MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER, 
[ For the Rural New-Yorker.] 
THEODORA. 
tional Apparatus on a large and complete 
scale, this month, and have taken steps to 
make known to the governments of foreign 
countries the object the Society has in view, 
in order that the Exhibition may represent to 
the people of England the state of education 
in France, Prussia, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, 
Belgium, Switzerland, the United States of 
America, and the British Colonies. 
It is highly important that this country 
should be fully represented in this exhibition, 
as there is but little doubt that the result will 
show our school apparatus in some respects 
better adapted and more serviceable than that 
employed in any nation on the globe. 
Circulars giving all the necessary informa¬ 
tion to enable the friends of education in this 
county to exhibit articles have been received, 
from which we learn that goods can be shipped 
from New York or Boston as late as the KJtli 
of June, and although the printed circular 
states that exhibitors must deliver their ob¬ 
jects at their own charge and risk, we are as¬ 
sured on competent authority that the Society 
will make a liberal provision for the expenses 
of transportation. 
The following is a classified list of objects 
which may be admitted: 
Section I. Buildings. 
Section II. Fittings and Furniture. 
Section III. Apparatus and Materials. 
Section IV. Books, Maps, Prints and Dia¬ 
grams. 
Section V. Results. 
Section VI. Objects or Models and Draw¬ 
ings of Projects for supplying Desiderata. 
All articles connected with the subject of 
Education, and all contrivances employed to 
impart instruction at the present day, may be 
sent forward. r ‘" 
In the silent hour of night, 
“When the moon was shining bright, 
And the stars in silv’ry light,— 
On the mountain, lake and rill, 
Shone they most serenely still, 
Chaining thus the heart and will. 
It was thus when she did leave ; 
Mourning liear.s did then bereave; 
Thinking they should ne’er receive 
That loved form to their embrace, 
Never look upon that face, 
Till with saints they take their place. 
In the morning did she say, 
“ Will you bow by me and pray ? 
For I’m going home to-day.” 
She was clad in robes of white, 
On that cold and beauteous night, 
But her heart did feel no blight, 
For her sorrows all were o’er, 
She had only gone before, 
To that bright, celestial shore. 
When we looked upon her brow. 
Which was cold and placid now, 
Then we knew we too must bow,—• 
To the mandate, stern decree, 
Which went forth to make us free 
From pain, sin, and misery. 
Normal School, Albany, May, 1854. 
gence and education is especially necessaiy m 
a country like ours, is the fact that the respon¬ 
sibility of the government, and all that relates 
to the making and the administration of the 
laws, is in the hands of the people. In an 
Autocracy, where the power is concentrated 
in a single person, and his mandates are exe¬ 
cuted by agents responsible only to him, it is 
not necessary, so far as the body politic is con¬ 
cerned, that the people should be removed in¬ 
tellectually more than a step above the brute 
creation that surrounds them; indeed, a greater 
degree of intelligence amon; 
the mass of sub¬ 
jects would endanger the stability of the polit¬ 
ical fabric, and result in a revolution. Igno¬ 
rance and blind obedience are yoke fellows 
and inseparable .companions; and where the 
former prevails, the latter will be found at last. 
In an Aristocracy, it is necessary that a class 
be educated, and fenced around with an armor 
of superior wisdom, while it is for their espe¬ 
cial interest, and the perpetuity of their pecu¬ 
liar privileges, that the common people—the 
hewers of wood and the drawers of water— 
should know just enough to hew and draw, 
and no more. Nothing tends more inevitably 
to break down special privileges, and open up 
to all men the common rights of humanity, 
than education of the masses. The son of a 
grocer or a mechanic, who is sent to school 
with the son of a Peer, and finds himself equal 
to the latter, both mentally and physically, en¬ 
quires why the same road to distinction in the 
wide world is not equally open to him. lie 
sees the other inheriting broad fields, and in 
the possession of rent-rolls fettered by entail, 
and handed down from generation to genera¬ 
tion ; a seat, by right of birth, in the upper 
house of legislation, from which he himself is 
shut out by the enactments of positive and un¬ 
just laws. The majority of his countrymen 
are in the same situation with himself, and if 
they are equally as well educated, they are 
also equally discontented. Hence, they form 
themselves into a league for the overthrow of 
these unjust and unequal privileges, and the re¬ 
sult is, that they ultimately triumph. Some¬ 
times, as instanced in the French revolution 
they triumph in crime and blood. One man, 
or one hundred, cannot, for a long series of 
years, maintain positions above a thousand 
other men equally competent with themselves; 
and if the door is not opened to the latter, 
they will batter it down by force. They form 
themselves into a corps of sappers and miners, 
and dig out from its lowest foundations the 
strong-built walls of Aristocracy. Such has 
been the process going on in most countries of 
the old world, slow at times, and apparently 
ineffectual, it is true, but still advancing to¬ 
wards its consummation. 
The House of Commons in Great Britain, 
even as late as the time of Queen Elizabeth, 
was scarcely of any weight in the kingdom; 
they “ humbly petitioned her Majesty” so and 
so, and gratefully received as favors the crumbs 
of legislation that came from the table of the 
Queen and the House of Lords. Now the 
Commons is the giant arm in England, wield¬ 
ing alike the mace of office, the sword of just¬ 
ice, the keys of the treasury, and the enginery 
of war. They make and unmake the ministry; 
and the veto even of majesty itself has not 
been interposed to invalidate their acts for a 
period of a hundred and fifty yearn; and the 
reason only is, that the people, becoming edu¬ 
cated, understand, and dare maintain, their 
rights. England has been, and is still, slowly 
but surely, approaching a Democratic form of 
government. Louis XIY. of France, once 
said, “I am the State”; and Louis the XVI. 
not many years later, was brought to the block. 
Revolutions and counter revolutions have suc¬ 
ceeded, and despotism has, from time to time, 
partially triumphed. A lack of general intel¬ 
ligence, and a diffusive system of education 
among the people, is the reason w'hy. 
VIEWS OF THE RECENT ECLIPSE. 
[Enf raved for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker, from Daguerreotypes taken by John Kelsey.] 
Let me put a spider into any lady s hand. 
She starts back aghast. She shrieks, “ the 
nasty ugly thing!” Madam, the spider is 
perhaps shocked at your Brussels laces, and, 
although you may be"the most exquisite paint¬ 
er living, the spider has a right to laugh at 
your coarse daubs as she runs over them. Just 
show her your crochet work when you shriek 
at her. “ Have you spent half your days upon 
these clumsy anti-macassars and these ottoman 
covers? My dear lady, is that your web? If 
I were big enough, 1 might with reason drop 
you and cry out at you. Let me spend a day 
with you and bring my work. I have four lit¬ 
tle bags of thread—such little bags! In every 
bag there are more than 1,000 holes—such 
tiny, tiny holes! Out of each hole a thread 
runs, and all these threads—more than 4,000 
threads—I spin together as they run, and when 
they are all spun they may make but one thread 
of the web I weave. I have a member of my 
family who is herself no bigger than a grain of 
sand. Imagine what a slender web she makes, 
and of that, too, each thread is made of 4,000 
or 5,000 threads that have passed out of her 
four bags through 4,000 or 5,000 little holes. 
Would you drop her, too, crying out about 
your delicacy? A pretty thing, indeed, for you 
to plume yourself on your delicacy, and scream 
The exhibition is to be upon 
the broadest and most comprehensive scale. 
Persons who desire to exhibit articles should 
make arrangements without delay. Mr. Clias. 
F. Stansbury, who acted as American Agent 
to the World’s Fair in London, and who now 
resides there, has patriotically and liberally of¬ 
fered his services as agent for any person or 
school that may desire to send articles, without 
any charge. He will doubtless cheerfully im¬ 
part any information on the subject of the Ex¬ 
hibition. His address is No. 17 Cornhill, 
London, and we doubt not his past experience 
will enable him to act with the greatest ad¬ 
vantage at the present exhibition.— JY. Y. 
Tribune. 
THE RECENT ECLIPSE 
pearance of the late solar eclipse, at iour suc¬ 
cessive periods of its progress, as seen at 
Rochester; figure 1 being near the time of its 
commencement, and figure 4 near that of its 
termination. Figure 2 represents its approach 
to, and figure 3 its period of greatest obscura¬ 
tion. The picture should be held so that the 
observer will be looking westward, or in the 
direction of the sun at 5 o’clock F. M., in 
order to give the eclipse its true position and 
direction. It was a remarkable phenomenon, 
and one of rare occurrence; and it was viewed 
in this locality under the most favorable cir- 
Not a cloud was visible in the 
Michigan must ever claim the honor of be¬ 
ing the first State in the Union, offering the 
student from all portions of the United States 
complete courses of Collegiate instruction, free 
of charge. 
The annual income from her University fund 
is now about §25,000 per annum, and is in¬ 
creasing. 
Ample buildings have been erected at Ann 
Arbor, for the Medical and Literary Colleges, 
a town remarkable for its health and cheapness 
of living. 
The University Library, Cabinet, Museum, 
Apparatus and Laboratory, are creditable to a 
State Institution, and one of the best Astro¬ 
nomical Observatories in the world is nearly 
completed, the directorship of which has been 
accepted by the distinguished Astronomer, 
Brunow of Berlin, the assistant of Encke.— 
The corps of Professors, (at present, ten in the 
Literary and six in the Medical Colleges, have 
thus far been called from the different States, 
with reference to theij; ability and fitness. In 
the College of Arts and Sciences, there are two 
full parallel courses of studies, viz: Literary 
and Scientific. The first including such branch¬ 
es as are taught in other Colleges; the other, 
or Scientific course, omits the dead languages, 
and substitutes the Natural Sciences, Civil En¬ 
gineering, &c., the better to fit young men for 
the practical duties of life, (to enter which but 
moderate pre-requisites are insisted on.) An 
appropriate degree is conferred on those who 
take a full course in either, but a student may 
take a partial course, selecting such studies as 
he may wish, and remain as long or short a 
time as he may desire. An agricultural course 
has been established, and is now in full opera¬ 
tion. 
The Collegiate year, in both Colleges, com¬ 
mences on the 1st of October, the term of the 
Medical College continuing six months.— Mich. 
Argus. 
cumstances. 
sky, and the deep blue vault of the heavens 
had been cleared of all obscuring vapors a few 
days previously, by a storm. The eclipse 
touched the sun on its north-western limb, and 
gradually slid over the disk until about five- 
sixths of the surface was totally obscured, but 
at no period was there any annular appearance 
in this locality. The ring of light was obser¬ 
vable on a belt of the earth’s surface reaching 
from Washington Territory on the West, to 
the Atlantic, near Portland, on the Last; but 
its Southern limit passed North of us through 
Canada. The outlines were beautifully and 
boldly defined, and unattended by any haze or 
other appearance of a lunar atmosphere, and 
it is generally believed by astronomers that 
none exists. 
It is undoubtedly understood by all the 
readers of the Rural that a solar eclipse is 
caused by the moon in its passage around the 
earth coming between it and the sun, and 
thereby intercepting the light. It is conse¬ 
quently obvious that such a phenomenon can 
happen only when the three bodies are in one 
and the same straight line. But why, it may be 
asked, does not an eclipse of the sun occur at 
every revolution of the moon? Such would 
be the case, if the plane of the moon’s orbit 
corresponded with that of the earth; but the 
former is inclined to the latter at an angle of 
five and a half degrees, and therefore one-half 
of the moon’s orbit rises above, and the other 
half falls below, the orbit of the earth. There 
are two opposite points of intersection of the 
two orbits, where they cross each other, called 
the nodes', and the moon must be changing at 
or near one of these nodes, in order to inter¬ 
pose itself between the earth and sun. I he 
two orbits and the nodes can be easily illus¬ 
trated by nailing together, at opposite sides, 
two hoops, and then swinging them apart at 
an angle of five and a half degrees, when the 
points at which they cross each other at the 
nails, will represent the nodes, or the points at 
or near which the moon must be to produce 
The celebrated Robert Hall, in his admira¬ 
ble article entitled “ Christianity consistent 
with a love of Freedom,” uttered the following 
opinions, which are especially pertinent to the 
present state of affairs among us. 
“ Though Christianity does not assume any 
immediate direction in the affairs of govern¬ 
ment, it incuciates those duties and recommends 
that spirit which will ever prompt us to 
cherish the principles of freedom. It teaches 
us to check every selfish passion, to consider 
ourselves as parts of a great community, and 
to abound in all the fruits of an active benevo¬ 
lence. The particular operation of this prin¬ 
ciple will be regulated by circumstances as 
they arise, but our obligation to cultivate it is 
clear. * * If we are bound to protect a 
neighbor or even an enemy from violence, to 
give him raiment when he is naked, or food 
when lie is hungry, much more ought we (minis¬ 
ters) to do our part toward the preservation 
of a free government, the only basis on which 
the enjoyment of these blessings can securely 
rest. He who breaks the fetters of slavery and 
delivers a nation from thraldom, forms in my 
opinion, the noblest comment on the great law 
of love, while he distributes the greatest bless¬ 
ing which man can receive from man; but next 
to that is the merit of him who, in times like 
the present, watches over the edifice of public 
liberty, repairs its foundations and strengthens 
its cement, when he beholds it hastening to de¬ 
cay .”—Christian Intelligencer. 
A FEA RFUL H ISTORY, 
What if the history of a distiller could be 
written out—so much rum for medicine, of real 
value; so much as a tonic, of real value; so 
much for the arts, Of real value. That would 
be one drop, I suppose, taken out and shaken 
from the distillery. Then, so much sold to the 
Indians, to excite them to scalp each other; so 
much sent to the Africans, to be changed into 
slaves to rot in Cuba and Brazil; so much sent 
to the heathens in Asia, and to the islands of 
the ocean; and so much used at home. Then, 
if the tale of every drop could be written out 
—so much pain; so much redness of eyes; so 
much diminution of the productive power in 
man; so many houses burnt, so many ships 
foundered, and railway trains dashed to pieces; 
so many lives lost; so many widows made 
doubly widows because their husbands still 
live; so many orphans, their fathers still living, 
long dying on earth: what a tale it would be! 
Imagine that all the persons who had suffered 
from torments engendered on that plague-spot, 
came together and sat on ridge-pole and roof, 
and filled up the hall of that distillery, and oc¬ 
cupied the streets and lanes all about it, and 
told their tale of drunkenness, robbery, unchas¬ 
tity and murder, written on their faces and fore¬ 
heads. What a story it would be! The fact 
is stranger than the fiction.— Parker. 
The Direction of the Youthful Mind.— 
How greatly do parents and preceptors err in 
mistaking for mischief or wanton idleness, all 
the little manoeuvres of young persons, which 
are frequently practical inquiries to confirm or 
refute doubts passing in their minds. When 
the aunt of James Watt reproved the boy for 
his idleness, and desired him to take a book, 
or to employ himself to some purpose usefully, 
and not to be taking off the lid of the kettle 
and putting it on again, and holding now a 
cup and now a silver spoon over the steam, 
how little was she aware that he was investi¬ 
gating a problem which w’as to lead to the 
greatest of human inventions! 
Elegant Extract. —The grandeur of man’s 
nature turns to insignificance all outward dis¬ 
tinctions. His powers of intellect, of con¬ 
science, of love, of knowing God, of perceiving 
the beautiful, of acting on his own mind, on 
outward nature, and on his fellow creatures— 
these are glorious prerogatives. Through the 
vulgar error of undervaluing what is common, 
we "are apt, indeed, to pass these by as of but 
little worth. But as in the outward creation, 
so in the soul, the common is the most pre¬ 
cious. 
Science and art may invent splendid modes of 
illuminating the apartments of the opulent; 
but these are all poor and worthless compared 
with the common light which the sun sends in¬ 
to our windows, which he pours freely, impar¬ 
tially, over hill and valley, which kindles daily 
the eastern and western sky; and so the com¬ 
mon lights of reason, and conscience, and love, 
are of more worth and dignity than the rare 
endowments which give celebrity to a few.— 
Channing. 
Names of the Days of the Week. —The 
remains of the religion of the ancient people of 
Great Britain are seen in the names of the 
days of the week. These people were Scan¬ 
dinavians, who carried into Britain with them 
their arms, their deities and their religious 
rites. The Anglo Saxon superstition came 
from their progenitors, the Danes and Norwe¬ 
gians, and northern mythology was once the 
established religion of Great Britain. The names 
of the days of the week were called after the 
deities of this northern worship. Sunday is 
the day of the Sun; Monday of the Moon; 
Tuesday, of Teucer, the god of hunting and ar¬ 
chery; Wednesday, the day of Woden, the god 
of war; Thursday, the day of Thor, the god of 
thunder; Friday, the day of Friga, the god ol 
love and marriage; Saturday, the day ol Satur, 
the god of fruits. 
Learning vs. Discipline. —What is the use 
of battering a man’s brains full of Greek and 
Latin pot-hooks which he forgets before he 
doffs his last round jacket or puts on his first 
long-tailed blue, if ye don’t teach them the old 
Spartan virtue of obedience, hard living, early 
rising, and them sort of classics? Where’s 
the use of instructing him in hexameters or 
pentameters, if you would leave him in ignor¬ 
ance of the value of a penny piece? What 
height of stupidity it is to be filling a boy’s 
brains with the wisdom of the ancients, and 
then turn him out like an omadhaum, to pick 
up his victuals among the moderns!— Black¬ 
woods Magazine. 
The number of self-supporting day schools 
in England is 30,524; number of scholars, 721,- 
396. The aided public schools are 15,518; 
number of scholars, 1,422,982. 
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his 
name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holi¬ 
ness.—- Bible. 
Our adversaries think they refute ua when 
they reiterate their own opinions without pay¬ 
ing attention to ours. 
