Vermont Telegraph

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

STALL Feeding of Oxen, and Starving of Men.

Of the importance attached to the subject of human improvement, without which all other improvements are valueless, by the most eminent of that class, some idea may be formed from the prizes offered by an associated body of men, calling themselves "The Agricultural Society," in some very long and full advertisements in the public newspapers so recently as August, 1838. The Right Hon. Earl Spencer, (a name not to be mentioned without a feeling of respect,) was announced as chairman, followed by a numerous committee of dukes and other dignified persons. They offered many and splendid prizes for the best essays that should be written on black caterpillars, swing ploughs, the stall feeding of oxen, weeds, gypsum, smut, and other similar branches of patrician study; in the mean time, let it be remembered, all these great people have extensive estates in various parts of the land, with Men upon them, more or less in a state of moral, personal, and social degradation; yet, no prize do they offer for any essays on the simplest and best means to better their condition, although in ameliorating that condition, they would best consult their own dignities, secure and render far more valuable their own property, and invest themselves, each landholder in his own locality, with that moral strength which can alone enable them to ward off the rude shocks and assaults which the times and their own works are assuredly preparing for them. All their prizes, like the above, have reference to the production of fat, and the making and saving of money; but nothing beyond. And though the condition of man is daily becoming more and more anomalous, not a farthing do they offer in the way of prizes for essays to promote his moral or bodily health; nothing to dispel any of his old and dangerous errors; nothing to dry up tears or soothe hearts.—Florestan.