MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
X 
' f l 
*1 
In a former article under the title of 
“ Criminal Statistics,” it was shown that in¬ 
telligence and virtue, as popularly employed 
by statesmen and others, do not, and never 
have in the history of mankind, been an 
impassable “gulf” between right and wrong 
action. It is one thing to know what is 
right, but another, and a very different thing 
to do what is right. Does the reader sup¬ 
pose that there is a criminal suffering the 
penalty of broken law in the State of New 
York, from the professionally educated man 
down to the’ person who “ cannot,read nor 
write,” that did not know, when committing 
the act for which he is now receiving pun¬ 
ishment, that it was wrong, and that he 
ought not to do it? Did he not feel im¬ 
pelled to commit the act, in most cases, from 
the probabilities of his escaping punish¬ 
ment? Did he not make himself believe, 
that law can be violated without the posi¬ 
tive detection, conviction and punishment of 
its violator ? What matter then, if he knows 
that the act is wrong which he contem¬ 
plates committing, whether he can read and 
write, or not? How much knowledge of 
reading and writing does it require to deter 
a person from doing what he knows, by tra¬ 
dition if from no other source, to be wrong 
and punishable by the powers that be? 
It is historically true of both Greece and 
Home, that “ they were in the early period 
of their history under the restraints of re¬ 
ligion, and, though uneducated, were com¬ 
paratively moral. At a later period edu¬ 
cated men abounded in these countries.— 
Statesmen and philosophers, artists and, 
poets,—men whose knowledge of letters, 
has scarcely if ever been equalled in the 
history of the world. Yet, notwithstand¬ 
ing this state of society, contempt was cast 
upon the established worship, the bonds of 
religious restraints were broken, and iniqui¬ 
ty abounded.” Where were the conserva¬ 
tive and restraining influences of letters, 
about which we hear so much in modern 
times ? 
The testimony of history, if you come 
down to modern times, is found in har¬ 
mony with that of past ages. It is stated 
in the Moral Statistics of France, “that 
crimes against property and person are most 
numerous in proportion to the population, 
in those parts of the kingdom in which the 
people are the best educated.” “ This 
must be owing,” says a distinguished writer, 
*• in part to the increased power which edu¬ 
cation gives of doing either good or evil, 
and in part, to defects in the education af¬ 
forded. The children are not taught any 
system of’ morals based on the nature of 
man and his social relations, but are left 
each to grope his way to happiness accord¬ 
ing to the dictates of his individual mind.” 
“ It is not scholarship alone,” says the late 
Dr. Chalmers, “but scholarship impreg¬ 
nated with religion, that tells on the great 
mass of society. We have no faith in the 
efficacy of mechanic institutes, or even 
primary and elementary schools, for build¬ 
ing up a virtuous and well-conditioned peas¬ 
antry, so long as they stand dissevered from 
the lessons of Christian piety. There is a 
charm ascribed to the scholastic system of 
Scotland, and the sanguine imagination is, 
that by importing its machinery into Eng¬ 
land, and Ireland, it will work the same 
marvellous transformations there, on the 
character of their people, that was experi¬ 
enced among ourselves. But it is forgotten, 
that a warm and earnest Christianity, was 
the animating spirit of all our institutions 
for generations after they were formed, and 
that, wanting this, they can no more per¬ 
form the function of moralizing the people, 
than skeletons can perform the functions 
and put forth the faculties of living men.— 
The scholarship of mere letters might to 
a certain extent, have diffused intelligence 
among the people, but it is* mainly to the 
religious ingredient that the moral greatness 
of our peasantry is owing.” 
Dr. Labaree, President of Middlebury 
College, Vt., says, “That mere intellectual 
light is not sufficient to restrain men from 
vice. This may be clearly exhibited in the 
history of individuals. Are they virtuous 
in proportion to their knowledge? Take 
some of the most renowned luminaries of 
Athens— Pericles, Alcibiades, Themis- 
tocles —and compare them in point of 
morals, with an equal number of Indian 
Chiefs in our Western wilderness; and the 
red men would be put to the blush by the 
debasing vices and voluptuousness of the 
refined and enlightened Greeks. Or, select 
one hundred prominent, educated men from 
among the Romans, including the Caesars, 
the Clodiuses, the Anthonys, and the 
Catilixes, and compare their morality with 
that of as many ignorant slaves in our 
Southern States, and the comparison would 
be favorable to the slaves.” 
Thus it is seen whether we trace the his¬ 
tory of nations, ancient or modern, that the 
same great truth is demonstrated, to wit, 
that knowledge and virtue, in the sense of 
selfishness which shows itself in acts of 
braverv, and deeds of valor, cannot save a 
nation from desolation and utter ruin. The 
same truth is no less forcibly inculcated in 
the history of individuals. 
The great lesson taught by the universal 
history of mankind is, and it should be 
every where and to every body proclaimed 
with the deep earnestness of sacred truth, 
that, “ Human happiness has no perfect se¬ 
curity but freedom; —freedom none but 
virtue;—virtue none but knowledge;—and 
neither, freedom, nor virtue, nor knowledge, 
has any vigor, or immortal hope, except in 
the principles of the Christian faith, and 
in the sanctions of the Christian Religion.” 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
The Home; or Family Cares and Family Joys.— 
By Frkdejuka Bremer. Translated by Mary 
Howitt. The Author’s Edition. New York: 
G. P. Putnam. 
Who is ignorant of “ Family Cares?”— 
If any, let him procure “ The Home” and 
read it—and even if he is familiar with 
them, he may learn here how to diminish 
them and make them less onerous. 
Who, that has a family, does not desire 
to increase “ Family Joys ?” For it is the 
joys of home, that render it “ sweet,” and 
to many, “ be it ever so humble a place,” 
it is the one above all others where are en¬ 
joyed the purest and richest of earth’s af¬ 
fections. When we hear a person remark¬ 
ing, as we sometimes do, that he has no 
love of home, we conclude that he must 
have had what he regarded as a very, very 
bad home, or else he is destitute of natural 
affections. Study “Milton’s Paradise Lost” 
if you would learn the history of such as 
were without home attachments, even when 
home was all joys. 
He that has learned how to diminish 
Family Cares without neglecting duty, and 
by faithfully discharging it, how to increase 
Family Joys, has the Art and philosophy of 
domesticity and thus of making home hap¬ 
py. Dewey has “The Home.” Ask for 
Putnams edition. 
Chapin’s Practical Grammar for Beginners. 
Analytic and Philosophical Grammar. By 
Joel Chapin, Principal of the Trumbull Institute, 
Author of the Practical Grammar, etc. New 
Haven: Durrie & Peck. 1851. 
Not having time now to examine these 
text-books on grammar, we merely ac¬ 
knowledge the receipt of them from the 
author. We purpose hereafter to give them 
a more extended notice. 
The Iliad of Homer, Translated into English 
Blank Verse, by Wm. Cowper. Edited by 
Robert Southey, LL. D. With notes by M. 
A. Dwight, Author of “ Grecian and Roman 
Mythology.” New York: Geo. P. Putnam. 
Fidelity to the original author is always 
due from the translator. Pope in transla¬ 
ting the Iliad, is said to have made too much 
sacrifice for rhyme’s sake. Imitations or 
paraphases are far too often employed by 
such as would be known as translators.— 
Cowper’s Homer is regarded as one of the 
best translations of the Iliad, that has been 
made. It is well printed. For sale at D. 
M. Dewey’s. 
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, for 
August, was promptly issued as usual and 
contains much entertaining and instructive 
matter. For sale at D. M. Dewey’s. Only 
25 cents a month. 
Music serves to make a home pleasant, 
by engaging many of its inmates in a de¬ 
lightful recreation, and thus dispelling the 
Sourness and gloom which frequently arise 
from mortified vanity, from discontent and 
envy. 
If we scrutinize the lives of men of ge¬ 
nius, we shall find that activity and persist¬ 
ence are their leading peculiarities. Obsta¬ 
cles cannot intimidate, nor labor weary, 
nor drudgery disgust them. 
For the R.ural New'-Yorker. 
LUNAR INFLUENCE, 
lx the course of a series of investigations 
on the causes of a few meteorological phe¬ 
nomena, I have arrived at a curious fact 
which I lay before the scientific world thro’ 
vour columns, in the hope that it may re¬ 
ceive such attention from practical meteoro¬ 
logists as may either establish or disprove 
its existence. It is this:—The rays of the 
moon depress the temperature of the earth! 
This is supported by the evidence of fig¬ 
ures which cannot lie. I took Mr. E. Mer- 
iam’s table of hourly observations, publish¬ 
ed in the Regent’s Reports for 1848, and 
from those observations I ascertained the 
difference in temperature of the two periods, 
4 o’clock, A. M., and 4 o’clock, P. M.; of 
each day. These differences I found for 
the term of 12 lunar months commencing 
with Dec. 1st, 184V. Dividing each lunar 
month at the half moon, I assigned that 
part of the month in which the moon full¬ 
ed, to the full moon’s side of a new column 
of figures, and the part in which the new 
moon occurred, I assigned to the new 
moon side, thus dividing the year into two 
equal parts. On adding together the total 
differences of temperature during the full 
moon’s half year, I found the total reduc- 
tiion to be 1711° Fahrenhiet,—the total for 
the new moon was 14V2 0 , making a differ¬ 
ence in temperature of 239°. This amount 
is the excess of reduction of temperature, 
caused doubtless, by the action of the moons 
rays. This influence may be safely set 
down at 239-1472 of the natural radiating 
power of the earth, considered as a whole, 
clouds &c., included; this fraction, reduced, 
gives us the simple expression l-6th nearly 
—which may therefore be used in calcula¬ 
ting the influence of the moon’s rays. 
This is not settled however, one twelve 
month’s observations may not be supported 
by the next, hence we must examine far¬ 
ther. I would invite the attention of those 
who are in possession of daily observations 
on the temperature, to this point. In ma¬ 
king another series of calculations with 9 
o’clock. P, M., and 4 A. M.; I found the 
side of the full moon to preponderate in 
such a degree that the resultant fraction, 
expressing the lunar influence, was nearly 
one-fifth; this being gained by the influence 
of the moon, remaining the same with a 
much smaller denominator; as the total 
number of degrees of reduction for the full 
moon was but, about 875°. 
There are but three hypotheses under 
which an explanation of this phenomenon 
is feasible. 1st. The existence of a cool¬ 
ing property in the rays of the moon. 2d. 
The dispersion of the clouds by the agency 
of moonlight, and the consequent increase 
of radiation of caloric, from the earth. 3d. 
The supposition that light and heat are sub¬ 
stances, and possess mutual affinities for 
each other, and that light is possessed of a 
higher dispersive power than caloric—the 
rays of the sun consisting of both light and 
heat, strike the surface of the moon, the 
convex surface of the moon reflects the rays 
in the same manner as would any convex 
mirror; heat is not so readily dispersed as 
light, hence, light loses a part of its heat, 
and its affinity is unsatisfied. Reaching 
the earth, the affinities of light and heat for 
each other, render a portion of the heat, 
and perhaps a portion of the light insensi¬ 
ble. Which' one of these hypotheses is 
correct, I will not presume to say. 
C. H. Strowger. 
NEW OBSERVATORY AT BUFFALO, 
The Buffalo Commercial states that a 
new observatory is now in process of erec¬ 
tion near that city. It was projected by 
Dr. Van Duzee, of that city. The tower 
with its moveable dome is nearly finished. 
Henry Fitz, of New York, is now manufac¬ 
turing the large refracting telescope, which 
will have a clear aperture of eight inches, 
and a focal distance of ten feet. Its mo¬ 
tion will be regulated by clock work adjus¬ 
ted to siderial time. The observatory will 
also contain a transit instrument, right as¬ 
cension and declination circles, comet seek¬ 
er and other instruments necessary to carry 
on a complete set of astronomical observa¬ 
tions, all constructed in as perfect a manner 
as the present advanced state of the art 
will admit. 
J Theory is the guide of practice, and 
I practice is the life of theory. 
SUGAR CANE. 
The Sugar Cane, Saccharum officinamm 
belongs to the Natural order Graminaceae, 
the order including the grasses. Its root is 
perennial the same roots sending up canes 
for 20 years—its stem is jointed, smooth, 
about two inches in diameter, and grows to 
the height of from eight to twenty feet— 
the number of joints varying from thirty to 
eighty. The leaves are long, amplexicaul, 
i. e. clasping the stem, and pointed. The 
flowers are small and produced on a terminal 
loose panicle. “ The calyx, a glume of two 
valves, which are lance-shaped, pointed^ 
erect, concave and equal; the base being 
surrounded by long woolly hairs. The cor¬ 
olla is composed of two valves shorter than « 
those of the calyx, and of a fine delicate 
texture. The germ is oblong, and supports 
two feathered styles terminated by a plu- 
mous stigma; the seed is oblong, and is in¬ 
vested by the corolla.” 
The Sufjar Cane is indigenous to the 
American continent and islands. It was 
found growing spontaneously by Columbus 
and his voyagers. There are two or three 
species cultivated. The cana criolla, and 
the cana de otaheiti, differ in their general 
appearance, the latter being of a much 
lighter color, and yields more sugar than 
the former. The Otaheite Cane is gene¬ 
rally cultivated in the tropical islands of the 
Pacific. 
It is generally propagated from cuttings. 
The top joints are selected for this purpose, 
being less rich in saccharine matter. It I 
has been doubted whether it can be pro¬ 
duced from the seed. Bruce affirms, how¬ 
ever, that he has seen it raised from seed in 
Nubia. The seeds may not prove produc¬ 
tive in all countries, and probably do not.— 
That they do in some is a matter of fact. 
It is a plant that produces a great abund¬ 
ance of seed. 
Father Hennepin says that “ From 90 
miles above the mouth, the banks of the 
Mississippi are full of canes.” Francis 
Ximenes mentions the sugar cane as grow¬ 
ing spontaneously near the Rio de la Plata 
in Soufh America. 
The sugar cane is one of the most im¬ 
portant vegetable productions of the tropi¬ 
cal regions. It is calculated by McCulloch 
that the cost of tropical sugar to the peo¬ 
ple of the United States and Europe, annu¬ 
ally, is 26,301,000 pounds sterling,amount¬ 
ing to about $130,000,000. w. 
THE BUTTERFLY INTELLIGENT. 
Last Sabbath morning a friend of ours 
was in the garden, looking at the flowers; 
his sister was standing beside him, when 
a large butterfly came flying in her face, 
and then lighted upon her brother’s head, 
apparently much distressed. She took hold 
of the wings of the insect and gently re¬ 
moved it from its resting place, and doing 
so discovered three small ants upon the leg 
of the butterfly biting., it severely. They 
removed the ants, and the butterfly flew 
away apparently greatly delighted. This 
young lady has been kind to the weeping 
willow caterpillars, and had given their 
humble and hated worms a place of rest, 
■ to await that change provided for them by 
| nature in passing from the worm to the but- 
( terfly. The humblest worm is grateful for 
kindness, and sensible of favors. This but¬ 
terfly was without doubt one of the little 
brood she had provided for .—Journal of 
Commerce. 
CANINE SAGACITY. 
A Brooklyn paper tells a story of a 
| *dr. Robinson, of Flatbush, L. I., who has 
two dogs, the one a small spaniel, and the 
other a large, half-breed deer-hound. The 
small dog was playing with Mr. R.’s child, 
near a cistern, when the child fell head 
foremost, into the water; the agonized 
mother, who, from a window, witnessed the 
occurrence, saw the spaniel run to the ken¬ 
nel of the hound, who instantly ran to the 
spot, and before the mother could reach the 
child, the noble animal had placed it in 
safety. Instinct might have induced the 
small dog to attempt a rescue, but evidently 
knowing his inability to do so, what pre¬ 
vented him trying, and caused him, quick 
as thought, to fetch the stronger? 
The blood of animals consists of small 
red globules, floating in a transparent fluid 
called serum. In man the diameter of 
these globules is about the four-thousandth 
part of an inch. Hence it fellows that in a 
drop of blood which would remain sus¬ 
pended from the point of a fine needle, 
there must be about a million of globules. 
NO MORE. 
No more —Oh : what unutterable grief 
Dwells in those chill prophetic words— 
The tomb of every warm l>elief, 
They strike upon the heart’s deep chords 
Like the faint murmur of a dream, 
The shadows from some mystic shore. 
Where jewels flash—whose roses gleam— 
We hear the wailing (ones—“ No more:” 
No more'.—The summer founts may throw 
Their silvery music o:i the air, 
Tbe sunset iuiid its opal glow 
To skies that seemed before so fair: — 
And such a flood of liquid light 
May rest on mount, and sea, and shore. 
As bathed old Ida’s classic height, 
Yet some low voice shall 3ay—“ No morel” 
No morel Throughout the boundless earth 
They blend v\ ith hope’s fallacious dream. 
They echo thro’ the haunts of mirth, 
A whisper of the past they seem 
Who hath not heard ’mid light and song, 
’Mid pageantry, and pride, and power. 
Those spirit-voices round him throng. 
That mock the glittering festal hour. 
The heart :s but a wasting mine, 
An altar for some idol kept, 
’Till o’er the desecrated shrine 
The stonn-gust hath too rudely swept— 
A pedestal too wildly placed, 
Flooded by every passing wave. 
Recording vows so soon effaced — 
A temple reared upon the grave! 
The pest-worm feeds upon the rose, 
The violet bears no deathless bloom, 
What tints our morning skies disclose, 
What darkness lingers round the tomb!' 
What memories of buried love. 
What earnest tones forever fled, 
What yearnings for the world above, 
Wl.at lonely vigils with the dead 1 
Our dead'.—Can such a voice arise 
In rebel-grief upon the air, 
The hosts that fill th’ eternal skies, 
What can they know of woe or care? 
Our dead!—Oh! who shall say our dead, 
Released from this.dark charnel-shore. 
Hath not th’ immortal spirit fled 
To live when “ Time shall he no more!” 
PIOUS CHRISTIAN FEMALES. 
Pious Christian females, presenting pat¬ 
terns of genuine wives and mothers, often 
furnish a beautiful contrast to the prevail¬ 
ing depravation of manners, and reckless 
pursuit of earthly things, to be found in 
families of Pagans, or of mere nominal 
Christians. By them, the seeds of Christi¬ 
anity were planted in the souls of those who 
afterwards produced great effect as teach¬ 
ers of the church. The pious Nonna, by 
her prayers and the silent influence of the 
religion which shone through her life, grad¬ 
ually won over to the Gospel her husband 
Gregory, who had belonged to an unchris¬ 
tian sect; and he became a devoted Bishop. 
The first born son was carried, soon after 
his birth, to the altar of the church, when 
they placed a volume of the gospels in his 
hands, and dedicated him to the service of 
the Lord. The example of a pious educa¬ 
tion, and this early consecration first receiv¬ 
ed from his mother, of which he was often 
reminded, made a deep impression on the 
son; and he compares his mother to Han¬ 
nah, who consecrated Samuel to God. This 
impression abode with him while exposed, 
during the years of his youth which he 
spent at Athens, to the contagion of the 
Paganism which there prevailed. 
This son, the distinguished Church teach¬ 
er, Gregory of Nazianzen,saysof his mother, 
that her emotions when dwelling on the 
historical fact connected with her faith, over¬ 
came all sense of pain from her own suf¬ 
ferings, and death surprised her while pray¬ 
ing at the altar. The pious Arethusa, of 
Antioch, retired from the bustle of the 
world, to which she belonged by her condi¬ 
tion, into the still retreat of domestic life. 
Having lost her husband at the age of 20 
she chose, from regard to his memory and 
a desire to devote herself wholly to the ed¬ 
ucation of her son, to remain a widow, and 
it was owing in part to this early, pious, and 
careful education, that the boy became af¬ 
terwards so well known as the great Church 
teacher, John Chrysostom. In like man¬ 
ner, Monica, by her submissive, amiable, 
and gentle spirit, softened the temper of a 
violent passionate husband, and while she 
had much to sutler from him, scattered the 
seeds of Christianity in the soul of her son, 
Augustine, which after many stormy pas¬ 
sages of life, brought forth fruit in him 
abundantly.— Forest’s Nea.nder. 
True generosity rises above the ordinary 
rules of social conduct, and flows with much 
too full a stream to be comprehended with¬ 
in the precise marks of formal precepts. It 
sacrifices every passion, and adds grace to 
every acquisition of the soul; and if it does 
not necessarily include, at least it reflects a 
lustre upon the whole circle of moral and 
intellectual qualities. 
The memories of childhood, after a ma¬ 
ture age has been attained, are more pow¬ 
erful than many people are aware. And 
especially is this the case, in reference to 
the religious observances which first arrest 
the attention of children. 
We cannot guard too much against in¬ 
dulging in thoughts and actions, which, 
trivial as they may at first appear, would 
give a cast to our whole character, should 
they become settled habits. 
