صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

CHAPTER I.

"None,

But such as are good men, can give good things;
And that, which is not good, is not delicious

To a well-govern'd and wise appetite."-MILTON.

We are a reading community: the press is every day teeming with works of all sorts, in our mother tongue, of more or less value in forming the mind.It is not now difficult to procure books; they are scattered abroad through every city, town, and village in our extensive country, in great profusion; but it often happens, that the youthful mind is without a guide in this wilderness of sweets, for it falls to the lot of but a few to have a Mentor always at hand to point out the medicinal from the poisonous flower. The first rudiments of knowledge can hardly be called learning; they only fit the mind to receive it; nor do they contain any directions for keeping the intellect sound and healthy. There is no instinct in our natures that directs us to whatever is good and wholesome, as in the honey bee or other humble creatures of earth or air. If youths would not wander without knowing whither, and waste their time in useless reading, they must, in some measure, seek out and trust to those guides who have experience in the pathway of know- · ledge-those who have tasted and tried the qualities of all that makes up the literary banquet which is set before them. This is not all; the necessary quantity of that which is nutritious and desirable should be

L

known, for the most proper and natural food may be taken so unadvisedly as to cause a surfeit. It is fortunate, however, that elementary education among us is so well conducted as it is. There are a few books dedicated to the household gods, which lie near the cradle and are opened and partially read without direction or calculation. The Bible is among these, and the historical sketches and dramatic incidents in that volume, attract and fix the attention of children at a very early age. This is well, for the language of the Bible is pure, good English, and easily understood. And even some of the poetical descriptions are eagerly read, and although the images left on the mind are indistinct and visionary, still the mental struggle to grasp them awakens the powers of the imagination, opens the reasoning faculties, and prepares the child to read and reflect on those subjects which are presented to him in a different form, with a wish for improvement. From a benevolent zeal to improve the rising generation, all classes of men of intellect have labored to provide juvenile books; and sometimes, perhaps, these well-meant endeavors push the mind onward with too much rapidity, and in this pressure of acquisition, the storing the memory may be considered by some the same thing as cultivating the mind; but it is not precisely the same. The other books about the house are in general well calculated to improve his memory, taste and judgment; so that when the child is given up to the school master some foundation for his future inclinations and pursuits is laid. He is then confined to elementary knowledge, and all the exertions of the instructor to throw a charm around geography, arithmetic, history and philosophy, amount

to but little in the way of making the acquisition of knowledge palatable. The strong stimulant of distinc tion is at this period the most efficacious. Those who are about to prepare themselves for an active life are obliged to leave school when only half their teens are gone; without restraint or direction, even with the best of habits, their acquisitions in general knowledge are of slow growth. They read merely for amusement, without a thought of treasuring a stock of information for future use. They dislike to be plodding when they can recreate themselves by slight and careless reading. The scope of my remarks, I wish it to be understood, is to induce the youth to correct this desultory habit, and to set out right, and continue so, until the mind of the man is formed. By method in reading, it is astonishing how much can be effected in the course of a few years. The intellectual distinction among men on the exchange, and in all the business walks of life, is more owing to the different ways in which young men pass their leisure hours from fifteen to thirty than to any other cause. By a rigid course of disciplining the mind in these important years, early defects may be cured, and even a common-place mind strengthened to show no ordinary powers, while a course of ten years' negligence in reading will enfeeble an intellect which was once thought vigorous and promising.

The same remarks are applicable to young ladies; if they throw aside their useful books as soon as they are taken from school, and ramble through the light reading of the day, forming no plans for improving their minds, they will never come to maturity; there will be an infancy about them even in old age, while an hour or two in a day will keep them bright, increase

their stock of knowledge, and give a finish to their charms, the place of which no fashion can supply. It is only by reading works of taste and merit that a lady can learn to think right and talk well. She in general has more leisure hours to devote to literature than young gentlemen, and would improve quite as fast as they, if she would set about it. It is of the utmost importance for those just forming and developing a character to understand the duties of life-those that regard one's self, and those required by the community. It is true that life is short and science long, but this should be used not to discourage the young, but as an inducement to industry and perseverance.

The young should learn what is meant by literature, and then look at its value, and consider the means of its acquisition, its fields, its importance, and the best course to pursue to acquire a sufficiency of it to refine and elevate the mind, to prepare us to sustain a fair character for intelligence, and to give each one currency as a well educated man in the society of this and other countries. This is the great object of these pages.

Literature, in an extensive sense-such as should engage the attention of those who intend to make themselves acquainted with the great duties of life-contains the records of all ages and countries; the thoughts of men in all their struggles for knowledge, and in all their inspirations; every thing that the human mind has contemplated and brought forth in a manner not offensive to taste or decency. It is this literature that should be studied and made familiar to us all, in a greater or less degree. The advantages of having this treasure to put our hands in, and to take from it at will, is incalculable; for, without letters, man was but a sa

vage: he knew nothing of the past, except by memory and tradition; the first was deceptiye, and the second vague and unsatisfactory. Without letters, knowledge of a moral or an intellectual kind could not have increased to any considerable extent; for however mature the thoughts of one great mind might have been, he had no means of transmitting his wisdom to posterity in any permanent form. He could only give his knowledge in keeping to the feeble and ordinary minds around him, and instead of increasing the great mass he might have accumulated, it was generally lost or frittered away after a short period.

Letters were invented when man was passing from a savage to a barbarous state, on his way to refinement. The influence of the invention of letters was soon seen in the character and conduct of those who were fortunate enough to possess them.

Those accustomed to darkness see much by a little light; and, therefore, it is unsafe to form an estimate of the knowledge which nations possessed in ancient times, by examining, at the present day, the amount of literature they had acquired. The lettered men of the early ages appear to us as glow-worms in the path.way, whose fires were pale and ineffectual;—but then the eyes of man were open to discover every thing around him, and he saw things without any occasional confusion from too much light from any particular quarter, as is often the case in our times.

By the influence of letters, man was soon brought from a barbarous state, to one of comparative civilization. Society, by the means of letters, assumed a more elevated character than it had borne before. By letters, the poet perpetuated the deeds of the warrior;

« السابقةمتابعة »