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Southern Field and Fireside. ; vol. i. [communicated For. the southern field and fireside. 1 (The following lines are from the pen of tbo late Hon. Abel P. Upsiiub, Secretary of State, who was hilled 2Sth February, 1844, by the bursting of a cannon on board the U. S. steam frigate, the Poichattan. They have been kindly communicated by a lady of Virginia, and have never before, we believe, appeared in print.) LINES WRITTEN ON THE PEAKS OF OTTER EV THE LATE HON. A. P. UPSHUR. Firm on thy base of everlasting rock, Proud pyramid! thou standest, aad thy head Far, far above the clouds, looks up to Heaven. Thou art above the lightning, and the peal Which shakes the nether earth with awe and dread. Bursts at thy feet, innocuous. Thou wast When earth's foundations first were laid ; And thou shaltbe tfll earth shall fade away. Still, In primeval grandeur unimpaired. Time, the Destroyer, makes no change in thee— Ood is thy builder. —•» - [For the Southern Field and Fireside.] ‘ MUCH MORE AGREEABLE TO ALL PARTIES.’ A. TALK OF AUG-USTA, GEO. BV PROF. WILLIAM HENRY PECK. Chap. I. — He adopts the orphan. Tobias Vaughan was an economical, money making bachelor, thirty-one years of age, blunt and very matter-of-fact in his address, unpol ished, almost rude in his manners, fond of money; yet as honest as the day is light, and having withal a heart much more gentle and generous than the short-sighted world was dis posed to believe. He was the only son of John Vaughan, who had reared him from infancy in the auriferous belief that gold was everything that was worth breaking one’s neck for ir. the getting; and therefore 'twas not to be marveled at that the heart of Tobias had become somewhat indura ted from constant contact with his father's me tallic nature, and that he began to measure hu manity in general by the length of purse. When Tobias’ beard grew strong and dark with the heat of twenty Georgian summers, his father died of an apopletic fit. brought on by the sudden announcement of the loss of a richly freighted ship, totally uninsured: and after that lamentable event. Tobias, who had eyes for the beautiful, suddenly discovered that there was something else, besides gold, worth breaking his neck to get. That something was concentrated in the person of Laura Amar, a damsel of eigh teen, and of glorious beauty and great mental worth. Had Tobias Vaughan declared his passion in season, I have no doubt the charming maiden, the belle of Macon, would have made him happy in the possession of her hand: but with a fatal distrust of his attraction, Tobias hesitated so long that Laura, deeming his, heart nothing more or less than a coin, yielded to the earnest solicitations and wearying menaces of her pa rents, and became the reluctant bride of Henry Bersham—a victim of worldly-minded friends upon the altar of mammon. After this loss—and lie felt it more than ho had the loss of his narrow-minded father—the heart of Tobias grew harder and harder, till, at the time when I introduce him to the reader, every corner and crevice of it was filled with love of the dollar. But that its native worth was by no meau3 entirely smothered, it is the purpose of this •story to prove. One morning, on entering his office, which was situated somewhere on Broad Street, Ah gusta, Ga., Tobias received a sudden summons that hurried him to the bedside of the dying Henry Bersham, who had buried his wife Laura, within a year after his marriage. When Henry Bersham felt the approach of death, and when his baffled physician had grave- j ly informed him that if he had any unsettled business on hand, he had best arrange it forth with, he sent for his former unsuspected rival. Tobias, smelling money in the affair, hastened on the wings of mercury to the dying man, and was about, as is the custom, to pour forth la mentations over the unhappy event, when Ber sham checked him with a grim smile, and said, in a feeble voice: ‘•Don’tdo it, Vaughau, for you know'twould i be all nonsense. lam dying, and you are glad of it." “ Glad of it! Why, my dear friend, you are not only dying; but, bless my soul, you are crazy 1 Have I not cause to grieve when the man, whoso heavy purse has so often helped the firm of Vaughan & Son, is about to depart for ?” “No doubt,’’ said Bersham. “ But, of late years, the house of Vaughan & Co. has been the firm that helped Henry Bersham. Well, my business began to fail of late, and now lam about to die. Your house will enjoy a monopoly, for who can outbid Tobias Vaughan when Henry Bersha is food for worms?" ’ T “My dear friend, I have an extreme and un mitigated disgust for those elongated animals— be so kind as not to mention them. I assure > JAMES GARDNER, < I Proprietor. < AUGUSTA, GA., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1859. you it will please me highly,” said Tobias, with a shudder. “Well, you are, or should be, very glad—l confess it would please me much to bo sitting there so strong, hale and hearty as you are, and looking so contentedly upon Tobias Vaughan, lying here, all " •• My dear Bersham! really you will fatigue yourself. I have not the least doubt that what you would say is fact—but let us talk about something else—it will be much more agreeable to all parties,” said Tobias. “No doubt,” groaned Bersham, and then speaki»g very slowly, lie continued, with a sigh so profound that Tobias wiped an invisible tear from his right eye, “ Let us proceed to busi ness." “ That's it! That's the word—l like business —what is it?” said Tobias, moving nearer to the bed, and producing a pencil and note book. “Go ahead, for if your time isn't short, then mine is.” “You were ever a man of stone and icc, Vaughan,” said Henry Bersham, bitterly. “But you are right—my time is short—and what I have to say is important. Some day, Tobias Vaughan, you shall say the same, and when, like me, you are stretched on ” “ Bless my soul! Never mind all that. That’s all right. Let us proeceed to business—it will be much more agreeable to all parties,’’ said Tobias, rapidly sharpening his pencil. ~ “ Very well, Vaughan. Tobias, during the sixty-nine years that I have lived, I have amas sed quite a large fortune. Five days ago, I thought I had next to nothing; but since Dr. Philphial has told me my recovery is impossible, and I find I must leave nay riches, I assure you I think them a thousand times os great.” “No doubt—no doubt—a very common idea," said Tobias, flourishing Us pencil. “Uowmuch do you leave ?” “Fully two hundred and eighty thousand dol lars—in money, real estate and slaves," groaned Bersham, griped bitterly by the thought that he could take nothing with him. “ Bless my soul! So much ? Why, you told mo three months ago that you were as near bankruptcy as tongue is to teeth,” sai'i Tobins. “You mistake. My words were: ‘I am as near being a bankrupt as my tongue is to my teetli, Vaughan,’—aad as I lost my last tooth ia Liverpool fifteen years ago, I think I spoke the truth,” said Bersham, with a grimace. “ Ah 1 that alters the case," remarked Tobias, biting his pencil. “ But why did you refuse to endorse my note at the time ?” “ Did you not say that you were so hard push ed that you trembled l'or your firm. I never en dorse under such circumstances. But I must tell you why 1 sent for you. I believe you know I have a daughter—my only child —aged ten years. Her mother died iu giving her birth. I believe you were present at our marriage.” “ Yes ; I remember. I have never been to a wedding since. Never will go to another. I thought at the time you were very rash, old as you were, to marry such a young and beautiful girl. Foolish —very !” said Tobias, fidgeting in his seat. “ Yet I believe Laura was faithful to me, To bias?” “No doubt of it, Bersham; no doubt it. At any rate, it is much more agreeable to all par ties to believe so. Go on: what next ?’’ “ I have willed all my property to my daugh ter Laura, except a few legacies—one, amoDg others, to yourself,” said Bersham, firmly. “ One to me ! ah, thank you, thank you, my dear friend. How much?’’ cried Tobias, taking notes furiously. “ Ten thousand dollars, Vaughan,” leplied the sick man, groaning at the thought. “ Very good. What am Itodo to earn it ? For I know I have a job on hand,” said the matter-of fact Tobias, pausing to repair his pencil point which he had broken in noting the SIO,OOO. “ I have appointed you to be my dear child’s guardian, till she shall have attained her twenti eth birth day. If at that date, she shall be fully satisfied with the manner in which you have discharged the important duties of your guardianship, I have attached a codicil to my will, giving you an additional ten thousand dol lars.” “ I shall never win that last,” said Tobias, scratching his eyebrow with his pencil! Wo men ore never satisfied. Read the history of Eve. She had plenty of peaches, pears in abun dance, plums, and doubtless persimmons by the busliei; yet she wanted an apple. Why ? Be cause it was forbidden. Tell a woman she shan’t —and she will, sure as life. Besides, what can I, Tobias Vaughan, do. with a little skittish filly like that ? lam a crusty, cross, cruel old bach elor ; I know it; my female friends do not let me forget it. lam hard as steel —I have no more heart than a June bug. I see : I must send her off to a fashionable female seminary— to some elderly virgin, with a face like a fish-net, and a temper like a pepper-box. When she comes back, marry her to some unfortunate dev il within a week. Is that it ?” “ No, do no such thing ! or I will rise from my grave and throttle you.” cried Bersham, an grily. You must give up your bachelor habits. Buy or rent a house —engage the services of an excellent governess, rear the child as if it were your own. Promise—swear that you will be to my orphan daughter, as if she were your own flesh and blood, Tobias Vaughan.” “ Very good. I never swear, save when the mail fails. But I promise you, sacredly, that I will perform all that you desire to be done.— Stop 1 Bless my soul! Suppose she marries without my consent while she is my ward ? What then ? I see l in my mind's eye, Hora tio,’ not less than five hundred bewhiskered pop iqja'-s besieging her young and susceptible heart —she is very handsome—she will grow up handsome—her mother was. Well, suppose she marries ? Eh ?” “If she marries without your consent, all the property, except an annuity of five hundred lie eomes your’s,” said Bersham. “Is that all that set down in your will ? Is this packet your will, Bersham ?” said Tobias, laying his hand upon a sealed document near j him. “It is. That it is my last will and testa ; ment.” i “ I think you will live loug enough to rectify J the great mistake you have made, then, in se lecting me as executor,” said Tobias, flinging the | will across the room in great wrath. “ What do you mean by that ?” said Ber | sham. “ Bersham,” said Tobias, rfs.ng and speaking vehemently, “ I hove a false reputation of a sordid and avaricious man. Perhaps the world is right. Ido love money, but only when I make it honestly, And with my own industry.— 1 But I do not intend to make my life miserable, 1 by smelling at such a temptation as that Now : lam willing to try to please you. I will take fatherly charge of yonr daughter, change my ' mode of life—buy a pleasant house, be bedev , iled with servants, hunted down by a house keeper, teased by this and that, jeered by him 1 and her, battle with bobtailed dandies, when Laura grows up, and all and so forth, but I will ! not breathe temptation with every breath of my nostrils. Strike out the condition that she shall not marry without my consent, and I am your man. Otherwise, lam oft' likoa scared dog!” “ No such condition exists,” said Bersham, with a smile of deep gratification. “ What I said was meant to try you. Had you agreed to such a condition, I would have dismissed you on the spot. You are, what I have always said you were—an honest and reliable man.” It is unnecessary to say more of this interview. Four days after it Tobias Vaughan followed the eaathly remains of Henry Bersham to the grave, and took immediate charge of the orphaned heir ess. Chap. 11. One of the bobtailed gentry gives great uneasiness to the softened heart of Tobias. Tobias purchased a neat residence on Green stecet, engaged a trustworthy and remarkably homely, but kind-hearted governess, hired a no table housekeeper, and the requisite number of servants, and forthwith began to live a life very different from that which it had hitherto been his boast to lead. Nor was it long before he found his tender and lovely charge becoming very dear to him ; and as year after year glided pleasantly by, her sweet and ravishing graces dislodged all of those dollars from his heart ; first, one by one, and then by heaps : till the smiles and happiness of the beautiful orphan were the principal and up permost gems therein. “ Henry Bersham,” ruminated he, eight years after the death of that gentleman, ns he marched on his way along Broad street— marched , for he was proud of the kiss that tingled on his bones and cheek, fresh from the rosy lips of his lovely ward. “ Henry Bersham gave me ten thousand dollars to take care of her! Bless my soul! I verily believe that I would give the same amount now to be allowed 'the privilege! I knew 1 would. I think I stand a fair chance to get the other ten thousand by pleasing her—not that I want it—in fact I won’t take it when it shall fall duo. Bless my soul! how that sweet Laura has changed ray heart! Must bo because I loved her mother so much —she is her image.— Just look at that monkey!” Here his attention was drawn to a beggar woman, who was praying for alms for herself and the puny, wailing babe she held pressed to her Ijpsom to a young and richly dressed gentle man, strutting like a pea-cock a few paces before him. His fashionable blue .oat, tight continua tions, wliito beaver, and resplendent brass but tons, especially attracted the cynical eye of To bias, who was a firm votary of black habili ments “Go to the poor house, if there is one; and if there isn’t, then go to the devil 1” was the bru tal response of the man with the white hat, as he hurried on from the presence of the beseech ing, woe—begone woman. “ Just what I used to say,” muttered Tobias as ho caught the harsh words, and placed an eagle in the thin palm of the crying babe, and almost running from ihe eloquent thanks of the sad mother. “Just what I would say now, it my heart had not been softened by that sweet angel at home. Heigho! Laura is wayward—l must confess that—but I have petted her, and she is only eighteen. Bless my soul! Eighteen I Why I never thought of that before. Why,when girls now-a-days, get so fur from cutting teeth as that they begin to be anxious about other darlings cutting teeth. Eighteen! Why it seems but as yesterday since I took her to my new house a little timid, short-frocked thing, fond of cake and candy and dandling dolls. I must think of this —ah—here is my office—wonder if the mail is in. (rood morning, Mr. Reaps—any news to-day ?” A gentleman, anxious to see you, is in your private office, Mr. Vaughan,” replied the head book-keeper, looking up,and then plunging head long into his ledger. Tobias walked through the largo outer office, exchanging a kind word with each of his uuiner i ous clerks as he passed along, and opening the I green baize door of his sanctum, found there the | gentleman with the blue coat, white hat and | brass buttons. The stranger seemed excessively at home and j was seated in the favorite arm chair of Tobias. ! smoking a segar which our hero afterwards des | cribed as larger than a dray-pin and stronger than a dray-man. The gentleman bowed and presented a letter. Tobias eyed the letter all over as if he suspected ! there was a rattlesnake in it; then eyed the i stranger is if he thought the rattlesnake had crawled out and was coiling for a pop at his legs, I and finally concluded by opening the letter with | a jerk, as if ho meant to snap the snake’s head 1 off. The gentleman waited negligently till Tobias had finished the perusal and then bowed again, this time showing a splendid set of teeth—all the teeth smiled, all the buttons glittered, and the blue coat agitated its tail. Tobias surveyed the youth sharply with his keen black eyes, and said:— “So—you are Orlando Kociusko Boggs 1 sou and heir of my step-sister. Hum 1 why didn’t she call you John, or Jacob, James or Joseph—any thing but Orlando Kosciusko? Why bless my soul 1 Where did she find that name ? Did you ever have the measels, oi the mumps?” “Much obliged to you, sir,” said Orlando, “ I have suffered excruciatingly from both disord ers.” “No doubt of it—not a bit—if any man with such a name escaped those complaints, I’d buy him up and show him ’round,a sip a sight. It is a miserable name— l4on’t like it.” “ I profoundly hope that the aw dislike will fail aw to comprehend in its scope, aw, the pro foundly humble individooal who totters tinder ! the disgusting aw appellation,” remarked the amiable and fascinating young gentleman, flip- i pantly, as if he did not care a straw whether To bias liked him or not. “Can't say, Mr. 0. K. Boggs,” said Tobias, poking the coals in the grate, as the morning was cold. “ Saw you refuse a trifle to a poor woman-a while ago. I was just in your rear. “ Did you, now? Well, charitable people ore so apt to be profoundly aw imposed upon,” said 0. K. Boggs. “ But demmy 1 you don’t shake hands with your sister’s son, sir 1” “ llow do you do, my boy ?” said Tobias, giv ing him a grip that made Orlando K. Boggs grow red in the face. “ But you are not my sister’s son. I never had a sister. I’ll tell you how the case stands. You see your mother was the j daughter of your mother’s mother, your grand mother, before your mother’s mother, your grand- | mother, married my father your step-grand father by marriage. Do you understand ?” “ Profoundly,” said Orlando, who was butting i his brains among all these grandmothers in fu- j tile search of his relations. “Your explanation j makes it all aw as translucent as mud.” “ Your mother, the worthy Mrs. Boggs, who | was undoubtedly crazy when she named you, asks me to allow you to make my house your home during your stay in Augusta. /How long shall you stay?” asked Tobias. “ A few days only. lam on my way from Boston to California, to dig aw gold 1” said 0. K. Boggs, puffing forth a cloud of smoke that made Tobias sneeze dreadfully. “ Allow me,” said Tobias, who among other, and let us hope less heinous failings, detested the perfume of Havanas; and snatching the segar from the lips of Mr. Boggs, he tossed it into the fire. “You see,” said Tobias punching the offend ing weed down into the heart of the glowing coals, “ I don’t like smoking—it is not agreeable to all parties—it makes me sick as a dog. So you are on your way to California to dig gold, eh ? Many go there to dig gold and dig such deep holes that, bless my soul! they slip into them and don’t get out again. But that is your affair. Here is the address of my residence. You'll find nothing to amuse you there, however, ex cept a stuffed owl—a former pet of mine—and a little girl—a ward of mine. Roam about the city, and when you have seen all you wish to see, cross over the long bridge—there is a tremen dous metropolis on the other side called Ham burg. You walk up the high hill and walk down again. Fine exercise for tight pantaloons. We dine at five o’clock. I’ll meet you then. Good day—don’t forget Hamburg—there, clear out 1” When 0. K. Boggs had ignited another segar \ Two Dollar* Per Annum, I I Always In Advance. ( i and fumed himself out of sight, Tobia3 began ! to ruminate. “He is very handsome. Girls like that sort , of thing. He is very showy ; girls dote on such trash. He is as impudent as the devil; girls like that. Why bless my soul 1 I believe 0. K. Boggs is the handsomest fellow I ever let into my garden of Kden 1 He comes from Boston, wears a narrow brimmed hat and yellow gaiters! I’ll bet a horse, a dray horse, that his pockets are full of wooden nutmegs and horn flints ! I shouldn't be astounded if he hasn’t a brass clock in his hat, and a flannel sausage in his blue coat 1 I don’t half like him. But then, pshaw 1 Laura is too young to think of loving him ! Young ! bless my soul! she's eighteen. Suppose she : should take a fancy to that variegated baboon, . and marry him! What would become of me— ; of Tobias Vaughan 1 The thought is hideous ! She shan’t marry him ! Shan't marry anybody! But softly f She’s a woman 1 she must marry somebody—they all do it if they can, and, bless my soul! there’s no lack of fools with beards ■ to help them. I declare she's very tall—very womanly—l never thought she was so much as eighteen till now. When I think of it—she’s a full-grown, bouncing, marrying woman 1 That accounts for all the howling, and caterwauling ‘and • cavorting ’ made under my windows at ' night! Her beaux mistake ray room for her’s, aud serenade Tobi* Vaughan ! Some night ; I’ll fire a bicon-rimTat that fellow with the big I fiddle! Ffc» at the fiddle, ble«s my soul, and stave it to shivers ! Bnt she does not care a panful of ashes for the ninnies. She won’t mar | ry without my consent. Bah I what does a wo | man care for the consent of any other than the ! especial one? What on earth will become of me, if Laura should marry ? I must think of that. Orlando Kosciusko Boggs ! Mr. 0. K. j Boggs, you be bless my soul, I believe I ! cursed!” All that day, Tobias brooded over his new anxiety as a hen broods over eggs that will not hatch. He caught himself entering in his ledger this strange and unheard of item: “ Credited by ! 0. K. Boggs, Boston baboon—suppose Laura Ber sliam the wife of Tobias Vaughan <fc Co.” "Bless my soul,” thought he ; “I never imagined that, did I ? I would not have old Reaps to see that entry for fifty dollars. Spoiled a page in my ledger. But is the thing impossible ? I am thirty-nine, and she is eighteen. If I were to marry her, would that be keeping my promise to treat her like my flesh and blood ? Bless our souls all around, that would be making her m j flesh and bone ! Mr. Reaps,” said he, aloud, “ do I look old ?” “ By no means,” replied Mr. Reaps, who being sixty-two, looked on the head of the firm as quite a young man. “ Mr. Reaps, I shall be happy to have you dine with me next Sunday —roast pig and stuff ed goose—raised among the ’and Hills,” said Tobias, his heart warmed by the compliment. "Thank you, Mr. Vaughan,” said Mr. Reaps, much delighted, and in his joy, debiting the house of Tobias, Vaughan & Co. to 5363 roast pigs, and 796 stuffed geese ! per steamer Sand Hills 1 On his way home to his dinner, Mr. Tobias fell in with several of his brother merchants, and laid several rash wagers that none could guess his age within two years. " Forty 1” said One. " Forty-five 1” said Two. ** Thirty-three I” said Three. “ Thirty, from his looks 1” said Four. “ Sixty, from his looks 1” said Five ; and when Five presented his note for discount the very next day, Mr. Tobias Vaughan slapped an extra three per cent on him—maliciously 1 Chap. 111. — The bobtailed dandy yoetsatvay with a flea in each ear. When Tobias entered his parlor, he found the illustrious 0. K. Boggs and the lovely Laura Bersbam chatting away as merrily as if they had known each other for ten years, at least. “ Why, my dear uncle,” began the fascinated 0. K. “ Don’t call me uncle /” said Tobias, rather snappishly. “I am not your uncle ! You see, your mother’s mother—your grandmother, had a daughter, which daughter is your mother, when your mother’s mother —your grandmother, mar ried my father, your step grandfather—in short and clearly, do you see, your mother’s mother )> “ Profoundly!” interrupted Orlando, who was hopelessly mystified by this genealogical infor mation, and despaired of ever seeing through it. “ Well, pon maw honor, Mr. Vaughan, you have given me aw a tremenduously agreeable sur prise. You told me I should find nothing but a stuffed owl, and a little girl. I find here aaw magnificent woman—deinmy I” and Mr. O. K. Boggs made a crescent of his back, two pendu lums of his arms, one obtuse angle with his heels, and a love battery of his eyes. “ Did youl Bless my soul! I believe you are right,” said Tobias, who began to wish Mr. Boggs' blue coat in Turkey, his yellow gaiters in China, his tights in Canada, his cravat in Pat agonia, and the individual self of that handsome re probate in the crater of Mt. Vesuvius. NO. 32.