and dropped the meat which he held in his
mouth, and it was at once carried away by the current." "Well," said the
teacher, "as you remember the story so well, you can perhaps tell me
what lesson we can learn from this fable." "I thought," replied the boy,
"when I read the story, that the best way is to hold on to what we are
sure of, and not grab after a shadder and lose the whole." "Your idea is
certainly a correct one," said the master, "and now we will turn to some
other branch of study; can you cipher?" "Don't know, I never tried,"
replied the boy, with the greatest coolness imaginable. "Well," replied
the teacher, "we will after a time see how you succeed, when you _do_
try. Can you tell me what the study of Geography teaches us!" "O," said
the boy, "geography tells all about the world, the folks who live in it,
and 'most every thing else." The master then asked him some questions
regarding the divisions of land and water, and for a short time he
answered with some degree of correctness. At length, while referring to
the divisions of water, the master said "can you tell me what is a
strait?" This question seemed a "puzzler" to him, and for some moments
he looked down as if studying the matter; when the question was repeated
in rather a sharp tone, it seemed he thought it wiser to give an answer
of some kind than none at all, and he replied: "When a river runs in a
straight course, we call it straight, and when it twists and winds
about, we call it crooked." "A river is not a strait," replied the
teacher with the manner of one who prayed for patience. "Well! at any
rate," said the boy, "straight is straight, and crooked is crooked, and
that is all I know about it." It was evident from the teacher's manner
that he was half inclined to think the boy was endeavoring to impose
upon him by feigning ignorance; and he dismissed him to his seat for the
time being, thinking, no doubt, that he had met with a case out of the
common order of school experience. It seems that the boy had never
before attended school with punctuality, and it required a long time to
teach him to observe anything like system either in his conduct or
studies. Our teacher though very firm, was mild and judicious in his
government; and, thinking that possibly Ned's disposition had been
injured by former harshness at school, resolved to avoid inflicting
corporal punishment as long as possible; and try upon him the effect of
kindness and mild persuasion.