Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, March 13, 1856, Image 1
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+ VOL. 2. YORKVILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1856. NO. 11. .
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Cjjflicf IJfletrg.
P WATCH I
i Thy night is dark: behold, the shade was deeper
la the old garden of Gethsemnne,
When that calm voice awoke the weary sleeper?
"Could'st thou not watch one hour alone with
jJ me V
0, thou, so weary of thy self-denials.
And so impatient of thy daily cross,
Is it so hard to bear thy little trials,
r To count all earthly things a gainful loss ?
What if thou always suffer tribulation,
And if tby Christian warfare never cease :
The gaining of the quiet habitation
Shall gather thee to everlasting peace.
But here we all must suffer, walking lonely
The path that Jesus once himself hath gone:
Watch thou in patience through this dark bomonly?
This one dark horn before the eternal dawn.
fet The captive's oar may pause upon the galley;
The soldier sleep beneath the plumed creBt;
And rveace mav fold her wine o'er hill and valley;
But thou, 0 Christian, must not take thy rest.
Thou must walk on, however man upbraid thee,
With him who trod the wine-press all alone:
Thou wilt not find one human band to aid thee?
?One human soul to comprehend thine own.
Heed not the images for ever thronging.
From out the foregone life thou liv'st no more;
Faint-hearted mariner ! still art thou longing
For the dim line of the receding shore ?
Wilt thou find rest of soul in thy returning
To that old path thou hast so vainly trod ?
Hast thou forgotten all thy weary yearning
To walk among the children of thy God!
Faithful and steadfast in their consecration,
Living by that high faith to thee so dim,
Declaring before God their dedication,
So far from thee because so near to Him ?
Can't thou forget thy Cristian superscription?
" Behold, we count them happy who endure?"
What treasure wouldst thou, in the land Egyptian,
Repass the stormy water to secure ?'
Poor wandering soul: I know that thou art seeking
Some easier way, as all have sought before.
To silence the reproachful inward speaking?
P Some landward path unto on island shore.
The cross is heavy in thy human measure?
The way too narrow for thine inward pride ;
Thou canst not lay thine intellectual treasure
At the low footstool of the Crucified.
0. that thy faithless soul, one great hour only,
Would comprehend the Christian's perfect life?
Despised with Jesus, sorrowful and lonely.
Yet calmly looking upward in its strife.
For poverty and self-renunciation,
The father yielded back a thousand fold:
In the calm stillness of regeneration
Coxneth a joy we never knew of old.
In meek obedience to the heavenly Teacher,
Thy weary soul can find its only peace;
Seeking no aid from any human creature?
Looking to God alone for his release.
And He will come in His own time and power
To set His earnest-hearted children free:
Watch only through this dark and painful hour,
And the bright morning yet will break for thee.
foliltcaL
f THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION.
Washington, Feb. 19.
My Dear Sir: In reply to your letter, I
have to say, that the opinions hitherto expressed
by me, in relation to the sending of
delegates from South Carolina to the Convention
of Democrats at Cincinnati, are not
only unchanged, but that they have been
strengthened by repeated conferences by the
two last and glorious Messages of the President.
If the entire South fails to endorse,
sustain, and to demand the re-election of
Gen. Pierce, it will be guilty of suicidal ingratitude.
The chief and only plausible objection
which has been adduced in our State, to its
representation at Cincinnati is, that such
Conventions are unknown to the Constitution.
The very objection admits that there
is no implied constitutional prohibition of
nominating Conventions. A Convention is
I but an arrangement of convenience, where"
by a suitable person is selected as the representative
of certain political principles which
principles are not confined to ar^ locality,
bat permeate the entire confe jracy, and
for the time obtain, or do not obtain in the
administration of the government, in accordance
with the success of the candidate,
which the party representing these principles
may nominate. In a country of the extent,
of ours, some arrangement of the kind is
unavoidable. If the people refuse to nominate
through their delegates, the nominations
are not thereby prevented, but fall into
the hands of and are dictated hv a few rtrnm
? - r-~.?
ineot and sometimes irresponsible individuals.
Is this in conformity with the theory
of republicanism, or is it oligarchy ? Formerly,
nominations for the Presidency were
- made by a Congressional Caucus, but the
system was abandoned, because of its corruptions.
Which plan, think you, is most
'dangerous" to the interest of the?outh?
Should the Electoral College fail to elect, j
the Constitution provides in that contingen-1
cy that the election shall be made by the i
House of Representatives. This provision i
was made for the benefit of the smaller States. |
as in this election the representation from
each State has but one vote, and by which
arrangement Florida, with her single Representative,
is invested with as much political
power as New York, with thirty-three Representatives.
The time has been when the
South could have trusted the lower House
of Congress with its dearest rights, but that
time has passed away, and may God deliverer
us from anv President, whn ia
of the present House ! Talk to rue about
the strength of the South, wheu the voting
is by States! Why, by this rule, Delaware
should be counted a Freesoil State, for her
Representative (she has but one) deliberately
voted for a Freesoil Speaker in the late election.
There are sixteen hireling States and
fifteen slave States. California now votes
* kh us, but Delaware is against us; so that
?.f??Soilisra has the strength in the House
^>t?n now, without putting into play the
mighty levers of mouey and promises of office.
It is au ominous fact that Maryland cast one
Know Nothing Freesoil vote in the election
of Speaker, and that three other Know Nothing
votes were withheld, until it became
manifest that Banks would be elected without
them, and then given to Mr. Aiken.
With these facts in view, will our people
hazard an election by the House of Representatives
? I trust not. And yet this mode
of electing a President can be surely avoided
only by concentrating the united strength of
the South in the nominating Convention at
Cincinnati.
There are, in reality, but two great parties
to the Presidential contest?the Democratic
and Black Republican?which are respectively
the types of the Constitution and
of anarchy. Under one or the other of these
banners, every man in the Union must rally.
He may call himself by any uame which
V>a trill kn o TlnniA.
UiO 1AUV.J y UUb lig nil! WV O aswmv
crat or a Black Republican as he votes.
It is fashionable in certain quarters in our
State to sneer at Northern Democracy, and
some would have us believe that deliverance
and liberty are to be found in the Know
Nothing organization. Well, in the last
vote for Speaker, the Know Nothing party
dwindled down to six votes, and every one of
them a Freesoil vote. Mr. Aiken, the Democratic
pro-slavery candidate, did not receive
the vote of a single Northern Know Nothing,
and he did receive the votes of seventeen
Northern Democrats, and the cordial support
of Mr. Richardson, who could not at the
time vote himself, as he had paired off with
a Freesoiler. The circumstances and facts
connected with the recent election of Speaker
must silence the sweeping denunciations
which sometimes are inconsiderately and
ignorantly made against the entire Northern
Democracy. The Northern Democrats of the
House have shown that they care not where
a man is from, if his principles be right, by
giving to Mr. Orr the same vote exactly
which they gave to Mr. Richardson, of Illinois.
And by voting for Mr. Aiken, the
largest slave owner in the House, they have
virtually declared that slavery is not incompatible
with their principles. How will these
men, who have been true to us, stand before
their own constituents, if they are deserted
aud repudiated by us, whose battle they I
have been fighting? With which party, the
Democratic or the Black Republican, shall
our State affiliate ? Which will it aid and
abet ? If we cast away our vote in the Presidential
election, as did certain Know Nothing
from the South in the Speaker's election,
will it not be to do precisely what they
have done, and that is indirectly to contribute
to the power of Freesoilism, and aid in
the election of a Black Republican?
The meeting of the Convention at Cincinnati
is as certain as any human event can be;
and the appearance, or non-appearance, of
delegates from South Carolina, will in no
wise affect the occurrence of that event. In
truth, what matters it if arguments against,
and objections to, the Convention are as plentiful
"as blackberries," when we remember
that it is the established mode of nominating
a candidate, and trust "whatever candidate
is named, will receive the vote of every
Democrat in every State in the Union.
Gen. Pierce, I btlieve, is more acceptable
to our neoDle. than anv man now livinrr.
t * / ? O
I prefer him to anybody. But what would
it profit us or him, if every man, woman and
child in our State should nominate him, if
he is not the nominee of the general Convention
? Sourh Carolina will vote for any man
who is nominated by the Democratic party.
I care not who he may be, Buchanan, Douglass,
Dallas, Hunter, Pierce or any body else,
she will vote for him, and just because anybody
is better than a Black Republican.?
Every opponent to the Cincinnati Convention
that 1 have met admits that the State
will vote for its regular nominee, and in the
same breath insists, that it is degradation to |
unite in the selection of the man, who is!
most acceptable and just in his political sentiments
to our people. If there be degradation
in the matter, it seems to me that it is
when we vote for a man who is not our
choice, and accept the nominee of a Convention
which we affect to despise. The line of
argument adopted by the opponents of the
Cincinnati Convention, if applied to criminal
judgments, would consign the accessory to
murder, to the gallows, and permit the principal
to go scot free.
In the name of everything that is sacred
and honorable, let our beloved State be consistent;
and if she rejects the Convention
let her reject its nominee, be he who he may.
To be consistent, she should also censure
t her entire delegation in the lower House of
Congress, for voting in common with Northern
Democrats for Richardson, for Orr and
for Aiken?in all one hundred and thirtythree
tiiiics. To be consistent, she should do
I more and recall her entire delegation in Congress,
for I assure you solemuly that if our
political relations with Democratic members
here were to conform to the relations which
some persons desire our State to bear towards
the Democratic States, the moment we set
# 7
I up for exclusiveuess and turn our backs up
on such Democrats as Glancy J ones and
Cadwallader of Pennsylvania, (who I would
trust as soon as if they were slave-owners,
and because they interpert the Constitution
as we do and obey it,) that moment we become
powerless and might as well be at home
on our farms. But in the matter of consistency,
we are told that our State has uniformly
decBued ail connection with National
Conventions. Is this historically true ??
In May, 1843, our people assembled iu Coni
veution at Columbia, and appointed delegate?
to attcud the Democratic Convention
at Baltimore, and for the avowed purpose of
promoting the nomination of Mr. Calhoun
for the Presidency. The two distinguished
gentlemen selected to represent the State at
large, went to Baltimore. But before they
reached that city it was clearly ascertained
(so clearly that the District Delegates were
not appointed) that Mr. Calhoun coald under
no circumstances get the nomination for
the Presidency, and therefore they declined
to tahe their seats.
Does any man in the State believe that il
Mr. Calhoun's chances bad been as good
when the Baltimore Convention met, as they
had been at the time of the meeting of the
State Convention which appointed the delegates,
that they would have hesitated about
uniting with National Democrats and of
nominating Mr. Calhoun ? They would have
been immolated over the fires of public indignation
had they dared to do so.
But was not South Carolina virtually represented
in the Baltimore Convention ? Are
the facts not that two delegates were chosen
to go to Baltimore?that they appeared in
that city while the Convention was in session?that
the name of Mr. Polk was suggested
bv our own delegates?that thev made
P / "t w ?
speeches in his behalf at different points of
their route on their return home?that district
meetings were called to hear their report?that
the State of South Carolina endorsed
the conduct of her delegates, and approved
again the mission upon which they
were sent by voting for the nominee of the
said National Convention ? And if this be
not "tampering" with Conventions, I would
like to know what is. Why, sir, the mission
to England was offered to each of the
delegates in reward for "services rendered"
in their mission to Baltimore, and was magnanimously
declined by them both.
Ours are a gallant but peculiar people.?
Why cavil about "squatter sovereignty,"
while the Abolitionists are taking possession
of a Territory which has been re-opened to
slavery. They fiddle while Rome is burning.
They profess an earnest desire for
the re-election of Gen. Pierce, and are yet
reluctant to make the only move, which can,
by any possibility, benefit him. That they
arc sincere, 1 do not doubt, but am sure they
are influenced by motives of patriotism.
I have deliberated upon this question with
the deepest solicitude, and have reached the
conclusion that we have every thing to gain
and nothing to lose by going into Convention.
We should be there to unite our Southern
brethren in demanding a platform of
principles, and a candidate we can trust We
should be there to encourage our mends,
and urge them up to the highest poiut of
Southern sentiment. If no other good results
from the association, it will relieve our
State from the charge of desiring to dictate
to her equals?from an alleged assumption of
superiority which is always offensive. Waiving
every other consideration, I would have
our State represented, in order to promote
Southern harmony.
Since the opening of the session I have
made it my duty to confer with every leading
Democrat in Congress from the South,
and all concur in regarding the representation
of our State under the peculiar circumstances
in which we are now situated, as a
high moral obligation. The legislation of
the last Congress was in our favor, and the
present administration as true to the Constitution,
as the needle to the pole. Besides
we stand committed by the last Convention
of our people to co-operate with the South.
Many gentlemen who cherish the extremest
South Carolina views?who earnestly desire
that South Carolina principles shall pervade
every Southern State, and shall be engrafted
upon every Southern heart?tell me
that it is all important to them, to their
principles, and our principles, that the South
should present an unbroken front at Cincinnati.
They tell me that "South Carolina
impracticability is a stumbling block in their
path, and in the onward progress of South
Carolina, doctries." Shall we strengthen or
weaken the hands of our friends ?
I have observed with painful regret the
want of unanimity in our State in regard to
this Democratic Convention.
It will require the achievement of very
much good to compensate us for distraction
at home. In all internal State issues, however,
the will of the majority must prevail
and it is the duty of the minority to acquiesce.
Government itself is a compromise
between the strong and weak, and I
trust that a compromise may be effected between
our friends of opposing opinions. The
contest, for the Presidential nomination will
be between Pierce and Buchannan. The
antecedents of Buchanan are good, but those
of Gen. Pierce are better. Gen. Pierce is
the choice of the South, and in our own
State I do not think that one man in a hundred
objects' to him. The strength of Buchanan
lies in the fact that he is^ucked by the
large State of Pennsylvania, with her twentyseven
votes, llis friends urge his nomination
upon the ground that he is .crtaiu to
carry Pennsylvania, and that it is doubtful
if that State will vote for Gen. Pierce. If the
South is firmly united upon Pierce, Pensylvania
must yield. Now, the compromise I
propose to the people of our State is, to send
delegates to Cincinnati, selected from our
ablest and best men without regard to past
party differences, and that they be instructed
to vote for Franklin Pierce for President,
and to use all houorable means to secure his
nomination from first to last. The conditions
upon which our delegates will enter
the Covention, will give strength to Gen.
Pierce \ and if other Southern States imitate
our example, his nomination is secure, and
that is equivalent to his election. If he is
not nominated, some other sound Democrat
will be; and as to the obligation which will
devolve upon us to support another nominee
than Gen. Pierce, I think I have shown that
we will do that in any event, rather than
embrace the other alternative uud vote for a
Black Republican. By the pursuance of
this course, the escutcheon of South Carolina
will be preserved in its pristine brightness,
no blot denoting the desertion of a
friend will rest upon it, and the act will harmonize
with her profession, that she sustains
the man who supports and defends tbo
, Constitution of his country.
I have the honor to be, respectfully, yours,
P.S.BROOKS.
Titos. P. Sr.inF.R, Esq., Newberry C. H.
s. c.
HaT'The fire that "went out" has not returned.
Interesting fpistellanj)
THE LOST POUND AND BESTOBED.
A SKETCH FROM LIFE.
"You have just rctnrned, friend Manson,
have you not," said Livingston, "from your
Western journey?"
? Yes," he replied, "I have, and there
was a circumstance attending it which will
make it the most memorable event in my
whole life."
"Indeed, what is that, my friend?"
" Ah, it would take more time than either
you or I could now spare," said Mdoson, "for
me to relate, and you to listen to the particulars
; but I will attempt a veiy briif sketch
of the Bubstance:
When I went to school in Connecticut, I
had a very dear friend and schoolmate, named
John McL?d. He was one of the brightest
and most beloved pupils in the school.?
He grew up, paid bis addresses to a beautiful
and excellent young lady, a member of
the ohiirob. At lenrth be was married to
his Mary; and they prepared immediately
after that event, in pursuance of a previous
plan, to emigrate to a Western State. The
evening before the day we were to separate,
perhaps forever, I had a tender interview
with my bosom friend and his lovely wife; it
was deeply affecting to us all.
The next morning they departed, with
the afiectionate farewells of many old friends
and neighbors in the town where they were
born and reared, with a handsome provisiou
made by the parents of both, who were in
competent circumstances. Ten years elapsed,
during which I was in the Methodist
ministry in distant places, as my lot happened
to be cast. Not a word concerning them
reached my ears in all that time. The course
of duty called rae then to the vicinity of the
place where my friend had settled, and I resolved
to go out of my way considerably to
give JohD and Mary a call. Arriving at the
town, and inquiring for their residence, I was
told they lived some distance from the centre
village. At length I found the place. At
the first glance my mind misgave me. The
sight of the miserable cabin made me sick ;
and after bitching my horse I scarcely dared
to enter. Knock I could not; there was no
door?nothing but a blanket stretched across
the passage. Removing this, alas 1 what
did I behold ! There was Mary sitting on a
stool with an Infant in her lap, and another
child in the corner on the ground ; for the
cabin bad no Moor.
Oh, sight of woe ! How altered was the
lovely Mary T n!
"Doyou remember me, dear Mary?" I
said.
" 0, Mr. Manson, it is indeed you ? We
are ruined; John is lost, and I and the children
are starving here. We havo not had a
morsel to eat since yesterday morning."
? Great heavens 1" said I, "and where is
John?"
? He is at the store j be has not been here
forsevcral days."
"1 must see him," I replied.
" Hotter not, sir, he is a savage now, and
will illtreat you."
"I mu3t and will see John," I replied,
and started immediately for the store, according
to her direction. There was no time to
lose, for I was to be at the conference, whither
I was bound, at a certain time appointed.
I readily found the store and entered. The
first sight disclosed four men playing cards
at a table. The next glance discovered a
man stretched out along a whiskey hogshead.
The landlord was sitting by, but instantly
hopped up and ran behind the counter to
wait upon me, supposing I was a customer.
Says I, "is John McL d here."
They all looked at me on bearing the
question, as if I had been the old one or a
Sheriff.
" What is that to you," he sullenly replied.
"I want to see him," I answered. While
I was speaking I took another sweep of the
room with my eye, and saw something like a
man a.slecp in the corner. " I3 that John,"
I asked.
"None of your businesp," answered the
surly bar-keeper.
" If it is that unhappy man, you will find
it some of my business," I replied. So I
went to him, recognized him, though in this
shocking, beastly plight, and began to wake
him. This was no easy job, and while I was
about it, the rumseller and his guests remonstrated,
telling me to go away, threatening
chastisement and showing violence. I had
in my hand a loaded whip, am not inferior,
you know, in point of wiry, muscular power;
and though a man of peace, I confess that in
the twenty-seven years I have been in the
ministry, I never felt so strong a disposition
as at that moment, to give four or five men a
thrashing. They vere intimidated, and I
succeeded at length in getting John uponhi9
legs, and trotting him off" homeward. My
presence and the exercise sobered him, so
that when he reached his hovel he was in his
right mind.
I forgot to mention that when I first went
into the house, the child upon the ground
started up affrighted, running to her mother,
crying, ?Is he going to carry us to jail, mother,
where father was?" And that poor
mother sobbed upon my hand, as if her heart
1J 1 1. nr-11 t -?
wouia ureas. iveu, x wutu^u mtu mcui
an hour, talked of old times in Connecticut,
the old village, and school days. He was
softened ; his heart was touched. Then I
urged the pledge; his wife put in her profoundly
earnest, almost frantic plea. She
felt this, indeed, to be the hour of destiny.
"Do you think I can keep it?" said, at
length, the miserable man, once so promising,
now so fallen. " Is it possible for me to be
saved?"'
"It is," said I, with confidence and hope;
"you can keep it. I know you can. In the
name of humanity and religion, try it, dear
John, and God will help you." At last he
consented. We knelt down on the earth?
there was no chair, no table in the house?I
took out the pledge, which I always carry in
my pocket, placed it on the stool where Mary
hud been sitting, and handed him my pencil.
He wrote his name, thank God ! Notwithstanding
his condition, it was beautifully
written, as I afterwards observed, for he was
an excellent scholar. We did not rise till I
had relieved my overburdened heart in prayer,
and I prayed with all my straggling soul,
and his despairing wife joined me in the solemn
invocation, that the Father of mercies
would receive the returning prodigal to his
arms, and that he might never go astray
again. It was now quite time for me to go
and resume my journey ; but I could not
leave the town before I called upon the class
leader, left him some money for the family,
and enjoined upon him to look after them,
and throw around John the seed of all good
influences, to prevent his suffering a relapse.
Whatever further charges he should incur
on their account, I promised to pay as soon
as informed of them.
Another decade rolled by, during which
no tidings came to me at the ttast lrom this
interesting couple. At lenght I was called
again to visit those Western regions, and to
pass near the residence of this unfortunate
brother. On reaching the town, my disappointment
was extreme to learn that he had
removed to a distant country. I anticipated
misfortune ; but as the place designated was
not far from my intended route, I resolved
to go and see him. When I entered the
town of , where John was said to live,
I made enquiry for his dwelling, and was
told it was the second house on the left hand
side of the road. Being now so near, I hastened
onward eagerly, and presently a nice
frame building painted white appeared. I
could not help putting up a prayer, that my
dear friend might be so happy as to occupy
any house half as respectable as this. Expectation
now became painfully intense.?
What in mercy was I sent to see ? A scene
like that or worse, which ten years before left
such awful traces on the memory, never to
be obliterated ? I could not tell. At a sudden
turn in the road, I thought I discerned
i . .i._ j* i
uuuuiei wuue uuuac iu me uibiauce uiuuug ,
the trees; yes, it is so, with green blinds;
and as I went nearer, gravelled walks were
seen, a handsome paling, and ornamental
trees and shrubbery. Surely there is some
mistake in the direction; this can't be John's
home! yet it is the second on the left.
Fastening my beast to a hook, I went to
the door and knocked. A girl, just on the
verge of womanhood, opened it.
"Does Mr. McL d live here?" I
asked with trembling.
? He does, sir?"
" Is he or his wife at home ?"
"Mother is within, sir; but father is in
the field. Please to walk in, sir."
My eye glanced through the open parlor
door. A fine carpet covered the floor. There
were handsome chairs and other furniture ;
but I saw no more, for Mrs. McL d by
this time was informed of a gentleman's arrival
and lost no time in making her appearance.
" Good God !" was all I remember to
have heard from her, as she rushed forward
on seeing me, and clasped me by the neck.
She almost fainted and shed a flood of tears,
and my own condition was not much more
composed. Recovering a little, she informed
me that her husband was at home, but
out upon the farm. Too impatient to wait,
I hurried away to see him. He met me as
he was coming home. As soon as he knew
who it was, he ran forward and grasped me
in his arms, saying as he strained me to his
bosom?
" Thank God ! thank God 1 you are my
savior under heaven. This is all yourwork,"
looking around. "0, I am rejoiced to sec
you are here to see it."
When we had returned to the house, the
ten year's history of struggle, repentance
and reformation was recounted. Prosperity
I nroo tlin nAnaf.riiinnnA woe
nuo vuv vvuuv,i|U\;uv/^< a. unfiling naj
his, the farm and all. His wife was happy.
The beautiful young girl, almost a young lady
now, was the dirty child that was crawling
on the ground on my first visit. There were
three more children now. To crown the.whole,
he said:
" After I had persevered a year in abstinence
according to that blessed pledge, taken
on that awful day, on the stool in the log hut,
which riees to rae sometimes with spectral
horror?after keeping it sacredly a year, I
committed myself to the church, of which
my wife, who hasbeen an angel helping me,
was a member. Prosperity attended my
worldly business; but this was not a complete
satisfaction. I wanted to be more; and commenced
study for the ministry. My dear
friend and brother, I am now a minister of
the everlasting gospel. How much, what an
inexpressible debt do I owe to you l'\
We knslt down together on the rich carpet
instead of the cold earth, and prayed as
fervently as I prayed before in the log cabin;
but in what a different strain ! Instead of
the almost despairing supplication, and entreaty
of forlorn hearts, crushed to the earth
with sorrow?thanksgiving, praises and gratin
Am wnfA nr?An*ftnn/iiirltT fvom fnn ml no
kUUC liUYY 1UOC D^VUUlUt'UUOIJf HUUiUUi lUU^U^O
and hearts?0, the heart of Caesar never
swelled with such triumphant joy at any of
his conquests, as mine does for my agency in
the salvation of this one man, and the happiness
of his family.
THE PHILOSOPHY OP A FROG.
Wc saw yesterday on Bolinbrook street a
lump of solid transparent ice, about ten inches
thick and wide, in the heart of which
was a large frog nicely frozen up and looking
quite pleasant with a beaming eye. The
ice was found on tho marsh behind the gas
works, and when melted down, the frog very
good humoredly shook himself and jump,
ed about quite lively. We heard a railroad
operative describing the philosophy of the
thing to a friend of his as follows:
"Ye see," says, Mikey, the "poor craythur's
instinction towld it the air was going
to be cowld and that the frost was goin to
power down red hot, so in it jumps into the
wather to get out of the dampness and wraps
itself up in a foot square of the liquid to
keep the frost out, as whiskey wasn't couve.
nient, which is the correct clothiDg for any
intilligint baste?barrin a Know Nothing?
to dress his intayrior with. And ye know
that water is transporous, for it runs into ye
at one end and out of ye at the other, and
never gets into yer head, at all; and so, it
began to snow with a fever hate, and the
cowld penitrated the bones of the frog thro'
a foot thick of dry water, so he shook his
feathers to keep the circulation of his blood,
which the haythens call lichor, till by dint
of kickin, with his hands and toe3?for
divil a leg has a frog .or any other natural
bipid in Americay?he soon got a comfortaable
warm congealment of ice round him,
and there he squatted as happy and cosy as
if be was on Miles' soft feather bed which
was made out of porky-pine quills, and look,
ing for all the world like a banie in a sinner's
eye, or like a new ambrytypc picture,
?.1. _<
[ ?UICLI iuc rcprcsemiiiiuu vi uu uiuuai
conceivable thing any way you can take it.
So you see the ice conglomerated round
about the frng, for he hit on that plan like
an Egipshun mummy to preserve himself in
sccvla tccvlorum, as the praist says, till con.
jaynial times should come, when pop goes
the weazel, and he'd come out in a blazing
perspiration 1"
"And was it the frog did all them things
by hisself ?" demanded Tady.
" 'Twas the frog's own natural philosophy,"
answered Mikey.
"The frog?" said the incredulous Tady.
Petersburg Democrat.
PROTESTANT ORGANIZATIONS.
The first Presbyterian Church in this country
was organized in Philadelphia, about the
year 1698.* Its first pastor was the Rev.
Jedediah Andrews, who continued to exercise
his ministry in that charge until his death,
in 1747. The first Presbytery was organized
under the name of the Presbytery of Philadelphia,
probably in the beginning of the
rear 1705 : and the first nersnn licensed and
^i ?# r ?
ordained by this body to preach the everlasting
gospel, was a Mr. John Boyd, in the following
year. The first Synod was formed in
Philadelphia, under the title of the Synod
of Philadelphia, on Friday, the 17th of September,
1717, when the Rev. George McNish
preached the opening sermon from John
xxi. 17.
Rev. Jedediah Andrews was chosen the first
Moderator, and the Rev. Robert Wotherspoon
the first Clerk. Thirteen ministers
and six ruling elders were present from the
four Presbyteries which at that time composed
the entire Presbyterian Church in this
country. The first General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church was held in the Second
Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, on Thursday,
the 21st of May, 1789. It was opened
with a sermon by Rev. John Wotherepoon,
D. J)., President of the College of NewJersey;
and the Rev. John Rodgers, D. D.,
pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, NewYork,
was ehosen the first Moderator. The
body was composed of four Synods and sixteen
Presbyteries.
The first Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian
Church in this country was constituted
in 1774, by Rev. Messrs. John Cuthbertson,
Matthew Lind, and Alexander Dobbin,
and ruling elders from the several Reformed
Presbyterian congregations. This
Presbytery becoming extinct by the formation
of the Associate Reformed Church at
Pequa, Pa., on the 13th of June, 1782, the
Reformed Presbytery, was re-organized in
the spring of 1798, in the city of Philadel
phia, by the llev. .Messrs. James iMcKinney
and Wm. Gibson, with the proper ruling elders.
The first Synod of the Reformed
Presbyterian Church was formed in Philadelphia
on the 24th of May, 1809, by all the
ministers of that Church in this country, and
by elders from all the sessions.
Rev. Wm. Gibson, the oldest minister
present, being called to the Moderator's chair
constituted the court by prayer, in the name
and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the alone King and Head of the Church.?
The name assumed by the body was that of
the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian
Church iu America. The Rev. GilbertMcMa9ter
was chosen first Moderator, and the
Rev. John Black the first Stated Clerk.?
The Synod formed at once three Presbyteries,
viz : the Northern, the Middle, and the
Southern.
The first meeting of the Associate Synod
was held on the third Wednesday of May,
1801, at 11 o'clock, a. m. in Philadelphia,
and was opened with a sermon by the Rev.
Wm. Marshall, by whom, also, the Synod
was formally constituted with prayer. That
first day was spent* in solemn fasting and
prayer. There wore seventeen ministers on
the roll, and these were divided into the four
Presbyteries of Philadelphia, Cbartiers, Kentucky,
and Cambridge. This body now
numbers 1 Synod, 20 Presbyteries, 175 ministers,
and 267 churches.
The first organization of the Synod of the
Associate Reformed Church took place in the
house of Mr. William Richards, in the city
of Philadelphia, on the 31st of Uctober,
1782, when it was constituted with prayer
by the Rev. David Telfair, who had presided
over the Convention of Associate and Reformed
Presbyterian ministers and elders, which
had agreed upon this plan of organization at
Pequa in the previous June. The Rev.
John Mason, of New York, was chosen the
first Moderator, and Mr. Robert Patterson,
an elder from Philadelphia, the first Clerk.
There were present Messrs. John Mason
and Robert Annan, ministers, and William
McKinney, elder, from the Associate Presbytery
of New York?Messrs. James Proudfit,
John Rodgers, John Smith, and William
Logan, ministers, and Joseph Miller and
Thomas Douglass, elders, from the Associate
Presbytery of Pennsylvania?and Messrs.
* This Church was oomposed of a number of
English and Welsh dissenters, and a few French
Protestants, who were accustomed at first to worship
in oonnection with a few Baptists, in a storebouse
at the corner of Chesnut and Second streets.
They continued there until 1704, when a small j
Presbyterian house of worship was erected in
Market street, between Second Md Third street*.
?Ohrufan Intiructor. I
John Cuthbertson, Mattuew Lind, and Alex. *
Dobbin, ministers, and James Bell, John
Cochran, and Bobert Patterson, eldtrs, from .
the Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian
Church.
The first General Synod of the Associate
Reformed Church was held at Greencastle,
Franklin county, Pa., on Wednesday the
30th May, 1804. Rev. John M. Mason, *
D. D., of New York, preached a sermon %
from Tit. i. 9?"Holding fast the faithful
word," and constituted the Synod with pray-,
er. The Rev. Alexander Dobbiirwas chosen
the first Moderator, and the Rev. James Gray
the first stated Clerk. Thirteen ministers
and nine ruling elders were in attendance on ' ' *
certified commissions from four Synods, and
high Presbyteries. ' ^
The first Methodist class-meeting iu this .
country was formed in the city of New York, -**
by Philip Embury, in 1766. The first annual
conference was held in Philadelphia, in
1773, when the body consisted of 10 preachers
and about 1,100 members. The first for- v' r
j mal organization of the Methodist Episcopal
j Church as an ecclesiastical body took place #
on the 25th of December, 1784, in Baltimore,
when 61 of the 88 preachers belong- j
ing to the Church were assembled together ?
for conference ; and the Rev. Francis Asbu- s
ry was ordained by Dr. Coke, who was pre1
sent from England, the first Bishop in the jr
American Church. The first delegated General
Conference was held in the city of New"
York, in May, 1812, when the body had so .
increased that there were connected with if
688 traveling preachers, and 106,357 mem- ..
bers in the churches.
The first Baptist Church organized in this v
country was at Providence, Rhode Island, by
Roger Williams, in 1639. One was attempted
the same year in Massachusetts ; but was
forcibly broken up, and its members were
fined by the General Court. The first minis
tcr ever settled in new mmsture was tne
Rev. Hanserd Knollys, of the Baptist Church. .
This body has so increased that it now pre-,
sentsthe following statistics:?14,028 churches,
9,817 ministers, 1,251,059 members. -
The first Protestant Episcopal Convention ^ ,
formed in this country met in Philadelphia,
on the 27th of September, 1789and there
being no bishops of that Church in the United
States except the Rev. Samuel Seabury,
D. D., (who had been consecrated by the v.
non-juring Bishops of Scotland, and was not, ?
on that account," cordially received by the
Church at large,) Rev. Wm. White, D. D.,
of Philadelphia, and Rev. Samuel Provost, *
D. D., of New York, were selected to pro- >
ceed to England and obtain the proper consecration.
Accordingly, proceeding thither,
they were consecrated Bishops in the Archiepiscopal
place of Lambeth, by the the Rev.
John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbuiy; and
returning to this country, commenced at
once the exercise of the episcop&oy in their
respective dioceses. The first Bishop consecrated
in the United States was the Rev;
Thomas John Claggett, D. D., from the dio- a *
cese of Maryland, by Bishop Provost, at the
triennal Convention in New York, in 1705
This body now has 37 bishops, 13 dioceses,' ? 1,712
ministers, and 120,000 members.
The first Yearly Meeting of Friends, or
Quakers, in this country, waa held August
28, 1881, at the house of Thomas Gardner,
in Burlington, N. J. This meeting contin*
ued to be held every year in that place until
1684, when it began to be held at Barling- ^
ton and Philadelphia alternately.
The first open preacher of the principles
of Unitarianism in this country waa Dr. Freman,
at first a reader, and afterwards, on p
being ordained by some members of his own
congregation, minister of the Episcopal
Church in King's Chapel, Boston. The
first American Unitarian author was the
Rev. Hosea Ballon, afterwards minister of
the second Univerealist Society in Boston.
In 1803, he published a treatise on the
| Atonement, which was the first American
work in which Unitarianism was avowed and
defended. The first attempt to build in the
United States a Unitarian house of worship
was made in Philadelphia in 1812, when a >
large part of the means for its erection was
raised in England. >
The first minister that preached a sermon
in the English language in any Reformed
Dutch Church in this country was the Rev.
Archibald Laidlie. He was born on the 4th
.f 1 TOT .i tr.i T> 1
ui a/cvcujuci, liui) aw iu juuauuijt
county, on the north bank of the Tweed,
opposite its junction with the Teviot, Scot*
land. After studying in the University of
Edinburgh, he was ordained to the holy
ministry in 1759,and settled as one of the
pastors of the English Ghorch, at Flashing,
in Netherlands.
19* Dr. Thompson, proprietor of the
"Atlanta House, (Atlanta, Geo.) is well
known as a totary of eccentricities. We
were highly amused the other day at the re*
cital of the following exchange of civilities
between the Doctor and a traveller, who call*
ed at the o$ce to 'settle his bill,' when the
Doctor happened to be behind the ooanter.
"What do you charge?" asked the traveller.
'
"Well," replied the Doctor, humorously,
"if we charge your bill, it will be a dollar,
but cash down, only fifty cents."
"You may charge it then/' said the fellow,
coolly turning on his heel, and passing
out, took his seat in the cars.
The Doctor, half amused, half angty, followed,
and confronting the stranger, asked
a i ? 1 . - v a a i. *11
ii ne aid not intend to pay ine dhj.
"Certainly not?I told you to charge it,'
was the bland reply.
The Doctor was non-plussed; but placing
his forefinger thoughtfully for a moment be*
side his nose. "Stranger/ said he, "when
you come this way again, bring your box
and stay a tceek." ?
JQT* A lady in Calcutta asked a Colonel
for a mango, and, as he rolled it along, it
fell into a plate of kiss-misses?a species of
grape.
<How natural/ observed the Colonel, <maa*
gqps to kira*muaee8.
<?