ALTER SCOTT was born in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on the 31st of October, 1796. He was of the same ancestry as his world-renowned namesake Sir Walter Scott, whose poems and historical novels created such an interest in the reading world in the early part of the present century, and which have given him such a distinguished and permanent place among British authors. In the veins of both ran the blood of the heroes of the famous border feuds, among whom Wat. of Harden held so notable a place for deeds of daring not so honorable now as then; but blood will tell, and the spirit which made Wat. of Harden the most chivalric and fearless of raiders, under different and more benign influences, made one of his descendants the foremost author of his day, and another, one of the chief movers and promoters of the greatest religious Reformation of modern times. The immediate ancestors of the subject of these memoirs were John Scott and Mary Innes, who were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters, of which Walter was the fourth son and the sixth child. His father was a music teacher of some celebrity, a man of considerable culture and agreeable manners. Both were strict members of the Presbyterian Church, in which faith all their children were diligently instructed. His mother was deeply and unfeignedly pious--a woman full of kindness and sympathy, sweet of speech and [11] fruitful in good deeds. She was, moreover, of a deeply sensitive nature, of which her death afforded a striking and melancholy proof. Her husband was taken ill in the neighboring town of Annan, and died very suddenly. The shock was so great to her sensitive and loving heart that she died immediately after hearing the sad tidings; and they were both buried at the same time in the same grave. At a very early age Walter gave such evidence of decided talent, that his parents determined to give him every advantage for its development; and though at that period a collegiate education was in the reach only of the sons of the wealthy, the moderate resources of the family were so husbanded and economized as to enable him, after the necessary academic preparation, to enter the University of Edinburgh, where he remained until the completion of his college course. In affording him these opportunities, it was the wish and prayer of his parents that he should devote himself to the ministry of the church of which they were members. With these wishes and prayers his own feelings were in full accord, and all his preparations had that end in view. During his stay in Edinburgh he made his abode with an aunt who resided there, and pursued his studies with a zeal and success that fully met the predictions of his friends and the hopes of the family. Although of a cheerful disposition and fond of social pleasures, he happily avoided the follies and dissipations into which many of his fellow-students were drawn; and he even made his recreations not only agreeable but improving. He had naturally a good voice and a fine ear for music, both of which had been cultivated at home, under the instructions of his father. [12]

      The talent and skill of Walter in this respect attracted the attention of an eminent musician in Edinburgh, who had formerly been leader of a military band in the expedition to Egypt, in which Sir Ralph Abercrombie lost his life. This gentleman, admiring the talent of young Scott, volunteered to give him instructions on the flute, and such rapid progress did he make that he soon surpassed his teacher, and was acknowledged to be the most skillful performer on that instrument in the whole city. While attending the University an incident took place which is specially noteworthy from the fact that it was eminently characteristic of the man in all his after life--small in itself, yet one of those keynotes to the whole life and conduct ever to be found in the lives of the great and good. Among the Scotch great importance is attached to the individual who first crosses the threshold after the clock has struck twelve at midnight on the 31st of December, or who, as they phrase it, is the "first foot" in a house after the new year has begun. The first visitor or "first foot" stamps the "luck" of the house--the good or evil fortune of its inmates for the year. Hence, every house at that season has its company passing the evening in a pleasant way, enlivened by song or story, and among one class by what they misname good liquor. As soon as the hour of twelve has struck all present rise, shake hands, and wish one another a happy New Year, and not a few drink the health of each other, with some such sentiment as "May the year that's awa' be the warst o' our lives." But whether there be the drinking or the more temperate greeting and good wishes, in all companies is heard the question, "I wonder who will be our first foot," or, as we would [13] say, our first caller in the New Year. In consequence of this custom the streets at midnight on the last night of the year are as densely crowded as they usually are at midday, the throng, too, a happy one, each one intent on being "first foot" in the house of some friend, each one hoping to bear with him good luck. On one of these nights Walter, then about sixteen years of age, in company with his brother James, went over the old Edinburgh bridge to put "first foot" in the house of some friend. Having accomplished their object, they went forth on the still crowded streets, and after recrossing the bridge Walter was suddenly missed by his brother, who, supposing that something had for a moment attracted his attention among the crowds they had been constantly meeting, hastened home, expecting to meet him there. Walter, however, had not come, and, after waiting until his fears began to arise, he went to the bridge where he had missed him. Here he found quite a crowd assembled, and from the midst of it came the sound of the clear sweet voice of his brother, singing one of the sweetest of Old Scotia's songs. Wondering what could have so suddenly converted his youthful and somewhat bashful brother into a street minstrel at midnight, he pressed his way to the midst of the throng, and found a scene which told its own story. The young singer was standing upon the stone steps of one of the shops near the bridge, and a step or two below him stood a blind beggar holding out his hat to receive the pennies which ever and anon in the intervals between the songs the crowd would bestow. All day long the blind man had sat and begged, and, knowing that the street would be crowded that night even more than it had been during the day, he hoped [14] that night would yield him the charity which he had implored almost in vain through the livelong day. But the crowds were intent on pleasure and friendly greetings, and few responded to the appeal of him to whom day brought no light, and whose night was no darker than his day. Young Walter drew near, and his heart was touched by his mute imploring look, which had taken the place of the almost useless appeal, "Give a penny to the blind man." He had neither gold nor silver to give, but he stopped and inquired as to his success, and found that few had pitied and relieved his wants. His plan was formed in a moment; he took his place by the beggar's side and began singing, in a voice shrill and sweet, a strain which few Scotchmen could hear unmoved. The steps of nearly all who passed that way were arrested; soon a crowd gathered, and when the song ended he made an appeal for pennies, which brought a shower of them, mingled now and then with silver, such as never had fallen into the blind man's hat before. Another and another song was called for, and at the close of each the finger of the singer pointed significantly, and not in vain, to the blind man's hat; and thus he sang far into the night; and when he ceased, the blind beggar implored heaven's richest blessings on the head of the youthful singer, and bore home with him the means of support and comfort for many a coming day. This story came from the lips of his brother, who found him engaged as already described; but were its truth less clearly established, all who knew him in after life would readily believe it; they would say it is true--it is just like Walter Scott. Martin Luther is said to have sung and begged for the brotherhood of monks to which he belonged. He sung because [15] he was sent in the interest of the lazy drones of the monastic hive; it was with him a duty, and doubtless a painful and degrading one; but the youthful Scott sang from the fullness of a sympathetic heart in the interest of suffering humanity.

      Not long after he had completed his education a sudden and unexpected turn in his history took place, which, without being intended as a prelude to the part he was to act in life, proved to be in reality one of the most important steps in his whole career. That event was his coming to the United States, a matter which had not entered into his own plan of life, or been contemplated by his friends and family. His mother had a brother, George Innes, in the city of New York, who had years before obtained a place under the Government in the custom-house. Such was his faithfulness and integrity that he retained his place through several successive administrations; and having succeeded well himself, he was anxious to further the interests of his relatives still in his native land. He, therefore, wrote to his sister to send one of her boys over to this country, promising to do all in his power for his advancement. The proposal was very agreeable to the family, and, as Walter was best fitted by his superior education for the emergencies and opportunities of a new country, it was decided that he should go, and accordingly he sailed from Greenock in the good ship Glenthorn, Capt. Stillman, and arrived in New York on the 7th of July, 1818, and on his arrival was kindly welcomed by his uncle, through whose influence he soon obtained a situation as Latin tutor in a classical academy on Long Island.

      In this position, however, he did not long remain. He had made some acquaintances in the city of New [16] York, and from them heard glowing reports of the West, as all the region beyond the Allegheny Mountains was then called; and he resolved to see for himself the land of which he had heard so much. On foot, with a light heart and a light purse, with a young man about his own age as a traveling companion, he set out, not dreaming that in that far land he would find a home, and without a suspicion of the part he would be called upon to play in the great religious movement then in its incipiency through the labors of the Campbells, father and son, but of which at that time he was in total ignorance.

      This journey of Scott and his young comrade, though a long one, was far from being wearisome and tedious. Each day's travel brought new scenes, and each night new society, and the lessons drawn from nature and human nature were not without their worth in after years. Our young collegian, having passed much of his life in the city of Edinburgh, had never seen a forest until he visited this country; and it was indeed a new world to him when he passed through the rich and varied forest scenery of the Atlantic slope, the great pines of the Allegheny Mountains; and gazed with wonder and admiration from their summit at the then almost unbroken forests of the West. What a contrast, too, he found between the mode of life, the comforts of civilization, and the society to which he had been accustomed in Edinburgh and New York, and the manners and customs of the dwellers in the humble abodes where he found shelter for the night; but it mattered not to him whether nightfall found him at some wayside inn, amid a throng of hardy yet somewhat rude teamsters, who then did all the carrying trade between the [17] seaboard and the West, by the camp-fires of an emigrant family, or the log cabin of some recent settler, or the more comfortable farm-house. Youth, high spirits, and active exercise gave zest to every scene, and made whatever society he found enjoyable. Often during that journey did the travelers beguile the hours with songs that had never wakened echoes in those forests before; and as the evening shades drew on, mindful of the home scenes from which they were parted, they lifted up their voices in the solemn yet joyful psalm. Every night's sojourn gave them an unfailing subject with which to lighten the next day's travel; and the memories of that journey were cherished long after its close, and were sweeter than the experiences of after years in passing over the same route in coach or car.

      Reaching Pittsburg on the 7th of May, 1819, he began to seek for some employment, and soon had the good fortune to fall in with Mr. George Forrester, a fellow-countryman, and the principal of an academy, by whom he was immediately engaged as assistant in his school. Somewhat to the surprise of the young teacher, he soon made the discovery that his employer, though a deeply religious man, differed very much in his views from those which he himself had been taught to regard as true. Mr. Forrester's peculiarity consisted in making the Bible his only authority and guide in matters of religion, while his young friend had been brought up to regard the Presbyterian Standards as the true and authoritative exposition and summary of Bible truth. Differing as they did, they were, nevertheless, both lovers of the truth, and the frequent and close examinations which they made of the Scriptures resulted in convincing Mr. Scott that [18] human standards in religion were, like their authors, imperfect; and in impressing him deeply with the conviction that the word of God was the only true and sure guide. Often, after the labors of the day had closed in the school-room, they would prosecute their examinations of the Scriptures far into the night, not in the spirit of controversy, however, but with an earnest desire to know the will of God, and a determination to follow wherever his word, the expression of his will should lead. Mr. Scott now felt that he had discovered the true theology; the Bible had for him a meaning that it never had before; that is, it now meant what it said, and to devoutly study it in order to reach its meaning, was to put himself in possession of the mind and will of God. It was no longer a repository of texts, from which to draw proofs of doctrines of modern or ancient origin, which could not be expressed in the words of Scripture, but a revelation, an unveiling of the will of God--the gospel was a message, and to believe and obey that message was to be a Christian. He was not long in making the discovery that infant baptism was without the vestige of a divine warrant; that wherever baptism was enjoined, it was a personal, and not a relative duty; that it was a matter that no more admitted of a proxy than faith, repentance, or any other act of obedience; and as he had rendered no service, obeyed no command, when he had been made the subject of that ordinance as taught and practiced by Presbyterians, he had not obeyed the command, "be baptized."

      How must this command be obeyed? next engaged his attention, and his knowledge of the Greek language and a careful examination of the New [19] Testament, soon enabled him to discover that sprinkling and pouring were human substitutes, which required neither the going down into, nor the coming up out of, the water, of which the Scriptures speak when describing this ordinance. The modern modes also failed to agree with the allusion in Scripture to baptism as a burial, and were singularly unlike the baptism of Christ by John in the river Jordan; and, in accordance with his convictions that there was but one baptism taught in the word of God, he was immersed by Mr. Forrester, by whose instrumentality the change in his views had been effected. After his baptism he united with a small body of baptized believers, which had been gathered together and formed into a church by the labors of Mr. Forrester; and in their society he found that peace and joy to which his mind had been a stranger during the period that the change we have described was going on. To this little congregation Mr. Scott proved a very valuable acquisition; his superior education, his gifts, zeal, and piety rendering him not only useful but causing him to be greatly beloved. Realizing what the gospel had done for him, in freeing his mind from narrow sectarian prejudices, admiring its beautiful simplicity, and rejoicing in the assurance which walking in the truth imparted, he found himself possessed by an irresistible desire to bring others to that Savior whose truth had made him free. Having given up so much that was dear to him, but having gained a truth for every error that he had yielded, he supposed that all who were holding error, sincerely regarding it as truth, would gladly, like himself, be undeceived. He [20] devoted himself earnestly to the instruction of such, in many instances with success; but found in, alas, too many cases that time honored and popular errors were cherished as if they were saving truths. He had not, however, at this time the remotest idea of any thing like a great religious reformation; the position he had taken, it is true, was in opposition to much of the religious teaching of the day; but he was like a traveler who had just entered upon a new and untried path, not knowing whither it would lead. But truth is always revolutionary, and the clearer the truth became to his own mind, the greater need there seemed of a bold and fearless advocacy. Had he seen this at first, he might have shrunk from the labor and the opprobrium which such a course would inevitably bring; but for the present he felt only as most young converts feel: a sincere and earnest desire for the welfare of the souls of his fellow-men; and with a very humble estimate of his abilities strove to do good to all within his reach as he had opportunity. The little company of believers, with whom he had associated himself, were diligent students of the word of God, humble, pious people, mostly Scotch and Irish; greatly attached to Forrester, their religious teacher and guide, whose life was in full accord with his teachings, and among them Mr. Scott found a nearer approach to the purity and simplicity of the primitive church than ever he had seen or expected to find on earth. Amid such surroundings, giving his days to the instruction of his classes, and his leisure hours and much of the night to the study of his Bible, the time glided swiftly and sweetly away; a quiet, [21] peaceful, useful, but humble life seemed all that the future had in store for him, and more than this seems not to have, at this period of his history, entered into his thoughts; but he who called David from the sheepfold to the throne had a greater work for him to do, and the events which led to that work, began rapidly to unfold. [22]

[LWSA 11-22]