A boy accompanied an old hunter through the woods in search of game. Suddenly a partridge whirred from before their feet. The huntsman with steady nerve, quick eye and calculating brain brought the bird down at the first shot. “How could you aim so quickly?” the lad inquired. “I didn’t wait till I got into the woods to learn,” was his chaffing reply. He had done what Stone, the author of “The Mathematical Dictionary” did when perusing scientific works while aiding his father, who was gardener to the Duke of Argyll, had done; what David Livingstone did before he became Africa’s explorer, while in the old Blantyre cotton works with a Latin grammar on his spinning jenny; had done, what Ezra Cornell did before he built a two-story dwelling for his father’s family when only seventeen years of age; had done, what Henry Clay did with “these off-hand efforts” as he called his speeches in the corn field before he stirred the country with his orations,—made careful preparation beforehand.
What one will be in manhood depends largely on what he is in boyhood. The loftiest attainments are nothing more than fruits of earnest study. There is no perfection, no great excellence without great labor. “It is the deepest soil,” said Dewey, “that yields not only the richest fruits, but the fairest flowers; it is the most solid body which is not only the most useful, but which admits of the highest polish and brilliancy; it is the strongest pinion which not only carries the greatest burden, but which soars to the highest flight.” It is the best education which fits a person for a responsible position. If a man succeeds who has had no education he does so in spite of his misfortune and not by reason of it. Dickens owed less to education than probably any literary man. He was not in school two years in his whole life, but he was a genius by right divine. Few are so richly endowed, hence “a good education is a young man’s best capital.”
THE DUNCE.
He was called the dunce. His teacher would stand him apart from his class, for he could not or would not learn. One day a gentleman came into the room and seeing the lad standing, inquired the reason. “Oh, he is good for nothing,” replied the teacher. “There’s nothing in him. I can make nothing out of him. He is the most stupid boy in the school.” The gentleman was stirred to pity. Going to him, he placed his hand on the head of the humiliated lad and said, “One of these days, you may be a fine scholar. Don’t give up, but try, my boy, try.” The boy’s soul was aroused. His dormant intellect awoke. A new purpose was formed. Clinching his teeth, he said, “I will.” From that hour he became ambitious and studious. He became a great scholar, an author of a well-known commentary on the Bible, and was beloved and honored by many. This dunce was the celebrated Adam Clarke.
The same was true of others. Isaac Newton was kicked by the brightest boy in the school because he was the most ignorant, but he said, “Never mind, I’ll repay him by beating him in my studies.” After a long time of earnest effort he did it. Oliver Goldsmith in his boyhood was very stupid, but he resolved to surprise his fellow students, and this he did by writing that popular book, the “Traveller.” Sir Walter Scott was nicknamed the “blockhead” when a student, but he declared, “I’ll make them change it,” and change it they did. Through close study he attained such eminence that he was afterward styled, “The Wizard of the North.” Sir William Jones, the greatest scholar of Europe, was not a bright student. He was put into a class beyond his years, and where all the scholars had the advantage in that they had previous instruction that had been denied him. The teacher accused him of dullness, and all his efforts could not raise him from the foot of the class. He was not daunted. Procuring for himself grammars and other elementary text books, which the rest of the class had gone through in private terms, he devoted the hours of play, and some of the hours of sleep, to the mastering of them. By this he soon shot ahead of his fellow pupils, and became the leader of the class and the pride of Harrow School. Dean Stanley was declared by Mr. Rawson, his schoolmaster, to be the stupidest boy at figures who ever came under his care, save only one, who was yet more hopeless, and was unable to grasp simple addition and multiplication, yet Arthur Stanley rose like a rocket at Rugby, achieved fame in Oxford and became a blessing to mankind. The other developed a phenomenal mastery of arithmetic. Years after he would make a budget speech of three hours’ length and full of figures. He is known throughout the world as William E. Gladstone.
HOW TO STUDY.
Boys of studious mind may achieve an education if they desire. It may not be such as will enable them to secure a diploma from a college, but such as will make them successful and useful. All should strive for a college education. It is an investment, the returns of which in after years will be worth more and may do more than gold. Kitto, who was one of the greatest Biblical scholars in the world, receiving from the University of Geissen the degree of Doctor of Divinity, craved for the greatest knowledge of his day. Notwithstanding his affliction of deafness he begged his drunken father to take him from the poor-house and let him struggle for an education. Said he, “I know how to stop hunger. Hottentots live a long time on nothing but gum. Sometimes when hungry they tie a band around their bodies. Let me go. I can do as they do. There are blackberries and nuts in the hedges, and turnips in the fields and hay-ricks for a bed. Let me go.” And go he did with the already mentioned result.
Should circumstances, however, prevent a college education, every boy should use the margins of time in reading books and studying principles until he attains a cultured mind. Reading is one of the great means of education, and whether it be a blessing or curse, depends on what is read. By reading one communes with the mightiest and wisest minds. Great men have usually been great readers. Abraham Lincoln and James A. Garfield used to read and study lying flat upon the floor before the fire. Hugh Miller, after working from early morn to night as a stone-mason, managed to find time after his hours of work to read every good book he could secure, pondering over them during the day. In this way he became eminent as a scholar, and when the time came in Scotland’s history that some man should plead for her ecclesiastical freedom from State domination, Hugh Miller stepped to the front, though until he was thirty-three years old he was nothing more than a studious stone-mason.
To remember what one reads is of great importance. It is not the amount of matter read but the amount remembered. Lord Macaulay always stopped at the foot of each page and gave a verbal account of what he read. Said he, “At first I had to read it three or four times before I got my mind firmly fixed. But I compelled myself to comply with the plan, until now, after I have read a book once through, I can almost recite it from beginning to end. It is a very simple habit to form early in life, and is valuable as a means of making our reading serve the best purpose.”
Granville Sharp was only an apprentice to a linen draper in London. To know the exact meaning of the Scriptures he mastered the Greek and Hebrew languages. A poor lame and almost blind African who had been cured by his brother’s medical skill was recognized on the streets of the metropolis by his old master and claimed as a slave. Granville resolved that the negro shall never more be in bondage. But what can he do? Slavery was then a legal right. Lord Chief Justice Mansfield was of the opinion that a slave did not become free by coming to England. Granville Sharp soon decided on his course. For two years he read and memorized law. Then came the tract from his pen, “Injustice of Tolerating Slavery in England,” which changed the mind of Mansfield and eventually made the slave-trade of England illegal.