26 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan 



and pondered upon such sentiments until he regards 

 himself as necessarily one of the thinkers, and con- 

 sequently bound to "scorn what all beside adore," 

 and to regard his proficiency in doing so a test of 

 his scholarship. 



Better, perhaps, than that of any other man, 

 does the life of Lord Byron show how Httle the 

 cultivation of the intellectual faculties, alone, can 

 add to the real usefulness or happiness of the indi- 

 Tidual. In the history of nations, too, we often 

 find the highest cultivation of the head associated 

 with the most deplorable rottenness of heart ; the 

 most sensitive taste with the most abandoned habits. 



Something more than the "improvement of the 

 mind," then, is needed. The moral as well as the 

 mental powers must be developed. The mind may 

 need improvement, but the heart needs it much 

 more. Goodness is a far nobler object than great 

 ness. Washington aimed at the one; Aaron Burr, 

 at the other. And we refer to the history of their 

 lives for a further illustration of the idea we wish 

 to enforce. George Washington was born upon a 

 farm, and entered upon the duties of life with but 

 little education ; Aaron Burr was reared in the at- 

 mosphere of a literary institution, at which he 

 graduated with distinguished collegiate honors, at 

 the age of sixteen. How far the character of each 

 was influenced by the circumstances of his youth, 

 we shall not attempt to decide. Nor shall we stop 

 to inquire how it has come to pass that such ex- 

 pressions as "an honest old farmer," and, "lying 

 like a lawyer," have gained currency, — for we are 

 not at present writing an essay upon the subject ; 

 we design simply to give utterance to a few sug- 

 gestions. 



However these points may be settled, we believe 



other college in our country would present results 

 fully as unfavorable. 



What, then, shall be done ? The thought with 

 which we would close this article is this : — Until in- 

 stitutions are established that shall combine the 

 practical with the theoretical, and blend work with 

 study, a home education must be depended upon, 

 especially for farmers' sons. The common school 

 and the fireside, the town and neighborhood libra- 

 ry and lyceum, with the agricultural paper, and 

 habits of mental application, are means of improve- 

 ment, whose power to elevate the mind has never 

 yet been fully tested. 



SINGULAR EFFECT OF LIGHTNING. 



A valued correspondent in Kentucky sends us a 

 long communication upon the effects of lightning. 

 His explanations do not satisfy us, but the following 

 fact is very remarkable. His informant was an eye 

 witness of the occurrence. He says : 



One evening of a sultry summer day, about dusk 

 or twilight, a company of laborers, and among them 

 the narrator of this occurrence to us, took refuge 

 from a thunder- shower in a small grocery in the 

 country. One of them, a very wicked, dissipated 

 man, purchased a flask of whisky, and swore that 

 he was not afraid of the thunder and lightning, and 

 would go home. He started, and when he had got 

 thirty or forty paces from the house, a stroke of 

 lightning darted down about the place where he 

 was. As it was entirely dark, our narrator saw him 

 by the light of the flash borne up several feet from 

 the ground, but neither saw nor heard any thing 

 more of him. When the rain was over, he gave it 

 as his opinion that the man was killed by the light- 

 ning, and suggested that they should take a light 

 and go and see. Sure enough, there he lay dead ! 

 On examining him, they found his skin unbroken, 

 but every bone in him seemed to be entirely brok- 

 en, or rather crushed to nieces — even his skull it- 



