CeuNstoum ■s&km @o^ette. Vol WWI -Hliolc No. 1903, Hates of Advertising. One square, 18 lines, 1 time GO • ' 2 times 75 3 • 1.00 ' 1 mo. 1.25 ' 3 " 2.50 6 " 4.00 " 1 year C.OO 2 squares, 3 times 2.00 " 3 mos. 3.50 2 squares, C mos. $5.00 " 1 year 8.00 i column, 3 mos. C.OO 6 " 10.00 " 1 year 15.00 1 column, 3 mos. 10.00 " 6 " 15.00 " 1 year 25.00 Notices before mar riages, &c. sl2. Communications recommending persons for -ifice, must be paid in advance at the rate of o cents per square. (£23®o SUMDSIBa Attorney at Law, OFFICE in Market street, opposite the Post Office, will attend to any business in the Courts of Mifflin, Centre or Huntingdon coun ties. [Lewistown, sept. 13, 1850-1 y* Wa you came wealth with manhood's prime, To me it brought alloys, Foreshadowing in the primrose time, \Vhen you and I were boys. We're old men together, The friends we loved of yore, With leaves of autumn weather, Are gone forever more. How blest to age the impulse given— The hope time ne'er destroys— Which led our thoughts from earth toheav'n, When you and I we're boys. SHIO cc 11 an ton#. OCCIPITIOYS. I he following excellent remarks from the "W averly Magazine, arc so strongly characterized with good sense and practical every day applications, we have at once set them down as sound doctrine : There is a most radical error pervading society at lite present in regard to plain, honest, hardy industry. A greater or more foolish mistake never associated itself with ihe popular prejudices, than that it is the nature ui Ins avocation that gives character and dignity to the man. For our part, we should lie sadly puzzled to discover the distinction between any two of the varied occupations which employ the industry of man, that would raise the operative in the one ease above the one in the other. One occupation is precisely as creditable in itself, and as commendable to its industri ous pursuer as another, provided it he honorable, and in perfect harmony with the laws of God and man. It is the mas thai ennobles the occupation—not the oc cupation that dignities the man. It is well that we are not all fitted, by habit, educa tion, and taste, for the sninc avocation.— However, those natural divisions are bv no meatus distinctions. It is this diversity of taste, together with good and whole some laws and regulations, that harmonize ibis vast workshop of intricate industry, the world. \Y ithout this diversity, all would he riot and confusion, and physical power alone would repay the benefits of labor. As it is, the weak and strong have each their several and appropriate allot ments. The man who follows in the wake of the plowshare, in his striped frock, and with bronzed and toughened hand, plants his seed—the man with smutty face and leather apron, who, with strong and vigor ous >iu< us, swings his clanging sledge from early morn to twilight eve—or the man who bends over his ringing lap-stone the live long day, is not one whit below the smooth-iaeed, keen-eyed merchant, who follow s the feminine employment of mea suring tape and ribbon—the eagle-eyed barrister, who expounds, or rather mystifies the law, or whose stately trend resounds in our hulls of legislation. .Still, there exists in the community a low and baneful pre judice in regard to this matter of labor. W by, fathers now-a-days must keep a sharp eye on their sons, lest they strav from " the learned profession," and take up the degrading occupation of a mechanic, and thus entail a calamity upon the family which can never be wiped out. The daughters, too, must have a maternal spy upon their every glance and footstep, lest she lie 44 tipping the light o' her 'ee" upon some poor mechanic ! Horrible! Why, the good lady would as soon think of link ing Iter (laughter with a Patagonian heathen as a mechanic. Are not the use of the trowel, the anvil, the spade, and the hammer, just as lauda ble employments wherewith to build up our comforts in life as the yard-stick, the pestle and mortar, or library ? Equally as honorable and respectable, since they arc all employed for the same purpose. Labor is labor, whether performed in the field and workshop, or behind the counter, and in the study. Honesty and honorable la bor are the same, whether performed by the king or the peasant, by the priest or layman ; it is just as honorable in the one as in the other, and as worthy of the re spect and admiration of the world. Years may pass over our heads without affording any opportunity for acts of high beneficence or extensive utility ; whereas not a day passes, but, in the common transactions of life, and especially in the intercourse of domestic society, gentleness finds place for causing the happiness of others and strengthening in ourselves the habits of true virtue^J, SHOWKRX OF Hi.ooi>.—()ue species of butterfly, papiloJo (peacock butterfly) im mediately after leaving its cell, lets fall :\ drop of blood ; and in Prance, where pea cock butterflies are very numerous, many believed that a slpnyer ol blood had fallen, until an able entomologist discovered the true cause, and undeceived the minds of the inhabitants. WISE COIYSEL. An address of the venerable Dr. Nott, President of the Union College, New York, says: " I have been young, and am now old ; and in review of the past, and tbe pros pects of the future, I declare unto you, be loved pupils, were it permitted me to live my life over again, I would, by the help ol God, from the very outset, live better. Yes, upon the very outset I would frown upon vice, I would favor virtue, and lend my influence to advance whatever would exalt and advance human nature, alleviate human misery, and contribute to render the world lived in like the Heaven to which I aspire, the abode of innocence and feli city. Yes, though I were to exist no long er than the ephemera that sport away their hours in the sunbeams of the morning, even during that period I would rather soar with the eagle, and leave the region of flight and fall among the stars, than creep the earth and lick the dust with the rep tiles, and, having done so, bed my body with my memory in the gutter." The lite of Dr. Nott has been a dailv illustration of the value of the sentiments he so handsomely expresses. lie is now a patriarch of seventy-six years, and has presided over Union College for 45 years, preserving in his old age that fire of genius and that kindliness of heart which have made him the idol of all who have enjoyed his instruction. • crSTOB OF ANCIEXT EGYPTIANS. The Egyptians had a funeral tribunal, by which the dead were tried, before they could be buried. After death, every Egyp tian was brought before this tribunal, and it convicted of having in his life acted un worthily, he was denied a place in the burial place of his ancestors. This was a great disgrace to his family, and, accord ing to the Egyptian theology, it deprived the spirit of the deceased of an entrance into heaven. One of the things which caused the infliction of this mark of dis grace, was that of dying in debt. If, how ever, the children or friends of the de ceased should pay his debts, as they some times did, he was allowed to be buried. Such an institution as this must have had a powerful effect upon the people in their commercial transactions with each other. A man who knew that very act of dishon esty, unfair representation, or trickery, which lie might practice in the course of business, might be remembered and uttered to the disgrace of his family, over his dead body, would be cautious, not to give occa sion to such procedure. As we have no exact information with regard to the mode of trial, we may perhaps lie allowed to picture to our imagination the form of the proceedings. Let us suppose it was some what hke this :—An Egyptian merchant dies—the day arrives for the investigation of his conduct. The Ilall of Judgement is thronged with citizens ; the body fol lowed by a long train of mourning rela tives, is brought in and placed in the midst; the judges take their seats, and the whole assembly is hushed into silence. An offi cer ot the court proclaims— " If any of you know any just cause or impediment why the body of our deceased fellow-eiti/en should not be committed to the grave, ve arc now to declare it." A voice—•• I object to the burial, for I had often dealings with the deceased, and 1 could never depend upon his word." Another voice— 44 I object to the burial, for deceased attempted to injure my char acter in order to get away my customers." A third voice— 44 l object to the burial, for lie lived at a most extravagant rate when lie know he was not able to pay his debts." A louriii voice— 44 I object to the burial, for lie made over his property to a friend, and then took the benefit of the insolvent debtor's act." The judges rise and exclaim— 44 Enough! enough ! take him away ! take him away ! You may throw away the body to be de voured by the beasts of the fields or the fowls of the air; but never let the earth be polluted by receiving into its bosom the worthless remnant of so vile a man."— Gilbert's Lectures. Evorv body recollects Monsieur Chnu bort, the fire magician, who plunged his hands into molten-lead, cooked and eat his stakes in a hot oven, &e., , a gale in Rhode Isl and was left open, a pig got in and de stroyed a few plants; a quarrel between the owner of the pig and the garden, grew out of it, which spread among their friends, defeated a candidate to the legislature, ami gave the State a Senator, by whose vote war was declared in 1812, with great Brit ain. The Sea. Serpent has been shot at off the Irish coast, and according to the account, he was. struck anil reared his form thirty fathoms out of the water. With aid of a glass, the persons who lired at him observed that, the eyes were of immense size, about uitte inches across the ball. New Sfries-Yol, <1 —No. 19. STEAMERS TO AFRICA. WASTUXOTOX, August 10, 18">0. A Mil, accompanied by a r< port, lias been introduced into the House of Representatives, for the establishment of a line of mail steam ers to the Coast of Africa, which is designed, among other considerations of benefit to the country, to open a new commercial mart in that remote, though valuable region, hitherto devoted exclusively to the interests of the slave-dealer. The report argues, and endeav ors to prove the moral advantages that will result to the country, by the establishment ol such a lino, but there are certain commercial inducements, not noticed by the Committee, which sliould have a stronger claim on the attention of Congress, if not the masses of philanthropists at large, than the mere effect of political gain. Together, presented in the strong light in which the Committee recom mend the measure, I apprehend the benefit would, in a short time, more than compensate for the outlay; for the terms are easy and the security against loss such, that the govern ment canuot fail to obtain its own, even sup posing the possibility of ultimate failure in the stipulations of the contract. Great Brit ain conducts a traffic with Africa valued at $28,000,000 per annum, while we, with a commerce not worth that many thousand, ! are compelled to keep up a naval force upon the Western Coast, partly to protect this I British commerce, and at the same time, ; shield our National character from a certain i species of dishonor. With the facilities we 1 possess, and superior advantages from our | local position, why should wo not enter into competition fur tins traffic, - which in a few years, owing to the colonies and republics annually springing up must ultimately prove of immense value, and be conducted in ex change for our manufactures of cotton, that now are obtained from British looms. Our entire commerce with Africa in 1849, was us follows: Domestic exports $070,760 Foreign do 31,042 Tbtal exports $708,411 Imports 495,742 Total exports and imports $1,204,153 England, .as I have said, exports to and im ports from Africa, merchandise, &c., to the amount of $28,000,000. The resources which England depends upon are, ivory, palm oil, gold, coffee, cotton and other articles which we will enumerate below. And first, her whole import of ivory per an num amounts to less than 5,00U cwt., of which the Western Coast supplied 3.000 cwt. The next article of import is palm oil.— The amount conveyed to England in British bottoms, from the coast of Africa; Cwt, Duty paid. In 1821, was 100.000 $ 00,000 In 1832, was 220,038 135,000 In 1549, was 400,000 280,000 We obtain our supplies through foreign custom houses, and not direct, by which it costs our importers 1,000 percent, more than were we capable, by a line of steamers, to import from the natives in exchange for American commodities. Wo could avoid the advance of 300 per cent, on the value of the article, find a market for our manufactures, and evade a double duty of nearly a million of dollars on 500,000. ; The third article of import is gold, of which England has managed, since the establish | ment of those colonies, to obtain ore worth ! $210,000,000. The researches of geographers ! have shown that the sands of Upper and ; Lower Guinea, not to say, Liberia and Sene ! garabia, contain great quantities of this rich i treasure, which modern enterprise has not I appropriated to the use of any other country ! than that of Great Britian, and to which it is I almost exclusively conveyed. The annual [ supply is not great, but it is fair to presume, i that as the coasts fill up, and population ex tends into the interior, what now is a trifling drain upon the precious deposits of Africa, mav become equal to that of California. The fourth article is coffee. It is said to be of very superior quality, though the cul ture is as yet quite limited. The causes that will operate to increase the growth of the plant, arc those mentioned above, for the fields appropriated to the bean, cover an im mense tract of territory, which still lies in its primitive waste. The exports in 1848 to Great Britain, were 18,000 pounds, valued at about $0,500. The principal of the remain ing articles exported from the Western Coast, with their quantities and values, may be sum med up briefly as annexed. Annual average. Value. Garwood. 400 tons. SOO,OOO Camwood, 200 " 10.000 Ebony, SO " 2,500 Red Wood, 10 " 2,000 Guinea grains, 28,000 ]l>s. 2,000 Gum Copal, 30,000 " 5.000 Senegal, 5.000 cwt. 50,000 Hides, untanned, 7,000 " 125.000 Skins, Calf and Kip, 1,000 " 20,'MtO Teak Wood, ' 40,000 loads. 110,000 Bees wax. 10,000 cwt. 210,000 Other articles, 20,000 Aggregate value, $646,500 To which add —Value of Ele phant's teeth. 100,000 Value of Palm Oil, 1.750,000 Aggregate average value, $2, 196,000 The American trade with the Western Coast., Liberia excepted, does not average SIO,OOO per annum. Such is the opening prospect of the coun try to which it is proposed these steamers shall ply. The committees report explains the moral and political advantages of the plan; and when the whole are considered to gether. it strikes us that the subject deserves the earnest a id deliberate attention of Congr ss. It is also to be borne in mind, that the s* \uuers would touch at ail the im portant islands of Africa, and some of these, we well know, occupy a conspicuous rank in a commercial sense. The subject will be warmly a-lvo vted, and unless want of time prevents, it will meet the approbation of the two houses.— Ev. Bulletin. Three thousand Hungarians arc about lru