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mination is, but also, that the youth in possession of it makes the successful man.

In every-day life this quality is as valuable as it is elsewhere. One purchaser will notice every defect in cloth or other article sought for, while another will buy the same without perceiving them.

One man examines a steam engine, regarding only the size and novelty of it, while another studies every valve and screw until he thoroughly comprehends the principle of its construction. One person makes a journey without noticing the peculiarities of the country through which he passes, while another observes every tree and flower, the hills, valleys, and rivers, together with the character of the soil, crops, and whatever is marked in external nature. One reader skims over a book, observing only the general drift of the work; another criticises the style, sentiments, and plan, and discovers any error that has crept into it. Some discern the moral tendency of certain acts, and shun them because they lead to ruin. Some can read men with ease and exactness; others know but little of human nature after having enjoyed the best opportunity of studying it. It is said that Patrick Henry's power lay in his knowledge of human nature. He had been accustomed to notice the different effect which the same anecdote would have upon different persons by observing the expression of their countenances. Hence, when he came before a jury, he knew just what chords of the human heart to touch, and before they were scarcely aware of it, they were enchained by his bewitching eloquence. One of his frequent counsels to young men was: Study men, and not books"

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Amos Lawrence was discriminating from his boyhood. This appears from incidents related on former pages. Few youths stop to inquire into the tendency of particular acts; but he cut short the habit of drinking, because he saw that it carried others to the drunkard's grave. He did not judge that he was more secure than others, as most young people do; but he perceived that he was of like passions as other men, and could not be trusted more than they. Here was a matter in which he evinced remarkable power of discrimination. same appears, also, in his decision not to accept the offer of his first employers in the city to enter into partnership with them. He declined because he saw that the principles on which the business was conducted were wrong. We need not specify examples, for nearly all the incidents of his life narrated exhibit more or less of this power. He was a keen observer of men and things. As a merchant, he excelled in understanding the market and signs of the times. It is said, also, that he could read the characters of men as a book. An impostor had little hope of succeeding in the attempt to deceive him. Though called upon by thousands for contributions, he was seldom imposed upon. He often declined giving because the applicant appeared to be undeserving.

There is no doubt that this quality aided him very much in his business. No class of men need to be more discriminating than merchants; and none are more so than the successful ones of the number. It was a prominent trait with those of whom we have spoken. The biographer of Budgett says: "The habit of deducing a general lesson from a particular occurrence has already

been noticed, but must be distinctly borne in mind as one of the notable springs of his power. From the pain he felt at the thought of a fiery dominie, he learned a lesson on education; from the death of the donkey, one on credit; from the failure of the traveller in his mother's shop, one on the necessity of adapting yourself to the interests of others; and so he generalised as he went along, and stored up the result for service at a future day." All this resulted from his discriminating power.

In other pursuits, we have already noticed several examples, and may profitably consider a few more. Blaise Pascal was one of the most distinguished mathematicians who ever lived. The discrimination of his manhood was only the development of the same quality in childhood and youth, "What are you doing with that plate, Blaise?" exclaimed his elder sister, when she saw him striking it with his knife. "Notice!" he replied, “when I strike the plate with a knife, it rings; hark! and when I grasp it with my hand thus, the sound ceases. Why is that I wonder?" He was but ten years old, and yet he went on studying into this, and the laws of sound generally, until in later life he brought forth his treatise on that subject. Dr Chalmers was ever a keen observer of moral distinctions. Nothing fired his indignation so much, when a boy, as deceit and falsehood among his associates. On one occasion, when not more than ten years of age, he was noticed to walk the room, repeating passages from the Psalms of David, and finally he fixed upon a text, mounted a chair, and delivered an extemporaneous discourse. In his youth he wrote a theological essay of such discriminat

ing character that he used it forty years after in addressing four hundred of his ministerial brethren. Sir William Jones relates that, when he was a lad, the inquiries which he made of his mother, in regard to any subject, were met with "Read and you will know.” This nurtured the habit of close examination, so that he was distinguished in early life for discrimination. When he directed his attention to a subject, he never left it until he thoroughly understood it. It was said that he learned something from every person he met, even the boot-black and hostler.

Such examples shew that discrimination is one of the qualities which eminent men possess in common, and hence it should be classified with the elements of success. It is not so much a gift, perhaps, as it is a thing of culture. At any rate, if a person be endowed with a discriminating mind, but does not improve and develop it, he cannot be distinguished for it. On the other hand, a person without any special endowment of this kind may cultivate the habit of close examination so that he may finally rank high in this respect. This truth, together with the value of discrimination, is so beautifully set forth in the following article in Lacon that we give it entire :—

"The ignorant have often given credit to the wise for powers that are permitted to none, merely because the wise have made a proper use of those powers that are permitted to all. The little Arabian tale of the dervise shall be the comment of this proposition. A dervise was journeying alone in the desert, when two merchants suddenly met him. 'You have lost a camel,' said he to the merchants. Indeed we have,' they replied. 'Was

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he not blind in his right eye, and lame in his left leg?' said the dervise. 'He was,' replied the merchants. 'Had he not lost a front tooth?' said the dervise.

'He had,' rejoined the merchants.

And was he not

loaded with honey on one side and wheat on the other?' 'Most certainly he was,' they replied, and as you have seen him so lately, and marked him so particularly, you can, in all probability, conduct us unto him.' 'My friends,' said the dervise, 'I have never seen your camel, nor ever heard of him but from you.' 'A pretty story, truly,' said the merchants, but where are the jewels, which formed a part of his cargo?' 'I have neither seen your camel nor your jewels,' repeated the dervise. On this they seized his person, and forthwith hurried him before the cadi, where, on the strictest search, nothing could be found upon him, nor could any evidence whatever be adduced to convict him, either of falsehood or of theft. They were then about to proceed against him as a sorcerer, when the dervise, with great calmness, thus addressed the court: 'I have been much amused with your surprise, and own that there has been some ground for your suspicions; but I have lived long and alone, and I can find ample scope for observation even in a desert. I knew that I had crossed the track of a camel that had strayed from its owner, because I saw no mark of any human footstep on the same route; I knew that the animal was blind in one eye, because it had cropped the herbage only on one side of its path; and I perceived that it was lame in one leg from the faint impression which that particular foot had produced upon the sand; I concluded that the animal had lost one tooth, because, wherever it had grazed, a small tuft

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