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LESSON 6
“ HAVE you finished your lesson, George?” said Mr. Prentice to his son, who had laid aside his book and was busily engaged in making a large paper kite.
“No, father,” replied George, hanging down his head.
“Why not, my son?”
“Because it is so di¤cult, father. I am sure that I shall never learn it. Besides, I could not remember it after I had learned it, my memory is so bad.”
“If I were to promise you a holiday on the thirtieth of the month after next, do you think you would forget the date?”
“No, I am pretty sure that I should not.”
“You are flrst-rate at skating, and flying your kite, and playing at ball and marbles, are you not?”
“Yes, father.”
“And yet you cannot learn your lesson! My dear boy, you are deceiving
yourself. You can learn as well as any one, if you will only try.”
“But have I not tried, father?” again urged
George.
“Well, try again. Come, for this afternoon lay aside that kite you are making, and give another effort to get your
lesson ready. Be in earnest, and you will soon learn it. To show you that it only requires perseverance, I will tell you a story: —
“One of the dullest boys at a village school, more than thirty years ago, went up to repeat his lesson one morning; and, as usual, did not know it. ‘Go to your seat!’ said the teacher angrily. ‘If you don’t pay more attention to your lessons you will never be flt for anything.’
“The poor boy stole
off to his seat, and bent his eyes again upon his lesson.
“‘It is of no use; I cannot learn,’ he said in a whisper to a companion who sat near him.
“‘You must try hard,’ replied the kind-hearted boy.
“‘I have tried, but it is of no use; I may just as well give up at once.’
“‘Try again, Henry!’ whispered his companion, in an earnest and encouraging
tone.
What reasons did George give for not being able to learn his lesson? What did his father ask him if he was likely to forget? What did he say? To show him that learning only required perseverance, what did his father do? What kind of boy was it about? What had the teacher told him when he failed? What had his companion whispered to him?
fin´-ished re-mem´-ber thir´-ti-eth per-se-ver´-ance
en-gaged´ mem´-o-ry play´-ing an´-gri-ly
re-phed´ prom´-ise af-ter-noon at-ten´-tion
dif´-fi-cult hol´-i-day re-quires´ com-pan´-ion
A boy who could beat all his companions at their games was unable to learn his lesson, or to remember it after it was learned.
To show him that he was deceiving himself, and that it only required perseverance, his father told him a story.
“THESE two little words gave him a fresh impulse,
and he bent
his mind again to his task. Gradually he began to flnd the sentences lingering in his memory; and soon, to his surprise and pleasure, the whole lesson was mastered! He then rose from his seat and proceeded to the teacher’s desk.
“‘What do you want now?’ asked the teacher.
“‘To say my lesson, sir.’
“‘Did you not try half an hour ago?’
“‘Yes; but I can say it now, sir,’ said the boy.
“‘Go on, then.’
“Henry commenced, and repeated the whole lesson without missing a word! The master gave him a look of pleasure as he handed back his book.
“From that day,” continued Mr. Prentice, “there was no boy in the school who learned more rapidly than Henry. From that day till the present hour he has been a student; and he now urges his son George to ‘try again,’ as he tried.”
“And was it indeed you, father?” asked his son, eagerly looking up into the face of his kind parent.
“Yes, my child. That dull boy was your own father in his early years.”
“Then I will try again,” said George, in a decided tone; and, flinging aside his half-made kite, he turned and re-entered the house, and was soon bending in earnest attention over his lesson.
“Well, what success, George?” asked Mr. Prentice, as the family gathered around the tea-table.
“I learned the lesson, father!” replied the boy. “I can say every word of it.”
“Did you flnd it hard work?”
“Not so very hard, after I had once made up my mind that I would learn it. Indeed I never stopped to think, as I usually do, but went right on until I had mastered every sentence.”
“May you never forget this lesson, my son!” said Mr. Prentice. “You now possess the secret of success. It lies in never stopping to think about a task being difficult or tiresome, but in going steadily on, with a flxed determination to succeed.”
What effect had the words “Try again” on the boy What had he begun to find? What had the teacher said to him when he returned to his desk? How had he succeeded? What had the teacher done as he handed him back his book? What resolution had Henry formed? Had he kept it? Who did Henry turn out to be? What did George do when he heard that? With what result? Wherein lies the secret of success.
grad´-u-al-ly pro-ceed´-ed rap´-id-ly gath´-ered
sen´-ten-ces com-menced´ ea´-ger-ly dif´-fi-cult
lin´-ger-ing re-peat´-ed ear´-nest tire´-some
sur-prise´ con-tin´-ued at-ten´-tion mas´-tered
The story his father told George was about his own youth. When a boy, he had been idle and dull. Once a companion had urged him to “try again.”
He had done so, and had succeeded not only then, but ever afterwards. George took the hint, and succeeded as his father had done.