THE MAGPIE. 199 



ing how to imitate the sound of the instruments ; and 

 that it did so, in its first attempt, in all their repetitions, 

 stops, and changes. But its little head would hold no 

 more ; its new lesson drove everything else from its re- 

 membrance. 



Not so is it with the young, when enjoying the ad- 

 vantages of judicious instruction. The more they learn 

 well, the more they may learn. One acquisition is a 

 foundation on which another may be reared. As a 

 child when it has learned its letters, has been preparing 

 to spell and to read; so an acquaintance with a new^ 

 science or language renders familiarity with others, 

 which they may resemble, or with which they may be 

 connected, less difficult than they would be without it. 

 The woodman may find it impossible to drive the wedge 

 when reversed into a tree, but let him gain an entrance 

 for the point, and the upper part will easily follow. 

 The mind, too, instead of being, like a vessel, hard and 

 rigid, and which will break if more than a small quantity 

 be pressed into it, is endowed with great elasticity, so 

 that it yields, as it were, from time to time, as addition 

 after addition is made to its stores. 



With this fact the words of the Divine Redeemer are 

 intimately associated : " He that hath, to him shall be 

 given : and he that hath not, from him shall be taken 



