Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader Part 14

It is the close observation of little things which is the secret of success in business, in art, in science and in every other pursuit in life.

LESSON XLVIII

THE AFFECTION AND REVERENCE DUE A MOTHER

What an awful state of mind must a man have attained, when he can despise a mother's counsel! Her name is identified with every idea that can subdue the sternest mind; that can suggest the most profound respect, the deepest and most heartfelt attachment, the most unlimited obedience. It brings to the mind the first human being that loved us, the first guardian that protected us, the first friend that cherished us; who watched with anxious care over infant life, whilst yet we were unconscious of our being; whose days and nights were rendered wearisome by her anxious cares for our welfare; whose eager eye followed us through every path we took; who gloried in our honor; who sickened in heart at our shame; who loved and mourned, when others reviled and scorned; and whose affection for us survives the wreck of every other feeling within. When her voice is raised to inculcate religion, or to reprehend irregularity, it possesses unnumbered claims of attention, respect and obedience. She fills the place of the eternal G.o.d; by her lips that G.o.d is speaking; in her counsels He is conveying the most solemn admonitions; and to disregard such counsel, to despise such interference, to sneer at the wisdom that addresses you, or the aged piety that seeks to reform you, is the surest and the shortest path which the devil himself could have opened for your perdition. I know no grace that can have effect; I know not any authority upon earth to which you will listen, when once you have brought yourself to reject such advice.

USEFUL INFORMATION

The officials and clerks by whom the people's business in the administration of the government is carried on, const.i.tute the Civil Service. About five thousand of these officials are appointed by the President alone or with the consent of the Senate; about fifteen to twenty thousand more are appointed under what is known as the "Civil-Service Rules," and the remainder of our office-holders are appointed by heads of departments.

Compet.i.tive examinations for admission to the Civil Service are held at regular intervals by a Board of Examiners in each of the princ.i.p.al cities of the United States. Men and women receive the same pay for the same work in government service.

The salary of the President of the United States is $75,000 a year.

The Vice-president receives $8,000; Cabinet officers, $8,000; Senators, $5,000 and mileage. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court receives $10,500. Ministers to foreign nations receive from $5,000 to $18,000 annually. The amount varies with the importance of the post.

The total number of Indians in the United States is about 250,000, Alaska not included. The most numerous tribes are the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians. The Apaches are the most savage. About half of the Indian tribes are now partly civilized and are self-supporting.

WISE SAYINGS

The first business of a state is the education of its citizens.

Every child has a right to the best education.

The highest motive of school government is to give the child the power and necessary reason to control himself.

We have no right to teach anything that does not go through the intellect and reach the heart.

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.

LESSON XLIX

WHEAT

Wheat was unknown in America till it was brought over by Europeans, but it is now grown to an immense extent in the temperate regions of both North and South America. Our country is the greatest wheat granary in the world. The production of this grain in the United States is over five hundred millions of bushels a year.

The great "wheat belt" of the United States is in the Northwest,--in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the neighboring states.

California also is a splendid country for this cereal, and California's wheat crop is every year worth more than were ever her stores of gold.

People who live in cities and towns get their bread for the most part at the baker's; so that in many families the good old art of bread-making is almost forgotten. Then it must be said that it is the exception rather than the rule when one finds really good home-made bread. This is a great pity.

Now, let me add one hint for the benefit of the girls. In the English language there is no n.o.bler word than _Lady_. But go back to its origin, and what do we find that it means? We find that it means _She that looks after the loaf_.

WISE SAYINGS

Shallow men believe in luck; strong men in pluck.

If there is honor among thieves, they stole it.

Have a time and place for everything, and do everything in its time and place.

You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.

You will always find those men the most forward to do good, or to improve the times, who are always busy.

Trifles make perfection, yet perfection is no trifle.

LESSON L

COUNTENANCE AND CHARACTER

We know men by their looks; we read men by looking at their faces--not at their features, their eyes, their lips, because G.o.d made these; but a certain cast of motion, and shape and expression, which their features have acquired. It is this that we call the countenance.

And what makes this countenance? The inward and mental habits; the constant pressure of the mind; the perpetual repet.i.tion of its acts.

You detect at once a conceited, or foolish person. It is stamped on his countenance. You can see on the faces of the cunning or dissembling, certain corresponding lines, traced on the face as legibly as if they were written there.

As it is with the countenance, so it is with the character. Character is the sum total of all our actions. It is the result of the habitual use we have been making of our intellect, heart and will. We are always at work, like the weaver at the loom. So we are always forming a character for ourselves. It is a plain truth, that everybody grows up in a certain character; some good, some bad, some excellent, and some unendurable. Every character is formed by habits. If a man is habitually proud, or vain, or false, he forms for himself a character like in kind.

The character shows itself outwardly, but it is wrought within. Every habit is a chain of acts, and every one of those acts was a free link of the will. For instance, some people are habitually false. We sometimes meet with men whose word we can never take, and for this reason they have lost the perception of truth and falsehood. They do not know when they are speaking the truth and when they are speaking falsely. They bring this state upon themselves. But there was a time when these same men had never told a lie.

A good character is to be more highly prized than riches.

SELECTION XVI

THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET

1. How dear to the heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view!

The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot which my infancy knew; The wide-spreading pond, and the mill which stood by it, The bridge and the rock where the cataract fell; The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket.