vJJILAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. TOWANDA: yjmrsdciy Morning, October 21, 1858, jsclttfcb sottrn. THE PERPLEXED HOUSEKEEPER. BY MRS. F. I). GAGB. f wish I had a dozen pairs Of hands, this very minute ; I'd soon put all tlu-so things to rights— The very duuee is in it. Here's a Dig washing to Lc done, One pair of hands to do it. Sheets, shirts, stockings,coats and pants, How will I er got through it? Dinner to get for six or more, Xo loaf left o'er from Sunday ; \rid liahy's cross as he can live— He's always so oil Monday. And there's the cream, 'tis getting sour, And must forthwith l>e churning, Ami here's I!o!> wants a button on— What way shall 1 be turning ? 'TH time the meat was in the pot, The bread was worked for baking, Tie' clothes were taken from the boil— Oh dear! the baby's awaking. Hnsh, baby dear ! there, hush, hush! I wish he'd sleep a little, Till I could run and get some wood To hurry up that kettle. Oh, dear! if I* comes home. And find things in this pother, He'll just ltegin to tell me all About liis tidy mother! How nice the kitchen used to lie, Her dinner always ready Exactly when the noon lrell rung— llusli, hush, dear little Freddy. And then will come some hasty word, Right out before I'm thinking- Tic y s.iy that hasty words from wives Set sober men to drinking. Now isn't that a great idea, That men should take to sinning, because a weary, half sick wife Can't always smile so WINNING ? When 1 was young I used to cam My living without trouble, Had clothes and pocket money, too, And hours of leisure double. 1 never dreamed of such a fate, When I, A LASS! was courted - mother, nurse .seamstress, eook. housekeeper .cliam . iid, laundress, dairy-woman, and scrub generally, 4'tlie work of six, For the sake of being supported ! §cl cll c b fait. From Blackwood's Magazine. HIE IRON SHROUD. BY WILLIAM ML'WORD. The castle of the Prince of Tolfi was built pthc summit of the towering and precipitous Is of Sc\!la, and commanded a magnificent *■ of Sicily in all its grandeur. Here, dur izthe wars of the middle ages, when the fcr plaitis of Italy were devastated by hostile '.ion?, those prisoners were confined, .'or Hi re, too, iii a dungeon, excavated deep in the H I rock, the miserable victim was immured, H tn revenge pursued—the dark, fierce, and iiving revenge of an Italian heart. VIVENZIO—the noble and generous, the fear- H in battle, and the pride of Naples in her H iiy hours of peace—the young, the brave, H proud Vivenzio, fell beneath this subtle |H i remorseless spirit. He was the prisoner Tolfi, and lie languished in that rock-encir r.H: dungeon, which stood alone, and whose uurer opcued twice upon a living caji- H it had the semblance of a vast cage, for the ( H'f. and floor, and sides, were of iron, solidly ' :lit, and spaciously constructed. High ■ - there ran a range of seven prated win- U guarded with inassy bars of the same HAI, which admitted light and air. Save ■ and tiie tall folding doors beneath them HH occupied the center, no chink, or chasm, ■ r "i'Ttion, broke the smooth black surface I* wails. An iron bedstead, littered with •* -t<*>d in one comer: and beside it a ves- *it!i water, and a coarse dish filled w itli |>n the intrepid soul of Vivenzio shrunk dismay as he entered this abode, and l-Mlie ponderous doors triple locked by the 9'-' ruffians who conducted him to it. Their '-seemed prophetic of his fate, of the liv- H : -rave that had been prepared for him.— menaces and his entreaties, his indignant ' for justice, and his impatient question ■- : their intentions, were alike vain. They JM hut spoke not. Fit ministers of a --that should have no tongue! I dismal was the echo of their retiring thH '• Ami, as their faint echoes died along binding passages, a fearful presage grew JJ^B/" 1 'in, that never more the face, or voice, ,J f man, would greet his senses, lie human beings for the last time! And ■ •*<! looked his last upon the bright sky, "•H "i"" 1 tllc ®"®iling earth, and upon a bcau- world he loved, and whose minion he hud Here he w as to end his life—a life he begun to revel in! And by what Secret poison? or by murderous us- H . for then it would have been ueed rt I ""iiig liini hither. Famine perhaps— deaths in one! It was terrible to 't; but it was yet more terrible to p;c --1 - r . long years of captivity, in a solitude . '"'Ug.u loneliness so dreary,that thought 1,1 "f fellowship, would lose itself in mad- ' <r Magnate '"to idiocy. 1 TI H ,u 'd not ho|ie to esca|>e, unless he had W| th his bare hands, of rending for liberty from the relenting 0 h' B enemy. His instant death, uu , ' , ?!?" refined cruelty, was not the tor lie might have iuflictcd it, THE BRADFORD REPORTER, and lie had not. It was too evident, therefore, he was reserved for some premeditated scheme of subtle vengeance; and what vengeanco could transcend in liendish malice, either the slow death of famiue, or the still slower one of soli tary incarceration, till the last lingering spark of life expired, or till reason fled, and nothing should remain to perish but the brute functions of the body ? It was evening when Vivenzio entered his dungeon, and.the approaching shades of night wrapped it in total darkness, as he paced np and down, revolving in his mind these horrible forebodings. No tolling bell from castle, or from neighboring church or convent, struck upon his ear to tell how the hours passed.— Frequently he would stop and listeu for some sound that might betoken the vicinity of man; but the solitude of the desert, the silence of the tomb, are not so still and deep as the O|H pressive desolation by which he was encom passed. His heart sank within liiiu, and he threw himself dejectedly down upon his couch of straw. Here sleep gradually obliterated the consciousness of misery, aad bland dreams waft ed his delighted spirit to scenes which were once glowing realities for him, in whose ravish ing illusions he soon lost the remembrance that he was Tolii's prisouer. When lie awoke, it was daylight; but how long he had slept he knew not. It might be early morning, or it might be sultry noon, for he could measure time by no other note of its progress than light and darkness. He had Ieen so happy in his sleep, amid friends who loved him,and the sweeter endearments of those who loved him as friends could not, that in the lirst moments of waking, his startled mind seemed to admit the knowledge of his situation as if it had burst upon it for the first time, fresh in all its appalling horrors. He gazed around with au air of doubt and amazement, and took up a handful! of the straw upon which he lay, as though he would ask himself what it meant. Hut memory, too faithful to her of fice, soon unveiled the melancholy past, while reason shuddering at the task, flashed before his eves the tremendous future. The contrast overpowered him. 11c remained for some time lamenting, like a truth, the bright visions that had vanished and recoiling from the present, which clung to him as a poisoned garment. When he grew more calm, he surveyed his gloomy dungeon. Alas! the stronger light of day only served to confirm what the gloomy indistinctness of the preceding evening had partially disclosed, the utter impossibility of escape. As however his eyes wandered round and round, and from place to place, lie noticed two circumstances which excited his surprise and curiosity. The one, he thought, might be fancy; but the other was positive. His pitcher of water, and the dish which contained his food had been removed from his side while he slept, and now stood near the door. Were he even inclined to doubt this, by supposing he had mistaken the spot where he saw theiu over night, he could not, for the pitcher now in his dungeon was neither of the same form or color as the other, while the food was changed for some of better quality. 11c had been visited therefore, during the night. Hut how had the person obtained entrance? Could he have slept so soundly, that unlocking and opening of those ponderous portals were effected with out waking him ? He would have said this was not possible, but that in doing so, he must admit a greater difficulty, an eutrance by oth er means, of which he was convinced there existed none. It was not intended, then, that lie should be left to perish from hunger. Hut tiie secret and mysterious mode of supplying him with food, seemed to indicate he was lo have 110 opportunity of couimuuieating with a human being. Tiie other circumstance which had attracted his notice, was the disappearance, as he be lieved of one of the seven grated windows that ran along the top of his prison. He felt confident that he had observed and counted them; for he was rather surprised at their uuinlier, and there was something peculiar in their form, as well as in the manner of their arrangement, at unequal distances It was so much easier, however, lo suppose he was mis taken, than that a portiou of the solid iron, which formed the walls, could have escaped from its position, that he soou dismissed the thought from his mind. Vivenzio partook of the food that was be fore him, without apprehension. It might be poisoned; but if it were he knew he could not escape death, should such be the design of Tolfi, and the quickest death would be the speediest release. The day passed wearily and gloomily; though not without a faint hope that, by keeping watch at night, lie might observe when the person came again to bring him food, which lie sup posed he would do in the same way as before. The mere thought of being approached by a living creature, and the opportunity it might present of learning the doom prepared, or pre paring, for him, imparted some comfort, lie sides, if he came alone, might he not in a fu rious onset overpower him ? Or lie might be accessible to pity, or the influence of such mu nificent rewards as lie could bestow, if once more at liberty and master of himself. Say he were armed. The worst that could befall if bribe, nor prayers, nor force prevailed, was a friendly blow, which, though dealt in a damned cause, might work a desired end. There was no chance so dcsjierate, but it looked lovely in Vivenzio's eyes, compared with the idea of being totally abandoned. The night came, and Vivenzio watched. The morning came, and A ivenzio was confound ed. He must have slumbered without knowing it. Sleep must have stolen over him when ex hausted by fatigue, and in that interval of le verish repose, he had becu bullied; for theie stood his replenished pitcher of water, and there his day's meal! Nor was this all. Casting his looks towards the windows of his dungeon, he counted but FIVE! Hrr. was no deceptiou; and he was now convinced there had been none the day before. Hut what did all this portend ? Into what strange mysterious den had lie been cast? lie gazed till his eyes ached; he could discover nothing to explain the mystery. That it was so, he knew Why it was so, lie racked PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH. " REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER." his imagination in vain to conjecture. He ex amined the doors. A simple circumstance convinced him they had not been opened. A wisp of straw which he had carelessly thrown against them on the preceding day, as he paced to and fro, remained where he had cast it, though it must bave'been displaced by the slightest motion of either of the doors. This was evidence that could not be disputed; and it followed there must be sonic secret machi nery in the walls by which a person could en ter. He inspected them closely. They ap jieared to him as one solid and compact mass of iron; or joined if joined they were, with such nice art, that no mark of the division was perceptible. Again nudjigain he surveyed them—and the floor—and the roof—and that range of visionary windows, IIS he was now almost tempted to consider them—he could dis cover nothing, absolutely nothing, to relieve his doubts or satisfy his curiosity. Sometimes he fancied that altogether the dungeon had a more contracted appearance—that it looked smaller; but this he ascribed to fancy, and the impression naturally produced upon his mind bj the undeniable disappearance of two of the windows. With intense anxiety, Vivenzio looked for ward to the return of night; and as it approach ed, lie resolved that no treacherous sleep should again betray him. Instead of seeking his bed of straw, lie continued to walk np a ltd down his dungeon till daylight, straining Ids eyes in every direction through the darkness, to watch tor any appearance that might explain these mysteries. While thus engaged, and as near ly as he could judge (by the time that after wards elapsed before the morning came in,) about two o'elock, there was a slight tremu lous motion of the floors, lie stopped. The motion lasted nearly a minute; but it was so extremely gentle, that he almost, doubted whether it was real or imaginary, lie listened. Not a sound could be heard. Presently, how ever, he felt a rush of cold air blow upon him; and dashing towards the quarter whence it seemed to proceed, he stumbled over something which he judged to be the water ewer. The rush of cold air was no longer perceptible; and as Vivenzio stretched out his hands, he found himself close to the wa'l. He remained motionless for a considerable time; but nothing octured during the remainder of the night to excite his attention, though he coutiuucd to watch with unabated vigilance. The first approaches of the morning were visible through the grated windows, breaking, with faint divisions of light, the darkness that still pervaded every other part, long before Vivenzio was enabled to distinguish any object in his dungeon. Instinctively and fearfully he turned his eyes, hot and inflamed with watch ing towards them. There were FOUR! He could nee. only four; but it might be that some iutcrveuiug object prevented the fifth from lie coming jierceptible; and he waited impatiently to ascertain if it were so. As the light strength ened, however, .and penetrated every corner of the cell, other objects of amazement struck his sight. On the ground lay the broken frag ments of the pitcher he had used the day lie fore, and at a small distance from tlicm, near er to the wall, stood the one he hud noticed the first night. It was filled with water, and beside it was his food. He was now certain that by some mechanical contrivance,an opening was obtained through the iron wall, anil that through this opeuiug the current of air had found entrance. Hut how noiseless! For had a feather almost waved at the time, he must have heard it. Again lie examined that part of the wall; but both to sight and touch it ap peared one even and uniform surface, while to repeated and violent blows there was no rever berating sound indicative of liollowness. This perplexing mystery had for a time with drawn his thoughts from the windows; but now directing his eyes again towards them, lie saw that the fifth had disappeared in the same manner as the preceding two, without the least distinguishable alteration of external appear ances. The remaining four looked as the sev en had originally looked; that is. occupying at irregular distances, the top of the wall on that side of the dungeon. The tall folding-door, too, still seemed to stand beneath, in the center of these four, as it had at first stood in the center of the seven. Hut he could no longer doubt, what on the preceding day, he fancied might he the effect ol visual deception. The dungeon trus smaller. The roof had lowered—and the opposite ends had contracted the intermediate distance by a space equal, lie thought, to that over which the three windows had extended. He was liewildered in vain imaginings to ac count lor these things. Some frightful pur |M>s e —some devilish torture of mind or body— some unheard of device for producing exquisite misery, lurked, he was sure, in what had taken place. Oppressed with this belief, and distracted more by the dreadful uncertainty of whatever fate impended, than he could lie dismayed, lie thought, by the knowledge of the worst, he sat ruminating, hour after hour, yielding his fears in succession to every haggard fancy. At last a horrible sucpicion Hashed suddenly across his mind and he started up with a frantic air.— " Yes!" he exclaimed, looking wildly around his dungeon, and shuddering as he spoke— " Yes! it must lie so! I sec it!—l ieel the maddening truth like scorching flames upon my brain! Eternal God!—support mel it must be so!— Yes, yes, thai is to be my fate! Yon roof will descend! these walls will hem uic round - and slowly, slowly, crush nie in their iron arms! Lord God look down upon ine, and in mercy stride ine with instant death! Oh, fiend —oh, devil—is this your revenge ?" lie dashed himself upon the ground in ng ouy;—tears burst from Li in, and the sweat stood in large drops upon his face—lie sobbed aloud—he tore his hair—he rolled about like ouc suffering intolerable anguish <if body, and would have bitten tin- iron floor beneath Itiui; he breathed fearful curses upon Tolfi, and the next moment passionate prayers to heaven for immediate death. Then the violence of his grief became exhausted, and lie lay still weep ing as a child would weep. Ihe twilight ol departing day shed its gloom around liini ere he arose How ot Utu * aud l, °l K * less sorrow. He had taken no food. Not one drop of water had cooled the fever of his parch ed lips. Sleep hud not visited his eyes forsix and-tliirty hours. He was faint with hunger; weary with watching, and with the excess of his emotions, lie tasted of his food; he drank with avidity of the water; and reeling like a drunken man to his straw, cast himself upon it to brood again over the appalling image that had fastened itself upon his almost frenzied thoughts. He slept hut his slumbers were not tranquil. He resisted, as long as he could, their approach; and when, at last, enfeebled nature yielded to their influence, he found no oblivion from his cares. Terrible dreams haunted liiin—ghastly visions harrowed up his imagination—he shout ed and screamed, as if lie already felt the dun geon's ponderous roof descending on him—lie breathed hard and thick, as though writhing between its iron walls. Then he would spring up—stare wildly about him—stretch forth his hands, to be sure he yet had space enough to live—and, muttering some incoherent words, sink down again, Lo pass through the same fierce vicissitudes of delirious sleep. The morning of the fourth day dawned upon Vivenzio. Hut it was high noon before his mind shook off its stupor or lie awoke to a full consciousness of his situation. And what a fixed energy of despair sat upon his pale fea tures, as cast his eyes upwards, and gazed upon the THREE windows that now alone remained! The three!—there were no more!—and tiicy seemed to number his own allotted days.— Slowly and calmly he next surveyed the tops and sides, and comprehended the meaning of the diminished height of the former, as well as of the gradual approximation of the latter.— The contracted dimensions of his mysterious prison were now too gross and palpable to be the juggle of Lis heated imagination. Slill lost in wonder at the means, Vivenzio could put no cheat upon his reason as to the end. I>y what horrible ingenuity it was contrived, that walls, and roof, and windows, should thus silently and imperceptibly, without noise,[and without motion almost, fold, as it were, within each other he knew not. He only knew they did so; and he vainly strove to persuade himself it was the intention of the contriver, to rack the miserable wretch who might be immured there with anticipation, merely, of a fate, from which, in the very crisis of his agony, he was to be reprieved. Gladly would he have clung even to this possibility, if his heart would have let him; but he felt a dreadful assurance of its fallacy. And what.matchless inhumanity it was to doom the sufferer to such lingering torments, to lead him day by day to so appalling a death, un supported by the consolations of religion, un visited by any human being, abandoned to htmself, deserted of all, and denied even the sad privilege of knowing that his cruel destiny would awaken pity! Alone he was to perish! —alone he was to wait a slow coming tor ture, whose most exquisite pangs would lie in flicted by that very solitude and that tardy coining! " It is not death 1 fear," he exclaimed. " hut the death 1 must prepare for! Methiuks, too, 1 could even meet that—all horrible and re volting as it is—at' it might overtake me now. Hut where shall I find fortitude to tarry till it come? How can I outlive the three long days and nights I have to live? There is no power within me to bid the hideous spectre hence— none to make it familiar to my thoughts; or myself, patient of its errand. My thoughts, rather will flee from me, and I grow mad in looking at. it. Oh, for a deep sleep to fall up on me! That so, in death's likeness, I might embrace death itself, and drink no more of the cup that is presented to ine, than my fainting spirit has already tasted!" In the midst of these lamentations, Vivenzio noticed that his accustomed meal, with the piclher of water, had becu conveyed as before, into his dungeon. Hut this circumstance no longer excited his surprise. His mind was overwhelmed with others of a far greater mag nitude. It suggested, however, a feeble hope of deliverance ; and there is no hope so feeble as not to yield some support to a heart bend ing under despair. He resolved to watch, du ring the ensuing night, for the signs he had be fore observed ; and should he again feel the gentle, tremulous motion of the floor, or the current of air, to seize that moment for giving audible expression to his misery. Some per son must lie near him, and within reach of his voice, at the instant when his food was sup plied ; some one, perhaps, suseeptiole of pity. Or if not, to be told even that his apprehen sions were just,and that his fate ten* to be what lie foreboded, would be preferable to a sus pense which hung upon the possibility of his worst fears being visionarv. The night came ; and as the hour approach ed wlicu Vivenzio imagined he might expect the signs, he stood fixed and silent as a statue. He feared to breathe, almost, lest he might lose auy sound which would warn him of their coming. While thus listening, with every fac ulty of mind and body strained to an agony of attention, it occurred to liiiu he should be more sensible of the motion, probably, if lie stretch ed himself along the iron floor. He accord ingly laid himself softly down, and had not been long in that position when—yes, lie was certain of it—the floor moved under liiiu ! He sprang up, and in a voice suffocated ticarlywilh emotion, called out. He paused—the motion ceased—he felt no stream of air —all was hush ed—no voice answered his—he burst into tears and sank on the ground, in renewed anguish, exclaimed —"Oh, my God ! my God ! You alone have power to save mo now, or strength en me for the trial you permit." Another morning dawned upon flic wretched captive, and the fatal index of his doom met his eyes. Two windows!—and tiro days—and ali would be over! Fresh food—fresh water! The mysterious visit had been paid, lliough lie had implored it in vain. Hut how awfully was his prayer answered in what he now saw! The roof of the dungeon was within a foot of his head. The two ends were so near, that in siv paces he trod the space between them. Vi venzio shuddered as he gazed, and as his steps traversal the narrow area Hut his feelings no longer vented themselves in frantic wail ings. With folded arms, and clenched teeth, with eyes that were bloodshot from much watch ing, and fixed with a vacant glare U|M>II the ground, with a hard quick breathing, and a hurried walk, lie strode backwards and for wards in silent musing for several hours. What mind shall conceive, what tongue utter,or what pen describe the dark and terrible character of his thoughts ? Like the fate that moulded them, they had no similitude in the wide range of this world's agony for man. Suddenly lie stopped, and his eyes were riveted IIJIOII that part of the wall which was over his bed of straw. Words are inscribed there ! A hu man language traced by a human hand ! He rushes towards thein ; hut his blood freezes as he reads : " I, Ludovico Sforza, tempted by the gold of the Urince of Tolfi, spent three years in con triving and executing this accursed triumph of my art. When it was completed, the profi dous Tolfi, more devil than man, who conduct ed me thither one morning, to be a witness, as he said, of its perfection, doomed rue to lie the first victim of my own pernicious skill ; lest, as lie declared, I should divulge the secret, or re peat the effort of my ingenuity. May God pardon him, as well as I hope lie will me, that ministered to his unhallowed pur|M>sc ? Mis erable wretch, wlio'er thou art, that rcadest these lines, fall on thy knees, and invoke as, I have done, His sustaining mercy, who alone can nerve thee to meet the vengeance of Talfi, armed with this tremendous engine which, in a few hours, must crush you, us it will the needy wretch who made it." A deep groan burst from Vivenzio. He stood, like one transfixed, with dilated eyes, expanded nostrils, and quivering lips, gazing at this fatal inscription. It was if u voice from the sepulchre had sounded in hisenrs"l*repare." Hope forsook liiin. There was his sentence, recorded in those dismal words. The future stood unveiled before liini, ghastly and appall ing. His brain already feels the descending horror—his bones seem to crack and crumble in the mighty grasp of the iron walls ! Un knowing what it lie docs, he fumbles in his gar ment for some weajion of self destruction, lie clenches his throat in his convulsive gripe, as though he would strangle himself at once. He stares upon the walls, and his warring spirit demands : " Will they not anticipate their of fice if 1 dash my head against them ?" An hys terical laugh chokes him as he exclaims "Why should I ? He was but a man who died first in their fierce embrace ; and I should be less than man not to do as much !" The evening sun was descending, and Vi venzio beheld its golden beams streaming through one ol the windows. What a thrill of joy shot through his soul at the sight ? It was a precious link, that united him, for the moment, with the world beyond. There was ecstasy in the thought. As he gazed, long and earnestly, it seemed as if the windows had lowered sufficiently for him to reach them.— With one bound lie was beneath them—with one wild spring lie clung to the bars. Whether it was so contrived, pnrjmsely to madden with delight the wretch who looked, he knew not ; but, at the extremity of a long vista, cut through the solid rocks, the ocean, the sky,the sitting sun, olive groves, shady walks, and in the farthest distance, delicious glimpses of mag nificent Sicily, burst upon his sight. How ex quisite was the cool breeze as it swept across Lis cheek, loaded with fragrance! He inhaled it a* though it wi re the breath of continued life. And there was a freshness in the land scape, and in the rippling of the calm green sea, that fell iqiou his withering heart like dew upon the parched earth. How he gazed, and panted, and still clung to his hold ! sometimes hanging by one hand, sometimes by the other, and then grasping the bars with both, as loth to quit the smiling paradise outstretched be fore him ; till exhausted, and his hands swol len and benumbed, lie dropped helpless down, and lay stunned for a considerable time by the full. When he recovered, the glorious vision had vanished, lie was in darkness. lie doubted whether it was not a dream that passed before his sleeping fancy ; but gradually his scatter ed thoughts returned, and with them came re membrance. Yes ! lie had looked once again upon the gorgeous splendor of nature ! Once again his eyes had trembled beneath their veil ed lids, at the sun's radience, and sought re pose in the soft, verdure of the olive trees, or the gentle swell of the undulating wave. Oh, that lie were a mariner, exposed upon those waves to the worst fury of t''e storm and tem pest ; or a very wretch loathsome with disease, plague stricken, and Lis body one leprous con tagion from crown to sole, hunted fortli to gasp out the remnant of infectious life beneath those verdant trees, so he might shun the destiny upon whose edge he tottered ! Vain thoughts like these would steal over his mind from time to time, in spite of himself; but they scarcely moved it from that stupor into which it had sunk, and which kept him, during the whole night, like one who had been drug-red with opium. He was equally insensi ble to the calls of hunger and thirst, though tiie third day was now commencing since even a drop of water had passed his lips. He re mained on the ground sometimes sitting, some times lying ; at intervals, sleeping heavily ; and when not sleeping, silently brooding over what was to come, or, talking aloud, in disor dered speech, of his wrongs, of his friends, of his home, and of those he loved with a confus ed mingling cf all. In this pitiable condition, the sixth and last morning dawned upon Vivenzio, if dawn it might be called—the dim, obscure light which faintly struggled through ONE SOLITARY window of bis dungeon. He could hardly be said to notice the inclanchcly token. And yet he did not notice it ; for as lie raised his eyes and saw the portentous sign, there was a siighl convulsive distortion of Lis countenance. Hut w hat did atti'act his notice, and at the sight of which his agitation was excessive, was the change of his iron bed bad undergone. It was a lied no longer. It slood Itclorc him, the visi ble semblance of a funeral bier ! When he beheld this lie stalled from the ground ; and VOL. XIX. —NO. 20. in rising himself suddenly struck his head against the roof, which was now so low that he could 110 longer stand upright. "Hod's wilt lie done," was all he said as he crouched his liody, and placed his hands upon the bier ; for such it was. The iron bedstead hod lieen so contrived, hy the mechanical art of Ludovieo Sforza, that as the advancing walls came in contact with its head and feet, a pressure was produced upon concealed springs, which, when made to play, set in motion a very simple though ingeniously-contrived machinery tlmt effected the transformation. The object was of course, to heighten, in the cfosing scene of this horrible drama, all the feelings of despair and anguish, which the preceding ones had aroused. For the same reason, the last win dow was inade us to admit only a shadowy kind of glooin rather than light, that the wretched captive might lie surrounded us it were, with every seeming preparation for ap proaching death. Yivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then he knelt and prayed fervently ; and sometime* tears would gush from him. The air seemed thick, and lie breathed with difficulty ; or it might be that lie fancied it was so, from the hot and narrow li mi is of his dungeon, which were now so diminished that he could neither stand up nor lie down at his full length Hut his wasted spirits and oppressed mind no lon ger struggled within liiiu He was past hope, and fear shook him no more. Happy if thus revenge had struck its final blow ; for ho would have fallen beneath it almost unconscious of u pang. Hut such a lethargy of the soul, after such an excitement of its fiercest passions had entered into the dialiolicul calculations of Tolti ; and the fell artificer of his designs had imagined a coiitcracting devise. The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon the ears of Yivenzio ! He started. It beat but once. The sound was so close and stun ning, that it seemed to shutter his very brain, while it echoed through the rocky fiassages like reverl>cratiiig peals of thunder. This was followed by a sudden crash of the roof and walls, as if they were about to full and close around him at once Yivenzio screamed and instinctively spread forth his arins, as though lie had a giant's strength to hold thetu back. They moved nearer to him, and were now mo tionless. Yivenzio looked up and saw the roof almost touching his head, even as he sat cow ering beneath it ; and he felt that a farther contraction of but a few inches only must com mence the frightful operation. Housed as he had been, he now gasped for breath, llis body shook violently—he was nearly bent dou ble. His hands rested upon either wall, and his feet were drawn under him to avoid the pressure in front. Thus he remained more than an hoar, when that deafcuing hell heat again, and again there came the crash of hor rid death. Hut the concussion was now so great that it struck Vivcnzio down. As he lay gathered up iu lessened bulk, the bell beat loud and frequent—crash succeeded crash— and 011, and ou, and on came the mysterious engine of death, tiil Yivenzio's smothering groans were heard no more ! He was horri bly crushed by the ponderous roof nnd collaps ing sides—and the flattened bier waß his Iron Shroud. WEBSTER MATCHED BY A WOMAK.— In the somewhat famous case of Mrs. Hodgeu's will, which was tried in the Supreme Court some years ago, Mr. Webster appeared as counsel lor for the appellant. Mrs Greenough, wife of Rev. William (Ireenoogh, late of West New ton, a tail straight, queenly-looking woman, with a keen black eye—a woman of great self possession and decision of character—was cal led lo stand as a witness on the opposite side from Mr. Webster. Webster, at a glance, had the sagacity to foresee that her testimony, ifit contained anything of importance, would hare great weight with the court and jury. He therefore, resolved, if possible, to break her up. And when she answered to the first ques tion put to her, " I believe," Webster roared out, " We don't want to hear what you believe wc want to hear what you know !" Mr*. Greenough replied. " That's just what I waa about to say, sir," and went ou with her testi mony. And notwithstanding his repeated efforts to disconcert her, she pursued the even tenor of her way, until Webster, becoming quite fearful of the result, arose, apparently in great agitation, and drawing out his large snuff box, thrust his thumb and finger to the very bottom, and carrying the deep pinch to both nostrils, drew it up with a gusto ; aud then extracting from his pocket a very large hand kerchief, which flowed to his feet as lie brought it to the front, lie blow his nose with a rejiort that rang distinct and loud through the crowd ed ha'l. Webster—" Mrs Gteenough, was Mrs. Hodgen a neat wouiau ?" Mrs. Greenough —" I cannot give you very full information as to that sir ; she had one very dirty trick."— Webster—" What's that, ma'aiu?" Mrs.Grcen ough—" She took snuff?" The roar of the court-house was such that the future Defender ol the Constitution subsided, and neither roae nor spoke again until Mrs. Greenough had vacated her chair for another witness, having ample time to rellcet upon the inglorious history of the man who had a stone thrown ou his head by a woman.— Boston Tsrtgrr. CHINESE WlT.— Somelody writes from an American vessel in the Chinese waters, that a worthy missionary had scattered several copies of the Ten Commandments on the shore. The next day they were sent back with the request that they might lc distribut e l among the French and G iglish, for tho tracts contained admirable doctrines, and theso people evidently much needed them. A KKIKNIJ of ours thus eulogizes his musical attainments—" I know two tunes. Tim one is ' Auld Lang Sync,' and the other isn't. I always sing tlm latter." "O, MY FKIKX n," said a doctor to an Irish patient, " be composed ; we must all die once." " And it's that what vexes me" replied Fat ; •' if I could die a half a dozen times, I'd uot cure a half-penny about this time."
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