THE STAR OF THE NORTH
IT. U. Jacoky, Proprietor*]
VOLUME 10.
ttmiE
PUBLISHED EVERT WEDNESDAY BT
WM. B. JACOBV,
(Iftltc on Main St., 3rd Square below Market,
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(Cljoite poctrg.
TELLING THE BEES*
Here Is the place ; right over the hill
Buns the path I took;
Tou Ac© the gap in the old wall still,
And the itepping-etone* in the ahallow brook.
Thsre Is the house, with the gate red-barred,
And the poplars tall;
And the barn's brown length, and the cattle-yard,
And the white horns tossing above the wall.
There are the bee-hivos ranged in tho sun;
And down by the brink
Of the brook aro her poor Bowers, weod-o'crran*
Pansy and daffodil, rose and pink.
A year has gone, as the tortoiso goes,
HeaTy and slow;
And the same rose blows, and the same sun glows,
And the same brook sings of a year ago.
There's the same sweet elovor-smelt in the brecie;
And the June sun warm
Tangles his wings of fire in the trees,
Setting, as then, over f ernsido farm.
I mind me how with a lover's care.
From my Snnday coat
I brushed off the burrs, and smoothed my liatr,
And eooted at the brook side my brow and throat.
fiineo we parted, a month hod passed,—
To love, a year;
Down through the beeches, I looked at last
On the litUe red gate and the well-sweep near.
I can see It all now,—the slantwise rain
Of light through the leaves,
The sundown's blase on the wipdow-pane,
The bloom of her roses under the eaves:
Just the same as a month before,—
The bonse and the trees,
The barn's brown gablo the vino by the door, —
Nothing changed but the hive of bees.
Before them under thh garden wall,
Forward and back,
Went, drearily singing, the chore-girl small,
Draping each hive with a shred of black.
Trembling, I listened : the summer sun
Had the ohill of snow;
For 1 knew she was telling the beos of ono
Gone on the Journey we all must go!
Then I said to mysotf "My Mary weops
For the dead to-day:
Haply her blind old grandsiro sleeps
The fret and the puin of his ago away."
Jlut her dog whined low; on the doorway sill;
With his cane %> his chin,
The old man sat; and the chore-girl still
Bang to the bees stealing out and in.
And the song she singing ever sinoo
In my car sounds on:—
"tjtay at home, pretty bees, fly not honeej, -
Mistress Mary Is dead ana gone T™
• A remarkable custom, brought from the
Old Country, formerly prevailed in the
rural districts of New England. On the
death of a member of the family, the bees
were at once informed of the event, and
their hives dressed in mourning. This cere
monial was supposed to be 4 neceseary to
prevent the swarms from leaving their
hives and seeking a new home.
DEPTH AND TEMPERATURE OP THE OCEAN.—
Lieut. Berryman, of the United States Navy,
who was lately engaged in oceanic surveys,
nays, in a late report, that five hundred
miles north of Bermuda he found the great
est reliable depth ever obtained, it being
only four miles, and accompanying this
were thermometrical observations of a sin
gular character, indicating phenomena nev
er before discovered or conceived, and
which at this moment are an unsolved prob*
lem to the scientific world. In a long series
of experiments the temperature was indica
ted as existing ten, fifteen and twenty de
grees below freezing point. This may be
owing to the defective instrument, but if so
n consistency of error was preserved almost
beyond the possibility of chance. A series
oi experiments taken at various depths
would indicate gradually decreasing tem
perature, from ten degrees on the surface to
but ten or fifteen degrees at a depth of one
or two miles. Scientific men at home have
pronounced tbis extreme frigidity of the
waters to be one of the most unaccountable
natural phenomena that has ever been ob
served.
SALE or CIRCASSIAN GIRLS.— The London
Post thus speaks in a recent number of the
traffic in Circassian girls in Turkey: "Per
ceiving that when the Russians shall have
reoccupied the Caucasus this trrffic in white
slaves will be over, the dealers have redoub
led their efiorts ever since the commence
ment of the peace conference to introduce
into Turkey the greatest posible number of
women while the opportunity ol doing so
lasted. They have been successful that
uover perhaps at any former period was
flesh so cheap as it is at this moment.—
There is an adsolutc glut in the market, and
dealers are obliged to throw away their
goods, owing to tho extent of the supply,
which, in many instances, has been brought
by-steam, under the British flag. In former
times, a "good m iddling" Circassian was
was thought very cheap at JC 100, but at the
present moment the same description of
goods may he had for JES.
tT When some of his courtiers endeav
ored to excite Philip the Good to punish a
prolate who had used him ill—"1 know,"
said he, "that I can revenge myself, but it is
a fine thing to have revenge in one's pow
er and not to use it."
A GENTLEMAN presented a face-coller to
the object of his adoration, and in a jocular
way, "Do not let any one else rumple it."
"No, my dear," said the lady, "I will take
it off."
BLOOMSBURG. COLUMBIA WEDNESDAY. APRIL 7. 1858.
Bill Jrokins' Troubles on the First Night ol
his Marriage.
Bill Jenkins was a very modest man ; and
although he had mingled with the world at
barbacues, shooting-matches, bar-rooms
and at many of the etcetera places where
men may occasionally be found—yet he
was modest, very—whenever placed in the
company of ladies. He trembled when a
pretty girl would speak to him, and fell like
a culprit at the stand, when he was called
upon to "see Miss So-and-so home." Bill
could never explain or account for this sin
gular timidity. He would sing, frolic, and
be as wild as a rover when among men, but j
a petticoat would unnerve him instantly.
Lucy Ann Liggons, a young widow, had
"set her cap" for Bill, and she was deter
mined to head him or dio. Bill, to tell the
truth, loved Lucy, and was miserable out of
her company as he was timed in it—but as
to "popping the question," that was impos
sible. Lucy knit purses, hemmed hand
kerchiefs, worked shirt bosoms and gave
them to Jenkins, as well as several gold
rings, but still Bill would not "propose."—
Lucy declared to him repeatedly that she
loved him, and was miserable when he was
absent from her, and her happiness in life
depended upon her being his wife—but
Bill was dumb. Xt last Lucy was deter
mined that he should "hear thunder," and
when he next visited her, after some pre
liminary soft talk on her part, she very af
fectionately said:
" Billy, my dear when are you going to
ask me to marry you ? for I want to get my
dress ready."
Bill fainted on the spot, and hartshorn and
water were applied for half an hour before
he was finally restored.
"What has been the matter, Miss Lucy?"
"Oh, nothing much. You fainted when
you were about to ask me to marry you—
but I told you yes—and oh, how happy we
will be when we are married! I will love
you so dearly; and as you said next Thurs
day, why, I am willing the wedding should
be then—my dear Billy, how 1 do love you!"
"I am willing, Miss Lucy," was all that
Jcnks could articulate, while Lucy almost
kissed him into fits. What a glorious vic
tory !
Here we onght to stop, but justice to our
narrative requires that we should proceod to
the finale.
The "next Thursday" had come, and
Jenkins was trembling at the approach of
the evening—something seemed to harrow
up his mind very much, and to no friend
even wouliUte communicate his dtfk dia*.
treca. *■ W >
"You are not afraid, certainly to go up
and get married—why, to marry such a
beautiful, charming, and intellectual being
as Mrs. Liggons, 1 should wish that time
would fly like news upon the electric tele
graph line. Cheer up, Jenkins—cheer up "
"Oh," replied Bill, "you don't know what
distresses me, I can go up and get married, 1
that is easy enough, but there is one thing I j
am satisfied I never will bo able to 'do in
the world, unless Lucy will assist me."' !
"Explain yourself, my dear fellow," re-1
plied his friend, "and if 1 can with propriety I
1 will endeavor to render you comfortable."
"But Jenkins could not explain—he dared
not —it was his timidity—he saw the Rubi
con before him, and he knew that he could
not pass it—but he was determined to get
married and trust luck and Lucy.
The night came—and they were married
All were merry;. the laugh, chat, the dance,
made up a lively party until midnight—they
commenced to disperse, and at one o'clock, j
Bill Jenkins was left "solitary and alone" |
in the hall. Lucy Ann had retired, and her j
bridesmaids were of! in a distant room.— ;
Bill Jenkins' waiters and friends had gone ;
homo with the ladies. Bill was now at the i
point where he thought his firmness would
fail him. His situation was a peculiar one.
He was not certain which was Lucy's room
although he had been told—and even had
he known he could not go to it.
The watchman cried "past two o'clock,"
and yot Jenkins was still alone and appar
ently engaged in reading an old Almanac,
which by chance had been left in his coat
pocket. An old female darky, who resided
in the family had been prevailed upon by
the ladies who had noticed Jenkins' bash
fulness to show him the bedroom, and she
accordingly introduced herself to him in as
modest a style as she well could.
" Mr. Jenkins," she replied, "its past two
o'clock.
"Oh yes—l knofr it, I'm going home in a
tew minutes. Old woman, where's my
hat?"
"It's in Miss Lucy's room sir—you can
get it there if you'll go in. Mr. Jenkins,
why don't you go to bed ? Miss Lucy is
there waiting for yon—don't be so modest—
the ladies will laugh at you. Come with
mo, and I'll show you the room, for 1 want
to put out the lights and go to bed."
The old woman seized hold of Jenkins
and pulled him along until she got out of
the hall, and his gaze was fixed for a mo
ment on the entry door—but she was deter
mined to put him in Miss Lucy's room, and
after violent efforts succeeded. There he
stood with the knob of the door in his hand
—but the old darkey had been smart enough
to lock the door on the outside. Lucy pre
tended for some time to be asleep, but that
sort of gammon \9buld not answer. At last
she said:
"My dear Billy, what is the matter with
you ?"
" I want my hat!" screamed Jenkins,
and Lucy knowing his modesty, leaped out
of the bed, and after caressing him for some
tirao, Bi'ly went to bed with his clothes and
boots on, and—trembled till mornir.g.
How Jenkins subsequently managed "mat
ters and things in general," can be known
by application to his dear Lucy Ann.
Reader, strange indeed as it may appear,
there are many Jenkins all over the world ;
but the free-masonry of wedded life draws
the curtain before the eyes of the uninitia
ted. Going to bed on the first night after
marriage must be among the delicate situ
ations in life. Ask your married neighbor
how it was with him. We have no exper
ience exactly in that way.
REGULAR HABITS or INDUSTRY. —lndustry is
ot little value unless it be regular. No good
is gained by working by fits and starts. To
avoid the formation of habits of irregularity,
endeavor to go upon a fixed determinate
plan, in reference both to your ordinary av
ocation and your periods of study and re
flection. To a steady perseverence in the
plan you have laid down for yourself, add
the virtue of punctuality. One half of the I
people you meet with have no accurate
idea on this important matter. They make
life a play, and what is truly rediculous, '
many of them perform their parts very bad- !
ly. Instead of being punctual, they care
not how they keep their own engagements,
and thus punctual men get ahead of them.
Many complain that they are prevented
from being punctual by the multiplicity of
their engagements. But this, in most in
stances, is a delusion; all men may be
punctual to the extent which is necessary to
gain them a reputation for regularity, if they
choose.
The most trifling actions that affect a
man's credit are to be regarded. The sound
of your hammer at five in the morning,
says Dr. Franklin, or at nine at night, heard
by a creditor, makes him easy six months
longer; but if he sees you at a billard table,
or hears your voice at a tavern when you
should be at your work, he sends for his
money the next day.
WHY MOUNTAINS ARE COLD.— It is a curl-1
ous scientific fact that the atoms oi air, as
we ascend, aro at greater distance from each
other. If the distance between any two
atoms is diminished, they give out heat, or j
render it sensible; whereas if the distance
between them be increased, they store it'
away The upper strata are sensibly colder j
than the lower, not because the atoms have j
less heat, but because the heat is diffused l
through a larger space when the atoms \
are further apart. Oneproud of air at <
the level of the sea, within the tropics, j
GNAGR.BE RAID to CONTAIN NR> ~ORO, 1.0.1 !
thvt the same weight at the top of the '
highest mountain, perpetually, covered with
snow. It is for this reason that the same
wind which is warm in the valley, becomes
colder as it ascends the sides of the moun- j
tain. The diminishing pressure allows the
air to expand and store away its heat. It is,'
therefore, not the snow on the top of the '
mountanis which cools the air, but it is the
rarity of the air which keeps the snow itself
Irommelting. As a general law, the decrease
of temperature amounts to 1 degree, Fahren
heit, for every three hundred feet in perpen-'
dicular height.
A YOUNO GOURMAND. —The New Bedford
j Mercury says, it has recently been made
acquainted witlt facts in relation to a jnve- j
nile of this city, whoso eating propensities
exceed even those of Dicken's "fat boy."—
He is thirteen years of age, well formed and
weighs eighty pounds. Here is a bill of
faro which ho entirely demolished a few
j days since byway of a lunch, viz: 2 quarts
iof beet soup, 6 3-4 lbs. beef, 12 biscuits,
! and a quantity of citron; having taken as
; a preparatory, half a pound of raisins, and
j four green apples. On another occasion he
j devoured two large sausages, raw; 1 lb-
I head cheese, 1 pint of scollops, raw, and
four apples, before taking bis regular din
ner, which he enjoyed as usual. Byway
of ordering lunches, he has been known to
make way with, in two days, 100 dough
nuts, 50 one cent cakes, and four mince
pies. A seven pound turkey barely sup
plied him for dinner. He has 110 fondness
for tea or coffee, and never drinks water at
his meals. Unlike Dicken's "fat boy," he
is not given to somnolency, and lias never
been caught napping over a "mutton-pie."
DIRECT TRADE OF VIRGINIA. —The Hon.
John Y. Mason, our minister to France, has
written to the President of the James River
•nd Lanawha Company, describing in very
complimentary terms the signal ability and
success with whinh the Hon. YVm. Ballard
Preston had fulfilled his mission to France
in regard to a direct tiade with Virginia. It
appears that an arrangement has been made
with the Orleans Railroad Company by
which a line of steamers is to be run be
tween San Nazarie, at the mouth ol the
Loire, and Norfolk, in Virginia. Judge Ma
son states that at the mouth of the Lorie,
"the French Government is coustructing
the most magnificent artificial harbor in the
world. Opening to the ocean, a ship sailing
between that point and the Chesapeake Bay
avoids tho channel, and will find her route
shorter by a considerable time than between
Havre and the same point." He adds that
the "Orleans Company has a large capital
is the best managed concern in France, and
owns a net work of railroads which cover
one-third of tho Empire, connecting Paris
with the ocean, and connecting with other
lines to Switzerland, Itily and Germany.
T3V A sailor who was beating his wife,
was asked it he did not know she was the
weaker veasel? "If she is, she ought not
to carry so much sail," replied Jack,
Tralli tad Rlfht Clod aid oar Coaatrj.
AMUSING.—A few miles DeVow Poughkeep
sio, New York, there now lives, and has
lived for several years past, a worthy cler
gyman. a man however, very short in stat
ure. Upon a certain Sunday about eight
years ago ; this clergyman was invited by
the pastor of a church in that village, to
fill his pulpit for the day. The invitation
was accepted, and Sunday morning saw
Mr. in the pnlpit. Now it happened
that the pulpit was a very high one, and ac
cordingly nearly hid the little clergyman
from view. However, die congregation out
of respect managed to keep their counte
nances, and with over-pious faces, seemed
religiously anxious for the text. Tliey were
not obliged to wait long, for a nose and two
little eyes suddenly nppeared over the pul
pit, and a squeaking tremulous voice pro
claimed in usual tones the text: "Be of good
cheer, it is 1; he not alraid." A general
roar of laughter followed the announce
ment—the clergyman became confused, and
turned all sorts of colors. Many in the gen
eral uproar left the church and it was a long
time before the ministet was enabled to
proceed with his sermon, so abruptly bro
| ken off. Aflernoon came, and the little
man, standing on a foot-stool had a fair view
of his audience. The text was announced
in due form. "A little while and ye shall
see me, and again a little while and ye shall
not see me." In the course of his sermon
he repeated his text with great earnestness,
and stepping back lost his elevated footing
and disappeared from all his hearers.
IMPORTATION or FRUIT TREES.— Trees are
imported in bales and cases, chiefly from
France, England, and Scotland; and seeds
are invoiced by the ton. There aggregate
value for the season it is difficult to calcu
late; but, as the nurserymen chiefly import
through a single agency in this city, some
approximation may be made. The largest
nurseries in the United States are in the
vicinity of Rochester, where there are some
thing like 2,000 acres of young fruit trees in
process of culture. A single firm has as
many as 400 acres. At Syracuse there is a
nursery of 300 acres, and very large ones
are to be found in nearly all the principal
western cities—even in Des Moines and
Dubuque, which were recently in the heart
of the wilderness. The destruction of trees
by the severity of the two last winters and
the raqid settlement of western lands, but
more than all the encouragement of the cul
ture of domestic fruit afforded by the for
mation of numerous agricultural societies
throughout the country, hqve given an im
,JU>I u> tludjSu)oinesF'."' l lhrts .arlilx unpre
cedented. * T T r
A GRAHIC PICTURE.— The following, from
one of the Hong Kong papers, furnishes a
brief, but truly grahic picture of the attack
upon the city of Canton: "During the brief
pauses, everything was still as death in the
City—no shouting, or sounds of confusion ;
not a human being was to be seen either on
the city side or on Honam, but it seemed as
if the stern from of the Destroying Angel
was crouching over the fated and unhappy
city, awating his victims into silence. The
shells were whirling through the air, their
track marked by fizzing of their fiery fuses,
twinkling like stars during their revulsions,
till at last, arriving at their destinations,
there was a flash and an explosion which
told how accurately and fearfully these
engines of destruction do their work. Some
of these shells reaclied-even to Cough's
Fort, and fragments were found there the
following day. The rockets, too, seemed to
be hissing about in every direction, and the
elipticat shell from the French ships caused
no little astonishment as tliey hurried
through the air with a noise not unlike that
of an immense humming top. The scene
was one replete with awe, and dreadfel
must have been the sufferings of the poor
people thus made to answer for the sins of
their rulers."
| TF THE LITTLE BLACE BONV.— "Chon,
: you rcckiememper tat liddle plack bony 1
1 pye mit the bottler next veek !"
"Yah, vot of him!"
"Nothing, only I dinks I get cheated
buddy pad."
"So?"
"Yah. You see, he
is blind mit bote legs, unt lame mit von
eye- Den ven you gits on him to rite he
rares up pehint and kicks up pefore so vur
ser as shuck mule. 1 dinks 1 dake him a
liddle rite yesdertay, und so sooner as 1
straddle his pack he gommence dat vay,
shust like a vakin peam on a boatsteam;
unt ven he gits tone, I vas so mixed up mit
everydinks, 1 tints myself zitting arount
pacvards, mit liis dail in my haunts vor de
pridie."
"Veil, vot pe you a going to done mit
him ?"
"Oh, I vixed him petter as cham up. I
hitch him m te cart mit his tail vere his het
ought to pe; den I gif him about dozen cuts
mit a hitecow ; he starts to go, put so soon
he see te cart before he makes packwards.
Berty soon he stumbles pehint, un sits town
on his haunches, unt looks like he feels
purty shamed mit'- himself. Den I dakes
him de rite way, unt ha goes off, so goot as
anydody's pony."
FULLFILUNO DUTY.— It is pleasant and
comfortable to pursue those paths, however
rough and thorny, in which we feel assured
the Lord has commanded us to walk. How
joyfully is everything undertaken, begun
and accomplished, that comes to our hearts
as a Divine Commission. We then run and
are sot weary; we walk, and are not Jaint.
NEVER SAY FAIL.
BT CHARLES SVTAIN.
Kep pushing—'tis wiser
Than sitting aside,
Sand dreaming and sighing,
And waiting the tide;
In life's earnest battle,
only prevail
Who daily march onward
And never say fail.
With an eye open,
A tongue that is not dumb,
And a heart that will never
_ To sorrow succumb,
You'll battle and conquer,
Though thousands assail;
How strong and how mighty
Who never say fail 1
Ahead, then, keep pushing,
And elbow your way,
Unheeding the envious,
All asses that bay ;
All obstacles vanish,
All enemieß quail
In might of their wisdom
Who never say fail.
In life's rosy morning,
In manhood's fair pride,
Let this be your inotto
Your footsteps to guide;
Iji storm and in sunshine,
Whatever assail,
We'll onward and conquer,
And never say fail !
FORCE or HABIT. —In an established chuch
in a village in a neighboring parish, says
tho Arbroath Guide, a few Sundays ago, one
of the Bonifaces of the place fell last asleep,
a circumstance which nobody regarded as
very extraordinary. Soon, however, he
began to snore, to the very considerable
scandal of the congregation, when an elder
behind edeavored to rouse him from his
slumbers by nudging him with his elbow.
After a lime this process had its effect; the
man ol the gill-stoup awoke, but not alto
gether to the consciousness of his position,
lor leisurely opening his eyes, staring wildly
about him, he exclaimed, in a voice
sufficiently audible, "Coming, sir coming!"
The preacher paused, the congregation tit
tered, and the newly-awakened man gaped,
and looked vacantly around, quite unable to
assign any reason for the excitement
PREVENTION OF PITTING IN SMALL POX
Mr. Stariin, the senior surgeon in the
Gurney Hospital for diseases of the skin,
has communicated to the Medical Times
a very importent plan, which he has adopt
ed during the last fourteen years, for preven
ting pitting in small pox, and which lie
states has always proved successful. The
plan consists in applying the acelum can
lliaciiles. or any vaijjoaliiijj fluij, ly. means
of a camel hair brush to the apex of each
spot or pustule of the disease on all the ex
posed surface of the body, until blistering
is evident by the whiteness of the skin in
the parts subjected to the application,
when the fluid producing it is to be washed
off with water of thin arrow root gruel.—
The pain attending the application of the
vesicating fluid is very slight and transient.
A Cow AND CALF. —A certain gentleman j
was telling a story, a few days ago, how a
sleigh had run against a cow, knocked up
her trotters, and upset her into the vehicle.
"Were you in the sleigh at the same
time ?" asked one of the auditors.
"Yes," was the response—"What of
that?"
"Why nothing only, that then there was j
a cow and calf together."
GIVE HIM UP. —"Are you an Odd Fellow ?"
" No sir, I've been married for a week."
" I mean do you belong to the Order ol
Odd Fellows ?"
"No, no; I belong to the Order of Mar
ried Men."
" Mercy, how dumb! Are you a Mason?" I
" No, 1 am a carpenter by trade."
" Worse and worse; are you a Son of .
Temperance ?"
" Bother you, no; lam a son of Mr. John
Gosling."
The queerist went away.
IT" The Sunday Atlas, in a fit ol revolu
tionary enthusiasm, says:
" Hurrah for the girls of '76 !"
" Thunder," cries a New Jersey paper
"that's to darned old. No, no—hurrah for
the girls of 17 !"
THE WAY HE DIED. —The ne plus ultra of
ludicrous epitaphs is to be found on a
grave-stone in Oxford, N. H., as follows:
"To all my friuds I bid adieu;
A more sudden death you never knew :
As I was leading the old mare to drink,
She kicked and killed me quicker'n wink."
IT An exchange tells of an editor who
went soldiering and was chosen Captain.
One day at parade, instead of giving the
orders ' Front face, three paces forward,"
lie exclaimed, "Cach two dollars a year, in
advance."
CF- We saw a druuken man lately trying
to get a watchman to arrest his own shadow.
His complaint was that an ill-loking scoun
drel kept following him.
CF"A young man without money, among
the ladies, is like the moon on a cloudy
night he can't'shine.
Ef A drunkard upon his death-bed de
manded a glass of water before receiving
divine consolation. "Upon one's death
bed," he observed, "it is but right to be re
conciled with our mortal enemy 1"
0* Honesty ought to shino through and
illustrate the whole sphere of our astion.
DUELLING GRO
The March number of Harper') Magazine
contains a history of this fatal duelling
ground, from which we take the following
account of the Mason and M'Carty duel,
which occurred in 1819:
MASON AND M'CARTY.
One of the most desperate of those mel
ancholy encounters which have made this
place so memorable Was that of tho 6th of
February, 1819, between Gen. Armistead T.
Mason, previously a Senator in Congress
from Virginia, and Col. John M. M'Carty,
a citizen of the same State. The difficulty
between them had existed some time. It
originated in that most prolific source of
personal enmity, poitics. The parties were
second cousins; but notwithstanding this,
their quarrel appears to have been prose
cuted with an animosity as unsparing as
their relationship was intimate. Several
months previous to tho final meeting, a vi
olent altercation liadPtaken place between
them at Leesburg, in consequence of Ma
son's having questioned M'Carty"s right to
vote. M'Carty at once challenged Mason,
but in his challenge he prescribed the terms
and conditions of tho duel. This dictation
of terms Mason would not submit to; and
consequently by the advice of his friends
he declined the challenge. At the same
time, however, he sent word to M'Carty
that lie was ready to accept a regular chal
lenge, in a proper form. M'Carty paid no
attention to the message, but forthwith pub
lished Mason as a coward. Mason then
sent a challenge to M'Carty, which M'Carty
declined on the ground of cowardice in Ma
son, as shown by his refusal to fight in the
first instance. At this juncture a number of
Mason's friends united in a letter, begging
liirn to take no further notice of M'Carty.—
Although Mason was burning under a sense
of the wrongs he had received, he yielded
to their entreaties, and the affair was to all
appearances at an end.
Some months afterward, however, while
riding to Richmond in the stage, with a
gentleman of high military and political
standing, he was told that he ought to chal
lenge M'Carty again. This he decided to
do as soon as he reached Richmond. It was
in vain that his friends now endeavored to
dissuade him. He would not listen to their
appeals. In the language of the card sub
sequently published by them, "he had re
solved on challenging M'Carty, in opposi
tion to all the advice they gave, and all the
efforts they made to dissuade him." To
free himself from the embarrassments and
restraints imposed by the laws of Virginia j
in regard to ( duelling, or influenced, per
haps, by a determination not to violate her j
statues while holding his commission, as j
General of Militia, he resigned, made his ;
will, and addressed M'Carty an invitation j
to the field. In this note, whidh, better than j
any description portrays the spirit in which |
the controversy was conducted, he says: "I j
have resigned my commission for the spe-1
cial and sole purpose of fighting you; and j
lam now free to accept or send a chal-1
lenge and to fight a duel. The public mind i
has become tranquil, and all suspicion of |
the further prosecution of our quarrel hav- j
ing subsided, we can now terminate it with
out being arrested by the civil authority,
and without exciting alarm among our
friends. ... I am extremely anxious to ter
minate at once and forever this quarrel
My friends and are fully authori
zed to act for me in every particular. Upon
receiving from you a pledge to fight, they
are authorized and instructed at once to
give the challenge for me, And to make im- >
mediately every necessary arrangement for
the duel, on any terms you may prescribe."
This note, which fully betrays Mason's
inflexibility of purpose, and which, it is
stated, was never read by M'Carty, was
written before any interview had taken
place between General Mason and his sec
onds, and was inclosed to tliern in a letter
containing positive instructions for their
government. He writes them: "You will
present the enclosed communication to Mr.
John M'Carty, and tell him at once that you
are authorized by me to challenge him, on
the event of his pledging himself to fight.
If he will give the pledge, then 1 desire
that you will instantly challenge him in my
name to fight a duel with me Agree
to any terms that he may propose, and to
any distance—to thrco feet, his pretended
favorite distance—or to three inches, should
his impetuous and rash courage prefer.—
To any species ol fire-arms—pistols, mus
kets, or rifles—agree at once."
Acting under these instructions, Mason's
seconds called on M'Carty as the bearers
of his challenge. M'Carty again retused
to receive any communication from Mason,
for the same reason as before. A violent
personal altercation then took place be
tween M'Carty and one of Mason's seconds,
tfle latter insisting strongly that the chal
lenge should be received and accepted, and
the former obstinately declining to receive
it. The quarrel became so violent that the
parties were near fighting. At last, Ma
son's seconds having threatened to post
M'Carty as a coward unless he accepted
the challenge, M'Carty agreed to fight. It
would appear from this, that though Ma
son's friends in general, and oven one of his
seconds, strove to preyeut the duel, it was
forced upon M'Carty by the other.
If the spirit which animated Mason in
this unfortunate controversy was headlong
and uncompromising, that which impelled
M'Carty was apparently none the loss so.—
It is said he would consent to no meeting
that afforded any possibility for the escape
of either. Reckless of his own life, be
determined that if he lell his antagonist
[Two Dollars
NUMBER 13.
should full wiUi html H. ,
only consent to meet Mason on such terms
as must, in all probability, resnlt in the de
struction of both.
With this object in view, in accepting the
challenge his first proposal is said to have
been that he and Mason should leap togeth
er from the dome of tliat Capitol. This was
declined as wholly unsanctioned by the
Code. He next proposed "to fight on a
barrel of powder," "which was objected
to," says the seconds, l as not according
with established usages, as being without
example, and as calculated to establish a
dangerous precedent." He next proposed
to fight with dirks in a hand to-hand en
counter. This was also declined for a like
reason. His final proposition was to fight
with muskets, charged with buck shot, at
ten feet distance. These terms were hard
ly less calculated to insure a fatal result to
both than those which had been previously
objected to; but, desperate as they were,
since they were clearly within Mason's
letter of instructions, and perhaps were not
considered "as calculated to establish a dan
gerous precedent," they were finally, with
some modifications, accepted. The dis
tance, it was agreed, should be twelve feet,
instead of ten, and a single ball was sub
stituted for buck-shot.
In extenuation of the unusual terms of
combat proposed by M'Carty, it is said that
he was exceedingly averse to fighting his
cousin, and desired to escape the acceptance
of the challenge, if he could possibly do
so without incurring the imputation of cow
ardice; and that he could see no other way
of escape than by naming such terms as
Mason's friends were not likely to agree to.
Mason appears to have' been aware of his
desire to avoid a conflict; for in his corres
pondence he soems to have apprehended
some difficulty in extracting from him a
pledge to fight. This pledge, it seems,
finally proposed did not have tlie designed
effect of causing them to be rejected.
On Friday evening, the sth of February,
the parties drove out to Bladenburg. accom
panied by their friends that they might be
convenient to the ground on the following
morning. The intervening time was spent
lin completing their preparations. One man
remembers that his father a blacksmith,
was called up at midnight to repair one of
the muskets. He suspected the purpose
for which the weapon was to be unsed, and
sturdily refused to mend it. His scruples,
however, were finally quieted, and he was
induced to exercise his craft upon it by be
i ing told that it was to be used in a shooting
! match that was to take place the following
• day.
| And so it was; but the worthy black
! smith little knew the stake that was to be
{ shot lor.
j On Saturday morning, the 6th of Febru
j ary, 1819, at 8 o'clock, the parties met. The
■ contemplated meeting, it is said was gener
| ally known at Bladensburg, and many of
the citizens aocompanied or followed them
jto the ground to witness the encounter. It
j was snowing violently at the time.
! The ground selected for the combat waa
: not tho usual path near the road, but anoth
er and similar path just around the point of
tho hill on the right, about two hundred
yards from the bridge. Mason had on, at
the time a large overcoat with long skirts;
i M'Carty, notwithstanding the severity of the
| weather, presented himself stripped to his
i shirt, and with his sleeves rolled up, that
' he might have the free use of his arms. All
| the preliminaries having been arranged, the
i parties were placed—M'Carty facing up the
j brook, and Mason down—and then at the
I word, with the muzzles of their muskets
' almost in contact, both fired. Mason fell
dead, his life literally blown out of him.—
M'Carty was severely wounded, his antag
onist's ball entering his left wrist, and tear
ing its way through the muscles of his arm
toward his shoulder. That both were not
killed seems little less than a mericle.
Mason's musket is said to have caught in
the skirt of his long overcoat, as he wan in
the act of raising it to his shoulder; and to
this accident, as it unsettled his aim, it is
thought M'Carty was indebted for his life.
Mason never spoke Irom the time ho
took his place upon the ground. He lay
nearly as lie fell. On his person were found
letters to his relatives and friends in regard
to the disposition of his body in case of his
death. 1 nreo distinct wounds were discov
ered in his left side, besides one in his left
elbow. This circumstance at first gave rise
to a suspicion of foul play on the part of
M'Carty; but by a postmortem examination
it was ascertained that the ball had struck
the elbow bone, and had been split into
thiee parts, each of which had entered the
body. These parts ware weighed, and were
found to correspond nearly with the weight
of the ball that had been agreed upon.
The seconds of General Mason conclude
their account, published at the time, by
saying that the affair, although fatally, was
honorably terminated," and that the deport
ment of the friends of M'Carty, "throughout
the whole business was correct."
For several days afterward the spot ex
hibited melancholy evidences of this terri
ble conflict. The ground was dark with
gore, anu the bushes, for some distance
around, were bespattered whh blood, and
hung with shreds of clothing and fragments
of flesh, blown from the body of the slain
by tllft fnrne <*/ iUe vn|r|c/oluu.
M'Carty recovered lrom tho wound in his
arm, but never from the more fatal woond
inflicted upon his mind by this unnatural
1 encounter. He had escaped death, but he
could not escape the recollection of that
i fearful field. If his after life can be taken
as furnishing any indication of his feelings,
' bitterly did he repent that he had been in
-1 duced to swerve from his original determi
• nation not to engage in this contest. *
, have been told, hy those who knew htm.
' that frofitftitat hour ha was changed, and
3 duelling are provided with
' so terrible as those he suffered
of his existence.