Why does a youth from the same neighbourhood, perhaps his inferior in talents, maintain the first standing in his class, and gain the honours of his seminary? What heightens his love of knowledge, brightens his eye with intelligence, incites him to mark every hour with diligence, every day with duty; what enables him to scorn luxurious indulgence, and to endure privation with a noble hardiness of soul? The consciousness that his family are poor, and that by his own exertions he must stand or fall.
Thus excited to perseverance, he ascertains the extent of his own talents, bends them to their proper objects, brightens them by exercise, and entrusts them "to the usurer, that the Giver, at his coming, may receive his own."—The indolent mind, weakened by indulgence, views knowledge as "an austere man," and committing its talent to the earth, beholds its harvest in the mildew, the mouldering, and decay of its own powers.
Where a taste for literature exists, and the means of attaining it are not precluded, narrow resources are favourable to its acquisition. Would Johnson, the giant of English literature, have gained the proud eminence which he commands, without aid from the strong hand of necessity? Did he not even express gratitude, that the touch of adversity had been appointed to rouse him from the slumber of his native indolence? Is it probable that mankind would have been delighted with the elegance of his "Prince of Abyssinia," if affluence had enabled him to discharge the mournful debt of his mother's obsequies? Did not the classical Beattie trace his ardour of literary pursuit, and his premature proficiency to the stimulus of his bursary at Aberdeen? Did he not refer some of the most descriptive stanzas in his "Minstrel," to his state of seclusion and poverty, when a parish schoolmaster, and precentor, at the foot of the Grampian Mountains?—Would the Ayrshire ploughman's "wild bird of heaven," have displayed such varying plumage, such fearless compass of tone, had it been confined in a gilded cage, and pampered with the enervating luxuries of fortune?
Whatever enforces mental application, is favourable to mental improvement; and nothing teaches the lesson of application more thoroughly than necessity. Whatever exercises the inventive powers, is favourable to genius, and necessity executes this office so powerfully, that it is styled even by the common people, "the mother of invention." The affinity between restricted resources, and virtue, is of obvious perception. Habits of self-denial, and self-control, insensibly lead to moderated desires, and inspire that content which is the secret of happiness. A well-regulated mind, by accustoming itself to privation, and sacrifice, rises superior to selfish gratifications, and improves in that disinterested state of the affections, which is one of the greatest objects of piety to cultivate.—The man, whose narrow possessions are the fruit of his own industry, will better understand their value, more studiously avoid the vices that dissipate them, and more conscientiously limit his expenses by his income.—Thus will he keep his spirit unhumbled by the embarrassments of debt, and his heart unchilled by dread at the face of a creditor. Rational economy, while it supplies him with the means of rendering every man his due, will prove also the legitimate fountain of charity. Profusion is no friend to pity; and how can he have a right to be liberal, whose debts are unpaid. The movings of Charity are silenced, by the "cry of the labourers whose wages are kept back;" while he, whose industry has satisfied the claims of justice, may make glad the hearts of theirs, while his own reproaches him not. May we not suppose that the remembrance of having ourselves known want, would soften the feelings to the wants of others? as a participation in the sufferings of sickness, creates deeper sympathy for the victims of disease? Who, with a warmer overflowing of charity, would impart bread to the hungry, and a garment to the shelterless, than the man, who had himself felt the need of one, or by his own labour obtained possession of the other? A class of distresses, of which the rich can have no conception, he has entered into; and in his humble gift there will be more charity, than in the ample donations of Pride, listening to hear Fame extol her bounty. As the Israelites were incited to hospitality, by the remembrance that they had once "been strangers in the land of Egypt," so the heart that has endured the privations of poverty, can better estimate, and more feelingly relieve them.
If the happiness of any condition be computed by its usefulness, by the energies which it awakens, and the virtues which it cherishes, may we not believe, that many in making up their account of life, will have reason to bless the Almighty Disposer, that they were shielded by his providence from the enervating influence and the dangerous temptations of wealth.
[Con. Mirror.
ACCOUNT OF MAMMOTH CAVE,
in Kentucky and a remarkable Mummy, or dried Indian woman found in it.
"I received information, that an infant, of nine or twelve months old, was discovered in a saltpetre Cave in Warren county, about four miles from the Mammoth Cave, in a perfect state of preservation. I hastened to the place; but, to my mortification, found that, upon its being exposed to the atmosphere, it had fallen into dust, and that its remains, except the skull, with all its clothing, had been thrown into the furnace. I regretted this much, and promised the labourers to reward them, if they would preserve the next subject for me. About a month afterwards, the present one was discovered, and information given to our agent at the Mammoth Cave, who sent immediately for it, and brought and placed it there, where it remained for twelve months. It appeared to be the exsiccated body of a female. The account which I received of its discovery, was simply this. It was found at the depth of about ten feet from the surface of the Cave, bedded in clay, strongly impregnated with nitre, placed in a sitting posture, incased in broad stones, standing on their edges, with a flat stone covering the whole. It was enveloped in coarse clothes, (a specimen of which accompanied it) the whole wrapped in deer skins, the hair of which was shaved off in the manner in which the Indians prepare them for market. Enclosed in the stone coffin, were the working utensils, beads, feathers, and other ornaments of dress, which belonged to her. The body was in a state of much higher perfection, when first discovered, and continued so, as long as it remained in the Mammoth Cave, than it is at present, except the depredations committed on its arms and thighs by the rats, many of which inhabit the Cave. After it was brought to Lexington, and become the subject of great curiosity, being much exposed to the atmosphere, it gradually began to decay, its muscles to contract, and the teeth to drop out, and much of its hair was plucked from its head by wanton visitants. As to the manner of its being embalmed, or whether the nitrous earth and atmosphere had a tendency to preserve it, must be left to the speculations of the learned.