e would never have become a famous
geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have
published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to the
science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments, snatched
from the duties of a gardener, to idleness. Had the little Scotch lad,
Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep
on the hillside, instead of calculating the position of the stars by
the help of a string of beads, he would never have become a famous
astronomer.

"Labor vanquishes all,"--not in constant, spasmodic, or ill-directed
labor, but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed
purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so
is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.

"Seize, then, the minutes as they pass;
The woof of life is thought!
Warm up the colors; let them glow
With fire of fancy fraught."

A BOY WHO KNEW NOT FEAR

Richard Wagner, the great composer, weaves into one of his musical
dramas a beautiful story about a youth named Siegfried, who did not
know what fear was.

The story is a sort of fairy tale or myth,--something which has a deep
meaning hidden in it, but which is not literally true.

We smile at the idea of a youth who never knew fear, who even as a
little child had never been frightened by the imaginary terrors of
night, the darkness of the forest, or the cries of the wild animals
which inhabited it.

Yet it is actually true that there was born at Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk,
England, on September 29, 1758, a boy who never knew what fear was.
This boy's name was Horatio Nelson,--a name which his fearlessness,
ambition, and patriotism made immortal.

Courage even to daring distinguished young Nelson from his boy
companions. Many stories illustrating this quality are told of him.

On one occasion, when the future hero of England was but a mere child,
while staying at his grandmother's, he wandered away from the house in
search of birds' nests. When dinner time came and went and the boy did
not return, his family became alarmed. They feared that he had been
kidnapped by gypsies, or that some other mishap had befallen him. A
thorough search was made for him in every direction. Just as the
searchers were about to give up their quest, the truant was discovered
sitting quietly by the side of a brook which he was unable to cross.

"I wonder, c