9 
■anm 
f-t* 
high that the feet of scholars could not reach the 
floor, and the backs to the wall. I had purposely 
reserved these seats for the parents, so that they 
might feel the benefit of the cold winds cutting their 
backs and whistling about their feet. They took 
seats as directed, and soon nearly all the parents and 
seated, Mr. H. and wife among them, 
[Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker.] 
PAEENTAL EDUCATION. 
guardians were 
he in the coldest scab 
I made no attempt to teach, nor did I hurry matters. 
It was terribly cold; soon all were suffering, chil¬ 
dren trembling, old folks restive. I began by coolly 
asking them what was the matter. They gave an 
answer in their looks. They seemed to understand 
what I was at. 1 then said, addressing Mr. H., " Have 
you, or any of you, parents, been hero before this 
winter?" Mr. H. said, “ No, only once to drawa load 
of wood, and then I only looked in at the door." I 
said, “ We stopped at your house, put up our horse, 
and your lady gave us a good dinner.” 
He replied, “I am glad you did." 
“Mr. H.," I continued, “ I noticed you have a fine, 
No candid, intelligent person, will pretend, or 
doubt, that impressions made in youth, while the 
mind is open, are not the most lasting. The scenes 
of childhood and early associations sink deeper into 
the mind than those in after-life. The period of 
youth is the most important of all periods; for It is 
on e in which the character is forming,—one in 
which the foundation of future happiness is generally 
laid, and when the mind is willing to receive instruc¬ 
tion from the watchful care and influence of parental 
l«ve. 
The Family Circle te the Primary School of our 
race. In this very place man begins to prepare his 
mind for coming years, when he shall leave home to 
encounter the more stern duties of active and untried 
life. Here he receives ideas and impressioua on 
almost every subject —and he is, through the influ¬ 
ence of parental example and instruction, slowly but 
surely forming his future character. How precious 
these lessons of instruction should be to the youthful 
mind. Who can estimate their worth? Who can 
tell what one good example or precept may accom¬ 
plish? Great, indeed, then must be the responsibility 
EDUCATIONAL SUGGESTIONS 
Study (h& aptitudes of your child* Find out how 
his tastes lie, and direct them aright. The father of 
Claude Lorraine, as the old story, yon may remember, 
goes, was in despair on account of the dullness of 
his boy. He apprenticed him to a baker, but he 
could not rise to the mysteries of making a pie. The 
baker complained that his apprentice marked the 
shop over with flour or charcoal pictures. The 
father sent him to a painter, and he became one of 
the masters of his art. Of another painter, Sir Ben- 
house, warm barns and stables tor your caute anu 
horses, warm pens for your hogs, well tilled with 
straw. You have, too, a fine stock of cattle, a good 
number of horses, colts, sheep, and hogs, all looking 
finely." 
“Yes, all pretty much so.” 
Well, I suppose you have been Borne years here at 
hard labor, getting things thus comfortably fixed. T 
suppose, as you are getting old, you do not trouble 
yourself, especially during such severe weather, to 
take care of them, but stay in the house, and leave 
tho care of yuur cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs, to 
your hired men." 
Rising, a little excited, he said, “ No, Sir, I don’t 
do no such thing, f see to all my stock and things 
myself. I don’t trust the care of them to hired men." 
I continued, “Then 1 suppose I am to conclude 
that you care more for your cattle and hogs than you 
do for your children; for you trust them here in this 
cold shell in the care of a hired person, and have not 
been here to see them during this winter; nor, as I 
understand, have any of the parents or guardians. 
And, is it not barbarous for these little bright ones to 
see and feet they 
AY'TIKKT UNTG-, VIRGINIA 
steam engines, machinery, carriages, paper, iron cast¬ 
ings,- cast steel springs, chains, silk, saddles, &c., 
amounting in value to $2,560,000, and employing 
over 3,000 persons. The city enjoys the benefits of 
substantial water-works with a constant and ample 
supply of writer. 
Wheeling is situated in the center of an area of the 
moat fertile soil, one hundred miles in diameter, tho 
circle extending into Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vir¬ 
ginia. The products comprise all the smaller grains, 
corn, tobacco, aud the grasses. This fertility extends 
to the summits of the highest hills. The heights 
around Wheeling range from 250 to G40 foot above 
the level of the river. In the higher of these hills 
are several veins of coal, bnt the only one worked is 
about til) feet above the bed of the river, and is about 
seven feet in thickness. It is apparently inexhausti¬ 
ble, and costs from three to four cents per bushel, 
delivered: 2,000,000 bushols arc annually shipped 
from this port to a southern market. 
Wukklino, a view, of whicli we give aoove, » 
situated on the right bank of the Ohio river, and is 
the capital of Ohio county, Virginia. The city 
extends for nearly two miles along the river, has a 
population of about. 22,000, and is first in importance 
among the places in the western portion of the Old 
Dominion. The city proper was laid out in 1703, and 
has had ten additions. Zanes’ Island, lying in the 
Ohio, directly in front of the city, with which it is 
connected by a bridge, contains 350 acres, and is laid 
ont in 923 lots. This portion is called Columbia City. 
The Wheeling Bridge Company, (capital $200,000.) 
spanned the Ohio river with a beautiful Suspension 
Bridge, the wire cables passing over immeuse towers 
elevated ninety-four feet from the bed of the river, 
and stretching a distance of 1,010 feet. This bridge 
was destroyed by a hurricane in 1853, but, wo believe, 
is now re-built. 
The manufactures of Wheeling, according to the 
Census of 1850, were nails, glass, cotton yarns, cloths, 
and duty of parents and guardians who have the care s 
and improvement of children: yet there are many, alas! 
too many, parents, who are not aware that there is * 
any responsibility resting upon them, or any duty for f 
them to discharge toward those in their care. Home ] 
is the primary school, and parents are the principle ) 
teachers and instructors of the human race. The ; 
beginning of education is not the period when a , 
child first goes to school, but when reason and , 
intelligence unveil the infant mind. Long before ] 
leaving home for instruction, the mind receives ] 
impressions and truths which time can never erase ] 
from the memory. This is an important fact, one 
which experience has loug since proved to be true, 
and it must be alarming indeed to that parent who 
has set bad examples for his children, knowing that 
he will be held responsible for their influence on 
society. 
We would say, then, to all who have the care of 
children, take great pains to store the mind of the 
young with usefnl and important knowledge. Think 
not that it costs too much time to train the faculties of 
your children for noble pursuits when they shall leave 
the parental roof to act their part in the great drama 
of life. Be sure and touch them that the foundation 
of future respectability and honor must he placed on 
the firm basis of truth and morality. Improve every 
suitable opportunity to convey some important lesson, 
and labor to discipline the expanding intellect with 
Hficful and lasting knowledge. Do not neglect to 
plant the seeds of virtue, love, and a deep reverence 
for everything sacred — and when they germinate, 
w atch the tender plants to keep the enemy of good 
from checking their growth. Remember, that the 
examples you now set, tho impressions you now 
make, and the instructions you now give, although 
they may lie dormant in the soul for a season, yet 
they will eventually spring up and bring forth fruit, | 
either for goo<f or for evil. We care not how much 
you educate your child’s physical powers, or how 
much you discipline his intellect, if health permits, 
hut we would have you educate his moral and reli¬ 
gious powers, above all others. This is your duty, as 
rational, intelligent, and accountable creatures to the 
Author of your being, who has given you these buds 
of hope for your particular watchcare and molding 
influence, in forming the character, in elevating the 
affections, and in fitting the mind for genuine piety 
and usefulness in the varied events of life, and ever 
keep in view that the great thing for your child to 
leura, is how to be useful and do good, rather than to 
shine with external accomplishments, which are, at 
the best, but a very poor screen to hide the actions of 
the heart. 1 )q this, and it will be worth to them 
more than any material thing you will ever be able to 
bestow, and your reward will be the assurance that 
to your children you have performed your duty. 
Chili Center, N. Y., 1861. 3- L. K. 
suffer, neglected here, as you now 
have?" 
Ho replied, “Well, now, look here, Mr. Rtrvens, 
there is something about this I have not thought of be¬ 
fore. T guess you have got us. I never looked at it in 
this light before; hut you and this cold have convinced 
me, and 1 thank you. I feel ashamed, and something 
has got to he done. I do like my childreu better than 
my hogs, but I did not know that 1 had been treating 
them worse till now. It shan’t, he so any longer, if I 
can help it. I thank you again for coming hero 
and showing us our folly. And now, neighbors, what 
do you say? Shall we let our children suffer in this 
way any longer, and he told, and told truly, that 
we treat them worse thau we do our hogs? I can’t 
moon, and partly by oceanic, currents. IV hat is 
wave-motion? The transference of motion without 
the transference of the matter. The most impetuous 
storm cannot suddenly raise high waves; they require 
time for their development. Thus their strength also 
loses itself uuly by degrees; and many hours after 
the tornado has ceased to rage, mighty billows con¬ 
tinue to remind us of its extinguished fury, lho 
turmoil of waters extends hand reds of miles beyond 
tho space where its howling voice was heard; and 
often, during the most tranquil weather, the agitated 
sea proclaims the distant war of elements. 
The waves in the open sea never attain the moun¬ 
tain height ascribed to them by exuberant fancy. 
But a light-house, (Bell Rock.) though one hundred 
and twelve feet high, is buried in foam and spray to 
In violent gales, 
“ It seems to me," says Mr. Taber* “ the writer has 
not given the reason why the beech is so seldom 
struck by lightning, or persons, or animals that may 
have taken shelter under it.” My object was to give 
brief facts bearing on the naked question, leaving 
explanations, and tho laws of electricity, to the intel¬ 
ligence of your readers. It would be an easy task to 
enlarge upon his list of conductors and non-conduc¬ 
tors. Suffice it to say, that all liquids (oils excepted, ) 
and juicy substances, such as plants, ike., arc conduc¬ 
tors of electricity. Dry bodies of various kinds, such 
as leather, silks, glass, Ac., are non-conductors. The 
public are better supplied with laws on electricity, 
than light npoD its effects on the beech tree. 
It is well known that the forked messenger some¬ 
times “ plays possum;’’ or, in other words, it is not 
always uniform in its effects, and this is what stimu¬ 
lates curiosity. More facte have come to my knowl- 
All at once arose fathers and mothers, shivering, 
and some shedding tears, concurred in what Mr. H. 
had said, and unanimously declared that they felt 
ashamed of themselves, hut thankful that they had 
seen their folly, declaring that they would do better 
thereafter. At the close, all oumo and shook hands 
with mo, many with tears in their eyes, and invited 
me tc appoint, a time when 1 would visit them again. 
1 accepted the invitation, and gave the notice. 
At the time appointed I went over with the Town 
Superintendent and two other gentlemen. We found 
all present, old and young, arid many from other dis¬ 
tricts, and we talked the matter up and over. We had 
a good time—a time that will Long he remembered 
in that neighborhood, for good. The host of feeling 
pervaded the bosoms of all. There was a unanimous 
will for a good school house. And "where there is 
a will there is a way.” Before the next cold winter 
caino “with its chilling breath,” thero was a school 
house in a warm sheltered spot in that district, belter 
than a horse hum. There it stands now, and tiio peo¬ 
ple there believe it to bo quite aB much their duty to 
visit and oversee the persons they hire to teach and 
take care of their children, as it is to oversee those 
they hire to take care of their cattle and hogs. 
March, 18B1. A. 8. Stkvxnm. 
the very top, during ground-swells, 
the Beu is said to be disturbed to a depth of three 
hundred or oven five hundred feet; while all is undis¬ 
turbed and still in the deep caves of ocean. — Wes¬ 
leyan Methodist Magazine. 
CHILDREN AND CATTLE 
Editors Rubai. New-Yorker: —I noticed in the 
Ritual of Feb. 0, 1801, a communication on the sub¬ 
ject of treating horse* better than children, wherein 
an English tenant prayed his lord that he, his wife 
and children, might he treated like his horses. Tho 
idea was not new to me, and it recalled to my mind an 
incident that occurred under my own observation. 
While I was Superintendent of Schools in this county, 
in 1844, I had called, during Hie summer, at a school 
in a district in the extreme south part of the county, 
and fouud the house a miserable old shanty, unfit for 
hogs In cold weather, standing upon the line of the 
highway, on a bleak side hill, exposed to cold westerly 
winds and storms. Not a convenience about it neces¬ 
sary for the comfort of children. I talked a little 
with the narente whom I saw, but their feelings were 
THE BEECH, AND ELECTRICITY 
Eos. Rural New Yorker: — Having taken a deep 
interest in the discussion of the question in regard 
to whether tlm Beech tree is a conductor of atmos¬ 
pheric electricity or not, 1 take the liberty of sending 
a few facts that have come under my own observation 
and that of my friends, aud also presenting the 
theory which seems to bo warranted by these facts. 
On my own place a green beech tree, standing about 
thirty feet from a large whitewood, was set on lire in 
a dry hollow about forty feet from the ground at the 
same time that the whitewood was struck and burned 
off at that point. No trace of the passage of the 
fluid was observed upon the beech. 
An oak (a friend tells me he saw,) that stood very 
beech tree was struck by lightning and badly 
Attica, N. Y 
[Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker.] 
EDUCATION AMONG RURALISTS, 
THE OCEAN 
The ocean has, naturally, a pure bluish tint. All 
profound and clear seas are more or less of a deep 
blue; while, according to seamen, a green color indi¬ 
cates soundings. The bright blue of ttie Mediter¬ 
ranean, so often vaunted by poets, is found all over 
the deep pure ocean, not only in the tropical and 
temperate /.ones, but also in the regions of eternal 
frost. The North Sea is green, partly from the reflec¬ 
tion of its sandy bottom mixing with the essentially 
blue tint of the water. In the Bay of Loango the sea 
has the color of blood, whicli results from the reflec¬ 
tion of the rod ground-soil. But the hue is much 
more frequently changed, over large spaces, by means 
of enormous masses of minute a I gee, and countless j 
hosts of small sea-worms, floating or swimming on 
tho surface. Near Callao, the Pacific has an olive- 
green color, owing to a greenish matter lound at a 
depth of eight hundred feet. Near Cape Palmas, on 
the coast of Guinea, Captain Tuckey’s ship seemed 
to sail through milk—a phenomenon which was 
owing to an immense number of little white animals 
Bwitnmiug on the surface. I he peculiar coloring oi 
the Red Sea, whence its name, is derived from the 
presence of a microscopic alga, sui generis, less 
remarkable even for its beautiful red color than for 
its prodigious fecundity. In many more instances, 
front like causes, the deep blue is varied with stripes 
of white, yellow, green, brown, orange, or red. 
near a 
shivered down to within about fifteen or twenty feet 
of the ground, when it passed to the beech, and from 
that point there was a small furrow torn through the 
bark to the earth. Two other instances have come 
to my knowledge, in this vicinity, where the beech 
tree has been more or less injured by lightning 
without standing near trees of other kinds that were 
struck. 
The reason why the beech tree is so seldom injured 
by the passage of the electrical current, is because of 
its superior conducting power, and not its being a 
non-conductor. The green beech, especially the 
white variety, possesses a greater specific gravity 
than almost any other tree of our climate, aud will 
sink in water, as woodmen have often observed. 
This, and the thinneBS of the dry portion, render the 
outside, when the surface is once moistened by the 
rain, as good a conductor as any portion of the 
inner wood, and in extremely rare instances only,— 
when the surface bark is thick and dry as in the red 
beech, thus rendering it a non-conductor, —is the 
tree injured by the stroke. In these two respects the 
beech differs from the oak, chestnut, whitewood, and 
other trees often struck, whose thick, dry, non-con¬ 
ducting bark, has to be torn away before anything 
like a conductor is reached aud whose timber forms 
but a poor one at best. 
Two horses, two or three years since, were killed 
on a neighboring farm under a smooth, thrifty, 
second-growth hickory tree (which had bark similar 
to the beech,) aud not a trace of the lightning’s path 
could he observed on the tree. One fact for all to 
think of is, that electricity will leave a poor, or mod- 
farm buildings, hoo.^o, sheds, wood house, barns, 
horse barn, bog pen, all tight and warm, warm straw 
bedding for horses and hogs, cattle all under cover 
chewing their cuds in perfect composure. Mr. H„ 
the man of the house, was not at home. We were 
kindly invited by the lady to put our horse it) the 
barn, and take dinner. The Town Superintendent 
was with me. 
After dinner we wended our way up the stormy hill 
to the school house, leaving word with the lady for 
herself and husband to follow as soon as he returned, 
which they did about 2 P. M. On arriving at the 
school house, how changed was the scene from that 
below in that peaceful valley. The inhabitants had 
been in a quarrel, had moved the school house two 
or three times, till it became racked, so that every 
clapboard and tioor board was loose, and the wind 
and snow were whistling through the cracks in every 
direction. The house had no underpinning except 
large bouldere under the west corners and middle, 
giving the wind a fair eliance to come up turoilgU 
the floor, causing the clothing of the children to 
flutter like the Uttered rigging of an old vessel. And 
worse than all, the lower part of the chimney had 
fallon fliuun TvntUimr ft heftD of brick aud mortar. on 
The first consideration with a Knave ib, now to 
help himself, and the second, how to do it wita an 
appearance of helping you. Dionysius, the tyrant, 
stripped the statue of Jupiter Olympus of a robe of 
massy gold, and substituted a cloak of wool, saying, 
gold is too cold in winter, and too heavy In summer; 
I it behooves us to take care of Jupiter! 
