f t VOL. L-W. 15. BI S. B. BOW. CLEARFIELD, PA:, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1857. - t J THE STABS AND THE FLOWERS. When Eve had led her lord away, And Cain had killed his brother, The stars and flowers, the poets eay, Agreed with one another, : To cheat the cunning tempters art, And teach the race its duty, By keeping on its wicked heart Their eyes of light and beauty. A mill ion sleepless lida, they say, . Will be at least a warning ; And so the flowers would watch by day, The' stars front eve to morning. On hill and prairie, field and lawn, Their dewy eyes npturning. The flowers still watch from red'ning dawn Till western skies are burning. .Alas! each hour of daylight tells A tale of shame so crushing. That some turn white as sea-bleached shells, And some are always blushing. But when the patient stars look down ' On all their light discovers The traitor's smile, the murderer's frown, The lips of lying lovers They try to shut their saddening eyes, And in the vain endeavor, We see them twinkling in the skies, And so they wink forever. A LEAP IS THE DAttK. One of the gentlemen who visited Monnt Sinai, in company with Bishop Clayton, hap pened, on his return to England, to pass thro' Sicily. Though by no means a person of ro mantic character, he had a fancy for wandering about mountains, for getting belated in forests, and supping, by the light of wood-fires, under a rock. It was perfectly natural, therefore, that he should wish to visit Mount -Etna, look at the great chestnut trees, and examine that marvellous belt oi vegetation, so admirably described by the commandant Dolilnian, which encircles the cone of the volcano, and marks the point at which in general the streams of lava are arrested in their downward progress. Our traveller's unromantic name was Fen nel, and he had along with him two friends, considerable younger than himself, one a cler gyman and the other a barrister. Two ser vants, net much accustomed to sojourn in tstrange countries, rough Yorkshirenicn, speak ing their native dialect in perfection, and de spising everything not English, waited upon the triad of travellers ; and when they left Ca tania, two guides were hired to conduct the party through the labyrinth of woods, gorges, glens, ravines and precipices, which intercepts the ascent to the crater, and renders it at all times an enterprise of considerable danger. For nearly a week before they set out, the mountain had exhibited some symptoms of in ternal uneasiness. Earthquakes passed like gentle tremors beDeath the city not rocking or heaving up tho earth not cracking the walls, or dismantling the houses but just giv ing a tremulous motion to the pavement un der your feet, and at night causing the pillow under your head to seem for an instant about to float away. To the Catanians, this was nothing ; they had been used to it from the cradle. Their houses all stood upon lava, were built with lava; the detritus of lava formed the very soil in their gardens, and the fruits tbey ate had a rich lava relish. In some sense, they were half lava themselves cold without, tiery within, feeling much, reflecting little, al ways on tho brink of an impassioned eruption, but kept from running over, except at widely distant periods, by the paucity of materials in their constitution. Mr. Fennel, as a true Englishman, loved to tee sights, and therefore longed for an erup tion ; but, the Catanians assured him he would have to wait at least amonth, in order to enjoy that peculiar spectacle. lie determined to wait two months if necessary ; but in the mean time, thought it would be pleasant and inter esting to run up and get a peep at the crater. Tho wind blew strongly from trie west, and spun out the dusky smoke into long ribbons in the air. Once or twice in the night he thought he could detect red f parks among the fuligin ous vapor, which now and then increased large - y in volume, and issued from the breast of the mountain with something like a deep grunt. The young clergyman observed jocularly that Enceladus was snorting or snoring in his sleep, but the barrister, familiar with the slang of men about town, maintained that there was a row among the Tif ans, and that Typh.xus hav ing got Mr. Enceladus's head into Chancery, wag pommelling him about the nob, and mak ing him seek to deliver himself with fierce puffing and contortions. Mr. Fennel laughed at their absurdity, which he did not even pre tend to mistake for wit, and determined to set out early in tho eveniDg to see with his own eyes, as he expressed it, what it was all about. At the hour appointed, the mules were ready, and of! they went. To describe what they saw, .what they felt, and what they said, would fill a volume of no small dimensions. Sicily is big, every inch of it, with wonder ; and no writer, so far as I know, has succeeded in con eying to an untravelled reader any idea of its awe-inspiring scenery. You know very well that every step you tike conducts you over unfathomable gulfs of fire, from which you are separated only by a thin crust, which may at any moment crack and fall in. Tou know V that interminable beds of sulphur extend from il the great volcanic peak in unnumbered leagues f out beneath the sea, and that for thousands of years they have supplied lutl to that prodig ious fireplace, whose chimney rises ten thou sand leet towards the empyrean. You feci mingled with the air yon breathe, the warmth ol that mighty conflagration, which, forcing its way throughout the earth and the rocks, communicates a luxuriance to every kind of vegetation, unknown in other parts of the world . But in spite of this knowledge, you are led by the example of the inhabitants, to put confi dence iu appearances, and to imagine that those more stupendous Fhlegrcan fields will continue safely for your time to hang floating over subterranean fires, displaying their beauty and sublimity, and concealing altogether lrom the eye the fearful apparatus by which their splendors are produced. As everybody knows, the ascent of Mount ,Etna is not to be accomplished in an hour or two. If you w ish to reach it by daybreak, that you may witness sunrise from its summit, you must set out early the evening before. If your mules are vigorous, you may, perhaps, find time for a short nap, a little after mid night, and re-commence the ascent about three o'clock. In the case of Mr. Fennel and his companions, the mules performed their part with great perseverance and fidelity. If you have travelled by night in a mountainous and woody country, you must know what an exci ting thing it is; what gulfs of shadow you gazs at from time to time, straining your eyes in vaiu jto penetrate into their depths ; what towering precipices nod and frown over you ; what sounds, wild and startling, and proceed ing from you know not what cause, come at in tervals through the woods ; and how your heart beats with something very much like foar, but yet not unmingled with pleasure, as you spring over chasms, after the example of your guide, affd climb zigzag along the face of clills which seem inclined to carry you up higher than Babel's projected tower into the sky. It was already one o'clock, when the guides, who are perfectly despotic during such under takings, pronounced it time to halt and take a little refreshment ; after which, if so inclined, the whole party, they said, might sleep for two hours without running the least risk of not reaching the edge of the crater by sunrise. They did halt, and while the servants, were kindling a fire with dried wood, which lay a bout in plenty, Mr. Fennel amused himself with looking down the vast sweeps of the mountain towards the sea. In that part of the world, nobody appears to sit np late, and at the time to which I now refer, the Sicilian ci ties bad no lamps. You consequently beheld nothing on shore, save dusky irregularities de scending and undulating to the extreme verge of the shore. But the. sea, when it bares its breast to the stars, has always a faint glimmer diffused over it. ' On the present occasion, there were patches of phosphorescence which, like small luminous isles, flashed and floated between you and the Tarentino promontory. Science may dissipate as it pleases the mys tery ol these phenomena, but nothing can still that disquietude of the heart with which you contemplate the waves on fire, looking like so many glow worms several leagues in dimen sions floating leisurely away before the wind. From enjoying this curious prospect, Mr. Fen nel was called away by the announcement that supper was ready, lie then joined Lis com panions, ate, drank, and, wrapped in his cloak, went to sleep, like a red Indian, with his feet towards the fire. We men are very clever in our way, but na ture is often too many for us. According to their day and generation, those travellers were highly scientific, knew all about volcanoes, could dissertate learnedly on gases, and de cide beforehand to an inch how far a heavy body, by whatever cause put in motion, could travel in two hours. With regard to the guides, it was altogether impossible that they could ever be taken napping ; they understood all the tricks of iEtna as well as he did him self, and could always decide whole days be forehand wh it he was going to do next. Nev ertheless he now stole a march upon them. Awaking with a start, they were surprised at feeling a warmth much greater than their wood-fire was calculated to impart ; the sky, moreover, was filled with a blood-red glare, which bewildered .it once their senses and their imagination, and the terrible idea suggested itself to their minds that the eruption was in full progress. Indeed, they had but to look around them to discover undeniable proof of it. They were standing on a knoll skirted on the side of the cone with trees, and on the right and left, a broad stream of fire, glowing like a furnace, was rushing down into the plain, overthrowing everything in its passage trees, rocks, and, where it encountered thf m, human dwellings. Never did Mr- Fen nel witness anything so awful as the red glare cast upon the woods by tho desolating torrent as it swept on. He turned to the guides, who stood beside him paralyzed with terror. "How are we to get out of this situation ?" inquired he. "We don't know," they replied, "we have never before been placed in such circumstan ces. But we must make some movement, and that speedily, too, or we shall be burned to cinders where we stand. Look ! the lava is coming, and those vast trees are bending and cracking at its touch like fine grass." Wcjl," replied the traveller, "lead the way you must know it better than we that we may get out in the plain country before the fi ery streams meet below, and hem mm.' "You are right," declared the guides, "for the lava is pursuing the course of iwo ravines which have their confluence below yonder hill, and if we fail to precede them, we are lost." The jokers of the morning were not at all inclined to joke now. The lava was sending its intolerable heat before it, warning them that inevitable death was near unless they es caped from it by miraculous celerity. Down the mountain, therefore, they went, leaving everthing behind them except the iron-shod staves which ihey carried in their hands. The landscape, previously so silent, was now filled on all sides with fearful noises the bellowing oi terrified herds, the shouts and shrieks of hu man beings, the sudden bursting up of flames here and there, as the torrents reached some combustible matter, the tumbling down of rocks, and the crash of forests, as the irresisti ble lava forced its way through them. Every moment the glowing flood rose higher and higher, until it overflowed its banks and began to difluse itself over the rocky plateau along which the travellers were rushing towards the distant city. At length they carne suddenly tipon the edge of a precipice, down which they looked, but could discern no bottom. On the right and left was the fire ; in front a eulf of unknown depth ; behind, the lava rolling to wards them with terrific rapidity, scorching, in its advance, trees, grass, hay, the very earth, which it absorbed and liquified by its Inde scribable heat. "Are you ignorant of this cleft V inquired Mr. Fennel ; "or may wo hope to save our lives by throwing ourselves over V "It lies entirely out of our usual trackt" re plied the man, "and we have never seen it be fore." I do not pretend to describe Mr. Fennel's feelings at that moment, because he has left behind him no record of them. It is well known that extreme danger often renders men silent ; they do not communicate their fears ; their mental powers appear for the moment to be annihilated they only feel. But what feel ings are theirs ! All Sicily now appeared to be on Are. The earth was reddened on every side ; the sky overhead glowed like a furnace mouth, and clouds denS'J, charged with igno- ous particles, and emitting an intollerable stench were precipitated upon them by the west wind. To be scorched to death, or suffo cated, appeared now inevitable, unless they threw themselves over the precipice, and so de livered themselves from such a fate by suicide. While they were meditating on this idea; the earth under them began to rock violently. It shook ; there was a wild crash ; the rocks par ted and yawned, and they beheld a red stieak making its way eastward through the bottom of the crevico. They fled not knowing whith er, towards the cliff; but their grogress was soon arrested by the heat thrown out by the lava. All thoughts, all eyes, were nrw direc ted towards tho precipice ; should they dash over, and, by one leap in the dark, cither do liver themselves from the most fearful of deaths, or put an end to their agonies at once ? With sensations that bafHe all description,they approached the edge of the rock, and looked over it. Could they discern anything below ? X o ; all was thick darkness, suggesting un fathomed depth. They would remain, there fore, where they were, in the hope that the la va' might rise no higher, and that when the light of day should make its appearance, they might see some avenue of deliverance. But this hope the guides dissipated. They knew too well that the lava-streams' now scperated would meet and mix before morning, and leave not one inch of the ground they now stood on unflooded by fire. Yet all hesitated to plunge down, they knew not whither, in the dark. While they lived, while they breathed, some thing like a miracle might occur to preserve them. They would therefore hope, and defer taking the fatal plunge till there should be nothing else left them. It soon came to this ; the fiery circle became contracted, the heat and the sense of suffocation intolerable, and at length the young clergyman, with a mixture of horror and resignation in his countcnance,vol unteercd to make the first plunge. In spite of the volcanic glow, his face assumed the hue of death as he approached the rock. lie did not dash forward he did not throw himself headlong he turned round, and clinging to the rock with his hands, remained suspended for a momant and then What was that noise ? that of a body dash ing against the rocks down, down fearfully into some unfathomal le gulf. The survivors shouted in agony, and besought him to reply if he still lived. But no answer. Mr, Fennel then said it was his turn, and in the same way committed himself into the depths of air. There was another pause of suspense and ago ny. Again the survivors listened ; again no answer came. Soon followed the barrister ; and after that, pell-mell, rushed down servants and guides and there was silence. They had all taken the leap in tho dark, and were they on the shores of Acheron 1 The precipice, if I may borrow an Uibernianism for the occa sion, was no precipice at all, but a very shal low rock,with soft grass growing up to its base. Why, then, did they who leaped not answer ? They thought they were going to inevitable death, and that thought for a moment paralyz ed them, so that they did not recover the use of speech for several minutes. Those minutes appeared an age to those who had waited a re ply. But long as the time seemed, there e- lapsed, probably, only a few seconds between the plunge of the clergyman and t he simulta- neous spring oi tne servacts ana guiaes What ronsed them at last was the lava glow ; flash ing upon them from above. They arose with a feeling of indiscribable gratitude, mingled with fear, and hastened eastward over the plain. They were not yet beyond the reach of tho Etnean surges, and therefore pushed along with eager speed till they reached the point where tho lava-streams .must soon have made their confluence. They dashed through the gap they ascended the rocks on the side of Catania, and soon they stood on the high ter race before the city walls, from whence they beheld .Etna vomiting forth in smoke and thunder those red torrents, which at wide in tervals, desolate and fertalize the plain of Si cily, suggesting ideas of immeasurable anti quity, since all that part of th island has been gradually created by the mountain. With so ber feelings, and curiosity thoroughly quench ed, Mr. Fennel set sail, on the following day, for England, where he often spoke of his leap in tho dark. Chamber's Journal, A RACY STUMP SPEECH. Ic Texas, some years ago, a long, loan, bony, ono-oyed, bald-headed, lantern-jawed individ ual, appeared before the public as an indepen dent caudidate for State Senator, lie was ac companied by his better half. On arriving at Austin, he mounted a stand that had been e rected under a shade tree for the purpose of dealing out whiskey, and announced himself in the following manner : "Feller subjicks and gintilmen, I hain't cum deown ycre to fight ; tho' when I'm tn hum I kin take deown anything aithly." I kin skin the best and smartest human coon that ever cracked eye over a rifle. I kin ! But, I'm deown yere on a leckshnneerin' speckulashun. I'm a gom' to run fur the State Congress by the great creation, I am. "Feller subjicks,my maiden name is Simeon forshortSim SimTallnian; and as I haveen tcredthe perlitical field for State Congress, I feel it a duty tu give you an idee of my per- sishun on the great perlitical questions that am rumblin' through the mountings. 'Feller subjicks, I have addrest the hull popylashun of this yere deestrict clean deown to yere, and now I stand yere the exponent of universal freedom ! the candydate of ever lastin' liberty. The genius of our commin knntry calls aloud from the tops of tho Alle- ganys to the answering echoes of the gray beard Pacific, to put deown tyranny and com pression. And I'm jist a goin' tew dew it, tew. (That's it Sim, giv it tu them I said Poll.) I have heerd from my mounting hum the cry of distressed Christians spcakin' in thunderin' whispers to the independant voters cf the world, and askin' them in plaintiff words to riskuc her from the grip of power. Men and wimmin of Amcriky, I ask you cf these things are to go forrard unchecked ?" "Xo ! no!" cried Poll, much excited. "Of course not ! feller men ! the blood of the old foxes martyrs lurbids it ; the old man tottering on the brink, raises his palsied hands agin it ; the infant rockin' hisself to slumber in the patental cradle of centuries is averse to it; the spirit of our four fathers won't stan' it"; and won't stan' it, neither." "That's right, put in tho hifalutin' licks," said Poll. "Yes, feller men ! from wall to wall of this grate land, the screech of the great American bird is heard as he flaps his wings, and calls us to deeds of glory, as we hang our diguity on the north pole, and sweep to the south with overwhclmin' power." -"Now say suthin' about Gincral Jackson an' script ur," suggested his prompter. 'Yes, feller subjicks! the eggsainple of the great hero, Gincral Jackson, tells us how tew act. He waded, at the fight in Lexin'ton, up to his knees in mud. Shell we not dew so, tew ? In the grate battil of Niagary he split his boots with glory. Let's do likewise ! Who would no! luv his kuntry 1 The voice of nashuns calls our sculs to arms. We answer the in vite. Uccolmember what scriptur says : It's easyer fur a needle to go thru' the eye uv a kamel, than fur a man to hate bis natif land. "In konklushun, feller subjicks, I say; by the Everlastin' Jcwrewsalum and the great boot on the foot of tho mounting, I'm prober bly the most courageous Ae-ro in all this yere deestrict, and ef all of yeou don't want to be scratched oil the lists of livin' men yeou can jest go to the polls and wote fur me ; and if I'm beat, why, I'll be teetotally ram-squat tied an' chopped up to make soup for Injin babies, ef I'don't jest pull up stakes and adjourn to more profertable pasturs. Wal, neow, that's sensi ble, ain't it. Let's Iickcr." It is hardly necessary to say, that Sim was elected to the "State Congress" by an over whelming majority. The Mobile Mercury says a lady in that vi cinity, a few days since, missing her teeth un der circumstances which led her to believe that one of her turkeys had appropriated them, in stituted an examination after the style of jus tice once much in vogue, of executing a crim inal first and trying him afterwards. Seven of the fowls were decapitated and acquitted, but the eighth was found guilty, and tho lost teeth extracted from it craw. It is reckoned that there iaone liquor shop for every eighteen families in New York city, and for some neighborhoods- in the city one grog shop for every ten families J AMERICAN COTTON. There is no material which affects'so niany manufacturing interests as that which forms the subject of this article. It has now arisen to be the most important of all fibrous sub stances employed in the arts ; and it is not a little surpfsing that it has attained to this po sition within a very recent period. ' Our coun try is the cbi;f source of its supply, furnish ing as it does about eighty per cent of the whole product. Millions of anxious mindsare, therefore-, continually directed to the source of its cultivation, because an abundant or de ficient crop, by raising or lowering its price, either gives them plentiful labor and the means of comfortable subsistence, or stops the wheels of industry, and makes them go idle in the streets, suppliants for work or bread. In 1C11, cotton was first spun in Englaud, on the common hand wheel, but was only em ployed mixed with wool in cloth; aud small, indeed, was the quantity used, even for this purpose. From 1700 to 1760, the only persons who used it were weavers, who wove it into cloth during the day, their wives and children having spun it in the evenings and leisure hours. It was then a dear material although much cheaper than fine flax owing to 4lie dif ficulty of separating the cotton from its seed, this having been done either by hand picking or by passing it between rotating rollers. Not withstanding this, however, its use increased, and the demand for it soon exceeded the sup ply. The invention of the cotton gin gave a wonderful impetus to its culture ; and the in ventions of the spinning jenny, "mule spirmer, and power looms, whereby, from the field to woven fabric, it could be operated by machin ery, at last raised it to the pinnacle of manu facturing fibrous materials. In England, in 1737, only 4,7y-j,000 lbs. were consumed ; in 183.3, no less than 1,023,000,000 lbs. were im ported into that country. Previous to the present financial difficulties, the demand for it far exceeded the supply, and would do so now, were these difficulties removed. Before the Sepoy mutiny took place, largo meetings of cotton manufacturers were held in England, for tho purpose of influencing government to offer greater encouragement to its cultivation in the East Indies and other colonics, because they felt they were entirely dependent on our Southern States, and were becoming more sj every year. For the last thirty years its consumption has doubled every twelve years ; and at the end of 18-jC there was only seven weeks' supply of it in all Great Britain. Iu its manufacture 370, 213 British operatives were engaged, whose yearly earnings exceed 50,000,000, and the capital invested in machinery and buildings exceeds S200,000,000. Two months ago, ow ing to the increased demand for cotton, its price had arisen to double what it was ten years since, and many of our cotton manufacturers, as well as those of other countries, had to sus pend operations, because the manufactured cloth could only be sold for about the price of the raw material, weight for weight. At pres ent, most of the' cotton factories in England are working only on half time, and those of our own country even less than this. Our fi nancial difticulties, no doubt, eggravate this evil, but they are not its sole cause ; it is the high price of cotton. Since so many persons are dependent on cotton manufacturing, it is an important question whether its supply can be increased in proportion to the demand for it, and its price lowered to meet that demand. It appears to us that after the present finan cial crisis is over, the price of cotton labrics must advance considerable, and tliis will call those factories which arc now idle into active operation. The price of cotton cannot come down to the low figure at which it ranged ten years ago ; and our Southern States will main tain the monopoly of its supply to the woild for many years to come, at least, if not for ever. The East Indies was the first field to which the British cotton manufacturers were looking for a future cheap supply, to place them independent of our planters ; but the late mutiny of the Bengal army and the in surrectionary stats of that country have put East India cotton entirely out cf the ques tion. Our cotton crop last year amounted, in value, to $130,000,000; this year, the calcu lation is that it will amonU to $ r.K),000,000. Its value is increasing rapidly every year. It is one of the chief sources of our national wealth ; and upon our yearly crop the whole cotton manufacturing world is, at present de pending. As Old Doccmext. There is now hanging in the bar-room of the old Buck Hotel in the borough of Lebanon, a license granted by the "Hon. Governor of Pennsylvania, James Penn, in the year one thousand seven"' hundred and sixty-five." It is most singular phraseology, and strictly forbids the "sale or gift of any in toxicating drinks to Indians or notorious drunkards." Aphriend pheeling phunnily phigurative, phurnishes the phollowiug : 4ty 4tunate 4est ers, 4tuitously 4tifyiog 4 41orn 4trcses, 4ci bly 4bado 4ty 4inidable 4eigners 4ming 4 ag ing 4ces. Miss B. says tho first time a young man squeezed her dress, she felt as If she was in the land where rainbows came from, llow po etic a little bugging makes people . Strychnine. This poison, which has of late become so notorious in its abuse, (we can not say use,) is the most uncertain in its ac tion on the human frame; in some producing instant death, the same dose in others only bringing on tetanic convulsions, and in a lucky few no effect at all, and this does not appear to have any relation to the physical strength of the patient. If is a whitish, crystaline sub stance, and is extracted from the nut of a tree called strychnine nux vomica. This tree grows in Ceylon, is of a moderate size, and has thick shining leaves, with a short, crooked stem. In the fruit season it is easily recognized by its rich, orange-colored berries, about as largo as golden pippins. The rind is smooth and hard, and contains a white pulp, of which ma ny varieties of birds are very fond. Withia this arc flat, round seeds, not an inch in diam eter, covered with very beautiful silky hairs, and of an ash-grey color. The nut is tho deadly poison, which was well known, and its medicinal properties well understood by Ori ental doctors before Europe or America had heard its name. 'Dog killer' and 'fish scale are two of its Arabic names. The natives ef Illudoostan often cat it for months, and it be comes a habit, like opium-eating, with the same disastrous results. They commence with taking the eighth of a nut a day, and gradual ly increase their allowance to an entire nut, w hich would be about twenty grains. If they eat it directly before or after food, no unpleas ant effects are produced ; but if they neglect this precaution spasms result. The chemical tests for it are numerous, but only one or two can be relied upon as thoroughly accurate. Free Trade axd the Ccbbexcy. To show the effect opon currency ,as well as agricul ture, suppose a gentleman wants a new coat ; he goes to a British importer and pays him, twenty dollars, hard money, and hard to get. England takes none of our rag money. A way it goes, in quick time. We see no more of it ; as far as circulation is concerned, the gen tleman might as well have thrown it into tho fire. Suppose, on the other hand, we wants coat, and go to the American manufacturer, and buy twenty dollars' worth of American broadcloth. Well, the manufacturer the next day gives it to the farmer for wool ; he gives it to the shoemaker, the hatter, the black, smith ; they give it to the farmer for meat and bread ; and thus it goes from one to another. You may perhaps see this twenty dollar noto five oi six times in the course of a day. This makes money plenty. But where is the Freo Trader's hard money 1 vanished, gone to re ward and enrich the wool-growers and farmers, shoemakers, hatters, and blacksmiths of Eng land. Now we go for supporting the Ameri can farmers and mechanics, and the Free Tra der goes for the British that's the difference. Can, the Free Trader deny it J There ar but twosides in this matter, the British and tho American side ; and the simple question is, which side to take ! The great struggle is between the British and American farmers and mechanics for the American market, and wo must decide which shall have it. Can any true-hearted AmericJn. be his party politics what they may, hesitate to take his position on the American side rt this question ? "Wuae's ije Wav to Caxaax." Mrs. Stowe's book, "Dred," teaches many a lesson to white folks through a dark medium, and not the least pointed one is the rebuke given to Christian denominations by "Old Tiff," for their mint, anise, and cummin wrangles, while inquirers are asking the plan of salvation. "Old Tiff" has the care ot Ihu children of his dead mistress, and having told theni that their mother had gone to the laud of Canaan, one inquires as follows : "Unce Till, where is the land of Canaan V "De Lord-a-mercy, chile, dat ar is what I'd like to know myself. I's studdyin' upon dat ar. I's gwino to camp rueetin' to find out. I's been to plenty of dem. ar, and never could see quite clar. 'Pears like dey talk about eberyting else mor'n dey does about dat. Dere's le Methodists, dey cut up de Presbyter'ans, and de Presbytcr'ana pitches into de Methodists ; and den both on 'em's down on de 'Piscopals. My ole missus was 'Piscopal, and I never seed no harm in it. And de Baptists think dey a'nt none on 'em right ; and while dey's a blowin' out at each other dat ar' way, I's wonderin' wbar's de way to Canaan !" - "The Feabti l Jidgvext." Thellollidays burg Standard has information on the subject of the man sitting on a chair for blasphemy, which throws some light upon the origin of the story. It is S3id that a man in Union coun ty, and not atMt. L'nion, while winnowing grain, became exasperated on discovering that the weevil had destroyed a portion of his grain that he indulged in some tall swearing went into the 'house and sat down, and the excitement brought on a severe attack of ap oplexy, from which he ultimately recovered. This was the basis of the wonderful story of a (earful judgment of Providence, .which has been extensively circulated in the newspapers during the last few months. ... The Berkshire Eagle says that the ladies of Pittsfield are afjaid that the fall winds will carry tLera up unless they get anchors made to their Looped dresses. A crown will not cure the headache, or a golden 8lipper the gout. 1 i ? il