THE MYSTERY OF LOVE 
BY A. A. HOPKINS, 
ijluftic by WM. TILLINGHAST, 
Poetry by MARIE S. LADD, 
An, Ijoyo, wb nt, n mystery! Solve It who can! 
How many have tried It ulnae loving began 
And lost their endeavorThe bachelor crusty 
l Ins pages of sentiments cobweb boil and musty 
With years, it may be, in hta heart, lain away,— 
A story wrote there on some glad summer day,— 
A story perchance ho don't, wish t.i r< member. 
That comes to hlra now in his lonely December, 
A chapter or two, little walls. »\ a time, 
A fragment of song or u bit of u rhyme. 
A flower hull faded, a curl of brlgiit n«| r , 
A ring that a hand he has pressed usnd to wear, 
A letter, some simple hut eloquent token 
Of promises made but, alas ' u> bn broken, 
A fow gleams of sunshine Contrasted with shade. 
Some blossoms of hope that bloomed only to fado! 
Perhaps he takes pleasure In conning It o'er 
As round him come Uoatlng brlghL visions of yore 
And sitting alone In Ills bachelor room, 
As softly the shadows are gathering gloom, 
A form full of grace Is again by his side, 
(Heaven wanted an angel, so he lost a bride!) 
Again a soft band within his does lie press, 
Again Is ho thrilled by a. loving caress, 
And over his face, ns of old, tho mills t weep,— 
Tls only the tear-drops that, silently creep, 
And full of rare music a sweet voice ',, Its,— 
’Tls only an echo In memory's halls ! 
lie ellngs to the vision, his joy is complete,— 
forgetting 'tis only a dream and a cheat; 
And buck to the present, ho comes, from tho pest. 
When a vision Is flown I hat hu wiidic , might last, 
And thinks, I presume, he Is foolish and weak, 
Atltnding the traces of tears on his check! 
No mystery Is there, below or ubovo, 
So really mystical as tills of love ; 
Nor Is thorn another. I think may be : aid, 
So thoroughly studied, so wholly unread ! 
True, many attempt to explain It, and pore 
(Jult e earnestly Into the heart's hidden loro, 
But even moro pn/,/.ling and mystic ll yet 
Tho mystery provolh, tho further they get! 
Philosophers fruitlessly pu/,*l« their . i.tins 
To tell us whatever tho subject contains; 
Their labor Is fruitless for this simple reason; 
Tho heart Isn’t In it, or wasn’t, In season ! 
NEW PUBLICATIONS 
Fre-Htxtoric JVation*. (New York: Harper 
and Brothers.)— Tq his Cosmos Humboldt says: 
“What we usually term tho beginning of his¬ 
tory is only the period when the later genera¬ 
tion < awoke to self-consciousness."' The state¬ 
ment is deeply significant. Atul its significance 
is more and more felt, as research into the past 
develops new evidences of a long-buried civil¬ 
ization. That there was much of historic note¬ 
worthiness back of tho data which most ehro- 
nologiats have been wont to give as the earliest, 
of Ancient History, la almost unquestionable. 
It seems certain that tho period between the 
beginning of tho human race and tho Christian 
Era was lunger, by several thousand years, than 
current chronologies allow U, to be. The author 
of the present volume, Mr. John t>. Baldwin, 
does not. believe in limiting tho past because 
others have limited it before him. Regarding 
current chronologies as dogmatic and erroneous, 
he manifests no reverence for thorn. History 
goes back further than the ancient Greeks and 
Romans, he wisely contends; the oldest nations 
of which we have any mention did not originate 
civilization. In his estimation that, proceeded 
from Arabia,— so long considered a desert; and 
tho race which disseminated civilization abroad 
throughout the wort! was the Cushite, or the 
Ethiopian, Arabia being the ancient Ethiopia, 
or I, mil of Cush. Mr. Baldwin presents facts 
and inferences which aro possessed of uncom¬ 
mon interest. Yet while he accuses other writers 
of dogmatism, lie lays himself open frequently 
to tho same charge, arid loo often gives conclu¬ 
sions that, unsupported by corroborative facts, 
strike one as being more opinionated than logi¬ 
cal. Upon topics of research a writer is not 
warranted in supposing Unit his assertions are 
satisfactory te tho reader, without accompany¬ 
ing evidence. 
1. The rud - dy blaze shines clear, 
homo fa 
smiles 
Beam - ing with 
mines there Grave brows 
touched soft 
6cams 
there Grave brows touched 
mines 
care. 
seams 
2. The father’s voice strikes deep 
Upou the listening ear ; 
The mother’s accents keep 
A soothing cadence near, 
And clearer and more sweet than all, 
Tho tones of childhood softly fall. 
3 0 happy cottage hearth ! 
Peace is thy fairest gift, 
Though clouds may shadow earth, 
Here gleams a sunny rift— 
A glow where all pure joys combine, 
Seeming half earth and half divine. 
Ttif Hodge Club. (Now York: Harper & 
Brothers.)—When t he chapters Imre presented in 
a neat pamphlet octavo of one hundred and 
thirty-three pages first appeared in Harper’s 
Magazine, i hoy attracted general attention. 
They were overflowing with quaint humor, at 
times a trifle broad, perhaps, but always genial, 
ami often grotesque; and tho illustrations, so 
profuse, worn In themselves extremely mirtli- 
provoking. The question of authorship was 
much queried over. Finally it was found that 
tlie funny man wag a dignified College Professor 
down among tho “ Blue-Noses, 1 ’ and tlie present 
collection bears his name— .1 a m rs iik Mille. We 
commend the chronicles of Buttons, Hick, 
1'IGC;.. and I he Senator to all dyspeptics. 
* Obsorve carefully tbo rests in the Base. 
the technical terms descript ive of those facts. 
IIow easy it is to teach the elements of 
botany to children by presenting, first, the 
various parts of tho vegetable, and then the 
terms explaining them. A child Hint had 
never seen a dog, or horse, or the pictures, 
could not be given any definite idea of tho 
animals, but when the dog or horse is once 
seen, the name, is never forgotten. Thus, If 
you present the leaves of a dozen different 
trees to a child and ask it to observe the pe¬ 
culiar form, size and color of each variety, 
compare them together and describe the dif¬ 
ference. ; when this is done, impart to the 
child the terms which describe each peculi¬ 
arity, and these hard words will hu easily 
remembered, tints associated with an object. 
But if these technical terms were attempted 
to be learned without the presence of the ob¬ 
jects which they describe, the words could 
not be remembered, and would fill the young 
mind only with perplexity and disgust. 
It may easily be seen how each of tlie 
Studies named above may thus be. taught 
practically to the youthful mind and be¬ 
come a living possession in alter life. The 
teacher's duty is to lead tho pupil on to the 
development of his own mind. The old sys¬ 
tem of cramming is fast going out, and, in¬ 
stead, nature is unfolded to the pupil’s mind, 
and lie is led in the. path of self-culture—the 
only method of developing true manliness. 
ybucutiomd 
AGRICULTURE IN COMMON 
SCHOOLS. —II. 
BY E. W. STEWART. 
allied sciences should be taught, m the 
schools provided for the people. The intro¬ 
duction of even the rudiments of all these 
branches, may seem quite Impracticable; but 
when we lliink of tlie condition of these 
schools, even thirty years ago, and note the 
introduction of one branch after another, wo 
see. not only the possibility, but the practica¬ 
bility, of these improvements in a few years. 
How can Tench ova be Provided ? 
When avc take tlie school statistics of the 
Empire Stale and find about, 12,000 school 
districts and 1(5,000 permanent teachers, with 
4,000 or 5,000 temporary ones, and then ex¬ 
tend tho same ratio to the whole population 
of the United States, we should find about 
100,000 school districts, 130,000 permanent 
teachers, with 40,000 or more temporary 
ones; ami further, that not one in twenty of 
these teachers are qualified to instruct in 
these new studies,— we meet what, at first, 
appears an insurmountable obstacle. 
But this difficulty is only temporary. All 
the older States are establishing training or 
normal schools for the education of teachers. 
New York has six of these already estab¬ 
lished. Here may teachers lie thoroughly 
qualified for this new and most important 
work. There will be no difficulty in pre¬ 
paring teachers as fast as wanted. One of 
the best present uses that Agricultural Col¬ 
leges can be devoted to, is the education of 
teachers qualified to instruct in these natural 
sciences; and they will, no doubt, cheerfully 
undertake this work. 
Like all progress, this will move slowly 
but surely to accomplishment. It will also 
be of the greatest importance to teachers 
themselves — requiring a higher grade of 
qualification, it will give a higher character 
and greater permanency to the profession. 
It will offer inducements, in better compen¬ 
sation and higher attainments, for the best 
class of minds to engage in it. Let. public 
opinion be properly educated on this subject 
and demand this advancement, and teachers 
Avith the requisite qualifications xvill be 
found ready to supply the demand. 
Aro the Pupils Capable of Learning: these 
Science *i 
The opinion is prevalent that mature 
minds arc required to comprehend the 
natural sciences. If they are to be taught 
merely theoretically and technically, then a 
most retentive memory is the first requisite; 
but if they are to be taught rationally and 
practically, then their principles are easily 
perceived, and young minds acquire the facts 
of natural science us readily as they do 
aritlunetic or grammar. 
Who has not noticed the eagerness of 
young minds to observe the phenomena of 
nature?—to ask an explanation of this and 
that object? When si rolling in the woods, 
how animated are children in gathering 
every new dower,—observing every peculiar 
shrub or leaf; and if with one who can ex¬ 
plain these objects, how intently they will 
listen and endeavor to retain the explanation, 
This is nature’s method. First facts, then 
Defects in Llm School System. 
Tina principal defect in our school sys¬ 
tems, from highest to lowest, has been in 
teaching abstract knowledge, rather than 
such as will he brought into practical use 
in after life. The ornamental has usurped 
tho place of the practical. Our colleges, 
from giving an undue importance to the 
classics, have, until recently, graduated stu¬ 
dents with the merest smattering of the 
natural sciences—thus neglecting the very 
knowledge which nine-tenths of these young 
men will most require in active life. 
This want of a practical aim in education 
has also shown itself in the methods of teach¬ 
ing, both in the higher and lower schools. 
Yet, with all the undue weight given to the 
classics, how few come out practical masters 
of tho grammar and rhetoric of their own 
tongue! The student Is not sufficiently 
impressed with the practical utility of Ids 
studies, but is led to regard them as accom¬ 
plishments and as giving him respectability 
and position in life, rather than as arming 
him with that knowledge which is abso¬ 
lutely essential to a creditable performance 
of his duties. Perhaps some of the preju¬ 
dice entertained by farmers against science 
has arisen from the apparent want of ability 
in scientific men to apply it. This is, pecu¬ 
liarly, a utilitarian age. Nothing is ot value 
unless It administers to our physical, moral 
or intellectual needs. Tho common school 
was horn of the people’s necessities. It 
should be made as wide as their wants. 
And as the common school educates more 
children of farmers than of any other class, 
the very important question arises, IIow can 
it be enlarged to meet all their wants U 3 well 
as those of other classes ? 
The Wants of Agriculture. 
First, then, it is necessary to determine 
what these wants are. It is now generally 
admitted that agriculture may be reduced 
within scientific rules, and its general prin¬ 
ciples taught with as much certainty, so far 
as they are now understood, as the science 
of law or medicine, and many regard it as 
more capable of definite understanding than 
either of these. Yet agriculture is not a 
single science, but an aggregate of sciences. 
It embraces geology, which teaches how 
soils were formed—this is its foundation; 
chemistry next, teaching tho composition 
and properties of soils — the composition 
and value of manures —the application of 
special fertilizers to special crops — the com¬ 
position and constituent, parts of plants and 
animals, and the proper constituents of food 
required to build up all parts of ihe animal 
system; animal and vegetable physiology, 
giving a knowledge of the structure, proper¬ 
ties and functions of plants and animals — 
the relations between plants and animals — 
the whole rationale of plant and animal life; 
entomology, instructing tlie youthful mind in 
tlie habits and history of insects, their spe¬ 
cies, and the mode of combating those inju¬ 
rious to agriculture; mechanics, which 
O-joil Health, (New York: Tho American 
New-, Company.) - Wo welcome every aid to 
phy-ieal nml mental culture, as a moans of ad¬ 
vancing tho world’s progress. This new maga¬ 
zine, the first number of which is before us, is 
comprehensive In idea, ami gives promise of 
mu .A! good. 1 1 i s well edited, by WM. CORNELL, 
Id. I)., i.U. f),, who wields a tronchant. pen, and 
who displays excellent, judgment. In the com- 
biniug of entertaining reading matter with that 
which i practical and in-druci i vo. Of tho score 
of articles presented, two are illu traied, and all 
readable. If Good Health shall continue to 
manifest as much vigorous life res the initial 
number develops, it cannot fail of success. 
torits for itwraltsts 
KATIE’S FABM 
BY MIIS. M. Ij. BAYNE 
It was a long lime ago, and I hardly like 
to think of it now, for it was a gad story, and 
ended badly; yet. never did a life have brigl>. l- 
er beginning, or come to a more sorrowful 
shipwreck. 
Katie was a farmer’s daughter,—a blithe, 
bonny girl, who sung, and danced, and 
romped, and rode horseback as no other girl 
in the country could, and spun soft, whi!o 
yarn, and made yellow butter, and was the 
pet of home and friends, and the bright prom¬ 
ise of a perfect womanhood. 
At eighteen, Katie was betrothed to Rob¬ 
ert Myers, and the prettiest little cottage 
house was built for her on his farm, which 
adjoined her father’s, so that, she could stand 
at her own chamber window and watch the 
gabled roof, under which her happy dual 
life was to begin, and there trace the outlines 
of a garden, which was already hedged in 
with currant bushes and roses. 
And Katie was as happy, and pure, and 
innocent as the robin that sung at her risk'sg. 
Countty people do not fritter life away iu 
detached particles, that are only bright and 
hollow. The parents of Katie were good, 
sensible people, who had lived half a cen¬ 
tury in that one house, and who could come 
back to life a century after their work was 
ended, and find some record of it. They 
lived comfortably,—how comfortably, people 
who have city rations, to which they bring 
artificial appetites, can never know. They 
wore plain, comfortable clothing; but made 
KATIE a little smarter, because she was 
younger, and must keep up with tlie fash¬ 
ions, though she had not a silk dress in her 
wardrobe, nor a bonnet that she did not 
trim herself. 
Katie loved Robert Myers, and chose 
him from other young men of the same 
standing, and was sure she should make him 
a good, affectionate wife, and settle down 
just as her mother had; and the prospect 
was all she wanted. 
Those lovers had many happy evenings 
together, notwithstanding there was neither 
opera bouffe nor French dramas to attend. 
They walked down to tlie South Pond and 
listened to tlie frogs singing, or over to 
Katie’s farm, where there were choicer 
flowers tlmn anywhere else. This farm was 
only twenty-five feet square, and had been 
staked off by the young lady at the age of 
four, and taken care of ever since. It was 
one mass of creamy roses and annuals. 
They stood there one evening when there 
was an opening in tlie West, where the sun 
had died out, of blue and gold and amethyst, 
The TrapperUuldr. (New York: Oakley, 
Mason & Co,)—A third edition of this very val¬ 
uable work is now published. As a manual of 
instruct ions for capturing aU kinds of fur-bear¬ 
ing animate and curing 1 their .duns, it has not an 
equal. Its illustrations are excellent, in the 
main, and vividly portray the different species 
of animals common to American woods and 
waters. The narratives aro by old sportsmen, 
members of tho Oneida Community, (by which 
organization the volume is edited,) and though 
not of a high literary character, are interesting. 
The .Itanufacturer and Builder* (Now York: 
Western & Company.)—Six numbers of this very 
able monthly have now appeared, aud each one 
is well worth tlie price of a year's subscription. 
Nov/ that tbo manufacturing and building in¬ 
terest has become so immense, a journal devoted 
especially thereto is almost a necessity. This, 
giving thirty-two quarto pages of valuable mat¬ 
ter every mouth, elegantly illustrated, and print¬ 
ed in the very best style, admirably meets a long 
felt want. 
THE COST OF PRIZES 
Too much brain work is ruinous, even 
among the mature. IIow sad indeed, then, 
must be its consequences upon those who 
arc mentally and physically but half devel¬ 
oped! And when a child of ten or twelve 
years is urged on to untimely and excessive 
study, by the desire to gain u first prize, at 
what n terrible price that prize is bought! 
With pule, thin face, whose lines of blue, 
veins are painfully apparent,—lusterless eyes, 
with their heavy shading underneath*— 
stooping form, out of which all young, 
vigorous life seems to have departed,—tho 
boy or girl goes up to examination, solves 
problems that, would puzzle any good ac¬ 
countant, astonishes the visitors by his or 
her precocity, and-wim tho coveted medal; 
but some one is morally responsible for such 
an over-expenditure of vitality. 
When wc reflect upon the intimate con¬ 
nection between the mental and physical 
systems, we see how undue tests of the one 
will seriously affect the other. If parents 
would have their children grow up strong, 
well-formed, and capable of bearing an hon¬ 
orable part in the great struggle of being 
and doing, they must carefully check all 
tendencies to over-study. And teachers 
who, properly desirous of bringing tlieir 
schools up to a high standard, hold con¬ 
stantly before their scholars the incitement 
of prizes, must regard themselves as the 
parents* agents in the strictest sense, dele¬ 
gated to the general watch-care of their 
children, and not empowered to force a hot¬ 
house growth of the mind tit the expense of 
the body. Such growth is wholly abnor¬ 
mal; and though n i.- often witnessed in the 
school-room, it is ever a pitiful sight. Unless 
the prize system can be so modified as that 
prizes shall not cost the winners weak, un¬ 
healthy and imperfect after lives, it ought to 
be universally abolished. 
*7iaroimcr?c jrxlanti, (Philadelphia: Claxton, 
Hcuisen & HaflTI tinker.)- “ The Young Marooti¬ 
ers,” by F. R. GorinJiNfi, first published a num¬ 
ber of years ago aud deservedly popular with 
young readers, has hero a sequel. Dr. Gordon's 
search lor hi.- children is entertainingly narrat¬ 
ed, umJ prov es not less interesting than was tho 
story of tha lost children's adventures. Mr. 
Gouldtng has a rare faculty of combining pleas¬ 
ure with profit, in his chapters for youth. 
The .Jr chit eel ural llevitto aud .Inter lean 
Ituilderifl Journal. (Philadelphia: Claxton, 
Itomscn & ITuffeHltifrcv.) — Edited by Samuel 
Sloan, tho well-known Architect, of Philadel¬ 
phia, this magazine is practical, comprehensive 
in design, and a desirable addition to our me¬ 
chanical literature. It presents a vast amount 
of Information touching house-building, which 
is handsomely illustrated. 
<‘ifdred Gicynne. (Boston: Henry Hoyt.) 
Story of ;> willful life, very fairly told, this 
ume bears with it an excellent lesson. Will 
ness is ever fruitful of misery, and has be 
fruit for many beside Mildred GWynne. 
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