THE . - MONTROSE _.DEM 9 CRAT.
B. H&WLEY, Proprietor.
IM:3l=!!=i
ro - o stmt.
0211 G/ AL.
Thi Fear Year Old.
bit'kei ie. Milttleitotthip,
I did dlt Lots Mee sings In um,
Tait some laPhelxVidet I must Many"
But 1 duune whin ni begin 'um.
,-..adotorputic auk trumpet,
„,...M.socb kilo% ontings, ao many
put theta all away ; an' I dot toady too,
- xt Batraln't gotta' to dltton any.
Did 'on see my Wee aewalste,
I bake de old an, ao I dm aztader,
pat my Itsleibet right woo it
While I was mania' after madder.
De 'on see how nice det I tan dram
" My Mg round O's and sings, see um;
eon make uns look so nice,
But den I Winos, ever spell urn,
I lan unlike elephants with great big noun,
A house too with mines running round it,
, A great big heart, but mamma says
A twist's* picture—no one ever found it
a L.
'am are the Friends of my Tooth.
In moods sentimental we're apt to ask questions
That were best left *masked, if I must tell the
truth;
And von* time ago, in a flesh of emotion,
I sMibbled a poem on "Friends of my Youth."
" Q where am the Friends of my Youth," %vie
the tide
Of Hues I thought tender, and touching, and
teMe ;
"rims all very welt, hut I rather regret it—
That hurdling into interrogative verse.
l ion% see what I men if you Ibten n moment ;
A' nice tort of creatures they turned, out for
sooth ;
The next time I gush out in poetic *Wore.
111 not be so rapturous concerning my youth.
The letters that reached roe were simply ss
tormding
They seemed to pour In from earth's distant
ends,
Conyeylut the tidings I'd rashly requestcd—
The doing of early and Intimate (Heads.
lola Smith wrote to say he was just then in
prison,
eouldn'tsee hint at that moment 't was plain),
And Jones, who in youth had a turn fig the
turns,
Was gallery " checker" at old Drury Lane.
And Brown, who in boyhood WAS such a wild
,
(I often bad trouble to keep hilt' la boards).
He dropped me a fine, with apologies many,
To know if rd lend bfm a couple of pounds.
Toting Aaron, Islip had attend In bit probocis,
We tilleiciated_the ttp Trben sniffs Wealent.
Downlinalteespel way b s flaring pawnbroker,
404encts osithis money at sixty per cent.
And young Thomas Tompkins bad turned out
quite horsey,
I mind me he talked of the turf and its ways ;
And Green, who we thought would grow up to
be pious.
Waststarrint about OD the dying trapeze."
Md Sitoktos—poor dolt—who was no end of
*Wind,
Es clown m a circus was pawing his life ;
And .big Bowles, whom we used to call
Cupid,"
11* bolted last summer with somebody' sir ife.
But Illy vast ;loha I—`tie but in effftetion ;
EaCbWarne asitttnepti up presented a blot.
I think on tha whole you'll join in the conviction
'Mei 6 Friends of my Youth" were a rather
'bid lot !
BitEIPIIES.
—,Sports for the nursery — bat and
bawt•
—Frau tier eettlerame much annoyed
by hoststeal Indiana.
—llArever mnch a pawnbroker's shop
may. be crowded, it is always a loan-some
place.
—Why is love ale s represented as a
child ?—because be never reaches the age
of discretion.
—An old maid speaking of marriage,
says its like any other disease ; chile
there is life there's hope.
—A model surgical operation : To take
the cheek out of a young man and the
jaw oat of s woman.
it likely that Horace Greeley or
any other man could steer the ship of
Suite by means of the tillers of the soil ?
—Says Josh : " I don't advise
enny buddy to oultivate erns ; they want
as winch waittng on as a Wind mule on a
tow -path, and there aint pony profit in
them intire than in a stock dividend of
the Erie Railway.
The/ are - fond of titles in the East ;
among his other high sounding titles the
King al Lea has that of " Lord or twen
ty four Umbrellas." This looks as if he
bad primed for a long reign.
•
—Some eleser fellow has mumnfactured
handkerchiefiropon which the seat of ear
in Europe is stamped. They hare pr.v,..1
an immense success, everytaidy wishinu t,,
Poke:l4lMiss into the sumac of coußict,
without danger.
—A ciolomd inebriate vas lying on n
bettaXibe;Othei evening in his cell at the
Central Station at Providence, when the
oieervlsde therwand of inspection. Un
able by the fitful gaslight to discover the
prisoner's features, the officer asked "are
you colalwar " No," answered the en
franchised, drowsily, " I was born so."
the nannotetor of a hotel was but
link-shout the other morning at 10 o'.
clack , with twenty things to do, when
ioNioattetitemd bun why he didn't call
shan't eall him as long
as I am help it," leplied be wheu
be is is bed i
know where b e Is, but after
he is up. I don't know where to end him.
gPctibutcovo.
"MI DEAR FBINND : i shall be very
glad to accept your kind invitation to
pass the Summer with you, on your grant
ing me one condition. You know some
thing-of my aid history; how at the age
of nineteen, after six months of bliss, my
idolized husband was ruthlessly torn from
me by the destroyer—death. During
nearly three years I have lived a Secluded
life, that has been sacred to the memory
of my sainted James. I feel that I inn
yet wedded to him in everything—must
be through lifr; and that I must not be
brought into contact with any frivolous
company. It would be sucrile ,, e,, to his
memory, and I have no desire but to be
lett alone with my life-weight of sorrow,
and remain as far removed from the
thoughtless world as possittle. If I can
find any seclusioc in •your home, and if,
during the period of my stay, you will
accede to what may seem to you my selfish
demands, and forbid your young and hap
py friends to visit you, or at least to see
we, I will gladly seek your home as a
place of rest, and your heart as a twin
sister in sympathy cud consolation with
this blighting grief of a life, and we will
mourn together.
Your true friend,
"Usara. Ara Enos."
Now, the lively little gray-haired wo
man who was the recipient of the above
missive, puzzled over it a long time tt.
know what to think of the writer. and at
last her conclusion on this point was
made evitAent by the lieurty,good-uatur
cd laugh she indulged in.
Don t be shocked, my sensitive readers,
ii t 4 supposing that this little woman,
who had years enough to know better,
was laughing through shear heartlessness
at the imagined grief of the young Mrs.
Mabel Atherton, which found expression
in her letter, within deep fringe of mourn
ing.
Ay, that was it—"imagined grief," for
the lively gray-haired woman of fifty,
Mrs. Jane Fleming, had seen enough of
the world in ail its phases, and had with- 1
in her own life enough of its experiences.
to know that the griefs of a girl (the old
:ally's words, my dear friends) of twenty
one ur two, when of more than three or 1
four months', or we'll say at the utmost,
a rear's duration, are but the precerted
foibles of a silly brain, or monomania of
a disordered intellect.
Remember, this wise little woman had
reference only to those griefs which seek
outward sympathy. 10 be sure, there
are griefs which lay their tender touch
over all the elements of the heart and
and head, breathing a gentler hush over
Like spirit, and tinging with a golden
glow of quiet, peaceful submission, every I
lineament of life ; those are too holy for
ut•erance—too pure for contact with the
outer world—tog rentir and sincere -to
find sympathy in aug ht but the quiet
whispering of their own memory, and
too full of heaven's mercies to precert a
life from its heaven endowed purposes of
good, and make in au inunity.
She had such a grief, hidden from the
world's view, and it was never perceived
in her face by those who were curious
about it. After a happy union of five
years, her husband, whomshe had loved
with all the truth and devotion of a faith
ful heart was taken from her. That was
years ago; and she, too, might have sit
down in idleness, and frittered years away
in selfish repining. but fur the needs that
forced her to forget her griefs in severe
struggles with the world ; hat even now,
wheu she sat in the twilight, with a
peaceful calm in her face, her eyes were
looking through the shadows, and, her
thoughts were wondering down cob-Feb
bed and dust-begrimmed vistas, to that
golden period of her existence when be
wandered with her.
She has never married since. She be
lieved, too, in her good, generous heart
that Mabel Atherton had each a quiet
sense of loss in her heart as we have de
scribed above, and it was not at it she
was laughing; but at the false grief, the
imagined duty to mourn loudly and to
weir her sorrow on "her sleeve for dawn
to peck at."
At any rate the young widow received
the desired assurance of seculsion, and
finely found herself on her arrival a Mrs.
Fleming's, clasped in the lady's arms, and
greeted with a warm kiss, which made
her reciprocate these friendly advances
with more animation than she had ex
pressed in any act for a long time pre
vious_
These two never met before, but the
widow Fleming . had been the dearest
friend of Mabel Atherton's mother.
This bond at once made them fast friends,
Mabel was made to feel she was sincerely
welcome at this country home.
. .
During the first days of her stay with
Mrs. Fleming the sweet, sad faced little
form, wrapped in sable habiliments of
mourning, with not a vestige of white to
relieve it. gave herself over a prey to her
_chronic melancholy, and sat during the
lung days end evenings in a lethargy of
hopefulness, looking with expressionless
eyes and face into the future, or. if
speaking, sending a grace-like chill with
every word, and wandering off as soon as
possible into panegyrics over the dead, or
taking joyless views of the future, with
!Ouch the same zest that one idulges in a
good dinner with indigestion lurking be
n.ticl it.
You have seen inch people, my friends.
and no doubt have thought, as I do, that
it is the most extreme aellishnesii) to ha
inanity and thanklessness to boVren thus
to wrap one's self in the shroud of one's
own griefs, and expect ail the world to
abandon their dunes and mourn also.
' Mabel Atherton did not realize this;
somehow Mrs. Fleming bad a way of
dropping in at the moment when she
felt must despairing, and exercising these
sable spirits by drawing her thoughts
away into pleasanter channels, and mak
ing her forget self in the cares, hopes and
joys of others. Indeed, several times she
was shocked, almost horrified, at finding
a merry peal of laughter, as in olden days,
well up to her lips and escape from them
ere she maid control it; after which co
mmence she would do pennanee by re.
MONTROSE, PA., WEDNESDAN JAN. 11, 1871.
lapsing into a deeper shade of sadness,
and talking more frequently of her
mourned idol. Yet, withal, her face was
not so gloomy, and her heart was lighter;
while the world did not seem so bad a
world as before she came to this lively old
lady, whose thoughts always wandered in
to pleasanter places.
" Mabel," Mrs. Fleming said to the
young widow, one day, "you must find
the constant company of an old woman
like me very tiresome. A number of my
young friends are anxious to manifest
their sympathy for you and to lend some
little enjoyment to your stay among
us; and I have decided upon having a
quiet social gathering of them here, some
afternoon.'
" 0 auntie! (for she had learned to call
the old lady thus) the bare mention of
such a purpose is perfectly shocking. and
for me to consent to it would be a sacrilege
to the dear memory of my lost treasure. '
"But you must have some enjoyment,
love."
" Enjoyment! the word is dreadful to
my ear. There is no enjoyment for me in
this world, fur my life is buried in the
grave with my sainted James, and I beg
the world to forget me. us all in it but me
have forgotten him. I want no consola
tion but his memory, and I shall find no
happiness until I am laid by his side."
"So you think now."
"So I think! 0, auntie! do you know
that I shall think so all my life t"
" Yes, as girls' lives go, which are spans
of several months, when they commence
is new existence, with other feeling and
purposes."
Your insinuation is awful, aunt," re
plied Mabel ; "but my own life proves
Its incorrectness. 1 have not changed
during these three years."
"The more need von should change at
once," dryly responded the old lady."
" Your words terrify me. I can never
forget my lost one."
" Neither should you. But while we
grieve tenderly over the departed we
should remember that our lives are not
urns in which their u.shes should be de
posited. We have our duties in life as
well as they had, and their removal does
not absolve us rum them, but rather
raises up new obligations to their fulfill
ment. No one can liye within himself
or herself and do their duty to mankind
and heaven. Neither is it best that we
should ever force upon all who come in
contact with us the sense of our bereave
ment by word, look or dress. Bethink
you how long we should submit to one ,
who, having a wound, should tear it open
to all, that they might see it in its hid- ;
eousness always."
" But no 0:-e was ever called upon to
part with such a treasure as mine—
She did not perceive the pained, re
proachful look that came to her from the
old lady's eyeg, and she confirmed :
"And I will wear deepest mourning
for him all my life, to prove that there is
one who can clip to one object through
life, and never seek another.'
- .
- tile calliper was arappeo,
young people were not invited to come to
"Ann t Fleming's."
The young widow had found a quiet, so
ber retreat down by a wooded stn•am, and
here she wondered every day, and iu the
solitude indulged in her pet melancho
ly.
One day Mrs. Fleming was suprised
and alarmed to see her return from one
of these visits to her retreat, leaning
heavenly on the arm of a young man.
It was evident that something had beful
her : for she was very pale and almost
speechless, and the old lady hastened to
relieve the young man of his burden and
lead her to a conch.
The coring man was already known to
Mrs. Fleming as Ernest Welelland, the
physician, and in reply to her look of in
quiry he explained the cause of Mabel's
helplessness. It seemed that while pass
ing along the road he had been attracted
by her screams, and going to her a.sbist
mice, had found that the alarm had been
occasioned by a harmless snake, which
had made its appearance from some dead
leaves near which she was seated. After
dispatching the snake, he saw that she
was rendered so powerless by her alarm
that she needed his assistance to reach
the house.
Mabel had by the time this recital was
made recovered from her fright stitlicivt-
IY to make an effort to convince Mrs.
Fleming that Dr. M'Clelland had done
himself justice for all the bravery he had
displayed in saving her from what she
believed most otherwise have terminated
in a dreadful death. Her expressions of
gratitude to him were warm and sincere.
and when he ventured to beg the privilege
of calling the following day, to learn if
she had entirely recovered from the an
pleasant alarm, the request was readily
granted by Mabel and acquiesced in by
.11ra. Fleming, with a smile which might
have meant nothing—or a great deal.
During the remainder of the day and
evening the memory of the dead was
tabooed, and Mabel favored the patient
old lady with repeated thrilling accounts
of the young doctor's terrific combat with
the harmless snake.
" She Mt that he was the savior of her
" And," the old lady remarked, "de
served her warmest thanks."
" Yea, her eternal gratitude."
" A noble man," Mabel thought.
"Worihy to be received us a friend,"
Mrs. Fleming continued.
"
He was a genuine hero," Mabel was
convinced.
"A highly respected gentleman," the
old hilly knew.
"So self-possessed, so brave, so regard
less of personal risk!"
" A pleasant talker."
" thsndsome, • dignified, noble in his
biasing."
" And an agreealile companion."
With such expressive eyes, and grand
intellectual face, and delightful scaring
hair, and musical voice, and deferential
air—"
Mabel was ertopped iu the full flow of
her enthusiasm, for want of breath to
continuo.
"He vu considered the best catch in
the neighborhood," the old lady assured
her.
Bare," oung wid ow silent.
" And," p y ursued the ow
61d lady, "thOngh
the snake was perfeetlikertateit and any
eight-year old boy would h av e d one as
much as this doctor who was suddenly
metamorphosed into a hero of wonderful
proportions, it twat due to him that he
should be received as a friend."
Mabel bridled up at this insinuation
against the great dariug of ber new found
hero. She could not be convinced that
this particularsnake was aught else than
the most venomous of reptiles, that would
literally have devoured. her, but fur the
opportune appearance of the physician.
1 he two worneu were so greatly at variance
with each other on this point, that Mabel
was permited to retire unshaken in her
belief.
The young doctor made his appearance
the following morning, and every day
thereafter. In the time consumed dur-
ing these visits, Mabel had little leisure to
think of the sainted dead; and the nota
ble change in her appearance, the ripened
color in her cheeks the happy light in
her eyes, and the smiles- wreathing her
lips, might, I suppose, be also attributed
to the young doctor's visits.
" Mabel, darling," and the old lady,
one day, "where are you wandering to
now("
" For a ramble over Cm pastures after
wild flower 4."
" But are yon not afraid of the snake ?"
" Dr. M'Clelland will accompany me,
you know, and I am never afraid when
he is with me. Then the day is to full
of enjoyment, and I ion so brimming
over with life that I cannot remain
in."
" Is that right, Mabel ?" said the old
lady, with a very sauctmonious face.
••liave you forgotten that there is no en
joyment for you in this world, and that
your life is buried in the grave of your
lust treasure r
" Now, auntie, your insinuation is very
cruel," murmured the widow, in a hurt
tone and with tears in her eyes. "I have
never ceased to mourn for my great
bereavement. Dr. M'Clelland is different
from any one else, and lam sure that if
pour James were alive be would extend
to him his warmest friendship for his
kind atteutions to me."
" Then he would he very generous.
The young man's visits aro very fre
quet."
" That is because our residence is on
his way tram visiting his patients in the
neighborhood.'
dis:mse must have become very
prevalent Without my knowledge. I re
member that before that snake adventure
of yours his professional duties did not
call him this wil 4 y mum than once in two
or three weeks'
"It is very compassionate in him to
call so frequently to learn if we are all
well, when his time must be so precious
" That he can devote the half of every
day to our humble selves," dryly put iu
the old lady.
"Now, auntie. I am sure I should have
been very ill after that terrible fright,
"Jim, IVi 11 13 S. - Wrc stint KllKtizras.
" I agree, darling, that his course of
treatment has hero very beneficial to
you."
And, anutie, he is generous to sacri
fice his own comfort by coming over
every day t• accompany me in my walk&
Just think, I should nut dare to go out
of the house fur fear of those dreadful
snakes if it were not for his thoughtful
ness,
"So doubt he is very disinterested."
" And I shall never be able to repay
him."
" Why, can he be looking for a re
ward ?"
"Oh no, auntie; he is too unselfish
for that."
" Of course.'
And Mabel went away satisfied that
the dear old auntie did realize how good,
noble and distintervsted the young doctor
was, though, for the moment, she im
agined there was ft slight - tinge of sar
casm in that last utterance of hers. She
had been afraid that the old lady might
think she was too much in company with
the young man, and that she was forget
ting the one whom she mourned for; in
deed, unwelcome thoughts, to the effect
that she really was forgetting him, some
times intruded themselves, but not so
often now as formerly. She was silencing
them, fur she knew that Ernest M'Clel
land would never, never presume to be
more toluer than her dearest living friend,
and that good, buried James was more
precious to her than ever before.
And thus having satisfied the old lady
and quieted her own conscience, she
thought it was only right to make amends
for her miserable doubts about, the doctor
by leaning more heavily on his arm and
looking more confidingly into his eyes,
that shown down on tier with such a
warm light. It Was natural that he
should pass his arm around her to help
her over the marshy places, and as nat,nr
al that he should retain it there, rnly
with a closer pressure—lest she might
take, cold if it were remo%ed. I suppose.
Strange to say, the buried James was so
satisfied with this bold proceeding on the
part of the daring doctor that he did not
arise from the grave to forbid it; and.
of course, after this proof of her dead
idol's acquiescence, Mabel could nut find
it in her her heart to object
The following morning 3fabel mani
fested a good deal of trepidation about
something, the nature of which Mrs.
Fleming could not divine for a moment.
" Auutie
"1 ant listening, darling."
"Do you thilly there would be any
harm in my wearing with culls and col
lar ?"
"None in the least child; nor if you
went farther and discarded mourning al
together."
"Gracious! auntie, you shock me fear
fully."
"As I did a nnnfber of weeks ago,
when I proposed that-you should put on
a white collar. But 3fabel, 1 amy dying
with curiosity to know what good influ
ence has been at work to occasion this
query of yours."
"I—l look so fearfully horrid in deep
mourning, with nothing to relieve it."
"And has it taken you three years to
find that out ?"
4 And—and Ernest thinks I ought not
to wear mourning all the time."
The Mai and :the -ElleSaud.
Shay,' was a quarrelsome old fellow
who, though born a Quarker, had been
read out of meeting for his overbearing
and irritable disposition. He owned the
crassest dog, the most troublesome steers,
and the wildest cows in the neighbor
hood. lie was always in hot water with
his neighbors In consequence of his un
ruly stuck. But Shavy came to grief one
day In a way that taught him a lesson.
The story is told in this manner:
A short time since Van Amburg's me
nagerie was obliged to pass his residence.
A little before daylight, Nash, the keeper
of the elephant, Tippoo Saib, as he was
passing over the road with his elephant,
discovered Shavy, seated upon a fence,
watching a bull which he had turned on
the road. It was pawing and bellowing
and throwing up a dust generally.
"Take that bull out of the way," shout
ed Nash.
"Proceed with thy elephant," was the
reply.
"If yon don't take that bull away he
will get hurt," said Nash, approaching,
while the bull redoubled hie furious de
monstration.
" Don't trpuble thyself about the bull,
but proceed with thy elephant," retorted
Shavy, rubbing his hands with delight at
the prospect of a acrimmage—the old fel
low having great confidence in the in
vincibility a his bull, which was really
the terror of the whole coutry around.
Tippoo Slab came on with his uncouth
shambling gait. The bull lowered hit
head and mace a charge directly at the
elephant.
Old Tippoo, without even pausing in
his march, gave his trunk a sweep, taking
the bull on the side, crushing in his 'ribs
with his enormous tusks, and then raised
him about thirty feet in the air, the bull
striking on his head as he came down,
breaking his neck and killing him in
stantly.
" I am afraid your bull has bent his
neck a little," shouted Nash as he passed
on.
- Dent T -- wee Mae. y, tts cicrplv.a*
WO heavy for my beast. but thee won't
make so much out of the operation as
then suppose. I was going to take eay
Family to the show but ft see thee and
thy show in Jericho before I go one step ;
and now thee may proceed with thy ele
phant.
Mr"Sinith courted Miss Brown, and
so did Jones. She married Jones, despite
Smith's groans. With pain in his breast,
Smith went out West. This was in '4B.
(Now dou't forget the date.) In less than
two years he dried his tears, but refusing
to mingle, he remained single. In 1862
he concluded to go down and visit the old
neighbors in his native town. As he ap
proached he meta damsel aged fifteen.
There was something in her features ho
remembered to have seen. "It must be
her daughter," he hastened to conclude,
so he ventured to accost her, (not think
- •hia
sued :
"Smith (who lisped a little)—Ain't
your name Jonesth ?"
Miss Jones—Yes, sir.
Smith—Ain't you Sim Tham Joneath
danighter ?
Miss Jones—Yes, sir.
Smith—Nell, Miss Joneath, I came
plaguey near being father month.
FILIAL Lovit—A plain old gentleman
went with his team to bring home his
sons, two young sprigs who were aoon'es
pecting to graduate. While returning
they stopped at a hotel in a country
town for dinner. The landlord, struck
with the dashing appearance of the two
gentlemen, made himself very officious,
while he took the old gentleman from his
home spun appearance to be nothing but
a driver, and asked them if they wished
the driver to sit at the same table with
them.
" Well, Dick," said the yoonger, aside
to his brother, " As he is our father and
it is his team, and be will bear the ex
pensus, I think we had better let him eat
with ns."
" Yes, I think so too, under thh carmn.
stances," Dick replied • " Landlord, give
him a place at the table,"
ar"A waggish journalist who is often
merry over his personal plainness, tells
this story on himself:
" I went to a chemist's the other day
for a dose of morphine for a sick friend,
The assistant objected to giving it to me
without a prescription, evidently fearing
that I intended to commit suicide,
" Maw 7 said I " do I look like a man
who would kill himself?"
Gulag steadily at ma a moment he re
plivd
" I don't know.. It seems to me if I
looked like you I should be greatly temp
ted to kill myself."
RrA Yankee wagered a Dutchman
that he could swallow him. The Dutch
man lay down upon a board and the
Yankee bit his toe severely. The victim
screamed with pain and told him to stop
" Why, ye 'tarnel fool," erica Jonathan,
"ye don't wink lam going to swallow
ye whole do ye ?"
The same fellow waggered another
Dutchman that he could throw him
across the Chicago river. lie pitched him
some ten or Ofteen feet into the water,
and he swam to the shore and claimed the
stakes.
"No ye don't," said the Yankee, reso
lutely: "do you thidk I'm going to give
up ? slr ; I'll do it, If L - try all
day."
—They tell a good story in lifilwoukie
of st...hiwyer who came back, after some
years' absence froth the city, and went
almost immediately into the trial of a ju
ry case. " I believe," said he to his op
ponent, as he glanced at the occupants of
the jury box, " I know more than half of
these fellows, if I have been away so long.'
"Undoubtedly," wis the reply, " you do
know all of them."
—A paper has this advertisetnen : Two
sisters want washing. We fear that mill
ions of brothers sre in the same predict.
meat.
Governor's Message.
lb the &mats and Ariusßoprestaatiaa of
of tlb Commontixatth gir hrumirahid
Gentlemen All-wise Providence
has permitted you to assemble_uuder
cir
cumstances demanding profound grati
tude to the great Lawgiver of the-Uni
verse. Our acknowledgments are first
due to Rim whew band bas not grown
nears in showering blessings in profusion
upon the people in every department of
industry, and crowning their toil with
richest rewards.
The circumstances under which yon
commence the duties of the present sus..
' ion are indeed suspicions ; and at no for
mer period in our history has there been
greater cause fur felicitation upon the in
estimable privileges we enjoy, and the
happy and prosperous condition of our
great and growing Commonwealth.
The 'meeting of the General Assembly
is always a matter of deep interest to the
people, end perhaps never more so than
now, when an unusual amount of neces
sary general legislation will occupy your
attention, and questions of the highest
importance will be discussed and acted on.
I sincerely trust your industry and faith
fulness to the performance of the impor
tant work before you, will win the proud
title of " the working Legislature."
Amid such circumstances our attention
should be directed to a careful review of
all the most important and essentialin
terests of the State ; and in the ezereise
of that discretion which the Constitution
has confided to the Executive, I propose
to communicate such information, and to
recommend to your consideration such
measures as are deemed necessary and ex
pedient.
As first and moat important, I will pre
sent a carefully 'prepared and precise
statement of the finaticial condition of the
Commonwealth.
PIICAXCEB.
It affords me pleaaure to congratulAte
the people upon the satißfouto4y cundici(m
of the treasury.
.F. eery deroatid,unotl it for
other expenses hue been promptly paid,
and the public debt materially reduced,
which has inspired such public could
dence in the securities of the Common
wealth as to cause them to command the
highest premium in the market. The fol
lowing are the receipts and disbursements
for the fiscal year ending November 30,
1870 :
Ordinary receipts, $1,100,862 49
Balance in Treasury Nov.
30, 1669, #6,336,603 24
Total in Treasury, Nor. 30,
1870, 67,737,465 13
Ordinary expenses paid du
ring the year,enaLng Nor.
30, 1870, 62,860,832 09
Loans, &e. redeemed, 1,702,879 05
interest on loans, 1,86 4 1,811 77
Balance in Treasury Nov. -
30, 1870, ' 81,302,942 82
PUBLIC DFJq
The public debt, Nev. 30, 1870, was
$31,111,661.90.
On the 15th day of Jan. 1807, the total
State debt was e 37,704,409,77.
Since then and up to Nov. 30, 1870,tbe
sum of e 5,592,737.87 hits been paid. The
reduction during the year ending Nov.
30, 1870 is 81,702,879.05.
The average reduction per annum, fur
the last four years, is sl,:i-18,181.
In view of the fact that prior to let of
July, 1872, nearly eight init.ion dollars of
the public debt will be due, and in order
that the Como:tuna-ea/6 nun continue to
meet all its obligations promptly at matu
rity, I recommend that such provision be
made by the Legislature as will author
ize the Commissioners of the Sinking
Fund to sell all the assets that may be in
their possession, and apply the proceeds
to the extinguishment of the debt ; or at
the option of the holders, to exchange
them for the outstanding bonds of the
Common wealth.
The indebtedness of the State might
be paid in the following manner :
As already shown, it was on Nov. 30,
1870, abouts3l,ooo,ooo, from which am't
if the said assets, 39,500.000, be deducted,
there would remain unpaid i 21,500,000.
After which, estimating the revenues and
expenditures to continue as at present,
the entire liabilities of the State would be
liquidated in about eight years.
If this method of paying the State debt
should be regarded as unnecessarily rapid
and oppressive, then a movement to re
vise and modify taxation may meet with
much more geuerul favor.
Our debt is now held firmly by those to
whom it is a great benefit to have so se
cure an investment. A certain reduction
of one million dollars per annum on it
would perhaps be more satisfactory to
them and to the people, than to strive to
pay it off so hastily. In an endeavor to
force things under the present mode of
taxation, there is great danger of driving
capital away from cur manufacturing
centres. The landholder has been exemp
ted from taxes on his hind for State pur
poses, and the burden shifted upon the
active, energetic and enterprising por
tions of the community, who have always
had their full share to bear.
The farmer is at cue and runs no risk,
while the business man, merchant and
manufacturers are the motive ,power of
tho conimunity, upon which the farmer
himself must in a great measure depend
for a realization of his industry.' A more
liberal policy toward those engaged in
mercantile, manufacturing, railroad and
mining pursuits should be adopted. Un
lest these interests are fostered and kept
in full operation all classes of the people I
will suffer. They are the very life-blood
of the State, and should not in Any way
be chilled or impeded by overburdening
them with taxation for the immediate
payment of the entire State liabilities.
The foregoing recommendations, ltr
my opinion, embrace the true policy of
the Commonwealth, anti if adopted will
doubtless receive a heartynse and
endorsement from the people. respo
The taxpayers detand thitall their so.
cial, industrial, conitniteita;eafitlanedel
operations shall be ielieved - from the her.
VOLUME XXyIII:NXIMBER
dens of an, mots Shall be
necessary fur the gnidt tm lainit of the
debt, ask lost shows iptdno
fray the frugal' upomberot .
tration of the govertifeezt StiefP l 9 and
reform should no !anger ims earorated
glittering generalities, or seem abstror. ,
time, Without meaning or latent, but as
vital, living realities.
cos -I =MCUTAL C;fUMW:LON.
• Four years' aperien‘ rip as a exectiti:o
officer Laren MA abundant opportuni
ty for care al alienation upon the work
my of our fiusdamental law, tad the leg
idationottheState. This6B4
strongly impressed mo tha tt should
be a thorough revision of the State Con •
stitotion, with each stneadnAiteita the
wisdom of a convention assemilined : fur
that purpose would aadoubtedlysinggest,
and an enlightened publio leatiment
de
mand.
The authority for heading shah conven
tion is found in the second section of
the ninth article of the Constitution,
and is declared in these words
"That all poweria inhesentin,the 'ma
ple, and a 1 free governments aswitnimied
on their Anthony, and instituted for
their peace, safety and bappinesa. For the
advancement of these en 6, thethave an
inalienable and indefeasible right at all
trees to alter, reform or abolish theirgov
ernment, in such manner as they may
think proper.
The last convention for lids rupose,
was held in 1133£1. Durinttha
_ll4oy- two
rears that have since ehrd.- endry
amendments have been made byjai4t res
olutions of the General Assembly. and in
compliance with the tenth mtele of the
Constitution were approved and ratified
by a majority of the qualified waters of
the State.
The most important were thorn Of I£o
making the judges of the courts *dive ;
of 1857 creating s sinking fund,regula
ling the public, debt and legal:lElin dis
tricts ; and that of 1854 meaning the
right of suffrage upon those engaged in
the mill. - ary service of the State or ustann.
mi
e d imposing sundry restraints Foga tau
Lg-mature.
These amendments, though important
and valuable, give an incongruous and
sort of patc h- work chardter to the Con
stitution. and aro not consonant with the
requiretnente of the times.
This is a progressive period, and our
State has outgrown its fundamental law.
That law should therefore be wide to
keep pace with the age in which V lire.
The existing Constitution, including tho
I.4starc
amendments of 1850 and 1 • lavas%
many wholesome restrictions on leaf
-
er and jurisdiction of the ;
but experience has demonstratedAtkin.
, adequacy to protect the peopla
intended against
the evils to he remell, asides
pecially those of corporate power, and of
special and local legulation.
The pamphlet laws for the last font
years show that the general laws for each
session made oak: about four bundre
a
ges, while the Toad and special •
tion fur the same perintraannuis
L- •-• -I.,et 1 350. The resulting eaters
Manifold and aggravated ; and prominent'
among the masons and suggestions why
a remedy should not be applied, I reit
pectfully submit the following :
Pirst.—Different systems of laws for
roads, bridges, schools, elections,. poor
houses and many other things, are enact
ed for the several counties, townships end
boroughs, on subjects which ought tb ho
regulated by general laws, operating noi•
formly upon all. •
Second—lt is impossible fat the efts.
zees, judges of the courts, or members of
the legal profession, to acquire or retain
an accurtate knowledge of the varying
systems of laws in their respective die
tricts ; nod frequently on removal from
one county to another, our p e 'find
theta elves under almost entirely ' t
codes.
86,434,4'22 91
Third.--Practically, the wboly theory
of our Constitution and government
is subverted and destroyed by the present
system of local enactments. Repreeenta
live Saws
is based on the idea that
the laws shall'be framed by, and be the
result v 4 the collective wisdom of tha
people's representatives. But what are
the actual tiicts ? The minds 'and efforts
of the members are so wholly absorbedby
private and local bills that it is almost
impossible to get a priersl or public act
considered or passed. The special and
local bills are usually drawn by the mem
ber representing the locality, or by some
one from the district interested in the
proposed law. By what is called courtesy,
it is considered a breach of etiquette fOr
any member of the Senate or blouse to
interfere with or oppose a merely private
or local trill of any other' member. The
result is, the bills are passed asoriginally
prepared, examination or comparison of
views,—often credo and ill•digested, anti
without regard to constitutional require.
nients, or sound public policy. &me of
the worst of these hasty and badly con
sidered enactments are arrested every
year by Executive interposition; but in
the nature of the case, the veto at best
can only be made a pahal restraint upon
the evil; and nothing can eradicate It
short of constitutionol prohibition.
Fourth.—Special legislation is the great
and impure fountain of corruption, pn
vate speculations and public wrongs. , It
has become a reproach to republican goy.
erwment, and is one of the most algirming
evils of the times. Judicious amendment;
to the Constitution would arrest and de
stroy the growing evil; and it is the duty
of every patnotio citizen to co- 0 1111.,
all lawful measnres to effect so destrablim
change as demanded. Every bill pesse4._
ed for adoption should be read, st. lent
once in NI, and the yeas and stye Du -lOW
corded etr iterdnal
itept=that' . 8600 t.
Constitution ebouldle. to 'mister=
to the Constitution of the Unitarl. States
as recently amended. ,
Sixth.—The subject of minarilq reVa..
sentatioWia now much agit ated. , 1•411
givinglarge share o fconsblentisms•
among theughtful and ooneidsmte
It em%acee, problems ofireet politic ;
importance, and its mealifitiaintato MI. -
mends it to public favor. whilst lonseof
the objects it propel might be 'el l
by legislative itnactwafts4
(Pie Forted