THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
OIF. DOLLAR PER AN™ INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
Thursday Morning, August 2, 1860.
gclftttb Ijoetrn.
FACES IN THE FIRE.
1 .vatch the drowsy night expire,
And fsnev paints at my desire
Her magic pictures in the fire.
An island-farm 'mid seas of corn,
Swayed by the wandering breath of morn,
The happy spot where I was born.
The picture faded ; in its place,
Amid the glow I seem to trace
The shifting semblance ola face.
'Tis now a little childish form,
Kod lips for kisses pouted warm.
And elf-locks tangled in the storm.
'Tis now a grave and gentle maid,
At her own beauty half afraid.
Shrinking, yet Willing to be stayed.
Tis now a matron with her boys.
Dear Centre of domestic joys :
1 seem to hear the merry noise.
Oh, time was joung, and life was warm,
When first I saw that fairy form,
Her dark hair tossirfg in the-storm ;
And fast and free those pulses played,
When last I met that gentle maid—
When last her hand in mine was laid.
Those locks of jet are turned to grey,
And she is strange and far away.
That might have been mine owu to-day
That might have been mine own, my dear,
Through many and many a happy year,
That might have sat beside uie here.
Ay, changeless through the changing scene,
The ghostly whisperings between
The dark refrain of " might have been."
The race is o'er I might have run,
The deeds are past I slight have done,
And sere the wreath I might have won.
Sunk is the last taint flickering blaze ;
The vision of departed days
Is vanished even as I gaze.
The pictures with their ruddy light
Are changed to dust and ashes white,
And I am left alone with night.
Pisttllantoas.
Lives of Presidential Candidates.
L The New York Mercury, under the head of
I "Oar Great Biographical Enterprise," thus
takes the lives of the different presi
di-ntud candidates now before the people for
tbeir suffrages. Members of all parties can find
something lo laugh at in some of them.
LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
IJy One icho Knoics Him.
[ The subject of our biography was born at
Hunker llill on the 4th of July, 1776, and
I **s one of the original signers of the precious
document which sealed our liberties on that
day. We refer to the Declaration of Indepen
dence. Ilis father's name was Mr. Lincoln,his
mother's Mrs. Lincoln, and if he had any sis
ters, they were known as the Misses Lincoln.
At the age of two years, young Abraham
commenced spliting rails for a living, singing
beautiful hyinns while so engaged, and display
ing all those noble virtues for which he has
since been distinguished. When he was about
ten years old, Boston suddenly became the hub ,
of the universe, and required so much greasing
that cleanly people were obliged to move away.
The Lincolus went to Illinois, where Abraham
became the ablest lawyer iii the State in less
than a week, and learned to chew tobacco. His
I reputation for eloquence was unparalleled ; and
II a> a specimen of his wit, we give the following.
A Her flute.
On one occasioh Mr. Lincoln was splitting a
nil in the parlor of Judge Dougla's residence,
when the latter joined him, and thinking to
'aakea good joke about our hero's extreme
I leanness, remarked :
" Why, Abe, you arc a rail yourself.''
Mr. Lincoln looked up from his work with
[ that sublimu glare which has often petrified a i
\ world, and gravely responded :
Tou, sir, are the reverse of a rail."
Douglas immediately grasped his hat and j
'arpet-bag, weut to Washington, and asked
the President to explain what Liucoln meant
by that.
"Why," replied the President, " the reverse
ol rail is ra) i S p e |t backwards."
Since then, Douglas and Lincoln have been
warm friends.
The subject of our biography was defeated
'J Mr. Douglas for the United States Senate,
'a 1851, on account of sickness in the family,
Th lS S ' nCC ee " k nown as " Honest °'d
Abe to the whole country. lie is the a man
unflinching integrity, and though he chews
°bacco at present, will not choose tho Weed
3r * companion if elected President.
' ' —T'ey author of this biography died
immediately after penuing the above work.
LIFE OF STEPHEN ARNOI.D DOUGLAS.
>y one who knows him since he teas so high.
Mr. Douglas was bora at Benniugtoo, Yer
ount. ou the 4th of July, 1776, and detnon
= rated the utility of squatter sovereignty be
• p 1 ?. " e °ff b' s crinoline. His parents
t0 a noble Scotch family, and when
,-ff7.° * 6S t* o years old, they emigrated
. 13110 Illinois. It was during this jour
' at be gave vent to a remark which has
j, ce becomo classical. IJia father asked him
; would have an apple ; and on receiving
. answer in the affirmative, made a "split"
who''l r re t e P li I a f or y d' v 'ding it joto tiyq pieces
exclaimin g suddeu, y tbe whole
rhe Union must and shall be preserved."
, p Ju' 3 j sentence was immediately tele-
LAV 1 J ali the P a P ers in the United States
D„ , anada ' and procured the election of Mr.
as ° of j lld S e °f go°d whisky
=ooo as be arrived iu Illinois. When about
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
ten years old; he commenced writing for liar-1
pers' Magazine, and fiually contributed a series
of humorous articles to the editoral columns of j
the Chicago Times. Just before his election j
to the Senate last time, an exploit of his gave
birth to this
Anecdote.
While Mr. Douglas and his gigantic oppo
nent, Lincoln, were canvassing the State, they
agreed to hold a debate at Qtiincy, and allow
the people to decide which bad the strongest
claim to their votes. The meeting was a large
one, and it did not take long for Donglas to j
get the better of the argument. Finding the
battle going against him, Lincoln drew bis
form to his uttermost height, and looking dowß
at the short figure of his arrival,said, very pom
pously :
" Mr. Douglas. I cannot look at yon with- I
out thinking of a passage of Scripture."
" What is that asked our hero, good hu- !
moredly.
" The way of the wicked is short," respond
ed Lincoln, and fainted away.
The crowd applauded tremendously, and I
Douglas was not to be outdone. Waiting un
til Lincoln had revived, he quietly said :
"And you remind me, Mr. Lincoln, of an
other passage."
" What is that ?" asked Lincoln.
" How long ! O Lord, how long ? "respond
ed Douglas. He was elected.
Byway of concluding our biography, we
srive the following extract from one of Mr. j
Douglas' speeches :
" * * * Squatter sovereignty
gentlemen, [great applause,] is not the right
of one man over another man, accorded by the
! Constitution ; hut the right of another man
! over this man,or that man over this man,where
man is witling -that man should be his own
! man, independent of every other man. This,
gentlemen, is squatter sovereignty, without!
i mitigation. [Great enthusiasm.]"
LIFE OF JOHN BELL.
liy an intimate Acquaintance.
The honorable John Bell was born on
I Mason and Dixon's land, of rich hut pious
, parents, and was noted for his ringing voice. '
f His extreme personal beauty suggested that
! delicious poem, in which the poet asks his
frieud Brandon :
" DiJ you ever see tlie beautiful Bell, Brandon."
lie spent the earlier years of his life on a
plantation, acquiring such fine cultivation, that i
liis epistolary efforts are regarded with admi
ration by the whole world, and no man is con
sidered a good scholar who is not familiar with
Bell's letters. As Mr. I>c 11 grew to manhood
he gradually eschewed all youthful society,and
cultivated " oIH " gentlemen exclusively, and
; was noted for his venerable virtues. On one !
occasion, he won the friendship of a tea total
society of old maids under the following circum- ;
stances : Being asked if he believed the use
j of tobacco to be injurious he promptly repli- !
ed :
"If tobacco is chewed in a certain way, it
will do no harm to any one."
" How is that?" asked an antiquated Miss, j
"It should be es chewed," returned the emi-1
mer.t statesman.
In reference to Mr. Bell's public career,they
tell the following
A necdotr.
As Mr. Bell was going from the Senate
chamber to his hotel, after delivering his cele
brated speech on the reopening of the slave
trade, he was overtaken by a prominent poli
| tician from one of the northern States, who
saluted him with :
) " I say Bell, that was a good speech of
yours ; hut you are always too soleuiu, and
your friends have told you so often."
" Well," replied the Senator, " how can a
Bell help sounding solemn when it is tolled so
often ?"
Immediately after this the subject of our
memoir was seized with a severe fit of sickness
yet even that did not quench his spirit. When
the doctor asked him how he felt one morn
ing, he replied :
" Oh, I feel all sound, like any other Bell."
If Mr. Bell is elected to stay at home, he
will adorn that position, and write for the
i Ledger.
LIFE OF BRECKINRIDGE.
By a Miner.
The subject of our story was born ou the
l day of his birth, on the Cincinnati platform,
I and is chiefly noted for his eloquent silence on
all public oftcasions. Being of a fiery disposi
tion, the Breckenridge coal was appropriately
named after hi in ; and it is a question with us
whether he is the more noted as a duelist or a
fuelist. We can say little more of him than
he was born of southern, but honest parents,
and has acquired some fame as an artillerist
by his management of the celebrated Buchanan
which will be discharged on the 4th of March
next. Mr. Breckinridge is rather sharp in
conversation, as is proved by the following
Anecdote.
In the rear of Mr. Breckinridge's private
residence is a green sward, on which he is lo
cated a pen for hogs. One day, while he was
standing by his pen (thenempty) withafriend
watching the motions of a hog that was lux
uriously rooting the sward just before them,
one of the negroes came from the house and
filled the trough of the p7g-pen with swill. The
hog heard the gush of the swill, and looked
wistfully toward the pen, and then back at the
place where he had been rooting, as though
undecided what to do about it. Finally,how
ever, the swill prevailed, and, with a decisive
grunt, he trotted toward the pen.
Turning to his friend Mr. Breckinridge
said :
"If that hog could speak, what line of Bul
wer's drama of ' liichelieu 'might be appropri
ately quote ?"
Jhe friend didn't know.
" Why," exclaimed Breckinridge," he might
truly say : "fhe-pen is mightier than tbe
sword."
That night the friend died of measles.
LIFE OF SAMUEL HOUSTON.
By a well known author.
Qeneral Samuel Houston was born at San
Jacinto, Texas, on the Rb of July, 1716, and
i i ' '
" REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
| whipped a Mexican baby before he was six
mouths old, At the age of three years he
! electrified the universe thus ; Haviug been
: taken by bis parents to see a foot-race between
two noted Indian runucrs, he turned to his
father and asked :
" Why is a patron of foot-races like a phil
anthropist ?"
" I know not, my angel boy," retnrned the
venerable Houston.
" Because," said Samuel, " he is a friend of
human progress."
After this,his family compelled him to wear
a cold brick on his head : and it is said, that
even now, while in Washington, he sometimes
carries the same article iu his hat. At the
period when Texas ro3e in rebellion against tbe
i Mexicans, because the latter kept getting up
revolutions among themselves every afternoon,
Houston was chosen general of the patriots,
and completely defeated the revolvers at San
Jacinto. In connection witn this battle, and
byway of illustrating General Houston's great
precision of speech, they tell an
Anecdote.
Toward the conclusion of the battle of San
Jacinto, a Texas ranger dashed frantically in
to a tent where Houston was asleep, and arou
sed him with the exclamation of
| " General, the day is ours."
" Yon illiterate fellow ?" exclaimed the
brave old soldier, scowling at tbe frightened
man, " why can't you speak properly ? You
; should say, "the day is composed of hours."
The abashed ranger muttered sometir.g about
being a soldier, and knowing nothing about
time ; whereupon Houston again reprimanded
him with :
" Know nothing about time, you scoundrel, j
There is but one time that American soldiers ;
know nothing about, and that is fly time."
The ranger deserted that night.
When General Huston was informed that '
he had not been nominated by the Charleston I
: Convention, lie pressed his hunkerehief to his
tcardimined eyes, and exclaimed, hurriedly :
" 1 accept. Go and tell the people that I 1
accept for their sakes."
! Samuel Houston was unanimously nominat
ed for the Presidency by the Washington
Monument Convention of this city, and will
probably receive vytes in every State except |
Texas. The assertion that he should have j
been nominated as Vice President of the Doug
! las ticket, on account of his many vices is uu- !
worthy of attention for a moment.
ORNAMENTAL WOODS. —Boxwood is becom
ing so scarce, that pieces of suitable sizes for
| wood engraving cost a considerable price, and '
and even then it cannot be found of sufficient
size for large cuts,and consequently blocks are j
I made up of small pieces, either glued or screw
led together. The blocks thus made are ob- j
i jectionable, because two pieces of wood will
not always be of the same density or quality, |
and, as a result, the engraver cuts irregularly
in passing over the joinings, unless it be held
; in very skilful hand ; and the joint docs not !
i always keep perfectly close, consequently iu
printing from such a block a white line shows
! across the picture where the joining occurs. To
obviate these difficulties, and to lessen the
cost, a method has been contrived of making
| artificial boxwood, and, indeed, all kinds of
: ornamental woods artificially In this process
the manufacturer takes some suitable cheap
wood—beech, maple pine,or coder,for instance
—add having cut it into proper slices, sleeps J
it iu a chemical bath to remove the resin,gum, I
or other obji ctionable ingredients. He then'
dries it until it becomes quite porous, and then j
in an exhausted vessel lie fills the pores, b> pre
sure, with the serum of bullock's blood, with
morine glue, or with any other suitable liquid
cement. When in this state of saturation it
is submitted to a crushing pressure, by which
the woody fibres are brought as close together
as they are in the best boxwood,all the cement
being driven out except what is barely sufficient
to hold the fibres together iu their new posi
tion. Each block is then hooped, planed down
to an exact type thickness, the surface bleach
ed, arid the material is then fit for us. It is
stated thut by this process a substance posses
sing all the requisite homogeniety, hardness ;
and absence of pores, is obtained, uud of any
desired size.
MANY FACTS IN SMALL COMPASS. —The num
ber of languages spoken is 4,064. The num
ber of men is about equal to the number of
women. The average of human life is 33 years
One quarter die before the age of 7 ; half be- j
fore the age of 17. To every 1,000 persons,
1 only reached 100 years. To every 100, 6
reach 75 years, and not more than I in 500 j
will reach 80 years. There are on the earth
1,000,000,000 of inhabitants. Of tbem 33,- '
333,333 die every year : 91,824 die every day i
7,780 every hour ; and 60 per minute, or 1 |
every second. These losses are about, balhnc- ;
ed by an equal number of births. The marri- j
ed arc longer lived than the single, nnd above
all, those who observe a sober and industrious
conduct. Tall men live longer than short ones.
Women have iuoro chances of life previous to
the age of fifty years than men, but few ever
alter. The number of marriages are in the pro
portion of 76 to 100. Marriages are more fre
quent after the equinoxes—that is, daring the
months of June and December. Those born
in spring are generally more robust than others
Births and deaths are more frequently by night
than by day. Number of men capable of bear
iug arms is one fourth of the population.
A Quakeress, beiug jealous of her hus
band, watched his movements, and one morn
ing actually discovered the truant hugging and .
kissing the pretty servant girl. Broadbrim
was not long in discovering tho face of bis
wife as she peeped through the half opeudoor,
and rising with all the coolness of a general,
thus addressed her : " Betsey, thee had better
qoit peeping, or thee will cause distnrbauce in
the family.''
ADVICE. —The world, my son, is but a large
copy-book, and I need not point out to you with
what very little wisdom it is ruled.
(fbntational gtparfmeut.
86T" Editors of Educational publications to
whom this copy of tbe Reporter is 6eut, will
please to exchange or return this to the editors
of the educational column,
C. R. COBURN,
OLIVER S. DEAN.
The following was received from one of our
lice teachers, —we hope to have more. Will
the teachers exercise tfieir thinking powers on
this and send us ail answer :
When from a perfect cube its root is sub
stracted, why is the remaiuder a multiple of
six ? H. K.
[From tbe Educatioual Herald for July ]
Elocution aud the Arts of Speech.
NUMBER FIVE.
In a most interesting work entitled the
" Theory and Practice of Teaching," which
was published by Mr. David P Page, Princi
pal the state normal school at Albany, N.
Y., I find tbe following : " Every teacher
should be a good reader. Not more than one
in every hundred among teachers can be call
ed a good reader. To be able to read well
implies a quick perception of the meaning, as
well as a proper enunciation of the words.—
It is a branch but poorly taught, in onr schools.
Many of the older pupils get above reading be
fore they have learned to read well ; and un
fortunately, many of our teachers cannot
awaken an interest in the subject, because
I very likely they cannot read any better than
their scholars. It would be interesting to as
certain how large a portion of our youth leave 1
j the schools without acquiring the power readi- :
l ly to take the sense of any common paragraph i
I which they may attempt to read. lam iu- i
i clined to think the number is not small '
" Since writing the above," says Mr. Page in j
a foot note, "my eye lias fallen upon the fol
1 lowing, from the second Annual Report of the j
Secretary-Aif. the Massachusetts Board of Ed
ucation. /$ have devoted, says Mr. Mann, es
pecial pains to learn with some degree of nu
mercial accuracy, how far the reading in onr
( schools is an exercise of the mind iu thinking
I and feeling, and how far it is a barren action
of the organs of speech upon the atmosphere. \
; My information is derived chiefly from the
; written statements of the school committees
' of the different towns, gentlemen who are cer
tainly exempt from all temptation to disparage
; the schools they superintend. The result is j
i that more than eleven twelfths of ali the chil- (
' dren in the reading classes in our schools do j
not understand the meaning of the words they
read ; that they do not master the sense of
j their reading lessons ; and that the ideas and
feelings intended to be conveyed and excited
in the reader's mind by tbe author, still rests
in his intention, never having yet reached the :
place of their destination. It would hardly
seem that the combined efforts of all persons
engaged could have accomplished more iu de
feating the true objects of reading. How the
cause of this deficiency is to be apportioned
, among the legal supervisors of the schools,
i parents, teachers, authors of text-books, it is j
impossible to say ; but surely it is an evil,
gratuitous, widely prevalent and threatening j
the most alarming consequences."
Other testimony equally competent and !
credible might be adduced in confirmation of
! this stateuieut, conceding the neglect into '
i which the study of elocution lias fallen in our I
dignified seats of learning and in our public \
| schools. The question then naturally arises,
how comes it to pass that so few comparative- \
ly endeavor to cultivate the organs of speech '
that they may become good readers, or to ac-1
quire just action and a graceful mauuer of de- I
livery 1 How comes it that so many spend <
years of ceaseless toil in laying up stores of
erudition to become it may be, acute logicians,
misty metaphysicians or profound theologians, i
while the art of elocution, by which these ac
quisitions can be made available is altogether i
neglected.
How extraordinary that studeuts will labor
so strenuously in the cultivation of their men- i
tal powers that they may be prepared to pro- i
mote the general interests of society, or more I
important still, to instruct mankind in the
great concerns of eternity, and yet neglect the i
powers of speech and action, such mighty ac- i
cessories for securing the attention, and thus i
more readily for conveying instruction to the I
mind. I
It would be easy to show that among the <
Greeks and Romans, and other polished na- i
tions of antiquity, a very different estimate of I
the importance of the arts of speech was es- 1
tiraated. In that imperishable work the In- |
stitutes of Oratory, " Quintilian tells ns with i
what care and vigilance the children of the
wealthy and influential classes were trained to
purity and accuracy of pronunciation, and a i
graceful ;and decorous deportment, in view of 1
making thcin public speakers. Mothers were i
expected to exercise and maintain a constant i
supervision in these matters. Cornelia the <
mother of the Gracchi, materially contributed 1
to secure the oratorical renown of her son's in i
forming with sedulous care their infant speech
by precept and example. ]
It was regarded as a falso aud pernicious <
opinion that teachers of mean capacities or l
meaner qualifications might bo employed in i
elementary instruction ; for it was rightly I
judged that the greatest skill and care were '
requisite in forming the voice and demeanor of
their embryo orators, and that vicious habits 1
either of utterance or gesture contracted at i
that early period, remained fixed for life or <
were only to bo overcome by arduous strug- i
g!es long continued. I
In teaching children to read, how few arc 1
qualified to correct either natural impediments i
of speech or bad habits acquired by imitation j
of the defects of others. These impediments <
whether arising from defects in the organiza- i
tion or from a careless and imperfect use of the
voice, such as stammering, lispiug, hurried and <
indistinct utterance, druwling, constrained and <
offensive tones of voice, the teachers in tbe I
primary departments of oqr schools, for th 6 i
most part regarded as natural defects which
| admit of no remedy or as not coming within
I their province ; and thus they shelter their is
capacity.
It is devoutly to be wished that all the
teachers in the primary departments of our
; schools were such as QaintiMan recommends ;
such as the wise among the Greeks and Ro
mans would approve. But do we not in this
respect act in direct contravention of our ac
knowledged practical acumeu ?
Truly it is to be hoped that Ihe good sense
of the community will ere long fully recognise
the advantage of employing and competently
rewarding teachers trained to form to the ex
pression of melody and agreeable intonation,
the earliest efforts of the infant voice.
Scenes in Sandwich Island—Another
Volcano at work.
A correspondent of the Alta California gives
the following incidents of a visit to the volcano
Kilaue—not the celebrated Manna Lon—in
the Sandwich Islauds, thirty-six miles from
Gilo :
Those who have stereotyped ideas of volca
noes, as obtained in childhood from picture
books and geographies, will be sadly disappoint
ed when they come to stared upon the brink of
Kilauea. It is unlike any other crater—an
anomaly in nature. It is a vast pit iu the
midst of a plain—one of nature's great safety
valves. It is elevated 4,500 feet above the
level of the sea ; arid in approaching it, the
ascent is so gradual as to be impercepitible.—
It is very remarkable that, during the great
eruptions on Mauna Lon, (thirty miies distant)
this crater remaiued almost quiescent ; and
now that the eruption has about ceased, its
action seems to increase every day.
So great was our anxiety to descend into
I the crater, that the hours of darkness seemed
1 unusually long. Frequently we would get up
; from our bed of fern leaves,and peering through
] the darkness from our doorless huts, watch the
] red fountains of fire bursting up from the chasm
below,and breaking in chains of light. A great
, lurid mass of cloud hung perpetually over the
fiery lake. The wind, blowing literally through
| the crater, howled and shrieked in an unearth
ly manner Above the voice of the midnight
! blast could be heard occasional explosions,and
| distant rumbling sounds like those we heard
! on Mauna Loa, while,during intervals of cessa
! tiou, the surging and splashing of the furious
waves in the ever troubled lake could be dis
j tinctly heard. Daylight eume at last. A cold
rainy, cheerless day dawned upon ns. But
( this could not damp our ardor. After a good
; breakfast, away we started—all hands—leav
ing our hut and contents to take care of them
selves. Descending the precipitous sides, 011
the southern side of the crater, great caution
must be exercised. Reaching the floor, we
found it composed of swelling masses of black,
brittle lava, of a comparatively recent forma
tion. We walked over this, taking the pre
caution to carry a good sized stick,with which
to test the thickness of the crust. Here and
there we met with huge masses of solid rock,
many of tbem weighing more than a hundred
tons, which had evidently becu thrown from
the crater.
Within a quarter of a mile of the burning
lake is the entrance to a great cave, which my
guide says is probably a mile long. We enter
ed through a very narrow aperture, around
which lay loose heaps of fire-scarred stones.—
Lighting our candles, we passed on, exploring
in this direction and that, until we had gone
perhaps haifa mile, and yet we did not find
the end of this remarkable cave. In some
place it is narrow, and iu others widens out
into vast chambers. In some places we had
to crawl where the roof was only two or three
feet high, and in others the roof would be ten
or twenty feet above our heads. Hanging from
this roof, we found some choice specimens of
fine black metallic lava,in the shape of stalac
tites, whi'e stalagmites of the same material
were found on the floor. After being in that
dreary chamber three hours, we emerged into
the daylight just as our candles were used up.
Earthquakes are frequent here, and a slight
shock might be sufficient to roll a huge rock
against the apertue, and sea! us up hermetical
ly in that dark cavern.
Suddenly we came to a high bank, and look
ing down we beheld the lake of fire beneath us
about seventy five feet. This lake is something
more than a mile in circumference. There, in
full view, were real waves of liquid fire, of a
bright red coior, spluttering and sploshing like
ocean waves. A little island of hard lava
stands in the middle of the lake against the
black sides of which the waves of fire dashed
with tremendous fury, and breaking on its jag
ged cliffs they would cast their red spray high
in the air. The sides of this lake are solid
walls of red fire,glowing with fearful intensity.
We were standing cn the windward bank,with
a strong cold wind blowing down, yet the heat
was so intense that wo could only look a min
ute at a time, and then turn away to catch the
refreshing influence of the cool breeze. In ad
dition to the hideous roaring and hissing of the
lake, we heard, at short intervals,sounds much
resembling that of a steamer blowing off steam
—only infinitely louder—and ominous grow
lings of pent up forces struggling in subterran
ean caverns, at which the very earth seemed
to tremble. Occasionally, large masses of the
cooled lava on the edge of the lake became de
tached, and failing into the boiling cauldron
were instantly reduced to a liquid state.
After a few minutes' silence, disturbed only
by an occasional hissing and murmuring, I
was soon startled by that awe-inspiring sound
of escaping steam. In an instant a faint glim
mering of red, like a sheet of lightning shot
but from under the overhanging brink where
I was standing, and ran across the lake. This
was the signal for a change in the whole pro
gramme. Immediately the whole lake became
of a bright red color, and four fountains burst
up in different portions of the lake.
My eyes followed these with amazement, as
one after another they cast up great quantities
of a pure vermillion-colored liquid. These were
followed by two others in rapid succession,one
of which burst up neaj wher6 I was standing
VOL. XXI. —NO. 0.
i Running back I cowered nnder the upper banks
i and witnessed the grandest pjrotecbnical dis
• play of which it is possible to form any collec
tion. These six fountains threw up jets from
thirty to fifty feet high. The fouutain, from
the spray of which 1 so hastily retreated,made
large deposits of molten lava on the bank where
I had been standing,and when it ceased I pro
cured some very good specimens. This red
liquid matter, when cool, is a solid, brilliant
black substaoce, much resembling pitch. After
; this sublime display, a short period of inacti
: vity ensued, as before, and then the waves of
r fire commenced to roll and dash against the
little island as when we first saw it. . A con
, tinual boiling,bubbling,and spluttering is kept
up around the edges of this mighty cauldron,
: precisely like the boiling of a pot. This crater
. has probably been in action, more or less,from
time immemorial. Native tradition says that
it has probably been burning from the time of
i chaos until now.
> Every day, for three days, we spent several
i hours sitting upon the hank, and watching all
i the varied changes and wonderful movements
of this lake. Changes are taking place contio
• nally. The lower banks are growing and dc
! creasing continually. The work of demolition
and reconstruction is always going on. Tho
r most wonderful and, to us, mysterious phenom
i | enon we witnessed was on the second day of
: our visit to the crater. It was noon, and we
- were sitting on a high batik at lunch. 1 had
turned my face in the direction of the wind,to
avoid the intense heat of the lake. I wasstart
• : led by a noise like the rushing together of vast.
; bodies of water. The natives jumped up in
stantly, and raising an unearthly shout, scamp
i ered off in an opposite direction. Turning
s 1 toward the lake,l beheld a scene which I shall
never forget. I, too, had to ruu off some dis
> ' tance to escape the great heat. The wholo
surface of the lake was in a state of the wildest
• commotion. Wave clashed on wave, and all
i was confusion. Tremendous billows of firo
i rolled from every side of the lake ; and meet
ing i nfierce conlliet around the island in the
: center broke with fury over its black sides.—
: Then, after reaching again, they rushed to tho
i onset once more, with increased force, and,
• meeting together, shot up into the air perhaps
L one hundred feet—one vast spiral body of red
I liquid lava, which finally combed over and fell
1 in graceful spray back into the lake again
When things had been res'ored to their usual
i order, the surface of the lake seemed to have
- fallen at least ten feet.
! SECRET OF GREATNESS.— It was a noble and
' beautiful answer of Victoria that she
gave an African Prince, who sent an embass
age with costly presents, and asked her in re
turn to tell him the secret of England's great
ness and England's glory. The beloved Queen
j sent him, not the number of her fleet, uot the
number of her armies, not the account of her
: boundless merchandise, not the details of her
inexhaustible wealth ; she did not, like Hezc
j kiah, in an evil hour, show the ambassador
' her diamonds and her rich ornaments, but,
1 handing him a beautifully bound copy of tho
Bible, she said, " Tell the Prince that this tho
! secret of England's greatness.— British Work
j men.
BEAFTIFCL EXTRACT.— When the summer of
youth is slowly wasting away into the night
fall of age, and the shadows of past years
' grow deeper and deeper, as if life were on its
close, it is pleasant to look back through the
vista of time upon the sorrows and felicities of
, earlier years. If we have a home to shelter
and hearts to rejoice with us, and friends liavo
been gathered together by our firesides, then
■ the rough places of our wayfaring will havo
i been worn and smoothed away in the twilight
1 of life, while the sunny spots we have passed
through will grow brighter and more beauti
ful. Happy indeed are those whose inter
course with the world has not changed the
; tone of their holier feeling, or broken those
musical chords of the heart, whose vibrations
| are so melodious, so touching iu the evening of
age- __
! SHUN AFFECTATION*.— there is nothiug moro
beautiful in the young than simplicity of cha
' racter. It is honest f rank and attractive.—
llow different is affectation ! The simple uro
j always natural. They are at the same timo
original. The affected are never natural.—
| And as for originality, if they ever had it,they
have crushed it out, and hurried it from sight.
; utterly. Be yourself then, young friend !
ANECDOTE OF MATTHEWS. — This celebrated
| comedian stepped into an auction room ono
! night on his way home.
" Who bids more?" called aloud the anc
. tioneer. '* I bid more," cried a voice from the
! far end of the crowd. " And prav, sir, what,
do you bid ?" cried the auctioneer in a tone of
j contempt. " I bid you good night." said Mat
; thews, and bolted, 'i'lie auction room in a
roar that time.
ARC.FMF.NT — with fools, passion, vociferation
or violence ; with politicans a majority ; with
kings, the sword ; with fanatics, dcnnciation ;
with men of sense, a sound reason.
As the rays of the sun notwithstanding
their velocity, injure not the eye by reason of
their minuteness, so the attacks of envy, not
withstanding their number,ought not to wound
our virtue, by reason of their insignificance.
Itigr Love is the light of the soul, as the sun
is the light of day.
teiT" Unsuccessfnl attempts at reform only
strengthen despotism ; as he that struggles
tightens those cords he does not succeed in
breaking.
teg- A little boy seeing a drunken man pros
trate before the door of a grocery, opened tho
door, and pntMng in his head said to the pro
prietor, " Se6 here, sir, your sign has fallen
down."