The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-11-05

ni6n SCHOOL, LEARNING.
Not Always an Index Of What q
Boy is Going to Do In Life.
1t is wholly beyond our power to
tell who the coming leaders Of man.
kind will be, and it is equally diff
cult to tell whether boy, who at
school exhibits some talent and
much worthiness of character, will
make his way either to affluence or
to celebrity in the world. Abraham
Lincoln, who, after George Wash
ington and Benjamin Franklin,
must be considered as the most IL
lustrious citizen that North Amer
ica has ever produced, received
only the barest trace Of regular
education. He learned to read
however, and, as books were scarce
he thoroughly digested the few he
could obtain; notable of these
being "Esop's Fables" and "The
Pilgrims Progress" When in 1880
young Abraham's father migrated
to Illinois, his son became split
ter of rails for fences. 1t was not
until he was nine and twenty years
of age that he began the study of
law, and devoted himself to the
pursuit of politics, combined voca-
tions which eventually led to his
becoming Chief Magistrate of the
United States. Another American
President, James Abraham Gar
field, was the son of a pioneer,
worked at farm labor until he was
IA, and had reached manhood be-
fore he could manage to acquire a
tolerably good education. A far
greater American, Benjamin Frank
lin, had for all scholastic education
one single years tuition in pri-
mary school, and after his father
had unsuccessfully tried to bring
him up to his own trade of candle
making and to that of a butler, he
apprenticed young Benjamin to a
printer. Yet this poor lad, who
assuredly owed nothing to high
school and grammar-school grades,
was destined to be one of the most
conspicuous natural philosophers
of the Eighteenth century, an Am
bassador, one of the founders ol
the liberties of his country, and in
all respects veritable leader Of
mankind. Another distinguished
American, Horace Greely, the son
of New Hampshire farmer, com.
menced his active life as an ap-
prentice to printer Samuel Lang
horn Clemens, better known under
his pseudonym of Mark Twain, was
assuredly not high-school boy
In his childhood he picked uI
some meagre education at com.
mon school, and at thirteen began
to learn the trade of compositor
which in early youth he varied BY
working as a pilot on board Mis-
sissippi steamer. Bret Harte had
a better chance of education, since
he is the son of a professor in 6
ladies' school at Albany; but the
real education of the great Ameri
can humorist was acquired wher
at the age of seventeen, his family
emigrated to California, and he be-
came gold-digger, a school-master
an express messenger, printer
and an employee in the United
States mint at San Francisco.
We have instanced these few con.
spicuous cases with a view of show
ing how utterly futile it is to predi
cate from the mere fact of boy
evincing some capacity at school ol
gaining by his good conduct the
esteem of his masters that he will
subsequently become q leader o.
mankind" The wisest of peda
gogic instructors have often been
hopelessly at sea in their forecasts
as to the future of promising boys
The Jesuits who educated Voltaire
fondly hoped that his learning and
wit would make him pillar of the
church; the Edinburgh Review, in
noticing young Mr.. Gladstone'a
book on "Church and State" airily
predicted that he would be the
mainstay OF stern and unbendine
Toryism, and the official inspectors
who reported on the capacity o1
young Napoleon Bonaparte when
he left Brienne added a note to the
effect that he would make an ex
cellent naval officer. He was bad
Latinist and had scarcely any
Greek at all; but he was fail
mathematician, and SO the inspec'
tors thought that he might be best
disposed of by admission to tht
French Navy, which in the years
Immediately preceding the Revolu
ton was an asylum for mediocritie!
Of gentle birth.-Ex.
Blue Jays as Jokers.
The blue jay is the most persist
ent practical joker in the feathered
kingdom. He will conceal himsel
| in clump of leaves near the spo
where small birds are accustomed
to gather, and when they are en-
i loving themselves in their owl