Southern shield., 1850-05-25
FOR THE SOUTHERN SHIELD. CATION .-(Continued.)

In former communication under this head, my reflections were concluded by a hint to the reader that at some future time would offer some additional observations. This now propose to do.
 I have taken brief notice of the duty of parents and guardians in the selection of teachers, &c., and of the elements of society, which hope may meet the appreciation of the generous reader. 1 now propose few general observations upon the duties and privileges of those of our community who are, or should be the objects of general system of Education. And in so doing my mind rests with particular interest upon that extensive class of young persons whose pa- rents or guardians are either too poor or too needless and ignorant to mark out for their children while young the path in which to walk when they shall become men and women;--too ind0lent or too avarcous of "the meat that pensheth" to notice the chan nel which the little fountain that is bubbling at theirfeeti about to pursue, notwithstand-
 ing that little fount is soon to widen and deepen into mighty river, that shall rush forward in an impetuous torrent, sweeping all in its wake into some mighty unknown ocean of eternity.
 For the young of this class there is but one way in which they may hope to receive an education, and that is by energetic and determined effort Of mind and body. Man was formed for action. It is essential to his very being. Though he may be lonely and single handed, his pathway through time must be engraven in enduring lines as in a rock. The world he lives in, the objects that surround him, ard the resources from whence he draws sustenance, imperatively call upon him to "wofk and not to faint"
 Man once stood upon globe dark and opaque, lit by suns, and systems, and stars; the sizes, revolutions and positions, etc., of which he knew nothing. He once gazed in awe upon the feats of electricity, as the light hing flashed across the stormy clouds in fam tastic beauty before the voice of thunder, or broke up the majestic forest tree. He once stopped at the brink of the angry stream whose waters rushed needless by, present. ing an insuperable barrier to him from ob- jects beyond, and mocking his desires and endeavors to cross. Once the mountain lift ed its terrific top and bathed it's lofty bat dement's in the blue clouds of heaven, across the path of the traveller. The forest spread an impenetrable curtain around the bosom of the fertile earth. Mankind once moved through substances and principles which they could not analyze nor define. They once beheld in blindness all the stupendous works of Nature and Natures God, and saw the effects of causes which they could not fathom. But now we behold the Astrono- mer with his glass and apparatus, standing upon the observatory. He is taking the di- mensions of other worlds that lie out in the remotest space of etherial heavens. He is determining with astonishing accuracy their weight, their elevation, and velocity of movement. Now the wild lightning of hea- ven is brought down and converted into a telegraphic messenger from nation to na- tion. Now the traveller halts but a mo- ment upon the rivers brink till you see him sent upon the wings of steam to the oppo- site shore, and moving as high in crossing the valley as when he passes through the base of the mountain, or moving in tranquil triumph against the current of the deep, where no force but the mighty steamer could advance. Where once the scream of the panther, the howl of the wolf, or the hooting of the owl alone penetrated the depth of the forest, we now find the farm opened and the earth receiving into her bosom the seeds of Agricultural wealth. Now our race have grapped with the ele- ments of science, and drilled into the hidden treasures of nature till there is not phe- nomenon in all the vast universe that cannot become the object of successful research The most subtle, volatile substances of every element is analytic, and the causes of all effects that meet the senses of man are be- coming within the comprehension of mind with almost philosophical and mathematical accuracy.
 These are the stupendous objects ot sci ence. To unfold to the mind those rich truths in the economy of God, there is but