HABIT OF SEEING.

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I am wishing to point out to you some of those

which are essential to your happiness and usefulness, through your whole life.

1. Cultivate a habit of close observation.

Some people see things in general, and some do not see them at all. A few have the power to use the eye for the purpose for which it was given. It is not seeing a landscape as a whole, but noticing the minute parts of it, that makes it beautiful. It is not seeing the grove as a whole, that makes the vision so pleasant, but it is the study of the different trees, their various shapes, heights, the shades of their leaves, and their attitudes. Keep the eyes open, and the ears awake. "Every new class of knowledge and every new subject of interest becomes, to an observer, a new sense to notice innumerable facts and ideas, and consequently receive endless pleasurable and instructive hints, to which he had been else as insensible as a man asleep." There must be originally, in the mind of a good observer, the faculty; but it is greatly improved and enlarged by cultivation. "The capabilities of any sphere of observation," says a strong

thinker, "are in proportion to the force and number of the observer's faculties, studies, interests. In one given extent of space, or in one walk, one person will be struck by five objects, another by ten, another by a hundred, and some by none at all." Notice the minutest object, pick up even the smallest morsel of knowledge, retain the smallest fact, save the rustiest nail ever lying in the dust. Have patience, you

will find the value of all at last.

When Audu

bon was on a visit to the Natural Bridge in Virginia for the first time, he travelled a short distance with a farmer, who offered to bet that Audubon could not tell when he came to the Bridge. But Audubon stopped directly on the bridge, saying, "We are on it now." The astonished farmer inquired how he knew he was on the right spot. He explained by saying that he saw a little pee-wit, and knowing that these little birds build their nests under bridges, he knew that the bridge could not be far off. There is scarcely a spot in creation, or a thing created, or an art among men, however humble, from which something may not be learned, or in which some beauty

LADY MONTAGU A PHYSICIAN.

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may not be discovered. "Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, on observing among the villagers of Turkey the practice of inoculating for the small-pox, became convinced of its utility and efficacy, and applied it to her own son, at that time about three years old. By great exertions, Lady Mary afterwards established the practice of inoculation in England, thus conferring a lasting benefit on her native country and on mankind." I have never yet met the man in any station from whom I could not. learn something. The great Mr

Locke was asked how he had contrived to accumulate a mine of knowledge so rich, and yet so extensive and so deep? He replied that

he attributed what little he knew to not having been ashamed to ask for information; and to the rule he had laid down, of conversing with all descriptions of men, on those topics chiefly that formed their own peculiar professions or pursuits.

Let me drop a hint on your habits of observing character; do not study to find what is uncouth or ludicrous or ridiculous in those whom you meet. Every one has more or less

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SECRET OF DESPATCH.

about him which partakes of weakness, and it may be of folly, which always seems ridiculous in others. But do not allow yourself the bad habit of noticing these little shades, dwelling on them, and perhaps detecting them for the amusement of others. In every one you can see something good. Seize upon that. Be like the bee which can find honey in almost every weed, even to the deadly nightshade, and not like the spider, which sucks poison from the fairest flowers that creation affords. Every step in life will present you a thousand new things, minute, to be sure, but these all become a study, and if you culti vate the habit of close observation, you will be enriched, not by finding a great treasure at once, but by the accumulation of sands of pure gold.

2. The habit of untiring industry is invaluable.

Those accomplish the most in life who can turn every moment of time to advantage. Some can work a short time and apparently despatch a great deal, but at the end of life have done but little. The power of despatch

CHINESE STUDENT.

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is a misfortune, if it be not accompanied by untiring industry. The hare could run fast for a while, but he must soon lie down to sleep, and while he rested, the tortoise passed him and run the race. To make each moment do a little for us is the great secret of doing much.

There is a story of a Chinese student who felt discouraged because when he shook the tree of knowledge only a single apple would drop at a time, and sometimes he had to shake a long time before any fell; but he was encouraged one day to new efforts, which resulted in his reaching eminence, by seeing an old woman rubbing a crowbar on a stone to make her a needle! President Dwight says:

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Among all those who within my knowledge have appeared to become sincerely penitent and reformed, I recollect only a single lazy man; and this man became industrious from the moment of his apparent, and, I doubt not, real conversion." No one can rely upon talents, friends, opportunities, or attainments, for The question ever recurring is, not what are your talents and ability, but, what

success.