THE DAILY EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, THUKSDAT, NOVEMBER 17, 1870.
THE IT1LUX rEASlNT.
The condition of the Italian peasant is in
lomt respects worse, and in many respects
bettor, than that of hia English brother. He
has a belter soil and a better clima te, to
begin with; fewer wants, and a greater capa
city for enjoying life. lie is often a poor
man, but seldom a pauper, in the legal sense
of the word. His appearance in England and
elsewhere as an organ-grinder is not a result
of poverty, but of a desire to esoape from the
conscription, or to elude the laws of his native
country, which are very severe in certain cases,
though much milder than they were a few
years ago. Most of these vagabonds have
run away from home, leaving behind thain
parents or families who are respectable; or,
if young, have been sold or "farmed out" to
wanter organ-grinders, with or without their
parents' constnt, at so much a head, or in
gangs of six or eight, like convicts. It is
quite a mistake to suppose that these wan
derers Are the outpourings of the Italian
Btreets. They are generally vagrants and
beggars perhaps criminals because they
have come to England. In their own coun
try they have the means of subsistence.
Many of thh organ-grinders of London
are peasants from the mountain districts
of Italy. They speak a language of their
own a patois made up of the waifs and
strays of various dialects a kind of Babel
of sounds which would be unintelligible ia
the cities and large towns of their native
land. Most of the image men are Tuscans,
or inhabitants of Lucca and Modern. The
hurdy-gurdy boys are Savoyards and Tied
inonteso. The Pifi'orari, or Italian pipers,
Borne of whom have bagpipes like the Sootch
Highlanders, are Sicilians and Calabresi; but
in some rare instances a Roman or a Tuscam
minstrel is to be found in the streets of Lon
don dancing a jig or singing a plaintive song
in pure Italian. Most of these adventurers
live and vegetate in the dark courts and alleys
of Clerkenwell and Soho square haunts of
rice and misery, where Italy may look for her
exiled children any day in the year, and claim
them, too, if she have a iniad (which she has
not), together with all the organ-grinders or
others who infest the metropolis. One and
all are peasants, or relatives and friends of
peasants; people who began life as farmers or
farm Bervsnts landlords of wretched hovels
landed proprietors of fields and cabbage
gardens.
The peasantry of Italy may be divided
into two great classes: the oontadini and
the paesani, or the upper and lower classes
of peasants. The cultivators of the soil are
an independent race. They are the fellow
laborers of the ox, but they are not plough
men or peasants in the English sense of
the word. They associate with dogs, horses,
and sheep: but they are their own masters.
They are the children of nature. They call
themselves the citizens of the woods. They
are proud and ignorant at the same time.
They have a flower's right to grow on their
Dative heath, a lark's privilege to sing in the
fields. They are as much a part of the land
scape as the tiees themselves. Their defect is
that they take root. You may cut them down,
or they will die in their placet, as their fathers
did before them; but you cannot induoe them
to leave the country, unless it be for criminal
or political reasons.
Let us take a glance at the English pea
sant, and compare his qualities good, bad,
or indifferent with those of the Italian con
tadino. We all know the defects of the English
ewain; now rude be is, how unwieldy, how
unable to compete with mechanics ' in the
race for wealth. In nine cases out of ten he
is a drudge, a thing, and not a man, part of
the machinery of a farm-house; in some cases
a pauper, and in others a slave if people can.
be called slaves who have the right to die of
starvation and the liberty to
0 to the workhouse ! But, in spite of his
defects, and the defects ' of
his position, he is a more substantial being
than his Italian prototype. He has greater
powers of endurance, and he endures with a
better grace. He is thankful for small mer
cies; he works and plays with a will; and he
starves in a good-humored sort of way, as if
he thought his time were come. But send
him abroad, put him on his own laud in a
Dew country, give him in Australia or Ameri
ca the chances which an Italian peasant has
at home, and ten to one he will prosper, and
brir-g about, or help to bring about, the
prosperity of others. For the English work
ingman is never more at home than when be
is abroad. He knows that he is a man as well
hs an EDglibhman; an inhabitant of the earth,
uot of a part of it; a native of the land on
whose poBhessionsthesun neverset. Not so the
Italian peasant. For him Italy is everything,
the world nothing. If he transplants him-
aelf, he languishes, lie knows no history
but the history of Home, no sun but that
which shines on his father s fields. He likes
money well enough, but he would rather live
on a crust of bread or chestnut flour in his
own land (chestnut porridge is the great
staple of food in Central Italy) than live on
milk and honey in a foreign clime. He owns,
or partly owns, the field he cultivates. He
is never very rich, and never utterly desti
tute. He may send his wife aud children
out to beg, or become a beggar himself when
work is slack and the winter harvest that of
the chestnut-tree has been gathered in, but
be has always a roof to cover him, a house
bold fire from which no landlord can expel
him, a hut which he has luherited with his
Dame, and which is as much a part of his
identity as the snail's ehell is a part of its
body.
The contadini of the North of Italy make,
as a rule, very good farmers. They are more
industrious thau the peasants of Naples, and
better educated than the men who work in
the fields and vineyards of Tuscany; but they
are not no refined as the latter, and they
speak Italian as people speak a language they
have acquired by study. To them the lan
guage Tusraua the national speech of Italy
is a foreign tongue. They leara it they
do not inherit it; they are Italy's foster
chilren. Thus it comes to pass that they
are obliged to become scholars, or at least
the pupils of a schoolmaster, before they can
put themselves into communication with the
authorities. Their local speech is not reeog
Dized by the law. Hermons are preached,
proclamations are issued, law
suits are carried on, in a language which is
as strange to them as the English language
used to be to the inhabitants of the interior
of Wales. Nor is this the case solely with
the peasantry; the middle and even the
upper clause are sadly at a loss sometimes
to express themselves in proper language,
eo that they are often compelled to speak a
foreign tongue ( say French or German), in
order to make themselves understood in
polite society. French is becoming quite
the rage in Lombardy and Venetia, where
ladies and gentlemen of good position do
not scruple to speak bad French in prefer
ence to good Italian; perhaps because they
fear that proeincial accent will slip out. I
Lave said that the peasants of the North
' of Italy speak patois; but when they
read and write (as they of tea do) they
read and write Italian, and sot Piedmontese,
or lingua Lomharda. This is the sense in
which the northern peasantry are better edu
cated than those of the midland provinces,
though, 'according to all accounts, they are
les nobly gifted by nature, and spring from
"barbarians," and not from the auoient
Itomanfi: some say from the Goths and Van
dals. The peasants of Tuscany pride them
selves en having a gentler pedigree. Their
patois is the language of scholars. Dante
wrote in it, Galileo thought in it, Italy is
being governed by it at the present flay.
The shepherd-boy who tends his flocks on
the mountains of the Val d'Arno and knows
nothing of books except that they have
been forbidden by the priest, talks
more correctly and pronounces his
words better than the average
Lombard gantleman. He can improvise
poetry, or, I should say, poetical phrases,
better than a lawyer can defend his client, or
a doctor talk to his sick man, in many of the
northern towns. Nay, it is scaroely an ex
spgeration to Bay that the lower classes of
Tuscany are born in the purple of literature,
just as the birds of the forest are born
songsters. They laik correotly as the fish
bwibjs properly; as fire burns with a due
regard te the rules of chemistry without
knowing them; as leaves fall to the ground
in bedieace to the law of gravitation. You
may fine" peasants and charcoal-burners in
the midland provinces of Italy whose know
ledge of the Divins Comedy and the Two Or
lsndi (Orlando Furioso and Orlando
Innammorato) is as profound as
that of an Italian litterato;
nay, it may be, profounder, for while
the latter has often a large library to fall back
upen, the peasant is coafined to his ancient
epics: the boeks he has learnt by tradition,
as a child learns fairy tales, by word of mouth
and memory, and not by book or pan, though
now and then his natural powers are eked out
by a little learning. The majority of the
peasants are, of course, ignorant of these
chefs-d'oeuvre, and those who can read by the
card d not always read poetry: the Eeali di
Francia, the story of Bertoldo and Bertoldino
(a kind of prose epic), and the legends and
litanies of the saints, being among their favo
rite books.
The Italian peasantry contribute very largely
to the military resources of the country. They
supply the great bulk of the soldiers; they are
the raw material which the Italian Govern
ment employs to fight its battles and defend
its frontiers; turning them in some cases into
heroes, and in others into powder machines
warranted, gun in hand, to go off at a
moment's notice. Do not let it be supposed,
however, that these sons of the soil are ex
ceptionally brave and warlike; that they take
a particular delight in fighting, or in achiev
ing military glory. They are simply poor
(poor at least in ready money), and cannot
buy themselves off from the government.
If soldiering were a matter of choice, it is
doubtful whether the king would receive as
many recruits from the peasantry as would
suffice to equip a single regiment. The con
tadini are a peaceful race: docile and pa
tient to a fault; capable of great acta of
self-denial, but not addicted to rebellion or
to political or social risings, either in
defense of a right or in revenge
for a wrong; a very different class of men to
the peasantry of Kent and the bluff yeomanry
of Yorkshire. The Italian contadini enter
the army because they are obliged to do so.
Every strong and hearty lad, whether he be
peer or peasant, is liable to be claimed by the
consciiption as soon as he attains his nine
teenth year, provided he be not maimed, or
below the average height, or proved to be the
only support and comfort of a widowed
mother. Of course the peer is bought off
from the rank and file; he is enabled to enter
the army as en officer if he be soinolined, but
ence the fine is paid he is exempt from the
conscription, and his government must look
clsewLere for his substitute. The peasantry
are thus called into requisition twice over
once for themselves, and once for their
fine-paying neighbors. But they reap
many advantages from their forced service
in the camp; they learn Italian; they become
civilized: they go back to their native vil
lages (at the age of twenty-five) with an ac
quired taste for books and letter-writing, and
are looked upon as gentlemen perhaps as
heroes by their old associates.
A considerable number of the non-readers
in Italy are good story-tellers and reciters of
ballads, and some of them make what is
called poetry on their own account. This is
particularly the case in the South and in
some of the ceatral provinces, where educa
tion of a practical kind has (until recently)
been much neglected. Where schools flour
ish, hoate-philosopby, sometimes called
mother-wit, is generally found to be on the
decline. Old women lese their importance:
old men look to their sons and daughters, and
not to the priest, for instruction. No more
peasants, brooding over the old classics, make
a reputation as local poets; no more village
sybils thunder forth anathemas in blank
verse, or lull their children, or their chil
dren's children, to sleep with cradle-songs iu
seventy or eighty verses, interspersed with
Litanies and Ave Marias. To find such cus
toms now-a-days you must go to secluded
rpots, far awny from the track of the school
master; to romantio hills and valleys where
the priest is still supreme; to villages sus
pended from the crags like eagles' nests, and
fciTpposed i but not proved) to have been built
at the breaking up of the Homan empire by
feudal chiefs, or robbers, who were making
war on their sovereign. It would almost
appear as if poetry of a certain class can
not exist in an enlightened age. Ivy looks
best on a ruin; ballads do not flourish in an
age of newspapers. Perhaps it is because
bulla ds, being in one sense an inferior kind
of newspaper, are driven out of the market
by the real article. Look at education, what
it is doing in Italy; how it is breaking the
toil (like a large steam plough), and preparing
tie country for a new harvest ! Bat in re
moving the rubbish and obstructions which
het-et its path, it removes many beautiful
things; not alone the weeds of ignorance and
mi erstitkm, but the wild flowers of tradition
and poetry. And these are the sights which
ore bees in Italy in this year of grace; the
hizaaroDi of Naples swept away, or forced
to become honest members of society;
tie gondoliers of Venice reformed, and
educated, and properly controlled by
the authorities; the brigands of Calabria and
the Homan btates shot or imprisoned as con
victs; the pifferari and wandering minstrels
poor peasants, with their wives and families,
who used to sing so preMily at the wayside
thiines and in front of the pictures of the
Virgin Mary sent to the reformatory or the
woikhouse. But it is impossible not to re
gret some of the old customs and traditions
which are being destroyed along with these
trrors and abuses.
Tuscany and Lombardy, as well as Naples
and the ltoman States, contain many of the
b eluded spots above alluded to, "spots" com
posed of villages, and even small towns,
where newspapers are unknown, books a for
bidden rarity, and candles (tallow, wax, and
composite) highly euteenied as articles of re
ligion. The peasantry of these places are
still in the sixteenth century. Every man,
woman, and child plaoes his and her con
science in the bands of the looal priest.
Soul money, or a tax on dead people, is
levied, and paid with cheerfulness. Taxes
are raised on sin, indulgences (or permission
to Bin) are bought and sold in seoret, and
people taught that the wages of sin is not
death, as stated in the Horiptures, bat abso
lution and eternal life. The fact is the Italian
peasantry are the great bulwark of the Church
of Home. When these fall off the Pope may
begin to despair; but so long as these remain
faithful that is to say, as long as they remain
ignorant and superstitious there will be no
prospect of a change of tactics on the part
of the priesthood, either as regards
soul-money for tho dead, or sin-money for
the living, or the worship ef
graven images throughout the length and
breadth of the land.
Among the most horrible of the supersti
tions of the peasantry, is the belief in the
advocacy of little children babies, who die
as soon as they are baptized, or as soon after
baptism as is consistent with a belief in their
entire innocence and purity. Children who
die young are called "advocates," or avvocati,
because they are said to go t heaven without
passing into purgatory, and plead for their
parents and relations at tho right IumkI of
God. Many old women (chiefly grand
mothers), and not a few fathers and mothers,
have been convicted of compassing the
deaths of children, not wickedly er
maliciously, but in a pious, God
fearing sort of way, in order to have
"friends iu beaven" when their time
conies. Do not suppose that they murder
the children. Nothing of the sort. They
simply" let them alone and keep the doctor
at a distance. If they are ill they say the
hand of God is upon them. If friends in
terpose, and insist on something being done,
they mutter a Latin prayer, and resign them
selves to what they are pleased to call the
"wishes of the Almighty." I have known
cases where mothers have prayed that their
innocent little children might die during
illness, and cried bitterly when the coffiu
was being carried out of doors. But such
cases are not frequent;
The peasantry of Lombardy and VenetU
are more prosperous than those of Central
Italy. At any rate, they eat and drink more
copiously, and are able to afford themselves
greater luxuries. They earn more, and they
spend more than their southern bro
thers, and their food is not always
coarse and unpalatable. Thus, in the
central districts, among the hills of
Tuscany, Lucca, and Modena, the contadini
eat nothing but necce and'polenta, which are
the Italian names for chesnut bread and
chesnut porridge. A little salt, a good deal
of water, and a few handfuls of chesuut flour
thrown into a large cauldron (suspended
from tho inside of the chimney by a chain
with a hook to it), form the ingredients of
their morning meal. The same mixture,
cooked in a different way baked between
two bricks, or rolled up (and boiled) in a
towel, like a plum-pudding serves for a
dinner, and provides (in the shape of leav
ings) for a supper later in the day. The
peasantry of the Tuscan Alps rarely, if ever,
eat meat, except on Sundays
and the holidays of the Church.
Eggs and milk are luxuries, because tho
poor like to sell them to the rich, and a loaf
is considered quite a treat by the children of
the peasantry; nay, it is one about which
many hard-working people know nothing at
a 1 except by hearsay. This state of things
would be simply intolerable to the peasautry
of the north of Italy. The northern con
tadino is accustomed to a butcher's meat on
six days in the week. On Friday, as in
duty bound, he fasts; that is to say, be
eats fish, and as much miscellaneous food
as he likes, taking Friday's allowance of
meat on Sundays between mass and ves
pers. The breakfast of the Lombard pea
santry consists of porridge made of Iudian
corn, baker's bread, with cheese or butter,
and other simple yiands, which, in some
cases, are accompanied by wine (home
made, or bought from Boruo neighboring
farm), to enable them to endure the fatigues
of the field. The air is keener than iu the
South, and the men and women of Lom
bardy and Venetia, being hardier and more
industrious than the Italians of a softer
clime, requite more food to keep them
alive.
In certain parts of Italy, principally in the
midland provinces, tho young men of the
peasant classes "emigrate" for a few weeks
or months in the beginning of winter, aud
repair to Corsica and Sardinia, and certain
marsh lands on the Italian coast of the
Mediterranean called Maromme, where there
is work to be done in the shape of draining
fields, cutting down trees, making and trans
porting charcoal in the forest lands, and may
hap building bridges and roads. These "emi
grants" if they can be called by such a name
generally take their departure in the month
of November, after the gathering of the chest
nuts. The women and old men, and the well-to-do
young men of the peasant classes, sttjy
at home to superintend the smoking of the
autumn fruit the chesnuts being placed in
a kind of loft, with holes in the floor, above
the metato, or kitchen fire, which has no
chimney or outlet of aay kind except the win
dow and door and a kind of lull takes place
in the active life of the peasants. The old
women take to their distaffs; the younger
women sew and knit, or resume their studies
in embroidery and straw plaiting; while the
ycung men aforesaid make a pretence of
looking after the fields and forests, where a
stray nymph or two is generally to be met
with drying clothes, or picking
up sticks for tho kitchen fire.
Winter is a season of comparative
security for these young women, who in
summer rarely, if ever, venture out alofie
not even a stone's throw from their father's
house. The "roaghs" are all away; the bois
terous young men are hard at work in the
marshes. A little friendly intercourse and
homely affection is thus allowed to spring up
between the youth of both sexes, who meet
at the metato fires in the long winter eve
Dings and tell stories and sing songs. When
the spring returns the "emigrants" begin to
make theur appearance again perhaps as
early as the March violets either one by one,
or in batches of six or eight, as the cast
mav be.
The peasantry of Italy are not much
addicted to dancing, except in Carnival,
and the priests denounce it as a peccato
mortale, or deadly sin, when they have
the chance. A village fete in most parts of
Italy is a day .on which there is nothing to
do, when people walk about in their best
clothes, eat and drink better than usual, and
fie to church three times instead of once;
once to mass, once to vespers, and once to
funione in the evening.
The distinguishing features of a village
"wake" in Italy a harvest home, a vintage
feast, or a vecaene in the dead of winter
are eating and drinking, Intermixed with
sinew" (saored and profane), and the offer-
ing up of prayers. Jiariy lad of fifteen t;aa
rhyme and versify in the most surprising
manner, now and then extorting praise (and
money) from tourists, few of whom are, per
haps, aware that the improvvisatori of Italy
are in the habit of using the same phrases
over and over again, as people tell a Joe
Miller, or a favorite pnn, in different houses.
The Neapolitan peasants are, or used to be,
quite famous for their extempore songs
many ef them very elaborate whioh
they sang to their own mnsio, like the
wood-cutters of the South of France, al
luded to by Madame Sand in her story of the
"Maitres Sonneurs." I have heard of Italian
peasants who could write verses about their
friends and acquaintances who were working
in the fields, and sing them (instead of work
ing themselves) in a clear, soft, theatrical
voice. I have heard of other peasants (also
Italian) who could play the flute or flageolot,
and dance as nimbly as a ballet-man; and of
others who could fence and play at choss. It
will be said (not without reason) that those
accomplishments are not likely to be of much
use to a hard-working clodhopper; but a cer
tain civilizing or refining influence may be
attributed to them, just as boors are likely to
be improved by being brought into tho
fiociety of ladies. All the Year Round.
INSURANCE.
INSURANC E COMPANY
OF
NORTH AMERICA.
.Tanuart 1, 18T0.
Incorporated 1794. Charter Perpetual.
CAPITAL tflOO.000
ASSETS 2, 733,681
Losses paid since organization. $23,000,000
Receipts of Premiums, 1809 l,91,R3T45
Interest from Investments, ISC 9 114,196-74
12,106,634 19
.11,035, 383 -S4
Losses paid, 1869.
STATEMENT OP TIIE ASSETS.
First Mortgages on City Property
United States government and other Loan
Bonds
Railroad, Bank and Canal Stocks
Cash in Bank and Otllce
1 oans on Collateral Security
Notes Receivable, mostly Marine Premiums
Acciued Interest
Premiums In course of transmission.... ...
TJnsi tiled Marine Premiums
Real Estate, office of Company, Philadel
phia 1760,450
1,123,946
63,703
847,620
82,553
831,944
80,857
85,193
100,900
30,000
$2,J83,5S1
DIRECTORS.
Arthur G. Coffin,
Samuel W. Jones,
John A. Brown,
Charles Taylor,
Ambrose White,
WllllBm Welsh,
8. Morris Wain,
John Mason.
Francis R. Cope,
Edward H. Trotter,
Edward 8. Clarke,
T. Charlton Henry,
Alfred D. Jesaup,
Louis C. Madeira,
Charles W. Oushman,
Clement A. Griscom,
William Broe.kie..
George L. llarrlcon,
ARTHUR G. COKKIN. President.
. CHAliLKS PLATT, Vice-President.
Matthias Mas is, secretary.
V. H. Kkkves, Assistant Secietary. 3 1
1ft9Q CHARTER PERPETUAL.
1870.
Franklin Fire Insurance Company
OF PHILADELPHIA.
Office, Nob. 435 and437 CHESNUT St.
ssetsug.ll',D$3l009l888,24
CAPITAL 1400,000-00
ACCRUED SURPLUS AND PREMIUMS. 8,009,838 -24
INCOM B FOR 1570, LOSSES PAID IN 1S69,
S10,0(M). 1144,903-43.
Iofcwes paid since 1829 over
5.500,000
Perpetual and Temporary Policies on Libera;
Terms.
The Company also lssnes policies upon the Rerff
or all kinds of Buildings, Ground Rents, and Mor'
gapes
The "FRANKLIN" has no DISPUTED CLAIM.
DIRECTORS.
Alfred G. Baker,
Airrefl Fitier,
Thomas Sparks,
William h. Grant,
Thomas S. Ellis,
Gustavus S. Benson.
Samuel urant,
George W. Richards,
Isaac Lea,
George Fales,
ALFRED G. BAKER. President.
GEOKC.B FALES, Vice-President.
JAMES W. MCALLISTER, Secretary. (S 19
THEODORR M. ltiGKU, Assistant Secretary.
THE MUTUAL PROTECTION
Life Insurance Company
OF PHILADELPHIA
Offers life policies, PERFECTLY KECUHED, at
less than ONK-HAH TdE USUAL RATE 3. It is
the only Life Inburance Company in the United
States doing business on the "Mutual Classification"
plan, and its rates are so low that all classes may
eDjoy its benefits.
THE FULL AMOUNT OF INSURANCE IS
GUARANTEED. We confidently invite the attention of the public
to the claims of this Company, assured that its plan,
cOKiblnlng.as it does, E-JONOMY with the HIGHEST
DEGREE OFbEOURITY, will commend It to gene
ral favor.
Circulars, containing full explanations of our sys
tem, rates, etc etc., can be had from any or our
agents, or at the
OFFICE,
No. 247 8. THIRD Strot,
PHILADELPHIA.
JAMES II. BILL1NGTON, President.
J. E. Hackknbeho, Secretary.
Good men wanted as Agents. 10 13 thstu2m
P J K B ASSOCIATION
INCORPORATED MARCH 17, 1S20.
OFFICE,
No. 84 NORTH FIFTH STREET,
INSURE
BUILDINGS, HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, ANE
MERCHANDISE GENERALLY
Frem Loss by fire (in the City of Philadelphia only)
AMHKTS, JANUAUY 1, ISIO, 1,37.4,73 J
TRUSTEES.
WUllam H. Hamilton,
John Carrow,
George I. Young,
Jos. R. Lyndall,
Levi P. tJoats.
Charles P. Bower,
Jesse LJgbMoot,
Rsbert Shoemaker,
Peter Armbruster,
M. H. Dickinson,
Peter Williamson.
Samuel Sparhawk,
Joseph E. Schell.
WM. D. HAMILTON, President.
SAMUEL 6FARUAWK, Vice-President
WILLIAM F. BUTLER,
Secretary
TMTEIilAIi FIBS INSURANCE CO.,
LORDOH.
ISTABUSUED 1SOS.
Ptkl-np Oaiiul b4 AooaiaaUud Vonda,
08,000,000 IN GOLD.
EUEVOBT & HKRUINQ, Agents,
4t Ho. 101 B. TUIED Btwt.PhlUd.lphi.
ouas. H, JJY0J3T. 0UAS- F BKsawo
t INSURANQEr
J If O O R P O R A T B D ISIS.
OFFICE OF THE DELAWARE MUTUAL
SAFETY IJiSUKASCE CO.
PHii.ADBi.rniA, November 9, 1ST.
The following statement of the affairs of tne Com
pany Is published In conformity with a provision f
its Charter:
PREMIUMS RECEIVED from November 1, 13C9, f
Ootober 81, 1870:
on Marine and Inland Risks. $799,419-38
On FlreRiHks 1B4.801-20
$954,220"5
Premiums on Policies not
marked offNovember 1, 1 Stilt. 602,439-82
l,4rfl,709-S3
PREMIUMS MARKED OFF as earnedTroinNoT
vemner 1, 1SG9, to October 81, lSTOt
on Marine and Inland Risks. -wo,740-79
On Fire Risks lftl,M3-eT
11,032,295-46
IntereBt during the same
period Salvages, etc 152,8')0'93
81,134,790-44
.LOSSES, EXPENSES, etc., during the year as
BVoVe:
Marine and Inland Naviga
tion Losses fsiB.MBDS
Fire Loupes !,03-H
Return Premiums 81,021-69
Reinsurances 40,093-33
Agency Charges, Advertis
ing, Printing, etc nO,S01-40
Taxes United States, State,
and Municipal Taxes 63,000 12
Expenses 24,048-yo
. $375,128-97
$.109,609-47
ASSETS OF THE COMPANY
November 1, 1-hIO.
United States Six Per Cent-
$3CO,000
200,000
200,000
lf4,000
20,000
25.0C0
25,000
30,00i)
7,000
12,600
6,000
10,000
2C1.CC0
Loan (lawful money) $333,375-00
Stare of Pennsylvania Six Per
Cent. Ixian 214.000 00
City of Philadelphia Six Per
Cent Loan (exempt from
Tax) 204,162-50
State of New Jersey Six Per
Cent. Loan 163,920-00
PenBgylvanla Railroad First
Mortgage Six Per Cent.
Bonds. 20,700-00
Pennsylvania Railroad Second
Mortgage Six Per Cent.
Bonds 25,250-00
Western Penn. Railroad Mort
gage Six Per Cent. Bonds
(Penn. it. R. guarantee) 20,000-00
State of Tennessee Five Per
Cent. Loan 13,000-00
State of Tennessee Six Per
Cent, Loan 4,200-00
Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany, 2M) Shares Stock 15,000-00
North Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, 1U0 Shares Stock . . 4,300-00
Philadelphia and Southern
Mail Steamship Company, 80
Shares Stock 4,000-00
Loans on Bond and Mortgage,
ilrht liens on City Properties. 201,050 00
$1,200,150 Par.
Market Value. .$1,993,(5750
COSt, SI, 2134,447 'U.
Real Estate 50D0O0
Hills Receivable for Insurances nude... 23 ,97127
Balances due at Agencies Premiums on
Marine Policies Accrued Interest and
other debts due the Company 93,37547
Stock and Scrip, etc., of sundry corpora
tions, $7,H50. Estimated value 3,012-00
Cash , 112,911-73
$1 820,72797
PHlI.ADFI.rniA, NOV. P, 1370.
The Board of Directors have this day declared a
CASH DIVIDEND OF TEN tEU CKNT. on the
CAPITAL STOCK, and SIX PER CENT. Interest
on the SCRIP of the Company, payable on and after
tho 1st of December proximo, free of National and
Slate Taxes.
They have also declared a SCRIP DIVIDEND of
TWENTY-FIVE PER CKNT. on the EARNED
PREMIUMS for the year eudlng October 31, U7D
ccrtltlcates ef which will be issued to the parties
entitled to the Bame, on and after the 1st of Decem
ber proximo, free of National and State Taxes.
They hove ordered, also, that the SCRI1 CER
TIFICATES OF PROFITS of the Company, for the
year ending October 8L 1S06, be rodeemed in CASH,
at tlieOillecof the Company, on and after 1st of
December proximo, all Interest thereon to cease
on that day.
By a provision of the Charter, all Certificates of
Scrip not presented for redemption wlttiin live
years after public notice that they will be redeemed,
thall be forfeited aud cancelled on tha books of the
Company.
No certificate of profits Issued under ii6. By tho
Act of Incorporation, "no certtiioate shall Issue
unices claimed within two years after the declara
tion of the dividends whereof it is evidence."
DIHECT0HS.
Thomas C. Hand,
Ji.lin v. Davis,
Fdniuijd A. Souder,
Joseph 11. Seal,
James Trauualr,
Ikn. y Sloan,
Henry C. Dallett, Jr.,
Jiiiues C. Hind,
Wll iam C. Ludwig,
Hugh Craig,
John D. Taylor,
George W. llernadou,
William C Houston,
S.-imnel E. Stokes,
William ti. Uuulton,
Edward Darlington,
H. Jones Brooke.
Edward Lafourcade,
Jacob Klegel,
Jacob P. Jones,
James B McParland,
Joshua P. Eyre,
Spencer Mcllvaine,
John B. Sample, Plush g
A. B. Herger, "
D. T. Morgan, "
11. Frank Robinson,
THOMAS C. HAND, President.
JOHN C. DAVIS, Vice-President.
llKKi'Y Lyi.bibn, Secretary.
lltMt y Ball, Ass't Secretary. 11 11 lit
TUB PENNSYLVANIA FIRE INSURANCB
COMPANY.
Incorporated 1325 Charter Perpetual.
No. MO WALNUT, Street, opposite Indt-pendenca
Square.
Tills Company, favorably known to the commu
nity for over forty years, continues to Insure against
loss or. damage by tire on Public or Private Build-
1 u Alth.ii. nuriti.nnnHi nf tir a limltol Hma A un
on Furniture, stocks of Woods, and Merchandise
generally, on liberal terms.
Thttr Capital, together with a large Surplus Fund,
Is invested in the most careful manner, which ena
bles them to oircr to the Insured an undoubted secu
rity in the case of loss.
DIRECTORS.
Daniel Smith, Jr., Thomas Smith,
Isaac lla.lchurst, Henry Lewis,
Thomas Robins, J. Gilllogham Fell,
John Devereux, Daniel Haddock,
Franklin A. Comly.
DANIEL SMITH, Jh., President
Wm. G. Crowkll, Secretary. 8 80
JAME INSURANCE COMPANY
No. 809 CHESNUT Street.
IKCOHFOKATKD 1S58. CHARTER HPITUAL.
CAPITAL $200,000.
FIRB INSURANCE EXCLUSIVELY.
Insurance against Loss or Damage bv Fire either by
Perpetual or Temporary Policies.
P1KKCTUKB.
Charles Richardson,
William H. Rhawn,
WUllam M. Seyfert,
John F. Smith,
Robert Pearce,
John Keasler, Jr.,
Edward B. Orne,
Charles Stokes.
Natnan unies,
John W. Everman,
George A. West, I Mordecal Buzby.
CHARLE8 RICHARDSON. President
WILLIAM U. RUAWN, Vice-President.
Williams I. Blakc&ard Secretary.
T23i
THfi ENTERPRISE INSURANCB CO. OP
PHILADELPHIA
Office 8. W. cor, FOURTH and WALNUT Streets.
FIRE INSURANCB EXCLUSIVELY.
PERPETUAL, AND TERM POLICIES ISSUED.
CASH Capital (paid up In fall) $'100.000'00
CASH Assets, October, 1870 681,139'1'i
' DIRECTORS.
F. Ratchford Starr, J. Livingston Errlnger, .
Naibro Frazler, James L. Claghorn,
John M. Atwood, ,Wm. O. Boullon,
Bnj. T. Tredick, Charles V heeler,
Weorge II. Stuart, Thomas U. Moutgomer
John H. Brown, James M. Aertseu.
F. RATCHFORD 6TARR, President.
THOMA H. MONTGOMERY, Vice-President
ALEX. W. W1STEH, Secretary.
JAC OB E. PETERSON, Assistant Secretary.
COTTON SAIL DUCK AND CANVAS, Ot ALI
numbers and brands. Tent, Awning, Trunk
and Wagon-cover Duck. Also, Paper Manufac
turers' Drier Felu, from jr-urty to axventy-tt,
Oi.be., with rauuna, tMAN.
NO, 10 CUMCU ISUeet, (Clif ttwrxjei
APCj riON SALEt,
M
THOMAS fc SONS, AUCTIONEERS, NOS.
139 and 141 S. FOURTH Street.
Sale 8185 Walnut street.
HANDSOME ( HANDE1.1KKS, FINE FRENCH
PLATE MIRRORS, RICH CARi'EI S, ETC.
On Friday Morning,
Nov. 19, nt 10 o'clock, by catalogue, ths handsomt
silvered chandeliers and gas bracke , cut lusi rcn,
three fine French pinto mantel tnlrr r, haivHoms
gilt frames, rich A xminster, Wilton, F.igllsh, Brus
sels, and other carpets, English oil clottu.evc. II ID It
Assignee's Sale In Bankruptcy.
STOCK OOOI) WILL. UNEXPIRElJ L&19E, AND
FIXTURES OF A WINR-HOUSK AN J KrA'i i
FY1NO ESTABLISHMENT.
On Friday Morning,
lth lnlanr, atlo o'clock, at No. 22 South Fourth
street, tl e strck and flxtnres, by ordtr of V. c.
Sweii tman, assignee. limit
T IK MAS BIRCH A SON, AUCTIONEERS AND
COMMISSION MERCHANTS. No. 1110 Ches
NUTfclrect; rear entrance No. 1U7 Sausom street.
Sale at No. mo Chssnnt strnt.
HOUSEHOLD CABINET FURNITURE, riANO
KOKThS, Carpets, French Plate Miiitol ami Hior
Mirrors, Gas Chaudellers and Fixtures, Lace Win
dow curtains, Silver-Plated Ware, Table Cutlery,
Etc.
On Friday Morning,
At 9 o'clock, at No. 1110 Chesnut street, will be
sold a large assortment of superior furniture, tn
cludlrg rlcii parlor suits tn plush and terry ; walnut
chamber suits; Brussels, Ingrain, and Venetian car
pets; dining-room tables, chairs, and sideboard;
wardrobes; French plate mantel and pier mirrors;
lace window curtains; lannbrokins; cornices, etc.
SECOND-HAND FURNITl RK. Also, a large as
sortment of second-hand furniture from families de
clining housekeeping.
PI ANO-FORTES. Also, three plano-fortes.
OAS CHANDELIERS. Also, sewral chandeliers
and other gas Ux aires. n lost
BUNTLNO, DURBOROW A CO , AUCTIONEER!!,
Nob. 232 and 234 MARKET street, own r Of
Bank street. Successors to John B. Myers A Co,
LARGE SALE OF CARPETLNQS, OIL CLOTHS.
ETC.
On Friday Morning,
November is. at 11 o'clock, on lour months' credit,
about 200 pieces ingrain, Venetian, list, hemp, cot-
T'Hgn, mm rnKcurpcTinirs: on ciotns, ere. li 12M
NOTICE TO FURRIERS. SADDLERS, AND CAR
PET DEALERS.
We will Ineluda lu above sale
60 pieces 0-4 prlnttd fells,
160 woollen crumb cloths, 9-4x12-4 to 12-4x10-4.
Also, a line of felt edgings. ill IB 3b
LARGE SALE OF FRENCH AND OTHER EU
ROPEAN DRY (10ODS.
On Monday Morning,
November 21, at 10 o'clock, on four montha
credit. 11 15 5t
SALE OF 2,000 CASES BOOTS, SHOES, TRAVEL
LINO HAWS, HATS, ETC.,
On Tuesday Morning, ill lost
November 22, at 10 o'clock, on four months' credlt.y
M
ARTIN BROTHERS, AUCTION EERSL
(Lately Salesmen for M. Thomas & Sona.li
No. 704 Chesnut st., rear entrance from Miner.
IMPORTERS' SALB.
E LEO A NT AO ATE, AM Alt MO, AND S1KXA
VASES, Urns and Ornaments, Bronzes, RUi-uet
Figures, Card Receivers, Alabaster Uroups and
Statuettes.
On Friday Morning,
November 18, at 10 o'clock, at the auction rooms,
No. 704 Chesnut street. No r serve.
May be exumlncd on Thursday, 17th Inst. IS 15 3t
Peremptory Sale at (lay's China Palace, No. 102i
Chesnut Htreet.
ENTIRE STOCK OF ELKO ANT FRENCH CHINA,
RICHLY CUT OLASSWAKK, ItlUil KANCf
WOODS, STONE CHINA, ETC.
on Friday Morning,
At lOJtf o'clock, at No. Iu22 Chesnut street, by
catalogue, the entire stock of elcgnnt decorated
French china dinner, dessert, and tea services
white French china ; Relily cut glass liquor sets, in
ciuditg decanters, goblets, champagnes, wines,
tumblers, eordiiils; line Bohemian glassware; rich
fancy goods; handsome vases; cologuesets; stone
china; pressed glassware, etc.
May be examined on the afternoon anil evening of
Thui bday and on the morning of sale. 1 1 10 21
Sale No. 231 North Ninth street.
SUPERIOR PAKLOK I UKNITURK, HANDSOME
WALNUT C1IAMBKU l'UKNITURh, KLMlANT
ROSEWOOD PIANO-KOKTE, HANDSOME
BRUSSELS CARPETS, ETC.
On Tuesday Morning,
22d Inst., at 10 o'clock, at No. 2.11 N. Ninth street,
by catalogue, the entire furniture, lucluding- Supe
rior parlor furniture; 2 sulls handsome walnut
chamber furniture ; elegant rosewood 7-octave piano
forte made by Meyer ; handsome Brussels carpets;
tine 1 leiieh china; glassware, etc. I U U4t
May be seen early on the morning of sale.
BY BARR1TT & CO., AUCTIONEERS.
CASH AUCTION HOUSE,
No. 230 MARKET Street, corner of Bank street.
Cosh advanced on consignments without extra
charge. 11U45
KI RS, H IIS.
NINTH l.AR( i F. AN 1' SPE I AL SAT V. OF AM KRI
CAN AND 1M POUTED FURS, ROUES, ETC.
On Friday Morning,
November 1, at 10 o'clock. 11 11 4t
CONCERT HALL AUCTION ROOMS, No. lSlt
CI1ESNUT Street.
t! a. McClelland, auctioneer.
Personal attention given to sales of household for.
nlture at dwellings.
Public sales of fnrnlture at the Auction Rooms,
No. 1219 Chesnut street, every Monday and Thar
da v.
for particulars pee "Iubllo Ledger."
N. B. A superior cass of furniture at private sals
CITY P.AZAAIt AND TATTEKSALI.'S.
H No. ll-.O Rack Street.
Regular Auction Sulo of Horses, Wagons, Har
ness, Etc., every Tmnxlay, commencing at it
o'clock A.M. No postponement on account of ths
weather.
Gentlemen's private establishments disposed of
at public or private f-ale to the btht advantage, ana
a general assortment of Hot sen, Carriages, Har
ness, Etc., to unit the need of ad classed of pur
chasers, constantly on hand.
Carriages tskeuou Storage.
Superior Stabling for Horses on sale or at livery.
Ontslde Sales solicited ami promptly attended to.
Liberal advances made on llfrses, Carriages, aud
Harness. UoUKi MCIioi.S,
10 19 tl Auctioneers.
CITY ORDINANCES.
AN O 1! 1) I N A N C K
To Make an Appropriation for the Relief
of II. Poniujih.
Section 1. Tlio t elect and Common Councils
of the city of Philadelphia do ordain, That tha
sum of live hundred dollars be and the same ia
heitby appropriated to the Police Department
for the relief of II. Doniusn, who was injured
and disabled In the discharge of bis duty in
front of No. '2041 Federal strtct. And the war
rants fhall be drawn for the paj-meut of th
same by the Mayor, fn eucli amounts from time
to lime as he may deem advisable.
LOUIS WAGNER,
President of Common Council.
Attest
AliliAIIAM Stewakt,
AsBlt-taut Clerk of Common Council.
SAMUEL W. CATTELL.
President of Select Council.
Approved this fourteenth day of November.
Anno Domini one thousand eiht hundred
and seventy (A. D. 1ST0
DANIEL M. FOX,
1116 Mayor of Philadelphia.
R
ESOLI'TION
Placintr Willlngton Street upon the Publlo
Plan.
RcBolved, Bv the Select and Common Councils
of the cltv of Philadelphia. That the Depart
ment of Surveys be aud hereby are directed to
place upon the plans of ths city a certain street
called Wlllingtfn street, with a width of
filly feet, and located at the distance of ona
hufldred and seventy-two feet aBd ten inches
westward from. Sixteenth fctreet, and parallel
thertw ith, extending- from Master street to Co
lunihia aicnue.
LOUIS WAGNER,
Prcbidont of Common Council,
AttcH
John Eckstein,
Clerk of Common Council.
SAMUEL W. CATTELL.
I President of Select Couucil.
' Approved this fourteenth day of Noveia
1 ber, Atno Domini one thousand eh;ht hundrsi
! and seventy (A. D. 1S7U).
V DANIEL M. FOX,
1 n io Mayor of Philadelphia.