ch their imprudence, but we should
_steadily make them abide by their choice_; and when the time arrives
at which the greater pleasure might have been enjoyed, we should
remark the circumstance, but not with a tone of reproach, for it is
their affair, not ours. "You preferred having a sheet of paper the
moment you wanted it last week, to the having a quire of paper this
week." "Oh, but," says the child, "I wanted a sheet of paper very much
then, but I did not consider how soon this week would come--I wish I
had chosen the quire." "Then remember what you feel now, and you will
be able to choose better upon another occasion." We should always
refer to the pupils' own feelings, and look forward to their future
advantage. The reason why so few young people attend to advice, is,
that their preceptors do not bring it actually home to their feelings:
it is useless to reproach for past imprudence; the child sees the
errour as plainly as we do; all that can be done, is to make it a
lesson for the future.

To a geometrician, the words _by proposition 1st._ stand for a whole
demonstration: if he recollects that he has once gone over the
demonstration, he is satisfied of its truth; and, without verifying it
again, he makes use of it in making out the demonstration of a new
proposition. In moral reasoning, we proceed in the same manner; we
recollect the result of our past experiments, and we refer to this
moral demonstration in solving a new problem. In time, by frequent
practice, this operation is performed so rapidly by the mind, that we
scarcely perceive it, and yet it guides our actions. A man, in walking
across the room, keeps out of the way of the tables and chairs,
without perceiving that he reasons about the matter; a sober man
avoids hard drinking, because he knows it to be hurtful to his health;
but he does not, every time he refuses to drink, go over the whole
train of reasoning which first decided his determination. A modern
philosopher,[98] calls this rapid species of reasoning "intuitive
analogy;" applied to the business of life, the French call it tact.
Sensible people have this tact in higher perfection than others; and
prudent people govern themselves by it more regularly than others. By
the methods which we have recommended, we hope it may be successfully
cultivated in early education.

Rousseau, in expressing his contempt for those who make _habit_ their
only guide of action, goes, as he is apt to do in the heat