c. And Sir Walter Scott was
named," etc., etc., etc. All of which makes very pleasantly diversified
reading. Nat's kindness of heart paves the way to our learning, that,
"at the age of ten or twelve years, John Howard, the philanthropist, was
not distinguished above the mass of boys around him, except for the
kindness of his heart, and boyish deeds of benevolence. It was so with
Wilberforce, whose efforts, etc., etc., etc. And Buxton, whose
self-sacrificing heart," etc., etc. While Nat is swimming four rods
under water, we on shore are acquiring useful knowledge of the
Rothschilds, of Samuel Budget, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Buxton again, Sir
Walter Scott again, and the Duke of Wellington again. Nat walks to
Prospect Hill, and is attended by a suite consisting of Sir Francis
Chantrey, "the gifted poet Burns," "the late Hugh Miller," etc., who
also loved to look at prospects. Nat organized a debating-society,
(which by the way was, "in respect of unanimity of feeling and action, a
lesson to most legislative bodies, and to the Congress of the United
States in particular." Congress of the United States, are you
listening?) and "such an organization has proved a valuable means of
improvement to many persons." Witness "the Irish orator, Curran," with
biography; "a living American statesman," with biography; the "highly
distinguished statesman, Canning," more biography; "Henry Clay, the
American orator," with autobiography; and a meteoric shower of lesser
biographies emanating from Tremont Temple. Nat carried a book in his
pocket, and "Pockets have been of great service to self-made men. A more
useful invention was never known, and hundreds are now living who will
have occasion to speak well of pockets till they die, because they were
so handy to carry a book. Roger Sherman had one when he was a
hard-working shoemaker, etc., etc., etc. Napoleon had one in which he
carried the Iliad when, etc. etc., etc. Hugh Miller had one, etc., etc.,
etc. Elihu Burritt had one," etc., etc., for three pages, to which we
might add, from the best authority, the striking fact which our author,
notwithstanding the wide range of his reading, seems unaccountably to
have missed,--

"Lyddy Locket lost her pocket,
Lyddy Fisher found it,
Lyddy Fisher gave it to Mr. Gaines,
And Mr. Gaines ground it."

Allusion is here made to an important fact. _Mr. Gaines was a miller!_

Yet, with all this elucidation, we take shame to ourselves for