Chapter 5

"Sir," said Johnson, on one occasion, to a fine gentleman, just returned from Italy, "some men will learn more in the Hampstead stage than others in the tour of Europe." It is the mind that sees as well as the eye.

Many, before Galileo, had seen a suspended weight swing before their eyes with a measured beat; but he was the first to detect the value of the fact. One of the vergers in the cathedral at Pisa, after filling with oil a lamp which swung from the roof, left it swinging to and fro. Galileo, then a youth of only eighteen, noting it attentively, conceived the idea of applying it to the measurement of time.

Fifty years of study and labor, however, elapsed before he completed the invention of his pendulum,--an invention the importance of which, in the measurement of time and in astronomical calculations, can scarcely be overvalued.

While Captain Brown was occupied in studying the construction of bridges, he was walking in his garden one dewy morning, when he saw a tiny spider's-net suspended across his path. The idea occurred to him, that a bridge of iron ropes might be constructed in like manner, and the result was the invention of his Suspension Bridge.

So trifling a matter as a straw may indicate which way the wind blows. It is the close observation of little things which is the secret of success in business, in art, in science and in every other pursuit in life.

LESSON XLVIII

THE AFFECTION AND REVERENCE DUE A MOTHER

What an awful state of mind must a man have attained, when he can despise a mother's counsel! Her name is identified with every idea that can subdue the sternest mind; that can suggest the most profound respect, the deepest and most heartfelt attachment, the most unlimited obedience. It brings to the mind the first human being that loved us, the first guardian that protected us, the first friend that cherished us; who watched with anxious care over infant life, whilst yet we were unconscious of our being; whose days and nights were rendered wearisome by her anxious cares for our welfare; whose eager eye followed us through every path we took; who gloried in our honor; who sickened in heart at our shame; who loved and mourned, when others reviled and scorned; and whose affection for us survives the wreck of every other feeling within. When her voice is raised to inculcate religion, or to reprehend irregularity, it possesses unnumbered claims of attention, respect and obedience. She fills the place of the eternal God; by her lips that God is speaking; in her counsels He is conveying the most solemn admonitions; and to disregard such counsel, to despise such interference, to sneer at the wisdom that addresses you, or the aged piety that seeks to reform you, is the surest and the shortest path which the devil himself could have opened for your perdition. I know no grace that can have effect; I know not any authority upon earth to which you will listen, when once you have brought yourself to reject such advice.

USEFUL INFORMATION

The officials and clerks by whom the people's business in the administration of the government is carried on, constitute the Civil Service. About five thousand of these officials are appointed by the President alone or with the consent of the Senate; about fifteen to twenty thousand more are appointed under what is known as the "Civil-Service Rules," and the remainder of our office-holders are appointed by heads of departments.

Competitive examinations for admission to the Civil Service are held at regular intervals by a Board of Examiners in each of the principal cities of the United States. Men and women receive the same pay for the same work in government service.

The salary of the President of the United States is $75,000 a year. The Vice-president receives $8,000; Cabinet officers, $8,000; Senators, $5,000 and mileage. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court receives $10,500. Ministers to foreign nations receive from $5,000 to $18,000 annually. The amount varies with the importance of the post.

The total number of Indians in the United States is about 250,000, Alaska not included. The most numerous tribes are the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians. The Apaches are the most savage. About half of the Indian tribes are now partly civilized and are self-supporting.

WISE SAYINGS

The first business of a state is the education of its citizens.

Every child has a right to the best education.

The highest motive of school government is to give the child the power and necessary reason to control himself.

We have no right to teach anything that does not go through the intellect and reach the heart.

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.

LESSON XLIX

WHEAT

Wheat was unknown in America till it was brought over by Europeans, but it is now grown to an immense extent in the temperate regions of both North and South America. Our country is the greatest wheat granary in the world. The production of this grain in the United States is over five hundred millions of bushels a year.

The great "wheat belt" of the United States is in the Northwest,--in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the neighboring states. California also is a splendid country for this cereal, and California's wheat crop is every year worth more than were ever her stores of gold.

People who live in cities and towns get their bread for the most part at the baker's; so that in many families the good old art of bread-making is almost forgotten. Then it must be said that it is the exception rather than the rule when one finds really good home-made bread. This is a great pity.

Now, let me add one hint for the benefit of the girls. In the English language there is no nobler word than _Lady_. But go back to its origin, and what do we find that it means? We find that it means _She that looks after the loaf_.

WISE SAYINGS

Shallow men believe in luck; strong men in pluck.

If there is honor among thieves, they stole it.

Have a time and place for everything, and do everything in its time and place.

You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.

You will always find those men the most forward to do good, or to improve the times, who are always busy.

Trifles make perfection, yet perfection is no trifle.

LESSON L

COUNTENANCE AND CHARACTER

We know men by their looks; we read men by looking at their faces--not at their features, their eyes, their lips, because God made these; but a certain cast of motion, and shape and expression, which their features have acquired. It is this that we call the countenance.

And what makes this countenance? The inward and mental habits; the constant pressure of the mind; the perpetual repetition of its acts. You detect at once a conceited, or foolish person. It is stamped on his countenance. You can see on the faces of the cunning or dissembling, certain corresponding lines, traced on the face as legibly as if they were written there.

As it is with the countenance, so it is with the character. Character is the sum total of all our actions. It is the result of the habitual use we have been making of our intellect, heart and will. We are always at work, like the weaver at the loom. So we are always forming a character for ourselves. It is a plain truth, that everybody grows up in a certain character; some good, some bad, some excellent, and some unendurable. Every character is formed by habits. If a man is habitually proud, or vain, or false, he forms for himself a character like in kind.

The character shows itself outwardly, but it is wrought within. Every habit is a chain of acts, and every one of those acts was a free link of the will. For instance, some people are habitually false. We sometimes meet with men whose word we can never take, and for this reason they have lost the perception of truth and falsehood. They do not know when they are speaking the truth and when they are speaking falsely. They bring this state upon themselves. But there was a time when these same men had never told a lie.

A good character is to be more highly prized than riches.

SELECTION XVI

THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET

1. How dear to the heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view! The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot which my infancy knew; The wide-spreading pond, and the mill which stood by it, The bridge and the rock where the cataract fell; The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket. The moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well.

2. That moss-covered vessel I hail as a treasure; For often, at noon, when returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell; Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing, And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.

3. How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it, As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips! Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it, Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips. And now, far removed from the loved situation, The tear of regret will intrusively swell, As fancy reverts to my father's plantation, And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well; The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket, which hangs in the well.

_Samuel Woodworth_.

LESSON LI

THE VALUE OF TIME

The value of time has passed into a proverb,--"Time is money." It is so because its employment brings money. But it is more. It is knowledge. Still more, it is virtue.

Time is more than money. It brings what money cannot purchase. It has in its lap all the learning of the past, the spoils of antiquity, the priceless treasures of knowledge. Who would barter these for gold or silver? But knowledge is a means only, and not an end. It is valuable because it promotes the welfare, the development and the progress of man. And the highest value of time is not in knowledge, but in the opportunity of doing good.

Time is opportunity. Little or much, it may be the occasion of usefulness. It is the point desired by the philosopher where to plant the lever that shall move the world. It is the napkin in which are wrapped, not only the talent of silver, but the treasures of knowledge and the fruits of virtue. Saving time, we save all these.

Employing time to the best advantage, we exercise a true thrift. To each of us the passing day is of the same dimensions, nor can any one, by taking thought, add a moment to its hours. But, though unable to extend their duration, he may swell them with works.

It is customary to say, "Take care of the small sums, and the large will take care of themselves." With equal wisdom may it be said, "Watch the minutes, and the hours and days will be safe." The moments are precious; they are gold filings, to be carefully preserved and melted into the rich ingot.

Time is the measure of life on earth. Its enjoyment is life itself. Its divisions, its days, its hours, its minutes, are fractions of this heavenly gift. Every moment that flies over our heads takes from the future, shortening by so much the measure of our days.

The moments lost in listlessness, or squandered in dissipation, are perhaps hours, days, weeks, months, years. The daily sacrifice of a single hour during a year comes at its end to thirty-six working days, an amount of time ample for the acquisition of important knowledge, and for the accomplishment of great good. Who of us does not each day, in many ways, sacrifice these precious moments, these golden hours?

Seek, then, always to be usefully occupied. Employ all the faculties, whether in study or in manual labor, and your days shall be filled with usefulness.

LESSON LII

THE STUDY OF CIVICS

Few people have the time to undertake a thorough study of civics, but everyone ought to find time to learn the principal features of the government under which he lives. We should know also of the way in which our government came into existence, and how this government is administered to-day. Such knowledge is necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of citizenship.

All kinds of political questions are discussed daily in the newspapers and voted on at times at the polls, and it is the duty of every man to try to understand them. For if these questions are not intelligently settled, they will be settled by the ignorant, and the result will be very bad.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. People sometimes think that, because our national government is called a republic, and we have free schools and free libraries and other such free institutions, our liberty is forever secure. Our government is indeed a wonderful structure of political skill, and generally runs so very smoothly that we almost think it will run of itself. Beware!

In order that the government of the nation, of the state, of the city or the town shall be properly administered, it is necessary that every citizen be watchful to secure the best officers for its government.

USEFUL INFORMATION

The great obelisk in Central Park, New York, is one of the most noted monoliths in the world. It was quarried, carved and erected about the time of Abraham, to commemorate the deeds of an ancient Pharaoh. Five hundred years later the conquering Sesostris, the bad Pharaoh of the Bible, carved on its surface the record of his famous reign.

Now Sesostris, or Rameses II, reigned one thousand years before the Trojan war, so that all the symbols now seen on the obelisk were already very old in the days of Priam, Hector and Ulysses. The Roman poet Horace says that there were many brave men before Agamemnon, but there was no Homer to put their valiant deeds in verse. Sesostris was an exception. He escaped oblivion without the aid of Homer, and the figures upon the hard granite of Cleopatra's Needle tell us even now, after more than thirty-five centuries, of the reign of that remarkable king.

LESSON LIII

THE SEA AND ITS USES

It is a common thing in speaking of the sea to call it "a waste of waters." But this is a mistake. Instead of being a waste and a desert, it keeps the earth itself from becoming a waste and a desert. It is the world's fountain of life and health and beauty, and if it were taken away, the grass would perish from the mountains, the forests would crumble on the hills. Water is as indispensable to all life, vegetable or animal, as the air itself. This element of water is supplied entirely by the sea. The sea is the great inexhaustible fountain which is continually pouring up into the sky precisely as many streams, and as large, as all the rivers of the world are pouring into the sea.

The sea is the real birthplace of the clouds and the rivers, and out of it come all the rains and dews of heaven. Instead of being a waste and an incumbrance, therefore, it is a vast fountain of fruitfulness, and the nurse and mother of all the living. Out of its mighty breast come the resources that feed and support the population of the world. We are surrounded by the presence and bounty of the sea.

It is the sea that feeds us. It is the sea that clothes us. It cools us with the summer cloud, and warms us with the blazing fires of winter. We make wealth for ourselves and for our children out of its rolling waters, though we may live a thousand leagues away from its shore. Thus the sea, though it bears no harvest on its bosom, yet sustains all the harvest of the world. If like a desert itself, it makes all the other wildernesses of the earth to bud and blossom as the rose. Though its own waters are as salt and wormwood, it makes the clouds of heaven drop with sweetness.

The sea is a perpetual source of health to the world. Without it there could be no drainage for the lands. It is the scavenger of the world. The sea is also set to purify the atmosphere. Thus the sea, instead of being a waste of waters, is the very fountain of life, health and beauty.

LESSON LIV

WONDERLAND

Many of you have read of the remarkable geysers of Iceland and the more remarkable ones in New Zealand, of grand cañons in Arizona, of deep mountain gorges in Colorado, of stupendous falls in Africa, of lofty mountains covered with snow in Europe, of elevated lakes in South America, of natural bridges in Virginia; but who has ever conceived of having all these wonders in one spot of the earth, and forever free as a great National Park, visited each summer by thousands of native and foreign travelers?

Travelers report that this corner of the earth seems to be not quite finished by the great Creator. Through all this region volcanic action has been exceedingly vigorous. The effect of fire upon the rocks is plainly visible and widely spread. Whole mountains of volcanic rock exist. Floods of lava everywhere abound. The last feeble evidence of this gigantic force is to be seen in the hot springs on Gardiner River and on many other streams, and in the strange action of the geyser basins.

There are sixteen important geysers in this section, and innumerable inferior ones. One geyser is called the "Giantess." It throws a great mass of water to a small height, surging and splashing in all directions. One of the most noted geysers is called the "Castle Geyser," because of its size and general appearance. The opening of the geyser tube is circular, and about three feet in diameter.

When this geyser is about to spout, a rumbling is heard as of thousands of tons of stones rolling round and round. Louder and louder grows the noise and disturbance, till it has thrown out a few tons of water and obtained apparent relief.

These are warnings to the observers to retreat to a safe distance. In a few moments the geyser increases in noise, the earth even trembles, and then a great column of water is hurled into the air.

Another geyser is "Old Faithful," so called because he plays regularly every sixty-five minutes. The crater is quite low, and contains an opening which is only the widening of a crack extending across the whole mound. On the summit are a number of beautiful little pools, several feet deep, filled with water so clear that a name written in pencil on a piece of stone and placed at the bottom of the deepest pool is seen as clearly as if held in the hand. Another remarkable fact is, that the water does not efface the name, even after months of submersion.

Old Faithful begins with a few feeble jets. Soon every spasm becomes more powerful, till with a mighty roar, up comes the water in a great column. This rises to the height of one hundred and thirty feet for the space of about five minutes. After the column of water sinks down there is a discharge of steam.

The "Beehive Geyser" is named after the shape of its cone. The water and steam issue from the opening in a steady stream, instead of in successive impulses, as in the two mentioned above. No water falls back from this geyser, but the whole mass appears to be driven up into fine spray or steam, which is carried away as cloud, or diffused into the atmosphere.

The names of some of the other well-known geysers are the "Giant," "Grotto," "Soda," "Turban," and "Young Faithful." The tremendous force with which some of these hot springs even now act, and the peculiarities of the earth's formation in this section of our country, may give us some faint idea of the phenomena through which our little world has passed until it became the dwelling-place of man.

LESSON LV

OUR COUNTRY TO-DAY

_PART I_

The United States is one of the youngest nations of the world. Civilized men first went to England nearly twenty centuries ago, but since Columbus discovered America only four centuries have passed. Each of these four centuries has a character of its own and is quite unlike the others. The first was the time of exploring, the second of colonizing, the third of deciding who should rule in America, and the fourth of growth and development.

During the first century explorers from France, England, and Spain visited the New World, each claiming for his own country the part that he explored. Each hoped to find gold, but only the Spaniards, who went to Mexico and Peru, were successful. There was little thought of making settlements, and at the end of the first century the Spanish colonies of St. Augustine and Santa Fe were the only ones on the mainland of what is now the territory of the United States.

During the second century much colonizing was done. The French settled chiefly along the Saint Lawrence River; the English settled along the Atlantic coast of North America; the Spanish in Mexico and South America; the Dutch by the Hudson River; the Swedes by the Delaware. The European nations discovered that it was worth while to have American colonies.

During the third century there was a long struggle to see which nation should rule in America. England and France were far ahead of the others, but which of them should it be? The French and Indian Wars gave the answer, "England." Then another question arose; should it be England or the Thirteen Colonies? The Revolutionary War answered, "The Colonies." At the end of the third century the United States had been established, and the land east of the Mississippi was under her rule.

In the last century there has been a great gain in people and in land. To-day there are thirty times as many people in this country as there were then.

USEFUL INFORMATION

It may not be generally known that we have in the nickel five-cent piece of our American coinage a key to the tables of linear measures and weights. The diameter of a nickel is exactly two centimeters, and its weight is five grammes. Five nickels in a row will give the length of the decimeter, and two of them will weigh a decagram. As the kiloliter is a cubic meter, the key of the measure of length is also that of capacity.

Among the North American Indians polished shells were used as currency. This money was called _wampum_ and was recognized by the colonists. Six white shells were exchanged for three purple beads, and these in turn were equivalent to one English penny.

LESSON LVI

OUR COUNTRY TO-DAY

_PART II_

How has it come about that the number of people in the United States has increased with such rapidity? It is partly because more have been born than have died, and partly because so many have come from foreign countries. Fifty years ago large villages were common in which there were hardly any foreigners. Now one-sixth of the whole number of inhabitants of the United States are people who were born in some other country.