half so frequently, or with half the enthusiasm." His
grandmother used to delight him with the tales of adventure on the
Scottish border.

Later, Scott went to the Edinburgh High School and to the University.
At the High School he showed wonderful genius for telling stories to
the boys. "I made a brighter figure in the _yards_ than in the
_class_," he says of himself at this time. This early practice of
relating tales and noting what held the attention of his classmates
was excellent training for the future Wizard of the North.

After the apprenticeship to his father, the son was called to the bar
and began the practice of law. He often left his office to travel over
the Scottish counties in search of legendary ballads, songs, and
traditions, a collection of which he published under the title of
_Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_. In 1797 he married Miss Charlotte
Carpenter, who had an income of L500 a year. In 1799, having obtained
the office of sheriff of Selkirkshire at an annual salary of L300,
with very light duties, he found himself able to neglect law for
literature. His early freedom from poverty is in striking contrast to
the condition of his fellow Scotsman, Robert Burns.

During the period between thirty and forty years of age, he wrote his
best poems. Not until he was nearly forty-three did he discover where
his greatest powers lay. He then published _Waverley_, the first of a
series of novels known by that general name. During the remaining
eighteen years of his life he wrote twenty-nine novels, besides many
other works, such as the _Life of Napoleon_ in nine volumes, and an
entertaining work on Scottish history under the title of _Tales of a
Grandfather_.

[Illustration: ABBOTSFORD, HOME OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.]

The crisis that showed Scott's sterling character came in the winter
of 1825-1826, when an Edinburgh publishing firm in which he was
interested failed and left an his shoulders a debt of L117,000. Had he
been a man of less honor, he might have taken advantage of the
bankrupt law, which would have left his future earnings free from past
claims; but he refused to take any step that would remove his
obligation to pay the debt. At the age of fifty four, he abandoned his
happy dream of founding the house of Scott of Abbotsford and sat down
to pay off the debt with his pen. The example of such a life is better
than the finest sermon on honor. He wrote with almost inconceivable
rapidity. His novel _W