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THE COUNTRYMAN.
“Titania.”
"What must be done with brother "Wilkes
of the Educational Journal, and his corres
pondent ‘ Titania,’ for failing to give credit ?
In the number for 2Mh September, * Ti
tania'gives the “Song of Morgan’s Men”
as it first appeared in The Countryman,
with her name signed to it. and with “Se
lected for the Educational Journal” at its
head, but gives The Countryman no cred
it fcr it whatever. %
But again : If the reader will turn to
the bottom of the 2d column of the 1st
page of The Countryman, vol. 1, no. 4, he
will find the following :
“Excellence,” says Sir Joshua Rey
nolds, “is never granted to man, but as the
reward of labor. It argues indeed, no
small strength of mind, to persevere in the
habits of industry, without the pleasure of
perceiving those advantages, which, like
the hands of a clock, while they make
hourly approaches to their point, yet pro
ceed so slowly as to escape observation.”
If lie will turn to the number of the
Educational Journal, mentioned above, be
will find the same extract, without any hint
of its being a quotation (Sir Joshua’s name
being left out) but ‘ Titania V at the bot
tom of it, and “ For the Journal” at the
top of it, as though it we v e original with
•Titania.’ What say you, brother Wilkes
and ‘Titania,’ why sentence of death
should not be passed upon you both 1
Change-Tergiversation.
“ The wisest man may be wiser today
than he was yesterday, and tomorrow than
he is today. Total freedom from change
would imply total freedom from error: but
this is the prerogative of Omniscience alone.
The world, however, is very censorious,
and will hardly give a man credit for sim
plicity and singleness of heart, who is not
only in the habit of changing his opinions,
but also of bettering his fortunes by every
change. Butler, in his best manner, has
ridiculed this tergiversation, by asking :
‘What makes all doctrines plain and clear?
About two hundred pounds a-year :
And What was proved quite plain before,
Proved false again ?—Two hundred more.’
When, indeed, we dismiss our old opin
ions, and embrace new ones, at the expense
of worldly profit and advantage, tlieie may
be some wlio will doubt of our discernment,
but there will be none wlio will impeach
our sincerity. He that adopts new opin
ions at the expense of every worldly com
fort, gives proof of an integrity, differing
only in degiee from that of him who clings
to old ones at the hazard of every danger.
This latter effort of integrity has been de
scribed by Butler in a manner which proves
that sublimity and wit are not invariably
disconnected :
‘For loyalty is still the same,
Whether it win or lose the game:
True as the dial to the sun,
Although it be not shined upon.’
Therefore when men of admitted talent
and of high consideration come over to
truth, it is always better, both for their
own and future times, that they should
come over unto her,for herself alone, that
they should embrace her as a naked and
unportioned virgin—an indotata virgo (a
dowerless maiden)—most adorned when
deprived of all extrinsic adornment, and
most beautiful v hen she has nothing but
herself to bestow. But in the civil, no less
*han in the ecclesiastical horizon, there
will ever be some wandering stars whose
phases we may predict, and whose aspects
we may calculate, because we know the
two forces that regulate their motions :
they are the love of profit, and the love of
praise. But as these two powers happen
to be equal and contrary, the, career of all
bodies, under their joint influence, must be
that of a diagonal between the two. A
certain non-conformist having accepted of
a rich benefice, wished to justify himself to
his friend. Ho invited him to dinner on
a certain day, and added, that he would
show him 8 satisfactory reasons for Bis ter
giversation. llis friend came, and on his
refusing to sit down until lie had produced
his 8 reasons, our host pointed to the din
ner table, which was garnished by a wife
and 7 children. Another, on a similar oc
casion, attempted to exculpate himself by
saying, ‘We must live.’ Dr. Johnson
would have replied, ‘I see no absolute ne
cessity for that.’ But. if we admit this ne
cessity, it might be answered by another—
that we'must also die.”
Hannah Adams.
“Hannah Adams was a native of New
England, whose literary labors have made
her name known in Europe, as well as in
her native land. Among her works are
the View of Religions, History of the Jews,
Evidences of the Christian Religion, and a
History of New England. She was a
woman of high excellence and purity of
character. She died in 1831, at the age
of 76.” - *
Best Things to Give.—“The hebt
thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness ;
to your opponent, tolerance; to a friend,
your heart; to a child, a good example; to
a father, deference ; to your mother, con
duct that will make her proud of you ; to
yourself, respect; to all men, charity.”
* 29
Horticultural Anecdote.
“ Under this caption an English maga
zine of old date, reports that Sir Francis
Carew treated Queen FJizabetb to a drink
of cherries, one month after‘all cherries
had taken their farewell of England.’—
‘ This secret lie performed by straining a
tent or cover of canvass over the tree, and
wetting it now and then, as the heat of the
weather required. And so by withholding
the sunbeams from the cherries, they grew
great, and wore very long before they had
gotten their cherry color.’—‘ When he was
assured of her majgsty’s coming, he remov
ed the tent, and a few Sundays brought
them to maturity.’—No limit has yet been
assigned to the effects which art, and skill,
and labor can produce in changing the
quality or time of maturity in fruits.”
Gen. liobert E. Lee.
“ A correspondent of the Charleston Cou
rier, writing from the army, says of Gen.
Lee:
Yon cannot imagine a plainer or moreun-
ostentions looking man than the command
er-in-chief of the Confederate armies—Gen.
Lee. Take a human form, say 5 feet
8 inches in height, its constituents well
knit together, full in its proportions, and
yet without superfluity ; add to it a well-
shaped, squarely-built bead, with a front
whose every line is marked with energy and
genius ; a pair of keen, dark eyes, brown
in the parlor, but black in tlie field, that
seem to embrace everything at a glance; a
handsomely shaped nose, such as Napoleon
liked to see oa his generals ; a mouth indi
cating an iron will, and a countenance whose
natural expression is one of gentleness and
benevolence ; cover the head, mouth, and
lower part of the face with a heavy growth
of short gray hair ; invest the whole figure
with grace, and an unassuming conscious
ness of strength, purpose and position; let
it speak to you in a voice whose tones of
politeness never vary, whether uttered to
the highest or the lowest in rank ; and you
have as full and complete a description as
I can give of the distinguished man who, at
this moment, ho^ds in the hollow of his hand
the destiny of his country.”
Motives—Pretexts.— “ The true mo
tives of our actions, like the real pipes of
an organ, are usually concealed. But the
gilded and the follow pretext is pompous
ly placed iu the front of the show.”
“Ho who imagines he can do without the
world, deceives himself much : but he who
fancies the world cannot do without him is
still more mistaken.”