A CURIOUS CALCULATION.

43

not be able to give you such a precious treasure, I will still urge upon you the advantages of being satisfied, and of hoping that all will yet be well.

5 I once knew a very rich, wise, and aged 6 lived in an almshouse. "What!" say you.

woman, who

7" Lived in

8 an almshouse! That can be no proof of her wisdom'. 9 If she were really rich, why did she not dwell in a habita-. 10 tion of her own, like other rich people?" Ay, but, my friends, you are forgetting that

True riches are they, which pass not away;

And true wisdom, the fear of the Lord.

Rebecca Roberts, it is true, had neither houses nor lands"; 11 and if she had any money, she kept it very snugly; for I never knew her to possess more than a few shillings before12 hand in her life; yet for all this, Rebecca was rich. Though she had neither mansions nor money, she was satisfied 13 without them: this satisfaction was her riches. In every joy, and in every sorrow, she believed that all would yet be

well.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-What feeling do you express by the word oh at the beginning of this Section? Give the meaning of the word satisfied, more, toward, mines, peace, repose, real, world, treasure, advantages, almshouse, habitation, forgetting. Where is Mexico?

"What! say you," Sent. 6th, and "Lived, &c.," Seut. 7th, should both be delivered with the upward slide.

1

SECT. LII.-A CURIOUS CALCULATION.

WHAT is a billion ? 2 The reply is very simple: a million 3 times a million. This is quickly written, and more quickly 4 still pronounced. But no man is able to count it. You

count 160 or 170 a minute, but let us even suppose that 5 you may go as far as 200: then an hour will produce 12,000, a day, 288,000, and a year, 365 days, (for every four years you may rest from counting, during leap year,) 105,120,000. Let us suppose now, that Adam, at the be8 ginning of his existence, had begun to count, had continued to do so, and was counting still he would not even now, according to the usually supposed age of our globe, have counted near enough. For to count a billion, he would re7 quire 9,512 years, 34 days, 5 hours, and 20 minutes, ac

44

RIGHT WAY AND WRONG WAY.

cording to the rule taken above. Now supposing we were 8 to allow the poor counter 12 hours daily for rest, eating and sleeping, he would need 19,024 years, 69 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Define simple, able, count, quickly, rest, leap year, globe, (why is the earth called a globe?) Who was Adam? Was he an American?

1

SECT. LIII.-RIGHT WAY AND WRONG WAY.

"THE Turks differ from the Franks," says Dr. Walsh, "in their most trifling habits. The barber pushes his razor from him; ours draws it to him: the carpenter, on the contrary, drew the saw to him, for all the teeth were set in; ours pushes it from him, for all the teeth are set out: the mason sat while he laid the stones; ours always stands : 2 the scribe wrote on his hand, from right to left; ours always writes on a desk, and from left to right: the most ridiculous difference consisted in the manner of building a house we begin at the bottom and finish at the top: the house we now saw was a frame of wood, which the Turks began at the top; and the upper rooms were finished and inhabited, while all below was like a lantern."

3

APPLICATION.-There are two ways of doing a thing: a 4 right way and a wrong way. Now the right way is always the easier and the more agreeable; while the wrong way is 5 always difficult and troublesome. Besides, when a thing is done wrong, it has to be done over again. When children 6 do not know how to do any thing in the best manner, they should inquire of their parents, teachers, or friends; and when they are told, they should remember and attend to 7 what has been said. Many a mother has said to her little girl, "Your work is all wrong; do you not see how ill it 8 looks? Go and pull it all out again." And many a little boy 9 has had his sum rubbed out from his slate because he did not mind what was said; or, taking the wrong turning, and going down the wrong street, has not been able to find out the person to whom he was sent, and has had to go again, for his negligence and thoughtlessness.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Turks-inhabitants of Turkey: Where is Turkey? Franks-Frenchmen literally; but by it are meant all Christians of

Europe. Define barber, razor, draws, carpenter, pushes, mason, scribe, desk, ridiculous, bottom, top, lantern.-(In what state must a house be to look like a lantern? Must you be able to see through it?) Define easier, difficult, troublesome.

What is meant by an application?

1

SECT. LIV. THE OLD SCHOOL.

"WHAT do you mean by the old school, father?" asked little Joseph, looking up from the amusing and instructive 2 occupation of putting together a dissected map. "I have often heard you say that such a person belongs to the old 3 school, and wondered what it could be. Is it a school for old people?"

4 The father smiled. "Not exactly that, my son, but the 5 school in which old people were taught, when they were young."

6

"But was that any different from the schools we have 7 now?" the boy inquired. 'Do tell me, father, all about it; 8 for I suppose you went to it?" And Joseph left continents, oceans and islands, in one confused heap, to draw his little stool beside his father.

9

10

11

"No'; I was not educated in the old school'; still I can tell you something about it."

"Were there desks and books and slates and maps, father? and were the boys taught in classes as they are at the school go to ?"

I

"You wholly mistake my meaning, my boy," Mr. Darwin made answer: "the word school, though literally meaning a place for education, is often used in another sense. Thus, 12 we speak of the school of experience, and the school of affliction, because these circumstances produce a change in the mind, similar to that which is accomplished in a child by 13 education. When we say, therefore, that an individual has been brought up in the old school, we mean that he received and still retains the ideas of the age in which he formerly lived: ideas which, though once common to all men, like the clothes worn at the same time, are now old-fashioned, and laid aside for others of a different and newer pattern.

46

WHEN TO THINK BEFORE SPEAKING OR ACTING.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Define amusing, instructive, occupation, dissected map, (a map cut into pieces, and to be put together as it was before being cut,) old, exactly, continents, oceans, islands, confused, heap, educated, desks, slates, classes, mistake, meaning, circumstances, (things,) similar (like,) accomplished, (effected, produced,) individual, (person,) retains, (holds,) ideas, (opinions,) age, (time,) pattern.

SECT. LV.-WHEN TO THINK BEFORE SPEAKING OR ACTING.

1

THINK, boys, in all your pursuits; and endeavor to prevail on others to think also.

2 It is said, that a father once told his hasty son to think three times before he spoke once. The father was standing

3 with his back so near the fire that the tail of his coat was caught by the blaze; on seeing which the son said, "Father, 4 I think!"- 'That is right,” said the father, “but what is the 5 subject of your thoughts ?"—" O, I think," repeated the son. 6 "Very good!" the father added"; "but now tell me what 7 it is you are thinking of." "Why," rejoined the son, "I think, father, that the tail of your coat is on fire." 8 young rogue!" cried the father, turning round in a passion, and finding his coat skirt half burnt away, "you young rogue, why did you not tell me at once that my coat was on 9 fire ?" "And so I should," replied the son, "but you told me always to think three times before I spoke once."

"You

Now, my boys, when I tell you to think, I do not mean 10 that you should spend that time in thinking, which ought to be employed in acting; if the case require thought, never act without it; but many cases require prompt and immediate action. If a child is in danger of being run over by a carriage, if another is in the act of drowning, a third near 11 to the brink of a precipice, or if an accident occur, like that of the gentleman's coat on fire, he who would be of any service must stretch forth his hand immediately, and act 12 with decision. Such cases, however, do not often occur: in

the main, we should think both before we speak and before 13 we act. He who thinks wisely, is the most likely to act

wisely; for actions proceed from thoughts. If the fool would 14 think, he would be a fool no longer if the wise thought 15 more, they would be wiser than they are. Thinking aright

SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S DEATH.

47

never hurt any one; but the want of thought has ruined thousands.

DEFINITIONS, &c.-Pursuits-what is pursued, generally to obtain a living. Give the meaning of think, prevail, hasty, spoke, caught, blaze, subject, rejoined, rogue. What is the difference between rejoined and replied any? What is to be supplied after the word should, in sentence 9th, to make out the sense? What do we learn from this section?

1

SECT. LVI.-SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S DEATH.

No man ever died a violent death in a more becoming manner than Sir Walter Raleigh. As the morning was cold, the 2 sheriff offered to delay the execution a little, to give him time to warm himself. This he refused: saying, that his fever and ague would come on, in about a quarter of an 3 hour; (for he appears to have had, at this time, the ague and fever;) and if he should not be dead before it came on, his enemies would see him shiver, and would say he trembled for fear.

4

After praying on the scaffold most fervently, he rose, clasped his hands, and said, "Now I am going to God!" 5 When all was nearly ready, he begged the executioner to 6 show him the axe. It was at first refused; but upon his 7 urgent request, he was permitted to see it. He examined it, and made some remarks on the keenness of its edge, &c. 8 Having done this, and once more concluded a silent prayer, he rose, examined the block, and laid himself down to it, in a proper manner, to see that it was so arranged as to fit him. When he saw that all was right, he once more rose, and 9 told the sheriff he was ready: only insisting that the executioner should not strike the blow till he had first given the signal; and that then he should strike fearlessly.

10

He now proceeded to lay himself down on the block to receive the fatal stroke. On being requested to place Lim11 self so that his face should be toward the east, he replied, "So that the heart be right, it is no matter which way the 12 head lies." Memorable words! and we wish they might sink deep into the hearts of our readers.

13 After he had placed himself, he seemed to be, for a time, engaged in prayer; but presently he gave the signal. The 14 executioner delayed a few moments"; nobody knew why";