The Poetical Works of John Struthers (Volume 1); With Autobiography (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1850. Excerpt: ... SECTION I. The Author of the following Poems and the subject of this Memoir, cannot boast Patrician birth, influential wealth, or classical acquirements. According to a record written on a blank leaf in his mother's Bible, he was born at Forefaulds, a cottage built upon the estate of Longcalderwood in the parish of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, on the eighteenth day of July 1776. He was the second son and fourth child of his mother, Elizabeth Scott, and his father, William Struthers, who was for forty years and upward the principal shoemaker in that quarter of the parish; and though he has been dead nearly forty years, he is still remembered in the neighbourhood and occasionally spoken of as a man remarkable for the simplicity of his manners, and the unblemished integrity of his character. His piety was pure, earnest, and steady, but altogether unobtrusive; and its depth known only to God, and to the inmates of his own house. His helpmate was equally pious with himself, though with perhaps a little more of a leaning towards the things of this world; and she too is still remembered and spoken of as a woman of more than ordinary energy both of body and of mind. From this very brief account of the Author's parentage, the reader will naturally infer that his education would be of a rather homely description. And it surely was so He was taught to read by his mother from the Shorter Catechism, learning the words and the question at the same time. After getting through the Catechism he went over the Proverbs of Solomon--the usual routine even in the best schools at that period; and at a very early age could read pretty distinctly any chapter of the Bible--a degree of learning at that time supposed to be quite enough for all persons, except they were intended to b...