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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