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AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
on the so ffold of party Btrife, which is always the 
case witj every moral improvement that the State 
nndertajea to manage. 
In my next I will propose a State Organization 
of the Common Schools in hopes that it may pro¬ 
mote their interest, by stimulating and encourag¬ 
ing parents to have their children attend school. 
Deceuber, 1857. w - G - 
-- 
For Moore’* Rural New-Yorker. 
bight beading fob the young. 
“ Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, 
neither desire thou hia dainty meats.”—Paov. 23' 6. 
Thb readitig of any people iB their intellectual 
bread—and a man is known by the company he 
keeps; therefore, if yon wish to know a man, look 
at his library—bis daily reading. It is a law in 
Physiology that all the bodily organs strengthen 
For Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
THE HOME OF THE SOUL. 
OUB COMMON SCHOOLS 
BY E. H. MISOTT. 
Eds. Rural:—F rom the known interest that you 
take in the moral and intellectual improvement of 
youth, yon will not objeot to publishing anything 
that will stimulate parents to send their children 
to school—for it is moob to be regretted tha; too 
do not receive the benefit from the corimon 
Tub Sun ot life’s morning rises happy and bright, 
Bat soon comes the mid-day with swift’vancing tread 
Then its Sun goetb down to the verge of the night. 
And onr barques drift, away to the iBlee of the Dead. 
But the Soul, unencumbered, shall rise to the spheres 
Of the blest, and dwell there, through perpetual years. 
There our spirits shall lave in the waters of life, 
And be pure and spotless as toe stars of the sky; 
And forget all the ,j irring of Earth and its strife, 
In the harmouy that relguetn forever on high. 
And love, joy, and bliss shall continue to last, 
While eternity’s ages roll into the past. 
South Albion, N. Y., 1857. 
many 
school organization that the friends of education 
desired, and had reason to expect from theiiberal 
State appropriation that is made for their mpport 
which places the means of acquiring the rudi¬ 
ments of literature within the power jf all who 
desire to obtain them, and it is mos* lamentable 
that there are so many children in jbe State that 
receives so little or no benefit fr-rtn the liberal 
St8te boon. 
The Report of the Superintendent of Pablic 
Instruction for '65 does not give the number of 
children in the 8tate that, are of proper age to at¬ 
tend school who do not enter the school room, 
owing to the enumeration being made between 
four and twenty, one which includes so many that 
cannot be called school cbildren. He reporis as 
attending school $14,386, of which number 212,110 
attended two months, and 199;I65 attended less 
than two months; and those ebildrenaho attended 
so little, are the ia and out scholars, which, with 
but few exceptions, receive littleor no benefitfrom 
the school instructions and do not deserve the 
name of attending,—so that there only remains 
432,919 who receive mach benefit from the Com mon 
Schools. But add to that number all that you can, 
owing to the defect of the school year, commenc¬ 
ing the first of January, which often puts the win¬ 
ter term into two reports, and the attendance at 
the common schools is certainly veiy small con¬ 
sidering the liberal appropriations that are made 
for their support. And it is of great importance 
to know what can be the reason, that they arc not 
better attended. It ennnot be the expense, for in 
the city of New York, where everything is free, 
the attendance is no better than In tha Rural Dis¬ 
tricts; nor, can it be for want of Legislative en¬ 
actments, for daring almost every session since 
the first organization there has been some altera¬ 
tion, some amendment, some experiment tried, 
and yet the children do not generally attend 
school, and what can be the cause, is worthy of 
JandId investigation, for it matters not how syste¬ 
matic the school arrangement may be, nor how- 
valnable the instructions that are therein 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
GROWING IN OB ACE. 
« dainty meats ” of those who have " an evil eye ” 
are industriously circulated, advertised and puffed 
in common newspapers, by those whose moral rec¬ 
titude is measured by the pecuniary reward re¬ 
ceived for such service. By “dainty meats'’ I 
mean all those productions of the pen and press 
which tend to inflame the passions of youth.— 
These passions are not sinful when duly exercised, 
bnt when nndnly excited and inflamed, they over¬ 
power the reasoning faculties. Tee u evil eye ” is 
that love of money which prompts to write and 
publish snoh books or periodicals, simply because 
experience has proved that inconsiderate youth 
will buy them even at extravagant prices. 
The time draws near when, with the new year, 
we shall be expected to commence anew our sub¬ 
scriptions for the Rural, and such other weekly 
visitors as have obtained a welcome reception in 
our families; and it is time to inquire what has 
been the influence exerted there by the reading of 
the past year? Can we improve it any, or make a 
better selection? Reading of some kind we must 
have— our children will have it—and if we do not 
furnish them with the right kind, somebody will 
with the wrong. The surest way to prevent a 
growth of weeds is to pre-occupy the ground.— 
Good books are abundant and cheap throughout 
the land, but we also want the news of the day, for 
which a weekly paper ia indispensable; bnt must 
we necessarily have poison mingled with “ our 
daily bread?” 
The editor of a paper so widely circulated as the 
Rural New-Yobkbr, occupies a fearfully respon¬ 
sible station. Thousands of youthful minds will 
receive a bias through this channel which may 
determine their future character and standing in 
society and the world—nay, it may be forming 
characters for eternity. 
AMERICA 
ever 
taught, if the children do not attend Bchool the 
loadable desire of general education ia not ob¬ 
tained. I thiDk that it ia as evident as noon day 
sun that it is the indifference of parents and guar¬ 
dians towards the common schools. That ia the 
principal cause; yes, sir, almost the o«/y cause why 
their children do not attend school; and the arbi¬ 
trary dictations and unnecessary taxation in the 
present State organization of the common schools 
ha3 a powertnl tendency to increase that indiffer- 
erence, and to annihilate tha good feelings of so¬ 
ciety from taking an interest in the common 
schools. And I hope that the friends of the pre¬ 
sent organization will not be oflended when I en¬ 
deavor to point oat some of the numerous errors 
in 4 a. that'hAS tUOSC rc (t reiv«.ls 
The State supervision is too dictatoriaL The 
education of children is a most solemn parental 
duty, and mankind do not love dictation, even if 
the dictator ha wiser than themselves. There 
To select, accept and re¬ 
ject, to suit the various tastes of mankind, most 
Indeed be a difficult t&efc, since it ia true intellect¬ 
ually that “what la one man's meat is another 
man's poison,” that is, so far as literary taste is 
««»w\f,rned. But the great object in selecting 
reading for tbo *. rs to twin in them correct 
tastes and habits. These, as they exist among tue 
Growth of Ocinion.—C onsider the growth of 
opinion in any one man's mind; how crudely the 
opinion is formed at first in his thought; how he 
is affected by discussion with friends, by contro¬ 
versy with sincere opponents, by some remote 
analogy in present life, or in the past history; how 
straDge to say, when his mind has apparently been 
engaged from the subject, be finds all of a sudden, 
great growth or change of opinion has been going 
on in him, so that it seems as if he had been think¬ 
ing while he had baen Bleeping. Then, if the 
mind of tbi- man is of deep and fertile Boil, how 
all the beaut l Ini influences of literature, of natural 
scenery, of scrince and of art, enlarge and modify 
the growing opinion, hardly now to be called by 
ao small a name an opinion, but a cause; how 
this thought la modified by chance remarks from 
his fellows, which ware, not meant to influence him 
—these remarks whiih te 1 so much upon most of 
us, because the mors, we draw from them is all 
our own.— Spanish Conquest in America, 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
DEATH. 
The angel of death is daily and nightly around 
our dwelling, and here and there may be seen the 
glimmering lamp during the hours of the night. 
The watchers are there. The loved one is rest¬ 
less. She falls into a deep slumber, from which, 
in a few momenta, she awakens, more exhausted 
than before. The angels hover aroand, all unseen 
by the watchers, hut ere the loved one nears that 
delicate line that separates thi3 life from that 
which is to come, they touch her with their gold¬ 
en wing*, and she is animated with now strength 
and with new delight—and as she passes away she 
breathes the sweet words-” happy, oh! so happy.” 
The angels and their new sister are gone; but in 
heaven & new song is sung. Loviog friends gather 
around the remains of the departed, and many a 
tear git hers and glistens in the eye, and many a 
pang pierces the heart-, but all unseen amidst that 
mourning circle a new angel hovers. n. f. 
Syracuse, N. Y., 1857. 
tion, and destroys responsibility—for that which 
iB the duty of three, is not the business of any 
one, ant / when neglected it teas not my fault . Ceach- 
erB have to submit to the ordeal of on annual in¬ 
spection, which is an unnecessary inconvenience^ 
for it is not uncommon that the inspected is more 
competent than the inspector; but those iu the 
All healthful minds admit of 
Lkt all Study. 
improvement, and that, peihaps, to an infinite de¬ 
gree. It is an error to imag ne for a moment that 
some minds may not be enlarged and beautified.— 
If the mind bo sane, it is net only possible to 
nonrish and expand it, hut it is easy to do bo. If 
the senses are not at all exerciser, the mind must 
oIbo necessarily be to some extent infolded. The 
eye will receive impressions, snu the ear will 
catch sounds, and transmit the result of the mind. 
This is a law of man’s mental constitution, as 
The inevitable 
A holy life has a voice. In a more impressive 
and convincing tone it echoes the instructions of 
the lips which have already been as a fountain of 
wisdom. Its eloquence never ceases. It speaks 
when the tongue is silent; and ia either a con¬ 
stant attraction or a perpetual reproof. It speaks 
on all subjects, and Bhows the nature and excel¬ 
lency of religion, both in duty and in trial, both in 
sorrows and in joys. 
necessary as anything else can bt, 
condition of the mind is, that it shall ba effected 
for good or for exil, in pvoportiim as the Berses 
are wrought upou by external objects. 
CENTRAL AMEBICA 
IDOL FROM CENTS AL AMBKICA 
•no thought without its aim—no aspiration 
traves; the facades of temples are thick with the 
ivies and other parasites of tropical luxuriance — 
Lizards of emerald brightness dart here and there 
along the ruinB; scorpions lurk among the dis¬ 
rupted joints; snakes glide from the vaults beneath 
to sun themselves upon the sacrificial stone. All 
is silence and desolation. The works remain, bnt 
where are the hands which fashioned them? Ages 
on ages have rolled away, and king and noble, pea¬ 
sant and serf arc mingled in undistingnishable 
