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Unfortunately for those who must advocate DANGER OF UNDUE SEVERITY.-It is easy the negative of this question, nature takes sides to do immense harm by a hasty judgment harshagainst them. Whatever the memory does, ly uttered. There are turning points in life, must be done early in life. Experience proves places where different paths diverge. A slight that very little can be done to increase its capa- impulse, this way, or that, upon one who stands city after persons have arrived at twenty years there, may make an infinite difference in the fi of age; while the point of highest sensibility is nal result of his life. He may be encouraged in a reached, without doubt, much sooner than that. noble pursuit, and go forward with alacrity to a The judgment, by which we mean the power to great success, or he may find in his way an ob comprehend principles, develops slower, ripens stacle, slight in itself, but sufficient to turn him later, and has a correspondingly longer period aside, and finally downward. We sometime of activity. How common a thing it is to see since read an anecdote that is worth repeating, to the judgment vigorous and healthy long after the following effect:

hood.

the memory has gone to decay. In cases of Between thirty and forty years ago, an Irish temporary illness the memory is the first and lad was pursuing his studies at Williams College, very frequently the only faculty disturbed. assisted by the "Brick Church" in this city. Emphatically it is the talent committed to child. While thus engaged, he suddenly received a letter from the officers of the Church, stating that, We shall hear something, no doubt, about the in view of certain reports prejudicial to his chardanger of over-stocking, and the liability of acter, the assistance of the church was thenceforth withdrawn. The poor fellow went to Proeducating talkers instead of thinkers. The fault of over-stocking, as I believe, may be charged fessor Dewey, (now of Rochester,) to say that he was compelled to leave college, but protesting directly and solely either to the quality of the material or lack of method in its arrangement that he was ignorant of any wrong he had done. The Professor, who had confidence in him, told one or both. Thinkers are rare enough, certainhim not to trouble himself, and assumed the rely to be valuable. Thought moves the world; not that puny offspring of the brain whose fee- and at the end of a year received a second letter sponsibility of his bills. The youth studied on, ble vitality we have nursed with such maternal from the church, stating that the charges were solicitude, but that which springs, like Minerva, found to be false, and renewing their support. from the head of Jove, with the strength of That youth was Dr. Nicholas Murray, who has maturity, in the full panoply of expression. but just ceased from his labors. Now, the church Thought, without expression, is like electricity meant no harm, but came near committing an evenly diffused, powerless and imperceptible; irreparable error. They were saved from the but poured in the mold of a well-turned sen- natural consequences of their rashness by the tence, it becomes a bolt to rive the mountain generous interference of the Professor, an act barriers." In the language of a living author, which could not have been calculated upon. "Thought embodied and embalmed in fit words. And cases occur often, it is to be feared, where walks the earth a living thing." Many an idea harshness has its own way, with no one to has slunk away from the company of its peers stop it. through sheer poverty of expression. Success in life depends quite as much, to say Only a few days since a friend was repeating the least, upon moral quality as upon mental ena few stanzas of a hymn learned in his boyhood. ergy. "He might do considerable," people some"That beautiful hymn!" said he; "Ah, how times say, "if you could only start him." There I wish I had learned a score of such!" Who is capacity, but it needs stimulating. Among decannot say the same! In those early years, when it would have been so easy a thing, what a pity the golden opportunity was lost!

a

A memory well furnished with words is mine of wealth, the possessor will sooner or later discover. It is the contribution of childhood to maturity, the legacy of youth to age.

It is better to keep children to their duty by a sense of honor and by kindness, than by the fear of punishment.

sirable stimulants hope is indispensable. One who has everything except courage, finds that discour agement neutralizes everything else he possesses. harsh word, a cold look, a breath of suspicion, a And how easily one may be discouraged! A hint of failing confidence, may be enough to make a strong resolution weak. There are persons who need to be rebuked sharply. But there are those who are more likely to be destroyed than reformed by rough treatment, and before any one begins it, he does well to be sure that he knows his man.-Examiner.

Philology.

COMMUNICATIONS for this Department should be addressed to HENRY CLARK, Pawtucket, R. 1.

For the Schoolmaster.

And tricks his beams and with new-spangled ore,
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky."

The sense of the sentence would have been complete had Milton written another less expressive word instead of forehead. As it is, he has presented a striking picture, beyond and superior to

Of the Picturesque in Language; Especially the metaphor he has chosen. It can hardly be de

in Words.

"Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet." Does this not also suggest a similar line"The breezy call of incense-breathing morn❞— in the exquisite Elegy of Gray?

scribed, so delicate and exquisite is the imagery. This is not the only example wherein the author THERE is a certain quality discoverable in pop- of Paradise Lost personifies the morning. A sinular literary works akin to metaphor and compari-gle line, illustrative of our subject, will indicate a son. It seems to exceed rhetorical figures, in that second instance still more beautiful than this. It it is indicative of ideas that do not belong to the begins with — mere expression of the thought embodied, but to an image, pleasing or unpleasant, beyond it. An article quoted in a recent number of a monthly magazine has just fallen under my notice, which attributes to the Hebrew this quality in a high degree. "A verse of the Scripture," says the writer, "read in any faithful translation, will accurately convey the information or instruction contained in the original. But the same verse in Hebrew will do more than this. It will suggest to the mind of the reader a host of interesting associations." As illustrations of this conclusion, Mr. Craik cites among other instances, the term man, which in our tongue, I may say, is ambigi ous and quite too narrow in signification even for every-day use. In the Hebrew are six distinct words that come into our language under the title [man.]

Mr. Craik also cites the Nineteenth Psalm, rendering it literally as follows:

"The heavens are telling the glory of God,

The firmament displaying the work of his hands.
Day unto day welleth forth speech,

Shakspeare is not wanting in examples of the quality I am illustrating. In Richard III., Clarence, relating his fearful dream, tells Brackenbury

that he saw

"reflecting gems

That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scattered there."

Now the terms woo'd and mock'd are expressive of much more than the sentence itself requires. That alone is capable of a much feebler expression:

"reflecting gems

That [became imbedded in] the slimy bottom of the deep, And [contrasted with] the dead bones that lay scattered there."

But the words the Immortal Bard has chosen Night unto night breatheth out knowledge." call up images of loving features and manners, The most cursory reader will doubtless perceive and suggest tones of ridicule from sarcastic lips an emotion of pleasure in the contemplation of the by the terms woo'd and mock'd. Hence the conitalicised terms. It proceeds from their suggestive trast between what we have known of the exercicharacter. They present an instantaneous but ses of acts signified by these two terms, with the vivid picture to the mind beyond the ideas they repulsive circumstances of this conception, imparts convey in their relation to the thoughts expressed. an emotion of disgust which I think could scarceTelling includes the notion of a narrator; display-ly be so promptly evoked if the sentence were ing, the hands of one whose taste sets out objects translated into another language. so as to please the eye or fancy; welleth forth, the idea of a fountain, and breatheth out, that of a liv. ing being.

This quality of suggestiveness is, I think, not peculiar to the Hebrew tongue. It can be found in English also, though I question whether most instances of it in our language are not dependent

The next example will seem the more vivacious to those readers who understand the scope of the words quoted in their original tongues. It is also from Shakspeare. [Midsummer Night's Dream.]

"If you were civil and knew courtesy, You would not do me thus much injury." Civil, from civis, a citizen, courtesy from the noun

on the Hebrew for their spirit. Several examples court, signifying the accompaniments of kings, are are quoted below which appear to illustrate the suggestive of the refined manners of a city and quality. The words entitled to special criticism of the circumstances of thrones.

are printed in italics.

First is a passage from Milton's Lycidas:

"So sinks the day-star in the ocean-bed,

And yet anon repairs his drooping head,

Henry Craik - The Hebrew Language, its History and Characteristics.

I have accidentally opened to a beautiful passage from one of the works of Bacon, on adversity: "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, ad

*Polis, Greek, a city, hence politeness is of kindred character.

versity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the the greatest change, from rich to naked, from ceilgreater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's ed roofs to arched coffins, from living like gods to favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to dying like men." David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols."

It may be remarked that this quality is still more prominent in phrases, essays and books than in The prime meaning of the italicised term lies single words. A certain symmetry is necessary in almost entirely in its suggestive signification. The the appearance of any literary work to commend author might have said melancholy airs, sorrowful it to the consideration of a fastidious reader. Too airs, which would have been nearer the sense, great length, though it may not entail weariness is strictly, than the words hearse-like. Who ever productive of a disagreeable violation of the readthought of a musical air being like a hearse? So er's taste. No one can readily decide how much that the mind has to run a step ahead of the the popularity of the Knickerbocker has been owthought, that it may catch the spirit of his concep-ing to the exquisite taste of its editors, in securing tion. a pleasing appearance to every page, and, particularly in the Editor's Table, on account of which this periodical is perhaps more eagerly conned than any other portion of the book, in disposing of the sober, facetious or pathetic contributions to that department in a manner at once picturesque and pleasing. Do not the varying scenes of "Uncle Tom's Cabin " gather beauty from their skilful disposal so as to secure pleasing contrasts? And was not this power of rendering his works picturesque, after all, the secret of the success of Irving? It was doubtless so with Bunyan. It was so with Shakspeare, with Jeremy Taylor, Milton and many other writers whose works have commended themselves to thousands of readers.

I have two more quotations to make, which, being the most beautiful of all I have selected, I have reserved till the last. No one who has read much of Watts' lyric poetry will have failed to see that some of his poems contain the most sublime conceptions. The first two lines of a certain poem are of this class:

"The heavens invite mine eye,

The stars salute me round."

Invite, salute, are highly figurative. A critical reader will readily discover their correspondence

to the character of our other citations.

Jeremy Taylor, whose writings every one loves to read, because they are so sympathetic, so rich I need not refer to the value of this quality to in illustration, and withal so exuberant in prolific those who write popular lectures. People love to thought, furnishes numerous instances coming see and contemplate pictures-so they delight in legitimately under the heading of this article. I the consideration of skillfully delineated descriphave marked those words that seem to be especial-tions, striking or beautiful conceptions, especially ly worthy of criticism, and shall leave the passage when presented to them by a man whose excellent I have selected to the study of the reader: delivery adds a new charm to the subject he por

"But so have I seen a rose newly springing trays. A little thought will prove to almost any from the clefts of its hood, and, at first, it was fair observant reader that the lectures he most delights as the morning, and full with the dew of heaven to hear are those which abound in word-pictures. as a lamb's fleece; but when a ruder breath had They must be vigorously drawn and skillfully arforced open its virgin modesty, and dismantled its ranged. Contrasts must be marked, resemblances too youthful and unripe retirements, it began to striking. They must be new but constructed on put on darkness, and to decline to softness and the cherished and familiar themes;- -not overdrawn symptoms of a sickly age; it bowed the head, and nor faintly colored; neither too numerous nor too broke its stalk; and at night, having lost some of indistinct. They need be neither pathetic nor huits leaves and all its beauty, it fell into the portion morous, though they may be contrasted in any way of weeds and outworn faces. * ** [Shall I to suite the taste of the lecturer, and his style of not quote further than my need requires of this thought. striking passage?] A man may read a sermon,

In fine, no one should despise the employment the best and most passionate that ever man preach- of the element we have illustrated in this paper. ed, if he shall but enter into the sepulchres of kings. There is no class of literature which may not be In the same Escurial where the Spanish princes benefited by it, whether it be by attention to phrase, live in greatness and power, and decree war or essay or book, sermon, lecture or newspaper arpeace, they have wisely placed a cemetery, where ticle.

their ashes and their glory shall sleep till time

shall be no more; and where our kings have been i The twenty-first American edition of Trench on crowned their ancestors lie interred, and they must the Study of Words, from the ninth English ediwalk over their grandsire's head to take his crown. tion, is noticed in the New Englander for January. There is an acre sown with royal seed, the copy of

A distinguished writer says that heaven is never

* Jeremy Taylor's Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying, so fully revealed as in the face of a beautiful woetc., 2, 1, 3. man: but he forgets the heart of a good one.

Editors' Department.

A SPLENDID OFFER.

wife, $150; spending-money for twelve-year-old son, $100; dress for each daughter, $350; two servants, one for kitchen, and one for the chambers, $190, food, $1,000; extras, say $500. This altogether amounts to about $4 500; so my good friend These F. runs behind-hand about $500 per year.

We offer to any person who will send us the names of EIGHT NEW SUBSCRIBERS, with the mo- accumulating debts make his life a constant, humiliating struggle. He told me recently that but for his helpless family he would gladly take refuge in the grave.

ney enclosed, (one dollar for each subscriber) a copy of that magnificent standard work, Lippincott's Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World, price $6.00. By a little exertion every teacher may own this indispensable help for the student.

Now, as my friend will read this, I shall take the liberty to say a few plain things, which I sincerely hope may help him out of debt, and into a more comfortable frame of mind.

debt.

THE WAY TO ESCAPE.

Now, sir, I shall presume that to-day you owe We cannot forbear to speak of Dr. Dio Lewis's New Gymnastics, a work published at his new $1,500, and shall likewise presume that you would Gymnasium, No. 20 Essex street, Boston, at $1.00 make almost any sacrifice to rid yourself of said per year. — a monthly journal setting forth the new methods of physical exercise, as well as the laws and defects of our physiological habits. We feel I shall not advise you to work harder yourself, that Dr. Lewis has entered a very important field for you already go quite beyond your endurance. of labor. He is a man of large common sense, as First, discharge your two servants, and let your well as highly educated. He has a rare faculty of wife teach the daughters how to cook and make impressing you with the degree of importance to beds. This will save you in salary, board and which his subject attaches itself. He is no hum-waste, at least $500. A good beginning, you see. Next, reduce each daughter's wardrobe expenses bug or misguided philanthropist; on the contrary,

I

he has entered upon the new work from actual con- to $150, which will save $800. If you or your victions of its truth, and the real, imperative de- daughters think a plainer wardrobe will make them mand in the community for a revolution in the less respectable, you are all very much mistaken. manner of physical training. As a medical man They are not half so widely known as your debts. he has passed the most thorough course of study, and every new and rich addition to their dress or which has been followed by a long practice, at- ornaments excites anything but admiration. tended with flattering results. Although he is know men who admire your girls, but are deterred obliged to employ assistants in his gymnasium, yet from visiting them because of the facts I have he is up to all that is proposed for another. He is mentioned. The reduction I have suggested in as flexible as an eel; though quite corpulent, grace their wardrobe, would add more to public esteem, attends every motion. In his journal he speaks and to their popularity among all classes, than any very decidedly. There is no mistaking him, for he thing else I can think of. uses the plain Saxon tongue, yet the slightest vestige of slang or vulgarity never appears. He deems Stop that hundred dollars which your son extruth and fidelity to the subject of greater impor-pends every year for cigars and ice creams, and tance than sparing the whims of mere ignorant or take him into your shop to perform the duties now superstitious critics. For instance, see how he performed by your apprentice, Here you will save speaks to one of his friends (and who has not such at least $400 more. an one?) in regard to domestic economy:

"EXTRAVAGANCE ANd debt.

STOP THOSE CIGARS AND CREAMS!

And then reduce your table expenses to $500, which will be infinitely better for you all. If you "I know a family, consisting of father, mother, leave off the pies, cakes and puddings, you will four daughters and one son. all have better digestion, and your girls much finer The father is a superior watch repairer. has a shop of his own, and complexions. If you live on plain, coarse food, earns, with the assistance of an apprentice, about you will all have a sweeter breath, whiter teeth, four thousand dollars per year. He is most devo- finer skins, and much longer life, and, what is not unimportant with you, save $500 per year. ted to business, and does not even smoke a cigar. I do not know a man more harrassed by debts and poverty. Whatever stock he may have on hand, must always be in the name of a friend, or his creditors would soon dispose of it.

I think if you will run your eye over these several items you will find the aggregate $2,200!

Allow me, my dear friend, to say, in conclusion, that you will never know a happy, manly hour unThe way in which those four thousand dollars til you have done what I have advised; and 1 trust disappear, I desire to give the reader, with some your daughters will not be offended, if I declare reflections thereupon:-House rent, $600; shop my conviction that any objection they may urge to rent, $350; gas and coal, $175; dress for self and the proposed retrenchment, will discover a selfish

disregard of common decency and honor most in- partakes of the nature of the miraculous. Here, tolerable in a woman." at least, is a feat worthy of any gymnast of the

We prize this paper before us greatly, and hope present age. Methinks I see, "in my mind's eye," it may find a success commensurate with its worth, this wonderful performance. A meek and quietthat new systems of exercise may soon be brought | looking specimen of the bovine race is seen grazto the final overthrow of the destructive customs ing on a grassy slope. At length she stops and of the past. gazes at the lunar orb, which, in all its mid-day splendor, is hung in the zenith. An irresistible

[WE present below an article which was origin- longing to explore that bright region comes over ally written for a composition by a lad in one of her. At last her determination is fixed, and with our Providence schools, whose youth and untrain- that grace and agility for which her race has ever ed pen will throw somewhat of interest upon his been remarkable, she bounds into the air and clears power as a reviewer.] the moon, descending to the earth amid the wonder and admiration of all.

66

REVIEW OF A POPULAR MELODY BY MOTHER

GOOSE."

"The little dog laughed to see such craft." This also calls up a picture in the mind, Look in that corner, and see that small, bob-tailed cur! How he enjoys himself! His sides shake, and his small tail vibrates with the excess of his mirth. Laugh on, thou worthy descendant of a doubtless illustrious line of ancestors, for well hast thou rea

In looking over the writings of ancient poets we find much to amuse and instruct us. There are a few of these which in some places seem to cast off the shackles of this mundane sphere, and to soar above the comprehension of everybody; but in other places their ideas are so plain and ev ident as to come within the range of any under-son! standing. Of such a class are the melodies of that far-famed matron, Mother Goose. Who can not remember the time when these poems produced an unbounded store of fascination in his mind? The whole volume abounds in witty and sensible ideas. But the subject I intend to treat of is the following effusion :

"Hey diddle diddle!

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon ;

The little dog laughed

To see such craft,

And the dish ran away with the spoon."

There! Where will you find a better combination of the mysterious and the miraculous? But I will proceed to view the subject in the order of the lines. The first,

"Hey diddle diddle,"

Finally,

"The dish ran away with the spoon." At length the dish, wrought up to a high state of frenzy by these spectacles, and unable to vent its feelings in any other manner, actually descends to committing larceny, or rather kidnapping. The poor spoon, in unsuspecting enjoyment of the scene, is gazing at the performances before mentioned, when suddenly it feels a rude grasp on the small of its back, and despite its cries and entreaties, it is borne away, no one knows whither. "Such is life."

WE would be glad to be able to give, from month to month, the various items of educational intelligence in the several parts of our State. But in order to do this we must, in a great measure, be dependent upon our fellow teachers for informais doubtless the expression of an overflow of ani- tion. Then, fellow teachers, please send us any mal spirits; or possibly it may be a "preliminary news relating to your interests of whatever nature. flourish of trumpets" for the lines which are to Any change of teachers, or any public examinafollow. At any rate it possesses that qualification tion or exhibition which you may enjoy, please found in many modern works, that of requiring give us the benefit of it. No matter how trivial deep thought to unravel. To most of people this the circumstance may seem to you we all shall be line is veiled in obscurity, but to the quick per- pleased to hear from you. Remember this is our ceptions of a few, it is doubtless, to use the lucid common store house, and we all expect to learn expression, "as clear as mud"! something of each other here.

The next line,

"The cat and the fiddle,"

We have in use several sizes of White's Patent

is also one which requires deep study to under- Newspaper, Lecture, Sermon and Letter File, for stand. Why puss and the musical instrument holding all kinds of paper in a book form. It holds should be connected with each other in the same in the neatest manner from one sheet to a hundred line surpasses my powers to discover. Possibly (or one year of weekly papers) and holds the sheets the cat may be of a musical turn of mind, and so firmly that they can never get loose or be drawn clings to it with a natural regard and affection. At out. It is so simple that there is no liability to get least it harmonizes perfectly with the preceding line in not having a particle of sense in it.

The next line.

"The cow jumped over the moon,"

out of repair. The price is merely nominal, from ten to thirty cents, according to size. Snow & Greene are the agents for this very desirable article. Call and see them,

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