OUR YOUNG MEN’S COLUMN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2274, 31 October 1891, Page 3

OUR YOUNG MEN’S COLUMN.

[By Juvbnis,]

STUDY. Study—Yes, what a world of meaning there is in the word ? Study Not a day nor an hour goes by in the process of our lives but we study, study, study. Study is not confined to one class of society; study finds its way into the darkest recesses of the earth: Study is universal. The red Indian following up the trail of an enemy —he studies; everybody studies. The rich man studies, and the poor man studies. The miser studies—studies his gold. We all study. There are two kinds of study. The one is prompted by nature and the other by exertion of will power. The one is an incitation of expediency ; the other a study to know and let know. The study to know is the harder study—the study that demands heavy mental labour, and it is often a matter of embitterment to one to know just how to put one’s time to the best advantage in studying to know. We might study by fits and starts and make little or no headway for the labor expended. Five minutes in every day set apart for a special subject and that alone might be worth more than an hour’s haphazard study. Or, perhaps, still better might be the system of the learned blacksmith Elihu Burritt, as the following extract from his diary will show.—Monday, June 10th,—40 pages of Cowier’s “ Theory of the Earth,” G 4 pages of French: 11 hours forging. Tuesday—6s lines of I Hebrew; 30 pages of French ; 10 pages Cowier’s Theory; 8 lines Bohemian: i 9 lines Polish; 15 names of stars, 10 ' hours forging. Wednesday—2s lines i Hebrew, 50 pages astronomony, 11 hours forging. Thursday—ss lines Hebrew, 8 lines Syraic ; 11 hours forging. Friday —Unwell, 50 pages natural history, 10 hours forging. What knowledge this man gathered by down* ■ right plodding, hard work!

Benjamin Franklin had a method somewhat similar. He rose at five o’clock in the morning, questioned himself: “ What good shall Ido this day V ’ Contrive the day’s business, and take the resolution of the day ; prosecute the present study, and breakfast at 7. From 8 to 11 he worked; at noon he read, or looked over his accounts, and dined. From 1 to 5 he worked, and in the course of the evening questioned himself again : “ What good have I done this day 1” He then made a general examination of the day, after which he indulged in music and conversation. By this means he was enabled to estimate just exactly how far he was advancing, both in his businese and in his studies.

Martin Tupper beautifully shows us the times and seasons for studies, when he says : “ The mind is freshened by morning a,ir: grapple with science and philosophy; Noon hath unnerved thy thoughts : dream for a while on fictions ; _ ' • Grey evening sobereth thy spirit; walk thou then with worshipper; But reason shall dig - deepest in the night, and fancy fly most free.”