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LITERARY.
JNO. H. THOMPSON, Editor.
AUGUST 11, 1860.
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FRENCH VIEW 07 AMERICAN MARRIAGES.
Foreign critic* are fond of asserting that
Americans sin grievously in writing of the insti
tutions, the popular feeling, the maimers and
customs of other nations -of which they know
little or nothing; and that their assurance is in
a direct ratio with their ignorance j so that the
less favourable the opportunity the American
tourist has had of becoming acquainted with
foreign character and habits, the more confident
ly will he discuss them. Doubtless there is
some truth in this statement, but as regards the
flippancy of foreign criticism we must insist
that the United States Is “ mote sinned against
than sinning.” How many cockneys; before
and since Dickens, have run through our‘country
and gone baok to enlighten the world with their
views of domestio slavery; bow many French
» men, the forerunners or followers of M. Leon
BeauvaUet, have managed to make the weari
some journey from Boston to New Orleans with
out yielding to the temptations of razors, hemp,
powder or strychnine, and, thus barely escaping
suicide, have informed mankind that republi
canism ia a dreary failure, and that life in the
i New World is wholly incompatible with happi
ness or with cmUzatipa) It ware, in the high
est degree unreasonable to expeef an English
man to comprehend Southern slavery, or a
Frenchman, since the death of DeTocqueville, to
understand constitutional freedom, but there is
another institution- which, [as it obtains in the
United States, we should still leBS hope that
Mohsieur would discuss with justice or good
sense, and that is marriage. And yet M. Au
guste Carlier flatters himself that he knows all
about marriage in this country, and he has ac
cordingly condescended to embody his views on
the subjeot in a treatise which is having its run,
just at this time, in Paris.
Saving and excepting that marriage is sol
emnized in both countries,%r the most part, as
a religious ceremony, it may be doubted if a
wider difference could bo shown between the
usages of France and America in any other
matter. The obsequious, courtly peer of the
Empire, who votes as may please the Imperial
will, does not stand in more striking contrast to
the independent Senator of the Western Repub
• lie, than the gentle fille, whose dress, demean
our, movements and emotions are regulated by
her mother, to the innocent but despotic belle
of the American drawing-room. Before mar
riage in the United States, the young lady has
the largest liberty, after it, a very restricted
sway; before marriage in France she is never
seen in society, after it, she reigns the admired
beauty of a hundred salons, and receives the
homage and adoration of unnumbered gallants.
In the United States, the young lady is permit
ted to exercise her own choice, in the huge ma
jority of cases, in the selection of her husband;
in France, this matter is managed altogether by
mamma, and no remonstrance on the part of the
daughter would change the well considered
plans of a manage 4 convsnance. In the United
States, the parties sre supposed to entertain some
affection for each other, and love as a pare and
holy sentiment waits upon the auspicious union;
in France—what says Tom Moore?
la Franoe, when the heart of a woman sets sail
On the ocean of wedlock Its fortune to try,"
Loye seldom goes far with a vessel so ML
Bat just pilots her off, and then bids her good bye.
Os course M. Auguste Carlier, recognising this
great discrepancy between hisfeduntry and our
own in the marriage relation, like a true French
man, oonaiders that we are all wrong and should
* conform our manner to the French standard.
The confidence reposed la girlhood, and the free
dom that girls are permitted to enjoy in America,
he would break up altogether for parental dis
trust and conventual seclusion; the old-fashion
ed ideas of true, deep, trustful, absorbing love,
Hi ? ■
twm sovskmv mmm xsm vxasssas.
as indispensable to the consecration of the con
tract, and of the high doties of tbe wife in the
hallowed circle of home, he would relinquish as
visionary and unjust. We are very much ob
liged to M. Auguste Carlier, but we doubt if
marriage in the United States would be render
ed a happier relation for being adjusted to his
views. We graveiy question whether, as a gen
eral tiling, it would elevate society, or make it
more pleasant, for the wife to love some other
gentleman than her husband, and we are not at
all prepared to admit that tbe duties and the
affections can be innocently separated forever.
That marriage is more and more becoming a
matter of brokerage, and that Cupid has in too
many instances been dethroned by Cupidity, is
the worst tendency of the age; but while we
cannot wholly prevent instances of matrimonial
bargain and sale, we surely may decline making
tbe contract, in its formation and ratification, a
pure affair of business, to be conducted by third
persons. And so, with all respect for M. Au
guste Carlier, we can neither accept him as a
reformer on this side of the Atlantic nor regard
■him as an unprejudiced and well-informed critic
of American social life, on tbe other.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Christian Benevolence, as illustrated in the Early
History of Georgia. A Lecture delivered before the
Young Men’s Christian Association of Augusta, Ga.,
at their Anniversary, Janaary 10,1860, by Rev. C. W.
Howard.
We are gratified to have it in our power to
repay, in some measure, the author of this ad
mirable lecture for the gratification he has afford
ed us, by bringing its merits to the notice of
thousands who did not enjoy the privilege of
hearing it when it was originally delivered in
Augusta, or afterwards when it was repeated
in other cities of Georgia. The author of such
a lecture is a public benefactor. We all recol
lect what Sallust says of the praise that is due
to him, who, not being able himself to act for
the republic, records worthily the deeds of oth
-1 era. Mr. Howard is entitled to this praise to its
fullest extent, and we measure our words when
we say that he renders as noble a service to bis
State in the unpretending but animated narra
tive here set forth, as if he had spoken in her
defence on the floor of the Senate in language
of undying eloquence, or had erected a monu
ment in honour of her greatest hero. Indeed,
tbe lecture is a monument, reared in lines of
grace and beauty and graven with happy in
scriptions, commemorative of the virtues and
heroism of Oglethorpe and his compatriots who
here laid the foundations of a great and prosper
ous Commonwealth.
The lecture has been well entitled "Christian
Benevolence as Illustrated in the Early History
of-Georgia,” for it is a demonstration of the un
selfish purposes of the men who adopted for
their motto, “ non silt sed aliis Two facts of
ttv* jutißM it formhUr hrmtpa
out as exemplifying.the leading idea, first, tliat
it was with no view of pecuniary reward that
the settlement of Georgia was entered upon,
and second, that the original immigrants, far
lfora being discharged felons, as has been assert
ed of them by malicious or ignorant writers,
were men of high character, whose sole misfor
tune it had been to suffer the cruel penalties
then inflicted by the common law of England
on insolvent debtors. As poverty in England
has always been regarded as the worst of crimesi
and at this day the cruellest iusult you can fling
at a man in that country is to call beggar,
we can readily enough understand how it came
about that Georgia was regarded as a penal set
tlement in the vilest sense of that term, and yet
as Mr. Howard shows, the founders of Georgia
were men of high character, whose bankruptcy
ought no more to disgrace them than that of
■Robert Morris and James Monroe, two of the
most illustrious men of a later period of the
Republic.
In referring to the inception of the enterprise,
Mr. Howard says:
It is a curious study to observe the manner
in which, in the Providence of God, good is often
brought out of evil. The skeptic tells us that
there are no special Providences. If it be true
that there is no Special Providence, there is
certainly no general Providence, and this world
is a helpless, erratic machine, driven by its
own wild forces and liable at any moment to
rush, into ruin. The general Providence is made
of the special, or tbo former has no existence.
The cruelty of a Loudon jailer induced tbe first
step in a series of occurrences which resulted in
the establishment of this commonwealth. Such is
the mysteryjof causation—such the history of the
strange sequenceof events. The most insignificant
or improbable causes are often so mysteriously
interwoven with distant and general results,
that when we attempt to follow the thread of the
labyrinth we are bewildered, and constrained to
acknowledge that it is an imallible and sleep
less Providence alone which can thus compel
the wrath of man to praise Him.
The enormities practised upon unoffending or
unfortunate debtors, under the provisions of the
English law, enlisted the sympathies of Ogle
thorpe in their behalf. As a result of his de
termined philanthropy, this stain was wiped
away from the Statute Book, the prison doors
were opened, the manacles were struck from the
hands of the prisoner, innocent of crime, and
he once more breathed the air of freedom.
Many of these unhappy men were persons of
gentle blood and nurture. In the language of
a cotemporary, “many of them were of respect
able families, and of liberal, or at least, easy
education; some undone by guardians, some
by law suits, some by accidents in commerce,
some by stocks and hubbies, and some by sure
tyship.”
These persons, freed from prison, without
means or credit, unaccustomed to labour, were
still in a condition of deep distress. Their num
ber must have been very great, as it was estima
ted that 4,000 unfortunate debtors were annual
ly thrown into prison in England by their in
human creditors. It occurred to Oglethorpe,
that, by the aid of the government and private
liberality, the condition of these persons might
be greatly improved by providing means for
their removal to a new country. Other kindred
spirits concurred with him, an' 3 **•» territory ly
ing to thb south of the Savar.„*i> rivr. was se
lected as the fhture home of the destitute. The
design grew upon the minds which conceived it.
Additional ends were proposed in connection
with the original purpose. The projected colony
would offer an inviting field of labour for those
who found, with difficult*, employment at home.
Composed of able u* vjgourous men, it would
prove a valuable dsfKai* to the English fron
tier. It was designs# t# make it a means of
bringing the savage to the knowl
edge of tbe true God. was hoped to render
it an instrument of sw<%ial wealth, by the de
velopment of new industries, impossible in the
ungenial climate of England ; and, lastly, an
asylum was lobe offered to those in all lands
who were persecuted fat conscience sake.
As the plan matured,jitbecame necessary that
it should be placed in tie hands of a corporate
body; and, accordingly; s Board of Trustees
was appointed by the crown. AU of these
trustees were men of high social position, snd
great worth, some of them among the most dis
tinguished persons of th* realm. Among them,
besides Oglethorpe, ware Yiscount Percival,
Baron Digby, Lord Carpenter, James Vernon,
the philanthropist Coram, the Earl of Derby,
the Earl of Shaftesbury, Lords Tyreonnel, Lim
merick, D’Arcy, and Talbot, Earl Bathurst, and
Earl of Egmont, the Archbishop of Dublin, the
naturalist Hayles, the Meed Dr. Burton, and
Sir Jacob do Bouverto,-?®* last mentioned of
whom gave to the colony 21,000 or $5,000.
Mr. Howard proceeds to render the deserved
meed of grateful homage to the “ Christian be
nevolence ” of the undertaking, and indulges in
some eloquent and striking contrasts presented
by the various colonial settlements of the coun
try. We quote Ms language:
I wish the remarkabfe features of this enter
prise to be impressed upon the Georgia mind. I
do not think that it is rightly appreciated. Does
History afford a parallel to it ?
If so, when and where ? in what age, and in
what country ? Christian Missions, those he
roic manifestations of the spirit of the Gospel,
are conducted upon principles, and designed for
ends purely religious. Ccfionizatiou has been
common in all ages, but always for the aggran
dizement of tbe colonizing State. The founding
of Georgia is an exception, even in the history
of American colonisation. When the “ May
flower " reached the Shore of Plymouth, it bore
men who sought for the twelves a shelter in the
wilderness from persecution at home. When
Hudson landed at New York, he was prosecuting
a venture of trade. When Penn, good and pure
as he was, boughj land from the Indians, it was
for himself, the “ Quaker King.” When Lord
Baltimore founded Maryland, the country was
assigned to him as absolute lord and proprietary,
and to hig hereditary successors.
When Virginia was colonized, it was with
the expectation of finding gold. When Sayle
made tho first effective settlement in South Car
olina, the chief revenue of the colony was to ac
crue to the Landgraves, created under “Locke's
Constitutions.” . When tbe Huguenots, (that
noble race of men, among whom the elegant
refinements of life the end dignity of unbending
principle were, perhaps, more graoefully united
than in any other race *f which history speaks,
and to whom virtue seems so natural that it is
said that at this remote period not one of their
numerous descendants ia thia r', e ‘ BPr6fei-.ooun
try has been convicted of a c™unal offeree.) —
when the. Huguenots fled t J . *>utli Carolina, it
in
fromthelmliane^^s(|lK«idhonourable
treaty. I may be to digress tor a mo
ment to dwell upon the history of our connec
tion with this race which has melted away from
among us. It is a source of honest pleasure to
reflect that the early association of the Indians
with the white man in Georgia produced a
strong attachment upon the part of the former
to the latter. It is said that the Indian chief
who mot Sir Walter Raleigh, retained a recollec
tion so grateful of the distinguished voyager,
that he was buried at Savannah, according to
his own request “on the spot where he tatted
with that great and good man." And tbe ven
erable Tomochichi, having lived out nearly a
century—having proved the truthful friendship
of the Georgians, and finding his end approach
ing, made the same request: "Bury me,” said
the dying chief, “bury me among my white
friends in Savannah." Hjs body brought to the
city, was met at the waters’ edge by the Gener
al, by the magistrates and people, and, attended
by a concourse of Indians, it was reverently
placed in the grave in Percival Square, minute
guns from the Battery attesting that these were
the obsequies of a hero. Not content with se
curing the friendship of the Indians in the vi
cinity of Savannah, and anxious to extend the
beneficial designs of the colony, Oglethorpe de
termined to meet the assembled tribes at Coweta.
It was the month of August.
You who are familiar with the climate and the
intervening country, will appreciate the hard
ships of the journey from Savannah to Fort
Mitchell, at that season of the year, and in the
then unbroken wildernees. You will learn the
intense desire of this remarkable man to fulfil
his high mission. His purpose was gained, and
the friendship of the Indians secured by a trea
ty faithfully observed. And it has been ever
thus in Georgia history. With the exception,
at times, of individual and uncontrollable ex
cesses, the State may look baok with proud sat
isfaction upon its Indian relations. It has ever
faithfully observed its treaties with the weaker
red man; and I may add, ever calmly, fearless
ly, successfully maintained them when assailed
by faction or fanaticism, or the illegitimate ex
ercise of Federal power. Yet we have been
charged with cruelty to the Indians, and chiefly
by the citizens of that State in which, after ex
terminating by fire and sword his whole nation,
the son of Philip, the descendant of MassSsoit,
the life-long friend of the English, the boy-
Prince, the last unfledged eaglet of the eyre,
was torn from his steamy cliffs, transported a
captive beyond seas, and sold into ignominious
bondage in the Bermuda Islands! The history
of Georgia is disfigured by the record of no act
of barbarity so atrocious!
We had marked other passages in this excel
lent discourse to set before our readers, but we
have, perhaps, already exceeded our proper lim
its of quotation from a pamphlet, which is on
sale for the benefit of the Association for which
it was prepared. One discreditable feet to whicji
he refers we may mention, in the hope that
something may speedily be done in the matter—
the lack of any fitting memorial to show that
Oglethorpe is yet held in honourable remem
brance. We repeat that Mr. Howard has placed
every Georgian in his debt by this lecture, in
which we can find but one trivial defect, the ab
sence of dates as connected with the beginning
and progress of Georgia civilization.
Bohaventuee. A Pokm. By J. M. Marsh. Savan
nah: Edward J. Purse, Printer. 1860.
There It, perhaps, no spot In Amenta more singularly ‘
beautiful than Bonaventure. The solemn and majestic
individual trees, with the moss drooping from their ia
terlaeed branches; the depth of shade; the noble ave
nues, suggesting the origin of Gothic architecture in the
pointed, leafy arch above the green isle; the perpetual
miserere of the wind blowing through the tops of the
live-oaks, mingled with the thonsend little jubilant
volees of the birds; the serenity that pervades tee
lower spaces of the grounds; the slender, slanting pen
cil! of sunlight that &U athwart the sweet gloom of the
enclosure —all conspire to affect the visiter with the
sense of a rare enjoyment The natural pathos of the
extended grove la heightened by the purpose to which
It has been dedicated, and an a cemetery Bonaventure ia
yet more beautiful, perhaps, than it ever was aa a park. I
In all Its aspects, in the early morning, at high noon or
In the streaming sunset In storm or calm, under all vi
clssitndes of seasons, It appeals powerfully to the poetic
mind and makes Its eloquent plea for an interpreter.
That Bonaventure will yet be celebrated In Immortal
song, we feel well satisfied, but, from a careful perusal of
the brochure now under our eye, (of which It is diffi
cult to say whether anther or printer baa blundered the
mere,) we feel equally well satisfied that It has not found
Its proper poet la Mr. MmA.
Mr. Marsh’s name la new to as In ItOwatnre, but It re
minds ns of ignes fatui , and his Muse Is a veritable
Will-o’-the-Wlsp leading through all aorta of wordy
thickets to a dark, deep beg of weltering nonsense where
the reader is left to find his way out as heat he can. We
most do the anther the justice to say, however, that ho
gives fair warning of what may be expected of his verses,
hy a bit of prose, in tbe »Preface ’, descriptive of tbe
place. He says—
It is a beautiful spot. Its majestic oaks stretching in
long avenues arching overhead, as their branches inter
mingle ; and the grey moss pending from the boughs
swaying to the breeze, form a pictnre well adapted to
the artists pencil or the poets lay—lt Is a spot of which
Georgia should be proud, and Savannah cherish.
It most be admitted that whoever suffers himself, after
reading this sentence, to be led off and bewildered by
the muse aforesaid, deserves and will receive but little
sympathy.
Coming to the poem Itself, we find that the favourite
form of expression of the snthor is that of the apos
trophe or invocation. Thun he apostrophizes the arches
In the very outset
To solemn arches, that In grandeur spread
Yonr lofty branches o’er the silent dead.
Moss-wreathed, with hoarv age yon stand.
Grim sentinels o’er this silent land:
With reverent awe 1 gaze upon each aisle
Charmed by the breezes swell.
Chanting natures hymn the while.
Thro’ this vast cathedral—
It fills my soul with love—l bow my head
’Neath the temple—anil tbe music of the dead.
There Is s little obscurity here, dne to an apparent In
stinctive aversion on the part of the author or printer
to the nse of the possessive ease, bat supplying this In
“breeze's swell” and “nature’s hymn,” all Is not made
clear; for we are not quite certain whether It ts the poet
himself or the aisle that Is charmed snd begins chant
ing ; but we pass on to darker mysteries, and Men find
the poet invoking tbe shadows of evening. In the man
ner following, to wit
Ye lengthnlng shades that darkly sleep
Upon the troubled bosom of the rushing deep,
Still longer grow, as the declining sun
In fadeless beauty sleeps. Its distant journey run;
Around the gathering folds of night
Steals thee from thy quiet rest;
The moon sweeps up the heavens, and bright
The star-gems deck the river’s breast;
From the moon voluptuous each trembling ray
Upon deaths temple in quiet splendor lay.
We fancy the shades must have been puzzled by this
address, but if they comprehended It, we mnst say we
do not; we don't know who It was that was stolen from
his ut nst. or who stole him; we am just as much in
tin dark after the voluptuous moon has swept up the
Airevens, and, like a c..jd hons«m«tA thrown the Man
dust upon the river; teSeea we csiji,.."ch ; .;' t”r
the poet's meaning in the least, and so we leave the
stanza with the reader.
The poet goes on after this to moralize In bad gram
mar on tbe rapid flight of time, and hit meditations
among the tombs lead him naturally to the solemn troths
of revealed religion, the Christian system aiffi, the light
with which tt Sift the world beyond the grave,—high
and awful verities, the treatment of which we cannot
refer to tn a spirit of proper reverence, and concerning
which we can only say that we are thankful our frith In
them does not rest upon the vague and vapid verses of
this poem.
We pass over many pages, In which the dead of Bona
venture are apostrophized, and come, with a sense of
relief, to a recital of the historic glories of the spot.
Here lym exciting stanza
Here pealed beneath thy arch the cannon's roar, *
Repeating echo swept from shore to shore;
The trembling branch, the floating moss
With the deep vibrations swaying toss,
While ronnd thy misty tops are wreathed
Full volumes of the floating cloud.
And from each echoing archways breathed
The voice of triumph long snd loud,
As the conquering soldier from duty done,
Receives the victors meed by merit won.
We may be pardoned for having inferred from the fore
going that Bonaventure had its memories of battle. Not
recollecting any engagement fought there, we turned to
the note on the final page, indicated by the asterisk at
“cannon's roar,” with an eagerness that met a sudden
and chilling corrective in this pacific statement
* The Chatham Artillery used to target shoot, in the
aisles of Bonaventnre.
Odds grape shot and bomb shells I but here is the po
etic license. The poet could have aald no more of tho
most momentous conflict of the Revolution. The “ deep
vibrations swgying toss,” (whatever that may be), the
“ echoing archways,” the “voice of triumph,” the “ con
quering soldier", and the “victor's meed" —these
phrases are almost Homeric, bnt to employ them only
to describe the Chatham Artillery when they went to
“ target shoot ” in the aisles of Bonaventure, reminds
us. as Dr. Johnson's Ghost says, of the pious hawkers Os
Constantinople who solemnly perambulate her streets,
exclaiming “In the name of the Prophet figs 1 ”
Bnt Bonaventure has associations of art as well as of
the “pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious ” target
shooting. It has had its painter as well ss its poet
And so we are told that
Chained by the magic spell the canvass glows
Wraped in the soft midnight's stilled repose.
Fit hoar with s master mind's impress to spread,
The draped temple and alters of the dead:
Genius sweeps along with glittering wings
Trailing her essence as she goes,
And from her lightest touch around ns springs
Her hallowed fires, that burning throws
Upward their flashing flames that ne'er expires,
Until the soul's consumed by its own raging fires.
This remsrkable stanza, In which printer and author
Tie with each other in maltreating the English language,
has reference to s moonlight view of the cemetery paint
ed by Mr. Clenewark. A canvass “chained” and
“wraped” mast be worthy of poetic description, but
how the “draped temple” and the “alters” could be
“ spread ” with “ a master mind's impress," we are at a
loss to imagine, and when Genius comes along trailing
her essence, snd upsetting all our preconceived Ideas of
the singular and plural in nominatives and verba, and
finally cansing the soul to be consumed in its own raging
fires, we confess ourselves overcome.
We assure our readers that the stanzas we have se
lected from the poem are neither better nor worse than
the rest It may be that the author's intention was to
play off a solemn hoax upon the pnblic, and that we
have been ‘taken in' by him, or, to use a familiar
expression, 1 sold ’ in regarding the peem as a serious
performance. Or yet again, we may be all wrong in our
estimate of its merits, and the anthor may be a poet “of
whom Georgia should be proud and Savannah cherish.”
Oar readers shffil decide.
The Sand Hills of Jutland. By Hans Christian
Andersen, author of the “ Improvisators,* ete.
Boston; Ticknor & Fields. »
Hans Andersen Is an original. The little stories com
prised in (his volume are qnite unlike anybody else’s
•tori'* It is not that they are lighted op with that
weird Norse tone? which i» so peculiar and so striking to
it* effects we hare been made tolerably familiar with
the spirit of the Scandinavian literature —but there is
a mingling iff the gyim with the glad, of the tragic with
the tender, a sort of dear, detighUhl childish absurdity
about them, which cannot toil to Impress ua as belonging
wholly to the author. Here la a story, short enough to
be quoted, which will give the reader an Idea of the vol-
THE FEH AND THB INKSTAND. --St
The following remark was made in a poet's rerun, as
the speaker looked at the inketaed that stood urxntie
table:
“ It is astonishing all that can come out of that ink
stand. What will it produce next? Tea, It is wonder
toll”
“Bo it is!” exclaimed the Inkstand. “ItUtncsm
prehensible! That is what I always aay.” It waa thus
the inkstand addressed itself to the pen, and to every
thing else that could hear it on the table. “It Is really
astonishing all that can come from me! It is almost in
credible ! I positively do not know myself what the
next production may be, when a person begins to dip in
to mo. One drop of me serves for half a side of paper;
and what may not then appear upon it ♦ lam certainly
something extraordinary. From me proceed all the
works of the poets. These animated Iwlng* whom peo
ple think they reeognlse these deep feeFng* that gay 1
humour, these charming deacriptioasaf nature - 2 do
not understand them myself for I know nothing I*l rat
nature; but still it Is all in me. from me have gone
forth, and still go forth these warrior hosts, these lovtfy
maiden a, these bold knights on morttog steeds, the**
droll characters In humbler life. The fact la, however,
that Ido not know anything about them myself I as! .■
sure you they are not mv ideas."
“ You are right there,'’ replied the pen. “Ton have *
few ideas, and do not trouble yourself much with think
ing. If you did exert yourself to think, you weald ner
relve that yon ought to give something that waa not dry,
Ton supply me with the means of committing to rtaner
what I have in me; I write with that. It to the nenthat
write* Mankind do not doubt that* and must -
hare shout as much genius for poetry « an old tak
“Tonhave but little experience,” arid the inkstand.
“ Ton have scarcely been a week to use, and von are *L
ready half worn out. Do you fancy that you are apoe»
You arc only » servant; and I have had many ofyour
kind before you came-many of the goose femUy, and
of English manufacture. I know both quill pens and
steel pens. I have had a great many to my service, and
I shall have many more SOIL when he, the man who
stirs me up, comes and puta down what he takes from
me. I should like very much to know what will be T the
next thing he will take from me,"
Late to the evening the poet returned home. He had
been at a concert, had heard a celebrated violin player
and was quite enchanted with hlf wonderful perform
ance. It had been a complete gush of melody that he
had drawn from the instrument. Sometimes it t —find
like the gentle murmur of s rippling strewn, sometimes
like the singing of birds, sometimes like the tempest
sweeping through the mighty pine forest* Be fancied
he heard his own heart weep, but to the aweet tones
that can be heard to a woman's charming voice. It
seemed as If not only the strings on the violin made mu
sic, but its bridge, its pegs, and Its sounding-board. It
was astonishing! The piece htd been t most difficult
one; but tt seemed like play —se if the bow were but
wandering capriciously over the string* SticH was the
appearance of toeility, ttet every one ,might have aup
posed he oeuid do it The vtolimsoemed to sound iff ft
self the bow to piny of Itself These two seemed to do
It aIL QjSa forgot the master who guided them, who -
gavo therilße end oral. Ye* they fonpt the master;
but the pori thought iff him. He usmed htm, and wrote
down hfe thoughts as follows;
“How foolish It would be «f the violin and the bow.
were they to be vain of their performance! And yet
this Is what so often woof tbs human species are. Po
et* artist* those who make discovertei In science, mill,
tary and naval commanders —we are all proud of ©or
selves ;uad yet we small only the instruments in our
Lord’s hand* To Him alone be the glory 1 Wehato
nothing to arrogate to ourselves."
This was what the poet wrote; and he headed it with
“The Master and the Instruments." When the Inkstand
and the pen were again aidne, the latter said,—
“ Well, madam, you heard him read aloud what I had
written."
“Yet, what I gnveyou to wri|*” said the Inkstand.
“It was a hit at you tor your conceit. Strange that you
cannot see that peoplemake a fori of you I I gave you
lu«tMtnr|t}y cleverly. I confos* tooogh, It m lather
“ Writing-stick r*TwfejJßkatind.
They both felt assured THBkcy had answered well ■
and it is a pleasant reflection that one has ted. .* <r j
reply—one sleeps comfortably after it And they both
went to sleep;, bnt the poet could not sleet). His
thoughts welled forth like the tones from the violin,
murmuring like .pearly rivulet, rushing Uko a storm
through the forest. He recognised the feelinge of his
own^hesrt— ho perceived the gleam from the everlasting
To Him alone be the glory!
Tsstsu* Eksrarciiis and Mission ait Labocbs
During an Eiokteen Yeare' residence in Eaetern
Africa; Together nith Journey, to JaggaUmZ ,
bora. tkambani, Shoo. and Vkhartum
and a Coasting \ ovsge from ilombaa to Cape Delgado
By thsKevTDr. / Lxwis Ksarr, Ac. Ac. *c. Tol
ton: Tieknor A Field* 1800, ’ '““
The tatter of this well printed volume It-one of tbos.
self-sacrificing explorers who bars sought to carry the
light of Christianity into the most hidden recesses of
Africa, where the night of barbarism has remained un
broken for centuries. To all who are Interested in the
progress of missions in that continent, his narrative will
prove acceptable. It has littl* however, to make it pop
ular with the mass of reader* The Eev. Dr. did, In
deed, meet with some singular specimens of the hnman
race, and underwent many hazardous adventures and
saw some stupendous natural object* amongst others the
snow-crowned summit of Kilimanjaro, “monarch of
African mountain* Father of Nile and Creator of Egypt,”
but the style of his deser ptions It tame and unimagin
ative, and his work must bo classed rather with the val
uable than the agreeable volumes of travel.
We have received tbs August number of the Southern
Literary Messenger, with the following Table of Con
tents:
The Marriage of Pocahontas. Bv Wyndham Robert
son, Esq.—The Funeral of Hon. M. Brook* of South
Carolina Love in the Country. By Kbits The Bain
Storm —Fun from North Carolina—The Elver. By
John D. Stockton Civil Liberty. By W. S. Grayson
Song. Jenny Blossom. By Fannie Fielding—A
Week In the Great Smoky Mountain* By K. of Ten
nessee—Lines to a Bouquet, Ac. American Institu
tion* Letter from Hon. Henry 8. Eandnll Repentance
By Aemel—The Knight of Espalion—Editor's Table
Notices of New W orks.
An excellent number of Mag* of which everybody
speaks to terms of praise under its new editor. The
leeding article by a distinguished citizen of Blchmond
himself s descendant of the lovely Indian princes* cor-’
rects a singular error of the historians in relation-to the
date of her marriage.
Tux Plantation ; a Southern Quarterly Journal, ed
ited by J. A. Turner, of Eatonton, G* Published by
Pudney A Bussell, New York.
Contente.— William H. Seward as a Schoolmaatcr to
Georgia Thelo Levin—Walter Early’s Love for his
Cousin, Cleopatra Clare—Hope—Two or three of Mr.
Spratt’s Slave-Trade Arguments—Anacreon's Lute
Toe Old Farm-House of my Uncle Simon; Or, Sketches
of Southern Life To My Heart What Is Slavery I
ToSestino—Must a Stoner be compelled to Bin ln
Each Heart Twe Beings dwell O'Connell and Mrs.
Moriarty Agricultural Views of the late Thomas Spald
ing Lines on the Recovery iff my Infsnt Son from
Sickness Edgar A. Poe Pauline de Meulan Open
ing Hymn for the Dedication of s Church—Closing
Hymn for the Dedication of a Church—lmproved Agri
culture for the Southern State*—Barnum and Burnham;
Or,riSwindier* self-made heroes—Not all a Dream—
Georgia; Its past History and present Position—The
Ball at B ; The Sentry’s Bong English Poets and
Poetry previous to Chancer Paragraphs from the Pa
pers Wit, Humour and Anecdote—Editor's Table.
Mr. Turner seems indefatigable to his efforts to maifliHiJj’3
tain a Quarterly Review in the South, and he hai our
best wishes for his succesa
Afkbotion. —Let the foundation of thy affec
tion be virtue, then make the building as rich
and as glorious as thtfo canst; if the foundation
be beauty, or wealth, and the building virtue,
the foundation is too weak, and it will fell Hap
py is he, the palace of whose affection is found
ed upon virtue, walled with riches and glazed
with beauty, and rooted with honour.—Euchiri
dion.