Page:Life of Isaiah V Williamson.djvu/164

140 The great musician, Ole Bull, the first violinist of his time, when playing at the Royal Court, was summoned after one of his matchless performances and asked to explain to the King where he obtained the harmonies he produced upon his instrument. Ole Bull replied: "Sire, I got them in the mountains of my country when I was a boy and I have never forgotten them." Isaiah Williamson never for a day of all his long life lost the sweetness, gentleness, and dignity of his little country Quaker mother, nor did he forget the stalwart, rugged manliness, strict honesty, and fairness of his father.

These stood him in good stead all his life. He was an upright apprentice and never filched his employer's time or goods. He committed thefts neither with his tongue nor with his hands. His fellow clerks were his neighbors' sons; he valued their good opinion and his influence over them.

He did not let the poison get into the spring at the beginning of his life. He started by killing bad habits in the germ, by choking them in his thoughts when the temptation was young. Sure enough, the man that picks a