osperous. It must never therefore be
forgotten, that it is not the possession of knowledge, but the use which
we make of it, that confers distinction. For no truism is more
incontrovertible than this, that knowledge which we cannot or do not
use, is really useless.

There is no wonder then that Nature should be at some pains in training
her pupils to an exercise on which so much of their happiness and safety
depends; and it is of corresponding importance, that we should
investigate the means, and the mode by which she usually accomplishes
her end. If we can successfully attain this knowledge, we may be enabled
to pursue a similar course in the training of the young, and with
decided advantage.

When we take any one of the numerous examples of the working of this
principle in the adult, and carefully analyze it, we can detect three
distinct stages in the operation, before the effect is produced. The
_first_ is the knowledge of some useful truth, present to the mind, and
at the command of the will;--there is, _secondly_, an inference drawn
from that truth, or portion of our knowledge, or the impression of an
inference which was formerly drawn from it, and which, as we have seen
in the infant, may remain long after the circumstance from which the
lesson was derived has been forgotten;--and there is, _thirdly_, a
special application of that inference or impression to our present
circumstances. For example, in the case of the person leaving the house,
and suddenly returning to provide himself with an umbrella, there is
first the knowledge of a fact, that "the sky is lowering;" then there is
an inference drawn from this fact, that "there will most probably be
rain;" but the comfort--the whole benefit arising from this knowledge,
and from this reasoning upon it,--depends on the third stage of the
operation, which is therefore the most important of all, namely, the
application of the inference, or lesson, to his present circumstances. A
mere knowledge of the fact that the sky lowered, would have remained a
barren and a useless truth in the mind, unless he had proceeded to draw
the proper inference from it; and the inference itself, after it was
drawn, would have done him no good, but must rather have added to his
uneasiness, had he not proceeded to the third step of the operation, and
applied the whole to the regulation of his conduct, in providing himself
with an umbrella or a cloak.

In like manner, in the supposed case of