M ... 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
C |t €kcat0r> 
A SCHOOL INCIDENT. 
DURATION OF ENGLISH MINISTRIES. 
SCHOOL STATISTICS OF ROCHESTER. 
According to a tabular statement in the 
columns of the Union, it appears that the 
whole number of persons of school age (over 
four and under twenty-one) in the city of Roch¬ 
ester on the first day of February, 1854, was 
14,688 ; and at the same date in 1855, the 
number was 15,713 ; increase during the year, 
1,025. 
There are eighteen school districts in the 
city, employing ninety teachers; on an average 
five to each school, although several of the 
schools employ more and others less than that 
number. Of these schools No. 6 has the 
greatest school population, numbering 1,620 
persons of school age, and No. 8 the smallest, 
numbering 243. Of all the persons of school 
age but 7,885, or less than half, attended the 
schools during the past six months. 
The amount appropriated to school purpo¬ 
ses the present year was $44,701, of which 
$8,831.80 was from the State School Fund; 
the balance was raised by city taxes. Of the 
above sum, $10,000 was expended in building 
and repairing school houses, and $34,701 for 
teachers’ wages and contingent expenses.— 
Taking the attendance of the last quarter as a 
basis, and we find that the average cost of ed¬ 
ucating scholars in the public schools is $6,46 
per annum, including the cost of erecting 
buildings, &c. 
The whole number of private schools and 
seminaries in the city is 26, employing 62 
teachers, and attended by 2,164 scholars.— 
Thus it will be seen that a little over one- 
third of the youth of the city, do not attend 
any school, either public or private, a circum¬ 
stance that ought to arouse the earnest at¬ 
tention of every one who has the good of the 
country at heart. That such a mass of un¬ 
educated mind i3 to be found in the midst of a 
community proverbial for its intelligence and 
industry, is as startling as it is lamentable.— 
This large number of young persons growing 
up in ignorance, does not belong to that class 
of society who are able to send their children 
to private schools, and who if the public 
schools are over crowded (as they are) will do 
so, but it is to the poorer classes, who neither 
pay taxes to support the public schools nor 
avail themselves of the privilege of sending 
their children free. A special officer, such as 
they have in Boston, to look after and appre¬ 
hend truants, would not be a bad idea for 
ourselves. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
ADDRESS OF AGE TO YOUTH. 
Esteemed Youth:—I take the liberty to 
address you on some important truths which 
are essential for all to know, being confident 
that it will be kindly received, and the purity 
of my motives duly appreciated—for it is 
much to be regretted that the free interchange 
of views and feelings between the young and 
the aged (and especially between father and 
Son) is so little attended to, and its great im¬ 
portance so seldom realized. A free and fre¬ 
quent exchange of views and desires between 
the vivacity of youth and the cautious pru¬ 
dence of age, could be of mutual benefit to 
both. 
In declining years, when the youthful fire 
has subsided, and in its place men experience 
anxious cares, and the vexation of disappoint¬ 
ed hopes, and misplaced confidence, it is too 
often forgotten that those feelings cannot be 
realized amidst the delights of childish pleas¬ 
ures and the hilarity of youth ; and, would the 
aged partake more of the youthful pastimes, 
it would amalgamate a kindred feeling, and 
inspire confidence and respect in the young, 
for the experience of age, of which there are 
too many deficient. A respectful deportment 
for the views and suggestions of riper years, 
expands the inlets to knowledge, and adds the 
benefit of experience to the activity of youth. 
It is of the greatest importance that all 
should know and realize the fact that each one 
must be qualified to provide for himself the 
necessaries and comforts of life, and be the 
regulator of his desires and the abetter of his 
own actions, for on their correct management 
his usefulness, his respectability and his hap¬ 
piness through life will depend, and youth is 
the time to obtain these important acquire¬ 
ments and useful habits. 
And above all, it is of the greatest impor¬ 
tance for each one to promote and inspire that 
love of self-respect and dignity of character 
which will make them superior to the fashion¬ 
able follies and vices which surround them.— 
To become a slave to habit, whether foolish 
or wicked, is degrading to the moral dignity 
of man, and every enthralment weakens the 
power of resistance, aud strengthens the fetters 
of the tyrant, for degradation and vice are too 
often the fruits of tacit acquiescence, and no 
one can be too careful and not take the first 
step in the path of Temptation. w. g. 
Monroe Co., March 8, 1855. 
When in company of sensible men, we 
ought to be doubly cautious of talking too 
much, lest we lose two things—their good 
opinion and our own improvement. 
In my early years I attended the public The following account of the names and the 
schools in Roxbury, Mass.; Dr. Nathaniel duration of the various Administrations which 
Prentice was our respected teacher, but his have governed England since the passage of 
patience, at times, would get nearly exhausted the Reform Act of 18->2, may be intei esting. 
by the infraction of the school rules by the The Ministry of the late Earl Grey held 
scholars. On one occasion, in rather a wrathy office from IN ovember, 1833, to August, 1834, 
way he threatened to punish, with six blows and was instrumental in carrying the bill tor 
of a heavy ferule, the first boy detected in the reform of the representative system, 
whispering, and appointed some as detectors. On the resignation of Earl Grey, in August, 
Shortly after, one of these detectors shouted, 1834, the whig Ministry was modified, and Vis- 
“ Master, John Zeigler is a whispering.” count Melbourne was raised to the office of 
John was called up, and asked if it was a First Lord of the Treasury. 1 his Ministry 
fact. (John, by the way, was a favorite, both was dissolved by William IV ., in November, 
of the teacher and his school-mates.) 1834. when Sir Robert Peel was summoned by 
Dtttl/s Corner. JlafiMj Rinsings. 
£ 
of the teacher and his school-mates.) 1834. when Sir Robert Peel was summoned by 
“ Yes,” answered John, “ I was not aware the King from Rome, to form a new Govern- 
what I was about. I was intent in working ment on moderate conservative principles, 
out a sum, and requested the one who sat next Sir Robert’s tenure of office, however, was 
to reach me the arithmetic that contained the brief; for, in the following Apia, 1835, t e 
rule, which I wished to see.” Right Honorable Baronet was defeated on th* 
The doctor regretted his hasty threat, but famous “ Appropriation Clause ” of the Irish 
. Kill T —/l Mnllimimo (UifO mnw rft. 
told John he could not suffer him to escape 
the punishment, and continued— 
“ I wish I could avoid it, but I cannot with¬ 
out a forfeiture of my word, and the conse¬ 
quent loss of my authority. I will,” contin- 
Tithe bill, and Lord Melbourne once more re¬ 
sumed the reigns of government. 
This, the second Melbourne Ministry, en¬ 
dured from April, 1835, to August, 1841, or 
upwards of six years, exclusive of the week’s 
fMu 
ued he, “ leave it to any three scholars you interregnum in 1839, when Lord Melbourne 
may choose to say whether or not I omit the temporarily resigned, and was reinstated on 
rmni'climpnt ” the refusal of Sir Robert Peel to take office, 
punishment.” 
John said he was agreed to that, and im¬ 
mediately called out G. S.,T. D., and E. P. D. 
The doctor told them to return a verdict, which 
under certain circumstances which need not 
now be reverted to. 
In the summer of 1841, the whigs were de- 
they soon did, after consultation, as follows— feated in two Parliaments elected under their 
“ The master's word must be kept inviolate, own auspices, and. Sir R. Peel formed that 
John must receive the threatened punishment Administration which carried the principle ot 
of six blows of the ferule; but it must be in- free trade, and was eventually upset in^lS4o 
flicted on volunteer proxies ; and we, the arbi- by the secession of its “ Protectionist sup- 
trators, will receive the punishment by receiv- porters. ... .. , . , 
ing two blows each.” Lord John Russell's Administration^ which 
John, who had listened to the verdict, succeeded, lasted from June, 1846, to Februa- 
stepped up to the doctor, and, with outstretch- ry, 1852, when a deieat on the Militia Bu m- 
ed hand, exclaimed_ duced his Lordship to resign his ounce. 
“ Master, here is my hand ; they shan’t be Then came the brief Administrator^ of the 
struck a blow—I will receive the punishment” Earl of Derby and the “ country party, which 
The doctor, under pretence of wiping his lasted about nine months. It was dissolved 
face, shielded his eyes, and, telling the boys to just before Christmas, 1852, and Earl Abei - 
go to their seats, said he would think of it. I deen succeeded a? the head of a Coalition Min- 
believe he did think of it to his dying day, but istry. This Admini tration has lasted a little 
the punishment was never inflicted. more than two years. ,, 
__It will be seen that the second Ministry of 
BASEMEM SCHOOL-BOOMS. RoberUPeel (“Kconi 
Is tie city, where every foot of land is j^fgL'^ariy £"J£S! 
period in question/viz., from 1834 to 1804, 
,1 t n xi i 14 . jonn xuisseu nearly kia vetuo. 
worth more dollars than can be spread out on question,'viz.. Horn 1834 to 1854, 
S“ho= olog Iut 1 TcoZ? te fSn-tt 
towns and villages, where the commercial ^^Ututional course of a general elec- 
value of the soil ,s of less consequence, here gir Kobert Pee i ahjwd Parlia- 
can be no good reason: why childhoods “school- December, 1834, and the result was a 
going days should be made gloomy and consiclerab| but ’ not adequate, accession of, 
wearisome by confinement... damp and cheer- ,^4 t jJ rd Melbourne dis- 
less basements A school-room where the solred ia 184 { th 4 c01mt ry returned a 
plastic mind of the young is to receive its first hundred against him ; and the 
bent unto good or evil, should always be at- J 0 / Derb s appeal t ° the people in 1852, 
vmSed pIeasant ’ aMl byaI1 mea ° s wel1 was, to judge from the result; similarly sue 
But who ever saw an underground room cess f u L_ . ^ ^ _ 
that was pleasant and inviting ? As for ven- TmQQTA\r PTVTT'/ATlfYV 
tilation, that is out of the question where the ItUob-L&ii blVll iZiAllui . 
ceiling is within reach of an ordinary sized The civiHzation of the Russian capital is 
man and the base of the wmdows three or four t more than gkin dee 0ne gee this 
feet from the floor or at least so h.gh that all , in the 8tre ets. The pavements are 
ventilation from that source must be like the ab J mil / able . 0nly two or three streets are 
instructions of some teachers, entirely above li htedwithgas; in the rest oil glimmer. The 
the heads of the. pupils. Under such circum- ?. 1nTnna * tb ’ for bein£r sub iect to 
the heads of the. pupils. Under such circum- ] g th ’ dimmer for b “ ing sub j ect to He had seen it in shapes that men deem worst sympathy under such an afflictive dispensation 
stances the air is constantly damp and chilly tbg specu i a ti on 0 f officials. Three wicks are in many a held and flood ; is of very little avail, and the mourners turn 
from the.vapor which naturally rises from the cbarffed f or and on iy two are burned; the Yet, in the darkness of his dread, to the only source from whence consolation 
ground immediately beneath the floor and difffe ° ence ig pocke t e d by the police; all the His tongue was parch’d, and his reason fled ; 
many basements are so constructed that they , , , * VnrU U..f„And he watch’d, as the Lamp burn’d low and dim, 
become convenient reservoirs of impure and ^> n P h being mitly collected in a cen- To see “tlCd , T ^ ere was liyin « withil > a few weeks P Mt a 
poisonous gases. . . _ tral bazar, Gostinci Dwor. The shopkeepers ’ abbled ° er wlth bl °° d ' famil 7 of ei S M children, all grown up to man s 
It is well known to every physician, that appeal to the ignorance of a half barbarous Sir Everard imeei’d, and strove to pray, estate. True, they were widely scattered 
whTlfveta underground^ " afi °" *7 !?■“* J**“ ° f ** fStaten, m groups of two or 
than others in the same neighborhood who ov( : r their doors; and in his shop a Russian And ever I mutter’d clear and well three, but with the facilities of travel, frequent 
occupy airy and well ventilated aparments.— ^7“ eiiek,” hke a toiung bell opportunities occurred for happy re-unions, 
Dysentery, typhus fever and cholera, as well as ^ ^ o^^tomers. Mirrors,” says ‘ ’ EverarT fJZTttZ,’ and frieadl y missi ^ es we ^ tm more Sequent- 
scrofula, and consumption, make their deadly ^ En lish woman> ho i d the same position in --—- ] Y interchanged through the mails. Blessed 
visits to such localities, and Harpy-like prey Rusaia that c i oc k s do in England. With us A Word.—A mother sat at the fireside of in their domestic relations, and in a unity of 
on their inmates. Instances are by no means time is valuable; with them appearance. They home, and her darling boy sat with her. Love feeling and sentiment, the ills of life, that have 
uncommon, in which whole iamilies have been - ^ —j- , , . ,, . ° 
Sly 
ILLUSTRATED ENIGMA. 
Os the casement frame the wind beat high, 
Never a star was in the sky ; 
All Kenneth Hold was wrapt in gloom, 
And Sir Everard slept in the Haunted Room. 
I sat and sang beside his bed 
Never a single word I said, 
Yet did I scare his slumber ; 
And a fitful light in his eye-ball glisten’d, 
And his cheek grew pale as he lay and listen’d, 
For ho thought, or he dream’d, that fiends and fays 
Were reckoning o’er his fleeting days, 
And telling out their number. 
Was it my second’s ceaseless tone ? 
On my second’s hand he laid his own : 
The hand that trembled in his grasp, 
Was crush’d by his convulsive clasp. 
Sir Everard did not fear my first ; 
He had seen it in shapes that men deem worst 
In many a field and flood ; 
Yet, in the darkness of his dread, 
His tongue was parch’d, and his reason fled ; 
And he watch’d, as the Lamp burn’d low and dim, 
To see some Phantom gaunt and grim 
Come, dabbled o’er with blood. 
Sir Everard kneel’d, and strove to pray, 
He pray’d for light, and he pray’d for day, 
Till terror check’d his prayer ; 
And ever I mutter’d clear and well 
“ Click, click,” liko a tolling bell, 
Till, bound in Fancy’s magic spell, 
Sir Everard fainted there. 
A Word. —A mother sat at the fireside of 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
NETTIE.« 
BY M. L. PIERSON. 
My friend in the bright morn of childhood, 
Together, for many long hours, 
We’vo talked o’er our hopes of the future, 
While faith strewed its pathway with flowers. 
But those flowers, alas 1 now are faded, 
Their fragrance is spent as a breath, 
The day-dream of childhood is vanished, 
And Nettie lies silent in death. 
I was sad when I heard she was dying— 
When I heard the lone dirge of the bell— 
When I saw weeping friends gather round her, 
And heard the heart-rending farewell : 
But the blossom that then was transplanted, 
In perennial spring now shall bloom ; 
And Nettie, though torn from our circle, 
Ha3 found with bright angels a home. 
Then strew her green grave with fresh roses, 
Let the zephyr her requiem sing, 
Her spirit through yonder Elysium 
Is roaming on cherubic wing. 
Her bark once the sport of the billow, 
No more by the wild surge is driven ; 
Thon cease our unholy repining, 
For Nettie is happy in Heaven ! 
Wethersfield Spa, Feb. 21st, 1855. 
* Mrs. Antoinette Cox, of Bergen, who died Jan. 19, of 
consumption, aged 24. 
~DEATH. 
That all mankind must die, sooner or later, 
is a proposition which need only be stated in 
order to receive universal assent. It is so 
manifest in every day’s experience, that resort 
need not be had to the flight of a century, and 
the passing away of an entire generation, to 
establish the solemn truth. But true as it is, 
and ready as all men are to acknowledge it in 
the abstract, very few, if any of us, take it 
home to our hearts with all its force. We 
are too apt to live along from day to day like 
travelers upon a flowery pathway, whose ter¬ 
mination ends in paradise ; or rather, we should 
say, which has no termination. 
We float along the stream of time too often 
neglectful of our duty to ourselves, our fellows, 
and our Creator, until death overtakes us as 
yet unprepared for his dread presence. We 
may have grown up to man’s estate amid a 
group of brothers and sisters, all in robust 
health; we may have lived so long together, 
and been accustomed so often to greet each 
other, unwarned by the deaths taking place 
around us every day, but in which we have no 
immediate interest, that we say to ourselves, 
with confident expectation of its fulfillment, 
“ to-morrow will be as to day, but yet more 
abundantly.” But, alas ! in an unexpected 
moment, like a bolt descending from an un¬ 
clouded sky, death visits the circle, and with 
scarcely an announcement of his coming, 
beckons some one of the group away. Human 
sympathy under such an afflictive dispensation 
is of very little avail, and the mourners turn 
to the only source from whence consolation 
can come. 
There was living within a few weeks past a 
family of eight children, all grown up to man’s 
estate. True, they were widely scattered 
through several States, in groups of two or 
three, but with the facilities of travel, frequent 
opportunities occurred for happy re-unions, 
and friendly missives were still more frequent¬ 
ly interchanged through the mails. Blessed 
in their domestic relations, and in a unity of 
/ FT , “T q care not though it be mainly false appearance, 
swept off by the diseases which hover around Th pa ? nt their faces. The lower class- 
these unnatural habitations. _ All animals, e3 of women use a great deal of white paint, 
a ”i?.*“->‘ ata ^ health 
and peace seemed hovering over them. A 
word from that mother’slips, was treasured up 
in the heart of the boy. 
fallen to them in common with all other men, 
were borne lightly ; and the thought of a 
THE MINISTRY AND THE PRESS. 
auu Liiu yvcviixiLu. wi ouiiouliiiv;, aiiu ir 1 11 t -i • 
limgmsli and die without it- B. N. Comings, a “ s man ; his court t0 a girl 
,n Common School Journal. generally presents her with a box of red and 
-•' '' *'—-- white paint to improve her looks ; and in the 
THE MINISTRY AND THE PRESS. upper classes, ladies are often to be seen by one 
- another, as they arrive at a house, openly 
That pastor errs egregiously who fails to rouging their faces before entering the draw- 
give the due credit to the newspaper press, as iug room. These are small things indicative 
an agent to the evils he would correct, or an of an extensive principle. Peter the Great 
instrument of the good he would accomplish, undertook to civilize Russia by a coup de main. 
The time has come when newspapers are al- A walk is shown at St. Petersburg along 
most universally read. The family that takes which he made women march unveiled between 
no newspaper, is now the exception to the files of soldiery, to accustom them to go un- 
universal custom. And if companionship with veiled. But civilization is not to be intro- 
a fellow infallibly leaves some impression on duced into a nation by Imperial edict, and ever 
the mind, much more does the weekly visit of since Peter the Great’s time the Russian Em- 
a friend in the shape of a newspaper, beget a pire has been laboring to stand for what it is 
regard and confidence which give him inealeu- not, namely, the equivalent to nations that 
lable power in leading the opinions and form- have become civilized in the slow lapse of time. 
iug the character of those who welcome his-— -- 
regular arrival. A Beautiful Myth. —We read in Ovid that 
Probably every minister can trace various the mulberry derives its fine color from the 
erroneous and foolish notions which he meets blood of the two unfortunate lovers, Pyramus 
with in some of the families of his parochial and Thisbe. He tells us that it was originally 
charge, directly to the newspaper they take.— snow-white, but that when Pyramus, in despair 
If so, how plain it is that the proper prevent- upon the supposed death of his mistress, killed 
ive or corrector of such evils, is a newspaper himself with his own sword, he fell under the 
of a different character ; and how can he act shade of this tree. Thisbe, finding him in this 
wisely—how can he act faithfully, if he do not situation, followed his example ; and their 
Years rolled on. The boy bad gone from the separation by death was scarcely regarded by 
parental roof, and his voice was heard in the an y ^ a contingency at all likely to happen. 
h°oi y “c‘7of a B moStdaYSon Voder such a state of things, the elder brother 
felt the power of that fireside word. was attacked by illness neither very painful nor 
Again, it is night. A fair-haired boy looks alarming, and was confined to his bed for a few 
- the - faCG f awo + ^ dly ' minded brief days. Neither he nor the members of 
mother, and inquires of holy things. That ^ 
mother utters a word that crushes forever the own family, not even the wife of his 
germ of eternal truth. bosom, nor the physician in attendance, sus- 
• A worcl s P ok Y n * s V ke de Y( to ,, a droop- pec ted the dread messenger was even then 
mg flower. One badly spoken is like the worm r ..... 
that never dies, and a word unuttered may waiting in the chamber ; but so it was, and on 
affect the world for weal or woe .—The Myrtle, the eighth day, just at sunset, he beckoned the 
- invalid away. In the presence of his wife, 
Answer to Miscellaneous Enigma in No. 10. children, and medical attendant, without even 
O, Liberty how many crimes are committed in thy ^: me summon in an immediate neighbor, 
name ' the sick man reclined upon his right side, 
do what he can to introduce such a needed an- blood, flowing about the trees, was absorbed 
tidote into such families ? by them, and gave color to the fruit. 
--—• * • ■ ♦ - Dark in the rising tide the berries grew, 
Oitriotts Result_ A Prenrh officer while And, white no longer, took a sable hue ; 
yUKIOUS XYESULl. A x 1( -licn O incur, Willie But brighter crimson springing from the root, 
making reconnoisance near bebastopol, W T as Shot through the black, and purpled o’er the fruit. 
knocked down by the wind of a cannon ball, ---— 
and the shock was so severe as to cause a par- A man in the common walks of life, who 
alysis of his tongue, so that he could neither has faith in perfection, in the unfolding of the 
move it or speak. Obtaining leave of absence human spirit, as the great purpose of God, 
he returned to Marseilles and placed himself possesses more the secret of the universe, per- 
under electrical treatment. After a few shocks ceives more the harmonies or mutual adapta- 
lie could move his tongue with more facility, tion of the world without and the world with- 
and at length, after an unusually powerful in him, is a wiser interpreter of Providence, 
shock, his speech was restored, and he was fully and reads nobler lessons of duty in the events 
recovered. which pass before him, than the profoundest 
——-- philosopher who wants this grand central 
Great cities are Satan’s universities. truth.— Channing. 
Answei to Charade in No. 10 . placed his hand under his cheek, and breathed 
^ 0ur dli ’ t ^ a f out his life with all the calmness of an infant 
VYmen the butcher down knocks, . , , , V1 ., . , , , 
... , . . , .... going to sleep; so nearly like it indeed, that 
And clever as harlequin, turns into beef ; ° , ° ,, . * ’ ... .. , 
And it goes to the East when the nei g hbor amved he said ’ almost m 
To furnish a feast— the language of the Saviour on a memorable 
To the soldier as well as commander-in-chief, occasion, “ he is not dead but sleeping ! , 
A bridge unrestored, Brothers who lived a few miles distant, and 
Your second’s a ford — who lett him on the day befoie, as they sup- 
A difficult thing for the wisest to pass, posed convalescent, received a speedy and sad 
Though the learndest dons ; message. Other members of the family with- 
Asinorum the pons in two days notice by mail, knew nothing 
May puzzle, but never a ford, any ass. of his sickness, until word came that he was 
At Oxford, your whole, dead. Dead! It is a terrible word ■when it 
Have an eye to the goal: strikes so suddenly and so near ! and the 
And if you make sure, never mind being slow, warning comes home to our hearts, “ Be ye 
For if you’re too fast, a l a0 re ady, for in an hour when ye think not 
Ten to one but you’re last ; tbe g on 0 f Man cometh !” 
And, lacking certificate, find you’re no go. _ a t „ _ 
“ Let not the sun go down on your wrath, 
“ Why’s D like marriage?” ask’d the maid, . , ... i_ ij i. a „ 
Whose love to me is plighted ; ^ an admonition every one should heed. An 
i blush’d, of course, and hung my head, angry mood is not a befitting one for a man < 
While she seem’d quite delighted. t 0 appear in before his Maker, neither is it one 
“ Come, answer me,” continued she, to be indulged against a fellow man on the ere 
And don’t bo long about it,— 0 f b i s departure. Either may be called hence 
You stupid ninny, don’t you soe r J , 
TVe can’t he iced without it l” before the next day s snn has risen. 
For if you’re too fast, 
Ten to one but you’re last ; 
And, lacking certificate, find you’re no go. 
!I Why’s D like marriage?” ask’d the maid, 
Whose love to me is plighted ; 
I blush’d, of course, and hung my head, 
While she seem’d quite delighted. 
“Come, answer me,” continued she. 
And don’t be long about it,— 
You stupid ninny, don’t you see 
We can’t be wed, without it I” 
..... 
