Tales and Trails of Wakarusa — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Tales and Trails of Wakarusa
John Stuart Mill · en
That day as they all sat about the great table and talked of their
experiences in the new country, and one told of this adventure or
this experience or another, finally one of the boys voiced the
sentiment of all the others when he said: "In making this home here,
Mother has done more than all the rest." On that same day she
repeated another familiar quotation of hers, which the boys have
always remembered: "I have been young and now I am old, and I have
not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread;" and she
said: "Do right as you understand and believe the right to be and you
will be righteous, and have peace, and the promise will be yours."
John MacDonald
A Scotch lad who appeared to be scarcely out of his teens came to the
neighborhood one October day and was soon employed as a farm hand.
This employment did not last long, because the school ma'am got
married, and he made application and was selected as the teacher in
the district school. George Franks looked him over and said: "There's
one thing certain. He's not liable to get married before the term is
over."
He was certainly an awkward lad, and his peculiar brogue as well as
the unusual phraseology employed by him was a source of extraordinary
amusement and entertainment to everyone. Of course, he was welcomed
and made at home, just as every stranger was, and good-natured
frontier manners prevented fun being made of him to his face.
However, and notwithstanding the best that could be done, it was not
unusual for a company of young folks to get around him and ask him
questions, and they frequently burst into laughter over his quaint
expressions. It embarrassed him very much at the time; and in his
later years he often said that he sometimes blushed even then to
think of what he had said and how the young folks laughed at him.
Purely as a matter of self-defense, he developed the habit of saying
things to make folks laugh; and, having an active, ingenious mind, he
soon developed into a humorist, and this characteristic obtained with
him during all his life.