MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
57 
%\t €hmtUr. 
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 
NATURE’S ENGINEERS AND MECHANICS. 
= 
The Town Superintendents of Monroe 
County met in this city on Monday, the 5th 
instant, for the purpose of selecting students 
for the State Normal School. Two of the 
male and two female candidates were selected, 
as follows: — John H. Buckley of Chili, 
Henry Meaoh of Parma, Sarah Banker of 
Rochester, and Caroline A. Crosby of Og¬ 
den. The Superintendents resolved also to 
hold a Teachers’ Institute in this city, to com¬ 
mence on the 15th of October and continue 
two weeks. 
The advantage of Normal Schools is very 
generally conceded and acted upon in most of 
the States where the Common School system 
has received due attention. It is as necessary 
for a man to receive a special education in or¬ 
der to fit him for becoming a successful teacher, 
as it is for any other department of life. What 
propriety is there in establishing and endowing 
schools of Law, of Medicine, and of Theology 
—of apprenticing men to a long and rigid 
training in the different arts, in order that 
they may rise to eminence each in his several 
sphere, and at the same time leave one of the 
most important of all professions, that of the 
teacher, to take care of itself? Men do be¬ 
come successful teachers, it is true, who never 
saw the walls of a Normal School, who never 
received any instruction in the science of teach¬ 
ing except that obtained by observation, ripen¬ 
ed by their own experience; and it is equally 
true that men have risen to eminence at the 
bar without ever having set foot inside a State 
where a Law School is established, and that 
some of the most eloquent and learned divines 
who have illuminated their age and stirred up 
to good deeds the hearts of men, have never 
studied nor dreamed over the disputed points 
of a knotty theology in the cloister or the 
school. 
These facts, stubborn as they are, do not ! basswood 
J i obser 
disprove the value of schools established for 
special purposes, but merely show that the in 
Mr. Benton, recently, made a happy allu¬ 
sion to the buffalos, who in long ages have 
been ranging the Rocky Mountains — the 
slopes of the Atlantic and Pacific—choosing 
the most feasible routes for their traveling 
cavalcades, or drifts ; and the impress of their 
hoofs indicating to our engineers the route of 
the Pacific Railroad. The deer of our own 
region of Western New York, in choosing 
their forest “runs,” indicated to the Indians 
the route to their “ trailtheir trails indica¬ 
ting to our own race their primitive highways. 
The beaver, in all this region, were the original 
topographical mill-wrights, marking the fall 
of waters, and the adaptedness of banks of 
streams for reservoirs. We are not sure but 
the squirrel, or some of his species, with a 
chip, or a piece of bark for a boat, and his 
tail to catch the breeze—or the nautilus, with 
his schooner rigging—first suggested the idea 
of navigation. One of the poets has invoked 
man to take lessons from it: to 
Learn of the little nautilus how to sail— 
Spread the thin oar and catch the rising gale.” 
And sure we are, that the honey bee, in the 
construction ot his comb, is an architect, from 
whom valuable principles in our mechanism 
have been derived. 
The spider was the architect of the first 
suspension bridge ; either promontories on the 
banks ot streams, or trees, were its towers, or 
points of suspension—attaching its web upon 
the one side, and swinging off, it caught strong 
currents of wind blowing toward the opposite 
shore, and spinning out its web as it was 
wafted over the stream, secured a fastening 
upon the other side. What different process 
is this, from the “ kite and string” of Mr. 
Elliott, with which he commenced the Niagara 
Suspension Bridge ? These are but a tithe of 
the instances that could be cited. 
Thanks to Mr. Beardsley, of Albany, if he 
has really succeeded in manufacturing printing 
paper from the wood of the basswood. The 
news comes to us as a measure of relief; with 
pockets depleted by the exorbitant price of 
paper, and patience nearly exhausted by the 
difficulties ol procuring it at any price, we put 
down the basswood paper-maker as a bene¬ 
factor. 
But he must not take too much credit to 
himself: the wasp and the hornet made 
paper long, long ago. No close 
r i » v . ( J r 0 na ture’s works, in field and forest, 
■ has laded to observe them upon the rails of 
- i 0 j,j r - , .. - 
, , , e . ,. ., , n , {>e »ces—and generally basswood rails, 
domitable energy of individuals enables them : gathering the floss which they convert into pulp 
to rise, not only in absence of all advantages, ; for the manufacture of paper, for their nests, 
but in despite Of all disadvantages. They j paper has usually a smooth texture_in 
themselves are usually ready to concede the 
value of extraneous helps, and lament the stern 
necessity that shut them out from their bene¬ 
fits, which, if they had been obtained, would 
have raised them to still higher pre-eminence. 
Other men there are, either naturally deficient 
or who neglect to avail themselves of all ex¬ 
traneous circumstances, and as a consequence 
go through life a standing reproach upon the 
institutions of which they boast themselves 
graduates. 
Normal Schools will not make good teachers 
out of materials never designed by God and 
Nature for such a calling. There are men, and 
women too, innumerable in the ranks of peda¬ 
gogues, as in all other spheres of life, who have 
mistaken their profession. They might be 
both useful to themselves and profitable to the 
community somewhere else in the great organ¬ 
ism of humanity ; but as teachers, they are as 
much to be deprecated as the changing of an 
excellent farmer into a wretched clergyman, or 
a skillful mechanic into a disreputable limb of 
the law. For such materials Normal Schools 
are not established, but for those competent, 
with a proper training, to teach and to teach 
well; next to a liberal and thorough Collegiate 
course, their discipline is the most effective.— 
Indeed, with the most thorough academical 
course, special instruction on the science of 
of teaching should always be superadded. 
all but the color a very passable article. The 
basswood rail, or dead basswood tree in the 
1 orest, yields in the process of waste from the 
! action of the elements, a larger quantity of 
1 tins material than any other timber. The 
wasp and the hornet use the decayed and easily 
detached fibre, fitted to their purposes : Mr. 
Beardsley substitutes the use of machinery to 
prepare it. 
But how do the little— [innocent, we were 
going to say, but we remember their curvetirm 
in the a r—their downward, tail foremost, 
arrow like descents, and their revengeful 
strikes) paper makers, make their material 
impervious to water—to the beating storms 
to which they are exposed l—Niagara Dew. 
SCHOOLS AT THE WEST—AGAIN. 
In number four of the present volume of 
the Rural, we wrote an article under title of 
“ Schools at the West,” among other things, 
commending the people of La Salle, Illinois, 
for their liberality in erecting a splendid school 
house worth fifteen thousand dollars, and pay¬ 
ing their teacher, a young man of our ac¬ 
quaintance from Henrietta, in this county, the 
liberal salary of twelve hundred dollars a year. 
In that article we inadvertantly did injustice 
both to the citizens of La Salle and to those 
of Joliet, and other active and growing young 
giants of the West;—to the former because 
they are not erecting a school house worth 
fifteen thousand dollars and doing the other 
things which we said they were, and to the 
latter, because they are. If the readers of the 
Rural will re-peruse that article, and read 
•Toliet where we wrote La Salle, it will be all 
correct; and if the latter and all other active 
growing villages and embryo cities of the West 
will imitate the example of Joliet, in the mat¬ 
ter of schools, so far as it is in their power to 
do it, it will be long after our generation has 
passed away, that any cause will arise to de¬ 
spair of the Republic. The intelligence of the 
people is the vEgis of our country, and the 
Common School is as potent in its production, 
as Vulcan was in fabricating armor for the 
gods. 
NEST OF THE TITMOUSE. 
constructing their own houses are concerned, 
yet their skill is merely instinctive, no pro¬ 
gression or improvement ever being made.— 
The first essay of the young bird is as per¬ 
fect as the nest of a veteran songster. There 
is a great difference in the abilities of birds, 
each building according to its circumstances 
and wants, from a simple indendation in the 
naked sand up to the swinging castle in the 
air constructed of down and hair. 
Among the nests of remarkable construction 
may be reckoned that of the Long Tailed Tit¬ 
mouse, illustrated above. This bird, which is 
not bigger than a wren, takes innumerable 
means of precaution for the comfort, safety and 
concealment of its dwelling. It is made like a 
hollow ball, with a small opening on one side, 
as may be seen in the engraving. This orifice 
serves the double purpose of door and window, 
and is so well barricaded that neither cold nor 
rain can penetrate into the interior. This is 
effected by an admirably contrived screen, be¬ 
fore the entrance to the little citadel, of downy 
feathers, which is very pliant, to admit of in¬ 
gress and egress, and yet exclude the weather. 
Yet this is not all. From its very diminutive 
size, this bird is afraid of numerous enemies, 
and therefore has recourse to wise artifice to 
conceal its asylum. It fastens its nest to the 
trunk of a tree, and covers it carefully and 
_ t r skillfully with the twigs and leaves of the par- 
Duty, unless seasoned by love, kTcold for- j a f}?\ plaatS that cluster ar0uud the stem to 
malism : with it, every service necessary to pro- j whlch lfc udheres ’ aud contrives to give to the 
mote the comfort and happiness of a fellow pil- inimitable structure the appearance of being a 
grim and sojourner is promptly and cheerfully ; part of the bark. Having exhausted its skill 
rendered. | in the deception, intended only to deceive ene- 
Birds are very skillful architects so far as . m:es, the little creature enters its mansion and 
the protection of the 
It is the little troubles that wear the heart 
out. It is easier to throw a bombshell a mile 
than a feather—even with artillery. Forty 
little debts ot one dollar each, will cause vou 
more trouble and dunning than one big one of 
a thousand. 
rears its you eg under 
pious fraud. 
C alifornia Condors. —The high mountains 
ot California are frequented by a species of 
condor, which, although somewhat inferior in 
size to the condor ol the Andes, is probably 
the largest bird to be found within the confines 
of the Golden State. Afull grown California 
condor measures upwards of thirteen feet horn 
tip to tip of its wings, and when in its favorite 
element, the air, is as graceful and majestic as 
any bird in the world. Thev make their 
homes upon the ledges of lofty rocks, or in the 
old deseited nests ot hawks and eagles, upon 
the upper branches ot lotty trees. Their cogs 
are each about twelve ounces in weight and 
are said to be excellent eating. The’ bar¬ 
rels of the wing feathers of the condor are 
about four inches long and three-eights of an 
men m diameter, and are used by the inhabi¬ 
tants ot IN' orthern Mexico to keep gold dust in. 
—National Magazine. 
A- Rolling Stone Gathers no Moss.— 
Well, what ot that? Who wants to be a 
mossy old stone away in some damp corner of 
a pasture where sunshine and fresh air never 
come ? It is far better to be a smooth and 
polished stone, rolling along in the brawling 
stream ot life, wearing - off the rough corners, 
bringing out the finn crystalline structure of 
the granite, or the delicate veins of the agate 
or chalcedony.. It is this perpetual chafing 
and rubbing in the whirling current that 
shows what sort of grit a man is made of aud 
what qse he is good for. The sandstone and 
soapstone are ground down to sand and mud, 
but the firm rock i3 selected for the towering 
fortress, and the diamond is cut and polished 
for the monarch’s crown. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 
MADE AT ROCHESTER, STATE OF NEW YORK. 
University of Eochester — Annual Abstract—A. J. Ensign and W. C. Learned, Observers. 
latitude 43°, 8', 17". Longitude 77°, 51'. Height of Station above the Sea, 51(1 Feet. 
1854. 
TtfEiotoincnm. 
Highest Degree,... 
Lowest Degree,... 
Range.. 
Warmest Day, 
Coldest Day,. 
.Monthly Mean,_ 
Winds. . 
Total of each Month. 1 31 
Weather.. 
.. Fair Days, 
Rain. 
Music raises in the mind of the hearer great 
conceptions ; it strengthens devotion, and ad¬ 
vances praise into rapture. 
Jan. 
Fkb. 
March 
April. 
May. 
Junk. 
July. 
Aug. 
Skit. 
Ocr. 
Nov. 
Dec. 
25.56 
24.17 
33.83 
42.54 
58.54 
6S.61 
76.47 
70.74 
64.65 
53 
38.4 
26.7 
J 56.2 
46.2 
61 
73.2 
79.3 
88.2 
95 
95 
97 
73.9 
56.8 
46 
1 4.5 
5.5 
14.4 
25 
33.4 
45.9 
59.8 
56 
46.‘J 
22 
_ ! 
—3 
. 51.7 
40.7 
46.6 
48.2 
45.9 
42.3 
35.2 
39 
50. S 
41.9 
34.S 
49 
.1 12 
1 
13 
26 
24 
28 
20 
30 
n - 
24 
lri 
. 28 
23 
28 
2 
7 
1 
13 
18 
21 
20 
5 
20 
..29.460 
29.515 
29.383 
29.528 
29.411 
29.393 
29.462 
29.411 
29.503 
29.529 
29 263 
29.4S0 
n30.015 
29.947 
29.954 
30.000 
29.794 
29.745 
29.698 
29.663 
29.945 
29.912 
•29.987 
30.120 
i 28.543 
28.834 
28.663 
29.020 
29.049 
29.085 
29.201 
29.131 
29.202 
•28.707 
28.525 
28.786 
. 1.772 
'- 
1.113 
1.291 
.980 
.745 
.660 
.497 
.532 
.743 
1.205 
1.462 
1.334 
. OH 
oh 
. 0H 
i 5% 
9K 
. 5 9s 
.1 6K 
OH 
2H 
. oh 
6H 
0 
5H 
5 
7 K 
O 
0 
OH 
5 
OK 
7K 
4K 
13 
2H 
8H 
0 
0% 
IK 
4H 
5 
7;.-: 
0 
2 
2 y. 
OH 
12K 
4 
7K 
1 
4K 
0 
IK 
0 
11H 
OH 
6K 
0 
IK 
l 
10 
? 
IK 
6% 
91> 
-■'i 
1 
1 
3 
8K 
7K 
oh 
5K 
3 
4K 
1 
7K 
3 
5 
ok 
4K 
OH 
5K 
0H 
13K 
2 
3K 
OH 
IK 
IK 
&K 
(*H 
13H 
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5K 
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l 
0H 
3 K 
4 K 
1$ 
4 73 
8 
J 31 
1- 
28 
31 
30 
31 
30 
31 
31 
30 
31 
30 
, SW 
N W 
N W 
N E 
S W 
S W 
S W 
1 W 
S W 
S W 
S W 
s w 
•1 4 
4 
7 
7 
14 
13 
20 
21K 
29K 
8% 
4K 
5 
. 27 
24 
24 
23 
17 
17 
11 
9K 
10K 
22K 
25 K 
26 
J 31 
28 
31 
30 
31 
30 
31 
31 
30 
31 
30 
31 
.! 4 
5 
5 
8 
13 
■„ 
5 
15 
12 
s" 
* 
5 
* 
6 
‘ 
1 
° 
0 
0 
0 
2 
• 
17 
1 
1 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
5 
1.814 
2.863 
1.073 
2.42S 
2.146 
5.473 
.252 
1.826 
5.185 
1.635 
1.478 
2.350 
Annua r. Rksulis. 
48.6 Annual Mean 
97, highest degree during the year. 
-3, lowest “ “ ;< 
f 51.7, greatest monthly range. 
(10.0, annual “ 
’ S _| 5th Sept., warmest day In the year. 
— .—in^ne&i, 
mean, Oct. 29.233, lowest do. Nov. 
|30.12, highest observation barometer 
8% north wind during the year. 
14 south 
53 west 
84,H north-west 
365 Total. 
12SK fair days. 
238 K cloudy days. 
365 total. 
snow fell, 
rain and snow fell. 
llSUlgS. 
THE SNOW STORM. 
I!Y Jl. X. POWERS. 
Four Aprils only had she known, 
Four days the pansies blew ; 
Tho Spring, through scarcely half out-blown. 
Such sweetness never knew. 
Her joy was in those flowers, they wore 
For her their tenderest grace ; 
Sweet, fortunes seemed for both in store, 
To sec them face to face. 
A cold cloud muffled up tho blue, 
A shadow crossed the stair, 
A strange fear chilled us through and through, 
Ere wo were half aware. 
Without , the darkness seemed to flow 
With sorrows nover said : 
Within , our hearts heaved to and fro 
About a little bed. 
Morn shook its light, a golden shower, 
On snows o’er pansies blown : 
Faith saw the shroud about our Flower, 
To marv’lous beauty grown. 
8oon, from tho wasted snow, the bloom 
Of flowers glowed more bright— 
So knew we she would leave the tomb 
A radiant child of light. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
FAITH, HOPE ARD CHARITY. 
Mists of error, and clouds of moral dark¬ 
ness obscure man’s heavenly vision, and with 
difficulty does he seek to dispel these, aud en¬ 
joy the bright beams of the Sun of Righteous¬ 
ness. But taith in Sovereign grace, raises him 
above all gloomy fears, and introduces him in¬ 
to the glorious light of a new, and spiritual 
life. Hope, that has hitherto lingered near, 
nor dared to look up, now pierces the veil, 
and gives her possessor a lively anticipation 
of the brighter glories of the heavenly world. 
Faith receives the precious promises of the Di¬ 
vine Redeemer, and feasts the soul upon the 
sweet tokens of a Savior's dying love. For¬ 
getting self, it looks in full assurance to Him 
who is the believer’s only Trust. Hope lingers 
not with the present, but reaches forward to 
the f uture, and plants herself fast by the 
throne of God. This earth for her, has no 
resting place, but Heaven alone can satisfy 
her lofty aim. Faith is a lively, active prin¬ 
ciple, and receives new strength, by its con¬ 
stant exercise. It unites the soul to the living 
vine, and thence derives new spiritual life, and 
joy, and peace. Not satisfied with present 
attainments, faith seeks still richer blessings, 
and secures for her possessor the sweeter Meas¬ 
ures of eternal life. She views the cross and 
its bleeding victim, but quickly flies to Heav¬ 
en, and there beholds the risen Savior, the sin¬ 
ner’s Friend. 
Hope, like an anchor, binds the soul to the 
heavenly world, nor yields her faithful grasp, 
until she sees her subject safe in the heaven of 
eternal rest. While Faith and Hope thus 
cheer the soul, and assist its upward flight, 
Love, heaven’s choicest treasure, rules in the 
believer’s heart, and assimilates him to the 
character of Him whose name is Love. This 
holy principle, this heavenly attribute, distin¬ 
guishes, iu a peculiar manner, all who share 
its benign influence, and feel its transforming 
and renewing power; God is its Author, who 
is Infinite Love, angels are clothed with its 
heavenly radiance, saints are imbued with its 
divine glory, and holy men on earth, are the 
recipients of its life-giving influence. Faith 
and Hope attain their final end, when the soul 
is welcomed to its heavenly home. But Love, 
with ever increasing flame, inspires each heav¬ 
enly gnest, and in delightful harmony, unites 
the enraptured host. Cherish, then, this 
heavenly principle, yield to its renewing power, 
that, when faith and hope have achieved 
their final aim, in the possession of spiritual 
life, and heavenly love, you may be welcomed 
to the mansions of eternal rest. a. d. w. 
University of Rochester. Jan.. 1855. 
j the year. 
Who can conceive a more beautiful connec¬ 
tion of sublime ideas than is found in the fol¬ 
lowing w hich we clip from an exchange ?_ 
The authorship is attributed to Bishop Beve¬ 
ridge : 
“ ; I am.’ He doth not say, I am their light, 
their guide, their strengthening tower, but only 
I am. He sets as it were his hand to blank, 
that his people may write under it what they 
please that is good for them. As if he said, 
Are they weak? I am strength. Arc they 
poor ? I am riches. Are they in trouble ? L 
am comfort. Are they sick? I am health. 
Are they dying? I am life. Have they noth¬ 
ing ? I am all things. I am wisdom and pow¬ 
er ; I am justice and mercy ; 1 am grace and 
goodness; I am glory, beauty, holiness, emi- 
nency, super-emiuency, perfection, all-sufficien¬ 
cy, eternity! Jehovah, I am ! Whatsoever 
is amiable in itself or desirable unto them, 
that I am. Whatsoever is pure and holy, 
whatsoever is good or needful to make me 
happy, that I am. - ’ 
Imperfection of Human Prayer. — Prayer 
is the great consolation of men in religion : 
but it is a mercy that the hearing and grant¬ 
ing of it are placed in the hands of the High¬ 
est, and quite beyond man’s control ; for who 
can look back on his past life without trem¬ 
bling, when he thinks on the mad and fatal 
petitions he has offered up, and reflects on what 
must have been his destiny had they been 
i granted? 
........... ................ . .. J, | 
