MOORE’S RURAL AEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
(ilbiualiaitai. 
BY L. WETHERELL. 
•* Having light, vvescek to impart it.” 
“CHILDREN, GREY YOUR PARENTS.” 
There is, perhaps, no duty more fre¬ 
quently inculcated and ‘enjoined in the Bi¬ 
ble, than that conveyed to the mind and 
understanding by the four words which we 
have placed at the head of this article.— 
The Family is of divine origin—instituted 
by Jehovah himself. He saw that it was 
not good that man should be alone, and 
created woman full of tenderness and love, 
blooming with beauty, and blushing with 
charms, without whom man, even in Para¬ 
dise, could not be completely happy. The 
mutual desire of each for the other was 
fully realized in that union whi#h of the 
twain made one flesh. It was required of 
them to obey their Heavenly Father as it is 
of their offspring that they obey their earth¬ 
ly parents. 
The spirit of disobedience soon manifest¬ 
ed itself in the first human pair, and was 
transmitted to their children and to their 
children’s children, and will continue down 
to the latest posterity. Notwithstanding 
this, however, the command of God is to 
all children, “obey your parents;” and the 
command to parents, is “ bring up your 
children in the oiiurture and admotion of 
the Lord.” This is no less imperative than 
that given to children. In the parents is 
placed the authority, to educate, instruct, 
and train their children. And to the chil¬ 
dren it is said, “obey your parents in all 
things, for this is right and well pleasing to 
the Lord.” 
We are fully of the opinion that if pa¬ 
rents will faithfully train up their children 
to exact obedience to parental authority, 
ninety-nine-hundredths of the evil now 
existin'! in the world would cease to be.—- 
The child is no more dependent on his pa¬ 
rents for his food and raiment, than for in¬ 
tellectual and religious nurture. If the 
former two be withheld the little one soon 
perishes. If these be duly administered, 
and mental and religious culture be wiili- 
liolden, the child grows up to bodily matu¬ 
rity with strong animal passions and desires, 
and being goaded on by these, knows 
nothing of the restraints felt by one who 
has been carefully trained and instructed 
in things spiritual, as well as provided for 
in things temporal, and consequently is fit 
for little else, than the doing of what should 
be left undone—and thus incurring the 
penalty of broken law. Better, far better 
for both parent and child, had the little one 
not been born, than that he should have a 
birth only that his body may be nourished 
to the stature of manhood. 
For the want of the due exercise of pa¬ 
rental authority multitudes of children of 
both sexes are growing up candidates for 
every evil work. We sometimes almost 
doubt whether there is any such thing as 
genuine parental authority to be found 
among us. 
We have had not a little opportunity to 
judge of the matter under consideration. 
And we have rarely observed a parent that 
seemed to govern his children in accordance 
with the divine commission. How often 
have we seen the mother parley with her 
darling child at the table, for example: — 
There are pies, cakes, preserves, and the 
like upon the table, and plainer food, also 
the child, prompted by pampered appetite, 
asks for pie, perhaps; the mother says no— 
you must eat some of the coarser food first 
— the child says not so. After much effort 
to persuade, and not a little noise and clam¬ 
or on the part of the dear little rebel, the 
mother yields—the child has conquered— 
and this same performance is gone through- 
with every day, or as often as the tempta¬ 
tion is presented, until the child comes to 
an age when lie knows better, or is ashamed 
to conduct in such a way any longer. This 
is one case of a variety that might be cited. 
It serves to illustrate the way that many 
children are bred at the present day; or 
rather the way that they are suffered to 
grow up. What a fearful responsib Tty 
rests upon such parents—deliberately r fil¬ 
ing their children,—making them vvretc d 
for this world even to say nothing of ti at 
which is to come. No such child kno^s 
anything about obedience. If he ever dot 
what he is told to do, it is from some othe» 
motive than that of obedience. Such a 
child will not be very likely to obey God, 
or regard man any farther than prompted 
by self-interest. 
CURIOSITY. 
Curiosity manifests itself early in the 
history < f the child. No sooner does it be¬ 
gin to observe what is about it, than does 
it become curious to know, to touch, to taste 
and to handle. Curiosity, so long as it 
prompts to the investigation of subjects for 
the purpose of obtaining useful knowledge, 
is to be encouraged; for it stimulates to 
healthful, mental and physical actions, and 
the child, or the person who is under its 
rightful exercise, will, as a general thing, 
acquire knowledge with rapidity. The ob¬ 
servation which it induces one to make of 
what is about him, and the inquiries which 
it suggests, are of such a kind, as to keep 
one actively awake to all that is going on 
about him. Curiosity, then, when it pro¬ 
duces a desire to learn the unknown which 
it is necessary to know, by inquiry and re¬ 
search, is to be fostered, especially in the 
young. No one can become learned in any 
department of knowledge, unless he has a 
large share of curiosity, or in other words, 
a desire to know. 
It must be borne in mind, however, that 
a person may have curiosity,—a strong de¬ 
sire to know and to see new things just for 
the sake of novelty. Here curiosity be¬ 
comes an end, a mere gratification — a 
sort of inquisitiveness—a prying disposition 
— converting one into a disgusting meddler 
of other persons’ matters. Such an one 
would not know how to pass an unsealed 
letter without reading it —would like to look 
into every drawer,-trunk or chest, just to 
see what is within, not from a desire to pil¬ 
fer, fur such not (infrequently are really 
honest —but must unfortunately, they havS 
the propensity of desiring to know every 
body’s business, as well as a curiou desire 
to see what their neighbors have un posed 
to public view. All such persons' w uld do 
well to v emember the admonition, • Be not 
curious in unnecessary matters, no. to pry 
into the concerns of your neighbor ” 
Curiosity then, when it leads t> inquiry 
and research after knowledge, is to i.e cher¬ 
ished—for the mind of him who is destitute 
of it is destined to remain a b! ik—but 
when it prompts to inquiries which serve 
only to gratify a vain curiosity—to make 
one inquisitive in order that he may become 
a busy-body; then it should not be fostered 
—but disciplined and brought into subjec¬ 
tion to right reason—and thus rendered the 
pioneer of the intellectual powers. 
Sir Isaac Newton was endowed with a 
wonderful share of curiosity which led not 
to inquiries and researches concerning other 
men’s business, but to the investigation of 
nature’s hidden laws. This, with observa¬ 
tion. made him Sir Isaac Newton. 
No child possessed of ordinary capacity 
is destitute of curiosity. The process of 
popular education, has, we doubt not, in 
many instances, so deadened this desire, 
that many a “ mute and inglorious Milton” 
sleeps in the multitude of common men. 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
A New Method of Learning the German 
Language: Embracing Dot a the Analytic and 
Synthetic Modes of instnuiion; being a plain 
and practical way of acquiring the art of Read¬ 
ing, Speaking, and Composing German. By VV. 
H. Woodbury. New York. Mark H. Newman 
& Co. 1850. 
The author lias attempted in preparing 
this Grammar, to unite what should never 
be separated in teaching a language, to wit, 
theory and practice. It is well adapted to 
all classes of learners, and will be found 
peculiarly so to such as would learn the 
language chiefly without the aid of a teach¬ 
er. The work is dedicated to Jas. N. Me 
Elligott, a distinguished scholar and edu¬ 
cator in New York. 
Guard against reading too much or too 
rapidly. Read rather with attention; lay 
the book often down ; impress on your 
mind what you have read and reflect up¬ 
on it. 
Introduce changes in your reading and 
studies. Who reads but little at a time, re¬ 
tains that little the better. • i 
porluaite ant) Giograplpcs. Ho. 10. 
ASA WHITNEY.—THE PACIFIC KAILKOAD. 
We present this week, a portrait of Asa 
Whitney, the projector of the grand scheme 
for a railroad across the Continent. We 
have not succeeded in our search fur the 
materials for a biographical sketch of this 
gentleman, so we give instead extracts 
from Mr. Whitney’s “ memorial to Con¬ 
gress.” 
Mr. W. is at present in England, and the 
proposition to construct a Railroad through 
the British Provinces from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific, attracts much attention among 
the capitalists and politicians of that coun¬ 
try. 
“ The wildest dreams of the ancients,” 
says the Cayuga Chief, “could not have 
reached the realities of the present day.— 
The world moves in progress, with lightning 
like rapidity. Man no longer slumbers.— 
The Ultima Thules of other ages, are found 
to be but the threshholds of things be¬ 
yond. He has learned his strength, and 
while striding on, turns hack vyIlIi surprise 
to look upon the past. Nations have arisen- 
and flourished, boasted of their advance¬ 
ment, and then fallen forever. Over their 
ruins, a later age has driven its triumphal 
car, with the Elements in harness. * * 
A net-work of iron is being woven all 
over our land. No gulf so deep, no stream 
so wide and rapid, <<r mountain side so flinty, 
but what they are o’er leapt or pierced. — 
Among other Railroad projects, is' that of 
Whitney’s. Whitney is no wild dreamer. 
He reduces every thing to certainty. His 
grasp of Intellect, has grappled with the 
gigantic undertaking, and the energy and 
enthusiasm of his soul is given to the work. 
It is an idea worthy of a great mind, and 
when carried into effect and the work com¬ 
pleted, will be a monument to him that con¬ 
ceived it,, binding in bands of iron the At¬ 
lantic with the Pacific shore. 
We say completed. That Railroad will 
be built. The Erie Canal project was a 
thousand fold more chimerical when started. 
If we live, before our hair is all white, we 
expect to steam through the Valley of- the 
Mississippi to the cities of Oregon. The 
project is worthy of an American mind.— 
it will be the link to connect the two oceans, 
and will*be the great thoroughfare of the 
world—a high way of Nations, apply a 
magic wand to the wilderness of the West 
and bring from its solitudes a kind of cities 
and villages and hardy yeomanry, command 
the admiration of the world.and entitle the 
projector to an upper niche in the temple of 
Fame. In speaking of this project, Mr. 
Whitney says: 
‘ Considering as I do, the subject of a 
railroad communication directly across our 
continent to the Pacific ocean as of vast im¬ 
portance, not only to the people of these 
United States, but also to all the world, I 
have, therefore, felt it my duty to place be¬ 
fore my fellow-citizens the whole subject, it 
having been my study and labor, exclusive¬ 
ly, for nearly seven years. 
For yourselves for, your children, for 
your country, for the destitute over-popu¬ 
lation of Europe, without food and without 
homes—for the heathen, the barbarian, and 
the savage, on whom the blessings and 
lights of civilization and Christianity have 
never shone, and for all the human family, 
and not for myself, do I ask you to exam¬ 
ine this subject. Read and examine it. I 
have endeavored in the following pages to 
make the subject plain and simple, and if 
I have not failed to make myself understood, 
I do feel that the feasibility, the expediency, 
and vast importance of the work can no lon¬ 
ger be doubted. And I hope I have not 
failed to interest my fellow-cilizens in it suf¬ 
ficiently to excite each and every one to 
exert his influence to effect the accomplish¬ 
ment of this greatest of works. 
I do consider this subject of vast vital 
importance to the many interests and objects 
I have enumerated. And I do hope for 
those interests, for the glory of our country 
and for the preservation of our Union to 
the Pacific, that the whole subject may be 
examined b} r the people. There is no time 
for delay, for the land the only means will 
he no longer available. 
Will you, then, allow me to take these 
wilderness, waste lands, as they are now 
(except to a small extent,) without timber, 
without navigable streams, without« ; va!ue, 
and impossible of settlement, and biiiikl lhis 
great highway for nations, and from the fa¬ 
cilities which it would afford, settle the lands 
with a population which would be a source 
of wealth and power to the nation,- and 
give to the people a road, not to earn divi¬ 
dends for a company, but requiring tolls 
sufficient only for the expenses of its opera¬ 
tion and repairs and making it the sure 
means of adding millions to the national 
treasury, without the outlay by the nation, 
of one dollar, and all under the control of 
Congress? 
Will you allow me to take these waste 
lands and from their settlement build this 
great thoroughfare for all mankind, the con 
struction of which cannot under any plan, 
advance faster than the settlement of the 
country on its line ? By connecting the 
two together, the facilities which the road 
would afford for settlement, would furnish 
means and facilities for the advancement of 
the work, quite as rapidly as is possible from 
any other source or means. 
Will you let me commence this great 
work ? If I fail you can luse nothing, and 
if I succeed you gain all. Or will you 
have it undertaken by the government, as 
a government work; and would that not 
involve the nation in a debt for millions, bur¬ 
den the people with taxation, create sec¬ 
tional interests and party divisions, involving 
constitutional questions to agitate the whole 
country, and finally fail to accomplish the 
work ?’ ” 
WIFE - MISTRESS - LADY. 
Who marries for love takes a wife; who 
marries for the sake of convenience takes a 
mistress; who marries for consideration 
takes a lady. You are loved by your wife, 
regarded by your mistress, tolerated by 
your lady. You have a wife for yourself, a 
mistress for your house and its friends, and 
a lady for the world. Your wife will agree 
with you, your mistress will accommodate 
you, and your lady will manage you. Your 
wife will take care of your household, your 
mistress of your house, your lady of ap¬ 
pearance. If you are sick, your wife will 
nurse you, your mistress will visit you, and 
your lady will enquire after your health.— 
You take a walk with your wife, a ride 
with your mistress, and join partners with 
your lady. Your wife will share your grief, 
your mistress your money, and your lady 
your debts. If you are dead, your wife 
will shed tears, your mistress lament, and 
your lady wear mourning. A year after 
death marries again your wife, in six months 
your mistress, and in six weeks or sooner, 
when mourning is over, your lady. — Trans¬ 
lated from the German. 
THE BOB Cl I Nil AND CANARIES. 
A Curious circumstance, quite aside 
from the ordinary dictates of instinct, occur- 
ed in the case of a young bobolink, in the 
family of Rev. J. W. Turner, of Great Bar¬ 
rington, Mass. He was caged at first apart 
from a pair of canaries, which were in 
another cage in the same room. The bob¬ 
olink never sang at all from June to Decem¬ 
ber, until he was permitted to share in the 
same cage the civilities and sympathies of 
his neighbors, the canaries, who had been 
so long entertaining him with their sweet 
and unwearied strains. When admitted to 
the same cage with them, he tried most 
assiduously to learn their song. At first, 
however, for a long time, with miserable 
success enough, lie would stand and \\ atch 
them with an agony of attention, and then 
try to imitate their notes. He would swell 
out his throat, and stretch up his neck as 
they did, and then with a violen effort, try 
to sound one note, which, in spite of all his 
zeal and labor, proved to be a mere rough ’ 
scream. At this humiliating failure, he 
would be so provoked and enraged that he 
would fly at his inoffensive and well mean¬ 
ing mates am* teachers, and peck them 
most unmercifully, and drive them from 
their perch. So he did for three or four 
weeks, before any apparent progress was 
made in his studies. But his perseverance 
was equal to the difficulties he had to over¬ 
come. At length he could sound one note 
well, and one only. And so he continued 
for some six weeks longer; learning one 
note at a time, till he had finally completed 
the whole canary song arid could sing it to 
perfection. Then he would sing with them 
in perfect harmony and perfect time, always 
closing at the exact note with them. 
It is also a little singular that, although 
through all this training, lie was never 
known to begin to make a sound, till the 
canaries had first struck the key-note, yet, 
after he had acquired the skill to sing their 
song, he must always himself now gjjve the 
signal by a significant cluck; when, instant¬ 
ly the canaries, generously forgetting or 
forgiving his former incivilities, would strike 
in with him, and perform the piece with the 
greatest perfection, and with the highest 
delight to themselves and the listening fam¬ 
ily, who enjoyed this singular concert 
through the early part of every day for the 
whole summer. 
It is also worthy of remark, that this suc¬ 
cessful essayist in foreign music was never 
known to utter a note, or attempt to utter 
a note in his native tongue, till he had mas¬ 
tered the canary. Then, after a Jew weeks, 
when he found himself something of an in¬ 
dependent singer, and capable, as lie tlio’t 
of leading the choir, he at last ventured to 
go without the chorus and attempt his own 
native melody. In his first .attempt at the* 
solo, it was most diverting to hear him in 
confused notes—part is his native bobolink, 
and part in canary—till at length he was 
able to expel all foreign elements from his 
style, and sing only the pure bobolink. 
Having now succeeded in this, lie pro¬ 
posed to the canaries to try the chorus again, 
and give the “ cluck,” when the canaries, 
instant to the sign, started on singing their 
own native song. But not so the bobolink; 
he threw himself on his “reserved rights” 
and sang bobolink; and they canary. And 
as lie is the chorister, they begin when he 
does, and end when he ends, precisely at 
the same instant. 
When this bobolink was first caught, his 
colors were a bright beautiful black and 
white. After moulting, he, for some reason 
not stated, never resumed his original spring 
dress, but has continued the plain brown, 
like the female, now for two years; and 
sings in the winter as well as in the sum¬ 
mer, especially when the sunshines bright¬ 
ly, and the winds whistle in the trees 
around the dwelling; and now, since his 
character is matured, he is a sprightly, hap¬ 
py» gentlemanly sort of a bird.— Boston 
Traveler. 
A CAPITAL RAT STORY. 
Rev. Walter Colton, in his agreeable 
and Christian-like diary of a voyage to Cal¬ 
ifornia in" a man-of-war, entitled “Dock and 
Port,” relates the following capital story: 
“ I have always felt some regard for a 
rat since my cruise in the Constellation.— 
We were fitting for sea at Norfolk, taking 
in water and provisions; a plank was rest¬ 
ing on the sill of one of the ports which 
communicated with the wharf. One bright 
moonlight evening, we discovered two rats 
on the plank coining into the ship. The 
foremost was leading the other by a straw, 
one end of which each held in his mouth. 
We managed to capture them both, and 
found to our surprise, that the one led by 
the other was stone blind. His faithful 
friend was trying to get him on board, 
where he would have comfortable quarters 
during a three year’s cruise. We felt no 
disposition to kill either, and landed them 
on the wharf. How many there are in this 
world to whom the fidelity of this rat read- 
eth a lesson.” 
Wasps are paper-manufacturers. 
