Newspaper Page Text
VOL. I.
phospec rus
OF THE
Rural Cabinet,
Published in Warrenton , Georgia,
By P. L. Robinson.
Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious Court f
And this our life, exempt from public haunts,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running
brooks,
Sermons in stones, aud good in every thing.
Shakespeare .
The Rural Cabinet, as its title
imports, will be devoted more espe
cially to the collection and diffusion
of such matters and things as may
tend to edify and entertain those who
• Along the cool sequestered vale of life,
“ Pursue the noiseless tenor of their way.’’
Rut even the Cit, who has not be
come too mawkish from a surfeit
politics or the thousand whim whams
a Cit is heir to, if he should find noth
ing to “ surprise or astonish,” per
chance he may he refreshed with some
of the old things which were wont to
amuse, delight or solace him in days
goue-by. As “ variety is the very
spice of life,” the Cabinet will con
tain a miscellany calculated to join
both profit and delight in one, anil
present a condensed view of the ini
provements in Agriculture, Com
merce and the Arts, together with an
epitome of the signs and tidings of
the times, religious and political—and
though in regard to the latter we pro
fess not to be neutrals,
“ In all our strictures, plafcid we shall be,
“ As Halcyons brooding on a summer 3ea.’’
The orginal department of the Ca
binet will be enriched with the con
tributions of several literary gentle
men who contributed to the late Co
lumbian Centinel , and others who have
given assurances of ’heir friendly
countenance and support.
The Rural Cabinet will be pub
lished, weekly, on a medium sheet, of
good quality, in the folio form, s >
as to make a neat volume at the end
of each year. The papers of sub
scribers in the county will be forward
ed by such conveyance as they may
direct, or remain in the office until
called for. The papers of distant!
subscribers will he forwarded, by!
mail, without delay, (as there are
twelve mails which arrive and depart!
from this place every week,) and eve
ry attention will be paid to render
their transmission speedy and regu
lar. Although the Cabinet will be
issued on a sheet smaller than the pa
pers published in our cities, yet when
the crowd of advertisements they
contain, together with the low price
of the Cabinet , are taken into view,
it will be cheaper than any now
printed in the state.
The annual subscription will be
three dollars, which may be dis
charged by two dollars and fifty cents
if paid on the receipt of the first num
ber. No subscription taken for 1 ess
than twelve, months
II ii --iiipri
Select Tales.
THE GOAtTiERdT
Peter Claus, a goatherd of Sit
tenburg, who tended his flock on the
Kvffhaus mountain used to drive it
every evening to a wild spot, sur
rounded by a ruined wall, where he
numbered his charge, and left it to
rest for the night.
For some days he observed that
one of his prettiest kids vanished soon
after she arrived at this place, and
appeared last of all the herd in
the morning, He watched her more
closely, and saw that she escaped
through a cleft in the wall. He foL
Rural Cabinet.
loWed Her into a Cavern, and t *u*Kl
her busily engaged in picking up and
eating the oat kernels which fell in
continual showers from the roof. He
looked upward—the corn rattled a
bout his head, but with all his curios
ity, the darkness prevented his dis
covering any thing more. He lis
tened, and at length heard the neigh
ing and stamping of a high-bred horse,
from whose manger he now guessed
Ihe oats fell.
The goatherd stood fixed In aston
ishment.—Whence could this horse
have found its way through the al
most trackless mountains that sur
rounded him? Presently there ap
peared a dwarf, who made signs
to him to follow. Peter entered the
cave, and passed first into a court sur
rounded by high walls, and thence to
a valley embosomed in lofty ridges
of rock, through which only a scanty
twilight made iis way. Here, on the
cool plot of turf, were twelve knights
ofgrave deportment; who interchang
ed not a single word, blit busied
themselves in playing at ninepins.
Peter was ordered by signs to employ
himself in fetching the bowl.
At first his heart quaked, and his
knees trembled as he stole a sidelong
glance at the long beards and slash
ed doublets of the venerable knights;
By degrees he became bold t, he
snacbcd hasty glances aruud him,
and at length grew hardy enough
to drink from a can that stood near
him, whence arose the fragrant
perfume of generous wine. New life
seemed to inspire his fra ue. a.id as of
ten as fatigue appeared inclined to re
turn, he drew fresh vigour from the
overflowing can. Sleep at last over
came him.
On awakening, he f>o4 Wmos<'U
once more on the wild spot, surround
ed bv the ruined wall, where his flock
was. He rubbed his eyes, hut nei
ther dog nor goat could he discover,
and over him hung shrubs and trees
which lie had never remarked tilt
this day. He shook his head, and
pursued his Way over hills and dales
where his goats were used to wander
during the day, but no where was
there any trace of them. Below him
lay Sittendorf, and at last he rushed
with hasty steps down the hill to en
quire after his flo< k.
The people who met him on the
way to the. village seemed to be all
strangers, they were differently clad
aud did not speak as his old neigh
bours did. They stared at him too
when he asked after his gonts, and
stroked their chins, At last 7>in
voluntarily did the same, and fomid
to his astonishment that his beariP
was at least a good foot long. He
now began to think himself and all
the world around him bewitched; and
yet he was sure that the mountain he
was descending was the. Ryffhaus,
and all the cottages with the gardens
and grass plots were quite familiar to
him. Some children too, in answer
to the question of a traveller riding
by, called the village Sittendorf.
Again he shook his head, and made
his way through the village to his
own hut. It looked Sorely decayed:
and before it lay a strange child in a
ragged frock; by the side of a half
starved hound, who snarled between
his teeth while his old master called
him by bis name. He went through
the opening which a door had once
closed, into the hut, and found all
there so desolate and ruinous, that
he reeled like a drunken man out at:
the back door, called for his wife and J
children, but no one heard him, and
no voice answered.
A crowd of women and children
soou collected to look at the strange
Warrenton, June 28, 1828.
man wliii the lung iron groy Heard,
and all beset him with the question,
♦‘Whom did he want?” To hkve to
ask others for his own house and wife
and children, and perhaps for himself
too, seemed s? strange, that to get .rid
of their inquiries he named the first
person that occurred to him— I “£urt
Steffew!” said he. Most held their
tongues and stared at hirn, but at last
an aged wo mm said, “He has lived
for these twelve years beyond Sax
onberg; you will not reach him to
day,” “Veften Meier, then!”—God
bless him!” said an old grandmother |
on crutches,*‘he has been bed ridden;
and has never left the house these
fifteen years.”
Claus began now to recognise some
of his old neighbors, though they ap
peared to have grown aged very sud
denly, but his appetite for asking any
more questions was gone. And now
a young woman* who seemed the inn
age of his wife, made her way bustt
ling through the gaping crowd, with
a child fn her arms. *What is your
name?* said he starting. ‘Mary.’
‘And your father’s’ God bless him,
Peter Claus! It is now twenty years
ago since we. sought him day and
night op the Kyffliaus mountain.
His flock came back without him. I
was then Seven years old.’
The goatherd could contain him
self no longer.—*l am Peter Claus,*
said he; ‘arid rio other!’ as he seized
the child from his daughter’s arms,
and kissed it. All stood petrified
with astonishment, till first one voice,
and then another cried ‘Yes, it is Pe
ter Claus! Welcome neighbour, wel
come home, after twenty years ab
sence!’
- THE JUVSTK iUUUS BELL .
A pRAGMEN't.
It w'as a dead < aim: the sun beam
ed bright and beautiful upon the o
cean, in sitting glory, and all life and
animation had given place to that o
verpwwering listlessness, which none
can form any conception of, but they
who have experienced a long contin
ued calm at sea.
I was leaning against the taffrail,
gazing Upon the dark waters below,
in that state of apathy, in which
thought itself becomes almost too
great an exertion, when suddenly a
gentle breath of wind that swept a
lorig so lightly as to cause no ripple
upon the glassy surface of the wave
less deep, wafted to my awakened
sense a tinkling sound, like the ring
ing of a small bell at an immense dis
tance. The unusual circumstance
aroused my dormant faculties, and I
►listened with breathless attention; but
the flaw had passed, arid all was again
silent and deathlike.
I remained upon the Same spot
nearly an hour, but it came not a
gain; and at length, overcome with
drowsiness, I retired to my birth.
The next morning, when I came upon
deck, I found that the calm still con
tiriued; and the Captain was of opinion
that it would last some days. I men
tioned to him the incident that had at
tracted my attention; but he laughed,
and said I had been dreaming. He
knew we were too far from land for a>
ny sound to reach us, and ho vessel he
said could have been near enough for
me to hear the ringing of a bell, with
out also being in sight. The mate
agreed with him, but I observed one
weatherbeaten tar, Who standing
near, to shake his head doubtfully,
and his rugged countenance betrayed
great anxiety; but he said nothing.
The morning passed away, and still
the sea was unruffled by any breeze.
After dinner, to while away the te
dious hours, the Captain and i sat
down upon the quarter deck tomrds*
Wxj tmd scaroaiy commenced playing
when I was startled by bearing tiie
same bell-like tones, so faint and far,
that‘nothing lived ’twixt them and
silence.* I called to the Captain to
listen; he sat a moment without spec k
ing; and then started up, exclaiming,
‘I hear it too.’ The sailors seeiov and
to have noticed it also, for they were
hushed, and listening. The captain
went aloft with his glass, and look and
In every direction. *1 hear it,’ sad
he, ‘distinctly, hut I can see nothing;
it cannot be from shore, for we are
more than fifty leagues front any
land.’ The attention of all on buard
was now fully awake. The sailers
stood upon the forecastle in anxious
groups, all but the old man, the sin
gular expression of whose features f
had remarked in the morning. Ho
sat alone upon the windlass, with his
hands folded, and his eyes intently
fixed upon the de* k—but atiH Le
spoke not. Various conjectures were
hazarded among us, but none that
satisfactorily accounted for the noise.
The afternoon passed, and ihe sun
again set, while the tinkling sound’
still came floating over the waves. It
was late before sleep dosed my ejea
that night.
When the morning of the next day
dawned, the captain went again to
the niaßt-head with his glass, but no
sail appeared upon the horizon—sot
still the ceaseless bell was pi inly
to tie heard, while not a breyth of
wind was to be felt. Noon is me, mJ
still the calm continued, and tbs
sound approached nearer and nearer
—when, on a sudden, the captain
from thfe top cried out, l seeil now*—
hut what it is, heaven only knows; it
does not look like any craft that ever
the hand of hian'fasliimietf ’
We all rushed to the forecastle, and
in silence awaited the approach of
; lhis strange navigator- It came ca
reering over the water with a rapid
motion, and as it drew near, exhibit
ed to onr wondering geze a single
blac k mast, rising from the centre of
what seemed a square and solid bloc k
of wood, hut without yard nr sail, nor
did any living creature appear upon
it; I proposed to take the boat, and
board it—but the sailors shook their
heads, and the captain was silent.
Determined to discover the meaning
of this phenomenon, I jumped into the’
boat, intending to scull toward it,
when the old sailor, seeing my res
olution, declared he would go with
me; and the captain, after a moment’s
hesitation, also joined us. We nw
ed swiftly onwards to meet the object
of our curiosity, which was now
within half a mile of the ship, and in
a few minutes were sufficiently near
to perceive the bell, the ringing of
wliich had announced its coming, at
the top of the mast. It was green
and rusty, as if with age, and the
sides of the non-descript bark were
covered with barnacles, and tangled
masses of seaweed. Immediately be
neath the bell, which still swung
from side to side with deafening din,
was attached a deep sea line, passing
over the side and descending into the
water. The moment our boat touch
ed this strange vessel, the bell ceased
to toll; and the floating mass became
immovable. We gazed upon it, and
each other, in amazement; and at
length the captain, in a low and trem
ulous voice, proposed to return; but
the sailor said, ‘No? it was a evil
hour when we met this accursed’—,
(his voice sunk, and I could not dis
tinguish what he uttered) —<but W 6
have met it, and we must not leave it
thus. Let us haul upon this line.*
We did so for nearly twenty minutes.
No. 5.