Perhaps some of my readers hardly know why these things are collected in a great building at Washington. I will endeavor to make them understand it. If a man contrives a plough, which is on a new principle, he may send a model of it to the superintendent of the patent office, and he will grant him LETTERS PATENT, which set forth that such a model has been so deposited, according to an act of Congress. This being done, the inventor has the sole right to make and sell said ploughs, and have the profit arising from the same. Thus he has what is called a “_Patent Right_” for the plough he has invented. The reason why the government grants such patents is this: if a man who invents good and useful things can have the advantage of their sale, he will be encouraged to invent more useful things, and thus society will be benefited. The utility of some inventions to mankind, is immense. Robert Fulton, of New York, about thirty years ago, invented a steam engine that would propel a steamboat through the water. This led to steam navigation, which is the greatest improvement of modern times. A man in England contrived an engine that would drive a car upon a rail-road track, and thus rail-roads came into use. Eli Whitney, of Connecticut, about forty years ago, contrived a cotton gin, for separating the seed from the cotton, which saved a vast deal of labor, and reduced the price of cotton one half. Thus it is that ingenious inventions improve the condition of mankind. But many of these inventions cost vast labor and expense to perfect them. Fulton spent several years and thousands of dollars before he completed his steamboat. Therefore it is that, in most cases, men could not and would not produce these useful contrivances, if the result of their toil and expense could not be secured to them. Therefore we see that there is good reason for giving them encouragement by granting patents. By means of these patents, good clothes, good food, good houses, good roads, good means of travelling, become cheaper and easier to be got, and, therefore, it benefits everybody to have government promote useful inventions by granting patents. What sort of Heart have you got? Most people seem to think only of their external appearance--of their personal beauty, or their dress. If they have a handsome face, or a good figure, or a fine attire, they are perfectly satisfied; nay, more--we often see persons showing vanity and pride merely because they have beautiful garments on, or because they are called pretty or handsome. Now I am not such a sour old fellow as to despise these things--it is certainly desirable to appear well; but I have remarked that those persons who are vain of outside show, forget that the real character of a person is within the breast, and that it is of vastly greater importance to have a good heart than a handsome person.