v-, f 
Written for Moere's Rural New-Yorker. 
CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION. 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
HOME. 
the hill - side, Where the birds flew gay - ]y round 
the gar - den, Where the bees are buzz - in? rouud 
the mead-ow, At the swal - Iowa o’er the brook 
Goon farm hands are scarce and readily obtain 
wages proportionable higher than arc now paid 
in any other department of labor. On the other 
hand, our metropolitan cities swarm with indi¬ 
gent fortune seekers, all eager to enter the great 
temple of trade,—even through its meanest and 
dirtiest avenues. A New York paper relates how 
a gentleman of that city, advertising in two of 
the daily papers for a clerk, received three hun¬ 
dred applications for the coveted place in two 
days. No small proportion of the young men 
thns adrift in our cities seeking the nncertain 
chances of earning a livelihood are the sons of 
farmers. They have become dissatisfied with 
the farmer's vocation ; they seek a shorter and 
easier road to wealth: at the very root of their 
discontent is the conceit that they arc too smart 
to submit to the drudgery of agricultural or 
mechanical pursuits—together with the nation, 
as prevalent as it is pernicious, that industrial 
pursuits entitle a man to but a secondary place 
in society, and are not remunerative. 
It is the lack of the class of young men we 
have spoken of that they have no settled aim or 
purpose in life—that they have not made choice 
of an occupation. And above all thiDgs else 
we would impress It upon the minds of all such 
that the first and best thing to he done is to fix 
their energies ou the pursuit of some definite, 
legitimate calling and “ stick to it.” It is not 
always easy for a young man to make a choice 
of this kind, or determine the kind of work he 
is best fitted to accomplish. But the sooner he 
can bring his energies to hear around some 
great central object the better. And nine times 
out of ten the best beginning he can make is in 
some industrial calling. Ho will feel less em¬ 
barrassed by inexperience here, and will be most 
likely to lay the foundation of habits indispen¬ 
sable to success. It is no good indication when 
young men, and farmers’ sons at that, arc seek¬ 
ing places as clerks and positions of every kind 
to avoid labor, — all before they are out of their 
teens. Yet really the coveted places are most 
laborious. Where one man is injured or broken 
down in constitution by undue physical exer¬ 
tion, hundreds, nay thousands, die or linger 
semi-helpless and imbecile, the result of over¬ 
taxed mental energies. Most of the strictly 
business avocations confine men closely indoors 
and restrict them almost wholly to artificial 
habits of life. Nature’s almost constant warn¬ 
ings pass unheeded in the excitement of the 
hour, and men pay the last penalty, death, before 
they have lived out half their allotted time. 
But people get to live under more or less un¬ 
natural conditions by the force of habit, and 
habit, also becomes hereditary. Hence from this 
consideration, as well as others, we say at is best 
that, those who recruit the various departments 
and callings of our social fabric are better “to 
the manor boru.” Those bora and reared in 
the country should properly fill the ranks of the 
agriculturist. Le.t those of the families of trades¬ 
men and business men fill the various town oc¬ 
cupations. There will of course he exceptions 
caused by special native qualifications which 
point irresistibly to some particular pursuit, and 
which ought to be respected. But aside from 
this we maintain the proposition that fanners’ 
sons and daughters should not hasten to the 
town in Order to start in life , where every adverse 
chance is multiplied a thousand fold. 
Society tends greatly to the encouragement 
of the evil we are deprecating. There is a prev¬ 
alent impression that industrial pursuits are 
not lucrative, and young men eertalnly have 
6ome reason to feel that they are not the most 
honored and do not command the highest re¬ 
spect. Wealth, powerand place are very worthy 
attributes in the estimation of mankind,—still 
agencies which directly produce all these occupy 
a place quite inferior to the accidental possessor 
of them, possession being plainly nine points 
in the law of public opinion. * * Together 
with the notion that labor is degrading is found 
another equally prevalent and just as erroneous, 
— the idea that farming does not pay. We be¬ 
lieve it can be demonstrated that energy and 
first class abilities are just as well repaid in the 
business of Agriculture as in any other business. 
And there are not wanting in illustration men 
who have accumulated colossal fortunes solely 
by the legitimate pursuits of husbandry. Does 
not pay / Men of the best, or at least supposed 
to be of the best abilities go to the teacher’s, the 
clergyman's and the accountant’s desk,— they 
fill the ranks of science and of letters, and the 
busy marts of trade, where it is supposed second 
rate talent cannot enter. And the mass of man¬ 
kind, out of which all these have been gleaned 
and furnished with the best advantages and cul¬ 
ture which our civilization can bestow, — this 
remainder or residue makes up the class known 
as farmers, vulgarly denominated “ clod-hop- 
perf.” And out of which of these various class¬ 
es come the largest proportion of individuals 
who succeed, according to the world’6 estimate 
of success. 
Among merchants not more than one in a 
hundred of those who start in business ulti¬ 
mately obtain a competence, is the testimony 
of those familiar with the statistics of trade. 
And it is the same in all the other avocations. 
It is only first rate talent which can be said to 
have a reasonable chance of success. And it is 
just as well known that the industrious posses¬ 
sor of even a few acres rarely fails in the end to 
secure a lair competence for himself and family. 
If a person of but medium ability, he is almost 
certain to make a good living and add something 
to his estate yearly. If possessed of extra busi¬ 
ness ability, the way to wealth, prosperty and 
influence is at least as clear as it is in any other 
business. As examples of what men of this 
class may accomplish when they turn their abili- 
smg-mg, What a 
hum-miug, Go - ing, 
dip - pimr, What a 
sacred associations; all that Is endearing in the 
relation of parents and children, brothers aud 
listers a mothers's watchtul care aud a father’s 
kind protection —all cling around the word 
home. Over it is always spread the radiance of 
those remembered joys, such as the morning of 
life ofliy knows. There are those dear play¬ 
mates, with whom we joyfully reveled in early 
youth, before a thought of earth’s cures and 
responsibilities had thrown its shadow over our 
brows. With them we wandered through the 
Helds and iu the groves, plucking the wild flow¬ 
ers by the way, unmindful of the toil the busy 
world was holding in reserve for us. It is pluas- 
iug to ns In after years to allow the miud to 
wander back to that old homestead, and, in im¬ 
agination, to live those childish pleasures over 
again. It seems to give us new life and create 
within us new aspirations. 
The man who makes for himself a happy 
home, possesses the chief means of all earthly 
comfort, and bliss. What need he care for the 
world s tavors or frowns If his home seems to 
invite him to rest and peace-. It Is a place of 
refuge, both in adversity imd prosperity. None 
there turn coldly away. When “the world 
goes wrong,” when misfortune overtakes ns, 
wheu the distrust of our fellow beings follows 
us through every walk and by-path of life, when 
we are wronged and neglected, what a blessing, 
what n balm to the wounded spirit, to bo enabled 
to enter our peaceful dwellings, where affection 
is ever awaiting us, and be soothed by those 
whose love makes our life a blessing, and the 
unfeeling world a paradise. 
The child, as soon as It la able to lisp the words, 
will say—“E want to go home.” The student, 
weary with long study, waits for the term to close, 
when he throws aside his worn books and cheer¬ 
fully shouts —“ I’m going home.” The soldier, 
worn with marching and lighting, thinks by day 
and dreams by night of the “dear ones” who 
are waiting to greet him homo. Yes, home, 
sweet home, “be It ever so humble,” is dear to 
as all. Hattie C. Acki.ky. 
sing - mg, What a springing, From their nestlings to the ground 
humming, Go - ing, com - ing, As their hon - ey cells they found 
dip-ping, What a dripping, It is droll e - nough to look. 
springing, From their nestlings to t .e ground; What a 
com - ing, As their hon - ey cells they found; What a 
dripping, It is droll e - nough to look; What a 
4. I’ve been wandering by the woodland, 
Where the squirrels * sport so free, 
What a springing, 
Running, leaping, 
Up and down, from tree to tree. 
5. While all creatures are so happy, 6. Soon 1 
While they 6port in beaming light, Wil 
I’ll be striving, 
I’ll be thriving, 
Ever cheerful, ever bright. We 
Pronounce either sjuirrit (short i as in the first syllable of miracle), or ejwrrif. 
ties to agriculture we might refer to the late 
Jacob Strwn of Illinois, 
are closed to the body so as to offer no resistence 
from the pressure of the woter against them. 
The muscular force employed, in maklug rapid 
progress tli rough the water, must be very con¬ 
siderable, judging by the effects produced.— B. 
A CAROLINA ROMEO AND JULIET 
and thousands of 
others, of whom be was but the representative 
—men who were not born rich or even lucky as 
the world terms it. But they created wealth, — 
they controlled destiny. 
Talk of lack —it assists men about as much 
as it assists Mobjchi in his resistless sweep of the 
chess board, or Grant aud Sherman in their 
victorious marches. Wheu will men learn and 
realize that Got» by his good Providence, or by 
His universal and unchangeable laws, established 
in the beginning places at the disposal of every 
one of average abilities and bodily health, abund¬ 
ant materials out of which to create, not only 
a livelihood, bat a fair share of the luxuries and 
elegancies of life ? Ours is a country of vast and 
varied resources. Able and energetic workers, 
men strong nerved in muscle and in brain aro 
most needed and will always have a par value. 
Because as a people we have been successful and 
have all the elements of boundless prosperity 
within our reach wo cannot stop here. The 
willing hand of Industry alone can call forth 
abundance of good and perfect things, — even 
where Nature is most bountiful. We may all 
regain the lost paradise, but it rnnst be at the 
price ©f care and pains-taking labor. Golden 
grain, luscious fruits—flowers that minister to 
our love of the beautiful — the regal products 
of the mine,—these do not spring up at our feet. 
Undoubtedly the calling of the Agriculturist 
demands the exercise of talents of no mean 
order. He of all others should be strong and 
versatile in his faculties. The executive and 
administrative faculty, so valuable, aud withal 
so rare, is in the highest degree essential to suc¬ 
cess here. It is the difference iu the develop¬ 
ment and use of this faculty which, in reality, 
makes the difference in the results achieved at 
the end of a life-time in the men who started 
in life with nearly equal chances, and to whom 
almost equal opportunities have been presented. 
What our country most needs to-day is more 
intelligent agriculturists — men who have faith 
in and respect their vocation, and enter upon it 
in the spirit of the ancient when ho said, “If 
the office cunnot confer honor upon me, I will 
confer honor on the office." 
Young men of America ! —you who have not 
yet made choice of a business for life,—there is 
no higher or nobler vocation than may be found 
in the pursuits of industry—no more honorable 
title than that of American Farmer. 
Ann Arbor, Mich. l. w. 
A Columbia (&. C.) correspondent of the Cin¬ 
cinnati Commercial relates the following:—It 
appears that true love has been revived in this 
State, from the following narrative, comtnuni- 
i cated by an acquaintance whom I knew in the 
Army of the Southwest. 
Early in the struggle a young lawyer entered 
the rebel service from this town, and obtained a 
Captain’s commission, deferring an engagement 
of marriage with a young woman of high social 
position and broad acres of cotton (disassociated 
from any in her toilet), until tig; contest had 
terminated. The loving twain agreed, that if 
one should die before the other, the survivor 
should follow to the tomb, aud they made such 
promises as did the fair Imogeue to Alonzo the 
Brave. At the battle of Five Forks, in Virginia, 
tlie Captain was killed; and the sad news being 
communicated to his mistress, she made her 
will, and prepared for death, though carefully 
concealing her determination from her relatives. 
A few weeks after t he full of the young officer, 
the morning following the afternoon of his fu¬ 
neral, which she attended, pale and tearless as a 
statue, she was found dead In her bed. Her 
parents said she had expired of congestion of the 
brain, but a note left by their daughter informed 
them of her Intention to commit suicide, which 
she did with hydrocyanic acid ; and, as the sen- 
tlmento-religious rhapsodists would have us 
believe, joined her Ipver in a realm of happiness, 
where the amaranth of affection forever blooms. 
SCARCITY OF MONEY IN UTAH, 
in Georgia eggs are used as 4 small change,’ bnt 
in Utah I see around me a people, a prosper¬ 
ous people, doing the business of life almost 
without money at all. In Salt Lake City itself, 
right In the line of travel, there is some money ; 
but in the eouutry settlements which radiate 
thence into every valley and by every water 
course for 100 miles, it is literally true that they 
hare no circulating medium. Wheat La the usual 
legal tender of the country. Horses, harness, 
vehicles, cattle and hay, are cash; eggs, batter, 
pistols, knives, stockings and whisky are change; 
pumpkins, potatoes, sorghum molasses and 
calves arc ‘shinplasters,’ which are taken at a 
discount, and with which the saints delight to 
pay their debts (if it is ever a delight to pay 
debts.) Business In this community, with the 
currency, is a very curious and ainusingpastlrne. 
A peddler, for instance, could take out his goods 
in a carpet-bag, but would need a ‘ bull ’ train 
to freight back his.money. I knew a man who 
refused an olfer to work in the country at $50 a 
month, because he would need a 1 forty-hundred 
wagon and four yoke of oxen’ to haul his week’s 
wages to the whisky shop, theatre, Ac., on Sat¬ 
urday evening. That was an inconvenience, 
truly. Aud yet the farmers in the country towns 
suffer from an exactly opposite grievance. They 
cannot keep their big 6ons from sneaking into 
the granary at night and taking off a half bushel 
or so of wheat, carrying it to the dram-shop and 
having a * high. ’ When a man once lays out his 
money in any kind of property, it is next to 
impossible to reconvert it into money. There 
is many a man there, who, when he first came 
into the valley, had no intention of remaining 
more than a short time, but soon got so involved 
that he could never get away without making 
heavy pecuniary sacrifices. Property is a Pro¬ 
teus, which you must continue to gripe firmly, 
notwithstanding his slippery changes, until you 
have him in his true shape—now yon have him 
as a fine horse and saddle; presto, he is only 00 
gallons of sorghurn molasses; now he changes 
into two cows and a calf, and before you have 
time to think, he is transformed into 15 cords 
of wood up in the mountain canon; next he 
becomes a yoke of oxen, then a ‘ sutler’ wagon; 
and thus Is he about to Blip from you at last in 
the form of bad debts.” 
LITTLE HELPERS: 
Charley was crying. He was the little baby, 
three months old. George left his play, and came 
running to see what was the matter. Georgia 
was only a two-year-old baby himself; though 
he could talk “like a little man,” and loved his 
new brother with a love big enough to till a great 
manly heart. 
“ What wfll Georgie do to help us?” thought 
weary mamma, holding the restless baby, as she 
saw him leave his little new rocking-horse and 
come to her aid. Yes, even than, mamma had 
learned to expect help rather than trouble when 
Georgia came. 
What could• the little darliug do to help ? Not 
much, you think. He climbed np on a stool, and 
took Charlie’s little fat flats in his, and put his 
bright face up to baby’s and said: 
“What the matter, Charlie S’ Don’t yon cry, 
Charlie, and I’ll tell you story, Charlie. ‘Jack 
and Jill went up the hill,’ Charlie.” 
Charlie stopped crying, though he did not 
understand the words; for, somehow, Georgia’s 
sunny faee comforted him; but mamma, who 
did understand all, was comforted yet more. 
Will all the dear children who have baby 
brothers and sister-? follow Georgia’s example, 
and try to be little helpers ? — Child at Home. 
USEFUL PLANTS, 
According to a Gorman author, the number 
of useful plants has risen to about 12,000; but 
it must bo remembered that these researches 
have been completed only in certain portions of 
the earth. There are less than 3,500 known 
economic plauts, among which are reckoned 
1,100 edible fruits, berries, and seeds; 50 cereals, 
40 uncultivated edible graminaceous seeds, 25 
of other families; 250 comestible rhizomes, 
roots and tubers, 37 onions, 420 vegetables and 
salads, 40 palms, 32 varieties of arrow-root, 31 
sugars, 40 salads. Vinous drinks are obtained 
from 200 plants, aromatics from 260. There are 
50 substitutes for coffee, 120 for tea. Tannin is 
present is 140 plants, caoutchouc in 00, gutta 
percha in 7, rosin and balsamic gums In 3S0, wax 
in 10, grcecc and essential oils in 330; 88 plants 
contain potash, soda aud iodine; 050 contain 
dyes; 47, soap; 250, fibers which serve for weav¬ 
ing; 44, for paper making; 48 give materials for 
roofing, 100 arc employed for hurdles and copses. 
In building, 740 are used, and there arc 615 
known poisonous plants. According to Endl- 
cher, out of 378 known natural families, 18 only 
seem, up to the present time, to bo perfectly 
useless. 
FRANKNESS, 
Be frank with the world. Frankness is the 
child of honesty and courage. Say just what 
you mean to do on every occasion, .and take it 
for granted that you mean to do what is right. 
It a friend ask you a favor, you should grant it, 
if it is reasonable; if it is not, tell him plainly 
why you cannot. You will wrong him and 
wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind. 
Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or 
keep one; the man who requires you to do so 
is dearly purchased, and at a sacrifice. Deul 
kindly aud firmly with all men, and you will 
find it the policy which wears the best. Above 
all, do not appear to others what you are not. 
If you have any fault to find with any one, tell 
him, not others of what you complain. There 
is no more dangerous experiment than that of 
undertaking to do one thing to a man’s face and 
another behind his back. We should live, act 
and speak out doors, as the phrase is, and say 
and do what we are willing should be known 
and read by all men. It is not only best as a 
matter of principle, but as a matter of policy. 
CAN FISH JUMP OVER DAMS'? 
It is sometimes asserted by those whose gen¬ 
eral piscatorial knowledge cannot ho doubted, 
that salmon, and some other varieties of fish, 
make their way over mill dams and other per¬ 
pendicular obstructions by a jumping process. 
Wc have seen fish emerge from the water, with 
contorted bodies, many a time, but have no 
recollection of ever having seen one clear a mill 
dam, or a perpendicular obstruction of rock, in 
this way. 
The muscular power of fish is very great, as 
is evident from the distance they project them¬ 
selves from the surface of the water; this, how¬ 
ever, is not properly a jump, but simply the 
prolongation of the motion imparted to the 
body by the muscular effort of swimming when 
under water. Thrown, by the velocity acquired 
under water, above its surface, the vibrations by 
which this effect was produced are momentarily 
continued, hence the contortions witnessed 
while the fish is out of its proper clement. Fish, 
in seeking to pass mill dams and rocky obstruc¬ 
tions, do not rise at a distance for the purpose of 
clearntng them at a leap in mid air. On the con¬ 
trary, their efforts are made in the water, hut 
owing to the force or sinuosity of the current, 
they are sometimes thrown out of it by the pro¬ 
longed force of previous muscular effort, 
A waterman, in skulling his boat, makes his 
oar perform the same operation that the tail of 
the fish does when a movement in the water is 
made. The tall, by its rapid vibration, forces 
the body forward while the back flu serves as a 
cut-water and balance, preventing the body from 
turning over or inclining laterally so much as to 
weaken the propelling force of the tail or skull- 
ing-oar. When the body of the fish is in repose 
the side fins act as balances, keeping it upright, 
but the moment progress is to be made, these 
A Curious Fact. —There is rather an amusing 
article in the Scientific Opinion on the “ Pro¬ 
portion of the Sexes.” It says that the chan¬ 
ges which have taken place iu various countries 
in the proportion of the male to the female por¬ 
tion of the population, present a curious prob¬ 
lem. In England and Fiance the excess oi fe¬ 
males is rapidly increasing — while iu Austria 
the contrary is the case. In Austria the dimin¬ 
ution of female births has been, continual and 
increasing since 1836; at present it amounts to 
three-tenths per cent, in sixyeurs—a rate which, 
if continued for two eenturieB, would leave few 
women in the country. In England, as is well 
known, the change is progressing in the oppo¬ 
site direction. Strange, also, that there should 
be more female births in town than in rural 
districts! 
THE BRITISH UNION JACK. 
The Union Jack, that “ Meteor Flag of Eng¬ 
land,” is now a combination of the Grosses of 
38. George, Andrew, and Patrick which com¬ 
bined, represent the three kingdoms uuited un¬ 
der their sway of the crown of England. The 
original Union Jack was formed of the Grosses 
of 33. George and Andrew, and declared to be 
the national ensign by James I., on the union 
of the kingdoms of England and Scotland. 
But at the beginning of the present century, 
1801, when Ireland was united to the kingdom 
of Great Britian, it became necessary to add the 
Cross of St. Patrick. The present jack Is 
blazoned as follows; “On the field azure, the 
cross saltire of St. Andrew argent, surmounted 
by that of St. Patrick gules, over the cross of 
St, George fimbriated of the second.” The 
union jack U only used on flags, except on the 
shield placed by the aide of the figure of Brit- 
taunia (there are two t’s for the Hritanniarum 
on our copper coins, but only one on the silver,) 
on our pennies and half pennies. It was granted 
as an honorable augmentation to the latejDnke 
of Wellington, to be borne on a shield of pre¬ 
tence. The term jack is supposed to have origi¬ 
nated from Jayues, the French word for James, 
the monarch who first ordered its use. 
Be Careful Where You Write. — “ Don’t 
write there,” said one to a lad who was writing 
with a diamond pin on a pane of glass in the 
window of a hotel. “Why?” said he. “Because 
yon can’t rub it oiUk" There are other things 
which men should not do, because they cannot 
rub them out. A heart is aching for sympathy, 
and a cold, perhaps a heartless word is spoken. 
The imprcssioulmay be more durable than that 
of the diamond upon the glass. The inscription 
ou the glass may be destroyed by the fracture of 
the glass, but the impression on the heart may 
last forever. 
Going to Sleep.—A French Physiologist,,'!. 
Cabinis, gives the process of going to sleep. 
He says:—The muscles of the legs and arms 
lose their power before those that support the 
head, and these last soouer than t)io*e that sup¬ 
port the back; and he illustrates this by the 
cases of persons who fall asleep on horseback, 
or while they are sitting or walking. Ho con¬ 
ceives that the sense of light sleeps first, then 
the sense of taste, next smell, aud lastly that 
of touch. 
When you are in danger from external ene¬ 
mies, look out. When the peril is from your 
own unbridled passions, look in. 
Consider how few things are worthy of anger 
and thou wilt wonder that any hut fools should 
be iu wrath. 
Time, who i3 a great thief and steals all we 
may possess, begins with pettyjjarcenies and 
ends with one whole world. 
We ought to be able to endure almost any¬ 
thing In old age, for we have at the worst bnt a 
short time to be miserable. 
