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MAY 3. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
145 I j 
t fftutatur. 
For Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
USES OF WORDS, ETC. 
>1 
i i 
That the unlearned should often err in the 
use of words and phrases is not surprising; 
but that the “better informed” should also err, 
is not only surprising but censurable. It is 
indeed to be regretted that those who have the 
reputation of being scholars should sanction 
manifest improprieties; and the thing can only 
be explained by attributing it either to a kind 
of affectation or to inattention. If our lan¬ 
guage abounds in words suited to all purposes 
of communication, why should we wish to force 
into use such as are of doubtful propriety, or of 
manifest impropriety ? Such a course is calcu¬ 
lated to keep our language in au unsettled state, 
as well as to exclude from their proper place 
and use some of the best words. 
Among the sufferers of this class is the word 
expect, which is likely to be excluded by the 
more fashionable “ anticipate.” Yet the latter 
can only be properly used when we wish to 
state that one thing gets the start of another—as 
“He anticipated all my wants; i. e., supplied 
them before they were made known. A still 
more objectionable innovation is seen in the use 
of cither for “ each ;” as,«It is found on either 
bank of the river.” “ Either,” properly, moans 
“ this or that,” “ the one or the other;” and we 
might ask, on reading the above, “ on which 
bank is it found hardly expecting to be in¬ 
formed that both are meant. Yet if both are 
meant, why not say “ both,” or “ each,’ which 
means both, taking them separately. 
« To grow" properly signifies “ to increase by 
a natural process;” i. e., a process of nature, 
without any artificial help ; and, properly 
speaking, one might as well be said “ to exist” 
a crop as “ to grow” it. Yet such is the power 
of custom, and so strong the hold of this inno¬ 
vator on the public mind, especially in the ag¬ 
ricultural department, that the lover of gram¬ 
matical accuracy must submit, nol. vol. The 
use of the perfect tense of the infinitive mode, 
instead of the present after verbs implying in¬ 
tention, expectation, Ac., as, “ I intended to have 
called before ,” is a grammatical error that I have 
seldom known any one to commit until after 
commencing the study of grammar. I lien, as 
if supposing that they must “speak grammar,” 
as well as study it, many adopt the above in¬ 
correct phraseology. Its incorrectness may be 
easily shown by asking, “ Did you intend to 
have called ?” or, “ Did you intend to call, be¬ 
fore ?” Manifestly the latter. 
The use of the adverb instead of the adjec¬ 
tive after verbs denoting the exercise of the 
senses—as, to look, to feel, to taste, to smell, Ac., 
is very common, but wholly erroneous ; as, “She 
looked beautifully in her new dress.” This is 
no better than to say,“ The fields looked green¬ 
ly.” The truth is, neither “she” nor “the 
fields” look at all, but appear ; and whenever 
this is the meaning of the verb “ look," the ad¬ 
jective, and not the adverb, should be used ; as, 
“You look (appear) sad “It feels (appears 
to feel) soft“ It tastes, smells, (appears to the 
taste or smell,) sweet,” Ac. More anon. 
Out West, April, 1S56. J. L. U. 
latatji Iteiup. 
HASTE NOT —BEST NOT. 
FROM GOETHE. 
Without haste ! without rest! 
Bind the motto to thy breast! 
Bear it with thee as a spell; 
Storm or sunshine, guard it well! 
Heed not flowers that round thee bloom, 
Bear it onward to the tomb ! 
Haste not—let no thoughtless deed 
Mar for e’er the spirit’s speed ; 
Ponder well and know the right, 
Onward, then, with all thy might; 
Haste not—years can ne’er atone 
For one reckless action done 1 
Rest not! Life is sweeping by, 
Go and Dare before you die ; 
Something mighty and sublime 
Leave behind to conquer time ; 
Glorious ’tis to live for aye 
When these forms have past away. 
Haste not—rest not! calmly wait, 
Meekly bear the storms of fate ! 
Duty be thy polar guide— 
Do the right, whate’r betide 1 
Haste not!—rest not!—conflicts past, 
God shall crown thy work at last. 
THE MINISTRY. 
SCHOOL HOUSE NO. 14-ROOHESTEK. 
THE TEACHER’S STUDIES. 
> 
u 
It is not unfrequently the case, tbat teachers 
are supposed to have made the requisite prepa¬ 
ration for their business before they enter 
upon it, and all necessity for further study 
is superceded. This is certainly a great mis¬ 
take. The teacher, to be truly successful in his 
work, must be a person of study. He must not 
only be familiar with that class of studies which 
he is called upon more immediately to teach, 
but he should, if possible, keep his mind well 
stored with a variety of facts in relation to the 
progress of the age. 
Take the instance of two individuals who 
pursue a different course in relation to their 
studies. One has received his education in col¬ 
lege halls, has become acquainted with the lore 
of ancient and modern times, and is in mathe¬ 
matics, classics and the various departments of 
study, what is termed a scholar. He com¬ 
mences his labors in teaching, with the confi¬ 
dence that the fund of knowledge he has pre¬ 
viously gained, is all that is necessary to secure 
his success. He passes along ; neglecting to 
make any special preparation for the hearing of 
his daily recitations, and soon, with all his 
knowledge, he fails to make his instructions 
practical, and thus his pupils lose that interest 
which should characterize the school. 
Let another commence, with a determination 
of presenting something new and interesting in 
connection with every recitation. To accom¬ 
plish this, he will find it necessary to know ex¬ 
actly what the subject of each lesson is, and he 
will study hard to gather such facts of interest 
as will best secure his object. 1 hus, while the 
farmer fails, the latter meets with entire success. 
We say then, that the teacher should famil¬ 
iarize himself with the literature of the day and 
age, and with the business operations of practi¬ 
cal life, in connection with the more common of 
the arts and sciences.—S., in Conn. School Jour. 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ROCHESTER. 
One of the crowning glories of any well or¬ 
ganized society is a perfect system of Common 
Schools. Without it free institutions cannot be 
long sustained, for intelligence and virtue are 
pre-requisites to a proper exercise of the elec¬ 
tive franchise. Fully aware of the vital im¬ 
portance of education, the early settlers of New 
England, among the first and most cherished 
institutions, established and maintained free 
schools ; and the later States, offshoots from the 
primitive stock, have followed to a greater or 
less extent the noble example set them by their 
predecessors. 
Nearly all the States have large and perma¬ 
nent school funds to aid in defraying the ex¬ 
penses of tuition, while most of the Northern 
cities, under their municipal charters, make at¬ 
tendance upon the public schools absolutely 
free. Rochester has taken an honorable posi¬ 
tion in the liberality with which she has foster¬ 
ed and promoted these institutions, her expen¬ 
ditures last year in this behalf, exclusive of 
State aid, amounting to over forty thousand 
dollars. 
Among the most noticeable features of the 
school system in this city, is the gradual change 
taking place in her school tenements, the old 
and inconvenient houses disappearing at the 
rate of one or two a year, and giving place to 
more enlarged, elegant, and convenient struc¬ 
tures. The old houses when built were ample 
in all respects; but the number of scholars 
speedily outran the capacities of the buildings, 
and rendered a speedy change imperative. The 
amount allowed by law to be raised by tax an¬ 
nually for building purposes is ten thousand 
dollars, and this amount will be required for 
several years to come, ere new and commodious 
houses shall have been erected in all the dis¬ 
tricts. 
The above cut represents one of the modern 
edifices. It was erected in the year 1850, at a 
cost of seven thousand dollars. The building 
is of brick, 68 feet by 56, two stories in height, 
and surmounted by a belfry. The ground floor 
is divided into two rooms, 41 by 33 feet, de¬ 
signed for the use of the Primary and Interme- 
piate departments—recitation room, hall, ward¬ 
robes, Ac., occupying the remaining space.— 
The second floor contains the Senior room, 66 
by 42 feet. Library, recitation rooms, Ac., and 
is admirably adapted to the purposes for which 
it is designed. The building is healed by 
stoves, and the system of warming, ventilation 
and other economies of the school room, are 
perfect in all respects. The school is under the 
supervision of John R. Vosburgh, Principal, 
assisted by eight female teachers, presenting a 
corps of instructors unsurpassed, for ability and 
fidelity to the great trust reposed in them, in 
this or any other city. The number of differ¬ 
ent scholars attending this school during some 
portion of the year, is over one thousand. 
Aiful $ lie. 
HALE AND ANDRE. 
BRITISH POETS. 
Two very different men appeared as poets in 
print for the first time in the same year-—the 
Ayrshire plowman and the Lombard street 
banker. In the year 1786 appeared at Kilmar¬ 
nock that volume of “ Poems, chiefly in the 
Scottish dialect,” which will live as long as the 
English language; and in the same year ap- 
paared in London, “An Ode to Superstition,” 
since properly included in the numerous re¬ 
prints of the poems of its author. Burns pub¬ 
lished his octavo volume by subscription among 
the weavers of Kilmarnock, while Rogers took 
his poems to Cadell, in the Strand, and left a 
check to pay for the cost of publication. Very 
different indeed were the lives in the flesh of 
the two men who thus commenced together 
their lives in poetry. Borns has been dead 
sixty years. Rogers has consequently outlived 
the poet he commenced the race of fame with 
by that number of years. Nay, more: nearly 
seventy years have passed since he who died 
so recently took his first ode and his check to 
the Murray of those days of publishing. When 
Rogers made his appearance as a poet, Lord 
Byron was unborn — and Byron has been dead 
thirty-one years ! When Percy Bysshe Shelly 
was born, Rogers was in his thirtieth year— 
and Shelly has been dead nearly thirty-four 
years ! When Keats was born, “ The Pleasures 
of Memory” was looked upon as a standard 
poem—and Keats has been dead thirty-five 
years! When this century commenced, the 
man who died but yesterday, and in the latter 
half too of the century, had already numbered 
as many years as Burns and Byron had num¬ 
bered when they died. Mr. Rogers was born 
before the following English poets : — Scott, 
Southey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Moore, 
Campbell, Bloomfield, Cunningham, Hogg, Jas. 
Montgomery, Shelley, Keats, Wilson, Tom IIood> 
Kirke White, Lamb, Felicia Hernans, and he 
outlived them all. The oldest living British 
poets are Walter Savage Landor, born 1775 ; 
Leigh Hunt, born 1784 ; and Barry Cornwall, 
born 1790. 
The following is the epitaph on the tomb¬ 
stone of Nathan Hale, the “ Spy 
Stranger, Beneath this Stone 
Lies the dust of 
A Spy 
who perished upon the Gibbet 
yet 
the Storied Marbles of the Great 
the Shrines of Heroes 
entomb not one, more worthy of 
Honor 
than Him who here 
Sleeps his last sleep. 
Nations 
bow with reverence before the dust 
of him who dies 
a glorious Death 
Urged on by the sound of the Trumpet 
and the shouts of admiring thousands. 
But what reverence, what honor 
Is not due to one 
who for his country encountered 
even an infamous death 
Soothed by no sympathy 
animated by no praise. 
Mr. Stuart, in bis “Life of Natban Hale,” 
draws an eloquent comparison between tbe fate 
of Andre and Hale, and awards tbe palm for 
moral grandeur to tbe “Martyr Spy” of the 
American army : 
Tbe last words of tbe sufferers—tbe compar¬ 
ison here is indeed moving and instructive. “ I 
pray you bear me witness," said Andre to Colonel 
Scammel, “ that I meet my fate like a brave man /" 
“ / only regret," said Hale, “ that I have but one 
life to lose for my country !" Is it not obvious— 
the one was meaning himself in tbe eyes of 
men—the ovher in tbe eyes of his Maker ; tbe 
one was thinking of reputation—tbe other of 
usefulness; tbe one of heroism—the other of 
benefaction ; Andre of bimselt—Hale of bis 
country. The dying moments then—that or¬ 
deal which, poignantly as by fire, tests the nat¬ 
ural disposition—that solemn crisis when eter¬ 
nity is wont to sweep every shade of delusion 
from the soul of man, and truth, if ever, in its 
genuine purity and power speaks from his 
quivering lips—the dying moment testifies to 
Hale’s superior sublimity of character as com¬ 
pared with Andre.— Selected. 
OCEANIC MOUNTAINS. 
Self-Culture.— The initiation of the pupil 
into the great work of self-culture, by forming 
habits of earnest, persevering, and relf-reliaut 
exertion, is an important part of the teacher s 
mission. Labor is the law of life, without which 
man, with all his high endowments, is but a dull 
mass of inanity. Intellect is evolved by ear¬ 
nest toil; sentiment and affection are elaborated 
through suffering, sighs, and tears ; moral prin¬ 
ciple struggles into life through conflicts, temp¬ 
tations, and trials.— Mass. Teacher. 
OBJECTS OF EDUCATION. 
Considered as an object of enterprise, educa¬ 
tion is beautiful, sublime even, worth ambition. 
It is to unfold the power of thought, — thought 
which propagates itself for ever. It is to disci¬ 
pline the will, the central principle of charac¬ 
ter, of all finite power, great or good. It is to 
nurse and mature the social and moral sensibil¬ 
ities of an immortal being. Can anything fie so 
interesting to think of, so noble to attempt ?— 
Upon the material substance of the earth, it 
seems to be our destiny to leave very little im¬ 
pression. A fire or a wave of sand passes over 
them, and our proudest works disappear. Time 
them wears all away. The coral insect builds up 
a structure, whose base is the unchanging bed of 
the sea, and on whose summit men congregate, 
and contend, and triumph, and pass away, and 
leave no trace of themselves behind. Why is it, 
but to intimate to us that the true impress of 
our power is to be made upon mind rather than 
matter? The little worm, embalmed and con¬ 
fined in the imperishable work, has all the im¬ 
mortality which the earth knows. For the 
earth’s noblest creature, its lord, must there not 
be a loftier destiny, more enduring memorial ? 
May not man enshrine himself in a nobler 
mausoleum ? Can he not engrave his name 
upon a work of costlier material and more 
lasting ?— Prof. Haddock. 
The portion of the globe that is covered with 
water is now just beginning to be made famil¬ 
iar to us. The persons who have been foremost 
and most instrumental in searching out the 
causes of the various phenomena of the sea, 
that are so well known and so little understood, 
are our countrymen, Prof. Baclie and Lieut. 
Maury. The former, in a lecture which he 
lately delivered upon the subject, says that the 
bottom ol the Atlantic ocean is traversed by a 
range of mountains, similar to the chains run¬ 
ning some distance back from the coast, and the 
Gulf Stream pursues its way over the tops of 
these ridges, and evidently bears some intimate 
relation to them. In the gorges of these moun¬ 
tains are found strips of cold water from the 
North, and water is found even as far down as 
lat. 29° S., only 30° of temperature. These 
cold streams run in exactly an opposite direc¬ 
tion to the warmer currents, which prevail in 
the Gulf Stream, that is to say, they run from 
northeast to southwest. 
Duration ok a Flash of Lightning. —In Ara 
go’s Meteorological Essays, lately published, 
many latitudes are given where the phenomena 
of thunder and lightning are unkown; those 
among the inhabitants of Lima in Peru for in¬ 
stance, who had never traveled, can from their 
own experience have no idea of thunder, and 
they are equally unacquainted with lightning, 
for even noiseless sheet lightnings never appear 
in the atmosphere of Lower Peru, often moist 
but never showing true clouds. Arago sums up 
his inquiry by saying that the most brilliant 
and extensive flashes of lightning which ap¬ 
peared to embrace the whole extent of the visi 
ble horizon, have not a duration equal to the 
thousandth part of a second of time ! 
Presumption begins in ignorance and ends 
in ruin. 
It is an observation of Isaac Taylor, “ that a 
religious body, within which there is vitality, 
will ordinarily supply itself with an adequate 
proportion of ministers.” Beyond question, 
there is truth in this language of that able and 
sagacious writer. The young convert to Chris¬ 
tianity naturally takes upon himself the type 
of piety borne by the church into which he is 
introduced. If that is highly spiritual, he re¬ 
mains spiritual-minded ; if the reverse, he will 
almost surely sink to the same level. Now, it 
is the measure of holy love in the soul, that de¬ 
termines, to some extent, the question of conse¬ 
crating one’s self to the ministry. If the deep 
principles and strong emotions of a truly devot¬ 
ed soul obtain, the individual will find it ex¬ 
ceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to resist 
the call of God to preach the Gospel. A woe 
ringing in his ears, a fire shut up within his 
bones, will forbid his resting satisfied with any 
other pursuit than that of the ministry of recon¬ 
ciliation. 
A stream that is full and rapid in its current, 
is not readily diverted from the deepened chan¬ 
nel. And so, if there were depth and force in 
the piety of our young men, neither the attrac¬ 
tions of worldly pursuits on the one hand, nor 
the discouragements of the ministry on the 
other, could turn them from the path of duty. 
Moreover, when the piety of the churches is 
what it ought to be, there will be much and 
earnest prayer for laborers in the Lord’s har¬ 
vest ; and also a diligent watching and search¬ 
ing for the gifts that God may bestow, as well 
as liberal provision and encouragement for 
those who meet with difficulties in qualifying 
themselves for the work to which they are 
called. It is, therefore, true, that if there be 
vitality in the church, there will not long exist 
any serious deficiency in the number of good 
ministers of Jesus Christ.— Selected. 
DYING WORDS OP MELANCTHON. 
A SINGULAR FACT. 
From the accession of Louis XI\ . to the 
present time, not a single King or Governor of 
France, though none of them, with the excep¬ 
tion of Louis NVIII., have been childless, has 
been succeeded at his demise by his son. Louis 
XIY. survived his son, his grandson, and seve¬ 
ral of his great grandchildren, and was suc¬ 
ceeded at last by one of the younger children 
of his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy. Louis 
XY. survived his son, and was succeeded by 
his grandson, Louis XYI. Louis XVI. left a 
son behind him, but that son perished in the 
filthy dungeons to which the cruelty of the ter¬ 
rorists had confined him. The King of Rome, 
to whom Napoleon fondly hoped to bequeath 
the boundless empire he had won, died a Colonel 
in the Austrian service. Louis XVIII. was, as 
we have said, childless. The Duke De Berri 
fell by the hand of an assassin in the life time 
of Charles X., and his son, the Duke de Bor¬ 
deaux, is in exile from the land which his an¬ 
cestors regarded as their own estate. The eld¬ 
est son of Louis Phillippe perished by an un¬ 
timely accident, and his grandson and heir does 
not sit upon the throne of his grandfather.— 
Thus it appears that in upwards of 200 years 
in no one of the dynasties to which France has 
been subjected has the son succeeded to the 
throne of the father.— Selected. 
It is related that Melanctlion, just before he 
died, expressed a wish to hear read some choice 
passages of Scripture ; and this desire having 
been met, he was asked by his son-in-law Sa- 
binus, whether he would have anything else ; 
to which he replied in these emphatic words : 
“ Alinde, nihil, nisi ccelum," —“nothing else but 
heaven.” Shortly after this he gently breathed 
his last. Well did one who sought to embalm 
his memory, say: • 
“ His sun went down in cloudless skies, 
Assured upon the morn to rise, 
In lovelier array, 
But not like earth’s declining light, 
To vanish back again to night. 
The zenith where he now shall glow, 
No bound, no setting beam can know, 
Without a cloud or shade of woe, 
In that eternal day.” 
Prayer. —Prayer was not invented ; it was 
born in the first sigh, the first joy, the first sor¬ 
row of the human heart; or rather man was 
born to pray ; to glorify God, or to implore Him 
was his only mission here below ; all else per¬ 
ishes before him or with him; but the cry of 
glory or admiration, or of love which he raises 
towards his Greator, does not perish on its pass¬ 
ing from the earth ; it re-ascends, it resounds 
from age to age in the ear of the Almighty, like 
the reflection of his own magnificence. It is 
the only thing which is wholly divine ; and 
which he can exhale with joy and pride in the 
homage to Him to whom homage alone is due— 
the infinite and eternal.— Lamartine. 
Going to Sleep. —It is a delicious moment 
certainly, that of being well nestled in bed, and 
feeling that you can gently drop to sleep. The 
good is to come—not passed; the limbs have 
just been tried enough to render the remaining 
in one position delightful; the labor of the day 
is gone. A gentle failure of the perception 
creeps over you, the spirit of consciousness dis¬ 
engages itself more and more, and with slow 
and hushing degrees, like a mother detaching 
her hand from that of her sleeping child, the 
mind seems to have a balmy lid cover it like 
the eve—’tis closed. The mysterious spirit has 
gone to take its airy rounds. 
When the veil of death has been drawn be¬ 
tween us and the objects of our regard, how 
quick-sighted do we become to their merits, and 
how bitterly do we then remember words or 
looks of unkindness which may have escaped 
us in our intercourse with them. How careful 
should such thoughts render us in the fulfill¬ 
ment of those offices of affection which it may 
yet be in our power to perform ! for who can 
tell how soon the moment may arrive when re¬ 
pentance cannot be followed by reparation ?— 
Selected. 
Piety is the only proper and adequate relief 
of decaying man. He that grows old without 
religious hope, as he declines into imbecility, 
and feels pains, and sorrows incessantly crowd¬ 
ing upon him, falls into a gulf of bottomless 
misery, in which every reflection must plunge 
him deeper, and where he finds only new gra¬ 
dations of anguish, and precipices of horror. 
..... 
