When he had finished, the teacher talked with him very plainly about his indolent habits in school, and the consequences that would hereafter result from them.
"I would advise you," he said, "to do one of two things,--either commit your lessons perfectly, hereafter, or else give up study entirely, and ask your father to take you from school and put you to some business.
You can learn as fast as any boy in school, if you will only give your attention to it; but I despise this half-way system that you have fallen into.

It is only wasting time to half learn a thing, as you did your geography lesson this afternoon.

You studied it just enough to get a few indistinct impressions, and what little you did learn you were not sure of.

It would be better for you to master but one single question a day, and then _know_ that you know it, than to fill your head with a thousand half-learned, indefinite, and uncertain ideas.

I have told you all this before, but you do not seem to pay any attention to it.