If I were a boy again, I would get a blank book and, before going to bed, would record in it the events of each day. I would always write something, however trifling it might be. I would put down what I noticed of birds and animals, the illness of the horse, and the traits of the dog and the cat.

Write another abstract and reproduce the selection in full in your own language.

Exercise II.

Write an outline, an abstract, and a reproduction of the following selection:

SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

"If I were a boy again, one of the first things I would strive to do would be this: I would, as soon as possible, try hard to become acquainted with, and then deal honestly with, myself; to study up my own deficiencies and capabilities; and I would begin early enough, before faults had time to become habits; I would seek out earnestly all the weak points in my character, and then go to work speedily and mend them with better material.

"If I found that I was capable of some one thing in a special degree, I would ask counsel on that point of some judicious friend, and if advised to pursue it, I would devote myself to that particular matter, to the exclusion of much that is foolishly followed in boyhood."

Exercise III.

Write an outline, an abstract, and a reproduction of each of the three following exercises :

PERSEVERANCE.

"If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance oftener, and never give a thing up because it was hard or inconvenient to do it. . . There is no trait more valuable than a determination to persevere when the right thing is to be accomplished. We are all inclined to give up easily in trying or unpleasant situations, and the point I would establish with myself, if the choice were again within my grasp, would be never to relinquish my hold on a possible success if mortal strength or brains in my case were adequate to the occasion.

"That was a capital lesson which Professor Faraday taught one of his students in the lecture-room after some chemical experiment. The lights had been put out in the hall, and by accident some small article dropped on the floor from the professor's hand. The professor lingered behind, endeavoring to pick it up. Never mind,' said the student; it is of no consequence to-night, sir, whether we find it or not.' That is true,' replied the professor, but it is of grave consequence to me as a principle that I am not foiled in my determination to find it.'

"Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. 6 There are only two creatures,' says the Eastern proverb, which can surmount the Pyramids — the eagle and the snail.'"

Exercise IV.

ATTENTION.

"If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention oftener. I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that an expert on the ice never tries to skate in two directions at once. One of our great mistakes while we are young is that we do not attend strictly to what we are about just then, at that particular moment; we do not bend our energies close enough to what we are doing or learning; we wander into a half interest only, and so never acquire fully what is needful for us to become master of. The practice of being habitually attentive is one easily obtained, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown-up people say, 'I couldn't fix my attention on the sermon, or book, although I wished to do so'; and the reason is that a habit of attention was never formed in youth.

"Let me tell you a sad instance of neglected power of concentration. A friend asked me once to lend him an interesting book, something that would enchain his attention, for he said he was losing the power to read. After a few days he brought back the volume, saying it was no doubt a work of great value and beauty, but that the will to enjoy it had gone from him forever, for other matters would intrude themselves on the page he was trying to understand and enjoy, and rows of figures constantly marshaled themselves on the margin, adding themselves up at the bottom of the leaf."

Exercise V.

LEARNING TO USE TOOLS.

"A boy ought to be at home in a barn and learn to harness a horse, tinker up a wagon, feed the animals, and do a hundred useful things, the experience of which may be of special service to him in after life, when unlookedfor emergencies befall him. I have seen an ex-President of the United States, when an old man, descend from his carriage and rearrange buckles and straps about his horses when an accident occurred, while the clumsy coachman stood by in a kind of hopeless inactivity, not knowing the best thing to be done. The ex-President told me he had learned about such matters on a farm in his boyhood, and he was never at a loss for remedies on the road when his carriage broke down.

"It is a pleasant relaxation from books and study to work an hour every day in a tool shop. . . . The learned and lovable Prof. Oliver Wendell Holmes finds such comfort in 'mending things' when his active brain needs repose, that he sometimes breaks a piece of furniture on purpose that he may have the relief of putting it together again much better than it was before. He is as good a mechanic as he is a poet; but there is nothing mechanical about his poetry, as you all know who have read his delightful pieces. An English author of great repute said to me not long ago: 'Professor Holmes is writing the best English of our time.' And I could not help adding: Yes, and inventing the best stereoscopes too!'"

Exercise VI.

Make outlines for writing upon the following sub

jects:

1. Going Nutting.

2. How I Spent One Day.

3. Railroads.

4. The Life of Longfellow.

5. Snow.

6. A Description of Hawthorne.

7. The White House.

8. The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. 9. The Golden-rod.

II. ESSAYS ON MANNERS.

TO THE TEACHER. In most schools such a subject as this will need to be developed very carefully in class before many of the pupils will be competent to write upon it. The great advantage of such conversations and the opportunities they afford will be apparent to every teacher.

Exercise I.

TRUE POLITENESS.

Tell what constitutes true politeness by giving the thoughts of the following quotations. Arrange the quotations in the order which you think best, and then express them in your own words.

Gentleness is the great point to be obtained in the study of manners. N. P. WILLIS.

A small unkindness is a great offense.

HANNAH MORE.