No one need fear that the l)cautifiil in nature — say wliat he will of art — will 

 prove a snare to liim. AVIiy should it not rather purify his thoughts, and lift 

 them upward, give tlieni hijjfhor c()nce[)tions of (iod and of heaven ? For, if Uod 

 has so wonderfully adorned this distant and comparatively insignificant planet, what 

 will lie not do in the immediate presence of His throne ? 



The view we have now taken, suggests an argument for rural improvement. If, 

 as many suppose, man lias brought in a measure of deformity upon the otherwise 

 beautiful earth, let him seek to restore the earth to its primitive loveliness. lie 

 cannot, indeed, robe the entire globe in tlic beauty of Eden, but he can remove 

 much of its ugliness, can fertilize much of its barrenness, and some small jtortion 

 of its surface he can highly adorn. He can clear away wild forests, root out the 

 tliorn and thistle, and clothe even the most sterile soil with verdure. Whatever 

 is already beautiful, he can ])reserve from desecration. lie can erect comfortable 

 and tasteful dwellings, and so arrange them WMthin and without, that their occu- 

 pants shall have daily familiarity with objects affording pleasure and i)romotiiig 

 refinement. 



Were the public taste more generally and highly cultivated, our liillsides and 

 valleys would present a spectacle of greater beauty than they now exhibit. The 

 neat cottage, the farm-house, the mansion, each embowered in leafy beauty, would 

 speak, in no mistaken language, of contentment and social culture. Broad ave- 

 nues of trees, mile after mile, would refresh the highway traveller. Public parks 

 and gardens, and cemeteries, would be amply provided in the neighborhood of all 

 our cities and villages. And, above all, each home would be surrounded with 

 whatever could lend it ornament and grace, binding to it the heart of the child 

 and the man of years, weaving about it precious memories which no lapse of time, 

 nor change of fortune could ever destroy. 



< • • ♦ » 



VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES, No. 4. 



If the regulations regarding passports that are enforced in Italy, were adopted 

 in America, probably fewer persons would be found behind our locomotives. In 

 the town of Bologna, at this moment, says the last Quarterly Revieiv, no man 

 can have a passport to leave his home, unless his wife, in person, or by letter, sig- 

 nifies her permission that he should go ; if he is single, an attestation from his 

 curate of " stato libero" is required. A gentleman cannot visit his property, and 

 a domestic cannot go to see his family, a few miles distant, without a passport, 

 to obtain which, in proper form, recpiires attendance at different places. Nor can 

 any servant be dismissed without informing the police whither he is gone, and 

 whence his successor comes. 



What a contrast our country exhibits. The passport system is not much better 

 in other European countries, while here we follow every whim, and trot about with 

 as little consideration as if there was nothing to do at home ; home, in fact, there 

 is none to a large portion of our population. But, if we are ready to question 

 what objects are taking the numbers travelling on steamboat and railroad, whom 

 one meets in every direction, let us remember they have the same right, if right 

 there is, of inquiry regarding ourselves. So we had better proceed to business, 



Mr. Sargent's kindness arranged excursions for our horticultural party, by rail- 

 road, to the successfully planted places up and down the river : these were per- 

 formed with comfort and ease, in consequence of the regularity and rapidity with 



hich the managers of the road contrive to run their cars. The first was to the 

 establishment of 



