M4: 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



BOYS' DEPARTMENT. 



INFLUENCE OF CHARACTER. 



There is much in the following suggestions of 

 Bishop Potter, of New York, as profitable for the 

 meditation of parents as of teachers, to whom, as a 

 class, they were specially addressed. We quote 

 from an address delivered before the State Normal 

 School at Albany : 



The teacher can not impart to others what he 

 does not possess himself. If he be coart^e and clown- 

 ish, he will not do much to refine and humanize 

 his pupils. If he be void of feeling and sentiment, 

 dead to the beauties of nature, and to the beauties 

 of thought and language, there will be nothing sug- 

 gestive in his glances at nature and life; no repe- 

 tition of beautiful stories, or of beautiful scraps of 

 simple poetry, to kindle the feeling and imagination 

 of his pupils, and to teach them to recognize and 

 admire what is admirable in senlim.ent and lan- 

 guage. 



Speaking, then, of things which are over and 

 above the elementary instruction you have to im- 

 part, I would say to you emphatically, that just in 

 proportion as you improve yourselves in all the re- 

 spects to which I have now referred, in just such 

 proportion will you contribute to the improvement 

 of your pupils. Of all the daily lessons you can set 

 before them, the best and most valuable is the pres- 

 ence of a beautiful character. O, it is character — 

 character in the parent, character in the teacher — 

 which works upon the young, drawing them into a 

 resemblance to itself, and doing more to improve 

 their minds, their hearts, and their manners, than 

 can be effected by the most diligent instruction in 

 mere book knowledge. 



Take the children and youth who are often col- 

 lected together in a rural school, and not one of 

 whom, perhaps, has ever enjoyed the privilege of 

 familiar communication with a person of real refine- 

 ment and cultivation ; and what a wonder it must 

 be to them, and what a blessing, to find themselves 

 daily looking upon, listening to, conversing with a 

 teacher who seems a superior being ; a being invest- 

 ed with a wonderful charm, from the gentleness 

 and dignity of his or her manners ; the elevation of 

 his sentiments ; the sweetness and gravity of his 

 speech ; and the wide range of his thoughts ! 



They behold human character in a more engaging 

 form than ever before ; and while they admire, they 

 learn to Imitate. They perceive that there is some- 

 thing more excellent than their coarse manners and 

 slovenly speech ; and they become chastened and 

 refined under the daily example, almost without 

 thinking of it. The teacher reasons with caution 

 and discrimination in their presence ; kindles into 

 admiration of some lofty trait of virtue ; or expresses 

 horror at some instance of meanness, cruelty, or 

 depravity ; or exercises patience and tenderness 

 toward some infirm and wayward pupil j or points 

 out something exquisitely beautiful in thought and 

 sentiment and character ; and as they look on and 

 listen, they begin to feel more deeply what is no- 

 ble and what is mean ; they begin to perceive what 

 it is to reason accuratelj'. 



The character and demeanor of the teacher is a 

 new revelation of goodness and wisdom, and they 

 are glad to become disciples ; their intellectual and 



moral nature catches a glow, is put into a healthful 

 exercise, and they gain more by a kind of infection 

 and transfusion from the one superior character 

 than they could acquire from the greatest amount 

 of mere cold and barren lessons. Accurate and 

 vigorous instruction there must of course be — with- 

 out that, it is mere folly and impertinence to pre- 

 tend to the higher influences of which I have been 

 speaking. But the higher the culture of the teach- 

 er, the better he will know how to make that in- 

 struction pleasant and effective ; and how to throw 

 over it and around it beautiful and touching lessons 

 for the heart, the fancy, and the taste. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



DOMESTIC RECEIPTS. 



Tainted Meat. — When meat is tainted, the taint 

 may be removed by covering it a few hours with 

 common charcoal, or by putting a few pieces of 

 charcoal into the water in which the tainted meat 

 is boiled. 



Healing Ointment for Woi'nds, &c. — Take a 

 quarter of an ounce of white wax and half an ounce 

 of spermaceti, and put them in a small basin by the 

 side of the fire, till the wax and spermaceti are dis- 

 solved. When cold, the ointment is ready for use. 

 This is an article which it is much better to make 

 than to purchase. When you make it yourself, you 

 know that it has no irritating or inferior material 

 in it. 



Fire in the CnniNEY. — In cases of fire in the 

 chimney, it is an excellent plan to put salt on the 

 fire in the grate below, as it acts chemically on the 

 flaming soot above. This has been found to extin- 

 guish the fire in a short time, and deserves to b) 

 more generally knov.n. 



Swallowing Poison. — If poison should be swal- 

 lowed accidentally, take two table-spoonfuls of 

 ground mustard, mixed in warm water. It will op- 

 erate as an instantaneous emetic. 



To Cleanse Feather Beds. — Rub them over 

 with a stiff" brush, dipped in hot soapsuds. When 

 clean, lay them on a shed, or any other clean place, 

 where the rain will fall on them. When thoroughly 

 soaked, let them dry in a hot sun for six or seven 

 successive days, shaking them up well, and turning 

 them over each day. They should be covered 

 over with a thick cloth during the night ; if exposed 

 to the night air, they will become damp, and mil- 

 dew. 



To Cleanse Mattrasses. — Hair mattrasses that 

 have become hard and dirty, can be made nearly 

 as good as new by ripping them, washing the tick- 

 ing, and picking the hair free from bunches, and 

 keeping it in a dry, airy place several days. When- 

 ever the ticking gets dry, fill it lightly with hair, 

 and tack it together. 



Glycerine a Remedy for Insect Bites. — A 

 correspondent of the Society of Arts in Guatemala 

 says glycerine is invaluable for a tropical traveller ; 

 a little of it applied to a mosquito bite, instantly 

 relieves; "no scratching and sore on the legs as be- 

 fore ; it is perfectly marvellous, and I would not 

 travel on these coasts without it now." 



