1862 - Ward, R. Lectures from New Zealand - LECTURE I. ON SELF-EDUCATION.

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LECTURES FROM NEW ZEALAND.

LECTURE I.

SELF-EDUCATION is always found in connexion with national progress. To it much of the influence exerted by Greece and Rome in ancient times may be traced. We do not mean that soft, silken thing, which some mistake for education, but the article itself, in its severity of thought, and in its application to all the conditions of society. The proverbs founded on a well-trained man are many and indestructible: for knowledge is power, and a man's wisdom makes his face to shine.

Solomon tells us that "there was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against

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it and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city;" shewing that wisdom is better than weapons of war. A well known event in history supplies an interesting comment on this statement. About two thousand years ago the land and sea forces of Rome attacked the city of Syracuse, the chief strength of which lay in Archimedes, their best educated man. He destroyed the soldiers with his burning glasses, and invented machines which lifted the vessels of war out of the water, dangled them in the air, and then dashed them to pieces. While Archimedes lived, the Roman forces could not prevail against Syracuse.

The spirit of education has taken strong hold of the national mind in the present day. Ladies and gentlemen are not now afraid of their servants being acquainted with letters and figures. Books swarm around us as the result of a reading people, and supply a powerful motive among parents of all classes to obtain some instruction for their children. The necessity which many young people are under to earn their living at an early age is, perhaps, the chief reason why so little time is generally spent at school. This remark applies not only to those whose prospects in life rise no higher than to a servile situation, but to many of those also who are articled to respectable callings. As the result of the short period allotted to school, many a lad disgraces his master, and confuses and mortifies himself, by his inefficiency at bills of parcels, or at writing a note to either creditor or

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customer. The mortifying feelings of such a lad may not be told, but unless he resolves to rise above his deficiencies, his life may be affected by indecision and terror. Others are to be found who are familiar with the branches of knowledge which their profession immediately demands, while they cast a sorrowful glance at the delectable mountains that are so far away, whose tops are gilded by the sun of truth. The object of this lecture is to encourage those--especially the young--whose education has been neglected, to raise their hopes high, to attempt something worthy of the age in which they live, and to conduct their course to a successful issue.

Many men who have risen to eminence in letters have, to a considerable extent, educated themselves. While books and instruments are at their service, and tutors are at hand to correct their blunders, young men are apt to suppose that they have nothing to do but to move in leading strings; let it be known, however, that the youth whose efforts do not go beyond the lines marked out by his daily tutors, is not very likely to excel. When Doctor Dwight was a student, college prayers were attended at half-past five o'clock in the morning in winter, and at half-past four in the summer. He commenced one of his college years with a resolution to construe and parse a hundred lines of Homer before prayers; this resolution he carried out, increasing the number of verses as he became more familiar with Homer. This exercise made no part of his regular college duties, but was undertaken to secure a better knowledge of the Greek language than he

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could hope to acquire by the more routine of class studies. The spirit of self-education, so nobly maintained, resulted in a man of whom the American people have reason to be proud. Similar application, sustained by any young man of tolerable parts, will be followed by satisfactory results; although his progress may be slower when he is denied the advantages which college exercises supply.

Education, properly considered, embraces the entire man--body, soul, and spirit. The benefits of bodily education may be seen in improved health, and superior command of the muscles. When the heart is neglected, the passions are wild in their movements, and preposterous in their objects. Recklessness, in its worst forms, is the result of mind left to itself; or if, in some cases, better consequences follow, such a mind generally resembles a wilderness, where

A few questions may be appropriately asked, when the subject of self-education takes firm hold of the heart of a young man. "For what purposes am I created?" Certainly, it is not that you may merely eat, drink, and die. Here is a great globe, whose lands and waters swarm with innumerable creatures; whose plains and valleys produce a profusion of flowers and fruit, and whose woods and minerals invite unlimited labour and skill. The command has been given to replenish the earth and subdue it, and, in one form or another, we are all expected to act our part; to enable

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us to do so properly, the knowledge of a thousand things which are stirring around us is necessary. We are in the beginning only of our existence, and are surrounded by adverse influences. Our best efforts are defective, and our reasonings may degenerate into error; our objects may be mistaken, and our motives may be impugned. It is a dark prison in which those men lie, whose hopes do not extend beyond the present life. Another world opens before the believer, where the soul is free and holy, and where thought is not encumbered with the dull processes of letters and figures. "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known." The preparation for that perfect state must be made now. Our intellectual and moral nature, though but a seedling here, nursed amidst showers and storms, may be transferred to a more genial clime, there to expand and bloom, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness for ever.

"Is it possible to answer the end of my existence?" It is important that the mind be at rest on this point. We hesitate not to say, that high as the purposes of God are concerning you, they may be all accomplished. In order to this efforts must be made, time must be improved, circumstances must be pressed into service, difficulties must be faced, and the soul must assert the dignity of her nature, and the commission with which she is entrusted. The amazing fact that we are redeemed from the curse of the broken law by the blood of Christ, might be thought sufficient to stir our entire being. Standing upon the rock of redeeming love, the

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soul may turn her eye to the rejoicing multitudes in heaven, and then towards the earth allotted for her training, and resolve, by the grace of God, that at any risk of labour and self-denial, she will prepare for a career of honour and usefulness in the present life, and for a crown of glory in the world to come.

"What course must I pursue to become what I ought to be?" The commencement of the right course is religion, in complete devotedness to God. Any other thing is but partial good. For a man may write poetry like Byron, and die of wretchedness; he may make men laugh by thousands, and yet he may be the most miserable of men. Lay the foundation of your character on the rock of genuine piety, and on this rock you may safely build. Try to solve the following problem, "Given true religion for the foundation, and the principles of the Bible for the chief supports, what is the value of the moral structure which may be raised?"

But while religion is the chief thing, we must not suppose that it bounds the object of our pursuit. The field of knowledge is wide, and invites our survey. The splendour of the heavens has always attracted the attention of the student of nature, and it is become doubly interesting in the light of modern science. The sun, moon, and stars, in all their motions, weight, and size, are adjusted with the greatest nicety. Other systems are introduced to us through the telescope, causing the dull, hazy tracks of the sky to sparkle with untold numbers of brilliant stars. The earth also presents undeniable claims on our attention. Its particular

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features of land and water; its myriads of creatures, suited to every climate, with their diversified forms, habits, and uses; its flowers, herbage, and trees; its crowded cities, and extensive prairies;--are worthy of our closest study. Geology opens to us a new world by displaying the remains of the old. Vast forests have been changed to coal; the teeming inhabitants of a former sea have been turned into limestone rocks; fierce fires heated the large crucibles of nature, in which materials were melted, and then thrown out to form mountains of granite; herbs and trees have long been embedded in rocks; and orders of dangerous animals have left their petrified remains to show us what they once were. In the discoveries of the microscope we see the stagnant lake and the running stream full of living beings. The decaying leaves and variegated flowers are covered with tiny creatures of elegant forms and beautiful colours, rejoicing in the pleasures of life, singing in their bliss,

How complex, and yet how perfect is the human frame. Various joints, such as machinists imitate, work every time we move; these are held by sinews and exorcised by muscles, which mysteriously obey the will. The eye and the ear are worthy of the closest study. That singular and immaterial part of our being which we call the soul, invites you to consider its capacity for joy and sorrow, its reasoning capabilities, its present dangers, and its future state.

History affords us much instruction. It tells us of

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families growing into nations, becoming great, and claiming the reverence of the world; and then through pride, carelessness, and luxury, weakened, despised, and ruined. Whether the historian draws his facts from the faults and follies of men, or from their energies and fortitude, he supplies us with useful lessons.

The common arts have risen so high as to claim the respect of all nations. In the hands of skilled labour, the raw materials are transformed into all kinds of things in which both elegance and usefulness are secured. Superior handicraft is founded on philosophic principles, and forms an important branch of education.

Commerce taxes our ingenuity and energies to the utmost, in its attempts to make the productions of every climate the common property of every country. To carry out its designs it enlists the study of language, from the old hieroglyphics of Egypt to the most perfect alphabetical construction, and examines the materials to whose care its written history is entrusted, from the engraving in the rock to the paper fabric. The means of transport from one country to another have exercised the noblest minds; resulting in floating mansions which are fitted up with all the elegance attainable on land, with capacious holds for the transport of goods of every name, and enabling the navigator to manage the winds and the waves, so as to pursue his way safely across the trackless ocean, and at the appointed time, to bring his good ship into the desired haven.

Rapid and imperfect as this glance necessarily is, the man who wishes to educate himself may be ready

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to say: "The field of knowledge is so wide, and my opportunities for improvement are so limited, that any attempt to educate myself must be a failure." It is true that the field of knowledge is wide; you cannot become a universal scholar--it were madness to attempt it, but much more may be within your reach than you are aware of. Let us try to make this apparent.

Select any branch of science you please, master its elementary principles, then learn how they are related to each other, and how they affect any materials or circumstances which may be the subject of inquiry. Steady application will bring you into the complex parts of the science; then, by distinctly keeping in view its independent principles and their application, you may soon master this branch of knowledge. From the eminence which you have so gained, other sciences may be intelligently surveyed. These become subjects of study, and so rapid and satisfactory is your progress that you are ready to say, "the only one which I found to be really difficult was the first." Accept an illustration from the common trades as they are followed in the colonies. A man who can handle tools and work in wood becomes a carpenter or a cabinet maker, a millwright or a cart builder, as employment offers, or wages load the way. Take another illustration from the construction of language. Certain principles are always found in the composition of language. One part expresses objects, another describes them, a third shews the manner in which they affect each other, and so on. The man who properly learns a language, and studies

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the philosophy of it, is prepared to apply the principles with which he is familiar to other tongues, and finds the acquirement of them comparatively easy. Languages may be traced to a few parent stocks; many of the eastern tongues are branches of the Hebrew, the Sanscrit furnishes the roots of many languages of India, and the Latin forms the basis of several European dialects. He who learns a parent language will find it more easy than he supposes to make its several dialects his own.

Supposing that you see it possible to educate yourself, we request your attention to the following considerations:--

1. Education will increase the sources of your enjoyments. The man whose mind is untrained is naturally sensual, his habits are coarse, his amusements are vulgar, his ideas are contracted, and his influence is limited. The ability merely to read is of immense advantage, for a few good books supply pleasing companions and valuable instructors. Writing places a man higher in the scale of advantages, he improves his thoughts by recording them, and by that process becomes better prepared to appreciate those of others; while the intermixture of friendship by means of the pen, does a good deal towards relieving the severity of toil and care. When figures are added to letters, the mind has a new set of machinery to work, in which both pleasure and profit will be found. Music, both vocal and instrumental, adds fresh charms to life, and may be hallowed so as to become the handmaid to purest devotion. Pure mathematics will train the

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mind to correct thinking, and greatly enlarge our conceptions, while mixed mathematics introduces us to a variety of pleasing and useful objects in every-day life.

2. Education will increase your usefulness, and tend to secure you esteem. A large body of our citizens are without much mental training, but they have sinews and muscles, and they ply them well; they are therefore respected men, but education would have secured them more respect and made them more useful. The man who can plough and sow as well as think and reason is the man for this colony--he knows his position, and others acknowledge it. Such a man could set his foot against the approach of tyranny and error, and stop their progress. Many political questions demand examination by minds logically trained. We are laying the foundations of a future nation; let us be careful that the foundations be sound in principle and liberal in spirit, pure in morals, and upright in all their details.

3. Education is an assistant to religion. It is strange that this should ever be denied, for no thoughts are so expansive and so pure as those which religion suggests. Astronomy, with its vast expanse, is left far behind, when we attempt to approach Him whose dwelling-place is in inaccessible light. Poetry veils her lace while Jehovah passes by, making the clouds His chariot, and riding upon the wings of the wind. None but the book of God supplies the history of the earth, its modifications, the origin of its inhabitants, and their early movements. The most cultivated minds have been wrapped into intensest thought on the mys-

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tery of godliness--God manifest in the flesh. Milton lighted his torch at the fire on the altar, and Newton was a devout student of the Bible. From this book philanthropy starts on her benevolent career. The most enlightened nations are those in which the Scriptures are free, and where the religious element is the strongest. Education tends to prepare the mind to enjoy religion with sobriety, yet with a hope thrilling with emotion. The truths of God sparkle with fresh glories as the heart becomes increasingly sanctified, and as the mind perceives them more clearly.

4. Education tends to lift a man into a higher position in society. A few years ago, a lad, engaged in the dull routine of a London post-office, determined to qualify himself to be a clergyman of the Church of England, and succeeded; and not long since his son was installed Lord Bishop of R...n. Examples might be furnished in any number illustrative of the statement under consideration. Many a lad has, in early life, been a servant in a merchant's store, and by well-directed efforts has risen to a clerkship; the next stop has been to a partnership in the firm; and the last half of his days have seen him a successful merchant.

Let us suppose the case of a youth who is stirred to enter upon a course which shall conduct him to the temple of knowledge. He may be anxiously asking, "How shall I begin? and when the beginning is made, how shall the course be conducted to a successful issue?" We reply to such an enquiry, "You will not find the beginning to be easy; the proverb has long been afloat, that there is no 'royal road to learn-

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ing.' "Do not be deceived here, but gird yourselves for work, severe, determined work. Be not cast down at the blunders which you may make, they will become fewer as you proceed--every man who has educated himself has made them before you. Expect your rate of progress to be slow, but determine that it shall be sure. The consciousness of progress is a rich pleasure to the student. Go to the bottom of your subject; see that the foundation is solid rock, and then build on it. Persevere, you may find a difficult point, but conquer it. The ship has to be laid upon this tack and upon that, to weather the frowning headland with an adverse wind. Enemies may be lurking on either hand, you may be inclined for a walk or a visit, you may be poorly or sleepy, your mind may flit about, an unimportant letter may be brought, or a book of light reading may be introduced. In any of these cases is the hour of danger, the battle must be fought now. Yield, and your chance of improvement will be worth but little; conquer, and you will achieve a glorious victory. These enemies may come again, but it will be with a timid step, and a less effort will overcome them. Do not suppose yourself wise, and look down upon those whose minds have not been directed in the same course as your own. There is a kind of knowledge which puffeth up. Remember the lines of the poet:--

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The wise man is modest, the boaster is generally shallow. A little-minded man may easily be a pedant, and it is not difficult for a pedant to shew that he is a fool.

A young man of tolerable parts, having a good elementary knowledge of letters and figures, may continue to improve in any direction he pleases. We ask such a person to examine carefully the following remarks, the substance of which may be found in "Todd's Students' Guide," a book from which we derived so much benefit in our youth, that we recommend it to the attention of the reader. Accept the following advice on the reading of a book. Always see that the book which you read for the purpose of educating your mind is worth reading, for hundreds of books are pleasing, but are of no use in disciplining the mind. The book selected should be full of thoughts, as hard as the diamond, thoughts which you cannot rasp away by the severest logic, and which will not melt in the fires of the last day. Get the plan of it engraven in your mind. Read a paragraph, seize its leading idea, and see how it is clothed and supported. In this manner read through a section or a chapter, then close the book and think over what you have read. Do not leave a sentence till you understand it, or have done all you can to understand it. Examine whether it expresses more than one thing, so as to leave you in doubt concerning the author's meaning; if so, mark it as being in loose or bad style. But if the sentence be so constructed that it will bear no other meaning but the one distinctly expressed, and if you cannot leave

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out a word, or add or transpose a word, without injuring it, then prize such a sentence as being worth imitation. Examine the argument of your author when the drapery of rhetoric has been stripped away. Enquire whether it accomplishes all which is intended, whether it does more than this, and whether it can be logically pushed into the region of absurdity. If you find it to be sound metal, that it will ring well, lay it up for use. Pay attention to the figures of speech as you read; learn to call them by their proper names, and see that one is not called to do the work of another. Let the general teaching of the book be treasured up, so that you rise from it a wiser and a better man. Do not object that this is too slow a process for you. Men whose opinions on this subject are of golden value have told us that one book read in this manner will accomplish more for the education of the mind than a hundred volumes would do if only skimmed over.

Do you ask, What use should be made of the pen? We reply, the pen should be used every day. Write out occasionally the substance of a paragraph or a section of the book you are reading, in your own language; let it lie by a month, and then revise it. Write a short essay on some important subject every month. Work at it every week, and, if possible, add a little to it daily. Revise it severely, and do not give it up till it is as perfect as you can make it. This course will initiate you into precise thinking and correct spelling; it will lead you to select proper words, and improve your acquaintance with grammar.

We advise you to prepare yourselves for public

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speaking. The chief difficulty lies in the nerves. Hundreds of men can express their thoughts with ease and correctness at their firesides, but if called upon to address a public assembly, they become nervous, and losing sight of the things which they intended to say, are too confused to substitute others with propriety. Resolve to manage your nerves so that you almost forget that you have any. Try the following plan: think over a subject till you fully understand it, then go into some solitary place, to the sea-shore if you have an opportunity, and speak it to the waves. By these means you will soon become prepared to take an efficient part in the various religious and philanthropic operations of the present day.

Perhaps you ask, "Is it possible to learn a foreign language without a teacher?" We reply, Certainly it is; thousands have done so before you, and what has been done may be repeated. If you are resolved to learn a certain language, then, in the first place, examine your grammar, and obtain a general idea of the construction of the language. Learn the way in which the nouns are modified, and commit such modifications to memory. Do the same with the pronouns, and with the words which qualify the nouns. Let the moods, tenses, and all other things belonging to the verbs, be fixed in your memory, so that you can take any verb, regular or irregular, seizing the letters or terminations which are its characteristics--those stepping stones to conjugation, and run through the whole with all the ease of a schoolboy bounding over his playground. The rules of syntax may be mastered with

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little difficulty. Then with the aid of a good dictionary, you may take up an easy book, say the New Testament, and begin to construe. However slow your progress may be in this exercise, determine to be correct. Three months' exercise will give you confidence, your lexicon will become your pleasant companion, and you will advance with ease and interest to the mastery of the language.

What is more called for in this commercial age than arithmetic? and what is easier to attain? Determine to be efficient in this branch of science. A little memory work will make you familiar with the tables of numbers, weights, and measures. A child can learn the simple rules, by the use of which all the operations in arithmetic are performed. Let a good treatise on the subject be taken up with a resolution to master it; endeavour to understand the reason of every rule, and when a step has been gained take care that it be not lost. If possible, let a portion of each day be spent in this study until it be mastered.

An acquaintance with the higher branches of science is within your reach, if your purpose be strong and steady. Select geometry or algebra, for instance, and learn perfectly the definitions and signs used, then commence with the simplest propositions; and go forward, slowly but surely, till you can weigh the earth, measure the planets, and calculate an eclipse.

The importance of speaking and writing your own language correctly is very great. No other studies can compensate for deficiency in this. Easy as this attainment may appear, but few persons excel in it.

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Defects in your own tongue are heard in your conversation, and are seen in your letters; they have a place in your memoranda of business, and may haunt you through life. Proper attention given to English grammar will save you many a blush, make your company more desirable, and increase the value of your letters of friendship.

Are you ready to say, "Oh that I had a good library, plenty of scientific instruments, and sufficient time at my disposal I then I would educate myself." Had William Cobbett those advantages while he was a private soldier, sitting on the side of his bed, engaged in his studies amidst the disturbances of a barrack room? yet he succeeded, and eventually gained a seat in the British parliament. Had Samuel Lee golden opportunities while serving as a parish apprentice to a carpenter? yet he rose to the Professorship of Oriental Languages in the University of Cambridge. Had Elihu Burritt extraordinary advantages while working at the forge in the smithery? yet he has gained a world-wide fame for his knowledge of ancient and modern languages. What were the advantages of William Carey when he was working at the shoemaker's stall? yet he was then reading his Bible in seven languages. Men have become eminent in every branch of knowledge by self-instruction, without the aid which superior circumstances may be supposed to bestow. It is said that Homer was a beggar, and that Aesop was a slave. The father of Demosthenes was a cutler, and Virgil was the son of a baker. We are told that Ben Jonson was a bricklayer, and Gifford a shoe-

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maker. Sir Richard Arkwright was a barber in his early days, and Shakspere a mechanic.

Perhaps you are still saying that you have no time for a decisive effort. Let us examine this objection; and to do so orderly, we will divide the aspirants after education into classes. The first class, we suppose, comprises young men who do not go to their offices until nine o'clock in the morning. Such men may secure two hours and a half for hard study every morning, if they will rise at five o'clock; but if they lie in bed till seven o'clock their progress in study will be very slow. The man who lies in bed late cannot study; he is probably ill-tempered, and fit for nothing but to look over the morning newspaper. But let him rise at five o'clock regularly, bathe his hands, face, and neck well with clear cold water, and, having asked the blessing of God upon his efforts, sit down to his books; study will then be found a pleasure, and success will certainly attend him. Another class may be composed of shopmen, who suppose that on account of the late hours to which shops are kept open, nothing can be done towards educating themselves. A better day is dawning for this class of persons in the early closing movement. But as things now are, we would ask, cannot two hours be secured in the morning for earnest study by early rising? are there no moments in the course of the day which may be pressed into service? and may not difficulties vanish by thinking over the morning's lesson as your hands are engaged in your calling? Others begin their day of toil by six o'clock in the morning, and continue it till the same hour in

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the evening; but let not such persons despair, for many have risen from the workshop and the farm, to occupy influential places both in the church and in secular life. Let them remember that all things are possible with the blessing of God and determined perseverance.

The books you really need are few; secure them, if possible, but useless books may be a snare, and do you much injury. If a few instruments, such as a telescope and a microscope, &c., come within your reach, purchase them, they will enlarge the sphere of your observation. Remember that "the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."

The course of study which we have sketched leaves but little room for light reading, and none at all for novels and romances. Were there no other objections to novels, the earnest student has not time to read them. But there are other objections, applicable not merely to those in which religion is ignored, and vice is arrayed in the drapery of virtue, but the best class of novels is open to the charge of being unreal. The utmost that can be said in favour of them is, that they pourtray the manners of the age, and so have a historic value. Small is the number deserving this character, and in reference to the best of novels it may be said that the historian is the safest instructor. Neither time nor money should be wasted in tobacco in any form, nor should the mind be much engaged with the politics of the day. Every great public question should be examined, and a stand should be taken, but the young student cannot spare time at present for

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more active measures. In his anxiety for improvement the man who fears God will not desecrate the Sabbath under the plea of personal improvement. "Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy." By so doing both body and mind will be rested, religions blessedness will hallow the spirit, and the heart will be prepared for the times of refreshing which come from the presence of the Lord.

"The course recommended is very well for young men," some may be ready to say, "but it is not applicable to men of mature age." Let this allegation be examined. Take the class of men whoso ages extend from twenty-five to thirty-five years. The contemplation of our lives should lead us to stand ready to lay it down any hour, and also to sketch a plan for the future, so that, if God permit, we may fill up our threescore years and ten in the best manner. The class of persons indicated above may have from thirty-five to forty-five years before them. With so much of life possibly before them, is it not desirable to enter at once upon a course of self-instruction, although the season of youth is gone by? Is not a rich harvest promised to the man who will break up the fallow ground, and sow his mind with the seed of varied truth?

Some may urge that memory is more retentive in youth, and that learning is acquired with more difficulty in afterlife. This may be the case. But there are two exercises of the mind engaged in self-education--memory and judgment. If the memory is stronger in youth, certainly the judgment is better informed in

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mature age. To illustrate this, take the study of a foreign language as an example. We are mistaken if you cannot learn its alphabet, supposing that it differs from your own, in a few days, so as to read and copy it with ease. A few more days given to the nouns will acquaint you with their classes and changes. Then, let eight nouns be written on a slip of paper every evening, to be committed to memory the next day; by pursuing this course for about a month, you will become acquainted with about two hundred names of things. Treat the verbs in the same manner, and be perfect in conjugation. Then form short sentences with the words so learned, now and then throwing in a pronoun, an adverb, or any other word, as you can command it. You may then open a book in the language and begin to read. You will be surprised to find how often the same word--your familiar friend--occurs in the same page; it may change its form as number, mood, and tense may require; or it may do duty in the form of a participle, or in some other way; but there it is, challenging your recognition. Let this course be followed for a few months, and you will read with profit and pleasure in the language which you had thought was beyond your reach.

Probably, you are saying that the chief objection remains to be stated, which is, that the same perseverance in study is not to be expected from men as from boys. Why not? Yet the objection is worth considering, as the great difficulty lies in the want of perseverance. Surmount this difficulty, and you will succeed. A man may wish to study a branch of

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science, but as his youth is passed he may be afraid to engage in it. Let him, however, try. At the first examination the subject may appear only as a tissue of confusion, but if he devote every spare minute to it for a week, he will comprehend as much of it as will encourage him to hope; let him continue this application for a month, and he would regret to give it up; let him pursue it for three months longer, and he will find it easy; after six months he will find much pleasure as he proceeds; and twelve months' study will make it his own for life.

A formidable objection may appear to some minds in the idea that most men in mature life have their energies so taxed to support their families that they cannot indulge a hope of improvement in the line we have drawn out. In reply to this, it may be stated, that in a well-regulated family a considerable portion of time may be obtained for reading and study. In the quiet of the evening, the body may be rested and the mind refreshed by sober and consecutive thought; and an hour so spent in the morning will conduce to the happiness and success of the day. When the habit is fixed, it will not be a task but a pleasure to study. The history of the past, the realities of the present, and the probabilities of the future, properly improved, will be found soothing and helpful amidst the jostling cares of life. We must not lose sight of the example which a man sets before his children in his attempt to educate himself, for by this means a love of learning may be silently instilled into their minds, the results of which may be seen not only in their superior attainments at school, but also in their

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position and influence through life. The father of a family is urged on to self-improvement by additional motives, instead of being permitted to plead exemption from mental toil on the ground of his circumstances.

One more objection against the course we have recommended may present itself, namely, that some persons of superior scholastic training, who find their way to the colonies, can find no suitable employment; they cannot work; the course they take is, either to return home penniless and disheartened, or to linger a few years unknown and unloved, and die in wretchedness. In reply to this it may be asked, would such men have been better colonists if they had been less educated? If men cannot or will not work their fate is sealed, whether they have been trained in schools or not. On a close examination it will be found that such persons have no tact to bend circumstances in their favour, or to mould themselves to meet the times. They have no energy to bear them along against adverse influences. Some will not work, except in a prescribed line, which may not be within their reach; or, perhaps, vice may have its attractions, and they may be content to herd with those who are sunk lower than themselves. In colonial experience the cases are extremely rare in which a man is the worse for being educated.

We wish to address a few words to those who are the managers of our homes and the mothers of our children. To them a considerable part of this lecture is applicable. The female mind becomes more sweet and her influence in society is more charming

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and valuable when properly educated. By it the associations of wife and mother become more varied, more rich, and more honoured. "Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace her."