out of consideration accidents that depend on a dispensation higher than ours.
We see then that a large portion of the good organisation of schools consists of the proper division of work and of rest, and depends on the disposition of studies, intervals to relieve the strain, and recreation.
14. This can be attained by the skilful disposition of the time devoted to study. Thirty years seem insignificant, and are easily dismissed from the tongue. But these years include many months, more days, and countless hours.
In a single period of such duration much progress can be made, no matter how slow the process of advancement may be, provided it be continuous. We can see this in the growth of plants. It is impossible for the sharpest sight to perceive the process, since it takes place too gradually; but every month some increase is visible, and at the end of thirty years every one can see that the sapling has turned into a large and shady tree. The same holds good in the growth of our bodies. We do not see them growing, but only perceive that they have grown. So, too, with the acquisition of knowledge by the mind, as we learn from the well-known Latin couplet:
To a little add a little, and to that little yet a little more,
And in a short time you will pile up a large heap.
15. He who realises the natural strength of progress will easily understand this. From each bud a tree puts forth but one shoot yearly; but in thirty years the same tree will possess thousands of shoots, large and small, and leaves, blossoms, and fruit without number. Why then should it seem impossible to bring the activity of a man to any degree of intensity or fulness, and this in twenty or thirty years? Let us examine the matter more losely.
16. There are twenty-four hours in a day, and if, for the daily uses of life, we divide these into three parts, setting aside eight hours for sleep, and the same number for the external needs of the body (such as care of the health, meals, dressing and undressing, agreeable recrea-
