to any species of disorder in college. He will regard perfect obedience to the laws as an essential part of the character, not only of a good student, but also of a good citizen. He will turn away, upon principle, from all the practices which are unfriendly to order, to purity, to health, and, in general, to the best interests of society. He will refuse to employ his time in reading books, whatever may be their fascinations, which are immoral, and, of course, mischievous in their tendency. In a word, he will abhor every thing which is unfriendly to the happiness of the community; and will grudge no toil which is adapted to put him in posession of any knowledge or accomplishment by which he may be better qualified to become an ornament and a benefactor to his country. I hope, my dear sons, you will no longer say or think, that this is a subject on which it is unsuitable to address a student in college. So far from this being, in my estimation, the case, I am constrained to say, that, next to the piety of the heart, which is, more than any thing else, the anchor of the soul, and better, adapted to hold it fast, and to hold it comfortably on the troubled ocean of lifeI desire my sons to imbibe the spirit of patriotism; to feel that they belong to their country, as well as their God, and that they are solemnly bound to cultivate every power, and to make every attainment, which will qualify them to be so many sources of light, and virtue and happiness to the community. Because I know that the more deeply this principle shall take root in their minds, the more benign the influence which it will exert over the whole character. Such a principle will not be a mere name. It will sober the mind. It will impress a deep sense of responsibility. It will excite to diligence in study. It will guard a young man against giving his time to that frivolous or mischievous reading which tends to his injury, instead of preparing him for the duties of practical life. In short, it will tend to impart that sobriety, that dignity, that industry, that desire to serve his generation, and that desire to live in the affections and in the memory of his fellow citizens, which we may hope will be the means of preparing him to be the man, and to make the attainments, which are the objects of his noble ambition. 16* 186 LETTER XI. PARTICULAR STUDIES. Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant, MY DEAR SONS, WHEN some one asked Agesilaus, the king of Sparta, "What it was in which youth ought principally to be instructed?" he very wisely replied, "That which they will have most need to practise when they are men.' I said that this was a wise reply; and so it undoubtedly was, if we could assume that every one knows in youth what he may have most occasion for when he becomes a man. But I contend that no man knows what the providence of God has in reserve for him in after life; and, of course no one can tell, in all cases, what branch of knowledge, among those which he is called to study, may be of most importance to him hereafter, either as a means of subsistence, or as an avenue to honour and usefulness. If, therefore, a student of college were to ask me, "Which of my prescribed studies shall I attend to with dili gence?" I would certainly reply-"to ALL;-neglect NONE of them;-be not content to be superficial in any of them. It may be that, in after life, you may find those branches of knowledge which you are now tempted to undervalue, of more vital importance to you than all the rest put together. To meet an exigency of this kind, try to be thorough in every study; and then you may be prepared for situation in which the providence of God may any place you." I shall never forget a remarkable example, which at once illustrates and confirms this advice. I was intimately acquainted, in early life, with one of the most accomplished scholars our country ever bred. I refer to the Rev. Dr. JOHN EWING, of Philadelphia, for many years Provost-another name for President-of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of the College of New Jersey, which then had its location in Newark, but now in Princeton. He belonged to the class which was graduated in 1755, and, after reading what I am about to state, you will not wonder that he was greatly distinguished in his class. He remarked, one day, in my hearing, that, in the earlier stages of his college life, he was often tempted to slight what he then deemed some of the less essential branches of his prescribed course. He sometimes, he said, asked himself, "Of what use can some of these studies possibly be to me in after life?" Partly by his own better reflections, however, and partly by the advice of the venerable President Burr, then at the head of the institution, he was induced neither to neglect nor slight any study, under the impression that he might have occasion for them all in his subsequent course. This suggestion, which he contemplated as a possibility, was amply realized. After the lapse of a few years, he was himself placed at the head of an important college, and found abundant use for all his acquirements. He was probably more thoroughly accomplished in all the branches of knowledge usually studied in the best colleges, than any other native American of his day; and probably few of his contemporaries in any country exceeded him. This qualified him not only to maintain an enlightened superintendance over the whole institution committed to his care, but also enabled him in the occasional absence of any professor, what、ever his branch of instruction might be, to take his place, at a moment's warning, and perform his duties quite as well as the professor himself. This he was often known to do, to the admiration of circles of waiting pupils, who saw no other difference between him and their regular professor in that branch than a manifest superiority of taste, accuracy, and profundity on the part of their ac complished president. Nor is this by any means the only example |