Southern miscellany. (Madison, Ga.) 1842-1849, June 25, 1842, Image 1
a jTamtlg JLctogpapev : BcWcfr to tUe £U*ts, Science, Sericulture, iilccUauico, 22Uucatiou, jForeifiti an* Bomcstic KntcUCflcncr, turnout, Kt.
BY C. R. HANLEITER.
(POETRY,
“ Much yet remains unsung.”
SCENE AFTER A SUMMER SHOWER.
Tlie rain is o’er. llow dense and bright
Yon pearly clouds reposing lie !
Cloud above cloud, a glorious sight,
Contrasting with the dark blue sky !
In grateful silence earth receives
The general blessing; fresh and fair,
Each flower expands its little leaves,
As glad the common joy to share.
The softened sunbeams pour around
A fairy light, uncertain, pale;
The winds flows cool; the scented ground
Is breathing odors on the gale.
’Mid yon rich clouds’ majestic pile,
Alethinks some spirit of the air,
Might rest to gaze below awhile,
Then turn to bathe and revel there.
The sun breaks forth—from ofl” the scene,
, Its floating veil of mist is flung;
And all the wilderness of green
With trembling drops of light is hung.
Now gaze on nature —yet the same—
Glowing with life, by breezes fanned,
Luxuriant, lovely, as she came
Fresh in her youth from God’s own hand.
Hear the rich music of that voice,
Which sounds from all below, above;
She calls her children to rejoice,
And round them throws her arms of love.
Drink in her influence —low-born care,
And all the train of mean desire,
Refuse to breathe this holy air,
And ‘mid this living light expire.
MQ©©IEL L A M Y □
From the Family Companion.
BOSS ANKLES,
The ?mn what got Mowed up uilh a sky
rackct.
A SKETCH FROM LIFE.
BY WILLIAM T. THOMPSON.
Lo:,'g time ago, when Pineville was “ an
other sort of a place” to what it is now —I
tlo not mean the term’ in the superlative
sense, in which it is usually applied, but in
its true meaning—when it was indeed a ve
ry different sort of a place—long before the
“ Great Attraction” made its appearance, or
Parson Storr’s Temperance Society was or
ganized, and when Dr. Peter Jones was a
little flaxen-headed boy, it was customary
for Mr. Harley, and Mr. Coonsey, and Mr.
Jarvis, and the rest of the “ store keepers,”
to have a little back room in the rear of their
stores, where they usually kept a barrel of
whiskey or rum on tlie tap, just merely for
convenience of sampling. It was the prac
tice in those days, to take customers into the
little back apartment, and give them a sam
ple or two of the liquor before they com
menced trading. Sometimes these samples
amounted to good round “ horns,” but this
was only to test the wearing qualities of the
liquor, for those who use the article, say that
some liquors that taste well enough do not
rest so quietly on the stomach, especially
when taken in large quantities. Among those
who visited Pineville, there were not a few
connoisseurs in rum, some of whom often
found it impossible to get suited in the arti
cle short of a trial of every store in town, at
each of which they obtained considerable
samples, and sometimes expended a portion
of the small amount of cash which they had
brought with them to purchase homespun,
calico, salt, rum and tobacco, and such other
“ truck” as their necessities called for.
Mr. Harley was a considerable “ store
keeper” for the time, and was one of the
most accommodating sort of men. He usu
ally kept three or four different barrels on
the tap, and not only gave large samples, but
took every pains to accommodate his cus
tomers, by commending to them the liquor of
each barrel. It was perhaps owing to this
circumstance, that his door was usually sur
rounded with the various kinds of vehicles
then in use among the country people. It
was not uncommon to see a score of sore
backed, wind-broken llosenantes, and as
many burr-tailed donkeys “ hanging,” as
we call it in Georgia, to the horse-rack, with
eorne eight or ten little carts, each composed
of two wheels and a quantity of pine slaves,
drawn sometimes by a mule, sometimes by
a pair of “ critters,” and not unfrequently
by a single “ steer,” both the plural and sin
gular number being guided by means of a
rope or chain about the horns, the method
by which cattle of the bovine genus aro
awkwardly guided at the South, even at this
day.
But the proprietors of these grotesque
establishments, were decidedly the rarest
creatures in the animal kingdom. When
they came in the morning, they looked the
most harmless beings on earth; their bilious
looking eyes and tawny, shriveled faces—
except those who allowed their mother earth
to enter largely into their daily provender,
es whom there were not a few in those days
—wore a meek and pensive expression
which led one to doubt if the combative
principle in them found animal spirits suffi
cient to nourish and keep it alive. But to
wards noon, when they had indulged
pretty freely in sampling Mr. Har
ley’s liquor, they became quite another sort
of beings; and many a scene occurred about
the store-door, which would have afforded
ample field for the exercise of the graphic
pen of the popular sketcher of “ Georgia
Scenes and Characters.” Then might be
seen the cadaverous looking wire-grass boy
in his glory, as he leaped out into the sand
before the door, and tossing his linsey jacket
into the air, proclaimed hitnself the best
man in the county. Then too, might be
seen the torpid clay enter, his bloated, wa
tery countenance illuminated by the exhila
rating qualities ortlr. Harley’s rum, as he
closed in with his antagonist, and showed by
bis performances that be could eat clay as
well in its animate as in its inanimate form.
Then there was such cursing and swearing,
and biting and gouging, and such home-sent
“ licks”—such a war of words among the
women, squalling among the little tallow
faced scions—all under the influence of the
samples—and such a rearing and pitching,
kicking and braying, and spilling of carts,
and turning things upside down and break
ing them, among the mules and other cattle
—all of which would afford us materials for
a thrilling scene, were not the business of
the present sketch to record an afiairof quite
a different character.
On these occasions, generally Saturdays
of each week, a man or two got badly “lick
ed,” and towards evening a general evacua
tion of the town took place. The different
lanes leading out of Pineville were studded
with china trees, and it was no unusual thing
for Mr. Harley’s customers to become so
oppressed with the heat on their way home,
that they were compelled to rest beneath
their friendly shade. There they were al
most certain to fall asleep, and from some
reason or other, for they could never ration
ally account for such indiscretions, slept so
soundly that they were as often waked by
the rising sun of the following morning, as
by the dews of the intervening night. While
thus wrapt in the embrace of the drowsy
god, they were often made the victims of
the Pineville wags, who played such pranks
upon them that they not unfrequently awoke
as completely metamorphosed, as was the
renowned Bully Bottom, and as such at a
loss to recognize themselves, as her of whom
the old ballad speaks—
“ There was an old woman as I’ve beard tell,
Who went to market her eggs for to sell,”
but who unfortunately “ fell asleep on the
king’s high way,” and was afterwards only
enabled to identify herself by the aid of a
favorite dog, of whom she said :
“I've a little dog at home and he knows me,
And if it is me he ‘ll wag his little tail.”
These marvelous mystifications were
wrought in various ways, by the use of the
marking-pot and the shears. Sometimes a
follow would find himself minus the pendu
lous portion of his upper garment, and the
legs or some other portion of his unmen
tionables, and tattooed like a Carib chief;
another perhaps, would wake up with a face
as black as lampblack and oil could make it,
with liis wearing apparel altered to an en
tirely different fashion, and one side if not
his entire head shaved. Very few got caught
in this manner a second time, but there was
forever anew victim skulking back into
town under cover of the night, in order to
re-rig himself before venturing home, who,
if he were discovered in season, was sure to
be regarded as a proper subject upon which
to practice all the deviltry that could be de
vised by his tormentors.
One day, in mid-summer, a small party
visited Mr. Harley and sampled his liquor
as usual, among whom was an individual
who answered to the name of Boss Ankles.
It was a matter of some speculation how
he came by so singular and unmeaning a
nom deguerre. There was nothing peculiar
about his ankles, save that they were un
commonly black, and as he was in the habit
of thrusting his legs somewhat further
through his copperas-colored linseys than
fashion required, he exhibited rather more
iurc-skin there than is usually exposed to
view. The prefix Boss, was doubtless ac
quired from the fact of his affecting to be a
leading character in his settlement. He pre
tended to know more than his neighbors,
and held himself rather a “ ’simmon above
the common huckleberry,” for which reason,
more than probably they gave him this sig
nificant title. Ankles, was doubtless a cor
ruption of his surname, whatever it was.
More than probable he had forgotten it him
self, for he had been called Boss Ankles, Mr.
Ankles, Ankles or Boss,from time immemo
rial.
Mr. Boss Ankles was in the habit of tak
ing some state upon himself both at homo
and abroad, basing his right to consideration
on the fact of his being a “ school-keeper”
and a professor of music. He performed
on the fife and taught the mystic lore of Dil
wortli’s spelling book to the rising genera
tion of his settlement, but whether he ever
aspired higher in the walks of educational
science is a questionable point, which will
probably, at some remote day, be cleared
up to the satisfaction of the curious, by some
ingenious investigator. Certain it is, how
ever, that he either deemed his pupils incap
able of so high a flight, or did not conceive
any other branches than reading anil spell
ing worthy their attention, for ho never in
troduced even the art of making 41 marks
and pothooks” into his school.
Boss was what his neighbors called a*
44 monstrous ugly varmint”—there was not
a good looking spot on his whole face—his
MADISON, MORGAN COUNTY, GEORGIA, SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 25, 1842.
features were so perfectly sui generis, that
they absolutely defied description. Degrees
of beauty are only to be ascertained by com
parison, and having nothing in nature with
which to institute such an investigation of
Boss’s frontispiece, we should fail in any at
tempt to set him before our readers; we
must therefore content ourself by stating
that his face more neai-ly resembled some
distorted human visage than any particular
animal to which we can liken him. True,
his eyes somewhat resembled those of the
owl; there was a wildness of expression
about those organs which would have done
credit to the bird; but here the resemblance
ceased, and as the beholder contemplated
the next important feature, his mouth, he
was at a loss which it resembled most, that
of the catfish or sucker—it was decidedly
fishy in its structure, but seemed to combine
the peculiarities of both the species above
named. Immensely large at the base, the
lips protruded inordinately and had a down
ward inclination, which, together with his
.narrow little nose, large pale eyes,.standing
in their circular fields of purple, high check
bones, lantern jaws and long flaxen hair,
rendered him an object of furiosity. We
have said Boss performed on the fife—so he
did. On muster days he was in great re
quisition in his beat, and when once he suc
ceeded in getting his mouth in readiness, few
could beat him on the soul stirring, 44 ear
piercing” instrument. But these perfor
mances were attended with much inconveni
ence to Boss, as he was obliged to consume
some time in crimping up and folding away
the surplus leather about his mouth, before
he could adjust the instrument to his lips,
which, when be bad arranged them, resem
bled more the toe of a square-toed boot with
a hole in it, than any thing else we can think
of. When once snugly fixed he retained
his mouth in the feame pucker, and seldom
took the fife from his face during the parade,
unless some onechanced to pass with liquor,
a temptation he could not resist. When
music was again wanted, it was necessary
to give Boss a precautionary word, when he
would turn his head under his right arm
until the plaiting process was again accom
plished, then with a stamp or two of the
foot to mark the time, be would strike up,
perhaps yankee doodle, and away they
marched again.
But our business now is not with the mi
litia muster, or Boss’s musical powers.
Leaving these for the suljects of other re
miniscences of Pineville, with which we
may hereafter trouble our readers, we will
return to the evening of the mid-summer
day aforesaid.
There had been a considerable party in
town that day, but all had gone off unusual
ly quiet—no fighting, and none so drunk but
what they knew the way home. Boss had
been among the last to leave town, and was
perhaps the heaviest sampler in the party —
but he had gone long before sundown.
It was early in the evening, just after tea,
that some six or eight loungers of the town
dropped into the store, as usual—for it was
a sort of rendezvous for idlers, as one might
see by the mangled pine boxes before the
door—to interchange the news of the day,
and smoke a few cigars. They had been
engaged in such frivolous pastime but a few
minutes, when a very strange looking figure
entered the door, and inquired for Mr. Har
iey.
44 Ilellow, Boss, is that you ? I thought
you had gone home, long ago.”
44 Why, Mr. Harley, 1 never was sarved
sich a trick afore in all my born days.”
44 Eh, what’s the matter with you, Boss ?”
44 Man alive, can’t you see 1” exclaimed
Boss, and he rolled up his great white eyes,
and tried to suck in a sigh with his hanging
lips.
44 Where’s your shoes 1” inquired Mr.
Harley, observing that he was barefooted.
44 They tuck them too—oh, they tuck eve
ry thing they could,” replied he.
44 And your hat ?” inquired Mr. Harley.
44 They tuck that too. Man alive! Mr.
Harley, they’s tctotiatiously ruinated me,
so they is!”
44 Who 1”
44 You knows as well as I does, Mr. Har
ley.”
44 Have you been robbed, Boss ?” asked
one.
44 Where did it happen 1” inquired an
other.
44 I’ll tell you how it was. You see gen
tlemen, arter I left here to-day 1 was gwine
straight home, with the truck what'l bought
of Mr. Harley in a bundle, and it was mon
strous heavy, and it was ding hot, too, down
tliar in the lane, so I sot down to rest a bit
under the trees, and somehow or other I got
asleep, and you can see what happened to
me. Some cus-o’thunder just come and
tuck my bundle, and the jug o’ sperits, and
every tiling.”
44 And stolo them 1”
44 Yes, and the very shoes off my feet, and
my hat off my head, as was a bran new one
I bought hero to-day.”
44 Well, that’s rather a rough joke.”
44 Man alive! I never heard o’ sich an ou
dacious percedin’ in all my life. This town
’s got a monstrous bad name for 4 meanery’
and 4 shecoonery’ of all sorts, but I didn’t
know they ’low’d pirates here afore.”
44 It’s a bad business, Boss.”
44 Just look at my sitivation—l can’t go
home in this here fix. The folks would swar
I was tossicated—l know they would—
though I was only overcome a little with the
heat, and know’d just as well what I wa3
about when I sot down under them trees as
I does now. It’s not the vally o’ the plun
der, but the principle o’ the thing I looks at
—what’s the use o’ laws and preacliin’ if a
body’s to be sarved in this away. Cus the
luck—what a pity I didn’t wake up—tliar’d
been work down thar in the lane if I’d just
a happened to come too.” He concluded
with a significant twist of his neck, at the
same time clenching his fist, and casting a
wild scowl round the room.
44 Never mind, Boss, you know accidents
will happen. Take something to drink to
keep you from catching cold, and console
yourself that it is no worse. They might
have taken your coat, you know.”
44 To be sure they mought. That’s a fact,”
rejoined Boss, with a roll of his owl-eyes,
as mucii as to say ho wondered why they
didn’t.
Boss duly appreciated the sympathy
manifested for him and the crowd, and the
clerk having brought up some liquor, of
which he took a good swig to prevent his
taking cold, he began to grow familiar, and
sideling up to the counter, assumed a com
fortable lounging position, where lie soon
forgot his misfortunes in the social enjoy
ment of the hour. He had a great deal to
say about matters and things in general—
the ignorance of his neighbors, and the
44 shecoonery,” which hail been practiced
upon them by the town boys. For his own
part, lie never got into “that sort o’ diflfikil,”
for people always knew who to project with.
44 Why, thar’s Sam Stonestreet—you
know that ugly knock*kneed feller,” he con
tinued, 44 come down to the settlement totber
day, with the legs of his trousers split clear
up to his waistband, and his coat tail crapt
close off, all the hair off his head, and his
face as black as the very old blazes. He
liked to skeered bis aunt Tabitha Stallions
out of her senses, and the dogs tuck hold of
him just like he’d been some wild varmint.
Ha, ha, says I, Sam, you’s been Ouch!
whew! man alive! what’s that?” shouted
the speaker, and he lifted his feet from un
der him so suddenly, that be came near
pitching on the floor. A lighted cigar stump
had been, accidently of course, rolled against
them. After the two or three first steps of
a fandango, and rubbing the spot with his
hand, he resumed his position, and would
have taken up the thread of his story, but a
drink round was proposed after the laugh
had subsided, in which Boss had joined out
of pure politeness.
After the liquor, came cigars—his friends
were verv particular to select a large one
for Mr. Ankles. Boss wallowed it in his
mouth preparatory to smoking. Biting off
one end, he was about to light it, when his
attention was attracted by a single ludia
cracker, as they arc usually called, which
was lying upon the counter. Taking it up
and examining it, he asked,
44 What on yeath is that ?”
44 That ? why, that,” said the one nearest
him, casting an inquiring look around, “that
’s a a ”
. 44 Cigar-lighter,” added a mischievous fel
low on the opposite side, with a wink to the
crowd.
44 Yes, a patent cigar-lighter,” continued
the first.
44 Man alive 1” exclaimed Boss, 44 well,
well, what won’t them Yankees make next?”
he added, turning it in his fingers.
44 They’re a capital thing, Boss; try one.”
44 How do you fix ’em—how do they do?”
44 Why, you see that little string there at
the end.”
44 Yes.”
— 44 Well, just liglit the tip end of that in
the candle, and then mild it to the end of
your cigar, till you see it begin to fiz a little,
and it will light your cigar as quick as a
flash. First rate, I tell you.”
44 Man alive ! why, what a thing!”
# Boss did as he was directed—he held it
patiently to the end of his cigar, upon which
he occasionally gave a draw, as he noticed
the flashes of the match. He stood statue
like and still, during the interesting process
—the company sat in mute expectation.
Suddenly there was a loud explosion—the
cigar, save the stump, which he still convul
sively held in his teeth, was shattered to
atoms, and his mouth, eyes and nose, filled,
with smoke and tobacco. The cigar had
been charged, and thtf powder had singed
and blinded him. He sprang into the mid
dle of the floor at a bound, where for a min
ute he stood utterly bewildered, rubbing his
distended eyes, and spitting and gasping
from the effects of the explosion.
44 Man alive!” gasped he, at length.
44 What on yeath was that ? why, it went
jest like a blaze o’ fire right in my face. It
like to tuck the wind from me.”
Boss did not observe the laugh which this
strange phenomenon had excited.
44 It must have been a bad cigar,” mur
mured one.
44 Try another, Boss,” said a second.
44 No, I thank you, squire, I don’t kcer to
smoko no more to-night,” replied Boss, still
endeavoring to rectify his disturbed coun
tenance, and all the while wearing that wild
look, so peculiar to himself. He began to
entertain some vague suspicions that a trick
had been played off upon him, and spoke of
retiring; another horn, however, soon disa
bused his mind, or rather so totally unhing
ed what little brains he possessed, as to ren
der him incapable of arranging his thoughts
on that or any other subject. Ono suggest
ed the idea that perhaps the persons who
had robbed him, having overheard his dis
closures, were desirous of taking his life,
and had fired in upon him as he was light
ing his cigar. Some men when they are
drunk, are apt to imagine themselves beset
by thieves, assassins, and all manner of evil
dders. Boss was of this sort, and the latter
suggestion took at once.
“ Yes,” said he, 44 that ’co'unts for it—
some infernal pirate is dodgin’ about arter
my life, now—but he daren’t show his face.
Let any man what wants anything out o’
Boss Ankles, just make his ’pearance ‘fore
his face.” Then stepping to the door with
a mouthful of oaths, he called out, 44 Come
on with yer dirk-knives and yer double-bar
relled pistols, you thieves o’ thunder, and if
I don’t whoop the vally o’ the truck you tuck
from me out o’ ye, than I aint Boss Ankles.”
44 Go it, Boss, I’ll stand to your back.”
44 1 don’t ax no odds of nobody,” shouted
Boss, smacking his fists together, aud leap
ing about like a cat.
44 Boss aint afraid of sky-rockets.”
44 D n yer sky-rackets,” said Boss,
44 who’s them ?”
44 Look out they don’t put ’em to you,
Boss —they ’re sudden death, if they get
hold of you once.”
44 Who is they gentlemen—whar is they?”
44 Thero! there! look out.”
Pop, pop, pop, went a whole pack of ci
gar lighters about Boss’s ears. With a loud
yell of terror he tore away from his friends
and dashed into the street, shouting for life,
while the poppers at his back shone brilliant
ly in the darkness, as they kept a sort of ir
regular feu-dc-joie, until they were all ex
ploded. By this time, he had half the vil
lage boys at his heels, whooping and scream
ing like a pack of hounds in full cry. As
the last squib exploded, Boss stopped in his
headlong flight, almost out of breath from
fright and fatigue, for he had flown on the
wings of terror at what he supposed to be
an Application of the fatal sky-rockets.
When the crowd came up, two or three
gathered round with expressions of sympa
thy and friendship, and ordered the rest to
keep at a distance; declaring they would
chastise the first man that attempted to harm
their friend, Mr. Boss Ankles. Boss was
completely bewildered —his belligerent spir
it had fled, and he stood in amazement and
fear.
44 Who is I done any harm to ? what is I
done to lie mislisted in sich a way, gentle
men ? 1 ha’nt no grudge agin nobody.”
The response was a shout.
44 Stand your gtouud, Boss,” said his
friends, 44 we’ll see you out.”
Boss plucked up courage.
44 Now you try that agin, if you like it,
cus yer picters. The first man that touches
me, I’ll whoop, ’cept I die a tryin’. I gives
you all warnin’, and if you ”
But another rattling report assailed his
ears, and again he was flying down the street,
like a comet with a fiery tail, shouting in ac
cents of terror, which were drowned by the
clamors of the pursuing crowd.
Coming to a halt as before, his zealous
friends again joined him.
44 Now, who was that ?” demanded one,
as soon as they reached him —“ Come here,
Mr. Ankles, and the first man that attempts
to harm you ”
44 Gentlemen,” interrupted Boss, “them
sky-rackets wilf be the death o’ me—won’t
nobody keep ’em off me. Do gentlemen
keep ’em off this time, for Heaven’s sake.”
44 Stand off you scoundrels—the first man
that comes'near Mr. Ankles ”
Pop, fiz, pop, pop, and away broke Mr.
Ankles like a quarter-horse.
The same scene was repeated ten or a
dozen times, and at each fresh discharge
Ankles took to his heels, and continued at
the top of his speed until it was over.
Twelve o’clock found him still running the
gauntlet, bare headed aud bare footed, and
quite exhausted from fatigue, notwithstand
ing the potent draughts of rum which he
was from time to time prevailed to take.
The sport was about drawing to a close.
The last pack bad exploded, aud Boss had
brought himself to a ljalt, when he announc
ed his intention to die in his tracks. The
crowd as usual pressed round him, those
most conspicuous as his friends placing
themselves at his side, declaring their will
ingness to sacrifice themselves in his defence,
when suddenly there was a tremendous ex
plosion in their midst 1 For an instant a livid
flame illuminated the scene, which the next
moment was shrouded in darkness. There
was a moment’s panic—a moment’s death
like silence, followed by a loud cry of won
der from the flying mob. Then there was
some coughing and hard breathing to be
heard, and many extravagant expressions of
surprise. Some had been knocked down
and blinded—-these were gathering them
selves up and making off as fast as possible.
Some three or four had been more or less
burned, and were loud in demanding 44 who
done that?” But amid all the confusion that
ensued, poor Boss, who lay upon the ground
near where he had been standing was dis
tinctly heard, shouting 44 murder! murder!”
with the earnestness of a dying man. His
clothes had been nearly all blown off of him,
and the few shreds of his coat which still
hung to his shoulders were on fire. They
were soon extinguished, however, by such
as wore not busied in brushing the crisped
hair from about then- own faces, or feeling
for their eyebrows and winkers in the dark;
and those who had so recently been cruelly
engaged in making him the subject of their
VOLUME I.—NUMBER 13.
mirth now did every tiling in their power to
promote his comfort. The mystery was
soon explained. Boss had during the day
Eurchased a quantity of gun-powder which •
e had deposited in his coat-pockett This
having been ignited by the squibs had occa
sioned the extraordinary blow up. Luckily
no serious damage had been done—but
Boss was quite sure that he was done for.
“ You see now, gentlewiea,” said he in a
gasping tone, “ what you’s done with your
dratted sky-rackets. You’s made a widder
of my wife and children, and fixed me off.
I’sa dead man 1 You see what you all’s
done, and I spose you’s satisfied.”
By this time squire Rogers, near whose
residence the explosion took place, made
his appearance, and after rebuking the boys
and telling them how wrong it was to use
“ any poor crittur that-a-way,” and remind
ing them them that “ they didn’t know what
they mouglit come to yet afore they died,”
took the poor fellow in charge and kept him
till morning.
On the following dayJJoss was enabled to
see into the whole matter. He was in a
sorry plight indeed, but a subscription being
made up for him, he was fully indemnified
for all losses sustained, and departed in a
good humor considering the circumstances;
not, however, before making a solemn as
seveiation, over a sample of Mr. Harley’s
best, that he would never take another
snooze under the Pineville china trees, or
permit himself to bo “blowed up with a
sky-racket 1”
Macon, Ga., 1842.
Love-letters. —The first love-letter is an
epoch in love’s happy season—it makes as
surance doubtly sure—that which has hith
erto, perhaps, only found utterance in sweet
and hoi-rid words, now seems to take a more
tangible existence. A love-letter is a proof
how dearly, even in absence, you are re
membered. We once heard a young friend
regret her approaching marriage, because
she would then receive no more charming
notes. Alas ! the charming notes are not
the only charming things that are no more.
But a love-letter 1 how much of life’s most
perfect happiness do those two words con
tain ! With what anxiety it is expected !
with what delight it is received! it seems
almost too great a pleasure to open it. Sud
denly we mock ourselves for the charmed
delay—the seal is hastily broken—the con
tents eagerly devoured; then it is read slow
ly, dwelling on every sentence to lengthen
out its enjoyment; how sweet does every
little word of endearment appear! what
importance is attached to the choice of an
epithet, to the turn of a phrase! Through
the whole day, with what a conscious thrill
its possession is recalled ! with what care
it is read over at night, till its contents min
gle with our dreams! We often wonder
when we see people settled down in that
cold calmness, 100 often the atmosphere
around the domestic hearth, whether they
ever recall the words they used to say and
the letter they used to write! Would those
letters appear absurd and exaggerated, or
would they for a moment bring back the old
feeling, or, at all events, a tender regret for
its departure I — N. Y. Mirror.
Curious Clod. —Clark, in his travels in
Scandinavia, says, the most curious thing in
the Cathedral of Lubec, is a clock of singu
lar construction and very high antiquity. It
is calculated to auswer astronomical pur
poses, representing the place of the sun and
moon in the eliptic, the moon’s age, a per
petual almanac, and many other contrivances,
The clock, as an inscription sets forth, was
placed in the church upon candlemas day,
in 1405. Over the face of it, appears an
image of our Savior, and on either side of
the image, are folding doors, so constructed
as to fly open every day, when the clock
strikes twelve. At this hour, a set of figures,
representing the twelve apostles, come from
the door on the left hand of the image, and
pass by in review before it, each figure mak
ing its obeisance, by bowing as it passes that
of our Savior, and afterward entering the
doors on the right haud. When the proces
sion terminates, the doors close.
The Piano-violino. —This new and curi
ous invention is now to be seen. The En
quirer contains the following notice of it
and it * inventor, Colonel Wood, of Botetourt:
“ Os all the eccentric fruits of this inventive
age, we had the pleasure on Saturday even
ing of witnessing one of the most curious.
It is nothing more or less than a hybrid
monster—a complete blending of two musi
cal instruments of entirely different and an
tagonistic principles—in a word, a piece of
wonderful mechanism, that produces a per
fect combination of the notes of the violin
and piano-forte. The inventor, Colonel A.
S. Wood, is a Virginian, a resident of Bu
chanan, on James river. His curiosity was
aroused some eight yean ago, by some news
paper allusion to a similar attempt in Eu
rope; and his mechanical genius, unaided
by a scientific knowledge of music, but kept
alive and strengthened by perseverance, haa
achieved a work that baffled a skill of the
first mechanics and artists of the old world.
Tho instrument consists of a piano of the
usual construction, and played in the usual
manner. A pedel touched by the foot of
the performer, turns a flying wheel, which
regulatos the movements of the machinery.
As each particular key of the piano is touch
ed, a corresponding key within the box of