[laywong]

If I were a boy again I would school myself into a habit of attention oftener, I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that an expert on the ice never tries to skate in two directions at once. One of our great mistakes, while we are young, is that we do not attend strictly to what we are about just then, at that particular moment; we do not bend our energies close enough to what we are doing or learning; we wander into a half- interest only, and so never acquire fully what is needful for us to become master of. The practice of being habitually attentive is one easily obtained, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown-up people say, “I couldn't fix my attention on the sermon, or book, although I wished to do so," and the reason is that a habit of attention was never formed in youth. Let me tell you a sad instance of a neglected power of concentration. A friend asked me once to lend him an interesting book, something that would enchain his attention, for he said he was losing the power to read. After a few days he brought back the volume, saying it was no doubt a work of great value and beauty, but that the will to enjoy it had gone from him forever, -for other matters would intrude themselves on the page he was trying to understand and enjoy, and rows of figures constantly marshalled themselves on the margin, adding themselves up at the bottom of the leaf!
If I were to live my life over again I would pay more attention to the cultivation of memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately, but memory soon helps itself and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power. Every- body can acquire it. When I was a youth, a classmate of mine came to me with a long face and told me he was in danger of being sup- planted in the regard of a young person of the gentler sex by a smart fellow belonging to an- other school, who was daily in the habit of calling on the lady and repeating to her from memory whole poems of considerable length. "What would you do]" sighed the lad to me. "Do?" said I, " I would beat him on his own ground, and at once commit to memory the whole of * Paradise Lost,' book by book, and every time the intruder left Amelia's house, I would rush in and fire away ! Depend upon it," I said, “she is quite taken by surprise with the skillful memory of her new acquaintance, and you must beat him with surpassing feats of the same quality." " 0, but," said my friend, " I have, as you know, a very poor memory!" "The more reason now for cultivating that department of your intellect," I rejoined. “If you give way to idle repining and do nothing, that fellow will soon be firmly seated in your place. I should not wonder if he were now at work on Thomson's 'Seasons/ for his infamous purpose. Delay no longer, but attack John Milton after supper to-night, and win the prize above all competition! " Ezekiel began in good earnest, and before the summer was over he had memorized the whole of “Paradise Lost," rehearsed it to Amelia, and gained the victory !
If I were a boy again I would know more about the history of my own country than is usual, I am sorry to say, with young Americans. When in England I have always been impressed with the minute and accurate knowledge constantly observable in young English lads of aver- age intelligence and culture concerning the his- tory of Great Britain. They not only have a clear and available store of historical dates at hand for use on any occasion, but they have a wonderfully good idea of the policy of government adopted by all the prominent statesmen in different eras down to the present time. An acquaintance of mine in England, a boy of fourteen, gave me one day such eloquent and intelligent reasons for his preference of Edmund Burke above all other patriotic statesmen of his time, as made me reflect how little the average American lad of that age would be apt to know of the comparative merits of Webster and Calhoun as men of mark and holding the highest consideration thirty years ago in the United States. If the history of any country is worth an earnest study it is surely the history of our own land, and we cannot begin too early in our lives to master it fully and completely. What a confused notion of distinguished Americans a boy must have to reply, as one did not long ago when asked by his teacher, "Who was Washington Irving 1" "A General in the Revolutionary War, sir."
If I were a boy again I would strive to become a fearless person, I would cultivate courage as one of the highest achievements of life. “Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing is so cruel and vindictive as cowardice," says the wise author of a late essay on conduct. Too many of us nowadays are overcome by fancied lions in the way, lions that never existed out of our own brains. Nothing is so credulous as fear. Some weak- minded horses are forever looking around for white stones to shy at, and if we are hunting for terrors they will be sure to turn up in some shape or other. In America we are too prone to borrow trouble and anticipate evils that may never appear. "The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear." Abraham Lincoln once said he never crossed Fox River, no matter how high the stream was, until he came to it! Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared. Achilles, you remember, was said to be invulnerable, but he never went into battle without being completely armed!
If I were a boy again I would look on the cheerful side of everything, for everything almost has a cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror; if you smile upon it, it smiles back again on you, but if you frown and look doubtful upon it, you will be sure to get a similar look in return. I once heard it said of a grumbling, unthankful person, "He would have made an uncommonly fine sour apple, if he had happened to be born in that station of life!” Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but all who come in contact with it. Indifference begets indifference. "Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut out from love."
If I were a boy again I would school myself to say "No" oftener. I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young man can stand erect and decline doing an unworthy thing because it is unworthy, but the whole subject is so admirably treated by dear old President James Walker, who was once the head of Harvard College, that I beg you to get his volume of discourses and read what he has to tell you about saying No on every proper occasion. Dr. Walker had that supreme art of “putting things“ which is now so rare among instructors of youth or age, and what he has left for mankind to read is written in permanent ink.
If I were a boy again I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends. Indeed, I would rigorously exact it of myself towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies, interspersed along the rough roads of life, are like the little English sparrows now singing to us all winter long, and making that season of ice and snow more endurable to everybody.
But I have talked long enough, and this shall be my parting paragraph. Instead of trying so hard as some of us do to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, try still harder to deserve happiness.