There is plenty to learn outside of school-houses, and I don't mean to shut you up just when you most need all the air and exercise you can get.

Good health, good principles, and a good education are the three blessings I ask for you, and I am going to make sure of the first, as a firm foundation for the other two." "But, mother, what becomes of college ?" asked Frank, rather disturbed at this change of base.
"Put it off for a year, and see if you are not better fitted for it then than now." "But I am already fitted: I've worked like a tiger all this year, and I'm sure I shall pass." "Ready in one way, but not in another.

That hard work is no preparation for four years of still harder study.

It has cost you these round shoulders, many a headache, and consumed hours when you had far better have been on the river or in the fields.

I cannot have you break down, as so many boys do, or pull through at the cost of ill-health afterward.
Eighteen is young enough to begin the steady grind, if you have a strong constitution to keep pace with the eager mind.