MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAT AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
litbccllftwoits. 
THE RETURN OF SPRING. 
JDkar as the dove, whose wafting wing 
The green leaf ransomed from the main, 
Thy genial glow, returning Spring, 
Comes to our shore again; 
For thou hast been a wanderer long, 
On many a fair and foreign strand, 
In balm and beauty, sun and song, 
Passing from land to land. 
Thou bring’st the blossoms to the bee, 
To earth a robe of emerald dye. 
The leaflet to the naked tree, 
And rainbow in the sky; 
I feel thy blest, benign control 
The pulses of my youth restore; 
Opening the spring of sense and soul. 
To love and joy once more. 
I will not people tby green bowers 
With sorrow’s pale and spectre band; 
Or blend with thine the faded flowers 
Of memory’s distant land; 
For thou wort surely never given 
To wake regret from pleasures gone; 
But like an angel sent from Heaven, 
To sootiic creation’s groan. 
Then, while the groves thy garlands twine. 
Thy spirit breathes the flower and tree, 
My heart shall kindle at thy shrine. 
And worship God in thee; 
And in some calm, sequestered spot, 
While listening to the choral strain, 
Past griefs shall be awhile forgot. 
And pleasures bloom again. 
SPRING-TIME. 
Tins glory of the changing seasons has 
been the theme of poets in all ages of the 
world, until the subject as an arena for the 
display of original thought seems totally 
exhausted. Yet the thing itself will never 
pall upon the senses—so full of change, ac¬ 
tivity, life and beauty—of holy calm, of 
rushing thought, of fervent ecstacy and joy, 
of bright and glorious imagery. 
With what a deep interest do we always 
watch the approach of spring; not a single 
note of warning escapes our vigilant atten¬ 
tion—each lovely harbinger receives from 
us, at least, a warm heart-greeting, from the 
soft and shrill pipings of each early songster, 
—from the lirst appearing bud and blush¬ 
ing flower, through nature’s wide and infi¬ 
nitely varied harmony of sight and sound, 
up to the grand, solemn, beautifully sublime 
storm-cloud—and the deep base of jarring 
thunder. Chief among these the birds and 
flowers and various forms of opening vege¬ 
tation attract us. 
Let us all study nature in the “spring¬ 
time,” and see if we cannot infuse a little 
more of harmony into our hearts from the 
sweet vernal anthem that is going on around 
us. For who can behold the opening spring 
return with her fresh beauties, when o’er 
the earth she casts her drapery of green; 
when the first wild flowers blossom in the 
wood, and the gay songsters carol out their 
silvery notes rejoicing, without an impulse 
to give utterance to a shout of joy; a song 
of praise to Him who is the mighty Giver 
of these countless blessings. 
Oh spring, thou art a welcome guest, 
With nil thy lovely train, 
Thou givest every plensure zest— 
Enkindling in each virtuous breast 
A loftier, holier flume. 
O’er hill and dell and woodland glee, 
In every shady grove, 
And e’en upon the hearts of mon, 
Is written with a matchless pen, 
(Jon is a God of love. 
Clayinont Farm, March, 1831. S. I.utukr. 
WAYS OF HAPPINESS. 
There are two ways of being happy. 
\ We may either diminish our wants, or 
’ augment our means; either will do, and the 
1 result is the same; and it is for each man 
\ to decide for himself, and to do that which 
] may happen to be the easiest. If you are 
> idle or sick, however hard it may be to di- 
) minish your wants, it will be easier than to 
J augment your means. If you are active 
> and prosperous, or young, or in good health 
> it may be easier to taugmen your means 
| than to diminish your wants. But if you 
> are wise, you will do both at the same time, 
: young or old, sick or well, rich or poor; and 
j if you are very wise, you will do both in 
J such a way as to augment the general hap- 
> piness of society. 
) The sweetest, the most clinging affection 
J is often shaken by the slightest breath of 
> unkindness, as the delicate rings and ten- 
! drils of the vine are agitated by the faintest 
| air that blows in summer. An unkind 
> word from one beloved, often draws blood 
! from many a heart, which would defy the 
> battle-axe of hatred or the keenest edge of 
) vindictive satire. Nay, the shade, the 
> gloom of the face familiar and dear awakens 
J grief and pain. These are the little thorns 
> which, though men of rough form make 
> their way through them without feeling 
J much, extremely incommode persons of a 
- more refined turn, in their journey through 
i life, and make their traveling irksome and 
| unpleasant. 
PORTRAITS AND SKIilTHIiS OF THE PRESIDENTS—NO. 4. 
JAMES MADISON. 
James Madison, the fourth President of 
the United States, was born on the Rappa¬ 
hannock river, Orange county, Virginia, on 
the 16th of March, 1751. His family were 
of Welsh extraction, and were among the 
earlier emigrants to Virginia. Having gone 
through a preparatory course of study, Mr. 
Madison, at the age of seventeen, entered 
Princeton college, New Jersey, where he 
graduated with honor in 1771. After re¬ 
maining at college a year after he gradua¬ 
ted, he returned to his native state and 
commenced the practice of law. But the 
exigencies of the times soon drew him into 
active public life. In 1776 he was elected 
a member of the general assembly of Vir¬ 
ginia, and in 1778 he was appointed one of 
the executive council of the State. In the 
following year he was elected a delegate to 
the Continental Congress, in which body he 
was an active member until 1784. In Jan¬ 
uary, 1786, he was appointed a commission¬ 
er to the convention at Annapolis to amend 
the articles of confederation. He was also 
a member of the convention called for a 
similar purpose on the year following, and ! 
he was among the leading debaters. The 
copious notes which he took of the proceed- ] 
ings of this convention, have since been 
purchased and published by the govern¬ 
ment, under title of “ The Madison Papers.” 
A convention being called in Virginia for 
the purpose of considering the new consti¬ 
tution and devising a more uniform com¬ 
mercial system, Mr. Madison was elected a 
member thereof. After a warm opposition 
the question in favor of the adoption was 
carried by a vote of eighty-nine to seventy- 
nine—Mr. Madison voting of course in the 
aflirmative. 
In 1789, Mr. Madison was elected to con¬ 
gress, and was an active member of that 
body during the whole of Washington’s ad¬ 
ministration. 
In 1794 he was married to Mrs. Dolly 
Payne Todd, a young widow of twenty- 
three. 
Having resigned his seat in congress, and 
being elected to the Virginian Assembly, in 
1797 Mr. Madison made his famous report 
against the alien and sedition laws of Mr. 
Adams. 
Mr. Madison having through the whole 
of Mr. Jefferson’s administration, held the 
office of Secretary of State, was in 1808 
elected President of the United States. He 
was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1809, 
and ho retained a portion of Mr. Jefferson's 
Cabinet. 
During the first session of the Eleventh 
Congress, which opened in May, the British 
minister at Washington, Mr. Erskine, made 
overtures for the repeal of the non-inter¬ 
course law, promising the reversal of the 
British orders in Council. His government 
however, refusing to sanction the act, the 
non-intercourse law was revived in full force. 
This created the most intense excitement 
among the people, who loudly demanded a 
declaration of war with England. 
In the spring of 1810, Napoleon issued 
a deoree providtng that all United States 
vessels which had entered French ports 
since the 20th of March, 1808, should be 
declared forfeit, and sold for the benefit of 
the French Treasury. This being avowed¬ 
ly issued as a retaliation of our non-inter¬ 
course act, the French privateers constant¬ 
ly depredated upon our commerce. 
In May, congress passed a new non-inter¬ 
course act, declaring that when either the 
rathe™™, krtbxcs Mummi. 
The Cincinnati Enquirer relates the fol¬ 
lowing, as an actual verity:—“We heard ~ 
c •• 1 , >, i J i . r .i For the Rural New-Yorker. 
of an incident, on Monday last, irom the 
lips of Esq. Taylor, which partakes a good T0 A M0THER ’ 0N ™ DEATH OF HER SON. 
deal of the romantic, but which is none the 0 WEBP not gentle mother, 
less true. In the fall of ’45 a young man For that fair fragile flower; 
named Eleazer Fitch left here in company An augeia hand hath home it hence, 
with Job Kendall, on a flat-boat, for New To bl00m in Eden ’ 8 bowur - 
Orleans, the boat being loaded with produce No chilling blast of sorrow, 
owned by the two men, which they suceed- Hha " beat upon 11 there; 
ed in disposing of without difficulty. I he E . er touch Uiat blossom fair . 
whole receipts amounted to nearly $5,000, 
which they divided between them, lime That flower has passed away, 
passed, and Mr. hitch did not come home, ’Tis better it should bloom in Heaven, 
much to the surprise of his despairing wife, Than on the earth to stay. o. v. r. 
whom he had left behind with two children; - - - 
nor could she gain any intelligence of him YOUNG LADIES AND MATRIMONY. 
after Mr. Kendall parted with him at New T , XT , , , , , 
r, , , , r b i.orence Hay, who sat lor her portrait 
r J T ln ^’ orc U1 " n - . Willis of the Home Journal, has 
“ It is true, the wife, soon after the am- , a .. . ,, , 
, nr v j n • , , • , caused a fluttering among the hearts ot the 
val of Mr. Kendall, received a paper which , , , b , 
, • , , K f, , ., unmarried lady readers of that paper. Mm- 
contained an announcement ot the death . ,, , , J r X T , ,, 
( „ F , i ni j ■ • , me Moulson has spoken, and now Eva Gray 
ot a Mr. bitch, killed in a gaming saloon, , - r J 
who hailed from Cincinnati; but still hope s P eaks ’ as follows: 
whispered that it could not be her husband Minnie Moulson says we have “ not suffi 
O wekp not gentle mother, 
For that fair fragile flower; 
An angels hand hath borne it hence, 
To bloom in Eden’s bower. 
No chilling blast of sorrow. 
Shall beat upon it there; 
No blight of sin, or stain of guilt, 
E’er touch that blossom fair. 
Then weep not, though in beauty 
That flower has passed away, 
’Tis lietter it should bloom in Heaven, 
Than on the earth to stay. o. v. r. 
YOUNG LADIES AND MATRIMONY. 
Florence Hay, who sat for her portrait 
to Mr. Willis of the Home Journal, has 
caused a fluttering among the hearts of the 
unmarried lady readers of that paper. Min¬ 
nie Moulson has spoken, and now Eva Gray 
speaks, as follows: 
Minnie Moulson says we have “ not suffi- 
— and yet he came not. A few months cient moral courage to remain single. I 
over a year flew over her head, and then Agree with her as to the absence ot anything 
she gave up that her departed one must be 
lost. She had been addressed by another, 
and frequently importuned to marry; and 
her condition in life being none of the 
best, she yielded and married. Well, the 
long and the short of the matter is, that 
the bride lived very happily with her new 
attractive in the large portion of men we 
meet; but I think we wish to marry, in the 
abstract, even if we do not find men worthy 
of us; that it is a part of nature that women, 
with warm, rich hearts, and cultivated minds, 
should look for the comforts and charms of 
married life. I mean not those who are 
British or French government should repc 1 
its orders or decrees, and the other did not, 
the United States would repeal the act ) 
far as it applied to the government so i - 
pealing. France reciprocated the mo\ - 
ment, but the British cabinet would n< , 
and American vessels continued to be seiz< 1 
and sold and American seamen pressed in i 
the British service. 
After years of ineffectual negotiati< \ 
with both England and France, respectir r 
their orders and decrees, the president waiv< 1 
his decided opposition to war measures, ai 1 
by the advice of Mr. Clay and other lea - 
ing friends, he recommended strong men - 
ures towards Great Britain. Bills were a - 
cordingly passed for augmenting the arn / 
and navy, and for giving the President e - 
traordinary powers. 
Mr. Madison being again elected to tl ) 
Presidency, was inaugurated on the 4th f 
March, 1812. 
Congress having passed an act declarir r 
war against Great Britain, it was approv. I 
by Mr. Madison on the 18th of June, 181 !, 
and he issued his proclamation according •. 
Of the thrilling events and glorious tern - 
nation of that war, it is unnecessary to spei. c. 
At the expiration of his second preside - 
tial term on the 3d of March, 1817, Mr. 
Madison retired to his seat at Montpeli< -, 
Orange county, Virginia, where theevenii ' 
of life was spent in the peaceful pursuits .f 
agriculture. He died on the 28th of Jui *, 
1836, aged eighty-five years. 
“ Mr. Madison was of small stature, ai 1 
a little disposed to corpulency. The t p 
of his head was bald, and he usually hi 1 
his hair powdered. He generally dress 1 
in black. His manners were modest ai l 
retiring, and in conversation he was pie; - 
ing and instructive. As a polished writ r 
he had few equals; and the part he bo e 
in framing the constitution, and its subt •- 
quent support, obtained for him the title -f 
Father of the Constitution.” 
Charity. —In short, if your lot be ev r 
to solicit charities for the needy, you * 11 
have much more pleasure than chagrin, y u 
will find that you have enriched yoursi f, 
lirst of all, in the knowledge of human n v 
ture, that you have become versatile in su > 
ing your approach to all the varying disj >- 
sitions of men. Sometimes you will fi :1 
that no living thing is so mean as man; th< i, 
in the next hour, you will thank God 1 r 
the great soul of goodness vouchsafed ) 
some men. And finally, you will thi !c 
better of Chrislians of every name, wh n 
you find that goodness does not belong ) 
your sect alone, but is found richly in i 1. 
And you will have better luck than ^ e 
have, if you do not find men, the memb( s 
of no church, who would be patterns of di '- 
icate and wise liberality, to multitudes wl ) 
are in the church.— Henry Ward Bcecht \ 
Water, —Water, wherever we see it, s 
full of use, and beauty and glory. Fro a 
the dew that distils upon the rose leaf, > 
the ocean that heaves its vast tides aroui 1 
the world, it is perpetual wonder and deligb t. 
In the dawn of creation, the spirit of Gt 1 
moved upon the face of the waters. Wat r 
makes the beauty of our silvery clouds ai 1 
l golden sunsets; it spans the heavens wii l 
the hues of the rainbow; it dances to tl a 
earth in April showers; it murmurs i i 
brooks, and thunders in cataracts; it wate s 
the earth in rivers, and bears our navies c 1 
the rolling seas. 
husband, until last Sunday night, when who ambitious, and seek to be the head of an 
should walk into the presence of the double establishment; but those who desne to be 
wife, but Mr. Fitch himself. Of course a ^ nown and loved at home — and such are 
scene ensued, but no damage was done, the large majority of us. But I would say 
He then gave a reason for his long absence. ^ ie £ ran( °fi lce and destiny of our sex 
On the day he received the money for his is maternity that every woman, not spoiled 
produce in New Orleans, he went to one of ^y sorae vanity, which becomes strong- 
the gambling hells and lost all, shipped, on er than her nature, feels this, and feels 
the following day, for California, with no ^at, while she remains single, she is doing 
fixed purpose, went into the employ of Capt. 
Sutter until the gold fever broke out, when 
he left for the mines, succeeded in gather- 
that, while she remains single, she is doing 
violence to nature, and is deprived of the 
dearest charms of life. 
We feel that it was intended by an all- 
ind about $7,000 in the dust, with which wise Providence that every woman should 
he started for San Francisco, where he be a mother. This is not merely physical, 
established the first hotel that was opened but it is a part of our heart True, we 
in that placa Fortune poured in upon long to be pressed to the breast of the man 
him, and he concluded to return home, and in whom we see so much purity, nobleness 
did, as we have stated, with a pocket full and generosity—the man we so much love 
of rocks. —we dream that his cheek rests against 
“The romance is to come. He proffered ours—feel the soft pressure of his hands— 
to take her again as a wife, and also the we have sweet dreams of love: but, by far 
little youngster she had by her second hus- the dearest pleasure that ever a real woman 
band, to which she consented, in despite of felt, was when the child of the man she loves 
all remonstrance, as her last marriage was lay upon her breast, 
not legal. The next day Esq. Taylor was In this world of brainless men, but few 
called in, and united for the second time of us can find men to love, at least at all 
in wedlock, a man and his wife, who bad like our ideal; and that is shown by the 
been separated for a term of years. They fact that so many do not marry the first 
will return in a few days to California, man who ofl’ers. 
Strange things happen occasionally, in this Most women—even girls yet in their 
busy world.” teens—wish for their own child to love. 
"—-—- Affectation may say it is immodest, but it 
LISTLESS NESS O F MIND. springs from a “ higher law” than of Society 
There is an inactivity—a listlessness of — is l h e l aw 
nd which permits thoughts and feelings to . Seeing that nature intended us for par- 
ift past us like the thousand objects of a vari- ticular purposes, I can see in “ Morence, 
landscape gleaming on the eye of a rail- Hay” the true woman, when she feels that 
ly traveler, unexamined,unarranged,unre- “single years are wasted.” 
umbered; a half slumbering state of mind I think “ Minnie Moulson” part right 
which it becomes passive, and thoughts when she says, “ nine-tenths of the women 
LISTLESSNESS OF MIND. 
mind which permits thoughts and feelings to 
drift past us like the thousand objects of a vari¬ 
ed landscape gleaming on the eye of a rail¬ 
way traveler, unexamined, unarranged,unre¬ 
membered ; a half slumbering state of mind 
in which it becomes passive, and thoughts 
flit over us, rather than pass through us, of the present day marry with no other 
like the shadow clouds over the lake’s sur- feeling towards their husbands than sheer 
face. This is a pernicious habit to be guard- indifference.” But many women are not 
ed against and assailed with the most reso- capable of a high and holy love, and much 
lute energy of will, by every man who of that which they can feel is the result of 
would be master of himself, and live a life association. But no women can look with 
of advantage to his kind. It is worse than “ sheer indifference” upon the father of her 
unobservant vagrancy of eye or ear. A child. 
man may be something who can pass I have written so much that I shall scarce 
through the finest external scenery without have room for what I took up the pen to say. 
having his gaze riveted, and without re- j am muc h inclined to think that the 
membering that he more than rode over f ear superior women have of seeming im- 
so much ground, or at most beheld an as- mo dest in showing a preference for such 
semblage of hills, vales, trees, streams and , nen as they really do admire, lias a ten- 
buildings; but the mind that lets its thoughts dency to drive many men from them to the 
glide past thus unobserved and uncontrol- fighter sort of women. I do not mean she 
led, is fast losing its power for good. The should offer herself; but when she sees one 
tendency to foster this indolent and feeble w fi 0 m she admires, she should evince plain- 
habit, we regard as one of the worst effects |y that she is pleased with his company and 
of the light magazine and novel reading of conversation, and not think of anything im- 
the present day. Unconstrained, as he de- rao dest, as there is really not. 
vours the sparkling article or stirring ro- But if she treats him as she doesindiffer- 
mance, to make any effort in the way of en t men, and as indifferent women treat 
chaining his thoughts or defining them, him> likely there will be a mistake, 
the reader is apt to acquire that passivity w ;n 
the reader is apt to acquire that passivity 
of intellect in which the helm of attention 
is surrendered from the mind’s own grasp, 
and given wholly up to the objects before 
it, till it is attentive only when something 
so striking or stirring presents itself that 
attention cannot be avoided—like an ear 
Many men are proud, and will not sue for 
even a woman they love. 
Oi.d Maids. —A sprightly writer express¬ 
es his opinion of old maids in the following 
manner: 
auenuun cauuoi uc uvuiueu—nau nu T • r 
.,. , . r “lam inclined to believe that many ot 
that should hear nothing but the roar ot . . , • o „ i . . 
, .p, . , , . the satirical aspersions cast upon old maids, 
thunder, or an eye sensible to no color but . „ . ,, r . i-, .if, • 
darning scarlet—WoW/t British Beview ,K>U more to th««r cred.t tl, , ,a general y 
o imnmnor Is a. woman remarkably near, in 
imagined. Is a woman remarkably neat in 
Matrimony. —When bent on matrimony, her person • she will certainly die an old 
look more than skin deep for beauty, dive mmd.’. Is she frugal m her expenses, and 
further than the pocket for worth, and search “act in her domestic concerns, • she is cut 
for temper beyond good humor for the mo- «« for an old maid.’ And if she is kindly 
ment—remembering it is not always the and humane to the animals about her, noth¬ 
in, »t agreeable partner at a ball, who forms >"g can save her from the apcl ation of an 
(he most amiable partner for life. Virtue, 'old mmd.’ In short, I have always found 
like some Bowers, blooms often fairest in that neatness, modesty, economy, and hu- 
the shade mamty, are the never-iiuhng characteristics 
manity, are the never-failing characteristics 
of an * old maid.’ ” 
Solitude is no place to forget those we----- 
love. Where there are none to commune Indifference is often assumed, and un- 
willi, Memory peoples a world for itself, with der its seeming repose and quietness as un- 
which Imagination holds converse—and the der the white ashes of apparently extin- 
beloved are the ever-present—the ever and guished fire, there yet smoulder the glow- 
only-thought-of. io£> embers of passionate feeling. 
