IS V GEO. W. i
NEW SERIES.
Select JJoctrn.
From the Pittsburg Union.
"NOT FORGOTTEN."
No! Thou art not forgotten,
Though many days have pa-t
Sinre from thy soft and earnest eye
The light ori me was cast ;
Though the music of ihy gentle voice
No longer greets my ear,
Thou are not wholly absent yet,
Thy memory lingers here.
No! Thou art not forgotten;
Each fragrant breeze that brings
Low music in its wandering (light,
Of thee, the absent, sings ;
1 he melodies of summer birds,
The voice of youth and glee,
Remind me of thy own sweet tones,
So gentle, pure and free.
No! Thou are not forgotten.
For deep within my heart.
Thy memory ever sleeping iies,
.And oft to life will start ;
For 1 have loved tt.ee with a love
i hat nought of change could know,
And never shall mv soul forget
While still life's pulses flow.
1 gaze on summer evening skies.
When stars their curtain- gem,
And seem to see thy beaming eyes
Smile sweetly forth with them ;
This earth hath much of loveliness,
In blossom, leaf and tree.
And often as they meet my si"ht,
1 hey speak to me of thee.
No! Thou art not forgotten;
• At rosy morn's first beam,
And when the shadowy twilight
rails soft o'er vale and stream,
W hen holy thoughts steal o'er my soul,
And angel spirit* bear
To heaven mv prayers for those I Jove,
Thou art remembered there.
MINNIE.
Pennsylvania Politics—lifter from Wil
liam E>. Reed, Esq.
Ptni.ADER.NIIA, July 09, 1855. I
lo Hon. Jl. J. Curt in, Chuirman of the Whir !
State Committer„ Uurri.it/urir . .
UF.A SIR : I HEO ;esigti mv position as a, :
. .... >r of the State Committee, an.l desire t<>
' reasons win ,ve Pil trie to fins cou-
I .un tp.it aware that ttiese motives 1
,i v.. :i .:• ;.• i'.-st either to my late collea
-, i V, c, hut T am not less satisfied j
it r.vre is s .!• tiling in existing political re
. iris calculated to affect personal character, j
and which admonishes every honorable man to ;
he perfect I v ingenuous and unreserved as to j
what he does. In this communication I mean i
to be so, and I shall be very glad, if' I am in er- |
roron any matter of fact, that you will correct j
rue.
I was appointed a member of the State Com- ,
mitteebv the Whig Convention of 1851, which
nominated Mr. Pollock and Mr. Darsie. To j
us was confided the duty of promoting the sue- :
cess of that ticket in its integrity Mr. Darsie's :
success as much as Mr. Pollock's. We were ;
bound in honor to do all we could for both these |
gentlemen, and I can confidently assume that j
ifanv human being, in or out ot the Convcn- ■
tion or the Committee, had hinted the idea that j
one of these candidates was to be sacrificed, it j
would have been met by a most indignant re-'
hiike. There was not even an undercurrent ol ;
iiitolerance then. These were Whig nomina- :
t; ns, entrusted to the honor of a Whig Com
mittee.
On receiving the intelligence of my appoint
ment. I iinemdiatelv wrote to the President of
the Convention, begging, for personal and offici
al reasons, to be excused from serving. Had I
dreamed of what lias since occurred, my with
draw! would have been peremtory. and J should
have been spared the mortification of seeing the
party, with which I have acted for thirty years,
endangered, if not destroyed, by sinister and se
cret influences which I could not control and
with which I might seem to be implicated.—
ielding, however, to the urgency of old and
kind friends, who seemed to flunk I might ren
der some service, I consented to act. In one
respect, and but one, (aside from the pleasant
personal association we have had,) am I glad I
served. It enabled me, and in this my collea
gues of the Committee and our candidates cor
dially co-operated, to aid in assuaging the as
perities of political conflict, and so to direct the
canvass that little or no personal feeling ming
sffd in it. Sure lam that no word of personal
reproach or unkiodness to Gov. Bigler, or any
individual member ot the Democratic party, em
anated from the State Committee. It was in
this particular a most decorous contest.
Having agreed to act, I took, as you arp a "
ware, my full share of duty, and attended every
meeting of the Committee, one of which held
three hundred miles from iny home.
\ou will excuse the recapitulation. It is ne
cessary to the illustration of the painful, and in
,n y judgment, most discreditable sequel to
what was so propitiously begun. In the winter
an 'l spring of 1854, two incidents of public in
terest occurred, which in mv opinion were at
tended with the worst consequences—the pass
:, ?e of the Consolidation Bill, and the first elec
tion under it. To consolidation, in every form
J:i which it was presented, I am proud to say I
a ways was, and yet am, resolutely opposed.—
' 11(1 principle was wrong and delusive—the de
tads of the measure, as has been abundantly
proved, were incongruous and imperfect—the
"lachinery rickety—and the manner in which
'• was forced on the public, no one venturing to
'hespurious sentiment that wasstimulated,
v as most unfortunate. Its sad results no one
( now questions. The most sanguine enthusiast
:oi this great speculation can do no more than
j hope tor tije very distant future. In the long
run, (to use a favorite phrase,) it may succeed,
but it will be a very long run indeed, ot suffer
ing and dishonor, and social disorganization and
I imminent brankruptcy. Every one of these
I results has in point ot tact already ensued.—A
J huge municipality has been created wtucli thus
I lar cannot manage itselt. Its Legislature is a
; miniature Harrishurg, translated to Philadel
phia. The treasury is bankrupt. The credit
jot the community has been narrowly saved so
j far as the payment of mere funded interest is
I concerned, but prostrate in everything else.— j
| .New Joans are fanuliary talked of. New taxes
: are inevitable, and yet no one ventures to pro
j pose them. These I aliirm to be the consequ
ences—the bitter and the natuial fruits of tnis j
consolidation scheme.
In May of last year occurred the first ejection !
under the new system.
It was at this election that, for the lirst time, !
was developed a new anJ most dangerous eie
i merit of political action, which has been running ,
a short race of triumph ever since, but which
: now, 1 am happy to believe, is near its appro- !
j priate end. loi course refer to Know Nothing- j
j ism or secret Americanism. How, or where, or
exactly when it originated, no one knows—at!
least, uoorieout ot its Councils, and, 1 suspect,
not very many in them. It is believed to have
i had a very impure origin out ol this State, and j
|to have been transplanted hither by hands al- j
| ready stained with a good many black political
spots, bankrupts in fortune and character, spirits
congenial (u any device ot fraud that might,
under a cloak of secresy, be perpetrated with
■safety. Sucli I believe to have been its origin,
though I am equally well satisfied that much -
personal respectability and honest, though mis
directed, sentiment has been infused in a since. <
No matter, however, how or where it began, ■
the disease broke out with great virulence in t
this citv in the spring ot lh.Vf. Hundreds arid <
thousands of sturdy Whigs, who have been tight- •
j ing open Americanism all their lives and as ;
I many fierce Democrats, rushed into these lodges '
—Were initiated by some mock ceremony, and I
swore that they would never vote or assist or '
aid members ot one ( hristian denomination— : i
that they would proscribe every uaturali- i
zed citizen; swore, too, though nominal Whigs! t
or Democrats, that they would break faith with (
ancient friends and abide by the decision of se- I i
cret lodges—swore further to a code of disin- I
member*;. "
and seerred to make it sale. Many a man who h
was ashaire publicly to preach intolerance and a
proscription, could iio it salely in a secret count
cil room, i his system of denial and eqtiivocu- i
lion—a cardinal principle of Know-Notningism a
led to some instances ol' personal degradation in
this city which I do not like to think 01.
It was not long alter this election when the i I
glory of triumph was brightest, that the* Whig !
State Committee met lor the hrst lime in this t
citv. Jam confident in the belief that at that s
time this secret party had no considerable toot- t
hold in our Committee. I have no idea ol re- j I
| capitulating the acts or counsels ol the Commit- j 1
| tee then or thereafter. \ou will do me the ! i
justice to say, that from first to last, in every I
I form and guise, | opposed all atßnity to this j '
j new party, and I am glad to do you the justice, j '
' that you were equal decided and resolute on ; <
j the same side. We worked together most liar- ! !
inoniouslv. Then, too, it was that question oi
> our duty to George Darsie was considered and '
I discussed, and then we were, or seemed to be, <
■ unanimous, that it was a matter of duty and
' honor to support him. The fact is now confes- ; I
! .sed, I regret to say, that some of our Committee, i l
thus pledged 111 fairness and honor, recognizing
; the superior obligation of a Know-Nothing oath, !
: voted fir Mr. Molt, the Democratic candidate,
believing him to belong to the order. Ihe same
subject of discussion arose at a meeting at I ltts
burg, with the same apparent result, though I
have no doubt the scheme of sacrificing Mr.
j Darsie was in the meantime matured. It cer
| tainlv was most systematically perfected, and
I thus "one of the ablest and most upright public
1 men in the Commonwealth, who, in spite of his ;
I nativity and a few year* of infancy in Protes-j
| tant Scotland, had been a Pennsylvania legisla
, tor for nearl v fifteen years, was sacrificed at the
| bidding of a secret oath-bound association, com
i posed, to a large extent, of individuals who o
! penly claimed communion with party they be
jtrayed.
How little the State Committee could do to i
avert this discredit, you very well know. I lie
secret influence was around them, and upon
them, and within them, and those who, like
j myself and others, were open and candid in their
' j condemnation of this secret action and organiza
■ i tion, were not fairly met or answered. Ihe
j secret order was satisfied with rapid recruiting.
' The oaths prevented discussion or fair play.
• I It was confidently alleged and assumed that
• Mr. Pollock himself joined the order. From his
! own lips I have it that, at the time of his elec
■ ■ tion, he was not a member of any party whose
' j organization required him to proscribe any por-
I tion of his fellow-citizens, and relying on that
I assurance, I continued my exeitions, and voted
- I for linn. I voted for the W log ticket at the
i ! fall election. I voted for Mr. Tyson for Con
a gress, after he obtained the Whig nomination,
r S though I confess I was perplexed bv many ru
mors that he, too, had joined the order, and ta
- ken the requisite oaths. I could not persuade
> myself that a man at his time of life, who had
- pronounced so many elaborate discourses in fa
n vor of religious toleration, and who venerated
I with a faith so sincere and professing, the name
_j of Win. Penn—the friend and favorite ofEng
! land's Roman Catholic King—l could not per
v suade myself that he had abjured the principles
e jof his education, and sworn to this new allegi
h lance. Had I lived in the first Congressional
o District, I should no doubt have voted for Mr.
] Morris, for there would have needed much
it- j more than rumor to convince me that he, the
L ancient antagonist of Native Ameriism, |
> (which was at least a manly party,) Ire-; I
tracted, and joined fhe secret order. Jaese ; r
i were errors on my part, they were errorsjtbe [
side of fidelity to my friends and party. I i
After the month of September, 18fiJfhe (
State Committee never mef. Gov. Pol bind
Mr. Mutt were elected, and those of us wieit s
we were excluded from the new commim, /
| had scarcely tin* heart to rejoice—the mel oi <
triumph in pur opinion being so unworj ! <
and nothing to console us but the dim tpe ' s
that things might turn out better than we|r-j i
j ed ' [ \j <
In January, of this year, the new adminja- ' i
tion was inaugurated and the new LeMsllv 1 <
met. Of the doings of that Legislature lid ! i
| not speak, and especially of that scene of iifc- j
tent intrigue, the canvass for United Sfrs [ :
, Senator. 1 hough there was a nominal \\ig \
majority, the name of Whig was ignored. Ie t
| caucus was one of " Secret Americans" ffei!
which Whig Senators and Representatives u4- >
j excluded: fend within and upon that caucus, t- 1 <
j erything being veiled by what was thought o
j be safe secrecy, the influence ol corruption, p6- <
! sonal, pecuniary and political, were i
|be brought to hear. What better iUuslratioi
: (i now appeal to your own observation,) cotij
there be of fhe mischievous capabilities of thr
secret organization than Gen Cameron's succesi
in the "American caucus ?" Ido not unite it
the denunciation heaped on that gentleman. 3
think—aside, of course, from all question of
right and wrong—that his consummate ski!!
and capacity of' accommodating himself to an
emergency, deserved better success than he at
tained. lie fought his enemies with their own'
weapons and beat them. If they mined, lie
countermined. If they plotted and organized I
in secret lodges, he constituted lodges of his
own, or went into theirs, and beat them even at
mystery. If they renounced past political fi
delity, Whig or Democratic, he, without any
effort, renounced too. If they swore eternal
enmity to Catholics and naturalized citizens, he
swore as hard as they, ft was with them all j
"Death to the Romans." Punic antipathy arid I
Punic faith. I confess Ido not see how any !
"Know-Nothing" can find fault with Mr. Cam- j
eron. And this accounts, in my fioor judg- j
merit, for the feeble result of succession which j'
took place from fhe Senatorial caucus. The j
deserters carried with them, as marks of shame j
in Know-Nothing eyes, !h fragments of their!
broken osilhs. m,. . "*- T <ma j
hide it, or disugise it. And thus it ended. 1 •
urn sorry to refer to all these matters, filled as
they are with painful memories, but they are
illustrative of the denomination of this secret
and dangerous party to he passed in silence.
During all this time, the State Cornmitte was
not called together, and if it had been could
have done little good. The tnelancholly fact
had by this time developed itself, that out of the
thirteen,of which number the Committee con
sisted, seven it was believed, had joined the se
cret order, some cheerfully and readily, and
from congeniality of feeling and opinion ; others
I venture to say, reluctantly, blushingl v, and
under what seemed an overbearing necessity.—
Whether, hereafter when the account of
misdoings comes to be settled, any distinction
will be made between those who readily and
those who unwilling bartered away ancient po
litical opinions, is not forme to say.
I confess that, during this spring, I was anx
ious that our Committee should ineet, if only to
enable us to speak out, and to let an organized
bodv in Pennsylvania have the honor ol striking
the first blow at the secret party. The elec
tions in New York and Virginia, and the local
spring elections in this city occurred first, an!
gave the wound from which the life blood rf
the organization is flowing away. Nothinf
could be more creditable to the nation—mort
fatal to this new parly, than the almost con?
temporaneouselection of Senator Seward an
Governor Wise, the one a northern Whig, th
other a southern Democrat; men of wildly di
fereiit opinions, but on this great question statu
iug shoulder to shoulder .in defence of the Cor
stitution, religious liberty, and equality of pi
litical rights. It was proved to he beyond I''
power of any secret conclave or its missionary i
of mischief, effectually to rally through te j
length arid breadth of the land the secret reb-s
to the Constitution.
On the 22d ol July, ten months after we s
arated at Pittsburg, the Committee met in tjs
citv, and then I determined, and you wJI
know, made no secret of my resolution, to bug
this matter of Know-Notliingisin before te
Committee. I ask its action in the way of s- j
tinct and emphatic repudiation. I feel it (y
duty as a matter of self-respect. I believed at
my Philadelphia fellow-citizens, whom I n
mediately represented, expected of me, al I
j think, having tried long to deserve their evi
dence, and having earned it, and being TV
proud of it, I properly estimate public opipn
on this point. Here', in Philadelphia, thi.|e-j
cr-t party drew its first breath and gaineits j
first victory . and here, in Philadelphia ilos ;
met its first reverse and will breathe its lai —
No one can mistake its coining doom.
What occurred in the Committee you kr. :
To the proposition to call a Whig Convents I i
cheerfully assented, meaning, so soon asje j
call was determined on, to ask the Commie,
by a manly declaration of principle, to freeit
1 convention on its inception from the suspn !
1 which since this secret party has existed,|s
hung round eveiy political body that has*}.
I therefore offered and asked the ( ommittto
adopt the following brief hut c.omprehee
resolutions, every word ol which had been*!l
.! considered, and for every word of which tn
. i willing to be responsible :
Resolved , By the Whig Executive Cortif''
I of the State of Pennsylvania, that an addij'
. j issued by this Committee calling the convsn •
i ; to meet at Harrisburg on , and as4>£ j
' j the follow ing principles r >( action :
1
BEDFORD, PJriIIDAY MORNING, SEPT. 14, 1555.
1. Disapproval in the clearest and strongest I
form of all secret political associations as immo
ral and unconstitutional,opposed to the princi- g ,
pies of our republican form of government, and
utterly subversive of the confidence which D
ought to subsist among political friends.
2. Condemnation especially of that form of c
secret political association which proscribes
American citizens on account of their religious ];
opinions or their place of birth, this Committee f.
and the Whig party recognizing in its broadest ! (
sense, that constitutional principle that every v
man has a right to worship God according to the j I;
dictates of his own conscience, and that organ- n
ized political proscription on account of reli
gious belief would be an interference with that a
right. * j"
3. Disavowal by this Committee collectively c
and individually of any connexion withorsym- r
pathv with any such secret political organiza- f
tion. g
4. The assertion of the feeling common to c
every Whig of Pennsylvania, and to very many t
of other organizations, that the Nebraska and t
Kansas measures of the last Congress, the abro- a
gation of the Missouri compromise line, and, as s
a part of the same system, the lawless and vio- 1
lent conduct of individuals since in Kansas, es- f
peciallv are abhorrent to the people of the \
North, and ought to be redressed. I
5. That these measures were a wanton renew- i
al of sectional agitation, for which in no sense i
are the Whigs of the North, ant! especially the t
Whigs of Pennsylvania, responsible. 1
C. That the restoration of the Missouri com- t
promise line ought to be demanded and insisted |
on as a matter of right. j
7. The assertion of the Whig principles— t
;the value of which every hour is confirming— i
[of protection in some from to American indue- ,
!rv, and especially, to the stable interests of {
Pennsylvania yet struggling irito existence— t
the policy of peace and neutrality on the part j
of the general government, and resolute ahsti- |
nence from all schemes of foreign aggrandise- *
iment and sympathy or affinity to foreign pol
itics.
| These resolutions, after a free discussion, '
■ r.vere laid on the table, my own vote being the 1
' nnlv one recorded in their favor : and yet I hope 1
j!I may be permitted to say there were few of the '
Committee who did not, in theii hearts and con- 1
! sciences, agree to every word in them. It is
I <!<je to my colleagues to add that some of flu-tn
i put their votes on the resolutions strictly on tin*
1 ground of inexpediency and a doubt as to the
, f ,N\ ri;r " r "- ttoinmittee. With them, howev
r*wrro trTe rrm. tSJej :•
> Know-Nothings, and, as such, under a para
■ : mount if not exclusive allegiance.
; During that discussion one of these gentle
i men, as you will recollect, said with emphasis,
! and without a word leading to it, that it these
I 1 resolutions passed he should resign. Till then
i | no word which, by any possibility could be con
• strued into a threat, had been whispered—cer
tainly not by me. But the feeling and resolu
■ i lion were all along cherished that, if, alter all
! | that had occurred, the sacrifice of Mr. Darsie,
; j the discredit of last winter at Harrisburg, the
1 | insolent abandonment of the very name of the
I Whig party, and, above all, the prevalent sus
■ picion that affected every one, these resolutions,
i or something like them, were not passed, mv
1 ; duty as a gentleman was very clear, to vacate,
■ias I now do, ray position. It is a resolution, J
•is.su re you, not lightly formed or which can he
- Jtconsidered.
i ! i The resolutions aliirmed this secret organiza
i ton, with its prescriptive and evasive oaths, to
: be not only unconsiituliona /, but immoral! I
- (Idiberately reiterate that opinion, be its value
i what it may, without agitating another grave
I j question, whether these combinations and these
1 extrajudicial oaths are not strictly unlawful.—
. r t is a very safe, kind of swearing for easy con
■ : sciences when no penalties of perjury are risk
ed. I am, by education and principle, opposed
j to all extrajudicial oaths—having been taught
) long ago by one of the greatest lawyers Penn
sylvania ever produced—one, too, whose mem
, orv J most affectionately nourish, that the ad
. ministering or the pronouncing of any oath, ex
| cept by authority of law, is an offence against
the law. The example of this secret party is
j making them fearfully common—this taking in
j vain the Almighty's name—"this rash swearing
not required by the magistrate" which the wis
dom of more than one Protestant church con
demns. lam free to say that oaths of exculpa- :
lion are nearly as repugnant as oaths of initia
tion and proscription. Aside, I repeat, from
all question of law, the whole secret organiza
tion is immoral, and degradingly so in this, that
it exacts evasion and sometimes the denial of
truth. If it does not now, it certainly did so
once, in its prime of youth and pride of victor} - .
The obligation once was, and I fear is yet, to
evade the confession of membership if possible,
and if not, expressly to deny it : and J have
myself seen instances of this degrading prevar
ication which make the use of the word "im
i moral" almost too gentle.
One other word, and I hayp done. ] shall
I look with deep interest to the constitution and
| action of the Convention which is summoned to
' meet at Ilarrisburg in September. I trust its
! action may be unreserved in the enunciation
■ of principles—conciliatory to those who agree
! in principle and REPUBLICAN in every sense—
! and most so in this, that no -whisper shall be
uttered, no intimation given, that can be con
• strued into an interference with religious lib—
t ertv, which the Constitution guards, or with
i social or political rights, which the Consti
tution recognizes.
I am, very respectfully, yours,
WM. B. REED.
[CP"A fetter from Brookville, Jefferson coun
ty, says the prospects are flattering in that coun
ty for the complete overthrow of Know-Noth
ingism. The Democratic ticket stands a fair
chance of being elected.
A Story and a Warning.
The New Orleans Delta relates the following
sad story, byway of admonishing its readers a
gainst any participation in the lottery mania,
which is said to prevail very extensively in that
city :
"A poor but industrious mechanic had been
laboring for years to accumulate sufficient money
to purchase a homestead for himself and family.
On returning home each Saturday night he
would place his weekly salary in the hands ol
his wife, and request her (o lay it by. A few
months since, knovvning that he must have sav
ed a couple of thousand dollars by his industry
and frugality, and learning that a piece of pro
perty was for sale in the upper porton of the
citv which would be an advantageous invest
ment, he called upon the owner, and it was of- j
fered to him at a bargain. Overjoyed with his
good fortune, he hastened home to his wile, and
conveyed to her the glad news and asked for
the money to close the purchase. But, alas!
there was no joyful response in the counten
ance of his better half, but bursting into tears
she wept most bitterly, and refused to be com
forted. The husband was astonished, and asked
for an explanation. With heart averted, and
voice interrupted by heart-broken sobs, she made
known to her husband the startling fact—
which fill like a thunderbolt upon him, crush
ing his brain and causing reason to totter and
reel from its throne—that she had wasted al! his
hard earning in the purchase of Havana lottery
tickets ! The vacant stare from the eves of the
husband which met this astonishing disclosure
plainly showed that he was no longer capable
of appreciating his loss,out with a maniac laugh,
wild and startling, he left his home, his wife,
and little ones never more to return. A few
davs more passed, and his" body was taken from
the river. The coroner held an inquest upon
it, and a verdict of 'suicide' informed the public
liow he died : but why he died remained a se
cret."
T REM A IIK AUR.E Occv r. HENCE. —A ci i cumstance
of a somewhat extraordinary character occur
red a short time since in one of the flourishing
towns of the midland counties. A clergyman
died, and his wife and daughters, on the third
dav alter his decease, recollecting that no like
ness remained, it was agreed, ere the grave
closed over him, that Ihe body should be un
shrouded and a portrait taken. A young lady
of some professional celebrity was engaged for
the task. She, with the assistance ot an aU?ry
-Inni *i (T ♦ >yr> requi
. ring the artist's attention, the sketch was defer
red till noon. About 12 o'clock, at the foot of
. the lied, the lady commenced and went through
_ an hour's work on this image of death. At this
. stage of the proceedings, by some unaccounta
ble motion, the head of tfie death-like figure
fell on the side. Nothing daunted, the artist
. carefully took the head to replace it, when, lo !
the eyes opened, and staring her full in the face
"the dead" inquired "Who are you ?" The
young "professional," without trepidation, took
the bandage from the head and rubbed his
neck. He immediately saw the shroud, and
laughed immoderately. The artist quietlv call
ed the family; their joy may be imagined, but
cannot be described. That evening, he who
had laid three days in his shroud, bemoaned by
mother and sisters with agonized tears,gladden
ed their hearts by taking his accustomed place
at the tea table, and at this moment is making
an excursion in Noth Wales.— Bedford (Eng
land) Times.
Singular Riccplion.
A correspondent of the New York Herald,
writing from Whitehall, in that State, says;
This place was formerly called Skeeneborough,
in honor of Major Skeene, an officer of the
British army, to whom a patent of the land was
granted. The ragged mountain which bounds
the village on the northeast is still known as
Skeene's mountain. On the side of mountain
stood the house in which Major Skeene resided.
The .site of it is still pointed out, though it is
now occupied by a more modern dwelling. A
strange story is told of an ingenious fraud per
petrated by Major Skeene. An annuity had
been bequeathed in England to his wife*to be
paid to her in the language of the will, so long
as she should remain above ground.
It happened one day that Mrs. Skeene died,
Her husband unwilling to have the annuity
cease, placed her in a lead coffin, with a glass
plate in it, through which she could be seen,
and kept her in the cellar, hut "above ground."
Once a year tie forwarded to England the req
uisite affidavit of some person that he had seen
Mrs. Skeene at such a date, and that she was
"above groundand the money was acaor
dingly paid over. This fraud was practised a
number of years, until so.rne kind neighbor
communicated tothe parties interested in Eng
land, the whole story, and the annuity was of
course stopped.
Editorial Life ill California.
A San Francisco gives us the following, in
reply to a correspondent, who assured his read
ers that editors in California were rather peace
ably inclined :
"In order that we may more fully demon
strate the manner in which the California edi
tor passes his the pleasing incidents
that daily Occur to him, we will sketch a brief
outline of his duties and the style in which fie
executes them every twenty-four hours. First
—gets up in the morning at ten o'clock; dresses
himself, puts on his hat, in which are six or
seven bullet holes, and goq| to a. frgtaurnnt for
breakfast. After breakfast, for the
office to look over the papers, and discovers that
he is called a scoundrel in one of them, a liar
in another, and a puppy in another ; he smiles
at the pleasing prospect of having something to
do ; fills out and despatches three blank challen
ges, a ream or two of which lie always keeps
TERMS, S2 per year.
VOL. XXIV, NO. 5.
! oa hand, ready printed, tosavetime; coir.men
ces writing a leader, when as the clock strikes
eleven, a large man with a cowhide in one
hand, and a pistol in the other, and a bowie
knife in his belt, walks in and asks him il his
name is : he answers by knocking the in
truder down two pair ol stairs with a chair.—
At twelve o'clock, finds that his challenges
have been accepted, and suddenly remembers
that he has a little affair of that nature to settle
at the beach that day at 3 o'clock ; goes out,
kills his man, then comes in and dines on stew
ed grizzly. Starts for the office, and while go
ing there gets mixed up in a street row, and
has the heel ol his boot shot ofT by accident;
laughs to think how beautiful it was done ; ar
rives at his sanctum, and finds an "infernal ma
chine" upon the table : knows what it is, and
merely pitches it out of the window ; writes an
article on "moral reform," and then starts for
the theatre ; is attacked on the corner of a dark
alley by three men. kills two of them and takes
the other to the station house. Returning to
the office at eleven o'clock at night, knocks a
man down who attempts to rob him, kills a dog
with a piece of paving stone, gets run over by
a cab, and has the tail of his coat slitted with a
thrust from a knife, and two bullet-holes put
through his beaver, as he steps within his own
door . smiles at his escape ; writes until two o'-
clock, and then "turns in," with the happy
consciousness of having two duels to fight the
next day. No wonder tli3t California editors
are objects of jealousy. Hereafter our eastern
ctemporararies will please do us the justice of
believing no correspondent who may intimate
anything at variance with conclusions which
mav be drawn from the above picture.
M IT. DEN AT VVOMELSDOCF.—A shocking
murder occurred at Wolemsdorf, in this coun
ty, yesterday (Friday) morning, the particulars
of which are thus given to us :
A man named John H. B. Selbert, aged 2">
years, son of William Selbert, of Wornelsdorf,
wished to marrv a young girl of some twelve
or thirteen years of age, named Catharine Bouch,
residing with her mother, in an adjoining house:
and was repeatedly heard to declare that if she
refused to marry him, she would marry no one
else. On the morning stated, he watched his
opportunitity, w hen the members of both fami
lies were absent, and attacked the girl in the
yard, seized her by the throat and choked her
until she was senseless, then took an axe and
brat out her brair.s, causing instant death. He
. to.we em ... _ H .... tuee* „„„
across her forehead, with the edge of the axe.
Selbert was immedint,lv nrruc...l k.. ~ki_.
onufii us immediately arrested by constable
f Kendall, and was taken before John M. Stephen,
| Esq., by whom he was committed to answer the
, charge at the November Court. The prisoner
was lodged in jail.
Selbert, it seems, was from his youth addict
ed to fits of insanity. 7he desire to marry the
Sir! —a mere child—was of course regarded as
the whim of a lunatic, and not much thought of.
His constant intercourse with the object of his
regard, who lived in the next house, appears to
have driven him to desperation. He first at
tempted to commit suicide by taking laudanum,
but drank a bottie of ink instead. His next
thought appears to have been to kill the giiJ,
probably intending to kill himself afterwards.
Ihe butchery is of too horrible a character to
suppose that it was perpetrated in cold blood
but be that as it may, the matter will be thor
ough- silted bv the Court when the case conies
up for trial. The affair has occasioned a great
excitement in Womcsldorf'.— Berks andSch.
Jour.
Appropriate Present.
The following is taken from the Louisville
(Ivy.) Democrat, and may well be called an
appropriate recognition of the claims of George
D. Prentice, ot the Louisville Journal to immor
tal remembrance:
LOUISVILLE, August 7, 1855.
GEO. D. PRENTICE, Esq.—DEAR sm : I have
been requested and instructed by the ladies of
Bardstown to present to you, in their name,
the urn which the bearer of this note will de
liver to you as a slight testimonial of their ap
preciation of your distinguished services in
behalf of the American party. They feel that
the country is much indebted to you for your
devotion to the great principles on which our
government and party are based, viz : the burn
ing of the churches of the impudent Papists,
the roasting, stewing, and frying alive of the
vile Dutch and Irish tcom.cn and infants, so
victoriously, triumphantly, and gloriously a
cbieved in this city on last Monday night by
men whose souls were inspired and arms nerved
at your patriotic instigation.
I his urn contains some of the trophies won
by the "American" party on Monday, viz:
1 he hearts of Dutchmen, the ashes of Irishmen,
the brains of anti-American infants, and a por
tion of the burned flesh of Quinn, (brother of
the deceased Popish priest,) all of whom were
burned alive on Monday night, for the safety
and perpetuity of our national welfare. The
offering will be the more acceptable, we are as
sured, when you are informed that the charred
and burned particles, and the brains of infants
herewith tendered, are the remains, the identi
cal remains, of the women and infants who so
shamefully fired upon and killed the brave men
of the great American party, who died "breath
ing lofty aspirations in the cause of liberty, the
Union, and the national prosperity."
Accept, sir, this HOLOCAUST —these remains
of women and rascally Dutch and Irish suck
ling infants—as a testimonial of your devotion
to the protection of "American rights."
SA MRJEL BLACKSMITH.
intercourse of friendship is a cordi
al fa# the heart. It beguiles the hour of grief,
gently weans the thoughts from the selfishness of
sorrow, and gives the mourner to feel that earth
is not a wilderness.