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fflottrg.
GUANDEATEIERIi YES'
Tido le the room where she slept
Only a your ego—
Quiet and caraway 'meat,
Blinds and oturtalm, like snow.
There, by the bed itt the dusky gloom,
Bile would kneel with her tiny clasped hands
and aft* , I
Here Is the little white rose of a room,
With the fragrance fled away !
:telly, grandfather's pet
With her wise little Noe—
-1 seem to hear her yet
Singled about the place;
But the crowds roll out and tile streak ere drear,
And the world seems hard wite a bitter demo
And Nally is singing elsewhere—and here
And hero io the little white rose of u room,
Why, If she stood Just there,
As ■he used to do,
With hor long light yellow hair,
And her eyes of blue;
If she stood, I ray, at the edge of the 1,0,1,
And ran to my side with a living touch,
Though I know she In quiet, burled and dead,
I should not wonder much.
For xhe was ma young you know—
Only coven yearm old
And mho loved cue, loved mu no,
Though I wee gray and old ;
And her race Wan xo wine and no went to Moe,
And IL Mill .looked living when elle iay dead,
And elle 'mod to plead fur mother and me
13y the tilde of that very bed I
I wonder now if she
Knows I um staudlng here,
Feeling, wherever Nile be,
We hold the place eo dear?
It cannot be that she sleeps too Hound,
Still In her little nightgown dressed,
Not to hear my footsteps Hound
In the room where she used to rest.
I have felt hard fortune s
And battled In doubt and strife.
And never thought much of things!
Beyond this human life;
lint 1 cannot thluk lira my darling Bled
Mltegreat strong men wl th their prayers un
true;
Nay! rather she !Ms at God's own side,
And slugs as she used to do I
! Chumbcr's Journal.
piodlantoto.
Tornadoes
BY RICICI) A. PROCTOR, It. A., V. It. A. 5.
The inhabitants of the earth are sub
jected ~to agencies which—beneficial,
doubtless, in the long run, perhaps ne•
cessary to the very existence of terres•
trial races—appear, at ilrst sight, eiler•
getically destructive. Such are—in
order of destructiveness—the hurricane,
the earthquake, the volcano, and the
thunder-storm. When we reactor earth
quakes, such as those which overthrew
Lisbon, Callao and Itiobamba, and
learn that one hundred thousand per
sons fell victims in the great Sicilian
earthquake in 1003, and probably
three hundred thousand in the'
two earthquakes which assailed An
tioch in the years 326 and 612, we are
disposed to assign at once to this devas
tating phenomenon the foremost place
among the agents of destruction But
this Judgment must be reversed when
we consider that earthquakes—though
so fearfully and suddenly destructive I
both to life and property—yet occur but
seldom compared with witid-stortns,
while the effects of a real hurricane are
scarcely less destructive than those of
the sharpest shocks of earthquake.—
After ordinary storms, long miles of the
sea-coast are strewn with the wrecks of
many once gallant ships, and with the
bodies of their hapless crews. In the
spring of 1866 there might be seen at a
single view from the heights near Plym
outh twenty-two shipwrecked vessels,
and this after a storm, which, though
severe, was but trifling compared with
the hurricanes which sweep over the tor
rid zones, and thence,searcely diminish
ed In force, as far north sometimes as our
own latitudes. It was in such ahurricane
that the "Royal Charter" was wrecked,
and hundreds of stout ships with her.
In the great hurricane of 1780, which
commenced at Ilarbadoes and swept
across the whole breadth of the North
Atlantic, fifty sail were driven ashore
at thoglermudas, two line-of-battleships
went down -at sea, and upwards of
twenty thousand persons lost their lives
on the land. So tremendous was the
force of this hurricane (Captain Maury
tells us) that "the bark was blown from
the trees, and the fruits of the earth de-
stroyed ; the very bottom and depths of
the sea were uprooted,—forts and cas
tles were washed away, and their
great guns carried in the air like
chaff; houses were razed; ships
wrecked; and the bodies of men
and beasts lifted up in the air and dashed
to pieces in the storm,"—an account,
however, which (though doubtless
faithfully rendered by Maury from the
authorities lie consulted) must perhaps j
be accepted man, gran°, and especially
with reference to the great grins carried
in the air " like chaff.
In the gale of August, 1782, all the
trophies of Lord Rodney's victory ex-'
cept the " Ardent," were destroyed, two
British ships-of•the-line foundered at
sea, numbers of merchantmen under
Admiral Grave's convoy were wrecked,
and Itt, sea alone three thousand lives
were lost.
But, quite recently, a storm far more
destructive than these swept over the
Bay of Bengal. Most of our readers
doubtless remember the great gale of
October, 1804, in which all the ships in
harbor at Calcutta were swept from
their anchorage, and driven one upon
another hr inextricableconfusion. Fear
ful as was the loss of life and property
in Calcutta harbor, the destruction on
land was greater. A vast wave swept
for miles over the surrounding country,
embankments were destroyed, and
whole villages, with their inhabitants,
swept away. Fifty thousand souls It is
believed perished in this fearful hurri
cane.
The gale which has just ravaged the
Uulf of Mexico adds another to the long
list of disastrous hurricanes. As we
write, the effects produced by this tor
nado are beginning to be made known.
Already its destructiveness has become
but too certainly evidenced.
The laws which appear to regulate the
generation anti the progress of cyclonic
storms are well worthy of careful study.
The regions chiefly infested by hurri
canes are the West Indies, the southern
parts of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of
Bengal, and the China seas. Each re
gion has its special hurricane season.
In the West Indies, cyclones occur
principally in August and September,
when the southeast monsoons are at
their height. At the same season the
African southwesterly monsoons are
blowing. Accordingly there are two
sets of winds, both blowing heavily
and steadily from the Atlantic, disturb•
lug the atmospheric equilibrium, and
thus In all probability generating the
great West Indian hurricanes. The
storms thus arising show their force
first at a distance of about six or seven
hundred miles front the equator, and
far to the east of the region in which
they attain their greatest fury. They
sweep with a northwesterly course to
the Gulf of Mexico, pass thence north
wards, and so to the northeast, sweep
ing in a wide curve (resembling the let
ter U placed thus around tine West
Indian seas, and thence travelling across
the Atlantic, generally expending their
fury before they reach the shores of
Western Europe. This course la the
storm-track (or storm.c," as we shall call
it). Of the behavior of the winds as
'they traverse this track, we shall have
to speak when we come to consider the
peculiarity from which these storms
derive their names of "cyclones" and
"tornadoes."
The hurricanes of the Indian Ocean
occur at the "changing of the mon
coons." "During the Interregnum,"
writes Maury, " the fiends of the storm
hold their terrific sway." Becalmed,
often, for a day or two, seamen hear
moaning sounds in the air, forewarning
them of the coming storm. Then, sud
denly, the winds break loose from the'
forces which have for a while controlled''
them, and " seem to rage with a fury
that would break up the fountains of
the deep."
In the North Indian seas hurricanes
rage at the same season as in the West
Indies.
In the China seas occur those fearful
gales known among sailors as " ty•
phoons," or "white squalls." These
take place at the changing of the mon
soons. Generated, like the West Indian
hurricanes, at a distance of some ten or
twelve degrees from the equator, ty
phoons sweep in a curve similar to that
followed by the Atlantic storms around
the East Indian Archipelago, and the
shores of China to tueJapaneselolandii.
There occur land-storms, also, of a
cyclonic character in the volley of the
Mtkitssippl. "I have often observed
~ the paths of enchgorme, , P'says Maury,
" through the forests of the Mississippi.
•We remember to have read that In title intr.
rloane gnus which had long lain under water
were Washed up like mere drift gradually. b
Perhaps this circumstance grew
SO thelneredible Story above recorded.
4 .
T to it,? . atict sittettt 1 citv?,eB/ 1 .
I) 4
A
VOLUME 69
There the track of these tornadoes Is
called a ' wind-road,' because they make
an avenue through the wood straight
along, and as clear of trees as if 'the old
denizens of the forest had been cleared
with an axe. I have seen trees three or
four feet in diameter torn up by the
roots, and the top, with Its limbs, lying
next the hole whence the root came,'
Another writer, who was an eyewitness
to the progress of one of these American
land storms, thus speaks of its destruc
tive effects. " I saw, to my greataston
ishment, that the noblest trees of the
forest were fulling into pieces. A mass
of branches, twigs, foliage, and dust
moved through the air, whirled on
wards like a cloud of feathers, and pass
ing, disclosed a wide space filled with
broken trees, naked stumps, and heaps
of shapeless ruins, which marked the
path of the tempest."
If it appeared, on a careful compari
son of observations made in different
places, that these winds swept directly
along those tracks which they appear
to follow, a comparatively simple prob
lem would be presented to the meteo•
rologist. But this is not found to be the
case. At one part of a hurrlcane'scourse
the storm appears to be traveling with
fearful fury along tLe true storm- C ; at
another lees furiously directly across the
storm-track ; at another, but with yet
diminished force, though still fiercely,
in a direction exactly opposite to that of
the storm-track.
All these motions appear to be fairly
accounted for by the theory that the
true path of the storm is a spiral or
rather, that while the centre of disturb
ance continually travels onwards in a
widely extended curve, the storm-wind
sweeps continually around the centre of
disturbance, as a whirlpool around its
vortex.
And here a remarkable circumstance
attracts our notice, the consideration of
which points to the mode in which c•y
clones may be conceived to lie gener
ated. It is found, by a careful study of
different observations made upon the
same storm, that cyclones In the north
ern hemisphere invariably sweep round
the onward travelling vortex of disturb
ance In one direction, and southern cy
clones In the contrary direction. If we
place a watch-face upwards upon one of
the northern cyclone regions in a Aber
cator's chart, then the motion of the
hands is contrary to the direction lu
which the cyclone whirls ; when the
watch is shifted to a southern cyclone
region, the motion of the hands takes
place in the same direction us the cy
clone motion. This peculiarity is
converted into the following rule
, of-thumb for sailors who encoun
, ter a cyclone, and seek to escape
from the region of fiercest storm :
Itheing the wind, the centre or vortex of
the storm lien to the, right in the northern,
to the left in the southern hemisphere.
Safety lies in flying from the centre in
every case save one—that is, when the
sailor Iles lathe direct track of the ad
vancing vortex. In this case, to fly
from the centre would be to keep in the
storm-track; the proper course for the
sailor when thus situated is to steer for
the calmer side of the storm-track. This
is always the outside of the r,, as will
appear from a moment's consideration
of the spiral curve traced out by a cyc
lone. Thus, If the seaman send before
the wind—in all other cases a dangerous
expedient in a cyclone"—he will probe
lily escape unscathed. There is, how
ever, this danger, that the storm-track
may extend to or even slightly overlap
the laud, in which case scudding before
the gale would bring the ship upon a
lee•shore, And in this way many gal
lant ships have, doubtless, suffered
wreck.
The danger of the sailor is obviously
greater, however, when he Is overtaken
by the storm ou the inner side storm•
C. Here he has to encounter the double
force of the cyclonic whirl and of the
advancing storm-system, instead of the
difference of the two motions, as on the
outer side of the etorm•track. His
chance of escape will depend on his
distance from the central path of the
cyclone. If near• to this, it is equally
dangerous for him to attempt to scud to
the safer side of the track, or to beat
against the wind by the shorter course,
which would lead him out of the storm
on its inner side. It has been shown
by Colonel Sir W. Reid that this is the
quarter in which vessels have been most
frequently lost.
But even the danger of this most dan•
gerous quarter admits of degrees. It Is
greatest where the storm is sweeping
round the most curved part of its track,
which happens In about latitude twenty
five or thirty degrees. In this case, a
ship may pass twice through the vortex
of the storm. Here hurricanes have
worked their most destructive effects.
And thus it happens that sailors dread,
most of all, the part of the Atlantic
near Florida and the Bahamas, and the
region of the Indian Ocean which lies
south of Bourbon and Mauritius.
To show how important it is thatcap
talus should understand the theory of
cyclones in both hemispheres, we shall
here relate the manner in which Cap
tain J. V. Hall escaped from a typhoon
of the China seas. About noon, when
three days out from Macao, Captain
Hall saw "a most wild and un
common•looking halo around the
sun." On the afternoon of the next
day, the barometer had commenced to
fall rapidly ; and though, as yet, the
weather was line, orders were at once
given to prepare for a heavy gale. To
wards evening, a bank of cloud was seen
in the southeast, but when night closed
the weather was still calm and the
water smooth, though the sky looked
wild and a scud Was coming ou from the
northeast. "I was much interested,"
says Captain Hall, "In watching for
the commencement,of the gale, which
I now felt sure was coming. That bank
to the southeast was the meteor (cy
clone) approaching us, the northeast
scud the outer northwest portion of it ;
and when at night a strong gale came
on about north, or north-northwest, I
felt certain we were on its western and
southwestern verge. limpidly increased
in violence; but I was pleased to see the
wind veering to the northwest, as it
convinced me that I had put the ship
on the right track, namely, on the star
board tack, standing, of course, to the
southwest. From ten A. M. to three
P, M. it blew with great violence, but
the ship being well prepared rode com
paratively easy. The barometer was
now very low, the centre of the storm
passing to the northward of us, to which
we might have been very near had we
in the first part put the ship ou the lar
board tack.''
But the most remarkable point of Cap
tain Hall's account remains to be men
tioned. He had gone out of his course
to avoid the storm, but when the wind
fell to a moderate gale, he thought it a
pity to lie so far from his proper course,
and made sail to the northwest. "In
less than than two hours the barometer
again began to fall and the storm to rage
in heavy gusts. Ho bore again to the
southeast, and the weather rapidly im
proved." There can be little doubt that
but for Captain Hall's knowledge of the
the law of cyclones, his ship and crow
would have been placed in serious jeo
pardy, since in the heart of a Chinese
typhoon a ship has been known to be
thrown, on her beam-ends when not
showing a yard of canvas.
If we consider the regions lu which
cyclones appear, the paths they follow,
and the direction in which they whirl,
we shall be able to form a guess at their
origin. In the open Pacific Ocean (as
its name, indeed, implies) storms are
uncommon ; they are unfrequent also
In the South Atlantic and South Indian
Oceans. Around Cape Horn and the
Cape of Good Hope, heavy storms pre
vail, but they are not cyclonic, nor are
they equal in fury and frequency, Maury
tells us, to the true tornado. Along the
equator and for several degrees on either
side of it, cyclones are also unknown.
If we turn to a map in which ocean
currents are laid down, we shall see
that in every "cyclone region" there is
a strongly marked current, and that
each current follows closely the track
which we have denominated the storm:
q. In the North Atlantic we have,the ,
great Gulf Stream, which sweeps
from equatorial regions into the Gulf of
Mexico, and thence across the At
lantic to the shores of Western Europe..
In the South Indian Ocean there is the
"south equatorial .current," which
sweeps past 'Mauritiiiii anti Bourbon,
and thence returns towards the east.—
the Chinese Sek there fe the north
equatorial current; Which sweeps round
the East IndianArebipelago, and then
merges into , the Japanese current.—
There is also the current in the Bay of
• A shiP by scudding before the gale may—if
they etntain is not familiar with the laws of
cyclone-4o round and round without escaping.
The:Ship “Oharlea Heddle" did this in the
Zia LIMN, going round no less than five UM%
Bengal, flowing through the region in
which, as we have seen, cyclones are
commonly'met with. There are other
sea-ourrents besides these which yet
breed no cyclones. But we may notice
two peculiarities in the currents we
have named. They all flow from equa•
tonal to temperate regions, and,
secondly, they are all " horseshoe
currents." So far as we are aware,
there is but one other current which
presents both these peculiarities, name
ly,—the great Australian current be
tween New Zealand and the eastern
shores of Australia. We have not yet
met with any record of cyclones occur
ring over the Australian current, but
heavy storms are known to prevail in
that region, and we believe that when
these storms have been studied as close
ly as the storms in better-known regions
they will be found to present the true
cyclonic character.
Now, if we inquire why an ocean cur
rent travelling from the equator should
be a "storm-breeder," we shall find a
ready answer. Such a current, carrying
the warmth of intertropical regions to
the temperate zones, produces in the
first place, by the mere difference of
temperature, important atmospheric
disturbances. The difference is so great,
that Franklin suggested the use of the
thermometer in the North Atlantic
Ocean as a ready s means of determining
the longitude, since the position of the
Gulf Stream, at any given season, is
almost constant.
But the warmth of the stream itself
is not the only cause of atmpspherie
disturbance. Over the warm water
vapor is continually rising; and, as It
rises, is continually condensed (like the
steam from a locomotive) by the colder
air round. "An observer ou the tnoon,"
says Captain Maury, " would, on a win
ter's day, be able to trace out by the
mist in the air, the path of the Gulf
Stream through the sea." But what
must happen when vapor is condensed?
We know that to turn water into vapor
is a process requiring—that Is, using op
—a large amount of heat; and, con
versely, the return of vapor to the state
of water sets free an equivalent quantity
of heat. The amount of heat thus set
free over the Gulf Stream is thousands
of times greater than that which would
be generated by the whole coal supply
annually raised in Great Britain. Here
then, we have an efficient cause for the
wildest hurricanes. For, along the
whole of the Gulf Stream, from Bemini
to the Grand Banks, there le a channel
of heated, that is, rarejleciair. Into this
channel the denser atmosphere on both
sides is continually pouring, with
greater or less strength, and when a
storm begins in the Atlantic, it always
makes for this channel, "and, reaching
it, turns and follows it in its course,
sometimes entirely across the Atlantic."
" The southern points of America and
Africa have won for themselves," says
Maury, " the name of ' the stormy
capes.' but there is not a storm-fiend in
tue wide ocean can out-top that which
rages along the Atlantic coasts of North
America. The China seas and the
North Pacific may vie in the fury of
their gales with this part of the At
lantic, but Cape Horn and the Cape of
Good Hope cannot equal them, certainly
in frequency, nor do I believe, in
fury." We read of a \Vest Indian storm
so violent that "it forced the Gulf
Stream back to its sources, and piled
up the water to a height of thirty feet
in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship Led
bury Snow' attempted to ride out the
storm. When it abated, she found her
self high up on the dry land, and dis
covered that she had let go her anchor
among the tree-tops on Elliott's Key."
By a like reasoning we can account
for the cyclonic storms prevailing In
the North Pacific Ocean. Nor do the
tornadoes which rage in parts of the
United States present any serious diffi
culty. The region along which these
storms travel is the valley of the
great Mississippi. This river at
certain seasons is considerably
warmer than the surrounding lands.
From its surface, also, aqueous vapor
is continually belong raised. When the
surrounding air is colder, this vapor is
presently condensed, generating in the
change avast amount of heat. We have
thus a channel of rarefied air over the
Mississippi Valley, and this channel be
comes astorm-track like the correspond
ing channels over the warm ocean cur
rents. The extreme violence of laud
storms is probably due to the narrow.
nese of the track within which they
are compelled to travel. For it has been
noticed that the fury of a sea cyclone
increases as the range of the " whirl"
diminishes, and vice versa.
There seems, however, no special
reason why cyclones should follow the
storm- in on direction rather than in
the. other. We must, to understand
this, recall the fact thatunder the torrid
zones the conditions necessary to the
generation of storms prevail far more
intensely than in temperate regions.
Thus the probability is far greater that
cyclones should be generated at the
tropical than at the temperate end of
the storm- Still, it is worthy of
notice, that in the land-locked North
Pacific Ocean, true typhoons hare been
known to follow the storm-track in a
direction contrary to that commonly
noticed.
The direction in which a true tornado
whirls is invariably that we have men
tioned. The explanation of this peculi
arity would occupy more space than we
can here afibrd. Those of our readers
who may wish to understand the origin
of the law of cyclonic rotation should
study Herschel's interesting work on
Meteorology.
The suddenness with which a true
tornado works destruction was striking
ly exemplifledin the wreck of the steam
ship "San Francisco." She was assailed
by an extra-tropical tornado when about
three hundred miles from Sandy Hook,
ou December 24, 1833. In a few mo•
mutts she was a complete wreck ! The
wide range of a tornado's destructive
ness is shown by this, that Colonel Reid
examined one along whose track no less
than one hundred and ten ships were
wrecked, crippled, or dismasted.
" Quit If They Will."
There was a little Frenchman in New
Orleans who applied to a Sounthern
official for a berth for his sun, a short
time ago. Thinking to curry favor with
this party, who was " native and to the
manor born," he said :
" My leetle boy ([etat 33) iz vere smart
man, very good man, good Southzarn
man, and brave plus brave ; yes sere,
he has grand courage."
" Indeed," Bald the official, " I do not
seem to recall your name In the army
list. What action was your son engaged
in? Where did he display such un•
daunted courage ?"
"All ze time cat Gen. Butlare was
here he stay right still in New Orleans,
under his nose, and nevare move."
It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that
the official could not appreciate the
merits of the " Child of France," and
monsieur retired, sadly disappointed.
Another Illustration of this matter
occurred In the person of the mate of a
Mississippi boat, that we had converted
into a cotton clad for the attack onFort
Pillow. This fellow was a big, burly,
double-listed sample of a river bully,
" full of strange oaths," and always en.
forcing his orders by knocking men
about the head. Just before he went
into the fight he came swaggering up to
me and said:
" Waal, glneral, I suppose when one
side or t'other's licked, you big men'll
quit an' shake hands ?"
" Yes, Jim," said I ; " when the
fighting is over I expect every man to
go home and attend to his business."
" That ain't me," said Jim, smiting
his left palm with a flat like a sledge
hammer, " fur of ever I ketch a Yank
agin south of Cairo, I'm agoin to mash
him."
A ten-inch shell that came whistling
over the boat interrupted any further
remark just then, and shortly after we
were butting away at the Federal boats,
and in about as hot a fire as I ever want
to see. I should think there was a hun
dred guns opened on us, and we got one
broadside so near that the flash of their
guns set our cotton bales on fire.
Our people fought well, but the other
side were too strong fur us, and we had
to drop down the river. During the
action, while cannon wore roaring,
boats sinking, shells shrieking and
bursting all around and the air filled
with flame and smoke, I quite lost sight
of Jim, but after we had dropped down
the river, out of fire, and all hands were
busy repairing damages, that valiant
hero crept out from behind a cotton
bale, and sneaking past me with a face
like a.flag of truce, said :
" Cllneral, I ain't so mad as I was.
This ain't the kind of fightin' I'm used
to t tin' when them fellers get ready to
1:111=M1111
LANCASTER PA. WEDNESDAY MORNING JANUARY 29 1868
stop throwin' them Iron pots round, I'll
quit if they will." And sure enough,
In two weeks he went into the Federal
lines and took theoath.
Rome of tile Locust
Very great curiosity has been recent
ly excited by the appearance of locust
clouds In the neighborhood of Jaffa,—
the Joppa of the New Testament,—
where they have committed extraordi
nary devastations. No parts of the
world, save the countries bordering on
the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, are
entirely free from the visits of these
voracious and terrible insects, which,
as they march over the earth, produce
the most startling transformations
"Before them," says an ancient writer,
"the land is as the garden of the Lord;
behind them, a howling wilderness."
Take one of them up, and look at it sin
gly, you would pronounce it far too in
significant to occasion the slightest un•
easiness, not to speak of alarm and
maddening terror. But the locust is
the best of all illustrations of what
may be effected by numbers.
When, on the borders of the cul
tivated country, he makes his ap
pearance in small troops or bands, peo
ple not only make themselves merry,
but likewise fat with him ; they take
him, strip off his wings, fry him in oil,
broil him on the gridiron, when he
tastes like a shrimp ; or pound him with
meal, and make cakes—not very savory,
perhaps—of his bons.,. In what way
John ate him, Is not stated, but it
was probably after being grilled, when,
with the sweet wild-honey of Palestine,
he constituted no bad food. Commen
tators and polemical writers have been
desirous of altering the text, where it is
said that the Baptist lived for a while
on locusts and wild-honey ; though why
lie should not have eaten what Is still
eaten every day all along the confines
of Syra, throughout Barbary, iu all parts
of the Arabian peninsula, and In our
colony at the Cape of Good Hope, It
seems difficult to understand.
_
The Hottentots used formerly to look
out for the appearance of the locust
clouds as for a period of Jubilee. Up to
that time, they were usually meagre,
weak, and drooping in spirits; but
when their winged manna from the
desert had descended Among their hab-
Rations during a few weeks, they be
came fat, strong, sleek, and frisky, so ,
that they hardly looked like the same
individuals. In the Hindu• Chinese
countries, where nature is bountiful to
profusion iu almost every variety of
human food, the natives nevertheless
evince a strong preference for the locust
family, since they fry crickets and grass
hoppers
in oil, and esteem them a great
dainty. The Arabs of the desert, who
exhibit the same penchant, are not a , '
little nettled if you turn up your nose at
their breakfast, and inquire whether a
locust be not as good asan oyster, a crab,
a lobster, or if the traveller be a French
man, as a snail or a frog. We have an
old proverb which says; " It never rai us ,
but it pours." This is exactly the case
with the locusts. If they presented
themselves by hundreds of thousands,
or even by millions, people might con
trive to deal with them by frying, grill
ing, pounding, and baking by pailfuls
in ovens ; but usually, when they visit
any region, it is in swarms andylouds
which darken the whole atmosphere for
miles; and when they math a green
place, they descend upon it with a noise
like that of a high wind, or the beating
of Innumerable drums in the distance.
They conduct themselves, however, not
like a disorderly rabble, but like a well
ordered army, with a Genghis, a Timur,
or a Napoleon at its head, marching
forward in squadrons and columns,
without turning to the right hand
or to the left, facing everything,
overcoming everything,gnawing every
thing to pieces with their saw-like
teeth. They eat up everything
green,—the grass from the meadows,
the leaves and bark from the trees, ,
the blossoms and fruit from gar•
dens, the thatch from houses. Volney,
in imitation of the Hebrew prophet,
observes that the plains before them
look like a verdant carpet; but when
they had passed over it, eating, burning,
and poisoning everything with their
saliva, it exhibited the appearance of a
volcanic region covered with lava,
scoria:, and ashes. Syria and the coun•
tries north of Mount Atlas are often
desolated by the locust. Sometimes a
few light skirmishers preceding the
main host, cause the hearts of the in
habitants to thrill with terror, for thy
know what they have to expect. Thy
arrive, drifting with the wind from the
south or the southeast. At first, a
gentle murmur is heard high in the
air; then a loud buzzing; then a
low, continuous roar, like that of dis
tant thunder ; then, as the wind sweeps
them forward, the black battalions show 1
their fronts in the sky, alighting in
countless millions as they advance. The
terror of the population then makes itself
evident; they climb trees, and hoot and
shout, to scare away the heedless and
invincible intruders; they kindle encl..
mous fires on the mountain-tops, which
diffuse their smoke iu dark volumes ;
they cut broad trenches across the plains, 1
and flood them with water,—all in vain ;
the locusts by the multitudes extin
guish the fires ; fill up the trenches
with their bodies, and march over
them ; climb up the trees after the
natives, whom they speedily bring to
the ground—pour into the towns and
villages, invade the houses through
doors and windows, crawl into the
beds, cover the walls like tapestry, eat
ing everything they can find, tumbling
into the sugar basins, plunging into the
milk-Jugs and tea-cups, making free
with the skirts of the gentlemen's
coats, filling their pockets, creeping up
their sleeves, and down their necks,
covering the skirts of the ladies dresses
inside and out, spreading themselves
over cradles, and what is worse, gnaw
ing the flesh from the cheeks of sleep
ing infants. Such are some of the
blessings of the Holy Land!
One fact connected with the invasion
of the locusts might almost suffice to
reconcile the Mohammedan to the pig.
The sumana and the samarmar follow
the invaders and feed upon them vo
raciously ; but what is the devastation
committed by their little bills compared
with the wholesale slaughter perpe
trated by a vast drove of hogs ? Fill
Mesopotamia, the Decapolis, and the
skirts of the desert with pigs, and the
Turks and Drusee might thenceforward
sleep in peace, for not only would Mas
ter Hog devour the invaders when they
had reached years of discretion, but he
would plough down deep into the earth
in search of their delicate eggs, and thus
frustrate the hopes of the ladies of the
family. As It is, they multiply and de
vastate as they Please, for the few pigs
kept by the Christians of Syria and Pal
estine are no match at all for the winged
army. Nor, in fact, would anything be
a match for so devouring a host, if once
suffered to acquire its natural dimen
sions,—for arithmetic breaks down in
the attempt to ascertain the number of
its rank and file, which sometimes
cover the earth to a depth of four feet ;
iand when carried forward by hurri
canes, and drowned in the sea, encum
-1 ber the shore for leagues with a black
putrefying mass, sometimes a whole
, fathom in depth, which infects the air
far and wide, and produces pestilence.
i A traveller of the last century, who
, witnessed the ravages of locusts in Spain,
concluded, that they must be indigen
; ous to the country, because it appeared
to him to be an utter impossibility that
they should traverse the Mediterranean
• with their short wings. Another reason
which he discovered for believing them
to be a distinct species was the color of
h their wings—a delicate and brilliant
pink. He accordingly reasoned and
physiologized till he found himself in
possession of a new system, which lo
calized the home of the Spanish insect
in Estremadura. He was unquestiona
bly mistaken. In the hills behind
Mogadore, on the opposite coast of
Africa, other travelers appear to infer
that nature has there stationed one of
the cradles of the winged warriors who
convert themselves into the ministers
of Nemesis, when any devoted land
in the vicinity is destined to become a
prey to famine and pestilence. " I
have there seen them," he says—" mil
lions of small green things were just
starting into being." But you must
search much further if you would learn
whence they come, and where liestheir
genial bed and procreant cradle—be
yond the mighty chain of Atlas—be
yond the Niger—beyond the Red Sea,
and the sands of Mohammed's native
country, and the vast levels of the Sa
hate, extending with little interruption
from the banks of the Nile to the At
lantic Ocean. There, if you are curious
in the genesis of insects you may, on
a fine morning in spring, just as the
dewy, pearly, poetical light of dawn is, theory was, in 1613, supplied In the
diffusing its mystery over the earth, be- south of France, when the locusts, for
hold the sandy waste heaving with life, the last time, we believe, invaded that
and from millions of matrices, discern beautiful country. They first made
multitudes, not of green, but of tiny their appearance in the ancient king•
black things, emerging into light. dom of Arles, whence they diffused
With a rapidity which almostbelenge themselves on all sides, attacking and
to miracle, they augment In size, and devouring, as is their wont. But
direct their march towards the north, they reckoned without their hosts.
attracted thitherwards, we may almost I Instead of having to do with s
be sure, by the scent of vegetation, horde of lazy orientate, they en.
which brings to their diminutive and countered active and sturdy peasants,
infinitely fine organs the intimation who attacked, trampled, and pounded
that endless pastures areathand. Then, them to powder, whenever they could
If they belong to the Asiatic brood,they , assemble In sufficient numbers. Still,
direct their footsteps towards Tadmor , the females succeeded in depositing
lu the wilderness ; and after devastating their eggs in the soil, which, if left un.
the palm-groves and desecrating the molested, would next season have pro
marble colonnades of Senobia, where duced swarms which the arbitrary and
Longinus meditated on the Sublime,' fanciful calculators of the time sup
reach the verdant plains of Damascus, posed would have amounted to five
which they strip, and sear, uud wither hundred and sixty thousand millions,
up, as if millions of burning rollers had —that is, quite enough to have stripped
been driven over the soil. From this the verdure from all France. But the
point, they diverge east and west from I subjects of Louis XIII. were not in
the vicinity of the Euphrates and the Mined to see the experiment tried.
spurs of Taurus to the borders of the, They diffused themselves over the soil,
Serbonlau bog, "where armies whole by the direction of the municipal coun
have sunk," maddening the lazy in- ells of Arles, Beaucaire, and Tarascon,
habitants of Syria, who, instead of dis• and digging out the tubes and combs in
playing their energy in extirpating the • which the eggs had been deposited,
seeds of what they are plagued with, either crushed them to pieces or threw
wait in stupid apathy till it comes upon them into the Rhone. Similar exer
them with resistless force. Bons would gradually diminish, and in
Iris usual to remark that nothing ' the end utterly destroy the locusts
turns the locust aside from the track he lin Mesopotamia, Nejed and Syria.
has selected; but this must be under- 10f oourae the great agent in this
stood of ordinary obstacles existing in a destruction should be water, which
tolerably level country. He never at- is everywhere procurable, even in
tempts to scale Lebanon or Anti-Leba- 1 the desert, by sinking artesian wells.
non, from which he is scared away by' At pi•esent, nothing Is done throughout
the snows, the forests, and the moisture , the East by way of prevention. The
they hold iu their embrace. He lea dry people smoke, sip coffee, say their
animal, and accords his horrid prefer prayers, and trust in providence, with
euce to hot and arid regions. It is only out reflecting on the advice given in the
when he ceases to be a free agent that old fable to the rustic whose cart stuck
he traverses great rivers and seas, when ' fast in a quagmire: " You are quite
he has been caught up in the gripe of; right," said the sage, "in calling upon
the whirlwind, and dashed forward in- Jupiter, but in the mean time put your
voluntarily into places which lie knows shoulder to the wheel." They will not
not, and If any choice were left him,
' put their shoulders to the wheel, but of
would shrink from with abhorrence. calling upon Allah there Is no lack.
lf, in June or July, you happen to be It may at first sight appear paradoxi
traversing the burning belt of the Teha- cal, though it be nevertheless a fact,
ma, extending from Akaba's Gull to that the tax-gatherers are the bestallies
Bab-el-maudeb, you may often be- of the locusts. By depriving the peas
hold from your dromedary black ants of their means, they paralyze
clouds in the form of columns or shat- their energies, and engender the habit
tared and broken awnings, extending of breaking forth Into //bonanahs
raggedly over the sky for miles, swarms and Inaleallalia, and so on. Transform
of locusts hurrying before the west wind these people from oppressed peasants
from the Sahara across the Red Sea.— into a well-to-do farmers, and away go
Sometimes the gust suddenly changing, the locusts. They will then follow them
submerges them in the waves ; some- to their haunts, dig up and crush their
times they are wrecked, and plied up lu , eggs or inundate with water the crevi
pestilential drifts from Jiddah to Mok- ces, in which they have been deposited.
ha; sometimes, by the strength of the Year after year the plague will lessen ;
hurricane, they are wafted far into the and in a period of time not very pro-
Hedjaz, and pollute the sacred precincts tracted, the locust will become as rare
of Medina and Mecca. There is, how- in Syrians the lion, which no man now
ever, we believe, no instance on record living has ever beheld in that country.
of their invading the district of Tayf, Even when the insects have been
where exquisite gardens lavish on the hatched, as, for example, on the great
thirsty Arab a profusion of grapes, pom- plain near Tel el Hawa, between Mosul
egranates, dates white and golden, ha- and Nisibin, it would be perfectly easy
nanas, quinces, apricots, peaches, and for a large body of workmen utterly to
the sweetest strawberries in Asia. As extirpate them ; for they are then—that
soon as your dromedary sniffs as he does is, about the middle of April—little
from a great distance, the nauseous odor larger than flies, and crawl along the
of the vermin, he becomes almost Wl' earth in a perfectly helpless state. A
manageable; now bearing his long number of implements like long gar
snake-like neck as high as he is able den-rollers, dragged along the earth,
Into the air, then ducking his head, and already baked hard by the sun, would
thrusting his nose into the sand, as if crush them to powder; or the plain
wishful lu some way to escape from the 1 might be artificially inundated, which
consciousness of the approach of the would be an equally effectual roe
pest. If you give him the bridle he in- thod of destruction. Of course these
stantly turns his back upon the enemy, processes would be costly, but
and scours away in the opposite direc- the expense would be altogether
tion as swiftly as a moderate railway insignificant compared with the say
train, that Is, at the rate of about eight- ing of property that would be effect
een miles an hour. ed by it. In the country above named
Towards the beginning of the present is found one of the great breeding places
century, a prodigious body of locusts' of the locust, but far more accessible and
was precipitated across the Black Sea subject to the efforta of human industry
upon the steppe lying east of Odessa, than those obscure and almost unknown
where it committed the most indescrib- cradles which, we may be sure, by W
affle devastation. To destroy the in- ference, exist in Arabian deserts and in
vaders, columns of serfs were marched the African Sahara. Considering the
down from the interior ; but on arriving immense importance of the subject, it
at the scene of action, were almost para- is not a little surprising that in this age
lyzed by the phenomenon they witness- of science and research, no traveller
ed. For miles, the whole surface of the should have made it his especial bust
plain, converted into a black color, nese to discover the homes of the locust,
seemed to be alive and in motion, for though to commerce,and civilization
the scaly bodies of the locusts, closely such a discovery must be regarded as of
pressed and locked together presented infinitely greater moment than that of
the appearance of a huge dusky cuirass the source of the Nile. It would there
reflecting with a strange glitter the rays fore, in our opinion, be well worthy the
of the sun. The mass being in motion, , enlightened policy of European govern
advanced inland, slowly but steadily, ' meats to organize, equip, and send forth
murmuring like the surges of the' an expedition to examine those regions
ocean, putting the sheep, the cattle, from which the locust swarms may be
the horses, and the inhabitants ou , supposed to proceed. Some of their
all sides to flight. A stench not to be nests we ourselves have pointed out,
expressed by words was emitted from but there are unquestionably many
the host as it crowled forward, the liv- ; others lying somewhere In the heart of
ing devouring the dead, for lack of other the wilderness, which have never been
provender. Putting their mattocks, contemplated by human eye. Far
spades, pickaxes, and other implements away, secluded from scientific observe
into immediate requisition, the serfs
speedily excavated a trench several don, the infinite multitude of locust
parents deposit their eggs in the sand,
miles In length across the track of the ; or in the clefts and fissures of fertile
locusts; but ere they had finished, the land, where they are hatched by the
enemy was upon them, and soon de- sun. No less mystery surrounds them
monstrated the futility of their device. than surrounds the sources of the most
In the course of a few minutes
from their reaching the brink of renowned of rivers. To dispel this
would be a great enterprise, and the
the excavation, the foremost ranks work of the traveller or travellers who
had been pushed into It by those
; should accomplish it would possess, for
that followed, and filled It up from
scientific age, unparalleled interest.
edge to edge, so that the multitude In Irak and Diarbekir, the inhabl
continued its march apparently without
touts have Invented a curious myth to
Interruption ; then everything combus-
soothe their imaginations, and mitigate
tible was collected, and set on fire in the terrors which the advent of the lo
front of the column, with the same re
s cost Inspires. Its winged enemy, the
ult. The whole Black Sea seemed to
eau:termer is not, as they affirm, a native '
be transformed into locusts, which, ' bird, but a stranger from Khorasan,
from Its low shores, came up in count- which Is allurded westward by a very
less myriads, setting at defiance ail the ' rare device. The pasha of the province
arts and industry of man. Several col-umns of the invaders tiled off towards ' sends forth, once in a certain number of
years, au envoy with a large suite to
the east, and alighted amid the vine-yards of the Crimea, which they soon fleshed, on the eastern confines of
Persia, near wich, in a plain biltween
changed into a create of apparently
four
I four mountains, Is a mysterious foun
dry and sapless twigs. Russia ap- t a l c .
There, with much ceremony and
peered to be on the eve of a calamity devotion, they fill a chest with water,
like that which fell upon it about , cover it closely, place it on the back
themiddle of the seventeenth century, of a camel, and immediately re
when the destruction of the harvests oc
casioned a famine, which was followed trace their footsteps towards the
banks of the Euphrame. All possible
by a plague, so that the population of
whole provinces was thinned almost to care is taken to preveAitheevaporation
of the water in the chest, which, or
extermination. In the present instance,
the elements came to the deliverance of orating like a talisman, draws after it
the samarmar in troops. tio long as one
man. Before a strongwest wind,masses drop of liqui'd remains, the devourer of
of black clouds came pouring up from
locusts will remain also ; but the me
the Bosphorus, which covered the at
' ment the chest becomes dry, the de
mosphere, and ultimately descended iu
,
vourers of the locust turn their bills
floods of rain. At the touchof descend-
eastward, and fly to the mystic spring
Mg Jove, (the locusts were paralyzed,
and as the celestial moisture continued I iu the plain between the four moun
tains. Such being the state of public
to drench them in pitiless fashion, they opinion In Irak and Diarbekir, the pasha
gave up the ghost, and bequeathed their
is compelled to accommodate his policy
filthy corpses to the husbandman for
to it, and, at whatever expense, to re
manure; not, however, without sundry pleuish the chest as often as public
fevers and dysenteries. rumor reports it to be dry. It
It is a notable fact that Egypt, though often is entirely exhausted for years,
it lies in the very heart of locust-breed• but if the multitude and the summ
ing countries, is seldom visited by the
pest, the reason probably being, the mar remain ignorant of the fact, the for
mer will rest contented, and the latter
extreme moisture of the air, sat- will — era; locusts as usual. What pur
urated Incessantly by exhalations
from the Nile. People talk at pres- I
poses such Insects as the locust Romer
In the creatiOM-it is impossible for us to
ent of locusts four inches in length,
though we regard the estimate as great- I say ; they may be intended as a spur to
the Industrf and inventive powers of
ly exaggerated ; but if the vermin were I
naturalized in Egypt, it surpasses con- man, and be designed to convince him
that, if he will not work, neither shall
Jecture to imagine to what dimensions
they would attain in its genial and pro- he eat. They have, no doubt, been very
long in producing this conviction, but
life soil. The scarab's' about Eerie and
Thebes are undoubtedly sometimes the periods of nature are not measured
by man's wants and conveniences. In
found between three inches and a half
and four Inches in length, and almost many parts of the East, everything
seems to imply the near approach of pe
as broad as the palm of a lady's hand;
the grasshoppers, too, are colossal,Meal revolutions, which will give the
land new masters, and at the same time
and occasionally chirp with startling introduce improved systems of agricul
vehemence. turn, and more rational forms of belief,
When the locust does arrive, he evin- -
ces by various tokens that he is an in
truder and a foreigner. Instead of
alighting on the rich plains of Memphis,
he comes at night on the wings of the
Khamsyn, or wind of fifty days, from
the Sahara, and often strikes against the
muezzin, as from his lofty minaret he
calls in darkness the Faithful to prayer.
Then the vermin descend on the roofs
of houses where there is nothing to eat,
but where they themselves are soon
caught, cooked, and eaten. •Still, it is
with a sensation by no means pleasing
that the traveller's foot strikes against
a cluster of locusts in the sand, for he
immediately suspects they may be only
pioneers or avant-couriers. Advancing
westward along the old bed of the At
lantic,—for the Sahara is nothing else,—
you behold colonies of locusts, mounting
as soon as their wings enable them into
the atmosphere, and directing their
flight towards the prodigious chain of
Mount Atlas, which they never attempt
to traverse on the wing. As they near
it, on the contrary, they pay it rever
ence, and descend to the ground, look
ing about for some col or pass through
which they,may make their way through
the Mediterranean provinces, and from
thence, like their countrymen, the
Moors, pass over into Andalusia and
Granada.
It may certainly be affirmed that the
locust is a product of barbarism which
disappears as civilization increases.—
Niebuhr, father to the historian, whose
Travels might still be read with no little
profit and pleasure, maintains that the
visitations of locusts could easily be
prevented by a well-organized police.
An illustration of the correctness of his
Brilliant Fete to lieneral 'Merman—Prep
plantation of Boger !Merman's Watch
and Picture.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21.—0n0 of the most
distinguished assemblages which over
graced a salon. in Washington was gathered
to-night at the mansion of the Hon. John
A. Griswold, of New York, on Franklin
Place, to witness the presentation of the I
watch of Roger Sherman, and also a copy
of the picture of the distinguished Connee•
tout statesman, by the painter Trumbull,
to Lieut. General Sherman. Nearly every
member of the Senate of the United States
was present, with every prominent leader
of the House of Representatives, members
of the Cabinet, and almost all the army and.
naval officers now in Washington.
At nine o'clock thepresentation was made,
by Senator Ferry, of. Connecticut, who,
sketched the career of Roger Sherman and
his services to his country and in entrusting
the relics to General Sherman, asked him
to bequeath them to his children, with in
structions to remember the virtues of their
great relative.
Lieut. Gen. Sherman replied in, a few
brief and modest remarks, which were con
tinually interrupted by applause. He said
he would hand them down to his' son,
Thomas Ewing Sherman, a lad of twelve
years, who he thought, was not surpassed
by any boy of similar age in the country,
and it he should be taken from him, then
to his next boy, aged one year, whom both
he and his mother thought was the greatest
boy of his age In the world.
At the concitsion of General Sherman's
remarks the compel:Cy was invited to the
dining-rooms, where a rich and most re
cherche collation was spread.
The watch is silver cased, a Lapin°, with
the date 1795, and is a double timer. The
plate on the box enclosing it bears the name
of Charles Howland, M. D., and also that of
Roger Sherman, with the monogram " W.
T. Sherman."
Terrible Earthquakes In the Virgin
Islands.
Spechl Correspondence of the N. Y. Tribune.
BEY ISLAND, Nov. 30, 1867.
When I wrote you by the last mall '
and told you all about the dreadful hut'.
/Wane of the 29th October, little did I
think then that by this mall I would I
have to tell you of another fearful aillio
tlon. On Monday last, the 18th, we ex
perienced the most awful series of earth
quakes ever known in this or any other
part of the world, so far as the number
and duration went. I was down in
the creek with some people cutting
wood to make a lime-kiln ; the weather
was extremely hot and very oppressive
to about 2 o'clock. I left, and was on
my way home. Just as I got by the
great gate I heard a tremendous report
as if a heavy cannon had been tired
some distance off; then came a loud
rumbling noise like a number of iron car
riages drawn over a rough road by hun
dreds of wild horses. I stopped my
horse, for I well knew what was coming
when the shock came. I never shall
forget ft. I had never seen or felt any
thing half so dreadful in all my life.
The hurricane was bad enough, but the
earthquake was ten times worse. It
was a very long shock, and I thought
the land would sink under me. I did
not dismount; but as soon as It ceased
I started off, expecting to see my home,
already shattered by the hurricane, in
a heap of ruins ; but, thank God, there
it was, apparently uninjured. I saw
everyone about the place hurrying down
the hill. By the time I reached where
they were, then commenced the most
trying time of all. Earthquake after
earthquake for nearly an dour; and
such dreadful shocks. It makes me I
nervous to think of them. By-and•by,
we heard R great noise, and I left them,
and went up the hill a little. When I
got up high enough to see the sea, who(
asight! The sea had encroached, and the
noise we heard was from the power of the
water running back again. It continued
to run off until the rocks and reef were
all dry, and It seemed to suck away the
water out of the Bay and leave every
thing dry—(this was on the Bluff side.)
My attention was roused by a similar
noise on the other side of Taylor's
Bay," and there, too, the same thing
was going on. As soon as the water
would come in on the south side, it
would go off on the north ; and so it
continued for a length of time. During
the whole time we had earthquake after
earthquake. Three hours had now
elapsed since the first shock, and night
coming on—what a night had we before
us to be sure. Not an eye was closed.
We were all frightened half to death,
and expected momently to be swallowed
up. It was a truly awful night, and
, never to be forgotten. We must have
I had over 200 shocks during the night,
and some hours there were over 20. Day
light came at last, and never was it
more welcomed by miserable creatures ;
we were completely worn out. Of course
the day before our dinner was forgotten,
so we wanted food, sleep and everything
else to make us comfortable. They had
just made bread at the house when the
first came, and then It lay all the next
day, and it II Emily became leaven. When
I found the shocks continued, I got
some boat sails and made a tent, but a
little distance from the house, for the
walls were cracked and we were afraid
to remain in the house, not knowing at
what moment a shock more severe might
come and bring it down. Since last
Tuesday - morning we have lived in the
tent. Fortunately for us there has not
been much rain. Severe and frequent
shocks continued up to Friday; they
are now subsiding, but every now and
then we hear the reports, but very little
vibration. We have had a week of
earthquakes. For eight days I have not
had my clothes off. Of course we have
to lie down prepared to get up at a um
! ment's warning, but where to go, that
is the question? In a hurricane you
can hide In the cellar, if the house is
blown away; but the cellar is the last
place thought of in a case like this. I
sent to Pleasant Valley on Wednesday.
Road Town was completely inundated,
but the houses being in ruins already
from the hurricane, the only damage
done was the loss of the lumber which
the poor people had gathered to rebuild.
their houses. .Fust fancy, large fish,
snappers and other fish, were left on
the road to Little Mountain; the sea
brought them up, and when going off
left them entangled in the grass
and bushes. This I saw first op
posite the creek. Must it not have
been something dreadful to do this.
I cannot tell you half what we
saw and suffered. Some of the bays
are clean gone, the sea running on the
sandy bay 30 to 40 feet wide. Every
thing looks changed. Such a hurricane,
and such earthquakes, all within three
weeks. Hundreds of poorunfortunates
sent to their last home, and hundreds
more have lost their all. Since last
Sunday, the 17th, all we have had to
live upon has been a piece of Johnny
cake in the morning with our coffee,
and the same in the evening with a
little soup. We have been getting fever
shies we have been living in the tent ;
all the rest are well. 2011m.—The weather
has changed, and the cold weather has
driven us out of the tents. On Guano
Island everything Is swept away to the
bare walls of the house. This calamity
has finished Tortola and all belonging
to R. It is painful to contemplate the
state of affairs. On the 27th we hail a
very unpleasant night of it, having had
four shocks during the night.
A Murderer Self-Betrayed--Innocence
Vindicated After Sixteen Years
" The well known opera of " Fra Dl
avola" is based on tragical events which
occurred in France nearly one hundred
and seventy years ago. The facts are
thus condensed from the court records
by a Paris paper:
At the beginning of the last century,
there was to be seen in the town of
Lille a very quiet house. It was a large
building, but it contained only a small
family—a husband and wife and one
servant girl. The Curiosites Judiclares
add that the married couple were ad
vanced in years, and that they lived
quietly on their income, saw very few
visitors, and admitted no one to the
house except those people who furnish
ed them with provisions or otherwise
ministered to their wants.
One night this couple, man and wife,
were robbed and murdered in their bed.
The servant girl had heard nothi❑g of
all this, and knew not what was going
on. Thenight was hot, the air dense
and oppressively sultry, so muchso that
she had taken refuge in her room and
sat, for the sake of coolness, divested of
her garments before a large mirror.
While there, catching sight of herself,
she suddenly cried, "How hateful one
looks when naked
-Having said this she retired and slept
jilt morning, and rose as usual, without
suspecting what had happened.
She prepared breakfast aA usual for
her muster and mistress, but they did
not come down. She was amazed and
waited for a long time.
They did not appear.
Tired of waiting, she sought their
room. A horrible sight mot her eyes.
Blood was smeared everywhere, and ou
the bed lay the poor old couple, cruelly,
vilely, horribly - butchered—mangled an
only a neast or fiend could find it In his
heart to mutilate victims after murder
ing them.
The girl raised an alarm, and the
multitude came rushing in. Of course
Justice came rushing after in the form
of the police, with a judicial investiga
tion. The criminal was sought for, and
as none other could be found, suspicion
fell on the unfortunate servant.
In those days they had a horrible way
of trying to get at the truth. They
called it questioning. The questions
were put with racks and thumbscrews.
The Lino's servant maid was in
famously tortured, even to extreme
agony. Yet, notwithstanding her weak
ness and her sex, she endured the in
fernal torture without confessing any
thing. This was the most remarkable
as she was entirely innocent, and was
in consequence kept much longer under
torment to make her confess. As there
were no proofs of her having done any
thing, they finally let her go, as soon as
she was healed. Unfortunately, the
torture had made her a wretched crip
ple. She could only hobble along on
her broken limbs, and her arms were
withered.
And being no longer able to sew or
work, she dragged her helpless form
through the streets and begged. She
begged through the streets of Lille for
sixteen years. This le all historically
true—nay, more than historically ; for
history often lies, while these facts are
drawn from the dry and accurate re
cords of a court. The worst part of her
auffOrings was, that many people be-
NUMBER 4
lieved her guilty, and scorned her ac
cordingly.
It appears from the record that during
these long years while she went about
with her withered arms and bent back,
her whole frame still suffering from tor
ture, begging a copper sou to buy her
bread, that she was always resigned,
mild and exemplary In her conduct.
One day, after sixteen yearsof misery,
she stopped before the door of a baker.
She held out through her rage her naked
mutilated arm toward the baker, who
stood on his doorstep. As she did so
ho exclaimed, In a mocking tone, while
observing her want of garment:
" Well, Maria Anne, how hateful one
looks when naked, eh ?"
Now it Is remarkable that In all the
sixteen years which had passed, Maria
Anne had not forgotten these words
which she had spoken when alone on
the night of the murder. It dashed
upon her mind that the real murderer
might have heard them and that he
stood before her. In brief, we learn that
the Journeyman baker, when arrested,
confessed the truth. He had regularly
supplied the old couple. and knew the
ways of the house. He was hidden
there on the night of the murder, and
had heard the girl when she made the
remark on her nakedness.
And as the criminal is often, by the
will of Providence, his own accuser, so
this man, following one of those eccen
tric and dangerous impulses which men
often experience, to say the most dan•
gerous things, utterd to the girl the
words of the fatal night. Ho was con
yicted of the crime for which Marla
Anne had been tortured and suffered a
living death—was broken alive on the
wheel at Lille.
Niagara Falls
Slung of nu Early . ! yrultlnF Don n of the
norm; Pilloe I.mrict.
The interesting question of geological
and commercial importance as to what
period of time is likely to be consumed
by the Falls of Niagara In wearing their
way up the bed of Niagara river, past
Tonawanda and Black Rock, until they
become at Buffalo the Falls of Lake
Erie, has been raised anew of lute by
some remarkable signs observed in the
rapids above Horse Shoe Fall, which
are thought to forebode an early down
fall of the rocks forming that magnifi
cent cataract. For more than a year pust
HOMO watchful residents of the vicinity
have marked a peculiar motion of the
rapids at a point something less than
half a mile above the apex of the horse
shoe, in the channel which the greatest
body of water descends, and this motion
has been of a character to give rise to ,
the supposition that a breach has been
made by the current through the soft
shale strata underlying the limestone
that forms the present ledge of the Falls.
Recently the appearance of the rapids, at
the point indicated, has undergone a
marked change, and so exactly In con r
illation of the theory stated, that those
watching it do not doubt thespeedy doom
of the famous Horse Shoe Cataract. lithe
limestone ledge, over which the river
now falls, Is, as supposed, In course of
being undermined by a subterranean
stream, breaking through as far back as
nearly half a mile, of course the couse•
quence, inevitable and liable to ensue
at any moment, must be an immense
breaking away of the face of the cata
ract, changing Its whole form and up•
pearance—perhaps converting the per
pendicular fall into a shoottng rapid,
down a steep decline.
Some observers at the Falls antici
pate this grand catastrophe at an early
day. In confirmation of these opinions,
we find it stated in the Hamilton, On
tario, Times, that within a few weeks
•ast " Dr. J. N. Osborne, of Chppewa,
as noted a marked and constant change
In the motion of the rapids at the point
Indicated, and it is also reported the In
dications are discovered of the pouring
of a subterranean stream Into the gulf
' below the Falls, which the absence of
the mist, It is thought, would reveal be
yond a doubt." The same paper re
marks that a gentleman from the Falls
with whom it has conversed fully be
lieves that the "days of the Great
Horse Shoe are numbered."
On a Cash BUIS
Landlords are more ‘ 8
u b.) ec t to Imposi
tion from penniless travelers than any
other clam of purveyors, aud, it must
be admitted, also meet with less sympa
thy when they are taken In. If what
we hear of Vallejo landlords bo true,
they must have suffered a heap of
martyrdom from Itinerant Bohemians
before they resorted to the present in
genious measure of self-defence. It
seems that the rule adopted there is to
pay for dinner immediately upon the
delivery of the plate of soup. The other
day a fraudulent genius, having unsuc
cessfully exploited one hotel, boldly en
tered the Washington and called for
dinner. He was astonished to see the
waiter approach him with a plate of
soup in one hand, a towel in the other,
and p a
large family syringe under his
arm. The waiter laid the plate of soup
In front of the customer, and signifi
cantly placed the palm of his right hand
under the nose of the hungry customer.
As otir friend had not yet tackled his
meal, he modestly inquired the mean
ing of the open hand.
Pay in advance !" was the terse and
peremptory reply of the waiter.
"Can't you wait till I get through my
meal, first .."'
"\o, sir. Our rules are positive. On
delivery of the soup plunge down the
cash."
"Singular promptitude," he mutter
ed. Then, reddening up with natural
indignation, said ho :
" I suppose ' if I don't pay you, you'll
brain me with that bludgeon pump of
yours?"
"Not at all, sir. Through this in
strument we secure our business on a
cash basis. Your money, if you please!"
He thought he had the dead wood on
the soup anyhow, and dipped his spoon
for the first mouthful. Before the spoon
reached the broth, however, was
transfixed at seeing tile waiter cooly
introduce the point of the syringe into
the plate, and pulling the suction han
dle out to its fullest extent, the rump
suddenly disappeared, leaving his i Mite
as empty as his stomach. He tu,*ned
around, but the waiter had passe. I to
another customer, and our friend left
the establishment in disgust. •
The forthcoming report of Conitnissim ior
Wilson, of the ielniriii Laid' (Mice, (mutat ns
the following interesting information in 41-
corning the mineral regions of Colorado
"Colorado territory in Gait auriferous r
won, traversed tiv ranges of the Itocis y
Mountains, spreading out and encketin
beautiful table lauds, called parks, eleven d
several Mmisand feet above the Non. .111
two branches the Pneltlo IGJlrond lIIIV
already advanced along Platte :toll Smolt) '
FLIII Fork of the Kansas. They are being
rapidly whvuncvd, with
clue, the surveyor general antleipating their
completion by the end of the lineal year.
"The mineral resources, particularly of
gold and silver, ow, described by the Sur
veyor General as very rloh, and iiilliough
the mines have not fully recovered from the
late depression consequent upon reckless
speculative and experimental trials of
ran
ehlnory, yet the conviction he prevalent that
when the mineral wealth shell have been
developed the results will show Colorado to
be; in this respect, second to no other re
gion.
"It is safe to mesa me that the total yield
of Colorado up to the end of I i 7 was thirty
millions of dollars. It in an interesting tact
that of the w hole amount of gold contributed
at the present day by civilized nations, the
United States contributes nearly one-half.
The present annual supply of the Amert-
can continent, Europe, Russia, Australia
and Now Zealand, may be computed um
follows:
"Atnerica,s74,Teu,ooo; Europo,s2,ooo,ooo ;
Ruasia, $15,000,1100; Australia and Now
Zealand, $47,000,000. Total. $138,700,000.
"To all interested In the mineral wealth
of the Western territories—and Now York
is largely so—the fact that difficulties are
disappearing, and energy is restricted to
the development Of those minus, Is moat
Important. The wages of labor are greatly
reduced, where formerly they were dis
proportionately high ; and the facilities of
transportation are vastly increased."
W. H. Bunnell, auctioneer in New Or
leans, waaseized with a congestive chill, and
SOUL for his business partner, Mr. Batley.
The letter tell dead of heart disease as ho
ascended the steps of Bunnell's house, and
hair an hour liner the latter expired.
Thieving and Thief-kitting, according to
the Houston Telegraph,' are going on at a
shocking rate in Texas. The stealing of
stock, provisions, &c., is rapidly on the In
crease, and never was lynch law executed
with such secrecy us now, Not oven the
thieves know with what rapidly retribution
is visited upon their class, as care is taken
to keep the facts out of the papers. The
people of Texas, being completely without
the protection °f law. have taken the matter
into their own hands.
• RATE OP ADVEZTIS
BUILIZZI ADVIRTILIZIMITIS, $l2l s year pa
goof , of fen lines; $6 per year for each ad
dlt4onal -
Rs•L Eire:fa A.DVXSTIIIriI 0, 10 centsia licit! ) 1 '
tne first - sad b cent. for mob subsequent la
sertion.
Cizarre.As.ADYZaT ea chnts s line tOr the
that, and 4 cents for aubsOqUent Inser
tion.
Braman Noncom inserted In Local Column
Li canto per hue.
Braman Norman preoeding marriages and
deaths, 10 cents per line for nrst insertion,
and 0 cants for every subsequent insertion.
Lua#4l. AND
Itteoutors' -nth:es .... ........ 2.t0
AdMinistratorv' 2.t0
Assignees' 2.60
amditors' 2.03
Other "Notices,' ten lines , or less,
three times
What Republican Newspapers Bay
We print the following extracts from
fourprominent Republican Journals, de
nunciatory of the action of their party
friends in Washington
iFrora the New York Eventeg Poet, Rep.;
° Mr. Johnson, by the choice of the
people, Is the Chief Magistrate of the nu- •
don; as such ho Is responsible Mr the ext.-
cutlet' of the laws, and has a clear right to
choose the subordinates by whore the lows are
to be enforced. Ito must subtult Ho appoint
ments to cube to the continuation of the
Senate, but to otherwise independent of
Congress. Tho tenure-of-office net, by
which the Senate hoe been mudo to °entre'
the President's power of removal, IS pot
uccorchng to Mc Ilinutilution. Mr. Stanton
believer that It IS not, and yet hu avails
himself of this law, which he says Is not a
Constitutional law, which Is c oldable and
disorganising, to resume n pliwu In the Cub-
Inol of' President Johnson which be has been
especially desired to resign. It seems to its
necessary only to state a case like this to a
man who respects the law and respect" him
self, to be assetalu of what his course NV 111 ho.
It Is not enough to reply that a largo majo
rity of the members of Congress have signed
totter requesting him to resume the duties
of Secretary of War.
Members of Congress have nothing to do
with the control of the executive depart
ment ; they belong to another and co mil
, nate department of the government, which,
in all sound theory as in the express letter
of the organic law, It Is desirable to keep
distinct; and their Interference is n 8 revo
lutionary as It would be to resolve the
President out of office. If Mr. Johnson does
not do his duty, If he refuses to execute the
laws, or executes them In snobs manner 55
to defeat their purposes, the remedy PH his
course Is pointed out. It is not to invade
the sphere of the executive functions by
legislative encroachments, which will bo a
precedent for other nines, but to linpotich
and remove hint It guilty. lint the plan of
Impeachment has been tried, and after a
year's incubation IL has t o uched out mil
ling. Ashley's eggs were all addled; and
now en illegal course is to be pursued to
attain an end which could nut be attained
by the law, Mr. Stanton Is made the cats
paw of this dangerous and wicked policy.
Whatever Mr. Johnson'sdesigns may he,
ho is answerable to the people; and he is
answerable only in the way that the Con
stitution prescribes, Congress may not like
his individual peculiarities or hie lent
principles, but he is none thu less lie ninch
a part or the diovernmunt as Congress
Itself; and what is more, he represents
nearly as large a part ofpopular opinion
as Congress does. It linty be distasteful to
admit it, but it In true, that the political
sentiments of the President have a largo
following—not among the rebels only, as 17
the cry has it, but among the loyal people
of the
. tiorth. He is supported in most or
his posittons by the great opposition, or
Democratic party, and that support in ex
tending and growing rapidly under the
fostering care or congrr.. Thousands who
have no liking for the President, personally
or politically, who think that lie has man
aged his opportunities will, an utter tVlita
or tact and skill, and to the detriment of
thepublic interests, are yet unprepared to
sea OW OSillidiShOli order or the Constant ion
assailed in his person, and oil rho - lions and balance+ olthe government, which
are the bulwarks of liberty, overturned in
the but frenzy of partisan zeal.
[From the Springfield iMoss,) ltepuhlicand
The miry defensible reason for recon
structing the Southern State g0V011.111101104
Was rho purpose to confer Sllitrllgo on Lilo
freedmen, In order to thu protection of their
rights. Those governments were
well
enough in every other respect. If this
single purpose had controlled in the mat
ter, the process would have lawn compara
tively simple and unobjectionable. lint
party °Mucus were allowed to be mixed In.
It was thought It would ha IL good thing so
to manipulate the Southern governments
1114 to secure the votes of the reconstructed
Stoles for a Republican President. To ac
complish thin the right to vote and hold
office was token front oil the Southern
whites who had hold office requiring sill
Mail to support the constitution of the
United States. 'Flits excluded at once from
political life the most intelligent classes in
the South, and those at the lime bost dis
posed to accept any terms or reconciliallast
that should be offered. This male recon
struction by the what, populist lon of mho
Mouth impossible, for they naturally felt
that it would difiilollOrnbio to nbitllLioll
the leaders who shared with them limo guilt
•
of the rebellion. Reconstruetion was thus
thrown Into tho hands of the negroes, led
by a few Northern white men and Mouth
enters who did nut xeruple to take any oath
required of them. ma they should seek
to retain power by the name pulley which
gave It to them Is a 'motor of course, and
the drat now constitution framed virtually
excluden nearly every white emu from suf.
l ' rage and office, It Is no utterly indefensi
ble on any principal ofjustice find equality
that Its framers tour its rejection by the
registered voters, rind are begging linen to
accept it in the hope that Congress will
xtrike out 11,4 objectionable provisions.
The course of things In Congress just no,
does not tend to sustein uny suet, hope. It
Is essential to theprogram:se that the whiles
of the South shall be in the minority, and
the determination scuttle 111 bll If) put It
through it all linzards. 'file lust remains
of civil governments in the South lire to 60
swept away upon the declarntion diet they
are not " republican In form," though the
forms are just what they 11l ways have boon.
The ritimo relll4oll ham some VlllllO, however,
us showing at least an iippearance of re •
spout for the phases ol the constitution. lot
we have not come to the end of this imsi
liege ; we cannot even nee to It. The gov
ernments of the minority in the South, cud
that minority l,iurk, will fled it necessary
tO lA, morn and more repressive, and will
need u strong nillitury force t 0 maintain
them. Is anybody so insane Its to profile!,
reconciliation of race., true republican Or
oven moderately just government, and re
stored pence and loyalty un the noun of
such a system'l
I co, Ilbollt how 001111?
No, the symtern is fundamentally wrong,
and will inevitably wax worms and WOl,lll.
And men are already asking how 00011 .. 110-
11tleal necessity " may lead Congress to in
terror° with vertain Northern Slates and
compel them to take tile" repuhlienn form"
of negro stillrage and white disfranchise
!mint.
The restoration of Secretory Stanton is
doubtless consistent with the tenure-of
office act. A special provision was inserted
In It, Indeed, to meet his COMO. Hut the dis
cussion has made IL clear that. the law Can
not be defended upon general principles.
To compel a President to retain in Ms
cabinet a 0511, with Whorls friendly or re
spectful relations aro impossible, everybody
feels to be an Imitruge. Having had its way
and protected M r.lStanton, the Semilu would
do well to repeal at once tile provision nettle
for hie case, In behalf of which IN a perma
nent rule not it word can be said.
The proposition to get rid or General
Hancock by Ma indirioct and cowardly
dodge of reducing the number or major
generals is of a piece With the scheme fur
preventing a derision against the Uonstil u
tionality of reconstrUction by hatilitering
the StipretilLt Contd.. They both illustrate
our theme, and show how our' wrong act
makes another necessary, aunt so legislation
Inevitably gusts from Mal to worse• Thom
is yet hope that the Swm , will arrest, these
IlleintUres. The MVOs. party ox Igency which
makes the twrothirds rule necessary forth.
Supreme Court may soon require that the
court shall be forbidden to pronoun. , tiny
set or cmigrorei lincOnstlttlllt trial, oven
unanimous in that opinion. Them Is abso
lutely no stopping place: 111 logisblllnu of
this kind, l'he descent In hull Is Islay to be
sure; but how are We to get hack It we
over wish to stand again 011 terra *ma •
Gemmel Grant eau carry a pretty heavy
load for us, but them are weights that even
ramrod lift, and gulfs too broad Wien fur
Mtn to cross, A atop too far may maku re
turn Impossible,
(From the Now York Times,
Tim republican party is pressing Issues
11110 the radmit's! mill
sure efrizt. It eannot safely wage war
upon the Supreme Colll.t, 111 I.IIU ',resold
temper of Ulu public: mind, even with the
help of t liu negro vote which it 1111110 to:see:ire
by Its action,
irrom the New York Cormuerelal Adverti4er
Valueless will he the devoted our
, loot and signal triumphs of our army and
r ltry, if our statesmen fall or falter in-Per
t', arming their share of the great work. And
a re they not falling? Aro not the great
qt sestione of finance and currency overlaid?
Is not the reunion of the States anti the re
tu of the Southern people to their :teens
to teed pursuits made subordinate to the
qu estion of negro suffrage? Has not all
the I legislation of Clenyress for nearly three:
ye, ire had direct relference to the Presiden
(lo 1 etoction! And. now, at thin present
m( went, is not Congress using ail its great
pm ver to give the control of the Presiden
tial election to green negroes who nro con
test. edlv "ignorant of means bylethich:suf
fra; ie expressed!"
T beeternal truth orate maxim that whom
the gods intend to destroy are first made
mad !is lost as an example. The lesson so
race ntly, and with such terrible effect,
tau; lit the rebels, proves of no value to the
null gals. They blindly persist in a course
whie k i(s sure to overwhelm them. The
men sures kindred to these now being per
fecte d In Congress cost the republican party
its at rendaney in sir free States. Anti yet,
blim land reckless, Congress learns nothing
of wl tat is evident to all intelligent observ
ers. This utter delusion can only bo ex
plain ed upon the principle that " madness
precedes destruction."
A 3 wing woman's temperance society has
been formed in Chautauqua county, New
York . They pledge themselves to repell
the a dvnnces of any young man who uses
into: ruing drinks.
Stu bi good care was taken of Victoria at
the I de of Wight, that one of her royal
gueab and a gamekeeper were innate:l for
armec L Fenian, as they were out alooting,
ens fig Re morning.