who can dress my dinner, the baker who bakes bread for me, the smith who
knows how to shoe my horses, the writing-master who undertakes to teach
my children to write, can all earn money for themselves, and make
themselves independent.--And you may remark that, of all those I have
mentioned, the writing-master is the most respected, and the best paid.
There are some kinds of knowledge, and some kinds of labour, that are
more highly paid for than others. But I have said enough to you, Jervas,
for the present: I do not want to lecture you, but to serve you.--You
are a young lad, and have had no experience; I am an old man, and have
had a great deal: so perhaps my advice may be of some use to you.'

"His advice was indeed of the greatest use to me: every word he said
sunk into my mind. I wish those who give advice to young people,
especially to those in a lower station than themselves, would
follow this gentleman's example; and, instead of haranguing with the
haughtiness of superior knowledge, would speak with such kindness as to
persuade at the same time that they convince.

"The very day that Mr. Y---- spoke to me in this manner, he called me
in, that I might tell his eldest grandson the names which we miners give
to certain fossils that had been sent him from Cornwall; and, after
observing to the boy that this knowledge would be useful to him,
he begged me to tell him exactly how the mine, in which I had been
employed, was worked. This I did, as well as I was able; and imperfect
as my description was, it entertained the boys so much that I determined
to try to make a sort of model of the tin-mine for their amusement.

"But this I found no easy task; my remembrance, even of the place in
which I had lived all my life, was not sufficiently exact to serve me,
as to the length, height, breadth, &c. of the different parts; and