CHAPTER II.

HABITS.

THE whole character may be said to be comprehended in the term habits; so that it is not so far from being true, that "man is a bundle of habits." Suppose you were compelled to wear an iron collar about your neck through life, or a chain upon your ankle; would it not be a burden every day and hour of your existence? You rise in the morning a prisoner to your chain; you lie down at night, weary with the burden; and you groan the more deeply, as you reflect that there is no shaking it off. But even this would be no more intolerable to bear than many of the habits of men; nor would it be more difficult to be shaken off.

Habits are easily formed-especially such as are bad; and what to-day seems to be a small affair, will soon become fixed, and hold you with the strength of a cable. That same cable, you will recollect, is formed by spinning and twisting one thread at a time; but, when once completed, the proudest ship turns her head towards it, and acknowledges her subjection to its power.

Habits of some kind will be formed by every stu

Habits formed by all.

It ought to be so.

dent. He will have a particular course in which his time, his employments, his thoughts and feelings, will run. Good or bad, these habits soon become a part of himself, and a kind of second nature. Who does not know, that the old man, who has occupied a particular corner of the old fire-place in the old house for sixty years, may be rendered wretched by a change? Who has not read of the release of the aged prisoner of the Bastile, who entreated that he might again return to his gloomy dungeon, because his habits there formed, were so strong, that his nature threaten→ ed to sink under the attempt to break them up? You will probably find no man of forty, who has not habits which he laments, which mar his usefulness, but which are so interwoven with his very being, that he cannot break through them. At least he has not the courage to try. I am expecting you will form habits. Indeed, I wish you to do so. He must be a poor character, indeed, who lives so extempore as not to have habits of his own. But what I wish is, that you form those habits which are correct, and such as will every day and hour add to your happiness and usefulness. If a man were to be told that he must use the axe, which he now selects, through life, would he not be careful in selecting one of the right proportions and temper? If told that he must wear the same clothing through life, would he not be anxious as to the quality and kind? But these, in the

How to form a habit. Example. The prisoner, a second example.

cases supposed, would be of no more importance than is the selection of habits in which the soul shall act. You might as well place the body in a strait-jacket, and expect it to perform, with ease, and comfort, and promptness, the various duties of the body, as to throw the soul into the habits of some men, and then expect it will accomplish any thing great or good.

Do not fear to undertake to form any habit which is desirable; for it can be formed, and that with more ease than you may at first suppose. Let the same thing, or the same duty, return at the same time every day, and it will soon become pleasant. No matter if it be irksome at first; but how irksome soever it may be, only let it return periodically, every day, and that without any interruption for a time, and it will become a positive pleasure. In this way all our habits are formed. The student who can with ease now sit down, and hold his mind down to his studies nine or ten hours a day, would find the laborer, or the man accustomed to active habits, sinking under it, should he attempt to do the same thing. I have seen a man sit down at the table spread with luxury, and eat his sailor's biscuit with relish, and without a desire for any other food. His health had compelled him thus to live, till it had become a pleasant habit of diet. Previous to this, however, he had been rather noted for being an epicure. "I once attended a prisoner," sa s an excellent man, "of some distinction, in one

First direction in regard to habits-have plans.

of the prisons of the metropolis, ill of a typhus fever, whose apartments were gloomy in the extreme, and surrounded with horrors; yet this prisoner assured me afterwards, that, upon his release, he quitted them with a degree of reluctance: custom had reconciled him to the twilight admitted through the thick-barred grate, to the filthy spots and patches of his plastered walls, to the hardness of his bed, and even to confinement."

I shall specify habits which, in my view, are very desirable to the student, and, at the same time, endeavor to give specific directions how to form them.

1. Have a plan laid beforehand for every day.

These plans ought to be maturely formed the evening previous, and, on rising in the 'morning, again looked at, and immediately entered upon. It is astonishing how much more we accomplish in a single day, (and what of else is life made up?) by having the plan previously marked out. It is so in every thing. This morning a man was digging a path through a deep snow-bank. It was almost insupportably cold, and he seemed to make but little headway, though he worked as if upon a wager. At length, getting out of breath, he paused, and marked out the width of the path with his shovel, then marked out the width of each shovel-full, and consequently the amount of snow at each throw of the shovel. In fifteen minutes, he had done more, and it was done

The snow path.

How to calculate for a day.

neater and easier, than in thirty minutes previous, when working without a plan. It is of little consequence by what we illustrate, if we make a thing clear, and impress it upon the mind. I have found, in my own experience, as much difference in the labors of two days, when working with, or without a plan, as, at least, one half, without having the satisfaction, in the latter case, of knowing what I have done.

Experience will tell any man, that he is most successful in his own pursuits, when he is most careful as to method. A man of my acquaintance has a small slate, which hangs at his study-table. On that he generally finds, in the morning, his work for the day written down; and in the evening he reviews it, sees if he has omitted any thing, and, if so, chides himself that all is not done. To make this clear, I copy here what was found on his slate for one day, as I saw it this morning :

a. Horse, errands, and dig paths.

b. Carry my child to school, and pay postage

bill.

c. Write from 9 till dinner [at 1 o'clock].

d. Write to C., inviting him-also to I. at N. H. e. Examine the use of the word yes in Ephesians 4. 26.

f. Visit Mr. M. sick, also the two families in Maple Street.

g. Get some straw for horse wherever it can be purchased.