J IE DOLLAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. TOWANDA : Thursday Morning, February 16, 1860 Scledcii |!oefrj. THE FRESENT IS THE GOOD TlI&E. BY TV. G. MILLS. I hate the whine of discontent That marks the age we live in, That speaks of olden times well spent, To our forefathers given ; Some sing their wealth and competence, And some their worth are humming ; While some despise their taste and sense, And sing, " The good time's coming.'' What though the future may be great, •Or past were good and pleasant, "We have no share in cither state, Our duty's in the present! They'll have their wants and trials too ; Their light is not still shining ; And we've enough within our view To keep us from repining. The landscape's love'y to the eye, When we from distance view it; Yet there are faults we may descry Whene'er we ramble through it; But while the scenes before, behind, With beauty arc abounding, We may be able liere to view Some charms our steps surrounding. The times we have, with some regret, To our seed will be " olden And they, with unborn poets yet, Will call this period golden ! And they may chant their graceful lays, Their future bliss, up-summing, Just as we sing of by-gone days, And long for better coming. Then let such murmuring feelings die. That long for other ages ; The blessings tliat we now enjoy Will shine on history's pages ; The lu-st philosophy for man. Life's present cares enduring, Is note to do the best lie can. Thus future bli ks securing. Wilson's Exposure of Disunion Threats. What was said in 1856. In bis able speech in the Senate, Mr. Wil son brought together the disunion threats of 1856, and compared them with the threats made at this time. He said : Sir, when that uncertain contest was going on, when Hie election of Fremont seemed to the leaders of the democracy not only possible but probable, the senator from Louisiana (Mr. Slidell), one of the most skilful leaders of the slave democracy—the acknowledged friend and champion of Mr. Buchanan—declared to the country that "if Fremont should be elected the Union would he disolvcd." The bold, dashing and out spoken senator from Georgia (Mr Toombs), declared, with emphasis, that "if Fremont was elected the Union wouid he dissolved and ought to he dissolved." The senator from Virginia (Mr. Maon), then, as now, at the head of the Commit tee on Foreign flairs, who avowed on the floor of the Son ate that " the South has the right to the nat ural expansion of slavery as an element of political power," declared in a public letter that, unless the aggression upon the rights of the South, as he was pleased to designate the resistance of the people of the North against slavery extension, ceased, he was for " the separation of these states." Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, then a leading member of the body, which placed him at the head of the im portant Committee on the Judiciary, said : "When Fremont is elected, we must rely upon what we have—a good state government. Kvery Governor of the South should cali the legislature of his state together, and have measures of the South decided upon. If they did not, and suffered the degradation, they\irout<l deserve the fate, of slaves. I should advise my legislature to go at the lap of the drum." Sir, I might quote other declarations of senators, in which these ideas are expressed— bat I must pass on In the House, as the records will boar evidence, these sentiments were profusely uttered by the men who upheld the course of oppression in Kansas, and dic tated the policy of the democratic party. Mr. Keitt, in a fiery and vehement speech to the peo: le of Lynchburg, Virginia, exclaimed, in view of the apprehended election ot Fremout: "I tell yon now, that if Fremont is elected, adherance to the Union is tieason to liberty [Loud cheers.] I tell you now, that the southern man who will submit to his election is a traitor and a ccxeard. [Enthusiastic cheers J" This speech, so contemptuous, so defiant to wards the people of the North, so emphatic in its avowals of disunion, was promptly endorsed as " sound doctrine " by John B. Floyd, now Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of War—a gentle man of whom the Boston Post, the leading administration organ in New England, in 1850, said " henceforth he must be treated as a dis uniooist, and the most dangerous of them all." In the autumn of 185G, Mr. Brooks, of South Carolina, received from the people of his dis trict an ovation. Senator Butler, and the senator from Georgia (Mr. Toombs) attended, and other southern democratic leaders sent ap plauding letters. To the assembled people of bis district Mr. Brooks said : " We have the issue upon ns now ; and how are we to meet it? I tell you, fellow citizens, from the bottom of my heart, that the only mode which I think available for meeting it is just to tear the Constitution of the United Stairs, trample it under foot, and form a southern con feeler aty, every stale of vhuh uul lea slave holding stale [Loud and prolonged cheers,] 1 believe it, as I stundinthe face ot my Mak er ; I believe it on my responsibility to yon as your honored representative, that the only hope uf the South is in the South, and that the only available menus of making I hat hope effect ire is to cut asunder the. bonds (hat tie us together, and take our separate position in the family of na j /ions. These are my opinions. They have always been my opinions. I have, fee n a disun ionist from the time I could think." ***** * " I speak as a man—as a private gentleman J —as a slaveholder ; and I tell yon that onr hope is alone in the South ; and the only mode of making that hope available, is for the South, by some ad, to effect a dissolution of the Ameri can Union. And I say this : that if John C. Fremont is elected President of the United Stutes, our people ought to have sense enough to know that the issue is upon them, and can uot be avoided." * * * * " I speak on my individual responsibility : if Fremont be el'cted President of the United States, lam for the people in their majesty ris ing above the laic and leaders, tr king the power into tkeir oicn tinds, going by concert or not by concert, and laying the strong arm of southern freemen upon the Treasury and archives of the government. [Applause.]" These emphatic avowals of disunion were applauded by the people who had, by a unani mous vote, sustained his action, and coinmis missioned him to speak for them in this Capi tol. Well might the Charleston Mercury de clare, as it has, that— " Upon the policy of dissolving the Union, of separating the South from her northern ene mies, and establishing a southern confederacy, parties, presses, politicians and people, were a unit. There is not a. single public man irithin her limits, not one. of her present representatives or senators in Congress, who is not pledged to the lips in favor of disunion. Indeed, we well remember that one of the most prominent lead ers of the cooperation party, when taunted with submission rebuked the thought by saying, " that in opposing secession, he only took a step backward to strike a more deadly blow against the Union.' " Sir, tiie erratic, aspiring, blustering Wise, who "would introduce slavery into the heart of the North," who "would allow slavery to pour itself out without restraint, and find no limit but the Southern Ocean," in the autumn of 1850 told the people of Virginia that— " The South could not. without degradation, submit to tire election of a Black Republican President To tell nte f should submit to the election of a Black Republican, unde r circum stances like these, is to tell uie that Virginia and the fourteen slave states are already sub jugated and degraded [cheers] —that the south ern people are without spirit, and without pur pose to defend the rights they know and dare not maintain. [Cheers.J If you submit to the election of Fremont, you will prove what Seward and IJuriingame said to he true—that the South cannot be kicked out of the Union." II e avowed his readiness to put t lie military force of Virginia upon a war footing ; and lie gave the valorous assurance to his disunion associates that " the chivalry " of Virginia " would hew its bright way through all oppos ing legions." Rumor said, and I believe truly, that this democratic aspirant to the Presidency held correspondence with southern Governors, to concert measures preparatory to disunion ; that he and his disunion compeers organized a plot to seize the arsenal at Harper's Ferry ; to take possession of the Navy Yard at Nor folk, and inaugurate rebellion, revolution and disunion, in the event of Fremont's success. — The Washington correspondent of the New Orleans Delta, a journal high in the confidence of the Pierce administration, wrote : "It is already arranged, in the event of Fremont's election, or a failure to elect by the people, to call the legislatures of Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, to concert mea sures to withdraw from the Union before Fre mont can get possession of the army and navy and the purse-strings of government. Gover nor Wise is acfirelyat icork already in I lie mat ter. The South ran ri/y cn the President in the emergency contemplated. The question now is, whetner the people of the South will sustain their leaders." Mr. Corry, of Ohio, reports Mr. Banks, of Virginia, as having sa d to him, a few days after the election in IBSG, that: " The South would have dissolved the Un ion if Fremont had been elected President of the United States ; that Governor Wise and the Virginia leaders were ready to take the field—march on Washington, depose the fed eral officers, take the treasury, archives, build ings, grounds, ike.—declare the confederation de facto overthrown. He said the thing would have been easy ; there were thirty thousand men ready ; twenty thousand cavalry ; sets of accoutrements ; that the public mind was suf ficiently exeited to overcome all domestic re sistance, and that they could whip the North iu the light." Tlifs is the Mr. Banks who once edited a paper in Virginia, who avowed that he hated free schools, and everything that was free—a gentleman who was supported by the democ racy for Clerk of the other House, and who was connected with the public printing for the last Congress. , Evidence of the disloyal, revolutionary, and treasonable course of Henry A. Wise is also furnished by Charles J. Faulkner, late repre sentative of the Harper's Ferry district, chair man of the congressional democratic commit tee in 1856, and now Minister to France. At a democratic meeting recently held in A irginia over which Mr. Faulkner presided, he suid : " When that noble and gallant son of \ ir gitiia, Henry A. Wise, declared, as was said lie did in October, 1856, that, if Fremont should be elected, he would seize the national arsenal at Harper's Ferry, how few would at that time have justified so bold and decided a measure ? It i§ the fortune of some great and gifted minds to see in advance of their cotemporaries. Should William II Seward be elected iu IBGO, where is the man now in oor inidst who would not call for the impeachment of a Governor of Virginia who would silently suffer that arm* 'UBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH. " REOARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANT QUARTER." ory to pass under the control of such au ex ecutive head ?" This " noble and gallant son of Virginia" who, in 1850, '* saw far in advance o( his con temporaries," who was ready, if Fremont had been elected, " to seize the arsenal at Ilurper's Ferry,*' is now looking with hungry eye to the Charleston Convention,and is now the applaud ed and favorite hero of a class of men ih the North, who are stammering into the ears of a doubting people their uxorious love of the Un ion ; and this democratic orator, who would demand -the impeachment of a governor of Virginia if he should permit the arsenal at Harper's Ferry to pass under the coutrol of William II Seward, if elected to the Presi dency, is nominated hy a democratic President, and confirmed by the united voice of the dem ocratic senators, to represent the republic at the court of Louis Napoleon. This democratic administration, and this democratic party, which invokes the support of the Union-loving conservative men of the free states, sent to the proudest monarchy of the Old World, the man wiio uttered this insurrectionary and dis loyal sentiment. Yes, sir ; democrats, with the accents of Union upon their lips, sanction the appointment of a man who is avowedly in favor of civil war ami disuhion. Let the real friends of law, of order, of the unity of the lit public, mark and remembar this want of fi delity to the Union by the administration, and the men who lead the democratic party. Sir, the Richmond Enquirer, the leading democratic organ south of the Potomac, dur ing the canvass of 1860, avowedly advocated disunion. That expoueut of the slave democ racy said; " Sumner and Sumner's friends must be pun ished and silenced. Either such wretches must lie hung or put in the penitentiary, or the South should prepare at ouce to quit the Union." "If Fremont is elected the Union will not last an hour after Mr. Pierce's term expires." " If Fremont is elected it will be the duty of. the South to dissolve the Union and form a southern confederacy." " Let the South present a compact and un divided front. Let her, if possible, detach Pennsylvania and southern Ohio, southern In diana, and southern Illinois from the North, and make the highlands between the Ohio and the lakes the dividing line. Let the South treat witir California ; and, if necessary, ally herself with Russia, with Cuba, and Brazil." Sir, this journal, which, during the canvass, had avowed the rankest disunion sentiments— this journal, which had been the trumpet of the alarmists, aficr the election had been won by the aid, the " material aid,'' of alarmed and quaking conservatism, very naively announced to the victims of this disunion panic, that " Governor Wise threatened disunion only to save the Union !" Yes, sir ; the valiant Wise, ready to put the military force of his domin ions on a war footing ; ready to hew his bright way through all opposing legions ; ready to seize Harper's Ferry, "only threatened disun ion to save the Union !" Patriotic Wise ! Who, iu view of the sagacious patriotism of that " noble and gallant son of Virginia,'' will not accept the tribute of the admiring Faulk ner, that "it is the fortune of sonic great and gilted minds to see far in advance of their con temporaries ?" May not shivering, despairing conservatism indulge the faint hope that other " noble and gallant sons of Virginia," and of the sunny South, may, in humble imitation of the far-seeing Wise, he " threatening disunion only to save the Union?" We are entering, Mr. President, upon anoth er Presidential election ; another great strug gle for supremacy in the national councils be tween the opposing forces of slavery extension and slavery restriction. The nation once more presents to mankind "the interesting spectacle of justice in conflict with avarice and oppres sion." This " conflict" is stirring the country to its profoundest depths. Conscious of their waning power, the advocates of slavery expan sion are again haughtily menacing the disso lution of the Union in the event of their de feat by the people. Again, in the public press, in assemblages of the people, in state legisla tures, and in these chambers, disloyal and rev olutionary threats are made to intimidate the people. IVOLLIXG SNOW ON WHEAT FIELDS. —The correspondent of the Toronto Globe, who ad vocates this practice, under certain conditions, is right. If the snow comes, as is sometimes the case, before the gound freezes, and suc ceeding tyiows follows so as to prevent the after-freezing of the ground, winter wheat and rye, tinder such a condition, are liable to witw ter-kili, or rather, to smother. The plants under the snmv, when the ground is unfrozen, are in a growing condition, and use all the oxygen within their reach. The snow prevents the admission-of any more, and the plants be come diseased, and soon after the snow melts off' in the spring they die ; the leaves turning white, resembling narrow white tape. One of the essential conditions of the life of all organ ized beings, whether vegetable or animal, ts a supply of oxygen. But when the ground is deeply frozen before the snow comes, then the plants cease to grow, and require neither ox ygen, nor any other element. If the ground is not frozen when the first six, eight or twelve inches of snow comes, the passage of a heavy roller over the snow will so compress it that the ground will freeze by the first cold weath er, almost as readily as if there was no snow on the field ; and the plants hybervate, as it were, and will come out bright and healthy as the snow disappears. I think, Messrs. Editors, you have hundreds of farmer readers tvho can corroborate the above views. SEED CORN. —Every farmer should know that it seed corn is frozen before it is dry, its vitality is destroyed. If farmers will take care that their seed corn is gathered in season to get thoroughly dried before it freezes, there will be uo danger of a strange uud mysterious failure of seed corn, if the corn is ripe, or i nearly ripe, when it is gathered. Johnny Beedle's Sleigh Ride. BY JOHN XEAL. As I was going past Mr. Josh Barter's tavern the other day, I heard a terrible noise in the bar room, and thinks I, I'll just put my head in, and see what's the matter. " Whoor ah !" realed a heap of fellows, " liere'§ Johnny Beedle, he'll go and that will make ten and they haol'd tne in among them. " What's the occasion ?" says I. " A sleigh ride, over to Shaw's (every body goes to Shaw's that goes a sleigh riding) with fiddle and frolic 1" " Whoorah I" says I. " I motion," says I)r. Patridge, " that every gentleman go right off now, and get his sleigh and his lady, and meet at Hank's corner and with another whoorah, we burst out of doors, and scattered. I ran full spead to the widow Bean's. Her daughter Patty is the handsomest girl in Casco bay. I had given her some pretty broad hints, and only waited for a good chance to pop the question. And out it shall come, this Very night, says I. I bounced into the widow- Bean's out of breath, and was near catching Putty in the suds. She was just done washing, and was wringing out, standing in the midst of tubs, mops and kettles. She was struck all of a heap at the sight of her spark, and would have blushed nicely, I guess, if she hadn't been as she could be, already. " A word in your eur, Patty," says I, giving her the wink, and stepping into the corner, I told her what was brewing. " I'll run and borrow the dea con's sleigh, and coine back right away," says I. "O, you needn't he in such a tearing hur ry," says she, " for I've got to shift froua top to toe. Yon sec what a pickle I'm in." " Ah, Patty," says I, "beauty when una dorned's adorned the -." " Well, I vow," says Patty, says she, and o(T I shot, for how was I to follow np such a bold speech ; but I could not help sniggering all the way to the deacon's to think how swimmingly matters were going on. I was so full of this, that I entirely forgot to make up a story to fop off upon the old deacon, till 1 got almost to the door ; for the deacon is a sworn enemy to ull frolics, and so is his mare. " I'll tell him I wan't to carry a gri-d to mill " But that will be found out. "No matter so it is after elec tion, as the politicians say." The deacon gave a mortal squint at my face, wheu I did my errand, but I was behind a slrirt collar, lie then fell to chewing his cud and considering. " Mother's clean out," says I, "both rye and iiijun." The deacon spit. " Well, neighbor, if you are afraid to trust a feller, there's two shilling beforehand." '• Rob, poh, John," said lie, walking tip and pocketing the money, " not trust you ? hear tiiat. Now, Joshua, tackle up Suky. You'll drive the critter slow, John, and now I think on't, yon may bring my grist, that is now at the mill—and look sharp at the miller when lie strikes the toll measure, John." It was too late to stick at lies now. So I promised everything, jumped in the sleigh, and steered for the widow's with flying col ors. It i the lie'ght of gentility, you must know, for a lady to make her bean wait as long as possible, on such an accasion. I sat over a heap of warm ashes in the widow Bean's parlor, listening to Patty stamping about in her stocking feet, in the chamber overhead, for one good hour. Then I stood up to the looking glass and frizzled up my hair, changed my shirt pin to a new place, thought over some speeches to make under the buffalo skin, and finally laid a plot to lug in the awful question in a sort of a slantindickular fashion. At last I'atty appeared in all her glory ; I was just crooking my elbow to lead her out, when in coine Mrs. Bean. " Where are yon going to, Patty ?" " Over to Shaw's, sleighing." " What, and leave your cousin Dolly all alone, to suck her fingers f A pretty how d'ye do that, after coming all the way from Saco Just to see you 1" Here was a knock down argument. All my pluns of courting and comfort melted down and ran off in a moment. I saw directly that the widow was resolved to push big Doliv Fisher into my sleigh, whether or 110 ; and there was no remedy, for the widow Bean is a stump that is neither to he got around or moved out of the way. I said something about the small size of the sleigh, but it would uot do—she shut my mouth instantly. " Let me alone," says she, " I went a sleigh ing afore you was born, youngster. If I don't know how to pack a sleigh, who does? Patty Bean stow yourself away, here, and shrink yourself up small. If there ain't room, we must make room, as the fellows use to say. Now, Dolly, hoist yourself in there." She tumbled into the sleigh, like a shot from a shovel, or a cart load of pumpkins into a gondola It was chuck full of her. "0, she's a whopper, I tell ye." " Why, Johnny Betdle," says Mrs. Bean, "in my days they use to pack us in, layer on layer." At this hint I tneaked round to Patty, to begin the second layer on her lap. But the widow was wide awake. She clenched me by the collar, aud patting upon Dolly's knees. " Here's the driver's seat,"says she. " Plant your feet flit and firm, niece ; jump up Johnny ; and now, away with her my lad." By this time I had got so raving mad that I could hold in no longer. I fell afoul of the old mare, and if I didn't give it to her about right, then there's none of me, that's all.— The deacon counted the wells on her right side a week afterwards, when he called on me for a reckoning, which was made with chalk upon the upper flap of his every day hat.— Sukey not understanding such jokes, took the bit in her teeth and shot off, right on end, like a streak of new Connecticut lightcing ? Jim ina I how we skimmed over it! And the houses, and barns, aud fences, and the pig styes, fiew by us like clouds by the moou.— ["Yonder is Hank's corner—whoora 1" and " whoorah !" answered all the ladies and gen- I tlemeu with one voice. Sukey, scared with the noise, turned the corner with a flirt, and the sleigh was bottom up in—- —!'"\Vhoa there, whoa 1" The first thing that I knew, I was in the bottom of a snow bank, jammed down under half a ton of Dolly Fisher ! I thought I never should see daylight again, and when they hauled me out, I left a print in the snow very much like a cooked up hat knocked into the middle of next week, as the sailors say. llowsomerer no bones were broken. We shook our feathers, and crept into our nest again, laughing as loud as the best of them The sleighs w ere formed into a string, the fiddler following, and away we started on the | road to Shaw's, bells jingling, fiddle sounding, and everybody hallooing and screaming for joy. Peter Shaw heard the racket two miles off, for he was always on the look out of a moon shiny night. He fell to kicking up a dust in the best room, to put it to rights, and when |wc arrived the floor was swept, the best Japan candlesticks paraded, and little Ben was anchored close under the jam, to tug at the broken winded bellows. No fire appeared but there were strange symp'oms of it, for was no lack of smoke, and part of it, missing the chimney, strayed about the room, which gave me a chance to hit ©IT another compli ment on Patty's beauty, as being the cause of drawing the smoke. As soon as we had taken a swig of hot stuff ail around, we sat the fiddler down by the jamb, took the floor and went to work, might and main, the fiddler keeping time with the bellows. Not to be prolix, we kept it up, frolicking and driuking iiot stuff, till midnight, and while it lasted, the fun was reul gcuuine, 1 tell ye. But as I cast a sheep's eye at Patty, I took a notion that she and Siah Holding were rather thick, considcrin. Thinks I, site wants to make me ■jealous, to spur mc on ; so seeing them in close confab, I poked my head between them and cried boo ! But the cat was soon out of the bag. We paid the reconjng, four and sixpence a piece. Think of that. Everybody grumbled, but Peter Shaw didn't care. Then followed the crowding of sleighs, taking in the ladies at the door. Such a hubbub and confusion ! But when my turn come, lo and behold ! Patty Bean was missing, and so was Siah Holding ! Here is the end of my story; and whoever wants to know the particulars that happened on the road home, must ask Dolly Fisher. " The Deacon, will tell yon what a pickle Sukey came home in, and " how much I paid for the whistle." Finally, whoever went to oar meeting housejthe next Sunday morning, knows very well how Patty Beau and Josiah Holding are to square accounts. VEGETATION ON T. E MOON'S SURFACE.— On the surface of the moon are seen numerous streaks or narrow lines, about one hundred in number, which appear, perhaps, more like nar row furrows than anything else. Sometimes they spread themselves 011 the lunar disc in straight liucs; sometimes they are slightly curved; in every case they arc shut in between stiff parallel holders. It has often been sup posed that these furrows, the true nature of which has remained hitherto unknown, repre sent the beds of ancient dried up rivers, or rivers that have not yet ceased to flow. Oth er astronomers think they are streams of lava which have been vomited by lunar volcanoes, and *.hich reflect the light of the sun with more intensity than the adjacent regions. M. Schwabe, a German astronomer, endeavors, however, to give them another explanation.— He has published in the AslronotciscAe IVack richttn some facts which tend to show that these lines are the result of a vegetation 011 the surface of the moon. According to the author, if the surface of the moon be examin ed attentively with a good telescope and a proper illumination, we discover between the lines or luminous furrows of the high mountain cal'ed Tycho, and on different other points, a quant it j of very delicate parallel lines of a greenish tint, which were not visible some months before the observation, and which dis appear a few months after, to return again in the proper season. These lines, which are darker than the adjacent parts, ere clearly the result of vegetation which makes the sterile parts of the moon appear as bright luminous streaks. According to M. Schwabe, these lines of vegetation are more particularly visi ble on tire very bright parts of the moon which are circninscribed by the mountains Hipparcus, A ibategnius, Werner, Stocffier, Maurolyous, Gemma Frisins, Piccolomini, Catharina, Abou feda, Regio-Montarius, Hell, Gauricius, Wurz- Elbauer, Heinsius aud Count Wilhelm.—Tko tographic JYeics. " HE n.\s NOT AN ENEMY IN THE WORLD."— Hasn't! Well, we are sorry for him, for he has mighty little character who has no ene mies. He is nobody who has not pluck enough to get an enemy. Give us, rather, as our idea of virtue and manliness, oue who has many enemies, one who has candor and fear less love (or the thing lie sees to be right.— The man of earnest purposes, strong will, and love of principle, for its own sake, must have enemies. But this, so far from being ill, is to him good. The strong tree is more deeply rooted and fastened in the soil by the blast than the summer breeze. A man never knows how much there is of him until he has con fronted and braved opposition. " Sammy, my dear boy, what are you crying for ?" " Dill hove the Bible at mc, and hit me on the head." " Well, you are the first person in my fami ly on whom the Bible has made the slightest impression." " Yes, Mr. Robinson, men are tyrants. Poor wives can't even make their wills before they die." Husband (resignedly)—"Well,never mind, my dear, they manage to have their wills all their lifetime." VOL. XX. XO. 37. Recreations and Amusements for Farm ers and their Families. No people need more better recreation than the farming community, and no community should be more careful to have their amuse ments directed in the prouer channel. Re creations and amusements lay the foundation of the character, in too many instances. Amusements often occupy the miud for a con siderable time afterwards. If our amuse ments are of a character that may, under ex treme circumstances, run into unlawful and un holy channels, the mind will also occupy the same piound, and lead us into corrupt and dissipated habits. If onr amusements are of that character which would be likely to cul tivate our physical and mental powers, they would not lead us into indolence, carelessness, or dissipation. However, recreations and amusements are creatures of circumstances. What would be a recreation at one time, would be a tax at another, and what would be amuse ment at one time, would be annoyance at aa rther. Much depends on the state of the mind and feelings. Still, certain amusements may become habitual by careful training. Parents, and farmers in particular, should | select amusements which will lead the mind ' into the channel of their pursuits in life ; par ticipating freely themselves, aud manifesting great pleasure in so doing. Amusements that would call the mind from home, or estrange it from its occupation, should not be intro duced. Agriculturists should adopt such amusements as would teach lessons of economy, frugality, industry, ambition, fortitnde, manli ness, truthfulness, humanity, love, etc.; and never indulge or countenance an amusement which begets weakness or imbecility of mind. Let every recreatiou contribute to elevate the mind, rather than reduce it below its every day standard. Recreations aud amusements are useful, if wisely employed. If not, they become traps and snares to the youthful mind. As agriculture is the Lightest and most laudable calling to which man can aspire, it is safe to direct the youthful mind into that channel. This lias no banefui influence on any other pursuit, and of all men, farmers have the means and opportunities to offer amusements and recreations to their families,. of the most ennobling character. Farmers' sons can be indulged iu yoking and breaking steer calve-, and at the same time cultivate a taste for good oxen. They can have a piece of ground to cultivate, and make a recrea tion of the labor it requires. They may bo indulged with a sled, cart, etc, and be taught order and system with them. Their daugh ters may be indulged with dolls, dishes, etc., to teach them order aud system. They should be indulged in having their knitting, sewing, washing, ironing, mending, cooking, etc , and be under the superintendence of the mother or eider sister, who should instruct and en courage them. Farmers' families should ob serve til! the holidays, and be particular in making them interesting, by entering into tho merits of them with energy and feeling. A suitable daughter should be mistress of tho feast, and the family treated as guests. Tho son should wait on the table with all the po liteness he is master of, and the conversation of all should bo that of a visiting partj. On another day, some others of the family to be actors. Each member of the family should have their trees, flowers, and green house plant 3 to cultivate. Some inducement should bo held out in each department of work, so that those who perform it may feel interested. This takes from labor its sharp, servile edge. A farmer can easily infuse a deep interest into his family in ali branches of his business. Ho can make himself useful and happy in partici pating in all their amusements. Singing should be practiced at set "times by the family. Girls and boys should mingle in skating, ball plajing, kite flying, etc. Make all the leisnro time interesting in the family, and few will want to go from home for a recess. Farmers should make themselves particu larly interesting to their families, so that their presence would bo agreeable, under all cir cumstances. Dispense with all austere, harsh and arbitrary language and habits. Teach the family to speak kindly to each other, act gentcely, and to be courteous to each other in all their intercourse and amusements. Teach them, in kindness, the impropriety of a foolish pride, the silley appearance of gaudy trap pings and extravagant decorations. Teach them to be above all indolent, base, demoral izing, and siily fashions ; and you will shun many extravagant, foolish, and pernicious amusements. Make all the work and dutie3 go off with a zest ; keeping up good appear ances, preserving a cheerful and tranquil state of mind, and sympathise freely with each member, be their conditions what they may. Keep up this condition of affairs at home, and recreations and amusements will be littlo called for, and less sought after. You will have no dissipated or absconded sons, no abandoned daughters, or heart-broken wives. The Diamond Mines of Braztt,.—A Rio do Janeiro correspondent of the X.Y. Courier says: The diamond mines of this splendid country contribute to the mineral wealth of the world. A few days ago, the royal mail steamer Tyno left here for Southampton, having no less than $750,000 worth of diamonds, collected, with in a very brief period, from the e.\haustles3 treasures of Brazil. The greater part of this shipment is from the celebrated mine of Siera de-Frio, a rocky, barren locality, which is guarded with great vigilance. In 1794, a diamond weighing no less one thousand three hundred and eighty-two carats, was taken from Frio, and at different periods since, very large ones have been found there. Indeed, few nations send more of these precious stones to England and the United States than this —a fuct you do not often thiuk of when ad miring breastpins and bracelets. @-The human race seems to have been engaged for thousands of years in trying to i invent wings to fly with. They have a des- I perate ambition to becomo an awkward Vuid I of poultry
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers