A BUSY SKELETON. II 



quality and price of the liquor. On the other hand, 

 a Franklin could not cross the channel without making 

 some observations useful to mankind ; while many a 

 thoughtless youth is whirled throughout Europe with- 

 out gaining a single idea worth crossing a street for. 

 The observing eye and the inquiring mind find im- 

 provement and delight in every ramble in town or 

 country. 



"Do you, then, William, continue to make use of 

 your eyes ; and you, Robert, learn that eyes were 

 given you to use." 



2. A BUSY SKELETON. 



WHEN girls and boys are called upon to write out 

 their own thoughts, they, are sometimes puzzled to 

 find subjects for this useful and charming exercise. 

 Perhaps they look too far away. The best subjects 

 are near at hand. Here is one, for example: "The 

 school history of a sponge." This airy, thirsty com- 

 panion of the slate has had an eventful experience. 

 Think over what it has done from the time it was tied 

 to some particular slate down to the moment when it 

 was abandoned for the rubber 'eraser, and when the 

 slate was put aside for the paper tablet. 



The sponge has been a most useful servant, though 

 its work is peculiar. The pencil creates ; the sponge 

 destroys. It is an excellent destroyer. How often 

 young brains have toiled hard, and small fingers have 

 worked wearily to build castles and pyramids of fig- 



