I learned grammar when I was a private soldier on the pay of
sixpence a day. The edge of my berth, or that of my guard-bed, was my
seat to study in; my knapsack was my bookcase, and a bit of board lying
in my lap was my writing-table. I had no money to purchase candle or
oil; in winter, it was rarely that I could get any light but that of the
fire, and only my turn even of that. To buy a pen or piece of paper, I
was compelled to forego some portion of food, though in a state of
half-starvation. I had not a moment of time that I could call my own;
and I had to read and write amid the talking, laughing, singing,
whistling, and bawling of at least half a score of the most thoughtless
of men--and that, too, in the hours of their freedom from all control.
And I say, if I, under these circumstances, could encounter and overcome
the task, is there--can there be, in the whole world, a youth who can
find an excuse for the non-performance?--_William Cobbett_.