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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
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THE FIRST LESSON.- 
[COPYRIGHT SECURED.] 
-From the Original Painting by Merle.- 
- Engraved for the American Agriculturist by J. L. Langridge, 
"Knowledge gives pleasure, "but the way to get it is not 
always easy. The child in the picture " don't want to 
learn its letters ;" boys and. girls usually like to know, hut 
they do not often like to study. How many wish that 
learning could he done like breathing, without work, and. 
because one could not help.it. But that would not be the 
best way. Study makes tJie 7ni?id strong, just as work 
with the hands gives a stouter grip. It is not an easy 
thing for a little beginner to learn the alphabet ; his mind 
has not been trained to attend, to observe, and to remem- 
ber ; hut in a few years, by having daily fixed his thoughts 
upon some task, he will readily see through problems he 
can not now understand. Let those who can not learn 
quickly and who find school duties hard, take courage by 
remembering that every resolute mastery of a lesson adds 
vigor to the brain-power, and helps make a mind that no 
difficulty can withstand. Those who learn easiest, and 
carry away all the honors and prizes at school, are by no 
means always the most successful in life ; but the boy 
who schools himself to conquer laziness, and trains his 
mind to severe application, whether he stands at the head 
or the foot of his class now, will by and by gain power 
to bo prepared to take the front rank in any calling. 
Spanish Puzzle. 
Take six checker-men, three of each color, (pennies or 
buttons will do), and place them thus: _ _ _^ 
The space left between W& © SP 
^2 SEJ fejSJ the two colors should equal the diam- 
eter of a checker. The puzzle is, by moving and jump- 
ing, to put the white men where the black men are, and 
vice vej'sa. Commence by moving one of the men that 
are next the middle, towards the opposite color. Sup- 
pose you begin by moving Slack towards White. Then 
jump "White over Black, and so on. There will never be 
but one open space, across which to move, or into which 
to jump. It is not allowed to jump or move a man back- 
ward—that is, each color must always advance towards 
the opposite side. The men must be kept in Hue, and a 
mark made at the ends, to show the limit beyond which 
the men must not go. The men of the same color, that 
is, all the whites, or blacks, are placed touching each 
other, although the engraving represents them as sepa- 
rated by a short space. To explain the puzzle, in 
giving an answer, the men may be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. 
