"Rainy wi'oot the Principal". XVII.
While Principal Rainy's public life was lived amongst storms, his private life was quite differen. Happily married, Rainy was blessed with loving children whom he adored, and who adored him. One of his daughters, writing to one of her sisters, wrote, "I know you read the thirteenth verse of the 103rd Psalm as I do - 'Like as my Father pitieth his children' - and that means just everything."
While some 'great men' are known in the family more by their absence than their presence, Robert Rainy loved to be among his family, and tried to make as much time to spend with them as he could. When they were little he would not only buy them toys, but he would go with the children. His sons, when they grew older, subscribed to the Boy's Own Paper, and they discovered (to their delight and amusement), that their father read the stories before they did, and then discussed the paper's contents with them. He would also read the young ladies' journals that his daughters bought so that he could talk intelligently with them about their interests.
Rainy loved reading poetry aloud both in and with his family. The boisterous lad, now grown to be a father himself, loved to engage in boisterous games with his children. His interest in the children was not feigned, adopted to please them, but it was deep and genuine. When 'Father' was away, the children would eagerly wait for his letters, knowing that he would write to them daily, telling them all the little pieces of information that they wanted to know (for example, drawing sketch maps of the houses he was staying in, and writing such comments as "a splendid house for hide-and-seek.").
The Principal did not forget his children's souls either. He warned them about the dangers of hypocrisy, writing once:
"Sometimes we try, in an artificial way, to put on what we consider the right moods. But it comes to nothing. We cannot manufacture true religion. It grows and will grow as Christ becomes clear and precious to us - and even a little of it is a very real and living thing."
To one of his daughters he wrote:
"Card-playing, on the whole, is one of those things about which I think it is good to be able to say that one does not know how to do it and does not care to learn. It saves trouble and drawing of lines that are sometimes difficult to draw."
The Rainy household was characterised by love, and all of Rainy's children would say later that they benefited greatly from their father's pastoral heart.
Rainy loved to read and to talk with friends. He also retained from his boyhood an interest in military strategy, and he read widely on the subject. Every account of a battle enthralled him.
He travelled fairly widely - it was the only way he could avoid working during his much-needed vacations. Rome, Australia, France, all recied visits, some in a private, others in a semi-official capacity. His interest in Australia was deepened in 1891 when his second daughter, Barbara, married the Rev. Professor Andrew Harper of Ormonde College, Melbourne.
While Rainy was absent from Scotland in 1889, two very important things happened in the Free Church. What they were we shall, God willing, see next time.
While some 'great men' are known in the family more by their absence than their presence, Robert Rainy loved to be among his family, and tried to make as much time to spend with them as he could. When they were little he would not only buy them toys, but he would go with the children. His sons, when they grew older, subscribed to the Boy's Own Paper, and they discovered (to their delight and amusement), that their father read the stories before they did, and then discussed the paper's contents with them. He would also read the young ladies' journals that his daughters bought so that he could talk intelligently with them about their interests.
Rainy loved reading poetry aloud both in and with his family. The boisterous lad, now grown to be a father himself, loved to engage in boisterous games with his children. His interest in the children was not feigned, adopted to please them, but it was deep and genuine. When 'Father' was away, the children would eagerly wait for his letters, knowing that he would write to them daily, telling them all the little pieces of information that they wanted to know (for example, drawing sketch maps of the houses he was staying in, and writing such comments as "a splendid house for hide-and-seek.").
The Principal did not forget his children's souls either. He warned them about the dangers of hypocrisy, writing once:
"Sometimes we try, in an artificial way, to put on what we consider the right moods. But it comes to nothing. We cannot manufacture true religion. It grows and will grow as Christ becomes clear and precious to us - and even a little of it is a very real and living thing."
To one of his daughters he wrote:
"Card-playing, on the whole, is one of those things about which I think it is good to be able to say that one does not know how to do it and does not care to learn. It saves trouble and drawing of lines that are sometimes difficult to draw."
The Rainy household was characterised by love, and all of Rainy's children would say later that they benefited greatly from their father's pastoral heart.
Rainy loved to read and to talk with friends. He also retained from his boyhood an interest in military strategy, and he read widely on the subject. Every account of a battle enthralled him.
He travelled fairly widely - it was the only way he could avoid working during his much-needed vacations. Rome, Australia, France, all recied visits, some in a private, others in a semi-official capacity. His interest in Australia was deepened in 1891 when his second daughter, Barbara, married the Rev. Professor Andrew Harper of Ormonde College, Melbourne.
While Rainy was absent from Scotland in 1889, two very important things happened in the Free Church. What they were we shall, God willing, see next time.
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