Nature had been prodigal in her gifts to my father beyond measure, and had sown the seeds of verbal criticism as deep within him, as she had done the seeds of all other knowledge------so that he had got out his penknife, and was trying experiments upon the sentence, to see if he could not scratch some better sense into it. 
My father had got out his penknife, and was trying experiments upon the sentence, to see if he could not scratch some better sense into it.
