on; but their circumstances in
life seem to forbid the attempt. There are many examples, which afford
them encouragement to make the attempt. A large proportion of the men
who have risen to the highest distinction, have struggled against the
same difficulties which they have to encounter; and, when they see what
has been done by others, they will perceive that it can be done by
themselves.

_Sir Isaac Newton_.

When Sir Isaac Newton was a boy he was employed in servile labor.
Sometimes he was sent to open the gates for the men that were driving
the cattle to market. At other times, he carried corn to market, or
attended the sheep. One day his uncle found him in a hay-loft, working
out a mathematical problem, and he was sent to school. There he
discovered his great and various talents. At the age of eighteen he was
sent to the University at Cambridge, England, where he soon
distinguished himself.

_Benjamin West_.

West, the celebrated painter, early manifested a genius for this art.
His first attempt was made with pens, and red and black ink, upon a
portrait of his sister's child, lying in the cradle. For a long time he
had no pencil. Having been told that they were made of camel's hair, he
pulled hairs out of the tail of a cat, of which he made his first brush.

_Other eminent Persons_.

Dr. Franklin was the son of a tallow-chandler, and served an
apprenticeship to a printer; Rev. Dr. Scott, author of the Commentary,
was employed in the most laborious work on a farm; William Gifford, one
of the most celebrated literary men of his age, was an apprentice to a
shoemaker, and wrought out his problems in algebra on a piece of
sole-leather, with the point of an awl.

SECTION III.--DISLIKE OF STUDY.

LATIN AND LABOR.

John Adams, the second President of the United States, used to relate
the following anecdote:

"When I was a boy, I had to study the Latin grammar; but it was dull,
and I hated it. My father was anxious to send me to college, and
therefore I studied the grammar, till I could bear it no longer; and
going to my father, I told him I did not like study, and asked for some
other employment. It was opposing his wishes, and he was quick in his
answer. 'Well, John, if Latin grammar does not suit you, you may try
ditching; perhaps that will; my meadow yonder needs a ditch, and you may
put by Latin and try that.'

"This seemed a delightful change, and to the meadow I went. But I soon
found ditching harde