VOL. III.
OXFORD, N. C., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1877.
NO. 3r
IT BIEVEK PAVS.
It never pays to fret and growl,
AVlien fortune seems our foe;
Ihe better bred will push .ahead,
And strike the braver blow.
For luck is work.
And those who shirk.
Should not lament their doom,
lint yield the pay.
And clear the way.
That better men h.ave room.
it never pays to foster pride.
And sejuander pride in show';
For friends thus won are sure to run,
lu times of want or woe.
The noble.st w'orth
Of all on earth.
Are gems of heart and brain.
A conscience clear,
A houseliold dear.
And hands without a stain.
It never pays to hate a foe,
Or cater to a friend,
To fawn and rvliine, much loss repine.
To borrow or to lend.
The fruits of men
Are few'er w heir
Each rows his own canoe;
For feuds and debts
And pampered i)ets,
Unbounded mischiel brew.
It never pays to wreck the health
In drudging after gain;
And he is sold who thinks th.at gold
Is cheiiply bought with pain.
A humble lot,
A cosy cot,
nave tempted even kings,
For station high.
That wealth will buy,
Kot oft contentment brings.
It never irays! A blunt refr.ain.
Well wortliy of a song.
Forage and youth mu.st learn the truth.
That noth'iug pays that’s wrong.
The good and pure
Alone are sure
To bring prolonged success,
While what is right.
In Heaven’s sight.
Is alw’ays sure to bless.
EEAK.^IAG Fltoai CHILDUEIV.
Never be basty to check a
child’s talk. Children not only
sometimes speak truth, but a
child’s way of thinking of a sub
ject and speaking of it is often so
fresh that a man may learn from
it. Out of the mouths of babes
ma}' come wisdom. Cliildren have
made some of the great inventions
of modern times. When the first
steam-engine was slowly pump
ing water out of a mine, the en
gineer had to work it bj' hand,
letting on and shutting off the
steam, and once left a boy to do
his work for an hour. When he
came back, he found that the boy
had gone off to play, having tied
a string to the working bar of the
engine, which let on and shut off
the steam moie regularly than a
man. This was the first “out off.”
An English engraver, Sadler, of
Liverpool, found some children
pasting engravings on broken
china to beautify their play
houses. He went home at once,
and transferred his engravings to
the china, to be baked there, thus
learning from children the vast
industry of printing porcelain and
earthenware, which employs thou
sands of workmen, and beautifies
innumerable homes. It will pay
to be respectful even to a child’s
thoughts.—Sunday School Times.
—A minister going to visit one
of his sick parishioners, asked
him how he rested during the
night. “ Oh, wondrously ill, sir,”
he replied, “ for mine eyes have
not come together these three
nights.” “What is the reason of
thatl” said the other. “Alas!
sir,” said he, “ because my nose
was betwixt them.”
C0.11PEES0UY EDUCATION.
There seems to be an awaken
ing throughout the State on tlie
subject of educafion. The, at
tendance of 182 teachers at the
Normal Scliool at Chapel Hill
attests tills fact Much is due to
the press of tlie State for tlie in
creasing interest on this all-im
portant subject, and especially to
the Observer of this city. Con
vinced as we are that education
in North Carolina will never be a
success until the Legislature passes
a law compelling the attendance
of the cliildren and making it a
misdemeanor, with fine and im
prisonment, to keep them away
from school, except in case of
sickness, we desire to call out the
press of the State upon this ques
tion.
Many States of the Union have
adopted the compulsory system ;
it works well and after thorough
trial the people would not have it
abolished. There can be but one
serious objection to the measure
and that is tliis: A great many
poor people are compelled to have
the services of their children to
support them, and therefore, can
not send them to school. The
various counties can better afford
to support such persons for the
time their children are at school,
than to have them grow up in
ignorance and become fit subjects
of vice, immorality and crime.
The spirit of liberty which per
vades our people, might be op
posed to compulsory education in
its inception, but a fair tiial, with
sufficient number of scliools in
every county, would soon make
the people unwilling converts to
the new system.
There will be no politics in this
matter. The Republican party
will join with the Ueiuocrats in
every measure which looks to the
education of the masses.—Taleiyh
liegister.
FOOEMAUMY COOEMESS.
The following story is told by
a correspondent of the London
Times at Varna:
The coolness of Englishmen is
well known, but for a real disre
gard for personal peril I can
recommend a Turk. The other
day at a station liere a quantity of
gunpowder was being packed in
trucks for Shumla. One of the
tin cases got damaged, and some
wiseacre sent for a brazier to re
pair it where it stood. The man
came with Iiis fire and soldering
iron, mounted the truck, and was
followed by a score of soldiers
anxious to see the fun. He was
just about to commence opera
tions, when the station master
jumped up after him, and, uncer
emoniously pitched liim and his
hot iron on to the platform, told
the soldiers that they might kill
themselves if they liked, but that
he was responsible for the station,
and nobody should blow that up
while he was there.
—“Don’t show my letters,”
wrote a Rockland young in.m to
a young lady whom he adored.
“ Don’t be afraid,” was the reply ;
“I’m just as much ashamed of
them as you are.”
—Love those who advise, but
not those who praise you.
A PAKEA'T’S lA'FEFEACE.
Tliere is a powerful and potent in
fluence exerted for good or evil ever
the lininan lieart by the. ]irccepts ai d
examples of those who have gone be
fore ns, having the charge of our e irly
education. Years may have flown
since tlie voice of a mother lias whis
pered to tlio soul words of instruction
and warning; but the words thuss]io-
ken will come, to us when in after life
wo are beset by tlie cares and iiorplex-
itics* of the world. Tlie voice of a ford
parent, though that voice may liave
long since been Imslied in tlic silence
of the grave, will, at times, ring in onr
ears as though the words uttered had
fallen in burning emphasis from those
sacred lips bat yesterday. “What an
influence the example set, and the les
sons taught by a parent to bis child
exerts over its future destiny ! Woids
perchance that drop almost uncon
sciously from a parent’s lips, and fall
upon tlie ears of tlic little ones wlioni
the parents may consider too young to
comjirehend, and the thouglits that
■jiass through that youthful mind too
transient to make a lasting impression;
but, alas! the Seeds that are sown in
“ tlic garden of the heart,” in chlld-
liood, take root and vitiate its future
character, and blast the liojie of the
fond parent who gazed in ineffable de
light npou the likeness of himself em
bodied in the form of bis child. The
image of our mother, who ill infancy
taught us to lisj) a grateful prayer to
onr Preserver, and turned onr young
affections towards that ISeing whom
she taught us to prize above all others,
will rise up befoi’e us as our guiding
star, when the rude buff'etiiigs of the
world beat upon our iiatlnvay on cvciy
side; and in our licarts we attribute
all that is commendable in onr nature
to her whose image we cherish and
whose memory wo revere as sacred.
Cold must be the heart and scared
the affection of a man in whom the
memory of a dci>arted iiaront arouses
no sympatliie.s, and who can not look
with pleasure u]ion the time when he
receii'cd from those lips the first les
son tauglit him in infancy. Hut few
men who have proved themselves an
honor to the age in which they lived,
and a blessing to tlieir race, could say
but that they owed their greaf ness to
the teachings and examples of aiiions
mother.
Jf parents, on whom is enjoined the
sacred duty of forming the cliaractcr
of the future generation, ivould pause
and reflect, as they beliold the little
one wliom they love following the bent
of its own wayward inclinations, that
ihey are to decide whether that cliild
shall be an ornament to society, or a
curse to humanity, it would be reason
able to coiichide that the morals of the
succeeding' generation would bo far
more exalted tban any that has “pre
ceded it. Yet how often do we see
parents exhibiting the most reckless
concern to the moral ivelfare of their
children, and in after years arc called
ii]iou to bewail tlieir bliglitcd iirospeots
and behold the rvreck of their fondest
holies.—Family Journal.
BIG VEHSFS EITTEE COE-
LEGES.
The New York Sun has an ar
ticle against the four hundred
Male Colleges in the United States
that are struggling for the pat
ronage of the educating public.
The Sun thinks there are entirely
too many of them, and urges that
0 le magnificent college is worth
dozens of little ones. Wedi.spute
the proposition. Big things are
not always the best tilings, es
pecially if they are colleges. It
1.1 well to have a few first-class
Institutions like Harvard, Yale,
Lafav’ette, and Princeton, but it
is exceedingly doubtful whether
they do as much good as smaller
colleges. A hundred young men
are about as many as ought to be
gathered into one Institution of
learning, in order to promote
moral and intellectual culture.
Princeton has as many students
as Davidson, Erskine and Stewart
Colleges combined, but tlie three,
we are sure, are more efficient in
promoting moral and religious
culture than the one, although it
could buy out ten colleges like
Davidson, or twenty like Erskine.
Big colleges are also very expen
sive affairs. It takes Sfi60 to
educate a boy for a year at Da
vidson or Erskine, and Si,200 at
Yale or Harvard. Then the col
lege influence is a very desirable
thing. South Carolina has six
colleges, and about 350 students.
If it had no colleges and concen
trated all its efforts in conjunction
witli all North Carolina, upon the
border college, Davidson, there
might be a big college at David
son, but scarce a hundred young
men from South Carolina, instead
of its present three hundred and
fifty would be there. The more
colleges as a rule, the more edu
cation, and the clicapcr education.
Competition is hard on the college,
but best for the people.—Otir
Monthly.
A TOFFHIAG IiYCIUENX.
WHY «EI>ER BIEI\ SFC'tEED-
BETTER.
It has been stated, as n sfiit's-
tical fact, that the percentage of
failures among business men is
much larger of those who begin
on their own account before thew
are thirty years of age, than of
those who begin later. Assum
ing this to be correct, as we pre
sume it to be, why is it so!
Younger men, generally, though
not always, are more energetic.
We presume the great reason
why they are not equally success
ful is because they do not com
prehend so thoroughly the difli-
cultiesth-it lie in the way of suc
cess. If they did they would
more frequently overcome them.
Experience teaches the liability
to many a slip—the necessity of
systematic effort, and of sleepless
vigilance. The young are more
confident, and, as a consequence,
less careful.
The realization of truth—if it
be possiLile for youth to realize it
—would be of the greatest ad
vantage to those entering into
business on tlieir own account at
a very early age. A danger
understood is more apt to be
guarded against. Young men
should be taught that their great
est peril may be found in their
too sanguine feelings ; that suc
cess is ever, in the nature of
things, difficult of achievement;
and that no one of its many con
ditions can safely be omitted. An
old head may succeed all the bet
tor on young shoulders—but the
old head must be there, either
through study and firm resolve
or through years !—-N. Y. Ledger
SE1M.SITIVE FIIIEDREIV.
CFEXIVATlOiY OF FEOWEUS.
It i.s very surprising tliat anytliing
that will yield so miicli pleasure and
enjoyment should be so universally
neglected by the wives and daughters
of our farmers. Although, to be fair,
I think tlie cultivators of flowers are
oil the increase from year to year.
Many ladies would like to have a
flower garden, well enougli. Oh! yes;
they like flowers—“ but liow sliali we
get" the ground prepared 1” they .say.
“ We cannot go out and hoe, and dig-
in the dirt.” Oli, yes, my readers, you
could, aud be the gainers thereby.
Let me tell you, as one who knows by
experience whereof they speak, tliat it
does not take lialf the streugtli and
vitality to go out and lioe aud shovel
a while in the garden, that it does to
sit at the sewing machine all day, to
saj- nothing of tlie benefit to be deriv
ed from being iu the open air, and the
great pleasure, the beautiful flowers
will afford to a lover of flowers. Oh!
I wish that everybody’s wives and
daughters could be induced to try the
cultivation of a few flowers. If they
could tliey would soon see husbands
and brotliers interested, to sucli a de
gree at least as to pe.ri'orm tlie. liardest
part of tlie labor, and tlieir own liaji-
piuess aud pleasm-e increased thereby.
A nobleman, who died a few
years since, had a chest all locked
up, but marked, “ To be removed
first in case of fire.” Wlien he
died his friends opened that chest,
supposing, of course, that some
valuable document or deed of
property, rich jewelry or costly
plate would be foun^ in it. But
what did they find f They found
the toys of his little child, who
had gone before him. Richer to
him than the world’s wealth,
richer than his coronet, brighter
than all the jewels that sparkled
on his crest. Not his estate, not
his jewels, not his equipage,
nothing glorious and great in this
world ; but the dearest objects to
him were the toys of his little
child.—Children's Friend.
ABOF’F EATiSiG FRUIT.
When fruit docs liarm it is because
it is eateu at improper times, in im
proper quantities, or before it is ripen
ed and fit for the human stomach. A
distinguished pliysiciaii lias said that
if his patients would make a praetiee
of eating a couple of good oranges be
fore breakfast, from February to June,
his practice would be gone. Tlie priii-
eiiial evil is tliat we do not eat enongh
of fruit; that we injure its finer qual
ities will] sugar; tliat we drown them
in cream. We need the medieimil ac
tion of the pure fruit acids in our sys
tem, and their cooling, corrective in-
I Ituence.
Mist children are sensitive,
and it is wrong to wantonly
wound their feelings by censuring
them too harshly for iheir fault.s.
Time cures a great many things ;
children outgrow infirmities and
faults, and if right principles of
action and feeling are instilled
gently, constantly, wisely, the
result will ultimately appear. It
is mere cruelty to make the weak
points of a child a source of teas
ing and ridicule, as is often done
in schools and families. A men
tal infirmity should be treated as
tenderly as a bodily deformity.
A quick temper, an irritable or
timorous or teasing disposition,
requires far more tact and judi
cious management than any mere
physical infirmity. When grown
to maturity, our sensitive chil,
dren become the poets, musicians,
artists, writers, leaders ol their
times.—Help them, too, with
their tasks, which to ixiany of
them seem hopeless. Definitions
are hard to remember; the geog
raphy lesson is difficult to com
prehend aud won’t stay fixed in
the mind; history is dull and
dead ; arithmetic a liopeless tan
gle of figures, and grammar more
puzzling than any possible con-
nundrum. The little folks need
help; they need cheer and en
couragement, and who should
bo so ready, so willing, so able to
give as the parent?
•—“No,” she said, and the
wrinkles in her face smoothed out
plersantly. “No, I do not re-
member the last seventeen-yeav
locusts. I was an infant then.”