THE INFIDEL RECLAIMED.

"Go, and fathom the deep fountains of your own mind, and find the GOD who poured them forth. Follow next the illumined vapors of another's reason: but take the divinity that stirs within you, to select the best guides-and choose the safest paths."

He

In a new town in the interior of our country, which was in a prosperous state, and where all ages attended church every Sabbath, rain or shine, there lived a family by the name of THORNTON. The head of the family had been a seafaring man, and had taken a decided part in the Revolutionary conflict, both by sea and land; but, having a large family of sons, he had come into the country to make them farmers, and to keep them from following his own profession, in which he had been distinguished, but did not love. was anxious to give his children a good education-but this was no easy affair in a thinly settled country. His wife was a woman of superior mind and great moral virtue. The husband was impetuous and irascible, but of elevated and refined feelings. The captain had often undertaken to in. struct his children, but had not patience enough to sustain the task for any length of time. He had made some attempts to get a school-master in his family-but this was no easy matter, as his boys were much more advanced in their studies than most other children in the interior: but, a lucky chance soon procured for his family a teacher of the right stamp.

It

George Thornton, the fifth son, then just past his twelfth year, on a Sunday noon was eating his dinner in the church. yard, (as was the custom with boys who had come several miles in the morning to meeting,) under the shade of some flourishing tree, when an aged man, with a miserable-looking horse, dismounted in the highway, and, opening the gate of the yard, led in his pony, to feed upon the grass growing most luxuriantly over the graves of the primitive fathers of the village. The lad gazed on the venerable-looking stranger, and the thought struck him that the rider might be as hungry as the horse: he approached the gentleman, (seated in the shade of a neighboring tree,) and proffered a part of his cold roasted chicken and broiled sausages. was done with so much sincerity, that the stranger thanked the lad, and freely partook of his fare. The old man questioned him on the number and grades of the schools in the town. His answers surprised the stranger. The one was minute in his inquiries, and the other as accurate as he was able to be in his answers. The language of the old man was so pure and elegant, that the lad thought he had found the greatest scholar of the age-and he was not far from being right in this conjecture. The conversation closed between them, as the people hastened into church: the lad, having invited the stranger to visit his father's house, four miles distant, and getting the old man's promise that he would be there to tea, he left him, as he would not accept of an invitation to hear the sermon. This promise was fulfilled the lad having made his mother acquainted with the interview before they left the church, the family were prepared to receive the stranger. The boys saw him coming on his Rozinante, and were ready to smile, and said to each other, "This is one of our George's adventures." George stood at the gate, ready to receive his

guest. As he approached the house, the lad said to the stranger, " By what name, sir, shall I introduce you to my mother ?" "My name you may say is Donald McDonald, from Scotland." This was sufficient: by that name he was introduced to Mrs. Thornton and the young gentlemen, and to Captain Thornton when he came home: he had taken a circuitous route from church, to see a sick friend. As soon as George had made his new friend acquainted with the family, he looked after Dobbin, and, with rather a frolicsome cast of the eye, he enquired of the stranger if his horse was breechy; if he was, he would put him into the stable— if not, into the pasture. "Let him go into the pasture," said the old gentleman; "he is sober, and has been cured long since of all propensity to dash over brooks or fences." On his return from the pasture, George found his father and the stranger in earnest conversation upon Edinburgh—which city had been visited by the captain, in some of his voyages. The powers of the stranger seemed every moment to develope themselves to the delight of the family. His acquaintance with every period of history was to the young gentlemen quite astonishing; and of this, they were in some respects good judges. George did not dare, in presence of his mother, mention the classics; she had so often cautioned him not to become too proud on account of his progress in them; but, in a short walk with the stranger in the gray of the evening, he ventured to make some allusion to a line in Virgil this was caught by the scholar with enthusiasm, and he quoted the following line in the Bucalies, and poured out his remarks as if he had found a pupil. The next morning, Captain Thornton-for he was a direct business man— at the request of his wife and children, invited Mr. McDonald to spend some time with them, to superintend the education. of his children-making him such an offer for compensation

The

as he could afford. This was readily accepted: all was arranged-and Donald McDonald entered on his duties. The young gentlemen called him “Professor”. -as the shortest and most respectful title they could think of. pupils were required to work on the farm four hours a day, and the remainder of the time they could devote to the school. The professor was full of high spirits, and began with his pupils on a new system. They were his enthusiastic admirers, and did every thing to make him happy. Many of his lessons were given in the pasture grounds or in the woods. He gave practical lessons in surveying, without any parade. One of the boys was quite an inge nious mechanic-and the professor and this pupil, with the assistance of the neighboring blacksmith and joiner, manufactured a pretty good chemical apparatus, and the professor gave lessons whenever he could get materials for his experiments. When the labors of the day were over, and on the coming on of twilight, then commenced the examination of the pupils in history and biography-for the teacher insisted that these branches were necessarily to be studied together. They commenced on Greek history, from the introduction of letters by Cadmus, and came down to the present time— going back to Egypt and the far East, whence it was necessary to trace the origin of customs or languages. The portion of history next to be discussed was then marked, in order that his pupils should be in some measure prepared. The great eras were dwelt upon with care, and the general state of the world at those periods given. Battles, merely as such, were of no great account in the professor's mind, and were not dwelt upon, unless they had produced a great effect on the world. Marathon, Salamis, and Platea-which saved the liberties of Greece, that she might become the instructor of nations were read with enthusiasm, and every

distinguished person who fought in them traced out with admiration. High above the rest would he place him who had fought in all three battles—the father of tragedy, the mighty Eschylus; and, while he rushed into the midst of the fight, he thundered out the epic lines of the bard, as if his mantle had fallen on him. From age to age would he pass, pouring out the tide of eloquence. It was readily to be seen that he was a lover of liberty-and, from what he would necessarily let fall, it was thought by his pupils, and particularly by their sagacious mother, that he must have suffered deeply in the cause of freedom; but, no enquiries were ever pushed-every one around him had so high a respect for his feelings. It was often remarked, that while on English history, he avoided saying any thing of the administration of the great man then at the helm of state in Great Britain-William Pitt,-although Captain Thornton would sometimes praise him as a man of exalted talents. Of the French Revolution he never spoke. It was believed that circumstances connected with that event were heavy on his mind.

In a cool afternoon he would take his pupils into the fields and woods to botanize-beginning his peripatetic lecture on the dandelion, or some other common flower, and ending on some majestic tree of the forest. He taught his pupils to engraft and to bud, and led them at once into the art and science of both the garden and the field. He laid it down as a fundamental rule in the education of a young American gentleman, that he should be thoroughly acquainted with the history of his own country; and for this purpose he studied American history again himself, in order that he might show the wonderful birth and growth of the country. He expatiated upon the state of Christendom at the time the early settlements were made; analyzed the moral and men.