fintiakt. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
FIRST EFFORTS IN SCHOOL TEACHING. 
NUMBER. TWO. 
The ordeal was yet to be passed. I had not ob¬ 
tained a certificate, and of coarse could not become 
the happy possessor of that invaluable article until 
I had been "examined.” “Examined!” What 
young and inexperienced teacher baa not trem¬ 
bled at the very sound of that word? The fear 
that after they are weighed in the balance they shall 
he found wauling, and the dread of exposiug their 
ignorance, is a source of great anxiety to them.— 
I confess I shared these feelings to a considerable 
extent. To me. it was by no means an agreeable 
thought, that I must stand in the presence of that 
august personage, the Town Superintendent —a man 
who is supposed to know everything and a lUtle 
more and who is known to have a wonderful faculty 
for asking questions which he himself could hardly 
answer — and be compelled to ran a regular race 
through Arithmetic, Algebra, Geography, Orthog¬ 
raphy, Etymology, Syntax and Prosody. Though 
I had prepared myself on some points, I expected 
bis sagacity would find me out and that he would 
be sore to ask me tbe very questions I could not 
answer. But when the final trial came, I fared in¬ 
finitely better than at a subsequent time, when two 
honr3 was hardly sufficient for one of these wise 
men to find oat whether I knew anything or not; 
(I could have told him how much or how little he 
knew in one quarter of that time.) I was not asked 
whether tbe world was “round or flat," and whether 
the water in Lake Ontario was “salt or fresh,” or 
whether there was really a sea serpent in Silver 
Lake; but plain questions, the answers to which 
would indicate an acquaintance with, or ignorance 
of the general subject, were asked me, all of which 
I answered according to the best of my ability.— 
Twenty minutes sufficed for tbe whole, and in that 
time the Superintendent had found out all he de¬ 
sired to know of my qualifications, and on my 
leaving gave me a scrip of paper that began in this 
wise:—“This is to certify.” I bore off that pre¬ 
cious document with all the pride of a Rochester 
Sophomore, bearing off his first prize from among 
close and sharp competitors. How often have I 
wished since, that the Town Superintendent of 
N-was the type of every Superintendent in the 
State! Perhaps ha is! Who knows? 
During the time that elapsed, before beginning 
my school, my thoughts were busy with future 
plans. I almost smile now, when I call to mind 
the serious medium through which 1 saw every¬ 
thing. The effort I was about to make, seemed to 
me then, to require more than an ordinary degree 
vf strength and resolution. The enterprise not 
oUy possessed the element of novelty, but involv¬ 
ed responsibilities that I dreaded to assume. It was 
much beyond what I had ever attempted before. 
Hitherto, life to me, through all my boyhood's 
years, had been like some quiet stream, murmur¬ 
ing peaceful!; on through shady glens and grassy 
meadows, with tjjly here and there a gentle rip¬ 
ple; but now its 'Banks grew wider, ita channel 
deeper, and U begta. to hurry on with swifter 
course towards its dealt, Vt This sec .ned to be the 
first greateffort (it then seeded great J of my life, and 
I have never since nerved rnyu-if w ith greater res¬ 
olution for the accomplishment cf any object, than 
for that. I often think had I, in catyyiug out and 
fulfilling the plans of early life, summoned to my 
aid the energy and resolution with which I entered 
this new field of operations, I should have written 
success oftener and greater than I have been able 
to do. Could we but stand in the footsteps of 
youth, and with youthful hearts and eyes contem¬ 
plate every event of our life, how vastly greater 
would those of our manhood appear, than to oar 
manhood's eyes. With the growing years we grow 
cooler, and calmer, and a little event of our boy¬ 
hood that then made us quite wild with excite¬ 
ment would now scarcely produce an emotion. He 
who has once stood amid the roar and smoke of 
the battle-field enters the second conflict with far 
less of emotion, though the first may have involv¬ 
ed only the destruction of a State, while on the 
result of the second, hung the fate of Nations. 
Rochester, June, 1857. S. A. E. 
---- 
METHOD WITH VARIETY. 
In all teaching there is, I think, a natural ten¬ 
dency to cultivate the memory, and the calculating 
and apprehending faculties of the mind, rather 
than the rellcctive. The former course is easier 
and less troublesome to all parties than the latter, 
and therefore the common one; it is comparative¬ 
ly, a well beaten track. But the teacher who en¬ 
deavors not only to think himself, but to ascertain 
how he can best lead the children to think, is 
obliged continually to draw upon the resources of 
his own mind. Tie cannot permanently and ef¬ 
fectually support this effort without showing 
symptoms of exhaustion, unless he has leisure for 
self improvement: he must “ teach from a fountain 
and not from a pool,” as Dr. Arnold remarked, or 
his mind will lose ita freshness. Improvements 
In method have been great and striking of late 
years, but tbe best method will fail in effect, if im¬ 
plicitly aud invariably followed. A man should 
be the master of his method, not its slave. The 
mind requires variety, and the attention of chil¬ 
dren will relax, if they can anticipate with tolera¬ 
ble exactness what is to come; as if the applica¬ 
tion, for instance, always occupies the same place 
at the conclusion, and is never interwoven, with 
the general substance of tho lesson, as it may be 
by the exercise of a little skill. I mean only that, 
whatever rules are followed, they must not be con¬ 
strued too literally; that the space should be left 
for the play of the minds, both of the teacher and 
the children; and that the power to nse even good 
rules well and to vary them according to circum- 
Jtances, is precisely that which distinguishes a 
sensible man from a pedant ,—Report of British 
Inspector of Schools. 
--- 
Leakn to say “No,” with decision; and “Yea,” 
with caution—“No,’’ with decision, whenever it 
resists a temptation; “Yes,” with caution, when¬ 
ever it implies a promise. A promise once given 
is a bond inviolable. A man is already of conse¬ 
quence in tbe world when it is known that we can 
implicitly rely upon him.— Buheer. 
COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 
Let others talk of the trials of country school 
teaching, the horrors of “boarding round,” and 
the heartless ingratitude of parents; but to us 
there was always ft sunny side even to this ofttimes 
overwrought picture. Where, let us ask, can so 
much of human nature in general, and woman na- 
ture in particular, be learned in as short a space of 
time as in a summer’s itinerant school teaching? 
Who ever entered the lowliesthome in the district 
without receiving r,he very best that home afforded; 
and ofttimes receiving such delicate proofs of the 
refinement of the heart that heat beneath the bum¬ 
ble garb of poverty—such a tender solicitude for 
tho comforts of the stranger guest, that filled the 
breast with gashing, happy thoughts, and quickly 
chased the dark-brooding spirit of care from the 
soul. We would not have our country schools up- 
springing by the dusty road-side, with windows 
looking out upon the knotty wood-piles and broken 
fences, but we would “ pitch our tent” in the very 
sunniest nook, where the “ still small voice of na¬ 
ture whispers sweetly to the heart,” of the love 
and wisdom of the great All-father; where the 
little ones may “ consider the lilies of the field, 
bow they grow;” and in learning to trace the 
hand of God on every leaf that rustles in the 
breeze, be fitted for the glories of "the kingdom 
of heaven.” We would have a longing for the 
holy and the beautiful, kindled early in those 
spirits that arc to live forever “beside the still 
waters” where fadeless beauty dwells. 
The time will come when even our farmers will 
admit that a fourteen by sixteen school-room is 
not quite large enough for twenty or thirty young 
immortals, to spread their spirit wings: when 
there v. ill be provision made for developing the 
highest and nobles emotions of the mind; when 
the spirit of beauty shall ait no longer with folded 
wings, weeping at the portals of the soul, but shall 
lift her glad eyes heavenward, aud kindle her holy 
fire on every heart-altar, and man will learn that 
not all in vain has the “Great Teacher” do the d 
the earth in verdure, and thrown a flood of glory 
o’er the summer sky. For our part we love the 
little wayside school-houses (but pity the narrow- 
contracted minds that built them.) and would bid 
their faithful teachers God speed, who, through 
every difficulty are striving to place their school 
on a par with those that enjoy many privileges; 
and though dark clouds often lower in their men¬ 
tal horizon, may an earnest waiting and watching 
for the “silver-lining,” and the bow of promise 
cheer them onward; may they trustingly go forth 
to labor in “the fields that are already white onto 
harvest,” knowing that the “ Lora of harvest,” will 
render unto each his reward in due season, for as 
"ye have sown, so shall ye reap.”—At Y. Teacher. 
- 4 —- 
THE PEDANT. 
This harmless, but unconscionable bore is to be 
found in nearly every social circle. Stiff, barsh 
and dull, be makes nonsense of what .little sense 
he does speak, by using the deadest language he 
has in his silly pate at the most interesting parts 
of his uninteresting discourse. Our own language 
is sufficiently rich and forcible to express, not only 
such ideas as bewilder the heads of these kind of 
persons, but the thoughts of original thinkers, 
great thinkers. But this silly display of a little 
learning is not only '-Go^ome, but absolutely rude. 
In a mixed company, no scholar of good sense 
and correct manners will ever nso any bat the 
language of the country in which he lives. The 
uso of proverbs, aphorisms, maxima and poetical 
quotations, in a dead tongue, forces a non-classic 
person either to a mortifying avowal of his igno¬ 
rance of the Latin, Greek or Hebrew, or to a hypo¬ 
critical silence. Since those tongues an dead, 
they are necessarily of no use, save as keys or 
means by which we can reach the literature and 
wisdom of those nations to whom they belong._ 
The affectations of French, Spanish and German 
scholars is not so bad, since these languages are 
not only living, but fashionable and common; 
nevertheless, it is somewhat contemptible to in¬ 
terlard onr conversation with phrases in a foreign 
language, when onr own is all we need to make 
ourselves perfectly understood. 
A smattering of knowledge is always the most 
clamorous, aa a shallow stream is always more 
noisy than a deep river. The reader of nothing 
hut reviews is always talking about books, whose 
covers he has probably never seen. The honest, 
real reader of books themselves find it impossible 
to read everything which is issued from the press, 
and, in consequence, does not propound questions 
to you concerning this, that and tho other, of the 
iuumerahle, trashy, wishy-washy works continually 
being published. The pedant is, most generally, a 
cipher in the world of action, lie ia nothing but 
a bad re-hush of obsolete or useless knowledge.— 
A genuine scholar, who uses his knowledge, but 
does not make a museum show of it, Is quite a 
different individual from the conceited, tiresome, 
garrulous, stiff; liarsb, hard, uusmiling pedant.— 
Selected. 
--- 
Education in Sweden.— We learn that a Sys¬ 
tem of Public Schools is about being introduced 
in Sweden. The government ia taking measures 
to improve teachers and schools, and to make the 
schools Public or Free. Friends of popular edu¬ 
cation will rejoice to see such a policy become 
general iu the old world. The Agent of that gov¬ 
ernment has shown his appreciation of one of the 
essentials ol a good school, by ordering some 
School Desks from Boston. These desks are to be 
sent to tbe palace of Stockholm and will show 
royalty, what talent and skill, educated In public 
schools, are furnishing so generally for American 
children. 
- 4 — 4 - -_ 
Be Thorough in your Teaching.— We have 
seen teachers whose entire idea of teaching was 
coniiucd to asking the questions of the book and 
hearing the answers aa pvinted in the book. Let 
not this bo your view. Aim rather to make every 
lesson interesting and clear by remarks and illus¬ 
trations of your own and be sure that every prin¬ 
ciple is well understood. Be not ambitions to 
teach much, or many things but strive to bo exact 
and thorough in all your instructions. Remember 
that the great thing is so to discipline aud train 
the minds of yonr pupils that they may learn how 
to do thiugs for themselves; in other words teach 
them how to think 
refill flifl. 
ORIGIN AND SEALS OP THE STATES.—NO. XI. 
NEW JERSEY. 
New Jersey lies between 38° 55 and 41° 24' 
North latitude, and between 73° 59' and 75° 29 
West longitude. This State may be properly 
classed, as regards size, among the “little ones” of 
the Republic,—it being only 162 miles in length by 
52 in breadth, and containing 6,851 square miles. 
The first settlement made in New Jersey was by 
the Dutch about the year 1614. On the 19th of 
December, 1787, in Convention, the Constitution 
of the United States was unanimously adopted.— 
The first State Constitution was formed in 1770; I 
the one now in force in 1844. 
The Northern section of New Jersey is moun¬ 
tainous—being crossed by the Alleghany ridge— 
the middle portion agreeably diversified by hill 
and valley—the Southern part level, Bandy, the soil 
lacking the elements of fertility. The Northern 
and central portions possess a fertile soil. The 
Hudson river flows on the Eastern and the Dela¬ 
ware on the Western boundary. The Raritan is 
navigable for 17 miles; the Passaic 15; the Hack¬ 
ensack about 15, and Great Egg Harbor about 20. 
There are iu this State quarries of good building 
stone, valuable mines of zinc and iron, and. in the 
Southern parts, beds of marl. 
In 1850, there were in this State 1,767,991 acres 
of improved land, and 984,955 of unimproved in 
farms. The valoe of these was estimated at $120,- 
237,511. The capital invested in manufactures at 
same period amounted to $22,184,710; of manu- 
facturedarticles $39,134,514. New Jersey contains 
three Colleges, two Theological Seminaries and 
one Law School. There are also 219 Academies 
and 1,479 Common Schools. The amountof money 
annually appropriated for school purposes $272,700. 
The government is vested in a Governor, Senate, 
and general Assembly. Tbe Senators are elected 
for three years, one-third are chosen annually, and 
the members of Assembly are elected annually.— 
The Legislature meet annually on the second 
Tuesday in January. Tbe Governor is chosen for 
three years, and is ineligible for the same office 
for the next three years. He must have attained 
the age of 30 years, and have resided seven years 
in the State, and been a citizen of the United 
States for 20 years. Every white male chizen of 
the United States of the age of 21 years, alio shall 
have been a resident of the State one year, and of 
the county five months, shall be a legal voter.— 
Judges of the Supreme Court and the Chancellor 
are appointed by the Governor and Senate for a 
term of seven years, the Judges of the Court of 
Common Pleas by the Senate and Assembly lor 
five years. 
CURIOUS FACTS OP HISTORY. 
The Saxons first introduced archery in the time 
ol Yoltigeur. It was dropped immediately alter 
the conquest, but revived by the crusaders, they 
having felt the effects of it from the Saracens, who 
probably derived it from the Parthians. Bows 
and arrows aa weapons of war, were in UBe with 
stone cannon ball so late as 1340. It is singular 
that all the statutes for the encouragement of 
archery were framed after the invention of gun¬ 
powder and firearms. Yew trees were encouraged 
in churchyards, for the making of bows, in 1842. 
Hence their generality in churchyards in England. 
Coats of arms came into vogue in the reign of 
Richard I. of England, and became hereditary in 
families about the year 1192. They took their 
rise from the knights painting their banners with 
different figures to distinguish them iu the era- 
sades. 
The first standing army of modern times was 
established by Charles YH. ol France, in 1445.— 
Prevjous to that time, the king had depended upon 
his nobles for contingents in time of war. A 
standing army was first established in England in 
1638 by Charles I, but it was declared illegal, as 
well as the organization of the royal guards in 
1679. The first permanent military band institut¬ 
ed iu England, was the yeomen of the guards, es¬ 
tablished iu 1486. 
Guns were invented by Swartz, a German, about 
1378, and wore brought into use by tbe Yenetians 
in 1382. Cannon were invented at an anterior 
date. They were first used at the battle of Cressy 
iu 1346. In England they were first «3ed at the 
seige of Berwick iu 1405. It was not until 1544, 
however, that they were- cast in England. They 
were used on board of ships by the Venetians in 
1539, and were in use among the Turks about the 
same time. An artillery company was instituted 
in England for weekly military exercises in 1610. 
Book-keeping was first introduced into England 
from Italy by Peele in 1569. It was derived from 
a system of algebra published by Burgo at Venice. 
The administration of the oath in civil cases is 
of high antiquity. See Exodus 22—10. Swearing 
on the Gospels was at first used iu 528. The oath 
was firBt administered in judicial proceedings in 
England by the Saxons in 600. The words “So 
help me God, and all Saints,” concluded an oath 
till 1550. 
Signals to be used at sea were first contrived by 
James II., when Duke of York in 1665. They were 
afterwards improved by tbe French commander 
Tourville, and by Admiral Balchen. —Bosl. Jour. 
-- 
FISHING WITH BIRDS. 
Lieut. Habersham, in his entertaining work* 
entitled “ My Last Cruise,” relates a singular oc¬ 
currence. Iu a Chinese river that disembogues in 
the Yellow 8ea, he saw a long, low raft of bamboo 
moored under the lea of a heavy pier, on which 
were a Chinese fisherman, a basket, a paddle, and 
five duek-like birds called “ fishing cormorants.” 
The fisherman soon reached oat his hand towards 
the birds, the nearest of which at once waddled 
up to him and stepped into his open palm; he 
smoothed his feathers with his right, hand, bent his 
month to his arched neck for a moment, and then 
put him on the edge of the raft. There the bird 
dipped his bill into the water once or twice, snap¬ 
ped his head from side to side, and ended by div¬ 
ing suddenly into the turpid stream that washed 
his feet. After being down ten or fifteen seconds, 
I he suddenly popped oat of the water with a good 
| sized fish in his mouth, and swimming to his mas¬ 
ter delivered up the prize. The fisherman stroked 
him down as before, uttered 3 few encouraging 
words, and the same operation was repeated. An¬ 
other bird made one or two unsuccessful efforts, 
when the master tookhim back on the raft, slapped 
him soundly on the head, and threw him angrily 
down. That cormorant made tracks for the other : 
end, and looked quite ashamed. The training of 
birds for the purpose of fishing ia quite common 
in that part of China, and is often made a valuable 
source of emolument. 
THERE 
MAELSTROM P 
This question ia thus answered by a cotempo¬ 
rary. Every 3chool-boy of the last century has been 
taught to believe that there ia a wonderful vortex 
on the coast of Norway, with an eddy of several 
miles in diameter, and that ships, and even huge 
whales, were sometimes dragged within its terrible 
bleliquid coils, and buried forever “in ocean's awful 
depths.” A correspondent of the^Scientific Amer¬ 
ican says: 
“ I have been informed by an European acquaint¬ 
ance that the maelstrom has no existence. A 
nautical and scientific commission went out and 
sailed all around and all over where the maelstrom 
was said to be, but could not find it; the sea was 
as smooth where the whirlpool ought to be as any 
other part of the German ocean.” 
We presume the above is correct The latest 
geographers and gazetteers barely allude to the 
maelstrom. Colton, in bis large atlas, gives the 
site upon his map, but does not allude to it in his 
description of Norway. Harper’s Gazetteer, in his 
article on Norway, says that, “among the islands 
on the west coast there are violent and irregular 
currents, which render the coast navigation dan¬ 
gerous. Among these is the celebrated Mael¬ 
strom, or Meskenaea StroDt, the dan ger from which 
has been greatly exaggerated, since it can, at 
nearly all times, be passed over even by boats.”— 
The romance of the maelstro m has been pretty ef¬ 
fectually destroyed. 
-4--*- 
POWER OF SEA BREAKERS. 
From experiments which were made sometime 
since, at the Bel! Rock and Skerrvvore lighthouse, 
on the coast of Scotland, is was found, that while 
the force of the breakers on the side of the Ger¬ 
man Ocean may be taken at about a tun and a half 
upon every square foot of surface exposed to them, 
the Atlantic breakers fall with double that weight, 
or three tuns to the square foot; and thus a sur¬ 
face of only two square yards sustains a blow from 
a heavy Atlantic breaker, equal to about fifty-four 
tuns. In November, 1824, a heavy gale blew, and 
blocks of limestone and granite from two to five 
tuns in weight, were washed about like pebbles at 
the Plymouth breakwater. About 300 tuns of such 
’afciratjj ftoiup. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
LIFE IS LOVE. 
What is life ? I asked a baby 
Sitting on its mother’s knee ; 
Thou to life almost» stranger. 
Tell me, what ia life to thee i 
The baby felt a warm embrace. 
With amileB it sought ita mother’s face, 
And though the sweet Hps answered naught, 
Yet well I knew the baby thought 
That life is love. 
What is life: I asked the mother ; 
Surely thou canst answer best. 
“ Life is lore,” she said, and closer 
Clasped her baby to her breast. 
A gentle maiden heard me ask. 
And thought it was an easy task 
To answer, while a manly tone 
Responded, blending with her own, 
“ Yea I life is love." 
• 
Life i« love ! ’Tia love that gives us 
Air and food, sweet home and friends. 
Love that cheeTS ns in our sadness, 
Love in Bicknegs that attends. 
Then bind this motto to thy heart— 
“ In loving deeds I'll do my part, 
Share with my brother joy and woe, 
Love Gon and man” and thou shalt know 
That life is love. 
Rochester, June, 1867. 
- 4—4 - 
OUR IDOLS. 
I thins it was Browning, who said, God keeps 
a niche in Heaven to hold our idols.'’ 
While these words were occurring constantly to 
my mind, and I was repeating them over and over 
again, as we sometimes do such sentences without 
much regard to their meaning, a slight circum¬ 
stance called my attention to them more seriously, 
and I began to consider what was implied and 
what was directly asserted here. It is language 
not only harmonious, but very expressive. The 
two prominent ideas are different in their influence 
upon our hearts. It is implied that we have idols. 
Strange that this should be trne of us who are 
favored with the light of revelation, and who have 
been taught from our childhood to abhor idolatry L 
Aud yet it ia true. In spite of our abhorrence of 
idolatry, as a system of religion, we do sometimes 
have onr idols, and in our affections, all uncon¬ 
sciously it may be, they get the supreme place.— 
They are around us; they address themselve3 to 
our senses ; we hear them, see them, embrace them, 
and they steal our hearts, even when we intend to 
love more than all the un3een God and Father.— 
A parent, a husband, a wife, a child, a brother, a 
sister, a friend, how liable they are, if good and 
amiable, and affectionate, to ensnare our affections, 
and become oar cherished idols! How many a 
mother suffers her winning little one to come in 
between herself and God! How she lives for 
the child day and night, loves it, worships it, 
deems it essential to her happiness, yea, to her 
very existence. God notices the fact, perceives 
the idolatry, its tendency and its danger,—and re¬ 
moves the idol. He knows the pangs w Licit sepa¬ 
ration will cost, the severity of lesson to he learned, 
but yet it is a necessary lesson, the only one that 
will be salutary upon that idolizing heart. He 
takes away our Idols.— Selected. 
The romance of the maelstrom has been pretty ef- Counsels of Age.—P resident Nott, of Union 
fectually destroyed. College, N. Y., now between eighty and ninety 
-- years of age, recently met the Alumni of the Col- 
POWER OF SEA BREAKERS. lege who resided in New York, when addresses 
were made, resolutions passed, and steps taken to 
From experiments which were made sometime erecta HaU near t - ae College and t0 orgailize a 
since, at the Bel! Rock and Skerrvvore lighthouse, permfmeat Association. President Nott made an 
on the coast of Scotland, is was found, that while ad(lresgt 8Cld j* conclusion said: 
the force of the breakers on the side of the Ger- * , hftye ^ aad 20W . am o]d> and „ l 
man Ocean may be taken at about a tun and a half staad before God t0 . aiffK r declaie * hat nothing 
upon every square foot of surface exposed to them, l haye ever iven jn char ity is regretted. O no! 
the Atlantic breakers (all with double that weight, ^ rjches . hat we keep that ri3h; it im . 
or three tuns to the square loot; and thus a aur- 8 itself on our characters and tells on our 
tace of only two square yards sustains a blow from eternal de , tiuv - for lhe hablt 0 f charity formed 
a heavy Atlantic breaker, equal to about fifty-four ifl thig m ^ aocompany w to the next. The 
tuns. In November, 1824, a heavy gate blew, and bud wMch begins to here will bloom in full 
blocks of limestone and eranite from two to five . . , 
« u HFU w u expansion hereafter to delight the eye of angels 
tuns in weight, were washed about like pebbles at „ ^ . .. t\* aC 
, ... , , . and beautify the Paradise of God. Let us, then, 
the Plymouth breakwater. About 301) tuns of auch , , „ . . 
. „ . ,, , , now, and on every ht occasion hereafter, practice 
blocks wore borne a distance of 20® feet and up. . , ... ... /. . • . „__ 
, , „ , . . , ‘ that liberality which in death we shall approve, 
thp im>nnpn nhnA m thp hrpfltwntpp n.n.i*riAn nrAr _ __ * * 
the inclined plane of the breakwater, carried over 
it and scattered in various directions. A block 
of limestone, seven t ins in weight, was in one 
place washed a distance of 150 feet. Blocks of 
three tuus weight were torn away by a single blow 
of a breaker, and hurried over into the harbor, 
and one or nearly two tuns, strongly trenailed 
down upon a jetty, was torn away and tossed up¬ 
wards by an overpowering breaker. 
--4-.-». 
PLANETARY DISTANCES. 
For a long period, astronomers unsuccessfully 
endeavored to determine the distance between the 
stars and the earth; and it is only within a com¬ 
paratively short time that the interesting problem 
can be said to have been solved. The distance 
which separates ns from the nearest stars, is, ac-1 
cording to M> Arago, about 206,000 times the dis¬ 
tance of the sun from the earth, more than 206,000 
times 95,000,000 miles. Alpha, in the constella¬ 
tion of Centaur, is the star nearest the earth; its 
light takes more than three years to reach ns; so 
that were the star annihilated, we should still see 
Insurance of ships was first practised iu the it for three years after Its destruction. If the sun 
reign of C.xsar in 45. It was a general custom in 
Europe in 1194. Insurance offices were first estab¬ 
lished in London in 1667. 
The invention of bells Is attributed to Paulinas, 
Bishop of Nola, in Campanis, about the year 400. 
They were first introduced into churches as a de- 
.yas transported to the place of this, the nearest 
star, tree vast circular disc, which iu the morning 
rises majestically above the horizon, and in the 
evening occupies a considerable time in descend¬ 
ing entirely below the same line, would have di¬ 
mensions almost imperceptible, even with the aid 
tense against thunder and lightning. They were | 0 f the most powerful telescopes, and its brilliancy 
first hung up in England at Oroyland Abby, Lin- | would range among the stars of the third magni- 
colnshire, in 945. In the eleventh century and I tude only. 
later, it was the custom to baptize them in the -<*-»♦-- 
churches before they were used. The curfew bell Genius.— A cotemporary, in dilating on genius, 
was established ia 1068. It. was rang at eight In thus sagely remarks:—The talents granted to a 
tho evening, when people were obliged to put out single individual do not benefit himself alone, but 
their tire and candle. The custom was abolished are gifts to the world; every one shares them, for 
in 1100. Bell men were appointed in London iu every one suffers or benefits by his actions. Gen- 
1550, to ring the hells at night, and cry, “Take ius is a light house, meant to give light from afar; 
care of your tire and candle, be charitable to the tho man who bears it is but the rock upon which 
poor, and pray for the dead.” the light-house Is built. 
and reprobate the parsimony we shall then con¬ 
demn.” 
- ♦ .»- 
Never Jest with Scripture. —It is of great 
importance that we should resist the temptation, 
frequently so strong, of annexing a familiar, face¬ 
tious, or irreverent idea to a Scriptural expression, 
a Scripture text, or a Scripture name. Nor should 
we hold ourselves guiltless, though we may have 
been misled by mere negligenee, or want of reflec¬ 
tion. Every person of good taste will avoid read¬ 
ing a parody, or a travestie of a beautiful poem, 
because the recollection of the degraded likeness 
will always obtrude itself upon onr memories when 
we wish to derive pleasure from the contemplation 
of the elegance of the original. Bat how much 
more urgent is the duty by which we are bound to 
keep the pages of the Bible clear of any impres¬ 
sion tending to diminish the blessings of habitual 
respect aad reverence towards our Maker’s law.— 
Pul grave. 
-•—►- 
The Journey of Life.— Ten thousand human 
beings set forth together on their journey. After 
ten years, one-third, at least, have disappeared.— 
At the middle point of the common measure of 
life, but half are still upon the road. Faster and 
faster, as the ranks grow thinner, they that remain 
till now becomo weary, and lie down and rise no 
more. At three-Bcore and ten, a band of some (our 
hundred yet straggle on. At ninety, these have 
been redaced to a handful of thirty trembling 
patriarchs. Year after year they fall in diminish¬ 
ing numbers. One lingers, perhaps, a lonely mar¬ 
vel, till the century is over. Wo look again, and 
the work of death is finished. —Bishop Burgess. 
Whatsoever is not detrimental to society and 
is of positive enjoyment, is of God, the giver of 
all good things, and ought to be received aad en¬ 
joyed by his creatures with thankful delight 
JUNE 20. MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
