THE VALUE OF SELF-RELIANCE.

Southland Times, Issue 2627, 16 December 1876, Page 4

THE VALUE OF SELF-RELI-ANCE.

In .our s^stemVof "education selfreliance l ls unappreciated. , Boys, tod ofteu, learu 'Wsbta'a ' like ■ ' the parrot, and arc-not sufficiently encouraged to think ' BUtfjecCS OUt for r themselves. Tet the habit of self-reliance is really more valuable than any other particular ' acquirement' can be.-' It goes directly to the bracing and concentration of the entire' character. " I canna read nor write," says Meg Me'rrilies, in- Guy TMTannering, " but I can rule and " use those who can." Travellers tell, us. that .ir^ Swiss Alpine villages they have- Deen often struck with wonder at the sight of very young Children, tottering fearlessly among c?ag^aM c ' fcrevasses, at an age when eyen>m;fche Jawny uplands and pleasant green lanes of England they would oh-'fl6«accdunti be permitted to sally forth without, a ..guardian.' The early habit of confidence is worth a thousand, servants, ancßTfaws forth a readi-nessyof-resQurcef that often astonishes the learned. £~ We been told that oncea rectoifof Ta fddr living irrWesfc moreland, while sitting and composing a most erudite, discourse was disturbed by : a knock. A young imp, like the Marchioness of Dickens, humbly asked, "Pleasej 1 sir, mother's got the ague, and we've no fire} please will you .give me, a bit?" "My child," raid -the good man, "of a truth, will I. "S^-^S^^l^^^'^^^'^T^^^ 00 to thy- -mdetfetff^ Thou canst. nbt . carry burning .coals Jn 'Ihy- hands ; no, nor in thineL T aprpn>"v .The imp stooped down, collected in her two small hands many; cinders,~half burned, and making a hollow in. the middle of them, looked significantly at the doctor in divinity. E6rtliwitb'7the : . burning ' f . coals were placed, 1 and away marched the triumphant child of mother wit. "As I live;" mused the D.D., " many revolutions of the planet would have occurred ere I should have hit on so simple an .expedient." The academician had been 'brought up to collect arid arrange the results of other men's thoughts,, by method and docility —the child had learnt self-reliance in the school of necessity. mmsm^ Bmmß^ im _, Mma ____mmmaxm^ammaamrmmi\iimmii n innmaa