AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
intend the erection of the works to be es¬ 
tablished.” 
William was astonished, overwhelmed, 
and after expressing his thanks, added, “ I 
am yet an apprentice, and my time will not 
expire within some three months. After 
that I will accept your offer, if you will wait 
till then.” 
“ An apprentice !” said Mr. Wilson. “How 
then let me ask you, have you obtained such 
a knowledge of mechanics ?” 
“ By saving my leisure moments, joined to 
a love of my business, as involving some of 
the best interests of man.” 
Six months from that time saw William in 
a responsible office, with a high salary, and 
the patentee of several useful inventions, 
while James was a journeyman laborer with 
$25 a month. 
“ Well, James,” said Harry Gilbert, a 
short time after, “ William is somebody, after 
all.” 
“Yes,” returned James, “I think we 
judged him wrongfully once.” I would give 
all I have in the world to live over my ap¬ 
prentice life again. These leisure moments 
are what make the man after all Harry.” 
Congregationalist. 
BOYS WANTED. 
What are we to do for boys ? When we 
were a boy, there were lots of boys ; but 
they have gradually grown scarce, until 
there is scarcely a boy left. As we walk 
through the streets we read in the shop 
windows, “ Boys Wanted.” When we pick 
up a newspaper, the first advertisement that 
strikes our eyes is—“ A Boy Wanted.” In 
a word, every body wants a boy. Now, in 
view of this great scarcity of boys, what are 
we to do ! What shall we do for a substi¬ 
tute to light our fires, sweep our offices and 
run on our errands ! 
The other day a little fellow about four¬ 
teen years of age (begging his pardon, we 
took him for a boy,) applied to us for a situ¬ 
ation. 
“ What can you do V' we inquired. 
“ A little of almost everything,” was the 
reply. * 
“ Are you quick on your errands 1” 
“Well, sir, I don’t much like to do er¬ 
rands.” 
“ Can you sweep and dust well 1” 
“ Why, sir, young men don’t sweep any 
now-a-days, the woman folks have monopo¬ 
lised that branch of business. It isn’t—” 
He was going to say sweeping isn’t gen¬ 
teel, but he hesitated to state his conviction. 
“ How will you make yourself useful ?” 
“ Why, I’ll sit in the office and answer 
questions when you are out.” 
“ And how much do you ask for this ser¬ 
vice!” 
“ In the neighborhood of $3 00.” 
“ In the neighborhood!” 
“ Yes, sir.” 
“ What do you mean by neighborhood 1” 
“ Simply $3 00, sir, a trifle more or less.” 
“ And you can neither sweep nor run er¬ 
rands V' 
“ Oh, (a little vexed,) I could, but—” 
“But Avhat !” 
“ It aint exactly the thing.” 
“ Yet at your age, we—” 
“ Hang me, sir," picking up his hat and 
striding toward the door, “ you don't take me 
for a\Boy, do you ?” 
Amused, but not astonished we asked our¬ 
selves the question—what are we to do for 
boys. 
If some enterprising Yankee would under¬ 
take to get up a lot of boys, he would make 
a fortune in a short time, for never, 
within our recollection have they been in 
such demand. [City Item—Philadelphia- 
OTg~ a $0Oi 
WHY DO TEETH DECAY. 
All the theories that time and again have 
been advanced in answer to this inquiry, 
have long since vanished before the true 
doctrine of the action of external cor¬ 
rosive agents. The great and all powerful 
destroyer of the human teeth is acid, veget¬ 
able or mineral, and it matters not whether 
that acid is formed in the mouth by the de¬ 
composition of particles of food left between 
and around the teeth, or whether it is applied 
directly to the organs themselves : the result 
is the same, the enamel is dissolved, cor¬ 
roded, and the tooth destroyed. Much, very 
much of the decay in teeth may be attributed 
to the corrosive effects of acetic acid, which 
is not only in common use as a condiment 
in the form of vinegar, but is generated by 
the decay and decomposition of any and 
every variety of vegetable matter. When 
we consider how very few persons compar¬ 
atively, take especial pains to remove every 
particle of food from between and around 
their teeth immediately after eating, can we 
wonder that diseased teeth are so common, 
and that their early loss is frequently de¬ 
plored ! [Practical Dentist. 
In connection with the above, we repeat a 
very necessary suggestion, viz : that the 
teeth should always be cleansed from all 
particles of food, fruit, &c., before retiring 
at night. Any thing of this kind left upon 
them will almost certainly acidify or decay 
before morning, and the inevitable tendency 
is to destroy the enamel of the teeth. A 
good brush with water is the best purifyer. 
A little soap added to the water is very good 
after eating sour or greasy substances. 
HOW THEY READ THE NEWSPAPERS. 
It is a proof of the great variety of human 
development to notice persons reading a 
newspaper. Mr. General Intelligence first 
glances at the telegraph, then at the editori¬ 
al, and then goes off into the correspondence. 
Mr. Sharper starts with the stocks and mark¬ 
ets, and ends with the advertisements for 
wants, hoping to find a victim. Aunt Sukey 
first reads the stories, and then looks to see 
who is married. Miss Prim looks at the mar¬ 
riage column first, and then the stories. Mr. 
Marvelous is curious to see the list of acci¬ 
dents, murders and the like. Uncle Ned 
hunts up the funny things, and smokes and 
laughs with a will. Madame Gossip turns to 
the local department for her thunder, and 
having obtained that, throws the paper aside. 
Mrs. Friendly drops the first tear of sym¬ 
pathy over the deaths and next over the mar¬ 
riages ; for, says she, one is about as bad as 
the other. Mr. Politician dashes into the 
telegraph, and from that into the editorial, 
ending with the speeches alluded to. Our 
literary friend is eager for a nice composi¬ 
tion. After analyzing the rhetoric, gram¬ 
mar and logic of the production, he turns a 
careless glance to the news department, and 
then takes to his Greek, perfectly satisfied. 
The pleasure seeker examines the program¬ 
mes of public entertainments, and decides 
which promises the greatest amount of 
amusement. The laborer searches among 
the wants for a better opening in his busi¬ 
ness, and—but enough ; an extension of the 
list were useless. There is just as much 
difference in readers as in—anything. 
I But the ivorst is yet to come. If each does 
not find a column or less of his peculiar lik¬ 
ing, the editor has, of course, been lazy, and 
is unworthy of patronage. Oh, who wouldn’t 
be an Editor. [Knickerbocker. 
We like the above with the exception of 
the last paragraph. We are heartily tired of 
hearing editors so frequently complain of 
their business, because they have the means 
of doing. If they do not like editing a paper 
let them quit it. [Eds. Am. Ag. 
ENTERPRIZINCt men. 
We love our upright, enterprizing, energet¬ 
ic men. Pull them this way, and then the 
other, and they only bend, but do not break. 
Throw them down, and in a twinkle they 
are on their feet again. Bury them in the 
mud, and in half an hour they will be out 
and as bright as a new dollar. They are 
not yawning away their existence, as if they 
had only come into the world half made up. 
Such men you can not keep down or destroy. 
But for such men the world would be a fun¬ 
gus. They are your Luthers, Calvins, Knox¬ 
es, Baxters, Wesleys, Whitfields, and a 
host of others in theology—youqAlexanders, 
Caesars, Hannibals, Cromwells, Bonapartes, 
Neys, Waynes, Marions, and Jacksons, on 
the field of battle—your Archemides, Ark¬ 
wrights, Fultons, and Whitneys, in the me¬ 
chanical arts and sciences. They are the 
salt and spice of earth. Who but them start 
any noble projects ! They build our cities, 
and rear our manufactories ; they plunge 
into the forest, and soon a howling wilder¬ 
ness is converted into beautiful places for 
the abode of man ; they whiten the blue 
ethereal ocean with their sails, and blacken 
the heavens with their steamers and fur¬ 
naces. Difficulties deter them not—they 
grasp with the rapidity of lightning obstacles 
thrown in their way, and hurl them away 
from them with a force like thunder in de¬ 
stroying noxious vapors. Blessings on such 
men! Their force and vitality of character 
should serve as examples for young men. 
What is life good for, if it is not actively em. 
ployed ! The more rubs a man gets the mor e 
polished he becomes. [Cincinnati Nonpareil. 
YOU ARE A BRICK. 
A certain College Professor had assembled 
his class at the commencement of the term, 
and was reading over the list of names to see 
that all were present. It chanced that one 
of the number was unknown to the Profes¬ 
sor, having just entered the class. 
“What is your name, sir!” asked the 
Professor, looking through his spectacles. 
“ You are a brick," was the startling reply. 
“ Sir,” said the Professor, half starting 
out of his chair at the supposed imperti¬ 
nence, but not quite sure that he had under¬ 
stood him correctly, “ Sir, I do not exactly 
understand your.answer.” 
“ You are a brick,” was the again com¬ 
posed reply. 
“ This is intolerable !” said the Professor, 
his face reddening. “ Beware, young man, 
how you attempt to insult me.” 
“ Insult you !” said the student, in turn 
astonished. “ How have I done it!” 
“ Did you not say I was a brick ?” re¬ 
turned the Professor with stifled indignation. 
“ No, sir, you asked me my name, and 1 
answered your question. My name is U. R. 
A. Brick—Uriah Reynolds Anderson Brick.” 
“Ah, indeed !” murmured the Profes¬ 
sor, sinking back into his seat in confusion. 
“ It was a misconception upon my part. 
Will you commence the lesson Mr.—ahem 
—Mr. Brick.” 
Your character can not be essentially in¬ 
jured except'by your own acts. 
