MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
AUGUST 8 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
VOICES FRQM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
FIRST EFFORTS IN SCHOOL-TEACHING. 
Wfib* the ni<ht breeze gently sighing, 
Waalers 'along the leafy boughs, 
And the zephyr soft replying 
Woos the weary to repose, 
Glad I list to strange sweet voices, 
Whispered from the spirit-land, 
Hear the golden iurp-ntrlngs quiver. 
Swept by unseen angel's hand. 
Oft my gaze is upward turning, 
Ah! why doth my vision fail? 
Yes, mine eyes are fondly yearning 
For a glimpse behind the veil. 
'Tls not fancy bids me linger 
Where the angels *eem so near, 
Bat it ’tls my spirit breathing 
For a nobler, higher sphere. 
Speak again, oh, come still cearor, 
Happy spirits pure and brtght, 
Let me feel yon hovering o’er me, 
Ere you plume your wings for Sight. 
Fond, sweet thought—that sister angels 
Flit around the path of life, 
Making every prospect brighter, 
Cheering 'mid the thickest strife. 
Barry, Jackson Co , Mich., 1857. 
NCM1IER FOUR. 
Monday morning came, and anearly hour found 
me on my way to the school-house. Groups of 
happy children, (never bo happy as on the first day 
of school,) with dinner pails and satchels on their 
arms, were tripping along and anon making the 
welkin ring with their loud peals of childish 
laughter. How their gleeful faces glistened in the 
soft, mild sunlight of that autumn day. What 
wonld I not give, could I but see those happy faceB, 
just as I saw them then! lint alas! some I shall 
see no more heneaih the sun; others have ripened 
iuto manhood and womanhood, and have lost for¬ 
ever their childish faces in those of maturer years. 
When I reached the school-house, the scholars 
had already arrived and were waiting for the 
school master. Of course T was the “ observed of 
all observers’’—at least I felt so. At 0 o’clock I 
rang the bell—no I didn't—there was no Buch ar¬ 
ticle of furniture there, and I did the next best 
thing—which wfts to rap with a ferule on the win¬ 
dow sash, (by the way a very convenient sort of a 
bell, as there is no unfortunate clapper to be get¬ 
ting out of order, or meeting with tmmberleBS 
other mishaps.) But in what an awkward position 
did I find myself placed! No uneducated farmer, 
suddenly transplanted irom his rural pursuits into 
the midst of the Assembly rooms at Albany, could 
have felt mure,out of place. How to appear as if 
I knew in what manner to conduct a school, when 
1 did not, was the question. However, I rushed 
into the difficulties before me with some such feel¬ 
ing sis it. may be supposed ft drowning man pos¬ 
sesses on trying to swim, and when, after almost 
ineffectual efforts, he at last succeeds In forcing a 
little wind into his life preserver. I have lived 
many long days, but that was the longest. 
When the classes were finally arranged, the les¬ 
sons apportioned and thescholars fairly underway. 
I encountered the first real difficulty of a teacher 
—the loud murmuring of troubled lips—whisper¬ 
ing! Is it a human invention, think you, kind 
reader? If so, it must have been invented by a 
re Oman, for the girls are perfect adepts in that 
business. I had a few who were certainlythe most 
inveterate whisperers 1 over knew, not from ill 
will but from the force of habit They “ could uot 
help it,” so they said; and I believe them now, as 
all ray efforts that winter did not break them en¬ 
tirely of it. Of all the annoying things that I 
ever met with in my experience as a teacher, none 
were more unmitigaledly displeasing that this 
habit Talking aloud is infinitely preferable to it. 
To remain in the midst of continued buzzing for 
six hours every day is us hard a punishment as 1 
could wish my greatest enemy subjected to.— 
Nothing but absolute law will keep it out of the 
school-room; for there will always be those who 
whisper by instinct—whose lips are aperfect foun¬ 
tain of whispering. I tried moral suasion—I 
sought to convince them of the folly of such a 
miserable habit—discoursed to them long and loud 
on the various bearings of the subject; but all to 
no purpose. According to their version of the 
matter, they whispered on tho same principle that 
a stream runs down hill—because they couldn’t 
help it. I made some examples of the smaller 
ones (a bad precedent) in order to frighten the 
older ones if possible, but with little or no appa 
rent success. Finally I abandoned all these 
Bchomes for a reformation, and laid down the law. 
That said obey and live—diBObey and suffer. This 
was a hard master; it broughtthem around at last 
But I conceived such a dislike to whispering that 
wherever 1 am I cannot endure to hear any one 
indulging in the habit. s. a. e. 
Rochester, July, 1857. 
Linda. 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker 
WHAT ABE WE? 
It hath been said that the boy is now living who 
ia to be President of the United States in the year 
1900. Who he is, or where he resides, is not 
stated. It may be the child of wealth, reared 
amid the luxuries and associations of high life, 
and it may be, perhaps more likely to be, one 
whose genius is nourished by necessity, and whose 
early home is that of poverty. To the latter, the 
struggle for supremacy is as free as to the former. 
But, reader, do you ever pause and reflect on an¬ 
other destiny, which is the prerogative, not of a 
few only, but may be of all? Do yon ever think 
who is your Father and Brother, and that you are 
something more than a mere aspirant for earthly 
wealth and distinction? 
Before time's cycles Bhall have brought around 
the year 1900, most of those who are now moving 
on with us in all the exuberance and joyousness 
of life and activity, will be —what? Inhabitants 
of the tomb, dust returned to dust? Not that.— 
They will have entered into the possession of a pat¬ 
rimony which has been held in trust for them since 
the foundations of the world, the title deeds of 
which are recorded in the Court of Heaveti. Be¬ 
hold that poor beggar. Scoff at him if you will, 
ye sons of luxury, shun him as if his very touch 
were contamination, but remember that beneath 
those rags there dwells an immortal souh He is 
one who, loving his God, though poor in the things 
of this world, is, nevertheless, rich in spirit. He 
is not a beggar, but a son of the King of Kings, 
joint heir with Jesus Christ, to an inheritance 
that fadeth not away, and who, when life’s troubled 
probation is over, shall take up his abode in a 
mansion "eternal in the heavenB.” The recipient 
ol earthly honors is preferred only for a season; 
the preferment of the heir to eternal life is everlast¬ 
ing. Man may strive for earthly honor, and fail 
of the acquisition: the success of all who strive 
honestly and sincerely for the honor which 
cometh of God, is, by the promise of onr Father, 
certain. 
Despair not, then, child of mortality. Though 
your sojourn here be gloomy, if thou loveBt thy 
Creator, the morning of the Resurrection shall be 
glorious. As the chrysalis, when it bursts its shell, 
dies not, bu6 enters upon a brighter existence, so 
shall you, one ylay, not die, but cast aside your 
earthly covering, and enter upon a life whose 
glories enter not into the imagination. To the 
question — what are we? we may answer, that 
through Grace, we are both Kings and Priests, 
Children of a Father who is Omnipotent, Omnis¬ 
cient, Infinite in Duration, Justice, Mercy and 
Love. T. D. Tookeb. 
Adrian, Mich., 1857. 
and hoary dignity of age upon the architectural 
improvements, in beauty and comfort, which mod¬ 
ern art has furnished. 
TUB INTERIOR 
Is composed of three general divisions—the main 
building, which is appropriated for the Dining 
Ball, Chapel, Drawing Rooms and Teachers’ Rooms, 
—and the two wings, which are divided into spa¬ 
cious, well ventilated and nieely furnished rooms 
for pupils, the one for gentlemen and the other for 
ladies, the only communication between the two 
being through the drawing-rooms of the PrineipaL 
The Basement is devoted entirely to the domes¬ 
tic department, the wings famishing store-rooms 
and sleeping rooms for the servants, while the 
main part contains a spacious dining hall,kitchen 
and wash room. 
Ihe Chapel, covering the whole first floor of the 
main building, ia capable of comfortably seating 
four hundred pupils, and is so arranged that after 
morning worship, by an ingenious contrivance in 
the middle of the room, a partition makes its ap¬ 
pearance from the floor and the ceiling and di¬ 
vides the hall into two commodious lecture rooms 
for the day. Besirle these are five recitation and 
lecture rooms in the south wing, for class instruc¬ 
tion, while the north wing furnishes convenient 
rooms appropriated to music and painting. A re¬ 
ception room and a parlor are also found in the 
north wing, adjoining the ladies’ entrance. 
Among the special advantages secured ia this 
structure are the following:—It is fitted in the 
most perfect manner to put in practice upon a 
broad scale the system which experiment has al¬ 
ready proved to be most successful in the educa¬ 
tion of youth, viz, the judicious and properly 
regulated union of the sexes. The arrangement 
of the two wings in relation to the main building 
is such that while the access of both to the dining 
room, the chapel and the drawing-rooms is equal¬ 
ly ana perfectly convenient, no communication is 
possible from one to the other without the obser¬ 
vation of the teachers. On the other hand, the 
rooms of the teachers are so distributed among 
those of the pnpils that their necessary contact 
with them in the halls, as well as at the table, the 
recitation, the morning and evening worship, and 
in the social parlor is so frequent and familiar as 
to afford the fullest opportunity for exerting over 
them those moulding influences which affect the 
whole character and demeanor—thus combining 
the power of an extended public opinion and the 
authority of school discipline with the gentle and 
elevating influences of a refined Christian home. 
We are happy to know that the Trustees are pre¬ 
pared to take full advantage of these facilities, by 
the appointment of a large board of Instructors, 
the members of which have each acquired a high 
reputation. Their announcement is given in the 
appropriate department of this paper. 
Above we present our readers a representation 
of the magnificent building recently erected for 
the Brockpokt Collegiate Institute. It will be 
remembered by many that the old building, erect¬ 
ed in 1833, was destroyed by fire aboutthree years 
since. The Trustees, with an enterprise which did 
credit alike to themselves and to the community 
who encouraged them, undertook at once its re¬ 
construction on a scale far Bupassing the former. 
At a cost of nearly thirty thousand dollars they 
have succeeded in erecting an edifice which, for 
beauty of exterior and convenience and elegance 
of internal arrangement, probably has notita equal 
in the State. It is built of dark Medina Bftndstone, 
with belting courses of Lockport Btonc, and cast 
iron caps. Its whole length on the front is two 
hundred feet; its breadth in the main building 
sixty feet, and in the wings forty. The main build¬ 
ing is five stories high, surmounted by a tasteful 
cupola twelve feetby twenty-fonr, which commands 
an extensive view of the surrounding country and 
of the adjacent lake. The edifice overlooks the 
village from a gentle eminence in the center of an 
enclosure of six acres, and is approached by grav¬ 
eled walks and winding carriage paths, through a 
beautiful grove of lofty shade trees. Hi this re¬ 
spect it has a peculiar advantage over an entirely 
new locality. The grounds having been laid out 
for twenty years, the trees have attained a luxu¬ 
riant growth, and bestow the refreshing shadows 
this was only a small mechanical advance on what 
had been done for many years. 
The first engraving on wood, of which there is 
any record in Europe, is that of the ancient “Ac¬ 
tions of Alexander,” by the two Cunios, executed 
in the year 1285 or 128G. The engravings are 
eight in number, and the size about nine inches 
by six. 
Stereotype printing was introduced into London 
by Wilson, in 1804. 
The first tragedy in English was “Gorboduc, or 
Ferrexand Porrex,”in 1561; and the first comedy, 
the “Supposes,” in 1666. 
The first recorded novels are the Milesian tales 
of Aristides. 
The first almanac in the English language was 
printed at Oxford in 1673. 
Tho first printed music was in 1503. No more 
than forty tunea had been published in any one 
book before 1594. 
The first printing press set up in America was 
“ worked” at Cambridge, Mass., in 1629. 
The first hook 1 printed in America was the “Bay 
Psalm Book,” published at Cambridge. 
The first books of music published in America 
were issued in 1714 1 and 1721—the former by the 
Rev. Jrhn Tufts of Newbury, aud the latter by the 
Rev. Thomas Walter, of Roxbury. 
The first paper mill erected in America was at 
Elizabethtown, New Jersey, which William Brad¬ 
ford, Royal Printer of New York, New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania, purchased in 1728. In 1730, the 
second went into operation at Boston, the Legisla¬ 
ture of Mass., granting aid. 
The first newspaper printed in the New World 
was published in Boston, under date of September 
25, 1690. A copy of this paper is preserved in the 
Colonial State Paper office, London. It is about 
the size of a sheet of letter paper, and one of the 
pages is blank .—Boston Transcript. 
are to receive merits, passing the others in silence, 
and not requiring them to testify against them¬ 
selves, (a mortifying thing to any one,) put only 
treating them tor the time with negleot. They 
will soon feel themselves neglected, and desire not 
to be outdone by others, aud when once the ma¬ 
jority is gained, if the thing is well managed, there 
will be few delinquents left. w. b. 
QuimUro, K. T., July, 1867. 
For Moore's Karst New-Yorker. 
UNCOMMON TURTLE OR TORTOIS. 
Turtle is a corruption of Tortois, and yet has 
come to be generally used as the name of the ani¬ 
mal. It is well known by “ the bony or cartilagin¬ 
ous covering above and beneath, having the head, 
neck, limbs and tail free, feet four.” Eighteen spe¬ 
cies are found in this State, and are described in 
the State Natural History. They are sub-divided 
iuto two sections, a3 the shell is hard or soft, bony 
or cartilaginous, though these characters are no 
indication of political affinities. 
The Green Turtle, Leather Turtle, Salt-Water 
Terrapin, Smooth Terrapin, aud Red Bellied Ter¬ 
rapin, belong to our occau coasts; the Snapping 
Turtle, Painted Turtle, Spotted and Geographic 
Turtle, to most of our Fresh Waters; and the 
Wood Terrapin, beeause it is often found in woods 
about streams or ponds. Omitting others, the 
Soft Shelled Turtle, the Trionyx ferox, of authors, 
is rare and striking. Perhaps it is not rare now, 
but it is said to have been quite limited, till the 
“ completion ol the Erie Canal,” by which various 
water animals passed from Lake Erie into Hudson 
River and thus spread into wider localities. 
From the specimen of the Soft Shelled Turtle, 
brought me lately by one of our citizens, I should 
not think him fierce or ferocious. At least he 
shows no special temper unless one attempts to 
place him on his back. Uis shell is oval, being 
ten inches long aud nine broad, and is quite soft 
and somewhat flexible around its extremities.— 
The body is uot more than two inches thick, so 
that he is very much compressed for a turtle. The 
feet are webbed, und have sharp nails on three of 
the five toes. 
Not having seen this species before, I wish to 
express my gratitude to the friend who made it a 
present to the cabinet of the University. 
Rochester, N. Y., 1857. C. D. 
EDUCATION OF MAN 
Toe term education is commonly understood in 
too limited and qualified a sense. It is frequently 
shorn of the weight of its meaning and the extent 
of its application. Many, unthinkingly, look upon 
it as complete and finished, ere the substratum of 
a practical education is rooted in the mind—hence 
so many “surface” thinkers; also so few men of 
noted erudition. The word signifies leading out or 
forth, from e, oat, and duco, I lead; when applied to 
the mind it means expansion, a harmonious devel¬ 
opment of the faculties of the soul. No faculty 
should remain dormant, none should bo excessive¬ 
ly exercised to the neglect of the others. The 
mind is a unit, composed of a plurality of facul¬ 
ties, each is a “ prop ” to the rest, mutually they 
give support aud vigor. Each to each, they sus¬ 
tain the same relation that the different members 
of the body do; but, while they have a relation to 
each other, they also sustain one to the body, aud 
the body to them. The mental and physical rela¬ 
tions are such that neither can be fully developed 
without respect to the other; vigorous, active and 
energetic intellects are usually combined with 
vigorous, active and healthy constitutions, and 
effeminate ones, with diseased. 
How often we see those who have spent four or 
six years within the pale of some institution, after 
having received its honors, turn away with the sad 
redaction that the very spot which should have 
been their kind “Alma Mater,” has proven to be 
the place where the seeds of a premature death 
were sown in their mortal bodies. Health is un¬ 
der fixed laws, aud he who violates them must 
suffer the penalties. 
We frequently speak of man as possessing moral 
faculties in reference to the fact, that he has a 
moral sense of distinguishing between right and 
wrong; and, whether these bo regarded as distinct 
or not, nature has impressed this sense upon him, 
and ho can no more rid himself of it, than he can 
change the texture of his skiu. We assujue, then, 
that education is threefold, mental, moral and 
physical. The skillful educator will keep a vlgi- 
laut eye upon his pupils to see whether this trio 
relation is united under a judicious system of ia* 
Struction, If so, useful, if not, great ch tractors will 
uniformly be the result of his labors. 
The object of education through grace, is to re¬ 
store man from his fallen estate. Hear the natu¬ 
ralist, in contemplating him, “What a piece of 
work is man! bow noble in reason! how infinite 
in faculties 1 in form and moving, how express and 
admirable! iu action, how like an angel! in ap¬ 
prehension, how like a God.”—T. W. K., in Onon¬ 
daga SentineL 
For Mooro’g Kara! Kow-Yorker. 
PRIZE-GIVING IN SCHOOL. 
Dear Rural:— In a late issue P. W. refers to an 
article in which I detailed a system of prize-giving 
which I have practiced with some success, as a 
preventive of whispering. I am aware that any 
system, however good iu itself, cannot be pursued 
by all with equal success under all circumstances, 
and that an indifferent plan iu skillful hauds is 
often quite successful. In no department of labor 
do I think there is greater need of modifying one's 
efforts in accordance with his circumstances and 
his material than in school discipline. The teacher 
must Btudy us hard us any of his pupils. He must 
study to know bis position; he must study to 
know his pupils, and he must study to understand 
the power which he lias over them; that is availa¬ 
ble to effect his object. One teacher has powers 
which another has not. He ought so to under¬ 
stand himself that he may use those powers suc¬ 
cessfully. In the pursuit of tho system which I 
proposed, 1 have never been long troubled with 
deception, though many so disposed have attempt¬ 
ed it. The teacher, by a little scrutiny, will soon 
learn on whom ho can depend and on whom he 
must keep a lookout, and the scholar who has once 
attempted to deceive his teacher and failed, will 
soon give up the attempt I cannot regard it as 
“indirectly teaching children to deceive,” except 
when the teacher sujfeis himself to be deceived. Any 
faithful parent and teacher must needs often ask 
the child questions, In reply to which it might 
seem to tho child to bo advantageous to prevari¬ 
cate. Yet this ouly amounts to a temptation, and 
children cannot be kept aloof—what moral power 
could they acquire if they were? 
If my friend P. W. toauhCH u school “ where a 
largo number are prematurely hardened, wIiobo 
finer feelings it would be difficult to reach,” he 
stands in greater need to make special efforts to 
reaoh those feelings, und call Into action tho be¬ 
numbed sensibilities, for I hold that nothing good 
can be hoped of the moral character until the 
feelings aro reached. 
I have ever considered and dealt with falsehood 
as a misdemeanor of no trifling importance, yet I 
have been but little troubled with it in calling for 
the daily report If whispering is a gratification 
to a child, he will not bo content with whispering 
once or twice, and If he Is iu the habit of whisper¬ 
ing, the sagucious teacher will observe it. Incall* 
lng lor the report I would call only for those who 
Some writer gives the following analysis of the 
“ book of books,” the Bible:—It is a Book of Laws 
to the right and wrong. It is a Book of Wisdom, 
that makes the foolish wise. It is a Book of Truth, 
which detects all human errors. It is a book of 
Life, which shows how to avoid everlasting death. 
It is the most authentic and entertaining history 
ever published. It contains the most remote 
antiquities, the most remarkable events and won¬ 
derful occurences. It is a complete code of laws. 
It is a perfect body of divinity. It is an unequal¬ 
led narrative. It is a boob of biography. It is a 
book of travels. It ia a book of voyages. It is 
the best covenant ever made; the best deed ever 
written. It is the best will ever executed; the 
best testament ever signed. It ia the young man’s 
best companion. It is the school boy's best in¬ 
structor. It is the learned man's masterpiece.— 
It Is the ignorant man’s dictionary, and every man’s 
dictionary. It promises an eternal reward to the 
faithful and believing. But that which crowns all, 
is the Author. He is without partiality, and with¬ 
out hypocrisy, “ with whom there is ao variable¬ 
ness, neither Bhadow of turning.” 
CAN INSECTS TALK? 
A striking Instance of the possession of a capa¬ 
bility of spreading intelligence, and that of a 
somewhat abstruse character, is furnished by ex¬ 
periments that have been made by Huber and 
others upon bees. Every one is aware that the 
qneen bee is an object of the greatest solicitude 
aud attention to the workers of the hive, and yet, 
among so maDy thousands, all busily employed in 
different and distant parts of the colony, it would 
appear Impossible for them to ascertain, at least 
before the lapse of considerable time, whether she 
was absent from them or not. 
In order to see whether bees had a power of con¬ 
veying news of this kind, the qneen bee has been 
stealthily and quietly abstracted from the hive; 
but here, as elsewhere, ill news was found to fly 
apace. For some half-hour or so, tho loss seemed 
uot to be ascertained, but the progressively in- 
oreaslug buzz of agitation gradually announced 
tho growing alarm, until shortly the whole hive 
was in an uproar, and all its busy occupants were 
seen ponring forth their legions in search of their 
lost monarch, or eager to avenge with their stings, 
the insult offered to their sovereign. On restoring 
the captured queen to her subjects, with equal se¬ 
crecy, the tumult speedily subsided, and the ordi¬ 
nary business of the community was resumed, as 
before the occurrence. That iu such cases as 
above narrated, information, and that of rather a 
complex character, was transmitted by one insect 
to another, cannot be doubted—butbywhatmeans? 
A CHAPTER ON FIRST THINGS, 
The oldest book knowu to be extant, which has 
the name of the place where it was printed, and 
that of the printer, together with the date of the 
year wlieu it was executed, is a beautiful edition 
of the Psalms in Latin. It was issued at Moutz by 
Faust A Schoelter in 1457, just four hundred years 
ago. The most perfect copy known is that in the 
imperial library of Vienna. It is printed iu folio 
on vellum, and is a superb specimen of printing.— 
A second edition of the work was issued in 1459, 
uuder the patr onage of tiro St. Albans and Bene¬ 
dictine Monks, which contained, probably, the first 
printed text of the Auathanasian creed. 
The earliest printed book, containing text and 
engravings, iB called the Histories of Joseph, 
Daniel, Judith and Esther, printed by Joseph 
P tls ter at Bamberg, in 1462. It is among the rarest 
typographical curiosities in existence, there being 
ouly two known copies of it—one at the royal 
library at Paris, and another in the collection of 
Earl Spencer. The entire text of the Bible with 
similar embellishments appeared in 1473. 
Guttemburg invented, trad first used separate 
letters or movable types, iu 1142. As early as 
1423 he had printed with lines cut in wood, but 
Heaven upon Earth. —It is indeed a precious 
consolation that a Christian need not ask how he 
may ascend unto heaven. Remains he at Jerusa¬ 
lem, at Rome, anywhere upon the earth, in the 
field or in the house, he may still be in heaven, for 
God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost will be with 
him and dwell in him. If God dwells with us 
here upon earth, then indeed it is true, that all we 
do, speak, think, or suffer must he well done; 
whether we eat or drink, work, lie down, or rise 
up, study, sing, read or pray, God is glorified in 
all. We muy ever find heaven upon earth, if only 
we have grace enough, and are able to believe.— 
Heaven itself has not the honor of which a Chris¬ 
tian can boast Of heaven, God says it Is my 
throne, and the earth is my footstool. But a 
Christian heart is His dwelU n ST^ ace * us 
will dwell, if we only believe that Christ suffered 
and died for us, and love Him in return for such 
compassion. — Luther. * _ 
Praying only for carnal things, shows a carnal 
heart, and leaves it carnal. 
Yourself and Others.— I have known some 
men possessed of good qualities which were very 
serviceable to others, but useless to themselves; 
like a sun-dial on tho front of a house, to inform 
the neighbors and passenger?, but not the owner 
within. 
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