Rollo in Scotland

by Jacob Abbott

So the boys went in. They found a very pleasant room, with a large book open on a desk, near a window. They wrote their names in this book, and also their residences, and they stopped a few minutes to look over the names that had been written there before, in order to see if any persons from America had recently visited the cemetery. They found several names of persons from New York on the list, and two or three from Philadelphia. While the boys were looking over the book the porter asked them a great many questions about America.

In a few minutes they went on. They stopped on the middle of the bridge, and looked down over the balustrade into the ravine. The ravine was very deep, and there was a little brook at the bottom of it, and a sort of road or street along the side of it, far below them.

The boys then went on into the cemetery. They walked about it for some time, ascending continually higher and higher, and stopping at every turn to read the inscriptions and monuments. At length they reached the summit of the hill, where the lofty column stood which had been erected to the memory of John Knox, the great Scottish reformer. The column stood upon a pedestal, which contained an inscription on each of the four sides of it. One of these inscriptions said that John Knox was a man who could never be made to swerve from his duty by any fear or any danger, and that, although his life was often threatened by "dag and dagger," he was still carried safely through every difficulty and danger, and died, at last, in peace and happiness; and that the people of Glasgow, mindful of the invaluable services he rendered to his country, had erected that monument in honor of his memory.

The boys had just finished reading the inscription, when, looking down upon the bridge, they saw Mr. George coming. They went down to meet him, and then showed him the way up to the monument.

Mr. George first looked up to the summit of it, and then walked all around it, reading the inscriptions. He read them aloud, and the boys listened.

"Yes," said he, "John Knox was a true hero. He stood up manfully and fearlessly for the right when almost all the world was against him; and to do that requires a great deal of courage, as well as great strength of character. Many people reviled and hated him while he lived, but now his memory is universally honored.

"I hope you two boys, when you come to be men," continued Mr. George, "will follow his example. What you know is right, that always defend, no matter if all the world are against it. And what is wrong, that always oppose, no matter if all the world are in favor of it."

"Yes, sir," said Waldron, "I mean to."

Mr. George and the boys rambled about the Necropolis some time longer, and then went on.

While they were in Glasgow the party visited several of the great manufacturing establishments. They were all very much surprised at the loftiness of some of the chimneys. There was one at a great establishment, called the St. Rollox Chemical Works, which was over four hundred and thirty feet high, and Mr. George estimated that it must have been thirty or forty feet diameter at the base. If, now, you ask your father, or some friend, how high the steeple is of the nearest church to where you live, and multiply that height by the necessary number, you will get some idea of the magnitude of this prodigious column. The lightning rod, that came down the side of it in a spiral line, looked like a spider's web that had been, by chance, blown against the chimney by the wind.