Whose voices mingled as they prayed They that with smiles lit up the hall, MRS. HEMANS. THERE is no greater difference between an intelligent boy and an ignorant one than this, that the one knows how to make a proper use of his eyes, and the other does not. The intelligent boy, whether he is walking in the streets of a town, or strolling about the fields in the country, is always attentive to what is passing on around him; he sees and notices everything that is strange, examines it with care, and never rests satisfied till he understands all about it. He can give you a long and interesting account of everything that he sees; if you are a stranger to the town, he can guide you to all the fine buildings, and knows something about their uses; and can shew you all the objects of interest which strangers like to visit. If you fall in with him on a country road he is as good as a guide-book; he knows the names of all the lakes, rivers, and hills that you pass; he can shew you everything that is worth looking at in the old castles, and can tell you, besides, stories about their history; and can lead you to the spots where the finest views are to be got. If you are fond of trees, he knows where the largest trees in the neighbourhood are; there is not a tree with anything strange about it for miles round that he has not seen, and does not know the way to. If you are a botanist, you may be sure that he will be able to assist you; there are few unusual flowers that he has not noticed; he has learned to distinguish even the ferns and mosses; and as such a boy will know how to make a proper use of his ears as well as his eyes, he will be constantly extending his knowledge whenever he meets with any stranger able to gratify his curiosity. How different is the boy who has never learned to make a proper use of his eyes! His eyes may indeed be open as he walks about, but you can see from his vacant stare that they might as well be shut, for he notices nothing, and if you ask him five minutes afterwards, he will not be able to tell you what like the thing was that he was looking at. Should you ask him the way to any street, you may think yourself fortunate if he direct you right; if you inquire the distance to any place, it will be a rare accident if he can tell you, though it is marked on the mile-stones which he passes every day. You pass a large building and ask him about it, but he has little information to give he is not sure whether it is a church, or an hospital, or a theatre, or a public hall; you wish to know where some small object of interest is to be seen, and he tells you that he never noticed it. You do not need to be told which of these two boys is most likely to receive kindness from the hand of a stranger; or if they be brothers, which of them is most likely to be chosen as a companion by his parents in any excursion. But without speaking of this, how many sources of pleasure the one boy has, which are quite unknown to the other! The one who has not learned to make a proper use of his eyes is often quite at a loss for any means of amusing himself; he saunters lazily along the streets, or walks listlessly through the woods, and if he cannot get companions he comes home wearied and |