The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-09-03
BOYS, Let Us Study.

There are moments in the lives of men, which,
as they are seized or neglected, decide their fut-
ere destiny.-Lytton.
Ingratitude to our past selves is human
fralty which is often displayed. even osten-
tatiously, by men and women. Many there
are who boast that they learned nothing at
school; there are more who complain that
they were taught nothing. DR.. Samuel
johnson was truer to himself in saying that
he had learned nothing since.
We get many good things without effort
but they give us less satisfaction than
meaner things which we have earned
There is charm in winning race, which
does not consist either in being at the end
OF it, or in getting prize. The victory is
''our very own," as the children say.
No one has pursued course of reading
and study to the end without very great
Improvement in mental power and method.
or without large additions to his knowledge.
The completing of course of study affords
one of the few unallOyed satisfactiOns of
life. 1t is an end reached-and it has been
reached by personal effort, and one feels
that the prize has been worth his pains. He
may feel discOntented with the imperfec-
tons of his knowledge, but he would not
for the world be put back where he began.
We hold many things only with our hands;
the fruits of a course of study are more Sc
eure-they are in our minds and hearts, and
therefore cannot fall out of our possession.
or be wrested from US. And then the re-
freshment one takes of looking back to the
place of beginning. ''What was when
began?" This sense of gain is apt to be
supplanted by discomfort and looking for
ward; but the student should give himself
the comfort of the backward glance. Look
to the hole in the pit" Taking long look
at our old self we would not hesitate to
prefer the new self. We become wiser,
stronger, better. And how little it will cost
us! A piecing together of fragments of time
that otherwise would have been wasted,
that would be the greater part of the cost.
We would sacrifice nothing of any moment
to this object. All else that we would have
we could keep still; the fruit of patient
study we would have as clean and pure
gain. It would be matter to be happy
about. In fact good hour of self-cO
placency would do us no harm. We could
even indulge our self-respect a little.
1t is worth while to consider the elements
of such victory. Time and method can
be mixed with reading and study. Hap
hazard study will not yield the fruit; it
could not be ripened in day. -Four
months-and harvest" Nor could method
be left out. There is method in any work;
method distinguishes work from play.
There is method on the farm. in the mill.
in the store. There must be method in
gaining knowledge. Method makes tasks
easy and combines many strokes into one
result. In this combination of time and
method lies the power of course of study.
College men say that the majority of those
who begin course fall out by the way; and
they add that, whatever pretexts are used,
the real reason is usually defective char
acter. 1t is rule in all undertakings of
mankind; holdfast is the master quality.
The man who has run such race THROUGH
is capable of running other races. He has
learned how to keep pegging away" as
Lincoln put it. He knows how to run
how to study. He likes to study. He has
only begun in the great museum of knowl-
ledge. but he will 60 on searching its shelves
until he is graduated into the large univer.