THIS excellent man was born in 1592 ined himself. At the age of four years at Chantisier, a small village in France. His father and mother were plain but worthy people; and there was nothing in their situation which distinguished them from other plain, and honest, and sensible people. Young Gassendi appears to have been very apt at learning, for he could scarce ly speak when he caught all that he heard, adding to it things that he imag he declaimed little sermons. As he grew bigger, the scenes of nature made a strong impression upon him. He was particularly sensible to the magnificence of a starry sky. When only seven years old, he felt a secret charm in the contemplation of the stars; and without the knowledge of his parents, he sacrificed his sleep to this pleasure. One evening a dispute arose between him and his young companions about the motion of the moon and that of the clouds. His friends insisted that the clouds were still, and that it was the moon which moved. He maintained, on the contrary, that the moon had no sensible motion, and that it was the clouds which passed so swiftly. His reasons produced no effect on the minds of the children, who trusted to their own eyes rather than to any thing that could be said on the subject. It was therefore necessary to underceive them by means of their eyes. For this purpose Gassendi took them under a tree, and made them observe that the moon still appeared between the same leaves, while the clouds sailed far away out of sight. talents, said aloud, "That child will one day be the wonder of his time, and before he has attained the age of maturity he will be a cause of admiration to the learned." This prediction was realized; for he was engaged to teach rhetoric at Digne when he was no more than sixteen years old; and before he was twenty he was appointed professor of philosophy in the university of Aix. In this situation his lectures gained him extensive fame and crowded audiences; though he had to encounter some opposition on account of the ability with which he refuted the absurd principles of philosophy and useless subtleties of the schools, which were universal in his time. Gassendi entered into holy orders, and became doctor and rector of the cathedral church of Digne. His vast knowledge of philosophy and mathematics was ornamented by a sincere belief of the Christian religion, and a life formed upon its principles and precepts. This enabled him to meet death with calm composure; for a little before he expired, he desired his secretary to lay his hand upon his heart, which, when he had done, and said that it beat low and feeble, "You see," said the dying Christian philosopher, "you see how frail is the life of man!" He died in 1655. His father was so struck with these happy dispositions, that he resolved to cultivate them. He accordingly spoke to the clergyman of his parish, who engaged to teach him the rudiments of learning. This was the food that the mind of young Gassendi demanded; and he applied to study with so much ardour, that not contented with working in the day, he also studied during part of the night by the light of the church lamp. His progress was extremely rapid. At the end of three years he understood and spoke Latin with elegance. The Bishop of Digne coming upon a visitation one day, Gassendi, who was then only ten years old, harangued him him in Latin with so much grace and Be deaf to the quarelsome, blind to vivacity, that the prelate equally sur- the scorner, and dumb to those who are prised and charmed with his premature mischievously inquisitive. FORMERLY I gave you pictures requesting you to study out what they meant; but the plan made us so much trouble and expense, that I at length grew tired of it. But I am disposed to try you once more. In doing so, however, let me give you a few words of advice. Do not be in haste. Take time enough to examine the whole scene. In what country is the scene probably laid? What time of the year? What do you see in the foreground of the picture? What in the back ground? How do you like the picture? What scene which you have witnessed in New England does it most resemble ? 1 ful to spell all the words correctly. had a letter come to me a few months since, not so long as a page of Parley's Magazine, in which eighteen words were spelled incorrectly. The person who wrote such a letter ought to be ashamed of it. If he had no friend at hand-no parent or teacher-to correct it for him, he ought to have corrected it by a dictionary, even if he had to borrow one. I said, just now, take time enough. There is no need of answering in a hurry. It will be soon enough if I hear from those who are disposed to write, within three or four months. I will answer you before, or at the end of the year, and give of the best of your opinions, and also my own. These, and a multitude of other questions I hope you will ask yourselves; and then, with great care, answer them. Do it in a plain neat hand; and be care- forget. One thing you must not, however, We-that is, the publishers and 186 DIALOGUE ABOUT APPLE TREES. I cannot afford to pay postage on twenty, or thirty, or fifty, or a hundred letters on such a subject; but if we pay the postage on some letters, we must on others. So we have long ago concluded, as you know, not to pay at all. Send your letters by some private conveyance; or send them to either of the publishers in New York and Boston; and they shall be attended to; or, if you choose, you may send them, post paid, by the mail. But no letters coming by mail unpaid will be received or noticed. From the Sabbath School Messenger. DIALOGUE ABOUT APPLE TREES. PUPIL AND TEACHER. Pupil. I have often wondered whether there were apple trees or apples in Judea; and the other day I asked mother to tell me, if she knew; but she said she did not know. She advised me to ask you. in pictures of silver." These are apples of gold, you see; and not common apples. That is, it means knobs of gold resembling, or like apples. P. True; but why should any thing be said about their resembling apples, unless they had apples in that country? T. Your question is both ingenious and proper; and now I will endeavour to answer it. Apples are mentioned in the Bible six times; once in Proverbs, once in Joel, and four times in Solomon's Song. Many think, however, that what are there called apples, were, in reality, the fruit of the citron; and it is pretty generally thought that if they had apples at all in Judea, they were very poor ones. At the present day there are none there good for any thing, nor are those of the adjoining countries, Syria and Egypt, much better. But this is not strange, when we consider in what a wretched state of cultivation these countries are. Teacher. Does the Bible, any where, I am, however, of opinion, from the best mention apples? P. I do not know that it does, except in Proverbs. It mentions them there. information I can obtain, that if apples were found in Judea in the Bible times at all, they were very indifferent. P. But what fruits had they, if there T. Do you recollect in what part of were no apples? Proverbs? T. Figs, dates, grapes, and melons; P. It is in the twenty-fifth chapter, and perhaps a few apricots, pears and and at the eleventh verse. T. Can you repeat it? P. No, sir; but it is something about apples of gold. T. I will read the whole verse. "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold peaches. They had also several kinds of berries. P. If they had no apples, what did they do for cider? Or were they temperance folks? T. Oh, they had grapes in abun CONVERSATION ABOUT APPLE TREES. 187 dance, and made wine; though I do them better than corn; and, used in small quantities with hay, they are said to be almost as good for horses as grain. P. Surely, then, we need not cut down our apple trees. not think they drank it as freely as we, in New England, used to do cider. Some, it is true, drank it much more freely than they ought to have done; and a few used to get intoxicated on it, just as some people get intoxicated on cider now-a-days. P. I never saw any body intoxicated on cider, in my life. Did you? T. I am sorry to say that I have. But intemperate people among us, can get so many drinks which are stronger, that intoxication with cider is not, it is true, very common. Brandy, however, is made from cider in this country, to a considerable extent; and many people become intoxicated with that. P. I wish there was no cider and brandy in the country. I am sure they do people very little good. But then what should we do with the apples and apple trees? Do you think the trees ought to be cut down? T. By no means. Apples are far more valuable for other purposes, especially if they are good ones, than to make into cider. P. I know they are valuable for food. We may use them in a great many ways. We may eat them raw, and roasted, and baked, and made into sauce and pies. Are they good for any thing else? T. Oh yes; for a great variety of purposes. They are good for horses and cows; and to fatten cattle, sheep, and hogs. The latter, it is said, like T. I regard apples as a precious gift of God. But then I think we ought to take great pains to raise good ones. It takes no more soil or time to raise good ones than poor ones. P. But if they are raised at all, every body who pleases will raise them, and then some will make them into cider; and then we shall have drunkards. Is it not better, after all, to let the old ones die, and not plant any more new ones, and thus in half a century or so get rid of them? T. People may make liquors which will intoxicate from almost every fruit which you can mention; and also from wheat, rye, and corn, and even potatoes. Would you have none of these raised for fear they should do so? P. Surely not. On the whole I do not see but we may raise apples, if we only raise good ones, and make a proper use of them. But I suppose we may injure ourselves by apples; may we not? T. Most certainly. The best things the Creator has given us may injure us, if we use them to excess. The best kinds of our food—our bread, our milk, or our meat-may hurt us, if we eat them immoderately. God requires of us to be moderate and temperate in the use of all things; and it is especially important to the young that they should form |