remember everything, fail in attaining a clear knowledge of anything. This habit of discriminating, in reading and studying, will be of great utility in after-life. A facility is thus gained of collecting, almost at a glance, the subject of a whole page.

'THIRD. Accustom yourselves to express your ideas on the various subjects of study, in writing.

"The practice of writing an analysis, or making a sketch of the lessons you are studying, is a very good one; but this cannot be done until you have prepared yourself for it by some previous study. By attempting to make an outline, before a view of the whole has been taken, the mind is confused rather than assisted. It is well to make the sciences you study the subjects of your weekly compositions, sometimes taking them in one point of view, sometimes in another.

'FOURTH. Improve the best hours of the day to secure those lessons which require the greatest mental effort.

'The season most favourable for study is, with most persons, the morning; the body being then refreshed by sleep, and the mind by a suspension of effort, your most difficult lessons should be studied. It is evident that in all intellectual as well as mechanical labour, the work accomplished must be in proportion to the power exerted. When the mind is languid, it is impossible for it to put forth power, nor can time make up for mental energy. One hour of successful effort is worth more than days of weak attempts.

FIFTH. Endeavour to fix your attention exclusively upon the study in which you are engaged.

'Attention is indeed everything; without it, nothing requiring mental effort can be well done. In bodily operations, we may acquire so great a facility of execution, that we have no need of attention; thus a musician can perform a familiar air without thinking of his notes. But it is a most difficult task for young students to gain that command of their trains

of thought which scientific and literary research requires. How many are diverted from study by the most trifling circumstances; even the appearance of a fly upon a window, an object in the street, or a slight noise in an adjoining apartment, is sufficient to call off attention: or, the mind, wearied with the unusual attempt at investigation, gladly goes in search of some more pleasing exercise of its powers. The enjoyments of home are called up; the days or weeks are counted which have intervened since the dear spot was left, and the many which are to pass until examination is over, and these tedious books may be laid aside. Your own consciences can say how often the ringing of the recitation-bell has found you unprepared, after such unprofitable aberrations of thought. But let me urge such of you as are conscious of such injurious habits, to strive to acquire an ascendancy over yourselves, by carefully guarding the avenues of your minds. Be resolute against admitting desultory thoughts, when you need all your concentrated mental powers to bear upon the subject before you. The task will at first be difficult, but you may in time have the satisfaction of feeling that you can fix your attention, or govern your trains of thought.

'SIXTH. Endeavour to understand as far as possible the nature, objects, and ultimate end of the studies you pursue.

"Thus, when questioned as to your progress in education, you may be able to state what you have done, what you design to do, and the bearing which all this is intended to have upon your future.'*

To these rules, I add the following, which demands particular attention:

SEVENTH. In carrying through your studies, rely, if possible, only on yourself.

The Female Student. By Mrs Phelps. New York. 1836.

There is a well-known tendency in youths to seek assistance in learning their lessons. They wish to rely on tutors, parents, or fellow-pupils for help, instead of trying, by earnest thought and research, to overcome seeming difficulties. There are, doubtless, particular circumstances in which assistance is necessary; but, in general, the proper plan is to trust to yourself. The chief value of the lesson consists in your mastering it, and it is only by doing so that you are able to encounter studies of still greater difficulty. A teacher informs us, that he finds those boys who from necessity depend on themselves—some of them living in humble homes, and studying by the dim light of a coal-fire-are almost invariably better scholars than the pupils who are aided by private tutors. In scholarship, as in everything else, there is nothing like self-reliance. Having received such instructions from your teacher as he thinks competent in the circumstances, your duty is to trust to yourself and your books, and no fear of the result.

Assuming that you have been duly instructed in the elementary branches to which I have called attention, and that you have made schooling a reality, not a sham; and further, that you have undergone a fair amount of out-of-school culture, you are prepared to make a creditable effort for your livelihood, and enjoy what to many children of misfortune would be a truly enviable position. Of course, in your acquirements there must be included good character, along with civility and goodmanners. With such a combination of accomplishments, and fortified by good bodily health, and a spirit of independent enterprise, you can have no difficulty in making your way in the world.

PURSUITS OUT OF SCHOOL.

A

TTENDANCE at school does not comprehend all the education you receive between five and fourteen years of age. Much work must be done out of school, not a little out of doors. But let us suppose that you have an extreme love of books, that you prefer studying lessons continuously during leisure hours, and never run about to play like other boys. If this be your plan, it is not a good one. Remember, that the body needs training as well as the mind. You must go through a course of physical as well as mental cultivation.

Nature kindly endows youth with animal spirits, as a stimulus to exercise the whole physical system, and cause it to grow to that degree of volume and strength which will carry it successfully through manhood. Your future health and strength, therefore, depend in a great measure on the manner in which you nurse and develop your bodily powers during school-days. If you sit too much in the house, or go always mopingly about, or pamper yourself with trash instead of living on simple diet, or commit any other folly or excess, rely upon it your health will suffer afterwards. Nature is inexorable in punishing outrages on her laws.

While at school, go to bed early-not later than nine o'clock. Do not on any account sit up to read; nor, still worse, attempt to read in bed. The bed is made for sleep, and you should accustom yourself to fall asleep immediately on lying down. Rise early. The mental energy is always morning, particularly after breakfast.

strongest in the

It

slackens towards evening, and then needs to be restored by refreshing sleep. Physiologists recommend young persons to cultivate periodicity. This is a curious principle in nature. If you accustom yourself to eat, drink, sleep, and perform all other actions proper to the physical system, at certain periods, the body acquires a fixed habit of demanding that these acts shall be done at such periods, and no other. Thus, you may educate the physical functions in such excellent habits of periodicity, that they will go on spontaneously according to what is required, and you are afterwards spared the trouble of thinking about them. On this principle of periodicity, an eminent physiologist makes the following useful observations:

'It is this principle of our nature which promotes the formation of what are called habits. If we repeat any kind of mental effort every day at the same hour, we at last, when the time approaches, find ourselves entering upon it without premeditation; and in like manner, if we arrange our studies in accordance with this law, and take up each regularly in the same order, a natural aptitude is soon produced, which renders application more easy than when the subjects are taken up as accident may direct. Nay, occasionally, the tendency to periodical and associated activity becomes in the course of time so great, that the faculties seem to go through their operations almost without conscious effort, while their facility of action becomes so prodigiously increased, as to give certainty where at first great difficulty is experienced.' *

From these remarks, it appears proper to fall into the habit of performing the duties of the day, as nearly as is practicable, according to a methodical routine. You will rise, punctually, without being called; dress and go through all the duties of the toilet, no matter in how humble a style; perform your

* Physiology applied to Health and Education. By Andrew Combe, M.D. 1852.