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Show THE DISCIPLINE OF DRUDGERY. A "liberal education" is a capital thing, and the thousands of young men who are now honored with the title of A. B. are to be congratulated upon the good fortune that has permitted them to acquire the mental discipline resulting from a four years' course of academic study. But these young men must not make the mistake of supposing that this discipline is at all sufficient preparation for the higher calling of life. That is the young men who propose to enter any of the branches of professional life for instance, must not imagine that the fact of their having a college education will permit them to leap to the top rung of the ladder at once. The discipline they have is valuable, but chiefly so as a basis for the acquirement of practical knowledge, without which success is impossible. By practical knowledge we mean acquaintance with the minutiae or little details which go to make up all occupations. Such knowledge a college education can not give and is not intended to give. It is only to be acquired by patient application. The discipline of a college curriculum must be supplemented by another kind of discipline, ??, the discipline of drudgery. No one, however largely endowed with mental power, can be exempted from the necessity of acquiring this discipline. It is far more essential to success than the discipline furnished by a college course.-New Haven ??. |