BY J. A. HALL. TERMS. The "HUNTINGDON 'MURAL" is published at the following yearly rates: If paid in advance If paid within the year Arid two dollars and fifty cents if not paid till after the expiration of the year. No subscription will lie taken for a Tess period than six months, and no paper will he discontinued, except at the option of the publisher, until all arrearages are paid. Subscribers living in distant counties, or in other States, will be required to pay invariably in advance. Ifir The above terms will be rigidly adhered to its ell cases. HATES OF ADVERTISING One square of sixteen lines or less For 1 insertion $0,50, For 1 month $1,25, 44 a 44 0,75, " " 2,75, 44 1,00, " 6 •' 5,00, PROFFSSIONAL CARI;S, not exceeding Mn lines, and not changed during the year • • • • $4,00, Card and Journal, in advance, 5,00, BUSINESS CARDS of the same length, not chan ged, 53,00 Card and Journal in advance, 4, 00 Gir Short, transient advertisements will be ad mitted into our editorial columns at treble the usual rates. On longer advertisements. whether yearly or transient, a reasonable deduction will he made and a liberal discount allowed for prompt pay ment. Vocticat. A WINTRY LANDSCAPE. BY !IM. L. G. ABELL. The lofty pines look down with scorn Upon the leafless trees, And wave their plumes amid the storm As they shiver in the breeze. They feel, themselves, no cold or snow, In vestments warm and green, Bat the bare old trees in the vale below Are pierced by blasts so keen. Their song of mirth is loud nod clear As the winds through their branches hie, They care not for stifled sob or tear, Nor the poor tree's wailing cry. The storm to the pine brings a thrill of delight, But the old tree's shattered door Rattles and howls through the live-long night To represent the poor! Borne with the weight of sorrow down, A freezing load they bear, Or else imploringly around They gaze in mute despair! How full of teachings Nature's Book! Then lot us read and learn What God unfolds in every look, And thus His will discern. ffaintin (Circle. [From the Parlour Annual Time% Soliloquy. BY ORRIN P. ALLEN When the radiant morn of creation drove darkness from the earth, I was there: than was I born. I rose upon the pinions of that bright morn, and caught the crystal dew drops as they fell and sparkled on the green verdure of the fairy lawns. I list-1 sad to the sweet carol of the feathered sonwiters, whose joyous notes rose upon, the wings of the soft zephyrs, and were wafted far away through the solitudes of the waving forests. 'Mid the beauty and loveliness of Paradise I gazed out upon the young world, radiant with celestial smiles. Long before the foot of man dis turbed the silence of the wilderness, I gazed out upon its numberless rivers flash ing in light, and reflecting the effulgent rays of the sun like a thousand diamonds upon their bosoms. Niagara sent up its thundeaing anthem in the solitudes of the western ~ilderness, for thousands of years before the ear of man listened to its awful roar. The proud Mississippi swept its tur bid waves to the ocean, and the strong Atlantic beat its angry surges against the shores of an unknown continent, and none were there to listen to the wild melody but 1. The blue Moditeranean heaved its gentle waters against its sunny shores, long be fore the rude barque of man broke its smooth surface; the sun smiled upon Italy's lovely clime for ages, and none gazed up on the enchanting scone but I. The beau tiful gazelle bounded over the plains, and drank at the crystal streams which mean dered through the verdant meads, ages be fore an arm was raised to ir.jure or make them afraid. At evon's gentle hour the bright stars blazed in the forehead of the sky, with no eye to admire their beauty but mine. And when the progenitors of the human race wero placed in Paradise, I was there, and hovered around their am brosial bower, and attended their steps as they wandered forth, hand in hand, by the side of the gushing fountains, or reclined beneath the shade of bowertng elms which overhung some silver cascade. But when by disobedience they were driven forth from their elysian home, and were foriver excluded from the blissful haunts of Paradise, by the flaming cheru bim who guarded tho entrance with vigil ant care, I attended them on their lonely journey, and, instead of flowers, I strewed thorns in their pathway, and multiplied AnitA4obOlt cares and sorrows at,every step. I dim med the radiant beauty of the now-made world, even in its infancy, and sowed the seeds of dissolution and decay in all of its thousand forms of beauty. And when men multiplied upon the earth, I was ever in tent on working their ruin, and demolish ing the labor of their hands. At length corruption spread over the earth like a sweeping tornado, and mankind having in curred the wrath of Jehovah, were threat ened with destruction by an universal de luge which would destroy all vestiges of mankind, except one solitary family. But they heeded not the warning, and at length the heavens were black with tempests, and the storm of wrath descended with awful fury upon the devoted world. The boom ing thunder rattled through the dark cham bers of the sky, and the terrific lightning gleamed along the black outlines of the swift-rolling clouds. and all creation shud dered as if it paused upon the brink of ru in, and I almost thought that my existence would end and eternity begin ; but I was permitted to wing my flight over a submer ged world, and gaze upon its changes in succeeding ages. $1,50 , • • • 1,q5 Meanwhile mankind were seized with consternation as they beheld the torrent sweeping over the rich valleys, and over whelming their cities and villages ; in vain they ascended the highest mountains, for soon the mighty flood swept over the high est point, and consigned them all to one common grave. Then the humble ark of Noah rose tri umphantly above the dark-rolling surges of the mighty abyss of waters, and, guided by the hand of Omnipotence, rode in safe ty over the shoreless ocean, till at length, when the waters began to subside, it rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Days and months passed on; at length the waters were dried from the earth, and man descended from the resting-place of the ark into the plains below. Ah, how changed the scene! How unlike the beau tiful earth on which I gazed in the first ra diant morn of creation, when I commenced my flight! The once lovely plains of Paradise were divested of their beauty, and the luxuriant forests were swept away by the swift cur rent and imbedded in the earth ; the lofty mountains, 'which had been disfigured by the merciless flood, looked down upon the universal wreck in mournful and silent grandeur, while nature in all of her works gave marks of a mighty change. But I soon peopled the earth with nu merous nations, and laid the foundations of mighty empires and kingdoms; mighty ci ties rose up in the plains, and smiling vil lages aleng the banks of the rivers. Ba bylon, Palmyra, Nineveh, Tyre, Thebes, and Carthage, each rose in its season, flourished, and fell ; and I beheld them in their glory and decline. 'Mid all their magnificence, glory, and wealth I was in their busy streets, and crumbling their proudest monuments of glory to dust ; and now scare a vestige is left to mark the place where once they stood and flourished, except here and there a solitary colonnade or gigantic pyramid, whose gloomy forms rise above the sands of the desert, and look down in mournful grandeur upon the deso lation around them. The gods which fill ed their splendid temples could not defend their own habitations, much less their vain worshipers, against my power, for them in their turn I crumbled to dust. Mighty Babylon roso and flourished in proud supremacy upon the ruins of con quered nations; but I humbled her pride to the dust, and laid her proud walls and towering battlements in mouldering ruins. Upon the magnificent ruins of the Baby lonian Empire roso that of the Persians, under the mighty cuergio3 of Cyrus, who conquered the world. _ But I introduced luxury among their soldiers which brought on effeminacy and love of ease ; and at length the bright star of Persian glory set in obscurity. Then Alexander the Great came upon the stage of action, and with his invincible Greeks he subdued the world. But this proud mon arch was forced to yield to my power ; the glory of his arms could nut save him, nor his vast conquests preserve his mighty em pire from my shooks. For at length the resplendent glory of Greece, which had dazzled the world so long, began to be dimmed by the bright star of Rome, which soon rose in the ascendency, and swayed her iron scepter over the world. But I conquered the iron strength of the Roman Empire, and divided her territory into many kingdoms. Her orators; poets, and heroes I have consigned to the grave. I have laid waste the imperial city of the Cmsars. The loud shout of the gladiator, and the wild applause of the spectators, no more echo through the lofty archers of the mighty Coliseum; and the eloquence of Cicero no more resounds thorugh the sen ate-halls of Rome. Thus for ages I have witnessed the rise and decline of empires, which have bowed down before the rising glories of young na tions, to whose prosperity there will also come a day of decline. Old, call you? aye, but when shall my days be remembered HUNTINGDON, PA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1853. Not till He who first bid me begin my flight so orders it. When His purposes who called me into being are accomplished, then I, too, shall go to the place of all living. The First Apostles. The word Apostle has the same meaning as the word Missionary, it is used general ly in a religious sense ; and is commonly applied to those twelve persons, whom our Lord selected to accompany him, and to go about Judea and elsewhere to preach his doctrine. These apostles were generally poor and humble men. At least four of them were fishermen. Jesus was walking by the sea of Galilee, when he saw two brothers, Simon and An drew, casting their net into the sea. Simon was afterward called Peter; and was the same who wrote the Epistles, or Letters, which bear hii name. The Saviour said to the two brothers, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Having heard of and known Jesus before, they had con fidence in Mill, and immediately left their nets, and went with him. Going a little farther on, Jesus saw two sons of Zebedee, James and John, in a vessel with their father, mending their, pets. These two brothers were also acquainted with him; and when he had called them, they too left their nets and their father with his hired men, and accompanied Jesus. This James is not he who wrote the Epis tle bearing that name; but the John is the beloved disciple who wrote all the books of that name in the New Testament as al so the Book of Revelation. ffitocellantotto. A Model School Report, The following, which we clip from an exchange, is the Report of the School Committee of Exeter N. 11. It is a rare production ; and yet there are in it sonic things that might apply to certain lo calities nearer home than New Hampshire. We have no doubt its perusal will amuse most of our readers. "We have so often spoken in terms of high commendation of these Teachers, and they are so well and so favorably known, that it is hardly necessary for us to attempt, . . "To throw a perfume on the violet." The County Commissioner, who has had ample opportunity to know whereof he af fir:ns, has stated publicly, that ono of these schools is the best Primary School in the County. The other, we may add, is like it in all its essential characteristics. It has become a pleasant fashion in these latter days to bestow suitable testimonials of approval and appreciation upon those, who, in responsible positions of trust or honor, have acquitted themselves like men. It is no unusual thing for Sea Captains and Clergymen, Police Officers and States men to receive from ther friends Gold Med als or Silver Pitchers, as a reward for long continued, faithful service. Now the elder (not elderly) Miss Ellis, has not, it is true, commanded a ship, nor worn a white cra vat on Sundays, nor carried the staff of a Marshal Tukey, nor los her eloquence ful minated from the Capitol,but she has bees a laborious 84 successful teacher in th;s town for twenty-five years, 'during which time she has probably done more than any oth er single human being to give shape and di rection to the young minds in this commu nity. We beg leave to sugest, with due deference to District No. 1, that sonic ex pression of respect and confidence—soitrs befitting testimonial of a great appreciation of unremitting labors, performed with more and more efficiency through a quater of a century, might not be inappropriate or un dignified." It may be further stated, that the chil dren, few as they are in number, are yet altogether too uumeroeus for the little 1:iox in which they are' Picked. Such a build ing is not large enough for any purpose of human instruction. It is too inconvenient ly small to tend one baby in—too ugly in itself and in all its appointments to be looked at without danger of strabismus. A good sized boy of high aims and expansive views would feel himself icabined, confined, cribbed' in it, and in his attempts to study would find himself unconsciously babbling of brooks and green fields. We shall be pardoned for suggesting, that an edifice, not unlike a medium looking goose pen in airiness and amplitude of dimensions, set upon a few cobble-stones on the edge of a rough and rocky road, surrounded with no play grounds, and overs-hadowed by no , tree with no pleasant object without or, within to address the eye or touch the heart, is not exactly the place to kindle the intellect and develope the moral nature of the young." "There is in fact very little in the school house itself or around it calculated to 'stir the divinity within them.' We'have expressed our mind in relation to this Tem ple of Appollo, and the Muses' on former occasions. It certainly does not look any better noW'than it did five years ago. In deed we did not perceive any very striking difference. Perhaps the walls are a little more brown—the benches a little more hackneyed—the tent ensemble, like the character of the First Consul s a little more 'grand, gloomy and peculiar.' The stove funnel!, it should be observed was, possi bly in honor of our last visit, tied up, and securely fastened with a bran-new tow strings! The bricks which at some re mote period formed the hearth, have come to be 'like angels' visits, few and far be tween,' so that now, in the wild waste of the billowy floor, the solid land looms up like an island in an Archipelabo. Time or somebody else, has, in a good degree, strip ped the plastering from the ceiling, as "From a Tartar's skull they strip the flesh, Or peel a fig when the fruit is fresh." Aside from these slight variations, "all things since the fathers fell asleep contin ue as they were from the begioning.". The school in this Dist;ict h - as been taught 35 weeks-23 in the summer by Miss Sarah A. Locke, and 12 in the winter by Mr. John Porter Sanborn. Miss Locke had 30 different scholars; Mr. Sanborn had 36. Miss Locke's intellectual qualifications were very good; Mr. Sanborn's were by no means deficient. Miss Locke was gentle and at the same time firm; Mr. Sanborn, so far from being tyranous in his exactions of obedience, was as easy as an antiquated slipper. Miss L. made her pupils sing; I Mr, Sanborn did not make his dance. Miss Locke Was careful to keep the rosin neat and clean: Mr. Sanborn was content to let it go dirty. With Miss Locke the chil dren studied bard most of the time; with Mr. Samborn they whispered hard all the time. Iu looking upon the exercises as conducted by Miss Locke, at our examina tion, we were favorably impressed with the stillness which prevailed; in listening to the discordant hubbub, of Mr. Sanborn's young disciples we thought of what as old poet has said : "The earth and planets in their coarse, Move along with silent force; The smallest chap that walks the footstool, Mekei more racket by a jug fell: , ~M tsff Locke's children made rapid pro gross up the hill of science. Mr. sen born's slid down the same hill. In a word, as Cicero bath it, Miss Locke kept a good school; Mr. Sanborn kept no school at all. It is possible, that Mr. Sanborn if he would revise and correct his notions of discipline, might yet become a successful instructor. IWe hope, however, that the experience of . the past winter, may satisfy this District, without further trial, that the maseuliue gender is not the only gender belmiging, to nouns, and that when they get a good female teaoher it is for their interest to keep lier.s' "We cannot stop to expatiate upon the pernicious effects in the derangement of classes, in the disturbance of recitation, in the actual loss of mental discipline to the irregular scholars themselves, and in the disgust which they acquire for school and all its exercises as a consequence of falling behind their more punctual classmates.— ;The influence is evil and only evil and that continually. We have no doubt that it could be to a groat extent remedied by pa rents, if they chose to feel a proper inter est in the subject. If ono half the efforts were used in getting children into our schools, which is used in gettin; voters to the polls, few would be left to stroll through the woods, or to loaf at the cor ners of our streets, to smoke and swear it bar-rooms, or to drink and gamble in bil liard-saloons anti tipling dens. It is a true saying of the Latin Poet "facilis des ; census Averni" which being Interpeted, signifies, the distance to perdition from a, grog‘shop is short and all the way down. hill. 'rite surest method of securing the young from vice is to keep them employed; the employment most appropriate to them is the pursuit of knowledge under the eye of a thorough and efficient intructor.'' "We have examined during the year six individuals, who propose to instruct in this town, of whom wo reoommended five and rejected one. It must not be sup posed, however, for a moment, that every person who can pass the strictest examina tion is fit to manage a school. It takes a peculiar man to be just the right sort of a Teacher. He is an article compounded of various ingredients such as you cannot or dinarily buy at the apothecary's. As to his intellectual qualifications, his Mind should be a fountain and not a reservoir. His knowledge should gush up of itself and not have to be drawn up by a wind lass. He should be a man of engenuity and tact, of various resources and expedi ents, and not a helpless creature of cus tom, ploding on, day after day in the same old path like a horse in a bark-mill. He should be fresh in his feelings and sympa thies, and not ft petrified post of Medusa— his heart should be young in all its pulsa tions, though his head may be as bald as Elisha's. Endued with a courage and re solution that know no defeat., ho should, like Dioken's Raven, 'never say die.' He should be a man of the world as well as a man . of books— familiar with human nature not loss than with Mitchell's Geography. He should be a scholar of some breadth as well as depth, knowing something more; than the mere routine of daily study; and not a man whose half dozen thoughts rat tle in his vacant bead like shrunken ker- 0 Itar, fulls in a bean-pod. Hit mental store house should be filled with the fruits of various and extensive reading, so that he need not be compelled to draw his illustra tions for the Recitation-room from the "Tales of his Grand-father" or from the treasures of last year's almanac. In addi tion to this intellectual furnishing, he should be a man of integrity, of moral rec titude and purity of character, imbued with the spirit of truth and wisdom. If, besides all this, the light of a Christain faith should radiate his scientific and litera ry acquirements, it would servo to give them a brighter lustre; even as "a lamp set in an alabaster vase brings out in bolder relief and clearer expression the beautiful figures which may be sculptured upon it." "Let the Common School Teacher poss ess qualifications like these, and he can do much, perhaps more than any single indi vidual, for the renovation of human socie ty. But he cannot do everything alone, and should not be condemned for other people's sins. lle needs the active co-ope ration of the parent and the community.— If, as is sometimes said, he takes the child as the sculptor takes the marble from the quarry, there is yet one important differ ence: when the sculptor leaves his work for rest or relaxation, the half-formed statuary remains as he left it. But the pupil is never found as he was left. The self-de veloping power of the subtile element of life cannot be calculated by any rules of art. Excrescences may burst forth from him in some evil hour, which cannot be chipped off with hammer and chisel. And then, too, other hands besides the Teach er's have been busy upon him in giving form to his plastic nature. Silently and unobserved mysterious influences, in the street and by the fire-side, at noon-day and beneath the quiet stars, have been at work. The character, which promised to reveal,. in the beauty and sytnetry of its propor tions, an Appollo Belvidere has been touch ed by the Spoiler, and huts become a Cali ban of mis-shaped ugliness. Self Education. Benjamin Franklin was a self-educated man. So. was Benjamin West, the ono among the most distinguished philosophers, the other among the best painters the world ever saw. Each had a good teacher because he taught himself. Both had a better teacher daily, because both were. advancing dotty in knowledge and in the art of acquiring it. • Baron Cuvier was also a self-made man. He was at all times under a coed teacher, because he was always taught by Baron Cuvier. He, more than any other man, perhaps than all other men before him, brought to light the hidden treasures of the earth. He not only examined and ar ranged the mineral productions of our globe, but ascertained that hundreds, and even thousands of different species of animals, once living, moving in the waters and upon the lind, now form rocks, ledges, and even mountains. Cuvier thought, however, that. he owed a constant debt of gratitude to his mother for his knowledge, bee?..use t wh e n a small child, she encouraged him in linear drawing, which was of the utmost service in his pursuits. To the same encourage ment the world is of course, indebted for the knowledge diffused by Cuvier among all nations. Sir Humphrey Davy, by a self-instruc tion," made more brilliant and more impor i taut, discoveries in chemical science, than any one who preceded or followed him. Farmers, mechanics, house-keepers, and many others,ure now enjoying the benefit of his labdre. Elihu Durritt, by self-instruction, had acquired, at the age of thirty years, fifty languages; and that too, while working over the forge and anvil, from six to twelve hours daily. • The late Dr. Bowditoh taught himself, until he exceeded all who had gone be fore him in mathematical science. Roger Sherman, whose name will de scend to posterity as one of the ablest statesmen, and brightest ornaments o? the American Congress, taught himself while working on his shoe bench. George Washington was a self-made man, His name will fill all future ages reve rence. Hosts of others, who, in former ages moved eta Intellectual and moral world; were men' who first moved and elevated themselves. Such must be the fact in all future ages. Every child is his own teacher. He teaches himself things; and every thing eomtrjg under his„oservation--anituals, vegetables, minerals, toellii,,and operations of farmers, mechanics, add house-keepers —science and art. Ile teaches himself by seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling, talking, handling, using, and comparing things.and their operations with each other; also puttee with effect. Every child of com mon talents learns a language before he is three or four years of age. Many thous and children, now in our country, pot. over five years, speak fluently two languages— the Ettgli