MAY 29 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
177 
MINNESOTA AND OREGON. 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
Some still advocate the doctrine of abolishing 
the office of School Commissioner, and of substi¬ 
tuting in its place the old system of Town Superin¬ 
tendents. Who are the advocates of this course? 
Mainly Ex-Town Superintendents (and their inti¬ 
mate friends) who were disaffected in consequence 
of their losing their offices, which constituted their 
chief interest in the schools. This disaffection 
burned to a consideiable extent in the breast of 
some of these ousted ones. So much so, that in 
one instance, the advice of a lawyer was sought 
with the view, if possible, to prosecute the State 
Superintendent, V. M. Rice, for slander, for having 
published in a circular that the school moneys 
would be full as safe in the hands of the Supervi¬ 
sors as with the Town Superintendents. 
It is plain that such imbecility was not compe¬ 
tent for the office of Town Superintendent, but these 
same wise ones are the chief advocates of going 
back to the old system, and for the prime reason 
that they, or some of their friends, will be likely to 
get the office again. The office of Town Superin¬ 
tendent was of very little benefit to the schools, 
but it served a good purpose in many of the towns 
by giving employment to superannuated individ¬ 
uals, and often aid to the tyro in some profession 
whose business was not sufficient to defray the ex¬ 
pense consequent upon their notions of the dignity 
they should maintain, and the salaries which ac¬ 
crued from very litte labor were quite acceptable. 
But it is useless to point out the painful inefficiency 
that, with slight exceptions, characterized the prac¬ 
tical working of the old system. I only pause to 
pity the brains that advocate its re adoption. 
The present school law is a splendid reform in 
many respects. It increased the school money, 
diminished the officers, and mostly pays them out 
of the income of the United States Deposit Fund, 
and if Legislative aid could be invoked to abolish 
the office of School Commissioner and appropiate 
the money to educate teachers through the medium 
of Teachers’ Institutes — to be conducted by com¬ 
petent and practical teachers—which, with the 
Faculty of Academies, Seminaries, and High 
Schools, shall have power to grant certificates, a 
still greater reform would be accomplished. 
The principal business of the Commissioners is 
to inspect teachers and visit the schools, and in this 
they are of little practical benefit. The inspection 
of a person to ascertain his ability to teach is a 
most miserable and beggarly process of ascertain¬ 
ing the truth. Inspectors invariably ask questions 
concerning the knowledge that they possess, and 
if the applicant can answer according to their no¬ 
tions and hobbies, they consider him competent; 
but since every man has his own way of getting the 
same results, perchance the applicant is taken in a 
different channel from which he has been accustom¬ 
ed to travel, and in consequence stumbles. Of 
course he is pronounced incompetent; and in a 
world like ours, replete with ideas, it is not strange 
that one fact may be perfectly familiar to one indi 
vidual that another may never have known. But 
common sense will readily decide that teachers of 
Academies, or teachers of Institutes, who have had 
the training of pupils for a long time, are better 
qualified to judge of their fitness to teach; and to 
them may safely be given the responsibility. Then 
give the people well educated teachers, and they 
will quickly discard the necessity of paying a Com¬ 
missioner for squinting about the school house to 
see if the teacher does his duty; that fact will de¬ 
velop itself in a cheaper and surer way. 
Empire State. 
, Written for Moore's Kural New-Yorker. 
NOTATION AND NUMERATION. 
It is often a cause of surprise to me why so many 
of my fellow teachers do not require their students 
to understand the principles of Notation and Nu¬ 
meration before passing to addition, subtraction, 
&c., to which they are stepping-stones. On account 
of their very simplicity we are apt to neglect them. 
My attention has been called to this from the fact 
that I have just entered a school, where, among the 
members of a class of five in advanced written 
arithmetic, there was not, a week ago, one who 
could notate or numerate correctly, although some 
of them have "been through” the book, and the 
others very nearly. This certainly is a fault of the 
teacher. Before permitting a scholar to study ad¬ 
dition we should require him to write and read 
numbers until he can write any number he hears 
spoken, or read any he sees written. I know it is 
a little thing, but nevertheless a very important 
one, and I recommend that teachers inspect their 
own classes in this particular, and that inspectors 
of schools do the same in the schools which they 
visit Very likely many will be surprised at the 
result I write this from no special desire to find 
fault, but a sincere wish to Bee our common schools 
elevated to what they should be,—for I believe that 
no essential truth in any study should be passed 
over until fully understood. In mathematics, 
especially, every part is so in harmony with every 
other part, that if the slightest truth is omitted the 
remainder of the fabric is useless. 
And further, I believe the result of this neglect 
on our part is that want of application in so many 
of our pupils. Let them be thoroughly instructed 
in the principles of a science, and they will be very 
apt to apply themselves willingly to its study. We 
do a great deal for them which they should do for 
themselves, and thus not only fail to benefit them 
as we might, but also encourage them in the most 
injurious habits of indolence. We teach how to do 
things, without teaching why, and of course fail to 
interest We must encourage them in habits of 
thoughtful study and patient searching for the rea¬ 
son of things. I admit this is easier said than 
done. But no doubt we can all do at least a little 
better than we have done. a. b. 
Otego, N. Y., 1858. 
Wisconsin.— From the last annual report of the 
Secretary of State in Wisconsin, it appears that the 
school fund of the State now amounts to $3,080,596, 
the income from which is $246,803. The Univer 
Bity fund amounts to $316,566, and the income 
thereon to $22,000. 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
SCHOOLS IN THE WEST. 
As Illinois is not often heard from on educational 
affairs, I will endeavor to say a word or two for the 
encouragement of others. The time was when we 
had to go three and four miles to get to the log 
cabin in which our schools were kept, and when 
we got there had to sit on fence rails (and none too 
smooth at that) for nine hours in the day, and if it 
were winter we collected our own wood from the 
forest at noon. Our teachers, too, were of the most 
ordinary kind—spelling, reading, writing and arith¬ 
metic as far as Long Division, was all they pro¬ 
fessed to teach, and very often they failed to teach 
even these. 
But these days have passed never to return.— 
To each and every three miles square, we have a 
good, comfortable and commodious school house 
fashioned like those of New England. They are 
filled with the juveniles of the district for at least 
six months in the year, and often for a longer pe¬ 
riod. Our teachers are well qualified to teach 
Orthography, Reading, Penmanship, Geography, 
Arithmetic, English Grammar and History, and a 
goodly number are capable of teaching the higher 
branches. Where it is required they teach Algebra, 
Geometry, Philosophy, the rudiments of Chemistry, 
&c. Almost every county seat contains a well en¬ 
dowed Seminary or Academy, where a student has 
the advantage of a preparatory course previous to 
entering College. Our Seminaries and Academies 
are supplied with instructors of the highest stand¬ 
ing, having received a thorough education, and 
taken a regular course to qualify themselves for 
their profession. 
We are progressing. Pass through our State and 
you will see villages, churches where the Word of 
God is explained; school-houses where the “young 
idea is taught to shoot” — where the mind is ex¬ 
panded and man receives his first and lasting im¬ 
pressions. Only a short time ago all this promising 
land was a wilderness where naught was heard save 
the hoot of the owl, the yell of the savage, or the 
scream of the panther. All this change has taken 
place within a few years. But much more remains 
to be done, and we are striving with all our energy 
to improve our school system, as it is yet far from 
perfection. J. 8. Thaksin. 
Vermillion, Edgar Co., Ill., 1858. 
PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT. 
So far as I see, in the course of instruction mark¬ 
ed out for young persons, but little respect is paid 
to the progressive development of the human facul¬ 
ties. A certain amount of time is allotted to edu¬ 
cation, and the earlier the age within which this 
period is passed over, the better; and the greater 
the number of studies that can be crowded into it, 
the more satisfactory is supposed to be the result 
If a pupil can be made to repeat the text-book cor¬ 
rectly, it is all that is demanded. Hence we see in 
the courses of study for mere children, subjects 
which can only bo comprehended by the mind at 
the period of manhood. The result is unhappy.— 
The pupil leaves school, as it is said, thoroughly 
educated, hut utterly disgusted with the studies 
which he has pursued, and resolved hereafter never 
to look at them again; a resolution to which he 
frequently adheres with marvellous pertinacity.— 
But this evil is confined to no grade of schools.— 
It exists, if I mistake not, in our more advanced 
seminaries of learning. Many of our pupils are 
employed in studies which they cannot understand, 
and in which, of course, they can find no pleasure. 
I know very well that I read Cicero’s Orations ten 
years before I could understand an oration of 
Burke. I read Tacitus long before I could com¬ 
prehend Hume; and Horace when I had no power 
of appreciating Burns. I had finished my course 
in rhetoric some years before I had any distinct 
conception of beauty of style; and long after I had 
gone through Stewart, I should have been puzzled 
to distinguish between perception and conception. 
I presume that now we are doing better, but I 
should not be surprised if there were found many 
now studying the Greek tragedies, who can see no 
beauty in Shakspeare, and poring over the “ Ora¬ 
tion on the Crown,” who would think it a task to 
read an oration of Webster. 
I fear that it is from this cause that our pupils 
take so little interest in their studies. They come 
to them as to a task, glad when the task is inter¬ 
mitted, and happy when it ceases altogether. This 
shoald not be so. The use of the intellectual fac¬ 
ulties is intended to be a source of happiness, and 
there must be some error where this result does not 
follow from the use of them.— Dr. Wayland. 
VISIT THE PUPILS. 
Teachers are not acquainted with the parents 
of pupils, as a general thing, and thus labor often 
at great disadvantage. “When we went boarding 
round,” we became acquainted, and this was one 
of the redeeming features of the itinerating lodg¬ 
ing system. A teacher should visit the homes of 
his pupils. Few parents will fail to welcome the 
teacher of their children. If he be a true gentle¬ 
man, he will always be welcome. Without an ac¬ 
quaintance with the parents, we almost inevitably 
fail to secure their co-operation, and we are more 
liable to suffer from misrepresentation or mistake. 
Pupils will be less inclined to respect those who are 
not well spoken of at home. Besides we may by a 
little exertion make our influence felt for good in 
promoting all the important interests of commu¬ 
nity. By becoming acquainted we become more 
influential in advancing those educational objects 
that we may have in view. 
The teacher can with propriety call upon the pa¬ 
rents of his pupils, and thus take the initiative in 
forming an acquaintance—and custom makes it 
his duty to do so—most of the difficulties of school 
may be prevented by a general acquaintance in the 
district. In ten years’ experience we find no in¬ 
stance of serious difficulty with a pupil, with whose 
parents we were acquainted— Wis. Journal of 
Education. 
Educational Matters in Kentucky.— In Jan¬ 
uary last the teachers in Kentucky held a meeting 
at Louisville to take into consideration the propri¬ 
ety of forming a State Associationhmd establishing 
a School Journal Arrangernentswerethen made 
for carrying out these designs, and a meeting ap¬ 
pointed at Lexington on the second Tuesday of 
July next, at which, it is thought, a finality can be 
reached. 
The people of the Territories of Minnesota and 
Oregon have, through their representatives at 
Washington, been seeking the aid of our present 
Congress in obtaining admission as Sovereign 
States of the American Confederacy. The former 
has been “ voted in,” the latter, judging from pres¬ 
ent appearances, will have to “ wait a little longer.” 
Minnesota lies between latitude 42° 30’ and 49° 
North, and longitude 91° and 103° 6* West. The 
area embraced within its limits is 141,839 square 
miles. Physically, Minnesota is an elevated table 
land, with a surface but little varied, being mostly 
a rolling prairie, abounding with lakes of pure 
water, and Btreams which ilow in all directions ex¬ 
cept towards the West The soil is a fertile sandy 
loam, generally easily cultivated, and well adapted 
to agricultural purposes. 
The French were the first Europeans to explore 
the regions now comprised in Minnesota, and the 
Mississippi, even beyond the Falls of St Anthony, 
was visited by the Jesuit fathers at a very early 
period. In 1819 the first American military post 
was established and called Fort Snelling. Minne¬ 
sota has composed a part of several Territorial 
Governments, among which were Wisconsin and 
Iowa. In 1849 it was formed into a Territory with 
its present name. 
Oregon borders upon the Pacific coast between 
the parallels of 42° and 46° 10’ North latitude. 
The area of the territory is 210,000 square miles. 
Much of this Territory is mountainous, but it 
abounds in fertile valleys. It is divided into three 
sections, by nearly parallel ridges following the 
coast line. These several sections have each dis¬ 
tinct characteristics of soil, productions and cli¬ 
mate. The valley of the Willamette is very fertile, 
the intervales and prairies form the best of farming 
lands, and the uplands afford good pasturage, and 
abound with valuable timber. The division be¬ 
tween the Cascade Range and the Blue Mountains 
has a light sandy soil with many valleys of rich 
alluvial deposit That lying West of the Rocky 
Mountains and East of the Blue —in extent about 
one-half of the Territory— is rough and rocky with 
a few narrow valleys of great fertility. 
SALUTATIONS AMONG DIFFERENT NATIONS- 
The expressions used as salutations among the 
different nations of earth have, under their common 
aspect, something characteristic and interesting, 
even for the most casual observer. 
In the East, some of these expressions savor, in a 
more or less degree, of the Scriptures, and of the 
serene and patriarchal sentiment of the inhabi¬ 
tants. One recognizes the immobility of these 
pastoral and warlike people, standing aloof from 
all human progress. Nearly all have a foundation 
in religious sentiments, and express peace to those 
to whom they are addressed. The salutation used 
by the Arab, “Salem,” or “Shalum,” means peace, 
and is found in the word Jerusalem. The Arab 
salutes his friend thus, — “May you nave a happy 
morning;” “May God grant you his favors;” “If 
God wills it, you are well.” This last expression 
plainly betrays their fanaticism. 
The Turks have a formula which can only he 
used in a sunny clime, —“ May your shadow never 
be less.” An Englishman would never think of 
wishing a friend a fine shadow. 
The climate of Egypt is feverous, and perspira¬ 
tion is necessary to health; hence the Egyptian, 
meeting you, asks, “ How do you perspire?” 
“Have you eaten?” “Is your stomach in good 
order?” asks the Chinaman, a touching solicitude, 
which can only be appreciated by a nation of gour¬ 
mands. 
“ Good cheer,” says the modern Greek, in nearly 
the same language that the ancients were wont to 
greet their friends. A charming salutation, which 
could only have originated among the happy, care¬ 
less Greeks. 
The Romans, who were heretofore robust, inde¬ 
fatigable and laborious, had energetic salutations, 
expressing force and action: “Salve,” “Bestrong,” 
“ Be healthy;” and “ guidayis,” “What do you?” or 
“ What make you?” 
The Genoese of modern times, says, “ Health and 
wealth,” which is very appropriate for an active 
and commercial people. 
The Neapolitan devoutly says, “Grow in sanc¬ 
tity;” and the Piedmontese, “I am your servant.” 
The “How stand you?” of almost all Italy, forcibly 
indicates the nonchalance of that sunny land. 
The Spaniard, grave, haughty and indifferent, 
wishes you “Good morning,” to which we respond, 
“ At your service, sir.” Another salutation which 
the Spaniard uses, “ God be with you, signor,” | 
shows a melange of respect for one’s self and reli¬ 
gious sentiment 
The ordinary salutations of the German is “ Wie 
gebts?”—“ How goes it?” and has a vagueness par¬ 
taking somewhat of the dreamy character of the 
German. To bid one adieu, he says, “Leben sie 
whol”—“ Live quiet and happy.” This last plainly 
exhibits his peaceful nature and love for the simple 
joys of life. 
The traveling Hollander asks you, “hoewaart'sge?” 
“How do you go?” The thoughtful, active Swede 
demands, “ Of what do you think?” whilst the Dane, 
more placid, uses the German expression “ Liv vel 
—“ Live well.” But the greeting of the Pole is 
best of all: “Are you happy?” 
The English have the “Good-bye,” a corruption 
of the woids “Good he with you,” and some others; 
hut that which exhibits best the character of the 
English, is “How do you do?” as the activity of 
this people is shown in this demand where the 
The Governor is appointed by the President of 
the United States for four years. The Legislative 
Assembly is composed of a council of nine mem¬ 
bers, elected for three years, aud a House of Repre- 
sen’atives of eighteen members elected annually. 
On the 7thof May, 1792, Captain Robert Gray, in 
the ship Columbia, of Boston, discovered and en¬ 
tered the Columbia river; to which he gave the 
name of his vessel. He was the first person that 
established the fact of the existence of this great 
river. In 1804-5, Captains Lewis and Clark, under 
the direction of the government of the U. S., ex¬ 
plored the country from the mouth of the Missouri 
to the mouth of the Columbia; and spent the win¬ 
ter of 1805-6 at the mouth of the Columbia. This 
exploration of the liiver Columbia was the first 
ever made. Iu 1808, the Missouri Fur Company, 
at St. Louis, established a trading post beyond the 
Rocky Mountains, on the head-waters of the Co¬ 
lumbia. In 1810, the Pacific Fur Company, under 
John Jacob Astor, of New York, was formed; and 
in 1811, they founded Astoria, at the mouth of the 
Columbia, as the principal trading post, and pro¬ 
ceeded to establish others in the interior. A little 
later in the same year, the North West Company 
sent a detachment to form establishments on the 
Columbia; but when they arrived at the mouth of 
the river, they found the post occupied. In conse. 
quence of the exposure of Astoria by the war of 
1813, the post was sold out to the North West Com¬ 
pany. At the close of the war, Astoria was restor¬ 
ed, by order of the British government, to its 
original founders, agreeably to the first aiticlo of 
the Treaty of Ghent,; but Britain still persisted in 
claiming this territory, S. to the 42d degree of lat., 
until 1845. In 1821, the Hudson Bay and North 
West Company, who had previously been rivals, 
were united, and since that time have greatly ex¬ 
tended their establishments in the region of Ore¬ 
gon. It was held in joint occupancy until the 
treaty of 1845, when Britain gave up all claims S. 
of the 49th parallel of N. lat. It was organized 
with a territorial government in 1848. The portion 
now the territory of Washington wus set off by an 
act of Congress, March, 1863. 
“do” is spoken twice. Nothing is more charac¬ 
teristic, more lively, or more stirring than this. 
The “ Comment vous portez vous? ” of the 
French is equally characteristic. The Frenchman 
is more active than laborious—more ardent, more 
passionate than thoughtful; hence the principle 
with him is not to do, but to go, — to he lively, to 
show himself. There is something in this expres¬ 
sion, “ Comment vous portez vous?”—“How do you 
carry yourself?”—which bespeaks at once his frank 
manner and pleasant face.— Frarisluted from the 
French. 
For Moore’s Kural New-Yorker 
MISCELLANEOUS ENIGMA. 
I am composed of 19 letters. 
My 8, 6, 15, 4 is the name of a beast. 
My 11, 14, 19 is an agricultural implement. 
My 5, 3, 16 is a domestic animal. 
My 7, 17, 18, 9, 10, 11 is the name of a vehicle. 
My 5, 15, 2, 4 is a kind of grain. 
My 12, 15, 4 is the name of a weight. 
My 1, 9, 19 is an exclamation dt contempt. 
My 13 is a letter of the alphabet. 
My whole is the name of one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence. 
Crete, Ill., 1858. Sblwyst. 
Answer iu two weeks. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker 
CHARADE. 
A leader of strife and a part of sin 
My first is known to be; 
My second is used is “raising the wind,'* 
And always in naming me. 
My third is a part of that naughty w'ord 
Maids sometimes say to lovers; 
My third and fourth, when together, are heard 
In yelps from canine rovers. 
My whole is as pure as our winter’s snow, 
And white as foam of ocean; 
It gleams like pearls on a queenly brow, 
And with the wind keeps motion. 
Now if your wits were not “ gathering wool” 
As this your eye glanced over; 
If you’re at all apt in common-sense school, 
You’ll tell my name, no other. 
Charlotte Centre, N. Y, 1858. Ellen C. Lakh. 
j£Sy~ Answer in two weeks. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker 
ARITHMETICAL PROBLEM. 
The engineer on the engine Prairie Flower is run¬ 
ning from Chicago to Rock Island, a distance of 200 
miles; wishes to know the distance a point in the 
circumference of the driving wheel will make in 
running said distance, the diameter of the wheel 
being 6 feet. J. Thompson. 
Hanover, Mich., 1858. 
Answer in two weeks. 
Answer to Geographical Enigma in No. 43G:— 
Maine, Augusta. 
“IT IS NOT ALWAYS MAY.” 
8uh but lifts her fairy wand, 
And decks the garden bowers, 
Then slowly vanishes away, 
And carries all the flower*. 
The sun but smiles upon the earth. 
Then sinks into his grave, 
They fill his tomb with shadows, 
And bless the light he gave; 
And night but breaks upon ns. 
In her mild and starry way, 
But comes the brightened morning, 
To drive the stars awsy. 
The merry tree inhabitants 
But carol for a time. 
Then mount upon their pinions, 
And fly to fairer climes. 
Thus, the happy dream of youth, 
Is passing, passing by, 
Wo fain would dream forever. 
And ne’er its waking try. 
They’re the.golden days of life, 
Dropped syurklivg from Time's gluts, 
And they are priceless treasures, 
That once aud forever pass. 
Wo Bball ne’er forget them, 
And in our after years, 
Mern’ry will fling o’er us 
“A sweet gladness full of tears.” 
They will come upon the mind. 
Like some wild distant song, 
Bright’ning life’s realities 
Long after youth is gone. 
Ah no, life is not all bliss, 
Nor is it always gay, 
Sometimes its bleak and draary, 
“It is not always May.*’ 
Pom pay Valley, N. Y., 1858. M. K. A. 
TO THE GIRLS. 
Jennie, and Mary, and Kittik, and all you who 
love flowers—and is there a “ Young Ruualist ” 
who does not?—shall I tell you the prettiest way 
we have found of arranging them? and will you 
try it once? 
Whenever we go “Maying,” we are sure, after 
gathering the flowers, to hunt up some pretty moss 
to arrange them in after we get home. We have 
a little round wire basket, which, by slight pres¬ 
sure, can he made to assume any form, square, oval, 
or round. Any of your ingenious friends can 
make you one easily, or you can make one your¬ 
selves. It need not be so very nice, for the long 
moss will hide it. Upon the bottom and around 
the sides of this we lay the moss so that the green 
surface shall bo outside, and the soil, in which it is 
rooted, inside. Upon this we put a layer of moss, 
right side up, and we have a moss basket, very 
beautiful, if we have made it of long, fresh, green 
moss. 
But, it must be yet more beautiful, and so wo 
crown it with our choicest flowers. Carefully 
parting the pieces of moss upon the top of the 
basket, we as carefully insert the stems of the 
flowers between them, so that they shall be kept 
fresh by the moisture imprisoned in the moss and 
earth. And now we have a “ perfect little beauty.” 
Blue, pink, and almost white liverworts, delicately 
tinted, and fragrant May-flowers, the drooping Ad- 
der’s-tongue, the snow-white Bloodroot, and the 
blood-red Trillium nestle in the moss, looking very 
comfortable, and “just as pretty as they cam” 
H. E. O. 
TIME. 
What is time? Time is a prelude to eternity,— 
originated by the Creator of all things with refer¬ 
ence to the achievement of His glorious purposes. 
It is a huge stage on which is enacted the drama of 
life, the dramatists, themselves, the human race. 
At the dawn of creation the drama began and will 
continue to be performed until man and time verge 
into eternity. 
Time is arbitrarily made to assume substance by 
man by dividing it into days, weeks, &c., and thus 
the past is, as it were, measured and remembered. 
But here it occurs to us that no instituted form or 
measure can express the essence of time. If we 
reflect a moment we comprehend its great and pre¬ 
dominant characteristic, action. Given like all 
things else by God, man has his being in it to do. 
All other things were created inferior to man and 
rendered subservient to this action. Hence we 
arrive at a correct definition of time, viz.: life and 
action. For, sweep from the face of the world man 
and his works, then earth would present a scene of 
uninterrupted sameness, and time itself become an 
unmeaning void. Therefore, considered apart from 
the great tide of existence and activity that surges 
with it, time is nothing. It borrows all its qualities 
from the features which distinguish it Time is 
fleeting—time is precious, and why7 — because life 
is embraced in the idea. As existence and time 
wing their flight on equally rapid pinions they are 
synonyms. Not the number of days but the num¬ 
ber and character of deeds is the true measure of 
time. Life measures time—not time life; age and 
wisdom do not always attend each other. A brief 
life with industry is more honorable than longevity 
immolated at the shrine of Indolence. Since hu¬ 
man life lias a bearing on the divine life, so the life 
of the body is of moment only as it relates to the 
soul. The life of the soul, then, becomes the grand 
whole of human existence. All other things should 
be subjected as auxiliary to this, and in proportion 
as they are, time is well spent and its great object 
attained. c. c. a. 
Pompey Valley, N. Y., 1858. 
Character. —A man’s character is the man— 
the expression of his individuality. Take that 
away, and we should all be alike—a uniform set of 
wig-maker’s blocks, without enough difference to 
distinguish us apart. In persons of strong charac¬ 
ter, this expression is correspondingly. It impres¬ 
ses itself upon all their surroundings—their gar¬ 
ments—apartments, etc., etc. Who has not seen 
hats which looked just like their owners? Yet in 
the hatter’s window, the hats look like nobody— 
they most he worn to get something of the wearer’s 
individuality into them. Apartments show this, 
also, very strongly. Not so much in the simple 
matter of neatness or unneatness, as in the character 
of the order or disorder which reigns in them—for 
two littered rooms may bo as unlike as two men. 
