MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTUxRAL AND EAMILY JOURNAL. 
LITE’S GTTIDING STAB. 
TVE DONE USING TOBACCO 
THE FREE SCHOOL ACT. 
Did you ever read of any State or Na¬ 
tion, in any age of the world, that had a 
better establishment for Common Schools 
than the State of New York had before 
the enactment of the strange Free School 
Act, where not a family were so poor but 
that they could school their children if they 
would ? Is it right for legislators to pfiss a 
law for men to vote money out of their 
neighbors’ pockets to*^ay their own debts? 
But the People made the law—the Legis¬ 
lature dare not do it. But who are the 
People ? Why, one-fourth, or perhaps one- 
third of the voters never paid a tax, and 
nev er will by the provision of that strange act. 
Now observe how the peace and harmo¬ 
ny of almost every school district in all the 
country towns throughout the State are de¬ 
stroyed ? It will take years of wise legisla¬ 
tion to remedy the evil of thus framing mis¬ 
chief by a law. There was but one exception 
to the former law—that was, exonerating the 
thousands of clergymen from taxation. The 
new, strange act proposes to school their 
children free till they are 21—while the 
bulk of tax payers’ children must work on 
the farm or in the shop for their own sup¬ 
port and money to pay the tax; while those 
highly favored young gentlemen ride in 
their carriages and haughtily say to our 
children, “ It is yours to hold the plow and 
swing the scythe, and ours to reap the profit.” 
What do you say, tax-payer ? Will you 
vote for legislators that you know will 
sanction such a law ? You are told that 
the act is to help the poor; but look at it 
and you will see that it only dps those 
who can school their children until they are 
21, and most of your children must labor 
to pay for it—for thej great majority of tax¬ 
payers’ children must labor to support 
themselves and idlers too. 
I but just hint at some of the evils of this 
free act, which should be termed free legal 
roJfiery—and hope that the friends of free 
institutions and equal rights will prepare for 
the coming election. 
Old Tax-Payer. 
Mendon, N. Y., Augiist, 1850. 
The youth whose bark is guided o’er 
A summer stream by zephyr’s breath, 
With idle gaze delights to.pour 
On imaged skies that glow beneath. 
But should a fleeting storm arise 
To shade a while the watery way, 
Quick lifts to heaven his anxious eyes, 
And speeds to reach some sheltering bay. 
’Tis thus down time’s eventful tide. 
While prosperous breezes gently blow. 
In life’s frail bark we gaily ride. 
Our hopes, our thoughts all fixed beloyv. 
But let one cloud the prospect dim, 
The wind its quiet stillness mar. 
At once we raise our cry to Him 
Whose light is life’s best guiding star. 
[Wm. LKooKTr. 
This joyous exclamation, coming from 
the lips of a slave for years to the narcotic, 
falls sweetly upon the ears of such as were 
never addicted to its use in any of its vari¬ 
ous forms. Of all the classes of persons 
that indulge in the use of the weed, it seems 
the most culpable and unbefitting, women, 
school-teachers and clergymen. That any 
in civilized society should ever have formed 
the habit of using habitually this poisonous 
vegetable, seems incredible, unaccountable, 
inexplicable. Tobacco may have been em¬ 
ployed beneficially in some cases as a medi¬ 
cine ; but no one not a slave to the use of 
it, will maintain that its every day use, for 
years, ever benefitted a person, physically, 
intellectually, morally or religiously. Thou¬ 
sands and millions can bear testimony, and 
have done so, that it has injured them in 
some, if not in all the aforesaid ways. 
There can be no better reason given for 
its daily, aye hourly use, than that it grati¬ 
fies a habit, a craving of an artificial appe¬ 
tite. There is no other reason that can be 
given. This being the fact, how can any 
moral or Christian individual indulge in so 
vicious a habit, as that of the constant use 
of tobacco? 
How revolting the thought, that the min¬ 
ister, while teaching from the pulpit, the 
truths and doctrines of the everlasting gos¬ 
pel—the self-denial which these doctrines 
impose upon all who seek salvation and eter¬ 
nal life, is, w’hile the accents of persuasion 
are falling from his lips, rolling under his 
tonofue the sweet morsel of tobacco, sweet 
not because it gratifies an appetite which 
God ga\’e, but one which the unfortunate 
man had the foolishness or the wickedness 
to acquire and the effrontery to indulge in 
the pulpit. What better excuse can the min¬ 
ister give for indulging his tobacco propen¬ 
sity, than the profane swearer, the liar, the 
knave, the drunkard, the adulterer or the 
thief has for his ? ’ 
It would be a most excellent regulation 
if those who have the power of ordination 
would with-hold it from all who indulge in 
the daily use of tobacco. The same rule 
should regulate the licensing of school¬ 
teachers whether male or female; and the 
same should hold true in the appointing of 
all school officers whose duty it is to visit 
the childen in the school-room. 
Let ministers and teachers and women 
exert all their influence against the use of 
the noxious weed in any and every form, 
and not one generation would pass before 
the tobacco trade would wane. Let the 
aforesaid classes exclaim as one man, “ I've 
done with tobacco,” and it will not be many 
years before the use of it or the persons 
using it, will be banished from Christian 
society. w. 
Lig htni ng. 
So long as lightning is occasioned mere¬ 
ly by the action of two clouds, not the slight¬ 
est danger is to be apprehended. Thun¬ 
der, being only a report, is perfectly harm¬ 
less at all times. But when the electricity 
comes within the attraction of the earth, 
either by a cloud crossing over a lofty 
mountain or sinking near the earth’s sur¬ 
face,* it passes down from the cloud to the 
earth, sometimes rolling along like a large 
ball, clearing out of its way everything that 
offers resistance to it; thus it will often tear 
up trees, set houses on fire, and even destroy 
animal life, should it impede its progress.— 
This ball is a liquid in a state of fusion, and 
not (as has been supposed by some persons 
unacquainted with the science) a metallic 
substance called thunder-bolt There are 
metallic substances sometimes precipitated 
from the air; these are termed aerolites, and 
have nothing to do with the electricity of 
storms. As soon as the clouds disperse, 
which is .usually after a vivid flash of light¬ 
ning and a very loud clap of thunder, the 
rain descends, the electric power is destroy¬ 
ed and the storm ceases. Although storms 
arise from what may be called the accidents 
of nature, they are of great importance as 
an effort of nature, by which the atmosphere 
is cleared of all those impurities it imbibes 
from their dangerous tendencies and the 
terrors to which they give rise, they are pro¬ 
ductive of much advantage.— Sharp's Lon¬ 
don Magazine. 
Semblance of Sincerity. —We gene- 
rall condemn with greater warmth the de¬ 
fects we find in ourselves, than those from 
which we find ourselves exempt; buV^in vain 
do we endeavor to disguise them; we daily 
betray ourselves by something or other. It 
is a much greater confinement to be at the 
perpetual expense of hypocrisy to adjust all 
our looks and motions, than to hate our vi¬ 
ces heartily and in good earnest. 
The possession of superior talent creates 
more wishes than it gratifies. 
( AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION- 
; ITS HISTORY AND DESIGN. 
>■ About twenty years ago a few teachers 
) and frineds of education met in Boston, to 
) devise measures and to mature and adopt 
\ plans to advance the cause of Public Edu- 
r cation. After holding several meetings it 
) was agreed to extend an invitation to all, 
/ throughout the country, that felt any special 
(- interest in the subject, to meet with them. 
ings, strong and mighty — thoughts, won¬ 
drous and beautiful — all that springs to 
birth within the mind — have a common 
source whence they flow. The man whose 
mind is mirror-like — capable of reflecting 
the light that beams upon it — can see all 
the beauties, all the varied objects that sur¬ 
round him, in their high, glorious, heavenly 
appearances. Let him retire, alone to com¬ 
mune with Nature;—let him feel that he 
is alone with but his thoughts to answer 
the longings of his heart, and with but the 
ever-gazing eye of Heaven lingering over 
him; then will he dream of naught but the 
pure, the pleasant of all things fashioned by 
love. His feelings will take a more anima¬ 
ted life — his whole being will be ethereal- 
ized by refined and exquisite sensations, and 
his spirit will catch a delightful view of that 
realm which Imagination rules — the realm 
of thought and sublimity. 
His soul will stir with newer life within 
him, as he sees, active around him, the ceas- 
less progression of nature. Thoughts too 
varied and quick for utterance, will flash on 
his mind with a never-fading radiance, and 
he will seem transported to another world, 
where love, joy, beauty, and life — of which 
he would seem a part—surround him every¬ 
where. It is his high prerogative thus to 
soar away in the divine beautitude of Heav¬ 
en’s light and love — to let his thoughts go 
out, free as sunbeams, to visit the sky. 
Let him muse by the stream that flows 
on to eternity — let him give full liberty to 
his thoughts, for so shall he learn the path¬ 
way to bliss. His mind will brighten with 
sweet and holy visions, such as give a re¬ 
ligious dignity to his thoughts and views of 
life. He will feel sensations of happiness 
warming his heart, and thrilling e’rery fibre 
of his soul. Dreams dawning in beauty, 
will seem to sanctify the changes of his 
thoughts, and tinge with a holy light the 
visions of his mind. Imagination will be¬ 
come the abode of his love and reverence | 
for God, and he will delight in the ideal 
creations which a magic instinct points out 
to his spirit fancy. 
Naught that his heart may feel, will lose 
itself without effect—naught that brings a 
pleasure, will fail to charm. He will find 
in every scene a sweet enravishment, that 
will create perpetual sunshine in his soul.— 
In every thing will he find a perfectness in 
form, in beauty, and in grandeur with which 
God at first made it. Linked with nature, 
animate and inanimate, harmoniously beau¬ 
tiful, will he recognize wisdom ennobling 
and divine. All that portrays the. spirit of 
order, life, and love, will gleam on his mind, 
and he will turn with a strange earnestness 
to seek their Great Originator. Bursting 
from his heart will his gratitude flow forth, 
and his happiness will be a foretaste of the 
bliss of Heaven. On wings "of light will 
sacred fancies seek the realm of bright, in¬ 
spiring phantasies, that impart fresh hopes 
to life, and give the soul a deeper sense of 
its own greatness and immortality. 
Man knows not himself if he forbids Im¬ 
agination to perform her work; nor does he 
learn how great he is until he views the im¬ 
agery of his own thoughts. So when alone 
—when an inspiring genius lives in every 
scene, whether real or ideal, tangible or 
spiritual — he loses himself in thoughtful 
dreams that bring a pleasure to lure the 
heart from care and sorrow. Around, be- 
[ neath and above him, beauties unfold them¬ 
selves to his view, he drinks in a blessing 
floating in the balmy air, and the radiant 
sunshine dazzles his gaze. There is peace 
dwelling within him—love warming his soul, 
and hopes charming his dreams. He catches 
the art of happiness by instinctive forethought, 
and grasps the joys of existence at once. 
In every leaf and flower is linked a charm 
that wakes a thousand phantasies—in every 
murmuring stream perpetual music lives, 
and to his spirit seems to bring the melodi¬ 
ous cadences of angels’ songs. His imagi¬ 
nation is filled with the divinity of all things 
— his mind is o’erflooded with thoughts of 
piety — and he is governed by passions holy 
and magic-like. He learns that in religion 
there is a constant pleasure, and so doth his 
soul in its ceaseless aspirations, rise, in its 
beauty, to mingle with the glorious, the 
never-changing rainbows of Heaven. 
W. H. Bristol. 
Royalton, A. Y., August, 1850. 
THE GOSPEL. 
This is the word preached; it is neither 
spent in its descent from Heaven, nor wast¬ 
ed in its transmission through ages,—fresh 
and beautiful and holy as at first; repeated 
every Sabbath, read in every Bible,—the 
eloquence of many thousand pulpits, and 
the music of many tongues. It is Heaven’s 
jubilee, sounding in the cells of the great 
prison-house; it is the light of eternal day 
shining through its gratings. Christ cruci¬ 
fied is the commencement, the end and the 
coronal of Christianity—a truth that en¬ 
dures for ever; it is enshrined in glory.— 
Languages change, ceremonies vary, sacra¬ 
ments are temporary; Sabbaths, Uke little 
pools, will be swallowed up in the ocean of 
eternity; prayer will continue only while there 
are wants, and a ministry while there is ig¬ 
norance ; but around this dissolving world, 
one thing abides—the Word of the Lord, 
that endures for ever. Whatever opposes 
this must perish, whatever contends against 
it must be crushed. Infidelity—the word 
of man, however musical its utterances, will 
be hushed—its airy frost-work, however 
glittering in the sunbeams, will be dissolved. 
The Gospel is divine in its birth and eternal 
in its destiny. Christianity enunciates truths 
that are above the tide-mark of time, and 
rooted in the attributes of God; it cannot 
be extinguished, for God is its light; it can¬ 
not die, for God is its life. 
meeting, which, assembled in i>oston, in the 
month of August, 1830. Several hundred 
persons, mostly teachers, assembled from 
eleven of the States, and formed the Insti¬ 
tute. 
The teachers of Massachusetts proposed 
to name the association, “ The Associated 
Teachers of Massachusetts” — the votes, 
however, of the teachers form other States, 
prevailed, and the more comprehensive name 
was adopted, by which the association is 
still known. 
The leading object of the American In¬ 
stitute of Instruction, is to diffuse knowledge 
in regard to, and to promote the cause of 
popular education. Its aim has ever been 
to make the teacher feel the importance of 
his chosen vocation. In order to accom¬ 
plish the design for which the Institute was 
organized, it has met annually about the 
middle of August, and held a session of 
three or four days, providing from twelve to 
seventeen lectures each session. 
The ablest and most distinguished friends 
of education have been enlisted in this very 
important work. “ It has had lectures and 
discussions, and has published prize essays 
and reports, by men thoroughly versed in 
the subjects, upon the construction, arrange¬ 
ment, furnishing, warming, ventilating, and 
apparatus of school-houses and school¬ 
rooms ; and has done something toward the 
.vast improvements in all these particulars, 
which have been made within the last few 
years.” It has had lectures upon physical 
education, upon methods of instruction and 
discipline, upon the moral relations of edu¬ 
cation, upon its political and legal relations, 
and upon the leading points in natural, 
mathematical and physical science. 
The special office of the teacher has been 
pointed out, his duties and obligations set 
forth by President Wayland ; the mode of 
teaching Arithmetic has been explained by 
Colburn ; of Geometry, by Grund ; of Ge¬ 
ography, by Woodbridgb; of Languages, 
ancient and modern, by Tickner, Crosby, 
Felton and others; of Natural History, by 
Gould and Gray ; of Reading, by Russell ; 
of Spelling, by Thayer ; of Composition and 
Rhetoric, by Newman and Parker; of El¬ 
ocution, by Russell and Murdock ; of Gram¬ 
mar, by Goold Brown ; of Penmanship, by 
Foster-, of the Science of Government, by 
Judge Storv. a great variety of other 
topics connected with Schools, quite too 
numerous to mention here, have been lec¬ 
tured upon by distinguished men from the 
various professions. 
These meetings furnish a good oppor- 
ttmity for all teachers, and especially for the 
young and inexpienced, to gain knowledge 
and furnish the mind for future labor. The 
science of education is not well understood; 
consequently the art of educating as now 
employed accomplishes relatively but little. 
There is one great difficulty which every 
teacher meets, aside from his own children, 
that no Teachers’ Institute or Association 
has yet provided for—and that is, the un¬ 
willingness on the part of the children taught 
to submit to authority. This difficulty in¬ 
stead of growing less has been increasing 
Tuntil, in a large portion of the schools of 
every grade, there is in reality, no such thing 
as submission to authority known. With¬ 
out this very little can be accomplished by 
the delay of education. 
The art of educating is not as well un¬ 
derstood now as it was by the Greeks more 
than two thousand years ago. If our In¬ 
stitutes, Normal Schools and Colleges, could 
discover and communicate the art of making 
scholars, known and practiced by Socrates 
and Plato, they would accompUsh what 
would be of infinite more importance to 
teachers than all they now impart. There 
is need that the number of competent teach¬ 
ers should be greatly increased—such as 
are fully qualified to guide the inexperienced 
and erring child into the paths of wisdom 
and understanding. 
LESSON FOB THE OBSTINATE. 
Joseph Bradford was for some years 
the traveling companion of Mr. Wesley, 
for whom he would have sacrificed health 
and even life, but to whom his will would 
never bend, except in meekness. “Joseph,” 
said Mr. Wesley one day to him, “take these 
lettw:« to the post.” “I will take them,” 
said Bradford, “ after the preaching, sir.” 
W. “ Take them now, Joseph.” B, “ I wish 
to hear you preach, sir; and there will be 
sufficient time for the post after service.”— 
W. “ I insist upon your going now, JosepL” 
B. “I will not go at present” W. “ You 
won’t?” B. “No, sir.” W. “Then you 
and I must part” B. “ Very good, sir.” 
The good men slept over it Wesley con¬ 
fessed to himself that he was wrong. He 
did more, he confessed to his Maker that he 
had been hasty and erred. He met Mr. 
Bradford shortly after four o’clock in the 
morning, and accosting him, said, “Joseph, 
have you considered what I said—that we 
must part?” B. “Yes, sir.” W. “And 
must we part ?” B. “ Please yourself, sir.” 
W. “ Will you ask my pardon, Joseph ?” B. 
“No, sir.” W. “You won’t?” B. “No, 
sir.” W. “ Then I will ask yours, Joseph.” 
Wesley did so. He confessed his error.— 
Poor Joseph was instantly melted, smitten 
as by the rod of Moses, when forth gashed 
the tears, like the water from the rock.— 
Higher than ever from that day stood Wes¬ 
ley in the estimation and affection of the 
good Joseph Bradford. 
WIT IN TEXTS. 
A YOUNG preacher in the time of James 
I. being appointed to hold forth before the 
Vice-Chancellor and heads of colleges of 
Oxford, chose for his text—“What! cannot 
ye watch one hour ?” which carried a per¬ 
sonal allusion, as the Vice-Chancellor hap¬ 
pened to be one of those heavy-headed per¬ 
sons, who cannot attend church without 
falling asleep. The preacher repeated his 
text in an emphatic manner at the end of 
every division of his discourse — the un¬ 
fortunate Vice-Chancellor was often awoke; 
and this happened so often, that at last all 
present could very well see the joke. The 
Vice-Chancellor was so nettled at the dis¬ 
turbance he had met with, that he com¬ 
plained to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
who immediately sent for the young clergy¬ 
man to reprove him for what he had done. 
In the course of the conference that ensu¬ 
ed between the Archbishop and the preach¬ 
er, the latter gave so many proofs of his 
wit and good sense, that his grace procur¬ 
ed him the honor of preaching before the 
king. Here, also, he had a joke. He gave 
out his text in these words : —“James the 
First and Sixth ‘waver not;’” which of 
course everybody present saw to be a stroke 
at the indecisive character of the monarch. 
James equally quicksighted, exclaimed — 
“ He is at me already.” But he was, upon 
the whole, so well pleased with this clerical 
wag, as to make him one of his chaplains in 
ordinary. He afterwards went to Oxford, 
and preached a farewell sermon on the text 
—“ Sleep on, now, and take your rest.” 
THE AGES OF THE STATES. 
The following are the dates when the 
respective States entered the American Un¬ 
ion:-—Deleware, Dec. 7, 1787; Pennsylva- 
via, December 12, 1787; New Jersey Dec. 
18, 1787; Georgia, January 2, 1788; Con¬ 
necticut, January 9, 1788; 'Massachusetts, 
February 9, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 
1788; South Carolina, May 23,1788; New 
Hampshire, June 21, 1788; Virginia, June 
26, 1788; New York, July 26,1788; North 
Carolina, November 20, 1789; Rhode Is¬ 
land, May 29, 1790; Vermont, March 4, 
1791; Kentucky, June 1, 1792; Tennesee, 
June 1, 1796; Ohio, November 29, 1802; 
Louisiana, April 8, 1812; Indiana, Decem¬ 
ber 11, 1816; Mississippi, December 10, 
1817; Illinois, December 10, 1817; Ala¬ 
bama, December 4, 1819; Maine, March 15, 
1820; Missouri, August 10, 1821; Arkan¬ 
sas, June 15, 1836; Michigan, June 20, 
1837; Florida, March 7, 1844; Texas, De¬ 
cember 29, 1845; Wisconsin, December 29, 
1848; Iowa, 1849. 
THE CHURCH AND SCHOOL HOUSE 
While Gen. Jackson was President, and 
Gen. Cass Secretary of War, they visited 
a portion of New England together. In 
riding over that highly cultivated country, 
Gen. Jackson was much pleased with the 
appearance of the people, and expressed 
his gratification to his companion. “ What 
fine, manly countenances these men carry!” 
exclaimed the President “How robust 
and vigorous they are; and what a spirit of 
enterprise and perseverance they manifest! 
Why with an army of such men, I would 
undertake to face the world.” “Do you 
know the cause of these characteristics that 
you prize so highly ?” rejoined the veteran 
Secretary. “What is it?” asked the old 
hero. “Do you see the steeple of that 
meeting-house yonder on the hill ?” “Yes,” 
replied the President “And that low 
school-house near it ?” “ I see them both,” 
said Gen. Jackson. “ Well,” answered Gen. 
Cass, himself a native of the Granite State, 
“ here is where New England men are 
made.” 
Courage, Teacher! —One of the Roman 
kings, in pursuing some of his military 
schemes, had occasion to cross the Adriatic 
Sea. No other opportunity occurring, he 
hired a simple boatman to row him across. 
In the midst of the sea, a storm arose; the 
boatman was alarmed, and relaxed his ef¬ 
forts. The future Emperor of Rome thus 
addressed him: “ Courage, my man! you 
carry Caesar and his fortunes!” Art thou 
ever depressed. Teacher, and ready to faint 
at the obstacles that surround ? O remem¬ 
ber that, in the mind of every one of those 
pupils committed to your trust, you carry 
more than Caesar or his fortunes. 
A man may travel through the world, 
and sow it thick with friendship. 
