of Europe, while the number of observers and the taste for astronomical studies has kept pace with the increase of our instruments. The importance of astronomical observations is beginning to be generally appreciated; but for the benefit of those whose attention has not been particularly turned to this subject, a few suggestions are added. An astronomical observatory may be made useful in almost any location, but it may be rendered especially valuable in the neighborhood of a large commercial emporium. The following may be enumerated among these advantages: HAMILTON COLLEGE TELESCOPE. I. It furnishes an accurate determination of time, which is a matter of importance to almost every citizen, but more especially to certain classes of the community. Every vessel which puts to sea, carries with it one or more chronometers, and the chronometer is almost exclusively relied upon to furnish the longitude of the vessel from day to day. An error of a few seconds in the chronometer causes a corre- quires some peculiar arrangements. The folsponding error in the longitude deduced, and lowing is the arrangement for this purpose which such errors have been the occasion of the loss existed for many years at Greenwich Observaof numerous vessels. It is, therefore, a matter tory: On one of the turrets of the observatory of vital importance that the error and rate of is erected a mast, upon which slides a ball, five all chronometers which are carried to sea should feet in diameter, consisting of a frame of wood be determined with the utmost precision. In covered with leather. A little before one o'clock every commercial city there are private estab- every day the ball is slid up to the top of the lishments where this duty is regularly attended mast, where it is held by ingeniously contrived to. A public observatory does not necessarily machinery. Precisely at one o'clock an assistinterfere with these private establishments, but ant, who is specially charged with this duty, affords the means of rendering them more accu- presses a spring, and the ball instantly descends. rate and efficient. How this may be accom- By this means all persons in sight of the ball plished will presently be shown. are enabled daily to test the accuracy of their clocks. At the Washington Observatory a ball of smaller size than that at Greenwich is elevated every day on a flag-staff, and is lowered at the precise instant of twelve o'clock. An exact knowledge of time is also of vital importance to the conductors of all railroad trains. A small error in a conductor's watch has repeatedly been the occasion of the collision of railroad trains, and the consequent destruction of human life. Many of the railroad companies in this country incur annually considerable expense to provide all the conductors with correct time. An accurate knowledge of time is important to all business men, but especially to banking and other houses where business is entirely sus pended at a fixed hour of the day. A small mistake in the time might occasion not only serious disappointment, but also pecuniary loss. An astronomical observatory is furnished with clocks of the best construction, and with transit instruments for determining daily the error of these clocks. The observatory, therefore, can furnish time with all the precision which can be desired; but to render this knowledge conveniently accessible to the public, re Within the last two years the arrangements at Greenwich for furnishing the public with an accurate knowledge of the time have been very much improved. A normal clock is furnished with a small apparatus, by means of which, whenever its error is determined by observations, its indications can be rendered perfectly correct. This clock keeps in motion a sympathetic galvanic clock at the entrance-gate of the observatory, and also a clock at the terminus of the Southeastern Railway. It sends galvanic signals every day along all the principal railways diverging from London; it drops the Greenwich ball and the ball on the offices of the Electric Telegraph Company in the Strand. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have also erected a time signal-ball at Deal, for the use of the shipping in the Downs, which is dropped every day by a galvanic current from | yond the elementary branches. The academies the Royal Observatory. Similar arrangements might be adopted in every large commercial city. If, for example, there was a public observatory in the neighborhood of New York, a clock at the observatory | might be made every day, by means of an electric current, to drop a time-ball on the Merchants' Exchange or the City Hall, another on Brooklyn Heights, another on Staten Island, and another at Sandy Hook; as well as at any other point where public convenience might require. It might also maintain in motion a sympathetic galvanic clock at the City Hall, at the Custom-house, at the Exchange, and at every railway station in the city—a clock which should never differ by an appreciable quantity from perfectly accurate time. Such a system would contribute not a little to the security of commerce and the punctuality of business.* II. A second advantage to be derived from an astronomical observatory is that, by extending our knowledge of the heavenly bodies, it directly contributes to the security of commerce. The prosperity of commerce depends entirely upon the safety with which the ocean can be navigated, and this depends upon the accuracy with which a ship's place can be determined from day to day. Had it not been for the labors of modern astronomers in their observatories, vessels would still, as in ancient times, creep timidly along the coast, afraid to venture out of sight of land; or if they were compelled to venture into the open ocean, they would be exposed to imminent danger in approaching land, not knowing how far distant the port might be. The loss of time resulting from pursuing this timid course, and the numerous disasters which could not be avoided, would more than double the expense of maintaining our foreign commerce. Astronomers, by their accurate determinations of the places of the sun, the moon, and the stars, have given prosperity to commerce and boundless wealth to our commercial cities. But there is still much for astronomers to do. The places of the heavenly bodies even at present are not known with all the precision which is desired. Great errors in determining a ship's place are now of rare occurrence; but small errors frequently lead to disastrous consequences, and it is therefore important to reduce the errors to the least possible amount. III. An astronomical observatory, well equipped, becomes a centre of influence which is felt on all the educational establishments of the country, even those of the humblest grade. It is impossible to maintain common schools in a state of efficiency without institutions of a higher grade, corresponding to our academies, which shall furnish teachers for the elementary schools, and also afford encouragement to ambitious seholars, who wish to extend their studies be Since the preceding was written, the officers of the Dudley Observatory at Albany have offered to furnish time for the city of New York, substantially in the manner above suggested. can not be maintained in a flourishing condition without institutions of a higher grade, corresponding to our colleges, where teachers are educated for the academies, and where ambitious students from the academies may extend still farther the range of their studies. College professors, in their turn, are in danger of settling down into mere retailers of other men's ideas, without aspiring to add any thing to the stock of human knowledge, unless they are surrounded by institutions whose leading object is the increase of knowledge. An astronomical observatory, therefore, is a centre of genial influence, which directly or indirectly imparts life and efficiency to all the subordinate institutions of education. It is also a place where men of business may acquire new ideas of the wonders of the material universe; where men, whose days are spent in toiling for the acquisition of wealth, may learn that there are mines of intellectual riches more inexhaustible than the mines of California. Men who from morning to night are engaged in the duties of an arduous profession, or in the labors of the counting-house or exchange, often feel the need of recreation when the hours of business are over. What mode of recreation is more rational-what is better fitted to inspire the mind with noble sentiments-than to direct the thoughts to the wonders of the material universe, to the vastness of the visible creation, as exhibited to the eye of an astronomer with the assistance of the telescope? BALLAD OF BUNKER HILL. Our hearts grew still; By Bunker Hill. All night the stars looked down, We heard-"All's well!" Alone could tell. Morn saw our rampart crowned, Out spoke our leader, then: The tyrant comes! God and your homes!" Then, sight no fairer seen, Saw June's sweet sun; We, from our fort's low crest, Glance, in a row; Then, boys, aim low." Up-up, they rush-they cheer- And tamely die? They fall-they fly! Close on our left a shout- Then, lowered a murkier cloud Ah, cruel flame! And kindred name! They form-brief space they grant-Not one rebuff must daunt Stout English hearts; Quick-step, their columns tread, PIGOT-none nobler led And Howe is at their head- To the roll of the drum, Bend to the blast. Tell how we speed; Away the war-cloud rolled; He cried: "One more brave blow, "He moves, once more! 'tis wellLet every bullet tell!" So the words rang; We thought of Heaven's grace, Then watched the green hill's base, And the foe in the face Looked, as he sprang. We fire! they swerve-they haltThen, to the fierce assault, Leap o'er their slain; Now, brothers, steadfast stand- By Heaven! our low redoubt, Ere ends the fray. We hold our own; Oh, for one volley more! Met the sharp bayonet's dash, So went the fight. Through dust and smoke and heat Step by step, we retreat, Inch by inch given; Then, deadliest of the whole, Some random-volley's roll WARREN'S great martyr-soul Ushered to heaven. As down the lost hill's banks When brave men turn. His dear-bought hold; So Bunker Hill was won, And Time one blazing name All, all his own. MY MISSION. female who has been proving in ungrammatical English for several years that man is by nature an assassin and a coward, and that woman would be an angel if tyrannous convention would only permit her dear little wings to grow -even Mrs. Swashbuckler herself is known to have an ignoble husband secreted in some portion of the city, where he is kept either as a domestic adjunct, or a living illustration of the inferiority of man, to be startlingly produced at some future lecture, when a sensation is considered necessary. Now I respect the man who really and earnestly fulfills his mission; I respect the vigorous manner in which Mohammed sabred his way to the Moslem Paradise. I respect the pertinacity with which the Russian emperors have one and all kept moving toward poor Constantinople; I respect the solemn persistence with which the New York Tribune continues to publish Southern advertisements for runaway slaves-minute woodcut of active Ethiopian with small bundle, making six miles an hour, included. I respect the constancy with which Admiral Napier brings his wrongs before a British public once a week in the London Times; the political consistency of the New York Cuttle-fish; Mr. Barnum's unceasing and delightful expedients for selling the public; the amiable taste of the American people for books like the Lamplighter and the Watchman; all these I respect, together with a I AM not afraid of being accused of uttering great many other phenomena of the day too any thing very original when I state that every one in this life has his mission. It is a remark which I have heard used with very great effect from several highly respectable pulpits, and more than one elderly lady, of that class conspicuous for mental rather than physical charms, has established a reputation for strong thinking by the sonorous declamation of the same axiom. To have a mission, however, is one thing, and to fulfill it is another. Any one who has enjoyed the intimacy of that clever young fellow, Spasmos, knows full well that into his charge has been confided by Providence the mission of abolishing publishers, and reforming steam-navigation. As yet, Spasmos has not made any very extensive progress in his mission. He continues, I regret to say, to sell his articles to "Harper," and his reformation of oceanic locomotion has gone no farther than the invention of a paddle-wheel which would not revolve. Those who sit under the Rev. Père la Chaise are aware of the fine healthy mission against social shams and comfortable furniture which that gentleman dandles before his congregation, and swaddles up in the most poetic sermons. They all know with what vehemence he denounces luxurious curtains, and declaims on the immorality of tapestry carpets. The reverend man was not averse, however, to th: sy chair with which some enraptured ented him last fall, and it has been well-informed circles that his new ined with maroon-colored satinet. yoak Swashbuckler, that amiable numerous to mention. The reason that I entertain such sympathy for missions in general, and honest ones in particular, is, that I once had a mission myself. Yes! I, humble individual that I am, was once intrusted with a high and mighty charge, and became for the time being a delegate clothed with extraordinary powers. It is now about four years since I found myself in the small village of Hingham, in Massachusetts, having traveled there for the purpose of having an interview with a lady of the name of Cooder. Mrs. Cooder was the chief of a sect which had just been established for the purpose of abolishing animal food, and as I had just then come under the notice of the public through my work on the philosophy of eating-the most of which I stole from M. Raspail, and enlivened with adroit plagiarisms from Brillat Savarin-Mrs. Cooder, thinking I would prove a vàluable auxiliary to her forces, wrote to me to New York, offering the editorship of a newspaper, entitled The Corn Cob, which was to be the organ of the vegetable party. As I was too poor to refuse so tempting a proposal-ten dollars a week and the books sent for review as a perquisite-I replied by a line accepting the charge of The Corn Cob, and in four days afterward found myself knocking at Mrs. Cooder's door. I was fortunate in choosing the moment of my arrival. Mrs. Cooder had a party. As I entered, after having sent in my card, I found myself in the presence of a number of persons who were seated round a tea-table. It was a | Mrs. Cooder, she was solemnly cordial, and tea-table in name only. There was no pleasant helped me to a snowy pile of hominy with shining urn-no delicate porcelain cups-no much philosophic dignity. I speedily discovaromatic odor breathing of the hills of Fo-Kien. ered that the Cooder set had a very low opinEvery thing was strictly vegetarian. Huge jugs ion of New York. It was certainly a thriving of milk-crystal carafes filled with limpid water- commercial city—a metropolis of stores, and dishes of hominy white as snow-pumpkin pies-wharves, and stock-brokers, but there was no inflour puddings; interspersed with heaven only tellectual progress. There all was too fevered knows how many varieties of the corn cake. It and restless to admit of the growth of those was, as an irreverent friend of mine remarked, mental flowers which only bud and blossom a banquet of poultices. A lady arose from the amidst silence and repose. New York philostable as soon as I entered, and bowing solemnly, ophers were rapid but crude. New York critics indicated her pleasure at beholding me. From were arrogant and short-sighted. New York this I conjectured that Mrs. Cooder stood be- clergymen were vain and unsettled; their elofore me. Mrs. Cooder was the most singular quence was false, and their life unorthodox. anatomical structure I ever witnessed. She New York literature was trashy and ephemeral, must have originally been constructed after and characterized by a want of depth and force. some pattern bequeathed to posterity by the But in those things wherein New York was deheathen epicure who wished for a neck as long ficient, it was easy to perceive that Hingham as a stork, for Mrs. Cooder was all neck. Her was affluent. There philosophy was wooed neck was not a neck. It was an obelisk. It amidst a pure and tranquil life. There poetry arose boldly from a rocky base formed by her was worshiped with enthusiasm, and religion too visible shoulder-blades, and towered into preached in all its integrity. Hingham was the the air like one of Norway's pines. On the Athens-elegant and learned; New York was summit of this monument was perched a small the Rome-luxurious but depraved. pinched face that looked as if it were alarmed "You will find Hingham dull, I fear, Mr. at the dizzy height from which it was obliged Mephis," said Miss Crescendeau, with a sneer to look. And truly her countenance had very of pity wrinkling her old lips. "New York much the air of that of a child who peers at one is so gay and reckless that the repose of a sofrom the top of a tree which he is afraid to de-ciety like ours, devoted to meditation and intelscend. She greeted me with an air at once lectual culture, will appear to be an irksome dignified and serene, and with a sort of rotary contrast." wave of the hand gave me a circular introduction to the people assembled round the table. They were principally of a spare and transparent aspect. Their skins were clear but pale, and if they did not look robust, they certainly did not look unhealthy. There was the Rev. Custos Sikay, the Congregational pastor of Hingham, who had lately taken to farinaceous food. He was a tall, pale young man, with thin hair and a mild voice, which seemed to be muffled by a feeling of religious quiet. There was Miss Carry Crescendeau, who at the age of forty had adopted vegetables and verse, and was favorably known as the authoress of a legendary poem entitled "The Angel of the Maize," which had for its object the advocacy of hot corn; Dr. Lasso, the progress physician who practiced à la Raspail; Master Guy Ruthven Cooder, Mrs. Cooder's eldest-born, a young gentleman who was being educated on the most approved modern do-as-you-like principles, and whose face, round and ruddy amidst that pale throng, reeked of the secret mutton-chops and surreptitious pâté. "I have gone so seldom into society in New York that I know little about its gayety," I replied, meekly, endeavoring to look as like a vegetable as I could-say a turnip-" and for my part, I think no intercourse could be more delightful to me than such as I hope to enjoy with the authoress of 'The Angel of the Maize."" The bony brow unbent; the sneer unhinged itself off of the mechanical old lips, and a rusty smile slowly moved into its place; the poetess of Hingham was conquered: "I read your book with much pleasure," interposed Mrs. Cooder, hastening, like a jackall to his meal, to have her share of decayed compliments, "and I regretted much that you did not give more prominence to the importance of using farinaceous food exclusively." "Ah!" I exclaimed, with the air with which a neophyte regards the high priest when he is about to draw the vail and disclose the mysteries-"ah! Mrs. Cooder, I am happy that I am not yet completely a disciple of the vegetarian school, since it will give me the opportunity of studying the theory more fully under your guidance." I observed somewhat an air of distrust visible on the faces of the society as I took my place The long neck bowed forward in acknowlat the table; whether it was that my complex-edgement of this speech until Mrs. Cooder bore ion did not seem to be the result of a farinaceous an absurd resemblance to a giraffe endeavoring diet, and that I looked too ruddy and well fat- to crop daisies. I saw, however, by the dimintened, or that I was a stranger, I know not. utive smile which fluttered over her stunted But I thought that I could perceive those side-mouth, that my stale flattery had served its purlong glances shooting from the eyes of the Rev. pose. I cast a glance at the two men. My Custos Sikay and Dr. Lasso that always are the success was evidently any thing but agreeable tokens of either suspicion or enmity. As for to them. The parson was pale as a pious mar |