Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorter. 
A DEFECT AND THE REMEDY, 
The design of our Common School System is to 
present all with the opportunity of acquiring an 
understanding of the rudiments of science—of prin¬ 
ciples sufficient, at least, for the common affairs of 
life—yet it appears that from some cause about 
one-third of those reported as entitled are deprived 
of that opportunity. 
Comparatively,—with the abstract report in the 
Governor’s Message,—our district is a fair sample 
of the State. It numbers 220 children of legal 
school age, but the teachers’ list3 for the last year 
contain only 145 different names of pupils. The 
list for the winter term of 100 days, shows an aver¬ 
age attendance of 67 days for each, and for the sum¬ 
mer term of 120 days an average of 54. The statis¬ 
tics in the report show an aggregate cost of common 
schools in the State, for the last year, equal to $3 06 
for every child reported as entitled to share in the 
provision, and of $4 50 for every one accepting it. 
The total cost for the year, beside the district 
taxes, is $1 56 each for the whole number, and 
$2 31 each for all attending school. The amount 
of public money appropriated for the pay of teach¬ 
ers equals $1 10 each for all entitled, and $1 62 for 
each attending school. The aggregate of rate-bills 
equals $0 31 each for all, and $0 46 each for those 
who have attended school during the year. 
Let it be assumed —as it is true — that it would 
cost but a trifle more, if any, to educate all the 
children in the State than it does the two-thirds 
that attend school, the report shows a loss, result¬ 
ing from mismanagement, of one-third the cost, 
amounting to $1,264,316 26 annually; which, be¬ 
side the public good involved, has a pecuniary 
value worth an effort to save,—to discover the fault 
and a remedy. 
These facts are proof of fault in carrying out the 
intent of the system, by the loss on the capital in¬ 
vested, and by the burdens thereby laid on those 
laboring for the advantages, without directly bene¬ 
fiting the indifferent. An imperfection becomes a 
necessity only when known to defy every practical 
remedy. The first defect is—lack of inducement 
to cause a full and regular attendence of all entitled 
to the privilege. The remedy proposed is a law to 
apportion the teachers’ money by the ratio of an 
average number of days’ attendance,—during the 
legal terms of the year,—in proportion to the num¬ 
ber of pupils on the school list. This, of course, 
will not increase the aggregate of expense in the 
State, but it will augment the share of the district 
where the inhabitants are most successful in filling 
the school. It will also incite a spirit of emulation 
among districts, and create a personal interest, 
resulting in public good by a more extended diffu¬ 
sion of knowledge,—the object of the system. 
The next important mistake in law'Is that which 
prevents people from conducting their own affairs 
in their own way,—which lays unequal burdens 
upon social equals, —which deprives the inhabitants 
of a district of power to enforce a tax on them¬ 
selves, however just, right and profitable they may 
judge it to be in order to pay for service which the 
law requires and the district needs. The philoso¬ 
phy of taxation is to make property pay public 
expense, while equity demands that taxes for any 
object be assessed in proportion to the value of 
property and the advantages expected to property 
holders, in the application. What social object 
takes precedence of education? Is it any advan¬ 
tage to property holders to have ignorant and un¬ 
cultivated youths turned loose in community ? Is 
it not better that society be composed of intelli- 
gentand well-informed members? The advantages 
of the system are justly apportioned to the residents 
in the district, but the tax for the service of trus¬ 
tees is not equitably assessed, unless—based on a 
sort of self-valuation—it is supposed they can afford 
to give time and energy for honors that are all 
easy, and, instead of “ a dollar a day and roast 
beef,” are content to work for nothing and “ eat 
themselves.” S. Graves. 
Marcellus Falls, N. Y., 1S59. 
--»-♦-»- 
Reading Aloud. — There is no treat so great, 
truly remards the Springfield Republican, as to 
hear good reading of any kind. Not one gentle¬ 
man in a hundred can read so as to please the ear, 
and send the words with gentle force to the heart 
and the understanding. An indistinct utterance, 
whines, drones, nasal twangs, gutteral notes, hesi¬ 
tations, and other vices of elocution are almost 
universal. Why it is, no one can say, unless it be 
that either the pulpit, or the nursery, or the Sun¬ 
day School, gives the style in these days. Many a 
lady can sing Italian songs with considerable ex¬ 
ecution, but cannot read English passably. Vet 
reading is far the most valuable accomplishment 
of the two. In most drawing-rooms, if a thing is 
to be read, it is discovered that nobody can read; 
one has weak lungs, another gets hoarse, another 
has an abominable sing-song, evidently a tradition 
of the way in which Watt’s hymns were sung, 
when he was too young to understand them; an¬ 
other rumbles like a broad-wheel wagon; another 
has a way of reading which seems to proclaim 
that what is read is of no consequence,- and had 
better not be attended to. 
The Connecticut Common School Journal, in an 
article on Foolish Economy, says:—“ When you 
bear a man uttering his aversion to spending 
money to educate ‘other folks’ young ones,’ you 
may safely conclude that his father was a man not 
very liberal in the education of his own; for the 
educated are invariably the most earnest champi¬ 
ons of education. 
The attempt to govern by loud speaking, stamp- 
ing, thumping upon desks, or using an unnecessary 
amount of words, is vain. Subjection to whole¬ 
some laws, properly administered, is as much a 
part of essential education, as the knowledge ac¬ 
quired from books and teachers. 
CTTT-AND-DRIED TEACHERS. 
Concerning plans of teaching, nobody has any 
right to impose his plan of teaching on his neigh¬ 
bor. There is no method that may call itself the 
method of education. There is only one set of 
right principles, but there may be ten thousand 
plans. Every teacher must work for himself, as 
every man of the world works for himself. There 
is, for all men in society, only one set of right 
principles, yet you shall see a thousand men in 
one town all obeying them, although all, in con¬ 
duct, absolutely differ from one another. They 
will present amoDg themselves the widest contrast, 
and yet every one may be prospering, and making 
friends. In the school, as in the world, a man 
must be himself if he would have more than a 
spurious success; he must be modeled upon no¬ 
body. The school-master should read books of 
education, and he may study hard to reason out 
for himself by their aid, if be can, what are right 
principles to go upon. A principle that he ap¬ 
proves, he must adopt: but, another man’s plan 
that he approves, he must assimilate to the nature 
of his own mind and of his own school before he 
can adopt it. Even his school he must so manage 
that it shall admit of great variety of plan within 
itself, and suffer him so to work in it as to appeal 
in the most effective way to the mind of each one 
of his scholars. 
No man can be a good teacher who is a cut-and- 
dried man without any particular character. His 
individuality must be stroDgly marked. He should 
be, of course, a man of unimpeachable integrity, 
detesting what is base or mean, and, beyond every¬ 
thing, hating a lie. He should have pleasure in bis 
work, be fond of children, and not think of look¬ 
ing down upon them, but put faith — and that is a 
main point which many teachers refuse to uphold 
— put faith in the spirit of childhood. He must 
honor a child or he cannot educate it, though he 
may cram many facts into its head. It is essential 
also to the constitution of a good teacher, that, 
whatever his character may be, he shall not be 
slow. Children are not so constituted as to be 
able to endure slowness patiently. He must also 
not be destitute of imagination, for he will have 
quick imaginations to develope and to satisfy. 
The most learned teacher ought incessantly to 
read and think, so that he may be on each topic as 
full minded as he should be when he proposes to 
give lessons to a child. The good teacher must be 
devoted to his work; if he want pleasuee and ex¬ 
citement, he must find them in the school-room 
and the study. For it is only when his teaching 
gives great pleasure to himself, that it can give 
any pleasure whatever to his pupils.— Missouri 
Educator. 
Industry and Genius. —There are many teachers 
who profess to show the nearest way to excellence; 
and many expedients have been invented by which 
the oil of study might be saved. But let no man 
be seduced to idleness by specious promises. Ex- 
c-illence is never granted to man but as the reward 
of labor. It argues, indeed, no small strength of 
mind to persevere in habits of industry without 
the pleasure of perceiving those advances which, 
lika the hand of a clock, whilst, they make hourly 
approaches to their point, yet proceed so slowly 
as to escape observation. There is one precept, 
however, in which I shall only be opposed by the 
vain, the ignorant, and the idle. I am not afraid 
that I shall repeat it too often. You must have 
no dependence on your own genius. If you have 
great talents industry will ; mprovethem; if you 
have but moderate abilities, industry will supply 
their deficiency. Nothing is denied to well-direct¬ 
ed labor; nothing is to be obtained without it. 
I Will. —How many times have we heard both 
parents and teachers say, such a child must have 
his will broken—he is too headstrong. Is the will 
ever broken ? It may be made to bend, but never, 
it is never broken. “If John was not so willful, 
he would do well enough,” say the parent and 
teacher, when every success that crowns his en¬ 
deavors is the fruit of the will. Guide this heaven- 
born gift, aid the child in placing this firm, strong 
lever beneath good and noble purposes, and much 
will be accomplished. When the Will joins hands 
with Reason and Religion, its power will be for 
good. Strong will is the great characteristic of 
all those who have achieved power, either for good 
or evil, in the world’s history. The will is the 
most prompt and decisive faculty of the mind, 
and impels to immediate action. It is necessary 
for the teacher to possess this firmness of purpose, 
that he may cultivate the same in his pupils. If 
they find a will to meet each duty faithfully, they 
will be inspired with the same feeling in their 
duties.— Selected. 
Educate the Perceptive Faculties. —Too much 
time is devoted to words—to little things. Every 
primary school should be supplied with objects as 
well as with boohs. In most schools the mind of 
the child is most carefully guarded against all 
ideas of the external world. Not one primary 
school in ten contains any thing.to develop the per¬ 
ceptive faculties. We seem to be ignorant of the 
fact that it is by exercising the senses that the 
germs of intellect are aroused. The child has 
mind; that mind becomes active as it cognizes 
qualities of matter. We do not say that matter 
causes mental activity, but that the senses form the 
medium through which mind is aroused, and that 
the senses can only be exercised by contact with 
material things.— Wis. Journal of Education. 
-—- 
The most difficult department of learning is to 
unlearn. Drawing a mistake or prejudice out of 
the head is as painful as drawing a tooth, and the 
patient never thanks the operator. No man likes 
to admit that bis favorite opinion, perhaps the only 
child of his mind, is an illegitimate one. Slug¬ 
gish intellects are ever the most obstinate, for that 
which it has cost us much to acquire, it costs us 
much to give up; and the older we get the more 
closely we cling to errors. 
It is a pretty saying of an old writer, that men 
like books, begin and end with blank leaves — in¬ 
fancy and senility. 
The pen, in the hand that knows how to use it, 
is the most powerful weapon in the world. 
THE HUMAN HAND. 
Issuing from the wrist is that wonderful organ, 
the human hand. “ In a French book, intended,” 
says Sir Charles Bell, “to teach young people 
philosophy, the pupil asks why the fingers are not 
of equal length? The master makes the scholar 
grasp a ball of ivory, to show him that the points 
of the fingers are then equal! It would have been 
better had he closed the fingers upon the palm, and 
then have asked whether or not they corresponded. 
This difference in the length of the fingers serves 
a thousand purposes, as in holding a rod, a switch, 
a sword, a hammer, a pen, a pencil, or engraving 
too), in all which, a secure hold, and freedom of 
motion are admirably combined.” 
On the length, strength, and perfectly free move¬ 
ments of the thumb, depends, moreover, the power 
of the human hand. To the thumb, indeed, has 
been given a special name (“ pollex ,” from a Latin 
verb, meaning to be able, strong, mighty,) because 
of its strength—a strength that is necessary to the 
power of the hand, being equal to that of all the 
fingers. Without the fleshy ball of the thumb, the 
power of the fingers would be of no avail, and ac¬ 
cordingly the large ball formed by the muscles of 
the thumb, is the special work of the human hand, 
particularly that of a clever workman. The loss 
of the thumb almost amounts to the loss of the 
hand. Conscripts, unwilling to serve in the army 
of France, have been known to disable themselves 
effectually by cutting off the thumb of the right 
hand. The loss of both thumbs would reduce a 
man to a miserable dependence. Nor should we 
overlook another peculiarity. Were the tips of the 
fingers and the thumbs bony instead of being 
covered with flesh, many things we readily do 
would be absolutely impossible. We now take up 
what is small, soft, and round, as a millet seed, or 
even a particle of human hair, so exquisitely 
prehensile are the human fingers. 
The nails are often of special service—perhaps 
always in works of art which require nicety of exe¬ 
cution. Their substance is just what is needed; 
they are easily kept at the precise length which 
answers every purpose; had they been placed on 
the tips of the fingers, they would have been a loss 
of power, but their position ensures their highest 
efficiency. An interchange of power for velocity 
which takes place in the arm adapts the hand and 
fingers to a thousand arts, requiring quick or lively 
motions. In setting up the type of this page, 
there have been movements on the part of the 
compositor, of surprising rapidity to an ordinary 
observer, and the execution of performers on the 
piano forte, as well as on many wind instruments, 
is often astonishing; these are among the many 
instances of the advantage gained by this sacrifice 
of force for velocity of move ment.— Cassell’s Popu¬ 
lar Natural History. ^|j, 
SINGING OF BIRDS. 
The singing of most birds seems entirely a spon¬ 
taneous effusion, producing no lassitude in muscle, 
or relaxation of the parts of action. In certain 
seasons and weather, the nightingale sings all day 
and the most part of the night; and we never 
observe that the powers of song are weaker, or that 
the notes become harsh and untunable, after all 
these hours of practice. 
The song thrush, in a mild, moist April,will com¬ 
mence his tune early in the morning, pipe unceas¬ 
ingly through the day, yet at the close of eve, when 
he retires to rest, there is no obvious decay in his 
musical powers, or any sensible effort required to 
continue his harmony to the last. 
Birds of one species sing in general very like 
each other, with different degrees of execution. 
Some countries may produce finer songsters, but 
without great variation in the notes. In the thrush, 
however, it is remarkable that there seems to be 
regular notes, each individual piping a voluntary 
of his own. Their voices may always be distin¬ 
guished amid the choristers of the copse, yet some 
one performer will more particularly attract atten¬ 
tion by a peculiar modulation of tune; and should 
several stations of these birds be visited the same 
morning, few or none probably would be found to 
persevere in the same round of notes; whatever 
is uttered seems the effusion of the moment. At 
times a strain will break out perfectly unlike any 
preceding utterance, and we may wait a long time 
without noticing any repetition of it. Harsh, 
strained, and tense as the notes of this birds are, 
yet they are pleasing from their variety. 
The voice of the blackbird is infinitely more 
mellow, but has much less variety, compass, or 
execution; and he, too, commences bis carols with 
the morning light, persevering from hour to hour 
without effort, or any sensible faltering of voice. 
The cuckoo wearies us throughout some long 
May morning with the unceasing monotony of its 
song; and though there are others as vociferous, 
yet it is the only bird I know that seems to suffer 
from the use of the organs of voice. Little exer¬ 
tion as the few notes it makes use of seems to re¬ 
quire, yet by the middle or end of June, it loses 
its utterance, becomes hoarse, and ceases from any 
further essay.— Journal of a Naturalist. 
Controversy. —Those who have the true creed, 
and that faith in it which is derived from charity, 
and who therefore feel certain that it is true, will 
not be angry and complain if others do not treat 
them with the respect which they deserve: they 
will not complain if they are treated as imposters 
and deluded enthusiasts; for their own honor and 
glory are not the objects for which they are seek¬ 
ing. They are satisfied, let their success be great 
or small, with doing what they can for the benefit 
of others, and leave the rest to Him with whom is 
the residue of the spirit. 
He only is independent who can maintain him¬ 
self by his own exertions. 
THE MOON’S SURFACE. 
Professor Phillips, of England, in the course 
of some recent remarks before the British Associa¬ 
tion, on the lunar mountains, remarked that daily 
experience showed that the more the telescopic 
power was increased the less circular appeared 
the lunar crater, and the less smooth the surface 
of the moon. All was sharp and irritated—a per¬ 
fect representation of its past history. On the 
much mooted question as to there being traces of 
the action of water on the surface of the moon, 
as now presented to us, the professor said that 
one time he believed there was no trace of water 
to be seen, but he confessed that more recent ob¬ 
servations, particularly those made with Lord 
Rosse’s telescope, shook his belief in that opinion. 
Professor Phillips also commented upon the con¬ 
tinually growing exactness with which the tele¬ 
scope was applied to the delineation of lunar 
scenery, which, to inferior instruments, appearing 
smooth and even, revealed itself to more powerful 
scrutiny as altogether uneven, mostly rugged land, 
deeply cut by chasms, and soaring into angular 
pinnacles. The so-called seas, under this scrutiny, 
appear desitute of water, and their surface, under 
low angles of incident light, becomes roughened 
with little points and minute craters. 
JfF 
fW 
t 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
MISCELLANEOUS ENIGMA, 
I am composed of 31 letters. 
My 25, 28, 27, IT, 26, 2 is something smalL 
My 22,12, 6 is a conjunction. 
My IS, 30, 24, 20,14 belongs to man, beast and tree. 
My 13, 28, 29, 19, 21 some people marry for. 
My 23, 22, 21,10 is dreaded by ail lazy people. 
My 29, 4,16, 20, 2 is a friend to every intelligent reader. 
My 1, 20,7,11, 8, 31 some men possess. 
My 9, 5, 3 is a useful animaL 
My 15 is an interjection. 
My whole is a good motto. Hemway. 
Answer in two weeks. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
CHEMICAL ENIGMA, 
dedicated to miss a, m. bishop. 
I am composed of 50 letters. 
My 29, 7, 20, 84, 11, 36 is a very useful vegetable acid. 
My 19, 33, 5,18,10 is produced by the union of charcoal 
and iron. 
My 9, 41, 41, 7, 27, 11, 48, 46 is the causa of chemical 
action. 
My 80, 81,10, 46, 9, 45, 26, 48, 40, 50, 47 explains how 
matter unites. 
My 27, 7, 37, 44, 24 was an ingredient of the celebrated 
“ Greek Are.” 
My 15, 8,17, 25, 22, 4,16, 6 is the lightest known sub¬ 
stance. 
My S, 1, 28,11, 35, 50 is a metal extracted from common 
salt. 
My 17, 7, 9, 47, 14, 26, 32, IS is capable of converting 
starch into sugar. 
My 42, 2, 23, 4, 38, 6 composes at least one-half of the 
globe. 
My 12, 9,10, 7, 43, £0 is softer than wax, and yet is a 
metal. 
My 41, 49, 21, 39, 43, 50 is the most useful metal known. 
Youngstown, Niag. Co., N. Y. Solomon Sias. 
Answer in two weeks. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
ARITHMETICAL PROBLEM 
Four boys have each a different number of pennies 
which form an arithmetical progression ; each has the 
value of four different United States coin. How many 
pennies have each ? A. M. Anderson. 
Watertown, Jeff. Co., N. Y., 1S59. 
Answer in two weeks. 
ANSWERS TO ENIGMAS, &c., IN No. 498. 
Answer to Miscellaneous Enigma:—Procrastination 
is the thief of time. 
Answer to Geographical Enigma:—Friedrich Hein¬ 
rich Alexander Yon Humboldt. 
Answer to Arithmetical Problem:— 43cents. 
There are no experiences given in the Rural 
that I read with more interest than those concern¬ 
ing Watermelons and Strawberries. Everybody 
should cultivate them, and eat them, too. 
Clyde, O., July, 1S59. Wm. M. Bussell. 
As an “Old Gardener” is appealed to he will 
say that he has practiced pruning or pinching 
melon vines for a great many years. If a vine is 
growing in rich soil, especially if it is strong and 
a little damp, or the season should be wet, a great 
growth will be attained, and kept up until quite 
late in the season, perhaps until frost. The conse¬ 
quence is a great many melons are formed that 
never ripen, some of them, when frost kills the 
plant, will be as large as eggs, others half grown, 
and so on. Now, this growth of vine and fruit is 
useless, or nearly so, for the women sometimes use 
a few in making maDgoes. Where the ground is 
sandy and not too rich, the vine does not make so 
strong a growth, and ripens pretty much all the 
fruit that is formed. It is in strong soil, therefore, 
that the pruning is most necessary. As soon as 
the main branches of the vine have set as much 
fruit as you think will ripen well,'just stop them, as 
gardeners say—that is, pinch off the ends. Pre¬ 
vious to this, the side shoots will have made a good 
growth and formed some small melons. Let these 
remain untouched for about a week or ten days 
longer, and the principal growth will be thrown 
into them. Then stop the side shoots in the same 
way as the main. If the vine seems to grow ram¬ 
pant, so as to be crowded with branches, it is well 
to reduce the number by cutting away some of 
them. 
A vine treated in this way will give fruit of a 
very large size, of the very best flavor, and all will 
be ripened. In fact, a melon vine needs treating 
very much like a grape vine, only with this differ¬ 
ence that a melon vine is much more affected by 
the soil in which it grows than a grape vine. The 
roots of the grape.vine go a long way in search of 
food, and as they live a number of years, they are 
very successful in finding what they want if it is 
anywhere near. If there is an old bone buried the 
roots will find it and fasten on it, go through it if 
it happens to be hollow, and suck out its juices as 
fast as it decays, until all is gone. But the melon 
lives only for a few short months, and if the soil is 
poor in the hill and immediately around it, the 
roots never get strength enough to go far in search 
of food, and they will remain half starved, with 
perhaps abundance of food within a foot or two, 
just as a child or an animal that could not walk 
might starve with a good dinner almost within 
reach. There is nothing like giving a plant a good, 
strong, healthy start at first, and then it gets so 
strong that it can do something towards taking 
care of itself, but when a plant or a boy makes a 
bad start in the world, it is pretty hard to make 
them go right. Solomon was right when he said, 
“ train up a child in the way he should go,” and it 
is just as important to train a young plant right; 
for unless trained both are apt to injure themselves, 
and destroy their usefulness by foolish and bad 
practices. 
- Cwy* . Y ' 4 V 
l- 3 LA' ^ \ J 
Jp fcp jv - • v 
hi 
TRIMMING MELON VINES. 
Eds. Rural :—Having beard it remarked by one 
of my neighbors that the size and quality of melons 
might be much improved by diligently attending 
to the trimming of the vines, I have adopted the 
plan this season, by way o f experiment. It is very 
likely that comparatively few readers of the Rural 
have ever beard of, much less practiced, anything 
of the kind; but no one can fail to have observed that 
melon vines left to themselves, not only completely 
cover the ground all around the hills, but even 
overrun themselves, to a great extent. Now is it 
uot reasonable to suppose that, if these extra vines 
and branches had been removed when they first 
began to run, the additional amount of nutriment 
thus left for the remaining vines, would have ena¬ 
bled them to mature more and larger melons, and 
of superior flavor? If this method of culture be 
adopted, I think that it should be commenced as 
soon as the vining commences, and be faithfully 
followed through the season. 
As this is merely an experiment with myself, aud 
I a new subscriber, and inasmuch as most of my 
neighbors “never heard of such a thing as trim¬ 
ming vines,” it would be quite gratifying to hear 
from “An Old Gardener” on the subject, or from 
some one who knows, from much experience, what 
the inevitable result must be. 
w 
£ B q 
WELL-TRAINED TOMATO PLANT. 
Tomato Vines are much improved by a little of 
the same kind of training. Cut away the small 
branches that will not bear fruit early enough to 
ripen, and as soon as the other branches have on 
them all the fruit that they will probably ripen, 
pinch off the ends. This will check the growth of 
the plant, throw the strength into the fruit, and 
cause it to be fine and ripen early. To-day, (July 
27th,) I have ripe tomatoes on plants treated in 
this way, while others grown in the ordinary man¬ 
ner are only a mass of branches, leaves, flowers and 
green fruit. But, a tomato plant to be treated in this 
manner, must be fastened up to a trellis, the side 
of a building, or some such thing. A very easy 
and pretty way is to place four or five branches or 
bushes around a tomato plant, something in the 
manner of pea sticks, and the plant will run up 
among the sticks where the fruit will be well 
exposed to the sun, and ripen early. 
By-the-by, Mr. Editor, I wish you would give 
your young readers another view of that beautifully 
trained tomato plant, which you gave the old folks 
a year or two ago, as it is a beautiful model to work 
after. Old Gardener. 
Remarks. —The Old Gardener is a great talker, 
when he gets started, but he talks well and wisely. 
We wish our young readers could only hear him 
talk in the garden, and see how nicely everything 
grows, as if by magic, under his care. As requested, 
we give the engraving of the tomato plant which 
we trained and pruned, and from which we picked 
over one hundred and twenty ripe tomatoes. 
A Good Character. —Young man, one of the 
first things you have to consider is to build up a 
character. Allow us to tell you one thing about 
it, which we have learned from observation. It 
must be built like a pyramid, to be firm and last¬ 
ing— broad at the base. Then the foundation 
must be good, -or even a pyramid would crack and 
fall to pieces. Get a reputation from early boy¬ 
hood, for truth, honesty and industry, obedience to 
parents and teachers, and above all, piety. By and 
by your character will be as firm as a pyramid; a 
host of calumniators could not overthrow it. But 
if youth and early life is bad, to build a character 
on such a beginning, would be almost as difficult 
as to build and poise a pyramid on its apex. 
