Newspaper Page Text
172
LITERARY.
VH.UAK W. MANS, Editor.
The Southern Field and Fireside
Ig PUBLISHED EVERY SATCRDAT.
TEEMS—I2.OO a year, Invariably In advance. All
Postmasters are anthorized agents.
SATURDAY, OCT. 22, 1859.
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NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
We do not send receipts by mail for subscriptions re
mitted. The receipt of The Souther* Field and
Fireside, after the money is remitted, will be evi
dence to each subscriber that his money has been re
ceived and his name duly entered on the mail book.
TO CORRESPONDENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS.
We acknowledge the reception, during the
past week, of;
A Dream, from a Minister’s Wife;
Echo and I, from N.;
A Night on the Mountain, by Eola;
Sappho, by same.
“ Solomon Acorn ” must assure us that the
name of the person sending us the article is that
of its author. The place of its origin, also, ad
monishes us to enquire if the author be a South
erner. The plan of our paper does not admit
original contributions from other than Southern
writers.
Three Years of Heart History, a tale, by
Katy-Did, is accepted and will be published as
soon as we can find space for it in our columns.
The Fishing Scrape, by J. M. T., and “A
Satyre," by Gouvion Dessaix, are respectfully
declined.
The tale entitled “Love vs. Ambition,” we
hold at the disposition of the writer. If not
sent for very soon, the manuscript will be sent
“ traveling ” to that bourne whence there is no
return. We advise the writer to let it go, and
think no more about it. The story is a wild
vagary, rife with improbabilities and impossi
bilities. It has a certain smartness of execution,
but is so infelicitous in conception that we are
sure the author would hereafter experience only
pleasure in the reflection that it had passed from
our hands into the “basket,” and thence into
the furnace.
JUDGE LONGSTREET.
We cannot refrain from plucking from two
short newspaper items, clipped from a couple of
our exchanges, and which we give below, a
sprig of laurel for the already well-covered brow
of our old friend, and former professional asso
ciate, whose name we have just above written.
He needs, to be sure, no praise of ours. His
name, though borne, at our bidding, on the
wings of the Field and Fireside, and uttered
by its ten thousand tongues, will not be carried
thus, to any locality, where it is not already,
and where it has not long been familiar as a
household word, almost literally, a household
word. For, In the long course of his later sev
enteen years’ career as President of various
Southern Colleges and Universities, the young
men who have pursued, or will pursue their
academical studies, in whole or in part under his
eye, must count by many hundreds if not by
thousands. There is probably not a man living
in our country, who has traversed a Profession
al life, at once so active and varied, so useful
and distinguished, as that of Judge Longstreet
has been. He has “ touched” under the public
eye, almost every sphere of liberal occupation—
the Bar and Bench—the Pulpit and the Press—
the fields of Literature and the halls of Learn
ing—and what has he “ touched ” that he has not
“ adorned ?” It was while he was traversing a
small segment of this circle of the Professions,
as a member of the Bar of the Middle District
of Georgia, that we were so fortunate as to be
ourselves, for a few yeaTS, in professional con
nection with him. He has no cause to share in
the feelings of gratitude with which we revert
to the inception of that connection: yet we
trust that, like ourselves, te never recalls it, but
with pleasure; and he does, we believe, recipro
cate the e3teem and friendship which then orig
inated, and with which we know we shall con
tinue to regard him so long as we retain the ca
pacity of appreciating the finest qualities of head
and heart, rare genius in rare combination with
the highest moral excellence.
But we must not forget the “ sprig ot laurel ”
we were speaking of above. Here are the items
alluded to:
Hoxo* to Emory College.—At the class of
1845, at Eti*orv College, Oxford, Ga., appears
the names of william H. Chambers, Esq., of
Alabama, Hon. C. Lamar, of Mississippi,
J. Jenks Jones, Esq., Mr. Thomas Hardeman,
Jr., and R. G. Harper, Es^
The first is the member to the Legis
lature from the county of Ala., and a
promising lawyer. The second i»Vßepresenta
tive in Congress from Mississippi,
for re-election without opposition. TV* three
last are the members elect from the 3d, 1%. and
Bth districts from Georgia to the next
All honor to Oxford !— [Columbus (Ga.) Times
Oct. 7.
University Graduates in the Legislature.
—At the election which came off on last Thurs
day, six graduates of the University of Missis
sippi, were elected to seats in the State Legisla
ture. They are, John L. Hudson, of Marshall
county; A. M. Resons, Calhoun; T. E. Bugg,
Chickasaw; J. J. Smiley, Hinds; L. B. Valiant,
"Washington; and V. L. Terrell, of Covington.
All the graduates who were candidates were elected
by large majorities.—[Oxford Mercury.
The above items suggest the thought that our
friend Judge Longstreet may, in after times,
rival Doctor Wad del himself in the number of
distinguished public men who will point to him
as their early preceptor, counselor, and guide in
the paths of usefulness and honor they may pur
sue. All of the gentlemen mentioned by The
Times , belonged to the second class of Emory
College, wLich began and completed its college
NOTICE TO
BOITSHKS&V HEM 111 OT3&SBX&3B.
course under the Presidency of Judge Long
street.
Those mentioned in the notice of the Missis
sippi paper—the Oxford Mercury— began and
completed their college course under the Judge,
at a much later period, while he was President
of the University of Mississippi—a post held by
him, with eminent usefulness for several years
prior to his transfer to the Presidency he now
occupies, of South Carolina College, in Colombia.
OUR PARITCORRESPONDENCE.
Paris, Sept. 29, 1859.
The “ political horizon,” to employ a familiar
French metaphor, is clouded with as much un
certainty as ever. Looming through the fog is
always that Italian Question —an object vast and
menacing and undefined enough to be sublime,
but represented by ingenious or crazy newsmon
gers in such fantastic, changing shapes of ‘camel,’
‘weazel,’ ‘whale’ as are quite ridiculous. That
some one of the numberless conjectures put forth
by journalists and oral newsmongers,as to the do
ings of the Zurich Conference and the plans of the
Emperors may prove to be true, is probable, for
among them is included almost every possible
case. That most of them must prove false, is
certain,for they absolutely contradict themselves.
That any of them have a greater authority of
origin than the brains of the individual writers
and speakers, is not likely. The pretense of be
ing well, and peculiarly well informed, so con
stantly set forward by Paris correspondents of
the Belgian and other foreign papers, is as con
stantly refuted by facts. Neither the members
of the Conference, nor the two Emperors are in
the habit of taking or letting “ own correspond
ents ” iuto their confidence. I doubt extremely
whether there are ten men in France who have
any more accurate knowledge of what the plen
ipotentiaries at Zurich have done and left un
done, and of what Louis Napoleon purposes to
do, than you will have twenty-four hours after
receiving your European files by the steamer
which brings you this letter.
The chief new facts you will find record of
therein are, first; The address expressing the
desire of annexation to Piedmont, presented by
the deputation from the Romagnol assembly to
King Victor Emmanuel, and that monarch's
reply to the same. Second : The declarations
made by the Pope in the secret consistory, held
the 26th inst., by which lie annuls all the acts of
the above named assembly, reminds the rebels
against his very mild paternal authority of the
awful curses he so gently thundered at them
some while ago, and expresses the hope that the
Legations will be brought again under the pon
tifical rule, [which, it may be said in passing,
would be exchanging spiritual curses for a tem
poral curse—acceptmg Cardinal Antonelli here
to save themselves from Old Cloots hereafter,]
Third : The menace of open battle between the
Papal mercenaries and Garibaldi. Fourth:
The official denial by the Moniteur of any truth
ful foundation to the rumor that a kingdom of
Central Italy was to be established for the bene
fit of Prince Napoleon.
A word or two of comment on each of these
will suffice. To take them in reverse order,
and begin with the last. It reduces the thou
sand and one hypothetical solutions of the Ital
ian Question to a thousand. The only remarka
ble point in the denial is, that the rumor should
have been esteemed worthy of one. That it did
gain circulation and quite extensive entertain
ment, not to say credence, is a most striking
proof of the utterly floating, uncertain state of
the public mind, in which memory and judgment
seem to have abdicated in favor of mere percep
tion and imagination. Yours, exercising the
former faculties, may have been entertained by,
but could never give credence to the idea that
Louis Napoleon would lift a finger to lift the dead
weight of Prince Napoleon to the Etrurian or
any other throne. Could ho, indeed, put that
“ well beloved,” plump “cousin” on a throne in
the Fejee Islands, with a chance of his being
eaten by his subjects, then you might look for a
strenuous effort on the part of his majesty. I
cannot myself regard a conflict between the Pon
tifical and Romagnol troops as imminent, al
though either party is in preparation for such a
contingency. It is certain that the Pope’s mer
cenaries alone, are unequal to the contest with
Garibaldi alone; but Garibaldi is not alone, his
forces forming but a part of the army of the
Central Italian League. The fighting once be
gun in Romagna could hardly fail to extend to—
Heaven only can foresee whither, but far enough
to terribly complicate the actual imbroglio, as
European Powers can readily foresee, and will
therefore strive to prevent. The Pope's or ra
ther Cardinal Antonelli’s declarations through
the Pope’s mouth, in the consistory, could have
been anticipated. They are strictly logical se
quences, from the worst of premises. So long
as the unholy coupling of temporal and spir
itual power, of Mammon and God, of Christ’s
Vicar and a worldly King, exists in one
person, he must rule despotically, because infal
libly—rebels must be shot in this world, if, as at
Perugia, they can be shot and damned in the
next, whether or r.o. The Romagnols, in wish
ing to be annexed to Piedmont, the King of that
country in accepting their wishes, and all others
who directly or indirectly aid and comfort them,
are guilty of sacrilege. This is the ground
taken by the ultra (as it seems to me, the logical)
Romanist party in France as well as Rome.—
Victor Emmanuel’s reply to the Romagnol dep
utation, while it agreeably surprised the Liberals
by its boldness of sympathy with their wishes,
has violently irritated the ultra-Montanese here.
They are loud and warm in a condemnation of it
and him and them, which glances as well at
Louis Napoleon himself, conditionally. That
is they say, or imply rather, but w’ith suffi
cient clearness, that if it could be supposed
that the Emperor looked on such performances
with complacency, then he would be in like con
demnation. Strong as his majesty may be in
the bayonets of his army, or in the well under
stood present interests or “ affection ”of the
French, he is not strong enough to despise or
overlook the very grave importance of keeping
i. on good terms with this ultra church party,
%hieh, though small in numbers, is strong by
one fixed idea. You remember,
how, before the blood shed in the days of the
Coup &Gtat was wiped up from the pavements
of Paris, for its support by decreeing the
Pantheon iiAg a church again; how the bid was
accepted and support acquired, and how im
mense was the v*]ue of that support, and how it
was secured by co*stant succeeding favors. But
not secured unconditionally. The Church par
ty is neither Imperial v>r Republican, neither
Legitimist or Orleanist— iVeecepts auy and every
form of government, witltyi proclivity indeed
toward the “strong” governments, because
these last naturally tend to s Repress indepen
dent thought and action, and consequently to al
ly themselves with it, but remains always itself,
the party of the church, always ready not to
change its principles,which are invariable, but to
transfer its support to any new party that will
best pay for it. It has, can have, ought logical
ly to have, no political affection. Louis Napo-
leon is doubtless as well aware of all this as
your correspondent. He is also aware of the
loud callofpubli: opinion, in and out of Trance,
for some improv sment of the condition of the
Roman Legation ?, for some sort of partial ful
filment of the fa ions programme of Italian per
mances, cut sha t so untimely at V illafranca.
But to say h< v he is to get out of this dilem
ma, would be t enter into that wide field of
conjecture and iypothesis, for whose abundant
yield of chaff, tangle weed, knot grass, puff
balls, straws t at do not show which way the
wind blows, mi shrooms, and the like growth,
without one lea of sage. I have just expressed
a becoming con enipt. Suppose we imitate Lou
is Napoleon at [ the wiser ones, and await the
solution a littl from events themselves.
Meanwhile,
“ If you can lo« ; into the seeds of time,
And say which min will prow and which will not,
Speak then tom who neither" can nor will try.
What more filly absorbed the interest of the
great mass of 1 arisians last week, than any of
these grand for iign affairs and still is an unex
hausted theme ontalk,is an entirely domestic sub
ject,or rather a siijectand his domestic. The sub
ject is a very new and little one, having been in
this world, wherelt has already made as much of a
sensation as theFamcus Moniteur article of which
I last wrote, only two months. A week ago
last Saturday afternoon it was taken by its nurse
for a promenade in flat charming baby fair, the
garden of the Tuilerks. Presently a well dress
ed young woman apt reached the nurse, admired
the child, asked if to was the child of Madame
Hua, was affirmatively, thereupon
fell into ecstatic admration of her little nephew,
kissed, caressed, amjiddressed the fondest of bad
French to it, (baby talus as reckless of grammar
and sense in France is in America,) must take it
in her arms, will cart; it home, with the nurse,
whom she first begs o run on a two minutes
errand. Nurse, competely deceived by the per
fect acting of the scet?, goes on the errand, and
returns to find clifll and young woman no
where to be found. The child was stolen. The
distress of the pareis can be conceived. The
father put a notice ii all the journals of Paris
next day, giving an peurate description of the
infant and offering V,OOO francs for its restora
tion. And now, tho whole town learning the
fact, the interest bejjin and grew till the whole
town was taken up with it, as the New Yorkers
were by tho Bond strict murder or the Boston
ians by the Parkmak murder. I doubt wTiether
you Augustans can boast any murder worthy of
comparison. “Who solo the child?” “for what
end?” were question-; asked and conjecturally
answered in vain for nany days. Large groups
were constantly gathered in front of the house
where tho poor mothtr’s life was endangered by
the agony of her loss. Mystery helped the sym
pathy and sympathy helped the mystery to fill
the Parisians topping full of emotions and sen
sations—a state of idind and soul most delight
ful to Parisians as to the rest of us. Some of
the child's clothing Wts brought one day to the
parents—the articles tad been picked up in a
street in a quarter of the town far remote from
the Tuileries. Had the poor thing been made
away with ? .Vais, rrun Dieu ! La pauvre mere !
Pauvre petit! And all fell into the inter
rogative and exclamatory words. But tho
clothing could not he traced beyond the
finder, a person perfeoily innocent of the abduc
tion, who sold them fa: a trifle to a neighbor
who had read the story in the newspapers, and
sold them to the parents for 500 francs. To
pass over various incidents which seemed to give
a clue to the mystery, which was presently lost
again to the public eye, but served to keep up
the public curiosity, we come, by the help of the
police eye, to the discovery of-the child safe and
sound in the arms of a nurse in the town of
Orleans. The whole story is not yet fully un
raveled ; when it shall be, perhaps I may send
you the denouement. But this much may be
said at present; the recovery of Master Hua,
announced by telegraph from Orleans, was
very sincerely rejoiced over by the Parisians,
especially the women-kind —and gave, I honest
ly think, as general a pleasurable emotion to
them as the report of Solferino victory. Ido
not know that the story, which I have abbrevia
ted to the last degree, will retain enough interest
to bear a transatlantic voyage. But I could not,
as your Paris reporter, quite pass over an event
that lias occupied all Paris for nine days.
Now comes another and more welcome dis
traction from themes of war and diplomacy. To
day is published the long looked-for new poems
of Victor Hugo, La Legende des Siecles. The
two volumes are made up of separate poems.
The personages and their acts, taken from all
history, ancient and modern, sacred and profane,
introduced into the different legends, offer mere
ly a frame-work on which the author has arrang
ed the abundant flowers and fruits of imagery
and thought, whose “infinite variety age cannot
wither nor custom stale.” Had I read more of
them than I have, I should not venture upon
the task, so extremely difficult for a foreigner, of
criticising these volumes. It is enough to say
in general that, lacking some' of the beauties and
free from some of the defects of the author's pre
vious works, they show no falling off of poetical
power. At his present age of fifty-seven, Victor
Hugo shows that he can suffer by comparison
with no French poet—except Mrs. Browning
and, if you insist—l do jnot —Alfred Tenny
son—with no living poet but himself. Os course
he too well comprehends Lis art to mingle his
political and personal passions with the higher
imaginings and reflections of these poems. The
epigraph and the dedication to La France with
which the first volume opens, gracefully and
touchingly suggests the sympathy for the Exile
which he is too proud as well as too wise to ask
for:
Livre, qu’nn vent t’emporte
En France, ou je suts nc 1
L’ arbre deracine
Donne aa feuille morte.
I must not deprive such of your readers as
are classical or are in the way of becoming so
at “Dr. Waddell's” or other school, of the follow
ing. It was addressed to the pupils of the high
school at Beaune in Burgundy, on occasion of
the annual distribution of prizes. On such oc
casions, it is the custom throughout France for
the highest local dignitary to preside, except at
Paris, where the Minister of Public Instruction
fills the place of the Emperor. It is also the in
variable custom for the President to make a
speech, which is generally strewn with classic
allusions. The presidency at Beaune the other
day happened to fall upon the adjunct or vice
mayor, who spoke as follows;
“ Young gcutlemen, one breathes here among
you and your excellent professors a certain litera
ry perfume whichjrevives my classic souveniers,
Et ego in arcadia fui; and I too will address
you in a Latin discourse as they do at the allot
ment of the grand prizes at Paris. Attention!
Juvenes discipuli , si presidio hanc solemnitatem
id est quia — quia—quia —l stop at quia. I have
overrated my strength, and cannot finish the
phrase in Latin in which I desired to tell you
that if I preside over this celebration it is because
(quia) the Sub-prefect is ill and the Mayor is gone
to the departmental council.
“ Weill Let this example not be lost on you ;
if I stop at quia, it is because, when I went to
school I did not study hard enough; I was not
inter insignes, I was rather, alas 1 inter insignes
pigros. You understand that, my friends, and I
exhort you to work with a will, if you do not
wish often in the course of your lives to be
obliged to stop at quia."
The good humor and good sense of this speech
met with great applause from pupils and visit
ors.
——
[For the Southern Field and Fireside.]
ORIGINAL ENIGMA-NO. 2,
For the Little Folks at Home.
I am composed of nineteen letters—as follows:
My 1, IS, 4,lo—is a month of the year.
“ 6, s,lo—is a beverage.
“ 19,17,18, 4—is a substantive.
“ 8, 10,11,12 —is “a valley between two hills.”
“ 5,17, 12, 2, 4,10,11 —is a military officer.
“ 8,10,6,13,17, 4—is a church officer.
“ 19,18, 4—lives in a convent
“16,14,15,10 —was a martyr of American liberty.
“ 10,15,12 —is a measure of length.
“ 16,10,15,12 —is set down as “a place of torment”
“ 8, 6,11,10 —is the poetic name for valley,
“ 16, 2,7,lo—should be avoided on dark nights.
“ 15,14, B—is an urchin.
My whole is the name of a lamented Southern States
man.
Answer next week.
Solution to Enigma Mo. 1: The Southern Field and
Fireside.
J. H. S., of Irwinton, Ga., sends us the correct answer
to No. 1. E.
LATEST EUROPEAN NEWS.
Foreign. —The directors of the Great Eastern
have finally decided that the ship shall not go
to Southampton, but leave Portland on her trial
trip Oct 8, arriving at Holyhead about the 11th.
If the trial is successful it is still intended to
despatch the vessel to America on the 20th.—
No passengers are to be taken on the trial trip.
It is said that the maximum number of revolu
tions shall be obtained from both engines before
proceeding to sea with passengers. During the
trip from the Thames the paddles never exceeded
and tho screw 32 revolutions per minute,
and to obtain the maximum speed, the paddles
must go 14 revolutions.
Marshal Niel on joining tho troops at Tou
louse issued an order of the day which was
construed into an admission that peace was like
ly to be long maintained.
A Marseilles telegram says the number of the
French forces on the frontiers of Morocco was
20,000. It is reported that their operations are
not to be confined to the frontiers of Algeria,
but will occupy a portion of the territories of
Morocco, of which Ouhda is the centre, and
from which incursions by the Moors have taken
place.
The Savoy cross and Sardinian standard had
been hoisted on the old Palace at Florence, and
also on all public buildings.
Garibaldi has also issued a decree stating
that in future every public act shall bo headed
thus “ Under tho reign of his Majesty King Vic
tor Emanuel.” The Tuscany decrees of a like
nature were promulgated. Garibaldi had been
received with enthusiasm at Bologna.
The garrison at Ancona is said to have been
reinforced.
Garibaldi has also issued an address, summon
ing the Italians of the Legations to arms. A
collision is shortly expected, and some think it
will be produced by thd Papal troops invading
Romagna.
Mexico. —We have received Monterey dates
to the 28th. Durango, tho capital of Durango,
one of the states of Mexico, was taken and sack
ed on the 10th by two huudred robbers. The
troops arrived shortly after and dispersed them,
killing many.
- - ■■
CHESS COLUMN.
“ Tyro ” suggests that in the Max Lange Pro
blem, (F. & F. page 101) the Blacks should have
a pawn on g 6, instead of g 7, and then, he
shows how the mate may be given in four moves.
Has “Tyro” noticed the correction of position
made at the head of our chess column, page
109 ? Can he make the mate with that amend
ment of position ? If he can, we would like to
hear from him, and publish tho solution.
Touching the first move of a pawn, two squares,
about which “ Tyro ” enquires, we give now the
rule as laid down by De la Bourdonnais; and we
will endeavor to give further information next
week. De la B. says :
“Each pawn has the privilege of advancing
two squares at its first move ; but, in this case,
it may be immediately taken, in passing, by any
pawn which might have taken it, if the first
pawn had been moved one square instead of two.”
And in such case, the taking pawn will occupy
the square at which it stopped the passing pawn.
No rule given by this author prevents a pawn
from moving, with impunity, past the check of
any piece, save that of a pawn.
PROBLEMS VIII AND IX.
(From De la Bourdonnais , page 51.)
POSITION.
WHITE. BLACK.
Pawn h 2 Queen d 2
King g 3 Pawn f 3
Bishop d 4 Pawn g 6
Pawn g 4 King g 7
Rook c 5 Rook h 8
Knight f 6
"Whites to play, and mate in four move 3 ; or
Blacks to play, and mate in four moves.
Both kings are to be mated on the same square.
Solutions to these problems will be given
next week.
The Appletons have at length received the
manuscript of Lowenthal’s critical edition of
Morphy’s games. It will be put in press at
once. This work is positively announced in Eu
rope for November. The publication has been
delayed there, in consequence of misunderstand
ings with the American publishers.
Mr. Paulsen, we see, has resigned his post
at the head of the chess-column of the Chicago
Leader. We do not know .what truth there may
be in the statement that he is about to come
East, with the intention of again testing his pow
er against Mr. Morphy. We hope it may be true,
since a match at the odds of Pawn and Move, or
Pawn and Two Moves, between these two dis
tinguished gentlemen would be a contest of great
interest.
' «
The October Atlantic Monthly contains a re
view of the account of Mr. Morphy’s Visit to
Europe, which was lately published by the Ap
pleton’s. It attacks the flippaut style of the au
thor, vehemently condemns the course pursued
by Mr. Staunton, and praises the gentlemanly
spirit manifested under all circumstances, by the
hero of the book.
A Blind Chess Player. —Perhaps the only
instance on record of a blind man acquiring a
proficiency in the game of chess is that of a Mr.
Lumley, an Englishman, who has lately been
astonishing the English clubs by his skill. He
has only been playing for about two years and a
half, and yet at the Coventry chess club he con
ducted three games simultaneously, all of which,
after a contest of four hours and a-half, termina
ted in his favor.
FUH, FACT, AND PHILOSOPHY.
(Carefully prepared for the Southern Field and Fireside.)
A well-known discounter having observed
that there was no knowing one’s friend till they
were tried, was asked if most of his friends had
not been tried already 1
There are on earth 1,000,000,000 of inhabi
tants. Os these 33,333,333 die every year;
7,780 every hour, and 60 every minute—or one
every second. But there are more births than
deaths, and so population increases.
It is folly for men of merit to think of escap
ing censure, and a weakness to be affected with
it. Fabius Maximus said he was a greater cow
ard that was afraid of reproach than he that
fled from his enemies.
In India a lac of rupees is wealth; here a
lack of dollars is poverty.
New York city is about nine miles long, and
not more than a mile wide. Present population
not far from 800,000, including suburbs.
Personal respectability is totally independent
of a large income. Its greatest secret is self
respect. Poverty caff never degrade those who
never degrade themselves by pretence or du
plicity.
We are exceedingly sorry to say that we yes
terday saw a man get himself bitten by a big
rattlesnake for the sake of having a quart of
whiskey administered to him. He wam’t killed
by either the bite or the drink.— [Prentice.
The artesian well at the State House in Cin
cinnati, is now 2,062 feet deep, and the water
rises to within 27 feet of the surface.
He who dreads giving light to the people, is
like a man who builds a house without windows
for fear of lightning.
A man went to a Judge to be qualified for an
office. Said he, “ Hold up your hand; I'll
swear you, but all creation couldn’t qualify you.'’
The estimated force of gunpowder, when ex
ploded, is at least 14,760 lbs. on every square
inch of surface which confines it.
Neither men nor women become what they
were intended to be by carpet : ng their way
with velvet; real strength is tested by difficul
ties.
One day Jerrold was asking about the talent
of a young painter, when his companion de
clared that the youth was mediocre. “ The very
worst ochre an artist can set to work with,” was
the quiet reply.
To obtain the tractive power of a locomotive,
multiply the square of the diameter of the cy
linder in inches by the pressure in lbs. per
square inch. Multiply the product by the
length of the stroke in inches, and divide by
the diameter of the wheel in inches. The quo
tient is the tractive power in lbs. %
The Governor of Kansas has decided that In
dians may vote on the adoption of the new con
stitution.
Life is shortened by indulgence in anger, ill
will, anxiety, envy, grief, sorrow, and excessive
care. The vital powers are wasted by excessive
bodily exercise in some cases, and want of a duo
portion in others.
IVo expect that Mr. Blondin, like a good many
worse men, will yet come to his death by a tight
rope.— [Prentice.
The returns from the late Texas election show
that Texas has a voting population of above
seventy thousand.
Graves are but the prints of the footsteps of the
Angel of Eternal Life.
A book about England has just been publish
ed in Germany, in which the author mentions,
among other equally interesting facts, that
thieves are so scarce in that country, that a re
ward is often offered for the discovery of one.
In blowing off a steam boiler, under a mode
rate pressure, after the water has escaped, the
hand may be held without inconvenience in the
dry steam which follows; when, however, the
steam begins to come so slowly as to have time
to condense upon the hand, the latent heat, not
until then disengaged, will scald severely.
Habit is at first like a spider’s web; if neg
lected it becomes a thread or twine ; next, a
cord or rope ; finally, a cable —then who can
break it?
A Frenchman, who promised to establish a
school, hearing that a high school would be
more respectably patronized, took a room in the
garret of a four-story house.
There are 992 rivers in the United States;
their whole length, added together, is 89,089
miles. Their average length is 89 miles and a
fraction.
There is thought to be very little use in a
man’s meaning well, if ho cannot express his
meaning by his acts.
What the world calls avarice, is oftentimes no
more than compulsory economy.
An old Grecian philosopher advises all men
to know themselves. That’s advising a good
many to form very low and disreputable ac
quaintances.
In extent of territory, Russia is the first em
pire on the globe; Great Britain the second,
and Brazil the third. Brazil has 571,835 square
miles more than tho United States, and a popu
lation of 9,150,000.
He was justly accounted a skillful poisoner,
who destroyed his victims by bouquets of love
ly and fragrant flowers. Tho art has not been
lost; nay, it is practised every day by—the
world.— [Bishop Latimer.
It is complained of Shakspeare, that he un
necessarily murdered Hamlet. But he has been
paid for it. A great many Hamlets have mur
dered Shakspeare.
The militia of the United States, as just re
ported by the Secretary of War, numbers
2,766,726.
Some men are like tea —their real strength
and goodness are not properly drawn out until
they have been a short time in hot water.
A bachelor informs yonng ladies that almost
any young man whom they could wish to attract
by the display of shoulders, Ac., in low dressing,
has seen much prettier; and is very apt to make
comparisons to their disadvantage.
The Italians were the first of the modems to
attempt canals. The Grand Canal at Milan was
made navigable in A. D. 1271.
There is one thing that the most successful
man most rarely succeeds in—and that is in ma
king others forgive him liis success.
How to repel a worthy young man in search
of a modest wife: Show him “ a cold shoulder."
An honest blacksmith, when advised to bring
a suit for slander, said he could go into his shop
and hammer out a better character than all the
courts in the State could give him.