The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1877-05-31
Advice To Boys.

.
never give thing up because it was
hard or inconvenient to do il. five
Bant light, we must conquer dark
Epess, When | think of mathematics
I i blush at the recollection of how Of.
ten "caved ie," years ago. There
is no trait more valuable than a de-
termination to persevere when the
right thing is to be accomplished.
We are all inclined to give up too
easily in trying or unpleasant situa-
tions, and the point l would establish
with myself, if the choice were again
within my grasp, would be never to
relin1uish my hold on a possiblesuc-
cess, if mortal strength or brains in
any case were adequate to the occa-
sion Tint vas capital lesson
which Prof, Faraday taught one Of
his students in the lecture-room, af-
ter some chemical experiments. The
lights had been put out in the hall,
and By accident some small article
dropped on the floor from the profes-
sor's hand. The professor fingered
behind, endeavoring to pick it up.
"Never mind" said the student.
"It is of no consequence tonight,
sit, whether we find it or no." THAT
is true, replied the professor; "but
it is of grave consequence to me, as a
principle, that am not foiled in my
determination to find it." Persever-
ahce can sometimes equal genius in
Ii@ results. "Theref are only two
creatures" says the Eastern proverb,
"who can surmount the Pyramids
the eagle and the snail"
If l were a boy again, / would
school myself into n habit of, atten-
tion oftener. l would let nothing
cope between me and the subject in
I:hand. would remember that an
expert on the ice never tries toskate
lin two:dircctions at once. One Of
our great mistakes, while we are
young, is that we do notattend strict
ly to what we are about just then,
at that particular moment. We do
not bend our energies close enough
to what we are doing or learning.
We wander into a half-interest only
and so never acquire fully what is
needful for us to become master Of.
The practice of being habiually at
tentive is one easily obtained, if we
begin. early enough. L often hear
grown.up people say: 81 couldn't fix
my attention on the sermon, or book,
although wished to do So" Aud
the reason is, a habit of attention
was never formed in youth. Let me
tell you a sad instance Of neglected
power Of CONCENTRATION. A friend
asked me onoe:teslcs,as lA;sasa asaRl9inter,
Iesting book, something that would
enchain his attention; for he said he
was losing the power to read. After
few days he brought back the vol
ume, saying,it was no doubt u work
of great value and beauty; but that
the will to enjoy it had gone from
him forever, for other matters would
intrude themselves on the page he
was trying to understand and enjoy,
and rows of figures constantly mar
shaled themselves up at the bottom
of the leaf.
If were to live my life cover again,
] wonld pay more attention to the
cultivation of memory. l would
strengthen that faculty by every
possible means and on every possible
occasion. It takes a little hard work
at first to remember things accurate
"; but memory soon helps itself and
gives very little trouble. 1t only
needs early cultivation to become n
power. Everybody can acquire it.
When | was a youth, a classmate Of
mine came to me with a long face
and told me that he was in danger
of being supplanted in regard of a
young person of the gentler sex by a
smart young fellow, belonging to an
other school, who was daily in the
habit of calling on the lady and re-
peating to her from memory whole
poems ofconsiderable length, What
would you do?" sighed the lad to me.
"Do?" said l. II would beat him on
his own ground and at once commit
to memory the whole of Paradise
Lost book by book, and every time
the intruder left Amelia's house !
would rush in and fire away Depend
upon it," / said, "she is quite taken
by surprise with the skillful memory
Of her new acquaintance; and you
must beat him with surprising feats
Of the same quality" "0h! but"
said my friend, "I have, as you know,
a very poor memory!" "The more
reason now for cultivating that de-
partment of your intellect" rejoin-
ed. "If you give way to idle repin,
ing and do nothing, that fellow will
soon be seated in your place. /
should not wonder if he were now at
work on Thomson's Seasons, for his
Infamous purpose. Delay no longer;
but attack John Milton after supper
tonight, and win the prize above all
competition" Ezekiel beganin good
earnest, and before the summer was
over he had mcmorized the whole Of
"Paradise Lost" rehearsed it to Anne.
liza, and gained the victory.-L T.