Newspaper Page Text
262
excited the attention of the curious, and it was
discovered that the sound of the bell, when
struck in the street, reached nearly double the
distance it did when raised in the air.
soutl)’s Department.
THE CROP OF ACORNS.
BT MRS. SIGOURNEY.
There came a man in days of old,
To hire a piece of land for gold,
And urged his suit, in accents meek,.
“ One crop alone, is all I seek ;
That harvest o’er, my claim I yield,
And to its lord resign the field.”
I
The owner some misgivings felt,
And coldly w r ith the stranger dealt,
But found his last objection fail,
And honied eloquence prevail,
So took the proffer’d price in hand.
And for one crop leased out the land.
The wily tenant sneer’d with pride,
And sowed the spot with acorns wide;
At first, like tiny shoots they grew,
Then broad and wide their branches threw,
But long before these oaks sublime
Aspiring reach’d their forest prime,
The cheated landlord mouldering lay
Forsaken with his kindred clay.
Oh ye, whose years unfolding fair,
Are fresh with youth and free from care,
Should Vice or Indolence desire,
The garden of your soul to hire,
No parley hold, eject the suit,
Nor let one seed the soil pollute.
My child, their first approach beware,
With firmness break the insidious snare,
Lest as the acorns grew and throve,
Into a sun excluding grove,
Thy sins, a dark o’ershadowing tree,
Shut out the light of heaven from thee.
INFLUENCE OF FORTUNE-TELLING.
Some young persons once applied to .an
old woman who, among the vulgar and ig
norant, had gained much celebrity in the art.
To each, of course, she had something to say.
hut to one she did a “tale unfold,” so much
to the purpose, that it caused her very soon
to leave this world of trouble. After premis
ing with a great deal ot nonsense, she inform
ed her that she never would be married, but
that she would be the mother of three chil
dren; that she would live in great splendor
for a period, but after all, she was “sorry to
sav,” she would die poor and miserable.
Miss B . whilst with her companions,
shewed very little signs of anxiety; but the
moment she was left to her own reflections,
one may guess the effect of such an harangue
on a virtuous bnt weak mind. Mark the
consequences; She was at the time on a
point of marriage with a very worthy and re
spectable young gentleman; but such was
the hold which the prediction of the fortune
teller had taken on her imagination, that she
could never from that time receive him with
her usual affectionate attention. Her lover
quickly perceiving this change, endeavored
to learn the cause of it; but finding his in
quiries ineffectual, as also any efforts of his
to rouse her to an explanation of her behav
ior, which became more and more distant,
and doubting the sincerity of her affection he
in the course of a little time discontinued his
visits altogether. The young lady perceiv
ing herself deserted by the only man she
could ever love, and dreading, that as she
had fulfilled the prophecy so far, the rest
might also be her future lot. continued to drag
on a now weary existence, and at length re
solved to put an effectual stop to this pro
gressive dishonor to her name, by committing
a crime that could never be repented of. One
morning, as the usual hour, her family find
ing she did not appear, sent to enquire the
cause, when she xvas found lying dead on her
bed, having the night before taken two oun
ces of laudanum to effect her purpose. On
the toilet was found a note, detailing the par
ticulars and reasons for committing so shock
ing an act, of which the preceeding account
is the outline.
Thus perished an innocent and lovely girl,
in the flower of her youth, through the bane
ful influence of fortune-telling! but giving at
the same time the flattest contradiction to the
prophecy against her.
one pine t ee can make pitch, how
many will make a pitcher ? If one twinge
of pain make an acne, how maJiy will make
an acre?
Every time a man.laughs her adds to
the duration of his life.
SBSJTTBIBM L0IfIS& AIS ¥ ©AS& TT & *
21 Column Crccteb to Inn.
HARD OF HEARING.
“I have a small bill against you,” said a
pertinacious-looking collector, as he entered
the store of one who had acquired the char
acter of a hard customer.
“ Yes, sir—a very fine day, indeed,” was
the reply.
“ I am not speaking about the weather, but
your bill,” replied Peter, in a louder key.
“It would be better if we had a little
rain!”
“ A little rain !” continued the collector;
and, raising his voice, he bawled, “ have you
any money on your bill?”
“Beg your pardon, sir; I’m a little hard of
healing. I have made it a rule not to lend
to strangers; and 1 really don’t recognize
you.”
“I’m Collector for the Philadelphia Daily
Extinguisher , sir, and have a bill against
you,” persisted the collector at the top of his
voice, producing the bill, and thrusting it in
to the face of the debtor.
“ I’m determined to endorse for no one.
You may put your note back in your pocket
book. I really cannot endorse it.”
“Confound your endorsement! Will you
pay it?”
“ You'll pay it. No doubt, sir—but there
is always some risk about these matters, you
know. 1 must decline it, sir.”
RECIPES.
“ To make seedy Cake."— Procure common
dough, the size of a quartern loaf. Put in
half a pound of plums, two small bits of
1 citron, and a tea-spoonful of moist sugar.
Bake as usual, and keep until quite stale.
It will be a very seedy cake.
“ A Chicken Stew."— Shut up the door of
the hen-roost, and throw in lighted fireworks.
It is soon accomplisned.
To make a twelfth cake." —Having man
ufactured eleven in any manner you please;
make another, and you will have a twelfth
cake.
“ To Preserve Dates. v —The surest way is
to write them down in a book before you
forget them.
“ To keep away Chaps. —Very plain cooks,
in common w T ith other female attendants, are
recommended for this purpose. You will
not then be much troubled with them.
Snoring. —A western statesman, in one of
his tours in the vast west, stopped all night
at a house where he was put in the same
, room with twenty strangers. He was very
, much annoyed by the snoring of tw r o per-
I sons. The black boy of the hotel entered
the room, when our narrator said to him,
‘Ben, I will give you five dollars if you will
i kill that mail next to me who snores so
dreadfully.”
“ Can't kill him for five dollars, but if
massa will advance on the price, I’ll try what
j I can do.” By this time the stranger had
ceased his nasal fury. The other one was
now to be quieted, so stepping up to him, he
woke him and said, “My friend, (he knew
who he was,) you are talking in your sleep,
and exposing all the secrets of the Brandon
J Bank, (he was a director,) you had better he
careful.”
He was careful, for he did not go to sleep
again that night.
i i
Typographical Blunders.— They have
some funny ‘errata’ in the country papers,
: now and then—hut nothing to equal the
i original one, which runs thus;
“ Errata. —ln our last week’s paper for
i ‘Bumhleton’s Storm-destroying Porringers,’
! read Hamilton's Worm-destroying Lozenges.”
Trade Uppermost.— A friend tells a story
of a tailor, who, while looking at a collec
tion of pictures, had his attention arrested
by a wild scene of rock and flood, seated in
the midst of which, holding a musical in
strument, was a figure, whose limbs were far
too widely sundered to make him either pic
turesque or natural. The tailor seemed lost,
fer a minute, in a profound mathematical
calculation. At length he exclaimed, “Who
did that? “Mr. , a celebrated artist,
and it is meant for Apollo,” replied a wag,
standing by. “Apollo he hanged!” was the
I response ; “ tell that fellow that Jupiter him
i self couldn’t stand such a strain on his
breeches as that!”
Avery sentimental lady, sadly afflict
ed with the inflammatory rheumatism, lately
i wrote to one of her friends that, unless
* some change took place soon, she feared she
• should
, *• Pie like a ro ; e. of a rheumatic pam.”
EDI TOR’S DEPART MEN T.
ATHENS, SATURDAY, DEC. 23, 1848.
VALUABLE PRIZES!
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 first day of February next, 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 be 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 be made known in the
last number for thepresent year, andthe publication
! of the First Prize Tale w ill be commenced with the
[ New Year.
The articles offered in competition will become
i 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.
The Close of the Year.
Before we shall hold pleasant intercourse, again,
with the readers of our Journal, the year Eighteen
Hundred and Forty-eight will have plunged into the
dark abyss of the Past, to be seen no more forever.
The close of a year is a period of sufficient impor
tance to the thinking man to justify us in choosing
jit as the theme of our customary leader It is ape-
I riod of no small interest in all the affairs of life
j With it, how many connections will come to a close;
j how many schemes will he consummated or fnistra
i ted; how many hopes will be succeeded by realiza
l tion or despair! It is a great way-mark on the
i journey of life, which few will pass by unregarded.
The most thoughtless will yet naturally pause at
this j oiut of his career, and ca-'t a look backward.
To the thoughtful the retrosject will fee earnest and
close, and cannot fail to be profitable. If it reveal
only disappointed hopes and unrewarded efforts,
still the review vvill not be in vain. The causes of
these disappointments may be discovered, and the
obstacles to success ascertained, so that they* may be
obviated in the coining year. If the retrospect, on
the other hand, brings to mind a .-erics of fortunate
events—a chain of prosperous circumstances—it
must impart fresh ardor to the mind, new stimulus
to the ambition, strength 1o the will, and courage to
the heart, to press onward iu ihe career of success.
It is well to stop, at intervals, in the race of life,
and ask ourselves the questions—What have I
done 1 and What do I aim to accomplish 1 Who
ever he be that does not sometimes propound to his
own heart these queries, certainly possesses no just
| idea of the true dignity of life—no adequate est
imate of the greatness of his destiny. The aimless
I man is like the ocean-tost sailor, who, without com
■ pass or chart, is driven hither and thither by the
j winds and waves. He is the sport of circumstance,
! the victim of mere contingencies. Ills life is as
I profitless to others as it is wearisome to himself.
Let us, dear readers, look in.o the past—not
mournfully, since it ‘cometh not hack,’ l, u t r
lutely—with the purpose strong in our souls to de
tect its errors and its deficiencies, and to correct the
one and supply the other, by the grace of God Z
the future. With such a spirit should we enter up
on the retrospect which the occasion naturally sue’
gests. ®
How diversified are the emotions with which the
thousands who read these pages stand at thepresent
way-mark on the road to Eternity ! Some look for
ward so eagerly that they have no time to look
back. They ask not for lessons from the p a , t
Their own bright hopes and gay fancies color all the
sky above them, and,
“ Light of wing and gay of heart
As Eden’s garden bird,”
they pant for the race that is before them. H off
heavily will the now bright pinions of Hope droop
and how frequently the gay heart grow sad, ere the
race is run.
There are others who fear to look forward and
who sigh for the days that are gone by forever.
“Oh, would I were a boy again,
When Life seemed formed of sunny hours.”
is the language of their hearts. They look back to
a season of unalloyed pleasure, the more fascinating
in its memories for the many dark hours which
have succeeded it, and the gloom of which hangs
over the present, and veils the Future in its shad
ows.
Others, again, look both behind and before them,
resolved to gather wisdom from the past, to bless
the future with its happy fruits. They endeavor to
realize the truth that—
“ Not enjoyment and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.”
They live with a purpose, and life, to them, is its
own reward, independently of the trivial accessories
of physical enjoyment, which to others constitute
the summum bonum of existence. Happy are they
in su<?h a retrospect as that which the close of the
year suggests.
Thus far we have contemplated this retrospect as
personal and individual. It may properly be con
sidered, also, as national; and, in this view, how
much interest accumulates about it. To the world
at large the closing year has been an eventful one—
outrivalling the ‘ Annus Mirabilis,’ though it may
not find a Dyden to crown it with poetic fame!
The area of Freedom has been vastly extended
within the past twelve months. The eagle bf Liber
ty has hovered over the kingdoms of Europe, and
their haughty monarehs have heard the beatings of
his great wings and trembled with affright! Vast
political and social revolutions have been effected,
and the fire kindled which shall vet consume all tru
ces of despotism and tyranny
Our own land has made* wonderful strides within
the year —not only in vast territorial acquisitions,
which give \ romise of unparalleled treasures of pre
cious meta's, but in the more gratifying evidences
of prosperity and greatness —gigantic measures of
internal improvement, and the beautiful manifesta
tions of intellectual progress—the trophies of Litera
ture, Science arid Art.
AVhat a glorious future awaits the American peo
ple! How the heart of the patriot and the philan
thropist expands and glows in both the retrospec
tive and the prospective \Fion ! Destined to occu
py, as we firmly believe, the whole western conti
nent, and soon to number one hundred millions,
what words can shadow forth their greatness ! what
imagination p’eture their renown! One chief ele
ment in their prosperity is the diffus'on of know
ledge—the education of the masses; but there is yet
another of far greater importance, without which
the whole fabric of American Liberty would vanish,
and,
“Like the baseless fabric of a vision,
Leave not a wreck behind.”
We mean the conservative principle of Christianity.
This is the bulwark of our national glory —nay, ot
our national existence. Blot out fiorn among u ?
the institutions, and lemove from us the spirit oi
Religion, and “iehstbod'’ would be written upon
the walls of our magnificent Temple.
At the close, then, of the year, let us all vow to
cherish the pure and holy principles of ( hristianity
and remember that “Righteousness exal'cth a na
tion, but Sin is a reproach to any people.
To our Readers.
Next week being holiday-time with all classes, w-’
shall venture to claim the privilege of suspending
our visits to our esteemed friends and patrons until
the first Saturday in the New Year. We arc unde',
the i ece-sity of removing our Office, and moreover,
some of those employed.’ in it vvill be necessarily ab
sent from their posts —thus rendering it scarcely
possible for us to issue the paper next week. W
shall throw ourself, therefore, upon the indulgence
of our readers, who vve hop e will excuse tLe non-up
j earanco of the Gazette on Saturday next, the
December. On tire first Saturday in January we