Your blunderer is as sturdy as a rock, The creature is so sure to kick and bite, A muleteer’s the man to set him right. First appetite enlists him truth’s sworn foe, Then obstinate self-will confirms him so. Tell him he wanders; that his error leads To fatal ill; that though the path he treads Be flowery, and he see no cause of fear, Death and the pains of hell attend him there. In vain the slave of arrogance and pride, He has no hearing on the prudent side. His still refuted quirks he still repeats; New raised objections with new quibbles meets; Till sinking in the quicksand he defends, He dies disputing, and the contest ends. _Cowper._ * * * * * A set o’ dull conceited hashes, Confuse their brains in college classes! They gang in stirks, and come out asses, Plain truth to speak; An’ syne they think to climb Parnassus By dint o’ Greek. Gie me a spark o’ Nature’s fire, That’s a’ the learning I desire; Then tho’ I drudge thro’ dub an’ mire At pleugh or cart, My muse, tho’ hamely in attire, May touch the heart. _Burns._ * * * * * The man who looks around him as he walks Sees objects often wonderful and new; And he who thinks while his companion talks In time may grow the wiser of the two. An open eye--a quick, attentive ear Will lead the mind into the ways of knowledge; For all the world’s a universal college, And every one may be a learner here. Experience is the teacher: dear, indeed, Her charges are to thoughtless folks and fools; But those who follow carefully her rules The various tongues of nature learn to read. Who seldom ploughs his mind shall reap but little; Weeds quickly overspread the fallow soil; The toiler may be wearied by his toil, But it shall yield sufficiency of victual, Enough for his own use, and much to spare. To him who hath, abundance shall be given; From him who squanders wastefully his share, All that he has shall righteously be riven: The world shall make a proverb of his name, And he shall fill a sepulchre of shame. _MacKellar._ OAK GERANIUM.... _Friendship_. The Oak Geranium does not present so beautiful an appearance as the scarlet variety; but the pale blue colour of the flower, and the length of time which it continues in bloom, endear it to us as the emblem of true friendship. * * * * *