his ear to indolence as to the instigations of self-love. He makes use of his acquired knowledge to smooth the difficulties which he meets, and, distrustful of himself, keeps strict guard over himself. If circumstances not to be controlled oblige him to change his path, he still carries with him, into his new career, the same courage, the same perseverance, till the end-which man, born to labour and to suffer, ought to place before him—is attained; that is, till he arrives at the end of his career, without having been burdensome to any one, and after having been useful to those depending on him.”

"It is quite true," said Jacque Denoyer, shaking his head; "I must grant that; but it is very difficult, sir, especially when one is young."

"Jacque Denoyer, it is as the twig is bent the tree is inclined. It is in youth man receives those impressions, and that happy or unfortunate direction, the impress and feeling of which he preserves all his life. We ought constantly to repeat to the child an aim and a will, and constantly point out to him that, without an aim and without a will, man is nothing, does nothing, and will attain to nothing. The trade, profession, or calling, is but the means of arriving at an end. But these means are all-powerful, if we perseveringly use them-if we endeavour to carry them out to the utmost extent. You must not fancy, Jacque, that after a certain age it is not possible to acquire this will, in which consists all our strength. In youth, in order to form a will, we must obey. In riper age, in order to give ourselves a will, we need only will. You, for example, Jacque, have lost the season of your youth, and many opportunities which were presented to you; now you can take warning by your past errors. Know how to will, and you and your family will enjoy the only true happiness which exists here below. Have a firm will, and you will employ your already-acquired knowledge in acquiring more. Books will give you new ideas on gardening. Books will place before you all that refers to the care required by that most noble and useful of animals-the horse. You will learn to improve my fruit and kitchen gardens. You will multiply the horses of the Norman breed that I have just got. By increasing your master's revenue, you will enable him to do much more for you than his present fortune would permit. Your children will be brought up in the house. They will choose a trade; they shall be assisted in their apprentice fee, and aided in their establishment when they arrive at a proper age. Toinette and you, grown old in my service, will find protectors for your old age, and friends for your boys, in my children when I am no more. Behold the end, Jacque! Now your own will is all that is wanting."

As he pronounced these words, M. Grandville went away and continued his walk.

"The worthy man!" said Jacque Denoyer, gazing after him for some time; then drying his moistened eyelids with the back

of his hand, began to cut the tree which he had just grafted. "If every one would speak in that way," added Jacque Denoyer, 66 we should know the reason of things, and then they would Come, courage! The end is there, as M. Grandville said; now only the will is wanting, and, with God's help, it shall not be long so."

become easy.

M. Grandville was kind enough often to converse with his gardener. Their conversation always turned upon serious subjects-such, for instance, as the direction to be given to that early education which commences, if we may so speak, from the cradle; and upon the profit which men may derive from the happy and unhappy circumstances which mark the course of a long life.

"In whatever condition our lot may be cast," said M. Grandville one day, we shall always be able to get on if we have an aim and a will; and we shall always be respectable if we respect ourselves, and if the seeds of a pure morality have been developed in our heart. Yes, Denoyer, I am, as you have been told, the son of a peasant; and, thank God, I have never been foolish enough to be ashamed of it. A kind patron did for me what M. Imbert wished to do for you. Like you, I distinguished myself at the school where he had placed me. He was a notary at Bar-upon-Seine. He brought me home with him, and made me work in his study, which did not please me at all. He perceived my repugnance, and said to me, Grandville, now that you have received a certain education, and acquired a taste for a higher grade of life, you will find it hard to resign yourself to merely following the plough. If the profession of the law does not suit you, look well around you, and see what you would wish to embrace; but once having decided, let nothing induce you to change. Your father cannot leave you anything; your mother is getting old; you have a sister. If I am pleased with you, I will do more for you than you hope. Reflect, consider; consult your father, and decide.'

"I consulted my father; I reflected; I weighed the matter," continued M. Grandville; " and courageously I laid aside those books of science which had made me so happy, and surrounded myself only with law books. At my hours of recreation only I studied botany and natural history, of which I was passionately fond, and I often said to myself, How happy the rich must be! They can read whatever they like, and have cabinets full of curiosities out of the three kingdoms of nature. Then I little suspected that books and knowledge are less valued by the rich than might be expected. But I knew by experience that books and scientific pursuits ought only to be used as a recreation by him who must have a profession, and that his daily studies ought to have reference only to that profession. At the time of the Revolution of 1789, for I date very far back," continued M. Grandville, smiling, "I was the head clerk of M. Delaroche. This good old man perished in a riot, on account of the high price of corn. All France was fearfully convulsed. The notaries, with whom were

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deposited the title-deeds of the nobility and the principal inhabitants of the provinces, ran great risks. Mademoiselle Delaroche, whom I was to marry, was obliged to take refuge with her relations; and I, after having by her desire collected all the most valuable papers which were in the study, retired to my father's; and my first care on arriving there was to bury the title-deeds which I had saved under the floor of our cabin. The horrible tempest, in which so many families and properties were wrecked, ceased at last; order was beginning to be re-established; peace and calm again returned; and there were no more proscriptions. Some even dared to claim their rights, and regain their properties; and the head clerk of M. Delaroche, upheld by public esteem, became a notary in his turn. Then it was that I felt happy at having overcome my youthful repugnance to the profession. I was able to offer a home to my aged parents and my sister. The comforts by which they were surrounded were all the fruit of my labour. Soon after, Heaven blessed my union with Adelaide; my sister married a rich farmer of Buseuil; and at last the moment arrived when, without neglecting my business, and without extravagance, I could have a library composed of my favourite books. I also had a cabinet of specimens of natural history; a hortus siccus, shells, birds stuffed by my own hands; and, to my great happiness, I soon was in correspondence with learned men, who condescended to think me worthy of sharing the pleasure of their discoveries. My son has as little taste as myself for the profession of the law. My fortune enabling me to allow him to choose, he became a physician; and, residing at Paris, he has distinguished himself amongst the learned men of that great city. He is a member of several learned societies, and will one day perhaps be in the Academy. But, like his father, his daily studies have reference to the profession he has embraced; so that his name is already celebrated in the annals of medicine. I can only repeat to you, Denoyer-an aim and a will! With these you may attain to anything."

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Yes, sir, when one is young," replied the gardener sighing; "but at my age, and when one has wasted time and fair opportunities- ""

"The loss of time and fair opportunities is irreparable, is irremediable," replied M. Grandville. "You have now no other resource but to resign yourself to the obscure path which you have chalked out for yourself; but you may still, as I have already told you, render yourself useful to your master, and labour for your children's future good. It alone depends on you, Denoyer, not to be an ordinary gardener or groom. Study! Give but very little, indeed, of your time to books of mere amusement, that your children, guided by your example, may early wish to have an aim-may early feel the power of perseverance. If they are destined only for labourers, you will have at least the certainty that they will be good workmen, good characters, and happy

men. Good conduct always carries its reward with it; and the well-merited esteem of honest people lighten, even to the very poorest, the burden of each day. You will find it in your turn, Denoyer. You will then understand that in every rank general esteem may be obtained; and you will find that this general esteem is, to the man who possesses it, the best earthly source of innocent pleasure and moral strength."

may

How far Jacque Denoyer profited by the lessons of M. Grandville be judged of by his words to his son. "I was nearly forty years old when I entered his service; and at forty I was fit for everything, and good for nothing; and so true is this, that had not M. Grandville taken pity on us, and received us into his house, we should have all died of hunger. His kindness did not stop there; he made me examine my past conduct-he showed me that to change one's mind at every moment, if we may so speak, and to have no decided opinion, is the defect of persons who suffer themselves to be governed by passion rather than by reason; a defect which leaves them all their lives like so many grown children, and which proceeds from the want of the habit of reflecting upon what they see, and upon what they ought to do. It is in youth that this habit must be acquired; and then it becomes a safeguard against the commission of folly at an age when folly is inexcusable. Thus he taught me to reflect before I acted; and only from this day out was I a man. My son, an aim and a will, never forget that it is this which makes the man, which prevents him from being burdensome to any one, and which renders him useful to himself and to those who depend on him. You may one day be a father in your turn. Let your children learn from you what you now learn from me-that in order to attain the desired end, you must not wander from the path opened to you by your parents or friends; but that, on the contrary, you must concentrate on this one point all your faculties and all your powers: you must will one thing, and will it perseveringly."

STORIES OF AIMS AND ENDS.

SECOND STORY.

I.

IN the city of Nancy, in Lorraine, a district in the east of France, bordering on Germany, some time ago lived Hans Keller, a German by birth, who, after having spent some part of his life as a pedler, settled, with his wife Theresa, and his little daughter Florence. The family was obscure, and had few friends, but those who knew them respected them for their industry. By many they would have been considered poor; but poor is a wrong

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term to apply to persons who work for their living, and owe no man anything.

When Hans first settled in Nancy, he was doubtful of what means he should resort to for a living, and he unfortunately, from the effects of rheumatism, was unable to undertake any very active pursuit. Where, however, there is will, there is a way; and those who maintain a good character have seldom any difficulty in getting some one to help them forward. Hans could sew well, and so could his wife Theresa; to this accomplishment, therefore, they resolved, after some consideration, to look for subsistence. Making his desires known to a merchant with whom he formerly had dealings, he was recommended to a tailor as being an honest man, and from this person he and Theresa received employment. They were not, to be sure, intrusted with the principal articles of attire; but although they confined themselves to the sewing of vests, and other light articles, they found in that a means of decent livelihood.

Hans, as a German, knew the value of education, and he accordingly took care, even by pinching himself of comforts, to give his daughter Florence a little schooling. When we say that, with this good end in view, he actually gave up smokinga great sacrifice for a German-any one can judge of his anxiety to get his daughter forward. "Who knows," said he to his wife, "but Florence may one day be a credit to us. At all events, if she is not educated, she must be a drudge all the days of her existence, and I am determined to give her a chance of being something better than I am. Nothing like looking a little upward. Those who look down, run their head into the mire."

Theresa, a lively Frenchwoman, had an immense reverence for Hans's understanding, and cordially agreed in these wise observations. Hans, accordingly, had his daughter taught reading and writing at school, and he himself took pains to instruct her in arithmetic. He also spoke to her in German, so that, when only eight years of age, Florence spoke and read German and French with equal fluency.

Florence was a promising child, and took so readily to learning, that it was a pleasure to instruct her. Many a happy day did the father pass at his work, with his child by his side, conversing with her; telling her some of his old-world stories, or sounding the depths of her arithmetic lore, or trying to astonish her with the exhibition of his, by asking her to write for him in figures eleven thousand eleven hundred and eleven. The little girl tried till her father's smile told her she had succeeded. She had learned to sew, and thus was able to help her parents in their work; and by degrees occupations grew upon her, for, gentle and obliging, all her neighbours came to her to write letters for them to their friends, and in the evening she taught some children to read whom employment in the day prevented attending school. Every spare moment she had, she gave to any books she could