'As you grow older, you become more serious. Consider what
your duties are.
'You have duties towards yourselves, that is, towards your
bodies and towards your souls.
'Sound health must be taken care of; weak health must be
strengthened by a good hygiene.
'Hygiene demands cleanliness; wash your whole body carefully
and frequently.
'Keep nothing dirty upon you, nor in your house, nor near
your house.
'Hygiene demands good air: air your bed, your chamber, and
all places in which you live and work.
'Hygiene forbids all excess, and the use of injurious
things, as alcohol and tobacco. It prescribes temperance and
sobriety.
'Hygiene requires you to avoid a sudden change from heat to
cold. When you are in a perspiration, do not lie down upon
the ground, do not expose yourself to draughts, and do not
drink cold water.
'Hygiene requires gymnastic exercises, which make the body
supple, healthy, and strong.
'_Attention to health gives a chance of long life._
'In order to fulfil your duties towards your soul, you must
continue to cultivate your intelligence and to educate
yourself.
'Do not forget that you can educate yourself at any age.
'You must fight against sensuality, which would make you
gluttons, drunkards, and debauchees; against idleness, which
would make you useless to others and a burden to them;
against selfishness and vanity, which would make others
detest you; envy, which would render you unhappy and
hateful; anger and hatred, which might lead you to all kinds
of evil deeds.'
These lessons are enforced by an extract from the French Law, which
informs scholar that the persons found in a condition of manifest
intoxication in the street or a public-house are punished by a fine of
from 1 to 15 francs; that for a second offence the punishment is
imprisonment for three days; and that for a third breach of the law the
offender may be sentenced to imprisonment for from six days to a month,
and to a fine of from 16 to 300 francs. In addition to this, the
offenders will be declared incapable of exercising their political
rights for two years.
This is a very practical teaching; but the duties which little boys owe
to their bodies and souls are rendered more attractive, than either the
dicta concerning hygiene or the threatened results of evil ways are
likely to make them, by the history of a certain Dr. John Burnett, a
physician, who made an immense fortune in New York. This is found as a
_feuilleton_ at the foot of the page, under the title 'Un Bon
Charlatan.'
The pith of the teaching under the head of Morals, is contained in the
following summary:--
'1. I will fulfil my duties towards myself. My duties
towards my body are, cleanliness, sobriety, temperance,
precaution against the inclemency of the seasons, exercise.
'2. I will fulfil my duties towards my soul by continuing to
educate myself, and by combating all bad passions.
'3. I will not do to another that which I would not that he
should do to me.
'4. I will not do him wrong, either by striking him, or
robbing him, or deceiving him, or lying to him, or by
breaking my promise, or by speaking evil of him, or by
calumniating him.
'5. I will do to another that which I should wish him to do
to me.
'6. I will love him, I will be grateful, exact, discreet,
charitable.'
Very good resolutions these, but one cannot avoid the thought that the
little scholar might estimate 3 and 5 not the less, perhaps the more, if
informed of the life and character of Him who first spoke these apparent
simple rules in such a manner as to impress them upon the heart of the
world. Would not all the resolutions gain strength from the belief that
duty towards God is the true spring of duty towards our neighbours and
ourselves, and that the grace of God is necessary to make the best
resolutions practically operative in the life?
We will now give our readers a specimen of the tales by which the
lessons of the manual are illustrated and enforced. It shall be taken
from the section entitled _Society_, the second subsection of which is
as follows:--
'FREEDOM OF LABOUR.
'In France; labour is free; every one employs, as he
pleases, his intelligence and his arms.
'You may choose any profession you please; but everybody
else has the same right as yourself.
'Competition is therefore permitted; never complain of
competition.
'If you hinder your neighbour from working as he pleases,
you may yourself be hindered in like manner.
'Competition excites the workman to do his best and at the
cheapest rate.
'Thus competition is advantageous to all. _Never ask Society
to interfere with the freedom of labour, but work hard
yourself._'
These wholesome lessons on competition are illustrated by the following
tale:--