OFT DOLLAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. TOWANDA: jhmsiia!! flloniinn, 3annarn 7. 1858. jsdcdcl) IJoefrn. [From the Scottish Guardian.] THE PASS OF DEATH. It was a narrow pass, „ Watered with human tears, Fur Death had kept the outer gate Almost six thousand years. AuJ the ceaseless tread of a world's feet Was ever in my ears— Thronging, jostling, hurrying by, As if they were only born to die. A stately king drew near, This narrow pass to tread, Around him bring a gorgeous robe, Aud a crown was on his head : hut Death, with a look of withering scorn, Arrested him and said, •• lu humbler dress must the king draw near, Fur the crowu and the purple arc useless here." Next came a man of wealth, And his eye was proud and bold, And he bore in his hand a lenghty scroll, Telling of sums untold ; But Death, who careth uot for rank, C'areth as little for gold— - Here that scroll 1 cannot allow, For the gold of the richest is powerless now." Another followed fast. And a book was in his hand, Filled with the flashes of burning thought That are known in many a laud : But the child of genius quailed to hear Death's pitiless demand— Here that book cannot cuter with thee, Fur the bright flash of genius is nothing to me." .Next came a maiden fair, With that eye so deeply bright, That stirs within you strange sweet care, Should you meet on a summer night ; But Death, ere the gentle maid passed through, Snatched away its light— •• Beauty is power in the world," be saith, •• But what can it do in the Pass of Death.'" A youth of sickly meiu Followed iu thoughtful mood, Whose heart was tilled with love to God And the early brotherhood ; Death felt that he could not quench the heart That lived for other's good— •• I own," cried he, " the power of love, 1 must let U pass to the realms above." (Original (Bait. [ Written for the Bradford Reporter.] A STORY OF THE WEST. BY BARRY BLAKE. About twelve miles from Ottowoy, the mo notonous valley of the Illinois river is broken by the presence of a solitary rock, nearly a hundred feet in height, and embracing an area of nearly half an acre. Three of its sides pre sent perpendicular walls, while the fourth af fords but a precarious footpath, which if the traveller lie lold enough to take advantage of, wiil conduct him to the top of the rock. This undertaking having liceu safely accomplished, ail his toil and trouble will be amply repaid, ami his fatigue forgotten, in the contempla tion of a landscape unrivaled in the prairie witate. Stretching away off in every direction, un til vision wavers, aud the eye grows dim in tracing it, is a broad sea of grass—the Graud I'rairie ; while from the eastern horizon, the ci-junlering, tortuous course of the Illinois Ri vtr divides the landscape, and after having washed toe base of the rock, flows off in its crooked channel, until at last river, prairie and landscape, are blended in the western ho rzua. But take hold of that friendly cypregs °one, and indulge iu a calm look below. The fretting and chafing of the waters beneath are scarcely audible ; while scores of gulls and buzzards are circling and screaming far be- R'.atii you. A sturdy growth, of cottomvood lis dwindled down into respectable sized cur vet buxlies ; aud the river itself has apparent ly narrowed into half its accustomed channel. How bold and saucy the birds have become since your encroachment in their element: a buzzard lias actually alighted within ten pa ccs of you, instinctively you turn aud grasp for a detached fragment of the rock to hurl at " '■ii: but it is not a stone your eye now rests "pou, you approach and turn it over, and in stantly start back, us if you had disturbed a L ->t of rattlesnakes. It is a human skull all P.v and mildewed by long exposure ; and won you detect other fragments of humau W'-'letons, bleaching iu exposure, or partially embedded and hidden by the thin soil and Runted vegetation. A'isionsof wholesale mur o r immediately spring up in your imagination, nod yon retreat to the verge of the rock, as '' landing upon unhallowed ground. Is it possible that some of the aboriginal tribes have used this rock as a mammoth altar, upon which to immolate human victims ? or has some huge f l of a species primeval with the mastodon made it his eyrie, where he regaled his tiedg l!P ujKiii human flesh.' But cease your -peculations aud the following story will iuform J'ou : ° J A century and a half ago, and the same I ; u pou which you now stand, and all the 1 r| rid waste of prairie as fur as the eye can and tyneh further ; was the hunting a "d Ue home of a powerful tribe of h-'hans, the Illinois. Their history for prow st™tagem ai| d valor, was primeval with * oldest traditions in the West. While ' 'eir camp-fires lit u> the southern extremity bake Michigan, Dey chased the wild mus '■'g a,l( ' buffalo far outb of the Sangamon ner. The Winnebappes of the north, and otawattomies of tin east, had each felt the pain of their displeasure.— few i ßt - o 1 t^ele came a Vnge, which, In p tirL- ® oatlls terininateaiu the otter ex v-J oa 0 l^e ano mouldering bones bipeatb your feet THE BRADFORD REPORTER. shall have been resolved again to mother earth, the last sad memorial of the tribe will have passed away, and nought but oblivious tradi tion will perpetuate the memory of a noble, warlike and courageous people. It was about a year previous to their ex termination that the main part of the tribe lay encamped near the west bank of the Calumet River. An oblong prairie embracing perhaps three hundred acres, bounded upon three sides by thick dark forests, and upon the fourth by the noiseless waters of the Calumet, afforded them a romantic and secluded camp-ground. The time was Indian summer, and the mellow goldeu sunlight had bathed the luxuriant fo liage, and the tall rank grass, until it appear ed as if some alchymist had turned all living vegetation into gold. A sleeping quietude, a strange drowsy stillness pervaded all animate life ; and how strange the contrast in the scene at present upon that same isolated prairie, as that long low snake like train of cars, comes steaming and thundering and rattling over the track of the Michigan Central Railroad. But to the story. A mile perhaps below the encampment, the sluggish water of the ri ver was slightly rippled by the progress of a light birch canoe, that like a thing of fairy life, skimmed noiseless and swiftly on, without scarcely leaving a wake. But the canoe at second sight would be divested of all its charms, when the eye of the beholder rested upon its | occupant, an Indian girl of sixteen summers. It was Leonia, daughter of War Eagle, the powerful chief of the Illinois ; and that frail bark canoe was freighted with all of humanity that was near and dear to the chief ; the only kith and kin that bound his affections to earth. I Long since had his wife, the mother of Leonia, ; taken her departure for the spirit-laud, and J the day was yet fresh in his memory, when eu : gaged in deadly strife with a neighboring i tribe, a merciless bullet finished the career of I a young and only brother, while bravely fight i iug by the side of the chief ; and as he caught ; the failing but senseless body in a last long j embrace, his arms encircled the last male rela ; tive of the family. And now, like an aged ! oak, lie only lived to foster and protect the lovely vine that wove its tendrils and fastened its fairy form upon him for support. She was indeed lovely, her form was one that had been cast in the choicest mould of nature ; long, drooping silken lashes fringed two orbs, whose bright eloquence spoke forth the silent language of the heart. The cob webs of affectation and vanity had uot yet sullied and dimmed the windows of the soul ; but when gazing within their deep dark depths, the beholder might view virgin purity inscrib ed in all its pristine loveliness. A cloud of jet black hair, untressed and unconlined fell negligently upon her shoulders, or sported with the winds uncontrolled ; and as she grace fully managed the frail bark, no queenly scep tre was wielded with more native grace than was her light ash puddle. The canoe passed on, and as it rounded to beyond a bluffy headland, two stalwart dus ky forms, crouched for a moment among the thick underbrush, then springing from their concealment, with the rapidity of thought plunged into the water, and seizing the canoe turned its prow towards the shore ; to reach it was but the work of a moment ; and then one raising the terrified and almcst insensible form of Leonia in his brawny arms, plunged directly into the thicket, while the other tar ried but a moment to sink the canoe, and ob literate all vestige of the trail, and then fol lowed in the footsteps of his companion. Her captors were Potowattomies, aqd as her tribe was frequently at variance with them, bitter animosity and burning hate had long festered and rankled in the breasts of each ; so that no good could rationally be expected to follow from the foregoing incident. The long autumnal afternoon at last began wane, and as night began to draw her black curtain around the Indian encampment, solici tude and anxiety at the unwonted absence of Leonia, caused the chief to send out scouting parties to search the river banks, and the ad joining woods, and obtain if possible any trace of his missing child. At last they began to return, and the feverish anxiety of War-Eagle was heightened as each party successively re turned, and reported no clue to the lost one. And when morning once more lighted up the landscape, parties were sent in every direction, and every method that human ingenuity could devise was brought into requisition for the search. Day succeeded day ; and the woods had been searched, the prairies scoured, the bottom of the river dragged, but no tidings of the lost one ; and at last when ail had been done that affection could do, and all in vain, the old chief turned with a siuking heart and a dimmed eye to the now doubly solitary lodge. The Indian summer at last was over, and vegetation was once more asleep beneath a winding sheet of snow. Nearly six months had elapsed, and no tidings had been heard of Leonia. The chief since the unfortunate day, had never been known to smile ; there was upon his countenance a frigid icy expression that baffles description, an expression of agony absorbed in despair. The encampment was still upon the same secluded prairie, and a February's sun was shining blandly and warmly, loosening the fet ters of the ice bound river, and dissolving the white mautle that covered the prairie : when a squalid and tattered figure emerged from the forest, and approached the encampment. The dejected and weary step, and the torn and ragged garments, betokened that the owner had traveled farther than the light and fragile form was well capable of enduring. But as the form neared the encampment, the cry of " Leonia, Leouia," was echoed far and wide, and instantaneously the encampment was alive to welcome the long lost home. But without turning aside, or heeding the many salatatious offered her from every hand, she pursned her way direct to the lodge of her father, the chief. The old man was, as yet. unaware of her arrival ; and when she at length stood be fore hiui, a tremor and faiutness took posses sion ot bis frame, that hitherto had been a stranger to him. Tbosfe ey6s that hid sternly and unflinchingly faced death uader a thou PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH. " REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER." sand hideous forms, were filled with unbidden tears ; and that ample breast all covered with glorious scars, that had been so often fearless ly bared to the murderous charge of an eue my, uow heaved and contracted from the in teuse emotions within, while his tottering liinbs almost refused to do their office. " My daughter ! my daughter !" at last broke from the lowest depths of his overload ed heart, and staggering forward, would have leaned upon her for support, but with a mourn ful gesture she arrested his footsteps, and mo tioned him back. " The War Eagle no longer has a daugh ter : let him not rest until he has avenged her wrongs." Aud in a few more words her story was soon told ; how her beauty had been the cause of her misfortune, and at last through mere strat agem bad effected her escape ; and how for many a long and weary mile, she had dragged her tired limbs through the pathless forests aud the deep snow, and at hist had arrived to unravel the mystery and die among her friends. The countenance of War Eagle, us he lis tened to the story of his daughter's wrongs, was like the overcharged heavens, black and foreboding with pent up fury, and only relax ing to change into a stern and iron purpose, as relentless and lasting as the Alpine sum mits. For a moment there was silence, and the dusky throng all stood transfixed, with eyes intent upon the death-like tableaux.— But it was but a moment when the muscles of War Eagle were hardened like Pyrean mar ble, and the veins started out upon his brow like whip cords, and convulsively his hand wan dered along his belt until it encountered the handle of his tomahawk. " The daughter of War Eagle was not born to disgrace ; rather let her die, than live dis honored. The shades of her mother stand ready to welcome her entrance into the Spirit Land. Go !" And as the last word died from the chief tain's lips, his hatchet gleamed for a moment in a fiery circle, and then followed the sound of a dead aud sickening blow ; aud the spirit of Leonia had taken its departure for elysiau fields. The couutenance of the parent, now that the deed was done, relaxed its iron rigidity, and bending over the lifeless form, stood rivet ed in all the eloquence of grief. Gone, for ever gone ; left all alone at the close of life's fitful day, with the shades of night gathering thick about him. And as the cruel thought in all its bitterness, came like a blight over his spirits, the last earthly tie was severed, and he longed to join his wife and daughter iu the bright hunting grounds of the Spirit- Land. But as he looked about, and his eye encountered the swarthy forms of his braves clustered around him, the memory of Leonid's wrongs called for vengeauce. ****** We will once more drop the curtain over the present scene, and raise it a few mouths in advance, disclosing a picture in the h.story of Indian warfare. Ilate like love in the breast of War Eagle stopped not"on this side ol the grave : his enmity was implacable, aud nought could be expected now but a war of extirmin ation. A few insignificant skirmishes had tak en place ; but otherwise the two respective tribes bad done little else, thau prepare for coming hostilities, gathering all their latent en ergies, and dormant powers iulo activity, against the time when the result of a geuerul battle would determine the future of the two nations. They were encamped respectively up on the east and west banks of tbeCaluinet river —the Rubicon that separated their hunting grounds, and them as different tribes. For several days they bid remained in this position, each awaiting for the attack to be commenced from the opposite side. Until at last weary of inactivity, War Eagle, as beau tiful a Spring morning as nature ever smiled upon, 'ed his warriors down to the waters edge and commenced fording the stream. With ri fles poised above their heads, aud hatchets gleaming iu their uplifted hands, slowly and steadily, as tta march of contagion, did that oand of dusky heroes, march into the opeu jaws of destruction. All was sileut, and death like upon the opposite shore ; not a human form to be seen, nor a stir among the foliage ; while the unsteady splashing tramp of the mul titude as they stemmed the current only broke the solitude. They had passed the middle of the stream and were beginning to emerge from the water, when a trembling and quivering rustic agitated the bushes, followed by the feilrful and unearthly war-whoop The shrill note was yet ringing in the ear, when quick as the descending bolt of heaven, flash followed flash, and report succeeded report, until it seem ed as if those peaceful banks had become the battle ground between the angels and demons. The waters of the Calumet were fast growing red with the blood of the Illinois ; but they faltered not, uor paused ; but with eyes fixed upon those death vomiting thickets, they sternly faced the storin of leaden hail, under whose showers they were dropping and falling like the leaves of Autumn before a gale. Iu vain did the War Eagle hurl his shatter ed baud again and agaiu upon that fatal bank ; again and again was the determined charge met by the ceaseless storm of bullets, and the scanty remnant driven back, while the corpses of their comrades were strewed thick and ghost ly upon the beach. At length with his grey hair scattered and streaming iu the wind, and his eyes flashing like two glowing coals of fire, the aged but erect form of War Eagle tower ed for a moment in the advance of his braves, and then shouting forth his terrible war cry, once more, and, now at their head, he hurled them like an Alpiue avalanche upon the death dealing shore. Iu vain did that storm of balls now pour thick and fast among them ; War Eagle was at their head. They mounted the disputed bank, and in a moment were engaged in a hand to hand encounter for life and death with their enemies. The stunning report ef fire-arms ceased, and from many a dark retreat and thick copse there sprang out dark and muscular forms, like enraged panthers to grap ple aud struggle in the fierce combat. Swift wioged tomahawks were clearing the air in every direction, while the rifles no longer used in firing, were clubbed ia the hands of the as sailants and telling in fearful sweeps on every side. The defiant yells, and the groans and shrieks of the wounded and dying mingled in an unearthly Babel. The contest was one of fearful odds'; hem med in upon every side, and contending with overwhelming numbers, the forlorn and devot ed remnant of the Illiuois, still stood their ground like lions at bay. The towering form of their chief soon became the centre around which raved all the energies of the mad con flict ; his stentorian voice was heard high above the din of battle and acted like a talis man noon the drooping spirits of his braves ; while his tireless right arm, bare to the shoul- der, and red with blood, wielded the gory hatchet whose fatal blows had sent scores to join the majority. In front of him, and upon each side arose a breastwork of the slaiu, the victims of that red right arm. But it was all in vain, ar.d at last with the purple tide flowing from eight wounds, convul sively he hurled his hatchet at" the last enemy, aud sauk between the combatants.— Then over him raged the conflict in ten fold fury ; unguarded heads and unprotected limbs were prodigally thrust forward, to shelter the form of their fallen chief ; fearful blows were dealt, and heroic deeds achieved, such only as despairing fidelity could prompt. At last the dying form was rescued, and sheltering it with their exposed persons, his few remaining fol lowers carried it ia their retreat beyond the river. They were hardly safe in the fastness of the adjacent forest,when the glare of tlieir a burning encampment penetrated into their retreat ; and the shrieks of their women and children, be neath the hatchet and the scalping knife of their merciless enemy was plainly heard. But they dared not linger, but dragged their jaded and weary forms still further from the vicinity of their foes. A few months passed by and they had been bunted from prairie to prairie, and from retreat to retreat, until at last they had become encircled in the meshes of a net work, woven by their foes. They were upon the Illinois river, and near the spot where the opening of this story begins. Their retreat was cut off. their advance guarded, while upon each and every side, were gathering and clos ing upon them, their relentless foes. At last, as an only resort they one by one ascended the narrow pathway and stood upon the top of the rock ; aud as their eyes longingly took in all the broad expanse of a prairie so recently theirs, and then noted the ioug snake like lines of their enemy, coiled like a huge serpent around the base of the rock, precluding all hopes of escape, they saw the doom of their tribe was scaled. Their position was indeed invulnerable to all their enemies but one,and that, ga i it fam ine, had already ascended the rock, und was staring them in the face. But why recount all the horrors of those few succeeding days, as struggling nature inch by inch disputed possession with death. Day succeeded day, until for the tentlij time, the' sun had climbed the eastern sky, since their imprisoumcut upon the rock, and then looked down upon nought but inanimate forms. The hatred of their ene mies had stopped at nothing short of exter mination, and the tribe of the Illinois no longer existed. Moxboetox, December, IS">7. THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY. —The British East ludia Company has dominion over a realm covering a million and a half square miles, with a population of upwards of one hundred and sixty millions. This vast empire embraces every variety of soil and cli mate, and its productions arc varied and val uable. The money capital of tha company is £16,000,000 sterling, or nearly eighty millions of dollars, and its annual revenues which are yearly increasing, are estimated ut one hundred and thirty-five millions. At the date of the last report, the company consisted of 1750 stockholders privileged to meet in general council. The holder of $5,000 of stock has one vote ; of $15,000 two; of $30,000,000 three ; and of $50,000 four ; provided always has been in possession of the same twelve months. The whole number of votes ut the present time is estimated at about 1,600. — These stock holders, thus qualified, meet once in three months, in general council. They elect the court of directors and board of con trol, in whom is vested the actual government of India. The employees of the company are divided juto five classes —civil, clerical, medical, mili tary aud naval—and comprises nine or ten persons. The Governor-General receives a salary of $125,000, and his perquisites are val ued at $200,000 yearly ; the members of the governor's council receive an annual salary of SB,OOO, the bishops $12,000 to $35,000, the law judges, thirty in number, $15,000, and the collectors and magistrates SO,OOO to $19,000. ! Of the revenues of the East India Company, j the land tax is productive, yielding annually $"5,000,000 Next in importance are the \ revenues derived from the opium trade, which amount to $30,000,000 yearly. The standing military force of the company is übout three hundred thousand men, Europeans aud na tives. Although a vast and selfish monopoly, the East India Company has, in pursuing its gigan tic schemes of self-aggrandizement, accomplish ed a great deal iu the way of developing the resources of the country by building roads and constructing railways aud magnetic telegraphs. Although mainly advantageous to the compa ny, these and other great improvements indi rectly benefit the native population by fur nishing them with the grand levers of civiliza tion. " Boy, what's become of the bole I saw in your pauts the other day ?" (Young America, carefully examining his unmentionables,) " It's word out, sir," Say what you will, marriage by adver tisement must, after all, be the union of two r/rretprndivg minds. The Mackerel Fishery. We saw in the True Democr-jt a few days since an account of the mackerel fishery as carried ou Gloucester, Mass. Thinking a more extended notice might be interesting to our readers, on the same subject, we bavejwritten the following : Probably but few are aware of the great ex tent of the mackerel and other fisheries ol this country. It has been estimated that during the summer months, or rather between June and November, more than twenty thousand vessels are constantly engaged in the different kinds of fisheries, employing no less than 250,- 000 men. By a treaty with Great Britain. American vessels are ullowed the privilege of fishing within certain limits in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the quantity of fish taken from this place alone is most truly astonishing. The coast of Newfoundland yields itsjeodfish to the hardy sailor from May until December, while the better class of mackerel are taken from August to October. Many mackerel, however, of a poorer class, are taken along the Southern shore of our own country prior to this, but as a general thing they are deemed worthy of little notice. The Bay of Chalcur, along the coast of Prince Edward's Island, the Magdalen Islands, Northumberland Straits, are consider ed the choicest mackerel grounds. Here the fleet of vessels congregated at onetime will of ten amount to two thousand sail, although as a general thing not more than from two to four hundred vessels sail in company. At. nights, when the fleets is safely anchored, the lanterns lighted upon each vessel and swung upon the shrouds, one maw fancy they are looking upon some huge city lying in repose, with its lamps all trimmed and burning. The bait alone, which is ground up ai.d thrown to the fish, to keep them about the vessel, is a very large item iu the expense of carrying on the trade. This is either herring, poggies, or clams, well salted and cleaned, put up expressly for the purpose. The average cost of it is about three and a half dollars per barrel, at least two barrels of which are thrown away per day in good fishing. Allowing at the time we were in the Gulf there were two thousand sail, you then have SIO,OOO per day thrown awav to the fishes, or say SIOO per ves sel for each trip, which is below the actual amount, and we thus have the enormous sum of $200,000. The method of taking the mackerel is very simple. The vessel is " hove to." and men are arranged on the " windward" side as many as can conveniently stand from bow to stern. — Each man is provided with four lines, only two of which can be used in fast fishing. On each line is attached the hook, which is sunk into an oblong bit of lead called a "jig." A bar rel is placed behind each man, into which the fi-.li are " snapped " as fast as caught, the jaw tearing out as easily us though made of pa paper. Owing to this tenderness of the jaw the fish must be hauled very carefully, though with great rapidity. One man stands " amid ships." throwing the bait, which has been carefully "irrouud," to keep the fish about the vessel, while the hooks are baited with any tough substance, either pork rind, a bit of sil ver, or a piece of the mackerel itself. When the fish bite rapidly, no sport is more exciting j und a dozen men will often catch from thirty j to fifty barrels in an hour. When caught,! they are split, "gibbed," scraped, washed in : three waters, and then salted—the whole be- \ ing done with astonishing celerity. The season for mackerel is the fisherman's j holyday. The work is easy, healthy and ! pleasant—the weather warm, and generally j delightful. Two-thirds of the time is generally ! spent iu idlenesss, hunting for the fish, and the ! sailors lounge about, free from care, growing '• fat, ragged and saucy." Cape Ann and Cape Cod are the greatest : fishing ports of the Union, and at these points scarcely aught else is heard of than the pros pect of fish and the state of the markets.— Children scarcely large enough to walk dis course upon the relative merits of codfish, hali but, mackerel, Ac., with a knowing air, and the male members look forward with joyous eagerness to the time when, as "skipper" of some bonnie craft, they shall carry death and destruction to the finny tribes of the great ■ waters. The sound of a mackerel " flapping " upon deck is the sweetest music to a Cape Codman's ear : and Captain Davis, from Gloucester, an intelligent and capable fisherman, once assured us that had a Cape Cod "skipper" been dead a week, only place him upon the deck of his vessel, and let the mackerel dance about him, he would at once spring to his feet, stand to his lines, yell to his men that tne mackerel had " struck," and order them to "up dogs, aud at 'etu." N'o. 1 mackerel are eaten about the large cities ; N'o. 2 sent West aud South : while No. 3 being wretchedly poor and unsaleable, are sent to the West Indies as luxuries fur the slaves. GETTING OVF.B A PIFFTCUI.TY.—A class which graduated not over a thousand years atro em braced among its members one Tom Elliott, an incorrigible wag, who was not noted for any particular and marked attention to his studies. Mathematics was a particular object of Tom's disregard, and this caused him an oc casional jeu esprit with the dry professor of conics. On one occasion, the professor, dur ing the recitation, asked Tom to explain the horizontal parralax of the sun. Ton replied : " I don't know how." " But said," said the professor, " suppose yon were appointed by. the government to ae certain it—what would yon do ? " I'd resign," gravely repouded Tom, amid the convulsive laughter of the class, and even the professor actually perpetrated a grin. CATO ON STATUES. —Cato the elder, when many of the Romans had statues erected in honor of them, was asked by some one, " Why he none V ■ He answered that " he had much rather men should ask and wonder why he bed BO statue, than why he had one." VOL.. XVIIT. —NO. 81. THE ORIGIN OF THANKSGIVING DAY.— When New England was first planted, tin* settlers met with many d ffieulties and hard ships as is necessarily the case, when a civili zed people attempt to establish themselves in a wilderness country. Being piously disposed they sought relief from heaven, by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord in fre quent set days of fasting and prayer. Con stant meditation and discourses on the subject of their difficulties, kept their minds gloomy aud discontented, and, like the children of Is rael, there were many disposed to rcttfrn to the land which persecution had determined them to abandon. .At length, when it was proposed in the as sembly to proclaim another fast, a fanner, of plain sense arose, and remarked, that the incon veniences they had suffered, and concerning which they hud so often wearied Heaven with their complaints, were not so great as might have been expected, and were diminishing ev ery day as the colony strengthened ; that tha earth began to reward their labors, and to fur nish liberally for there sustenance ; that the rivers and seas were full of fish, the air sweet and climate wholesome ; above all they wcro in the enjoyment of liberty, < ivil and religions. He, therefore, thought that retlecting and con versing on these subjects would be more com fortable, as tending to make them more con tented with their situation ; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they owe the Divine being, if, instead of a fast, they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His advice was ta ken, and, from that day to this, they have in every year observed circumstances of public happiness sufficient to furuhh employment for a thanksgiving day. CHANGE OK CUMATE IN CO.VSIUPTIOX.—• Sir James Clark, of England, has assailed with considerable force the doctrine that a change of climate is beneficial to persons suffering with consumption ; and a French physician, M. Carrier*, has written forcibly against it. Dr. Burgess, an eminent Scotch physician, also con tends that climate has little or nothing to do with the cure of consumption, and that, if it had the curative effects would be produced through the skin and nut the lungs. That a warm climate is not in itself beneficial, 1m shows from the fact that the disease cxitsts in all latitudes. In India and Africa, tropical climates, it is as frequent as iu Europe or North America. At Malta, right in the heart of the genial Mediterreueau, the army report of Eng land show that one-third of tire deaths among the soldiers are by consumption. At Nice, a favorite resort of English invalids, especially those afflicted with lung complaints, there are more native-born persons that die of consump tion than iu any English town of equal popu lation Iu Geneva, the disease is almost equally prevalent. Iu Florence, pueuinouia is said to be marked by a suffocating character and by a rapid progress towards its last stage. Naples, whose climate is the theme of so much praise by travelers, shows iu her hospitals a mortality by consumption equal to one iu two third, whereas in Paris, whose climate is so of ten pronounced as villiauous, the proportion is only one in three and one-quarter. In Made ria, no local disease is more common thau con sumption. IIOAHIHXU. —Now is the time when gold dollars are hid i old stockings. Now is the time when sixpences are tucked away in snub nosed ten-pots. Now money is laid away in cupboards, for mice to nibble ; thrust into cor ners, for thieves to rummage ; carried! in wal lets, for pickpockets to grab at ; hid behind the wood work, for the next generation to find, and buried in the ground, to be lost and for gotten. Now men rush frantic to draw cash out of safe places and put it into unsafe ones. Now poor families lose live per cent, for the purpose of having their savings where they will keep them awake of nights. Now farm ers hang up deposits in the ]>ouch behind the door, housewifes sew up gold pieces in their skirts, and travelers weigh themselves down with body belts of coin. Now the unprofita ble servant who hid his talent in a napkiu is canonized into a bright and shining scriptural example, while those who " put their money tu the exchanges," are looked suspiciously u]*xi„ as rash speculators in Jewish I'ar.ey stocks.— Now all money is distrusted but such as-car* be heard to chink. Now men privily put nil their cash under lock and key, and then pub licly lament that it has ceased to circulate.— Now men with well-filled pockets refuse either to pay their debtors or to forgive their debtors. Now the butcher must wait, and the baker must go unpaid, and the printer must be put off for the nineteenth time. The era of hoard ing has come around again, with all its bliud. unreasoning fears, and all its seif-iiu|Hsed cur ses of poverty, idleness, distrust aud decay. FATE OK THE LAXV AND IPI.E. —Of OTCRR great and complicated event, part depends U|>- on causes out of our power, and part must be effected by vigor and preseverance. With re gard to that which is styled in common lan guage the work of chance, men will always find reasons for confidence or distrust, accord ing to their different temjiers or inclinations ; and he that lias been long accustomed to please himself with posibilitios of fortuoos haj>- piuess will not easily or willingly be reclaimed from his mistake. Hut the effects of human industry and skill arc more easily subjected to calculation ; whatever can "be completed in a year is divisible into parts, of which each may lie jwrformed in the compass of a day ; he therefore that has passed the day without at tention to the task assigned him, may bo ccis tain that the lapse of life has brought him no nearer to his object ; for whatever idleness may expect from time to time, its produce will be only in proportion to the diligence with which it has been used. He that floats lazilw down the strenm, in pursuit of something borne along by the same current, will find himself indeed move forward ; but unless he lays his hand to the oar, and increases hia speed by his own tabor, must be always at4ho r*me distance from that which he is followi 15,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers