The Southern field and fireside. (Augusta, Ga.) 1859-1864, September 10, 1859, Page 123, Image 3
worth from 12 to 1800, and the worst, or those
procured after fledging, 150 to S2OO per picul.
The majority of the best kind are sent to Pekin
for the use of the court. It appears, therefore,
that this curious dish is only an article of expen
sive luxury amongst the Chinese. The Japan
ese do not use it at all; and how the former peo
ple acquired the habit of indulging in it, is only
less singular than their persevering in it They
codsider the edible bird’s nest as a great stimu
lant, tonic, and aphrodisiac, but its best quality,
perhaps, is its being perfectly harmless, The
labor bestowed to render it fit for the table, is
enormous; every feather, stick, or impurity of
any kind is carefully removed; and then, after
undergoing many washings and preparations, it
is made'Jnto a soft, delicious jelly. The sale of
bird’s nests is a monopoly with all the govern
ments in whose dominions they are found.—
About 250,000 piculs, of the value of $1,400,000,
are annually brought to Canton. These come
from the islands of Java, Sumatra, and those of
tho Soloo group. Java alone sends about 30,000
pounds, mostly of the first quality, estimated at
$70,000.
Mr. J. H. Moor, in his notices of the “Indian
Archipelago,” published at Singapore some years
ago, states that “One of the principal and most
valuable articles of exportation is the edible
bird’s nests, white and black. These are found
in much greater abundance in and about the
Coti, more than any other part of Borneo, or
from what we at present know on the subject,
all parts put together. On the western coast
they are scarcely known to exist; about Ban
jermassin and Bagottan, there are none; at Ba
taliching and Passier they are found in consid
erable quantities. At Browe there is abundance
of the black kind of a very superior quality, but
little of the white. At Seboo, and all the parts
to the north of Borneo, we know there is none,
as I have seen many letters from different Rajahs
of those countries averring the fact, and begging
the Sultan of Coti to exchange his edible nests
for their most valuable commodities, and at their
own price. Nor ought this to create surprise,
when we consider not only the large consump
tion of this article by the Cambojans, who almost
exclusively inhabit some of the largest Sooloo
islands, and the northern parts of Borneo, but
the amazing demand on the whole coast of Cam
bodia, particularly of Cochin China, the principal
inhabitants of which countries are as partial to
this luxury as their more northern neighbors, tho
Chinese, There are in Coti and adjacent Dyak
countries perhaps eighty known places, or what
the natives term holes, which produce tho white
nests. I have seen the names of forty-three.—
There can, however, be no doubt there are many
more likewise known to tho Dyaks, who keep
the knowledge to themselves, lest the Burgis
should dispossess them, which they know from
experience is invariably the case.
“According to the accounts of the Sultan, ren
dered by Saib Abdulla, the bandarree in 1834
yielded 134 piculs. The usual price in money to
the Corti traders is 23 reals per catty from the
Dyaks, and 25 in barter. The black nests may
be procured in great abundance. The best kinds
come from Cinculeram and Baley Papang. Tho
latter mountain alone yields 230 piculs, (of 112
1-2 pounds.) Cinculeram gives nearly as much.
There are several other parts of Coti which pro
duce them, besides the quantity brought down
by the Dyaks. Last year 130 piculs paid duty
to the Sultan; these left the large Coti river.—
Those from Cinculeram and Bongan were taken
to Browe and Seboo. The bandarree’s book
averages the annual weight of those collected in
tho lower part of Coti at 820 picuto, (about 1025
cwts.)
“The Pangeram Sierpa and the Sultan say
they could collect 2700 piculs of black nests, if
the bandarree and capella-campong would be
have honestly. The Sultan, however, seldom
gets any account of what is sent to Browe, Se
boo, and the Sooloo Islands, the quality of which
is far superior to any sent to European ports.”
The exports of birds’-nests from Java, between
1823 and 1832, averaged about 250 piculs a
year; in 1832,• 322 piculs; but of late years the
exports have not averaged half that amount;
and in 1853 and 1854 there were only about thir
ty-five or forty piculs shipped.
—
[Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.]
MY UNCLE BILLY’S FIRST LOVE.
BY HIS PET.
One evening last winter, my Uncle Billy, cou
sin Henry, and myself, (I am 14, Harry 2 years
older,) were sitting around a cheerful fire—the
rest of the family being out. I had been reading
aloud from Reade’s story of Peg Woffington, and
having concluded it, my cousin and self began
to dispute tho character of Mr. Vane, the leading
male person in the book. Harry of course sided
with the gentleman, while I denounced him, as
I thought his conduct deserved—the argument
was waxing warm when Uncle Billy interposed,
and agreed to tell us his love experience, pro
vided we’d discuss Mr. Vane and Peg Woffing
ton no more. I eagerly assented; the love ex
perience of old bachelors are generally interest
ing, and I had always been anxious to learn
something of my Uncle Billy’s early life. I
therefore hailed this offer with gratification, par
ticularly as I was getting the worst of the
Woffington argument. I shall endeavor to con
fine myself to Uncle Billy’s own words, to write
as he talked, and without further introduction
install you one of the family party. Draw a
chair, and now for
Uncle Billy’s Story.
At my time of life it is expected I should look
back with some degree of coolness at the weak
nesses of my younger days; yet, with all my
complaisance , a shadow \kill cross my heart
when the image of my early and only love comes
back with the vividness it sometimes does, in
my solitary moments—and while memory recalls
nothing of her faults, it throws in bold relief all
of those fascinating charms of mind and person,
which held me so long, like
“Some rapt devotee”
at their shrine, fit for the worship of a prince.
Imagine a form just budding into womanhood,
with the promise of some slender and graceful
lily, a head set upon shoulders whose dazzling
whiteness and fair proportions would have
crazed a Cleopatra with jealous rage; and eyes,
oh! Heaven, such eyes! Memory revives too
plainly to an always tender heart, those beaming
orbs, and kindles in my inmost soul something
much akin to those fires which once consumed
me. But I wander in forbidden paths—let me
cease a rhapsody which exposes an old man’s
weakness; and to the story of how I became
enslaved by
“The dear star-light of those haunting eyes.”
’Tis many years since when, something of a
beau, I paid my addresses indiscriminately to the
dear charmers, and endeavored to bo agreeable
(they said successfully) to all alike. I was ma
king some progress in a desperate flirtation with
a charming little coquettish brunette, with raven
curls, sparkling eyes, and all the etcetera which
are indispensable to tho making up of a coquet
tish brunette, and was fast approaching that pe
tss ioifiiu vxs&a us ix&msxn&e
culiar dreamy state which precedes the danger
ous stage in a flirtation, and was beginning to
fear I was getting the worst of an engagement
where I had entered to gain an easy victory—
when, by mere chance, at the house of my dark
eyed friend, 1 met Silencia. Her grace, her
modest, girlish air, was calculated to inspire a
heart less susceptible than mine. We entered in
to conversation, and as formality gently thawed,
her beaming, sparkling eye completed the con
quest, and I yielded a willing captive without a
struggle. And here let me say to you, my con
duct now assumed a phase, for which, though at
that time I had no scruples, to-day I am inclined
to blush. V ithout the honesty to express to
one the sentiments of affection inspired by the
other, with a reckless villainy paying the most
assiduous and heart-felt homage to Silencia, I
continued the same attentions as formerly to her
friend. But my double hypocrisy received, as
the sequel will show, a severe, yet merited re
ward. Years have passed since then, some, too,
ofbitter sorrow, a few of happiness, and now,
with age creeping upon me, walking with steady
gait the downward path of life, without the fire
and passion of youth, I view, I trust, with pro
per severity, the unprincipled behavior which,
wounding the spirit of an innocent girl, lost me
a friend, whilst I gained nothing as a recom
pense. Let me warn you, my children, to be
ware of what young people, girls particularly,
are so fond of calling flirtations. Learn to re
gard the human heart, and its affections, as
something more than mere toys for the amuse
ment of the hour, to be thrown aside as soon as
broken—and learn from one of cool head and
advanced years, that such things always end in
future sorrow and unhappiness. How many
blast in early bloom, those attributes placed by
Heaven in the human heart, which, cultivated,
are the richest blessings of youth, and the cer
tain and sure solace and support of the evening
of life! Well, to bo brief, the woman's nature
of the young girl perceived the emptiness of the
attempts I made to be agreeable, and with an
effort at calmness, which ill-suppressed her real
feelings, slie begged a discontinuance of atten
tions which she was assured had no foundation
in a tender regard. With but little compunction
I received my dismissal, and though I endeavor
ed to dispel such ideas from her mind, and sub
sequently and often used every effort to regain
her lost confidence, my arguments were wasted,
my efforts useless. She met every advance with
that killing, freezing politeness, so impossible
to overcome. She afterwards married. I fre
quently meet her, and though we pass each
other without sign of recognition, I cannot but
think she still regards mo as one who first cast
a shadow upon her girlish love.
Our coquettish brunette received my address
es with more favor than I had dared to hope.
With the most delicate attentions, I began to
win her regard—our almost daily intercourse
carried me from earth to Heaven—at all times,
awake or asleep, the name of the dear chosen of
my heart was ever on my lips. It is no wonder,
then, with love like this, little short of infat
uation—l should have forgotten all else and all
others In the struggle to obtain so sweet a prize.
Without the courage to make a formal decla
ration of my love, I still feasted on her beauty,
and “at last I dared to pour the thoughts that
burst their channels into song, and sent them to
her—such a tribute as beauty rarely scorns,
even from the meanest.” This was her answer—
who would not be happy with such language
from his mistress ?
“As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean,
Sweet flowers ore springing, no mortal can Bee ;
So deep in mv heart the still prayer of devotion.
Unheard by the world, rises silent to thee.
As still to the star of its worship, though clouded,
The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea,
So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to thee - ”
I remember how for hours I sat in a delicious
day dream, how every word seemed to spring
into life, and assume some delicious shape to
complete the transcendant happiness of the mo
ment. But why dwell on thoughts like these ?
they only tend to make you romantic and mo
unhappy. lam well aware that at my age any
thing like sentiment is absurd, and that my talk
will only appear as the foolishness of an old man,
and I know too, that all of us treasure the pleas
ing remembrances of earlier life, though we have
entered the “sexe and yellow leaf.” You have
marked that I had said nothing to the lady, of
what my heart was pleading for my lips to tell,
but if eyes can speak—if flowers ever told to
“lady fair” the fondness of a loving swain, she
knew too well how I worshipped her. Her con
duct led me to hope I was not regarded with in
difference, and one day I received from her a
note, which, from its peculiar tono and language,
so sudden and unlooked for, was rather startling,
and while it pleased, occasioned some misgivings.
She wrote in excited, passionate language, of
her undying and unchanging love, and begged
I would pardon her apparent forwardness, as
•ircumstances of a domestic nature, terrible to
her, had compelled her to the confession. She
•nclosed a souvenir, and begged my accept
ance as a remembrance of one whoso constant
prayer would be for my happiness. Tho trouble
which threatened her was an old friend of the
family, which they desired her to marry, she
afterwards told me of all the circumstances of
the case, and I afterwards discovered, but pa
tience, lam nearly to the end. In answer to
her note, I offered myself, and what of worldly
goods I possessed, if, by accepting, she could
be relieved from the oppression at home. She glad
ly accepted, and asked mo to hasten our nuptials,
as her affairs required prompt and decisive action.
I made every preparation for the consummation
of the act xyhicli was to make her mine and at
the same time relieve her from her embarrass
ing position. You will perceive, and if you do
not, I must tell you, I was influenced at every
step of the proceedings, as much by a deep
sense of sympathy for her troubles, as by any
other more selfish motive. Yet with all my
preparations, and when I told her all was ready
and everything in waiting for her reception, she
hesitated, and by various excuses and pretexts
delayed our marriage, till I very naturally began
to entertain some distrust, that I had been the
victim of a misplaced sympathy, that love,
honesty, and Silencia had no identity ono with
the other —that I had been the miserable play
thing of a trifling, heartless woman. I was, how
ever, re-assured, and my doubts removed by her
solemn promise upon a Sunday evening, that
the following Tuesday should witness our union.
Her word was an empty sound, she failed to
keep it, and this time I was subjected to mortifi
cations it galls mo to remember. I returned
home with my feelings but illy smothered when
I found from her, as usual, a note. It told of tho
sudden determination of her family to leave the
city, which they had done at the very hour I
was expecting her appearance at place appoint
ed for our meeting; she begged mo to write to
her, repeated all her vows of constancy and de
votion, asking me to believe the separation was to
her a terrible blow, and with tho sincerest affec
tion begged me to pray for my broken-hearted
friend. You will say I was certainly infatuated
to believe all she wrote, but yet I did, and loved
her more at that moment than at any other pe
riod of our intercourse. I wrote her several let-
ters, but from the day of her departure, till that
of her return, from herself directly I received
not a syllable, though with other, members of her
family, I was in constant correspondence. And
during those long weary months I waited and
waited, and like a blind fool, expecting the let
ter that never came, and while I was suffering
all the pangs of doubt, uncertainty, love, hope and
a thousand conflicting emotions, she, in the
midst of frivolous enjoyments, was boasting of
her conquest and giving myself as the lover of
whom her arts had made a slave. Here was a
woman I had clothed in all the radiance of sim
plicity and innocence, one whom I liad chosen
out from all the sex as uniting beauty of form
and face with a corresponding loveliness of mind
and disposition, blending, as I thought, all the
choicest traits we so admire in female character
in her charming person; this goddess of my idol
atry was a living palpable falsehood—false to
me, and, as I afterwards discovered, slanderer of
her friends, and nearest and dearest relations;
for the story of her persecution was trumped up
to excite my sympathies and hasten the offer of
marriage. Upon her return she sought again to
entangle me in her wiles, but she had calculated
too much even from a blind passion like mine.
But while I struggled against her arts, it requir
ed a strong effort to overcome the feelings the
sight of her lovely face excited. Little remains
to be told; she like myself is unmarried; we some
times meet but always friendly, she apparently
having forgotten the past—as I have forgiven
it—a sure evidence that there still lurks in some
quiet corner of my heart a small portion of my
old feeling for her. I almost regret having told
of this, my only love experience, but, as I have,
let jt not go without a lesson; and let this, my
children, be the moral to both of you—just en
tering as you are the broad theatre of life: “that
Honesty” in love, no less than in all things else
“is the best policy.”
My Uncle concluded, and gazing for some time
vacantly into the fire, drew a deep sigh and
muttered half to himself and half aloud, these
lines:
“We mourn In secret o'er some buried love
In the 6ir past, whenfe love does not return,
And strive to find a [tons its ashes pray,
Some lingering spark that yet may live and burn;
And when we see thovainness of our task,
We flee away, far fro»i the hopeless scene.
And folding close our garments o'er our hearts,
Cry to the winds, ‘OH God ! it might have been!’
i 111
[For the Southern Field and Fireside.]
THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL A REMI
NISCENCE.
20th August, 1859.
Mr. Mann : Tho letter which I herewith
hand you was not written for the press. I take
the responsibility, however, of its publication, be
lieving that it may be read with pleasure by
many persons, besides those who, like myself
and the writer, wero students of Law at Litch
field. My friend, lam sure, will not object to
it, always, I know, willing to contribute to the
gratification of others, and especially solicitous
for the success of the Field and Fireside.
Respectfully, Ac., &c.,
•
Litchfieid, Conn., 20th July, 1859.
My Dear Friend : When I informed you some
weeks since that I proposed to visit Litchfield
and revive tho memories of the past, you exact
ed a promise that I would give you my impres
sions of men and things about this ancient seat
of Law learning. I comply. The Christian
pilgrim, as he stands upon the summit of Mount
Moriah, and surveys the scene where the Saviour
taught, and toiled, and died, finds but little in
what is visible, which responds to his long cher
ished impressions of that sacred locality. So, if
small things may be analogised to great things,
as I stand upon Litchfield hill, I find little, very
little, which is true to the memories and associa
tions of the days when you and I, in the hope
fulness of student life, wore familiar with the
scene. I am a stranger, where onc3 I felt at
home. Progress has changed the face of this
once quiet village. What a destroyer it is ! It
spares nothing in its desolating march. Would
that it would leave some nook or comer of this
American world sacred to the beauty and re
pose of the olden time! Railroads and tele
graphs, and daily papers, and mercantile enter
prise, and Anglo-Saxon pluck and hardihood,
have worked wonders. I scarcely thank them
for the exercise of their miraculous power. I
sigh, in the midst of the roar and rush of this
great new world, for a moment’s pause, inviting
to contemplantion—for “a lodge in some vast
wilderness” where quiet reigns. Tho children
that I knew in the pleasant families of our day,
are grown up men and women—the adults are
among the aged, and the aged—why, they
are dead. All dead. That is a brief tale, but
truthful, and full of food for reflection. You and
I were younger once, my friend. Don’t, howev
er, be discouraged—we occupy still the merid
ian point of life. How that point is surrounded
with cares, responsibilities and triumphs, and
how we look out still thence, hopefully, it boots
not now to tell. Those things which men make
—such as houses, streets, farms, cemeteries, and
the like, have suffered here the common destiny,
that is, mutation. Somo relics remain, like fos
sil mementoes of aby gone world—yet Nature,
in her grand and beautiful outlines, is still the
same. I find here still the summer sky of 18—,
clear, deep, and cerulean. The same invigorat
ing atmosphere, fresh from the hills, or quick
from the sea—the glorious moon, shedding more
than Italian beauty upon the scene—farm houses
and hay fields —elms that rival the classic trees
of Now Haven —undulating landscapes, and
lowing herds. I can almost hear the hoarse
thunder of tho Atlantic —and as well, the heav
ing and surging of that tempestuous human sea,
New York. Would you believe it ? tho Bantam
is still hero, and so are the lakes of the vicinage.
They still sleep peacefully, in their hill girded
beds. Do you remember —I am sure you do —
when, w-earied with a fishing excursion, we called
at the door of a cottage on the border of the lake,
and asked for a glass of cider ? And do you not re
member her who gave it ?—a rustic maiden, with
the figure of a Venus, and the face of a Madon
na. They had good cider and pretty girls in
Connecticut, in those days. I became fond of
fishing in that neighborhood—very. But where
is she—the sweet vision of the lake —what has
been her life experience ? Alas ! I know not
Do not expect coherence in this letter. lam
not demonstrating a theorem in mathematics —
or a legal proposition before the Supreme Court
of Georgia. Do let me roam at will —a charter
ed libertine—for once in my life. Speaking of
roaming, reminds me of our pedestrian ramble
over the country hereabout. We were then exul
tant in youth, hope and healthfulness. Our equip
ment was simple enough: a change of linen, a few
dollars in our purses, buoyant spirits, and tackle
for trout. You had a passion for picking up speci
mens, being mineralogical in your tendencies—
whilst I had a passion for nature and pretty
faces, being prone to fall in love with all things
beautiful. Do you realize, now, the joyous aban
don .of that rural ramble ? Those wooded hills
and cultivated slopes—tangled dells and dashing
brooks, and flowers that bloomed by the way
side—the homes of the people—the neat ap-
pointments of the farmyards—the wain heaving,
deep-breathing ox—the fragrance of the new
mown hay—the laborers’ honest toil —the hos
pitality that greeted us, and the smiles which
beguiled us—ah ! all these things were very
beautiful! We saw not, felt not, the element of
disquietude, which experience has taught us is
mingled with all the good of earth. Fancy, free
and as yet uncurbed by much of thought or
philosophy, colored everything with the hues of
the rose.
We avoided the villages and ignored the inns.
By the by, there are no inns now-a-days like
that at which} old Izaak Walton had his trout
dressed, and slept in sheets that smelled of lav
ender. Wo had our piscatorial successes, too—
at least you caught one small trout—they are
all small in these clear hill streams, but the
finest flavored fish known to the gourmand. I
learned then to respect the industry, and thrift,
and moral training and generous hospitality of
the New England farmer, in spite of his class
and hereditary peculiarities. That Puritan stock
is a noble stock, after all, and we of the South
are not sufficiently prompt to admit it. From
it has sprung the Websters and Winthrops and
Choates and Lawrences—to say nothing of the
men of the revolution. They (the people) did
chatcchise us, it is true. I answered freely, and
promptly, and truthfully—did I not? Whilst
you, curtly evasive—thinking, as you said, that
your self-respect was involved, and their right,
not at all.
In those days I kept a journal, from which I
make a short extract for your delectation. Here
it is: “Before breakfast we started for a tramp
along a small stream, which we were told head
ed among the neighboring hills, purposing before
noon to drink at its fountains. The air was
sweet, and like a bath, refreshed and invigora
ted the body. The mind, as we imagine Adam’s
was, when awaking from sinless slumber, he
went forth to survey the morning glories of Para
dise, was elastic and searching and excursive.
Whilst the heart—our hearts—beat with the
pulsations of universal love. We desired to
penetrate the wildest recesses of the valley. So,
on wo passed, first traversing an enclosed mea
dow, and then up—up the course of the descen
ding brook. In half an hour we stood in a scene
of almost primeval solitude—there are such, in
this old country, still. Here, said I, let us rest,
for surely it is a place to erect tabernacles—it is
full of God. How it speaks to the heart of the
all creating, all sustaining hand ! The sunlight
is out upon the hills, but scarcely yet illumines
this deep ravine. Listen to the concert of birds
and insects and small creeping things. Do you
not think that in tho diversity of sounds there is
a graceful concord ? To my ear it is harmony
divine. Here is a temple which God himself has
reared, and this is nature’s hymn. These various
notes are full of gratitude, these thousand forms
of life are eloquent, and the burden of the an
them is ‘the hand that made us is divine.’ All
that we see or hear seems acquiescent in the
appointments of the Creator, without selfishness
and free from strife. Look up—to that far re
ceding canopy—how noiselessly it heralds down
to earth, the serene benignity of Him who
spread it out as the imperial curtain of the uni
verse! Does it not seem to be gentle, calm, and
sweet as innocence. There is beneath it now
no stormy cloud—no cleaving lightning—no fall
ing flood. It speaks as distinctly of a reconcil
ed parent, as the bow of promise. And this
subdued light of the day reminds me of that
moral light, which, emanating from the sun of
righteousness, shines encouragingly upon the
dark places of the human heart, when first
touched with penitence. “True, all you say is
true,” replied , in my heart I feel it to be so.
There are times when the goodness of God re
vealed in His works so overwhelms me, that it
almostsbursts with emotion. Why is not man
responsive to the will of heaven, like nature ?
A time will come, when one only law will rule
the universe, and that will be the law of love.—
This little brook at our feet—it looks like it
would speak to us. It both dances and sings—
it is the harp of the waters, touched by the Great
Master of melody. If it could indeed speak, what
would it say! I will tell you what I imagine
it would say to me, be pure—rejoice as you go,
and trust in God, for He will guide you as He
does me, safely into the ocean of his love.”
Allow me to congratulate you, and myself, my
friend, that such sentiments as these have not
been weakened or chilled by intervening years.
Among the first things I did after coming
hero, was to secure a seat in the Congregational
Church. It stood in the middle of the square,
where we place our Court houses. A plain,
wooden structure it was, yet not without a tower
and a spire rising somewhat ambitiously towards
Heaven. Without that, it would not have been
orthodox. A spire was once a part of the reli
gion of New England, as indispensable to Puri
tanism as a confessional to Catholicism. Spires
are as little regarded now, however, as that to
which they point, whilst Catholicism holds, and
will ever hold, to its ancient forms and agencies,
of fraud and error. For myself, I love these
graceful emblems of a high civilization —material
declarations of the paramount sovereignty of
God. The pulpit was high and narrow, but quite
capacious enough to hold one evangelical minis
ter of the gospel. The name and the thing are
now well nigh obsolete. Pulpits have given
place to platforms, quite large enough to accom
modate some scores of Doctors of Divinity.—
Pray tell me what great moral ideas does the
word platform represent? None whatever.—
With the politician, it means a convenient sum
mary of delphic statements. With the Christian,
it is a theatre for the perpetration of speeches
and the propagation of isms. The people who
worshipped in that house, struck me as being
common—yet among them, were the Woolcots,
the Goulds, the Traceys, and the Trumbulls,
all names of renown in the annals of Connecti
cut —nay, of the Union. The preacher—don’t
you recall him l A badly dressed, middle-aged,
medium sized, sturdily constructed personage,
with a large head, heavy brows, projecting fore
head, and protruding bps. That was parson
Beecher, now the venerated Lyman Beecher,
D. D., distinguished for his learning, eloquence,
and piety; and eminently as the father of a nu
merous progeny, each and all of whom are noted
for something. Henry Ward is, without demur,
one of the celebrities of the nation, and so is
Mrs. Stowe. Tho former has genius, brilliant
genius, and eloquence, the most captivating
eloquence. Would that he was anything but a
preacher of the Gospel 1 We all know Mrs.
Stowe, at the South. She is a woman, and
therefore entitled to the charity of my silence.
The Doctor had some eccentricities, but they
were natural and innocent. He was, like Domi
nie Sampson, sometimes oblivious. Among oth
er things, I recollect that it was said of him that
he started to lead his horse to the pasture, and
as he went, the bridle, which was over large, fell
off. The Doctor, howeve., dragged the bridle
to the field, and letting down the draw bars,
turned it in, and putting them up carefully, le
turned to his study, without perceiving his lu
dicrous mistake. I heard him preach many
years afterwards, at the meeting of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at the
West, where I had better capacity to judge of
his merits; and he was at the height of his rep
utation. The multitude thronged to his appoint
ments. His manner was far from being faultless,
but it was very impressive. He did not read
nis discourses—he read the different heads of
his argument, and throwing up his glasses, pour
ed forth a flood of extemporaneous oratory, re
markable, I thought, for its vigor and freshness,
and the simplicity and aptness of its illustra
tions. He was as free from claptrap, as his er
ratic son abounds in it, and adhered as closely
to the great theme, Christ and Him crucified, as
Henry Ward departs from it. What do you
think of the prevalent habit of reading sermons?
I think that it is destructive of the effectiveness
of preaching, and not according to the apostolic
plan, and I intend to write an article about it,
some of these days, lor the benefit of the Epis
copal and Presbyterian clergy. Being a layman,
I ought to know something about the matter. —
The beginning and ending of sacred time in
those days, struck me as remarkable. Sacred
time commenced with the setting of the sun on
Saturday, and terminated at sun-set on Sunday.
The curfew, which, at the command of the Con
queror, “tolled the knell of parting day” did not
more effectually close the houses of tho Saxons,
than did this Sabbatic sentiment those of tho
Puritans.
The week declined into tho Sabbath slowly.—
Gradually, on Saturday afternoon ceased the
stir and bustle of the town. The lounger dis
appears from the streets—the shopman has shut
his door, and the loitering laborer is at length
at home. The visitor takes his leave—the
wheel of industry stands still—the help retires
to her garret—the laughter of childhood is hush
ed, and even dogs decline to bark. The sun haa
gone down, and
“Another six days' work fs done
Another Sabbath is began 1”
The stillest time of all was, between the after
noon service on Sunday and sun-set. The village
seemed to hold its breath, and silence, like dark
ness, became palpable. The sun touches the
horizon—it sinks behind the hills —it is gone.
At once, the scene is instinct with life, and vo
cal with shout, song, and revelry. What a
bursting forth of pent up spirit—what explo
sions of long suppressed hilarity—what freedom
of locomotion, painfully restrained 1 It is a very
carnival. The evening is not occupied with work,
but devoted to visiting ; and at no time, does
that most universally worshipped of all the gods,
Cupid, do more mischief. The rascal damaged
me just a little, one Sunday night in June. For
the first time, I then met with Miss , the
grand-daughter, you know, of one of Washing
ton’s aids ; and lovely, yes, supremely lovely I
Heroic blood—a queenly person—a bright, clear,
strong intellect; with that gentle formality,
without which I could not love either wife or
sweetheart. But I did not love her, for I had no
heart to bestow—mine I had left at home, in
the keeping of a daughter of our own sunny
clime. Shame upon his years, old fogie that ho
is ; he writes like a moon-stricken boy, you ex
claim. Now my friend, whatever may be my sta
tus at home, civil, social, or political, rely upon it,
I did not bring it with me. Indeed I came here to
get rid of it. My Georgia identity is a myth.—
I have recalled my boyhood. It is good to be a
boy once in a while.
Law schools and law professorships have
multiplied greatly since we were students, but it
may be questioned, whether the Union affords
advantages superior to those we enjoyed under
Judge Gould. As a practitioner, and a Judge,
ho had few equals—as a Lecturer, no superior.
He was, withal, an accomplished belles-lettres
scholar, and like Murray, dined with the wits:
calculated as well to grace the shades of Twick
enham, as the halls of Westminster. His lec
tures were the accurate results of intense labor
and profound learning. Since his time, the Com
mon Law has undergone modifications by legis
lation and judicial decisions, in accommodation
to the vastly augmented and diversified inter
ests of labor, capital and commerce ; yet now,
they would most admirably subserve the purposes
of instruction, because they so fully develop
the philosophy of the science. Os no one can it
be said with more truth, than of the lawyer,
"felix qui potuit, dkc." No man ever became
great in the Law, without a thorough mastery of
its principles. Is it not too bad that your shal
low litterateurs , and flippant novelists will persist
in saying that our profession has the effect of
narrowing the mind, weakening the judgment,
and impoverishing the imagination ? Is it not
the science of Justice in its application to empires,
municipalities, and individual men ? I should
like to know what the God of the Universe is
more occupied with, than the administration of
justice ?
Can you recall our eloquent lecturer ? Let
me assist you. If to the heighth of Judge Wm.
T. Gould, of Augusta you add three inches—
elongate his face in the same proportion—give
to his eyes an intenser shade of black, and to
his back a gentle stoop, and substitute for his
quick motion a grave carriage, and for his rapid
speech a more measured utterance, you will
have his distinguished father, at his age, repro
duced.
But, enough—at least for the present.
Tours as ever, .
hi —i
A Guilty Conscience. —One of the finest
passages ever uttered by Mr. Webster, was in
vindication of the authority of conscience and of
Providence, on a trial for murder.
“The guilty soul cannot keep its own secret.
It is false to itself. It labors under its guilty
possession and knows not what to do with it.—
The human heart was not made for the residence
of such an inhabitant It finds itself preyed up
on by a torment which it does not acknowledge
to God or man. A vulture is devouring it, and
it cannot ask any sympathy or assistance, eith
er from heaven or earth. The secret which the
murderer possesses soon comes to possess him ;
and, like the evil spirit of which we read, it over
comes him, and leads him withersoever it will.
Ho feels it beating to his heart—rising to his
throat —and demanding disclosure. He
thinks tbe world sees it in his face, and almost
hears its workings in the silence of his thoughts.
It betrays his discretion—it breaks down his
courage—it conquers his prudence. When sus
picion from without begins to embarrass him,
and the net of circumstances to entangle him,
the fatal secret struggles with still greater vio
lence to burst forth. It must be confessed —it
will be confessed; there is no refuge from con
fession but suicide—and suicide is confession.”
University op the South. —Hon. Oliver T.
Morgan, of Carroll Parish, La., who is now spend
ing his third summer at Beersheba Springs, in
Tennessee, recently gave Bishop Polk the large
sum of forty thousand dollars to establish a Pro
fessorship of Agricultural Chemistry in the Uni
versity of the South. This truly munificent do
nation completes the subscription required by
the charter, $500,000, though the Trustees have
no idea of stopping here.
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