MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL 
end. Seek, then, you that are learners, a 
master who knows how to train mind, rather 
than one who can impart knowledge, and 
after that has no more that he can do. 
KNOWLEDGE AND MENTAL POWER. 
Samuel Laing, in his Observations on the 
Social and Political State of the European 
People in 1848-9, says: 
“ The Continental people have enjoyed, 
in this generation, an educational system 
which brings the whole population through 
Government schools and seminaries, adapted 
to every age, capacity, and station; taught 
by masters trained in normal schools to the 
science of teaching. . . • The results 
of this universal and compulsory educational 
system, from which so many good, well- 
meaning persons expected a speedy mil- 
lenium of moral, intellectual, and social 
improvement and well-being, ha\se not proved 
satisfactory. It has, no doubt, dispelled 
gross ignorance, and has diffused widely the 
ABOU BEN ADEEM. 
BOB-O-LINK OR RICE BIRD. 
Tins migratory species of the bird tribe 
is known from the river Amazon to Labra¬ 
dor, or from the equator to the 54th degree 
of north latitude. This cheerful singing 
bird makes its appearance in the southern 
part of the United States about the middle 
of Marsh or the first of April. He is not 
then fully clad in his nuptial dress, in which 
he is represented in the cut 
BY L. WETHEREM- 
BY LEIGH HUNT. 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
The Paradise Lost. —By John Milton. —With 
Notes Explanatory and Critical. Edited by Rev. 
James Robert Boyd, author of “ Elements of 
Rhetoric” and “ Eclectic Moral Philosophy.”— 
New York : Baker & Scribner. 1850. 
Paradise Lost needs no praise. As a 
production of the human mind it is, as it 
has long been conceded, a work which has 
no equal in merit, either among the ancients 
or the moderns. 
“ Three poets in three distant ages born, 
Greece, Italy, and England did adorn : 
The first in loftiness of thought surpassed ; 
The next in majority ; in both the last. 
The force of nature could no further go : 
To make a third, she joined the other tvvo.” 
The excellency of this edition of Milton’s 
great poem consists in the copiousness of the 
notes which accompany the text. These 
will aid the reader very much in the study 
of this transcendent work of genius and 
taste. We know of no other edition of Mil- 
ton equal to that edited by Prof. Boyd.— 
This edition has been introduced into the 
Rochester Collegiate Institute, as a text¬ 
book in the study of analysis parsing. For 
sale at D. Hoyt’s bookstore, No. 6 State st. 
Abott Bun A drum (may his tribe increase) 
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace. 
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,— 
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,— 
An Angel writing in a book of gold. 
Exceeding peace bad made Ben Adhem bold. 
And to the presence in the room he said, 
“ What writest thou V’ The vision raised its head, 
And, in a voice made all of sweet accord, 
Answered, “ The name of those who love the Ixird ! 
“ And is mine one V’ said Abou. “ Nay, not so," 
Replied the Angel. Al>ou spoke more low, 
But cheerily still, and said : “ I pray thee, then, 
Write me as one who loves my fellow-men.” 
The Angel wrote and vanished. The next night 
He came again, with a great wakening light, 
And showed the names whom love of God had blest, 
And lo ! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest. 
Having light, we impart it" 
SCHOOL LAW RETURNS. 
The returns of the majorities from the 
several counties of the State, as given for, or 
against, the repeal of the present school-law, 
have been received. According to these, 
seventeen of the fifty-nine counties, have 
given majorities against repeal—and forty- 
two for repeal. The counties giving ma¬ 
jorities against repeal are Kings and Queens, 
on Long Island; Richmond, New-York, 
Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia, 
Rensselaer, East of the Hudson river; Rock¬ 
land and Ulster, and Albany on the west 
side; situated near Albany are Schenectady 
and Montgomery; and in Western New 
York, Onondaga, Seneca, and Erie. All 
the others have given majorities for repeal. 
Of those giving majorities against repeal, 
Albany, Rensselaer, New York, Kings, 
Onondaga, Erie, and others have within their 
limits cities, and some of them large cities. 
And other counties there are, whose major¬ 
ities were very much diminished by cities 
and large villages within them: for example,' 
Monroe gave a majority of sixty-eight for 
CHURCH MUSIC. 
of things; into the conveniencies and utili- 
ties of its requirements; but imperiously 
urges its controling passion; the love of 
change. 
Now, if fashion confined itself to the 
dress, equipage, and style of living of its 
votaries, it would be comparatively harm- > 
less. But not content with this, it invades ( 
even the solemn services of the Sabbath, ) 
and exerts its control over the music of i 
the sanctuary. The old and venerated 
tunes that our fathers sung, and those that \ 
elevated our own thoughts and affections ; 
to God in early life, and whose impress < 
still remains upon our hearts, must be giv- < 
en up; must be abandoned, because, for- ; 
sooth, “ they are old-fashioned;” because l 
they “ are not modern;” not such as are ? 
considered “ in fashionable use.” 
Now I enter my protest against all this. ) 
The world may be wiser in some respects, 
than it was in the age of our fathers. But 
this wisdom does not appear, in the selec- ( ; 
tion of the present “ fashionable church ) 
music.” The tunes recently introduced ( 
into our church service, to the exclusion of ; 
those in former use, are, to a great extent, s 
_li_.1_J I., Airvr.Wir o r ft ) 
man in the same station; but his mental 
powers, his judgment, his good sense, his 
acuteness in his own business, his industrial 
habits, his domestic habits, his sense of right 
and wrong, his religious sense, are not so 
well educated. He is, owing to the social 
circumstances in which he lives, less capable 
of self-action, of independent opinion, of 
judging rightly in affairs public or private, 
than the much more ignorant man of the 
same station in England. His knowledge 
and taste in all literary, and especially 
imaginative productions, and in all that ad¬ 
dresses itself to the ear and eye, may be 
much more cultivated; but this school-room 
training, although it adds to his intellectual 
enjoyments, and is, on this account, no doubt 
of the highest value, does not add to his 
energy, perseveranoe, intellectual powers of 
judging and acting rightly, nor to those 
qualifications which make the upright, re¬ 
spected man and useful citizen. For these 
acquirements he must go to a higher school 
than the Prussian gymnasia—to the school 
of life in a free society, in which every man 
may manage his own interests according to 
The male, like the good pioneer, precedes 
his mate in his migration northward, arri¬ 
ving at his farthest boreal residence about 
the beginning of June. It is said that the 
Bob-o-link is found as far west as the base 
of the Rocky Mountains, but not in Oregon. 
The West India Islands furnish a favorable 
winter abode for this bird. When migra¬ 
ting north these birds are said to fly by 
night—and when returning south, by day. 
The meadows and orchards here are us¬ 
ually made vocal by their lively song about 
the 1st of May. They destroy many in¬ 
sects which would otherwise trouble the 
farmer. The rearing of their young being 
their chief business, this does not take place 
until they have crossed the 40th degree of 
north latitude. 
The males as before said arrive a little 
earlier than the other sex—they, the fe¬ 
males, not having, as yet, claimed * their 
rights, to take the lead in this matter. They 
are on their first arrival very humble and 
retiring, as becometh birds of modest attire- 
The mating season is one of great inter- 
A Practical Treatise on Book-Keeping, by 
Single and Double Entry—on a New Plan.— 
Containing, I. General Book-keeping, for the 
Use of Farmers, Mechanics, Professional men, 
and other Non-mercantile Persons. II. Retail¬ 
ers’ Book-keeping. III. Merchants’ Book¬ 
keeping. With an Appendix of Definitions, 
Directions, and Practical Forms. For the Use 
of Seminaries and Self-Instructors. ByP. Mac¬ 
Gregor, Accountant and Attorney at Law.— 
New York: Mark II. Newman, & Co. 1850 
The system of Book-keeping by double¬ 
entry, called, originally, Italin book-keeping, 
was taken from the course of algebra, pub¬ 
lished in the fifteenth century by Burgo, at 
Venice, then a great commercial State. It 
was introduced into England in 1569, by 
James Peele. This mode of keeping books 
is now generally practiced by Merchants. 
That of a single entry is used by retailers. 
And a method still less laborious, by far¬ 
mers, mechanics and professional men. All 
three of these plans are presented in this 
work. Some knowledge of book-keeping is 
necessary to all, and to such as have not yet 
acquired any information of this useful arti 
we commend the work here noticed: we 
commend it, also, to teachers, for as a teach¬ 
er, we have found it a good work, where 
we use it as a text-book. For sale at D. 
Hoyt’s bookstore. 
Christianity Revived in the East ; or a Narra¬ 
tive of the work of God among the Armenians of 
Turkey. By H. G. O. Dwight, Missionary of 
the American Board of Commissioners for For¬ 
eign Missions. New York : Baker & Scrib¬ 
ner. 1850. 
■The author of this book has been con¬ 
nected with the mission to the Armenians 
of Turkey from its first establishment by 
the aforesaid Board of Missions. He claims 
for his narrative, that it is a plain statement 
of facts. Much interesting information con¬ 
cerning this people may be collected by 
reading the book. For sale at Darrow’sJ 
Main st. bookstore. 
46,220 square miles. The seventeen coun¬ 
ties that gave majorities against repeal, con¬ 
tain 7,478 square miles—leaving to those 
that voted for repeal, an area of 38,742 
square miles. 
The whole population of the State accord¬ 
ing to the census of 1840, was 2,603,995. 
Of this aggregate, 1,095,131, or nearly one- 
half of the entire population of the State, 
then resided in the^ aforesaid seventeen 
counties. The State valuation of 1845, was 
set down at $605,646,095. The aforesaid 
seventeen counties, were represented as 
containing $400,896,432; leaving for all the 
other counties, $204,749,663. This shows 
that nearly two-thirds of the property of 
the State is in the seventeen counties which 
have voted for free schools—and let it be 
remembered that these counties cover only 
one-sixth of the territory of the State. Let 
such a bill as that introduced by Mr. Bur¬ 
roughs of Orleans county, during the last 
session of the Assembly, appropriating $800,- 
000 from the State Treasury, for the paying 
of Teachers’ wages, be passed by the Legis¬ 
lature of the State at the next session, and 
all can readily see that these seventeen coun¬ 
ties would be assessed for about two-thirds 
of the sum, which would be about $533,333 
—leaving $266,666 to be raised by the 
remaining forty-two counties. 
The burden of supporting free schools for 
the State can be made to rest chiefly upon 
the cities of the State. It remains now to 
be seen whether this shall be done. The 
rural districts can, if they choose, by their 
representatives, adopt such a law, and the 
cities cannot repeal it. Not so with the 
present law. If it be re-enacted the rural 
districts can, and will repeal it. Wealth is 
in the cities—political'power abides in the 
country. 
ed upon the fences and tree-tops, and some¬ 
times, like the lark, hovering on the wing.— 
The ear of the female bird is ever open 
to the lively song of her lord, who is ever 
as ready to fill it with song as she is cheer¬ 
ful and devoted to the discharge of the pe¬ 
culiar duties of her own nature-assigned 
sphere of action and employment 
The males continue their song during the 
lonely days of incubation and rearing of the 
young, after which, or about the second 
week in July, they begin to lay aside their 
nuptial or pied dress, and appear with a 
plumage very much resembling that of the 
female. In undergoing this change they 
lose their musical powers. 
About the middle of August they col¬ 
lect in flocks and begin their migration to¬ 
ward their southern home. As they pass 
along, they do not refuse to take a little 
rice, though it be the production of slave 
labor. In this they very much resemble 
our good Old England liberty lovers, who, 
though they hate southern slavery, as bad 
as the Bob-o-link does northern, yet do no 
more refuse to buy and manufacture the 
cotton produced by slave labor, than the 
Bob-o-links do to pick a little rice from the 
swamps, while on their journey to Jamaica. 
Necessity and instinct prompt in one case 
— while self-interest and avarice dictate in 
the other. As to which is the more con¬ 
sistent the reader will judge. w. 
honoring God in the song of praise; and 
to engross it, in the contemplation of the 
beauties of the music, and the skill of the 
performance. Of course, their effect is 
entirely foreign to the design of divine 
worship, and a failure in the object of hon¬ 
oring God in the music of his house. 
The accompaniment of the organ, in its 
rich, grand and solemn sounds, with the 
human voice, in tunes adapted to the so¬ 
lemnity and grandeur of its tones, is pro¬ 
bably, the highest possible aid the voice 
can receive, in elevating the heart to God 
in the songs of the sanctuary. But then, 
an Italian air, with its short, varied, and 
rapid notes, and its sudden, frequent, and 
unnatural transition of the female voice, 
from a low note to the highest possible 
pitch, without any intermediate gradations, 
is so unsuited to the gravity, solemnity 
and dignity of the organ, that united, they 
constitute, in my view, a solemn farce. I 
consider the use of such tunes not only in 
bad taste, not only unsuitable and impro¬ 
per in church service, but unpardonably 
wrong—wrong, even if the melody, the 
accordance of the instrument and the 
voice, should be harmonious and sweet; 
wrong, because it diverts the thoughts and 
heart from God, and directs them to the 
beauties of the music, and the skill of its 
execution—wrong, because it frustrates 
the design and object of the song of praise. 
If the desire only is, to hear sweet music, 
to witness, and enjoy in its melody, the 
high and successful efforts of scientific and 
artistic skill, the concert, not the house of 
prayer, is the occasion and the place. 
Is there a humble and devoted Christian, 
who would wish to have sung to him on’ 
his dying bed,one of these modern, “ fash¬ 
ionable,” rapid, sprightly tunes? If not, 
are they a sui'able preparation for the dy¬ 
ing hour? I ask the leaders of our choirs, 
whose province it is, to make selection of 
tunes for the service of the sanctuary, to 
ponder this subject, to view it in all its as¬ 
pects, to consider it in all its bearings, 
and to weigh its importance, in all its in¬ 
fluences, and in all its results. s. 
end.” “These,” he says, meaning the English, 
“ seem the more sensible and rational insti¬ 
tutions ; for, they accomplish what they pro¬ 
fess,” that is to say, give mental power, as 
well as “ habits of application and correct 
reasoning to their students.” The German 
universities fail to accomplish this desirable 
end. And because of this, they are as they 
have been for some time past, the red-hot 
foci of exaggerated theories and speculations 
of almost every kind imaginable. Thus 
instead of being seats of sound and thorough 
mental discipline, these universities have be¬ 
come the fruitful sources of false teaching 
in matters, pertaining both to philosophy 
and religion. 
It is a very easy matter for one who has 
been rightly educated, to acquire knowl¬ 
edge. Exercises, whose end is to give in¬ 
tellectual power, are detested in this age of 
mental excitement If any one, for example, 
desires to learn vocal music, instead of being 
drilled in vocal exercises, which are designed 
both to cultivate and improve the voice, he 
demands at once of his instructor, to be 
taught how to sing tunes—for, as he says, 
he does not wish to spend his time over 
mere vocal exercises. The teacher gener¬ 
ally yields, and the result is, that he who 
might have become, under proper training 
a gobd singer, performs only tolerably well 
—thus both failing to give, and to receive 
that pleasure which a proper course of ed¬ 
ucation would have fitted him both to im¬ 
part and to enjoy. Thus it is with almost 
every other art and science. While this 
course is followed, we ought not to expect 
any but superficial scholars, because if we 
do, we are sure to be disappointed in the 
MAN AND HIS CAPACITIES. 
A man cannot well pass through life 
without becoming aware of the fact, that 
he is not a quadruped, a vegetable, or a 
steam-machine. He finds himself possess¬ 
ed of powers which the other objects in 
question can neither appreciate or approach. 
He can go round the world in ships, trav¬ 
erse it on railways, float above it in balloons, 
and a multiplicity of other things, wise and 
foolish, which are never attempted by quad¬ 
rupeds, plants or steam engines. Neither 
is he content to go on for ever plodding the 
same weary monotonous round; he cannot 
put up with the same kind of dwelling- 
house through interminable generations, as 
bees, wasps, and beavers can. There is a 
development: and yet he is so closely ap¬ 
proached by many of what are called the 
inferior animals in a variety of his proceed¬ 
ings, that some philosophers have declared 
it°to be difficult and impossible to deter¬ 
mine where reason begins and instinct ends. 
THE TULIP. 
The tulip is a native of the Levant and of 
many of the Eastern countries. Though 
common in Persia, it is highly esteemed, 
and considered an emblem of love. Chardin 
tells us, that when a young Persian wishes 
to make his sentiments known to his mis¬ 
tress, he presents her with one of these 
flowers, which, of course, must be the flame 
colored one, with black anthers, so often 
seen in our gardens; as Chardin adds, “ He 
thus gives her to undersand, that he is all 
on fire with her beauty, and his heart 
burned to a coal.” The flower is still highly 
esteemed by florists, and has its place among 
the few named florists’ flowers. Many sup¬ 
pose it to be “ the lily of the Field,” men¬ 
tioned in the Sermon on the Mount, from its 
growing in wild profusion in Syria, from the 
extreme delicacy of the texture of its petals, 
and from the wonderful variety and dazzling 
beauty of its colors. It may be so; and the 
flower acquires from this an interest which 
nothing else could give. 
THE NARROWNESS OF FAME. 
If he that imagines the world filled with 
his actions and praises, shall subduct from 
the number of his ecomiasts all those who 
are placed below the light of fame, and 
who hear in the vallies of life no voice but 
that of necessity; all those who imagine 
themselves too important to regard him, 
and consider the mention of his name as an 
usurpation of their time; all who are too 
much or too little pleased wdth themselves 
to attend to anything external; all who are 
attracted by pleasure, or chained down by 
pain, to unvaried ideas; all who are withheld 
from attending his triumph by different 
pursuits; and all who slumber in universal 
negligence; he will find-his renown strait¬ 
ened by narrow bounds, indeed, and per¬ 
ceive that no man can be either venerable 
or formidable, but to a small part of his 
fellow-creatures.— Johnson. 
Items of Philosophy. —When God gives 
his assistance, malice has no power; and 
when he does not give it, labor is in vain. 
Whatever may be the obstacles which 
ignorance, prejudice, and envy oppose to 
the true principles of an art, yet we ought 
never to be deterred from propagating them. 
The sun does hot cease to shine because its 
light hurts the eyes of night-birds. 
To Adam, Paradise was home; to the 
good, among his descendants, home is Par¬ 
adise. ____ 
Quarrels would never last long if the 
fault were on one side only. 
Cherish the tender bud3 of pity, and 
they will bloom with benevolence. 
