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'For th* Agitate*-.
THE SUMMER BREEDS.
Kott ’tis moaning through the. elm trees
Vit,h on ancient melody,
WskiQg web sweet spirit music
almost enchanteth me.
TJUug of the murmuring, brooklet,—
WbSperiog of sweet fragrant bowers,
, imp the earth’s bright emerald mantle
ind sweet Summer’s puttering showers.
Ringing the bright glossy ringlets
(per the brow and neck of snow;
Singing a sad song of sorrow
To the ones oppressed with woe.
Singing through the tangled grasses—
Of the nestlings hidden there;
Stealing o’er the brow of manhood, •
Softly through tho raven hair.
Moaning loudly through the elm trees;
Dying in a whisper low j _
Waking up a thousand mem nes
Of the days of long ago*
The Tale of a Tadpole.
rltOM “OSCE A WEEK.”
A blade of grass is a world of mystery,
■(would men observingly distil it out.” When
B y erudite friend, Gerunds, glancing round my
workroom, arrested his contemptuous eye on a
rase abounding in tadpoles, and asked me with
a sniffing superiority:
“Do you really mean to say you find any in
terest in those little beasts ?”
I energetically answered.
“As much as you find in Elzevirs.”
“H’m!” grunted Gerunds.
“Very absurd, isn’t it ? But we have all our
hobbies. I can pass a bookstall on which I
perceive that the'ignorance of the bookseller
permits him to.esjbibit an edition of Persius
among the rubbish at “one shilling each.” The
6 ;„ht gives me.no thrill—it does not even slack
my rapid pace. But I can’t so easily pass a
pond in which I see a shoal of tadpoles swim
ming about, as ignorant of their own value as
the bookseller is of Persius. I may walk on,
but the sight has sent a slight electric shock
through me. Why, sir, there is more to me in
the tail of one of those tadpoles than all the
poems of that obscure and dreary Persius. But
I won’t thrash your Jew unless you thrash
mine.”
•‘Why, what on earth can you do with the
tail?”
“Do with it? Study it, experiment on it, put
it under the microscope, and day by day watch
the growth of its various parts. At first it is
little but a mas* of cells. Then I observe some
of these cells assuming a well known shape,
«nd forming rudimentary blood vessels. I also
observe some other cells changing into blood
sells. Then the trace of muscles becomes visi
ble. These grow and grow; and-the pigment
cells, which give their color to the tail, assume
fantastic shapes."
“Very interesting, I dare say.”
“You don’t seem to think' so, by your tone.
But look in this vase; here you see several tad
poles with the most apologetic of tails mere
stumps, in fact. X cut them off nine days
ago.”
“Will they grow again ?”
“Perfectly; because, although the frog dis
penses with a tail, and gradually loses it by a
process of resorption as he reaches the frog
form, the tadpole needs his tail to swim with;
end Nature kindly supplies any accident that
may deprive him of it.
“Yes, yes,” added Gerunds, glad to feel him
self in the region of things familiarly known ;
“just like the lobster, or crab, you know. They
tear off their legs and arms in the most reckless
manner, yet always grow them again.”
“And would you like to know what has be
come of these tails.”
“Arn,t they dead?”
“Not a_t all. Alive and kicking.”
“Alive after nine days ? Oh! Oh I”
“Here they are in this glass. It is exactly
nine days since they were cut off, and I have
been matching them daily under the miscro
scope. I assure you that I have seen them grow,
not larger, indeed, but develop more and more,
muscle fibres appearing where no trace of fibre
existed, and a citatrice forming at the cut end.”
‘.‘Come now, you are trying roy gullibility I”
‘‘l am perfectly serious. The discovery is
none of mine. It was made this time last year
by M, Vulpian in Paris, and I have only waited
forthe tadpole season to repeat'the observations.
Ha aays that the tail constantly lived many
days—as many as eighteen on one occasion;
but I have never kept mine alive more than
eleven. He says, moreover* that they not only
grow, as I have said, but manifest sensibility,
for they twist about with a rapid swimming
movement when irritated. I have not seen this;
tut M, Vulpian is too experienced a physiolo
gist to have been mistaken ; and with regard to
the growth of the tails, his observations are all
the more trustworthy because he daily made
drawings' of the aspect presented by the tails,
and could thus compare Ihe progress made.”
“Well, but I say how the deuce could they
live when separated from the body? our arms
w legs don’t live; the lobster’s legs don’t live.”
k “Quite true ; but in these cases we have
limbs of a complex organization, which require
ft complex apparatus ,for their maintenance;
they, must have blood, the blood must circulate,
the blood must be oxygenated.”
“Stop, stop; I don%wantto understand why
our arms can’t live apart from our bodies.—*
They don’t. The fact is enough for me. I
to know why the tail of a tadpole can live
ftpart from the body.”
“It can. Is not the'fact enough for you in
fet case also ? Well, I was going to tell you
the reason. The foil will only live apart, from
the body bo long as it retains its early immature
form— that is to say, so long as it has not be
come highly organized. If you cut it off from
ft tadpole which is old enough to have lost its
external gills a week or more, the tail will not
live more than three or four days. And every
kil will die as *ooll' as it reaches. thp qaoint in
to development which requires the • circulation
she blood as a necessary condition.^ l
ero ( l° es .it get food ?”
,1 fok ** niore than T can say. I don’t know
tojjt it wants food. The power of Abstinence
Pressed by reptiles is amazing, I was read
jug the other day an account of a reptile which
ftu been kept in the Boston Museum eight and
THE AGITATOR
Behotea to t&e SVUnnUm of the area of ifm&om ana ti)t Spreatr of f^ealt&g Reform.
WHILE THERE SHALL BE A WRONG UNRIGHTED, AND UNTIL “MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN" SHALL CEASE, AGITATION MUST CONTINUE,
YOL. VI.
twenty months without any food, except such
as it might have found in the small quantity of
dirt water in which it was kept."
“Really I begin to think there is more in
these little beasts than I suspected. But yon
see it requires a deal of study to get at these
things."
“Not more, than to get at any of the other
open .secrets of nature. But since you are in
terested, look at these tails as the tadpoles come
bobbing against the side of the glass. Do
you see how they are covered with little white
spots ?"
“No."
“Look closer. All over the tail there are
tiny' cotton like spots. Take a lens if your
unaccustomed eye isn’t sharp enough. There
now you see them."
“Yes; I see a sort of fluff scattered about.”
“That fluff is an immense colony of para
sites. Let us place the tadpole under the mi
croscope, and you will see each spot turn out to
be a.mnltitude of elegant and active animals,
having bodies not unlike a qrystal goblet sup
ported on an extremely long and flexible stem,
and having round their rim or mouth a range
of long delicate hairs, the incessant motion of
which gives a wheel like aspect, and makes an
eddy in the water which brings food to the
animal.”
“Upon my word this is really interesting!
How active they are! How they shrink up,
and then, unwinding their twisted stems, ex
pand again. What’s the name of this thing."
“Yorticdla. It may be found growing on
water fleas, plants, decayed wood, or these tad
poles. People who study the animalcules are
very fond of this Yortioella."
“Well, I never could have believed, such a
patch of fluff could turn out a sight like this;
I could watch it for an hour. But what are
those small yellowish things sticking on the
sides of these parasites ?”
“Those, my dear Gerunds, are also parasites.”
“What, parasites living on parasites ?”
“Why not? Nature is economical. Don’t
you live on beef and mutton and fish ? don’t
these beefs, muttons, and fish live on vegetables
and animals. ? don’t these vegetables and ani
mals live on other organic matters 1 Eat and
be eaten is one law; live and let live is an
other."
“Gerunds remained thoughtful; then he
screwed up his one side of his face into fright
ful contortions, as with the eye or the other he
resumed his observations of the Vorticella. I
was called away by a visitor to whom I didn’t
care to show my tadpoles, because to have
shown them would have been to forfeit his es
teem forever. He dosen’t thins very highly of
me as it is, but had a misty idea that I occupy
myself with science; and aa-ecience is respect
able and respected—onr Prince Consort and
endless bishops patronising the British associ
ation for the Advancement of Science—the
misty idea that after all I may not be an idiot,
keeps his contempt in abeyance. But were he
once to enter my workroom, and see its bottles,
its instruments, its preparations, and above
all, the tadpoles, I should never taste his cham
pagne and claret again.
From the New York Evening Post.
How the French Army is Disciplined.
The French army is certainly one of the best
developed bodies of men that the world has
ever seen. Formed almost entirely of con
scripts, the sons of honest families, it draws its
strength from the best blood of the nation.—
For seven years they are kept circulating
through France, except when each regiment
takes its turn in Algiers. Thus the entire coun
try is known to the entire army, from the
thronged capital to the most quiet provincial
town. The ideas of the most ignorant are en
larged, and their minds expanded, as they are
drawn away from the contracted circles of their
little communes,; and the sons of the poorest
villagers enjoy the pleasures and reap the profits
of travel.
Each individual of this mass-is taught to
walk, to stand, to run, to jump, to swim, to
climb, to handle the small sword and the broad
sword, to manage the musket and the bayonet,
with such skill as not only to slay his enemy
far off or near at hand, but to protect himself
against more numerpus bayonets, or against
the long sword of the trooper, or even the far
reaching and more formidable lance.,
Paris is the centre of this system, and hav
ing one day obtained the necessary permit,.!
had an opportunity of seeing how sedulously
this training is attended to. There were not
more than half a dozen soldiere exercised at
this time, but it must be remembered that those
who show most fitness for the task are chosen
and drilled most' thoroughly, so that in their
turn they may become teachers in their several
regiments.
After some of the more ordinary gymnastic
feats, three men were placed in front of an end
wall, against which were placed plat
forms, rising one above the other to the roof.
Each of the upper platforms was smaller than
the one below it by about eighteen inches—
enough to make comfortable standing room for
a man. Each platform had three equal faces,
forming a half hexagon, and just under the
edge of each face of each of the platforjns was
firmly fastened a round iron bar, so that if a
man-were not tall enough to jump and catch
the edge of the platform he might catch the
bar below. I forgot to mention that each
platform was about seven feet high, and, be
sides being fastened to the wall, was supported
by woodwork below, but so far from the. edge
as not to interfere with the men.
Three soldier? wore placed in front nf these
platforms, standing on the ground, and each
opposite one. of the faces. The moment the
word of command was given, each.man jumped
at the edge of the first platform, caught it,
raised himself up so as to turn up one elbow,
and so get on the.top; jumped in like manner
at .the. second platform, end got on it, and then
upon the third.; All this was dona so quickly,
in fact with such startling rapidity, that I can
readily understand, the confusion'of the Aus
trians at the startling movement of the French
soldiers. It seemed but an instant before the
same three soldiers who had been standing mo
tionless upon the ground in front of the plat-
WILLSBORO., TIOGA COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 18, 1859.
forme, were standing just as me
the highest platform, waiting for}
maud, At the word they desc
same way, and stood, once mi
ground.
In a yard attached to this gys
ticed a jumping ditch, some two
about four feet wide at one end,
to about pine feet at the other.
ten feet long, so that the widei
ciently gradual. 1
Here, was also a strong .plank fence, TfitK a
roof on top, forming a sort of, ehed, with the
hack toward you, and about fifteen feet high.
The reof did not lap over the : fence, hut was
securely fastened to it, as was alsp a strong iron
rod running along the fence at its junction with
the roof. Slats of inch plank were nailed on
this fence, about three* inches i.part, and the
whole fence sloped out from the bottom to the
top, so that when a man caugh: hold of the
slats with his fingers, his feet would swing
clear, and he could thus get no assistance from
them in climbing.
The same three soldiers who had scaled the
platforms were placed in frond of this fence.
At the word of command each jumped at it
with fingers hooked like claws, and, having no
hold but what the slats gave them!, they crawled
their way up quickly to the top. | There, catch
ing hold of the bar, they doubled themselves
up in a most curious way, turning a hack som
erset and lying at full length on their hacks
upon the roof, with their arm's against their
sides. At the next command they stretched
out their arms, caught hold of (pie bar, threw
up their legs so as to turn a reverse somerset,
and so clawed their way down aj;ain.
Besides this they are taught (to perform all
their evolutions on a run, a style which has
been adopted at West Point. They are taught
to swim holding the musket andj the cartridge
box above the water: to jump jfrom a height
upon a ledge where there is barely standing
room, with their muskets in their hands and all
their accoutrements upon their backs; to walk
in the same way along beams, biith square and
round, or along the irregularly Ishaped trunks
of trees across ditches or ravines; each man is
taught to use his musket and bayonet as a vault
ing pole; and to climb up his comrade’s shoul
ders so as to scale a wall twenty-five feet in
height. j
In the recent accounts of ft
are told that they also employ \
vatCy or the art of kicking. Hav:
of this, I one day asked our teacl
nasium at Paris if he knew it.
“Oh! yea.”
“■Well, give ns a specimen of
“Very well; place yourself ii
boxer.”
I did so, and he advanced
his hands a little ont from
wrestler ready to take hold in ai
“Now I can kick you on yol
and break the bone or hurt y<
are disturbed by that, or in c!
back, I can raise my foot to y
your chin." j
“Well, suppose you should 1
I would catch your foot. Th
you do ?”
“Well, try it.”
He kicked and I caught his :
held it firmly he turned', threw
the ground to support his body
ously brought his other foot si
that I let go of his feet in a mi
“That is very clever. Is the
that?”
“Oh! yes. It is very simpli
I did and I’ll show you.”
I kicked; he caught my foot j I turned, threw
myself on my bands, and thoiight of course to
kick him with my other foot ;| but he“ simply
put one foot firmly against ]the thigh of my
other leg, and I was powerless. There was in
his movements also this same startling rapidity.
The kicks were like flashes pf lightning, and
the hands constantly ready for a grapple or a
blow. From what I saw I haye a most respect
ful dislike to la Savaie, or as we would say in
English, the Old Shoe. j
Swift’s Hatred of Toppi nr.— Dean Swift
was a great enemy of extravagance in dress,
and particularly to that distinction and osten
tation in the middling classes, which led them
to make an appearance above their, condition in
life. Of his mode of reproving this, folly in
those persons for whom he ha d an esteem, the
following instance has been recorded;—
When George Faulkner, the printer, returned
from London, where he had been soliciting sub
scriptions for his edition of Ihe Dean’s works,
he went to pay his respects to him, dressed in
a bagged wig and other fopperies. Swift re
ceived him as a stranger. ‘‘And pray, sir,”
said he, “what are your commands with me?”
“I thought it was my c uty, sir,” replied
George, “to await on you immediately on my
arrival from London.”
“Pray sir, who are you ?”
“George Faulkner, the pripter, sir.”
“You George Faulkner,.t ie printer! Why
you are the most impudent, barefaced scoun
drel of an imposter I have ever heard of!
George Faulkner js a plain, sober citizen, and
will never trick himself up in lace and other
fopperies. Get you gone you rascal, or I will
immediately send you to the house of correction,
Away went George as fast as he could, and
having changed his dress Jie returned to the
Dean, where he was received with the greatest
cordiality. !‘My friend Geofge,” says the Dean,
“I am glad to see you retunjisafe from London.
Why, there has been an Impudent fellow with
me just now, dressed in a iacp jacket, and he
would fain pass himself for you, but I soon sent
him away with a flea in hiji par.”
Mrs. Partington says, before the
last war with England* were
seen around the moon nightly, shooting stars
perambulated the earth,-the desk of the sun was
covered with black spots of ink, and comments
swept the horizon with their operic tails. Every-
said it profligated war, and sure enough
it did come: Its costivness was felt throughout
the land, blit the bravery of General Jackson
expiated the American' citizens, and foreign
dominoes soon dooame a bj -word.
Erom the Knickerbocker. '
ROMANCE AND REALITY.
Art thou not happy since love’s words
Fell on thy heart like balm ?
“Well now, I do n't know as T affi,
And do n’t know bat I am."
Bid not sweet thoughts thy bosom thrill
When first thou heardst his vow?
“I think it's very probable,
Itionless upon
I the next com
•eqded in the
pre upon the
masium, I no
feet deep and
spreading out
It was about
ing was suffi-
Bat can't remember cow.”
Then long and ardently he sued
Ere thou didst answer him ?
“Well, no, considering every thing,
I thought my chances slim.”
And so thou gav'st thy fond young heart
With joy and hope elate 7
“So far as what I gave's concerned.
He did n’t get ‘no great. 1 ”
Does not the draught of happiness
Overflow the brimming cup ?
“Times, when he’s ‘setting up' with me
I kind o' feel set up."
Does not thy fond thought follow him,
Even when thy lip is dumb ?
“Yes, when he takes me by the hand,
I feel drawn towards him, some."
Has he not vowed to do for thee
All that affection can ?
“He seems, from what he promised me,
A promising young man."
When evening brings its fancies sweet.
Is he not ever nigh ?
“To tell the truth, he is a man
I ‘set a great deal by.’"
When be is thine, will not thy heart
Dismiss all .care and doubt?
“I think't will be a handy thing
To have a man about,"
Didst ever think, death’s night alone,
Thy wedded day can dim ?
“Sometimes I think of that, and then
I almost pity him."
Henceforth your happy lives will blend
As qunglod currents run;
“They do n’t begin to, yet, but then
I s'pose't will all be one."
Maiden, thy words are strange to me,
Tbou wak'st my fear and doubt!
“My talk is common-sense, and yours
The kind wc read about."
Mr. Editor : Not far away from the north
eastern extremity of Long Island, and about
120 miles from New York, is located an island
bearing the above name—celebrated for having
supplied the British with provisions during the
last war, and peculiar for the immense number
of fish-hawks and sea-gulls which locate in. the
only grove within its bounds. The channel, or
arm of the sea separating it from Gardner’s
and Long Islands is called Plum Gut. This
Gut is from a mile to two miles in width, and
twice in every twenty-four hours exhibits the
tfao'taost powerful tides 'and accompanying ed
dies imaginable. The area of this quite isola
ted spot of ground comprises about 1000 acres.
Although many years ago the population num
bered upward of 100 persons, the census now
is but 15 all told, men, women and
These consist of the families of Messrs Jerome
and Mallory, the joint owners of the premises,
and Mr. Booth, keeper of the light house. ~
The land bears evidence of having been once
faithfully cared for, but now it shows the want
of fertilizing. There is no pier for public or
private landing, for the no doubt, that
Messrs J. & M. wish to ’ prevent the place be
coming a popular resort, thus breaking up the
retiracy they have enjoyed for more than half a
century. If selfishness is a crime, can solitude
be a virtue ?
he Zouaves we
in battle la Sa
ung often heard
■.her in the gym-
a position as a
jwarda me with
iis sides, like a
my way.
nr forward leg,
rou. While you
4sa you draw it
tour stomach or
iok at my chin,
in what would
bot, but while 1
both hands on
and instantane
i near my nose
mcnt.
re any parry to
The light house, designed to show the en
trance to Plum Gut, stands in latitude 41, 10,
24, and longitude 72, 12, 22. It was built in
1827 and refitted in 1850. The light is a re
volving Fresnal of the fourth order, is 63 feet
above the level of the sea, and is visible at the
distance of 20 miles. For the past seven years
it has; been under the charge of Capt. Wm.
Booth, a gentleman favorably known through
out the surrounding regions of Dong Island
and Connecticut, and also in New York. And
well may ho bo favorably known—for who
knows so well when the skies purport rain or
wind—when the fish will . take the hock, and
what bait they seek, and where they may be
found, and when ?
Who extends a more gracious welcome to his
visitors, making them feel at home at once, and
studying how they shall pass a pleasant hour ?
Then too, there are ladies in the family, whose
unadorned beauty, and' natural grace, would
make the winter's solitude of the island quite
as agreeable as the clangor of the town.
Here there is no vice, and no church—no
swearing and no preaching, except those Sal
mons which nature is always giving us, pointing
out the straight way, and moving the heart to
purity. I would there were more islands—
opr troubles would be fewer, and our wants
less. But this light-bouse business is not remu
nerative—far otherwise. The pitiful sum of,
$350 per year is not sufficient’ compensation to
repay a man for nightly attendance on the
lamps which light the mariner safely by the
remorseless shoals and false places which mark
this Bad almost all other coasts. The Govern
ment generously rewards thousands of its sine
cure custom house officials, with three or four
times that sum, as salary for doing next to
nothing. But the light-keeper is of no account,
he is only a lightrkeeper, and can’t do much at
elections. Consistent government! How tme
ly are ,we progressing with the principle, that
labour is worthy of its hire. This coast is lined
with huge rocks, which have been left by the
washing away of the soil by the water. It is
not easy for even a small boat to land without
the aid of a pilot, so numerous are the obata :
oles. A deviation of one foot either way would
make a sorry wreck of any vessel. The sup-’
plies of the families are brought chiefly from.
Now London, that being the nearest market,
indeed from the light-house tower jt can be ea
sily Been just across the soupd, as 'also with a
glass, can New and' East Haven, Greenpprt,
Orient, and Sag Harbor. Away beyond Nsw
Haven—as far as the eye can reach, and some
times a little farther, looms up Mount Tom, the'
Berkshire Hills, and the blue line of the Cats
kills. It is all in all, one of the fiqest view* in
Nature. The diet upon this island is of course
principally, fish, bat fish diet here, and fish diet
in New York, are two different things. The one
•? fresh and luxurious, the other, stale and
You do what
Tor the Agitator.
A Fishing' Excursion.
Pldx Island, August 2d, '59.'
nauseating. Fishing! good Sportsman, there
are many kinds of fishing.
There is the coaxing of half grown shiners
and scared bass* and stunted black-fish and
dwarfish” trout from "played out” country
streams, and the turbulent waters of filthy
docks. There is the sublime fun of sitting an
hour or two waiting for a nibble, and baiting
and rebaiting, with worms, clam, and other de
vices to entice the impoverished and scanty sub
jects from their dread abodes. This is the ag
onizing kind of fishing which makes one feel
to say the'leastjunamiable. But the true sport
is when you cast your line six or eight fathoms,
the hook armed with a ‘fiddler 7 , and ere it is down
a minute, your pole bends as if old Nep him
self was seeking to pall it from your hand;
how you reel in, theu the pulling becomes a
jerk and you pay out. Again you reel in, and
*m a moment or two you land in your boat a
large, shining black fish of seven pounds good
weight, a loyal fellow, who has roamed at will
and undisturbed through the clearest water
ever since he was a minnie. This you do again
and again, hour after hour; now and then losing
a hook, or. a fish by haste or mismanagement.
This is fishing, and in this, I, with three friends
who came np from New York with me, for the
purpose, participated. It is sport, indeed, and
well repays the trip from Tioga to Plum Is
land, the fishing ground of this region.
A Squinting: Jury.
The Washington News records the following
amusing reminiscence;—
■ Once upon a time, or, to be a little more par
ticular, nearly half a century ago, there dwelt
in the town of ,in old England, a remar
kable oddity, in the person of an attorney-at
law, who, although not) fair to look upon, [for
be was in truth one of Ithe homliest specimens
of humanity ever beheld by mortal man,] was
withal a person of sopnd judgment, great be
nevolence, varied learning, a poet, a painter
and a wit of no mean,order.
It so happened that the aforesaid gentleman
G G—, Esq., Was appointed High Sheriff
of the towiro£=i-X He was a man of fortune,
and had a kind heart, as many a poor prisoner
could testify who partook of the good' cheer
with which the prisoners were liberally sup
plied' at Christmas and other well known festi
vals from the private house of the High Sher
iff.
It was of course the duty of the High Sher
iff to summon a Grand and Petit Jury, to
attend at the Quarter Sessions, of which the
Recorder, Mayor and Alderman of the borough
composed the court. In the performance of
his official duty in summoning the Petit Jury,
our High Sheriff indulged in some of the
strangest and drollest freaks that have prob
ably ever been heard of in any other town or
country. In the first place, he summoned for
the October court a jury consisting of twelve
of the fattest men he could find in the borough,
and when they came to the book to be sworn,
it appeared that only nine jurors could sit
comfortably in -the bos! - After a good deal of
sweating, squeezing, and scolding, the panel
was literally jammed into the box, and when
seated they presented to the eye of the court,
the barristers and audience, “the tightest fit”
of a that was ever seen in a court room.
Literally they became, much to the amusement
of the court and its robed advocates, "a packed
jury,” and no mistake!
I'or the January term, our facetious High
Sheriff (in consequence, it was said, of some
hint from the Recorder that there should be no
more fat panels summoned to his court,) went
to tho opposite extreme. He summoned twelve
of the leanest and tallest men he could find in
the borough: and when they took their seats
in the box, it appeared comparatively empty—
there was indeed room enough for twelve more
of the same sort and dimensions.
For the April term of the Court, our hu
morous functionary summoned a jury consis
ting of twelve barbers! Now it happened
that among the latter were the very perruguiers
who dressed the Recorder's and Barristers’
wigs, and some of the latter, arriving late at
the bar, had to appear that morning in court
with their wigs undressed or half dressed, so as
to cut a very ridiculous figure, amidst”the
smiles and half suppressed laughter of the by
standers. The High Sheriff enjoyed the fun
amazingly, but looked “grave as a judge,”
while he tried to keep silence in the court
room.
But the crowning joke of this waggish
functionary, occurred at the summoning of his
fourth and last jury at the summer sessions
in July. For that term of the court the High
■Sherifi', not having the fear of the Recorder,
the Mayor, and the Aldermen before his eyes,
actually summoned a squinting jury; twelve
as queer looking bipeds as ever took their seats
in a jury box—a jury that was probably more
looked at and laughed at than any of the ap
pointed twelve that ever were sworn to “well
and truly try, and true deliverence make, be
tween their Sovereign Lord the King and the
prisoner at the bar.” 1
But the scene was so irresistably droll that
the learned Recorder could not maintain his
gravity. The Mayor and Aldermen followed
suit. The barristers laughed while their w ; egl
became bald, powderless: nay, even the DOO
- in the dock, who were to be put upon
their trial, and some of them'undergo transpor
tation, could not refrain from joining in the
general chachination 1 And when the learned
Recorder commanded tbe High Sheriff to bring
the court room to order, and intimated, with a'
half suppressed laugh, that the latter ought to
be,ashamed of himself for summoning such a
Jury, the drollery of this court scene was con
siderably Heightened by the quick, ready and
sonorous response of the High Sheriff, who.
-looking at the same time at the squlritingjary,
exclaimed- “All good and lawful men, ybnr
honor.”
But our humorous functionary has long since
“shuffled off this mortal coil.”
■ He Is no mean philosopher who can give a
reason for half of what he thinks.
He that bath-no money ncedeth no puns; *-
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contodlneaUy Justice,. Constable.';
and other BLANKS constantly on hand;
NO. a,
The question—“how shall we board dig
teacher ?” has of late been a great annoyance
to School Directors and the friends of educa
tion ; a few urging a reform on the old system
of boarding around, while the majority (like
the man balancing his grist With a stohe be
cause his grandfather did) are ih favor of the
teacher’s boarding from place to place, as be id
welcomed or rejected ,by the parents of thd
district in which he labors.
One reason urged by many for thus subject
ing the teacher to this barbarous practice of
“boarding around," is that it is cheaper, which
in their opinion is so much gain, while in fact
they lose an incalculable amount of school
training for their children that they might re
ceive'if the teacher were provided with a per
manent hoarding place.
They cannot appreciate the fact that if the
teacher is supplied with a room, he can prose
cute hie studies, and devise plans to promote
the best interest of his school; but seem to he
of the opinion that he has arrived at the sum
mlit of perfection in Bis profession, and all that
necessary is to enter the school room and go
over the same routine of studies, day after day,
until the three months have passed away.
It is an erroneous idea of the tax-payers of
this county that boarding at one place is more
expensive than boarding around, for while they
save a few shillings ih an immediate pecuniary
point of view, they lose a vast amount in thd
mental culture of their children ; which Solo
mon says "is better than fine gold."
We have often heard people remark that
“they had rather, board the teacher than not."
Wise financiers indeed! We would recom
mend them to apply for some responsible office ;
perhaps Secretary of the Treasury would be
best suited for their great powers of financial
calculation. If they succeed, we doubt not
that the finances of Pur country would at once
be restored to their wonted equilibrium.
Why should the teacher have a permanent
boarding place? We answer, first, that he,
like others, is a progressive being, and needs
not only the cultivation of his own mind, but
untiring application to his profession, that he
may be able to do the best to promote the in
terest of his schoolthese objects he cannot
attain while boarding from place to place.
Second, that he is responsible to God and his
fellow man how he discharges his duties in the
shoolroom, in training the youthful mind along
the rugged paths of science, and therefore must
be master of his profession In its various de
partments.
J. B. R.
The greater share of. the people think that
the teacher is impervious to the chilling blasts
of Winter, and the driving rains of Summer.
Many a teacher has bought “pale death upon
him’’ while in the morning of life, in thus
being forced to trudge through mod and rain
to his boarding place'. “His face is pale; his
cheek is blanched; and the spring of life
wastes away, and he dies."
. Shame ! shame to the people of Pennsylva
nia. It is,a bore upon the common schools of
Pennsylvania, and will never enable them to
rise to that high degree of perfection that is
requisite to the advancement and prosperity of
the rising generation.
There is another idea amongthe parents that
the teacher’s duties require a small amount of
labor—“only staying in the schoolroom sii
hours a day”—this is a mistake. If the tea
cher is. worthy of the name, and labors in his
duties as his profession requires, be must ne
cessarily labor incessantly from morn till night;
and during the silent night, bright visions of
the prosperity of his school are brought to bear
'upon his mindi
Few people consider the responsibility of the
teacher. Through his labors nations may rise
or fall. By him Impressions are made Upon
tender hearts, that follow them through the
ceaseless cycles of eternity.
Friends of education, abolish this uncivil! l
zed practice, this bid fogyism forever, and sub
stitute in its stead in the school law a pro vis l
lon that no qualified teacher shall be required
to board from place to place.
Instead of strewing briers and thistles along
bis pathway, encourage him in bis Godlike
mission, raise him to a rank doe to bis vocation,
and may the day soon come when the common
school ["teacher shall occupy a station with
other professions of the age.
This done, the teacher will bare an, incentive
to prompt him in his labors ; the common school
system will awake from its lethargy ; the mass l
es will become educated; and wo shall stand
foremost among tqe catalogue of nations.
Great Bend, Pa., July, 1859. A, K. J,
Pleasure FOB a child.— Blessed be the hand
that prepares a pleasure for a child, for there
is no saying when and where it may bloom
forth. Does not almost everybody remember
some kind-hearted man who showed him a
kindness in the day of his childhood ? The
writer of this recollects himself at this moment
as a barefooted lad| standing at the wooden
fence of a poor little garden in his native vil
lage; with longing eyes he gazed on the 1
flowers which were blooming there quietly in
the brightness of a Sunday morning. The
possessor came forth from his cottage; he wad
a. wood-cutter by trade, and spent the whole
week at Work in the woods. Ho had come into
the. garden to gather flowers to stick in his coat
when he wont to church. Ho saw the boy, and
breaking off the most beautiful of his carna
tions, which was streaked with red and white,
he gave it to him. Seithcr the glrer nor-the
receiver spoke a word, and with hounding
'steps the boy ran home) and now, here at a
jdistancc from that home, after so many events
of so many years, the feeling of gratitude
Which agitated the breast of that boy expresses
itself on papjr. The carnation has long since
withered, but now it blooms afresh, —JJoualat
Jen-old ,
ffalss shame and fear of blame cause mors
bad actions than good, but virtue never blurbs*
but fur etil. j fu.icutt.
From the Independent Republics,
Boarding AVo and.
Selection’s,