ROBERT MERRY'S MUSEUM. EDITED BY S. G. GOODRICH, AUTHOR OF PETER PARLEY'S TALES. VOLUME VII. BOSTON. BRADBURY, SODEN & CO., No. 12, SCHOOL STREET. 1844. Stereotyped by George A. Curtis, New England Type and Stereotype Foundry. 188 tr 191 BIEB 19 FEB '36 W new race-to perform a new journey. The year 1844 is an untried region-an unknown country. What may be there in store for us, we cannot say. But let us start with cheerful hearts, with hopeful anticipations, and with a stock of good resolutions. ELL-here we are again! The old | another year; we are about to begin a year has passed away, and the new one has come. How rapidly the months have flown! It seems but a brief space since our last farewell to the old year, and since we greeted you all with wishes of a happy new one. And yet, within that space, this great world on which we live has made its annual journey of three hundred millions of miles around the sun-and we have kept it company. The year 1843 has departed, and carried up to heaven its record of good and of evil! It is the first day of January,-that cold and stormy month, which the ancients represented under the image of an old man, with a long beard,-such as appears at the head of this article. Boys and girls-I wish you all a happy new And we are now at the threshold of year! But what are mere wishes? No. 1. They are idle breath-a mockery of words, unless the heart goes with them. And my heart, on the present occasion, does go with my words. I not only wish you a happy new year, my friends, but, so far as in me lies, I intend to make it a happy one for my readers. I have in store for them—not cake and candy not sweetmeats and sugar-plums-but rhymes and riddles-fables and allegories-prose and poetry-lays and legends-fact and fancy-in short, a general assortment of such things as belong to a literary museum for young people. And although I profess to deal in matters that may amuse my friends, I have still a desire that, while they are entertained, they shall be instructed. The only way to be happy-really and truly happy-is to be wise; and wisdom comes through teaching-through education. I think I can make this very plain, if you will listen to me a few mo ments. You know there are such people as savages-those who roam wild in the woods, or dwell in wigwams, sitting upon the ground, and sleeping upon the skins of beasts; those who have no books, nor schools, nor churches; those who have never read the Bible; those who know not Jesus Christ, nor the ten commandments. Well-what makes the difference between these wild, savage people, and those who live in good houses, in towns and cities, and have all the comforts and conveniences of life? Knowledge makes the whole difference, and knowledge comes by instruction-by education. Do my little readers know that without education they would be savages? Yet it is really so. All are born alike-the child of the savage, and the child of the Christian. One grows up a savage, because its father and mother do not send it to school--do not furnish it books, do not teach it to read and to write. The other grows up a Christian, because it is instructed—it is educated. Education, therefore, makes us to differ. Now, what do you think of this? Do. you observe, that all our little friends, who hate books, and school, and instruction, are trying to be like little savages? Bah! I hope none of my readers are so unreasonable. I hope they see that it is best for them to be Christians—and as far as possible from the savage state. I think one thing is very clear: our good Father in heaven, whom we ought all to love and obey, did not intend us to be savages; and, at the same time, he has provided only one way to avoid it—and that is by education. He makes it our duty, therefore, as well as our happiness, to seek instruction—education. This design of Providence is very apparent, when we compare man with animals. Birds and beasts do not go to school; they are provided with all needful knowledge by that power which we call instinct. A little chicken, only a day old, will run about and pick up seeds, which lie scattered among the stones and dirt. How does the chicken know that seeds are made to eat, and that stones are not made to eat? How does the chicken distinguish the wholesome and nutritious seed, from the dirt and gravel? God has taught it-God has given it a wonderful instinct, by which it is guided in the choice and discovery of its food. |