Newspaper Page Text
vojarxr.
From an English Paper.
THE ANTEDILUVIAN.
“I’ve soon ptwi mony chmg«*u ^®* r *
On carih 1 am nstranger grown. ’—Burns.
Nine hundred years* upon the earth.
My weary eyes have seen;
Nine hundred year*! alas my birtht
Would it had never been l
The davs of youth long, long past by,
All dimly now appea';
And faintly traced by memory,
Are scenes that once were dear.
A lather’s form, a mother’s grace,
Of these no track remains;
Nor ofthat loved and lovely face.
That soothed my woes and pains,
In manhood’s prime l stood among
Friends, brothers, sisters dear;
And joined the dance, or sung the song,
With Minstrel or with Seer.
I heard the Minstrel lift his voice,
In song of other days;
And strangely did my heart rejoice,
To hear the Prophet’s lays.
The Minstrel’s lyre for aye hath slept,
The Prophet too—he died;
Alas! alas! i could have wept,
but age my tear had dried.
I saw the victor ride in blood,
O’er lields ot mighty slain;
Cities o’eriurned by loe or flood,
Re-pcopleu—fiuilt again.
The Comets ran their mighty race,
belore me o’er and o’er;
They seemed as noth the well known face,
We olt have seen before.
I saw the forest’s strength and pride,
Covering both hill and plain;
They grew—they—liourish’u—wither’d—*
■tied,
1 saw them come again.
1 saw the oak that young and green,
Crew up beneath my eye;
Whose lile live hundred years had been,
i saw it fade and die.
Yet lived I on—1 could not die,
My lonely being end;
Nor in the lowly grave could lie,
JNor find on earth a friend.
Friends of my youth, your shades in vain,
O olt invok’d—ah no!
Ye came not back to earth again,
To sulier mortals’ woe.
Ages roll’d by, and Time’s black tide,
Swept all away but me;
I stood as stands the rock beside
The wild and wasteful sea.
The chain of being bound me fast,
To earth and earthly thing ;
I felt how vain was all the past,
And wish’d that I had wings—
Wings like a Dove, that 1 might flee
Away and be at rest;
To realms of bright Eternity,
The refuge of the blest.
Methuselah.
* Genesis chap. 5, v. 27. Job chap. 3, v. 3.
Bristol, Nov. 18, 1828.
MlSORLiAWBOtfS.
The following, front the London
Athenaeum, is one of the most beauti
iul things of its kind we recollect ever
to have read. The periodical from
which it is taken has been recently
established in London, and promises
to be one of the first magazines of the
day. We have observed several ad
mirably written articles in it, of a
kind suited to the taste of the litera
ry reader, and shall from time to time
avail ourselves of its treasures to
make onr readers better acquainted
with its merits.
Washington Chronicle.
THE SHELL.
AN HISTORICAL APOLOGUE.
“The world was made for Man,”
said he.
“I will tell you an apologue,” an
swered the teacher:
1. In a beautiful bay of the cele
brated island Atalantis, a large Shell of
the most delicate white, and the most
rounded form, the relic from some
previous world, lay "on the smooth and
elastic sand. It was left for a long
period undisturbed and unaltered;
sometimes kissed by the extreme
bubbles of the billows, and often trem
bling so melodiously in the wind as
to have furnished to the early gods
he first hint of a musical instrument,
^nd to have been the prototype of the
s ounding conches which accompained
^ith their deep notes the feasts on
Olympus, and the Indian triumphs of
gacclius.
2. The moist dust gradually ac
cumulated within it, and the germ
of a sea-weed fell upon the soil, and
grew until a fair and flourishing
plant, with long dark leaves, over
hung the white edge of the thin and
pioonlike vase. For many months (he
ocean herb retained its quiet exist
ence, imbibed the night-dew of the
heavens; rejoiced in the fresh breezes
from the sea, and lived in tranquil
safety through every change of show
er and suushiuc. At length a storm
arose which rolled the waters upon
tiie shore. The Shell was over
whelmed, the plant washed out of it,
and the light vessel swept into a clelt
of the rocks.
3. After some days of calm and
warmth, a bird dropped mlo*il a seed,
which sprouted, anu became an or
ange-tree. Its leaves were so thick
and green, that they would have sup
plied a graceful chaplet to a wood-
nymph, and she might have delighleu
to place in her bosom the pearly aud
fragrant blossoms winch hung amid
the tuft of verdure. The seasons
with their varieties, and the stany
influences of geuile nights, nurtured
the shrub, and the pure flowers were
changed into gorgeous Iruils, which
gleamed through the foliage like the
glimpses of a gilded statue in some
deserted temple through the lobes
and coronals of creepers which have
overgrown it. The orange-tree had
gladdened many spring-times with its
sweetness and its splendor, when it
faded and died; and the birds ot the
air piped a lamentation over the
shrub, amid the living beauty ot
which they had so often nested.'
4. In alter years, when nothing re
mained of the orange but a slight and
dreamy odour around the Shell, auu
ihe last light grains of the tlusl where
in it grew had been borne away by
the eddying breezes, a butterfly, as
red and glittering as the planet Mars,
came on its crimson w ings to the dim
and spiral cell. It fluttered round
the ivory entrance, poised itself upon
it for a moment, and waved its silken
sails. Then, after darting and cir
cling, like a winged mole ot the sun
beam, through the deep woods and
over the sea, it returned to perish.
While it sank into its quiet and beau
tiful retreat, it yet seemed loth to
leave a world which to it had been a
fairy domain; but the necessity of its
nature was upon it, and it closed the
gay leaflets which had sustained its
flight, and resinged itself to death.
5. It was followed by a troop of
bees, which took possession ot the
Shell, and, after their daily excur
sions over meadow and bloomy bank,
returned to its smooth aud undulated
chambers with the materials of their
combs, and with large store of bright
and luxurious honey. The tiny echoes
of their abode resounded with the
constant hum of labor and happiness,
and it was soon as brimming as a
wine-cup at a nuptial-feast, with the
rich and perfumed treasures of the in
sects, arranged and scaled in the ex
act compartments which filled the in
terior of their silvery palace. But a
bird attacked and destroyed their
commonwealth, and again the Shell
was left empty.
6^ A humming bird, all emerald,
ruby, and sapphire, then discovered
the lonely nook, and folded there its
jewelled wings. 4t soon found a mate,
and together they lived a flowery lile.
lie who had seen either of them
wandering at sunset through the glen,
would have believed that the brilliant
core ot the western sky was fluttering
the li
reign, moved forward with the graceful
swillness ot a snowy swan, tilling ovei
the light iipples of the water, auu
when night came with its constella
tions, seemed to uc useii a trembling
star on the verge of Ihe horizon. Thai
spirit, too, shall inhabit the Shell but
for a time, aud shall then depart, that
he may develop, in some other more
tilling position, the whole capacities
of Ins nature. The Shell w ill sink in
to the waves, and be joiueil to the
treasures of the ocean caverns, in
them, also, to aid the existence ot
other beings, and to fulfil anew cycle
of its ministry.
That Shell is the World: that
Spirit, Man. Yet not for man alone
was it created, but for all the living
things in the successive stages of ex
istence, which can find in ii a means
of happiness, and an instrument ot the
laws which govern their being.
away along the earth; or theHittle
animal might have been thought the
choicest signet of a prince, transform
ed of a sudden into a living thing, and
endued with the power of flight. When
they wheeled together towards their
home at twilight, no pair of fire-flies,
no twin-lights of the firmament could
be brighter than were their diamond
crests. The sweet essences of a
thousand buds and flowers supplied
their nourishment; and, while they
sucked the delicious juices of ripe
Iruits, their wings were tinctured by
the iighest bloom of the plum and the
grape. But the rain dropped thick
aud fast into the Shell, and the gen
tle birds, which seemed made to
whisper love-messages in the rose
bud ear of a lady, and to hide them
selves in sport among her ringlets,
departed from their nest, and sought
in sparry grotto, or in southern bow
er, a more secure habitation for their
lovely but frail existence.
7. Lastly, at sunrise, seemed flit
ting from the morning star an elfin
spirit, which danced into the Shell
and assumed it as its home. It thrill
ed with life and pulsation; and, while
a spring gushed of out the rock, and
bore it along towards the sea, he
spread his thin wings to the breeze
and sailed in his lily-colored argosy
away over the blue and sunny deei
The white Shell, and its new aove
From the London “Anniversary” for 1829.
WiiO is A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.
Female beauty, in the limited sense
of the word, is that outward form
and proportion which corresponds with
the theories of poets and ihe rules of
artists—of which every nation has
examples and of which every woman
has a share. But beauty, by a mjie
natural definition oi the word, is that
indescribable charm, that union of
many qualities of person and mind and
heart, which insures to man the great
est portion of happiness.
Y\ herever there is most bosom
tranquility, most domestic happiness,
there beauty reigns in all its sueuglh.
Look at that mud hovel ou one oi Hie
w ild hills of Ireland; smoke is stream
ing from door and window; a woman
to six healthy children and a happy
husband, is portioning out a simple
ami scanty meal. Jsfie is a good moth
er and an affectionate wife; and though
tinged with smoke aud touched by
care, she is warmly beloved: she is
lovely in her husband s eyes, and is
therefore beautiful.—Uo into yon
Scottish cottage, there is a clean floor,
a blight fire, merry children, a thrif
ty wife, and a huso and who is nuisin
the youngest child, and making a
whistle for the eldest. The woman
is lovely and beauliiul, and an image
of thrift and good housewifery, be
yond any painter’s creation; her bus
band believes her beautiful too, ami
whilst making the little instrument of
melody to please his child, he 'thinks
ol the rivals from whom lie won her,
aud how fair she is compared to all
her early companions. Or here is a
house at. hand, hemmed round with
fruit trees and flowers, while the
blossoming tassels of honeysuckle per
fume us as we pass iu at the door
Enter and behold that English woman
out of keeping with all the rules ol
academic beauty, full and ample in
her person, her cheeks glowing with
vulgar health, lief eyes shining with
quici happiness, her children swaim-
mg like summer bees, her house shin
ing like a uew clock, aud her move-,
meats as regular as one of Murray’s
chronometers/—There sits her bus
band, a sleek, contented man, well
fed, clean lodged, and softly handled,
who glories in the good looks and
sagacity of his wife, and eyes her af
fectionately as he holds the shining
ankard to bis lips,and swallows slowly
& with protracted delight, the healthy
beverage which she has brewed. Now,
that is a beautiful woman; and why is
she beautiful? She is beautiful, be
cause the gentleness of her nature and
the kindness of her heart throw a
household halo around her person, a-
dorning her as a honeysuckle adorns
an ordinary tree, and impressing her
mental image on our minds.—Such
beauty in my sight—a creation
more honorable to nature and more
beneficial to man, and in itself infinite
ly more lovely, even to look upon
than those shapes made according to
the line and level of art, which please
inexperienced eyes, delude dreamers,
fascinate old bachelors, catch the eye
and vex the heart.
the middle. The eggs which were
in the circle we found to be quilt
fresh, at which 1 expressed my sup-
rise. The Hottentots informed me
that these bad been provided by the
ostrich against the hatching of those
in the middle; when she would break
them, one after another aud give them
to her young ones for food; end that
by the time they were all disposed of
in this manner, the young ostriches
W’ouid be able to go abroad with their
mother, and provide for themselves
such tilings as the desert alforded.
1 have seen large Hocks of these crea
tures in South Africa. The fact
which I have just stated, relative te
the preservation of a quantity of eggs
for the subsistence of the young ones
immediately after they are hatched,
affords as fine an instance of animal
instinct, and as striking aa illustration
of a superintending Providence, as
perhaps the whole circle of natural
history affords.
DEATH.
Death is at all times a dispensation
of Heaven requiring all the philosophy
af human understanding, and all the
firmness t»f Christian fortitude to
enable us to meet its approach with
confidence and hope. Even the pale
and emaciated form of the wretched
and sorrow stricken, hovers in inquie
tude of soul upon the confines ol im
mortality, anticipating that the thread
of life may be yet a little lengthened,
and that the flickering taper of exis
tence will burn a little longer, even
should it be but feebly, in ils socket
It is a hard thing to die—difficult it
is for the young and ardent spirit lo
forego the sunshine of hope, the day
dreams of enthusiasm—and the ioml
chords that have twined themselves
among the affections—to sink regret
ted, but soon forgotten, into the pre
mature give. However shadowy
m.iy be the path of life—however
numerous the thorns that have started
from the way side of being, iftl(,ere
are those among mankind whom we
fondly love—if there is one gentle
spirit among the worldlings who sur
round us, faithful with an intensity ot
affection, amid the changes of fortune
and the shadows of fate, il is hard, a
very hard task to school the thought
to death. Confused and undecided
may be our speculations of futurity
scepticisms have fallen upon our eon
ceptions of another world, and all its
dark and impenetrable mysteries; but
wiien the last hour approaches—when
the gasping breath and the fading vi
sion proclaim that life is fleetly ebbing
ail Hie fallacies of former years are
lost iu the weight of the present crisis
and the dying soul eagerly pants for
some substantial hope or powerful
illusion to point its aspirings up to
Cod.
©tree be not perfectly convenient. But'
they are the last poisons 10 whuitt
promises should be broken, because
they cannot comprehend the reason, if
there be one, why they are not kept.
Such promises should be scrupulously
redeemed, though at a great inconven-
venience, and even when inadvertent-
inade. For the chid’s moral habit
is of infinitely more consequence than
any such inconvenience can be to the
parent.—Lit. Claz.
WEST INDIES.
The West-Indies islands, in 1827 r
contained by estintate 105,000 square
miles; a white population of only 450,
000, and a coloured population of 1,
600,000. Of the 33 islands, 15 be
long to Britain, 2 to Spain, 3 to Den
mark, 4 lo the Netherlands, 5 to
France, 1 to Sw eden, 1 to Colombia; I
is partly independent & partly Spanish;
1 is partly independent & partly Brit
ish. The islands belonging to England
contain 14,595 square miles, and a
population of 663,867. The islands
belonging to Spain contain 58,140
square miles, 532,000 population.
The 3 islands belonging to Denmark
have 180 square miles, population
38,867. The French islands contain
1385 square miles, population 240,
877. The islands belonging to Ihe Neth
erlands have 722 square miles, popula-'
tion 36, 210.—Phil. Chron.
Mode of growing Early Potatoes ik
the North of jMncashire.— Put the*
lotatoes in a room, or other conven
ient warm place; about the 2d of
February, cover them with a woollen
cloth for about four weeks, then take-
it off, and by so doing you w ill make
the sprouts much stronger. Towards
the latter end of March, set them*
covering the sprouts about two inches
deep. If the sprouts Be about two
NATURAL HISTORY.
The .Nest of an Ostrich, found in
South Africa by Mr Broadbent, a mis-
ionary.
The eggs were forty-two in number,
including the two which had been tak
en away before, and were arranged
with great apparent exactness.—
Sixteen were close together iu the
middle of the nest; ana on these the
ostrich was sitting when we arrived;
they were as many as she could cov*
er. The remaining twenty six were
placed very uniformly in a circle a-
bout three or four feet from those in
Parental Lies.-— We believe that
the slight regard in which strict truth
is held among mankind, is principally
owing to the lies which are told to
children by their parents during the
few first years of their lives. Then
is the time that permauent impressions
may be as well made as at any later
period. It is then, probably, that what
is called the natural propensity of the
child, is unfolded. Many persons who
have.a great abhorrence of lying, and
whip their children, if they detect
them in it, yet make no scruple of tell
ing and acting to them the most atro
cious falsehoods. There are few pa
rents who do not do this in a greater
or less degree, though doubtless with
out dreaming they are guilty of crim
inal deception. With many, the
whole business of managing their chil
dren, is a species of mere artifice
and trick. They are cheated in their
amusement, cheated in their food,
cheated in their dress. Lies are told
them to do any thing that is disagree
able. If a child is to take physic,
the mother tells him she has something
good for him to drink; if reluctant, she
says she will send fur the Doctor to
cut off his ears, or pull hie teeth, or
that she will go away and leave him;
and a thousand things of the same kind,
each of which may deceive once, and
answer the present purpose, but it
wil
inches long when set, the potatoes
will be ready in 7 or 8 W'eeks after
wards. A gentleman who had a green
house, adopted the following planT-
He placed the potatoes in the green
house in turf mould or peat earth, in
the beginning of February, and kept,
them well moistened with water; he
planted them in the opcn»air about
(he end of March, on a warm border,
leaving about half on i-/ich of the
sprouts above the ground, and pro
tected them during nights by cover- r
ings of mats. By this pi an he was a—
blc to have new potatoes about the
beginning of May. It is considered ft
very material thing to ge*tthe potatoes
well sprouted before the y are planted.^
N. E. Farmer.
Inconveniences of Corjtulcncy.—Mr.-
B. of Bath, a remarkably large, cor
pulent, and powerful man, wanting to
go by the mail, tried foir a place be
fore it started. Being toJd it was full,
he still determined to :jet admission,
and opening the door gut in. When
the passengers came, llie ostler re
ported that there was a. gentleman in
the coach: he was requested to come
out, but having drawn u p the blind he
remained quiet. Hav ing, however,
held a consultation on the means of
making him alight, and a proposal be
ing made to “pull him out,” he let
down the blind, and laying his enor
mous hand on the edge of the door r
he asked who dared t<> pull him out,
drew on the blind againi, anti waiting
some time, fell asleep. About one in
the morning, he awoke, and calling
out to know whereabouts he was on,
his journey, he perceived what w as
the fact, that, to end the altercation
with him, horses had been put to an
other coach, and that he had spent.
the night at the inn door at Bath,,
where he had taken possession of thee
carriage.
KITCHEN ECONOMY.
A friend Fas mentioned to us an im
provement in kitchen economy which
we think deserving of notice. It may
be called an iron back log, and is cast
hollow, to contain water. A small
leaden leader is attached to this iron
cylinder, which is placed at the bot
tom of the wood fire, and connected
with a cask or tub of water near the-
fire place, or in any convenient part of
the room, The family jnay thus have
a constant supply of hot water, with
out encumbering the fixe place, and
with much less than the ordinary con
sumption of fuel for that purpose.
Long Island Star.
invariably fail afterwards. Pa
) are too apt to endeavor to paci
fy their children, by making promises
they never intend to perform. If they
wish, for instance, to fake away some
eatable which they fear will be inju
rious, they reconcile them by the
promise of a ride, or a walk, or some-
thigelse which will please them, hut
without any intention of gratifying tmAT’imsi *
them. This is lying, downright lying. CHLROKEE NATION,
People think nothing of breaking their | for the years 1826, 1827 «$• 1828. fo*
promises to children, if the perform* sale at this Offica.
LAWS
or THE