THE STAR OF THE NORTE
I, w. Weaver, Preprleter.]
VOLUME 9.
THE STAR OF THE NORTH
lareiLisuED EVERT WEDNESDAY MORNING BY
. W. WEAVER,
OFFICE— Upstairs, in thenew brick build
ing, on Ike south side oj Main Street, third
eyuare below Market.
TERMS :—Two Dollars per annum, if
paid within six months from the time of sub
•cribng ; two dollars and fifty cents if not
paid within the year. No subscription re
ceived for e less period than six months; no
discontinuance permitted until all arrearages
ere paid, unless at the option of the editor.
ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding one square
x Will be inserted three times for One Dollar,
end twenty-five cents for eaoh additional in-
teujpo. A liberal discount will be made to
those who advertise by the year.
STAR OF THE NORTH.
Uloomsburir, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 1857.
THE MYSTERIES OF BANKING.
In erder that some of the honeet people of
Columbia may see iu what manner th inka
are managed, whose psper you handle every
day, we propose to treat them to the state
ment of the management of the Lancaster
Bank, which waa supposed by most people
to be a very sound institution. It is the re
port of.lheXotnmittee appointed rcoently to
inquire inlojthe causes of the Bank's failure:
Report to tke Stockholder* ol the Lances
tor Bank.
The undersigned committee of Stockhold
ers of said Bank appointed to investigate it*
condition and make report—
1. Whether eatd Bank it solvent ot insol
vent:
2. If found 'insolvent, to report the cause
or causes of such insolvency, and the man
ner in which it waa produced:
3. The time or timet when the losses were
Incurred that have rendered it insolvent:
4. The name! of the Director* end officers
under whose administration the insolvency
of the Bank occurred—
respectfully beg leave to submit to this meet
ing, That having mada the investigation di-1
reeled by the resolution under which they
ware appointed, and after a careful examina
tion of the assets and liabilities of the Bank,
have come lo the conclusion that the state
ment submitted to tho Stockholders at a for
mer meeting was a fair and impartial exhi
bition of the Bank—thus leaving no doubt of
its insolvency to an amount sufficient to ab
sorb the entire capital alock and a rotlton of
the deposits.
The insolvency of the Bank can be readily
traced to a combination of causes, each con
tributing to waste its resources and encroach
upon its assets. Instead of accommodating
Ihe business community in the locality of the
Bank, where the Directors had be means of
knowing the responsibly of the drawers and
endorsers or the paper offered for discount, it
loaned an amount exceeding three-fourths of
its capital to a few individuals (its President
,nd. Cashier among the number,) for the pur
pose of building the Sunbury and Philadel
phia Railroad—erecting extensive iron es
tablishments, and developing the Sharaokin
Coal fields—projects, which, every man of
eveu ordinary discretion must have foreseen,
would lock up the funds of Ihe Bank, thus
loaned to those parlies, for a long space of
time; and, if those speculations ehould prove
disastrous, must inevitably lose to the Bank
the money loaned for such purposes.
In consequence of the entire capital of the
Bank being locked up: either on the protest
lilt, invested in fqgtory stock, and in loans to
ita President, David Longenecker, and his
co-operators in the Shamokin Coal specula
tions, resort was had to various illegitimate
methods of banking, in order to carry its cir
flotation, but which in rapid succession only
tended still more to cripple its condition.—
Among the expedients resorted to by the
Bank to carry its circulation, without the ba
sis ot its capital, was the furnishing of its
bills to wildcat Savings Institutions, private
banking afffb'.ishments, and even private in
dividuals, in large amounts, charging inter
est at the rate of three per cent, per annum,
with the understanding, on the part of this
kclase of borrowers, that they should keep
those billa afloat, so aa not to incommode
lite Bank. By this means one single indi
vidual has become indebted to the Bank in
A very large amount, whioh indebtedness is
put down among the doubtful and uad as
sets. But independent of the insolvency of
the parties to whom the bills of the bank
were thus furnished in large amounts for
circulation, this method of keeping up a cir
culation was the cause of additional losses.
These bills of the bank found their way to
Philadelphia, the commercial mart of Penn
laylvania, where it was required they should
be redeemed in gold or silver; and in order
to do this the notes and bills of exchange
which had been discounted at the counters
of the Bank, at legal rales, were sent lo
Philadelphia, and there aold at a discount,
rating from 1$ to 3 per cent, per month.—
More than $90,000 of ihe insolvency of the
Bank cau be (raced to the payment of extra
interest to meet the demands of its circula
tion. *
Among other censes of lis insolvency may
bo mentioned the transfer to Ihe Bank of
<20,000 worth of the factory stock at par by
David Longenecker, tho President, on the
29th of January, 1852. when in fact the stock
was not sslhng at more than 914 to sl6 per
share, the par value being SSO por share.
Aleo, in th# exchange by the Bank of $13,-
600, Jama*' Loan, at par, being a loan secu
red by first mortgage ou Coneetoga Steam
Mill, No. 9, lor 226 shares Lancaster Bank
Stock at S6O per share. This exchange was
direoted by ihe Board of Directors in May,
1865, the stock to be transferred to the Bank
M before the first of November, 1966; bet th*
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1857.
'ook WII not transferred until after the May
dividend in 1856, Mr. Longenecker, how
ever, took immediate possession of the se
cutties for the Junes' Loan, after the Board
agreed to the exchange, thus defrauding the
Bank out of either the year's interest on the
James' Loan or the two dividends on the
225 sharit of Lancaster Bank Stock.
Another direct, palpable and gross fraud
was committed upon the Bank in May, 1856,
by whieh it lost $4,000 of good seenrities in
the following manner: In February, 1856, a
resolution passed the Board of Directors for
the appointment of a Committee to investi
gate its condition, and on the 3d of March,
1856, the following Committee was announ
ced, viz: Hathorn Freeland, Benj. Eahleman,
Augustus.;Boydj A. Herr Smith, and Benj.
C. Bachman, Esqrs. This committee pro
ceeded in the discbarge of their duties, and
made considerable progress, before the divi
dends were declared in May, 1856. On the
Bth oi May, after the dividend was declared,
Mr. Boyd, a member of that committee,
moved the Boatd of Directors *.o allow Mr.
Gleim to exchange with the Bank its stock
at $55 per share for a bond of 84,000, which
the Bank held against Mr. Gleim as princi
pal, and five other responsible names as au
nties, which was allowed by the Board to
be done. Mr. Gleim not having at that time
the the stock to transfer, Mr. Boyd procured
for him a power-of-attorney from his brother,
J. Taylor Boyd, and his brother-in-law, T.
W. Henderson, for the transfer to the Bank
of the slock held by them respectively, and
also gave a power-of-attorney to transfer the
Etock held by Mr. Boyd himself, thus palm
ing upon the Bonk its stock.at $55 per share,
when he and the members of the Board of
Directors must have known the stock of the
Bank to be worse than worthless.
Among other causes, also, of the insol
vency of ths Bank, was the payment of the
notes of other parties without there being
funds standing to their credit in the institu
(ution to meet them. The most barefaced
in criminal transactions of that kind may be
summed up as follows: In March, 1855,
Wm. L. Ilelfenstein had notes maturing in the
Lancaster Savtngs Institution for over 950,000.
These notes were endorsed by either the
President or Cashier of the Lancaster Bank,
in their individual capacity, and also by Jno.
F. Long and Thomas Baumgardner, then
also Directors of (he Bank. At the maturity
ol these notes they were, presented to the
Lancaster Bank for payment, and were di
i rected by the although
at the
Bank lo hi* credit to meet them—ihus ap
propriating the funds of the Bank to their
own private.indebtedness to an amount ex
ceeding 850,000.
Another cause of the insolvency of the
Bank, was taking away from it, by David
Longenecker, ol 914,000 of first mortgage
Sunbury Railroad bonds, which had been ta
ken by the Bank as collateral and returning
to it in lieu thereof an equal amount of the
second mortgage bonds.
So early as 1849, when Christian Bachman
was its Cashier, several transactions look
place which were the means of losing to the
Bank, more than 950,000; one of which was
the loaning to Mr. Shoenberger, $25,000 of
the money of the Bank, without the approba
tion of the Board of Directors; the other was
the loaning to F- A. Vandyke, a broker in
Philadelphia, $25,000 for which a specie cer
tificate was taken, and which is still in Bank,
having been counted ts specie from 1849 to
this time, in the assets of the Bank.
Among the losses to the Bank, may be
enumerated subscriptions of Stock to Rail
roads. On the27ih of December, 1852, the
Board of Directors subscribed $5,000 in (be
Stock of the Philadelphia and West Chester
Railroad Company; and on the 13th day of
September, 1852, the Board subscribed SSOOO
in the Stock of the Sunbury Railroad Compa
ny—investments of the funds of the Bank
foreign to the objects of the Legislature in
conferring banking privileges; and no Bank
can exist in a healthy condition, with its funds
locked up in securities, from which gold or
silver cannot be realized to meet the demands
of its circulation, and which ate so liable to
depreciation.
The whole management of thia Bank, from
18-18, to the day its door* closed, has been
characterized by wicked criminality 6n the
part of the President and former Cashier, and
gross negligence on the part of the Directors,
in whom was confided that trust of the Stock
holders. It has been used as a famil) affair,
without any regard to the rights of the Stock,
holders and Depositors, as if its capital had
been placed there for the especial benefit of
those, who, by mtsplaoed publio confidence,
succeeded in the control of its management.
From the sworn statements of B. C. Bach
man, its Cashier, annually furnished to the
Auditor General, as required Jaw, the public
were credulously led to believe the Institu
tion was in a sound condition; but from an
examination of the books, these sworn state
ments are found to have been false, and were
known to be so by the Cashier at the time he
made them.
As an example of the manner in which the
Bank was used for the benefit of some of the
Directors, the minutes of the board show that
on March 13th, 1854, a private banker, then
in the Board, was authorized to overdraw his
account, >10,060, paying interest Mt the rate
of three per cent, per annum. This money,
was, of course, used in shaving paper, and
was liable to be returned to tbe counters of
the Bank the next day, and gold or silver de
manded for it.
It may be that some of the paper held by
the Bank, whieh is now worthless, was dis
counted by D. Longeneoker and B. C. Baoh
man, the President and Cashier, without the
knowledge of the Board of Direotors ; but the
notes thus discounted were not drawn at one
time, but ran through a course of years; and
it was the duty of the Directors to have known
what was dona behind the board—which
tbey could easily have known by looking at
the books. No investigotion of the oondition
of the Bank was had from the year 1848 until
the year 1856—evidencing a degree of care
lessr.evs and negligence, "0 file part of the
Dtriwui^/entirely inexcusable.
The losses which rendered the Bank insol
vent occurred gradually from 1849 up to the
time the Bank oloeed its doors. The com
mute had not time to place the several losses
to each year when they occurred.
W. W. BROWN, CHAIRMAR.
Bribery in Congress. .
In Ihe House of Representatives at Wash
ington on Friday last a member from New
York called attention to an article that had
appeared in the New York Times, in which
it was charged that attempts had been made
to secore the passage of the Minnesota Land
Bill through the agency of bribery. A reso
lution was also submitted that a committee
be appointed with authority to send for per
sons and papers to investigate the charge.—
Mr. Paine, a member from North Carolina,
intimated that the allegation was true, and
distinctly slated that he had been offered
fifteen hundred dollars lo vote for the Min
nesota Bill. Quite an animated debate took
place, and the resolution authorizing the ap
pointment of a committee was passed by
acclamation. The investigation will conse
quently take place. Some sad doings will
no doubt be developed. We fear that the
condition of affairs at Washington is capable
of much salutary reformation—and the soon
er it is commenced the better.
How 1 Became a Gambler.
Although IJbelong to the despiEed frater
nity of Gamblers,'! have always made it a
rule to advise young men to shun the gam
bling table, that they mav avoid the rock
upon which I split; and I will now offer,
through your paper some suggestions to the
heads of on the subject of social
card-playing.
I was at least some twenty years of age,
and had lived sume months in New York,
before I ever knew the names of (he ordi
nary playing cards—but the importance of
a thorough education in the science of games
was soon made apparent to me, and a quar
ter whence I least expected it. Boarding in
Broadway, 1 gradually formed an acquaint,
ance with a number of highly respectable
families.
By one of these I was invited to attend a
social party. The heads of this family I
knew to be members of an evangelical
church, nnd you may judge of my surprise,
when I made my entry into the parlor to be
hold most of the company, together with my
pious friends,J deeply engaged a' play—not
the plays of innocence, but of depraved gum
biers! The father of, ihe"family was enga
ged at chess, whilst the wife presided at a
card-table; their children were among the
whist players, and others of Ihe company
were engaged at backgammon, dominoes,
and chekers!
The wine circulated freely and all seemed
happy but myself, who in euch a parly was
a barbarian. I could do nothing but look
on and confess my ignorance, or occasion
ally engage iu conversation with some old
lady, whilst
"The yonng and gay
Were are all engaged in play."
It is needless to say that I spent a very un
happy evening—and that 1 resolved at once
to acquire an education so necessary to the
maintenance of a respectable standing in so
ciety ! I was not long therefore; in master
ing the mysteries of High, Low, Jack and
the Game, and Whist; and a slight knowl
edge of these led me to desire for further
information; until at last I was an adept at
a vatiety of games, able to leacb others, and
I waa a favorite partner wherever I went. I
became exceedingly fond of cards, and as
they were introduced in every social circle
where I waa admitted, my fondness gradu
ally ripened into a passion, which clings to
me even to this hour.
bt'or illustration of the datVCIS Of
card-playing can be given, than my own his
tory. In (he parlors of respectable families
I acquired a taste for play, which finally be
came an all-sorbing passion, knowing no
bounds, and rapidly hurrying me down the
road to ruin, where aIJ is misery, desolation
and death 1 But my case is not • solitary
one—thousands of gamblers have been made
iu the same way—and tens of thousands
have fallen before this terrible vice, in oon
sequence of a teste for play being formed in
the family circle.— National Guard.
AMERICAN PEERESSES.—The death of Lady
Stafford, in England, one t f the three grand
daughters of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton,
who married an English nobleman, has
again given ris to a remark on the tfiigdlar
circumstance of three sisters marrying no
blemen of the highest rank; but the coinci
dence is still greater in this case, as neither
of the sisters had offspring, so that no Amer
ican blood was ir.fuaed into the peerage by
them. Their niece, Miss MoTavisb of Bal
timore, married a brother of Lord Carlisle,
but parted from her husband after living
with him but a short time. There have been
but two other American women who have
married English noblemen, Miss Bingham,
wife of the first Lord Ashbnrton, and Misa
Cadwslader, the wife of the first Lord Ete
kine; both of these Isdiee were natives of
Philadelphia.
Troth and Right God and our Country.
AN ELEMENT OF REVOLUTION. 1
The Working Classes or Parts.
It is stated that on the recent arrival of
Louis Napoleon at Paris, the greatest possible
care was taken to prevent his being assassi
nated. The military and the police were
stationed along the entire route, and the Em
peror manifested no little satisfaction when
he had passed through the firey ordeal, and
found himself still alive. Such at least is
the statement given by some of the Paris
correspondents of the London press. The
nephew of his uncle is by means as popu
lar as he was a year or two ago. The work
ing classes are sadly dissatisfied, and with
reason. 'Their condition it said to ba truly
deplorable. On the 9th of last month was
quarter day, for all rent* in Prfris under one
hundred dollars a year. The eceoe present
ed, was one of wide-spread anxiety and dis
tress. It appears that in consequence of the
many diminutions of old buildings, and Ihe
improved character of thenew, the poorer
classes, who had up to the that time, con
trived to live in two rooms, namely, a cham
ber and a kitchen, could not fir.d shelter, ex
cept at rates equal to, or more than their an
nual earnings. Thus was lo be seen a long
line ol hand carts, loaded with the scam
furniture of these humble households, bound
either to the remotest quarters of the oily, or
outside the walls. The Government, antici
pating the evil, had built fifteen field known
as the dos de St. Inzare. But the applica
tions were so numerous, that this supply
amounted merely to a drop in the bucket.—
Murmurs and menaces, therefore, were
heard on all sides; and if a bold leader had
appeared, an attempt at revolution would
have been inevitable. A Paris correspon
dent, describing this condition of affairs,
says:—
"The hard handed workman who quits
his garret where he has lived and 'loved'
this many a year, curses Louis Napoleon, as
he trundles his bed, looking glass and clock
to the remote faubourg; the wife, as she di
minishes the meat in the pot aufe u, to make
up for ihe high price of bread, curses Louis
Napoleon. Government is (he root of all
evil. So great has the popular discontent
become, that it has become evident, what
was predicted from the beginning, that the
famous Caisse de Boulangarie cannot keep
up the price of bread beyond market rales
until it has received the advances it made
[ during the last two years to keep down the
prices of bread. The sailors have a phrase:
! 'lt is hard working for a dead horse,' to ex
press the irksuiuetiess of toiling for enjoyed
benefits, whose sweetness is forgotten. It
is too hard for Frenchmen to practice; they
know no tense of lime but that of lime
present. Judge what an addition to the debt,
for it was only last week (He Caisse begun
lo recover its advances! The budget of
1854 presented a deficit of 73,000,000, that
of 1855 shows 60,000,000.
"It is difficult to realize the obstacles
which lie in the way of the poor here in
this question of house rent. Few and far
between ate the houses wnere a family with
children are allowed to rent rooms. Two,
three and even four hundred francs are now
paid for garrets, which four years ago were
abundant at one hundred, and one hundred
and fifty francs. The workman, ortheseam
who are retained by their toil until late hours,
can find no rooms unless the anrlv porter be
well feed, for he hates his equals with that
ferocity of hatred negro bears to negro.—
(Tell a negro he is to have a negro overseer!)
The solitary seamstress, dependent on her
needle for her support, is deemed too pre
rarious a tenant. I have never, since 1848,
seen such wretchedness as I saw yesterday
in the streets. What rags concealed men
and women! What miserable furniture was
borne along to the new garret!
"Paris once more looked revolutionary in
the popular quarters, and innumerable were
the arrests made. Among them was M.
Dore, jr., well known professor of chemistry.
Everybody was talking of the emeutcexpect
ed on that day. A large review of all the
Imperial Guard was passed by the Emperor,
it is probable with a view of intimating the
people, and of affording His Majesty a pre
text for being in Paris; and I expect the
other troops were consignee, for tho people
kopt Ottl of tha Champ* .to Mavo ky
the seagens dt villi, (a thing I never saw be
fore, the troops usually being employed for
this office,) who were thus skillfully with
drawn from the streets, where the murder of
one of them would have been the signal for
disorders."
Another eetious drawback is the existence
of so many secret societies. Some of these
are of the most formidable character. On a
recent occasion, no less than sixty persons
were arrested, near the canton of Tbousrs.—
The sign of recognition was by touching
each other's hand three limes, pressing the
lower point of the middle finger, and pro
nouncing the word "lion," with the lips half
closed. When the arrests were made, the
wives of the prisoners ran crying through
the villages, and a number ol peasants,
armed with pitchforks, threatened destruc
tion if the gendarmes did not instantly let
them go. It ie said that the gendarmes were
forced to yisld them up, and with some dif
ficulty kept themselves from being disarmed.
The agitation increased, and a large band
gathered together tumuituously at Briou.—
The perfect pnt himself in movement with
the gendarmes of Bressidres, Chiehe, and
Geais, and was aocompamed by the pro
curer general. On arriving at Brion, the re
volters at first showed signs of resistance,
but in a short lime were dispersed and they
took refuge in the field and woods.
The prisoners were subsequently tried,
and sentenced to various penalties. These
demonstrations, in conneoiion with ihe troub
led oondiiion of monetary affairs, naturally
created the greatest uneasiness, and thus pri
vate letters stale that the revolutionists, and
the opponents of Napoleon generally, were
on the rip-toe of expectation, and ready to
rally together and strike, the moment that
the tocsin should be sounded.
HARKING BAGGAGE.
"Mace Sloper," a correspondent of the
Knickeibocker Magazine, tell* the following
good story:—l remember a another queer
dialogue which came in my experience at s
hotel iii Boston. 1 wao going to bed rather
late, when all si once I heard one of the
sweetest voices in th* world, with s sort of
an English ring in it, say in the next room :
"Clara, dear r'
"Well, dear!" answered another, just in
the same English chime.
"Is it tile lobster you want T"
"Yes, love, answered Clara. "And I want
the ham too ; and you may open the oys
ters, and the sardine box.
"Well, thought I, if those angels sint go
ing in for pretty substantial supper, I am
mistaken. But I had more before me to as
tonish me.
"While you are about it, Clara dear, you
may as well open the Yarmontb bloater.—
I'm going to take all there is in it. And the
cheese. O don't forget the cheese!"
All at once Clara as nigh as I could judge
I from the 6ound, was poking shout very iu-
I dustriousfy, cried out with joy :
O, I've found Ihe Sirasburg pie—the dear
little putty foi graw. 0, I must go to the
bottom of the Strasbnrg pie !
That'll do, thought I, as I looked back.
I've heard of the English appetites, but don't
want to hear any more. I've heard John
say that Byron didn't like to see a woman
eat, and T don't blame him if they eat like
this. Whew.
There was a ra'tling sort of noise going
on for a while, and then Clara cried:
"I declare, there.is my white satin dress
in the lobster!"
"And heie is my diamong ring in the
cheese. O how odd! Why, I expected to
find it in the pie as much as could be."
A dim suspicion began to come into my
head that the evening meal of the young la
dies wasn't limited to eatables, and that one
of the effects of their refreshments was to
make things lie around iu a very promiecu-
I ous manner. But what was my utter amaze
ment when the soft, silvery voice of Clara
I again cried:
| 'O dear, I'm so hungry ! Lucy, we've
cot nothing here of any consequence;—let's
ring and make them send us something to
eat!"
You'll do, thought I, I wonder if you're
rich. There'll be a famine in Boston if you
stay long—that's so! Ham, lobsters, her
ring, pies! Jet-— WAIXIKSNS!"
Here I fell asleep, and the next day found
me bright and early at the Fitchburg depot,
and rattling off to the ancient shapes of Chip
pely Whonk, where the bones of the revolu
tionary soldiers lie buried. And it came to
pass that efler a while I forgot all about
Clara and Lucy, especially as it was a story
I didn't care to tell.
About a year after, I was at the celebrated
"Bed-Bug and Bible" Temperance Hotel, in
a well known.cily on the North river. While
staying there, I got acquainted with two as
nice English girls as I ever knew, travelling
with "pa," a plump old fellow who had
been in the fancy victualling business in
London. The girls were the names, too of
Clara and Lucy,but somehow I never thought
of the couple in Boston. Leastways, this
pair didn't eat much to speak of, and noboby
who ever saw their clear, cream and rose
leaf faces and beautiful eyes, which sparkled
spry with common sense, or else swam
about it in wonder at the scenery as we
went down the river, would have accused
ihem of eating too much, let alone drink
ing.
1 offered, being as I was a single man, to
attend to their baggage. They went forward
with me to point it out. As we got near the
city there was considerable of a time and
flurry, and the girls were rather in a flurry
too.
I "Well, Miss Lucy," said I, "only point
I me out your traps, and I'll send them up to
the hotel, and fix you oil all square as a box.
Which is it!"
"O, Mr. Slope', pa, has got such a queer
way of marking his baggage. He was ter
ribly afraid of losing it, and so he put on
marks he was sure there could be no mis
take about. There—those trunks with such
queer little pictures in white paint, under the
handles are ours."
There was an awful hurry and flurry go
ing on arounJ; porters, firemen, passengers,
and everything, ruehing and crushing about
like mad ; but as Lucy spoke, and as I look
ed at her baggage, something came into my
mind—a light broke over roe like a sky
rocket into midnight, and I burst into the
loudest laugh that ever stirred me up since I
was born—cone of your little town gar Jen
grins, but a regular hundred thousand acre
guffaw—a laugh by the square mile—a
whole western prairie laugh. The old gen
tleman wanting to distinguish his baggage,
had pencilled little store marks under the
handles—such marks as you can tee at the
groceriers on boxes of imported preserves
and polled meats. On one trunk was a lob
ster, on another a herring, on one a cheese,
on another a pie. Yet, it was in that iden
tical "lobster," that Clara kept her white
satin dress, and iu that very "cheete" that
Lucy had discovered her diamond ring.
MORAL. —AII is not gold that glitters, and
all lobsters and pies were not made to be
eaten. Neither \r it elweye possible to judge
of e young lady without seeing her, though
old folks tell us th at wivee ehonld be ckoeen
by the ear* end not by the eyet.
THE FAT GIRL** JUMi'J OK, HOW TO
IJO UP SO9IN AIHBULINBI.
I was just twelve years of age, and the most
unequalled rogue fot mischief that "old Ken
tucky'' could produce. It was at this time
that 1 was sent to a country boarding school,
some thirty miles from my birth place, Lou
isville—and an agreeable school it was, for it
had but two departments, and they simply
consisted of male and female. Our tutor and
tutoress were the kindest souls iu Christen
dom, and never indicated a heavier punish
ment than that of sending the guilty one to
bed supperiess, or depriving him or her the
privilege of recess. Then there could be no
wonder in our imposing upon such good na
ture—but for my adventure.
There was only a door (that of course lock
ed) that separated the dormitory of the boys
and girls; but the kind builder had not omit
ted to place a ventilator over the door, and,
as luok would have it, lite good mistress had
covered it with a small baize green curtain
upon our side. After enjoying a fine dance
upon the green, and, that too, under the pret
liest moonlight that ever shone, we were as
sembled in the chapel at prayer, and then
sent to our separate dormitories—the girls,
some fifteen in number, taking one flight of
stairs, while we, eighteen or twenty of the
greatest scamps alive, took the opposite flight
—our master and mistress relurniug.to their
own rooms. A few moments found all in
bed, and, strange to say, perfectly quiet. We
had lain so but a short time, when wo heard
a sudden creak, like a bedstead put in violent
agitation, and Ibis was followed by a suppres
sed but general litter.
" By golly, boys, there's fun among tho
gals," I exclaimed, "and beta's one's going
lo have a peep at 'em."
In a moment every bed showed a sitting
figure. 1 bounded out, and ran softly to the
keyhole—but the fallen angels had stuffed it
with a rag, and that was no go.
"Nevermind, boys; easy now, and I'll
give you all a sight."
I softiy drew a table and placed it against
the door, and with the greatest difficulty stood
a chair upon it—for the table being small,
the chair made almost ton great a stride for
it. However I mounted, and rising one cor
nerof the curtain, the whole scene was visible
to me.
I The girls had placed two beds some BIX or
eight feet apart, and laid a feather bed on the
floor between them, and they were then ex
ercising themselves by jumping from one bed
to another. There was one little girl, about
as broad as she was long, and in no way cal
culated for physical exertion, who had got
upon the bed, and stood swinging her arms
lo and fro, making every indication for a
desperate jump. By this lime, I was out on
the floor, and my place at the curtain sup
plied by another sprig of mischief. He lean
ed down and whispered—the falgirf is going
to jump.
! "Oh golly," said he, "if Fan only falls,
won't 6he roll over nice!"
I was determined to see this; and climbed
np again, we both occupying tho "tottering
pile." With on# hand over our mouths, and
pinching our noses to prevent aburst of laugh
ter, we stood, breathless, awaiting the awful
calamity.
"There she goes, by Jingo!" I exclaimed.
She didn't do it, though—for her feet just
rested on the round of the bed, she balanced,
but for a moment, and fell backwards, head
down and feet in the air, rolling and puffing
like a porpoise, but displaying no meauagil-j
ity for so embarrassing a situation.
We could hold no longer, but shook with
laughter. The chair tilted, and down ail
came together, with a crash lute a young peal
of thunder.
"To bed—to bed, boys," said J, and leave
the rest to me."
In an instant all was quiet; everybody in
bed and sound asleep, with the exceptions of
myself. Oli! such attempts to snore as might
have been heard—but we were all used to
playing the possum, and now I concluded to
give the approaching tutor and wife a sample
of somnambulism.
"Now don't laugh for Ihe world, boys, and
see me do the thing."
I raised Ihe table on its legs, and gelling
on it, was concluding my speech that I had
written and committed to memory for the day
—and here the trainer of young idex entered,
but still 1 continued—'
"Friends and fellow students—overwhelm- |
ed, as I am, with gratitude for your kind at- I
tention, I cannot refrain from expressing •
thanks, yes, warm and heartfelt thanks; and I
to you, dear sir, (this of course, meant the
tutor, and et this point my vacant staring i
eyes were upon him,) will my heart ever
yearn. I lock upon this moment of my life
with a pride that swells my young bosom al
most to bursting; and when manhood shall
close my youthful career, and my country
shall call me to her halls ol legislation, there
will I exercise everv truth and virtue instilled
into my heart by your kind and fatherly tu
toring. These boyish tears of joy will yet
swell to a gushing stream of ambitious glory ;
—and then will 1 look back to these days,
and with you uppermost in ray thoughts, ex
claim, 'Twas you, yes, you sir—that made me
what I am 1"
"Bravo! bravo! my boy," they both ex
claimed.
I got off the table now, seeing I bad the
game in my own bands, and walking slowly
up to the window, gave mytelf up to deep
sobbings, and really appear' much affect
ed.
The tutor approached me t id called me ]
softly by name, but I answered him not; and ]
laming slowly from him, I walked to the
other eide of the room, avoiding the ray# of
[Two Dollars per Aniuu
NUMBER 1.
the lamp which lbs mistress wu directing
upon me.
"Ho is asleep, my dear," exclaimed ibe
tutor, "and it must have been the dragging of
the table over the floor that made such •
rumbling noise. Give roe the lamp, and go
bring me a basin of water—l will effect a
lasting cure upon our young somnambulist."
I heard many suppressed titters, and could
see sundry corners of sheets going into sun
dry inouths. This nearly destroyed my equi*
libriurr; but I mastered myself, and again
wect to the window, though the mention of
the basin of water caused a momentary shud
der to shoot through tny whole fiame.
The good dame returned with what 1 mag
nified into an uncommonly large vessel of
water; but it was no delusion—for iu her
haste she brought up the fllterer, and I knew
certainly it was a cold duelring I was to have.
Could 1 escape it ? I would try. 1 walked
first to one bed, then to another—the tutor
following with tho filterer, his wife playing
torchbearer, while the heavy breathing of
the possuming sleepers added to the solem
nity of the scene. I still walked on, turning
away every time he proposed to douse me.
They had completely cut off my retreat to
my own bed,and I saw st once I should have
to take it. I walked boldlv out, and placing
mysolf before him, he upset the conteots of
tie jug upon mo. I gasped,caught my breath,
tottered, and played the frightened boy so
well, that the deception was complete. I
heard a merry lough in the next room—my
schoolmates on their beds wete rubbing their
eyes and inquiring the matter.
TUB U A It mill's GHOST.
The following story is old, but a preoious
good one. We laughed heariily over it ''lortg
lime ago," and persuming many of our read
ers never heard it, we give it up for their ed
ification.'
A gentleman traveling some years since in
the upper part of this Slate, called at a taveru
and requested entertainment for the night
The landlord informed him that it was out of
his power to accommodate him, as his house
was already full. He persisted in stopping,
as he, and his horse, were almost exhausted
with traveling.
After much solicitation the landlord con
sented to his stopping, provided he would
sleep in a certaio room that had not been oc
cupied for a long time, in consequence of a
| belief that it had been haunted by the ghost
I of a barber, who was reported to have beeu
murdered in that room some years before.
"Very well" says the man, "I'm not afraid
of ghosts."
j After having refreshed himself,he enquired
I of the landlord how and in what tnannnerthe
room in which lie was to lodge was haunted,
j The landlord replied that shortly afier they
had retired to rest, an unknown voice wat
heard in a trembling and protracted accent,
saying, "Do you waul to be s-h-a-v-e-d?"
"Well," replied tho man, "If he comes hs
may shavo me."
He then requested to bo shown to the apart
ment; in going to which he was conducted
through a large room, where were seated a
great number of persons at a gaming table.
Feeling a curiosity which almost every one
possesses after having heard ghoßt stories, he
carefully searched every corner of his room
but could discover nolhing but the usual fur
niture of the apartment. He laid down but
did not close his eyes to sleep immediately,
and in a few moments he imagined he beard
j a voice saying "Do you w a n-t to be shaoedf"
He arose from his bed, but could discover
nothidg. He again went to bed, but no soon
er had he began to compose nimself to sleep,
than the question was again repeated. He
again arose and went to the window, the
sound appeared to proceed from that quarter,
and stood awhile silent—aftera few moments
of anxious suspense, he again heard thesound
distinctly, and convinced that it was from
; without, he opened the window when it fell
I full into his ear, which startled him not •
little. Upon a minute examination,however,
he observed that the limb of a large oak tree
which stood under the window, projected so
near the house, that every breath of wind, to
a lively imagination, made a noise resemb
ling the interrogation, '.'Do you w-a-u-t to bo
sh-a-ved ?"
Having satisfied himself that the ghost was
nothing more or less ihao the limb of a tree
coming in contact with the house, again went
to bed and attempted to sleep; but he was
now interrupted by peals cf laughter and an
occasional volley of oaths and curses from
the room where the gamblers were assem
bled. Thinking that he could turn the late
discovery to his own advantage, he took a
sheet from his bed, and wrapped it around
him, and taking the wash-basin in bia hand,
and throwing the towel over his arm, pro
ceeded to the room of the gamblers, and aud
denly opening the door, stalked in, exclaim
ing in a tremulous voice, "Coyou w-a-n-t to
be s'.i-a-ved!" Terrified at the sudden ap
pearance ol the ghost, the gamblers were
thrown into the utmost confusion, in attempt
ing to escape it, some jumped through the
windows, and others tumbled head overheela
down stain. Our ghost taking advantage
of a clear room deliberately awept a large
amount of money from the table imo the ba
sin, and retired unseen to hia own room.
The next morning be fonnd the boose io
the utmost confusioo. He was immediately
asked if he rested well, to which be replied
in the atilrmative.
"Well, no wonder," said liie landlord,*
"for the ghost instead of going to bia own
room, made a mistake, sad cans* to oars,
frightened us all out of the room, and took
every dollar of our money."
Tne guest without being the least ins
pected, quietly ale bia break fat*, and do
parted many hundred dollars rtcfaiai by the
adventure.