ain portion of ingenuity
in the work he turns out. He incorporates his mind with the labour
of his hands; and a competent observer will find character and
individuality in it.

He has therefore nothing of the sheepishness of the ordinary schoolboy,
the tasks imposed upon whom by his instructor are foreign to the true
bent of his mind, and who stands cowed before his seniors, shrinking
under the judgment they may pass upon him, and the oppression they may
exercise towards him. He is probably competent to talk in a manner that
may afford instruction to men in other respects wise and accomplished,
and is no less clear and well-digested in his discourse respecting the
subjects to which his study and labour have been applied, than they are
on the questions that have exercised the powers of analysis with which
they are endowed. Like Elihu in the Book of Job, he says, "I am young,
and you are old; I said therefore, Days shall speak, and multitude
of years shall teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man; and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. Great men are not
always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment. Hearken therefore
to me; and I also will shew my opinion."

What however in the last instance is affirmed, is not always realised
in the experiment. The humblest mechanic, who works con amore, and feels
that he discharges his office creditably, has a sober satisfaction in
the retrospect, and is able to express himself perspicuously and well on
the subject that has occupied his industry. He has a just confidence in
himself. If the occasion arises, on which he should speak on the subject
of what he does, and the methods he adopts for effecting it, he will
undoubtedly acquit himself to the satisfaction of those who hear him. He
knows that the explanations he can afford will be sound and masculine,
and will stand the test of a rigid examination.

But, in proportion as he feels the ground on which he stands, and his
own power to make it good, he will not fail to retire from an audience
that is not willing to be informed by him. He will often appear in the
presence of those, whom the established arrangements of society call
his superiors, who are more copiously endowed with the treasures of
language, and who, confident perhaps in the advantage of opulence, and
what is called, however they may have received it, a liberal education,
regard with disdain his artless and unornamented explanations. He did