, 1853-01-15
From Gleason's Picioisl.
THE YOUNG PHILOSOPHER.

cfrfylnihB Dy estaOlBneO rulee, dn0 VINO
could sec no reason why people should ever
grasp at things beyond what had been
reached by their great great grandfalhers
He had three children-two boys and girl.
There was jeremiah, seventeen years old,
Samuel, fifteen, and Fanny, thirteen.
II was a cold winters day. Samuel was
in the kitchen reading a book, and so inter
ested was he that he did not notice the en-
trance Of bis father. Jeremiah was in an
opposite corner engaged in ciphering out a
sum which he had found in his arithmetic.
SAM" said the farmer to his youngest
son, have you worked ont that sum yet l''
No, sir" returned the boy, in hesita-
ting manner.
"Didn't tell you 10 stick 10 your ariih.
metic till you had done it," uttered Mr..
Winihop, in severe tone.
Samuel hung down his head and looked
troubled. ....
Why haven't you done it :" continued
the father.
81 can't do it, Sir", trcmblingly returned
the boy.
"Cant do III And why not : Look
at Jerry, there, with his slate and arilhme-
tic. He had ciPhered futher than you have
long before he was as old as you arc"
"Jerry was always fond OF mathematical
problems, sir; bot can't fasten my mind on
them. They have no interest for me-"
"fhat's because you don't try to feel
any interest in your studies. What book
is that you are reading ?"
+" It's a work on philosophy, sir"
"a work on 6ddle-sticks! Go put It
away this instant, and then get your slate,
and don't let me see you away from your
arithmetic again until you can work out
these roots. Do you understand me- !"
SAMUEL made no answer, but silently he
put away his PHILOSOPHY, and then got his
slate, and sat dowA again in the chimney
corner. His neither lip trembled, and his
eyes were moAtened, for hc was unhappy.
His father had been harsh towards him,
and he felt that it was without just cause.
"Sam," said Jerry, as soon as the old
man had gone, am do that sum for you"
"No, Jcrry," the younger broth
er, but yet with a grateful look, "lhat
would be deceiving our father. ! will try
and do 'hN snm myself, though ] fear ! shall
not succeed"
Samuel worked and studied, but all to no
purpose. His mind was not on the subject
before him. The roots and squares, the
bases, hypolhenuses and perpendicular,
though comparatively simple in themselves,
were TO him mingled mass Of incompre-
hrnsible things, and the more he studied the
more did he become perplexed and and both
cred. The truth was, his father did not un-
derstand him. N .Iu.
Samuel was bright boy, aud uncommon
ly intellignce for one Of his age. Mr.. Win
throp was a thorough mathematician-he
had never yet come across a problem he
could not solve, and he desired his children
should be like him, for be conceived that
The very acme Of educational perfection lay
in the power Of conquering Euclid, and be
often expressed the opinion that, were Euc-
lid living then, he could " give the old ge-
omelrician hard tussle." He never seemed
to comprehend that different minds were
made with different capacities, and that
what one mind could grasp with ease,
another, Of equal power, would fail to COM
prehend. Hence, because jeremiah pro-
gressed rapidly in his mathematical studies,
and could already survey piece Of land OF
many angles, be imagined that, because
Samuel made no progress at all 10 The same
branch, he was idle and careless, and he
treated him accordingly. He never candid
ly conyersed with his younger son, with a
view 10 ascertain the true bent Of his mind,
and thus enable himself to open proper
field for the scope of that mind, but he had
bis own standard OF the power Of all minds,
and be perlinaciously adhered to it,
There was another thing Mr.. Winthrop
could not see, and that was, that Samuel
was continually studying and pondering up
on such profitable matters as interested him,
and that he was scarcely ever idle, nor did
the father see, either, that il he wished his
boy 10 become a mathematician, he was
pursuing the very course TO prevent such a
result. Instead of endeavoring to make
the study interesting to the child, he was
making il really obnoxious. gg 1 2.
The dinner hour came, and Samuel had
not YET worked out the sum. His father
was angry, and obliged the boy to go with
out his dinner, at the same time telling him
that he was an idle, lazy child.
Poor Samuel left the kitchen and went
up to his chamber, and there he sat and
cried. At length his mind seemed 10 pass
from the wrong he had suffered at the hands
Of his parent and took aholher turn, aud the
grief.marks lefl his face. There was a
large FIRE in the room below his chamber,
so he was not very cold and getting up
from bis seat he went to a small closet, and
from beneath lot Of old clothes he drag
ged forth some long strips Of wood and
commenced whiting. Il was not for mere
pastime that Se thus Whitfield, for he was