In this paper, a novel type of feed-forward neural network with a simple structure is proposed and investigated for pattern classification. Because the novel type of forward neural network's parameter setting is mirrored with those of the Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), it is termed the mirror extreme learning machine (MELM). For the MELM, the input weights are determined by the pseudoinverse method analytically, while the output weights are generated randomly, which are completely different from the conventional ELM. Besides, a growing method is adopted to obtain the optimal hidden-layer structure. Finally, to evaluate the performance of the proposed MELM, abundant comparative experiments based on different real-world classification datasets are performed Experimental results validate the high classification accuracy and good generalization performance of the proposed neural network with a simple structure in pattern classification