r my uncle Harvey," said Mrs. Witherspoon.

"Hum, yes, I remember him."

"Well, his education did not prevent his having a thousand scraps of
knowledge."

"I should think not," Witherspoon replied. "No man's knowledge
interferes with his education."

"My uncle Harvey knew nearly everything," Mrs. Witherspoon went on.
"He could make a clock; and he was one of the best school teachers in
the country. I shouldn't think that education consists in committing a
few rules to memory."

"No, Caroline, not in the committing of a thousand rules to memory,
but without rule there is no complete education."

"I shouldn't think that there could be a complete education anyway,"
she rejoined, in a tone which Henry knew was meant in defense of
himself.

"Of course not," said the merchant, and turning from the subject as
from something that could interest him but little, he again took up
the newspaper project. "We'll investigate that matter to-morrow, and
if you are still determined to go into it, the sooner the better. My
own opinion is that you will soon get tired of it, in view of the
better advantages that I urge upon you, for the worries of an
experimental concern will serve to strengthen my proposal."

"I am resolved that in the end it shall cost you nothing," Henry
replied.

"Hum, we'll see about that. But whatever you do, do it earnestly, for
a failure in one line does not argue success in another direction. In
business it is well to beware of men who have failed. They bring bad
luck. Without success there may be vanity, but there can be but little
pride, little self-respect."

Henry moved uneasily in his chair. "But among those who have failed,"
he replied, "we often find the highest types of manhood."

"Nonsense," rejoined the merchant. "That is merely a poetic idea. What
do you mean by the highest type of manhood? Men whose theories have
all been proved to be wrong? Great men have an aim and accomplish it.
America is a great country, and why? Because it is prosperous."

"I don't mean that failure necessarily implies that a man's aim has
been high," said Henry, "neither do I think that financial success is
greatness. But our views are at variance and I fear that we shall
never be able to reconcile them. I may be wrong, and it is more than
likely that I am. At times I feel that there is nothing in the entire
scheme of life. If a man is too serious we call him a pessimist; if he
is too happy we know that he is an i