MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
c feaimt 
[ Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. ] 
WHERE ARE GREAT INTELLECTS FORMED I 
BY A FARMER’S AVTFE. 
As ono after another of the mighty intel¬ 
lects that exercise such sway over tho pub¬ 
lic mind pass from among us, it is well to 
inquire in what direction avo are to look for 
those wdio aro to take their places in tho 
great arena of life, and examine into tho 
operation on the young mind, of the vari¬ 
ous pursuits of life. I am aware that this 
is rather a trite subject, nevertheless it is 
ono which will admit of frequent considera¬ 
tion. 
When avo cast our eyes over tho vast ex¬ 
tent that is now r cov.ered by our every day 
reading, and see the names of eminent men, 
who stand out as beacon-lights in tho vari- 
ous departments of science, literature, arts, 
statesmanship and agriculture, the inquiry 
naturally arises in tho mind, What advanta¬ 
ges have they enjoyed, above what I pos¬ 
sess ? 
It is not my intention to individualize to 
any extent, but history will confirm the > as¬ 
sertion that a large proportion of those who 
have acquired tho respect and admiration of 
mankind, have been the students of nature 
in her rural aspects. Tho most successful 
writers, orators, and painters, have drawn 
their imagery from Nature’s vast store¬ 
house. Poets, too, derive from her arcana 
the most beautiful decorations of their pa¬ 
ges. No one could suppose that ho, whose 
poetry wo may say, is “ read of all men,” 
would have been the poet so universally ad¬ 
mired in his works, had he been born and 
lived in Edinburg instead of Ayrshire.— 
Neither could his sympathies with tho hum¬ 
bler portion of society have been so keenly 
alive, and so feelingly pictured, had he al¬ 
ways been the excise-man, instead of tho 
plowman. Most of the pieces that have 
immortalized his name, and almost deified 
the man in the minds of his countrymen, 
wore composed when under the immediate 
influence of some natural scene connected 
with rural life. After learning that it Avas 
the habit of such a man as Burns, at din¬ 
ner time to retire to his little chamber and 
scribble down tho morning’s reflections, let 
no farmer’s son or daughter, of our day, say 
they have no time for mental improvement. 
No one could read Hogg’s thrilling de¬ 
scriptions of snow-storms in tho Highlands, 
and believo they could have been written 
by any but a partaker in the scones. Yet 
the “ Ettrick Shepherd,” who acquired a 
world-wide reputation for his beautiful po¬ 
etic delineations, Avas a poor, hard-working 
country boy, without the advantages that 
may bo enjoyed by the poorest American 
child. I could fill pages with examples, but 
will leave them to tho intelligent mind to 
supply and bring the subject to a practical 
examination. 
Whore have tho lives of most of our emi¬ 
nent men beon spent ? Surely not in the 
counting or sales-room of the merchant, 
but in the mechanic’s shop or on tho farm. 
It is true that commerce encourages agricul¬ 
ture and the mechanic and fine arts, because 
their productions are requisite in filling up 
her various ramifications. But look at those 
whoso days have been spent in large cities, 
in active commercial lifo. There aro those 
among them who have acquired large for¬ 
tunes in mercantile pursuits, who possess 
capacious and discriminating minds, and 
benevolence to contribute with an open 
and liberal hand to tho support of those 
enterprises which are establishing for us a 
national character, to whom all honor is 
due—yet, while in tho pursuit of those for¬ 
tunes, their minds could not be directed in¬ 
to other channels. Hence it is not in the 
commercial mart that we must look for 
minds that make their possessors “ head 
and shoulders higher than othor men.” 
Much of the success of life depends on 
an energetic and close application to some 
usoful pursuit. This is probably one rea¬ 
son why superior minds are more likely to 
bo developed in families, where children are 
obliged to perform a moderate amount of 
labor; such children set a higher value on 
their time and improve their opportunities 
bettor than those who aro accustomed to 
having their wants supplied without an ef¬ 
fort of their own. The child who can at¬ 
tend school all the time and feel that his 
father is able and willing to keep him at 
school till he has acquired a thorough edu¬ 
cation, is less likely to apply the energies of 
his mind to his daily exercises, than one who 
knows ho can have but a limited amount of 
instruction. A reflecting child of tho latter 
class Avill be very likely to say to himself, 
“ I must improve every moment, and ac¬ 
quire all the knowledge I can during this 
three months, to enable me to study to ad¬ 
vantage without instruction, the rest of the 
year,” and probably at the end of that time 
ho will be far ahead of his compeer, Avho 
has been at school all the time, and will 
have tho additional advantage of habitual 
application. 
So far from the lighter kinds of labor be¬ 
ing detrimental to profitable thought, those 
pursuits which are in a measure performed 
mechanically, are cncouragers of thought, 
inasmuch as they merely employ tho hands, 
leaving the mind free, and not unfrequently 
the work itself suggests ideas of the most 
beautiful order. Children Avho are raised 
in cities aro in a measure deprived of the 
benefits of concentration. Their minds be¬ 
come diffused among so many objects of at¬ 
traction, that much time is lost and mis¬ 
spent. For instance, a young person may 
spend ono or two evenings a week listening 
to instructive lectures; if he spends the re¬ 
maining four at parties or concerts, how 
much time, think you, would his mind 
dwell on tho truths of the lecture ? Late 
hours and variety aro certainly detrimen¬ 
tal to the thoughtful investigation of any 
grave subject. On the contrary tho pur¬ 
suits that engage children in the coun¬ 
try, their sports, their pastimes, and their 
labors, are necessarily in the open air, 
among objects calculated to foster the best 
feelings, develop the physical energies and 
store tho mind with a knowledge, Avithout 
which, tho efforts of tho Painter and the ef¬ 
fusions of the Poet are tamo and spiritless. 
It is an established principle that the excel¬ 
lence of all Art consists in the nearness of 
its approach to Nature. And Avhat so like¬ 
ly to stir up a desire to understand the 
principles that govern and keep in their 
places the millions of atoms of which this 
vast Universe is composed, as a constant 
familiarity with their beautiful operations ? 
In our country, where the avenues of dis¬ 
tinction are alike open to all—how cheering 
to the toil-worn parents, the thought that 
they may live to see tho son they are striv¬ 
ing so hard to educate, taking his place 
among men filling a large space in the an¬ 
nals of his country’s fame. 
I would, by no means, undervalue early 
advantages, but I think there is often a 
great and serious injury inflicted on chil¬ 
dren by over-anxiety of the parent to bring 
forward the intellect to an intense develop¬ 
ment, especially if the child evinces uncom¬ 
mon forwardness. How many precocious 
children have been ruined, physically and 
mentally, by this forcing process. Hear 
what one of its victims, the lamented Mar¬ 
garet Fuller Ossole says upon this sub¬ 
ject: 
“ My father thought to gain time by 
bringing forward tho intellect as early as 
possible. Thus I had tasks given me, as 
various as the hours would allow, and on 
subjects beyond my age; with the addi¬ 
tional disadvantage of reciting to him in 
tho evening after ho returned from his of¬ 
fice. As he was subject to many interrup¬ 
tions, I was often kept till very late; and 
as ho was a severe teacher, both from tho 
habits of his mind and his ambition for me, 
my feelings were kopt on tho stretch till the 
recitations Avere OA’er. Thus frequently, I 
was sent to bed several hours too late, Avith 
noiwes unnaturally stimulated. Tho con- 
soquence Avas a promature development of 
the brain that made me a ‘ youthful prodi¬ 
gy ’ by day, and by night a victim of spec¬ 
tral illusions, nightmare, and somnambul¬ 
ism, which at tho time prevented the har¬ 
monious development of my bodily poxA’ers, 
and checked my youth; while, later, thev 
induced continual headache, Aveaknoss, and 
nervous affections, of all kinds. As these 
again reacted on the brain, giving undue 
force to every thought and every feeling, 
there Avas finally produced a state of being 
both too active and too intense, which wast¬ 
ed my constitution, and will bring me—oven 
although I have learned to understand and 
regulate my now morbid temperament—to 
a premature grave.” 
Many men who fill tho highest civil sta¬ 
tions in the country, have beon in youth 
surrounded by circumstances adverse to an 
early development of their mental faculties; 
even devoting years to mechanical or agri¬ 
cultural labor. Tho time will soon have 
passed when a blush shall mantle tho cheek, 
at the mention of the plow,-the plane or the 
anvil, in connexion with the employment of 
the father or tho lover. Every tendency of 
tho real reforms going on in the world is to 
dignify labor, and place man in a scale where 
real merit weighs against position. This per¬ 
haps is not true of merely political distinc¬ 
tion, for unfortunately tho balance is in the 
hands of those Avho can be influenced by 
the money of the demagogue. Hence the 
reluctance of some men of incorruptible 
integrity to enter the political arena. 
In justice to my own sex I will not omit 
to mention another fact truly encouraging 
to those who do not think Ave shall remain 
in darkness, because so many brilliant stars 
havo sunk beneath the intellectual horizon. 
There is now' a class of women on the stage 
of action, who are intellectually in advance 
of the preceding generations. There may 
bo no better minds than existed here and 
there in former days, but intelligence is 
more generally and better diffused. It may 
be said there is but one woman of this gen¬ 
eration who could have written “Uncle 
Tom’s Cabin,” that too. by snatches, while 
engaged in household avocations ; but there 
are many, very many, who, if they Avould 
Avrite, could fill pages with “thoughts that 
breathe and words that burn,” while their 
hands are engaged in domestic employ¬ 
ments. If you visit the unpretending farm¬ 
house or even the log-cabins of the western 
wilds, you will find in the forests, the fields, 
the book-cases and periodicals, the mental 
aliment of those mothers and sisters who 
aro destined to nurture tho intellects that 
shall sway the nation. 
It is in places like these we may look for 
superior minds, rather than among those, 
whose first breath was inhaled from an at¬ 
mosphere redolent Avith French perfumes, 
imbibing in infancy and fostering in youth, 
a disgust toward every thing not enveloped 
in the folds of artificial life. 
Willow-Dell Farm, Jan.. 1853. 
For the Rural New-Yorker. 
CANINE SAGACITY. 
Mr. Moore :—Having observed that you 
frequently publish anecdotes illustrative of 
tho peculiarities of various animals, I havo 
thought the following instance of canine 
sagacity ought not to pass unrecorded. 
Doctor W. of Dedham, Mass., lately own¬ 
ed a dog (of Avhat particular breed I am 
not informed.) that beeame somewhat noted 
for his intellectual developments. Some¬ 
time during the last summer the Doctor’s 
brother, who resided in New York, went to 
Dedham with his family to make a visit. 
While there tho children and tho dog be¬ 
came such good friends that the uncle was 
prevailed on to give them tho dog. Ac¬ 
cordingly they took him to Norwich in the 
cars, thenco to New York in tho steamboat 
Knickerbocker. After a short time the 
children began to attend school, and the dog 
was evidently very lonesome and no doubt 
tired of tho “noise and confusion” of the 
great city of Gotham. Ono day he strolled 
down to tho wharf where tho K. usually 
lay, but the dog not being able to inquire, 
embarked on board tho Jersey City ferry 
boat, at that moment occupying a place 
near the K. Before tho ferry boat had 
crossed tho dog had discovered his mistake 
and refused to land, but went back when 
she re-crossed. When she reached the 
wharf tho Iv. had arrived in her place. Our 
canine friend immediately went on board, 
and was soon after found and recognised by 
some of the waiters. He had found his 
way to the identical stato room and en¬ 
sconced himself in a berth occupied by the 
children with whom ho had travelled a short 
time before. When they arrived at Nor¬ 
wich the dog proceeded on his journey in 
tho same car in which ho had gone to New 
York. Dr. W. had an office in Boston, and 
was much surprised ono day, to see the dog 
enter his office and AA'ag a familiar “ how 
d’ye do.” After ascertaining that all was 
right there, ho left, to pay his respects to the 
family at Dedham, Avhere on going homo 
the Doctor found him, apparently happy at 
seeing his friends. 
I do not know Avhat philosophers might 
think of that quadruped, but I think ho 
showed more evidenco of possessing reason 
than is evinced in the conduct of many bi¬ 
peds. M. 
THE PALM TREE OF SCRIPTURE. 
The Palm tree, is a tree remarkable for 
loftiness, straightness, and productiveness, 
and henco made an emblem in scripture of 
uprightness, fruitfulness, and victory. Its 
fruit is the date, very sweet and nourishing, 
and a large portion of the inhabitants of 
Egypt, Arabia, and Persia, subsist almost 
entirely upon it. Camels are fond of the 
stone. The fruit is of the sizo of an olive. 
Palm branches were signals of joy and tri¬ 
umph. Tho leaves are six or eight feet 
long, and proportionably broad when spread 
out, and are used to cover houses, and 
make couches, baskets, bags, fences, hats, 
&c. From the fibres of the branches are 
made thread, ropes, rigging, &c. Indeed 
the natives (says Gibbon) celebrate, either 
in prose or A'erso, three hundred and sixty 
uses to which the trunk, branches, leaves, 
juice, and fruit are applied. 
The palm tree attains maturity in thirty 
years from planting the seed, and continues 
in full strength for seventy or eighty years, 
bearing annually three or four hundred 
pounds of dates; and finally dies at about 
two hundred years old. From its sap, palm 
wine is made, called by tho natives Araky. 
It is a beA'erage which easily intoxicates, 
and is thought by Bishop LoAvth to be the 
“strong drink” mentioned by Isaiah.— 
From the species of palm tree called Ban 
don, growing wild, in various parts of the 
East, the common sago is procured.— Jew¬ 
ish Chronicle. 
^mm 
m 
THE AMERICAN CROSSBILL 
We presume that few of our little readers 
have ever seen tho very remarkable bird 
which is represented in the above picture. 
On first glancing at his crossed bill, from 
which ho derives his name..one is likely to 
pronounco it deformed. But by observing 
tho dexterity Avith which he detaches the 
seeds of the pine-tree from the cone, it 
seems peculiarly adapted to tho purpose of 
procuring food. 
Tho summer residence of theso birds is 
far to tho north, from Avhich they visit us 
in the fall and winter, when they may be 
seen in flocks, feeding on tho seeds of tho 
hemlock and white pine. They cling to tho 
twigs in all sorts of postures, and go through 
the operation of feeding in a quiet and busi¬ 
ness-like manner, each one attending to his 
own affairs. It is, indeed, a pleasant sight 
to see the little creatures fluttering among 
tho twigs, all in constant action, like so 
many bees on a cluster of flowers. They 
have a loud, sharp, and not unmusical note; 
chatter as they fly ; alight during the preva¬ 
lence of deep snows, before tho door of the 
hunter, and around the house, picking off 
tho clay with which the logs are plastered. 
At such times thoy are so tamo as only to 
settle on tho roof of tho cabin when dis¬ 
turbed. and in a moment after descend and 
feed as before. 
The time of breeding is, perhaps, the 
most remarkable circumstance connected 
with this bird. A friend of ours informs us 
that on cutting down pine trees in the 
month of February, ho has discovered their 
nests and eggs. We have ourselves, often 
soon tho old birds feeding their young in 
tho latter part of February, but supposed 
them to be late birds of tho preceding year. 
Mr. Bechstein.in his book of chamber birds, 
says: “They build in tho upper branches of 
firs and pines, and make their nests of tho 
delicate twigs of those trees; within the 
the outer Avail of this nest is a thick layer 
of ground-moss, followed,, inwardly, by a 
lining of very delicate, coral moss. The 
female lays from three to five eggs, which 
are grayish white, and surrounded at the 
thick end with a coronal of reddish brown 
spots, lines and dots. The heating quality 
of their food protects, at this season, both 
young and old from the cold; the young 
aro fed from the crop, like all the kernel- 
eaters.” 
The male is about tho size of the Blue¬ 
bird, is of a rod-lead color, intermixed with 
spots of olive. The female is somewhat 
less in size, and her color a dirty-green.— 
Youth's Casket. 
THE SOCIABLE VULTURE. 
This is a bird of extaemo rarity. It Avas 
discribed by Lo Vaillant, in his “Travels in 
tho Interior of Africa,” under tho name of 
oircou ,—fancifully derived from the folding 
of the skin aronnd its oars, and along its 
neck. A more detailed account was after¬ 
wards furnised by tho distinguished or¬ 
nithologist, in his Oiseaux d’ Afriquo, where 
a full grown male is very accurately figur¬ 
ed. We do not find that it has since been 
observed by any zoologist; for all the ac¬ 
counts of it with which we have met, are 
copied from Lo Vaillant. 
In size, this gigantic bird is fully equal 
to the condor; the larger spicimen meas¬ 
uring, according to Le Vaillant, upwards of 
ten feet in tho expanse of their wings. Tho 
head, and greater part of tho neck aro of 
the color of raw flesh, and exhibit in their 
adult stato no appcaranco of down or feath¬ 
ers, but only a few scarcely pcrceptiblo, 
scattered hairs. Tho throat is covered Avith 
blackish hairs, and tho lower part of the 
neck behind, with a kind of ruff - crisped and 
curled feathers of the same color—xvithin 
which the bird withdraws his head Avliilo in 
a state of repose, especially after feeding; 
an attitude which is common to most of 
the vultures. 
Liko all other vultures, this is a bird of 
tho mountains, the sheltered retreats formed 
by their caves and fissures constituting its 
proper habitation. In them it passes the 
night, and reposes, after it has sated its ap¬ 
petite, during tho day. At sunrise, large 
bands aro seen perched on tho rocks at the 
entrance of their abodes, and sometimes a 
continued chain of mountains exhibits them 
dispersed throughout tho greater part of 
its extent. Their tails are always Avorn 
down hy friction against the stones between 
which they thrust themselves, or on which 
they perch; while tho eagles, seldom walk¬ 
ing and frequently perching upon trees, 
preservo thoirs more entire. Those of the 
vultures are moreover injured by tho soil 
of tho plain, inasmuch as thoy cannot raise 
themselves into the air at once, but only af¬ 
ter running several paces forward and by a 
forced contraction of tho limbs. The flight 
of tho vulture is, noA'ertholess, powerful and 
lofty ; they raise themselves to a prodigious 
height, and disappear entirely from the 
sight .—Illustrated Family Friend. 
Frequent application is to tho mind what 
repeated tillage is to tho earth. 
EVENING PRAYERS OF CHILDREN. 
It is tlie hour when babes with angels speak; 
While we are rushing to our pleasures weak 
And siuful, all young children, with bent knees, 
Eyes raised to Heaven, and small hands folded fair. 
Say at the self-same hour the self same prayer 
On our behalf, to Him who all things sees. 
And then they sleep. Ah, peaceful cradle sleep I 
0, chi'dhood’s hallowed prayer 1 
Of love, not fear, in happiness expressed I 
So the young bird, when done its twilight lay 
Of praise, folds peacefully at shut of day 
Its head beneath its wing, and sinks to rest. 
THOUGHTS ON THE CLOSING YEAR, 
A LEAF FROM MY JOURNAL. 
With December 31st, closed tho year 
eighteen hundred and fifty-two. Again has 
this terrestrial ball completed its accustom¬ 
ed yearly revolution around the great centre 
of the solar system. Again havo avc been 
faA'ored Avith “seed time and harvest,” in 
pleasing and timely succession. 
The year eighteen hundred and fifty-two, 
like its predecessors has come and gone, and 
is now added to tho catalogue of years, 
Avhich chronicle the age of our planet, and 
unite to savcII the countless centuries of a 
never-ending eternity. Its golden moments 
have flod—aye, forever fled. Tho opportu¬ 
nities which it has afforded mo for improve¬ 
ment—for becoming Aviser and better my¬ 
self, or for doing good to my fellow men, 
have also fled. 
I have during this poriod, exerted an in¬ 
fluence upon the characters of those by 
whom I have been surrounded, Avhich will 
havo an important bearing upon their fu¬ 
ture destiny, both temporal and eternal.— 
Oh, may I ask myself, “what has been the 
tendency of this influence, and what is to bo 
its final result ?” 
How many who began tho past year with 
bright anticipations for tho future, havo had 
their fondest hopest crushed by tho cruel 
hand of disappointment! How many who 
on the first of tho year were fondly looking 
forward to a longlife of happiness, and per¬ 
haps of usefulness, are noAv sleeping that 
“dreamless sleep,”from which they will not 
waken till tho trump of the Archangel is 
heard calling them to judgment. While 
these have passed “ to that bourne whence 
no traveller returns,” I am still living in tho 
enjoyment of health, in tho possession of 
reason, and blessod with tho society and 
sympathy of kind friends and relatives. 
But am I, in the least degree, grateful for 
these unmerited mercies, and if so, what 
havo I done, what am I noAv doing to prove 
my gratitude ? Alas! I am conscious of 
having done comparatively little, worthy of 
myself as a man—little to render the Avorld 
better for my having lived in it—little to 
prosper tho cause of Truth and Chris¬ 
tianity. 
Oh, shall I, as each successive year wheels 
its annual round, have the sarao pitiful talo 
to record on tho pages of this journal ? Let 
mo hope, lot me pray that it be not so. 
Port Gibson, N. Y., Jan. 1, 1853. J. A. T. 
BUNYAN’S ONE BOOK. 
A avriter in a lato foreign review upon 
tho genius and writings of Bunyan. makes 
the following remarks upon tho influence 
exerted upon that wonderful man by tho 
study of the Scriptures : 
“ The Biblo we have called Bunyan’s ono 
book; and his case corroborates tho com¬ 
mon notion; beware of the man of ono 
book; of ono who, by frequent’perusals, has 
drank so deeply into a hook’s spirit—has 
got so much into its thought and feeling— 
travels, in short, so easily and naturally in¬ 
to its track, that without any conscious im¬ 
itation, his works become duplicates of the 
original. This is true of other books, but 
much more of tho Biblo. It is a Pactolus, 
and ho who bathes in it comos out decked 
in gold ; nay, it resembles that other fablod 
stream which mado the bather invulnerable 
and immortal. Bunyan had road little olse; 
he had read it, too, in circumstances which 
burnt and branded its language upon his 
soul; ho had read it as its blessed words 
swam on his eyesight through tears; ho had 
read it amid tho Slough of Despond—by 
the red lightnings of Sinai; and as ho gazed 
upward from tho Delectable Hills to tho far- 
streaming glory of the city; even in the 
Valley of the shadow of Death, he had con¬ 
tinued to clasp while unablo to see it; every 
chapter in it was a chapter in his history, 
and every verse touched and thrilled some 
chord in his heart. Liko the poor man’s 
lamb, ‘it lay in his bosom, and was to him 
as a daughter.’ Many millions have loved 
the Bible ; but we question if any one sur¬ 
passed or equaled Bunyan in tho depth and 
fervor of his love. Many havo framed con¬ 
cordances, and mado entire transcriptions 
of it; but Bunyan’s concordance Avas his 
memory, and it lay all transcribed’ ovory 
Avord and syllable of it, in his heart.” 
Fitness for Heaven.— Lot us not delude 
ourselves. They who are not mado saints 
in the stato of graco, shall nevor be saints 
in glory. Tho stones which aro appointed 
for that glorious temple above aro hewn and 
polished, and prepared for it here, as tho 
stones wore wrought and prepared in tho 
mountains for building the temple at Jeru¬ 
salem.— Leighton. 
