Erie observer. (Erie, Pa.) 1830-1853, August 04, 1849, Image 1

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    H. P. OLOAN, bditor.
VOLUME 20,
N.int
TBEI AMEXLIOADT HARP.
I=
There is a harp whose glorious strings
I'rlffleV3l sprang from Cod's Own hand i
Filled n kit creatit e murmurings,
It streatched across Culumbia's land:
His lingers snept lt:at Its birth,
lie reared it on the miming earth,
And bade la tuneful anthems fly,
Immortal, through the western sky.
Its foot lie planted, viper° the tides
, Of hoaroe Atlantic elm* the shore;
I The Alleghanies prop its sides.
Wh,ere vaulted cal. es give back itt roar
Its golden !weft Parale rest...,
The Rocky lilountaitv4 shrine itv crests:
Front lir:wits and o'er floods tt
Our continent beneath it. , t‘ lugs.
Ages ago, u ben red teen came
All through the funds inhere tr bite men de ell
%% h ere rote the ti tgw am's peaceful flame,
•
IVltere rang the warrior's savage ell,
That harp was heard. Its mournful strams
ltolied mid the mounds on trackless
tgacily It murmured on the blast:
"Nor Indian! lu, thy power iy pail."
The pilgrim came the Cavalier—
ttpreading free tents on Freedoms sod,
Our country's Harp received them here,
Aud mingled in their songs to God:
It led the psalm on Plymouth rock,
The r haunt an Jamestown's sandy doc Ic,
And where $l. Mary's lordly hand
Planted the cross in Maryland
It echoed where the freemen went,
And hewed out empires 55 ills him stroke;
Ito clangor wept the continent,
When patriut4 buret a foreign )oke..
'lli rounding where our cans ass epread4.
A nil is here our iron lire-horse treads,
And every land, and every yea,
Is soca} with Its meloldy,
Harp of our country! Pour thy tioieJ
ID grandeur through a 'nailing world!
%Wake Mall, %%here 'Cr the 11111sIC Shoals,
And God's free banner is unfurled!
Start nation's into Life.
With &gilt and Might, and Valor rife,
Tilt Freedom reigns from shore to ghorr,
And tyrants curse the earth no more:
Vltstiliti town
GRACE ATHERTON,
On TII i:
ATTORNEY XIOTIBE.
BY 11. 11. T.
prom the Itostqh °tit e Branch
IT-was an old fashioned house! There it stood, at the
farther end of Court, hemmed in front the adjoining
street by rows of neat, and by coimirison, jannty looking
dwellings, approached iii front by a narrow passage that
was khosrod with a little light when ilia sun looked
vertically down at'uoon from the small patch of blue sky
et t h e top, and left a profound darkness a' night, in spite
of a iolitary lamp swung at the outran co, whoso bible
ra)s r!ro quenched in the gloom before they had pene
trated ten paces up the Court. It was strings that such
a m a ke should be tolerated in so fashionable a part of the
rite as the "West Lad." Every_indieTtion of decay, or
informity to modern improvements, had been the
-warrant of many a dwelling of far better veni
noitcl
I ,I
wait.
• but the re...." 0.16 tyas two•fold. The house
ed tho forbearance of the neighborhood on accoun t
ago. Time had dignified it not only with years,
stamping thereon numerous and venerable indi ,
q ofpretty rough treatment received ht his iron
o casements rattled in the wind. The doors had
dc so that the rats could run under them, and the
el - fl the wide hearth; burn fiercely as it Would, was
d and put down by the sky draughts that every
crept In. Without, the sharp g4lths were 'Waged
11
town moss, anCalong the massive striae walk that
iu some places into wide rents, it had spread itself,
cover the deforiniiieS and relieve tho desolatoness
rnzy old mother. In its bosom wore treasured up
ords of the past. Such changes lityl b:fallen its
naintances; such pulling down and building up;
ig in and oat; sirecks of fortune and the auction
-1 amn)er ringing under its veiy wa11..! • Then what
tug of ghostly associatiois eonneeted with itself!
the check would pale if a shutter creaked by night!
dank, stone and nail were pregnant with myhtery.
t to genius of the past took up his abode and emit
i thy down upon the new world. All eke was new.
right, and gay around the old mansion; so it seem
. l a link connecting the present with the olden time.
creation was not however, altogether due to Ow
IMMO
ions of so antiquarian a spirit. There were mu-
I '
more utilitarian stamp. who would have sacri.
e building long before, had the right of possession
Mrs. As it was, they had struggled hard to oh-
More than double ils value had been oilbrcd the
rney, its sole occupant, but he returned a cold
• .. 0
tin it.
old rat
refusal
Tuo
during
dienosoi
deems
earred
and Rin i
tho a l
son but
to their
distant
• ,
xi every apPliCant. .
estate had belonged to his sister, a maidatt lady,
{chose lifetime it remained closed up. Failing to
of the house either by rent or rale, she at her
, bequeathed it to tho attorney. That event oc
onto fifteen years prior to the opening of this tale,
o that poriod,, ho had been in personal possession
eve place. Ilk wife survived tho birth of a
few hours, tMil died a twelvemonth subsequent
narriago. The boy was placed in charge of a
etativo, and grew up a stranger to those aenti
t filial respect and love which might have held
dr from the wild career into which he plunged in
blush of manhood.
crivener, his father, seemed to have forgotten
metanco of the child's birth, except as the yearly
on the part of his relative for a remittance, stir
mind him of it; and then the evident reluctance
ich ho complied with that demand. seemed to
that that event could very well have been die
vith altogether. .
Id house had in its possessor, its beat and only
it ho was quaint and myiterious, and queer,
l
walling ho inhabited. Its gloom and silence
serecongenial to his spirit. There, were buried all his
i
R inpatl ies; there, his varying moods, his fi tful smile
and rep I sivo manner, if not welcomed with cheerfulness,
hero at east not met by sneers and taunts. The house
\VSS ind ed Itci only friend he had; and once within its
walls, a sickly gleam of pleasure stole over his face, and
somenin 4s betrayed him into an awkward semblace of
mirth. y the world, ho was altuniMd. , At the bar, his
legal am inn n and wonderful eloquette bad assigned him
the high .st rank among his coinpeers, yet none over
stretche to hint the hand i f gratulation and friendship.
Some a oided the titan b ails° his oddities rendered
him disagreeable; others, fr m his meanness, and the
greaterllan, at the guidance of instinct, without fi nding
anythin to explain their rept mince to any fellowship
with turn. That he should b distinguished as ho was
far his a ilendul intellectual en owment and immense
wealth, nd yet immure himself in that old building,
11, n',—preserving habits of atrictest secrecy in regard
=
MEE
tho vct;
Mr. ,
the circ
dcman
red to r
MIER
penned
Tho
frieud,
I,ke the
TILE :[III,I - 11,0;B:- . S'ER VTR
IME3
to his private life, alovenly in person, repelling in man
ners, and proudly independent of all sympathy from his
kind—offered a moral enigma, to the world, to the solu
tion of which none had ever fount a clue.
I said true, then, that Mr. Scrivener had madi no
friendsoutd that the companion Most congenial to his,
mind, and who best understood its moods, was the quaint
structure ho inhabited. To ant', however, that lie had
no feeling, would bo a libel" -upon the attachment he
evinced towards his home. Ile felt that a mysterious
bond of union had sprung up between the old fabric and
himself; and there lived in his heart a sort of affection
for it, standing in such dejected fallen state, and ciUmb
ling to decay in all its worm-eaten bones; and that when
it sh . oulcl be crushed in the triumphal March of Time,
ho too, could calmly yield to his destiny and perish with
it. This fancy was a solitary bud of poesy blooming in
the old man's heart—the only one over cherished there.
Ali was barren, and cold, and withered beside:
Yes! the old house understood him.ll o t smiled a grim
welcome when lie entered it at iho don f night. It re
peated his footsteps in hollow echoes when ho climbed
the crazy stair case. The doors shut with' louder rever
beration as lie passed stealthily from room to room, and
that was music to him. The damp chill of the apart
ments that mode his thin frame shiver in spite of habit,
wont like a soft and genial atmosphere to his heart.
Th e rats scampered unmolested over his very feet, and
ho laughed a strange laugh of glee at their gambols.
They learned to know him; would swarm into his
rooto.when ho entered it, and follow him to the door
when he sallied out. So the attorney was driven for
companionship to his old house, and to the rats and mice
that infested it. The exterior of hisdwelling was of an
imposing style, richly and curiously wrought in stone,
but heavy and cumbersome in its aspect. The gable
lagged heavily upward instead of exhibiting the airy
and lightness of the Gothic school in which they wore
conceived.'
A long anti wido flight( of steps led lip to the hall door,
on either side of which were disposed numerous rooms,
corridors, sudden nacents, entries of a tedious journey,
though without appearing to lead you anywhere in parti
cular, and winding stair ass terminating in dark closets,
or in a blank wall, which . suggested a search for secret
springs, or the alternative that the original terminus had
been closed up. The whole was piled and huddled to
gether "like the oboeleto whim of some forgotten archi
tect." Altogether, it want ?.d that frank, open look, that
was's° well evomplifind in the now brick edifices around,
with their bright green shutters and snow white marble
o w l ' s . There wore too many shadows about the building:
rocesaes and niches where the fancy readily conjured up
ghostly shapes, and whence it was very natural to expect
them to sally out upon the passer by.
Then there were angles and buttresses jutting out nt
all points, and you never expected, to see tho same fee
tot es on a given side the next time you looked. It was
a !tiier architecture! The neat, jaunty edifices around
seemed to say so, half apologetically. They tolerated its
presence as a relic of the past,. and never addressed to it
any of those neighborly offiee4 of kildness, which in
time perhaps, might have dissipated the sternness of its
outward face, and cast some rays of their own cheerful
brightnesl4 over its grim walls., lint thoy all turned their
backs upon the house. Their pleasant faces looked this
other woe, and all that could be seen from tho attorney
house, was a monotonous range °flag° walls unrelieved
by a solitary window. There was evident spite indicated
in this arrangement, as if the hostile spirit of the buil , "
had vented itself in the most uneoneteous ettie' a h a
could make his offsprings assume, and had - -aived that
they
uwineignnor(y and cmlit ,,, l ituouti towards
the old house, as it was fur brick and ..artar to be. There
it stood, calm, dignified and (mai..., clOthed in a kind of
grandeur that was I ,,,glitened by the neglect of
its kindred. It neemero, If the building had lost its way
coming from the " o w countrio" to gut established in the
now, and b o „.ild.ed by the glare and 'resliness of every
thing i t „„...and not meeting with a (kindred spirit, it
hid itsidi up that court, glad to finda refuge from the
mice . of the populace, and once there, content to live
.tone with its memories of past greatness, dignified by
ego, and relaxing into grim smiles of welcome for one
little, ugly, squalid and quaint-looking personage just-like
itself, and that person the attorney:.
=I
There might have been seen fur a groat part of each
day, setting on the steps of the Attorney House, an nit
condi little figute with diminutive hod:), long, attenuated
arms and a huMped back. Ilis persot i taken altogether,
prt Booted au odd blond' lig of the man and boy: while
the re /tures, considered severally, preserwid n jealous
independence of each• other, end boHyod at once the'ir
respective reletion to those periods of life. The face was
old—the forehead high and pale, indiiating great Jaw.
ectutdeapacity, yet pure mid smooth as a young girl's.
Ills hood was remarkably ditiproportioneo to his body, so
that tho little figure appeared to staggerlwlion ho walked,
as if under a burden that was tee much for him, and'
would often pause for short rests, holding his hoed firmly
between his hands. Whon ho sat, it idelined gently to
his breast and plowed itself there as if in very weariness
'rho eyes wore large, lustrous and intensely black, and
t heir glance leaped into the very soul. Mild and .be
ceching, passionate, entitling, tearful. unearthly and.sol
ornn could be that glance; nail it neveriquailed before the
haughtiest. Its light burned steadily searching tho
deepest thoughts, yet revealing none of its misterioue.
lustre. His figure wits slight and stooping: scantily clad,
but with scrupulous regard to neatness. The head, then
in itself •considered, would lure been an artisticalstudy;
taken in connection with his body, it presented a physi
ological problem. Ho was the men wiMn at rest, but the
boy, monkey or idiot, anything that could best shadow
forth his extravagant uncouth gestures, when in motion.
This strange* figure might have been seen • then, sitting
for the greeter part of each day, upon the steps of the
- Attorney House. For tho rest, it :performed little Berri
cos for the tmdeseinsu in that neighborhood, and occa
sionally cried in a weak, thin voice, the praises of sundry
wax men and horses at the entrance of =Court. The
figure had no history and answered to no name in par
ticular. From - a facetious delicacy. it had refused to as
sume the dignity of a special title, worn perhaps; by
some particular individual, so it embraced the whole cat
alogue and responded thereto. You might thus have
pronounced any name in its hetring and it would con
ceive itself addressed, and beg to know your i pleasure.—
It plumed itself mightily. the little figure did, upon this
funny conceit. But its self-evident appellation was
"The Dwarf," and this title at once identified him among
others of that unfortunate class. What distinguished
him was the awkward aliambligg gait with which ho
moved. There was nothing analogous to it in the whole
city. How marvellously it faeiliated his steps: He
would glide through a crowd, climb a staircase or stumble
along the street with the ease and rapidity of a serpent.
Another circumstance would have singled him out from
his kind. His face lacked that expression of suffering,
half mental, half physical, So characteristic of the race.
The energy of character written there, displayed a mind
superior to his physical infirmity, and a haughty indiffer
ence to the sympathies of humanity.' He had led a rov
ing life,about the city until he found himself face to face
with the Attorney House. There was a fucination to
him 'in its quaint and lowering look--a harmony between
the old fabric and his 011 l fashioned mind, and thence
forth he adopted
. Court as highome. He loved most
SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 4, 1849,
of ell to sit upon the steps leading up to the house, his
arms folded and head bent down, outran so still! Mer
ida could not hove seemed more inanimate. Indeed, at
such times, he figured Well some ill-ehapen . piece of
sculpture, and, once enthroned there, in' that solitary
manner, nothing. could have called him off. At other
times he would relax from his graver moods, and dance
and tumble about the court like onolone mad; snapping
his fingers at the old mansion, playing hide-and-go-seek
with himself among its dark recesses—putting his old
Paco against the window, and hallooing into the room
till the echoes rang so dismally as to change his look of
glee into a frightened stare, and then, springing quickly
to the ground, he would shamble out of the court as if
the spirits he had woko were at his boots.
Oh! it was a strnngo group, tho attorney and his dwel
ling, and tho htuntn.ck. Men saw tho tri
and shuddered, and the boys slunk away in ti
their sports unconsciously drew them 1p that court
I=l
It was a cold and stormy night in the month of March,
IB—. 'As the chime struck (woven, the figure of a man
enveloped to the chin in an ample ereak—his bat drawn
over his eyes—emerged • from the shadow of .the lofty
warehouses directly opposite the entrance of—Court.
Casting a eilpid glance up and down theetreot, to assure
himself that he was not watched, ho crossed hastily over,
and presently disappeared in the darkness that shrouded
the court. The solitary lamp that swung at the entrance,
had despaired of being serviceable in such a gloomy
night, and gone out an hour before. Hero and there a
light blinked and dozed sleepily through the mist, and
hold against the fierce gusts that sweep the streets. All
good Christians slept. The little round watch-house bci ,
traytid the unfaithful guardian of. the 'light, by the rays
of light,that glimmered faintly throng!, tho key-hole.—
Ile too had been driven to shelter byl the fury of the
Storm. Only that solitary man gliding up the court seem
ed insensibleto it. A moment after, soil he stood in tho
hall of the Attorney House. Securing the door firmly,
Ire struck a light, and throwing the glare in his advance,
ascended the stairs. Pausing at the door of an apart
ment on the second floor, he fitted a key to the lock, and
entered. This room was at once a study, bank, and bed
i'ootn to the attorney. There was treasured his books, a
few pieces of antique furniture, and his gold; and ilia'
nearing the earn° forbidding aspect as the rest of the
mansion, yet upon locking himself fairly in it, the whole
character of tho man underwent a' change. His step
was now elastic, his mannorlree and joyous., Flinging
Igmself into a chair, ho burst into a ton, malicious
hugh.
, "Hal ha! old Scrivener, your star is in the ascendant
to-night, and blazes ill defiance of the tempest. Ye,;."
said he bitterly, "the little ugly miser from his den hurls
contempt and hate upon that world whose empty ap
plause rings freely upon his ears. Pgive them words,
burning, eloquent, but false, and they believe them,
Mid answer tho prayer of my life with gold! Bah he
continued with a sneer, "the tongue of an old man
wags little pace, and the Wisdom of a court is con
founded. He pronounces truth to ho a lie, and ti-°"
all his energies of intellect and will into the tl,..‘"•°, un
til men are uccersitated to act as if it ev-e so. Clot lin
en the slays--the captives led by ..n old man's smooth
wor d s ! But it is all just as i• should be," Ito said, in a
to -e of triumph, "f un ,. and gold will come of it. Sc,'
we'll battle together, old world, and tha t victory shall be
mine, es it was to-day. The wrong ,ehnil put down the
right, us it was to-day. Tho stranger shall spoil- the
widow and fothorless, as it was to-day. Thero shall be
a stain on purity, error in truth, wri3ck of dearest hopes
and wringing of hearts as it was to-day, and all through
the power of ono mind—one detertnincd will hid in this
withered carcase! They talk of heart! lio! Ito! lawyers
have no hearts; they toil to crush them. There was a
soft, womanly heart iu the attorney's clutch to-day: it
canto to him warm and , palpitating with hope that lie
would plead for the innocent and oppressed, for sweet
I charity's sake. He might have defended the right, and
the benediction of the poor would hayeldeseended upon
him; he chose the wrong, and gold, bright, beautiful
gold came of it. Heart!" said he, with I n fiendish laugh,
"old Scrivener has no heart, elee,there would be a gnaw
ing here," Holing his breast fiercely; as he liplike, "and
all is calm, cold and passionless within. No! no! law
yore have no hearts!"
The attorney was alone. From where he sat, the ob
scurest corner of his room was visible in the strong glare
of the lamp which ho had placed mien the table, and ho
could assure himself that it was so, And yet the mock
iug laugh just on his lip Jocund to have boon echoed in
a low hissing nine just at his elbow, and then, receding,
it died away among the lowest vaults that lay buried un
der the old house. He could have sworn it! Starting
to his feet, the attorney threw around him a terri fi ed
glance, and a moment after repeated the laugh as if in
defiance. Again it was echoed with appalling distinct
ries at his very elbow, and then all was still. Tho old
man's- cheek was now blanched with fear. Ills lips
quivered, and he shook in every limb, ai if palsied with
fright. •
The storm raged fiercely without. Down the rude
chimney swept the gust fitfully, scattering a shower of
dead ashes into the room. Tho casements rattled in the
wind. Hail and rain mingled, betit shitrply against the
windows, and through all the open seams 'end creVices,
the blast. Whistled and howled, as if the last hour ofstormy,
blustering, wild • snowy, sleety, windy March had come,
and it was determined to make a night of it. There was
a fearful sublimity in the tempest; and as the miser stood
alone in that desolate house, his blood freezing at the
recollection of that unearthly laugh, and Mare that, all,
with the consciousness of guilt and the stings of remorse,
not at liberty by the sudden prostration of all ,mental and
physical •energy, now lashing his soul—the strong spirit
bowed before it; and sinking back into hie chair, he bow
ed his haggard face in his handoind thought bitterly up
on his past life: Of all the wrong he had done; bow he
had prostituted his noble powem for base purposes, turn
ed aside the course ofjustiee, and defeated its ends with
a sagacity almost infernal; how he had basted human
hopes, and crushed human hearts; how 'he had plead
falsely when other men's consciences kept them silent;
how ho had winked ak,z-eftime, and with subtle speech
made the late and its narrate —the principles of virtue,
equity and religion, subserv* at to it. And then ho
thought of the last, most da u rig sin. How all unseen,
unsuspected. lie had she e the destiny of his sou for the
same deep game of life 'hat his precepts, his poison
ous words'had already lotted from that young soul every
divine impress, and all this he had done, that ho, might
swell his coffers with gold! There was a' sting in such
reflections. and it pierced him till he writhed as if convul
sed with niental agony. But it was only for a moment.
Like one of those phases in every bad man's history,
marked by the appeals of conscience not wholly seared
against the guilty inlet to of the heart that redeem his
character from a condition utterly hopeless, it passed as
quickly as it came.
With a powerful effort, the attorney shook off' the feel
ings of awe which had been creeping over him, and in
moment had chained down every harrowing thought un
der his iron will. But that laugh still haunted him, and
taking up the light, he searched the apartment. Bans.
fled that he had been alone, be then unlocked the door
and stepped into the corridor. This was along and wide
pasting°, flanked by rooms on either Bide; and terrains.
tirONWARD.4I:I
flog in several flights of steps, one leading to the apart
ments above, another to The vaults. another to a range of
buildingiltituated back of the old house," and connected
with it by a narrow atone entry. The fourth flight led
upward spirally to the top of the building. These rooms
communicated with each other by inntinuirable doors, so
that it would have been el difficult matter to have traced
the flight of any one through Thom, had the miser been
certain that hO was not alone. His light scarcely pene
trated his own length in tho surrounding gloom. and thus
ho might have passed and repass.td the object of his.
search a hundred times without knowing it. On he
wont. from room to room, peering under the quaintly
fashioned furniture, into the corners, up the chimneys
and every where about tho old desolate house. until ~ho
had satisfied his craven heart that there was none lying
in wait for his gold.
If during that search, at Any moment or the interval
of time it had occupied, the attorney had, suddenly star •
ted back fire paces, he would have arrived at a very
dif
7erontconclusion.
- There. dogging the old man's steps, now shrinking
against the wall, or gliding behind a door, and yet always
close upon his pursuer. was the little humpback! On
ho went, smothering a malicious lough at the victim of
his cunning, shuffling in his odd way up do the very
heels of the miser; then, falling back into the darknons,
ho would dance about in wild glee, and snap his fingers
at the retreating figure before him: Oh, it was a mirth
ful sight. So it seemed to the little dwarf; for when
the attorney lied re-entered his room and locket himself
in as before, the humpback threw himself upon the floor
without, and rolled over and over in an ecatacy of merri
ment. A moment elm. he rose to his k'nees, and ad
justing one eye to the kek-hole, sat still and patiently
watched. Not the least'inovement or occurrence in that
room escaped his notice.
Tho nttorney bud now regained his accustomed self
control. Ling!ling contemptuously at the momentary
weaknois into which he had been betrayed, he placed
the light upon the table, .and approached the chimney
piece'. There had been no fire there mince morning,
and the room was bitterly cold. For the first time since
ho had entered, the miser betrayed a consciousness that
it was so. Placing some faggots on the hearth, he ap
plied a match, and then blew strongly upon It for the
space of a minute, until the little blue flame became a
cheerful blaze, and made the room glow with its ruddy
light.
Just then, a clock, whose rosy. checked dialfaco had
caught the infection and smiled pleasantly upon the
scene from ono corner, struck half-past eleven. The
sound was welcome to the attorney's oar. It broke in
upon the profound stillness which awed him ; and then it
served to direct his thoughts into a new chann el, for ht
the same moment he drew from beneath his Cott a black,
greasy wallet, and maw...ming the clasp, blot( therefrom
several dirty scrape .1 paper. The first that 111 opened,
was a am , 1,..,,ring certain feminine murks upon its ex
teror, „etch were almost effaced by confinement in such
a ,...ieanly quarters.. It ran thus:
LINCOLN SWART. Tillll/101ti.
filit,lfy our engagements admit, I m , ould beg your attendance
at my home to-morrow. 10 A. M.
Youi kthrwoutan,
"At last! ha! ha!" shouted the attorney, in a tone of
irrepressible glee, and rubbing his hands softly together
work, brain, and coin more gold for your old mas
ter. A cool million this time! ho! wo are soaring high!"
said stroking with a hideous lour of affection his
broad and finely-developed forehead.
..Irettstnay fall yet," hissed the dwarf, through his
teeth. lie spoke very low, and the words scarcely
reached the attorney's ear. Ho started up and - listened:
then muttering an oath at lug fears, he sat down and
opened the second scrap of paper.
It was wr:tten over in a bold clerk-liko hand, and read
thus:
intuit beg leave to secure myself against the annoyance
of a "not at home," by making my own appointmenni with you.
lle good enough, on the present occasion, to dispense with such
formalities, and await isle to-night at twelve, in )out own room.
"Cool and impudent." said the attorney. flinging the
note into tho fire. "Some new deviltry, the young
scamp has been at, I suppote. Ilut he has unwittingly
played the only card that will servo my turn. Yes, yes ,
wi 11 see him."
As he spoke, a third scrap of paper' fell from the floor.
Picking it up, he held it to the light. and a smite' of tri
umph curled his thin lip as ho read. It was a note of
hand for $5900, inlayer of Simon Scrivener, payable at
ten d.tys" sight; and that surn was the reward of asplen
dirt fie with which the attorney had that morning enter
ed the lists against .he right, dattlild the eyes of it whole
court for five hours, and then came, off victorious. Or
dinarily, the lawyer's face afforded the very writ* indi
cation of the feelings that possessed ,him. Ile k eould ap
pear unmoved under the most violent mental eltuggles;
mid this to him a boast mid glory, Ives to the :lark, an
enigma which it could not solve. Now, how er, this
mask was thrown off. He did not strivo to conceal from
himself the satisfaction those papers afforded him. They
possessed the citadel of his heart. They breathed the
only syllables that could move hint—tam and gold. The
one was the lever that moved his intellect, the other his
heart; and both dwelt in his soul, woven together in nn
indissoluble relation 'of COMBO and effect, toil and and re
ward, the Alpha and Omega of his existence. These
were his gerbil Thatdaylto had flung the richest tica
sures of his mind upon the shrine of law; and though
t he beautiful fabric veiling the altar was wrought with a
glittering tissue ()trudged:up and chicanery, it confound
ed the learned and wise, audits triumphed. This was
tho cause. the toil; and than came tho effedt, tins
reward, geld, and ho had gained that, too. So with a
complaisant smile on his face, ho sat before the fire warm
ing his hands In the cheerful Wino. for it was very cold,
and plotted anew. lie was thinking of Mrs. Atherton's
note.
That lady had in former years, placed herself under
groat obligation To Mr. Scrivener. In the process of a
suit threatening her with the lass of immense estates,
his professional skill had been brought into requisition.
Step by step lie vanquished the difficulties of the ca.e,
and succeeded in effecting a satisfactory adjustment" of
his client's affairs, so that Mrs. Atherton and her daugh
ter Grace Were loft the undisputed possessors of estates
valued at two millions. Grace was at that period but ten
years of age, and consequently too young to estimate in
a worldly point of view the service performcirby the ut
terney. She united in herself at once rare personal
hivolinese Wittin refinement of manner and purity of
heart, that led her to shrink instinctively from the ap
proaches of evil.. While regarding Mr. Scrivener as
their friend and benefactor. she could not repress &senti
ment of aversion towards him, for which she was scarce
ly able to account. As she grew up to womanhood, this
feeling deepened into positive dislike. His prdsence
alarmed her, she knew not why. His friendly and some*
times affectionate advances. madoire virtue of his age.
awakened her disgust, and were mot With a cold repulse.
She treated him with such chilling politeness, and evin
ced such an easy se lf-possession and a conscious superi
ority in his presence, that the lawyer was baffled. The
consciousness of intellectual greatness that enabled him
to carry a haughty front before the world. forsook him
thou. He felt himself to be the miserable. sordid miser
that he was, sod that young girl. with her transcendent
purity and loveliness, was the most withering rebuke to
him.' His eye fell under hir Mild and searching 'gaze,
so ho was more elastic and cheerful when out of her
eight. With the mother, the attorney possessed all the
influence which had originated in gratitude for his eer
vices,and was magnified by the flattering position ho
held at tho bar, and the circumstance of his unlimited
wealth. Ambition had rendered this bond of Union be
tween them indissoluble, in a contemplated alliance be ,
tween Grace Athorton and Richard Scrivener.
This scheme had for years been ripening in the allor•
nay's heart, until it was his thought by day. and his dream
by night: It first callqd into expression arty thing like
solicitude far the welfare of his son, and whoa he had by
acts of kindness obliterated from his mind all memory of
past neglect, and there was established between them the
semblance of affaction, he pursued a polio.y toward hts son
which bore directly upon this end. lie filled his mind
with worldly maxfms, and winked at excesses which cor•
ruptod his principles, and threatened his physical and
moral ruin.
The young man had access to Mrs. Atherton's iiC/040
through his father. The extreme beauty of Grace at once
awakened his admiration, and with the gallant, assured
air of one perfectly au fail in such matters, he hastened
to offer his dovoirs at so fair a shrine. Nothing was
further from his thoughts, than obtaining her hand, but
it flattered him to have a place in her thought!, and pos
sess, as he thought, the power to call up by his presence,
the rosy hue into her delicate check. Ile was incapable
of love; and while placed beyond the necessity of marry
inglor expediency. by Mr. Scrivener's liberal advances.
he evinced no disposition to renounce the gaieties his
present freedom sanctioned, for the companionship of a
wife.
These intentions ,at once determined the course adopt
ed by the attorney. That his soon should marry Grace
Atherton, his own resolute purpose placed beyond a doubt
but ho was politick. enough to abide the issue of events
then in progress, to that end, era making him a participant
in his plans.
On tho part of Mrs. Atherton, any obstacle in the way of
her scheme, never suggested itself to her mind. Grate
had always been an affectionate and butiful child, taught
to consider her mother's authority as supremo, and her
decisions unalterable, from which there could be no ap
peal. The timidity of her character united, thou, to reinter
her on this occasion the possitie instrument of perfecting :
Mrs;Atherton's ambitous schemes. 8110 affeetedithe form
of submission to her Mother's will, while her heart shrank
from a union with one who had only awakened there
sentiments of distrust and aversion. Confident of her
absolute power, and dazzled with Me worldly advantages
which hinged upon such a dispositiOn of her daughter's
hand, Mrs. Atherton was easily deceived by tho assumed
cheerfulness of Grace. IThe young girl cherished a
vogue hope that some alternative would present itself.
and though she suffered the occasional visits of the attor
ney's son, never departed from the same chilling polite
ness in his presence, which t h e erinced toward the old
ntan.
Mrs. , Atherton had been for many years an invo id.
She was constantly predicting the day of her decease yet
in spite of the attorney's artful suggestions relative to as=
sunning a more decided attitude in their plans, in anticipa
tion of thatevent. she dismissed tho subject in alarm. The
will made, she felt that nothing would remain for her but
to dyo. consequently, Mr. Scrivener, to his great cha
grin, had 'more than once returned to his office, and de
posited upon the dusty shelf the blank parchment, with an
oath against his weak, nervous old kinswoman. Like tho
maiden, dotibtfni at first of the sweet accents of love
breathe into her willing oar, ho trembled, lost his long
cheri ed hopes should be dashed just as they were ripen
ng i to fruition. lie que,tiotied the reality of that whieb,
of est lay within his grasp. Tho possibility of a doafet
ithrough Mrs. Atherton's death, era the formalities of the
...settlements" had been gone through with, haunted him
night and day. I.Atterly, however, that lady's complain to
had assumed a mere aggravated character. and With en
exulting smile upon his lip, the attorney awaited a sum
mons to her sick chamber.
MARY ATUtRTON
Two days passed. On the morning of the day with
which my tale opens, Mr. Scrivener went into court
whore as we have seen, he gained his cause. While
there, the notes he had but now read, wore slipped into l i
his hands, the one front Mrs. Atherton. the other from
his son Richard. lie was perfectly aware nature M . O.° ap
pointment with him signified in the former. He knew that
he hour for consummating the dearest wish of his heart
had arrived, but there yet remained one step untaken, and
that was to gain the assent of his eon to a marriage with
Grace Atherton. The attorney sat revolving in his mind
the most politic manner of proceeding. To say that h
had been us sanguine as Mrs. Atherton, respecting the
issue of their plans, would not be true. He know that
Grace, though gentle, could be firm, end did net shrink
from opposing her will, when the very presence of the
young girl cowed his strong spirit? Thou he reflected
that Richard had not always been a perfectly passive
instrument in his hands, and might not quietly suffer his
liberty to be thus summerlly disposed of. These thoughts
were busy with him now, as he sat before the fire. There
was a possible emergency at hand, and he must cope
with it; an alternative dimly rising against his iron will
,and he must plot deeply to crush it, as ho had done in evry
crisis of his life, with an indomitable energy of purpose
that seemed almost superhuman, His son Richard wou ld
be there at twelve, and the clock was on the point of
striking the hour.
Tho lawyer rose, and added fresh fuel to the fire, for
it was very cold, and the storm yet raged bitterly with
out. Then he went to a closet, and took thence a bottle
of wino and a couple of glasses, dusted them with his
hankerchief, and placed them, together with the light
upon the table. Scearcely, where these arrangements
completed, when a low yet {dear knock rang elimply upon
the hull-doer below. Taking up the light, the attorney
dccended the stairs, unbarred the door, and a moment
after stood in' the hull alone with his son,
They offered a siugulay contrast. that father and son.
Tho former, short of stature, slovenly dressed, with a face
in which conning and meanness wero blended with con
scious look
, of superiority , and the expres
sion of an unpitying heart and resolute will. 'rho latter
was ofcmitmanding figure, powerfully built, and attired
in the extreme of fashion. Ho wore top boots, a hat stock
jauntlY upon a profusion of brown curls, and a slender
upon bin cane, which he kept incessantly twhling
fingers. His face still pOeEerved some of its 'youthful
the freshness float the ravages of disposition, and
smoothly eleven chin 'nestled among the folds of a
gay-colored handkerchief, tied negligently round the
throat. The carelessness and abandon that accompanied
every movement, betrayed the man of the world, while'
the mocking smile wreathing the full red lip. breathed
the same haughty contempt of that world, which was the
predominating expression of Mr. SMivener's face. There
was a cool impudence about the young man, as he stood
a moment surveying the ;slovenly figure before him, that
would have, made it difficult to decide at first which of the
two was master in that house. . [Coartancti.)
RICHARD SCRIVk.ML a
Loss.—Love is the weapon which omnipotence re -
served to conquer rebel men, whon all the rest had failed.
ReasOn he parries; fear he answers blow for blow.; future
interest he meets with paesent pleaeuriii but love, that
sun against whom melting beams winter cannot stand.
that eon, subduing slumber, which wrestles. down the
giants there is nb ono human being in a million whose
clay' heart is hardened against love.
Sl5O A YEAR, in Advancit.
ottrq and Vioceiltut4.
For the Erie Observer. • .
TO4PAIr AND 104110113Unr
CZ=
hut yesterday and brightly shone
The sun amid the sky,
Night came. and with It came the moon
With ail heidaughtets by,
fo day,—how changed! but Clouds of gloom
Ate lloatinj overhead; -
Night come., and with It comes a tomb
Vor nature lying dead. _
And thus with man,—he has his day
Of happineu and peace;
Another eomes—they pus awaYi
And all, together, cease.
But from these clouds o(nighdy gloonf
To•morrow's sun may rise.
To fill the earth w Ith joy and bloom,
And brighten up the skies.
Hu may the spirits of good men
retsake the deathly shore,
To live In brighter climes, again.
And swell an angel choir.
Ildntodale. Jul.
THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE
HUNGARIAN ARMY,
r From the Journal of ecattmereth
It is but a brief biography which we ate Ate to give
of this young military genius, Whose glory ea a General
is to be compared with that of Napoleon, All we know
of him is sinee the beginning of the gigantic Hungarian ,
war, in which he talces a most pre-eminent part; endive
possess but a few part'culars respecting his earlier life:
He was born in the year 1819, in the Zips, (Northern
Hungarian country) on the declivity of the Carpathian
Mountains, not far from the finngartan , German city
Ktuimark, where the young boy Gorgery attended school.
His family it an old Hungarian one, who had a manor
on the romantic River Ileum. on which was the prop
erty of his uncle. Ills education 'Was more than that of
n German - than of a Magyar, as the whole county of
Zips is inhabited by a German population; although he
learned the Magyar languago as a boy, at the country
seat of his uncle. For the continuation of his studies he
was sent by his Uncle to Freeburg. in that city ho de.
voted himself assiduously to his falMrite 10013CTS. Min.
eralogy, Botany and Natural Philosophy. His teachers
and professors admired his great talents, and called him
"vie ingenio prteditus." In this same city of Freiburg
the first impressions of political pursuits ware made up.
on him. as the Hungarian Congress had its sittings
there.
Young Gerry enrly found opportunity to become ae•
quaiuted with Kossuth, whose tendencies he admired
end approved. But ha was unsatisfied withthe licenti•
sus life of a Jurat (student of Law,) and left Presburr
By the nilluouce of his uncle ho was admitted into the
military institution of Tulin near Vinna, where he soon
becisme highly distinguished for hie progress in mathe•
manes and chemistry. Warmly recommended by his
professors, and cherished by his fellow students. he left
the Institution and went to Vienna, where he *as ap•
pointed Lieutenant of the Hungarian Hussar Regiment
“Vecquant," which regiment belongs now to at , . Hen.
geriun army: but his active and energetic mind, and high
capacities, could not bear to be restrained within the cap.
vital, in a sphere so limited. He accordingly laid down
the sword, and returned to his scientifical pursuits. par
ticularly Natural Philosophy. Alternately he traveled
through the different countries of Europe. and was active
for another period in some scientific investigation,. At
Prague lie was known by his friends as •the genius -of
Hungary." He there devoted all his time to chemistry.
.and made in this science some valuable discoveries. He
was often seen in his shirtsleeves at the Laborer/0M
working like a mechanic at the fire, with the baleen. re
tort, or other tools, in his hand. He became afterwards
manager of a chemical factory; but he soon relinquished
it, and continued hie travels, which he extended into
Asia. Returning from there, he married in the year
1844, a fine young lady, who was teacher in the Imperi•
al Female Academy. and took possession of the mine,
of his uncle, who has since died.
In the March revolution, be was among the chief lead
ers at Pestb, and therefore connected with Koaenth; bat
his extraordinary activity commenced, and his military
genius was developed, in the war which followed. Prince
Stephen, the representative of. the Emperor in Hungary.
with whom he became acquainted at Prague, made him
captain, in which capacity he soon distinguished himself
by his personal courage and strategy, in emirmisbes with
tholrapacious Serbs and Raitzen. He advanced there
fore, under Masearos, to the rank of a colonel; and as the
Ilimgarian array retired beyond the Thelma, he was aim
ed General by Manuel, the Minister of War, who. with
the consent of Kossuth, entrusted him with the glorious
mission to the Slovakey. where his wonderful, unparal
leled strategy secured to the Hungarian army the success
of the whole campaign. His manceuvers, battles cad
victories are known. He at length besieged and took
Waiteen, and threatened to cut off the Austrian army.
which caused ,the evacuation of the Hungarian capital.
Pesti). by the Austrians. He afterward, besieged 'the
strong fortress of Buda. and took it.
The surrender of Bode is considered by all tacticians
as of equal importance to a victory in a pitched battle.
Ile informed Kossuth by telegraph of the surrender of
this fantail. in a very Inca* style. vizt •Hurrah! Da
da! Gorge}!" The degree of field meridian was bestowed
upon him by Kossuth and the Congress. for this highly
important action. and Kossuth answered him in the
same style, viz: ••The thanks of the republic to the field
Marshal Gorey!"
Some days afterwards the great patriot, the very old
end highly respected General Nieuwe", being no longer
able to endure the arduous egos' of a minister of War,
wishgd le retire, and upon Gorey was conferred this
high office.
By the !Mt news from Hungary, wo are informed that
Gorgey hos entirely defeated the comblited Austrian and
Hessian army of 100,000 men, a victory which will pro
bably change the whole face of European affairs, in the
same manner as did the battles of Leipzig. Marengo
and Austerlitz, or of Waterloo; end the name of Gorgey
will then become the second watchword of liberty'
throughout Europe—Kossuth being the first.
SENBITII , Dtess.—it is said iii the Cincinnati tom*
inertial, that a gentleman in that city. has discovered the
ancient Druidical method of rendering glue goblets and
other vessels an magically sensitive, that they will emit
musical sounds. and indicate the presence of ,poison.—
One of them-wets tested. into which water was forted.
and it remained perfectly sound. but, on adding a little
poison. the glass new into fragments. This is a myste
rious scientific wonder,
ID' "Look hore. Pete." said a knowing &key. "donn
Mend der on do railroad:"
..Why. Joel"
"Kase if de ears weir dat ntouf ob your,, dey link it am
de depo' and run rite in!" ';
[l:7 Dose yourself daily with pills, poor preventives
down your throat* the gallon, _accompanied with the
usual quantity °thready and water. and perhaps you may
catch the Cholera.
or Arkansas has furnished its black of marble for the
Washington monur,synk‘.
NUMBER 12.