t he had not the
same self-dependence that marked the other. He always wanted, as it.
were, something to lean upon, although in truth he did not at all
require it, had he properly understood himself. The truth is, like
thousands, he did not begin to perceive, or check in time, those early
tendencies that lead a heart naturally indolent, but warm and generous,
to the habit of relying first, in small things, upon external sources
and objects, instead of seeking and finding within itself those
materials for manly independence, with which every heart is supplied,
were its possessor only aware of the fact, and properly instructed how
to use them.

Art's enjoyments, for instance, were always of a social nature, and
never either solitary or useful in their tendencies; of this character
was every thing he engaged in. He would not make a ship of water
flaggons by himself, nor sail it by himself--he would not spin a top,
nor trundle a hoop without a companion--if sent upon a message, or to
dig a basket of potatoes in the field, he would rather purchase the
society of a companion with all the toys or playthings he possessed than
do either alone. His very lessons he would not get unless his brother
Frank got his along with him. The reader may thus perceive that he
acquired no early habit of self-restraint, no principle of either labor
or enjoyment within, himself, and of course could acquire none at all
of self-reliance. A social disposition in our amusements is not only
proper, but natural, for we believe it is pretty generally known, that
he who altogether prefers such amusements is found to be deficient
in the best and most generous principles of our nature. Every thing,
however, has its limits and its exceptions. Art, if sent to do a day's
work alone, would either abandon it entirely, and bear the brunt of his
father's anger, or he would, as we have said, purchase the companionship
of some neighbor's son or child, for, provided he had any one to whom he
could talk, he cared not, and having thus succeeded, he would finish it
triumphantly.

In due time, however, his great prevailing weakness, vanity, became well
known to his family, who, already aware of his peculiar aversion to any
kind of employment that was not social, immediately seized upon it,
and instead of taking rational steps to remove it, they nursed it into
stronger life by pandering to it as a convenient means of regulating,
checking, or stimulating the whole habit