■ 
r?' yrr 
#!tt«ti0tt»I. 
the value of a college education. 
Those who have at heart the intellectual 
progress of the masses, find it difficult to make ^ 
a choice among the thousand and one systems ^ 
of popular education. It is puzzling to decide ^ 
jiot only what branches of knowledge are best ^ 
calculated to meet the wants of the many, but c 
also what methods of instruction will bring the 
speediest results. ^ 
Two objects, wlileh it is generally admitted ( 
must. be constantly kept iu view in all efforts in ^ 
this direction, seem at times wholly irrcconcila- ^ 
blc. On the one hand, the dignity of learning 
must l>e maintained; knowledge must be taught 
to be valuable in and for itself alone, and with¬ 
out reference to the ulterior advantages which ^ 
its possession secures. And, on the other, as 
education would soon fall into disrepute, unless 
it were made to subserve the immediate neces¬ 
sities of life, unless it smoothed the paths of 
labor and aided in winning fortune, it must 
demonstrate beyond all cavil its practical im¬ 
portance; it must prove that its acquisitions ~ 
are worth more In hard currency than the value 
of the time spent in obtaining them. 6 
Scholars tell us there is do danger that there r 
will he a paucity of practical laborers in the 
fields of knowledge, but thnt it is far more to be 
feared in our day, that the soil will he worked 
solely with reference to what it will bring at the r 
time. We can carry too far, they say, the notion 
that an idea is worth nothing unless it can be ^ 
embodied in labor-saving machinery, or put to a 
some other industrial use, and made to delve t 
for the merely temporal prosperity of the g 
individual. j 
But while we avoid this extreme, let us not ^ 
run into the other. Grave and experienced ed- fl 
ucators of conservative habits of thought, now j 
and then entertain a suspicion that our higher c 
institutions of learning are so imbued with the r 
spirit of ancient lore, that they are blind to the r 
necessities of the times, and are consequently lia- ( 
ble to fail in fitting a young man for the practical 
duties of life. t 
That either of these systems, the classical or 
the practical, when exclusively pursued, will fail j 
to secure the best advantages to be derived g 
from enlightened education, we think there is t 
no doubt; and for our own part, we believe that s 
sound scholarship is not incompatible with pro- , 
gross in the useful and practical pursuits. We ( 
arc convinced rather, that they go hand in hand 
together, mutually giving and receiving assist- 
ance. The greatest difficulty the educator en¬ 
counters, is not to steer a middle course between 
speculative aud applied knowledge, but to adapt 
a system which is devised to meet general wants, 
to the peculiar necessities of the individual. The ( 
best curriculum can only satisfy general require¬ 
ments, and the student most, pursue the bukk*jb- , 
tlons of his course of study rather than rely npon : 
its unaided results for what is needed In his own , 
particular case. , 
With these preliminary remarks, we introduce 
to Rural readers a correspondent, D. A. C. of 
San Francisco, Cal., who has something to say 
about the “Value of a College Education:'' 
“I have just completed," he says, “a course 
of Instruction at one of those higher institutions 
of learning where young men are taught to 
promenade gracefully every avenue of life. 
Here one studies language, but it Is a language 
never spoken and but seldom written; mathe¬ 
matics, but never its uses; the sciences, but he 
gets only a glimpse of the prominent headlands 
of a landscape, over which the curtain suddenly 
falls and leaves him in greater darkness than 
before. Rhetoric and elocution arc taught by 
alternately declaiming “ Wiuts' Speeches of 
Patrick Henry," and composing tri-monthly 
essays of live minutes’ duration. The whole 
curriculum is completed by one monster, public 
demonstration, the most remarkable feature of 
which is the unusually tine garb of the ex¬ 
hibitors. 
“I sometimes think that the reason why we 
accomplish so little that is tangible and practical 
in our Colleges, is due not so much to the ineffi 
caey of our systems of Instruction as to the 
difficult nature of education itself. It may have 
been this which made Gibbon so paradoxical, 
when summing up the career of Commodcs : 
‘ Education,' he says, ' is seldom of much effi¬ 
cacy, except in those happy dispositions where 
it is almost superfluous. 1 But it has always 
seemed to me that a system might be devised, 
which, if it could not altogether meet individual 
demauds, will better satisfy general wants. 
“We arc advised that, under tbe present sys¬ 
tem, the object of a College education is not so 
much to convey a stipulated quantity of informa¬ 
tion from the professor into the possession of 
the students for certain practical, well-defined 
purposes, as to open up to view the landmark’s 
of knowledge to serve as guide-posts to the stu¬ 
dent in that journey which he is expected sub¬ 
sequently to take, alone and at Ids leisure. This 
is ail very well, and may serve excellently as a 
map for a broad and diversified Unscape. But 
unfortunately, there are but few of us that are 
not wanting either lu the Inclination, the leisure 
or the means Indispensable to such an extensive 
journey; and the emphatic, necessary demands 
of the hour arc, that we should be prepared with 
some reliable, practical information with refer¬ 
ence to that voyage of life, into the active, busy 
scenes of which we step, so soon as we turn our 
backs upon the College Chapel. 
“ In what light is a studeut viewed by a sys¬ 
tem of education which iguores him as au indi¬ 
vidual, and meets so inadequately the general 
demands of society V With what replies does it 
furnish hint to the following questions? ‘Is there 
uothing I can do better than others ? ’ 1 Must I 
pass the first years of vigorous young luauhood 
lu a fruitless search for that, kind oflabor which 
I am peculiarly fitted to perform?’ ‘Or, if we 
are all indifferently well qualified for almost any 
place in life, does our lot depend merely on the 
caprice of fortune? 1 Education, that which is 
worthy of the name, ought to give some definite 
answers to questions of this character. Not all 
of us can become learned in the higher sense of 
the term. It Is the misfortune of most of us to 
be born pool-. Our Colleges have no fellowships 
where bounties are paid to celibacy and oppor¬ 
tunities given for further study. Our education 
ceases when we leave the College halls; and we 
come out, too many ot us, without a singlB 
weapon iu our hands to aid us in conquering 
fortune. We enter, unprovided, a new field, 
totally different from the former. Wo drop the 
College gown and indue ourselves with tbe work¬ 
day blouse of the world, and it sits awkwardly 
enough on our young limb3. Tender hands 
arc sore chafed, and shoulders galled with the 
weight they have to take on in real life. 
Pale faces are begrimed with the dust and toil 
of the struggle for bread. The strong, animal 
instinct of self-preservation rules the hour, and 
old, useless College traditions fade away and die 
out in the memory. 
“ Believe me, Mr. Editor, there was terrible 
sarcasm in that suggestion of Emerson’s, that 
the advantages of a College education might be 
summed up in the possession of ‘a separate 
room and a fire.'" 
an®ns #0jms 
VENTILATION. 
Mncn as has been said on ventilation, the 
majority of the school-houses of the State remain 
uuventilated, or at best ill-ventilated. Any ap¬ 
paratus for this purpose, other than windows 
and doors, is still tbe exception. Bad air is 
the greatest aunoyance encountered in visiting 
schools. To the children constantly breathing 
poisonous gas, the permanent, consequences, 
besides the present lassitude and restlessness, 
are most injurious. In visiting eight schools in 
Millbury a few days since, I enjoyed the luxury 
of breathing pure air in each. The cause of this 
rare phenomenon was not any superior appa¬ 
ratus, bilt the following printed regulation of 
the school committee, conspicuously posted in 
every room, which I heg leave to commend to 
teachers and committees: 
“ The windows that will not directly admit 
the air upon the children, should, during the 
school session, be dropped a few inches from 
the top; and at recess, and at the close of the 
school, both morning and afternoon, all the 
windows should be thrown wide open for a few 
moments so as to change the air of the school¬ 
room and effectually remove from it all im¬ 
purities.”— Massachusetts Report on Schools. 
SCHOOLS IN CALIFORNIA. 
Tue total Dumber of common schools in 
California is eight hundred and thirty-two, of 
which five are high schools, forty-four grammar, 
fnnv linn^rril -md t iv i*tx t ^ uti^iuduQ, Llilrty uizio 
intermediate, and three hundred and twenty- 
one primary; and increase of seventy-eight 
schools over last year. The number of white 
children in the State between six and eighteen 
years of age, who attend no schools whatever, 
is twenty thousand eight hundred and forty- 
seven ! In other words, twenty-four per cent, 
of all the children in the State between the ages 
of four and eighteen years, are returned by the 
Census Marshals as not attending any school! 
The average monthly wages paid to male teach¬ 
ers is $73.SS, to female teachers $54.91—making 
an average to all teachers of about $64.00 per 
month. As teachers are paid ouly for the time 
they are actually employed, and as the average 
length ot schools is six and uine-teuths mouths, 
tbe average annual salary of male teachers is 
$409; of female teachers, $379; aud of all teach¬ 
ers, $4-24. 
Education in Germany. —The Fourteenth 
Cougress of the Schoolmasters of Germany has 
just been held at Manhelm; tbe sittings having 
lasted three days. Among the questions dis¬ 
cussed were, the best methods of developing 
memory in children; the means of awakening 
in them a love of country; the advantages re 
suiting from a larger share being given to 
gyuiuastie exercises in education; the study of 
music, especially of national songs; the necessi¬ 
ty of teaching children, with the greatest care, 
the history of their country, and especially the 
great deeds and victories or the German people, 
Oce. There are now in the different German 
States sixty-three educational periodicals. 
An Educational Association ot the colored 
people in Savannah, uuder the auspices of Gen. 
Geary, Military Commander, has just been 
established. On January 12tb, live hundred 
children assembled In the basement of the First 
African Baptist Church, aud were formed into 
ten schools, all of which, with their teachers, 
then marched iu procession to the buildiugs 
assigned them. The officers of the association 
are all colored men, and the expenses are all to 
be borge by the negroes. Seveu hundred and 
fifty-four dollars was raised at one meeting. 
This movement is an exceedingly hopeful one. 
■ »» 4 -— " ' 
Dreadful limits are set in nature to the 
power of dissimulation. Truth tyrannizes over 
the unwilling members of the body. Faces 
never lie, it is said. No mau need be deceived 
who w ill study the changes of expression. When 
he has base ends, and speaks falsely, his eye is 
muddy, and sometimes asquint. I have heard 
au experienced counsellor say, that he never 
feared the effect upon a jury ot a lawyer who 
does not believe in his heart that his client 
ought to have a verdict. —Emerson. 
• - - -»*♦ 1 — 
Tue value of school houses in Ohio is $fi,16S,- 
7ofi. The uu tuber of common schools, 11,661; 
of high schools, 149; of colored schools 145; 
German aud English schools, 35. 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
A WORD FOR WORKING MEN. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: — Mr. C. L. 
Flint, Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 
Agriculture, who has traveled, for the past two 
years, extensively in Europe, both in the British 
dominions and on the Continent, reports, from 
repeated inquiries and accurate knowledge, that 
the wages of laboring men, in the several 
countries, range from seventeen to thirty-seven 
cents per day; and in all eases, be it remem¬ 
bered, the men “ board themselves;" neither is 
there any “ten-hour” system, as with us, but 
it is hard labor from “ early morn” to “dewey 
eve.” 
The cost of board, or living, is nearly the same 
as with ns, perhaps a trifle cheaper. Superior 
plowmen, and those skilled in any department 
of husbandry, receive additional wages, and also 
through the hay and harvest seasOD. Women 
and children from necessity, must toil in the 
hay field, spade the grouud, weed tbe vegeta¬ 
bles, &c., at reduced prices. With 6tieh a 
limited Income, even the necessaries of life 
are denied to many, and, though they gather 
up and sow everything possible, still there 
is much real want. 
Think, too, of withheld sights and privileges. 
The right ot suffrage is denied to most; while 
the means even of a limited education are be¬ 
yond the reach of multitudes. Then the privi¬ 
lege of “keeping and bearing firearms” is not 
generally granted, and the prospect of holding 
an uninenmbered title to the soil, Is faint beyond 
even a shadow of hope. In such a condition 
the prospects of the poor man must be feeble 
indeed. Under snch burdens how can he rise? 
Naturally he looks for, and, if able, seeks a home 
in the new world, where legitimate “ rights are 
inalienable,” and the pursuits of virtue, intelli¬ 
gence, and prosperity, are encouraged and open 
to all; hence, thousands of laboring men land 
on our shores yearly. In every section of our 
country they are rearing their homes. 
Truly, we have a goodly heritage! Here the 
laboring man receives from one to two dollars 
per day for ordinary labor, and is not unfre- 
qnently “found” at that. Often he does not 
work as hard, or for so many hours, as his em¬ 
ployer. In many sections the means of educa¬ 
tion are “ free ” to all. If provident and blessed 
with health and intelligence, he may enjoy the 
prospect of standing, at no distant day, among 
free men— a “ freeholder, ” respocted and hon¬ 
ored. 
Here it is the privilege of every mau to rise to 
the dignity of a “ nobleman," If not In titles and 
possessions, yet in that higher sense, namely, of 
virtue, of intelligence, and of an exalting reli¬ 
gion. The highest stations la public life are 
attainable, and within the reach oA those who 
prove themselves worthy, though they may bare 
sprung from humble spheres. Think of the Presi¬ 
dent and Vice-President of the United States, of 
the Secretary ot State, of the Chief Justice, and 
of a host of statesmen, orators and divines — all 
illustrious—and springing from the working 
classes. 
Guarded and protected by such institutions 
and 6uch a Government, shall we not reciprocate 
the blessings? Shall we not, to a man, rally 
around our country’s flag, uphold by our voices 
and our votes, every wise and patriotic measure, 
and defend with our strong arms our institutions 
and Constitution from Invaders abroad and rebels 
at home ? If we suffer this land to fall, whither 
shall we flee ? Where will the poor man liud au 
asylum like this ? Then will not every working 
man, especially, stand by our Government? — 
assist in carrying out her merciful measures and 
gracious designs ? By so doing we may bequeath 
to our children's children privileges andblessings 
uuenjoyed, and, perhaps not as yet, anticipated. 
Dighton, 1965. C. W. Turner. 
Christianity consists in sprinkling water upon 
the head with a tittle salt. 1 1 Heb, bon Bleu' 
said I, shocked at this impiety, ‘ have you forgot¬ 
ten, then, that Jesus Christ was baptized by 
John? 1 ‘Friend, once more, no oaths,' replied 
the benign Quaker, 'Christ received baptism 
from Jobn, but he baptized no one; we are not 
John’s disciples, but Christ’s. 1 ‘Ah,’ cried I, 
‘ how you would be burned by the Holy Inquisi¬ 
tion. In the name of God, my dear man, let me 
have you baptized ! 1 ‘ Art thou circumcised ?’ 
he asked. I replied that I had not that honor. 
1 Very well, friend, 1 said he, ‘ thouart a Christian 
without being circumcised, and I without being 
baptized.' 11 
NO NEED TO DIE OF THIRST. 
It ought not to be forgotten by any one liable 
to shipwreck that thirst is quenched by soaking 
the clothes in salt water twice a day, or even 
oftener, and allowing them to dry upon the per¬ 
son. If sea water is drank, the salty portions 
of it are absorbed into the blood, and fire it 
with anew and more raging thirst, and a fierce 
delirium soon sets in. It would seem that the 
system imbibes the water, but excludes all the 
other constituents. It is known that wading in 
commonwater quenches thirstwith great rapidity. 
Persons while working in water seldom became 
thirsty. And it is further interesting to know, 
that however soaking wet the garment may be¬ 
come from rain or otherwise, it is impossible for 
the person to take cold if the precaution is 
taken to keep in motion with sufficient activity 
to keep off the feeling of chilliness until the 
clothing is perfectly dried or facilities are afforded 
fora change; but in changing the garments after 
wetting, it is always safest and best, as an ad¬ 
ditional safeguard against taking cold, to drink 
a cup or two of some hot beverage before be¬ 
ginning to undress .—Hairs Journal of Health. 
VOLTAIRE AND THE QUAKERS. 
The Quakera, who were at that time a novelty 
iu England, were visited by the curious straDger. 
Of this visit Voltaire writes : 
“The Quaker was au old man of fresh com¬ 
plexion, who had never been siek, because he 
always had been continent and temperate. Iu 
my life I have never seen a presence more noble 
nor more engaging than bis. He was dressed, 
like all those of his persuasion, in a coat with¬ 
out plaits at the sides, or buttous on the pockets 
and sleeves, and wore a broad-brimmed hat tike 
those of our ecclesiastics. He received tue with 
his hat on, and advanced to me without making 
any inclination of his body; but there was more 
politeucss in the open and humane expression of 
bis countenance than there is in the custom of 
drawiug one leg bchiud the other, and in that of 
carrying in the hand what was made to cover 
the head. * Friend, 1 said he to me, • I see that 
thou art a stranger; If I can be of any use to 
thee, thou hast only to speak.’ ‘ Sir,’ said I to 
him, with a bow and a step forward, according to 
our custom, ‘ I flatter myself that my reasonable 
curiosity will not displease you, and that you 
will be wilting to do mo the honor to Instruct 
me in your religion.’ ‘The people ot the country,’ 
he replied, ‘ make too many compliments and 
hows, hut 1 have never before .-eon one of them 
who had the same curiosity as thou. Como iu 
and take dinner with me.’ I still kept paying 
him bad compliments, because a mau eaunot all 
•at ouee lay aside his habits—and, after a whole¬ 
some and frugal repast, which began and ended 
with a prayer to God, I began to question my 
host. I began with the question which good 
Catholics have put more than once to the Hu¬ 
guenots. * My dear sir,’ said I, * have you been 
baptized ?' ‘ No,’ replied the Quaker, ‘ Nor my 
brethren either.’ ‘How! J lorbleti? You are 
not Christians, then?’ ‘My friend, 1 he mildly 
rejoined, ‘swear not; wo do not think that 
Nurse and 5pt in tbe Union Army: Comprising the x 
Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospi¬ 
tals. Camps and Battlefields. By S. Emma E. Ed¬ 
monds. 12mo—pp. 384. Illustrated. Published by j 
subscription only, by W. S. Williams & Co., Hart¬ 
ford, Conn. 1 
Thts ostentations volume claims to be a truthful £ 
narration of incidents in the experience of a woman, 
who. In tho capacity of a nurse or spy, as the occasion 1 
demanded, passed over two years with our armies. ] 
She appears to have been in camp, on the lonely • 
march, in the bivouac, on the battle-field, and in “the ■ 
Imminent, deadly breach ;” and to have listened neap- . 
palled to the spiteful whistle of bullets and the roar 
of m'ghtr ordnance. Appareled in. virile garments, 
she has hobnobbed with rebel officers, and extracted 
important military secrets; and, disguised as a contra¬ 
band. has worked npon rebel fortifications. She has 
held the cooline flranabt t>> tho of the nuuuilea 
Union soldier, and has transmitted dying mcesages to 
the •* loved ones at home.” She bestrode a horse like 
a Bcdonln, was a “crack shot,” tossessed Indomitable 
courage, and extraordinary endurance. 
Here are accomplishments enough to pat to shame 
the aspirations of the hitherto “ strong-minded.” But 
this la not enough. She has written a book in which 
all these things appear in vivid colors —and by no 
means ** as through a glass—darkly.” 
This work i3 published by subscription, and a por¬ 
tion of the funds arising from its sale are to be set 
apart, for the benefit of the North-western Sanitary 
Commission. For the sake of this latter fact we wish 
we could give the work our unqalifled approval. As it 
is, the book is spiritedly written, and the moral pur¬ 
pose of the writer cannot be questioned, whatever be 
the moral effect of her story. Those who like an ex¬ 
citing narrative will find It thrilling; not *' ower true,” 
but “ strange!" Barrow Jt Brother, Agents. 
—-•+•- 
The Thinking Bayonet. By James K. Hosmer, 
Author of the “Color-Guard.” 12mo.— pp. 326. 
Boston: Walker, Faller & Co. 
The author of the Color Guard— one of the best 
novels fonnded npon incidents in the rebellion that 
has yei appeared—will hardly add mach to his reputa¬ 
tion by this new publication. The story is indeed \ 
written in the clear and graphic epistolary style which 
hts former readers have found eo delightful, and the de¬ 
tails of a soldier’s life in which it abounds, cannot fail 
to be interesting, when told by so attentive an observ¬ 
er, aud by one who was a “ great part of what he saw.” 
Nevertheless the book leaves hut a vague impression, 
by reason of defects in its general design, aud its fail¬ 
ure to vindicate its high moral purpose. We have 
space to point out only the latter. 
The hero Is Introduced to ns tis a highly intellectual 
young man, perplexed by religions doubts, and vainly 
trying to discover ultimate truths In the maelstrom of 
German Metaphysics. While he Is wholly given up to 
morbid fancies, tbe war breaks out, and suddenly Im¬ 
pelled to “ do something for humanity,” He enters Into 
the eoniest, heart and soul. That is the last we hear 
of his doubts and questionings. They are not resolved, 
but their consideration appears to bo postponed. 
This is a very grave mistake in the author, for he 
has been only too apt in conceiving, and too explicit 
in unfolding certain stern difficulties In religious faith. 
For sale by Steels & Avert. 
A Treatise on Counterfeit, Altered and Spnrious 
Bank Notes. With Unerring Rules for the Detec¬ 
tion of Frauds in the same. Illustrated with Orig¬ 
inal Steel. Copper and Wood Plate engravings, Ac. 
By E. J Wilbur and E. P. Eastman. Poughkeep¬ 
sie, N. V.: Published for the Authors. 
Tms elegant work commends itself especially to 
that highly respectable, bat very small class In every 
, community, whoso good fortune it is, now and then, 
to peruse “ the benevolent face of a dollar or two.” 
Moreover, It enables one to discriminate between real 
and sham “ benevolence,” In such cases. The Omnip¬ 
otent Greenback, which, in the exigencies of the times 
the Government hAs substituted for the “Almighty 
Dollar,” i* the principal theme of the work, but the 
volume also includes several interesting articles ou 
“ Money,” ancient ami modern, " Continental Cnrren- 
[ cy,” “ Banks,” &c., Ac. The illustrations the work 
• contains are very excellent, and the directions given 
[ for detecting “ bad tnouey," are. In general, valuable. 
The several parts of -a bauk note are minutely de¬ 
scribed, aud the differences between the genuine and 
1 the spnrions, altered or countefeit bill, as distinctly 
pointed out as may be. This work is supplemented 
' with au entertaining and Instructive article upon 
r “making money," from Harper's Magazine. Fur- 
t nlehcd by booksellers generally. 
Tdi».c| Ut tli? fjaung. 
THE QUARRELSOME DOGS. 
Old Tray and rough Growler are having a fight, 
So let ns get out of their way; 
They snarl and they growl and they bark and they bite. 
Oh dear, what a terrible fray. 
Why, what foolish fellows I Now is it not hard 
They can’t live together in qnlet? 
There’s plenty of room for them both in the yard, 
And always a plenty of diet. 
Bat who ever eaid to old Growler and Tray 
It was naughty to quarrel and fight ? 
They think ’its as pretty to fight as to play, 
And know not the wrong from the right. 
But when little children, who know it is wrong, 
Are angrily fighting away, 
A great deal more blame unto them mu3t belong 
Than to quarrelsome Growler and Tray. 
A TOUCH OF PRIDE. 
It was a cold night iu the winter. The wind 
blew and the snow was whirled furioasly about, 
seeking to hide itself beneath cloaks and hoods, 
and in the very hair of those that were out. A 
distinguished lecturer was to speak, and not¬ 
withstanding the storm the villagers ventured 
forth to hear him. William Annesley, buttoned 
up to the chi a In his thick overcoat, accompa¬ 
nied his mother. It was difficult to walk through 
the new-fallen snow, against the piercing wind, 
and Wiiliam said to his mother: 
“Couldn’t you walk more easily if you took 
my arm?” 
“ Perhaps I could,” hi3 mother replied, as she 
put her arm through his and drew up as close as 
possible to him. Together they breasted the 
storm, the mother and the hoy who had once 
been carried in her arms, but who had grown up 
so tall that she could lean on his. They had not 
walked far before he said to her: 
“ I am very proud to-night” 
“ Proud that you can take care of me ?” 
“ This i 3 the first time you have leaned npon 
me,” said the happy boy. 
There will be few hours in that child’s life of 
more exalted pleasure than he enjoyed that even¬ 
ing even if he should live to an old age, and 
should, in his manhood lovingly provide for 
her who watched over him in helpless infancy. 
It was a noble pride that made his mother love 
him, if possible, more than ever, and made her 
pray for him with more earnestness, thankful for 
his devoted love, aud hopeful for his future. 
There is no more beautiful sight than affection¬ 
ate, devoted, obedient children. I am sure that 
he who commanded children to honor their 
father and their mother must look upon such 
, with pleasure. May He bless every boy whose 
. neart is niled with ambition to be a blessing and 
' “ a staff” to bis mother. 
BEAUTIFUL ANSWERS. 
A pupil of the Abbe Sicord gave the following 
extraordinary answers: 
“ What is gratitude ? ” 
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” 
“ What is hope ? " 
“Hope is the blossom of happiness.” 
“ What is the difference between hope and 
desire? ” 
“Desire is a tree in leaf, hope is a tree in 
flower, and enjoyment is a tree in fruit.” 
“ What is eternity ? 11 
“ A day without a yesterday or to-morrow — a 
line that has no end.” 
“What is God?” 
“The necessary being, the sun of eternity, 
machinist of nature, the eye of justice, the 
watchmaker of the universe, the soul of the 
world.” 
ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH. 
Tub ground-work of all manly character is 
veracity; or the habit of truthfulness. That vir- 
I tue lies at the foundation of everything said. 
How common it is to hear parents say “ I have 
faith in my child so long as he speaks the truth. 
He may have many faults, but I know that he 
will not deceive. I build on that confidence.” 
They are rights It is a lawful and just grouud 
to build upon. So long as the truth remains in 
a child, there Is something to depend on; but 
wheu truth Is gone, all is lost, unless the child 
is speedily won back again to veracity. Chil¬ 
dren, did you ever tell a lie ? If so, you are in 
imminent danger. Return at once, little reader, 
and enter the stronghold of truth, and from it 
may you never depart again.—(Selected, 
Tue Tw© Loves.—A friend of ours, a young 
lady of New Bedford, was intimately acquainted 
in a family in which there was A sweet, bright 
little boy, of some five years, between whom and 
herself there sprang up a very tender friendship. 
Oue day, she said to him—“ Willie, do you love 
me ? ” “ Yes, indeed! ” he replied, with a cling¬ 
ing kiss. “ How much ? ” “ Why, I love you— 
I love you—up to the sky." Just theu, his eye 
fell ou his mother. Fliuging his arms about her, 
and kissing her passionately, he exclaimed— 
“ But, maixaia, I love way up to God ! ” 
Could the distinction between the two loves be 
more exquisitely drawn? 
In seasons of trial and perplexity we have 
been tempted to think that if we had only lived 
in the old dispensation, an angel would have 
visited us with a message, or a vision have guid¬ 
ed our indecisiou. But we have not availed 
ourselves as Ailly as is our privilege of the pres¬ 
ence of the Angel of the Coveueut in the per¬ 
sonal humanity of Jesus, who went before us 
through all the stages of life and sorrow. In 
such seasons we are required to take but one 
step at a time, looking up all tbe way. 
- N - ' "" 
