Raftsman's journal. (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, July 21, 1858, Image 1

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    BY S. B. ROW.
CLEARFIELD, PA., "WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1858.
VOL. 4.-M). 47.
TIIE SOUL.
One thinks the soul is air; another firo :
Another, blood diffused about the heart;
Another saith the elements conspire,
And to her essence each doth give a part.
Bat, as the sharpest eye discerneth nought,
Except the sunbeams in the air do shine,
Eo the best soul with her reflecting thought,
' Sees not herself without some light divine.
. . TIIE OLD MAM'S STORY.
A THRILLING 8KKTCII.
I shall never forget the commencement of
the temperance reformation. I was a child at
the time, some ten years of age. Our home
had every comfort and my parents idolized
me their child. Wine was often ou the table,
6 ml both my father and mother frequently
gave it to me in the bottom of my morning
glass.
One Snudiy at church, a startling announce
ment was made to our people. 1 knew noth
ing of its purport., but there was much whisper
ing among the men.' The pastor said on the
next evening there would be a meeting, and an
address upon the evils of intemperance in the
use of alcoholic drinks. He expressed him.
s elf Ignorant of the object of the meeting, aud
could not say what course it would be best to
pursue in the matter.
The sul ject of the meeting came up at onr
table after the service, and I questioned my
father about it with all the curious eagerness
of a child. The whispers and words which
had been dropped in my hearing clothed the
whole aflair with a great mystery to me, and I
was all eagerness to learn the strange thing.
31 y father merely said it was some scheme to
unite church and State.
The night came and groups of people gath
ered on the tavern steps, and I heard the jest
and the laugh, and saw drunken men come
reeling out of the bar-room. I urged my father
to let me go, but he at first refused. Finally,
thinking that it would be an innocent gratifi
cation of my curiosity, he put on his hat, and
we passed across the green to the church. I
remember well how the people appeared as
they came in, seeming to wonder what kind of
an exhibition was to come off.
In the corner was the tavern keeper, and a
round hini a number of friends. For an hour
the people of the place continued to come in,
until there was a fair honse full. All were cu
riously watching at the door wondering what
would appear next. The pastor stole in and
took a Seat behind a pillar under the gallery,
os if doubtful of the propriety of being in the
church at all. ..-
Two men finally came in and went to the
rtltar and took their seats. All eyes were fixed
upon them and a 'general stillness pervaded
throughout the room.
The men were unlike in appearance, one be
ing short, thick feet in his build ; the other tall
end well formed. The younger had the man
ner and dress ot a clergyman, a full, round
f.ice, and a quiet, good natured look, as he
leisurely looked around over the audience.
But my childish interest was iu the old man.
His broad, deep chest, and unusual height,
looked giant like as he strode slowly tip the
.aisle. His hair was white, his brow deeply
learned with furrows, and around his handsome
mouth lines of calm and touching sadness.
. His eyes were black and restless, and kindled
as the tavern keeper uttered a low jest aloud.
His lips were compressed, and a crimson flush
went and came over his pale cheek. One arm
was oil above the elbow, and there was a wide
tear above his right eye.
The younger finally arose and stated the
object of the meeting, and asked if there was
a clergyman present to open it with prayer.
Our pastor kept his seat, and the speaker
himself made a short prayer, and then made a
hort address, at the conclusion calling upon
any one present to make remarks. The pastor
rose under the gallery, and attacked the posi
tions of the sieaker, using the argnments
w hich I have often heard since, and concluded
by denouncing those engaged in the new move
ment as meddlesome fanatics, who wished to
break up the time-honored usages of good so
ciety, and injnro the business of respectable
men. At the conclusion of his remarks the
tavern keeper and his friends got up a cheer,
and the current of feeling was evidently against
the strangers and their plan.
While the pastor was speaking, the old man
had fixed his dark eye upon him, and leaned
forward, as if to catch every word.
As the pastor took his seat the old man rose,
his tall form towering in its symmetry and his
chest swelling as he inhaled his breath, through
Ins dilated nostrils. To me, at that time there
was something awe-inspiring and grand in the
appearance of the old man. as he stood with
his full eye upon the audience, his teeth shut
liard, and a silence like that of death through
out the church. ... i
For a moment he seemed lost in thought,
and then, in a low and tremulous tone, com
menced. There was a depth in that voice, a
thrilling pathos and sweetness, which riveted
every heait in the house before the first period
had been rounded. My father's attention had
become fixed on the eye of the speaker with
an interest which I had never before seen him
-exhibit. I can but briefly remember the sub
stance of what the old man said, though the
.scene is as vivid before me as any I ever wit
nessed. My friends, I am a stranger in your village,
jnd I trust I may call you friends a new star
has arisen, and there is hope in the dark night
which hangs like apall of gloom over our coun
try "'With a thrilling depth of voice the
speaker locked his hands together, and con
tinued: "Oh, God! thou who lookest with
compassion upon the roost erring of earth s
children, I thank thee that a brazen serpent
has been lifted up upon which the drunkard
can look and be healed; that a beacon has
burst out upon the darkness that surrounds
him which shall guide back to honor aud heav
en, the bruised and weary wanderer.
It is strange what power there l in some
voices. . The speaker's voice was low and
measured, but a tear trembled in every tone,
and before I knew why, a tear dropped npon
my hand, followed by others like rain drops.
The old man brushed one from his own eyes,
and continued : . . , .
Men and Christians ! Ton have just heard
that I am a vagrant fanatic. I am not. As
God knows my own sad heart, I came here to
do good. Hear me and be just.
.i .... n m man. standing alone at the end
of life's journey. There is a deep sorrow in
my heart and tears In my eyes. 1 have jour
.t . . iirt and beaconless ocean, and
life's hopes have been wrecked. I am with-
- i i An an1
wut friends, horns or Kinureu on vn..,
look with longing to the rest of the night of
death. Without friends, kindred or home !
It was not once so."
'No one could withstand the touching pathos
of the old man. I noticed a tear trembling
on the lid of my father's eye, and I no more
felt ashamed of my own.
"No, my friends, it was not once so.
Away over the dark waves which have wreck
ed' my hopes, there is the blessed light of
happiness at home. I reached again convul
sively for the shrines of the household idols
that once were mine, no more."
The old man seemed looking away through
fancy npon some bright vision, bis lips apart,
and his fingers extended. I involuntarily
turned in the direction where it was pointed,
dreading to see some shadow invoked by its
magic movements.
"I once had a mother. With her old heart
crushed with sorrows, she went down to the
grave. I once had a wile, a fair angel-hearted
creature as ever smiled in an earthly .home.
Her eyes as mild as a summer sky, and heart
as faithful and true as ever guarded and cher
ished a husband's love. Her blue eye grew
dim as the floods of sorrow washed away its
brightness, and the living heart I wrung until
every fibre was broken. I once had a noble,
a brave and beautiful boy; but he was driven
out from the ruins of his home, and my old
heart yearns to know if he yet lives. I once
had a babe, a sweet, tender blossom : but
these hands destroyed it, and it liveth with
one who loveth children."
"Do not be startled, friends; I am rot a
murderer in the common acceptation of the
term. Yet there is light in my evening sky.
A spirit mother rejoices over the return of
her prodigal son. The wife smiles upon hini
who again turns back to virtue and honor.
The child-angel visits me at nightfall, and I
feel the hallowing touch of a tiny palm upon
my feverish cheek. My brave boy, if he yet
lives, would forgive the sorrowing old man
for treatment which drove him into the world,
and the blow that maimed him for life. God
forgive me for the ruin I have brought upon
me and mine."
lie again wiped a tear from his eye. My fa
ther watched him with a strange intensity,
and a countenance unusually pale, and exci
ted by some strange emotion.
"I was once a fanatic, and madly followed
the malign light which led me to ruin. ' I was
a fanatic when I sacrificed my wife, children,
happiness and home to the accursed demon of
the bowl. I once adored the gentle being
whom I injured so deeply.
I was a drunkard. From respectability
and affluence I plunged into degradation and
poverty. I dragged my family down with me.
For years I saw her cheek pale, and her step
grow weary. I left hcr alone, amid the wreck
of her home idols, and rioted at the tavern.
She never complaiied, yet she and the chil
dren went hungry for bread.
'One Net l'ear's night I returned late to
the hut where charity had given us roof. She
was yet up, and shivering over the coals. I
demanded food, but she burst into tears, and
told me There was none. I fiercely ordered
her to get some. She turned her eyes sadly
upon me, the tears falling fast over her pale
cheek. At this moment the child in its cra
dle awoke, and set up a famishing wail, start
ling the despairing mother like a serpent's
sting.
-'We have no food, James have bad none
for several days. I have nothing for the babe.
My once kind husband, must we starve V
That sad pleading face and streaming eyes,
and the feeble wail of the child, maddened
me, and 1 yes, I struck her a fierce blow in
the face and she fell forward upon the hearth.
The furies of hell boiled in my bonm, and
w ith deeper intensity as I telt I had commit
ed a wrong. I had never struck Mary before,
but now some terrible impulse bore me on.
and I stooped down as well as I could in my
drunken state and clenched both hands in her
hair.
God of mercy James!' exclaimed my wife,
as she looked up in my fiendish countenance,
you will not kill us you will not harm Willie,
as she sprang to the cradle and grasped him in
her embrace. I caught her again by the hair
and dragsed her to the door, and as I lifted
the latclithe wind burst in with a cloud of
snow. With a yell of a fiend, I still dragged
her on, and hurried her out into the darkness
and storm. With a wild ha I ha! I closed the
door and turned the button, her pleading
moans mingling with the wail of the blast, and
the sharp cry of her babe. But my work was
not yet complete.
Jl turned on the little bed where lay my
older son and snatched him from his slum
bers, and against his half awakened struggles
opened the door and thrust hini out. In the
agony ol fear, ho called me by a name I was
no longer fit to bear, aud locked 'his Angers in
to my side pocket. I could not wrench that
fienzied grasp away, and w ith the coolness of
a devil, ns I was, I shut the door upon the
arm, and with ray knife severed it at the
wrist."
The speaker ceased a moment, and buried
his lace iu his hands, as if to shut out some
fearful dream, and his chest heaved like a
stonnswept sea. My father had arisen from
his seat, and was leaning forward, his counte
nance bloodless, and the large drops standing
out upon bis brow. Chills crept back to my
young heart, and I wished I was at home.
The old man looked up, and I never have
since beheld such mortal agony pictured upon
a human lace as there was on his.
It was morning when I awoke, and the
storm had ceased. I first secured a drink of
water, and then looked in the accustomed
place for Mary. As I missed her, for the first
time a shadowy scene of some horrible night
mare began to dawn upon my wandering mind.
I thought I had a fearful dream, but involun
tarily opened the outside door with a shud
dering dread. As the door opened the snow
burst in, followed by the fall of something
across the threshhold, scattering the snow, and
strikiug the floor with a sharp, hard 8onnd;
My blood shot through my veins, and I rubbed
hnt out the lieht. It was O
God'" how horrible! it was my own injured
Mary and ber babe, frozen to ice ! The ever
True mother had bowed her self ever her child,
and wrapped all her clothing around it, leaving
hrehWand Kd b r h. ovr the" face of"the
ci?i.d and the .leethad fro,en it to the white
child, ana " ... , its half open-
cneeK. finv flneers. I know
ed oves, onu ui ----- . -.
3 . A . nf mv brave boy."
Aeain the old man "bowed his head and wept
Again "ie o t Wlth him.
a child. In tones of
aiy lamci ow-"
low and heart-broken pathos, the old man con
eluded : '
I was arrested, and for long months I raved
in delirium. 1 awoke, was sentenced to pris
on for ten years ; but no tortures could have
been like those I endured within my own bo
som. Oh God, no I I am not a fanatic. I
wish to injure no man. But while I live,
let me strive to warn others not to enter the
path which has been so dark and fearful a one
to me. I would see my wife and children be
yond this vale of tears." ' "
The old man sat down, but a spell as deep
and strong as that wrought by some wizzard's
breath rested upon theaudience. Hearts could
have been heard in their beating, and tears to
fall. The old man then asked the people
to sign the pledge. My father leaped rom
his seat, and snatched at it eagerly. I had
followed him, and as he hesitated a moment
with the pen in the ink, a tear fell from the
old man's eye on the paper.
"Sign it sign it, yonng man. Angels
would sign it. I would write my name there
ten thousand times in blood, if it would bring
back my loved and lost ones."
My father wrote, "Mortimer Hudson ."
The old man looked, wiped his tearful eyes
and looked again, his conntenance alternately
flushed with a red and death like paleness.
"It is no, it cannot be yet how strange"
muttered the old men. "Pardon me, sir, but
that was the name of my brave boy."
My father trembled, and held up his left
arm, ftom which the hand had been severed.
They looked for a momont in each other's
eye, but reeled and gasped
"My own injured boy!"
"My father!"
They fell upon each other's necks, until it
seemed that their souls would grow and min
gle into one. There was weeping in that
church, and I turned bewildered upon the
streaming faces around me.
"Letnie thank God for the great blessing
which has gladdened my guilt-burdened soul,-"'
exclaimed the old man, and kneeling down,
he poured out his heart in one of the most
melting prayers I ever heard. The spell was
then broken, and all eagerly signed the pledge,
slowly going to their homes, as if loth to leave
the spot.
The old man is dead, but the lesson he taught
his grand child on the knee, as his evening
sun went down without a cloud, will never be
forgotten. His fanaticism has lost none of
its tire in my manhood's heart.
Ice from the Glowing Crucible. The
article entitled "TheFirstldea of Every thing,"
in our last number, abundantly showed that
there may be, literally and materially, noth
ing new under the sun ; yet, so many new
facts, principles, and laws, are almost daily
coming to light, that the world is in no want of
novelties. Thus, a new branch of physics has
of late years been inaugurated by the discov
ery of what is called the spherodidal state of
matter. When we had got as far as steam and
gas, we fancied we had fathomed the uttermost
secrets of nature ; but now marvels which a
writer of fiction would hardly dare to intro-,
ducc into a fairy tale or legend, turn out to be
incontestably and demonstrably true. For in
stance, a bold experimentalist some people
might call him an impudent quack set his
heart on manufacturing a lump of ice. And
where does he succeed in making it ? Of all
preposterous places in the world, ho produces
it inside a glowing crucible standicg in a heat
ed furnace ; the heat of the furnace, moreover,
not being the gentle temperature which bakers
use to rednce beef and potatoes to a savory
dish nicely browned and with the gravy in, but
a chemist's white heat ; and the bit of ice, so
turned out, is not a half melted hailstone,
which yon would suck with pleasure (if clean)
after a summer afternoon's thunder storm, but
a diabolical little lump of such intense cold
ness that yon'take it to be the concentration
of a whole Russian winter, or an asscntial ice
drop distilled out of the very North Pole itself.
Household Words.
The Printing Office has indeed proved a
better college to many a boy, has graduated
more nseful and couspicuous members of so
ciety, has brought more intellect out and turn
ed it into practical usc!ul channels, awakened
more minds, generated more active and eleva
ted thought than many ot the literary colle
ges of the country. The present Governor
of Pennsylvania, Wru. F. Packer, graduated
in what has justly lieen styled the "Poor Boy's
College," a printing office, as did also our dis
tinguished United Mates Senator, Simon Cam
eron, and the eminent Pennsylvania Jurist,
Ellis Lewis, besides a host of other brilliant
minds whose talents have adorned h'gh posi
tions in "the Cabinet, on the Bench and ot the
Bar. A boy whocommences in such a school
as the printing office will have his talent and
ideas brought out; and, if he is a careful ob
server, experience in his profession will con
tribute more toward an education than can
be obtained in almost any other manner.
Mineral Wealth or Sonora. MajorSteen
has jjiven the editors of the Santa Fe Gazette
a very interesting account of the mineral
wealth of Sonora. He expresses the opinion
that Sonora is far more prolific of gold and sil
ver than California, and if a territory of the
United Statts, would yield many millions an
nually. He says be has seen single lumps of
gold taken from the mines there worth from
$3000 to $5000. He likewise states shat he
bad seen a 'cord' of silver in bars, and all
mined without machinery. There is a strong
desire on the part of the men of property in
Sonora to declare the State independent, and
then a la Texas, to annex it to the United
States. There are men there who would give
a million of dollars for the accomplishment of
such an end. Under Mexican rule, with rev
olution the main element of society, their
property is comparatively worthless. Under
the protecting care of our system of jurispru
dence and civil government, it would be in
valuable. Quite NatcraC It is stated in a Cape Cod
paper that the mackerel, though not decreas
ing in numbers, are becoming every year har
der and harder to catch. We suppose they
are getting smarter and more knowing. It is
a ver; natural supposition, for they are gener
ally found in schools.
Orthographic A model yonng lady, just
graduated from a certain distant academy, re
marked the other day, "I cannot deceive how
the young gentlemen of the Panola can drink
to such a recess, when they know that it so
conjurions to the institutions." Panola Star.
TIIE MAMMOT1T TREES.
The correspondent of the .New York' Tri
bune, writing from Mariposa county, Califor
nia, under date of May 14th, 18-58, says :
"I am in the midst of the Mammoth Grove
of Mariposa. On all sides of me are numerous
giants of the forest, varying from 20 to 34 feet
in diameter, and from 275 to 325 feet high.
Sublime sight ! Each tree fills me with won
der as I look at it. A glance at one of these
immense trunks conveys a new idea ot the
magnificence of nature; "glorious as the uni
verse on creation's morn" is this grove. The
Titans and the gods fought with such trees as
these for clubs when tLe attempt was made to
carry Heaven by storm, as recorded in the
Grecian mythology. The trees are so high
that you must look twice before you can see
the top, and then you cannot comprehend
how h igh they are until you have looked at
them from many points of view, and compared
them with the little pines ia the vicinity,
which do not exceed 10 feet in diameter and
200 feet in height. No words, no exclama
tions, no figures, no description can convey to
a person who has not seen these mammoths
the vivid impression of their sublime gran
deur, which tills and overwhelms the mind of
the beholder. But the idea, in its full force,
remains in the minn only while the eyes are
fixed upon the trees. The conception is too
great to be imprisoned in the brain, except
with the aid of vision as a door-keeper; and
while you have that you are delighted. I
could lie and look up for hours at these mighty
columns, which seem to threaten the heavens;
their sight fills my mind with a rapid succes
sion of changing emotions, and I would call
them poetic thoughts, but I cannot express
them. I feel as though I am a poet without
the means of expression, as though, if I could
write what I feel, I should produce a poem,
wherein the sun and planets would be tossed
about as I kick this gravel at my feet. Now
that I look up these trees appear to be among
the greatest objects of nature, and men are but
earthworms in comparison.
The grovo is about half a mile wide and
three quarters of a mile long, and it contains
427 standing trees, which, in regard to diame
ter, may be classed as follows: 1 tree meas
ures 34 feet in diameter; 2 measure 33 feet
each; 13 from 25 to 33 leet each; 36 from 20
to 25 feet each; 82 from 15 to 20 feet each in
diameter. Total, 34 trees above 15 feet in
diameter. Remaining, 293 under 15 feet in
diameter.
One tree has fallen, and a considerable por
tion of it has been burned, but I think it was
nearly 40 feet in diameter and 400 feet long.
This tree has been named the Sequoia Gi
gantea, and is an evergreen. The tree has
the great peculiarity that it bears two kinds
of leaves. Those on the young trees and
on the lower blanches of large trees are
about five-eighths of an inch long and an
eighth wide, and are set in pairs opposite to
each other, on little stems. But the upper
branches of the large trees, which have borne
flowers, have little triangular leaves about an
eighth of an inch long, and these lie close
down to the stem. The cones are not much
larger than a hen's egg, and their compara
tively small size reminds me of the eye of the
whale. The seeds are also very small, being
only about a fourth of an inch long, a sixth
wide, and almost as thin as common writing
paper. The bark is reddish-brown in color, of
a course, dry, stringy, elastic substance, and
very thick on the largest trees not less than
18 inches. The wood is soft, elastic, straight
grained, light, when dry, and red in color, aud
it bears a very close resemblance to red cedar,
except that the grain is not Quite so even.
The wood is very durable, being, like the red
wood, almost imperishable, whether above or
below ground.
The Sequoia Gigantea is found only on the
Sierra Nevada Mountains i i California, at a
l.e:ght of about 4,500 leet above the level of
the sea. It exists only in small groves, five
of which are known three in this county,
one in Calaveras, and one in Tuolumne. These
three counties Ite adjoining to each other;
and the five groves are all between 37 deg. 40
min. and 38 deg. 15 min. of south latitude.
This grove in w hich I now am is the largest,
and there are two other groves within a mile of
here, one containing 86 trees, and the other
with 35 trees. Tuolumne grove was discover
ed only a few days ago. It contains 10 trees,
one or two of which are said to be 35 feet in
diameter.
The Calaveras mammoth grove, to which I
made a flying visit on my way hither, lies
north west from here, 50 miles distant in a
staight line, but considerably further by the
travel roads. This was the first discovered of
the mammoth groves, is the most noted, and
attracts tho greatest number of visitors. It
was first known to the whites when found by
some hunters in 1850, but the public attention
was not called to the place until 1854, when
one of the largest trees was cut down, and
the bark stripped from another to a distance
of 116 feet from the ground. The tree which
was felled was 92 feet in circumference and
300 feet high,, and five men worked at it 22
days cutting through it with large augers. On
the stump, which has been smoothed off, there
have been dancing-parties and theatrical per-,
formances, and now there is a printing-office,
from which The Big-Tree Bulletin is issued.
The tree, which was stripped of its bark, con
tinued green and flourishing for two years and
a half, and did not begin to die until altera
very hard frost in the Winter of 1856-57.
The bark, with some ot tho wood of the felled
tree, is now in the English Crystal Palace
There are in this grove ten trees 30 feet in di
ameter, and 82 trees between 15 and 30 feet;
thus making 92 over 15 feet through, while
there are 134 of the same size in the large
grovo of Mariposa. The latter grove has the
superiority in the number of its trees and the
beauty of its location, and also in having other
grand scenery in the vicinity; but the gener
al impression among those who have seen both
groves, is that Calaveras has the largest and
tallest trees. I have adopted the measure
ments made by others, which may be incor
rect, but I think the general impression right.
One of tho Calaveras trees which is down
must have been 450 feet high and nearly 40
feet f n diameter at the but. The Calaveras
grove is in a little basin about two miles in
diameter, but the 92 large trees are close to
gether, those furthest from the center of the
group being scarcely more than 600 yards
apart.
The Mariposa grove was discovered a year
or more ago, and the smaller ones near tt
were discovered last Aatamn. ;Vv'i.
inir ideas are suggested by tne
.nnMArtinn ofths r o( these trees. The
rings of the felled tree were counted, and Us
age variously estimated, according to the dif
ferent ways of counting, at from 1,900 to 3,000
years. Probably its age was not less than
2,000 years. It sprouted while Rome was in
its glory. It is older than any kingdom, lan
guage or creed ot Europe or America. It was
a large tree before the foundation of the Chris
tian Church, and was fifteen hundred years
old before the period of modern civilization
began. Twenty centnries look down at me
from the tops of half a dozen trees which I
now can see; and some of the little ones often
feet Li diameter, now before me, will still
flourish in a thousand years from now, when
all our present kingdoms and republics shall
have disappeared, and our political and social
system shall nave been swept away as full of
evil, and replaced by other and better systems,
wherein men will be enabled to live in civil
ized society without each being forced to rob
his brother, by means more or less legal and
respectable.
The trees in some places grow very near to
gether, in others they are comparatively, far
apart, and occasionally two or three will be
seen which are united near the ground, al
though they may have sprouted at a distance
often or fifteen leet from each other.
The Sequoia Gigantea grows in a deep and
fertile soil, and is always surrounded by a
dense growth of other evergreens, such as va
rious species ot pine, fir, spruce and Califor
nia cedar. The scenery in these forests is
beautiful. The trees grow very close togeth- j
er, and the trunks, usually from a foot to two j
feet in diameter, rise in perfect perpendicu
larity, and without perceptible dimunition of
size, more than a hundred feet without a limb,
and while all is perfect stillness and rest, and
shadow on the ground, the traveler, looking
up where the sunbeams break through the
dense foliage here and there, can see the flex
ible tops swinging from side to. side in the
roaring mountain breeze. The ground being
never visited by the sun is always moist, and
produces a luxuriant and beautiful little un
dergrowth of mosses, flowers and berries; and
I have at times compared myself in such a
place to a merman, who while at the bottom
of the sea, amid a forest of queer sea weeds,
and surrounded by beautiful shells and the
treasures of a thousand wrecks, should look
up from his abode of peace, and see the surf
ace of the sea, far above him, raging in a ter
rilfic storm.
The best time for visiting the mammoth
groves is late in the summer. The Spring is
cool so high on the mountains, and there arc
occasional little showers, which are extremely
disagreeable to the traveler.
Indian Wuisrt. A citizen of St. Paul fur
nishes some pretty hard papers on his fellow
sinners who trade with the Northwestern In
dians. He siys a barrel of the "pure Cincin
nati," (?) even after it has run the gauntlet of
railroad and lake travel, is a sufficient basis
upon which to manufacture one hundred bar
rels of "good Indian liquor." He says a small
bucketful of the Cincinnati article is' poured
into a w.ish-tub almost full of rain water; a
large quantity of "dog-leg" tobacco and red
pepper is then thrown into the tub; a bitter
species of root, common in "the land of the
Dakotah" is then cut up and added; burnt
sugar or some such article is used to restore
something like the original color of the whis
ky. The compound has to be kept on hand a
few days before it is fit for use. It is then ad
ministered to the aborigines ad libitum. He
says all that an Indian wants is something that
will "bite!" and it matters not whether it is
pepper, rum or tobacco; that he will give
forty acres of land, for one dose- lie says
some of the speculators when they wish to
drive a bargain," have only to administer
this innocent preparation to the Chippewas
and Sioux simultaneously, and they all start
at once for their war clubs and tomahawks,
and proceed to cleave each other's brains out.
Sketch of Lcther bt Carltle. A coarse,
rugged, plebian face it was, with great crags
of cheek. bones a wild amount of passionate
energy and appetite ! But in his dark eyes
were floods of sorrow ; and deepest melancho
ly, sweetness, and mystery, were all there.
Often did there seem to meet in Luther the
very opposite poles in man's character. He,
for example, for whom Richter had said that
his words were half battles, he, when he first
began to preach, sufiered unheard agony.
"Oh, Dr. Staupits, Dr. Staupits," said he to
the vicar general of his order, "I can not do
it, I shall die in three months. 1 indeed can
not do it." Dr. Staupits, a wise and consider
ate man, said upon this, "Well, Sir, Martin, if
you must die, you must; but remember that
they need good heads up yonder too. So
preach, man, preach, and then live or die as it
happens." So Luther preached and lived,
and he became, indeed, one great whirlwind
of energy, to work without resting in this
world, and, also before he died he wrote very
many books books in which the true man
for in the midst of all they denounced and
cursed, what touches of tenderness lay. Look
at the Table Talk for example.
"An Honest Man is the Noblest Work
of God." The Wheeling Times states that a
few days ago Adam Walford, a fireman on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a very poor man
living at Grafton, in passing through the cars,
saw a pocket book on the floor, picked it up
and handed it to the conductor, requesting
him to examine its contents and take it in
charge. The conductor found about $750 in
money, and an equal amount in notes, by
which the owner of the property was identi
fied. It had been accident ly dropped by the
clerk of a merchant in Wheeling. The clerk
presented him with $5, and the merchant with
$20 worth of groceries.
A Jolly Life. Insects generally most lead
a truly jovial life. Think what it must be to
lodge in a lily. Imagine a palace of ivory or
pearl, with a pillar of silver and capitals of
gold, all exhaling such a perfume as never
rose from human censer. Fancy again the
fun of tucking yourself np for the night in the
folds of a rose, rocked to sleep by the gentle
sien of the summer air, nothing to do when
yon awake but wash yourselves in a dew-drop,
and fall to and eat your bed-clothes.
"Julius, what's a latitudinarian ?" "A laty
tudy what 1" "A latitudinarian." "A laty
tcrdercarium, Mr. Snow, ts a man what ascer
tains the circumference of de bemnsfear, and
brings de axle ob de ari;;ppotte to de hub ob
de universe." " ' "
Tux Geology or North America. Profes
sor A. C. Ramsay, F.R.L., F.G.S., recently
visited this country, and while here made
some notes upon the geology of the Canadas,
and the north-eastern provinces generally.
The chief object of his . Investigation was to
discover the eflects of glacial action ; and h
plainly showed, in a recent lecture before th
Royal Institution in London, that the valleys
on each side of the Laurentine chain of moan
tains, have all been cat by ice. The banks
of the St. Lawrence near Brockville, and all
the Thousands Islands, have been rounded
and moutonnee by glacial abrasion during th
period when all this mass of ico was moving
southward futo what is now the Atlantic Ocean.
He observed the scratcbings and atriations
which are so peculiar to rocks and stones that
have been abraded by ice, all along the Cats
kills, and finding that they do not ran down
hill, as they would certainly do had these mar
kings been produced by glaciers, but they run
north and south, he concludes that they bavo
been produced by icebergs grating along these
mountains when the valley of the Hudson was
a sea ot 4,000 feet deep, and the Cat skills for
med the coast line. In fact, it seems from th
Professor's paper that the whole of America
south of the lakes as far as latitude 40 deg.,
is covered with glacial drift, consisting ot
sand, which during the submergence of the
conutry, have been transported several hun
dreds of miles from their parent Laurentine
chain, and all the underlying rock shows the
evidence of having been ice-smoothed and
striated.
It has long been thought by many geologists
that great changes had been eflected in the
physicial geography of the northern part of
this continent, by the action of ice, but it has
never been so clearly made out before. We
have to thauk the cold and uncongenial epoch
known as the glacial period," for the roun
ded smoothness cf our scenery, the gentle
slopes, and sweet descents, the Thousand Isles,
and other beauties of our continent. As a
contrast, happy and harmonious, to the lover
of the picturesque, stand out the rugged rocks
and the rough abtaded surfaces, which lend
an extra charm to the scenery, and render the
Catskills a place of such delight. Nature is
ever lovely ; but when we trace the causes of
that loveliness, then wonder mingles with ad
miration, and intellect as well as sensation Is
brought into play in the appreciation of oar
Mother Earth.
Statue of Ethan Allen. While at Brat,
tleboro' on Friday, 25th ot June, we asked
permission to see the statue of Ethan Allen,
which is being made by the young artist, Mr.
Larkin Mead. This is the young man who
surprised the citizens of Brattleboro,' a year
or two since, by converting a bank or snow in
to a colossal statue of the recording angel.
It was done jn the night of the 31st of Decem
ber, and the angel was represented as finish
ing the record of the preceding year. The
young artist was called to cut it in marble,
which he afterwards did, and it adorned for a
time the National Capitol. He evinced talent
of a high order. His model for the Allen sta
tue is a grand conception. It fitted precisely
our idea of Allen. It seemed to be complete.
The right arm is uplifted, his eye is fixed, and
we almost expect to hear the clay cry outt
"In the name of God and the Continental Con
gress." We think that the statue will be a
great success. Trumpet.
Cows and Sugar. Travelling a few days In
Missouri, in sections where the cws have a
wide range, we heard a new enticement to
bring the cows home regularly at evening.
That ws, feeding them with sugar the same
as yon would with salt. A little handful at .
evening, at the same time of day, would bring
them back to the gate with a regularity as un
failing as the sun. After they are well train
ed in sugar-eating, it may be omitted every
other night. A half-dozen notable honae-wifes
assured me that the fact was well worth know
ing. Ohio Farmer.
Iron Bbidge over the Nile. A great tu
bular iron bridge is now being constructed at
Newcastle, England, and will be completed in
about two years, for the Egyptian railroad,
which crosses the Nile about midway between
Cairo and Alexandria. The river there is 1
eleven, hundred feet wide, and a steam ferry
boat is now employed to do the business. It
does not suit the go-ahead spirit of the Pasba.
He was once detained for four hours in cross
ing, by an accident to the boat, and he then
gave Robert Stephenson orders to build this "
bridge.
The India Scb-Marikb Telegraph. The
prospectus has been issned of the Great India
Sub-Marine Telegraph Company, with a capital
of X1,000,000 in X20 shares. The proposal is
to construct a line, on Mr. Allan's patent, from
Falmouth to Bombay, via Gibraltar, Malta and
Alexandria, and thence by the Red Sea to
Aden and Bombay. Mr. Allan contends that
his system confers the advantage of an econo
my of 40 per cent, in the first cost of construc
tion, and of more than 50 per cent, in the '
working. ,
A member of the "Dead Rabbit" association '.
in New York city lost a child the other day
by death, and, feeling perhaps the late re
morse of love," on account of having treated .
it ill in its lifetime, he stole a coffin to bury it '
in. Nodonbt the poor IiMle thing's ghost ,
was soothed by such an evidence of paternal '
affection. .
Sleep. Women require more sleep than "
men and farmers less than those engaged In.
other occupations. Editors, reporters, pria.
ters and telegraph operators, need no sleep at
all. Lawyers can sleep as much as they
choose, and thus keep out of mischief. Cler
gymen can sleep twenty-fonr hoars, and put
their parish to sleep once a week.
A design for another new cent has been
issued from the .mint in tha ;t ni Phila
delphia, and it is hoped that the government
will adopt it. -
There is a coal mine in Schuylkill county.
Pa., which has been burning lor the last twenty-three
years. - .-.--(.''
Teach your children that there is health,
beauty and happiness obtained in the caltiva-
tion of flowers. i
Character flies. Yes, it has wings of course,
the lighter it is the quicker it goes. . 4
Intellect i A new fangled thing, just come:
up? anLtbe sooner it goes out the better. -
t