The Litchfield County post. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1826-1829, 1826-12-05

allowed 10 pitch their tents 10 the midst Of
the catnn. can see the pole without rising
from their sents but we who are IN the
ou.sIt;rts. must toll through the crowd be-
fore we can obtain glimps Of the serpent.
II should have been set MP on Mount HoE,
where all could have seen il without stir
ring from their tent doors. - They died
complaining.
III such were not the spirit and manners
of some in that age, they are of many in
this age. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so the Son Of man
has been lifted up to draw all men to him I;
but, alas, how few look for healing to him
whom they have pierced. Salvation by
the blood of his cross, is held by many as
more irrational, than healing by brazen
serpent. Other remedies are invented,
preferred, and employed, although as USE
less as Egyptian slaves and amnlets. But
If the CROSS be to the Jews stumbling
block. and to the Greeks foolishness--t
them who are called, it is the power OF
God, and the wisdom Of God unto saliva
ton. r's k =
II
The art of composition Young men
frequently grow dilatory in their applica-
ton, and sometimes contract a disgust a.
gainst the common routine of students,
merely because they have no definite notions
Of the use to which they are hereafter to
apply their acquisition. The practice of
composing at stated times, would produce
the salutary effect Of eDlarging their views
on this head. When they have become ready
in committing their ideas to paper, they be-
gin to perceive the utility Of pursuing with
ardonr, the task of acquiring knowledge !:
for whatever they have already acquired,
this exercise. The resources of memory,
the faculty Of discrimination, and Of jndg-
ment. are also called into active exertion,
in the collection of sentences, and in the
Of the subject. The mind is
fattered in having overcome a great diff
Guilty, and in the display of its power III. a
new way. The student had before been
laying up treasures, whose worth he could
lily appreciate but he is now stimulated
to proceed more eagerly in his career Of
studies, because he is sensible that they
can be.applied to an important purpose, the
decipline of his own minds. The value OF
his other requirements we're merely nom
inal, but he now possesses the power of
giving them currency, and Of ascertaining
their value. BY that facility, which he
has gained in arranging and communicating
his ideas, he is, capable Of making himself
useful in the counting house, and
more able to compete with his classmates
in the University. But above all, if he in
tends to study law or divinity, his dexterity
in welding the pen will be Of signal advan-
tage to him-and without it, he will be a
mere CIPHER, IN
The merchant is indebted, in no incoh-
siderable degree, to this art, for the success
Of bis foreign negotiations. In the cores
pondence of our well-educated merchants,
and neatness are very conspi-
cuous. They must, of necessiy, be expe-
ditious, when, they transact business on an
extensive scalsand they become so, by
means of continual practice. This practice,
if commenced early, win produce the same
effect upona young man Of the most ordi-
nary abilities-and at the same, time give
him clearer insight into the structure Of
his native language, than a laborious study
of its syntax. unc0icerned with practical
illustration. Its canons will be firmly fixed
in his mind, and become, as it were, part
of il, SO that his diction win appear intui-
lively correct, like the music Of one who
plays without note.
\ But some have made the objection, that
young men make so many absurd and re-
diculous mistakes, in their FIRST essays, that
it wants much ingenuity 10 reduce them 10
a decent form. This iss the case, at the
commencement Of every art by the inex-
perienced and it cannot therefore be al
legged against this, with more propriety than
it can be- against all others. The same
care and attention that 10 bestowed upon
grammar, when the student begins it, would
make him tolerable proficient in compo-
sition, and, at the same time practical
grammafian. Y
Every one is ready to admit that stu
dents approach this exercise with great diff
dence and sometimes they evince SO
great a disrelish for it, that every possible
effort is required, to induce them to UNDER
take il. So hard it Is to set the machinery
Of intellect into healthy motion. The
memory may be easily supplied with ma
tcrials for intellectual improvement--but
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