NOT. 6. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
361 
PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 
Written for Moose's Rntwl New-Yorker. 
“ PEESEVERANTIA VINCIT OMNIA” 
This good old Latin exaggeration, so much 
(] relied on by teachers and leaders to stimulate the 
industry and ambition of their pupils and followers, 
besides helping to effect a great deal of good, has 
|j contributed towards accomplishing a vast amount 
of mischief. It has been the encouragement and 
the excuse of thousands of young persons, who, 
dazzled by the brilliant career of certain masters 
in their professions, have applied their time and 
[ | energies to pursuits for which they were conscious 
| they had but little na'nral aptitude, in the fond 
persuasion that equal success might be realized by 
j themselves if the single condition implied in the 
above inspiring motto were faithfully observed. 
“Perseverence conquers all things,” says a young 
man to himself, after listening to an eloquent dis¬ 
course by the Rev. Dr. So-and-so, “It has made of 
the speaker before me one of the first divines in 
the country, — why may it not do as much for me? 
I have abundant energy to carry me through the 
necessary preparation; I would gladly assume the 
cares and trials incident to the ministerial profes¬ 
sion, if thereby I might assist, in the great work of 
a world's reformation; and if in any way I lack fit¬ 
ness, those anima’ing words ‘ Per sever aw tia Vincit 
Omnia, ’ that have helped me through many a hard 
task, give assurance that patient industry will sup¬ 
ply all deficiencies. Yes, I will be a preacher.”— 
Accordingly, he enters on the work of preparation, 
— be studies hard, —he strives to gather all the 
graces of ancient and modern literature to embel¬ 
lish his style, and he assiduously cultivates the arts 
of oratory to lend persuasion to his speech, — he 
passes a triumphant examination, obtains a charge, 
undergoes the usual ceremonies of ordination, and 
commences the career of a Minister of the Gospel. 
For a time, no doubt, he is well pleased with the 
life he has chosen—he sees that he is improving— 
the preparation of his sermons costs him less time 
and labor than at first; they are besides of better 
quality, aud be receives plenty of fair words from 
his hearers. But, by-and-by, when he comes to 
look about for the results of his preaching, the 
ohancea are that he finds but little to encourage 
him. Tt is small satisfaction to him to hear his 
praise from the lips of his parishioners,—he seeks 
rather to read it in their lives—and if any percepti¬ 
ble good effect of his efforts exists there, it is so 
insignificant, compared with what he promised 
himself, that discontent begins to creep into his 
sonL Unwilling to believe the fault lies in him¬ 
self, he meditates a change of location; he will try 
what a difference in his latitude or longitude will 
do for him; he goes West, perhaps. Bat he takes 
the old self with him, and human nature is the same 
everywhere. After dragging through some sad, dis¬ 
couraging years, conscience rouses him to a rigid 
self-examination; he lookssearchingly within, and 
he sees that the preachers heart is not in him — 
that Nature denied him the advantages of a re¬ 
former—and he no longer feels j ustified in pursuing 
the vocation of a preacher. He will betake him¬ 
self to some manual emplojment; for there he is 
sure of being able to accomplish a greater or less 
amount of good. He has found that perseverence 
does not conquer aH things. 
If we could know how many of the persons who 
yearly enter the professions do so with little regard 
I to any special fitness for the pursuits they choose,bat 
are attracted to them by mere fancy—supported by 
faith in the power of patient study to make good all 
defects; doubtless the knowledge would surprise us. 
The far greater proportional number who abandon 
the professions for agriculture and mechanical em 
ployments, than leave manual occupations for law, 
medieine, &c., indicate plainly enough, that the 
young understand the above motto as having refe¬ 
rence to professional life — as pointing to intellec¬ 
tual rather than physical triumphs. 
Now, endeavor, so it be towards something use¬ 
ful, is always worthy of respect We may smile at 
the efforts of a man striving after something far 
beyond his reach, or we may regard with pity him 
who, to our view, wastes his talent by directing it 
to an inferior pursuit; but, still, there is always 
something about even misapplied effort that com 
mands respect. So long as a man works at some 
thing — so long as he tries to better his own or 
others’ condition, physical or spiritual, there is 
hope of him. Yet, it is by no means a matter of 
I n indifference whether a young man who can work 
more efficiently at farming or some other hand! 
i I craft than at preaching or the practice of law, shall 
try his fortune for a time, at one of these latter em¬ 
ployments— theD, through disappointment and dis 
I gust, relinquish it for something to which his pow 
11 ers are better adapted—or, before fixing on a voca¬ 
tion, try to find out what Nature intended him for, 
and choose the right thing first. Even if it were 
certain that his pride would allow him to give up 
a profession to which he had committed himself 
for some more congenial employment—to ohange 
what seems to him a calling of high honor for one 
of less esteem—he cannot carry to his new pursuit 
the freshness and enthusiasm necessary to enable 
him to work at it to the best parpose. His failure 
as a doctor of divinity or a doctor of laws may not 
disable him from becoming a good farmer; bat 
there is little risk in saying that he would have been 
a better one had his energies been given to agricul 
ture before his spirit was broken by disappoint¬ 
ment and defeat in another pursuit. Let those, 
then, who have influence in directing the ambition 
of the young, teach them that there are as grand 
conquests to be made in the physical as in the in¬ 
tellectual world;- and let the favorite motto of 
school professors,—“ Per sever antia Vincit Omnia ” — 
be preceded, and its application modified, by the 
truth so -pointedly expressed by the Latin poet 
“ Though you drive out Nature with a fork she will 
return again.” a. 
South Livonia, N. Y., 1858. 
The following interesting statistics of libraries 
have been furnished to the N. Y. Tab me by Mr. W. 
J. Rhees, of Washington City, who has devoted 
several years to this subject, and the arrangement 
and examination of the collection of reports, docu¬ 
ments, &c, in the Smithsonian Institute. There 
are fifty libraries in the United States containing 
upward of fifteen thousand volumes, thirteen con¬ 
taining over thirty thousand, and six over sixty- 
thousand volumes. 
The library of Harvard College, with its socie¬ 
ties and departments, ranks highest on the list. 
Massachusetts has eight libraries of the fifty, er 
one-sixth; New England, sixteen, or one-third; 
New York, eleven, or more than one-fourth. 
The largest College Library in the North is Har¬ 
vard, with 112,000 volumes; the largest in the 
South, Georgetown College, D. C., with 26,000 
volumes. 
The largest Mercantile or Mechanics’ Library is 
that of New York city. 
New York has the largest State Library, Indiana 
next, Maryland next 
Of the fifty libraries, thirty-seven are in North¬ 
ern States, and three in the District of Columbia. 
LIST OP TH3 FIFTY PRINCIPAL LIBRARIES IN THE 17. S. 
Vols. 
1. Harvard University,_..Cambridge, Mass.,.—112,000 
2. Astor Library,___New York, N. Y,,_._. 80,000 
3. Athensenm,_Boston, Mass,_70,000 
4. Library Company of_Philadelphia, Pa.. 65,000 
5. Library of Congress,_Washingion, D. C,_.. 65,000 
6. Yale College,_New Haven, Ct.,. 63,500 
7. State Library,.Albany, N. Y.,. 50,000 
8. Mercantile Library,.New York, N. Y,- 47,904 
9. N. Y. Society Library, ..New York, N. Y.,_ 40,000 
10. Smithsonian Institute, ..Washington, D. C,_.. 40,000 
11. Brown University,_Providence, R. I.,- 37,000 
12. Public Library of City ..Boston, Mass.,- 34,896 
Dartmouth College,_Hanover, N. H.,-$2,438 
14. Bowdoin College,.Brunswick, Me.,. 29,920 
15. Theological Seminary, ..Andover, Mass.,. 26,649 
16. Georgetown College,_Georgetown, D. C.,— 26,000 
17. Am. Antiquarian Soc’y, -Worcester, Mass.,- 26,000 
N. Y. Historical Soc’y, ..New York, N. Y.,- 25,000 
19. Union Theological Sem.,.New York, N. Y.,- 24,000 
20. Columbia College,.New York, N. Y.,_ 24,000 
21. South Carolina College, .Columbia, S. C ,- 23,000 
22. University of Virginia,..Univ. of Virginia, Ya. 22,000 
23. Dickinson College,_Carlisle, Pa.,.— 20,396 
24. Athenaoum,_____Providence, R. I„- 20,267 
25. State Library,...Indianapolis, Ind., ... 20,000 
20. State Library,.Annapolis, Md.,. 20,000 
Amherst College,...Amherst, Mass.,- 20,000 
28. St. Louis University,_St. Louis, Mo.,. 20,000 
29. Am. Philosophical So-Philadelphia, Pa.,- 20,000 
30. Charleston Library,.Charleston, S. C.,- 20,000 
Hioh School Library,_Providence, R. I.,-19,637 
32. Loyola College,.Baltimore, Md.,.19,600 
Apprentices’ Library, ...New York, N. Y ,-19,020 
34. College of New Jersey, .Princeton, N. J.,.19,000 
36. State Library,.Columbus, Ohio,.18,123 
36. Mercantile Library,.Boston, Mass.,.18,000 
37. University of Georgia, ..Athens, Ga.,.18,000 
38. University N. Carolina,..Chapel Hill, N. C., — 17,800 
39. Mercantile Library,.Cincinnati, Ohio,_17.541 
Maryland Historical So.,.Baltimore, Md.,-17,490 
41. Academy Nat. Sciences,.Philadelphia, Pa.,_17,000 
42. Hamilton College,.Clinton, N. Y.,.16,800 
43. Theological Seminary, ..Columbia, S. C.,-16,600 
44. Apprentices’Library, ...Philadelphia, Pa.,_16,500 
45. U. S. Military Academy,.West Point, N. Y., ... 16,392 
46. Union College,.Schenectady, N.Y.,_. 16,300 
47. Waterville College,.Waterville, Me.,. 16 000 
48. Williams College,...Williamstown, Mass.,. 16,000 
49. Trinity College,___Hartford, Ct.,........ 15,000 
60. State Library,_...Harrisburg, Pa,.15,000 
The number of volumes in the public libraries of 
the fferent States, (exclusive of school libraries,) 
is as follows: 
Vols. 
Alabama,_31,929 
Arkansas,_ 1,000 
MAMMOTH CAVE, KENTUCKY 
I have known some men possessed of good 
qualities, which were very serviceable to others, 
but useless to themselves; like a sun-dial on the 
front of a house, to inform the neighbors and pas¬ 
sengers, but not the owner within. 
Thoughts. —Horace Walpole once remarked, 
“ This world is a comedy to those who think, and 
a tragedy to those who feel” 
California,_21.175 
Connecticut, ..152,783 
Delaware,. 28,585 
Florida,..... 9,867 
Georgia,_ 64,656 
Illinois,_ 43,588 
Indiana,_ 82,379 
Iowa,_ 8,150 
Kentucky,_127,108 
I-ouisiana,_ 59,680 
Maine,_115 932 
Maryland,_141,516 
Massachusetts,_635,111 
Michigan,_ 35,666 
Mississippi, _16,640 
Missouri,_ 68.699 
New Hampshire,..._ 88,502 
Massachusetts, it will be seen, stands first; New 
York, very near to her; Pennsylvania, third; Dis¬ 
trict of Columbia, fourth, and Ohio, fifth. Only 
eleven States have over 100,000 volumes; of these, 
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and South Carolina 
are Southern. 
PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE PRINCIPAL CITIES 
Vole. Vols. 
New York,.331,441 | Cincinnati, . 74,300 
Vols. 
New Jersey,.. 80,853 
New York,_617 484 
North Carolina,_41,985 
Ohio.206,288 
Pennsylvania,_424,870 
Rhode Island,.140 235 
South Carolina,_101,680 
Tennessee,.. 82,904 
Texas,_ 2,360 
Vermont,_ 33.900 
Virginia,_134,546 
Wisconsin,_ 58,000 
Oregon Territory,_ 1,147 
Washington Ter.,... 2,852 
Minnesota Territory, 5,900 
Kansas Territory,_ 1,000 
District Columbia, ..268,818 
Total,.3,921,663 
Philadelphia, .269,228 
Boston,_230,046 
Baltimore,_ 98,644 
Albany, _ 93,427 
Columbia, S. C.,_ 65,375 
St. Louis, Mo.,. 40,342 
Charleston, S. C.,... 38,690 
FALLACY OF PREMATURE EDUCATION. 
When we are considering the health of chil¬ 
dren, it is imperative not to omit the importance 
of keeping their brains fallow, as it were, for several 
of the first years of their existence. The mischief 
perpetrated by a contrary coarse, in the shape of 
bad health, peevish temper, and developed vanity, is 
incalculable. Some infant prodigy, which is a 
standard of mischief throughout its neighbor¬ 
hood, misleads them. Bat parents may be assured 
that this early work is not, by any means, all gain, 
even in the way of work. I suspect it is a loss; 
and, that children who begin their education late, 
as it would he called, will rapidly overtake those 
who have been in the harness long before them. 
And what advantage can it he that a child 
knows more at six years old than its compeers, 
especially if this is to he gained at a sacrifice of 
health, which may never be regained? There may 
be some excuse for this early book-work, in the 
case of those children who are to live by manual 
labor. It is worth while, perhaps, to run the risk 
of some physical injury to them, having only 
their early years in which we can teach them hook- 
knowledge. The chance of mischief, too, will 
be less, being more likely to be counteracted by 
their after life. But for a child who is to be at 
book-work for the first twenty-one years of its life, 
what folly it is to exhaust in the least its mental 
energy, which, after all, is its surest implement 
A similar course of argument applies to taking 
children early to church, and to over-developing 
their minds in any way. There is no knowing, 
moreover, the disgust and weariness that may 
grow up in the minds of young persons from their 
attention being prematurely claimed. — Arthur 
Helps. 
Many and varied are the natural beauties and 
wonders of Kentucky—the most strange and mag¬ 
nificent of them all is the Mammoth Cave, the 
entrance to which is represented in our engraving. 
This Cave is situated near Green River, one hun¬ 
dred and thirty miles south-southwest of Lexington. 
It has been penetrated nine or ten miles, and has 
mariy windings that have not been explored. The, 
depth is sixty or seventy feet. It contains figures 
some of which are of immense size and fantastic 
form; but is more remarkable for its extent than 
the variety or beauty of its productions, having 
none of the beautiful stalactites found in many 
other caves. The earth is strongly impregnated 
with saltpetre, and large quantities of it aro manu¬ 
factured. 
The region which has received the visits of 
the explorer is divided into two hundred and 
twenty-six “avenues,” forty-seven “ domes,” eight 
“ cataracts,” and twenty-three “ pits,” and, in addi' 
tiou to all these, there are a thousand and one mar¬ 
vellous scenes and objects claiming the attention 
of the visitor. 
As may he supposed, there are many portions of 
this wonderful cavern which “human eye hath not 
seen”—portions in which the Spirit of Darkness 
has awed the adventurers into timidity, setting 
bounds to their progress—where the edict, “ thus far 
shalt thou come and no farther,” ha3 met with a 
frank, ready compliance. The desire to fathom 
these depths has exhibited itself occasionally, and 
the following graphic sketch—copied from the Lou¬ 
isville Journal —detailing a recent attempt to cast 
light upon the hidden and unrevealed, will show our 
readers the dangers consequent upon such an un¬ 
dertaking. The “young gentleman” is, we believe, 
son of Geo. D. Prentice, the editor of the paper 
referred to: 
“ At the supposed end of what has always been 
considered the longest avenue of the Mammoth 
Cave, nine miles from its entrance, there is a pit, 
dark, and deep, and terrible, known as the Mael¬ 
strom. Tens of thousands have gazed into it with 
awe, whilst bengal-lights were thrown down it to 
make its fearful depths visible, but none ever had 
the daring to explore it. The celebrated guide, 
Stephen, who was deemed insensible to fear, was 
offered six hundred dollars by the proprietors of 
the Cave, if he would descend to the bottom of it, 
but he shrank from the periL A few years ago, a 
Tennessee professor, a learned and hold man, re¬ 
solved to do what no one before him had dared to 
do, and, making arrangements with great care and 
precaution, he had himself lowered down by a 
strong rope, a hundred feet, bat, art that point, his 
courage failed him, and he called aloud to be drawn 
out. No human power could ever have induced 
him to repeat the appalling experiment 
A conple of weeks ago, however, a young gentle¬ 
man at Louisville, whose nerves never trembled at 
mortal peril, being at the Mammoth Cave with 
Prof. Wright of our city, and others, determined, 
no matter what the dangers and difficulties might 
be, to explore the depths of the Maelstrom. Mr. 
Proctor, the enterprising proprietor of the Cave, 
sent to Nashville and procured a long rope of great 
strength expressly for the parpose. The rope and 
some necessary timbers were borne by the guides 
and others to the point of proposed exploration. 
The arrangements being soon completed, the rope, 
with a heavy fragment of rock affixed to it, was let 
down and swung to and fro to dislodge any loose 
rock that would be likely to fall at the touch.— 
Several were thus dislodged, and the long-contin¬ 
ued reverberations rising up like distant thunder 
from below, proclaimed the depth of the horrid 
chasm. Then the young hero of the occasion, 
with several hats drawn over his head to protect it 
as far as possible against any masses falling from 
above, and with a light in his hand and the rope 
fastened around his body, took his place over the 
awful pit and directed the half dozen men, who 
held the end of the rope, to let him down into the 
Cimmerian gloom. 
We have heard from his own lips an account of 
his descent. Occasionally masses of earth and 
rock went whizzing past, but none struck him. 
Thirty er forty feet from the top, he saw a ledge, 
from which, as he judged by appearances, two or 
three avenues led off in different directions. About 
a hundred feet from the top, a cataract from the 
side of the pit went rushing down the abyss, and, 
as he descended by the side of the falling water 
and in the midst of the spray, he felt apprehension 
that his light would be extinguished, but his care 
prevented this. He was landed at the bottom of 
the pit, a hundred and ninety feet from the top. 
He found it almost perfectly circular, about 18 feet 
in diameter, with a small opening at one point, 
leading to a fine chamber of no great extent He 
found on the floor beantifnl specimens of black 
silex of immense size, vastly larger than were ever 
discovered in any other part of the Mammoth 
Cave, and also a multitude of exquisite formations 
as pare and white as virgin snow. Making him¬ 
self heard, with great effort, by his friends, he at 
length asked them to pull him partly up, intending 
stop on the way and explore a cave that he had ob¬ 
served opening about forty feet above the bottom 
of the pit. Reaching the mouth of that cave, he 
CLERKS UNSUITED FOR THE WEST, AGAIN. 
swung himself with much exertion into it, and, 
holding the end of the rope in his hand, he incau¬ 
tiously let it go, and it swung out apparently be¬ 
yond his reach. 
This situation was a fearful one, and his friends 
above could do nothing for him. Soon, however, 
he made a hook of the end of his lamp, and, by ex¬ 
tending himself as far over the verge as possible 
without falling, he succeeded in securing the rope. 
Fastening it to a rock, he followed the avenue 160 
or 200 yards to a point where he found it blocked 
by an impassable avalanche of rock and earth. 
Returning to the mouth of this avenue, he beheld 
au almost exactly similar mouth of another on the 
opposite side of the pit, but, not being able to swing 
himself into it, he re-fastened the rope around his 
body, suspended himself again over the abyBs, and 
shouted to his friends to raise him to the top. The 
pull was an exceedingly severe one, and the rope, 
being ill adjusted around his body, gave him the 
most excruciating pain. But soon his pain was 
forgotten in a new and dreadful periL When he 
was 90 feet from the mouth of the pit, and 100 from 
the bottom, swaying and swinging in mid-air, he 
heard rapid and excited words of horror and alarm 
above, and soon learned that the rope by which he 
was upheld had taken fire from the friction of the 
timber over which it passed. Several more mo¬ 
ments of awful suspense to those above, and still 
more awful to him below, ensued. 
To them and him a fatal and instant catastrophe 
seemed inevitable. But the fire was extinguished 
with a bottle of water belonging to himself, and 
then the party above, though almost exhausted by 
their labors, succeeded in drawing him to the top. 
He was as calm and self-poBsessed as upon his en¬ 
trance into the pit, but all of his companions, over¬ 
come by fatigue, sank down upon the ground, and 
his friend, Prof. Wright, from over-exertion and 
excitement, fainted and remained for a time insen¬ 
sible. 
The young adventurer left his name carved in 
the depths of the Maelstrom—the name of the first 
aud only person that ever gazed upon its mys¬ 
teries.” 
Messrs. Editors: —In order t,o convince an in¬ 
telligent community that one thing is right and 
tue other wrong, it is proper that both sides of the 
question be presented before their eyes, and leave 
them to draw whatever inference they please. A 
correspondent in the Rural comes out with a 
determined “ Will,” to throw my argument, con¬ 
cerning clerks being unfit for the West, entirely in 
the shade. He has not done a great amount of 
execution, as I shall proceed to show. 
He says, in the first place, that I have not ad¬ 
vanced a single proof to maintain my position.— 
William should at first look and see if he himself 
has presented any proofs, a His experience can¬ 
not, be brought in as argument. Supposing what 
he has said to be true.it will not apply in this case. 
Because one lucky chap found a lump of gold on 
Fraser River, will every adventurer meet with like 
favors? Or, does Will suppose because he is 
successful in his now pursuit, that every clerk 
who follows his heels, is attended with like success? 
The ill-application of his “experience” ismanifest. 
The candid truth is, that he in fact must have had 
a strong liking to farming, inasmuch as he has 
made such rapid strides in improvement As 
stated in the original article under discussion, did 
he leave the city, buy a farm, and with his own 
manual labor prepare it for cultivation? Far from 
it Many persons leave the city and work on a 
farm, but they do not venture on their own re¬ 
sources—dependent on their own efforts to render 
the “mother earth,” in its natural state, fit for 
cultivation. ( b .) Plenty of proofs or reasons may be 
brought forward, to show that poor sickly clerks 
are UDsnited to the West 
( c .) Young persons who are reared in the city, 
and. hold positions in stores, are led to believe that 
any kind of roal manual labor is beneath their 
dignity. This natural repugnance to toil is so 
bred into their vita! organp, that the powers of 
the immortal Jupiter could not induce them to 
leave the cozy shop corners, and swing the axe, 
or perform any of the rough, exhaustive labor 
which those who enter upon anew farm are obliged 
to undergo. If they would go West, what success 
would crown their weak efforts? On looking at 
their times in the city, in comparison with the 
heavy drudgery how imposed upon them, they 
beoome discouraged, and for other reasons also 
they become disgusted, and return to their former 
calling. I have seen some “experience” in such 
cases. 
Clerks are unaccustomed to farm labor, and 
hence their inability to perform the duties of the 
farm. Borne practice.is needed to break a person 
into the duties of prepaiiog the soil. A clerk 
cannot be expected to understand the manner in 
which things work. I would ask, was it sickly 
clerks who made the broad West what it is, or could 
they make it what it is? It was not puny, en¬ 
feebled persons, bat brave, sturdy pioneers, taught 
to earn their own bread from the earth all their 
lives. Life in the West is more poetical than 
profitable—that has been often exemplified. 
Barter is necessary to our welfare in life—farm¬ 
ing is particularly so. The farmer and the clerk 
are intimately connected in life’s business. The 
husbandman brings in produce, it is taken to the 
market, and he finds a purchaser. No man is in¬ 
dependent of his fellow beings. The salesman is 
useful, the farmer is useful, aud both must exist.— 
Here I will leavs off. If “ Will” can send on any 
more “experience,” let it come! I will then lay 
myself on a rack to dry (up). j. w. 
Monroe Co., N. Y., 1858. 
! I 
| I 
EXTENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
We are sometimes under a little delusion in the 
estimates we form of the magnificence of the Ro¬ 
man Empire, or the multitude of troops that it 
maintained. Russia surpasses it in extent of ter¬ 
ritory, and maintains an army considerably more 
numerous. France and Austria, who rank next to 
Russia in the number of their standing armies, 
could singly bring into the field a much larger 
force than the whole Roman Empire. The military 
force of the Pagan Empire is here estimated at 
450,000 men; the Christian monarchies of France 
and Austria are each of them reputed to maintain 
an army of 050,000 men. And when we reflect 
upon the invention of gunpowder and the enormous 
force of artillery, it is evident that any one of the 
first rate powers of modern Europe could bring 
into the field a destructive force that would sweep 
from the face of the earth the thirty legions of 
Adrian. The very division of Europe into a num¬ 
ber of States involves this increase of soldiery. In 
the old Roman Empire the great Mediterranean 
sea lay peaceful as a lake, and the Roman ships 
had nothing to dread but the winds and the waves; 
whereas, in modern Europe many artificial boun¬ 
daries have to be guarded by an array of soldiers. 
“Belgium defends her flats with a hundred thou 
sand men, and the marshes of Holland are secured 
by sixty thousand Dutch.” Hitherto everything 
has tended to develop the military power in Chris¬ 
tendom.— White's Eighteen Centuries. 
SCIENTIFIC PARADOXES. 
The water which drowns ns, a fluent stream, 
can be walked upon as ice. The bullet, which, 
when fired from the musket, carries death, will be 
harmless, if ground to dust before being fired. 
The crystallized part of the oil of roses, so grate¬ 
ful in its fragrance—a solid at ordinary tempera 
tares though readily volatile — is a compound 
substance, containing exactly the same elements, 
and in exactly the same proportions, as the gas 
with which we light our streets. The tea which 
we daily drink, with benefit and pleasure, pro 
duces palpitations, nervous tremblings, and even 
paralysis, if taken in excess; yet the peculiar 
organic agent called theine to which tea owes its 
qualities, may be taken by itself (as theine, not 
as tea,) without any appreciable effect The wa 
ter which will allay our burning thirst augments 
it when congealed into snow; so that Captain 
Ross declares the natives of Arctic regions “pre¬ 
fer enduring the utmost extremity of thirst rather 
than attempt to remove it by eating snow.” Yet 
snow be melted it becomes drinkable water. 
Nevertheless, although, if melted before entering 
the mouth, it assuages thirst like other water, when 
melted in the mouth it has the opposite effect. Tb 
render this paradox more striking, we have only 
to remember that ice, which mslts more slowly in 
the mouth, is very inefficient for allaying thirst— 
Blackwood’s Magazine. 
Remarks.—A s J. W., and other of our young 
friends seem to he dealing altogether too liberally 
in words, and too little in argument, we will make 
a few remarks on the above, and we do this for the 
benefit of all writers for this department Young 
writers Bhould avoid wild statements and loose 
arguments. 
(a.) The fact that one clerk gains health and 
strength by working on a farm, and is prosperous, 
is a good argument in favor of the position, that 
like results would follow in similar cases, unless it 
is shown that some peculiar advantages were pos¬ 
sessed by him, to give the favorable results that 
would not he generally enjoyed by clerks. This 
fact seems to have been understood by J. W., for 
he claims that “Will” “must have had a strong 
liking to farming, to have made such rapid strides 
in improvement.” To this must be answered, no 
one will succeed in any work that requires the 
united exercise of head and hands, unless he has a 
liking for it Every one will not succeed in any 
business—no one expects, or would argue in its 
favor. The Fraser River illustration is not good— 
one is a business in which skill and industry gen¬ 
erally succeeds—the other a chance business, more 
like a lottery, in which the most wise and the most 
laborious are likely to faiL 
(6 ) “Poor sickly clerks ”—if their sickness is of 
such a nature that air and exercise will not effect 
a cure, of course they are unsuited for this, or any 
laborious occupation. If they are poor and sickly 
because they are clerks, the change, by removing 
the cause, would of course, remove the effect. 
(c.) The question was not whether clerks could 
be induced to go West and engage in farming, but 
whether it would not be to their advantage? 
We will not argue this question, and only make 
these few notes for the benefit of young writers 
for this department, to show them the necessity of 
keeping close to the point. 
Buena Vi 3 ta Beans.— Five years ago I received 
a small sample of this variety of beans from I. W. 
Briggs, Esq., of Wayne Co., N. Y., which I have 
been cultivating to a limited extent ever since. 
The present season, I raised on 1-4 acre of rather 
poor sandy loam, without manure, 4£ bushels, or 
18 bushels to the aoie; the ground was plowed, 
harrowed and planted on the 10th of June; rows 3 
feet apart, and sowed in the rows at the rate of 12 
beans to the foot They were pulled and threshed 
Sept. 30tb. Of course I do not consider this a 
large yield, but I think it a paying crop. The 
Buena Vista Beans are small, pale red, (almost 
white) prolific, early, aud ripen evenly. If any of 
your readers wish to try them, I will send a sam¬ 
ple gratis, by mail, on receipt of a stamped en¬ 
velope. I enclose a sample of Field Beans, which 
have been cultivated for a few years past, about 
here. I believe they were brought from Connecti¬ 
cut They are not so early or prolific as the Buena 
Vista Beans, I think, though I have not given them 
a fair trial. If you can give me their name I will 
be much obliged.— R. B. E., Ayres, Indiana Co., Pa. 
Remarks. — The beans sent ns were the Bush 
Kidney Bean, a very good field or garden bean. 
1 
1 
An insult is very humiliating to him who utters 
it, when it does not succeed in humiliating the 
person to whom it is directed. 
N I 
