kids, to
keep it from rolling back. Having given a hard lift, and tugging with
all his might, the father called out, "There, Johnny, put under your
block quick." John started nimbly, and snatched up his block, when
suddenly the loud chirp of a squirrel struck his ear. Instantly, down
went his block, and away he ran after the squirrel, leaving his father
and the other man to hold the log till he came back.

This anecdote gives you John's character. He was too fickle to follow
any one object or pursuit long enough to accomplish any thing. Thirty
years after this, a gentleman who had known him in his youthful days,
inquired about him of one of his neighbors, who related this anecdote,
and added, "_he has been running after squirrels ever since_." He never
was steady and persevering in pursuit of any thing. When he was a young
man, he could never make up his mind decidedly what employment to
follow. He would try one, and get tired of it, and take another; but
followed no business long enough to get well acquainted with it. When he
had a family, and found it necessary to make exertion, he was busy
early and late, but to little purpose. He moved from one place to
another; and "a rolling stone gathers no moss." He very often changed
his employment, and by that means lost all the advantage of past
experience. Now, he was a farmer, then a trader, then a post-rider, then
a deputy sheriff, then a mechanic, without having learned his trade. By
the time he had got fairly started in a new business, he would hear or
think of something else, and before any body thought of it, he would
change his business. In this way he wasted his money, and kept his
family poor, and neglected his children's education. He was always
_hunting the squirrel_.

Now, boys, don't hunt the squirrel. Whatever you begin, stick to it till
it is finished--done, and well done. If you always follow this rule
faithfully, you cannot fail of being somebody and doing something. But,
if you go through life hunting the squirrel, when you die, nobody can
tell what you have done, and the world will be neither wiser nor better
for your having lived in it.

SECTION II.--INDEPENDENCE OF CHARACTER.

There is a certain kind of Independence of Character, which is
indispensable to success in any undertaking. I do not mean a proud,
self-confident spirit, which despises advice, and makes one self-willed
and headstrong. This is _obstinacy_. But true independence is that sort