SCOTTISH PERTINACITY.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1373, 21 April 1881, Page 3

SCOTTISH PERTINACITY.

Scottish perseverance has itself become proverbial ; we remember to have met w jtb. a story which is said to be connected with the foundation of an opulent mercantile house which has flourished for some generations. Saunders, the traveller entered a shop and inquired for the head of the house; one of the clerks asked what he wanted ; the answer of Saunders wan, as usual, a question, " Want ye aught in my line sir?" "No," was the prompt reply, accompanied by a look of contempt at the itinerant Scotch merchant. " Will ye no tak' a look o' the gudes, eir ?" was Saunders next query. " No, not at all ; I have not time. Take them away — take them away !" " Yell aiblinB (perhaps) find them worth your while, and I doubt na but yell buy," said Saunders ; and he proceedei to untie and unstrap his burden. *' Go away —go away |" was reiterated half a dozen times by the clerk, but the persevering Scot still persisted. Get along, you old Scotch fool !" cried the clerk, completely out of temper. Sanaders looked up, and Btill said, "An' wull ye really no buy aught ? But ye dinna ken ; ye hae na \ seen the gudes yet." "Get out of the' chop, sir, " was the peremptory command ; to which Saunders replied, " Are ye in earnest, friend ?" -" Yes, certainly," was the answer ; and the reply was succeeded by an unequivocal proof of sincerity, for the clerk seized the bonnet of Saunders, and whirled it into the street. The cool Scotchman walked gravely and deliberately after hia head-gear, picked it up, gave it two or three hearty slaps upon the wall before the door, cameback, and said, "You was an ill bird, man ; yell surely tak' a look' at the gudes nooJ" The master of the establishment had been watching the whole scene, and now he stepped forward^, and ?/ moved by, some/ compunction for the treatment the traveller had received, and sonic admiration/ too, for the patience and perseverance of the man, he consented to look over the contents of the pack, found them to be exactly the goods he was in want of, purchased them all, and gave a very large' order ; and thus, says Chambers, who tells the story, assisted in the foundation of a large mercantile . house. But is ,not this the stuff of which also the Livingstones and the Lawrences are made ? Was noj this the 1 spirit which set the brave Sir Walter Scott to work, when sinking into his later years, to overtake hia fearful loss of £100,000? Is it not a commentary upon that especial proverb which we have said so illustrates the Scottish character, "He that tholes * oveicomesyi^Xeishre Hour, i t ,- j ,| i i

Biohabd PHENBYi ! f6r manj years editptf 1 and proprietor of the'*Taranaki News, 'died on March 4th at ,Napieif ; ft"«w ' Zealand, aged'7o year/.! Henwiwi 6ne of tha eariy.* settlers of that place, and in his younger ' dayajwaa.to: t nsaooiate of-'iSheilyj '^Eelte and Leigh Hunt.