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THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS.
A. IKABSCHALK I
" • A. TO AKSt'il a LK, ( E <*Uors nd Proprietors.
the captain of the noethfleet.
BY GERALD MASSEY.
So often is the proud deed done
By men like this at duty's call;
So irn? are tbs honors won
By (hero, we cannot wear them all
They make the heroic commonplace,
And dying thus the natural way;
Yet it is our world-wide English race
Ennobled by that death, to-day!
It brings the thoughts that fathoms things
To anchor fa°t where billows roll;
It -lire ns with a sense of wings
That strive to lift the earthiest soul.
Bov-? was pa new, and life so sweet,
But at the call he left the wine,
Ar-.ii i-prang full etaiured to his feet,
Responsive to the touch divine.
“ Nay, dear. I cannot see you die.
For me, I have my work to do
Up here. Down to the boat. Good-by.
Gtslbiess you. I shall sec it through.’
We read, until the vision dims
And drowns; but, ere the pang be past,
A tide of triumphs overbrims
And breaks with light from heaven at laet.
Thro’ all the blackness of that night
A glory streams from out of the gloom;
His steadfast spirit holds the light
That shines till night is overcome.
The sea will do its worst, and life
It" sobbed out In a bubbling breath ;
But firmly in the coward strife
There stands an an who hath vanquished death 1
A sou! that conquers wind and wave,
And towers above a sinking deck;
A bridge across the gaping grave;
A rainbow rising o’er the wreck.
He saved others; saved the name
Unsullied that he gave his wife;
And dying with so pure an aim,
lie had no need to save bis life.
Lord 1 bow they shame the life we live,
These sailors of our sra-glrt isle,
Who cheerily take what Thou mayst give,
And go down with a heavenward smile!
The men who sow their lives to yield
A glorious crop in lives to be:
Who turn to England’s harvest field
| The unfruitful furrows of the sea.
With such a breed of men so bravo,
The old land has not had her day ;1
It it ,Vng. her strength, with crested ware,
Shall ride the seas, the proud old way.
A SECOND LORLEI.
Unfortunately for myself and every-
I body who ever saw me, I am very beau-
I tifnl. It is not egotism to that
I remark, for I have bad plenty of mis-
I baps on account of my looks, and every
I ill that can befall a family has been laid
Ito the score of “ Frank’s terrible ap
|l rarance. ” When I was a child every-
I thing went wrong. Once on a ferry-boat
Ia yonng and lovely lady, petting and
I talking to me, boeame so interested that
I she quietly backed off the edge, aDd
lonly the presence of mind and daring
lof her husband rescued her in a very
I clump and choking condition. Nurse
■scolded, mamrfia raised her hands in
Ihorror, and the lady gave me the name
lof * 4 Loriei,” which I have ever since
I retained.
I was a continual source of anxiety
flest I should be kidnapped by some
'childless people, and made into a cir
cus-rider, or au heiress. My life was
miserable, with the guard set around
mo, to say nothing of a dozen or two
toilets a day, my hair to be combed
"'el brushed incessantly, and myself
:iutl furnttwl Alice "a tap-clog. It
i grow no hotter, latter. My sisters hap
pened to be very plain, and I couldn’t
help it if I got all the invitations,
bouquets, and proposals, and they re
ceived none. To make it worse, one of
mv admirers died of heart disease, and
It ft me the large fortune that should
have gone to his sisters ; and then they
loved me excessively, of course !
I combed my hair in the most horri-
ble w r ay I could invent, ore stiff col
la s up io my ears, plain dresses of sober
color, made faces at myself in the glass
by the hour, and all to no purpose.
My hair would turn into the cnnningest
little ringlets about my forehead, and
fall down in a golden mass of curls just I
at the wrong time. The neck above the ;
ugly linen no amount of snn could make j
other than white and well-turned ; and i
the clumsy dress hid a form of the most j
perfect mould—stately, smooth and !
rounded as only a healthy English girl
can ever hope to be.
I couldn’t have any girl-friends, for,
without meaning it, I captured their lov
ers ; they grew jealous and called me j
names; and the attachment usually
ended in a storm of tears and reproaches
on the one part, dismayed repentance
on 'he other. I couldn’t have a gentle
man friend, for, if single, he proposed
in a month, and if married, the wife
came to the rescue, and I got the worst
of it. I tried one plan, and you shall
have the result: I cut my hair off
nearly close, and mercy me !—I had
done the business. I was handsomer
than before ! I looked a very picture
of mischief, my hair curled tighter than
ever, and my eyes would dance, spite of
all the sober books I read, and all the
sad things I tried to think of. I took
Aunt Hetty into my confidence, one day
when she came to the city to bny some
furniture for her country house, and
promised as soon as her sons started for
school, I would be with her to spend
the Bummer. I made my preparations
secretly, and only on the day of my de
parture asked and received permission
to go unwatehed and alone. Used to
my freaks, mamma asked no questions,
but, gave me some advice—to “ wear a
thick veil in the cars, not to take my
gloves off, and not to wink at any one.”
As though I ever knowingly did wink !
My own sisters would not have known
the little brown mouse of a girl that
sat so demnrelv in the car on its way to
Rockbridge. I bad ordered a wig made
of bright red hair, and it was a very
marvel in its way. Short, crisp, fiery
curls covered my head closely, well
down on the neck, and twining lovely
around my ears. A dress of water
proof of the most ungraceful cut
and make, green glasses, shoes and
gloves two sizes too big, and with the
exception of mouth and complexion, I
was hideous, Anntie would not believe
that it was myself, until I had shown
her my eyes, and spoken to her several
times.
There was not a soul on the plaoe
t hat had ever seen me, except aunt and
uncle ; and as they called me “Lorlie,”
the servants never suspected that I was
the Frank Morrison they had heard so
much of from the young masters,
-i here were few neighbors, and I rather
avoided them. For the first time in
my life I was ugly, and consequently
“ a PPy. I rode the horses, sat on the
•-■amyard fence during the milking, fed
| he chickens, ate apples and new butter,
took long walks in the woods, and my
big feet and scarlet hair never invited a
Second glance from any one I passed.
What happy, jolly days they were to
me, only those who are blessed with too
much beauty and long to flee from the
consequences can imagire.
One morning I took a book, and go
mg through the orchard, followed the
stream to a favorite nook, lay down,
and langhed the pretty, musical laugh
that was at once a pleasure and a bane,
laughed to thiDk of myself in this
in an opera-box ; and, looking at the
water, I said, “ Why not be a real
‘‘ hiorlei ’ for a while?” No sooner
f bought than done, Off came the
clumsy shoes and knitted stockings,
and holding my dress np I went splash
ing in the shallow waters. I stepped
on a big stone ; it rolled with me, and
T sat down cosily in the middle of the
brook, wet to my waist, and my dismay
finished by the heartiest laugh you can
imagine. Looking at a part of the
bank that I had not before noticed, I
saw a gentleman, in sporting dress,
holding a fishing-rod in one hand and
waving the other at me in the most
genial and pleasant manner. It might
have been that my eyes did not match
my hair ; at any rate, I fancied that he
stopped laughing rather suddenly, and
coming close down to the water stood
eyeing me inquiringly. I had been
angry at first; but my usual sense of
humor came to my aid, and sitting
there, with the lapptog water fall about
me, I held my sides, and laughed with
him until I was tired, and my cheeks
glowed like two roses.
“ Well,” he finally said, stopping to
laugh at every word or two, “you have
succeeded in your loudly expressed wish,
and made a veritable ‘Lorlei’ of vour
self.”
“ Did you hear me ? ” I asked, feeling
for the first time & little shy, sud rising
slowly to my feet. He saw that I oould
not come out of the water in my bare
feet, and laughing still, he answered:
“ Yes. But I fear you will continue
a water-nymph until I am gone, so
good bye.” And as suddenly as he had
come, he disappeared.
I put on my shoes, and made the best
of my way back to the house. Aunt
Hetty 1 aughed at me when I told her of
my adventure, but stared when I de
scribed the man.
“Bless me, child,” she said, “ it is
Walter Gray, who lives on the next
farm, or rather owns it, and lives in
New York. I did not know he was at
home.”
The days flew by on golden wings:
every odo seemed more happy thao the
last. I took an apronful of peaches
and a book, and lay down in the ham
mock under the elm for a lazy time one
morning. I was soarcely settled when
I heard auntie calling me, and then
steps coming near to me. I raised my
self, and who should be with her but
that Walter Gray! He laughed heartily
on recognizing in my aunt’s niece the
“water-nymph,” but soon made me feel
at ease by his courteous and merry
manner. He had come over to see if
he could buy a cow of uncle, and over
the merits of butter and milk we grew
quite friendly. Auntie would have him
Biay to lunch, and I tried to enact the
country girl, and be as awkward as pos
sible. Two or three times I almost be
trayed myself by some unguarded re
mark ; but by dropping my fork, up
setting my milk, and knocking my
ohair over when I rose, I managed to
seem ill-bred enough to suit my coarse
frock, absent collar, and tumbled hair.
To my utter astonishment, Mr. Gray
asked me to go to a picnic at the school
house the next day. While I was star
ing, first at him, and then at myself in
n W¥ A {A<msnreC f ' 1 ” 1 ' was
ready to beat her, but beyond a few
muttered words, I said nothing untii he
was gone. Then I made a few remarks
to her which made her look so sorry,
that I kissed her and promised to go
peaceably.
I made myself look as countrified as
possible, next morning, and my looking
glass told me that I was no longer even
passable. Mr. Gray made no remark
about my appearance, except to ask if
the glasses were absolutely necessary,
and on my gravely assuring him that
they were, he helped me into the car
riage, and awav we went. How I en
joyed the glances the girls gave me,
and their evident contempt for my dress
and manner! I found myself alone
with Mr. Gray, toward the end of the
afternoon, and we sat down on the moss
at the foot of a tree for what I called a
good talk. His manner had been per
fectly kind and courteous, and he had
done' everything in his power to make
me forget the difference between myself
and the pretty country girls I had met.
After a little I forgot my part, and let
ting the glasses fall unheeded in my
lap, I pulled off the yellow cotton gloves
I had worn all day, and lying backward,
clasped my hands above my head, con
tentedly. After a minute he said :
“ Maggie Thorne is entirely thrown
away on that old man. What a life for
a bright, fair woman to live, shut away
in that quiet house.”
Following his glance toward the house
on the other side of the road, 1 lazily
answered :
“ Imperial C*sar, dead and turned to clay,
Might atop a hole to keep the wind away.”
The look of utter amazement on his
face was too funny as he gasped out:
“ Miss Lorlei, what are you ? Hideous
and lovely at the same time, an unedu
cated country girl firing Shakespeare at
me in that style. You wear these green
glasses all the time, and yet I have
noticed you can see much farth l r and
better without them. You have the
most exquisite hand I have ever seen,
and your feet are large enough for a
man. You bow like an empress, and
tumble over your dress the next minute.
I can’t understand yon.”
I kept my faoe through all his speech;
and then gave him answer, pulling on
my gloves:
“I don’t know what you mean by
Shakespeare, and yon need not insult
my feet : I can’t help their size. What
made you bring me, if only to tease ?”
And without further ceremony I left
him more mystified than ever.
I saw him very often in the next two
months, and learned to like him very
much for his kindness to my awkward
self. How much I liked him I scarcely
knew, until a letter from mamma came,
saying that summer was long over and
people were growing very curious as to
my whereabouts. With a cold, sick
feeling at my heart, I took the letter in
my hand, and went through the orchard
to the place where I had played “ Lor
lei” for the benefit of Walter Gray.
Bitterly I regretted my masquerade, for
I thought he oould never be brought to
like the red-haired, clumsy girl he had
pitied and been kind to.
I lay on the grass crying, holding in
my hand some of the dead leaves lying
all about me, and thinking how like my
own hopes they were: How long I lay
there I do not know, till someone
dropped on the grass by me, and a cool,
soft hand held my own.
“ Crying ! water-nymph?” and before
I knew it I found myself close held by
two strong arms, and a dear voice speak
ing to me.
“Your aunt says you are going away,
Lorlei; going away to be educated, and
taught many things it is right for you
to know. I dare not let you go, little
one, until I ask if you will think of
yourself as my own Lorlei, and try to
become as graceful outwardly as your
pure, good heart and natural abilities
will let you. I have learned to love
you very much, and you will let me
hope, will you not?”
For all answer, I lay quiet, looking
up in his face, and thinking how nice
it was and fearing to break the spell by
showing him my real self.
“Do you like this awkward, uelv
clumsy, red-haired girl ? ” I finally
managed to ask, with a long-drawn
breath of satisfaction.
“ Stop the adjectives,” he answered
cl osiDg my mouth gently with a caress
(and how glad I was my mouth wa<-
pretty)! “At times you are more grace
ful than any one I ever saw, and as for
the hair, —”
I sat up eagerly, and asked :
“You like yellow hair, don’t you ?”
“Yes,” he said, wondering at my
eager look and manner.
“ Turn your head away, and promise
not to look,” I said, turning his head
so that he could not see me.
“I promise,” came the voice I was
waiting for. With trembling hands I
took out the pins, unfastened the elastic
which held my red wig, and pulling it
off, turned his face toward me. He
looked as though he had seen a ghost,
arid stared at the red hair in my hand
and the golden on my head, in mute as
tonishment.
‘Yes, it’s mine,” I said, answering
hw look; and I pulled one of the short
curls hanging over my eyes. “And I
can dance and sing, and play the piano,
an! I love Shakespeare! ” I could get
no further, for the reasons lovers can
perhaps explain; and when, an hour
after, in my pretty white ruffles and
womanly finery, I crept into the sitting
room, I found Aunt Hetty talking to
Walter, and saw him gravely kiss her
hand as he came toward me.” When I
saw the light in his eyes as he looked
at me, for the first time in my life I
thanked God for my glorions beauty.
There was a grata! tim9 when I went
home, and for a while my “ unfortunate
appearance” ceased t© be the general
theme of conversation.
My first anxiety, when nurse brought
ma my little Fannie to look at, was
whether she was pretty. I need not
have troubled myself. Her nose is flat,
her mouth is wide, and only her blue
eyes and sunny temper keep her from
positive plainness. She has relieved
me from all fear of perpetuating the
race of “Lorleis.”— The Aldine.
Good Things About Mules.
Mules are easier kept than horses be
cause they eat less and will keep in
good condition on poorer food. They
are by far less liable to disease. They
are more hardy and will endure degrees
of heat and cold that would greatly in
jure horses. If they sometimes refuse
to go, they are rarely known to run
away, and, accordingly, they do not
break harness, wagons, and carts, not
to speak of legs and arms. They are
not naturally vicious, and most of their
bad characteristics may be ascribed to
defective education and to bad ex
amples.
The power
also sure-footed. They are, accordingly,
better adapted as beasts of burden to
travel in a warm climate, to endure fa
tigue, and to make trips over moun
tains. Mules are almost the only re
liance of the inhabitants of Central and
South America. They are used for
drawing plows, harrows, and harvest
ers, and for taking produce to market,
and for all purposes of traveling. In
the southern states they perform nearly
as many useful purposes, and there is
hardly a cotton, cane, or tobacco raiser
who would think that he could raise
one of these crops without the use of
mules.
For plowing between the rows of cul
tivated crops the mule is in many re
spects the superior of the horse. His
feet are smaller and, accordingly, do
less damage in stepping upon plants.
His skin is tougher, and therefore is not
so liable to be injured by defective har
ness. The gait is more uniform and
accordingly the driver is not so likely to
become wearied. Asa rule, mules are
less liable to become irritated and frac
tious on account of the presence of
bites of insects, and, consequently, do
less damage to crops among which they
work.
Mules may be put to work much
earlier than horses. There is in this
respect at least the advantage of one
year in the favor of the mule. In other
words, the mule will do as muoh work
when three years old as the horse will
when four. The mule not only begins
to pay h;s way much earlier but con
tinues to be useful much later in life.
We have repeated accounts of mules
continuing to do good service after they
were forty years old. A mule, the
property of the late Prof. Mapes, of
New Jersey, was healthy, active, and
lit for labor when it was sixty years old.
It is urged that the male is slow and
awkward, but these faults are largely
the results of bad breeding. Asa rule,
no care is taken in breeding mules. The
dams of most mules are animals that no
faimer would want to raise colts from.
They are themselves slow and awkward
and oftentimes lame and diseased. It is
not to be wondered at that these defects
reappear in the offsprings of these ani
mals. Horses would be slow and awk
ward if they were raised from animals
of this sort, and we can expect nothing
different in the case of the mules.
Immigration.
The report of the chief of the bureau
of statistics has the following table,
containing a comparative statement of
immigration by conntires ethnologically
grouped for the four fiscal years, from
July 1, 1870, to June 30, 1874:
Countries ethnolo- t Year ended June 80—
gically grouped. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874.
England, Scotland
and Wales *85,455 83,894 89,482 61,999
Ireland 67,439 68,732 77,344 63,707
Teutonic: Germa
ny, Austria and
Netherlands 88,431 147,200 169,347 97,623
Scandinavian:
Sweden, Norway
and Denmark... 22,132 28,575 35,481 19,178
Latis: Belgium,
France, Switzer
land. Italy, Spain
and Portugal 9,833 18,860 28,361 31,694
Sclavonic: Russia.
and Poland 1,208 2,641 4,898 6,755
China 7,135 7,788 20,2*2 13,776
British North
American Prov
inces 47,082 40,176 37,871 32,960
Sjianish and Port
uguese colonies:
Mexico, South
America, Cnba
and Porto Rico.. 1,218 1,500 1.760 1,636
All other countries 1,417 4,440 5 067 5,111
Total immigrants.33l,Sso 404,806 459,803 313,339
*16,042 of this number were reported as from
“ Great Britain, not specified.”
—A German journal, published in
the interest of sugar-refiners, makes the
interesting anonneement that the effic
iency of bone-black as a decolorizing
medium is independent of the quantity
of pure carbon it contains. This being
the case, it is stated that bone burned
to whiteness decolorizes the liquor even
better than the now universally used
bone-coal.
CARTERSYILLE, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20. 1875.
A STRANGE STORY.
On of Men Describes the Bat
tle of New Orleans. Aaron Burr's
Daughter Captured by Pirates, anu
Burled on Galveston Island.
From the Galveston News.
In your issue of the 25th of Decem
ber appears an account of an old cin
non brought up from the bottom of the
bay by the scoop of the dredgeboat.
In the same paper yon give several con
jectural histories of the piece of ord
nance, none of which, as I happen to
know, have any degree of truth, except
that the cannon in question once formed
part of the armament of the fleet of
Lafltte—the brave and good Lafltte.
From the cut and description given of
it in your paper I recognize it as an old
acquaintance.
And, sirs, it has a history, and a most
eventful, but brief one, and could it but
speak would tell its own tale in language
far more eloquent than I can. lam an
old man now—“ in the sere and yellow
leaf.” I was many, years ago the mem
ber of the company of the brave La
fitte ; I am old now, close on to ninety
years, and though some weak of limb
and dim of sight, yet have remembrance
of persons and events of long ago re
markably vivid. An old naan lives in
the past entirely; he is fond of talking
of the brave days of his youth, of the
brave men who lived theD, of their
deeds of daring, of their generosity,
and of himself. I may, sirs, grow tedi
ous and prosy, but permit me to iell
my story in my own way—the story of
the cannon—for, sirs, it has a story,
and one of great interest.
You will remember that a short time
before the great battle of New Orleans,
the great and brave Gen. Andrew Jack
son induced onr captain, the brave La
fltte, to help him flght the British. I
well remember the day, when a small
vessel—a schooner—appeared off the
bar of what is now called Galveston isl
and. She displayed the American flag,
flred a gun and then lowering her na
tional flag, ran a white flag to her peak.
That meant a parley. Lafltte scanned
the new comer closely with his glass for
some minutes, and then ordering his
four-oared gig, pulled to the schooner.
I was then young and lusty, and ac
counted the best stroke in our navy,
and was one of the gig’s crew. Lafltte
boarded the schooner, and he and a
young American officer, whose name I
afterwards learned was Donnelson—
Lient. Donnelson, of Gen. Jackson’s
staff—descended into the cabin. There
they remained an hour or more, and
then they came out. As La ft te stepped
oyer the schooner’s side to get into his
his gig, he said to Donnelson, “ Tell
Gen. Jackson I will be with him. He
may rely on me for at least eighty
skilled artillerists.”
The name of the schooner was the
“ John Hancock,” and a neat clipper
she was. We pulled back to the foit,
Lafltte saying not a word, but pulling
in his quick, nervous way ; his mustache
proved to us he was planning some des-
uilu iWm, * '*-*''■**-■ ^>****'
there was a grand council held at the
fort. All this ocourred a long, long
time ago—nearly sixty years ago! Mon
Dieu! how time does'fly! It seems but
yesterday. Well, sirs, I don’t want to
be tedious, but an old man is naturally
garrulous. He has so much to live
over in thought. So, sirs, bear with
me patiently.
I don’t know what happened in the
council, but two days after three of our
best vessels, with the flower of our fili
busters, sailed for New Orleans, under
the command of the
BRAVE LAFITTE HIMSELF,
Chauvet, his right bower, being with
him. After four days’ sail we entered
the Mississippi river, and soon anchored
off New Orleans, a little below the city.
I was then a gunner on board Iho ten
gun brig Vengeance, commanded by
Chauvet, a brave but cruel man. When
the British forces under Packenham ap
proached the city, in January, 1815, we
ran up and anchored above the citv.
All was bustle and preparation. We
took out most of the cannon and plaoed
them in position in the works General
Jackson had hastily thrown up at
Chalmette, and one hundred and
twenty picked artillerists, or gunners,
with all our officers, headed by the
brave Lafltte in person, manned them.
On the Bth day of January the Brit
ish opened a terrific fire on us with
their field pieces, but as we were safe
behind our earthworks and cotton bales,
we let them waste their powder. Lafltte
—our brave Lafltte! ah, how grand he
looked! how his black eyes flashed !
Oh, he was the genius of the fight!
How his French blood boiled at the
sight of a red coat! Lea Anglais per
ficles! Jackson, tall and gaunt, was
moving his men, occasionally observing
the British line with his glass, and
turning anon to encourage his Tennes
seeans and Kentuckians. How impa
tient those rifleman appeared ! But
Jackson’s orders were, “ Reserve your
fire, men, for close quarters! ”
Pretty soon the cannonading oeased,
and then we oould see the long and
solid line of British advancing, first at
a slow, steady pace, then a double
quick. When they were within three
hundred hundred yards of our works,
Lafitte, springing upon a gun oarriage,
thundered out, “ Fire ! ”
& acre bleu! What a sheet of flame
leaps forth from onr guns! Then
Jackson, with a elear ringing voioe that
could be heard above the roar of bat
tle, cried out: “Make every shot tell.
Fit e low, my boys ! ” Crack ! crack !
went the unerring rifles. Our guns
roared. Grape, canister and round
shot went crashing through the advanc
ing ranks. The foe reeled under the
fire. For an instant they faltered—for
an instant only—then with closed ranks
they again advanced, under a most with
ering and deadly fire. A general officer
leads them. He mounts the parapet,
waving his sword and cheering on his
men. Lafitte springs toward him,
pistol in hand. A flash—Packenham
falls shot through the heart. The
waver, and then retreat, in great con
fusion and disorder, to the shelter of
their war vessels. Lafitte was for
charging them, but Jaokson, 000 l and
collected, said “no.” Our forces were
too small, and bayonets were scarce ; so
we remained behind our breast-works
and poured volleys of grape into them
until they were out of range. Mon
Dim! how my old blood is stirred at
these remembrances.
Well, about the gun! Patience,
messieurs, I am ooming to the gun.
Well, sir, after the British fleet had sailed
down the river, we went over the battle
field, picking np the plunder. Among
many other things left in their hasty
departure the British left a six-pounder,
a field-viece, stuck in the mire, with
one wheel shattered. It was a beauty ;
almost new. The date of its casting
was in—lßl3.
After lemaining in New Orleans a few
days, we prepared for our departure.
Among other things given Lafitte by
Gen. Jackson was this six-pounder (the
identical cannon described in your
paper of 25th December), to replace
one of ours that
HAD BURST IN THE BATTLE.
It was placed on onr bridge, the Ven
geance, and ever after formed part of
her armament.
When we returned to Galveston, La
fltte called us all together—men and
officers—and told ns that he was deter
mined to give up following the sea, and
would leave ns ; that if we desired, we
oould choose anew leader. We were
very sorry to hear this, for we all loved
onr intrepid and generous Lafitte, and
endeavored to shake his resolution.
But he was firm, and so we went into an
election, and Chauvet, Lafitte’s first
lieutenant, was chosen our leaders.
Shortly after, Lafitte bade ns adieu,
and taking one ship, the Chiquita,
sailed for South America. I remained
behind on the island with Chauvet.
Chauvet was not the leader Lafitte was.
He liked dash and enterprise ; hie was
cross; cruel, harsh, avaricious and
overbearing. We feared him, but did
not love him as we did Lafltte. Well,
one day Chauvet took command of the
Vengeance, the fastest vessel and best
armed of our navy, and sailed into the
gulf for a cruise. We stopped at one
of the Florida Keys, and, while there,
Chauvet r seeived some dispatches, the
contents of which seemed to give him
intense pleasure. He immediately
weighed anchor and run into the Atlan
tic, heading for Hatteras. After we
got off Hatteras, a man was kept day
and night aloft, on the look-out, with
orders to report every sail he saw. One
day, I think it was sometime in the
month of March or April, 1815, the man
aloft reported a strange sail on onr Jar
board. Chauvet seized his glass, and
after viewing the stranger for some time,
ordered the men piped to quarters, and
the decks cleared for action. I was
then the gunner of the same identical
six-pounder captured at New Orleans.
Ah ! but she was a beauty. I never
missed with her.
We kept the stranger in sight until
dark, and then, under press of sail,
began to crawl upon her. She was a
fast sailer, but Mon Dieu ! she was a
tortoise oompared to the Vengeance.
About daybreak next day we were close
-enough to make her out distinctly. She
was a pilot boat built schooner, and was
armed; two guns amid-ships and a
swival forward. We ran about 200 ca
bles’ length distant from her, and Chau
vet, mounting the railing, hailed her.
She replied that she was the American
privateer schooner Patriot, bound from
Georgetown, South Carolina, to New
York, and ran up the Stars and Stripes.
Chauvet, instead of displaying the
Venezuelan flag, under which we usu
ally sailed, flung to the breeze the ter
rible black flag, and fired, a broadside
into her. Mon Dieu! the Yankees
were no cowards, and they replied with
their starboard gun and their swival.
And well aimed they were, too, for we
had four men killed and some six
sharp but brief conflict we carried her
by boarding, and every soul was either
put te the sword, or
MADE FOOD FOR SHARKS
in onr own peculiar way. Ah 1 but
didn’t my pet, my beauty—mv little
six-pounder, do good work 1 Never a
shot missed. She behaved splendidly.
And didn’t I pet and kifes her when the
fight was over and the prize secured. A
prize indeed the patriot proved. She
had been cruising for some months,
depredating upon british commerce,
and was returning to New York fco di
vide the plunder.
After we had disposed of the dead
and living privateermen, Chauvet de
scended into the cabin, and pretty soon
he called out in an aDgry tone for my
self and my mate to go to him. We
descended and found him in the cabin,
confronted by a beautiful woman, who
held an empty bottle in her hand, with
which she had struck Chauvet, who had
attempted, it seems, to make too free
with her. He ordered us to tie her
hand and foot and oonvey her on board
the Vengeance and place her in his
cabin. We obeyed him; but she
fought us, and did all she could to jump
overboard.
After gutting the captured vessel, and
transferring the valuables to the Ven
geance, we fired her, and then headed
for Galveston island.
Just after we entered the gulf, and
while flying the Venezuelan flag, we
had a terribte fight with a Spanish
cruiser, and being badly hulled and cut
up, and after losing one-third of our
crew (ah ! the brave fellows—how gal
lantly they fought!), we took advantage
of a foggy night to draw off. and under
full press of canvas made for the island.
Coon our arrival we found the Ven
geance so badly damaged that it became
necessary to remove from her her arma
ment and all valuables, and sent her to
our navy yard for repairs.
We had gotton everything off but
three or four guns, my little six-pounder
among the number, when one night,
through the infernal carelessness of the
watchman, the Vengeance caught fire
and burned to the water’s edge, and in
a few hours after sank in the channel
between our town, on the east end of
Galveston island, and our navy yard,
which was about half a mile to the west.
An, how my heart bled to lose my
little pet—my little six-pounder. I
grieved over its loss even as I grieved
over the death of one of my comrades.
O, little beauty, I little hoped ever to
hear of you again. Yes, sirs, that can
non described in your paper, is my lost
pet. I know her. Have I not handled
her ? Don’t I know every mark on her ?
The marks you describe near the cross
were made by a cursed Spanish shot in
onr engagement in the gulf. If I were
not so old and so feeble I would travel
to Galveston to see once more my little
pet.
The woman captured on the privateer
died a few days after onr arrival in
Galveston, She was a very handsome
woman, and I afterwards learned was
the daughter of a distinjpished Ameri
can. Her clothing—which was of the
finest material—was marked “T. A.,”
and she had a golden locket containing
a portrait of a beantifnl boy. On the
locket were the words, “To my wife,
Theodosia.” She was buried on the
island, a few hundred yards to the east
of the old fort on the point. It was
whispered among the men that Chauvet
had killed her, because she would not
yield to his wishes.
I hope, sirs, you will excuse the prosy
talk of an old man. lam nearing my
end—have much to repent of. Bat
when I saw the descriprion in your
paper of my lost pet, I felt compelled
to write you the truth about her. My
old comrades, who may be living—and
some were living in Texas a year ago—
can bear witness to the truth of what I
have written. lam nearing the grave.
A few weeks, nay, days, and I may be
gone. There are but few of my old
comrades living. Those that are will
remember me when they read the name
I bore in the brave days of Lafitte.
They will remember the best gunner
Lafitte and Chauvet ever had, the best
oarsman, and the one whom they nick
named “l’Eoolier.”
If you publish this in your paper,
please correct the English and put some
polish to my rough sentences, for I have
some pride yet in maintaining the repu
tation for tcholarship I enjoyed among
the brave filibusters of our loved Lafitte.
Adieu, messieurs,
Jean Baptiste Callistrb.
Calcasiza, La., Dec. 28, 1874.
National Bank-Note Counterfeits.
Any one who handles money at all
occasionally gets hold of counterfeit
bills, although some are such clever im
itations that even the experts are puz
zled to distinguish them. It is some
what startling, however, to be told, on
the authority of the note printing bu
reau, that seven out of nine denomina
tions of the national bank notes have
been counterfeited. The makers of the
spurious notes are getting more and
more expert every year, the recent issue
imitations of the notes of the Trad
er’s National bank of Chicago being the
most skillful and dangerous ever sent
out. The counterfeiter, after having
once perfected such a plate as this, is
not limited to using it en any one bank,
as a cuange of names and signatures
can easily be made, so that it may do
service for a dozen. The amount of
long and careful labor he has to per
form is an important consideration in
his nefarious business. It requires
from one to two years to execute the
plates containing the vignettes, letter
ing and geometric lathe-work, the lat
ter being done by hand. But if the
operator turns out a good plate of any
denomination, he leaves a blank on the
face for the name of the bank, engraves
as many titles and signatures on differ
ent pieces of steel as there are banks
upon which he desires to alter the
notes, and thus his work is oomplete.
The occasional captures of counterfeit
ers and their plates have really had the
very slightest effects in reducing the
amount of spurious currency in circula
tion. While they have been so success
ful in imitating bank notes, it is re
markable that they have altogether
failed with their legal-tenders, only two
denominations of these ever having
been counterfeited. Their efforts in this
direction are said to be balked by the
peculiar kind of paper the greenbacks
are printed on, which protects them
from counterfeiters, as no mill in the
country could furnish it te any other
party than the government without be
ing almost immediately exposed.
A Fish’s Care of Its Young.
Au English writer publishes an inter
esting statement—which we quote in
full—of some fresh observations upon
the habits of a member of the perch
family in the nurture of her young.
He says : “While on the point of taking
way - nrartue plains iroYn too onortnem
mountain-ranges of Trinidad, my atten
tion was attracted by the eccentric move
ments of a small fish of the perch tribe.
In general, this fish is extremely shy,
soudding off into deep water, or under
some over-hanging bank, on the ap
proach of man. On this occasion, how
ever, on putting my hand mto the wa
ter, the fish, to my astonishment, darted
forward again and again, striking my
hand with considerable force. Rather
at a loss to account for such temerity in
a fish only four inches long, I watched
its movements narrowly, and at last
found out the cause. In a small hollow
close by, about the size of half an egg,
artistically excavated from the quartz
sand, a multitude of tiny fish were hud
dled together, their minute fins and
tails in constant motion. They had ap
parently been only very recently batch
ed, and were no larger than common
house-flies. The parent fish kept jeal
ons watch over her progeny, re enting
any attempt ou my part to touch them.
Next morning, accompanied by my
father and brothers, I returned to the
spot, which I had carefully marked the
day before. For some time, however,
we searched in vain tor the fish and her
young. At length, a few yards further
up the stream, we discovered the parent
guarding her fry with jealous care, in a
cavity similarly scooped out of the
coarse sand. Any attempt to introduce
one’s finger was vigorously opposed by
the watchful mother. Thiß is the first
and only instance that has come under
my notice of a fish watching over her
young, and conveying them, when
threatened by danger, to some other
place.”
Raising Tobacco in the South.
in many portions of the south, be
fore the war, very much of the tobacco
used among the farmers was grown
upon farms and plantations. In Mis
sissippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama,
the Oarolinas and Louisiana, there was
considerable tobacco grown but a few
years ago. Now there is but little at
tention paid to growing this very im
portant crop. The old “ home twist ”
is hardly to be seen, where a few years
ago little other was to be had. The
poorer classes, with the colored popula
tion, since the settlement among them
of the northern element, have re
ceived very luxurious notions in their
drinking, smoking, and chewing habits.
The finest whisky or brandy is sought
after, while “ white wheat” and “ peach
and molasses ” are fast going out of use.
Fine smoking brands of tobaceo are in
use, as well as the most popnlar plug
and fine cuts. Those who should be
the producers are consumers of the
very article they oould grow more
cheaply than others. How much like
noD sense it looks for Connecticut, lowa,
Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and
Tennesse to raise tobacco for the south
and a large export trade !
The idea that cotton had ceased to be
king in the south was a most absurd
and premature one. That more corn is
grown, we do not deny, but not to the
considerable extent we have been led to
believe by the reports of those who
desire to make it a corn-producing
country.
Experiments have been made in more
than thirty counties in Texas, the past
season, in growing tobacco of the vari
ous varieties, to test their adaptability
to that soil and climate. The greater
part of these tests have been made in
northern and central counties of the
state, where the Missouri and Ohio
population has settled. With a pro
tracted drouth and an early frost, still
the result to the planters has been the
most satisfactory. Texas will become
one of our most excellent tobacco
states.— Cor. Rural World.
—The faot that twenty-seven men arc
wanted by the Sa** Francisco polioe for
deserting their wives indicates a change
of sentiment from the time when the
first white woman was received in Cali
fornia with a procession.
How Shot are Made.
You have all seen shot, and if you are
a boy yon have probably used it a good
many times, to the terror of mother and
sisters and the imminent risk of your
own lives or somebody elee's, but how
many of you can tell how they are
ma ie ? To look at them one would not
imagine they had to go through such a
long and intricate process to make them
the smooth, round, innocent-looking,
but death dealteg, things that they are.
The melted lead is taken to the top of
this high tower and poured through a
colander or sieve, the drops falling
down in real leaden rain, marly 200 feet,
oooling as they go, just as drops of rain
harden into hailstones, and falling into
a tank of water below. Now t his might
seem a simple and easy thing to do, and
; so it would be if that were all there was
Ito it. But it is not. The drops of
melted lead in falling have a tendency
to cool at the bottom first, and so in
stead of hardening into a ronnd bull t he
upper part would stretch out like the
tail of a comet. Then, again, liquid
metals crystallize in hardening, eaoh
particular metal having its own form,
and it happens that lead crystallizes
into cubes instead of globes, so that
unless the drops can be made to form
into spheres as soon as they leave the
colander they will harden into onbes
and comets and all sorts of things be
fore they reach the bottom; so it was
necessary to search around and find
something else which crystallized in a
different form in order to counteract
this tendency. It was found that ar
senic was the very thing. So now a
small quantity of arsenio is mixed with
all the lead and the little drops form
into globes as soon as they leave the
colander and most of them harden into
that shape. Some are imperfect, how
ever.
They arc lifted from the water in lit
tle cups fastened to a revolving shaft,
which also empties them upon metal
plates, where they are dried by steam,
and then the good and the bad are sepa
rated from each other. In order to do
this a polished iron plate is tilted at a
certain angle, and the little balls are
made to roll down it. The perfect ones
roll so fast and so easily, anl get such
a momentum, that when they come fco
the jumping-off place they” make a
bound and go clear over into a bin fixed
for them about a foot away. The im
perfect ones, the comets and such like,
find their tails in the way, and go so
much slower that when they come to
the end they have only just force
enongh to drop down into a receptacle
at the bottom, and then are melted over
and go through the same process again.
But the good ones are not finished
yet. They are next pnfc into a keg-like
cylinder along with some plumbago—
and, by the way, this plumbago comes all
the way from the island of Ceylon on
purpose—the cylinder is set to revolv
ing very fast, and in a short time they
come out beautifully polished and all
eacn tuner, ior stvSrai 'flhro.w* —= —
are made, ranging f-~ i I——■ Ju™
fco a tiny little ball no arger than a cab
bage seed, and of which it must take
several to do much execution.
They are now ready to put np for
market, and this is not the least inter
esting part of the whole. Little bags,
large enough to hold twenty five pounds,
are hung just below some long iron
tubes through which the shot rnns and
falls into the bags, and when just
twenty-five pounds have run in a valve
closes, and not another grain can get
through. So you see tney weigh them
selves. Then they are piled into a
heap and are ready to be sold, and to
go out into the world upon their mis
sion of destruction.
Upon the lower etory of the building
is an immense engine of three hundred
horse power which turns all the ma
chinery and does a large part of tho
whole work, a mighty servant that
labors night and day, only stopping to
rest for a few minutes once in a while,
never gets tired nor out of humor,
never grumbles nor scolds, never strikes
for higher wages, and only asks to be
fed and attended to with proper care.
This is a very imperfect description
of a very curious and interesting pro
cess. To understand it thoroughly one
must have some knowledge of machinery
and of chemistry, and then he can
spend a delightful day in going over the
immense building and searching out its
intricacies.
Jim Fisk’s Estate.
An inventory just made of the Jim
Fisk estate, which at the time of his
killing was reckoned at millions, shows
that, with all claims paid and suits set
tled, it is $187,500 worse than nothing.
The inventory put it originally at SIOO,-
000. Half a million has been paid out
in the settlement of claims. The worth
less stock found in his possession aggre
gates $160,000 at par value. His wid
ow’s legal expenses have been enormous,
and only the lawyers in the case appear
to have" got anything out of the dead
man’s pocket. "His jewelry was valued
at $5,000. The legacies to his father
and mother, and the Misses Morse, and
to Mrs. Hooker, his sister, have been
paid in part. Only SB,OOO went in
horseflesh, a single horse, too. Six
hundred thousand dollars are tied up
in law-suits. His mistress, Josie Mans
field, sues for $55,000, and has just
recovered $35,000, and hopes she may
get it. Albert Speyers, the broker whom
Fisk, on black Friday, left, as Fisk put
it, “to carry out his corpse,” sues for
$500,000, which he bought in for Fisk's
account, and went crazy about it when
the margin was not forthcoming. In
short, the great estate has “Gone where
the woodbine twineth. ,v *
Ye Pboprtties op ye Horse. —Julian
Berners, in a tract on hunting printed
by Wynkyu de Worde in 1496 gives as
“ye propry ties of a good horse The
propryties of a good horse : A good
horse sholde have fifteen good propry
ties and condyciours ; that is, to wyte,
three of a man, three of a woman,
three of a foxe, three of a haare, and
three of an asse. Of a man, boled,
Erowde and hardy ; of woman, fayre
rpasted, fayre of heere, and easy to
move; of a foxe, a fayre taylle, short
eeres, with a good trotte; of a haare, a
grete eye, a dry heed, and well redny
ing ; an asse, a bygge chynn, flat legge,
and a good hoof.
Coffee. —Never boil coffee. The rea
son is that not only the better part (the
exhilarating) escapes, but that the ex
tractive properties, which, if largely
used, are unhealthy, are alone present.
Bring up to the boiling point, but do
not boil it. Yon thus get sufficient of
the extractive matter to give body, re
taming all the volatile, healthy and
relishing properties.
Forty girls will run after a snob
with a gold-headed cane where one will
shy up to a fellow with sound horse
sense.
VOL. 16-NO. 4.
FACTS AND FANCIES.
—Tue great desert of Africa hai
nearly the present dimensions of the
United States,
—Queen Yictoiia carried off the first
prir.e for piers and Herefordshire heifers
at the Christmas cattle show in London.
—At a publio meeting a speaker said
tha~ a certain thing was “ jnst as sure
as that Rcme-> founded Rome.”
—Says Miss Kellogg : “ A young
girl in her training to become a singer
mutt make a covenant with her eyes,
and not look upon a man.
—lf Eve should come now people
wou'd say, What big feet she has ! No
one vould tempt her with apples. Thev
would throw them at her. —Hew York
Herald.
—The other day a Binghampfcon girl
offered to let a countryman kiss her for
five cents. “ I gad,” exclaimed the
bucolic youth, “ that’s darn cheap if a
fellow only had the money.”
—Petroleum springs have been dis
coveied in Northern Germany, which
in purity, clearness and specific weight,
are s;ud to surpass those of the United
States. There are also many in Russia.
—A Georgia paper knows a man who
went all the way from Cassville te At
lanta On his return ho looked solemn
with the weight of garnered wisdom,
and taid : “If the world is as big
t'other way as it is that, it*6 a whopper.”
—We don’t want to make anybody
mad, nor discourage true genius, yet we
can’t help but believe that the man who
spends his time writing the Lord’s
Prayer in a circle the size of a three
oent piece had better be seen working
around his woodpile.
—Worse than evolution.—Ben Butler
said in a speech in congress the other
day that he “ stood erect in the image
of tho God who made him, and dealt
with principles as seemed to him right.”
If it gets out that Ben. Butler is an
image of God there \yill be a mighty
spread of infidelity through the oountry.
—The New York Tribune notes that,
whereas, a Brooklyn preacher is pitch
ing irto theaters, the builders of the
new Globe play house in Boston have
te some extent, imitated the pew sys
tem. One hundred seats have been
sold outright in a kind of fee simple,
to be held by the buyers, their heirs
aud atsigns forever.
—The navigators of the boisterous
Bay of Biscay lately encounterd anew
terror in the shape of icebergs which
had l>een driven there by the late
severe storm. Icebergs, though found
farther sonth, have rarely entered the
limits of this bay, and, hence their
presence there is an event of peculiar
intercut.
—lt the official account just issued
by the Prussians, it is admitted that at
Graveiotte Comte de Moltke nearly lost
the battle. The official doenment says:
“ Comte de Moltke was not always so
well informed as if he were the director
soon corrected from the want of ability
on the part of Bazaine; but it is honor
ably avowed that the error might have
prove. 1 calamitous.”
—There is a reasonable donbt as to
the patemitv of the present king of
Spain ; or, Wher, there is no doubt
whatever, among a good many people,
that his legal father and the genuine
article are in nowise related to each
other—are, in fact, two people. The
same was held to be a peculiarity of the
late Napoleon; and there are even
those—especially of English birth
who do not hesitate to cast the same
sort of a shadow over the paternity of
the prince imperial. There seems to
be some difficulty about royalty in
France and Spate, in that no ruler in
either oountry is permitted to be the
son of his father, or the father of his
son.— Chicago Times.
—ln the New York postoffioe there is
a clerk whose memory of the offioe
brings him back fco the year 1835 when
a young woman used to call every week
for a etter addr ssed to “Miss Mary
H. Rissell, post offioe.” The regular
ity of her visits, her constant reserve,
and the quietness with which she re
sented inquiry as to her history and occu
pation excited in the office a curiosity
which was never gratified. Until within
ten vt ars she made her calls with accus
tomed regularity and wbf never disap
pointed in her expectation of a letter.
Since, she has not been seen, but the
lettert come as of old. They are -or
warded to the dead-letter office where
thev are opened, but contain no clue to
the'id entity of either the writer or the
recipient. *ln each is a $5 note, with a
line slying when the next remittance
will be made—nothing more.
Hew Women Headed the Table.
A writer says : “In Elizabethan,
Engh-nd, when g&llima wfreys had given
way to tfce substantial fare of our later
cookiry, it was the custom at private
dinn< rs to place the principal joints and
masses of meat at the upper end of the
table, above the salt, so that the chief
guests could see clearly the best of the
good cheer, and also appropriate the
choicest cuts before the inferior folk
below the joint of honor were served.
Fashion having thus decided that the
‘caning should be done on the table,
the 1 idies were invited to the top of the
table, not out of gallantry, but in order
that they should do the work which
coulc no longer be executed convenient-
ly by professional carvers. It may cost
the reader a struggle to admit that our
ancestors had no more chivalric pur
pose in view when they promoted
womm to her proper place at the festal
boar 3. Bnt there is doubt as to the
fact. The new ordering of places was
the iesult of masculine selfishness and
insolence rather than masculine gallant
ry. Just as in mediaeval society the
lady of the house rendered service to
her j quests by discharging the* functions
of a gentle serving woman, in prepar
ing dishes for their enjoyment, and
ever in bringing them to table with her
own hands, so in Elizabethan life she
wen> up to the top of her taole, and
seated herself among the first guests,
in order that she might serve them as a
carver. At the same time the number
of ‘ great pieces’ requiring several carv
ers, she brought other ministering la
dies to the upper end of the table where
the grand joints were exhibited. Hav
ing been thus called to the top of the
table for her lord’s convenience, instead
of her own dignity, the mistress of the
house soon made it a point of honor to
occupy the place, which had in the first
instance been conceded to her as a ser
vant, rather than as principal lady. Ere
long, with her characteristic cleverness
in making the best of things and stat
ing her own case in the way most agree
able to her self-love, she regarded her
care er’s stool as a throne of state, and
effested to preside over the company,
though the terms of her commission
onlv authorized her to help them to
fooL”