“No,” replied Marcus; “I told her to read over the question carefully, and then to keep trying upon it until she got the right solution.”
“Did she get it?” inquired Otis.
“I do not know,” replied Marcus; “but if she has not found out her error, I have no doubt she will.”
“Then I suppose you think I can do the sum, if I keep trying,” said Otis.
“I have some doubts about that,” replied Marcus. “I suppose I ought to give you the same direction that I gave Georgianna; but I have little faith that you would be successful, after all.”
“Why couldn’t I find out the answer, if she can?” inquired Otis.
“There is a great difference in scholars,” replied Marcus. “Some are careful, and examine everything very closely, when they meet a difficulty, while others blunder about without much thought. Some have great perseverance, and others are quickly discouraged. And then some do not seem to have much sense, or if they have, they don’t exercise it.”
Otis did not push his inquiries any further, and the subject was dropped. The stimulus of shame, judiciously applied, is sometimes effective when other means fail, and so it proved in this case. Otis was not discouraged by what Marcus said, but was incited by it to a new and more earnest effort. He solved the problem, unaided, and so derived more real benefit from this one puzzling question than from all the others in the day’s lesson, which he performed without difficulty.