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MAY 16. 
MOORE’* RUKAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
&]ie fftutatar. 
For Moore B Kural New-Yorker 
VISIT YOUR SCHOOLS. 
Am. rational minda are ready to admit (hat the 
advancement of Education or the improvement of 
the minda of the young is one of the noblest ob¬ 
jects io which man can engage, and nearly all are 
ready to assent to (be employment of all necessary 
means for the advancement of Education; but 
when these means are employed, how few there 
are ready to use them; or il they do, bow few labor 
with that, earnestness and zeal that the importance 
of the subject demands. Take for example, our 
Common Schools. There is not one man in a 
thousand hutwonld assent to maintaining them, to 
erecting school houses, hiring teachers and pur¬ 
chasing books for the young. Yet if you will look 
at the subject for a moment candidly, I think 
you will be willing to admit that there is not one 
mau in twenty, and 1 think I might safely say in a 
hundred, that pays ns much attention to, and uses 
his influence iu the employment of these means, as 
he ought. 
How 1ms it been, farmers, with your schools the 
past winter? Have you had good ones? Were 
the school houses comfortable and attractive, well 
furnished with books, charts, maps, globes, Ac.?— 
Did you employ a good teacher, one who was well 
qualified to in»tiuct your children? How many 
times did you visit the school? Did you make a 
practice of questioning your children daily to see 
what progress they were making, or did you rather 
listen to their complaints about tbc teacher with- 
ou* once visiting the school to see for yourself if 
he were capable of conducting it? It seems to 
me that here is the great errorthatexists. Parents 
will employ a man. an entire stranger, one of whose 
morals and qualifications they know nothing, ex¬ 
cept he has a certificate from the Town Superin¬ 
tendent or Commissioner, and place their children 
under his care lor months without once visiting 
the school to see what progress they are making, 
or in wlmt, manner it is conducted. Who is there 
among yon that wt uld employ a man and let him 
labor on your farms in this way? and are your 
chili’ren of less importance? Who is there if he 
were going to build a splendid edifice that would 
employ au enlire stranger and let him work for 
months without examining his work or knowing 
after wlmt model he was constructing it? Yet 
there are thousands who employ men to build up 
the minds of their children, (immortal structures 
that are to last through all eternity,) and let them 
labor on for months without looking at their work, 
or giving them a word of encouragement in their 
labors. This, however, is not the only error that 
exists among us. There is not as much attention 
paid to the comfort and health of scholars in 
erecting our school houses 3s there should be, (at 
least in some [ arts of the country,) not enongh 
pains taken to attract and interest the young. 
The minds of the young are very susceptible oi 
attraction, and If onr educational institutions are 
not morei pleasant and agreeable than the places 
we would have our children shun, we may depend 
upon it the school wiM he neglected. The mind is I 
so constituted that it must he engaged, and if it is 
not occupied by something that will improve and 
elevate it, it will bo by something that will demor¬ 
alize and degrade it, Theyouogwill be educated, 
and if it is not done iu the school room and at the 
fireside under the instruction of parents and com¬ 
petent teachers, it will be amid the haunts of the 
degraded and vicious. A Farmer's Son. 
Uiwtlniid, N. Y., 1857. 
EXAMINATIONS AND EXHIBITIONS. 
I. Examinations. The object of an examina¬ 
tion is to ascertain the nature and extent of men¬ 
tal discipline that pupils have acquired. It is not 
merely and solely to ask them certain questions to 
befound in ihehookstbey havostudied, buttotest,in 
every suitable manner, their understanding of the 
various principles, facts and thoughts that should 
have been developed by the branches to which at¬ 
tention has been given. It has frequently been 
the ca-e that, at pu Ho examinations, teachers 
have done all the questioning, and, we are sorry 
to add, that some teachers have done themselves 
aud their profession an injury «y making a special 
and individual assignment of questions and topics. 
Some contend that the teachers should ask all the 
questions; oth rs, that the teacher should he 
silent, nud the examining committee propound the 
questions. We believe that neither of these is the 
true course, bu‘ that both parties should partici¬ 
pate iu the exercises. We will suppose a ( lass is 
called in Arithmetic. The teacher says to the ex¬ 
aminers, “This class has progressed as far as Pro¬ 
portion. Some of the members, 1 think, under¬ 
stand all they have passed over; others, who 
have been irregular in their attendance, or less 
studious than they ought to have been, may not be 
so perfect. In our daily recitations some uniform¬ 
ly do well, while others frequently fail. In ques¬ 
tioning them to-day, unless they appear better than 
they usually do, you will tiud the same diversity.” 
With remarks of this kind, the examination may 
be introduced aud then questions may be asked by 
both teaeher aud committee. It need not annoy 
the teacher if some questions fail to receive cor¬ 
rect answers. This is to he expected. Neither 
teachers, committees nor pupils should expect to 
have the exercises of examination day faultless. 
The true wish and aim should he to exhibit the 
correct standing of the scholars, —to ascertain 
what they do not understand, as well as what they 
do. 
With classes sufficiently advanced, we think it 
an excellent plan to have a quarterly examination 
in which answers to the several questions shall be 
written by the pupils. This course has rnauy ad¬ 
vantages which will be obvious to any one. In 
conducting an oral examination, we would recom¬ 
mend that some subjects or topics should lie select¬ 
ed and that pertinent questions bo asked without 
any reference to tho phraseology of the questions 
in the text-book. In other words, let itbe the aim 
of both teachers und committees, to ascertain 
whether the scholar has ideas, or merely words. 
». Exhibitions. The object of au exhibition is 
somewhat different from that of an examination; 
or, rather, tho object is two-fold; first, to interest 
and train the pupils iu certain drill exercises, in 
LODGES OF THE SIOUX INDIANS. 
The Dahcota or Sioux tribe of Indians, is one 
of the most numerous in our country, numbering, 
according to Catmn, forty or fifty thousand souls, 
and able at any time, to muster ten thousand war¬ 
riors. well mounted and armed. The personal ap¬ 
pearance of these people, is very line and prepos¬ 
sessing, their persons tall and straight, and their 
movements elastic and graceful. Mr. C. says that 
one half of the warriors are six feet or more in 
height. This great family occupy a vast tract of 
country, extending from the Mississippi to the 
base of the Rocky Mountains, and are, everywhere, 
a roving, migratory people. They are composed 
of forty-two bands, each having a chief who ac¬ 
knowledges a superior or head chief. Their 
homes, which are represented above, are made of 
buffalo skinB, in the form ot tents; the frames of 
which are poles fifteen or twenty feet in length — 
the butt ends standing upou the ground, and the 
small ends meeting at the top — forming a cone 
which sheds rain and shelters from the wind with 
perfect success These lodges, though exceeding¬ 
ly simple, aie peculiarly adapted to the wants of a 
roving people,being readily taken down or erected. 
themselves important; and secondly, to interest ,~rr *• jrr rvmnrtl 
parents and friends, by exhibiting evidence of vL Ijv ClCllIlIll Vll'vUl I5L 
skill and correct training in particular departments. ___ 
Such exercises may indicate what can be done 
with special effort, in a particular direction; they SCIEN flFIC RESEARCHES IN ITALY. 
will be beneficial to the pupils, if rightly conduct 
ed, and at the same time afford an opportunity for 
enlisting the interest of parents and citizeus.— 
Rightly managed, examinations and exhibitions 
are productive of much good, but, too often, the 
good effects of both are lost by the improper man¬ 
ner in which they are conducted. In the exercises 
of an exhibition, consisting usually of declama¬ 
tion and composition, special care should be taken 
to avoid such as aro in the slightest degree, of an 
immoral tendency. We believe that many schools 
would be greatly benefited by giving a public and 
well-arranged Exhibition once a year, only let it 
be distinctly understood that it is au exhibition 
aud not an examination; that it does not indicate 
the proficiency of the scholars in their regular 
studies, but is rather designed to show what they 
can do, with special effort and training, iu particu¬ 
lar departments. With this understanding, we 
welcome school exhibitions as au important means 
of awakening pareutal interest, and inciting the 
ambition of pupils, “ well to perforin their pans.” 
— Conn. School Journal. 
-*—*■- 
A NEW FORMULA. 
We extract the following from the Boston Ad¬ 
vertiser, thinking that 6ome of our young mathe¬ 
maticians may be interested therein: — A young 
engineer, just beginning tho practice of hl3 pro¬ 
fession, asked one of our raoBt accomplished men 
of soieuce for a formula, by which a “ down grade' 
upon a railroad might always be described or ex¬ 
pressed. The obliging savant at once tore a leal 
from his tablets aud wrote:— 
109 Norfolk last summer. 
The young man thanked him and left, but was 
not able to understand the expression, and has 
seut it to me to develop its functions. This I have 
done, as below, and the redaction may he useful to 
some of your readers: 
(1.) 101) Norfolk last summer. 
Substituting the more general expression, we 
have — 
(2.) 109 sick city. 
Dividing the last element into its factors, we ob¬ 
tain— 
(3.) 109 + 6 ity or (109 + 6) ity. 
Performing the multiplication, 
(4.) 064 ity. 
Expressing this in Roman numerals, we have — 
(5.) DCLIVity. 
Giving the D its true value, and reducing the 
rest to “lower case,” we have — 
(6.) De-cliv-ity = down grade— 
a more popular expression, although not so easily 
remembered us the elegant one furnished by the 
distinguished man of science. 
Tub Difference. — A gentleman of influence 
«nd property recently remarked, at the annual ex- 
annuatiou or the High School In Toledo, Ohio, 
that ho “ would not live in a community where he 
could not educate his children, and that be was 
not willing that his neighbor's children should have 
any less advantages than his." A uoble seutimeut. 
A certain rich man in another State, recently 
resisted the payment of a school-tax of a few dol¬ 
lars, and subjected a district to a great annoyance 
and expense, merely because he was unwilling that 
a single dollar of his property should be applied 
to the education of the youth of his neighborhood. 
Comment is unnecessary. 
The Object ok Education. —The true object of 
education is to give children resources that will 
eudure as long ns life eudures; habits that time 
will ameliorate, not destroy; occupation that will 
render sickuess tolerable, solitude pleasant, age 
venerable; life more dignified and useful, und 
death less terrible.— Sidney Smith, 
Mr. Moore: —I offer for the this extract oi 
letter from onr townsman, Henry A, Ward, who 
has been in the School of Mines, at Paris, lor a 
time, and seems to have prosecuted the study of 
Natural History nnd Geology, with the most flat 
tering success. He wa9 elected a member of the 
Geological Society of France a year since. He 
has lately made an extensive tour through Ger 
many, Bavaria, Italy, etc,, to extend his knowledge 
and increase his collection of minerals and fossils, 
Ac., in both of which he has been eminently pros- 
1 pered. You have received letters from mauy tour 
J ists through these countries, but never before given 
those of a Scientific tourist. Mr. Ward had a uo¬ 
ble object before him, and he haa pursued it with 
a constant and uuwavering purpose highly honor¬ 
able to him. The extract will delight even those 
who may call it too scientific. a n. 
At length I reached Leghorn. In the immedi¬ 
ate vicinity are some extensive beds of quater¬ 
nary (newest) limestone, lying only a little above 
the present level of the Mediterranean, and con- 
containing many fossil shells, of which nearly all 
have their analogues or close resemblances in the 
sea at the present day, thoagh some inhabit only 
the tropical ocean. Twelve miles west of Leghorn 
rise the snow-capped Appenines, at whose base 
flows the river Arno, on which is Pisa, to my eye 
the finest city iu Italy. Here I spent an hour on 
the famous “ Leaning Tower,” and the rest of my 
■ New Year's day at the University of Pisa. I visit¬ 
ed with, aud viewed the collection of Professor 
Menbgiuni. He is probably the most distinguish¬ 
ed geologist in Italy. He haa studied in a very 
complete manner the geology of Tuscany, and has 
I published a large work upon its sedimentary and its 
eruptive (volcanic) rocks. The latter are very in¬ 
teresting. both from their number and variety, as 
well as for the metamorphic action they have had 
upon the cretaceous (chalk) and Jurassic lime¬ 
stones which they have traversed, producing the 
so celebrated Italian marbles. Another fact, 
which Prof. M. has developed very fully iu his work 
and map, (both of which he gave me,) is the rela¬ 
tion of age between the eruptive and sedimenta¬ 
ry rocks. Thus, for instance, through all Tuscany 
the Euritic Porphyries reach the Plelocene series; 
the Serpentine dykes end with the Meiocene; the 
Diorite and Ophite with the Eocene; and the 
Ophiolile ends with the Cretaceous, and so on, a 
very curious and interesting arrangement. I ob¬ 
tained from the Professor a complete and excel¬ 
lent suit of fifty-four of the principal eruptive, 
metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks of Tuscany, 
and also fifty species of Pleiocene fossils, in ex 
change foraCeritbium giganteum aud some other 
fossils I had brought with me from the Paris basin. 
He also gave me an Itineraire and map to serve 
me iu an exeuision I made about 43 miles at sea 
south-west of Leghorn to the island of Elba. 
It is well known that Elba has long been famous 
for its minerals. I staid on the island three days, 
and crossed it on horseback in several directions, 
visiting the ancient and inexhaustible mic.“s of 
Iron ore. This mineral occurs in immense dykes 
with Serpentine, and is as abundant as it is rich.— 
Tbe fino specular specimens, the Pyrites, Ac., are 
not so abundant as 1 had inferred, but I succeeded 
in tying upon my horse two bags of them, which 
were so heavy that I could not be lo ger cairied 
by the animal. When I arrived at Porto Ferrajo, 
the chief town ol the Island, I bought another 
large lot of specimens. 
Elba contains some secondary rocks of the 
Jura formation, which are greatly dislocated, much 
altered by heat, and contain very few fossils. The 
was thrown up during the Eocen* period; the 
oldest has no Tourmalines, and dates from the 
Carboniferous group. 
Loaded with mineral treasures, which are to find 
a resting place in your State, I returned from Elba 
to Leghorn. Thence I went by steamer to Civita 
Vecchia, and thence by Diligence to Rome. And 
here I am in the city of the Ctesars, of Brutu3 and 
Romulus, the Eternal City as the Popedom calls it. 
But my ol jec iB still the same. And here I sought 
for Uuios (clams) in the Tiber, and visited the beds 
of Travertine, of which the city i3 built. 1 called 
onPiofessor Poxsiof the University, who explain¬ 
ed to me how the “Solfataras” (volcanic vents)in 
southern Italy, followed (on its eastern side) the 
range of the Appenines and marsed the line of 
t heir posture made by iheir upheaval. I gave the 
ITofessor some Paris fossils for some Pleiocene 
from “Monte Mario,’’ and then after taking a 
glance at St. Peter’s ana the Coliseum, I returned 
to Civita Veccliia and took the steamer to Naples. 
T spent two weeks in nnd about Naples, but lc3t 
much of mytime from an almost daily fall of rail*. 
I visited the "Temple of Serapis,” described so 
fully by Lyell, several extinct craters which 
abound in fumaroles or boles smoking with sul¬ 
phur, vapor, Ac., Monte Nuova or Ntw Mount 
which was thrown up only three cental i s ago and 
is about the sDe of your Mount Hope, the famous 
Grotto del Cane, and last, but not least, Vesuvius. 
This mountain rUes above the Bay of Naples in all 
its grandeur, and pours from its top a con-tint 
cloud of smoke and vapor. It was in a state of 
partial eruption when I was at Na; les, though it 
was not aeniiing forih a stream of lava. It thun¬ 
dered so fearfully when I was upon the summit, and 
sent upwards such frequent and abundant showers 
of melted lava, that I shall never forget the gran¬ 
deur of the scene. I sent my guide back to the 
city, and when he was fairly gone, I descended 
into the crater, evru close up to the little cone (30 
feet high) of eruption, pressed coin iuto the lava 
red hot as it fell, roasted some eggs at a fumurole, 
burned my lingers severely, and turned the lower 
part of my pants completely red by the action of 
some acid gases which issued from crevices in 
the lava on which f walked! This teas the grand¬ 
est day of all my life. I never, never saw anything, 
before seeing this volcano, and all the wonders of 
Vesuvius. 
I next called on Professor Scacai at the Uni- 
versiiy, and saw a fine collection of Vesuvian 
minerals. He gave me in charge, for Prof. Dana 
of Yale College, a variety of Fer Ologiste, Iron 
ore, from the lava of 1855, which occurs in perfect 
oetohedrous, and to which he has given a particu¬ 
lar name. He also presented me with his large 
work which contains the every-day work of Vesu¬ 
vius fur the last five years, with the results of many 
analosyses of Fumeroles and Solfateras, made by 
himself and Mr. St. Claire Dsvillb of Paris. I 
arranged at the University an exchange of Paris 
fossils For a complete suite of Vesuvian minerals, 
lavas, tufas, fosailiferous blocks, [thrown out of 
the crater ] Ac. 1 also made a little exchange with 
a Naval officer for fifty specimens of shells which 
be had dredged for in the Bay of Naples,and then, 
having bought a host of shells, and echinotleims 
of the fishermen, I took a little steamer to Sicily. 
Hie boat passed vei’y close under Stromboli, whose 
cloud capped cone rises directly out of the sea, 
and passing through the Straits of Messina we 
landed first at Reggio iu llaly, and then crossed 
over to Messina. Here 1 spent three days very 
pleasantly. I had hoped to visit and ascend Etua 
but could not afford the time. At Messina I called 
On Mr. I.. Benoit, who is publishing, at his owu 
expense, a work fuli of plates on the terrestrial 
and fluviatlle sheila of Sicily. He gave me some 
Pleiocene fossils from Palermo, and some Uni os 
(clams) from Syracuse, of tho only species found 
in Sicily. 1 purchased surne flue sulphur aud 
stroutian in tho town, und also some handsome 
irgon-mts aud Other shells. Then I packed up the 
lourteeuth box, a large box of specimens, aud took 
ilie steamer lor Marseilles. From Paris I shall 
Slump. 
For Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
THE SPIRIT CONFLICT. 
I am weary—ob, so weary, 
Of thir ceaselers strife within — 
Of the spirit-conflict waging 
'Twixt my better-Sell and gin. 
For this heart, go s»d and Rinfal, 
Ig the 3eld of mortal strife; 
Where opposing legions mnater, 
And the war ends but with life. 
Oft, when evening shadows deepen, 
As T n a«e, the tear-drops start: 
Sad and weary, taint and feaifnl, 
Hope seema ready to depart. 
Yet the love, by God implanted. 
For Hia own most holy law, 
Som-timee victor, sometimes vanquished, 
Strength doth from tbe conflict draw. 
And when wounded, nigh to yielding, 
It shall nerve me with fresh might, 
To remember, God and Angels 
Are » Merit' nrs of the fight. 
Middleport, N. Y., April, 1857. Emma. 
-♦-*- 
For Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
THE BIBLE. 
The Bible is a sacred treasure. It is the giftof 
God revealing his will to man. It is the golden 
key which unlocks the portals of eternity, tbe 
unerring way-mark which points from the crum¬ 
bling shore of time to the boundless continent of 
a better world. Like the splendor of the sun. it 
dispels the gloom of darkness; a heavenly messen¬ 
ger, it brings “glad tidings;” a friendly comforter, 
it whispers “peace;" a guardian angel, it protects 
the defenceless; a perpetual spring of water, • it 
flows to all; a sacred volume of inspired truth, it 
treats with exactitude upon the past, unfolds hu¬ 
man character and the relations we sustain to God 
as accountable beings at the present, and with¬ 
draws from us the mysterious veil of futurity. 
If we look upon the sacred volume, solely as a 
literary production, where shall we find its equal? 
It not only bears us down to the earliest period of 
creation, but admits ns into the sacred counsels of 
the Deity, where the proposal, “Let us make maD,” 
was heard in heaven. Upon its pages we find the 
histories of nations of which scarce another trace 
remains, the rise and fall of empires, together with 
the causes of those gre <t convulsions which from 
time to time have razed cities to the ground and 
shaken kingdoms to their foundations. Where 
else do we find snob bold and fearless declarations 
of truth, such grapaic delineations of character, 
such glowing figures, such elegance and parity of 
style. How lofty are the sentiments it breathes, 
how exalted tbe truths it teaches. Here we find 
the broad distinction between ourselves and the 
•brutes that perish,” and onr alliance with the 
skies. Nature alone might teach our immortal¬ 
ity, but it is the peculiar province of revelation 
to withdraw the pall that settles o’er the grave, and 
reveal the dim mysteries of the world to come; it 
is impossible for any one to become a humble stu¬ 
dent of the Word of God, without receiving in¬ 
calculable benefit Its rich treasures amply repay 
our research; for it contains wisdom that eternity 
itself can never exhaust—wisdom that will be 
worth all the universe beside, when atl other trea¬ 
sures shall be worthless and vain. Why then shall 
the foolish, ephemeral productions of the day be 
sought with so much avidity, while this alone is 
neglected? Why d-es the student delve among 
the tombs of antiquity, aud converse with heathen 
sages and poets, while he seeks no instruction from 
this great receptacle of wisdom? Why does the 
youth weep and smile by turns, as he pores over 
some volarne of fiction, while he takes no interest 
in all the melting details contained in the Bible? 
If we ever hope to see human happiness greatly 
increased, it is alone to the instrumentality of this 
book we can look. It is destiued to work wonders 
in the world—to shed its benign influence upon 
the heart, and thus dissipate the mists that gather 
over the intellect. The day is hastening when it 
will give to the idolater a God worthy his adora¬ 
tion, nud raise the Pagan and Mahometan from the 
dust, to that station which an immortal and ac¬ 
countable creature should occupy. 
How, then, should we love and study our Bible! 
How revere its mysteries and obey its injunctions! 
It should be our theme by day and our study by 
night; our guide through life, and its promises 
our pillow in death. Walter R. Bishop. 
Wyoming, N. Y., 1857. 
fwa. . ♦ , t \ * "'UlltlUkU "ti.NVJA PL'CLUUl'ie, •• ' 
Platonic rooks are abundant, however, and one of 8t0llllI , r for Marseilles. From Paris I sht 
them, granite, is of two widely separated ages.— write yon, if the Lord will. 
The newest contains crystals of Tourmaline and Cordially and Sincerely, Henry A. Ward. 
Paul’s Estimate of Heaven.— In speaking of 
the eternal world, the rapture of the apostle does 
not escape him as a sally of the imagination, as a 
thought awakened by a sudden glance of ths ob¬ 
ject; he does not express himself at random from 
the sudden impulse of the moment, but ia the 
sober tone of calculation. “ I reckon.” he says, 
like a man skilled in the spiritual arithmetic, “I 
reckon,” after a due estimate of their comparative 
value, "that the sufferings of the present time are 
not worthy to be compared with the gloty that 
shall be revealed in us.” 
No man was ever so well qualified to’make this 
estimate. Of the sufferings of the present world, 
he had shaved more largely than auy man.' He had 
heard the words of God. and seen the vision of 
the Almighty, and the result of this privileged 
experience was, that he desired to escape from 
this valley of tears; that ho was impatient to re¬ 
cover the celestial vision, eager to perpetuate the 
momentary foretaste of tho glories of immortality. 
—Hannah Moore. 
--- - 
Dissimulation. —Dissimulation in youth is the 
forerunner of perfidy in old age; its appearance 
is the fatal omen of groving depravity and fu¬ 
ture shame. It degrades parts of learning, ob¬ 
scures the lustre of every accomplishment, and 
sinks us into contempt. The path of falsehood is 
a perplexing maze. Aftertbe first departure from 
sincerity, it is not io our power to stop; one arti¬ 
fice unavoidably leads on to another; till, as the 
intricacy of the labyrinth increases, we are left 
entangled in onr snare. — Dr. Blair. 
When we read wo fancy we could be martyrs; 
when we come to act, we find we cannot bear a 
provoking word. 
■■.. - _______I > 
>1 >■ ll 
