. George's view of the case in respect to Waldron, when he heard how often he was getting into difficulty by his adventurous and restless character. He thought that the remedy was, as he expressed it, to load him; that is, to give to the active and enterprising spirit of his mind something to expend his energies upon. It required great tact and discretion, and great knowledge of the habits and characteristics of boyhood, to enable him to do this; but Mr. George possessed these qualities in a high degree.

      But to return to the story.

      Mr. George had decided on coming into Scotland from Liverpool by water, because that was the cheapest way of getting into the heart of the country. And here, in order that you may understand the course of Rollo's travels, I must pause to explain the leading geographical features of the country. If you read this explanation carefully, and follow it on the map, you will understand the subsequent narrative much better than you otherwise would do.

      You will see, then, by looking at any map, that Scotland is separated from England by two rivers which flow from the interior of the country into the sea—one towards the east, and the other towards the west. The one on the east side is the Tweed. The Tweed forms the frontier between England and Scotland for a considerable distance, and is, therefore, often spoken of as the boundary between the two countries. Indeed, the phrase "beyond the Tweed" is often used in England to denote Scotland. In former times, when England and Scotland were independent kingdoms, incessant wars were carried on across this border, and incursions were made by the chieftains from each realm into the territories of the other, and castles were built on many commanding points to defend the ground. The ruins of many of these old castles still remain.

      On the western side of the island the boundary between England and Scotland is formed by a very wide river, or rather river's mouth, called Solway Frith. Between this Solway Frith and the Tweed, the boundary which separates the two countries runs along the summit of a range of hills. This range of hills thus forms a sort of neck of high land, which prevents the Tweed and the Solway Frith from cutting Scotland off from England altogether, and making a separate island of it.

      About seventy or eighty miles to the northward of the boundary the land is almost cut in two again by two other rivers, with broad mouths, which rise pretty near together in the interior of the country, and flow—one to the east and the other to the west—into the two seas.

      These rivers are the Forth and the Clyde. The Forth flows to the east, and has a very wide estuary,[B] as you will see by the map. The Clyde, on the other hand, flows to the west. Its estuary is long and crooked.

      The Forth and the Clyde, with their estuaries, almost cut Scotland in two; and by means of them ships and steamers from all parts of England and from foreign ports are enabled to come into the very heart of the country.

      The two largest and most celebrated cities in Scotland are situated in the valleys of these rivers, the Forth and the Clyde. They are Edinburgh and Glasgow. Edinburgh is on the Forth, though situated at some little distance from its banks. Glasgow is on the Clyde. There is a railway extending across from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and also a canal, connecting the waters of the Forth with the Clyde. The region of these cities, and of the canal and railroad which connects them, is altogether the busiest, the most densely peopled, and the most important portion of Scotland; and this is the reason why Mr. George wished to come directly into it by water from Liverpool.

      The cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, though both greatly celebrated, are celebrated in very different ways. Edinburgh is the city of science, of literature, and of the arts. Here are many learned institutions, the fame and influence of which extend to every part of the world. Here are great book publishing establishments, which send forth millions of volumes every year—from ponderous encyclopædias of science, and elegantly illustrated and costly works of art, down to tracts for Sabbath schools, and picture books for children. The situation of Edinburgh is very romantic and beautiful; the town being built among hills and ravines of the most picturesque and striking character. When Scotland was an independent kingdom Edinburgh was the capital of it, and thus the old palace of the kings and the royal castle are there, and the town has been the scene of some of the most remarkable events in the Scottish history.

      Glasgow, on the other hand, which is on the Clyde, towards the western side of the island, together with all the country for many miles around it, forms the scene of the mechanical and manufacturing industry of Scotland. The whole district, in fact, is one vast workshop; being full of mines, mills, forges, furnaces, machine shops, ship yards and iron works, with pipes every where puffing out steam, and tall chimneys, higher, some of them, than the Bunker Hill Monument, or the steeple of Trinity Church, in New York. These tall chimneys are seen rising every where, all around the horizon, and sending