Raftsman's journal. (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, March 12, 1856, Image 2

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BY S. B. ROW.
CLEARFIELD, AYEDMSDAY,-MARCH 12, 1856.
VOL. Hft l
- LOOK AT HOME.
fcbould you feel inclined to ccrssura
Faults yoa may ia others view,
iUk your own heart ere you venture,
If that has not a failing too.
Let not friendly vows be broken,
Kather strive a friend to gain ;
Many a word in ?nger spokn,
Finds ru passage homo again.
- Do not, then, in idle pleasure,
. Trifle with a brothers fame ;
Guard it s a valued treosare
Eaercd as your own good nums.
Do not fertu opinions blindly
I!a.:ineis to trouble tends ;
Those of whom we've thought unkindly
Of: become uur warmest friends.
From the 'Scalpel."
' LIFE LIGHTS AXD SHADOWS.
t BY B. W. B.
The bright frost-sharks were on the trees in
the forest, and nb;n the moon, with her mild
torch, lighted them up, they glittered like so
many fairy diamonds; they glowed with light
, aud lustre, changing from sparks of light to
. .blue and green gems; and all the air flickered
... Un. theo auccka of frost, paijited . u.to ,!ia-
liolui'.ig sij beautwul ia ail nature as one- of
thus? evenings; the air is so 6tiM that if tlie
.ui ii.tjas, it cannot shut cut the angels'
Thixrs that come to us mixed up w ith music
; tt.it CA&uot bo printed. Angels never speak
when the sua shines, nor when the white robo
cf whiter has folded all nature into its pure
mantle ; no, they only come when tha moon
-hiues in late autumn, when the nights are
clear and the air keen, and the frost sparkles
villi cold. Thca all earnest souls can hear
them. They do not address the ear; they
pek to the spirit, and fail it with love and har
mony, with mercy r.nd blessings.
. Spring;, with its flowers and birds, had corao,
n.l scattered its smiling glances on all the
vrcrks of God. Summer had succeeded, aud
ripened the fruit, aiid dressed np the year with
a fuil-lapped bounty; and then had come one
- -f the frost-nights, m.agled with moon-iirc
tho nights on which tho mercy-angcls are
abroad on errands of goodness.
- ' I had s.it a long time in mr wind itc.u.
ix? thaw-hit. ---s that floated over
7J ,7T ThV brilliant with
Tctfectou light, aud as Raudv as tho rnr,!
i . - --
the ft
J vent w i:m wi naow, tiiZTcxh&vl, r'neen-I-rary,
and then went again, with uncJv'i.Us
head, into the bonn I!es3 sea of mystic cold and
light, mid listened Ut the seraph voices, (I lis
ten with my spirit,) and tlen returned again to
my warm room, to enjoy the delightful con
trast between bathing my body in dead heat,
and plunging my living spirit into the lUthom
19 sea of glittering light.
Why I could tot sdvep, I kno?r not ; but I
could net. I was too happy; I Mt a serenity
that epoke of mercy, of some good to be done ;
orno suffering j.t,5i-;, that needed tho hush of
a l ist I'essjrig, v.-as sneaking to me, aud seem
ed to vy : -Can you not watch one short hoar,
whoa 1 have not slept for two long nights, aud
i-hall never sleep again till I awa'ce into ever
lasting life? Know you not th3t love darts
Lrr message into the human heart through
r ace, over seas, mountains and plains; and
when sorrow plea Js for mercy, the fpirit hears
' fl it hears it just as a merciful ( d hears our
Havers and listens to our wants?"
My soul was so full of thought and blcssin-rs
that I was In a sea of thankfulness and joy,
when I was roused by the patter of two little
f eet on th door-stone. I knew it was a child's
step, it was so soft, ond yet so confident; a
child's step has no fenr in it tho innocent
have no fear. Tho little rap fell on the door;
it was a soft rap, for her little hand was cover
ed with a mitten to keep the frost-diamonds
'fr.-.m. Litir.g it. The frost has no feeling for
little hand? ; it only loves to shine and spar
kle, and sparkle and shine, before tho warm
tnn shall come and spoil its beauty and power
to harm. I opened the door, and in stepped
little Julia, muffled in a shawl, and mittens,
and hood ; and her little shoes vtcn atifT with
cold, and they creaked on the fioor, uud her
face was all covered with love, and looked very
bright, and the still (ear stood in her eye, and
he could not speak.
"Oh, Julia!" said I, "are you not ccid,
child? and why is my darling cut alone?"
'It is so light, sir, that I could come casily
w ithout being lost."
I know it is liejit, but it is very cold; you
came alone, did you not?"
O yes, sir, Mr: Doctor, I came alone, but I
was not afraid, nor cold any;" and her blight.
red lip trembled, and she could not speak;
ur.d oa her cheek tho frost had painted a full,
red flush, and the skin was whit as lh snow
fluke. She looked very beautiful, and her
heart vrs.3 full, too full to tell mo more.
"And. you were not afraid, you said, and you
ire only nine years old, I think, and have
come three- miles, in the night, too, all alone
did you corao to see rue, Miss Julia?"
'Tes, Mr. Doctor ; my mother is very sick,
and I came to get you to euro her, and she said
God protected all good children, and then she
seemed to be witii uie all the way, and I was
not afraid ;" and here the dear child burst into
tears.
I waa very busy warming the child, for I was
enchanted and bewildered by the fidelity and
nfidenc cf u,0 charming little girl, fori
had oftea n her light ' form tripping along
the highway to school, Ler bluo eye as mild as
a summer dew-drop, when she lifted towards
me something that glittered, and said, in her
sweet, low voice, "Fleasc will y(5u 0 and see
ray mother, to-night, Jlr. Doctor ? She sent
you this gold ring she had no money and
she cried when she gave it to me, and said it
was one my dear papa gave her when they were
married in Xew Qork cit.vand sho wanted to
keep it for me, but she will give it to you, sir,
if you will come and see her to-night ; sho is
afraid she will die before to-morrow, and then
she cannot tell you wliat sho wants to ; and
she ia ail alone, too, only a little girl, Katy
Wharton, cane over to stay with her while I
came after you ;' so please do go and see my
dear-mother to-night, good Mr. Doctor."
The fervent love and artless simplicity of the
child had so overcome me, that I had prepared
myself to start, unconsciously, lly wife had
risen from her slumber, and was listening to
the story cf the child, and when I returned to
tho gate with my robes and cutter, I found lit
tle Julia and my good wife waiting to accom
pany me. Folding them closely in my thick,
a slight snow had fallen and coverad the dark
brown earth. My residence was near a thick
wood, and my track to the dwelling of the sick
woman led me through a thickly settled part
cf the largo and flourishing village of A .
The house was small, and forbidding in its ex
terior, and when wo reached tho gate, little
Julia bounded from the sleigh with the clastic
step of a young fawn, glided across the yard,
and entered the house ia advance of ns, and,
rushing to tho bedside, sho held up tho ring
and cried foy, as her tiny arm clasped her sick
mother's neck, while sho covered her pale
cheek with fervent kisses. "Dear mother,"
sho said, in a soft, low voice, "don't cry now,
nor cough any more, for tho good doctor has
come now, and the lady has come too, to help
ma to take "care of you;" and she ran to the
table to bring sorae drink for which her mother
had motioned.
Myself and companion stood by thp bedside
of a sick and dying woman, who had been
rursed in the halls of luxu-y and pride, and
whose parents had taught her to love self and
forget all else in tho world beside.
Come info the apartment, gentle reader, and
see where the daughter of the rich and proud
sometimes ends h- J---- T..-""! room, with
very rich, the broko.i fragments of a splendid
out.it, given her by her father when sio left
-NC'.v i orti for her home in the West.
The whole scene was really comfortless, al
though the hand of taste and pride had evi
dently tried in vain to hide the real facts by
great tact in arrangement, aud perfect neat
ness throughout the room. The addres3 of the
lady at once marked her as one who had been
bred in a far higher circle of life than she now
occupied, fur she saluted us w ith that dignifled
simplicity that always characterizes the wo-
UlizaE was the daughter of a rich mcr- compelled him to recall the whole. Leggary
man of good breeding. O.ir fust duty was to
provide for her comfort, and then receive her
bequests, for she was rapidly drawing toward
the close of her weary pilgrimage.
-ay who nan arranged iicr couch anew ; her
cough had been quieted by a soothing draught,
and she lay rer.ting her failing body, gathering
strength for this list conflict with her fate,
when little Julia rushed up to the bedside and
asked, in a very earnest tone, "Dear mother,
do Isaiah, and David, and Joseph h avo to pro
to a soup-house in heaven to get something to
cat? or do tlu-y have bread enough in heaven,
mother 7" OTy strange child," said the dy
ing mother, "why do you ask me that?"
'0h, you know the other day, when we were
so hungry, you made me read to yon in tho
Bible that (Iod hears the ravens cry,' and then
you sent me down to the merchant's for a lit
tle flour, and when he sent me back becaure I
had no money, and you cried so, I kept think
ing about the famine in Samaria, and how Jo
seph's brethren went down into Egvpt to buv
corn, and Joseph wept when ho saw them, and
gave them something to cat; aud I knew, be
cause you said so, that even some good people
now could not get bread to cat because it cost
so much, and you said they had to go to soup
j houses to be fed, and beautiful fine ladies had
to go tnero n the great city of Boston last
year, and I wondered if people were ever bun
gry in heaven." N The poor child relieved her
self fall this with great earnestness.
A deep crimson flush overspread the face of
the "poor mother, and her eye glanced wildly
at the face of my w ife, as she said to the child :
"Xo, my dear, children are not hungry there;
but you must not talk so strangely."
Great God! what thoughts rushed across my
snul at this strange scene! Have we become
a raco of demons, thought I, and do children
legin to ioill the justice of God ?
A sudden silence seized the group, aud
through my soul rushed whola years of anguish-
Children starving in a land of bread!
mothcrs.nursedinpride ami luxury, brought
to feel the bony fingers of want, and grapple,
on a dying-bed, with palo famine's icy touch!
What, thought I, shall I hear next? -Surely
something heart-breaking has preceded such a
train of thought in the mind of this child.
And who can this sick lady be, Inquires the
reader, and where did bhe come from, and
whoso daughter was she, and had she any mo
ther alive ; or was she eome poor out cast
one of those whom God almost forgets to com
fort ? She was non of these.
chant in Xew-York city. About twenty year3
before I was called to see her, she was seated
ia a gorgeous parlor, surrounded by splendid
mirrors, playing on her piano, and courted by
rich suitors, and flattered by a poet's love.
The world may not know it, but the western
physician decs, that among the surging tide
of wealth and home-hunting life that swells a
cross tho great lakes, and spreads across the
prairies of tho West, even to the shores of the
Pacific, there are a smaller number of emi
grants that swarm out from the houses of the
merchant princes of our great commercial me
tropolis. The place is too strait for them, and
luxury, vice, and indblenco have enervated
them too much to enable them to buffet the
rude breakers of city life. Thes-J sons, from
the euchre tables, the drinking, saloons, and
club-houses of that retiued and Christian city,
arc married to the highest bidder w ho has cash
to give with his daughter ; and the young pair
is shipped west with bales of goods and boxes
cf merchandise, to become aristocracy of the
villages and cities of tho West. While the
find women from the commercial capital, the
hardy sons of toil and exertion flow back from
the farm and places of toil, to fill the places cf
clerks ia the great city's trading-houses, and
becomo the future merchants of tho vast
Dabel of trade.
Among these adventurers, in the year 'G4,
was a young merchant of much promise who
ranked much higher than the average of this
class of men. lie had becomo the husband of
tho accomplished Miss E . The doting
parents had dismissed them with their blessing
and a stock of goods, and they had taken up
their resideuce in iho village of F , where
a year or more of prosperity had placed them
at the head of tho village aristocracy.
But fortuna has her changes, and rolls her
mud waves over the hopeful and the stout
hearted. One of these tempests of fire, that a
just God rains on citius, us he did on Sodoci
for her sins, came upon .New-York ; aud on a
cold night in December, the red tongue of the
fire-tempest lapped up the heart of the city,
and scattered her proud merchants as beggars
ia (he btrects.
The man of millions, in a single night, found
himself without means of a breakfast; the fam
ily that dwelt in a ralaca. wore houseless
daily bread, wero rich as the richest.
I shall never forget the strange scene that
was presented at our capital, for the whole
State suifered; so wide-spread was the desola
tion, that none could measure it ; but every
heart was touched with pity for the homeless
and the brcadlcss.
stared liim in the face, and he informed his
daughter ot his fate and asked for aid, and
with that uoblo impulse that ever guides the
great-hearted, lull-souled woman, she resolv
ed to send her father all to save hisi from
want. Their business had been prosperous,
aud they lived ia the first sunshine of gay
prosperity.
Her husband responded with as full a heart,
and in a week his splendid stock of goods had
disappeared under the hammer, and the cash
was forwarded to tho parents in New-York ;
and then came the new life ia which the heart
grows amid the rushing of wild tempests, and
'.ve feel that life has a dignity in it, because we
have humanity in our hearts, and can weep
with thoso that weep, and rejoice with thoso
that rejoice.
Our patient had tho form of a queen,' and
her face bore the impress of nobleness and
lovc--uo daughter of the Tyrol was ever more
lovely. Uer husband was a man, aud only
needed the rod and the scourge to make him
shine, lie sought a position, ns a clerk, their
sonants were : 1 --- 1 a
learn i of managing her own house. She
could play her piano, but could not make bread
for tp'r husband and child. She knew riot how
to wash and iron her own garments. She
had been taught tlmt to do so was vulgar; but
now it was to contribute to her father's com
fort, and send joy to her aged mother's heart,
it became a pleasure and a joy
George had returned one morning from the
store, aud found his wife weeping. He spoke
words of comfort to her, and asked her tke
cause. She responded, in a tone of firmness,
that she was ashamed of her education, and
had lesolvcJ to learn to work ; "I will know-
how to make bread for my husband in less
than a week." George smiled at his wife's
resolution, and a shade of sadncss3 passed
over his face. Their life's morning had open
ed bright and cloudless as the rays of early
dawn. One year of life had been all sunshine;
now they were without means, his store clos
ed, his Cna house relinquished; their parents
10
broken mothers; her father, mother and bus- f
uanu were aeaa, ana imugui itn w nv
but poverty and her little feeble Julia. She
had learned how to woik, could cook her own
food, and she resolved to know more of hon
est, inspiring toil. In less than a month she
had command of her needle, as a tailoress and
dress maker, and with her superior genius, she
soon found employment among the best of her
sex; for the truly noble among them, who had
known her as the gsy and beautiful wife, now
beheld her with admiration for her courage
and her vigorous struggles with the reiterated
blows of a mysterious Pi evidence. She felt a
deeper joy for the blessings of her humble ta
ble, because procured with her ow n hands, and
Julia was delighted with all the little gilts Shat
the heart ot a mother so joyfully brings to the
being it loves. In tlo tierce fires of euCering,
ary had learned that other hearts could sul- j
THE WALDENSES.
In the beantifnl vallev ot" Piedmont taer
exists a people whose history, in point ot pe
culiarity and interest, rivals even that of th
ancient Jews. Their origin isa subject cf dis
pute. Some attribute it to Peter Waldo, a
wealthy merchant of Lyons, who being deeply
impressed by the sudden death of a friend, with
the sense of human frailty, renounced the world
and devoted himself to the promotion of re
ligions truth. Others maintain that the Pro
testant doctrines are of much er!ier origin,
and that Claudius of Turin wasl.cir founder,
a devoted Christian cf the ninth century.
Whoever their founder may have been ther
is strong historical evidence of the ancient or
igin of the Waldenses, and that they received
large accessions ly the labors of Waldo, l
iug also, especially favored by him with
translation of the Bible into the Waldenslaa
She was known by all the pooras the
The night was intensely cold ; the water froze
in tho hydrants, and tho devouring element
rioted unrebuked on the labors and the hopes
of men. The sun rose in the east on a sea'of
smouldering ruins; all night had mothers
mourned and wept, and when daylight came,
fathers of stony hearts, that never prayed be
fore, prayed then :
"Give us this dnour daily bread !"
So wide was the desolation that no one could
see its shore, and thinking men rushed up to
the capital, to ask the loan of a million of dol
lars, to Hunt for a little time the sea of suffer
ing that none cobM really fathom. I saw the
whols struggle, and heard the prayers of the
suuorcrs, and the proud buffelinrrs cf those
who held the purse-strings.
Men implored for the love of God, and the
tears of sufl'erirg and helpless women and chil-
uren, that aid which the State alone could
give. They repeated tho gulden rule, and
wept hot tears of suffering, for the Are had
painted with red flame a red snot fr once
in the heart of the golden princes. Thev
knew that rnen could suflur; they had seen
incir own wives and daughters clinging to
them in despair, covered with silk, and spark
ling with bright jewels, and asking where thev
should tleep mid cat. And the dry-souled
politician now spoke with a ton?u of fire.
and repeated those golden "words, "Do unto
Others r-s you-would that ethers should do un
to you," and wept for aid ; but those w prds
sounded as strangely as tho song of a seraph
chanted ia the halls of Bedlam. "Xow," said
the w ily wire-worker, "is tho time to punish
Xcw-York. Sho has refused us all succor at
the West, she has no heart ; when the flamo
has died from her ruins, a heart of ice will a
gain beat in her bosom. By the grace of God
show her no mercy, for sho deserves none.
Givo her tho silver rvlc she repeats the gold
en one, but will never live by.it."
Such was actually the language that fell
from the lips of Christian men, stung by the
demon of a golden selfishness. Said one, "I
will vote to relieve this cry for mercy, but tho
words stick in ray throat so much selfishness
deserves no pity." The boon was granted, and
the tried and suffering city drew one long
breath of love and gratitude to the bour.ty of
tho State. Reader, we must now return to the
bedside of our sick patient, prepared to un
were aged and helpless in a city where t!
wheels of fate revolved so fast and so rudely,
that the stoutest were often crushed in its wild
whirl. Their infant smiled ia its wicker cra
dle; Mary said to her husband, "We cannot
keT ' w aught taut Il:T6Toroa-wu"il
a poor ercature an I ! Why, I cannot make
bread !" When the husband had left for his
business, meditating On the change in their
condition, Mary started for tho minister'
house, and frankly told her fri nd her resolu
tion, for all knew by this time their necessities.
They both started for the residence of Dr.
r and it was soon arranged that the la
dies would alternate in their visits, and aid
the resolute wife in acquiring a knowledge of
arranging her house, setting her table, and
cooking her fowl. In a few weeks she had
acquired considerable knowledge of the duties
of a useful wife. She knew the joy of contrib
uting to her own and her husband's wants, and
no bread was ever so sweet to her as that
which Mary set before her husband made
with her own hands. But a year passed, and
her parents sunk under the heavy stroke of
disaster; the current was too deep ; it bore
them to the grave. Now more than ever Ma
ry felt tho blessedness of her good deeds to
her parents, and learned that to bo useful was
to uj nappy, to bo good was to be like the
angels.
George struggled on with his new position
in life. Pride roso tip and mocked him, but
he locked it steadily in the face, till his man
hood outgrew- his early training and learned
the real power cf self-dependence. But woe
b:tido us when all the winds blow calamities
to cur hearthstones ! George was seized with
a.'yphoid inflammation of the lungs, a disease
that sweeps hundreds of stalwart men in mias
malic districts to a sudden grave ; and in a
w eek tho noble Mary was a w idow and Julia
an orphan
She thought her cup was full before, but
now it r iu over with bitter sorrow, and she
bowed her head before tho blast, and said in
the deep fai.th of a smitten spirit, "Thy will
be done, O God!" The black hearse came,
the pall covered tho form of her husband
With Julia and a few humble friends sho fol
lowed their stay and support to the grave; the
last hymn broke on the silent air ; the coffin
was lowered ; the earth fell heavily on tho lid ;
fainter and fainter grew tho sound, and a long
earth-mound covered the body of the noblo
young lather.
It is natural and seems appropriate for the
young and the old to die; but when the thread
is cut in full life, and hope, home, wife, child,
are all made desolate by the blow, it looks as
though tho law of life was reversed ia its en
actment, and a great wrong was done. Onr
friend now missed the hand on which she had
leaned, and turned herself to flad same ray of
light beaming oa her destiny j she saw no star
beyond her ou the sky-vergo of her com
dcrstnnd who she was and tho causes of her ing days, but she committed her all to the
condition. She was the daughter of a wealthy
merchant, who lost his last dollar in the hugo
fire of ?3o ; he saw the labors of a long life
swept from him in an hour, and the hope of his
family went down in that whirlpool of fire.
His son-in-law bad a few thousands in his
western home, but n inexorable necessity
hands of that great aud loving One who stills
tho young raven's cry, and looked up with
cheerful hope. '
What now was to be done? The fire had
devoured her father's w icked gains, gathered
up by speculation in bread, and "the tears and
heart-bninloSR of hungry children, and heart-
fer, and to the poor she became a messenger j tongue. They were originally called Yallen
of mcrev, wherever suffering human hearts i (,nel1 OI t!ltf Valley.) which being easily
changed into Waldenses the Papists took ad
vantage of this circuiiistaacd to disprove their
ancient origin. '
. Tiicir historv Is tho. rnntpst hptween Prots
tantura said. ;ha Papal power. It ii ahmo.-j
of the most violent and inhuman persecutions,
and furnishes us with a beautiful example of
firmness and Christian fortitude. Great and
learned men they had not ; tat all 'were able
to read and write, and their pastors wero usu
ally men of no ordinary powers ot argumenta
tion. The bishops of Rone, at first endeavored to
pursuade this people to renounce their heresy,
and accordingly ecnt monks to confar with
them ; but the later toon returned, sorao of
them declaring that ihey had learned mora
scripture from the Waldensian children thaa
from all tho religious controversies they had
c-vcr heard. The Waldeusians, at length, pro
posed to defend their principles ia open de
bate. The bishops in 4 monks could not hon
orary Cecliu sofctir a proposition. They ac
cepted the terms of debate, and Montreal noar
Carcossone was selected as the -lace f-r atr.i
cably and fairly deciding iho creat contet b
tween Protestantism and Catholicism. AttL
appointed time this ecclesiastical discuss: ru
commenced, and was caincbtiy
for several days ; but Popery baring faitd to
support itself by scriptural argument, abrupt
ly terminated the discussion and had rccours
" The ambitious and tyran
nical pope, Innocent the III., instituted tho
Inquisition and the Waldensiass wero the first
victims of its iahumaa tortures. Thousands
were subjected to the most cruJ i-onishnioiit
w hose only crime was that of a religious life.
A few princes were convinced of their loyalty,
and secmeddesiious of favoring them; tut tha
falso and slanderous report of (h papal
church too easily instigated these rntr against
the helpless Waldenses. Falsehood and cal
umny were heaped upon the peaceable Men
of the Valleys, and the civil and papal power
now united for their extermination. It was a
contest, on the part of the Waldeusians, for
principle, on the part of their enemies for
plundet . For a period of more than four cen
turies did this righteous people endure all tha
persecutions that the malice, avarice and blind
zeal of their enemies could devise ; but in
stead of being annihilated their doctrines wera
disseminated, and ssttlements established in
the valleys ofTregala, Fraissinaire, Loyso.
Daupblr.g, ia Provence, Flanders and Calabria
in Austria and Germany, and, at one time,
they numbered ia Europe, eight hundred thou
sand. It is baid that they still exist in the
valleys of the Alps, protected by the fastnesses
of thejr mountain homes, and the power of
him for whom they suffered, "aptculiar feo
pie teal:ut of gcoi v:orks."
could be found. She made the w idow'. heart
to sing for joy, and the orphan, at tho sight of
her loving face, smiled through its tears. She
f ...... i ,.,!,., .
ceive.
"good Mary," who came to make them happy,
and if she h id nothing to bestow, sha smiled
ou the sufferer, and his pain grew lighter un
der its sunny power. Through long years the
loving Mary had supported herself and child
by the toil of her own h inds. Unfortunately
she had removed from the scene of her trials
to tho village where I found her, for better
prospects, where at last her powers sunk un
der accumulated labors, and a severe fever
had brought her far away from her humble
friends, on that cold night I found oa her last
bed of rest ; neglected and forgotten by the
busy world, attended by two little children,
adorned with most saintly meekness and full
of the most joyful expectations of a bright and
immortal future. As t.ie night was far advan
ced, and my duties for. the next day very ar
dous, I left my excellent wife, whose heart was
ever open to the child of want, to watch the
balance of the hours before day, and mado my
way homewards. I slept littlo till towards
mormn? I ::aa heard too much for sleep a
thousand unavailing thoughts rushed through
my brain.
I awoke ia deep despair; my soul was very
fP.f,r.p;:L,,,,WhTvt marvel, thought I, that the
St 11 , ing Cllll.i. WilO WdlS.C& aiou ui.ci wrc-oora
earth by the frosty starlight to get a doctor for
her dying mother, should ask if the good folks
ia heaven kept "public soup houses" where
all tho poor could have enough to eat ? The
story of my patient had chilled me to the
bone, and I sat speechless for some time on
the bedside.
The sun was shining cheerfully when I cross
ed the yard for my faithful pony, and I soon
made the few calls ray limited practice re
quired, w hen 1 agaia sought the humble cot
tage of my patieut. I hud bought a few com
forts at the country store, and found my angul
wife, ever faithful, and now gone to her re
wardat her post by the bedside. She had
been weeping over the little Julia, who slum
bered sweetly by her mother's side. She, too,
slept. Both awoxe shortly after my entrance.
Gazing tenderly upon her little lace, the-1
mother closed her eyes and murmured a few
words of prayer, and then addressed me as
calmly as though in health. "Doctor, you
know all of my history that is of consequence,
except what relates to mv dear child. I have
penned a few direct ionf for one of her annts,
who will doubtless discharge the trust I be
queath to her. Would to God I could lighten
the pecuniary part of it. Yonrkindnsss
has brought you here, as I learn it ever does
at the summons of the wretched ; I shall need
no medicine, tho lamp is exhausted ; the flame
even now flickers; in a little while I shall go
hence."
She had wearied herself by the exertion of
speaking, and dozed; I wont into the little
kitchen to consult with my wife upon onr fu
ture efforts. I kept my eye occasioaallv oa
the face of my patient, and had withdrawn it
but for a moment, when I saw her move con
vulsively; I ran to her, and she asked dis
tinctly for water; sho swallowed a little, and
thanked me, even gracefully, so quiet was she;
she closed her eyes, and her purse fell rapidly.
Suddenly she drew her child to her breast, and
calmly uttered, To God and you I leave her."
My wife was instantly at her side. I turned
my eyes towards her face ; it was placid as
heaven ; the spirit of the good and beautiful
had fled to the home of the Immortals.
Father M'lvor was one of the worthiest of
the Presbyterian clergymen, but, like his an
cestors, very much set ia his own way. ne
came from the Scotch, and it was one ot his
forefathers who prayed at tho opening of one
of their ecclesiastical courts : "Oh, Lord,
grant that we may be right, for thoa knowest
we are Tery decided-"
A Western editor, in speaking of a friend,
says : "He has his weak points, but telling
the truth is not one of them." Nice puff, that.
A Yankee has invented a plague which kills
off all who do not pay the- printer. It's more
destructive than the consumption. . -
Why is Horace Grecly like fleW Of dan- !
aged wheat ? Becauss be b a rrfc tr j
Rutt. . ' I
A pretty woman is ono of the "institutions'
of tho country aa angel in dry goods and
glory. She makes sunshins, blue sky, Fourth
cf July, and happiness wherever she goes.
Her path is one cf delicious roses, perfume "
and beauty. She is a sweet poem, written ia
rare curls and choice calico, and good princi
ples. Men stand up before her as so many ad
miration points, to nielt Into cream, and then
butter. Her words float round the ear, like
music, birds of Paradise, or the chimes of th
Sabbath bella. Without her, society would
loso its truest attraction, the church its firmest
reliance; and young men the very best of com
forts and company. Her Influence and gener- -oslty
restrain the vicious, strengthen the weak,
raisH the lowly, flannel-shirt the heathen, and
strengthen the faint hearted. Wherever yon
find the virtuous woman, you also find plea
sant fireside, bouquets, clean clothes, order.
good living, gentle hearts, piety, music, light,
and mrifipJ fnMf ntinnn" irenrllr SIiaI.
the flower of humanity, a very Venus iadir
tr,and her inspiration is tho breath of J
A neiv stove has been IaToh'lor tie COTE'
fort of travellers. It is uadcr the foct
and a mustard plMt U0B lho ead, which
draws the heat th aole jtem'.
Said to be T-k:x invention. Patent rights
keli cle1?'
' nliy is a man r.fco owns a cIf, like a loco
motive? Bosuse-bo can boast of" cow
catcher." The young man who tnt ns thls
Is becoming so briUirat that !u charges a dol
lar an hoar to a!Tow pcrpl. to look at hlai ii
tha sua. - .