The Oxford intelligencer., 1860-08-01
Lieut.. sraury ON Mental Culture.

ain entering upon your duties as citizen, re-
collect your excellent training here; thas given
you many advantages; therefore do not neglect
to lay down rules OF conduct by which they may
be most improved
"Whateyer may be the degree Of success
have met with in life, attribute it in great
measure to the adoption Of such rules. One was,
never to let the mind be idle for want of useful
occupation, but always have in reserve subjects
of thought or study for the leisure moments, and
the quiet hours of the night When yon read
book, let it be with view to special informa-
ton.
The habits of mind to be thus attained are
good, and the information useful.
tits surprising how difficult one who attempts
to follow this rule finds it at first to provide HIM
self with subjects Of thought, 10 think Of some
thing that he does not know. In our ignorance,
our horizon is very contracted; mists clouds and
darkness hang upon it, and self fills almost the
entire view-around, above and below-to the
utmost verge But as we study the laws of ma
ture, and begin to understand about our own ig-
, norance, we find light breaking through the
horizon expanding, and self getting smaller and
smaller. 1t is like climbing mountain; every
fact or fresh discovery is a step upward. with an
enlargement of the view, until the unknown and
mysterious become boundless- self infinitely
small !; and the conviction comes upon us with
mighty force, that we know nothing that hui
man knowledge is only longing desire.
The impression is very common, that when
young man leaves college he has finished his
education; but do not when you return home,
crowned with the honors of these schools though
you be, give in to this notion even for moment :;
it is another of those mischievous popular falla-
cies that you should guard against Have you
been disciplining the mind training the thoughts,
and laying off the fields in which they may be
usefully employed. You have finished nothing
here; you have only been clearing away rubbish,
and preparing tie foundaticns and, notwith-
standing that you have been under the eyes of
the best masters, and have laid your foundations
of the best materials and in the most scholarly
manner; yet, like the foundations for any other
superstructure unless built upon they will soon
grow weak and be FILTERED away If you stop
study now, you will soon forget all you have
learned here.
Acknowledgements, is law of the physical
world; there, rest and decay are coTeative
terms. The stars cannot stand still and keep
their places; planet by going back would be
hurried into destruction and even the plant Of
the earth that ceases to grow withcrs and dies.
Al l.
man must be upward and onward, or downward
and backward. His mind cannot stand still.
There is no such thing as stationary condition
for the human understanding. 10 stand still is
death; to go backwards is worse
With the advantages of good training which
you have received here, you cannot go amiss for
subjects of study aud improvement The rock
at your feet, the plant in every walk you tread,
the air that surrounds YOU the insect that fits
across your path, the stars that look downupon
you, are all suggestive of knowledge. They
abound in subjects which are good for clear heads
and sound minds to study and investigate.
When the spirit of God first moved on the face
of the waters, the physical forces that produce
the works ofnaturv were first brought into play
The wonders, the harmonies, and the beauties of
creation, are but the display of these forces. As
exhibited in the aspect of nature, they are never
ceasingly instructive. In the silent hours Of the
night you may learn excellent lessons from them
by watching the Ghosts of heaven" ] some
times do this through the telescope; and of all
the wonders and beauties that are revealed by
pcfr 4loa Oh Of
across the meridian is to me the most grand and
imposing. At the dead Of night, when the noise
of the city is hushed in sleep, and all is still,
sometimes go over alone to the Observatory to
rcvel in this glorious spectacle. The assistants,
wearied with watching, have retired to rest, and
there is not sound to be heard in the building,
save the dead beat sscapement of the clock, tell
ing the footsteps of Time in his ceaseless round
take up the Ephemcris, and find, by cacula-
tons made years ago, that a star, which have
never seen, will, when the hand of that clock
points to certain moment of time, enter the
field of the telescope, fit gcross the telescope,
and disappear. The instrument is set, and, as
the moment draws near, the stiffness becomes
more and more impressive. At last look-itis
gloriousl a pure, bright star is marching
through the field to the music of the spheres;
and, at the very instant predicted, even to the
fraction of second, it stalks across the wire,
and is gone The song that was sung by the
morning stars has been fell, and the heart swell
ling with emotions too deep for the organs of
speech, almost bursts with the unutterable an.
them.
The machinery by which the forces Of the uni
verse are regulated and controlled is exquisite
And if it be instructive TO study the mechanism
of a watch, or profitable to understand the prin-
ciples Of steam-engine, the contrivances of
mans puny intellect, how much more profitable
and instructive must it be to look out upon the !
broad face of nature, and study that machinery
which was planned and arranged in the perfec-
ton of wisdom.
If you be at first little skeptical as to this
order and arrangement, taking the harmonies of
nature for discord you will soon feel satisfied that
the machinery of the univcrse-that mechan- |
ism which gives nature her powers to acts in 1
all its parts the expression of one thought, as
much so as the works Of watch are Of one de- |
sign; and the same hand which weighed the /
r n