'iMSXl 
A WORD ABOUT COMPOSITIONS 
still, you have not only one pair apiece, but 
about a dozen pair; and sometimes another. 
For instance:—This morning, when Willie Win¬ 
kle. the little fellow, you know, who every night 
“ Walks through tho town, 
Up stairs anil down stairs, 
In his night-gown”— 
well, when he kissed the children’s eyelids tins 
morning, they jumped out of their beds, one 
after the other, and some of them looked out of 
the window to see what kind of a day it would be. 
The sun was crouching away off in a comer of 
the sky behind a thick grey cloud, and ull the 
children, mind, had on their spectacles. 
“ Pshaw!” said one poor little fellow, who wore 
an ugly, grizzly, green pair, made by Ill-Nature; 
“ it’s going to storm. 1 don’t see what it had to 
bo unpleasant to-day for.” 
“ Perhaps it's going to snow, J ohnny, and make 
good ‘coasting* for us,” put in little Bob, who 
nearly al ways had on rosy spectacles. 
“Oh, «now! who cares for snow? I want to 
try my new skates Where’s the use of having 
skates, if there’s never to be any ice?” growled 
Johnny as he began to dross. But ho had a 
shocking time getting on his shoes and stockings, 
and he said some very ill-natured things, and 
couldn't see the sorrowful look in his mother's 
eyes — all on account of bis bad spectacles. 
Away off in another part of tho town, a little 
girl, named Susie, was peeping through the win¬ 
dow-blinds. <S7ie had on a bright blue pair 
belonging to Hope; so she called cheerfully to 
her mother: 
“ The sky’s very dark, mother, but it’s going 
to cleat- up. I can just see the sun shinin’ in the 
smoke!” 
Bless her dear heart! she always will see 
something “ shinin' ” as long as she lives. 
“ Well, even If it doesn’t, Sue,” said her brother 
Charley, “ we'll got along in-doors. Como, let’s 
see who’ll be dressed first.” IBs glasses were 
made by Cheerfulness, and they brightened up 
every room he went iu all dnv. 
And yet another sunny-haired little feUow ; 
whose spectacles would have fairly sparkled in 
the dark, was looking out into the street, where 
the sidewalks were all damp with tho mist; and 
as he turned around, he ‘said, half to his nurse 
and half to himself, 
“I wish I was Kis Kingle; I’d put a pair of 
vubber boots on everybod’a Kismas tee and a big. 
big umbyella, too—” 
So all over the town the wee folks were look¬ 
ing at the morning through their spoctaelcs; and 
when they stopped talking about it, the sun gave 
two or three winks, and then ho pulled his big 
cloud cap over his eyes, and settled into along 
day’s nap. Iu tho meantime, tho children (and 
you, too, every one of you) went about the 
Houses and streets andfgardens with their spec¬ 
tacles on. 
Someone looked at dark things and made them 
bright. Who? was it you: 1 
Some looked at bright things and, made them 
dark. Who? you? 
Some have picked their way through the day, 
helping this one and that one. doing no harm, 
speaking no cross word. o.nd smiling on all the 
Tub division of lime into periods of seven days 
each was in use among the ancient Egyptians and 
Hebrews, and is borrowed by the latter from the 
Mosiac account of creation. If. according to 
some modern philosophers, that account is of 
uncertain origin, a mere Oriental myth, then 
every successive week as it courses is an unex¬ 
plained historical phenomenon. Both Christians 
and Mohammedans adopted this division from 
the Hebrews; the Greeks and Romans received 
it with the introduction of Christianity after the 
reign of Theodosius. The names of the succes¬ 
sive days were those of the seven heavenly 
bodies with which the old Egyptian astronomers 
were most familiar; the sun, the moon, and five 
planets, which however they did not mime as we 
do in the order of their nearness to the sun, but 
successively as Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, 
and .Saturn This institution of the week, though 
originating in the Old Testament and propagated 
by the New, spread much further and faster than 
the truths on which it was built; the Homan 
names of the planets and of the days over which 
they presided were those of their own divinities; 
and the Teutonic nations from which we descend, 
while they retained the sun and the moon, sub¬ 
stituted for the other five days the corresponding 
names of their owu mythology. Hence our 
English week is an early Jewish institution with 
pagan names; the sun’s day, the moon’s day, 
Tuisec’s day, Woden’s day, Thor’s day, Friga’s 
day, Seatcr’s day. It is remarkable that tho 
week is recognized by the Brahminic astronomers, 
the days being named from tho same planets and 
in the same order as that of the Egyptians, but 
beginning with Friday or the day of Venus. The 
Egyptian week began on Saturday. The people 
of China and Thiliet have a week of five days, 
named from what they considered the live ele¬ 
ments, iron, wood, water, feathers and earth. 
The name of the first day of the last week, Easter 
Sunday, is supposed to be derived from the feast 
of the Teutonic Oslcru, tlio goddess of spring, 
which name the early missionaries retained, 
while supplanting it by the Christian festival; or 
it may he derived from the Saxon word osier. 
which signified rising. 
“ Correcting compositions is the most irk¬ 
some and tedious of all the duties that school 
requires. It could be tolerated, and indeed there 
would be positive pleasure in it, if the results 
appeared to justify the labor. But not so. For 
the very errors that have been a hundred times 
corrected continue to appear in each composition 
passed in for examination.'' 
Thus have teachers been heard to speak. And 
doubtless many teachers have, experienced just 
such trials. To all who have, we desire to 
recommend the following course, which we have 
pursued with pleasing success. Get the teacher 
carefully examine each composition and note the 
mistakes, and instead of making the changes 
himseltj enclose each error in marks of paren¬ 
thesis, or mark it in some other way, and pass it 
to the scholar, requiring him to make the correc¬ 
tions. Make it, his duty to write on a slip of 
paper all the mistakes he has committed, and 
also a corrected copy of the same. After giving 
the class sufficient lime to do the work, call upon 
them to report. These reports are to be made, 
not to the teacher privately, but must be a public 
exercise as much as any recitation. 
The advantage of such a course is obvious. 
The scholar will be more likely to remember 
the errors he has committed, and will not be so 
likely to make the same again. He will acquire 
the habit, of investigating and criticising, as it 
will frequently be necessary to study in order 
rightly to change a poorly, constructed sentence, 
and rightly to apply the rules of punctuation, 
etc. It will create a praiseworthy competition 
among the pupils of the school, and will induce 
caution in the preparation of their written exer¬ 
cises. And finally, actual experience proves 
that it does in a great measure remedy the evil 
which occasions many a teacher so much burden¬ 
some and profitless labor.—C. W. C.. in'Massa- 
ckusetls Teacher. 
Written for Monro's Runl New-Yorker. 
LEARNING TO SPELL. 
TURPENTINE AND TAR, 
The immense forests in North Carolina which 
cover the sandy ridges between the swamps and 
water-courses, consist almost, wholly of the long- 
leafed pine, the Finns paluslris of the Southern 
States. From them is gathered one of the great 
staples of North Carolina — the turpentine. 
These trees at maturity are seventy or eighty 
feet high, and their trunks eighteen or twenty 
feet in diameter near the base. They grow close 
together, very straight, and without branches 
two-thirds of their height- Overhead their inter¬ 
locked crowns form a continuous shady canopy; 
while beneath, the ground is covered with a 
thick, yellow matting of pine straw—clean, diy, 
level, and unbroken by undergrowth. .Theprivi 
lege of tapping the trees is generally farmed out 
by the land-owner, at a stated price per thousand, 
about from twenty to thirty dollars. Under 
this privilege the laborer commences his opera¬ 
tions. Dnring the winter he chops deep notches 
into the base of the tree, a few inches from the 
ground, and slanting inward. Above, to the 
height of two or three feet, tho surface is scarifi¬ 
ed by chipping off the bark and outer wood. 
From this surface the resiuous sap begins to flow 
about the middle of March, at first very slowly, 
but more rapidly during the heat of the summer, 
and slowly again as winter approaches. The 
liquid turpentine runs into the notches, or boxes, 
as they are technically called, each holding from 
a quart to half a gallon. This, as it gathers, is 
dipped out, with a wooden spoon, barreled, and 
carried to market, where it, commands the highest 
price. That which oozes out and hardens upon 
the scarified surface of the tree is scraped down 
with an iron instrument into a hod, and is sold 
at an inferior price. Every year the process of 
It is a current opinion that to become a good 
speller one must in childhood be thoroughly 
drilled in the spelling lessons of the spelling 
book, and, consequently, the spelling book U 
considered the most important book in the 
world. From these opinions I take the liberty 
to dissent, for the following reasons. First, be¬ 
cause no person ever became a good speller from 
an ever so intimate acquaintance with Vie.or mil/. 
spelling book, for one very palpable reason—that 
not one-fourth of the words in common use are 
contained in it. Second, because there can be 
little or no advantage in learning to spell words 
that we know not how to use, and do not under¬ 
stand when we read them. Third , because that 
to make the best use of one’s time in obtaining 
an education, the orthography and definition of 
a word, on the principles of mnemonics, should 
both be learned at the same time, as one helps 
very materially to fix the other in the mind. To 
such as recommend a spelling book with defini¬ 
tions attached, I reply that neither tho child nor 
the adult can get a knowledge of a word suffi¬ 
cient to use it properly, from the definition in a 
gpeiling book or dictionary, without, at the same 
time, seeing or hearing it in a sentence. We 
have frequent examples in foreigners of the 
inappropriate use of words in our language from 
a mere dictionary knowledge of them. 
The time and place to learn to spell, aa well 
as to learn the meaning of words, is while read¬ 
ing. and no child should read a sentence without 
fully understanding the orthography and defini¬ 
tion of every word in it The beginner will, of 
course, constantly need the oral explanations of 
the teacher, until he can understand the diction- • 
ary. A poor speller is always a bad reader, for 
the reason thar he does not see distinctly every 
letter in the words he reads, and if he had never 
attempted to pronounce a word in readiug till 
he knew precisely of what letters it was com¬ 
posed, he would thus have learned to be a good 
speller, especially if he is blessed with an’, taste 
for reading. It is urged that we can learn while 
young to spell words, and as we advance in 
years, and have occasion to use them, and learn 
their definitions, we shall then know how to 
spell them. This practice not only renders the 
spelling lessons very tedious and uninteresting, 
but it is working at a great disadvantage, like 
beginning at the top of u tree to cut it down. 
When a good speller hears a word spoken for the 
first time, he uhvaya wants to know how it is 
spelled, for in our language the orthography can¬ 
not be learned from the sound, as the phono- 
grapbisls would, but never can, have it. The 
poor speller, however, is content with the pro¬ 
nunciation- without the orthography, the latter 
of which he can conjure up for himself. 
This, then, is the groat difference between a 
good and bad speller; the one knows a word 
from its letters, the other from its sound. Taking 
the hint from these facts, I never give a child a 
column of words to road, or pronounce them for 
him to spell. My reading and spelling lessons 
are always one and the same, both taught from 
the same page, and at the same time, and both, 
in my opinion, are learned and comprehended 
quicker and better together than one would be 
alone. It Is true that the tyro cannot on first 
learning the alphabet read off sentences; my 
first lessons are such as " hat, cat, rat, pin, pen;” 
if the words are nut perfectly familiar, accompa¬ 
nying them with an illustration or explanation; 
at any rate, using words to which he can attach 
an idea, which he cannot do to “ba. bla, ble.” 
He should first read letter by letter and pro¬ 
nounce the words, and then, to test the memory, 
spell them from bearing them pronounced. If 
he mis3, he should be allowed to read it again, 
for it is useless for him to go on guessing at it. 
When a few words are thus mastered, short sen¬ 
tences may be taken, which are to the child 
much more interesting, as “ the cat has a rat.” 
“ I want my hat.” As the pupil advances, he 
should never be hurried nor encouraged to at¬ 
tempt to pronounce a word from its general 
appearance, but should be made to see the word 
only by viewing distinctly every letter in it A 
habit of reading in this manner, once formed 
will never be lost, and will assuredly make a good 
speller. It is a common fault of teachers to 
hurry the young reader, and if he hesitates, to 
pronounce tne word for him before he has fairly 
seen it This lays the foundation for bad read¬ 
ing, and, as a consequence, bad spelling. 
In the limits of this article, I cannot do justice 
to this subject I can only introduce it, and 
hope thereby to attract attention to it. The bad 
policy of putting words in a column for spelling, 
is with me no recent idea. Some twenty years 
3ince I discarded all spelling books in teaching 
spelling, and I advocated my doctrine for years, 
w *thout a person to second me, but I have not 
been left entirely alone. The same theory is 
now practiced by men of high standing, and I 
am encouraged by seeing that some of the most 
talented writers on teaching have come to the 
same conclusions. And this is not all. I have 
put my theory to a practical test, and am proud 
of the result; and were it nctformy incog., which 
for other reasons I preserve. I would challenge 
a comparison of my pupils in this branch with 
any taught from columns, p. b. s. 
LESSON IN COMPOSITION. 
A writer to the New York Observer relates 
the following ef the late Dr. Murray, alias 
“ Kii’wan:” 
Dr. Murray pursued his collegiate course at 
Williamstown, during the presidency of the 
acute and accomplished critic. Rev. Dr. Griffin. 
In his fourth year he was brought into more im¬ 
mediate contact with that most venerable Presi¬ 
dent, whose duty it was to examine and criticise 
the written exercises of the graduating class. 
Dr. Murray, when a young man, and even down 
to the day of his Illness, wrote a free, round and 
beautiful hand — and his exercise at thus time, 
which was to undergo the scrutiny of his vene¬ 
rated preceptor, had been prepared with uncom¬ 
mon neatness and accuracy. Dr. Griffin was 
accustomed to use a quill pen, with a very broad 
nib. 
Introduced into bus august, presence, young 
Murray, with becoming diffidence, presented his 
elegantly written piece for the ordeal. The dis¬ 
cerning eye of the President passed quickly over 
the first sentence, and with a benignant look, he 
turned to his pupil, and said in his own peculiar 
way: 
“Murray, what do you mean by this first sen¬ 
tence?” 
Murray answered, blushingly, “ I mean so and 
so, sir.” 
“ Then say so, Murray,” and at the same time 
drew his pen through line after line, striking out 
about one-third of it. 
Having carefully read the next sentence the 
venerable critic again inquired: 
“ Murray, what do you mean by this?” 
He tremblingly replied, “ Doctor, I mean so 
HAVE ANIMALS REASONING POWER? 
It is a favorite saying that men are governed 
by reason, animals by instinct; but I believe that 
is all wrong. There is no distinction of kind be¬ 
tween the two, but only a degree. As we come 
to higher animals, as man, wo find the brain 
larger in proportion to the size of the body. But 
this does not prove a different kind of activity of 
these parts, but only different intensity. Every 
sensation, to bo felt, must produce a reaction. 
All animals see, hear, taste, and smell as well as 
we do; therefore, the reaction, must be the same, 
and the operation, as far as the body is concern¬ 
ed, is the same. 
purpose, because when life ceases, the resinous 
matter concentrates in the interior layers of the 
wood. In building a tar kiln a small circulur 
mound of earth is first raised, declining from the 
Circumference to the center, where a cavity is 
formed, communicating by a conduit with a 
shallow ditch surrounding the mound. Upon 
this foundation the split sticks are stacked to tho 
height of ten or twelve feet. The stack iH then 
covered with eartn, as iu making charcoal, and 
tho fire applied through the opening in the top. 
As this continues to burn with a smouldering 
heat, the vyood Is charred, and the tar Hows into 
the cavity in the center, and thence by the con¬ 
duit into vessels sunk to receive it . —Scientific 
Next, our perceptions influence 
our actions through the. operations of tho mind; 
and in tho animals the same influence upon their 
action is to be secn;*here, again, is perfect simi¬ 
larity. Although the difference of tho intensity 
of these actions mu); be great in different animate, 
yet the principle is the same. The animals grat¬ 
ify their appetites, and so do we, and in the same 
manner. For instance, everybody has seen dogs 
playing only for the pleasure of playing, just aa 
men do. And what right have we to assume 
that,tho motive which influences themjis not the 
same aa that influencing us? Again, animals 
have memory, just as wo have; and they can 
trace the connection between cause and effect, 
and this is reason. But I will go further; ouly 
mind can communicate with mind; and if ani- 
mate have uo mind, wocould have no intercourse 
with them. Animals ean he trained, and this 
proves the existence of reason; a connection seen 
between cause aud effect. Thu means of training 
animals are tho same as those employed for 
training children; certain sounds are used as 
signals. This supposes a perfect logical process, 
tracing tho sequence of effect from its cause.— 
Prof. Aga&sU 
SOUNDING NIAGARA RIVER. 
The gentleman who has been trying the ex¬ 
periment of sounding the river below Niagara 
Falls, writes as follows:—“Another attempt was 
made with a similar iron of about 10 pounds 
weight, attached to a No. 11 wire, all freely sus¬ 
pended, so as not to impede the fall of the 
weight. I then let the weight fall from the 
bridge, a height of 225 feet. It struck the sur¬ 
face fairly, with the point down—must have sunk 
to some depth, but was not longer out of sight 
than one second, when it made its appearance 
again on the surface, about 100 feet down the 
stream, and skipped along like a chip until it 
was checked by the wire. We then commenced 
hauling in slowly, which made the iron bounce 
like a ball, when a cake of ice struck it and 
euded the sport I am satisfied that no metal 
has sufficient specific gravity to pierce that cur¬ 
rent, even with a momentum acquired by a fall 
of 225 feet. The velocity of tho iron, when 
striking, must have been eqiral to 121 feet per 
second, and consequently its momentum near 
5,000 pounds. Its surface opposed to the current 
was about fifty superficial inches. This will give 
an Idea of the strength of that current, and at 
the same time hint at the Titan forces that have 
been at work to scoop out the laid of the Niag¬ 
ara river.” 
clouds nearly half the time. 
Who? No, no, I’m sure it was not yon. 
But even if it were, the end of the day has not 
come yet Even if It is bed-time, and you are 
just about kissing for “ good-night,” there te time 
enough for you to change your spectacles for a 
better kind. You can wtusk them off, if you trv, 
in less time than it takes grandmother to put on 
her glass and gold ones, 
For, you see, she has 
to first fumble in Tier pocket for a morocco case; 
then she has to open it and get out her glasses, 
and open them carefully, so as not to break the 
hinges; then rub them with her handkerchief,(and 
then put them on squarely and evenly over her 
nose, taking great care not to tumble her cap or 
her curls. But you, little ones, why, your spec¬ 
tacle-cases are your own hearts, ready for you at 
an instant’s notice, and full as they canjbe of 
every kind of spectacles a little child can need. 
But if I were you, I’ll tell you what Pd do. I 
would keep only the good kinds, and I would 
throw away all the poor ones. Whenever I 
jumped out of bed In the morning with a pair on 
that made me see things in a crooked way, I’d 
take them off as soon as possible, and I wouldn’t 
put them back in my heart again, that I wouldn’t, 
for fear, by some mistake, they might do more 
mischief another time. 
For bad spectacles will make little [feathery 
troubles look like heavy stones. 
Bad spectacles make you feel asjif all thejpoople 
in the world were making ugly faces at you. 
Bad spectacles will turn even kisses into snaps. 
Ting-a-ling-a-ling! Ting-a-ling-a-ling 1 
There’s that bell again. The class is dismissed. 
Good-by. I think I’ve told you the lesson I want 
you to study for to-morrow. 
God bless you, little rosy cheeks, one and all, 
and help you to learn your lesson.— Christian 
Advocate. 
LOVE ONE ANOTHER 
CfiiMiUKN, do you love eachjother ? 
Are you always kind aud true ? 
Do you always do to others 
As you'd have them do to you ? 
Are you gentle to each other ? 
Are you careful, day by day, 
Not to give Offense by actions, 
Or by any thing you say ? 
Little ehUdren, love each other, 
Never give another pain; 
If your brother Bpeaks in anger, 
Answer not in wrath again. 
Be not 6etftsh to each other, 
Never spoil another’s rest; 
Strive to make each other happy, 
And you will yourselves be blest. 
WEIGH THE MEANING OF YOUR WORDS 
THE COLORS OF NATURE, 
Adjectives are to nouns what pepper, salt, 
mustard, vinegar, sugar, molasses, butter and 
other condiments are to the food we eat — very 
good in moderation and when appropriately ap¬ 
plied. But when language is over-seasoned with 
them, or they are inaptly used, the dish of words 
is spoiled. Some people have a way of cooking 
up their speeches and writings with preposterous 
adjectives, with the idea that a profusion of these 
attributives lends strength to their arguments, 
while in reality it weakens them. As a people, 
we are too much given to this Bin against taste. 
Sometimes we kill the flavor of a vigorous Hub- 
stantive with aheap of unsuitable prefixes, us a 
vulgar cook might destroy the natural savor of a 
beefsteak with -an avalanche of onions. 
Thus it is not an uncommon thing to hear 
such phrases as “elegant weather,” “awful 
funny.” “powerful pretty,” “monstrous polite,” 
“lovely pickles,” “beautiful medicine,” “ridic¬ 
ulous (meaning outrageous) conduct,” “magnifi¬ 
cent potatoes,” Ac., Ac. It is a groat thing 
always to drop the right word into the right 
place. Words are things. Weigh their-meaning 
before you use them. 
He who exhibited such matchless skill in the 
organization of material bodies, and such exqui¬ 
site taste in their formation, has Buperadded that 
ethereal beauty which enhances their permanent 
qualities, and presents them to us in the ever- 
varying character of the spectrum. Without this 
the foliage of vegetable life might have filled the 
eye and fostered the fruit which it veils, but the 
youthful greeu of Its spring would have been 
blended with the dying yellow of its autumn. If 
the objects of the material world had been illu¬ 
minated with a while light, all the particles of 
which possess the same degree of refrangibility, 
and were equally acted upon by the bodieg on 
which they fall, all nature would shine with a 
leaden hue, and all the combinations of external 
objects, all the features of the human countenance, 
would have exhibited no other variety than that 
which they possess in a pencil sketch or a China- 
ink drawing. The rainbow itself would have 
dwindled into a narrow arch of white light, the 
stars would have shone through a grey sky, and 
the mantle of a wintry twilight, would have re¬ 
placed the golden vesture of a rising and setting 
sun .—Sir David Brewster. 
CHILDREN’S SPECTACLE3 
Ting-a-uno-a-lisc ! Ting-a-ling-a-ling,! 
That’s the children’s bell. Are they all here? 
None of your great big boys and girls for this 
class — they know too much — but only the little 
fellows who have just put on trowsers, with 
pockets in them, {real pockets, remember,)(and 
have heels to their new boots, heels that make 
such a noise in the hall that everybody thinks it's 
father coming. Aud girls, too, who are learning 
to hem and to dress their own dolls, and who 
know whiefl is tho thimble finger, and what 
K-c-h-o-o-1 spells. 
And now, children, that you are all here, I 
want to tell you something: 
You have all got spectacles on ! 
Ha! ha! 
But you have, though; and, what is stranger 
We must tell some men a great deal to teach 
them a little. 
Nothing is so hard of comprehension to a 
perverse mind as simple rectitude (and good 
faith. 
Ceremony was always the companion of weak 
minds; it is a plant that will never grow in a 
strong soil. 
Fashion able society has generally two’.faults 
—first in being hollow-headed, and second in be¬ 
ing hollow-hearted. 
TriE mirage of the desert paints the things of 
earth in the heavens. There is a more glorious 
mirage which, to the eye of the Christian, paints 
the things of heaven upon the canvas of earth. 
^ He wh> occupies two years in teaching what 
i as yell be taught in one year, does his 
X P U P^ a injury. lie not only abstracts from 
iy he pupil Requisition, til at bears improvement, 
)[ 'tall the njowledge which would have been 
* fruit of Ufor the remainder of his life.— F. 
X Ha /land. 
- A ,, t __ 
^ 1 L ' ru best books for a child are a good 
“othersrice and im 
Education.— It is a greater work to educate a 
child, in the true and large sense of that phrase, 
than to rule a State. 
In disputes, men take hold of thoughts by the 
wrong handles. 
