jit DOLLAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
Thursday Morning, April 14, 1859,
Sclcdtb ,
[From Ballou'n Pictorial.]
ASSURANCE.
BY SYBIL PARI.
Ted: you love me—Agnes Lane,
And that forehead white as snow,
Seed not crimson so with shame,
That I dare to tell thee so,
Very quick your young heart throbs-
Full of tieauty, joy and light;
Underneath sleeps broken sobs,
For the love you scorn to-uiglit.
Wreathe your lips with coldness now,
Such a look of proud disdain,
Well becomes that haughty brow, —
Though it bring a moment's pain ;
Yes, you love me; every tone
Of your voice was sweet and low,
When you wandered here alone,
At the early twilight glow.
I can read within your eyes,
All the words I breathe are true.
Fur each great thought mirrored lies
Iu their depths of languid blue ;
And the white rose in your hair.
Twined among the diamonds bright.
Is the one I bade you wear,
When we parted yesternight.
Yester-eve —oh strange to say—
Those small jewelled hands of thine,
Sparkling, trembling, trusting, lay.
Willing captives clasped in mine.
With its wealth of tresses brown,
(There, you need not sigh and start.)
That young head bent humbly down,
Nestling close agaiust my heart.
Ah 1 the crimson blushes sweep
Over cheek and brow of snow.
What! can those proud eyelids weep—
Lady have 1 grieved you so,
C >me to me poor wounded bird ;
Fold your white wings here again—
Now its icy depths are stirred,
How your bosom throbs witli pain.
REMARKS OF
E. EEED ZMTITEIR,,
On the Snbjwt of Exemptions.
Senate bill Xo. 483, "a supplement to an
act to exempt property to the value of three
honored dollars from levy and sale on execu
tion and distress from rent, approved April 9,
184?,'' came up in order on second reading;
| when, the question being upou the second sec
j tion,
Mr. MYER said : In bringing to the notice
of the Senate the proposition contained in this
bill, I am endeavoring only to carry out what
I believe to be the true intent and meaning of
the Legislature of 1849, which passed the law
commonly called the "three hundred dollar ex
emption law." By an examination into the
history of the exemption laws passed at difFcr
eut times, I find that the great principle of hu
manity, upon which all exemption laws are
founded, first received the attention and favor
able consideration of a Pennsylvania Legisla
ture, in the year 1814 ; and as au evidence of
the feeling that prompted them to the action
then had upon this subject, I will call your at
tention to the title of the act referred to. It is
in these truly expressive words—" an act to
promote the comfort of the poor." A few years
later in the history of onr State, in the year
1821, finding, no doubt, that the operation of
the act of 1814, (slight and inefficient though
it was,) was favorable to the accomplishment
of the object sought to be obtained, the Legis
lature passed two other acts of like import and
similar title, keeping still in view the idea that
must have then been prominently in view as
before, of promoting the general happiness and
prosperity of the whole people.
The acts to which I have referred are i*
themselves unimportant, so far as the amount
of property that was really exempt from levy
and sale by remorseless and unfeeling creditors
was concerned, but they are of vast importance,
asexhibitingthe spirit that animated the hearts
of the men who were called upon to conduct
the affairs of state at that day, and prove that
the people had really considered those measures
as beneficial, slight as was the exemption that
was then secured to the unfortunate debtor and
those that were dependent upon him. As the
good result of these laws more and more de
veloped themselves, the people began more
and more to turn their favorable regards to
the snhject, and in 1828 the members of this
and the other House, then, as before, comiug
directly from the people, aud iu this, as in all
truly republican governments, being the re
presentatives of au enlightened public senti
ment, passed a law exempting property, which
cannot be put down at less than two hundred
and seventy five dollars, from levy or sale.—
lhis law, although operating unequally in con
ferring its benefits, was productive of great
good to the people. It cast around the home
of the poor and industrious citizen the shield
protection, and held out to him that induce
and incentive to action, by creating a
ou h enceaad a certain security in the enjoy
n ° a w>!n e Bur rounded bv the necessary
mor so life, which seldom, if ever, failed
< inspire a man with sufficient ambition to ae
th™H * 8 r? i l - 16 ' aw l )trm ' ts him to Lold for
ic ene l °f himself and family, and fixed
... i U . r ln • "'"'dscfour people the justice
and propriety of a liberal law of exemption.-
so rapid was the progress of reform in this di
l< ion, that in 1842, the odious imprisonment
act, one of the rel.es of barbarism, was swept
oin the statute books, never again to be re-
I t0 d,B & race tlj e history of our legal
un l ''' m,^ s ' ere disposed to travel back
* a • " iS auce, as could be done, the suffering
L „ fT y * c h * cre the legitimate and dis
u results of the enforcement of this ab
* J o 'atee law, I might draw pictures that would
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
astonish and appal you, and make all men
wonder that it had been so long permitted to
disgrace the statue book of a free, humane,and
enlightened Commonwealth ; but it has passed
away, and its baneful effects live only in the
recollectiou of our citizens, as an evidence that
the early legislation of our State was too much
governed by the principles aud views that ob
tained favor in English jurisprudence, from
which we derive, in a large measure, our own
laws, and it required time to break the bonds
of habit, aud bring our legislation, by pro
gressive steps, into close conformityj-with the
genius of free institutions. So firmly fixed in
the minds of onr people, however, had at length
become the policy of our laws in this-direction
that the Legislature, in 1846, passed a still
further law upon this subject, exempting a
yoke of oxen or a horse, not exceeding in
value fifty dollars, from execution in certain
cases, running the value of exempted property
up to at least three hundred and twenty-five
dollars. Thus again the people spoke, through
their representatives, in confirmation of the
well-settled policy of the State, and of their
approval of the beneficent operation of the law
on the subject. Iu tracing the history of
legislation upon this important question, I am
now brought down in scale of time to the pas
sage of the law of 1849, the act to which the
bill now pending is a supplement. The causes
which led to the passage of this law, known as
the three hundred dollar exemption law, it
may not he out of place to refer to.
The operation of former laws upon this ques
tion was found to be unequal It will be read
ily perceived by any one who chooses to exam
ine the act of 1828, that any person living in
a town or city was deprived of many of the
benefits of that law, from the fact that it was
impossible for him to keep many of the articles
enumerated. For instance, he could not keep
a cow or sheep, and of course did not need the
necessary feed to support them, while to a
man living in the country these things were of
great value. Again, all a man's wearing ap
parel was exempt, and while the upstart pop
injay in the city or town might have two or
three, or even five hundred dollars' worth of
clothing to strut in the street with, the honest
mechanic, whose family it would have confer
red a blessing upon to have been able to re
tain an equal amount in value of the necessary
articles, was, by the provisious of this law, de
prived of them. It therefore become the duty
of the Legislature to so alter or amed the law
as to make it operate as nearly equal as possi
ble. It was with this view, and for the accom
plishment of so desirable a result as this, that
the change was made, and all former acts re
pealed, and the law of 1549 enacted in their
stead. The provisions of the bill now under
consideration, as they appear upon its face, are
designed to cure certain supposed defects in the
original law, made really so by the decision of
our Supreme Court, of which it is said of late
there is but one thing remarkable, and that is,
that, as if by chance, they sometimes decide
questions of law twice in the same way.
However, in this case, they lost sight of the
real objects for which the law was passed ;
which were not only designed for the benefit
of men, but more particularly, iike all preced
ing acts relating to the same matter, for the
benefit of families ; for it would be preposter
ous to suppose that the Legislature had no
other object in view, in the passage of the law
except to throw around that portion of our
community that are most able to take care of
themselves, the protecting arm of tne law, and
yet the decision of the Supreme Court has, in
a measure, produced this effect,and has placed
in the hands of the exacting creditor the power
to pauperize many a family, aud cast them out
of house and home, upon the cold charities of
the world.
While Pennsylvania has been moving slow
ly. but sorely, ou this good work of reform,
many of her sister States have made far more
rapid strides in the same direction. Connec
ticut, N. York and Massachusetts wet e among
the first States that led off in this reform
Ohio, Indiana and Maine are also among the
numbers that have acted wisely and legislated
liberally upon this question ; but all the States
named have been far outstripped by some of
the more western States. Some of these have
laws exempting property to the amount of one
thousand dollars. The propriety of so large
au exemption as this, is doubtful policy, nor is
our own State ready to try it at this time ;
but there is 110 excuse or reason why we should
not make the small amount of property, reserv
ed by the law of 1849 to her citizens, secure
beyond any contingency. Any other course
will continue to work hereafter, as it has here
tofore, incalculable mischief and wrong, while
its benefits would be slight and doubtful.
A custom has grown up, since the passage
of the law referred to, under the decision of
the Supreme Court, of exacting Irom the more
un.'ortunate and ignorant portion of our peo
ple, a certain kind of notes, waiving all exemp
tion laws, stay of execution, right of inquisi
tion on real estate, with a confession of judg
ment, Ac., thus binding a man hand and foot;
audi have sometimes thought these "Shylocks"
would get them, if it were possible, by decep
tion or otherwise, to waive their right to a
future existence for the most trifling sum, pro
l vided they could make any money out of it.—
Now, sir, I do no pretend to say that any con
siderable portion of our business men take these
kind of obligations, because they desire or ex
pect to take advantage of and use the extreme
power which they are able to exercise with the
nnfortuuate debtor, because the nature of
the obligation they hold against him- per
mits it ; yet if he has been so pressed by pre
sent uecessities as to be obliged to give this
kind of an obligation to some nnpitying wretch
whose god is Mammon, he may be stripped of
every article of property that he owns, and
himself and family be reduced to abject misery
aud want iu a single day ; while the honest
business man who has trusted hiin upon his
faith in his integrity, as much as from the na
! ture of the obligation he holds, and has been
giving him credit to aid him in supporting his
family, and accumulating something to make
himself, and those dependent upon him, corn
' fortable, is cLeatcd out of what is due him,aud
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
" RESARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
which he would, at some future day, have ob
tained, had the individual been protrected in
the enjoyment of what he had, until sufficient
time had elapsed to have enabled him to over
come present misfortunes.
The whole operation of this law, as it now
stands, is bad. It induces men of doubtful in
tegrity to resort to deception aud fraud, to get
others to givo them obligations containing a
waver of exemptions, by promising them all the
time they inay desire, even after the debt shall
become due ; (such promises are generally
made iu the private counting room, where
there is no witness present ; and if there should
be, he is apt to be some deaf clerk, who did
not hear any hargain except what was " nomi-
Lated in the bond," and that before it was
signed ;) and while it cannot be denied that it
is a temptation to men of easy virtue, it is a
downright license to viUians to make paupers
of enr people. Hence it is, the law should be
complete, and the full and frfee enjoyment of
these exemptions secured to the debtor in such
a manner that he may not be either overawed
or entrapped into stripping himself of it ; and
thatjs what the bill pro
poses to do. Where are the beneficial results
of the law as it is now ? Will it be pretended
for one moment that the collection of a few
dollars from a poor debtor, and the small
amount of advantage it affords to the poor
creditor, are to be put iu the scale against the
misery produced by bringing a whole family to
want and destitution ? Nor is this often the
end of the sad misfortune. Not unfrequently
is it the case, that under such circumstances the
kindest husband and father, driven to despera
tion, falls into habits of dissipation and drunk
enness ; is led on from indulgence iu that one
master vice to a participation in others, until at
last, in an evil hour, under the iutluence of the
maddening bowl, he commits some offence
against the criminal law, (it may be to keep
the issue of his own loins from starvation,) and
is consigned to prison. Thus the once respecta
ble and honest citizen, with a family around
him, under the operation of inhuman laws, has
been made forever an outcast in the commu
nity, a spotted felon, shunned like a leper, and
lost to his family, his friends, society and the
Commonwealth. The sons, too, having wit
nessed the degradation of the father, feel them
selves to be like outcasts, and find enjoyment
only by indulgence in the same vices ; while
the daughters may be growing up to maturity,
exposed to the many dangers that surround the
humble and unprotected female ; and after
being constantly in the way of temptation,
from infauey up to womanhood, at last yield
themselves victims to the vice that always in
curs certain and enduring disgrace. All this
degradation may be brought upon a family to
gratify the avarice of a man without a heart.
It may be said that such cases are rare. It is
to be hoped that they are ; yet I fear, could we
penetrate the secrets of all the trials and diffi
culties, the sorrows and suffering, the vice and
crimes that have been brought upon our peo
ple by the abuse of misplaced confidence under
this law, we would have a list that would as
tonish ourselves. A single instance would be
amply sufficient to justify the passage of this
bill into a law at this time ; and if even
that could not be adduced, the fact that it
would be a legitimate consequence of existing
practice under the law, as now construed and
carried out, would demand the enactment of a
remedial measure. Although drunkenness,
crime and misery are the legitimate results of
unjust and iniquitous laws, iu this case t hey are
not the only great evils that can be remedied,
in a great degree, by the enactment of a law
such as the one contemplated by this bill.
One of the many good result .-, that would follow
the passage of this bill, would be that it would
make every man an independent freeman, who
can exercise the right of suffrage without dan
ger of being sold out of house and home. The
theory of our institutious is, that elections
should be free ; the voter should go the polls
untrammeled by apprehensions, lest some indi
vidual who may hold a claim against him,
should punish him for the exercise of the elec
tive franchise in accordance with his convic
tions, by suit, exaction and the expulsion of his
family from their home, penniless, deprived of
every comfort, and stripped even of all the
necessaries of life. Beautiful as is this theory,
is it not often nullified in practice ? Is it not
perfectly apparent that it may be ? And shall
the freemen of this Commonwealth be left by
the Legislature liable to the operation of ille
gitimate influences of this kind ? It is the in
terest of the State, that the spirit of her insti
tutions should be fully carried out in this re
spect. To that end she has surrounded the
voter with many immunities. He is safe iu
going to, remaining at, and returning from the
polls. He cannot be arrested on any civil pro
cess. lie is protected from the overawing
presenee of armed and embodied troops, while
exercising his part of the popular sovereignty
anywhere in the Commonwealth. Shall, tiien,
the mean and mercenary fear of the " almighty
dollar," be permitted to deprive the State ol
the honest, uubonght and generous expression
of the popular will, under the operation of ex
isting law, which places this injurious power in
the hands of those who are unscrupulous
enough to use it ? Let the original object of
the exemption law be truly attained by de
priving the debtor of all right to waive a privi
lege which the humanity of the law has con
ferred upon him, not merely for his benefit,
but as a protection for his family, and secure
great public objects, and he becomes a freeman,
not merely in opinion, but in action, and need
fear the rich man's contumely and threats, and
actions of punishment through an abuse of
legal process, as little as the. proud man's
scorn or the aristocrat's oppression.
To encourage industry, economy, and the ac
quisition of competent property by the people,
is one of the first interests of a State. A free
hold estate iu the soil, small, though it may be,
is a strong additional motive to good eitiaen
ship, besides those more unsubstantial senti
ments which float in the mind, and are liable
to more or less exaltation, according to the
mood of the moment. The possession of land,
or eveu of goods and chatties, and credits, cn
haucce. a man's good opinion of himself, and
causes him to feel u responsibility, even an ob
ligation of duty'to others, not cherished by the
homeless, houseless wanderer, sowled upon by
the well-to-do in the world, and often degraded
by his vices, just because he has no ties, and is
not encouraged to form them, which bind him
to his fellows, or give him a sense of common
interest with them. Even in a pecuniary point
ot view, the State is concerned that her people
should have some of the comforts of property,
and to encourage its improvement and increase,
because from that source she derives her reve
nues, arid a prosperous people make a flush
treasury, alike for the benefit of office-holders,
aud the noble enterprises of fiscal improvement,
and intellectual culture, which ure among the
leading objects of government.
The home and the family are the most valu
able institutions of the Commonwealth ; there
are matured the domestic virtues, which are the
germ from which flow the social charities, and
the sense of public duty. Destroy these nurse
ries, and extinguish the hearth-fires ; break
down the roof-tree ; scatter husband and wife,
parent and child, brother and sister, through
the unsheltered pathways, under the cold sky
of an unsympathizing world, and all the firm
pillars of the State will be shaken. Trade may
increase, wealth accumulate, luxury and splen
dor dazzle, but the glitteriug building, stand
ing on the shifting sands of mere external pros
perity, must fall, because it is not founded on
the immovable rock of home-bred virtue.
" Princes and kings may flourish and may fail.-,
A breath ran make them as a breath lias made ;
Bat a bold peasantry, its country's pride,
When once destroyed can never be supplied.''
Here we have no class of persons, and we are
fortunate in the fact, which correspond with the
peasantry of Europe. But we have the indus
trious mechanic and the hard-handed laborer,
who ply their task in obscure streets, or far
away among the hills and valleys of the coun
try ; whose daily toil earns their daily bread,
and they produce more of the real wealth of the
nation than its most skillful financiers, and all
the bulls and bears of the stock market, who
dwell iu " marble halls," and whose overgrown
and unstable riches are the spoils of the less or
namental hut vastly more useful dases of the
community. These small ptojtlt deserve the con
sideration of their representatives, who are se
dulous to seek their favor and support on ttie
election day. They should not he surrendered
a prey to unavoidable misfortune. They should
not be handed over to the tender mercies, which
are cruel, of the grasping money dealer, who
estimates a man at just what he ( au make out
of him. A home, and the necessary comforts of
a home, should be secured to them ; and the
pittance of three hundred dollars, in whatever
form of property they may desire, inalienable
either by recklessness, inconsideration or sim
plicity, is surely little enough to constitute
tliem stable members of society, with a stake in
the Commonwealth ; safe under the protection
of her laws ; free to discharge all the duties of
citizenship, without challenge from any quar
ter, and able to look around on wives and chil
dren, with the satisfaction that, so long as life
shall last, they cannot be dissevered from them.
Supported thus in his personal dignity, secure
in his civil rights, safe in his domestic relations,
he possesses the strongest inducement to im
prove his condition. He
" Aspires to taste the proud and manly joy,
That springs from holding in his own dear ri-rht,
The land lie plows, the home he seeks at night.''
It is to encourage such efforts, to contribute
in its measure to the accomplishment ot such
results, that the bill now under consideration
has been drawn, and its passage urged. Ido
not believe it to lie possible that a Pennsylva
nia Senate can reject a proposition, sustained)
by so many motives of humanity, of private ad
vantage and sound public policy ; but confi
dently expect its passage by a vote worthy of
the highest branch of the Legislature of a
free, intelligent and mighty Commonwealth.
BURNING OK GAS.—When coal gas is burn
ing, it combines with the oxygen of from ten
to twelve times its bulk of coiumou air, or even
more, the quantity varying according to the
gas. By this combination, which in fact con
stitutes combustion, watery vapor and carbonic
acid are formed—the former being composed
of all the hydrogen of the gas, with three times
its weight of oxygen, the latter consisting of
all the charcoal, united with the oxygen, in the
proportion of six to sixteen by weight These
products, which are similar to those from a
candle or lamp, mingle with the air of the
apartment, and are removed with it in the
course of ordinary ventilation. In some cir
cumstance's the watery vapor is condensed on
the windows ; and in the street 'amps it may
be seen, when the weather is cold, bedewing
the inside of the globes, and even collecting in
considerable quantity at the bottom. The car
bonic acid is not removed in the same manner
by condensation, and it may accumulate to a
hurtful extent ; this can only happen however
where ventilation is peculiarly defective, aud
the remedy sufficiently apparent. When the
carbon is not all consumed, it flies off in smoke
—an occurrence which should be guarded
against, uot only ou account of its offensive
qualities, but also from the great loss of light
in proportion to gas expended. The emission
of light, though usually the effect of combus
tion, is yet a different phenomenon. Many
substances iucapable of burning, yet emit -the
most brilliant light when they are intensely
heated. Gasses possess this quality iu a very
feeble degree. Air, indeed, may be so hot
that a solid body becomes luminous iu it,while
it gives off no light itself. The temperature
at which solids begin to emit light is about
eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit ; they are
then ineandescene, or red hot ; and if the tem
perature he increased, they become more and
more lomiuous, until they are so brilliant that
the eye cannot look ou them without pain.
JKSfJohn Phenix went to the theatre once
when Mrs. Smith was advertised to appear in
two pieces. After the performance he demand
ed the return of bis money, for, he said. Mrs.
Smith appeared whole during both perform
ances.
A Thrilling Incident.
A British officer, who was in the Buttle of
New Orleans, mcutious the following in. i lent
of thrilling strangeness, and very, descriptive "f
the Western hunter, many of whom march-d
to the defence of New Orleans as volunteers
in the army under the renowued Andrew Juek
son :
We marched, said the officer, in a solid col
umn of twelve thousand men, in a direct line
upoi the American defences. I belonged to
the staff, and as we advanced, watched through
our glasses, the position and arrangements of
our enemy with that iutcnaity an officer only
feels when marching into the jaws of death,
with the assurance that while he thus offers
himself as a sacrifice to the demands of his
country, every action, be it successful or other
wise, will be judged with the most hearties
scrutiny.
It was a strange sight, that long range of
cotton hales—a new material for breastwork
with the crowd of human beings Irehind, their
heads only visible above th iine of defence.
We could distinctly see their long rrtb-s laving
over the bales, and the battery of Gen. Coffee
directly in front, with its great mouth gaping
towards us, and the position of Gen. Jackson,
with his staff around him. But what attract
ed our attention most, was the figure of a tall
man standing ou the breastworks, dressed in
liusey wooisey, with buck-kin leggins, and
broad rimmed felt hat that fell around his face,
almost concealing his features. He was land
ing in oneof those picturesque and graceful atti
tudes peculiar to those natural men-dwellers of
the forest.
The body rested cm the left leg, and swayed
with a curved line upwards ; the hand grasp
ing the rifle near the muzzle, the butt of which
rested near the toe of the right foot, while
with his hand lie raised the rim of the hat
from his eyes, aud seemed gazing from beneath
intensely upon our advancing column The can
non of Gen. Coffee had opened upon u, and
tore through our ranks wtih dreadful slaugh
ter ; but we continued to advance, unwaver
ing and cool, us if nothing threatened our pro-
The roar of cannon seemed to hare an cf
feet upon the figure standing ou the cotton
bales, but he seemed fixed and motionless as a
statue. As last he m&ved, threw back the hat
riin over the crown with his left hand, ruisid
the rifle to his shoulder, and took aim at our
group. Our eyes were riveted upon liirn. At
whom had lie leveled hi- piece '( But the dis
tance was so great that we looked at each
other and smiled. We saw the ritle flash, aud
my right hand companion, as noble looking a
fellow as ever role at the head of his regiment,
tell from his saddle. The hunter paused a few
minutes, without moving his rifle from his shoul
der, then reloaded and resumed bis former at
titude. Throwing his hat rim over his eyes
and again holding it up with the left hau l, he
fixed his piercing gaze upon us as if hunting
out another victim. Once more his hat rim
was thrown back, and the gun raised to his
shoulder. This time we did not smile, but cast
short glances at each other, to see which of ns
must die ; and when the rifle again flashed an
other of us dropped e o the earth. There was
soiuethingawful 11 marching on tocertain dcuth.
General Coffee's battery and thousands of
musket balls played round our ranks. We
eared not for them ; there wa- not a chance
of escaping unscathed. Most of us had walked
upon batteries a hundred times more destruc
tive without quailing ; hut to know that everv
time the rifle was leveled towards us, and its
bullet sprang from the barrel, one of us mast
surely fall ! To see the gleaming sun flash us
the iron came down, and see it rest motionless,
as if poised upon a roek, and know, when the
hammer struck and the sparks flew to the fu'.l
priraed pan, that the messenger of death drove
unerringly to it- goal—to know this, and stili
march on. was awful.
I could see nothing bat the tall figure stand
ing on the breastwork. He seemed to grow,
phantom like, taller and taller, assuming,
through the smoke, the super-natural appear
ance of some giant -pint Again did he re
load and discharge his rifle with the same un
failing aim ; and it. was with indescribable
pleasure that I beheld, ns we neared the Amer
ican lines, the sulphurous smoke gathered
around us and shut the spectral hunter from
my gaze. We lost the battle, and to my mi d
the Kentucky rifleman contributed more to our
defeat than any thing else ; for while he re
mained to our sight our attention was dr.iwn
from our duties, and when at last we became
enshrouded in the smoke, the work was com
plcte—we were in utter confusion and nimble,
in tiie extremity, to restore order sufficieiit to
make any successful attack.
So iong as thousands and thousands of rifles
remain in the hands of the people ; so long as
men come tip from tlmir childhood able, ere the
down appears on the chin, to hie the centre of
a murk, or strike the deer, at one hundred and
fifty yards, in the most vital parts ; so long as
there is a great proportion <>f the licpui'lic
who live as free .as the wild Indian, knowing
no law but that of right, and the honorable
observance of friendly intercourse, America is
unconquerable, and all tie combined world,
though they may drive them frctn the sea
coast across the Alleghany mountains, would
not be able to subdue the free-sonled hunters
among the mountains and great prairies and
mighty rivers of the West.
Trt.RAM.F. MF.rtc.vr. Dis OVKKY. — A fetv days
since, an Irishman upon one of our wharves
was obliged to suspend work in consequence of
being afflicted with an ulcerated sore throat.
His employers pitying his sufferings, sent him
a jar of nice currant jelly ; and to their great
surprise, he resumed his labors oil the follow
ing morning with his throat and head complete
ly enveloped with bandages highly discolored.
Upon being questioned as to his health and
peculiar appearance, J'at replied : " That was
a beautiful medicine ye gave me, and did me a
power of good I ma le it a ' into a nice poul
tice, and put it on the ouhule. of me throat,
and it's far better than all rer doctor's stuff!''
—Best or 7 .r
VOT*. XIX. —NO. 4^.
T:J>. TITMM.KI OY MONARCHY". — If the re
publics of Aim-rica have their corruptions ami
i evil.-, the monarchies of the old world are not
free from their peculiar troubles ; and in proof
of it tve npjM'iu! nti extract from a leading ar
ticle of a lute London Times:
" At this moment Continental Europe is ono
vast catnp. Not only have the visions of long-
Cjiduring peace failed away, but every oric is
preparing for immediate war. While we are
waiting, the resolution may have been taken
which is to plunge Eurnpe in'oblood. Austrian
nud Piedmontese outposts are watebiug each
other across a iiarrow river. The arsenals and
foundries are at work day and uightiu France;
horses are bought up, clothes and shoes aro
ni inufaetured with nil haste, and thousands rf
men fully equipped for the field are ready for
ouihai katiou on the Algerian ports, Austria,
on the other hand, in spite of debt, disaffection,
and that worst of enemies, an alienated friend,
in her rear, is as full of the obsliuato warliko
spirit as her antagonist. Ilcr armies are im
mense, and they are being marched iu muss
to the points threatened by the Freuch Posi
tions have been taken up, fortifications built
or repaired, strong points made stronger, and
the whole resources of a firs- rate military or
ganization brought to bear on the defence of
a highly-valued province. Prussia and tho
German Bund, although highly jealous of
France, would hardly go to war to uphold Aus
tria'- right of occupying the Legations. Yet,
Prussia, Hanover, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtem
berg, all look upon war as a probable eventu
ality. Their armies aro being put on a war
footing ; heads of departments are iu council
together ; the export of horses unforbidden ;
patriotic speeches are made in the Chambers ;
a.id, as a matter of course, the conscription is
heavier than ever. What passes in the vast
and silent empire of the Cigar it is not so easy
to learn with accuracy, but there are rumors
j of troops concentrated iu Poland, aud we may
j conclude that there, too, theie is no alleviation
; of the burdens of an armed peace. But when wo
| turn to our own country we feel most keenly
the -itiiation of affairs. Are these exactions
never to end ? Are these apprehensions never
to be allayed ? Twenty-three millions were
spent in armanents last year, and yet the crv
is still, "(iive." Statesmen and Generals tell
us we are not secure. Periodical panics hu
miliate us in the opinion of foreigners, and
tend to degrade the nutiou even in its own
eyes. We are assured by the Premier that no
taxes can be taken off, and that we may think
ourself fortunate if no new ones are imposed.
The talk is continually of recruiting soldiers,
manning the navy, casting rifled cunnou, aud
building invulnerable craft."
SHEET IRON.— Sheet Iron is made either by
hammering the heated metal to the proper
thickness by the same methods that by some
manufacturers a-o still employed for the pur
pose of drawing it into bars, or it is made to
acquire the propor form and thickness by being
pressed, when strongly heated between smooth
rollers with polished faces, arranged in the
suite manner as those intended for reducing it
to bars. The metal employed for making sheet
iron ought to be very soft and tough ; and
when thin sheets are required, snch as thoso
of which tin-plate is manufactured, the best
charcoal-prepared iron only can be used. To
give the metal the form of sheets, it is repeat
edly pass d through sets of rollers, and when
it has been rolled into very thin sheets, such
as those employed in the manufacture of tin
plate, the smoothing of the surface is effected
by a distinct and separate operation. For thi*
purpose the reduced metal, after being heated
to redness, in order to restore its softness, is
laid in successive layers on a smoothly polished
surface of cast-iron, whore it is strongly com
pressed by the descent of another surface, act
ed on by .hydraulic pressure. A singular illus
tration of rhe tenacity and ductility of iron has
been produced at an establishment in Birming
ham. England. It is in the form of a book,
the leaves of which are iron, rolled so fine that
they are. not thicker than a piece of paper.—
The hook is neatly bound in red morocco, and
contains forty-four of these iron leaves, the
whole being only the fifteenth of an inch thick.
This curious book was rolled in the ordinary
sheet-iron rolls
I'OWER OF itT'.AM. — A pint of water may be
evaporated by two ounces of coal. In its eva
! oration it swells into two hundred and six
ren gallons of steam; with a mechanical force
>i lli .ient to raise u weight of thirty-seven tons
r> foot high. The steam thus produced lias a
pressure equal to that of common atmospheric
air ; ami lv allowing it to expand, by virtue
of its elasticity a further mechanical force may
be obtained, at least equal in amount to the
former. A pint ot water, therefore, and two
outlet s of common coal, are thus rendered ca
pable o! doing as much work as is equivalent
to seventy lour tons raised a foot high. The
e.reuinstanees under which the steam engine is
worked on a railway are not favorable to tho
economy of fuel, nevertheless, a pdUnd of coal
burned in a locomotive engine will evaporate
five pints of water. In this evaporation they
will ex -rt a mechanical force sufficient to draw
two tons weight on the railway a distance of
two minutes The great pyramid of Egypt
stands upon a base measuring 700 feet each
way. and is 500 feet high, its weight being
twelve thousand seven hundred and sixty mil
lions of pounds. It is stated that in construct
ing this prodigious-pile 100,000 men were con
stantly employed lor twenty years. Now how
ever, by the means of steam, the materials of
this pyramid could be raised from the ground
to their present position by the combustion of
about 480 tons of coal.
SPECIMEN'S OF A MODERN' DICTIONARY
Dint i■*'. Rilalums —People who imagine they
have a claim to rob you if you are rich, and to
insult you if you are poor.
Bfll- —A beautiful but unless insect without
wings, whose colors fade ou being removed
from the sunshine.
I hut or —-A poor wretch, who every day
empties his biuius iu order to fill his ?toiuaC'h.