(Educational Department. 
BY L. WETHER ELL. 
FREE SCHOOLS,-COERCIVE ATTENDANCE. 
What shall bo done in behalf of the chil¬ 
dren in our cities and villages, that, after 
the schools are made entirely free, neglect to 
attend them ? Which is the wiser policy for 
the State, to use coercive measures before 
these children have committed crime, in 
compelling them to. be sent to school, or, to 
■wait until they have involved themselves in 
crime, and then use coercive means to pun¬ 
ish for what, had the former power been 
attended to, might have been prevented ?— 
Force must be used in either case. In some 
minds it may bo a question of doubt as to 
the right to compel parents and guardians 
to educate their children and wards. When 
charged with crime there is then no doubt 
as to the right to employ force if it be ne¬ 
cessary. All are agreed in the latter case 
that force must be used to stay the progress 
of iniquity and crime. Now we do not hes¬ 
itate to say that we aro of the number that 
believe that force better be employed to 
prevent than to punish crime. 
The use of coercive measures is no new 
doctrine. Adams, in his Lectures on Sile¬ 
sia says : “In the more recent and general 
Prussian system of common schools, coer¬ 
cive popular instruction, the duty of par¬ 
ents to send their children to school, is en¬ 
forced by law. Again he says :—This inter¬ 
ference of government in the institution of 
a system of coercive instruction in the com¬ 
mon schools, was in use in Germany, Scot¬ 
land and New England, in the 17th centu¬ 
ry; and it has been found, by experience, 
that coercion, in some indirect way at least 
is necessary to insure the requisite educa¬ 
tion to the lower classes. 
Again :—“ The law under strong penal¬ 
ties imposes upon parents the obligation of 
sending their children to school; and the 
law of 1S19 is applied to all the ten provin¬ 
ces of the Prussian dominions. This sys¬ 
tem of public instruction has elevated the 
German people to a high rank in the scale 
of intelligence. Bavaria, Saxony, Hesse- 
Cassel, Saxe Weimar, Nassau, Wirtemburgh 
and Baden, have followed the same coercive 
system.” 
He further says : “ The plan of elemen¬ 
tary schools in Austrian Lombardy is com¬ 
pulsory. All male children between six and 
twelve years of age must attend elementary 
schools or a fine is inflicted on the parents. 
The pupils in the schools amounted to one- 
twelfth of the population.” Mr. Turnbull 
in his work on Austria, says that three- 
fifths of the juvonilo population of the Aus¬ 
trian Empire, with the exception of Hunga¬ 
ry, actually receive scholastic instruction.” 
“ The compulsary system upon parents 
and masters to teach their children and ser¬ 
vants to read, and to give them some knowl¬ 
edge of the scriptures and of the capit al laws, 
and to bring them up in some lawful em¬ 
ployment was enforced by fine in Massa¬ 
chusetts *by the act of 1642.” 
“ One of the early statutes of Connecti¬ 
cut, 1650 it contained in the revised code 
of 1702, declared, that “ the education of 
children was of singular behoof and benefit 
to any people,” and it was made the duty of 
the selectmen and grand-jurymen of the 
several towns, to see and enforce the law 
that all childron and apprentices were 
taught to read the English tongue with a 
knowledge of the capital laws. In conse¬ 
quence of this law and the school fund, Judge 
Kent says that “ during the twenty-seven 
years that Chief Justice Reeve was in ex¬ 
tensive practice in Connecticut as a lawyer, 
he informs us he never met with but one 
person in that State that could not write.” 
These are important considerations for 
such as maintain the policy of a State edu¬ 
cation. 
NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
Annual of Scientific Discovery: Edited by 
Daniel A. Wells, A. M. Boston : Gould & 
Lincoln. 1852. 
The author and compiler exhibits the 
most important discoveries and improve¬ 
ments in Mechanics, Useful Arts, Natural 
Philosophy, Chemistry, Astronomy, Meteo¬ 
rology, Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Gool- 
ogy, Geography, Antiquities, &c.—to which 
is added a list of Scientific publications, a 
classified list of Patents, Obituaries of emi¬ 
nent scientific men, Notes on the progress 
of science during the year, &c., &c. This 
is the third volume—and we renewedly 
commend them as suitable books for District 
School Libraries. For sale at Sage & 
Brother’s. 
On the Study of Words, by Richard Chexeyix 
French, B. D. From the second London edi¬ 
tion. Revised and enlarged. Redfield, New 
York. 1852. 
Every clergyman and school teacher 
should procure this book and study it—for 
to them, as to every other scholar, it will be 
THOMAS CORWIN, OE OHIO. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
found to bo a suggestive and instructive 
work on the use of words. For sale at 
Dewey’s. 
The Christian Review. —Contents of 
the July number: Clement of Alexandria; 
‘Arvine’s Cyclopedia of Anecdotes; Sinead’s 
Philippics of Demosthenes; Relation of the 
Material and Spiritual in Man’s Develop¬ 
ment ; the Syro-Arabian Languages and Lit¬ 
erature; France during the last fifty years ; 
Life and Character of John Sterling and 
recent Pantheistic Developements in Eng¬ 
land; Notices of New Publications, and 
Literary, Intelligence. A. Grant, Agent. 
Brownson’s Quarterly Review. —Con¬ 
tents of the July number: Morris on the 
Incarnation; “TheReformation” in Ireland; 
The works of Daniel Webster, an able and 
interesting article on the great American 
statesman and his writings; Gury’s Moral 
Theology; and Literary Notices and criti¬ 
cisms. D. M. Dewey, Agent. 
Bibliotheca Sacra. —Contents : Remarks 
on the double sense of Scripture; The Pla¬ 
tonic Dialogue, Themtetses—with a transla¬ 
tion of the episodal sketch of the World¬ 
ling and the Philosopher; Life of Zuingle ; 
Classical Studies; The Castes of Egypt; 
The conservative clement of Christianity ; 
The system of the Jewish Cabbalah as de¬ 
veloped in the Zohar ; Prolegomena to Tis- 
chendorf’s new edition of the Septuagint; 
Messianic Prophecies ; Notices of now pub¬ 
lications ; Select Theological and Literary 
Intelligence; and Notice of the late Prof. 
B. B. Edwards. L. Wetherell, Agent. 
Journal of Education. —Wo have re¬ 
ceived the first eighteen numbers of the 
present volume of the Journal, whose editor 
and proprietor is J. II. Huston, Esq.—pub¬ 
lished semi-monthly at Bath, Maino, at one 
dollar a year. It is very neatly printed and 
filled with a variety of useful educational 
matter. We trust that it is as well sustain¬ 
ed as it deserves to be. 
The Guardian. —This is a family maga¬ 
zine, devoted to the cause of female educa¬ 
tion on Christian jirinciples; edited at the 
Female Institute, Columbia, Tennessee, by 
the Rector, aided by the Professors and Tu¬ 
toresses. We have received the eighth 
number of the tenth volume of the Guar¬ 
dian and aro highly pleased with it. Wo 
commend it to the friends of Christian edu¬ 
cation. This is the oldest educational pa¬ 
per in our country. Terms one dollar per 
volume, requiring two years to complete it. 
[Will the editor oblige us by sending the 
other numbers of the present volume ?] 
HIDDEN BEAUTY IN A WORD. 
Trench, in his interesting work on the 
Use of Words, exhibits the hidden beauty 
of the word tribulation. Its ordinary sig¬ 
nification is affliction, anguish, sorrow.— 
Men pray against it, and shrink from it as 
if it were a positive evil. But its meaning 
is calculated to calm the unrest of the 
tried heart. It is derived from “ tribulum,” 
the Roman name of the threshing instru¬ 
ment or roller, whereby the husbandman 
was wont to separate the corn from the 
husks ; and “tribulatio ” signifies the act of 
separation. Tribulation, therefore, is noth¬ 
ing hut the threshing of the inner man, 
whereby it is separated from the husks and 
chaff, which would unfit it for the garner of 
heaven. 
What, then, are our afflictions but acts of 
holy and faithful love? Our heavenly Fa¬ 
ther loveth us; and because ho lovetli us, 
ho takes away our precious things. He 
deals with us somewhat after the manner 
of an ancient painter with his pupil. This 
young artist had genius, and produced a 
picture of great merit, which was greatly 
admired by all. His young heart now swel- 
ledVith vanity. He laid asido his palette 
and pencil, and sat before his easel admir¬ 
ing the offspring of his own genius. 
One morning ho found his beautiful crea¬ 
tions expunged from the canvas. Ho wept 
bitterly. His master appeared and said, “ I 
have done this for your benefit; the picture 
■was ruining you.” 
“ How so ?” demanded his pupil. 
“ Because in the admiration of your own 
talent, you were losing your love of the art 
itself. Take your pencil and try again.” 
The youth dried up his tears; seized his 
pencil and produced a master-piece; which 
but for his severe trial, would in all pro¬ 
bability have never been executed. 
And thus, when we aro vain and haughty 
in our prosperity, -when wo worship the gift 
and forgot the giver, when earthly affec¬ 
tions, like husks on grain, enclose our hearts, 
God in pure love applies the flail of tribu¬ 
lation. He submits us to temporary pain 
that he may save us from everlasting ruin. 
O, this is true love indeed; and blessed are 
they who permit their trials to accomplish 
this loving purpose. They, and they only, 
shall gain a placo among that noble multi- 
tude revealed in the glorious vision of the 
Revelator, of whom the Elder said, “ These 
are they which came out of great tribula¬ 
tion, and have washed their robes and mado 
them white, in the blood of the Lamb.”— 
Zion’s Herald. 
We may do a very good action and not 
be a good man, but Wo cannot do a very ill 
one and not be an ill man. 
We present above a a portrait of Thomas 
Corwin, of Ohio, the present Secretary of 
the Treasury, but are unable to accompany 
it with a biographical sketch of that gentle¬ 
man. We find in a notice of the actors in 
the “campaign of 1840,” several anecdotes 
of Mr. Corwin, one of which we copy from 
Holden’s Magazine: 
On the stump, Mr. Corwin is always at 
homo, and asks no favors but fair play.— 
This style of addressing men is peculiarly 
pleasing to largo portions of “ the constitu¬ 
ency” at the West, and multitudes get not 
only their impulses but their facts from this 
very source. Hence it is no uncommon oc- 
ccurrence for a speaker to be interrupted 
with questions ; and so liberal are they, that 
even political opponents are allowed to 
interrupt in the same way. Sometimes the 
very life of the meeting will come from this 
source, and especially is this so, if the 
speaker is gifted in the way of repartee.— 
With Mr. Corwin on the stand, such an oc¬ 
currence is always hailed with delight, since 
it not only gives spring to his mind, but al¬ 
ways affords merriment to his audience.— 
He seems to know the meaning of the 
proverb: “Answer a fool according to his 
folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit ”— 
Impertinence sometimes comes in for stern 
rebuke, and at others ignorant pedantry re¬ 
ceives its appropriate pity. No people in 
the world catch the meaning and intent of 
a gifted demagogue more quickly than the 
western. They will appreciate a man’s sit¬ 
uation, and any master-stroke is sure to be 
recompensed on the spot by repeated ap¬ 
plause. 
The slavery question entered very largely 
into all political discussions during the 
presidential campaign which placed Mr. 
Polk at the head of the nation. It is a very 
sensitive subject for a politician to handle. 
In Ohio, to be too conservative might bo as 
fatal as to be too radical. There must be 
some colors hung out, unless the populace 
grant a special indulgence. On one occa¬ 
sion, Mr. Corwin was addressing a large as¬ 
sembly and was drawn toward those dan¬ 
gerous shoals, where some politicians had 
already made shipwreck. An opponent in 
the assembly began to interrogate him on 
some particular point concerning the sla¬ 
very question, on which Mr. C. did not wish 
to commit himself. With great coolness 
ho wrought out an elaborated nothing, a 
fogbank of words as a reply. It sounded 
well enough, and would havo satisfied the 
audience, if tlio shrewd interrogator had 
not blown away the fog and then repeated 
the question. The people saw and applaud¬ 
ed the talent, and waited anxiously for the 
forth-coming reply. There plainly was no 
dodging in the ordinary way. If indulged 
by the people, he must pay the people by 
gratifying their love of fun, and could he 
but do this, ho might stand non-committal 
if ho chose, or do anything else! At this 
point those wondrous features began to 
work. The swarthy skin contracted into 
the most funny wrinkles, and lips, nose, 
cheeks and forehead seemed dancing a 
hornpipe of glee, the eyes glanced around 
the audience with such a musical expression 
of utter forlorness, little like the man whoso 
voico was half high and half low, exclaiming, 
good people help mo out! The people 
ofcourso were in ecstacies before ho’open¬ 
ed his mouth, but when he said in such a 
droll inimitable manner,— “I leave it to 
you all if that is not an improper and rude 
question to put to a gentleman of my com¬ 
plexion ! ” their ecstacies arose to the pitch 
of a tempest, which carried the speaker 
high and dry beyond the danger of another 
question. It is easy enough to say that this 
is a cheap way of answering hard questions, 
but it is a maxim which politicians practice 
largely, “ all things are fair in war, and to 
baffle an impertinent and shrewd opponent 
by such an amusing turn of language is the 
very perfection of practical rhetoric. The 
result proved it to be “a means adapted to 
an end,” and that is a sufficient apology.— 
Some grave oratorical owls are never satis¬ 
fied to kill flies unless they shoot them with 
grape shot, and to knock down a robin they 
would have a West Point professor level a 
twelve pounder with due reference to the 
resistance of gravitation and air ! Mr. Cor¬ 
win uses a fly brush for Hies, and a fowling 
piece for robins, and a whip for fools, and 
shows his wisdom as well as one reason for 
his success. 
THE MAMMOTH CAVE.-ITS COST. 
In one of Mr. Willis’s recent letters to 
the Home Journal, wo find the following 
paragraph, relating to the original purchase, 
and the amount paid for the Mamoth Cave 
in Kentucky: 
Col, Croghan, to whose family it belongs, 
was a resident of Louisville. He went to 
Europe, some twenty years ago, and, as an 
American, found himself frequently ques¬ 
tioned of the wonders of Mammoth Cave—a 
placo he had never visited, and of which, at 
homo, though living within ninety miles of 
it, ho had heard very little. Ho went there 
immediately on his return, and the idea 
struck him to purchase and make it a fam¬ 
ily inheritance. In 15 minutes bargaining. 
1 he bought it for $10,000—though, shortly 
after he was offered $100,000 for his pur¬ 
chase. In his will he tied it up in such a 
way, that it must remain in his family for 
two generations, thus appending its celeb¬ 
rity to his name. There are nineteen hun¬ 
dred acres in the estate, —three square 
miles above ground— though the cave 
probably runs under the property of a great 
number of other land owners. For fear of 
those who might dig down and establish an 
entrance to the cave on thoir own property, 
— (a man’s farm extending up to the zenith 
and down to the nadir)—great vigilance is 
exercised to prevent such subteranean sur¬ 
veys and measurements as would enable 
them to sink a shaft with any certainty.— 
The cave extends ten or twelve miles in 
several directions, and there is probably 
many a backwoodsman sitting in his log 
hut within ten miles of the cave quite nn- 
conscious that the most fashionable ladies 
and gentlemen of Europe and America are 
walking without leave under his corn and po¬ 
tatoes ! 
A JAPANESE FUNERAL. 
A letter from an officer on board the 
United States ship St. Mary’s, at Byron’s 
Bay, Owyhee, mentions the death on board 
the ship of an old man, who was the captain 
of a number of Japaneso. who, it seems, 
were on board the ship. They carried him 
on shore for burial in two boats’ crews, and 
a collection of Kanakas, to the number of 
two hundred, attended the burial. The let¬ 
ter remarks: 
“ Perhaps you would like to know the 
way they buried him. The evening he 
died they placed a pot of water and a pan 
of rice at his head; the rice was to keep 
him from being hungry, and the water he 
could drink on his way to the land of bliss. 
We got a square box made for him instead 
of a coffin. They placed him in a sitting 
position in the box, and packed his clothes 
and a part of his bedding all around him. 
After placing him in the grave, every one 
of the Japaneso sprinkled three drops of 
fresh water on him, and then laid a hat on 
top of the box. We filled up the grave, 
and they laid a pan of rice and a spoon on 
the grave, which they carried with them 
from the ship. They have had a head 
board mado for him, and are going ashore 
to-day to put it over him.” 
One of the saddest things about human 
nature is, that a man may guide others in 
the path of life without walking in it him¬ 
self; that ho may be a pilot, and yet a cast¬ 
away. 
Science is not a club, it is an ocean ; it 
is opeft to the cockboat as the frigate. One 
man carries across it a freightage of ingots; 
another may fish there for herrings. 
Man is never wrong while he lives for 
others; the philosopher who contemplates 
from the rock is a less noble imago than 
the sailor who struggles with the storm. 
Childhood and genius havo the same 
master organ in common— inquisitiveness. 
$abbatt) limbing! 
A HYMN. 
My Maker I of thy power the trace 
In every creature’s form and face 
The wond’ring soul surveys : 
Thy wisdom, infinite above 
Seraphic thousrht, a Father’s love 
As infinite displays ! 
From all that meets or eye or ear, 
There falls a genial holy fear 
Which, like the heavy dew of morti, 
Refreshes while it bows the heart forlorn 1 
Great God 1 thy works how wond rous fair! 
Yet sinful man didst thou declare 
Tlie whole earth's voice and mind! 
Lord, ev’n as Thou all-present art, 
O may we still with heedful heart 
Thy presence know and find 1 
Then, come what will, of weal or woe, 
Joy’s bosom-spring shall steady flow; 
For though ’tis heaven Thyself to see, 
Where but thy shadow falls, grief cannot be! 
[Coleridge. 
EARZILLAI THE GILEADITE. 
In the history of David, the poet-king of 
Israel, we find brief mention of Burzillai 
the Gileadite, and the particulars given al¬ 
ways seemed to us of peculiar interest.— 
The record ( vide 2 Samuel 19 : 31—40) 
states that he came down from his own city 
"to escort the king on one of his regal jour¬ 
neys, as far as the river Jordan. It appears 
that “he was a very great man,” and long 
before, when David was a hunted fugitive be¬ 
fore king Saul, had granted him aid and 
sustenance “ while he lay atMahanaim;” he 
had supported him and his friends in a most 
hospitable manner, befitting his wealth and 
station among the Gileadites. 
And now, as this old man left the quiet 
of his home to do honor to his sovereign, 
the monarch’s heart was touched, and he 
remembered with gratitude the favors Bar- 
zillai had bestowed in former years. As 
they came to the river Jordan he said, 
“ Come thou over with me, and I will feed 
thee with me in Jerusalem T He invited 
him to the palace, to share in the state and 
luxury which there prevailed. Whether 
Barzillai still retained his former greatness, 
we are not informed, but king David little 
understood tho heart of an old man, when 
he thus asked him to leave his own city, 
and come up to enjoy the strange splendors 
of Jerusalem. 
And how touching tho answer of the ven¬ 
erable Gileadite,—“ How long havo I to live 
that I should go up with the king unto Je¬ 
rusalem ? I am this day fourscore years 
old.” My sight is dim, and I care not for 
splendor; my taste has departed, so that 
what I eat or drink matters little td .me 
now ; nor can I hear the music or share in* 
the joy of those who wait upon my lq^d, so 
why should I be a burden to the king, or 
an incumbranco upon his bounty. I will 
go yet a little way over the Jordan with the 
king, but why should my former simple ser¬ 
vices bo thus recompensed ? “ Let thy ser¬ 
vant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I 
may die in mine own city, and be buried by 
the grave of my father and of my mother.” 
Eighty years the ties of place and people 
had twined his heart with his own city, and 
it would have broken at the thought of 
leaving even the humblo quiet of Rogelim, 
for the thronged streets and glorious pala¬ 
ces of Jerusalem. 
How natural tho wish that wo “ may die 
among our kindred,” surrounded by the fa¬ 
miliar faces of those wo know and love.— 
Who would not desire to be buried by the 
grave of his parents and friends, there to 
slumber until the resurrection morn, side 
by side with those to whom his heart has 
clung through life, though it matters little 
where the handful of dust which once com¬ 
posed these frames, shall find its earthly 
resting place.— Genesee Evangelist. 
A RELIGIOUS DIVING BELL- 
The original and independent thinker— 
John Foster—speaks of certain professing 
Christians of his acquaintance, as in a reli¬ 
gious diving-bell. Their religion was not 
circumambient—tho element in which they 
lived, and moved, and breathed, and con¬ 
stantly surrounded them. This eloment 
was worldliness. But now and then a little 
religion was conveyed down into tho world¬ 
ly depths, when they breathe through a sort 
of tube. Is it not true of too many Chris¬ 
tians in tho present day ? The vast ocean 
of worldly cares and anxieties, and hopes, 
and fears, surround them. Into this ocoan 
they descend with their religious diving-bell 
—a professor of religion, seeking for hidden 
treasures. Not treasures of wisdom, or 
pearls of grace ; but for sordid gold. 
Now and then they go into the closet or 
prayer meeting, and get a breath of the 
puro air of heaven. But how short a 
breathing spell it is. They are soon im- 
morsed again in tho grosser element, and 
eager in their search after wealth. Is it 
any wonder that their spiritual life should 
bo feeble and sickly, and sometimos no 
pulse percoptiblo ? Is it any wonder that 
they doubt themselves, so ofton, whether 
they havo any love to God ? Or that 
others doubt who behold them ? Will this 
kind of religion make a man either useful 
or happy ? Reader, is this you*' religion.— 
Central Christian Herald. 
The belief that guardian spirits hover 
around the paths of men, covers a mighty 
truth, for every beautiful, puro, and good 
thought which tho heart holds is an angel of 
mercy, purifying and guarding tho soul. 
Tiie errors of the good are often very 
difficult to eradicate, from being founded on 
mistaken views of duty. 
There is no cause of misery more fruitful 
than incurring expenses that we cannot af¬ 
ford. 
