< 
) 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
BY U WETHERELL. 
INTERESTING TO SCHOOL TEACHERS. 
A teacher was recently tried in Rockingham 
county at the Court of Common Pleas, for punish¬ 
ing a girl who did not obey the orders of the school. 
The Judge instructed the jury that a teacher had 
aright to punish to a reasonable extent for a viola¬ 
tion of the rules; that he had the same right to 
punish that a parent had his own child. But that 
neither teacher nor parent has the right to punish 
to an unreasonable extent. The jury acquitted the 
teacher.— Morning Star, Dover, N. H. 1 
When a parent sends his child to school 
to be instructed, he must do one of two 
things, to wit: either stay and keep his 
child in subjection to the rules of the 
school, or authorize the teacher under 
whose care and direction he places him, to 
do so. The former is inexpedient and im¬ 
practicable, and will not be done. The 
latter, then must be adopted and practiced, 
viz: the child must be governed in matters 
pertaining to conduct—to behavior—as well 
as in such as pertain to mental culture, by 
the teacher. 
The duty of governing, then, as well as 
that of teaching, devolves on the instructor. 
If so, as few, if any will question, then the 
inquiry as to the right to punish, on the 
part of the teacher, is easily met and an¬ 
swered. If the parent punishes for disobe¬ 
dience where obedience is the duty of the 
child, then may the teaeher do the same 
under like circumstances, while the child is 
under his care and instruction. 
Notwithstanding this reasonable view of 
the subject, there are parents, (and the num¬ 
ber is not small,) who, if their children are 
punished at school for disobedience, are 
sure to prosecute the teacher and seek to 
recover a fine from him. This has done 
and is doing much to introduce, to sanction, 
and to perpetuate insubordination in schools 
Nearly all teachers as much as they depre¬ 
cate a disorderly school, can and will en¬ 
dure this, rather than to incur and suffer a 
lawsuit and fine. Every teacher of the 
young, no matter in what grade of schools 
he may be employed, should require and 
exact from every pupil, full, entire and im¬ 
plicit obedience to all such rules and regu¬ 
lations as are found necessary for a good 
and well regulated school. This can b# 
done in most cases with very little corporal 
punishment—and in some without any.— 
Some teachers will succeed with much less 
than others, and in some schools without 
resorting to it at all, while in others they 
find it indispensable. So it is with parents 
in the government of their own children. 
But says Mr. Hine, a Western man, 
“Our proposition is that parents have no 
right to administer physical chastisement to 
their children, and that the whipping of 
children is one of the greatest evils of the 
age.” Now if this proposition which lie 
undertakes to prove, be true, then not only 
such parents as inflict “ physical ” punish¬ 
ment upon their children are wrong, but all 
who employ it in any way whatsoever.— 
This doctrine if carried to its legitimate re¬ 
sults would proclaim liberty forthwith to 
every convict of whatever description or 
wherever, or by whatever authority con¬ 
fined. 
The first argument offered by Mr. H. 
is, “because no human being is born to be 
whipped ” — “ every child’s nature rebels 
against the rod”—“he feels degraded when 
it is applied ”—“it appeals to, and strength- 
> ens his lower propensities, while it weakens 
| the nobler attributes of humanity ”—“ kin- 
> dies rage and revenge and strengthens 
5 these passions.” The second argument is, 
s “ parents have no right to punish, because 
\ they show malice in doing it—and no one 
S is fit to punish when angry—and unless 
l angry a parent cannot punish.” 
) Third— “ Parents are denied the right 
< because they have no standard to guide 
( them — it is wicked and heathenish to cor- 
\ rect a child by corporal chastisement.”— 
Fourth—“ The parent has no right to pun- 
\ ish his child who is in no respect blameable 
> for his conduct ”—“ crying, e. g., is self- 
? defence—now to whip a child for obeying 
< a law of nature, &c .”—“ Why is a child 
disorderly ? Because he has a disorderly 
constitution. Who gave it that constitution ? 
The parents and no one else. Then they 
apply the whip to correct faults which pro¬ 
ceed from themselves.” These are the 
chief arguments offered by Mr. II. to sus¬ 
tain his proposition. 
Let the nature of these arguments as 
they are called, be tested a little: First; no 
human being is born to be a drunkard; 
ergo, it follows from H.’s reasoning that the 
moral degredation, and especially the “phys¬ 
ical ” suffering are wrong, because they de¬ 
grade and weaken the noble attainments of 
humanity. Who inflicts these? No human 
being is born to be disobedient to law— 
multitudes are nevertheless. If this rebel- 
ious spirit is of a later birth, may not the 
“physical” or corporal restraints be of a 
still more recent origin? No child Was 
born to be a liar, a thief, nor a murderer— 
nevertheless many become guilty of all 
these crimes. It does not follow, then, as 
it seems to us, that because no human be¬ 
ing was, or “ is born to be whipped,” that 
he must not be chastised, and restrained, 
and prevented from wrong actions. 
We might go on and show the utter ab¬ 
surdity of the other arguments as they are 
called, did we deem it necessary. These 
notions, and such as these, have, during 
the last twenty years, well nigh undermined 
all authority, whether in parents, or others 
delegated or appointed to exercise it. The 
decision placed at the head of this article 
we' deem in accordance with reason, com¬ 
mon sense and divine revelation. If all 
similar cases were thus decided, the right¬ 
ful exercise of authority would again be 
established, and children would obey. 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
Harpers’ New Monthly Magazine, for 
June has been received. This first number 
of the second year, and of volume third, 
opens with Thomson’s Summer, with twen¬ 
ty-five illustrations. This poem alone, with 
the illustrations, is worth the price of the 
number. The other contents of the num¬ 
ber, like those of its predecessors, are varied 
and good. 
D. M. Dewey mails the work to any part 
of the United States, and Canada. Terms 
$3 per annum,—two copies, $5—25 cents 
a number at News Room, Arcade Hall. 
First Lessons in Botany: Designed for common 
schools in the United States ; by Alphonso 
Wood, A. M., Author of The Class-Book of 
Botany. Boston; Crocker & Brewster. 1850. 
“ The science of Botany,” says Dr. Wm. 
Darlington, “has for its object the most 
lovely of all the inanimate works of God. 
It treats of those beautiful forms which an¬ 
nually unfold themselves to our admiring 
gaze—which everywhere clothe and deco¬ 
rate the teeming surface of the earth, af¬ 
fording directly or indirectly the substance 
of all animals, and regaling every sense of 
every creature which has a capacity to be 
gratified. It is a science peculiarly appro¬ 
priate to gentle minds. Its cultivation im¬ 
poses no tax upon the feeling, shocks no 
sensibility, involves no cruelty. All its in¬ 
cidents and attributes are promotive of 
health and pure intellectual pleasure. — 
Why should not such a science be made 
an indispensable branch of education ? As 
a mere accomplishment it is entitled to rank 
with any of those ornamental acquirements 
to which so much time is devoted. As a 
means of enlarging and disciplining the 
mind, training it to habits of correct obser¬ 
vational and profitable reflection, the study 
of plants is far superior to many of those 
fashionable and fugitive attainments which 
now so frequently engross the attention of 
the young. It is a pursuit, too, which car¬ 
ries with it its own reward. The knowl¬ 
edge which it affords is at once pleasing in 
the acquisition, and of enduring value. It 
is continually called for, and always at com¬ 
mand to minister to the gratification of its 
possessor, whether in the garden, the field, 
or the forest” 
The “ First Lessons,” is just the book for 
young beginners who wish to become ac¬ 
quainted with the highly useful and impor¬ 
tant science of Botany. I. is well suited as 
an introduction to the “ Class Book,” de¬ 
signed for the use of students in the high 
seminaries of learning. We commend the 
“ Lessons ” to the notice of teachers of com¬ 
mon schools. For sale at D. Hoyt’s State 
St. Bookstore, Rochester. 
Note. —In the seventeenth edition of the 
“ Class Book,” just published, the “ Synop-' 
sis of the Natural System ” is thoroughly 
reconstructed and much improved. 
MAY BUGS. 
May-bugs have been unusually numer¬ 
ous this season. This bug is classed in the 
family called Melolonthado e or Melolonthi- 
ans. The body of this insect is oblong 
oval, convex, and of a brownish color. Its 
jaws are admirably fitted for cutting and 
grinding the leaves of trees which furnish 
the beetle its chief subsistence. The claws 
of these bugs are well suited to support 
them while feeding, and their strong and 
jagged fore-legs are formed for digging into 
the ground, the place where the eggs are 
deposited. 
They feed on the leaves of trees and 
shrubs. Their duration, in the perfect 
state, is very brief. After pairing, the males 
soon perish. The females enter the earth 
to the depth of about six inches, where 
they^deposit their eggs, varying from one to 
two hundred, from each female. After de¬ 
positing the eggs, the female returns to the 
surface of the earth and soon dies. 
From these eggs, it is said, are hatched 
in about 14 days, little whitish grubs, each 
with six legs near the head, and a mouth 
with strong jaws. The grub, when in a 
state of rest, is in the shape of a crescent 
Farmers know them well. They are very 
destructive to the roots of various plants, 
often destroying the hopes of the husband¬ 
man. 
In the summer they are found in the 
vegetable mould near the earth’s surface: 
as winter approaches they descend below 
the reach of the frost where they remain 
in a torpid state until spring. Hence the 
notion that plowing Indian-hills late in the 
fall will destroy grubs, is not well founded. 
When spring arrives they change their skins, 
and return near the surface of the earth 
where they renew their destructive work. 
At the close of the third and some say the 
fourth or fifth summer, they cease eating, 
and descend into the earth to the depth of 
about two feet, when and where an>oval 
cavity is formed by each. In this cavity 
the work of transformation is completed and 
the perfect beetle finds its way to the sur¬ 
face of the earth from which it usually 
emerges in the night-time. 
These bugs pass the day, mostly upon 
trees, supporting themselves, or rather cling¬ 
ing to the under side of the leaves, in a state 
of repose. At the approach of evening 
they leave their place of rest and begin to 
fly about, and continue on the wing till to¬ 
ward midnight. They dart, while flying 
every whither, striking against objects that 
are at rest with considerable force. Hence 
the proverb—“As blind as a beetle.”— 
They become at times a very great scourge. 
Mouffet says, that in the year 1574, 
such numbers of them fell into the river 
Severn, as to stop the wheels of the water¬ 
mills; and it is stated in the Philosophical 
Transactions, that in the year 1688, they 
filled the hedges and trees of Galway, in 
such infinite numbers as to cling to each 
other like bees when swarming; and when 
on the wing, darkened the air, annoyed 
travelers, and produced a sound like distant 
drums. In a short time, the leaves of all 
the trees for some miles around were almost 
totally consumed, so that the trees wore the 
aspect of winter. 
When so numerous as to injure fruit trees, 
they may be destroyed by spreading blank¬ 
ets under the trees, and shaking the branches 
and thus causing the bugs to fall from the 
leaves, when they may be easily destroyed, 
by throwing them into boiling water—after 
which they may be given to hogs as food. 
These beetles have been gathered in this 
way by pailfuls. 
Millions and millions of the grubs which 
form these beetles are destroyed annually 
by the jay, the red-winged-blackbird, and 
the crow. Nevertheless, because these 
birds sometimes, perchance, destroy a little 
corn, and it is probable that they learned to 
do this in pursuit of grubs, they must be 
punished capitally—notwithstanding, as is 
seen, they are the farmers true co-workers. 
Alas! what folly. When will man learn 
wisdom ? It is hoped that he will do so 
before he has exterminated the birds which 
are almost as essential to him as seed-time 
and harvest. Were it not for the birds 
which keep the insects in check, there are 
many kinds of vegetable productiofts of 
which it would be true, that though there 
might be a seed-time, there would be no 
harvest. Spare the birds then! Allow no 
one to enter upon your farm to shoot them. 
Sooner suffer your corn—your timber to be 
carried away — for these you can replace 
—not so concerning the birds. If any of 
them trouble you a little in the spring, bet¬ 
ter hire a boy to stand in the fields a few 
days, that these summer destroyers of in¬ 
sects may be preserved, to do that service 
which cannot be so well performed by any 
other agency at your command. 
We acknowledge our indebtedness to Dr. 
Harris for many of the facts concerning 
the habits of the May-bug. w. 
TANNIN. 
It is the presence of Tannin, one of pro¬ 
ducts of the vegetable kingdom which gives 
astringency to the plant. This substance 
when pure, is colorless, scentless, very brit¬ 
tle, breaking with vitreous fracture, intense¬ 
ly astringent and soluble in water, alcohol 
or ether, though it does not attract moist¬ 
ure. Possessing a strong affinity for gela¬ 
tine, it readily combines with this substance 
in the hides of animals, giving to us, for our 
comfort and convenience, various kinds of 
Leather. It is found mostly if not entire¬ 
ly, within the bark. 
According to Sir H. Davy, the largest 
quantity is contained in the white or inner 
bark next the alburnum or sap wood. The 
extractive matter—which gives to leather its 
softness and pliability—is found mainly in 
the middle or colored part of the bark, 
whilst the epidermis or outer and dead bark 
seldom furnishes either. Hence the reason 
that a given weight of bark from a young 
and thrifty tree will yield more of the tan¬ 
nin and extractive matter, than can be 
obtained from that of old and large trees. 
It has been found also that the propor¬ 
tions will vary under various circumstances 
and in different seasons of the year. Thus, 
Dr. Duncan mentions that Mr. Biggin found 
more than four and a half times greater 
quantity in oak bark, cut in the spring, than 
in the same amount cut in the winter. It 
must therefore be intimately connected in 
its production with the wonderful process 
of vegetable secretion. 
As Tannin alone would make hard, brit¬ 
tle leather, entirely unsuited to the necessi¬ 
ties of man, we can but admire the wisdom 
of the Creator who thus places with it the 
counteracting extractive matter. 
Although Tanning is an ancient art, but 
a little more than a century has elapsed 
since science came to its aid and shed its 
light upon the process. The barks of the 
Oak and Hemlock are most used, yet Heath, 
Birch, Myrtle, Willow, Red Mangrove, Oak 
galls, Laurel leaves and other substances 
are used. The emp)reumatic oil of Birch 
prepared by the Tartars from the bark of 
the white birch is also used, and what may 
seem singular, bark in a state of decompo¬ 
sition is said to produce the article most es¬ 
teemed. t. e. w. 
CURIOUS FACTS. 
Bees are geometricians. The cells are 
so constructed as, with the least quantity 
of materials, to have the largest sized spa¬ 
ces, and least possible loss of interstice. 
The mole is a meteorologist. 
Tiie bird called the nine killer is an arith¬ 
metician; as also the crow, the wild turkey, 
and some other birds. 
The torpedo, the ray, and the electric 
eel, are electricians. 
The nautilus is a navigator. He raises 
and lowers his sails, casts and weighs an¬ 
chor, and performs other nautical acts. 
Whole tribes of birds are musicians. 
The beaver is an architect, builder, and 
wood-cutter. He cuts down trees, and 
erects houses and dams. 
The monkey is a rope-dancer. 
The marmot is a civil engineer. He not 
only builds houses, but constructs aqueducts 
and drains to keep them dry. 
The white ants maintain a regular army 
of soldiers. 
The squirrel is a ferryman. With a chip 
or piece of bark for a boat, and his tail for 
a sail, he crosses a stream. 
Caterpillars are silk-spinners. 
Dogs, wolves, jackals, and many others’ 
are hunters. 
The black bear and the heron are fisher¬ 
men. 
The ants have regular day-laborers. 
In some experiments by Broussonnet, 
many species of fish lived several days in 
water too hot for the hand to bear it for an 
instant Sounerat states that in one of the 
Manillas, there is a hot spring with a tem¬ 
perature so high, that he could not bear his 
hand in it, yet he saw fish swimming about 
it* apparently not incommoded by the heat 
PRAYER FOR SLEEP- 
In a beautiful hymn composed by Sir Thomas Brown, 
as a half adieu for each night to the world; are these strife* 
mg lines :— 
“ Sleep is a death; O make me try, 
By sleeping, what it is to die; 
And as I gently lay my head 
On my grave as now my bed; 
Howev r I rest, great God, let me 
Awake again, at last, with thee. 
And thus assured, behold I lie 
Securely—or to wake or die. 
These are my drowsy days; in vain 
I do now wake to sleep again. 
O come that hour, when I shall never 
Sleep again, but wake forever.” 
THE GATEWAY TO ETERNITY. 
There is a solemn mystery which hangs 
like an impenetrable cloud around the dread 
entrance to eternity. We travel with our 
friends, neighbors and fellow men, up to 
this mysterious spot, and there the immor¬ 
tal spirit, dislodged from its frail tenement 
of clay, is ushered in a moment through its 
iron gateway — but we cannot follow them. 
Our most intense vison cannot penetrate 
an inch beyond this adamantine wall, which 
conceals the spirit land and its wonderful 
mysteries, from our view. But our time 
will come to pass this iron gateway. We 
shall enter it alone. Each man for him¬ 
self, in his own dread experience, must 
pass the solemn boundary. He knows not 
—he cannot know, the hour until it ar¬ 
rives. And yet how very unconcerned, 
now negligent, how careless of a prepara¬ 
tion for this dread hour are the multitudes 
which crowd and flutter for a day on life’s 
brief stage. 
Says a writer:—Our imaginations are 
intercepted in their flight to eternity by a 
dark and cloudy envelopment. Ere we 
can realize that distant world of souls, we 
must scale this awful barricade which se¬ 
parates the visible from the invisible; we 
must make our escape from all the close, 
warm and besetting urgencies which, in this 
land of human bodies, are ever plying us 
with constant and powerful solicitation, and 
force our spirits across the boundaries of 
sense. We know not if there be another 
tribe of beings in the universe who have 
such a task to perform. Angels have no 
death to undergo. There is no such affair 
of unnatural violence between them and 
their final destiny. It is for man, and for 
aught that appears, it is for man alone, to 
fetch from the other side of a material pano¬ 
rama that hems and encloses him the great 
and abiding realities with which he has 
everlastingly to do. It is for him, so locked 
in an imprisoned clay, and with no other 
loop-holes of communication between him¬ 
self and all that is around him, than the 
eye and ear—it is for him to light up in his 
bosom a lively and realizing sense of things, 
which eye hath never seen and ear hath 
never heard. It is for man alone to travel 
in thought over the ruins of a mighty deso¬ 
lation, and beyond the wreck of that pres¬ 
ent world, by which he is encompassed, to 
conceive that future world in which he is 
to expiate forever. 
I 
Gratitude. — Be careful to teach your ^ 
children gratitude. Lead them to acknowl¬ 
edge eveiy favor that they receive, to speak 
of their benefactors, and to remember them 
in their prayers. Accustom them to dis¬ 
tinguish with a marked regard, their in- ; 
structors and those who have aided them 
in the attainment of goodness or piety. It 
is an interesting circumstance in the life of \ 
Ann, Countess of Pembroke, who was dis- ) 
tinguished more than two centuries since by < 
her learning, her decision of character, the 
languages she acquired, and the honors she j : 
enjoyed, that she erected a monument to 
the memory of her tutor, and always spoke \ < 
of him with the utmost veneration, as her 
guide in the rudiments of knowledge. 
In countries enlightened by the Gospel } ) 
the most formidable and (it is to be feared) \ 
the most frequent impediment to men’s < 
turning the mind inward upon themselves, 
is, that they are afraid of what they shall 
find there! There is an aching hollowness 
in the bosom, a dark cold speck at the heart, 
an obscure and boding sense of somewhat ' 
that must be kept out of sight of the con- < j 
science—some secret lodger, whom they I 
can neither resolve or retain. 
Gems of Thought.— -It is our main busi- M 
ness in this world to prepare for the next. > 
Is that a death-bed where the Christian lies 1 
Yes, but not his; ’tis death itself there dies ! 
If a man lives and dies a mere professor, 
it had been better for him if he had lived >' 
and died a mere heathen. 
When low-spirited, remain rather alone. 
In company be as cheerful as possible. It / 
is incredible to what an extent a gloomy j > 
and surly deportment disfigure—how pre- ' 
possessing cheerfulness is. 
Witty sayings are as easily lost as the ■ ^ 
pearls slipping off a broken string; but a > j 
word of kindness is seldoms poken in vain. 
It is a seed which, even when dropped by >, . 
chance, springs up a flower. 
I ) 
