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,