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v ??IMji -- - _ ?MM? _ " ~ ' _'. "...' gg ' | lewis m. gkist, Proprietor.! ;|it $nbtjp)ttnt Jfamilg ftttospapcr: JfjTi % promotion of % |joMcat, Social, ^jriniltura! anlt Commercial Interests of % Sontj). TERMS?$3.00 A TEAR, IN ADVANCE. votT 1R. . YORKVILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1870. ' 3STO.QO. ' - ??. 1- -A _ 1 Jtoaps *i Jotal pstotg.; r i Reminiscences of York. i BY A SEPTUAGENARIAN. 1 In 1824 LaFayette accepted the invitation ( of the United 8tates government and visited j the great republic he had nourished with his , own blood, in its feeble infancy. j When the ne*s of his arrival in New York ( reached our village, the enthusiasm of the f citizens prompted the illumination of the lit- f tie town. Eyery window, facing on the street, l had a lighted dandle to each pane, and those j houses which boasted no sash, ranged rows of ? candles, one above the other, in their unglazed } openings, so not one could be accused of a,, ( deed of darkness. The street was light as [ day, the population promenaded them, greet- t ing one another with a kind of gleeful vivac- f ity, for there was a great heart throb through- r out the States?then truly united?of joyous s welcome to the nation's guest a The Monday after the news of his arrival, 0 the people of the country crowded into the j village to hear the particulars of LaFayette's c coming. All minutiae relating to the generous E veteran was of interest, and the gathering ex- c ceeded even those of sales-day or court week. 8 LaFayette first, after his reception in New I York, came to Washington city; then trav- m eled east, then south. His tour was one se- i ries of ovations, and itwas March, 1825, before v he reached South Carolina. I The uniformed volunteer companies of Lan- a caster, Newberry, Lexington, Fairfield, Ches- e ter and York, went to Columbia to receive, ( with all pomp of circumstance, the loved foreiemer. The Legislature bad made a hand- f ~ O ? some appropriation to pay the expenses of a L proper reception; love and pride stimulated ^ each section to vie with the other, in hand- a some appearance for the occasion. York, am- ' bitious to pay all deference to the man the v State "delighted to honor," made up a veiy handsome company of mounted infantry? t numbering eighty men?all well uniformed, jj under the command of Capt. William Randolph HilL The complimentary position of ? surgeon, was given to your Septuagenarian. A bright spring day saw us take up our 8 line of march, in the highest spirits. 8 "Jest and youthful jollity, 1 # Quips and cranks and wanton wiles, 1 ' Nods and becks and wreathed smiles," f eehoed from every heart and lip. We stopped i: at Chester on the first day for dinner, at the 1 hotel of George Kennedy, Esq. After thus 1 refreshing man and beast, we continued our r way ti}l, as the shades of evening deepened, s our officers began to think of a halt. We 1 stopped at one or two well-to-do farmhouses, but 1 on account of the number desiring it, were i denied anything like accommodations. It was t nearly eleven o'clock at night when we stopped j again at a Mr. Mobley's, on Wateree Creek, t Again was the refusal given us. The large 1 corn oripa, filled with the generous grain, ,was t too tempting a spectacle to the men as they $ looked down on their hungry and somewhat i jaded homes. It was impossible to reach f Winnsboro' until long after mid-night, and r here was as good a place to stop as any other*, f The choice was therefore given "the lord of t * ????'? tn man-on re nut corn for our hor- t uic mouv*) w 368 and be paid for it, or the men would throw s down the cribs and take it. Such an alterna- j t tive quickly forced him to compliance ; and . s not to do the thing by halves?as we prepared | i to feed on our saddle-blankets?he roused up ; f his negroes, of whom there were quite a num- I ber, for he was a man of wealth, and made f them bring up various troughs from different ( lota and pens, and we had nearly enough to 1 provide our horses well. The men, of course, ] quartered themselves in fence corners, out- i houses or wherever they could find a place to s lay their heads, for his house being but a cabin i with one room, of course could not lodge the ] goodly company. Donom Witherspoon and 1 myself, more fortunate than our comrades, se- { cured the only spare bed, and bringing in, for ) fear of accident, our saddles, and Witherspoon, . in addition a pair of saddle-bags, we put them i under our bed for safe keeping, and soon were 1 locked tightly in the arms of Morpheus. A I few hours before day we qwoke with the cry i of fire ringing in our ears, and found the room i in which we were lying illuminated. Our first j confused thought was that the house in which 1 we were lying was the one burning. Spring- ] ing up in our selfish absorption of one idea, I i cried for my saddle?my friend for hissaddle- 1 bags, thinking of our Columbia parade in- 1 stead of the farmer's loss. It w.as, however, i only a negro house, and the large body of ( men rushed up and in a few moments extin- j guished the flames before much damage was s done. At day-light we were on the move, f " ?j - ?i?i i having taken the precaution to senu on aueuu | i two of the eompany to Winnsboro' to order J t breakfast prepared for us. "NVhen we got j 1 there, we were divided into two squads?forty j c ' to each hotel. Fasting had given us good J < appetites? j 1 "Dire was the clang of plates, of knife and fork That merc'less fell like tomahawks to work." j ( One of our number distinguished himself by 11 eating thirteen eggs. The board was well jr spread; all played a good knife and fork aud j made no apologies, and in buoyant trim we : i re-mounted. Witticisms were cut on small JI occasions, and with good natured gibes and j 1 pleasant jests, we relieved the tedium of the j 1 road. Before sun-down we drew near Colum-11 bia. At the edge of town we saw two gentle- j men coming toward us who, from their uni- j form, we knew were of the committee of ar- j raugeuients, sent out to meet the militia com- j > panies. I galloped forward to the Captain's side as they drew near, and, in heraldic style, j anuouuced "Captain Hill, of l^prk!" A ' courteous greeting given, Captain Hill was assigned to the upper part of the market house, as quarters for his company. Columbia was crowded from garret to cellar. Visitors from every section of the State had flocked in, and hotels and private houses were ! all filled to'overflowing. For weeks ahead,, rooms were engaged at the hotels, and it was impossible, if you had not taken this precau-: tion, to get an apartment at one. All knew " such an occasion would never come again. j "The dumb men thronged to see him and the bliudl To hear him speak." About noon, the uext day after our arrival, j the troops were marshaled out to receive the distinguished visitor, who came that day from Camden. Relays of horses had been appointed on the road to enable him to make the jaunt in the most expeditious and least fatigueing manner. Having the position of an officer, but being fettered by no command, I ivas at liberty to separate myself from my j jompany, so I pushed on to gain the earliest i j jossible view of the hero. ; < About a mile out of Columbia the compa- { lies were formed and halted. Governor Man- j 1 ling?then the Executive?with his staff, j < iwaited to receive LaFayette. An elegant! i >pen barouche, drawn by two beaiJtiful horses j nagnificently caparisoned, stood ready to con- ] 7ty him to the city. Soon the cynosure of all e learts appeared, having been escorted from i j Uamden by a brigade of horse, under Gener- j 1 d Bradley, of Chester. The cannon roared ! i brth its thundering welcome, acclamations of c leart's allegiance greeted him, and from eve-,1 7 voice were^ries of welcome. He was baud- j >d into the vehicle prepared fbr him, and by ] lis side rode old Col. Tom Taylor, the father t >f Columbia?himself a revolutionary hero? j loth uncovered. On the box, in addition to the t lriver, was a footman?both in livery; and two t lnoi-inrr also in handsomfl live- t IU? JVVAIMg 1 y, stood at the heads of the horses, on either s ide, holding an extra rein to guard against iny accident occurring from the high mettle t if the fiery steeds, chafed by the measured ( ?ce and excited by the Vociferous salutations s if the enthusiastic throng, which continually [ nade the air clamorous with shouts of wel- ( ome. The military display was very impo- j ing. Among the companies was Captain T deyer, of Newberry?father of Dr. Meyer? ^ rho had one hundred and twenty-five men } tnderhis command, each one mounted on a t rhite horse, all handsomely uniformed and { >eautifully caparisoned. To this company ] .fterward, was assigned the special honor of | scorting Gen. LaFayette from Columbia to ( Charleston. t The intense feeling of the crowd vented it- ? elf frequently, as we proceeded to the town, ( q wild hurra's. The happy old veteran, his' ( ace beaming with pleasure, bowed low again j .nd again from side to side, ip delighted ac- g mowledgment of the noble compliment he i ?as receiving. y "VVp. Rntepfid the town bv Taylor street? urned into Main street, across which were hrown triumphal arohes of evergreens and lowers, and on either side, at intervals, jets if water played in the sunshine. Where Bridge street crosses Main street, the procesion stopped. Here the Mayor made his peech of welcome, the orator of the day deivered his address, and during these cereraoties the companies were dismounted, the men tied facing in on each side?the line extendng from Main street some yards past Mr. iandolph's "house?which hhd been generousy tendered and fitted up for the use of the toble Frenchman during his stay. The peeches ended, through this living avenue LiaFayette walked to his temporary residence. Co Francis K. Huger, in recognition of his loble risks generously hazarded to liberate he Marquis de LaFayette from his long immsonment?when immured at Olmutz?even hough fruitless, was accorded the honor to walk )y his side in the day of bis majesty, through fiestreetof the proud capital of Huger's owq State. They were in front LaFayette,limpng in his gait, leaning on Huger's right arm, roceeded slowly down the ranks. A cannon oiled out its sonorous reports in the distance, eux de joie, were continually echoing along he line, and little girls, in holiday attire, hrew bouquets umjer his feet, thus literally trewingfiis path with flowers. Behind came fie dignitaries of State and city, two and two, irm m arm; a most imposing spectacle. I, n virtue of my rank, stood three paces in 'rout of the rank and file. Next to me was daj. Moore, of Winnsboro'. As LaFayette iDDroached, I saw, every now and then, some i i >f the officers on either side shake hands with j lim. Coveting, too, the privilege, I whis- j ' jered to Maj. Moore to shake hands with him :' vhen he came up. "I will," he replied, in the j tame tone; and when LaFayette got to where j 1 ve were stationed, the Major advanced a pace, J J lut out his hand, and, as if acknowledging ^ the grand introduction of the splendid pa- j ^ jeant?tor there was no other?said "I am ' liappy to be made acquainted with you, sir." LaFayette grasped the proffered hand, bow- j log and repeating the phrase all the time on I bis lips, coming, I doubt not, straight from j \ ihe heart, "very happy, very happy." I stood j ] aext, in silence, and held out my hand, and I , idfrer received a more cordial grasp and shake, j iccompanied by the words "very happy, very , happy."- Ah! who would uot have been hap-1 j ?y on such a day! Nearly half a eentury be-1 'ore he had listened to the dictates of his no-i lie heart, and came from a foreign land to a deeding country. Forbidden by his govern-, nent, admonished by his friends, giving up the j 1 lelights of home and the endearments of a M roung and beautiful wife, he aided a people j 1 itruggling for freedom, and on their battle-; ield of Brandywine poured forth his generous 1 * )lood. Now the nation, one of the nations of' j he earth, greeted him with shouts of undying (j ove and gratitude; and Carolina, proudest; j )f the land, in joy and love, strewed roses uu- f j ler his feet and wreathed immortelles above ] lis head. L i An amusing incident relieved the intensity ! | )f feeling without marring the effect, as it | night have done on a less.grand occasion. , To Dr. James Davis and Professor Henry ;, N'ott, had been assigned the duty of going , ibout twenty paces in front of the procession , to see the path clear and all in fitting order ( for the tread of the august personage to follow. Some mischievous boy, at a cross street, threw in an old gander. Of course the se^ i ?i._ rtnflot for the intruder, for I rieu mints gave h\j vuuw .v. behind the military companies were a great multitude, no man could number. To try to j catch the goose was out of the question, as it, j of course, would create confusion and unseem-} ly mirth; so 011 he walked, in solitary dignity, [ poking out his neck from side to side, stopping ' now and then to give a hiss at the men. The : Doctor and Professor, hats in hand, were fain to j wait his movements, now and then quietly 1 venturing a mild "shew! shew!" and giving a gentle flourish of their hats to accelerate ! his movements. The gander would give a "quaw ! quaw!" in return, not improving his : pace, but merely resuming the even tenor of j liis way, and so he led the van to the end of; the line. 49 At last LaFayette entereif the house. Here everything was arranged most perfectly for i his comfort. Judge Nott's old Harry, a ser-1 vant renowned in his day, throughout Colum-1 bia, for his superiority in every good quality, j was assigued as his body-servant. Judge DeSaussure and others had their most accom- i plished house servants to attend in waiting, j Cut glass and silver stood round in profusion,1 contributed by the citizens for the ti<e of the , occasion. 1 Two sentinels, with fixed bayonets on thei: runs, were posted at the door to prevent th< mtrance of intruders. Officers, however, wen ill allowed to enter unquestioned. The insig lia of office, shown by my feather and sword jbtained my admittance. In the passage, J net General Bradley, of Chester?an acquaint nice. With him I went into the room when L&Fayette held a kind of levee, and was pre tented by name. Again had I the honor o pressing my hand to that of the genero.ui learted Frenchman, whose nobility of nature ar above that of birth alone, had beenjc :ounted worthy of the friendship, even of ouj iVashington. After the introduction, and my taking with LaFayette a glass of wine, for servants in at ?i\dance filled bumpers of sparkling chain )agne, which all but he quaffed to the bot om?he merely performing the courtesy o; ouching the glass to his lips?I withdrew t( he farther side of the room from where lu tood &nd stationed myself near the door. Here I saw a strange but pleasant incident ranspire. An old African, neatly dressed :ame to the front door and started in, but th< entinels interposed their bayonetted-guns tc >ar his entrance. The old man contemptu lusly pushed them aside saying, "pshaw ishaw! see guns afore you was born; beer vhere dey been shot by soldiers too," and vithout farther opposition from any one gain?3 lis way. He came straight to the room when he distinguished guest was standing among he crowd and said out, "I come to see Gen LiaFayette." LaFayette turned, looked al lim and remarked: "An olii acquaintance lon't tell me who it is." The negro advanced o the Marquis, and bowing, held out his hand ind said, "Howdy, Mas' Lalayette; how you lo, sir. You 'member me ?" "Yes, stop I do not remember any preserved record o ;hese great gala-days in South Carolina, ant have, therefore, been moved to tell to th< poung, as well as the gap of years allows, th pomp of- the reception at their State capital if the Marquis de LaFayette, proudly partici pated in by the gay company from York. [to be continued.] SERVILITY OF THE FASHIONABLE. "Jennie June," a prominent writer on th fashions, in her May budget, comments a follows upon the utter subjection of the ladie to the arbitrary rule of fashion : "There is nothing which shows the ineffabl silliness aiid stupidity of people who allo> themselves to be led by the nose, more strong ly than the recent canard in relation to th revival of long dresses for street wear. Wu iren have written to individuals and to th newspapers, protesting and begging," almos with tears in their eyes, against a change frou the present convenient style, against the at tempt to reinstate an old nuisance and enor mity, an old sin against health and cleanli aess. But they have not seemed to realize a all that the power to prevent it lay in thei own hands; that if they will retain shot dresses, the wearing them makes thein fnsl: ionable in spite of the efforts of a couple c male dress-makers to prevent it, Fortunat( ly for the flocks of feminine sheep, their com age will not be put to the test this time. Th Empress Eugenie, coolly disregarding hiiil and announcements, has ordered a doze summer walking dresses, to be made short, an at least four of them are to consist simply ( skirt and redinffote, with a simulated waistcoi and lace ruffles at the waist and throat, a sty] very becoming to her Majesty, and which sh found very convenient for country excursioi three years ago, when they were introduce) It would seem as though it mattered ver little what the Empress Eugenie (who is ut allowed to walk on the streets) wears, to tl great mass of wouieii who have to walk an work, and adapt themselves to a thousand e: igencies and demands of everyday life. Bi poor human nature requires leadership, an if any American woman must tag after a Empress, we can only hope that she will sho herself possessed of more sense than they." iefr- A man in Pennsylvania has a yoke oxen on which he challenges the United Stat to compete with him. One is six feet hig girth ten feet around the body, and wcigl 3,425 pounds. The other stands six feet U inches, girth ten feet two inches, and weigl 3,430 pounds. [j. Ito.Jfrttg filto. - THEGOLD BUG. I > i ' ??? [ | BY EDGAR A. POE. s i "You remember," said he, "the night when "! I handed you the rough sketch I had made pi of the scarabceics. You recollect, also, that I ! became quite vexed at you for insisting that ray drawing resembled a death's-head. When * you first made this assertion I thought you were jesting; but afterward I called to mind r. the peculiar spots od the back of the insect, | and admitted to myself that your remark ! had some little foundation in fact. Still, the j sneer at my graphic powers irritated me?for I am considered a good artist?and, therefore, ? when you handed me the scrap of parchment, ' - * .1 :A I i was about to crumpie.it up aim uirow h s | angrily into the fire." "The scrap of paper, you mean," said I. "No ; it had much the appearance of papeJ-, ' and at first I supposed it to be such, but when 1 I came to draw upon it, I discovered it at ? once to be a piece of very thin parchment. ' It was quite dirty, you remember. Well, as I was in the very act of crumpling it up, my ' glance fell upon the sketch at which you had 1 been looking, and you may imagine my as' tonishment, when I perceived, in fact, the ' figure of a death's-head just where, it seemed J to me, I had made the drawing of the beetle. > For a moment I was too much amazed to think with accuracy. I knew that my design " was very different in detail from this?al though there was a certain similarity in general outline.. Presently I took a candle, and seating myself at the other end of the room, ' proceeded to scrutinize the parchment more ' closely. Upon turning it over, I saw my own sketch upon the reverse, just as I had made it. My first idea,, now, was mere sur' prise at the really remarkable similarity of ^ outline?at the singular incidence involved ' in the fact, that unkno^io me, there should ^ have been a skull upon tile other side of the parchment, immediately beneath my figure of 5 the 8carab(EU8, and that this skull, not only in ' outline, but in size, should so closely resemble Ay: drawing. I say the singularity of this > coincidence absolutely stupefied me for a time. This is the usual effect of such coin? cidences. The mind struggles to establish a J connexion?a sequence of cause and effect? and being unable to do so, suffers a species of ? temporary paralysis. But, when I recovered from this stupor, there dawned upon me grad3 ally a conviction which startled me even far 3 .more than the coincidence. I began dis it t 1 a 1 once?you know how enthusiastic he is on^Jl _ subjects connected with Natural History. At ._: the same time, without being conscious of it, j.; I must have deposited the parchment in my 11 own pocket. r "You remember that when I went to the ,t i table, for the purpose of making a sketch ol l_ the beetle, I found no paper where it was ,f' usually kept. I looked in the drawer and 5_! found none there. I searched my pockets, r.' hoping to find an old letter, when my hand e fell upon the parchment. I thus detail the ^ precise mode in which it came into my posn session; for the circumstances impressed me j j with peculiar force. i "No doubt you will think me fanciful? lt but I had already established a kind of eon[e nexion. I had put together two links of a ie , great chain. There was a bftat lying upon o cnn.pnncf nnd not fur from the boat, was ji ] ' parchment?not a paper?with a skull depict y ed upon it. You will, of course, ask, 'when )t J is the connexion ?' I reply that the skull 01 ie ! death's-head is the well-known emblem of th< j pirate. The flag of the death's-head is hoist j._ ( ed in all engagements. Jt "I have said that the scrap was parchment ltj and not paper. Parchment is durable?al in . most imperishable. Matters of little momen w I are rarely consigned to parchment; since fo: ; the mere ordinary purposes of drawing o : writing, it is not nearly so well adapted a of; paper.' This reflection suggested some mean es j ing?some relevancy?in the death's-head h, I did not fail to observe, also, the form of th hs ' parchment. Althouglwone of its corners ha< m been, by some accident, destroyed, it couh lis ' be seen that the original form was oblong. I J was just such a slip, indeed, as might hav * tinctly, positively, to remember that there had been no drawing upon the parchment 7 when I made my sketeh of the scaraboeus. I t became perfectly certain of this; for I recol} lected turning up first one side and the other, in searcb of the cleanest spot. Had the skull 1 been then there, of course I could not have ' failed to notice it. Here was, indeed, a mys} tery, which I felt it impossible to explain; ' but, even at that early moraetat, there seSmeA 3 to glimmer, faintly, within the most remote * and secret chambers of my intellect, a glow* * worm-like conception of that truth which > last night's adventure brought to so magnifir nant o rlpTTinnst.ration. I arose at once, and .putting the parchment securely away, diaf missed all farther reflection until I should be alone. 3 "When you had gone, and when Jupiter 1 was fast asleep, I betook myself to a more f methodical investigation of the affair. In the 3 first place I considered the manner in which the parchment had come into my possession. 3 The spot where we discovered the scarabceua was on the coast, of the main land, about a mjle eastward of the island, and but a short t distance above high water mark. Upon my 3 taking hold of it, it gave me a sharp bite, which caused me to let it drop. Jupiter, , with his accustomed caution, before seizing the insect, which had flown toward him, looked about him for a leaf, or something of that nature, by which to take hold of it. It j was at this moment that his eyes and mine ?1 also, fell upon this scrap of parchment, which j 11 then supposed to be paper. It was lying e i half buried in the sand, a corner sticking up. e 1 Near the spot where we found it, I observed the remnants of the hull of what appeared to '! have been a ship's long boat. The wreck seemed to have been there for a very great while; for the resemblance to boat timbers could scarcely be traced. "Well, Jupiter picked up the parchment, e J wrapped the beetle in it, and gave it to me. s j Soon afterward, we turned to go home, and s on the way met Lieutenant G . I showed | him the insect, and he begged me to let him e ' take it to the fort. Upon my consenting, he v 1 thrust it forthwith into his waistcoat pocket, .. I without the parchment, in which it had been e j wrapped, and which I had continued to hold h | in my hand during his inspection. Perhaps e lie dreadej my. 'changing my mind, and 1 1t- hnat tn miller sure, of the nrize at lon't tell me your name. Ah! I have it Pompey, belonging to Col. Buchanan, the firs! iervant who waited on me when I came tc America. When I landed at Georgetown, ] vas taken first to the camp of Col. Buchanar iear there, and Pompey waited on me," saic le, as he shook warmly the old man's hand The nobleman called for a glass of champagne vith Pompey, which that worthy took with jreat dignity. Then he put out his hand anc aid, "Good-bye, Mas' LaFayette; -we getting >ld?we'll never meet again. God.bless you.' rhey shook hands again. Pompey went out nounted his pony, and started for his home iear Winnsborp', saying he'd come to see Gen LaFayette; now he'd done that he was going lome. < Judge DeSaassure's house was next to the >ne occupied by LaFayette, and here in hi? rard, did this gentleman of the old school lave servants in attendance, constantly bring ng fresh water and dispensing it to the thirstj nen. It was but a cup of cold water, bui low graceful the action, how pure the heart s< *ull of thought for others' comfort. Fre luently would the courtly gentleman, wher he soldiers crowded in, take pitcher in hand ivhile the servants ran for more, and fill cuj ifter cup of water with-hw own hands. The ball given that night, in the Stat< Touse was, I suppose, a splendid affair. Du ing the entire night fire rockets were sent off The next day LaFayette rode round town :alling on different men of eminence. Amonj ithers, so honored, was William Edwart cfayne, formerly Slieriff of York?the son o: Charleston's Revolutionary martyr. Mrs Elayne brought out her infant and said to tin jeneral, "Sir, when ray baby is grown, I wan -o have it to say it was once in the arras o general LaFayette." Benignly he took th< nfant ;in his arras, kissed and blessed it iYhether that babe lived to mature years, t< joast the gentle action which graced its in ancys I know not. After three days' stay, we saw the brigh lageant ended, and returned to York?it jeauties to recount, its pleasures to recall Even now, after the lapse of forty-five years [ recur with pride to these days. ' 'Then none were for a party; Then all were for the State, Then the great helped the poor, And the poor man loved thereat." been chosen for a memorandum?for a record j of something to be long remembered and ! carefully preserved." "But," I interposed, "you say that the i skull was not upon the parchment when you j made the drawing of the beetle. How, then, do you trace any connexion between the boat and the skull?since this latter, according to your own admission, must have been design* ed (God only knows how or by whom) at, some period subsequent to your sketching of the 8carabceii8 ?" "Ah, hereupon turns the whole mystery; although the secret, at this point, I had comparatively little difficult}' in solving. My steps were sure, and could afford but a single result I reasoned, for example, thus: When - * ' ? .1 ? 1 11 1 drew the scaraoceus, mere was no sunn apparent upon the parchment. When I had completed the drawing I gave it to you, and observed you narrowly until you returned it. i You, therefore, did not design the skull, and J iTo one else was present to do it. Then it was. not done by human agency. And nevertheless it was done. "At this stage of ray reflections, I endeavored !to remember, and did remember, with entire distinctness, every incident which occurred about the period in question. The weather was chilly (oh rare and happy accident!), and a fire was blazing upon the hearth. I was heated with exercise and sat near the table. You, however, had drawn a chair close to the chimney. Just as I placed the parchment in your hand, and as you were in the act of inspecting it, Wolf, the Newfoundland, entered, and leaped upon your shoulders. With your left hand you caressed him and kept him off, while your right, holding the parchment, was permitted to fall listlessly between your knees, and in close proximity to the fire. At one moment, I thought the blaze had caught it, and was about to caution you, bj|tr before I could speak, you had with<lra#b 'mfcttd were engaged in its examination. When I considered all these particuiarti, I doub^d'not for a moment that heat had been the'agent in bringing to light, upon the parchment, the skull which I saw designed upon it. You are well aware that chemical preparations exist and have existed time out of mind, by means of which it is possible to write upon either paper or vellum, so that the characters shall become visible only when subjected to the action of fire. Zaffre, digested in aqua regia, and diluted with four times its weight of water, is sometimes employed; a green tint results. The regulus of cobalt, dissolved in spirit of nitre, gives a red. These colors disappear at longer or shorter intervals after the %iaterial written upon cools, but again become apparent upon the re-applicatioti of heat. "I now scrutinized the death's-head with care. Its outer edges?the edges of the drawing nearest the edge of the vellum?were far more distinct than the others. It was clear that the action of the caloric had been imperfect or unequal. I immediately kindled Uf I*. and 8tibinittc3 evSf^portfoh of 'thh j parchment to a glowing heat. At .first, the only effect was the strengthening of the faint lines in the skull; but, upon persevering in the experiment, there became visible, at the corner of the slip, diagonally opposite to the spot in which the death's-head was delineated, tfce figure of what I at first supposed to be a goat. A closer scrutiny, however, satisfied me thatjit was intended for a kid." "Ha!hal" said I, "to be sure I have no right to laugh at you?a million and a half of money is too serious a matter for mirth? but you are not about to establish a third link in your chain?you will not find any special connexion between your pirates and a goat?pirates, you know, have nothing to do With goats; they appertain to the farming, interest** < ""But I hay^ the figure was ii the same | tainKifid.' T a^duiceri-looked upon the figure of the aqimal a^akind of punning or hierogliphlcal mgnafajre. "5 say signature; because ' its position upoft. the velluin 'suggested this idea. The deAth's-head at the corner diag'onally opposite, had, in the same manner, the air of a stamp or seal. But I was sorely put out by the absence of all else?of the body to my imagined instrument?of the text for my context." i "I presume you expected to find a letter1 L.t?^n *1,/. cinmn onrl tVifi oifmntnrp." UUUYtXU tilC OUWUjJ uuvt vuv "Something of that kind. The fact is, I , felt irresistably impressed with a presentiment " i(f some vast good fortune impending. I can scarcely say why. Perhaps after all, it was 'rather a desire than an actual belief; but do you know that Jupiter's silly words, about the bug being of solid gold, had a remarkable effect upon my fancy? And then the series j yf accidents and coincidences?these were ;{so very extraordinary. Do you observe how mere an accident it was that these events should have occurred upon the sole day of all the year in which it has been, or may be, , sufficiently cool for fire, and that without the fire, or without the intervention of the dog at i the precise moment in which he appeared, I should never have become aware of the death's j head, and so never the possessor of the treas- j ure?" , "But proceed?I am all impatience." ^Well; you have heard, of course, the many j stories current?the thousand vague rumors afloat about money buried; somewhere upon the Atlantic coast, by Kidd and his associ-1 ates. These rumors must have had some, i foundation in fact. And* that the rumors ; i have existed so long and so continuous, could'j i have resulted, it appeared to me, only from J - the circumstance of the buried treasure still i remaining entombed. Had Kidd concealed r his plunder for a time, and afterward rei claimed it, the rumors would scarcely have - reached us in their present unvarying form. You will observe that the stories told are all ,! about money-seekers, not about money-finders. -j Had the pirate recovered his money, there the t! affair would have dropped. It seemed to me r; that some accident, say the loss of a memor randura indicating its locality, had deprived s him of the means of recovering it, and that -1 this accident had become known to his fol. i lowers, who otherwise might never have heard e j that treasure had been concealed at all, and 1 who, busying themselves in vain, because uu1 j guided attempts, to regain it. had given first t j birth, and then universal currency, to the ree : ports which are now so common. Have you ever heard of any important treasure being j unearthed along the coast?" "Never." : "But that Kidd's accumulations were immense is well known. I took it for granted, therefore, that the earth still held them ; and you will scarcely be surprised when I tell you that I felt a hope, amounting nearly to certainty, that the parchment so strangely found, involved a lost record of the place of deposit." "But how did you proceed ?" "I held the vellum again to the fire, after increasing the heat; but nothing appeared. I now thought it possible that the coating of dirt might have something to do with the failure; so I carefully rinsed the parchment by pouring warm water over it, and, having done this, I placed it in a tin pan, with the skull downward, and put the pan upon a furnace of lighted charcoal. x In a few minutes, the pan having become thoroughly heated, I removed the slip, and to my inexpress- j ;ui^ ?-,?nri i<- tmnftefl in several nlaces. I 1U1C JUJj 1VU11U <V r , with what appeared to be figures arranged in lines. Again I placed it in the pan, and suffered it to remain another minute. Upon taking it off, the whole was just as you see it now.". Here Legrand having re-heated the parchment, .submitted it to my inspection. The following characters were rudely traced in a red tint between the death's-head and the goat: 63tff305))6?;4826)4t.)4t);806?;-t8t8^60))85;lt(;:t*8t 8bvJ8j5*t;46(;88*96??;8)*t(;48o);5*t2:*i(;4956*2(5* 4)8*18*;4069285);)6t8)4JJ;l(J9;49081;8:8tl;48t85;4)485t 528806,81($9;48;(88;4(t?34;48)4t;161;:188;$?; "But," said I, returning him the slip, "I am as much in the dark as ever. Were all the jewels of Golconda awaiting me upon my solution of this enigma, I am quite sure that I should be unable to earn them." "And yet," said Legrand, "the solution is by no means so difficult as you might be led to imagine from the first hasty inspection of the character. These characters, as any one might readily guess, form a cypher?that is to say, they convey a meaning; but then, from what is known of Kidd, I could not suppose him capable of constructing any of the more abstruse cryptographs. I made up my mind, at once, that this was of a simple species?such, however, as would appear to the crude intellect of the sailor absolutely insoluble without the key." "And you readily solved it?" "Readily ; I have solved others of an abstruseness ten thousand times greater. Circumstances,, and a certain bias of mind, have led me to take interest ill such riddles, and it may well be doubted whether human ingenunuity can construct an enigma of the kind which human ingenuity may not, by proper application, resolve. In fact, having once established connected and legible characters, I scarcely gave a thought to the mere difficulty of developing their import. "In the present case?indeed in all cases of secret writing?the first question regards tbe language of the qipher; for the principles of. solution, so far, especially, as the more simple ciphers are concerned, depend upon, and are varied by, the genius of the particular idiom. In general, there is no alternative but experiment (directed by probabilities) of every tongue known to him. who attempts the solution, until the true one be attained. But, with the cipher now before us, all difficulty was removed by the signature. The pun upon the word 'Kidd' is appreciable in no other language than the English, But for this consideration, I should have beigun.iny attempts with the Spanish and French, as the tongues in which a secret of this kind would most naturally have been written by a pirate of the Spanish main. As it was, I assumed the cryptograph to be English. . \ "You observe thereare no divisions between the words. Had there been divisions the task would have been comparatively easy.: In such case, I should have commenced with a collation and analysis of the shorter words, and, had a word of a siugle letter occurred, as is most likely, (a or J, for example), I should have considered the solution as assured. But, there being no division, my first step was to ascertain the predominant letters, as well as the least frequent. Counting all, I constructed a table thus: Of the character 8 there are 33. ; " 26. 4 " 19. \ Jt) 1G. * 6 " 13. 5 " 12. 0 ? 11. t 1 " 8. 0 " 1 6. 9 2 r, " 5. : 3 " 4. ? " 3. . ? " 2. . " 1. "Now, in English, the letter which most frequently occurs is e. Afterward, the succession runs thus: aoidhnrstuyc f g I m wb kpq x z. E predominates so remarkably, that an individual sentence of any lnnrrfh in rnrelv seen, in which it is not the J. , ? prevailing character, "Heret then, we have, in the very beginning, the groundwork for something more than a mere guess. The general use which may be made of the table is obvious?but in this particular cipher, we shall only very partially require its aid. As our predominant character is 8, we will commence by assuming it as the e of the natural alphabet. To verify the supposition, let us observe if the 8 be seen often in couples?for e is doubled with great frequency in English?in such words, for example, as 'meet,' 'fleet,' 'speed,' 'seen,' 'been,' 'agree,' &c. In the present instance we see it doubled no less than five times, although the cryptograph is brief. "Let us assume 8, then, as e. Now, of all words in the language, 'the' is the most usual; let us see, therefore, whether there are not repititions of any three characters, in the same order of collocation, the last of them being 8. If we discover repetitions of such letters, so arranged, they will most probably i represent the word 't|ie.' Upon inspection,! we find no less than seven such arrangements, i -J. 1. ?; ? ? WTn mnn I ine ommiciers ueuig ,iu. n c xuttuuic, j i assume that ; represents t, 4 represents h, and 8 represents e?the last being now well con-1 firmed. Thus a great step has been taken. "But having established a single word, we | are enabled to establish a vastly important i point; that is to say, several commencements ; and terminations of other words. Let us ( refer, for example, to the last instance but j one, in which the combination ;48 occurs?not | far from the end of the cipher. We know that the ; immediately ensuing is the coinI inencement of a word, and of the six char' acters succeeding this 'the,' we are cognizant ( of no less than five. Let us set these char acters down, thus, by the letters we know t them to represent, leaving a space for the ^ unknown t'eeth. ? i "Here we-are enabled, at once, to discard ( the 'th,' as forming no portion of the word t commencing with the first t; since, by ex* ? periment of the entire alphabet for a letter f adapted to the vacancy, we perceive that no ? word can be formed of which this th can be a t part. We are thus narrowed into - t . t ee, and, going through the alphabet, if necessary, as before, we arrive at the word 'tree,' as the sole possible reading. We thus gain an- c other letter, r, represented by (, with the s words, 'the tree,' in juxtaposition. "Looking beyond these words for a short ^ distance, we again see the combination ;48, c and employ it by way of termination to what immediately precedes. We have thus this arrangement: * the tree ;4{^T34 the, or, substituting the natural letters, where * known, it reads thus: the tree thrj?3h the. * "Now, if, in place of the unknown charac- 4 ters, we leave blank spaces, or substitute dots, we read thus: 4 the tree thr...h the, e when the word 'through' makes itself evident c at once. But this discovery gives us three e new letters, o, ? and g, represented by J ? c and 3. r "Looking now, parrrowly, through the z cipher for combinations of known characters, i we find, not very far from the beginning, this r arrangement, 1 83(88, or ejjree r which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word f 'degree,' and gives us another letter, d, repre- {. seuted by f. u "Four letters beyond the word 'degree,' we ^ perceive the combination 0 ;48(;88. c "Translating the known characters, and ^ reprtisentiug the unknown by dots, as before, ^ we read thus: _ , th rtee, 11 an arraBgementimraediatelysuggestive of the 8 word 'thirteen,' and again furnishing us with two new characters, t and n, represented by 4 6 and *. 1 "Referring, now," to the beginning of the 1 cryptograph, we find the combination, * mt- < "Translating as before, we obtain { . good, ^ - t which assures us that the first letter is A, and < that the first two words are 'A good.' ? "It is now time that we arrange our key, as a far as discovered, in a tabular form, to avoid $ confusion. It will stand thus: t 5 represents- a ?. t " d 1 8 " e . r 3 " g . i 4 " . h 1 6 " i C " n X " ' o ( " r - n t. } "We have, therefore, no less than ten of the most important letters represented, and it will . be unnecessary to proceed with the details of . the solution. I have said enough to convince you that ciphers of this nature are readily soluble, and to give you some insight into the rationale of their development But be . assured that the specimen before us appertains to the very simplest species of cryptograph,. It now only remains to give you the full translation of the characters upon the parchment, as unriddled. Here it is: 'A good glass in the bishop's hostel in the devil's seat forty-one degtees and thirteen , minutes northeast and by north main branch , seventh limb east side shoot from the left eye of the death's-head a bee line from the tree, through the shot fifty feet out"'. "But,'-said I, "the enigma seems still in as , bad-a condition as ever. How is it possible to extort a meaning from all this jargon about . 'devil's seats,' death's-heads,' and 'bishop'* ^ hotels? " J "I confess," replied Legrand, "that the matter still wears a serious aspect, when re- ' garded with a casual glance. My first en- . deavor was to divide the sentenoe into the natural division intended by the cryptograph- { tat" J "You mean, to punctuate it?" "Something of that kind." "But how was it possible to effect this ?" t "I reflected that it had been & point with the writer to run his words together without y division, so as to increase the difficulty of so- j lution. Now, a not-over acute man, in pur- t suing such an object, would be nearly certain to overdo the matter. When in the course j of his composition he arrived at a break in . his subject which would naturally require a pause, or a point, he would,, be exceedingly ^ apt to run his characters, at this place, more ^ than usually close together. If you will ob- ^ serve the MS., in the present instance, you j will easily detect five such cases of unusual crowding. Acting upon this hint, I made ( the division thus: . "A good glass in the Bishop's hostel in the ( Devil's 8eat^forty-one degrees and thirteen { minutes?north-east and by north?main branch seventh limb east side?shoot from ( the left eye of the death's-head?a bee-line ( from the tree through toe shot fifty feet out.'" , "Even this division," said I, "leaves me still in the dark." "It left me also in the dark," replied Legrand, "for a few days; during which I made diligent inquiry, in the neighborhood of Sullivan's Island, for any budding which went by the name of the 'Bishop's Hotel,;' for, of course, I dropped the obsolete word 'hostel.' Gaining no information on the subject, I was on the point of extending my sphere of search, and proceeding in a more systematic manner, when, one morning, it entered into my head, quite suddenly, that this '.bishop 8 nosiei might have some reference to an old family by the name of Bessop, which, time out of mind, had held possession of an ancient manor-house, about four miles to the northward of the Island. I accordingly went over to the plantation, and re-instituted my inquiries among the older negroes of the place. At length one of the most aged of the women said that she had heard of such a place as Bessop's Castle, and thought that she could guide me to it, but that it was not a castle, 1 nor a tavern, but a high rock. I offered to pay her well for her troilble, and : after some demur, she consented to accompai ny me to the spot. We found it without much difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proj ceeded to examine the place. The 'castle' consisted of an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks?one of the latter being quite remarkable for its height as well as for its insulated and artificial appearance. I clambered 0 its apex, and then teic mucn at a iuw ? w vhat should be next done. "While I was busied in reflection, my eyes ell upon a narrow ledge in the eastern face >f the rock, perhaps a yard below the summit lpon which I stood. This ledge projected ibout eighteen inches, and was not more than 1 foot wide, while a niche in the cliff just ibove it, gave it a rude resemblance to one of he hollow-backed chairs used by our ancesors. I made no doubt that here was the devil's seat' alluded to in the MS., and now I eemed to grasp the full secret of the riddle. "The 'good glass,' I knew, could have ref:rence to nothing but a telescope; for the vord 'glass* is rarely employed in any other ense by seamen.'! Now here, I at once saw, vas a telescope to be used, and a definite point if view, admitting no variation, from which to ise it Nor did I hesitate to believe that the >hrases, 'forty-one degrees and thirteen mini tA?' and 'north-e&at bv north.' were intended is directions for the leveling of the glass. Jreatly excited by these discoveries, I hurried tome, procured a telescope, and returned "to he rock. "1 let myself down to the ledge, and found hat it was impossible to retain a seat upon it ixcept in one particular position. This fact sonfirmed my preconceived idea. I proceeded to use the glass. Of course, the forty-one legrees and thirteen minutes' could allude to tothing but elevation above the visible hori- * on, since the horizontal direction was'clearly ndicated by the words, 'north east and by torth.' This latter direction I at onoe estabished by means of a pocket compass; then, ?ointing the glass as nearly at sin angle of orty-one degrees of elevation as I could dp it >y. guess, I moved it cautiously up or down, intil my attention was arrested by a ciroular ift or opening in the foliage of a large tree that vertopped its follows in the distance. In the entre of this rift I perceived a white spot, iut could sot, at first, distinguish what it was, Ldjusting the focus of the telescope, I again ooked, and now made it out to be a human kull. "Upon this discovery I was so sanguine as 0 consider the enigma solved; for the phrase main branch, seventh limb, east-side,' could efer Only to the position of the skull upon he tree,-while 'shoot from, the left eye of the 1 :.il I. 1 - If -3 *11. -3 learn s neaa aamnieu, huso, ui uut uuc iuw >retation, in regard to .a search for buried reasure. I perceived that the design was to Irop a bullet from the left eye of the skull, ind that a bee-line, or, in other words, a traight line, drawn from the nearest point of he trunk through the shot, (or the spot where he bullet fell,) and thence extended to a disance of fifty feet, would indicate a definite >oint?and beneath this point I thought it at east possible that a deposit of value lay consealed." "All this," I said, "is exceedingly dear, and although ingenious, still simple and explicit. rVhen you left the Bishop's Hotel, what hen?" | ibaving. carefully taken the Wings >f the tree^i turned homeward.- The instant hat I left the'devil's seat,' however, the drsular rift vanished,; nor could I get a glimpse if it afterward, turn as I would. What seems o me the chief ingenuity in this whole buailess, is the fact (for repeated experiment has :onvinced me it is a fact) that the circular ipening in question is visible from no other itt^inable point of view than that afforded by he narrow ledge upon the face of the rock. : "In this expedition to the Bishop's Hotel, I tad been attended by Jupiter., who had, no loubt, observed for some weeks past, the abtraction of my demeanor, and took, especial are not to leave me alone. But, on the next lay, getting up very early, I contrived to give tim the slip, and went into the hills 1ft search f the tree. After much toil I found it. Yhen I came home at night my valet proweed to give me a flogging. With the rest of he adventure I believe you are as well ao[uainted as myself" . "I suppose," said I, "you missed the spot, n the. first attempt at digging, through Jujiter's stupidity in letting the bugfidlthrough he right instead of through the left eye of he skull" "Precisely. This mistake made a difference f about two inches and a half in the 'shot'? hat is to say, in the position of the peg nearst the tree; and had the treasure been beleath the 'shot,' the error would have been of ittle moment; but 'the shot,' together jfith he nearest poiuts of the tree, were merely two >oints for the establishment of a line of di ection; of course the error, however trivial n the beginning, increased as we proceeded vith the line, and by the time we had gone ifty feet, threw us qnite off the scent Bat br my deep seated impressions that treasure vas here somewhere actually buried, we might lave had all our labor in vain." "But your grandiloquence, and your coniuct in swinging the beetle?how excessively >dd I I was sure you were mad. And why lid you insist upon letting fell the bug, inrtead of this bullet, from the aknll?" "Why, to be frank, I felt somewhat annoyed by your evident suspicions touching my sanity, and so resolved to punish you quietly, in my own way, by a little bit of sober mystification. For this reason I swung the beetle, and for this reason I let it fell from the tree. An observation of yours about its great weight suggested the latter idea." "Yes, I perceive; and now there is only one "point which puzzles me. What are we to make of the skeletons found in the hole P "That is a question I am no more able to answer than yourself. There seems, however, only one plausible way of accounting for them?and yet it is dreadful to believe in such atrocity as my suggestion would imply. It is clear that Kidd?if Kidd indeed secreted this treasure, which I doubt not?it is clear that he must have had assistance in the labor. But thiu* labor concluded, he may have thought it expedient to remove all participants in his scorePerhaps a couple of blows with a mattock were sufficient, while his coadjutors were busy in the pit; perhaps it required a dozen?who shall tell P [the end.] *?"* The other day Molecule propounded the following to Atom: "A boy said to a gentleman, 'My father and mother have a daughter, but she is not my sister.' Now how do you explain that?" Atom reflected, but all in vain. To his- every suggestion, Molecule replied by a mild but decided negative. At length Atom was forced to give it up. "Why, it's simpie enough," said Molecule, with an exasperating smile, "the boy lied to the gentleman I" % Z ; ? Try" vjS V.- ; f 5