Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-05-20
and felt; these beings are indeed almost
unknown where society is narrowed to a
few individuals. You might as well
Seek roses in December-ice in June !"
"Hope constancy in wind or corn in chafn

"Seek roses in December-ice in June !"
Hope constancy in wind, or corn in chaff,"
as expect to find them in comparatively
uncultivated waste. These you must
look for elsewhere; but once found,
they make the barren wilderness to
sniile;'' gliding imperceptibly and fully
into the feelings, and entering into close
and holy communion with them. There
is indeed solitude in crowd as great
and intolerable as any that can be imagin-
ed; one that brings home in stern reality
the feeling of desolation. The spirit in
man that leads him to take survey of
society-to search diligently for those pos
sessing tastes and sentiments in unison
with his own, may be chilled by disap-
pointment even in the midst of his fellows.
He may look around and find all wrapped
up in dreary sel6shness, which prostrates
the better qualities of our nature pursu-
ing the vain phntoms of ambition, wealth,
and whatever aie called the "gilded toys"
that bind man in enduring spells. Or else
the sanctuary of friendship may be planted
round about with the cold ceremonials
which are fatal to easy access and open
confdence-which reduce social inter-
course to mere name, a heartless, worth
less thing. Strifes too may arise in the
crowd of competitors that harden the heart.
and shut up the fountains that once gush-
ed out in voice Of gladness, cherishing
and enlivNing every thing around with its
good influences. But, with all these de-
auctions, The town is much more likely to
satisfy your wants in the particular that
has been mentioned, than the country.
Formerly his was more the case than at
the presen day. At no distant time, per-
haps, we may look forward to a great
change in avour of the country, and shout
in voice If triumph, "the wheel is come
full circle : because well educated men
and women are increasing in the country.
The new ficilities for intercourse operate
as new facilities in the department of mind.
1t is no longer passport, that you can
read and write, and cast interest upon your
fingers or en- slate, or speak a few words
without committing some very horrid vio-
lation of the rules of grammar. Something
more is demanded. New branches are
required, calling for new efforts of indus
try; early education must be had, or it
will be imperfect. There is great truth,
in this colnexion, in the remark that
man must be caught young. The rough
points mus be filed down early, and form
and consistency be given to the character.
Later efforts are valued because they show
what lusty a.,daauanrs can accomplisb
Ioun tnere is not much difficulty In gen
eral in Distinguishing between those who
are caught young and such as are tam
ed at an after period, while nature some
times takes away all semblance of di-
versity. And it is precisely in this
that the principal difference has existed
between town and country, viz. in the
more general, thorough, and early lessons
of instruction that are possessed in the
former than in the latter. BY conse-
quence the general tone of society has
been of different character, in so far as
refinement and elevation follow, from
diligent use Of the means of education, and
improvement which, thank heaven and
our institutions, are the possession of the
people. 1t is not meant that the learning
which, is acquired should be paraded out
on all occasions to show that it is possess
ed. Far different is its true end, aim, and
object. 1t is to be cultivated for the adj
vantage of the individual and of the COM
munity. 1t furnishes the means of being
useful: it enlarges the views, purifes the
taste, and spreads its influence over the
whole character. Its effects do not fade
away when the leaf is scar, but it journeys
through life with the man who has acquir-
ed it, and begets intellectual happiness
which is of higher order than any thing
merely external. All, indeed, that Cicero
said of poetical studies is true of this
adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblec-
tant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfu-
gium &C solatium praebent delectant
domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant no.
blscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur." Now
confessedly in all such things the advan-
tage is decidedly in favour of the town.
The intercourse OF mind with mind, the
collision of opinion and modes of think
ing are, in an important degree, necessary
to keep off the rust and tendency to de-
cay that state of rest is apt to produce
IN the faculties of the mind, as well as in
l the physical creation; and in all this there
is and muSt he Deficiency IN limitnd co