The Carrollton sun. (City of Carrollton, Parish of Jefferson, La.) 185?-1???, 1861-01-09
MISCELLANEOUS.
"A Fathers Mistake.


could see no reason why people should |
grasp at things beyond what had been |
reached by tbair great grandfathers.
He had three children-two boys and
a girl. There was Jeremiah, seven
teen wears old, Samuel, fifte Ell, and
Fanny, thirteen.
It was cold winters day. Samuel
was in the kitchen reading book and so
interested that he did not notice the en-
trance of his father. Jerry was in an
opposite corner, engaged in ciphering
out a sum which he had found In his
arithmetic. ~
I z. Sam said the father to his youn
n Ssyi Sssi" nave s0' "'Asp -
NO sir, ,'returned the boy hesitatingly.
6fDidn't / tell you to stick at your
s375f 375fhmeti6&i4Eyou had done III" utter
ed MI WintRfpp in a seyereltone.
SainJel hung dowf his head and look
|| sE aNhayen't you done q contin-
q.
Hesliad oi5iIS al
long before ho q
Jerry waxsll fond loff thPsaaati
cal nroblen3 Is, bSst ealitlo a ii,
mind on thssas HE q lhave lao int
| for me. ss E
..That' Be cause 5o,i don { try to fssat
an interest IN your studies. What1
book is that you are reading
! .It is a work on philosophy, sir.
| S..A work on .fddlesticks.! Go put ~
away this instant, and don't let me see
YOU away from your arithmetic till you
can work out those roots. Do you
understand me 7"
Samuel made no answer, but silently
| he nut away his philosophy, and then
| he got his slate and sat down, in the
chimney corner. His neither lip trem-
| bled, and his eye moistened, for he was
/ unhappy. His father had been harsh
| toward him, and he felt that it was With
/ out d cause.
ssSam,'' said Jerry, as soon as their
father had gone, II viii do that sum for
tFyou.n
No. Jerry retarned the younger
/ brother. With a grateful look, that
wonld Be decei Wing father. / will try
4 to do the sum, but l fear l shall not
succeed.
Samuel worked very hard, but all TO
no purpose. His mind was not on the
subject before him. The roots and
q squares, the basis, hypothenues and
II perpendiculars, though comparatively
simple in themselves, were to him a
MINGLED mass of incomprehensible
things, and the more he WORKED the
more he became perplexedand bothered.
| ~ l., u, Af
understand him.
Samuel was bright boy, and uncom-
monty intelligent for one of his age.
Mr.. Winthrop was thorough mathe-
matician-he never yet came across q
problem he could not solve, and he de-
sired his boys should be like him, fol
he considered that acme of educationa
perfection lay in the power of conquer
ing Euclid, and he often expressed hi'
opinion that, were Euclid living then
he could give the old geometrician I
hard tussel. He seemed not to compre
hend that different minds were made o
different capacities, and what one mint
grasped with ease, another of equa
; power would fall to comprehend
), Hence because Jeremiah progressed
rapidly in his mathematical studies, ant
could already survey piece OF lana
, many angles, he imagined that because
Samuel made no progress in the sam
| branch, he was idle and careless, ant
treated him accordingly. He neve
| candidly converscd with his younge'
son, with view to ascertain the tru
, bent of his mind, but he pertinaciously
adhered TO it.
There was another thing that Mr.
5 Winthrop could not see, and that was
; that Samuel was continually pondering
, upon such II matter as was interesting
to him, and that he was scarcely eve
r idel nor did his father see, either, j
? he wished his boy to become mathe
| mntician, ne was pursuing th
9 course to prevent such n result-In
l stead of cndeavoring TO make the stud.
= interesting for the child, he was maxim
| it obnoxious.
r The dinner hour came, and Snmuc
2 had not worked out the sum. Iiis fla