The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1857-11-26

hiC say, VIII never looh upuH your saldIy
as principal incentive to duty. But
I'd 1t is right that you should regard
I your own improvement and experience as
part of the motive set before you. These
are important and of dignity, that is, of
real worthiness and value. You are
mostly young and of little experience as
yet. You are, hope, willing to be learners
I for long time in the great School of
Life. Let me say to you then, ycu are
right IN being learners. You have great
deal to learn. Study every day. l would
advise you to study ecery day, and ecery
lesson which shall be attended to in your
Schools. Study even the A B C's. Do
you know them well? Do you? Do you
know their history? how they came down
to US from the great Orient thousands Of
years ago? They have history Every
letter in them has its history, and a most
interesting history it is. | wish I had
time to give you whole lecture upon the
Alphabet,-So Of the numerals So of all
the elements of knowledge-the semina
rc1um. You do well to be awake to
this fact, and to every fact, and date, time
and place and particular,-to all minutia,
to all that is vast and mighty within the
bounds of human knowledge You need
the telescope and youneed the microscope,
to ascend into the heights and to dive
into the depths of all that is known and
unknown. Study everything Study ev-
terywhere Study always 10 show how
this may be done, l quote too paragraphs
of fourteen lines-just the length of SON
net and worth forty thousand sonnets, as
they are often writtcn-frsm the hide
pendent, which | read two weeks ago:
"AsTERoIDs.-By the English paper
which arrived yesterday, We learn that on
the 18th of September, DIR. r. Luther at
Blk, near Dusseldorf, discovered u new
planet of the elcrenh magnitude, the fifth
first seen in 1857, and the forty-seventh
now known to exist between Mars and
Jupiter" ...s.....
at was stated in the Washington In
ION of the 5th of October, that on the
proceeding evening Mr., Ferguson of the
National Observatory discovered yet an
other planet, also of the eleventh magni-
tude, which if hitherto unknown, will be
the forty-eighth of the asteroids. The
size, however, of these planets is very
small, the diameter Of the largest being
supposed to be but forty miles, and OF the
smallest only fourn' .....
Now let US analyze this and study it all
cut. What are the a>tcyojds? what
t!eil crig.a, appearance, numbers, &c. =?
Where is Blk, near Dusseldorf" Can
Or. r. Luther, who lives there, be a
descendant of DR.. Martin Luther Per
haps SO. Then if Dr. Martin had contln-
ucd the monk of urtemburE, this DR..
4. had never existed, and the discovery
OF this brilliant little creation of the great
God, tour miles IN diameter, had never
been made perhaps at least not BY hun
This is one effect of the reformation and
Of true religious culture. ...
What is meant by eleventh magni-
tude? ?" How small star can be seen
with the naked eye? Who is "Mr. Fer
guson." Is he son Of the Scotch Astron-
omer who lived fifty years ago? Is it
often that father and son excel in the
same profession, as the Sillimans do ?
What is the National Observatory? "
Have we other Observatories how many ?
what are they doing? How many are
there in the world How many south of
/ the equator? How is the diameter of a
planet" or asteroid, 1000 900 of miles
from the sun, ascertained and SO small
&c. &c. &c.
How much of knowledge may be sug-
gested by a single paragraph in the news
paper. Read these paragraphs. They
often contain more than the long articles
do. 1t is the condensation that makes
them so rich. And how much of youl
previously acquired learning does it need
to understand them! Can you then be
willing to be idle this winter while you
teach? will you sit down to dirty Ibid
inous novel? or waste all your preciou;
time in frivolous pleasure-hunting? ol
parties, and trihing amusements? | trus
, that you will not SO do. ! think toC
highly of the true Teacher to believe tha
, he or she ever can, or will do thus.
3rd. Again, it is right that you shoul(
, look at the present advancement of you
) School and the neighborhood, as mos
t important and of true worth 1t is wortl
; your while to try and do something 70
: these. 1t is high and noble calling t.
i instruct the ignorant, to guide the foot
r steps Of the young in the way of knowl
: edge at Is good to be zealously affect
ed always in good thing (Col. 4: Is.
: like the work you have undertaken il
teaching. Be jealous then. BE enthu
: siastic You will have need enough o
e this. The community is cold aud indil
: erent to the great work you have under
: taken. 1t needs aroasing up to duty OIL
S the subject. You are a sentinel upol
a the walls, watchmen in high towers AM
: outposts which guard the domains Q
t knowledge. In your care and watchtIpl