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to obtain. Being no further troubled with the injudicious interference of parents, or the misbehavior of their children,— those two evils which too often require the best part of a teacher's time and attention to meet and overcome them,―he had nothing to do but instruct his pupils. And by no means unprofitably did the latter use the opportunity thus afforded them. From a rough, wild, unthinking set of creatures, who could appreciate nothing but animal pleasures or physical prowess, they became rational beings, ambitious for the acquisition of knowledge, and capable of intellectual pleasures. A new standard of taste and merit, in short, had been imperceptibly raised among them; and the winter that Locke Amsden kept school became an era in the district, from which commenced a visible and happy change in the whole moral and intellectual tone of its society.

Nor were the advantages which attended his exertions in this place wholly on one side. In teaching others, the master himself was often taught. Questions were daily put to him, even by children in their abs, which led him to reflection, research, and discoveries of truths, which, thorough scholar as he was, he found, to his surprise, he had before overlooked, and which otherwise might never have occurred to him; - discoveries, we repeat, of important truths, in almost every study of his school, and particularly in those of orthography, orthoepy, and etymology, those sadly neglected branches which require a philosopher to teach them understandingly, but which are yet, oftener than otherwise, entrusted to the teaching of an ignoramus !

In what is termed a physical education, also, he here received hints, which led him to the adoption of much more correct and enlarged views than any he had before entertained. His attention, indeed, had never been directed to the subject; and he had therefore continued to look upon it as did others around him, either as a matter of little im

portance, or, at best, as one which had no legitimate connec tion with popular education. But the painful and alarming occurrences which we have described, as arising from the want of ventilation in his school-house, taught him a lesson which could not be disregarded or easily forgotten; caused him to give an earnest consideration to this subject in all its bearings, whether in relation to ventilation, length of confinement to study, or ease of position; and forced upon his mind the conviction, that physical education, or an observance of those laws of life which can only insure the health of the body, and the consequent health of the mind, is, as truly as any other, a part of an instructor's duty, for the performance of which, before high Heaven, he will be held responsible.

CHAPTER VI.

"Low in the world, because he scorns its arts;
A man of letters, manners, morals, parts;
Unpatronized, and therefore little known;
Wise for himself and his few friends alone."

COWPER.

HAVING fulfilled his engagement in the Horn-of-the-Moon, and bid a regretful adieu to the many friends he had there made, among the stanchest of whom was the straight-going and strong-minded Bunker, young Amsden returned to his family, with the intention of negociating, on some terms, with his father, for his time, during the remainder of his minority, that he might resume his studies. On naming the subject to his parents, his father gave him the choice of serving out his time, and receiving in return a portion of the homestead or a new lot of land when he should become of age, or of going now with nothing. Locke thanked him for the option, and instantly decided to depart. His decision, however, was not grounded on any dislike to an agricultural life; for, on the contrary, he ever thought highly of that healthful and noble avocation, which so early received the signal sanction of Heaven. And ever since that charmed hour in which he listened to the glowing picture of the life of the scientific farmer, drawn by the stranger gentleman, whose visit, with that of his bright-eyed daughter, was still secretly cherished in remembrance, as an event which first fairly apprised him he had a mind to be expanded, and a heart to be affected, he had determined eventually to return to that life. But he must first have knowledge, more knowledge, a little more

knowledge; and all the temptations of earth should not divert him from his purpose. To gain this, he had, as we have just mentioned, freely relinquished, for aught he knew, his whole birthright; and so, with as little hesitation, would he have done, had its value been tenfold greater than it was, even had he been compelled to go forth as penniless as the beggar of the streets. He was not finally permitted, however, to depart wholly unprovided. His good mother, who had heard him reject the offers of his father, and dropped a silent tear, drawn forth, not at witnessing the sacrifice, but the self-sacrificing and noble motive which had prompted it,again exerted her influence in his behalf, and not altogether in vain. On the morning of his departure, he was furnished with an outfit, which, with the limited amount of his winter's wages, was sufficient to ensure his support for another year, in his favorite pursuits. And with this little fund, and a light heart, he was soon on his way to the public seminary he had quitted the fall previous. On reaching his destination, he was cordially received by his old friend Seaver, who still remained the successful head of the institution, to which he was proud to welcome one whom, the year before, he had esteemed its brightest ornament.

Hitherto, our hero had entertained no thought of entering any higher institution of learning, than the one at which he had been pursuing his studies. But, although he cared nothing for the honors of a college diploma, he yet was certainly ambitious to be deserving of one. And, having long since informed himself of the course of studies required to complete a collegiate education, he had, during the latter part of the preceding year, secretly directed his own studies with a view of eventually mastering, in their order, all those sciences embraced in the course thus required. In pursuing this object, he soon discovered how much his labors would be shortened by the unusual extent of his acquirements in math

ematics, which, with those branches immediately founded on them, composed nearly half of the course in question. Feeling conscious that, with the proficiency he had already made, it would require but very little exertion to make him master of the branches last mentioned, he had devoted his time and energies almost wholly to the acquisition of the dead languages. And such had been his progress, that he now soon found himself rapidly passing over the studies of the second year of the prescribed course. For all this, however, he had thus far, as before stated, formed no design of transferring the scene of his labors to a college. But Seaver, who felt a pride in the thought of furnishing the institution of which he was a graduate, with a scholar of Locke's excellence, and believing, moreover, that he should be promoting the best interests of the latter, now began to beset him to make up his mind to leave the academy and enter college, by joining, if he preferred, such of the upper classes as his qualifications should be found to warrant.

"Have you yet concluded," said the friendly preceptor, coming to repeat his advice one day, some two or three months from his pupil's return to the academy,-"have you yet concluded, Mr. Amsden, to follow my suggestions with regard to entering college?"

"No," replied Locke, "my means are too limited; and were it otherwise, your academy furnishes me with all the advantages which I at present desire, and more than I can fully improve. Great advantages do not always make great scholars."

"True, too true," rejoined Seaver; "but yet you, probably, as do many others, greatly misapprehend the character of the peculiar advantages of a college education. The sciences, indeed, may be equally well acquired elsewhere-even more rapidly and perfectly, sometimes, perhaps, as may be seen in the case of yourself, who, uninterrupted by the mul

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