jfjgl® PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
Thursday Morning, May 26, 1869.
CATCH THE SUNSHINE
Clch tb sunshine ! though it flickers
Through a dark and dismal cloud ;
Though it fails so faiat antl feeble
On a heart with sorrow bowed :
Catch it quickly—it is passing.
Passing rapidly away ;
|i has only come to tell you
There b yet a brighter day.
Otcb the sunshine ! thought 'tis only
One pale flickering beam of light;
There is joy within its glimmering,
Whispering 'tis uot always night,
pon't he moping, sighing, weeping,
Look up! look up like a man !
There's no time to grope in darkness,
Catch the sunshine when you can.
Catch the sunshine ! though life's tempest
May unfiurl its chilling blast ;
Catch the little hopeful straggler
Storms will not forever last!
Don't give up and say " forsaken !"
Don't begin to say " I'm sad !"
Look I there comes a gleam of sunshine !
Catch it! oh, it seems so glad !
Catch the sunshine ! don't be grieving
O'er that darksome billow there !
Life's a sea of stormy billows,
We must meet them every where.
Pass right through them ! do not tarry ,
Overcome the heaving tide,
There's a sparkling gleam of sunshine
Waiting on the other side.
Catch the sunshine ! catch it gladly !
Messenger in Hope's employ,
j Sent through clouds, through storm und billows,
I Bringing you a cup of joy.
Oh! then don't be sighing, weeping.
Life, you know, is but a span,
There's no time to sigh and sorrow,
0 Catch the sunshine when yon can.
Slisttllsntans.
Ike Eleventh Commandment.
T S Arthur tells a good story about a lov
ing couple in New Jersey, who belonged to the
Methodist church. A new presidiug cider,
Mr. X., was expected in that district ; and as
the ministers all stopped with brother W. and
his wife, every preparation was made to give
him a cordial reception. The honest couple
thought that religion in part consisted in mak
ng some parade, and therefore the parlor was
put in order, a nice fire was made, and the
kitchen replenished with cake, chickens, and
every delicacy preparatory to cooking.
While Mr. W. was out at his wood-pile, a
plain-looking, coarsely-dressed, but quiet-like
pedestrian came along and inquired the dis
tance to the next town. He was told that it
was three miles. Being very cold, he asked
permission to enter and warm himself. As
sent was given very grudgingly, and both went
into the kitchen. The wife looked daggers at
this untimely intrusion, for the stranger had on
cow hide boot*, an old hat, and a thread bare,
but neatly patched coat. At length she gave
him a chair beside the Dutch oven, which was
baking nice cake for the presiding elder, who
was momentarily expected, as he was to preach
the next day at the church a mile or two be
vond.
The stranger, after warming himself, prepa
red to leave, but the weather became more in
clement, and as his appetite was roused by the
viands about the fire, he asked for some little
refreshment ere he set out for a cold walk to
the towu beyond. Mrs. W. was displeased,
hut on consultation with her husband, some
cold bacon and bread were set on an old tabic,
ad he was then somewhat gruffly told to eat.
It was growing dark, and hints were thrown
out that the stranger had better depart, us it
was three long miles to town. The wife grew
petulant as the new preacher did not arrive,
aud her husband sat whistling the air " Auld
Lang Syne," while he thought of the words of
the hymu—"When 1 can Read my Title Clear,"
au'l felt as though he could order the stranger
off without any further ado.
The homely meal was at last concluded—
'he man thanked him kindly for the hospitali
be had received, aud opened to door to go.
't was quite dark, and the clouds denoting
a f tc r m filled the heavens.
" \ou say it is three miles to D ?"
' I do," said Mr. W., very coolly, " I said
when you first stopped, and you ought to
e pushed on. like a prudent man. You
could have reached there before it was quite
dark."
" But I was cold and hungry, and might
e fainted by the way."
The manner of saving this touched the farm
tr ® feelings a little.
ou have warmed and fed me for which I
act f )' on " ot bestow another
and%\ dneSß u P on one ' n a slran K e ptace,
1 im'Jif e ocs out the darkness, may lose
h/mseff aud in the co, d ."
wc L l' dUu 'u\ar form in which this request
terpH a . e '- Snd tone ' n w hich it was nn
sav n'o^ U 11 ° Ut B ower the farmer to
nnintimV! 1 t ! l . Pre l an d sit down." he answered,
wife inH , ch * n "and I will see my
a TE^ hal she Ka y ß "
sntmlr u m T * ent '"to the parlor where the
c ,r^ ,e k-' ° ove ' ed with a ,now white
china 18!w '^ e 8 Be ttof blue-sprigged
occasions °° ,jr broUht out 'n'spSial
°' ou ! d cand,es were burning there
,i ? a , \ b e hearth blazed a cheerful fire.
Mrs ' qfl A llow ? one yet ?" asked
the door vo ' ce as b ® returned
wbat J° j™ oppose ? He wants
k stay all night T'
well do no such tbiug. We can't
THE BIUDFORD REPORTER.
have the likes of him in the house now. Where
could he sleep ?"
" Not in the best room, even if Mr.N. should
not come."
" No, indeed t"
" But really, I don't see, Jane, how we can
turn him out of doors. He doesn't look like a
very strong man, and it's dark and cold, and
full three miles to D
" It's too much ; he ought to have gone on
while he had daylight, and not liugered here,
as he did, till it got dark."
" We can't turn him out of doors, Jane, and
it's no use to think of it. He'll have to stay,
somehow."
" But what can we do with him ?"
"He seems like a deceut man at least; and
does uot look as if he had anything bad about
him. We might make him a bed en the floor
somewhere."
" I wish he had been in Guinea before he
came here 1" said Mrs. W., fretfully. The
disappointment, the conviction that Mr. N.
would not arrive, occasioned her to fret, and
the intrusion of so unwelcome a visitor as the
stranger, completely unhinged her mind.
" Oh, well !" replied her husband in a sooth
ing voice, " never mind. We must make the
best of it. He came to us tired and hungry,
and we warmed and fed him. He now asks
shelter for the night, and we must not refuse
him, nor grant his request in a complaining or
a reluctant spirit. You know what the Bible
says about entertaining angels unawares."
" Angels ! Did you ever see an angel look
like him ?"
" Having never seen an angel," said the far
mer, smiliug, " I am unable to speak as to
their appearance."
This had the effect to call an answering
smile from Mrs. W. and a better feeling at her
heart. It was finally agreed between them
that the man, as he seemed like a decent kind
of person, should be permitted to occupy the
minister's room if that individual did not ar
rive, an event to which they both looked with
but little expectancy. If he did come the man
would have to put up with poor accommoda
tions.
When Mr. W. returned to the kitchen,
where the stranger had seated himself before
the fire, he informed him that they had decided
to let him stay all night. The man expressed
in a few words the grateful sense of their kind
ness, and then became silent and thoughtful.
Soon after the farmer's wife, giving up all
hope of Mr. N.'s arrival, had supper taken up,
which consisted of coffee, warm short cake and
broiled chickens. After all was 011 the table,
a short conference was held as to whether it
would do uot to invite the stranger to take
supper. It was true they had given him as
much bread and bacon as he could eat, but
then, as long as he was going to stay all night,
it looked too inhospitable to sit down to the
table and not ask him to join them. So, mak
ing virtue a necessity, he was kindly asked to
come to supper—au invitation which he did
not decline. Grace was said over the meal by
Mr. W., and the coffee poured out, the bread
helped, and the meat carved.
There was a fine little boy, six years old, at
the table, who had been brightened up and
dressed in his best, in oder to grace the minis
ter's reception Charles was full of talk, and
the parents felt a mutual pride in showing him
off. even before their humble guest, who no
ticed him particularly, though he had not much
to say. "Come, Charley," said Mr. W., after
the meal was over, aud he sat lounging in his
chair, " can't you repeat the pretty hymn
mamma learned you last Sunday?"
Charley started off without further invita- j
tion and repeated very accurately two or three
verses of a new camp meeting hymn, that was
then very popular.
" Now let us hear yon say the command
ments, Charley," spoke up the mother, well
pleased at her child's performance.
And Charley repeated them all with the aid
of a little prompting.
" How many commandments are there ?"
asked the father.
The child hesitated, and then looking up at
the stranger, near whom he sat, said inno
cently—
" How many are there ?"
The man thought for some moments, and
said, as if in doubt, " Eleven, are there not ?"
" Eleven !" ejaculated Mrs. W., in unfeigned
surprise.
" Eleven !" said her husband, with more re
buke than astonishment in his voice. "Is it
possible, sir, that you do not know how many
commandments there are ? How many are
there, Charley? Come, tell me —you know, of
course."
" Ten," replied the child.
" Right, my son," returned Mr. W., looking
with a smile of approval on the child. "Right.
There isn't a child of his age within ten miles
who can't tell you there are ten command
ments."
" Did you ever read the Bible, sir ?" address
ing the stranger ?"
" When I was a little boy I used to read it
sometimes. But I am sure I thought there
were eleven commandments. Are you not
mistaken about there being only ten ?"
Sister W„ lifted her hands in unfeigned as
tonishment, and exclaimed, " Could any one
believe it ? Such ignorance of the Bible ?"
Mr. W. did not reply, but rose, and going
to one corner of the room where the good book
lay upon the small stand, he put it ou the ta
ble before him, and opened at that portion in
which the commandments are recorded.
" There," he said, placiDg his finger upon
the proof of the stranger's error. " There !
look for yourself."
The man came round from his side of the
table aud iooked over the stranger's shoul
der.
" There ! ten, d'ye see ?"
" Yes, it does say," replied the man, " and
yet it seems to me there are eleven. lam
sure I have always thought so."
" Doesn't it say ten here ?" inquired Mr. W.
with marked impatience in bis voice.
" It does, certainly."
" Well, what more do yon want ? Can't
yoo believe tee Bible ?"
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
" REGARDLESS OP DENUNCIATION FROM ANT QUARTER."
" O, yes, I believe the Bible ; and yet, it
strikes me somehow, that there are more than
ten commandments. Hasn't one been added
somewhere else ?"
Now this was too much for brother and sis
ter W. to hear. Such ignorance of sacred
matters they felt to be unpardonable. A long
lecture followed, iu which the man was scold
ed, admonished, and threatened with divine in
dignation. At its close he modestly asked
whether he might not have the Bible to read
for an hour or two before retiring for the night.
This request was granted with more pleasure
than any of the preceding ones.
Shortly after supper the man was conducted
to the little square room, accompanied by the
Bible. Before leaving him alone, Mr W. felt
it to be his duty to exhort him to spiritual
things, aud he did" so, most earnestly, for ten
or fifteen minutes. But he could not see that
his words made much impression, and he final
ly left his guest, lamenting his obduracy aud
ignorance.
In the morning he came down, and meeting
Mr. W., asked him if he would be so kind as
to lend him a razor, that he might remove his
beard, which did not give his face a very at
tractive appearance. His request was com
plied with.
"We will have prayers in about ten min
utes," said Mr. W. as he handed him the razor
aud shaving box.
The man appeared aud behaved with due
propriety at family worship. After breakfast
he thanked the farmer and his wife for their
hospitality, and parting, went on his journey.
Ten o'clock came, but Mr. N. had not arri
ved. So Mr. and Mrs. W. started for the
meeting-house, not doubting that they would
find him there. A goodly number of people
were inside the meeting-house, and a goodly
number outside, but the minister had not
arrived.
" Where js Mr. N ?" inquired a
dozen voices, as a little crowd gathered uround
the farmer.
"He hasn't come yet. Something has de
tained him. But I still look for him—iudeed,
I fully expected to find him here "
The day was cold, and Mr. W., after becom
ing thoioughly chilled, concluded to go in and
keep a good lookout for the minister from the
window near which he usually sat. Others,
from the same cause, followed hisexample, and
the little meeting house was soon filled, and one
after another came dropping in. The farmer,
who turned towards the door each time it was
opened, was a little surprised to see his guest
of the previous night enter, and come sjovvly
down the aisle, looking on either side as if
searching for a vacant seat, very few of which
were now left. Still advancing, he finally got
within the little enclosed altar, aud ascending to
the pulpit, took off his old gray overcoat and
sat down.
By this time Mr. W. was at his side, aud
had his hand upon his arm.
" You rausu't sit here, come down aud I
will show you a seat," he said iu an excited
tone.
" Thank you," replied the man, in a com
posed voice. "It is very comfortable here."
And the man remained unmoveable.
Mr. W. feeling embarrassed, went dowu in
tending to get a higher " official" to assist him
iu making a forcible ejection of the man from
the place he was desecrating. Immediately
upon his doing so, however, the man arose, and
standing up at the desk, opened the hymn
book. His voice was thrilled to the finger
ends of brother W. as, in a distinct and im
pressive manner, he gave out the hymu begin
ning :
" Help us to help each other, Lord,
Each other's cross to bear ;
Let each his friendly aid affjrd,
And feci a brother's care."
The congregation rose after the stranger had
read the entire hymn, and had repeated the
first two lines for them to sing. Brother W.
usually started the tunes. He tried this time,
but weut off on a long metre tune' Discover
ing his mistake at the second word, he balked
and tried again, but now he stumbled on short
metre. A musical brother here came to his
aid, and led off with a tune that suited the
measure in which the hymn was written.
After singing, the congregation kneeled, and
the minister—for no one doubted his real char
acter—addressed the Throne of Grace with
much fervor and eloquence. The reading of a
chapter in the bible succeeded. Then there
was a deep pause throughout the room in an
ticipation of the text, which the preacher pre
pared to announce.
Brother W. looked pale, nnd his hands and
knees trembled. Sister Ws face looked like
crimson, and her heart was beating so loud
that she wondered whether the sound was not
heard by the sister who sat beside her. There
was a breathless silence. The dropping of a
pin might have been heard. Then the fine,
emphatic tones of the preacher filled the crowd
ed room.
" And a new commandment 1 give unto you,
that you love one another."
Brother W. bent his head forward to listen,
but now he had sunk back in his seat. This
was the Eleventh Commandment.
The sermon was deep, searching, yet affec
tionate and impressive. The preacher uttered
nothing that could in the least wound the broth
er and sister of whose hospitality he had par
taken, but he said ranch that smote upon their
hearts, and made them painfully conscious that
they had not shown as much kindness to the
stranger as he had been entitled to receive on
the broad principles of humanity. But they
suffered most from mortification of feeling. To
think that they had treated the Presiding El
der of the District after such a fashion, was
deeply humiliating ; and the idea of the whole
affair getting abroad, interfered sadly with
their devotional feeling throughout the whole
period of service.
At last the sermou was over, the ordinance
administered, and the benediction pronounced.
Brother W. did not know what it was best for
him to do. He was never more at a loss in his
life. Then Mr. N. descended from the pnlpit,
bat be did not step forward to meet bim. How
could be do that ? Others gathered around
aud shook hands with him, but still he liugered
and held back.
" Where is brother W ?" he at length heard
asked. It was the voice of the minister.
" Here he is," said one or two, openiug the
way to where the farmer stood.
The preacher advanced, and catching his
hand said—
"How do you do, brother W., I am glad to
see you. And where is sister W.?"
Sister W. was brought forward and the
preacher shood hands with them heartily while
his fave was lit up with smiles.
" I believe I um to find a home with you,"
he said, as if it was settled.
Before the still embarrassed brother and sis
ter could make reply, some one asked—
" How came you to be detained so late ?
You were expected last night. And where is
brother R.?"
" Brother R is sick," replied Mr. N.. " and
I had to come alone. Five miles from this my
horse gave out, uud I had to come the rest of
the way on foot. But 1 became so cold uud
weary that I found it necessary to ask a farm
er to give me a night's lodging, which he was
kind enough to do. I thought I was still
three miles off, but it happened I was very
much nearer my journey's end thau I had sup
posed."
This explanation was satisfactory to all par
ties, and iu due time the congregation dispersed
and the presiding elder went home with broth
er aud sister W. One thing is certain, how
ever, the story never got out for some years
after the worthy brother aud sister had passed
from their labors, and then it was related bv
Mr. N himself, who was rather eccentric in
his character, and, like numbers of his ministe
rial brethren, fond of a joke and given to re
lating good stories.
BOOKS AS AX ORNAMENT. —Men are not ac
customed to buy books unless they want them.
If. 011 visiting the dwelling of a man of slender
means, 1 find the reason why he has cheap
carpets, and plain furniture, to be that he mav
purchase books, he rises at once in my esteem.
Books are not made for furniture, but there is j
nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a
house. The plainest row of books that cloth
or paper covers, is more significant of refine
ment than the most elaborately carved ctagere
or sideboard.
Give me a house furnished with books rath
er than furniture ! Both, if you can, but
books at any rate ! To spend several days iu
a friend's house, and hunger for something to
read, while you are treading on costly carpets,
and sitting upon luxurious chairs, and sleeping
upon down, is as if one were bribing your body
for the sake of cheating your mind.
Js it not pitiable to see a man growinc rich
and beginning to augment the comforts of home
aud lavishing money on ostentatious upholstery
upon the table, upon everything but what the
soul needs ?
We know of many and many a rich man's
house w hen it would not be safe to ask for the
commonest English classics. A few garnished
annuals on the table, a few pictorial monstro
sities, together with the stock of religious
books of liis " persuasion," and that is all !
No range of poets, no essayists, no selection of
historians, no travels, or biographies—llo select
fictions or curious legendary lore ; but then,
the walls have paper 011 which cost three dol
lars a roll, and the floors have carpets that
cost four dollars a yard ! Books are the win
dows through which the soul looks out. A
house without books is like a room without
windows. No man has a right to bring up
his children without surrounding them with
books, if he has the means to buy them. It is
a wrong to his family.
He cheats them ! Children learn to rend
by being in the presence of books. The love
of knowledge comes with reading, and grows
upon it. And the love of knowledge in a
young mind, is almost a warrant against the
inferior excitement of passions and vices.
Le us pity those poor rich men who live bar
renly in great bookless houses 1 Let us con
gratulate the poor that, iu our day, books are
so cheap that a man may every year add a
hundred volumes to his library for what his
tobacco and beer would cost him. Among
the earlier ambitions to be excited in clerks,
workmen journeymen, and, indeed among all
that are struggling up in life from nothing to
something, is that of owing and constantly ad
ding to a library of good books. A little li
brary growing larger every year is an honor
able part of a young man's history. It is a
duty to have hooks. A library is not a luxury
but one of the necessities ol life.— Henry Ward
Beecher.
INTERESTING ART DISCOVERY IN ROME. —The
interest of the artistic portion of the communi
ty in polities has this week been suspended
by the discovery of a remarkably beautiful
statue of Venice, in Parian marble. Possess
ing very high merit, is pronounced by some
connoisseurs to be as fine as as the Venus de
Medica. Eminent sculptors, while more mod
erate in their praise, still speak of it as being
very beautiful, as being very probably a copy
of the Florentine Venus, and as being of
Greek Art. It will settle a very disputed
point, and lead probably to the correction of a
great error in the repairs made by Bcrniui in
the Venus de Medici. It will be remembered
that Bernini has so adjusted her arras that,
while bent over the bosom and lower part of
the body, they do not touch it in auy part.
In the new statute the marks of the fingers 011
the right thigh and left bosom are plainly vis
ible. The head, too, I should say, is some
what larger thau that of the Venus de Medici.
The head has beer, broken off, as also the two
arms, but the only parts missing are the left
hand and wrist and the fingers of the right
band, all of which may be easily supplied, as
enough exists to show the perfect pose of every
limb of the body.— Rome correspondence of the
London Times, April 22.
tSf The paths of virtue, though seldom
those of worldly greatness, are always th 6* - f
pleasantness and peace.
Modern Warfare as Compared with the
Means of Destruction in the Past.
We are apparently on the eve of the most
tremendous armed conflict which the world
has seen since the downfall of Napoleon the
Great. The wars of imperial France were
bloody wars, as ull the world knows. No
slaughtered hetacombs were ever piled so high
as the great emperor piled them. The dead
never lay so thick on any battle field, of which
history makes mention, as they lay on Eylau
and Borodino and Waterloo. What amount
of destruction and misery science, in the hands
of genius, could, in a given time, deal out on a
given number of men was there amply demon
strated.
But it is not saying too much to say that if
the Europeau powers let their armed hordes
loose upon one another this summer, ruthless
destroyer as Napoleon was, he will be shown
before three years are overt-) have been a mere
tyro in the art of destruction. Since his day
all the arts have advanced with rapid strides,
but none with strides so rapid 11s this one. The
weapons with which his soldiers were armed,
with which the bridge of Lodi was carried,and
Austerlitz and Meraugo were won, bear much
the same relation to the rifle of the present day
as the matchlock bore to the firelock.
Death did not in his time flash from serried
ranks until the foetnen stood two or three hun
dred yards apart. It now flies iu the air nearly
three quarters of a mile, as fur as the sharpest
eye can mark a human figure. His siege artil
lery would be to-day by no means heavy field
pieces. Wellington's heaviest breaching guns
at Badojos and Salmanca were twenty-four
pounders. The Russians at Inkerman, and the
British at Tchernava,brought thirty-two pound
ers into the field with ease and effect. But
the advantage which heavy guns have always
had over light ones, hitherto, for the purposes
of field artillery, has been rather iu the length
of range thau in the size of the bail. A twelve
pounder rushing through a column of infantry
is full of destruction and almost as demoralizing
us one treble its weight ; but formerly it could
not be projected nearly so far. Science has,
iu our day, destroyed the difference between
them. Recent inventions, some of them those
of our own countrymen, some of them English
men, aud some of the present Emperor of
France, have furnished field pieces, which four
horses can whirl at the giddiest gallop from
point to point, with more than the deadly pow
er which, forty years ago, belonged only to
weapons which sixteen horses could only move
with difficulty, and which were ulwajs pieces de
position.
Moreover, facilities have been created since
Waterloo was fought, for bringing together
masses of men thus armed, and dashing them
against one another, such as the great Napo
leon in his wildest dreams never thought of.—
We all know how the rapidity of his move
ments dazzled and astounded our futhvrs. We
know how he strode over Europe like a mag
ician, taking armies up, as it seeuied in those
days, iu the hollow of his hand, an I flinging
them in the twinkling of an eye on every point
where his giant plans needed them. We know
how distance seemed to shrivel up at the blast
of his trumpet. We know how the pupils of
Turrenne and Montecucnli recoiled in dismay
before legions which struck like a thunderbolt
after having advanced like the wind But great
as was the perfection to which he carried the
art of rapid concentration, it becomes the craw
ling of a turtle compared with the power with
which railways have armed the generals of our
day. When Napoleon started 011 his expedi
tions, armies were of necessity divided into col
umns, which, in order to secure the bare means
of subsistence and of transport, were compelled
either to follow each other at tolerably long
intervals, or else march on the same point by
different circuitous routes. And they did march
—literally marched, trudged every inch of the
way 011 foot, and the eagle flapped his wings
over them in approbation if they achieved fifty
miles in twenty-four hours. The maddest im
patience of the maddest conqueror had in those
times to adapt itself to the capabilities of hu
man legs and human stomachs.
It took, even in the hands of Napoleon, a
long while to concentrate two hundred thou
sand men at a point three hundred miles dis
tant ; and when they were there it required
stupendous energy and stupendous resources
to feed them. All the grand heroes had to
take pork aud flour into their grandest calcula
tion ; aud pork and flour, alas! have to be
carried about to be of any use.
The other day we were told, in contrast with
this, that the present Emperor was able to send
twenty five thousand men in a day from Paris
to Lyons—a distance of three hundred miles.
It would have taken his uncle a week of forced
marches to accomplish the same object. Aus
tria is sending troops into Italy at the same
rate. Moreover, the same power which ren
ders this rapid concentration of troops so easy,
renders their subsistence, while concentrated,
just as easy. Tne railroad dumps the soldiers
now a days down on the battle-field, and the
next day dumps down a months provisions in
their rear. The telegraph, we need hardly soy,
plays as wonderful apart in this change as the
railroad. One of Napoleon's generals would
have required four or five days to ask for a re
inforcement, which he now asks for in as many
minutes. It reaches him in as many hours as
it would then have taken days.
The destructiveness of the changes which
these new instruments are likely to introduce
into warfare, has not so far, attracted so much
attention as it ought, because within the last
30 years we have had no wars in the part of
the world in which science conld render the
soldier efficient ; and what science has done, in
that interval to mnke war more sanguinary,
will only appear when two countries like Italy
and Germany, which arc blessed, or cursed,
with all the "modern improvements." Hav
ing armed the combatants with the means of
destroying life all aronnd him within a radius
of a thousand vards, it hurl® K{ ~ 018
fo at tha rate'of •- u,IU ' ""
• nnman misery revealed by even
. u ii minutes reflection on such a theme as this,
which no one who has ever seen war in its
vol.. XIX.—XO. 51.
most harmless aspect, cau coutemplate without
u shudder.
Wonders of the Mississippi.
The difference of level between high and low
water mark a Cairo is fifty feet. The width
and depth of the river from Cairo and Memp
his to New Orleans is not materially increased
yet immense additions are made to the quanti
ty of water in the channel by large streams
from both the eastern ami western sides of the
Mississippi. The question naturally arises,
what becomes of this vast added volume of
water ? It certainly never reaches New Orleans
and as certainly does not evuporate ; and of
course, it is not confined to the channel of tbo
river, for it would rise far above the entire re
gion south of us.
If a well is sunk anywhere in tho Arkansas
bottom, water is found as soon as the water
level of the Mississippi is reached. When the
Mississippi goes down, the water sinks accord
ingly in the well. The owner of a saw mill,
sotne twenty miles from the Mississippi, in
Arkansas, dug a well to supply the boilers of
his engine, during the late Hood. When the
waters receded, his well went down till his hose
would no longer reach the water, and finally,
his well was dry. He dug a ditch to an ad
jacent lake to let water into his well ; the lake
was drained, and the well was dry again, having
literally drank ten acres of water in less than
a week. The inference is, that the whole val
ley of the Mississippi.from its banks to the high
lands on either side, rests on a porous substra
tum which übsorbs the reduudant waters and
thus prevents that degree of accumulation
which would long since have swept New Orleans
into the Oulf but for this provision of nature,
to which alone her safety is attributable.
In fact, if the alluvial bottoms of the Missis
sippi were like the shores of the Ohio, the vast
plain from Cairo to New Orleans would to-day
be part and parcel of the Oulf of Mexico, and
this whole valley a vast fresli water arm of the
sea. Were the geological character of the
valley different, the construction of levees, coa
fining the water of the Mississippi to its chan
nel, would cause the rise in the river to become
so graet at the South that there not sufficieut
levees could be built. The current would be
stronger and accumulation of water greater as
the levees are extended North of us.
Such results were reasonably euough antici
pated ; but the water, instead of breaking the
levees, permeates the porous soil, and the over
flow is really beneath the surface of the swamps
Such, it seems to us, are the wise provisions of
natural laws for the safety and ultimate recla
mation of the rich country South of us. We
believe that the levee system will be success
ful, and that the object of its adoption will be
attained. The porcsity of the material used
in making them has caused most if not all of
crevusscs. Men may deem it a superhuman
task to wall in the Mississippi from Cairo to
New Orleans, but our levees are the work of
pigmies when contrasted with the dykes of
Holland. The fioodtide of tho Mississippi is
but a ripple ou the surface of a glassy pool,
compared with the ocean billows that dash
against the artificial shores of Holland. The
country to be reclaimed by our levees—all of
which will not for fifty years cost the j>eoplo
as much as those of the Dutch when originally
built—would make one hundred sucli kingdoms
a> that over which Bouaparte once wielded the
sceptre — Memphis Avaalnrhe.
fleg- A beggar accosted a member of Par
liament, and telling a piteous tale, said, "If
your honor does not assist me I shall be com
pelled to an act which nothing but despera
tion could tempt me to do." The honorablo
gentleman gave him a shilling and walked on,
but an idea struck him ; so he called the beg
gar, and asked him what he had meditated
doing " Can't you guess," said the beggar.
" I should have been compelled to hunt for
for work which nothing but desperation could
have tempted ine to do."
LOLA Montcz, in her book, "The Art of
Beauty," lays down the following rule among
her hints to gentleman on the art of Fascina
tion." You ought to know there are four
things which always more or less interests a
lady—a parrot, a peacock, a monkey, and a
man ; and the nearer you can come in uniting
all these about equally in your character, the
more will you be loved. This is a cheap and
excellent recipe fur making a dandy, a crea
ture which is always an object of admiration
to the ladies.
How THE Pooi>l K GOT WET.—Enter Bridget,
with the mistress' favorite poodle, wringiig wet.
"How is this, Bridget ? How came Fido to
get so very wet?" "An' faith, mam, an' it
was little Tommy that had the little baste
lashed to the end of a powl, and was washing
the windets wid him."
BtaT" Looking out of his window one summer
evening, Luther saw on a tree at hand a little
bird making brief and easy dispositions for a
night's rest. " Look," said he," how that lit
tle fellow preaches faith to us all. lie takes
hold of liis twig, tucks his head under his wing,
and goes to sleep, leaving God to think for him.
Bzir A newspaper thus describes the effects
of u hurricane—" It shattered mountains,tore
up oaks by the roots, dismantled churches, laid
villages waste, and overturned— a haystack ?'
IT is rumored that the lad es are going to
raise the moustache. We believe that they
can do it without difficulty, for every hand
some woman can, whenever she pleases, have
a "moustache" to her lip.
A quack doctor in one of his hills, said lie
could bring living witnesses to prove the effi
cacy of his nostrums, " which is more," she
" than others in my lin* 3°"
jv nas been computed that there are
eight hundred millions of gold and jewels at
the bottom of the sea on route between Eng
land and India.
" I'm getting fat," as the loafer said when he
was stealing " lard."