University of South Carolina Libraries
<?W~ "*T*o, f - jy / ' ' *f ^ C&. % '* . ' - ? ~sS r-.F" < ?* . j ** * * * - ? ^ * 4fe ?r --*? ? r ^ *. *; . <? .w. q| ; . , - ? , <v * ? * . 'jfiL - ^ ~vr ? * ?* ?ff "* " --"1? -* -. - * -Vr-:: ^ ? wAl, . v C a ? 4|Vk/. . : = :- **"?' Jfatu.^- v.- .- v *&>' ..... .. .' imj M' . -, , - ^ ? - ..*-? - -.- . r.*i> , V ^ ^r. . -V : - *. . 5S\Tm, [proprietors. An Independent Journal: For the Promotion of the Political, Social, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the South. [lewism.grist,publisher? "VOL. 2. YOBKYILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER S3, 1856. NO. 43^ ' I II ? ?? ! ! ? I ? I ! I ! ?I lll?HI??ITir?TTHI?T?llll ?T???ITTTT I I ? T? ~a?????????-???._ Cljoicc |]aetru. I MY MOTHER'S BIBLE. MY G. V. MORRIS. This book is all that's left me now? Tears will unbidden start: With faltering lips and throbbing brow, I press it to my heart. For many generations past, Here is our family tree : My mother's hand this Bible clasped, She, dying, gave it me. Ah, woll do I remember those Whose names these reoords bear; Who round the hearth-stone used to close After tho evening prayer. And speak of what these pages said, In tones my heart would thrill : Though they arc with the silent dead, IJere they are living still, My father read this holy book, To brothers, sisters dear! How calm was my poor mother's look, Who learned God's word to hear! Her angel face, I see it yet! What thrilling memories come ! .\gaiii that little group is met Within the walls of home ! Thou truest friend man ever knew, Thy constancy I've tried ; When all were false 1 found the thee true, My counsellor and guide. ' Tbe mines of earth no treasures give That could this volume buy ; In teaching me the way to live, Jt taqght n^e how to die, %liorkr Stoni. i THE DECOTAH'S CAPTIVE. ! While the Spanish colonists ravaged the \ southern portion of Xorth America in quest , of gold, and the English planted the germs , Qf self-government c?n the eastern cQast, the j French were but the agents of home mer- , chants, who enjoyed a monopoly of the various traffics, and were sustained in the enjoy- , ment of it by the strong arm of military pow- , or. To the trading association in particular j \5*e owe the discovery of the Mississippi, by the sous of the members?the intrepid La Salle. 'In this day, lead was first discovered ' j wit inn tiiepresem limits or tne^rate or lowa, , but tbe noted Julien DuBuque was the first who taught the Indians to collect the ore, and make an article of trade of it. Jle was i?cit only a brave but crafty man, and after his death, the savages, in compliance with with his dying wish, deposited his remains on the summit of a high clifF'overlooking the "Father of Waters," securing the mouth of the mausoleum with a massive leaden door of a ton weight. They then burned his dwelhug* aud erased every trace of civilized life j around his settlement, except the orchards planted by his own bauds. Vandal whites ; afterwards cut up the door to sell; but the . name of DuBuque will ever be remembered i in Io^a. * j years passed away. The white flag of France no longer waved over the Mississippi valley, and the bold frontiers-man, advan- t cing on the foremost wave of civilization, crossed the river in quest of lead ore, game, t and fertile soil. One of the first settlementsthn3 established, vas formed by a party from Kentucky, led by the grandsire of the ? yqqnger generation?old Jqo Hates, a noble specimeu of a frontiers-man. Seventy winters had whitened his long locks, but he was Still hale and hearty, able to wield au axe c with auy of his sons, or to draw bead on a rifle with that fatal accuracy of aim which , had enabled him to render good service at c the battle of New Orleans. Selecting a good f But Bates did not remain to watch their movements, for lashing his boy to his shoulders. he cautiously opened a shutter in the gable of the loft, and seeing that no Indians were beneath, jumped to the ground, rifle in hand. Ere he had traversed his little garden, the air resounded with the blood-chilling tones of the war-whoop, and a volley of arrows rained around the fugitive. Happily only one struck him, and that in the fleshy pai of the arui, so that he kepton strainiug ever nerve to reach the stockade around his fath cr's cabin. But ere he had gone many pa ces a gigantic Indian overtook him. Turniu like a stag at bay, he faced his antagonist knocked him down with the butt of his rifl and then sped on his way. But now, to hi horror, he saw a large body of Decotah around his father's dwelling as he approach ed, firing over on to the roofs of the cabin with arrows to which burning tow was at tached. .lie paused?but the cries of his boy a roused him to a sense of his own daDgeram his wife's perilous situation. Directing hi, steps towards the river, where he found hi: "dugout" safely moored, he soon was pad tiling across the river to a settlement when there were a large number of whites. Day had scarcely dawned on the succeed ing morning, before twenty miners, goodraei and true, were ready to accompany bin across the river. They cared no more fo: the Decotahs than for prairie dogs, and actec upon the spur of the moment, regardless o consequences. Crossing above his residence young Dates led them towards his clearing but on arriving there nothing remained bui a mouldering pile of ashes. His beloved wif< had evidently perished in the flames, for a rnong the ashes and charred beams in the eel lar they found some blackened bones. Jusi thcu they were joined by old Joe Dates and two of his younger sons armed to the teeth, They were delighted to find Frank alive, foi they had feared that the column of smoke that had arjson from his cabin was his monument; but now they did their best to condole him in their way. He said but little, but secretly vowed to avenge his wife's death, md well did he keep his word, To have ;ecn him, no one would have supposed thai die mild-looking, slender built Frank Dates ivas an incarnate demon in a fight with the Decotahs; yet within a year after his cabin ivas burnt, he had twenty scalps hanging iround his girdle. "Vengeance" seemed tiif.; only thought?his life's desire. For sometime after this outrage, the Delotahs kept away from the miners, but at ast a party of them came prowling about, md the miners determined to have a brush vith them. Who was so competent to head he party as that sworn enemy qf the red ikins, I rank Bates/ The party engaged wo Winnebagoes as guides, and then struck uto the forest following a recent trail. The hird night of their journey, the wary leader nsisted on standing as sentry, and about niduight the crack of his rifle awakened very sleeper. In an instant every man was in his fee*, rifle in hand, ready to repell auy urking foe; but a low whisper from Frank innouneed that there was no danger. Mornng cauie, and as the party crowded around he sentinel to learn the cause of the alarm, le merely pointed to what appeared to be a rnge hear; a nearer approach to the object liscovered to their astonishment the grim ,-isage of a dead Decotah, enveloped iu the ikin of a gigantic bruin, who, thus disguised, had attempted to reconnoitre the posiion of the frontiers-men. Frank now felt assured that they were lear their enemy, and followed their trail in iilence on the alert for their foe. On reading the summit of a knoll, they saw their ,'illage before them?a collection of high, :ouical teuts, made of dressed buffalo-skins ;ewed together and ornamented with rude epresentatious of the battle or the chase.? Jn the outskirts were the squaws busily eu;aged in the laborious occupations which ell to their lot. Their infants, tightly bound o straight strips of bark, were tied to small )ent-over birches, which gently danced them o sleep, and the hoys of the village, with jow and arrow, were firing at the represcuation of a Kansas hunter. Iu the centre of ;he village, before the towering tent of the ihief, sat the braves, smoking thoir tomahawk pipes with stoical gravity. The white men looked at the priming of heir rifles, put their sharp hunting knives jetween their teeth, and with a deafeniog cell rushed down through the frightened squaws, ere the Pecotahs could comprehend ,vhat caused the alarm. Pushing into the startled group of warriors with fierce warvhoops, they dealt destruction around them. L'he chief was the first slain, bravely defendng himself and encouraging his warriors, ivho nobly struggled to avenge his death, )ut all in vain. Frank Bates fought like a demon, but at me time was nearly a victim to a stalwart varrior. But glancing at his opponent, Frauk recognised in a gay red handkerchief iround his haed his marriage gift to his lost vife. This added new strength to his body tnd increased activity to his fury, as he sei:ed his assailant with his left arm, lifted him 'rom the ground, and at the same time with icrvous force thrust his knife to his heart. L'his decided the battle, for the surviving Dccotuhs, panic struck at the sudden attack, rushed to the spot where their horses were cthered aod escaped into the forest. Up(Yards of fifty dead warriors remained on the Sold, and others grievously wounded, bul not a single white man was seriously injured. The women and children fled to thewoods; and the whites fouud an abundance of plunder, comprising blankets, rich furs, horses dried meats and tents. But Frank Bate: felt sad at heart, for the sight of this mo monto of his wife made him fear she hac beeu tortured before perishing in the flames Night came on, and feeling positive that h< could not sleep, he voluutecred to keej watch. It was a bright moon light night and as he was pacing his solitary round planning new schemes of vengeance, hi heard a light step approach from the thicket Frank at first raised his rifle to shoo down the intruder, but a secret influence lei him to call out: "Who comes?" "Are you a white man ?" was the reply in tones that produced an indescribable ef feet upon the stout-hearted pioneer. "Yes?and you?" locality on the very shore of the Mississippi, t old Joo and his sons built a log cabin, sur- j. l-ounded by a stockade to keep off the Deco- t \ tahs. They surrounded a "clearing" with a j worm fence, deadened the standing trees by { the fatal axe circle, and planted corn. When ^ the corn was well above grouud and freed from weeds, they began to "prospect" for ^ lead ore. Thus far they had seen no Indians, and began to flatter themselves that the "red j skins" had left the country to their peaceful possession} but the wily savages had kept a constant watch upon their movements.? * Perhaps, had they confined themselves to , agricultural labors, the intruders might have " gone on unmolested, especially as the Deco- } tahs wished to conciliate the United States ; Government into a profitable treaty, but when 1 pick-axes were wielded in search of lead ore, y the destruction of the pale-faces was resolved upon in council. The first object of savage vengeance was < the oldest son, Frank Bates, who had built ' him a cabin about five hundred yards from 1 "head quarters," despite the warnings of 1 old Joe. Frank, however, had no fear of 1 Indians, and lived with his wife and babe in '< great happiness, until one summer's night J _i i i j v... a _ l j i l.: ? t wuuLi uu ttnuiieuru uy iuc luuu uai&iug of his dogs. Springing from his bed, he looked through an opening in the logs, and j saw to his horror at least tifty Decotahs, in I full war costume, evidently seeking the easiest way to force an entrance into the cabin, i Arousing his wife, he raised a cellar trap j door, and was about to send her down, when j the child she had left in the bed began to ! cry. | "I cannot leave my babe," she said. "Nay," he exclaimed, "I will take care of the boy," and almost forcing her down into the small cellar, he closed the unhinged door, over which he drew a large chest. Then, seizing his rifle and hatchet, he took the infant and ascended to the loft of the cabin, pulling the ladder up after him. A moment more, the door was forced from its hinges, and the Decotahs eutered eacer for their ore v. t "I am Frank Bates' ivito who was taken y prisoner over the Mississippi," and as she i- spoke she advanced. t- The rifle fell to the ground, and Frank g stood as if under the influence of n magic ;, spell. His hands were convulsively clinche ed, his hair stood erect on his head, a shiver s ran through his frame and he tottered back s several paces. But not so the female, who - had recognised her hiuband as she drew s near, and now exclaimed as she threw hcr self into his arras: "Frank ! uiy own Frank! Do you not - know your wife V J Yes, it was his long-mourned bride, her s features stamped with sorrow, but sdll re3 taining her early beauty. Mutual explanaX? /VII 1 i 1 .1 ^ . 1 n - lions ionoweu, ana wnen tne aeugntea wuc 2 learned the safety of her boy, all hardships vanished. It now appeared that when the - Indians had entered Bates' house, they saw 1 a keg of whiskey which they drank freely, i and then plundered everything, removing r the chest in their researches. Soon two of 1 them began to quarrel about the handkerchief f Bates had seen the day previous, and draw, ing their scalp knives, one speedily received , a mortal stab, and fell directly upon the trap t door, through which his blood rau upon the j ; hidden wife. She, believing that it came - from her husband, shrieked aloud, thus be traying herp'ace of concealment. Dragging t her forth, her captors bound her, then rilling j [ the cabin, applied the torch. Tho body of [ , the slain Decotah was consumed, and over I r his hcuo.> Bates bad mourned as for those of ! his wife. That day they packed the pluudcr upon . what horses the Decotahs had left, and star, ted for their homes, which they regained in , safety. The proceeds of Frank Bates' share s of tho spoils enabled him to rebuild his ; house, but this time close to that of hi3 fathi er, and euelosed with a high stockade. The ! Decotahs, however, never returned, and in f?nnrsp nf warn drivpn tn tho far Wesl. ; Frank Bates is a member of the Stnto Son. ate, Judge of the County Court, and Major General of Militia. Time has dealt lenient. ly with him and his wife, but neither for, gets her captivity. Their sou never passes the scene of his father's flight on that memorable night without feeling a renewed sense of his Glial obligations, and a deopor love for his boyhood's homo. political. From the New Orleans Delta. THE FABIAN POLIO'S OF THE SOUTH'. In our better days, when the Beoublio was just struggling vigorously up the great pathway of nationalities j when our fathers , betook themsolves to patriotic toil, and here and therein Europe the"ficrcoUemooraoie" grew jubilant as we rose, men looked with little solicitude, compared with to-day, to the advent of a Presidential canvass. They , did not think it necessary to peer into the hidden future; to climb the mountain to look for the Land of Promise beyond. The thousand and one hraaen "Isms" whloh curse tho land, had not arisen with their Stygian deformity. The white flag of Peace was everywhere seen, for red Murder, with the , sword in one hand, and the torch in the oth- , er, was chained in his native perdition. Years agonc?when our better days were : ! ' - 1 ....11! ^ L ? ~ t r. ' passing awuj?wuuu puunu virtue uuguu iu crumble, the bright sky which leaned aroahd this country of ours, (a country reared up by ' Providence as a compliment to humanity and a blessing to the world, as the dead sages thought,) became disfigured by a cloud "no bigger than a man's head." Gradually, ' slowly, portentously, that scarcely colored : vapor deepened and blackoned and spread until one-half of the continent was covered j with Pandemonium darkness. Spoilsmen, , intent upon plunder ; placcmcu, satisfied < with the fat grain hoarded fur the hired in- ' struments, who keep in motion government- ' al machinery, took ljttlc heed of the ominous aspect of the political eleinonts. Every year, every month, every day, every j hour, from the seething hell of New England Abolition, like the animate millions that 1 spring up from a blisteringccss-poul, vermin with human heads and eyes and legs were ! generated. Men, eminentlygood and conservative, with thiukiug brains and hearts beat- ' ingin the right place, gazed at first with un- ! utterable disgust upon these hissing and veu ! omous political things. Anon, intercourse [ and familiarity paralysed these sentiments. Disgust yielded to respect, and respect ripened into affiliation. Puritanism, at last, seized hold of the New Englander as effectually as the followers of Cotton Mather seized and drowued the women-witches of Saletn ! William Lloyd Garrison was soon regarded by some thousands of pious knaves as Johu ! the Baptist preaching in the Wilderness; the foreruuoer of Universal Emancipation. The! odore Parker scrmouised upon the coining of ' the Messiahs and the Negro Millennium, and 1 Wendell Phillips struck hands with the rev' erend rascal, and "higher-lawism" took pre' cedence of the Gospel in the pulpits of Boston. , Ah ! it was a pitiable sight to see men, on whose brow sat euthroned the beauty of ever, lasting genius; men, the great dome of i whose mind was frescoed beyond the art of - Michael Angelo your Bryant and your I Longfellow?bow down to the golden calf . set up for the worship of the congregation } of the New England Judea. ) It was a pitiable sight to see the descend , ants of the Adamses, the Otises, the War, rens, swell the wild cry of Abolition fauatiJ cism; to witness the son of the elder Adams, . ay, that renegade son himself, an ex-Presit dent, in the "sere and yellow leaf" of life, 1 like the blind Sampson, put his arm around the pillars of the Constitution, and seek to , pull down the Temple of Liberty upon the - heads of the twenty millions of people 1? And he sought to die like Chatham, that poor old man ! Yes! in one respect only j did his death resemble that of the grand old Kcrl: both expired in the Capitol; the Britj ish statesman pleading the rights of the peoI pie of the Colonies, and laboring to preserve the unity of the orapire; the American exPresident striking down the constitutional rights of the South, and destroying the unity of his country. Time was when it was fashionable to 'laugh to scorn' the Garrisons and Tappans of the North. Time was, when the Southern people, with indolent and languid look, smiled derisively at what was even then to them, a matter of vital concernment. But times have changed. The dial indicates not the translucent noonday, iwfc the black and silent night. The cloud has overspread the heavens until not a star twinkles, and the red arm of the thuuderbolt is bared for the stroke. The Northern cohorts are thundering down upon us, and the cry of our leaders still is: Union! Union! Peace! Peace!And has the reckless spirit of demagogueism at the North received no aid but from the seven devils that inhabit it! Truly we were blind not to see it. For it, from that black hole of Calcutta of England, yes, from the solemn mockeries and demoniacal orgies of Exeter Hall, abundant missionary aid has been furnished. Who does not remember Geo. Thompson, of Tower Hamlet and Faocuil Hall notoriety ? Is it any wonder that the great, warm heart of Southern Americans beat sympathetically with the Czar, in his gigantic struggle with the Allied Powers ?? Who did not know that the fat German beggar, whose office it is to be husband of "Her Gracious Majesty, the Queen," was President of that very delectable body of English Abolition Solons, the "Worlds Convention 1" Who can forget the reception of the prudish, petticoated "Uncle Tom," the boldestfcmale slanderer that ever wore a frill or sported a furbelow, by the effete and bedizzencd nobility of Britain led by "Harriet, baught Duchess of Sutherland ?" And who did not know the RoraaDoffs were free of the taint of the leprosy of Abolition, and had in all the Russias an institution similar to that of the loading institution of the South? Yet, London newspanerdom, in pompous and dogmatical leaders, swore it was amazing, that its transatlantic cousins did not feel their common blood redden to a deeper crimson, instead of glorying in the successful defence of Scbastopol. Insolent vituperation, swelling rhodoraontado and fanatical irrationalisrq, filled to repletion the robust oolumns of the English journals, because the United South would not "damage its hat," when screaming shot boomed through the Redan aud the Malakoff. Not a true heart in all this wide-spread South cared the toss of a straw what became of the Red Cross flag on the shores of the Euxine. Jamaica and Exeter Hall are subjeots not likely to awaken Southern sympathy. British gold and Yankee mendacity have sown broadcast the infernal tares that fester in our soil. The Roundheads of New England, those close-cropped, canting, nasal twanging, Cromwellian hypocrites, whose cupidity is only equalled by their tremeudous blasphemy, have brought about the "beginning of the end." The Protector labeled his cannon with the scriptural adage: "Lord, open thou our mouths and we will show forth thy praise !" Ward Beecher, with attenuated impiety, squeaks from his Brooklyn pulpit : "One Sharpe's rifle In Kansas is worth Rihlps flprritt. Smith, in t.llfi imbecility of a staggering intellect, cries : "Slavery must go out in blood !" and Wilson stands up in the august Senate of the Nation, and tells the South, with brazen cheek aud audacious tougue, that when slavery is expelled from the Territories, the North will abolish the institution, not only in the District of Columbia, but in the States where it exists, and boasts that the South will thank them for it! The South has been too long playing the game of Fabius Maximus. She has retreated before the enemy, hoping, from a misguided loyalty to a Constitution violated continually, to weaken the resources of the foe, aud weary him iuto subjection. The same game, naturalists tell us, is played every day in the wilderness between the,pursued stag and the pursuing panther. It is full time that this Fabian policy were stopped, knocked on the head and "laid up in lavender." It is time that Southern men of pluck, passion, and laudahlfi.ajnbition.^hould hug their glittering blades to their hearts. Firm resolves should succeed political harliquinading aud all this burlesque vociferation of Union ! Uniou! when there is no Union; Peace! Peace ! when there is no peace, should be the clarion of fools, knaves, and hypocrites aloue. The tide of Fate flows on. and man is impotent to stop it. Revolution, like a terrible Bucephalus, is coming in?never fear, 0 ! doubting reader!?there are in the South to-day more than one Alexander to bestride it. The dramatist has put into the mouth of Jack Cade a sentiment, flooded all over with ineffable glory and effulgence of Truth : "God is for us ! God is for the Eight! and Victory is with God !" The South is omnipotent if the South is united. Many years ago?they are sad years to think of?when South Carolina drew over her face the black veil of mourning, and her throat grew hoarse with lamentation, all that could die of a Man married to Truth, and therefore married to Immortality, mingled with the dust. He warned the South of the impending danger. Ho heard with quick, prophetic ear, that the volcano on which we were standing, sent forth .those frightful noises which indicated approaching convulsion. Like another Lion-heart, right gallantly he rode along the Southern lines,, calling upon the people to battle for their natural and constitutional rights. In vain he poured out an unbroken fire-torrent of glowing-hot prophetic warnings. At the South, men seemed to have fallen into stupidity and semi-idiocy. They seemed content to dawdle through a somnolent existenc. So in effect they stoned their Prophet. At the North, he was regarded a3 plausible po litical petterfogger?a sort of modern Luciui Cataline, and a servile and venal Press, witi the swaggering air of a great bully, vain magniloquent and domineering, while writ ingdown John C. Calhoun, wrote themselves individually down "an ass !" Anothor John comes crying in the wilderness, dragged by the harlot Abolition, and the Free-Soil propagandists, from abysmal mud. lie, too, is of the South, but unlike the dead Hercules, he rides along the Northern ranks marshaling his legions of black robbers for a terrific onset upon the section that gave him birth. Fremont, Black Republicanism, Sectionalism, Abolitionism!? What a combination of reckless daring and unblusing treason ! Mnt. ! Ilttla t\P fV?Ia Kni*n!n?? T?*?za/\ Os??1 *'VV ? OVVIW Vk VIIIO UUIU1II- JL'IUU'UVII ver lias been caught from the injudiciousness of Southern leaders. Anterior to 1840, and even later, it was a common admission of many of our own statesmen, that slavery was a social evil and political curse. In Virginia, as late as 1851, numbers of the prominent men of that State, not only agitated in the General Assembly radical emancipation, but undisguisedly denounced the institution. Towering above them all, loomed the lofty form of 3Ir. Clay, who lent his powerful influcuce and tremendous aptitude for patch work conciliation, to the Northern and Southern propagandist of this pernicious doctrine. All this has put a reproach against us in the mouths of our enemies?we furnished them with an argument which is hurled defiantly in our teeth. It is treason to nature?treason to truth?treason to the South to hold a doctrine like that. Slavery is not an evil, but a positive and unconditional blessing and necessity. And yet, is this more absurd?this foolish admission that domestic slavery is an evil and a curse?than suicidal policy of thousands of the braying fiaalamities of the stump, who deuounce the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and ..j cribc our present intestine troubles to the repeal of that infamous "sell," the Missouri Compromise, the only act of juetico which has been done the South for forty years ?? Palsied be the arm that would aid in its restoration?may it wither up like that of Jeroboam wlieu he offered violence to the Proph i* n _ 3 f ei or uoa; They would oiler up the South as a holocaust to th6 sectional pride, ambition and veugcance of the North. Well! let us see if it will be done while big hearts throb beneath a Southern sun, and red blood crimsons Southern arteries. We have felt the weight of the last ounce that breaks the back of the camel. The steeple-hatted banditti of the Appennines never gave "mine host" of Terracina and his quaking guests half the uneasiness as have the black brigands of hyperborean New England, the slave-holders of the border. If we expect to get anything from that section but robbery and insult, vituperation and malediction, we ought to consult a knowing one as to the ward-comforts of Bedlam, for sanity will soon be vague tradition. "I will not associate with men," said Mr Calhoun, "who want to cut my throat!"? If Black Republicanism prevails over conservatism and the Constitution?in a word, if Col. Fremont is the successful candidate for the Chief Magistracy, let the South cut loose from a Union which is even now a Union of straw. Let her go into the field, like Godfrey, of Bouillon, with the holy lance iuto Askalon, crying: "God for the right and the just!" Tear from the North the mighty trade which has made the region of Fifth Avenue au opulent and marhleglaring aristocratic West-End. Let a half million of starving operatives?for gaunt hunger knows no argument?hang upon their hundred Tyburn hills, the Sewards, the Sumners, the Garrisons and the Greeleys.? The retribution will come as sure as the green verdure would be redolent iD the streets of the Babylons of the North. Happily for the South, and hosanna! to the mon arch of the holds : Cotton is King! JL ne independence of the South is the dependence of the North; the glory of the one, the abject degradation of the other. Every year would demonstrate the fact as clearly as any problem in Euclid can be demonstrated.? Like the angel sitting in the sun, the grandeur of her position, and the magnificence of her proportions, would be the admiration of the world. HAMPDEN. LETTER OF SENATOR MASON. Among the letters read at the Brooks Dinner, which we find in the Edgefield Advertiser, is the following from Senator Mason, of Virginia. What it says in reference to Federal affairs is equally bold, true, and worthy of the past course of that distinguished statesman : Selma, Va., 29th Sept. 1856. Gentlemen: *1 have had the honor to receivo your letter of the 13th inst., inviting me, on the behalf of the constituents of Col. Preston S. Brooks, to a dinner to be given to him by them, on tliu 3d of Oct? b r next, in "testimony of their complete endorsement of his Congressional course." It has been my good fortune to have enjoyed the acquaintance of your able and hon* "*? x L-iL orcci .ttepresentauvc, ou terms uuwi ui ?oci;ii and political intercourse, from his entrance into the House of Representatives?and I know of none whose public career I hold more worthy the full and cordial approbationof bis constituents than his. He has shown himself alike able and prompt to sustain the rights and the interest of his constituents in debate and by vote j or to vindicate in a different mode, and uuder circumstances as painful duty, the honor of his friend. I would gladly, therefore, unite with you, were it in my power, in the testimonial proposed by his generous constituents ; but regret that the distance which separates us, and my engagements at home, must forbid it. Perhaps it may not be unacceptable, in closing this letter, to say a few words to my fellow citizens of Edgefield Distriot, whom ? you represent, on the condition of the count try. , None can mistake, or, in the South, can remain insensible to. the times that are upon i us. The issue (until now averted) between a numerical majority on the one side, and I sworn faith to a written compact on the other, is about to be tried. The Southern 0* 1 ! States represent the minority, both in States and the people, on this issue. Not their property alone, but their honor and safety are at stake in the result; for 1 look on the pending election of a President interesting chiefly to the South, as it will be a type of opinion and purpose at the North. Reason argument are exhausted we have done whatever lay with us to bring the majority back within the pale constitutional power: and fin rt nATir nnln vuij uun vuij await tuc pupuiai > vie. Should it be found to stand by, and to uphold the Constitution, then we should once more look forward with confidence and hope to the continuance of a Union estiblished in mutual and patriotic sacrifices, and having its sanctiou in fraternal faith. But in reverse of all this, should a dominant sectional vote be directed to bring iuto power those pledged in advance to break down the barriers interposed by the compact of federation, for the security of one section against the other, then, in my calmest judgement, but one course remains for the South: Immediate, absolute, and eternal separation. Better, far better, to stand toward the Northern States as we stand to the rest of the world-"Enemies in war, in peace friends" ?than to remain halting under a common government, enemies, under the guise of pence, or friends at war. Again regretting, gentlemen, that I cannot be with you, I am, with great respect, J. M. MASON. 3BBD9MBBBBBSZaZBHnnBBDm9i JDBSA3BB0 Select ? taking. SUCCESS ALONE SEEN. Few know 01 life's beginnings?men behold The goal achieved :?the warrior, when his sword Flashes red triumph in the noonday suu; The poet. wh'Ui his lyre hang-; on the palm ; The statesman, when the crowd proclaim his voice, And mould nmnion on his crifieii forum- ; They count not life's first step-, owl n.vi-r think Upon the many miserable hours When hope deferr'd was sickness tr ho heart. They reckon not the battle and the -inrch, The long privations of a waster!.youth; They ne^er see tlia banner til! unfurled. What are to them the solitary nights P tss'd pale and anxious by the sickly lamp, Till the young poet wins the world at last To listen to the music long his uwn ? The crowd attend the statesman's fiery mind That makes their destiny : but they do not trace Its struggle, or its long czpeofnncj-. Haru are life's car1}* steps ; and, but that youth Is buoyant, confident, and strong in hope, Men would behold its threshold and de-pair. L. E> L. A BLOODY REMINISCENCE. A correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger, writing from Camp Dade, Florida, relates the terrible circumstances under which Major Dade, with 110 men, were destroyed there in 1836. They had been detailed to force their way through from Fort King to Tampa: "Nothing of importance occurred'till the eighth day. Ou the morning of that day they resumed the march from their last encampment, (about one mile and a half from this place,") and were about cutting d^wn some very high grass, when a most deadly and destructive fire was opened on them by an unseen enemy, which struck down every man of the advance guard. Major Dade and Capt. Frnzer now went forward to ascertain the cause of the firing, when they too were shot down, and the command devolved on Gardner, who had his right thigh sh t? tered. He kept his post until he was shot dead. The rear guard under command of Lieut. Henderson, now got ready the six pounder, and sent such thundering discharges of grape into the grass (for as yet they had not seen a foe) that the enemy were driven back nearly half a mile, and Lieut Dassinger, with a party of men, commenced the cutting of logs for the purpose of making _ > Li. r rpu:? ??:n a ui uiisLwuiiv lui uuicuuu. J. uin is nuu oiauu* ing. They were not, however, allowed mueh tiuie, and had only raised their work about two feet when the Indians, under Micanopy, came.down nn them from another point. _ and in less than twenty minutes, the work of death was so rapid that every officer but Bassinger was either killed or mortally woun- : ded, and only seven men leftunhurt. Lieut. Keys was shot in the head, and exclaimed, < Oh, God ! I am a dead man 1" seated himself at the foot of a. tree, where he remained until his head was split open by the tomahawk of a savage. Dr. Catlin, who had both legs shattered, was dragged iato a little work, and, seizing a double-barreled gun, said, "I have two barrels for them yetbut, poor fallow he soon eeased to use them, as a ball from a rifle entered his heart, killing him on the spot. Lieut. Bassinger now emerged from the works to pick up what guns he II __J __ I 1 ! COUJU, UUU it!S lie WHS BUUUl it) 1CIUIIJ uc n-io shot dowu, with hist two legs and ODe arm shattered. He, however, reached the enclosure with a few guus, and. for near half an hour, he aud three privates lrept back tbo savages. At last, all were entirely-disj abled but himself and private Clark. The I fire having slackened, the Indians now apI proachcd, and contented themselves with rifling the bodies of the of the slain, Bassinger and Clark all the time feigning to be dead. Having taken everything of value they could find, the Indians now retired, when Clark and Bassinger consulted on what was to be done ; but alas ! scarcely an hour had elapsed when negroes, half breeds and a few Indians, returned and commenced mutilating the bodies of the slain in a mostbarba ous manner. Lieut- Bassinger, on seeing this, raised himself up, and, appealing to a huge negro, who spoke English, begged them to spare his life for the sake of his wife; but an hundred axes were immediately raised on him, and Clark says they litterally cut him to pieces. Clark remained quiet till they had left, and although with eleven wounds, waited till night, when he set out on his return to Fort King. This place he finally reached, ind is now in New York, pensioned by the government on the pitiful sum of eight dollars per month. Such, gentlemen, was the massacre,of Dade and his ill-starred command, I-have examined the whole ground for one mile round, and cannot imagine a mote suitable spot for an ambuscade than the one the In- A. dians selected. About two months after the massacre, a detachment, under the command of Major Bonneville, visited the spot and buried the dead, the officers in one grave, the soldiers in another. The officers grave is now entirely under water; nothing of it can be seen but a board at the head of the , T.- . grave. "Functional Beauty" in Houses.? Houses, says Bacon, are built to live in, not to look at. Were this truth uppermost in the thoughts of every man who builds a house for himself or others, our domestic architecture would be greatly modified. It would certaiuly be more comfortable. Can we doubt that it would bfe better looking The house whioh is built 'to look at' is vqtt apt to be inconvenient, and if so, it is just as surely ugly; for, apart from actual and manifest utility in a dwelling hrouse, there can be no such thing as beauty. Shelter from sun and .'term, protection against the extremes of heat and cold, the doc admission of light and air, suitable rooms to live and sleep in, receptacles for clothing, utensiL food and fuel, conveniences for cookiug, washing, and all other labors of the household, together with au'ample and conveuicnt supply of good water, "may be dowiHis necessary requisites of every human dwelling. * * * Let there be at le?9t one room on the first floor, provided with the meai.3 of warmth and ventilation, which may dc used as a sleeping room tor age ana gicicness. The stairs should generally bo ceptral iD position ; they should always be safe for k children, and broad and low for the sake of the infirm and the old. The size, form, and arrangement of halls and passages, have much to do with both looks and comfort; and the same may be said of the position and character of the chimneys and windows. In placing the rooms which arc most to be ujed regard should be had to their exposure toRtrnarid air at di fie rent seasons. * The most "ahsurd mistakes are often made for the want of this forethought. We have seeu largo expensive houses, whose soug winter parlors looked out upon the north star, and whose large summer drawing rooms in the southern corner basked all day in the sun. Porches, verandas, window canopies, etc., if judiciously dispo ed for use, and not for show, Will add much for comfort. * ? ?> ? V-1 Matrtmony in Germany.?A correspondent who is travelling in Germany says : ' The Germans have a queer way of making brides, and of doing some other thingsin the courting and marrying way. When a maiden is betrothed, she is called, "bride," and so continues till she becomes "wife." All the while she is engaged she is a "bride."? The lovers, immediately upon their betrothal, awaUikima vklfttn /vnl rl ? !?%<? TnVtloll AltA WAVtl CAUiiarj^c piuiu ^uiu uu^ muvn aic ttviu ever afterwards till death parte them. The woman wears hers on the third finger of the left hand, and when she. becomes "wife," her ring is transferred to the third finger oof her right hand, and there it remains. The husband always wears his ring just as the wife wears hers, so that if you look-upon. a man's hand you can tell whether he$i mortgaged or not. There is no cheating for him ever after?no coquetting with the girls, as if he was an unmarried man; for, lo! the whole story is told by his finger ring?- A married Viennese lady was much amused when I told her.that in our country we onlv "ring" the women, but let the husbands run at large unmarked. "Ob, that is dreadful!'5 said she, more than half shocked. "Only think, there is Frederick, my husband?only twenty-four?so young, so handsome?that all the girls would be taking him for an unmarried man, and be making love to hint ! Oh, it is dreadful I I would not live in your country with Frederick for the world I" Horrible Incident.?We have already rmViliahpd ft hriflf narapu'ttnhannoancinff that f" i a- r u six childre. 'rere consumed ia the flames of the residence of Mr. Dawson, in WestUnioir, Va., on the 25rh ult. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dawson narrowly esoaped with their lives, having been awakened barely in time to avoid the fate of their little ones. Mr. Dawson seized one of the smaller children and made his way to the door, when, becoming oonfased, he rushed back into the house, was stifled by the smoke, lost the ohild and was himself so badly burned that his life is despaired of?so that Mr*. D. is perhaps the 0'iiy survivor of this truly terrible calamity. An exchange .paper relates the annexed horrible feature of this tragical occurrence: "We are told, that, during the progress of the flames the upper floor gave way, and a bed, on which weie two or three pertons, fell through to the lower floor, in plain view of the bystanders. Appalling spectacle 1? The wretched children were still alive, but were engirt by the fiery element and writhing - * ' nr_ ? id the agonies ot deatn : w e cau euaiboy conceive a more awful or horrid sight?one m^re tryiugto the miuds and nerves of spst)-* tutors?tfaut to behold fellow-creatures literally roasting alive, without power to stay the Carnes or .0 rescue the helpless victims from their relentless grasp. That scene must be burnt into the memories of all who witnessed it." "Breathing.?_VheaIthy person takes in about a pint of air at a breath. He breathes u thousand times in an hour, and requires about fifty-seven hogsheads of air in twentyfour hoars. . ?.. . w