"He was a tender and affectionate father; he took pleasure in
leading his children in the path of virtue, not in driving them as
some parents do to the performance of duties to which they are
themselves averse. He took care to find fault but seldom; and
therefore when he did rebuke, he was listened to with a kind of
reverential awe. A look of disapprobation was felt; a reproof was
severely so; and a stripe even on the skirt of the coat, gave
heartfelt pain."
He was, indeed, a frugal, industrious, and good man, and his wife seems
to have been a woman of good report; so that the little group of
children, in spite of their poverty, were really happily situated in
life, compared with many of their neighbors. There was always a tinge of
melancholy in Robert's disposition, however, and in his earliest youth
he used to embody it in verse. The sensibility of genius was his by
birthright, and the depressions and exaltations of spirit which marked
his later life began at a very early day. He himself describes his
earliest years thus:--
"I was by no means a favorite with anybody. I was a good deal noted
for a retentive memory, a stubborn, sturdy something in my
disposition, and an enthusiastic, idiot piety."