The Columbia spy. (Columbia, Pa.) 1849-1902, December 07, 1861, Image 1

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SAMUEL WEIGH r, Editor and Proprietor.
VOLUJIE XXXII', NUAIBER 19.1
gortrg.
A "No."
Oh, love me not! my heart is frail and weal:,
The burden of my love it cannot hear;
llly life stands still to !isles if ,hos speak
What reason whispers that I must not hear
Not hear iby word• of pledged fid •lily,
Not look upon the Mile thou paint•-t fur int.,
For all my soul goes sorrowing op to see
liow much of grief the Future hog f t thee!
Tor thee and me. if these two words should he,
If these two lines should run in one indeed;
But oh! this cannot. may not. must not be—
Nay, turn thian eyes away, thou shalt not plead
See what a shadow is already end
From Love's sad wings upon thy shining brow,—
The darkness of his presence d taken+ fast;
Ile comes, he comes—oh: fly him even now.
Thy voice is faint and svcolr—it stoops to mine—
But Jt mu'l rite to fill a People's ear,
Fly! I urn tittlt•, little to reign;
In future year-hots little, will appe sr.
Thine eyes see nothing but two tearful star.--
Two tearful stars arc till alms eye- Cllll see,
nut thine must gaze into futurity;
Olt: lift them up and mine. ma tie free!
FrEP, joyous, to pur.ue thy .htril Clur•e,
Ready to boom with thy rent-vied light.
Radiant with glory from thy glonott. source,
My reeblenect , rejoicing in thy 'night.
Wilt thou not go?—For my cake tiro, dear friend.
Depart, depart, for Mr! I urn a•e,rk.
Arid love so si rong,—yet will I not It •crud
To be his slave despite thin burning cheek.
Love bend- a rainbow o'er my earthly gen.
lie sl6ll not i.land between my Uod and mu;
I must not in the glot its ilint I ,ce,
Forget the glories of the great '•To CO
Len for an instant; stud full well L know
Those rainbow tints would fall in misty tear-,
And leave me Itelptes., Imputes., here below,
With no strength left far all the coining years
Love I. not happiness—our .cirine hopes
eltretell out and think to grasp the Infinity;
The Mortal with lire Itn:nortal va.nly cope.,
And in the strosgle Love dw, into zugh.!
The happiest love lie, a dull itching loud
On our poor heart?, which heavier grow each lien ;
TIIe flower too freely dew-fed will be bowed,
Will drop, may die, ultho' it, load be ,weet.
And olt . if thou should , -t change, tvi change thou
must,
For maws love I. a frail an I ll,eting ilaiag—
A sawing tag,leruniblia; tics dim(
If but a hand be laid Isis wing—
I ccul. not mar I could not hear
'Thaw thou -huul.l*-t lovlhg shun ihou an.
Thou "wouhr-t not change' and nil s, ever)
♦vlmro
I should reign quo :0 011,1111 d, and -oul, and heat?
If lieu Qhon love me for ten thou-and day-,
And one day -vont the —o 1 1: lily hie svoold be
Thonentordi one Wililettlig.dr..•iry. weary 111112 e
Too clearly bought by po=t (cooly.
r:o. laud 111outatt.e•t with Cute 171 V prnyotr-. my tear',
Tilts u ott tat Itto.st: I bid glee go,
I say It now nut fur All future year.
Ever, for ever and ion enc., “Nu:,
rirrtion~.
Up in the Air
Some few mnliths back 10. e,C!eri in, (I
am a surgeon by profe-sion) to :annul a
Senor Tornados, who, 11( . . pi to his name, was
as trite an Englishman by hi, th and parent
age as the pat ish id* Lambeth ever bred and
reared. I found Nina suffering from extieme
debility and nervousness, brought on by the
over-strainee tension of the touseles and
sinews. lie told me that he was a rope
dancer, slack and tight; a tumbler. 'tiff and
louse; sprite, acrobt.t, and bottle-equilihri-t;
and many other things which hare emeaped
my memory,
His family consisted of his wife, a pale,
sickly woman, somewhat older than himself,
and a very handsome little girl. Accus
tomed as I was to witness the devotion of
women by a sick bedside, and the irritability
of male patients, the self-sacrifice of Madame
Tornados, and the demonstrative gratitude
of her husband for each act of attention,
surprised me. He was ander my care some
months, and, as he recovered, grew talkative
and familiar. One evening, as ho sat in an
easy chair, propped up by pillows, he fa
vored me with the following narrative. I
purposely suppress any professional techni
calities and acrobatic argot, which would be
unintelligible to the ordinary render.
"You see, sir," he began, "my father was
a hawker over in r bet Ii Marsh. I never
knew my mother, because she died when I
was quite young. I don't know how it was
I learned tumbling. The f thing I can
remember is standing on my head close to
Westminster Bridge, and a gentleman going
by giving me a shilling. *Now, my boy,'
the gentleman said, 'do that again,' which I
did. 'Now,' said he, 'spring!' which I did,
and came on my feet again. 'Good boy!'
said he, and be patted me on the head.—
That gentleman, sir, was the great Mr. Du
crow. Well, sir, of course, afters/01 encour
agement from such a man, a tumbler I be
came. I spared neither pains nor trouble, ;
and I practised till I became master of my
art and head of my profession.
"About seven years ago—l was just
twenty-three—l first met with James Ran
ford, who was also in my line, and he pro
posed that we should work together. I con
sented, and we traveled about and exhibited
at town halls, assembly rooms, and large
rooms at inns; but we did very badly. Ran
ford had a wife and child, so it fell harder
upon him. I was forced to lend him what
little I could spare. for I could not see a
young west= and a little baby go without
it while I`blid it, could I?
"Well, sip, Things got from bid to worse;
and my partner; being a man of violent tem:
per, took to drink—he was always: given
that way—and, I em entry to ray he used
to heat his wife. Sometimes my blood has
boiled, and I have walked away for fear that
I should interfere. However, I used to
cheer up the missus as well as I could, and
nurse the little girl, and they both grew to
like me very much.
"One night, at a little place called Peddle
thorpc, we had no audience at all. We
were without money, and were asking cacti
other what we should do, when the squire's
son and a lot of young gentlemen came in
and asked us to perform for them, which we
did; and, more than that, asked us to sup
per at the hotel. After supper, the squire
looked at one of our bills of the day, and
said, 'Hullo! why, I seo you call yourselves
Messrs. J. Bamford and W. Kerr. No won
der you get no audience. I suppose those
are your real names?' We answered that
they were.
"'Oh, that'll never do,' he said. 'You
must have an alias—you mustn't let the
public suppose you are Englishmen. It is
contrary to the rilki of professional eti
quette. You must make out that you are
foreigners.'
"Well, at that all the gentlemen legan to
laugh; but it was settled before we broke
up that night that, fur the future, we were
to call ourselves 'The Two Fuscari—the
Spineless Siamese of Syria!'
•'Well, sir, from that moment Ranford and
I began to do well; but I am sorry to 'nay
that our good luck only caused my partner
to drink the harder, and, in consequence to
behave more bvily to his wife. Ills child
he wan certainly very fond of—partly, I
rinink, because he had only known Iser a
short time, for Ranford was ono of those men
who liked new faces. As soon as he met a
stranger he was all life and spirits, and he
would do anything or go anywhere to oblige
him; but when Ire had known a man some
time he didn't care fur him, but grew cross
and contradictory.
"At last we got an engng,ement at a gar
den near London, where there was a grand
gala night every week, on which occasion
a balloon ascended. I scraped acquaintance
with the feronaut, and one evening I went
up with bins, The sensation was singular.
I cannot describe it but I liked it very much,
The mrunaut showed me how he managed
to steer through the air, when to throw nut
the sand, and how to descend. As we were
soiling over London he said to um:
" 'You c.ntild'nt do the slack rope up here,
Foseari, could you?"
" •IVhy not,' 1 said; and as 1 spoke the
idea. fla.lied opal me what a soleudid feature
in the pr.gratnale it w..uld be:
Perrot mance .:1 tie Two Fo•etu i 11r.the:;..
who will go thr .ugh their inimitable Evoke.
lions Slaek %Vile ,u-peode.l fi.orn, a 13.0-
loon floating rh.m..tiel
trt.tee ~r ‘. r,.. •..,
that coo Pt boa. the ,e1,4:.1
side the c•u, C col hear the ue.„h • .f tw„
In est outside ir. The wire e‘arld he fastened
to the ,uses of the ea•, and, when :it a ,11111-
clew height, we could get .gut and
[Corn!, ell .11a.; zi e
"AS NO,II a, I I C. 1 01 1 .1 for groutol I wont
to itaoft.l4l, 1.t./, n• I at, the
.111t1 041( . 11 agieed t.. It. T.lv piorrietor
garlint% o. to u:1111 0 our term ,
%Vl2 tll.l lie tl'ltt , t to heat es it, bet
lit lat,t c.nr-t•uted, an 1 We went up and did
I interrupted hint by asking if the (linger
were not extreme.
"Nut a bit:" replied my patient. "If I
fell from a wire fifty feet from the ground,
the chances are that I should break my
neck: if I fell front a height of fifty miles 1
could no more. Then, if our feet miss, we
hare our hands to hold on by. However, I
was saying we went up, and, when we had
risen a certain distance, we got out °Nile car
and commenced the performance. It seemed
odd to me at first, tumbling and stringing
in the air, with the gal dens and the audience
and the !muses and the treed, such n depth
beneath us; but, what struck me as being
strangest, was when we hung bead down•
wards and looked up at the clouds. I used
to feel that the null] could not be so very
distant, for, high as we had risen, the sky
seemed as fr from us as ever.
- Oar performance gave great satisfaction,
and WIN invariably noticed in the daily and
weekly papers. We were told that the act
that thrilled the audience most wits the last
one we performed before descending. fan
ford, who was a heavier man than I. hung
from the rope with his head downward; then
taking boll of both his hands with both
mine, I swung by their support; and then,
by way of climax, I let go my left
hand, and hung on only by my right.—
I never felt the least fear. We knew each
other's grip, and it was all right.
"At first the wronaut went up with us,
but after a few times we were able to man
age fur nutselves so well that, had an acci
dent happened to one, the other could have
got safely down.
"We were earning a great deal of money,
hut I noticed that Mrs. Ita.nford looked paler,
and more care-worn every day, and I knew
how her husband was conducting himself by
that. She often told me that she wished
they were poor again, as he had been much
kinder in those times.
'-One night—l shall never forget it—l
vv.is returning from the gardens, and as I
passed the door of Eanford's lodgings. little
Evelina's nurse ran out to me, and said.
"'For Heaven's sake, sir, go in. Master
and misuse have had a dreadful quarrel,
and minus is going to kill herself!'
"NO ENTERTAINMENT'S SO CIIEAL , AS READING, NOR ANY PLEASURE SO LASTING."
COLUMBIA, PENNSYLVANIA, SATURDAY MORNING. DECEMBER 7, 1861.
"I ran into the house. I found the parlor
door open. Mrs. Danford was in the room
alone; her back was towards me, but I could
see her face in the litre mirror that stood
over the chimney-piece. She had a razor
in her hand, end was about to use it on her
self when she caught the reflection of my
face in the glass. She stopped, turned
round, and fell upon the floor in a fit. I
picked up the razor, put it in my pocket,
and places the poor woman on tho
Ranford came into the room h.dr drunk,
half mad, and scowled at me like a demo..
"I expostulated, and tried to reason with
him! but he only made me jeering replie4,
such us, 'Oh, I understand—better than
you think for!' 'l'm not a fool:' I have
got my eyes and can see!' and so on, and
left the house with a heavy heart.
"Next day the nurse-girl told mo that
Bamford was jealous, and that he and hoi
wife had quarreled about me. We ascended
that night. Ile never spoke to me, nor Ito
him. We both twirled up in the air with
out exchanging a word:
"When we got down I felt inclined to give
him a good thrashing fur hit unjust suspi
cions; hut I kept my temper for the sake of
the poor woman, and so we went on for
eight or ten days.
"Our next ascent took place on the Grand
Gala night of the United Order of Anci-nt
Toxophulites. It was a stiil, summer' night,
without a breath of wind. We ascended
till the gardens, and the streets, and the
churches looked like Dutch toys, and then
got out upon the rope.
"As I took my seat beside Ranford I no
ticed that he had been drinking more than
usual. He had lately taken to an odd way
oh' shutting his eyes, and smiling with his
lips tight pressed together; and what with
his knit brows, white tights, spangled
trunks, and the bit of ribbon round his
head, with a paste star in the centre, he
looked, ns be sat swinging backwards and
forwards in the air, more like an evil being
than a man.
"We went through our performance, all
but the last trick. As I was swinging from
his two hands, the thought came into my
bedd, if he should not hold on!
"As I let go with my left hand, and swung
only by my right, I heard hi; voice above
me.
"'Kerr,' he -aid, 'are you guilty or nor.'
"I ii.ke.l him ‘clint lie meow
"'You know,' he answered. 'Confess
that you bare wronged me: speak the truth!
They are your 1:1•I W 0 1 ,1•! I huge lint to lose
my grip, and down you go:'
'•1 tried to seize his Bison: ged arm but
lea held It al, to my roach, and nut his other
ill sitel7 a te , sititm that I could not catch at
it, lint swung entirely at his mercy.
1 leaped to reach the rune with my heels.
hug 1 failed. I shot toy eyes, and prayed
Ilca% en to forgive me. Every net of my
i n.: liir, ruched through toy brain; nt the
...line 11 , 11 e 1 was perfectly (3.111 , :(1101151 or every
thin iii ilit me--the blue -ky, the quiet
o.ening, the rope, the hotteon of the ear, and
llatitord•s head inverted over me. I thaught
that a time I should he falling, falling I
knew how slowly the sand sank from the
: I nd what a long. Long tuna I :41 aid he
dying, ere I teaelied the earth.
••1 round stieogth to ~ .peak.
'"llansf I said, 'you are tuista:sen.'
•"Vou he ito , wered.
"'lf yau let g , my hand you are a mur
derer. There will be an inque•t.'
"I don't care.'
"'lt known that there be
tween I continued. Your wife will say
how jealon.—'
" a ?rife cannot ceblowe against her
husband."
"I knkw the next moment I should be
falling through the air. A -}la-in shit to
my heart. I fancied I saw the !so toin of the
car rising from me. I felt the grasp of his
lingers loosen! With the energy and
strength of desperation, I leaped up, and
caught his wrist with my disengaged hand.
I climbed up his body, I knew not how, till
I reached the perch, and thence into the car.
whore I lay panting fur breath, and trem
bling like a hare.
'•lie soon followed me. 'I frightened you,
didn't I?' he said. 'You don't suppose I
meant it do you?'
••I made no answer hut prepared for the
descent. While arranging the cordage our
hands met. I could not bear his touch. I
struck him, and knocked him into the hot
torn tic the ear, where he lay g:owling and
swearing till we came to the ground.
-Next morning I called on the proprietor
of the gardens, and told him all To my
intense antonishment he flatly refuse] to
cancel our engagement, and said dint nur
quarrels were nothing to him: di it an agree
ment was an agreement, and business was
business; that the performance drew crowd•
of visitors. and he insisted on its contimi
nnee. I told him that I would not risk my
life agsin, and he threatened me with an
action fir breach of c m tract. Sit irtly after
got an ongagement of Glasgow, and left
Lindon without seeing either Rmford or
his unfortunate wife and child.
“Two years passed away, during which I
heard but little of my late partner. While
I was performing at Manchester I beard of
an old friend of mine, of the name of Coo
bie, being at a circa; in a neighboring town.
I took the train and went over to see him.—
We dinel, and at seven o'clock went togeth
er to the circus. Lounging near the en
trance. I saw Rancor& lie was considera
bly altered—thinner, and, if possible, m
evil-eyed than ever.
"'d know that man,' I said to Cootie
"'I know you do,' my friend replied.—
Ile calls him-elf the Eseelsior or Champion
Somersault Thrower to the World. He is
in the bills fur a treble somersault to night.'
"You must know, sir, that a treble ponier
sault means standing on a spring -board,
throwing your heels up, and turning Com
pletely round three times in the air before
you light on your feet. I need not say it
is a very dilicult thing to do.
"1 said i.Jtill:o, (hid that a towl
who drink, so hard shouol be capable ut .
such it feat.'
"'llis engagement depends on it,' was the
reply; 'we're full in any other line. The
governor told him that he'd sign articles
with him fur that, but not fur anything else.
Eh! he sees you.'
"I turned round, and saw Ranford walk
ing f:•om us. I entered the circus, and was
accommodated with a seat in the orchestra.
I could not help thinking or my old partner,
and had a strange nervousnegs upon me, as if
something was about to hoppen; but the feel
ing wore if when R tnford came into Om
ring. The audience applauded f
he had thrown a treble sant ersault twice be
fore, and was a itvorite in consequence.
"I saw that he was not sober, and I noticed
that he had tile saute little star on his fore
head that he wore the last time we made an as•
cent together. While the grooms were alter
ing the position of the opting-board he walk
ed up ti the orchestra, and, with the old
devilish smile upon his face, said to me:
"'You can't keep away, then, can't you?
You will come
"'ltanforJ,' I whispered, 'you'r not your
self to-night; take my advice—don't throw
the treble!'
"Ile swore an oath, and then burst into a
lou I laugh.
"'You want me to fall, do you?' he said.
'Fill when you're here! iii! youp—da!'
"lie ran up to the spring-blard, bowed,
and kissed his hands. 'rite music began.
Ile threw several single somersaults, then
a double one; then he stopped. and crossed
his arms, mid looked at me. The audience
were very enthusiastic, and he begun again,
repeated the p6rformanee, aud stopped again.
There was store applause. Then he turned
towards me, smiling, a, if he said 'Now!'
an lis eat to work a third time Ile made
some little preparation—turned over once or
twice. Tile house was so :Hem you might
have heard a pin drop. Ile got the spring.
and over he wen:—once, twice. My heart
rose in my mouth, for I saw tit it he had not
room enough to turn a third time. Ills head
came down with a horrible thud among the
tau and sawdust; and he lay in the ring,
doubled up and dead!
'A surgeon came out of the lanxea, who
said that his neck was broken, and that death
must have been instantaneous. I fainted
away. When I came :o I saw his body
being carried out of the ring.
"Well, sir, I was t.itele I upon to be the
bearer of the sal news to the widow. VII
pass over that. I was surprkel to find that
in spite of Ilk cruel usage, site was still very
fond hiot. 1 itisrd the ehihi, who was a
fine little girl, and returned to Manchester
next day. I at;ea led the funeral of course.
Itunford birth left a pouni s behind him
I gave etc wid atv an :a I fres.; that would
at vays find me, an 1 toll her to wtite when
ever—when—if she wa,ted —that is, when
ever site required assistance.
"First the poor thing tried to set up a
school for children, but that failed; and,
knowing that she must Lesometimes presse d,
I often sent to her. I don't know ho iteame
about, but, after a long correspondence and
courtship, I marriel her; and here she conies
with my beef tea; and here comes Evelina
—for that's the very woman, sir, anl that's
the Cry litt:e girl, an I a real beauty she is:"
An Escapes From Sharks
We were lying at anchor in the ;aicr
harbor of Trincomalee, in Ceylon, when the
adventure which I am about to relate no
curreO to me; and looking back et it through
the vista of many years, it seems as though
nothing but a special intervention of Provi
dence could have possibly saved me from
sodden and dreadful death. I was very
young then, and thoughtless, and laughed
at the whole affair as only youth can laugh;
iu maturer years, one thinks more soberly
of these matters. But I am not here to
moralize.
then, no I said at starting, vc were
laying at anchor in the inner harbor of
Trincomalee, than which a more cmomodi
ous and m ire secure refuge does not exist in
the length and breadth of the world. I be
lieve there is some talk of making Trincoma
lee the Straits and China stati tn fur the
overland ronte, instead of having to eh Inge
steamers at Point de Gallo. lam only sur
prised this has not been thought of long ago.
and have no doubt such a change will tend
greatly to the comfort of the passengers., and
benefit the trade. From what is called the
outer hat bur,which is nothing m we than an
insecure r iadsten I, the entrance to this in
ner one is wholy indiocernibie, savin.; only
to the well-practioed eye of the mariner or
pilot. When we arrivedothere from Cochin,
to load sandal 15.194 an I ebony for Penang
a ll we could see was a signal staff on the
summit of a very lofty hill, and a most un
promising bench for loading, with a heavy
surf roaring and breaking against it E trly
next morning, however a native pilot came
on board and, the wind being favorable, he
steered as, apparently, to inevitable de•
struction. The nearer we got, the more im
practicable scorned tho possibility of saving
the vessel from being dashed against huge
boulders of rocks by roaring and foaming
surf. Su idenly, however, we emerged into
still, deep waters, and alinost situ ultaneou sly
opened oat a narrow entrance channel, the
abrupt sides of which towered high above
our rivals and sky scrapers, densely , clad
with venture, from the water's edge right
~p • n't the intense green of the
er g ol g into a golden-colored
to , 1 almost trao , ipnreat tinge, where the
sun's early rays had lit up the tops of the
hills. We sailed along this clizinnel fur
aboilt five 'minutes, when a curve in it shut
out Cie entrance, and we were to all appear
ances, trappe lin n maze. L whichever
side we liked, there was nothing but lofty
land toppling over our masts. So we sailed
along for perhaps another ten minutes, the
channel twisting and twirling about like to
huge snake, till, finally rounding the last
curve. we glided into n splendid lake, land-
locked on every side, OA plentifully be
sprinkled with beautiful little islets, that
looked (ei they proved to be) excellent reser
voirs for game.
Here We came to :Inch u, about half a
mile from tho town or village, and imme
diately there swarmed around the ship len
dre Is an.l hundred. of huge hungry sharks
—about the ugliest customers a sea-faring
man would ever wish to set eyes upon---
The water was tran,cendantly clear rand still,
so that we could see the smooth, soft, sandy
bottom distinctly, although the depth was
great; an 1 it was no small source of amuse-
meat to watch the gombols of these huge
and voracious monsters, as they darted off
in shoals after anything that seemed to hold
nut the slightest promise of a meal. Bifore
the pilot left the ship, he warned us not to
attempt to hook any of these sharks, as they
were under government protection, and
people were liable to heavy tines who do
s:royel them. This was evidently the re
maitts of some old exploded law, enacted in
those days when other fleets - lie . g des the
British crui , el about the Indian seas. The
sharks were patrionized as a specie, of 'Vol
unteer Marines, to prevent desertions from
ve,sels to shore, or from troops on shore to
vessels, and were a formidable contingent to
shot and shell in case of an enemy invading
the place by water.
1 believe the fir- t person on liOard that had
any direct intercourse with the nharks was
the Chinese et tk; and, but for his tail, he
would have co no to unple t•tantly el ice quar
ters with them. lle was standing out in the
fore-chains dangling a scraggy bit of beef
overh Lull, to soak it before cooking, and.
quite forgetful of the legions that surrounded
him, was jabboring away to his countrymen
in their own arts tuth vernacular, when it
sodden and violent tog at the rope sent poor
o'd Fookny flying on* his balance and but
for his proligiously long and strong tail,
which had git entangled in n hick,
b all cook and beef would have fallen
a prey to the sharks As it was, it was
with considenable datoulty that he Ira; cx
tricttcl train his perilous position, an 1 then
at the expense of nearly a foot of his beloved
and valued tail. Tile crew were too exhaust
ed with louglii mg at the ridiculous spectacle
he presented as, dangl mg over the fore-chains,
he kept plunging, out his arms and leg., and
twirling roan' tike a teedotum ond screech
ing for help. This incident only MCCAW(' to
encourage the vor.atlty of the sharks—they
liked the beef, :mil keit watch for m ire,
morning, noun,• end night.
Meanwhile, the weather e widened re
markably line, ant though very rough and
windy outside the harbor, in the inner liar
lanr the water wai hits a p.m I. r.., In +d
ing of the +an I tlw ti at I e') ,n progre:•=o 1
fitorah'3. piles of it were heaped up
by the waterside, and a g tog of Olialiali+
and Pariah+, a+ blitz: an 1 ii nei+y escrow+,
helpel to tiring it along+i.le ant hoist it into
the vessel.
Hard work it was to got those ponderous
beams into the vessel's hull, and nobody
was sorry when 4 p. m. came, an 1 all hands
knocked off for the day. The,. in the &hil
of the evening, with the decks first swept
and washed down, :Lad the balmy breez •
coming off the shore, laden with the incense
of a hundred shrubs, and grapes, and fl m
ess, we would in Lice shooting parties to the
neighboring little islands or s ime parts of
the mainland, an I sel I on c tin .3 bast with
out a wall-filled gams b tg. W.) )1-pigoons b?-
ing the chief victi ms of our prowess. On
these ocaastons the sharks, like a careful
body-guard, always aczompaniel the boats
on their trips to and from, and sometimes
came su near as to get a rap on the snout
with an oar. "Catching crabs," as sailers
term it, was the usual result of such contact
to the oarmen; and very alarming ones, too,
endangering, as they sometimes did, a somer
sault into the water. In the little cores be
tweet' these islands, where the sharks never
ventured, we used sometimes to catch some
excellent pimphreys, and m ire than one
beautiful tortoise-shell we picked up amongst
the stones.
Upon the whole, we fared snniptuausly,
and enjoyed ocrselve3 much daring. oar stay
at Trincomalee. There was plenty of wild
deer to ba stalked am ingst the hills; lint
there w. , re,•m ire rviyr, plenty of bears, and
even chetahs an I ta..;ers. 0: a clear mean
light night. we c nild distinctly see these
latter gamboling nhaut the summits like so
many kittens. In such Cases 'tis distance
certainly that lends enchantment to the lieu..
Fond IRS STO might be of cersitan. use pre-
81,50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE; 82,00 IF NOT IN ADVANCE
ferred the ship's decks to the jungle. Not
withstanding all this, however, fate and the
sharks helped to give us a treat of venison.
One fine, clear night the middle watch on
deck were startled by the moans of some
object floating closely under the vessels
stern, surrounded by shoals of hungry and
disputant sharks. Manning- the boats the
crew went to the rescue, and soon returned
with the better half of a line stag. This
poor beast had been chased to seats preci
pice edgebr; hungry chetahs, and, leaping into
the w.stere, had Edict) amongst the equally
merciless sharks.
One day, just as WO were nearly ready for
sea, and had got rid of the last batch of
cheating, jewellers and venders of satinwood
Inxes, inlaid with ebony and ivory, a little
Portugcse brig from Calcutta came to anchor
close alongside of tvi, and a passenger on
board of her was no less a personage than
the half-brother of our owner—a young
half-caste Chinese, born at Macao, and edu
cated in tile city of Polace4. He was only
a hal of about eighteen; short in stature;
exceedingly stout; of a greasy, copper com
plexion, with hair, or rather bristle., clipped
us close as any convict's. To say that he
was conceited of his i arson, appearance, am:
elueation, would only be draw ng it mild,
and yet, poor fellow! his face was as fiat as
a pancake, with high protruding cheek
times; a neg,ra's lip., with two little, cor
ning, sloe black eves, that were n 9 round
and about the size of a bullet. At that time
they wore very tightly-fitting inexpressibles,
and I ant sure Signor Jose's (as we will call
him) seemed in danger of splitting every step
he took. This Adonis always wore flesh
colored silk stockings and pumps; silk
gloves; waistcoat, jacket, and shirt front,
white as driven snow; collar a la Byron; with
studs, and chain., and bags ad Fib. Be
came at once on hoard of nue vessel, and
took up his abode there, intending to go
with us as far as Penang,. Amongst other
things ho brought with him a prodigious
number of pits of preserve., which were a
source of great consolation to the crew dur
ing the passage. It inn be asked why 1
ant thus particular in describing this Macao
beau, or what lie has to do Stith my escape
front the sharks? My answer is simple
muck." and with this plea, I beg also to
introduce our skipper. At the great exhi
bition of 1851, there was a most grotesque
and most amusing display of stuffed animals
walking upright and dressed. Amongst
others tile celebrated frog that "would n
wooing go." Well, our skipper was cxactly
like a frog set up on wire, his feet and
hands were long, flat, and sprawling; his
body all I lose trousers and braces; his face
red, flat, snub-nosed, grey-eyed, and moose
colored hair. Ho was not a good-looking
man under the most favoring circu•nstance•:
and neither he nor Signor.) OS e possessed too
much pluck, or could swim a stroke to save
their lives.
At last the cargo liad been all gat on
b lIrd; the water casks filled; ship's side
scraped and painted, and everything sra
ship-shape and ready for sea. There only
tem:lined the live stock an I vegetables ne
ce‘sary for the voyage, and to get the bills
of lading signed by the authority ,in shore
This said authority hail aslsed ns t t n f
well breakfast; sn, early in the morning, we
—that is, the skipper, Signor Jose, and my
•ill—went ashore in the ship's bat. and
being landed. sent the boat back with orders
to hoist her up to the davit. at once, and to
tell the mate to loose the sails and get every
thing ready for going. We engaged a na
tive canoe to take us aboard ag tin when all
was ready. These Cingalese canoes hare
gsnerally gat min ig4er.. an I with that ad-
dition are, perhaps, the swiftest and se fe-t
boats in the world. The one we hired was
simple canoe, narrow at the b atom, belg
ing out in the middle, and growing narrow
again et the top; the greatest erpiilibriurn
Ia required to keep them from tinning over.
Our worthy host, wli ) was n half
pay lieutenant in the envy, and acting har
bor-master, gave us a sumptuous fl•:; '7l//er.
The vessel's log bo rk was over lianle I n n !
compared with the shippin g •-note; the bill ,
of hiding were duly sigiiel; sit d .7.er
wretched frivls, all tied together by the legs,
were place I in the bottom of the came, tt ith
vegetables, cocoanuts, eggs, and !ilea I.
There, also, the log-book and bills of lading
were placed for security. The canoe was
launched. I took up my position in the
stern; the skipper and Signor Jose p
themselves in the centre, and the man with
t're paddles sat in the extreme stern. Ile
warned us as we sh reed off to be careful not
to move, and we gli led rapidly into the buy
and tow iris the vessel, accompanied, as
11511f:1, by shoals of sharks. IVe were with
in n cable's length, perhaps, of the ship,
when Signor Jose was seize] with a sneez
ing fit, and instantly—in the twinkling of
an eye—the boat had capsized, and the con
tents must have sunk half-way to the bot
tom. When Igit to the surface it the wa
ter again, in a state of bewilderment, the
first thing that caught my eye was the ca
noe, bottom upside, with the pad Ile-man
clinging like grim death to the stern, and
the poor skipper's and Signor Jose's deplor
ably ludicrous facci I»bbing rap and down
on the other side alternately, as the one
polio I the other under water in their re
spective efforts to get a firm hold on the
canoe. Spluttering and framing at the
.uth, they presented such an irresistibly
ludicrous picture that I was fascinated to
the spot, and kept buoying myself up in the
same position, literally choking with laugh-
[WIIOLIE NUMBER -3.
ter. Ol'a sudden, however, ()ler the water
came a dismal loud n-nil, as the ship's 1,, a',
cut from the davit=, dropped into the water,
ready manned with stout heart+ and strong
arms rowing manfully to the rescue. Thou,
and only then, the; e burst upon ma in full
free the awful put - him we wets I.l,teud i .
I almost: realiztl the cruel jaws and teeth
of yarn elects slim Its tearing tag hapless law:::
to pieces. With a wild shout I leapt nearly
cican out of the water, and sweat whit the
yig ,r of deoperation towards t I»nt, width
tus to say, I rcaeliol in ~,fete, f r
the man that paddled the canor after
assured toe that that sudden start and
had served to intimilito ono shatlz,
which was jut is the act of turning upon
its belly before a making a gra , ' at ate. I
tremble n, I write this to thi . 1 ; how nigh
indeed wai my destiny to fig i-11 pith
death the MO,l agirniZillg T;10
°Corr three were ako rescued in encL'y, nu i
I think that day's adtenturc utter Lean
forg•itt.2n hy any of our t:: ough G. d
only knows where the othersnre
to over the sulf..ce of this w
Blondinism.
• - • Prom LI Ci n a bolrl,l
floor to walking along one of 1:s nariow
p:anks, and thence to we:kin4. along a plank
acrocs a stream. to walking along the top of a
single brick wall, along a Equare bar of iron
or mood, along a very stout rope like a ship's
cable, the transition seem.; natural and easy.
It would be so :0 reality, but for the entrance
of the second element of dificulty in the prac
tical problem—the Influence of height oa th
human nervous system.
"Come on, sir; Here's Ell_ place: Stand szi
How fearful
And tlizzy 'tis to cast ones eyes so
look no more;
Lest my brain turn, and the d,qiciefit sigt,t
I opple down beadlong."
There ought not to be no more difficulty in
Walking along the top rd a wall thirty feet
t on one only three feet tro n the ground ,
fa ero , s thii Joists of the lonia story of an un
frio.died and unroofed house ought to be just as
iasy as to eio-s those of the ground floor with
uo cellar beneath it. To run up u rope to tire
top of St. yam's Cathedral, and to tun up a
r ape t% a first story windox, requires exacn4y
the - rile conditions .1 , qullibrium, exerted ter
a longer interval of time in the form , ir ea•e i
and et most persons %could rather alters pt the
one than the other.
The power of resisting guidtt e:s iv !JO:. n 4
(I 0 %V ill from precipitoiH heights is p2rtly
iutional and partly the t.tfort of ft4tttt. The
safest way is nut to 'took down at all, if it rati
be avoided; but it Cannot nlways be avotd,d,
This is the reason why it is tusier to ascrnz
an upright cliff' than to descend it. It is not
the mere elevation that tries the nes . % rs,
the sheerness of the precipice, the abri.ptsiesi
of the slope, the angle of inclinntam, the 11•111::P/
in Gut. Many persona who woLld look w'a
indiffescnce down an inclined plane at forty.
five degrees, shrink at the brink of a griper..
dicular de-cent. At Cape Blaney, no I.c
French coast, opposite to Folkestom., there 11
a chalk cliff varying farm two to three handrei
feet, which gives goose flesh sematicr..,
cances cold water to run down your 6,ckbons
in a way unlelt on the top Snow.l,,r, Vesur us
and the
To resist this feeling is n p 'int i'!
mountaineers, sailor, and s. era! at I,P r p7r,re ,
scone. nonce, Nelsoc,'s invitations to 1 1 , m r l
shipmen to meet him at the rnn..t 1,r2.!. J.
Marlyn's *.tme (see his loyugv) n. yo.ing ma:
of St. Kilda could ply his adiirci,:es to n pir
untill lie had previously performed the (ere
many, %%Inch consi,ted in staiiitioig o n ilia itol
of a luny, precipitous rock overlimiging the sea
with both his lee: half over tf.e edge of :hi
rock, arid with his face too arch the ties, or,
then bowing forward untii he torched the op
of bus taei Wail both hand.; beitig ti,esi emly
liberty to resitino Ma upright pa,ittcn o void tt
retire inland to his Itily :411. The CIM.0:;11. may
practice ths evoloti or intl.:lm pti:ati•noor srej
with a harse.han mat toss spread before it. Ir
respect to the realstance to g:l!:ncss, it ii
probable that many iritr,norg, e•tows
Swiss guides, finishers ol catheJid sp , r ce an ,
weather-corks, and m.•mbcrs or tho A Ip:ne
Club, with Professor Tyntlal at their head, are
quite as accomplished and as sure of t liemselvri
as any tunambulist that ever trioucAtt a tor,
—4l! lh e rear Round.
lkr.irl, fitC.
in the New Yalt Obsn-ver from Rome a.
tollow,:—''Tlie Tiber i• rot only rich his
torie as , oei ition., it i, vie!. in treasons. Ar
Any net ualiy offered to turn
the currentof the p.:. rain fir rbot o tl: • eitt
and ttroutol it, pr n i let the gore', tar„ ,
would cive them whit they d'ocoe,
in its pre: cut bed. TAWS vit-dild be fated, i,••
with tiod espon,e; Lat it will I pay. 'fro:
sore , of art tram ag S.) flge 1111:t• f P.m 1 tb , i
way into the market a perfect reintn,er, tido
In the ton.enin of tit. John teleran n mitg
nitid.cor coitinin of .tone is Icln•z,
taken n d bind: shire from lie a lor
tio.l of which bus been politdiel to di-idu;
its beauty, and no one can see it lvilvv:
wishing to have more of the score'. of lb
river revealed. Statuary inure perfeer an
perhaps more beautiful 111.10 nn
dent works of art now seen in Rome. I,e
emberidel in groups beneath the !dirges
Ag,ostina Chic,i. the Curious banker at the
time of Lei X , once gave si vidttiblol et.ter
tninment to the Pope and bis Cur iit.al n.
which the rii.hes were an ' , tee:, n. ;arta',
The price paid for three frrdi w,t. Inoi Lon
Bred nod fifty crowns. It i.F..ij that lii.
Aver° nil thrdwn into the Tibor. I.)
order of the rich hanker, in c rid t h at rd
14,4 S 11/11 trious guest might et rr me them
The sacred cane;. lir•ozc,br from Jern.alem
lry Titus, among tbein the ctlden
stick. are reported to have liven 1•.. t. from
the Minion bridge, and if so. ore till lying
there. The present got crawl - mt. of Roma
will sufer nothing belonging to ancient 'err
to pass from her territory, nor is it Orli ,
to enrry on such tin Ant estigatinn en its own
account.”
CS