umstances. There was a picture of a public-house in his book against
the word INN, with the old-fashioned sign-post in front, on which a sign
was swinging. Near his father's, also, stood a public-house, which
everybody called a _tavern_, with a tall post and sign in front of it,
exactly like that in his book; and Nat said within himself, 'If Mr.
Morse's house [the landlord[G]] is a tavern, then this is a tavern in my
book.' He cared little how it was spelled; if it did not spell tavern,
'_it ought to_,' he thought. Children believe what they _see_, more than
what they hear. What they lack in reason and judgment they make up in
eyes. So Nat had seen the _tavern_ near his father's house again and
again, and he had stopped to look at the sign in front of it a great
many times, and his eyes told him it was just like that in the book;
therefore it was his deliberate opinion that i-double n spelt tavern,
and he was not to be beaten out of an opinion that was based on such
clear evidence. It was a good sign in Nat. It was true of the three men
to whom we have just referred,--Bowditch, Davy, and Buxton. From their
childhood they thought for themselves, so that, when they became men,
they defended their opinions against imposing opposition. True, a youth
must not be too forward in advancing his ideas, especially if they do
not harmonize with those of older persons. Self-esteem and
self-confidence should be guarded against. Still, in avoiding these
evils, he is not obliged to believe anything just because he is told so.
It is better for him to understand the reason of things, and believe
them on that account."

Would our Parks, our Palfreys, our Prescotts, our Emersons, have
expounded this matter so clearly? Most assuredly not. They would have
left us in the Cimmerian darkness of dreary conjecture regarding the
causes of Nat's strange opinion, and the lessons to be drawn from it. Or
if they had condescended to explanation, it would have been comprised in
a curt phrase or two. No boundary-line between a virtue and its vice
would have been drawn so that a wayfaring man, though a fool, should not
err in following it. This author has struck the golden mean. There is
just enough, and not too much.

Again,--

"'I should rather be in prison, than to sit up nights studying as you
do.'

"'I really enjoy it, David.'

"'I can hardly credit it.'

"'Then you think I do not speak the truth?'

"'Oh, no!... I only meant to say that I ca