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APPENDIX. 



boy works alone, if he work at all; he is depressed 

 by solitude, and the eye of his master is seldom 

 upon him ; he hates his task, and spends his time 

 in thinking which of a thousand lies will serve the 

 best for an excuse. It ought to be a serious con- 

 sideration with ministers, that boys, bringing to the 

 manse the seeds of corruption, should find there 

 the best soil on which to sow them, and the best 

 leisure for tending their growth. And this they 

 will do if not narrowly watched, and submitted to 

 a treatment answerable to their nature ; and freely 

 it may be asserted, that neither catechising, nor 

 reading the Bible, nor family prayer, will ever pro- 

 duce the least salutary effect, if idleness be allowed 

 and lies go unpunished. Let the reflection be 

 added, that as six months are the probable period 

 of an ill-doer's service, it may happen that the 

 minister, in the course of his life, has sent out to 

 the world half a hundred youths, who at the manse 

 have been endured merely as useless, but have gone 

 somewhere to be endured as blackguards; whilst 

 it may not be so certain that, of all that number, 

 one convert has been made in all that time. 



The author claims the privilege of one old in 

 experience; and begs leave to offer to his younger 

 brethren some hints as to the methods of making 

 the boy good, and of turning his service to good 

 account. 



Let the chance be favourable. Never hire a 

 boy at the market, as farmers may, who can do 

 better with a bad one. Treat with the parents in 



