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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
been recommended by Colonel Robinson, and 
Colonel Wood, and others in her Majesty’s 
service.”— London News, Feb. 26. 
MAST AND IMMORTALITY. 
Man is a seed, and birth is planting. He 
is in life for cultivation, not exhibition ; he 
is here chiefly to be acted on, not to be char¬ 
acteristically an agent. For though man is 
also an actor, he is yet more a recipient. 
Though he produces effects, he receives a 
thousand fold more than he produces. And 
he is to be estimated by his capacity of re¬ 
ceiving, not of doing. He has his least value 
in what he can do; it all lies in ivhat he is ca¬ 
pable of having done to him. The eye, the 
ear, the tongue, the nerve of touch, are all 
simple receivers. The understanding, the 
affections, the moral sentiments, all, are, pri¬ 
marily and characteristically, recipients of 
influence, and only secondarily agents. 
Now how different is the value of one, dead 
in its silent waiting places, from the wrought 
blade, the all but living engine, and the carved 
and curious utensil! 
Of how little value is a ship standing help¬ 
less on the stocks—but half built, and yet 
building—to one who has no knowledge of 
the ocean, or of what that helpless hulk will 
become the moment she slides into her ele¬ 
ment, and rises and falls upon the flood with 
joyous greeting ! 
The value of an acorn is not what it is, 
but what it shall be when nature has brooded 
it, and brought it up, and a hundred years 
have sung through its branches and left their 
strength there! 
He, then, that judges man by what he can 
do, judges him in the seed. We must see 
him through some lenses—we must prefig¬ 
ure his immortality. While, then, his indus¬ 
trial value in life must depend on what he 
can do, we have here the beginning of a 
moral value which bears no relation to his 
power, but to his future destiny.— Henry W. 
Beecher. 
Cold Water and Prosperity. —We had 
the pleasure of hearing James Buchanan 
deliver an address before the Howard So¬ 
ciety, on which occasion he related the fol¬ 
lowing circumstances ; 
Several years ago, a gentleman dined with 
him who had risen by his own industry and 
integrity alone, from humble life to a proud 
position in society. On being invited to take 
a glass of wine, the following conversation 
ensued: 
“ Do you allow persons at your table to 
drink what they please V' asked the guest. 
“ Certainly,” replied Mr. Buchanan. 
“ Then I’ll take a glass of water.” 
“ Ah indeed ! And how long have you 
drank cold water ?” 
“ Ever since I was eleven years old.” 
“ Is it possible ! And pray, what induced 
you to adopt the principle of total absti¬ 
nence V' 
“ Seeing a person intoxicated.” 
“ Well,” continued Mr. Buchanan, “ if you 
have had the firmness of purpose to con¬ 
tinue up to this time without taking intoxi¬ 
cating drinks, I do not wonder that you have 
reached your present position.” 
Mr. Buchanan afterwards learned that the 
person he saw intoxicated was his father .— 
Southern Organ. 
Interesting to Fathers. —The editor of 
the Buffalo Republic has made himself im¬ 
mortal by the publication of an infallible 
means of keeping babies perfectly quiet, the 
modus operandi of which is as follows : 
As soon as the child wakes and begins to 
squall, prop it up with pillows and smear its 
fingers with thick molasses, sticking feathers 
into the hands and thus afford the youngste. 
the employment of picking the feathers from 
one hand and the other, which will keep 
him still till he drops asleep again. 
The Verdant Groomsman. —On no occa¬ 
sion, (says the Springfield Republican) do 
people seem more prone to commit blunders 
than at a wedding. The following actually 
occurred in a neighboring town : 
In the midst of a crowd of witnesses, the 
clergyman had just completed that interest¬ 
ing ceremony which binds in the silver bonds 
of wedlock two willing hearts, and stretched 
forth his hands to implore the blessings of 
heaven on the union. At this point, the 
groomsman seeing the open hands Teached 
out, supposing it was the signal for him to 
surrender the wedding fee, which was burn¬ 
ing in his pocket. Accordingly, just as the 
clergyman closed his eyes in prayer, he felt 
the pressure of two sweaty half-dollars on 
his palms. 
The good man hesitated a moment, ap¬ 
palled at the ludicrousness of his situation, 
but coolly deposited the money in his pocket, 
and proceeded with his devotions. 
THE MASTIFF. 
The Mastiff is familiar and widely cele¬ 
brated as the popular watch-dog. He was 
known in England in the earliest times, and 
attracted the attention of her Roman con¬ 
querors, who selected the most powerful, 
and sent them to the “ Eternal City they 
enacted prominent and bloody parts in the 
Amphitheater, in tearing down wild beasts, 
and human victims sacrificed for the amuse¬ 
ment of the population. The mastiffis deep¬ 
ly attached to his master, but implacable to 
strangers. His hearing must be very fine, 
for he instantly distinguishes between the 
tread of the inmates of the household which 
he guards and intruders, and will announce 
by his sharp bark the arrival of the burglar 
or thief, the instant they touch the premises, 
however cautious they may be. The mas¬ 
tiff, when treated with kindness, becomes 
affectionate and intelligent, without losing 
any of its qualities as a valuable guardian of 
property. 
the terrier 
Is a small, delicate dog, some of them being 
of exquisite symmetry. They are famous 
for their courage, and also for their intelli¬ 
gence. Almost equal to the spaniel in at¬ 
tachment, they are great pets with young 
people, and join in the sports of the juveniles 
with a glee that is quite inspiring. Terriers 
seem to have been designed especially to kill 
rats, for they are indefatigable in their pur¬ 
suit, and will do an incredible amount of hard 
labor to unearth the vermin. Their courage 
is wonderful; they attack the fox and the 
otter in their holes, and generally come off 
victors. On one occasion we were engaged 
in a bear hunt, and among the pack of stout 
hounds was a little terrier, that ran off from 
the plantation, and, apparently out of pure 
mischief, kept up with the running dogs. 
Bruin was finally brought to bay, and when 
the hunters came up they found him on his 
hind-legs, the hounds forming a circle at a 
respectful distance from him, while the ridic¬ 
ulous little terrier was inside of the ring, 
snarling and growling, and occasionally ren¬ 
dering the bear perfectly insane with fury, 
by attempting to seize his legs. 
The dexterity of the terrier in destroying 
rats is illustrated by exhibitions, where a 
dog is matched to kill a certain number of 
rats in a given time. A ring is prepared, 
the vermin are brought in bags, and, to the 
amount of a hundred, put into it. The dog 
is then set over the railing. The rats—most 
ferocious animals when cornered—finding 
escape impossible, will turn en masse on the 
dog, and seize hold of him, and hang on, un¬ 
til the terrier’s head and shoulders are ab¬ 
solutely concealed from view. Meanwhile 
the courageous little creature, with immense 
rapidity and certainty, selects his victims, 
and, giving them a single bite in the loins, 
continues his work until all the rats are dead, 
finishing the hundred in seven or eight min¬ 
utes. 
The Scotch terrier is similar in habits to 
the one already noticed, but very different in 
personal appearance. His hair is long and 
wiry, concealing his eyes and symmetry of 
form. The principal beauty of some of 
these coarse-haired terriers consists in their 
ugliness. They are all faithful, and can ap¬ 
peal to every one for sympathy, on the po¬ 
etical principle, that “ handsome is who 
handsome does.” 
WINE-GROWING COUNTRIES. 
Unhappily, there is an agent far more di¬ 
rect and active in the degradation of France, 
than either taxation or extravagance. No 
one who has made a tour of curiosity around 
the “ octroi ” walls of Paris, can have failed 
to make the discovery. Here, for at least 
three days in the week, he will find from 
20,000 to 30,000 of the most dissolute of 
both sexes occupied in drinking and debauch¬ 
ery of the worst kind, in temporary liquor 
shops. 
There are upwards of 350,000 licensed re¬ 
tailers of wines and spirits in France, being 
an increase of 100,000 in twenty years. 
Were Beelzebub permitted to select an agent 
for the demoralization of humanity, he could 
not find one better adapted to his purposes 
than that which is sanctioned by the govern¬ 
ment of France. 
M. Villerme, speaking of the cabarets of 
the quarter Etaques at Lille, says : I saw 
in them crowds agitated like the inhabitants 
of an ant hill. All drank the detestable 
corn-brandy or beer. I can affirm that I 
have never seen at once so much pollution, 
misery and vice, and nowhere under an as¬ 
pect more hideous and revolting. In Paris 
it is estimated there are 17,000 habitual 
drunkards of the most brutal character. 
The Mayor of Paimpol says: I affirm 
that the greater part of the paupers of this 
town owe their misery to the excess of 
drinks, particularly brandy. Such evi¬ 
dences should destroy the common delusion, 
that because light wines are cheap in France, 
intoxication is rare. Brandies of the most 
deleterious nature are equally cheap, and 
more generally used. In the department of 
the north, there is a dramshop for every 
sixty-four inhabitants. 
The above is from “ Parisian Sights,” pub¬ 
lished by the Harpers, pages 206-8. 
It appears from this, that while there is a 
vast amount of intoxication in France, much 
of it is upon other liquors than wines ; bul is 
it not probable that the use of the wines in¬ 
duces appetites and habits which pave the 
way for the excessive use of stronger and 
more deleterious beverages ? W. P. B. 
New-York Observer. 
IN DEBT AND OUT OF DEBT. 
Of what a hideous progeny of ill is debt 
the father ! What meannesses, what inva¬ 
sions on self-respect, what cares, what 
double dealing ! How, in due season, it 
will carve the frank open face into wrinkles ; 
how like a knife, ’twill stab the honest heart. 
And then its transformations ! How it has 
been known to change a goodly face into a 
mask of brass ; how, with the “ damned cus¬ 
tom of debt, has the true man become a cal¬ 
lous trickster ! A freedom from debt, and 
what nourishing sweetness may be found in 
cold water; what toothsomeness in a dry 
crust; what ambrosial nourishment in a 
