“It is some word, I think,” observed Fanny; “do you not remember that mamma asked us what that was, from which we might take away some, and yet that the whole would remain?”
“To be sure,” cried Tom, “I remember it well; it was the word wholesome.”
Mr. Seymour here assured them, that the enigma they had just heard, did not depend upon any verbal quibble; and that as the object of its introduction was to instruct, rather than to puzzle them, he would explain it, and leave them to extract its moral, and profit by its application.
“It is Knowledge,” said he.
“‘No treasure’s so precious,’” repeated Louisa; “certainly none;--‘and yet those who gain me, though they give me away, will always retain me;’--to be sure,” added she. “How could I have been so simple as not to have guessed it? We can certainly impart all the knowledge we possess, and yet not lose any of it ourselves.”
“By instructing others,” said Mr. Seymour, “we are certain, at the same time, of instructing ourselves, and thus to increase our store of knowledge. Let this truth be impressed upon your memory, and, after our conversations, examine each other as to the knowledge you have gained by them: you will thus not only fix the facts more strongly in your recollection, but you will acquire a facility of conversing in philosophical language.”
[14]. To the terror-inspiring power of Pan we owe the word “Panic.”
[15]. “Papyro-Plastics,” or the Art of Modelling in Paper; from the German, by Boileau, London, 1825. The Author strongly recommends this interesting little work, as opening a new source of instructive amusement. His own children have derived from it many hours of rational recreation.