MODEST INTELLECTUALLY, YET SELF-RELIANT. TRAIN YOURSELF TO LOVE CORRECTION.—Remember these sayings from wise men:

"Whoso loveth correction loveth knowledge;
But he that hateth reproof is brutish."
—Proverbs.

"Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth correction;
But he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured."
—Proverbs.

"The beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of one's faults."
—Epicurus.

"He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck
Shall suddenly be broken, and that without remedy."
—Proverbs.

"Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee;
Reprove a wise man and he will love thee."
—Proverbs.

"Be not wise in thine own eyes."—Proverbs.

"The true beginning of wisdom is the desire of discipline."
—Wisdom of Solomon.

"Censure and criticism never hurt anybody. If false they can't hurt you unless you are wanting in manly character; and if true, they show a man his weak points, and forewarn him against failure and trouble."—Gladstone.

"If there's anything worse than knowing too little, it's knowing too much. Education will broaden a narrow mind, but there's no cure for a big head. The best you can hope is that it will swell up and bust, and then, of course, there's nothing left. Poverty never spoils a good man, but prosperity often does. It's easy to stand hard times, because that's the only thing you can do, but in good times the fool-killer has to do night work."—Lorimer: Letters from a Self-made Merchant to his Son at College.

Intellectual modesty is quite consistent with self-reliance and mental courage.

The study of books too often leads to intellectual arrogance, which is the surest bar to real mental progress. Realize the limitations of your own knowledge; see clearly what you know and what you do not know, otherwise you will see the things you know out of proportion. Make sure, however, that you know the fundamentals. Socrates said that a knowledge of our ignorance is the first step toward true knowledge, and a Persian proverb says:

"He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him.
He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child; teach him.
He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him.
He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise; follow him."

Ask yourself, which of these classes you belong to.

(i) REMEMBER THAT THE OBJECT OF STUDY SHOULD BE TO GAIN WISDOM, RATHER THAN KNOWLEDGE.—Facts are important and must be learned; but far more important is it to gain wisdom and to train the mind and judgment so that truth may be distinguished from error. As the poet says:

"Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,
Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men;
Wisdom, in minds attentive to their own.
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much,
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."

The above points all have to do with the mental attitude of the student, and may be summarized by simply stating that the student must be possessed of mental courage, self-reliance, discrimination, modesty, and caution, all in proper proportion.

[1] "He that questioneth much shall learn much."—Bacon.

[2] "Mendax in uno praesumitur mendax in alio."

[3] "There are always people ready to assume that things are what they are called, because it is much easier to deal with names than to examine facts."—Bryce: South America.

[4] "A wise man knows an ignorant one, because he has been ignorant himself, but the ignorant cannot recognize the wise, because he has never been wise."—Persian Proverb.

[5] "Table talk proves that nine out of ten people read what amuses them, rather than what instructs them, and proves also, that the last thing they read is something which tells them disagreeable truths or dispels groundless hopes. That popular education results in an extensive reading of publications which foster pleasant illusions rather than of those which insist on hard realities, is beyond question."—Spencer: The Coming Slavery.

II

STUDYING UNDERSTANDINGLY

The second essential which may be named, connected with the first, and already mentioned, but now to be discussed, is that the student should understand what he reads. This may seem almost a needless injunction, yet it is very surprising how commonly it is disregarded. It is, however, easy to understand why this should be so. A child, as it grows up, must gain all its knowledge either by the exercise of its own reasoning powers or from its senses. How does it learn the meaning of words? Certain nouns like "papa" or "cat" it may easily be made to understand by pointing at the object referred to and uttering the word, but how does it learn the meaning of abstract nouns, or of verbs and other parts of speech which cannot be illustrated by pantomime? It is almost inevitable that the child should use many words the meaning of which it does not understand, and when young children in school recite poetry at class-day exercises, it is almost certain that they do not understand the meaning of many of the words they use. Thus, it happens that they come into the habit of using words and phrases without carefully examining their meanings. This tendency should be counteracted from the earliest stage. The child should be continually asked the meanings of words which it uses, and should be encouraged itself to inquire as to those meanings and to take the proper mental attitude. The use of the dictionary should be insisted upon even from an early age, the object being to avoid the formation of the habit of using words or phrases unintelligently, which is one of the worst habits that one can acquire.

Professor James, in his interesting book, "Talks to Teachers," illustrates this habit by an amusing anecdote:

"A friend of mine visiting a school, was asked to examine a young class in geography. Glancing at the book, she said: 'Suppose you should dig a hole in the ground, hundreds of feet deep, how should you find it at the bottom—warmer or colder than on top?' None of the class replying, the teacher said: