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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSFAFER. 
THE riLCRISl FATHERS, 
BY JOHN l’IKKPONT. 
The Pilgrim Fathers—where arc they? 
The waves that brought them o’er 
Still roll in the bay, and throw their spray. 
As they break along the shore : 
Still roll in the bay, as they rolled that day 
When the Mayflower moor’d below, 
When the sea around was black with storms. 
And white the shore with snow. 
The mists, that wrapped the Pilgrim’s sleep. 
Still brood upon the tide, 
And his rocks yet keep their watch by the deep, 
To stay its waves of piide. 
Put the snow-white sail, that he gave to the gale 
When the heavens look’d dark, is gone; 
As an angel’s wing, through an opening cloud, 
Is seen and then withdrawn. 
The Pilgrim exile—sainted name! 
The hill, whose ivy brow 
Rejoiced, when lie came, in the morning's flame, 
In the morning's flame burns now, 
And the moon's pale light, as it lay that night 
On the hill-side and sea, 
Still lies where he laid his houseless head; 
Rut the Pilgrim—where is he ? 
The Pilgrim Fathers are at rest; 
When summer’s throned on high, 
And the world’s warm breast is in verdure dress’d, 
(Jo, stand on the hill where they lie. 
The earliest ray of the golden day 
On that hallow’d spot is cast; 
And the evening sun, as he leaves the world, 
Looks kindly on that spot last. 
The Pilgrim spirit has not fled ; 
It walks in noon's broad light; 
And it watches the bed of the glorious dead, 
And shall guard this ice-bound shore, 
Till the waves of the bay, where the Mayflower lay, 
Shall foam and freeze no more. 
i HE advocates ol cli mge in Italy embrace 
several classes. There are the infidel politi¬ 
cians, led by Bianchi Giovini, and socialists, 
who are also pantheists, with Antonio Franchi 
as their oracle. The - iobertists are found 
chiefly in Piedmout, and aim at full religious 
liberty. They have two able find influential 
newspapers. Finally, thcicare the evangelical 
Protestants, of whom a letter from Italy in the 
Independent gives the following account, 
which is full of encouragement and invites vig¬ 
orous co-operation with the revived and active 
VV aldenses: 
*’ First of all, those who may claim that 
name should be mentioned the YValdensians; 
whose Table or Synod are displaying much 
zeal, and obtaining much success in the work 
of evangelizing Piedmont. Their mission at 
Turin is truly a splendid one, and the converts 
are counted by hundreds. The same thing can 
be said of their mission at Genoa, and they are 
just now taking possession of a new field, (N ice,) 
which bids fair to give an abundant harvest.— 
Two weekly newspapers are the organs of 
evangelical religion in Piedmont and Savoy, 
the Buonn J\'uvcLla, at Turin, and the Glaneur 
Savoyard, at Chambery. The Cerghini, at 
Favale, form already an interesting little 
church; in several other little places, which it 
might not be prudent to mention for the pres- 
ent. are little groups of men who prepare them¬ 
selves, in secret, to come out one of these days, 
confessing openly the name of the Lord.*— 
Florence, Pisa, Milan, and even ltome, have 
also their secret little meeting's of Christians: 
(fchuafifliud 
OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION, 
The primary school fund arises from the 
sale of lands granted by the United Stales to 
the State, comprising the sixteenth section in 
every township. The land is held by govern¬ 
ment at four dollars per acre, but if section 
sixteen of any township should be so situated 
as to command more than that price, the pri¬ 
mary school fund receives a greater increase. 
The new city of Lansing, the capital of the 
Slate, is located upon section sixteen, and the 
consequence is a large addition to the fund in 
question. Two years since it amounted to 
$11,000, and 1 am told that, during the last 
year, more than double the amount of public 
lands have been entered at the land oflices, 
than during any previous year since Michigan 
became a Stale. The sources of revenue for 
the support of primary schools, in addition to 
the interest on this constantly accumulating 
fund, are, 1st. A tax of one mill on each dol¬ 
lar’s valuation of the taxable property of the 
township; and 2d.' A lax not exceeding one 
dollar upon the taxable property of the dis¬ 
trict, for each scholar between ihe ages of four 
and eighteen years; said tax to be voted by 
1 ho district, and collected and returned the 
same as other township taxes. If these three 
sources do not prove sufficient to support the 
schools, the law makes it obligatory upon the 
officers to resort to the rate-bill. In order to 
entitle any district to its share of the public 
money, it must be shown by the report of the 
proper officers, thal a school has been taught 
at least three months therein, during the pre¬ 
vious year, by a legally qualified teacher. By 
a clause in the constitution, it is provided that 
the legislature shall within five years, establish 
a system of primary schools, whereby a school 
shall be kept without charge for tuition, at 
least three months in each year, in every school 
district in the State. The whole number of 
districts now organized is about 3,400, and the 
number of children residing therein, between 
four and eighteen years of age, is 143,200, 
while the number actually attending school is 
115,200.— JV. Y 'Teacher. 
MATHEMATICAL STUDIES, 
One of the best branches of study for men- j 
tal discipline pursued in our schools, is that of 
mathematics. The close train of thinking— 
the steady and unyielding pursuit, link bv link 
of the mental chain—the i ecessity of holding 
on until the consummation of the argument, 
all contribute admirably to give the pupil the 
all-important power of control over his thoughts. 
The tendency of the uneducated mind is to 
fly off from any subject upon which it is bent. 
The recollections of the readers of this article, 
will bear us witness, that in their early years, 
before laborious mental discipline had given 
them power of control over their train of 
thought, the main difficulty to the accomplish¬ 
ment of any intellectual task was this tangen¬ 
tial tendency of the menial powers. A boy 
sits down seriously to commit to memory a les¬ 
son in Geography; and presently and uncon¬ 
sciously an image of the glorious skating frolic 
of the last evening maps itself out upon his 
brain, lie undertakes to conjugate the regu¬ 
lar verb love; and as he mentally ejaculates 
“I love, thou lovest,”—the imaginary visage of 
a briglu-eyed girl who has captivated his boy¬ 
ish fancy, peeps into the windows of his soul, 
lie undertakes to write a composition, and im¬ 
perceptibly bis truant pen glides into carica¬ 
turing horses and dogs. All things, and every¬ 
thing in fact, except the task essayed, crowd 
upon the active, wayward and undisciplined 
brain. 
Mathematical studies are admirably adapted 
to correct this tendency of the mind to wander 
away from the subject under consideration—to 
teach it to grasp a chain of thought, and hav¬ 
ing grasped to hold on to it until the end.— 
With wonderful precision it leads one along 
and induces him to retain a firm hold, for the 
consciousness is ever present, that with a mo¬ 
ment’s diversion, or a single instant’s indirec¬ 
tion, all is lost; and the process must be com¬ 
menced anew. The very unwillingness to la¬ 
bor is a spur to the intent, for when the chain 
of reasoning is once traced through, the task 
is done. 
Nothing is more gratifying to an examining 
committee, or an intelligent spectator, than to 
see a class of bright little boys and girls go 
through the long and difficult problems of 
Colburn’s Mental Arithmetic. That arithme¬ 
tic is one of the most valuable books in tlie 
whole range of school studies, and is more ben¬ 
eficial in the mental training of the young than 
a dozen ferules, half a dozen raw-hides, and a 
row of cross schoolmasters reaching from our 
sanctum to the most distant reader of the Ru¬ 
ral N kw-Y okkkr. 
DON’T MURMUR, CHRISTIAN! 
A Remnant of tub Dark Ages among the 
Onto Schools. —The Ohio Slate Democrat 
publishes a reply of II. 11. Barney, the State 
Commissioner of Common Schools, to a ques¬ 
tion proposed to him by a number of citizens 
of Brown county, whether on New Year’s 
evening, scholars were legally authorized to bar 
the doors of their school houses, and resist the 
demand of the directors and teacher to open 
the same, unless a treat of two dollars should 
be granted them by the teacher? It seems 
that this mode of procedure on the partoftho 
scholars has been practised from time imme¬ 
morial; and on the last New Year’s day, when 
the teacher of a school in Brown county re¬ 
fused to pay the sum, the boys were upheld in 
their demand by many of their parents and 
some of the magistrates of the county, and the 
teacher was at last obliged to comply. Mr. 
Barney decided that the boys in such cases 
were trespassers, and liable to the same 
amount of damages as they would be at the 
suit of a private citizen, whose dwelling they 
should close against him with a view to extort 
money. 
Chrysostom propounds this question: “Was 
Job miserable when he had lost all that Cod 
had given him?” and gives this answer:—“No; 
lie had still that Cod who gave him all.” And 
is not Christ thy treasure? is not Heaven thine 
inheritance? and wilt thou murmur? Hast 
thou not much in hand, and more in hope?— 
Hast thou not much in possession, but more in 
reversion? and wilt thou murmur? Hath not 
Cod given thee a changed heart, a renewed 
nature, and a sanctified soul? and wilt thou 
murmur? Hath not Cod given thee Himself 
to satisfy thee, 1 lis Son to save thee, His Spirit 
to lead thee, His grace to adorn thee, llis cov¬ 
enant to assure thee, His mercy to pardon thee? 
and wilt thou murmur? Nath he not made 
thee a friend, a brother, a son, a bride, an heir? 
and wilt thou murmur? Hath not Cod often 
turned thy water into wine, thy brass into silver, 
thy silver into gold? and wilt thou murmur?— 
When thou wnst dead, did not he quicken thee? 
and when thou wast lost, did not I le seek thee? 
and when thou wast wounded, did not He heal 
thee? and when thou, wert falling, did not He 
support thee? and when thou wert down, did 
not He raise thee? and when thou wert stag¬ 
gering, did not He establish thee? and when 
thou wert erring, did not He reduce thee? and 
when thou wert tempted, did not he succor 
thee? and when thou wert in danger, did not 
He deliver thee? and wilt thou murmur?— 
What! thou that art so highly advanced, and 
exalted above many thousands in the world.— 
Murmuring is a black garment, and it becomes 
none so ill as saints.— Brooks. 
At the head of this article may be seen an 
engraving of the American steam-ship Savan¬ 
nah, the first of her class that ever made a 
trans-atlantic voyage; she was the pioneer of 
the ocean steam-ship enterprise, and stands a 
monument of praise to the far-reaching and 
prophetic eye of “Young America. Rude in 
her model and appurtenances, and limited in 
her dimensions compared with the floating 
islands of 1854, she excited an extraordinary 
degree of interest, at the time of her first voyage, 
both in America and Europe. She was a ship- 
rigged vessel of 380 tons burthen, and only 
used steam as auxiliary to her sailing powers. 
Coal not then being used, it was impossible to 
carry fuel for the whole time consumed in an 
ocean voyage, and consequently it was so ar- 
ranged as to be able to unship her wheels and i 
Without a Parallel. — The amount in¬ 
vested in school houses in Boston, is $1,500,000. 
The yearly appropriations for education are 
$1,200,000, while the amount raised for all 
other city expenses is only $870,000. The 
amount expended for instruction in the com¬ 
mon schools of Massachusetts last year, was 
$4,50 for each child between five and fifteen 
years of age in the State. This is unquestion¬ 
ably the best commentary ever afforded upon 
Boston influence; and is eminently worthy of 
imitation elsewhere. 
Beautiful ’Thoughts. —The same Cod who 
moulded the sun and kindled the stars, watch¬ 
es the flight of the insect, lie who balances 
the clouds and hung the earth upon nothing, 
notices the lull of the sparrow. He who gave 
Saturn his two rings, and placed Ihe moon like 
a ball of silver in the broad arch of heaven, 
gives the rose leaf its delicate tint, and made 
the distant sun to nourish the violet And the 
same Being notices equally the praises of the 
cherubim and the prayers of the little child 
IIk that is wise is wise for himself, but he 
that scorneth he alone shall bear it 
Wind and steam are the great propelling 
powers of every kind of vessel. 
