The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1855-10-11

in the Royal Society at London amid roars
of laughter. Neither philosophers nor un-
learned men could believe that the cracking
noise, produced by rubbing cats back,
was caused by the same agent which "spi,s
the unwedgeable and gnarled oak" But
Franklin quietly drew il down from the cloud
along The string Of his kite, and he knew
that his name was linked forever with the
grandest discovery of the age. 1t was I'M
mediately turned to practical account. In
every part Of the civilized world iron rods
arose above the houses, and pointed towards
heaven, TO catch The lightning and lead it
away. Frarklin had accomplished for all
timd people, what Macbeth desired for him
self, when he wished, that he might
= - Tell pale hearted fear It lies, '"r
And sleep in spite of thunder.
But the end was not yet The gteat triumph
of the amber science was stiff to be achieved.
You see it now in the vast system of electric
wires distributed all through the country,
along which the "sulphurous and thought
eteeuting fires," go flashing with intelligence,
wherever they are sent by the will that con
trolls them-bearing the news of life and
death over mountain, and lake, and river,
and valley-clearing thousands of miles at
a single bound. BY means of this amazing
instrument, the eloquence CT the statesman
thrills in the nerves of the people al each ex-
tremity Of the nation, almost as soon as it is
uttered at the capitol the friend d. one side
of The continent takes counsel with his friend
a, the other, as If they stood face TO face
and the greeting of the far-of husband leaps
in an instant TO the heart of his wife, and
makes the ffeside Of his distant home glad
with the knowledge Of his safety.
: Science has extended her dominion even
over regions which seem 10 be entirely ruled
by the tickle sceptre of Chance. Life is
proverbially uncertain; yet nothing can be
truer than the life tables Of an Insurance
Company, when IFS officets desire 10 make
them so The destiny of each human indi.
viduaI is hid in deep observation-disclosures,
clouds, and darkness rest upon it, and con-
ceal it from every eye except the all.seeing
One. But disease and mortality do their
work on large communities by general laws.
The average duration of life, and the average
amount of sickness, in a nation, can be
counted before hand with perfect accuracy.
Thus, while the individual man is mys-
terry to be solved by Omniscence alone, man
in the Aggregate is reduced by his brother
man 10 mathematical problem.
We dare not boast If much improvement
IN law or politics. Indeed, they seem to be
growing worse. While other things are
rising, they have q. fatal proclvity for the
downward track. They dsrken with error in
The fall blaze of surrounding truth. But med.
icue has advanced with magnificent strides.
Life is muck longer, and health far better,
than it used TO be. When the cholera came
to London in form so frighliul that every
one was appelled by the report OF its raw
ages, the mortality was not greater than it
had be en- at the healthiest times a hundred
and fifty years earlier. Truly did Solomon
say, that wisdom has length of days in her
right hand.
What the trade of the Mississippi and the
Hudson was before steamboais--what the
manufacture oil cotton was before the days OF
Arkwr,ght or Whilney--what ocean naviga-
tion was before the invention OF :he compass
what land travelling was before railroads
what medicine was when patient was
steamed for the small -pox-such is agricul.
lure in the present stage of its progress. 1t
will not have its due until ii is up, at least,
10 their present condition. There ID a certain
amount of skill and science applied, every
day, 10 the working oil this machine, which
we call the earth. II would be as wise TO
forget all that; as 10 learn no more. He, who
has a race to run, is not surer Of losing the
prize, when he turns upon his tracks, than
when he stands still in the midst OF his ca.
reer. To look back, over the ground already
trasersed, will be an incentive to the work,
which is yet to be accomplished. II some
thins has been done in The dark slime, that is
long since past, what MAY we hope for with
the sun-ligh, of mode civilization beaming
on our path Ii may startle some of you,
and sound in your ears like slander, TO tell
you, that you are all scientific farmers. II is
true, nevertheless. That knowledge, whe,h.
or ii be much or little, which comes from ex!
perience, remembered and arranged SO as to
be ready for use when wanted, is science.
There was a time when it did not exist at
all, in any degree. When we reflect how
high we are placed by the little we have,
above those who had none, and what a
struggle il must have cost Somebody 10 in
iroducs il at the beginning, we shall appre-
ciate It's value, and perhaps, make an effort
10 get more.
Let your imaginations carry You back to
the time when agriculture was in its infancy
before the earliest dawn of Greek civiliza-
lion. In those days men depended pfinci.
pally upon the chase for living. They ate
the flesh, and clothed themselves with the