The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-02-14

HIS vile cOulu 10 mOTc WUIk j. u uhy
Than he could do in three-three.
THE SMART Boy" Come, boysl Tn
show you some fun" cried Rufus Green,
as he reached the sc~hOol-house door at a
full run on Monday. morning. "T've
brought a piece of chalk, and we'll have
a good time before old Pratt comes"
Haven't time" said Bob Smith,
shortly. Algebra lessons hard, and /
want all the time / can get to study it."
"Algebra!" shouted Rufus. Haven't
even looked at it; there was too much
fun going on Saturday for that. Just
let me know when it's five minutes to
nine, and In be all right. Come ION
Boysl" and followed by a noisy troop,
Rufus rushed into the school-room, and
soon was the center of an admiring
circle.
Rufus was a smart boy; every one
said so, and it was clearly impossible
that every one should be mistaken. So
Rufus thought; and thus thinking, he
took very little trouble to improve the
abilities which he had. In truth, among
the boys at school Rufus was already a
great man. He was leader in all their
games of skill; he was full of fun and
Jokes; he could tell exciting stories; and
best of all, with a single stroke of chalk
upon the blackboard he could produce
absurd likenesses of people, which they
would even recognize themselves, and
which caused shouts of laughtez from
all the boys around him. With all
these talents you would expect Rufus to
stand first in his class and make great
progress in study; and in fact, no boy in
the school could get a hard lesson into
his head SO quickly as Rufus.
His talents helped him further than
this; no boy could make so fair a recita-
ton on SO little real knowledge as our
"smart boy" and naturally, no boy
could forget the whole subject so entirely
when the hour of recitation was over.
The fact was that Rufus never gave him
self time 10 think about the lesson at
all; the words, which rung through his
head like the notes of a song, were all
he knew about it. 1t was not strange,
with this habit, that Rufus often fell
behind in his classes, and was not nearly
so great a person in. the eyes of his
teacher as of his companions. This
morning Rufus was more entertaining
than usual. He was drawing a graphic
picture of a scene he had witnessed on
Saturday, in which the teacher, Mr..
Pratt, had taken rather a ridiculous
part. His sketches were very clever
no one could deny this; eve Mr.. Pratt
himself, when he stood at the school
room door and looked over the heads Of
the boys, who were too full of fun tc
notice him, said, with a shake of his
head: "That boy has talents, certainly
but no perseverance, no steadiness. ]
am afraid it will prove his ruin"
give minutes to nineP' shouted one
of the little boys whowas on the watch
but his shrill voice was hardly hearG
amidst the shouts of laughter which
greeted every new stroke of Rufus
clever. hand.
"Four minutes, RUFF shouted the
little boy; but Rufus was Just givins
the finishing touch to Mr.. Pratts head
and he could not stop then.
"Three minutes, Ruff Time mos
up" shouted the little boy again.
Here, boys! quick!". cried Rufus
reused at last. "Pratt will be down OF
us in a minute. Sam, rub off that board
will you? Bob, give me that book show
me the lesson; I'll have it in a minute; >
and the "smart boy" sank into tn,
nearest desk and vas absorbed in tn
lesson in a minute.
But it would not do to-day. Tn
lesson was n which really required
study, and coming over the words dit
him no good. Trusting to his memory
which had SO often stood him in goot
stead, Rufus learned off by rote the ex
ample which one of the boys had care
fully worked out, and the rule, of tn
meaning of which he had no idea, an
closed the book. The class was Gale
Immediately after prayers, and Ruff
took his seat, feeling rather uneasy, bu
little suspecting that Mr.. Pratt wa
fully aware of his occupation during tn
past hour. AS the time went by b
thought he was escaping very easily
when suddenly Mr.. Pratt called him t
the board, and asked him to state an
explain the problems of the morning
lesson. Like most people who are fon
of ridiculing others, Rufus was yer
much afraid of ridicule himself, and b
felt very hot and uncomfortable whe
he found himself standing so helplessl
before the group of boys whom he ha
entertained at that board half an hou
before. Mr.. Pratt intended that b
should feel the disgrace fully, and pile
him with questions, calling upon til
boys to detect the errors in the figure
and letters with which he aimfessI
covered the board. Under the keel
though quiet sarcasm of Mr.. Pratt
manner, and the significant smiles of til
boys, Rufus returned to his seat whe
the half hour was over, thorough
mortified, and feeling for the first tim
a sense of disgrace.
After school Mr.. Pratt came, an
sitting down beside him talked yer
earnestly of the danger which threatene
him of a wasted life.
"The very talents on which you no
pride yourself, my boy, will be utterl
useless without diligence and perseve
ance. One Of the most pitiable objec
in the world is a smart boy grown I'M
an ignorant, conceited man. Tho!
!. things which made him popular as a be
!, are now amongst the childish thin
which men have put away. Many WI
were boys with him, and who SCENE
then his interiors, are reaping the frui'
of diligent labor; but the smart DO,
/ who thought himself too clever to worI
and only INDUCED himself in tho
} things which pleased his vanity, is no
r a useless plaything, of which people ha'
; long grown tired. Take warning
!. time, my boy, added Mr.. Prat
i. solemnly and kindly. Remember '
are answerable to God for all the talen
which he has given us, and we cam
let them go unimproved without suffe
ing evil consequences for u sins al
folly"
A BUsHEL OF NUTs.-" Phsnl .