LC31 .W35 ••o" .V v ^ d* V^^fe V^ V ^"L* • * * _v* ^».> V ** V* o > £9+ *W «&&-. v,/ .-tfte v,** .-^Ste %>/ .-j 0>V 4/ ^ + 0" r oK %^-y •• V' ,-^^v How to Organize, Classify and Teach a Country School. (Cloth bound, $1.00.) This book is especially adapted for Country School work. It aims: To tell the most in the fewest words. To place before teachers only what is practical. To enable teachers to classify their pupils and systematize their countrv school work. * To reduce the number of classes to the minimum. To give teachers practical methods of presenting each branch. To help teachers to educate themselves at home. To lead teachers to the study of mental philosophy. To set before teachers points of school law with which every teachei should be familiar. "All the learning of Lord Bacon would not enable a man to make a watch, unless he had first practiced the trade ; all the science of Isaac Newton would not impart the power to navigate a ship, unless the captain had previously learned the art of seamanship ; and the learning of both, combined, would not ENABLE A MAN TO MANACE A DISTRICT SCHOOL, and attain theohjects for which it was designed, without a careful study and practice of the principles of Teaching." THOMAS HUNTER. The book mentioned above is written for Country School Teachers. It con- tains nothing but what is practical— no theorizing, no superfluous ivoi-ds. It will be especially helpful to teachers using being published by tbe same author. Special arrangements are made with County Superintendents who use the Classification Register, aud liberal discounts given 'to their teachers. Terms quoted on application. WELCH'S CLASSIFICATION REC1STER, Publications for County Superintendents. WELCH'S System of Close Supervis- ion ior Country Schools. Classification Record. Reporting Blanks to Co. Supt. Teacher's Reports to Parents. Certificates of Promotion. Lithographed Diplomas. Teacher's Certificates. Institute Diplomas. Institute Records. Iustitute Note Books. Examination Paper. Enrollment Slips. Teachers' and School Officers' Books and Supplies. "How to Organize, Classify and Teach a Country School . " Teachers' "Memory Gems." New Opening Exercises. How to Study— a book for self im- provement. Daily Register. Class Records. Order Books and all School Blanks, Contracts, etc. Indestructible Erasers . School Supplies of all Kinds . A Prize for Pupils. In order to introduce our Teachers' Books, Dailv Registers, School Blanks, Diplomas. Order Books, and especially our Everlasting Blackboard Erasers, we make this offer : To each pupil wno calls school officers' and teachers' at- tention to our advertisements and gets them to order goods to the amount of $3, we will give one dollar's worth of any of our books or publications the pupil may select. Books for Pupils' General Reading. All the books mentioned on paces 3S and 39 of this book, also any other book published can be obtained from W. M. WELCH, Publisher, CHICAGO, 417 Dearborn St. OMAHA, 608 and 609 Paxton Block. HOW TO STUDY. A GUIDE FOR PUPILS' SELF IMPROVEMENT IN- SCHOOL AND HOME > I 'I — BY- y W. M. Welch, A. M., Author of •« How to Organize, Classify and Teach a Country School," "Classification Record and System of Close Supervision" for County Superintendents, Teachers' "Memory Gems," &c. CHICAGO : \\ OMAHA : 417 Dearborn St. Wsi^te, 609 Paxton Blk W. M. WELCH, Publisher. 1889. I iC COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY W. M. WELCH. $ OT "To His Majesty the King" to court favor; not "To His Honor," the official creature of political chance, to court influence; but To one whose purity and nobility of character is worthy of emulation by the youths of our land; a man but little known to the public; a man whose daily life exhales a soul's sweetness, and is embossed in a beauty which many of his fellow men having eyes, see not; a man so clean within that as said of Madison, if you could turn him inside out you would find no spot or tarnish; a man too generous to be what the world fa calls rich, too unselfish to attain what the world calls self aggrandizement, too truly wise to barter the sweeter, higher things of life for the bauble of wealth and position ; My friend, Walter McCollum, This little book is affectionately dedicated by THE AUTHOR. i PREFACE Knowledge and wisdom are very different things. Many people acquire knowledge; few get wisdom. The manner and method of acquisition is of great importance. The faculty of acquiring and commit- ting is not one of the highest order; in fact it is often found in inverse ratio to the power to originate, apply and utilize, and the wrong habit of acquiring knowledge may do more harm to the student than the knowledge itself benefits. "Habits of thought and of life are more than knowledge, and the habits formed in early life may render knowledge useless and even harmful." Many faithful, hardworking students often form plodding habits of thought that render their work, on the whole, more harmful than helpful. The ad- vice so often given to pupils by speech makers in schools to "sit down doggedly to the work, and keep at it, and you'll surely succeed in time," would be all well enough if the end and aim were to commit the Koran, Talmud or sacred Vedas. But progressive educators believe more in unfolding the student's powers under proper conditions than in branding them with facts. Acquisition should be more a means than an end. The ultimate end of study is not to make but to cause to groiv, — clear, active, healthful, vigorous, powerful minds; not to acquire facts alone, but also "the fire that dissolves all facts." "Labor conquers all things," "A constant drop wears a stone," and "The story of the hare and the 6 PREFACE. tortoise,'' as lessons for the guidance of pupils, ought to have a new and broader interpretation. The wide-awake student has an eye open to another side of the moral of the tortoise story, and arises to ask, for information, whether the hare, after his rests and naps along the road, was not in better mental and physical condition at the end of the race than the all- night trudging tortoise. Not so much what facts a student gleans from a study as what he is after it; not the knowledge acquired but the wisdom developed; not the learn- ing of the books but the healthful growth of a man, physically, mentally and morally, is the true end of education. The knights of old rigorously observed the chiv- alrous maxim, "Above all things a gentleman." Let the student adopt the sentiment and correct his habit of study by the effect on his faculties, and re- member, in every branch of learning, "Above all- things a perfect man." W. M. Welch. November 15, 1889. CONTENTS. PAGE Activity and Vigor of Thought 9 Subjective and Objective Study .10 Energy, or Power to Study 12 Judicious Expenditure of Energy . . 14 A Habit of Thoroughness 18 Thoroughness in School Work 19 What is Hard Work ? 21 How to Study Beading and Spelling , 24 Thought Development 27 Silent Beading 29 System in Beading 31 Selection of Books to Bead 36 Books of Bef erence 38 Books for Younger Pupils 38 Books for Older Pupils 39 How to Study Language and Grammar 41 Methods of Language Culture 44 Written Language Work in Connection with Other Studies 46 Language and Grammar, as Separate Studies 48 Advanced Work in Language 56 How to Study Geography 58 Take a Survey of What may be Learned t . 60 Advanced Work in Geography 62 How to Study History 65 How to Study Arithmetic 71 How to Study Physiology 75 How to Study the Elementary Sciences 79 A few Things We Would Learn About 81 8 CONTENTS. Character Building 83 An Arithmetic of Character 84 Truth, Justice, Honesty, Frankness, Conscientious- ness 84 Nobleness, Boldness, Courage, Valor 8q Benevolence, Love and Faith 89 How to Know Yourself. 92 Chart of Character for Self-Improvement 94 How to Use the Chart for Self-Improvement 95 Detailed Explanation of Elements of Character 96 How to Cultivate or Eestrain any Faculty 106 The Tour of the Virtues ; a Philosopher's Tale 109 HOW" TO STUDY ACTIVITY AND VIGOR OF THOUGHT. One hour's bright, wide awake, concentrated, in- terested study is worth a day's plodding. You de- sire to advance, to complete your present grade or course. You determine to work faithfully, to use every effort to accomplish the task you have set for yourself. In doing this, pupils make a mistake in nine cases out of ten. The so-called faithful students often become the merest mopes. Be a faithful student by all means, but don't mis- lead yourself into believing that persistent plodding over a lesson is faithful work. It is often worse than no work at all. To plod, ponder and mope over a lesson either when the mind is too tired or the sub- ject uninteresting and the action of the faculties mechanical will weaken the power of vigorous con- centration of the faculties, lead to distraction and wandering, and beget a moping habit of thought. When you are tired, quit. When you can't make a subject interesting to yourself, quit. When the edge of the mind has been dulled, quit. Take up some other branch. A change may rest you and may re- vivify interest; if not, it were better to en- gage in play or take a walk, than to continue to eke out your mental energy in drops over a lesson when it should flow in strong currents. Do you know what I mean? Take a lesson in his- tory for example. If you read it with interest you can't stop with pieces and bits of a subject; you want enough to complete your conception either of the cause of a war, the plan of a campaign, or the 10 HOW TO STUDY. related events of an administration, etc. When the mind is awake and interested, it reaches out from item to item, and will not stop pending the rounding up of a topic or sub-topic. This leads to the health- ful correlation of events. The law of association has been fulfilled, the attention is wide awake and con- centrated, and the foundation for a correct and last- ing memory is laid. But attempt to force facts upon the mind in which you have no interest and, however faithfully you may labor, the lesson will lack life and spirit and the points committed will be isolated facts. What is true in the study or history is true in all other branches. It is useless to plod through a lesson with a hope of learning something. If a lesson is dull, better take steps to enliven it. Before forcing food into the body it is best to first take steps to create an appetite; otherwise subsequent digestion will be poor. Mental nausea is probably no more infrequent than physical nausea. II. SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE STUDY. How many pupils can tell me the real end they should aim to reach in any study? Nearly all we ask reply that it is to learn the branch studied. Un- fortunately, this is usually the case. There is in the school, perhaps, as much dishonesty to one's self in acquiring knowledge as there is in business to others in acquiring fortunes. And the absolute acquisition of knowledge or fortune regardless of the means may, nay too often does, prove more harmful than helpful. Knowledge and wealth — how these fruits lure us on from year to year, on tip toe with outstretched hand to seize it only to turn to ashes in the grasp! HOW TO STUDY. 11 This one has it, but health is lost; that one has it, but the fountains of the heart are dried up. My friend over the way has it, but he can't apply it; he has lost sympathy with society, lost companionship with friends, sacrificed the relation of brother, hus- band or father in his family. Another friend has acquired many facts, and shoved them away in his head somewhere like reference books we keep to consult, though usually not as reliable or accessible when wanted; and the only talent he has to show for it is that of acquiring more. The anecdote is told of a father who fed his three sons on beef, mutton and pork respectively. When grown to men he called them and asked for their respective talents. "X," said the first, "can stop the mill wheel with my arm;" "I," said the second, "can outstrip the wind in the race;" "Well," said the third, who had been fed on pork, "I can eat more if father will furnish it." To know how, and to have the power to do are two things not always found in the same person. And now let us note the difference between sub- jective and objective study ; and the true end and aim of study. As stated before, most pupils hold before them- selves the acquisition of facts and of knowledge., That end is important, but not the most im- portant, and should be held subordinate. The real end is the harmonious, healthful growth of all the faculties, and the learning of lessons, and the acquisition of facts may or may not tend to this end. The habit of thinking, the thoroughness of thought, the vigor of thought, the depth of thought, the clearness of thought, that habit of mental action that grows strong by use, that is of more import- ance in every lesson than the facts acquired. What does it profit one to thoroughly canvass 12 HOW TO STUDY. fifty pages of any book, if in the doing of it one has acquired a slow, moping, lumbering habit of thought ? Better do half that amount only and keep the faculties healthy, fresh and vigorous while working. What do I mean ? I mean while you study, study vigorously, with faculties wide awake and powers concentrated. When you get tired, stop. Don't drift along after the wind has ceased to fill your sails. You will only get into a moping habit of thought while deceiving yourself with the notion that you are becoming a diligent, faithful student. Take up some new branch that you can study with renewed interest and avidity, or quit. See to it that your manner of study and habit of thought are correct and healthful, and acquisition will take care of itself. Whether you have solved your problem or not is not the question of importance, but the amount and character of mental exercise and effort you have commanded in the attempt. If that is well done, you grow stronger for each to-morrow, no matter if the problem remains unsolved for a week. III. ENERGY, OR POWER TO STUDY. In the foregoing section we discussed the two ends of study, acquisition and growth. We must say more of working for growth or attending to the manner of doing, the habit of thought and ac- tion. The real result desired is power — power to think, to act, to utilize, control and direct all our mental and moral forces. Each person creates or generates en- ergy or force. This energy may pass off through the mind or through the muscles, in either case properly HOW TO STUDY. 13 or improperly directed, or it may be frittered away and lost. When we stand beside the awful Falls of Niag- ara and listen to its tremendous roar and see its angry surging tides below, we only witness the waste of energy or force enough to lift the same water to the altitude of the river above. We say it is energy wasted, which, if properly controlled and directed, would run all our factories and do all our work. But the question is how to best control and direct that energy. Each person has a similar problem to decide for himself. In every human being there are forces more wonderful and awful in their passage through the various channels, heights and depths of our be- ing than those that dash Niagara's waters into foam and spray, and hurl it into seething waves and whirlpools. Unlike the forces of Niagara, they vary at different times. In many persons they flow on unheeded and unused. Do you know what we mean by the energies and forces in each person ? You cannot lift your hand without expending energy, nor walk, nor think, nor talk, nor play. Every form of exercise, mental or physical, requires expenditure of energy. Where does it all come from ? It is created in your body by a process not very unlike that by which energy or force is made in an engine, where we know there is enough made to move whole trains of cars. In an engine coal and water is the food and drink taken. When the coal burns, it heats the water which is changed into steam, and when the steam forces its way out it is compelled to move the great arm of the engine. In your body the food differs from coal and water ; but you will learn in your physiology that the process of utilizing the food and giving oxygen to the blood is a kind of burning 14 HOW TO STUDY. process also, that gives off energy. Let us look now as to the best way to use this energy. IV. JUDICIOUS EXPENDITURE OF ENERGY. A few words now on the judicious expenditure of energy. Vital force, strength, life element: This is a fortune to every one who knows how to spend it wisely. It is God's own gift to His children. It is the great equalizer of man to man. Though one person surpasses in amount produced, another excels in the application of what he has. Apparent defi- ciencies in one direction are usually repaid by com- pensations in another. He who is willing to work and expend his energies wisely and well may have the independence of a king among men in any legiti- mate vocation of life. Wealth is not always sur.h a one's portion. That may require other attributes besides the honest, economical expenditure of our energies. Nor should wealth ever be the ultimate end of our labors, but rather a sort of natural consequence. A bishop wrote a book out of his heart to help his fellow-man. His good business habits led him to make wise arrangements for its publication. The result was, it brought him a fortune which he had not sought, but which came as a consequence of the wise expenditure of his powers. This may not be the common way that fortunes are made, but it is the best way, and much of the money made other- wise were better never made. The investment of energies should be for a last- ing good, an intrinsic good. Each action, each hour, each word, each thought bears its record 'for all time. It is not what that transaction puts in my HOW TO STUDY. 15 pocket, but what good it does for the sum of life; not what praise for me that spoken word may elicit; but what influence it may exert through the ages; not what I have done merely, but also what I am after the doing. Did you solve the problem? Yes, or no, is alike indifferent to me; for what possible good is getting the ansiver aside from your encouragement? But did you study it well? Did you examine it in all its bearings? Did you concentrate the mind's powers, and are you stronger for the effort? Yes or no to that is the answer that interests me. During school life the expenditure of energy is largely for growth. It is not to get something done for the sake of its accomplishment only. It is more like the exercise of the athlete than the work of the haymaker. You have tried to solve a difficult prob- lem, but failed; is the mind stronger for the effort? You have tried to remember the facts of history or science, but failed; if the effort was well made you may be satisfied with the real result. Be assured the virtue of the energies you have expended in healthful study resides in the fiber of your brain, just as the virtue of energy expended by the athlete resides in the fiber of the muscle. Ihe tvise expenditure of energy through the arm makes the muscles larger; through the brain makes the intellect stronger-, throuqh the heart, in gener- ous thoughts, words or deeds, makes the affections broader and deeper; through the moral conscious- ness in resisting evil and choosing good and ivor- shiping Divinity, makes the moral nature more beautiful and (e strong in a strength not its own." Through school life the question on each act, word or thought is not what you gleaned from it, but what you are after it. Each thought and act related to you is bearing its record through untold 16 HOW TO STUDY. years. Close your external eyes and open mem- ory's eye upon the perspective of your past life. What thoughts and deeds line the path you have passed over? Those are all your own children^ the offspring of your mind and hand, your energies embodied in action. Many of them you are not proud of; some you blush at. Still others stand out noble, generous, brave, beautiful. These seem to redeem the perspective of your life. They increase self-esteem and encourage you to the peformance of kindred deeds. Thus you see the result r er/ act is cumula- tive, and makes one stronger orrweaker to perform subsequent acts. The virtue of every drop of energy expended resides in the organ of mind, heart or body through which it passes, and influences future kind- red actions. The accumulation of this virtue is termed force of character. You see it is based primarily upon the manner and avenue through which your energies are expended. You expend it in thought to beget an act; you "sow an act and beget a habit; you sow a habit and beget a character; sow a character and beget a destiny." You see then that the force of one's life depends Upon the cumulative force of former thoughts and deeds. You can't be what you would in strength of intellect, generosity of heart, or beauty of morals, by a desperate effort in a day. Strength and good- ness grow from day to day like the growth of a tree, and the harder and better the wood the more imper- ceptible the growth. You should not try to become a great man in a day or at all, but to perform well each little action that makes up your life, and you will become great though you may never find it out. Each act is the stone and mortar of your charac- ter, and the energy expended shapes your edifice. HOW TO STUDY. 17 Many have to begin the foundation down deep and the poorer the natural soil the deeper and slower they must go. You haven't patience to do it? Then expect to put up with a poor structure. Is life too secluded while laying the foundation? You will be abundantly compensated for it by notoriety when you get up. "If a man plant himself upon his in- stincts and there abide, the huge world will come round to him. Patience, patience! with the shades of all the great and good for company and for solace the perspective of yo^r own infinite life." In addition tr/sP i -^ength of character right ex- penditure of energy will also give beauty of action. Every voluntary movement of the body is an index of the thought that gives it birth. Were mind and body perfect mediums for energy to pass through from its source divine, every action would be natur- al and graceful and the record of each in the per- spective of your life would be embossed in beauty. . Then would no service be menial, no calling ig- noble. Then would the blacksmith hear in the anvil's ring only the melodious words of his happy wife and prattling child, and see in the glowing sparks of the forge the pictures and faces of a happy home. When the energies that move his arm are incited by a noble purpose the hammer rings in mu- sic, and gives off sparks of beauty. Then would be seen the nobility and beauty in every calling and every act of life. Then would be realized the poetical side of life pictured by Emerson, when: "You cannot wave your staff in air s : Or dip your paddle in the lake, : i But it carves the bow of beauty there And the ripples in rhymes your oar forsake." 18 HOW TO STUDY. V. A HABIT OF THOROUGHNESS. "Be thorough." Doesn't that sound a little trite? You have probably heard that injunction before. Yet all do not understand even as common a state- ment as that. Some good, faithful students, with a view to being thorough, load themselves up with brush in order to carry away a few nuts or spend their time threshing old straw lest a grain of wheat be left. You have perhaps heard the story of the boy who set out to gather hazelnuts so thoroughly that he cut brush and all and carried it away so as to make sure of all the nuts? There are many such unwisely thorough students. In "nutting" many patches are found that scarcely pay the picking. These we are to walk through quickly, picking off what we can get as we pass along until we can find "good patches.'' Here we travel very slowly, while our hands work quickly. Were we to run through these patches as we did through those others, we would prove poor "nutters." Books differ like nut patches. Some are heavily laden with meats on es^ery page and every line; others have "good patches" here and there and are to be "walked through quickly" till one comes to these patches; still others have no "good spots" and must be passed over quickly or not at all. By being thorough, we do not mean that you shall spend your time cutting brush or threshing old straw, but that you shall acquire the habit of hunt- ing for nuts and wheat, secure a facility of getting through brush and straw fast or slowly, as their fruitfulness may warrant. In the practical sense, "be thorough," means get the kernel. Acquire a keen scent for it, and, having HOW TO STUDY. 19 got on its track, pursue it as Carlyle did his fact "like a sleuth hound following his prey." If you acquire this habit in reading, you will instinctively run through the brush of books to the meat of your subject, and in writing you will cut short your pref- aces, prune your paragraphs, and cut the curls off your long-haired sentences, unless you design them for dolls, or prefer sound to sense; in talking you will walk up to your subject and hit it square in the eye without any parley as to your record as a pre- viously peaceable citizen or the provocation of your attack; in asking a question people will know just what information you want, and in answering one, your thought will be couched in words so few and fitting that there will be no mistaking your mean- ing. Practical thoroughness does not mean to read all that might be read, or say all that might be said. Our friend Emerson puts it well when he says: "Hug your fact." VI. THOROUGHNESS IN SCHOOL WORK. When we take up the study of each branch sep- arately later, we will refer to this subject again. Let us make a few applications here in passing. Did you ever think what thorough study really is? Practically speaking it differs on different sub- jects. What is thorough enough on one topic for all practical purposes falls far short on other topics and vice versa. For example take the study of arithmetic. We have in view three objects: the development of the reasoning powers or mind growth ; the learning of the principles of arithmetic or the science: the acquisition of tools to the science or certain tables, rules, etc. Practical thoroughness for mind growth requires that we fully understand each step passed over. It 20 HOW TO STUDY. counts for little in mind growth if we work problems by rules or formulas. We study thoroughly when we understand the reasons for each step. In securing the second object, a knowledge of the science, practical thoroughness means more than to merely understand the operations. We must be able to grasp the principles and be able to apply them ourselves in all transactions through life where they are applicable. Here to be able to understand is not thoroughness. We must be able to apply, — to fit means to ends — to make up problems and apply the principles of arithmetic in their solution. But in accomplishing the third object, the acqui- sition of "tools to the science," more than a clear un- derstanding is needed. Here we must acquire facility^ and adeptness in the use of these rules, principles, etc. There may not be much mental growth in it, but thoroughness here is to acquire facility in the use of a tool as a means to an end. For example, a thorough knowledge of the tables means more than understanding that six sevens are forty-two, or being able to find out that it is so. One must have the adept use of that as a tool. My students working problems at the blackboard sometimes reported their inability to solve them. On asking what the trouble was, it often proved to be only the forgetting of some table, as the number of links in a chain, or cubic inches in a gallon, or the relation of the diameter to the circumference. Why my child, that is not inability! If you have forgot- ten your tool, or if it is dull, go get it, and sharpen it, and do your work. Get your book and find your tool. Practical thoroughness in this matter requires that certain of these tools which you use much, be carried in your head and kept bright. But which of these must you carry thus? Only HOW TO STUDY. 21 j -these you use often. Can't you remember the ell u English and ell French, and feet in a fathom, or the Connecticut rule for computing interest? Neither can I, nor do I care to unless I have occasion to use these tools often enough to keep them bright by act- ual use, without being compelled to bring them out occasionally for special dress parade. WHAT 13 "HARD WORK?" Hard work means one thing to one person, and quite a different thing to another. It is like the plowing of different farmers; one plows three inches deep and thinks he is doing very well by his ground, while another goes down five inches and then thinks he must sub-soil before he has done his ground justice. One pupil skims over a lesson, and this being as good as he ever has done imagines that he has really worked quite hard. At recitation he finds that other pupils know so much more about the lesson than he, that he at once attributes it to their superior natural ability and his dullness. The facts may be the exact reverse. That pupil's habit of study was such that he would only consider the lesson read over where this one deemed it fin- ished. The one thinks he is working hard, when the other knows that he has not got down to thor- ough work at all yet. If a fair idea of what genuine hard ivork for each pupil is could be once clearly formed, it would be of great value. Of course, the amount done will vary with different pupils; but if each had a fair standard of the capacity of his powers, it would help him. One imagines he is working very hard. But by some good chance he is brought into contact with a student who really does work hard, and he is stimulated to greater effort. In a few months he finds that he 22 HOW TO STUDY. had never before known what hard work is, that his measure of it was a very short one, and that his power to work is much greater than he would be- fore have believed. He has now formed a habit of working so much harder than formerly, that he looks back on those days with a smile of pity for his former notions. His harder work may consist in the thoroughness of his study, the depth of his thought, the amount canvassed or the greater num- ber of hours devoted — any one of these or all of them. Now he succeeds where before he failed. He does not think that he is working any harder now than he imagined he was then; his measuring stick for hard work is so much longer that it takes much more to reach his idea of ordinary industry. It is of great importance that students secure for themselves an honest criterion by which to measure their efforts. Make up your mind that the work you are doing is not hard work at all, that you have not begun to reach the limit of your powers, that you have never sub-soiled your ground. Set to work and go deeper into yourself, double your capacity and keep the pressure on until you have actually formed a new habit— made a new standard. When I see a student of strong, healthy body and good mind neither of which has ever been fairly tested, giving up a problem or dropping a study as too difficult before he has even fairly tested his pow- ers, I often think of that general who hoisted the white flag and surrendered a superior force of sol- diers eager for a commander to lead them to battle, to a handful of half starved Canadians and Indians. Did you ever think that the same grit and courage that solves a problem in the school leads an army triumphant to victory in the field ? Did you know that it is exactly the same stuff that solves the prob- HOW TO STUDY. 23 lems of life ? Did you know that the measuring stick for hard work that you make for yourself in school will be likely to go with you through life ? If it be a good long one, what others call hard work will be but pastime for you and when they will fail you will succeed. Much of success and failure in school and in life depends on our standard of what constitutes hard ivork 34 HOW TO STUDY. READING AND SPELLING. What is meant by "studying a reading lesson"? Many pupils seem to think it is reading the lesson over one or more times; and in many schools, this is about all the study of a reading lesson means. When the pupil can call words at sight quite readily, he often thinks that he is ready for promotion, and it is not unusual to find pupils in the Fifth Eeader who ought to be in the Third. It is not an easy matter to convince them that they belong to a lower class. Their standard of what a reading lesson should be is very poor. In order to show the proper steps in preparing a reading lesson, let us first analyze one and see what points we must note. First we must know the words in a lesson. We must also know the sense, or thought set forth. We will therefore divide the preparation of a reading lesson into 1st Word Study. 2nd Thought Development. Then first when we take up our reading lesson we begin the word study. This may be divided into three steps. Spelling, pronunciation, and meaning. Before we can read a lesson well we must be acquainted with all the words in it. When we go to the recitation, there must not be a strange word in the lesson. To become thus familiar with all the words we must know their spelling, pronunciation, and meaning. This study will of course be only on the new and unfamiliar words. To learn to spell a word it is only necessary to direct the attention closely to the syllables and letters that compose it. Poor spelling often comes from HOW TO STUDY. 25 not noticing words carefully. There is probably no better way to make sure of the spelling of a word than to write it out. Glance at the word quickly so that you can pronounce it, and then withdraw the eyes from it and write it out. Then compare it with the print and see if the letters correspond exactly. If you have it wrong, write it out two or three times correctly. You will probably always know after- ward how to spell that word. While we are learning the spelling of a word we also learn its pronunciation and meaning. To do this we must often consult the Dictionary. If you were a pupil of mine, I should want you to have a Webster's academic dictionary on your desk beside your reader. You would use it fifty times where you would not go and get the Una- bridged once. Occasionally it would be necessary to consult the Unabridged, but usually the smaller one would be found sufficient. The habit of frequently consulting the Dictionary is of so much importance that; I want to emphasize it here. If you are in the Third, Fourth or Fifth Reader be sure to have a dictionary constantly on your desk, and consult it often If this book leads students to form this habit, it will have subserved a good purpose if it does no other good. We have now mastered the spelling and pronun- ciation of a word. Next we must know its mean- ing. By reference to the dictionary we find three or four meanings given. Like all other words, it has different meanings in different sentences. Let us learn to use it properly in three or four different sen- tences, showing its different shades of meaning, and we can pass this word as thoroughly learned. We are now through with the first part of the work of preparing a reading lesson. If you have 26 HOW TO STUDY. done this work well in the First Reader, there will not be so much to do in the Second Reader. If you have done the work well in the Second Reader, it will be easier in the Third and so on. But if your habit has been to slip along and slight this work, until you have passed into the advanced classes, you will find it difficult to do thorough work for some time. But don't become discouraged! There are really not many new words to be learned. In a short time you will be surprised to find how often the words you have learned come up again and again in your lesson, and how few the new and difficult words in each lesson are becoming. When lessons are poorly studied, the same difficult words may come up week after week, and each time be strangers, whereas if learned thoroughly at first they would be old friends whenever they appeared again. If the spelling and meaning of words are learned in the way suggested, the work will doubtless be thorough. But a few words more must be said in regard to pronunciation of new words. To knoiv the correct pronunciation is not enough. It is one thing to know how to pronounce, and another to be able to pronounce easily and fluently. While a word is yet new, one is likely to halt and stammer, and stumble over it. Hence the necessity of pronouncing each new word many times until the tongue, lips and teeth become accustomed to the positions and mo- tions necessary to give it utterance. Knowing pronunciation is one thing; doing it quite another. Pronounce each new word till it goes easily and fluently. Not before will it be an old friend. So far we have only spoken of the mechanical part of the preparation of a reading lesson. The second part, thought development, is the most im- HOW TO STUDY. 27 portant. Have you an idea that two pupils get the same thought from a lesson? They seldom do. They read the same sentences; but one pupil understands more of the words than the other and the meaning of the author is fuller and clearer. One pupil may have sufficient general information so as to form a correct mental picture of things, places or situations described; while another may have a vague and in- definite idea or an entirely erroneous one. We will examine into this in the next topic. THOUGHT DEVELOPMENT. The second step in the study of a reading lesson is to fully comprehend and glean the thought of the author. The printed page is cold and lifeless. The words and sentences spoken mechanically may con- vey but a small part of the author's thought and feelings. Your words may be correctly pronounced,, your utterances may be fluent, even your pauses and inflection may be faultless, and still your reading be mechanical, soulless and lifeless. Good reading conveys to the listener the thought and feeling of the author in such a way as to stimu- late thought and feeling in the listener. But in or- der to do this, the reader must be full of the author's thought and feelings. It is not enough to know what the lesson contains; the student who wishes to make his reading interesting must become imbued with the thought the author desires to convey. To do this he must read the lesson carefully and understand each word and sentence. When he has read a paragraph, let him close his outward eye and open understanding's eye upon the thought conveyed by the sentence or paragraph. As he thinks thus upon it, he may find it growing in meaning. Field after field opens up as he makes various applications of the truth set forth. A sentence, at first but mere 28 HOW TO STUDY. empty words soon becomes so full of meaning that it appeals not only to our intellect but also our feel- ings and we fain would commit them to memory in order to preserve the full thought in its entirety. Then we may be said to be imbued with the author's thought and when we read that paragraph to others we naturally make an effort to convey to them all that fullness of meaning that the words have for us. Our reading then is no longer mechanical. Our listeners catch the spirit back of the words and are interested. If in addition the reader's voice is smooth and the words are fluent, the listener is charmed. If the subject is not an abstract one, we must, in order to fully understand the author, do more than turn the point over in our mind. If of a historical nature, we must read up outside the lesson and en- large our knowledge of points merely mentioned by the author. In this way only can some lessons be fully understood. When we read for information, it is the subject and all pertaining to it that interests us, and so we follow its various lines of thought from book to book, dwelling in each history, or dictionary or encyclo- pedia as long as we find information pertaining to our subject. If our subject carries us along into various books for many pages, what matter? We care not what book we read, so that we can get more light on the topic we are pursuing. Here comes in the necessity for general and sup- plementary reading in the school. Our readers serve us as guides or as a basis for our work in reading But we are not tied to them, nor limited to their di- mensions. When birds in the nests get wings that bear them up from limb to limb, they are not long in disco veriDg that the freedom of the forest is theirs HOW TO STUDY. 29 as soon as their wings are strong enough to bear them from tree to tree. - Not less free are all the fields of literature to our young people; and though nominally in the Third Reader or Fourth Reader at school, they may learn far more in their general reading at home, if their interest leads them on from book to book. SILENT READING. Much that we have said about studying reading pertains to oral reading, or reading aloud. The larger and more important part of our reading is done silently. One may be a good silent reader, but a poor oral reader. A good voice, clear articulation, etc., has much to do with pleasing oral reading. One who does good silent reading is usually an effective and forceful oral reader, though not necessary a pleas- ing one. Whether much or little attention should be given to oral reading-, one thing is certain, we should all give much attention to our method of silent read- ing. Two points we must take into account here, are : — Thoroughness and Rapidity. There are but few thorough readers. The average mind goes about so deep in all books, no matter what the depth of the book itself may be. Their scope of reading may be large and varied. It is not an uncommon thing to find people who have covered large fields of reading ; but only here and there do we find a per- son who has sifted what he has read. We have already mentioned two methods that lead to thoroughness ; in the case of abstract sub- jects, to think each sentence or paragraph over carefully before reading further; in the case of 30 HOW TO STUDY. historical and descriptive topics to read up the sub- ject in auxiliary books. We should emphasize the former more. One sentence may be enough for an hour's thought. Follow it out in all its bearings. Discuss it pro and con. Think out a composition on it. Then when all is familiar ground, continue the reading. The next sentence may require another half hour's thought, or it may be several minutes before you come to another paragraph that contains unfamiliar fields. In the average book you will find pages enough of familiar thought to enable you to get on quickly. But when a book is found that is full of meat, go slowly. One sentence an hour may be plenty to read. Then think. Enlarge upon it. Use it as a topic for discussion and see what fields it leads you into. You may find this slow reading; but better to read a few books this way than many books superficially. The best part of a book is the thought it awakens in you, not the thought of the author. The best result of your reading is your own mind growth, your power to think things through. It is not the facts 3^ou learn from books that benefit you most; not what you absorb; not the impressions made upon your mind; but the power generated by taking these facts, data, and impressions up and digesting them into mental data entirely your own. And this you can't do reclining in your rocking chair, with faculties half asleep, or absent mindedly reading one thing and thinking of another. To make data your own, you must focus the faculties upon the subject, until like the focus of the sun's rays upon glass, they fuse it. Then the thought is yours. The facts have been fused into your mental fabric and though memory may forget names and dates, the virtue of the xhought will never depart from you. HOW TO STUDY. 31 We have spoken of the importance of auxiliary reading on topics in order to fully comprehend the subject. In connection with this we should not for- get the part that imagination plays in enabling us to understand the author. This is especially true of descriptions of places we have never seen, or of his- torical readings of manners and customs of olden times. We cannot fully understand even a plain state- ment of fact about a people if we are not acquainted with the manners and customs unless we can imag- ine truthfully what manners and customs, and con- ditions then existed. Many things that seem odd, senseless, or absurd in Roman and in Grecian times can be understood only in the light and spirit of those days. And to get into that light and spirit, it may be necessary to imagine many of our modern inventions taken away, or the size of our country diminished, or the form of our government changed, or a different climate, etc., etc.. before we can put ourselves, to any extent, in the place of our author. Then you must try to make vivid pictures of what you read. Make all live and breathe again in imagination. Create the conditions that existed. Until you can do this you will often find ashes where you sought living fire, and shells where you expected meat. SYSTEM IN READING. You visit a large city with a view to trading, visiting, seeing what there is to see, and getting an intelligent idea of the city. Starting without a plan you follow your fancy. Every shop window you pass does its best to at- tract your attention; colors appeal to the eye, fruits and meats to the taste, garments of various kind and color ask to be tried on, and hats and bonnets 32 HOW TO STUkY. to no end beg you to take them off the rack and give them a home on your head; toys and curious novel- ties delight the eyes of children, and appeal to the heart and purse of parents. From the great mer- chants to the street fakirs and beggars a million hands stretch forth soliciting your attention, your patronage, your time and your purse. A week goes by, and day after day has been frit- tered away among the million hands while little or nothing is accomplished. This will never do, you finally conclude. You have not time to see all, nor money to buy all. One week still remains, however, so you make up your list of purchases to fit your purse, and lay out your program to fit your time, and starting out you work to your plans. The million hands grab at you again, but your plans protect you from all but those you want. At the close of the week you have accom- plished just what you set out to do. The picture is not overdrawn for the country more than the city. The same condition of things exists everywhere if we only knew it. In every walk of life, each day and each hour a million invis- ible hands stretch out to grasp our attention, our time and our thoughts. If we are not protected by a plan, our hours and days are torn to shreds and scattered like withered leaves in our track. You expect to do much general reading this year. The thought in a general way takes possession of you. Immediately you set off to buy some book, or get one from the public library. At the first op- portunity you draw up your easy chair to the center table, and with mind all aglow with anticipation of pleasure from this particular book and profit from all the books you are going to read this year, you open to chapter one and set out. If you happen to have a bust of Bacon or any HOW TO STUDY. 33 other philosopher in your room, look up before you begin, and see if you can't imagine that you see mingled with the lines of thought that mark the features, a smile of pity. He like any other philos- opher, knows from the way you set out, that your enthusiasm is of the hour only; that you will never realize your dream of the year's reading; that you will not be at all likely to wade through that solid book, which has chanced to fall into your hands. But unless you become the philosopher's disciple, you will not see his smile; and if you do so become, he will have no occasion to smile; so, in either case, you will not see it. The philosopher has his smiles and tears alone. A few days will doubtless disclose the reason for this smile. The first evening several chapters were read. The second the novelty began to wear off, and the book really required thought to read it intelligently. The third evening a "party," or a caller took up the reading hour, and then it was too late to read, and the fourth evening you about concluded that this was not the book you supposed it to be; so the fifth, sixth and seventh evenings went by, a prey to the million unseen hands that are always extended to those without occupation or purpose. The impulse and enthusiasm for general reading for the year vanished like a dream, and silently set- tled upon the foot-prints of your path with other withered leaves and buds of kindred impulses. But some young people say they are waiting for oppor- tunity — waiting for favorable conditions — waiting for something that is not now. Again your philosopher smiles sadly, for he sees your illusion and knows full well that your favor- able time will never come, — that if you cannot see your opportunity now you never will see it. 3 34 HOW TO STUDY. Among the hundreds of pupils who pass daily over the thresholds of home and school, about equally equipped with mental armor, only one here and there is found who has the steeled clasps of will and habit that hold his armor immovable in its place. Only one here and there whose eye is keen enough to pierce through the cloud and mist on which youth's rainbow of enthusiasm is projected to the sun beyond; only one here and there who can willingly and joy- fully submit to the painful rubbing that keeps the metal of his character, not merely bright with the innocence of youth, but refulgent with the burnished splendor of virtue tried. Only a few who drinking in the pure air of morning, know that the most brac- ing breezes from northern climes had to pass through snow and ice to become laden with the mingled per- fume and freshness of hemlock and glacier. Only those few can view with joy the bleeding gash of their own pride and selfishness, knowing that from the wounds spring forth, in time, the lily of love and the olive of peace. Think as we will, that sometime, somehow we will become well read; will find more time for read- ing; will wake up and find the apple of knowledge in our grasp; the facts of cause and effect still stare us in the face with a stern No, and we must turn our eyes away from them if we insist upon indulging in day dreams. There is but one way for ordinary people to accomplish much, and that is by hard work and persistent effort well directed. If you think you would like to do some reading each day don't go off half cocked into space in whatever direction your face happens to be turned. Consider well your intention. Go at it methodically. Of the million books you would like to read, select ihe few you need most now and that you can rea- sonably hope to complete. Having mapped out your HOW TO STUDY. 35 course of reading, set apart the time you expect to devote to it each day or each Tuesday, or each Wednesday and Saturday or whatever time seems best. That time is henceforward sacred to that work. Now the battle has only begun. If you expect to find yourself free to sit down to your reading at the appointed time without effort on your part, you will be sadly disappointed. Each day some of the mill- ion hands will be grabbing at that time. People and things will so crave your attention that you will hardly be able to put them aside and get away to your work. You will find after a while that all these claims are more apparent than real and when you have shown them your decision and will once, they all acquiesce for the time; and when your study hours become habitual, all the claimants finally de- sist and concede to you your hours for study. The hardest of the battle is during the first week or first month. When the habit is once formed,, people and things seem to recognize it and accom- modate themselves to it. Having overcome outside hindrances, you will find much yet in yourself to overcome. Inclination, propensity, desires in their various forms and direc- tions must be subordinated to the will. Worst of all there may be a habit of laziness, a certain inertia or habit of inactivity to overcome. You will wish you were working hard but know you are not. All the clay in your body seems to pull away from the work; the mind wanders to almost anything but the sub- ject of study. Two methods will help you out in such cases. One is to turn the thumbscrew of your will down upon your faculties and hold them to the subject. Another is to make an effort to enliven your subject with interest as you would in trying to make others 36 HOW TO STUDY. interested in it; as in reading aloud and discussing the points. The latter is the true way to study successfully. There is but little gained by studying if you can't get up an interest. Interest is the soul, the life of study. Without it the faculties are not wide awake, not active, and impressions made are but partial and fleeting, not clear cut and indelible. Deep interest annihilates time. It envelopes one like sleep. In its fullness we are unconscious of surroundings and drink in page after page with thoroughness, ease and avidity. While without it, we strive to whip our- selves along, crawling now where then we flew, and doing indifferently what before we did thoroughly. About as well try to weld cold iron as to read thoroughly without interest. You must learn to invoke the power of interest, if you would be a student. With it you'll soar with ease ; without, you'll painfully plod in vain. THE SELECTION OF BOOKS TO READ. One of the difficult things for pupils to do is to decide upon a book to read. They can advise with teachers, and friends of good judgment, and have a number of good books recommended, but they must choose for themselves. Some will get much out of one book, others seem to be better interested and instructed in an- other. Each should gradually learn to decide for himself as to what good a book does him. We offer a suggestion, however. Note carefully the effect the book has on you. Two books may be equally in- teresting, but one may appeal to the higher impulses, thoughts and motives, and the other to those of a lower order. The romance or story of books may be equally enticing, but this is usually the poorest part to the reading. The author has made the story sim- HOW TO STUDY. 3? ply to interest you and lead you to read on so that he might impart his thoughts. If the book is a good one, you will find these thoughts dropped along here and there like gold dust, and you may pass over many of them without notic- ing them. But authors usually weave their best thoughts into the web of their books, so that they will have some effect on the reader. Therefore we say notice the effect the reading produces on you. Does it ele- vate? Good. Does it merely tickle your curiosity to know how "it turned out?" Bad. Does it get some good person in the hands of some villain and appeal to your indignation and your sympathy while you are led on over pages of improbable happenings be- fore you are permitted to see your hero safe and happy? If your book has not taught you mean- while some practical lesson for life, or awakened pure thoughts, or stimulated noble actions and ap- pealed to high motives, your time is worse than wasted. Different authors have different aims in writing their books. One weaves in descriptions of places, countries, people, etc.; another, the facts of natural or physical science; a third the philosophy of life, and so on. One wants to show up how mean a thing is selfish- ness, avarice, etc., and how grand are generosity and benevolence. So he imagines two persons pos- sessed of these attributes in large degrees, and by portraying naturally what each would do under or- dinary conditions of life, he appeals to our disap- proval of the one and our love for the other. If these imaginary characters do not pass through life and act as we know such persons usually do act, we say the book is unnatural and hence of no real use. We repeat, each must decide what effect a book 38 HOW TO STUDY. has on him, and pronounce judgment accordingly. The book I like so well may not be of interest or utility to you. Why? Because you and I may differ in age, in maturity of thought, in experiences of life, in make-up of character. Also the book whose influence you need most, I may not need at all and vice versa. Hence, we say, choose your book and see to it that it is interesting and profitable to you, and that it has a good effect on you. If you suspect that you may be just a little too selfish, read Martin Chuzzlewit; if avaricious, Our Mutual Friend; if you are given to display, and think more of position and power and pomp conferred by money than of doing good to humanity, loving and being loved of those at home, and happy in the humbler walks of life, read Dombey and Son. These books will, of course, teach you many other lessons while reading them. They are better adapted to advanced pupils. We give below a list of books to select from, taken from a list recomme4ded by State Supt. D. L. Kiehle. All are good, but get the one that interests and fits you. Boohs of Reference . — Unabridged Dictionary Charnplin's Encyclopedia, 2 vols Common Things ., Persons and Places Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary Books for Younger Pupils.— Stories Told to a Child Ingelow The Children's Book ' Scudder Little People of Asia „ Miller Child's Book of Nature Hooker Stories of American History .Dodge Hans Brinker... Dodge Golden Book of Choice Beading Swinton Easy Steps for Little Feet Swinton Books of Tales in Prose and Poetry Swinton Little Folk's Life . Gail Hamilton Little Pussy Willow Stowe EachandAll Andrews HOW TO STUDY. 39 Kose and the Ring Thackeray Boys of Other Countries Taylor Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe Yonge Fairy Books Mrs. Craik Six Popular Tales Scudder Stories From Famous Ballads .Grace Greenwood Who "Were the First Builders ? 1 Published by Who Were the First Architects? !' Imxri „ o Who Were the First Paper Makers ........' '"'.'" L 1 * ■ Ntlson & bon8 « Who Were the First Weavers ? \ LonJon Who Were the Fir3t Miners? „ V.V.J and New York. Little Susie's Six Teachers Coolidge Alice in Wonderland. Nine Little Goslings , Coolidge Lucy Books, 6 vcls Abbott Bodley Books Abbott Books For Older Puinls. Zigzag Journeys in Classic Lands Butterworth Zigzag Journeys in Orient „ Butterworth Boysof'61 Coffin Building of the Nation Coffin Old Times in the Colonies. Coffin Two Years Before the Mast Dana Stories of Adventure Told by Adventurers Hale Stories of Discoveries Told by Discoverers „ . „ Hale Ten Times One is Ten Hale How To Do It „ .,. Hale Book of American Explorers „ Higginson Geographical Reader „ Johonnot Boy Travelers in the Far East— 1. In China and Japan Knox 2. In Siam and Java Knox 3. In Ceylon and India Knox The Boy's Froissart (Chronicles of Places, CTistoms and People of Western Europe During the Middle Ages) Lanier From the Log Cabin to the White House, Life of James A. Garfield Thayer Youth's History of tbe Rebellion, 4 vols Thayer Sir Francis Drake Towle Magellan Towle Marco Polo Towle Pizarro Towle Raleigh Towle Vasco de Gama Towle Cast Away in the Cold Hayes Christmas Stories Dickens Tales of a Grandfather Scott Young Folk's Plutarch Kaufman Child's History of England Dickens Little Men Alcott The Sketch Book Irving Stories of Greek History Yonge Histories and Light Science Abbott Pocahontas Eggleston 40 HOW TO STUDY. Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan Swinton's General History Barnes' General History Green's Shorter History of the English People Prescott's Mexico (3 vols.), Peru (2 vols.) Young Folk's History of the United States Higginson Boys of 76 C. C. Coffin Good Old Times E. Kellogg Paul and Persis Irving's Columbus, 2 vols Irving's Washington, 1 vol Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography Longfellow, Household Edition Whittier Household Edition Lowell Household Edition Dickens : David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby , Oliver Twist, Uncle Tom's Cabin Tom Brown at Kugby Bobinson Crusoe ^sop's Fables Swiss Family Bobinson Anderson's Fairy Tales Little Women Alcott Bollo Books, 14 vols J. Abbott Eggleston's Hoosier Schoolmaster Leatherstocking Tales, 5 vols Cooper Faith Gartney's Girlhood Whitney A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life Hawthorne: Tanglewood Tales, Wonderbook. Grandfather's Chair. 3 vols, in one Manual of Commerce Browne Seven Little Sisters HOW TO STUDY. 41 LANGUAGE AND GKAMMAR Many pupils study English Grammar indiffer- ently. They " don't like Grammar." Few realize exactly why they study it and see little or no use for it. They learn the definitions all right and can readily tell you that "English Grammar is the Science of the English Language, and teaches us how to write and speak correctly." But the fact is, it seldom teaches anyone " how to write and speak correctly." iviany people break the laws of Gram- mar without correction during the very recitation in which they repeat and discuss these laws. The trouble is, many pupils learn Grammar as a thing apart from Language. Their time is given to parsing, declining, conjugating and learning rules and definitions while little or none of all this learning is applied to their actual speaking and writing. Fortunately this condition of things is improving, and pupils are actually studying how to talk and how to write in many of our schools. Pupils should remember this : The study of the science of lan- guage is one thing ; the practice of good language in ivriting and speaking is quite another. One may understand Grammar well, and yet speak and write poorly; or one may write and speak quite well and know but little of Grammar. The study of Grammar and its practical applica- tion should go together. We should make every lesson in reading, arithmetic and every other branch a practical lesson in Language. To thoroughly learn good language we must use it. Language study is really connected with every branch. When we study the use and meaning of words in our read- 42 HOW TO STUDY. ing lesson we are studying language. When we construct sentences of our own to show various shades of meaning of new words we are studying language. When we train our eyes to grasp words and sentences quickly, and our tongue and other organs of articulation to speak these words fluently we are receiving language lessons. When we state problems accurately and analyze them clearly we improve in language. When we recite well in Geography or History we cultivate better language. So we see there is no lesson in which we cannot improve our use of language. If we would bear this in mind and endeavor to make every lesson the occasion of improving our language how fast we would improve! Let us do it. Does it pay to study English Language? It seems strange that any one should ask such a question. And yet many can't see much in it. Let us see. What is spoken or written language for? To convey one's thoughts. Suppose you have an im- portant thought you want to impress upon others. You can do it best, of course, if you can command good language. The manner of expressing your thought may kill it or crown it. Your hearers receive it through your speech. The way you ex- press it may impress them f avora bly , or unfavorably or not at all. You may have a plan to submit to a meeting, one far better than that submitted by others; but because your command of language in presenting your ideas is poor, you have the disappointment of seeing your plan rejected and some other poorer one adopted, because it was presented by one who had a good command of language. The manner of stating things often has more weight than the things them- selves. It is for this reason that important cases are HOW TO STUDY. 43 placed in the hands of persons whose command of language enables them to present their cases clearly and forcibly. But aside from special and important cases, we all have cases to state every day. Every thing we say, we desire it to have the best effect. Every thought we express, we wish to give it in language that will do it justice. No one wants his thoughts discounted, simply because they are not expressed clearly and neatly and fully and forcibly. Language is the arm that wields the hammer of thought. To do the thought justice, language should carry it and wield it with strength and skill. No mat- ter whether you are describing lands or goods to pur- chasers, or writing a letter, or discussing questions in the home, on the street, or in the assembly, your lan- guage must be such that it will do your thoughts jus- tice or they will pass for much less than they are really worth. Lame and crippled indeed is he who has not the power of expressing his thoughts properly, He is but half armed for the battle of life, and he may often have the mortification of seeing a bad cause triumph and a good one fail for lack of a champion able to do it justice. Do you want to go through life with one arm palsied and hung in a sling ? Then don't study language. Do you want to substitute a crutch for a leg and hobble when you ought to run? Then neglect language work, as "of no use" and 4 'an impractical branch." But if you want the legs and arms of your mind fully developed, let your language culture keep pace with your reasoning, and your power to express thought in a way to do it justice, keep pace with your power to think. It does pay to study lan- guage. 44 HOW TO STUDY. METHODS OF LANGUAGE CULTURE. Before we offer suggestions, let us emphasize one point : High above all rules of Grammar or Rhetoric, high above all the models of style and grace and finish, high above tricks of alliteration or music of rounded periods, hold one law sacred to your thought — that your honest effort shall be to express truthfully, clearly, and forcibly, just what you want your hearers and readers to get. Do not permit any rules, or any desire for display to detract from this. Plain and homely though your speech may seem, that end must be served first. If a desire for finish or display and so on comes in the way of that, knock it. Hug your fact and speak your thought. The style that fits your thought must be your own. Ad- dison, Irving and McCauley may suggest, but not substitute. When you have fully learned this, most rules and laws will fall in line as if of their own accord. In the primary grades of Language study, most of our work will be done in . connection with other branches; we have shown how this is in the study of reading and other branches. We repeat here: You should make it a habit to use every lesson as a means to improve your lan- guage. Use complete sentences. Say in full sen- tences just what you want to say. Don't think that you must answer yes and no. Some pupils, in re- citing, start out and say a few words, and then look helplessly at their teacher, imploring her to come to the rescue and help them out lest they fall. Many do not realize that the best part of the reci- tation is the drill in reciting it; and if the teacher does most of the talking the pupil gets little benefit from it. To-morrow when you go to school make an effort HOW TO STUDY. 45 to say in complete clear sentences all that you have to say. It will be an effort at first doubtless; but you will gradually form a good habit of speech and then you will look back on your pieces and bits of sentences, and chopped up indefinite language, and wonder how you could have used such language with- out noticing it. When you explain a problem, let your explana- tion be full, clear and concise. This will, of course, add to your percentage in Arithmetic; but best of all it will soon bring you into a habit of clear think- ing and clear speaking. If you feel inclined to break sentences off short, and leave half or more to be understood, think of what we have said here and give the sentences full and complete. If you find words that you do not pronounce dis- tinctly, take time and say them over again, until you speak them clearly and fluently. You will say that would be making a drill exer- cise of each recitation. So be it. You are there for that purpose. Whenever you find yourself mumb- ling over difficult words, make repeated efforts until you speak those words correctly. Your teacher will give you time and help. Teachers will appreciate your every effort to improve yourself. Much that we have said so far, is in regard to clear articulation and fluent pronunciation of words, and the use of full and complete sentences. But more than this is necessary if we would improve our language at each recitation. We must learn to make clear, logical statements containing two or more sentences. Examples of this kind will come up daily in the explanation of problems you have solved. You want to state or read your problem, and then beginning at the first step carry your hear- ers step by step through the reasoning until your solution is proved. To do this, it will be necessary 46 HOW TO STUDY. to keep your thoughts ahead of your tongue far enough to guide it. You will often take a moment to think what part naturally comes first, and what part you wish to lay before the mind of your listen- ers, so that they will easily follow you. This language drill which compels pupils to stand on their feet before people and develops self posses- sion, by compelling thought and making them for- getful of surroundings, forgetful of all but the matter in hand, the mind being concentrated on the subject, and the thought running ahead in advance of the tongue to plan and systematize the expression before giving it utterance — this is one of the best drills in language that the school offers, and one of the most profitable that pupils can engage in. Let such a plan be adopted by each pupil in recit- ing lessons in History, Arithmetic, Geography and all branches studied, and the benefits will be inesti- mable. WRITTEN LANGUAGE WORK IN CONNEC- TION WITH OTHER STUDIES. What we have said in regard to language work in connection with other studies pertains to oral work. This is bat one half the drill of this kind needed and but the smaller half. Every pupil who would properly improve must devote much time to written drills in Language. In the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Readers, pupils will find it interesting and profitable, after thoroughly studying their lessons, to take a pencil and scratch book and write up the substance of the lesson in their own language. The teacher will doubtless look over these compositions, and give suggestions and corrections. Aside from the value of constructing sentences, the effort of the mind to recall, re-create, and re-clothe the thought in words will be of great HOW TO STUDY. 47 value. This will make the mind stronger by com- pelling thought, and making the mind digest its data and impressions. The same exercise should be used after studying a lesson in History, Geography or Physiology. Close the book and write up the substance of the lesson in your own language. Pupils will find this more profitable* in learning the branch itself than the average oral recitation. In fact, those who can't go to school at all can improve quite well at home, if they will follow this plan. Let me repeat it for emphasis : Do more ivriting. In this way re-produce more what you have read. The great lack in the schools is that of re-production of mental data and mental impressions. Reading and listening make impressions on the mind and give it crude data, mere mental lumber. Re-produc- ing this orally or in writing in your own language compels mental digestion, and makes the matter your own. If half the time that pupils now give to getting mental data and vague impressions were devoted to the healthful re-production of this data, we would have fewer moping students, fewer dull plodders with confused ideas of many things, and no certain knowledge of anything; fewer book cripples with books for crutches, unable to walk at all if you take their crutches away; fewer book suckers who have no ideas of their own and who can't realize that a thing is so because the reason makes it so unless some booh says so; and more original, bright, active, vigorous, healthful minds that digest all their mental impressions and build up the nutriment into mental tissue and mental power. These may not carry around with them so much mental lumber, or so many unsystematized facts, but as our friend Emerson puts it, they will have "the fire that dissolves all facts." Give me, every time, 48 HOW TO STUDY. boys and girls that are strong in the power of con- scious strength, physical, mental and moral, those who have subsoiled the lower strata of themselves and tasted the inspiration of independence through the consciousness of the latent power that in them lies, and I will give more for their chances of suc- cess in life, though they are yet in the rudiments of each branch, than for that of students who have stamped upon their minds facts from all the fields of literature and destroyed their power of generaliza- tion and originality in the process. LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR AS SEPARATE STUDIES. So far we have discussed the study of language in connection with other branches. It will probably be pursued in that way for the first five years of school life. When you can read well in the Third Reader your teacher will doubtless have you get some book on Elementary Language work, such as Powell's "How to Talk," or later, "How to Write." Whatever book you study, do not neglect your writing drill. This work in composition should be kept up throughout your whole course in school. When you take up the study of Language or Gram- mar in a book, you will soon learn many rules and laws, so that you can recite them readily. But remember that learning to recite them is only a small part of the work. If you get benefit from them you must apply them daily in composi- tion oral and written. No matter whether you are a Third Eeader pupil, learning the forms of pro- nouns, the agreement of verbs with subjects, etc., or a Fifth Reader pupil learning Elementary Rheto- ric; what you learn each day must be actually ap- plied in oral or written composition if you expect benefit from it. If you don't thus apply it you will HOW TO STUDY. 49 find much of it useless lumber, only committed and recited and tossed into the garret of your mind with other rubbish. Have we said enough about the im- portance of applying what you learn, and practicing composition daily ? Then do it. A few suggestions now on the book lessons. Dur- ing the first year you will learn largely about words. You will have to deal almost wholly with them. You are now a shop carpenter doing the preparatory work for a fine building. Do you know anything about carpenter work ? If so, you know they do much of the work preparatory for a building in their shops. Step into one, just before a building is begun and you will find boards of various shapes, sizes and lengths; frame-work, casing, studding, etc., all planed, and beveled, and grooved, and mortised and laid in piles of each kind ready to be fitted together to make a perfect whole. As you look from pile to pile, and from piece to piece, you think it would be a difficult task to know all about these pieces, to call them by name and be able to fit them in place. But if you learn the carpenter's trade, you will see it is really very simple, after all. What appeared to be so many things are all reduced to a few principles. The first year in English Grammar you will be in the shop learning about words of various form and shape — as to how they are called and how fitted together properly in building sentences, and how the change in the form of one as subject makes it neces- sary for you to change the form of another. If you look upon this work rightly and become interested in it, you will find it great fun. You pick up the words, the boy, and the word runs, to put them together and make a sentence of them. They fit all right and read: "The boy runs." You want to change the form of one word now to express more 4 50 HOW TO STUDY. boys than one and you find your sentence reads: "The boys runs." This does not sound right so you change the wrong form of runs to run. Then you have "The boys run." Here we discovered a law of language. In your own words you would probably state that law : "A change in the number of the subject causes a change in the verb." That is correctly stated. But your book states it: "A verb must agree with its subject in number." Both statements mean the same thing. If, instead of using the word boy for a subject, you use James, you see the verb runs fits it all right. But now use I instead of James and it reads "I runs." Here again we find a change must be made and so we learn another law of Grammar, that the verb agrees with its subject in more ways than one. When the subject is the person or thing speaking the verb takes a different form from what it does when the person is spoken of. So you conclude that the verb agrees with its subject in person and num. ber. Now we might experiment with words all day and we would not find the verb changing its form for any other change in the subject but these two. You say then : I know all about that law now. I could repeat it well enough before but did not know all about it as now. I can make up a sentence that expresses that law myself: "A change in the per- son or number of the subject may require a change in the form of the predicate verb." And so we go on fitting words together and noting their changes to fit in sentences, and when we tell about those changes, we give the so-called rules and laws of Grammar. But in doing this we learned the reason for the rule before we learned the rule itself. How much easier it is to remember ! The thought HOW TO STUDY. 51 sticks to us all right and recalls the words necessary to express it; whereas, if we had learned the words and tried to remember them in order to recall the thought, how difficult it would be ! And so we go on fitting words together in various sentences to ex- press different ideas and we find them changing in form. We have only two kinds of words that we can use as subjects of our sentences, and the teacher says these are called nouns, or something used for nouns called pro-nouns; and only three kinds of words for the predicate which the teacher says are verbs and something partaking of the nature of verbs— a sort of grandfather verbs, called partici- ples and infinitives. But we see those participles and infinitives can't go it alone and make a com- plete predicate, as the pronouns can, iu the subject. We find by experimenting that these participles and infinitives never make a complete predicate without a verb to help them out. When we examine the verb farther we will find that these grandfather verbs, called participles and infinitives, are really only changes in the form of the verb itself, and the gray hairs of the participle written can't disguise from our eyes that it came from the boy-verb ivrite. Going back to our subject, noun or pronoun, we find, after hitching them up in different sentences to express ever so many ideas, that they make four changes. By examining these changes we find them to express person, gender (or sex) number and case. And these the teacher says are called their il prop- erty '." So each seems to have four properties. We now return to the verb to see if it possesses any "property." By drilling it in different sentences we find it changes about in only three ways, one of which the teacher calls voice, another mood, and a third tense or time. It is reasonable to suppose that a verb with the right time would have a nice 52 HOW TO STUDY. voice in the right mood. When we drill verbs about to try their voices and moods and tenses, the teacher calls it conjugating them. As the carpenter selects out of all the pieces in his shop the frame work for his house, we select out of two kinds of words for the frame work for our sentence called the subject and predicate. We have found that the subject is a noun or pronoun and the predicate a verb. Now we have the frame work of the sentence. All we put on to it hereafter will be to complete or modify the sentence, just as the car- penter puts on siding, plastering, shingles and paint to complete and modify his house. If we examine houses, we find that all are not built smoothly and well. Just so it is with sen- tences, all are not well built. We should be familiar with the parts we tuck on the frame work in order to fit them on well. We go back to our word-shop now and get some modifiers. In the frame work of the sentence are only three kinds of words or parts of speech as we have seen — nouns or pronouns and verbs. Taking our sentence boys run, we modify the noun with the word large and the predicate with fast, and the sentence reads: Large boys run fast. We see that large modifies boys and fast modifies runs so we call them modifiers. But one modifies a noun and the other a verb, and so the teacher tells us we must call the first an adjective and the second an adverb, just because one modifies a noun and the other a verb. Do you think that is a good reason? Well, I don't, and I would be just as well satisfied if there was no such distinction. We then would call both modifiers and tell what each modified and be done with them. But the books give them special names, so I sup- pose you must learn what these names mean. You HOW TO STUDY. 53 see the names are based on what the word modifies. If it modifies a noun or pronoun you call it an ad- jective modifier, but if it modifies anything else you call it an adverbial modifier. I am sorry this is necessary, but so it is. If the same word modifies a noun in one place and a verb in another, it has to change its name. Take fast in this sentence : "This is a fast horse;" then fast is an adjective because it modifies a noun. But "This horse runs fast;" here poor fast has to change its name to an adverb be- cause it modifies a verb. Too bad! is it not, to have to change one's name for so little a thing as that? But I suppose it can't be helped. Now, we have nouns, pronouns, verbs and ad- jectives. Let us modify our sentence again. Large boys run fast— the play ground. That sentence does not seem good. It needs something. It is like two loose pieces of the carpenter's frame-work. A piece of some kind is needed to fasten play ground to run. Go to the work shop and get a pin-word. I see three or four there that will do all right, on, over, to -and by. Stick one of them in and pin play ground to run. Now it reads, "Large boys run fast on the play ground." Now we need a name for those pin- words. The books call them prepositions. You see what they are used for. They pin a noun to another word, or as the books say "show relation of a noun to some other word." Get another word here. I want to use the word girls in the sentence, "Large boys — girls run." What is wanted? And. What for? To join boys and girls, of course. So we would call it Sijoin-ivord. The books call it a conjunction, which means the same as join-word. Now we may build as many sentences as we like, we will find hardly a word that may not go by the name of some of those we have named already, — noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction. 54 HOW TO STUDY. If you get frightened or sad or glad you may say ouch! or, ah! or, pooh! or some such word to express your joy, or grief, or anger, and so on. Any word used for such an outbreak is a sort of wild horse that won't be harnessed into a sentence. So we call all such fellows interjections, and that is all we have to do with them. Other words have properties, such as person, gender and number, or voice, mood and tense, and have to be fitted in with case and comparison and so on; but these interjections have nothing but a name. That tells all about them. They are simply bits or chips thrown out by our. feelings when they explode in joy, sorrow, anger, contempt and so on. So these words you do not use to build sentences. We give them a name and leave them loose. In the books you will find three little words called articles, the, a, an; but you need not call them so un- less you want to. Call them modifiers simply. You will find they usually fit on to nouns and pronouns only, so you will call them adjectives, I suppose. By building sentences we have found eight parts of speech called nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, and interjections. After getting well acquainted with nouns and pronouns, we find they have person, number, gender and case, and verbs have voice, mood and tense, and most ad- jectives and adverbs have comparison; prepositions have power to show relation, and conjunctions to join. When we have told this much in regard to every word of a sentence we have parsed it. Now all this will be found very easy work indeed if we go at it right. The secret of success in this work is to keep your mind on the important point and that is, Learn the meaning and use of each word in the sentence. If you know that, you know all the im- portant part. Can't you tell what part of speech to call a cer- HOW TO STUDY. 55 tain word? Well, I don't care what you call it, you have told me what it means, what its use is, what it modifies— that is the important part. Seek first the use of words and all other things will come of them- selves. We have passed briefly over the parts of speech, their properties and construction— or what is usu- ally gone through in parsing. Usually too much time is spent on this work. You spend weeks on learning the principal parts of verbs and how to conjugate them, how to form the plural and the pos- sessive case of irregular words, and much other work of that sort that would take care of itself, if left to swing in line at the proper time. Do you ask when that is? It is when you need to use such things. Learn to use good English. Learn to express your thoughts clearly, fully, forcibly, concisely. Write page after page of composition, as suggested heretofore. In doing that, you will have to use as occasion requires, the different parts of each verb, in different modes and tenses; you will have to form the plural and possessives of various words; you will have to get pronouns in the right case ; in short you will have to hunt up words and examine them closely for a purpose, namely, to clearly express your thoughts. In doing this you have only to notice the forms words take on to fit your ideas, and you will thus learn all this "parsing business" Tense, mood, voice, case, gender, person, number, and so on, will pass in review before you as you try to construct words into good sentences to convey your thought clearly, fully and forcibly. In this way you will soon learn parsing, declining, and conjugating, etc. Begin at the right end of the skein and the yarn will unwind easily. Begin at the wrong end and it will hitch and snarl all ways. 56 HOW TO STUDY. ADVANCED WORK IN LANGUAGE. Oral and written language work has been dis- cussed and recommended as the best means of lan- guage culture. It should precede grammar, parsing and all that. In fact your grammar work will easily fall in incidentally. I do not depreciate the work of grammar so called; but I wish to impress on your mind the importance of practicing good language, oral and written, as the best means of improving in this branch. Keep before you the purpose of your language work, namely, to express thought well in oral or written language. Bend every effort in this direc- tion. Learn the powers of words of various kinds to convey your thought. Write compositions that will utilize and systematize all your knowledge of history, physiology, geography, etc. ; write composi- tions that will compel you to put in shape your ideas of practical topics of every day life, such as self- control, the best economy of time, the economy of spending money and the economy of saving it ; the duties we owe to parents, friends, neighbors, the church, the community as citizens; the uprooting of selfishness, the cultivation of kindness, love, truth, honesty, integrity, nobility, etc. Topics of this kind that you know something about and are interested in, will be far better for you than those you know nothing about. See to it 'that you stick to your subject. Don't wander off or lug in words to fill up. Stick to your subject if you only write a page. This work has many advantages. It cultivates language, compels thought, conduces to mind growth, clears up your ideas on practical life, sys- tematizes your knowledge gained from history, geography and other studies. It is by far the best i HOW TO STUDY. 57 work of the schools. There is nothing like it to make clear cut, well defined thinkers. In doing this work you have the essence of lan- guage study. As y6u advance in the power to think and the ability to express your thoughts, you will learn how to divide and sub-divide your topic, so as to lay your thought clearly before your readers and gradually build up to a conclusion. Your effort will be throughout to convey your thought clearly, and in its entirety. To do this you will begin with the foundation, and with an eye to strength, complete- ness and beauty, like a mechanic building a house, you will seek to complete your topic. Do this and then get some book on Rhetoric and you will find that in your effort to properly express your thoughts, you have observed dozens of rhetorical rules, which it would have taken you days to commit; and even then you would not havps understood them till you had this experience in writing. But now while many of those rules and laws are suggestive and helpful, most of them fall in line as a matter of course. We learn here again that the lumber of the Rhetoric like that of the Grammar, which is designed to help, only hinders if it is not made to follow in its proper place. A simple rule runs through all Language work from beginning to end: "Aim to express your thoughts clearly, con- cisely, fully, forcibly, elegantly." Write, read, criti- cise and re-write until your thoughts are thus ex- pressed; that is all there is in it. In your effort to do this you will gradually learn to practice all the rules and laws of Rhetoric, though you may never know how to recite them like a parrot. 58 HOW TO STUDY. HOW TO STUDY GEOGKAPHY. Pupils spend too much time in vain on this branch. If all the superfluous matter were sifted out of the average school Geography, it would be a very small book. The names of thousands of islands are given, and in many schools pupils try to commit them. What good do they do you ? You never use them. About all you know of them is their names and loca- tion, and even these you have to bring out on dress parade occasionally, to keep them bright. And to what purpose? Simply to know them. But if occa- sion arises so that you really become interested in one of them, if a friend goes there, or if something else happens to make you interested in it, you find your vague knowledge of little use. You immediate- ly set to work to look it up. This you do with real interest and after that you know something about it. The same may be said of committing names of capes, rivers, mountains, lakes, unimportant cities, and much other data of this kind that you care nothing about and will soon forget. When you re- member the almost infinite number of names, bound- aries, statistics, etc. , that might be learned in Geogra- phv, you will readily see that it is useless to attempt all The question then naturally comes to the clear, systematic student, what will I undertake to learn? It would be useless to attempt to point out what you should learn, for that cannot be done. But I can give you two rules by which each person can deter- mine for himself. Learn what is of interest to you. Learn what you need to use. These are pretty good rules to govern you in selecting and rejecting matter in Geography. If HOW TO STUDY. 59 you are really interested in knowing or finding out anything it will be likely to stay with you If you need to use any information in Geography such as a place you are reading about, or a journey you are expecting to take you will be interested in it In such cases you will want specific information and you will go into details. But in the general study of GeograDhy you will not be interested in minutiae or matters of detail ; therefore according to the rule given, you won't care to spend time learning them. I knew a teacher once who felt quite ashamed because she did not know which was the highest mountain in the world, and another equally so because she was not sure which was the longest river. It would seem to me greater ignorance not to know the number of town- ships, the general surface, the rivers and kind of soil in one's own county. Begin learning about the geography of your farm, your neighborhood, your township, your county, and your state, before you feel that you must commit names of mountains, rivers, capes, and statistics of cities and areas of territory in foreign lands. What do I care which mountain is the highest, or which river the longest ? I have in my mind a picture of the large rivers and high mountains of my own and foreign countries. I know how they look as nearly as it is possible for one to know with- out seeing them. What more do I want ? I don't care about a few miles, or a few feet here or there. Should I go to congress and have a project for canals, drainage, or commerce connected with these rivers or mountains, I would then be in- terested in details, and I would then learn as much in one reading about these matters of detail as I would now by hours of painful study and indifferent reviewing. 60 HOW TO STUDY. Do you see the point ? If you can't awaken an interest in your mind so as to make vivid mental pictures, and clear conceptions of countries, cities, people, productions and industries, it is useless to commit empty words and names, and delude your- self with the notion that you are getting a knowl- edge of this branch. Words, definitions and names are not knowledge, any more than husks are corn or chaff is wheat. TAKE A SURVEY OF WHAT MAY BE LEARNED. We have been speaking about what not to do. Assuming that you are cautioned against routine, chintzbug study, (chintzbugs, you know, stick head and eyes into the root of a stalk of wheat, unmindful of the rolling acres about them,) and that you will not attempt to carry away the Rocky Mountains in order to get the gold in them, we may take a survey of the work to be done, the part we most need, and the part that may interest us to learn about and use. As we look into our mind to see what we are going to study, we see the whole world laid out before us an immense ball in space, the surface of which is land and water. On one side we see two large pieces of land called North America and South America. Rolling the ball around we find on the other side Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The pieces of water between, we see are called the five Oceans. All this we learn in the Primary Grade. Now this includes the scope of our geographical study unless we go outside of the ball itself. Have you the picture clear in mind? There is the world a great ball in space whirling around the sun. Now what could we learn about it? Each pupil can tell before he opens a geography. First we could learn about those pieces of land and water. When HOW TO STUDY. 61 we have learned the names of the great oceans, that is about all we have to learn of the water just now. So we confine our attention to the land. We find that divided into five or six large pieces called continents, then into smaller pieces called countries, and states. When we know these in a general way, we notice the surface of the land is marked by mountains, rivers and lakes. By turning the ball around a few times, we pretty easily get a mental picture of these, and gradually learn the names of the larger ones. We then turn the ball around and learn the zones of heat and cold, and this leads us to inquire about the vegetable and animal growth of each zone. As man is one of the animal kind we naturally inquire about him as well as the other families of animals, and we learn of the peoples of the human animals. We are interested to know in a general way how those people live, what they do, etc , so we learn of productions, cities, and governments. All this time we have chosen our own topics and gotten information where we could. We have paid no attention to the divisions and definitions of the book. If we turn to it now, we would be likely to find that we have learned, in a short time, all that it con- tains in many pages, only we don't know so many names and definitions according to the book. We have instead, however, mental pictures and ideas, and we can easily get names, and make up defini- tions. The fact is we have begun at the right end and what would have been dry, laborious study through the regular routine lesson, has been full of interest and full of ideas. We have been stimulat- ing our thought and appeasing it as we went along. If we found things we did not care about know- ing, we passed them over till the time came when we 62 HOW TO STUDY. would care. After this jaunt, we can take up our book and learn lesson after lesson with ease in so far as we care about it. ADVANCED WORK IN GEOGRAPHY. So far we have a general idea of the surface of the earth. In mind, we can see the chains of moun- tains, the groups and peaks, ivhere they are; we can give the names of most of them; we can see the great rivers with their branches, called river systems, draining the valleys; we can see the gulfs and bays cutting into the edges of the land here and there; we can see the great lakes glittering here and there in the middle of the land, we see a few great cities, and we are interested in know- ing why they became so large, and why they still grow larger; we see the different countries and have an idea of the kind of people that live in each, and how they support themselves, and conduct their affairs of state. This mental picture we have got- ten easily. It only took us a short time, and every step was full of interest. Does any one of my pupils say that his mental picture of Europe or South America is not clear? Then, my child, go and draw a map of it. Put in the map only the features — mountains, rivers, lakes, cities, etc.— that you con- sider important. Don't fill your map up with minu- tiae for effect. Be true to yourself. Put in it only what you can see is important, and while you im- print each feature thus honestly on your map, you will make a clear, indelible picture upon the mind. As you take up the study of each country, the first thing you should do is to draw an outline map of it. Add to this map from day to day the features that you learn about it. In doing this a little colored chalk where a certain color always represents a cer- HOW TO STUDY. 63 tain thing, will add greatly to the clearness of the mental picture. Don't try to make fancy picture-maps for effect. The only object is to get a correct mental conception. Better make rude draughts and repeat them oftener than to spend your time on fancy work. For ex- ample, John and I thought we would get a good idea of the United States. We got us each a sheet of paper, 14x28, and in a short time we had the map bounded, and, with four faint lines drawn across it north and south, from four to six inches apart, as a guide to us in locating, we drew light boundaries of all the states in a very short time. Next day we put in the mountains and rivers. Then we located the principal cities; but we read up about each city before giving it a place on our map. We did not get very many cities down, but what we had, we were pretty familiar with. Highlands and val- leys we indicated by different colors; also mineral products, iron, lead, coal, gold, silver — each had its own color to designate its place on the map. When we finished we had a clear picture of our maps in our mind and could shut our eyes and see our maps as if they were lying before us. We did likewise with Europe, only we did not go into detail so much as with the United States. We can now look into our minds and see each country, its principal mountains, rivers, lakes and cities; (only the large ones); we can see what the people are doing in each country, how they are governed, and how they go to school and to church. As the picture passes from Europe to Asia, strange and interesting contrasts are noticed in the people, their manners, customs, employments, government, education and churches. We don't know as many names as some students, but we have mental pictures and ideas which afford us much pleasure. All of it 64 HOW TO STUDY. was of interest to us in learning it, and seems to stay with us without effort. Many things come up in connection with geog- raphy that we don't know about; but we have a large, complete geography for reference to consult at such times; and we find that students who have spent double the time on geography that we spent, have to consult this reference geography as often as we. HOW TO STUDY. 65 HOW TO STUDY HISTOKY. We should read History with interest. If we can't do it in that way we had better quit until we can awaken an interest. It is folly to plod through it. The mind must be awake not only so as to get all the author gives, but to imagine conditions and circumstances that then existed and to form living mental pictures. What we read we must reconcei ve and see in our mind. To do this, the faculties must be wide awake, and when we cannot keep them so we had better stop reading. We should read history as a connected whole, not by pieces and unrelated events. Before taking up a subject, it is well to first get a birdseye view of the whole before going into details. If the whole of United States History could be laid out before the mind in epochs until the student could see it in re- lief, as he would see a city from a hill top, the cor- relation of events would be much easier to see, and the study in detail would be easier and more interest- ing. Don't you know how this may be done? Simply by, at first, getting it in outline. The whole history of the United States may be given in a ten-minute recitation; or it may be given in twenty minutes, or forty minutes, or an hour, according to the amount of detail given. To tell the story of our country from beginning to end in a brief talk would lay it before the mind in a connected whole. This story may be enlarged from day to day, and the oneness or wholeness still retained. If this work be done by teachers, long before United States History is taken up as a study in a book, it will help pupils to study it intelligently and with interest. 66 HOW TO STUDY. ' 'Years ago our country was wild prairies and forests without any people except tribes of uncivil- ized Indians. Civilized people lived in Europe. They did not know of America. Christopher Col- umbus, who Jived in Italy, got an idea that the world was round and that by sailing westward he would reach India. He set out on the ocean and ran on to America, though he supposed it was India. Then a lot of English, French and Spaniards set out to explore and colonize the new country, and after much hardship they got several farms started in New York, Virginia and Florida. There was a Dutch lot, or colony of people in one place, French in another, English in another, and Spanish in another. At first they had some fights with the Indians; but afterward they got to fighting among themselves, because their countries in Europe were in war. Three or four of those colonial wars happened; but they did not amount to much until the English and French got to fighting about land. This was quite a long war, but England came out ahead, and so she tried from that time on to govern all the colonies in this coun- try. But the colonists did not like England's gov- ernment, so they all joined hands — English, Dutch and French combined their forces to break away from England's control. And they succeeded. They then organized a government of their own, and united as one people— not Dutch, not English, not French — but Americans, and chose their great General, George Washington, who had led them to victory in their fight for independence, as the first President of the United States. From that time on our people have grown pow- erful and happy. They tilled the fields, built rail- roads and cities, manufactured and improved ma- chinery, and grew in knowledge and wealth. When Washington's four year term expired, they elected HOW TO STUDY. 67 him for four more ; then they elected a new man for president, and they have had a good many since as they elect a new one every four or eight years. We got into a second war with England about 1812 for imposing on our people at sea. It was fought mostly at sea and did not last but a few years, when England concluded to let our seamen alone. Then in 1846 we were mean enough to fight Mexico with- out much cause, and got a large piece of her land. But these two wars were nothing compared to the one our own people got into over slavery. The people of the South had been getting negroes to do their work and holding them in slavery. The Northern people opposed this, and a desperate war of five years fol- lowed, from 1861 to '65, at the close of which the slaves were freed, and now our whole country is re- spectable, prosperous, happy and at peace with all nations." There is the History of the United States in one recitation. This may be enlarged, as much as each one pleases, until he has the whole in a birdseye view. Then, as he studies it more in detail, he will connect events by cause and effect and group epochs. Don't bother about dates until you need them. A few "land mark" dates you will of course need; and the related events if properly learned, will force other years to their places. There is help in this if you will try it. After we have the whole history before the mind in a general way, we begin the study in detail. Five elements will constantly enter in, and we should learn them and note them in every topic; cause, time, place, persons, effect. If these are carefully noted in connection with each topic, the frame work will be well defined. Throughout this study we must form mental pic- tures of the countries, the peoples, the conditions, 68 HOW TO STUDY. the lines of march and plans of campaigns in wars, etc. From the very first, we should begin to make our historical map. On this, locate the voyages of Columbus, of the Cabots and other explorers; locate the settlement of the colonies, the boundaries of ter- ritory claimed by the English and French and Dutch and Spanish ; the forts of the French and Indian war; the plan of campaign and the position of each army at the final surrender. These points once well in mind for the French and Indian war, will be of great help in the study of each succeeding war. In fact, if the picture of the country and the lines of march of the forces are well in mind all subsequent study will be more intelligent and easier. One map filled in from day to day will be sufficient for an en- tire epoch. On this map we make no mark unnec- essarily — no points are put on for show. We are expected to be able to tell all about each point in our historical map. In studying each war we should at first try to get a birdseye view of it before going into details. To do this it is well to read from the beginning to the close of it at one sitting. This has a tendency to throw all in relief as a whole before the mind and as we seek to follow the story continuously it grows in interest as we proceed. We do not stop to note time, or places or men, or numbers as we do in our detail study. We sail over the fields in a balloon, and whole campaigns pass before us in their entirety. For example, read over the French and Indian war. Then close your eyes and view your mental picture in its entirety. You have in mind the cause of the war. You see the armies meeting at Fort Necessity, Fort Duquesne, Lake George, Louisburg, Ticonder- oga, Niagara and Quebec. Your map has made a clear picture on your mind and the story of each HOW TO STUDY. 69 point is soon told. The entire French and Indian war may be told in one recitation. Here again we emphasize the importance of a birdseye view of a topic or campaign as a whole. But a war is only a period of history. Other peri- ods, we learn in the same manner as wholes. During each peace period, many important events mark the progress and growth of our country which may be passed in review as wholes before the mind, just like wars or campaigns. In this way we get mental pic- tures, or birdseye views of our country's history in periods and epochs. Beginning with the voyages of Columbus, we give the mental canvas a turn and the whole epoch of discovery and exploration with its Cabots, Ponce de Leon, Cortez, Magellan, DeSoto, Melendez, Raleigh, Hudson, etc., pass before us. We see the men, the ship's course through the ocean and along the coast, and the tracks of exploring parties inland. We give the canvas another turn, and we see various groups of colonists trying to make settle- ment here and there in the wild country with failure and success. In connection with all these pictures of our history, we have to keep an eye on the condi- tion of European people to fully understand our own. After this period of Discovery and Exploration is well in mind, we give the canvas another turn to the period of Colonization. The picture of the Epoch before us represents nearly one hundred and seventy - five years of Colonization. Look on your mental picture. There is Virginia Colony at the mouth of the James, in the midst of a wilderness. Hardship, famine, charters, government from Kings, and dicta- tion from leaders, Indian massacres, Bacon's rebel- lion and internal feuds, all the history of this colony pass before the mind in a few minutes. Next the eye 70 HOW TO STUDY. catches Massachusetts, with its Pilgrim Fathers and much of the same struggles that the Virginia colony passed through. In quick succession come the other colonies. Many of them founded for relig- ious freedom from English oppression, some for free- dom from exacting English laws of debt. Roger Williams and Rhode Island, Hooker and Connecti- cut, Henry Hudson, New York and the Dutch, Lord Baltimore Maryland and the Catholics, Oglethorpe Georgia and the debtors —all pass before us bearing each its history. If we think of these as so many neighborhoods far apart, and in mind pass quickly from one to the other, comparing them as to aims and purposes, we will soon have a vivid mental pic- ture — a sort of birdseye view of the whole. In this way you see the subject as a whole — and seeing it so, you note how it brings out the contrast of struggles for religious freedom, and persecution of Quakers; Salem Witchcraft, and protestant and cath- olic dissentions. As yet, you see a lot of separate communities gradually organizing into a lot of states, and finally linked together by the French and In- dian war, and welded by the American Revolution. Having once gotten this frame work or picture as a whole, we can add to it from time to time with inter- est and ease. HOW TO STUDY. 71 HOW TO STUDY ARITHMETIC. If your work in the primary grades has been prop- erly done, very little direction on method is needed in this branch. A few suggestions, however, may prove helpful. In this branch, like all others, two ends are in view; the development of the reasoning power, and the utility of the science for practical ends. The first is, of course, the more important, and sensible students will understand that the amount of concentrated thought they put forth is what pays, whether problems are learned or not. Those who realize this will not ask some one's help to do away with work that was designed for their mental growth. Keep before you constantly that the purpose of your work is to grow strong; then you will never want to get through a problem that you do not un- derstand. Don't work by rule or by formula. All these things take away the real benefit of the work. The following suggestions, carefully observed, will be helpful. 1st. Read your problem carefully. Criticise the wording of it until you know all the inferences that can be taken from it. Then, if carefully working the problem according to one understanding of the statement does not win, try it according to another possible understanding of the reading. It often hap- pens that pupils do much hard work correctly, but in vain, simply because they have not carefully read the problem, and are working it according to a wrong understanding. It sometimes happens, also, that the wording of the problem is not good in that it may be understood in more ways than one. In such 72 HOW TO STUDY. cases, pupils often do their work logically and cor- rectly, and not getting- the correct answer, try and try again to no purpose. They sometimes try ways they see no reason for in the hope they "may get it right." This waste of time and futile work may be avoid- ed by carefully reading the problem, and fully under- standing it, before any attempt is made at working it. Think deeply before you begin to make figures. How important this suggestion is, you may realize after following it. 2nd. If any step in the work is not quite clear, make it the object of thought until you clear it up. If you are called upon in class to explain a problem bear in mind what is said on this subject under Lan- guage work. Let your thoughts be clear cut and compel your tongue to express them in Language that will do them justice. 3rd. Let all your written work on slate or black board be well arranged, clear and systematic no mat- ter whether any one is to see it or not. Don't get into the habit of tossing your work together as good enough. If bad habits of this kind are formed during school life, you will never get rid of them. Let the work be clear and complete. You may want to "cut the corners" to save time, but, in the end, you will lose more through errors arising from unsystematic work than you will ever gain, and contract bad habits instead. You might as well try to save time in writing by dropping out words here and there, as to omit the signs in working a problem. They are only substi- tutes for so many English words. Then too, the comma, semi-colon, dash, period, etc., are important in the solution of a problem, and should never be omitted. The habit of making good figures does not receive enough attention by pupils. Simple as it may HOW TO STUDY. 73 seem, it is really one of the greatest sources of mis- takes and annoyances in practical life. Long fives that look like nines, and sevens that look like ones, and threes that look like fives or eights, and so on, are fruitful sources not only of error, but also of lost time. 4th. Cultivate a habit of accuracy. In practical life uniform accuracy in addition, subtraction, etc., is of the greatest importance. Some pupils re- gard an error in figures as of no importance, " sim- ply an oversight." How would it be if you were a cashier? "An oversight" there, and in many other positions would mean money lost. For this reason the services of clerks who are accurate in figures are at a premium. 5th. Definitions if learned at all should be learned verbatim. You can't make up a definition im- promptu. You can give an idea of the thing to be defined; but don't think that is giving a definition. Definitions require exact language. 6th. Among the many tables to be learned some should be thoroughly committed, and others only read over. Those that one uses daily should be as familiar as the tables of dollars, dimes and cents. Other tables that are not used enough to keep them in mind should not be committed. Ell English, measures at sea, " Barly corns table;" also the rules of foreign states for computing interest, should not be committed. You can consult the book if you hap- pen to have occasion to use these. One great fault with students in Arithmetic is their leaning upon the book for support. The work is laid out under headings with case and rule, etc., for each. By following the direction of the author as given in these headings, one can work the prob- lems almost without thought. But when the same 74 HOW TO STDUY. work is given without case or rule, pupils do not feel so sure of their methods. To overcome this, we should work examples taken at random from other books, that illustrate the principles just passed over; or practice examples that come up in every day life. HOW TO STUDY. 75 HOW TO STUDY PHYSIOLOGY. It is really quite easy to learn all you need to know of this branch for practical purposes if you study properly. Think with me as to what you want to know about it. I. — The construction or anatomy of the body. 1. The bones and how they are made and joined. 2. The muscles and how they are made and attached to the bones. 3. The fat that is deposited here and there. 4. The membranes that cover organs and cavities. 5. The skin that covers the outside. 6. The organs of digestion, circulation, res- piration. 7. The nervous system. 8. The parts of the eye and ear. II. — The actions of the organs, or physiology. 1. How the food is prepared for renewing the blood. 2. How the blood builds up the tissues and carries off impurities. 3. How the blood is purified, or respiration. 4. How the nerves control the action of the organs. III.— The way to care for health, build up good bodies, and keep strong. 1. Amount and character of food. 2. Amount and character of exercise. 3. Prevention of disease, care in sickness, etc. Now you can add to this outline if you desire, but if you know this much of the branch you will not be considered ignorant. 76 HOW TO STUDY. In learning what we have outlined, you can make it hard or easy, according to the number of names, etc., learned, just as in the study of Geog- raphy. You may spend days learning the scientific names of the bones, and many do. But what good does it do you? You will probably forget most of them, unless you bring them out for dress parade occasionally. Those names are not used in life. Collar bone is just as good as clavicle, and shoulder blade as scapula, knee-bone as patella, and finger- bones as phalanges. The important thing to know is the bones them- selves, how they are constructed and joined to- gether. The best way to do this is to carefully examine a skeleton, and in an hour you will actually know more facts from the things themselves than you will learn in reading about them for a week. The reading is all good enough, but let it be done with the thing before you. Almost any physician will give you the opportunity to examine a human skeleton. For the study of the composition of bones and muscles get material at the butcher shop. Don't bother your head, or waste your time, over names; you can designate things well enough if you know them. The knowledge itself first always; the mental picture first. Get at the thing, and the names will come as fast as needed. One of my pupils who had never spent much time in the book, after pursuing the plan suggested, re- cited about as follows: "The human skeleton that we examined yesterday contained 208 bones without the teeth. In the skull we found eight bones, rather flat and joined together as carpenters dovetail the ends of boxes or like this: (he interlocked his fingers); the one at the back of the head was very thick. When it was sawed in two, I noticed that the HOW TO STUDY. 77 outside pieces were hard and the center spongy, and I suppose it would be no easy matter to break a skull made that way as the force of the blow would be lost in the spongy center. Right under the skull is the backbone made up of twenty-six odd shaped bones. The ribs, twenty- four in number, were joined to these at back, and the seven upper on each side were joined in front to the breast bone. Then came the large hip bones. There were also a collar bone from the neck to the shoulder in front, and a shoulder bone behind, to which were attached the three arm bones, one above and two below, fast- ened at the shoulder by a round head in a round hole, and at the elbow a joint like a hinge. At the wrist were eight little round and oblong bones, and below them five long bones forming the palm of the hand, then fourteen bones in the fingers." In like manner he told of the bones in the legs and feet, and of the face. You observe he gave very few names, but he knew all about the bones them- selves. He had studied the branch but a few days when he could tell you about the heart and its valves and walls; also the arteries and veins, and intestines. He had examined them for himself. After this he read a book on the subject easily and intelligently. My point is this: don't spend your time learning names and reciting words that don-t mean much to you. Learn about the organs themselves, their anatomy, their actions and their uses. In this way you will find the branch full of inter- est, and easily mastered in so far as you will need it. After you have learned the parts of the body and their action and functions, you will of course read up on the laws of health or how to take care of these parts. And may we hope that you will learn 78 HOW TO STUDY. these laws to observe and practice them? Little good they will do you otherwise. The chief end and aim of all you study of this branch is the intel- ligent observance of the laws. Bad enough to have these laws transgressed ignorantly; still worse to have them broken willfully. In either case the transgressor suffers the penalty whether he realize it or not. The fortune, vouchsafed to each in good health and abundant strength, is rarely properly valued and often carelessly jeopardized. HOW TO STUDY. 79 ELEMENTARY SCIENCES. In the school, we study what are called the com- mon branches, and because these have been selected as the ones necessary for us, we usually stop wit'h them. Did you ever ask who laid out these four or five branches for common schools? or why it was done? If not, do so. That they are of primary im- portance we all admit; but that we should be con- tent to confine ourselves to those few branches, and never take a look into other fields, is a question we should think about. All about us vegetation springs to life each year, clothes the earth with verdure, delights the eye and gladdens the heart with fresh and varied colorings. Trees bud and leaf, flowers unfold and bloom, birds build their nests, warble their songs, and bring forth their broods. Butterflies flit from flower to flower, bees hum their song and sip the honey, while on their feet they carry fruitful seeds from flower to flower. With the growth of myriad plants struggling for a place, the hum of insects and the song of birds, all nature is buoyant with life, visible and invisible. Plants, insects, birds and beasts, all have their families and family histories. All live according to laws, always beautiful and often wonderful. V\ ,,ere some plants are found, the botanist knows that other families will be represented near by, and that others will not be there. The telescope brings to us wonders from the im- mensity of space; the microscope reveals a field at our feet equally as wonderful. And why should we children of ten, twelve and fifteen summers, plod on in the limits of the common branches, deaf, dumb and blind to so much of nature about us? Is it be- 80 HOW TO STUDY. cause the sciences have names highsounding? If so, it is easy to give them household names. We can learn about plants, insects, animals, rocks, etc. "Even the dullest beholder," says Prof. Gray, "the least observant of nature at other seasons, can in the spring hardly fail to ask, what are plants? How do they live and grow? What is the object and use of vegetation in general and in its particular and won- derfully various forms?" Suppose you set out each spring to get acquainted with one new plant or flower each week. This would be found a very easy matter and would soon lead on to greater things in this line. In a little while you would know the grand divisions in bot- any, and the leading families of each division, also many interesting things about the life and growth of plants. In like manner a little study and easy reading about animals might be done each day until their kingdoms, divisions, classes and families and a great many of the species would be familiar. Would it not also be interesting to collect speci- mens of the trees or kinds of wood that grow in your vicinity? Also specimens of the rock formations? In a few months we would no longer look upon vegetation as a jumbled up mass of flowers and weeds, but a really law-abiding lot of communities and families, with characteristics in some respects so similar to those of people that they would seem much more interesting and much nearer to us. Get some easy book on botany like Gray's ''Plants, and how they grow" and start your plant collection, your wood collection, etc. Later you will want a similar book on animals, and it will not be long until you will want to go farther in those fields that you have barely glanced at. HOW TO STUDY. 81 A FEW OF THE THINGS WE WOULD LEARN ABOUT. We would find that all living things are two classes, plants and animals. That in the lower orders, it is difficult to distin- guish the plant from the animals, so closely do these two great kingdoms unite. That plants take up nutriment from, and live on the earth, while animals live on plants, and hence plants are the link that unites the animals to the clod and enables them to live, indirectly, from it. That in each seed there is a miniature plantlet, which a few days in the soil will so unfold as to show the form of the adult plant. That the meats of grain, nuts, etc. , which we eat is the food that was stored up for the infant plant. That the life of some plants is one year, others two years, and others many years. That buds and leaves are regular in their arrange- ment, and seem to follow definite laws. That some plants live on the earth, others live entirely upon the air, while a few "sponge" their living off other plants. That families of plants are distinguished by spe- cial forms of leaves, roots, flowers and seeds. That on dissecting flowers, we find parts (style, stamens, pistols, anthers, ovaries, pollen) wonderful and beautiful. That all the parts of plants have some purpose in view, such as the strength and comfort of itself, its future wants, or the perpetuation of its kind. That amoDg plants are found male and female. That there are characteristics of plants that enable us to classify them into divisions, families, species, and varieties, and thus reduce the whole vegetable world to system, and identify, recognize, and be able to salute by name each plant we meet. 82 HOW TO STUDY. That in all and through all are discovered laws of the Creator, clear, definite, wonderful, beautiful, the contemplation of which makes us reverently bow in mind and heart, if not in body, worshipfully acknowledging the wonders of creation of which we know so little, and unconsciously repeating that great scientist's spontaneous prayer: "O God, I think thy thoughts after Thee," or musing in Tennyson's — Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, Hold you here root and all in my hand, Little flower— but if I could understand What you are, root and all and all in all, I should know what God and man is- Under this heading we have said but little of the fields of elementary zoology, geology and astronomy which every child should enter at an early date — while in the Third, and Fourth Reader. But it is only our purpose to suggest the wisdom and necessity of taking up all these branches in ele- mentary form while yet studying the common branches. Enter those fields at once, and return there often, if only long enough each time to be refreshed by a breath of their fragrance, or expanded by a glimpse of their boundless horizons. Each day learn something from nature herself. Books will help you some, but your eyes more. Be- gin to observe and you will soon begin to inquire. Your own observation, poor as it may be, is the best for you. Read your books but examine in nature for yourself what is discussed in your books. "Bring not to field or stone The fancies found in books, Leave author's eyes and fetch your own To brave the landscape's books." HOW TO STUDY. 83 CHAKACTER BUILDING. "He has learned all the knowledge of the books and yet is meaner than when he entered school." Men are regarded in two capacities: for what they can do, and for what they are. In the former ca- pacity we estimate their worth, and prize them as we prize cattle, horses, machinery, money, power; in the latter we respect and love them. In the former, they are our lawyers, doctors, bankers, smiths. In the latter, our friends. What one has in the shape of facts, skill, talent, knowl- edge, money or power does not necessarily make him any better; what one is is eyerything. We have been studying Beading, Arithmetic, Language, etc. — sciences all very good in themselves and desirable to know; but now that we know them are ive any better men and women than before? Did our Grammar make us less selfish or our Arithmetic less mean, or our Geography less vain? Surely not. One may have "learned all the knowledge of the books and be meaner than when he entered school." Growth in wealth, knowledge or power is not necessarily a growth in goodness, love, purity or truth. In fact the absence of the former frequently conduce to the growth of the latter. Among our young people in school and at home, we need discipline and culture on a side of our na- ture which the regular work touches only incident- ally. We need a branch that will be to the moral powers, what Arithmetic is to the reasoning powers. Oh, if we could only have a science of character as prominent in our schools and as faithfully studied as the science of arithmetic! If pupils could be made to feel that strength of character, depth of 84 HOW TO STUDY. affection, and nobility of soul, require exercise on ap- propriate objects just as the reason does on arith- metic, many an occasion for healthful exercise would then be embraced that is now neglected and lost. If parents could realize that graduation day does not of necessity find their children more trust- worthy, or more lovable than the day they entered college. True, the general influences of the school and the college are toward making each student better mor- ally; but those "general influences" are far from equal to the great work of character- building that should.be done for each student. His reasoning powers are not left to the development of "general influences;" why should his moral powers be? The fact is, this side of our education is neglected in the schools, and then we wonder why we find in life that the characters of men and women are made of such poor stuff when put to the test. "Well, what are you going to do about it?" said a friend to me. I am going to map out a course of instruction — reading, writing and doing — for my stu- dents that has for its end and aim the development of character, just as much as arithmetic has for its end the development of the reason. It will be an ARITHMETIC OF CHARACTER. Let us note some of the elements both good and bad that enter into each person's make-up. First — Truth,— bright, beaming, glorious truth; the basis of moral health, the foundation of all other elements of character, that which gives weight to words, force to argument, courage to the down-trod- den, and conviction to every one. Truth as an element of character has a broader meaning than is usually attached to it. It includes more than statements in words. It is at the basis of HOW TO STUDY. 85 right seeing, right feeling, right thinking, right judging, right acting. What injustice, folly and wrong has been committed because the living truth was not perceived! There is probably as much lack of truth to one's self as there is to others. Self deception is far more common than opium eating. Both habits are practiced for false pleasure. The vail with which pride seeks to cover ignorance, is no less an illusion than the condition induced by the opium pipe. The clear perception of truth dissipates thous- ands of self-delusions and moral miasmas. It is the surgeon's knife to the goitres of egotism, the gard- ner's broom to the cobwebs of vanity, nature's sun to the fog of superstition. Truth to one's self, in thought, as well as in word and act, is an element of character that no one can afford to compromise, and that all should assiduously cultivate. When one loves truth in its broadest form he will also love justice and honesty. He must do so, for the one flows from the other. An unjust deed usually contains some shade of falsehood to one's self, or to others or to both. So does a dishonest deed. When one loves truth he will abstain from prej- udice, despise flattery, denounce injustice and side with the right regardless of majorities. The sacred- ness of his word once given will be kept with the royalty of truth. His word may be relied on. It will be a promissory note, and more, it will be a mort- gage on his manhood, — the word of nature's noble- man. In the tale of Virginius, when the old Roman's word was given and accepted for the return of the beautiful Virginia to the mock trial of the tyrant, all hope of justice being fled, some one urges escape by flight. But the old Roman says his word is 86 HOW TO STUDY. pledged and shakes his head in a way that shows he could far more easily give up his life than break his promise. Would that we could give some of the accumula- tions of the nineteenth century in exchange for the integrity of a Roman promise! When your word is given, my boy, keep it sacred. Keep it though it make you squirm financially. Keep it though you sell your produce below the market price. Keep it though you go cold and hungry. Keep it through all forms of temptation to break it; for, when the trial is over then "come the angels to minister unto him." In life, it often costs to keep one's word; were it not so it would not be so valuable a letter of credit. But cost what it may, it is part of one's manhood, and no man has ever sold a piece of his manhood without getting cheated in the deal. In developing truth in its entirety, one will also develop four other elements of character: — Justice, Honesty, Frankness, Conscientiousness. As these five kindred elements pull into line in the effort to establish the first, we pass on to a group of four more elements: Nobleness, Boldness, Courage, Valor. What a grand thing it is to be a man! A noble, brave, courageous, independent man; not one who makes service menial by cringing to please, but who ennobles his calling whatever it be, by the excellence of his work and the independence of his manhood. It is a mistake that rendering service is ignoble. True nobility is independent of position. One of manly independence is not subject to persons; he is subject to the laws and customs of his calling — no more, no less. To the laws of position and vocation every one is subject. The lawyer is a servant, so is the doctor, the merchant, the public officer, every HOW TO STUDY. 87 one. The merchant studies to please the public just as much as the employe does to please the. em- ployer, and usually more. In doing so, all people work in obedience to the laws of position and not the whim of persons. In that there is nothing servile. The title to the property resides in the owner; but the employe who performs his work well is as necessary to the employer as the employer is to him, and may have his share of manly inde- pendence if he does not sell it. Whenever one touches upon this phase of the subject, he is confronted with the problem of labor and capital. We will not enter into the discussion farther than to say that numerous causes contribute to the difficulties that arise, and numerous reforms are necessary to remedy them. No one thing will cure all. But among the many remedies offered, no one will go so far, in my judgment, as manly inde- pendence with all that it implies. Now, what does this independence mean? It means that man shall be able to support himself independent of others. How? In a very simple way : keep his expenses in- side his income. Save a little each day during health and sunshine. That is all there is to it. Many a common laborer on the railroad at $1.25 per day supports a family, schools his children and, in time, has some money saved up. True, he must have his garden, his cow, and his pig. He cannot take care of these and spend his evenings in the village saloon, or on the loafer's dry goods box. He knows what his evenings are worth in his garden and about his home. His food is plain but sub- stantial; his clothes are coarse but durable. His digestion is good, his conscience clear, his sleep is sound. Frugality, economy, and industry have conspired to make this man independent; a dime is 88 HOW TO STUDY. saved here and there; hope sees afar the sun of better days, and from it bends a ray to light up the cottage of the frugal poor. Such a man will command re- spect. He will soon gain footing to better places, and the schooling of his poverty will be the angel of his prosperity. There is no calling in which a man may not through industry and frugality maintain indepen- dence and in time secure a competence. "But my wants are too numerous for $1.25 per day" says one: and "mine for $2.00, and mine for $50 per month; mine for $1,000 per year, and mine for $2,000 per year/*' and so on. There is no limit to the growth of wants in people. One often deludes him- self with the idea that doubling his salary will grat- ify his wants and leave a margin to lay by. He soon finds out that wants increase much faster than in- come, and that the only true philosophy is to keep them inside the income, whatever it be. Labor organizations may help the laborer. If so, God speed them! But don't depend entirely on them. The plan proposed will do most for you in the end. Have you noted the men who go from the "bench" to the head of the firm? They are not men that gave up their time to organizations and strikes to redress their wrongs. They are men who were frugal and industrious, men who kept their expenses inside their income, and wisely invested their savings. They were men whose services were always in de- mand, who never had to bite the dust for any one because of debt or obligation; men who spent no money to gratify vanity, who gave no mortgages on the future for present pleasure; men who had the courage and independence to do as they pleased re- gardless of fashion, custom and caste. As boys in school, they could wear cowhide boots though others wore calf; they could wear clothes of HOW TO STUDY. 89 texture less fine, and of cut less fashionable, than that of their scnoolmates ; they could do work to replenish their purse with an honest penny, while others spent spare hours in expensive pastimes; and best of all, they did these things — not with shame, not with the blush of wounded vanity — but with a manly independence that lent its luster to every act, and in time won them a reputation for strength and courage that challenged the respect and admi- ration of their more wealthy companions. That which makes noble, Independent men is of the same stuff that makes manly, independent boys. To work and struggle through hardships and priv- ations knowing in one's secret heart that these are angels in disguise; to bravely, nobly, joyfully fight life's battles as they come; to inhale like bracing air the inspiration of a purpose enthroned in the soul; and finally, in the fullness of manhood, to gradually emerge from creek and shoal, free and independent, out upon the high seas of life, with your craft, small but seaworthy, your iron will for a rudder to which it readily responds; your mature judgment for a compass ; your horizon of possibility broad as the curves of the earth; your freedom only limited by the shores of the ocean; what inspiration in the thought! What effort is it not worth! Truly "It is a great thing to be a man!" Benevolence, Love and Faith. Last and greatest, we must cultivate benevolence for humanity and love for neighbors and friends. Where in our path there is suffering, to them must go out our sympathy; where there is want, our aid ; where shortcoming and defect, our charity; where deserved success, our congratulation. The man of large sympathies draws people to him like a magnet. Through the affections all men are brothers. Through warmth of heart men are 90 HOW TO STUDY. drawn together. A cold, sluggish nature makes few friends. What matter what talent, ability or wealth you have if you are not kind, sympathetic and lova- ble? People are not drawn to one for what he knows. If a person be cold and repulsive, his fel- lows will not desire intercourse with him except business-wise. Be the intellect what it may, the talent what it may, the position, wealth, power and all that; the character that is formed without healthy affections, without a warm heart for his fellows, without abundant sympathy for humanity, however perfect otherwise, is a flower without per- fume, a light without warmth or radiance, a struc- ture yet incomplete, and dedicated to ends less noble than the highest. That judgment made without sympathy is unjust; that criticism made without love is harsh; that pun- ishment inflicted without pain is cruel. The Eye of Reason, with all its boasted clearness, can never rightly adjust its lenses to a perfect view of human nature without affection's touch. Truly, "The heart hath reasons which the reason does not understand." But how to cultivate this side of our nature? Not by talking about it and endorsing those teach- ings. Demonstrations of love and professions of friendship and words of kindness are all good enough as far as they go; but words alone will not make the affections deep, any more than they would make the muscles strong. Action is required. Do something; give something, help some one. Who? Not every beggar; not every one in need; not the "unwise charity that bringeth forth weeds." Cer- tainly not. But perform that obligation that lies in your path; bear that responsibility that Providence would rest upon your shoulders; alleviate those sorrows HOW TO STUDY. 91 that are too sacred for the public eye, and concealed from all other eyes but yours; help those friends, the secret current of whose lives have touched and mingled with your own. You need not "go out hunting" for objects of charity. A healthful sense of obligation will always perceive, close at hand, duties enough to perform. Only peform those duties that lie in your path, and help those lives that touch your own, and you will not want for worthy objects enough to keep your affections healthful and your heart glad. Faith, the last element of character mentioned, will develop in the light and warmth of love. The two elements are reciprocal. Distrust is a long step toward hatred. Faith begets love as love begets faith. Faith begets trustworthiness, as distrust begets deception. It is only half confidences that are broken. Human nature even in thieves revolts at treachery. He who has faith in his fellows develops trust- worthiness in them just as surely as love begets love. Appeal to the brutal in your companion and you develop it; appeal to the noble and you develop that. "Be noble, and the nobleness that lies in other men sleeping, though never dead, will rise in majesty to meet your own." Trust your fellows and scorn suspicion and es- pionage. Cheated, you maybe somtimes; but you will lose less by it in a lifetime than you will by the opposite course. Better to tread the highway that leads straight to your object than to spend your time in reconnoitering the alleys before making each ad- vance. In the long run suspicion is a loser. "Eaves- droppers never hear good of themselves, *' and ''cow- ards die a thousand times before their death;' 92 HOW TO STUDY. "treachery is often begotten of our own distrust;" and "we create the dangers that we fear." I have touched upon those prominent elements of character that all should cultivate. Many others might be mentioned. For students who desire to make a study of themselves with a view to cultivat- ing certain elements, and retarding others, we sub- mit the following elements of character outlined by Prof. Willis. Analyze your own thoughts, feelings, desires and ability, with an impartial and unprej- udiced spirit, compare your ideas with this descrip- tion, and you will have a correct impression of what you are, and what you ought to be. The following temperaments form the basis of human character. Any power or organ may be increased by exercise and diminished by neglect. The perfection of man's entire character — religious, moral, intellectual and commercial, — depends upon the equality of all the organs and temperaments and their even and proper exercise. Character is partially hereditary, and partially developed by education. KNOW THYSELF. Knowledge is power; therefore personal know- ledge is personal power. Do you desire to make the most of yourself? Then you must know yourself physically and mentally. Would you control others? Then first conquer and control yourself. Are you aiming to shine in so- ciety? You must be wide-awake, bright, amiable and healthy; a knowledge of yourself will tell you how to attain these qualities. HOW TO KNOW YOURSELF. There are excesses and deficiencies in human character that are not personally observed unless brought to light by the aid of self-analysis. There HOW TO STUDY. , 93 are many persons who generally know what busi- ness to follow, or in what branch of industry they will be most successful. Some are qualified for a brilliant literary career who are wasting their time and energy where they will never amount to anything; they have plenty of brains, but do not use them. Others, again, are using their brains far too much — more than their vitality will permit; thus hastening on to an early grave. They may be brilliant for a while, but lack power; and all their literary genius will be like the glory and fragrance of the rose, that endures for a season, and then passes away; whereas, did they cultivate body and mind together, they would be more like the solid oak, towering up in majestic grandeur above their fellow men. Thousands of men who have led reckless lives, and ultimately gone to ruin, might have been saved had their passions been subdued in youth, by proper culture. Sometimes passions lie dormant until the individual arrives almost at maturity, and then gradually, but surely, develop, moulding and blast- ing the future character; or if circumstances place strong temptations in the way, they may suddenly spring into action, and change the character that was apparently good and noble, into one of crime or ruin. To know wherein we are deficient and excessive is an imperative duty devolving upon every person who would make the most of himself or herself, and fulfill the grand object of life. No two persons are exactly alike, either in appear- ance or character. This diversity arises from the endless combinations of the organs of the mind and body. When the intellectual and moral organs have the ascendancy over all other organs of the system, it gives rise to the mental or nervous temperament. 94 HOW TO STUDY. When the vital organs of the body are the largest and most active they form the basis of other temper- aments, known as the vital and motive. The following chart will help students in self -an- alysis: CHART OF CHARACTER FOR SELF IMPROVE- MENT. CONDITIONS Sg. 1 L ^ Full Aver'ge Small Health 1 Vital Temperament, 1 — Mental Temperament " "\" Muscular andPibrous Temperam'nt 1 Emotional Temperament Activity. 1 ~ 1 1 — 1 1 1 — 1 — — 1 1 i 1 I I 1 1 _ - 1 1 1 ~ 1 ""l '"' Individuality 1 1 1 1 Tune.... ....... Practicality Subterfuge — " 1 1 1 Explanation of Markings— When an organ is marked very HOW TO STUDY. 95 large it indicates that it is extremely active, very powerful, governs the action of smaller organs, has a controlling in- fluence over character and is liable to perversion. Any organ or condition marked large is similar to the above, only in a less degree. Full is indicative of considerable strength and power, yet none to spare; with cultivation will accomplish much, but can never become really great in character or ability. Average has only a medium influence; it is not a defi- ciency, still it has little power unless stimulated and aided by other faculties. Small means deficiency and weakness, and must be vig- orously cultivated to accomplish anything. The perpendicular marks | are used to express what the heading indicates. Horizontal marks — running across the ruled lines, mean between the two conditions the respective headings indicate, HOW TO USE THE CHART FOR SELF IMPROVEMENT. The object is to get a thorough self knowledge. If you are strong in one temperament and weak in another, you should know it so as to cultivate defi- cient powers and make the best use of full ones. Before the student can improve himself he must analyze and know himself. The following plan is suggested. Draw off the chart given here on a sheet of paper, writing in the elements that form the basis of char- acter, as printed in the chart at the left. Then ex- amine yourself as to each element, and make a mark in the column that indicates the degree of fullness of that element; if large, mark 1 in column headed Large; if average, mark 1 in column headed Aver- age; if between the two draw a horizontal line from one column to the other. First is Health; turn to the explanation of the chart and find what is meant by that element. Then mark your chart for yourself as full, or aver- 96 HOW TO STUDY. age, or small, etc. Next comes Vital Temperament. Read under the explanation what this means, and then mark your standing in this element on your chart, and so on until you have examined yourself on all the elements given. The chart as given is filled out for one of my pu- pils. When you have filled out a chart that shows your faculties and powers as you regard them after a careful, unbiased self-examination, file your chart away and give a blank to your teacher and another to your wisest, honestest friend to fill out for you as they see you. Then compare these with yours and you will get pretty close to the truth. Now set to work on one or more defects of char- acter, and see what improvement you can bring about in a year, when you may have another chart filled out. DETAILED EXPLANATION OF ELEMENTS OF CHARACTER. Health.— Present condition of the body and mind. Vital Temperament. — This embraces the entire system of internal organs which create life force (the heart, lungs, stomach, liver, and bowels), and render persons large and fleshy. Motive or Bilious Temperament. — This temperament indicates the bones and muscles which constitute the frame-work of the system, gives tough- ness, muscular power, physical endurance, and great strength of character; imparts a dark complexion. Mental Temperament.— Embraces the brain and nerves. Adapted to thought, feeling, activity, sensation, predominance of mind over body; makes the scholar, poet, artist, etc. Sanguine Temperament. — Gives powerful respiration and arterial blood, great love of physical action, impulsiveness, ardency, warmth of HOW TO STUDY. 97 attachment, and love of field sports; imparts an auburn or reddish color to the hair, and florid complexion. Lymphatic Temperament. — Indicates activity of the absorbents and digestive organs, aversion to motion and labor. Inactive mind and body. Laziness. Nervous Temperament.— Is similar to the mental. A person, however, may be nervous, sensitive to all kinds of impressions, and full of activity, without manifesting much intellectual power. He may likewise be a thinker, and possess considerable brain, without being nervous and irritable. Muscular and Fibrous Temperament. — Indicates large, powerful muscles, physical toughness, tenacity of existence, strong and steady pulse, hardness of flesh, and endurance of both body and mind. Emotional.— Excitability. It is the hysterical, weeping, laughing, hopeful, quick-tempered and scolding disposition. Intensity of feeling; keen susceptibilities. Passional Temperament.— This is partly a combination of other temperaments. It indicates large and active propensities; hot-blooded, pas- sionate, voluptuous; fond of sensual pleasures; inclined to evil habits and a wicked life. Activity.— Quickness, speed, ease of action, liveliness. A person having activity, combined with a mental temperament, will be very quick to perceive, think, feel, act and speak. Locomotion.— Love of action, desire to move about; restlessness, dis- like to remain in one position long, and are constantly mov- ing the hands, feet or head, even when seated; excel in walking or running a race. Veneration.— Reverence, submission, Christian charity, devotion, wor- ship; prayerful; respect for old age, the Deity, and every- thing that is sacred ; love for the souls of men, the mission- ary spirit. Excessive or perverted: it leads to fanaticism, bigotry, idolatry, religious intolerance. Spirituality. — Faith, intuition, forewarning; internal light; belief in 7 98 HOW TO STUDY. the future, perception of truth, inclination to believe general statements ; the prophetic faculty, that which tarings man in contact with the spiritual world; imparts the true spirit of prayer. Perverted : superstition, belief in dreams, omens and fortune telling; with large cautiousness and average in- tellect, fear of ghosts. Hope — Expectation, cheerfulness, buoyancy, joy, enterprise, high glee. It is the anchor of the soul, and, united with spirituality, makes man believe in a future existence, and, with the addition of vitativeness, long for and desire it. Perverted: builds castles in the air and runs great risk in business. Conscientiousness.— Justice, honesty, equity, moral principle ; love of truth; innate sense of accountability and obligation, regard for duty; sense of guilt, penitence, contrition, desire to reform; with approbativeness and ideality, will have a strong desire for moral purity; with large firmness and combativeness, will stick to the truth, even unto death. Perverted: will censure one's self for trifling things, and, with deficient ac- quisitiveness, will lack self -justice, and fail to collect what is due. Firmness.— Tenacity of will, stability, decision, perseverance, reso- lution, fixedness of purpose, aversion to change; with ven- eration, will have a disposition to retain old things, such as furniture, relics, buildings, monuments, time-honored usages, ceremonies, institutions and forms of government. Per- version: obstinacy, stubbornness, unwillingness to change, even when reason requires. Approbativeness.— Desire to be praised, love of admiration, pride of charac- ter; ambition, display, desire to excel; sense of honor; de- sire and love to appear to the best advantage ; with ideality, will love dress and fashion; with only average perceptive faculties, will drink in flattery like water. Perverted : van- ity, affectation, a craving for pleasing comment and praise, excess of fashion, ceremoniousness, outside display, eager- ness for popularity, and, with self-esteem, aristocracy and pomposity. Self-esteem. — Self-respect, dignity, independence, self-appreciation, HOW TO STUDY. 99 self-reliance, self-satisfaction and complacency ; self-elevat- ing, lofty-mindedness, manliness, ruling instinct. Perver- sion: egotism, haughtiness, forwardness, tyranny, supercil- iousness, imperiousness, contempt and selfishness. Benevolence.- Kindness, sympathy, generosity, philanthropy, liberality, the accommodating, neighborly spirit; that which makes per- sons care for the wants and sufferings of others. Perverted : places too much confidence in human nature, misplaced sympathies; with small conscientiousness, liable to give away what belongs to others. Ideality.— Love of the beautiful wherever it exists ; refinement, pu- rity, cleanliness, taste, elegance, sense of propriety; imag- ination, the poetic and artistic faculty. Perversion: too much of the ideal, and not enough of real, practical life; ex- tra nice, fastidiousness. Sublimity. — Splendor; love of things that are majestic and romantic; perception and appreciation of the vast, illimitable, endless, omnipotent and infinite; enjoy mountain scenery, cataracts, conflagrations, sea-storms, thunder, lightning, roar of can- non; in writing or speaking are liable to use exaggerated and high-sounding words and metaphorical expressions. Perverted: liable to exaggerate in a story or giving a de- scription. Imitation. — f Assimilation, conformity, copying, patterning, mimick- ing; ability to assume and act the character of another; with only average causality, will adopt the ideas, sentiments, plans, style, dress of others. Perverted : will adopt bad hab- its, and follow the evil example of others ; with perverted approbativeness, are liable to assume other persons' names and characters, claim relationship to or personate those who are superior in rank, wealth and ability. Children hav- ing this faculty large will do what their parents do, whether it be good or evil. Human Nature. — Intuitive perception of character and motives ; the abil- ity to read, from the countenance, the disposition and moral state at first sight; discernment of motives; with good per- ceptive faculties and secretiveness, make good detectives find policemen; with good intellect, will not be very easily 100 HOW TO STUDY. imposed upon. Perverted: it produces suspicion, lack of confidence, personal prejudice; with perception and mirth- fulness, offensive criticism of character; with agreeable- ness, approbativeness and secretiveness, are liable to be confidence-men, are full of flattery, will palaver and oil their victims, like serpents, just before they swallow them. AOREEABLENESS.— Affability, pleasantness, blandness, persuasiveness, abil- ity to please and win others ; fascinating in manners and conversation; with amativeness and adhesiveness, will be very polite and accommodating to persons of the opposite sex, and gain many friends among them; tendency to speak and act in a mellow, persuasive manner; can say disagreeable things pleasantly. Perverted: blarney and flattery. Adhesiveness — Friendship, sociability, companionship ; desire to form acquaintance, love of society; warm-hearted, affectionate, and devoted to the interest of friends; with benevolence, will manifest hospitality, and readily aid others. Perverted : undue fondness for friends and company; apt to idolize; can not, or will not, see their faults and imperfections ; apt to become surety for others. Cautiousness.— Prudence, carefulness, watchfulness, provision against want and danger ; anxiety,security, apprehension, protection, solicitude. Perverted : are afraid to venture or go ahead, easily worried over small matters, over-anxiety and fear about accidents, irresolution, timidity, procrastination; with perverted human nature, acquisitiveness and small hope, will get into a state of mind that produces fright and panic; this will readily explain how financial panics are caused. Continuity. Consecutiveness and connectedness of thought and feel- ing; one thing at a time; patience, prolixity; not fickle- minded ; the ability to concentrate the mind or will upon any- thing till completed. Perverted: are tedious, wearisome, dwell too long upon one thing, become monotonous; if a public speaker, will exhaust the patience of his hearers by long discourses. Inhabitiveness. — The home feeling, attachment to a place or a house HOW TO STUDY. 101 where one was born or has lived; desire to locate, instead of traveling; love of country. Perverted: prejudice against other places and countries. COMBATIVENESS.— Resistance, defense, opposition, attack, defiance, bold- ness, courage, self-protection; presence of mind in times of danger; the ability and desire to encounter and overcome obstacles; disposition to be aggressive; with adhesiveness, will defend the interest or character of friends; with con- scientiousness, will vigorously prosecute the right and op- pose the wrong. Perverted: contentious, contrary, ill-na- tured ; the fault-finding and fighting disposition ; with dis- ordered nerves, are peevish, fretful, irritable and dissatis- fied; with destructiveness large and deficient moral facul- ties, will be hateful, bitter, quarrelsome and desperate when provoked. Destructiveness-— Executiveness, force of character, severity, extermina- tion; the go-through, break, crush, tear-down spirit; ability to endure pain, and, with constructiveness, perform surgi- cal and dental operations. This is a good faculty when used in connection with the moral and intellectual faculties ; but when they are deficient, it is one of the worst in man's mental organization; it gives place to wrath, revenge, malice, and a disposition to kill and destroy whatever is offensive; with approbativeness and self-esteem, will seek to avenge a personal wrong by fighting a duel. Secretiveness.— Policy, management, discretion, reserve, evasion, cun- ning, ability to restrain feeling, concealment; tactical, shrewd, cautiousness, in the expression of words and actions ; with large cautiousness, are hard to be found out; with large conscientiousness, will be honest in purpose, yet re- sort to many little cunning devices— are equivocal, may not tell a direct lie, nor speak the plain truth, but evade pointed questions; with large approbativeness, are liable to sail under false colors; if in business, will take care not to show any defects in goods. Perverted: lying, deception, sly, crafty, double-dealing, insincerity, hypocrisy, stealingpro- pensity; with perverted amativeness and deficient con- scientiousness, will pretend to make love, and resort to all sorts of intrigues to win the affection of the opposite sex and accomplish their purpose. 102 HOW TO STUDY. Acquisitiveness — Accumulation of money or property ; frugality, economy,, desire to own, love of trading and speculative, inclination to save, and lay up for future need. Perverted : avaricious, miserly, grasping; with large secretiveness and average conscientiousness, will make money anyhow— over- praise and sell poor articles for good ones; with small self-esteem and approbativeness, are mean in dealing, stick for the half- cent; with large hope and not much cautiousness, embark too deep in business, run great risks, and are liable to fail; with large secretiveness added, will buy more than can be paid for; pay in promises rather than money. MlRTHFULNESS.— Wit, fun, perception of the absurd and ridiculous; dispo- sition to joke and be merry, always laughing and making others laugh; with imitation, are naturally comical; with human nature and comparison added, will make fun by act- ing and showing off the absurdities of others ; with amative- ness and eventuality, take great delight in joking and relat- ing stories about the other sex; with adhesiveness, lan- guage, imitation and agreeableness, will be excellent com- pany, especially at a party. Perverted : it becomes disagree- able, making fun, without occasion, at any time or place ; with large combativeness and destructiveness, are sarcastic, always teasing and tantalizing, making enemies instead of friends ; if benevolence is deficient, will torment dumb ani- mals, insects, etc. Causality.— Eeasoning power, investigation, originality, comprehen- sion; ability to trace cause from effect; must know the why and wherefore of everything; the planning, contriving, in- venting, and scheming faculty; love of abstract thought; ability to synthetize; with large combativeness, love to argue; with large perceptives, are quick to perceive facts, conditions and qualities; with comparison and human nature, are fond of mental philosophy; with conscientious- ness, veneration and benevolence added, will excel in moral philosophy; with only average human nature, large com- parison, eventuality and perceptives, will be more inclined to natural philosophy, and will excel in the studies of the natural sciences. Comparison.— Reasoning from analogy, induction ; ability to analyze, classify, compare and draw inferences ; disposition to criti- HOW TO STUDY. 103 cise, illustrate ; observe similarities and dissimilarities at a glance; with ideality large, will use pleasing, figurative illustrations in speaking or writing; with a well-developed intellect, full of general and practical information, can speak in allegories and parables ; with large language, can explain things well. Perverted: notice the inconsistency and lack of harmony in persons and things too much. Eventuality.— Memory of names and facts; recollection of general news, occurrences and passing events; retention of knowl- edge, ideas, and things once known or seen; love of history and reading, and, with human nature large, biography; with language and imitation, love to hear and relate stories ; with ideality, will be fond of fiction, thirst for knowledge, learn things easy, and are capable of becoming good literary scholars. Perversion; excessive reading, and crowding of the memory with things that are of no pratical use. Locality. — Recollection of places, roads and scenery; ability to find places and things ; desire to travel ; perspective knowledge ; intuitive perception of the whereabouts of a place ; know where to find an idea or statement in a book; ability to find one's way, either in the city or woods. The faculty used in the study of geography and astronomy. Individuality.— Observation; desire to know all about things; cogni- zance of individual objects, and perception of the qualities and conditions relative to them; desire to see and examine; curiosity; can judge of the value of a thing by its appear- ance. This faculty is used in selecting and buying grain, fruit, vegetables, dry goods, jewelry, and every kind of mer- chandise. It is the faculty or window through which the mind recognizes the distinctive character of external and material objects, and mentally separates mixed and general thoughts into definite and distinct ideas. It is the medium through which most kinds of knowledge enter the mind. It is the organ through which magnetic impressions are pro- duced upon the mind. With causality, will learn more by observation and experience than in any other way. Per- verted: it causes persons to stare and pry into things that do not concern them; if in a public meeting, will turn the head to see who comes in; with human nature, approbative- ness and form, will notice their personal appearance, dress, 104 HOW TO STUDY etc. ; and with comparison added, will compare their looks and dress with others. Language. — The expression of ideas by words; ability to speak and write fluently; communication of ideas by words and looks with comparison added, will use just the words required to convey the meaning; with imitation, will be full of gestures in speaking; if secretiveness is small and the perceptives good, can speak without much preparation; but if secre- tiveness and cautiousness are large, often hesitate— will not be pointed, nor speak to the purpose. Perverted: verbosity and excessive talkativeness; with self-esteem and approba- tiveness, will render one's self annoying in company, by trying to do all the talking. Form.— Memory of faces, recollection of shape and things seen; perception of resemblance; ability to judge of configuration; with large ideality, will be delighted with beautiful forms, statuary, etc. ; with large acquisitiveness, individuality and locality, readily detect counterfeits; with adhesiveness, will be inclined to form partnerships and join societies. When very large, causes one to see images floating in the air; and, with color added, will, on pressing the eyelids tightly together, see combinations of the most beautiful colors. Order.— Method, system, arrangement; the desire and ability to put things, words, ideas and persons in their proper place readily; observe confusion, and cannot endure it; with locality, must have a particular place for everything; with large time, must have things at the right time and season ; with calculation, acquisitiveness and causality added, have good business talents. Generals, presidents of societies, and leaders of any kind of organization require this faculty. Calculation.— Perception of numbers, ability to reckon figures in the head; mental arithmetic, computation; with causality and comparison, will excel in the higher branches of mathemat- ics; with large causality, perceptives, and deficient spiritu- ality, believe only what can be seen, tested and proved be- yond a doubt. Tune.— The music faculty; ability to learn and remember tunes HOW TO STUDY. 105 by rote ; harmony of sound, melody, modulation of the voice ; with large time, weight, ideality, amativeness and activity, will enjoy lively music and dancing- very much; with con - structiveness, imitation and causality, will be a good perfor- mer, and make most kinds of instruments; with large vene- ration and the organic quality, will enjoy sacred music. ALIMENTIVENESSo — Appetite, hunger, relish for food; with large benevo- lence, will set a splendid table; with adhesiveness, will invite friends to dinner or tea; with approbativeness and ideality added, will make great display at the table, love to attend tea meetings and any social gatherings where dinners or suppers are served; with fair causality and perceptives, will make a good cook. Perverted: gluttony; apt to over- load the stomach, and bring on dyspepsia. Practicability.— Ability to gather knowledge and apply it to some useful end; the matter-of-fact talent; can read character well by physiognomy; are quick to observe and take a hint; com- prehend ideas and perceive the quality of things at a glance ; will condense and find the shortest way of saying and doing things; will put into practice every theory one advocates; with human nature and the organic quality, can read the motives of people. School teachers having this quality can apparently teach more than they know; while those who are deficient, fail to impart the knowledge they possess. Subterfuge.— Ability to shift and evade difficulties, questions and failures; never fear emergencies; are prolific in ways and means to accomplish certain ends or purposes; are liable to make mischief; apt to be ironical and sarcastic; have much self-assurance, and are inclined to boast. Kesistance.— Disposition to fight against and overcome difficulties; can face opposition of any kind; ability to go up stream rather than down, and stem the tide of opposition and ad- versity; inclined to be revengeful, and feel like acting out the motto, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth"; with a nervous temperament, are easily provoked over little things; and with only average mirthfulness and agreeable- ness, generally cross. Business Capacity. — The ability to do, manage and carry on business; a nat- 106 HOW TO STUDY. ural tact for financial transactions; discernment of business principles, and a desire to execute them; perception of the fitness and adaptation of certain things to certain ends; th© desire and talent for money-making or the accumulation of property; worldly enthusiasm, with a determination to pos- sess, if possible, what the propensities like most, be it prop- erty or stock. Perverted : selfishness. Eeligious Nature . — That condition of heart and mind which inclines a per- son to a religious life; obedience to Divine authority; a dis- position to readily accept the truths of the Gospel and the teachings of the Bible in general; a willingness to be con- verted, and early yield to the influences of the Holy Spirit; a submissive, docile, believing and confiding spirit— that which brings man into relationship and communion with his Maker. HOW TO CULTIVATE OR RESTRAIN ANY FACULTY. To develop, enlarge and increase the power of any organ or faculty, it must be constantly exer- cised; and to restrain, weaken or decrease any organ or faculty, all that is necessary is to neglect it, or use it in a less degree than it was previously exer- cised, according as the nature of the case may re- quire. The excessive activity of; any faculty may be modified, balanced, or counteracted, in its influence for evil, by the vigorous action of one or more other faculties; and a deficient organ may likewise be aid- ed by being associated in its action with some larger organ. The organ of veneration can be cultivated by the observance of the Sabbath — attending the sanctuary and prayer-meetings especially, taking part in religious exercises, submitting to authority, obeying laws, and treating old age and everything sacred with respect and due reverence, It can be restrained by taking just the opposite course. Spir- ituality can be cultivated by believing statements HOW TO STUDY. 107 without proof or evidence, whether of a religious, social or business nature— by trusting, confiding, and acting upon the principle that every person is good and upright till you find them the reverse — by trying to predict future events, looking forward to the future, and living as much as possible in antici- pation thereof. To restrain is to do just the oppo- site—be suspicious of every person or thing you meet or come in contact with, never believing without mathematical demonstration of the truth or correct- ness of anything, and, like doubting Thomas, treat all persons as impostors and rogues till you are sure they are true and honest; in short, be skeptical in your manner; though I would not advise any one to be so in reality, unless such person wishes to be one of the most miserable and God-forsaken beings in the world. To cultivate continuity (an organ generally defi- cient in American heads), stick to one thing in life — one thing at a time; have as few irons in the fire, or matters to attend to, as possible; be less changeable; when you commence a thing, aim to finish it before changing to something else; give your undivided at- tention, concentrate your thoughts, your whole mind and energy, to one subject, aim or pursuit. To re- strain, be as changeable as the weather is in Chi- cago — be like a bird in a tree, hopping from branch to branch, and never stay anywhere or do any one thing long; be jack-of- all-trades and master of none. Do this constantly, and you will manage to get through without accomplishing much, and but few people will know there ever was such a being in it. To cultivate self-esteem, carry your head up when you walk; think of yourself, remember you are made in the image of God, the noblest of all terres- trial beings; never stoop to anything mean or low; associate with those who have large self-esteem, and 108 HOW TO STUDY. try to imbibe more of their spirit. To restrain, re- member you are not the Lord himself, but only one of his creatures, and a sinful one at that — that there are better and smarter persons than you in the world — that you most likely think more of your own pre- cious self than any other person thinks of you; also, that you make yourself unlovable and offensive to others, by trying to appear, in your way, superior to them. These illustrations will serve to show how all the organs can be improved or restrained. You will soon learn what a rare combination of faculties means. You will observe that no one faculty alone, how- ever strong, is of much use unless properly re- strained and combined with other powers. You will notice that courage must be matched by meekness, generosity with economy, confidence with prudence, etc., so that each may be healthful and wisely exer- cised as occasion requires. You will thus be enabled to draw many inferences, such as: Excessive physical exercise diminishes the power to study; and, too great devotion to intellectual work undermines the physical constitution. The cultivation of the pure intellect without the moral nature begets a cold, philosophical cynic, and, The cultivation of the moral nature without the reason begets fanatics, No abnormally developed element of character alone is helpful; in fact it may be hurtful, and that which is a virtue, unrestrained becomes a vice. As the story of Lord Lytton in "The Pilgrims of the Rhine" is in point, I give it here: HOW TO STUDY. 109 THE TOUR OF THE VIRTUES: A PHILOSOPHER'S TALE. Once upon a time, several of the "Virtues, weary of living for ever with the Bishop of Norwich, resolved to make a lit- tle excursion; accordingly, though they knew everything on earth was very ill prepared to receive them, they thought they might safely venture on a tour from Westminster- bridge to Richmond; the day was fine and the wind in their favor, and as to entertainment— there seemed to be no possi- bility of any disagreement among the Virtues. They took a boat at Westminster-stairs, and just as they were about to push off, a poor woman, all in rags, with a child in her arms, implored their compassion. Charity put her hand into her reticule, and took out a shilling. Justice, turning round to look after the luggage, saw the folly which Charity was about to commit. "Heavens!" cried Justice. seizing poor Charity by the arm, "what are you doing? Have you never read political economy? Don't you know that indiscriminate almsgiving is only the encouragement to Idleness, the mother of Vice? You a Virtue, indeed!— I'm ashamed of you. Get along with you, good woman;— yet stay, there is a ticket for soup at the Mendicity Society: they'll see if you are a proper object of compassion." But Charity is quicker than Justice, and slipping her hand be- hind her, the poor woman got the shilling and the ticket for soup too. Economy and Generosity saw the double gift. "What waste!" cried Economy, frowning; "what, a ticket and a shilling!— either would have sufficed." "Either!" said Generosity; "fie! Charity should have given the poor creature half-a-crown, and Justice a dozen tickets!" So the next ten minutes were consumed in a quarrel between the four Virtues, which would have lasted all the way to Richmond, if Courage had not advised them to get on shore and fight it out. Upon this, the Virtues suddenly perceived they had a little forgotten themselves, and Generosity offering the first apology, they made it up and went on very agreeably for the next mile or two. The day now grew a little overcast, and a shower seemed at hand. Prudence, who had on a new bonnet, suggested the propriety of putting to shore for half an hour; Courage was for braving the rain; but, as most of the Virtues are ladies, Prudence carried it. Just as they were about to land, another boat cut in before them very uncivilly, and gave HO HOW TO STUDY. theirs such a shake, that Charity was all but overboard. The company on board the uncivil boat, who evidently thought the Virtues extremely low persons, for they had nothing very fashionable about their exterior, burst out laughing at Charity's discomposures especially as a large basket full of buns, which Charity carried with her for any hungry-looking children she might encounter at Richmond, fell pounce into the water. Courage was all on fire; he twisted his mous- tache, and would have made an onset on the enemy, if, to his great indignation Meekness had not forstalled him, by stepping mildly, into the hostile boat and offering both cheeks to the foe. This was too much even for the incivility of the boatmen ; they made their excuses to the Virtues ; and Courage, who is no bully, thought himself bound discontent- edly to accept them. But oh! if you had seen how Courage used Meekness afterwards, you could not have believed it possible that one Virtue could be so enraged with another! This quarrel between the two threw a damp on the party; and they proceeded on their voyage, when the shower was over, with anything but cordiality. I spare you the little squabbles that took place in the general conversation— how Economy found fault with all the villas by the way; and Temperance expressed becoming indignation at the luxu- ries of the City barge. They arrived at Richmond, and Temperance was appointed to order the dinner; meanwhile Hospitality, walking in the garden, fell in with a large party of Irishmen, and asked them to join the repast Imagine the long faces of Economy and Prudence, when they saw the addition to the company. Hospitality was all spirits; he rubbed his hands and called for champagne with the tone of a younger brother. Temperance soon grew scan- dalized, and Modesty herself colored at some of the jokes; but Hospitality, who was now half-seas over, called the one a milksop, and swore at the other as a prude. Away went the hours ; it was time to return, and they made down to the water-side, thoroughly out of temper with one another, Economy and Generosity quarrelling all the way about the bill and the waiters. To make up the sum of their mortifi- cation, they passed a boat where all the company were in the best possible spirits, laughing and whooping like mad ; and discovered these jolly companions to be two or three agreeable Vices, who had put themselves under the manage- ment of Good Temper. So you see, that even the Virtues may fall at loggerheads with each other, and pass a very sad HOW TO STUDY. Ill time of it, if they happen to be of opposite dispositions, and have forgotten to take Good Temper along with them." At the end of the voyage, and after a long, sulky silence, Prudence said, with a thoughtful air, "My dear friends, I have been thinking that as long as we keep so entirely to- gether, never mixing with the rest of the world, we shall waste our lives in quarrelling among ourselves, and run the risk of being still less liked and sought after than we already are. You know that we are none of us popular; every one is quite contented to see us represented in a vaudeville, or described in an essay. Charity, indeed, has her name often taken in vain at a bazaar, or a subscription ; and the miser as often talks of the duty he owes to me, when he sends the stranger from his door, or his grandson to gaol: but still we only resemble so many wild beasts, whom everybody likes to see, but nobody cares to possess. Now, I propose we should all separate and take up our abode with some mortal or other for a year, with the power of changing at the end of that time should we not feel ourselves comfort- able; that is, should we not find that we do all the good that we intend: let us try the experiment, and on this day twelvemonth let us all meet, under the largest oak in Wind- sor Forest, and recount what has befallen us." Prudence ceased, as she always does when she has said enough; and, delighted at the project, the Virtues agreed to adopt it on the spot. They were enchanted at the idea of setting up for themselves, and each not doubting his or her success; for Economy, in her heart, thought Generosity no Virtue at all, and Meekness looked on Courage as little better than a hea- then. Generosity, being the most eager and active of all the Virtues, set off first on his journey. Justice followed, and kept up with him, though at a more even pace. Charity never heard a sigh, or saw a squalid face, but she stayed to cheer and console the sufferer— a kindness which somewhat retarded her progress. Courage espied a traveling-carriage, with a man and his wife in it quarrelling most conjugally, and he civilly begged he might be permitted to occupy the vacant seat op- posite the lady. Economy still lingered, inauiring for the cheapest inns. Poor Modesty looked round and sighed, on finding herself so near London, where she was almost un- known; but resolved to bend her course thither, for two rea- sons, first, for the novelty of the thing; and, secondly, not 112 HOW TO STUDY. liking to expose herself to any risks by a journey on the Continent. Prudence, though the first to project, was the last to execute; and therefore resolved to remain where she was for that night, and take daylight for her travels. The year rolled on, and the Virtues, punctual to the ap- pointment, met under the oak-tree; they all came nearly at the same time, excepting Economy, who had got into a re- turn post- chaise, the horses to which, having been forty miles in the course of the morning, had foundered by the way, and retarded her journey till night set in. The Vir- tues looked sad and sorrowful, as people are wont to do after a long and fruitless journey; and, somehow or other, such was the wearing effect of their intercourse with the world, that they appeared wonderfully diminished in size. "Ah! my dear Generosity/' said Prudence, with a sigh, "as you were the first to set out on your travels, pray let us hear your adventures first." "You must know, my dear sisters," said Generosity, "that I had not gone many miles from you before I came to a small country town, in which a marching regiment was quar- tered ; and at an open window I beheld, leaning over a gen- tleman's chair, the most beautiful creature imagination ever pictured ; her eyes shone out like two suns of perfect happi- ness, and she was almost cheerful enough to have passed for Good Temper herself. The gentleman over whose chair she leaned, was her husband ; they had been married six weeks ; he was a lieutenant with a hundred pounds a year besides his pay. Greatly affected by their poverty, I instantly de- termined, without a second thought, to ensconce myself in the heart of this charming girl. During the first hour in my new residence I made many wise reflections, such as— Love never was so perfect as when accompanied by Poverty ; what a vulgar error it was to call the unmarried state 'Single Blessedness' \ how wrong it was of us Virtues never to have tried the marriage bond; and what a falsehood it was to say that husbands neglected their wives, for never was there anything in nature so devoted as the love of a husband— six weeks married! "The next morning, before breakfast, as the charming Fanny was waiting for her husband, who had not yet fin- ished his toilette, a poor, wretched-looking object appeared at the window, tearing her hair and wringing her hands ; her husband had that morning been dragged to prison, and her seven children had fought for the last mouldly crust. HOW TO STUDY. 113 Prompted by me, Fanny, without inquiring further into the matter, drew from her silken purse a five pound note, and gave it to the beggar, who departed more amazed than grateful. Soon after the lieutenant appeared;— 'What the d 1 another bill! ' muttered he, as he tore the yellow wafer from a large, square, folded, bluish piece of paper. 4 Oh, ah ! confound the fellow, he must be paid. I must trouble you, Fanny, for fifteen pounds to pay this saddler's bill.' " ' Fifteen pounds, love?' stammered Fanny, blushing. 11 'Yes, dearest, the fifteen pounds I gave you yesterday.' "' I have only ten pounds,' said Fanny, hesitatingly, 'for such a poor, wretched-looking creature was here just now, that I was obliged to give her five pounds.' "' Five pounds? good Heavens!' exclaimed the aston- ished husband; 'I shall have no more money these three weeks.' He frowned, he bit his lips, nay he even wrung his hands, and walked up and down the room; worse still, he broke forth — s Surely, madam, you did not suppose, when you married a lieutenant in a marching regiment, that he could afford to indulge in the whim of giving five pounds to every mendicant who held out her hand to you? You did not, I say madam, imagine,' but the bridegroom was inter- rupted by the convulsive sobs of his wife: it was their first quarrel, they were but six weeks married ; he looked at her for one moment sternly, the next he was at her feet. * For- give me, dearest Fanny; forgive me, for I cannot forgive myself. I was too great a wretch to say what I did; and do believe, my own Fanny, that while I may be too poor to indulge you in it, I do from my heart admire so noble, so disinterested, a generosity.' Not a little proud did I feel to have been the cause of this exemplary husband's admiration for his amiable wife, and sincerely did I rejoice at having taken up my abode with these poor people. But not to tire you,my dear sisters, with the minutiae of detail, I shall briefly say that things did not long remain in this delightful posi- tion; for, before many months had elapsed, poor Fannie had to bear with her husband's increased and more frequent storms of passion, unfollowed by any halcyon and honey- moon suings for forgiveness ; for at my instigation every shilling went; and when there was no more to go, her trink- ets, and even her clothes followed. The lieutenant became a complete brute, and even allowed his unbridled tongue to call me — me, sisters, me!— heartless Extravagance." His 8 114 HOW TO STUDY. despicable brother-officers, and their gossiping wives, were no better; for they did nothing but animadvert upon rny Fannie's ostentation and absurdity, for by such names had they the impertinence to call me. Thus grieved to the soul to find myself the cause of all my poor Fanny's misfortunes I resolved at the end of the year to leave her, being thor- oughly convinced, that* however amiable and praiseworthy I might be in myself, I was totally unfit to be the bosom friend and adviser to the wife of a lieutenant in a marching regiment, with only a hundred pounds a year besides his pay." The Virtues groaned their sympathy with the unfortu- nate Fanny; and Prudence, turning to Justice said, "I long to hear what you have been doing, fori am certain you can- not have occasioned harm to any one." Justice shook her head and said, "Alas ! I find that there are times and places when even I do better not to appear, as a short account of my adventures will prove to you. No sooner had I left you when I instantly repaired to India, and took up my abode with a Brahmin. I was much shocked by the dreadful inequalities of condition that reigned in the several castes, and I longed to relieve the poor Pariah from his ignominious destiny ; accordingly I set seriously to work on reform. I insisted upon the iniquity of abandoning men from their birth to an irremediable state of contempt, from which no virtue could exalt them. The Brahmins looked upon ray Brahmin with ineffable horror. They called me the most wicked of vices; they saw no distinction between Justice and Atheism. I uprooted their society— that was sufficient crime. "But the worst was, that the Pariahs themselves re- garded me with suspicion; they thought it unnatural in a Brahmin to care for a Pariah! And one called me 'Mad- ness;' an other, 'Ambition;' and a third, 'The Desire to in- novate.' My poor Brahmin [led a miserable life of it; when one day, after observing, at my dictation, that he thought a Pariah's life as much entitled to respect as a cow's, he was hurried away by the priests and secretly broiled on the altar, as a fitting reward for his sacrilege. I fled hither in great tribulation, persuaded that in some countries even Justice may do harm." "As for me," said Charity, not waiting to be asked, "I grieve to say that I was silly enough to take up my abode with an old lady in Dublin, who never knew what discre- HOW TO STUDY. 115 tion was, and always acted from impulse; my instigation was irresistible, and the money she gave in her drives through the suburbs of Dublin was so lavishly spent, that it kept all the rascals of the city in idleness and whisky. I found to my great horror that I was a main cause of a terri- ble epidemic, and that to give alms without discretion was to spread poverty without help. I left the city when my year was out, and, as ill-luck would have it, just at the time when I was most wanted." "And, oh !" cried Hospitality, "I went to Ireland also. I fixed my abode with a squireen ; I ruined him in a year, and only left him because he had no longer a hovel to keep me in." "As for myself," said Temperance, "I entered the breast of an English legislator, and he brought in a bill against ale- houses; the consequence was, that the laborers took to gin, and I have been forced to confess, that Temperance may be too zealous when she dictates too vehemently to others." "Well," said Courage, keeping more in the background than he had ever done before, and looking rather ashamed of himself, "that traveling carriage I got into belonged to a German general and his wife, who were returning to their own country. Growing very cold as we proceeded, she wrapped me up in a polonaise ; but the cold increasing, I in- advertently crept into her bosom ; once there I could not get out, and from thenceforward the poor general had consider- ably the worst of it. She became so provoking, that I won- dered how he could refrain from an explosion. To do him justice, he did at last threaten to get out of the carriage; upon which, roused by me, she collared him — and conquered. When he got to his own district, things grew worse, for if any aide-de-camp offended her, she insisted that he might be publicly reprimanded; and should the poor general re- fuse, she would with her own hands confer a caning upon the delinquent. The additional force she had gained in me was too much odds against the poor general, and he died of a broken heart, six months after my liaison with his wife. She after this became so dreaded and detested, that a con- spiracy was formed to poison her; this daunted even me, so I left her without delay — et me void!" "Humph!" said Meekness, with an air of triumph; "I, at least, have been more successful than you. On seeing much in the papers of the cruelties practised by the Turks on the Greeks, I thought my presence would enable the poor suf- 116 HOW TO STUDY. ferers to bear their misfortunes calmly. I went to Greece, then, at a moment when a well-planned and practicable scheme of emancipating themselves from the Turkish yoke was arousing their youth. "Without confining myself to one individual, I flitted from breast to breast; I meekened the whole nation; my remonstrances against the insurrection succeeded, and I had the satisfaction of leaving a whole people ready to be killed, or strangled, with the most Christ- ian resignation in the world." The Virtues, who had been a little cheered by the open- ing self-complacency of Meekness, would not, to her great astonishment, allow that she had succeeded a whit more happily than her sisters, and called next upon Modesty for her confession. "You know," said the amiable young lady, "that I went to London in search of a situation. I spent three months of the twelve in going from house to house, but I could not get a single person to receive me. The ladies declared they never saw so old-fashioned a gawky, and civilly recom- mended me to their abigails; the abigails turned me round with a stare, and then pushed me down to the kitchen and the fat scullion-maids ; who assured me, that 'in the respect- able families they had the honor to live in, they had never even heard of my name.' One young housemaid, just from the country, did indeed receive me with some sort of civil- ity; but she very soon lost me in the servants' hall. I now took refuge with the other sex, as the least uncourteous. I was fortunate enough to find a young gentleman of remark- able talents, who welcomed me with open arms. He was full of learning, gentleness, and honesty. I had only one rival— Ambition. We both contended for an absolute em- pire over him. Whatever Ambition suggested, I damped. Did Ambition urge him to begin a book, I persuaded him it was not worth publication. Did he get up, full of knowledge, and instigated by my rival to make a speech (for he was in parliament), I shocked him with the sense of his assurance— I made his voice droop and his accents falter. At last, with an indignant sigh, my rival left him; he retired into the country, took orders, and renounced a career he had fondly hoped would be serviceable to others; but finding I did not suffice for his happiness, and piqued at his melancholy, I left him before the end of the year, and he has since taken to drinking." The eyes of the Virtues were all turned to Prudence. HOW TO STUDY. 117 She was their last hope— "I am just where I set out," said that discreet Virtue: "I, have done neither good nor harm. To avoid temptation, I went and lived with a hermit, to whom I soon found that I could be of no use beyond warn- ing him not to overboil his peas and lentils, not to leave his door open when a storm threatened, and not to fill his pitcher too full at the neighboring spring. I am thus the only one of you that never did harm ; but only because I am the only one of you that never had an opportunity of doing it! In a word," continued Prudence thoughtfully,— "in a word, my friends, circumstances are necessary to the Virtues themselves. Had, for instance, Economy changed with Generosity, and gone to the poor lieutenant's wife, and had I lodged with the Irish squireen, instead of Hospitality, what misfortunes would have been saved to both ! Alas! 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