Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

which they beguiled Godfrey, and were both expelled. During the investigation the circumstances which had occurred before came to light, and Godfrey was cleared of all blame, except such as he deserved for his weakness and disobedience. Barrow spoke sorrowfully of the future fate of the two boys, and said that Dr. Wilson had not smiled for several days, so grieved was he at the discoveries which he had made.

By the expulsion of Trevellyan, Godfrey was now eighth boy in the sixth, and this was a great thing for him, for all his hopes now of going to College, depended on his obtaining an exhibition from the school; his father's losses and decease having deprived him of all prospect of obtaining a sufficient sum by any other means. His hopes of an exhibition were uncertain, but equal perhaps to those of the average of successful boys; and on this uncertainty hung all the plans of Godfrey's life.

A second letter from Barrow gave an abstract of a sermon which Dr. Wilson had preached, upon the regulation of the mind.

It was based upon the obligation of loving GOD with the mind, as well as heart, and soul, and strength; and proceeding from this indisputable principle, showed how the nature and method of study, of leisure, of reading, and of thought, grave

or light, must all be ordered to the glory of GOD, by those who would share the glory which is to be revealed.

Every thing which strengthens the mind, he argued, and thus makes it that which GOD intended it to be-the means of enlightening the soul of the possessor and of others, is not only a privilege but a duty. Independently, then, of all obligations to parents and teachers, it is a boy's own duty to his GOD, to improve his mind to the utmost. Every hour is a subject of account, every lesson a matter of responsibility. And not only is it necessary to use every means of strengthening the mind, but to avoid whatever will impair or lower it; to shun all desultory inattentive musings which fritter away its power, and make it unwilling and unable to follow close reasoning, and to study hard subjects; to pursue sports only in moderation, only in such degree as is consistent with the supremacy of the mind over the body, as leaves the interest in work stronger than that in recreations; to avoid novel reading as a habit, not only as being wasteful of time, but because such books give an untrue picture of life, make serious reading dull and insipid, and divert those affections to imaginary events and persons which should rest on truly noble acts and men in

real history and more than all to avoid all books of degraded wit, apings of low life, and pictures of coarseness and of crime, which if they be faithful and able portraits, only affect the reader more deeply, dwell longer upon his mind, and so more effectually lower, pervert, and mar his taste.

"I have dwelt long upon these points," said the Doctor, "and yet I have one behind of more importance, omitting as I shall the absolute need of purity of heart, and so 'stirring up your pure minds by way of remembrance,' in other matters. My last counsel is this, cultivate a fair mind. Whatever you do, seek truth first, and for its own sake. If you do not wish to be blind, never close your eyes to truth, for every act of looking away from truth is a growing blind to it. When arguing, care not for victory, but for truth. When reading history, seek not that degree of information which will supply your lesson for the time, but the truth of that before you. Never equivocate nor mislead by act any more than by word. Be glad that others should obtain a truth, even though you have missed it. So shall you see where

others are dark, and shall know and be known by the GOD of truth. But otherwise you may be led from schism into heresy, from heresy into infidelity, from one falsehood into another, until

R

you are altogether in the hands of the father of lies; morally and judicially blind to every thing pure and good, and when the Sun of righteousness arises upon the new creation, you may with perverted gaze behold a cruel judge, and not a gracious SAVIOUR; a meteor of vengeance, and not a Sun of life and gladness.'

[ocr errors]

183

CHAPTER XV.

Return to School.

The sports and conflicts of the schoolboy world,
Its microscopic cares, and joys, and griefs,
The daily intercourse of boy with boy,
Appear the true realities; all else,

Which, when 'twas present, seemed important, now
Looks dim and dwindled, even the daily task,

The weekly verses, the whole grave routine

Of studies, with their prizes and rewards,
Seem insignificant, minutest spots

In memory's landscape, which the limner's touch
Passes unnoticed.

Dream of Life.-MOULTRIE.

THREE weeks after Christmas, the two friends met again at Athelling. Every thing went on as usual, with the exception of a change in the religious observances of the school. Dr. Wilson had begun to celebrate the Saints' Days of the Church, and had made them a very effectual means of instruction, as well as of piety. The method which he adopted, was to catechise the senior

« AnteriorContinuar »