Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children | Page 9

have, I am sure, fully determined
to make the most of your time. The time which you must necessarily
pass in Oxford, in order to take your bachelor's degree, is but little after
all. Your whole actual residence, during the three years, will probably
not much exceed a year and a half. Certainly, of this modicum of time
you cannot afford to waste any portion. Make a point of devoting it to
real study, to real strenuous exertion. You owe this to yourself--to your
own credit and character; you owe it to your parents, who have
probably put themselves to some pecuniary inconvenience, in order to
give you the advantage of an Oxford education; you owe it to God, to
whom you are responsible for the employment of your time, as well as
for the proper use of your other talents. Fix in your mind and memory

the lesson taught you by the sun-dial in the Quadrangle at All
Souls--"Pereunt et imputantur;" or that of another similar monitor--"Ab
hoc momento pendet æternitas." Take time for exercise; take time for
relaxation; but make steady reading your object and your business. Do
not be so weak, or so unmanly, or so vain, as to be ashamed of being
known to read. You went to Oxford on purpose to study; why should
you be ashamed of keeping that purpose in view?
In the choice of your studies, be guided implicitly by the advice of your
tutor. Very likely you may not see the use of some branches of science,
or of reading some particular books. But do not fancy that in such
matters you are wiser than older men, who have maturely considered
these things again and again. If you mean to be your own guide and
your own teacher, you had better have staid away from Oxford
altogether. It is one great advantage of academical education, that a
definite course of reading is marked out for you. When a young
man,--indeed, when any man,--is left entirely to his own choice, he is
apt to be distracted by the many different branches of study, the many
different books, which present themselves, and to fall into a habit of
desultory reading, productive of little lasting benefit. You are saved
from this distraction and perplexity, throwing upon other shoulders the
trouble and responsibility of making a proper choice.
I believe almost every tutor now in Oxford, will direct his pupils to
devote a certain portion of their time to the highest of all studies--the
study of religion. Some knowledge of religion is absolutely
indispensable, in order to pass your examination for your degree. But
independently of all academical objects, you cannot help feeling
satisfied that time so employed, is employed well and wisely. Such
study, with the blessing of God upon it, will be beneficial to you
through the whole of your future existence, both in this world and the
next.
Among the many advantages of an university education, must be
reckoned the opportunity of attending public lectures, such lectures
especially, as are illustrated, by an expensive philosophical apparatus,
or by the inspection of actual specimens. The experiments conducted

by means of such apparatus, and the handing round of specimens, are
not only absolutely essential, oftentimes, to the comprehension of the
science to which they belong, but contribute powerfully to fix it in the
memory. If you can spare the time from your severer studies, and if
your tutor does not disapprove, I should strongly advise you to attend
in succession the lectures on natural philosophy,--on chemistry,--on
mineralogy,--and on geology. Some acquaintance with these sciences,
is in itself so interesting and useful, and is now so general, that you
ought not, I think, to miss your present opportunity of acquiring it: so
favourable an opportunity you will hardly meet with again.
Much may be done by a judicious distribution of your time. When you
have made such a distribution, keep to it steadily. Be peremptory with
yourself in adhering to it, and be peremptory in preventing others from
encroaching upon it,--from encroaching upon it, at least, unnecessarily.
I suppose that, upon the average, you may get four or five hours' steady
reading before dinner, and three or four after. This will leave you
abundant time for exercise, for relaxation, and for society. Certainly it
will not spare you any for mere lounging; either for lounging yourself,
or being lounged upon by others. If you cannot avoid the latter by any
other means, you will be reduced to the alternative of shutting your
door, or, if that term is still in use, of sporting oak against them. If they
reproach you, set them, as their punishment, to read the paper in the
Idler on the robbery of time[62:1].
Either of your time, or of your money, waste as