immediate effect to produce inequality; for mental powers unimproved are of as little avail as the churl's politeness, who said that he was born with as much as Chesterfield himself, and was confident that he had never diminished his stock by use. It is not by classing the learned, the good and the great men of our land on a level with the indolent and vicious, that men are to be brought to a happy state of equality; but on the contrary by exalting the poor and the depressed by means of the diffusion of knowledge. General and thorough education is the true levelling principle. By the aid of very limited means of self instruction, persons commencing life as humble day laborers, have risen and will continue to rise, to the first distinctions of honor in our country. Although it is certain that mechanics do not often become philosophers, yet it is equally certain that they have, by means of self instruction become the greatest of philosophers. With laudable inducements to tempt him forward in his inventions, the mechanic feels in a degree the ardor which inspires the philosopher or the soldier, to leave a name that will survive in the recollection of successive generations, as long as the grass continue to cover with fresh verdure, the earth above his grave. After thousands of years shall have rolled away, and the very monuments of philosophers, statesmen and warriors of renown shall have been crumbled to dust, the multitude of human beings who may then people this earth, will as frequently recur to the popular name of him, whose genius first introduced the use of the steamboat and enabled man to overpower the swift currents of adverse tides, as to the memory of Newton who explained the great laws that govern those tides. Although a young man may fail in his attempts to amass wealth, to enable him to make a distinguished appearance in the gay circles of fashion, yet it is in his power to qualify himself by mental cultivation, to associate with a superior class of men, who value the aristocracy of mind, above that of wealth. He may thus attain a more truly respectable standing, and enjoy more rational pleasures, than the absorbing pursuit of wealth can afford. On every side he will find objects to interest and delight. Should he engage in the study of animal life, a vast range for research is presented him, in the thousands of species of animals and of the insect tribes. Of animalculæ, the numbers are beyond the power of computation, and their minuteness is still more wonderful; as a few cubic feet of sea water gives full scope for all the enjoyments of vitality to more of them, than there are human inhabitants on the earth. Yet all these minute beings exhibit to the eye of the scientific observer, by the aid of glasses, perfectly organized structures like those of large animals, having arteries, nerves and circulating blood. If he turn his attention to Botany he will find that seventy or eighty thousand distinct species of plants decorate the surface of the earth with their bright colors, or vegetate in the dark caves of the ocean. Days may be passed in admiring the varied forms and glowing tints of the different classes of shells. Mountains are formed of the limestone, products of shell-fish, and countless islands of the sea have been created by the coral reefs, constructed by a feeble worm. The earliest history of the earth itself the student will find recorded in the impressions, on buried rocks, from whence the petrified remains of numerous, and now extinct species of animal and vegetables are constantly brought to light. In addition to all these are the numerous subjects contained in the long catalogue of useful knowledge, which are adapted to improve and elevate the mind. But if he flag in his ardor for investigating terrestrial objects, he has only to lift his eyes to the glorious firmament of Heaven. His imagination in the boldness of its flight, may visit unseen worlds, numerous as particles of floating dust, until wearied in its boundless course, it may at last rest in silent awe before the throne of Him who created them. Oh! cold indeed must be the feelings of that man who can contemplate all these objects without emotion. But the ordinary term of human life would neither be sufficient to learn nor to relate in detail, all the interesting works of creation. Were we able to attempt a narration of them, the decrepitude of age might steal over us, and still our task would be but commenced. The dull, cold ear of death would at last remain insensible to the voice that might be addressed to it, in continued utterance of the exhaustless descriptions. But the pleasing hope may animate us, that gathered from time to eternity and joining with the worshipping host of Heaven, it may constitute a part of our happiness, as all seeing, celestial spirits, to rejoice in beholding clearly and comprehensibly, and not as now "through a glass darkly," with the feeble vision of montal eyes, the interminable display of the wondrous works of our great Creator. 211 PETTIQUAMSCOTT.* BY EMMA ROBINSON. WHAT e'er can warm the imagination, Bounteous nature lavished here. Pious awe and sweet composure Here the waters idly sporting, Here, more tranquil joys pursuing, Oft his peaceful course reviewing, Moss-grown rocks their heads erecting, And their circling flowers protecting, -Bid them unmolested bloom. *Near Point Judith. |
