THE STAR OF THE NORTH.
IV. H. J.ICOBY, Proprietor.]
VOLUME 11.
THE STAR OP THE NORTH
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BV
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Choice jJoctrn.
Tin; AFRICA* CHIEF.
BV WM.' ci'T.I.KN BRVANT.
Chained in the market-place he stood,
A man of giant frame,
Amid the gathering multitude
That shrunk to hear his name—
All stern of look and strong of brab,
His dark eye on the ground ;
And silently they gazed on him,
As on a lion bound.
Vainly, but well, that chief had fought,
He was a captive now,
Yet pride, that fortune humbles not,
Was written on his brow,
The scars his dark broad bosom wore,
Showed warrior true and brave ;
A prince among his tribe before,
He could uot be a slave.
Then to his conqueror he spake —
"My brother is a king ;
• Undo this neck'ace Irotn my neck,
And take this bracelet ring ;
And send me where my brother leigns,
And I will fill thy hands
With store of ivory from the plains,
And gold dust from the sands."
"Nut for thy ivory nor thy gold
Will I unbind thy chain ;
That bloody hand shall never hold
The battle-spear again,
A price thy riatioti never gave .
Shall yet be paid lor thee ;
For thou shall be the Christian's slave,
In lands beyond the sea."
Then wept the warrior chief, and bade
To shred his locks away ;
And, one by one, each lieuvy braid
Before the victor lay.
Thick were the plaited locks and long,
Anddeltly hidden there
Shone many a wedge of gold among
The dark and crisped hair.
''Look, feast thy greedy eye with gold
Long kept for sorest need ;
Take it—tliou askest sums untold,
And say that I am freed.
Take it—my wile, the long, long day
Weeps by the cocoa tree,
And my young children leave their
And ask in vain lor me."
"I take thy gold—but 1 have made
1 hy fetters last and strong,
And when that by the cocoa shade
Thy wife will wait thee long "
Strong was the agony that shook
The captive's Irame to hear,
And the proud meaning of his took
Was changed to mortal tear.
His heart was broken—crazed his brain ; ,
At once his eye grew wild ;
He struggled fiercely with his chain,
Whispered, and wept, and smiled ;
Yet wore not long those fatal bands,
And once at shut of day,
They drew him forth upon the sands,
The foul hyena's prey.
Solomon's Temple,
A remarkable model of this renowned
edifice is now on exhibition at the church
in Ninth streot, between Broadway and
Fourth avenue. The model is a considera
ble building itself. It is in size 24 by 35
feet, on a scale of 14 cubits to 1 cubit, or
21 feet to 1 foot. It contains all (he various
orders of architecture supposed to have
been prevailing when the temple was erect
ed—the Corinthian order predominating.—
The inner temple is 8 by 10 feet in size,
and 14 feet high; the sanctuary —or Holy of
Holies— 2by 6 feet, and 5 feet high. In the
temple are 90 rooms, on each floor; and the
cloisters surrounding the Court of Israel
and Court of Women contain 90 apartments.
The columns, cornices, doors, and all other
prominent portions of the building are rich
ly ornamented. The building shows imi
tations of every variety of variegated mar
ble, and the greater portions of the orna
mental work are gilded. Every depart
ment of the temple is complete—the court
of the Woman, the Court of Israel, the court
of the Priests; the Holy ot Holies, orna
mented with gold; the brazen altar used for
- burning sacrafices; brazen sea, supported
by twelve brazen oxen; in the sea, a runn
ing fountain; ten brazen levers used for
hauling water; ten golden candlesticks set
in front of the inner temple, and seven in
front of the altar, the ark, cherubim, table
of show-bread,altar of incense,twelve treas
ure-chests, etc. Tho slaughtering fixtures,
furniture, and the small fixtures belonging
to the temple are bestowed in their appro
priate places; and, for the better represen
tation of life, there are six hundred figures,
dressed in the proper costume, appropriate
ly placed around the Court and in the in
terior of the temple. The exhibition with
the explanatory lecture, given frequently
during the day, affords much Biblical in
struction. The Sunday schools especially,
should visit it.— Christian Advocate.
NEVER be so rude as to say to a man,
"there's the door but say, "Elevate your
golgotha to the summit of your pericardium
and allow me to present to your occular
demonstration, that scientific piece of me
chanism which constitues the egress por
tion ot this-apanment."
SOME libelous fellow says that a woman's
heart is the sweetest thing in the world—in
fact a perfect honeycomb, full of sells
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28. 1859.
A Chapter of Whit.
The author of the "Tin Trumpet" thus
discourses on wit—and illustrates the sub- 1
ject:
Wit consists in discovering likenesses—
judgment in detecting differences. Wit is i
like a ghost, much more often talked of i
than seen. To be genuine, it should have l
a base of truth, applicability, otherwise it
degenerates into flippancy ; as, lor instance, I
wlieu swift says : "A very little wit is valu- ]
ed in woman, as we are pleased with a few \
words spoken plain by a parrot ;" or when
Voltaire remarks, that "Ideas are like I
beards; women and young men have ]
none." This i* a random facetiousness, if
it Deserves that term, which is equally de
spicable for its falsehood and its facility.
Where shall we discover that rarer spe
cies of wit, which, like the vine, bears the
more clustures of sweet grapes the oftener
it is pruned : or, like the seven-mouthed
Nile springs the faster from the head, more
copiously it flows from the mouth ?
The sensations excited by wit are de
stroyed, if it excites the stronger emotions,
or even if it be connected with purposes of
utility and improvement. We may laugh
where it is bitter, as the Sardinians did
when they had tasted of their venomous
herbs ; but this is the risibility of the mus
cles allied lo convulsions rather than to in
tellectual pleasure.
Leigh Hunt devotes forty pages of one
of his hooks—and fails to elucidate the
mystery. At last Johnson defines wit as
"the faculty of associating dissimilar images
in an unusual manner." Sidney Smith, in
his "Lectures on Moral and Philosophy,"
shows the fallacy of this definition, gives a
befler, and broaches the startling doctrine
that wit, so far from being necessarily a
natural gift, might be studied as successful
ly as mathematics. It is a question if Sher
idan was witly when staggering along, half
tipsy, he was eyed by a policeman, and ex
claimed confidentially, "My name is VVil
berforce—l am a religious man—don't ex
pose me."
Talleyrand, when asked by a lady fam
ous for her beauty and stupidity, how she
should rid herself of some of her trouble
some admirers, replied :
"You have only to open your mouth, ma
dame."
This, if witty, was also ill-natured.
Lord Chatham rebuked a dishonest Chan
cellor of the Excheqner by finishing a quo
tation the latter had commenced. The de
bate turned upon some grant of money for
the encouragement of art, which was op
posed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
who finished his speech against Lord Chat
ham's motion saying, "Why was not this
ointment 6old and the money given to the
poor ? Chatham rose and said, "Why did
not the noblo lord complete the quotation, ;
the application being so striking? As he
has shrunk from it, I will finish the verse
tor him—"This Judas said, not that he cared
for the poor, but because he was a thief, and
cariied the bag "
It was coarse wit when Lord Byron, who
was groaning with agony from a severe
attack ot cholic, and exclaiming: "Lord
i help me ! I am dying," was told by Tre
lawney, "not to make such an infernal fuss
about dying."
Luttrel tells a story of Sir F. Gould, who
had a habit of adding the phrase "On the
contrary" to everything he said; a gentle
man saying to him, "So I hear, Gould you
eat three eggs every morning for breakfast?"
"No," replied Sir Francis, "you are mis
taken; on the contrary"—"What, the devil,"
said Luttrel, "does the contrary of eating
mean." "Laying thetn, oi course 1" said
Sheridan. This was ready wit.
Rowland Hill compared a sinner to an
osyter which opened its shell, all mouth to
take water; just as the sinner, who with his
mouth at full stretch, took in the tide of
iniquity. "Heavenly grace," he said, "was
like a rump of beef—cut and come agaiu—
no meager fare, my dear breUuen."
Lydia While, an English magazine wri
ter, was an invalid, and fancied herself con
tinually at death's door, and used to invite
people to see her die. A friend, who had
gone several times by special invitation,
and come away diasappointed, at last re
futed to attend, pleading that he "could
not afford to waste so much time on a mor
tuary uucertainty."
Scotchmen are notoriously unabie to ap
preciate a joke. Sidney jSmith, who
knows them well, says : "It requires a sur
gical operation to get a joke into a Scotch
understanding. Their only idea of wit or
wut, as they call it, is laughing immoder
ately at slated intervals."
Some of the Irish judges of oldon times
were equally dull. One, in giving his dic
tum on a certain will case, said he "ihought
it very clear that the testator intended to
keep a life interest in the estate himself."—
To it Curran frankly replied ; "Very true,
my lord, very true ; testators generally do
secure lite interests to themselves, but in
this case 1 think your worship takes the
will for the deed.
17" I plows, I sow, I reaps, 1 mows, I
gets np wood for winter; 1 digs, I hose, and
taters grows, and for what I knows I owes
the printer. Ido suppose all knowledge
(lows right from the printing-press, so off I
goes, in these 'ere clothes, to settle up—l
guess. Come in the door is open.
AT a colored ball, the following notice
was posted on the door-post:—"Tickets
fifty cents. No gemmin admitted unless
he comes himself."
The Grandeur of God.
Oft when ploughing the mighty deep,
I've beheld His grandeur in the placid ruf
fling of the waves—in the gentle breeze of
Heaven that wafted me to a far off clime—
in the fury of the tempest—in lound sound
ing bursts of thunder, amid vivid flashes of
lightning—aye.! at a time when fancy pic
tured In my imagination the jaws of the
ocean as my tomb, and my dirge the eter
nal music of its roar. Then again I've
viewed it in the abatement of the storrr.—
in the ceasing of His anger—in the reno
vated splendor of the sky—in the returning
brilliancy of tho stare—in the unparalleled
bdanty of the luminary of night—and in the
tranquility of the winds.
Reader! Dost thou think that man can
adequately portray the grandeur of his Ma. t
Iter? Dost thou suppose that he can dilate
on that which is beyond the ken of mortali
ty ? The student, in the solitude of his lit
tle chamber, may trim and replenish his .
midnight lamp and outwatch the slow-pa
ced eve; the poet may call in requisition '
his breathing thoughts, and array them in |
the all powerful garb of burning eloquence; j
the orator may summon to his aid the force
of that mighty mind with which lie endow- ,
ed him; the learned divine, in the hallow
ed temple, may extend his hands, uplift his
eyes, and bend his knees in the solemn at
titude of prayer, and in accents of thanks
giving and of praise. But 'tis all in vain to
correctly discuss a theme, which is adin
tinitum, sublime and magnificent.
Grandeur of God! Ye can witness it in
the glorious gift of intellect to man—read it
in the purer language of his brow—in the
splendor of thought—in that victory of mind
which causes the mighty of earth to recog
nize the magnificent brightness of his namo, |
and tho beautiful to hail the brilliaucy of
his talents as a tailsman of love.
Contemplate it in the mechanism of the
human heart—in the construction of the
casket by which it is enclosed—in that im
mortality therein which will flourish in eter
nal youth, long, long after the encircling
dust hath crumbled to that from which it
qmanated.
Behold it in the pleasing melody of the
birds as they tune to Heaven their songs in
the placid harmony of the air—in the love
ly flowers as they throw around their rich
est perfume—in the rivulets as thoy leap
on their courses—in the glowing loveliness
and unmasked beauty of nature :
"In every stream his bounty flows,
Diffusing joy and wealth ;
In every breeze his spirit blows—
The breath of life and health."
A Miter.
Michael Baird, (or Bear, as he was some
times called,) who lived near Little York,
Pennsylvania, was a miserable miser. His i
father left a valuable tarm of Ave hundred j
acres in the vicinity of York, with some
farming and household articles. He kept a
tavern for a number of years—married and
raised four children. He .accumulated an
immense estate which he reserved so tena
ciously that he never offered a dollar (or the
education of his children. He was never
known to lay out one dollar in cash, for
any article he might be in want of; he
would either do without it, or find some
' person who would barter with him lor
something he could not conveniently sell for
tho money. He farmed largely, and kept a
large distillery, whieh he supplied entirely
i with his own grain. He kept a team for
! conveyance of his whiskey and flour to
j Baltimore, where, when he could not sell
j for money at a price to suit him, he barter
ed for necessaries for his family and tavern,
j In this way he amassed an estate worth
four hundred thousand dollars. Such was
liis attachment to money that he was never
| known to credit a single dollar to any man.
' Upon the best mortgage or other security
that could be given he would not lend a
cent. He never invested one dollar in pub
lic funds, neither would he keep the notes
of any bank longer than he could get them
changed. He deposited his specie in ail
iron chest, until it would hold no more. He
then provided a strong iron-hooped barrel,
which he also filled. After his death his
strong boxes yielded two hundred and thir-
I ty thousand dollars in gold and silver.
The cause of his death was as remarka
ble as the course of his life. A gentleman
from Virginia offered him twelve dollars a
bushel for one hundred and ten bushels of
clover seed; but he would not sell it for
less than thirteen dollars, and they did not
agree. The Beed was afterwards ssut to
Philadelphia, where it was sold tor seven
dollars per bushel, and brought in Ihe whole
five hundred and fifty dollars less than the
Virginian had offered for it. On receiving
an account of his salo, he walked through
his lartn, went to his distillery, and gave
directions to his people. He then went to
his wagon house and huug himself.—Bel
mont Republican,
THE Paris papers speak of a naw material
to be used in loading fire aims. Sea weed
has been found to be the best gun wadding
as ever yet used. It answers the purpose
admirably, keeping the iron cool, and not
iiable to ignition like the cotton wad hither
to in use. By order of government large
amounts have been gathered on the coasts
of Normandy and Brittany. The material
has already been distributed lo the ordance
department at Vincennes.
"UNION is not always strength," as the
sailor said when be saw the purser mixing
bis rum with water.
Troth and Right God and our Country.
Damasens.
If not the most ancient city in the world
as many suppose it to be, Damasens is the
oldest place of importance now- remaining
of which any mention is made in history.
In the story of Abraham, Damascus is spo
ken of as the house of birth-place of his
steward Eliezer. This was nearly four
thousand years ago.
Damascus has evor been admired for its
remarkable natural beauty. It is called in
the highly poetical language of the East,
"a pearl surrounded by emeralds." Noth
ing can be more beautiful than its position,
whether approached from the side of Mount
Lebanon on the West, from the desert on
the east, or Irom the high road from Alep
po on the north. For many miles the city
is girded by fertile fjrffls, or gardens, as
they are called, and Which being liberally
watered by rivers and sparkling streams
winding in every direction through them,
preserve continually a wonderful freshness
and beauty of verdure. The Abana and
Pharphar are spoken of by Nanman, the
Syrian prince (2 Kings v,) as the pride and
glory of Damascus.
The view of Damascus as yon first come
upon it from the west over the dark range
of Anti-Libanus, is one of the most pic
turesque and enchanting in the world. The
mountains which embrace it on every side,
are hot bare and barren crags, like great
fortresses erected for its defence, but warm
sheltering walls clothed with perpetual
beauty; while the entire valley they enclose
is covered with the richest and most luxuri
ant vegetation.
It is said that an Arabian prince, on his
way to Damascus, when ha beheld It from
the top of the mountain, refused lo go any
farther, but erected on the spot where its
lowers first burst upon his view, a monu
ment with this inscription; "I expect to en
ter one Paradise—but if 1 enter this city I
shall be so ravished with its beauties as to
loose sight of the Paradise which I hope to
enter.
A recent traveler, describing the ap
proach to the city says: "Looking down
from an elevation of a thousand feet, upon
a vast plain, bordered in the distance by
blue mountains, and occupied by a rich
luxuriant forest of the walnut, the fig, the
promegrante, the plum, apricot, the citron,
the locust, the pear, and the apple forming
a waving grove of more than fifty miles in
circuit, we saw, gradually rising in the dis
tance, the swelling leaden domes the gild
ed eresentß, and marblemimrets of Damas
cus; while in the centre of all, winding to
wards the city, ran the main stream of the
river Barrada," which is tho namo now giv
en to the two rivers after thy become uni
ted.
But, beautiful and romantic as are its I
ample surroundings, the interior of the city j
does not correspond with the exquisite :
beauty of its environs. In (he Armenian,
quarter, it is particularly disagreeable. The <
houses are generally low, flat, filthy, and ;
very miserably lighted. Thoe ot the prin- ;
cipal merchants, though not inviting in
their exterior, are furnished with great ele
gance. The s:reets are genetally very nar- (
row, so that one can almost (Sep across on
the tops of the houses. Thero is one fine,
wide street, lined with palaces of the nobil
ity of the land, which are magnificent in
their internal arrangement and ornaments,
while presenting on the street side long
gray, dull walls, with very few windows,
and a single gateway, opening into a court.
The shops, or bazaars, are many, and
filled with all the luxuries of the East. In
the midst of the bazaars stands the great
Kahu, or hotel, of Hassan Pasha the finest
establishment of the kind in the East. It
was built about the beginning of the pres
ent century. Its immense cupola, whose
bold springing arch is only inferior lo that
of St. Peter's at Rome, is supported on fine
granite columns, and is one ot the finest
objects in the cilv. Not far trom tffis is the
principal mosque, which you know, is a
Mohammedan place of worship. It was
formerly a Christian church, consecrated to
St. John.
"The street which is called Straight,''
[Acts IX ll,] in which Saul took lodgings
at the house of Judas, when, as a convert
to the faith he came to proseoule, he enter
ed Damascus blind—is still shown to the
traveler. It is a mije in length, and takes
its name Irom the fact that it leads direct
from the gate to the palace of the Pasha.
What wonderful things this old city has
seen. How many remarkable men, from
the days of Abraham all the way down the
course of time, have been there. How
many important events, how many wars
and desolations has this one place witness
ed*. Hundreds of cities, larger and more
magnificent than this ever was, have risen,
flourished, decayed and passed away since
Damascus was a city of note; and she al
most alone of all the place of antiquity, re
mains—a city, a capital, a mart of business,
flourishing center of Eastern wealth and
enterprise.
The city was conquered by David, by the
Babylonians and the Persians, by Alexan
der the Great, by the by the' R
omans, by the Arabians, by the Phoenicians,
by the Greek Christian. Emperors, and by
the Saracens, under whom it became Mr a
time the capital of the whole Mussulman
Empire. It afterwards fell into the hands
of the Turks, and was made very famous
by the great Saladin. In 1301 it was cap
lured by Timour the Tartar, who treated the
inhabitants with great barbarity. It is now
a province of the Ottoman Empire, whose
seat is at Constantinople.
The Labor of Making Hoops.
A correspondent of the Hartford "Times'' '
gives the following curious tacts respecting
the manufacture of steel hoops for ladies'
skirts, at the mill of Henry S. Washburn, I
of Worcester, Massachusetts :
Mr. Henry S. Washburn makes some of I
the finest wire in the word. He showed us
a specimen ol No 62 iron wire, finer than
a hair. It weighed only seven ounces and
was 78,900 feet, or thirteen miles, fifteen
rods, twelve feet and six inches in length !
It was drawn cold from a piece of iron one
fourth of an inch in diameter. •
Mr. Washburn manufactures twenty thou
sand yards a day of steel crinoline, or flat;
wire, which is here tempered and covered,
all ready for the ladies' skirts. The manu- ■
factum of this kind o' wire (or hoops) is
immense. Mr. Washburn estimates that at
least five thousand tons of steel and iron are i
used annually in this way for the ladies of
the United States', South America and Mex-,
ico. It is sold when covered, at wholesale,
at about fifty cents a pound, and about three
quarters of a pound is required for each
skirt. Indeed, we suppose that his esti- ;
matd of five thousand tons of hoops a year
is quite too low. There are, undoubtedly, !
ten millions of females in this country and
the South American states who wear hoops.
Many of them wear out a half dozen skirts I
a year; suppose the average to be three a '
year to each, and the iron of each weighs 1
only half a pound—we have fifteen mil- J
lions of pounds of steel and iron hoops i
used up by the ladies of the United States '
and South American States every year or |
seven thousand five hundred and fifty-five !
tons, costing seven and a half millions of.
dollars.
Now imagine the amount of labor, of
mor.ey, and of skill brought into active ser
vice by this fashion of spreading the Bkirts
by hoops. See the dusky miners cutting
their way into the bowls of the earth to
briug up the thousands of tons of iron ore
necessary to make these hoops; the long
train of mules necessary to draw it to the
furnaces where it is melted into "pigs"; tho
many men and boys employed to plant, [
hoe, mow, rake and pitch, to produce food |
for the mules and the miners, the puddlers j
and smelters, the iron workers and the iron
drawers; and the machinery, too, necessary j
to bring the wire into flattened shape and .
comely form, to temper it, and to cover it.
Think ol the wear of brans and the test of;
genius, to produce these results—of the
amount of coal (uud here comes in the mi
ners, and the mules, and the producers
again,) to keep the boilers steaming and
the machinery running for making this wire.
And then again, of the force directly em
ployed in this skirt hoop manufacture.
Mr. Washburn alone employs sixty seven
men and boys and thirty-three females in
straightening, flattening, tempering, cover
ing and packing these hoops. And then
j we must not lose sight of the fact that these
! too, must be fed and clothed—keeping the
tailors, anu milliners, and shoemakers in
| motion to cover them, and the butchers and
| the millers as well as farmers to produce,
: and the Bridgets in the kitchen to cook for
i them. And this is no: the half of it! Like
| the hoop itself, round and round dose this
I estimate go, never ending, but always puf.
' fing and swelling up, drawing into its folds
| miners, iron mongers, mechanics, artisans,
j inventors, farmers, grocers, dry-goodsmen,
| and the mills that supply them, doctors,
| hostlers, cooks, waiters and milliners—all,
j all in aid of this little thin iron hoop that
| runs round and round tho skirts of our
wives and daughters, pufiing them out of
I proportion, and making it inconvenient for
them to ride in the stage coaches and sit in
i church pews. And what is the product of
I the hoop per seel Its influence not upon
i the hearts, but upon the muscle of man-
I kind, is great and sets astir a large number
of the industrial classes and the men of ge
nius. But what does it produce? Why,
merely the grand climacteric of the puff
and bloat of fashion—that's all. But how
odd and droary it would be to see the ladies
now-a days without hoops. \Ve should, all
of us, involuntarily shudder at the sight, so
firmly does Fashian thrust and twist her
long fingers in out hair, turning and trun
ing the grip til our eyes start out and turn
up, seeing nothing save beautiful mists,
and shadows, variegated, forming into
shapes and imaginary substances before
our gaze. Indeed, now that we
become used to the hoops, it would be
shocking enough to part with them. So go
on Mr. Washburn—you and others in the
same work—go on with your furnaces, your
trip-hammers, your cog wheels, ponderous
machinery, your hissing boilers and groan
ing engines—go on, fill up your coal bunk
ers, keep the mills running and the employ
ees busy—turn out you seven and a half
millions ol dollars worth annually—the la
dies will take them promptly, the husbands
and fathers will pay, and you and your em
ployees will prosper. Let no man say that
there can never any good come out of the
hooped skirts. They swell—the prosperity
of the country.
IT would be better not to reward a brave
action than to reward it ill. A soldier had
his two hands carried off at the wrist by a
6hot. His colonel offered him a crown. "It
was not my gloves, but my hands, that I
lost, colonel," said the poor soldier, re
proachfully.
A preacher lately said, in his sermon,
"let women remember, while putting on
their profuse and expensive attire, how nar
row are of Paradise."
A Tale of linreqilcd Love.
The editor of the Eureka Union relates
as follows how he once fell in love and got
the "mitten !"
We were never, kind readers, "desperate
in love" but once, at:d that was with a ted—
no, aburn-haired girl with a freckled com
plexion, and who had but few pretentions i
to beauty; bin then she had snfin really;
beautllul eyes, deep liquid orbs, through }
which her soul in moments of tenderness, |
looked out with a passionate fervor and in |
joyous mirth flashed and sparkled with the (
light of a thousand dew drops—diamonds j
wo were going to say—but we never saw a
thousand diamonds. Her name Was Laura, i
which when breathed softly, by a very soft \
IovSV, is a very soft name—and her clear,
ringing laugh fell all around you, like a j
shower of silver bells. Moreover she wore |
a dark wine-colored dress, trimmed with I
lilac colored velvet and black fringe, with a ;
neat little white collar of fine lace, which !
is the prettiest of dresses, and has the ef- I
feet to make a very plain girl to look abso
lutely charming. She never perforated her
ears to hang thereby a pedulum of glass and
brass, and the only ornament on the little ■
white hand, which needed none, was a j
plain gold ring sacred to the memory of a '
maiden promise.
Well, one evening—it was moonlight, in |
the summer time—we sat alone on ihe i
porch by the cottage door, holding that lit- I
lie white hand in a gentle pressure, one j
arm had stolen around her waist; and a |
silent sting ol joy, "liko the music of the ,
night,'"was in our soul. Our lipe met in I
sweet delicious kisses,and Dending softly to \
her ear, we whispered a tale of passionate j
devotion—we proposed. In a moment she
tore her hand from ours, and with a look of
ineffable scorn, she said in a voice tremb
ling with suppressed rage, "what! marry
an editor ? You get out!" We slid.
Wonders of the Microscope.
Did it ever occur to you to endeavor to
compute or realize to the mind the count
less myriads of living entities, that make
the numbers of the human race appear as
but a "handful of corn" to the harvest of
whole continents? Here is a little bottle,
containing about a cubic inch ol fluid ; it
is not a pleasant compound, being only an
infusion of putrid flesh ; but it will answer
our purpose wonderfully. We will take a
very minute drop of it on the point of a
needle, and transler it lo the 6tage of the
microscope, and carefully, (to avoid wet
ting the glass) bring down the one-eighth
of an inch object glass to bear upon it. Now
look and you will see countless swarms of
moving creatures, 100 small even under
this very high power, to allow their form to
be clearly defined. You may see, howev
er, that some are round, some oval, some
pyriform, and some fusiform, Wherever
you look they are so closely crowded to
gether that there is no interval between
them; each is perhaps on an average the
one two thousandth of a line, or the one
twenty-four thousandth of an inch in diam
eier; in one ordinary sized drop of water
there will be about eight thousand millions
of living beings; and in this little bottle,
containing only one cubic inch, there are
j so many that it would employ the whole of
I the inhabitants of England and Wales a
fortnight to count them; allowing each,
adult or infant, to count one hundred every
minute for ten hours each day ; in other
words, about fourteen thousand times as
many as the whole human inhabitants of
j tho earth. In your field of view just now,
! you have much less than the hundredth
j part of a drop of the fluid; yet you try in
j vain to form any directly enumerative con
ception of the multitude.— Eclectic hlagazme
The Heavens in December.
Next to Orion the finest constellation now
j visbible is Taurus. It is distinguished by
i the sevon stars, Pleiades, and by that fam
ous cluster known as the Hyadenythe shape
; of the latter being that of the letter V. The
[ star at the angle of letter is in the noße of the
| Bull. The stars in the extremities of the
1 letter from the right and left eye, the name
| of the latter being Aldebarn, which is one
j ol the nine stars which mariners use in
/ finding their position at sea Two stars
i fornting a straight line with Betelgeux are
| iu the trips of very long horns. The bright-
I est of the seven stars is Alcyone which nc
! cording to Medler is the Great Central Sun
| around which our own and all other visible
suns are making their mighty revolutions.
; The distance of this has been estimated at
3580 trillions of miles. If the stars were
blotted from existence, to-day, it would
take more than 500 yeais for the fact to
reach the earth, light moving at the rate of
200,000 miles in a second of time.
It takes our sun at least eighteen millions
or years to make one revo ution around this
central tun. It the calculations of Madler
are correct, the size of Alcyone must be
equal to more than one hundred millions of
our own sun which is itself no mean body
This is the one starry system. If it is re
membered that Alcyone doubtless forms
one of several hundred millions of starß
which, in obedience to an all pervading
power, are floating around the sun whose
distance may be calculatod only on analog
ical principles, the extensive scale tfn which
the Universe has been constructed begins
to be apparent, and we are all the more
profoundly impressed with the very simpli.
city of the law which holds all these worlds
together. A lesson of humanity is again
taught, fot our little earth might be blown
to fragments without being missed at the
secondary center around which it revolves-
[Two Dollars per Annna
NUMBER 51.
From Taurus let the eye wander toward*
the Zenith and the slats may be designated
as follows: A little to the west at 9
is the great equate of i'egasus.
It is hardly possible lor an observer to
fail to distinguish this square. The north
ern star is named Alpheratz, and is the
the head of Andromeda. The Southern star
is named Algenib, and these two stars mark
the line of the Equinoctial Colure, which
ctosses the Equator and Equinoctial Point
about as far to the South of Algenld as this
is distant from Alpheratz. This is the best
direction that can be given for determining
the locality of this point which, as related
to the heavens, is of the same importance
as the city of ''Greenwich near London" to
the earth; the longitude and right-ascension
of every star being reckoned from this point;
the former on the ecliptic, the latter on the
celestial equater. This last line rons par
allel with the line drawn through the South
ern star, Algenib, arid the Southeast
Markab, of the square, crossing the Western
Fish, the Urn and the head of Aquarins as
it passes to the west. The Urn is Readily
made out, from the fact that its four princi
pal stars form a figure somewhat resembling
an urn.
The remaining star of the square, that oil
the northwest is Shoat Alperas.
If a line be drawn through this last star
and Algenib and continued toward the south
east some distance, it will pass very near
one ol the most remarkable stars in the
heavens, Maria, of the largest of all the
constellations. Maria is a "veritable star,"
situated in the "neck" of the Whale. It
has a period of about 334 days, a part of
the time being a star of the second magni
tude, that is as large as either stars of the
square, and part of the lime being invisible
to the unaided eye. A question as to the
cause of this change Immediately springs
np, and is, probably, best answered by the
supposition that some body revolves regu
larly around it, hiding the star from view
a portion of the time. That this supposition
of astonomers is the true one is rendered
strongly probable from the tact that Algal,
a brighter star in the Head of Medusa,
which is now in a fine position for observa
tion, shines a star of the second magnitude
for 2 days 13 hours and 30 minutes, when
it suddenly diminishes in splendor to a star
of-lhe fourth magnitude, its maximum dim
ness lasting only filteen minutes. Its whole
period is 2 days 20 hours and 49 minutes,
during which, for Beven hours, it is a star of
the fourth magnitude or less. A large plan
et passing round it regularly in the same
interval of time would account for its vari
ous appearances. The best way to find
Algal is this:
Alpheratz Mirach and Almaach form near
lj a right line pointing toward the northeast
and southwest. These three stars are in
the head, girdle and right foot of Androme
da. respectively, that in the girdle being
almost exactly overhead at 9 o'clock. Al
gal is a large star directly east of the last
star named, Almaach, and but a short dis
tance from it — Mobile Doily Advertiser.
SYMPATHY TOR THE ERRINO. —Of how much
of our indignation against even a deliberate
wrong would we be disarmed, if we could
but know ourselves a tithe of all the sorrow,
and trouble, and disappointment the poor,
erring heart had passed through. What
efforts were made in youth to stand
np against the pressure of the world, and
how, when fallen from miscalculation, or
an-over-confiding nature, or want of tact, it
bravely rose up and tried again; and, when
hard necessity came and drove it to the
wall, how it looked around lor help, and
waited, still striving to stand upright, and
fell with striving; and even, when fallen,
how it yearned for one more chance to rise
and bo a man—how loth at last to give up
all for lost! Could we but see a thousandth
part of these struggles, as they rend our
brother's bosom, and almost break his heart,
how should it disarm us of our vindictive
ness and incline us oven to run to him and
raise him up, and stand by him, and, with
God-like forgiveness, bid him, "Try, try,
again!"
A Vsav NEAT SELL. —A friend of ours,
who prides himself upon his knowledge of
coins, was very neatly sold by an old ac
quaintance a day or two since. The latter
exhibited an American coin resembling the
new quarter dollar, and asked him if he
could "distinguish anything peculiar about
it V
"I cannot," replied he, 'lbut why do you
ask V
"Because," replied the other, "they can
be hd anywhere about town for twelve
and thirteen cents."
"It is possible? remarked the iudge of
coins ;"I thought it felt light! For how
much did you say they be had I
"For twelve and thirteen cents," replied
the other.
"Oh!" exclaimed the victim; as the "sell,"
dawned upon him, "twelve and thirteen
make twenty-five."
THE QUESTION or DUTY. —It is a hard con
dition of our existence here, that every ex
ultation must have its depression. God will
not let us have heaven here below, but
only such glimpses and faint showings as
parent* sometimes give to children, when
they show them beforehand tb% jewelry
and pictures and stores of rare and curious
treasuries which they hold to tho possession
of their riper years. So it very often hap
pens that the man who haß gone to bod an
angel, feeling as if all sins were forever
vanquished, and he himself immutably
grounded in love, may wake the next
(morning with a sick headache, and, if he
be not careful, may scold about his break
fast like s miserable sinner.— Mr*. Stove.