DEC. 4. 
MOORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
393 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
Sketches from the Alps to the Adriatic. 
NUMBER NINE. 
Venice —The Campanile— The Cathedral of St. Mark— 
The Bronze Horses —Art — Titian— Canova. 
The Campanile, or bell-tower, rises far above 
the city and first arrests your attention. At the 
base it is forty-two feet square, and it is three hun¬ 
dred and twenty-three feet high. The ascent is 
made by inclined planes on the interior, and it is 
said that Napoleon once rode up on horseback. 
The summit commands a splended view of Venice, 
the harbor, the Lagoon, and the Alps. You go 
up one evening to view the sunset, and take a 
bird’s-eye view of this city which stands in the 
sea. You are struck with its compactness, for, 
except part of the Grand Canal, there is not a bit 
of water or a street to be seen anywhere between 
the buildings. If you go up again the next morn¬ 
ing you will find a great change in the scenery. 
Venice stands not in the sea, but is surrounded by 
a vast marsh, for the tide has ebbed, leaving all the 
shoals in the LagooD, inside the outer strips of 
land, above water. Many of these shoals are 
covered with seaweed and some are bare sand. 
The rows of piles, which mark the deep channels, 
are now all useless, and stand wholly out of water 
thongh the night before they were half covered by 
the sea. If the sky be clear, the Alps to the 
north, and the wide expanse of the bluer Adriatic 
to the south, are glorious terminations to the 
prospect. 
The Cathedral of St Mark faces the square on 
the north end. It is the most gorgeous structure 
in the world. Oriental in character, you would 
think it could have originated nowhere but in the 
fancy of an Eastern dreamer. The main plan re¬ 
sembles a Greek cross—a large dome rises from 
the centre, and four smaller ones from the arms. 
There are three entrances to the vestibule, which 
extends along the whole front, and over the mid¬ 
dle and largest one are placed the four famous 
bronze horses. The history of these horses is 
curious and interesting. It is not now known in 
what age or country they were made, but when 
Augustus Caesar had subdued Mark Antony, he 
brought them from Egypt to Rome and placed 
them on a triumphal arch. They were afterwards 
removed by succeeding Roman Emperors to differ¬ 
ent arches which they constructed, and finally 
Constantine transported them to his new capital 
on the Hellespont. When the Crudaders con¬ 
quered Constantinople, Venice received them as 
her share of plunder, and removed them from the 
Hippodrome to the Cathedral of St. Mark. 
Description is powerless to give a true idea of 
the beauty and richness of the front of the Cathe¬ 
dral. In the upper part are mosaics—a species of 
work in which small stones of various natural 
colors are used to make a picture. The sculptures 
on the arches over the entrance are so elaborate 
and full of thought that they alone should confer 
immortal honor on the designer. The whole front 
(Joaorvi . 1 -I ,-iO. ,jaait,ro .s ..oiumns set ciose to 
the walls. They are all of precious marble which 
was brought from the East, and no two are alike 
in quality or color. You pass the marble steps 
and enter the body of the Cathedral. There is a 
dimness and stillness there, and a few people 
kneeling before the shrines which make it solemn, 
but the impression of immensity which is made 
by great distances filled with dusky air—by rows 
of marble columns, and by lofty springing arches, 
is far surpassed in many a Cathedral of smaller 
reputation. The gloominess and dimness, pro¬ 
duced by the scanty light that is admitted 
through the small windows in the domes, are 
faults—while the greatest effect is made by the 
richness of its marbles and mosaics; by individual 
works of Art, rather than by a combination of 
great features. You may wander through its 
chapels, rich in dusky monuments of Doges and 
great men of the Republic, and gorgeous with 
mosaics—among its wilderness of rare and pre¬ 
cious marble columns, and gaze up to its vaults 
and domes, where the creations of great masters 
exist in brilliant mosaic — you may glance at its 
statues and bronze doors of wondrous Art, and 
go out again to the sunshine and life of the square, 
carrying away no distinct impressions, nothing but 
a confused recollection of an abundance and rich¬ 
ness of material. 
The floor, which is now very uneven,—having 
settled down several inches in various places,_is 
mosaic, of a numberless variety of patterns. In 
the aisles and transepts particularly, the stones are 
small, and worked into quaint fancies. Among 
these pictures on the floor are two peacocks, very 
perfect, with all the brilliant colors of their plu¬ 
mage, well imitated by the natural colors of the 
stone. There are also two lions in repose; one, 
sleek and fat, is represented on the curling waves 
of the sea, and is a symbol of the prosperity of 
Venice as a maratime power; the other, on the 
land, is poor and scrubby, and hints what Venice 
might have been, had she deserted commerce for 
territorial conquest. The walls, up to the spring 
of the arches, are of precious and various colored 
marble, and the columns, of which there are five 
hundred about the Cathedral, are of marble and 
porphyry—many exceedingly rare, and all highly 
valuable. They were brought from the East, and 
while the edifice was building, every ship that 
cleared for that part of the world was obliged to 
bring marbles. The whole vaulting of the Cathe¬ 
dral, of the vestibule, the chapels, the aisles, the 
nave, the transept, the choir, and the wall above 
the spring of the arches, and the five domes, is 
mosaic; splendid pictures in stone, designed by 
great masters; scenes from sacred history; figures of 
saints, martyrs and apostles—all worked with aston¬ 
ishing labor in mosaic, on a background of gold. 
You sit down on a marble seat by a pillar, as 
the shadows are deepening in the evening, to watch 
the scene within, and let the impression be indeli¬ 
bly stamped on your memory. A few persons are 
kneeling before the altars, and now and then one 
rises up, silently glides across the mosaic pave¬ 
ment, and disappears behind the green curtain in 
the door. The shadows grow deeper, and the pic¬ 
tures and forms on the vaulting fade from sight, 
only the gold background shines dimly in the 
darkness, like a faint halo around the holy men. 
The solemnity of the heur and place is well suited 
to worship, and jou cannot but admire the prac¬ 
tice of the Roman Catholic Church in keeping its 
places of worship open at all hours of the day, 
thus affording a proper place for retirement at 
any time from the bustle of the world, and hold¬ 
ing silent communion with the Creator. You do 
not sit long undisturbed in your maditations. A 
figure mantled in a tattered cloak pauses before 
you, and holds out a shriveled hand. You drop a 
piece of money into it, which is carried to the 
mouth and kissed, and you hear the rapid utter¬ 
ance of a beggar’s blessing. 
In Venice I first began to breathe the atmos¬ 
phere of Italian Art, the Churches, the Doge’s 
Palace, and the Galleries, contain numerous pic¬ 
tures, by the old masters, that are worthy of months 
of study. There are two, by Titian, which stand 
among the first pictures in the world—the “ As¬ 
sumption” and the “Peter Martyr.” The churches 
are rich, full of precious marbles, monuments and 
paintings. In the Frari church is the monument 
to Canova, designed by himself, and originally in¬ 
tended for Titian. It is a simple pyramid of white 
marble, with a train of mourners, consisting of 
Art, Genius, and the Graces, represented as ascend¬ 
ing the marble steps to the door. On the other 
side of the church is a monument to Titian, which 
was erected by command of the Emperor of Aus¬ 
tria, and only completed in 1853. It is a massive 
basement, supportin g a Corinthian canopy. Under 
the canopy is a sitting statue of Titian, crowned 
with laurel. In the background is sculptured his 
famous picture, “ The Assumption of the Virgin.” 
Close to the base of the pedestal is a slab, with a 
couple of doggerel lines written on it, under 
which rest the ashes of the immortal painter. 
G. p. w. 
AMERICAN CHILDREN. 
WHAT IS SAID OP THEM—A REMEDY PROPOSED. 
An English lady speaks in the following dis¬ 
paraging style of the manners and training of 
American children: 
Sadness fills the mind to see how early infantile 
playfulness and grace are frost-bitten, and wither 
even before budding. The passion for jewelry is 
instilled in the cradle. It is distressing to see 
nurslings with rings and bracelets, and so on 
upwards through all gradations of age. It is 
especially American, and we must suppose this 
fashion is borrowed from the Indians. Then, again 
before they can spell or read fluently, they “ polka,” 
and are put bodily through the deforming manipu¬ 
lation of the dancing-master, as if the dancing- 
master could give them that genuine gracefal de¬ 
portment which the French call tenue. Their 
little embryo minds and hearts are already poi¬ 
soned with coquetry and love of show. They have 
beaux, receive calls, banquets, make appointments; 
rivalry and envy in their ugliest shape take pos¬ 
session of their souls. 
For years I have observed this disease all over 
the country, in all cities where I have seen society. 
Above all, it is painful to one’s feelings at hot( 
and watering-places. When I see here, in tl 
evenings, in the parlors, roils of these little doli ■ 
and fops,dre.’.-ied, ribboned, jeweled, fanning liiem 
selves monkey-like, in imitation of the elder pari 
of society, I feel an almost irresistible itching in 
the fingers to pinch their mamas. Nurseries seem 
not to exist in America. In this respeet the' 
manner of bringing up children is far superior all 
over the continent of Europe. There children 
are kept children as long as possible, and all the 
care of parents and families is bestowed to watch 
over the tender blossoms, and preserve them from 
the heating, unwholesome influence of parties and 
motley company. It was so once likewise in Eng¬ 
land, and the bad example given by the reigning 
Queen, who, in over-fondness for her numerous 
progeny, originated, or at least made fashionable 
these juvenile parties, in which children fully 
equipped in all the freaks and oddities of grown 
up persons, represented withered dwarfs. One 
thing is certain, that no such bejeweled, affected, 
distorted creatures as are met in America, in 
streets, public or private parlors, at juvenile and 
grown up parties, are the “ little children ” called 
to Himself by the Immortal Teacher of simplicity, 
love and sincerity. 
INDIAN CANOES-THEIR MANUFACTURE. 
BY LEON M. CLENCH. 
In the spring of the year, when the sap is flow¬ 
ing, and when the bark will peel, find a tree pos¬ 
sessed of the following propertiesstraight full 
14 feet, without knots, and 17 inches in diameter.— 
Girdle the tree evenly at the bottom and top, of 
the 14 feet clear; do not fell the tree but build 
scaffolding to effect your purpose; (shave all the 
rough outside bark off to make a good job, though 
this is seldom done;) make a perpendicular cut 
from girdle to girdle; start the bark at the girdles 
and use a smooth, blunt, wooden wedge fashioned 
on the end of a handspike for the purpose of peel¬ 
ing the tree, using great care not to peel the bark 
too suddenly so as to split, or to ram the wedge 
through it When the bark is free let it down 
from the tree carefully; choose a level spot in the 
bed of the river and spread the bark flat with the 
inner surface down, and place stones upon it to 
keep it in its position. Now find a cedar or ash 
tree or sapling, with a good straight grain; make 
four splints 14 feet long and IxJ inch in size; a 
goodly number of splints 4 feet long lj x £ inch in 
size; also, three or four round pieces about 3 ft G in. 
long and flatten the ends to loop back, leaving the 
roand part the different lengths of the different 
widths of the canoe. These are for the cross 
pieces, or stays, which are looped from gunnel to 
gunnel, and which are required in a bark canoe to 
preserve its proper width. Also four half round 
pieces, about 2 feet long 1 inch wide for the ends, 
and some strings of hickory, elm, or basswood 
bark, for sewing and winding. Put all these in the 
river also, as they are very much assisted by soak¬ 
ing in readily taking any desired curves. After 
the bark has lain about 30 hours in the water, take 
it out carefully, and lay it rough side up on a large 
log or other convenient place and shave the bark 
down on the ends to the red for about one foot in- 
an elm ok hickory bark canoe, fourteen feet long. 
5, Side view. 4 , Top view, d, Laps, e, Stays from gunnel to gunnel. /, Ribs of Cedar. 
6 inches long to 3 feet 10 inche i. 
7, Paddle, 3 feet 
wards. Also, shave a large space thin where the 
laps are to be made so that they will fold close; 
now place the bark rough side up as before on a 
smooth piece of grass turf, (the inside of the 
canoe is the outside of the bark,) raise up two 
corners of one end and bring them together, 
closing the bark together gently all the way down 
to the centre of the end, assisting your hands by 
standing astride the bark and closing your knees 
against it, and when the parts are so together, let 
an associate place a half round stick on each side 
and tie them tight together, top and bottom. Now 
go to the other end and do likewise; support the 
canoe’s sides by stakes driven in the ground. Take 
an awl made of bone or iron the shape of a dirk 
and sew up the ends erossing the stitches over each 
half round stitch forward and backward. Make 
the holes in the bark the way of the grain, bind 
well and nicely the sticks at the top and cut them 
off at the bottom not quite close to the bark.— 
After both ends are sewed place sods under them 
to curve the bottom, and fold the laps or plaits to 
give them their shape, and fold them so that they 
may incline on the outside towards the end calcu¬ 
lated for the stern. Next take the long sticks and 
place one on each side of the bark on each gunnel, 
give them an equal curve outward and upward, 
and stay them here and there. Then h5,ve the edge 
of the bark even with the gunnel pieces and sew 
them with the bark together with over hand 
stitches, and take different depths of stitches, which 
gives a better hold on the bark. Lay the laps or 
plaits closely between the gunnel sticks and sew 
firmly; next loop in the cross stick, leaving the 
necessary widths, the longest in the middle, and 
bind them firmly, (some wind them with bark all 
the way across.) Now shape the canoe as nearly 
right as possible with stakes, sods, &c., and begin¬ 
ning in the middle of the canoe, place the end of 
a rib under the inside gunnel, force it down the side 
along the bottom and up the other side to the 
other gunnel, cutting it off square so that it will 
press firmly against the under side or edge of the 
inside gunnel. The ribs ought to be a little stout 
er along the bottom as less curve i3 there needed, 
Continue putting in ribs to both ends, at short in 
tervala, and if firmly placed no fastening is neces 
sary. Cut the ends of the canoe plain or toothed; 
place some bark on the bottom to sit or stand on 
and the canoe is complete. It must be understood 
that the bottom is the only legitimate seat in a 
canoe. 
1, t iew from above. 2, Side view. 3, Middle cross section, a, ribs, b, showing seams where soldered.— 
Three sheets <of plate zinc, (14 lb. sheets,) will make thi.. Canoe, 18 feet long, 18 inches deep, and 2 feet 8 inches, or 
three feet wide at cross section, carrying about 8 persons— weight 50 pounds. 
As the best model for speed Is the above de¬ 
scribed cntioe—for so it is generally considered— 
It would be well to copy it as nearly as possible, 
and it will be found that-zinc Is an improvement, 
upon the bark, being more symmetrical, lighter, 
n bark canoe, and tack the edges with solder; 
the 
scribed canoes requires no little tact When an 
Indian with his larniJy is traveling in his canoe he 
sits in the stern, and never crosses his paddle un¬ 
less to change hands for a rest When he paddles 
on the left side, he has his right hand across the 
top and his left near the blade, he raises both arms 
and plunges the blade apparently perpendicular 
into the water, and from the time the blade touch¬ 
es firmly pulls himself forward, and as the blade 
passes behind him, and before he raises it out 
of the water, turns the wrist of the right hand so 
that the blade is vertical, and gives a slight shove 
outward with his left correcting the impulse given 
to the canoe in a direction toward the right, and 
by so doing gives it an impulse towards the left. 
The onward stroke being now repeated, overbal¬ 
ances the second impulse, giving it the first which 
is again counteracted by the vertical paddle, or 
slight shove from the left The canoe, therefore, 
has an ambling motion which in a measure aug¬ 
ments the speed. The paddle is usually made of 
some light, elastic wood, about 3 feet 6 inches in 
length, the blade being J length of the puddle and 
four or five inches wide, and thin so as to spring. 
Care should be used in landing with any of these 
canoes, a stone will sometimes prove fatal, more 
especially to the bark than to the zinc, as the zinc 
will dinge and may be hammered out, but the 
bark must be patched, and therefore an impedi¬ 
ment i3 made. 
Elm or hickory bark canoes may be made in a very 
short time, by shaving the bark well to work easily, 
and using small hickory saplings for ribs, Ac., and 
it is possible for an Indian and his squaw to com¬ 
mence work in the morning and leave the scene 
of his camp fifty miles behind him in one day; 
flavoring the air of his wigwam at home with the 
sweet odor of ke-nic-ke-nic while smoking his 
pwah-gun, ’ere the coals of his late camp-fire have 
smouldered into ashes. 
St. Mary’s, C. W., November, 1858. 
LATIN FOR FARMERS’ BOYS. 
Eds. Rural: —All farmera’ boys who have to 
work hard daring the summer, generally look for¬ 
ward to the winter as affording a respite from their 
labor, and alBO as an opportunity to increase their 
stock of book-learning, viz.: by going to school. 
Perhaps some of them are not a little puzzled the 
first few weeks before school commences, in decid¬ 
ing what studies they are to pursue, &c. At least, 
such is my state of mind just now. Parents, 
teacher, friends, all have advised me to study 
Latin, urging, as a reason, that it would be of prac¬ 
tical use to me, as a farmer; and that I would never 
regret it in after life. Now I have no repugnance 
to studying Latin,—that i3 not my objection, — but 
there are other studies that I wish to pursuo 
which I think are of more practical importance. 
These are Chemistry, Geometry and Book-Keeping. 
It does not, I know, look well or show good breed¬ 
ing for a mere boy to set his opinion at variance 
with that of his teacher and parents — bat, really, 
it did appear to me as though the case justified it 
And now, before giving up my side, I am going to 
refer the matter to you, and be guided by your de- 
rnorc last’. . less liable to become leaky, and capa- ie four Bpaces left at the corners of the curve 
’ 00 J 6 * greater speed (ns your Informant has which must be patched with three-cornered pieces 
ht them on the ends ot the canoe, invinir tMw , . „ „ , , ,, . , , 
. . , , , f c. An answer may be tbankfv.’v received by 
per curve up, and mark how they saomd be.,? ., . \ J 
.. A others in the same predicament, but more espe- 
: then round the edges where marked, end sol- 1 
der them on, lapping \ of an.inch as before. There 
never seen or heard oi the Indian canoe, inodei'd 
and made of zinc it leads him to believe, that he 
is the originator, having been prompted to apply 
that material through necessity; and having been 
governed in making it by former experience in 
bark.) Build it up as of the manner of a birch ca¬ 
noe, but model it as of the elm, and your informant, 
as follows, gives his modus operandi, upon which 
doubtless improvement might he made. 
Cat the zinc so that there may be four sheets or 
sections 3 ft x 3 ft 8 in. curve or round off the longest 
sides about f of an inch at the ends, to nothing in 
the middle; let the curve be more gentle in the 
middle than at the ends, or let it be with an in¬ 
creasing curve gradually from the centre to the 
ends; bend the pieces up as nearly the shape of 
the inside of a canoe as possible, and stay them 
with a strip or two and a little solder. Whenever 
soldering is required, scrape the place and wet 
with muriatic acid (spirits of salt,) and let the 
middle sheets be proportionately wider than the 
others. Take the two middle sheets, so bent np, lap 
the edges one over the other about j inch, and tack 
with solder here and there, and it will he found if 
the edges of the plates are properly rounded, the 
bottom will have a proper curve for the canoe.— 
Place the other pieces one on each end and solder 
in the same manner, take two other sheets and fold 
one side of each together, like the ends of the 
cat of the proper size—support with rods, and as¬ 
sist the shapes and curves by stakes, Ac. By sol¬ 
dering in places only, mistakes may he more easi¬ 
ly remedied. While the zinc is in sheets a little 
judicious hammering with a large flat-faced ham¬ 
mer on a flat iron surface, to dish the plates, will 
greatly add to the symmetry of the curves, as may 
be easily understood. When the shape is satisfac¬ 
tory solder well and strong on the inBide, and then 
on the outside, leveling with a hammer any edges 
that may stick np. Now place two nice new strips 
of oak or ash 1 x g on each side of the zinc at the 
gunnels, in a nice curve outwards and upwards, 
ana rivet through with clout nails, cutting of any 
zinc edges that may be above the strips. Now 
place in oak ribs, steamed to the proper shape 
1 x £, at short intervals, the same as in the elm bark. 
Observe the proper shape in steaming, for on this 
depends the bearing as no cross pieces are needed 
in the canoe. Make a floor of cedar or pine strips 
and screw them on the ribs; stay the ribs with 
three or four revits, and under the floor where the 
rib3 are not, place small pieces to support the zinc. 
Hem the ends with sheet iron or copper, not heavy; 
paint a dark salmon or bark color outside, and 
lead color in the inside. A full sized sheet of zinc, 
or Buch as is proper to use for this purpose, con¬ 
tains about 24 square feet and weighs from 14 
to 1G pounds. 
A BIRCH BARK CANOE, PROPORTIONAL FOR ABOUT FIFTEEN FEET. 
The birch bark canoe is made of the middle 
layers of the Canada birch bark, and many trees 
are sometimes flayed for one, if a first rate canoe 
is desired, their being great difficulty in finding 
sheets of suitable size without imperfections. The 
bark is peeled, by making cuts round the tree, 
(with a vertical cut,) and paring or peeling off the 
outside shreds, Ac., and by rubbing against the 
tree with a smooth bit of wood, or slightly pound¬ 
ing, the middle bark is easily separated. This 
canoe is made np of sections, and it is usual to fell 
the tree, on trees cut down forming a bed to re¬ 
ceive it, and choosing smooth places in the log for 
peeling. Peel round the log or logs and when 
enough is obtained, soak as directed for the elm 
bark. The birch canoes are sometimes modeled 
like the elm bark,the prevailing shape is a continued 
curve increasing from the bottom in an easy and 
graceful manner to the very inside, of the soroll and 
from those points in a line curved somewhat greater 
than that at the bottom. The sections are formed 
somewhat after the sections described for the zinc, 
and are sewed together most usually with raw 
buckskin, the outside of the bark being the inside 
of the canoe. The ends of the canoe are a con¬ 
tinuation of the Ehape of the canoe itself contin¬ 
ually contracted to the scroll, like the shell of a 
nautilus, sometimes finished suddenly, or carried 
out in a long reach above the water, and some¬ 
times also the cut water is brought out to an edge; 
and the IndiaD, or pale face, who possesses a prac¬ 
tical or theoretical knowledge of natural philoso. 
phy, can with the birch bark, overcome as much 
as can be possible, the obstruction of the water. 
Cedar is the proper material for the wood work, 
and the only difference in fitting them from the elm 
canoe is, that after fitting and sewing the gunnels, 
a series of long fiat strips the whole length of the 
canoe, say 12 or 14 feet, must be placed at regular 
intervals, along the inside, the ends meeting in a 
point at or near the scrolls, letting the ribs rest 
upon these, and making the floor of cedar strips. 
Now, on all the seams, (and seams of patches if 
there are any, which avoid if possible,) run melted 
pitch, in a small stream, not only on the seams 
bat the neighboring surface, and let it cool in reg¬ 
ular and rounded blotches. Sometimes the pitch 
is also poured on in festoons along the gunnel 
from seam to seam for beauty, and figures most 
fantastic are branded on the sides rendering its 
aspect primitively wild. 
Such is the birch canoe which can be made to 
carry 40 men, but for common purposes seldom 
exceeds 1G feet, and to propel any one of the de¬ 
cialiy by 
Livonia, N. Y., Nov., 1858. 
Remarks.— Our young friend seems to have great 
confidence in opinions emanating from the Rural 
sanctum, (for which we are very grateful,) but he 
does not seem to recognize the vast surface his 
queries overlie, and the results which might flow 
from an explicit answer to them. Were we to de¬ 
cide in opposition to his views, would he adopt our 
dictum as the ruling power, and give way to it as 
to an universal fiat? Were we to rule in his favor, 
will father and mother thank us for “meddling 
with family affairs?”—will not the “autocrat” of 
the school-room declare “ eternal enmity ” for en¬ 
tering his domain with “ treasonable intent?” We 
might thus have to face the music, and at the same 
time have excellent opportunity to realize the poli¬ 
tician’s dread—“a fire in the rear.” However, wo 
will endeavor to reply to R. W. C., and as we can¬ 
not favor both parties, we hope those who enter¬ 
tain ideas adverse to oar own will class our errors 
—if they are such — as those of the head, not of 
the heart. 
The “boy,” in this instance, “is father to the 
man.” The coarse of study he wishes to pursue 
will impart more practical information in the daily 
avocations of an agriculturist, than an intimate ac¬ 
quaintance with all the dead languages ever brought 
to the gaze of an ardent linguist The peculiar 
development of mind which would he the result of 
a thorough study of Latin, is, if we may so Bpeak, 
the calling forth of certain dormant powers phre- 
nologically located within the domains of the 
“ bump of language.” The art of composition would 
flow, naturally, as it were, from the knowledge of 
the fountains at which thought is clothed and sent 
forth to greet the eye of man, and this fact is, we 
consider, the great argument in favor of studying 
any dialect except that known as “our mother 
tongue.” In the study of Latin we are often im¬ 
pressed with the strong resemblance certain words 
or expressions bear to certain others in our native 
language — curiosity is excited — the history and 
delineation of similar words is sought, and, when 
the process is concluded, the seeker has a dozen 
combinations of letters, or forms of speech, in 
which to express an idea where he may have, here¬ 
tofore, possessed but one. Range of expression, 
and, as a consequence, range of thought, are the 
results of the study of the vocabulary of Buch 
nations as have made commendable progress in 
arts, science and civilization. This, we conceive, 
is all that can be claimed, and we, in turn, take the 
place of the querist, and ask —what element of 
intrinsic value derivable from a study of Latin, 
Greek, Hebrew, or any of the almost forgotten 
tongues of the buried past, is not equally obtaina¬ 
ble by a like coarse of instruetio in French, Ger¬ 
man, Spanish, Italian, or, in fact, any of the breath¬ 
ing, speaking languages of to-day? 
IDLENESS. 
Ah, well may the slothful, in Idleness falter, 
If aimless and worthless, with naught to pursue— 
The path to the prison, the steps to the halter, 
The key to the work-house, is “ nothing to do.” 
To have too much forethought is the part of a 
wretch; to have too little, is the part of a fooL 
