THE HEROIC.-The ordinary events of life are not strong enough to move the whole man; its deeper and more passionate moments show us what we really are. There is that within us which comes forth only upon some strong exterior call. This is the true use of the heroic, of a life transcending life's ordinary possibilities. Such a life is a direct call upon the soul, saying, "Friend, come up higher;" and the heart recognizes its voice, and exults in it, claims it as the voice of kindred risen to a more exalted sphere. It is THE WATCH ON THE RHINE. like air from a mountain summit, where we could not live, and yet which seems our native air and braces us in every nerve. Deeds of heroic daring, of sublime self-devotion, how they stir our hearts, often torpid in response to the ordinary appeals of duty and reason! In teaching, we trust too much to mere intelligence, forgetting that there are many gateways into the soul, and that feeling bursts through them all. Indeed, there is a vast region, the finest and purest in our nature, that can be reached only through sensation. 3. While flows one drop of German blood, 3. So lang' ein Tropfen Blut noch gluht, 4. Our oath resounds, the river flows, 4. Der Schwur erschallt, die Woge rinnt, MISCELLANY. POTOSI, in Bolivia, is the highest city in the world, being at an elevation of 13,350 feet, considerably above the level of the summits of many of the Alpine mountain giants, and only 360 feet below the topmost peak of the icy Jungfrau itself. This is a tolerably lofty altitude for a city; but then Potosi is the metropolis of the richest silver mines in the neighboring Cerra (Sierra, or high ridge.) de Potosi, at an altitude of 16,000 feet above the sea level, of greater height than the top of Mont Blanc; so that the abundance of the precious metals, we may sup. pose, compensates the 30,000 inhabitants (about half of whom are of the native races) for the rarity of the air, the rapid alterations of climate, which presents the characteristics of the four seasons every twentyfour hours, and the rugged barrenness of the surrounding districts. Among the amendments adopted by the Michigan Legislature, to be ratified or rejected by the people, are the following clauses affecting women: A woman's private property shall remain hers after marriage. Any property she acquires after marriage shall also be hers entirely. Her husband shall not be liable for her debts before marrirge, nor for those contracted by her in relation to her sole property after marriage. Women shall be eligible to the office of register of deeds and notary public, to those connected with schools and libraries, and to any others hereafter designated by law. 66 The Tribune in an admirable editorial on Agassiz, quotes the story of a shrewd agent who tried vainly to buy the great naturalist for a winter's lecture course : Why, sir, you will make more money than by ten years of this work," he reasoned. "But I have not the time to make money," said Agassiz. In this short sentence is expressed the whole of that great sermon which Americans most need. wool, 1,862,752 pounds; Greene is next, 444,499 pounds. Lancaster is ahead in wheat, producing 2,077,363 bushels annually. THE HAPPIEST PERIOD.-I am sure there is only one answer. It is now. If I am doing my duty, today is the best day I have ever had. Yesterday had a happiness of its own, and up to this morning it was Bradford county produces the greatest amount of the best day of all. I would not, however, live it butter, 3,704,709 pounds; Montgomery next, 3,104,over again. I string it, as a new bead, on the chap-748 pounds. Washington county produces the most let of praise, and turn to the better work and the higher thoughts of this present time. Of all the many days of my life, give me to-day. This should be our feeling always, from the cradle to the hour when we are called to come up higher. Childhood is best for children, manhood is best for men, and old age for the silver-haired. We will join in a chorus of common thanksgiving to God, and when asked "Which is the happiest period?" we will truly say-passengers. childhood, manhood and old age alike.- 'O Father, it is now."-Hepworth. The Pennsylvania Rallroad Company is about to introduce Bibles in their passenger coaches. Each car will be provided with four copies of the sacred volume. They will be placed in a rack specially made for the purpose, and are intended for the use of One of the characters in a work of George Eliot is made to say: "It's a poor work allays settin' the dead above the livin'. We shall all on us be dead sometime, I reckon-it 'ud be better if folks 'ud make much on us beforehand instid o' beginnin' when we're gone. It's but little good you'll do a-watering the last year's crop." A young man from the country slapped a big copper cent under the nose of the stamp clerk at the Troy post office, the other day, saying: "I guess I'll take one of them pastoral cards, mister." men and ladies, but no information is given through what medium the references may be heard from. INJURED BY STUDY.-The school teachers of Worcester, Mass., have arrived at the conclusion that over-study does not injure children, but that late hours, badly-ventilated rooms,and evil habits do. This is especially true of girls. Not one in a thousand is injured by study. Idleness and unhygienic habits are the true source of ill-health among school girls. Their emotional natures are stimulated by sensational novels. Unwholesome diet and the dissipations of late hours have also their share in bringing about the In the advertisement of a ladies' school in Washdisastrous results which are attributed to over-exer-ington references are given to several defunct gentlecise of the brain. So far is it from being true that girls are injured by study, that, were their studies so increased that they would have no time for idleness, the result would be a decided improvement in health. THE way they reproduce in Paris their birth, death and marriage registers, burned in the palace of justice during the Commune, is curious enough. They remain in their original shape, but charred completely. The back is cut off, the mass wetted and exposed to the mouth of a stove. The water evaporating raises the sheets, and the writing stands out in shining black upon dull black, like the silken flowers on velvet brocade. It is easily deciphered and copied with a note stating that it is reproduced from the carbonized original. Says the Danbury News: "Mr. Etheridge has put up a handsome monument on his lot in the Slawson Cemetery. He has his name and birth on its face, and beneath the space left for the death is this beautiful but somewhat premature observation : "None knew him but to love him." An old tree recently cut down in Genesee county, N. Y., was, according to the count of its rings, 480 years old. A central disciplinary school has been suggested in New York, where bad boys may be sent from other schools. It is said that the young Prince Napoleon obtained the highest number of marks at the recent Woolwich examination. Ohio has resolved not to allow women a place on school boards. The Buckeye state will do better when more highly civilized. The editor of the Washington Star hopes that when a certain other editor, whom he dislikes, goes to Europe, it will be in a lengthened steamship. It is stated that the population of New Orleans has greatly decreased during the last two years. A South Carolina legislator has introduced "A bill to rejuice the bounding debt of the Stait." THE biggest garden under glass in the United It is said that the favorite songs of the British States is located at Flatbush, L. I., near the eastern troops when on the march in Ashantee land, were, entrance to Prospect Park. The hot houses already "John Brown" and "Tramp, tramp." With sailors built and filled with rare exotics cover an area of 13⁄44 | on board ship and with soldiers on the march, the acres, while it is contemplated to add to this gener-words of a song are of little importance, but time and ous space by roofing in the rest of a whole square. tune are everything. A mile of walks lead through the flowery treasures of this crystal-roofed garden, four miles of steampipes serve to keep the plants warm, and 10,000 gallons of water are required daily to slake their thirst. The cost of this bit of transplanted tropic, when completed, will be about $1,000,000. The great bell for the Cologne Cathedral named the "Emperor William," has just been finished, and is said to be the largest bell in the world. It weighs about 60,000 pounds, is eighteen feet high and fourteen wide. The first moulding of the bell proved a failure, and considerable difficulty has yet to be overcome in transporting the immense mass from Frankenthal, where it was cast, to the top of the tower of the Cologne Cathedral. The blades for the new swords ordered for the United States Army have just been finished at the Springfield Armory. They are perfectly straight, 31 inches long, and handsomely decorated with designs in asphaltum varnish. The sword will be very light, and much more convenient to carry than those in use at present. Philadelphia is about to ship fourteen locomotives to Odessa, Russia. The freight is $1,200 per locomotive. Some years ago the English were diagreeably surprisedwhen the Belgians first competed with them in this line of business, and this American venture will likely to give them a new emotion. A rm of English shipbuilders claim to have turned out the fastest steamer in the world. She was built for the Indian Government, for service on the Orissa, canals. She is a small vessel, 87 feet long, 12 feet beam, and 3 feet 9 inches draft. On her trial trip, she made 25.08 miles per hour with the tide, and 24.15 miles per hour against tide. Senator Castelar, the ex-President of the Spanish Republic, has just published a novel. The Westminster Review says a savage thing about its contemporary, as follows: "We once heard a grocer say he liked the Saturday Review best of all newspapers because a page of it held exactly a pound of sugar." You can never catch the word that has once gone out of your lips. Once spoken, it is out of your reach. Try your best, you can never recall it. Therefore, take care what you say. Never speak an unkind word, an impure word, a profane word. A Pennsylvania preacher, while holding services recently, gave thanks in a fervent prayer for the prosperous condition of their crops, "excepting, O Lord, the corn, which is backward, and the oats, which are mighty thin in spots." Cerebro spinal meningitis is a tough word for telegraphers to get hold of on the wires. A Sioux City lightning-jerker wrote it out "Carabo Spencer's Menagerie." A Western paper tells us that a favorite hotel is to be kept this season at one of the watering places, "by the widow of Mr. who died last summer, on a new improved plan. Josh Billings gives the following advice to young men. "Don't be discouraged if yer mushtash don't grow. It sometimes happens that where a mushtash duz the best nothing else duz so well." All the subtle humorists are not in America, A writer in the Pall Mall Gazette says that "few persons, probably, as a rule, sleep sounder or enjoy so much undisturbed repose as night-watchmen.' A Syrian manuscript, found by the Dean of Canterbury, in the Yale College Library, is a life of Alexander the Great The four hundredth anniversary of the introduction of the art of printing into England will be celebrated in London in June. PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. Teachers' National Bureau.-Boards of Directors, Principals of Academies and Seminaries in want of Teachers for the coming year, will do well to write to the "Bureau" before making their selections. No effort will be spared on the part of the managers to give satisfaction to those who apply. They recommended a large number of teachers to positions last year and their facilities this year are far superior to what they then were. They have now on their Register of Applicants the names of a number of experienced teachers adapted to positions in public or private schools. Address Teachers' National Bureau, Harrisburg, Pa. Wilson, Hinkle & Co., (Cincinnati and New York) announce Thalheimer's Medieval and Modern History, the Amateur Actor, Duffet's French Method, Part II., and Hailman's Lectures on the History of Pedagogy. See W., H. & Co.'s advertisement. Look Out for Stoppages. Renew immediately. Don't wait to have your JOURNAL stopped. BENEW NOW! Look Through the Index to the 21st Volume and we think you will regard THE JOURNAL Worth at least its cost to teacher, director, or other friend of education. Music Page Each Month.-THE PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL JOURNAL is the only one in the United States that contains each month a song for the school-room. This popular feature will be continued through the Twenty-second Volume. "Four.”—Mr. John G. Allen, Rochester, Now York, writes May 16th, ordering subscription continued: "I take four educational periodicals, and read carefully the PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL JOURNAL." What a County Superintendent Thinks.— County Superintendent A. Rambo, of Trappe, Montgomery county, under date of May 2nd, 1874, after ordering a lot of supplement No. 2, for the use of his classes, writes: "Last Fall I drilled our County Institute in the music contained in your Music Page, and the result is that many of the teachers are putting into practice what they there learned. I am now daily drilling a class of eighty-five-nearly all teachers in the music sent from your office. You seem to have struck a sympathetic chord. Go on; and may God bless all good efforts to cultivate that heavenly talent, so that every school-house in the county may resound with happy voices properly and systematically trained." 'HE demand for business ability at the present time is greater than ever. THE Our country is developing rapidly, and men of capital need men of skill. The future offers rich prizes to those who are competent to grasp them. There are splendid opportunities and abundant resources, but multitudes find nothing to do, or remain in inferior positions for want of qualifications which a few months only of faithful study would give them. Young men with a good business education frequently obtain salaries of from two to five thousand dollars a year, while others of equal natural ability, but without such qualifications, plod on earning a bare subsistence. A general education is an excellent, and even an indispensable, foundation, but special qualifications are most highly remunerated. Business men dislike the trouble and loss of time required to teach assistants, and they will not trust their affairs to unskillful ones whose errors would cost more than tuition fees. The preparation needed for the Counting-house and Business Life can be acquired at the CRITTENDEN COMMERCIAL COLLEGE, 1131 Chestnut Street, Corner of 12th, Philadelphia. This is the longest established, best organized, and most largely attended Commercial College in the city. It was founded in 1844 and incorporated in 1855. The practical value of its course of instruction has been tested by long experience. Many of our ablest and most successful bankers, merchants, manufacturers and business men are among its graduates. The qualifications for business gained here have proved a fortune to hundreds of young men. Its reputation for thorough and valuable instruction extends over the whole country. A diploma of the institution is one of the best recommendations a young man can have for obtaining a situation. Numerous applications are received from business houses for its students. The course of Instruction comprises. BOOK KEEPING in all its styles and varieties in accordance with the practice of the best accountants and business men, and adapted to the different departments of business, including BUSINESS PRACTICE. From the first the student performs those practical operations which give skill and readiness in actual transactions. He makes out invoices, gives his receipts and orders, draws and accepts drafts and bills of exchange, writes letters on business subjects, writes out and remits statements, accounts-current, account-sales, etc., makes out balance-sheets. etc., etc. The College Bank is provided with its own checks, certificates, etc., and issues its own beautifully engraved currency The student opens a bank account, receives his bank and check books, makes deposits, draws checks, leaves notes for collection gets notes discounted, and in turn keeps the books of a bank. He thus becomes familiar with every variety of commercial and bank paper, and with the various processes of exchange and business dealings. PENMANSHIP is taught by a penman whose whole attention is devoted exclusively to this department, and superior facilities are possessed for imparting free, rapid and beautiful style of writing. COMMERCIAL CALCULATIONS, the best short and rapid methods in actual use, including rapid addition and multiplication, interest accounts, averaging, foreign exchange, etc., etc. Also Commercial Law, Political Economy, etc. Open all the year. Students received at any time, and assisted in finding suitable boarding places if desired. Circulars and Information Sent Free. Address, J. GROESBECK, Principal. |