o far that he now bites
hares to death, but does not eat them. Animals that feed on plants live
in the open air, but beasts of prey, in caves."

For a short time the boy sat silent, then he suddenly said,--

"How strange!"

"What is it?"

"You will laugh at me, but I have been thinking,"--as he spoke a bright
smile broke over the boy's face, showing the dimples in his cheeks and
chin,--"the wild animals have no regular hours for their meals, they
eat all day long; dogs have only been trained by us men to take their
food at certain times."

"Certainly," replied Eric; "the regulation of our lives by fixed hours
only begins with education."

And without tedious or unnecessary diffuseness, Eric succeeded in
bringing before his pupil what a great thing it is to measure time, and
to set our daily life to the rhythm of the universe, of the whole
starry world.

Improbable as it may seem, it was really the fact, that from the time
of this conversation, which began with so small and insignificant a
matter, but took so wide a range, the hours of study of the pair were
strictly fixed: Roland wished to have no more unoccupied time. This was
a great step in his life; what had before seemed like tyranny was now a
self-imposed law.

A few weeks later, Roland himself gave up his favorite companions for
Eric's sake. On their walks through fields and over mountains, and
their visits to the castle, the dogs had been taken as a matter of
course. Eric was ready to reply to every question of his pupil, but a
disturbing companion was always with them so long as Roland never went
out without one of his dogs, and there could be no connected thought
while the eye rested on the animal, however involuntarily. The dog
constantly looked up at his master and wanted his presence
acknowledged, and wandering thoughts followed him as he ran. It was
difficult for Eric to bring Roland to leave them at home; he did not
directly order him to do it, but he several times replied to his
questions, by saying that he could not answer when their attention was
given to calling the dogs and watching their gambols. When this had
been repeated several times, Roland left the dogs at home, and saw that
Eric meant to reward him for his sacrifice by his ready answers to all
his questions. Eric led Roland into departments of knowledge, but took
care not to impart too much at once; on many points he put him off till
a later period, drawing him constantly to follow