J 1 mm el a Bi Z LOCAL AXD FA MILT JOURNAL. Turns $2.00 a Year, i Advaxce. J. C. LUTHER, Editor axd Pcblisueh. RIDGWAY, PA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1870. ISO. 8. VOL. II. Air II U HIT AND I. BY F.MZAHETJ1 BAKRKTT imOWNIXO. Enonph! we're tired, my heart and I ; We r!t beside the headstone thus, And wish the name were curved for. us. The moss reprints more tenderly The hard types of the mason's knlfo, As Heaven's sweet lile renews earth's life, With which we're tired, mv heart and I. Ton see we're tired, my heart and I ; We dealt with books, we trusted men ; And In our own blood drenched the pen, As if such colors could not tly. We walked too straight for fortune's end, We loved too true to keep a hicud; At last we're tired, my heart and I. XIow tired we feel, my heart and 1 1 We seem of no use in the world ; Our fuuclcs bans gray and uncurled About meu's eyes indifferently ; Our voice, which thrilled you so, will let You sleep ; our t nrs are only wet J What do we here, my heart and I ? IV. So tired, so tired, my heart and I ! It was not thus iu that old time When Kalph sat with me ucath the lime To watch the sunset from the sky. " Dear love, you're looking tired," he said ; I, smiling tithim, shook my head ; 'Tis now we're tired, my heart and I. So tired, so tired, my heart and I ! Tuouuh uow none takes me on his arm To fold me close and kiss me warm, Till each quick breatu end in a lgh Of happy languor. Now, alone, We lean upon his graveyard stone, Cnchcercd, unklssed, my heart and I. Tired out we are, my heart and I. Suppose the world brouuht diadems To tempt un, crusted with loose gems Of powers and pleasures f Let it try j We scarcely care to look at even A pretty child, or God's blue heaven, We feel so tired, my heart and I. Yet who complains ? My heart and I ? In this abundant earth no doubt Is little room for things worn out ; Disdain them, break them, throw them by ! And if, before the days grew rough, We once were loved, used well enough, I think, we've lured, my heart and 1. AS ODD FIX. When it came at last to asking Samu el Rowley's consent to pay my addresses to bis wurd, I knew it was all over with me. I felt that it was all over directly I was shown into the library, where Samuel Rowley sat before the fire, toast jjy.hgotity feet, and reading his Timet all over with mo thut I would very glad ly have backed myself out of the room without entering into any particulars as to the object of my visit. would have cheerfully informed him that I was un agent for Boshiter's hair-restorer, -and had called with a sample, which might be returued if not approved after one day's rubbiug. But he know me, and I knew him. He understood perfectly well why I had solicited the honor of au interview with him at twelve o'clock A. M ; he was a sharp old gentleman, who had his eyes on me ior some time, and was not to bo imposed upon. He said, " Take a seat, Mr. I for get your name ;" and then he fumbled with his glasses, and referred to my po lite epistle, which lay on the table neur him. I took a seat uud nursed my hat. I perspired a little. I had a tremulous motion of my knees come on, which made me look ridiculous. I waited for him to begin, but he did not. I began myself, alter one or two secret encoun ters in my throat with a something which felt very much like a cork out of a soda-water bottle. " You are not aware that is, you can not but be aware that I have long re garded your ward Clara with Did you speak, sir r" " No, sir, 1 did not speak." He had given an awful cough of a double-knock character, that was all. He kept his glasses on his nose, and fo cused me, aud the operation was un pleasant. He was not pleasant in his reception of my statement either; he was decidedly unpleasant, not to say desperately disagreeable. But then he was a cross, ill-grained old fellow ; everybody knew it in Wolverstou, and I have no particular reason to disguise it here. I recommenced my statement ; I poured forth the best feelings of my heart, and with an eloquence that might have melted adamant 1 confessed to him thai Clira wag my one ambition. As I have said already, I knew that it was all over with me, but I was poetic even in the midst of my despairing conscious ness. Mr. Rowley set asido his newspaper, draw his chair an inch or two closer to mo, put his great hands rathtr dis posed to be gouty like his feet upon his knees, and surveyed me from head to foot contemptuously. " May I ask your age, young man ?" he said. This wns my weak point of defense, but I told him. " Seventeen." "And how did you first become ac quainted with my Clara, who is a year your junior, the hussy ?" " Well, Mr. R iwley, it has been a long attachment. My finishing school at Beesborough was situated opposite her finishing school, and we saw each other 'at church ; and I think " ' I think that yon both ought to be horsewhipped 1" he said, fiercely, inter rupting me ; " and as for my consent to Clara's engagement to a boy like you J will even go so fir as to say a whipper snapper like you " " A whipper-snapper, sir !" 'I repeat it, a whipper-snapper!" cried old Rowley, becoming very red and apoplectic in appearance. " I de cline to listen to your preposterous pro posal for one instant. Clara is only six teen, and does not know her own mind she is a mere child." "But we shall both grow older, Mr. Eowley." " Ah, and more sensible, I hope. Good morning." " Good morning, sir." I did not wait to tell him of my ex pectations from my grandmother, or to reason with him on his want of justice and consideration. I went away crest fallen and heart-broken. I dashed from the library in despair, nnd brought lny forehead tigainst that of my beloved with a concussion that was nearly the meaus of stretching our senseless forms outside the tyrant's den, the victims of his cruel obduracy. Clara, naturally in terested in the result of my interview with her guardian, had forced her pure but anxious soul to listen at the library keyhole. I had retired in haste, aud lloored her. " Oh, my gracious 1" she sobbed forth ; "I did not know you were coming out like that I Oh, my head! Oh, how dreadful 1 Oh, Alphonse, we must part forever !" She rested her head on my shoulder, aud shed many tears. 1 kissed away tier tears; I patted her head fondly, keeping clear of the bumps which I had rais:d there. I could scarcely see her gold, n hair for tears myself the water uad risen into my eyes immediately we had met each other. I sought to calm her emotion. I bade lit r be firm, aud I recommended vinegar and brown paper for her damaged brow. I said thut I should try them melf when I got home. I told her that I would die rather than relinquish her; i-be said the same thing in a burst of uncontrollable emo tion ; we renewed our vows of eternal fidelity, and tore ourselves from each other's arms, crushed in spirit, but strong yet to resist much oppression. I told all my troubles to Jack Ed wards, my bosom friend and adviser. Jack and I had been school-fellows to gether; we were going into the medical profession together presently ; my father had resolved that I should walk the hos pitals instead of the rosy path of love. Jack heard my story, and said that he would not have ttuod half of old Row ley's nonsense; but what he would have done uuder the circumstances he did not impart to me at the time, and I forgot to ask him afterward. Clara und I met clandestinely. We were lovers; wo had been lovers from our" youth; the flinty heart of a guar dian who had outlived mortal passion was not to htand between our fresh young souls. I met Clara in the village ; I scaled the park fence, and met her in the groen wood; and Jack, good fellow, kept watch on the door of the Hall and o'd Rowley's library windows with a tele scope, lest we should be surprised at any moment. Clara and I passed much of .nir tinm talkinsr "' what we should do when she came into uer piupeitjr twenty-one, and my grandmother fa vored me by departing from this earth ly sphere; but it was a sharp winter, und our teeth chattered cvt r our pros pects. Clara and I used to arrange our meetings in this wise. Clar had a con fidant in the game-keeper, Peter Stokes, an invaluable man, with a weakness for tobecco, und with a heart all charity to ward his fellow-creatures. Peter was always getting up subscriptions for his fellow-creatures in the village; and what with his subscriptions and his to bacco I kept him entirely in tobacco my pocket-money knew but little rest. Still he had a good heart, and was kind to us. He took charge of our corres pondence, which was carried on by a circumlocutory but sure process. Clara gave it to her maid Selina, another con fidante who, alas ! proved herself a per fidious snake and Selina intrusted it to Peter, who took it to a gnarhd monarch of the forest un oak-tree in fact anil conceah d it from all human gaze in a small hollow cavity some ten feet from the ground, where, at a later hour, 1 found it, and deposittd my answer, to bo conveyed by tho same process into my dearest Cl ua's hands. Peter was a la-jk old man, and very wiry ; he could cliib a treo like a &quir lel, and I was agilo uyself. The whole conception was romaij0( jf vou Wiiit but grand! I thought Ko.ciara thought so, Peter thought so. The n,;a Wrts troin Millais's picture, which we ua!i hoth carefully studied ; and if ljtei,adnot generally deposited his small iinca i0 mysolf ut tho same time, asking my "kind eonsideruskun, as a gentlou,.u born with a warm hart, to an allictiiu kase in the parissh," the romance would have been pure and unalloyed. Clara defied the obdurate guardian for two months ; it was February when Selina Muggins betrayed us. I was ad vancing, in an innocent and unsuspect ing manner, t the secret post-ollice in the wood, half a mile from Mr. Row ley's house, when 1 became conscious of the whole perfidy. 1 was close upon the tree that brave old oak which had held so many sec Ms when voices in another direction tilled my soul with horror. They were the voices of Samuel Rowley, Esq., J. P., and Peter Stokes, my Mer cury. I sank down in the long grats there was a rapid thaw that morning, and the damp struck to mo at once and trembled for my love. I was not au instant too soon ; their footsteps were upon me. Mr. Rowley's right foot was nearly upon me also; he shaved my fea tures by a hair's breadth, and passed on. The harsh tones of his voice rang in my ears an instant afterward. "You dou't consider yourself an abominable scamp, I suppose," Mr. Row ley said, "an unprincipled old vaga bond, to act as a go-between to a filly school-girl and that idiot of a boy ! You never thought of the harm of encourag ing this, did you ?" "I'm werry sorry, sir," whimpered Peter. ' Teaching my ward to be deceitful for the sake of a few sixpences, I sup pose ?" " I've never had a ha'penny, your hon or, much more a sixpence." Neither had he. They were generally half orowns he was in the habit of re ceiving from me. " You deserve to be kicked out of my service, Stokes drummed out of the vil lage, for a winked old hypocrite !" ' " They was werry fond of each other, sir, and Miss Clara used to ask me ao beseeching; and when I told her there was harm in writing to Master Huskis son without her dear gardewan's know ing anything about it, she allers said it was for tho lust time, sir really." " If it was not for your age, Stokes, I'd send you about your business this very day." "I'm werry sorry, sir," Stokes eaid again, hhedding many tears. "Is this the tree'r" " Yes, sir, that's the tree." " And Clara's last letter if up there now, eh? In that hole? Now no more lies!" " Yes, bir, in that hole." f " How on earth do you get at it ? ' "Master HusUisson climbs up there, sir, for his answers. I'll go up and fetch down Miss Clara's letter in a min it." There was a Fmall epistle of his own ho wished t obtain as well, perhaps ; or it was possible that his noble mind had suggested some tcheruo to Bave dear Ciara's missive from sacrilegious eyes. But Mr. Kowley suspected this old serv itor. "Stop where you are, Stokes!" he roared forth ; "I'll havo no more of your monkey tricks. Give me a back." " Give you a wot, sir?" "B;-ndyour back, you rascal, aud I'll jump on it, and get tuo letter myself." "jump on it?" repeated Stokes, with a look of dismay at Mr. Rowley's portly figure ; " it don't strike mo that I can bear your weight, master." "It will be only for a minute," said Mr. Rowley, quite brutally; "and if I break your back, it will serve you right enough. I m not un elepnant, man, und 1 will have no more of this non sense." Mr. Stokes resisted no farther. He made his back us if about to com mence a game at leap-frog with a jus tice of the peace ; and, with more aszility than 1 had given Mr. Rowley credit for, the guardian was aloft, and within an inch or two of our letts r-box. "Ob. lor! shall vou bo long, sir'f" asked Mr. Stokes, groaning softly to himself. " Raise your shoulder, you rascal, a lit' tie more," cried his employer. Stokes did so, and from my hiding- place I saw the hand of Mr. Rowley strive, with some difficulty for it was a fat, gouty hand, I have already said to force itself into that casket, which had contained so many of dear Claras epis tles. Samuel Rowley wag an excitable man ; for he swore a little in his efforts, and turned very red, and moved his feet restlessly upon poor Stokes's back. " I have got it 1" he cried at last. "The artful jade the cunning, plotting little minx, to serve her own guardian in this Oh 1" " Wait a momeDt. Stokes don't thake, Ob, lord, have mercy upon us ! Oh, damn it! Oh, dear, what is to bo done?" "I3 anything pat tickler the matter, sir ? Not a hadder, I hope, or a nest of sarpents, or anything r and old Stokes hid his head a little more tucked in his tuppeny we called it at school to con ceal his laughing and sardonic counte nance. "No, Stokes; it's something much worse, I'm sorry to sayv' " Wuas, sir ?" sttid Stokes, who left off laughing immediately. " Yes ; 1 I can't get my hand out !" " Tho devil you can't, sir !" cried Stokes, in dismay. "It's twisted somehow, or swollen, or the wood has gripped me. Wait a mo ment, Stokos Oh, it' ull up with me! I can't !" "Take it quiet, sir. Keep cool, or you'll never do it don't hagitate your self; but for Gord's sake look sharp. I'm a-cracking." "Don't move, Stokes as you are a man, don't move ! If you were to drop, I cannot imagine what would become of me. It will be ull right in a minute." " Make it less, if you can," groaned Stokes; "ull tho blood's got iuto my head, ciful. Ob, lor, what is to be done ? Are you out, sir (" "No, I'm not; I'm fixed. Stokes. I'm a dead man if you move ; I am indeed." Stokes burst into tears, aud howled with all his might; and Mr. Rowley shouted a great deal, and swoio a great deal too. Stokes would have run for it, probably, ior he was succumbing fast to the dead weight abovo him, had not Mr. Rowley held him by the throat with bis boots, and hxed him too. In anoth- fcl moment I had sprung to my icet, and wtk rushing to the rescue. " 'tin realiy very sorry, Mr. Rowley ; can I of any assistance?" " Assistance, -u you young dev-! Yes, you tan, mydear chil.i. Run for a ladder, and sa w, r something, as quick as lightning, to tho0use." " Hi hi hollo !" hrieked Stokes, as I prepared to obey 1., Kowley'a com niuuds ; don't run ; col nere( Bni iet me run, or bust up I uust! Oh, lor, Muster Huskisson, dou't leave me any longer do come and tuke turn. He's not so heavy when you're ud to him ho isn't indeed." I saw tho necessity of adv.nuinT to tho rescue at once, and so did &r. Row ley. I was tall for my age auutolera bly strong, and I hastened to tau the plaoe of Mr. Stokes, which I did with great caution on all sides. Beholc. me at last bearing the guardian of Clarnou my shoulders, and feeling terribly tiy weight of my responsibility as he stood with his face to the tree, still exercising his ingenuity to get big hand out of the trap. "I hope I'm not too heavy for you, Master Huskisson," he condescended to say, politely, for the sight of me was even pleasant to witness. "Not at all," was mv cheerful answer. " You'll make yourself as light as you can to oblige me, perhaps '(" I had not quite done growing, and man is fragile during that process. Mr. Rowley was very heavy, and Stokes wag wrong in his assertion wickedly wrong. " This is all your fault, mind you, Huskisson. This might have been my death," he said, reproachfully. " Yes, Mr. Rowley, if I hadn't been in the way," was my happy rejoinder. "Ah! but" he looked round with difficulty, nnd found Stokes still there, making every human iffort to straight en hi9 back before flying on his mission. "Curso it, Stokes, run for your life! don't stand there, you wretched lunatic, another instant !" Stokes ran away, nnd I was left as the one support of Mr. Rowley. Stokes had not been gone more than a minute and a hall, whin I wished that he had re mained and shand the weight with me. I tried to keep firm, but the difficulty was immense. "By, you're giving! Don't shake so. Ko-p yourself more against the tree," Mr. Rowley called down. ' All right. I'll do it for Clara's sake, if it's possible ; but if I snap " Then I remembered that he had called me a whipper-snapper ; and so did he, too, I thiuk, and was Borry. " Oh, you'll keep up," ho said, offering me evety encouragement in his power. " You're a big boy for seventeen, and I'm only nine stone tun not a great weight. I've seen people in a circus do this kind of thing for hours, you know." It was a gross exaggeration, and I folt it to be one. I was getting faint also. I had undertaken too much ; and his language at times was still violent, as he endeavored to extricate his hand. " If I should die, sir," I said, feebly, " will you please give my love to Clara ? Tell her I did all I could to benr up and to bear you up. Oh, dear! Did you say nine stone ten "I did." " I should havo thought you had been ninety," I murmured. "You're giving!" ho roared again, with a vehemence that revived me. " Keep up a little longer, my dear boy. I can hear them coming in the distance." Which was another f ilsehood ; but no matter. Mr. Rowley was not a truthful man. I set myself firmly against the tree, according to his instructions, but it was of no avail. My heels, in a few more minutes, would slide gracefully away from me, I was certain, and the guardian of my Clam would be swing ing about by one arm, like an early Christian martyr. Eis blood would be on my head, and bo would he, if ho came down with his whole weight perhaps armless on the top f ,1110. " Keep up !" he cried, in a great fright now. " You shall sea Clara when you like, my boy. 1 wSl not say a word against the match any more. You're a fine, strapping, bravo fellow, that you are a yourg Hercuhs !" " Thank you, Mr. Itowley," I answer ed ; and his words (IU sustain me a lit tle, and helied me tc sustain him. But 1 was sliding.slowly but surely, from under his feet vhen assistance ar rived men with ladlers and saws and chisels ; and Clara, toi; wild with fright, and with tears stmniing down her cheeks. " Oh, my poor gardy'." the cried. " Oh, you wicked Alphonse! it's all your dreadful fault." This was the last fea'her on the cam el's back. I fell forward, and a grand rush of the servants at Mr. Rowley's legs only saved the gutrdiau from sum mary dislocation on the spot. He was got down with difficulty ; and once down he was not grateful. "A pretty fool you haw? made of me!" he said to Clara us he waked away rub bing his wrist; "and a pretty pair of fools you and that boy aie, too !" Still, after all, he was sot so bad as I had expected to find him. He was a man who kept his word, and for that I have always respected old Rowley. Cla ra and I saw each other iu a more ra tional manner. I went to the Hall once or twice ; the was at my house on my eighteenth birthday, at littlo party which my mamma absurdly called "ju venile " in the invitations; and there Jack Edwards was too attentive to Cla ra, and raised a jealous demon in my breast. I went to London shortly afterward. Clara and I wero to be engaged when I " passed," and if we were of tho same mind, her guardian Buid. But we were not. While I was walking the hospitals a fellow in the tallow trade walked off with Clara, and I do not think she re sisted in the least. It was an excellent match, though he was forty-seven, aud very stoat. 1 went down to the wedding, and returned thanks at the breakfast for tbo brides maids, one of whom has promiied to be mine when I set up in business for myself. Iudl.fRuhber. Considering the many uses to which India-rubber is now applied, one of the most important being its recognized superiority over gutta-percha for deep sea telegraphs, and reuie'nbering the fears entertained some time back of the probability of a decrease in the supply, owing to the exhaustion of the forests consequent upon the immense demand, it is gratifying to learn that the quantity of rubber exported from Para during the past year exceeded that of the pre vious year by 22,731 arrobas (an arroba is equal to about twenty-five and one half pounds), and by211,2jO in mar ket value. It is true that the more ac cessiblo rubber districts are becoming exhausted, and give a smaller yield than in former years, but the rubber-bearing country is so extensive, and its rivers go incompletely explored, that the newly discovered sources will, no doubt, more than make up any deficiency arising from tho exhaustion of the old. - It is difficult, however, to obtain accurate or tellable information from those engaged in the collecting of the rubber. The continued demand for rubber, which is collected with comparatively little labor, and requires but little skill and experi ence, absorbs all the attention of the na tives over other products, and the con stant rise in its value so stimulates its production that it is more than probable there will be for some years to come an annual increase in the quantity im ported of at least ten per cent. Naturt. An Ohio widow was requested by the llouv itiitufii.lla ariutnn.mttA rulH.t.ivAH rt give a false name when she went out L- 1. ... a: r. : wasuing, go as uoi to uisgraoe tuo mini ly. Such thoughtfulness is touching. TIip Chinese 'cw Year. Tho Chinese New Year is always an occasion of unbounded festivity nnd hi larity, as if tho whole population threw off the old year with a shout, and cloth ed themselves in the new with their chango of garments. Preparations go on for five days before, but evidences of the approach of thiscbiet fe.-tival appear some weeks previous. Tho principal streets are lined with tables, upon which articles of dress, furniture and fancy toys are disposed for sale. You see monster frogs in colored paper, horses, birds, croc odiles, some of them showing contider able artistic design. The expense incur red is considerable, and often curious relics aro brought forth to turn into money. Superiors give presents to their servants and dependants, und shop-keepers send an acknowledgment of favors to their customers. We received sugar candy and sweetmeats. One of the most common gifts of the lower order is a pair of slippers. Among the stands for presents, ore other tables at which persons are seated, provided with pencils and gilt red paper of various sizes, on which they write ap propriate sentences lor tho season, to ba posted on doorposts and lintels of dwell ings and shops, or sutpeudtd from the halls; to which I shall presently refer. Small strips of red and gilt paper, somo beai ing tho word J'uh (happine.-s) ; large and small red cundlts gaily paint ed, and other things used in their wor ship, ure likewise sold in stalls and shops. As if to wash away all the un-cleunline.-s of the past year, water is ap plied profusely to every thing in tho house. But a still more praiseworthy custom is that of settling accounts and paying debts. The shopkeepers wait upon their customers, creditors and debtois, to set tle matters.. No debt is allowed to over pass tho next now year without settle ment or arrangement of some sort, if it can be avoided. Many wind up by bankruptcy, and the general consequence of this greet pay-day is scarcity of money, resort to the ptwnbrokers, and low price of all kinds of goods nnd arti cles. As the old year departs, all the ac count books iu Chinese shops are burn ed. Devout port-ous, of whom there are but few, also settle with their gods, and during a lew days before the new year the temples are usually thronged by de votees, both male and female, rich and poor. Some fast and engage prie.-ts to pray for them, that their sins may be pardoned, while thoy prostrate them selves before the images, amidst the din of gongs, drums, and bells, and thus clear olf the old score. Crackers are iired oif to drive away evil spirits, and the worship ot their ancestors, as usual, takes the precedence On New 1 ear s luvo the streets are full of people, all hurrjing to and fro to conclude any business still left undone. borne are busy pasting the nvo papers upon their lintels, signifying their de sire that the five great blessings which constitute human happiness may be theirs namely, long lite, riche3, health, love of virtue, aud natural death. Above these are pasted sentences like these: "May the five blessings descend upon this door." Or, "May rich custom ers ever enter this door." Or, " May Heaven confer happimss." The door posts of othtrs are adorned with plain, or gilt and red paper. In the halls are suspended scrolls, more or less costly, containing antithet ical sentences carefully chosen. A lit erary man, for instance, would have distiches like the following: " May I bo so learned as to secreto in my mind three myriads of volumes." " May 1 know the uif urs of the world for six thousand years." Other prolessions and tastes would exhibit sentences of a different charac ter. Boat people ore peculiarly liberal of their paper prayers, pasting them on every board and oar in their boats, and suspending them from the stern in scores, making the vessel flutter with gayety. The farmers paste them on their barns, trees, basnets, and imple ments, as if nothing should remain with out a blessing. The house is neat and clean to the higheat degree, and puri- ncd more than seven times by religious ceremonies qr lustrations, tiring oil' crackers tho last of which being meant, as already named, for the expulsion ot evil spirits. the stillness ot the streets and closed shops on New Year's morning is strik ing, ihe red papers on the doors have been removed. You now read sentences like these : " Yesterday, in the third watch, the old year passed ; to-day, with music and drums, the new year begins." Or, "Look where you will you witness festival ar ray ; tverywhere thero is bowing and salutation." Or, " Heaven grows in years, niaa grows in age." Or, " Spiing tills the wVole woild, and fortune the house." These gay papers are interspersed with blue ones, announcing that during the past year death has come among the in mates of the house a silent admonition to the passers-by. In some places white, yellow aud carnation-colored papers are employed with the blue, to desiguate the degree of deceased kindred. Etiquette requires the mouruti to remain within doors. In a few hours the streets begin to be tilled with well-dressed persons, hasten ing in sedans or on foot, or here and there in carriages, to make their calls. Those who cannot afford to buv a new suit, hire one for the occasion ; go that a Uhinese master hardly knows his own servants iu their finery. Much of the visiting, however, is done by card, on wnicn is stamped an emoiematio device representing the three happy wishes for children, for rank, and for a long life. Towards evening the crowds are so dense that it is with difficulty you can make your way through them; as then the extraordinary Chinese show, called the Jeneeh, is carried about on mt n's shoulders. It consists ot a wooden plat form, oblong or square, like a huge tray, on which a scene is erected, fairv-like I and fragile in appearance, with living children perched in the most startling and seemingly impossible positions imnginablo. (ciilleness. It is rare to find a person uniformly gentle, to whom the world does not ns cribo all other good qualities. Gentlo ness is, in itself, such a recommendation, that it is a marvel the virtue is not cul tivated from self-interest if a sense of duty, and tho promptings of religion.be not sufficient to make the practice of it obseived. The influence of a person habitually gentle is felt by all around, like the sun s rays which clear the at mosphere by dissipating noxious vapors, and impart life and genial warmth to objects that have languished and become shriveled up under the influence of clouds and chilling winds. The whole face of naturo seems transformed when the sun bursts forth and gloom departs. Thus, a geutlo disposition, appearing among morose and gloomy natures, re flects something of its own serenity and brightness ; others seem to partake of that inward tranquility which it pro motes, and, tor the time, to shake on the muntlo of surliness, opposition, or harsh ness, in which too many allow them selves to be wrapped. A person of untaihnc; gentleness of manners, benignity, and cheerfulness, will disarm the ill-disposed, and melt, in niauy cases, f iose stubborn natures upon which harshness has only the effect of confirming in opposition. Gentleness persuades when loiciblo arguments tail; hearts are won by the soft word and pleasing manner, where severity and jarring tones would create only enemies. the reverses 01 the gentle are sure to be regretted; his prosperity is viewed without envy, und his tailings are easily foreiven. Habitual gentleness is a safeguard against outward annoyances. A mind that is calm and serene beholds every thing in the most favorable light, and, like a smooth stream, reflects every ob ject ia its just proportion aud fairest colors. A spirit always in agitation, communicates something of its turbu lence to those with whom it comes in contact, and is a disturbing element in whatever society it may be thrown. A nature alwnys ready to pick Haws sees everything in a distorted form, find ing nothing pleasant or agreeable, and considering it a personal insult that others, more amiably disposed, should be happy and contented under the same circumstances that render itself so mis erable. Misinterpreting too often, alas ! misrepresenting every act and word of companions and acquaintances, repeating remarks, trivial in themselves, but receiving importance from significant shrugs and dubious tones, and tho sub stitution of more forcible words, thus sowing tho Seeds of discoid, even sever ing long united friends, is but one of the many miseries an ill-natured person, perhaps almost insensibly to himself, tails iuto. He feels illy-disposed toward the whole world, and proportionately dissatisfied with himself, a state of mind exhibited in every line of the counte nance ; grum looks, impatient motions, and snubbing words, arefreely bestowed, causing the recipients to shrink und re treat as iroui a porcupine, whote pene trating quills are thrown in all direc tions. But, even upon such a nature, a person of well-known, uniform gentle ness will exert a beneficial influence, aud though inwardly distressed at the black looks and snubs direct, will, by quiet and gentlu tones, soothe the rufiljd spirit, aud cull up a blush of shame to the cheek that is wont to color only in anger. Since gentleness is so uuiversally loved, so much admired, why is it not more generally cultivated ? Since so much is to bo gained by its practice, why do we not find more of it in a world ever ready to iissumo even the most austere virtues to obtain selftVh ends ? Leisure llonra. How ti Setlle the Attorneys. Din. trio is a small town iu tho south west of Ireland, on tho peninsula which forms 0110 side i f the Dingle Bay. Lady Un itterton.iu her I ravels in tbeboutn ot Ireland, kives us the following amusing specimen of the primitive manners of the people. " Law, sir!" repeated the man of Din gle, with a look ot astonishment ami affright " Law, sir ! we never mind the law iu our court. We ludge by the hone.-ty of tho case that comes before us : and let me tell you, sir, that it every court were so conducted there would be but few attorneys, and the country would be quiet and happy. " But what would you do if any per son brought an attorney these twenty- two long miles aud hilly road (from Tralee), and introduced him into your court, aud that he started some points of law, which required professional skill to reply to r " I II tell you what I did myself, was the reply to this apparently perplexing question. " When I was deputy sov ereign two tools in this town employed each of them an attorney, whom they brought at a great expense trotu Tralee, When the attorneys went into court, and settled themselves with their bags and papers, all done up with red bits of tape, and one ot them was getting up to speak, Crier,' said I, command silence.' ' bilence in the court 1 said he. So 1 stood up, and looking first at one attor ney, and then at the other, I said with a solemn voice, ' I adjourn this oourt for one month.' ' God gave tbo Queen I' said the crier : and then I left them all. And I assure you," he added, " that from that day to this no attorney ever appeared iu our court; and, please God, we nevir will mind law in it, but go on judging by the honor and honesty of the casus that come before us. A good story is told of a man who having, after a long struggle, worked himself into good society by means of the aristocratic alliance of his daughter, gave a grand dinner party to his newly- acquired circle. He didn't invite his own brother, for the reason that " society ii getting go mixed one must draw aline somewhere. I'iCELLAXEOUS ITE.1IS. M-iB?achusetts is making large quan tities of cartiidgo paper for Franco. Four more men have been lynched in Kansas for horse stealing. Iu Lawrence, Kansas, buffalo meat ie as plenty and cheap as beef. Tho German ormy is officered almost exclusively by the aristocracy. Connecticut papers say that in some parts of the State cider is more plentiful than w nter. A couple of farmers in Hardin county, Towa, went to law five years ago over $45. The suit has just ended, and both farmers had to sell their farms to puy the costs. The American Tract Society has issued 4 -12,000,000 tracts in 141 languages and dialects during tho last forty-five years. Tho latest thing in funeral processions in the West in a wagon to precede the hearse, bearing a bell, which is tolled cn route to tho grave. Gloves are now mado in England with a pocket on the inside of the palm, to suit the habit indulged in by the fair box of carrying money in that position. Tho latest thing out is fho proposal to eclcbrato " leather weddincs." To the tin and wooden weddings it is proposed to add the leather-wedding celebration, fifteen years after marriage, every pre sent to hare leather in its composition. On consideration, it will bo perceived hat the range ot choice will be quito large, though at first it may soon other wise, liooks, ot all kinds, in leather bindings, would come within the class of goods we presume. Just as a traveller was writing his ntinie on tho register of a Leavenworth hotel a bed-bug appeared and took its way across the page. The man paused, und remarked : " I've been bled by St. Joe fleas, bitten by Kansas City spiders, and interviewed by 1'ort buott gray backs ; but I'll be shot if I was ever in a pluco before where tho bed hues looked over the hotel register to find out where your room wa3 1" The State House at Lincoln, the capi tal of Nebraska, is built of magnesia limestone, and will cost when completed, $200,000, The main building is now completed, and occupied by all the State officers. The Insane Asylum is just com pleted, and will cost the btate 100,000. The Penitentiary is now building, and will cost 8200.000. It is located threo miles south of the city. The State Uni versity will be ready for occupancy in a few weeks. It is a modern building, is very haudsomo, and will cost $150,000. A correspondent of the JVeto Mexican, of Santa Fe, New Mexieo, writing from Chihuahua, Mexico, says the people of that Stuto are excited over . a new dis covery of placer gold about seventy five miles from the city of Chihuahua. Dju Pedro Gonzales, the discoverer, with three other men, washed out twenty three ounces of gold in nine hours. Tho particles found are round and plump, from tho bize of a grain of wheat to that ot a hu.lenut. One nugget weighed an ounce. The place is situated in a deep arroya two thousand or three thousand yaras long, and is supplied with water from Fpriugs in all parts of the airoya. The dirt yields from $1 to ?3 to the pan. We learn from tho Washington lie- pnbliain that the . meteorological record collected by the War Department in order to learn the couiso aud move ments of Btoruis, is likely to come to an early end. Tho appropriation for tele graphing was only $K,000, aud the col lecting aud distributing ot several hun dred messages daily has already con sumed the amount. The Western Union Telegraph Company will continue to do the work, however, until Congress gets time to act in the premises. As the mes sages must be given precedence of all other business at certain hours, the com pany will probably require several hun dred thousand dollars per annum to give tho proper amount ot telegraphic facili ties to maintain the rccot d and make it a success. It is believed that Congress will decline tj niako au appropriation adequate, to the maintenance of the en terprise. The Now York Bulletin says : The business of knitting by machinery is uow being prosecuted on a very large scale by one or two bouses in this city. The factories aro located on the line of the New Haven Railroad, and are very large ; one in particular employing 400 men, women and children, and repre senting a united capital of about $200, 000. This new branch of the manu facturing business will be of very great benefit in reducing the cost of first-elats underclothing, as this one cjneern can turn out more work than can be done by 7,000 hand knitters. All kinds of useful and ornamental work can be done by the improved machinery, which cannot be distinguished from the finest kind of hand work. This is a new enterprise, and one which must eventually pay very handsomely on the money invested, be sides opening a new branch of industry ana truue. Away up in Maine, where it wag to be supposed the follies and crimes of fashion had not yet boen introduced, it is charged that women even in the small est towns and villages have adopted the practice of arsenic eating. This is a European custom which bag obtained a pretty btrong hold iu some of our large cities, but which we bad presumed wag interdicted in the rural district where the cosmetics of nature, fresh air and exercise, abound on-every band. Its object, as most of our readers must know, is to give whiteness and clearness to the complexion, and for imparting, in the language of the advertiser, " a beauti ful and everlasting rose-tint to thethetkg of the fair." The only arguments against its general use are, that in a bhort time it gives a deadly pallor to the counten- ulllia rir ito ri ntiiiko an1 nn 1 brilliancy to the eyes, that it is impos sible to give up the practice when once commenced, and that it will eat up the vital powers quicker than alcohol or opium.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers