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LITERARY j
.®empi'tmce (Erufwilf.
* if
PENFIELD, GEORGIA.
L. LINCOLN VEAZEY, ....... y'. EbiTor.
* THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 10,1858.
Messrs. Hammond & Purkinson, of Allatoona,
have discovered a gold mine in Cass county, from
which they arc realizing from SISO to S2OO per
day.
-
The wheat in this section (says the Athens Watch
man, of the 3d inst.) looks well, and we think it
is now—the most of it—out of the reach of rust.
The directors of the Central Railroad and •Bank
ing company declared a semi-annual dividend of
♦live per cent.
The annual examination of the Cadets of West
Point Military Academy, is now in progress be- j
fore the board of visitors appointed by the Presi
dent. There are twenty-seven members in the
graduating class, among whom are Lerdv Napier,
dr. and B. M. Thomas, of this State.
Wk learn that Col. D. E. Butler, of Madison,
and Cincinnatus Peeples, Esq. of Forsyth, will de
liver addresses at the next Commencement of the
Southern Masonic Female College, Covington, Ga.
which takes place on the 23d and 24th of June.
The Edinburgh Review for April is an attractive
•fiumber, containing the following table of con
tents: Ist, Annals of California; 2d, The Eastern
Church; 3d, Theirs’ History of the Consulate and
the Empire; 4th, The Railways of Great Britain;
sth, The works of the late Edgar Allen Poe; oth,
’Fhe Speeches of Lord Brougham; 7th, Buckle’s ,
History of Civilization in England; Bth, The ;
Conquest of Oude: 9th, The Second Derby Min- ;
istry.
Blackwood'a Magazine, monthly, and the four
Quarterly Reviews are all issued from the Pub
lishing House ot L. Scott & Cos. 79 Fulton St. New
York, at $3.00 each per annum. All of them
sent to one address for SIO.OO.
People who think poverty a disgrace and wealth
a merit, are very slow in discovering worth of any
other kind. If tliey perceive intellectual endow
ments, they are more disposed to condemn than
admire. The narrow-mindedness which they
have contracted makes them think every plan of
life wrong, save that which they have pursued,
And no act deserving of credit that has not its
beginning and end in money.
Pride and Honesty began their journey to
gether ; but the companionship was soon found to
%e disagreeable to both. Pride was continually
mortified by the unpretending simplicity of Hon
esty, while Honesty was none the less scanda
lized by the deceptive arts practised by Pride.
They accordingly parted company, Pride hasten
ing to overtake Arrogance and Ambition, while
Honesty fell back with Modesty, whose unobtru
sive merits they had both at first overlooked.
Few authors can intrude their personal traits in
to their writings, without detracting from their
■dignity. The writer of a jest book, or even the
“conductor of a newspaper, may talk to liis readers
in plain conversational style; but if the author
of a serious volume allows his vanity to betray
liim into making known his individual opinions
and the points of his personal history, our con
t. tempt for him will, in a great degree, destroy the
merits of his book. The best productions of
which our language can boast, were composed by
men of whose personality comparatively little is
known.
V|W is the winter of our discontent made
J.'i glorious summer;” is the joyful exclama
tion of all those who, like ourself, deem cold one
of the chief ills to which flesh is heir. The icy
breath of winter that held long contest with the
genial breezes of spring have passed away, and
we now luxuriate in the balmiest month of all
the year. Nature, throughout field and forest,
is decked in lovely vestments of emerald, upon
which the eye dwells with supreme delight. Veg
etation, under the kindly influences of sunshine
and shower, grows as if it hasted to attain its per
fection. Then the lusciousness of ripening fruits,
the rich aroma of flowers perfuming every wind,
the notes of winged songsters swelling in full
pecans of praise to their Maker, render this the
most glorious of seasons. We love summer; it is
the fruition of hopes which have sustained us
when winter shrouded all beauty in coldness and !
gloom. Its soft winds and calm moonlit nights I
tbring health and enjoyment, while its warmth j
smd rains arc essential to animal existence.
*■*” j
THE April number of the Edinburg Review con- ■
tains a paper on the Life, Character and Wri
tings of Edgar A. Poe, which would certainly
be considered ill-natured, were the subject one of
which more good ecu Id be .truthfully written,
q “here has always becii a -prevailing tendency,
wi tli British critics, to depreciate American litcr
atui’c, -and in the case of Poe, they have too plau
sible oret exts for doing so. His history is ob
scured'. by so many dark spots, his character
mavre dby eo many hateful vices, that one must
be pos cessed -of justice in no small degree to award
to his productions that amount of admiration
which they deuerve. He was gifted by nature to
an extent that-might have rendered him the boast
of his country- Fortune was not. his foe, but pro- j
sented with lavish hand the favors which he !
recklessly squandered. His genius has immor- i
talized him, bub immortalized liim, alas ! to teach
posterity the important lesson that she cannot
supply the want of virtue or atone for departures
from moral rectitude.
/■ I
IN the “ Citizen of the World,” the Chinese Philos
opher relates to his Eastern correspondent a
dream, in which he saw a mirror that had the
power of revealing the traits of character, as well
as the features of the countenance. Could every
mirror become possessed of this magic power, how
soon would they cease to be considered a neces
sary piece of furniture. There are not a dozen
houses in which one would remain for twenty
four hours after this quality became known. The
fashionable belle now spends hours before her
looking-glass, arranging with the utmost precis
ion the most minute part of her toilet. If, how
ever, she beheld reflected from its surface the
’.hateful passions that find a home in that bosom
nVhose outward purity rivals the whiteness of the
•drapery that covers it, she would flee from the
_ Eigiht. She would prefer having her external
andornings in confusion, than to know the extent
of her moral nakedness. Avery small fraction
t f time would suffice for the dandy to give an ar-
itie arrangement to his neck-tie, when his
q vv arfed and deformed soul was at the same time
‘ented to his view. Almost every individual
c mid name, of every class, would shrink from
the te fearing the revealing of some trait which
‘ihey and 1 known even to themselves. In
the poe f ’’ 8 v **icn, only one person afforded a re
flection c unspotted innocence ; but slie was an
idiot deai *dumb from her bi.rth,
’ i v
J-TT is strange with what undisturbed conscien
] 1 oes men will put forth and advocate, with all
| the strength of their reason, opinions which they
!do not believe. The fact that they will do so, is
j humbling to our pride, and the motives which
I induce them to act thus are still more humilia
ting; yet, it is notorious that men daily sp&k,
write and act what they know to he false.
This is more true of those who think and rea
son practically, than of those whb indulge in vis
ionary speculations. These latter become de
ranged, and are really convinced that the wild
notions which they entertain are correct. But
the former have in view some end which they
desire to accomplish, and set their wits to work
to frame a code of ethics which will justify tlieir
course. Not a proposition which they advance
would, on a fair statement, gain their candid and
unqualified assent. If, however, they can induce
others to adopt and act upon the opinions which
they profess, their aim is accomplished. There j
is a wide difference between the licavcn-daring
wickedness of the Atheist and the dark-dyed
villany of Machiavel. The one seeking to pass the
bounds which a kind Providence has prescribed
| for liis knowledge, begins in doubting what he I
| might know to he true, and ends in believing !
! nothing. The other, adopting practically the ;
! maxim that ‘‘the end sanctifies the means,” holds |
! that any instrumentality is legitimate by which j
[ a proposed end may he attained. I’he two doc- \
i trines,if universally embraced, might produce shn- |
ilar results, converting mankind into a race of de-’
mons and cursing every spot of earth with misery j
and ruin. But maeltia veil ism would be more sure 1
and rapid in performing its work than infidelity. !
Self-interest is the principal, if not the only
motive, which induces men to practice this form
of machiavellism. In extreme rare cases, a per
son may attempt the accomplishment of some
good and worthy end by making false professions;
hut apart from the almost absolute certainty of
having his motives misinterpreted, such an one
can never have our unqualified approbation.
The sanctification of the means by the end is a
dangerous doctrine, and should he practically
adopted only under circumstances of the most
urgent necessity.
But the most of those who conceal their real
sentiments and express opinions which are not
theirs, do so in order to pander to public preju
dice and gain favor from the multitude. They
have conceived a morbid and vicious desire to
gain popularity, whatever ‘may he its cost. If
they find the current of public opinion running
in some filthy sewer, they seek not to change it
to some cleanlier channel, hut eagerly fall in, and
strive to produce the belief that they lead, while
they only follow. The “dear people” arc flat
tered and caressed, and asked implicitly to be
lieve that their good is the only object sought.
When, however, they find that their best inter
ests have been sacrificed to the personal aggran
dizement of these demagogues, they learn too
late that all this patriotic cant was sheer hypoc
risy.
The world is full of deception, i >ur observa
tion and experience teach us that we may expect
it in everybody and everything. The conven
tional rules of society are every day rendering it
more necessary as a science, while its success
proves its usefulness as an art. Yet, as we said
at the beginning, it is strange that people who
lay claim to morality and profess to make the
precepts of the Gospel the rules of their practice,
should unscrupulously profess what they do not
believe.
MANY persons who affect to write pure En
glish, make use of words which Johnson and
“Webster never knew. There is a prevailing dis
position to corrupt our language by attempts to im
prove upon its simplicity. Some who possess no
celebrity to give them such authority, are contin
ually introducing into tlieir productions new
words and novel combinations of tlieir own in
vention. If these were necessary to give point
to a sentence, or useful in conveying some deli
cate shade of thought, they might be pardoned.
But in most instances it is the effect of a vain,
supercilious pride which scorns to use the same
old words and phrases which have been used by
the best speakers and writers.
The greatest evil, however, from which our
language suffers, and lias suffered for the last
hundred years, is the great influx of foreign
words. Almost every day we meet with some
word that has been lately anglicised from the
Latin or Greek, and still more often from flic
French, by some of those writers who are so eager
in their pursuit after something new. Did they
exercise half the ingenuity in the endeavor to
coin some new thought that they do in attempts
to coin some new form of expression, their pro
ductions might he more readable. Ibis class of
scribblers have begotten a nondescript language
that is not the vernacular of any nation under
the sun, out a heterogeneous mixture of them
all, which neither the wise or ignorant can un
derstand.
Very near akin to this error, isthat into which
many writers fall of adorning tlieir productions
with quotations from other languages. This,
doubtless, gratifies their pedantic vanity, hut if
they write with any other aim, their course is ab
surd. Whoever writes lor the masses, must write
in a languge that they can comprehend. In the
confused medley in which many writers embody
their ideas, the wisdom of Bacon or the wit of
Voltaire would he of none effect. Simplicity of
style is not only compatible with beauty, but is
essential to its highest perfection. There be sub
jects, indeed, in the discussion of which, words
familiar only to the educated arc obliged to be
employed. But even then, the style in all other
! respects'can be such as to render this feature un
: objectionable. This is the style which he who
! would win distinction by his literary labors must
j adopt—a style which the uneducated can appre
i eiate and the lcarped admire.
Wc have a language which is acknowledged on
all hands to he one of the best ever known—rich
; flexible and dignified. There is nothing of grace,
j beauty or pointedness which a writer cannot im
; part to his composition without a departure from
| our authorized vocabulary. Our great standard
| authors, who can never he more than equalled,
| wrote pure English, without the aid of foreign
] quotations or vulgar slang. In view of facts like
these, the conduct of those who write incompre
hensible jargon, such as might have been heard
when God sent confusion of tongues on the buil
ders o( Babel, is unpardonable.
-
Says the last (Athens) Southern Banner—Jlono
| rahlc George Bancroft, the historian, passed
! through this place last Saturday, on his way to
Ciarkesville. We understand his object is to en
joy the beautiful mountain scenery of upper Geor
gia.”
I a
Argument seldom ends in proselytism. When
two men argue, each strives for victory, and
“ A man convinced against his will,
Is of the same opinion still.”
The English correspondent of the Zion's Iler
rald writes:
“ Thomas Cooper, the noted skeptic, and author
of “ The Purgatory of Suicides,” has recently be
come a convert to Christianity ; and after having
spent thirty years of his life in lecturing and writ
in” against tile Bible, he is now striving to male re
paration for the mischief he must have done by
lecturing in defence of the Sacred Scripture.”
Gen. Twiggs arrived at Galveston on the 28th
ult., on his way to his post at San Antonio as com
mander of the military department of Texas.
-•*T\EAD and forgotten.” It is the epitaph which
jj Oblivion lias written on the tombs of mil
lions who once trod the earth. The prints which
tlieir toiling feet left upon the sand have been
effaced; the massive fabrics which their hands
[ formed have crumbled to dust, and every relict
jof their skill departed. Tlieir very names are
j lost; the deeds which they performed on the
I world’s stage unknown, and the brightness of
j their glory laded as sinks a .summer cloud in the
i depths of ether.
“Dead and forgotten.” A host of melancholy
reflections crowd unbidden on the mind at those
words. What high thoughts, ambitious aspira
tions and ennobling sentiments lived out their j
brief span and passed away 1 The air set in mo
! tion by the Orator’s moving breath, has comple
ted its last undulating circle and lost itself amid
the infinitude of space. The feelings by wdaich
their bosoms were once agitated, passed like
evanescent bubbles on the water’s surface, leaving
behind no mark of their existence. A line, a
book, a moss-grown grave or a slowly crumbling
pile has here and there rescued one from the
waves of oblivion, and given him a place among
| the memorable.
j “ Dead and forgotten.” It is no small, insig
; nificant tribe of whom these words are written,
! Vast populous notions have returned to the dust j
I from which they were shaped, leaving behind !
! them only the name by which all were known, j
; Beneath that dark flood of forgetfulness are buried
! all that host with which Egypt’s King pursued j
j the retiring children of Israel. There sleep that j
! untold multitude whose toiling labors rendered
1 Babylon one of the wonders of the world. Ilis
tory tells us that Persia's King looked down from
the heights of Athos on a proud array of two mil
lions of soldiery, and as lie thought of the evan
escence of tlieir Jieing, his eves filled with tears
of regret. 1Q was a subject for which they might
well have been slied: for of all that vast army
that lay before him then, not more than four or :
five names have escaped oblivion. So likewise
have thousands upon thousands ol” every nation,
tribe and race taken tlieir stations in that tomb,
upon the silence of which rememberance never
intrudes. -
“[Dead and forgotten.” This is the fate to !
which the great majority of those who now live i
upon the earth .arc rapidly hastening. The hooks !
which many put forth i.i the hope df winning |
immortality, will precede some and follow others j
to that realm where all is forgotten. “ The cloud
capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn
temples,” shall all molder to decay, and leave
not a rack behind to tell of the skill and power
.of the builders. Some arc forgotten before the
flower lias bloomed upon tlieir graves; others may
live in the memory of men perhaps for a century;
but a thousand years hence, not more than one
in a hundred thousand will have escaped obliv
ion ; yet, the world is full of candidates for fame,
all eagerly striving to avoid the fate of being for
gotten when dead.
The name of Douglas Jerrolcl, through the book
which has lately been published by his son, has
become as much a synonym of wit as those of
Sidney Smith or Charles Lamb. We find in
“Harper’s Weekly” a number of his witticisms,
some of the best of which select.
“ Honesty without sharpness in this world is
like a sword without edge or point—very well
for show, hut of no real use to the owner.”
“Intellect: anew fangled thing, just come up
and the sooner it goes out the better.”
“Nowadays men think they're frogs before
they’re tadpoles.”
“ The names of houses are for the world out
side. When folks read ‘Rose Cottage’ on the
wall, they seldom think of the lots of thorns that
are inside.”
“ Look here; you must allow that woman ought,
as much as in. her lies, to make this world quite
a paradise, seeing that she lost us the original gar
den. We talk as philosophers, and when all is
said and done about what we owe to woman, you
must allow that we have a swinging balance against
her. There’s that little matter of the apple still
to he settled for.”
“ Virtue’s a beautiful thing in women, when
they “don’t go about, like a child with a drum,
making all sorts of noise with it. There are some
women who think virtue was'given to them as
claws were given to cats —to do nothing hut scratch
with.”
“ Nature has been very kind to them. Next
to the rhinoceros, there is nothing in the world
armed like a woman. And she knows it.”
“ Never own a woman is right; do it once, and
on the very conceit of it, she'll be always wrong
for the rest of her life.”
“ How few there are who, starting in youth, an
imated by great motives, do not’ at thirty seem to
have suffered a ‘second fall!’ What angel-pur
poses did they woo—and what liag-realities have
the}” married ! What Rachels have they thought
to serve so what Leahs has the morning
dawned upon !”
“ Work for ready money. Take no hill upon
posterity: in the first place, there are many
chances against it being paid; and in the next,
if it be duly honored, the cost may be laid out on
some piece of bronze or marble of not the slightest
value to the original.”
How Individual Men are Bolted and Screwed
to the Community.— When your own child comes
in from the street, and has learned to swear from,
the bad hoys congregated there, it is a. very dif
ferent thing to you. from what it was when you
heard the profanity of those hoys as you passed
them. Now it takes hold of you, and makes you
feel that you are a stockholder in the public J
morality. Children make men better citizens. |
Os what use would an engine he to a ship if it
were lying loose in the hull ? It must be fastened
to it with bolls and screws, before it can propel
the vessel. Now a childless man is just like a
loose engine. A man must be bolted and screwed
to the community before he can begin to work
for its advancement; and there are no such screws |
and holts as children.
English Puritan Sirnames. — The following j
names are given in “Lower’s English Sirnames” j
as specimens of the names of the old Puritans in i
England, about the year 1058. The names are j
taken from a jury list in Sussex county. They >
will casue a smile in our day: “ Faint-not Hcw
ett, Accepted Trevor, Redeemed Compton, Make
peace lleaton, God-reward Smart, Stand-fast-on
high Stringer, Earth Adams, Called Lower, Meek
Brewer, Beoourtcous Cole, Repentance Avis,
Search-thc-scriptmes Morctoii, Kill-sin Pimple,
Return Spelman, Be-laithful .Joiner, Fly-debate
Roberts, Fight-tbe-good-figlit-01-faith White, More
fruit Fowler, Ilopo-for Bending, Graceful Hard
ing, Weep-not Biling, Seek-wisdom Wood, Elec
ted Mitehel, The-peace-of-God Knight.”
in the still night time and behind the shadows,
the dews fall to the earth. To the dim light of
the stars they steal on tlieir gentle mission to
wearied and fainting herbage. Beautiful as an
gels’ tears are they in the morning sunlight,
trembling and gleaming, and blazing like liquid
jewelry on leaf and nodding* blade. “No ono
ever knows what I give to such causes,” was the
remark of a friend, who was charged with giving
t 6 the temperance cause for mere applause. Nor
did the public know. His own family never
knew. Yet his heart and palm were always open
and no grudging pittance given. The acts of
such persons, are like the dew. They go out on
their mission, unseen. But they give life and
beauty to humanity, and redeem it from the
charge of utter selfishness and love of praise.—
Chief. ,
—#-
At Damascus, in the very heart of the city given
to Mohammedanism, at one gate of the Great
Mosque, is a spacious ancient door-way, over
which is a cross, with the following verse, in good
Greek letters:
At a marriage ceremony, which is of the most
value, the bride or the bridegroom ? The bride
groom ; for the bride is given away, and the bride
groom is sold.
The Marine Bank of Georgia has declared a
semi-annual dividend of four per cent.
Over fifty thousand men have applied to the
President to fill the two new regiments for Utah.
—-*•*<*>
A good action is never thrown away, and per
haps that is the reason why wc find so lew of
them.
The President of the United States has recog
nized August Eelchard as Consul of Prussia at
New Orleans.
At Boston ,on the 4th of July, there wi'l be a
| regatta, abandon ascension, and a display of fire
| works at the city’s expense.
The Governor of Pennsylvania has signed the
j bill passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature abol
j ishlng the Usury laws of that State.
“ Mrs. Grimes, lend me your tub.” Can’t do
it—all the hoops are off—it’s full of suds —besides
I. never had one—T washes in a barrel.”
The dwelling house and out-houses, belonging
to Mr. John B. Page four miles South of Salem.
Ala., were entirely consumed bv fire on the 22d
ult,
V
“I don’t believe it’s any use, this vaccination,”
I said a Yankee. “I had a child vaccinated, and
j he fell out of the winder a week arter and got
; killed!”
.. _
11 is said some babies are so small that t hey can
j creep into quart measures. But the way in which
! some adults can walk itito such measures is asto
; nisliing.
“ 1 sec the villain in your face,” said a western
judge to a prisoner. “ May it please your wor
ship,” replied the prisoner, “ that must be a per
sonal reflection, sure.”
The Richmond Enquirer states that Willie B.
Minor, eight years of age, of that city, lias col
lected fourteen dollars among his playmates, and
| sent it to the Mount Vernon fund.
The ship Mountain Wave, from this port, lias
taken a cargo of ice for Honolulu, Sandwich
Islands. Wo believe this is the first shipment of l
ice to this remote region. —Boston Pape,-..
| * m
i Madame Ristori has been making a most sue
: cessful appearance in Paris, in Rachel’s great part
j of “ Phcclre,” which she has played in most of the
j capitals of Europe, hut never before in Paris.
-<** .
Mrs. Stevenson, widow of Andrew Stevenson,
of Virginia, formerly Minister to England, is
aljout publishing a series of letters, giving an ac
count of her experience at the court of St. James.
of Campell county, Kv., lias been
indicted in the United States’ District Court for
the district of Kentucky, for assisting a soldier
named. Beck to desert from the garrison at New
port.
The Don Pedro 11. Railroad, in Brazil, was
opened on the 29th of March, when the Emperor,
Empress and others, made a trip from Rio Janei
ro to Quiemadas, 32 miles, returning within five
miles.
Gov. Bragg, of North Carolina, has issued liis
proclamation, fixing the first Thursday in August
as the time for electing a successor to Mr. Ciing
man, late member of the House of Representa
tives.
“ Pat, do you love your country ?” “ Yes, ye’r
honor.” “What’s the best thing about ould
Ireland, Pat?” “The whiskey, ye’r honor.”
“Ah, 1 see, Pat, with all her faults, you love her
still.”
Printers with nine children are to be exempted
from taxation in the State of New York. Very
safe legislation that. We would like to see the
printer who had anyffhing to tax after feeding
nine children.
A writer from Utah in the Washington Union,
estimates the fighting force of the Mormons at
18,000 to 20,000, with Indian allies numbering
00,000 to 70,000 men, making an effective force of
80,000 to 90,000 men.
A movement has been made in Missisippi, to
request the resignation of Governor Me’Willie.
The people of the State are very indignant at the
last exercise of Executive clemency, which has
turned loose the notorious assassin, James Dyson.
There were received at New York in the forty
eight hours ending Monday evening, 10,000 bales
cotton, 28,000 barrels flour, 132,000 bushels wheat,
53,000 bushel corn, 3,000 barrels rosin, 20,000
sides leather, 3,000 packages tobacco, and 1,582
boxes starch.
The St. Louis New-s expresses fears that, in
consequence of the general overflow of the South
ern country, the cities and towns near the gulf,
and on the Missisippi and on other rivers, will be
visited the ensunig summer and fall, by the Yel
low Fever.
Godey’s Lady’s Book, speaking of hooped skirts,
says: “If the ladies who carry this fashion to ex
cess only knew what remarks are made upon
them, and how they are laughed at, we are sure
they would come down from the hogshead size
to that of a flour barrel.”
There is hope for the country yet. Our Con
gressmen are improving in their morals. The Hon.
Joshua Giddings, the oldest member of the House
of Representatives, writes that there has been, in
the present Congress, less* intoxication and pre
disposition to vice than in any Congress with
which he has been associated.
Not long since, some ladies walking in the gar
den of an eminent divine, who lias been classed
among the transccndcntalists, saw his little hoy
scraping up the gravel path with an old table
spoon. “What are you doing, my little hoy?”
inquired ono of the ladies. “Oh,” said the young
; offshoot of transcendentalism, “ Earn digging after
; the infinite.”
During the confinement of Marie Antoinette
the Queen of France, by the Jacobins of Paris, she
was deprived of the use of tlio cosmetics with
which she was wont to give the raven hue to her
naturally silvery locks; and history, in describing
her execution, represents her hair as changing
; from a jet black to a gray color through the men
! tal anguish she experienced.
j North Carolina is a had State to indulge in
more than one wife. At the Cumberland Su-
I preme Court last week, 11. ('. Bartlett, convicted
! of bigamy, was sentenced to he branded on the
left cheek with the letter B, to receive thirty
lashes on his bare hack, to he imprisoned thirty
days, and then to receive thirty-nine laslios more,
and to he let loose. He had married four wives.
The Frexcii Navy.—The French naval construc
tions are now being pushed with such rapidity
that in the course of next yoar it is expected to
have afloat a fleet of 150 war steamers. Their ca
pacity will he thus divided: Ships of the line 35
(29 will he constructed this year and 9 of these
will be of a speed beyond anything in the English
navy,) frigates 45, corvetts 40, sloops of the first
class 30.
Marrying Children. — An officer of the United
States steamer Georgetown writes from Bombay,
that helias just attended the marriage of twochil
dren—with all the solemn rites of the Church—
who were each only five years old. Children are
there married by their parents when mere infants.
They think it a disgrace not to be married at five
years old. A boy unmarried at six is an old bach
elor.
Old Ironsides.— The United States frigate Con
stitution, now upon the railway ot the dock at
the Portsmouth navy yard, having been thorough
ly repaired and coppered, has been floated out
into the river. A correspondent of the Boston
Journal says that the planking outside and in has
been taken off, and between six and seven hun
dred new timbers have been put on in place of
the rotton ones removed, and new planking, ceil
ling clamps, and decks takes the place. “ Old
Ironsides,” is now as good as new, when first
launched in Boston sixty years ago. She will be
fitted with a heavier battery than she has hither
to carried, and with all the improvements of the
age.
Our Daughters—Tom-Boys.
Somebody says the “ song of the clerk is yet
unsung:” so, perhaps, is the praise of that “pe
culiar institution” the “ Tom-hoy.” Nevertheless
it is one that by old endeared association, com
mends itself to our love —one that by our cogni
zance or its beneficial influences, demands for
itself our unqualified sanction. Why is it that the
“Tom-bov” has always been considered a name
of reproach, and that as a class it is one forever
persecuted and berated ? Simply because it has
become a custom with us to consider that there
is no development for the young but the mental
—that our daughters do'not need beautiful forms
but only “loves” of drosses—that Jessie, or Jen
nie, or Ilallie, must not be children, bnt tiny ni
ming-criming women —just mamma in duodecimo.
This is a mistaken idea, and it is time that mo
theis were finding it out. At this lay, when our
young men want so sadly what is tersly termed
“backbone,” when our young women want sta-1
miua. when as a people, we need physical strength, j
there is a “ reform” upon this subject very much j
needed also. Now is the time to commence a |
good work which is vehemently called for, and j
where shall we begin with a better prospect of suc
cess, than among the thinking, substantial, and
practical readers of the ‘'Southern Homestead?” I
would have mothers remember that their daugli
i ters’ lungs are no better adapted to bear without
| injury the putrid air of close and heated rooms,
j than is the breathing apparatus of their sons. 1
j would have them remember that if restricted
j (physical) education, enfeebled health, delicate, :
j nervous system, and above all a purposeless, aimless
life, are not calculated to bring out the genius
and build up the reputation of their sons; neither
are they to be depended on to do this tor their j
daughters. J would have them encourage their j
little girls to exercise, ellbrt, imlustsy and energy, i
so as to give them the health, vigor, activity and j
and power to expand into a glorious womanhood; !
in one word, I would that they be encouraged to bo- j
come real, bona tide , flesh and blood “ Tom
boys.”
My idea of a “Tomboy” does not necessarily |
include rudeness, uncouth maimers, or “outlan- !
dish ways” generally—by no means. The “ Tom
boy” is an eager, earnest, impulsive, bright eyed, j
j glad-hearted, kind-souled, living and real speci
i men of the genus femiruo. If her laugli is a little
too frequent, and her tone a trifle 100 emphatic,
we are willing to overlook these for the sake of |
the true life and exulting vitality to which they j
’ are the “escape-valves;” and indeed we rather;
! like the high pressure nature which must close
j off its superfluous “steam” in such ebullitions,
i ‘flie glancing eye, the glowing cheek, the fresh, I
! balmy breath, the lithe and graceful play of the !
limbs tell a tale of healthy and vigorous physical
development, which is Nature’s best beauty. The j
soul and fho mind will be developed also in due !
j time, and we shall have before us a teaman, in the
i highest sense of the term.
The “ Tom-boy” is beautiful, in her way —she
is wise also in a way peculiarly her own. She
knows the names of all the cows, can ride the
horses to water without bridle or saddle, ala Joan
d’Arc, can tell you what the spade, shovel and
hoe are made for, she can bunt hen nests, feed
the young turkeys, knows whereabouts on the
bluff the first blue violets blow, and where amid
the thin grass in the meadow the wild strawber
ries ripen. She can describe to you the different
fish that haunt her favorite “ branch,” for she’s
caught the “silver-shiners” many a time; can
inform you when the young brood in the blue
bird’s nest will bo ready to fly, for that household
is under her special protection ; and her native coun
tenance is full of the visions of the weather-seer,
as she explains to you that “it iscertain to rain to
morrow,” for the “ pink-eyed primpernel” has
closed,and thero is a deep sigh from the South
among the mountain pines.
When the “Tom-boy” has sprung up to a health
ful and vigorous womanhood, she will be ready
to take bold of the duties of Life, to become a
worker in the great system of humanity. She will
not sit down to sigh over the “work given her to
do,” to simper nonsense, languish in ennui, or
fall sick at heart; but she will ever be able to take
up her burden of Duty, while nature, men, society,
and governments, will be subjects for her analization
and improvements. In her tread there will be
sound philosophy, in her thoughts boldness and
originally, in her heart Heaven’s own purity, and
the “ world will be better that she has lived in it.”
That beautiful idea so well expressed by Longfel
low.
“Life is real, life is earnest,”
will be the soul of all her actions—she will early
realize that woman, the world’s a great verb, was
created not merely “ to be,” but “ to do,” and too
often, alas! “to suffer,” also. But to this, her
alloted task, she will bring health, vigor, strength,
energy and spirits, and these will give her both
the power and the endurance, without whioh her
life must be, in some respects at least, a failure.
1 would that everybody could learn to love and
appreciate that beautiful embodiment of fresh
ness, grace, sincerity, simplicity and nature, the
“ Tom-bov.”
L. V. F.
Forest Home, 1858.— Homestead.
Non-Committal Men.
During the reign of James 11., on the occasion
of a trial between the crown and seven bishops
of the Church of England, one Michael Arnold,
the brewer to Ilis Majesty’s palace, was duty sworn
upon the jury.
Now, said Michael being a non-committal man,
began sorely to realize that he stood between two
fires, which lie feared might be equally dangerous
to himself, and lie gave vent to his sorrows in
these words: “Whatever Ido lam sure to be
ruined ; for if I say “not guilty” I shall brew no
more for the king ; and if I say “guilty,” I shall
brew no more for any body else.”
We have just such “ brewers” all over the world
in the nineteenth century —men who are loth to
consider the claims of one person or party against
another, lest, if they should decide according to
the honest convictions which circumstances might i
force upon them, they would lose the patronage
of the defeated.
Behold ! how they go about with mute lips, and
eyes that see nothing, preferring that the most
flagrant wrongs should go un-redressed ; yea, wil
ling that innocence should suffer martyrdom,
rather than be themselves called upon before Cod
and man, to speak the whole truth according to
the dictates of conscience.
We should like to have all such fellows on one
jury, and feed them upon air for a fortnight :
and more also, wo would like to hold a loaf of
bread on a pole against thejskut windows of that
jury-room, to increase their appetite.
We would see if they would remain uncomit ted j
when the reputation or happiness of a fellow crea- j
ture was at stake.
Out upon your silent man, who hears tire vilest!
slanders without contradicting them ; to whom j
the suffering and the weak appeal in vain for aid t
or counsel; who would see the poor man mur
dered by the rich man, lost he himself might miss
some future chance of borrowing money! Half
man, half rat—he steals warily out of his hole,
picks up a few crumbs for his own eating, and
back he goes.
What to him arc social interests, the march of
intellect, or human rights?
He has no heart, nor hand, nor purse, nor pen,
nor voice beyond the furtherance of his own in
terests. But strange it is: sometimes he exercises
a mesmeric influence over men who are men, and
mistaken in his true character, they elevate him
to some place of trust and power; whereby look
ing wise and saying nothing, lie gets the reputa
tion of being a “ profound statesman,” or “ pro
found” somebody ; and so he is, a “ profound”
lump of solfisliness ; afraid to say, “ not guilty,”
lest he might “brew no more for the king,” or to
say “guilty,” lest he might “brew no more for
anybody else.”— Oliir. Branch.
The Fatal Secret. —A laborer once who was
engaged in ditching, was heard complaining
to himself of his hard lot, and laying the blame
upon our common mother, Eve, because of her
eating the forbidden fruit. A wealthy man who
was passing be and heard him, proposed to him
to take him to his house and let him live at his
ease, provided with everything he might wish,
and without any labor to perform ; but it was to
be on condition of never looking into a covered
disli placed on a table in liis room, the contents of
which were kept secret from him. For a while
things went on very well with the laborer; but
after a few days liis curiosity became excited in
reference to the contents of the interdicted dish,
and so great at lenghth, that one day, in the ab
sence of the man and his family from the room,
lie could not resist the temptation of seeing w
was in the dish that was kept so. constant y
liis sight and knowledge. He raised the bd, and
out sprang a-niow.se, which he madeeff
and return back to its prison, but m nm- **
host soon discovered the violation oftheconm_
tion, and sent the man back to his oldana ia
rious occupation. The circums effects of
lustrate the bad, and sometimes fatal, ©fleets oi
idle curwity*
SONNET,
#
Perhaps the lody.of ray love is now
, ‘'Looking upon the skies. A single stal
ls rising in the cast,- and from afar*
“Sheds a inori tremulous lustres silent night
Doth wear it like a jewel on her brow •
But see! its motions with its lovely light
. Onward and onward through those depths of blue
To its appointed course, steadfast and true.
So, dearest, would I fain be unto thee
Steadfast forever—like yon planet fair;
And yet more like art thou a ‘jewel rare,
Oh ! brighter than the brightest star to rue; .
Conic hither, my young love, and I will wear *
Thv beauty on my breast delightedly.
-
Trijtit and Beautv. — Two fairy-like creatures
wandered through garden and bower, gathering
rich boquetsfrom thefairest gems of Flora. They
were of unearthly loveliness. They would lean on
each other, fondly, and anon raise their meek
eyes to their Heavenly Parent in thankfulness.
They were Truth and Beauty.
“How grand our dominion,” began Beauly,
smiling serenely on her companion; “but pardon
me, sister, if I venture to believe mine exceeds ,
yours; yet we both have commissions from heav
en, and discharge our offices in such a manner as
shall be acceptable to our Great Patron.” So
saying, the Maiden threw her arms around the
waist of her sister.
“I love you, my sister,” said Truth, “and am
happy to know you are pleased with your office;
but you have not I fear, reflected upon the extent
of my dominion.”
“Olyes: 1 know: but only observe that there
is nothing brilliant.withoutme : not a jewel in the
girdle of the year; not a sweet liliy in llic gar
den; not a rosy-cloud; not a flashing gem; not a
strain of music in earth or heaven ; no sublime
imagery of poetry; the world were unseemly, crea
tures hideous, the very citadel ( f our sweet homo
in the skies plundered; those celestial plains un
robed of their ever-green; the blazing splendor of
the throne gone, n! sister how sad to comtenv
plate the picture!”
Truth hung attentively upon the words of
Beauty, and a tear stoic down her sunlit face,
and it beamed with heavenly splendor.
“Sweet sister, thou are not proud; I know that
our Parent has consigned so much to you, I wish
you to bo content with your office. But without
me, there were nothing that is—earth, air, sky,
heaven—God would be lost in the universal wreck
of worlds and crush of matter. I underlie all
that sparkles or glows in your kingdom. There is
not a star trembling in space, not a brilliant sun
to light tlic fabric of The Universe, but wliat are
upheld by my arm. I pervade Immensity. With
out me, there were no life—no death—no noth
ing.”
“Stop, great companion; I have been foolish.”
And Beauty fell upon the neck of Truth, and
wept like like a babe. —National American.
1 in: Em I’xv Ck vni.E. —The death of a littlecliild
is to the mother’s heart like the dew on a plant,
horn which a bud has just perished. The plant
lilts up its head in freshened greenness to the
morning light ; so the mother’s soul gathers from
dark sorrow which she has passed, afresh bright
ening of her heavenly hopes.
As she bends over the empty cradle, and fancy
brings her sweet infant before her, a ray of divine
light is on the cherub lace. It is her son still,
but with the seal of immortality on his brow.
She feois that Heaven was the only atmosphere
where her precious flower could unfold without
spot or blemish, and she would not recall the
lost. But the anniversary of his departure seems
to bring liis spiritual presence near her. She in
dulges- in that tender grief which soothes, like an
opiate in pain, all hard passages and cares in lifo.
The world to her is no longer filled with human
love and hope in the future, so glorious with heav
enly love and joy ; she has treasures of happiness
which the worldly, unchastcned heart never con
ceived. The bright fresh flowers with which she
has decorated her room, the apartment where her
infant died, are mementoes of tho far brighter
hopes now dawning on her day dream. She
thinks of the glory and beauty of the new Jeru
salem, where the little foot will neverfind a thorn
among the flowers, to render a shoe necessary.
Nor will a pillow be wanted for the dear head
reposing on the breast of a kind Saviour. And
she knows that her infant is there in that world
of eternal bliss.
She marked one passage in that book, to her
emphatically the Word of Life, now lying closed
on the toilet table, which she daily reads: “ Suf
fer little children to come unto me, for of such is
the kingdom of Heaven.”— flood. News.
Bells.
We Americans have at home little opportunity
to know the grand effects produced by bells of a
large size, as they roll forth their tones of an in
describable dignity and solemnity—a deep bass
to all the varied sounds of city life. The only
large bells I know of in America, are—that on
the City JI all of New York, said to weigh 21,000
pounds, and two at Montreal, one upon the Cathe
dral, weighing 80,000 lbs., which is the largest
ever cast in England, unless the new bell for the
parliament clock be larger, the weight of which
I have not seen. The largest bell m England,
except, perhaps that just mentioned, was cast in
1845 for York Minister, and weighs rather more
than 27,000 pounds. The most no ted of the other
English bells are the‘Great Tom,’ at Oxford, 17,-
000 pounds, that at Lincoln, a little more than
11,000 pounds, and the principal one St. Paul’s,
a little less than that. But the hells on the con
tinent of Europe far surpass those of Great Brit
ain. At Erfurt, Germany, is a very famous bell,
weighing over 27.000 pounds,-which was baptised
by the name of Susanne, and is distinguished for
the excellence of its metal, having the largest
proportion of silver. It was cast in 1478, while
Columbus was still exploring the Antilles, and
Martin Luther was a child at school. As I-stood
by this noble bell I thought, how often, a few
years later, with his exquisite sense of musical
effects must the future Reformer have listened,,
delighted with its deep tones, as he went from
bouse to house begging for himself and brother*
monks. And what recollections must have awa
kened within him, when he stopped at Erfurt
and preached, while on his way to Worms; or
towards the close of liis life, when he came thither,
the great Apostle honored and beloved by the
third part of all Chirstendom. —Lecture on Bells by
A. IF. Thayer.
Yankee Trade. —“ I calculate 1 couldn’t drivo
a trade with you to-day ?” said a true specimen
of a Yankee pedlar, at the door of a merchant in
St. Louis. “ I calculate you calculate about right,
for you cannot,” was the sneering reply. “ Wall,
I guess you needn't get huffy about it. Now
here’s a dozen real genuine razor strops worth
two dollars and a half; you may have ’em at two
dollars.” “ 1 tell you i don’t want any of your
trash, so you had better be going.” “ Wall, now,
I declare I’ll bet you five dollars if you make mo
an offer for them arestrops,-wo’llhavea trade yet.”
“Done!” replied the merchant, placing the mon
eny in the hands of a bystander. The Yankee
deposited the like sum ; when the merchant
ottered him a couple of cents for his strops.
“ They’re yourn,” said the Yankee, as he pocketed
the stokes. But he added, Vith apparent hon
esty, “ J calculate a joke’s a joke; and if you don’t
want them strops I’ll trade back.” The mer
chant’s countenance brightened as he replied—■
“ You’re not so bad a chap, after all. Here are
the strops —give me the money.” “There it is,”
said the Yankee, as lie received the strops, and
passed over tho couple of cents. “ A trade’s a
trade, and now you’re wide awake in earnest. I
guess the next, time you trade you’ll do a little bet
ter than to buy razor strops.” And away he went
with his strops and his wager, amid the shouts
of the laughing crowd.
Fodder Oats.—One of the most wasteful prac
tises in regard to fodder is the present practice ot
cutting and feeding oats. They are usually al
lowed to stand till ripe, and the stalk is yellow,
and then cut, thrashed, and the straw oi lit o
value, used for bedding or litter. If oats ai ecu
when a little green, and then well cured, the
straw is the very best of fodder. * eed oats, thu
cut and cured hi the sheaf, to horses, and they
horses than feed them shelled oats
Ju however, it should be cut before quite
rinfahd then well cured, so as to prevent must. -
By this course, he loses none of his oats by shell
ing, and converts liis straw into the best of fod
der. —Ohio Farmer.
“ Did you not tell me, sir, yon could hold the
plough?” said the master. “Arrah! be aisy, .
noivj’ said Pat: “ how the deuce can I hould it,
and two horses drawing it away from me? but
give it me into the barn, and by jabers I’ll hould
it with any boy.”