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berries, with cream and sugar ? W hat
sport is more pleasant than to go in
quest of them, and to strive who can
get the nicest and the most to take to
mamma, and sometimes the smallest
children will pull a great many green
strawberries. Then comes the luscious
cherry, but they are hard to get by the
little girls, who are not good climbers.
A wistful look and few cherries is some
times their lot, except when the kind,
gallant boys climb the trees and throw
them the beautiful red bunches.
Thanks to “gentle Spring” for all her
beauties and pleasures ! But we will
soon have to bid her adieu. M.
Written for Burke's Weekly.
William Wallace.
BY DR. TICKNOR.
fIS life is past the sorties —
His length is six-foot-two—
And both his feet import, he's
fNot a fly to shoe !
They dubbed him Big-Foot Wallace
Down in Mexico,
As Liliput would call his
Brobdinag, you know.
Straight as a rifle rammer.
And lightly too he stands
Though weighted with sledge-hammer
In each of his great hands!
Grave as his own gun-barrel,
Yet gracious with the grim,
And when we pick a quarrel
We musn’t pick at him !
A plant of the “ red ripper,”
Whose level eye-light means
A charge of Chili pepper
With a reserve of—“ Beans.”
A loyal soul I I’ll pound it
As ever ruled the ranche;
And so the doodles found it
And also the Comanche!
And so the little Greasers!
They say he used to catch
A score of their Mestizoes
To grease his bullet patch !
May they be bothered wholly—
In body and in soul!
For the mills are grinding slowly
And Wallace takes the toll.
His features so resemblo
His sire’s, a cycle back,
That curs and tyrants tremble
To come upon his track !
Here’s Hope’s un-Butlered chalice;
Here’s loyalty’s last wine!
And here’s—To William Wallace
The Second, by his—" Sign I”
Torch Hill, Columbus, Ga., May 1.
.#«
Oar Modern Servants.
A gentleman being asked by a clergy
man why he did not attend evening
prayer-meeting, said he could not leave
the children.
“ Why, have you no servants ?”
“ Yes, we have two servants,” he re
plied, “ who keep the house and board
us. We are allowed a few privileges.”
*.».*
Love is the"most intelligible when it
is unable to express itself in words.
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
BIOGRAPHIES OF ANCIENT PERSONS
FOR YOUNG FOLKS.
BY PBOF. T. B. RUSSELL, A. M.
SAC ON TAT HON.
HCENICIA was the country of
Sanconiathon. As the partic
ulars in the life of this ancient
character are not many, before proceed
ing to their recital, it will not be inap
propriate to present an account of his
country and people.
The land of Phoenicia was a part of
the region, which, in classical times,
was called Syria. If we examine a good
map of ancient geography, we shall find
between the 33d and 35th parallels of
latitude, on the Eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea, this narrow region
of country. On the East, it is shut in by
the mountains of Libanus or Lebanon ;
its whole Western boundary is washed
by the waves of the great midland Sea.
It extended from Mt. Carmel on the
South, to the Island of Aradus on the
North. It abounded in timber suitable
for ship- building ; this circumstance,
most probably, together with their facil
ities for sea ports, contributed to make
the Phoenicians a maritime people. The
extent of their country was about one
hundred and thirty miles long by fifteen
or twenty broad. But the smallness of
their territory did not prevent them
from becoming great and. distinguished.
They were the earliest navigators and
merchants. They were the first who
used rudders and sails, and steered
their ships at night by the stars. There
was a boldness, intrepidity, and com
preheftsivness in the Phoenicians’ genius
for commerce and navigation, that com
mand our attention and inspire admir
ation. Even in those early ages of the
world preceding the settlement of the
Israelites in Canaan, the Phoenicians
had made extensive voyages and mar
ine explorations. In Abraham’s time,
they had sailed to the coast of Greece.
Afterwards, they settled colonies in
Cyprus, Rhodes, the North of Af
rica and the South of Spain. They
passed the strait of Hercules or Gibral
ter, ar.d sailed to Britain and the Cas
siterides, the latter supposed to be the
Scilly Isles. From Spain they obtain
ed gold and silver, from Britain tin. from
the Baltic amber, and from the shores of
the Black Sea copper and iron. They
traded overland with various coun
tries in the interior of Asia and Africa:
and, it is believed, they voyaged to In
dia by the lied Sea and the Indian
Ocean.
Their great cities were Sidon and
Tyre, related to each other as mother
and daughter, both queens of the sea.
The former, it is thought, was founded
by Zidon, the grandson of Ham, and
the oldest son of Canaan. Tyre is sup
posed to have been established in Josh
ua’s time, by persons who fled from the
Jewish war of invasion. Some of their
colonics in Africa are presumed to have
originated in this way. Mr. Coleman,
in his Biblical Geography, states that
many ages after the events of this inva
sion, two pillars are said to have been
found in a town in Numidia, with these
words inscribed on them in Phoenician
characters: “We are of those who
fled from the arms of Joshua, the rob
ber, the son of Nane.”
The Phoenicians were noted for a
splendid purple dye, which they obtain
ed from the juice of a shell fish of their
coasts; and this was a source to them
of great wealth. This fish is known to
the moderns, but they make no use of it,
as they possess the material of a much
cheaper and more beautiful color, in the
cochineal insect.
The Phoenicians are represented as
possessing the honor of having been the
inventors of making glass. They were
celebrated for the manufacture of many
useful and elegant fabrics; so that,
things of this kind received
Sidonian, from Sidon, their oldest city,
and most remarkable for these improve
ments. Tyre was distinguished for the
perfection of work in metals and glass.
There was in this city a magnificent
Temple of Hercules, which was seen
and described by the historian, Herodo
tus. He was particularly struck in this
temple with two columns, one of molten
gold, the other of emerald, which in the
night time shone with great splendor.
Tytler tells us, that the French author
Moris. Goguet suggests that this emerald
column was hollow and made of glass,
and lighted by lamps placed within.
Phoenician mechanics built the tem
ple of Solomon; the sailors and pilots of
Phoenicia navigated his ships.
The honor of inventing Arithmetic
has been attributed to the Phoenicians ;
and if they were not the inventors of Al
phabetic writing, they have at least the
credit of its early adoption, and certain
ly of its introduction into Greece.
The Carthaginians wmre Colonists
from Phoenicia, and their Admiral
Anno or Hanno, by order of their sen
ate, performed a voyage of discovery
along the west coast of Africa, and it is
not improbable doubled the capo of
Good Hope. He wrote an account of
his voyage, called the Periplus of Han
no. A valuable fragment of this has
been preserved in a Greek] translation.
His style is said to be that of plain and
perspicuous narrative, without any
tincture of exaggeration.
As respects political and civil govern
ment, that highest of human sciences,
thePhcenicians have been highly celebra
ted in the estimation and praises of
learned men. They were also renown
ed for their military prowess, and in
domitable war-like courage.
As regards religion, their reputation
is at a low ebb. They were idolaters,
in many respects, of the very worst type.
At one period of their history, their re
ligous condition may have been propiti
ous ; we refer to the reign of the sover
eigh Hiram, the friend of king Solomon.
But, generally, both in the mother
country and in her colonies, their super
stitions and idolatries were most cruel
and abominable. These were the peo
ple who were guilty of perpetrating
human sacrifices, and of burning their
little children in the fires of the god
Moloch.
It may be inquired, why the Phoeni
ciansjwere a people of such fine genius
noted for their energy, inventive facul
ties, enterprse and attainments in civili
zed arts ? We suggest, it may have been
partly at least from the fact, that they
were a composite race, that originated
from the commingled blood of the de
scendants of Shem and Canaan.
Hul, the son of Aram, Shem’s fifth son,
settled in Phoenicia sometime before
Canaan’s posterity ; but the latter final
ly established themselves in that part
of ancient Syria, and the two stocks be
came united and blended.
Not to mention others, the best deri
vation probably of the name Phoenicia is
that which brings it from the Greek
word phoinix, a palm ; that is, Phoenicia
by a sort of English translating deriva
tive would be palmia or palm-land.
The Palm tree was really, among the
ancient Greeks, symbolic of this coun
try.
This then was the country, and these
were the people of Sanconiathon. lie
was the great, and so far as we know,
the only historian of his country. lie
is the oldest profane writer on record.
He is thought to have flourished 1040
years B. C. ; though, some attempt to
make him contemporary with Joshua.
The former date, however, we ilunk
should be preferred as his period. It
will be seen from this, that Moses wrote
several hundred years before him.
Sanconiathon wrote, in the Phoeni
cian language, a history of his country
in nine books, in which he is said to
have described, with great accuracy, the
theology, manners, and antiquities of
Phoenicia and of neighboring nations.
It was compiled from annals found in
cities and records kept in the temples.
It was translated into Greek by Philo,
during the reign of the Roman Emper
or Adrian, between 117 and 138 A. D.
But few fragments of this translation re
main. Some have regarded them as
spurious, while others esteem them as
true and authentic.
The birth place of Sanconiathon was
Berytus, the modern Beirout or Be
grout. Geographers tell us, “It is
plentifully furnished with springs; and it
is said to have derived its original name
from the Phoenician deity Baal Beerith,
1 lord of wells.’ ”
On the topics of grave and truthful
history the imagination should never be
indulged in constructing pleasing and
plausible conjectures; but, in view of
the great facts presented, indicative of