THE STAR OF THE NORTH. ft* W. VMTir, PrprMrO VOLUME 8. ~ THE STAR OF THE NORTH U FCILISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNJNO BY K. W. WKAVEiI, OFFICE— Up stairs, in the new brick build ing, on the south side of Main Street, third square below Market. TERNS :—Two Dollars par annum, if paid within tlx montbafrom ihelime of sob* scribing: two dollars and fifty cants if not paid within the year. No subscription re ceived for a less period than six months ; no disoontinnance permitted until all arrearages are paid, unless at the option of the editor. Advertisements net exceeding One square will be inserted three times for One Dollar and twenty-five cents for each additional in sertion. A. liberal discount will be made to those who advertise by the year. pm <1 on. BENJAMIN. Though storm and vapor That sun shines on, whose name ia Love, Serenely o'er life's shadow'd scone. Press on 1 surmount the rooky steeps, Climb boldly o'er the torrent's arch— He falls alone, who feebly creeps— He wins who dares the hero's march ; Be thou a hero! let thy might Tramp o'er eternal scows its way, And through the ebon walls of night Hew down a passage into day. Press on ! if once and twice thy feet Slip baek and stumble, harder try; From him, who never dreads to meet Danger and Death, they're sure to fly— To eoward leaks "he bullet speeds, While on their breasts, who never quail, Gleams, guardian of obivalrie deeds, Bright ooarage, like a eeat of mail. Press on ! il fortune play thee false To day, to-morrow shall be true; Whom now she sinks, she now exalts, Taking old gilts ana granting new. The wisdom of the present hour Makes up for follies past and gone— To weakness, strength succeeds, and power From liaitiy springs—press on ! press on ! Prase on I what though upon the ground. Thy low hath been poured out like rain ! That happiness is always found The sweetest, which is born of pain ; Oft 'mid the forests deepest glooms, A bird sir.ga from some blighted tree, And in the dreariest desert blooms A never-dying rote for thee. Therefore, press on, and reach the goal, And gain the prize, and wear the crown ; Doubt not, for to the steadfast soul Come wealth and honor and renown To thine own aelf be true, and keep Thy mind from sloth, thy heart from soil— Press on ! end, thou shall surely reap A Heavenly himn tee thy toil. For the Star of the North. ( OiIIMUNICATIOh. To thk Editor: As the time of opening most of the Publio Schools in our County, is about the first of November, many of them have now been in uperetion over one month; a length of time sufficient, it is believed, to enable lbs Di rectors of eech School-district, in discharge ol the supervisory duties devolving upon them, to lorm a pretty correct estimate of the condition sod character of the Schools indi vidually. Much responsibility,—more per haps than is generally fait by themselves, must necessarily rest upon the Directors of evary School-district; they ere the legally constituted guardians of tho education and mental training ol tho entire portion of the youthful population in their respective dis tricts. And although the County Superin tendent Is the only legitimate judge of ihn qualifications of the teacher,—di rectors are presumed to be competent judges of the order and discipline isquisite in the Schools, s well as the propriety or impro priety of the routine of School room exercises as adopted by each teacher; and bain g elect ed by the parents themselves, and legally clothed with this important truat,—waekly, or at least semi-monthly visitations of all the Schools in their districts, woold not ooly have a salutary effect, bat be sadafaotoiy to pa tents and gnardiana, as well as gratifying and enoouraging to both toaober and pu pil*. Trials and difficulties are incident to tho vocation of teaobing, few teachers, indeed, are so fortunate as to escape them In a great er or less degree. In the present age of pro gress, and rapid gonkemfum, a large portion of " Young Amenta" seems to be so far in ad vanee of the "Oldfogggim" of parental ad monition and coolrol, thai tbe generality of teachers themselves, not being able to keep pee# with this juvenile "spirit of rapid prog rsaa," are constrained to interpose some bar rier* and check*, end endeavor to oiream scribe within tbe bounds of moderation and reason this juvenile spirit of the ege, as well in salf defence, as for tbe well ordering, dis ciplining, and improvement of his pupils; hence dissatisfaction and complaints: greatly exaggerated aeoouuts, ia net a total perver sion of the troth, ia often reaorted too by rude aod refractory pupils, for the sole purpose of prejudicing Ike minds ol parents and others igiioii iht tMcbtr, heooe, tfot •ctlorcemeru of salotsry discipline in the school room. is not unfreqeeiMly tendered abortive ; the only effectual mode of preventing, or counteract ing the evil* referred to, (under onr present school system,) seam* hi be a stated and reg ular visitation of the Sohools by the Directors nf each School district, end a strict scrutiny on their part, into the internal regulation and. order of the school-room. The foregoing hints upon this subject, are presented to the consideration of Directors, aod other*, without eny intention of a per sonal or a local application, but with a view to the well ordering and best interests of the Sohools of our County generally. Deumbei 9th, 1866. . VERITAS. BLOOMSHURG. COLUMBIA COUNTY, DECEMBER 17, 1856. PRACTICAL TBAtHIBO. Order and arrangement ate lb* primary means of success, in tbe sobool room. It has long since been truthfully remarked, that "Order is heaven's fist law." There can be bnt little accomplished in any position of lif* without Order. Bnt what ia to be the order of the school room I I answer that the sobool room should be a place of neatness and quietness. Jn some schools, it would appear that each individual wa* determined to make more noise Iban any other, even than the Teacher himself; be meanwhile, aa Mr. Page say*, "laboring to keep order," by making more noise then the pnpils. Aa no example of ibis kind of order, or rather disorder, I would refer the reader to ''Page's Theory and Paretic# of Teeehing," inWIW^ NHHHBUi scarcely fail to be so. Let him Dave "a place for overything, and everything In it* place." " A time for every thing, and ev ery thing in its time." Instead of throwing hi* books, pens, pencils, Ac., on the desk, regardless of tbe noise thus piodnced, let him, when he has done using a thing, pnt it in its proper place, carefully and noiselessly. Inctead of walking over the floor in a care less manner, let him tread a* lightly as pos sible, making no noise ; thereby showing hi* pupil* that he i* careful to do nothing that may lnterropt them in their studies; and be wilt soon discover, et least in the ma jority of bis pnpils, n disposition lo do noth ing that will interrupt him or each other. Tbe teacher should not niter his com mands in * stentorian voice, as though he were commanding en) army on lbs field of batde. He ehonld rather request than com mand , for if a command is given in a barab, rough tone, though the pupil spoken to may obey for the time, il will not be that ready, cheerful obedience which is always to be desired, but the obedience yielded only to stern neoessity. From past experience and observation, I am satisfied, that in almost every initance where Teacher* have failed in school gov ernment, the fault ha* been in themselves, and proceeded from e want of prop*: self government. But while the discipline of tbe school room should be mild, and administered in the spirit of kirfitaeaa, it shocld, neverthe less, b* firm and unyielding. Laxity and want of determination on the part of tbe Teacnitr TiTi soon tre aißci/veieu "Dv me i— pil*. If they are permitted to violate the rules of the school with impunity once, they will take the same privilege again and again, until their respeol for the Teacher is lost entirely, and tbe school room becomes a perfect scene of confusion, where good or- | t'er is unkuown and the Teacher and bis 1 laws hare become objects of ridicule. The Teacher has it in bi* power, by a proper course of procedure, so to command the re spect and gain the confidence of his pupils, that it will be their highest aim, their obief delight, to do whst tiff wishes. It may, however, become neoessary in some instances, to apply lbs rod, when all things else have failed ; but this should only be done as a last resort, and then it should be persevered io, until th* desired end ie accomplished. It is not wise policy to apply tbe rod for every little misdemeanor. This course is calculated to impress the pupil* with the idea, that the Teacher delights in punishing them ; sod then hi* punishment* are almost worse than none at all. Bnt when th* pnpil* see that the Teacher ■a driven to adopt this measure by necessity, end by tbeir own disobedience, and that it ia adminiitared for thair good, and in the spirit of kindness, they will perceive that he is but performing a duty, which Is to him most painlul. As a consequence, they will respect end even love bint, end will after ward* be careful that tbere shall be lest cause for a repetition of this painful duty. Tbe school may thus be made a place of order, nealnets and pleasort; the scholar* will love to be there; and the Teacher's po sition will then be a moat pleasant, instead of an irksome one, end his work will be that "Delightful leak! To teach the young idea bow to shoot," to well described by tbe poet and so often qneted. Purification of Gei. Within a abort time, a process baa been discovered, by whieb the purifieation of gat ia effected in a very complete manner, end tbe ammonia separated is at one* in a stale in which it can be employed as a manure. A mixture of sulphate of iron, lime and saw dust ia made, which i* introduced into the purifiers of tee gas works, and after having been exposed ea long as it continues to pu rify tbe gae sufficiently, it it removed, and replaced by another quantity. The product I* a dark ooiorad, almost black substance, perfectly gr&nnlar, and tolerably dry, with a strong smell of gas, whioh at at once betrays it* aouro*. HTThe quantity of lead covered by war ranto issued to soldiem of all the war* ia which th* United State* have been engaged, amounted to a7,6M,4lteare* up to Ist Dee! 1866. In addition to Ibis, a liberal system of pensions prevails. Them were 14,488 on lb* pension roUe last year, who received $ 1,- 505,112. —me—————————— Speech of Mr. Buefcnmn—Worn* et Wisdom. We have bad so many public documents pressing upon onr consideration for some days pest, that we have been unable to lay before onr readers the profound ecd able re marks of tbe President elect in reply to tbe congratulatory address of William B. Duncan, en the occasion of tbe late visit of tbe stu dent* of Franklin and Marshall College of Pennsylvania, to Wheatland. The visit was suggested and arranged by the students them selves, over on* hundred of whom were pres ent. The movement wee decided upon by a unanimous vote. Mr. Buchanan is the President of the Boaid of Trustees, and ilia believed be ie tbe first gentleman occupying a similar position, who has ever been elected President of the United Stales— hence the lows : He said that he felt greatly indebted to hie yonng friends for Ibair visit. He had tbe as surance that, at least, their eongretnlationa were sincere, as they sprang from tbe warm hearta of youth, which had not yet had lime to become corrupted and hardened in tbe waye of the world. Tbe bosom of yoeth was the abode of sincerity end truth, and it was indeed a pleasure and an honor to receive the warm out-pouringr of their hearta. He •aid that he had always fall a grpßl solicitude for tbe interests of Franklin and Jjkrshall College ; il was a noble institution and he was proud to be the Pngfdent of its Board of Directors. He was extremely gratified to learn that it had fair prospects, not only of a large number of students, but of great use fulness. It was gratifying to aee so large a number of worthy young men already en rolled on its list of students. He referred to their responsibility, reminding them that when tbe present generation had passed a way, and been gathered to their fathers, on tbem, the yonng men of to-day, would rest tbe responsibility of forming and administer ing the future government of the couotry, and of preserving intact our glorious Union and Constitution. Tbere wai not, be said, a young mao among them, however hnmble his position, who might not aspire with an honorable ambition, lo fill the highest offio* within the gift of tha people ; but in order lo attain to position* of honor and usefulness and distinction, they must remember that everything depend* upon themselves. They mn.i carvn nil I tilG fulQlfi froill lllf, ave square fire-boxes. Tbe rscUa brm of fire-box may be more conve nient for cooking ranges, but there is no ex cuse for constructing the furnace of any parlor or other heating stove of a square form. The fire-brioks for lining stoves should be fluted. Bricks with plain surfaces are not se durable as tbe fluted kind, because tbe latter tends to prevent the adherence of olinker.— Some brioks for stoves sre actually cast with convex surfaces, as if designed for scattering the rays of heat, thua exhibiting ignorance of the lews of heat. Bright metal surfaces do not radiate beat so well us dark, dull surfaces, therefore Rus sia iron in stoves and pips do no radiate so much beat into a room as common iron.— Those surfaces which radiate beat most effi ciently also possess tbe power of abeorbtug it, and vice versa. As the intensity of heat varies inversely as the square of the distance from the radi ant point, it is evident that the nearer tbe stove is placed to the centre of the room, or apace which it ie designed to heat, the more uniform will be the lempersluts of the whole ■pace and not only so, but a greater amount of heat will be economised. Stove manufacturers have devoted an im mense amount of attention to elaborate tbe surfaces of oaet-iron stoves, and to produee an incalculable amour.) of complicated forms, but not too much to produce stoves based upon philosophy of the laws of heat. We hope that more attention, scientifically, will hereafter be devoted to this great and impor tant branch of American manufactures.— Scienlijk American THE IBON TRADE. —The annual Iron pro duction in the Ststes ie in excess of 800,000 tons. Tha half of this is consumed in cast ing*, and the remainder ie converted into wrought iron, at a loss in waste, &c., ot ■boot one-third. It is supposed there will be required annually for some years te come iron rails sufficient for three thousand miles of new railroads. The wear and tear of railroads will require about 100,000 tor.s an nually to ksep them in working order. The production in the country is abont 180,000 tons. The new roads will require 400.000 tons, leaving a deficiency, to be produced or imported, of 320,000 lons. It requires about 400,000 tons of pig iron to produce 340,000 tons rat's; and to pro duce this amount of pig iron, it wooU re quire 100 stone-coal furnace*, and 96 roll ing mills, making 45 tons each per day, for 300 days, to manufacture it into railroad bars. WHAT BECAME or TH ABOLITIONISTS?— In 1844 the Abolitionists proper polled between sixty and seveßty thousand voles for Birney, their candidate for President. Iu 1862, John P. Hale received 157,298 vote* for President, nearly one-half of which were cast in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. At tbe late election, the last named Slates gave Gerritt Smith, the open and avowed Abolitionist candidate, only 364 votes, when (hey gave Hale in 1852 nearly 70,000! New York gave 160 only for Smith ; Pennsylvania, 18; Ohio, 156!!! What has become of tbe 70,000 Abolitionists who voted ior Hale in 1868? The Radical Abolitionist frankly answers the question. It says that the greater part of them tboaght it but to co-operate with the Republican party. PURE AIR. —In abont two and a half min utes, ell the blood contained iu the human system, amounting to neatly three gallon*, traverse tbe respiratory surface. Every one, then, who breathe en impure atmoephere two and a half minutes, has every particle of blood acted upon by the vitiating air. Ev> ery particle has become, less vital, lees ca ble of repairing striotnree, of carrying on functioos; and tbe longer such air is reepi red, the more impure does it beeomc, and Ibe blood necessarily become more corrupt, TBE WHAET CROS. —Pennsylvania is our greatest wheat Stats, and estimated to raise this year 18,250,000 bushels; Ohio Is next, I raising 16,800,000; New York is next, raising 16,200,000; Illinois next, raising 14,600,000; Wisconsin, 14,000,000; and Virginia raises 12,500,000. fcFTbf experience of many hatd-worki ng, worthy pMple, in this city, attests the fact that more than one-half of the "Homestead Associations," gotten up by interested indi viduals, are great humbugs." GTA passenger railway car, wholly of iron, is b*iog constructed st Patterson, New t Jersey. Dr. La Moths Is the patentee. M [Tw Mliri ft kwmm. NUMBER 48. From He Philadelphia Ledger . THE GEKHANS OT mmtllttßM • A Buffalo newspaper, in a late article on the German farmera of Pennsylvania, forms (he wotld that Ihejr ere hardly more intelligent or independent than the serft of the Fatherland a century and a half ago.— "The immigrants came over here with their Priests," h ssya, "a fragment of the middle ages, uneducated and uncultivated. What is the consequence 1 We see before natfee petrification of a social and mental condition which haa long since disappeared from Ger many. We behold a picture of the dark and gloomy middle agec." No one familiar with the German farmera of Pcnnsylrania need be told that this is a stupid and ignorant libel. Its author has ei ther never travelled through our Stale, or he has maliciously misrepresented what he saw. So far from our German farmers being on a level with the serfs of a hundred end fifty years ago, they are vastly in advance of eo lemporary German or French farmere, or even of English farmers of similar meant. On this point we need go no further for au thority than to Mr. Munch, the fellow la borer wtih Herder in the late campaign, who, though hostile in polities to our Ger man farmera in general, waa forced, dorms; his tonr through Pennsylvania, to admit their sterling worth. Mr. Munoli is an azpurieft ced and practical agriculturist, and notmetu ly a speculative man of letters, So that hit judgment"* such a question is worth that of a score of visionary, ill-informed, preju diced, disappointed demagogues or partisan editors. After eulogizing ike pietunaquu natural features of the landscape of out Gar man counties, praising the excellent taste which has preserved the weeds on the hill sides, and extolling the appearance of the farm*, this gentleman adds eignMcantly that be found the population of M a genial, solid and respectable stamp, enviably ciroumatsn cad in comparison with the European fer met, and very far bis superior in intelligeocu and morals.'' It is time that troth should be epoken, and justice done to our German population. Wu are willing to go as far as any one in testify ing to (lie value of books, newspapers and schools; we are witling to admit that our German farmers, es a class, have cared lesu for these things than they ought; but wo aru not yet (illy enough to say that a man ie ne cessarily a bad farmer, a disorderly citizen, or a profligate husband, because be does not speak English, is not crammed with book learning, or doee not lake in hall a. dozen journals. Our German farmera prove the re verse. Whether a denizca of a State be val uable to it on account of what he annually add* to the realized wealth of the commu nity, or for hia fathful obedience to the lawe, or for the sacrednem with which he pre serves the family compact, our German farmers certainly merily as much as any other class for the practice' of either of these virtues, or indeed for the harmonious exercise of all. Even their intelligence ie popularly underrated. As Mr. Munob has said, they are of a "genial, solid and respect able stamp;" there is no false meotal glit ter about ibem ; in a word, they are rather men of sound judgment, than brilliant rheto ricians or one sided ideologists. All persons who have had transactions with our German farmers,dearn to respect the excellent sens* they display in the ordinary concerns ot life. It i* only when political arise, that onr Germans are stigmatized as dolts.— Would it not be more consistent, not tossy liberal, to give the Germans credit for equal honesty and shiuwdxees, in public affaire, as in private I Are those who denounce Iba Germans, because of their votes, p sweated of a monopoly of the intelligence end patriot ism of the republic I But we are willing to waive this pari of the question. There ere other things, be sides political sobodness, valuable in a citi zen. In many particulars, German farmers snrpass even the people of New Eng land, who, of late have put In a claim, it would seem, to be the n# pint ultra in all thing*. They understand, or if they do not understand, they observe the laws of health better than even the rural population of Mase achnsetta; and the result is that they are re ally the fineat race of men, physically, to bU foood witbin the borders of the United Stales. In certain favorable localities of Kentucky, or on the frontier, where, from being a domi nant caste, or from the immediate vicinity of unpeopled wildernesses, the inhabitant* live a half nommde life, there are as fine, perhaps finer specimen* of men to ho seen; but there is no where, in all America, an agricultural population, tho members of which personally till the soil, that has such thews and sinews, such a healthy develop ment, or such generally prolonged life, a onr mueh-aboeed 'Pennsylvania Dutchmen.' To be plain, if some of out orotchetty, one ■dead, dyspeptio, tblo, eadavarous New Eng land brethren, would emigrate to our Our* man eotmtiee; follow, for a gouaiwtlon at two, the open air life of oqr Gormen farmers; and last of all, intttmtrry into our vigoraas, anti-hypochondriacat German families, they would soon cease to die by such scwrea 0 f consumption, to complain that there wore no longor toy healthy women left, and to amuse sensible people with such silly vagw riea as Brook farm associations, Pantheism, or the thousand and oats (nteHoetual vagone* which are born of 'heir abnormal physical condition. OT Tho population of Paris doubles In about eixty years, that of Tendon in ,boa forty, and that of New York in twenty.