Our Inquiry Meeting

NO. 4. Rev. Joshua Leavitt says thatwhen he vas ibrmcrly riding in nstngc coach, he snw a ragged, bnrolbotcd boy in the road carrying on his head a largo flat stone, as heavy as he could stagger under. - He said to hirn, "boy, what makes you carry tliat stone on your head'í" "fiecause I can, -," was his rcply ; and it e.vprcssed one of the grcat principies of human action - a principie extending through every department of lile. The boy had physical laculties prompting to iheir gratification : they wcre gratified in lifting and carrying this stone, without reference to any other purpose : he lifted and carried it because it was a pleasure to do so : and, within certain limits, the greater the exertion, tho greater the picasure. Had the stonc been very light, Ihe pleusure of carrying il would have been les?. Every where this principio is in operation. IiOÓk into the school room, aria you will fnid it. Thero aro two boys. Each has a slato and an arithmetic. Yèt whilu one is doing his sums, the other spends his time in making profiles, pictures big, A's and B's. W hy 1- Because he can make these so as to gratifv his faculty for drawing. Henee tuI king pleasure in the operation, hë reneats it oftcn. The third bov isdull inr grammar, but wrües an elegant hand, while the fourth boy writes wretchedly, but rolls out the sums to admiration, and takes pleasure in it because he can w;ilk right along through the problems. The fifth boy can't comprehend Euclid, but he isfamous for making kites and water wheels. That girl can sing likc a nightingale, althoug she is one of the dullest scholars in her studies, while the brightest female scholar in the school has neither the wishnor the ability to sing. So of all others. What is true of boys and girls, is mcasurably true of men and women. The orator to vvhorn Seöatès have listened for a generation, perhaps commenccd hiscareerby addressing the President of the village debating school. Severnl other young men had the same chance of speaking, but did not. Why was he not also silent ? Because ho knew he could speak in some fashion ; he tried it, found the exercise pleased himself and others, and he kept trying, till the praise of bis eloquence was iu tho mouths of millions.From this examination we perceive two things ; fixst, that all persons can do some things beller than others : and second, that thcy take the most delight in doing thvse things which thcy can do best. Where the bias in any particular direction is very strong, it will develop itself early, and usuully continue through life. Here is an authentic fact. A gentleman of Massachusetts, in narrow eircumstances, had two sons, only one of whom he could affordto send to college.. He was much perplexed to know which to send. While living on the farm, he gave to each of them a " stent" of cutling so manytreesa day. Going into the field one day, he found the eldest hard at work chopping, and the younger curled down ut the foot of a tree, profoundly inient on a book. He inquired into the reason of this new arrangement. He learned that the younger, to enjoy his love of reading, had hiredhisbrotherforso man y pennies to do his task. The father hesitated no longer, but sent the younger to school. He proved to be a good scholar, became distinguished, and was for many years a U. S. Senator. The other son by choice remained a farmer all his days. One son loved to study, and the other to work, and each because he could do that particular thing best.1 -' Eut some one asks, are not persons oflen forced by circumstances to follow a profes3ion or business to which they are unadopïéd, and which is distasteful to them? To such a question only a general answer can bc given. Some, like idiots, are entirely control led by the w#l of those who surround tliein. The great mass of the human race, as wc have seen, have no fixed, paramount object of action, and their views, aspirations and eiForts, are confined to asmall, narrow neighborhood channel. They are governed almost entirely by circumstance3. But in proportion as a person has a capacious, powerful mind, with a strong bias in a particular direction, just to that extent wil] he break through opposingobstacles, and follow out bis intellcctual propensity, wherever it may lead him. Elihu Burritt says that a knowledge of the alphabet is the only preliminary acquirement necessary to travelling successfully the road to fame : and the celebrated French writer,Say, lays it down as a principie of political economy, that if the whole community have a knowledge of reading, writing, and tho first rules of arithmetic, no persou of pre-cminent or very remarkable talents will long remain in obscurity. These writers are doubtless correct. The field of knowledge bei ng opened to the mind, each person will makc a dogree and kind ofprogress therein proportionate to the vigor of his will, and the capability of his faculües. {L=" The latest advices from the Rio Grande state that the troops were making a general moveinent up the rivcr.