1
The Tioga Comity AgUat&t'
BY M. H. 0088. . i >
- >t*7 Wednesday morning and it I id to
snbcribera at ONEDODLAE AND FIFTS I NTS
MrywdwaysilK ADVANCE, , :
r The paper is sent postage free to county subs' Sera,
though they may receive their mall-at post-jih Blo
ated in counties immediately adjoining, for yen-
Sence. " . r
Seb AoiTiTOB is tlie Official paper of Tl tft , Co.,
and circulates in every neighborhood there.;! Snb
rcripUens being on the advance-pay system, li.jinsu
lates among » class most to the interest of a<U l asers
to reach. Terms to advertisers as liberal as o
f-sfecai bj any paper of equal circulation in Hi- (Shorn
Bennsylvania. ,
yr*t- A crops: on the margin of a paper, ; taotcs
thsti.be subscription is.about to empire. '■ :
jtSß*’ Papers will be stopped when the subst lotion
time expires, iunless the agent orders their £ linu
nnce.: ,1
JAS. tOWBEI & S. F. WILL 'S,
A TTORNEYS & COUNSELLORS at U IW,
iQ- will attend the Courts of Tioga, Pot Ji, and
counties. [TTellshoro, Jan. 1, 1 ,( I.]
JOBS S. MAISR, ' ,
A TTOENEY & COUNSELLOR AT i ITC,
Coaderfff/OM-, 1?4,, will attend the several f jolts
*n hotter and" McKean counties. All busiusf-i-en
trusted to his care will receive prompt attenii »f , He
has the agency of large tracts of good scttUrfe land
‘and will attenii to the payment of taxes on any:' ands
tn said counties. Jon. 28,
PICSfirSON HOUSE, ;
. ooK»ria,‘n. r. rt
SaJ. A. FIELD,- Prop* itor.
GUESTS taken.to and from the Depot, free
of charge. [Jan. I, 3 Si 5.]
PEIUfSXXTAWIA HOUSE!
CORNER OF MAIN STEEEr AND THE ATISJfE,
Wellsboro, Pa, J
j. W. 81G0NY...... * tor -
THIS popular Hotel, Laving been rMtted
and re-furnished throughout, Is now opePv ) the
juhlic as a first-class house. ■ [Jan. 1, U*l '■]
JZAAK WALTON HOLSff
Gaines, Tioga County, Pa. '
jj C. VERMILYEA,.. .Prop ./tor.
THIS is-a new hotel, located within ef'B*; ac
cess of the best fishing and hunting grot h js in.
Northern Pennsylvania. No pains will bo sps ted for
the accommodation of pleasure seekers and th ( • (rav
elling public. • [Jan. 1,1 if! k]_
-o WATCfIES, CEOCKS VSD
JEWELRY! ,
at BULLARD’S 4 CO’S. STORE, b y the
subscriber, in the best manner, and at as low pri-.cs as
the same work can be done for, by any first rat® ?tac
tical workman in the State. '»
Wellsboro, July 15, 1863. A. E. HAS’.'T.
WELLSBORO. HOTEL.
8.-B. HOLIDAY, ...Prow; (tor.
THE Proprietor having again taken posset.’: in of
the above Hotel, will spare no pains to'! jsnre
the comfort of guests and the traveling publjp At
tentive waiters always ready. Terms reasontl e.
Wellsboro, Jan, 21, 1863.-tf.
A. FOLEY,
Watches, Clocks,' Jewelry, &c., jkc.,
REPAIRED AT OLD PRICES. V ■
POST OFFICE BUILDING,
NO. 5, UNION BLOCK, -i
Wellsboro, May 20/1863. r 1 *
E. R. BLACK, -
BARBER & HAIR-DRESSER,
SHOP OVER C. L. WILCOX’S STOKTt
NO. 4, UNION BLOC 5.
Wellsboro, June 24, 1863. . f
FLOUR AND FEED STOISjB.'
WRIGHT & BAILEY /
HAVE had their mill thoroughly re- aired
and are receiving fresh ground Horn • feed,
meal, 4c., every day at their store in town. ->
Cash paid for all kinds of grain. ’>
. WRIGHT & BAIWIY.
Wellsboro, April 29, 1863. ":
Wool (larding and Cloth Dressing.
THE subscriber informs his old cul&smers
and the public generally that he is pretested to
card wool and dress cloth at the old stand, the«T>ming
season, having secured the services of Mr, J-i ’EET,
a competent and experienced workman, and (Iso in
tending to give his personal attention to the
he will warrant ail work done at his shop. _ft
Wool carded at five cents per pound, niH- Cloth
• dressed at from ten - to twenty cents per yafjjs per
•color and finish. J. L JACi'SON.
Wellsboro, May 6,1883-tf.
MARBLE SHOP.
T All now receiving a STOCK of IT % .lAN
JL and RUTLAND MARBLE, (bought wUI cash)
and am prepared to manufacture all kinds * f
TOMB-STONE^'
and MONUMENTS at the lowest prices. • 1
HARVEY ADAMS is my authorized a(;e it and
will sell Stone at the same prices as at the alio fc
WE HAVE ISVT ONE PRICE, .
-Tioga, May 20, 1863-Iy. A. D. if )LE.
JOHN A. KOYi;
TAEALER IN DRUGS AND ME DM NES,
JJ Chemicals, Varnish, Paints, Dyes, SoiJ,», Per
fumery. Brushes, Glass, Putty, Toys, Fanc;-'-,300d5,
Pare Wines, Brandies, Gins, and other Lie *T s J or
medical use. Agent for the sale of all the 1 Pat
ent Medicines of the day. Medicines warran t d gen
uine and of the r *’
BEST 'QUALITY, .
Physician’s Prescriptions accurately comj jindod.
The best Petroleum Oil which is superior to t y other
or burning in Kerosin? Lamps. Also..ail otl ’ kinds
Oils usually kept in a first class Drug Slo , '
tS~ FANCY DYE COLORS in packages ) 1 ready
expounded, for the use of private familiS; : Also,-
urc Loaf Sugar for medical compounds.
Wellsboro, June 24, 1563-Iy. .*< .
Insurance Agen« t»
THE Insurance Company of North Amtica have
appointed the undersigned an agent^stTioga
County and vicinity. - '&
As the high character and standing of th J«ompa
ny give the assurance of full protection to Wr.ers of
property against the hazard of fire, I solicij-ir th con
fidence a liberal share of tho business of <-)'_*■' lounfy.
This company-was incorporated in 1791. capital
is 5500,000, and its assests in 1861 as per statement
Ist Jan. of that year was $1254,719 81.
CHARLES PLATT, tNiretary.
ARTHUR g. COFFIN, Resident
Office of the Company 232 Walant?Strecs
Philadelphia.
3Vui, BuelUer, Central Agent Har
-risburg, Pa.
JOHN W. GUERNSEY, ’
Agent for Tioga County, P» ■
My 15, 1863.
STATE SOIIJIAt SCHOf v,
[For the sth District, Pa.] ; '
AND
Mansfield 'Classical Semiuary.
Eev. W. D. TAYLOR, A. M ..Principal.
Mr Assistant.
Mrs, I£. 6* t'atlob*, „Pree iplress.
Miss H. A. Fabsswoeth, AssSltnnt.
**•••» Assistant, and Teacher in Model^JioOio
Assistant, and Teacher of Music.-;
The Fall Term of this Institution will Sept.
? d - The Winter Term, Dec. 2d. The SprgftTcrm,
#arch 16th, 1864. Each term to contitmtr/v hirteen
*eeks. ,'■* .
A Normal School Coarse of study for gtb* nation,
c tab racing two years, is adopted.' *’ v i i
Students for the Normal Course, and for.', i Clasai-
Ca ‘ J ~ e P&rtment, are solicited.
f f, or Particulars, address Ker.'W. D..TaVE* v >Mans
«CW, Tioga County Pcnna. Send for a Cir* for.
president of the Board of Twsfcees.'
wll. HOLLAND, Secretary, ,
Mansfield, August 5,1863, ~ * '
THE AGITATOR
BehotcKr to tfyt s3xunBion of tfjc of JFmfcom aws* tijt SgtftaS of f&mltits deform*
WHILE THERE SHALL BE A WRONG UNRIQHTED, AND UNTIL “MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN” SHALL CEASE, AGITATION MUST CONTINUE,
VOL. X. ,
3*l*-ct poettj?*
WHO .WILL CARE FOR MOTHER NOW P
Why am X bo weak and weary?
See how- faint my heated breath,
All around seems -dark and dreary,
Tell me, comrades, is thle death ?
Ah, how well I know.yopr answer, .
To my fate I’ll.meekty how,
-If you will only tell me truly,
Who will care for mother jjow ?
C&ontrs:
Soonwlth angels FIl be marching, .
With bright laurels on my brow, ,
I hare for my country fallen.
Who will care for mother now ?
Who will comfort her in sorrow ?
Who will wipe the falling tear?
Gently emooth her wrinkled forehead,
Who will whisper words of .cheer?
Even now I think I see her,
Kneeling, praying for me—how
; Can I leave her in her anguish?
Who will care for mother now ?
Soon with angels, «fcc.
Let this knapsack be my pillow.
And my mantle be the sky :
Hasten comrades to the battle,
I will like a soldier die.
Soon with angels I’ll be marching,,
With bright laurels on my brow,
I have for my country fallen.
Who will care for mother now ?
' Soon with angels, &c.
AN AWFUX. DISASTER IN CHIU,
From the Valparaiso Mercury, of Dee. 17.
A catastrophe, gigantic, horrible, unexam
pled in the annals of ohr.country, and perhaps
of the world, has absorbed every one’s mind
for many days past.
We will use the utmost brevity in relating
the calamity to our foreign readers.
Ever since the newly-invented mystery of the
Immaculate Conception of Mary, was declared
at Rome, in 1857, the church of the Company,
formerly belonging to the Jesuits, had become
the focus of devotion of a vast sisterhood called
the Daughters of Mary,.in which, on payment
of so much a year, almost all the women of our
capital were enrolled. 1
Every year, from the Bth of November to the
Bth of December, the day of the Immaculate
Conception, lasted a splendid festival, in which
orchestral music, singing, and astonishing pro
digality of incense, of lights of oil, liquid gas,
wax, and every luminous combustiblo in the
world, glittered and flared in every part, in the
cornices, in the ceiling, and particularly on the
high altar. night the church blazed
with a sea of flame, and fluttered with clouds
of muslin and gauze draperies. It could only
be lighted op in time, by beginning in the mid
dle of the afternoon, and the work of extin
guishing was only ended when the night was
far advanced. In 1858 they thought of adopt
ing hydrogen gas, but the engineer’s plan, al
though convenient and safe, was rejected.
A priest Ugarte, whose mind mariol
atry had marked for its own, headed that sis
terhood from the beginning, and worked his
way down to such a depth of superstition, that
one of his last extravagances was the invention
of a celestial post office trick, by which the
Daughters of Mary might correspond with the
Virgin in writing. At the entrance of the tem
ple the Virgin’s letter-box was constantly open,
and there persons of a robust faith deposited in
sealed letters their wishes anditheir prayers.—
Every Wednesday, that letter-box for eternity
was placed before the high altar, and Ugarte,
who acted as postman between the Mother of
God and her daughters, exhibited to the divin
ity those offerings—of course keeping that sin
gular correspondence to himself.
This same mountebank got up a religious raf
fle for the favor of the Virgiu—in a recent in
stance two prizes being drawn by a skeptical
Minister of State and a woman whose character
was “not dubious.
-Tht old times of Pagan idolatry bad resusci
tated in the center of exaggerated Catholicism.
The cborch of “ the Company,” built in the
latter half of the seventeenth century possessed
a spacious nave, but a roof that dated only from
fifteen years ago of painted timber. The only
door of easy access to the congregation, was
the principal one in tho center, the small doors
leading into the aisles being opened only half
way and obstructed by screens. Near the high
altar there was a small door communicating
with the sacristy.
A few minutes before seven in tho evening of
Tuesday, thoSthof December, more than 3,000
women and a few hundred men knelt in that
church, crammed to overflowing. However,
that did not prevent a compact mass of fanatics
from attempting to fight their way in from the
steps, because it was the last night of the Month
of Mary, and no one could bear to lose the clos
ing sermon of the priest, Ugarte, who always
succeeded, by his .exciting declamations, in
drowning in tears that place so soon to be a sea
of fire. Then Ezaguirre, the Apostolic Nuncio
and favorite of Pius IX, the founder of'the
American college at Rome, was to preach also.
It is said that Ugarte, wounded in bis feelings
as chaplain of the “ Daughters of Mercy,” be
cause Ezaguirre .had told him that the illumi
nations of bis church could not be compared
with what he had seen in Rome, exclaimed with
enthusiasm, “ I will give him, when he come s
to preach, such an illumination as the world has
never seen.” Nobody can deny that Ugarte
has kept bis word.
Indeed, the lighting of all the lamps and can
dles had hardly finished, when the liquid gas in
a transparency on the high altar, set on fire its
wood work, and wrapped in flame a kind of
tabernacle wholly composed of canvas, paste
board and wood. In less than two minutes,
the altar, about twenty-three yards high and
ten broad, was an inextinguishable bonfire. .
The advance of the fire was perhaps even
more rapid than the panic of the audience.—
When the fire had flown from the altar to the
roof, the whole flock of devotees rushed to the
principal door. Those near the lateral doors
were able to escape at the first alarm; others,
and particularly the men, gained the little door
of the sacristy; and lastly, those near the chief
outlet, forced their way through the throng,
even still struggling to get in, and indeed part
• of which did get in, even in the face of the fire,
stimulated by the desire of getting a good place,
.which on this occasion meant a good place to
die in. Then, the flames having crept along
I
WELIiSBOEO, TIOGA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY MOEKIKG, PEBRUAEY 3, 1864.
the whole roof, and consequently released the
lamps of oil and liquid gas from the cornices to
which they were strung, a rain of liquid blue
fire poured down upon the entangled throngs
below.
A new and more horrible conflagration broket
out then in that dense living mass.appalling the
affrighted gaze with pictures tenfold more awful
than those wherein the Catholic imagination
has labored to give an idea of the tortures of
the damned. In less than a quarter of an hour,
two thousand human beings bad perished—in
cluding many children, but very few men.
■ 'Although many heroic men performed pro
digies of daring and strength in tearing some
from the death-grasp of the phalanx of death
that choked the door—in some cases literally
tearing off their arms, without being able to ex
tricate them—the number of saved by this
means falls short of fifty. More than five hun
dred persons of our highest society have per
ished—the greater part young girls of fifteen to
twenty years. One mother has perished with
her five daughters. Two-thirds of the victims
were servants, and there are many houses in
which not one has escaped. Several houses
have been noted by the police as empty, be
cause all their inhabitants have perished.
The people think of nothing but the victims
and their obsequies. All with one voice demand
the demolition of the ruinous walls of the fatal
temple, and the offering of a monument to the
dear memory of the martyrs. The municipal
body solicited this, by the medium of a com
mission on the 12th, and the Government is re
solved on compliance. Resistance is threatened
on the part of the clergy; but such exaspera
ting and indecorous folly would infallibly call
forth a general rising of the people.
The past fortnight has produced no other oc
currences worth chronicling, and even if it had,
they would not seem deserving of mention in
this night of heavy anguish.
During the last week, the tribunals and the
Government itself have suspended their labors.
The people only weep, and their public wri
ters could only offer tears to the nation’s mourn
ing.
Santiago, Dec. 14,1863.
Before three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour
appointed to petition the .President of the Re
public for the demolition of the walls of the
church of “ the Company,” a numerous, and
select meeting of all the social classes had col
lected in the open space in front of the ruins.
The decree of demolition having been signed by
His Excellency, Don Guillermo Malta ascended
to the upper story of the Congress House, and
thence addressed the people, reading the decree
promulgated n few hours before, and calling
for a tica for His Excellency, which was enthu
siastically given by the,immense assembly that
filled the square.
The orator proceeded then to protest, in the
name of religion and humanity, against' those
who attempted to qualify as sacrilegious the
people’s longing fot the defnolition. “To
wreak its revenge on ns,” ho added, “ super
stition tries to lash and goad the ignorant pas
sions of the rabble into violence; but its feeble
efforts aro in vain, because we have noveg
strayed from the great principles of pure reli
gion. Fanaticism spreads its murky nets against)
the happiness and peace of society. Let ns
quench its firebrands, with the sincerity and
nobleness of our intentions.
THE OFFERING CP OF THE EVENING SACRIFICE.
A dreadful visitation has fallen upon us.
Truly this is a day of trouble and rebuke and
blasphemy. Tbe voice of lamentation is heard
all over the land—the bitter weeping of fathers,
husbands and lovers, for those who were the
joy and brigMness of their life—that refuses to
be comforted because they are not.
Hundreds of young girls—yesterday radiant j
and beautiful in tho luxuriant bloom of tbe
fresh, hopeful spring of life—to-day, calcined,
hideous corpses, horrible,loathsome to the sight,
impossible to be recognized.
The Bth of December was a great triumph
for the clergy of the Church of tbe Jesuits in
Santiago. An enthusiastic audience tilled eve
ry nook. There were hardly any men there,
but 3000 women, comprising the flower of tho
beauty and fashion of tbe capital, were at tbe
feet of the ecclesiastics, very many against the
will of fathers and husbands; bnt that, of
course, only shewed forth the power and might
of tbe gospel.
Never had such pyroteehny been seen before
—20,000 lights, mostly camphene, in long fes
toons of colored globes, blazed tbe church into
a hall of fire.
But the performance had not yet begun, when
the crescent of fire at the foot of tho gigantic
image of the Virgin over the high altar, over
flowed, and climbing up tho muslin draperies
arid pasteboard devices Ho the wooden roof,
rolled a torrent of flame.
The suddenness of the fire wasawful.
The dense mass of women, frightened out of
their senses—numbers fajnting, and all entan
gled by their long swelling dresses, rushed as
those who knew that death was at their heels,
to the one door, which soon became choked up.
Fire was everywhere.’ Streaming along the
wooden ceiling, it flung the paraffine lamps,
hung in rows there, among the struggling wo
men. In a moment, the gorgeous church was
a sea of flame. Michael Angelo’s fearful picture
of Hell was there, but exceeded.
Help was all but impossible. A Hercules
might have strained his strength in vain to pull
one from the serried mass of frenzied wretches
who, piled one above another, as they climbed
over to reach the air, wildly fastened the gripe
of death upon any one escaping, in order that
they might be dragged out with them. Those
who longed to save them, were doomed to bear
the most, harrowing sight that ever seared hu
man eye-balls.
To see mothers, sisters, tender and timid wo
men, dying that dreadful death that appals the
stoutest heart of man, within one yard of sal
vation, within one yard of men who would have
given their lives, over and over again, for them
—it was maddening;—the screaming and
wringing of hands for help, as tbe remorseless
flames came on; and then, save when some al
ready ddad with fright, were burnt in ghastly
indifference, their horrible agony, some in
prayer, some tearing their hair and battering
their faces;
TYomen seized in the embrace of the flames,
were seen to undergo a transformation as though
by an optical delusion, first dazzlingly bright,
then horribly lean and shrank up, then black
statues, rigidly fixed in a writhing attitude.
The fire, imprisoned by the immense thick
ness of the walls, had devoured- everything
combustible by ten o’clock. Then, defying the
sickening stench, people came to look fop their
lost ones.
Oh, what a sight the fair placid moon looked
down npon! Close'packed crowds of calcined,
distorted .forms, wearing the fearful expression
of the last pang, whose smile was once a hea
ven, the ghastly phalanx of black statues twis
ted in every variety of agony, stretching ont
their arms as if imploring mercy, and then of
the heap that had choked up the door, multi
tudes with the lower parts perfectly untouched,
and some all a shapeless mass, but with one arm
or foot unscathed.
The silence, after those piercing screams
were hushed in death, was horrible. :It was the
silence of the grave, unbroken, but by the bit
ter wall or fainting cry.
Two thousand sonls had passed through that
ordeal of fire to the judgment-seat of God.
Heroic acts of sublime daring have not been
wanting. Enduring gratitude has been excited
in every Chilian heart, by the gallant efforts of
Mr. Nelson, the Minister of the United States,
his countryman, Mr. Meiggs, and several other
foreigners. There were generous men who de
fied the fury of the flames to save lives, and
some of these died martyrs to their noble hearts.
An Englishman or American, it is unknown
which, was seen to rush through the flames, to
seize in bis powerful arms a lady, stride with
her a little way, and then, his hair in a blaze
and choked with smoke, fall hack into the vol
cano, never to rise again. A young lady, named
Orolla, having in vain implored some bystand
ers, on her knees, to save her mother, rushed
in, and shortly afterward miraculously issued
forth, bearing her glorious load.
A young lady of the name of Solar, just be
fore the 'smoke suffocated her, had the presence
of mind to knot her handkerchief round her
leg, so that her corpse might be recognized.
The population of Santiago, so supine and so
priest-ridden, is fired with indescribable indig
nation at the monstrous conduct of the priests.
The public conscience holds them guilty of the
death of all those victims—nnd particularly
the mountebank Ugnrte, because by; collecting
together all the material most likely to produce
a fire—a countless number of lights, pasteboard
scenery and muslin hangings, admitting a vast
crowd —and covering the one door open with|a
screen, they took every pains -to bring about
this tragedy. When the fire broke oiit and peo
ple were escaping by the sacristy, they blocked
op this door to devote themselves the more un
disturbedly to saving their gim-oracks. The
list lof thiugls saved makes one’s blood run cold.
What the p jests saved, what they have put
away in cigar shops and the bouses in front are
—a gilt some woaden saints, u sacred
sofa or two, some books, chalices, silver can
dlesticks, and a great deal of sacred matting
and carpet 1
After saving their trash, these specimens of
the good shepherds that give their life for their
sheep, flew away in company with the owls and
bats that infested the ancient walls, except that
one priest favored the agonizing victims with
his absolution, and Dgarte requested them to
die happy, because they went direct to Mary.
They then forsook the scene, and in that awful
night, when fainting women and desperate men
strewed the streets, and writhing forms, that a
few boors ago were graceful and beautiful mai
dens, moaned and died in chemists’ shops, not
a priest was to be seen to whisper a word of
Christ’s comfort to the dying ear, or hold the
precious crucifix before the glazing^eye.
No, not so, for the Priest of Nature was there,
a ministering angel in the dark hour, tended
and soothed as__usaal. One young lady, God
bless her 1 tore up all her underclothing to make
bandages, and' bound op the wounds as only
woman can. All this awful night, tho only
thing that reminded of the clergy was the in
cessant tolling of bells, about tbe only thing
they could do to increase the horrors of the
scene.
This being the third, time that this church has
filled our homes with weeping, all with one
voice demand that it never should be rebuilt;
but the priests, foolishly defiant and despotic as
ever, threaten to let off their miserable medie
val pop-guns, at those they term tho sacrile
gious alienators of holy ground.
Their audacity has even led them, to attempt’
an appeal to violence.
On the 11th’ they appeared on tho scene to
take possezsion of ths blackened rains, and in
sult public opinion, by droning masses for the
souls whoso bodies they had destroyed ; but
the sentinels drove them off with tho butt ends
of J their muskets.
The contempt and horror of these priests in
crease with their insolence and inhumanity.
They preach thafthe irreparable loss of so
many of the fairest and most virtuous of Chili’s
virgins and matrons, is a special mercy and mi
racle of Mary, who wished to take them at once,
without delay, to her bosqip. One monster ex
ults openly at that which lias stamped eternal
grief and horror on ( nr hearts, “ Because Chili
wanted a supply of saints and martyrs.”
O, as we write, onr eyes fill with tears —no-
thing can console ns in this affliction—we can
think of nothing else but our loss of those who
will never come back to ns; —bnt still there
will have ensued vome good, if tho dark degra
ding dominion of tbe priests has melted away
in the smoke of that awful burnt sacrifice,
which, laden with the dying breath of 2,000
victims, rolled up to accuse Dgarte and his ac
complices of xnnrder before the throne of God.
Coleridge, tho poet and philosopher, once
arriving at an inn, called out, “ Waiter, do you
dins here collectively or individually J” 11 Sir,”
replied the knight of the napkin, “we dines
at ei*.”
A hast cannot borrow in his counting-room
for ten or twenty of the best years of bis life,
and Como out as much of a man and as little of
a mole as when be went ini
©osrtaaionJJcnte.
LETTER FROM THE FAR WEST.
Trip to Denver—the Country and Scenery —
Suffering on the Plains—Growth of Denver,
and its Vices —A Gay Holiday—Dull Trade
—High Prices, etc.
Denver Citt, C. T., Jan. 1, 1864.
' Dear Agitator:—lt is almost a month since
I last wrote yon from Latham; and having a
desire to spend at least one holiday in the great
Rocky Mountain Metropolis, yesterday morning
I took a seat in the overland coach, and after a
i ride of nineteen hours, reached here, at half
past three this morning. The distance from
Latham here, is flyout sixty miles ; yet the trip
seomed to me to be about two hundred and fifty.
The weather has been terrible cold, and it has
snowed and drifted so there are no signs of any
road—and we have had to come on a walk most
all the way.
Between Latham and this city, there are
three changes of mules—at Big Bend, Fort
Lupton, and 14 mile station. In the summer
months, or when there is no snow, there can be
noJictter road on earth. The soil is of coarse
gravel, and the roads remind me of -those thro’
Central Park in New Yorki . Leaving here, the
road follows the sooth fork of the Platte all the
yay, though in some places it is five miles off,
leaving the stream at the right. The country,
except near the river, is rolling prairie, and the
soil so sandy that nothing but buffalo'gross and
cactus plant will grow.
. I do not like the country at all, between
Julesburgh and Latham, a distance of one hun
dred and forty miles. Aside from the Platte
river, there is little to be seen hut sand banks
and sand hills. Along this stream, there is
very little scenery worth looking at ; and eve
rything looks alike, until you get a sight of the
Mountains, which are visible over a hundred
miles. Twelve miles from Latham, away to
the right of Big Bend, we have a view of Fort
St. Vrain, the county seat of Weld county , and
fifteen miles farther, we pass the ruins of Fort
Lnpton, erected nearly thirty years ago, ont of
sod, as a protection against the hostile Indians.
Here we begin to notice good farms, in the val
ley of tlie Platte, and some fine ranches, the
owners of which are reaping' arich harvest from
the freighters that are constantly- traveling the
plains.
The oldest inhabitants and freighters, who
have been on t here for years, say that this is Jhe
hardest winter ever experienced country.
The snow is from one to three feetjdeep; and so
cold has been the weather, that thousands of
cattle , have died, and the road is completely
lined with the dead carcasses, which make good
living fur the wolves, that are always roving
about on the plains. Hundreds of cattle have
died from starvation. The price of hay out
here having advanced to §75 per ton, there are
any amount of men low and mean enough to
sell their hny and lettheir cattle starve-to death.
What is there too mean for a man to do, who
will sell his last pound of hny, and let his poor
dumb brutes, that are nothing but living skele
tons, starve before his face and eyes ?
This is my eleventh arrival in this place ; and
in loss than a year, I have travelled about four
teen thousand five hundred miles on a stage
coach, and have been out on the road abontonc
hundred and thirty daya, making an average of
a trifle over one hundred and eleven miles a day.
There has been a wonderful change here since
I left this, place, on the 12th of last August.—
At that time, in the main business portion of
tho place, the roins of the great fire last spring
would stare at a person everywhere; but now,
large and magnificent brick blocks greet the
eye on every corner. One can hardly believe
that such a wonderful town baa sprung up in
the short space of five years; yet such is tho
case ; and.the place bids fair to rank, some day,
with some of the large eastern cities. The
wealth of the Rocky Mountains, or Pike’s Peak
region, that is so fast becoming developed, will
warrant the building of a here ; and
with such a start as Denver has at the present
day, she can hid defiance to any town that may
hereafter spring up in this immediate vicinity.
Situated as beautifully ns it is, with the clear
sparkling waters of the Platte so gently gliding
through if, the lofty peaks in the mountains
frowning down upon it, that really seem bat a
short walk from here, with stages from Santa
Fe, Atchison, Salt Lake, California, and tho
Gregory gold mines, coming in every day, it
seems that tho place must soon become some
thing more than an ordinary town.
There are probably but few places of the size
and population of Denver, where vice is so ex
tensively practiced as here., Gambling bouses
are upon every street, and gambling is here
carried on to perfection. Every few steps, on
any street we pass, isjigrog shop, ora house of
prostitution.
* This is a gay day for the people of Denver.
I never saw the sleighing better; and hundreds
are out in sleighs, cutters, jumpers, sleds, and
every conceivable thing that can have runners
attached to it. Sleighing is a rare and precious
“ institution”, in this city; and the jingling
bells every minute remind me of the many hap
py hours I have spentin Wellsborongh; though
I have not ridden on a sleigh a mile for the past
seven years.
Business here this winter, I am told, is very
dull, and never were so many poor people suf
fering. There is bat little building going on,
and consequently no demand for laborers. Peo
ple who are willing to go into, the mountains
and work in the mines, can get good wages;
bnt this is the wrong country for a man, unless
he is willing to torn his hands to anything.—
Flour sella for 812 per hundred ; corn meal 812;
buckwheat flour, §l5 ; potatoes, $6 a bushel;
butter, eighty cents per pound ; eggs, $1 per
dozen; wood, $l2 per cord, though it has sold
within the last month for $25.
In spite of the hard tiroes, two theatres are
In full blast, well filled,"and occasionally giip a
“ benefit” for the poor and suffering. All places
of amusement here are pretty extensively pa
tronized, Every one who can '* raise the wind,”
is bound to she the “ elephant.” F. A. R.
T»» phrase “ down in the month” is said to
bav« been originated by Jonah, about the time
the whale jwaUawed bintf
Rates of Advertlsliig,
Advertisements will bo charged $1 per sqsnreaf 1 1
Uses, one or three insertions, and 2S cents tor ore tf
subsequent insertion. Advertisements of less then 19
lines considered as a square. The subjoined rales
• f ° r Qaarts,rl ?> Half '- S ' eari ? * bi SWJ*
Q
1 Square,
2 do
3 do. ..
■i Column,,
i do,
1
do. 25;00 S^OO
Advertisements nbt having the number at lz,Lr
tions desired marked upon them, will bo published
until ordered out and charged accordingly.
Postbrs, Handbills, Bill-Heads, Letter-Heads and
all kinds of Jobbing dona in country establishments
executed neatly and promptly. Justices’,Constable's
andjither BLANKS, constantly on bond.
tfO. 23.
A. “Traveller,” in a letter to the Londori
Times, says:—
“ I can assure yon, if we go to war with iha
Japanese, we must not blind ourselves withtbd
belief that we shall have a second Chinese af
fair. They are bold, courageous, proud, and
eager after every kind of knowledge.—A friend
of mine gave a workman a Bramah lock to put
on a box ; it was not discovered until going
time afterward, and only then by the absence
of the itfime, that the lock had been intimated,
and as the workman confessed, the original
kept as a pattern, I have been on board 8
steamer (paddle) which used three years ago
to run between Nagasaki and Jeddo, six hun
dred miles, whose engines and boilers and every
part of her machinery, were made of copper;
She was built by a doctor in Jeddo, whose only
guide was a Dutch description of a steam en
gine translated into Japanese. An American
gunnery officer was sent over in,1859. in the
Powhaten, to teach them gunnery. He wag
courteously received, and then taken over the
arsenal at Jeddo. He returned to 'theship*
saying “ he bad been tanght a lesson instead of
having to teach.” :
“In many of the arts and mannfactiuried
they excel us; their beautiful castings in
bronze would puzzle the most experienced
European workman. I have shown
to clever workmen who confessed they coaid
not imitate them. Though they do not know
how to blow glass, I have seen samples which
would rival in brilliancy any made in England.
Tbe French Minister had a large ball, so clear
and of such perfect color that he believed it'to
be a gigantic sapphire, and bought it for a good
round sum. Their paper imitations of leather
are perfect; their paper water-proof 'coats are
bought by tbe pptains of ships for their ex
posed boats' crews: their own clocks are good;
and they have ijnma ted our watches; they walk
about with ‘pcnoWters' attached to their belts,
and they are not backward in copper plate en
graving and ‘ perspective; Their china is far
superior to the Chinese. The country cbounds
with coal, though they only use that found
close to the surface : but,, even that; a sort
bituminous shale, is good. In gold and silver
I believe they could rival Mexico and Australia :
iron, copper and tin are found in profusion.
A friend of Yokohama gave a Japanese a pieod
of English cotton shirting ; in a few days the
man brought back two pieces, and my friend
had much difficulty in saying which was his, so
closely bad it been imitated. In fact they surd
a people who want for nothing bnt teachers/'
Noon in a Brazilian Forest.
An almost death-like quietude reigns, but it
is a quietude induced by the furnace-like heat
of the vertical sun, whose rays pour down with
direct fierceness, from which there is no sbad-t
ow, except actually beneath some thick tree;
such as the mango, whose dense and dark foli
age affords an absolutely impenetrable umbrella
in the brightest glare. Such, too, is the smooth
harked mangabeirn, a tree of vast bulk, with s
a wide-spreading head of dense foliage, be
neath which, when the sun strikes mercilessly
on every other spot, all is coolness and repose.
The birds are all silent, sitting with panting
beaks in the thickest foliage; no tramp or voice
of beast is board, for they are sleeping in their
coverts. Ever and anon the seed capsule of
some fore St-tree bursts with a report like that
of a musket, and the scattered seeds are heard,
pattering among the leaves, and then all relap
ses into silence-again. . Great butterflies, with
wings of refulgent azure, almost tool dazzling
to look upon flap lazily athwart the'glade, of
alight on the. glorious flowers. Little bright
eyed in panoply that glitters in the
sun,, creep about the parasites of the great
trees, or rustle the herbage and start at the
sounds themselves have made. Hark! There,
is the toll of a distant hell. Two or three min
utes pass,—another toll I Alike interval, then
another toll 1 purely it is the passing boll-of
some convent,' announcing the departure of a
soul, fto such thing; it is the note of a bird.
It is the cmnpanero; or bell-bird of the Ama
zon, a gentle little creature; much like a snow
white pigeon, with a sort of soft fleshy .horn on
its forehead, three inches high. This appen
dage is black, clothed with a few scattered
white feathers, and being hollow and commu
nicating with the. palate, it can bo inflated at
will. The solemn clear bell-note, uttered at
regular intervals by the bird, is believed to be
connected with this structure. Be this nig it
m''y, the silvery sound, hqard only in the depth
of the forest, and scarcely ever except at mid
day, when oilier voices are mute, falls upon the
oar of the traveller with a thrilling and ro
mantic effect. The jealously recluse habits of
the bird have thrown an air of mystery over
its economy, which heightehs the interest with
which it is invested.
In these days.when “ villainous saltpetre” is
so active, it mdy bo interesting to read a brief
account of the process of its manufacture :
The usual composition of powder is seventy
five parts saltpetre, fifteen of charcoal, and ten
of sulpher. The saltpetre is quite impure when
first mined, and has to be prepared by a pecu
liar process. The charcoal is also prepared
with great care, and is made wholly from soft
woods. Dogwood is used for the best sporting
powder, alder and willow being employed fop
government and blasting powder. The sul
phur mostly comes from Sicily, where it is de
posited by volcanic action. ■
After the various proportions of saltpetre;
charcoal and- -sulphur have been carefully
weighed, they are taken to the mixing machine,
and planed in the hopper. This machine con
sists essentially of a large box. In - which re
volves a set of large copper-toothed combs.
The ingredients being set in rapid motion, fall
from the hoppef into the square box, and in
their passage are met by the comb*, which
dash the: particles about as if hurled by a
whirlwind, and, before they can pass iota the
receiver have mixed them meet effectually;
Skostes, SJiosthS. ISaojtr St:
' *3,00 §4,50 $6,00
-• *>«® 6,50 8,00
"■ I’ll B’so 8 ’ 50 10,00
..3,00 f 1,50 J 2,50
10,00 20,00 25,00
J&Cjmlisng*
THE JAPANESE.
How PoWder is Made.
I