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INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL ADVOCATE. and digestion, palpitation of the heart, and more or less taste for strong drink. In twelve there were frequently bleed ings of the nose, ten had disturbed sleep, and twelve had slight ulceration of the mucous membrane of the month, which disappeared on ceasing the use of tobacco for some days. The doctor treated them all for weakness, but with little effect un til the smoking was discontinued, when health and strength were soon restored. B e s i d e th e B a r s . M A R G A R E T E. SANOESTEE. Grandmother’s knitting lias lost its cliarm ; Unheeded it lies in her ample lap, While the sunset’s crimson, soft and warm, Touches the frills of her snowy cap. She is gazing on two beside the bars. Under the maple,—who little care For the growing dusk, or the rising stars, Or the hint of frost in the autumn air. One is a slender slip of a girl, And one a man in the prime of youth ; ' The maiden pure as the purest pearl, The lover strong in his steadfast truth, “ Sweet, my own, as a rose of June,” He says, full low, o'er the golden head. It would sound to her like a dear old tunc, Could grandmother hear the soft words said. For it seems but a little while ago Since under the maple, beside the bars, She stood a girl, while the sunset’s glow Melted away ’mid the evening stars. And one, her lover, so bright and brave, Spake words as tender, in tones as low ; They come to her now from beyond the grave, The words of her darling, so long ago. “ My own one, sweet as a rose of June! ” Her eyes are dim, and her hair is white, But her heart keeps time to the lovc-tune As she watches her daughter’s child to-night. A world between them, perhaps yon say. Yes. One has read the story through ; One has her beautiful yesterday, And one to-morrow fair to view. But little you dream how fond a prayer Goes up to God, through His silver stars, From the aged woman gazing there, For the two who linger beside the bars. A b o u t D u n c e s . Fisher Ames entered Harvard at the age ot twelve, and Edward E verettat thirteen ; Bishop Ileber translated ‘Phoedrus’ into English at seven ; Adda Seward repeated from memory the first three books of ‘Paradise L o st’ at n in e; and Lord Brou gham wrote 011 philosophy at eighteen. But all eminent men nave not been remarkable for early attaidments. Some of the grandest spirits that the world has ever known—men whose works and mem ory are enduring—were regarded in youth as dunces. They flowered late, but bore the rarest fruit. It is somewhat discouraging for a boy of moderate abilities, who aims to do his best, to be told that others accomplished in childhood what he can do only by hard study in the best years of his youth. But such a boy should not relax his efforts. He will succeed it he gives his heart and mind to the work. That distinguished teacher, Dr. Arnold of Rugby, after speaking of those who zealously cultivate inferior powers of mind, said of such a p u p il: ‘I would stand to that man hat in hand.’ He once spoke sharply to a dull boy, who replied, ‘ Why do yon speak angrily, sir ? Indeed, I am doing the best I can.’ Dr. Arnold said he never so felt a re buke in his life. Sir Isaac Newton was pronounced a dunce in his early school days. He stood low in his classes, and seemed to have no relish for study. One day the ‘bright boy’ of the school gave him a kick in the stom ach, which caused him severe pain. The insult stung young Newton to the quick, and he resolved to make himself felt and respected by improved scholarship. He applied himself resolutely to study, and ere long stood in his classes above the boy who kicked him, and ultimately became, the first scholar in the school. Newton owed his preeminence in his philosophical studies more to perseverance and application than to any marvellous natural endowments. Oliver Goldsmith, than whom no boy could appear more stupid, was the butt of ridicule. A school dame, after wonderful patience and perseverance, taught him the alphabet—a thing which she deemed credi table to her school, and which she lived to mention with pride when her pupil became famous. He made no progress in the exact studies, but liked History and Latin poetry. He was a sore trial to his ambitious mother, who made many fruitless efforts to quicken his wits by her snarp words. His relatives, teachers, and school-mates all told him he was a fool, which verdict he did not dispute, but took good-Juunor- gdly. Even when he had produced the ‘ Traveller,’ an eminent critic said to a friend ‘Sir, I do believe that Goldsmith wrote that poem ; and that, let me tell you, is believing a great deal. Sir Walter Scott was a dull boy, and when attending the University at E din burgh he went by the name of ‘The Great Blockhead.’ But he wasted no time on trifles, and in pursuing a study that he loved—as, tor example, history or the classics—he was persevering and method ical. He was one of those whose knowl edge on a subject that interested him, in creased until it lay like a great volume on j his mind. When Walter Scott began to make use of that knowledge, society gave him another name, somewhat different from the Edinburg appellation. It was ‘The Great Magician.’ Hutton, the antiquarian, whose knowl edge of books was deemed remarkable, was slow to learn when a boy. He was sent to school to a certain Mr. Meat. He thus tells his experience : 1 My m aster took occas- sion to beat my head against the wall, holding it by the hair, but he could never beat any learning into it.’ Sheridan found it hard to acquire the elements of learning. His mother deemed it her duty to inform his teacher that lie was not bright to learn like other boys. Adam Clarke was pronounced by his father to be a ‘ grievous dunce,’ and Dr. Chalmers was pronounced by his teacher as an ‘incorrigible’ one. Chaiterton was dismissed from school by his master, who finding himself unable to teach him any thing in a satisfactory manner, settled it that the boy was a ‘ fool.’ Teachers are apt to become impatient over dull scholars, and predict of them that they will never come to anything. Such uncalled for prophecies ought to discourage no scholar who tries to do well. A certain Edinburg professor once pro nounced upon a student this severe opin ion : ‘Duuce you are, and dunce yon will ever remain.’ That student was Sir Wal ter Scott. If a dull boy feels an inspiration stirring within to know something worthy in liter ature, science, or art, let him set his face as a flint towards his objedt; let him be patient, hopeful and self-reliant, unmoved by laughter, nudiscouraged by evil prophe cies.— Moravian. T e n n e s s e e 's P i c t u r e d R o c k . Not 100 miles below Nashville is a curi ous spectacle, known as the “ Sun and Moon.” It consists of a painting upon an immense rock which rises to an attitude of several hundred feet. As to who paint ed it is a mystery which I believe was never unraveled. Many think it was the work of the red brother, -centuries ago, perhaps. But there the sun and the moon shine out in all the freshness of new paint. They are located midway on the cliff, and stand out in bold relief. As to bow any human being ever reached the spot is a question which, I believe, has never been solved. It is supposed that in those days they had no giant ladders, and could not easily have reached the point from below. The only natural rope of that time was a wild grape-vine, of which Tennesse is so prolific, and some Indian might have been by this means let down over the dizzy bluff and when he had finished his work been again let down and pulled up. At j any rate, these pictures are there on the | everlasting rock, ami are likely to remain for future ages .— Cincinnati Commercial. A n In c i d e n t It is hard, we know, to obey the com mand to “ overcome evil with good.” But what has been done cau be done, and the story of a woman’s goodness overcoming a bad boy, who had severely wounded her, will illustrate it. She was an English woman, a member of a sisterhood, devoted to nursing the sick. The district in which “Sister Dora,” as she was called, sought to do good re sponded to her efforts by petty annoyances and rough persecutions. The rude, 'ckless men exhibited their irreligious Protestantism by hatred of the Roman Catholics, \’’m false report that the sisterhood belongs- the Church of Rome—they were members of the Church i of England—roused their ire. Late one evening, as Sister Dora was walking through the town, a boy called I out, “ There goes one of those Sisters of Misery!” and threw a stone which cut open her forehead. In the course of a few . days, this boy was brought into the hospital. He had been severely injured in a coal pit. “That’s my man !” exclaimed Sister Dora, recogniz ing him. She was appointed his nurse, and bestowed upon him more than usual attention. One night, she found him crying.
