Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

to count 100 per minute, it would require, in order to count the number in question, 6,536,500 millions of years.

GOOD BOOKS.

A YOUNG man who has a fondness for bocks, or taste for the works of nature and art, is not only preparing to appear with honor and usefulness as a member of society, but is secured from a thousand temptations and evils to which he would otherwise be exposed. He knows what to do with his leisure time. It does not hang heavily on his hands. He has no inducement to resort to bad company, or the haunts of dissipation and vice; he has higher and nobler sources of enjoyment in himself. At pleasure he can call around him. the best of company-the wisest and greatest men of every age and country-and feast his mind with the rich stores of knowledge which they spread before him. A lover of good books can never be in want of good society, nor in much danger of seeking enjoyment in the low pleasures of sensuality and vice.

MUSIC AS A BRANCH OF INSTRUCTION

In the United States, singing is usually considered as an accomplishment which belongs to the luxuries of education. In Germany, it is deemed an essential part of common school instruction; as a means of cultivating one of the most important of our senses, of softening the character, and especially of preparing children to unite in the public worship of God. It is con

sidered no more remarkable, and no more difficult, for children to read and write music, than language; and musical tones are made the means of associating valuable ideas with the common objects and phenomena of nature, and the ordinary events of life.

The following ordinance, extracted from the Prussian Official Gazette, (Amts Blatt,) Cologne, January 15th, 1828, will show the light in which this subject is viewed by that Government.

[ocr errors]

"Among the essential branches of education, which

"Among the essential branches of education, which ought to be found in all common schools, and to which every teacher who undertakes the management of such schools, is in duty bound to attend, is that of instruction in singing. Its principal object in these schools, is to cultivate feeling, and exert an influence in forming the habits, and strengthening the powers of the will, for which mere knowledge of itself is often altogether insufficient; hence it constitutes an essential part of educating instruction, and if constantly and correctly applied, renders the most unpolished nature capable of softer emotions, and subject to their influence. From its very nature, it accustoms pupils to conform to generai rules, and to act in concert with others.

"Having recommended this important object of primary instruction, (the immediate connexion of which with religious instruction, no one can fail to perceive,) to the zealous exertions of the teachers, and the careful attention of the directors of schools, and, at the same time, having urged the study of the best writers upon the subject, which, so far as they relate to school instruction, ought to be found in the libraries of every district, we shall here bring forward some points which demand a closer and more universal attention.

"If instruction in singing is to accomplish with certainty the objects proposed, it must be long continued without interruption, and, of course, it is indispensably necessary that a regular attendance be required during the continuance of the duties of the school, and enforced in the strongest manner.

"It is unnecessary to illustrate the contrast between the last remark and the usual desultory mode in which singing is taught.”

In order to render a similar course of instruction practicable in this country, a gentleman in Boston has prepared, under the title of "The Juvenile Lyre," a set of tunes, adapted to the capacities of children, and calculated to associate the sensible with the moral and spiritual world, in their minds. Songs for children should have simplicity without frivolity, and an adaptation to the heart which is not found in every day compositions. The American Annals of Education, speaks favorably of the system, and gives the following specimen;

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE EXTRACTS.

SYMPATHY.

"Come then with me thy sorrows join.
And ease my woes by telling thine."

Ir is a pure stream that swells the tide of sympathy; it is an excellent heart that interests itself in the feelings of others—it is a heaven-like disposition that engages the affections, and extorts the sympathetic tear for the misfortunes of a friend. Mankind are ever subject to ills, infirmities, and disappointments. Every breast, at some particular period, experiences sorrow and distress. Pains and perplexities are long-lived plagues of human existence, but sympathy is the balm that heals these wounds. If a person, who has lost a precious friend, can find another who will feelingly participate in his misfortune, he is well nigh compensated for his loss. And delightful is the task, to a feeling mind, of softening the painful pillow of the sick, amusing the thoughts of the unhappy, and alleviating the misfortunes of the afflicted.

GENTLENESS.

WHOEVER understands his own interest, and is pleased with the beautiful rather than the deformed, will be careful to cherish the virtue of gentleness. It requires but a slight knowledge of human nature, to convince us that much of our happiness in life must depend upon the cultivation of this virtue. The man of wild, boisterous spirit, who gives loose reins to his temper, is, generally speaking, a stranger to happiness; he lives in a continual storm; the bitter waters of contention and strife are always swelling up in his soul, destroying his peace and imparting their baneful influence to all with whom he is connected. He excites the disgust and ill will of those who are acquainted with his character, and but few can be found to wish him success in any of his undertakings. Not so is the influence of gentleness. This virtue will assist its possessor in all his lawful undertakings; it will often render him successful when nothing else could; it is exceedingly lovely and attractive in its appearance; it wins the hearts of all;

[ocr errors]

it is even stronger than argument, and will often prevail when that would be powerless and ineffectual; it shows that man can put a bridle upon his passions; that he is above the ignoble vulgar, whose characteristic it is to storm and rage like the troubled ocean, at every little adversity or disappointment which may cross their paths; it shows that he can soar away in the bright atmosphere of good feeling, and live in a continual sunshine, when all around him are enveloped in clouds and darkness, and driven about like maniacs, the sport of their own passions. The most favorable situations in life, the most lovely objects in nature, wealth and all that is calculated to increase the happiness of man, lose their charm upon a heart destitute of this virtue.

DEATH OF COLUMBUS.

With all the visions and fervor of his imagination, its fondest dreams fell short of the reality. He died in ignorance of the real grandeur of the discovery. Until his last breath he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opulent commerce, and had discovered some of the wild regions of the east. He supposed Hispaniola to be the ancient Ophir which had been visited by the ships of Solomon, and that Cuba and Terra Firma were but remote parts of Asia. What visions of glory would have broken upon his mind, could he have known that he had indeed discovered a new continent, equal to the whole of the old world in magnitude, and separated by two vast oceans from all the earth hitherto known by civilized man? And how would his magnanimous spirit have been consoled, amidst the afflictions of age, and the cares of penury, the neglect of a fickle public, and the injustice of an ungrateful king, could he have anticipated the splendid empires which were to spread over the beautiful world he had discovered; and the nations, and tongues, and languages, which were to fill its lands with his renown, and to revere and bless his name to the latest posterity.

True prudence is to see from the commencement of an affair what will be the end of it.

« ПредишнаНапред »