MR. INGRAHAM, the teacher of the school, had written a book upon arithmetic. It was thought a great deal of by the other teachers. Almost all of them used it for their upper classes, and the improvement made by those who used it was greater than that made in any other book. Indeed, so much notice was taken of it that he seriously thought of having a very large edition published. He used to say, that if another edition should be published, it would bring him in great profits. I mean, that the booksellers would pay him so much for it, that he would receive a great deal of money. Charles had gone through this book once or twice. He could say all the rules, from beginning to end, and could work out all the sums through the whole. Some thought that he knew more than any boy of his age; and I have no doubt he did know more of arithmetic. He had never studied anything else much. When he was quite small, he went through Colburn's First Lessons, with his mother and sister. They heard him recite it every morning, and at noon they set him his next lesson, and in the afternoon showed him how to get it. If he did not understand how to do a sum, they would first show him what it meant. Then they would ask him to think a long while how he would do it, and if he could not tell, one of them would sit down and show him. They took a great deal of pains to make him understand how to get the right answer. They thought it more important for him to see how to do the work than for him to get a great deal done. When he was nine years old, Mr. Ingraham was so much pleased with his progress in arithmetic, that he consented to have him come to his school. He was younger than any boy Mr. Ingraham ever had. The large boys were all fond of troubling him when he first came in. They would put out their feet, so that he would fall over as he went by them. They would take away his books and hat, and put them where he could not find them. They would do all they could, to make him feel bad. When he cried they would all laugh and say, "Run home and tell mother, Charles." But he learned his lessons, if they did laugh at him, and when examination day came, his turn came to STORY OF THE GOOD SCHOLAR. 157 laugh. Then the great boys were asked to do sums, out on the floor, before the minister, the doctor, and three or four other committee men; for although Mr. Ingraham's school was a private one, he used to ask the committee to visit his school just as they did the town schools. But none of the boys could do all the sums. They would hang down their heads and say, "I don't know." They would look at one another, and try to laugh. They tried to appear as if they cared nothing about it. But every one could see that they were ashamed, for they blushed dreadfully. When Charles came out, after all the others had recited, he smiled because he was so happy. He had heard all the questions which they could not answer, and answered them to himself. He knew he could say any question they could ask him, which was not harder than those questions. Mr. Ingraham looked almost as happy as Charles did. He had been ashamed to have them blunder so. People like to have the best things come last. Pies and fruit taste better after we have been eating a dinner of something else. So he wished to have the best recitation at the close of the after noon. The first question was, "How many are 6 and 3 and 5?" He answered "Fourteen," almost as soon as the question was put out. How many are 6 times 9 ?" Fifty-four, Sir.” “How many 66 10 are there in 109 ?" "Ten and nine over, Sir." They asked him the tables, such as the table in wine-measure, and the table in long-measure, and he said them without making any mistake. By this time the great boys began to see how much more he knew than they did, and when he had answered all the questions in Mr. Ingraham's book, and recited it better than any scholar in school ever did, they made up their minds that he was such a good scholar, they never would laugh at him any more. Charles became a man, and studied law, and was a lawyer. When he spoke before the court, they came from all the towns around to hear him. When he tried to keep a man from going to prison, by pleading his cause before the jury, the man always got clear. People who were in trouble, and had to go to law, always tried to get him to take care of their business. This was because he knew how to reason, or give good reasons for things. Fools cannot reason at all. Cattle cannot reason. Reason is the gift of a good God to mankind, to enable them to act justly, live uprightly, and listen to the dictates of His holy word. You will see that squirrels in the next tale could not reason, for you will not believe the fable about the squirrels. It is knowing how to give good reasons, which makes men different from cattle. You can give reasons for all which you do. You go to bed at night to rest. You eat to keep from being hungry. You say that grass will not grow in winter because it is so cold. These are good reasons. But do you always have good reasons for what you do? If you do, you are very wise children. I hope the story about Charles will teach you to reason as he did, and if you do, you may become as useful as he was. Remembering, reflecting, and reasoning are three ways, then, in which the mind thinks. THE SQUIRREL AND TRAP. A FABLE. and was As uncle THE great elm-tree had blown down, lying behind the barn just where it fell. Varney had moved to the west, and left his house to be sold, and as nobody wished to buy it, it was empty. Strange times they were for the rats, mice, and squirrels. Not a cat could get into the house, or barn. And Nero, uncie's dog, had gone with his master, so that there was no barking from onc week to another. An old red squirrel which had lived six years, and was thought to be the wisest squirrel in that whole farm, sometimes used to say that such times could not last long. He had been in the woods when the men were getting out timber, and had learned many wise sayings, which he used to repeat. Among others, he often told this-" War follows peace, and storms follow a clear sky." So, said he, "this quiet time will be followed by some trouble or other, and we had |