Читать книгу Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons - Henry I. Bowditch - Страница 4
ОглавлениеBirth.—Childhood.
Nathaniel Bowditch, whose history I shall relate to you, was one whose character and actions presented many circumstances which cannot fail of being interesting to you. He died more than thirty years ago, in Boston; and, from having been a poor and ignorant boy, he became a man known all over the world for his great learning, while at the same time he was beloved for the goodness of his heart and the integrity of his character. May the perusal of his history excite some of you to imitate his virtues and his energy.
BIRTHPLACE.
EARLY SCHOOL DAYS.
He was born in Salem, a town about fourteen miles from Boston, the capital city of our State of Massachusetts. His birthday was March 26, 1773. His father was at first a cooper, and afterwards a shipmaster. He and his wife were exceedingly poor, and they had many children. Nat was the fourth child. He had two sisters and three brothers. When he was about two and a half years old, his parents removed to a very small wooden house in Danvers, about three miles from Salem; and here the boy attended school for the first time, and began to show those generous feelings, and that love of learning, which he displayed so much in after-life. A few years ago the old school-house in which he learned to spell and read remained entire. It was an old-fashioned building, with a long, slanting roof, which, at the back of the house, nearly reached the ground. Its single chimney, with many curious and pretty corners, then rose in the middle of the roof, as it had for ninety years. Around the dwelling is a grass plat, upon which he used, when a child like yourselves, to play with his schoolmates. It was planted with shrubs, such as the farmers most need. The house in which he lived still stands nearly opposite that in which the school was kept. This house formerly had but two rooms in it, and all its furniture was of the simplest kind.
HIS FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
I visited the relations of the schoolmistress. She died many, many years ago; but her niece, when I asked about Nat Bowditch, told me how her aunt used to love him for his earnestness in pursuing his studies, and for his gentleness, while under her care. He was “a nice boy,” she used to say. While in Danvers, his father was most of the time at sea, he having been obliged to give up his trade and become a sailor when the Revolutionary War broke out.[1] Nat lived, during his father’s absence, very happily with his mother and his brothers and sisters. During the whole of his after-life, he used to delight to go near the small house in which he had dwelt so pleasantly. The family was “a family of love.” He had a brother William, to whom he was very much attached. He was more grave and sober than Nat; for the latter, with all his devotion to study, was full of fun, frolic, and good nature. But William was equally, and perhaps more, gentle. The brothers frequently studied together from an old family Bible, and on Sundays, when they were quite small, their grandmother, who was a very excellent woman, used to place this large book, with its wooden covers and bright brazen clasps, upon the foot of her bed; and hour after hour did those two boys trace, with their fingers upon the map, the forty years’ wanderings of the Israelites, before they came into the long-looked-for land of Canaan.
GRANDMOTHER’S BIBLE.
HIS MOTHER.
I have said that Nat frequently went to look upon the house in which he had lived; and so he often called upon the family in which this old Bible was kept, in order that he might see the volume which he had so loved when a boy. It reminded him of the delightful home of his childhood, where his dear and worthy mother tried to make him good, in order that he might become an honor to her and to the people. His mother was one who was extremely kind; yet she was by no means afraid to correct her children, if she found them doing wrong. Nat sometimes suffered, because, like every boy, he sometimes did wrong; but generally the mother found that he could be easily guided by her love. I seem to see her now, taking her little son, and leading him to the window of the cottage in Danvers, to see the beautiful new moon just setting in the west, while, at the same time, she kisses and blesses him, and talks to him of his absent father, and they both send up earnest wishes for his safe and speedy return. She was very careful to instil into all her children the importance of truth. “Speak the truth always, my boy,” said she. She likewise loved religion, and she was very liberal in her feelings towards those who differed from her upon this subject. Nevertheless, believing that the Episcopal kind of worship was the most correct, she educated all her children in that form. An anecdote which Nat, when he became a man, often related, will show you how much influence her instructions in this particular had upon him. Among the Episcopalians the prayers are read, and the people repeat, aloud, some answer. One day Nat called his brothers and sisters around him, and, taking his mother’s Book of Prayer, with a sober face began to read aloud from it, while his brothers made the answers. They had continued some minutes amusing themselves in this way, when their mother entered the room. She was very much troubled at first, as she supposed they were ridiculing the services she held as sacred. “My sons,” said she, “I am pleased to see you read that book; but you should never do so in a careless manner.” They told her that, though playing, they did not think to do any harm, or to show any disrespect.
EARLY POVERTY.
CHEERFULNESS UNDER IT.
The family was very poor; so poor, indeed, that sometimes they had nothing to eat, for several successive days, but common coarse bread, with perhaps a little pork. Wheat bread was almost never allowed to any one of them. Their clothing, too, was at times very thin. Frequently, during the whole winter, the boys wore their summer jackets and trousers. At times, Nat’s schoolmates used to laugh at him because he wore such a thin dress, when they were wearing their thickest winter clothing. But he was not afraid of their merriment, nor made angry by it; on the contrary, he laughed heartily at them for supposing him unable to bear the cold. He knew that no good would be gained by complaints, and that he would distress his mother if he made any; he therefore bore contentedly his want of clothing, and tried even to make himself merry with those who ridiculed him.
LOVE OF ARITHMETIC.
DIFFICULTIES.
At the age of seven years, and after returning to Salem, he went to a school kept by a man named Watson. Master Watson was one who had sufficient learning for those times; though the boys who now go to school in Boston would think it very strange if a master did not attempt to teach more than he did. None of the scholars had a dictionary. Master Watson was a good man, but he suffered much from headache, and therefore he was liable to violent fits of anger; and when thus excited, as it generally happens in such cases, he was guilty of injustice. An instance of this, young Bowditch met with, not long after he entered the school. From early life, Nat had liked ciphering, or arithmetic; and thinking that at school he would be able to learn something more about this than he had previously gained from his brothers, while at home, during the long winter evenings, he requested the master to allow him to study it. As he seemed too young, this request was not granted. But, being determined to study what pleased him so much, he obtained a letter from his father, in which Mr. Bowditch requested Master Watson to allow his son to pursue his favorite study. The schoolmaster, on receiving the message, was very angry, and said to his pupil, “Very well. I’ll give you a sum that will satisfy you;” and immediately prepared a question that he thought Nat would be unable to answer, and which he could not have answered had he not studied at home. But the boy had learned before sufficiently to enable him to perform the task; and, having done so, he ran gayly to the desk, expecting to be praised for his exact performance of duty. You may imagine his surprise at being saluted with these words: “You little rascal, who showed you how to do this sum? I shall punish you for attempting to deceive me.” The poor lad’s heart swelled and beat violently. He blushed and trembled from fear of punishment, but still more at the suspicion which his instructor had expressed, that he had been guilty of telling a lie. Filled with anger and alarm, he stammered out, “I did it, sir.” But his master would not believe him, and was about to strike him, when an elder brother interfered, and stated that Nat knew very well how to perform the task, for he himself had previously taught him enough to enable him to do it. Our young arithmetician thus escaped the punishment; but he never could forget that he had been accused of falsehood. His pious and truth-loving mother had so firmly fastened in his mind the holiness of truth, that he rarely, if ever, thought of deviating from it; and during his life he considered that any one who even suspected him of falsehood had done him the greatest injury. How well it would be if all of our boys loved truth as he did!
APPRENTICED TO SHIP-CHANDLER.
This was the only serious difficulty he met with while at this school. He was the same lively lad at everything he undertook as he had been previously. He was beloved by his comrades for his good nature, and was always engaged in useful employment or innocent amusements. When he was about ten years of age, his father became poorer than ever; and moreover, in consequence of loss of regular employment and of the little property which he possessed, he gave himself up to habits of intoxication. From having been a brave man, he became a coward, and, unable to look at the distress of his family, made their poverty many times more burdensome by habits which wholly unfitted him for active duties. Under these circumstances, his son, at the age of ten years and three months, left school, and soon afterwards was bound an apprentice to Messrs. Ropes and Hodges, who kept a ship-chandler’s shop in Salem.
EARLY CHARACTER.
As this was one of the important times in his life, I think I will finish this chapter with only two remarks, for the boys and girls who may be reading this. You see a lively and good-natured boy, who, before he was ten years old, showed great love of truth, much perseverance, a warm desire for study, particularly of arithmetic; and lastly, you perceive him under the influence of a good mother, who tries to excite in him all just and holy sentiments. Particularly does she point out to him truth as one grand aim of his existence. Now, I wish you to remember these facts, and see where they eventually led him; and if you remember, you may be induced to imitate him, at least in some respects.
