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
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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.' *