" " . " . ... , . , , - - . - - 1 ' V 11 i - . . . 1 " " " ' " " ' ' - COME AND TAKE ME. Dcvivier. CLEARFIELD. WEDNESDAY, "SEPTEMBER 13, 1854.; NO, 11. VOL. 1. RAFTSMAN'S JOURNAL. Br. Jones, Publisher. Per. annum, (payable in advance.) SI 00 1 so 2 00 it paid wiunn meyear, After the expiration of the year . No paper discontinued until al all arraaras-es are A failure to notify a discontinuance at the expi ration of the term subscribed for, will be consider ed a new engagement. 3 MY MOTHER'S BIBLE. This book is all that's left me now ! Tears will unbidden start, With falt'ring lip and throbbing brow, I press it to my heart ; For many generations past "" Here is our family tree ; My mother's hand thi. I'.ible clasp'd ; She dying gave it me. . Ah ! well do I remember those .- Whose names these records bear Who round the hearth-stone used to close After the evening prayer, And speak of what these pages said. Tn tones my heart would thrill! Though they are with the silent dead, Here are they living still. Jrfy father read this holy book To brothers, aiders dear ; How calm was my poor mother's look, Who learn'd God's word to hear. llr angel face I see it yet ! What thronging mem'ries come ! Aain that little group is met Within the walls of home. Thou truest friend man ever knew. Thy constancy I've tried ; Where all were falae I found thee true, My counsellor and guide. The mines of earth no treasuro give That could this volume buy ; In teaching me the way to live, It taught me how to die. (Driginnt 3fiorn! tCnlr. WRITTEN FOR TITE JOCRAL. THE " ; COTTRICHI SECCKED. CHAPTER I. Continued from last ireefc.J - Valeus having left, Prytheus threw himself back, with a sigh, on his seat ; and closing his eyes, gave himself up to his accustomed musings. The future, from whose silent depths not even a solitary ray of hope had hitherto came, to lessen the burdens and solve the mysteries of the. present, now stood out be fore him, all lighted up with the beams and glory of eternal day ; and that day, so full of hope and comfort to the weary soul, occupied his thoughts almost every moment of his wake ful hours. Upon thii glorious future, his mind was in tently ruminating, as he sat alone in his soli tary apartment the old lamp, well-nigh ex hausted, casting only a few sombre and flick ering ray3 around him. In a little time, how ever, he fell, unconsciously, asleep ; but his thoughts ran on a3 before, only that they took a more bold and lofty flight, and, in a few mo ments, he was gazing upon the most wondrous sight3. v All at once, a gentle form appeared hover ing over him in the air, beckoning him away. At first, his feelings were those of dread ; but the form descending nigher, said : "come, and I will shew thee a mystery." The sweet, gentle tones of the voice, and the bright, earnest smile that played, over the features, inspired his confidence ; and instantly he felt himself lifted from the earth, and pursuing the form through trackless regions of air. In a moment, the earth vanished, and the clouds lay in the misty depths beneath, rolling along like a sea of molten gold. . Presently his sight grew dim, and dimmer still ; till, finally, he was surrounded by an al most felt darkness, though hurried on, with inconceivable rapidity, by some invisible power. By and by, the sound of distant music, in expressibly sweet, broke occasionally upon his ear as if wafted on the breeze, or borne on the waves of some boundless ocean. He would gladly have stopped and listened; but jthe aaiae unseen hand urged him on, till, at ength he felt his feet rest upon something smooth and polished ; and his eyes were open ed. .... . ' It is in vain to attempt to describe the glory that.lay before him. " It was a place a new Jieavcns and earth'; and at his feet lay . a vast city, surrounded by a wall, great : and high, and on the top cf which he found himself standing. The music seemed to fill all the air of the place,and every gentle breeze that waft ed over him was ladencd with its melodies. "Light, airy forms, smiling and greeting each other, filled along its streets, which" were of gold ; while its palaces and towers glittered in the sun-beams like masses of the purest diamond. ' Through its centre, lengthwise, flowed a river of water, lined on either side by the most airy and beautiful mansions, sur rounded by gardens of scented flowers, and groves of the trees of Paradise underneath wh"h trolld and'rorliwd thousand? and tens of thousands, having harps of gold in their hands. But what arrested his attention, most of all, was the great Throne in the midst of the city, and Him that sat thereon ; and around which" stood a numberless multitude, with palms of victory, singing a new song. As he sood, wondering and beholding, he felt a gentle tap on the shoulder, and, looking round, saw the form again at his side. "If thou would'st see, child of earth, the mystery, I will shew thee." Instantly his sight again left him, and he was in the midst of the same darkness as be fore. From some cause, a strange, indiscriba ble tremor siezed him, and he felt as though he would fall from his feet. 'The flesh is weak," said the guide, "and there must be a meetness for such sights. "When mortality is swallowed up of life then thou canst endure. But come I will shew thee," at which words he felt himself again borne along, and gradually descending from the lof ty walls. . When his eyes opened ho was standing be hind the Throne, with the guide at his side. Directly before him was a magnificent altar of gold, studded with rare and costly gems. Under the altar, lay a company of disembod ied spirits, clothed in robes of white, crying with a loud voice ; "how long, O Lord, Holy and true, dos't thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth." There was something so earnest and solemn, and yet so wining and gentle in the looks and voices of these spirits, that his heart at once melted down into the greatest tenderness. His whole soul seemed irresistably drawn out towards them though, at the same time, there were mingled in his feelings the emotions of sorrow and compassion. "And who," said he, after gazing for a time In astonishment, "are these 7" "These," said the guide, "are the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." "And how long will their blood remain un avenged ?" he inquired. "They rest here yet," said the guide, "for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should bo killed as they were, shall be fulfilled." - Just then there was a quick rap at the door, his eyes opened and the old lamp burned as dimly as before, and the dusky walls had the same spectral appearance, As it was a late hour of the night, Prythcti3 was greatly surprised ; but he was soon re lieved by seeing enter, the same youth who had previously announced the "fire." "My mother," said the youth, "desires to know how thou doest ; the fires multiply in the city, and she feared thy anxiety.'' ''Well I know thy mother's faith and charity; and may she be rewarded with a place in that glory I have this night beheld," said Prythe us, raising his eyes, in gratitude, to heaven. .."And isitwell with thee," inquired the youth, looking up earnestly into the calm and benignant face of the holy man. "It's most well, my child," said he, "nor do I fear that any ill will befall me this night ; my visions are of glory, and the one God my trust." "Then I will return quickly and bear the comfort to my mother," said the youth. "And the One God guide thy steps," Baid Prytheus. A glance here at the history of this youth may not be amiss, as it may,' perhaps, gratify the curiosity of the reader ; and, especially, as he is to act a part in the drama of martyr dom about to be sketched. He was the son of Heli, a Jew, who, with his wife and child, had fled from Judea j and who, after various wanderings in foreign lands, and many reverses of fortune, had found his way to Rome. Here, collecting together the few remains of his fortune, he established himself in a shop, for the sale of trinkets and such little fancy articles as his capital would command. In this way he had managed to support himself and family for several years. At length, however, Ileii sickened, and sud denly died leading his wife to maintain her self and child, as best she could. This she had been enabled to do, and even to lay by a small sum of money, as the result of her economy. ' Two years after the death of her husband, she renounced Judaism and embraced Chris tianity, regardless of the reproach that then affixed to that name both in Judea and at Rome. , ner attachment to her new faith was sin cere, ardent, and conscientious. It had, moreovcr,infused a new life into her whole be ing ; and, like Dorcas, her labors of love and mercy were abundant. . Early, also, in her ex perience, she had formed the friendship and acquaintance of Prytheus, whom she re garded as her .spiritual comforter and adviser. Her son, and only child, at this time, was about twelve years old. He was a sprightly lad, obedient, and uncommonly kind to his mother. His form was slender, his hair light and silken, his eyes blueish,whilo his features plainly indicated that ho was one of Abra ham's "seed." Then his mother was doting. Iy attached to him, and regarded him with more than the ordinary pride and satisfaction ot a parent. Her 1i;idij were r.f him: and her greatest earthly bliss was in his bright eyes and plaintive voice, as they sat, on an evening, in their small, neatly-furnished apart ment, singing together one of the sweet songs of their father-land. Then her heart bound ed into exstacy; and heaven was audibly thanked, because it had not left her a childless widow in a stranger-land, but blessed her with a guardian spirit to cheer her widowed years, and guide her declining steps down in quiet to the grave. ner only anxiety was for his conversion. For this she prayed earnestly, continually. And often, in the still twilight of the evening, tak ing her boy by the hand, had she conducted him along the narrow streets to the secluded abode of Prytheus, to obtain for him the prayers and blessings of the holy man. It is easy to conceive how nimbly such a lad, at the bidding of his fondly-loved moth er, would fly fearless along the dark alleys on so good an errand ; and how he would return again quickly, with the comfort "he's most well." But, for the present, we must leave the mother and her boy, and return to the dim lighted chamber of Prytheus. ne is reclining back as usual in his seat, his eyes closed, and his arms folded across his breast. The snowy locks are smoothed back behind the ears. The lofty and "projecting forehead has a few more wrinkles on it ; the heavy brows are a little more arched ; the cheeks are slightly paler, and the lips rather more compressed while about all the fea tures there Is a greater fixedness than is wont, and something of a more anxious Interest playing about them. The vision has made a deep impression on his mind ; and his thoughts are of it. Was it a dream a fancy sketch an illusion of the "teeming brain." Or had he, in reality, been favored with one of those 'flights' into the third heavens of which he remembered hear ing Poul speak, on his last visit to Rome 1 At any rate, thought he, if these strange things be not indeed realities they strongly savor, at least, oi another state that afar in the regions above there are other worlds and other existences, more beauteous and blessed than our own. So I must think so believe even though dreams and visions alone reveal ed it. And what is that mysterious something with in, that thinks, and remembers, and wills ; that looks out upon the past, present, and future; and then, spreading its ethereal wings, bounds away in a moment through air, and clouds, and storms, and on into the very depths of the skies, and gazes upon the glories and reads the secrets of other worlds ? I Can this be made for annihilation ? Xo f the j earth cannot crush it ; the grave cannot hold j it ; time cannot measure its duration. But the souls under the Altar most strangely and deeply affected him. As to who they were and whence they came, he had no doubt. And the meaning of their loud cry, he had understood from his guide. But the fact that they. were to remain there, till their brethren and fellow servants should be killed as they were, for a time, greatly per plexed him. How had they been killed ? And he thought long and earnestly. Ah ! now, thought he, I recollect ; "they were slain for the testimony they held," that is, martyred. And they are resting there, till their company is swelled from the earth, of such as are to pass through the same bloody seas, to their crown. . , May be, too, our unfortunate Emperor is to have a hand, unwittingly, in the bloody work. Here Prytheus roso quickly from his scat ; and, fetching a deep sigh, began walking to and fro, thinking of the conversation of his noble friend, and other incidents of the night. 7'o be Continued. The Vinegar-Faced Gentry. That very able and ubiquitous sheet, "An Exchange Pa per," gives the following plain statements, which we commend to the "afflicted." "There is a class of men in every community who go about with vinegar faces, because somebody feels above them, or because they are not ap preciated as they should be, and who have a constant quarrel with what they call their des tiny. We hate such people. They are a nui sance and a pest. They make all within their influence ' uncomfortable. These men have usually made a grave mistake in the estimate of their abilities, or are unmitigated asses. "Wherever this fault-finding with one's condi tion or position occurs, there is always want of self-respect, If you are a right, down clever fellow, wash the wormwood off your face, and show your good will by your good deeds. Then if people 'feel above you,' why return the compliment, and feel above them. , If they turn up their noses because you are a mechan ic, or a farmer, or a shop boy, turn up your nose a notch higher. If they swell when they pass you in the street, 'swell yourself, beliver us from the whinning fools who go around like babies, telling how people abuse them, and whinning because society will not take them by the collar and drag them into decency." The world is a looking glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will f n turn look sourly upon you ; laugh at and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion ; and so let all youg pnrpons tnke their choice. (BbncntiDiinl Skptirimmt. Decisions, by the State Superintendent. County Superintendents should go to each district to make examinations, giving ample notice of the time and place appointed. Tbe law expressly declares that the Directors may be present at all examinations, and the citizens of the district should also be invited to attend. When examinations are thus attended by cit izens, the County Superintendent should give the persons present full information in regard to the objects and working of the law, his own and their duties, the duties of the Directors, Teachers, Pupils, Parent, &c, by means of addresses carefully prepared for such occa sions; and should arouse the public, mind, as much as possible, to the importance, utility and practibility of Education by Common Schools. There is no cause for difficulty in granting t he proper Certificate to Teachers. Unless the candidate passes with credit a thorough exam ination in the branches named' in the Certifi cate with the seal, it must not be given to him, but the temporary one issued in its place. A strong inducement is thus held out to inferior teachers to improve their qualifications. If Directors employ teachers who have not obtained a certificate from a County Super intendent, they render themselves liable to prosecution and punishment for misdemeanor in office, if the public sustain injury by their neglect of duty; and they may, at any time, be removed from office under the provisions of the 9th section of the school law. No reasonable objection exists to Directors employing teachers who have certificates from Superintendents of other counties, but they may, if they think proper, refuse to employ thera until such Teachers are examined and approved by their own County Superintendent. If incompetent teachers arc imposed upon the schools of any county, through the careless ness, neglect, or other deficiency, of Superin tendents of other counties, the Superintendent of the former can avail himself of the provis ions of the 28th section of the school law, and thus fully protect the schools of his county from having incompetent instuctors imposed upon them. Whenever a County Superintendent discov ers an incompetent teacher with a first-class certificate from another Superintendent, he is requested and it is his dnty, to report the fact and names to this Department. Any material neglect of duty in regard to examinatoins and granting the professional teacher's certificate, will be followed with prompt romovel from of fice, as soon as due proof thereof is made. County Superintendents will not be permit ted to alter the character of the blank certifi cates furnished them by the Department, or to issue others. They may make reports to boards of directors, in any form they may de sire, for the purpose of exhibiting, in detail, the results of their examinations of teachers, and this course is recommeeded. The 38th section of the school law requires that Orthography, Reading, Writing, English Grammer, Geography, and Arithmatic shall be taught in every district, not in every school of every district. The intent and meaning of this section is, plainly, that a reasonable op portunity shall be afforded to every pupil in each district to obtain proper instruction in all of these branches. If this purpose can be ac complished by having them taught in only one school, or by grading the school of a dis trict, and requiring the branches named to be taught in only one or more schools of a higher grade, the duty of the Directors will be prop erly discharged by adoptingthat course. In regard to the question of the right of teachers to inflict corporeal punishment upon their pupils, all concerned will bear in mind that the Superintendent has no power to make laws; though it is his duty to explain such as relate to schools and school purposes, when applied to. The right of the teacher to in flict such punishment is founded only upon the necssity of the case, and not upon statute. It is absolutely necessary that good order should be maintained in the schools, and that all proper rules, regulations and commands of the Teacher should be strictly and prompt ly obeyed. Hence a necessity exists for suf ficient power to enforce this duty, and hence it is held that a teacher may inflict such rea sonable corporeal punishment upon his pupil as the parent might inflict for a similar cause. The pupil is technically in school from the hour of opening in the morning and afternoon until final dismissal, and while in or about the school house in pursuance of his duty as a pu pil. This, then, is . the extent of the authority of the teacher to inflict corporeal punishment, and it would be totally impracticable to extend it by legislative enacment. : No parent would consent to relinquish the control of. his child at his own fire-side or in his own household, and it would be unjust and cruel to make the latter responsible to two authorities who might differ in almost every command given. If such was tbe casu, a teacher might require a pupil to commit les sons of school hours, while the parent would require manual labor from tho pupil during the 6ame time. The Teacher might prescribe one line of conduct the parent another. Who should b? obeyed, when both could not be 1 If either should be habitually disobeyed, the consequences would 'inevitably bo extremely pernicious. The grant of such powers to the Teacher, too, would be inconsistent with tbe just responsibility of the parent, to the laws of the land and of God, for the conduct of his child, and destructive of almost all responsi bility of minors, excepting during school hours and to criminal laws. Nor would there' be any commensurate benefit for the evils which the grant of such powers would entail. If a. Teacher has sufficient authority to con trol his school, his power Is ample for the pur poses of instruction in school, and there ends his responsibility. If pupils abuse each other in their way to or from school or commit other wrongs, they and their parents are responsi ble to the law, and one or two examples of prompt redress by this means would, no doubt, correct all such evils in any neighbor hood. As the Pennsylvania School Journal is now to some extent officially connected with the common school system, it is not deemed ob jectionable for boards of Directors to sub scribe for it, and pay the cash out of the dis trict Treasury. The Schools of each district must be kept open four months within the year to which the State appropriation applies, and this fact must be verified by the oath of the President of the Board of Directors, before a warrant for the appropriation can be issued. The first certifi cate and affidavit to be made under this provi sion, must set forth that the Schools have been kept open and in operation four months, sub sequently to the first Monday in June, 1854. If the School Directors fail to obtain a Col lector, for any reason, they may appoint the Constable or Treasurer of the district to that duty, under the provisions of the 31st section of the school law ; and if either of these re fuse to perform the duties of Collector, the proviso to the same section imposes a fine of fifty dollars upon them. It is the opinion of the Superintendvnt that, as giving bond and surety is part of the duty of every person ap pointed Collector, and as the 32d section pro hibits Directors from appointing any person Collector without first taking bond and surety, a Constable or Treasurer refusing to give such bond, &c, would render himself liable to the penalty imposed by the proviso to the Slst section of the school law. The tax to which the proviso to the 30th section of the school law applies, is exclusive ly, a personal tax, and not a tax upon proper ty. Thus, no matter how much property a tradesmaa may own, he must pay at least fifty cents tax on his occupation. Single freemen are taxed as such only when they have no trade, profession or occupation for which they are taxable ; and such personal school tax can not be less than fifty cents, however large an amount they may pay upon proper The Nobility of Labor. Mechanics, la borers, and farmers are often . snarled at be cause their hands are horny, their clothes soiled; but do theso men reflect that it is those very mechanics, laborers and farmers who mainly contribute to sustain the Govern ment. It is upon them that our safety or hon or rests ; they are the. strong arm of the State, and the fortifications of the Republic. The man who sneers at them because of their call ing in life, derides manual labor and toil, is no honor to the race of humanity, a mere popin jay, whose mind is cramped by the foolish ca prices and whims of fashion. Has one . of these mock gentlemen ever contributed his mite to the support of the great mass of hu manity 1 Is the world benefitted by his exis tence, or is he a burden and curse to it 1 All must come to this latter conclusion. Labor is one of the first commands of God. Idleness is deprecated in holy writ; the one is honorable, the other dishonorable. Labor strengthens the physical constitution ; it gives jower to the mind ; it ennobles the feelings, and makes great men and good citizens. Idle ness, on the contrary impairs the body, ener vates the mind, destroys natural integrity, promotes dissipation, and is a source of in calculable evil. It will, on examination, be found to be tho root of intemperance and de bauchery, and in many instances, of crime. It wrecks the physical system, debases the mental faculties, fills our prisons and poor houses, and cumbers the land with a race of beings who live upon the sweat of others brows, and pass ofT the stage of lifo without benefitting others, or developing themselves. Is not labor, then, more genteel than idle ness ? A Clincher. We recently spoko of the old lady who triumphantly pointed out the 'Epis tle to the Romans, and asked where one could be" found addressed to the Protestants., The Catholic Mirror happily retorts by telling as of a negro Baptist at the South, who said to his Methodisfmaster, 'You've read the Bible, I s'pose.' Yes. , 'Well, you've read in it of one John the Baptist, hasn't you V 'Yes.' 'Well, you never saw nothing about no John the Methodist, did you ?' No. 'Well, den you see dere'a Baptists in de Bible, but dere ain't no Methodists ; and de Bible's on my side.' We leave our good brethren of these sects to settle this knotty point amrt;; thenr selves. Varir.er vf the Cross. Very Sharp Trading' There lived a few. years since, 'among' the 'piney woods,' not "far "from here, a fellow whom we will call C , who thought he-" knew something aboei. & bargain, and other people had good reasons to think bo, too. By his 'cutcness, C '. had . accumulated a considerable estate, and among other things owiied a large stock of cattleT" .There being a sudden demand for cattle in a town not very far off, a sharp fellow of a butcher, named A , rode post from the city to buy some of C 'scattle, and C-r , ignorant of the rise in cattle, soon agreed to sell A ; an hundred head at $9,00, round. The bar gain had not been made a couple of hours,vbe fore another butcher rode up to buy C 's cattle also, and C , discovering the rise, felt that he was 'sold,' but at the same time, that he wasn't yet delivered. A soon learned that C - had a sister, who had cattle for sale, and C , bargaining for his sister, sold A whatev er cattle she might have, at $12, round. The next day, off went the parties to drive up the cattle, but nearly every cow and steer' they found belonged to C 's sister. Over and over again, C would say, Ah! yonder is some. Them must be mine.- No! sister's agin.' And strange to say though the neigh bors thought before, that C - had 1 a great many cattle, and 'sister' very few, yet a hun dred head were found belonging to C 'a sister, and the day's search could produce only five or six that belonged to C . And A paid $12 a head for sister's cattle, and $9 a heal for C , and drove away to his slaughter pen. But A himself has a reputation at a trade, and five or six months after the sale of cattle, rode up into C 's neighborhood a very showy horse, and met C 'by ac cident.' 'G-o-o-d m-o-r-n-i-n-g S-i-r,' said C . 'How are you V The butcher returned the compliments, and yery soon C , who had been eyeing the horse, even before his very hearty salutation of the rider, asked carelessly if the horse was gentle. 'As a lamb, said A . 'Draws, eh V said C- 'Well he does,' replied A horse. Want to buy V 'Don't care if I do,' said C- family what will you take for him f ' 'Two seventy-five,' said A , 'cheap, at that.' After considerable bargaining', C found that A would not fall a dollar, and aa the horse was a dead match for one he owned, and he wanted a horse immediately'for ateady work, C told A he would take him, if A- would drive him in a buggy. is a bold man and believes' in luck. so he put the horse in a buggy, and that time tbe horse did draw gently. The two seventy five and the horse changed hands and the first time C put the horse to his steady work, the wagon went to pieces, the match horse got killed, and the late purchase went'throngh the woods at the rate of , with bits of harness on him. Shortly after this, C and A- met at camp meeting. 'Mr. ,' said C , with virtuous in dignation, 'how could you sell me youV: infer nal horse V My infernal horse ?' said A , 'twaan't mine 'twas my sister's.1 Never Be Idle. Life is too short to allow of any moment s being wasted which can be turned to good account. ' Tbe apprentice who spends his evenings in study, is Bure to lay up a stock of ideas, which he will find, at some time or other, will prove to him so much posi tive capital. His -fellow apprentice, who squanders his evenings at oyster cellars, or in lounging about engine bouses, gains no auch seeds of future wealth 5 but,; on the contrary, impairs his health by his early excesses, be sides losing the confidence of all who might help him forward in life. Even he who avoids the follies so common to young men, but yet makes fatigue the plea for sleeping- away the evening, or otherwise wasting his time, com mits a serious blunder. If more persons would resolve, on emerging from childhood, never to be idle, there would be twenty' fortunes made where one is made now, and twenty men rise to eminence where one attains distinction at present. Everyyear, more hours are was ted, by four people out of five, than would, if improved, have made them, rich : in their old age. Never be idle. . :- . RissiAN Funeral Ceeemonies. Dr. Balrd, in his Lectures on Europe, relates the follow, ing respecting Russian funeral ceremonies ;-- " The priest takes possession of the room containing the corpse, which is brilliantly -lighted np, tbe coffin in the middle. Passion ate appeals are made by tho priest atd all friends take the hand of the corpse, and ask pardon for ill-will or injury- done to. the dei ceased in life. The priest puts a piece of paper in the hand of the corpse stating that he was a good member of tho Greek Chmch. A feast is held round the grave, and a Iittl meat is pTtd ! gni te prpiife ei! spirits." 1 1 I- ' TV 1 - I 1 - i n I v. i i i H 1:1 5 - 7. f ! II