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About Weekly constitutionalist. (Augusta, Ga.) 185?-1877 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1870)
®)C tUcchln Constitutionalist. BY STOCKTON & CO. OCR TERMS. The following are the rates of Subscription: Daily-, one year 00 Wsbklt, one year $3 oo I Am Thine. The tide will ebb at day’s decline, Icb bin dein ! Impatient for the open sea At anchor rocked the tossing ship ; The ship that only waits for thee ; Yet with no tremor of the lip I say again, thy hand is mine, Ich bin dein! I shall not weep, or grieve or pine, Ich bin dein ! Go lave once more thy restless hands Afar within the azure sea. Traverse Arabia’s scorching sands— Fly where no thought can follow thee, O’er desert waste and billowy brine, Ich bin dein ! Dream on the slopes of Appenine, Ich bin dein ! Stand where the glaciers ireeze and frown, Where Alpine torrents flash and foam, Or watch the loving sun go down Behind the purple hills of Rome, Leaving a twilight half divine, Ich bin dein! > Thy steps may fall beside the Rhine, Ich bin dein ! Slumber may kiss thy drooping lips Amid the mazes of the Nile; The shadow of the Pyramids May cool thy feet; yet all the while, Though storms may beat, or stars may shine, Ich bin dein ! Where smiles the hills ot Palestine, Ich bin dein 1 Where rise the mosques and minarets, Where every breath brings flowery balms, Where souls forget their dark regrets Beneath the strange mysterious palms, Where the banana bnilds the shrine, Ich bin dein ! Too many clusters break the vine, Ich bin dein! The tree whose strength and life outpour In one exultant blossom gusb, Must flowerless be forever more. We walk this way but once, friend—hush! Our feet have left no trodden line, Ich bin dein 1 Who heaps his goblet hates his wine, Ich bin dein ! The boat is moving from the land; I have no chidings and no tears, Now give me back my empty hand To battle with the cruel years; Behold the triumph shall be mine, Ich bin dein ! Afar. BY A. H. P. In all the train Arctnrus leads There shines no beauteous dazzling star Less fitted for my earthly needs Than she I worship from afar— Yet doth my heart responsive beat To the sweet coming ot her feet. Last night I walked upon the shore And traced her footprints in the sand; This morn, alas! they were no more— The tide bad swept them from the land. Just as relentless she I love— I may not touch her violet glove. To-night when dancing in the hall She flitted past the casement low— Could I have stopped the fountain’s fall, Or bade the music cease to flow, I might have heard the words she said, But louder crashed the sounds instead ; And though I shrunk in deeper shade, I watched her down the gay saloon; Still, still the flutes and viols played While lower sank the Summer moon, And balmy wind blew from the south To seek the redness of her mouth. Could I with diamonds band her hair ; Set them in buckles of her shoes, Ransack the Ind lor oflerings rare, Ah! would my lady then refuse A passing hour I might beguile, And win the guerdon of a smile ? My heritage was not of gold— My heirship not of acres broad As knight perchance not over bold, Mine own devoirs I cannot laud, Yet will'l boast an honest heart That scorns to act a paltry part. In loving well a woman rare, I use the right that nature gave; Granting her most divinely fair, I am no bonded shackled slave; Her peer in mind I proudly stand Amid the proudest of the land. And if some day the wreath of fame This aching brow should chance to bind, Mayhap she will reeall the name That now she scarce can briDg to mind, And laughing say, “ In olden times This poet sent me foolish rhymes.” Losses. Upon the white sea-sand There sat a pilgrim band, Telling the losses that their lives had known; While evening waned away From breezy cliff and bay, And the strong tides went out with weary moan. One spoke with quivering lip, Os a fine freighted ship, With all bi 9 household to the deep gone down. But one had wilder woe— < For a fair face long ago Lost in the darker depths of a great town. There were who mourned their youth With a most loving rath, For its brave hope* and memories ever green; And the one upon the west Turned an eye that wonld not rest, For far-off bills whereon its )oy bad been. Some talked of vanished gold, Some of proud honors told, Some talked at friends that were their tiust no more; And one of o green grave, Beside a foreign wave, That made him sit to lonely on the shore. Bat when their tales were done, There spoke among them one, A stranger, seeming from all sorrow freei " Sad losses have ye met, But mine Is heavier yet: For a believing heart bath gone from me, 11 "Alas I" these pilgrims said, " Fur the living uud the dss4<- > For fortune's smelly, for lovTs sure wots, For the wrecks of lend and see I But, however l! us me to thee Marshal Ney’s Career in the South. The Colombia (S. C.) Phcenix has been furnished by a gentleman of that city with copies of papers containing a lengthy ac count of this distinguished officer’s career in this country after his exit from France. From these papers the following incidents connected with this remarkable man are condensed, which go more fully to estab lish the fact of his idendity. The correspondent who signs himself “Eastern Orange,” in the papers above alluded to, thus writes: When I came from Alabama to Davie county, N. C., in 1829, there was a myste rious person teaching school near Mocks ville, in that county, calling himself Peter Stewart Ney. He was regarded by the literary and everybody else as a fluished gentleman and scholar. He seemed to be perfectly at home in any branch of science known in that day. He seemed to under stand well the Scotch, French, Italian, English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Russian, and Polish languages. He said he could read and converse in all of them. He was frequently put to the lest in at least some of them, as Latin, Greek, French, Scotch, and Hebrew. He was acknowledged by those who professed to understand the Hebrew, to be a superior Hebraist. Mk Ney taught in other places. At Mr. Plasebo Houston’s, in Iredell, theHous tons, Youngs and others, the most wealthy and respectable citizens of Iredell county, were his pupils; a part of them are still living. He also taught in Asheville, Bun combe county, N. 0. In that place, the Pattens and others, of Buncombe, and Mr. Lloyd Jones, of Caldwell, were among his pupils, and never, till memory fails, will they forget Peter S. Ney. Mr, Ney was a man about five feet ten inches high, heavily set and compactly built; he weighed about 170 or 180 pounds, and was of extraordinary muscular devel opment. He had every appearance of a huge, rough Scottish Highlander, of sym metrical proportions, well adapted to ener gy and endurance; qualities which Mr. Ney possessed in a high degree. He was more adapted to Herculean strength than to agility. His back was straight, shoul ders broad and a little stooped; head well balanced, the top bald, the back and sides of the head covered with hair once auburn, but then a little silvered; his nose was straight and very large, with a massive end; his mouth large and broad, lips firm, the under apparently a little thicker than the upper; complexion florid, face full and pitted with small-pox, countenance a little down, but stern, thoughtful and intelli gent ; his eyes not large, but rather bril liant, indicating a strong perceptive and penetrative intellect. • One evening Mr. Ney received a letter from France, informing him of the death of his wife, and also of the death of some influential Frenchman, whose name Ido not now remember, through whose influence Mr. Ney said he still hoped to be restored to France. Upon receiving this informa tion, Mr. Ney became wild, frantic and al most ungovernable. He wept like a whipped child, and the large tears found their way rapidly down his pale cheek, and his wailings were terrible. While he was in that condition he attempted sui cide, and did many things to excite the fears of the family. He could not be trust ed alone. While he was in this state of mind, the writer, with several others whom I might name, spent a night with him. I never can forget that night. He raved of France, Napoleon, his wife and family, Moskwa, Waterloo, &c,; called for Phesl nac, issued his commands, sketched his -past history, gave an account of his birth, connection with the family of the Stew arts and his relation to the Bonapartes. He told us how he came to be such a fa vorite with Napoleon, how he arose to be one of Napoleon’s Cabinet and Marshals, and how he came to be Prince of Moskwa, and how he reached.the climax of his §lory. He told us of the consultations of Tapoleon and his Cabinet that planned the battle of Waterloo. While he re-fought, that night, that ever-memorable battle, one could fancy he saw the Lion of Naples (Napoleon), with his gleaming legions, rushing here and there to battle; that he could see the intrepid Ney, on foot, flying along the lines, braving his men to the slaughter; that he could hear the roaring infantry, the pealing artillery and the clashing steal in the mortal combat; that he could feel the ground tremble almost to an earthquake beneath the mighty tread of the charging cavalry; that he could hear the shrieks of the wounded and dying and see the thousands slain. Mr. Ney then showed the wounds, or rather scars, where he was wounded at Waterloo and else where—wounds of precisely the kind and locality recorded in history; one was a sabre-wound on the head,over the organ of mirthfulness, which laid him for dead on the battle-field. But how came he here in America? History says he was shot to death in France. Mr. Ney’s explanation is about this, in as few words as I can give it: He was caught, tried and condemned to be shot. Those who were to execute him were bribed by his friends—blanks were fired, Ney himself giving the command. When the guns fired, Ney fell, was pronounced dead, put into' a carriage and conveyed away. He was concealed and helped off to the United States, where he had previously made up his mind to go. A coffin was burled, and the grave guarded by his friends under the pretence that someone might dis inter him for one reason or another. “ France,” said Ney, « believes to this day that I was bnrled.” The Phanirc adds: The above correspondence, written by a high minded and honorable gentleman, is entitled to the credence of the community. Each one can draw hla own Inference from title subject. Os those, however, who are still skeptical, we may be permitted to ask, that if tfm above described personage was not Marshal Ney, who was he V —i -—m Hsre is an old hut good llngla i 1 heard a judge his tijMAff call, And eef I "ttlr, I desire You go lorthwlih and •earth the hall, And sand me In my crisr, ll " And sear eh, wy lord, In vain J may,” AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 6. 1870. '[From the Natchez New South, February 26. Wonderful Discovery. A BOX OF COINS AND VALUABLE ORNAMENTS, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN BURIED BY DE SOTO, FOUND NEAR NATCHEZ, MISS.—GREAT VALUE OF THE TREASURE. Many of our readers will no doubt re member the great excitement which exist ed about a year ago in this Vicinity, caused by the assertion of an old negro sorceress that a quantity of the treasure of the once celebrated Captain Kidd was buried at a short distance from the National Cemetery, near what is familiarly known as the “ Devil’s Punch Bowl.” Quite a number of our colored citizens, believing the stories of this old woman, engaged in the work of digging for this hidden treasure in a spot where, by the aid of the black art, she had pronounced it to be buried. They progressed in their “ labor of love ” (of gain) for a number of weeks, without success, and finally gave up in despair, a heavy rain having discommoded them to a discouraging extent. Time passed on, and the event has perhaps escaped the minds of nearly all to whom the mysterious affair was cognizant, and but for the event which we are about to chronicle, would perhaps have never disturbed their brains again.— However, we will on to our story, which is as strange as it is true. Shortly after a heavy storm, a few weeks ago, a couple of negro boys, while hunting in the vicinity of the excavations made by the discomfited treasure seekers of one year since, chanced to find a dingy, rusty old square box, which was so bound about with metal as to almost resemble an iron box. It was with difficulty that the two combined could move it, and to carry it was out of the question. While one of them remained near this queer looking old box, the other went home for his father. The father, his wife, and another colored man, repaired to the spot, and remembering the old sorceress’ tale, at once concluded they had found at least a portion of the treasure. Events have proved that they were not amiss In their conjectures. But they moved very cautiously in the matter lest they should be discovered; and so, under the cover of night, the box was removed to their little cottage. Up to the early part of this week they confided their secret to no living per son. Bat a serious affair having occurred between the boys, the matter (being at first but vaguely hinted at) came to the ears of our reporter. He repaired to the house on Wednesday night for the purpose of exam ining the treasure found. The box in which it was found is about three feet long by two feet wide, evidently made of a species of cedar, and is firmly bound by strips of iron, running around laterally and diagonally, and fastened with long nails, clinched inside. The treasure con sists principally of ancient Spanish gold and silver coin, dated from 1450 up to 1530, and it is adjudged that there is at least $30,000 worth of them. Besides the coin, there are several gold buckles and various other articles, seemingly to have been worn as ornaments. A great number of silver ornameuts were in the box, which, it appeared, were used as some part of their sword trappings. It Is impossible to tell what metal any of the coins or ornaments are composed of by their looks, for all have a mouldy, green appearance, fully attesting to the lapse of time since they were buried- A little golden cross, with an image of our Savior, establishes the religion of the people who burled the treasure, and from the dates on the various coins it is believed that the treasure thus unearthed at this late day was buried by none other than the great Hernando De Soto and his followers, about the year 1540, as it is well known that the discoverer of the mighty Mississippi was in this vicinity about that time, and also that he was seriously troubled by the hos tile Indians. A piece of parchment found in the box was so old and musty that no characters could be discerned upon it. Asa whole, the discovery of this long hidden treasure forms no inconsiderable 'event in our his tory, and will throw anew light upon the adventures of the hardy Spaniards who frequented the spot where now stands our beautiful city, centuries ago. A number of Individuals have visited the hut, and ex amined the coins, and all agree with the views of the ‘writer as to whom the trea sure was buried by. A prominent gentleman has bargained for the box and its continents, with a view of removing than to New York, where the coins will bring a large price from anti quaries. The Case of George Hammard. That enterprising and entertaining French newspaper, the Journalde Pang, has sent a special correspondent to London to study English criminal law, and Is now publishing his reports from the Old Bailey as accurate pen-pictures of current social fashions in the modern Babylon. In one of his latest epistles to the Journal, this successor of the once illustrious M. Penon, celebrates the case of one George Hammard, recently tried in the British metropolis for murder and narrates the following pic turesque story thereof: Three years ago, Mr. Hammard, an English artist, who, after vainly striving for fame and fortune as a historical painter and being forced into the drudgery of taking portraits for five pounds apiece, went with his little daughter to an inland town for cheap Bummer re creation. At the Inn where he took board were several members of a circus troupe at that time performing in the place; and one of these, named George Baldwin, at once paid friendly court to the artist and his child, and could not gufficently praise the beauty and youthful grace of the fatter. Drawn from bis usual reserve by such grateful incense to his paternal vanity, Hammard condesceuded genially to the spangled fraternity of the sawdust ring, and wss a frequent spectator of their public shows and a great patron of the friendly Baldwin. To the latter, the little girl be came so much attached that she often persuaded her father to let the Hderj take her with him to the equestrian I ! green room ol an evening, there to see tlie | i horses, trained mmlss, clowns, and spangled . ladles In their more familiar assets, | 1 Going thus one night she did not return again j for wmn after bar father had retired S to bed at the Inn, wearied of waiting Air I her, and lint doubting that fJuoig# Baldwin I 1 would eoou bring her horns as usual, the 1 1 . Ifeys company cached all Ms traps with I the rapidity cysfomary to such suddenly*! fleeting shows, and was off for another county in an hour after the last ring performance, carrying the little maiden with it. The alarm of the partrait paint er, upon awaking in the morning and discovering that his daughter was still absent, may be imagined if not described. Upon making Inquiry of his host, and hearing that the showmen had folded their tents, like the Arabs, and silently stolen away, he accused himself of every crime of imprudence that could have brought in jury to ids little girl, and frantically hur ried in pursuit of the flying caravan. This he overtook on the road after half a day’s journey, when, iu reply to his frenzied de mand for his child, he was told by the manager that Baldwin had disappeared with her iu some unknown direction, soon after the departure of the company from town. No more satisfaction could the distracted parent obtain from the sympathizing wanderers of the ring; and, in heart-broken despair, he hurried back to the inn, to collect his scanty baggage for anew departure. From that day. for three miserable years, lie was a restless hunter over all England, Scotland and Ire land for his lost child and her kidnapper, haunting every circus performance in city, theatre, or country barn, lurking jealously about every haven of riders or acrobats, and perpetually asking for “ George Baldwin.” At last, while loitering abstractedly along one of the by-streets of London, a crowd bar- red his progress, and the sound of drum and harmonicon announced that a company of street acrobats were giving ouc of their al fresco performances. Stopping, rather because he could not go onward than by reason of any wish to look at the mounte banks, the haggard, shabby wanderer found himself close to the carpet which the tumblers had spread for themselves, and almost face to face with the tumbler-in chlcf. His first indifferent glance at the latter was instantly changed into an in tense glare of fury, and that into a quick detection of a girl’s face amongst the faces of the mountebank’s companions. George Baldwin and his own daughter were they whom Hammard had recognized; and the horror of the moment overcame the wretch ed father like a descent of darkness and dissolution upon all his senses. “ The man’s sick!” cried the rough crowd, catch ing him as he reeled. *• He’s getting a fit.” “Give him air!” Rallying at the sound, Hammard quickly regained control of his faculties, and asking those around not to mind him, went back to his station by the carpet, and stolidly stared at the show of the tumblers. He saw his long-lost child, dressed iu gaudy, greasy page costume, going through vulgar acrobatic feats with her kidnapper for the half-pence of the mob; and, with the patience of hopeless despair, waited until the coarse display was over for an opportunity to make him self known. After the last “ tumble ” had been given, and the last half-penny collect ed, he followed the mountebanks to a low public house, and there fiercely denounced Baldwin and claimed his child. Both re fused to recognize him under the miserable change which suffering had wrought in his appearance, and the brutal repulse by Baldwin was supplemented by the ribald jeering of the tumbling girl! Then, In the desperate frenzy of his des pair, the maddened father flew at Baldwin like a wild beast, and bad choked him to death, before he could be dragged from his prey. The horrified spectators called In the police, and George Hammard was ar rested for murder. When tried for the crime, he did not deny the charge; nor would he accept the offices of counsel. “ Three years ago,” said he, to judge and jury, “ three years ago my daughter, four years of age—sole relict left rne of a good and tender wife, whom God took to Him self—was basely stolen from me in the night by a heartless vagabond. What I have suffered, gentlemen, I cannot describe, and you cannot understand. I spent, in search ing and advertising lor my lost daughter, all I possessed. Furniture, pictures, my very clothes—all were sold. During three years I have walked ail over this kingdom in quest of my child ; and when, by paint ing portraits by the way, I found myself possessed of a little money, I walked back to London and spent every penny in asking through the newspapers for my stolen flesh and blood. But you do uot yet know the full extent of my misery. I have found the child at last, and found her—what you see. No longer good; no longer the angelic thing her tender years should make her 1 Her manner, her words, are those of the wretches she has been living with ! She did not recognize me. Even I could scarce ly recognize her at first! Now do you un derstand ? The man I killed robbed me of the love and soul of my daughter, and l— only took his life!” George Hammard was acquitted. Death of the Great Balloonist.— John La Mountain, the famous aeronaut, died at South Bend, Indiana, on the 14th ofiFcbruary. La Mountain’s life was full of daring adventures and of Incidents which were more Interesting than agree able. He was among the most fearless seronauts In this or any country, and pur sued his chosen vocation with a higher object than to merely make money. A pet theory of La Mountain was that there was a current in the atmosphere corresponding with the Gulf Stream in the ocean, and flowing steadily from west to east. He was ambitions to be the first aeronaut to cross the Atlantic, taking advantage ol this current, and built the famous bal loon “ Atlantic ” for this purpose, and tested his theory by a land voyage first: his party were in the air nine hours, and while passing over Lake Ontario a tornado seized upon hla craft, and It was left a wreck in the woods in Jefferson county, New York. The last serious adventure of La Mountain occurred In Michigan, and probably hastened his death. An Impatient crowd cast him off before he was ready, without an ovarcoat or In struments, and the valve-rope tied several feet above the basket. lie shot up like a I rocket Into a heavy cloud of inlet and elect, which froze the valve-board faet. He climbed, with froet-blttei, fingers, up the net-work, and tore the balloon with Ills teeth. The opening attended ao far that the balloon nollapaed, dlachtrged It# gaa, and fell with great velocity from a height of nearly two miles, The mronsut wsa picked Up benmwlwd and Insenalble, though not dangerously Injured Ills age wsa 41, Jonesboro, Ala,, boost, a remarks bis y/juil Ml’ 1 !! Os Mtiuftf, llj H< mH fill Ut UHftl t|j4t jfiw l # Willi IH-IJ IjfU'U, to Ml’ How to Raise Watermelons.— Mr. J. Wesley Barr, of Edgefield, 8. 0., according to the Advertiser, is famous for the size and deliciousness of bis watermelons. Our cotemporary has succeeded in inducing Mr. Barr to give the mode of culture adopt ed by him, which Is as follows. A limited supply of the Barr seed can be had at Car wile’s drug store, in Edgefield. Os the culture, Mr. Barr says: Take a soil that is not too poor. I prefer that of a good character, with a deep sandy soil and a clay subsoil. In February or March break the land deep with a bull tongue or small shovel, so as not to turn under the vegetable mould. About the middle of April break the land again deep and well, to and across. Then lay off each way ten feet with a long old fashioned shovel plow. In each check ijraw out all the loose dirt to the depth of eight or ten inches, and twelve iu diameter. Then take one peck or ten quarts of the best, strong est, and well rotted stable (hbrsel manure, particularly avoiding straw or litter, and spread In the hole. Then with the hoe walk round and round drawing; In the top soil upon the manure, avoiding the incor poration or mixture of earth and manure, until you have elevated a hill four Inches above the common surface, and eighteen In diameter. Upon this hill drop four or five seed, and cover one Inch deep. In cky soil It Is needless to open the hole so deep as in sandy; from four to six Inches is enough. All of the other preparations same as in sandy soil. When the seed come up, Immediately break the soil around the plant; and when the third leaf begins to make Its appear ance plow And hoc, thinning to two stalks. The work should be done so as not to have long Intervals from one working to an other, carefully keeping down grass and weeds. When the vines commence to run thin down to one vine in a hill. When the vines have run eighteen Inches each way, they should be laid by with the sweep. Bat keep np the hoeing constantly, being particular not to move the vine nor to cut the cllngers, for nature sends them out for a protection to the vine against the storm. " When the vines commence bearing, don't stop Vie hoe; work the surface underneath the vine; and to keep them boaring, it is necessary to keep working them. In this way the same vines will bear for months. I never plant more than one patch, and I generally have watermelons from the 10th of July until frost. By the above plan I have raised In clay land watermelons weighing forty odd pounds, and In sandy, sixty pounds. In 1868 I raised them to weigh as high as forty-seven pounds without enough rain from the time they bloomed until the mel ons ripened to wet a cotton handkerchief. One word In regard to seed. It is very esaentiaFW have good seed, fdr It is out of the question to raise large watermelons from a small variety. J. Wesley Barr. A Revolution in tiie Circus Business. —Of late years the hotel and stable bills of the showmen have run up to such enor mous figures as to devour nearly all their re ceipts. In order to overcome this enfeeb ling drain, Mr. J. M. French, of New Or leans, who has to take a circus In self defense, and run It in order to get back money which he loaned to the proprietors last season, hit upon the expedient of camping his men and horses on the ground on which they performed. This worked so well that Mr. French has gone into the business sys tematically, and will this season run his show independently of landlords and stable keepers altogether. Mr. French has had a kitchen built eight feat wide, ten feet high and eighteen feet long, with all the modern Improvements, which is mounted on wheels, and In which cooking can be (lone for one hundred men with economy and celerity. This kitchen will be a big show in itself, and the per formance of the cook and his assistants will be apt to divide the interest of the country housewtve with the performances under the canvas. Mr. French has also devised a portable canvas stable for his horses, thirty-five feet wide, eighty-five feet long, and fifteen feet high. Portable stalls, troughs, and other stable gear have also been provided in abundance, and provender has been engaged at convenient points, so that the horses of the concern may have all possible equine comforts. Other showmen getting wind of this new movement, have also gone Into It; and It now looks as though the country landlords would be left unto themselves desolate by those on whom they have heretofore looked as lawful prey.— New York. Bun. The Chemical Fire Extinguisher.— The Republican understands that the Mont gomery will bring out to Savannah anew invention for the extinguishment of fires, called the “ Chemical Fire Engine,” which will be given a public trial to test its adaptability to the work which It pro fesses to accomplish: The apparatus of the engine may be de scribed as extremely simple In construc tion, consisting of a small tank of water, a force pump, and an air chamber, which also contains a fire extinguishing com pound. The water passing through the air chamber becomes impregnated with the chemical compound, but the gas ia not produced until the mixture reaches the fire, when it extinguishes it. The chief merits of the Invention may be summed up as follows: Its compact and convenient size, adapting It to the use of private houses, hotels, and work shops, as well as attaching It to steam fire engines; the dis pensing with steam or brakes, the engine being light enough to be drawn, and the pump worked by, a single person; Its capacity for throwing a stream over the hlgbeat buildings for any length of time; the trifling coat of the chemicals used, aud the fact that the compound Is not Injurious or destructive In Itself; and, lastly, the almost Instantaneous quenching of the moat violent conffagrallou. A apodsl dispatch from Key West, dated ! Ul|d Inst , aeye that a flubeo, e brother pi ! the sup|<na«d murderer of f-astanon wo* i .tabbed by some unknown person at the f’uban fair held in timt < My on Saturday ' last Many strangers, mostly Spaniard#, i i are ip Key West VOL. 29. NO. 14 [COMMUNICATED.] Anecdotes and Reminiscences. Bill N. is now, and has been for years, a total abstinence man; but a long while ago, when he was In the habit or taking “ liquor gude to fire his blude,” he stepped into a bar room in a village of South west Georgia, and called for a drink. A tumbler and decanter being set on the counter, he poured out his whisky, and then taking from his pocket a small vial of asafeetida, he dropped a little into his glass. The youth who waited on him could not restrain his curiosity, so he asked: “Stranger, what do you do that for?” “To keep from smelling yon damned bar keepers I” was the prompt reply. (I write the offensive word In full, be cause I see no difference in that and “d—n—d,” since they both are intended to couvey, and do convey, precisely the same idea.y ■ ■ N. was horrified at the results of the late war, especially at the loss of his Oaves and of oVier property. Secession has be come his bete noir. Not long since he was talking in one of those ludicrously lugu brious strains so characteristic of the man, and remarked : i “Thank Godl I hope some day after death to go to that gqod country where thAre shall be no more secession !” * Once in the good old days, when my brother and I were boys, N., after a long absence, came to spend the night with my father, who had been his guardian, and for whom he entertains as high respect as it was possible for tylm to feel toward any mortal. After sapper, N. took us oat for a walk, and we visited the cabins of all the principal negroes, talking and laugh ing with the old i>eople, who remembered Bill In the days of his childhood, and re maining up so late that we children grew sleepy, and petitioned “ Cousin William ” to “ let’s go to bed.” At last he confessed that he was remaining out of doors simply to avoid being present at family prayer. Finally, long after the hour had passed, we went back to the house, and stopped for a few moments in the family sitting room before retiring for the night, when the following brief colloquy ensued be tween my father and his guest. “ Been out to see the old negroes, Wil liam?” “ Yes, sir.” “ Been talking over old times, I suppose ?”. “Yes, sir, we went over them all.’’ There was a slight pause, and my father, with a look of mingled humor and solem nity that was indescribably droll, walked to the mantle piece, took down his little bell, rang the well known signal, sat down to his table, opened his Bible, and com menced the evening service. He had divined Bill’s little game, and set himself out to thwart it, postponing family prayer about two hours beyond the usual time, in order to do so. At the tinkling of the bell, N. turned to us boys with an air of such helpless, hopeless, comical despair, that it was with the utmost difficulty we could refrain from laughing aloud, and for that time at least religious service failed to make a serious Impression. T. Butter from Mud.— A fortnight ago we (South London Press) drew attention to the fact that the butter of South London was adulterated with tallow, starch, manganese, salt and water. We thought then that we had reached the ultima thuleot adulteration, but an Ingenious individual has since added, another sophisticating agent. A friend has in his possession a specimen of pure white fat, tasteless, and perfectly inodorous, which has been obtained by a clever analyt ical chemist from—what do our readers supposo ? Simply from a portion of Thames mud, taken from the river at Battersea 1 And we are afraid that this discovery of science Is no longer a secret, for the owner of a small wharf on the banks of the Thames had an offer this week from a per son desirous of becoming the tenant, and on asking the purpose for which the wharf was required, he was told it was to be used for manufacturing butter, to be sold to the poor at a shilling per pound 1 No doubt it was the intention of this philanthropic in dividual to have supplied the public with dairy butter fresh from the bosom of old Father Thames. Lawyers and Statesmen.— The New York Tribune says that “ one of the great political discoveries of the age is, that It does not require lawyers to make laws.”— On the contrary, it is a very old discovery. Nearly a hundred years ago Gen. Burgoyne said of the Solicitor General Howard that “heknew more about law-breaking and less about law-making that any member of the House of Commons.” Burke adminis tered a signal rebnke to Erskine, a great lawyer, who failed conspicuously as a leg* islator. Brougham mode a poorer figure in Parliament, on account of his forensic habits, although his literary and political talents were of a high order. During fifty years the statesmen of England have not been lawyers but professional politicians, and even In this country, where the law yers have bad the fullest recognition, onr greatest statesmen have not been our great est lawyers. Law is one thing and law making is a wholly different thing. f Courier-Journal. What a million Is worth in some minds may bo Judged from these two bon mod which have Just come to light. Hope, the celebrated London banker, who was suffer ing from an inexorable malady which pre vented him from eating, seeing a friend at work upon a chop, exclaimed with accents of emotion, stopping his friend’s hand on it was conveying a piece of chop on a fork to his month, 11 Cherished friend, I would give a million to be able to eat that chop as thou art doing t” And M. Nathaniel Kothschlld, who was paralyzed, on hearing the accident to his brother from a fall from his horns exclaimed, “Ah I how happy he muat lx: to lie able to get on horseback At the risk even h is breaking hla nook by A fall I l would give a million to be Able to risk se much I" IJIIIMAI/I'AM 'IV Ilk ItMIOUKI) TWHPAIW-. An Important rumor Is published In the lb*riij a Madrid pa|wr. ft |e to the *rr. • i that John Bright Is About to undertake ike restoration of tilbrsltsr to wpalo The ur#*i (orlrene passed Into tin bawds of tipi Itiill.it in 1711, and though tn» Hpaulerns liars mad# several Attempts by fores to FA like 11, they hav# elwsy fell#*)
