d only to tempt
him with some trifling luxury, and the work was done. A plate of
oysters was irresistible!

CHAPTER III.

HIS DESTINY UNDERGOES A CHANGE.

"God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them
use their talents."--_Shakspeare._

Daniel Wheelwright grew up a tall and stately youth; and to do him
justice, his personal appearance was not a little in his favor. I have
before intimated that the city in which he dwelt was the seat of a
learned institution; and it was his fortune--ill or good, will appear
in the sequel--to make the acquaintance of several inmates of the
university, who seemed "to take a liking to him," to borrow the quaint
juvenile expression in such cases, especially during the ripening and
ingathering of the fruit in his father's little orchard. At these
seasons their visits were frequent; and as the student's life appeared
to be at once more easy and promising than a coachmaker's, and more
genteel withal, Daniel manifested a desire to change his occupation. It
may be, however--for Daniel is my friend, and were he not, I would do
him no injustice--that the fire of ambition had begun to glow in his
bosom, and that he was really and truly desirous of describing a wider
"circle" than that of a carriage wheel. His mother, too--mothers always
most love and indulge the oldest son--discovered a genius in Daniel
requiring only means and opportunity, to wing an eagle-flight. It was
some considerable time, however, before the father could be persuaded
into the measure. By dint of industry and economy, he was getting along
snugly in the world; and as he had no more extended education himself,
he judged it all-sufficient if a man could read his Bible, and cast the
interest on a note of hand by the assistance of Daboll's Arithmetic. My
friend's common-school education, therefore, was judged by his father
to be all that was necessary for an honest man. But the woman
prevailed,--as women generally do. It happened that at the distance of
some sixty or seventy miles farther up the vale of the Mohawk, lived a
man whom she had previously known in New-Jersey, and whose occupation
was that of "teaching young ideas how to shoot"--not grouse and
woodcock, but to shoot forth into scions of learning. He had a son whom
he desired exceedingly to send to college; but as he was forever
compelled to be scraping the bottom of his scanty exchequer to supply
the current wants of his family, he w