Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, April 23, 1857, Image 1
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rao. l. hiueh &co.,proprietors.j Aii Independent Journal: For the Promotion of the Political, Social, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the South. {lewisk.oeist,puwiiher.
VOL 3 YOBKYILLE, S. P., THUESDAY, APRIL 23, 1857. 3STO. 16. -
Original JMrj).
Written for the Yorkvillc Enquirer.
LINKS
OS THE DEATH OF A DEAR COLLEGE-MATE.
Onr silent village gently sank to rest,
The light, in every window paled but one,
And in that room a young and noble breast
Was yielding?death the victory had won.
All nature seemed to mourn the torturing fate?
The stars appeared, as weepers o'er his bed,
And night's dark drapery swelled, as if inflate
With deep-hued sorrows for the early dead.
No long-loved hand his sinking body stayed;
No dear familiar voice breathed on his ear;
No Father by him watched, nor Mother prayed,
Nor aught, that earliest youth reveres, was there.
Alas! that those we love and cherish here?
Friend, Father, Mother, all?should be away,
When Death on harpy pennons hovers near,
To prey upon earth's animated clay!
So felt my youthful comrade when in thought,
Like the lorn Gladiator Byron sung?
His eyes with one large tear-drop over fraught,
And his young beauteous spirit sorrow-wrung?
He flew away to childhood's home serene
Far by the rolling of Ogeeche's tide,?
Inhaled the dew that pearled life's morning scene,
Kissed those who now must weep for him, and?
died.
So I have seen some frail transplanted flower
Reject the wooing of the sun's glad beam,
Pine for its birthplace one grief-stricken hour,
Then pass away like Hope's Elysean dream.
We cage the nigi'tbird and it pines and dies,
It's sone is mu'" vithin its prison walls;
We love dear oouls and they like mist arise,
And make their dwelling in mreal halls.
Roll on thy tide, Ogeeche! evermore;?
Wake with thy hymn thy peopled solitudes;?
But change thy notes to grief?oh! nevermore
Will he in youth and beauty roam thy woods!
WILLIE.
Ebskine College, April 1857.
Jit Original
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE DRUNKARD'S HOME.
BY LIVY.
Not many years ago, after an agreeable
sojourn amid the pleasant scenes and associations
of home, we started early one morning
to return to College duties. We had not
proceeded far on our journey, until we felt
a chilling sensation creeping over us, the
symptoms and nature of which we were but
too well acquainted with?we were taking a
chill. Our younger brother who accompanied
us, advised a return, as we were at best
in very feeble health and had rather a long
and rough days travel before us. However,
with that rashness which belongs to youth,
and more especially to the Student, we determined
to proceed en route until?if possible?we
arrived at our destination. No
doubt, too, we were buoyed up with an eager
desire to meet old College-mates ; to grasp
the haod of youthful friendship?and to recouut
the adventures of a somewhat leDgthy
vacation. We imagined?under the spur of
the bright scenes and anticipations ahead?
that we would be enabled to bluff off, or at
least to bear up under our chill; but at each
stage of our journey the ominous sensation
increased until the shaking became so violent
that it was with difficulty we maintained
our seat in the buggy. To proceed farther
became impossible, and accordingly our comrade
determined to call at the first house.
He soon drew up in front of a very dilapidated
and antique looking residence, which to
all appearance, had experienced the peltings
of many a pitiless storm, and had withstood
the surging billows of many a winter's chilling
blast. Without ceremony, we entered?
shivering and exhausted from a ten miles
ride and nearly two hours chill or ague.?
A group of three ladies were the only occupants
that met my gaze?the eldest of whom,
quite an aged lady handed me a large old
fashioned rocking chair, (which we suppose
from its very ancient appearance to have
been au heir-loom handed down from her
forefathers) saying very kindly, "sit down,
you seem to be almost fainting." We sunk
into the proffered chair, facing a large blazing
fire, in a spacious old chimney, and ere
long a reaction taking place, our fever began
to rise. It did rise?and that to an alarming
height. The brain throbbed and reeled
?reason tottered?in common parlance we
were out of our head ! The old lady kindly
led us to an adjoining room, where we
found a comfortable bed. We were sick,
sick, sick, and the room was so small and
close that we almost suffocated ; wo knew not
where we were, or what we were?everything
seemed in a perfect whirl and uproar.
Oh ! my brain was suffering the most intense
agony. Just at this moment a sound?i
shall never forget it?came from an adjacent
room and fell upon my ears. I started
?alarmed and bewildered ! What! thought
we?is this the tJiiiinlrriu<j$ of an awful destiny
! But hark ! louder and louder still?we
caught the sound more distinctly; such curses,
such awful oaths! Our inmost soul
shuddered and trembled?my heart sunk
within me. My God ! is this the muttering
curses of the damned?is this the howling
wail of the lost writhing iu endless agony? We
at length could catch the words, "water!
Oh! some water, water!" and then would
follow another volley of oaths and curses,
which would make even the hair on the head
stand erect. Soon we heard the soft, soothing
tones of a female voice cudeavoriug to
u C
quiet the miserable sufferer; then we caught
"one more dratu?please. Oh! I shall die
?only one more drop," and then another
volley of curses?"a deeper groan !"?For
nearly three hours our fever lasted, and the
scene in the adjoining room was enacted over
and over. We thought, amid our wild iniag
iniDgs of Pollok's lines?for we heard him? li
"curse o:
Almighty God and curse the Lamb and curse oi
The Earth?the Resurrection morn and seek
And ever vainly seek for utter Death."
Although it has been several years ago> C1
yet the scene is still vividly impressed on j
our memory never to be eradicated, our fee- p
ble pen can but poorly portray the concep- n
tion, which even now is before my mind's ^
eye, exciting in us some of the horrific feel- jr
ings which on that occasion agitated our q
bosom. When our fever abated and our p
senses were gradually restored, we were en- tj
abled to comprehend our situation and the sj
nature of what we had heard. The "demon a,
incarnate" who had so disturbed our over- ^
heated imagination was nothing more nor w
locc fVinn <1 Tinnr nld man in the last staeres of
IVCW v"w" fvv* v'~ ~ ^ o
protracted delirium tremens, we might add g
in the last stages of his earthly career. Those d
who have beheld such a spectacle have a s)
sufficient idea of its horror, even to a man
perfectly at himself; but when brought home a
to one like ourself whose brain was reeling q
beneath the torture of a maddening, burning
fever?whose sensibilities were morbidly and w
intensely alive to every impression, and whose g
imagination was conjuring up a whole pano- jv
rama of dreadful imagery?the spectacle ,w
must be tenfold more vivid and affecting.? S{
It was to us a perfect Hell on Earth; and y{
may it never be our fate to witness a similar a,
scene! When we were able to leave the bed t}
and return to the room occupied by the la- ?
dies, the same kind, gentle but grief-stricken t(
old lady, very politely extended the large g
armed rocking chair. She had evidently w
seen better days?for there were a grace and ^
gentleness of manners about her indicative ^
of good breeding. As soon as seated, tnc w
good old lady, as if she thought some ex- e,
planation necessary, began to unravel the jr"
mystery, which had raised our sympathies
and curiosity. With tears gushing from her pj
eyes, she briefly related his history and that e(
of their family?a synopsis of which is as
follows: said she, "the wretched sufferer in
the next room is my husband?he was once
an excellent and well doing man, and we tt
lived happy: He formerly owned a large p
tract of good land here where we now live ft
on the banks of Reedy river, and also that e(
fine mill-seat which is now in view. We had aj
everything in abundance?in short, we were hi
what people call "'very well to do" in the g(
world; we were raising a large family of ri
lovely and promising children and all was hi
prosperous and hopeful. "Rut" said she, tli
drawing a heavy sigh and the tears again ei
starting from her eyes, as if the idea almost te
overwhelmed her?"this happiness was not 0f
to last?the destroyer came?the insidious tu
serpent entered our little Paradise and all v<
icas lost! A grog-shop?those work-houses
of destruction, was erected a short distance to
from here; it was a rare thing, for liquor tb
was not so plentiful in those days as it is ?
now. My husband first began by lippling ~~
once a month, then once a week, and finally
it became a daily habit. I earnestly and affectionately
warned him against his danger _
and besought him to stay away. "Lead us
not into temptation." I appealed to him for
every consideration of interest, of duty and
of affection to stay away; but all would not
do. Confident in his strength, he still per- pi
sisted, neglecting his business for the bowl, of
until finally he was undone?he became a w
slave to an ungovernable appetite for strong
drink!" Here she paused, overcome by m
tW Jnfpnco pinot.snn which a woman's?a tr
mother's and a wife's heart alone can feel, 1c
when recalling their troubles and sorrows ? d:
At length, she resumed : "my happiness was h<
at an end?I have had no peace from that in
day until this. My husband continued of
driukiug until he has become the miserable pi
Uvitli/ sot you now sec him." Said she, tli
"you see the result; we are stripped of our u<
properly, of our reputation and of every as
comfort and pleasure, yea of almost our all.
We live here in this old house ready to fall 01
upon our heads, dependant upon the cold gl
charities of a miserly, heartless world?and cj
ray husband is a curse to himself and all a- k<
bout hiui." She paused?gentle reader shall in
we too draw the curtain and leave you to fill pi
out the picture in your imagination, or shall ly
we aid you by narrating what really present- w
cd itself to our observation, and the thoughts to
which then and there occupied our bosom ? tc
We did "sec the result"?it was very ap- sc
parent to the most superficial observer?so |
plain, that "he that runs may read." The m
house which had formerly becu quite a re- jn
spectablc residence, was very poorly aud .?]
scantily furnished within, and it was wcatli- ; w
er-beatcu and dilapidated without. The j l,(
fencing was either down or tottering to its n,
fall?the garden pailings were rotten and fall- j fi,
ing oft'?the stables and barn were, if possi-1 m
ble, in a still worse condition; the flower w
: parterre and shrubbery had long since been i Ji
[ neglected and gone to ruin, in sbort, every I 0i
i fliirw tho Drim/sitnt's lloillr ! All ai
! wns decay and dreariness, and gloom. No J w
I flowers sent their fragrance upon the morn- | sc
: ing air ; no rich perfumes were wooed by the ! |v
gentle zophers amorous of their embraces; ! (j
; no blooming shrubbery thrilled with delight j \\
| the heart of the passer-by, telling of the joy ai
! and comfort which reigned around the |
j family mansion. No! not one spot of verdure j
| cheered the dismal scene; not even? 11)
' A rose in the wilderness left on the stalk, j C(
To tell where the garden had been." j k
We reflected that, notwithstanding the | ai
striking physical desolation around us, there ! ^
were, if possible, a still greater social and j w
moral wreck?that if nature herself gave j
such sigual proof of neglect and decay, how j e'
must it be with the heart and with the soul; i ^
( i 1
that if the mansion was weather-beaten and i,JI
j gloomy, what must be the condition of its ja'
| pitiable inmates?that if time and want of j 1):
j attention and culture had obliterated every , 111
external manifestation ofvirdurc, peace and j
! prosperity, how much more dark, miserable, j tl
I ray less and hopeless, must be the internal j n<
aspirations of the soul and the heart? There j tl
was an old man stripped of everything cal- h
eulated to make age desirable; all the com- v;
forts and joys which flow from a well spent el
fe, tottering on the very brink of the tomb;
f whom it may justly be said in the language
f Scott's Marraion,
"Nor does old age a wrinkle trace,
More deeply than despair,'
ursing his maker, that God before whose
readful tribunal he must very shortly apear?without
any possibility of reform?for
;ason had long since fled, and appetite had
lounted the throne and was now past hurlig
its wretched victim into a Drunkard's
rrave! Should he lookback and contemlate
the past he can only find an aggravaon
of his misery, by reflecting upon the
;riking contrast between what he is now,
ad what he might have been ; and should
e cast his longing eyes into the future, all
ill be wrapt in impenetrable gloom?the
WlnnlrnoCQ nf must shut out his
aze and sicken his heart, for the irrevocable
ecree hath gone forth?"No Drunkard
lall enter the kingdom of Heaven !"
Here was an old lady, whose accoraplishlent
of intellect and graces of manners,
ualificd her for the highest circles of socier,
poverty-stricken and almost frindless;
hom grief and trouble had rendered hagard?whose
earthly prospects were not ilimined
by one single Star of Hope, and
hose only consolation could be found in
retching out the tendrils of her heart beand
the bourne of Time into great eternity,
ad entwining them about the foot of that
irone of Mercy, whose Author has said?
I will be a friend to the friendless." Here
>o, was a daughter whose cup of sorrow was
lied to overflowing,^ (for her husband,
hom poverty, and a family disgraced by
runkenness, had induced, her to marry,
ad recently been conveyed to prison to aait
a felon's doom) sitting with downcast ,
fesand the furrows of grief fast entrench- ,
ig themselves in her beautiful countenance.
ut we will gently draw the curtain over this
icture?for the sorrow of that early widow3
Heart is too sacred to be here revealed?
"0! hush the song and let her tears I
Flow for the dream of her early years!"
One more instance and our tale is told?
len we will have done with the Drunkard's ,
hme. Here was a grand-daughter, as grace- (
il as a sylvan nymph?her form was round3
for all the bewitching arts of love, and
though not richly attired, yet Cleopatra in j
ir golden barge; gently reclining on her
>rgeous sdfa, gliding swan-like down the ,
ver Cydnus to the soft tones of flute and ,
lrp, was not more lovely! Yes, here was
lis beautiful girl in the first bloom of maid>
loveliness?with a countenance rendered
n-fold more interesting by the slight shades ,
grief which played upon her exquisite fea- j
res, sitting beneath the room of a cruel ad:rsity,
and wasting "her sweetness on the ]
;sert air." Is this history not applicable j
hundreds of other families even within (
ie borders of South Carolina?
Cjmicf Jleabinjj. j
From tlie Spartanburg Express.
A VISIT TO THE COWPENS.
A few days since, in company with a coue
of friends, we paid a visit to the battle field (
' Cowpcus, and gathered up some tilings 1
Inch may prove interesting to our readers. (
The road, as it nears the battle field, re- '
inJs the traveller forcibly of the low eoun- '
1
y. The country through which it runs is
vol, the soil sandy, and the pines arc abun- 1
int and of unusual size. We remember 1
taring some of the members of the Wash- J
gfon Light Infantry last spring speaking '
' this, and saying what an agreeable surise
it was, coming as it did at the end of '
icir long inarch. They felt themselves con- 1
jcted with the place by one more pleasing
sociation.
Arrived at the ground, we of course paid (
lr first respects to the monument. The
earn of the surmounting eagle catches the 1
;e from afar through the trees, and awa- |
3ns and prepares the heart of the approach- .
g pilgrim. Finished, chaste and appro- '
iatc the monument rises firmly and proud- '
among the waving pines, aou the man 1
ho can stand by its side with a heart unuehed
by the many associations that c-lus- 1
r around it, must surely be destitute ol all |'
risibility.
A tree which stood very near the monu- .
CDthns recently fallen down, and in so do- i
g has slightly displaced one of the loose
abs laid around the base. Most of the trees ,
hich v.ere near enough to fall on it have
en cut down, and we wonder that they are
>t all removed, for, although they seem
in and green now, they ate so tall as to
ake them liable to be blown over by the .
in 1 of the frequent storms which we have
uring the summer. We hope that some j
ie in the neighborhood will see that they !?
c speedily removed. We noticed too,
ith pain and displeasure, several names
irilblcd upon the while marble. This sil
and disgusting practice is as common '
iroughcut our country as it is disagreeable.
rheuevcr our attention is called to it we j
;e reminded at once of Burns,'
' j
ifcftl* wn.l i*AinA n/iw't' tlm friftin rrtO lie
?/!., V . ...v fc.v ..U
To sco oursclvc-s as ithcrs sec :'s."
! those who have thus thoughtlessly defajd
with their pencils the fair tablet could
now how ridiculous their uamcs appear to
1 unprejudiced eye in jnxtn-position with
lose of Morgan, Washington, Howard, &c.,
care quite sure they would be in no little
urry to efface the record of their ill-advised
forts after immortality. Wc are glad to
now, however, that the monument will soon
2 enclosed with an iron railing, which will
Id to its appearance, and, in some degree,
roteet it from such insults as we have just
otieed.
At some distance from the monument
icre is a plaee which the tradition of the
eighborhood assigns as the burial place of
ic slain, and it hasbcen said that this should \
ave been the honored spot. The two adautages
possessed by the present position of 1
levation above the surrounding country and i
4*
proximity to the road, justify, we think the
choice of the Light Infantry. The spot referred
to, however, should be examined?
interesting relics may be discovered, and it
will certainly add to the interest of the battle
ground to have this tradition verified.
After satisfying our eyes with the monument,
we traversed the battlef'eld, endeavoring,
with the aid of the books we had
brought with us, to gather material for a correct
conception of the memorable fight. But
returning from our tramp, with little satisfaction,
we were fortunate enough to meet
with Mr. Robert Scruggs, who lives about
half avmilc distant from the field, and acknowledge
ourselves very much indebted to
him, for the kindness and urbanity with
which he imparted to us his large and interesting
store of traditionary information.?
He has lived from early childhood in the
vicinity, and has shown a commendable and
well directed zeal in collecting the traditions
of the neighborhood concerning the battle.
He has visited the field with many of those
who were engaged in the hgnt, ana listened
to their own accounts. He says (and we
have no doubt of his correctness, siuce the
accounts given by all who have written on
the subject seem to justify the belief,) that
within his own recollection the ground upon
which the battle was fought has undergone
very great changes; that the branch which
now takes its rise some two hundred yards
to the left of the road as you approach the
field, once ran across, or at least took its rise
immediately from the left side of the road;
that the ravine was much deeper than at
present, and wIicd a boy he remembers to
have gathered reeds at the head of the
branch. This must have been the branch
and ravine over which the battle was fought,
and the same mentioned in the historical accounts.
The traditional account given us by Mr.
Scruggs, of the approach and position of the
opposing forces, is however, somewhat opposed
to the historical account of Simms and
others; but fortified as it is, by various circumstances
and traces of the fight, we think
it none the less reliable, nud ti our minds,
even more probable. The account which he
has received from many old soldiers who
were in the engagement, is somewhat as follows
:
Morgan being pressed hard by Tarleton
who had a much larger number of meH, after
crossing at Grindell Shoals, some twenty
miles below Cowpens, was making bis way
is fast as possible, along the ridge between
Pacolett and Ilroad rivers towards Guilford
Oourt House, where lie expected fobc rc-cn
forced. When within a few miles of Island
Ford upon IJroad river, he found that Tarleton
would certainly overtake him, before
lie could reach Guilford, he determined to
;ive him battle, and for that purpose marchid
back to Cowpcns as the most favorable
>pot for such a fight. Ifc encamped not far
from where the monument now stands, aud
made preparations to receive the enemy.?
farlcton's force which, after traveling very
late in pursuit of Morgan, stopped sometime
iftcr midnight, and encamped to refresh
themselves some two, or two miles and a half
aelow, and in a direction a little south of
last from Morgan's Camp, struck their tents
lbout daylight next morning, and came upjn
Morgau about sun up, when the fight
jommcnccd. According to Simms accounts,
lark-ton had marched some five milts that
morning, but Mr. Scruggs says that lie remembers,
when a boy, to have seen the spot,
ind that it was pointed ou* to him by those
who lived at the time, as the place where
Turlcton encamped the night before he
"ought Morgan, and that many things, sueli
is broken ware of various kinds, &c., renaiucd
to mark it, as, without doubt, the
irery spot where he pitched his tents.
If we understand, too, the historical ac
:ounts of the direction from which Tarlcton
ipproachcd the American forces, they are
lot sustained either hy the traditionary ncjount,
or the marks and relieks of the fight.
U'e have already said the account given by
Mr. Scruggs fixes Turk-ton's camp some two
,-r two ar.d a half miles in a direction somewhat
south of east from where the monuneut
now stands, and from this direction he
must have made the attack. The marks up
m the trees ?0 to prove this statement, as
hey shew that the balls must have been tired
ivith the parties thus opposed to each other.
.Those balls found in the east side of the trees
lave almost all of them ranged higher than
ihosc from the west, corroborating what is
tated in history, and what we have always
tiiderstood about the battle, that the "Britth
overshot our men." Numerous reliss,
iuchas guns, pistols, stirups, spurs cat ridges,
jatridge-boxes, &c., which have at various
limes been picked up, together with the
places which tradition points out as the bu*ial
places of the slain, all go to show this
tatcment correct.
We have not time uor space to say all we
would like to at present, and must hasten to
put an end to our account. Mr. Scruggs has
juiteau inexhaustible store of anecdotes and
incidents of the battle, and we hope before
long to give our readers more of them. He
says, when he was a boy they used to have
chopping frolics in order to get the lead from
the trees on the battle field; that if they
^ould get powder in those days, when the
demand for it made it so dear, that they
20uld always supply themselves with lead
from the trees, upon which the British wast2d
so much in that memorable battle.
The Influence of Woman.?It is better
to pass an evening once or twice a week
in a lady's drawing room, even though the
conversation is rather slow, and you know
the girl's songs by heart, than in a club, tavern,
or in the pit of a theatre. All amusement
of youth to which women are not admilted,
rely on it, are deleterious in their
nature. All men who avoid female society
have dull perceptions, and are stupid, or have
gross tastes, and revolt against what is pure.
Tour club swaggerers, who are sucking the
butts of billiard cues all night, call female
society insipid. Poetry is insipid to a yoke;
$
beauty has ho charms for a blind man ; music
docs not please a poor beast who does not
know one tune from another; and as a true
epicure is hardly ever tired of water anchy
and brown bread and butter. I protest I
can sit all night, talking to a well regulated
kindly woman, about her girl coming out, or
her boy at Eaton, and like the evening's entertainment.
One of the great benefits many
men derive from a woman's society is, that
he is bound to be respectful to them. The
habit is of great good to your moral man,
depend upon it. Our education makes us
the most eminently selfish men in the wdrld.
We fight for ourselves, we yawn for ourselves,
we light our pipes and say we won't
go out; we prefer ourselves aud our case,
and the greatest good that comes to a man
from a woman's society is, that he has to think
of somebody beside himself, to whom he is
bound to be constantly attentive ana respectful.?
Thackeray's Lectures.
Correspondence of the Charleston Courier.
LIFE IN WASHINGTON.
Washington, April, 1857.
We had heard so much of the superb music
to be heard at the Catholic Cathedral in
Canal-st., New-York city, that we joined our
friends in a visit to that stately edifice to see
the celebration of High Mass. It was a
bright, calm, Sabbath morning, and the
church bells of various tones, but all in harmony,
were calling out and resounding to
one another. The ordinary bustle of the
great metropolis and the hum of busy life
were measurably stilled. When we entered
the building it was yet but imperfectly lighted,
and a picturesque effect was given to the
crowd hastening to the great altar as they
passed successively in wan light and deep
shadow.
After walking round the church slowly
and with many pauses, we placed ourselves
beside a massive pillar near the principal entrance.
There was a sudden silence and an
increase of light. The bells which had been
outchiniing each other as it were throughout
the whole extent of the city, all at once
made a pause; and the movements of the
crowds entering became more plainly audible
Lights too began to peep out from various
dusky corners, bringing gradually into
view every part of the vast structure?every
part except the choii^; there a solitary taper
twinkled like a star on high, serving to make
the place seem darker from the effect of
contrast.
At a signal sung out by a silvery bell within
the church, the whole congregation become
at once motionless, and a procession issued
forth from a open door?boys robed iD
white, with crosses, censers, and lighted tapers
in their hands, leading the way; some
half dozen priests followed, some in white
surplices, and some in the rich and pictufesque
attire appropriate in their several stations.
As they appeared, the mighty organ awakened
its living power, and tones of richness
and sublimity, such as might almost announce
the uprising of a new heaven and a
new earth, tilled the building, and imparted
a tremulousncss to all its stately columns, as
if a giant hand had shaken them. Tt was
like a whirldwind of sound, roling wave after
wave, in something diviner, higher, than
mere mckdy; how it swelled out into soft
thunders, that vibrated through the long
aisles up to the vaulted roof; then it died
away to a whisper, faintas thesigh of a child,
only to rise again more glorious than before.
Oh ! the sublimity of that ocean of song! It
swelled and sank all individual discords, until
it seemed a fitting type of that lufiuitc
company which, gathered from all the ends
of the earth, shall one day be beard "praisiug
God with a loud voice." This storm of
harmony was suddenly lulled, aud while two
figures in white robes, holding in their hands
tall wands with lifted tapers on their tops,
ascended to the altar steps, a soft, sweet
symphony stole out into the air, and seemed
us a prelude to some delicious melody.
Well was the promise kept. There may
be voices of more transcendent merit?voices
richer and more flexible; but one who relishes
sweet sounds is not always over curious
in comparison?and the voice of unearthly
sweetness that flowed not into our car only,
but into our soul, was such as ccmed to fill
up the measure of which man, through his
sense of hearing, is susceptible. It. was an
air that breathed of innocence and affection,
i ?x
ana II, M limes, uoies were siguuu uuv iTiiu
a tenderness which made the sweetness plaintive,
it was not, therefore, the less holy,?it
seemed a well remembered strain of primeval
Eden, warbled by u voice, to whose
pathos penitence had'impartcd a charm which
Eden could not have understood. There
was a strange fascination in this voice filling
the quiet Church as with a soul whose breathing
was melody. For ourselves, it filled us
with a sense of enjoyment so intense, that
w#c would have felt constrained to follow after
it, even had we known it would lure us,
to some murderous precipice, like the dangerous
sirens in the haunted woods of Germany.
It left us when it ceased, motionless,
wrapt, as if with suspended faculties, listening
for its reeommencemeut. While this
chant was being sung, two priests, in rich
vestments, swinging burning censers high,
offered incense at the great altar, and pulpit
attendants, one at each side, were occupied
in completing its illumination. As they
touched in slow succession, each large taper,
a third wreath of smoke gushed forth, and
after coasting for a moment, about and above
the nascent flame, passed into the mass of
odoriferous cloud with which the altar was
encompassed. All in the back ground was
* ' 1 ? .
UUTK WOCD mesu curcmuuics wuiuicubtu ,
but soon this brilliant illumination revealed
the exquisite picture which formed the altar
piece. The subduing work of art thus presented
to view was a figure crowned with
sharp thorns extended on the cross. In the
countenance was exhibited agony unutterable
without disfiguring it by a line of harshness.
In the countenance so marked with
suffering, were a union of sublimity, tenderi
ness and affliction.
*
That exquisite air that lingers round our
; heart like childhood's dream of Heaven, and
haunts our memory yet, was "Sweet Home."
Beloved Ruben ! There is, as every body
knows, a trumpet shaped little intrument
with which the surgeon plays eavesdropper
to the machinery of life. There is something
sublime in the idea, thus to bring one's
ear close to the heart's red brink, and hear
the tinkling of the crimson tide. But what
would you and I give for some instrument,
some stethoscope of the soul, by which you
might hear the music of the heart, and the
foot fall of thought in tho hall of the spirit!
Such utterances we do sometimes hear, and
music is the melodious wing that wafts and
warms them on their mission round the
world; that will not let them droop; that
will not let them die. "Sweet Home!"?
Sung yesterday in a hovel, sung this morning
in a hall. Where pipes Cape Horn
throush frozen shrouds, the mariner hums
"Sweet Homewhen hearths are desolate
and cold; they sing "Sweet Home! in Heaven."
Strong voices hymn it on deck and
desert, in bivouac and battle, where beats a
heart beneath Columbia's flag. The exile
sings it while grates his pilgrimbarque upon
a foreign shore. Lay your band upon your
heart, dear reader, and tell me what is nearer
to it than this sweet strain ? Tell me,
can the jar of the world's battle drown those
tones, while that heartbeats on?
"It cannot die till the great congregation,
the missing ones all gathered home, strike
up the sleeping song anew, in temples not
built with hands.
The lips from whence issued this breath
of immortality are now cold in death. The
gifted writer lies in a distant grave-yard,
without a stone to mark his resting place.?
In Europe the author of such a strain would
have been maintained by crowned heads, and
had his grave bespoken in the sepulchre of
kings; but in republican America the invention
of a tarnscrcw would have been better
rewarded. And yet if his spirit was barrassed
and goaded with the vulgar cares of poverty,
it was glorified also with conscious genius.
He could retreat from the vexations of
(tin wftfld tn flm can/?hi?irr rtf 1li? onrinhpd
w ? ? J ? ?
imagination, and there, amid all the evils of
his outward condition, he could find in poetry
its own exceeding great reward. This
was a consolation which even his country's
coldness could not dim. The fires of adversity
only burned among the dross; and in
the midst of all walked, unseen, the whitewinged
angel. * M. J. W.
"LET ME DIE QUIETLY."
"Be still?make no noise?let me die qnietly."
Vice President Kiny.
'Be still! The hour of the soul's departure
is at hand; Earth is fading from its vision
; Time is gliding from its presence!?
Hopes that cluster around young life, that
swell in the bosom of manhood, have fallen
from around it like the forest leaves, when
the frosts of autumn have chilled them unto
death. Ambition, with its hollow promises,
and pride with its lofty look, have vanished
away The world with its deceitfulness,?
pleasure, with its gilded temptations, are
gone; and alone in utter destitution of all
that time promised, it must start ou its solemn
journey across the valley of the shadow
of death!
Make no noise!' Let the tumult of life
cease. Let no sound break the soul's coaimunion
with itself ere it starts on its returnless
flight. Trouble it not with the accents
of sorrow. Let the tears stand still on the
check of affliction ; aud let not the wailing
of grief break the solemn silence of the
death scene. Let it gather the accents that
come from withiu the dark shadows of eternity,
saying to it, Come home ! The whisperings
of angels arc in its ear; obstruct
not their silvery voices by grosser sounds.?
A f"-ir.riflF itmsin nnme9 floating to it bv the
** v.. ? - " - O W
air. 'Tis tlic sound of the heavenly harps
touched by viewless fingers?uiar not the
harmony by the discords of earth.
'Let me die quietly!' The commotion
of life, the struggles of ambition, the strife
and warring with human destiny are over.
Wealth accumulated must be scattered; honor
won must be resigned; and all the triumphs
that conae within the range of human achicvement8
must be thrown away. The
past, with its trials, its accumulating responsibilities,
its clinging memories, its vanished
hopes, is rendering up to the future its long
account?disturb not the quiet of that awful
reckoning. Speak not of fading memories,
of affections whose objects perish in
their loveliness, like the fiowers of spring,
or wither in a slow decay. Talk not of an
earthly home where loved ones linger, where
a seat will be vacant, a cherished voice hush- i
ed forever, or of the desolation that will seat
itself by the hearthstone. The soul is at
peace with God; let it pass calmly away.
Heaven is opening upon its vision. The
bright turrets, and the lofty domes of the
Eternal City, are emerging from the spectral
darkness, and the glory of the Most ,
High is drawing around them. The white t
throne is glistening in the distance, and the i
white robed angels are beckoning the weary |
spirit to its everlasting home. What is life <
that it should be clung to longer. What the |
joys of the world that they should be regret- (
ted ? What has earth to place hefore the
spirit of a man to tempt its stay, or turn it
from its eternal rest??Albany Register.
? T .? -r I
the31ysteries oftiie JjAW.?in j.uaine
at the term of the Supreme Court now being
held at Portland, a bill of indictment was
found by the grand jury against John S.
Sprague for the crime of polygamy. The
iudictment charged thatSprague, on the 11th
of September, 1854, being then and there i
an unmarried man, was lawfully married to i
Emily M. Clark, and that afterwards, on the
4th of December, 1855, his first wife being ;
still living, he married Rhoda Sylvia Stew- j
art, thereby committing the crime of polygamy.
Sprague's counsel stated to the Court
that the County Attorney was willing to admit,
and that the defence could prove, that I
the alleged first marriage was not a legal one,
Sprague at that time being a married man
and having a wife living; in fact, that he had
three wives; bat as the indictment was based
upon the legality of the second marriage,
which was not legal, it must fail. And further,
if the Government attempted to prove
that the first wife was living when Sprague
married the third one, he should object to
such evidence, as there was no such allegation
in the indictment. This last position
being sustained by the Court, the County
Attorney entered a nol. pros, and thus Spra
gue, who was charged with having two wives,
got clear by having three.
"DIED YESTEBDAY."
Every day is written this little sentence?
"Died yesterday," so and so. Every day a
dower is plucked from some sunny home, a
breach made in some happy circle; a jewel
stolen from some treasury of love. Each
day from the summer fields of life, some harvester
disappears?yea, every hour, some
sentinel falls from his post, and is thrown
from the rampats of time into the surging
waters of eternity. Even as we write, the
funeral of one who "died yesterday," winds
like a winter shadow along the street.
"Died yesterday." Who died? Perhaps
it was a gentle babe, sinlees as an angel,
pure as the zephyr's hymn, one whose laugh
was the gush of a summer rill loitering in
the bower of roses?whose little life was a
perpetual litany, a Maytime crowned with
tho passion of flowers that never fade. Or,
mayhap it was a youth, hopeful and generous?whose
path was hemmed by flowers, . .
with not a serpent lurking underneath?one
whose soul panted for communion with the
great and good, and reached forth with earnest
sttuggle for the gurdeon in the distance.
But that heart is still now, he died yesterday."
"Died yesterday." A young girl, pure
as the orange flowers that elasped her fore-.
head, was stricken down as she stood at the
altar; and from the dim aisles of the temple,
she was borne to the "garden of slumbers."
A tall, browned man, girt with the halo of
niA^AWT anrl ?f flirt rlnw'a rtlnfirt nn^AP Ilia
t iviu k J j UUU ull VMV uuj u viwv^ wnwvs- wh# ?
own vine and fig tree, fell to the dost even ;
as the anthem trembled upon his lips; and
he, too, was laid "where the rude forefathers
of the hamlet sleep." An anged patriarch,
bowed with age and cares, even as he looked
oat upon the distant hills for the coming of v
angel host, sank into a dreamless slumber;
and on his door-post was written, "Died yesday."
"Died yesterday." Daily men, women
and children are passing away; and hourly,
in some graveyards the soil is flung upon
the dead. As often in the morn, we find
some flower that blushed sweetly, in the sunset,
has withered up forever, so daily, wlien
we rise from tho bivouac to stand against
our posts, we miss some brother soldier,
whose cherry cry in the sieges and struggles
of the past has been as fire from Heaven upon
our hearts.
Each day some pearl drops from the jewel
thread of friendship?some lyre to which
we have been want to listen, has been hushed
forever. But wise is he who mouns not
the pearl and music lost, for life with him
shall pass away gently as an eastern shadow
from the hill, and death be a triumph and
gain. *
#
How to Make a Fortune.?Take earn- .
estly bold of life, as capacitated for, and
destined to, a high and noble purpose. Study
closely the mind's bent for labor or a profession.
Adopt it early, and pursue it steadily,
never looking back to the turning furrow,
but forward, to the new ground that ever remains
to be broken. Means and ways arc
abundant to every man's success, if will and
* ? t r- xl a?
actions are ngnuy aaapicu to incni. uur
rich men and our great men have carved
their paths to fortune, and by this internal
principle?a principle that caunot fail to reward
its votary, if it be resolutely pursued.
To sigh or repine over the lack of inheritance,
is unmanly. Every man should strive
to be a creator instead of au inheritor. He
should bequeath instead of borrow. The
human race, in this respect, want dignity and *
discipline. They prefer to wield the sword
of valorous forefathers to forging their own
weapons. Ibis is a mean and ignoble-spirit.
Let every man be conscious of the power in
bim and the Providence over him, and fight
his own battles with his own good lance.?
Let bim feel that it is better to earn a crust
than to inherit coffers of gold. This spirit
of self-nobility once learned, and every man
will discover within himself, under God, the
elements and capacities of wealth. He will
be rich, inestimably rich in self resources,
and can lift his face proudly to meet the noblest
among men.
I
Anecdote of Schwartz.?Sanerant relates
the following anecdote of Christopher
Schwartz, a famous German painter, which, #
if true, redounds more to his ingenuity than
credit. Having been engaged to paint the
ceiling of the Town Hall at Munich, by the
day, his love of dissipation induced him to
neglect his work, so that the magistrates and
overseers of the work were frequently obliged
to hunt him out at the tavern. As he
could no longer drink in quiet, he stuffed an
image of himself, left the legs hanging down
between the staciner where he was accustom
ed to work, and sent one of his boon companions
to move the image two or three times
a day, and to take it away at noon and night.
By means of this deception he drank without
the least disturbance a whole fortnight
together, the inn-keeper being privy to the
plot. The officers came round twicq a day
to look after him, and seeing the well known
stockings which he was accustomed to wear,
suspected nothing wrong, and went their way
greatly extoling their own convert, ..a? the
most industrious and conscientious pointer
in the world.
Those who touch vermillion become
red, and those who toach ink become black.
So people take their characters from their
companions.