Alexandria Advertiser And Commercial Intelligencer

EVERY day's experience most clearly informs us, that the enjoyments of the present life are fleeting and precarious. Objects the most pleasing in nature are defective, and delight but a momentary space. The blooming rose, unconnected with the prickly thorn, would be a sight unparalleled. Mingled is every cup of pleasure with some bitter dreg. The melodious trills of the feathered songster, the purling falls of the meandering stream, nay, the soothing strains of a maid's voice, oftentimes impress the mind with melancholy sensations. Friends, in whom those virtues center that render them endearing to society, we are often called to part with. Often are the tender threads on which their precious lives suspended hang, cut by the cruel hand of death--pale as the snowy top of Ida's mount, and wither'd as a tender plant, nipt by some untimely frost, and scorch'd by a summer's sun-beams. Cold as a shapeless lump of clay, with blood thick clotted in their veins, a hideous spectacle they lie. Although we are not yet far advanced beyond the threshold of life, yet we have sensibly experienced the delusions of a transitory world. Every subject which the eye beholds, and indeed every particle of matter, is a lesson for our improvement. There is not an object in nature, nor the minutest atom of dust, that is not continually changing from one state to another. But lowly indeed must that situation be, which affords not a single ray of comfort; for the thorns of life are intermingled with fragrant flowers. The children of affliction ought not to despair, and presume, that their ill fortune in this world is insupportable. Should the good things of this life be denied them, should sick beds and confinement be their lot, and woes on woes in quick succession follow after: yet for them sweet hope administers relief.--for them there is a balm of Gilead. To pass a life of tranquility.--to enjoy the sweet and not the bitter, much depends on the cultivation of the natural intellect. This is a sentiment so true, that it ought early to be inculcated, and impressed on the minds of youth, that they may be guarded from wayward paths of the foolish and inconsiderate, and not be led away by every ignus fatuus. A mind, when cultivated by a skilful hand, when purified of those baneful weeds, which spontaneously grow and check the rise of virtue, is a pearl of great worth, a treasure that cannot be corrupted nor bribed, by the intrigues of artful and insinuating men. It is an axiom worthy of all acceptation, that those nations which are most refined in the liberal arts and sciences, are the most flourishing and happy. "Science is that acquisition, which irradiates the mind," and calls into vibration those finer feelings, which render society engaging.

Beata urbes beata terra, ubi scientia regnat.

Since the cultivation of the natural intellect is so highly consequential, an opportunity for the expansion of the mind is more to be valued than Peruvian ore, or the finest tinsel of gold. "Objects decaying--time flying--bells tolling---friends dying---heaven inviting" call on us with more than parental authority--with eloquence far more than human, to fill our time with duty, and be mindful of our dissolution. To be inattentive to the means of improvement, to our own interest, and to the interest of society; and neglect those talents that were given us by the God of nature, and the enhancement of the sum of human felicity, are crimes which will be registered in heaven, and which must surely be answered at some future period.

"Revocate animos."

LEANDER.