Ho. 4. 



Fragments. 



133 



glass, three of the greatest, helps to naviga' 

 tion, weie all discovered by landsmen. Gun- 

 powder is supposed to have been discovered 

 by a monk.* 



THEORY. 



IgTiorant men are the most irreclaimable 

 theorists. They attribute disorders to the 

 most fanciful cause, and then from their a.s- 

 sumed and absurd premises, they argue away 

 to a conclusion as hardily as a geometrician. 

 They will never be satistied without assi<rn- 

 ing some cause for Uie phenomena wliich 

 they see, and that assigned cause is otlen nut 

 only false, but absurd; and, as the remedies 

 resorted to are naturally correspondent with 

 the supposed cause of a disease, the latter is 

 likely to remain undisturbed, and a new dis- 

 ease to be introduced by the operation of the 

 intended remedy. Apple trees have been 

 cut down, from its haviiig been unjustly sup- 

 posed that they bred certain insects which 

 did mischief to the corn. 



Kirby and Spence give an instance of a 

 meadow in which the grass was eaten up by 

 grubs ; the rooks were busy in digging for 

 the.se grubs, of which they happened to be 

 fond, but the owner thought it was the rooks 

 that eat the grass, and helheretbre shot them. 



CHEMISTRY 



The efforts of the farmer are chiefly di- 

 rected towards making land more fertile; andj 

 the first step in this process is to inquire in 

 what particulars less fertile land may differ 

 from that w^hich is more so ; to compaie the 

 two together ; to find out the ingredients of 

 each, and the proportions in which they are 

 mixed. The knowledge how to do this, is 

 Chemistry. 



WASTE NOT — WANT NOT. 



xf you wish to promote your children's 

 prosperity, inculcate upon tiiem the neces- 

 sity and importance of keeping clean hearts 

 and hands, and also of making clean plates at 

 meal times. An observing man said, that ha 

 never knew a family to thrive in the world, 

 who never ate a moal without wasting a part 

 of what was set before them, for the sake of 

 what foolish, inconsiderate people call man- 

 ners; but which he considered had manners. , 

 and a wanton waste of the good things which j 

 Providence had furnished the.Ti ° Ij 



INFLUENCE OF EARLY INSTRUCTION. I 



Those who are not taught to be industri-j' 

 ous, frugal and careful in early life, willj 

 rarely assume those great qualities, when 

 they are of riper years. 



COMMON SRNSE. 



Common sense is a gem of the first water; 



* " How fame prifsts and bisliops. aii' pifiase voiir 

 honor, to trouble rlinir lio.-jris sn ruucli about ir!in. 

 po\v;I,<r?" "Oo-I knows." -sniij rnv unrio Toby, "lii.il 

 Provi Jencc bri;igs roDj out of evj.'y lliics." I 



it enables us to perform the duties of life with 

 propriety and efficiency; it always beara a 

 higli price with judicious, sensible people, for 

 the market is never overstocked with it. 



Uncommon sense often has more of show 

 than utility about it, and frequently at a great 

 discotmt, in consequence of its incontroverti- 

 bility to the useful, practical purposes of life. 



THE MIND. 



All our actions have their origin in the 

 mind ; it first conceives and resolves, and 

 then directs the members to execute its de- 

 terminations, be they rigiit or wrong : how 

 important tlien is it to keep the source of all 

 our actions well regulated and guarded 

 against injurious and pernicious impulses, 

 lest they betray us into acts, that may strew 

 our path with briars and thorns. 



INDOLENCE 



Is a disease of the mind, that acts on the 

 body; in its incipient stages, by the applica- 

 tion of proper remedies, it is curable ; but if 

 suffered to assume the chronic form, it gene- 

 rally pursues its victim through tlie whole 

 course of his life, embittering his own condi- 

 tion and drying up the consolations of others. 



A REASON FOR EVERY THING. 



Young people should be strongly impressed 

 with the truth, that nothing happens without 

 I a cause, and tliat there is a reason for every 

 I thing that does happen. 



PROVIDENCE 



f las furnished us with the good things of 

 this life for use, and not for abuse. 



INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE. 



It i.=! well known to the students in orni- 

 thology, that the younglings of singino- birds 

 listen to the old ones, and carefully learn 

 their notes. And this propensity to imitation 

 is no le.ss obvious in children. Like those 

 little birds, or rather like little ape.=, they arc 

 prone to mimic v.hatever is done or said in 

 their pre.sence, nnd especially the Vv-ays and 

 manners of their parents and instructors. 

 So that the example set before them by those 

 who have the care of their education, to- 

 gether V. ith that of their young companions, 

 has, of all human means, perhaps, the great- 

 est influence in forming and fixing their cha- 

 racters for life. 



CREDIT. 



Credit, so valuable to all who are in any 

 reputable kind of business, and especially to 

 those who have little else to depend upon, is 

 of a dclic-xte and frail nature : it must be used 

 vvith moderation, or it languiehes and dies. 



I A GOOD HIT. 



' Sir Walter Raleigh, lodging at the house 

 of a noble Duke, early in the morning over- 

 heard the Dutchess inquiring of her servants 

 \\f Lhe pig.« had be^'n fed; and, with a sigaifi- 



