MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
t ffruatu? 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
SPARE ME YET. 
LITERATURE FUND. 
The Regents of the University met at Albany 
on the 10th instant, and apportioned $40,000, 
the income of the Literature Fund for the past 
year, among the several Academies and incor¬ 
porated schools in this State entitled to partici¬ 
pate therein. There were one hundred and 
sixty-five recipients of the State bounty, of 
which thirty-three received less than one hun¬ 
dred dollars; fifty over one hundred and less 
than two hundred; forty-one over two hundred 
and less than three hundred ; twenty-one over 
three and less than four hundred; seven over 
four and less than five hundred; two between 
five and six hundred; three between six and 
seven hundred ; two between seven and eight 
hundred ; two between eight and nine hundred; 
one between nine hundred and one thousand, 
and two over one thousand. 
The Claverack Academy receives the largest 
sum, viz : $1,389,39 ; the Washington County 
Seminary the second, $1,254,22; the Genesee 
Wesleyan Seminary third, $768,36; the Hew 
York Conference Seminary fourth, $892,80, and 
the Fairfield Academy fifth, $890,81. 
The Regents also apportioned $16,780 among 
ninety-one institutions, which sustain depart¬ 
ments established therein for the instruction of 
Common School Teachers. The amounts gene¬ 
rally range from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred and fifty dollars, and the whole num- 
ber'of pupils pursuing this course is one thou¬ 
sand six hundred and eight. 
Spare me, Oh Death! a little longer spare, 
Take off thy seal which on my brow is set, 
The robe of health again, Oh, let me wear, 
I would not leave my friends and kindred yet. 
Spare me, Oh, yet a little longer spare, 
Till I shall find that fountain here below, 
Whose lucid waters free the heart from care, 
And sorrow comes not where its streams do flow. 
Spare me. Oh, yet a little longer spare. 
For my poor Mother's sake, take me not yet; 
Oh, pitying Angel, hear and heed my prayer, 
Let not my earthly sun at noon be set. 
Spare me, Oh, spare till Hope’s bright star shall rise 
And with its beams illume this soul of mine, 
And point the way to brighter, fairer skies, 
Where no dark cloud shall hide the light divine. 
Spare me ; Oh, be this not a sinful prayer, 
Teach me, Oh God, a thankful heart to give 
To thee, who can’stthy humble creature spare, 
Prepared to die, oh teach me how to live. 
Genesee, N. Y., 1856. Altha. 
If tbe Bible sbould perish out of our language, 
it could almost be gatbered up again, in sub¬ 
stance, from out of our hymns ;—that take wing 
from the very period of creation, and fold their 
wings only when they touch the crystal battle¬ 
ments. When birds begin to look from the 
north southward, in autumnal weather, a few, 
springing from the reeds and shrubs of Labrador, 
begin the aerial caravan, and, as they wind 
southward, out of every tree and every copse, 
from orchard and garden, come forth new sing¬ 
ers, increasing in numbers at every furlong, 
until at length, coming down from their high 
pathways in innumerable flocks, they cover 
provinces and fill forests, and are heard triumph¬ 
ing through unfrosted orchards, amid the vines, 
the olives, and the oranges, with such wondcr- 
ous bursts of song, that, as one lives between 
sleep and waking, he might think the Advent 
renewed, and God’s angels to be in the air. And 
so it has pleased us often, in thought, to liken 
DEAF AND DUMB ALPHABET-DOUBLE HANDED, 
tion ran something in this way, “ What was he 
inquiring about ?” 
It is a great mitigation of the calamity which 
deprives a human being of the sense of hearing 
and consequently of vocalization, that conver¬ 
sation can be successfully carried on by means 
of the manual alphabet; and those men who 
have spent their lives in ameliorating the con¬ 
dition of the deaf and dumb unfortunates, and 
perfecting the means of educating them with 
facility, deserve to be ranked high among the 
benefactors of our race. 
Democrat, to whom we referred for some infor¬ 
mation on the subject of the manual alphabet. 
We made use of a pencil and paper to propound 
our inquiries and receive his answers; but, 
turning away a few moments after, a fellow 
workman standing at a case near by telegraph¬ 
ed across to his dumb associate, making use of 
the single-handed alphabet for the purpose, and 
received a satisfactory answer immediately in 
the same manner. We did not inquire the na¬ 
ture of the conversation, but shrewdly suspect, 
from the accompanying circumstances, the ques- 
In the Rural of Jan. 12th we gave an illus- i 
tration of the single-handed alphabet in com¬ 
mon use by the deaf and dumb. We here pre¬ 
sent another form sometimes used, in which 
both hands are employed in the manipulations. 
This alphabet is mostly designed to represent 
capital letters, but it is little used for that pur¬ 
pose, as the single-handed formula; answer per¬ 
fectly for both kinds of letters/ and words can 
be spelled by it with greater rapidity. 
There is a deaf and dumb compositor engag¬ 
ed at type-setting in the office of the Rochester 
SCHOOLS OF UPPER CANADA, 
The friends of “Progress and Improvement” 
in the means and ends of Education, will be 
gratified at the interest felt and exhibited by - 
the Canadians in the mental culture of their 
youth, and the remarkable advance made in the 
growth and strength of their School System. 
According to the report of Dr. Ryerson, the 
number of Common Schools at the close of the 
year 1854, was 3,244 ; of County Grammar 
Schools 64 ; Normal Schools 3. The total sala- j 
ries for that year amounted to $604,758, being 
an advance of $84,719 on the year previous.— 
The sum expended for libraries, maps, and 
apparatus rose from $4,379 in 1853, to $60,040. 
This increase is the more gratifying, as the Su¬ 
perintendent remarks that it was the result of 
“local self-taxation, for the promotion of the 
objects specified.” 
The attendance of scholars has not increased 
in ratio to the expenditures, there being but 
204,108 pupils—an advance of only 9,372. The i 
large expenditure must therefore be ascribed j 
less to the extension of the system, than to the j 
elevation of the school standard and the more j 
equitable remuneration of teachers. 
Of teachers there are reported, male 2,508 ; 
female, 1,031. The average of salaries paid 
these is very low—being £43 with and £79 
without board for males ; £30 with and £48 
without board for females. As the Common 
School System of Canada is yet in its infancy, 
this defect must be looked upon as a matter of 
necessity which will not be allowed to deter 
the march of intellect, as years, experience and 
means are acquired. Our Canadian friends will 
doubtless set a proper and just estimate upon 
the services of one of the most powerful of moral 
agents — the Schoolmaster.— k. 
The cost of production determines the value 
of anything that can be bought or sold. If the 
producer cannot be paid the cost of production, 
he will turn his labor to a more valuable pur¬ 
pose to him, or he will starve and die. The 
article produced, or the commodity, must have 
indeed certain properties, powers, adaptation or 
fitness, which make it desirable, important, 
useful or necessary. How gold and silver pos¬ 
sess those properties, which fit them for use in 
life, and kings and the rich will obtain them for 
their purposes. For their gratification, they 
Avill give for them the cost of production. As 
governments need them for money, as well as 
for luxury, they readily pay the price tney have 
cost the producer. Hence, their value is esti¬ 
mated on the same general principle as that of 
all commodities or productions. 
It is to be noticed, too, that with all the im¬ 
portant properties of silver and gold, they are 
relatively scarce and difficult of access. W ere 
as iron, un¬ 
is the model of the school, will not, without a 
struggle, make up his mind to go, and it will be 
no wonder if he finally concludes to stay.— 
Show me the scholar who practices such self- 
denial—who will not, to the neglect of his 
school duties, yield to attractions against which 
boys are ordinarily not proof, whose record of 
attendance on the teacher’s list shows every 
space filled or unavoidably blank, and I will 
not hesitate to predict something excellent oi 
him. He may not particularly shine in the 
world ; very likely he will prove less brilliant 
than his more erratic classmate; but, what is 
better, he will be a useful, substantial, reliable 
man — one in whom others can put trust — one 
who will be true to his engagements, and well 
and faithfully perform whatever he undertakes, 
i Oxe of the most important lessons the scholar 
j has to gain is that his advancement in learning 
must depend far less on his instructors than on 
himself. It is, perhaps, the experience of the 
majority of us that our periods of most, rapid 
progress were not always when we were provi¬ 
ded with the most accomplished teachers, but 
that sometimes when enjoying only inferior ad¬ 
vantages of instruction, our own industry and 
ambition supplied the deficiencies of those ap¬ 
pointed to aid us. Hot that a poor teacher is 
by any means equal to a good one ; but it is 
I beyond the power of the best to bestow the 
j possession of high scholarship on youth, nor 
i c.an the most incapable, if he do not essentially 
help, seriously hinder the attainment of it.— 
There is a very prevalent disposition among 
scholars, or rather it prevails with a certain 
class, to throw the blame of their short-comings 
in literary acquirement on their instructors, and 
f I believe the complaint is many times made in 
; good faith. A vague, half-idea seems to possess 
> them that learning is something that can be 
■ transferred from one brain to another without 
■ any particular effort cn the part of the receiv- 
, ing party—that teaching does away with the 
, necessity or supplies the place of study—and 
i that if they have failed to profit as much by a 
BY PROF. C. DEWEY 
When the Hon. Mr. Everett gave his inter¬ 
esting and striking agricultural address last au¬ 
tumn, and showed the farmer that he was work¬ 
ing a mine more rich and valuable than that 
even of California, many seemed to conclude 
that they and. the world had actually made a 
grievous mistake respecting the value of gold. 
Some declared that the eager pursuit of gold 
was the basest and most absurd slavery on earth. 
Others completed Mr. Everett’s argument by 
: the astounding discovery that as gold could not 
| be eaten or drunken, or built into dwellings, or 
j wrought into common clothing, and could not be 
they as abundant, and as accessible 
less important and undiscovered applications of 
them should be made, they would sink to an J 
inferior value. As the matter now exists, their 1 
value is great, and they naturally become the 
standard of value. Thus, these metals, as ' 
money, become “ the representative of commod¬ 
ities,” and by them any article which can have 
a price can be obtained, except themselves.— 
Silver may indeed be bought by gold, or gold 
purchased by silver, but neither can be pur¬ 
chased by itself, as this would be the purchase 
of the same thing under the same or another 
form. 
There are things which can have no price, 
for they must be accessible by all, as the air we 
breathe, the light and heat of the sun ; and 
other things, which gold cannot buy, as health 
and virtue, honor and honesty, wisdom and pie¬ 
ty. Hence it is that “ wisdom is more precious | 
than rubies,” even better than gold, yea, than 
fine gold ! This is not because gold is valueless, 
but that wisdom is invaluable. 
Silver was formerly the standard ; but gold 
now holds the same place ; or rather both may 
be used for the same end, as their relative value 
has been fully ascertained. This is as fifteen to 
one, or a pound of gold is worth fifteen pounds 
of silver in nearly all countries, and an ounce 
of silver is worth about one dollar. A dollar of 
gold or silver will procure ten pounds of beef, 
or sixteen pounds of best flour, or eleven pounds 
of cotton or eight yards of cotton shirting, or 
four pretty good dinners, or fifty miles ride in 
the cars, or four bibles, or a daily newspaper for 
weeks, or other numberless necessaries or luxu¬ 
ries. Gold has a power of intense interest. It 
brings an endless variety of possessions to your 
grasp, and rolls its wave of enjoyment and 
prosperity over the world. The destruction of 
its value, if possible, would be the annihilation 
of trade and commerce, as now understood.— 
Without money, as gold and silver, all dealings 
must be the barter of different commodities, or 
the extension of credit, unlimited and utterly 
ruinous. • c. d. 
the real passion that holds the minds of men in . 
bondage. Ho, it is the love of riches, wealth, 
property of any kind, which enslaves men. It , 
is called the love of gold, or of money, merely 
because that is the instrument of procuring any 
or all possessions. The real miser may be an 
exception, for he may love to feast his eyes with 
heaps of gold. But, the great body of men, 
even the richest, while they toil with all intent¬ 
ness for the accumulation of wealth, are not 
hoarding up gold in pots and gloating in secret 
over their hidden masses of the precious metals. 
■ They keep no more money of any v kind than 
they need to use in the ordinary occupations of 
their business. Let us have the right views, 
whatever names may be used to express them. 
The second thing is the fact that there are 
actually mines of gold to be dug out in the pur¬ 
suits of any active and enterprising people.— 
California has produced about $50,000,000 an¬ 
nually for six years past, or in the whole, 
$300,000,000. Compare with this the value of 
the agricultural products for the past year in 
our country 
The wheat alone, at one dollar a bushel, near $200,000,000 
Indian cprn at half dollar.... 500,000,000 
Potatoes at one-fourth dollar_ 36,000,000 
Rice at half a dime a pound__ 22,000,000 
Oats at half a dollar a bushel. 20,000,000 
Rye at three-fourths dollar... 12,000,000 
Sugar at a half-dime a pound... 27,000,000 
Hav at five dollars a ton-- 75,000,000 
.Cotton at six cents a pound.. 102,000,000 
The poultry is estimated at- 20,000,000 
To all these, let there be added the products 
of wealth from commerce, manufactures, mines 
and iron machinery, the arts and professions, 
and truly there are mines on every side in the 
business of life, vastly more productive than 
those of California, and worth more than all the 
gold mines in the world. 
Has gold, then, no value, or little value ?— 
How has the value of the preceding productions 
been estimated ? In gold dollars. How is all 
value determined '! By the worth of gold and 
silver—that is, of money whose value is settled. 
How absurd to estimate value by that which 
has little or no value, and more impossible than 
absurd. This leads to the answer of the ques¬ 
tion of the value of gold. 
Familiarity with the Bible. —He who is so 
familiar with the Bible that each chapter, open 
where he will, teems with household words, may 
draw thence the theme of many a pleasant and 
pathetic song. For is not all human nature 
shadowed forth in those pages ? But the soul, 
to sing well from the Bible, must be imbued 
with dew and sunshine. The study of the book 
must have begun in the simplicity of childhood, 
when it was felt to be indeed divine, and car¬ 
ried on through all those silent intervals m 
which the soul of manhood is restored, during 
the din of life, to the purity and peace of its 
early being. He who begins the study of the 
Bible late in life must indeed devote himself to 
it night and day, with an humble and contrite 
Truth-rills. —Truth does not embrace the 
world like the great tidal wave, sweeping along 
in majestic calmness of power, and filling every 
creek and estuary ; it rather descends in many 
fertilizing rills, from the mountain side; and it 
is better that it descends for the present even 
so, than that it should flow in one broad river, 
leaving an arid desert over all the land, save on 
its immediate banks.— Bayne. 
Many attempts have been made to navigate 
the air, and many men have built up for them¬ 
selves in imagination splendid fames and for¬ 
tunes by reason of a solution of the problem ; 
but as yet, no practical results have been ob¬ 
tained, and the sanguine projectors of ferial 
ships, after spending fortunes to no purpose, 
have given over the matter to their successors. 
It is not safe to fix a bound to human ingenuity, 
but at present the power of navigating the air 
for any practical or useful purpose, seems to be 
impossible. 
Heathendom.— There are five hundred mil¬ 
lions more heathen than of Christians in the 
world. For this mighty mass, it was recently 
stated at an anniversary in Berlin, only fifteen 
hundred missionary stations exist, and only 
thirty-seven societies have been formed to pro¬ 
mote their conversion. 
Men doat on this world as though it were 
never to have an end, and neglect the other as 
if it were never to have a beginning. 
The pressure of fluids upon the square inch, 
is in proportion to the perpendicular height of 
the column. 
... mm. 
