300 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
d 
(fbutational Itpartmrat. 
BY L. WETHERELL. 
“STRIKE, BUT HEAR.” 
NUMBER I. 
M K. Editor : — An essay distinguished for 
its ]>r()fundity and beauty of expression, en 
titled, “Strike, but Hear,” has lately made 
its appearance in town, which serv'cs ibrci 
bly to remind us that this is truly an age of 
invention and discovery.. Not content with 
this brilliant effusion as it first appeared, and 
desirous of enlightening the citizens 
Wheatland and the adjoining towns, in re 
gard to the best system of Common Schools 
that could be established—the odious na 
turc of Free Schools—and the terrible sys 
< tern of oppression the monied aristocracy 
' are groaning under—certain individuals de 
stinguished for liberality in educational mat 
ters, arc said to have resolved themselves 
^ into a “committee of the whole,” to correct 
^ revise, and enlarge it How long they la 
'' bored — how far they succeeded — “ how 
many weary days and nights of wakeful 
watching” were consumed in this arduous 
undertaking, “ history saith not” The work 
was completed. Then came the “tug of 
war”—the “time that tried men’s souls.”— 
It must be printed. To print is easy enougf 
but requires funds. After mature deliber 
ation, a subscription was started, that each 
might contribute his mite to perfect the woi'k 
begun. How many generous hearted men 
contributed, e\'en beyond their means'—how 
many paid who never paid before—willing¬ 
ly, for school purposes, “this deponent saith 
not” One noble hearted citizen, opposed 
to free education and the innovating spirit 
of the age, was heard to declare, “ it cost 
him a round hundred.” 
Ten thousand copies were printed, and 
this great production of this age of wonders 
made its ajipcarauce. And now Colporteurs, 
and Anti-Frce-School-Missionaries, arc a- 
broad engaged in the generous work of 
distribution. But that the public may bet¬ 
ter appreciate this labor of love, undertaken 
by these disinterested individuals, Ave pro¬ 
pose to give a fcAV extracts from the produc¬ 
tion in question. It commences thus: 
E.\uly in tlie history of our State, tlie people, 
ever enterprising and intelligent, were duly im- 
'' pressed with the importance of primary schools; 
and their desires on the subject were manifested 
by the establishment of .such schools in most local¬ 
ities of the State, without coercion and without 
system, leaving their managonient to common law 
regulations. As early as 1800, however, provision 
was made by law, for the accumulation of a .scliool 
fund, as an encouragement for the thoughtless 
and careless, to establish schools in localities where 
they did not e.xist. 
After saying that lottery gambling, was 
resorted to for the purpose of increasing the 
school fund, and expressing it regret that 
gambling had not yet ceased, in regard to 
schools and school systems, it proceeds thus: 
In 1812, the school system, which has been 
growing upon us, and increasing in power and in¬ 
tensity ever since, w'as established ; but, as before 
remarked, we had, in most localities, as good pri¬ 
mary schools as could have been expected with a 
people poor, and in many parts of the State, sparse¬ 
ly settled ; we had few' churches comparatively ; 
\ and w'e are led at times to question, whether our 
/ schools, under the system, with goA’ernmental pat- 
{ ronage, have advanced with the growdh and ad- 
vancement of every thing else calculated or de- 
signed for our moral or intellectual training, with- 
out systems, and Avithout patronage. Many things, 
■ we think, prosper better without the restraints of 
'' eystem, than with. 
\ It seems froni the first»paragniph, that 
\ previous to the establishment of the school 
'! system, there tvere “localities” Avhere* 
;! schools “ did^ot exist;” and yet its author 
{ tells us, “ many things prosper better with- 
> out the restraints of systeras,'than Avith.”— 
^ Perhaps he Avould have us infer, that 
i schools Avere more prosperous where the 
^ “ thoughtless and careless” neglected to es¬ 
tablish them, than they Avere Avhere they 
actually existed. But the author’s vieAvs 
in regard to schools and school systems Avill 
be more apparent from the following: 
In this system, designed |for good, and appa¬ 
rently innocent in its inception,‘and for many years 
was so, the powers by which it was operated, be¬ 
ing in more and wiser hands — in hands who had 
had more experience, and knew more of the real¬ 
ities of life : and brought home, nearer to the peo¬ 
ple, as ail systems should bq, designed for 
their improvement. But even in this system, 
there Avere, in our apprehension, Iavo fundamen¬ 
tal errors, both natural enough at the time. We 
idlude to direct taxation for the support of schools, 
then, it is true, limited, and the provision for for¬ 
eign superintendence, then, also, extremely limited 
in power. 
We conclude from the above, not only 
that he is opposed to all taxation for school 
purposes, but also that he is in favor of a 
kind of domestic superintendence, the latter 
of which plans will be found more fully set 
forth in A^hat we shall quote hereafter. 
Speaking of direct taxation, he says: 
Already, from the adoption of this principle, the 
cry is loud in many quarters of the State, and 
this the motto, “F'ree schools for a free people!” 
Fearful result of a fundamental error! 
Little did our worthy ancestors think to what 
a terrible state of things the adoption of 
this principle would lead!! “ Free Schools 
for a free people!!” Better haA'e “ Univer¬ 
sal ignorance for an enslaved people.” Any 
thing else is better than “Free Schools for 
a free people!!” 
The author then tells us that, “from the 
adoption of this laAv, the whole State, ex¬ 
cept the cities, is one universal blaze of in¬ 
dignation, such as was nev'er before, and 
such as we hope never to witness again — 
neighbor against neighbor, and in many 
places the lines of separation are drawm 
broad and deep.” All this, he informs us, 
is in consequence of the adoption of “Free 
Schools for a free people.” 
Noav it may surprise the opponents of 
the “Free School law,” to tell them that 
the “ blaze of indignation” into which the 
“ whole State” is thrown is confined to a 
few monied men, A\'ho happen to be taxed 
a little more than they wish to be, for the 
education of the children of those parents 
whose labors have enriched them—that the 
mass of the people are well satisfied with 
the “Free School” principle, and have never 
found much fault with the laAv. Yet so it 
is. If “ neighbor has been arrayed against 
neighbor,” it is because there are some noble 
minded men, who wish to have schools worthy 
of themselves, and worthy of iheir children, 
while others regard wealth as the chief 
good — the accumulation of property, as 
man’s chief end — and bow in humble a- 
doration to nought but the “ almighty dol¬ 
lar.” This latter class Avill ever be found w'ar- 
ring with schools and the general diffusion 
of intelligence. But to show the injustice 
of the Free School law', our author lays 
down a principle. We Avill giA'e it in his 
own language, in order that he may not be 
misunderstood: 
We believe that w hat an individual acquires bj 
his labor and his pains, is as much his, as his mem¬ 
bers, and faculties by which his acquisitions were 
made, and that no earthly power has any right to 
take them from him. 
the people for the support of schools — a 
right which our essayist repeatedly denies. 
But we need not folloAV out all the pue 
rilitics of the author, to establish this right, 
It has been conceded from time immemo 
rial. The people are the government, and 
can tax themselves for w'hatever, in their 
opinion, their highest Avelfare demands.— 
They can tax themselves for the prevention 
of the evils of war, and for the maintenance 
of peace; and to say that they cannot tax 
themselves for the prevention of the evils 
of ignorance and vice, is to utter an absur¬ 
dity, surpassed only by the folly of him 
Avho utters it But let us have another say 
ing from this book of proverbs: 
If one man is compelled to support the chil¬ 
dren of another, equality is destroyed, and we 
cannot remain a homogeneous people. 
Has the maintenance of the children of 
the idle and the unfortunate, the ignorant 
and the vicious, in our poor houses and 
houses of correction destroyed equality, so 
that “ we cannot remain a homogeneous 
people ?” If so, let us call upon every 
friend of equality and homogeneousness, io 
aid us in furnishing such ample means of 
education as shall remove the necessity of 
these places, and prevent for the future the 
destruction of our “ equality.” 
Again he says: 
Before the adoption of the new school law, the 
burthens of the school fell principally upon the tax- 
jjayers ; and the schools Avere entirely indebted 
to them for their character. 
Taking this in connexion Avith Avhat he 
says of schools not keeping pace with the 
progress that has been made in other thing's 
—and the question might be asked Avheth- 
er it is not time for tax payers and non-tax 
payers to unite together and endeavor to 
give them a better character. But we have 
not room in this communication to point out 
all the beauties of this admirable produc¬ 
tion. In our next we propose to give more 
fully the author’s plan for a kind of domes¬ 
tic superintendence, Avhich Avill, doubtless, if 
generally made knoAvn, be speedily adopt¬ 
ed. WlIEATL.AND. 
ABOUT THE FREE SCHOOL LAW. 
This principle, being at the foundation of 
all that can properly be called argument in 
said production, we propose briefly to ex¬ 
amine, and ascertain its bearings. Briefly 
stated it amounts to this:—A man’s acqui¬ 
sitions are as much his, as his hands, his 
feet, his faculties, or his head; and you have 
no more right to take his property from 
him, than you have to deprive him of his 
feet, his hands, his faculties, or his head.— 
Therefore you have the same right to com¬ 
pel men to pay into the public treasury a 
contribution of feet, hands, and heads, as to 
compel them to contribute a portion of their 
property, which is as much theirs as their 
limbs and faculties. Hence all taxation is 
unjust, and taxation for school purposes 
must be founded in injustice. 
Sage conclusion from incontrovertible 
premises! It remained for the opponents 
of the Free School principle, at the “noon 
of the nineteenth century,” to discov'er that 
you have the same right to cut a man’s 
head off as to tax him ! That there is no 
more injustice in depriving a man of his 
limbs and faculties, than in making him pay 
for goA'ernmental purposes ! All of this 
great discovery (for great it certainly must 
be, and will probably be followed by a new 
era in legislation,) is contained in a little 
pamphlet of a dozen pages, ten thousand 
copies of Avhich have been printed for the 
exclusiA'e benefit of Wheatland, and a few 
adjoining tOAvns!! 
But how, it may be asked, Avould an in¬ 
dividual maintaining such a theory, have 
government supported ? By taxes of course; 
and here comes a patching up of the theory, 
or principle before laid down: 
Living, hoAvever, under a gov'ernment that 
affords him protection, he owes that government 
debt — a debt in proportion to the protection 
affords him, which he is bound to pay ; and if 
ithhold, that government has a right to take it 
by coercion. 
A very frank admission, truly. Let us 
see if it does not concede the very .question 
at issue, viz: the right to tax the people for 
the support of schools. Since 1800 the 
State has furnished a fund for the support 
of schools, and the establishment of them 
in “ localities where they did not exist.”— 
For this aid furnished by the State, the 
people owe the government a debt, which 
they “are bound to pay,” and “if withheld, 
that government has a right to take it by 
coercion.” Reasoning from his own premi¬ 
ses, therefore, government has a right to tax 
Truly we live in an age of steam and 
lightning. Our heads have become dizzy 
with the whirling advance of improvement, 
and nothing seems Avorthy of our attention 
unless it partakes of the high-pressure prin¬ 
ciple. Grass already groAvs in the paths 
^'orn by the feet of our fathers, Avhile their 
descendants, mounted upon the strength of 
elastic vapor or upon the wings of red light¬ 
ning, annihilate both space and time and are 
yet disposed to whip up. Our common men 
have come to be philosophers and our phi¬ 
losophers Magi, a species of mushroom plant 
that thrives best in the moonshine. Be¬ 
cause a thing has hitherto been thought im¬ 
possible of accomplishment is now a cogent 
reason AA'liy it should be attempted. We are 
soon to derive our heat and light from the 
known extinguisher of fire, and it is gravely 
surmised by some knoAving ones that, by a 
skillful combination of the elements, Ave shall 
soon be able to manufacture in the morning 
our beets and potatoes for dinner, without 
a resort to the old fashioned homely process 
generally practiced by farmers. We al¬ 
ready see in the distance aerial steam cars 
outstripping the eagle in flight, and so con¬ 
structed with a due regard to the safety of 
the passengers as to preclude the possibility 
of collapsing a tluc or bursting a boiler.— 
The world is all agog for something new, 
and he who cuts the boldest figure or rides 
the fastest is likely to win the most. Chil¬ 
dren arc manufactured to order for the 
State, and parents are relieved from the re¬ 
sponsibility of three-fourths tlieir domestic 
concerns. The homely virtues of industry 
and frugality have ceased to be virtues, and 
if there is a sixpence to be Avon it is the 
man who plays that wins it. “ Honesty is 
the best policy” is a phrase that once had 
meaning, but noAV it is sound without sense. 
Legalized robbery walks forth at noon-day 
seeking whom it may devour. The world 
used to be governed too much, but noAv laws 
can hardly be iqade fast enough to meet 
the pressing Avants of the times. Necessity 
once constrained idleness to labor but now 
the spoils of industry invite repose. What 
was on^ fiction has become truth, and truth 
has become fiction. Surely we go by steam. 
The State has got into a way of begetting 
children, and wants to have tliem cared for 
like other people’s. By way of experiment 
she asks us farmers and tax-payers to shell 
out liberally to pay for their schooling, for 
education is a benevolent thing and serves 
to prevent roguery, (all rogues you know 
are uneducated.) Therefore it is our inter¬ 
est to pay over; but lest we ignorant dolts 
should not knoAv our own interest she com¬ 
pels us to deliver our money by the strin¬ 
gent force of laAV. Great Britain by way 
of establishing a certain principle of taxation 
once laid a three penny tax on tea, about 
which you have doubtless heard our grand¬ 
fathers made so much fuss and finally suc¬ 
ceeded in knocking Johnny Bull, principles 
and all, into a cocked hat. Dame State has 
either forgotten or never heai'd of all this, 
and wishing to establish a similar principle 
of taxtion for the support of her children, 
talks largely about the charity of benevo¬ 
lence, attempts to persuade us that it is our 
interest to educate her children, and en¬ 
forces her arguments by the strong arm of 
law. If Ave submit quietly to this demand 
the great principle she asks for becomes es¬ 
tablished. We may then as Avell carry it 
out in full and exercise the parental care in 
a proper manner by providipg them books, 
clothes, sustenance and preaching. But 
shall Ave submit. Brother Farmers, to be 
thus saddled and spurred on to destruction 
to gratify the ambition perhaps of some 
demagogue who would ride to station and 
power on the popular breeze ? I hope we 
shall not. There is a humble saying com¬ 
mon to us all, and true as it is common, that 
every tub shall stand on its own bottom— 
which means, in other words, that we shall 
stand or fall according to our merits. But 
how completely the free school law has over¬ 
leaped this Avell worn truism is seen in the 
fact that the undeserving are put as a dead 
weight upon the backs of the deserving, the 
idle upon the industrious, the profligate up¬ 
on the virtuous. Thus rewards are offered 
to the vices, punishments to the virtues.— 
Surely this is an age of steam and invention. 
If acceptable, more anon from your 
friend, Joe Cabrage Plant. 
Williamscille, N. Y., August, 1850. 
INTERESTING GEOLOGICAL FACTS. 
BY C. DEAVEY, L. L. U. 
Polished Rocks — Extent — Striae and Furrows 
— Direction — On Mountains. 
Messrs. Editobo:—I soc that the'Pol- 
ished Rocks are attracting attention in your 
paper, and that Dr. Hildreth has given a 
solution of the polishing process. The facts 
in respect to these rocks are well ascertain¬ 
ed. Some ten or tAvelve years ago I gave 
a full account of those in and about the 
city. The new interest excited may render 
some farther elucidation proper and valua¬ 
ble in your interesting paper. 
Rocks, more or less polished, are found 
over a Avidc extent in our country, and also 
in Europe. It is the upper surface that is 
so affected. There has been no moving of 
a large layer of rock on the stratum beloAv, 
as some have imagined, by which the 
smoothing has been effected. For, Avherev- 
er the projecting rock has been found pol¬ 
ished, as at Niagara Falls, and many other 
places, the polishing ceases at the edge of 
the layer above it, and the under side of no 
layer has yet been found to be smoothed. 
Neither has the effect been produced by 
running Avater, for the rocks over Avhich the 
Genesee runs a mile south of'our city, and 
in the rapids at the Falls and betAveen them, 
have no such appearance. Some other 
cause must be sought. 
The polished rocks in and about Roches¬ 
ter are our common limestone, bituminous, 
and often having slightly the characters of 
hydraulic limestone. It is the same rock 
as that over which the great cataract of Ni¬ 
agara pours and is on nearly the same lev¬ 
el. The polishing first attracted attention 
in excavating the canal, near half a mile 
from the Genesee and on both sides of the 
river. For some distance the canal was 
dug through the polished limestone near 
the Washington ^Street Church. It Avas 
easily examined there, before the walling of 
the canal, a feAV years since. 
The Genesee Valley Canal, half a mile 
south of the Erie Canal, was excavated in 
the polished rock for twenty or thirty rods; 
then the limestone Avas in its natural and 
rough state for some distance; then the ca¬ 
nal, near the Sophia st bridge, entered it 
again; then the rock was too deep in the 
earth, till near the rapids it was struck 
again; the rock was polished up the ascent 
of the strata several feet in elevation.— 
Here were the finest specimens of polishing. 
showing your face as in a dark or grayish 
mirror. South of the church in Gates, the 
railroad was cut into the polished limestone 
a quarter of a mile in length, and much of 
the surface had a fine polish. Here, L. B. 
Langavorthy, Esq., found the surface so 
flat, that when moistened and put together, 
the upper would lift up the lower stone. 
From the Genesee Valley Canal, as near 
Troup st., the ground ascends to the west 
about twenty feet in half a mile, on a grad¬ 
ual slope, and the surface of the limestone, 
Avhich is tAA'elve to six or less feet under 
the earth, is every where polished, as has 
been found in digging wells. Near the 
summit of this small rise, is a cellar about 
three feet deep whose bottom is fine polish¬ 
ed limestone. 
The loell at the corner of Main and Clin- k 
ton streets was sunk into the polished lime¬ 
stone, and the bottom of the sewer in Main 
st., west of St. Paul st., is on this rock, 
Avhich is a fine specimen of it. Indeed 
through this part of the city the same pol¬ 
ished stone has been often struck; below 
the Falls, in Falls Field, a portion of it has 
been uncovered for years; a mile east of 
the Falls, it abounds, and onwards into 
Brighton. In and about the city, it has oc¬ 
curred in numerous cases. 
The dip of the limestone is slightly to 
the south and west, or about twenty to thir¬ 
ty feet to a mile soutliAvards. But, the pol¬ 
ishing is on a level, or on an ascent either 
to the south or to the west, in the direction 
of the strata or across the edges of the out¬ 
cropping and higher layers. There can be 
no doubt that the polishing power moved 
from the northAvard, and on the whole as¬ 
cended to the south -and sometimes to the 
Avest. It must haA'e been a mighty power. 
The polished rock is found in Livingston 
County, in the Counties of Niagara, Erie, 
<fcc., and on the Canada side north of Lake 
Ontario. Smoothed rocks, for they will not 
receive a polish, abound in St. Lawrence 
County. The same course has operated 
over a territory of hundreds of miles in 
length and breadth. 
The polish is in all states, from the very 
finest to coarse, and thence to merely the 
beginning of wearing off the surface, as if 
some mighty planing power had only touch¬ 
ed the surface and began to Avear off the 
inequalities. The smoothed and the pol¬ 
ished surface is every Avhere marked with 
strioi, very fine and delicate as if cut by a 
pointed and hard body, or coarser, till they 
becamefrom a line to half an inch 
Avide, and of variable depth. No one can 
see them and not believe that huge bodies 
have been forced along the surface, either 
in the process of polishing or after the pol¬ 
ishing was completed, or in both. 
Similar furrows and striie arc found on 
the bare rocks on the sides of mountains in 
the north east part of this State, and at the 
hills on the MohaAvk; on the Catskill Mount- 
is; on the hills which separate New York 
from Massachusetts; on the Green Mounl^ 
ains of Vermont, and near their summits; 
high tp on the White Mountains of New 
Hampshire, Maine, &c., as Avell as on the 
Eastern Continent. 
The bones of a whale Avere last year dis¬ 
covered in e.xcavating the railroad in Char¬ 
lotte, Vt., twelve miles south of Burlington, 
150 feet above the ocean. Not long be¬ 
fore, a tooth of a fossil eloph.ant was found 
in excavating the same railroad, at Mount 
Holly, on the Green Mountains, 1360 feet 
above the sea, near the place in a hollow of 
the range, Avhere the waters run to the east 
into Connecticut RiA cr and to the west into 
Lake Champlain. 
Jn Rochester the striae and furrows have 
generally a parallel direction from N. E. to 
S. W. Others vary a fcAv degrees on each 
side of this course. In a few instances, the 
furrows are nearly north and south. At 
Black Rock the grooves vary, according to 
Dr. Hayes, from 15® to 28® east of north. 
At Black Rock the limestone contains 
nodules of chert, which are so hard that 
the rock is not equally smoothed or which 
protected the limestone in part from the 
wearing body, so that the current of waters, 
or the direction of the force, Avas there from 
the east of north. 
It is only facts Avhich can lead to any 
probable cause of the polishing, striating, 
scratching or furrowing the rocks. This 
will be considered in another paper. 
Rochester, Sept. 9, 1650. c. d. 
Persicution— disobeyed the most sol¬ 
emn injunctions of Christianity, under the 
sham plea of upholding it 
