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t
JOHN II. SEAT.S, Ed. & Prop’r.
TKRMH ! $2 x>er annum, in advance.
_A_tlanta, Gra., Thursday Morning, May IT, 1060.
NEW SERIES, VOL. V. VOL.
number in.
XXVI.
W^Tr,'.
A.. B. SEALS, 1
iRGiNIA FRENCH, j
HN A. REYNOLDS, Publisher.
Assoc’te Editors.
A Family Ruined.
.AN KXCITISC ROMANCE.
The m*h »S« m 1** rijrkjt» refvwcd in *Yrrv '*•»-*.
All mnnry* c*u lx* mailed m vxir r»V, if tne letter 1- »«-!l .
anil properly addrear*!.
Writ* your n;une, po«tt ofiei and State in a plain, legible j
the]
Lieut.
ington.
Gen. Winfield Scott is in Wash-
Tatnberlik, the renowned tenor, is
to ihis country.
Thr Prince af Wales leaves England for this
f.untry on the loth of Jnly.
Hays, the animal painter, has started for
the Rocky Mountains, to portray the buffalo.
The sun is every man’s servant , working ev
ery day in the year for him, and exacting no
wages.
There is many a man whose tongue might
govern multitudes, if he could only govern his
tongue.
A crusty old bachelor 9ays he thinks it is
e'oinan y and not her wrongs, that ought to be
redrrsseit.
The Chinese picture of ambition is “a man
darin trying to catch a comet, by putting salt
on his tail.”
Elderly unmarried ladies are considered by
some persons the least enviable of ali kinds of
uraiting maids.'
If you fall into misfortune, disengage your
self as well you can. Creep through the bushes
that have the fewest briers.
Ten poor men can sleep tranquilly upon a
mat; but two kings can't live at ease in a quar
ter of the world.
Some bachelors join the ar».iy because they
like war, and some married men because they
like peace.
Why cannot a deaf man be legally convicted?
Becaitne it is not lawful to condemn a man
witho V
Despise nothing c it seems weak. The
flies and locusts have done more hurt than ever
t he bears ~nd lions did.
“Why, Tom, my dear fellow, how old you
look.” “Dare say, Bob, for the fact is, I never
i so old before in my life.”
pleasant and cheerful mind sometimes
ks upon an old and worn out body, like
s upon a dead tree.
It was early spring in the year 1
day was the Otli of April; and the weather,
which had been of a wintry fierceness for the
preceding six or seven weeks—cold indeed be
yond any thing known for many years, gloomy
forever, and broken by continual storms—was
now by a Swedish transformation all at once
bright—genial—heavenly. So sudden and so
early a prelnsion of summer, it was generally
feared, could not last. But that only made
every body the more eager to lose no hour of
an enjoyment that might prove so fleeting. It
seemed as if the whole population of the place,
a population among the most numerous in
Christendom, had been composed of liyberna-
ting animals suddenly awakened by the balmy
sunshine from their long winter’s torpor.
Through every hour of the golden morning the
streets were resonant with female parties of
young and old, the timid and the bold—nay,
even the most delicate valetudinarians, now
first, tempted to lay aside their wintry clothing,
together with their fireside habits, whilst the
whole rural environs of our vast city, the wood
lands, and the interminable meadows, began
daily to re-echo the glad voices of the young
and jovial, awakening once again, like the birds
and the flowers, and universal nature, to the
luxurious happiness of this most delightful
season.
Happiness do I say ? Yes, happiness ; hap
piness to me above all others. For I also in
those days was among the young and gay; I
was strong; I was prosperous in a worldly
sense ; I owed no man a shilling ; feared no
man’s face; shunned no man’s presence. I
held a respectable station in society : I was
myself, let me venture to say it, respected gen
erally for my personal qualities, apart from any
advantages I might draw from fortune and in
heritance ; I had reason to think myself pop
ular amongst the very slender circle of my
acquaintance ; and finally, which perhaps was
the crowning grace to all these elements of hap
piness, I suffered not from the presence of
ennui, nor ever feared to suffer; for my tem
perament was constitutionally ardent; I had
a powerful animal sensibility ; and I knew the
one great secret for maintaining its equipoise,
viz: by powerful daily exertion; and thus I
lived in the light and presence, or, (if I should
not be suspected of seeking rhetorical expres
sions,) I would say, in one eternal soltice of
unclouded hope.
These, you will say, were blessings; these
were golden elements of felicity. They were
so; and yet, with the single exception of my
healthy frame and firm animal wrganization, I
feel that I have mentioned hithewto nothing but
what by comparison might bewthought of a
vulgar quality. All the othei^^vantages that
1 have enumerated, had they befcyet wantinj
might have been acquired; hath
feited, might have been reconqn*
been even irretrievably lost, mi
have been' dispetn
have been
ty been for-
had they
iy a phi lo
rn; com-
any of
'onnol*-.
l that—
an admirable
rison, of the Great Eastern.
The “Signor Brignoli Jlpera L vquef’ is all
the rage in Boston. It is [accompanied with a
photograph of the “bandsqme tenor.”
Pompey said he once veorked for a man who
raised his wages so high! that he could only
reach them once in two yfears.
To live truly and taiiniully to-day is bettor
iban to have died yesterday : getting ready to
end well is only to begin well.
h will afford .-weeter happines> in the hour
of death to have wiped one tear from the check
of sorrow, than to have ruled an empire.
Whenever I find a great deal of gratitude in a
poor man, I take it for granted that there would
be as much generosity if he were a rich man.—
fVffr*.
A lecturer asserted that all bitter thing
we.re hot.
‘•Vo." suggested Brown, “ no* a hitter roi
•lav.
The question is often discussed whether tlie
savages enjoy life. We suppose they do, as
they always seem anxious to take it when they
get a chance.
‘•Tine is Money.”—This accounts, we sup
port for the eprofitableness of running^ slowly
on Itailroads, as on every trip they take up
-o much time.
A young lady, who recently performed a
remarkable feat in rowing, has been presented
with a beautiful yawl. A jmack would have
b#*en more appropriate.
It is xaid that the Tartars invite a man to
drink by gently pulling his ear. A goodmany
of our people will “taken puli’’ without wait
ing to have theirjears pulled.
How many a man, by throwing himself to the
ground in despair, crushes and destroys forever
a thousand flowers of hope that were ready to
spriug up and gladden all his pathway.
An American writer, dwelling upon the im
portance of small things, says that he always
takes “note even of a straw.” Especially, per
haps, if there’9a sherry cobbler at one end of
it.
not ^
dignity all other constiti
but for a reason far sadder tl
Ctfce lost, they were incapableV>f res
toration, and because not to be dispensed! with;
blessings in which “either we must live onh&ve
no life;” lights to the darkness of our ipaths
and to the infirmity of our steps—whic)?ij once
extinguished, never more on this side the gates
of Paradise can any man hope to see re-illu
mined for himself. Amongst these I may men-
an intellect, whether p iwerful or not in
itself, at any rate most elaborately cultivated;
and, to say the truth, I had little other business
before me in this life than to pursue this lofty
and delightful task. I may add, as a blessing,
not in the same positive sense as that which 1
have just mentioned, because not of a nature
to contribute so hourly to the employment of
the thoughts, but yet in this sense equal, that
the absence of either would have been an equal
affliction—namely, a conscience void of all of
fence. It was little, indeed, that I, drawn by
no necessities of situation into temptations of
that nature, had done no injury to any man.
That was fortunate; but l could not much
value myself upon what was so much an acci
dent of my situation. Something, however, I
might pretend to beyond this negative merit;
for I had originally a benign nature ; and, as
I advanced in years ami thoughtfulness, the
gratitude which possessed me for my own ex
ceeding happiness led me to do that by princi
ple and system which I had already done upon
blind impulse ; and thus upon a double argu
ment 1 was incapable of turning away from
the prayer of the afflicted, whatever had been
the sacrifice to myself. Hardly, perhaps, could
it have been said in a sufficient sense at that
time that I was a religious man ; yet, undoubt
edly, I had all the foundations within me upon
which religion might hereafter have grown.
My heart overflowed with thankfulness to Prov
idence : I had a natural tone of unaffected
piety; and thus far at least I might have been
called a religious man, that in the simplicity of
truth I could have exclaimed,
But my wrath still rises, like a towering flame,
against all the earthly instruments of this nun;
I am still at times as unresigned as ever to this
tragedy, in so far as it was the work of human
malice. Vengeance, as a mission for me, as a
y task for mu hands in particular, is no longer
( pr tsihle : the thunderbolts of retribution have
! b en long since launched byother hands : and
y t still it happens that at times I do—I must
- -I shall perhaps, to the hour of my death, rise
in maniac fury, and seek, in the very impo
tence of vindictive madness, groping, as it
were, in blindness of heart, for that tiger from
hell-gates that tore away my darling from my
heart. Let m3 pause, and interrupt this pain
ful strain, to say a word or two upon what she
was, and how far worthy of a love more hon
orable to her (that, was possible) and deeper
(but that was not possible) than mine. When
first I saw her, she—my Agnes—was merely a
child, not much (if anything) above sixteen.
But, as in perfect womanhood she retained a
most childlike expression of countenance, so
even then in absolute childhood she put forward
the blossoms and the dignity of a woman.
Never yet did my eye light upon a creature that
was born of woman, nor could it enter iny
heart to conceive one, possessing a figure more
matchless in ics proportions, more statuesque
and more deliberately and advisedly to be char
acterized by no adequate word but the word
magnificent, a word too often and lightly abused.
In reality, in speaking of women, I have
seen many beautiful figures, but hardly one
except Agnes that could without hyperbole
be styled truly and memorably magnificent.
Though in the first order of tall women, being
full in person, and with a symmetry that was
absolutely faultless, she seemed to the random
sight as little ibove the ordinary hight. Pos
sibly from the dignity of her person, assisted
by the dignity of her movements, a stranger
would have boon disposed to call her at a dis
tance, a woman of commanding presence; but
never after lie had approached near enough to
behold her face. Every thought of artifice, of
practiced effect, or of haughty pretension, fled
before the childlike innocence, the sweet femi
nine timidity, and the more than cherub love
liness of that countenance, which yet in its lin
eaments was noble, whilst its expression was
purely gentle and confiding. A shade of pen
siveness there was about her; but that was in
her manners, scarcely ever in her features;
and the exquisite fairness of her complexion,
enriched by the very sweetest and most deli
cate bloom that ever I have beheld, should
rather have allied it to a tone of cheerfulness.
Looking at this noble creature as I first looked
at her, when yet upon the early threshold of
womanhood,
••With household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin liberty,”
you might have supposed her some Hebe or
young Aurora of the dawn. When you saw
only her superb figure, and its promise of wo
manly development, with the measured dignity
of her step, you might for a moment have fan
cied her some imperial Medea of the Athenian
stage—some Volumnia from Borne,
••Or ruling bandit's wife amidst the Grecian isles.”
But catch one glance from her angelic counte
nance, and then combining the face and the
person, jok would have dismissed all such fan-^
I cies, and Ipve pronounced he** a R id ^
tj—"*•» ^^(ttcai pattern
for the future female se.t.
to weep and groan when the gems thus sacri- i The following musical lines, written for the
ficed were afterwards brought back to their Home Journal, are from the pen of a young and
hands by simple fishermen, who had recovered | accomplished lady, a resident of Frederick City,
them in the intestines of fishes—a portentous 1 Maryland. They are entitled “Lilly’s Grave ”
omen, which was interpreted into a sorrowful
indication that the Deity thus answered the !
propitiatory appeal, and made solemn proclama
tion that ho had rejected it —whether, T say, it j
were this spirit of jealousy awakened in me by
too steady and too profound a felicity; or
Tread gently as you near it,
Thr* sweet and lovely place :
That humble little flowery mound.
C'jjjp own with mossy lace.
Oh ! ql>eak not as you near it,
Forja word might put to flight
The groups of lovely angels
Clad in celestial light.
Our Lilly sleeps beneath that mound.
Our fair and lovely child,
That seemed just like an angel sent
To cheer the desert wild.
Her hair was of a sunny hue,
And hung in ringlets sweet:
Her eyes were of an azure blue,
Her ways with grace replete.
She was a flower too pure for earth,
And lingered here till even—
She paused with us a few short hours,
Then winged her flight to heaven.
XWRITTEN POETRY.
whether it were that great; overthrows and
:alamities have some mysterious power to send
forward a dim misgiving of their advancing j
footsteps, and really and indeed
“That in to-day already walk* to-morrow :*’
or whether it were partly, as I have already ;
put the case in my first supposition, a natural 1
instinct of distrust, but irritated and enlivened |
by a particular shock of superstitious alarm; i
which, or whether any of these causes it were !
that kept me apprehensive and on the watch !
for disastrous change, I will not here under- :
take to determine. Too certain it is that I was
I never ridded myself of an overmastering
and brooding sense, shadowy and vague, a dim
abiding feeling (that sometimes was and some
times was not exalted into a conscious present- |
iment) of some great calamity traveling to- j
wards me; not perhaps immediately impend- |
ing—perhaps even at a great distance: but al- 1 Br E . faroo.
ready—dating from some secret hour—already ^
in motion upon some remote line of approach. I here s not a silver moonlight ray
The feeling 1 could not assuage by sharing it That falls in silence on the hill,
with Agnes. No motive could be strong enough seeks the glen where waters play,
for persuading ine to communicate so gloomy , And gilds the foam-crest of the rill:
a thought with one who, considering her ex- There’s not a star-beam from above
treinc healthiness, was but too remarkably J hat smiles upon this darksome earth,
prone to pensive, if not too sorrowful contem- i But tells the realm of light and love,
plations. And thus the obligation which I felt Where angel Poetry has birth,
to silence an.l reserve, strengthenedI the morbi.l . Thcre - S not a breeze that from its home
impression I had received: whilst the remark- i it to thc birds at m
able incident I have adverted to served power- Aud not \ s f rcttm t)lat ]oves ro i m
fully to rivet the superstitious chain winch was
continually gathering round me. Thc inci
dent was this—and before 1 repeat it, let me
pledge my word of honor, that L report to you
the bare facts of thc case, without exaggera
tion, and in the simplicity of truth :
[continued.]
[horn,
Through banks where winds the wild bee’s
But has a language all its own,
That flows in numbers pure and sweet.
Heard by the answering soul alone—
With song and poetry replete.
Mrs. John C. Heenan, a very clever little
actress, is performing at the Bowery Theatre
to crowded audiences. The notoriety of the
husband goes not a little way towards filling
thc house.
tanc
And ho yon have married a Mr. Penny,”
’h**nnn to * lady of his acquain-
ance
‘No- -Mr. Pence.
‘Ah you have aone better than I thought.”
T. Buchanan Read, the popular poet-painter,
is preparing to proceed to London, to paint a
full length portrait of Mr. George Peabody,
for that gentleman’s friends in Baltimore. Mr.
Dallas, our minister, will also sit to this
artist.
A London auctioneer, illustrating the points
of an estate which he is about to sell, says in
his advertisement;—“There are six hundred
acres of cover, and the pheasants, put ridge.-,
hares, wild fowl, snipes, ami wood-cocks,
/dark en the air !"
To make an oyster stew, when you have no
fire, and no money to buy coal with, all you
have to do is to put your oysters in a bowl with
some water, and s.ir them round and round.
Poor the water suddenly into a saucer, and
you will find it there with the oysters too.
In spite of the general unjastifiableneas of
war, many wars may be conceived, as, for in
stance, a wsr to shield a weaker nation from a
stronger, os more honorable, and even more re
ligious, also, than a mere selfish peace for com
mercial purposes, with Mammon for its Messiah,
and a day-dook and ledger for its Bible and
prsyer-book.
We know a pretty young lady in town who
has a ha&hful lover named Joy. 8he is impa
tient to have him “pop the question,” and
thinks of availing herself of the female privil
ege of Leap Ye«r. In thnt c,m, »b* would
•5«np for Joy.-
•*0. Abner, l fear God, and T fear none betide.
But wherefore seek to delay ascending by a
natural climax to that final consummation and
perfect crown of my felicity —that almighty
blessing which ratified their value to all the
rest? Wherefore, oh ! wherefore do I shrink
in miserable weakness from—what? Is it from
reviving, from calling up again into fierce and
insufferable light the images and features of a
long-buried happiness ? That would be a nat
ural shrinking and a reasonable weakness. But
how escape from reviving, whether I give it
utterance or not, that which is forever vividly
before me ? What need to call into artificial
light that which, whether sleeping or waking
—by night or by day—for cight-and-thirty
years has seemed by its miserable splendor to
scorch my brain? Wherefore shrink from giv
ing language—simple vocal utterance—to that
burden of anguish which by so long an endur
ance has lost no atom of its weight, nor can
gain any most, surely by the louden publica
tion? Nay, there can be none, after this, to
say that the priceless blessing, which 1 have
left to the final place in this ascending review,
was the companion of my life—my darling and
youthful wife. Oh ! dovelike woman! faded
in an hour in thc most defenceless to meet with
the ravening vulture—lamb fallen amongst
wolves—trembling, fluttering fawn, whose path
was inevitably to be crossed by the bloody
tiger—angel, whose most innocent heart fitted
thee for too early a flight from this impure
planet; if indeed it were a necessity that thou
shouldst find no rest for thy footing except
amidst the native heavens, if indeed to leave
what was not worthy of thee were a destiny
not to be evaded—a summons not to be put
by : yet why, why, again and again 1 demand
—why was it also necessary that this thy de
parture, so full of woe to me, should also to
thyself be heralded by the pangs of martyr
dom? tainted love, if, like the ancient chil
dren of the Hebrews, like Meshech and Abed
nego, thou wert called by divine command,
whilst yet almost a child, to walk, and to walk
alone, through the fiery furnace—wherefore
then couldst not thou, like that Meshech and
that Abednego, walk unsinged by the dreadful
torment, and come forth unharmed ? Why, if
the sacrifice were to be total, was it necessary
to reach it by so dire a struggle ? and if the
cup, the bitter cup of final separation from
those that were the light of thy eyes and the
plus* of thy heart might not bo put aside—
yet wherefore was it that tboa migbteat not
drink it up in the natural peace which belongs
to a sinless heart ?
But these an murmuring*, you will say, re
bellious murmuring* against the proclamations
of Gcd. Not so: I have long since submitted
myself, resigned myself—nay, even reconciled
myself, perhaps, to the great wreck of my life,
In so far as it was the sail of God, and accord
ing to the weakness of my imperfect nature.
The Ugly Family.—In one of the lower dis
tricts of the Palmetto State, there once lived a
family of six or seven persons, who were known
far and wide as the “ugly family.” One of
them, Jake, was so “onspeakably” hard favored
that it made one feel as if he had bitten a green
persimmon to look at him, and whenever he
walked through the streets, the dogs slunk their
tails and sneaked off, too scared to bark.
The fame of this tamily spread through the
country, and at last reached the ears of a Geor
gian, who for a lorg time had held undisputed
possion of the celebrated pen knife. This indi
vidual at length determined to pay a visit to the
ugly family, and endeavor to dispose of the
aforesaid knife. So one morning he crossed the
Savannah, and about noon, he saw a wagon
ahead and rode up to inquire the whereabouts
of the family.
“Hello, Granger!” said he to a man walking
by the side of the wagon.
“Hello yourself!’ exclaimed the wagoner,
(/turning round and dis< losing a countenance so
There's not a zephyr floating by,
And singing through the summer vales—
There’s not a burning orb on high,
"Which through thc boundless ether sails
There's not a cloud bathed crimson bright.
When western skies in glory shine,
But speaks of loveliness aud light.
Enrobed with poetry divine.
It gleams along thc dancing wave,
That breaks oh ocean isles afar.
And glitters in the beams that pave
Celestial roads from star to star:
It glows upon the rainbow’s crest.
Serenely bending o’er the storm,
And with refulgent beauty dressed.
It flashes in the lightning’s form.
“A perfect woman, nobly planned.
To warm, to comfort, to command.
And yet a spirit too, and bright
With something of an angel light.*’
tremendously plain that the Georgian almost j ./
* *•—-JAW— i {Lyyi nnn
from the astonfc*iment, “arc you noi'‘ag!y Jake’ { “ Inch boar uf
pmself?” > ' S Borbfl upwn
To this superb young woman, such as I have
here sketched her, I surrendered my heart for
ever, almost from my first opportunity of see
ing her; for so natural and without disguise
was her character, and so winning thc simpli
city of her manners, due in part to her own
native dignity of mind, and in part to thc deep
solitude in which she had been reared, that
little penetration was required to put me in
possession of all her thoughts : and to win her
love, not very much more than to let her see,
as sec she could not avoid, in connexion with
that chivalrous homage which at any rate was
due to her sex and sexual perfections, a love
for herself on my part, which was in its nature
as exalted a passion and as profoundly rooted
as any mere human affection can ever yet have
been.
On the seventeenth birthday of Agnes we
were married. Oh ! calendar of everlasting
months—months that, like the mighty rivers,
shall flow on forever, immortal as thou, Nile,
or Danube, E iplirates, or St. Lawrence ! and
ye, summer and winter, day and night, where
fore do you bring round continually your signs,
and seasons, and revolving hours, that still
_ oint and barb thc anguish of local recollec
tions, telling me of this and that celestial morn
ing that never shall return, and of too blessed
expectations, traveling like yourselves through
heavenly zodiac of changes, till at once and
forever they sank info thc grave.’ Often do
” think of seeking for some quiet cell either in
the Tropics or in Arctic latitudes, where the
changes of the year, and the external signs cor
responding to them, express themselves by no
features like those in which the same seasons
are invested under our temperate climes; so
that, if knowing, we cannot at least feel the
identity of tlicir revolutions. We were mar
ried, 1 have said, on the birthday—the seven
teenth birthday—of Agnes; and pretty nearly
on the eighteenth it was that she placed me at
the summit of my happiness, whilst for herself
she thus completed the circle of her relations
to this life’s duties, by presenting me with a
son. Of this child, knowing how wearisome
to strangers b the fond exultation of parents,
I shall simply say that lie inherited his mo
ther’s beauty; the same touching loveliness
and innocence of expression, the same chiseled
nose, mouth and chin, the same exquisite au
burn hair. In many other features, not of
person merely, but also of mind and manners,
as they gradually began to open before me,
this child deepened my love to him by recall
ing the image of his mother; and what other
image was there that I so much wished to keep
before me, whether waking or sleep? At the
time to which l am now coming but too rapidly,
this child, still our -only one, and unusually
premature, was within four months of com
pleting his third year; consequently, Agnes
was at that time in her twenfy-first year ; and
may here add, with respect to myself, that. I
was in my twenty-sixth.
But before I come to that period of woe, let
me say one word on the temper of mind which
so fluent and serene a current of prosperity
may be thought to have generated. Too com
mon a course I know it is, when the stream of
life flows with absolute tranquility, and ruffled
by no menace of a breeze—the azure overhead
never dimmed by a passing cloud, that in such
circumstances the blood stagnates ; life, from
excess and plethora of sweet*, becomes insipid;
the spirit of action often droops; and it is
oftentimes found at snch seasons that slight
annoyances and molestations, or even misfor
tunes in a lower key, are not wholly undesira
ble, as menus of stimulating the lazy energies,
or disbursing a slumber which is. or soon will
be, morbid in its character. I have known,
myself, cases not a few, where, by the very
nicest gradations, and by steps too rilent and
insensible for daily notice, the utmost harmony
and reciprocal love had shaded down into fret-
fulness and petulance, purely from too easy a
life, and because all nobler agitations that
might have ruffled thc sensations occasionally,
and all distresses even on the narrowest scale
that might have rc-awakened the solitudes of
love, by opening necessities lor sympathy, for
counsel, or for mutual aid, had been shut out
by foresight i oo elaborate, or by prosperity too
Cloying* Bui all this, had it otherwise been
possible with my particular mind, and at my
early age, was utterly precluded by one re
markable peculiarity in xny temper. Whether
it were that I derived from nature some jeal
ousy and suspicion of all happiness which
seems too perfect and unalloyed—a spirit learned from his
rr 'tless distrust which in ancient times often' —* —- —'
led me to throw valuable gems into the sea, in
the hope of thus propitiating the dire deity of
misfortune, by voluntarily breaking the fear
ful chain of prosperity, and led some of them
1 The wagoner shook his head and “grinned a
ghastly smile” that made him look like the j
figbtmare j>ersonified.
* “I’ll bet you ten doilars that you are the ug- j
licst man in the State,” said the Georgian. |
“Done !’’ said the wagoner, “come here.” And !
going to the back of the wagon, he called, !
“Wake up, Jake, and put your head out here.’ j
The Georgian, burning with curiosity, leaned i
forward as the cover was raised slowly up.
Suddenly his eyes fell upon a physiognomy so
awfully, boundlessly, overpoweringly ugly, that
it seemed to be formed out of the double ex- ;
tract of delirium tremens.
The horse snorted and started back in fright, j
We hear its cadence in thc swell
Of lifaving billows, wild and grand,
And frejm the thousand harps that dwell
Witliix the breezy forest land;
We bean its louder tones of dread,
When/earth by earthquake shocks is r
And wltkn the thunder’s solemn tread
mds along thc floor of heaven.
4uU and Uw*
characters of flame,
up upward on creation’s wings ;
Could 1 but catch their living fire,
As awtist’s catch the eye’s true light,
And chuin it to my willing lyre,
Then)might its numbers flow aright.
NATURE’S PLANTING.
The means employed by Nature, the great
planter, to effect the dispersion of seeds, and
by which the young plants are separated and
sent out into the world from their seed-cup
homes, are as various anu curious as the forms
of the seed-cups themselves.
So soon as the seed is ripe, Grew quaintly
remarks, Nature taketli several methods for its
being duly sown. For, first, the seeds of many
plants which affect a peculiar soil or scat, as of ”
arum, poppy, &c., arc heavy and small enough,
without further care, to fall directly down into
the ground. But, if they arc so large and light
as to be exposed to thc wind, they are often
furnished with one or more hooks to stay them
from straying too far from their proper place.
So the seeds of avens have one single hook,
those of agrimony and goosegrass many: both
the former loving a warm hank, thc latter a
hedge, for its support. On the contrary, many
seeds are furnished with wings or feathers;
partly with thc help of the wind to carry them
when ripe from off thc plant, as of the ash, syc
amore, maple, mahogany, and trumpet flower,
and partly to enable them to make good their
flight more or less abroad, so that they may
not, by falling together, come up too thick,
and that if one should miss a good soil or bed
another may hit. So the kernels of pine have
wings, yet short, whereby they fly not into the
air, but only flutter upon thc ground. But
those of cat's-*ail, dandelion, and most of the
thistle kind have long numerous feathers by
which they arc wafted every way. Thc cotton-
grass is supplied with so much of this feathery
material that it gives a character to the. fields
in which it grows. Mrs. S. (’. Hall said she
saw scores of bogs in Ireland looking like fields
of snow from the immense quantity of cotton-
grass down with which it is covered. Hedges
in which the traveller’s-joy is abundant have
a beautiful appearance at seed time, owing to
the silvery plume appearing on thc fruit.
The wind is especially useful in wafting the
minute, impalpable sporules of cryptogamic
plants to considerable distances. It has been
supposed that two species of lichen found on the
coasts of Bretagne have been brought thither
from Jamaica by the prevalence of the south
west wind. This is easily explained by the
lightness and minuteness of tlioc seeds, some
of which arc mere dust, while those of the
club-moss are but the eighteen thousandth of
an inch in thickness. On the -‘Jth of August,
1830, a lichen suddenly appeared among a
plantation of pines in the neighborhood of
Dresden, covering thc leaves only, however, on
the side nearest to the wind: and at another
time the sails of a ship at sea, near Stockholm,
were in an instant covered with a sort of lichen
This appearance, which lias been explained by
supposing that thc minute germs came floating
invisibly upon the breese, is said to be common
in Persia, Armenia, and Tartary, where the
people eagerly cat the lichens, saying that they
come from heaven.
Other seeds arc scattered, not by flying abou+,
but by being spurted or darted away by the
plant itself. The wood-sorrel lias its seed-ves
sel constructed in such a way that, when dry,
it bmsts open, and in a moment is violently
! turned inside out. When oats arc ripe, the
1 grains arc thrown from the flowcr-cup with a
' 'Utiuoiae, which he iuuuxi in
or t putt £*-Ac squirting ctteatnbuk, the
of holding on diminishes, and the shaking of h ’ A boosy fellow was observed, tfce other day.
the wind or thc beating of the rain. ] driving a “pofker,” holding on to his tail, and
Seas, rivers, and currents are among th® : when asked what he was doing, replied that he
most effectual means of dispersing thc neidUof i was studjimjjfe-hography.
plants. Monsieur Charles Martin, Professor of 1 k -
Botany at the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine, * An in Ne# York is charged with grossly
in a letter to Monsieur FlourenA) communi- j misrcglrsenting tht condition of the streets,
cated to the Academy of Scicnce^etates that, i One w©*]d tuiakibat an editor had better do
after experimenting up<*n a CK. variety of j anytlra^ eTB<Hrtan lie afrout the streets
scons taken haphazard, he IinU»Jiat two-thirds j
of Them float upon thc sea; Wms explaining
how seeds which Humboldt said must have
been borne by plants and trees in Jamaica and
Cuba, are thrown on the shores of the Hebrides.
The Gulf Stream is supposed to be the princi
pal agent in the diffusion of European plants in
the islands of Shetland, Feroe, and Iceland.
Many seeds growing near the sea-shore, like
he cocoa-nuts of the tropics, are washed away
by the waves and carried by the currents, until,
becoming heavy and saturated with sea-water,
they are left to germinate on far-distant coasts
and newly formed islands.
Sea-weeds produce their seeds in a strange
manner, assuming rather thc character of ani
mals than of plants. The seeds are crowded
together in cells on the tough leaf of the plant.
These extremely minute seeds are surrounded
with little hairs gifted with vibratory motion,
which in due time, when the cell bursts, row
each seed away to a proper resting-place. An
old observer, Dr. Tancred Robinson, says the
sudden emptying of the bags of seed causes a
great commotion of the water in their neigh
borhood : and the departure of the flocks ap
pears to take place at fixed periods, generally
betimes in the morning; one sen-weed choosing
the hour of eight, and another daybreak.
Animals, even, are to a great extent em
ploye*! by Nature to assist her in her planting.
Seeds often become entangled in their hair aud
wool: the seeds of agrimony being thus dis
seminated by sheep. The hooks of the burdock
cling to the passing animal, and are carried
often mill's away. All sorts of animals, in
cluding monkeys, squirrels, mice, and birds,
carry away, and sometimes hide, seeds, either
voluntarily or involuntarily, to serve as food.
Gilbert White says. “Many horse-beans sprang
up in my field-walks in the autumn, and are
now grown to a considerable height. As the
Ewel was in beans last summer, it is most
likely that these seeds came from thence : but
then the distance is too considerable for them
to have been conveyed by mice. It is most
probable, therefore, that they were brought by
birds, and, in particular, by jays and pies, who
seem to have had hid themselves among the
grass and moss, and then to have forgotten
where they had stowed them. Some peas are
growing also in the same situation, and proba
bly under the same circumstances. ”
But more especially those seeds which are
furnished with hard bony coverings to the
kernel (as in stone fruit), and are capable of
resisting the digestive action of the juice of the
stomach, arc conveyed by animals in a state
fitted for germination. Among our native
plants there are the cherry, sloe, haw, and
mistletoe, whose seeds are eaten by birds with
thc pulp. Indeed, thc ancient naturalists gen
erally agree in thinking that the mistletoe can
only be propagated by its seeds being carried
& by, and passing through the bodies of,
Wc hope their will be no question, hencefor
ward, of the benefits Of marriage, after this
emphatic endorsement of the institution by the
Georgia Temperance Crusader:
We extend to him (Prather of ilie Cham
bers Tribune) our hearty congratulations, and
wish him and his beautiful young bride all the
happiness that married life can afford. He
hath done well to take unto himself a compan
ion, for editors, above all men, have so many
trials to contend with during the day, that
they should have a sweet counsellor to console
them when they retire from their sanctum.
We advise all editors to marry, and that in tbe
bloom of early manhood, as our young friend
Prather has done.
*2-
- Ladies 1 Wreath.
1
Tl»r Maid I Lo
FLASH, OK MOllll.
cells of which it. is composed vary in their size j alter 111
T. Pope Blunt, in bis N:.
and threw bis rider over his head, but the laater |
bad scarcely touched the ground before he was j
mounted agnin. Throwing down the ten dollars
and his pen knife without saying a word, he
“struch a bee-line” for the Savannah, looking j
alternately over each shoulder as long as the j
wagoner remained in sight.
The maid I love has violet eyes,
And rose-leaf lips of red,
She wears the moonshine round her neck.
The sunshine round her head :
And she is rich in every guile,
And crowned kings might envy me
The splendor of her smile.
The Story of theRoiirei:.—There is a beau
tiful story told of a certain young robber in
thc life of the blessed apostle St. John. A
young man of Ephesus, who had become a
Christian, and of whom St.John was very fond,
got into trouble while St. John was away, and
had to flee for his life into the mounts*
There he joined a band of robbers, and was so
daring and desperate, that they soon chose
him as their captain. St. John came back, and
found the poor lad gone. St. John had stood
at thc loot of the cross years before, and heard
his Lord pardon the penitent thief, and he
knew how to deal with such wild souls. Ann
what did lie do? Give him up for lost ? No!
He set off, old as he was, by himself, straight
for the mountains, in spite of the warnings of
his friends, that lie would be murdered, and
that this young man was thc most desperate
and blood-thirsty of all thc robbers. At. last
he found the young robber. And what did the
robber do? As soon as he saw St. John com
ing, before St.John could speak a word to him,
he turned and ran away for shame ; and old
St. John followed him, never saying a harsh
word to him, but only crying alter him, “My
son, my son, come back to your father!” and
at last he found him, where lie was hidden,
and held him by his clothes, and embraced him,
and pleaded with him so, that the poor fellow
burst into tears, and let St. John lead him
away; and so that the blessed St. John went
down again to Ephesus in joy and triumph,
bringing his lost lamb with him.
She walks the earth with such a grace
The lillies turn to look.
And waves rise up to catch a glance.
And still thc quiet brook :
Nor ever will they rest again,
But chatter as they flow.
And babble of her crimson lips.
And of her breast of snow.
:i
And e’en thc leaves upon the trees
Are whispering tales of her.
And tattle till they grow so warm
That, in the general stir,
They twist them from the mother branch.
And through the air they fly,
Till, fainting with the love they feel.
They flutter down and die.
and contents in different parts; and some con
taining thick matter, becoming distended at thc
expense of others with thinner matter, the
force of endosmosc ultimately causes rupture
of the valves at their weakest point—that is to
say, where they join thc stem. When this
takes place, thc elasticity of the valves sends
out the seeds and fluid contents with great
force through the opening made by thesepara-
tion of the stalk. If the touch-me-not balsam
j is touched it instantly tires a discharge of seeds
I at the intruder, by the five valves of the seed-
! vessel curving inwards in a spiral manner, in
| consequence of the distention of thc outer
1 large cells. Grew says “the seeds of heart's-
I tongue is flung on shot away by thc curious
contrivance of thc seed-case as in coddqd as-
| inart, only there the spring moves and curls
inward, aud here outward, viz. every sccd-case
is of a spheric figure and girded about with a
sturdy spring. The surface of this spring re
sembles a fine screw, and so soon as the spring
is become stark enough, it suddenly breaks the
case in two halves like two little cups, and so
flings tlie seed.” Spencer Thomson, in his
book on Wild Flowers, says many must have
remarked this fact for themselves, when, un
der the heat of a July sun, tlicir wanderings
have led them through some
And what is stranger still than all,
The wonders of her grace :
Her mind's the only thing to match
The glories of her face,
oh ! she is nature’s paragon—
All innocence of art;
And she lias promised me her hand.
And given me her heart.
An eccentric friend stepped into a store—
which shall he nameless—Where some “colored
brethren” were doing a little trading. “Ah !
yi r . said our friend, “you have your
cousins in, I see.” The young merchant said
nothing, but looked mad. Our friend stepped
ou t—but in a few minutes returned, after the
sable ouBtomcrs bad departed. *'*1 hope you
wont take any offence nt, what I remarked just
now,” said he. “Oh, no,” said thc merchant,
“1 never take offence at anything you say.”
“Glad of it,” replied our quizzer, “the nig
gers arc as mad as tlie d 1!” And then he
sloped, narrowly missing a flying yardstick.
And when the spring again shall flush
Our glorious .Southern bowers,
My love will wear a bridal veil.
A wreath of orange flowers :
And so I care not if the sun
Should founder in thc sea.
For oh ! the star beam of her love
Is light enough for me.
[Montgomery/ . f drertis>
* BESIDE MV FATHER’S GRAVE.’
In yonder calm and lonely dell,
Where weeping-willows wave,
There is a spot dear to iny heart—
It is my lather’s grave.
Thc grave of him I fondly loved.
As child can parcntlove;
Of him who breathed my name in
Ere SHared his soul above.
An Allegory.—A humming-bird met a but
terfly, and being pleased with the beauty of its
wings, made ah offer of perpetual friend
ship.
“I cannot think of it,” was the reply, “as
von once spurned me, and called nte a crawl-
i n rr ”
oh ! oft 1 watch the sunbeams bright.
In mild aud beauteous play.
Calm, lingering round that holy spot.
As daylight fades away.
And when thc last bright ray is gone,
And twilight shadows steal,
T love to sock my father’s grave.
In humble prayer to kneel.
ing dolt.’
“ Impossible!” exclaimed thc humming-bird.
“I always cnteriiiined thc highest respect for
such beautiful creatures as yon.”
“Perhaps yen do now,” said the other, “but
when you insulted me I was a caterpillar. So
let me give you l bit of advice. Never insult |
the humble, nstljcy may some day become your
superiors.”
As gentle zephyrs softly play
Arounnd that spot 1 love,
Methinks I hear the whispered words
Of angels from above.
They seem to say, “Oh! do not weep.
Thy father now is blest.
Dost know thy God, in wisdom, doth
All things as seemest best?
The Rev. I)r. Bason stopped to read a thcat-
r J cul placard which attracted his attention.
Cooper, the tragedian, coming along, said to
him
“Good morainj, sir—do ministers of the gos
pel read such thugs?”
“Why not, sir r said thc Doctor; “ministers
of thc gospel havi a right to know what the devil
is about as well is other folks.”
“Thy father dwells in realms of bliss
And smiles, lone child, on thee;
On earth dear as thou wert to him,
Thrice dear in Heaven thou’lt be.
IVcep not! but humbly*gently b**w
To God’s most holy will.
Oh ! calm the anguish of thy heart.
Its deep, deep sorrow still.
“IIow much rolney have you ?’’ said a rich i
old curmudgeon lo u gay young fellow then j
courting bis prett daughter.
“O, 1 haven't t uch of anything now, but I
have a very rich ] ospect, indeed.”
The wedding * -curred aud the old chap '
: m-in-law that thc rich pros- |
pect was the pro? >cct of marrying his dnugh-
“Aud when thy pilgrimage is past
Thy day of sorrow o’er,
Thoul’t meet iu Heaven thy father dear.
And meet to Juirt. no more.”
And then my stricken soul is cheered;
Upward 1 turn my gaze,
In calm submission to adore
My God’s mysterious ways.
A bird that *
made to slug.
-
ing ami will not, must be
1 homeward bend my weary step.
With slow, unwilling tread—
For l could dwell, by day, by night,
In converse with the dead.
And ns the i winkling stars appear.
I leave thc willow’s wave—
My heart, my soul, a vigil keep
Beside my father’s grave.
[Home Jou
and they have wondered what could be the
meaning of the incessant crack, crack, which
seems momentarily to occur on every side, as
if some fairy folk were firing feu dc juie to
celebrate the tine weather. Verily, too, the
tiny soldiers, whoever they be, seem to have
loaded with something more than powder, for,
after each crack, thc attentive ear might catch
the sound as of dropping shot.among thc leaves.
At last thc eye detects one of the black pods of
the broom or of the gorsc in thc very act
of firing; in one moment each pod-valve has
twisted itself into a spiral, and sent its seeds,
the fairy projectiles, scattering all around.
And thus there is an explanation of thc fairy
fusillade, but we find out that spring-guns are
in use in Flora's kingdom instead «>f Minic
rifles.
Derlinni, in his Physico-Theology, says thc
plants of the ginger family tnay be added here
to those whose pods fly open and dart out their
seed upon a small touch of the hand.
Moisture, as well as dryness, operates in the
bursting of seed-vessels. The pod of thc Rose
of Jericho is so striking an example of this,
that wc must quote an account, of it which ap
peared in Household Words (vol. xvii. page
"41): “ This little plant, scarcely six inches
high, after thc flowering season, loses its leaves,
and dries up info the form of a ball. In this
condition it is uprooted by thc winds, and is
carried, blown or tossed, across the desert into
thc sea. When the wee rose feels thc contact
ol thc water, it unfolds it self, expands its
branches, and expels its seeds from their secd-
| vessel**. The seeds, after having become tho
roughly saturated with sea-water, arc carried
j by t he tide and laid upon the sea-shore. From
l thc sea-shore thc seeds arc blown back again
! into thc desert, where, sprouting roots and
j leaves, they grow into fruitful plants, which
| will in their turns, like their ancestors, be
j whirled into the sea.” Dr. Sloanc, in liis Voy-
' age to Jamaica, gives an account of a plant
1 which lie calls the Spirit Leaf. lie says: “The
: admirable contrivance of Nature in this plant
| is most plain. For the seed-vessels being the
best preserver of the seed is there kept from,
the injuries of air and earth, till it he rainy
when it is a proper time for it to grow, and
^ then it is thrown round thc earth, ns grain by
a skilful sower. When any wet touches the
end of the seed-vessel, with a smart noise aud
: a sudden leap it opens itself, ami with a spring
.scatters its seed to a pretty distance round if,
where it grows.”
i Nature has several other methods of planting
adapted to individual peculiartie*. The screw
like appendages of the crane’s-bill seeds assist
to roll them to some clink in thc earth, ami
then screw them into it. Tlio poppy has little
pores at the summit of the seed-cup : ami thc
pimpernel splits off a little lid and disoloscsits
well-hoarded treasury, while the cross-flowers,
like the wallflower, quietly lift up their sides
to let the seeds fall. Thc willow herbs open
clogantly at the top to permit their beautifully
arranged and winged germs to take tlicir flight,
j The ivy-lcnvod toad-flax carefttlly buries its
seed. The subterraneous clover, ns the time
1 for planting approaches, surrounds (he seed-
| vessel with spiny projections, which protect
Tricks of a Juggler.—The New York cor
respondent of the Philadelphia Enquirer gives
the following:
Wc have a celebrated juggler performing
in the city, who played an amusing trick in a
Broadway omnibus recently. There was a dis
tinguished literary gentleman in the stage,
with whom he entered into conversation. At
length the literary gentleman pulled the strap,
and was about to get out, when the juggler
tapped him gently on the shoulder.
Excuse me, sir,” said he, “I donbt not you
are an honest man, but I perceive you have one
of my gloves in your pocket,”
And greatly to the gentleman's surprise, he
pulled one of his gloves from and inside pock
et, in wlrch. of course, he had adroitly placed
it without the gentleman's knowledge.
Had I have taken one,” replied the gentle
man, “I should have taken both.”
“ Yes,” replied the juggler, “but I see you
have my pocket-book \s well.”
Whereupon he took that article from the
very bottom of the astonished gentleman's in
side pocket.
Charles the Second.
In its review of John Forster's Arrest of the
Five Members by Charles the First, die Lon
don Athenaeum has a pleasant passage relative
to that fascinating gentleman Charles the
Second:
the germs while digging their way down into
I the soil. Thc mignonette seed escapes easily
by tbe little bell in which they are contained
opening and permitting them to fall as they are
perfected.
There are several physical circumstances
favorable to nature planting, such as the weight
which increases nt the same time as the power
History,
was
confirmed to him by persons that liVed many
years in those parts, whose relation was, ‘The
nutmeg being ripe, several birds come from the
islands towards thc south, and devour it whole,
but are forced to throw it up again, before if is
digested. That the nutmeg, then besmeared
with a viscous matter, falling to the ground,
takes root, and produces a tree which would
never thrive was it planted.’ ” And M. There
not, in his Travels to the Indies, gives this ac
count : “The tree is produce*! after this man
ner. There is a kind of birds in thc island,
that, having picked off thc green husk, swallow
thc nuts, which, having been some time in tlicir
stomach, they void by the ordinary way: and
they fail not to take root in thc place where
they fall, and in time to grow up to a tree.
This bird is shaped like a cuckoo, and the
Dutch prohibit their subjects, under pain of
death, to kill any of them.”
Ivy berries afford a noble and providential
supply for birds in winter aud spring, says
Gilbert White, for the first severe frost freezes
and spoils all the haws, sometimes by the mid
dle of November; but ivy berries do not seem
to freeze. A.nd Mr. R. C. Norman remarks
that thc seeds of ivy are not in general found
to grow well, however carefully planted; while
that which is self-sown, or sown by birds, un
der trees aud walls, will grow abundantly;
from which fact it lias been supposed that
such mucilaginous seeds require to be passed
through some digestive process to render them
fruitful.
Yet, notwithstanding, a great many seeds
escape all these influences, and either wither
or rot, or are totally destroyed by insects.
However. Nature has ensured the preserva
tion of many vegetable species by the truly
astonishing number of seeds which she pro
duces. It has been calculated that there are
about thirty thousand seeds iu every single
head of poppy, and if all were to come up, t he
whole of our globe would in a few years be
covered with poppies. One of our native this
tles would by the second year of its growth, if
all its seeds were ,o take root, be thc progeni
tor of about five hundred and eighty millions
of thistles. In the great, cat’s-tail (Typha ma
jor), thc seeds, being blown off by the wind,
arc often lost, but this is made up for by each
spike bearing about, forty thousand seeds, so
that upon the three spikes which every plant
commonly produces, there arc every year more
than a hundred and twenty thousand seeds.
The majestic Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria)
bear* on every tree from twenty to thirty fruits,
and each fruit contains about three hundred
kernels. Iu some parts of the country in
which they grow, when left to themselves, these
trees form immense forests, extending north
and south for eight hundred miles. The to
bacco (Nicotian tabacum) lias been known to
produce-on one plant three hundred aud sixty
thousand seeds; and the annual produce of a
single stalk of spleen wort has ®&en estimated
at a million.
Many plants in their wild state propagate
themselves by shoots. The care taken by Na
ture to ensure the proluction of grass is truly
wonderful. Even when thc leaves are trodden
down or consumed, the roots still increase: and
the stalks which support the flowers are seldom
eaten by cattle, so that the seeds Are always
allowed to ripen. Some of the grasses grow
ing on the very high mountains, where thc
heat is not sufficient to ripen thc seeds, are
propagated by shoots or suckers, which, rising
from the root, spread along thc ground aud
then take root themselves. And these grasses,
deriving their names from their peculiar struc
ture. arc called sucker-bear ing (atoloniferous).
Other grasses are propagated in a not less re
markable manner: the see«ls l>cgin growing
within the flower-cup itself iwhich in grasses
is called thc husk), until diminutive plants arc
formed with leaves and roots, and these falling
to thc ground take root, and then continue to
grow liko the parent plant, h such cases the
grass called live-born (Viviparous). There
is a native kind called viviparous fescue-grass,
which grows iu perfection in Scotian*! on dry
walls, and in the moist ere\ ices of rocks. The
lily of the valley spreads itself by moans of
creepers under the soil, and thc verbena by
throwing out long shoots which produce roots
at tlicir joints. Strawberry seed* arc always
eaten along with the pulp, therefore the plant
is easily made to grew from suckers or young
shoots. The mango-trees, which grow in verj
damp and marshy soil upon the tropical sea
shore, hear their fruit aud seeds at the tips of
tlicir branches. The seeds do not fail when
ripe, but sprout out their roots three or four
feet long from the parent tree until they reach
the ground. They then fix themselves iinto thc
earth, and each plant multiplying in turn in
the same way, the progeny of a single tree will
sometimes spread themselves, until they may
l»o found covering an area of more than sixty
“Every one who has been properly brought
up, is familiar, on the stage and in the picture-
galleries, with the ideal image of the Merrie
Monarch. A bright young gentleman he is—
a young Apollo, blithe and debonair—with a
rosy cheek and a laughing eye, a fell of loose
brown curls round his gracelessly graceful
brow, a gay r nd bounding step, and incon
ceivable passi >n for pranks and pusttj girls,
roystering, re .kless, generous; mw, in his
warmth of he.rt, to help a fellow ip distress
with h-^jmrs as he is to comfort the laud-
lord’^^H^^fefbiughter with a Thi
square?' Another figure, somewht
to nature and the books, is that of
man, bald and bewigged, eyes bl
bauchcry. face sallow, saturine aid pinched,
a man hobbling to thc grave in the midst of a
rout of gamesters and courtezans, who wrangle
with each other and play false to him, a King
ready to sell his country to its etfemies, and
give up liis religion for a bribe—a Prince to
whom no man was ever attached—and no wo
man ever true.
ore close
dark old
with de
ludes.
A Lion Review.
The following account given by a French c£
ficcr in a late work on Algeria—of the review
of a part of the force by a lion, while they
were on thc march to attack the Kabyles—is
of the most graphic and thrilling we remem
ber :
“We had ridden carelessly forward, admir
ing thc view, or speculating on the game to be
found in those mountain passe-, when a sudden
halt and the unslinging of carbines startled us.
Pushing past the rear files we galloped to the
front just in time to prevent the Sergeant, who
led the advance, firing at a noble lion, who, ad
vancing toward the same path which we were
pursuing, had halted abruptly at our view.
He had evidently conic from a different direc
tion to thc one we were pursuing, and was
making to the very pile of mountains whose
sombre colors hud excited our curiosity. Five
minutes later and wc should not have seen him ;
but, as it happened, there he stood, evidently
very much astonished at thus plumping sud
denly upon so large a party. Were we to lire
we should doubtless either kill or mortally
wound the animal. In the first case all would
be well, and wc should be the richer by a lion's
skin ; in thc second place, we should be sure
to lose one or more men, and it was a responsi
bility the youug officer in command would not
assume. Hastily giving the order to unsling
the carbines, lie closed up the men with some
difficulty, for the horses were restive. In case
the lion showed a disposition to attack, all were
to face towards him, and it was to be hoped
that the general discharge would prove mortal
li' disposed to let us to do so, we were to pass
him quietly.
1 have often hoard that the lion by day in
no way resembles the same animal by night.
During the darkness, seizing his prey where he
can find it, be will attack anything with the
greatest ferocity ; but during the daytime, it
being his proper period of sleep, and being,
besides, generally gorged with food, he seldom
attacks man. In the present instance I had
little confidence in tbe effect of our fire, for our
horses, as their riders approach their dreaded
enemy, become more aud more alarmed and
restive. The lion was doubtless the one 1 blkl
heard roar in the distance the previous night,
and he had been to the.other side, seeking his
food among the douars of the native tribes near
Tenient, flom which he was now returning to
his den.
Our files well closed up, we neared the lion,
who showed no symptoms of fear; gazed at
us, not savagely, but apparently with great cu
riosity. Then he moved his tail to and fro,
like a largo cat; and as we neared him he de
liberately sat down on his hind quarters, look
ing then for all like world like a queer colored
large Newfoundland dog. Just as we rouged
up with him, passing by in single file, the
horses heads and tail well together, he open
ed his largo mouth with a mighty yawn, utter
ing as he did so a sound between a heavy sigh
and a growl. This he did without rising, and
in a most sleepy manner, as though he were
supremely indifferent to our presence.
At this time aur horses were terribly excite*!,
and my own, a jet black Syrian barb, which
had carried me many a mile over the plains of
Wallachi and Roumelia, and who, from his in
tense love of mischief and fighting I had loug
since christened “ Boshi-lUzouk, ’ was now
completely cowed, and though walkiug at a
very slow pace, his black coat was all white
with foam. I was not fifteen paces from the
lion, ami could not resist the fancy that seized
mo to rein in and look at him. Trembling in
every limbjfcy hora# obeyed me, aud as the
rear tiles of our escort moveU
plated the noble brute.
male, of the color called by thwNnmvca the •
“black lion,” and which, they say, is the most
fierce and terrible of all. He seemed sleepy
and quiet enough just then, and did not even
look at mo. The jangling of the meu's armor
seemed to catch his attention, and, indeed, it
was but a moment’s space that was allowed me
for contemplation, for a very slight move on
his part caused niy horse to bound so as almost
to uuhorseme, and as 1 recovered my seat and
my power over my steed, the slfopy fellow had
deliberately lain down, and resting his fine
head on two mighty paws, he followed ns with
his eye as we moved slowly away.
THE OCNP.fi/
IL UHRARY
THL UNivunmr
ATHENS,
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