Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1848-02-03

and to trace out their influence upon the after life of
the child If many omitted that seem to deserve
place here it is not because they undervaued, but
because sufficient justice could not be gwen them,
Our attention will therefore be confined to
Habits Of Thought, and the habit Of Obedience and 1s
results especially on our self control and self cut-
tMe.
l. The habit OF thinking which underes, or rather
is the main element of all true education depends es-
pecally upon the influences Of the school-room. If
not formed there there is little hope that it will ever be
formed at ALL The scholar that leaves the schoolroom
with no correct habits of thought may in after life
deavor to supply the want but can never to be
want. There is little danger that the thoughtful
child should ripen into the thoughtess man. The
soul once fully wakened never sumbers The differ
ences so noticeable in after life, every teacher knows,
are noticeable in the schoo-room All the thoughts
of one scholar are vague indstinct all impressions
soon fading from his mind; all knowledge of given
subject comparatively useless because not clearly APP
prehended Such scholar never feels in all its full
ness that pure intellectual Joy that floods in upon the
thinkers mind, when some hard problem has been
solved wnen some new truth flashes upon him in all its
scholar at his labor to see his calm earnesness to OBJ
serve the changes that and CO. and 90 and come
on hatoountanance, now marked with anxiety, now
beaming with hope, now lit up by the half suppressed
smile of joy and self satisfaction
There is food for the mind as well for the body
The food for the mind is truth; it grow and thrive
on nothing else But to grow and thrive, its food must
be well digested, and must be taken up into the crcu-
laon and become incorporated into the fabric Of the
mind itself. The mind is not a capacity to be filled
but living organic whole to be developed and to
grow like any other thing of life. The development
of the social affections begins with the infants first re-
Spouse to its mothers smile. The development of the
intellect first appears at later period, in the chid's
curiosity 1t anxious to know the causes of things ;
and many parent has been puzzled by the little pratt
tiers - Why, faher:" There is something beautiful
in the thought of that little German boy Friedrich
Schiller, sitting, perched in a tree top and looking Out
upon the hUndec storm, because "the Lightning was
very beautiful and he wished to see where it vas COM
ing from" Let Just spirit of curiosity be cherished
by thu unfolding Of causes, and the truth plainly eX.
hlhIed, and spirit may. soon be awakened that will
pass by difficulty unsoyed, and will soon be sending
its aspirations into every department Of science. TIC
such mind the world will soon be clothed in beauty
and every object in nature invested with deep and
thrilling interest
The readers of Locke Ansden will remember the
following truthful exposition of the influence of early
formed mental habits upon the subsequent life, in a
parallel drawn between two persons of opposite hab
it's
"Thcse two individuals will carry the different hab
its of thought thus respectively formed by them, into
the business aud various concerns of life, ard the re-
suit will there be equally visible as in the walks Of
science The one never thoroughly investigates any
subject His views as before minated, all super
fcal, and his conclusions, consequently, often as
otherwise, are erroneous leading him into false move
ments In business, if guided by his mind if moi
reducing him to a miserable dependence on the opin
ions of Others by whom he is liable to be equally mis-
led The other examines every subject presented tC
his consideration patiently, weighs it carefully, sees
all its bearings clearly, and thus becomes prepared
to decide with confidence and correctness. The one
in short seeing only part of the bearings of the ques
tons, which constantly arising in life for his decs
ion, makes bad bargains, or rejects good ones, rushe
into uncertain speculatons, lives in continued embar
easements and troubles which he calls misfortunes bu
which good habits of thought would have enabled hin
to avoid and ends his career most probably in mslor
f tune and disgrace. The other carrying along witt
him the means of avoiding the evil, which is brough
upon its victim through the we have just named
and at the time, the of grasping the good
v which through similar causes is rejected, goes on in
creasng in competence, wisdom, and influence, moyn
q quietly through life and leaving at his death useu
- example and an honest fame behind him."
: Besides being able to think rUelL, there is pecua
charm about persons, that consists in their ab
to think quick No can have failed to observe tn
:, power which such habit gives over his fellows
e While other men forming their opinions he ha
', thought and acted While other men are meditatin
S. whether to put forth the hand to pluck the fruit he ha
It already Plucked it and is enjoying it. IT has bee
said Of people, that our thoughts always com
l. half an hour too late. There is something wthou
doubt in the temperament but than is general
N believed il thinking clearly. The words of some me
e are pictures. They have seen clearly, and can max
1t US see So The scholar trained to think clearly b
lr never being allowed to leave a subject till fully unde
IT Stood nor to answer question, except distinctly an
ntellgbly soon shows the influence thus exerted o
of his character None can have failed to notice no
at much the life of society depends on those who hav
re this power of thinking quick and clearly. They kno
he how to do and say the right thing at the right time
Oh They keep the machinery of society in notion in fa
they in the machinery very much what the spring
by are 10 the other parts The quick clear thinkers civ
the motion, the rest receive and transmit it. In bus
to affairs such men see into matters and arrive at
an suits, which others attain only by halves or at be
nd after slow and painful experience. once heard
ng remarked of man of this stamp, that he never mat
he mistake. Other talk of seeing where they ha
missed it; he seldom does, because he has no occas
no to do so. Experience has been compared to ligE
IS placed the stern of vessel, Illuminating only t
bv path passed over But the clear thinker has an ext
IRIS set of lamps placed high on the prov,
hat have endeavored to hint at of the advantag
I'M resulting from habits of thought upon our practiC
es life there are others too often overlooked but flu
,ev deserving notice. They such as are otenest
en- derstood when lost beyond hope Of recovery re-