I live to hold communion 'Twixt Nature's heart and mine; Reap truths from fields of fiction, I live to hail the season, As Eden was of old. I live for those who love me, For the cause that lacks assistance, And the good that I can do. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. How can we live for those | 2. Name some "human ties who love us? that bind us." 3. What is the "task that God 5. has assigned" you? Are you doing it bravely? 4. How can you " emulate" the "bards, patriots, martyrs, and sages"? "Time's great volume is the history of good and noble deeds that men and women in all ages have 10. done. How can you help to write this volume? 6. Tell of some way in which your heart is in union with 11. that of Nature? 7. Tell of some way in which you have "profited by affliction." When you 12. have been sick, have you ever tried to practice bearing your suffering bravely and without grumbling or getting cross? 8. Have you ever found a valuable truth in a story. book? Tell how a valuable usually learn by being "convinced" by others, or do we usually hold stubbornly to our own notions? When some one shows us that we are wrong, is sticking to the wrong "growing wiser from conviction "? Show how some persons "live by gold." Show how some live by reason." WHANG, THE MILLER OLIVER GOLDSMITH A famous lecturer, in a lecture called "Acres of Diamonds,” used to tell a story of a poor farmer in Asia who was always dreaming of finding a diamond mine. At his work, everywhere, and at all times, he was day-dreaming of his diamond mine. When he would take his cattle down to the pebbly stream that crossed his little farm, they would toss up the pebbles with their splashing hoofs while they were drinking and walking in the water; but he did not notice the bright pebbles as his mind was always far away in the mountains dreaming of the diamonds that he should find there. Finally, he sold his farm, took the proceeds, and went away on a far search for diamonds. After he had gone, the man who bought the farm found in the pebbles of the stream on that same farm one of the most famous diamond fields in the world. The farmer really had diamonds, acres of them, right under his feet all the time, but he simply couldn't see them. Now in this story, Whang, the Miller, had his fortune in his mill, but he couldn't see it. Unlike the farmer, however, he tried to find his fortune at his mill, but he looked in the wrong place, and lost his fortune, which all the time was in the mill itself, with its slow but patient grinding. In this story, Goldsmith wants to tell us that it is not so much where we look for our fortunes, as how we look for them. He tells us that Fortune, who, in sculpture and painting, is usually shown as a beautiful woman who cannot see, can really see perfectly, and that she helps all those to see who quit following her and who do the very best that they can right where they are. You see, Goldsmith himself had followed Fortune far and near but had never found her. So he wants to tell us to do our best where we are, and that if we do, Fortune will help us to see what is best for us. He means to tell schoolboys and schoolgirls that their fortunes lie not in dreaming of far-away things as they sit in their seats in school, but in "keeping their mill" of doing their very best right there in school always turning and grinding. It is better to have just an ordinary purpose, and follow it wisely and closely than to have a greater purpose, and follow it carelessly and foolishly. Now read the story of Whang, the Miller, and try to apply the lesson to yourself. You surely want to learn all the new words you meet, so that you will always have them to help you to understand what you read and also to help you to express yourself. So read over carefully the meanings of these words before you read the tale of "Whang, the Miller ": personize: thinking of a thing as omen: a hopeful sign of coming a person; as thinking of Fortune as a beautiful lady. success. veracity (vč-răs'ĭ-ti): truth. farthing: an English coin of repaired: went to. mattock: a tool for digging. It has two long blades, one set crosswise and the other parallel to the handle. acquisition (ǎk-wi-zish'un): a gain; anything gained or won. WHANG, THE MILLER The Europeans are themselves blind who describe Fortune as being without sight. No beauty ever had finer eyes, or could see more clearly. Those who have no other trade than that of seeking their fortune need never hope to find her. She flies from her close pursuers, and at last fixes on the plodding mechanic who stays at home and minds his own business. 5 I am amazed that men call her blind, when, by the company she keeps, she shows herself to be so very discerning. Wherever you see a gaming table, be very sure that Fortune is not there. When you see a man whose pocket holes are laced with gold, be satisfied 10 that Fortune is not there. In short, she is ever seen accompanying industry, and as often trundling a wheelbarrow as lolling in a coach and six. If you would make Fortune your friend, or to personize her no longer, if you desire, my son, to be rich, and 15 have money, be more eager to save than to acquire. When people say, "Money is to be got here, and money is to be got there," take no notice. Mind your own business; stay where you are, and secure all you can get without stirring. When you hear that your 20 neighbor has picked up a purse of gold in the street, never run out into the same street, looking about you in order to pick up such another; or when you are informed that he has made a fortune in one branch of business, never change your own in order to be his 25 rival. Do not desire to be rich all at once, but patiently add farthing to farthing. Perhaps you despise the petty sum; and yet those who want a farthing, and have no friend that will lend it to them, think farthings |