MgCKUM & BERN.
VOL. 9
THE ALTOONA TRIBUNE.
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Obituary notice* e.*,ceeuiog t ___,
ftoiw
MY BROTHERS GRAVE- >
UT HEN'i’.V J. lIOWABD,
"Household gifts that memory.saves,'-
Cut help to count the household graves.
Look! beneath yon silvered willow.
Where its weeping branches wave,
Ib tnv brother's lonely pillow
In the enrk and dreamless grave ;
There bis body peaceful slumbers.
Low beneath that grassy sod, ,
While his spirit swells the numbers
Of the chosen ’> md of God.
Well, too well, do I remember,
(Oh ! that memory had died),
Of the morning in November,
Brother last sat by my sine ;
He then seemed as happy ever
As \’d seen him e’er before, ■
Yet, that day, we parted, never,
Xe’er to meet on earth- no more!
Alone Life's path I’ve wandered,
.since Death rudely spread his pyll*—-
And the hours I have squandered
Mav I ne’er again recall;
Yet, methinks, I fain must love him,
Tho' beneath Death's dauntless gloom
He sleeps-—while wc, above him,
Weep o'er the imperial tomb.
Oh! how long upon that pillow
.Will he lie in dreamless sleep,
Where the silver'd bending willow
Bows in silent awe to weep ?
But his body peacefully slumbers,-
There, beneath.that grassy sod,
While his spirit swells the number
Of the chosen band of God.
Had I loved him not so dearly,
In a world so cold as this,
Then, perchance, he'd not so early
Flown to Heaven’s eternal bliss!
But since Dca f h has bereft us—
We'll no longer mournful weep ;
For a while, but short, he left us
'Neath the silent grave to sleep.
Then, oh 1 rest thou, dearest brother.
In the dark grave’s dauntless gloom.
Or,-arise to greet thy mother,
Who has triumphed u’ef the tomb ;
And Til strive, when life is riven,
And my sou! from elay hath iled.
There, to join you both in heaven,
Wien the graves return their dead.
gtM ||ia«iw|.
THE PHANTOM SKATEE,
BT CHASLKS I). OAKBETTP
Johu Phillips was, and is one of
the most accomplished skaters I
ever saw. Morning, noon and night,
through every skating season, found
Jack skimming over the glossy sur
face bf the river that ran by the foot
of his garden, or whirling in wond
rous curves and gyrations manifold
within a magic circle of a few yards
in diameter^whose periphery was
closed by a triple line of admiring
spectators. lie seemed to live on
the ice. People who wanted to be
witty insinuated that ice was his
meat and drink, and that he
been seen making a hearty lunch off
a goud-sized block of it, washed
down by a draught of'the clear, cold
water of which it was composed. —
I have too often lunched with Jack
off cold chicken and ale, however, in
the noontide interval of his skating,
not to know, that this was pure in
vention.
There were a number of cottages
along the river bank on each side of
the Phillips mansion, and a number
of pleasant people lived in them—
amiable old folks', clever lads and
pretty lasses, ail of whom (saving
1 the elders, whose skating days had
gone by) were more or less familiar■
with Jack’s favorite accomplish
ment, and many merry skating
frolics were held thereon.
Perhaps the most graceful and ac-1
I complished .artiste, after Jack, was !
i a charming - young damsel of some |
I seventeen summers (and winters, for
! every season must, and will count in
i-therace of life).by name Fanny Ley
; ton, who lived in the cottage lowest
| down the fiver, nearly half a mile
below Phillip’s house. Fanny and j
JaekAften ran races, and it was aj
doubtful matter which was the swift- I
er of the two on a straight ahead
match, though Jack far surpassed
her in the arabesque, if I may so
call them, evolutions and figures of
the art. My readers will not he sur
prised to learn that Jack Phillips was
desperately smitten with Miss Fan
ny; but it will give them pain, I fear,
to know', that she looked coldly (even
iu summer) upon his passion. What j
the reason was I never knew, nor j
Ulj.d he, I believe. Probably it was 1
( .simply one of those mysterious cu- I
' -es that seem incident to maiden- •
oJood. At aU events it was a diet, i
{and to Jack a melancholic one, i
! though he ijore up under it manful- j
ly, hud, believing that a faint heart
never won ■ fair lady, kept hoping
and persevering in his suit with
praiseworthy ardor, . i,
Fanny didn’t clh?,ke Jack, mind
■von; juou the coutru'rv. she seemed
fc. I of his society, for he was a
genial Allow and a thorough gen
tleihah ; hut: whenever he attempted
to pay- -'ipthe limits of simple
iVieiidsmp, and to speak of his love,
she turned the subject aside with a
laugh. : l- lug she did not intend to
alloy, J ,jy thought of love to trouble
her til she -was- tive-aud-twenry, at
i 'east,' and that Jack was 100. agreea
ble ay a friend and companion to
'think of chqugiug him in that char
acter!; upon: widen Jack would look
quit!-mopish for a moment, but’
soon (brighten up again and join in
the laugh, and the conversation
would continue in the bantering
tone '.Miss Fanny had just adopted.
phis was the state of affairs
between them when the events I
ami bout to rebate suddenly and es
sentially modified them.
Jack had been kept iu_ town all
day, very much to his disgust, by
some -business it was impossible to
delay or neglect. The ice was iu
splendid condition, and Jack had
been picturing to himself the gay
scene it doubtless presented while
he was tied down to his desk in a
musty law ofln e. And, as if to vex
him "the more, there was a large
space of! dirty frozen water iu tiny
court on which his windows looked,
and every.time he glanced up from
j his papers he beheld some live or
six boys, most of them with a single
skate," scudding up and down this
oasis with shouts of laughter and
many a tumble on the opaque sur
face" of the frozen puddle, which
only made them the merrier.
•‘'Confound the brats!'’ said Jack,
i savagely, i “How the deuce can a
man" thinks with'such an infernal
row in his ears ! I’ve a groat mind
to go and drive them oil!
Y oo
0 00 o W
OO
10 00
40 00
1 I'u
However, <as Jack way a most
amiable fellow at bottom, he didn t
execute his threat, but. contented
himself with semi-oceasionai anathe
mas on the joyous urchins in the in
tervals of his labor. .
.When be finally stopped to light
his gas they were gone, and a couple
of hours' - perfect silence enabled
Jack to -finish his task, and prepare
to go home.
“Let me: see,” said he to himself,
as he went along. “Yes ;it will be
moonlight by about ten to-night,
and, by George '. I’ll have a glorious
skating frolic"all to myself, for there
won’t be any one out, it s so excess
ively cold I”
Jack was quite consoled with this
idea; and by the time he had had
ids supper, lighted his cigar, and sat
down in front of a cheerful wood
fire by tiro side of his widowed
mother and his only sister Kate, he
I was in a capital humor.
“Kate, how I wish your poor foot
was well,” said he, “so that you
might go with me on the river to
i night. There won’t-be a soul out,
uud, we would have it all to our
selves.” -
Kate had violently sprained her
ankle, a fyw days before, in skating.
| “Why,. John,” exclaimed Mrs.
•| Phillips,, “you surely don’t think of
j going out skating such a bitter
! night! You’ll freeze to death my
! boy.”
ALTOONA, PA., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1864
“Xot a bit ol' it, mother !" cried
Jack, cheerily. “I'm used to it, you
know. And haven't 1 that splendid
worsted jacket you knit rue V I'd
defy Lapland in that jacket."
’■They’ve been cutting ice up the
river to-day. Jack." .-aid Kate.—
“Look out for air-holes."
“Pooh 1 as if I didn’t know all
about it," answered Jack, chuckiny
his sister playfully under the chin.
“I'll jump them, my dear, if I doii’t
see them in time to u - o round.
Being aware, from experience,
that remonstrance would he useless,
neither Mrs. Phillips nor Kate vol
unteered any further remarks of
that nature: and, at ten o'clock,
Jack hade them both good night,
and, apparelling himself in skating
guise, went merrily forth to Ins soli
tary ice frolic.
.lu
Fortunately,’there' w;ij no wind.
A .'till, bitter cold nntde everything
crisp iiud brittle. -The tun crackled
under the bait. and. though it was
many inches thick, the ice ever and
anon gave a sharp snap as the weight
of Jack;Phil!ips pressed for an in
stant upon.it. here and there in his
erratic course over its moonlit sur
face.
After loitering, as it were, hack
and forth, in front ofhis own grounds
for a while, an Idea, and a very nat
ural one under the circumstances,
struck Jack that it w-ndd he. a plea
sant thing 1o skate down the liver
as far as Fanny Leyton's domicile,
and have a h.ok at the windows
thereof, 'especially certain two tbat
nave air and light to that young
'laclv’s chamber. Jack immediately
acted on this idea, and in a very few
minutes brought himself gradually
to a stand in front of . the. Leyton
villa, ills hope, however, it such
it was, of seeing a light glancing
from the easements, or trom any
special casement, ox that mansion
proved fallacious. The house was
entirely dark within, and the moon,
which was tnu lately risen, shod a
pale, cold glitter on the gray stone
walls, blackened fantastically here
and there by the shadows of the old
trees that stood around them.
Jack heaved an involuntary' sigh,
and, after remaining a few moments
longer in a sort of reverie by the
river bank, struck out towards its
centre with the intention of return
ing homeward. Gazing mechanic
ally down the stream, as he shot out
from the shadow of the hank, his
gaze was suddenly arrested by the
apparition of a form that seemed to
he skating in a circle near the. fur
ther shore, about a couple.ot hun
dred yards lower down. lie fancied
for a moment that it was an optical
illusion, as the distance and the un
certain light thrown by the moon
through the belt of trees that lined
the river bank made the figure
somewhat shadowy and indistinct.
He rubbed his eyes, skated further
out into the line of vision, and
looked again. Xol there it was, an
actual form, curving and swaying in
the fantastic evolutions of an accom
plished skater in the same spot
where he had just beheld it the in
stant before.
“Who can it he ?” muttered Jack.
“Some one from town, I reckon.—
At all events, I'll run down and
have a nearer look at him.”
And. suiting the action to the
word, he struck out leisurely down
the river.
A few yards below the point at i phantom olf in the mouth ot the
which the form seen by Jack was | opposite gorge. His eyes were still
trialing about, the river took a bend, ■ fixed upon tiro dark form seen in
and narrowed suddenly, running lor , distinctly skimming along under
more than three miles between lot- the shadow ot the further hank. —
ty, overhanging banks, from which Ho was more than half way across
tire trees, chiefly hemlock caul pine, the opening, and nearly abreast pi
projected themselves towards each the figure, when there was a sudden,
other from either shore, throwing: crash'.' lie felt the ■ ice give way
the stream into deep shadow, with beneath him, and in an instant he
here and there a band of light, was -plunged into the deadly cold
where- a lew trees had been eitt water with a shock that caused him
down, or had fallen away from the to utter a wild, sharp shriek ofmiti
bank with* the gradual wash, of the ; glwl terror and pain ere his. head
soil from their gnarled roots, ; mink beneath the bubbling surta.ee 1
To Jack's astonishment, no soon-1 Fortunately. '.they river was not
er was he fairly under weigh for the : very deep at this point, nor was the
mysterious skater than the latter, ; current at all rapid, and 111 another
apparently seeing him and divining ! moment Jack was struggling man
his intention, suddenly ceased his tally among the broken ice to reach
gyrations, ami, after an instant’s the linn edge of the air-hole. Lut,
pause, swiftly shot down the river, encumbered as be was ny his skates
keepiim close in shore, and evident-, and his heavy clothing, and neaih
]y with the design of evading Jack's , paralyzed by the intense cold ot the
pursuit. " "■ i water, it is more tuaiv doubtful
* “Ho,'ho!" said Jack to himself, I whether he would have succeeded
half aloud. ‘-That’s your‘game, is' in rescuing himself from a horrible
[independent in everything.]
it? Verv tv ell I Here goes for u
chase. my lino fellow !”
Ami. putting forth an additional
amount of strength, he increased
his speed so far and quickly as u>
■rain a hundred yards in a moment
upon the living phantom. But the
other, apparently perceiving this
again’, immediately increased his
own pace, and. without materially
widening the distance between
them, sped onward with a rapidity
that defied duck’s utmost efforts to
surpass. In a moment the form had
entered the deep shadows - beyond
the bend, and duck lost sight ot it.
In another moment lie again beheld
it flitting across a space ot moon
light. slid the same distance ahead,
to beeoim,sa.gaiii iost almost instant
ly in-rhe next line of darkness. In
this manner, through gloom and
through glitter, the chase continued i
with wonderful swiftness for nearly 1
two miles, neither pursuer nor pur-1
.-ned gaining upon each other. j
What the emotions of the- phan-1
tom were (for Jack had begun in- 1
voluntarily to call it thus to him
self.) of course, I cannot pretend to
sav : hut Jack Phillip's mind was
aroused up to a pitch ot excitement |
that sent the blood coursing hotly j
through his veins, and caused a pro- 1
fuse perspiration to start forth upon |
his bosom and brow in spite of the- :
bitter cold, lie, howeveiyju’us nt-!
terlv unconscious of this, ami felt j
neither cold, nor heat, nor fatigue. |
Hi- whole soul was -possessed witli i
the one fixed resolve of overtaking j
the phantom :he neither saw nor |
heard anything else hut the fleeing j
.form and the echoes that rolled j
along the glib ice from the skate
strokes '. nor did he relax his speed
for aulnstant, whether in shade or
in moonshine, nor give other Viced
to his course than to make it as
straight and swift as that of an ar
row launched by a stout archer from
an ashen bow I
The chase had now entered on
its third mile, and here the river
became torturous and irregular,- a
sharp curve spreading out into a
■ broad, hay-like expanse, and as sud
denly closing up again into a deep,
dark gorge, only to carve out its
luniks"again, a few yards further on,
into another brief space of clear
moonlight and calm water.
Whenever these open spaces oc
curred, the phantom hugged the
shore, which was always in partial
shadow, while Jack held straight
across the open’spaco, hoping there
| liv to gain upon the fugitive by sub
| stituting the straight line tor the
! curve. The advantage, however,
had been hut slight and transient so
far, and the race bade lair to carry
them both to the sea, which was but
j twenty miles further down, when,
, as Jack Phillips entered the third
i of the openings above described, he
1 beheld (for his eye was ever steadily
I fixed in 'quest of "the phantom,) with
| a grim delight, the. form scarcely
! two-thirds of the distance around its
i nuirgin, and evidently gliding with
j diminished speed. The pace had at
last begun to tell upon it.
Jack's heart bounded fiercely, for
lie was possessed with a kind of
rage against this weird skater, who
| Lad thus far foiled his powers ot
! speed and endurance, and, with a
; desperate effort, lie shot, almost
; with the speed of light, straight out
i across • the moonlit space, feeling
! confident that he should head the
death! Help, however, was at; “Yes, with pleasure,” replied the
had ! The phantom had heard the kind and obliging neighbor. 1
shriek and seen Jack disappear, aud, ; When ready to return, he found
swift as a swallow's flight, it. sped to | his wagon heavily loaded; the trunk
the rescue. On the very edge of j proved to he a large aud welt filled
the air-hole it halted, and, rapidly ; travelling trunk, quite heavy.; andifc.
tearing otf a long cashmere scarf, I was quite certain, ou the principle
with which its throat and shoulders j of antecedent probabilities, that he
were protected, planted its skates . would never get a cent fdr his
firmly athwartwise on the ice, and trouble; so, seeing that it was safe,
filing the end of the scarf, with skil- jat the hotel, he drove home. ; Ashe
ful aim, right into Jack’s face, cry-|approached the roaideuce of the
ing at the same time, in a clear, | Governor the latter went out and
sweet voice 1 opened the gate, expecting the trunk
-Hold hard, Jack, ami never fear! ■ would bo taken in and left nt the,
Xow for it!” ; door. The farmer told him he was
That voice gave Jack new life.— 1
A sudden glow seemed to gather i
round his "heart, and to start the;
warm blood afresh through all his ;
stiffening frame, lie caught the!
scarf iu Ids teeth, and then, grasp-1
iug it with his left baud, was ena- j
hied, without great strain upon his !
rescuer’s strength, to climb upon ;
the solid iee, hoarsely ejaculating, :
•‘God bless you, Fanny!” and in-,
staidly lost consciousness. s
There was not a moment, to lose. j
Assistance must he had at’ once, or
Jack had only been.saved from one
death to succumb to another almost
as speedy. There stood a small cot
tage on the shore of the stream, in
habited by . a ferryman. To this
cottage Fanny Leyton, brave and
devoted girl, and no longer the pro
voking phantom, flew rather than
skated. A few heavy blows with a
large stone soon awoke the inmates,
ten hurried words told the tale, and
in a few minutes Jack Phillips was
stripped 1 , wrapped in blankets, and
laid on, a mattress before a blazing
tire, while Enoch, the ferryman,
concocted a powerful hot gin toddy,
his-panacea against all fleshy ills,
for his slowly reviving guest.
Fanny Leyton, having sent Enoch,
by laud", to her own house with
news of the affair, heroically re
buckled on her skates, and started
as swiftly as ever up the river to
hear the tidings to Mrs. Phillips and
Kate. In an hour Jack was as well
as ever, apparently, and took a sec
ond toddy with decided relish, and,
iu less than two hours later, Mrs.
Phillip/s carnage, with Kate and all
sorts of remedies and clothing with
in, drove up to the ferryman’s door,
and carried Jack home.
The next morning, however. Jack
was not so well. lie had a high
fever, and every limb seemed to
burn and throb, as if with acute
rheumatism. xVbout nine o’clock
came Fanny, with anxious inquiries
about his health ; and before she
left Kate, with whom • she was in
close confab for an hour, she wrote
a few lines'with her pencil, "which
she desired might be given to Jack
as soon as she was gone.
As my friend would never show
me the note nor communicate the
contents, I am unable to give them
to the reader. But that they were
eminently agreeable I feelconfi
dent, for as soon as Jack recovered, ‘
which was in a very few days, he
called at the Leyton mansion, and
continued to repeat his visits daily
for the next month, at the end of
which period he announced to me,
and to the rest of mankind who
cared-to know it, that he was en
gaged to Miss Fanny Leyton.
They have been married more
than a year, and a happier couple I
never desire to see. They still go
skating now'and then, both by day
and by night, when there is a moon;
but always together, and so they are
sure never to be betrayed into dan
ger by the fantastic chase of a Phan
tom Skati^’'
Sighting a Trunk.—Old Gover
nor II has many laughable
stories told of him. I remember
seeing him once in a state of mind
usually called wrath. The circum
stances were as follows :
The Governor, returning home
from a tour to the 'northern part of
the state, put up for the night at a
hotel in the flourishing and beauti
ful village of Princeton, situated on
the Fox"river. The next morning,
after arriving at home, he discov
ered that he had left his trunk at
the hotel, twenty miles away. He
just then saw one of his neighbors
going to Princeton, and in bis most
pompous style requested him to
“call, at the hotel and see if there
was not a little trunk there belong
ing to him.”
EDITORS AIJD rBOFBSETOiHa
not coming in.
‘•But,” says the Governor, “did
you not get my trunk?” _
“No, you didn't ask me to get it."
“Did not ? What would you call
it I asked you V”*thundered the ex
asperated Governor.
“Why, yoit asked me to look and
see if it was there. I did so, and
you will find it safe there any day
by just driving over to Princeton-
Good day, Governor, good day.”
Suffice" it to say, the Governor
did not ask that neighbor to do any
more errands for him. :
Jg-W. 'Along with the compassion
that is excited by listening to a t ale
of want, there is apt to arise, at that
tithe, a feeling of astonishment that ’
such a thing should be in a land
like this. Perhaps, the true won
der is that want is not universale—
One-half of the race die before they
have contributed an iota, to the
world's sustenance or their own.—
One-half of those who survive the
period of childhood are women,
who do not, as a general thing, con
tribute directly to the production of
wealth. Of the men, many are sick,
many are old. many are lazy, many
are idle, many are wasteful, and
many are parasites. Those,who do
work, and live to the age of three
score years and ten spend one-third
of their lives in bed, one twentieth
at the table, ene-sixth in recreation. •
Much of their time is wasted in mis
takes. Much of what they succeed
in producing is swept away by fire
and flood. During half of, the year
nature sleeps. One harvest in fiye
produces a failure. Only a fraction
of the earth’s surface is capable of
cultivation. . A large part of the
general labor is absorbed in the pro
duction of luxuries, in repairing the -
damages of war, in preparing for
future conflicts, in the transporta
tion of produce, and in journeys.—
Probably not more tban one-tenth ,
of the whole amount of human
force is expended in-earning the
world’s daily bread. The standing
marvel, therefore, of society is, not
that any should suffer for want, but
that there should be any qne who
do not.
A Considerate Husband. —A
lady who had been travelling during
the past summer, on her return
home wrote to. a distant friend an
account of her journey, and, among
other things, of the following ad
venture ; “I concluded my various
exploits by suddenly visiting old
iSTeptuue’s bed at the bottom of the
ocean. Xot of my own free-will,
however. I was forcibly thrown
from the deck of a ship as we were
out on a fishing excursion. As usual ,
my good man was after me in a
twinkling, and caught me as I ap
peared on the surface, arid, with
prompt assistance from the boat, I
was fished up again, a sorry-looking
specimen of humanity, but all sound
and unharmed, though a very nar
row escape,” kc. And after some
more matters, she added.- “I am’
going to leave room for ——— to
' speak for himself, I think he is
able, as he is now fifty years old.”
So the husband—“the goodman”
—does speak for himself, and adds
a P. S., in which, among other
things, he says: “Mrs. —; ——tells
me she has written to you about her
being saved from being food for
fishes by the subscriber. "Well, it
may be so, but she had on a great
lot ’of jewelry, which I thought was
icorth saving, particularly as gold now
is pretty high -
tJgL. “Pete, bow does your father
hamper his sheep to prevent them
from jumping over fences ?" “Oh!
that’s easy enough; he just cuts a
hole through one hind leg, and
sticks the other one through and
then puts the fore legs through that
fora pin.” ; -j
♦
i %
i •
* ,
.. ...
NO. 38.