Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1853-06-18

| I do not think that ] was much to
blanc in this matter, as | was forced
to yield.
But what an age Of improvement
this is! Many children now com
,nand their parents three times as of.
ten as their parents command them,
and they arc more than three times
as well obeyed, too. But thisis moth
ing to me now. was not one of
these fortpnates. For my parents did
not deem it a ruinous matter to make
me rise in the morning with the song.
stcrs of heaven, and pursue some law
ful avocation until the shades Of the
evening mado it, not only desirable,
but necessary to seek repose, TO re-
store wasted energies and prepare for
future usefulness. Nor do yet re-
gret this severe treatment. But to go
on with my history.
My father required me to pay at.
,ention 10 the formation of my mind.
But us the country in which Twas raj.
sed afforded but few facilities for i'm
provemcnt, spent most of my lei.
sure hours in reading at home. My
father selected the books; but here.
too, he was greatly behind the times,
Instead of putting into my hands the
various novels and love-sick stories Of
the day, and giving me the spurious
productions Of crack.brain poets, 'Sits
and ,oitc1-scritcrs, he required me to
study books of truth-plain unvarh-
ished tru,h-such as Milton, Wesley,
WhiteGeld, Fletcher, Thompson and
Hervy wrote. How very different is
the training of juvenile minds now,
especially among the elite of the land.
The latest romances and mcst fash.
ionable novels are now often the only
books from which the young take their
Introductory lessons, and form their
first, strongest, and of course their
most enduring impressions. Thus
their mental ailments drawn from the
yerisst trash and rubbish that was ev-
er coniured up in the brains Of some
Of those poor imaginative beings, or
sickly sentimentalists, to whom labor
! would be a task 100 intolerabls to be
borno, and in truth, a matter too irk-
some to be endured. l confess after
all, that I am not certain but that |
might have escaped many hours Of
serious and painful reflection, had my
training been different; for often amid
hours Of study, work and recreation,
became exceedingly melancholy.
Being Of an ardent, sanguine tenn
permanent, I had fondly hoped that |
would find out something that would
always make mo happy. But in this
was sadly disappointed: forthe more
read, saw or heard, the more miser-
able l became. / discovered that the
fish that had afforded me go much a.
musement, were not only the victims
Of the willy fisherman, but not unfre-
quently were seen floating lifeless on
the same streams where a few hours
before they had given such demon
strations of enjoyment by their sport
iugs and glidings in the water. Tho
birds, too, whose untaught lays had
cheered me, often fell dead at my feet.
But worse than all this the ruthless
monster entered the dwellings of my
nearest, dearest friends, and took off.
not the aged and dccrcpid only, but
the young, tho beautiful, the gay Of
heart. And the thought would come
up most thrillingly that |, too, must
feel the paralyzing hand of dea'h,
and have all my corporeal powers
at least Frustrated in tho dust. What
rendered it so horrible is this: ! had
discovered that when my body was
entirely molionless, or wrapt in sleep,
the very emblem Of death, that l still
had some principle within like the Vi
brations Of apendulum which kept on
and on. This troubled me much, lest
restless dreams would effect this
thinking, sleeplcss principle after the
mortal casket was reposing in the
tomb. began to pay attention to
the actions and vibrations Of this pen.
dulum, and found out most ctfectually
that it was mighty wandercr, flying
swirter than the winds, rushing with
more impctuous speed than thunder
through the sky, and outstripping the
lightning in tho vault of heaven. For
it not only wandered over the whole
Western continent, taking an instan-
taneous view of its mighty rivers, its
widespread lakes, its laundering cat.
arac,s, its fertile prairies, its lofty
mountains, its sca.washed shores, with
its white, red and black inhabitants;
but in another instant all Europe was
spread out before it as map-its vast
cdifces for arts, science and literature
its magnificent buildings for the
rich, its wrc,ched novels for the poor;
its lofty ca,hcdrals, its noble struc.
lures, devoted to religion; its vast ma
vies, its thrones and monarchs, its no.
bility and its beggars, were all vivid
llv hefnre the minds eYc. But in tho