Southern literary gazette. (Athens, Ga.) 1848-1849, November 11, 1848, Page 214, Image 6

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214 fish for a benifit received, and as it always came at his whistle, it proved also what he had previously, with other naturalists, disbe lieved. that fishes are sensible to sound. — Liverpool paper. TRUE RICHES. A gentleman one day took an acquaint ance of his upon the top of his house to show him the extent of his possessions. Waving his hand about, “ There,” said he, “ that is my estate.” Then pointing to a great dis laiice on one side, “Dc you see that farm !” “ Yes.” “ Well, that is mine.” Pointing again to the other side—“Do you see that house ?” - Yes.” “ That also belongs to me.” Then said his friend, “ Do you see that lit tle village out yonder V 1 “ Yes.” “ Well, there lives a poor woman in that village who can say more than all this.” “ Ah! what can she say ?” “ Why, she can say, Christ is mine /” He looked confounded, and said no more. Toleration. —Who art thou, vain mortal, that darest intrude thyself between thy God and me? If I have an account to settle with Heaven, am I not competent to effect it my self? Can you be more interested than I am? or, if you are, why insult me, why denounce me —why publish me to the world as the vilest animal in existence ? May I not possibly be right as well as you ? If so, by what grant, cither of heaven or earth, can you be justified in assailing the purity of my motives ? The great God of Heaven suffers me to enjoy liber ty —suffers me to investigate freely, and with out any fear, all subjects my mind may chance to pursue, and informs me by the eternal laws of nature, that I can only believe as my under standing directs me. Yet you—you, dust and ashes of the earth —arrogating to yourself Heaven’s power, would do what Heaven refu ses to do—you would stay the progress of my mind —you would end all inquiry which did not exactly suit you—you would prostrate me in the eyes of society, and send me headlong to eternal punishment! Away, from this mad, persecuting spirit! Intolerance! Intolerance! —Benjamin Franklin. : Three Poets in a Puzzle. —I led the horse back to the stable, when a fresh perplexity arose, I removed the harness without difficul ty, but, after many strenuous attempts, I could not remove the collar. In despair, I called for assistance, when aid soon drew near. Mr. Wordsworth brought his ingenuity into exer cise, but, after several unsuccessful efforts, he relinquished the achievement as a thing alto gether impracticable. Mr. Coleridge now tried his hand, but showed no more grooming skill than his predecessors; for, after twisting the poor horse's neck almost to strangulation, and the great danger of his eyes, he gave up the useless task, pronouncing that the horse’s head must have grown (gout or dropsy) since the collar was put on; 4 for,’ he said, 4 it was a downright impossibility for such a huge os frontis to pass through so narrow a collar.’— Just at this instant a servant girl came near, and understanding the cause of our consterna tion, 4 La, master,’ said she, 4 you don't go about the work in the right way. 4 You should do like this,’ when, turning the collar com pletely upside down, she slipped it off in a mo ment, to our great humiliation and wonder ment ; each satisfied afresh that there were heights of knowledge in the world to which we had not yet attained. — Cottle's Life of Cole ridge. The Grave.—lt buries every error—cov ers every defect —extinguishes every resent ment. From its peaceful liosom spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections. — Who can look down upon the grave of an ene my, and not feel a compunctious throb that he should have warred with the poor handful of earth that lies mouldering before him ?—lrv ing. t J&ST’ Society is like a glass of ale—the dregs go to the bottom, ihe froth and scum to the surface, and the substance, to the better por tion, remains about the centre. “Every misery that I miss is a mer cy,” said good old Izaak Walton. How few of us in ennumerating our blessings think of this. initial letters of the names of the late French Provisional Government, Arago, Lamartine, Ledru (Rollin,) Marast, Albert, .and Dupont, form the words “ all mad.” s@s°“The grave lias been defined to be an ugly hole in the ground, which lovers and poets wish they were in, but take uncommon care to keep out of. 9®* Stay but until to-morrow, and your present sorrow will be weary, and will lie down to rest. §© (Dina SIB 53 1L aTg& &IB ¥ ABHITIf IE ♦ £l)c iUorkincj fUan. THE SECRET OF SUCCESS. It may to some appear like vanity in me to write what l now do, but I should not give my life truly if I omitted it. When fill ing a cart of manure at the farm dunghill, I never stopped work because my side of the cart might be heaped up before the other side, at which was another man; I pushed over what I had heaped up to help him, as doubtless he did to help me, when 1 was last and lie was first. When I have filled my column or columns of a newspaper, or sheet of a magazine, with the literature for which I was to be paid, 1 have never stopped if the subject required more elucidation, or the pa per or magazine more matter, because there was no contract for more payment, or no likelihood of there being more. When I have lived in barrack-room, I have stopped my own work, and have taken a baby from a .soldier’s wife, when she had to work, and nursed it, or have gone for water for her, or have cleaned another man's accoutrements, though it was no part of my duty to do so. When 1 have been engaged in political litera ture and travelling for a newspaper, I have not hesitated to travel many miles out of my road to ascertain a local fact, or to pursue a subject into its minutest particulars, if it ap peared that the public were unacquainted with the facts ot the subject; and this at times when T had work to do which was more pleasant and profitable. When I have need ed employment. I have accepted it at what ever wages I could obtain —at plough, in farm drain, in stone quarry, at breaking stones for roads, at wood-cutting, in a saw pit, as a ci vilian, or as a soldier. I have in London cleaned out a stable and groomed a cabman's horse for a sixpence, and been thankful to the cabman for the sixpence. I have subse quently tried literature, and have done as much writing for ten shillings as I have rea dily obtained —been sought after and offered —ten guineas for. But had I not been con tent to begin at the beginning, and accepted shillings, I would not have risen to guineas. 1 have lost nothing by working. Whether at laboring or literary work, with a spade or with a pen, 1 have been my own helper.— Autobiography of a Working Man. STEEL PEN MANUFACTURE. Who does not remember the time when a steel pen cost as much as a dozen quills?— Who is ignorant of the marvellous reduction that has taken place in the market value of these tiny bits of steel? Sixpence a-piece, sixpence a dozen, sixpence a gross —thus have they come down in value. All this could not have been done but for the appli cation of machinery. Men’s hands employ ed in cutting and pressing and shaping the pens, would never have permitted this cheap ening to have gone to such an extent. And yet there are actually more men employed in the manufacture than were employed when machinery was less used. The machinery, in fact, has created a demand which requires large numbers, both of machines and of men, to supply. Some of the steel pen manufac tories of Birmingham are very large estab lishments, containing ranges of highly-finish ed machines, and giving employment to large numbers of workmen. One of these manu facturers, in his advertisements, states his yearly produce at millions of dozens; and there is no reason to doubt that it does reach that extraordinary pitch.— The Land we Live in. -4 ■ I LONDON PRINTERS. By 8 o'clock the whole body have arrived. Many in their costume resemble common la borers: others are better clad, several are very well dressed, but all hear in their coun tenances the appearance of men of considera ble intelligence and education. They have rcarcely assumed their respective stations, when the blue mugs, containing each a pint or a half pint of tea or coffee, and attended either by a smoking hot roll stuffed with yel low blitter, or by a couple of slices of bread and butter, enter the hall. The little girls, who, with well-combed hair, and clean, shin ing faces, bring these refreshments, carry them to those who have not breakfasted at home. Before the empty mugs have vanished, a boy enters the hall at a fast walk, with a large bundle under his arm of morning newspapers; this intellectual luxury the compositors, by a friendly subscription, allow themselves to en joy. From their connection with the differ ent presses, they manage to obtain the very earliest copies, and thus the news of the day is known to them—the leading articles of the different newspapers are criticised, applauded or condemned—an hour or two before the great statesmen of the country have received the observations, the castigation, or the intel ligence they contain. One would think that compositors would be sick of reading as the grocer’s boy is of treacle: hut that this is not the case, is proved by the fact that they not only willingly pay for these newspapers, but often indemnify one of their community for giving up his work in order to sit in the mid dle of ihe hall on a high stool, and read the news aloud to them while they are laboring at their work: they will, moreover, even pay him to read to them any new book which they consider to contain interesting informa tion. It of course requires very great com mand of the mind to be able to give attention to what is read from one hook, when men are intently employed in creating another. The apprentices and inferior workmen cannot at ! tempt to do this, but the greater number, as tonishing as it may sound, can listen without injury to their avocation. Very shortly after 8 o’clock, the whole body are at their work, at which it may be observed they patiently continue, with only an hour’s interval, until 8 o'clock at night.— Quarterly Review. Cranberries a Cure for the Cancer.— \Ye have seen it stated more than once, j that the common cranberry was efficacious in the cure of cancer, but have never, until very ’ recently, been an eye witness to the fact. Mr. Middleton Belk, residing within four or five miles of this city, who was afflicted with a 1 cancer on the nose for the last eight years, ! was induced to try cranberries, applied as a , poultice, and, to his great joy and satisfac tion. has experienced a perfect and radical cure. We mention this fact at the instance of Mr. Belk, who is desirous that others, suf fering under the same affliction, may avail themselves of this simple but valuable reme dy.— Tuscaloosa Observer. Stems of Jam. Short Memory. —Lew. Krouskopf tells a 1 story of a son of the Green Isle, who was once a deck hand on one of the mail boats between this and Louisville. The water was low, the bars bare, and Pat was sent out by Capt. Summons to “ heave the lead.” “ Ye-o-ho-ho-o-o-o,” cried Pat, as he cast the lead. “ What’s that!” cried the Captain. “ Ye-o-ho-ho-o-o-o !” repeated Pat. “What do you mean by that—l want to know the depth of the water.” “Bejabers, Captain,” replied Pat, “Its my self that knows the tune, but I’ve forgot the words!” Old Blair's wrath melted into a smile, as he placed a man at the lead who had been ed ucated in the words as well as the tune.— Commercial. Punch's pocket-book says: “I am tempted to compare high life to a railroad ; it is very delightful while it goes; but if you get off the rails the smash is awful.” Brasidas, the famous Lacedemonian general, caught a mouse! it bit him, and by that means made its escape. “0, Jupiter! ” : said he, “ what creature so contemptible but may have its liberty, if it will contend for it! ” I Aim not too high, lest you fall; nor j lie on the ground, lest you be trampled upon; you are safest when your legs bear you. A person by the name of Gun, com- I plained to a friend that his attorney, in his i bill, had not let him off’easily. “ That is no ’ wonder,” answered his friend, “he hascharg | ed you too high.” “Adam,” said a gouty gentleman to a tricky son, “ 1 would be on the eve to cane i you were I able." 1 I True modesty blushes for everything that is criminal: false modesty is ashamed of everything unfashionable. _ “No man can do anything against I his will,” said a metaphysician. “Faith,” ; said Pat, “ I had a brother that went to Bot j any Bay against his will—faith an’ he did !” ; An absent-minded gentleman, on re tiring at night, put his dog to bed and kicked himself down stairs! He did not discover his mistake till he went to yelp, and the do tried to snore. “ Why don't yon wear a hush, ma V r asked a little boy. “A hush! what is that my ! I never heard of such a thing.” “ Why yes you have, ma. I asked aunt Ma ry what made her hack stick out so. and she said “hush my dear. ’ fc>o you do kjnow what a hush is.'’ EDITOR’S DEPARTMENT. ATHENS, SATURDAY, NOV. n, ms y&hmzw mma ? The Editor of the Southern Literary Gazette be ing desirous of developing and encouraging Literary Talent in the South, has resolved to offer the sum of One Hundred Dollars, in prizes, as exhibited in the annexed schedule: THE FIRST PRIZE For the best Tale of the South, . . Fifty Dollars THE SECOND PRIZE For the second best Tale, . . . Twenty Dollars. THE FIRST PRIZE For the best Poem Twenty Dollars OR A COPY OF harper’s SPLENDID PICTORIAL Bible. THE SECOND PRIZE For the second best Poem, Ten Dollars, All competitors must send in their MSS. before the 15th day of December enduing, and they must come, if by post, pre-paid. They should be legibly written on one side of a sheet only. The authors’ names must he sent in separate sealed envelopes, which will not be opened until the prizes have been selected —when the successful competitors will be an nounced. The articles will be submitted to the ex amination and decision of a Committee, composed of several gentlemen of distinguished character, whose names will be announced in due time. The award of prizes may be expected to lie made known in the last number for the present year, and the publication of the First Prize Tale will be commenced with the New Year. The articles offered in competition will become the property of the Editor, and those which are deemed worthy will appear in the Gazette. All communications relating to the prizes must be addressed, post-paid, to the Editor. COMMITTEE OF AWARD. The following gentlemen have kindly consented to act as Judges upon the articles offered in compe tition for the above prizes: Professor JAMES P. WADDELL, Dr HENRY HULL, JAMES W. HARRIS, Esq. A Plea for Boyhood. It has been often remarked by English writers or American habits, that there are no boys and girls in this country',—a declaration which must not be taken in its strictly literal sense, —but as intended to convey’ the idea that boyhood, that season, of all the most joyous and careless, is scarcely recognized in the career of life in this land. There is a great deal too much truth in the charge, we venture to utter a plea in behalf of lloyhood , ay, and of Girl hood ioo, for we design the term to be used iu ft generic sense. The genus denominated boy appears to us to be nearly extinct; to be at least divested of those characteristics which were once not only es sential to it, but its whole charm. Boyhood, as wo find it depicted—not in the apocryphal pages of fie* tion merely—but by the living testimony of onr grandfathers, is no more. The happy and long pro tracted season which used to elapse from the term ination of childhood to the boundaries of young man hood, is, among us, circumscribed span so nar row, that it is scarcely percept ible, and sometimes invisible. Childhood and manhood are now band in-hand, and that golden, prer-ious interval which we speak of as boyhood, is almost unknown. At fif teen years of age, yea, even at an earlier period, our toys become men in habit, in feeling, in appearance, and in pursuit—in short, in all except the one thing needful— capacity! At the age mentioned, the boy exhibits all the airs of a grown up man. He dresses in the height of the fashion—sports liis e tc—his watch-cliainand his cigar. He visits the fashionable haunts of the day—he stakes his money, be it more or less, on aoy depending question which interests his elders —ond, in short, is, to all intents and purposes, not a be.’ hut a man. . Now we protest, in the name of once happy hoy hood, against this state of things, and the hot-bed process which produces it. It is unnatural and quentlv fatal to the character of youth, in illustra tion of which we need only point to the startling ? ct