Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, January 28, 1858, Image 1

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jno. i. miuee & co., proprietors.i An Independent Journal: For the Promotion of the Political, Social, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the South. J lewis h. ghist, publisher. VOL.4. YOEKYILLE, S. C., THTJESDAY. JANXJAEY 38, 1858. __ NO._4. Cljoicc JJoftrg. HOME. Oh ! what scenes of bliss aud pleasure Does that heavenly word contain; Always bringing thoughts of loved ones, Which their memories sustain. When oppressed with care and sadness, As among the world you roam, 0 with what delight and gladness Comes the cheering thought of home, There fond hearts await your coming. And your name is gently spoke; There your absence is lamented, And affection's tear awoke. When inconstant friends desert you In adversity's stern hour, And the clouds of disappointment O'er your darkened pathway lower. Thon a licht breaks through the darkness, As the thought of home dawns light; And with feelings sure nnd hopeful Can you grasp the beacon bright. 0, with what delightful feelings Can you turn amid your woes. Knowing their true hearts are beating, Though your path be thick with foes. Let no feeling e'er come o'er you, Which would lead you to reject Your fond home and its loved inmates, Or to treat them with neglect. Think of your once helpless childhood, Of your parent's watchful care : How they turned your erring footsteps, From temptation's luring glare. How unfeeling is the person, And how void of all that's good ; Who can think without emotion Of the place his home once stood. Pisccllaneotts^eabiitg AN ESSAY ONBROOMSEDGET I fh,, Indian Land Aaricultural I Society : Mr. President, find Gentlemen of the Society: At a former meeting of this Society, you saw proper to assign to rae the task of writing an essay on the subject of Broomsedge. I am required, 1st, to give my views on the best mode of eradicating it. 2nd, to answer the question : "Is broomsedge a fertilizer?" The first proposition may be disposed of in a few words. As a perennial plant (and they are generally the most difficult to eradicate) it is as easily eradicated as any one of that class. For its successful eradication?the improvement of the land?to facilitate the cultivation?to promote the growth of the crop, which is immediately to succeed it, (which I presume to be the object of its eradication,) undoubtedly the best plan, is to plow it under early in the fall, whilst it is in a green state. It should be completely turned over with a good turning plow. In that condition it soon rots, aud becomes incorporated with the soil. If not completely nr turned over, and its roots ex ICVCIC^U) V/4 VM...V. V . ? J posed to the frost and sun, it will survive the j winter, and be very much in the way in the cultivation, and will retard the growth of the crop; or from the "open" condition of the soil, the crop will be late in "starting off"' in the Spring. To the question ; "Is broomsedge a fertilizer?" In a strict sense it cannot be considered as such. It will not of itself, render an exhausted soil fruitful. It will not restore to the soil all the .elements of plants of which it has been robbed ; but that it is exhausted nature's first attempt, or effort at restoration, and will eventually produce fertility of soil, I think there is no doubt. With many persons, I find that poverty and sterility of soil seem to be associated with the very idea of broomsedge; so inseperably connected in their minds, do they seem to be, that they believe it to be the cause and not the effect?as it often is?of such sterility, and would say eradicate it, | exterminate it; an idea which the first pro- i position suggests, but science comes to its | rescue?nature herself cries out, let it alone. | It will grow and flourish where no other plant will vegetate ; it will protect your carcass of a field from the scorching rays of the summer's sun; it will preserve it from further leaching, and washing by the rains.? Science teaches us that by its deep reaching roots, it draws and brings up salts aud minerals from the subsoil; by its stems aud leaves it imbibes elements from the atmosphere, which, when it is allowed to die aud rot where it has grown, will be converted into food for a higher order of plants, such as briars, weeds, the pine, &c. Thus irn-! provement progresses, and eventually restoration of soil will be established, and fertili-j ty produced ; not directly to be seen, but indirectly, by this, to many, very contempti- j ble plant, broomsedge. It would give my ! attempt more of a scientific cast, if I were to give you what is called the inorganic constituents?the mineral ingredients?the salts and minerals?which this plant is found to contain when submitted to chemical analysis. Not having met with one, I am unable to do so, and perhaps it would be uniuteres'ing, | particularly to our anti-book farming members, if tfjy such should be present. I feel willing to rest the truth of the affirmative of this question, on the following proposition, viz : All plants are more or less improvers, and cannot be exhausters of the soil if they are allowed to die aud rot where they have grown. No one it seems to me upon reflection?prejudice aside?will attempt to controvert or dispute the truth of this proposition. Even man, who feeds upon the richest and most extravagant productions of the eaith, would have removed nothing from the soil, if when he died, his body were left upon the surface of the earth, and there allowed to rot. Says Liebig, " the euoruious quantity of food which man consumes, duiing the sixty years of his life, and every constituent of it, that was derived from our fields, may be obtained and restored to them." I have said that I find that many persons entertain the belief, or opinion, that broomsedge exhausts laud. One man, a very good mmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmmm?m?m?mmmmmrnmmmm practical farmer too?at least that sort of a ouo, who upon good land, with good seasons, would make good crops?said to me that he I would rather have a crop of wheat to grow i on his land, as a crop of broomsedge. "Oh !" said I, "I think you must be mis- I taken." "No I ain't" said he. "Any how : they say so;" you ask any of our old farmers, j and they will tell you that broomstraw im- j poverishes land worse than a'most anything j else." Remember, this man was an anti-book farmer, one of your real practical fellows.? i Now I will make the assertion, and dare any j one to prove to the contrary?by experience, | science or anything else?that one crop of ^ ! wheat will exhaust land more than five?yes ; I might safely say, ten crops of broomsedge j ?allowing both crops too, to be removed i from the land after they are matured. Broomsedge produces so little seed?in weight?that it takes from the soil very little of those precious ingredients?the phosphates?of which wheat and all plants that produce seed suitable for the food of man i and beast, require so large an amount of; j and are so indispensable to the full develop- j ment of their kernel, aud which abound in ! ! all fertile soils. t Says Liebig, again : ?<A greater quantity I of the phosphates is removed in the seeds I and straw of one crop of wheat, than would I be removed in three or four crops of barley or oats. The weight of the ashes of a crop of the seed of wheat, is to that of oats, as i 34 :466; the phosphates contained in them as 26:10. Perhaps there are present, per{sons who are ready to exclaiur, "I don't believe a word of ic; why I have always heard [ it said that oats are great exhausters of land, { certainly much more so than wheat!" One reason I have heard assigned for this opinion, I is their rapid growth?their maturing in I much shorter time than wheat. If an inhabitant of thetorid zoue were shown a lump nf ifo and tnld it was waier he would be v* very apt to make the same reply?fiI don't believe it." I would like to know by what sortof logicor arithmetic it can be shown, that if one man eats a loaf of bread in one hour, he eats less than another man who eats a smaller loaf in half an hour. I allude to this opinion about oats being greater exhausters of the soil than wheat, to show that it is a fallacy?must be a fallacy?the general received opinion to the contrary, notwithstanding. Science points to the truth, or is destiued to do so in such matters, as unerringly as the needle does to the pole. Science has exposed and removed many such fallacies that have been handed down to us, founded only in ignorance and a blind credulity?a sort of superstitious belief in the simple "say so" of those who have gone before us. And although the only way to remove this sort of credulity and superstition, and to set us to thinking for ourselves, or to acquire the power to resist their effects, is to obtain a knowledge of true scientific principles, and this knowledge cannot be obtained without reading and study ; yet we have planters among us?intelligent men too?who ridicule the very idea of book farming as some are pleased to call it. Yes, even deprecate read ing anything on the subject of agriculture. Some are disposed to ridicule agricultural societies, and every thing, and every body connected with theui. One man?and I am not sure but he is a member of our Society? whom I asked to subscribe foran agricultural paper, replied to me, " Xo sir, I beg to be . C T 4/\ A a n/\ o nrl rnorJ if T e.\CUSUU j II 1 Wfic iu uu f>v, auu ivuu 11, M. would expect to have to buy corn next year, certain!" Here too, allow me to relate an anecdote bearing on this subject. An old gentleman, to whom I had read an article in an agricultural paper on the subject of hill-side ditching, observed, " that is just my notion about it ; the fellow that wrote that piece knows something about the business ; I would like to have that paper? I wonder where I can get it." I replied to I him that he could get twelveof them .or one j | dollar. Pshaw !" said he, " I wouldn't give a tig for all your agricultural papers ; (only [ would like to have that one;) those who write in them don't know any thing practically, about what they write; it is all theory with them." You perceive the old gentleman was an out mid ont anti-book farmer, and would not admit that he might meet with other articles, on other subjects, that would ; be of iuterest or piolit to him; or, perhaps, like our member, he was afraid it would J cause him to have to buy corn. J will ad-1 mit that the best overseer I ever had as a | practical planter, or farmer, didn't know a | letter in the book, and according to the logic of anti-book farmers, it was his ignorance of books altogether, which made him ! such Xo, the secret of his succes, was an J indomitable energy and perseverance, iu I ; conucctiou with pretty good observation and ' ! retentive memory?his ignorance had noth-J j iug to do with it; he would have been still 1 I a better manager if he had of had more i ! I ; sense?book sense?on the subject. The ! I .i j: 1 i I [liorc l lie ruuuillg UUU SCICUUf J UIC nui oe luvt j farmer; ergo, the less the reading and the greater the ignorance, the better the farmer; i i that is their logic. j Well it may be in agriculture, as in every j j thing else, " a little learning is a daugerous j ; thing," but is there any sense or reason in I i saying that a knowledge of the principles j I of any business or art, incapacitates a man j for successfully prosecuting that business, or i practicing that art successfully? Common sense would say no ; such sentiments are a 1 disgrace to the age in which we live. All j will admit that there are many thiugs yet to j be learned, and many improvements yet necessary to be made iu agriculture. To arrive at fixed principles, and definite conclusions in agriculture, by practice and experience alone, is too slow a process; besides it is uncertain, from the fact that so much depends upon contingencies: variety, difference, and condition of soil, mode of cultivation, the seasons, &c. For instance, iu planting and cultivating a crop with a view to ascertain the best mode, let success or failure be the result? ; i it is difficult to say how much is to be at- 1 tributcd to the mode of cultivation, and how j < much to the season and other contingencies. : I Those who plant by the moon have another dif- j t fieuHy to contend with; fhey know not how | I much to attribute to its influence. Ourjt practical and anti-book farmers are generally j t found in this category. ( I say the process is too slow. I would s ask those who depend upon practice and ex- i pcrience alone, in heaveu's name, how long , have we yet to practice ? We (the human < family) have been practicing agriculture, i ever since that stern mandate was sent i forth, " In the sweat of thy face shall thou i eat thy bread "?for I guess it was not long ( after that, until necessity compelled Adam t to go to work, tilling the earth. By under- t standing principles, and then more of action, t we place the control of their action at our 1 command. s Science has discovered principles and t their mode of action, and applied them to $ useful purposes?that too iu the twinkling 1 of an eye, as it were, which had escaped the j eye of practice and observation ever since the creation of the world perhaps. 1 I will readily graut many of our reading, i scientific and theoretical farmers, as they c are called, have been unsuccessful in the 1 business, and are proverbial for being bad \ or poor farmers. But their failure, I think, t may be accounted for upon the fact of their t being generally professional, or literary men, r. and such as either had not time to devote to t their business, or in whom there was a want 1 of energy and perseverance to put their r\ knowledge into practical and successful ope- j ration. c I will admit too that there is a great deal [ of chaff for the seed, to be found in our t agricultural books and papers; but we do t meet with articles in them now and then of t real worth,such for instance as the one alluded 1 to on hill side ditching, that pleased the old 1 gentleman so well. Here, in this section of f our district particularly, we have not mucn j of the virgin soil to resort to. When a I field is worn out, we cannot set to and clear ! out a new one, and then another and another; that time has passed with us. We who expect to remain in this, our beloved State, and in the 'Indian Land;' who expect here to s die, and to have our dust to commingle with 8 that of our ancestors, will be compelled to 0 adopt a different system of agriculture from c the one we have been pursuing, let that sys- ^ tem be learned as it may. r In conclusion, pleading its strict nature? e I hope you will excuse the privilege I have * taken, in touching on points that may be ' considered as not legitimately belonging to ' my subject, and I hope you will excuse the r desultory, and very imperfect maaner in 1 which I have done so. a r PARODY ON TIIE LAST ROSE OP 0 SUMMER. t 'Tis the last cake of supper, Left steaming alone, All its light brown companions c Are buttered and gone. No cake of its kindred g No cookie is nigh, To steam on the platter, c Or near its mate lie. y I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, To meet a cold fate, v Since thy mates are all eaten, J, Come lie on my plate! Thus kindly I'll butter Thy steaming sides o'er, t And think on thy sweetness e When thou art no more. ^ Thus all cakes must follow, o Three times every day, When breakfast is ready They vanish away; When hunger is mighty 1 And sickness has flown, V No cake can inhabit The fnhie alone. m>t S THE CONJUROR IN ALGERIA. p Every one has seeu, or heard speak of the u great Robert Iloudin. Resides being the a prince of conjurors, he is an able inatheraa- i( ticiau and mechanician, and his electric b clock, made for the Hotel de Villc of his b native town of Blois, obtained a medal at a the Paris exhibition. It is not generally u known that he was sent to Algeria by the d French Government on a mission connected ti with the black art?probably the first time si that a conjuror has been called upon to cxer- h cisc his profession in Government employ, a Some details of his exhibition have just h been published. Its object was to destroy } the influence exercised among the Arab Sl tribes by the Marabouts?an influence f( often mischievously applied. By a few C( clumsy tricks and impostures these Mara- c bouts pass themselves off as sorcerers; no i( one, it was justly thought, was better able h to eolipse their skill and discredit their Sj science than the man of the inexhaustible r( bottles. a One of the great pretensions of the Ma- tl rabouts was to invulnerability. At the momeet that a loaded musket was aimed at him ti and the trigger pulled, he pronounced a few ^ cabalistic words aud the weapon did not go off. Iloudin detected the trick, and showed j p that the tube-hole was plugged. The Arab J t< wi/.zard was furious, aud abused his French i g rival. "You may revenge yourself," quietly 1 js replied Iloudin ; take a pistol; load it ! e, yourself; here are bullets; put one in the j n barrel : but before doin<: so, mark it with I,, your knife.' The Arab did as he was told. 'You arc quite certain, now,' said Aoudin, f, 'that the pistol is loaded and will go off.? w Tell me, do you feel no remorse in killing h me thus, notwithstanding that I authorize ^ you ?'you arc my enemy,' coolly replied the fa Arab; 'I will kill you.' Without replying, Iloudin stuck an apple ou the point of a kuife, and calmly gave the word to fire. ol The pistol was discharged, the apple flew tt far away, and there appeared in its place, tl stuck on the point of the knife, the bullet sc the Marabout had marked. p< The spectators remained mute from tc stupefactiou; the Marabout bowed before la his superior. 'Allah is great 1' he said, 'I di am vanquished.' Instead of the bottle from ei which, in Europe, Robert Iloudin pours an b; endless stream of every description of wine m wd liquor, he called for an empty bowl, which he kept continually full of boiling ;offee, but few of the Arabs would taste it, for they made sure that it came direct from she devils own coffee pot. He then told them :hat it was in his power to deprive them of ill strength, and to restore it to them at will ind he produced a small box, so light that a jhild could lift it with his finger; but it suddenly became so heavy that the strongest uan present could not raise it, and the \rabs, who prize physical strength above jverything, looked with terror at the great nagician who, they doubted not, could anlihilate them by the mere exertion of his will. They expressed this belief; Houdin jonfirmed them in it, and promised that, on t day appointed, he would convert one of hem into smoke. The day came; the hrong was prodigious; a fanatical Marajout had agreed to give himself up to the lorcerer. They made him stand upon a able and covered him with a transparent ;auze; then Houdin and another person ifted the table by the two ends, and the ? i v i .r \raD disappeared in a cioua 01 smoise. The terror of the spectators was indescrioable; they rushed out of the place, and an a long distance before some of the bold!8t thought of returning to look after the Marabout. They found him near the place vhere lie had been evaporated, but he could ell them nothing, and was like a drunken nan, ignorant of what had happened to him. Thenceforward Houdin was venerated, and he Marabouts despised; the object of the French Government was completely attained. The fashion of 'testimonials' having, it ap>ears, infected even the Arabs, a number of ihiefs presented the French conjuror with a liece of Arab writing, wonderfully decora ed hyperbolical and elogistic, and to which hey were so attentive as to append a French ranslation. Besides this memerial of his Ugerine trip, Houdin has a rosary which le one day borrowed from an Arab to peroral a trick with, and which the owner, lersuadcd that Shitan in person was before lim, refused to receive back.?London Times Paris Correspondent. BAD SP1ILLIN0X Some years ago a teacher presented himelf as a candidate for the mastership of a chool, of which the salary was fifteen hunIred dollars. His qualifications were deem:d satisfactory in all respects except in speliu</. On account of this deficiency he was ejected. See, now, v^hat ignorance in this ilementary branch cost him. In ten years lis salary would have amounted to fifteen housand dollars, throwing out of the calcuation the increase which by good investment uight have accrued from interest. Besides, he salary of the same school has since been dvanccd to two thousand dollars. But he night have remained in the position twice ir three times ten years, as other teachers in he same place have done, and that large auount might, consequently, have been inroased in proportion. A gentleman of excellent reputation as a cholar was proposed to fill a professorship in me of our New England colleges, not many ears since j but in bis correspondence, so ouch bad spelling wan found, that his name pas dropped, and an honorable position was ost by him. The corporation of the college oncluded that, however, high his qualificaions as a professor might be in general litrature, the orthography of his corresponlence would not add much to the reputation f the institution. A prominent manufacturer, in a neighbortig town received a business letter from an ndividual who had contracted to supply him pith a large quantity of stock; but so badly pas it spelled, and so illegible the penman-' hip, that the receiver found it nearly imiossible to decipher the meaning. An immediate decision must be given in reply ; nd yet, so obscure was the expression that t was impossible to determine what should e the answer. Delay would be sure to ring loss; a wrong decision would lead to still more serious result Perplexed with ncertainty, throwing down the letter, he eclarcd that this should be the last business ransaction between him and the writer of uch an illiterate communication ; for, said e, 'I am liable to lose more in this trade lone, than I can make in a lifetime with im.' A gentleman who had been a bookkeeper nine years, offered himself as a candidate jr the othce of secretary to an insurance onipany. Although a man of estimable haracter, possessed of many excellent qualications, he failed of being elected because e was in the habit of leaving words mispclled on his book. The position would jquirc him to attend to a portion of the orrespundence of the office, and it was lought that incorrect spelling would not isvre the company a very excellent reputaon from their method of doing business, 'hatever amount might be transacted. Inability to spell correctly exposes one to ecuniary loss. It is, moreover, an obstacle > an advancement to honorable station.? uch instances as those recited above are satifactory proofs; but that this defect in one's ducation is productive of mortification and lischief, is .llustrated by the following aclal occurrence. A young teacher had received assistance oin a friend in obtaining a school, and rote a letter overflowing with gratitude to is benefactor, but closed it thus: 'Please rcept (accept?) my thanks for your kind ivors iu my behalf.'?Mass. Teacher. WT.r . ... T.n>. \T.r>t< Tin rici Tl,? I if rlAi lie x \jr. xuc tuuouo f the United States shows that we have vo millions and a half farmers, one hundred lousand merchants, sixty-four thousand mains, and nearly two hundred thousand carenters. We have fourteen thousand bakers i make our bread ; twenty-four thousand wyers to set us by the ears; forty thousand octors to -'kill or cure" and fifteen hundred iitors to keep this motley mass in order, y the power of public opinion controlled ; ad manufactured through the press. From Morris and Willis' Home Journal. JOHN AN3ERS0N, MY JO. This exquisite ballad, constructed by Robert Rums out of a different and somewhat i exceptionable lyric, has always left some-! thing to be wished for and regretted : it is | not complete. Rut who would venture to add to a song of Rums? As Rums left it, it runs thus:? John Anderson, my jo, John, When we were first acquent, Your locks were like the raven, Your honnie brow whs brent ; But now your brow is bald, John, Your locks are like the snaw ; But blessings on j'our frosty pow, John Anderson, my jo. John Anderson, my jo, John, We clnmb the hi!! thegither; And monv a canty day, John, We've had wi' ane anither: Nowwe maun totter down, John, But hand in hand we'll go, And sleep thegither at the foot, John Andersou, my jo. Fine as this is, it does not quite satisfy a contemplative mind : when one has gone so far> he looks and lougs for something more i ?something buyona thcjootof the hill.? Many a reader of Burns must have felt this; and it is quite probable that many have attempted to supply the deficiency ; but we know of only one swrcss in so hazardous an experiment. This is the added verse :? John Anderson, my jo, John, When we have slept thegitber The sleep that a' maun sleep, John, We'll wake wi' nne nnitber : And in that better warld, John, Nae sorrow shall we know; Nor fear we e'er shall part again, John Anderson, myjo. Simple, touching, true?nothing wanting, and nothing to spare precisely harmonizing with the origiual stanzas, and roving them by the fact of completing them.? This poetical achievement is attributed to Mr. Charles Gould, a gentleman of our town, whose life has been chiefly devoted to the successful combination of figures?but not figures of rhetoric. The verse was written some years ago, but it has not hitherto found its way into print; yet it well deserves to be incorporated with the original song in any future edition of Burns's Poems, and we hope some publisher will act on this suggestion. Small Talk.?We give the following as a specimen of the truly edifying conversation frequently heard in "almost any quantity" at our wateriog places and fashionable resorts generally. It was got up by the N. Y. Herald as particularly calculated for the meridian of Washington city, but will suit any and every latitude :? "Ah, Mrs. * * * * (running up and shaking hands) I am very glad to see you indeed." Well, how do you do ?' Very well, I thank you. It is very windy to-day.' 'Yes, very wiudy, I thought it would rain.' 'So did I. Very windy. But it has cleared off quite pleasant.' 'Yes, it has cleared off quite pleasant.' 'There are a good many people here today.' 'Yes, a good many.' 'We have a great deal of rain lately.' ?Yes, a great deal of rain.' 'Where are you staying at, my dear ?' 'At .' 'Thank you. I am glad to see you looking so well.' 'Thank you. I am very glad, Mrs. * * * * to see you indeed.' Thus they ruu on, the male exquisites frequently takiug a part and making Miss Nancys of themselves by helping out with a meaningless chat. We have, sometimes, heard a regular conversation of this description going on for half an hour, each talking incessantly all the while, and when the thing came to be "cyphered out" and reduced down to the standard of good hard sense not ' a word had been spoken. Tiie Elephant and the Nabob.?The ' favorite elephant of the grand vizier under Rajah Dowlah was the hero of a noble feat. This great nabob was about to make the diversion of a mighty hunt in the neighborhood of Lucknow, where the game is rather plentiful. The preparations being completed, and a train of nobility assembled, the procession of Nimrods began to move off for the field. After passing through a ravine, the gorgeous sportsmen entered the meadow, which was covered with sick people, who were lying exposed to get the benefit of the pure and fresh air, and they were so distributed as to obstruct the course of the beasts of burden. Rajah Dowlah was intent upon feeding his cruel eyes with the sight that the mangling of the bodies of the miserable creatures would produce, by compelling tbn v huge elephants to trample them underfoot. The grand vizier rode upon his own beast, and the nabob ordered the driver to goad : him on, and hi went at a quick pace, but J when he arrived at the spot of the indisposed people, though in a trot, the sagacious ani- ? mal stopped short before the first invalid.? The vizier cursed him ; the driver goaded ? him ; and the nabob cried, 'Stick him in the ear!' All, however, was in vain. More v humane than his superior, the elephant stood firm, and refused to violate his better feelings. ' * A 1 ? A1? ? - - ?*?? /-. j7i ItS-kSlV* 7. /l7?7/5PO fi.1 lenglll, Stcmiy air: JJI/U! uittuww anrf unable to move themselves out of the ?cay, he took up the first with his truok and 0 laid him gently down again out of his path. He did the same with the secoud and third, 1 aod so od, until he had made a clear pas?age, a along which the retinue could pass without a doing injury to anyone of them. The brute ^ and the man made an exchange of their proper sentiments, and humanity triumphed gloriously in the brute. j* A resolution has been adopted in the ? Senate calling on the President to furnish all a information derived from American officers on the Coast of Africa, or from the British h and French Governments, concerning the revival of the African Slave Trade. nc The Goosebone and the Weather.? The Fredricksburg Herald says : The breastbone of a goose is believed by many to be an unerring prognosticator of the kind of winter ahead, foreshadowing with its dark spots cold and bleak weather, whilst clear points indicate a mild temperature. Whatever of truth there may be in thisolden time method of philosophizing,?for it is no invention of this day, as we are informed that it has been the weather guage with some for the last twenty years?there is no denying the fact that for the last two or three winters the goose-bone, as interpreted by this class of philosophers, or enigmatical expounders, has fully and fairly illustrated the wintry seasons. The .elucidation of the goose-bone theory is in this wise : Take the brest-bone of any goose that has been served up for the table; and observe its coloring?commencing at the front ex amine it through ; the clear, light places upon it are taken as points of mild genial weather; its dark, veiny, or discolored spots, is an indication of hard, cold, piercing weather; and just as the one or the other preponderates, so will the sort of weather prove. Supposing the front of the bone to represent the first of December, the observer | may lay off the whole of it into monthly winter plats, and thus decide the character of each coming month. A goose-bone examined a few days ago indicates delightfully mild weather in Deqpmber and January. Early in February sharp, pinching weather for some ten days- After that a season of charming weather, to be followed by a late and cold spring. A Singular Case.?The following story comes to us from a correspondent and is apparently well authenticated : A young man named Ansel Prown, living in the village of Westerly was passing along the road into the village on the 20th, of October, about mid-day, and suddenly he experienced and indescribable sensation.? He lost first sight, then his speech, and finally his sense of hearing. He remained confounded in the middle of the road, knowing not which way to turn, and was found soon after bvoncof his acauaintances, ? m ' who tried to arouse him, but without effect. Various methods were practiced, such as firing pistols and making loud noises close to him, but he did not notice them. H? was taken home and fed as one would feed a child. Thus he continued up till Sunday, Nov. 15th. As the family were about to attend church, Brown's sight was restored to him in a manner as quick and mysterious as that by which he had lost it. He went to church and carried a small slate on which be wrote; as soon as the music commenced he was seen to start; when the minister concluded the services, Brown began to read the writing on the slate aloud, to the infinite surprise of all present. He returned to his home as well as he ever was. The story is confirmed by the people of the village. The man's name is Bourne. He has been dissipated, and while walking he fancied that he heard a voice bidding him go to church. He replied that rather than obey the command, he would be deaf and dumb; where upon his speech and sight and hearing failed him, and were restored in the manner related.?Providence Journal. Hon. TV. TV. Boyce.?It is with great pleasure that we notice frequent and honoraLvIa m mn/^A r\f nur K J n?V? l rr UiC LLICUtlUU mauu ui uui ui^uij vqvvviuvu and distinguished Representative, Hon. W. W. Boyce, by the press, other than that of his immediate constituency and State. His position in Congress is a high one, and already he ranks amongst our ablest and most reliable statesmen- Eminently conservative, in his views and principles he is clear and decided for the administration of the Government on the principles of truth, justice and the Constitution as our patriot fathers left it. He asks nothing more nor is he willing that we should have less. Mr. Boyce is not, and never was, an ultraist.? His first election to Congress was, immediately after the secession break down in '51, and he was then supported by co-operationists, &c., without regard to party. He has exceeded our most sanguine expectations, ind is to-day a truer and warmer States rights secssionist, than many renegade firewaters of that eventful period, who stood, in 1850?'51, m the interesting attitude, ready for battle, 'with lance couched and not i feather quivering in the plume.' It would be difficult to suit the people of )ur Congressional District better, in a Rep entative, and we know of no one at present vho is likely to make the effort, but prelume that he will be re-elected next fall vithout opposition.?Camden Journal. Portentous Extravagance of Wohen.?Such is the rage for red flannel peticoats abroad, that Dr. Charles Mackey has elt called upon to rebuke it in a little song, sntitled the 'Red Petticoat and the White.' t is needless to say that the poetical Doctor J ixpresses a decided preference for the white. [*he handkerchief mania is also prevailing 'iolently, in consequence of which every ady is forced to carry two?one for use in he pocket?and the other for display in the ' land. Price 500 francs, or 81200 a dozen. ?o carry the more expensive articles, boxes f pearl have been expressly invented.? { ?hese are worth from 850 to 875. From hese figures it will be seen that it will cost j s much to keep a woman in handkerchiefs, s it does to keep the rest of the family in c oots, buttons and house rent. r afirSlavia, who was hung recently at St. ' ohns, N. B., for the murder of the Mc- e [enzie family, confessed that, after the elder t lembers of the family had been butchered, a little girl, about three years old, innocent- 8 7 held up her doll and offered it to him if 0 e would not kill her. The little innocent's t( ffer was refused, and the inhuman monster lurdered her. Lapland Marriages.?Every Laplander, however poor, has his dozen or two dozen deer; and the flocks cf a Lapp Croesus a! mount sometimes to two thousand head. As soon as a young lady is born?after having ' been duly rolled in the snow?she is dower! ed by her father with a certain number of i deer, which are immediately branded with i her initials, and henceforth kept apart as her j special property. In proportion as they in; crease and multiply does her chance improve j of making a good match. Lapp courtships i are conducted pretty much in the same fash! ion as in other parts of the world. The asI pirant, as soon as he discovers that he has | lost his heart, goes off in search of a friend, and a bottle of brandy. The friend enters the tent, any open?:, simultaneously, the brandy and his business; while the lover remains outside, engaged in hewing wood, or some other mental employment. If, after the brandy and the proposal have been duly diannsRpri. the elnnii: me of hi* friend nre "7 1 i vails, he himself is called into the conclave, and the young people are allowed to rub noses. The bride then accepts from her suitor apreseut ot a reindeer's tongue, and the espousals arc considered concluded. The marriage does not lake, place for two or three years afterwards; and*during the interval the intended is obliged to labor in the service of his father-in-law.?Lord Dnferin's Letters from Hitjh Latitudes. Scene Between a Chinese Painter and a Yankee Sea Captain.?There is the studio of a portrait painter, not probably a dangerous rival to Lamqua, of Macao.? There is loud talking in that studio. A Yankee captain is inspecting a portrait of himself, which has been painted at a con* tract price of some $20. The Yankee is a man about 40, with streaks of gray in his bushy hair and beard, with a slight defeet in one eye, a large nose and a pockmarked face. Yetwithal, thanks to his affluence of hair and an expression of jnanty determination and devil-may care go-a-headness, he is a manly-looking fellow. He is looking rue- \ fully, however, at this counterfeit present- \ ment of himself which is to go to the girl of his heart at Xew York. It is a most . \ laughter-moving caricature of all the salient points of his physiognomy. The Yankee swears that it is no more like him than hick ory nuts are like thunder. The artist das produced a small looking glass, which he places beside the portrait, and pointing to the gray hair and the squinting eye, and the pockmarks of the portrait, and then to the present originals from which they were copied, says triumphantly at each verification, <IIab got? Hab got? Habgot? How can make handsome man 'spose no got handsome face V Life in Arkansas.?A correspondent of the Little Rock Democrat, writes from the Northwestern portion of the State : "The weather is cold here now. Pork has sold at 3$ and 4c. There will be a great deal of bacon made. After crops are laid by, people have nothing to do particularly. They can, therefore, hitch up Buck and Bright and start off and keep going till, they get ten cents for the whole load. It is very pleasant living in the summer time to go off a bacon selling. Buck and Bright live on the grass. Plague on 'em, they are sometimes hard to find in the morning.? But then no one is ever in a hurry. The delightful part is seven-up at night and drinking rot-gut. Sometimes somebody gets a little drunk, the sober ones win smartly.? But altogether there is much happiness on a bacon trip?to some folks. All kinds of produce are high, and strange, after such a crop year, somewhat scarce. A well-to-do farmer of Springport, N. Y., three years ago had a little altercation with his wife, and while conversing with her took up a pail to go after some water. His long absence awakened the fears of his wife, who suspected at once that he bad made an end of his life by throwing himself into the well. The well was accordingly searched, but the husband was not found. The friendly neighbors industriously sought for but found no traces of him.? Last week while his family were at tea, the missing husband walked into the room with the pail of water in his hand, put it into its usua place, and sat down to the table as if nothing had happened. He had been gone just three years after his pail of water, and had visited California and Australia, and had turned up again with a handsome little fortune in his pocket. "Keep Your Mouth Shut."?Never allow the action of respiration to be carried on through the mouth. The nasal passages are clearly the medium through which respiration was by our Creator designed to be carried on.?"God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life," previous to his becoming a living creature. The difference in the exhaustion of strength by a long walk with the mouth firmly closed, and respiration carried on through the nostrils instead of through the mouth, is inconceivable to those ivho have never tried the experiment. It is jaid that the habit of carrying on the work )f inspiration and expiration through the nouth is the origin of almost all diseases of ;he throat and lungs. IS?" The "registered letter" system, it appears, does not work so well in the fcransnifrion of money by mail, as was expected. [t has served rather, to direct the attention >f dishonest persons to letters thus marked, listingnishing them at once as valuable.? [he present Post Master Qeneral, in his aniua> report, allndesto a plan matured by his >redecessor for issuing money orders by very postmaster upon other postmasters, for he transmissions of small sums to persons t various points throughout the countiy. A . imilar system has been in operation throughut England for many years, and is found o work well. * gn0M % Make few promiMs. ?