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PUBLISHED EVERY’ SATURDAY, BY JAMES leCAFFERTY, 1 . MACINTOSH-STREET, OPPOSITE POST OFFICE. j Terms of Paper. —For a single copy, j one year, Two Dollars: for star copies, Ten Dollars; tor thirteen copies, T wen ty Dollars, payable in advance. Advertisements will be inserted at 501 [ cents per square for tlie first insertion,! am t 25 cents for each continuance — ! Twelve lines to constitute a square. A j liberal deduction to yearly advertisers. fj" No letters taken from the Postil Office unless postage free. Officers Augusta VV. T. A Society. Dr. DANIEL HOOK, President. Rev. WM. J. HARD, J “ C. S. DOD. > Vice Presidents HAWKINS HUFF, Esq. \ WM! HAINES, Jr. Secr ETARY. L. D. LALLER.STEDT, Treasurer. mimtLhAmmu. Friendship of a Panther. OK A SOLDIER IN THE DESERT. During the enterprising expedition in to Upper Egypt, General Desaix, a pro vincial soldier, fell into the power of a tribe of Arabs, called Maugrabins, and was by them carried into the desert, be yond the cataract of the Nile. In order to place a safe distance between them selves and the French army, the Mau grabins made a forced march and did not stop till night closed in. They en camped around a fountain surrounded by palm trees. Not supposing their prison er would attempt to escape, they con tented themselves with merely binding his hands; and after having fed their horses, and made their supper upon dates, they all of them slept soundly. As soon as the French prisoner was convinced of this fact, he began to gnaw the cords that bound him, and regained the liberty of his hands. He seized a carbine, and took the precaution to provide himself with some dry dates, and a little bag of grain, and, armed with a scimetar, start ed off in the direction of the French ar my. In his eagerness to arrive at a place of safety, lie urged the already wearied horse until the generous animal fell down dead, and left his rider alone in the midst of the desert. For a long time the Frenchman walked on with the perse verance of a runaway slave, but he was at last obliged to stop. The day was finished; notwithstanding the freshness of oriental nights, lie did not feel strength enough to pursue his journey. Having reached a little cluster of palms, which had gladdened his heart at a distance, l»o laid his head upon a stone and slept without taking any precaution for his defence. He was awakened by' the pitiless rays of the sun, which fell upon him with in tolerable fervor; for in his weariness lie had reposed on the side opposite to the morning shadows of the majestic palms. The prospect around filled him with des pair. In every direction nothing met iiis eye but a wide ocean of sand, spar kling and dancing like a dagger in the sunshine. The pure brilliancy of the sky left the imagination nothing to de sire. Not a cloud obscured its splendor, not a zephyr moved the surface of the desert. The earth and the heavens seemed to be on tire: they met at the horizon in a line of light, as fine and glittering as the edge of a sword. There was a mild and awful majesty in the uni versal stillness! God, in all his infin ity’, seemed present to the soul! The desolate wanderer thought of the fountains and roses of his own native province, and wept aloud. He clasped the palm as if it had been a living friend. He shouted to relieve the forgetfulness oi utter solitude. The wide wilderness sent back a shap sound, from the dis tance ; but no echo was awakened. — The echo was in his heart! With melancholy steps he walked a round the eminence on which the palm trees grew. To his great joy he discov ered on the opposite side, a sort of natu ral grotto formed by a pile of granite. Hope was awakened in his breast. The palms would furnish him with dates for food, and human beings might come that way before they were exhausted. Per haps another party of Maugrabins, whose wandering life began to have some charms for his imagination—or be might hear the approach of cannon, as Bouna parte was then passing over Egypt.— The Frenchman experienced a sudden transition from the deepest despair to the wildest joy. He occupied himself during the day with cutting down some of the palm trees to defend the mouth of the grotto against wild beasts, which would probably come in the night time to drink at the rivulet flowing at the foot of the palms. Notwithstanding the ea gerues produced by fear of being devour ed in his sleep, he could not finish his fortifications during the day. Toward evening the mighty tree he had been cut ting fell to the ground with a crash that resounded through the desert, as if soli tude had uttered a deep groan. The soldier trembled as if there had AUGUSTA WASHINGTONIAN. A WEEKLY PAPER: I)EY r OTED TO TEMPERANCE, AGRICULTURE, & MISCELLANEOUS READINGS. Vol. III.] ! been a supernatural voice in the air.— But like an heir who soon ceases to mourn over a rich parent, lie immediate ly began to strip off’ the broad and beau tiful leaves to form bis couch for the nisrht. Fatigued by his exertions and the extreme warmtli of the climate, he ' soon fell into a profound slumber. In the middle of the night his sleep was sudden i lv disturned by an extraordinary noise. He raised himself and listened; and a mid the deep silence he distinctly heard i the loud breathing of some powerful ani , mal. The sound fell upon his ear like ice. The hair started jipon his head, and he strained his eyes to the utmost to perceive the object of his terror. He caught the glimpse of two faint yellow lights at a distance from him ; lie thouiilit r* l 7 o ! it might be an optical delusion, produced by his own earnest gaze, but as the rays of the moon entered the chinks of the cave he distinctly saw an enormous ani mal lying about two feet from him.— : There was not sufficient light to dis tinguish what species of animal it was; it might be a lion, a tiger or a crocodile; | but the strong odor that filled the cave I left no doubt of the presence of some ' large and terrible creature. When the moon rose so as to shine directly upon the opening in the grotto, its beam lighted up the beautiful spotted hide of a huge panther! This lion of Egypt slept with her head upon her paws, I with the comfortable dignity of a great housedog. Her eyes, which had opened | from time to time were now closed. Her lace was turned towards the Frencli i man. A thousand confused thoughts | passed through the soldier’s bosom. His first ideit was to shoot the enemy through the head; but lie saw there was not room enough for that; the ball would inevitably have passed her. He dared : I not make the slightest movement, lest lie ‘should awake her; nothing broke the j deep silence hut the breath of the pan ther, and the beating of her heart.— I Twice he put his hand upon his scimetar, but the difficulty of penetrating her hard rough skin, made him relinquish his pro ject. To attempt her destruction and ! fail in the attempt would be certain I death. At all events he resolved to wait for daylight. Day came at last, and I showed the jaws of the sleeping panther ! covered with blood. “She has eaten lately,” said the Frenchman to himself. “She will not awake in hunger.” She was in truth a beautiful monster. The fur on her throat and legs was of a dazzling whiteness; a circle of little dark spots like velvet, formed pretty bracelets around her paws; her large muscular tail was beautifully white, ter rninated by black rings; and the soft smooth fur on her body was of a glow ing yellow, like unwrought gold, richly shaded with dark brown spots in the form of roses. This powerful hut tranquil hostess re posed in as graceful an attitude as a puss sleeping on a footstool. Her head stretched on nervous outstretched paws, from which her long white smellers spread out like silver threads. Had she been in a cage, the Frenchman would certainly i have admired the perfect symmetry of | her dark form, and the rich contrast of colors, that gave such an imperial brill ! iancy to her robe, but alone and in her ! power, it was a different thing. At the | mouth of the cannon he had felt his courage rise with increasing danger; hut |it was sinking now’. The cold sweat ; poured from his forehead, as he watched I the sleeping panther. Considering him ■ self a dead man, he waited his fate with jas much courage as he couid. When jthe sun rose, the panther suddenly open | ed her eyes, stretched out her paws and gaped, showing a frightful row of teeth, | and a great tongue as hard and as rough ias a file. She then shook herself, and began to wash her bloody paws, passing them from time to time over her ears, like a kitten. “Very well done,” thought ' the soldier, who felt his gaiety and cour age returning, “ She does her toilet very handsomely.” He seized a little dagger which he had taken from one of the Arabs; “Come let us wish each other good morning,” thought he. At this moment, the pather turned her head to ward him suddenly, and fixed a sur prised and earnest gaze upon him. The fixedness of her bright metalic eyes, and their almost insupportable bril liancy, made the soldier trembie, especial ly when the mighty beast moved to ward him. With great boldness and 1 nresence of mind, he looked her directly AUGUSTA, GA. JUNE 14. 1545. jin file eye, having often heard that great power may be obtained over animals in ! that manner. When she came up to nim, he gently scratched her head, and j smoothed her fur. Iler eyes gradually softened, she began to wag her tail, and ;at last she purred like a petted cat; hut so deep and strong were her notes of joy, that they resounded through (he \ cave like the rolling of a church organ. The Frenchman redoubled his caress les, and when he thought her ferocity was | sufficiently tamed he attempted to leave I the grotto. The panther made no op position to his going on' ; but she soon 'came hounding after him, lifting up her back and rubbing again t his legs, like an affectionate kitten. “ She requires a j great deal of attention,” said the French man, smiling. He tried to feel her cars jand throat; and perceiving she was | pleased with it, he began to tickle the j back of her head with the point of his I dagger, hoping to find a favorable oppor tunity to stab her, but the hardness of the bones made him tremble, lest he should not succeed. The beautiful Sultana of (he desert seemed to tempt the courage of her pris oner, by raising her head, stretching out her neck, and rubbing against him.— The soldier suddenly thought that to kill her with one blow he must strike her in the throat. He raised his blade for that i purpose ; but at that moment she crouch ed down gently at his feet, looking up j in his face with a strange mixture of af ifectionate and native fierceness. The | poor Frenchman leaned against the tree, Seating some dates, and casting bis eye round the desert, to see if no one was coming to free him from his terrible com panion, *vhose strange friendship was so j little to be trusted. He offered to feed her with some dates; hut she looked upon ■them with supreme contempt. However as sensible to his kind intentions, she ‘ licked his shoes and purred. “Will she be so when she gets lmn- Igry?” thought the Frenchman. The i idea made him tremble. He looked at the sizo of the panther. She was three feet high, and four feet long, without in cluding her tail, which was nearly three feet more in length, and as round as a groat cudgel. Iler head was as big as a lion’s and her face was distinguished by a peculiar expression of cunning. The cold cruel ty of the tiger reigned there; but there was likewise something strangely like the countenance of an artful woman, in the gaiety and fondness of the present moment. She seemed like Nero drunk. She had her fill of blood, and she wished to frolic. During (he whole day, if lie attempt ed to walk away, the panther watched him, as a dog does his master; and nev er suffered him to be far out of sight.— He discovered the remains of his horse which hud been dragged near the mouth of the cavern, and he easily understood why she had respected his slumbers. Taking courage from the past, he be gan to hope he could get along very com fortable witli his new companion. He laid himself by her in order to conciliate j her good opinion. lie patted her neck, and she began to wag her tail and purr. He took hold of her paws, felt her ears, and rolled oi’er the grass. She suffered him to do all this; and when he played with her paw's, she carefully drew in her claws, lest she should hurt him. The Frenchman again put his hand upon his weapon, with a view of plunging it in her throat, but he was stilt held by the fear that he should not succeed, and that the animal would tear him to pieces in her agony. Besides, he really began to j have an unwillingness to kill her. In | the lonely desert she seemed to him like j a friend. His admiration of her beauty, j gentleness, graceful activity, became j mixed with less and less of terror. He actually named her Mignonne in remem j brance of a lady whom he had loved in i his youth, and who was abominably jeal ous of him. By the end of the day, he 1 had become so familiar with his danger- I ous situation, that he was almost in love with its exciting perils. He had even taught the panther her name. She look ed up in his face, when he called “Mig nonne.” When the sun went down, she uttered : a deep, melancholy cry. “ She is well \ educated,” exclaimed the gay soldier.— | “She has learned to say her evening pray | ers.” He was rejoiced to see the panther stretch herself out in a drowsy attitute. “That is right, my prtitv little blonde,” said he, “you had better go to sleep first.” He trusted to his own activity to es cape during her slumber. He waited patiently ; and when she seemed sound asleei, lie walked vigorously toward the Nile. But he had not gone a quarter of a league over the sand when he heard the panther bounding after him, uttering at intervals, a loud sharp crv. “Os a truth,” said he, “ her friendship is very flattering; it must be her first love.” Before she came up, the French man fell into one of those dangerous traps of loose sand, from which it is im possible to extricate one’s self. The pan ther seized him by the collar, and, with incredible strength, brought him to the j other side of the ditch at a single bound. “ Mv dear Mignonne !” said the sol :dier, caressing her with enthusiasm, ! “ our friendship is for life and death.” lie retraced his steps. Now, lie had j a creature that loved him, to whom he j could talk, it seemed as il the desert were peopled. Having made a signal i flag if his shirt, he concluded to wait pa j tiently for human succor. It was his in -1 teiition to have watched during the night, but sleep overpowered him. When he j awoke, Mignonne was gone. He as jcentled the eminence to look for her, and soon perceived her at a distance, clearing the desert with those long bounds pecu liar to her species. She arrived with bloody jaws. When receiving his ca resses, she purred aloud, and fixed her eyes upon him with even more fondness tha l usual. The soldier patted her neck and talked to her as he would to a domes tic animal, “Ah ! ah! Miss, you have been eating some of the Maugrabins.— Ain’t you ashamed ? Never mind, they are worse animals than you are. But pleise don’t take a fancy to grind up a Frenchman. If you do, you won’t have jmeto love you any more.” This singular animal was so fond of caiesscs and play, that if her companion sat many minutes without noticing her, she would put her paw into his lap to at tract his attention. Several days passed 1 thus. The panther was always successful in : her excursions for food, and always re turned full of affection and joy; she be calm used to all the inflections of the soldier’s voice, and understood the ex pressions of his face. Sometimes he a* : inased his weary hours by counting the spits on her golden fur, and observing how beautifully they were shaded; she showed no displeasure even when he held her by the tail to count the splendid white and black rings, that glittered in the sunshine like precious stones. It was a pleasure to look upon the graceful outlines of her form, the glossy smooth ness of her neck, and the majestic car riage of her head. She delighted him j most when she was in a frolic. Her ex treme gracefulness and agility as she gli ded swiftly along, jumped, bounded, and rolled over and over, was truly surpri sing. When she was darting up the rocky eminence at her swiftest speed, she would stop suddenly and beautifully as the Frenchman called “ Mignonne.” One day a very large bird sailed tliro’ the air over their heads. In the desert, anything that has life is interesting.— The Frenchman quitted his panther to watch the flight of the bird, as he slow ly and heavily fanned the air. In a few minutes the sultana of the desert began to growl. “She is certainly jealous,” thought the soldier, as he looked at her fierce and glittering eyes. They gazed intelligently at each other, and the proud coquette leaped as she felt his hand upon her head; her eyes flashed like light ning, ns she shut them hard. “The creature must liai’e a soul!” exclaimed the Frenchman. Thi3 account was given me by the soldier himself, while I was admiring the docility of the powerful animal in the ineaagarie at Paris. “ I don’t know,” continued the narrator, “ what I had done to displease Mignonne so much, or whether the creature was merely in sport; but she turned and snapped her teeth at me, and seized hold of my leg. She did it without violence; but think ing she was about to devour me, I plun gec my dagger into her neck. The peer creature rolled over uttering a cry that froze my heart. She made no at tempt to revenge my blow, but looked mildly upon me in her dying agony. I would have given all the world to have recalled her to life. It was as if I had murdered a friend. Some French sol diers, who discovered my signal, found WASHINGTONIAN TOTAL ABSTDiESCE PLEDGE. We, whose names are hereunto an* ncxed, desirous of forming a Society for our mutual benefit, and toguard against a pernicious practice, which is injurious to our health, standing and families, do pledge ourselves as Gentlemen, not to drink any Spirituous or Malt I.iquors, Wine or Cider. [No. 48 'me some hours afterward, weeping by j the side of her dead body.” “All, well,” said he after a mournful ■ silence, “I have been in the wars of Ger* many, Spain, Prussia, and France; but l never have seen any thing that produ ced such sensations as the desert; dh, | how beautiful it was!” “ What feelings did it excite?” I ask ed. “Feelings that are not to be spoken,” ! replied the soldier solemnly. “I do not j always regret my cluster of palm trees I and my panther; but sometimes their re membrance makes me sad; in the des jert there is every thing and there is no* j thing.” “ What do you mean by that ?” “ I cannot tell,” said he impatiently ; alter a pause he added, “ God is there without man.” Spirit and Energy ot Yankeedoin. The Pittsburgh fire has produced a* bundanl fresh evidences of the indomit able spirit and energy which are so char acteristic of the Anglo-American char acter. The business stamina of the “Iron City,” appears to be more fully developed than ever. Only a day after the fire, numbers ofthe burnt outordered a supply of manufactures, started post haste for the east, bought fresh stocks of goods, fixed up a new place of business and went “ ahead” as if nothing had happened. The banks arc ncting with the greatest degree of liberality consist ent with prudence—the Insurance Com panies will pay about 8700,000 —-the Canal is daily pouring in large additions to the market—nearly one hundred new houses have been already built—blocks of warehouses more substantial and com modious than those that were destroyed are going up—several magnificent hotels will replace those that were burnt—and in a very short time not a trace of the recent terrible calamity will be left.— Thus the spirit, energy, and strong will of Yankeedom ever “go ahead.”— N. Y. Herald. Making and Saving Manures. Several interesting and useful volumes have been written on the management and application of farm-yard manure. I can say little more on this subject at this time, than give the opinion, that we manage the whole affair in a most waste ful and unscientific manner generally. Instead of saving carefully every solid and liquid substance about our premises, and by combining them with bog muck, the sediment of bogs and ditches, parings from the road side, loam from w ood lands, and decaying vegetables, making them leaven the whole lump, with the addition of ashes, soot, plaster, lime, salt, &c., we suffer thousands of loads to lie exposed to sun and rains, which dissipate the most valuable portions, and impoverish our means of prosperity. Every family who uses a barrel of soft soap in a year, may saturate two cords or four ox cart loads of loam with suds and filth of the wash room, which would be a good top-dressing to an acre of grass land, or half an acre of wheat, I could speak of other wastes which happen about almost every house, which if they were saved, and properly composted, would manure in the State of Maine 100,000 acres of wheat. In China, almost no cattle are kept and no dependence placed on barn-yard manure. Their sole resort is, to the composts formed from the refuse matter about human dwellings, and the most of that land which sustains 300,-. 000,000 human beings is a garden.— Dr. Bates' Address. , . Excretory Duct of the feet of Sheep.— Chancellor Livingston, Ist President of of the New York State Agricultural Soci ety, says the legs of sheep are furnished with a duct, which terminates in the fis* | sure of the hoof; from which, when the animal is in health, is secreted a white fluid, but when sickly, these ducts are stopped by the hardening of the fluid. He says he has in some instances found that the sheep were relieved, by merely pressing out the hardened matter with the finger from the orifice of the duct in each foot; it may in some cases be proper to place their feet in warm water, or to use a probe or hand brush for cleansing this passage. The King of Sweden has issued an order of the day to his army, announc ing that his youngest son, Nicholas Au gustus, has entered the service as a pri vate soldier in the Norwegian Chasseura.