THE YOUTH'S MAGAZINE. THE YOUTH'S MAGAZINE. THERE is a system of fraud quite in vogue with some editors, which we greatly wish were discontinued. We allude to the practice of taking important articles from the writings of others, without saying how they came by them. The consequence is that other papers, in copying the article, and giving credit for it, often give the credit to the wrong person. Some of the best of our articles have met with this treatment, and we have once or twice complained. But of no Editor have we found so much cause for complaint as of Mr. Brainerd, former Editor of the Youth's Magazine, at Cincinnati. Mr. B. for a while treated us in a manner as different from what the golden rule requires, as the east is from the west. However, he reformed at length, and we hope repented; though we have no evidence of the latter. But Mr. Chester, his successor, is now playing the same trick upon us. To say nothing of his other numbers, his 3d No.--that for April 28th-contains three articles in succession taken from Parley's Magazine, word for word, without giving a hint where they came from. They are "Story of Young Willard," "Rambles of Richard Rover," and "Anecdote of Justice." The two first were entirely original with us; but now they may be copied into other papers from the Youth's Magazine; and Mr. Chester may have the credit of originating them. He can and does give cred 223 it, in the same number, to the Religious Magazine, the Family Magazine, Zion's Watchman, the Youth's Companion, &c., but not a word for us! Parley's Magazine he seems to regard as free plunder !!! Yet these are some of the men-Mr. Brainerd and Mr. Chester—who are for building up a holy generation at the west! We protest against such treatment. May we guess the reason for such meanness? Is it not the fear that if they quote from Parley, somebody will take it in preference to the Youth's Magazine? Conscious that the Youth's Magazine is chiefly made up of shreds, or extracts, they are perhaps afraid to have them know of the existence of a work that is chiefly original. I AM a word of 14 letters. My 5th, 13th and 11th is a very useful article; my 1st, 10th and 9th is what we keep our preserves in; my 5th, 4th, and 11th is what we write with; my 6th, 4th and 11th is a fowl; my 5th, 4th, 10th and 9th is a fruit; my 5th, 4th, 10th, 12th and 6th is another fruit; my 7th, 2d and 4th is a useful article of husbandry; my 14th, 10th and 5th is the juice of a tree; my 8th, 10th and 11th is what ladies cool themselves with in summer; my 10th, 3d and 5th is a reptile; and my whole you will find on the cover of this magazine. THE EXILE Furnished for this work by LowELL MASON, Professor in the Boston Academy of Music. Andante. bound me, And forc'd me far to roam, Thy spell bids bloom around me The long lost scenes of home The name of our flying philosopher was Reinser. He was a Frenchman. After long study he concluded that it was possible for man to learn to fly in the air, and that it would, at some future day, be as common to say, when going on a journey, Bring me my wings, as it now is to say, Get ready my carriage. He looked not only at the birds, but at the squirrel, the bat, and the flying fish; and he used to say to himself, VOL. V. 8. AUGUST. Surely man, who has muscles of such prodigious strength, ought to be as able to fly as the squirrel, or the fish. He thought of the great strength of porters, who will sustain on their backs, from 500 to 900 pounds. It must be, he said, that man could cut his way through the air by means of suitable machinery, as well, at least, as the squirrel with his clumsy body and ill-looking wings. So Reinser set about making himself a pair of wings. They were about 30 feet long, but very light, and weighed only 14 or 15 pounds.. He made also a helm or tail, six feet long. It was, composed, like the wings, of pieces of reed, and extremely light and buoyant. The next thing was how to get it into least sailing in it. I allude to travelling in balloons. You all know how fashionable it is. True, it is very dangerous, and many have been killed by it in Europe. But as no one has thus far been quite killed, in this country, people venture on; and will probably continue to venture till some one or two of the aëronauts are dashed in pieces. the air. We are not told all the particulars, but only the result. The philosopher did not succeed, except to catch a fall. I suppose he jumped from some elevated position, when he started, or else he could not have hoped to get his wings fairly into motion. The philosopher, however, attributed his want of success to his age. He says, “I am old, and fell staggering on my feet. I was thrown topsy turvy, without any other accident than a few broken reeds; sufficiently convinced, however, that at the age of 58 we are no longer well qualified to engage in violent corporeal exertions." He does not, however, give up the plan. He recommends it to people younger than himself, as worth their attention. How foolish mankind are! This silly Frenchman is not the only person who has attempted to do that for which the Creator never intended him. There are thousands and millions who are as unwilling as he to stay in the sphere for which nature, or rather the great Author of Nature, plainly best fitted them, but who try to do something else for which they are evidently not fitted. It should be our great desire to do that for which our constitution and education have best fitted us. There alone, if we judge correctly, may we hope for permanent success. There is, however, something going on in our own days which approaches very nearly to flying in the air. It is at I have attempted in another article to give you an account—or history rather— of balloons and balloon sailing. I think you will find it interesting and instructive, though some of the stories are not a little shocking to one's feelings. CRUELTY PUNISHED. Most of our readers know something of the cruelty of ancient kings and emperors-how they would frequently murder those who seemed to stand in their way; even their own dearest friends and relatives; and how they were often murdered themselves. Hardly one of the first Roman emperors, for example, ever died a natural death. They were almost all cruelly murdered, or else they destroyed themselves. Female sovereigns were not as common in those days, as males; just as it is now. Yet there was here and there a queen or an empress who reigned alone. And strange to tell, when there was one, she often proved herself almost as much a monster as the kings and emperors themselves. Irene, an Athenian lady, about the CRUELTY PUNISHED. year 781, was the wife of Leo. IV. the emperor of the eastern Roman Empire. When he died, his son Constantine, the natural heir to the throne, was only ten years of age, so that the management of the government fell into the hands of Irene. When Constantine became of age, Irene did not like to give up to him the power, and a quarrel arose between the mother and the son. And what think you was the consequence? It is almost too horrid to relate; but I will tell you. Irene, by some means or other, contrived to put out her son's eyes, so that he was unfitted for usefulness and rendered miserable all his days. And did she prosper in her wickedness? some of you will say. She seemed to prosper for a while; and I dare say some foolish people who thought, as many do now, that it is a very pretty thing to be a king, or a queen, or an emperor, or a president, and wear a costly dress, and live in splendid houses or palaces, and be gazed at, supposed she was really happy. But do you believe it? Do you believe that conscience, the monitor in her breast, was silent all this time? Did she not sometimes think, in the darkness of her bed chamber, of her blind son? poor But she went on prosperously enough, as far as other people could see, for about five years. But five years are soon passed. They seem but a moment, as it were, when all is over. At the end of five years, Nicephorus, 227 and made Irene a prisoner. And murdered her? do you ask? No; not that. He banished her to the island of Lesbos, in the Mediterranean sea, where she had to spend the rest of her days in poverty. This was far more humane than it would have been to have killed her; and perhaps was the best punishment which could have been inflicted. How was she employed in the island of Lesbos ? I have told you she was poor. She was compelled to work to earn her daily bread. Her employment was spinning. The Roman ladies, and even the princesses, in the best days of Rome, that is many hundred years before the time of Irene, were taught to work, and to spin among the rest. I do not suppose that Irene knew how to do any sort of work; and to earn a scanty living at her wheel, when she had been brought up to live in luxury and do nothing, must have been a sore trial to her. But How much better it is to live right, and do right, whether we are in high or low life, than to be or do wrong! How much better for Irene never to have quarrelled with her son, and to have been contented as she was! Why should she be so foolishly anxious to reign over an empire, as to bring upon herself so much guilt and misery for this world and for the next! Rich garments have no privileges the treasurer of Irene, seized the throne, though the wearer may have. |