human reason; it regulates so many interests of man as a social, civilized being; it embodies, so much thought, reflection, experience, and labor; it leads us so far into the recesses of antiquity; and it has stood so long against the waves and weathers of time,' that it is impossible while engaged in the contemplation of the system, not to be struck with some portion of the awe and veneration which are felt in the midst of the solitudes of a majestic ruin."

SONNET.

BY MRS. C. E. DA PONTE.

NOT when the warm sun darts his beams around-
Drinking the dews from off the thirsting flower,
Not in his noontide glory, when the ground,
Robbed of its freshness owns his mighty power,
Do I love most the woodland's tangled way;
Or spacious lawns, or waters dancing bright,
In the wild sparkle of his golden ray,
Which bursts through clouds that would obscure
his light;

But when that fierce, proud, fiery glow hath past—
When lengthened shadows fall on earth's dim

breast;

And through the trees that wave their arms on high

Unceasing moans the hollow evening blast,

Then do I seek those dark lone woods-there lie, And watch the day-god sinking to his rest.

THE TRUE OBJECTS OF EDUCATION.

BY WILLIAM C. MICOU, ESQ.

THE object of education is not to make the mind a store-house of facts and theories, or to furnish precedents fitting every contingency of life. Its aim is higher and more important-to train, and exercise, and discipline and mould the mind itself -to unfold its latent energies-to prepare it for the business and collisions of life-to make it conscious of its own power, and to give courage and confidence when difficulties arise. The studies of the schools are valued, not for themselves, but for their effects. The lessons and rules to which the pupil devotes his weary hours, and even the classic beauties of Virgil and Homer, fade from the memories, on which they are, for a time vividly impressed. Like shadows of the night, they appear and depart, but their coming is not without its lasting use. The mind unconsciously retains the impression they have made.

The power of reasoning-the habit of correct and logical deduction-the art of proving the unknown, by the union of familiar truths, remain after the rules of mathematics and geometry have faded from the memory. Without referring to the rules of syntax, or the models of the learned, their lasting impression appears, in the capacity for ready, prompt, and polished expression of the thoughts. The skillful fencer seldom needs the precise rules of his art, but the bodily activity, quickness of eye and rapidity of action, acquired in his practice, add a hundred fold to his physical energies. The exercises of the schools, even when forgotten, are not lost, but only incorporated into the character of the of education may be thrown has carefully ascended its rounds, or it may be resorted to only for recreation and the renewal of pleasant memories; but the elevation gained by its assistance, belongs to the mind itself.

pupil.

The ladder down by one who

But in impressing upon the attention of youth, this the true aim of his labors, he must not be ermitted to depreciate the value of memory. On he contrary, it is one of the highest and most luable of our faculties. It is the link between

what we have done and thought, and what we will do and think. It is the point of union between the past and the future. It is the storehouse in which not only lessons, but results

are treasured. It should be freely and laboriously trained, but not alone. alone. Imagination and judgment should preside at its exercises, and assist and direct them. The ideas intrusted to its keeping, should not be laid by, without being first embalmed in reflection. It will then be, not the mere mirror of the thoughts of others, physically reflecting images, of whose beauty it is unconscious, but the intelligent recipient of ideas, scanned, compared, and ready for actual use.

The thought which we have attempted to develope, is forcibly and happily expressed by Montesquieu the most profound of French philosophers. THE OBJECT OF EDUCATION IS TO TEACH THE PUPIL

HOW TO THINK. The theory is here concentrated to a word and other minds in examining or enforcing it, can only explain the details without enlarging the result. It is unnecessary to speak of action, because action is but the consequence of thought. It is but the effect of the cause. It follows like the report, upon the flash of lightning or rather like the flash itself, it reveals to