Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-07-18
DUNCES.

And you approach that blissful shore,
The first to run your soul to greet,
Will be your darling's little feet.
OUNCES.
Fisher Ames entered Harvard at the age
of twelve, and Edward Everett at thirteen !;
Bishop Heber translated Phsd,7ls into En-
glish at seven; Anna Seward repeated from
memory the first three books of paradise
Lost" at nine; and Lord Brougham wrote on
philosophy at eighteen.
But all eminent men have not been re-
markable for early attainments. Some of the
grandest spirits that the world has ever
known-men whose works and memory are
enduring regarded in youth as ounces.
They fowered late, but bore the rarest fruit.
It is somewhat discouraging for a boy of
moderate abilities, who aims to do his best,
to be told that others accomplished in child
hood what he can do only by hard study in
the best years of his youth. But such boy
should not relax his efforts. He will succeed,
if he gives heart and mind to the work.
That distinguished teacher, DIR. Arnold,
of Rugby, after speaking Of those who zeal.
ously cultivate inferior powers Of mind, said
VI suCu q PuPli, "ouAo oeAuA w oHe'o '"'"H
hat in hand"
He once spoke sharply to dull boy, who
replied
"Why do you speak angrily, sir? Indeed
I am doing the best can"
DIR. Arnold said he never so felt rebuke
in his life.
Sir Isaac Newton was pronounced Ounce
in his early school.days. He estood low in his
classes, and seemed to have no relish for
study. One day, the "bright boy" of the
school gave him kick in the stomach, which
caused him severe pain. The insult stung
young Newton to the quck, and he resolved
to make himself felt and respected by i'm
proved scholarship. He applied himself res
olutely to study, and, ere long, stood in his
classes above the boy who had kicked him,
and ultimately became the first scholar in the
school.
Newton owed his prominence in his phi
losophical studies more to perseverance and
application than to any marvellous natural
endowments.
Oliver Goldsmith, than whom no boy could
be more stupid, was the butt of ridicule at
school. A school-dame, after wonderful pa
tience and perseverance, taught him the al
phabet-a thing which she deemed creditable
to her skill, and which she lived to mention
with pride when her pupil became famous.
He made no progress in the exact studies,
but liked history and Latin poetry:
He was a sore trial to his ambitious moth
er who made many fruitless efforts to quick
en- his wits by her sharp words. His rela-
tives, teachers, and schoolmates, all told him
that he was fool, which verdict he did not
dispute, but took good humoredly. Even
when he had produced the Traveller" an
eminent critic said to friend, 'Sir, do be-
lieve that Goldsmith wrote that poem, and
that, let me tell you, is believing great deal" !"
Sir Walter Scott was dull boy, and when
attending the University at Edinburgh, he
went by the name of "The Great Blockhead." !"
But he wasted no time on triAes, and, in pur-
suing study that he loved las, for example,
history or the classics-he was persevering
and methodical. He was one of those whose
knowledge on a subject that interested in
creased, until it lay like great volume in
his mind. When Walter Scott began to
make use of that knowledge, society gave
him another name, somewhat different from
the Edinburgh appellation. 1t was, "The
Great Magician"
Hutton, the Antiquarian, whose knowledge
of books was deemed remarkable, was slow to
learn when boy. He was sent to school to
certain Mr.. Meat. He thus tells his expe-
rience; "My master took occasion to beat my
head against the wall, holding it by the hair,
but he could never beat any learning into it. /"
Sheridan found it hard to acquire the ele-
ments of learning. His mother deemed it
her duty to inform his teacher that he was
not bright to learn like other boys. Adam
Clarke was pronounced by his father to be "a
grievous Ounce )" and DR.. Chalmers was pro-
nounced by his teacher as an "incorrigible''
one. Chatterton was dismissed from school
by his master, who, finding himself unable to
teach him anything in a satisfactory manner,
settled it that the boy was "a fool"
Teachers are apt to become impatient over
dull scholars, and predict of them that they
will never come to anything. Such uncalled
for prophecies ought to discourage no scholar
who tries to do we'll. A certain Edinburgh
professor once pronounced upon student his
severe opinion, Ounce you are, and Ounce
you will ever remain" That student was Sir
Walter Scott.
If dull boy feels an inspiration stirring
within to do something worthy in literature,
or science, or art, let him set his face as q
flint toward his object: let him be patient and
hopeful, and he will not fail of success.
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