168 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
more agricultural periodicals, if you mean to keep pace with the im¬ 
provements of the day. 
The human mind is prolific in good or evil. It is seldom sterile. 
Like our soils, it will produce either useful or noxious plants ; and if 
we do not cultivate and nurture the good, the bad will spring up and 
grow spontaneously. Our duties to our families—our obligations to 
society—our pride as good fanners, combine, with irresistiule force, 
to urge us to the decision, that neither our minds nor our lands shall 
run to weeds ; but that both shall be sedulously cultivated in the 
way that shall best conduce to usefulness and happiness in time and 
eternity. 
WHAT IS EDUCATION!— by w. e. channxng, d. d. 
The great end of education is not to train a man to get a living. 
This is plain, because life was given for a higher end than simply to 
toil for its own prolongation. A comfortable subsistence is indeed 
very important to the purposes of life, be this what it may. A man 
half-fed, half-clothed, and fearing to perish from famine or cold, will 
be too crushed in spirit to do the proper work of a man. He must 
be set free from the iron grasp of want, from the constant pressure 
of painful sensations, from grinding, ill-requited toil. Unless a man 
be trained to get a comfortable support, his prospects of improve¬ 
ment and happiness are poor. But it his education aims at nothing 
more, his life will turn to little account. 
To educate a man is to unfold his faculties, to give him the free 
and full use of his powers, and especially of his best powers. It is 
first to train the intellect, to give him a love of truth, and to instruct 
him in the processes by which it may be acquired. It is to train 
him to soundness of judgment, to teach him to weigh evidence, and 
to guard him against the common sources of error. It is to give 
him a thirst for knowledge, which will keep his faculties in action 
through life. It is to aid him in the study of the outward world, to 
initiate him into the physical sciences, so that he will understand 
the principles of his trade or business, and will be able to compre¬ 
hend the phenomena which are continually passing before his eyes. 
It is to make him acquainted with his own nature, to give him that 
most important means of improvement, self-comprehension. 
In the next place to educate a man, is to train the conscience, to 
give him a quick, keen discernment of the right, to teach him duty 
in its great principles and minute applications, to establish in him 
immovable principles of action. It is to show him his true position 
in the world, his true relation to God and his fellow-beings, and im¬ 
mutable obligations laid on him by these. It is to inspire him with 
the idea of perfection, to give him a high moral aim, and to show 
how this may be maintained in the commonest toils, and how every 
thing may be made to contribute to its accomplishment. 
Further, to educate a man in this country, is to train him to be a 
good citizen, to establish him in the principles of political science, 
to make him acquainted with our history, government and laws, to 
teach him our great interests as a nation, and the policy by which 
they are to be advanced, and to impress him deeply with his respon¬ 
sibility, his great trust, his obligations to disinterested patriotism as 
the citizen of a free state. 
Again, to educate a man is to cultivate his imagination and taste, 
to awaken his sensibility to the beautiful in nature and art, to give 
him the capacity of enjoying the writings of men of genius, to pre¬ 
pare him for the innocent and refined pleasures of literature. 
I will only add, that to educate a man is to cultivate his powers 
of expression, so that he can bring out his thoughts with clearness 
and strength, and exert a moral influence over his fellow-creatures. 
This is essential to the true enjoyment and improvement of social 
life. 
According to these views the laboring classes may be said to have 
as yet few means of education, excepting those wl ich Providence 
furnishes in the relations, changes, occupations and discipline of life. 
The great school of life, of Providence, is indeed open to all. But 
what, I would ask, is done by our public institutions for the educa¬ 
tion of the mass of the people 1 In the mechanical nature of our 
common schools, is it ever proposed to unfold the various faculties 
of a human being, and to prepare him for self-improvement through 
life 1 Indeed, according to the views of education ncnJv given, how 
defective are our institutions for rich as well as poor, and what a 
revolution is required in our whole system of training the young1 
The great aim of philanthropy should be, that every member 
the community may receive such an education as has been describ¬ 
ed. To bring forward every human being, to develope every mind 
is the great purpose of society. I say of society, not of govern¬ 
ment, for government is a mere instrument for holding society toge¬ 
ther, a condition of its existence, and not the great power by which 
its ends are to be accomplished. One of the pernicious doctrines 
of the day, very pernicious to the working classes, is, that govern¬ 
ment is to regenerate society, and exalt the individual to his true 
dignity. Government enables us to live together in society, and to 
make efforts for our own and others’ welfare. But social progress 
depends on the spring in each man’s breast, and not on the opera¬ 
tions of the state. Government may be compared to the founda¬ 
tion and walls of a manufactory, which enclose and protect not the 
moving and guiding power, but the necessary condition of their ac¬ 
tion. The people must not look to it for what their own energies 
can alone effect. * * * * 
MAXIMS. 
The passions act as winds to propel our vessel—our reason is the 
pilot that steers her;—without the winds she would not move •_ 
without the pilot she would be lost. 
I should prefer being indisposed, to being idle.— Seneca. The 
evil of a slight fit of sickness is transient, while the bad effects of 
idleness are permanent, and lead to vicious habits. 
The most sure method to be deceived, is to consider yourself more 
cunning than others.— Rochefaucau.lt. 
He who swears to obtain credence, does not know how even to 
counterfeit the man of worth .—La Bruyre. 
Instruction inculcated by precept is tedious, by example it is quick 
and effectual.— Seneca. 
I prefer ineloquent, or reserved prudence, to loquacious folly.— 
Cicero. 
Moderate things last long.— Seneca. All the blessings of Provi¬ 
dence, all the possessions of this world, may be exhausted by ex¬ 
cess, or turned into evils by misapplication or abuse. 
Good fortune and bad are equally necessary to man, to fit him to 
meet the contingencies of life.— French. Few men, who have not 
experienced the vicissitudes of fortune, know how to bear them with 
firmness—are fit to meet them. 
The COMMON SCHOOL ASSISTANT, a monthly publication of eight 
quarto pages, conducted by J. Orville Taylor, and devoted to the improve¬ 
ment of Common Schools and the education of teachers, is published at No. 
71 State-street, at fifty cents per annum, in advance. 
RECEIPTS.—We have received payments for the number of subscribers 
indicated below, between the 21st Oct. and 20th Nov. inclusive. Numbers 
under ten not noticed. 
Post-Offices. 
Post-Offices. 
Post-Offices. 
Burlington, 
Ct. 
11 
Frankfort, 
Pa. 
11 
"New-York city. 
93 
Brookville, 
Md. 
22 
Fenn’s Bridge, 
Ga. 
22 
"Philadelphia, 
Pa. 
117 
Bladensburgh, 
Md. 
11 
"Greenwich, 
Pa. 
22 
"Pittsfield, 
Mass. 
53 
Collinsville, 
Ct. 
12 
Harvard, Mass. 
11 
Rapid Ann, 
Va. 
10 
Comstock, 
Mich. 
11 
^Kingston, Uls. 
17 
Stanwich, 
Ct. 
11 
"Eugene, 
Ia. 
155 
Mayfield, 
Va. 
11 
"Utica, One. 
35 
Elizabethtown 
Ky. 
11 
M urfreesborough,T en. 
17 
"Utica, 
Ia. 
22 
Edwardsburgh, Mich. 
20 
"Middletown, 
Ky. 
22 
"Washington, 
D. C. 
76 
Including former payments. 
PRICE CURRENT. 
ARTICLES. 
N. York. 
Nov. 19. 
Boston. 
Nov. 18. 
Philadel’a. 
Nov. 19. 
Baltimore. 
Nov. 16. 
Beans white, bush. 
1 
25.. 1 
50 
1 
75.. 2 
25 
..1 
75 
1 75 
Beef, best, cwt. 
5 
50.. 6 
50 
5 
50.. 6 
25 
5 50..6 
50 
7 
00..8 00 
Pork, per cwt. 
10 
00..13 
00 
11 
00..12 
00 
12 
50 
8 
50..8 75 
Butter, fresh, pound,. 
25.. 
28 
22.. 
30 
17.. 
18 
25.. 28 
Cheese, pound, . 
8.. 
10 
8.. 
12 
10.. 
11 
Flour, best, bbl. 
9 
75..10 
00 
10 
00..11 
00 
10 
75 
9 
50..12 0 
Grain —Wheat, bushel, .. 
1 
90.. 2 
00 
1 
98.. 2 
00 
2 00..2 
15 
1 
40..1 85 
Rye, do. 
1 
18.. 1 
25 
1 
15.. 1 
20 
1 14..1 
25 
l 
02..1 10 
Oats, do. 
50.. 
62 
60.. 
65 
40.. 
51 
50.. 53 
Corn, do. 
1 
06.. 1 
09 
1 
05.. 1 
25 
99..1 
01 
98..1 02 
Seeds —Red Clover, lb... 
10.. 
11 
13.. 
14 
9.. 
11 
10 
Timothy, bushel,. 
2 
00.. 2 
25 
3 
00.. 3 
12 
2 50..3 
25 
3 
00..3 50 
Wool —Saxony, fleece, lb. 
75.. 
80 
70.. 
75 
68.. 
75 
55.. 68 
Merino, lb. 
55.. 
68 
60.. 
70 
60.. 
62 
48.. 55 
1-4 and com. lb... 
40.. 
50 
45.. 
65 
40.. 
55 
36.. 40 
1 
75.. 2 
75 
Cows and Calves,. 
18 00..45 00 
23 
00..42 
50 
18 0..50 0 
FROM THE STEAM PRESS OF PACKARD & VAN BENTHUYSEN. 
