Manners at table. What society demands as to manners.

B

talents and industry, which could make him distinguished in spite of his ill manners.

Be particularly attentive to your behavior at table; for, from his situation, the student is peculiarly tempted to err there. There is an abruptness and bluntness in the manners of some professional men-a complete treading under foot of all politeness. It may be attributed to the fact that they probably associated but little with refined society while students; and when they came out into the world, not knowing how to behave, they put on the blunt, hair-cloth mode, as if conscious of abilities which would suffer them to despise form and politeness. But a man is never more mistaken than when he supposes that any strength of mind or attainments will render his company agreeable, while his manners are rude. If you are accustomed to society, behave as you know how; if not accustomed to it, behave modestly, and you will behave well; so that, in all your intercourse with your fellow-students, always maintain the appearance and character of a gentleman, never that of a buffoon, or a sloven. And as your character now is, in these respects, so it is to be through life. I have known students whose wash-stand, and establishment, showed that they were slovens; and they were never known to improve in these respects. Keep your room and person, at all times, just as you would have it if you expected your mother or sister to make

Cleanliness. The fable. Ninth direction-doing every thing well.

you a visit. Neatness is the word by which to designate all that is meant in regard to your personal appearance.

Cleanliness is the first mark of politeness; it is agreeable to others, and is a very pleasant sensation to ourselves. The humor of Swift was not misapplied when he describes himself as recovering from sickness by changing his linen. A clean, neat appearance is always a good letter of introduction. May I request my readers to gather the application and moral of the following beautiful story:"A dervise, of great sanctity, one morning, had the misfortune, as he took up a crystal cup, which was consecrated to the prophet, to let it fall upon the ground, and dash it to pieces. His son coming in some time after, he stretched out his hand to bless him, as his manner was every morning; but the youth, going out, stumbled over the threshold and broke his arm. As the old man wondered at these events, a caravan passed by in its way to Mecca: the dervise approached it to beg a blessing; but as he stroked one of the holy camels, he received a kick from the beast, which sorely bruised him! His sorrow and amazement increased upon him, until he recollected that, through hurry and inadvertency, he had that morning come abroad without washing his hands."

9. Acquire the habit of doing every thing well. It is well known that Johnson used to write and

Johnson.

The prize lost.

Common things.

send copy to the press, without even looking it over by way of revising. This was the effect of habit. He began by composing slowly, but with great accuracy. We are naturally impatient of restraint, and have so little patience at our command, that it is a rare thing to find a young man doing any thing as well as he can. He wishes to do it quickly. And in the conversation of students, you seldom hear one tell how well he did this or that, but how quickly. This is a pernicious habit. Any thing that is worth doing at all, is worth doing well; and a mind well disciplined in other respects, is defective, if it have not this habit. A young man, who unexpectedly lost the affections of a young lady, of whom he was sufficiently fond, informed his friend, with a good degree of shrewdness, that he doubted not that he lost the prize from a very small circumstance. She handed him a letter which she had been writing to a friend, and asked him to direct it. He did so, but in a manner so hurried and slovenly, (for it was his great ambition to be quick in doing any thing,) that she blushed when she received it. From that little circumstance her affections seemed to cool, until they were dead to him. His friend comforted him by saying that "she was more than half right."

This incident is mentioned, not on account of its dignity, but to illustrate the point in hand. Every thing should be done well, and practice will soon

Euripides.

Buonaparte.

McDonough's victory.

enable you to do it quickly. How many are miserable readers, and miserable writers, as to manner and matter, because they do not possess this habit! Euripides used to compose but three lines, while a contemporary poet composed three hundred; but one wrote for immortality, and the other for the day. Your reading had better be but little, your conversations but few, your compositions short and well done. The man who is in a "great hurry," is commonly the one who hurries over the small stages of the journey, without making the great business of life to consist in accomplishing as much as possible. The great secret of Buonaparte's skill as a warrior, consisted in this; that he did his business thoroughly: if he met an army in two or three divisions, he did not divide his army in the same proportion. No: he brought all his strength to bear upon one point, until that was annihilated. So with McDonough, during our last war. He directed all his force, every gun, against the "big ship" of the enemy. No matter how pressing or annoying others might be; every ball was to be sent towards the "big ship," till her guns were silent. This is a good principle to carry out in regard to every thing.

"How is it that you do so much?" said one in astonishment at the efforts and success of a great "Why, I do but one thing at a time, and try to finish it once for all." I would therefore have you

man.

Tenth direction-temper.

Goldsmith's temper.

keep this in mind:-Do not send a letter home blotted or hurried, and ask them to excuse it, because you are in a hurry. You have no right to be in such a hurry. It is doing injustice to yourself. Do not make a memorandum so carelessly, that in five years you can make nothing of it. Do not hurry any thing so that you know not what you do, or do not know certainly about it, and have to trust to vague impressions. What we call a superficial character, is formed in this way; and none who are not careful to form and cherish the habit of doing every thing well, may expect to be any thing else than superficial.

10. Make constant efforts to be master of your temper.

The often-quoted remark of Solomon, in regard to authorship and study, is true to life; and that study which is such a "weariness to the flesh," will almost certainly reach the nerves, and render you more or less liable to be irritated. Who would have thought that the elegant Goldsmith would, in his retirement, have been peevish and fretful? So, we are told, was the fact. And perhaps he who could write the Citizen of the World, and the Deserted Village, and the Vicar of Wakefield, exhausted his nerves, in trying to be kind-hearted and pleasant in his writings; so that, when he fell back into real life, he had no materials left with which to be agreeable. Be this as it may, it is not unfrequently the case, that he who can