Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, February 22, 1866, Image 1
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lewis m. cjbist, Proprietor. J |n Jukpraknt Jfaiiulp gctospaptr: Jfor tjjt Iwmaftm of tlje |fflitical, Social, ^gricaltnral anb Commercial interests tf % j&atrtjt, {TESM8-*3. ?^LEiI)7A*cx
% VOLUME XI. YORKVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, 1866. NUMBER
f tatty.
From the Charleston Daily News.
THE JACKET OP OBEY.
BY MRS. C. A. BALL.
Fold It np carefully, lay it aside,
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride?
For dear must it be to our hearts evermore,
The jacket of grey, our iov'd soldier-boy wore.
Can we ever forget when he joined the brave band
Who rose in defence of our dear Southern land,
And, in his bright youth, hurried to the fray,
How proudly he donned it, the jackey of grey ?
His fond mother blessed him, and looked up above,
Commending to heaven the child of her love;
What anguish way hers, mortal tongue may not say,
When he passed from our sight, in the jacket of grey.
But her country had called, and she would not repine,
Though costly the sacrifice placed on the shrine ;
Her heart's dearest hope on Its altar she lay,
When she sent out her boy, in the jacket of grey.
Month's passed, ana war's thunders rolled over the land.
Unsheathed was the sword, and lighted the brand;
We heard in the distance the sounds of the fray,
And prayed for our boy in the jacket of grey.
^ Ah! vain, all, all vain, were our prayers and our tears;
EEs The glad shout of victory rang in our cars;
V But our treasured one on the red battle-field lay,
While the life-blood oozed out on the jacket of grey.
His young comrades found him, and tenderly bore
The cold, lifeless form to his home by the shore;
Oh ! dark were our hearts on that terrible day,
When we saw our dead boy, in the jacket of grev.
Ah ! spotted and tattered and stained now with gore
Was the garment which once he so proudly wore ;
Wc bitterly wept, as wd took it away,
And replaced, with Death's white robes, the jacket of
grey.
We laid him to rent in his cold, narrow bed,
And graved on the marble we placed o'er his head,
As the proudest tribute* our sad hearts could pay,
"He never disgraced the jacket of grey."
Then fold It up carefully, lay it aside.
Tenderly touch it, look on it with pride?
For dear must it be to our hearts eveimore,
The jacket of grey our soldier-boy wore.
National Banks.
The creation of National Banks is derived
from a law of Congress, approved in
Jane, 1863, and entitled the National Cur^
renoy Act. The first section of the Act
establishes a separate bnrean in the Treasury
Department, at the head of wbioh an
officer presides, who is denominated the
Comptroller of the Currency. The sole office
of that fuDotionary is to snpervise the
conduct of the banks inaugurated under
this law, to see that they do not transgress
the regulations imposed upon them, and to
visit upon them, if tbey do, the penalties
prescribed.
Section five ordains that all associations
under the Act shall be composed of not less
f* .1 .? _ l_ _ 11
ttian nve persons, xnose xnus acting snan
make an organization certificate, which
shall specify?first, the name assumed by
such association, which shall be subject to
the approval of the Comptroller. Second,
the place where its operations shall be conducted.
Third, the amount of its capital
stock, and the number of shares into which
the same shall be divided Fourth, the
names and places of residenoe of the shareholders,
and the number of shares held by
^ each. The certificate shall be acknowledged
^ before a judge or notary publio, and sent,
duly authenticated, to the Comptroller,
who shall place the same on reoord
In a town whose population is not over
6,000, an association may be organized under
this Act, -with a capital of not less than
$50,000. Otherwise, the minimum is not
under $100,000; and in a city with a population
exceeding $50,000 persona, the capital
cannot be less than $200,000.
The natural duration of such associations
sball be twenty years, mey may De sooner
dissolved, either by forfeiture of franchise
or the voluntary action of share-holders.
The affairs of every association must be
managed by at least five directors, one of
whom sball be the president. Each, director
shall posses, in his own right, at least
ten shares of the capital stook, and declare
on oath, that said shares are not pledged,
or in any way hypothecated for any debt or
^ loan. Should he oease at any time to own
the requisite amount of stook, he shall
thereby vacate his office as director.
Capital stock sball be divided into shares
of $100, and be deemed as personal property.
Every share-holder shall be held individually
responsible, equally and ratably,
and not one for another, in all contracts,
debts and engagements of his association,
to the amount of his stook at its par value.
Backs may increase their capital from
time to time The maximum of such increase
shall be determined bv the ComD
"" ? - J _ 4
troller, in the articles of association, and
no increase shall he valid until the whole
amount of suoh increase shall be paid in,
and notice thereof transmitted to the Comptroller,
and his approval received. They
may also reduce their oapital, but never below
the amount required by the Currency
Act for their outstanding circulation, nor
until the proposed reduction shall have been
submitted to the Comptroller, and obtained
Vita m'cp
UiO V kw.
At least 15 per ceot. of the capital stock
? shall be paid in before basioess can com-1
mence, and the remainder of snch capital
mast be paid in instalments of 10 per cent. ]
each on the whole amount of the capital,
as frequently as one instalment each month,
from the time the Comptroller shall authorize
the commencement of business.
Before its inauguration, every association
sha 11 transfer and deliver to the Treasurer
of the United States registered bonds of
the United States, bearing interest, to an
amount not less than one-third of the capital
stook paid in. This proportion is to be
rigorously enforced, so that in whatever
act, either of expansion or reduction, the
banks will be required to have always on
hand bonds to the extent of one-third of the
stock aotually paid in.
The bonds thus deposited shall bo held
by the Treasurer of the United States for
the associations delivering them, and no
transfer of such bonds by the Treasurer
shall be valid until the transfer is countersigned
by the Comptroller of the currency,
a The latter must keep a strict record of all
W such transfers, and give prompt advice of
" the same to the association from whom the
bonds transferred originated.
Upon delivery to the Treasurer of the
required amount and oharacter of bonds,
the bank so delivering shall receive from
the Comptroller circulating notes (engraved
UBder his direotion) of different denomina
tions, in blank, registered ano countersigned
by himself and the Treasurer. The
amount in notes thus issued shall not ex
oeed 90 per cent, of the amount of the
bonds deposited, at the par value thereof,
if bearing interest at the rate of 5 percent,
per annum; and in no case shall the sum
of such notes issued to any association exceed
the amount of its capital actually paid
in.
Suoh notes, after having been properly
signed by the president and cashier of the
bank to whom they are given, shall be re
! ceived at par everywhere in the United
States in payment of taxeB, excises, lands
and all other dues to the Government ex
cept duties on imports; and also for all
salaries and other debts owing by the Uni
ted States to creditors within its territory,
except interest on the pnblio debt and in
redemption of the national currenoy. These
notes, if worn or mutilated, shall be re
oeived by the Comptroller; and if destroy
ed be shall, upon proof of destruction, replace
to the bank to whom they belonged
blank notes of an equal amount.
Whereupon the market value of any
i bonds, deposited under this Act with the
I Treasurer of the United States shall be reduced
in value below the amount of circulation
issued for the same, the Comptroller
is empowered to demand from the association
which deposited them the amount of
such depreciation in other United States
bonds at cash value.
The loans of bankB under this Act shall
at no time exceed one-tenth of the.amount
of the capital stock paid. This will satisfactorily
interpret the scant margin of which
so much complaint has been made.
The rate of interest permitted shall be
regulated by the laws of the State wherein
the association may reside If not fixed by
such laws, the Act allows a rate of interest
of 7 per cent, per annum. Any infraction
of this provision shall work a forfeiture of
interest, and the party suffering frcun such
usury may recover double the amount of interest
so exacted.
Every association under this Act,.shall
have on banc at all times lawful money of
the United States, 15 or 25 per cent, (dif
tering in different oities of the Union,) of
the aggregate of its notes in circulation and
its dpnnsitR Anv bank failing to make
good this reserve for thirty days, after having
been notified to do 60 by the Comptroller,
is liable to have its business summarily
wound up.
Every National Bank is compelled to receive,
in payment of all debts due it, the
notes of any other similar institution.
Quarterly reports exhibiting, under oath,
the resources and liabilities of the banks,
shall be made to the Comptroller, under
pain of $100 dollars forfeit, for every five
days delay in making them at the proper
times.
If any Association should refuse to redeem
one of its notes when presented, in
lawful currency, the party presenting the
same may have it protested and forwarded
to the Comptroller. On the receipt of such
protest, the Comptroller, with the consent
of the Treasurer, may appoint a special
agent to investigate the refusal. Should
the fate of such refusal be verified, the
Comptroller shall declare, within thirty
days thereafter, that the United States
bonds and securities pledged by the recusant
Association, are forfeited to the United
States. Holders of the circulation of such
bank, shall then be notified to present it at
the Treasury of the United States, where
it will be redeemed in lawful currency ?
The ComDtroller shall furthermore appoint
a receiver?under bcmd and security?whose
duty it will be to put such bank in liquidation
and legally wind up its affairs Under
this commission all done in contemplation
of solvency, which may be prejudicial to
the creditors of the bank, shall be declared
null and void.
Any officer connected with Buck organizations,
who may be guilty of misdemeanor
in his office, shall, upon conviction, be pun
ished by imprisonment for cot less than five
and not more than ten years.
The foregoing includes all of the salient
! points whioh enter into the composition of
our National Bank system. It occurs to us
that assuming the basis of this system to.
be impregnable, it provides every check,
guard and balance, which the most jealous
wisdom could suggest. It is necessary to
bear in mind, however, what this basis is. j
I It is neither less, nor more, than the credit
of the General Government. Now, with
regard to the permanent sounduess of that
credit, it is due to candor to state that widely
divergent opinions prevail. Many con
sider it sufficiently fortified to resist successfully
all the influences which assail it. On
the other hand, not a few believe that it is
a dead sea-fruit, whioh may at any moment
turn to ashes on our lips. The report of
the Secretary of the Treasury furnishes all
the attainable information on the point.
If an inspection of its statements should
satisfy tbem about the preliminary and vital
question of the national credit, we hove no
hesitation in saying, on behalf of the banks,
that we are acquainted with no scheme of
paper currency which combines so much to
approve with so little to condemn. While,
therefore, it is obvious that nothing could
be more foreign from our purpose than to
aim any reflection against the solvency of
our National Banks, we would not at the
6ame time be regarded as strewing flowers,
over the possible pitfalls which inhere in all
systems of currenoy whose promises to pay
are not at the will of their holder convertible
into gold. The necessity, however,
mktskk nroonr?f nKtainn tn fKo .QnnfK frtf fVio
VY11IUU Ob J/lbowuv vwvwiuo iv buv vvuwu *w*
immediate employment of every dollar which
may come into her possession extracts from
these cautionary suggestions most of their
practical significance. It is only when a
currency becomes the receptacle of perma
nent investments that it appears in its mos
ominous phase, and, so far as the Southeri
people are ooncerned, hoarding is not i
practioe whioh is at all imminent.
From the foregoing, our readers are a:
1 well prepared to judge of the expediency
or inexpediency of exchanging their landi
and other property, for the existing circula
! tion as we could advise.?Memphis Appeal
An Interesting History,
j The Washington Star has the following
account of (he career of the late Genera
Burgevine, a North Carolinian by birth
who went to China and became the chief ol
the rebel armies in that country :
"The career of Henry Burgevine is more
than romantic, 'stranger than fiction' and
deserves a better record than the meagre
and often inoorrect paragraphs which have
from time to time appeared in the columns
of European and American papers. He was
born in Newbern, North Carolina in the
year 1836. His father was a Frenchman,
and an officer in the grand army of Napo
leon. Subsequently he was in the service
of Spain, and came to America in the oa
pacity of Surveyor-General of Florida, married
an American lady, and died in 1843,
leaving a family, consisting of his widow,
two sons and a daughter The eldest son
if we mistake not, a brigadier-general in
the Confederate service, and is at present a
citizen of Arkansas, where the daughtei
also resides, being the wife of Thomas P.
Watson, late of Washington city
Henry Aodae Burgevine, the youngest
of the family, came to Washington oity
with his mother and sister in 1846. Mrs.
B having been left in very straitened circumstances,
had in view Jhe proseoution of
certain claims against the government,
growing oat of the purchase of Florida
from Spain. Being unsuccessful in this,
she, through the aid of the Hon. Willie P.
Mangum, obtained a situation as page in
the United States Senate for Henry, and
on this pittance, increased by the products
of teaching a small school, the widow and
her two obildren lived many years in quiet
1 ?A_ / iLu A - m 1 A.L. _A A
ODSCuruy ^on me west 01 iweiim street,
Dear C.)
From bis earliest years Ilenry displayed
a great love for books, aod left no opportunity
UDimprovedto store his mind with useful
knowledge. At seventeen he understood
the Greek, Latin and French languages,
was proficient in the higher branches of
mutbematics, an accomplished draughtsman,
and civil engineering and naval architecture.
During the interim between the
sessions of Congress, he was among the
students atthe Washington Seminary (Catholic,)
but he accomplished more by night
study, and a systematic course of reading,
haviDg access to the Congressional library.
In those days of his early youth the writer
of this sketch has often heard him
speak of his plans for the future,, in such
terms as would lead a stranger to suspect
his sanity. Now it was to build up an empire
in Egypt ; to unite the nations of the
Orient; to regenerate China aod found an
enlightened nation of 400,000,000 of peo
pie; to found new Assyria, with a Niveah
for its capital, and so on tbrongh a long
train of Boemes, all of which were sublime,
if not practicable.
"In the spring of 1853 Burgevine, whose
settled purpose it had been to seek his fortune
in foreign lands, bade farewell to mother,
sister and friends and arrived in New
York with a few dollars in his pocket. No
one knew exactly where he was going, orfor
what parpose, and it is likely his own
plans were somewhat disarranged by the
fact of his being without a peony in a few
days, and compelled either to return to
Washington or take passage on some ship
and work his way. lie did the latter, and
six months after wrote from San Francisco,
then from the Sandwich Islands, next from
China, then from Australia where he worked
in the gold mines a few weeks with sue
cess. The nest we hear of him he had
been "wrecked on the coast, forty miles
from Bombay " After this he was six
months in Calcutta, learning the Qindoostanee
language and regretting he did not
understand Arabic, that he might take
"command of a small vessel trading to India,
on the Red Sea." Next he was on
board a British man-of-war as sailor. Then
for a few months, weary enough be sure,
with his head shaved, in the hospital at
Naples. And next, tcmporu mutanter,
loading the life of a quiet gentleman in London.
And finally, after more than four
years of wandering, be appears like an apparition
to his friends at Washington,
bronzed, and bearded like a pard. Remaining
a few months at the capital, he removed
to Detroit, Michigan ; accepts a position as
clerk in jthe postoffice, and edits the Vindicator,
a democratic paper of that city.?
And here it may be as well to state .that in
matters of literature Burgevine possessed a
most excellent taste. Had he adopted that
as a pursuit his success would have been
certain. He wrote much, and published
enough in prose and verse to exhibit his
talents in that line. But be preferred a
life of action, and was frequently heard to
say he would rather "make history than to
write it."
"Burgevine's manner of life at Detroit
| was too tame for him. He groaned under
the common places of every-day life, and
longed to be yet again chasing the phantoms
of ambition which had already led
him so far out of the beaten paths of life.
As yet he had accomplished nothing He
i must be up and doing if a name be accomI
nlished for himself.
"In 1859, Henry Burgevioe again left
j the shores of America; alas ! never to re'
turn. This time his scenes were more tanj
gible. History could give him notable exj
amples of men who had risen above their
: kiDd as if by magio in the great political
j convulsions of the world. China should
I be the field of his glory, for here a gigantic
! war had raged for years, and here, if any'
where, was the plaoe to win distinction,
t power, empire! To China he went, and
1 the rest of his story is the history of China
i for the last five years. Whether Bargevine
went with Ward from this country, or met
i him first in China, the writer cannot say.
j At all events, they were friends?Ward be*
ing first in command and Burgevine sec
ond. In a great and successful battle Ward
. was killed, and Henry Burgevine became
commander-in chief of an army of sixty
thousand disciplined men, mostly Europe,
ans and Americans. In the eyes of our
j hero it was the first step to a throne. After
setting forth these facts in a letter addressp
ed to Thomas Young, Esq., of this city he
says: "After years-of patient labor, watcb(
ing, waiting and suffering, my day has at
I last come. In two years I shall rule
s China."
"The dream was never realized : the life
, which was all action, all hope and all am,
bitioo, has gone oat ia wretcbedoess almost
, uDparallelad. The mother, to whom io bis
palmiest days Burgevine transmitted a sufficient
sum to make comfortable in her last
, hours, was spared the misery of outliving
him, and of knowing how he died. She
expired peacefully in this city about one
year sinoe, and lies in Greenwood Ceme
tery.
"It is almost impossible to estimate the
advantages to the world which have been
lost by Burgevine's failure io China. Had
. he aohieved all his ambition hoped'for, civilization
and the highest enlightenment
would have followed him, and an empire,
such as Napoleon might have dreamed of,
' would have dazzled the world, and the
name of Burgevine which, in a few years
will be lost to all save a few who knew and.
loved him, would have appeared among
"the few immortal names that were not born
to die."
"Burgevine was a soholar, a man of refined
tastes and literary habits; modest,
simple and unaffeoted in bis manners, inclined
to be silent and gloomy, at times, but
generally affable and pleasant, seldom speaking
of himself; indeed, it was with the
utmost difficulty his most intimate friends
could get at his history. No foreigner who
has up to this time been identified with the
Chinese war has had a tithe of the ability
of Burgevine. Nor has the world known
the real soope and extent of the plans of
ttbat sleepless sonl which perished in its
pride.'
"Burgevine succeeding Ward, assumed
command of the Imperial army, which poBt
he filled with great credit and distinction
for over a year, when, unfortunately, he had
trouble with the Imperial authorities in relation
to the payment of his forces, and finding
bis career hampered his restless ambi
tiou led him to take service with the rebels.
A large reward was offered by the imperialists
for bis head, and after several months
he was captured ; but owing to the protest
of our consul his life was not taken, but the
imperialists resorted to an old and barbarous
mode of punishment, of picking open
the wounds he had received in battle, and
then turned him over to the American Consul.
Burgevine then went to .Japan, where
he remained until he bad recovered from
the brutal treatment he had received.?
Some eight or ten months ago he again returned
to China to try and retrieve his fortune,
but he was very soon taken prisoner
by the imperial government, and, as we are
informed by late advices from China, was
drowned while in irons. Burgevine, while
he was in favor with the Imperialists, was a
mandarin of the 'Red Button,' and had the
power.of life and death over two large cities."
An "TCn crUsh man Exnloriner tho South.
The last letter of the correspondent of the
London Times, who is travelling in the
South, is dated at Columbia, S. C., and
gives a vivid aocount of the track of Sher
mnn's army, the ruins of Columbia, and the
suffering of tbo people We make the following
extraot :
I have hitherto studiously abstained from
dwelling unnecessarily on the ruin which
Sherman spread in his track, and have not
reoeated one of the countless stories which
have been told to me, of the personal violence
and outrages committed by desperadoes
of the army. Bat soeh reticenoe is
impossible here, for there is literally nothing
to speak of but ruin, more utter and complete
probably, than was ever before worked
in a civilized community by a civilized army.
Columbia had the repute of being one of
the most'beatftiful cities on the continent,
and even amid its broken walls, I should
go further and 'say that it must have been
the most beautiful. It is as startling, therefore,
to come -upon the ruins of a fine city
in America, as it is to see, oira sudden, the
outlines of a beautiful temple in the desert
which surrounds the old capital of the Mo- <
guis Columbia asserts her supremacy still,
amid all her uDequaled desolation. Her
streets are broad and long, and planted with
rows of fair trees on each side, and often
another row down the middle. She stands
on a hill, so that a commanding view of a
picturesque country around may easily be
gained from any part of it. But now, turn
where any one will, there is absolutely nothing
to strike the eye but shattered walls and
pillars of churches, schools, and private
dwellings. People who go to Pompeii to i
see the fragments of a destroyed city, should
come to Columbiu, and see one still stand
nig stark and unburied in the sunlight. If
any one can imagine a good English town
of 23,000 inhabitants left with not onethird
of its bouses standing in it, he may
form some idea of the appearance of this
uufortuuate city. You walk down street,
between groves of trees, and see nothing
but ruins of houses and large buildings on
either side. Nor were these houses frail
wooden structures, easily burnt down. They
were built of stout red brick, or granite,
with marble steps leading into many of them
which the flames left black and shivered.
At the highest part of the town there
was a handsome edifice known as the State
Capitol, of which not one stone stands upon >
another. Near this was a new capitol, nearly
finished built of marble, the pillars and
oornioea of whioh were torn down and hammered
into fragments that now strew the
ground. Three or foar splendid ohurohes
and as many chapels, a spacious convent in
which many poor ladies fled for shelter till
they were driven forth by the soldiery, a
State library, many schools?all were burn
ed to the ground. There were nearly 1400
houses thus destroyed, the rioh and the poor
sharing in the common wreck. This miserable
work was accomplished on the day
and night of the 17th of February last,
and the horrors of that night can never be
forgotten by those who witnessed them.?
More than 14,000 persons, mostly women
and children, many of them sick, took to
the outskirts, with hardly a rag to cover
them, and with not a mouthful of food to
eat. Gen. Sherman promised to leave behind
bim cattle enough to sustain them,
but the cattle he left them died at the rate
of twenty head eaoh day, from Bbeer exhaustion,
and those that were killed yere
fleshless and bloodless.
It should be understood that the city had
offered no resistance to Sherman's approach,
but that, on the contrary, the small Confederate
force within it all withdrew the day
before, and the tylayor drove out some miles
with a white flag, to meet the invaders.?
He carried with him a letter to General
Sherman surrendering the city, and asking
for its citizens "the usages of civilized warfare."
That same night Sherman said to
the Mayor, "not a finger's breadth, Mr.
Mayor of your city shall be harmed. You
may lie down to sleep satisfied that your
town shall be as safe in my hands, as if
wholly in your own."
Some cotton had been set on fire in- the
streets during the day, but it was extinguished
by the firemen of the city, until
the soldiers cut their hose and broke their
engine to pieces. Then the reigB of terror
began. Houses were first pillaged, and then
set on fire. The soldiers, writes an old in
habitant, "could be seen staggering ott with
huge waiters and smaller vessels Ladies
were hustled from their chambers, their ornaments
plucked from their persons, their bundles
from their hands." The eldest clergy
man in the city was subjected to gross ill
usage, while vainly endeavoring to save the
communion plate of bis church. In other
instances, men were hung op till they were
nearly choking, and made to tell where their
property was hid. The soldiers were by
this time skilful in finding buried treasure,
and they were busy with probing rods in the
gardens of all the houses.
It may well be supposed that, with all
their property sunk in Confederate paper,
and their houses razed to the ground, the
people in this part of the country are in
deep distress. I am told of families who
have always been in affluent circumstances
now working for an uncertain livelihood,
and these are more fortunate than many
others who are not fit for work, or cannot
get it to do. The state of the poorer classes
is wretched beyond description, for they
have no friends capable of helping them.?
it is not too mucn to say that tnousanas 01
families in this part of the oountry will be
in a state of absolute waDt, this winter, unless
something is done for them. They have
not the means to buy the barest necessaries
of life. The horses and cattle were killed
and burnt for many miles around, and, indeed,
all along the tr&ok of Sherman's
march, so th&ttbe whole country is bare and
destitute. It is quite certain that timely
aid would savs hundreds from a fate little
short of starvation.
Never too Old to Learn.
Socrates, at an extreme age, learned to
play on musical instruments. This would
lnnlr riHimilnnq for some of the ricb old men
in oar time, especially if they should take it,
into their heads to throm a guitar under a
lady's window, which Socrates did not do,
hut only learned to play upon some iostru- ,
ment of his time?not a guitar?for the
purpose of resisting the wear and tear of ,
old age. i
Cato, at eighty years of age, thought proper
to learn the Greek language. Many of ,
our young men, at thirty and forty, have j
forgotten even the alphabet of a language, (
the knowledge and whiob was neeessary to
enter college of which was made a daily ex- (
ercise through college. A fine comment |
upon their love of letters, truly ! j
Plutarch, when between seventy and
eighty, commenced the study of Latin.?
Many of our young lawyers, not thirty years j
of age, think that nisi prius, scire facias, <
&c., are English expressions; and if you ,
tell them that a knowledge of Latin would (
make them appear a little more respectable
in their profession, they will reply that they
are too old to think of learning Latin.
Boccaccio was thirty five years of age i
when he commenced his studies in polite ^
literature. Yet he became one of the three ]
great ministers of the Tuscan dialect; Dante I
and Petraroh being the other two. There
are many among us ten years younger than <
Boccaccio, who are dvine of ennui, and re
gret that they were not educated to a taste ?
for literature; but now they are too old. 1
Sir Henry Spelman negleoted the eoi- '
enoes in his youth, but commenced the t
study of them when he was between fifty 1
and sixty years of age After this time he ^
became a most learned ant'quariao and law- i
yer Our young men begin to think of lay ?
ing their seniors on the shelf, when they i
have reached sixty years of age. How different
the present estimate put upon experi- '
ence from that which characterized a certain '
period of the Grecian republic, when a man I
was not allowed to open his mouth in cau- {
cuses or political meetings, who was under
forty years of age (
Colbert, the famous French Minister, at t
sixty years of age, retunred to his Latin and 1
law studies. How many of our college learnt <
men have ever looked into their classics
since their graduation ? 1
Ludovico, at the great age of one hun- 1
dred and fifteen, wrote the memoris ef his }
own time. A singular exertion, notioed "by
Voltaire, who was himself one of the most
remarkable instances of the progress of age
is new studies.
Ogilby, the translator of Homer and Virgil,
was unacquainted with Latin and Hreek
till he was past fifty.
Franklin did not folly commence his
philosophical pursuits till he had reached
his fiftieth year. How many among us of
thirty, forty and fifty, who read nothing bat
newspapers, for the want of a taste for nat
1 I .1 _7_7
UAOl puilUBUpuJ ; iJUb tUUJ Uto LUU UUM LU
learn.
Acooreo, a groat lawyer, being asked why
he began the study of law so late, answered
that indeed be began it late ; bat he should
therefore master it the sooner. This agrees
with oar theory, that healthy old age gives
the man the power of accomplishing a difficult
stady in mach less time than would
be necessary to one of half his years.
Dryden, in his sixty-eight year, commenced
the translation of the Iliad; and bis most
pleasing productions were written in his old
age.
We could go on and cite thousands of examples
of men who commenced a new study
and-struck out into an entirely new pursuit,
either for livelihood or amusement, at an
advanced age. But every one familiar with
the biography of distinguished men, will
recollect individual oases enough to convinco
him that none but the sick and indolent
will ever say, lam too old to study.
For Wine Drinkers.
A correspondent of the New York Her-aid,
writing from Bordeaux, furnishes most
valuable and useful information to the advocates
of temperance; bnt, after reading
his letter, the consumers of foreign wines
will discusa'their "Bordeaux" with a faith
somewhat shaken in its parity.
The writer says that very little, if any,
good, unadulterated, wholesome wine is
sent to this country. "The stuff sent is
nannnillc nf fho cilflaf daonrinfinn nnrl doa.
j
titute of the suggestion of the juice of the
grape. It is generally made of water, or
the poorest vin ordinaire, unfit to drink,
and flavored with an article called essence
of medoc,' one bottle of which gives flavor
and boquet to five barrels of wine." He
also says:
"The wine oosts about ten cents a bottle
to manufacture, including the profit, which
is not small. Within a week past, one
house in New York has sent an order here
for one hundred thousand cases of wine, of
various brands, for whioh they proposed to
pay five franca per case. The house here
declined to undertake to supply wine of
that character, as it had a reputation established.
The cost of bottling and packing
wine, including the filling and corking of
the bottles, placing upon them the proper i
capsules and labels, and preparing them for i
shipment, is about four francs, thus leaving :
one franc only per pase for the mixture i
which the enterprising and high toned New
York house proposes to supply the people '
of the United States. Although the firm
referred to declined to fill the order, the
agents of the New York house have found a
firm that will under take the job, and supply
the labels of all the choicest brands of
white and red wines of France. Besides
this vile stuff, whioh is seot from here to
flood the American market, and poison the
American people, a large quantity of oils of 1
medoc, essences of sauterne and stuff of that
kind, by whioh ohoioe old wines are manufactured
in New York, are also shipped.?
They cost ten francs per bottle, and each
bottle flavors from three to five barrels of
the mixture, which, when nicely bottled 1
and labelled, passes among those unacous- 1
tomed to good wine as the veritable article. '
Bordeaux is full of wine swindlers. About 1
ntteen nouses id ine city are respeotame '
and reliable, aod the balance of fifteen hun- '
dred or more are guilty of the most shamefal
deceptions aod swindles. I regret to
say that tbey look to tbe United States as
tbe great market for their vile compounds,
aod it is equally as disagreeable to state
that tbey are Dot disappointed in their ex
pectatious; and while on the subject, I may
as well say that tbe article as brandy sent
from tbe Cogoae and. fiochelle distriots is
equally as vile and impure.
"It is unpleasant to disabuse tbe minds
af a people of tbe common impression that
because wines and brandies are imported
from France, tbey are pure. It is not so.
Mot OD6 fiftieth part of tbe wines sent from
Bordeaux are what tbey purport to be, and
but a small portion of the brandy is pure,
rhey have all tbe external brands and
marks of genuine articles, but tbe artioles
:bemselves are bad aod unfit for use."
Romance in Real Life.
Col. S. S Goode, who formerly resided
d Decatur, was made Colonel of the 21st
Illinois Infantry at Mattoon, and was dropjed
by Governor Yates, to give place to
Colonel (now Lieutenant General) Grant '
fVe find in the Decatur, Ulinoise, Tribune
juite a romantic story about him :
"It seems that after undergoing many
itrange and startling vissitudes of life, and
buffeting the durk waves of adversity and
nisfortuno, he has at length become a wealby
and titled gentleman. By the death of a
lis cousin Jasper Goode, who died at York, s
England, he has fallen heir to estates, the f
ental of which amounts annually to ?3,000 h
torliug and also suoceeds to the title by i
nheritance. t
"The incidents and adventure., through c
vhich this singular individual?now Sir a
samuel S. Goode?has passed, would fill a s
arge yellow covered volume. At the age I
- ^ ^ U A tw-va ? *> 1/j.iki r* m o n in t Ki. o
>l uiucircu UC nraa a Uiiu.iuipujnu tu w.?c ?
rexun Davy?then engaged in the war of in f
lependence with Mexico?and was promo c
ed to lieutenant in three mooths, for cut- i
ing out a Mexican buDgo under the guns I
)f the Citadel of Vera Cruz. c
"In the war between the United States c
ind Mexico that immediately followed, he a
volunteered in the American army as a pri- c
?ate, but by his gallantry soon won for him- t
%
self a captain's commission. In the disastrous
filibustering of Lopes he commanded
a company?was taken a prisoner at Cardenas,
and escaped the ganote by the daughter
of a Spanish officer, who became enamored
of him, opening the prison doors.
"Undeterred however, by hde narrow^escape,
be next embarked in Walker** first
expedition; from this he slso managed to
escape, after passing through untold perils
and sufferings. As all oar readers are already
aware, he raised a company in this
oity when the guns from Sumter reverberated
through the loyal North, went to Mat nnn
nnrl vna elnfitn/) IV1 ams! kw k?e ml
meat, the Twenty fust.
"By some means, however, be was deprived
of his ooramtnd, and Ges. U. 8.
Grant, then a plain oitizen, wu appointed
in his stead. Weary and despondent,
through his disappointment, he neglected
his profession?the law?and by some
ohanoe drifted into Carlinville, in this
State, where at the time he received his fortune,
he wss keeping a bar in a .drinking saloon.
He passed through this city en route
for New Icork, there to take a steamer for
England, honor and fortune."
lliinou Trinune.
A Southern View or an Important
Question.?The Bulletin, of Memphis,
Tennessee, makes the following sensible
remarks:
Whatever may have been the advantages
to individuals of African slavery, it would
be difficult to discover its benefactions to
States and communities. Tennessee, Virginia,
Kenraoky, and North Carolina have
contributed ten citizens to Northwestern
States for eaob one given to slaveholding
communities. The Northwest, aside from
European immigrants, is msinly populated
with citizens from the middle Southern
States. This was not beoaose lands of the
Golf States were less produotive or the climate
less salubrious, but because negro industry
came in competition with tnat of
whites. Froteoted by law, the blacks defied
competition in their peculiar fields of
employment. The system of servitude destroyed,
white energy comes in fair competition
with that of the negro and we shall
soon Bee the result. The Soath will be
richer than ever before, and no power, less
thao tbe Deity, can prevent the gradual removal
of tbe blacks. Tbeir ultimate des
tiny is that of the red man. '
We do not believe that Southern oe
groes will share at once tbe tortunea ot
those of the Weat Indies Sonthern blacks
are more intelligent; they have been more
intimately associated with former masters,
they are more intellectual than blacks of
Hayti and San Domingo; tbey have been
iostrncted, everywhere in tbe Sooth, in the
simple tenets of Christian faith. Many of
them, for these reasons, may become useful,
industrious, and valuable members of
society, but the great mass of negroes are
inoapable of the task of oorepetition now
forced upon them, and their fatnre fate cannot
be mistaken.
An Adroit Bobbery.?The New York
Times tells the following-: "A robbery
which nearly paralleled that of tbe Qraenwioh
Savings Bank's porter came to iigbt,
yesterday, at Police Trials.. Inspector Jas.
Leonard, replying to tbe question of Mr.
Charles S. 8peootr, as to whether, -during
his twenty years' experience as an officer,
he had ever beard of a mora adroit robbery,
said that be had not. He bad learned that
at a jeweler's in Maiden lane, on Monday
afternoon, a man selected four gold watches
and tendered a thousand dollar bank
ote. Tbe dealer examined the note, and
finding it a genuine, naturally left it o? the
3onnter while be went to bis safe to get
jhange for the purchaser. Bat do sooner
bad the jeweler gone to bis safe than a man
who bad jast driven ap in a ooach dashed
into the store and clapped irons upon the
purchaser's wrists, and informing the amazed
jeweler that the prisoner bad stQleo
$1,000, suddenly discovered the SI,000
iote aod seized it, saying, 'By my soul, this
8 the identioal biJi I' and thrust it ioto bis
>ocket 'But,' said tbe jeweler, 'be has
our of my watches.' 'Well, sir/ respondid
tbe pretender, 'be may have any number
>f stolen watches, but as an < ffioer, I am not
Lutborized to adjudicate; only tbe Justice
tan do that; I shall harry tbe thief to tbe
Tombs, and if you appear at oooe aod make
be fact known, I dare say Justioe Bowling
rill give you tbe w&tcbee ' Thus saying,
be fellow bundled his prisoner off ioto tbe
toach at the door. The jeweler went to
he Tcrnbs, and after waiting fifteen mioses,
smelt a rat and told bis eiory to Jusice
Dowlipg, and that tbe magistrate
iromptly enlightened him as to precisely
that bad happened."
Cholera Cured as Easily as ToothlCHE?Dr.
Post, who is represented as a
iigh medical authority in New York, delivred
a' lecture at the Medical College in
hat city, on Friday evening last He olaims
bat the cholera is carableas the toothache,
lis method of treatment, as he explained
i, is briefly as follows:
Tbe patieot is first attaoked by diarrhoea,
ccompaoied by extreme lassitude. He
hould go instantly to bed, aod remain perectly
quiet for forty eight hours, taking at
east fifteen grains of calrvnet to drive tbe
ofection promptly from the system After
his has auied freely, a mild dose of ieudaiam
should be given to soothe tbe-patient
-J f? _*L ? --1 o/ttinn T(W
uu prevail i, iuriucr luicnuum
HoqIq be applied fo the epioal column ?
)r. Post claims that this treatment has been
pplied in thousands of oases, and never
ailed to result in the entir? and rapid reoveiy
of the patient. It is of the very first
mportance, that the patient should not a andoo
the reclining postnre, from the very
ooumencement of the disease until the reovery.
All the prominent men in the city
re engaging themselves in the stndy of the
holera, not clinioly, of course, as there fesse
teen no cases yet in the city.