..JJLUR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
| Morning, December 9, 1858.
| .SHctfcb ipottrj.
THE TWO ANGELS.
BT U. *• LONGFELLOW.
...p.',, onr of Life and one of IVath,
' ruu .j o'er our village at the morning broke ;
, |iwn was on their faces, and beneath,
- sombre houses hearsed with plumes of smoke.
-altitude and aspect were the same.
, Kr their features and their robes of white ;
, e was crowned with amaranth, a* with tiame,
j * v'lone with asphodels. like Hakes of light.
<t pause on their celestial way ;
vi ! 1. with deep fear and doubt oppressed,
:ri so loud, my heart, lest thou betray
-V place where thy beloved are at rest!
{ . who wore the crown of asphodels,
purending at my door, began to knock,
j.i-iv <>ul sank within me. as in wells
water* sink before an earthquake's shock.
T eoard the nameless agony.
•Sf terror and the tremor and the pain,
r t re had tilled or haunted me,
A _ : i w returned with three-fold strength again.
•, dor I o|ened to my heavenly guest,
, j, >tened. for I thought I hear God's voice ;
, knowing whatso'ecr He sent was best,
, . neither to lament nor to rejoice.
th a -mile that filled the house with light,
gv errand is not Heath, but Life," he said :
j. ere 1 an-wered. passing out of sight,
a his celestial erotmsy he sped.
-*i- at thv d or, O friend ! and not at mine,
The with the amaranth wreath,
, ■ descended, and with a voice divine
*: • -ed a word that had a sound like Heath.
T*s Ml ap-'n the house sudden gloom,
t thai w on tho-e features fair and thin ;
j soft v from the hushed and darkeued room,
T* aacels issued where but one went in.
• '(I 'll If He but wave his hand,
• r t Uect. the rain falls thick and loud,
wis smile of light on sea and land,
U H< looks back from the departing cloud.
. of Life and IVath alike are his ;
a .- tH> leave they pass no threshold o'er ;
; th • would wish or dare, believing this,
utiat H message to shut the door ?
REIPOIR-T
OK THE
CO. SUPERINTENDENT,
Tor the Year ending Jnly 1, 1858.
Be necessarily occupied from the 2nd of
1*57. until the 16th of July, in examin
: . hers, in the most of the districts, for
1 --nttier schools, I had but little time to
o-hools during the summer term. Titis
• was however of great advantage in giv
v * an opportunity to lx*eome acquainted
: i rectors and the patrons of the schools
?ar!v a period in my official labors, but
sequence, I have not, eveu yet, been aide
•: everv school in the county, which 1 in
. to do before visiting any one twice.
" s 1 found the teachers as a body anx
•ocome better teachers, and desirous of
.* Themselves of every opportunity for
• imeat. I therefore decided to hold a se
f Teachers'lnstitutes, or drills, iu differ
.us of the county. In accordance with
sr. the first Institute in the county was
"*• *ed at Orweli Hill, on the Tth of Sep
' this was followed by others at Smith
v, Towanda, and Terry town, respect
• rich drill continuing ten days. At those
ales five hundred teachers in all atteuded.
I i. were drilled, mostly in the elementary
1 ' Ha •. mmon school education. The
I day of each was devoted to the examina
I f the teachers in the several townsliijw
I ited This was an ex}>eriment, and was
I .d to work as well as anticipated. In-
I ' was tried for the purpose of gaining
I • f p vMe. in order that a creator num-
I r ays micht be sj>ent in drilling. It was
" * h some misgivings ; and, like very
I L -y 'T new plans in the educational field,
I --n abandoned, not because it was a new
.t because it was not a good one. Too
I ; "--It cannot he given to the Directors,
- sad friends of education generally,
a! w th which they entered iuto the
•"i -ted in carrying out the arrange
the Superintendent relative to those
All the teachers iu the county did
I 4 d. ami in many instances, the delin-
I • were those who stood most in need of
I ' >'"] • ~>n given, but, as those meetings
"tiuued, at least for the next
W ' is hoped and expected, that such
I "■ w , hereafter attend, or give up the
I f teaching altogether.
t -wn-hip there was organized in
*s*. a township drill, which promises
HH ' tha tcbooU in that district. It is ex
'-a: ''. her town* will follow the exam
■ "*•' Xevspttptrs. —The editors of our
T ?{ "- have proved themselves to be
.s of education, by granting free
■j -* column- whenever they were solie
-c purpose of diffusing information
I ' \- 'pie The county association is
fe -A g. v. work for the schools, and the
\ u; =. the quarterly meetings are nu-
K '.' at'.'-nJed, and questions of vital ira
■ . the teachers are ably discussed, its
: proceedings are always looked for
H ' r -er?>t
sfp t 1 AAJ —The great majority of oar
-- 4 are stiii poor, many being totally
* p-rpoaes for which they are used;
- yards, shade trees or out-houses; no
* v- for pupiL or teachers, and in
B uo furniture, uot eveu biack
® x * ver*l gxid houses have however
|p i . - durmg the year, aud directors
T subject. IB
t *" *usthe inhabitants are opposed
- r biMM by & patw ui :
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
this being the only legal method of building,'
the directors cannot, or do not, move in the
matter, and people will not. The result is, the
old dilapidated houses remain and are used.
Some of these difficulties are giving way and
directors are beginning to levy a building tax
iu districts where such a tax has been hitherto
strongly opposed.
Too many Houses and Small Schools. —One
cause that retards the progress of our schools
is the desire among the people to have small
districts, or rather the desire of every man who
has a family, to have a school near to his dwel
ling. Before the passage of the present law,
many school-houses were built in small settle
ments, to accommodate three or four families.
In these houses schools were kept open for two
or three months during the year. Now the
inhabitants claim the directors must make their
immediate neighborhood one of the districts,
because there is a school-house in it. The cou
sequenee is that more schools are allowed than I
are absolutely required, and more thau the
people of the town are willing to be taxed to
support, cheap teachers are employed, schools I
are coutinued iu poor, inconvenient, uncomfort
able houses ; the people complain of the high
tax aud poor schools ; directors allow the mat- ]
ter to remain, not because they believe it for
the best, but because they cannot see how to
make it better without offending their neigh
bors. I do not suppose that this state of things
to be peculiar to Bradford, but it is certainly
doing much iu this county to make the system
unacceptable to the people, In some of the
towns in this county directors are taking hold
of this matter in earnest in reducing the num
ber of schools to the actual wants of the inhab
itants. Iu some localities the subjeet ot grad
ed schools is beginning to ataract considerable
attention, and it is hoped that in the course ot
tw o or three years, we shall have several schools
of this class iu the county.
Teachers. —There are in Bradford a large
uuml>er of teachers, most of whom are natives
of the county, and inanv every year go to oth
er portions of the State to find employment
during riie winter. I have granted 2 county
and 925 provisional certificates:—almost treble
the necessary supply for the county. Among
such a Dumber of teachers, there will be some
at least, who are not only inefficient, but in
many respects, incompetent. So many go to
other couuties to get schools, and in many in
stances they are our best teachers, that all our
schools canuot be supplied with teachers of
the first or even of the second grade. There
seems to be a disposition to eucourage girls
and boys to commence teaching while quite
young; several females are engaged in our
schools who are under seventeen years of age,
and some even are uuder sixteen. The results
I in such cases are what every person, who
thinks upon the subject, would anticipate. The
schools are badly managed, badly governed, if
governed at all, and badly taught. I have in
every instance discouraged such persons from
teaching, and have advised directors to employ
persons of more maturity. Notwithstanding,
we have some poor teachers in Bradford, some
who would do more good and much less harm,
by engaging in other departments of industry;
some who are in almost every particular unlit
tor the responsible position they have assumed.
Still we have also a baud of noble, devoted,
ambitious, self sacrificing teachers ; teachers,
who will compare favorably with those of any
other couutv in the State. All are not faith
ful. eonipeteut, intelligent, systematic, lire tuck
ers ; but many, the most of them, are. All are
not itnproviug every means within their reach
to become better teachers, but many are ; and
my regret is, that, owing to the extent of my
field of labor, and the great amount of work to
be performed, I have not l>een able to reuder
theui more assistance in the commeudable ob
ject of self-improvement.
PHrectors have evinced willingness as a gen
eral thing, to co operate with the Superintend
ent in the elevation of the schools of the coun
ty. Whenever they have been called upou to
visit the schools with him, they have uniformly
complied with the request, or have givt-n a val
id reason for not complying. The intercourse
between them and the Superintendent has been
free, familiar, and ultimate, and always of the
most friendly character. It is not asserted or
supposed, that all of our directors are just such
meu as they should be for directors, or-that all
do their wnol? duty ; ou the contrary it is to
be regretted that the people are oftentimes so
thoughtless in regard to the selection of men
to fill that office. That, too frequently, the
only recommeudation the individual elected
presents to the voters, is his opposition to the
principle of taxation for school purposes. It
is to be regretted also, that they do uot visit
the schools more frequently, when not accom
panied by the Superintendent, and that they
do not look more carefully to the personal and
moral qualifications of those to whose care they
commit the intellectual, physical, and moral
well being of the youth of their respective dis
i tricts. While this is admitted, it is claimed
that a majority of them are doing well in the
dischaige of the im;>orUnt duties imposed up
ou them by their fellow citizens. The under
signed is nnder lasting obligations to them for
their promptness and uniform kiudtiess.
The school law is still opposed in many por-
I tious of the county. The men who struggled
with poverty aud privations in the first settle
ment of the*country, aud who educated their
families at great expeuse. feel the burden of
school tax to be unreasonable, unjust and op
pressive ; feeling thus, they are honestly op
posed to the system of supporting schools by
taxation, this being the opiuion of uiany of our
oldest, and most respected citizens, it becomes
those who are charged with the administration
of the school laws to treat these honestly en
tertained views and feelings with candor and
fairness. Men of their age and standing in so
ciety, do not readily change their opinions and
view s upon questions of State policy ; and such
changes are seldom if ever produced by at
tempts to force opinions upou them. If the
subject be judiciously treated, and all officially
connected with the school system, are faithful
in the discharge of their respective duties,
there is good reason to believe that this oppo
sition will grow ies a-J utith the whole
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
! people shall heartily acquiesce in the principle,
I that a good English education is one of the
" inalienable rights," of every sou aud daugh
ter of the " Keystone State."
CHARLES R. COBURN,
Towanda, July 1,1858. County Sup't.
THE WISDOM OF THE CROSS. —Calvary is
therefore a place where all the terrors of
Divine Majesty conceutrate themselves ; the
Cross, a scaffold, aud a place of horrifying
revelation of that wrath, which burns down to
the lowest hell. Certaiuly so it is. That
i bloody scene has, however, another side. Yiew
ed from the latter, Calvary appears as a hill,
whence cometh our help, and as the fountain
! of our peace ; the Cross as the standard of our
liberty, and the true tree of life. The greatest
couceivable problem is solved in the cross of
Christ, and a contradiction reconciled, thau
which there could not have been invented one
' more striking. He that dwells in heaven is
faithful, just, aud holy, and a consuming fire ;
and yet he must pronounce the wicked pious, j
and treat transgressors as righteous. Is he
able to do this ? Not without denying himself
and being at variance with himself. We can-
I not judge otherwise but in this manner : we
must regard it as impossible, and the under
standing of the most enlightened seraph would
have been unabie to discover iu what impos
sibility could ever have become possible. Never
, theless, blessed be the highly exalted aud onlv
wise God ! the greatest of nil enigmas is solv
ed, and way to render possible that which is
impossible discovered. Hear what Paul says, :
with an emphatic repetition : " To declare I
, say, at this time, his righteousness, that he
I might be just, and the justifier of him that
; beiieveth in Jesus." Have you understood
j it ? The bloody execution is the basis on which
God, without infringing upou his holiness.
S truth, aud justice, eau now readily justify the
ungodly, absolve the accursed, and beatify
those who are worthy of death.
SWEARING. —If ever I wished I had no ears,
it is when I hear a boy swearing. Who made
' you ? Who keeps you alive ? Who gave you
• a tongue? Who gave you speech? Who
clothes and feeds you? Who pat a soul in
your body ? Who sent his Son to be your
friend and Saviour ? Who opens heaven to
, you ? Whose earth do you live on ? Whose
sky is over your head ? Whose sun shines up
on you ? Whose Sabbath do you rest on ?
Ali the answer will be, God. Is be not great
and good ? Should you not love him and thank
him, and mind him, and enjoy him ?
Yet what does the swearer do ? He takes
God's name iu vain. Ileuses it upon a thought
less and wicked tougue. Did God foresee there
would be swearers, and did he make any law
against swearing? Yes : " thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the
Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name iu vain that is God will hold him
guilty who takes his uame in vaiu.— Child's
Paper.
THE EVIL OK A BAP TEMPER.—A bad tem
per is a curse to the possessor, and its influence
is most deadly wherever it is found It is al
lied to martyrdom to be obliged to live with one
of a complaining temper. To hear one eternal
round of complaint and murmuring, to have
I every pleasant thought scared away by this
: evil spirit, is a sore trial It is like the sting
|of a scorpion—a perpetual nettle, destroying
! our peace, reudering life a burden. Its influ
l , ence is deadly, and the purest and sweetest
i atmosphere is contaminated into a deadly
, miasma wherever this evil genius prevails. It
has been said truly, that while we ought not
, to let the bad temj>er of others influence us, it
t would l>e as unreasonable to spread a blister
j on the skin, and uot expect it to draw, as to
think of a family not suffering because of the
, bad temf>er of any of its inma'.es. One string
1 out of tune will destroy the inu-i* of au instru
ment otherwise perfect ; so if all the members
of a church, neighborhood aud family do not
cultivate a kind and affectionate temper, there
! will be discord aud everv evil work.— Steele.
DISCOVERIES WITH REFERENCE TO THEFI ANET
MA RS —It is found that there is not a planet
within the reach of our telescopes which pre
sents an aspect so like that of the earth as Mars;
whose surface is independently of the change
able atmospheric influence, shows an ap|>earance
of well defined seas and continents—this being
found to be very specially the case at the time
when the geographical lines of demarcation were
so beautifully d.-tinct that Sir John llersohel
called attention to them, saying that h- was
able to make a tolerable map of the surface.
The predominant brightness of the polar re
gions leads to the supposition that the poles of
Mars, like those of the earth are covered with
perpetual snow. The seas are also pronounced
to be of a greenish hue. resembling the color
i of our own : and the laud a red tint, perhap.l
owing to a quality in the prevailing soil.
TANNING DEER SK:NS. —The method usually
practiced in preparing deer skins for market is
as follows: The skins are placed in a barrel of
water with enough of ashes to make a weak
; lye. They remaiu there uulil the hair comes
off easily with a graining knife, and they are
then grained. They are then bung up to dry
until they are hard and fliDty, aGd then they
are soaked in a little rain water with a little
' ' soft soap ; the water being about blood warm.
To dry them wringing is resorted to, and after
this process, the wriukles are palled out by the
1 hand. They should uext be smoked with rot
-1 ten wood or sawdust, iu a long trench for a
' . day or so, the skius being placed loosely in a
box or barrel, and again washed in rain water.
' This process is repeated two or three times and
a very well tanned skin is the result.
I |
THE weathercock, after all, points to the
' highest moral truth, for it shows man that it
is a twin* thing to a tpvt.
A WOMAN was arrested last week, at Sand
- Lake, for not supporting her husband. Is this
II one of " woman's rights f
" RESARDLE3S OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
[From The Kveniug Post]
THE PRIEST AND THE ROBBER.
Madame de Beaumont relates the following
story ;
Last summer, while in the country, I made
the acquaintance of a very venerable and
worthy Roman Catholic who was up
wards of eighty years of age.
More thau forty years ago, said lie, I was
sent for from the prison for criminals, to con
fess a highway robber, condemned to death :
r.nd, as was the custom at that time, I was
locked up with the prisoner iu the small chupel
attached to the prison, i used all the argu
ments enjoiued by our holy religion, and did
my best to bring the poor fellow to a sense of
his terrible situation, aud his urgent need of
repentance, but all my efforts appeared to make
uo impression. He was absent minded, pre
occupied, and did not seem ever to hear me.
" Young man," said I, " do you realize the
dreadful certaiuly that at sunrise, this very
j day, your soul must appear before the throne
of God ? Why do you not listen to my exhor
tations ; and what at this dread hourean take
your thoughts away from your jierilous situa
tion ?"
" You are right, holy father," said he, "I
ought to listen to your kind exhortations, and
be grateful for the interest you take iu my sad
fate, but I cannot banish the conviction that it
is in your power to save my life."
" Save your life !" cried I, "how can I save
it ? and if I could, ought I attempt it ? If I
; succeeded in saving your life, which 1 consider
impossible, 1 should but enable you to go on
in your career cf wickedness and crime."
j "If that is all that prevents yon from hear
ing what I have to say," the |nior fellow repli
ed "you may set your conscience at rest, for I
am brought too near the scaffold and the fatal
axe to again run the ri.-k. Help me to escape,
| aud 1 swear from this moment to live aud die
I an honest mau."
j hat could Ido ? A fellow mortal implo
■ red me to save him from a dreadful death. lie
had sinned, but would sin no more. He was
young, too, and but for the palenees caused by
the foul air of a felons cell, and his own <jloo
my forebodings, he would have been a well
looking, handsome even, aud in jerfeet health.
He pleaded eloquently, he implored me to aid
him to escaj>e 1 hesitated, but finally could
not resist his earnest entreaties, that I would
at least listen to his plan. He at last over
came my scruples, and I listened, and in short
joined my exertions to his trying to devise how
his delivereuee could be brought about
The chapel in which we were locked had
but one window, which was very near the raft
ers of the building, aud more than fifteen feet
from the chapel floor. " You," said the pris
oner, "have but to put the chair upon that pul
pit, which is movable, and be placed agaiust
the wall, under the window ; then stand upon
the chair ; I will get upoo your shoulders, then
spring up to the window, and out of it ; then
get npon the roof of the chapel ; and once
there, I shall find away to get in safety to the
; ground." This hazardous undertaking was
soon accomplished without noise or accident,
and after having replaced the pulpit and the
chair, I sat down quietly to await the coming of
events. After having l>eeu thus seated three
or four hours, which my robber employed, no
doubt, in a very different manner, the execu
tioner and jailer, getting impatient, knocked at
the door, came into the cha|tel, were astoiii.-b
--ed to find me alone, and a?ked what had be
come of the prisoner. "He must be an angel,"
I answered with all the simplicity and raininess
I could assume, "for 1 assure you on the word
' of a priest, he went out of that window." The
headsman, who lost his vile pay and [K-rquis
ites by this flight of the prisoner, wa of course
in a brutal passion, aud, after inquiring in no
gentle terms whether I meant to make a fool
of him, hurried off to find the magistrates.—
They came immediately to thech&pei, I remain
ed seated as before. 1 assured thera that the
prisoner did take flight through the window ;
that the being who could accomplish an act so
extraordinary might be looked nj>on as an an
| gel—certainly not a criminal ; that I myself
I might even beg one possessed of -uch suj>er
human power to intercede for sins, in-tead of
receiving his confession : and, finallv. if the
prisoner was guilty, which could hardly could
he the case, in view of hi* miraculous escape,
I was not placed there to be his keeper. My
manner was calm and serious for mv solitude
j of three hours had quieted the nervous agitation
I had felt at first. The magistrates h>teued
to my recital with evident misgivings, not at
ail complimentary to thesouuduess of my intel
lect, but, finally laughing contemptuously at
my evideut stupidity, they wished my protege
a getxf journey, w i.ether on angel's wings orou
his feet, and walked away. I quickly walked
out of the chapel, breathing, as inav be will
imagined, much more freely than I Lad done
for tiie iat four eveuttul hours.
Some twenty-five years after my robber's
flight, I was traveling alone in the forest of
Ardennes, so familiarly known to ail readers
of Shakespeare. I had lost my way, and night
was corning on, w hen I overtook a man dress
ed in the garb of the country, who first looked
very hard at me, then asked me where I wi.-h
--ed to go to, adding that the road we w ere tra
veling was extremely dangerous—that if I
chose to pat myself under his guidance, be
would take me to a peasant's cottage, where I
could pass the night in safety. I was in doubt
as to my best course, and the scrutinizing look
of my rude companion was far from er.cocrag
iug. But, I said to myself, lam completely
in his power, and if he means to murder aud
theu rob me, there is no escape ; and I, there
fore followed him with fear and trembling.
I was not, however, kept long in the anx
ious snpense, for we soon arrived at the cot
tage he had mentioned, and my guide, who was
its owner, told his wife, as he entered the door
way, to lay the [touhry yard under contribu
tion, and to prepare the best supj>er she could
in honor of her husband's guest, meaniug n.v
unworthy self. While they were executing
these orders the peasant went on: of the cot
tage, bnt soon came back leading in eight chil
dren—sons acd daughters "Mr children,"
he said, " thank this good man on your knees
for your lives, for without him you would have
never been born, nnd I should not now be
alive, he saved my life " I then, in the nmost
surprise, looked at my host more closely, and
brought to tnind the countenance of the robber
whose flight I had aided. I was of course
overw helmed with caresses by the children, and
received the kiudest attentions from the peas-
ant and his wife. When aloue with my host,
I asked him to relate his adveutures, and espe
cially to tell me how lie had managed to get
so welloff in the world as appearauce indicated,
" You may remember that I promised to live
aud die an honest man," said be, "and from the
hour yon have saved my life I have kept my
word. 1 begged my way from the prison door
to this part of the world, where I was born. I
was hired as a farm laborer by the former own- |
er of this cottage aud the lands belonging to it,
and having gained at hrst the confidence and
afterwards the friendship of my employer, he j
gave me his daughter, au only child, in mar- i
riage. Heaven has blessed luy determination, ,
and given me strength to lead an honest and
useful life. lam rich in the world's goods, but
all I possess is yours, and I shall now die in
peace, since I have again seen you, and it is in
ray power to lie grateful" 1 replied to his
warm protestations that 1 was but too well re
paid for my agency in effecting his escape from
death, by his having made so good use of the
years that he had passed.
I would not, of course, accept any money
from my grateful host, but could not refuse to |
remain with him a short time, and no prince
could have been better treated. He did, how
ever. force upon me one of his horses for the
remainder of my journey, and he insisted upon
being my guide until 1 was well on my way,
and fairly beyoud the reach of danger.
ONLY TIGHT.— " How flushed ; how weok
lie is ! What's the matter with liina?"
" Onlv tight."
'■ Tight P
" Yes, intoxicated."
" Only tight !" Men's lesf and greatest
gift, his intellect, degraded ; the only power
that rises him from brute creation, trodden uu
der f-ot for a debasing appetite.
" Only tight the mother stand- with pale
face and tear-dimmed eye, to see her onlv
-on's disgrace, and in her fancy pictures the
bitter woe of which this is the fore-shadow
: iQ £-
" Only tight !" The gentle sister, whose
\ strongest love in life has been given to her
handsome, talented brother, shrinks with eon
tempt and disgust from his embrace, and brush
es away the hot impure kiss he imprints upon
, her cheek.
"Only tight!" and his young bride stops in
the glad dance she is making to meet him. and
checks the welcome on her lips to gaze in ter
ror on the reeling form and flushed face of him
who was the " god of her idolatry."
" Only tight ?" and the father's face grows
dark and sad as with a bitter sigh he stoops
over the sleeping form of his first !>orn.
He has brought sorrow to all those affection
ate hearts: he has opened the door to a fatal
indulgence ; he has brought himself dow : to a
level with the brutes ; he ha* tasted, exciting
his apj>etite to crave the poisonous draught
again ; he has fallen from high and noble
manhood, to babbling, idiocity, and heavv stu
por ; brought grief to his mother, distrn-t to his
sister, almost despair to his bride, and bowed
his father's head with sorrow, but blame him
not, for lie is " only tight. n
GOD BLESS You NY LITTLE FELLOW. — A
crippled beggar in a large city was striving to
pi k np some old clothes which had !>eeii thrown
him from the wiadow, when a crowd of rude
j boys gathered about him, mimicking his awk
ward movement-, and hooting at his helplessness
and rags. Presently a noble little fellow came
up, and poshing through the crowd, helped the
poor crippled man to pick up his gifts, ar.d
place them in a bundle. Then slipping a piece
of silver into hi* Lands, he was running awav,
when a voice far aljove him said. " Little bov
with a straw hat look up !** He did so, and
a lady, leaning from au upp*-r window, said
earnestly, " God bless yon ray little fellow
G->d bless yon for that." The lady was the
wife of a man so d stinguished among the great
men of the world, that every one of those bovs
would have been proud to obtain her approba
; ti-m : and when she wrote down his name as
one -he wished to remember, he felt more than
paid for al! that he had done. A- lie walked
along he thought how glad lie had made his
own heart by doing good. He thought of the
: poor beggar's grateful hx>k ; then of the lady's
smile, and the w;-ri!s of appr val : and last,
and iK-tter than all. he could almost hear his
Ileav mly Father whispering, " BK-sed are the
merciful, for they shall obtain mercv."
Little reader, w hen you have an apjKirtunity
to do good, aud feel tempted to neglect it,
remember "the little boy with the straw hat."
OVERDOING THE THING. —The Mobile Jltr
rury gives an am::-:ng account of a negro baje
tismal scene in Mississippi, wherein a negro
known as Big Will figured conspicuously.—
Despite Will's irreverence we pobiish the story.
| " The bottom of the creek was of siipjtery
soap stone, which, just liejoud the p>iut waere
a sufficient depth was obtained for a pop>-r
administration of the ordinance, broke suddenly
off into a deep hole. Big Will attempted to
to do s directed, but like his race in matters
of religion generally, overdid the thing ; his
feet slipped from under him, and down he went
iuto the deep hole, dragging the minister along
with him. The a-tonisbed crowd was horrifi
ed as they both disappeared beneath the sur
face. For a few seconds bubbles rose to the
| surface to mark the spot where they went down,
and then Big Wiii aroe snorting and spouting
water hke a porpoise. A s Will regained the
shelving rock and made towards dry the
minister was discovered clinging to his leg with
bull dog tenacity. As soon as Will's sp*-ech
returned to him he was hard to exclaim, " Gosh,
IGor A'mighty, white folks some on you gwine
to 10.-e a u:gg<_: w.d thLs u—-> —d fuvi.shuecs 1"
VOI,. XIX. NO. 27.
YOLK So.x SHOULD LUAU.V A TRADE. —Tbeic
is an important feature in the regulations of u
master mechanic, which is frightful to some
kind parent's hearts. And that is, the five to
seven years apprenticeship the boy that learns
a trade must submit to. But it is excellent
discipline. It takes the lad at H critical period
of life, when he perhaps has a disposition
averse to steady employment—when he is in
clined to roam at large amid the contaminat
ing influences about him, and puts upon him a
steady round of duties, severe at first, but soon
becoming from habit agreeable : and when his
steady habit and industry ure established, be
comes forth a man, the master of a trade, of
fixed principles and good habits--a blessing
to himself and community.
If parents would but look at this right they
would declare that, had they many sons, they
should learn trades. Contrast the youth just
alluded to, with him, who having a horror of
an apprenticeship is allowed to run at large.—
At the roost critical moment of his life for
forming habits, he is forming those that are the
reverse of industry. He is not fitting himself
to be a man, by wearing away his boyhood in
idleness. The pratica! parent sees this,'yet has
not the fortitude to avert it. At 21 yeurs of
age, when the first-named lad come out a good
machanic, it is wonderful if the other has not
fastened habits upon himself that will be bis
ruin, if lie lie not ruined already ! More than
one excellent man in our community, can say
with thankfulness, that it turned out so, that
to hi* half dozen years' apprenticeship he knows
lie is indebted for the habits of industry and
sobriety be has obtained. That when he was
put out to a trade, he was put on a pivot, as
it were. Had it not been for the firmuess of
his parents he would not hove become nn ap
prentice. If he had not done so, scarcely a
doubt he has that he should have been a ruin
ed lad ere his minority expired. This was the
turning point.
SALT. —Salt is indispensable to man as a
part of his food. It is stated that with every
bushel of ilour, about one iouud of salt is used
in making bread alone. Every adult consumes
about two ounces of salt weekly. The omis
sion of a proper quantity of it in our food
favors the engenderiug of disease. We read
that when the ancient laws of Holland ordain
ed men to be kept on bread alone, nnmixed
with salt, as the severest punishment that could
be inflicted njion them in their moist climate,
the effect was horrible ; the wretchedcrimin alt
are said to have been devoured bv worms.—
M ungo I'ark mentions that lie suffered great in
convenience from the scarcity of this article ;
" The long nse of vegetable food created so
painful a longing for salt no words can suffi
ciently describe it." Almost all graminivirous
animals seem to have the same necessity for
the use of salt in their food as man. An ex
emption from the rot is generally enjoyed by
sheep fed on the salt marshes, or when salt is
regularly mixed with their food. In the States
of La Plata, in South America, the sheep and
cattle, when they discover a pit of salt clay,
ru-di to feed upon it : and. in the struggle,
rnar.v are trodden to death. ID Upper Canada
the cattle have an abundance of wild pasture
to brow-e ot in the woods ; but once a fortnight
they return to the farm of their own accord,
in order to obtain a little salt ; and when they
have eaten it, mixed with their fodder, return
again to the woods. Salt is new used exten
sively in England and all Europe, for fattening
cattle. In Spain, they attribute the fineness
of their woo! to the quantity of salt given to
their sheep, lu England, one thousand sheep
consumes at the rate of a ton of salt annually.
GUSTS. —The bed of Og was 27 feet long
and 7 feet broad. The height of Goliab wan
11 feet—his coat weighed loOnnd his spear
head 1!) jiounds. The body of Oresies, sou of
Agamemnon, leader of the Grecian expedition
against Troy, was 111-2 feet high. The giant
Gaibara. brought from Africa to Kooie in the
first century, A. D., was ten feet high, and a
woman 10 feet—Maxima.-, a native of Spain,
the Iloman Emperor, was 0 feet high. Maxi
ma-, originally from Thrace, another Roman
Emper. r, was 8 1-2 feet high. His wife's
bracelets served him lor finger rings His
strength such that lie could draw a loaded
wagon, break a horse'.- juw with his fUt, crash
the harde-t -tone- with his fingers and cleave
trees with his hands. His voracity was equal
to his strength, eating 40 jiounds of flesh and
drinking 18 bottles of wine daily. Brvne and
O'Brien, Irish giauts, were S feet high. A
Tenues-eaii giant lately died 7 1-2 feet high,
weighing m<ire than one thousand |iomid*. The
Kentucky giant #a> 7 feet n juches high. Tha
Canadian giant 8 feet high.
EVFRV MAN'S LIFE A PI.AX OF Gon—Everv
human soul has a complete aud perfect plan,
clterished for it in the heart of God— a divine
biography marked out winch it enters into life,
to live. Tnis life rightfully unfolded, will be a
complete and beautiful whole, au experience
led on bj God and ui.folded by the secret na
ture of the world ; a drama cast in the mould
of a |>erfecl art, with uo tmrt wanting, a divine
study for the man himself, and for others ; a
study that shall forever unfold, in wondrous
beauty, the love and fatthl'ulueasof God ; great
in it cou eption, great in the I'iviue skill by
winch it is sh|ed ; above all. great in the mo
mentous and glorioas iawev it prepares. What
a thought is this for every human son! toeheriah
What dignity does it add to life ! What sup
port does it bring to the iriai of life ! What
inducement does it add to send as oo iu
everything thut constitutes our excellence I
We live m :be Ihviue thought. We fill a
p.ace in the great everlasting, plan of God's
iiiielhger.ee. We uever sing oelow h;s chord—
never drop out of his counsel.
" THF. ministry have thrown me oveiboard."
sail a disappointed politician, "bat I've strength
enough to >w!m to the oiber side."
Five glasses o: vLLkey&tula gallon of beer
will eaablc oae to a sc:. Scfpcut wa*u ou
err iacd.