One teacher after another had tried his skill
upon him and failed. Corporal punishment, the fool's cap, coaxing,
and earnest entreaty, proved alike fruitless. Sometimes the
experiment was tried of putting him at the top of his class, and it
was curious to note the rapidity with which he gravitated to the
inevitable bottom. The youth was given up by his teachers as an
incorrigible dunce--one of them pronouncing him to be a "stupendous
booby." Yet, slow though he was, this dunce had a sort of dull
energy of purpose in him, which grew with his muscles and his
manhood; and, strange to say, when he at length came to take part
in the practical business of life, he was found heading most of his
school companions, and eventually left the greater number of them
far behind. The last time the author heard of him, he was chief
magistrate of his native town.
The tortoise in the right road will beat a racer in the wrong. It
matters not though a youth be slow, if he be but diligent.
Quickness of parts may even prove a defect, inasmuch as the boy who
learns readily will often forget as readily; and also because he
finds no need of cultivating that quality of application and
perseverance which the slower youth is compelled to exercise, and
which proves so valuable an element in the formation of every
character.
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