MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL, 
For the Rural New-Yorker. 
A FLOWER’S LIFE AND LESSON 
/ For the Rural New-Yorker. 
j OBJEimONS TO THE NEW SCHOOL LAW. 
\ Mr. Editor:— We are not of that class 
1 who subscribe to the doctrine that the end 
< justifies the means, and cannot therefore 
^ adopt the sentiments of those for instance 
I Avho advocate an equal division of property, 
I or of those who take the other extreme and 
'( maintain the blessedness of a community of 
? good, or even of those who support princi- 
^ pies akin to communism as exemphfied in 
' the action of those who would uphold our 
> present Free School Law. (a) For we sup- 
; pose that the field of enterprise should be 
V left open and free to all men, that they may 
^ enter tlierein and reap a reward proportion- 
i. ate to the skill and labor employed by each, 
I and enjoy the same without molestation or 
< hindrance. This principle gives stimulus to 
all the industrial arts and improvements, 
( and has advanced our country in the path 
S of greatness with a rapidity of stride that 
\ has never been surpassed in ancient or mod- 
^ ern times. There can therefore be no fear 
) that these agrarian, or these communist no- 
< tions, vrhen presented as such, can ever 
^ make headway among our people. It is 
( only when they assume a false garb, like 
^ the wolf in the fable, that they become 
dangerous from their greater likelihood to 
^ deceive. But the final result is the same, 
( whether the dose be taken in its crude state 
i 'Or be sugar coated like some of our medical 
{ prescriptions; whether the laws establish 
\ the socialist doctrine of a community of 
^ goods or a community of children to be ed- 
< ucated at the expense of the State. 
^ If the present Free School Law becomes 
i the settled policy of the State, there is no 
I calculating the limits to which its principles 
> may not be legitimately carried. Text 
) books for instruction are as necessary as a 
I teacher. May not these therefore be pro- 
^ vided at the public expense? Clothing and 
( sustenance are indispensable, are in fact of 
i more pressing necessity than either books 
( or teachers; indeed we have knoAvn chil- 
} dren to be kept from school for the want of 
} one or the other of these necessaries. May 
^ not these wants too be supplied from the 
< common treasury, all in the name and for 
( the benefit of the Free Schools? All this 
^ would assist the cause of education. But 
^ then education may be of two kinds, moral 
I and intellectual. (6) These should always go 
i hand in hand, but if by any means they be- 
^ come separated, both reason and law should 
( give the preference' to moral culture. The 
? education of the heart has also the further 
} advantage over that of the intellect, that 
(. its beneficial influence may be pai-ticipated 
^ in not by the youth alone, but by people of 
) all ages and conditions Avho are disposed to 
I attend the sanctuary, (c) Is not our prin- 
\ ciple of free and gratiutous mental culture 
) sufficiently broad to cover, not a branch on- 
l ly, but the main stalk and stem of the sub- 
) ject from which the intellectual and scien- 
/ tific shoot forth like the limbs to a tree ?— 
> But, says one, this would be a union of 
I Church and State. This Avould be imcon- 
( stitutional. Would it indeed? But why 
} so ?. It springs from the same source Avith 
; our free school system, and it is resonable 
I to suppose that waters from the same fount- 
( ain are possessed of the same qualities.— 
} And besides what is there in the Constitu- 
l tion or in the nature of things which says 
\ that you may receive gratuitous intellectual 
; and not moral instruction? (cZ) —and that 
> too until of a certain age, and no longer ?— 
) These restrictions depend only on legislative 
^ enactment, an authority ever fickle and va- 
. r} ing as the Avaves of the sea, and are there- 
) lore liable at any time to be modified or 
> removed altogether. If the fruits are un- 
BY J. H. BIXBY 
One who plants and rears a flower with 
the spirit to appreciate its beauty and its 
teachings, enjoys one of the purest and 
cheapest pleasures of which the human 
mind is capable. Every day it causes new 
sensations of happiness, or teaches new les¬ 
sons of contentment—expanding in beauty 
and yielding its fragrance beneath our care, 
till we come to love it as though possessed 
of human feelings, and capable of under¬ 
standing and returning human affections 
and sympathies. One of the most beauti¬ 
ful stories we ever read,— Picciola —has 
for its heroine a simple flower springing up 
from a crevice in the pavement of his soli¬ 
tary prison, when it became to him a com¬ 
panion and friend, interwoven in his whole 
fortunes, and ever his good genius, and final¬ 
ly his deliverer from captivity. 
The life of a floAver, though brief, is fidl 
of beauty and instruction; and the profu¬ 
sion Avith which they are scattered over the 
earth, shows that they have an important 
part to fulfil in the e\"er wise designs of the 
Beneficent Creator. Each season has its ap¬ 
propriate pleasures, and one only is unbless¬ 
ed by the ever cheerful—the ever hopeful 
flowers. Our winter walks lack the bright¬ 
ness of their beaming faces, but a few of 
the fair sisterhood will make seem 
“ Like sunshine in a shady place” 
a corner of the sitting-room, and to that and 
memory we must then turn for summer 
thoughts and fancies. 
The following lines are revised from a 
poem Avritten and published some years 
since, suggested by a floAver reared at the 
time by the writer—furnishing one of the 
cheap pleasures of a farmer’s boy: 
I placed a grain 
Of seed, in faith, within the mellow earth; 
The warm sun shone, and fell the early rain, 
And soon it sprouted forth. 
I saw each noon 
How bud by bud it gained and grcAV apace — 
Leaf after leaf come forth and spread, till soon 
It wore a form of grace. 
My eyes at last 
Were gladdened the sight so long delayed — 
Rich perfume ’round the beauteous flower cast. 
And bounteous sweets displayed. 
Alone for me 
Breathed not its fragrance, but the dewy air. 
And bee and butterfly made calls to see 
The treasures hidden there. 
But ah ! as fleet 
As it was fair the being of my flower. 
For scarce did I enjoy its odor sweet 
For one swift-pinioned hour. 
Since then to earth 
Have crumbled stalk and leaf in dust avi'ay. 
From which fair flowers yet may have their birth. 
And live their little day. 
Its work was done — 
Earth had been gladdened by the flower fair. 
And man was taught that he who gave it sun. 
And dew, o’er all has care. 
I saw all this, 
As daily walked I forth, at noon when free 
From toil, with books to have an hour’s bliss 
Beneath a spreading tree. 
And thus I thought— 
Let me from this learn still to be content — 
What’er on earth may be my present lot, 
’Tis that which God hath sent. 
Let me fulfil 
The end for which he has my life designed. 
E’er ready be to work his right-wise will 
With heart, and soul, and mind. 
Though flower, like thine 
Brief be my life day — let its avobk be done. 
That, “ perfect as a star” its deeds may shine 
A light, perhaps, to one. 
Royalton, N. Y. 
SEWARD FEMALE SEMINARY — ALEXANDER STREET, ROCHESTER. 
the case Avith too many of our best female 
teachers) by a matrimonial alliance. Miss 
L. Tracy, the present principal, entered up¬ 
on her duties in that capacity in 1846,— 
Her eminent qualifications are well appreci¬ 
ated by the public, as indicated by the liberal 
patronage Avhich the Seminary is receiving. 
The Seward Female Seminary was 
erected in 1835.* From that time till 1842, 
it was under the management of Miss Sew¬ 
ard (now Mrs. J. Gould,) as Principal, to 
whom our city owe many thanks for the in¬ 
vestment of both labor and capital to estab¬ 
lish a high and liberal educational charac¬ 
ter for Rochester. The Institution was in¬ 
corporated by the Legislature, and became 
subject to the visitation of the Regents of 
the University, in 1839. Miss S. was suc¬ 
ceeded by Miss H. L. Williams, a former as¬ 
sistant teacher, as principal,—whose services, 
however, were soon lost to the public (as is 
those sturdy farmers whose performance in 
the art seemed to furnish a source of amuse¬ 
ment to one of your contributors, whose 
judgment appears to be swayed more by 
the influence of taste than by a love of jus¬ 
tice and right. I say there is this class of 
men in our district who feel keener, much 
keener, the sense of oppression and outraged 
justice effected by the new law, than they 
do the paying out of their money. They 
think it is unendurable that, having dischar¬ 
ged their dutjr to their country and their 
own children in giving them education, they 
should now be compelled to give of their 
hard earnings to help educate the children 
of their neighbors, as wealthy or more so 
than themselves. Again there is a sprink¬ 
ling of Germans among us, an industrious 
and praiseworthy class, many of whom are 
Catholics, and who, for conscience sake, 
send their children to a denominational 
school of their own, receiving little or no as¬ 
sistance except from their own private con¬ 
tributions ; and yet, in addition to this bur¬ 
then upon their slender means, our rich 
neighbors wring from them too their mites. 
Is not this the rankest kind of oppression 
and cruelty? 
I have been pleased, Mr. Editor, that you 
have opened the columns of your highly 
valuable and instructive paper to the discus¬ 
sion of this subject, and I do earnestly hope 
that abler pens than mine will be induced 
to portray the tycimny and iniquity of this 
new schodl law in the glaring colors which 
it deserves. Rusticus. 
Williamsville, N. Y., March, 1850. 
Remarks.— (a) Communism is a new 
ism, or rather an old ism recently revived 
in France. It inculcates the doctrine that 
der him competent to perform the duties of 
a good citizen. 
Every government has found it necessary 
to provide means for the education of some 
part, at least, of its people. At one period 
Militaiy education was almost the only one 
given by the State. The protection of the 
nation then depended on the soldier. Phys¬ 
ical force alone bore sway. In Rome the 
State provides for the education of religious 
teachers — the priests—not so for all the 
children of the State. In England the no¬ 
bility are educated by the State. The in¬ 
stitutions provided by the government to do 
this are supported by the entire people, the 
poor as well as the rich. In our own be¬ 
loved country, the commoners constitute 
the nobility, for Avhom we claim the same 
public educationaU advantages, so far, at 
least, as our educational means will allow, as 
are enjoyed by the nobility of Fatherland: 
—this being done all will be proAuded for. 
Education in all the countries referred to, 
as in almost every other, is under the con¬ 
trol and diroction of tKeco sjoiroral nations. 
And the means provided to cai-ry on this 
work of education, whether it be partial or 
universal, come from the people, who are 
governed or who govern. If this be “com¬ 
munism,” “injustice,” “iniquity,” “tyran¬ 
ny,”—then, so are all the acts of govern¬ 
ment It is always much easier to call hard 
names, and thus alarm persons of Aveak 
nerves, than to show by demonstrative ar¬ 
gument that a law is Avrong. 
(6) Aye, we say. And they should al¬ 
ways be united—never separated. 
(c) Evening Free Schools have been es¬ 
tablished in many cities and large towns for 
the instruction of persons of all ages and 
conditions desirous of learning. These can 
attend the “ sanctuary ” of their own choos¬ 
ing without money and without price, if 
destitute. This is done gratuitously and 
Covetousness. — Of covetousness we 
may truly say, that it makes both the Al¬ 
pha and Omega in the devil’s alphabet, and 
that it is the first vice in corrupt nature 
Avhich moves and the last Avhich dies. For 
look upon any infant, and as soon as it can 
but move a hand, we shall see it reaches 
out after somethmg or other which it should 
not have; and he Avho does not know it to 
be the pecidiar sin of old age, seems him¬ 
self to have the dotage of that age upon 
him Avhether he has the yearn or no. The 
covetous person lives as if the Avorld Avere 
made altogether for him, and not he for tKe 
Avorld, to take in everything, and to part 
with nothing. The cries of the poor never 
enter his ears;,or if they do, he has always 
one ear readier to let them out than the 
other to take them in. So that it is a ques¬ 
tion whether his heart be harder or his fist 
closer. In a Avord, he is a pest and mon¬ 
ster, greedier than the sea, and ban’oner 
than the shore. 
A Happy Thought. — Some’ sweet warb¬ 
ler in the London Times utters the follow¬ 
ing beautiful sentiment. Lay it to heart 
friends. It contains gentle but heart-reach¬ 
ing reproof: 
There is a voice within me, 
And ’its 80 sweet a voice, 
That its soft lisping wins me. 
Till tears start to mine eyes; 
Deep from my soul it springeth, 
Like hidden melody; 
And evermore it singeth 
This song of songs to me :— 
“ This world is full of beauty, 
As other worlds above ; 
And if we did our duty. 
It might be full of love I” 
The Lord’s Prayer. —The Lord’s prayer 
is the most diffused production in the world, 
being familiar to pei’sons of fifty-three dif¬ 
ferent languages, including the Cherokee 
in America, and the Grebo on the coast of 
Africa Its salutary effects upon mankind 
has done more to civilize than all other 
writings put together, because it is the es¬ 
sence of all. 
One clock strikes when there is a change 
from hour to hour, but no hammer in the 
horologe of time peals through the universe 
Avhen there is a change from one era to an¬ 
other. 
Pleasure is hke a cordial — a little does 
not injure, but too much destroys. 
