of the Common law. Though our people, from the love of novelty, and on account of some real defects, are already seeking a change; it can hardly be denied that with all its faults it is one of the best Constitutions to be found in the Union. It changed and greatly simplified the judiciary system, creating in place of the old numerous courts but three degrees of jurisdiction-the inferior courts, or Justices of the Peace, the District Courts, and the appellate or Supreme Court,* consisting of one Chief Justice and three puisne Judges.

We have thus as we promised, briefly touched upon the most important points in the legal history of Louisiana. It will be found that we have mostly adopted the Civil law. With regard to its merits, in concluding, we cannot better express ourselves than by using the elegant language of Chancellor Kent. "The whole body of the Civil law will excite never-failing curiosity, and receive the homage of scholars, as a singular monument of wisdom. It fills such a large space in the eye of

*The Court at present consists of the Hon. GEORGE EUSTIS, LL D., Chief Justice, a native of Massachusetts; the Hon. PIERRE A. ROST, a native of France; the Hon. THOMAS SLIDELL, a native of New York, and the Hon. ISAAC T. PRESTON, a native of Virginia, associate Justices.

uman reason; it regulates so many interests of nan as a social, civilized being; it embodies, so auch thought, reflection, experience, and labor; t leads us so far into the recesses of antiquity; und it has stood so long against the waves and weathers of time,' that it is impossible while engaged in the contemplation of the system, not to be struck with some portion of the awe and veneration which are felt in the midst of the solitudes of a majestic ruin."

SONNET.

BY MRS. C. E. DA PONTE.

Nor when the warm sun darts his beams around—
Drinking the dews from off the thirsting flower,
Not in his noontide glory, when the ground,
Robbed of its freshness owns his mighty power,
Do I love most the woodland's tangled way;
Or spacious lawns, or waters dancing bright,
In the wild sparkle of his golden ray,

Which bursts through clouds that would obscure his light;

But when that fierce, proud, fiery glow hath past— When lengthened shadows fall on earth's dim

breast;

And through the trees that wave their arms on high

Unceasing moans the hollow evening blast,

Then do I seek those dark lone woods-there lie, And watch the day-god sinking to his rest.

THE TRUE OBJECTS OF EDUCATION.

BY WILLIAM C. MICOU, ESQ.

THE object of education is not to make the mind a store-house of facts and theories, or to furnish precedents fitting every contingency of life. Its aim is higher and more important-to train, and exercise, and discipline and mould the mind itself -to unfold its latent energies-to prepare it for the business and collisions of life-to make it conscious of its own power, and to give courage and confidence when difficulties arise. The studies of the schools are valued, not for themselves, but for their effects. The lessons and rules to which the pupil devotes his weary hours, and even the classic beauties of Virgil and Homer, fade from the memories, on which they are, for a time vividly impressed. Like shadows of the night, they appear and depart, but their coming is not without its lasting use. The mind unconsciously retains the impression they have made.

The power of reasoning-the habit of correct and logical deduction-the art of proving the unknown, by the union of familiar truths, remain after the rules of mathematics and geometry have faded from the memory. Without referring to the rules of syntax, or the models of the learned, their lasting impression appears, in the capacity for ready, prompt, and polished expression of the thoughts. The skillful fencer seldom needs the precise rules of his art, but the bodily activity, quickness of eye and rapidity of action, acquired in his practice, add a hundred fold to his physical energies. The exercises of the schools, even when forgotten, are not lost, but ted into the character of the The ladder of education may be thrown down by one who has carefully ascended its rounds, or it may be resorted to only for recreation and the renewal of pleasant memories; but the elevation gained by its assistance, belongs to the mind itself.

pupil.

only incorpora

But in impressing upon the attention of youth, this the true aim of his labors, he must not be permitted to depreciate the value of memory. On the contrary, it is one of the highest and most valuable of our faculties. It is the link between