For the Children

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16986, 9 March 1923, Page 3

For the Children

THE TR EAS UR E-DIGGER. Wo nee him first in the little town of Ankershagen, a small boy studying a woodcut in a history which his father : had given him as a present. It represented the burning of Troy. In the towering flan.es Aeneas is leaving the city, bearing his father, Anchises, on lus shoulder, and leading tlie little Asian ius by the band. All iiis short life Henry ochiieiiian’s imagination had teen fired by the exploits of Homer’s heroes. The wanderings of Odysseus | and the adventures ot the wooden j horse were move real to him than were j tne doings ol bis own neighbours. As | he gazed at the huge walls, he sud- . denly realised that somewhere there I must be remains of these walls. Then I and there ho determined that, when he j was grou&i up, he would lay them bare, j That childish wish grew into a com- | Polling motive,, which moulded his ! thought, dominated every activity of his career, and made inevitable the accomplishment of his purpose. , At fourteen the- boy who had lived j* n a dream world, filled with heroes | and goldeai deeds, found himself in a i grocer’s shop, where from five in the j morning until eleven at night he j peddled out Herring. With no time for j study, ho soon forgot all he had once known. But escape came shortly, for he lured himself out as a cabin boy on a ship bound for South America, selling his only coat to buy a blanket. Rack in Holland he procured monev enough to take him to Amsterdam, where he proposed to enlist ak a soldier. A letter of introduction, which Henry had. sent to a prominent citizen of Amsterdam, had reached him when

he was dining with a number of guests. Ho read the letter aloud, and. as a result, the boy was looked up, found himself possessed of a goodly sum of money, and also a position as office hoy with an importing firm. With one-half of his salary be hired a wretched attic room, where he ate rice porridge for breakfast and never paid more than twopence for his dinner. With the second half of his money he began’bis education. BEGINS THE STUDY OF LANGUAGES. Throughout his career he seemed to | know always what to do. and he rigid- ; lv held to his choice. To put himself in the line of promotion, he now began the study of English. He secured o teacher and had a daily lesson, but he asked no advice, and invented his own method ol study. He bought copies of the “ Vicar of "Wakefield ” and ‘‘ Ivanlmo,” and from these he read aloud daily without translation. In three, months' time he* could repeat from memory twenty printed pages, after having read the passage three times carefully. He also wrote daily papers on subjects that interested him. These were corrected and the corrected copy committed to memory for the next day. On Sundays he went to the English church, repeating in a lon tone every word the minister uttered. Tims in half a year he conversed and read fluently in English.

English mastered he applied the same method to the French language, using as textbooks ‘“‘Paul and \ irginie,” and ‘‘ Telemaque,” speaking and writing the language fluently at the end of six months. Then, in an incredibly short time he learned Spanish. Dutch. Italian and Portuguese. Such industry was sure to be rewarded. and soon he was promoted to the importing house of R. H. Schroder and Co, where lie remained many years as their agent. He dates his prosperity irqrii this event. \ oung Schlieman now devoted himsell to the learning of the Russian language. .Vs the only person in the.; city who spoke the language was the Russian Consul, who declined to give the necessary lessons. Schlieman resolved to teach him-

self, and for that purpose he bought a Russian grammar, a lexicon, and a translation of “’ Telemaque.” Then, to add. piquancy to his recitations, be hired an aged Jew to come each evening and listen to his tales, no word of which lie understood. The walls of the house being thin, the tenants complained. and. twice during the Russian interim the young scholar had to find new lodgings.

In six weeks he wrote his first letter in Russian to the London agent- for the great indigo dealer at Moscow, and a few weeks later was able to converse* with him and other Russian merchants when they came to the. indigo auction. "From this time he began the study of the literatures of the languages he had learned. HIS PERIOD OF ACHIEVEMENT. He was now twenty-four years of age, and was entering upon a period of groat activity and achievement. Still retaining the agency of the company, he became a wholesale merchant himself. During the Crimean "War he narrowly escaped the loss of all his property by fire, his cargoes being the only ones saved. He turned his money over several times during the war. and found himself, at the declaration of peace, in the possession of a large, property.

The moment for which he had waited a lifetime had now come, and he began the study of Greek. He first learned modern Greek to acquire the vocabulary. As quickly as possible lie bought a modern Greek translation of “ Paul and Virginie.” and read it through, comparing every word with its equivalent in the original French. In this way he learned half of the words, with-

out taking time to look them up in a dictionary. Repeating the process twice, he knew all of tire words, and then began the study of ancient Greek. In three months more he was reading Homer and other Greek classics with no great difficulty. For two years he studied the literature of Greece and then travelled oyer the greater part of the world. Years of study and wide travel were still to intervene*, before the dreamer was on the spot where, at last he was- to prove himself. ‘ In 18t»8 the critical moment came, however. He visited Bounarbashi, a village in the southern extremity of the Trojan plain which, until recent times, had been considered the site of Homeric Ilium. "With ot her a roliaeo legists, however,. Schlieman believed this claim was unjustified. ami began to examine heights to the north and south, and finally settled on Hissarlik, which answers the* topographical requirements of the “Iliad,” both in its distance from the Hellespont and its natural fortifications. He decided to begin hero. v> itli an ever increasing army of engineers. gendarmes. workmen, liarrows, derricks, in zero or scorching weather, year after year, he continued to dig into the heart of the hill, excavating four cities before at last he laid open the fifth, the “ Burnt City,” in which a devouring fire had destroyed the nails and made them “ fluid like wax.” The treasures of the " Iliad ” were at hip feet ! Vast masses of golden objects, implements of bronze and stone, helmets, and jewels showed the wealth of the city’s chieftain. Was he called “ Priam ” ? Was this Sacred Dios? No one will ever know to what names they answered nor why they nere- but no one can ever -doubt that the celebrated bard had stood here and had looked out over the plain of Trov to Alt Ida and snowy Olympus, and had shared the hospitality of the chieftain. Yes,, writes Rudolf Birc*how : “Here upon the fortress hill of Hissarlik- here, upon the site of the mins of the Burnt City of Gold here ! was Ilium.” and the treasure-digger had realised his dream !