Beecher said that once, at school, when he was demonstrating
a problem in geometry, the master said, “No,” in a tone of
absolute conviction, and he sat down in great confusion and
dismay. The next boy was stopt with the same emphatic “No”; but
the boy went right on, and completed the demonstration. Beecher
said to the master, “I recited just as he did, and you said
‘No.’” The master replied, “Why didn’t you say ‘Yes,’ and stick
to it? It is not enough to know your lesson, you must know that
you know it.” You have learned nothing until you are sure. If
all the world says “No,” your business is to say “Yes,” and
persist in it.--JAMES T. WHITE, “Character Lessons.”
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* * * * *
Imitate the Flathead Indians, and fling the child into the
stream and make him swim. If Flathead Indians do this,
straight-browed white men should know enough to imitate them.
Bring your children up to believe that God cares for them, but
that they must be self-reliant, and care for themselves. The
fishes’ fin fits the water, the birds’ wing the air, the eye
fits the sunbeam, the ear matches music, the intellect fits the
truth and man’s equipment for self-support fits the harvests,
the fields and the forests.--N. D. HILLIS.
(2883)
See EDUCATION; INITIATIVE.