46 THE BOY. 



researches on the shore at ebb-tide, or when, in solitary 

 rambles, he looked carefully, constantly, lovingly, into 

 the face of nature. Even in those doings with his 

 brethren of the cave which seem to have occasioned his 

 relatives most alarm, he was acquiring habits of self- 

 possession, courage, fidelity, reticence, which are not 

 always imparted by artificial training. 



And let us not forget that stubbornness of purpose, in- 

 flexibility of will, the unpardonable sin in the eyes of most 

 pedagogues, is after all the indispensable basis of charac- 

 ter for any man who will do much. Acquire it as he may, 

 the ability to go forward in the path he has chosen, to face 

 the pelting shower and the scorching sun, to do wholly, 

 heartily, inflexibly what he deliberately wills to do, is of 

 sovereign importance for a man. Quicquid vult valde 

 vult ; this is the diploma of masterhood in nature's Uni- 

 versity : ' unstable as water, thou shalt not excel ; ' this 

 is the hopeless doom. ' I sowed flower-seeds/ wrote 

 John Sterling respecting his management of his garden 

 in boyhood, ' and then turned up the ground again and 

 planted potatoes, and then rooted out the potatoes to in- 

 sert acorns and apple-pips, and at last, as may be sup- 

 posed, reaped neither roses, nor potatoes, nor oak-trees, nor 

 apples.' The words are an epitome of Sterling's biogra- 

 phy. Hugh Miller even in boyhood had a purpose and 

 held to it, firmly resolved that he would not have his 

 limbs straightened on the procrustean bed prepared for 

 him, conscious that he was neither dunce nor reprobate, 

 but growing in his own way. 



It must be carefully noted that the character of Mil- 

 ler always remained sound in the vital parts. Of mean- 

 ness, untruthfulness, cruelty, avarice, he showed no 

 trace. Had his sensual passions been vehement as 

 those of Burns or Mirabeau, the probability is that he 



