among the hardened criminals of Newgate, by simply reading
to them the parable of the Prodigal Son? Princes and peers of the realm,
it is said, counted it a privilege to stand in those dismal corridors,
among felons and murderers, merely to share with them the privilege of
witnessing the marvellous pathos which genius, taste, and culture could
infuse into that simple story.

What a fascination there is in really good reading! What a power it
gives one! In the hospital, in the chamber of the invalid, in the
nursery, in the domestic and the social circle, among chosen friends and
companions, how it enables you to minister to the amusement, the
comfort, the pleasure of dear ones, as no other art or accomplishment
can. No instrument of man's devising can reach the heart, as does that
most wonderful instrument, the human voice. It is God's special gift and
endowment to his chosen creatures. Fold it not away in a napkin. If you
would double the value of all your other acquisitions; if you would add
immeasurably to your own enjoyment, and to your power of promoting the
enjoyment of others, cultivate with incessant care this Divine gift. No
music below the skies is equal to that of pure, silvery speech from the
lips of a man or woman of high culture.

* * * * *

4. _To a Pupil on Entering a Normal School._

You have entered upon a new and untried path. As one having been often
over this way, and well acquainted with the features of the country
before you, its lights and shadows, its roses and its thorns, its safe
walks and its hidden pitfalls, I desire to talk with you a while before
you enter upon the untried scene.

1. First of all let me say to you, we give you a most hearty welcome. We
are glad to see you here, and we tender to you in advance a warm and
ready sympathy in the many little worries, annoyances, and
discouragements that surely await you. For myself I may truly say, that,
outside of my own home, I have no greater happiness than to be among my
pupils, and few things could pain me more than to believe that any one
who had been for any considerable time my pupil would not almost
unconsciously claim me as a friend; and it is an unceasing well-spring
of joy for me to know that among your companions are many who, in time
of trouble or difficulty or anxiety of any kind, would come to the
Principal of the School, as sure of sympathy as if going to their own
mother.

This freedom of i