Jno. S. Mann,
Proprietor,
I LUME XXIV, NO. 36.
me POTTER JOUMAL
AND
NEWS ITEM.
PIBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY AT
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✓
THE POTTER JOURNAL
KEWS ITE IMI.
Left Alone at Eighty.
YVh.it did yon say. dear, breakfast ?
Somehow I've si >at too '.ate ;
Yon are very kind, dear Kme,
Go, tell them not to wait.
I'll dress as ipiick as ever I can,
My t n't ein o e,
And Polly, who used to he p, deal" heart,
! L t side o' the loor.
: Put npthe old piif, deary,
I couldn't smoke to-day;
j 1 in sort o' dazed and frightened,
.n't know what to say.
It's lonesome in the house here,
i i And lonesome out o' door —
, 1 never knew - what lonesome meant,
In all my life, before.
j The Iwes go humming the whole day long,
! And the first June rose has blown,
• And lam eighty, dear Lord, to-day,
Too old to Ik- left alone
1 O. heart of love! so still and cold,
, 0, lips! so white—
For the first sad hours in sixty years
You were out of my reach last night,
A ou've cut the flower. You're very kind,
S e rooted it las 1 > .
It was only a s!ii>—l pulled the roe
And threw the stem away:
; iSiit she. sweet thrifty soul, bent down
And planted it where she stood:
•' Dear, maybe the flower- are living," she said,
"Asleep in this Fit of wood.''
I I can't rest, deary—l cannot rest.
Let the old in;, have his will,
! And wander from porch to garden post—
The house is so deal iv still;
Wander, and long for a sight of the gate
She has left ajar for me—
| We had got so used to each other, dear,
! So used to each other, you tee.
Sixty years, and soAvis an ! good,
She made me a better man
From the moment I kissed her fair young face,
And our lovers' life begi i
And seven fine s -he ha- given me.
And out of the seven, not ue
But the noblest father in all the laud
Would t>e proud to call his son
O, well, dear Lord, I'll l>e patient,
But 1 feel sore broken p;
At eighty years it's an awesome thing
To drain such a hitler cup.
I know there's Joseph and 'ohu and Hal.
AuU four good men beside,
But a hundred sonscou'dnt be to ine
Like the woman I made my bride.
My little Polly, so bright and fair-
So winsome ami good and sweet—
Slit had ro.-es twined in her sunny hair.
White shoes on her dainty feet;
And Ila id her hand—was it yesterday
That we stood up to wed?
And—No, I remciiilter, I'm eighty to-day,
And my dear wife Polly is dead!
Front the Christian Union.
Miss Piumtreo's Msgic Lantern.
There certainly was.something Yen
peculiar about Mi>> Perugia Plum
tree; every one observed it. and it
1 became more and more striking as
time went on. It was not that you
could not t 11 what she might do or
, say under painful circumstances—
that would have left her very com
mon-place indeed. The very peculi
arity was that at those times you
might be sure of her always doing
, and saying the very same tiling. Miss
Piumtree was one of those gentle
souls in whom the lookers-on can
. discern no need of discipline, and yet
to whom affliction mysteriously takes
the form of a trip-hammer, sure to
fall at regular intervals and with re
lentless weight. Or. perhaps, to Miss
Piumtree, it came rather like some
grim guardian of the night, ptroling
at stated intervals with the stern fiat,
"lights out!" and so throw jag all her
peaceful arrangements into sudden
eclipse. But no sooner did some new
; grief or some fresh reverse swoop all
her former joys under its dreary shad
ow, than Miss Piumtree immediately
produced from under her meek little
heart a sort of psychological magic
lantern, illuminated it with one of
the ino-t beautiful of smiles, and
suddenly a view of something new
and delightful that nobody else had
; ever thought of, was thrown upon the
great darkness, brilliant and magni
fied manifold.
It was with one of those illuminat
ing smiles, enough to make a rain
bow of the tear she was wiping at
the moment, that she turned upon
the friends who left heron the thresh
old of her echoing house, after the
last sad ceremonies had been rendered
to the last remaining member of her
family,
"I'm sure I don't know what I
ever should have done," she said, "if
it had not been for the old house
falling to my lot. So kindly ordered!
1 don't know how I could have borne
it to go anywhere else!"
And with this quiet transfer of her
affections, Miss Piumtree set herself
briskly about the care of their new
object, until she seemed to make it
shine brighter and brighter every
day. She could not lack for occupa
tion with all the cares that come
where there is no man about the
COUDERSPOirr, PA., FRIDAY, APPAL 4. 1873.
I
house; and as for loneliness, then
! was no chance for that, while then
were so many traveling clergymen U
be "put up." and neighbors goins
away and wanting to leave the chil
dren a few days, end distant relative?
needing a home a little while. So Mist
Plumtree's days glided swiftly ami
happily by, very happily she thought
and she used to have a little season
of thinking about it every evening,
as the twilight gathered, sitting alone
in her own room, with her fece pressed
close against the window that looked
out upon the lawn. Some maiden
sisters, left with such store of silver
and household valuables as Miss
Plum tree, would have shrunk with
horror from a room on the first-floor,
with a door opening directly out uj -
on the gladiolus bed; but it was
beautiful to Miss Plumtree, since an
! accident she had met with, a few
years before, though it had left her
: as good as new in all other respects,
had made going up and down stairs
a troublesome affair.
"I don't know what I ever should
: have dot e if it hadn't been for this
I room lying just .so," she said one
evening, as the hour came and she
drew her little arm chair to the win
j dow and took her seat; and then
from thinking about the room, she
fell slowly into a reverie, until as the
gladiolus bed grew more and more in
distinct outside, the ghost of time and
; tilings that had been stepped solwly
iout of the twilight of the past and
ranged themselves one by one before
her. How happy they had all been
together in those days gone Fv! And
then when her mother was taken
| away, how the rest clung together,
: she and her father and Jack! How
' proud she was of Jack, and how
satisfied that the will left everything
to him, with the understanding that
he was always to take care of her as
iier father had. And then Jack be
_ gun to go wrong, dreadfully wrong,
the neighbors said, and when In r
ftuliei tllicntciirj I<Z Ui-llill-'l'U Hint,
lie got possession of the will and ran
away. She did not know what she
should have done then, if it had not
\ been for her lather. No kindlv ordered
i- that they were left to each other!
f 1 here might have been one more.
s one handsomer and dearer even than •
J Jack, but her father, so kind to her
r and so hard to others, had driven
- him away too; had believed some*
- thing false of him, and sworn that
- never so long as he lived should he
1 see his daughter's face with his con
- sent. So he had gone awa\ too, not
- like Jack, in a passion, but sorrowful
enough, and Miss Plumtree did not
i suppose lie Would ever come back,
t And now even her lather was taken,
' but she had the home with plenty of
>, means to keep it up, an 1 cousin Peri- j
- w inkle spending the w inter with her
• —that had all been arranged (except
' cousin Periwinkle) by the new will
- made after poor dear Jack ran away
■ —and she thought— ten likely by
next summer—hark! What foot-tall
i was that on the dry grass, and what
form moving stealthily over the lawn
I in the starlight?
Miss Plumtree pressed her face
closer to the pane—the figure passed ,
' out of sight, then turned and came
' slowly down the path again. She
sprang to the door and opened it.
i u Jaek! Dear Jack!" Hut the fig
ure was gone and there was no an-1
i swer. In another moment she had
' mounted the stairs without thinking
• whether it was long or not, and stood
in the passage-way that divided cous
in Periwinkle's room from the spare
■ chamber, with a pair of.the last linen
sheets in her hand. "Dear cousin
i Periwinkle," she exclaimed, as well
■as she could, with great bumping at i
her heart. "Jack has come home!):
Don't tell me I am mistaken! 1 <
shoulc know him if 1 only saw his i
shadow! He would not come when i
1 called him, but that was only one i
of his odd ways. So lam just going ;
to get his room ready without saying 1
anything to the servants, for I know 1
he'll be coming pretty soon, to say
he forgives me for everj-thing, and will 1
let me share with him just as if noth- 1
ing had ever happened," and Miss ?
Plumtree disappeared into the spare i
room. In a few moments she was l
back again to say that cousin Peri- i
winkle was to go to sleep without i
minding her, for she should sit up. t
awhile to listen for Jack.
*e "1 do feci a little nervous,though,"
e she added, lighting up into one of
0 her smiles. "I don't know what I
J
g should do, if you wern't spending a
1- little time with me, cousin Peri
's winkle."
•s Miss Plumtree listened in vain ;no
d knock was heard at the door, not
t, another rustling ®f the grass outside
n the window. But the next day till
r, the town was astir with news. Jack
e P.umtree had come back with the
:1 , old will in his posession and was
1 trying to prove a flaw in the second,
u and eject his sister troin the Plum
r tree estate. I 11 fortunately it is ea-ier
s to prove e\il than good, and Miss
It Plumtree was very soon notified that
. she had one week's grace in which to
- resign all claims and vacate the an
s cestral halls. At the end of that time,
i j the friends who had accompanied her
i home on the day of he funeral
r, wended their way to a little cottage
, which had come to Miss Plumtree
from her mother's side, to see where
she had taken refuge and how she
;
i had survived the storm. But she d
J got out her lantern in advance of
• them and illuminated everything
■ until they hardly recognized the situ
- ation. i
i There she stood, in the middle of
■ the little bare floor, with the irradi
ating smile on her face, the two sil
ver candlesticks and the oval mirror,'
ih it had been her mother's, shining,
tie stove and the v indow shining,
and Miss Plumtree's eauarv singing
merrily in its cage.
"I'm sure I don't know what I ev
er should have done," she said, "if it
hadn't been for the cottage' S<>
i °
kindly ordered!"
No longer encunihered v.it 11 sei
vaiits or relations. Miss Pluiutree
managed to live delightfully in her
new quarters, and never admitted
that she missed a single comfort;
until one day the news canie that the
savings bank, where her tiny mater
nal fortune was treasure 1, h;>d fhiled,
' and not a jvnnv wa< h ft. For one
moment Mi-s Plumtree stood still
as she list, lied to the tab ; but in
another the magic lantern was pro-'
duot'd, and a new object thrown in
l.old and brilliant relief up; 11 the
siiiulowy loregroiuid of her future.
4 *l in sure I d >n't know what 1
should do now, if I hadn't amused
myself once by learning div-smak
itig! So kindly ordered !" she said,
with such a smile that people were
almost ready to believe that thi- was
the pleasaiitest thing that ever liap
pened to her. From that day Mis-
Plumtree no longer lived alone.
Ev-ry morning she tripped forth,
work-bag in hand, an I flitte 1 like •>
little business woman, a- -he was. to
one bouse or another as her ei gagc
j uients might demand. Evt is one
thought it a pleasure to -ee li'r sit
ting by their work-table; her 1 foim
was graceful yet, and the wavy hair
drawn back from her forehead and
knotted carefully behind, gave such
a classic contour to her head. These
were her only beauties, except the
smile, and that made every one feci
as il the sun shone on the darkest j
day.
And so all went n beautifully for
a time, until Miss Plumtree began to
liixl herself inconvenienced by a se
vere pain in one of her eyes. Some
times she came to her work with a
green shade over it, sometimes she
did not conic at all, and at last wa fi
obliged to give herself fairly into the
physician's hands. For a few weeks
she sat alone at home once more;
after that the pain ceased ami she
felt quite well again, but the sight of '
the unruly member was gone forave. ;
Miss Plumtree immediately looked i
up her little book of engagements, i
and appeared next morning at the 1
door where she bad beeu promised
for that day, three months before, :
the illumination lighting up every- i
thing liefore her.
4, 1 don't know what I ever should :
have dune." she said, "if it hadn't -
been for ray haqing another eve." I
Miss Plumtree had given up the s
habit of sitting with her face against 1
the pane, ever since the night t-he had 1
seen the shadowy figure pass along
the rustling grass. But she still kept 1
up her little twilight season of think- :
ing over matters, and how kindly i
everything had been ordered for her <
ever since she could remember. ' 1
•'But poor dear Jack!" £be had >
been so happy in thinking of his
having everything, and now she
heard lie was running it through very
fast, and sure to get into trouble be
fore long. She won lered if he would
ever consent to come and share with
her if the worst came to the worst.
She was afraid he would not, everv
thing would seem such a change!
And there was some one else! How
changed every thing would seem to
him—to I'hilip—if he were ever to
comeback! But he could not have
heard that there was no one now to
interfere. She did not think lie
would ever hear; probably lie had
gone a great way off aud would never
know."
Due No\ ember night Miss Plum
tree as usual slept her twilight
thoughts quietly away and awoke to
find a great surprise awaiting her.
An invitation from some friends liv
ing fifty miles away, to come and
pass a few days with them. It was
the first invitation of any kind Mis-
Plumtree had received since she left
the old house, and she really did not
feel that she ought to have any, now
that she had no longer any hospital
ity to offer. But here was the letter,
very positive indeed, and refusing to
take tin for an answer. So she put
some things in a satchel and s-t off
the next morning by the daily stage.
"1 shall certainly be back the last
ilay of tiie month," -lie said."for lam
engaged all the first week in Pecom
ber.
I ho 11nys glided by as silch davs
will do. the oa-is seeming snaller for
its very greenness in the desert, the
' last day of the month arrived, the re
turning stage was heard rattling
down the village hill, and there, on
the diivei's box. h r liose a little red
with t e cold, but luxuriating in the
live. fresh air, sat Miss Plumtree,
punctual to tlu* hour end minute.
How good it would seem to see the
little cottage again! They should
make it iti another minute, but Pea
j con ' r uil. rry s h< u-c w- - -o ntuclj |
; igii'T, i ! cut "it tlie view just here.
; Now tiny were pas.-ing the deacon's,
an ! Mi.-s Plumtree b<. gan to look
under the apron for her satchel.
"•>enisah in! exclaimed the driver,
and Mi-s Plumtree looked quicklt
up. A fallen chimin v. a few black- i
oiled timbers and a lit tie curl of smoke
were all that was left of the cottage.
The tws. - ]\ tr candlesticks, the ova!
mirror—all were gone, only the can
ary bird, fortunately left at the dea
con'-, and nothing lbr Miss Plumtree
but to take shelter under the same,
kindly roof until she could bar e time •
to tuink what must be done next.
, ' he ui-uing day was Sun lav, ami
when the deacon's wife knocked at
Miss Plum tree's door, -he found her
, bouuetted and cloaked, the illuminn
tion in full play and Mi-s Plumtree,
only waitingforthe second b 11. "I'm
utre I ought to go," she said, with a
smile which the deacon's wife declared
more beautiful than ever, "for I don't
know w hat 1 should have done if it '
hadn't been fur saving the things in
my satchel. So kindly ordered."
So slit* went, and when the day had :
passed peacefully by and the short '
December twilight was gathering she i
slipped away to her own room for her
little season belonging to the hour, i
W hat strange tilings were happening 1
all the time. And bow* strange it t
was that the cottage had been burned 1
just as the old homestead was to be t
sold for Jack's debts and he had gone I
away without her beiug able to ask !
him it he would forgive all and share :■
with her. Poor dear Jack! But :
there was always something left and 1
as soon as Monday came site must 1
think what w.w to be done. Ju-t (
then the der.c >n tapped apologeticr.l- :
lv at the (lot r. \
"Come in," said Miss Pluiutree. 1
ami he opened it a crack and looked i
in. t
"Miss Plumtree," be said, "there i> 1
someone asking for you—some out t
—" and the deacon hesitated and blew t
his nose, then laughed a little and be
gan again. "Some one that I think s
you used to know-—I ought not to c
be positive, but perhaps—" a
Ihe deacon stopped again and a a
figure standing between tne hall lamp v
and Miss Plumtree's room threw a T
shadow on the curtain. She ban said 1
once she should know a shadow; this r
time she did kuow it and sprang to- t
wards th< reality. f
< ' "Philip! then you lies'-'] after alb"
•! One week from that day friends once
,• : more escorted Miss Plum tree to th
• j door of her olden home, but this time
11 as a blushing bride introduced bv her
1 j husband to the house he had pur
. chased as her wedding gift. Once
- more she turned and illuminated
! i everything with her smile.
>" j"1 don't know what I should have
' done," she said, "if it hadn't been for
> Philip, for really there were only a
-1 few things in the satchel after all, and
>il shouldn't have thought it right to
'; stay at the deacon'- very long."
Slavery's First Defeat,
l'erlev. the Washington correspon
-' dent of the Boston Journal, gives the
: , following interesting r mini seen ce:
> i The appointment by the President
. of Judge Orr as Minister Plenipoten
• tiary to his Imperial .Majesty the
Emperor of all the Russins, recalls
• the eventful scenes of the Thirty-fifth
: Congress, in which he presided over
the House as its Speaker, and especi
ally the turning contest of the anti
slavery struggle on Monday, the f?th
of February, 186*. It was the great
'question whether Buchanan's mes
sage on the Leeompton constitution
of Kansas should be referred to the
Democratic committee on Territories
or to a select committee of fifteen.
On this there had been an angry dis
eus-ion on the preceding Saturday
prolonged through the night and en
t
li' ened by a regular row at a very
earl\ hour on Sudnv momiiigin which
a member—not Gr<v, of Pennsylva
nia, although he had a gold medal
presented to liiin therefor—knocked
Keitt down, while tb<- wig of B.vks
<lale v.n- snatelied front his head and
i
j sent spinning up nearly to the ceiling.
Sp< nk-r Orr shouted at the top of
his *t< nforian voice "order! order!"
and Sergeant at- \rtns Glossbrenner.
; a Pennsylvania Put* hnian, who was
• hero as a representative in the last
<'oiigres, seizing the huge mace a*
, theemblem ot ujs authority with both
hands, rushed into the midst of the
melee an 1 was hustled uneorenionious
-1 v about, mace and all. (lid General
• Quitman tii ally still*.'! the tumult,
but if was not until half-past sh\ on
Sunday morning that the Democrats
■ would agree to pas- hi i t solution j
that a vote should be taken on Moil
day, without further debate, delay or
dilatory motion. When Mr. Oris
mallet rapped the House to order at
noon on .Monday only six of the two
hundred and thirty four representa
tives were absent- and the galleries
were packed like boxes of Smyrna
tigs. Dr. Samson made a concilia
tory prayer, the journal was read, two
enrolled bill- were presented bv Mr.
Davidson, ami the Speaker, in an un
usually earnest tone, stated the ques
tion. Tellers had lneii ordered and '
he appointed Messrs. Butlinton, of
Massachusetts, and Craige, of North
Carolina.
'"I- the demand for the previous
question seconded? "
The imposing lbrm of Buftint<n
was seeu making his way down to the
area before the Speaker's table, when
Craige met him. The two shook
hands and there was then a quick •
obedience to the Speaker's request
that gentlemen in favor of the motion 1
would pass between the tellers. Fa- , '
tiler (biddings, crowned with silvery '
locks, leal the Republican host down 1
to be counted as they passed between 1
Buffinton and Craigo. Burlingame
followed and among other® who filed 1
alongwere Henry Winter Pu\is,Hen. 1
Spinner, John Sherman, (jen. Ring- 1
ham, Frank Blair, the trio of Wash- 1
burns, Gooch, Schuyler Colfax. John 1
Covode. Gov. Fentou, Senator Cra- i
gin aud burly Humphrey Marshall, j 1
When all had passed between the tel
lers Butlinton wheeled about and re- *
ported to the Speaker, who announced <
the result ratlmr hesitatingly: "One =
hundred aud ten in the affirmative; <
those Opposed will now pass between
the tellers." ' t
'
Then the Southern champions of
slavery with their Northern allies. i
came trooping down, beaded by the t
attenuated Stephens. Dau Sickles t
and John Cochrane, who were after- t
ward General- in the In ion armies,
were then allied with Zollicoffer, 1
Keitt and others who fell in the rebel t
ranks, and there were so many of a
them that the result appeared doubt- t
fuh At lar-t it was Mr. Crnigc's turn t
S. F. Hamilton,
Publisher t
$1.75 A YEAR
' to report, and then all wsus silent as
• the grave/
Never Is-fore !:<i ' I se.'n the Speak-'
•' er at all disconcerted, but he besita
r ted and his usual loud, clear voice
: hesitated as he at last announced :
"One hundred and four in the uega-
I tive. The ayes have it, and the de
: mand for the previous question is se
• conded. Shall the main question be
- now put ? "
i ictorv had at last favored free-
I dorn. The main question was now
> put and the vote by ayes and noes on
' reference of the Kansas question to
the committee on Territories was:
ayes 113, nays 114. Then came the
. vote on the reference to a select com
mittee of fifteen, and Speaker Orr had
to announce the result: ayes 114, nays
111; and from that hour the power of
Democracy has waned. Mr. Orr en
■ deavored to remain true to the Union
but was swept into tin maelstrom of
, secession, from which he escaped at
. • t!:eearliest possible moment, although
he has never, I believe, been allied
. { with the existing state government
i > of South Carolina.
THE following extract from the
1 , Debates of the Constitutional Con
vention is laid before the readers ol"
the JOURNAL because the facts sta
ted are of great import, although the
section was not adopted. The ques
tion will recur to all: "What is to
be done for the unfortunate children
that are below the common schools?"
In the Constitutional Convention
the Article on Education being under
consideration, the 7th section was
read, as follows :
SEC. 7. The Legislature may es
tal lish industrial schools and require
. the attendance therein, of vagrant,
neglected and abandoned children.
Mr. Wherry.-—Mr. Chairman: i
de-ire to offer a few words of expla
nation with regard to this section, es
pecially in view of its relation to the
following clause, section seven, with
! which it is intimately connected.
However unwilling we may be to
recognize the fact, however distaste
ful it may be to gentlemen of tender
sensibilities to hear it said, there are
two distinct classes of children in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
alike demanding her guardianship,
her fostering care, her elevating
influences. There i- that class for
which provision has been so noblv
and so effectively made; the hun
dreds of thousands of well fed and
well clothed innocent, hopeful, hap
py children who do now attend the
public schools, or may attend them,
who arc educated in the common
• school- or may be educated there, if
tiieir parents desire it, and if not, arc
educated by other means at private
'expense in private schools. But,sir,
down underneath this, in dirt and
despondency, suffering the realities
of cruel want, and breathing au at
mosphere of vice, there is lower stra
tum. It is but idle vanity and un
wise statesmanship to longer ignore
the unpleasant fact that there is a
large class of children in this Com
monwealth w ho, by reason of the ig
norance, the indifference, the idleness,
the impecuniosity or the vices of
their parents and guardians, are abso
lutely hindered from attending the
Common schools of this State. It is
to provide l'or that class of children
that this section is drawn.
For these we w-ant compulsory ed
ucation. We want a system that
will require and achieve the moral,
mental and industrial education of
these neglected and abandoned chil
dren, and save them from a doomed
inheritance of want, 3nd crime and
woe!
This is all this secliou is intended
to provide for, and it has nothing to
do, directly, with the common school
system of the .State, as; we now un
derstand it.
Mr. Hazzard.—But where are the
children ?
Mr. M herrv.—All over the State,
in every city, towu and county. Of
this class of children you find twenty
thousand reported to the school au
thorities of this city alone.
There are in my county alone no
less than twelve hundred and thir
teen children between the ages of teu
and twenty.one, who cannot read—a
thousand, at least, of these, owing to
the criminal neglect of th*ir parents.