MINISTER'S BOY. 287 



and your patience with a novice, as well as your art 

 of instruction, remain. Character, whether of 

 master or of servant, is like volatile salt; and term- 

 days are but the stir that makes the odour diffusive. 

 There is no narrower view of life than to suppose 

 that any thing good or bad, however trifling, is 

 unnoticed. Every thing that every man does or 

 says is known, is talked of, is commented upon, far 

 and wide; and characters made up of grains of sand, 

 some larger pieces stand out in the landscape of the 

 district, as distinctly seen and rated, to a degree, 

 as all manner of buildings, from a hovel to a tower. 

 Mothers have more boys to dispose of, and have seen 

 how others fared with you their stations as well 

 as their morals improved, and their service sought 

 they come with a younger brother of your former 

 boy, or with one somehow connected, and to whom 

 every thing about your place is as well known as to 

 your own family. Such a one is predisposed to do 

 well, and comes to his service with a mind suited 

 to the circumstances of his calling; ambitious to 

 thrive, and fearing to come short of those who have 

 done well before. Thus, on the true principle, that 

 if comfort, not necessity, be considered, masters 

 are no more independent than servants, you insure 

 the receiving by the conferring of benefits; and it 

 will certainly be found that none of your pains and 

 patience with a former boy are lost by his depar- 

 ture; for the good that he has gained holds out a 

 reward; your instructions, through him, are con- 

 veyed to others; and your house becomes a place 



