English fiction -- 19th century; Walker, Robert, 1710-1802
“It may be further mentioned, that he was a passionate admirer of
nature; she was his mother, and he was a dutiful child. While
engaged on the mountains, it was his greatest pleasure to view the
rising sun; and in tranquil evenings, as it slided behind the hills,
he blessed its departure. He was skilled in fossils and plants: a
constant observer of the stars and winds: the atmosphere was his
delight. He made many experiments on its nature and properties. In
summer he used to gather a multitude of flies and insects, and, by
his entertaining description, amuse and instruct his children. They
shared all his daily employments, and derived many sentiments of love
and benevolence from his observations on the works and productions of
nature. Whether they were following him in the field, or surrounding
him in school, he took every opportunity of storing their minds with
useful information.—Nor was the circle of his influence confined to
Seathwaite. Many a distant mother has told her child of Mr. Walker,
and begged him to be as good a man.
* * *
“Once, when I was very young, I had the pleasure of seeing and
hearing that venerable old man in his 90th year, and even then, the
calmness, the force, the perspicuity of his sermon, sanctified and
adorned by the wisdom of grey hairs, and the authority of virtue, had
such an effect upon my mind, that I never see a hoary-headed
clergyman, without thinking of Mr. Walker * * * *. He allowed no
dissenter or methodist to interfere in the instruction of the souls
committed to his cure: and so successful were his exertions, that he
had not one dissenter of any denomination whatever in the whole
parish.—Though he avoided all religious controversies, yet when age
had silvered his head, and virtuous piety had secured to his
appearance reverence and silent honour, no one, however determined in
his hatred of apostolic descent, could have listened to his discourse
on ecclesiastical history, and ancient times, without thinking, that
one of the beloved apostles had returned to mortality, and in that
vale of peace had come to exemplify the beauty of holiness in the
life and character of Mr. Walker.
* * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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