you would--to ameliorate his physical condition, and you will improve
his moral one at the same time. For ourselves, we can only say that we
ever shall own Poor Jack as a messmate and a brother, and while we
have a shot in the locker, he shall freely share it, God help him!




INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE.


In a certain village in Switzerland, some years ago, there were heavy
complaints among all who possessed trees, that no fruit was safe; that
the children plundered it perpetually before it came to maturity; and
not only that, but that the green saplings had no security against
them. Another serious complaint was the barbarity of the children
towards all living creatures in their power. The clergyman, teacher,
and elders, often laid their heads together, to find some remedy for
this inhuman spirit, by which every child in the place was more or
less affected. They could not conceive why such a spirit should
prevail so specially in _this_ village; but they could find neither
cause nor remedy: all exhortations, all punishments, were in vain. The
clergyman of the village was changed; and the new minister was a great
friend to schools. His first walk was to the school-house. The vice of
the scholars had been made known to him, and the failure of all
preventive measures hitherto applied. But, determining within himself
to watch the whole course of proceedings in school, he soon perceived
that the teacher had a habit, and had acquired a singular dexterity in
it, of knocking down and killing flies with his cane, to the end of
which he had fastened a piece of leather. The windows were all on one