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YOUTH'S DEPARTMENT.
(Prom the N. O. Picayanc.]
A Chirp from Mother Hobin.
BY PEARL RJVJSBB.
Hee you little Mother Robin,
BitUntf on he* humble neat V
Learn from her my poem legion,
Nature's teachers are the beat.
other neats are lined more aoftly—
Larger neats than hers she eees .
other flests are swinging higher,
In the Summer’s gentle breeze.
But th<‘ Robin is contented ;
Mine is warm enough, she says :
enough to hold my birdies
Through their tender nestling day#
Smaller i-radle, warmer cover!
For my little onea, ghe sings ;
Four there are, but see how snugly
They are tucked beneath my wings.
And I envy not my neighbors.
Red bird, blue bird, lark, or thrush ;
For the breeze that rocks the tree tops
Rocks the cradle in the bush.
And the same bright sunshine warms me—
By ttie same kind hand I’m fed;
With the same green earth around me.
Ami the same sky overhead.
' ’ho’ ray dress is something plainer
Than my cousin’s, Madame Red;
Tho’ 1 have no vest of crimson.
And no gay hood on my head—
mill, my robe of graver colors
Suits my station and my nest;
And t he Master knows what costume
Would become a robin best.
Hobolochitto, Hancock Cos., Miss., February, 18)58
<rEOCiE APHIC AL ENHGMA.
ACROSTICAL.
l uin composed of 14 letter*.
Mv 1. 11, .12, 6, 8. 0, is a village of
France. *
My 2, 18, 10, 5,6, is a river of Denmark.
My 8,6, 11, 10, 5,7, is a small island of
Brazil.
My 4,5, 11. i*>. is a cape of North
America.
My 5, 0, 18, 2, is a lake of North
America.
My 6,8, 10, 11, is a small town of
Germany.
My 7,5, 9,0, -7, is a river of Belgium.
My 8, 10.5, 14. 7. 11, is a Russian sea
port.
My 9,8, 14. 14, is one of the Shetland
Islands.
My 10, 8, 12. 5,0, is a port of England.
My 11, 9, 10, 6, 18, 11, is a city of
Naples.
My 12, I!, 9, 11, is a mountain of
Wales.
My 18, 9,9, is a river of Central Europe.
My 14, 5,6, 8. 9, is a town of Spain.
My whole is the name of a distinguished
Southern patriot.
Auswer next.week.
Answer to Last Week's Enigma.—
Banner of the South : Bat—Seth—Ton
—Too-- Neat—Sou—Hoe—Fort —Hare.
Adapted from the German-
A STORY FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS
THK BLACK CAT AND THE SAILOItS.
Seven years ago, a vessel hound for
Smyrna, oil the shore of the Mediterra
nean Sen, left Bremen. The captain,
who was ne ding some more sailors for
the voyage, went ashore at Gibraltar for
the purpose of getting at least half a
dozen more. At daybreak next morn
ing. a. passv-nger came on hoard of the
vessel, though he had broken the rules by
bringing a large black cat on hoard with
him. About nine o’clock in the morning,
when the cat walked forward on deck
with him, one of the sailors said to him :
‘‘.Friend, you don’t think of taking that
animal to sea with you ?”
“Os course I do,” said the passenger, a
little roughly. “The cat is my old friend,
.and 1 shall never separate from him.
The sailor replied : “The captain will
eornc on hoard about ten o’clock, and at
twelve we shall set sail again. You had
better dispose of your cat before the cap
tain comes aboard, or else you will both
have to go ashore—or, at least, your cat
will have to go. We allow no cats on
hoard our vessel, and we never allow a
passenger to take an animal with him.”
Another sailor said : “If that cat comes
near me, f will lake a handspike ami
knock it overboard."
With that, the owner of the cat became
quite angry, saving: “1 tell you to let my
vat alone. If you do not do so you will
dud it will be the worse for you. it is a
tierce animal, and if any of you inter
fen’ with it, it will be likely to scratch you
pretty s erely for your impudence.’’
W hen the mate called all the sailors
togethoi none part of the deck, the pas
senger \ no owned the eat went off alone,
but the animal itself crept into a dark
corner, mewed violently, and rolled its
eves as if they were cods of tire. “Never
mind,” said the old sailors,” we will do
nothing with the cat until the captain
comes, but when he is on board, that will
be the end of the affair.”
run e mougli. when the captain came on
board, one of the r tirst objects that at
tracted his attention was the large black
cat belonging to the traveller. Then the
sailors related to him all that had occurred,
when the captain told the man that his cat
must be taken ashore, or else both he
and his cat must land together. The man
protested against the conduct of the cap
tain and his sailors, but all that he said
was of no avail. He would not consent to
have his cat taken from him, so he deter
mined to go ashore, aud his cat could be
landed with him. But the great difficul
ty now was to take the cat and put it iuto
the small boat ; for it was very wild, and
was angry enough to tear anybody’s eves
out. *
The mate said : “Now, since we cannot
capture the cat, we can do something else.
We can get it into a certain place, and
knock it overboard into the sea.” But by
this time night had come on, and it was
very dark. The little boat was drawn
closely up to the vessel, when the man
and his baggage were lowered into it.—
Then the mate, thinking he had a favora
ble opportunity, struck the cat with a
broom, and it fell overboard. Everybody
heard it fall into the water, but it did not
fall into the boat where the man who
owned it was. The sailors, of course,
supposed that the animal was drowned in
a little while, but they were glad tc, get
rid of it in any possible way. The owner
of it complained bitterly as he was taken
ashore, and he said :
“You have thrown a black eat over
board, and you will have a sad fate ! You
will see the results of it all your life ! I
would never sail iu a ship on which there
could be one found who was williug to
knock a black cat overboard ! Now, re
member, though you are bound for Smyr
na, and you arc on a strong vessel, you
will never reach that harbor, for a black
cat has been knocked from her deck !’’
The next morning the vessel was
making her way rapidly eastward, and a
number of the sailors began to talk over
the circumstance that had happened on
the previous day. Some of them were
very superstitious, and had long had the
notion —where they got it from I cannot
tell—that anybody who takes a black cat
from a vessel, whether easily or by force,
will never prosper as long as be lives ;
while the vessel itself will be wrecked in
a short time. The remarks of those who
were most superstitious had quite an effect
on others who had paid no attention to
the circumstance whatever; and in a
cuople of days, or three at most, nearly
all the sailors seemed to have a notion that
the vessel was to be wrecked, and all ou
board would be lost.
About the close of the third day, the
clouds darkened, the wind increased, and
a furious storm arose. At onetime the
wind became so violent that the main
must broke, and as it fell it made a great
crash. One sailor thought that he heard
the mewing of a cat. ami no sooner was
the deck ol the vessel cleared again tnan
he told several of his companions that lie
had seen the ghost of the black cat, and
that the cat had pronounced a curse on
the captain and all the sailors, aud that it
had declared, like the master of the black
cat had done, that the vessel would never
reach Smyrna.
The following afternoon, another sailor
declared that he too had seen the ghost of
the olack cat, aud that it had said to him
that the vessel would certainly be ship
wrecked, and that not a soul would es
cape. The cat mewed violently, and said
it was the greatest curse in the world to
take a black one like it from a vessel.
The sailors began to be very much dis
couraged, and the captain saw the effect
which their superstition had upon them.
The captain told them it was all a foolish
notion, and there was no cat at all on
board, and, as to the ghost ol a cat, such
a thing never existed.
©
The first night after the captain said
these words, he thought that he heard a
violent mewing in a certain part oi the
vessel, and though he did not see any
thing, he thought he eeuld hardly be mis
taken as to its being that of a cat. So lie
determined that lie would find out what
made the noise, and he waited hour uttei
hour, listening to tho mewing nearly all
the time! But he did not move from the
spot, for he was determined to wait, and see
if it really was a cat or not. Sure enough,
what should he see but a great black cat,
though it was not a ghost, but a real cat.
As soon as he saw it, and looked at it very
carefully, he called the mate and showed
it to him. Then he had a number of the
sailers called, and as they stood before the
cat, he said to them: “Now, do you sec
what dunces you have made ot yourselves ?
This is nothing else than the traveller s
black cat itself, and no ghost of a cat.
Look at it now, and believe your own
eyes."
" Remarkable as it may seem, this \va
really the cat which belonged to the pass
who was landed at Gibraltar.
Though it had been knocked off the vessel
by a broom, it nevertheless climbed up
Mill® ©I TJSS S®Uf®.
again by the ship’s ladder, which was
hanging at tho side. It no sooner reached
the deck than it made its way down into
the hold of the vessel, which at that time
was only half covered. So long as it
could satisfy its hunger by catching mice
and rats in the hold, it did not make any
noise. But as soon as the storm came, I
suppose it became sick a little, or else
was hurt by something falling upon it,
and it then commenced to make a violent
mewing. It was alter the mast had fallen,
and there was occasion to go into the hold
of the vessel to get canvass for fixing up
another sail, and timbers to rig up a tem
porary mast, that the black cat found its
way out again. Thus the whole thing be
came as clear as noon-day.
But did the vessel reaeh Smyrna ! A es,
indeed ; there never was a more beautiful
morning than the one when that noble ves
sel from Bremen, with sails dying, and
with as cheerful a ship’s crew as ever sang
a boatman’s song, sailed into the harbor of
Smyrna. The only accident which they
met with on the voyage was the loss ot a
mast in a sudden gale. All on board were
well, and the voyage was made in an unu
sually quick time, so you may judge for
yourselves of the force there was in the
superstitious notion of the skilors, that the
vessel from which a black cat is taken
will never reach the port, but that she
aud all on board will perish in the waves.
Now, let me say to the little readers of
The Banner of the South, that when
ever anybody wants them to believe some
superstitious notion, it would be well for
them to think of the black cat’s ghost on
the ship that sailed from Bremen to Smyr
na.
A Spanish Anecdote.
The following beautiful lines on ViUcie’s conversa
tion with a Geronomite lriar iu some Spanish convent
on the picture of the “Last Supper,” are from Moxon’a
Selections from Lord Houghton’s Poems :
It was a holy usage to record,
Upon each Refectory’s side or end,
This last mysterious Supper of our Lord.
That meanest appetites might upward tend.
Withiu the Convent Talaoe of old Spain-
Rich with the gifts and monuments of kings.
Hung such a picture, said by some to reign
The sovereign glory' of these wondrous things.
A painter of ftur-fame in deep delight
Dwelt ou each beauty he so well discerned.
While, in low tones, a gray Geronomite
This answer to his eestacy returned :
‘Stranger! I have received my daily meal
In this good company now three score years.
And thou, who’er thou art, can’st hardly fed
How time these lifeless images endears.
“Lifeless—ah, no! both Faith and Art have given
That passing hour a life of endless rest,
And every soul wh > loves the food of Heaven
May to that table come a welcome guest.
“Lifeless—ah, no! while in mine heart are store.!
Sad memories of my brethren dead and gone.
Familiar places vacant round our board.
And still that sil-Dt Supper lasting on.
“While I review my youth—what I was then—
What I am now, and ye, beloved ones all!
It seems as if these were the living men,
And we the colored shadows on the wall.'
“ HOME, SWEET HOME"
Night dropped her shadowy veil over
London, and the mantle of mists that, all
day long had enveloped the city, grew
more dense and fell in beaded drops of
rain. The gas lights burned brightly at
the corners, but it was a dreary night to
be out in. Yet crowds filled the streets,
for even in night storms, the great thor
oughfares are never deserted. Guilt and
wretchedness arc always wakeful and
abroad. To realize the desolation of
loneliness, one must be a stranger in a
crowded city, with a sensitive nature, and
a refinement that sbrinks from rude ccm
tacts, and uncongenial companionship.
Alone in tho country, with the blue
sky above us, and the green grass beneath
our feet, there are charms that woo us to
forgetfulness. There is much music in
the running stream and beauty in tho
flowers that grow upon its banks. Some
German writer, I have forgotton who,
calls flowers the stars of earth, and stars
the flowers of heaven. Fair and radiant
flowers they are and shed their brightness
on the smoke-wreathed city, but in their
matchless, softened and mellowed light
seem to linger more pleasantly on green
fields and waving corn.
Alone in London ! Dreary aud deso
late reality, that swelled almost, to burst
ing a weary and aching heart. The
stranger gathered his thin cloak around
his shivering form, and drew bis hat over
his face, with a sensitive shrinking from
the crowd that rudely jostled past him.
He was alone in London, and very poor,
not even a shilling to procure a scanty
supper.
Somewhere in a dark part of the city,
where the gas lights were few, up many
pair of stairs, was the garret in which he
slept, but in i t there was nothing save the
darkness, one broken chair and a wretch
ed bed with its scanty covering.
When he entered this desolate chamber
in nights like this, an unseen company
surrounded him, the spirits of the view
less air, and in the wailings of the wind,
they told him strange mysterious tales of
wretchedness and dread, until, half wild
with dark imaginings, he rushed forth in
the night and the pelting storm. Thus
through the chilling sleet and rain he
walked the streets, looking into the hard
faces of the passers by and wondering if
in all London there was another man
who had no one to care for him, no one
to love him. And then he thought how
deliciously strange it would seem to him
—a stranger and wanderer for many
years—to be loved.
He hoped the blessed light would dawu
upon him, but iu the darkness of this
night it seemed a great way off. The
cloud of poverty and gloom that wrapped
his heart was too cold and deep, he feared,
for human sympathy aud love to pene
trate. Hd seemed to see before him,
Fate, with wierd fingers, weaving the mys
tic web of his lonely destiny, and as he
watched the phantom hands with feverish
intensity, he wondered if at - some-time
future day, that a mantle of brightness
might fall upon him instead of a pall. A
strain of sweet, sad music broke in upon
his lonely musing**. Over all refined na
tures music has an absorbing power, and
though it often fills the soul with sadness,
it casts upon it the spell of an irresistible
fascination ; and the stranger paused in
his desolate walk to listen to the song.
The windows of the princely mansion
were but half veiled, and he could see the
happy group that surrounded the piano,
and the fair girl that sang the soft minor
air which sank into the listener’s heart.
He was a poet, and had written songs
of tenderness and love for others to sing.
Himself, he could not sing with such a
weight upon his heart. The light of ge
nius was in the eye, and the imagery of a
fervid imagination gathered round his
braiu, and the poet’s native impulse,
loving, warm and true, lived within his
heart.
In the sensitive and gifted the longiug
for sympathy and love is far more iutense
than in ruder natures, and in all his life
long his heart had yea rned with passion
ate eagerness for the pure delights of
home and the bliss of sympathy aud love.
The song was over but still he lingered,
watching the firelight’s fitful glow, as it
shed its ruddy sheen upon the changing
group.
Again the fair girl took her seat at
the piano and sang with inimitable grace
and beauty, “ Home, Sweet Home.”
It was his song.
He, the homeless wanderer, had written
“ Home, Sweet Home.”
He stood out in darkness and night,
listening to his song, the child of his
own heart and brain, and looking iu at
the window of “ Home, .Sweet Home,”
knew that in all the world there was no
home for him.
The song ended. He sit down on
the stone steps of the stately mansion,
with the rain beating heavily upon him,
and burying his face in his hands, wept
in the bitterness of his heart.
Years passed away, and still lie was a
homeless wanderer. Often in the streets
of London, Berlin, and Paris, he heard
“ Home, Sweet Home,” which in all lands
and all hearts had become a household
word.
Later in life he became Consul to
Tunis, and died a stranger iu a strange
land. Never, save in his dreams, had
lie known the bliss ol’ “ Home, Sweet
Home!"
Population or Rome.— The Roman
Government have published the census of
1867, which is entitled. “Condition of
Souls in the Town of Rome.” The total
population numbers 216,573 souls. In
1866 the numbers were 210,701, while
in 1867 they were 179,952 : so that the
increase has been nearly 20 per cent, in
the ten years. Besides these, the popula
tion of what still remains outside Rome
araouuts to 692,112 souls—making a total
in the present Papal States of 906,685.
The inhabitants ot Rome are thus classi
fied : 30 Cardinals, 35 Bishops, 1,469
Priests and Clerks, 828 Seminarists
making a total of regular clergv amount
ing to 2,36)2. There are also 2,832 monks
and 2.215 mins : and adding these to the
regular clergy, we have a total number
of 7,409. There are 1,642 girls in the
pensioinuits, while the number of bo vs
in the colleges is only 258 : 775 men
and 1,088 woman tire supported in chari
table institutions The remainder of the
population consists of 42,313 families,
numbering 98.176 males and 84,438 fe
males, besides 7.360 soldiers, 320 persons
in prison, 4,650 Jews, and 457 other dis
senters from the Church of Rome. The
monks established in Rome belong to
sixty-one religious orders and twenty
seminaries are established within its walls.
There are also a great number of female
orders.
WIT AND HUMOR.
A Boston teacher, who in a fit of vex
ation, called her pupils a set of young
adders, on being reproved for her lan
guage, apologised by saying that she was
speaking to those just commencing arith
metic.
A credulous man said to a wag, who
had a wooden leg, “How can you have a,
wooden leg ?” “Why,” said the wag,
“my father had one, and so hod my
grandfather. It runs in the blood.”
Why is e lady’s dress like a roast
goose ? Because it has been basted.
©
The Bishop of Oxford, irreverently
nicknamed “Soapy Sam,” recently em
ployed Mr. Alfred Pye to design a gate
way for the Episcopal Palace at Cudde?>-
den. The Bishop was so pleased with
the design tlrat he suggested his own in
itials being, placed over one pillar and
those of..the architect over the other.
But As hen it was proposed to put “S, 0.”
on the left column and “A. P.” on the
right, the Prelate objected that would
never do, as it palpably spelt “Soap.”
Hood, in describing the meeting of a
mau and a lion, said, “the man ran off
with all his might and the lion with all
bis mane.”
What is the difference between a bar
ber and a mother ? One has razors to
shave, and the other has shavers to raise
“I never complained of my condition
but once,” said an old man, “when my
feet were hare and I had no money to
buy shoes; but I met a man without feet,
and became contented.
Professor Agassiz told the Massachu
setts Legislature, the other night that
fish , as food, refreshes and quickens the
intellect, on account of its large amount
of phosphate. The Bostonians are great
fish eaters. Hence, &c.
A gentleman seeing an irishmau fenc
ing in a very barren and desolate piece of
land, said : “What are you fencing in
that lot for, Pat ! a flock of sheep would
starve to death on that land.” “And
sure, wasn’t! fencing it in to kape the
poor bastes out iv it ?” replied Pat.
EPITAPH ON’ A dog.
Paws ! stranger, paws! Here, lies poor .Tack,
His case was truly har’L' ;
A dog that over four feet stood,
Hies buried in the yard.
Why is a kiss like scandal ! Because
it goes from mouth to mouth.
How do you arrive at the height of
a church steeple on a hot day ? Perspire.
A fat candidate for office in Alabama
asks the people of his district to try him.
A critic speaks of the “rare” acting of
a part at one of our theatres. I)oos he
mean to say it was not well done ?
“None but the brave deserve the fair."
and none but the brave can live with some
of them.
“Boy, where does this road go to V
“Nowhere, as T knows on. It's aliens
been here. -
There is a deacon in a neighboring*
town named Day. One Sabbath morning
he heard a number of boys playing in
front of the house, and he went out to stop
their Sabbath-breaking. Assuming a grave
countenance, he said to them :
“Boys, do you knew what day this is.'”
“Yes.” replied an urchin, “it's Deacon
Day. :
An Arkansas negro expounding the
Scriptures, had occasion to touch upon
antedcluvian longevity, and in the course
of his remarks said that in those days
men didn’t marry before they were 200,
and, in fact, were twenty-five years old be
fore they were born.
The chap deservedly won bis bet, who.
in company, when every one was brag
ging of his tall relations, wagered that
he himself had a brother twelve feet high.
He had, he said, “two half brothers, each
measuring six feet ”
Feet Satisfied. —A railroad engineer
at Harrisburg, having been discharged,
applied to be reinstated. “You are dis
missed,’’ said the Superintendent austere
ly, “for letting your train come twice into
collision.” “The very reason,” -aid the
other party, interrupting, “why L a>k to
be restored.” “How so ?” Why, sir, is
I had any doubt before as 1o whether two
trains can pass each other on the same
track, l am now entirely satisfied; T
have tried it twice, sir, and it can’t be
done, and 1 am not likely to trv it
again.” He regained the situation.
“I would not marry a Western man if
1 had to live an old maid all the days of
my life,” exclaimed a buxom lass. “Why
nut ?” demanded her astonished com
panions.” “Because every paper von
pickup contains an account of the fail
ure of the Western mails.’’