THE GENESEE FARMER. 



61 



HINTS ON SELF-INSTRUCTION. 



NUMBER ONE. 



^HERE are, no doubt, many boys and girls in the coun- 

 who would like to become educated men and women, 

 s intended in these " Hints on Self-Instruction" to give 

 le directions how this result may be obtained. As a 

 in and simple definition, self-instruction may be called 

 cultivation of the mind by one's own eflForts, without 

 endence upon others; and it is by this process of 

 '-cultivation only that any one can become really edu- 

 id — for knowledge can not be put into our minds by 

 ers, ready for use. We must put it there ourselves, 

 lers may place it before us, but we alone can make it 

 own. It is ignorance of this fact that discourages 

 s and girls who have not had many opportunities of 

 Dg to school from using the resources within their 

 ch. It is ignorance of this fact that enables a large 

 iority of the boys and girls who go through colleges 

 . seminaries to come forth uneducated. Let me re- 

 t, then, this simple but generally over-looked fact: 

 ^rs may put knowledge before us ; we alone can make 

 ur own — put it within us. Of course, the opportuni- 

 of those who go through a regular course of instruc- 

 i are greater than the opportunities of those who do 

 , But these opportunities are useless unless they are 

 ied. 



; is a fact that the college graduate has to study quite 

 lard for what he really knows as the man who is called 

 made, because he has procured an education -without 

 advantages of a college course. The truth is, that 

 is self-made just as much as the other. The secret 

 ;uccess, in either case, is a desire and determinatiois 

 3arn. Now our desires are excited by motives, and I 

 LI close this article by mentioning a few of the mo- 

 s by which a desire for knowledge is usually excited 

 Qen. 



he first is to possess knowledge in order to make a 

 )lay of it. This produces superficial men^ — men who 

 W a little about a great many things, but have no real 

 wledge of any one thing. 



nother motive is to possess knowledge for its practi- 

 value — that is, for the money it will produce, 

 nother motive — and the purest and best of all — is to 

 sess knowledge for its own sake — for the power it 

 ss of doing good to others, of reading our own hearts, 

 of judging between the true and false, 

 hese motives, in themselves, are of different degrees 

 nerit — but far better be actuated by the least worthy 

 of all than suffer your lives to pass away without at- 

 pting to develop those mental powers which have 

 n given you to use and not to neglect. And this fact 

 uld ever be borne in mind, that, while the facilities 

 mental culture are within the reach of all who choose 

 nake use of them, though it is no great credit to any 

 to possess some knowledge, it is a disgrace to him 

 le does not. It is a disgrace to be ignorant when 

 iwledtre is within the reach of all. 

 'hese few introductory remarks will be followed at 

 .th<5r time by directions how to improve the most lim- 

 l advantages. Shehwood. 



We have just seen a style of spelling which is quite 

 new to us, although so old. At an examination in the 

 town of Winchester, Conn., in 1T93, the following sen- 

 tence was given out as a spelling lesson. It was origin- 

 ally written "Abominable bumble-bee with his tail cut 

 off;" but the teacher thought that it was too long, and 

 therefore shortened it, and it was spelled as " Abomina- 

 ble tail cut off." In order to understand how the lesson 

 was recited, it must be read aloud and each syllable spell- 

 ed and pronounced once and afterward only pronounced. 

 A — There's your A. 

 Bo — There's your A and your A-bo. 

 Mi — There's your mi, and your bo-mi, and your A-bo- 



mi. 

 Na — There's your na, and your mi-na, and your bo-mi- 



na, and your A-bo-mina. 

 Ble — There's your ble, and your na-ble, and your mi- 

 na-ble, and your bo-mi-na-ble, and your A-bo-mi- 

 na-b!e. 

 Tail — There's your tail, and your ble tail, and your na- 

 ble-tail, and your mi-na-ble-tail, and yo\ir bo-mi- 

 na-ble tail, and your A-bo-mi-na-ble tail. 

 Cut — There's your cut, and there's your tail cut, and 

 there's your ble tail cut, and your na-ble tail cut, 

 and your mi-na-ble tail cut, and your bo-mi-na-ble 

 tail cut, and your Abominable tail cut. 

 Off — There's your off, and there's your cut off, and 

 there's your tail cut off, and there's your ble tail 

 cut off, and there's your na-ble tail cut off, and 

 there's your nii-na-ble tail cut oft", and there's 

 your bo-mi-na-ble lail cut off, and there's your 

 Abominable tail cut off. 



This will be a good exercise in spelling for the yonng 

 people in these degenerate days, who are ignorant ot the 

 excitement of "choosing sides," and are sorely puzzled 

 over words of. four syllable. 



LiTTtK friends, put things right back in their proper 

 places. Never leave things all about, helter-skelter, topsy- 

 turvy — never. When j'ou use any article — hoe, shovel, 

 rake, pitchfork, ax, hammer, tongs, boots or shoes, books, 

 slates, pencils, writing apparatus, pins, thimbles, pin- 

 cushions, needles, work-baskets, kitchen furniture, every 

 article of housewifery or husbandry, no matter what it 

 is — the very moment you have done using it, return it to 

 its proper place. Order, order, perfect order, is the 

 watchword — heaven's first law. How much precious 

 time is saved (aside from vexation) by observing order — 

 systematic regularity I And little folks should begin 

 early to preserve order in every thing — form habits of 

 order. These loose, slip-shod, slatternly habits are form- 

 ed in childhood, and habits once formed cling for life. 



Young friends, begin early to keep things straight in 

 their proper place; study neatness, order, economy, so- 

 briety — every thing just, honest, lovely, and of good re- 

 port. 



A Christmas Festival is given in Denmark to the 

 birds. The children, who all have their Christmas trees, 

 have a habit of tying some unthreshed oats upon a 

 pole, and fastening it by a wall, where the snow birds can 

 easily come and get a feast on Christmas day. We pre- 

 sume the birds in America would be willing to have their 

 festival a month later, and if some of the children will 

 offer such a feast to them, we have no doubt they will 

 have the jdeasure of seeing a real merry gathering of 

 snow birds, whose pleasant notes will more than repay 

 them for their trouble. 



