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Southern Field and Fireside. y voL. i. Y ' [For the Southern Field and Fireside.] 4 REMINISCENCES OF CHILDHOOD. O BY TALLULAH MAY. ' From over the monntain and river and plain, J I visit the scenes of my childhood ajrain ; On Fancy’s swift pinions, I'm borne in delight, W To the side of my dearly loved parents to-night. \ j My mother, with knitting-work, sits in her chair; Though pale is her cheek, her brow- is still fair; 4 And I know by that smile and the tear in her eye, Y That her dear absent children in fancy are nigh. And there sits my father, a trifle more grey, JT • As by lamplight he pores o'er the news of the day, i Or weary, perchance, leans his head on his hand, And dreams of his youth with its fairy bright land. I see the old homestead to memory so dear, Y Aye! there is the ggfdcn I tended with care; 4 How wo romped in its walks, my dear sisters and I! * All silently now, in the churchyard they lie 1 J How welcome was evening, w hen lessons all done, Y By the frolicking brook we had frolicksome fun, / Or watched in wild glee, as wo fled down the hill, \ That triumphh of skill, Hal’s mimic saw-mill. r My brothers are fighting the battle of life ; Ood keep their hearts pure, ’mid the din and the strife! J High hearted, right minded, true and brave be they, % As they were when I knew them in childhood’s young Q day 1 Yf O blcss'd be the visions that flit o’er us here 1 J As angels, the lonely, they visit and cheer 1 'v Kind messengers sent ’mid life's sorrow and pain, » Blest scenes of the past 1 I invoke them again 1 Lumpkin, Ga., August 8,1969. [For the Southern Field and Fireside.] j Entered according to the Act of Congress, die., <tc. 4 ly the Author. [ MASTER WILLIAM MITTEN; f 08, Ka youth of brilliant talents, WHO WAS RUINED BY BAD LUCK. O " BY TUB AUTHOR OF THE GEORGIA SCENES, ETC. JT “And I am equally sure that William has ' reaped too many benefits from obedience to you, JX ever to disobey you again in any thing. Now y this plan has occurred to me: September, though v> a Fall mouth, is always a warm, relaxing, sickly f month in this climate; and a3 ho has been much 4 on horse-back during the vacation, it may injure o' his health to break off suddenly from this fine J exercise, and set himself down to severe study. JT I know he has made rather a bad use of his ' horse during the vacation, but he can’t do so at JX school. You have enumerated the evils you ap * prehend from his keeping a horse there, and that V, will be sufficient to guard him against them; for he has told me over and over again, that he be -4 lieved he had the best Uncle in the world; that •o' you had only to tell him what to do, and he J would do it, if it were to go to the earth'3 end. j V Now give him any other orders or cautions about / the horse that you think proper ; let him keep HX him only while the weather continues warm, y and as soon as it turns cool, I will send Tom for \j him and fetch him home, if you say so. The short vacation at Christmas will soon be here, 4 and if he keeps him till then, he can ride him o' home, and save us the trouble of sending for J him. But no matter for that, if you say send Y for him before, it shall be done. As for the ex / penses of keeping the horse, it will cost no more jX to keep him there than here, nor not as much, and there, he will be of some use, and here, he will be of none. But the great benefit I promise myself from it, is William’s delightful improving 4 trips with Mr. Waddel to his preaching places.” o' “ William,” said the Captain, “retire a little, J while your mother and I discuss this matter a V little farther." / William retirod. Y “Do you know, Anna," continued the Cap ® tain, “ that nothing has fallen from William in vj three months, which has pained me, not to say offended me, so much, as that Rocky River plea 4 for keeping a horse ? Here he has been in the midst of preaching, and various religious exer -1 cises for three or four weeks, and except on the Y Sabbath, he has hardly ever darkened a Church J door in the day time, and never at night, unless \ you pressed him into your service; and now all f of a sudden, he has taken a wonderful yearning j to accompany Mr. Waddel upon his preaching ex cursions.” 4 “ Brother, I think the day has gone by when ' William would deceive; and I am very happy J in having it in my power to explain this thing Y to your satisfaction. I talked to William about / his taking so little interest in the meetings, and Y he said that he wanted recreation alter Ins hard study for the long term —that he would soon have to renew his studies for ten long months V with only two weeks vacation at Christmas, and 4 that if he did not improve his health in the va ® cation be would breakdown—that he had been J to preaching in the country several times when V there was preaching in town, because he could J take exercise in going there. Now at school, a the state of things will be just reversed. He <h will be kept constantly employed, except on Sat- I JANIES GARDNER, I t Proprietor. ( AUGUSTA. GA., SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1859. urdays and Sundays, and he would be- desirous of exercising on those days and doing good at the same time." The Captain looked doubtmgly, and said no more upon that head; but he returned from the episode: “Anna,” said he, “ I am very anxious to ac commodate you aud William, but I have awful misgivings about this horse affair. There is much weight in what you have said; but it does not satisfy me. What a world of trouble one false step may give a man I What eternal vigi lance must a man keep up both upon himself and his charge, who has the government of ljoys! Now if I refuse to comply with your wishes, and by any chance in the world William should hap pen to get sick, you will ascribe it to my need less rigor, and carelessness about his health.— I erred in giving him tho horse, and I am not absolutely certain that after having given him, I ought to control his use of him, simply upon my apprehensions that it be mischievous.— Perhaps no evil will grow.-Oqt of it for one short month, or a month and .a half at farthest, for surely we shall have frost in that time, and by giving William proper precautions, it may be that all will turn out well at last You and William will be accommodated, my doubts will be removed, (if they can be called doubts) about interfering with his right of property in the pres ent state of things, and possibly his health may be imprQvod, or at least preserved by it. Call him bifck and let me give him my charge." William wine. “I have concluded, seta, to let you keep your horse at Mr. Waddel’s, upon these conditions: You are to ride him no where but to the school house and back to your boarding house, except on Saturdays. On those days, you are to ride him to no grog shops, gatherings or frolics, nor more than six miles from Willington, any where except to Vienna, and there, only to mail your own letters—don’t forget this condition. You are never to go to Vienna unless you go to mail a letter of your own, addressed to your mother or my self. All your letters toothers, you must carry to the office when you go to mail your letters to one of us. You are not to go simply to enquire for letters—enquire for them when you go to mail your own. When you go under these res trictions, you may of course carry letters and bring letters for your school-mates —you are not to ride your horse at all on the Sabbath, except to accompany Mr. Waddel to some preaching appointment—you are to loan him to no student —l’ll give you a paper to show them, that will excuse you to them for not loaning your horse to them. When your mother sends for your horse, you are to give him up without a murmur, and if you keep him till Christmas, you are to bring him home and leave him here.” William subscribed to the terms cheerfully, and showed by his countenance that he suffered no distress for his Uncle’s over-refinement in trade. On the second of September he and Tom took the road to Willington—Tom with saddle bags which bent upwards with stuffing. On reaching Willington, William selected for his boarding house, one of the remotest from the school house that he could find, with any stu dents in it. It contained two pretty wild fel lows. A single day here convinced him that he had made a great change for the better, in board ing houses. The eating was better, the sleep ing was better, than at Newby’s, and there he understood he would have to cut his own wood and make his own fires. “ Why didn’t I come here at first?” thought he. “ Smith,” said he, “ does Mr. Waddel ever come round here of nights?” “No,” said Smith, “ it’s too far off for him to come boguing about to of nights; and if he was to come one time, ho wouldn’t come again, for I’d make him smell the face of a brick bat.” As there were no brick-bats about Willington, we infer from this remark, that Smith was a city gentleman. “And you’ve no Monitor here?” enquired William. “No;" said Jones, “Old Moses is got more sense than to make Smith monitor over me, or me over him. ne knows we’d never spunk one another." William was in transports with his new loca tion. His appearance at school on horseback, created quite a sensation among the students; divers of whom got spunked “ for looking at William Mitten’s horse in study-hours” —in short for being idle, but in detail as just stated. As Doctor Waddel was about mounting old Hector, at 12 o’clock on the second day after William’s return, he saw William riding Snap-dragon to water, and he joined him. “ William, J ’ said the Doctor, “ have your quit boarding at Mr. Newby’s?" “ Yes sir." “ I’m sorry to hear that. Did Mr. or Mrs. Newby say or do anything to offend yon ?” “No sir, but Uucle allows me to board where I please, and I preferred boarding at Mr. ’s.” “ Is that your horse ?” “ Yes sir." The Doctor cleared his throat sadly and pro phetically, and proceeded: “ That horse, William, is going to bring you in to trouble, and I advise you to write to your mother immediately to Send for him and take him away; and I adviselyou to get back to Mr. Newby’s as soon as possible.’’ “ I don't expect to keeb him long, Mr. Wad del—only till the weather turns cool.” “ That may be quite too long. William, I have been keeping school many years, and I declare to you, my son, that no student under me has ever done anything to fill me with such fears, anxieties and griefs as ycu have, in these seem ingly small matters of changing your boarding bouse, and keeping a horse here. What day of the month is thi3? The fifth, isn’t it?” “ Yes sir.” “Is your name upon either of these beech-trees, William ?” “ Yes sir.” • “ Come show me which.” “There it is,” said William as they approaeh a beach. “Very prettily carved. Do you keep a pock et-book, William ?” "Yes sir.” “Write down in your pocket-book the year and the day of the month, in which you and I took our first and last look together at your name on that beach.” “ Why’’ Mr. Waddel, I haven’t done anything 'wrong, have I ?” ’“Nothing morally wrong, ray son, nothing morally wroug. I have a deep interest in you, William, and so has your country. Hundreds will regret to bo disappointed in you. Lay to heart the advice lam about to jite, an d follow it, as yon respect me, a* you lom'your Uncle, as you love yourself, as you love yonr mother, as you love your country. Till you send home that horse, be more studious than you have ever been, more strict in observing the rules of the school, more watchfhl of what you say and do, more careful of where you go than you have ever been. And as soon as you dispose of the horse, come back to Mr. Newby’s—Mr. ’s is too far for you to walk.” “ I’ve paid my board for a quarter.” “No matter for that. Get back to Newby's as soon as you can, and I'll arrange the matter of board with Mr. .” “ Mr. Waddel, X. Jones and Z. Smith board at Mr. ’s.” “ I know they do, but—they keep no horse. Good day! Remember the fifth of September and the beach tree!” William did not move from the spot where Doctor Waddel left him, for five minutes. He was alarmed, he could not tell why. “What,” thought he, “ can there be in keeping a horse, that is so horrible to Uncle and Mr. Waddel!— It’s the strangest thing to me in the world I” CHAPTER XIX. Master Mitten forms acquaintances at his new hoarding house who get him into trouble. —He reciprocates the compliment by getting them into trouble. —Leaves school in deep distress. It was a common remark of Doctor Waddel, “ show me a boy with a horse, dog, and gun, and I’ll show you a boy who will never come to any thing.” We can look back through the vista of fifty years, and we cannot point to the man, liv ing or dead, whose history disproves the remark. We can point to many in verification of it. But Master Mitten had as yet only a horse, and at worst, according to Waddel, he was only one third of the way to nothing. Why, then, was the Doctor so much afflicted by his horse ? And why did it distress him so much more to find William boarding at Mr. 's, than Smith and Jones?” He saw at once that William had changed his lodging only for the pleasure of riding his horso every day. That his horse would necessa rily employ much of his time, that might be much better disposed of, and be constantly engaging him in pleasure rides, or vice-rides when he ought to be at his books. He felt almost certaiu that ere long that horse would bring him on the monitor’s bill, and he disliked exceedingly to give a promising boy his first whipping; because he knew that half the stimulus to close study and good order would be taken from him by his first whipping. But the great source of the Doc tor's uneasiness was his room-mates. Jones and Smith were among the few students of the Doc tor's school, who disliked him, and they cordial ly despised him. And yet, strange as it may seem, he had never flogged either of them, he had never said a cross word to either of them. They feared whipping, and demeaned them selves well enough when at school, to keep off the monitor's bills, and recited well enough to drag along with their classes. “ Why, then, did they despise him ?” The reader must ask the Devil to explain that matter. We acknowledge our utter incompe tency to do it—Yes, we can go a little way into the expiation of it, and as it is one of the para doxies of human nature, the philosophic reader is entitled to all the light that we can shed upon it. If it were possible, we should say that Smith came into the world hating Doctor Wad del ; for he seemed to bring his hatred with him to the school. At their very first interview, he showed palpable signs of it, already up to a red heat. Now if it be possible for a rational being to hate furiously at sight, then Smith’s hatred commenced with this interview. But if this be i morally impossible, at what period of his life can we better place it, than at his birth ? As to Jones, his hatred, though curious, and smoked a little with the unnatural, is nevertho traceable. From his introduction to the Doctor, to the day of his becoming Smith’s room-mate, ho seemed rather to like the Doctor: but on the evening of that day, most wonderful transi tion of feeling took place in him, that perhaps ever ocqured in the history of mind. As the two took their seats, at their study-table, Jones ob served, “ Old Moses is a pretty tight old fellow, but I can’t help liking him.” “He's a d nd old tyrant!" said Smith. Whereupon Jones' countenance made pi*>clamation of the workings ofhismindin this unmistakable language:— “ Why,— La me 1 I never thought of that! But it’s so! I see it plain enough now! What an escape I have made! A little more, and" I might have been precipitated into the bottomless abyss of love!” Jones covered his ignorance and weak ness in the usual way, by pretending he was in fun, nnd to prove it, fell to cursing the Doctor luxuriously. The most oftheir recreation hours of evenings, were spent in brotherly contests for supremacy in hating and abusing their ex cellent preceptor. Let no man say that such cases never occurred. They are to be found in every school of a hundred boys in the land— not exactly, to be sure, in the features which we have given to them, but exactly in substance.— Ye protestors against the doctrine of native depravity, explain this matter, if you please. Doctor Waddel knew well the feelings of these youths towards him, and their worthless ness of character; and he was pleased that they had selected a residence which cut them off al most entirely from communication with the other students, save when they were under his eye. No wonder that he had most gloomy forebodings when he saw a youth of William’s tender age, and bright promise, placed in daily and nightly intercourse with them. , Young teachers may caution a good, amiable, highly gifted boy, against associating with a low, vulgar, abandoned youth of his school, but an old one never does; for the plain reason that ninety-nine in the hundred good boys, instead of thanking the teacher for his kindness, holding his counsels in confidence, and improving them, will go right off to the profligate and tell him all that his teacher has said about him, render him ten times worse than he was before, infuriate his parents, and spread the spirit of rebellion through the whole school. Well for the kind man if he does not get his head cracked by the father, his character cracked by the mother, and his chair cracked by his patrons or trustees. All this, kind reader, in answer to your question, “ Why did not Dr. Waddel tell the boy frankly, that Smith and Jones were unfit associates for him, and that they would ruin him, if he did not leave them immediately?” Doctor Waddel well knew “ that there were things,” not only “in heaven and earth,” but in schools, “ which never were dreamed of” in the world’s “philosophy.” We must not, however, take leave of Smith and Jones without doing them the justice to say, that there were two amiablo, excellent intelli gent men, and as many women of like character, whose opinion of them differed toto coelo from ours: these were their fathers and mothers. On the evening of the fifth, William Mitten reported to Smith and Jones all that bad passed between the Doctor and himself; wondering how the Doctor could be so much concerned about his horse and his boarding at Newby’s. “I understand it,” said Smith, with expletives, Shich we omit, “ lie and Newby are in cahoot. e knows you’re good pay; and another thing— ho wants you there near him, where he can be poking his grey eyes and club nose through the crack of your house, of nights, without much trouble. If I stayed there and he was to come peeping into my house, I’d take a sharp stick and punch out his old peepers. I was always taught to despise eaves-droppers, and so I do.” “Oh yes,” said William, “ I see into it. He thinks if he can get my horse away from me, rather than walk so far to school, I’ll go back to Newby’s; but he misses it just as much as if he had burnt his shirt. I ain’t going to quit the good eating here, and the good sleeping and easy living and go back there, to eating and sleeping and working like a nigger, if my horse was gone.” “ Bill,” said Jones, “ did you ever play cards ?” “ Oh yes,” said Bill, “ many a time.” “I wish we had a pack,” said Smith. “We burnt up ours, at the end of the term; but if you’ll lend me your horse Saturday, I’ll go to Petersburg and get a pack.” “ Read that paper,” said William. Smith read it “ Well, Jiow will your Uncle know that you lent him?” pursued Smith. “But I promised my Uncle solemnly to obey his orders about the horse, and I hate to violate my word. It would distress my mother to death, if I was to do so, and she find it out.’' “ Well, are you going to use him Saturday?” said Jones. “If you ain’t. I'll tell you how we can fix it elegantly; you just leave him in the stable, and I’ll take him, without your lending him.” " I thought I’d go, next Saturday and Sunday, j Two Dollars Per Ann am, I I Always In Advance. ) with Mr. Waddel, if ho goes, to Rocky River Church ; I must go oue time ” Hero William’s words were drowned, by most obstreporous laughter from his companions. [to be continued.] —■»- AN EXPLANATION OF BEITIBH TITLED. We have heard the question asked, why is it that Lord Palmerston, Lord John Russell, and other titled persons in Great Britain, are found sitting in the House of Commons, instead of the House of Lords. The question is a simple one, but would fail to elicit a correct answer oftener, perhaps, than might be supposed. The British House of Lords comprises all the members of the five orders of nobility in Eng land; that is, all the dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and barons, who hgve English titles.— It does not, however, comprise all the Scotch or Irish nobility. The Scotch nobility send sixteen representative peers, chosen by themselves; the Irish send twenty-eight. The Scotch represen tative peers are elected for each parliament; the Irish for life. Viscount Palmerston is not an English, but an Irish peer, nor is he representative of the Irish nobility; therefore he has no seat in the House of Lords. His Irish title, however, does not deprive him of the privilges of a British commoner; and any commoner may represent any constituency, without regard to residence. Lord Palmerston, accordingly, although really belonging to the nobility, sits in the House of 1 Commons, as & commoner, representing the borough of Tiverton, which electa him to each Parliament It is to be observed, however, that many of the Scotch and Irish nobility have also English peerages, by virtue of which, they sk as mem bers of the House of Lords, in their own right, although always known by their Scotch or Irish title, when it is of higher grade than the Eng lish. Thus the Earl of Aberdeen, is not a re presentative peer, but sits in the House of Lords by right of his English rank, as Visoount Gor don. The Duke of Athol sits as Earl of Strange, and the Duke of Argyle, as Baron Sundridge and Hamilton. The Irish Marquis of London derry, is also the English Earl Vane; the Earl of Donoughjpore, is Viscount Hutchinson; the Marquis of Ely, is Baron Loftus, Ac., Ac. As to Lord John Russell, Lord John Manners, Ac., they are not peers at all, but bear the title “ Lord” only by courtesy, as the sons of noble men. This title is given to all the sons of dukes and marquises and to the eldest sons of earls.— Lord John Russell is a younger son of the late and brother of the present Duke of Bedford.— The expression “ Lord Russell,” which we see sometimes applied to him, for brevity’s sake, is incorrect; although the eldest son of a nobleman may bear the honorary title, without the addi tion of the Christian name, as Lord Stanley, eldest son of the Earl of Derby. The terms “Lord ” and “your Lordship " are also applied indiscriminately to all the orders of nobility, ex cept the dukes. The correct application of “ Honorable ” and “ Right Honorable” is also rigidly defined by the laws of rank and courtesy. Earls, viscounts and barons, the sons of dukes and marquises, and the eldest sons of earls, are all “ right honorable;” tlip younger sons of earls and all the sons of viscounts and barons are simply “honorable.” These terms are also applied to the occupants of certain offices of distinction, but members of the House of Commons are not, like our members of Congress, addressed, as “Honorable,” unless entitled to it on some other ground. Dukes are “ his Grace” or “ your Grace," and marquises are “ Most Noble." A knowledge of these trifles clears up a great deal of confusion with regard to English politics and literature. The Progress op toe Press. —Within less than one hundred years ago, the establishment of a third printing press in the United States was regarded by many of Dr. Franklin’s friends as a hazardous enterprise. Since then, such has been the multiplication of newspapers in this country, that seven hundred and fifty mills are now employed to furnish printing paper; these mills are operated by 2,000 engines. The an nual product of these mills reaches the enor mous quantity of 270,000,000 pounds of paper, from which was realized the pretty little sum of $27,000,000. A pound of paper requires a pound and a quarter of rags. 340,000,000 pounds of old rags were therefore consumed last year.in the manufacture of paper. 1 111 Infidelity. —Sir Isaac Newton set out in life a clamorous infidel; but on a close examination of the evideuces of Christianity, he found reason to change his opinions. When the celebrated Dr. Edmund Halley was talking infidelity before him, Sir Isaac addressed him in these or like words: “ Dr. Halley, I am always glad to hear you when you speak of astronomy or other parts of the mathematics, because that is a subject you • have studied and well understand; but you should not talk of Christianity, for you have not studied it. I have, and am certain you know nothing of the matter.” NO. 18