LESSON XLIII. KEEP IN STEP. ANON. Those who would walk together, must keep in step. OLD PROVERB. 1. A Y, the world keeps moving forward, Hear you not its heavy footfall That resoundeth to the sky'? Make the timid-hearted strong! Like brave soldiers, we march forward: You must look to get a jostling While you stand upon our track. 2. My good neighbor, Master Standstill, Not quite sure but he is dreaming Ancient laws and institutions Are decaying, or are gone. With our mad, new-fangled ways." 3. Be assured, good Master Standstill, For the yearning human mind. And the shades of our forefathers 4. One detachment of our army May enjoy "its own sweet will: This may answer to one watchword, But in unity and concord, They discern that each is brother! LESSON XLIV. 1 SHAK'SPEARE, WILLIAM. See note, p. 106. ARK WRIGHT, SIR RICHARD, was born in Preston in 1732. When thirtyfive years of age, he devoted his attention to the subject of inventions for spinning cotton. Mills for spinning cotton by his machinery were first erected in Nottingham. The system has been universally adopted, and, in all its main features, remains unaltered to the present time. Out of his invention have grown up the largest manufacture, the largest trade, the largest revenue, some of the largest citics, and the largest national prosperity, in the world. Although defrauded out of his patent right, yet by indomitable energy he turned the tide of prosperity and wealth to his own advantage, and left a large fortune to his heirs. 'CO LUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER, the discoverer of America in 1492, was born in Genoa, Italy, 1436; and died May 20, 1506. ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. EDWARD EVERETT. N idea, I fear, prevails, that truths are obvious enough in themselves, but that they apply only to men of literary education,-to professional characters, and persons of fortune and leisure; and that it is out of the power of the other classes of society, and those who pass most of their time in manual labor and mechanical industry, to engage in the pursuit of knowledge with any hope of being useful to themselves and others. What is it that Is this a thing moGod forbid! it is the 2. This I believe to be a great error. we wish to improve? THE MIND. nopolized by any class of society'? heritage with which he has endowed all the children of the great family of man. Is it a treasure belonging to the wealthy'? It is talent bestowed alike on rich and poor, high and low. But this is not all: mind is, in all men, and in every man, the same active, living, and creative principle; it is the man himself. 3. One of the renowned philosophers of heathen antiquity beautifully said of the intellectual faculties, "I call them not mine, but me." It is these which make the man, which are the man. I do not say that opportunities, that wealth, leisure, and great advantages for education, are nothing but I do say, they are much less than is commonly supposed; I do say, as a general rule, that the amount of useful knowledge which men acquire, and the good they do with it, are by no means in direct proportion to the degree to which they have enjoyed what are commonly called the great advantages of life. 4. Wisdom does sometimes, but not most commonly, feed her children with a silver spoon. I believe it is perfectly correct to say, that a small proportion only of those who have been most distinguished for the improvement of their minds have enjoyed the best advantages for education. I do not mean to detract, in the least degree, from the advantages of the various seminaries for learning which public and private liberality has founded in our country. They serve as places where a large number of persons are prepared for their employment in the various occupations which the public service requires. 5. But, I repeat it, of the great benefactors of our race, the men who, by wonderful inventions, remarkable discoveries, and extraordinary improvements, bave conferred the most eminent service on their fellow-men, and gained the highest names in history, by far the greater part have been men of humble origin, narrow fortunes, small advantages, and self-taught. 6. And this springs from the nature of the mind of man, which is not, like natural things, a vessel to be filled up from without; into which you may pour a little or pour much, and then measure, as with a gauge, the degrees of knowledge imparted. The knowledge that can be so imparted is the least valuable kind of knowledge; and the man who has nothing but this, may be very learned, but can not be very wise. In this great respect, the most important that touches human condition, we are all equal. 7. It is not more true, that all men possess the same natural senses and organs, than that their minds are endowed with the same capacities for improvement, though not, perhaps, all in the same degree. Shakspeare,' whose productions have been the wonder and delight of all who speak the English language, for two hundred years, was a runaway youth, the son of a wool-comber; and Sir Richard Arkwright, who invented the machinery for spinning cotton, was the youngest of thirteen children of a poor peasant, and, till he was thirty years of age, followed the business of a traveling barber. 8. As men bring into the world with them an equal intellectual endowment, that is, minds equally susceptible of improvement, so, in a community like that in which we have the happiness to live, the means of improvement are much more equally enjoyed than might at first be supposed. Whoever has learned to read, possesses the keys of Knowledge; and can, whenever he pleases, not only unlock the portals of her temple, but penetrate to the inmost halls and most sacred cabinets. A few dollars, the surplus of the earnings of the humblest industry, are sufficient to purchase the use of books which contain the elements of the whole circle of useful knowledge. 9. It may be thought that a considerable portion of the community want time to attend to the cultivation of their minds. But it is only necessary to make the experiment to find two things: one, how much useful knowledge can be acquired in a very little time; and the other, how much time can be spared, by good management, out of the busiest day. There are very few pursuits in life whose duties are so incessant that they do not leave a little time, every day, to a man, whose temperate and regular habits allow him the comfort of a clear head and a cheerful temper, in the |