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NCE upon a time there lived in a hole in the pantry wall a family of mice. There was a father mouse and a mother mouse and three little baby mice. They were called the “Velvet family,” because their fur looked like soft, gray velvet.

One little mouse was named Sharpeyes (only they nicknamed him “Sharpy”) because his eyes were so sharp and bright. He could see everything, even in the darkest closets and holes. One was named Sniffy, because he could sniff and smell anything

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 can not risk. Sometime or other, if one is to learn to swim, he must be thrown into the water, and allowed to make the struggle alone. It is not likely to work any damage if some one is sufficiently interested to stand by and watch the struggle, and if drowning is imminent, which is seldom the case, to extend the helping hand. Usually the swimmer learns because he has to, as the muskrat was said to learn to climb a tree. Having been given preliminary training he must be allowed to work out his own methods; he may go under a few times and take in a little water, but he learns in the end to swim.

It is equally true of the college man. He must learn independence and self-reliance, and self-direction in the same way that young people learn to swim. One of the greatest sources of satisfaction to a college officer is to see how few suffer real disaster in the learning, and, when these unfortunate results do come, the trouble is quite as often at home as elsewhere, and would very likely have occurred no matter where the young man had been.

The matter of your associates is a serious one. The majority of the people with whom you are most intimately thrown you may very likely have ever seen before; of their habits and their ancestors you can at first know but little. You should use caution, if you are to choose wisely. You will be better off and safer in the end if you go slowly and look about you before you plunge into too fast friendships, either literally or figuratively. Your friends are most likely to be your making or your


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 undoing. You have your opportunity to choose them consciously, and you should do this with a full knowledge of what your choice may mean. Good friends will lead you in the right direction, will help you to cultivate healthy, right habits, and will aid you in getting out of your college course the best there is in it. I'll chosen friends may easily defeat all the right purposes for which you have come to college. Now, as always, a man is judged by the company he keeps.

All these problems are difficult, but they are possible of solution, and they are only a part of the training in the discipline of the mind and of the body which forms the major part of education.


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 good to eat, wherever it might be hidden. And the tiniest little mouse was named Squeaky, because he had such a squeaky, shrill little voice. He was constantly singing, “Ee-ee-ee.”

Now the mother-mouse was very wise, and she had taught her babies to scamper and hide whenever they saw the old cat tiptoeing about. The mother-mouse would say, “Beware of the cat!” and the little mice would run so quickly that although Mrs. Puss did not even mew or purr when she walked through the pantry, she never had been able to catch any one of the Velvet family. But many of their little cousins and other relatives had been caught by the old cat. So the little mice obeyed their mother and always hid when the cat was near.

The mother-mouse also warned her babies


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My Leisure Hours

 * My Leisure Hours (1888), a poetry collection by Samuel Foster Emery
 * My Leisure Hours (1825), a poetry collection by J. Quested

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 to beware of the trap. She said, “I know, Sniffy, you will smell the cheese, and Sharpy will peer into the queer, little, round house and see the cheese hanging there, and Squeaky will call to you all to come in and get a bite, but if you do not heed my words you will be caught with cruel springs and wires and choked to death. So mind what I tell you and do not eat any cheese unless I am with you.”

And the little mice answered, “Ee-ee-ee! Yes, Mother, yes. Ee-ee-ee!” in their little, shrill voices, and they promised to remember to do just what their mother told them.

I could not begin to tell you about all the frolics that those mice had together. But I will tell you about their Christmas party.


text: The High School Boy and His Problems

title: The High School Boy and His Problems


text: The High School Boy and His Problems/The High School Boy


text: The High School Boy and His Problems/The Course


text: The High School Boy and His Problems/Studies and Other Things


text: The High School Boy and His Problems/Examinations and Grades


text: The High School Boy and His Problems/The Leisure Hour


text: The High School Boy and His Problems/Books and Reading