The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-05-18

they have abandoned proper reading
and study, and have thus grown old i'll
ignorance.
He who pretends to know everything
is an ignoramus.
Some folk, however, are too selfish
with their knowledge. They lock it up,
as it were, and throw away the key.
! They seldom use it themselves, and are
always afraid that some one else may
make use of it. But be not alarmed,
oh, false casuists What little you pos
sess, and might impart, would not add
any to the worlds knowledge. a can
die may impart flame to the largest
| light, yet add no brilliancy nor lose any
of its feeble blaze. Selfshness concern
| ing knowledge is the twin sister of dis
play.
On the contrary, one of the peculiar
characteristics of that polished titeratus
and wit, Charles Lamb, was, he was
neither selfish nor egOtistical-he was
modest with his brains. In one of his
| inimitable essays he says: "My head
has not many mansions, nor spacious;
and l have been obliged to fill it with
such cabinet curiosities as it can hold
without aching. l sometimes wonder
how have passed my probation in this
world upon so meager a stock !' Again,
Sheridan, on being urged to make a
speech, on a certain occasion replied:
"You know 1 am an ignOramus, but pll
do my best" But be not over-modest;
false or excessive modesty may betray
your shallowness.
Although, as we have hinted, it is
neither possible nor necessary to drink
dry the Pierian spring of knowledge, all
persons are under some obligation to
improve their understanding; other
wise, it will become as a desert or as q
garden choked with weeds. Ignorance
aud error overspread the mind which is
left to lie uncultivated and neglected.
Every man, therefore, whatever his
calling or condition, should devote some
of his time to acquire knowledge, and
beautify and enrich his mind. The
common duties of life and the necessary
relations we bear to our fellOw-mer
oblige all of us to exercise our brains OIL
thousand occasions. Our judgment
is called into action every hour; but, i
we have not trained our minds to think
, and reason properly, we are apt to b'
imprudent in determining, and are Ii
s able at any time to plunge into grievOu'
errors. We are under solemn Obliga
tions, therefore, not only to ourselves
but to our Maker, to see to it that W.
waste not the gifts given US, nor bury
them in ignorant neglect.
It is nonsense for any to eXclaim
l "NVe have no leisure" Determine Il
2 improve your mind and add to you
stock of brains, and you will find tim,
S enough. In time, as in money, it is thj
e neglect of the little fragments that con
= sumes the store. The daily interval
, we enjoy from necessary labor are ofteI
wasted in idleness. If a man coul(
have a complete account at the end o
1 each year of the time lost in short inter
walls, how astonished and cOnfoundet
] he would be One hour per day Ia few
moments at time), amounts in yea
I to nearly five weeks. In ten years, a
: the same rate, we can devote one who'll
t year to reading and study. This is tim
a enough to learn two languages or t.
D read and digest the knowledge of hund
- red volHmes.
= What would Shakespeare have beel
without some knowledge and education
Suppose, for instance, he had been bOrl
i and reared among mere savages, wha
:. would his genius then have done fO
e him? He might have built a bette
1 canoe or more classical wigwam thai
e his comrades; but to have transplante,
i him then into civilized society wOult
have made him appear like a stunte
shrub among stalwart oaks.
i Such, then, is the importance O
D brains. Delay not, therefore, to acquir
i such an inestimable treasure. A tast
= of the Pierian spring creates a pleasin
S thirst for more; but drinking largel
: makes us wise in the fonts of knowledg
and sober in the depths of wisdom.