Part 108

Not long ago, Sir Roderick Murchinson discovered at Thurso, in the far north of Scotland, a profound geologist, in the person of a baker there, named Robert Dick. When (S. 4, N. 2) Sir Roderick called upon him at the bakehouse in which (S. 131, N. 4) he baked and earned his bread, Robert Dick delineated to him by means of flour upon a board, the geographical features and geological phenomena of his native country, pointing out its imperfections in the existing maps, which he had ascertained by travelling over the country in his leisure hours. On further inquiry, Sir Roderick ascertained that the humble individual before him was not only a capital baker and geologist, but also a first-rate botanist. “I found,” said the Director-General of the Geographical Society, “to my great humiliation, that this baker knew infinitely more of (S. 40, N. 9) botanical science, ay, ten times more, than I did; and that there were (S. 82, N. 7) only some twenty or thirty specimens of flowers which he had not collected. Some he had obtained as presents, some (= others) he had purchased, but the greater portion had been accumulated by his industry, in his native county of Caithness; and the specimens were all arranged in the most beautiful order, with their scientific names affixed.”—S. SMILES, “SELF-HELP.”

+gründlich.+

+dortig+, which use attributively before the noun ‘baker’; named, +namens+.

+in+.

+entwerfen+, insep. comp. str. v.

+mittels eines mit Mehl bestreuten Brettes.+

+Umrisse.+

Say ‘whereby he pointed out the imperfections’. To point out a thing, +auf etwas verweisen+, insep. comp. str. v.

Use the gen. of the def. art.

which — hours = of which (+wovon+) he had convinced himself on (+auf+) his travels through the country in his leisure hours (+Mußestunden+).

+Nach weiterer Prüfung.+

ascertained = learnt, +erfuhr+, from +erfahren+.

humble = modest; individual = man.

first-rate = considerable, +bedeutend+.

Here follow the words ‘of — science’ after which transl. the adv. ‘infinitely’, which is followed by ‘ay (+ja+) ten times more’ and the verb ‘knew’.

specimens of flowers, +Blumenarten+.

To obtain a thing as present, +etwas geschenkt erhalten+.

accumulated = collected. Where, and in what order, must the verbs be placed? Which voice must you use?—native, +heimisch+.

+Exemplar+, n.; pl. +e+.

+zusam´menstellen+, sep. comp. w. v.

and the scientific names everywhere (+überall+) affixed (+hinzu´fügen+), sep. comp. w. v.

Section 134.

THE GOSPEL OF WORK.

Work, hard work, is a blessing to the soul and the character of the man who works. Young men may not think so. They may say: “What more pleasant than to have one’s fortune made for one, and have nothing more before one than to enjoy life? What more pleasant than to be idle; or, at least, to do only what one likes, and no more than one likes?” But they would find themselves mistaken. They would find that idleness makes a man restless, discontented, greedy, the slave of his own lusts and passions, and see, too late, that no man is more to be pitied than the man who has nothing to do. Yes, thank God, every morning, when you get up, that you have something to do that day which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a (S. 132, N. 10) hundred virtues which the idle man will never know.

+schwer.+

+für.+

character = dignity. Turn ‘of — works’ by ‘of him (+dessen+) who (after which insert the adv. +da+) works.

men = people, +Leute+. =When ‘people’ signifies ‘persons’ in the general sense of the word, it is mostly rendered by +Leute+. In the signification of ‘nation’ it is rendered by +Volk+, n., corresponding to the Latin ‘populus’ and the French ‘peuple’.= In the first signification, however, we can often translate it by the indefinite pronoun ‘+man+’, which also corresponds to the English ‘=they=’, ‘=we=’, ‘=you=’, used in a general and indefinite sense.