THE STAR OF THE NORTH. K. W, WMTcr, rroprletor.] - yOLUME 8. ~ THE STAR OF THE NORTH IS roaLiSHCD EVERT THURSDAY MORNIKU BT R. IV. WEAVER, OFFICE— Up stairs, in the new brick build ing, on tie south side of Main Street, third square below Market. TE R MS;—Two Dollars per annum, if paulwuhin six months from the lime of sub scribing; two dollars and fifty cent! if not paid within the year. No subscription re ceived for a less period than six months ; no discontinuance permitted until all arrearages are paid, unless at the option of the editor. not exceeding one square I will be inserted three times for One Dollar andjwentv-five cents for each additional in- I aerlton. A liberal discount will be made to | those who adreriise by the year. From the N. Y. Evening Post. MISS MURRAY ON AMERICA. PUTNAM lias just published the book in con sequence of which Hips Murray was obliged to resign hsr place as one of Queen Victoria's Maids of Honor. It bears the title of "Letters from the UnitM States, Canada and Cuba"— the greater part of tba letters being, of course, from the United States. It is in the main a good nalured book; the author likes many thicga the sees here—the people to whom ahe has had introductions, tha climate, the -school* and other public institutions, slavery itself—everything, in short, but the ill-bred familiarity, nasal pronunciation, and thin, dry figures of the Americans, who ara 100 lean for her standard of health, and accord ingly move her compassion. Writing from Newport, on the 13th of August, she says : "There is certair.ly great beauty and re finement of feature among the mass of the people, but is accompanied b) a fragility of look which raise^ painful feelings. As far as I can judge at present, tbis is owing partly to hereditary causes, partly to actual habits.— The excitement and anxieties of business life in a new eountry probably email constitu tional delicacy upon the children of parents so eagerly occupied, and the sgden'sry city education and pursuits of the young of.the last and present generation, unfavorable to oot-of door interests and amusements, do uot harden and strengthen the nerves and muscles. "I am already tempted to coolrovetl the assertion of American ladies, that their gen erally delicate health is to be attributed to eltmate. They may have severer winters and warmer summers than oars,but these are accompanied by the advantages of less damp, aud of a brighter sunshine. 1 have not had an hour too warm for rxetcise during any part of the day, fot though the sun is bright er, it does not always Deem so furiously as with us. The climate of Massachusetts seems to me a charming one, and I believe another generation will discover its merits, because f entertain hopes that the children now growing up will acquire more hardy habits. The evil lam speaking of cannot be ramedied in a day ; and I find American l dies are at tbis moment so tittle informed with regard to natural productions, and so un fitted for country pursuits, that their ignor ance of these niat'ers is at once the evidence and the cause of their lack of physical! strength." At Newport, she was introduced to tiover-1 not Seymour, of New York, whose guest she | was during a considerable part of her rtay in j ibis country, and whose hospitality and cour-1 tesies are celebrated on very cordial term* j Writing from Boston, about the same time, she again alludes to the sickly look* of the haggard friends she has made in New Eng land, and suggests that a cure may be found In the restoration of the Isw of primogepi ture. "I should particularly dread any epidemic felling upon a people which, as a general rule, looked eo overworked and irsgile, and thin at these Northern Americans. Dr. Howe aays it is climate ; as yet 1 am incredulous upon this point. My friend, Mr. L , confessed be was almost in his grave when, eight years ago he bought his pretty place.— Now, with the revivifying influence of bis farm and garden, (although he does not en tirely give up hie legal duties,) be looks as strong and healthy as any sexagenarian upon our side of the Atlantic. I should like to transplant all the sick dyspeptic men and woman of New Yotk and Boston into gar dens and fields, before I will admit that this pleasant climate is to blame. lam rather inclined to assert that mental excitement, and money-making, and eedentary employments ara the real criminals, and that something is due to lb# laws of inheritance eveu in this onentailing country." At Boston she begins to speculate on the aubject of slavery, which she thinks "Chris tianity must and will subdue;" adding that no "individual selfishness, and no political intrigues can prevent the wished-for consum mation," and expresses her firm belief "that there are few, very few, even in the South, who will not hail with joy the moment of •mancipation." Tbes viawashe afterwards finds occasion to modify. On a joumey made about this time to Mount Washington, the following compari son between £pw and Old England ia drawn: "Tha difference between oa appears to be that our higher classes have more principle, •laganee and refinement; :be women more energy and activity, and tha man more ath letic amosemeots; while oor middle and lower claseas are less highly educated, per haps rather more narrow-minded, and phys ically work harder, although in soma respects i think the Americans themselves are lower, particularly tbosa occupied in manufactures and commercial affairs. The race and ap- pesrance of horses is an example which ■earns throughout any tbey bear. There '> ere none so perfeet es our most perfect; bnt the snimale generally go batter spd ere better BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY. PA., THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1856. I fed than second and third rale homes in Eng i land." At Niagara, Miss Murray, alter having met with nothing but civility and kindness among the people of the United States, begins to ex perience treatment of another sort. She en ters with a young lady a room in whioh sit a eircle of strangers from various places, not one of whom rises to oiler her a chair— "which conld not have occurred in the old country-" At the same place whi'e engaged in sketching, she feels a hand familiar on her shoulder, and is addressed in a strange voice, sod, turniug round, finds that the liberty was taken by a perfect stranger, "a young lady apparently about twenty," just arrived, who goes on to remark upon her sketch with per feot coolness. At another time tha wish is sspmMil to her "thai the old country might get thoroughly whipped daring the present war." Thereupon Miss Murray sets it down in her tablets, not without some provocation, we admit, that "ilia Americans mistake rude ness for republicanism, and incivility for in dependenca." At Cleveland, she visited Dr. Kirtland, liv ing in the neighborhood, who has obtained a name among promologists, by the fine va rieties of cherries and other fruits which be has succeeded in producing. Of him she says: "Dr. Kirtland has paid great attention to the improvements of fruits, particularly cher ries, and he is a most scientific naturalist; his birds, stuffed and arranged by himself, excel those of Waterton; and the manner in which hie etymological specimens ara pre served is quite unique and admirable; they are in frames with glass behind and before, so that they can be observed on all sides,and when held up to alight, while, being ren dered impervious to air and unassailable to insects they are indestructible. I am prom ised a specimen case, which will be an in* valuable example to collectors and muse ums in Europe. Dr. Kirtland was also so obliging as to give me numerous shells from the fresh waters of this district." At Albany, on November 6, Miss Murray becomes an inmate of Governor Seymour's house. It was in the midst of the election ill which he was a second lime a candidate for the office of Governor of New York, and was beaten by his competitor, Myron H. Clark. Miss Murray becomes interested in the elec tion, admires the "calm indifference" of her host to the tesult, and bis freedom "from weak ambition." ,Here she begins again to speculate on the slavery question, and comes to the conclusion that the emancipation of the black man has been prevented by check ing the slave trade, observing that— "lf, when a sufficient number bad been imported, their labor had been materially rendered of less value by the introduction of others, slavery would quickly have abol ished itself; But anti-slavery laws checked the nstcral course of Providence.'' At Albany, she learns to like the American clergy. "One circumstance is to be observed of the American Episcopalian clergyman—and as lar as I have been able to remark, the same thing may be said of the Presbyterian—that they all read well, without the nasal lone or the peculiar pronunciation of the Northern Statea. It ia a pity that civilians, especially diplomatic men, do not imitate their clergy in this metier. I think the latter, as a body, superior to ours. Among those whose church es I have attended, two ministers, educated and ordained upon our aide of the Atlantic, both good men, were pompous and tedious in the reading desk and pulpit. And we must confess that not many in England ei thet read or preach In an attractive manner." With Governor Seymour's family she visits New York, aud is domesticated with them in the St. Nicholas Hotel, the only fault she finds with which is, that its furniture is rather in the extreme ol magnificence. On the fash ionable society of New York she makes these reflections : •'l'ooplrf here are no! at all less exclusive than in London; only the differences in rank and wealth are evinced by more minute and elaborate attention to dress, and to trifling conventionalities than with us. 1 have been surprised to hear some men of business, but of wealth, assert that cultivation of fine arts is t proof ol natural effeminacy ! American ladies bestow those hours of leisure which English women of the same class give to drawing, to the study uf natute and to men tal cultivation, almost wholly on persons! a dornment. Although it must be admitted, that owing to the bad training of their aer vants, ladies on this side of the Atlantic are compelled to look closely into the details of domestic economy, yet it is odd that they ere generally far less oompetent to the perform ances of every-day and sick-room duties than the daughters of our noblest houses in Great Britain; and so long as tha girla here devote a whole Hour for every teo minutes allowed by us to the toilet, tbey have no right to make domeslio affairs an excuse for waut of gen eral information. Of course there are brill, iant exceptions ; but I fear the natianal char acter of women io the United States more te semblee that of aelf-indulgent Asiatics Than of energetic Anglo-Saxons. And, as far aa I oan judge, their children are not being reared in better habit*. Human nature is prone to extreme*; and theae fact* explain why some individuals desirous of improvement have fallen into a mistaken imitation of manly oharacier, instead of cultivating feminine du ties." At New York she speculates a little on our political system, to which we have made, she thinks, some mistakes, aod hopes "that a futuie generation will oonaider political rights as duo to properly, aod the virtues of ptinciple, independence end freedom from telfiah motives, rather than to the mere fact of an individual having Jived, and perhaps misused, twenty-one years of bis life." Of course, a rich man from England should be allowed to vote immediately) a poor man never. In December Miss Murray proceeds South ward. At Baltimore she finds the relation of mistress and servant to possess "a more agreeable aspect than at the North, where it is commonly characterized by complaints of annoyance on the one side, and saucy indif ference on the other." Here also she meets some Southern ladies, "whose voices tnff manner ol speaking are more refined and graceful" than those of the other States she had visited. At Washington, at Willard's Hotel, she finds in the evening dancing go ing cm wry merrily In the laities' room, "Hit ladies all in demitodstle bat she remarks that she did not "see so generally the absurd flaunting styfe of dress so remarkable at New York." On this occasion, she thus speaks of living in hotels: "On Christmas day I walked to church with a young lady, whose family reside with in a few milea of this place ; but they take up their residence in thia house during the winter. 1 understand that the habit of hotel life is every year becoming more general in the States, this is partly encouraged by*the troubles arising from aervants; the older la dies get rid of house-keeping, and the young ladiea.are indulged with constant society : but to English tastes this mode of exigence would be unbearable—continued noise, bustle, and excitement, no repose of mind and no borne duties. It ia advantageous to a foreigner, who wishes to beoome acquainted with the people of the country; but I should suppose it must be ruinous to tha manners and the domestic character of the higher class of young women; frivolity and indolence must be encouraged, for any plan of industrial oc • cupaiion is a hopeless attempt in such places as these. I would rather take up my abode in any farm-house in England, than be con demned to flitter away ray life in a great American hotel. Still, for me, as a stran ger and a traveler, it is uncommonly pleas ant.'' The Smithsonian Institute, and the dispute about the application of the Smithsonian leg acy, suggest to our tourist the idea that we want "healthier ideas on the subject of edu cation," and "an improved and more practi cal female training." She remarks— "ln thia country, 1 hear that 'though it has no queen, all the women are queens.' I should rather call them playthings—dolls; things treated as if they were unfit or unwilling to help themselves or others: and while we in England have nearly cast aside arts of the toilet worthy only of dolls, I see here false blows, false bloom, false hair, false every thing !—not always,but too frequently. Dress in America, as a almost general rule, is full of extravagance and artificiality; and women show such a wan', of reliance upon their native powers of pleasing their in fluence in society will be more nominal than real." At Washington ale meet* with an inter esting family, natives of New Orloans, who speak English with an accent; but Miss M. prefers "our language a little broken, to the broad and often nasal pronunciation of New England and New York. The southern peo ple have pleasing voices, and are much less provincial ic their speech, than those of the northern States." From Washington the author proceeds southward, finding the manner* of the whites soften as she goes, and sees new reason to believe in the necessity and advantages of slavery. Such a being as Uncle Tom, de scribed in Mrs. Stowe's book, she is convin ced never had an existence. The blacks are all Topsje, according to our author, with the exception that they are not, like Mrs. Stowe's Topsy, reclaimahle and improvable under treatment which regards them as reasonable beings. We quote part of what ahe says on these subjects: "At one of the railroad stations I watched a yonng and intelligent-looking black msn, considerably beyond boyhood, perseveringly keeping on a kind of Highland trot over u number of a small pitch-barrels with all the zest of a white child from four to six years of age. I begin to doubt whether they ever grow mentally after twenty. They are pre cocious children, being so imitative; they soon ripen, come to a stand-still, and ad vance no farther. In this respect Uncle Tom is a myth, but Topsy a reality. I mean to go and see a sale of slaves; my wish is to judge the subject fairly in all its bearings, and this I may be trusted to do even by abo litionists; for early prejudices and my na tional and acquiied feelings are certainly op posed to slavery ; but if countenances are 'history as well as prophecy,' the national ex pression of laces in the North, as contrasted with those of the South, tell a strange, and to me unexpected atory, aa regards tha I greatest happiness principle of the greatest number! "Of course, ii most be borne in mind that no rules are without exception; but oh! the haggard, anxious, melancholy, restless, sick ly, hopeless faces I have seen in the North ern Slates—in the rail-cars, on the steamboats, , in the saloons, and particularly in the ladies'' parlor. There is beauty of feiture and complexion, with hardly any individuality of eharacter. Nothing like simplicity, even among children after ten years of age—hot house, forced, impetuous beings, the a/mtgA fy dollari, the incentive and only guide to ac tivity and appreciation. Women care that their husbands should gain gold, that they may epend it in dress and ostentation ; and ' the men like th*l their wivee should appear Trail (Ml Right M aad oar as queens, whether they rule well, or ill, or at all; yet it ia certain that I have mada tba acquaintance, and that I value the friendship of superior women in the North, and if I should be thought to have expresaed myself with too moch severity, I appeal to their can dor and judgment; and being American cone ins, tbey have the Anglo Saxon love of troth, and will not spnm her even in an unveiled form, or receive her ungraciously even when thus presented. I have reason to speak grate folly, and warmly do I feel, and anxiously do I venture these observations, which may seem even harsh and ungrateful. Ido no! yet know mnch of the southern ladies; but from Washiogton to this place I have beao ■truck by a general improvement of counte nance wtmc r*ce, ■uff'thm. in spite ol the horrors which accompany tSJ misuse of tobacco. If the gaellemen frafl thie perl of the country woajd BFily stXfliJ habile of eelf-control and deoeocy in this maa] ter, they would iudeod beoome the PreiM Chevaliers of the United Stalee, as thair hills and valleys may prove the storehouses and gardens of the Union." At Charleston, she sees still further mason to he pleased with social life at the Sooth: "My pleasant Washington friend called and look ine to a little dancing party at the house of one of his married daughters, where I saw young ladies more natural, and more grace fully end simply attired than in las northern States; both the tone of voice and the choioe of word* aud pronunciation are muob mote like old England aa one proceeds further south; the habits simpler and more .unosten tatious, and the dress of every day wear is suitable and gentlewomanlike, instead of be ing, aa in the North, unbecoming, stiff, and extravagant; the young women plastering their hair, and wearing (ilk fit for their grand mothers, and the middle aged spending hours in rcpatriug the ravages of time, by etudious artificial contrivance#, whioh, after all, make themselves evident to the most superficial observers." ( This is followod by an argumeol that sla very ia the best condition for the negro race. The entire South preeents a happy image of patriarchal life, benevolent master* and at tached servants. Miss Murray declares that "she had rather be a slave" there than "a grumbling 'help' in the northern Slates." While in Georgia, Miss Murray visits the Stone Mountain, which she describes as a) granite precipice of a height gigantic beyond any other of which she has heard; more lof ty and aspiring than even the Martenswald in the Tyrol. "The floweringAnb arouttl, but I Raw few smaller my guide told me the earlier monthsßF spring are most favorable here for such thin* He was the first Ameriean I ever met mtt (except Botanical Professors) who lakes an interest in flowers. He gathered a large bou quet of Azaleas, Kalmais, Baccinnioms, &c., and thanked me for havipg been the means of bringing.him to the rock garden, which he had never visited before when the Kal mais were in bloom : though he had a great pleasure (he said) in wandering alone about the mountains; 'but then I could never have persuaded my ladies to come to such a place as this.' We had to scramble across a stream and over the rocks, certainly; but I would have walked barefoot through the waters rather than have missed the scene. Ido not; wonder that American ladies in the mass look dispirited and'sick' (the word generally used in the United Slates for ill,) lltay lake so liule exercise, and lose the best enjoy menis of life in their neglect of natural beau ty for artificial pleasures; and no wonder they are victims of consumption." Returning through Indiana, she becomes the guest of Gov. Wright. Tba Governor asks her to go to market with him, and car ries a basket himself, which gives rise to these reflections." "I have heard much of democracy and eqnality since I came to the United States, and I have seen more evidence of aristocra cy and despotism then il has before been my fortune to meet with. The Know Nothings, and the Abolitionist*, and the Morrnonitea are, in my opiaioo, consequent upon the mammomte, extravagant pretensions and habits, which are really faabiocable among pseudo-republicans. Two hundred thousand starving Irish have come to this country, and, in their ignorance, they assume the aire of that eqnality which they ha 7* been induced to believe is really belonging to American society. Tbey eDdeevor to reduce to prac tice the sentiment to popular here—but no— that will never do. Ladies don't like their helps to say they 'choose to eit in the parlor, or they wont help them at all, for equality is the rule here.' Mrs. So-and-so, ol the 'cod fish' aristocracy, doesn't like to have Lady Anything to take precedence of ber; but Bet ty choosing to play at equality ia quite an other thing I Now at Indianapolis 1 have found something like -consistency, for the first time I came ibis side the Atlantic." Another observation reipeoting the Ameri can women, apd we cloee the volume: "Before leaving the Reindeer steamer, I had some conversation with a sensible Isdy from Chicago, who regretted the way in which the great majority of American young women are sacrificing health to vanity. She agrees that it is not so much climate as bad management which crowds the cemeteries with early victims. An idea has gone forth that fragility is interesting, and young ladies almost cultivate ill health i She told me that standing at her own door one morning, she observed three girls between twelve and fourteen passing to school; it was damp wea ther, these children were lightly and showily attired, whh (hie silk •Uppers, to eet off their feet to advantage—instead of good substan tial boots. These kind of absordities are common in the United States. I have fonnd out a reason why ladies travelling alone must be extravagantly dressed ; without tbst precaution, they meet with no attention and little oivilily—decidedly much less than in any other country. So here it is not as wo men, bnt as ladies, they are to be cared for ! and ibis in democratic America!" The pasaagaa we have extracted will give the reader some idea of the book, but wa should be hardly just if we did not remark, that where the lady's aristocratic prejudices do not stand in her way, she seetps to have taken, a kindly view of what"o(e side Of the chiefly occa sioned by the reports of county superintend ents. Eleven pages alone are occupied with the remarks of Mr. Curtin himself. About one hundred pages, at the close of the vol ume, are filled with statistical matter. The number of teachers in the public schools of Pennsylvania is 13,108; the num ber of scholars 592,007. Here is quite an army of youth, profiling by the excellent system of education so wisely adopted twen ty years ago The State Superintendent speaks encour agingly of the working of the system, but points out numerous defects. The reports of county superintendents, howaver, are more full of interesting details, which give some idea of the working of the system >n the rural districts. Although many millions of money have been expended oa education, still the build ings for school purposes are often very wretch ed, unwholesome and incommodious. Mr. Hays, the superintendent in Forest county, says : "It grieves me to have toexpose tire wretch ed stale of our school houses ; they are (some of them) ol log with mudded walls; the seats are slaba or boards with legs io them. The pupils have to sit on these till so weari ed, that they must lean back (if within reach) against the mudded wall. There is not a school in the county in which there is a black board, and scarcely one that has evsn a chair. There have been two school houses let, (to be built on ground, I have been told, with;**! ohadow of ijtto,) on* nf them 10 the Wagaman, the Jefferson county Superintend ent. He is quoting from the note-book of a lour of inspection made among tha schools. "Visited school No. 6—taught by Miss , accompanied by one of the directors; travel ing bad ; went up a pine hollow, then over steep hills; country rough ; soil thin and covered with stones; slight fall of snow ; creek frozen over, impassable to my horse ; broke the ice with a band-spike and got over; came to a clearing; field filled with stumps and stones; arrived at school house in the edge of a pine wood; fallen trees ly ing close by the honse, obstructing the way; house very smali; built ol logs; one end -lined with rough boards nailed horizontally over the cracks ; blacksmith shop windows ; some lights out; loose boards over head, for ceiling; joists too low for a tall man to stand straight; door 100 short at bottom by severs! inches ; floor open ; gable er.d knocked in if it ever had any ; stove very poor ar.d did not ball draw ; teacher intelligent and used to better things ; cheeks blue with cold ; was endeavoring to do her duty; well quali fied to teach; children sat shivering with cold ; school small; heard classes read and ■pell; showed proficiency ; thought it cruel to condemn a female tesober and tender chil dren to imprisonment in a place like this, during the rigors of winter." These are, it ie true, extreme cases, but there are probably hundreds of schools in the Stale, among the wild counties of the North and Northwest, that are as comfortless aa ibis of Jefferson county, and many poor martyr sohool teachers who suffer so severe ly as this unhappy "Miss —— ol school No. 6." A very general cause of complaint in the reports of the County Superintendents is the incompetency of many of the teachers, or rather of the persons applying for situations as teachers. Some of the reports give illus trations of the ignorance of these applicants that are almost beyond belief. Mr. Kerr, the superintendent of Allegheny county, says: "With regard to those whom I was com pelled to reject, but little need be said.— Their want of qualification can be best in ferred from the following table of incongrui ties, as selected at random from their MSS. Their attainments, though wonderful indeed, did not entitle thorn to a certificate, even of a middling grade. "Orthography.— Walter,speach, bizxy,verry, beaurow. grammer, arithmatic, oshun, /attitude, Urope, Wendsday, propper, parshuL unherd, tence, ur'tphaser, forceal.le, cornicle, tfc , tfc. "Definition of Term*.—Meridian 1 Half round—When the enn shines Jan at 1 o'o. Grammar t—'The ait of sience. Orthography 7 —l* tptllin, and spellin is naming the letters. Evolution I —A turnm round. "Geography .-How is Pennsylvania bound ed t Ana.—" don no how bound." "Grammar and anthmetio equally as eb anrd." Some equally remarkable evideooes of proficiency of this kind are given in the re i port of Mr. Fell, of Bucks county, who says: ! "A teacher in one of our schools, actuat t ed donbtlsss by patriotio motives, and a 'lust for never dying fame,' undertook to instruct his pupils in the art militaire. Each was armed with a club, and the force* being equally divided, were ordered by their gen eral 'o make an onslaught on each other.— At the word of the commander tbey sprang forwatd like young Spartans, making the woods ring with their yells, beating each other in a most savage manney, till they were literally covered with blood. All deserters from the ranks of the belligerents wete pur sued and soundly diubbed for 'lack of pluck.' The neighbors not feeling disposed tosecouJ the efforts of this domine in bis plan of 'Teaching the young idea* how to shoot,' lodged a oomplaint with the direct, who, "after a proper nircattgatiuu *r ,.* court-martialed the fallow, and discharged him from service. "Years hence, when the education of all classes will be far in advance of what it ia at present, when lha labarynths of myslio science will be revealed, and the schoolmas ter will bo able to "Unravel the figured veil that hideth Egypt's Gods:" ' it may be satisfactory to glance a retrospect ive eye at by-gone events, and to know the scholastic attainmenta of some who would fain be employed to instruct the children of the pieseot generation. "One who had taught school fifteen years did not know whether be lived in the East ern or Western hemisphere,but rather thought it was the Eastern 11 Another applicant bounded Pennsylvania on the north by the West Indian, on the south by the Mediterra nean, on tho eat by tho Atlantic, on the west by the Indian ocean !!! "One that came well recommended ashav- ' ing taught school several winters, when re quested to add 4 and | logelhei, after work ing some lime made their sum 4: and then, when asked how many thirds make a whole one answered four. The last of whom I shall speak had been studying divinity in a Pennsylvania college some three yens to ' qualify himself for a home missionary. I gave him a few arithmetical questions, not one of which he was able to solve, although some of them were in long division; neither conld he enumerate the digits, without much diffculty. I propounded thia sentence in dic tation to him. "A gentleman of insane mind threw himself into the river Seine." He wrote it as lollows "Jentleaman of an in- j •Mlii mUvl slut* r titiaiuvtf tutu tav IXI v *>i sane." "On one occasion this summer, out of fourteen applicants for the schools in the township, two only were examined in geog raphy, and one in grammar,!" The publication of snch reports as these, and the exposure of ignorance such as these aspirants exhibit, will do much to diminish the evil. Every year, indeed, is diminishing the difficul'ies of the Pennsylvania school system. Normal schools are multiplying and incteasiug the supply of competent men and women to fill the posit of teachers. The generation now in course of education will include, when it arrives at maturity, very few who will not be able to say how Penn sylvania is bounded, and none whose iJeas of education are like those of the Bucks county pedagogue, who made his scholars opposing armies and compelled them to fiahi till they were "literally covered with blood." HINTS TO MECHANICS AND WonxMEN.-lfyoo would avoid the diseases which your partic ular trades and work are liable to produce, attend to the following hints:— Keep, il possible, regular home; never sup pose that you have done extra wotk, when you sit up till midnight, and do not rise till eight or nine ir. the morning. Abstain from ardent spirits, cordials and malt liquors. Let your drink be, like (hat of Franklin,when he was a printer—pure water. Never ure tobacco in ar.y form. By chew ing, smoking, or snuffing, yon spend money which would help to clothe you, or would en able you, if single, to make a useful present to an aged mother or dependent eisier; or, if married, to buy your wile a frock, or get books for your children. Yon also, by any of these filthy practices, injure your health, bringing on head-ache, gnawing at (he stom ach, low spirits, trembling of the limbs, and, at limes, sleeplessness. Be particular in preserving your skin clean, by regular washing of your hands and face and mouth, before each meal, and of your whole body at least once a week; and by oombing and brushing the hair daily. Always have fresh air in the room in which you work, but ao that you shall not be in a draft. Take a short lime in the morning, if pos sible, and always in the evening or inwards sundown, for placing your body in a natural posture, by standing erect, and exercising your chest and limba by a walk where (he air is the purest. If confined in doors, let yonr food consist, in targe proportion, of milk and bread, and well boiled vegetable*. Meat and fish ought to be used sparingly, and only at dinner.— Yon are batter without coffee, tea, or choco late. If yon use any of them, it ought not to be more than once in the day. QT Different kinds of exercise suit differ ent constitutions. The object, of oourse, is to employ all the muscles of the body, and to strengthen those especially which are too weak; and hence exeroise ought to be often varied, and always adapted to the peculiari ties of individuals. [Two Dollars tor luiib NUMBER 7, MEDICAL SUMMARY. Prof. Kent says that non ursi is a safe and reliable parturifucient—e fnll substitute for ergo!.———lt has been ascertained that the common parsley plant possesses ineontestl ble fobrifnga properties; the decoction of its seed may be substituted for that of cin chona, and the active principle which has been drawn from it is equivalent to quinine in the treatment of the local intermittent fe vers.——The New iork Medical limes says that it is stated in the Friends Intelligencer, that from statistics recently published in England, while the average duration of hu man lifo is estimated at thirty three years, that among the Friends is an average of fifty one years. Eighteen years thus added to the average of human life is a fact too re markable not to challenge medical atten tion.——The medical classes in the allo pathic schools of New York the past winter were: the University School, 200 students ; College of Physicians and Surgeons, 160 ; New York Medical College, 75; total 435. In Philadelphia the class of the University has fallen off about 50; the Jefferson about 100, while the Pennsylvania and Philadel phia College have increased somewhat;- The English Surgeon Erichsen recently re moved a large calculus from the bladder of a female, weighing 6J ounces, and measur ing 8 inches in the long and 6 in the short diameter. -The director of the statisti cal office in Chili publishes the name and rges of nine persons, the youngest of whom is 118, and the oldest 133 years of age. One j of them who is 120 years old, recently mar ried a widow of only 68 years. Our old friend Prof. J. S. Friend has become ed itor of the Journal of Medical Reform ■ Our once editorial colleague, H. M. Sweet, M. D., has been elected to the chair of Phy siology and-Pathology in the Metropolitan Medical College of New York. -The French soldiers always wear woolen shoes during the winter. Doctor Stall says that if the practice were generally followed, con sumption would have fewer victims.— During the last year there were 7701 women delivered in the Lying in Hospital of Vien na, being by far the largest number of ac coucbmeuts in any one establishment in the world. ■ ■An English paper states that in 1851, 5000 widowers were married to spin sters, 2400 bachelors to widows, and 2700 widowers to widows. More than 7000 wid owers stand here by the side of rather more than 6000 widows. In one case, a widower of ninety was married to a spinster of eiglh ty. The youngest widower: was twenty, the youngest widow sixteen .—Med. Reformer. MEDICAL REFORM IN ENGLAND.— The editor of the "Journal of Medical Reform" mates that he has received a letter a short time since from Dr. FRANK CHILD, one of the members of the Council of the Medical Re form College, stating that the cause of Re formed Medicine Is rapidly progressing in that country, notwithstanding the persistent opposition its friends have encountered.— During the last Course of Lectures nearly one hundred young men have been in attend ance as regular students. Our practice will ultimately triumph, but the accession to our ranks of such spirits as w6 learn the lead ing Reformers of England to be will hasten this "consummation so devoutly wished." NEW METHOD or REMOVING FOREIGN BOD IES MOM THE NOSE.— In a recent number of the American Lancet, the editor, Dr. Horace Nelson, reports two cases where he suc ceeded in t oaehing foreign bodies from the nasal passages. The first was a child who had pushed a pearl button up her nostril; and the second was that of an Irish boy who had a kernel of com in his nasal pas sage. With a four ounce syringe he threw a lull jet of water up the unobstructed nos tril, when the waier gushed out the other one, bringing along with it the foreign body. This suggestion may prove advantageous to many of our readers. A LEGAL QUESTION. —Thomas E> Franklin, Esq., Anorney Qeneral of Pennsylvania, to whom was submitted the question whether the Stale of New York has a right, by the construction of a dam across the Chemung river to supply with water the Chemnng ca nal, one of the publie improvements of that State, and thus divert the water from the nat ural channel of the Chemung river into the Seneca lake, thereby materially diminishing the capacity of that river to supply the North Branch canal in this State—has given his opinion, founded on the law of nations, that such right does not exist, and that one State or nation cannot divert the water of a river from its natural channel, to the menl of the State or nation below—iMJy News. EMETICS IH TOOTH ACRE: 'GY M. Caesar Frederic, of Ghent. I woulddirect attention to a variely of tooth-tclva which is indicative of a disordered s.ate of the stomach, and which I have succeeded in relieving by the administration of ipecachuana in emetio doses. I have seen this treatment succeed where everything else had failed, and when even the removal of the diseased tooth pro duced no effect.— London Lanctt. OT Dnring the March 'instituted' by the editor of the Newark Timet lor female com positors, it ia reported that the following short dialogue look place: BRIITCR—."Good morning, Mr. Heapeok, have yon got any daughters that would make good type-setters 1" HEMFCCK—"No; but I've got a wife thai would make a vary Cue 'devil.' *
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers