says a recent writer, "to sew neatly, to cut and fit garments expertly, to make a bed properly, to set a table tastefully, to arrange and keep a room in good order, and to be helpful and expert in all kitchen duties, are indispensable portions of a young girl's education, which it is absolutely silly to neglect."

The study of well-chosen biographies has a very valuable influence upon the thoughtful mind. "Young persons are, to a greater or less extent, chameleon-like. They take a tinge, so to speak, from the company they keep; especially if it is much kept. Nay, they are often affected for life by the society of an individual but for half an hour. It is so with regard to coming in contact with character through the medium of books.

Now, biography enables us to associate, to all practical interests and purposes, with men of all ages and all climes; with Joseph, David, Isaiah, Paul, John, Homer, Plato, Franklin, and Howard. In the language of another, we are enabled in this way to 'shake hands across oceans and centuries.' And the young are often influenced almost as much by the men of. other climes and ages, with whom they thus shake hands, as by those whose hands they shake, from day to day, at home."

In this country, at the present day, there is no excuse for ignorance. The poorest child can

What said by a recent writer? What is said of biogra phies? How shown? What further is said of biography? Is there any excuse for ignorance in this country? Why

not?

go to school, and books can be had at very

little

expense. But it is not enough merely to have, or to read, books. Great care must be taken how we read. Coleridge says, "There are four kinds of readers. The first is like the hour-glass, and their reading being as the sand, it runs in and runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second is like the sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtier. A third is like a jelly-bag, allowing all that is pure to pass away, and retaining only the refuse and dregs. And the fourth is like the slaves in the diamond mines of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worthless, retain only pure gems."

A love of reading should be cultivated, and care should be taken in selecting the very first order of books. Fenelon once said, "If the riches of the Indies, or the crowns of all the kingdoms of Europe, were laid at my feet in exchange for my love of reading, I would spurn them all." A great deal may be learned by observing what is going on around us. We can add to our stores of knowledge simply by silent thought. The study of nature

66 can inform

The mind that is within us, can impress
With quietness and beauty, and can feed
With lofty thoughts."

Is it enough to have or to read books? What four kinds of readers are mentioned? What said of a love of reading? In what simple way may we add to our knowledge? What of the study of nature?

We should improve all opportunities for enlarging our minds, of whatever kind they may be. Children will have cause for sorrow at a future time, if they play truant, and do not learn their lessons well. Many a young lady has wept bitterly in remembrance of the school-days she idled away, and lamented her ignorance, when it was too late to make up for past neglect; and many young men have suffered shame and regret, in consequence of loving play better than study, when they were boys.

Mr. Mann, in an address to the scholars of Chatauque county, New York, says: "You were made to learn. Be sure you learn something every day. When you go to bed at night, if you cannot thing of something new that you have learned during the day, spring up and find a book, and get an idea before you sleep."

In youth one can learn and remember much more easily than afterwards. One has also more time for it than when the duties of manhood require his attention. But it is wrong to suppose that education is a thing to be finished. It is not limited to our early years, it is not confined to the school-day season; but education, rightly understood, is a process that goes on through this life, and that will be continued forever in the world to come.

What should we improve? What if children play truant? What is said of many young ladies? Young men ? What advice does Mr. Mann give? Why is youth the best time to learn? What is said about education?

CHAPTER VIII.

MORAL IMPROVEMENT.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

By moral improvement is to be understood, progress in the knowledge and practise of our duties generally. To learn what is right and what is wrong, to choose the good and to avoid the evil, to strive after perfection in all that is pure, good and lovely, should be the highest aim of our lives.

God looks at the heart, and understands our feelings and intentions. He witnesses our efforts to do right, or our readiness to yield to evil; and in His sight, true goodness is more estimable than anything else. It is this which causes him to look upon us with an approving smile, and this alone which decides in regard to our happiness in the world to come.

We are loved and approved by the good, in this world, just in proportion as we strive to do right, and to be good ourselves. Nothing can supply the place of right doing. Wealth or station cannot long secure from the ill effects of wickedness. Beauty soon becomes disgusting, if not accompanied with goodness. Knowledge quickly vanishes away, when compared with

Subject of Chapter VIII.? Motto? What is meant by moral improvement? What should be the highest aim of our lives? What is said of God's notice and estimation of us? In what proportion are we approved by the good in this world? What is said about right doing? About wickedness? Of beauty? Of knowledge?

that love which "suffereth long and is kind,” which "seeketh not her own," and "rejoices not in iniquity." In the lines which follow, the poet Cowper beautifully contrasts the moral worth of the poor, ignorant lace-weaver, with the great intellectual distinction of the poet and philosopher, Voltaire :

"Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door,
Pillow and bobbins all her little store;

Content, though mean; and cheerful, if not gay;
Shuffling her threads about the livelong day,
Just earns a scanty pittance; and at night
Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light:
She, for her humble sphere by nature fit,
Has little understanding and no wit;

Receives no praise; but though her lot be such,
Toilsome and indigent, she renders much;
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew;
And in that charter reads, with sparkling eyes,
Her title to a treasure in the skies.

Oh, happy peasant! Oh, unhappy bard!
His the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward;
He, praised, perhaps, for ages yet to come;
She, never heard of half a mile from home;
He, lost in errors his vain heart prefers;
She, safe in the simplicity of hers."

Solomon says of wisdom, by which we may suppose he here means goodness, "She is more precious than rubies, and all things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths

What is shown in the lines from Cowper? Please commit them to memory. What does Solomon say of wisdom? What may here be understood by the word?