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

Advice To boys.
y If | were boy again, | would
4 Practice perseverance oftener, and
Eneyef give:a thing up because it was
Hard or ineonvenient to do it. five
want light, we must conquer dark
ness When Think Of mathematics
sEbluslr at the recollection of how of,
ten 4 sCayed in,' years ago. There
las no tfait more valuable than u de-
Termination to perseyere when the
fright thingiss to 30 accomplished.
fANe are all inclined to give up too
ieasily in trying or unpleasant situa-
4 tions, and the point wouldestablish
with rayself, if the choice were again
aEithin ing grasp, would be never to
filfadiiis iag hldon a possiblesue:
d1y case were adequateto Che occa-
sion. That was a 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 profess
sor's hand. The professor fingered
behind, endea voring to pick il up.
"Never mind" said the student.
SIT is of no consequence tonight,
sir, 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-
ance can sometimes equal genius in
its results. "There are only two
creatures" says the Eastern proverb,
"who can surmount the Pyramids
the eagle and the snail"
If i were a boy again, ! would
school myself into II habit of atten-
tion oftener. / would let nothing
come between me and the subject in
hand. would remember that an
expert on the ice never tries toskate
in two directions at once. One of
our great mistakes, while we are
young, is that we do not attend 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 habitually at
tentive is one easily obtained, if we
begin early enough. | often hear
grown,up people say: ~ couldn't fix
my attention on the sermon, or book,
although wished to do So" And
the reason is, a habit Of attention
was never formed in youth. Let me
tell yor,a,sadi instance of a neglected
power Of. Concentration. A friend
asked me once tolend him an inter
esting book, something that would
enchain his attention; for he said he
was losing the power to read. After
a 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
shaded themselves up at the bottom
of the leaf.
I'll were to live my life over again,
| would pay more attention to the
cultivation of memory. | would
strengthen that faculty by every
possible means and on every possible
occasion. 1t takes little hard work
at first to remember things accurate
ly; but memory soon helps itself and
gives very little trouble. 1t only
needs early cultivation to become n
power. Everybody can acquire it.
When I was a youth, classmate Of
mine came to me with a long face
and told me that he was in danger
of being supplanted in regard of n
young person of the gentlor 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.
"Do2' said |. 81 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" "Ohl but"
said my friend, ~ 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;
Int attack John Milton after supper