Discipline of mind lost. Rebelling a dishonorable business.

a universal censure, nor to say that there may not be, here and there, a rare instance in which the loss has been made up, and the young man has been saved. These, if the cases do ever occur, are exceptions. But break off a young man from his studies when he has but just commenced the discipline of his mind, shut him out from every institution in the land, and let him feel that he has committed an error which can never be retrieved, and where is he to obtain that mental discipline, and that thorough education, which are essential to his future success? His plans are all broken up; his associates in study are all dissevered from him; his instructors are all taken from him; and his prospect of ever becoming what he once justly hoped, is small indeed. You will never find a man over the age of forty, who ever was engaged in a college rebellion, or who ever saw one, who will not speak of it in terms of the most decided disapprobation.

Besides, are you acting a generous, manly part? You have voluntarily placed yourself under the laws of your college, and under the men who administer those laws; you have promised solemnly to obey them. And now, what shall be said about the honor of a young man who engages in a rebellion, and talks about his "honor," while he is violating that honor which he pledged when he became a member of that institution? If you feel that you are not dealt with justly and fairlythat you are degraded and abused-ask and receive an

No need of it.

honorable dismission, and go to some other college, where you will be properly treated. But do not plunge yourself, your class-mates, your parents, and the whole circle of friends, into deep trouble and lasting sorrow, with the vain hope of making it clear that you are a young man of honor, nice feelings, or of true courage. No one doubts that you possess all these. But you run too great a hazard, when you stake your character, and that of others younger than yourself, who will follow you, upon the desperate attempt of dictating conditions to a literary institution. It is thoughtlessness of the consequences, rather than deep depravity, which draws so many into these troubles. If you are such a genius that it must work out of your fingers' ends, and your hands cannot keep out of mischief, go home, and employ those hands in some mechanical business. But do not stay where you are acting a part dishonorable to your own feelings, which will, sooner or later, end in lasting disgrace. Have the hardihood, if it be required, to overlook petty inconveniences and vexations in your present situation, and, while you are a student, stand up in all the strength of an honorable, high-minded

man.

"Os homini sublime dedit

Cœlumque tueri."

That you will meet with many things, in themselves disagreeable, and trying to your habits and your pa

Student's life one of trial.

tience, you must expect. The whole season of study is one of unpleasant restraint and of severe discipline. It will cost many sacrifices of feeling to obtain a good education; but, when once obtained, you will be your own master, and will be fit to govern yourself, and will feel amply repaid for all that you endure. But if you would respect yourself through life, be free from perpetual mortification, never engage in a college rebellion.

CHAPTER VIII.

EXERCISE. DIET. ECONOMY.

So much has of late been written on the subject of exercise, that it is in danger of becoming a stale subject, even before it is understood, and long before it is reduced to systematic practice. It must be plain to my reader, in the very outset, that the whole hopes, prospects, every thing dear to the student, must depend upon his health. If the powers of the body be palsied or prostrated, or in any way abused, his mind. must so far sympathize as to be unfitted for making progress in study. You may let the system run down and lose its tone by neglect, and, for a time, the mind retains its activity, as the fires created by some kinds of fuel burn brighter and brighter, till they sink away at once. Sometimes, while the poor house in which the soul resides is rapidly preparing to fall, the mind is even more active as decay approaches, and the fires of the soul burn with a more beautiful and intense glow. So it is said, that the ear will frequently become so exquisite, just before dissolution, that it can gather music from the room of death; the harp is about to be crushed in pieces, but, ere it breaks, it

Health every thing to the student. Why this necessity is not felt.

sends forth notes that are sweet beyond expression, till it breathes itself away into ruins.

In other employments, if health fails, it may be recovered, in very many cases, by care and exercise. The business goes on, and the loss of time and property usually do not suffer at once. Not so with him whose all depends upon the constant employment of the mind. Three months' loss of time, while in college, will blast many fair hopes and bright prospects: it will depress you and perplex you as a scholar, and, probably, have a material influence upon you through the whole of life. You may be poor-you may have had but small advantages heretofore; but above these, by industry and application, you may rise. But if your health be gone, you are, at once, cut off from doing any thing by way of study.

The mind cannot,

and will not, accomplish any thing, unless you have good health. Resolve, then, that, at any rate, so far as it depends upon yourself, you will have the mens sana in sano corpore.

It is frequently the case that the student, as the fields of knowledge open before him in all their boundless extent, feeling strong in the buoyancy and elasticity of youth, and knowing that his character must all depend upon himself, sits down closely to his books, resolved to stop for nothing, till his scholarship is fair and high. The first, the second, and the third admonitions, in regard to his health, are unheeded, till, at