' 
Some of our contemporaries are “airing their 
vocabularies" with denunciations of the prac¬ 
tice of spit, spit, spitting, which is so rife in this 
country among smokers, drawers and snuffers, 
especially in the West. The subject is not a 
very dignified one, but we recollect that Henry 
Ward Beecher did not disdain soma years ago to 
take up the cudgels against the practice, and 
even to denounce it from the pulpit. Willis 
Gaylord Clark, too, wroto ouo of bis best essays 
on “American Ptyalism." We Am ericans, have 
often provoked the sarcasms of foreigners by this 
habit, and spit as we may at tire exaggerations : 
of traveling cockneys and cosmopolitan old 
women, it must be owned that we arc notori¬ 
ously the most salivating nation on the globe. 
Whether the corporeal juices are more abund¬ 
ant in the Yankee than In other persons we 
know not, but at any rate the practice is a 
most lilthy one, and we wonder that gentlemen 
who are scrupulously neat and cleanly in other 
respects should addict themselves to It. It is 
perhaps hopeless to look for a reformation so 
long as the Virginia weed retains its despotism 
over the nation. It is enough, however, to 
make Nestor himself “show his teeth i’ the 
way of smile," to hear the mauy eloquent decla¬ 
mations on woman’s influence, especially on the 
profound homage shown to her in this country, 
considering that with all her charms, Blie can¬ 
not rescue man from the witchery of tobacco. 
Think of a man’s pretending to love Ills Wife, 
who compels her, whenever she would kiss 
him, to bring her chaste, pouting lips, “ like 
two young rose-leaves torn,” in contact with 
what by courtesy Is called the mouth of a man, 
but which, in reality, is nothing better than a 
Chicago Trxbuue. 
Written tor Moore's Rural Ncw-Vorkcr. 
HAED TIMES vs. NEWSPAPEES. 
THE RABBIT ON THE WALL, 
EEMALE EDUCATION, 
SCIENCE AND SKILL ON THE PASM. 
The cottage work is over 
The evening meal is done: 
Hark! through the starlight Stillness 
You hear the river run. 
The little children wliisper, 
Then speak out one and all; 
Come, father, make for Johnny 
The rabbit on the wall. 
He smilingly usetmtlng, 
They gather round his chair; 
“Now, grandma, you hold Johnny— 
Don’t let the candle flare." 
So speaking, from ills Angers 
He threw a shadow tall, 
That seems the moment after 
A rabbit on the wall. 
The children shout with laughter, 
The uproar louder crows; 
Even grandma chnckles faintly, 
And Johnny chirps and crows. 
There ne’er was gilded painting, 
Hung up In lordly hall, 
Gave half the simple pleasure 
Of this rabbit on the wall. 
I>- a former brief notice of the incidents 
attending the establishment of public schools 
in this State and their progress, it was intimated 
that there were developments of interest that 
might, in future, receive a passing sketch. It not 
only appears that through this instrumentality, 
education has been much more generally diffused 
among the rising generation—but a greater de¬ 
cree of thoroughness and practicality is every¬ 
where seen in the efforts of teachers. One fea¬ 
ture of this advancement deserves particular 
attention, viz: The position that has been fairly 
earned by female teachers in onr public schools ! 
The increased and rapidly increasing number of 
the sex employed therein, and with marked ac¬ 
ceptance, has been a theme of gratulation among 
liberal educators, in this as well as in other 
States. The fact of the enlarged rfumber of 
female teachers has several times been com¬ 
mented upon by the heads of our School Depart¬ 
ment, and by the editor of the Pennsylvania 
School Journal. Iu all these notices, if I mis¬ 
take not, it has been observed, that where there 
has been a change iu any school districts of the 
relative number of male and female teachers, in 
favor of the latter, there has been a perceptible 
advancement in the character of the schools of 
such districts! 
It had been long observed that such results 
ought to be expected, and were uniformly found 
in primary schools—and observation has shown 
that in advanced institutions where Philosophy, 
the Higher Mathematics and llic Languages arc 
taught, very successful instruction has been 
Several Seminaries, 
In this day what activity of thought, what 
blooming out of inventive genius iu mechanism, 
what mastery of chemical affinities, what fine 
research into the physiology of plants and ani¬ 
mals and even the wondrous pyschologyormen. 
Go to the Patent office at Washington,—four 
thousand feet of halls and galleries tilled with 
countless models of inventions. Many useless, 
perhaps; but who can tell what millions are 
added to onr material wealth and to the comfort 
and enjoyment of life, by the mauy of great 
use ? 
Men are educated for highest attainment iu 
mechanism and science, and it is their joy and 
pride to improve and invent. 
Railroads have first-class engineers, trained iu 
the best schools of the world; masters of theory 
in the school and of practice in the field, and 
thus bridges, tunnels and embankments are 
massive, yet symmetrical. 
Iron mills have men of largo powers and won¬ 
drous skill; masters of the subtle laws which 
must he obeyed iu mine, and furnace, and forge, 
studying daily the magazines of both continents 
devoted to the working of metals, standing daily 
by the fiery molten masses in the mills, to watch 
color, strength, ductility and all else needed to 
perfect the product. 
Manufacturers of textile fabrics — wool and 
cotton—have men of similar genius and capacity, 
often traveling in foreign lands as well as at 
Eds. Rural:— Having business in town a 
few days since I called in a store, and while 
waiting a short time my attention was arrested 
by a seedy looking customer who was grumbling 
about “hard times," “high prices,” “scarcity 
of money," “want of work;" and everything 
seemed to go wrong with him. He said it was 
all he could do to live, and could not half l ive at 
that. He was a regular “croaker " An old 
fanner present said he wanted some wood 
chopped and was willing to pay the muney for 
it: he proposed to take him home and set him 
to work forthwith. Grumbler inquired how 
much he would pay. The farmer named the 
price; it did not quite come up to the poor fel¬ 
low's idea of what his services were worth ; he 
had heard of some one who was getting more; 
said if lie couldn’t get as much as anyone else he 
wouldn’t work, aud added that the world owed 
him a living, and he reckoned lie would got it 
somehow. 
Thinks I to myself: Poor fool! I could have 
told him that one night last summer this same 
store was broken open by some of those fellows 
who claim that the world *-tc>< them a living, and 
that the chops had been sent over to Auburn to 
u-or/c for their board and clothes. It always 
makes me feel “gritty" to hear people grumble 
about things that, they can’t control, and finding 
fault when fault-finding can’t do any possible 
good. I had a mind to “pitch iu" and give 
him a piece of my mind; but remembering the 
proverb, “answer not a fool,” Ac., I kept quiet 
until, after listening a few minutes to his railing 
about the “unholy war" and “bad govern¬ 
ment,” I merely asked him what papers he took. 
He said he couldn’t, afford to take papers when 
flour was fifteen dollars a barrel, and, muttering 
something about folks minding their own busi¬ 
ness, he stepped out and went off toward the 
tavern, where, L am told, he spends half his time 
and more than half his money. I came home 
ORIGIN AND SEALS OP THE STATES, 
NUMBER FOUR. 
VIRGINIA. 
The first landing of white men for settlement 
was at Jamestown in 1609, the lamed Captain 
Joun Smitu among the number. After his re¬ 
turn to England, famine and riots had cut off all 
save 00 of the 500 persons In the Colony, aud 
these bad embarked for the mother country, but 
were Induced to stay by Lord Delawar, who 
came with fresh supplies. For a time they pros¬ 
pered, but many trials marked the career of the 
early colonists. 
One of the original States of the Union, always 
influential, from tl^e ability of her leading men, 
her history is familiar to every intelligent person. 
damp tobacco-box? 
given by female teachers, 
organized on the Union principle in tills and 
adjoining States, and also several select schools, 
have been visited in which these results were 
apparent. 
In our own State it is believed, that at the 
present time a very large majority of the teach¬ 
ers are of the female sex, and a visit to any of the 
Normal Schools will show a large proportion of 
this class of teachers. 
Among the gratifying reports received from 
institutes in our different counties, a full share 
of the Class Drills, Essays and other perform¬ 
ances, are conducted by young women — and 
with what ability is known to all. 
The employment of such a large proportion of 
young women in our public schools, it is thought, 
has been atteuded with one incidental disad¬ 
vantage. The custom of awarding to them a 
less compensation for other employments, has 
tended to keep down the salaries of female teach¬ 
ers, and even in cases when their duties aud re¬ 
sponsibilities have been equally onerous with 
those of the other sex, their compensation has 
been tnuchbelon rrhat they have received —often 
little more than half! Tills is unjust aud Illib¬ 
eral ; for where the amount of service rendered, 
together with the responsibility incurred, is the 
same, it is believed that no distinction should 
be made lu the wages. In most districts in the 
country, the disparity to which I have alluded, 
is not 60 great, but in all our large cities and in 
the most celebrated of our publie schools, the 
compensation of the principals of male and 
female schools exhibits a shameful inequality 1 
But this important subject, with others con¬ 
nected with the elevation of the Bex, is exciting 
attention in various parts of the world, and, as 
it is notorious that our lady teachers have to 
pay an equal amount for their normal instruc¬ 
tion, it is believed that a sense of justicewill ere 
long dictate a more liberal course in regard to 
their remuneration.—Jbm. School Journal. 
HOW TO TAKE CARE OF A PIANO 
It should be remembered that the pianoforte 
is susceptible of the change of temperature, aud 
when tuned iu one temperature will be out of 
time in another. 
Good and well-made piano¬ 
fortes will stand in tunc If they are tuned at 
proper periods. Many people, as they wish to 
avoid expense, will let their instruments remaiu 
out of tunc, which is a great detriment to them, 
as they are less likely to stand well after having 
been so left. We will offer a few hints in refer¬ 
ence to the matter. A pianoforte ought justly 
to bo timed twice a year, at least. First, when 
SEAL OF VIRGINIA. 
The tolling hells of the passing steamboats, as 
they move by the beautiful Mount Vernon, 
where rest the remains of Washington', give 
proofs of the reverence for one still “first iu 
the hearts of his couutrymeu.” 
Tho level range of lands near the coast, the 
rich valleys of the James, the Shenandoah, aud 
other rivers, the rough sides of her central 
mountains, and the broken surface of the west¬ 
ern part of the State, give variety of soil and 
productions. West Virginia has iron mines 
and mills of great extent. Coal abounds In the 
same region, and the Kenawlia salt works send 
over the West vast quantities of that saving 
staple. Wheat of great excellence is raised in 
the eastern valleys. Tobacco is a great staple, 
and in variety of resources of field, mine and fruit 
Virginia has great wealth. The urea of the State 
is 65,624 square miles. Its population iu 1860, 
1,596,318. 
when a lire Is discontinued. By following this 
course, you have the best guarantee that the 
instrument will remain in tune for the longest 
period of time. 
Again, the Instrument should not, bo suffered 
to remain below concert pitch; if it Is for years 
tuned below it will never after stand up to the 
pitch without a great deal of labor, if, indeed, It 
ever stands at all. Many otherwise beaut :'Id in¬ 
struments are nearly or quite ruined for want of 
proper attention to these simple facta. Yet it 
will not ans wer for a professional tuner to rec¬ 
ommend these things; if he does the people 
will suspect him immediately of selfish motives, 
and say that he is planning for his own ad¬ 
vantage. Owners of pianofortes, who are not 
acquainted with the nature of the Instrument, 
ought to bear these facta in mind, when by a 
yearly outlay of a trifling sum, they might save 
themselves infinitely more than they expend, by 
the preservation of the instrument, in which 
they have invested so much. 
RESPECT FOR MONEY 
their cost; 1 can't afford to do withv&t them. A 
man may do without a paper and prosper; so ho 
may buy a lottery ticket and win, but the chances 
are a hundred to one against him la either case. 
There are always plenty of sharpers ready to 
take advantage of those who do notkeep posted. 
I kuew a wealthy farmer who stopped his paper 
one year because the proprietor had found it 
necessary to raise the price a little A specula¬ 
tor from the village came out to buy his wool. 
The man had not been In town for some time 
and did not kuow what the article was worth; 
the buyer did; he made a purchase and thereby 
mooted the old fellow out of nearly two hundred 
dollars. Some are paid by advertising in the 
papers. Others by reading advertisements. To 
illustrate: One spring I wished to get a lot of 
fruit trees; had formerly bought at a certain 
place; did not know where I could do better 
until I saw the advertisement of another man in 
the Rural. I went to see him, purchased a 
choice lot of trees and saved fourteen dollars, 
(enough to pay for the Rural five years.) 
There arc hundreds -of good newspapers, but 
for a family paper, where but one is taken, as 
far as I am acquainted, I consider the Rural 
New-Yorker the most useful. G. W. Cone. 
Stanley Corners, Feb., 18B7. 
for, money. Not per so —not the mere having it 
or amassing It, but the prudent using of it— 
making it our servant and not our master. As a 
test of character, perhaps £. s. d. is one of the 
sharpest and most sure, A man who is indiffer- 
cut and inaccurate in money matters, will be 
rarely found accurate in anytkiag. He may 
have large benevolence—externally; you will see 
him throw half a crown to a beggar, and sub¬ 
scribe to every charity list in the Times; but if 
he forgets to pay you that five shillings he bor¬ 
rowed for cab hire, you may be quite sure that 
the beggar’s half crown and the twenty pounds 
in the printed subscription will have to come 
out of somebody's pocket—probably not bis 
own; for there is nothing like the meanness of 
your “ generous” people—always robbing Peter 
to pay Paul. A liberal man is a glorious sight; 
but then he must be “ liberal In all his ways"— 
even-handed as well as open-handed. His ex¬ 
penditure must be, .Ike his character, justly bal¬ 
anced and in due proportion.— Mrs. Craik. 
SCHOOL TEACHING. 
SEAL OF MARYLAND. 
The territory was granted lu 1632 by Charles 
First to Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, 
a Roman Catholic, but his son, Cecelius, inher¬ 
ited It, with all his titles, on his death, which 
occurred very soon, and for forty years directed 
the affairs of the colony as proprietor. Frci 
toleration of religious opinions was established 
and in 1776 a Constitution was framed. While 
wheat of famed excellence is raised. Tobacco, 
sweet potatoes aud fruits thrive well. 
Baltimore, named after Lord Baltimore, first 
Governor and brother of the proprietor, is a city 
of large trade and manufactures, has many -*le- 
gant private public buildings, and counts over 
200,000 people. 
The area of the State is 13,950 square miles, 
and its population is 687,049. 
There Is too little attention paid in many of 
our schools to the elementary branches of learn¬ 
ing. Although universal opinion seems to up¬ 
hold Dogberry’s dogma that reading and writing 
came by nature, we must be permitted to differ 
from the sage axiom. 
A boy frequently passes credibly through his 
Latin Grammar, yet in reading English he balks 
at every word of four or five syllables. He may 
have gone to the very roots of the origin of writ¬ 
ten signs, yet the chirography of his letters home 
would not be unworthy of the hieroglyphics on 
the obelisk of Luxor, and their diction bears a 
family resemblance to the prattle of his little six- 
year old sister. He may show a marvelous ac¬ 
quaintance with the Nile, the Euphrates, and the 
Scarnander, hut the course of the river which 
flows at his feet, the character of its soil, and its 
influence upon the growth and prosperity of the 
surrounding country, are subjects upon which 
he has never been taught to employ a thought. 
He may know within a short distance how far 
the great table lands of Asia extend, but ot their 
impression upon a history of man aud his civili¬ 
zation he is thoroughly ignorant. 
Beef Forty Years Old. — A letter from 
Stockholm says;—“ At the last meeting of the 
Idun Society there was served at supper a curious 
sort of beef that had beeu preserved l'or forty 
years. In 1827 Captain Parry had placed at 
School Point, at Spizenbergen, a depot of meat. 
The flesh was In tin boxes, buried beneath a 
quantity of stones. The white bears had dis¬ 
placed some of the stones and destroyed several 
ol’ the boxes, but a lew still remained intact, and 
were brought to Sweden by the Swedish Scien¬ 
tific Expedition. It was one of these boxes that 
Professor Thoreil of Lnnd, had given to the 
Idun Society, who found the meat perfectly eat¬ 
able and of good flavor,” 
SYMMETRICAL CHARACTERS, 
SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGS. 
Ohio Schools. —The Annual Report of the 
School Commissioner of Ohio says the expendi¬ 
ture for school purposes the past year exceeds 
the previous by over half a million of dollars, 
and that there has been a general increased 
activity in the educational interests of the State. 
Notwithstanding, the conclusion is reached that 
there has been accomplished, during the past 
year, only three-fifths of the school work annu¬ 
ally necessary to secure to the youth of the 
State the least amount of school attainments 
hitherto regarded as compatible with public 
safety. 
SEAL OP DELAWARE. 
Was settled by Swedes and Finns about 1627, 
under the auspices of Gustatus Adolphus, the 
great Swedish King. In 1655 the colony passed 
into the hands of the Scotch, and in 1664 
passed under English sway. Its Constitution 
was framed in 1776. 
There are large manufactories In and near 
Wilmington, and mills for flouring the excellent 
wheat raised in the State. Next to Rhode 
Island, it U the smallest State of the Union. A 
railroad just opened through its center from 
north to south gives access to line lands. Both 
soil and climate favorable to fruits and grain. 
Population in I860, 112,216. 
It is a plausible theory that neither good nor 
evil is absolute; that each vice is the exagger¬ 
ated extension of a virtue; each capable of being 
corrupted Into a vice; so that the good and wise 
man becomes simply the man wlffi acuteness 
enough to draw the exact line between either, 
and then to obey the advice—“ In medio tutiest- 
ni?d) ibis." If this be a sophism, there is yet 
truth in it. Undoubtedly the best laau, the man 
most useful to his species, is he whose character 
is most equally balanced; and tin most com- 
Substitcte for Lint.— The Surgeons of Vi¬ 
enna have lately employed, with much success, 
the unsized paper, called papier Joseph, for 
dressing wounds, as lu excellent substitute for 
lint. It docs not change in contact with water; 
it is a bad conductor of heat, and preserves, in 
consequence, the wounds from atmospheric in¬ 
fluence, From its absorbent nature It sucks up 
the matter, maintains the wounds in a state of 
dryness favorable to healing, and it may be used 
in certain circumstances more advantagcusly 
even than lint. 
Meteorites, assuming them to he planetary 
specimens, show by their analysis that peridot, 
which is found in some of our lowest rocks, is, 
as Daubree, the investigator of this subject, de¬ 
scribes it, the universal scoria, and that oxysren 
is also a universal element. 
If the world were crumbled to the finest dust, 
and scattered through the universe, there would 
not be an atom of the dust for each star. 
