MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
For the Rural New-Yorker. 
EXCITEMENT AND DELIBERATION. 
A CONTRAST. 
BY WI7.I, WICK1FFE. 
1. 
Dark and muddy rolls a wayward si ream. 
Roaring, thund'ring, with a fearful bound— 
Not unlike the mad, in frantic dream, 
Whirling, twirling, in giddy eddies round. 
ii. 
Quint, peaceful, glides the silver brook, 
Wends its way upon its pebbly path, 
Singing sweetly down in ev’ry nook, 
Having not the voice its neighbor hath. 
HI. 
Loud ami noisy, cries of frantic man, 
Living on impulse—the wanton stream; 
Striving, doing just as mortals can, 
Nothing gained by the vision’s scheme, 
iv. 
Lightly treads the gay and cheerful one, 
Marching, timely, with a gentle heart,— 
Watchful, seeing ev’ry duty’s done, 
Shrinking not, in doing manly part. 
Glen Cole, 3 ino„ 1851. 
EASTER AND LENT. 
There are many who have no definite' 
idea ot' these Catholic customs. The 
Washington correspondent of the N. York 
Journal of Commerce, furnishes some in¬ 
teresting “ information on the subject,” in 
the annexed letter: 
“ This is Easter Tuesday; and the East¬ 
er holidays are over—Easter which has 
been a holiday with Pagans, and is so still 
with some denominations of Christians. 
We have, hereabouts, many of the old 
customs of Easter, which have been handed 
down from generations past, and fromsources 
lost in the obscurity of tradition. The 
Catholics were, in former times, the prevail¬ 
ing denomination in Maryland, and the 
Protestant Episcopalians were the popular 
religionists in Virginia 
in each they were the prevailing, and in 
some sense, the established denomination, 
until towards the close of the last century ; 
and they still tlourish. The Eastern cus¬ 
toms prevail here, perhaps, to a greater ex¬ 
tent than elsewhere in the Union. The 
slaves have, to this day, a holiday on Easter 
Monday. The Easter eggs are still handed 
about—or pasche eggs, i. e. paschal eggs, 
as they are called in France. In the Greek 
and Roman Churches, Easter was celebra¬ 
ted as a grand festival, and the common peo¬ 
ple enjoyed it as a holiday. Among the 
Greeks the day was spent in rejoicings.— 
The salutation of every one, as lie met his 
friend, was Christos aneste, “ Christ is 
risen.” 
In Rome, the Pope, when there was a 
Pope, used to go in the grand procession to 
St. Petei’s, and assist in high mass. In 
Turkey, Easter is still announced by twenty 
salutes of cannon, at break of day; and sac¬ 
rifices of animals are made amidst the re¬ 
joicings of the people. In England, a work¬ 
ing man would lose his caste, who worked 
on Easter. Englishmen try to amuse them¬ 
selves—or they did so in old times, on this 
day. The opening of the Court of law, and 
the religious observances, are still regulated 
in England by Easter. It is a holiday at 
all the public offices except those of Excise, 
Customs and Stamps. 
During Lent, the people had so mortified 
themselves, that they were glad to throw off 
restraints, and indulge in good cheer.— 
Hence rose a thousand customs, many of 
which sLill exist, all tending to conviviality. 
The priests, in the Catholic countries, used 
to divert their congregations with Easter 
tales or Eabulae Puschales, i. e. funny sto¬ 
ries. Some which 1 have are very ludic¬ 
rous, and yet probably instructive. 
Easier may be traced far beyond the era 
of Christianity. It was a Pagan observ¬ 
ance, but was adopted by some of the 
Early Chr'stians, and applied to their re¬ 
ligion. The Christians commemorate Easter 
as the resurrection of Christ, the festival or¬ 
iginating in the idea that Christ was typified 
by the paschal lamb. With them it had its 
origin in the feast of the passover, as ordain¬ 
ed by Moses. The word Easter is said to 
have been derived from the name of the 
Teutonic goddess Ostera, whose feast was 
celebrated early in the spring. 
That word was derived from the word 
osters, which signifies rising, because na¬ 
ture arises anew in spring. The word East 
has the same origin, being the quarter where 
the sun rises. The ancient heathen feast 
was .intended to celebrate the resurrection 
of nature; the Christian festival (which was 
substituted for it) the resurrection of Christ 
Lent, which precedes Easter, was also 
observed by Pagans, and the word is Teu¬ 
tonic, meaning the “ spring time of the 
year.” Lent is, perhaps more observed in 
this immediate region than in any portion 
of the United States, so much that it has a 
visible effect on our markets. 
There is a difference of opinion whether 
it originally lasted forty days or forty hours, 
but the church has established the period 
at forty days. The Catholics universally, 
and some Episcopalians abstain, during the 
season, from meat. They eat fish and eggs, 
and, to use a phrase from Shakspeare, 
“ With Lenton salada cool their blood.” 
Many of the Catholic observances of 
Easter are shown to have been derived from 
the Hebrew rituals, while others were of 
Pagan origin. 
The Ea>ter or Greek Church was proba¬ 
bly more indebted to Paganism for some of 1 
its customs, than the Western or Roman ' 
Church. As a proof of this, l might refer ‘ 
to the ceremony, noted by Dr. Clark, the 
traveler, which prevails in the Greek Islands, 1 
of conveying Rilenus in procession at East 
er. This was also an ancient Pagan rite. 1 
If Silenus was a grave philosopher, as some | 
assert, he presents a very merry aspect. 1 
have an engraving of one, said to be after ( 
an etching from a sardonyx gem that be¬ 
longed to the late Duke of Devonshire; and j 
it is the very image of humor and gravity 
oddly mixed. This engraving is also a per¬ 
fect representation of an antique comic 1 
mosque, in marble, which I possess, and * 
which was presented tome by afiiend who 
resides in Tuscany, and which is stated to 1 
have been taken from Pompeii. But if , 
here was any doubt of that, it is removed ' 
by the description and engravings of the I 
mosque in marble and bronze, taken from 
Pompeii, and belonging to the Townsend * 
gallery in England. These are all inden- 1 
tical with the figure, in the Eastern proces- ' 
sions in modern Greece, as described by 1 
Dr. Clarke. I 
This I mention only as one proof of the 
admixture of Pagan rites with the observ- J 
ances of the Greek Christians.” 
LAST WORDS OF THE PRESIDENTS 
_ 1 
When Washington was 67 years old he * 
lay upon his death-bed. “ l find I am dy- I 
ing,” said he; “ my breath cannot lust long." 1 
And again; “Doctor, I die hard, but l am ^ 
not at raid to go; I believed, lrom my first ‘ 
attack, I should not survive it; my breath ' 
cannot last long.” And so he ceased to ‘ 
breathe. 
More than a quarter of a century elapsed 
before a similar scene was witnessed. Then 
on the same day, the jubilee of the nation, 
Adams, at 90 years of age, and Jefferson at , 
83, came down to their last hour. “ 1 re- j 
sign myself to my God,” said Jefferson, < 
“and my child to my country.” Soon af¬ 
ter Adams exclaimed, “ Independence for¬ 
ever!” and all was over. They, too, had 
ceased to breathe. ( 
hive years after, this at 71 years of age, 
Monroe ceased to breathe. 
I ive years after this, at 85 years of age, 
Madison ceased to breathe. 
Nearly five years after this, at 68 years 
of age, Harrison remarked; “Sir, I wish 
you to understand the true principles of the 
Government; I wish them carried out; I 
ask nothing more.” And he ceased to 
breathe. 
Four years after this, at 78 years of age, 
Jackson observed, in substance; “ My suf 
ferings, though great, are nothing in com¬ 
parison with those of my dying Saviour, 
through whose death I look for everlasting 
happiness.” And he ceased to breathe. 
In less than three years after this; at 87 
years of age, the second Adams declared: 
“This is the last of earth! I am content.” 
And he ceased to breathe. 
In a little more than one year after this, 
at 53 years of age, Polk bowed his head in 
baptism, confessing his Saviour. And he 
ceased to breathe. 
The lamented Taylor, at 65 years of age, 
submitted to the solemn decree. “ I am 
ready for the summons,” said he; “ I have 
endeavored to do my duty. I am sorry to 
leave my friends.” And he ceased to breathe. 
IDLENESS. 
I have heard talk of the pleasures of 
idleness, yet it is my own firm belief that no 
one ever yet took pleasure in it. Mere idle¬ 
ness is the most disagreable state of exist¬ 
ence, and both mind and body are continu¬ 
ally making efforts to escape from it. It 
has been said that idleness is the parent of 
mischief, which is very true; but mischief 
itself is merely an attempt to escape from 
the dreary vacuum of idleness. There are 
many tasks and occupations which a man is 
unwilling to perform, but let no one think 
that he is therefore in love with idleness; 
he turns to something which is more agree¬ 
able to his inclination, and doubtless more 
suited to his nature; but he is not in love 
with idleness. 
A boy may play the truant from school 
because he dislikes books and study; but 
depend upon it, he intends doing something 
the while —to go fishing, or perhaps to take 
a walk; and who knows but that from such 
excursions both mind and body may derive 
more benefit than from books and school ? 
Many people go to sleep to escape from 
idleness; the Spaniards do; and according 
to the French account, John Bull, the 
’squire, hangs himself in the month of No¬ 
vember; but the French, who are a very 
sensible people, attribute the action, “a une 
grande emeute de se desennuyer he wished 
to be doing something, say they, and having- 
nothing better to do, has recourse to the 
cord.— Geo. Borrow's Lavengro. 
Listening to Scandal.— No one loves 
to tell a tale of scandal, but to him that 
loves to hear it. Learn, then, to rebuke 
and silence the detracting tongue, by refus¬ 
ing to hear it. Never make your ear the 
grave of another’s good name. 
THE UNITED STATES- 
O-ur country now streches across the con¬ 
tinent from the Atlantic to the Pacific —an 
extent of more than two thousand miles; 
and from north to south, one thousand five 
hundred miles, containing an area of about 
three and a quarter millions of square miles. 
The geographical centre is in the Indian 
territory, nearly 150 miles west of Mis¬ 
souri. Missouri is the central State of the 
Union. 
On the Pacific coast we have one State, 
California, with 188,981 square miles, and 
ihree territories—Oregon, with 341,463, 
Utah, with 187,923, and New Mexico, with 
210,944; total square miles, 921,311. Cal¬ 
ifornia has 970 miles of sea-coast, and Ore¬ 
gon 480 miles,—making, with the straits 
of St Juan de Fuca, (100 miles,) 1,550 
miles—equal to our entire Atlantic coast. 
The original thirteen States embraced 
but a little more than one:tenth of our 
present territory—their area being not much 
larger than that of Oregon; and at the 
period of the American Revolution they 
contained but about one-eighth of our pres¬ 
ent population. We now number thirty- 
one States and six territories, with a total 
population prybably exceeding 23,000,000. 
For more than one hundred years after 
the discovery of this continent by Colum¬ 
bus, it is said that not one European fami¬ 
ly could be found between Florida and 
Greenland; and it was one hundred and 
thirty years after the landing of the pilgrims 
before the settlers began to cross the Alle- 
ghanies. How marked the change! With¬ 
in two years after the acquisition of Cali¬ 
fornia and the discovery of gold, a great 
Siate bounds into the Union with popula¬ 
tion and resources exceeding some of the 
original members of the confederacy.— Am. 
Messenger. 
DRAWING AND WRITING. 
IIon. Horace Mann, late Superinten¬ 
dent of Massachusetts Schools, says, in a 
report of a visit to the schools of Europe: 
“Such excellent handwriting as I saw in 
the Prussian schools I never saw before. 
I can hardly express myself too strongly on 
this point. In Great Britain, France, or in 
our own country, I have never seen schools 
worthy to be compared with theirs in this 
respect This superiority cannot be attri- 
of buted in any degree to a better mode 
holding the pen; for I never saw so great 
a portion of cases in any schools where the 
pen is so awkwardly held. 
This excellence must be referred, in a 
great degree, to the universal practice of 
learning to draw contemporaneously with 
learning to write. I believe a child will 
learn both to draw and write with more ease 
than he will learn writing alone. In the 
course of my tour I passed from countries 
where almost every pupil in every school ' 
could draw with ease, and most of them 
with no inconsiderable degree of beauty and 
expression, to those where drawing was not 
practiced at all;and I came to the conclusion 
that, with no other guide but the copy-books 
of the pupils, l could tell whether drawing 
was taught in schools or not.” —A 7 ! Y. In¬ 
dependent. 
An Illustration. — We were amused 
the other day by the following anecdote, 
illustrative of the uses which men can be 
put to, in emergencies, and as an argument 
in favor of making mechanics of one’s sons. 
A ship was wrecked upon an uninhabited 
island. The crew and passengers could all 
do some kind of mechanical work, save one. 
He was, as they say, in Ehgland, (and the 
phraseology is finding its way out here,) 
“ bred a gentleman.” He could not work. 
His hands were tender, and his gloves were 
kid. It was decided he must do something 
or he could not eat; so the workies set their 
inventive faculties agoing. They soon 
agreed upon a novel, simple, but very ef¬ 
fective expedient; they made the poor fel¬ 
low a nice warm pair of feathered pants, 
and compelled him to sit on a basket, and 
hatch eggs . 
An Allegory.—A humming-bird met 
a buttertly, and, being pleased with the 
beauty of its person and the glory of its 
wings, made an offer of perpetual friendship. 
“I cannot think of it,” was the reply, “as 
you once spurned me, and called me a 
drawling dolt.” 
“Impossible!” exclaimed the humming 
bird, “ I always entertained the highest re¬ 
spect for such beautiful creatures as you.” 
“ Perhaps you do now, said the other, 
“but when you insulted me I was a catter- 
pillar. So let me give you a piece of ad¬ 
vice. Never insult the humble, as they 
may some day become your superiors.” 
There are 10 newspapers published in 
Austria; 14 in Africa; 14 in Spain; 20 in 
Portugal; 30 in Asia; 65 in Belgium; 85 
in Denmark; 90 in Russia and Poland; 300 
in Prussia, 500 in Great Britain and Ireland, 
320 in other Germanic States, and 1,800 
in the United States. 
Knowledge cannot be acquired without 
pains and application. It is troublesome, 
and like deep digging for pure waters; but 
when once you come to the spring, they 
rise up and meet you. 
no.xoBc, CaUmMmmm. 
There is good sound sense in the fol¬ 
lowing advice to voung men and women, ' • 
who are thinking of matrimony. It is from iHE 0F GEWERAL JACKSON. 
°K icl %^ ?, rant P 0rl T- w a late Tub influence of this woman over her 
husband is said to have been very extraor- 
Tbere is nothing to be gained in dangling dinary. j$ h e was of obscure origin, and 
tor a twelvemonth after a sensible woman, totH n y uneducated; yet she inherited from 
talking unmeaning stuff—words without nature those tine and noble traits of her sex 
wisdom, fell her your wish, like a man, to such perfection that her power was very 
and not like a blubbering school boy. She greHt . Gen. Jackson was attached to her 
will never trffie with your affections; and m ear ly life, but by some means or other 
it there are three grains of common sense the matter was interrupted, and she married 
in your mickle carcass, she will be your another, who proved a villain, and the con- 
own before a month lias passed, bee the nection was a most unhappy one. General 
history^of Rebecca, in Genesis, 24th chap- Jackson became interested in her, and the 
ter, 57th verse: When Abraham s ser- consequence was a divorce—after which he 
vant had concluded the preliminary contract marr i e d h er . She is said to have possessed 
with Mrs. Laban, on the part of her daugh- none of those accomplishments which are 
ter the wife ot Isaac, the old man was supposed to adorn fashionable life; reared 
anxious to get home, to show his young j n the backwoods, seeing and knowin.c but 
master the bonny lass he had brought him ; little of refined society. Yet her fine per- 
tlie mother wished him to remain a few son> strong affections, and good sense, the 
davs, to recruit himself and his camels. He three essentials of a woman, enabled her to 
persisting, it was finally referred to the take hold with irresistible force of the bold, 
daughter. “ We will call the damsel, and strong, and fiery warrior and statesman to 
inquire at 'her mouth,” said JJthe mother, whom she was wedded. It was the lion 
When Rebecca appeared, her mother asked held in the embrace of the fayn. The in- 
“ Wilt thou go with this man?” Rebecca fluence she exercised is said to have bor- 
replied—“I will go.” dered on the superstitious. He imagined 
There was a noble girl for you. No tears that no power or act of his could succeed, 
starting from her black eyes; no whining, or be carried out, averse to her will, or in 
noi simpering make-believe, nor mock-mod- opposition to her feelings. She seemed his 
estiy, but what tier heart wished, her lips guardian angel by day and by night; hold- 
uttered. Like an honest maiden, she replied ing in her hands his life, his fate, his all.— 
“ I will go.” Now, young ladies, go thou An intimate friend of his says, that so long 
and do .likewise. When the man whom as he lived, he wore her miniature near his 
you prefer before all others in the world, 
says—“ Will you go with me?” answer— 
“ I will go.” 
By-the-by ladies, when you wish to read 
a true, simple and unsophisticated love-sto¬ 
ry, just read over the twenty-fourth chapter 
of Genesis. 
heart, and never alluded to her except in a 
manner so subdued and full of reverence, 
that the listener was deeply impressed with 
her transcendent worth. 
SHORT DRESSES. 
_-_ Mrs. Bloomer, editor of the Lily, has a 
INJUDICIOUS HASTE IN STUDY. dopted the “ short dress and trowersand 
says in her paper of this month, that many 
The eagerness and strong bent of the of the women in that place, (Seneca Falls,) 
mind after knowledge, if not warily regulated, oppose the change—others laugh—others 
is often a hindrance to it. It still presses still are in favor—“ and many have already 
into farther discoveries and new objects, adopted the dress.,” She closes the article 
and catches at the variety of knowledge, upon the subject as follows: 
and therefore often stays not long enough “Those who think we look “queer," 
on what is before it, to look into it as it would do well to look back a few years, to 
should, for haste to pursue what is yet out the time when they wore ten or fifteen 
of sight. He that rides post through a pounds of petticoat and bustle around the 
country may be able, from the transient bod)’, and balloons on their arms, and then 
view, to tell in general how the parts lie, imagine which cut the t/um-esHigure, they 
and may be able to give some loose descrip- or we. We care not for the frowns of over 
tion of here a morass and there a river; fastidious gentlemen; we have those of bet- 
woodland in one part and savannahs in ter taste and less questionable morals to 
another. Such superficial ideas and obser- sustain us. If men think they would be 
vations as these he may collect in galloping comfortable in long, heavy skirts, let them 
over it; but the more useful observations put them on — we have no objection. We 
of the soil, plants, animals, and inhabitants, are more comfortable without them, and so 
with their several sorts and properties, must have left them off. We do not say we 
necessrarily escape him; and it is seldom shall wear this dress and no other, but we 
men ever discover the rich mines without shall wear it for a common dress; and we 
some digging. hope it may become so fashionable that we 
Nature commonly lodges her treasure niay wear it at all times, and in all places, 
and jewels in rocky ground. If the matter without being thought singular. We have 
be knotty, and the sense lies deep, the mind already become so attached to it that we 
must stop and buckle to it, and stick upon dislike changing to a long one.” 
it with labor and thought, and close con- --- 
templation, and not leave it until it has CONNUBIALITIES 
mastered the difficulty and got possession T . , . , T , 
of truth. But here care must be taken to , It ls . the harde ^ $ in S ,a Iov 
avoid the other extreme; a man must not w iere 11 1S no ^’ ° r . ude w iere 
CONNUBIALITIES 
It is the hardest thing in love to feign it 
where it is not, or hide it where it is; but it 
stick at every useless nicety, and expect * s easar counterfeited than concealed. I he 
mysteries of science in every trivial question ler . we ove 18 t lc Hirest ot sights, 
or scruple that he may raise. He that will and l ler v01ce the sweetest harmony : n the 
stand to pick up and examine every pebble world - A man ^ more reserved in his friend’s 
that comes in his way, is as unlikely to re- concerns limn his own, a woman, on the 
dency. Insignificant observations should 
not take up any of our minutes; and those 
that enlarge our view, and give light to¬ 
wards further and useful discoveries, should 
not be neglected, though they stop our 
course, and spend some of our time in a 
fixed attention.— Locke. 
True Nobility.— In some of the French 
provinces are families of laborers, who can 
reckon more than live hundred years of memory and affections m the midst of all 
succession from father to son, in the oxer- the forgetfulness and hardihood induced by 
else of the most useful toil, and whose tra- ? r ° v ",'S h [ 6 ' , lhelast ™ cssa S e , he le3vra 
ditionary lore might be comprehended in » for her, his last TOper breathe, her nama 
» . J i ... ii , 1 hf* mother, ns she. inst.i s the. lesson of 
this one phrase, “ All were devoted to ag¬ 
riculture, and were alike laborious and 
virtuous.” The golden age nobility is well 
worth that of many a higher parentage, 
whose descendants are not unfrequently as 
proud of their uselessness as of their ances¬ 
tors. 
Sweet and Sour. —As an instance of 
what an extreme change is made by a sim 
pie and slight alteration of the proportions 
of the same ingredients, we may notice, that 
the antagonism between sweet and sour, as 
observed in sugar and vinegar, is owing 
only to a little more or a little less of car¬ 
bon and water. Thus, if in one hundred 
parts about forty-two be carbon and the 
rest be water, we shall have sugar; but if 
forty-seven parts be carbon, and the rest 
water, we shall have vinegar. — Arthur's 
Home Gaz. 
Speak as you mean; do as you profess 
and perform what you promise. 
turn enriched and laden with jewels, as the cont ( ar y> keeps her own secrets better than 
other that traveled full speed. Truths are an ° l ier , s .‘ A . woman think herself 
not the better nor the worse for their ob- s,I o 1ted , ,1 s no ^ colirte( ’ P retends 
viousness or difficulty, but their value is to to know herself too well to believe your 
be measured by their usefulness and ten- jittery. Absence is to love what fasting 
denev. Insicrnifieant. nh^rvutmrvi chnnUl 18 the body, a little stimulates it, but a 
long abstinence is fatal. The greatest pleas¬ 
ure of life is love; the greatest possession, 
health; the greatest ease, is sleep; and the 
greatest medicine, a true friend. 
My Mother.— It has been truly said: 
“ The first being that rushes to the recollec¬ 
tion of a soldier or a sailor, in his heart’s 
difficulty, is his mother. She clings to his 
The mother, as she instils the lesson of pi¬ 
ety and filial obligation into the heart of her 
infant son, should always feel that her labor 
is not in vain. She may drop into the grave 
but she has left behind her influences that 
will work for her. The bow is broken, but 
the arrow is speed and will do its office.” 
The Egyptian ladies arrive at maturity 
somewhat earlier than they do in less sunny 
climes, and the pious Mussulmans most re¬ 
ligiously follow the example of their proph¬ 
et, who married his favorite wife Ayesha, 
when she was but nine years old. A dam¬ 
sel in Egypt is considered marriageable at 
nine or t~n; most of them are married before 
twelve: and an unfortunate spinster who 
arrives at the age of fourteen is considered 
decidedly passee. Such is the difference 
of climate and opinion in this world. 
A wife full of truth, and innocence, and 
love, is the prettiest flower a man can wear 
next his heart. 
