About the time the case got through there
came up a sudden and violent snowstorm, which blocked up the
road with deep drifts so that he could not get home for two
or three days. He had to stay at a small country tavern,
and the time hung very heavily on his hands.
He asked the landlord if he had any books. The only one
he could find was a first volume of Scott's "Redgauntlet,"
which was just then being published in Boston by a bookseller
named Parker, in what was called Parker's revised edition.
Father read it with infinite delight. His eyes were opened
to the excellence of Scott. He got home the next day at
about noon, and immediately sent one of the children down
to the circulating library to get the second volume. He
subscribed to Parker's edition, and was a great lover of Scott
ever after.
We were permitted, however, to read the "Tales of a Grandfather."
I hope if any boy reads this book he will read the "Tales
of a Grandfather," especially the parts which give the history
of Scotland. It is a most interesting and noble story. I
can remember now how the tears ran down my cheeks as I read
Scott's description of finding the bones of Robert Bruce in
the old abbey at Dunfermline:
"As the church would not hold half the numbers, the people
were allowed to pass through it one after another, that each
one, the poorest as well as the richest, might see all that
remained of the great king, Robert Bruce.
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