Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/135

Rh The night the “Pacific” reached Liverpool, Dr. Duff was in the midst of a lecture, but though he continued to speak for half an hour the captain was the only person who left the cabin. This was a remarkable tribute to Dr. Duff’s eloquence, as several gay young men had betted heavily as to which of them should be the first to reach shore, and before the Doctor ceased speaking the tender left the side of the ship, and all the passengers had to spend the night on board.

This journey in Europe in 1854 was a great pleasure to Mr. Carter and his family. It is not generally thought that a European trip is of much advantage for children, and the oldest of these was but fifteen years of age; yet they all felt in after years that these months of travel with so capable a leader as their father were of more value in their education than years of schooling. He was an enthusiastic traveller, seeing everything, going everywhere, loving the beautiful in nature, revelling in the scenes of history and chivalry and verse, full of anecdote and poetry, and almost encyclopedic in information, which he delighted to impart. This enthusiasm was contagious. No one could look in his beaming face without longing to enjoy what he enjoyed so much.

He greatly enjoyed taking his children to the scenes of his childhood, and showing them the house where he was born, the arbor where he sat with his book overlooking the path along which his cousin walked to aid him in his studies, the old kirkyard where his forefathers slept, the Rhymer’s Tower, and “the bonnie, bonnie broom of the Cowden Knowes.” He spent nearly a month in Earlston, and the beautiful scenery of Berwickshire became very familiar to all. Kelso, Melrose, Dryburgh, Abbotsford, were visited