Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, June 03, 1880, Image 1
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YOL. 26. YOEKYILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, JrNE 3, 188Q. ISTO. 28."
5 fUwaiw flf
ELLEN' Gi
o:
KING S M
BY MRS. MAR'
CHAPTER XXIII.
If hearty sorrow
Be a sufficient reason for offence,
I tender it here ; I do as truly suffer
As e'er I did commit.
Shakspeare.
Herbert found his mother in such a state of
convalescence, that he was almost tempted to
doubt the imminency of the danger that had
recalled him. He had been home many days
and yet no word of the faraway Leonora had
passed his lips. His father's sternness, as well
as his mother's love, had kept bim silent.
They never spoke of the remote hints of his
letters, and a strange timidity forbade him to
speak of what so deeply concerned him. As
day succeeded day, his difficulties increased,
and each one proved more conclusively Leonora's
unfitness for the domestic life that made
his happiness. He recalled her haughty
pride?the arrogance he had called independence
; and her bold defiance of what she
called conventional prejudice?what he now
saw was principle. The very fierceness of her
love startled him, and he shrank from bringing
her in contact with his firm but gentle
mother. But this was ungenerous, unkind.
He would meet the fate which he now felt had
been thrust upon him. Love, honor, and
duty commanded, and such calls his parents
would not bid him slight, nor would they re
ject when offered. He sought his mother.
Boylike, he would make her his friend first.
"Mother," said he, I have a secret I want
to tell you."
"And so have I one for you, Herbert," she
smilingly answered ; "and to day you will see
my secret, and own mine is the sweetest and
best. Hush," said she, as he would have
spoken, "not a word ; wait till you see Ellen
Campbell."
"A day does not matter," he thought. "Ellen
Campbell can be nothing to me, and
where i3 there a beauty like my Leonora?"
He had written to Mr. Monckton, but not
to Leonora; waiting till he could give her
the joyful news of a daughter's welcome. It
was evening when Ellen Campbell came.
Herbert had roamed listlessly all day, dis
satisfied and dispirited. He wished tbostranger
was not coming. "Had it not been for
her, my mind would now be unburdened," he
said fretfully. He heard her answer to his
mother's greeting; frank, cordial, earnest.
Not in musical musing, nor yet high toned or
sharp; but clear, decided, tuneful, with a
vibration of melody peculiarly sweet A
faint color Hushed to her fair cheek, as modestly
raising her eyes, she acknowledged his
welcome. Such modesty was very sweet, and
he could not forbear longing again to rouse
that fleetiug color, again to look into the untroubled
azure of her eyes. The golden flow
of her hair, the sweet arch ex predion of
the little graceful figure, were all beautiful,
but not so beautiful as the soul looking from
that lovely face?womanly, pure, strong and
true. Oh ! bow he rested in the cool, calm,
grateful atmosphere of her presence. It was
like breathing a strong wind after being enervated
by a warm and unwholesome air.
I And now, painting and poetry gave place to
J freedom and morals; passion and frivolity, to
dignity and virtue. In this school he learnt
the highest destiny of woman is the fulfillment
of domestic duties, and the peace which
accrues from the faithful discharge of them,
the basis of public welfare. How the honest,
fearless spirit roused him ; how the good,
true, cheerful heart encouraged him ! It was
no enthusiasm, no passion he felt for her, but
an intense reality which grasped and struggled
with his inmost heart. He never thought
of love. He could not, would not so insult
her; but the bitter, bitter fate, that had so
separated them ! Her quiet unobtrusive habits,
her womanly tastes, her winning affections,
her maidenly modesty, her dignity, her gen
tleness, were as so many stars in the crown of
her woman's worth.
Aud how tender she was with the pale,
dreaming student; how gently would she correct
the mystical theories; how patiently lead
the restless soul in holy faith to the rock that
never fails the tried and tossed; how sweet
such woman counsel,even when man'sstem reason
smiles on it, and even as he smiles listens
and sighs for such perfect trust! Herbert's
nature, so vascillating, so impulsive, rested in
her cool judgment, her inflexible will. She
won witliout awiug him ; she guided without
restraining. She was as the fountain to the
river of his nature, answering all demands?
equal to all emergencies. She was the dew
to the flower, drooping so kindly, so gently,
resting so sweetlv. so softlv. and extracting
- 0 J J ? I o
as silently and surely the perfumes of his
mind and heart. How that heart aud hand
sprung to the great duties of life under her
earnest purpose; how hi3 mind, now active
for good, nobly, actively strove under such impulse,
and how his whole nature rested and
reposed in such companionship ! Sometimes
the question would startle him, does she
love me? And he would tremblingly hush
the quietly thing, while a spasm of intense
agony would wring his heart. She had taught
him to battle with reality, to struggle against
temptation ; and bravely did he answer her
teachings. He set a seal on his lips, a band
upon his heart, and the one should be silent
in death, the other burst ere he would forget
himself. Yet day after day his mind revolted
more from speaking of Lenora. \Yould
he could bury the memory! His dream of
passion?how he loathed it! What are the
memories of imagination, to a man encircled
by all the realities of social life, founded
in pure and holy affection ? He would rest
a while, gain a little mere courage, and then
he would calmly tell them all, and forever
leave the home of his boyhood, the spot dearer
than ever now, and bury his wretchedness
and his grief in the land that had so beguiled
him.
One evening he had been exercising with
a wild and unmanageable horse, the art iu
which he delighted, and in which we have
said he excelled. He had just subdued him,
as he thought, and was pacing him around
the house to prove his docility, when a careless
servant sprung a ratau he held in his
hand. It struck the fiery animal, and Herbert,
off his guard at the moment, was thrown
with such violence, as to lie senseless and
bleeding?to all appearances dead. His first
consciousness was a sound of hurried and conflicting
orders, a mother's tears upon his face
and his father's voice, sterner thau usual,
trembled in strange tremor. He slowly
opened his eyes, a vision of a face unearthly
pale bending over him with unutterable
agony of expression passed before him, and
eveu as he strove to smile, he relapsed into
unconsciousuess. For days after that he lay
in dreamy languor, with that one vision ever
present.
One day being more than usually alone,
excited by the memory of the past, and the
hopelessness of the future, he determined to
make the.attempt and seek the family. In
considerable weakness, he managed to reach
thf fUMfetifln.
WiELL;
R,
OUNTAIN.
Y A, EWAKT.
the parlor. Ellen .was there and alone. She
turned as he eutered. Oh! he could not
mistake the joy of that look. His own heart
trembling in sweet echoiogs, was the too
faithful interpreter. The warm blood dyed
her cheek to crimson, and the soft humid
eyes seemed melting in their liquid depths.
The happy knowledge was too much for him.
His soul was flooded in the fond ecstacy, and
pale and trembling, he would have fallen had
she not assisted him. He leant his head on
her shoulder for one sweet moment; then
feebly walking to a seat, still supported by
her fair arm, he drew her to him.
"This is as it should be, Ellen," he said, as
tiio hoftH rested on her shoulder. "Your
support, your encouragement. God knows I
need it, Ellen. Life of my life, health of all
that is holy in my nature, tell me you love
me.
His head fell upon her bosom, his arm was
around her, as trembling in his nature's impassioned
impulse, he awaited the reply that
he felt was to give not only happiness but
life. Gently raising him from his position,
silently unclasping the arms that were around
her, Ellen tenderly laid his head on the pillows
of the lounge, and taking her 6eat by
his side, she said :
"Now, we will talk Herbert; what do you
want of me?"
She called him Herbert, and ah ! she could
not raise those earnest truthful eyes to his
face.
"I want you to be my guide, my stay, my
hope of heaven, ray soul's salvation, Ellen,"
he said vehemently.
"Hush, Herbert; don't talk so wildly.
That I can never be, sinful and erring as I
am; but your solace, your comfort, your
sympathizing friend, your loving counsellor,
your help-meet Herbert, I will be?so help
God. Her calmness, her solemnity awed
him. He shuddered and covered his face
with his hands.
"Do not think I do not love you Herbert.
You are very, very dear to me. Your gentle
affection, your truth, your nobleness, all commend
it; but this is not all. I love you for
an inner self that I do not as yet understand ;
a fastidiousness of feeling, a reserve, shy and
proud, a hidden mystery of character that
has fascinated and enthralled me. Do I speak
too boldly ! Believe I would practice more
reserve did I not think you needed protestation
to assure you."
"Boldly, Ellen ! You bold ? Oh ! if you
knew?if you could see ray heart!"
"1 will yet see it and understand it all, shall
I not ?" she asked sweetly.
"God forbid" he cried, in strong emotion.
""Plllon" Bald he trrasnin^ her hand and
?> o 1?o - drawing
her with irresistible force towards
him, "let me tell you how madly, how passionately
I love you. How I would dare
defy earth and hell to win you ; how I would
risk my hope of heaven for your sweet sake.
Oh! Ellen, to claim you, pure angel, as my
wife, is a joy I never dared to hope, and
now, angels and devils do their worst, you are
mine, and as mine I will hold you."
There was a 6re in his eyes, a flush on his
cheek, a burning fever in his bounding pulse,
that startled and pained her.
"Herbert," she said reproachfully, withdrawing
herself from his detaining arm, "This
is unseemly and, forgive me?cruel." Tears
trembled in her soft blue eyes and her lip
quivered.
"Forgive me, Ellen, dearest, best; I am
beside myself. I know not what I say. I
but know I love, heaven knows how wildly?
and am beloved. Kiss me my own, my
peerless Ellen, and with that kiss, grant
forgiveness." She drew coldly, proudly from
him.
"Betrothal is too pure and holy to be contaminated
by baser passions. Your kiss is
for a wife, not a maiden. I will not tell you
mn/tk Vtrn irnnn/lo^ mo> Kllf T HPOT
nun iuuv/ii juu it*?nvuuuvu iuvj
you not to repeat it."
"Good heavens, Ellen, how have I offended
? What do you mean ? "Oh ! do not withdraw
the sweet boon of your love from me.
Deprived of that, I am indeed wretched.
He buried his face in the cushion. His tone
was hopeless and sad in the extreme. Strange
mystery he was ; so cold, so shy, so passionate,
so tender. What should she do ? If she
encouraged him, he was all wildness ; if she
frowned, he was all hopelessness.
"You are yet ill ; you are feverish. Herbert?you
must be calm ; when you are better
we will tulk of this."
Her composure, her dignity, awed him.
H, was as a docile child before her. She
would not listen to his passionate vows, nor
suffer his lover like caresses, and when she
found he sought occasion for these, she would
not meet him alone, but contrived a third
person should be always a party to their meetings.
If he was passionate and tender, she
was cold and shy. If he was warm and eager,
she was proud and reserved. If he was
reckless and pleading, she was calm and firm ;
till he was fain to believe her cold as the
TV inrin k In t~\ TT Im r\n f IrvnrtA ?n r?A/1 k ah
jL/iaua ilia aiigi jr itupauicii^c uaiucu uci.
One day, after iu vain striving to warm her
into something like sympathy for his passionate
feelings, he said :
"I do not believe you know what love is,
Ellen."
"You do not!" she replied, with that arch
smile, that he so loved.
"No," said he, angrily, "else you could not
be so firm, so cold."
She watched him a moment as he stood
looking moodily from her.
"The mountain glacier, Herbert, that you
so often tell me of, is cold, firm, impassive,
while held by its icy bands; but bursting its
chains an avalanche thunders down, the
streams become torrents, and nature itself is
startled by the mighty fall."
"And your love is like this! Tell me, Ellen,"
said he, suddenly turning and grasping
her hand.
"Hush, Herbert. A maiden's love will not
be questioned," she replied, the rosy color
deepening on neck and brow, as she withdrew
her hands from him.
"Suffice it, you have the exchange of my
love's faithful vow."
"Yes ; butI would hear it again and yet
again, and never weary of the hearing, that
this bud of love, by constant breath, might
prove a beauteous flower," said he.
"You would mar and destroy it by constant
handling," she replied, "even as flowers will
not brook a warm and rough pressure."
"You are right, Ellen," said he. "In spite
of my impatience, I feel you are right, and in
the very coldness that I so censure, my better
nature finds sweet repose and rest. But, Ellen,
tell me?for you have taught me that I
do not know it?what love is? I call it a
passion?you would make it an affection ;
tell me and teach me how to purify and elevate
it."
"Love is a passion, it is true, Herbert, but
a holy one; it is an affection, too?but a noble
one. It is, I think," said she, though blushing
deeply, as she always did when speaking
on the forbidden theme, "a perfect delight
and repose in the object of our affections, with
the knowledge that he has the same delight
and repose in us, and though time or change
might discover many or grievous faults, yet
we know no knowledge will ever make us falter
or doubt in our calm trust?"
"No knowledge, Ellen ?" said he, eagerly.
"What, not if honor, if principle were concerned
?"
Her clear eyes met his wonderingly.
"Honor and principle! That were impossible."
"But if it were so, Ellen ; if you had been
deceived ?"
"Then would I wipe him from the page of I
my heart. I could not love one destitute of
either. My ideal would still be there, but he
would no longer give it life."
"And you would love again ?*' he almost
whispered.
"Yes, when the marble of my petrified ideal
decayed."
"And that would be?Ellen ?"?
"In the grave," she answered, iu her clear,
firm tones.
And from that moment every thought of
righting Leonora died in his heart, crushed
back by the more terrible grief of Ellen's
widowed sorrow. He did not again vex her
by his patience, or startle her with his passion,
but firmly and calmly, he insisted on a
speedy union. Every objection was overruled,
and though Ellen was sometimes provoked
with the urgency, she could not but
respect the cool determination that would not
suffer her to gainsay him. Mr. and Mrs.
Willoughby, too, urged it, and were his warm
advocates, so that scarcely three months after
his return, Ellen Campbell became his wife.
If delirium was happiness, he was for awhile
happy, but only to be racked by the fiercest
torture when calm reason regained her seat.
His only hope now was in Mr. Monckton,
and the preservation of the secret which
made him to Leonora still, as only "Howard,
the Englishman." He wrote to Monckton
immediately, detailing the violent opposition
of his parents, and charging him to cherish the
secret, and not to attempt a passage until he
warned him. For awhile tbtse letters satisfied
Mr. Monckton, but Herbert was at length al
most maddened by receiving one from him informing
him of the birth of an inl'ant son,
and Leonora's determination at once to seek
i him ; of his acknowledgement of Herbert's
being in America, though still preserving
the secret of his name and of his home. Frantic
with terror though he was, he could yet
calmly deliberate on the means for preventing
the dreadful and shameful discovery.
While yet arranging these plans, news of Mr.
Mockton's death reached him, and he gave
way to the wildest emotion. He upbraided
himself with perfidy, with cruelty, nay even
with murder, and Ellen, shocked and pained
at the wild grief, found it necessary to rebuke
him with a harshness she had never before
ventured. Stung to the heart by her scorn of
an unmanliness she could understand, he
strove to check his passionate self-reproach.
But his secret and bitter repentance he could
not so easily subdue, nor the inteuse longing
to see his only child. His life had been indeed
one of misery, not the least of which
was his knowledge that Ellen had suspected
a secret and hidden cause of misery, and
though too generous, too trusting ever to seek
to divine the cause, yet he knew his want of
confidence had embittered her life.
*****
Respect for her memory had sternly forbid
him seeking his child after her death, as the
knowledge of the discovery of it, involving
her in shame, had forbidden it during her life.
So the years had passed, till Graham had
been brought, pale and wounded, to his house.
The dread of retribution had haunted him
like a fearful ghost, during all these years,
and when Graham appeared so suddenly before
him, he at once recognized the wronged
Leonora's child, and bowed to a judgment he
had long considered inevitable. He was not
long in discovering the young Englishman's
love for Ellen, and immediately his heart
greeted this as atonement for his sin, and he
vowed to accomplish the union. Graham's
impetuosity?his ardent love?carried him
back, in fearful reality, to his own passionate
youth. He sympathized with every emotion,
and Ellen's coldness maddened him as much
as it did Graham. Every taste, every fancy
of the boy, was his own. How he loved the
proud, passionate, impulsive youth ; how he
yearned to claim him as his child. Alas! it
was part of his punishment that he should
not. Every thoughtless word of the highsouled
boy forbade it; every emotion, every
tone, taught him how he should be despised.
It was a bitter punishment, day after day, to
watch the youth, who never gave a thought to
the old man, save as the uncle of Ellen ; to
know that his yearning love, his almost wor
ship, was accepted in careless courtesy, which
courtesy grew sometimes impatient at a scrutiny
he could not understand, a tenderness
often deemed officious. And more bitter than
all, to have his deep sympathy, his eager interest,
his paternal love, construed by his boy
into an incipient madness where caprice chose
him as its subject. And now he was dead?
and the old man was desolate and heart, broken.
No other one could fill the void that
had ached for so many weary years to grasp
the child who perished in the possession. His
days, he knew, were numbered, and he but
asked to see the child he had so long loved?
whom a merciful God had prevented his making
her also miserable?happy and blessed,
and he would welcome the death that he had
so long waited for.
Thus ended the unhappy record ; and Ellen
no longer wondered at the fierce passion that
would have sacrificed her, nor at the mute
despair, the shuddering terror, they had sometimes
called?madness!
CHAPTER XXIV.
"Stand
Firm for your country and become a man
Honor'd and lov'd." Johnson.
"There, Ellen, you have dressed that for
the last time, as Ellen Campbell," said Davie,
a few days after reading the above record.
"Are you tired of my surgery ?" she replied,
smiling as she drew the unseemly bandage
away, and laid the clustering hair tenderly
over the wound.
"No, only tired of my maiden nurse. Do
you know, Ellen, I fancy a wife's hands are
much softer and sweeter," said the bold trooper,
throwing his arm around her.
"Do you ?" she archly replied. "How can
you tell but experience will prove the fancy
as deceitful as other airy castles? Then how j
will vou redeem the independence so slight-1
ed ?"
"I will not attempt it, dear girl; but pay
the forfeit of ray rash desire, by the devotion
of my life. But you beg the question.
Answer?what says my Ellen ? Must I suffer
for my surgeon ?"
"You are not in earnest, Henry?" said Ellen,
deeply blushing.
"By this kiss, I swear," said he, snatching !
a kiss from her cheek ere her startled and
proud "why, Davie!" could prevent. He
laughed at the pouting chagrin of her face.
"Come, dearest; must I swear again. Remember
you are responsible for these oaths.
Of course, I am not now a free agent, or
will I conclude that my Ellen not only believes
what I have said, but will perform it?"
"You are mystical, Henry," she replied,
turning her blushing face from him. "I dc
not understand you."
"Heaven defend me from the un-Americar
character! Now if my speech should be
Anglo-Saxon, not only in brevity but in aimplicity,
remember you urged me to it and
tempted a plainness of utterance I oftenei
admire than dare.
"No, Davie, I will not listen," she laughed,
as she arose to leave him ; but he would not
allow it.
"I know something of the Anglo-Saxon
you so admire," said she, "which you profess
your modesty does not allow you to
dare, but which I never knew to delay its
utterance. I will hear more of its bold
pleadings."
"Then it shall not speak a word?but three,
Ellen. Be my wife!" said he.
"You asked me that long ago, dear Henry,
and I said "yes," she replied, her pure, clear
eves meeting his.
"But to-day, Ellen?now,"
"Now? Do you wish it?" She had no
need to ask again. She almost regretted she
had so questioned. Davie was not often demonstrative,
but when her loosed the strong
curb of bis will, he was is ardently impetuous
as most Carolinians.
"The truth is, Ellen, I cannot accept no.
It is a coin that never would pass with me.
Now an honest yes, I appreciate and love,
and my Ellen's yes?shy trembler, that it is,
that so fears its best friend?I will welcome
to my warm beart, and nurse it to a life that
will never plead for recall."
"Yes?but yet," said Ellen, hesitatingly.
"I'll accept the 'yes,' without the 'but yet.'
'But yet,' is a jailor to let out some monstrous
malefactor. And seriously, Elleni if
you distinctly understand that I wish it?I
think you do, do you not?" he questioned
mischievously.
"Quite satisfied," said she, drawing shily
away from him. He laughed, "I do not object
to repeat the protestation."
"But I do, and seriously, Davie," said she
gravely.
"Well, Ellen, don't tempt me with that innocent
look of wonder in your bhie eyes, or
I'll forget myself and swear again. But,
seriously, your uncle urges this, and I think
u/o oliniilii orrfltifir liim "
"But now, Henry?so sudden?"
"Do you not know me well enough?" said
he gravely.
"Davie!" she cried, reproachfully.
"Nor trust me, Ellen ?" Her hand sought
his iu earnest entreaty. "Then, why hesitate
? Come love, be generous."
"How?" she whispered ; and Davie knew
he had conquered.
"Say Henry?I love you," said he, drawing
the dear form to his heart.
"But you know it," she whispered, her
glowing cheek resting againt his.
"Then say?Henry I will be your wife."
"Ah ! Henry you know that, too," said
tii? I? i?a ? u:?
XLtfiitr 119 uiuiug uci ucuu uii ma auuumci.
"God bless you, Ellen. Now for weal or
woe !" he cried triumphantly, as he hastened
to Mr. Willoughby with the joyful tidings.
Mr. Willoughby had not allowed Mr.
Adams to leave them, so there was nothing
to hinder the ceremony. There were no fashionable
friends to call, no bride cake to make,
none of the thousand and one contrivances
to tantalize and disturb the sacred peace of
a newly wedded pair. In
after years, Davie often saw his wife
more richly attired, as glittering in jewels,
courted and caressed, she moved in gay
throngs, the cynosure of all eyes, but never
was she so lovely to him, as on that quiet
winter night, with her dark blue dress buttoned
close to the fair white throat, and relieved
by its delicate lace collar, her rich
golden hair shining in glossy waves, bound
as a proud coronal around her head, a sweet,
coy smile trembling around the parted lips,
and love's liquid light melting her blue eyes
to violet lustre, she answered his tender and
eager vows with a whispered, "my dear
husband !"
One word more and we have done.
In process of time, four marble slabs were
erected in the quiet country graveyard of
that mountain church, where first we heard
the voice of liberty! One was inscribed to
Herbert Willoughby?
" Judge not, that ye be not judged."
Another to Francis Edward Graham?
"My Son !"
Poor Mr. Willoughby, he could not claim
him in life?he would in death.
Another to Alexander Bowen and Bessie
Craig?
" They loved in life?in death they were not
divided."
Another to Andrew Craig?
it A w y? *1 /"T n/J'.. In a i nurwl* "
?a'* uu/iDot- //iuh?uvu o fiuuioob ww? ?.
Mr. Adams lived to see the liberty he had
so prayed for bless the land he loved, and his
children's children yet live to reverence the
integrity of his character, and his noble struggle
for truth and justice.
The impetuous, but warm hearted and generous
Sevier, found one "that would be wooed
and not unsought be won," till he was fain
to declare that the devil spoke an accidental
truth when he said "there was a terror in love
and beauty." Nevertheless, his "pleaded reason"
was at length approved, and he wrote to
Davie that he was at length privileged to
guard her, or with her, endure the worst.
His descendants yet live to be proud of their
^1- Pfl KnlinQ fXn/llv
ptlbl iut iiaiuC) auu 11 wi in vatviiuw avajviaj
cherishes the memory of her Cleveland, her
Shelby, and her faithful Sevier.
And Davie and Ellen?fearless patriot?
pure woman ; they were, indeed, help-meets
for each other. His work was not yet done.
He hacj yet battles to fight for his country,
and nobly did he perform his duty, and so
well did he and his compatriots fight, that in
less than one year from that well-fought field
of the Cowpens, the King of Great Britain
acknowledged the States to be "free, sovereign
and independent." It was a glorious
heritage to leave his children, and the proud
father in after years fought many a bloodstained
field o'er pgain, as he charged his
boys to guard well the holy legacy, bought
with the blood of a Williams, of a Campbell,
of a Bowen ; or whispered to his daughters
of the bitter wrongs of Bessie Craig, and in
prouder accents of the noble heroism of Ellen
Campbell.
the end.
Freaks of a Needle.?A few weeks ago,
as a young lady of Salisbury, Md., was getting
into a carriage, a sewing needle was by
some means forced into her thigh, but being
considered a trifling matter, little or no attention
was paid to it at the time. Several days
after this occurrence, however, her ankle
pained her very much, and, on examination,
it was found that the needle was the cause of
it. In her efforts to get it out it broke, and
she only succeeded in getting one part "(the
eye half) of it out. The point part remained,
and two days after she felt that just below
the knee, but was still unable to get it out.
Two weeks then elapsed, and she felt something
in her throat, but the obstruction was
supposed to be a fish bone. After several efforts
to remove it she at last succeeded,
and it proved to be the point part of the
needle. Thus, in a few weeks time, a common
sewing needle enters a person at the
thigh, makes its way down to the ankle, then
retraces its steps and goes up the body and
comes out at the throat.. This may appear
to be an incredible story, but it is true nevertheless.
It is vouched for by a gentleman
of unquestioned veracity.
' | Miscellaneous fading.
i ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
[ MAY 19, 1780, THE DARK DAY IN NEW ENGLAND.
It was May 19, 1780, when darkness was
at noonday over all New England. The pheI
nomenon has never been explained. Dr,
' Tenney, in 1785, wrote to the Historical Society
that the ability of the land had endeavored
to present a cause, but, said he, "you will
agree with me that no satisfactory solution has
appeared." In similar language wrote Dr.
Noah Webster, in 1843. The theory of some
that it was smoke and ashes from forest fires,
extensively rancriner. was disproved. No fires
in the forests could have been sufficient to
spread a dense cloud over the whole of New
England, and even some parts of the Middle
States. It came too suddenly, with no wind
to carry it from one point to another. It was
a darkness that settled down over an area of
more than 300,000 square miles at the same
time.
We publish a condeused account of this remarkable
phenomenon, forwarded to us by D.
T. Taylor, of Rouse's Point, N. Y., who wrote
it for the Boston Journal in 1871:
The year 1780 was celebrated for its numerous
auroral exhibitions in this latitude.
They covered the midnight heavens with corruscations
of red and silver, and streamed out
like lightning, seeming, says one writer, fairly
to flash warmth into the face. The winter
preceding was marked by extraordinary severity.
Snow lay on the ground from the
middle of November to the middle of April.
In December and January a storm continued
for seven successive days, and the snow fell to
a depth of four feet on a level in this single
storm, and with drifts eight and ten feet high.
Sheep were buried in the drifts for many days
and even men and animals perished with the
cold. Long Island Sound was crossed by
heavy artillery on the ice. Narragansett Bay
froze over so hard that men traversed the ice
from Providence to Newport in skating parties,
and from Fall River to Newport loads of
wood were conveyed on the ice through Bristol
ferry.
Previous to the 19th a vapor filled the air
for several days. There was a smell of sulphur.
The morning of the 19th was overcast
with some clouds, and rain fell over the country,
with lightning and thunder. Scarcely
any motion was in the air; what wind there
wa9 came from the southwest. By 9 o'clock
in the forenoon, without previous warning,
the darkness stole gradually on, with a luminous
appearance near the horizon, as if the obscuring
cloud had dropped down from overhead.
There was a yellowness of the atmosphere
that made clear silver assume a grass
green hue. Then a dense, undefinable vapor
settled rapidly and without serial movement
overall the land and ocean from Pennsylvania
to the Gulf of St." Lawrence, the darkness
it caused sinking by degrees until the sun
light was effectually shut out. Ordinary
cloud it was not The rapidity with which
so large an extent of country was enveloped,
precludes the possibility of supposing this to
have been a natural cloud moving laterally.
Besides this, the day was too calm to imagine
such a thing. Down came the darkness
thicker and thicker. By ten o'clock the air
was loaded with a thick gloom. The heavens
were tinged with a yellowish or faiut red ; the
rffhrid look increased ; few, if any, ordinary
clouds were visible. The sun, in disappearing,
took on a brassy hue. The lurid, brassy color
spread everywhere, above and below. The
grass assumed the color of the sky, and all
out doors wore a sickly, weird and melancholy
aspect?a dusky appearance as if seen through
a smoked glass. By eleven o'clock it was as
night itself, and from this time until three in
the afternoon the darkness was extraordinary
and frightful.
The extent of the darkness was greater
iknvi in wnln f n/1 S~\ P Ann AM n! mil n ! nllAnAmfl.
luau X9 iciaicu ui aujr uliici auuiiai jiucuuuicDon
on record, not excepting the celebrated
dark days over Egypt and Judea. It reached
south to the northern half of Pennsylvania,
and from ihence along the coast northeast to
the wilds of Maine, eastward to the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, and out at sea 120 miles southeast
of Boston, and undoubtedly much farther
; w?st to the valleys of Lake Champlain
and the Hudson River, and north into undefined
regions in Canada. Portland, Boston,
Hartford,.New York, West Point and Albany
were affected by it. But the degrees of
darkness differed in different places, the deepest
night settling over New England. A tract
of land and sea 800 miles in length and 400
miles in breadth, embracing an area of 320,000
square miles, was known to be covered
by the cloud, and so far as can be ascertained
a population of 700,000 souls sat for a portion
of the day and night in a gloom more or
leas profound and inexplicable.
Just how dark the day was is attested by
indisputable evidence. The hour and minute
could not be discovered on the face of a clock
or watcL, _ persons of unimpaired eyesight.
Candles became an absolute necessity both
out of doors and in, as it was impossible to
transact business without them. Fires on the
hearthstone shone as brightly as on a moonless
November evening, and all dinner tables were
set with lighted candles upon them as if it
were the evening repast. The keenest eyes
in doors could not see to read the common
print. So far beyond any ordinary fog was
the effect, that stages on the road either put up
at the nearest hotel during the mid day hours,
or carried candles or lanterns to enable the
perplexed driver to well see his way.
And all the brute and feathered creation
seemed puzzled and agitated. The birds
ceased to fly, and hid themselves in the
branches of the trees. As the darkness increased
they sang their evening songs as they
do at twilight, and then became silent.
Pigeons on the wiDg took to the shelter of
the forest as they do at night. The whipcon/*
Viie armr* tjifAllffh
vuxniun; b~
the gloomy hours. "Woodcocks, which are
night birds, whistled as they only do in the
night time. Bats came out of their hiding
places and flew about. The fowls marched
solemnly to their roosts as they do only at
nightfall, and, after cackling for a while over
the mystery of so short a day, became still.
Cocks crowed as is their custom at nightly
intervals and the early breaking of day.
Frogs piped their evening concert, and dogs
whined or howled and ran away as on the approach
of an earthquake. The herds of cattle
ou New England's thousand hills sought
the shelter of the shed or barn-yard, lowing
as they came to the gate, and sheep huddled
around the circle with their heads inward?
the invariable token of apprehended danger.
On the human family the effect was still
more curious and terrifying. The mechanic
left his tools in the shop, the farmer his plow
in the furrow, and each moved in silent and
marveling mood. On the home threshold they
were met by pale and anxious women, who
tremblingly inquired, "What is coming?"
The alarmed traveler, seeking the sympathy
of his fellow man as one impressed with a
sense of impending peril, put up at the nearest
house, and mingled his anxious questionings
and forebodings, with those of the family.
Strong men met and spoke with surprise on
their countenances, and little children peered
timidly into the deepening gloom, and then
sought the sheltering parental arms. Schools
broke up in affright, and the wondering pupils
scampered homeward with many expressions
of childish fear. The inevitable candle
shone out of the windows of all dwellings?
every countenance gathered blackness?all
hearts were filled with fear of an approaching,
unparalleled storm, or the occurrence of a
1 terrestial convulsion; but it was not the
blackness of the storm cloud* such as sometimes,
with frightful agitation, breaks over a
single city; it was the silent spreading of the
pall cloth over the earth by strong, invisible
hands. Many anecdotes of terror are related.
! In Boston, from the hours of 11 or 1 till .3
o'clock, business, was generally suspended
' and shops were closed. At Groton, a court
was in session in a meeting-house full of
large windows, as was the old style of houses of
worship; but at half past eleven all faces
began to wear a sombre hue, whereupon magistrate
and people followed suit with all New
England and called for lighted candles.
Connecticut went totally under the cloud.
The journal of her House of Representatives
put on record the fact that "None could see
to read or write in the House, or even at a
small distance, or perceive any distinctioq ol
dress, Ac., in the circle of attendants. Therefore,
at eleven o'clock adjourned the House till
two o'clock, afternoon." Amid the deepening
gloom that wrapped about the city, darkened
the rooms of the State House, and set the
lawgivers trembling with the apprehension
that the Day of Judgment was at hand, when
the motion for adjournment was made, Colonel
Abraham Davenport, afterward Judge
of Stamford, Conn., and State Councilor in
the Legislative Chamber, at Hartford, said:
"I am against the adjournment. Either the
Day of Judgment is at hand or it is not If
it is not, there is no cause for adjournment
If it is, I wish to be found in the line of my
duty. I wish candles to be brought."
The darkness of the day having been succeeded
an hour or two before evening by a
partially clear sky, and the shining of the
sun, still obscured by the black and vapory
mist, this interval was followed by a return of
the obscuration with greater density, that rendered
the first half of the night hideously
dark beyond all former experience of probably
a million of people who saw it.
WISDOM AMONG STATESMEN.
Wade Hampton is not only the first citizen
of South Carolina, but he is the first
soldier also. No South Carolinian has so
much reputation abroad, or exerts so much
influence. He is a man of broad views and
exalted patrotiBm. He is a wise man and an
honest man in these times when there is not
too much wisdom or honesty. He has enemies
at home. There are men in his State of
talents and influence who antagonize him
_ 1 x1_ TT. _ _ a. J * t_ * 1_ '
viuienuy. ne is not radical enougn m nis
views for them. Probably some of them
would like to have his place. Some of his
constituents wrote to him not long ago inquiring
how it was he did not combat "the
centralizing tendencies of the Rebublican party,
and agitate for the repeal of legislation
not agreeable to the Southern idea of the
Constitution." The Senator replied of course,
and among other things said :
"Suppose the Confederacy had succeeded
in establishing a separate form of government
; then let us go further and imagine a
Union general elected to serve in the Congress
at Richmond. How long do you suppose
his defence of his course during the war,
and what he thought should be done with its
logical results, would be tolerated? Not a
moment. Our situation at Washington is
directly parallel, and when we talk about the
war, or make any attempt to change its results,
we run counter to the vast North that
conquered us."
The trouble with Senator Hampton is, he
is a statesman. He has eyes, ears and an
understanding. He sees the folly of fighting
in 1880 on the issues of 1861 or the issues of
1865. He finds that every time a Southern
man becomes aggressive in Congress, he only
makes capital for the opposition. Senator
Hampton knows the power of education and
association. Hs knows that much of our
Southern opinions and principles are the
genuine resultants of the school of politics in
which we are educated. He knows that
thousands of men who accept, correctly as
we most steadfastly believe, the interpretation
of the Constitution as given by Jefferson,
Madison, Calhoun, Bledsoe and other
illustrious Southrons, would have been deceived
by the glossings and false theories of Story,
Webster and other Northern writers who
have attempted to expound the great Instrument,
had they been born and reared in
some Northern State. Hence he does not
hesitate to say that when the North becomes
aroused at what it conceives to be a purpose
to disturb the results of the war, that it is
right from their standpoint. He frankly
says:
"If I had been on that side, I would never
consent that a single one of the logical results
of the war should be even threatened.
It is the wildest folly on our part to threaten
them or to seek to undo them."
This the South understands. The number
of intelligent men among us who would follow
the lead of the extremists is small. The
Southern people are far more conservative
than the Northern people suppose. They
really desire peace, and they do not favor
the introduction of anv measures that tend to
widen the breach or to intensify angry feelings.
Senator Hampton is as true to his people
and his section as the needle to the pole,
but he has wisdom, sagacity and a high sense
of propriety.? Wilmington Star.
The Supply of Gold and Silver.?The
United States now supplies more gold and
silver than all other countries put together.
The actual production in 1879 of gold and
silver in our Western States and Territories,
was of gold 833,000,000, of silver $38,000,000;
total $71,000,000. Of course this is
exclusive of the yield of the South and East.
It was in September, 1847, that the California
discovery was made, and in thirty-three
years since elapsed we have seen rich finds in
various States and territories and energetic
communities rise as if by magic where but a
few months before was heard nothing but the
shriek of the eagle and the cry of the panther.
Before 1647 the supply of gold had been
obtained chiefly from Siberia, Hungary,
Transylvania and Brazil. Taking an average
of a considerable number of years, the
annual produce seems to have been about
$25,000,000. The South American gold
mines reached their height of prosperity about
125 years ago, since which time they have
declined, the auriferous sands have become
less rich, and the quartz rock deposits require
more machinery for the extraction of the
gold than South American capital has yet
been able to supply.
The wonders of California were, as we have
stated, brought to light in 1847. In the
month of September in that year a Mr. Marshall
was employed in erecting saw mills on
the estate of Captain Sutter, a wealthy settler
on the Sacramento River, and observing some
glittering particles in the mud, he communicated
the intelligence to his employer. An
examination was made and it was found that
the particles were gold. Immediately on this
news getting abroad adventurers rushed to
the spot from all parts of the world.
Salt.?Nothing that we eat is more valuable
than salt, nor could anything, except
bread, be more missed. Animals, in fact, will
travel great distances and brave great dangers
to obtain it. On the coast of Sierra Leone,
brothers will sell their sisters, husbands their
wives, and parents their children, for salt
In the district of Accra, on the gold coast of
Africa, a handful of salt is the most valuable
thing upon earth after the gold, and will
purchase a slave or two: Salt with the Bambaras
is such a luxury, that to say of a man,
"He flavors his food with salt, is to imply
that he is rich. No stronger mark of affeecan
be shown in Muscovy than the sending of
salt from the tables of the rich to their poorer
friends.
Spilling salt was held to be an unlucky
omen by the Romans, and the superstition
has descended to ourselves. Leonardo da
Vinci availed himself of this tradition in his
famous picture of the "Lord's Supper," to
indicate Judas Iscariot by the salt cellar
knocked over accidentally by his arm.
When we say of a shiftless fellow that he
does not "earn his salt," we unconsciously
allude to an ancient cdstom among the Romans.
Among them a man was said to be
in possession of a "salary," who had his "salariuitn,"
his allowance of salt-money, or of
salt, wherewith to savor the food by which he
lived. Thus salary comes from salt?and in
this view of the word, how many there are
roliA nnf ^norn t hoi r DO If "
?MW ?W UVV VH?I U VilWA* UM*IH
Advice to a Young Man.?Yes, TelemadiU8,
you should use self-control, but at
the same time you should be natural. Cultivate
self-control until it becomes natural to
you. In itself, I think, it sometimes leads to
most uncontrolable outbursts. One time I
knew one of these men who was accustomed
to self repression. He was a quiet soft-spoken
man, with the most ungovernable temper that
ever tore a huma j passion into rags. But he
rarely showed it One day in the autumn he
was trying to make a jointofsix inch stove-pipe
fit into the end of a five and one-half inch
length. And during the struggle he smote
his thumb about midway between the nail
and the joint, with a round backed hammer.
He arose with a sad, sweet smile, laid the
hammer down softly on the carpet, changed
the lengths of the pipe, fitted them and put the
pipe up, and never said a word. But he was
pale, and there Teas a glowing light in his
eyes. And the next day that man walked
out of town, up the B. & M. grade, and stood
in the woods and foamed at the mouth and
howled and raved about stove-pipes and the
people who make them, until he frightened a
a thirty-two ton engine off the track. Selfrepression
isn't self-control my son. Do you
control yourself? Govern yotR- temper, and
it will come to expect to be governed. It
+* oriwii nn if tvi]]
WUAi L UIO ) 11/ W L l^Ulb auu U|J J ?v n??*
try you every time, but it will be more easily
managed. I don't suppose, Telem&chus, that
you can change your disposition, but you can
develop your strength.
# ?
How Battles aee Fought.-?How is a
battle fought? With tremendous volleys,
the ranks standing firm and steady as on
dress parade?with enthusiasm, with deafening
cheers, with music and finished by a glorious
bayonet charge ? Nothing of the kind.
Here are simply some thousands of men on.
either side who have been marched out this
pleasant day to butcher each other. Modern
firearms are terribly effective weapons; a
Springfield musket will kill at a thousand
yards, and by the time you have drawn these
opposing forces to within two hundred yards
of each other, or the distance across a good
j r-ij il. ?
mzeu wueni umu, wie uattic 10 icauivcu juiv ?
simple problem?which army can stand the
ipost killing and wounding without breaking
up? When that question is answered, you
cab tell which side will be victorious. The
business of the officers is to hold the men to
the work, to compel them to load and lire
until so many of the enemy are put hors du
combat that he is forced to withdraw. Take
your regiment into battle as orderly as you
raayr before it has been under fire half an hour
it will become resolved into knots and groups
from the drawing together to fill the places of
those stricken down, and the survivors will be
lyin^| or kneeling, forced down by the irresistible
instinct of self-preservation.
;?, 4.
A rkansab or Akansa.?The discussion as
regards the proper pronunciation of the name
has awakened more than a local interest.
Some time ago an article appeared in the
Gazette stating that joint committees from the
eclectic and historical societies had taken the
matter into consideration. In regard to this
the following communication was sent this
paper:
Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of Etiinology,
Washington, D. C., March 9,1880.
Editors Gazette : If your joint committee
wants to hit the correct pronunciation of Arkansas,
and to modify its orthography accordingly,
the first thing to do is to drop the
"r" from the word, and the second, emphasize
it on the second syllable.?Akansa. The
earliest French chroniclers always write
Akansa, and the "r" was put in by ignorants
to give the a the continental sound. There
are even instances where the word father has
been written "farther" for the same reason ;
also "terbacker" for tobacco.
Yours respectfully,
Albert S. Gatschet,
Linguist of Bureau of Ethnology.
Little Rock (Ark.) Gazette.
Eating a Mad Dog.?One Peschka, an
innkeeper in Neustadt, in Bohemia, was bitten
some weeks ago by his own house dog.
Unwilling to slay the animal on bare suspicion
of its sanity, he consigned it to the town
grave-digger, enjoining that functionary to
take care of it until further orders respecting
i.? ? i./.i. A.?u u- :
lis uiuraaie iaie suuuiu ueimpaiicu tu uiw,
A few days later, however, Peschka was attacked
by hydrophobia, of which he died in
excruciating agony. The sanitary authorities
of Neustadi forthwith applied to the
grave digger for the mad dog committed to his
custody, intending to have it destroyed. Their
astonishment may be conceived when the sexton,
in answer to their requisition, calmly observed,
"The mad dog ? I have?eaten him !"
"You have eaten the mad dog ?" incredulously
exclaimed a horror-stricken sanitary
official. "Better than that he should eat
me !" rejoined the philosophical grave-digger.
This man of strange appetites not only had
swallowed and digested the rabid animal, but
it had agreed with him; for, as the story
runs, he still enjoys robust health, and pursues
his professionalavocations with unabated
vigor.
Cast-off Friends.?There arc men and
women in public life whose pathway is marked
by the "remains" of whilom friends whom
they have squeezed dry and dropped, like so
many sucked oranges. In politics it is said
of such a man that he has kicked down the
ladders by which he climbed. In literary or
othei: walks of life, the human sponge often
swells up with the thought that he has "out- 4
grown" his humble friends of other days. In
private life, the self conscious soul contents
itself with becoming more and more the center
of its little circumference, taking none
within its orbit who will not content to revolve
around it and emit light and warmth
forils enjoyment. There have been many
and noble definitions of what a friend is.
People of real individuality, strength and
sensitiveness, doubtless have fewer real friends
than they are apt to think, unless they have
been cherishing, unconsciously, low ideals.
But whatever a > uend may not be, certainly
that sweet and noble term is unmerited by
one who, however generous in other directions,
is selfish of bimsef.
S&" A man told his friend that he had joined
the army. "What regiment?" his friend
asked. "Oh, I don't mean that; I mean the
army of the Lord." "Ah, what Church ?"
"The Baptist," was the reply. "Sho," rejoined
the friend, "that isn't the army ; its tbe>
navy,"