THE LAND WE LOVE,
No. J.
MAY, 1866.
Vob. I.
EDUCATION.
The Latin poet has beautifully said
that they who change their sky dt>
not change their minds. The emi¬
grant from his natal soil carries with
him his okl opinions, his old senti¬
ments, and his old habits. In select¬
ing a place for _his residence in the
land of his adoption, he seeks some
hill or rale which resembles tbe spot
on which stands the dear old home¬
stead far away. The new edifice is
made as near alike as may be to the
paternal building. His garden, his
vineyard, his orchard, his grounds
are fashioned after the models so
fondly cherished in his memory.
Ills style of living, his mode of
thought, his habits, his manners, his
passions, and his prejudices will all
be unchanged. The accents that first
struck his childish car will still be
heard with delight, and most joyful¬
ly will he meet some countryman
from that loved land, with whom he
may converse in his sacred native
tongue. And still more grateful will
it be to him to find a colony of his
own people, where familiar tones will
ever greet him, and where the wor¬
ship and customs of his fathers will
ever be preserved. And in fact it is
just because men do not change their
minds with their sky that these col¬
onies so frequently dot the surface
of this mighty Republic. To us
VOI. i. — NO i.
there is something beautiful in this
love for home and home associations,
this clinging to the language, the re¬
ligion, and the customs transmitted
from generation to generation ; and
we never pass such a settlement
from the Old World without the feel¬
ing that they who venerate the tra¬
ditions of the past will respect the
laws of the present, and that they
whose hearts go out toward those of
their own blood and tongue are tbe
better prepared thereby to exercise
benevolence toward all mankind.
He who does not love his own fam¬
ily better than the whole of the rest
of the world, who docs not love his
own land better than all the coun¬
tries on earth, is so far from being a
Christian and patriot, that he is a
monster utterly unworthy of trust
and confidence. The Apostle Paul
pronounces him to be worse than
an infidel. So strong was sectional
love in the great apostle himself that
he could wish himself accursed from
Christ for the sake of his brethren,
his kinsmen according to the flesh.
Moses, the heaven-appointed leader
of Israel, who talked with God faco
to face, as a man talketh with his
friend, went even beyond Paul in his
devotion to his people, and did ac¬
tually offer the request which Paul
expressed his willingness to offer:
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