. i - ' .0,L:UM E III. SUMTERVILLE, S. C MAY 9, 1S49. t , I , 1 , - - . N he Sumter Banner: UBL81HED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING, BY WILLIAM J. FRANCIS. TERMS: 'wo Dollars in advance, Two Dollars and 7'ifty-cents at the expiration of six months, or Thiree-Dollars at the end of the year. No Paper discontinued until all arrearages ire paid, unless at the option of the Proprietor 8SAdvertisements inserted at 76 cts. per equare,- (14 lines or less,) for the first and half stbat sum for each subsequent insertion l7The number of insertions to be marked ,on all Advertisements or they will be publish ed dntil ordered to be discontinued, and charged'accordingly. .3One Dollar per square for a single in aertiop.. Quarterly and Monthly Advertise snental will be charged the same as a single useion, and semi-monthly the same as new ohes. All Obituary Notices exceeding six linep, and Communications recommendi ng Cand dates for public offices or trust-or puffing Exhibitions, will be charged as Advertise ments. : S-All letters by mail must be paid to in sure punctual attendance. ______ itlzc~ln. HINTS FoR CORTESPNDENTS.-A coitemporary lays down the following pitiy code of newspaper by-laws. They are the best we have ever seen drawn up. . 1. Be brief. This is the age of Tel egraphs and Stenography. 2. Do pointed. Don't write all round a subject without hitting it. 3. State facts, but don't stop to mor alise. It's drowsy business. Let the reader do his own dreaming 4. Eschew prefaces. Plunge at once into your subject, like a swimmer in cold water. ,5. If you have written a senience that you think particularly fine, draw your pen through it. A pet child is always the worst in the family. .6. Condense. Make sure that you really have an idea, and then recordlit in the shortest possible terms. We want thoughts in their quintessence. 7. When your article is complete, strike out nine-tenths of the adjectives. The English is a strong language, but won't bear two much "reducing." 8. Avoid all high flown language. The plainest Anglo-Saxon words are the best. Never use stilts when legs will do as well. 9. Make your sentences short. Ev ery period is a mile stone, at which the reader may halt and rest himself. 10. Write legibly. Don't let your manuscript look like the tracks of a spider half drowned in ink. We shan't mistake any one for a genius, though Nrite as crabbedly as Napoleon. AN ANCIENT CITY.-The fanous city of Petra, in Arabia, has been a theme of admiration and astonishment to all the tourists of recent times; but another town, apparently far more an cient and of greater extent still, exists in the north of Affghanistan, and is known throughout the east by the name of Bamecan. The city consists of a greater nmmber of apartments cut out ,of the solid rock. It is said that in many of themi the walls were adorned 'with paintings 'which look still fresh, after centuries of desertion and solitude; some of them are adorned with the rich est carved work. There arapsupposed to be more than twelve thousand of such habitations in Bamecan, but the natives who are Mohommedans, enter tain a superstitious produdice against inhabiting such homes. They have old traditions which declare them to have been the first habitation of mankind, and that strange city is casually men tioned by some of the classic authors; yet by whom its rocky abodes were excavated, who wvere its inhabitants, or what their history-all have passed from the recollection of the world, and -exist only in fabulous or uncertain tales. FORCE OF CHARAcTER.-Man im putes to himself the ability to be con stant by his own proper force, arnd pla ces his honor in that ability. A man of his word, and a man of honor, arc eynonymous terms. He who can em brace a purpose and persist in it, wvho can act from a resolve, unsupported by present inclination--nay, even in opp~o sition to present inclination, e.motioni or passion--of him we say, "H~e has a -character?" "He is a man," We