NORMAL INSTITUTES IN WISCONSIN. 
The State of Wisconsin, in addition to a School 
Fund for the support of common schools, amount¬ 
ing to four millions of dollars, and a University 
Fund, amounting to five hundred thousand dollars, 
has set apart one-fourth of the avails of the sale of 
what are known as “ swamp lands,” as a fund 
for normal instruction. The income of this fund 
is about eighteen thousand dollars. This sum is 
expended by a Board of Regents, for the sup¬ 
port of Normal Institutes in colleges, academies 
and high schools. This Board propose to expend 
the income hereafter, which will soon reach the 
annual sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, on a 
more comprehensive and practical scheme, submit¬ 
ted by Hon. Henry Barnard, of Connecticut, em¬ 
bracing a central normal school, normal classes in 
all higher institutions of learning, county teachers’ 
institutes, state, county and town teachers’ asso¬ 
ciations, and a general normal school agency. Ur. 
Barnard, having accepted the Chancellorship of 
the State University at Madison, has, with the con¬ 
sent of the Regents of the University, accepted 
this agency for the purpose of organizing the 
system. 
Wisconsin is doing a noble work in the cause of 
education, from which she cannot fail to reap rich 
returns. She is fortunate in having secured the 
services of so able and devoted a laborer as Dr. 
Barnard in carrying out her wise provisions for 
the education of the masses. 
A CITY BOY IN THE COUNTRY. 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
THE STUDY OF LATIN. 
Messrs. Editors: —I am surprised that any one 
in these times should attempt to defend the study 
of the Latin language. In comparison with the 
acquisition of any modern language, it is far infe¬ 
rior, both in its construction and adaptability to 
the intellect of our day, and in its incompleteness 
and paucity of expression. The languages of 
Western Europe and this country have not only 
the Latin in them as far as it is necessary, but 
they have been enriched by an intermixture with 
a variety of tongues, which have given them an ex¬ 
tent and variety of expression, a multitude of 
words, and a flexibility and suitableness to the 
vastly increased wants of the age, that places them 
in every respect far ahead of the old tongues. If, 
then, you would desire to improve and exercise the 
minds of your children by the study of a language, 
give them French, German, Spanish or Italian, and 
you will gain not only the greater advantage of a 
comprehensive tongue, with more than all that the 
Latin grammar could give—but ideas and morality 
more suited to our age. And this is a most serious 
consideration. 
Indeed, admitting for the moment which would 
be absurd on reflection, that the Latin tongue is 
superior as a training for the mind, the use of it 
should not be encouraged by any really moral man, 
because its tendency,—owing to its disgusting my¬ 
thology, its low moral tone, false principles of 
honor and conduct, and perpetual laudation of 
bloody violence,—is to demoralize the Christian to 
the inferior standard of the Pagan. Seven days of 
such labor cannot be counterbalanced, or even be 
corrected by one day’s study of Christian teachings. 
Then, again, the Latin tongue, for scientific and 
medical purposes, can be acquired, and to my 
knowledge, has been fundamentally acquired iu a 
few month’s time at a riper age, when the mind is 
not so likely to be vitiated by the insane and filthy 
doctrines. Leave, then, the boy, the youth, to 
purer and more intellectual studies — to those 
studies of Nature, in the Sciences, which are “ God- 
given,” and for which the young mind has a peculiar 
adaptability—and study Latin at 15 or 20 years of 
age when the mind is formed and reflective, and not 
so easily impressed by Pagan filthiness. After all, 
few need such a study. Latin words and phrases 
come in here and there—so do French, Italian, 
Spanish or German, and how quickly we can get 
over that difficulty. But if these modern tongues 
were taught in an easy, natural manner, with the 
“ God-given,” and morally elevating sciences, every 
youth might master four or five languages with 
little or no trouble. Not so the dead languages,— 
they are dead, indeed, and require mental efforts 
commensurate with their insufficiency and una- 
daptedness to our minds. 
My greatest opponents, I grieve to say, have 
been my clerical friends. While they cannot deny 
the infamy of the morality connected with the study 
of Latin, they still cling to it with a wonderful 
fascination, which some might say must be the 
work of evil spirits. When we reflect, however, 
we have to admit that minds trained in a school of 
error, are loth to believe that they have lost so 
many years of time. Their pride makes them 
revolt against a change. They are human, too.— 
Still, the influences are very disadvantageous and 
unchristian. 
I well remember, when residing in England, 
many years ago—I was then a youth—many of my 
young friends were members of the University of 
Oxford. They had spent, many of them, 14 and 15 
years at the classics, and were then not very bright 
scholars. To pass an examination they had to be 
crammed. Strange to say, few of them could write 
English correctly, or had ever studied its grammar. 
Few of them know anything of the sciences, and it 
was a common saying among them, that they would 
have to begin their education on leaving the Uni¬ 
versity ! I think, since that classic time, some¬ 
thing more has been done for youth; but such was 
the education then. Rugby, Stow, and other great 
schools produced the same classically uneducated 
boys—boys destined afterwards to rule our Empire. 
No wonder, as practical men, they were incapable 
of the work of a common clerk. Their utmost 
talent was that of wrangling about words and 
phrases, and he who had the longest word-memory 
was stupidly esteemed the most talented boy —an 
error pretty well exploded now-a-days. 
But, Sirs, for agricultural people, we want no 
Latin. We want such practical knowledge of the 
wonderful creations of God as will enable us to 
make that practical use of it which tends to 
develop the moral as well as the mental capacities in 
a healthy way. Then the love of violence and an¬ 
tagonism, which we have acquired with our Latin, 
will be changed into a love for work. The sword 
will become a plowshare, and the wealth now wast¬ 
ed or uncreated, be increased a thousand fold. 
Washington City, Dec. 24, 1858. S. 
Words in the English Language. — The non. 
Geo. P. Marsh, in a recent lecture on the English 
language, says that the English words found in use 
by good writers hardly fall short of 100,000. Even 
if a man was able on extraordinary occasions to 
bring into use half of that number, he generally 
contented himself with far fewer. Each individual 
used in his daily life a repertory of words to some 
extent peculiar to himself. Few scholars used as 
many as 10,000 English words; ordinary people not 
more than 3,000. In all Shakspeare there were not 
15,000 words; in all Milton, 8,000. 
style florid, while his fastidiousness of attire almost 
wrote foppery against his name. All were exclaim¬ 
ing “ he will never be Speaker.” The same untir¬ 
ing energy which had marked his previous life was 
brought into play, all the obstacles in his path 
were surmounted, and on a vital question—the bill 
for establishing a Dramatic Copyright Law—he 
decided the House. Parliamentary speeches, polit¬ 
ical pamphlets, essays learned and critical, editorial 
duties, etc., now divided his time. Thus, diversi¬ 
fied with travel, he passed his time until 1837, when 
he gave further proof of his industry and versa¬ 
tility in the production of a play. His first attempt 
was a failure, but succeeding trials crowned his 
efforts, and some of the most popular pieces now 
placed upon the stage are the children of his brain. 
History succeeded the drama, and the “Rise and 
Fall of Athens” won for him golden opinions as 
a historian and philosopher. 
One of his reviewers writes:—“Novelist, drama¬ 
tist, essayist, poet, historian, orator, politician, and 
man of the world,— all these positions ha3 Bulwer 
filled with credit to himself. In each, except the 
last, he started out with a failure — worked ahead 
against discouraging circumstances, and impedi¬ 
ments both natural and circumstantial, ultimately 
reaching the goal he had set for himself.” 
To the beginner there is a wholesome lesson in 
the development of Bitlwer Lytton’s genius. It 
teaches that not what one would most be pleased 
with should always receive the individual prefer¬ 
ence—that judgment should control choice — that 
labor , not indolent aspirings, is the chief element 
of success. One feature, not the least to the credit 
of our subject, is the fact that, though born to inde¬ 
pendence and the prospect of a fortune, he put 
aside the advantages of wealth and station ready at 
his hand, and found his greatest gratification in 
earnest toil — the very thing which most in his 
position would have shunned as diligently as he 
pursued. 
Henry W. Lytton, of Knebworth Park, Here- 
foreshire. Bulwer early gave signs of poetical 
taste. In childhood he wrote verses for his mother, 
and in 1826 made his first essay in print—a little vol¬ 
ume entitled “Weeds and Wild Flowers” bearing 
his thoughts to the world. His Collegiate Course 
was completed at Cambridge, where he wrote a prize 
poem on Sculpture. The age was Byronic, how¬ 
ever, and no opening offered to the young poet.— 
Though versification was his passion—though he 
read it lovingly and wrote it easily, while it was 
only with singular difficulty and exertion he could 
pen prose, his practical mind taught him that 
proper force must be applied in the proper place if 
he desired success, and he turned his attention to 
prose composition. Perseverance did for him just 
what it will for others—he toiled faithfully, and he 
conquered. Speaking of his first attempts he says:— 
“ I wrote with incredible difficulty and labor. To a 
critical study of the rifles of fiction, I owe every 
success in literature wMch I have attained; and in 
the mere art of composition, if I have now attained 
to even too rapid facility*^ expressing my thoughts, 
it has been purchased \\ a most laborious slowness 
in the commencement/^\nd a resolute refusal to 
write a sewna *il T had expressed my 
meaning in the best taafflfer I could in the first.” 
PLEASURES OF THE MICROSCOPE. 
From the Earthworm and the Housefly — by 
James Samuelson — we take the following: 
The rich coat of the Leopard, the beautiful and 
variegated plumage of the bird of Paridise, the 
sweet note of the Nightingale, and the graceful 
form and movements of the Gazelle, all delight the 
senses, but tend little towards the elevation of the 
intellect. These afiord gratification alike to the 
savage, the child and the educated man—perhaps 
in a less degree to the last than to either of the 
former; but when we come to examine those 
creatures that offer some much attraction to the 
superficial observer, we find them to be so wisely 
constituted, and to possess such interesting appli¬ 
ances by which they perform ther natural functions, 
that we begin to wonder how it is we should have 
remained so long in ignorance of their remarkable 
propensities. We find ourselves in anew world, 
and the objects contained therein, at the same time 
that they impart sensations quite as pleasurable as 
those which were wont to excite our childish im¬ 
aginations when first we beheld the more beautiful 
of the higher animals, communioate new ideas; a 
fresh capacity to imitate and design; and, what is 
of far greater importance, they instil into our minds 
careful habits of observation, and enable us to 
form a more correct estimate of our own humble 
capacities, and of the boundless power and wisdom 
of our Creator. 
cian. Uncle Jed. doesn’t take any paper. He 
says that farmers, as have to work for a living, 
don’t have no money to pay for such things, nor no 
time to read none in ’em if they had ’em. But, I 
like to read your paper, and I rather think if I 
lived in the country all the time, I think a great 
part of my pleasure would consist in reading, and 
doing things so nice as to astonish the country 
folks. I see that those who read the most and 
know the most, have the nicest houses, and horses, 
and fruit, and clothes, while those who have every¬ 
thing tumbling to pieces are ignorant, and seem to 
like it. If you print this I will write to you again, 
and then, perhaps, I shall be so proud of the mat¬ 
ter that I may think it best to stay in the country 
and be somebody. Solon. 
Potato IIollow, Wayne Co., N. Y., 1S59. 
The Banks of New Y’ork, their Dealers, the Clearing 
House, and the Panic of 1S57. With a Financial 
Chart. By J. S. Gibbons. Thirty Illustrations by 
Herrick. New Y’ork: D. Appleton & Co. 
Tiie author gives the purport of this volume as fol¬ 
lows :—“ To present a literal history of the New York 
city banks in their present organization and action ; to 
show how they are connected with the interest and con¬ 
venience of all classes of people; to explain the man¬ 
ner in which they transact business ; and to place them 
in their true position as correlative with commerce, and 
not above it.” In this is included the duties of the 
officers and clerks; the daily incidents of the business; 
the frauds and abuses to which it is liable; and also a 
description of tho Clearing House, which introduced a 
new era in American Banking. To the denizens of 
New Y’ork city this work is invaluable, while all may 
read it with profit. Its practicability will give it favor 
with business men, while the lively style in which it 
is penned will recommend it to the general reader. 
The author is both a man of figures and of letters. For 
sale by Dewey. 
Dora Deane, or the East India Uncle; and Maggie 
Miller, or Old Hagar’s Secret. By Mrs. Mary J. 
Holmes, author of “ Lena Rivers,” “ The Homestead 
on the Hillside,” “ Meadow Brook, or Rosa Lee,” 
“Tempest and Sunshine,” etc. New York: C. M. 
Saxton. 
In a handsome volume of some 400 pages, we here 
have two distinct and absorbingly interesting and in¬ 
structive novels—a vast improvement upon the former 
(and too frequently present) custom of elongating one 
romance into two or more volumes. Mrs. Holmes has 
already “ made her mark ” in the world of literature, 
but if we mistake not the present volume will greatly 
augment the reputation acquired from the publication 
of her previous works. Her heroines are liwtnan , and 
her heroes natural and life-like, while a good and in¬ 
structive moral lesson is taught. This is especially true 
in regard to Dora Deane, for, while a work of absorb¬ 
ing interest, its tendency (or tendencies, for it enforces 
more than one lesson,) i3 in the right direction. Of 
Maggie we cannot speak so advisedly, yet from the 
portion we have perused believe it fully equal to the 
story of Dora and her inimitable Uncle. The many 
admirers of Mrs. II.’s writings among our readers will 
of course obtain the volume and judge of its merits for 
themselves. Sold by Dewey. 
“While recently engaged in arranging a large 
library,” remarked Alexander Hamilton, “ a friend 
came in to lighten our labors by pleasant conver¬ 
sation.” 
“ What is the most Common idea of a library T 
said he. 
“ A workshop, perhaps, in which are all manner 
of tools.” 
“ What is your idea?” 
“A dictionary, in which we can turn to any 
given subject, and find the information we desire.” 
“ Very fair, both these definitions, but I think I 
know of one much better. When a lad about six¬ 
teen years of age, living as a neighbor of Dr. Ma¬ 
son, and also a member of his congregation, I was 
engaged in helping him to move and arrange his 
valuable library. ‘ Hamilton,’ said he, ‘ you bear 
a great name, a very great name; but it is still 
more honorable to bear the name of Christ!— 
Hamilton, do you know what a library is ?’ ‘ No, 
sir.’ * Well, sir, it is an army. Do you see those 
books ? They are my soldiers ! I am the centu¬ 
rion. I call them down, and make them fight for 
me, my boy. Now you know what a library is, 
which is more than most folks do. Don’t you 
forget it.’ ” 
VELOCITY 
The velocity of motion is estimated by the time 
employed in moving over a certain space, or by 
the space moved over in a certain time. The less 
the time and the greater the space passed over in 
that time, the greater is the velocity. Thus the 
space given, to find the velocity, divide the space 
by the time. The time and velocity being given, 
to find the space, multiply the velocity by the time. 
The uniform velocity of sound compared with 
the instantaneous motion of light, enables us to 
determine the distance of the object from which 
the sound proceeds; as that of a cannon fired at a 
distance, or a thunder cloud, provided we can see 
the flash and hear the report. Multiply 1,138 by 
the number of seconds between the flash and re¬ 
port— the product will be the distance in feet. 
Divide the number of seconds by 4: 5, and the 
quotient will be the miles, nearly. 
Sound conveyed by means of water, mercury, or 
spirits of wine, moves 4,900 feet in a second; con¬ 
veyed by tin, 7,800; by silver, 9,300; by brass, 
11,800; by copper, 12,000; by iron or glass, 1,7,500, 
and by wood, from 11,000 to 12,000 feet in a second. 
According to the experiments of Sauveur, the 
lowest sound which the ear can appreciate consists 
of twelve and a half indulations in a second, and 
the most acute, of something more than 6,000. 
The Siieeffoi.d and the Common ; or, Within and 
Without. New York : Robert Carter and Brothers.— 
185S. 
More than thirty years ago the series of tales com¬ 
prised in this volume made their appearance in England 
under the title of the Evangelical Rambler. They were 
exceedingly well received, the copies running up to 
one hundred thousand, and equal favor was bestowed 
upon them in this country. They have long been out 
of print, and as the morals the narratives convey are 
well calculated to assist in arresting the progress and 
counteracting the effects of some popular errors and 
dangerous institutions, they have been republished in 
very neat style. The object of the work is to afford in¬ 
struction and amusement, by the narration of the 
events of every-day life, and the author has been very 
successful in its attainment. Of the forty-seven dis¬ 
tinct articles the volume contains, not one can be tho’t- 
fully read without benefit. The work numbers upwards 
of 500 pages and 16 finely-finished illustrations. Cole 
& Adams have it for sale. 
Jessie; or, Trying to be Somebody. By Walter Aim- 
well, author of “ Marcus,” “ Whistler,” “ Ella,” etc. 
With illustrations. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 
This is another of “ The Aimwell Stories,” an admi¬ 
rable series of books for the young, and an improve¬ 
ment, we think, upon the preceding volumes. The 
preface well and truly says that “ while this series of 
books is designed to furnish a succession of pleasant 
and instructive lessons and recreations for boys and 
girls, each volume has also a specific aim, more or less 
prominently wrought into its woof. The special object 
of Jessie is to kindle in the hearts of the young, espe¬ 
cially the children of misfortune and poverty, a pure 
and noble ambition, and to encourage them to strive for 
that ‘ good name ’ whose price is far above rubies, and 
that ‘ conscience void of offence ’ which is of still more 
inestimable value.” We cannot too strongly commend 
the Aimwell series to parents who desire their children 
to imbibe a taste for reading, and wish them to peruse 
works that are pure, elevating and instructive. Sold by 
Cole & Adams. 
Shut the Door. —The door of your ears must be 
closed against bad language and evil counsel. The 
door of your eyes must be shut against bad books, 
trashy novels and low papers, or your studies will 
be neglected, and you will grow up useless and 
ignorant. You will also close them sometimes 
against the fine things exposed for sale in the shop 
windows, or you will never learn to save your 
money, or have any left to give away. The door of 
your lips will need especial care, for they guard an 
unruly member, which makes great use of the bad 
company let in at the doors of the eyes and ears. 
The inner door of your heart must be well shut 
against temptation, for Conscience, the doorkeeper, 
grows very indifferent if you disregard his call, 
and sometimes drops asleep at his post. 
Education.— Thewald thought it very unfair to 
influence a child’s mind by inculcating any opinions 
before it should have come to years of discretion, 
and be able to choose for itself. I showed him my 
garden, and told him it was my botanic garden. 
“How so?” said he, “it is covered with weeds.”’ 
“O,” I replied, “that is because it has not yet come 
to its age of discretion and choice. The weeds, 
you see, have taken the liberty to grow, and I 
thought it unfair in me to prejudice the soil in 
favor of roses and strawberries.”— Coleridge. 
The Formation of an Iceberg. —The glacier is 
composed of fresh water. Its elements are modi¬ 
fied more or less by its base. The fracture and dis¬ 
ruption is caused by wave action, by gravitation, 
and temperature. The iceberg is a liberated gla¬ 
cier. I know not how to describe it. In color, its 
whiteness is opaque, like frosted silver. Its base 
is cobalt blue, and its edges flash and sparkle. Its 
shape depends on the influence around it. You 
find all landscape forms and features upon it. Min¬ 
gled with these pleasing associations are higher 
feelings of grandeur. I have measured them and 
have found them to be 300 feet, and the entire height 
of one such is, therefore, 2,100 feet. Millions of 
tuns are embraced in it, and it moves sometimes 
three miles an hour. There is something infinitely 
imposing in its march through the ice-fields.— 
North and South. 
Arabian Day's’ Entertainments. Translated from 
the German by Herbert Pelham Curtis. Boston: 
Phillips, Sampson & Co.—185S 
Here is a work ibat will please the juveniles. Our 
readers have an illustration of the style in the story of 
“ Caliph Stork,” given in onr last volume, which Yvas 
translated for the Rural by Glezen F. Wilcox, Esq. 
The “ Caliph ” figures in tho book before us. The 
“Entertainments” cover upYvards of 400 pages, and 
are profusely illustrated. Sold by Dewey. 
Howard and his Teacher, The Sister's Influence, 
and other Stories. By Mrs. Madeline Leslie, author 
of “Cora and the Doctor,” “Courtesies of Wedded 
“ Household Angel,” etc. Boston : Shepard, Life,” 
Clarke & Brown—1859. 
This is one of Mrs. Leslie’s Juvenile Series, and a 
volume of excellent tendency. It comprises several 
distinct sketches or stories, viz., Howard and his Teach¬ 
er— The Sister’s Influence — Faithful Hannah — The 
Stolen Dress—Willie and his Mother. The volume is 
illustrative of the different modes of home government, 
and may be profitably read by parents as ivell as chil¬ 
dren. Sold by Dewey. 
=ji Modesty of Learning. — Learning gives us i 
fuller conviction of the imperfections of our nature 
^ tvliich, one would think, might dispose us to mod 
jH est y > the mor e a man knows, the more he dis 
%f covers his ignorance. 
The Ballad of Babie Bell, and other Poems. By 
Thomas Bailey Aldrich. New York: Rudd & 
Carleton—1859. 
In a small, neat volume we here have many of the 
lesser poems of Mr. Aldrich. All who have read 
Babie Bell—Yvhich is alone sufficient to establish the 
reputation of the author as a genuine poet—will desire 
the work. Sold by Deyvey. 
Study of Latin. — Under this heading, iu the 
Educational Department, our young friends who 
have been interested in the discussion of the ques¬ 
tion, will find a very good article, Yvritten by a 
gentleman at Washington. 
n/f Self-Govern MENT. 
u/ teaches self-control 
neglects it. 
.—The poorest education that 
ia better than the best that 
