For to rhyme is one thing, to be a poet quite
another. A good deal of mortification would be avoided if young men and
maidens only kept this obvious fact well posed in front of their vanity
and their ambition.
In these bookish memories I have said nothing about religion and
religious books, for various reasons. But, unlike other Scots of the
pen, I got no harm from "The Shorter Catechism," of which I remember
little, and neither then nor now was or am able to understand a single
sentence. Some precocious metaphysicians comprehended and stood aghast
at justification, sanctification, adoption, and effectual calling. These,
apparently, were necessary processes in the Scottish spiritual life. But
we were not told what they meant, nor were we distressed by a sense that
we had not passed through them. From most children, one trusts,
Calvinism ran like water off a duck's back; unlucky were they who first
absorbed, and later were compelled to get rid of, "The Shorter
Catechism!"
One good thing, if no more, these memories may accomplish. Young men,
especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend "a course of
reading." Distrust a course of reading! People who really care for
books _read all of them_. There is no other course. Let this be a
reply. No other answer shall they get from me, the inquiring young men.
II
People talk, in novels, about the delights of a first love.
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