CHAPTER ONE 



CHILDHOOD 



INASMUCH as my family, especially the maternal side of it, had a 

 very profound and lasting influence upon my career, it will be neces- 

 sary to begin my story with some account of my relatives and forebears 

 for several generations. 



My Father, the Rev. William McKendree Scott, was born in Ohio in 

 1818; his father, likewise William Scott, was an immigrant from the 

 north of Ireland, as was also the original American ancestor of my 

 maternal Grandfather, Charles Hodge. Thus, in blood, I am chiefly 

 Scotch-Irish, but three other nationalities enter into the highly complex 

 result. A great-grandfather, Richard Bache, was an Englishman; one 

 great-grandmother, Mary Blanchard, was of French origin, and another, 

 Catherine Wistar, of German descent. My Father was a very tall, stately 

 and handsome man, whose face and figure I can distincdy recall, though 

 he died before my fourth birthday. He shared all the toils and hardships 

 of pioneer life, but was, nevertheless, determined to get an education, 

 though most of his studying was done by the winter firelight. He pre- 

 pared himself and entered JefTerson College, which had not then united 

 with Washington to form the present Washington and Jefferson Col- 

 lege, and was graduated in i843(.?). He next came to the Princeton 

 Theological Seminary, where he met my Mother, Mary Elizabeth 

 Hodge, and they were married in 1847. 



After their marriage, my parents settled in Danville, Ky., where my 

 Father was pastor of the Presbyterian church and professor of EngUsh 

 Literature {Belles Lettres it was called then) in Centre College. At Dan- 

 ville my parents remained for nearly ten years and there were born my 

 brothers, Charles Hodge Scott (1849) and Major General Hugh Lenox 

 Scott (1853), as well as a brother and sister who died in infancy. 



My Mother always cherished the warmest aflfection for her Kentucky 

 friends and the happiest part of her life was passed in Danville, before 

 dread anxiety for her husband's health had been awakened. She used 



CO 



