jjllAß PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWAJNTIDA.:
5*- Thursday Morning, March 10, 185 S.
p- StkdA
SPRING.
RM
k BY HKNRY T. TCCKF.RMAN.
Bk j- r jjc of the year ! 1 met thee last
P" Amid thy favorite bowers,
t Aad saw thy virgin form repose
In On tanks of Southern flowers ;
P® Thy breath awoke Creation's lyre,
*d Thine eve embodied youth,
ILK
Thy smile gave birth to countless dreams
B Of glory, love, and truth !
j?J' Zephyrs, as angels' breathing soft,
B And rain more sweet than dew,
Molded thy beauty into life,
I*" Sweet, delicate, ami true ;
Ith The -ky a deeper azure wore,
are The sea more gently rolled,
jr" The sua his banner newly decked
aw With purple, rose and gold.
idn
the The dim, gray olive's leaf grew bright
B To feel thy kindly air
gfc stir it- old boughs, like childhood's cheek
B Pillowed on lioary hair,
ep- The cypress wildly waved no more,
Aud ceased its dirge-like moan,
To greet thy thrilling tou'-h, and hear
■ The music of thy tone.
■ Thy tender hand drew off" the shroud
■ From many an Alpine head,
[j? And io! where long dense clouds hung dark,
V pearly light is spread :
|a The ancient moss was green again,
i, Beneath thy pitying tear,
And shrunk the dead leaves from tlio grass
A- thy light step drew near.
With pensive sweetness played the founts,
And streamlets louder sung,
As thou thy cynosure of hues
Around them softly Hung :
r The west, reflecting thy deep blush,
an Prolonged its rosy glow ;
The hill-tops felt thy balmy kiss,
And doffed their garb of snow.
Thy song beguiled the lizard forth
To rustle through the broom,
w And dressed the almond-bonglis with buds,
I To wait a sweet perfume ;
The bee trilled clear bis tiny horn,
I The nightingale her flute,
I Each whispering branch became a harp,
iAnd every reed a lute.
The aloe raised his pendant spear,
it With a chivalric pride,
I While the dark pines a welcome waved
I Along the mountain side.
3 The lily, from its shield of green,
1 Looked forth with meek surprise ;
Aud Twilight lingered from lier couch,
| To watch thy loving eyes !
IBisttllaittotts.
WATER.
I There are two primal necessities of human
I iiia; good water and pure air. Yet, strange
f Ij enough, these two things, which, it might
I have been supposed, instinct itself would have
j preserved to us intact, are most rarely found
|ia;avagc or civilized life. To confine our-
I sel es to water, we find a striking contrast be-
I t*ven the ideal and the real, between the typi
cal image of purity aud the actual condition
|of our household water. If we could analyze
g and test oue-half of the fluid which enters in-
Ito the composition and preparation of our dai
ly meals, we should be as horrified as John
I Perry's immortal boy was, when he sees the
I magnified clieese-mitc in the microscope, and
hears that, perhaps, he has eaten thousands
lof them in his life. A certain little pamphlet
I put forth a few years ago, had a most terri
fying microscopic frontispiece, indicative of the
various confervie and aninialcula* found in the
supplies of the various water companies of
London. It made one an auti-teetotaller for
I months after : magnifying every floating grain
of dust into a dusty rotifyer, or a twilight mo
nad, and causing whole forests of poison-fed
conferva; to spring up, imaginatively, if but ail
infinitesimal fraction of wood had found its
ff ay iuto the glass. It was long before the
effect of that frontispiece wore off ; and never
to this day, has a glass of water been relished
°r its purity believed in.
The composition of water is unvarying.—
One part of hydrogen aud eight of oxygen
s 'and as the alpha and omega which bound
••'tween them all the changes that may occur,
ior whatever else may be found in water, is
1 it a foreign substance, changing its effect,
out uot its nature. Whatsoever it may be—
j -alts, sulphur, minerals, organic matter, alka
? hes—though altering the theraputic character
aud effects of the fluid, just as tea, sugar, bran
ay, or Epsom salts may do, leaves the element
| unchanged. Waters equally pure and cigar
i m appearance, differ strangely in the nature
j wd character of these adventitious additions.
',' e y have so much carbonic acid held in
jtiou in it, that when you remove it by
01 hug, the lime falls down. Another has
I U, proved by a white deposit, when
jCcatftl with a salt of silver. A third, taken
Joui wells near sewers, near the sea, or near
• l mtr 'd place, will give a dense and ready
tciMf'' lale ' 6^ow ' n g the presence of organic
a ;" r,Q solutiou ; which, though efficacious
f ur ° ' or fjuats, is most undesirable as food
we "bf 0 ' vary also in comparative
com '' aci . f)r( '' IJ " to the substances which they
anv • ,'" e d water, being water without
' il!:o ". ' s the lightest of all ; while stag
cut. Ha . ttr ' of organic matter, of auimal-
Wat'r i ve getation, is the heaviest. Sea
it r-r \' S av y proportion to the salt which
-ain't a an' nS u the Dead Sea, being the
thi iV ' S , v ' er than the Mediterranean,and
rock* ia ° • Atlantic. Water from insoluble
las rWm 1U a ' eB near 'y as "gbt and pure
I Q , T I e . (J *ater ; that from chalk, as about
I -11 w° U ' W av ' Lut clear ; and soon, with
f '.if, U °' S ' accor^', ig as they have opporluni
' fc£nl) J i°'' 01 dissolving substauees from the
j •lu some of the rocky districts in Der
by shire, medical men use the natural water for
their prescriptions, iustcad of the distilled wa
ters of the laboratories. They find the uatu
ral water almost as pure and more aerated.
The ideal of water is perfectly pure rain wa
ter ; such as it would be if eondcuscd directly
from the clouds themselves, and without pas
sing through the lower strata of the atmos
phere. Collected originally by means of evap
oration—by which evaporation all the salts of
the oceans, all the impurities of the ponds, all
the noxious cases, and hurtful substances have
been left behind—it is watery perfection ; soft,
pure, aerated and bright. Water which has
passed deep into the ground, is liable to con
tain all that is soluble there ; but it is more
brilliant. It nearly always contains less inor
ganic matter, this being generally destroyed
by the action of the soil ; it is generally har
der, refusing to pass over the skin until sof
tened with soap or alkali. The well-water of
towns is generally bad ; bad to the taste and
bad for the health ; though clear and bright.
" It often has an oily taste to the mouth,"
says I)r. Angus Smith, "not from the exis
tence of oil in it at all, but because it has al
kaline salts in solution, imparting flatness or
insipidity, and rendering it heavier." The
Athenians knew this when they said that cer
tain waters were heavy, and made the mouth
feel full. But this quality is common at the
present time ; and Dr. Angus Smith says lie
generally " finds that if any well is very fa
mous in a town, it is one which has become
loaded with suits coming from impure drain
age." In one which he tested, he found as
much as an ounce of these salts to a gallon,
blood water has only a few grains of such
salts.
But to go hack to rain-water. Unless prop
erly collected and filtered, it is worse than any
other, for human purposes ; excepting that
which is actually stagnant and full of decom
posing matter. In large towns it becomes
tainted by passing through an atmosphere la
den with soot, sulphuric and sulphurous acid,
ammonia, carbonic acid, and animal matter.
It is, therefore, nnfit for drinking. And in
the country, it falls through strata charged
with pollen and vegetable matter, with minute
animal life,and other unwholesome emanations.
The first rains, then, ought to be allowed to
run off, and only the second taken, after the
first have washed the atmosphere clean. If
collected too soon, or taken from foul and im
proper places—from the roofs of houses, lead
en gutters, open tanks floating with leaves,
drowned insects, particles of soot and other
refuse, or from stagnant ponds swollen with
rains—and if used without Alteration, it is of
course unwholesome. But if it has fallen on
ground where it can obtain little or nothing
to dissolve, and has passed slowly through a
few feet or even inches of fine sand, or other
porous and insoluble matter, it is the best of
all kinds. Sand is the natural iilterer. But
where it does need Alteration, charcoal is the
best for house purposes. It must be animal
charcoal, thoroughly burnt and purified ; and
next to this, in autiseptie efficiency, is a filter
of pure white sand.
Modern science shows the unhealthy waters
to be :
1. Those which hold animal or vegetable
matter.
2. Those containing an overplus of gaseous,
earthy, saline or metalic principles.
3. Those deprived, or with an insufficient
quantity of air.
Some chemists say, that it is the confined
waters of Switzerland, and their mixture with
melted snow-water, which is almost absolutely
destitute of iodine, that helps to make so many
cretins. Of course they do not assert that
the water is the sole cause. The want of a
free circulation of air in the deep vallics, and
the want of a free and generous diet, together
with the close intermarriages common even in
Roman Catholic mountainous districts—all
these causes count for much in this malady ;
but Foissac makes the confined streams and
melted snow-water stand sponsors for more.—
This is given as the opinion of only some among
the chemists, of some perhaps of the most
rash. Others, who need more sure data be
fore fixing a cause, hesitate and doubt, and if
they do not deny, at least do not affirm that
statement. But, at ail events, it requires very
little chemical courage to say that melted
snow-water is bad, owing to its absence of io
dine ; iodine being the grand specific against
scrofula, glandular swelling, and the like.—
However, as rain-water holds a larger propor
tion of iodine than any other, and as the streams
of Switzerland are partly fed by the rain which
falls abundantly there, we may place this as a
set-off against the other side. Davy indeed
thought that the waters of Switzerland were
more highly iodised than the rest, but would
not say so ; and on these differences of opin
ion we may not dare to pronounce.
The melted ice of sea-water has no saltness,
and is sweet and pleasant, but unwholesome,
causing glandulcr swellings in the throat, ar
riving ic fact to the condition of snow-water
which has been congealed and locked up with
out atmospheric air Lord Mulgrave drank
this melted sea-ice in his northern expedition,
and felt no ill effects from it ; but Captain
Cook's men, who did the same, during a sear
city of fresh water, were seized with eholie and
glandular swellings, hi this instance the an
cients were wiser than we. They knew of the
freedom from salt of iced or evaporated sea
water. They obtained evaporation, or distil
lation, by leaving fleeces to be soaked with
the evening dews which rise from the ocean as
from the earth. When wrong out, the water
was found to be free f-rom salt, sweet, and
pleasant. But they knew its unwholesome
pro)>erties, and avoided it for drinking or in
the preparation of their food.
Sea-water is lower in temperature than the
atmosphere at noon ; equal in the morning
and evening, and higher at night ; retaining
the day's heat longer than the earth does ;
also, having in itself more latent heat, it af
fords a more plentiful evaporation. And let
us remember that it is not the salt which pre
serves it alive, so to speak, as so many have
affirmed, but the abundant aeration which is
produced by its incessant movement. Doiat-
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
" REftARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
Ed from the tide, and kept like other water, it
decomposes and putrifies even sooner than
fresh water, because it contains more organic
and foreign substances. Without its waves
and tides, the ocean would soon become one
huge plain of corruption, by which no living
thing could exist.
Most nations have been proud of their great
rivers. The Romans were proud of their Ti
ber as an Englishman is of his Thames, or as
Monsieur Chatin is of the Seine above Paris ;
while the Martia, conveyed to Rome full thir
ty miles from the Lake Fucinus, was the old
Latin's ideal of aqueous purity and beauty.—
lie did not stop at rivers, though, lie had
aqueducts which could discharge three hundred
and twenty-six millions of gallons of water in
to the city. They formed, and still do form,
rivers in the streets. These aqueducts wore
two hundred and fifty miles in length ; im
mense covered ways supported ou arches, and
built of solidest stone ; passing through the
country like gigantic arteries opening into that
wonderful heart of the world, that iron heart,
with its measured beat and stony strength, by
which all other nations pulsed and throbbed.
Greece as well as Rome, made noble works for
obtaining a good supply in her cities ; so did
ancient Mexico and Peru. The Mexicans,
indeed, hail a water-pipe to every house, and
an old water-god into the bargain—one Tla
loc. Everywhere—in mythology, poetry, his
tory, and commerce—we find that water plays
a more important part than any other natural
element ; and a nation without an idealized
stream would be a nation without a poem and
without a history. Yet, some places are very
badly off'. For our sole, but excessive instance,
is the islaud of Gorea, which has not a drop of
fresh water in it, and which is obliged to send
to llann, twelve miles from the shore, on the
main land, for all it needs. Yet the island is
reported healthy, in spite of the great want.
Thermal waters are generally pernicious.—
One near Soracte killed ad the early birds,
and the Geysers arc not pleasant tea-urns.—
The waters at Baden-Baden, Bath, and other
such places, may be very good medicines ; but
water should not be physic. Unwholesome
waters may usually be made better by boiling
and filtering, then agitating them in the air,
to get as much admixture of the atmosphere
and its electricity as possible.
Water boils at two huudred and twelve de
grees, and freezes at seventy-live degrees be
low the temperature of the human body that
is, at thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. But it
may be cooled at least twenty degrees below
this without freezing. It expands on freez
ing, which is the reason why glass jugs and
bottles break when a ball of ice takes the
place of the water within them. This is the
reason, too, why a frosty winter is so valua
ble to the farmer. The ice breaks up the soil,
renders the rocks soluble, and lit food for
plants, supplying them with their ashes or in
organic constituents, besides killing many of
the grubs and larvae of destructive insects,
which else would render many a tilled uere a
barren waste.
The quantity of rain which falls in Europe
varies as much as the rest of the water statis
tics Most falls at Bergcm ; and Seathwaite,
in Cumberland, or, perhaps, Kendal, in West
moreland, stands next. The rain-gunge has
measured one hundred and fifty inches at
Seathwaite during the year ; but the average
for England is, in every favorable spot, from
eighteen to forty inches, rising to sixty inches
iu more rainy districts, and from sixty to eigh
ty-four in those which are rainier still. We
must not confound the quantity of rain which
falls in a locality with the number of rainy
days. A deluge during one day and night will
wipe off a large part of the score. Such delu
ges are not uncommon. Ou the twenty-fifth
of October, eighteen hundred and twenty-two,
thirty-two inches fell without a pause at sun
ny Genoa ; and once at Bombay six and a
half inches fell in one day ; at Cayenne, from
eight in the evening to six the next morning,
ten inches fell ; and at Geneva six inches and
a-hulf fell in three hours. At Yera Cruz thir
ty-seven inches fell in July, August and Sep
tember, but only fifty-five in the whole year.
In England the numbers are highest for sum
mer and autumn, lowest for spring and win
ter ; while in Russia the rain which falls in
summer is thrice the volume of that which falis
in winter.
If, as some say, iron is the bone of the earth,
then is water the blood ; the ceaseless ebb and
flow of which, the endless evaporation and
return, corresponding to the throb and pulse
of the human heart and its life-blood. The
very air, even when crisp and dry, has one
fifth per cent, of moisture in it, and we our
selves have seventy-five per cent, of water in
us. When we have parted with it all, we be
come those desiccated skeletons which fall to
dust in the open air. So long as we retain
the cohesive mould and form of humanity, so
loag is the watery principle in force. "With
out it, the whole earth, Himalayas and Andes
included, would be but a handful of dust—a
gigantic heap of dry powder, on which not
even the most rudimentary lichen could exist.
The ancients built altars to Diana, and wor
shipped the mother Moon. For Diana and
the moon emblemised the water principle, with
out which nature would have no plastic force,
and the earth no form, no life, and no loveli
ness.—Household 1 Vends.
" PAPA, can a person catch anything if he
don't run after it ?" '* No." "\\ ell, then, how
did yon catch the cold you have got ?" " By
running after your mother, to bring her home
from the Woman's Right's Meeting."
"AH!" said Seraphina Angelina, speaking
on some subject in which her feelings were en
listed, "how gladly I would embrace an op
portunity !" " Would I were an opportunity!"
inteirupted her bashful lover.
giiff A plowman became enamored of a
milkmaid on a neighboring farm, iiis addres
ses were rejected, and the disappointed swain,
full of melancholy and revenge, procured a rope
went to the barn, and—tied all the cows'tails
together.
Getting in at Night.
" The door was locked when I got home,"
said Tom, "and how to get in without wuk
ing up the Governor, was the difficulty. I
know he'tl give me particular fits, if he knew
1 was out after It), and the clock had just
struck one. The buck yard was an impossi
bility, and but one chance remained. There
was a porch over the front door, the roof of
which was but a few feet below the two win
dows. One of which 1 knew was fastened
down, and the other opened from the bed
room, which might or might not be occupied.
An old maiden sister of Tim's wife had arriv
ed there on that same day, and it was very
probable that she was in that room ; but I
knew the bed was-in the corner farthest from
the window, and hoped I should lie able to
get in and through the room without waking
her, and then I had a comparatively easy
thing of it. So getting a short plank from
a neighboring board pile, I rested it against
the eave of the shed, pulled off my shoes, put
them in my pocket, and then ' cooned up.'—
All right, so far, but I thought it necessary,
iii order not to arouse any suspiciou in the
morning, to remove the plank, so drawing it
up, I threw off the end, and down it went
with an awful clutter on a stray dog that had
followed me for two or three squares, who im
mediately set up the most awful howl a whip
ped hound ever gave tongue to. This started
half a dozen other dogs in the neighborhood
. barking ; a mocking bird in the window above
commenced singing us if he intended to split
his throat at it, and an old woman, in her
night clothes, with a candle in her hand, ap
peared at the window across the street. I
knew 1 was safe as far as she was concerned,
but if any one came to our windows, the can
dle gave enough light to very probably dis
cover me. Nobody did come, however, and
the old lady, after peeping up and down the
street for a minute or more, popped her head
in and retired. The mocking bird still kept
up its eternal whistle, and was fully half an
hour before it and the dogs settled down and
gave me a chance to move. Creeping slowly
along the wall, till I reached the window, I
put my hands on the sill, and with my head
and shoulders within, and my legs hanging
out, stopped to listen. Yes, she was in that
room, for 1 could hear her breathe. After
waiting for a minute, 1 cautiously drew up one
leg, and then the other, slewed them round,
and putting down on the floor, was just con
scious that I had stepped on something soft
and yielding, and was about withdrawing them,
when another yell broke out at my feet, the
old maid jumped out from her bed crying
Murder ! murder ! and the dogs and mock
ing-bird started up again. I saw through it
all ; 1 had put my foot in it more ways than
one. A little darkey was lying on her back
under the window, and 1 had stepped on her
face, and, of course waked her up. 1 decided
in a flash what to do. The house would be
aroused, and 1 caught to a certainty, unless I
could get into my room before the governor
got tip. But 1 hadn't a moment to lose, for
the little nigger was yelling and the woman
screaming. I started for the door, went three
steps, and struck a chair ; tumbled over, made
the nwfullest racket you ever heard of in the
dead hour of night, in a peaceable house ; the
nigger and old maid screamed louder than
ever, the mocking-bird whistled like a steam
whistle, and the dogs fairly made chorus as
loud as J uHion's.
I reached the door, however, swiftly and
quickly opeued it, and just got out in time to
sec the old gentleman open his dcor with a
candle in his hand, and come hurrying up the
stairs. Not a moment, was to be lost. There
was a wardrobe near where I stood and I
sprang behind it. Up came the governor,
reached the door, opened it, went in, and in
the meantime thete was all sorts of confusion
and inquiry dowu stairs as to what was the
matter. Nobody else came up though, and
from where I stood I heard every word of in
quiry and explanation in the room Of course
they couldn't make much out of it. The lit
tle darkey was too frightened aud too sound
asleep at the time to understand the truth,
and the upshot of the business was, that they
concluded she hail been dreaming, and the
governor, after giving her a sound spanking,
ai.d explaining the matter to the aroused
neighbors, from the window, went down to the
room again.
"So far, so good. T now had to go down
stairs, reach the back door, unbar it, get in
to the yard, make for mv room, which was in
the second story of a back building that stood
unconnected with, and about a dozen yards
from the main one. After giving everybody
another half hour to settle down again, I start
ed. Boys, did you ever try to get up or down
a pair of stairs at midnight, without making a
noise? Yon may try all sorts of ways, but
every step is sure to creak, each with a pecu
liar noise of its own, and loud enough, you are
certain, to waken everybody. I had got near
ly to the bottom when a little fiste dog came
trotting up the entry towards me, yelling fu
riously. A suppressed "Come here, Sir, you
Zip," silenced him, for he recognized me ; but
the fiste started the mocking-bird, and the
dogs in the neighborhood having learned to
take the cue, of course all joined chorus for
the third time.
" I ran along the passage, reached the door
and unlocked it, just as the governor, roused
the second time, opened his door and seeing a
raau escaping from the house by the back way,
of course cried 'Thieves ! Thieves !' and made
a rush after me. I was too quick for him
though, opened the door, sprang out, broke
for the door that opeued into the room under
mine, and had just reached it, when crash !
within a foot of my head went a brick, and
another voice, that I knew belonged to the
next door neighbor, Trmpkins, joined the
governor in the cry of ' Thieves ! Thieves !
Murder ! Thieves !'—l was safe though.-
Rushing up the stairs, I shelled myself quicker
than 1 ever did before or since, aud was iu '
bed and asleep in less than half a miunte.—
Wasn't there a row though ? T never heard
so many dogs before, the mocking-bird, of
course, was outdoing all previous efforts, the
chickens even began to crow. Tompkins, next
door, was halloing ' Thieves !' and calling the
governor. 1 could hear screams and all sorts
of talking and noises among the neighbors mi
til at length, the old gentleman's voice was
heard in the yard calling : ' Tom ! Tom !'
Tom was sound asleep and snoring.
" 'Tom !' cried the old man in a voice that
would have roused a man from an epileptic
fit.
" I judged it prudent to wake then, and
jumped from my bed, raised the window and
rubbing one eye, and looking particularly
frightened (which I was) asked :
" ' Why, father, what in the world's the
matter ?'
" 'There's thieves in the house !' was the
reply ; 'get your guu and come down and be
quick !'
" ' He's in the room below you, Tom !' hal
- Tompkins,' I'm certain of it I saw him
as he ran down, and threw a fire-brick at him.
I know lie didn't pass that door, Mr. Jones.'
" I was directed to look out for myself; the
governor stood sentinel at the door below,
armed with a club, while Tompkins had five
minutes to collect aid from the neighbors, and
less than half that, so thoroughly was even
house alarmed, that there was a dozen or more
men in the yard, armed with guns, pistols,
aud sticks.
" The governor led the attack. Opening
the door, lie called, ' Come out here, you
house-breaking scoundrel ! If you attempt
to run or resist, I'll blow your bruins out !'—
Nobody came however.
" ' Watch the door,' was the order, ' while
I go in,' and 1 was told to ' look sharp,' and
' shoot the rascal if lie come up stairs.' A
momentary search was sufficient to satisfy eve
rybody that the thief was not in that room.
*' ' lie's up stairs, then,' cried Tompkins,
' for I'll take my Bible oath he didn't pass
that door.'
" So up stairs tliey trooped, but I had lit a
candle by that time, and there was no bug
bear there. The strictest search even iu look
ing under a bootjack, didn't show the faintest
trace of him. The yard was next examined,
then tlie house, and everybody being tolerably
well satisfied that he had escaped, the neigh
bors dispersed to their several homes, but I
was appointed as sentinel for the rest of the
night, and ordered not to go to sleep at my
post under a penalty of a flogging.
" The articles missing on a thorough inves
tigation next day, were two pies and the old
lady's silver thimble The thimble turned up
in a week or two, but the pies have never been
accounted for to this day. Ou oath I could
have given very material testimony as to the
disposition of the stolen property, but as the
case didn't come before any court, 1 remained
silent.
" Didn't the local editors loom ! One of
them elongated himself through a quarter of
a column, and headed the item, 'A Diabolical
and Atrocious Attempt at Burglary and Mur
der !!' describing, with graphic particulars,
the fiendish attempt to throttle Miss
and her servant, complimented the coolness
and resolution of 11. Tompkins, Esq., and pe
rorated with a withering anathema on the
want of vigilance displajed by the police.
" It was fun for me to see with what wide
awake sagacity the watch used to stop at the
front door and listen, during their nightly
rounds for a month after ; and you couldu't
have bribed a youngster to go under the porch
on any account after dark. The ex itement
died away though, after a while, but I'll never
forget the night 1 tried to get iu ' without
making a noise.'"
PRIMITIVE MODES OK WORKIXU IRON.— The
early productions of the Malagasy smiths were
necessarily rude, but since the instructions given
to a large number of youths by the thoroughly
qualified English smith sent out with the mis
sionaries, their work has been improved, and
is creditable to their intelligence and skill, es
pecially when the simple apparatus by which
it is produced is considered. The smiths who
work for the government sometimes form almost
entire villages, and work together in sheds ;
but the native smith, who on his own account
plies his craft, works at the south cud of his
dwelling. His forge is a simple affair ; the
enrthern floor of his house forms the' hearth
for his fire, which is kept together by three or
four stones. The bellows consist of two wooden
cylinders with pistons, similar to those which
supply the draft for the smelting furnace.—
The anvil, which is about 6 inches sqnarc, f>
inches high, i.-> let iuto a thick piece of wood
fixed in the ground, with the water-trough,
tongs, hammers, and other tools near it. lie
squats on a piece of plank or board on the
floor, and his assistants sit or stand opposite
him with sledge-hammers in their hands to strike
when required ; and by this simple process the
articles of iron in general use among all clas
ses of the people arc produced.— Ellis's Three
Visits to Madagascar.
RARITY OF TKUE GENTLEMEN. — Perhaps a
gentleman is a rarer thing than some of us
think of. Which of us oau point out many
such in his circle ; men whose aims arc gene
rous ; whose truth is constant, and not only
constant in its kind, lint elevated in its degree;
whose want of meanness makes them simple ;
who can look the world honestly in the face
with equal manly sympathy for great and
small. We all know a hundred whose coats
are well made and a score who have excellent
manners, and one or two happy beings who
are what they call in the inner circles, and
have shot into the very center and bull's eye
of fashion ; but of gentlemen, how many ?
Let us take a little scrap of paper and each
make out his list.
TRUTH is always consistent with itself, and
needs nothing to help it out ; it is always near
at hand, sits upon our lips, and is ready to drop
out before we are aware. A lie is troublesome,
and sets a man's invention upon the rack, aud
one trick nted.-> great many more to make it
good.
vol.. XFX.
Timely Hints.
Tlie failure of the wlieat crop in many see
tions of the country, has caused farmers to look
about them for the best substitutes, and con
siderable forethought anil planning is accessary
to determine the best crops to plant, the best
way to procure the seed, and the best mode of
cultivation. A desire to aid our readers in ar
riving at proper conclusions has caused us to
give considerable thought to this subject, and
in the present and previous numbers we have
described plants not generally grown iu this
country, that perhaps may be introduced to
advantage. Of late, we have examined the
importations of agricnltural products, to ascer
tain what we were purchasing from foreign
countries, that might better bo grown at homo
and we will give a few facts for the considera
tion of the producers of the country.
[ During the last fiscal year, ending June 30,
1858, there were imported into this country
| nearly $lOO,OOO worth of potatoes. Most of
| these were what are known in eastern cities 04
Bermudas. They are similar to our Western
Red, but being raised in the warm climate of
the British West ludies, are ripe about the
time we plant, and find a ready sale here as
new potatoes. The Secretary of the Treasury,
: however, reports importat ions amounting to $7,
000 from Ireland, and $2,000 from England.
Last Fall we saw a statement in the Boston
papers that 20,000 bushels of potatoes had
been received at that port in one week, from
New Brunswick. These facts would seem to
show that growing potatoes is a good business
for those who are within reach of the Eastern
markets. The Blue Mercer has long been the
favorite with wholesale buyers, and sells for
the highest price, but unfortunately, it is not
; productive. For a year or two, growers have
been testing the English Fluke, and it isagood
potato and yields well. We have been told
that it is not a favorite East, but with the ex
perience of only a few trials, we think we know
of none ranch better —excepting always that
little gem, the Mexican, which every farmer
who is fond of good living should raise for his
own use, and for a few customers who are wil
ling to pay for them. The Peach Blow is get
ting to be a great favorite east. It is a fair
sized roundish, white-fleshed potato, the skiu
parti-colored ">f red and white, one end being
almost entirely red, and the other end almost
entirely white, it bears good crops and sells
as high iu New York as any variety, and there
fore is a good sort to plant for shipping. It
originated in New Jersey, we believe. Seed
can be obtained liere at $1 per bushel.
Flax seed, we imported last year to the value
of over three millions of dollars, mostly from
the East Indies and Russia. Linseed Oil, 182,-
813 gallons, at an expense of $104,757,near1y
all of which was bought of England. Wheth
er there is any necessity for this large importa
tion of Flax Seed, and its oil, we leave to our
readers to judge.
Castor Oil, no doubt, will be thought a small
matter, hardly worthy of notice, and yet we
bought Inst year 220,578 gallons costing us
$143,458. This mostly came from the East
Indies, but over 22,000 gallons came from
England, and 240 from Canada.
England presented a bill for Oatmeal of $3.-
305. No one will believe there is any necessi
ty for purchasing ground oats. Was the de
mand greater it would no doubt be generally
manufactured in this country. 11 is principal
ly consumed, we presume, by Europeans who
prefer it to corn meal. It is ground pretty
extensively in Canada, in some of the Scotch
settlements. Germany and Holland we paid
over $lO,OOO for Barley.
Many of the Dye stuffs that we import might
he grown to advantage here, such as Madder,
for which we paid last year $721,780; Woad
and Weld, or Dyers' Weed, of which we may
speak more particularly hereafter.
Of fruit we talk sufficiently iu onr Horticul
tural Department, and will here only remark
that we exported last year 27,711 barrels of
Apples which brought us $74,303: of these,
941 barrels were sent to England, 14,570 to
to Canada and 858 to Australia. Boston
shipped 7,000 barrels, Genessee, (Rochester)
5.- 25 barrels, Niagara, 3,931 and New York.
2,880. That the raising cf our tine, long keep
ing apples, for exportation might be made pro
fitable, we have not the least doubt.
We shall continue to introduce to the notice
of our readers such things as are at least de
serving of thought, in the hopes thntsomewill
be induced to give them a trial, and thus add
to our stock of practical knowledge.— Rural
Xeic Yorker.
REPI.Y TO A CHAM.EXGE. —One of the host
replies ever made to a challenge, was that,
made by Wilkes when he was challenged by
Home Tooke: "Sir, 1 do not think it my
duty to cut the throat of every desperado that
may be tired of his life, but as 1 am at present
High Sheriff of the City of London, it may
happen that 1 may shortly have an opportuni
ty of attending yon in mv official capacity, in
which case I will answer for it. that you shall
have no grounds to complain of my endeavors
to serve you."
How TO STAIST YEAST. — A lady in Minesota
wishes to kuow how to start yeast. 1 will
give my w ay. Boil a handful of hops iu about
a quart of water ten or fifteen minutes, strain
it boiling ; put in a couple of handfuls of flour,
stir it up, set it, where it will be moderately
warm. It will ferment anil work all the lumps
out. It is generally ready for use in ten or
twelve days. Put it in a Jug and cork tight.
Shake well before using.— Cor. of Prairie Par
tner.
A man finds himself seven years older the
day after his marriage.
MAX can enjoy nothing, to effect alone ;
some one must lean upon his arm, listen to his
observations, point out secret beauties,an 1 be
come, as it were, a partner in his feelings, or
his impressions are comparatively dull ami
spiritless.
Prosperity is no just scale-, adversity is the
only balance to weigh friends iii
.—T\ T O. 40.