bserve the
most minute details, therefore they can form correct conclusions, when it
is a question of things that are familiar to them.

A peasant who has been taught by nature will be more skilled in
prophesying about the weather than others.

He will also know how to assign a limit to the daily working hours, at
the same time stating the maximum time which one can give without
developing repulsion, which follows excesses of all kinds.

In his thought, very simple, but very direct, will be formulated this
perfect reasoning:

Health is the first of all blessings, since without it we are incapable
of appreciating the other joys of life.

If I compromise this possession I shall be insensible to all others.

It is, therefore, indispensable that I should measure my efforts, for,
admitting that a certain exaggerated labor brings me a fortune, I shall
not know how to enjoy it if illness accompanies it.

This is the logic which is called practical sense.

Yoritomo continues, saying that there is a very close connection between
the faculty of judging and that of deducing.

"Practical sense, allied to common sense, comes to the assistance of the
latter, when it is tempted to reject the chain of analogy, whose
representation too often draws one far from the initial subject.

"It facilitates coordination, clearness, and precision of thought.

"It knows how to consider contingencies, and never fails to have a clear
understanding of relative questions."

And to illustrate his theory, he cites us an example which many of our
young contemporaries would do well to remember.

"There was," said he, "in the village of Fu-Isher, a literary man, who
wrote beautiful poems.

"He lived in great solitude, and no one would have heard of his existence
if it had not been that my master, Lang-Ho, while walking in the woods
one day, was attracted by the harmonious sounds of poetry, which this
young man was reciting, without thinking that he had any other listeners
than the birds of the forest.

"Lang-Ho made himself known to him and began to question him.

"He learned that he did not lack ambition, but, being poor, and having no
means of approaching those who would have been able to patronize him, he
was singing of nature for his own pleasure, waiting patiently until he
should be able to influence the powerful ones of the earth to share his
appreciation.

"Lang-Ho, touched by his youth and his ardor, pointed out to him the
dwell