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     LEARN ONE THING
     EVERY DAY

     SEPTEMBER 15 1916

     SERIAL NO. 115

     THE
     MENTOR

     WALTER SCOTT

     By HAMILTON W. MABIE
     Author and Editor

     DEPARTMENT OF
     LITERATURE

     VOLUME 4
     NUMBER 15

     FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY




The Wizard of the North


  [Illustration]

The causes of Sir Walter Scott's ascendancy are to be found in the
goodness of his heart, the integrity of his conduct, the romantic
and picturesque accessories and atmosphere of his life, the fertile
brilliancy of his literary execution, the charm that he exercises,
both as man and artist, over the imagination, the serene, tranquilizing
spirit of his works, and, above all, the buoyancy, the happy freedom of
his genius.

  [Illustration]

He was not simply an intellectual power, he was also a human and gentle
comforter. He wielded an immense mental force, but he always wielded it
for good, and always with tenderness. It is impossible to conceive of
his ever having done a wrong act, or of any contact with his influence
that would not inspire the wish to be virtuous and noble. The scope
of his sympathy was as broad as are the weakness and need of the human
race. He understood the hardship in the moral condition of mankind and
he wished and tried to relieve it.

  [Illustration]

His writings are full of sweetness and cheer, and they contain nothing
that is morbid--nothing that tends toward surrender or misery. He
did not sequester himself in mental pride, but simply and sturdily,
through years of conscientious toil, he employed the faculties of a
strong, tender, gracious genius for the good of his fellow-creatures.
The world loves him because he is worthy to be loved, and because
he has lightened the burden of its care and augmented the sum of its
happiness.

From "Over the Border" by William Winter




  [Illustration: FLORA MACIVOR--"WAVERLEY"

   COURTESY, THE PAGE COMPANY
   FROM A DRAWING BY R. W. MACBETH]




Waverley

ONE


"Waverley" is a story of the rebellion of the chevalier Prince Charles
Edward, in Scotland, in 1745.

Edward Waverley, the central figure of the tale, was a captain of
dragoons in the English army. He obtained a leave of absence from
his regiment and went to Scotland for a rest, staying at the home of
Baron Bradwardine. During his stay a band of Highlanders drove off the
Baron's cattle, and Waverley offered his assistance in recovering them.

Fergus MacIvor was the chief of the band which stole the cattle.
Waverley met his sister, Flora, and fell in love with her, but she
discouraged him.

Later Waverley was wounded by a stag; and the rebellion having started
in the meanwhile, one of the Highlanders, assuming Waverley to be a
sympathizer, used his name and seal to start a mutiny in Waverley's
troop. For this reason Waverley was dismissed from his regiment for
desertion and treason. Indignant at this unjust treatment, Waverley
joined the rebellion, first, however, returning home in an attempt
to justify himself. On this trip he was arrested for treason, but was
rescued by the Highlanders when on his way to the dungeon of Stirling
Castle.

Waverley served in the war, and when the rebellion was crushed he
escaped, and later made his way to London. There his name was cleared
from the false charges, and a pardon obtained for both himself and
Baron Bradwardine. Flora's brother was executed, and she herself
retired to a convent at Paris. Waverley married Rose, the beautiful
daughter of Baron Bradwardine.

One of the most charming scenes in the story took place shortly after
Waverley met Flora at the home of her brother. Flora had promised to
sing a Gaelic song for him in one of her favorite haunts. One of the
attendants guided him to a beautiful waterfall in the neighborhood, and
there he saw Flora.

"Here, like one of those lovely forms which decorate the landscapes
of Poussin, Waverley found Flora gazing on the waterfall. Two paces
farther back stood Cathleen, holding a small Scottish harp, the use of
which had been taught to Flora by Rory Dall, one of the last harpers
of the western Highlands. The sun, now stooping in the west, gave a
rich and varied tinge to all the objects which surrounded Waverley,
and seemed to add more than human brilliancy to the full, expressive
darkness of Flora's eye, exalted the richness and purity of her
complexion, and enhanced the dignity and grace of her beautiful form.
Edward thought he had never, even in his wildest dreams, imagined a
figure of such exquisite and interesting loveliness. The wild beauty of
the retreat, bursting upon him as if by magic, augmented the mingled
feelings of delight and awe with which he approached her, like a fair
enchantress of Boiardo or Ariosto, by whose nod the scenery around
seemed to have been created--an Eden in the wilderness.

"Flora, like every beautiful woman, was conscious of her own power,
and pleased with its effects, which she could easily discern from
the respectful yet confused address of the young soldier. But as she
possessed excellent sense, she gave the romance of the scene and other
accidental circumstance full weight in appreciating the feelings with
which Waverley seemed obviously to be impressed; and unacquainted with
the fanciful and susceptible peculiarities of his character, considered
his homage as the passing tribute which a woman of even inferior charms
might have expected in such a situation. She therefore quietly led the
way to a spot at such a distance from the cascade that its sound should
rather accompany than interrupt that of her voice and instrument, and
sitting down upon a mossy fragment of rock, she took the harp from
Cathleen."

"Waverley" was the first of the world-famous series of romances
to which it gives the title. It was published anonymously in 1814.
Although the authorship of the series was generally accredited to
Scott, it was never formally acknowledged until business conditions
necessitated it in 1826.




  [Illustration: MEG MERRILIES DIRECTS BERTRAM TO THE CAVE--"GUY
   MANNERING"

   COURTESY, THE PAGE COMPANY
   FROM AN ETCHING BY C. O. MURRAY]




Guy Mannering

TWO


Guy Mannering, a young Englishman traveling through Scotland, stopped
one night at the home of the Laird of Ellangowan. When the Laird
learned that the young man had studied astrology, he begged him to
cast the horoscope of his son, who had been born that night. What was
Mannering's dismay to find that two catastrophes overhung the lad,
one at his fifth, and the other at his twenty-first year! He told the
father, however, that he might be warned; and later went his way.

The fortunes of the Laird of Ellangowan, Godfrey Bertram, waned
rapidly. In addition to this, his son, Harry, at the age of five, was
kidnapped. It was impossible to learn whether the child was alive or
dead. The boy's mother died from the shock; and some years later the
Laird himself followed her, leaving his daughter Lucy penniless.

In the meanwhile, Guy Mannering had become Colonel Mannering. He had
married and had a daughter, Julia. She had fallen in love with a young
officer, named Vanbeest Brown, who had served in India under Colonel
Mannering. The colonel objected to him as a suitor, because of the
obscurity of his birth.

When things were at their worst for Lucy Bertram, Colonel Mannering
returned to England. Accidentally hearing of the straits to which she
had been reduced, he at once invited her and her guardian to make their
home with him and his daughter Julia.

Captain Brown followed the Mannerings to England; and finally he
proved to be the long lost Harry Bertram, brother of Lucy. He had been
abducted with the help of Meg Merrilies, a gypsy, and some smugglers,
at the instigation of a man named Glossin, once agent for the Laird of
Ellangowan, who had hoped to get possession of the Laird's property.
He finally succeeded in this; but, after his crime was discovered, he
died a violent death in prison. Bertram had been kidnapped and taken to
Holland, where the name of Vanbeest Brown had been given him.

Meg Merrilies is regarded as one of the great characters of fiction.

"The fairy bride of Sir Gawaine, while under the influence of the
spell of her wicked stepmother, was more decrepit, probably, and what
is commonly called more ugly, than Meg Merrilies; but I doubt if she
possessed that wild sublimity which an excited imagination communicated
to features marked and expressive in their own peculiar character, and
to the gestures of a form which, her sex considered, might be termed
gigantic. Accordingly, the Knights of the Round Table did not recoil
with more terror from the apparition of the loathly lady placed between
'an oak and a green holly,' than Lucy Bertram and Julia Mannering
did from the appearance of this Galwegian sibyl upon the common of
Ellangowan.

"'For God's sake,' said Julia, pulling her purse, 'give that dreadful
woman something, and bid her go away,'

"'I cannot,' said Bertram: 'I must not offend her.'

"'What keeps you here?' said Meg, exalting the harsh and rough tones
of her hollow voice. 'Why do you not follow? Must your hour call you
twice? Do you remember your oath?--were it at kirk or market, wedding
or burial,'--and she held high her skinny forefinger in a menacing
attitude....

"Almost stupefied with surprise and fear, the young ladies watched
with anxious looks the course of Bertram, his companion, and their
extraordinary guide. Her tall figure moved across the wintry heath
with steps so swift, so long, and so steady, that she appeared rather
to glide than to walk. Bertram and Dinmont, both tall men, apparently
scarce equaled her in height, owing to her longer dress and high
headgear. She proceeded straight across the common, without turning
aside to the winding path by which passengers avoided the inequalities
and little rills that traversed it in different directions. Thus the
diminishing figures often disappeared from the eye as they dived into
such broken ground, and again ascended to sight when they were past the
hollow. There was something frightful and unearthly, as it were, in the
rapid and undeviating course which she pursued, undeterred by any of
the impediments which usually incline a traveler from the direct path.
Her way was as straight, and nearly as swift, as that of a bird through
the air. At length they reached those thickets of natural wood which
extended from the skirts of the common towards the glades and brook of
Derneleugh, and were there lost to the view."

"Guy Mannering" was published in 1815, the second of the Waverley
novels to appear. It is said to have been the result of six weeks'
work. There are less than forty characters in the book, and the plot is
not very complicated.




  [Illustration: EFFIE DEANS AND GEORDIE--"HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN"

   COURTESY, THE PAGE COMPANY
   FROM THE PAINTING BY SIR J. E. MILLAIS]




Heart of Midlothian

THREE


In "Heart of Midlothian" Scott set himself to draw his own people
at their best. The real heroine of the book is Jeanie Deans, whose
character was drawn from that of Helen Walker, the daughter of a farmer
in Scotland. With a few variations Jeanie's story was hers.

Effie Deans, the sister of Jeanie, was doomed to death for child
murder. Jeanie might have saved her on the witness stand by lying; but
this she could not do even to save her sister. However, she showed the
depth of her love by going on foot all the way to London and getting a
pardon from the king.

Effie was released; but even before Jeanie reached home, she eloped
with her betrayer, George Staunton, who married her and took her to
London with him. There they lived as Lord and Lady Staunton, for George
succeeded to the title of his father.

Jeanie married a Presbyterian minister, and by a combination of
circumstances, learned that Effie's son had never really been killed,
but had been given to the care of Meg Murdockson, whose daughter Madge
had also been betrayed by Staunton, or Geordie Robertson, as he was
known in Scotland.

When Sir George Staunton learned this, he was anxious to discover the
whereabouts of his son. He traced him to a certain band of vagabonds,
of which Black Donald was the chief. Staunton attempted to arrest the
leader, but in the affray was shot by a young lad called the Whistler.
This lad later proved to be his long lost son.

Effie, who was now Lady Staunton, overcome with grief, attempted to
drown her sorrows in the gayeties of the fashionable world. But this
was in vain. She could not forget her grief, and finally she retired to
a convent in France, where she remained until her death.

Jeanie and her husband were given a good parish by the Duke of Argyle,
and through Effie's influence the children of her sister were helped
greatly.

"Heart of Midlothian" was first published anonymously in 1818. It
takes its name from the Tolbooth, or old jail of Edinburgh, where Scott
imagined Effie to have been in prison. This book has fewer characters
than any other of Scott's novels. It has also a smaller variety of
incidents, and less description of scenery. One of the most touching
scenes in all fiction is that in which Jeanie visits her sister in the
prison under the eyes of the jailor, Ratcliffe.

"Ratcliffe marshalled her the way to the apartment where Effie was
confined.

"Shame, fear, and grief, had contended for mastery in the poor
prisoner's bosom during the whole morning, while she had looked forward
to this meeting; but when the door opened, all gave way to a confused
and strange feeling that had a tinge of joy in it, as, throwing herself
on her sister's neck, she ejaculated: 'My dear Jeanie!--my dear Jeanie!
It's lang since I hae seen ye.' Jeanie returned the embrace with an
earnestness that partook almost of rapture, but it was only a flitting
emotion, like a sunbeam unexpectedly penetrating betwixt the clouds
of a tempest, and obscured almost as soon as visible. The sisters
walked together to the side of the pallet bed, and sat down side by
side, took hold of each other's hands, and looked each other in the
face, but without speaking a word. In this posture they remained for
a minute, while the gleam of joy gradually faded from their features,
and gave way to the most intense expression, first of melancholy, and
then of agony, till, throwing themselves again into each other's arms,
they, to use the language of Scripture, lifted up their voices and wept
bitterly.

"Even the hard-hearted turnkey, who had spent his life in scenes
calculated to stifle both conscience and feeling, could not witness
this scene without a touch of human sympathy. It was shown in a
trifling action, but which had more delicacy in it than seemed to
belong to Ratcliffe's character and station. The unglazed window of the
miserable chamber was open and the beams of a bright sun fell right
upon the bed where the sufferers were seated. With a gentleness that
had something of reverence in it, Ratcliffe partly closed the shutter,
and seemed thus to throw a veil over a scene so sorrowful."




  [Illustration: THE BLACK KNIGHT AT THE HERMITAGE--"IVANHOE"

   COURTESY, THE PAGE COMPANY
   FROM A DRAWING BY AD. LALAUZE]




Ivanhoe

FOUR


Sir Wilfred, Knight of Ivanhoe, a young Saxon knight, brave and
handsome, was disinherited by his father because he loved Rowena, a
Saxon heiress and a ward of his father. He therefore went on a crusade
to Palestine with Richard the Lion Hearted. Returning, under the name
of Desdichado (The Disinherited) he entered the lists of the Ashby
Tournament: and, having won the victory, he was crowned by the Lady
Rowena.

At this tournament there was one knight in particular who aided
Ivanhoe. This was the Black Knight, and his feats of valor set all the
spectators to wondering who he might be. He was in reality Richard the
Lion Hearted, the Crusader, King of England.

Just at this time King Richard's younger brother, John, was conspiring
to take the throne of England from him. One of his fellow conspirators
was Maurice de Bracy, who was in love with Rowena. He captured her as
she was returning from the tournament, and imprisoned her in the Tower
of Torquilstone.

Ivanhoe, who was wounded in the tournament, was cared for by Isaac of
York and his daughter, Rebecca. She fell in love with him, but realized
that she could never marry him; and knowing that Ivanhoe loved Rowena,
she offered to give any sum of money for her release.

This was not effected, however, until Torquilstone had been besieged
by Locksley, who was really Robin Hood, and his men, led by the Black
Knight. The Black Knight had come upon this band in his