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VISIT TO A VILLAGE.

know, I dare not perhaps for very shame! It was delightful in the estimation of these youngsters to have such butter laid on 66 pretty thick," and not scraped on as their own was done by Mary at home.

did relish it!

They

After refreshment we went, with the landlady's permission, into the garden and orchard, and my lads had leave to take possession of all the fallen fruit they could find, in the orchard, and you may be sure that, for once at all events, they were industrious in searching among the beds of nettles at the foot of the trees. They soon crammed their pockets "top full :" so full that, when taking our leave of our kind hostess she offered them a few choice apples, they had not room where to bestow them, and their father's pockets were put in requisition.

We returned at a quicker pace than we went. The sun, which had just sunk out of sight, was gilding with his departing rays the few long streaks of clouds that floated over the horizon. But their brilliance soon faded too, and the shadows of evening gathered thick around us ere we reached home; when pockets unloaded, and hearts relieved by telling mother of all they had seen, the little fellows retired to seek rest in sleep for their wearied bodies, and dream of wheatfields, and orchards, and plums, and apples, and bread and butter thick spread!

And I was left in _musing mood to think of days gone by, when thus I took on a village excursion three other boys-one of whom is now entering on manhood, and the other two are not; together their bodies rest, with that of a younger brother, in one grave! So fleeting are all earth's scenes, and all earth's enjoyments. Verily, all on earth is vanity. Happy they who find their last long home in heaven.

GOOD WRITING.

Directions for holding the Pen.-The Pen ought to point exactly to the shoulder, and to be held under the forefinger, with the end of the thumb placed directly opposite the first joint of the fore-finger, and the end of the middlefinger should slightly touch the right side of the pen. The ends of the third and fourth fingers should touch the desk, or paper. The pen should be kept quite easy between the fingers, and not be pressed too hard upon the paper.

Ir is an old saying that " you may tell a man by the company he keeps," and certainly there is some truth in it, for as another old proverb goes,

"Birds of a feather
Will flock together,

In all sorts of weather."

But we are told of another way of finding out what a man is-and it is curious enough. A French philosopher has said that he could tell by his writing whether a man were a wise man or a vain man, a kind man or a churlish man, a slovenly man or a man of business. Well: ever since I heard of this notion, as I have many letters come into my hands every day, I have taken notice, and knowing the character of many of the writers, I have certainly found that their writing

GOOD WRITING.

did give some indication of their character, though not always. I found, however, that generally a man of business wrote in a dashing off-hand style, a young lady of good training in a neat hand, a man of studious habits in a plain careful hand, a hasty man in a hurried hand, that a sloven merely scribbled over his paper, and that an idle man, though he began his letter in good style, would finish in very bad.

I have also seen what are called autographs, that is, copies of the signatures of many distinguished men and women, and I could not but notice that the men of great minds and great actions generally signed their names in a bold plain hand. When visiting, a few years ago, the Museum of the Baptist College at Bristol, I could not but notice this in the signatures of Oliver Cromwell and George Washington, and as the latter was one of the greatest and best of men, and a pattern of true patriotism to people of all ages and nations, I sketched a copy of his, which I have had engraved. Here it is.

GWashington

Now I have said all this, and given these two engravings, that I may get my young readers, both boys and girls, to pay attention to their writing; and I hope they will, every one of them, for it will be of the first importance to them in after life. In order to this let me mention two or three things.

1. Never scribble-mind that. Dont get into a way of running your letters one into another; make every letter plain and distinct.

2. Let your common writing hand be what is called round hand; not that little tiresome small hand which wearies the eyes to read it.

3. In order to be a very good writer, never write anything on the smallest bit of paper about any thing at all without writing it in your best hand. Now pay strict regard to this, for if you begin to write a slovenly hand at all, the bad habit will grow upon you. Always write well, and you will find that practise makes perfect, as the school copy says.

And one thing connected with good writing I must not omit, and that is good spelling. By this, if not by his hand-writing, we may always tell whether a writer has had a good schooling and is a clever man or not. Let a man write like copperplate, yet if he spell badly it spoils all his beautiful writing. I do not say it to boast of it, and yet it is a great advan tage to me, that I never spell a plain English word wrong. I write every day something for the printers to set up in type, and I have told them often, that if I am found out spelling a word wrong I will pay a forfeit, but I have not had to pay a single fine. And the way in which I became a good speller was through careful reading, taking notice how words were spelt, especially in books written by good scholars. And I advise all my young friends to do the same.

One word more. Never despair of being a good writer. Anybody, now-a-days, may learn to write, and write well. A lad taught in our workhouse school is one of the best writers in the town in which I live, and has for some time been employed in making out the books, and may, through this, if he be steady and honest, be a gentleman some day. I myself once taught an old man seventy-two years of age to write and write as to get a postman's place-for which, a good bold hand, and a post-boy of thirty so to read twenty years after, being in the town in which he

340

there, and

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

thanked me with many thanks; and I was gratified to find that he not only looked respectable himself, but was bringing up his family in comfortable circum

stances.

The time was when bishops and noblemen, and even kings, could not write, but had to make a cross when they gave their consent to any deed or writing. Now any boy or girl may be taught in our schools, and if any have not had that opportunity, by staying in the house instead of running out on winter evenings, they may, in one winter season, with a little guidance from some good-natured friend, learn how to talk by writing with a friend 100 miles off at little expense-by means of the penny post.

It is, then, a good thing to learn to write-better, to write well-and best of all, to write and spell well.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

WE have given, on a preceding page, a copy of the hand-writing of this illustrious man. It is often said, "tell me what the boy is, and I will tell you what the man will be." Though this may not always be a sure indication, yet our young readers will find that it was so in this case.

When George Washington, late President of the United States of America, was about six years of age, some one made him a present of a hachet, of which being, like most children, immoderately fond, he went about chopping every thing that came in his way; and going into the garden, he unluckily tried its edge on an English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly as to leave very little hope of its recovery. The next morning his father saw the tree, which was a great favourite, in that condition, and inquired who had done the mischief, declaring he would not have taken five guineas for the treee; but nobody could

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