Newspaper Page Text
tBITES \•. !> NUIIBBB WUILT, 111
uvwj.f.wr w. Fr,wnßrsor%\
'I 1 I II I I ■!■!■ 11l
[I'UK Tilt SOUTHERN MUSEUM.]
Tlia Ci Mr r.f Dcatii*
“Thy bri-l : ! never whilst t!-is fair check
Retains its light of gold.
Or lives this lustrous eye undiaimed,
Or this young heart unsold.
IVIy hand shill feel a Monarch’s touch,
And ! a Monarch's bride :
My realms, the continent around,
My home, the earth so wide !"
Thus mused a maid of haughty speech,
And never fit-rowed brow ;
Whose look proclaimed the inward thought
And firmly studied vow.
A nd thus, while grand and floating dreams
Os wealth and rich display,
Kepi her enwrapped in those bright worlds
Which soon would pas, away :
Behold ! in that secluded bower
Within whose shade she came,
A youth in ardor’s springing tide,
Possessed of love’s bright flame,
Ushered himself beneath her feet,
And opened there his heart,
Confessing what hut love can own,
And lovers’ tongues impart :
“No wealth or fame I bring to thee,
Maid of the bright blue eye;
My name is not a conq'ror’s wreath
As yet, uiiborn_to die ;
Cut siahvart arms, unknown ta fear,
A heart in wisdom hold,
Whose love for thee is riches store,
A world itself of gold !
“Reign thou, Cleora, in this soul,
Alone uphold thy sway :
Its warm affect oris will endow
A wreath of fadeless bay.
Time’s path is dark ; with energy
And oft redoubled care,
Perhaps the day’s not far when I
The Monarch's crown may wear'"
“Never she said in haughty tone,
“I’ll he no mortal’s slave,
Tis sweeter far to open hero,
And fill my youthful grave.
My nod shall he a million’s law,
And my displeasure pain ;
Mysmiio siinli he for years of toil
Reward enough for gain.
“Then hark thee ! trouble never more
One thy superior born,
Nor think thv love’s ambitious hopes
Will e’er return unshorn.
I’ll never marry thee, thy name
Shall never me deride :
For I was destined to a crown,
I'll he a Monarch’s bride !”
“Alas ! vain beauty I mystic dreams
Like thine, a vapor prove,
For wealth and fortune never licit -
The purity of love.
Another’s hand will press thy brow,
It cannot be more true,
Another’s heart must cull thee won :
Rut I must cease—adieu !”
Years rolled along in sombre trace,
And autumn’s sun had set,
And on the horizon afar
Its glorious lints stood yet.
The flowers of spring had faded long,
The lily lived no more,
And nature, drooping with fatigue,
A sullen aspect wore.
Still one remained, in by-gone days
Cleora, young and fair,
Rut now well stamped by lengthened lime:
Her hopes and looks were bale !
The rose had left with dying spring
Which bloomed upon her wlieek,
And all the lustre of her eyes
Was now hut vision weak.
She stood, a remnant of the gay,
The belle of other days ;
O e who had listened oft and long
To hear the flatterer’s praise;
One who had looked, in ages gone,
For wealth mid fortune’s bow,
lint white and ghastly with the print
Os fading beauty—now.
At last he came, the Monarch came,
’Twas winter's cheerless hour:
“I claim thee for my waiting bride,
I II shew thee all my power.
Kings and com tiers bow them down,
And empires do 1 sway ;
The world doth own me conqueror,
I lead in honor’s way.
“I’ll take thee to iny palace halls,
Where thine own worth shall reign,
And every wish shall prove success,
And naught desire in vain.’’
So took he in ! is chilly arms
Ch ora, once the fair,
And bore her through the thick, cold storm,
The diadem to wear.
And soon lie halted, then around
Her lifeless figiire threw
llis frozen cloak, then laid her down
Within a mansion new—
Whose walls with pallid white were strewn
Around on every hand—
Then kissed ho fondly her cold cheek,
And loosed his grappling hand.
He turned away, the heavy sods
Fell lunib'ring on her form,
And now Clcora's visage fell
Nor wind, nor cold, nor storm.
The trees stood nodding round her grave,
And each in moanings tried
To give its anguish vent, and said :
* Alas ! thou art Death's bride !”
• W. P. 11.
"These lines were suggested by reading an ar
ticle in a recent number of the “Southern Lite
rary Gazette,” written by Mrs. Heinz, entith and
x‘Tlie Victor Monarch's Bible
LOST ARTS.
nr WESDEI.L PHILLIPS.
“Ours is an extraordinary age.” Our age, its
wonders and improvemen - -, are the standing
theme. They arc like tin- man whom Coleridge
mentions as taking oil his lint with respect v»lien
speakiogto himself. The age vaunts much of
its achievements in science mid literature, and
yet in these very boasts has been outdone ages
since, by nations passed away. Every new de
velopment of science, and every new research
throwing light upon the arts of the ancients,
prove them to have been in possession of many
now entirely lost, ami that they piif»ruied won
ders which h i: not only do not equal, but cannot
even perceive how they were performed. Even
on the hitherto aceoun ed new world, like Ro
binson Crusoe on his isiund, we have discover
ed in the ruins of Central America, the foot-prints
of a nation long sunk in oblivion. These traces
show that they too, like the people of the East,
were in possession of arts now lost. These arts
can he considered under four divisions, to wit,
(class, Colors, Metals, and then miscellaneous
articles and facts.
1. Glass. — This was for a long time believed
to he a modern invention. Within fifty years
four quarto volumes were written in Italy, to
prove, in opposition to the assertion of l’iiny,
that the article was unknown to the ancients,
and on the very day that these volumes were
published, a warehouse was opened in Pompeii,
tilled with cut, wrought, pres.-cd and Mu. ned
glass, far more beautiful and perfect than are now
manufactured. There is glass f.imd too among
the ruins ofSouth America. In the Museum of
Florence, I have seen a piece of glass, which
was long supposed to he a gem, an inch square
by a quarter of an inch thick, on which was re
presented birds which could he seen equally well
oil both sides, arid their plumage so perfect that
the microscope shows in it no fault or want of
finish ; mid though it is apparently a mosaic, it
is impossible to detect where or how it is put to
gether. The art of in; iking them so is not known
and we cannot even imagine how it could lie
done Pliny tells of a drinking glass which
could he folded so as to occupy a smail space,
and which was destroyed, and its coiistrueiion
kept a secret by its inventor, because his mon
arch would not oH'ei him what lie considered a
sufficient sum lor the invention. The moderns,
with all their arts, cannot equal the beautiful
stained glass of the middle ages, inferior as this
was to that of Egypt.
2. Colors —ln these the ancients certain'} - far
surpassed the moderns. Sir Humphrey Davy
made many efforts to analyze the celebrated
Tyrian purple of the Mast, hut these efforts w ere
without success. lie declared he could not dis
cover of what it was composed. The Naples
yellow, too, though less know n, was much Used,
and the art of making it is now entirely g. no.
The Tyrian purple is the color of many houses
of Pompeii, and they look as fresh as if jus:
painted. The colors of Titian are as vivid and
iianiitiful ns when first laid on bv theartist,while
those ofSir Joshua Reynolds already look chalky
and dead. And Sir Joshua himself confessed,
after inakiii!) it a study of his life, that lie had
never been able to discover how Raphael and
the other great artists had been able to preserve
the brightness and beauty of llieir paintings.
Hut if wc marvel at these artists three centuries
back, what shall we say to those paintings found
in the tombs of Kg' pt, more than two thousand
years old, and yet kept fresh and bright, though
buried for that time beneath the ground in the
damp, dark envesof the East ? The very wife of
Solomon is found here, just us she was painted
on the eve of her departure from her father’s
home to share the throne ofjudeu, and not only
is color of Iter garments preserved, hut the bloom
is on her cheeks and lips, and the lustre in her
eyeas it was then. There are paintings, too, as
far hack as the time of Moses ; a portrait suppos
ed to he Niro, the king who drove the Israelites
into the I veil Sen ; and even t lie colors of this aie
perfectly preserved.
3. Metals. —Of the use of these the Scriptures
make very early mention, in the day s nl'Moses
gold is spoken of as put and sometimes kept in n
liquid state, while it is bey ond our power to re
duce it to a pow der. The corner stones of the
Pyramids are so sharp as to break the skin of the
hand when passed over them, and so hard as to
resist the sharpest steel. The French found
great difficulty in carving two lines upon the
obelisk now in I,a Place Concorde; vet the an
cients have covered all the facades w ith figures.
According to history, they had an art, now lost,
of making copper, (one oftlic softest of metais,)
harder than steel, and it was out of this-that they
made their tools. The famous Delhi blades, as
it was well known, are unrivalled. They w ould
cut ofT the heads of a row of hob-nails, placed
one after another, without dulling their edge;
and yet so pliable that the point could he made
to touch the handle. Then the warrior, too, im
patient to wait for his sword to he cooled in the
usual way, snatched it red hot, and waving it iti
the air, thus gave it its temper. They tried in
Paris lately thus to temper steel, hut w ithout
success. Scott gives a description of the sword
of Richard, which cut down steel with the same
facility. The cannons oftlic. British in India, it
is well known, toon become honey-combed by
dampness of the dew, so us to he totally useless
in war. The linesof Byron oil the rust upon
the steel oft lie warrior, are according to truth,
though that warrior had lain hut one night be
neath the open sky. Necessity has been to the
East Indian the mother of invention He will
take the cast otl'hoop of an English cask, anil
make a sword of it equal to the best Parisian
blade. The pliability of the steel of the ancients
was wonderful, hut that of their bronze was mor
so.
4. Gems of the Ancients, their Cameos, S,c. —
The imitation ofgems is truly wonderful. An
instance is cited ofa vase preserved in a church
at Genoa, believed since the middle ages to hi
pure emerald ; declared by the priests to have
been presented by the Queen of Shelia to Solo
mon, and to have been the very vase from which
Christ drank at the wedding in Gallilee ; held
in such veneration that all were forbidden to
touch it on penalty of dentil. He mentioned
one who had just escaped tins penalty for try ing
to touch it with a diamond. Coming near to it
as lie did, iie thought he perceived bubbles in
it, which proved it to have been glass. This
vase in tile time of Buonaparte, was removed
from the church in Genoa to the museum in
Paris, and there was subject to an examination
which proved it to he a false gent. It has since
boon returned to its place ; hut still it is by the
priests declared to he an emerald, and the vase
presented to Solomon, and used by our Saviour.
Tho full beauty and perfection of many gems in
the museum of Italy , can only he seen by the
aid of the glass, and one is therefore handed to
the traveler at the door. So that it seems the
ancients must have known and used the micros
cope, else how could they have done wixk
which cannot he seen without its aid ?
There is evidence too, of their use of the tel
eseopc ; they are said to have seen ships at a
great distance by the aid of an instrument, and
without such aid it is impossible to conceive
how the astronomers of Babylon could have
gained their extensive knowledge of the stars
The stories of Herodotus have been deemed so
incredible that he has been staled the father
lies, in contradistinction to the father of histo
ry. Yet science has discovered many of these
stories to he not only possible, hut. probable.
For instance, the story of Archimedes having
set fire by means ofa glass to the enemy’s fleet,
laving at a great distance, has not only been
proved by actual experiment probable, but that
the result must have followed from the observ
ance of the conditions stated. Science and re
search may hereafter prove all his seeming lies
to be indeed truths. The Marquis of Worcester
had a discovery in his mind which lie could not
carry out, but would sometime, lie declared, be
brought into use, and by which a tea-kettle of
water might he made to blow up an enemy’s
fort. When the steam engine was really dis
covered, this assertion, then deemed so absurd,
was considered prophecy. Even so may the
progress of science prove the assertions of Hero
dotus true. There was also a liquid firo which
could be thrown into the enemy's ships at a dis
tance to destroy them. This was used by the
Norwegian pirates as late as 1400, hut the art of
making it is now unknown.
The Mechanical . Iris —The French consider
ed it so great a feat to place the Obelisk, which
was one solid piece of stone, oil hoard a vessel,
and then convey it from thence to L:i Place
Concorde ; to raise it from a horizontal to a
perpendicular position ; that they deemed it
worth recording on its base, with representations
of the machines hv which it was done. And yet
this obelisk had been drawn from quarries, and
thus raised, ages before, and by mechanics now
unknown. It is well known that in the tombs
of Egypt were representations oftlic various arts
then practiced. A distinguished decipherer of
the hieroglyphics lliinks lie finds there the re
presentations of the live mechanic powers, the
lever, iVc. Even new patterns of dress, and
nev patterns for shawls, are taken from those
tombs. Their cloth, too, cotton anil linen, and
even niusliu-de-hiiue, were found there of su
perior quality. Most of the mummy cloth was
indeed coarse, hut some has been found of great
fineness, oven five hundred threads to a square
inch. The porcelain oftlic Egyptians was very
rich and beautiful ; and here we have evidence
of commerce in vciy early limes. There is
found in Egypt much of the China poicelain, so
that there must have been commetce between
those two distant nations. Canals, a boasted
modern invention, \\as made and used by the
very ancients, if not for travelling, at least Mo
convey merchandise and burdens. Descriptions
of ,i canal across the \ alley of Goshen arc spoken
of by the French and English engineers, which
lias been filled up with sand ; and again, in
modern times in a great overflow of the river,
has been filled with water. There is another,
occupying part oftlic space between the Thebes
and its quarters, over the rest of the space is a
road, answering in a great measure to our rail
roads, being evidently leveled hv art .and paved
with immense blocks of store. These are not
nil the details prepared, but sufficient fur illus
tration.
Are we then superior in nothing to the ancient
nations? Yes; and principally in this—that
learning is not buried in the tombs, nor hidden
in the erupts of churches. It does not now live
apart from the world in the sacred cloister, or
behind the coif of the monks ; nor is it kept for
kings and princes; hut it goes forth among liie
people and works for them and receives from
them in return ; it “easts its bread upon the wa
ters ami alter many day sit returns again.” The
art once employed upon the pyramids is now
making habitable the hanks of the Mississippi,
and all the great Western rivers, and rendering
their inhabitants prosperous and happy. Where
too, among the ancients .-diall wc find hospitals ?
\\ here do we find men associated for the relief
of llieir fellow men ? In this thing we are su
perior, hut not in arts and sciences. And yet to
icad to these modern results hut one step was
necessary ; and for centuries the World was, as
it were, on the point of making the step. The
step was taken ; Printing was and scovcred—and
it has revolutionized the world.
MACON, G A .
SATURDAY MORNING, DEC. 9, 1848.
QjpMcssrs J. P. Robinson', .-iiid J K. llar
.ll on, are authorized to receive subscriptions for
the Southern Museum, in any of the South-
Western Counties of Georgia.
QU YV’e forward the present number of the
Southern Museum to several of our friends,
with a view of obtaining for it their support.
We disclaim, however, any desire of forcing the
paper upon any , thcrefoie, whilst we shall he
thankful for any patronage which may he extend
ed to us, we m spcetfully request those who are
unwilling to aid us in the enterprise, to notify us
oftlic fact by returning the paper to tliis office;
otherwise llieir names will ho entered upon our
subscription list.
Our Fourth Page. — Wc must apologize to
our readers to-day, for the transfer ol the lead
ing articles of tho first number to tliis page. It
is our intention, in so doing, to make up the de
fieii'iicv in the first issue, us our subscription
is! has increased to such an extent, since that
time, as to exceed tho publication on Saturday,
and consequently, many subscribers have been
deprivi and of the first number. We hope our
readers will hear with this repetition.
T»> tese SSeadicig - S’lili-tc.
It is an old and hackneyed custom, in the eon.
duet of newspapers of every grade, forthe edi
tor toappear before his readers in the first issue,
in order to make a salutatory address. For the
very reason, that this is the usual mode »fcom
mencing the first volume ofa paper, we beg
leave to differ from this common course, and
therefore will content ourselves with a very few
remarks as to what the readers of I lie Southern
Museum may expect the sheet not to be; leav
ing what it iciU be, a matter open for considora.
tion in the progress of its publication. We know
full well, that it is far preferable tocxcced one’s
promises than to fall below them ; and as wc
shall promise little, we hope to make the paper
worth a great deal; wheiens, should wc promise
a slieckunparalleled, and fail to comply with the
obligation, we should do violence to our own
feelings, and justly merit the displeasure of our
friends.
The Museum shall never become a source of
scurrilous abuse, ni the medium of party invec
tive ; nor shall it, in the presentation of politi
cal events, express any biassed opinions, hut,
aiming at hare facts, wc shall present them with
out comment, leaving those interested to form
llieir opinions for or against as the case may he.
Personal satire shall he avoided ; and while a
vituperative sectional feeling shall not obtain
with us, onr columns will ho purely Southern)
devoted, ns they should he, to the maintenance
of Southern rights. The interests of the Farmer
shall not he neglected ; nor shall the man of
business return profitless from the perusal of its
colnmns. In short, in claiming the patronage of
all, we hope to benefit all, so far as we can, by
usiug our best exertions to render our paper in
structive,beneficial and aniusingto the different
classes of the community
Literature and Criticism.
The question is often asked, Why are the
people of the South so negligent in the cultiva
tion of Literature ? and yet, although the an
swer has been claimed by a great many writers,
ofall classes, the mass of the people have yet to
be enlightened upon the subject—an effectual
remedy lias yet to be applied to the acknowl
edged evil. The question, “Who reads an
American hook is, we believe, far less appli
cable to the interest manifested in our publica
tions in England, than the ore, Who reads a
newspaper? among the inhabitants of the “sun
ny (South.” This is the great foundation of the
evil which hashing fettered the mental energies
of our citizens, and forced them, in point of-in
tellectual commerce at least, to how the knee of
obeisance to the more liberal and independent
spirits of the North. It is our intention here, so
far as our limits may permit, to enter into a
calm and truthful exposition of the reasons
which we assign for this lamentable ignorance
of nearly all classes of Southern society, and
in so doing, we deprecate all intention of cast
ing a reproach upon the land of our birth.
We presume it to he an incontestable point
that the vehicle, or rather the distributive pow
er, by which Literature is given to the world,
lis the press. This assumption being true, we
then class the products of this great power in
their legitimate spheres, as hooks, newspapers
and pamphlets.
The first, being naturally more difficult to
procure, are proportionality less common among
us. It is true, we find the novel, the romance,
the essay, and the book of poetic gems gracing
the centre tables of our parlors, and standing
out in hold relief upon the shelves of our libra
ries; still, it is nevertheless the case that the
dust is often suffered to accumulate upon the lid*
of books worthy our perusal, while those of a
light, trifling, and unprofitable character arc the
constant comp .anions of our leisure hours. The
press of the United States is daily teeming with
volumes of execrable stuff, bred in the foul im
aginations of fantastical idealists, who have
seized upon the frailty of nature, and appropri
ated to their sustenance the proceeds of minis
tering to the depraved appetites of man. And,
at the same time that they cloak their narrow
minded and selfish ends under the ostensible
virtuo of guarding others from the vices and in
discretions of their heroes and heroines, the\
very gravely and impertinently pen a tribute to
morality—jdanting a feeble spark of virtue in
the mind of the reader, to he extinguished hv
the irresistible torrent of destructive and poison
ous examples embodied in their productions.—
And why is it that there are so many of these au
thors eztant ? the reply is an easy one : it is the
taste of the people which makes the author, and
• hey who live by mental labor are driven from
the field of pure aud genuine Literature, hv the
want of patronage, and the consequence is, they
must either give up their vocation, or accommo
date their writings to theprevailing channel of
corruption.
If a work of fiction appears,’it must be filled
with the relation oftlic wonderful adventures of
some modern Blue Beard, or chronicle the win
ning graces and irresistible charms ofa beautiful
courtezan, whose aristocratic birth and associa
tion prevent her mingling with the common
herd, to which companionship her remarkable
experiments in love and “affairs of the heart” so
justly entitle her. This work, hearing an inge
nuous title and hyp critical face, escapes the
notice oftlic parent, and passes into the hands
of the young person, (by whom works of fiction
are indfetappreciated,) to he conned at the hour
of midnight, when the mind has and desires no
restraint from counteracting influences, hut sips
in silence, and with growing u\ idity, the draught
of n fearful and boundless poison. Thus it is
that these base pretenders for Literary honors
encourage a taste they should condemn, and
foster an e\ ii they should endeavor to extinguish;
while the minds of reading persons, strengthened
by this ready acquiescence to llieir will, be
come fortified in an enthusiastic and \igorous at
tack upon the. better principles of our nature.—
In the majority of instances, these worthless
and baleful volumes are the visitors of tiic parlor,
and the objects upon which the the young and
the gay, the romantic and the impure, engross
their idle moments. Rooks of history are mere
chronological ficts, to he appealed to in proving,
in learned arguments by the lovers of novels,
the date of some incident, portrayed by a late
publication of an European re-print. Metaphys
ical works, in the common parlance oftlic dav,
are for the old and the dying, as grave subjects
are only lit ffir the hour of approaching dissolu
tion. Poetical writings arc merely bought for
the purpose ofaffording a change ofeonversation,
and to embellish the collections ol the library
Thus, the hooks we read are few of them wor
thy our attention, and canno. he said to consti
tute a partoftruc Literature. Now let us exam
ine the newspaper press.
’ Our newspapers are, almost without excep
tion, identified with one or tho other of the
political parties now distracting the country;
and, as they are every year engaged in a political
canvass, in National or State, elections, pictu
ring forth the claims of some aspirant to civil
power, or declaiming against an opposing influ
ence; and as, in the heat of an exciting politi
cal campaign it is unreasonable to suppose tha 1
tin: milder and mere refined interests of Litera
ture can he advanced, it is useless to look to the
partizan press for the advocacy of those princi
ples which so deeply concern the man of letters.
This being the case, then, we are forced to draw
this conclusion : that neither the hooks read by
the people, nor the productions of the partizan
press arc at all calculated to promote the cause
of genuine Literature—for the former adap
tiiemselves to a corrupted taste, and the latter
aim at the elevation of an entirely foreign and
irrelevant interest. What then, it behooves us
to enquire, can create -a pure and exalted Lite
rary taste among us ? Why, let the distinctive
parties support their respective advocates; let
the light and trifling support the fountain-head
of profitless and impure fiction: but let those
who desire to see the mental products of the
South worthy of our talent and the age, rally
around the Literary periodicals and newspapers
now in progress in this section of the Union
give them the aid of a generous purse; cheer
them with the marks of their esteem and appro
bation ; assist them with the endeavors of their
own minds—and then we shall sen, as these or
gans increase in interest and patronage, the flood
tide of false Literature ebbing, and the pen as"
sttming its high prerogative in the progression of
the mental abilities, and in the exaltation of hu
man reason and human happiness.
But are these the only harriers to the progress
of Literature ? Would that they were! Bdt
alas ! we have among us the descendant of ait
ancient and esteemed patron of letters, disfig
ured by the hand of crime, and apostatized from
the devotion of its ancestor. We refer to that
detestable system of monopolizing thought,
known in modern times by the unmerited name
of Criticism. Every man is, according to the
false theory of the present day, horn a critic,
and, as a free, sovereign citizen, it is his right
to exercise this function upon all occasions. He
who dares to deny this privilege is cried down
as an anti-republican—an enemy to free institu
tions! Shakspearc is to be tested in the cruci
ble of some ambitious wight, whose shallowness
ofintellect debars him from the comprehension
of the beauties and the profoundness of that sub
lime author. He whose mind is incapable of
creating a reputation, hopes to gain notoriety
by cavilling about the defects of popular w riters;
and, guided by no other desire than an envious
and sordid self-aggrandizement, lie uses every
means in his power to crush the buddings oftlic
inflint mind, by pointing out the faults of its pro
ductions to the public gaze ; leaving the occa
sional beauties to he discovered by some more
lenient eye. Were there but one case on record
to appear in condemnation of these hypocritical
blockheads, that would he alone suflicient to
east eternal infamy upon such Literary stock
jobbers. Who does not recognise, in tho death
of the young, hut lamented Keats, a crime al
most unparalleled in the history of the deprav
ity of the human heart ? As soon us his first
poetical productions appeared, he was attacked
w ith all the fierceness and rapacity of such wild
brutes, arid received the whole calibre of their
scurrility and abuse, because some of his friends
chanced to belong to an opposing party faction!
And thus tho splendor of an intellectual star
was eclipsed ere its light had reached the me
ridian of life, nndayoung, transcendant genius
was buried, at twenty-four years of age, by the
hands of a debased, vile crew ofignoble critics i
The history of this transaction is hut the public
transcript of a thousand, which remain in the
shades of oblivion. It cannot ho expected that
the mind can arrive at perfection without the
practical exercise of its qualities; nor should
the effusions of youth furnish a criterion for the
advancement of age. The crude thought may
he shapen into beautiful symmetry and grace, if
ih(! artizan he encouraged and rewarded for his
labor. It is not the office of the critic to separate
the beautiful f.om the unseemly, hut to guard
the minds of the people from impure and vicious
writings. This done, his duty is performed ;
lie owes none other to the Literary world. Rut
how often do we see instances of inal-pirt ticu
in the strictures of these men ! Away wilhsucli
criticism ! Let the critic guard our Literature
from corruption, and leave the merits and de
merits of an author to he decided by the reading
public. The opinion of one man, prompted, it
may he, by selfish and unworthy motives,
should not he taken as infallible truth, without
a careful and unprejudiced examination of the
premises. Lot this class of Literary aspirants,
then, abandon the idea of burning themselves
into notice upon the merits of others; cultivate
their own minds; encourage every worthy at
tempt to excel—and the cloud which now over
hangs the Literary sky will v .nisli, and innu
merable and brilliant stars, of '.he first magni
tude, will deck ils spacious firmament.
E ui' cat in*. —l. cl aM rcmctnber that every bov
and girl in (lie country should liave tbeir beads,
their iiearls, and their hands educated. By the
proper education of the head, they will be taught
what is good, and what is evil—what is wise and
what is foolish—what is right and what is w rung.
By a proper education of the heart, they will be
taught to love w hat is good, wise and right, and
to hate what is evil, foolish,and wrong; and by
a proper education of the hands, they w ill he
enabled to supply their wants, to add to thei r
comforts, and to assist tiifise around them. The
highest objects of a good education are to rever
ence and obey God, and to love and serve man
kind; every tiling that helps us in attaining
these objects is of grunt value, and everything
that binders us is comparatively worthless.
When wisdom reigns in the head and love in
the heart, the bead is ever ready to do good;
order and peace smile around, and sin and sor
row are almost unknown.
Making Sugar in Georgia. —We under
stand that Col. G I’. llahrison, of Chatham
County, has made a very satisfactory experi
ment in boiling the juice of the Sugar-cane, in
to a good article of syrup and sugar. This en
terprise is worthy the attention of our fanning
friends, and wo hope soon to see our markets
supplied with these articles, of home manufac
ture. They will furnish remunerating prices in
lieu ot 5 cents per pound for Cotton. How long
before we shall be enabled to chronicle another
essential mean of developing the varied resour
ces of our State ?
[PT’ltis probable the lighting of Savannah
river, prov ided for by the late acts of Congress,
will be completed during the present month.
Locomotive Steed. —The Lowell Courier
says that u new engine, having driving wheels
of six and a half feet in diameter, capable of
running a mile a minute, has been recently built
for the Boston and Lowell Railroad.
O’ Seven hundred and three persons have
died in N. Orleans, of Yellow Fever, the past
summer. Very few of them are Americans.
O’The cotton crop of the United States last
year, was worth $65,000,000.
ITT Dr. Cotton is exhibiting an electrified
track, in Newark, New Jersey, upon which an
engine and ear arc driven with great rapidity.
Soutli Western Kail Rond.
It gives us much pleasure to learn, from an
authentic source, that the work upon this im
portant Road is rapidly progressing. Thirty
five miles are under contract, and the grading
is nearly half done far that distance. The su
perstructure is also contracted for, upon twen
ty-five miles, and, it is estimated, that this
portion of the Road will tic completed in about
12 months. It is the expectation of the Compa
ny, very soon, to let out another part of the
Rond to a suitable depot on the western side of
I lint River. The public may reasonably ex
pect the cars to run to this station in 18 months.
V\ lien the Road is completed time far, it will
bring a large amount of Cotton to Macon and
Savannah, which has hitherto been sent to tlie
Gulf ports, and, at that early day, the Stock,
holders and the people will begin to realize the
fruits of the enterprise. Much has been said
about this work; many have been the advan
tages predicted to flow from it; and now we
look with anxiety to the tine, when the last
remnant of opposition to it will he broken down
by the practical triumph and success of the ex
periment. This we are firmly convinced will
be done, and it is our opinion, that ifthere lias
been any miss-statement in regard to the bene
fits likely to follow ift completion, it lias been
in under-rating them. The Road will pene
trate the heart of the richest cotton-growing
country in the South, the products of which
have never, to any extent, been brought to this
market or that of the seaboard, but have found
their way, by a slow and uncertain medium, to
less profitable niarts upon the Gulf. An ex
tended patronage from the farming population,
consequent upon the shipment here of their sta
ple products, will enable our merchants to of
fer inducements to them, which tho preseut
limits of trade will not permit.
The “Maffitt Coxi koveksv.’’ —Rev. J.
N. Maffitt, a Methodist Minister, and an au
thor of great celebrity, at the North, is the sub
ject ofa considerable discussion in some of the
Northern newspapers at the present time It
appears, as lur as we have been able to under
stand the matter, that Mr. Maffitt, who is an
elderly gentleman, married, some three or four
years ago, a young lady of sixteen or seventeen
years of age. Before the marriage, as he says
in a letter to Mrs. M , dated August, 1847, du
ring a temporary separation from her, he made
an exposition of his sufferings, &e., upon his
knees, and warnd her again and again, of
the tremendous responsibility” she was “about
to take upon” herself, in becoming his wife,
and also, what lie would require of her in that
capacity. This, however, lie had no idea of
doing, until,he was informed, by “certain per
sons, ’ that li she lotnl him distracted!j,” and
thee, ofeotuse, he felt a “correspondentinter
est in heron that account.” Having indulged
in these preliminaries, the letter goes on to re
proach her lor misconduct, in going “out alone,
without her mother or some person older than
herself, ’ and neglecting to learn to play, du
ring his absence, “at least one tune upon the
piano,” and, instead of working with her nee
dle, ns she had promised him before their en
gagement, for ripping and tiuring abovt, and
lor being lazy , prudish, indolent and impudent,
conducting herself with the greatest impropri
ety towards himself and her relations. At tho
close of tliis extremely humiliating and wither
ing epistle, ho lays down certain rules and com
mands, a promise to comply with \\ hielt was to
be the signal for their re-union. Accordingly,
in her reply, Mrs. M. manifests the deepest
penitence, and pledges the most utter submis
sion t, his will. Subsequent to this inimitable
correspondence, the parties lived together lor
several months, when they again parted, and,
a short time ago, Mrs. .51. died, as it is said,
of a broken heart. The matter is now subject
of dispute, as to who was most to blame in the
affair. Upon the whole, we regard it as an un
called for publication of private domestic affairs,
si rid, from the present tone of the disputation,
we very much doubt whether the friends of ei
ther party will realize any additional estimation
of their respective virtues, fn the public mind,
or he enabled to fasten the wrong upon the
husband or wife, atone. For the sake of the
relatives of the deceased, and the respectable
connection to which Mr. Mafjitt belongs,
we think the matter should have been suffered
to remain within the circle of those acquainted
with the facts, as being unlikely to result in any
good. It furnishes strong evidence against
those mercenary and ill-fated marriages which
take place between young women and old men.
li is to he hoped that lew such cases \\iil ever
he recorded in future. Let the young look
well to their future happiness, and nip in the
hud the unworthy plans of gold-blinded parents
and friends, and the public car shall never
again he saluted by a similar narrative.
Turpentine. — One hundred and ten barrels
of Turpentine were recently produced near Mo
bile, Ala., and sold in that market for $3 per bar
rel, cash Cannot this article he obtained in
abundance at but a trivial cost from the inex
haustible pine forests in the lower part of Geor
gia? We think it can, and no doubt if it were
undertaken would yield a handsome profit to
those engaged in its production, besides render-*
ing valuable thousands of acres of land, which
now are comparatively worthless. We see the
experiment has been made within a year or two
past by some of the citizens of the lower coun
ties, and the article was readily'disposed of at a
remunerating price in the Savannah market. In
these days of light and progress, it will he some
lime before the supply oftl is article will exceed
the demand.
Soda Coffee. —It is said that the flavor of
coffee may be very much improved by adding
forty or fifty grains of carbonate of soda to eacli
pound rs roasted coffee. In addition to improv
ing the flavor, the soda makes the coffee moro
wholesome, as it neutralizes the acid contained
in the infusion.
O’ Santa Anna’s liquor canteen, two feet
long, mounted with silver, and made of Mexi»
cun ox-horn, is in Philadelphia.