The Boy's Friend; Or the Maxims of the Cheerful Old Man (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1837 Excerpt: ... A PUZZLING QUESTION. Come riddle me right, thou ruddy-faced boy, A question I put to thee: As vast as the frame of this wonderful world, And as deep as the fathomless sea, "And what, think you, is the noblest, and the most useful invention that ever presented itself to the mind of man?" This question was put to me by a watchmaker of the City Road, London, while I stood talking with him on different subjects, and examining a watch which he had just repaired for me. The question was so vast, that it set my ideas afloat. I began to enumerate and amplify in my mind the splendid achievements of human intellect and ingenuity. I thought of languages, of printing, of the mariner's compass, of gravity, of the steam-engine, of the watch, the telescope, and the microscope; but, no none of these were allowed by the watchmaker to be proper answers, and then he told me it was a pair of spectacles. At first I laughed heartily at so mouse-like an answer to so mountainous a question; but was soon convinced, that a pair of spectacles communicates the faculties of youth to the wisdom of age, and enables a man to commit to posterity the experience of his whole life. I will not absolutely say that the watchmaker was right, but I will say that I never thought so highly of a pair of spectacles before that time as I have done since; and that, for some very pleasant speculations on this and other matters, I am much indebted to my good friend the watchmaker. SHIP OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. THE FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. Ambitious, ardent hopes, and golden dreams, Her towering madness, and her wild extremes, Unfold this sacred truth to reason's eye--That man was made for immortality. H. Moore. You must be fond of voyages and travels, because all young people are fond of them: let...