100 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
1 he scene represented in our engraving 
is one of the most interesting views that the 
varied scenery of - our wide country can af¬ 
ford, although it may bo surpassed in bold¬ 
ness and grandeur by many others. It is a 
view of the Outlet of Niagara River, taken 
from the New York side, and looking to¬ 
wards Lake Ontario, whose deep blue waters 
are seen in the distance. The fortification 
on the right hand of the picture is Fort 
Massasauga on the opposite Canada shore. 
Fort Niagara is one of the most interesting 
fortifications, historically considered, in the 
New World. It has been at different times 
in possession of the French and the English, 
whose Hags have floated above its ramparts, 
(Siuimftorm! Dpjmrtnmit. 
BY L. WETHER ELL. 
ORAL SPELLING. 
Teaching to spoil orally is of almost uni- 
! versal practice, that is to say, where the art 
of spelling is taught. One of the worst, and 
perhaps it would not be using too strong 
language to say, the worst fault connocted 
with this method of instructing children in 
orthography, is that of sacrificing orthoepy 
for the sake of what the teacher re¬ 
gards as correct spelling. For example, the 
word im-per-ti-nent is pronounced, in order 
to be spelled by a class of pupils. Instead of 
pronouncing the word as is usually done 
when reading or speaking, the teacher, says, 
im-per-h-nent, accenting the third syllablo 
instead of, or as well as, the second, whero 
tho accent properly belongs, in order that 
the pupil who, perchance, has not learned 
his* lesson, may say t-i and not t-e as he 
would be most likely to do from tho sound, 
had tho word been rightly pronounced by 
the teacher. 
This practice of barbarously pronouncing 
words for tho purpose of securing correct 
spelling in the class, may be found in nearly 
all our primary schools, judging from our 
own observation, which is not limited. Noth¬ 
ing is gained by this practice that is valua¬ 
ble, while much is sacrificed that is good.— 
Children thus taught may learn to spell the 
sounds they hear in the class, while it is al¬ 
most certain, that they will never hear such 
sounds elsewhere. 
Children that are taught to spoil from 
hearing words pronounced, should always 
hear these words sounded or spoken just as 
they would be in conversation, or bv a good 
reader, and not otherwise. A child that has 
learned to spell cou-ple, knows nothing 
about spelling tho word coup-le when per¬ 
chance ho has occasion to write it, but had 
he learned to spell the word as usually pro¬ 
nounced, it would bo some advantage to 
him—for lio remembers its peculiarity of 
make. 
Let parents when they visit schools, or if 
they are not in the habit of doing so, let 
them go and observo tho practice of the 
teacher on this point—but do not doubt our 
observation, though you fail to discover this 
evil practice on your first visit,—for tho 
instructor may read this, and your first visit ; 
to the school-room may remind him of your j 
errand, and thus put him on the guard I 
against exhibiting tho specified fault. We ! 
hope this may bo the case, and thus may be j 
eradicated a great defect in teaching tho 
art of oral spelling. 
The purost altar of love is tho heart of a 
mother. 
and now tho stars and stripes wave proudly 
over its battlements, never to be replaced 
by the flag of another people. Fort Niag- 
I ara was originally founded by M. do La Salle 
in 1678, a French soldier who obtained per¬ 
mission of the Indians to erect a log house, 
I and by a stratagem succeeded in converting 
it into a fortification while they were absent 
on a hunting excursion to which he had 
lured them. A considerable part of the 
i present fort was constructed by the French 
| m 1725, and the massiveness and strength 
; of the structure show the importance which 
i "'as attached to the fortification by its orig- 
I inal founders. Sir William Johnson, the 
I English commander, obtained possession of 
Fort Niagara in 1759, built the magazine, 
and greatly improved and strengthened it 
in other respects. During our revolution¬ 
ary war it was the scene of many cruel ex¬ 
cesses of savage warfare; the British and 
Indians here joined hands and set out on 
their bloody expeditions against the neigh¬ 
boring provinces. It was not until the year 
1796 that the fort passed into the hands of 
our countrymen who held it until the com¬ 
mencement of the war of 1814, when it was 
again taken by the British, and a part of the 
garrison were put to the sword ; at the con¬ 
clusion of the war it was surrendered in 
1815 once more to the United States. Lat¬ 
terly large appropriations have been made 
by Congress for en’arging the defences of 
this celebrated fortification and it now ranks 
among the principal fortresses of the coun- 
t ry. 
Fort Massasauga occupies a position on 
the Canada shore similar to that occupied 
by Fort Niagara, but it is not by any means 
equal to the American fortification in ex¬ 
tent or strength, being built of earth with a 
septagonal block house constructed of stone 
in the centre; it has but one 24 pounder 
mounted, but is kept well garrisoned, is in 
good repair, and is regarded as a very strong 
post. Both forts are washed on one side by 
the waters of the Lake, and on the other by 
Niagara River. 
EDUCATION IN WISCONSIN. 
Messrs. Editors :—It is with much pleas¬ 
ure that I have from time to time perused 
tho educational articles in your valuable 
paper. I am glad that so much interest con¬ 
tinues to be shown upon the subject of ed¬ 
ucation in the Empire State, tho theatre of 
my early educational career. It is cheering 
to the pioneer in the Far West, to hear of 
tho continued efforts of tho friends of uni¬ 
versal education, while amidst so much em¬ 
barrassment he is endeavoring to lay the 
foundation of a solid intellectual education 
for the youth of our newly settled States. 
Here in Wisconsin our legislators have at¬ 
tempted to profit by the past, and rejecting 
the old plan of rate-bills, commenced their 
system of education upon the Free School 
order. This plan is working admirably at 
present. The report of Superintendent 
of Public Instruction for 1851, shows a 
great increase in tho number of children 
over the age of four and under tho age of 
twenty years, who have attended school du¬ 
ring the above year—nearly one-third moro 
than in 1850. 
Yet the free school system has numerous 
opposers in this State, and if it was not a 
component part of our constitution, nu¬ 
merous petitions would be annually present¬ 
ed to our Legislature for its repeal. Sordid 
avarice is to be encountered wherever civil¬ 
ization has extended its borders. While 
i our schools, for a new State, are doing well, 
yet much embarassment is encountered 
from the apathy of those who have no real j 
desire for education. Of this class I am 
sorry to say, we have far too large a portion, 
though perhaps not more than other fron¬ 
tier settlements. In fact this class is quite 
numerous in all our States, and it is the 
real impediment to the advancement of the 
causo of education. A desire for, and a 
love of knowledge must be created in tho 
minds of such, and this can only be done 
by the force of exainplo. The real friends 
of education, like those of true religion, 
should endeavor to convince this class of 
individuals of the beauty and excellence of 
knowledge over ignorance. They must be 
led to investigate its worth, and in time they 
will learn to estimate its advantage and 
utility. 
Our schools in this State suffer much for 
want of well qualified teachers. In many 
parts of tho State no facilities are enjoyed 
for the purpose of training persons to teach. 
To be sure provision has been made, and a 
Normal Department opened in the State 
University at Madison, and in other places 
High Schools and Academies afford some 
opportunity for improvement in the art of 
teaching, but no adequato supply for tho 
demand is afforded, consequently tho ad¬ 
vancement must be limited until teachers 
can be procured, possessed of better quali¬ 
fications. The standard of wages must be 
raised to induce persons of real talent to 
engage in the business of teaching. The 
vigor of the press must be more thoroughly 
applied to correct and enlighten the public 
mind in rolation to the importance of edu¬ 
cation, and then we may hope that the chil¬ 
dren of our country will be thoroughly edu¬ 
cated, and money will not be thrown away, 
as it now is, in the employment of worthless 
teachers. William Blanchard. 
Wauka i, Wis., March, 1852. 
PROF. G0ABBY AND HIS ENTOMOLOGICAL 
LECTURES. 
It has been said by critics that Europe 
produces more scientific men than America. 
| Such may be tho fact,—its institutions have 
I long been established; pupils have almost 
| unlimited access to extensive libraries; and 
: persons who attend colleges in Europe are 
| generally wealthy, and devote their whole 
time to the acquisition of science and liter- 
erature. This may be said of the man 
whose name appears at the head of this pa¬ 
per. He has devoted his life to this study, 
and has made himself conspicuous as an en¬ 
tomological lecturer. He was formerly of 
tho Royal College of Surgeons, London, 
and has, as is well known, come to thiscoun 
try for the purpose of giving lectures. No 
one can hear him on the wonders of the in¬ 
sect world without being both interested 
and instructed; nor can any one say that 
his language is not purely scientific—for 
among all the men of science we ever have 
heard, we think Prof. Goadby the most sci¬ 
entific and classic in the expression of his 
ideas. 
The almost perfect arrangement and clas¬ 
sification which characterize his lectures, 
and the ease and grace of his language add 
much to the interest of the subjects which 
engage his attention. And it is not a little 
wonderful what an ingenious faculty he has 
for manufacturing an eloquent essay out of 
a Jiea’s tongue —discoursing in a most fluent 
manner on the bones which penetrate it; on 
the muscles which cause it to move and act, 
and on the remarkable and curious shaped 
cell—the mouth—which it resides in. He 
gives his whole mind to the subject which he 
is treating. With extraordinary powers of 
language—with science at his tongue’s end, 
and with a naturally intuitive mind, he is 
enabled to convey knowledge to his audi¬ 
ence, at once interesting arid original. The 
wit, humor and natural shrewdness which 
make their way into his lectures, add great¬ 
ly to his popularity. These witty and hu¬ 
morous propensities, when occasionally bro’t 
out in tho course of tho lecture, tend to keep 
the hearer’s attention directed towards the 
speaker, and thus he is both pleased and 
instructed. 
Although Prof. G. is not yet fully Ameri¬ 
canized, yet he appears to be familiar with 
the Yankee spirit, and is not backward in 
adopting American habits. 
But to speak moro particularly in relation 
to bis entomological lectures—no one can 
fail to give him a large share of credit for 
the vast amount of knowledge he has ac¬ 
quired in reference to the numberless spe¬ 
cies of insects which inhabit our globe. A 
flea, he says is a comparatively small insect, 
but on fleas. Jlcas live ; and still another 
tribe of infinitely small animalcules exists 
on this herd, the minuteness of which sur¬ 
passes the conception of the human mind ! 
And are we not safe in saying that the ge¬ 
nius of man—taking into consideration all 
of his inventive faculties—will never enable 
him to invent a microscope that will detect 
tho inconceivably minute animals that in- 
! habit, or are supposed to exist on the bodies 
of vermin no larger than fleas ? The opin¬ 
ion that there are animalcules so minute that 
we can not detect thorn with the assistance 
of the most powerful microscope, is, perhaps 
supportable. 
Prof. Goadby, by means of his powerful 
oxy-hydrogen microscope, presents many 
fine specimens of the insect world; repre¬ 
senting them in a more beautiful manner 
on a disk suspended in the form of a map 
on a perpendicular frame for the purpose. 
He delivers his lectures in the State Geo¬ 
logical Rooms, and represents a host of dif- 
: ferent kinds of insects, collected from many 
I parts of the world. Insects from China, 
, the East Indies, Germany, and many other 
i of tho European states, are represented on 
this disk, which is some six or eight feet in 
diameter, and consequently gives room to 
exhibit animals several thousand times lar- 
j ger than life. Separate portions of the in- 
I sect are magnified disclosing beauties which 
j we have no conception of, unless wo view 
the pictures themselves. The limits of this 
article will not permit me to speak of the 
professor's language in regard to the wings, 
muscles, bones &c., &c., of the different 
species of insects, and therefore I close. 
W. Tape an. 
Albany, Mulch, IS>2. 
Meteorological Convention. — A con¬ 
vention of the Meteorologists of our coun¬ 
try has been proposed by Lieut. Maury, of 
Washington, to be held at an early day, de¬ 
signed to promoto a greater uniformity in 
the methods of making and registering me¬ 
teorological observations. A general co-op¬ 
eration of laborers in this department of 
Science is dosirablo. 
It is often extremely difficult in the mixed 
things of this world to act truly and kindly 
too; but therein lies one of tho great trials 
of man ; that his sincerity should have kind¬ 
ness in it, and his kindness truth. 
labbatlj draftings. 
[Written for the Rural New-Yorker.] 
DREARY HOURS. 
’Tis sweet to know there is a world 
That's free from toil and care, 
From bitter pain and endless woe, 
Fronviecp and dark despair; 
A world whose every task divine 
Will fill the heart with love, 
Ai d wearied souls can ever rest 
In that blest home above. 
’Tis sweet to know there is a friend, 
Though clouus obscure the sky, 
On whom we can With faith depend, 
With hope and trust rely— 
A friend who pities our distress 
Our every anguish here, 
And bids us seek a heavenly rest, 
A bright and happy sphere. 
’Tis sweet to know that friend and world 
Cai even al be ours ; 
’Tis only this, (hat oft can cheer 
The sad, desponding hours— 
For earth hath scents so dark and drear 
That hope seems worse than vain, 
That sickness, sorrow e’er should cease. 
Or sunlight come again. 
Then why thus fondly cling to life, 
To these poor frames of clay > 
Oh wiiy not wish to end the strife. 
And long to soar away ? 
Why struggle on through weary days 
And nights of burning pain. 
And gladly hail each sironger pulse, 
To sutler o’er again 1 
’Tis not that earth’s alluring joys 
Haiti charms for us so dear. 
The purest, brightest, and the test 
Conceal beneath a tear;— 
Our hearts are bound by holy ties 
Our inmost sou:s partake, 
Those ties make all the world for us, 
Those lies we dare not break. 
Rochester, March, 1*52. Azile. 
THE FIRST BIRD OF SPRING. 
Wiiat thrilling raptures the song of tho 
first bird of Spring sends through the soul, 
and how gladly do we welcome him back 
to his accustomed haunts, and as wo listen 
to his song, 
“ Sweet as the softness of a loved one’s sigh,” 
a thousand past memories tlit through tho 
mind—memories of tho free and happy days 
of youth and childhood, when the cares of 
life had not found access to our hearts. Tho 
haunts of our youth—how distinctly are they 
remembered—and tho friends of our child¬ 
hood seem almost to bo with us again, as in 
memory we roam through fields and woods 
in eager search for tho “first flower,” or re¬ 
pair to the old sugar-bush to taste tho pleas¬ 
ant sweets which the maple yields. 
Those friends, where are they now ? Alas ! 
many of them have long slept tho sleep of 
death. The unsparing messenger came and 
cut them down; some in childhood, and oth¬ 
ers just as they were budding into man and 
womanhood. One, I remember but too well. 
From our infancy to our sixteenth yoar we 
had been almost inseparable companions.— 
I then removed from 
“ All the oved scenes which my infancy knew,” 
to this western world. I saw him but once 
after. In a few years I heard tho sad intel¬ 
ligence that death had laid his noble form in 
the gravo. I often imagine that his spirit still 
hovers near the friend of his youth. He 
was a noble fellow—kind and generous, 
manly and dignified, social and free, and had 
not an enemy. 
As memory roverts to those days, other 
friends are brought to mind who were scarce 
less loved than he. One, loved above all 
others, for whom my heart still bleeds, al¬ 
though thirteen long years have carried 
their account to God since they bore her to 
tho tomb. In my infancy I called her 
mother. 
But thoso halcyon days have gone forover. 
Yet if we live aright, manhood need not bo 
devoid of enjoyment. Our spirits may not 
bo as buoyant as in tho light-hearted days 
of youth, yet wo may enjoy many hours of 
unalloyed happiness. Care and sorrow may 
for a time shroud our minds, as winter 
shrouds the earth, in gloom, but it need not 
bo perpetual. Life’s joys roturn as return 
the flowers, springing 
“ All gom like dewy from the velvet sod, 
Like whispered melody their perfume Binging — 
Earth’s ait ir’d incense rising up to God.” 
Alabama, N Y., March 15, 1852. R. B W. 
Duty and Feeling. —Tho struggle be¬ 
tween duty and feeling for the moment, is 
hard, very hard. We can hardly believe it 
is not for the best to obey our present feel¬ 
ings. We always like to make great al¬ 
lowance for them; to believe they are right, 
and best to he followed. Yes, even when 
we feel that they are opposed to duty. But 
how wrong is this. Duty above everything; 
above feeling, desire — everything. And 
though we may not see how this will accom¬ 
plish for us a dear object, yet we should re¬ 
member that there is a God in the world, and 
that he can bring to pass what is for tho 
best, and in a way not our own. Let every 
one do his duty, trusting in God, and he can 
live no higher life ;no, not in Heaven. 
People think that Heaven is in tho future 
world; but they can make it even on earth, 
if they will. 
To Adam. Paradise was a home; to the 
good among his descendants, home is a 
Paradise. 
