to help him with his case,
the next day, in court; but almost every fact which the teacher thus
learns will come _at once into use_ in some of his recitations at
school. We do not mean to imply by this that the members of the legal
profession have not need of a great variety and extent of knowledge;
they doubtless have. It is simply in the _directness_ and _certainty_
with which the teacher's knowledge may be applied to his purpose that
the business of teaching has the advantage over every other pursuit.

This fact, now, has a very important influence in encouraging and
leading forward the teacher to make constant intellectual progress, for
every step brings at once a direct reward.

10. THE CHESTNUT BURR.--_A story for school-boys._--One fine Saturday
afternoon, in the fall of the year, the master was taking a walk in the
woods, and he came to a place where a number of boys were gathering
chestnuts.

One of the boys was sitting upon a bank trying to open some chestnut
burrs which he had knocked off from the tree. The burrs were green, and
he was attempting to open them by pounding them with a stone.

[Illustration]

He was a very impatient boy, and was scolding in a loud, angry, tone
against the burrs. He did not see, he said, what in the world chestnuts
were made to grow so for. They ought to grow right out in the open air,
like apples, and not have such vile porcupine skins on them, just to
plague the boys. So saying, he struck with all his might a fine large
burr, crushed it to pieces, and then jumped up, using at the same time
profane and wicked words. As soon as he turned round he saw the master
standing very near him. He felt very much ashamed and afraid, and hung
down his head.

"Roger," said the master (for this boy's name was Roger), "can you get
me a chestnut burr?"

Roger looked up for a moment to see whether the master was in earnest,
and then began to look around for a burr.

A boy who was standing near the tree, with a red cap full of burrs in
his hand, held out one of them. Roger took the burr and handed it to the
master, who quietly put it into his pocket, and walked away without
saying a word.

As soon as he was gone, the boy with the red cap said to Roger, "I
expected that the master would have given you a good scolding for
talking so."

"The master never scolds," said another boy, who was sitting on a log
pretty near, with a green satchel in his hand, "but you see if he does
not rememb