Raftsman's journal. (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, August 04, 1858, Image 1
V il i BY S. 13. ROW. OLEAREIELD, I5!., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1858. YOL. l-W. 49. GEXTLE WOBDS AUD LOVING SMILES. . The son may warm the grass to life, The dew, the drooping flower, And eyes grow dim and watch the flight. Of Autumn's opening hour; . 13 ut words that breathe of kindness, . And smiles we know are trne, Are wanner than Iho summer time, . .. And brighter than the dew. . It li not much the world can give, With all if subtile art, And gold and gems are not the things To satisfy the heart; But, oh, if those who cluster round . The altar of the heart, Have gentle words and loving smiles, ' liow beautiful is earth '. From the National Magazine. JttFERSON AND HIS TIMES. Conclusion. ' The political campaign preceding his first election to tiie Presidency, was one of the most acrimonious and excited that the country ever saw. Jeflerson was assailed with partisan malice, and many efforts were resorted to to blacken his reputation and destroy his influ ence. Lies pon red out their malignity, and rlander was unblushing in its defamations. Yet lie never deigned to write one word lor the papers in his own defense. lie seemed ut terly regardless of felf, and fought only for las principles. For thesa he contended in Washington until all hopes of success Hod. He then turned to the Slate Legislatures. lie drew tip the famous resolutions which were passed by Kentucky and" Virginia, declaring the Alien and Sedition laws unconstitutional, und asserting the rights of the states to inter pose their authority and power for arresting :vi!s growing out of the usurpation of powers ly Congress. Those resolutions checked the insane career of the monarchists, and saved the Constitution in its last struggle. After a long and fierce contest, Jeflerson re ceived a majority of the popular votes, and of the votes of the Electoral College, for Presi dent; but as no distinction was then made on the ballots between President and Vice-President, it happened that Jeflerson and Burr re ceived the same number of votes : and though everybody knew that Jeflerson was meant lor President, yet his opponents took, advantage f the omission and claimed that there was no election. The matter was then referred to the House of Representatives, where the Fed eralists, in order to defeat Jeflerson, dropped their own candidate and voted for Purr, a man who had not received one popular vote for that office, and who was in no respect qualified for it. On the thirty-sixth ballot Jeflerson tri umphed, receiving the vote of ten states a gainst four for Burr and two blanks. His inaugural was in perfect keeping with the republican simplicity of the man. When his predecessors were inducted into the samo office it was with regal pomp and parade. Ev erything was done to impress the popular mind with the importance of the occasion and the majesty of the President. Washington pro tested long against this silly mimicry of a kingly pageant, but at last yielded. The Re publicans were disgusted with it; Jeflerson Hbhorred it ; and hence when bis turn came to go through the ceremonies, he positively re fused. Jn a plain citizen's dress he walked, unattended, into the capitol. entered the Sen ate chamber, approached the table, on which lay a Bible, and by which was standing the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Senate arose to receive him. He took the oath .t office; and then to the Senate, and a few friends present, he delivered a brief yet noble address.contnining the principles which should govern bis administration. Those principles comnictd themselves to everyAmerican heart. He commenced at once the Herculean labor if administrative reform ; he discontinued the courtly custom of levees, with their atten dant trair of ceremonies, their aristocratic parade of ribbons and garters; their idleness and dissipation of time ; their corruption of morals and manners ; their waste of health and money, and their paraphernalia of despotic courts. And in the place of these levees he introduced the dignified courtesies, the sub stantial virtnes, and elevated simplicities of republicanism. He removed from office all who had been ap pointed by Mr. Adams on the eve of his retire inent from the chair, many of whom were ap pointed purposely, it was thought, to embar rass Jefferson, lie cut off every one who had used his official influence to effect any elec tion, lie dismissed en masse the large body of Treasury inspectors, and appointed none in their places, lie suppressed every superflu ous office dependent upon executive patron age, and removed every idle clerk in all the departments. With the consent of Congress he dismissed every gatherer or the internal tax, and these collectors comprised more than three fourths of all the officers of the general government. He rednced the diplomatic corps to three ministers. He reduced the standing army from nominally one hundred thousand to three thousand men." By these various retrench ments ho saved, of the annual current expell ees of the government, about three millions or dollars; and thus with the slowly increas ing revenue was enabled, in three years and a half, to pay of inteiest on the public debt a bout fourteen millions of dollars, and on the principal thirteen million five hundred thou and dollars. The odious Sedition Law died a natural death; the Alien Law was essentially modified and stripped of its objectionable lea tnres; agriculture and manufactures flourish ed - commerce was extended ; the internal re sources of the country were rapidly develop ing, and wealth, from every quarter, was pour ing into the nation. That was, indeed, a gold n epoch in our history. The people stamped their approval upon Mr. Jeflerson 's administration, by re-electing him by a very large majority. His second term of office was commenced under favora - Me auspices for prosecuting his contemplated reforms. He warmly recommended internal improvements, and such a modification of the Constitution as would permit the establish- mcnt of a national university for the promo tion of science and the highest degrees of ed ncation. But thislatter scheme failed through sectional jealousies. During this second term of his administra tion serious difficulties with England, which had been accumulating from the close of the Revolution, approached a crisis. English aggressions upon our commerce were becom ing more numerous and assuming a graver magnitude. It finally became apparent that trc must go to war with nearly all Europe, or submit to unrestrained piracy, or else lor a time stop our commerce, and close cur ports to foreign vessels. Mr. Jefferson chose the latter, and recommended the embargo to Con-, gress. It was adopted; and dire were the curses which camo down upon its author. It is his reproach to this day. But it was not original with Jefferson. Massachusetts had used it before the Revolu tion. President Washington also recommend ed it to the third Congress, by whom it was adopted March 20,' 171)4, and proclaimed. Mr. Jefferson was certainly following whole some examples in proposing his embargo. If, therefore, there be reproach belonging to it, let Massachusetts of 1775, General Washing ten, and the third andlho tenth Congresses share in it. As a substitute for war it was the choice of a lesser evil, and at the same time annoyed the enemy moro than any direct and open warfare which our government could then carry on could have done. While president, J.efferson performed a large amount of literary and other unofficial labor. Regular essays on physics, law, medicine, science, natural history, agriculture, manufac tures, navigation, morals, education, and re ligion appear in his correspondence. He continued his communications with foreign literary, scientific, and agricultural societies. He imported valuable -stock. He introduced vaccination, amid a storm of ridicule. lie used great exertions to colonize free blacks upon the coast of Africa, hoping thereby to suppress the slave-trade, and prepare the way for emancipating the enslaved in our own country. He corresponded with Alexander of Russia, then mediator between the belliger ents of Western Europe, and endeavored to procure through him a recognition of the rights of neutrals on the high seas. He strove to embellish Washington that city of hills, and sand, and marshes, of immense distances, ot marble palaces and negro huts. Standing in the western portico of the capitol, and looking down through a mile of Pennsylvania Avenue to the president's house, you will be struck with the beautiful colonade of trees which' adorn the whole distance on both sides. Those trees were planted under Mr. Jefferson's direction, and some of them by his own hands. He was rarely seen returning from his daily rides withont bringing with him some sapling, or shrub, or bunch of flowers, for the adorn ment of the infant capital. In the spring of 1809, he made his last and happy retreat to his own Monticello. Noth ing could induce him to become a candidate for re-election, lie threw off the shackles of power with as much joy as ever a prisoner did his chains. lie wrote to a friend : "Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of sci ence by rendering them-my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times have forced me to take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passion. I thank God for the oppor tunity of retiring without censure, and car rying with me the most consoling proofs of public approbation." He retired to the peace ful repose of private lilu to his "family, his books, and his farms. The beloved companion of his early man hood had gone; she died in his arms in 1782. With her he lived only ten years; but, to use his own language, those were years of "nn checkercd happiness." When he retired from the presidency two daughters ad sever al grandchildren remained to gladden his home, and in their presence his cup of joy seemed full. With his books he found sweet pastime. His library was the largest and best private collection of books in this country. And their owner knew well their contents and com parative merits. His farms also occupied much of his atten tion. Pv inheritance and marriage be posses sed five thousand acres, eleven hundred and twenty of which were under cultivation. His was a model estate, for system and perfect ar rangement. It w-as divided into four farms, and every farm into seven fields, on which he raised seven crops in rotation. Each farm had its overseer, its quota of .slaves, horses, and cattel. Around his family mansion, which was a splendid structure, costing more than the AVhite House at Washington, he had h manufacturing village; carpenters, black smiths, cabinet and shoe shops, grain mills, and manufactories of cotton and woolen. Al most everything needed at Monticello was produced there. And yet with all this com pleteness that estate, like most slave estates, was bankrupt. It had been lett to overseers, who cared but little for the interests of its owner, rod was worked by slaves who had no motives for thrift and industry. And the man who, by his wisdom, had paid off thirty-three millions or dollars or debt for his county, and more than doubled her ex tent or territory, and greatly enriched hei, tf at man went from the national capitol a poor man. And finally he had to apply to the state Tor permission to parcel out his property and sell it by lottery, for by no other means could he realize its value and pay his debts. One other public work remained for him. lie coticeived the plan or benefiting the youth of his native state by founding the University or Virginia. That plan he carried into exe cution. And until his death he presided over the destinies or the young and promising in stitution. Thomas Jeflerson was a full grown man. lie had a heal of good size and ample propor tions. His intellect was strong, penetrating, clear, and comprehensive. The amount ot intellectual labor which he performed was immense, and it was well done. His heart was fully developed, and accus tomed to beat for humanity. His was an un sclSsh nature. He was unambitious, unaspir ing. When he returned from France in 17S9 he wrote to a friend thus : "I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, w ith my family, and books, and a few old friends, di ning on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post which any human power can give." He courted no popular favor. He made no grand tours through the country, and no speeches for Buncombe. He never asked an office, nor indirectly sought one. He only accepted it as a duty when it was imposed by his friends and constituents. He often prefer red others to himself, and secured distinctions for them which he might have gained for him self. He had a deep sympathy for the masses, and devoted his life and labor to the improve ment of their coudition. His labors for the Indians, for the emancipation of the enslaved, for seenring political equality and general education, all sprang from his generous heart. His attachment to his friends was firm and unbounded; and to them;' when in distress, his gifts were princely. Jlis treatment of the prisoners taken at Burgoyne's surrender was humane and benevolent almost to a fault. In his own family no man was more affectionate and indulgent. -. i- ' He was a stranger to intimidation and fear. When he saw the path of duty he entered it without hesitation, and walked straight on, re gardless of cost. ' He was not a man to be tampered with, bought, or sold. He was.no craven disciple of expediency. By birth and education bo belonged to the aristocracy, yet in sentiment and feeling he was a Democrat. He had unlimited confidence in the masses, and wns willing to trust the government in their hands. During the Con federacy, when the peoxle wero warmly discus sing various modes of providing an executive, in a table talk, there was an eloquent effusion in favor of birth as on the whole furnishing the best chance for a suitable head of the gov ernment. Mr. Jeflerson derisively replied that he had heard or a university where the professorship or mathematics was hereditary ! Mr. Jefferson was thoroughly American in his feelings aud views. 'Our country first," was one ot his mottoes. And he strove to the utmost of his ability to promote our commerce, agriculture, and domestic manufactures. Nor would be suffer any ruinous foreign competi tion when it lay in his power to prevent it. lie wished to have America in all respects in dependent of Europe. But it may be expected that we should speak of his anti-religious character, his athe ism. Wo do so cheerfully. Never were a man's.religious sentiments more grossly mis reprai ted than Jefferson's. He was not an atheiit? He believed in God, the Creator of all things; in his overruling providence, in finite wisdom, goodness, justice, and mercy. He believed that God hears and answers pray er : and that human trust in him is never mis placed nor disregarded. He believed in a fn turo state of rewards and punishments. He believed in the Bible precepts and moralities He had unlimited confidence in the self-sustaining power of tri;th, and thought that it lost nothing in being subjected to the severest tests; while it gained nothing by the support of states and privileged hierarchies. It should be remembered that ho lived in an age distin guished for its free discussion of first princi ples. Vigorous efforts were made to throw off the shackles of both civil and religions tyran ny ; Jefferson repudiated all tyrants, whether crowned or mitercd. He boldly asserted the right of man to think and act for himself. He allowed no man to think for him either in pol itics or in religion. He submitted to no creed nor formulas of faith. He yielded to the dic tation or no Church. lie associated aud cor responded with the noblest free-thinkers of the age; and none was bolder than he. He sub jected every proposition to the severest test of logic. V hat he could satisfactorily prove ho embraced ; all else he rejected. He overthrew the State Church, and, in con sequence, was denounced as its enemy. Yet no man in Washington ever gave so much to build so many churches as Jefferson. True, he was not a Church member ; the spirit of ex clusiveness, selfishness, and denominational pretensions repelled him from the Churches ; yet he respected and cherished the friendship ot truly pious men. . Jle never wrote for the pullic eye one word a gainst Christianity. At the request of some friends, and under the special injunction of se crecy, he wrote some strictures upon it. Had he supposed that those letters would ever have been set up in villainous types, by order of Congress, they would never have been written. Religiously Jefferson now would be classed with the liberal Unitarians. In public and in private he exhibited the estimable Christian virtues. He was a man of humble, sincere, and habitual prayer. On the 4th of July, 1S2G, he closed his earthly career. To bis friends he gave assu rance that be had no lear of death. He said : I have done for my country and all mankind all that I could do ; and now I resign my soul w ithout fear to my God." - Subsequently, at frequent intervals, ho was heard repeating, in Latin, the prayer of good old Simeon, "Lord let now thy servant depart in peace." He ex pired with these words hanging upon his lips: "Xitnc dimitlis, Dominc." Peace to his ashes ! Cherished and immor tal be the memory of the wise, good, and in corruptible statesman the model Democrat and President ! The Appetite for Scandal. After all our moralizing, says the Brooklyn Times, the fact cannot be denieil that the public love a bit of scandal. In this respect we are all like a co terie of old maids sipping their tea in a coun try village, and pulling their neighbor's char acter to pieces at the same time. While we protest against it we listonlo it with none the less avidity, and in scriptural phraseology, 'roll it as a swoit morsel beneath our tongues.' In nothing are we more hypocritical than in this very matter. The very people who loud ly asseverate that they "never, no never," read such stuff as the newspapers print concerning private aud personal matters, arc the ones who, in private, gloat with the greatest delight over columns ol solid type, chronicling prurient details and the most unmitigated indecency. Such persons should not prate too loudly con- cernins the licentiousness of the press. If they refused to read, editors would refuse to publish such matters. It is a mere matter of demand and supply. If the public eagerly buy and read filth and nastiness, publishers will supply them with it without any very agoniz ing scruples of conscience. We have in our mind's eye, as we write, the ridiculous and disgusting De Riviere scandal. Had the At lantic Cable been successfully laid, the account of the enterprise could hardly have occupied more space in New -York papers than is devo ted to this miserable aflair. Ilaira dozen col umns a day to record the details of a disgrace ful scrape in which figure who 7 nobody wnom the world had ever heard about before, there would have been some little excuse for it,then ; but a couple of sill women and a broken down adventurer? This is the intellectual ailiment which i furnished the nublic now-a-days, and j from all appearances, this is what is liked. lrulv a bcauuiui commemaij uu iud luwgico.-. of mental enlightment and amelioration! Let journalists chant jeremiads as mey win, anu. let the sacred desk declaim as it will, people will read and be interested in what is piquant and amusing. But this De Riviere affair is neither one nor the other. It is the stupidest trash in the woild ; and how people can be found to read its long drawn-out details passes our comprehension. THE WARRIOR MAIDEN. . Sometime just before or about the beginning of the revolutionary war, Sergeant Jasper, of Marion's Brigade, had the good fortune to save the life of a young, beautiful and dark-eyed Creole girl, called Sally St. Clair. Her sus ceptible nature was overcome with gratitude to her preserver, and this soon ripened into a passion of love, of the most deep and fervent kind. She lavished upon him the whole wealth of her affections and the whole depth of passion nurtured by a southern sun. When he was called upon to join the ranks of his country's defenders, the prospect of their sep aration almost maddened her. ; Their parting came ; but scarcely was she left alone, ere her romantic nature prompted the means of re union. Once resolved, no consideration of danger could dampen her spirit, and no tho't of consequence could move her purpose. She severed her long and jetty hair, provided her self with a suit of clothes, and set forth to fol low the fortunes of her lover. A smooth faced, beautiful and delicate strip ling appeared among the hardy, rough and gi ant frames that composed the corps to which Jasper belonged. The coutrast between the stripling and these men, in their uncouth garbs, their massive faces, embrowned and dis colored by the sun and rain, was indeed stri king. But none were more eager for the bat tle, or so indifferent to fatigue, as was the fair faced boy. It, was found that his energy of character, resolution and courage, amply sup plied his lack of physique. None ever sus pected that she was a woman. Not even Jas per himself, although she was often by his side, penetrated her disguise, but treated her with kindness aud respect, and often applaud ed her heroic bravery. The romance of her situation increased the fervor of her passion. It was her delight to reflect that, unknown to him, she was by his side to watch over him in the hour of danger. She had fed her passion by gazing upon him in the hour of slumber ; hovering near him when stealing through the swamp and thicket, and always ready to avert danger from his head. But gradually there stole a melancholy pre sentiment over the poor girl's mind. She had been tortured with hopes deferred; the war was prolonged, and the prospect of being re stortd to him grew more and more uncertain. But now she felt that her dream of happiness could never be realized. She became con vinced that death was about to snatch her a way from his side ; but she prayed that she might die, and he never know to what length the violence of her feelings had led her. It was the eve before a battle. The camp had sunk into repose. The watch fires were burning low, and only the slow tread of senti nels fell upon the profound silence of the night air as they moved through the dark shadows of the forest. Stretched upon the ground, with no other couch than a blanket, reposed the warlike lorm of Jasper. Climbing vines trailed themselves into a canopy above his head, through which the stars shone down softly. The feint flicker from the expiring embers of fire fell athwart his countenance, and tinged the cheek of one who bent above his conch. It was the smooth-faced stripling. She bent low down, as if to listen to bis dreams or to breathe into his soul pleasant visions of love and happiness. But tears traced them selves down the fair one's cheeks, and fell si lently but rapidly upon the brow of her lover. A mysterious voice has told that the hour of parting has come ; that to-morrow her destiny is consummated. There is one last, long, lin gering look, and the unhappy maiden is seen to tear herself away from the spot, to weep out her sorrows in privacy. Fierce and terrible is the conflict that on the morrow rages on the spot. Foremost in that battle is that intrepid Jasper, and ever by his side fights the stripling warrior. Often, during the heat and the smoke, gleams sud denly upon the eyes of Jasper tire melancholy face of the maiden. In the thickest of the fight, surrounded by enemies, the lovers fight side by side. Suddenly a lance is leveled at the breast of Jasper ; but swifter than the lance is Sally St. Clair. There is a wild cry, and at the feet of Jasper sinks the maiden, with the life-blood gushing from her white bo som. He heeds not the din nor the danger of the conflict ; but down by the side of the dy ing boy he kneels. Then, for the first time, does he learn that the stripling is his love ; that often by the camp-fire and in the swamp, she has been by his side ; that the dim visions in his slumber, of an angel face hovering a bove him, had indeed been true. In the midst of the battle, with her lover by her side, and the barb still in her bosom, the heroic maiden dies ! Her name, her sex and her noble devotion scon became known through the corps. There was a tearful group gathered around her grave; there was not of those hardy warriors one who did not bedew her grave with tears. They buried her near the river Santee, "in a green shady nook, that looked as if it had been sto len out of raradisc." Curiosities A plate of butter from the cream of a joke. A small quantity of tar, supposed to have been left where the Israelites pitched their tents. The original brush used in painting the 'sign of the times.' A buck et of water from 'All's well.' A piece of soap with which a man was washed overboard. The st fap which is used to sharpen the water's edge. The lead-pencil with which Britannia ruled the waves. A portion of yeast used in raising the wind. A dime from the moon when she gave change from the last quarter. The saucer belonging to the cup of sorrow. A fence made of the railing of a scolding wife. The 'chair in which the sun sets,. The ham mer which broke up the meeting. A buckle to fasten a laughing-stock. Eggs from a nest of thieves. Hinges and lock from the trunk of an elephant. A sketch from a politician's views. Governor Wise, of Virginia, is a queer fel low. He don't believe in the South Carolina doctrines on the subject of "white slavery" and mechanical "mud-sills." In his speech at Richmond, over the remains of President Monroe, he said : "I say that labor Is not the "mud-sill" of society ; and I thank God that the old colonial aristocracy of Virginia, which despised mechanical and manual labor, is near ly run out. Thank God we are beginning to raise miners, mechanics and manufacturers, that will help to raise what is left of that aris tocracy np to the middle ground of respecta bility." (Laughter and applause.) Mr. Wise is after the Presidency, it is understood, and South Carolina don't poll all the votes of the Union. "WHY DO WE NOT OWN FBAZEB'S BIVEE 1 Many of our readers will remember that the Polk party in 1811, when the Oregon bounda ry question was up, insisted upon our right to the territory up to 54 d. 40 m. Mr. Polk him self daclared our title np to that line was clear and unquestionable ; and the party cry, then, was "Fifty-four forty or fight." Yet in 181G, the Polk administration, Mr. Buchanan being Secretary of State, made a treaty surrender ing all our territory north of latitude forty nine and west of Puget Sound, to Great Bri tain. The extent of territory thus relinquish ed was 150,000 square miles. Within the re gion thus surrendered lies the Frazer's river Gold Mines. Mr. Polk claimed great credit for acquiring the gold region of California ; but the gold was not discovered when Califor nia was acquired. It was a conquest and was considered at the time a barren one; but the region voluntarily surrendered north of 49 d. was ours by right and was in trinsically valuable. It thns turned out that we gave up, through the cowardico and sla vishness of Buchanan and a democratic ad ministration, a valuable region of 150,000 square miles, embracing the immensely rich gold-bearing valley of Frazer's river, and then fought for the acquisition of a barren region f rom Mexico, which was afterwards accidental ly discovered to be rich in deposits of gold. The Albany Evening Journal justly says : "Amid the cultivations which greet the Dis coveries of Gold at Frazer's River, are ming ed some very natural regrets ttiat the said Gold belongs to Queen Victoria's dominion instead of our own. "Queen Victoria derives her title to it, whether well or ill founded, through the Dem ocratic party of the United States. Every body remembers the vociferous b:ag of "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight !" with which Presi dent Polk's administration was ushered in. The Boundary between us and the British Pos sessions was then unsettled, and the country was assured by the proclamation of Democrat ic Presses and Politicians that the Treaty a bout to be made should secure us all the Ter ritory up to the line ol 54 deg. 40 min., or else we should try the virtue of "force of arms" to compel Great Britain to accede to that line. "But in this case, as in that of Kansas, our Financial Policy, and others "too numerous to mention," Democratic profession proved to be very diflerent from Democratic practice. The brag served to carry Elections, and then came the "hacking down." Not only did we not get "Fifty-Four Forty" nor '-Fight," but we submitted to take only up to 49 deg., and to give up all claim to Vancouver's Island even as far south as 48. "Thus it happened that Frazer's River, Trith all its pppurtenant 'bars,' 'placers, 'gulches,' mines aud other depositories of golden wealth, which are in the latitude or 494 fell into the hands or our British neighbors, and the new Gold Colony to be founded there will enrich the coffers of the Chancellor or the Exche quer instead or those of the Secretary or the Treasury. "Either our claim of 54 40 was just or Hwas unjust. If it was unjust, the Administration had no business to make it. If it was just, they ought never to have backed out of it. Imagine what malediction and railing an 1 storming at the cowardly "British Whigs" would have graced the columns of our Demo cratic cotemporaries just now, had it been an Administration ot opposing political opinions which made this unlucky concession. But as it is, they find silence in regard to the past history of Frazer's river, as convenient as it is expressive. now they were Rewarped. The follow ing items tell their own story and a sad story, for our countr3', it is, too. No wonder the na tional treasury is depleted, and that the Sec retary of that department of the government is in the market, among shavers and money lenders, asking for additional loaus, in order to keep the wheels in motion : "Senator J. C. Jones, of Tennessee, (old line Whig,) had a contract to supply 1,700 horses, at $159 each, which will make the neat sum of $270,300. It is stated that the horses were to be of a particular color and size, but when they arrived at Fort Leavenworth, they were found to be of all sizes and all colors, but were nevertheless accepted. "The brother of Hon. J. A. Ahl, member of Congress for the Cumberland, York, and Terry district, h:.d a contract to supply for the army 300 mules, at 175 each, making $52, 500 ; also, an order for 200 from Russell and Majors, Government contractors, at the same price, amounting in all to $87,000. The kind of mules delivered could be bought readily at $120 each. It is unnecessary to add that Mr. Ahl voted for Lecompton, and is a candidate for re-election. "Some of the other members of Congress from the rural districts have been providing for their friends at the public expense, in the way of contracts for barley, at fine prices." This is a strong chapter on Lecomptonism, and in time will prove a millstone at the necks of those who compose the present administration. TnE Veiled Mcrdress. The veiled mur deress, Mrs. Robinson, of Troy , gives the keep ers at Sing-Sing a deal of trouble. Latterly she has become so troublesome that the officers are forced to confine her to her room a great portion of the time. For an hour"br two each day, while the other convicts are engaged in the shops, she is left at liberty in the prison yard. Her universal employment there is to hunt over the grass-plot for "four-leaved clo ver." Four-leaved clover is an ingredient in her imaginary cauldron, over which she mut ters incantations scarcely less weird and wild than that ot the "sisters three." Mad or not mad, she is a puzzle . and torment to those whose misfortune it is to have her in their charge. .They tell a story of an Irish reporter at To ledo, who took down the Declaration of Inde pendence as it w-as read, under the impression that it was "the greatest oration, be jabers, he had ever heard." When he wrote it off, from his notes, it was so highly embellished that the editor scarcely recognized it, till he came to the "names or the signers," reported us the "committee or arrangements !" Keep out of bad company, for the chance is that when old Nick fires into a floek, ho will be pretty apt to hit somebody. A physician once advised Sydney Smith to take a walk upon an empty stomach.. "Whose stomach T" asked the wit. THE YANKEE FOX SKIN. "Mornin' Squire," said a down caster,' giv ing a nod and a wink to Lyman 8c Towle, as those gentlemen stood in their store one mor ning, '-up and dressed" for business. "How are you, sir?" said the merchant. "Pooty well, considering the state of things in general. I say, yeou sell skins here, don't yeon V "We do, occasionally," was the response. 'Wal, sol calkelated; buy fox skins tew, Ircckenf" "Sometimes. Why, have yon got somo lor sale?" - "Some. Yes, I gaess I Lava one ; it's one tew, I tell yeou.?' "Let's look at it," said one of the mer chants. The owner of the skin tugged at the capa cious pocket of bis old yellow overcoat for a few minutes, and out came a pretty good-sized bang-up ijt a venerable rcynard. "There it is a perfect bewty it is too. -Ain't it?" - ' Seen finer ones," said Towle. . "Praps you have, and praps yeou haint; but I dew think it's a rale bewty, slick and shiny as a bran new hat." "When did you get this skin?" said tho merchant. "When did I get it ?" Why, when I killed the darned critter", of course." Yes, we know, but was it in the fall or in the summer, or when 1" "O! yes; well I recken 'twarnt far, from the Fourth or July, anyway, fori just clean ed np my old shootin' piece for p'rade on the glorious anniversary, and along comes the old critter, and I just gave him a rip in the gizzard that settled his hash mighty sudden, I tell yeou." "Fox skins," said the merchant, "are not very good when taken in hot weather; the fur and skin is very thin, and not fit for much iu summer." "Wall," neow, I reckon since I come to think it over, 'twarnt hot weather when 1 shot the critter ; no, I'll be darned it it was ; made a thunderin' mistake 'bout that, for 'twas nigh on to Christmas was, by golly, for I and Seth Peurkins wor goin' to a frolic. I remember it like a book, cold as sixty, snow in' awful was by ginger." "Well," says the merchant, "was tho fox very fat ?" "F-a-t ! O, Molly, warn't it fat ! Never did see such a fat fellow in all my born days. Why, yeou, the lat came clean through the fellow's side, ran down his legs, till the very airth was grexsy where the darned varmint craw led along. Did by Peurkins." "Too lat, then, we guess, to be good," said Towle. "Fat skins, sir, are not so good as those taken from an animal not moro than or dinarily fat." " Wal, guess it warn't so darned fat nnther, come to think abeout it, 'twas anuther fox our Siah shot last fall ; this warn't so darned fat, not overly fat I guess it was rayther lean, kind o' lean, tre-men-jous lean; poor old var mint was abeout to die of starvation ; never did see such a darned eternal, lean, lank, fam ished critter on airth before I" "Very poor, ch ?" says Lyman. "Very poor J I guess it was; so mighty poor that the old critter's bones stnek clean eought, almost through his skin ; had'nt killed it just when I did, 'twould have died beforeit got ten rods further along. Fact, by golly. 'Ah! will, s il the merchant, we see tho skin is poor; the fur is thin and loose, and would not suit ns." . "Wont suit yeou ?" Now,look ahcro yeou," says the Yankee, folding up his versatile skin, "I don't kind 'o like such dealin' as that, no heow, and I'll be darned to darnation, ef yeou ketch me tradin for skins with yeon agin there ain't no lumber in the State of Maine." And the holder of the skin vamosed. The Seves E's It is common to say that a man should mind his P's and Q's, but we see a case in the New-York Time in which a man got caught because he did not mind bis E's. It was the case of an Englishman named El liot,who was a military store-keeper near Lon don, and who, pocketing some 10,000 desert ed a wife and family, and came over to this country with an actress Miss Sinclair. Elliot is in the shade of 50, and Miss Cinclair is just 21. The English government pursued Elliot, anu puiimg me mauer in me nanas Ol ajNew York detective, the rogue was traced and caught. Elliot passed his baggage through the Boston Custom House under the name ot Brooks. Elliot had a peculiar "hand write," and these peculiarities were next found at tho Delaven, Albany, where the name was Everett and wife ; next at the American, Buffalo.whera it was Mr. and Mrs. Edwards ; next at the In ternational, Niagara,where it was Mr. and Mrs. Evans; next on the steamer Isaac Newton, as Mr. and Mrs. Ewin ; next at Jones', Philadel phia, as Mr. Emerson and wife ; next at the Eutaw, Baltimore, as Mr. Enesley and wife ; next at old Point Comfort, as Mr. and Mrs. Elmslie ; next at Newport as Elmslie ; next at the St. Nicholas, New-York ; and all the way round that fatal E, which he stuck to as if no other name, save one beginning with an E, would suit his purposes. The detective very summarily called Messrs. Brooks, Everett, Ed wards, Evans, Ewin, Emersor, Elmslie and El Hot, out of the bed Miss Sinclair occupied, early Monday morning, and put him in El dridge street Jail. Cleveland Herald. Frogs are now a regularly quoted article in, the New York market. The last report reads, "frogs are in demand and sell at one dollar per dozen. These are fast becoming a favorite, dish, and the demand for them is becoming constantly greater." A lady having written a letter, concluded it as follows : "Give everybody's love to every body, so that nobody may be aggrieved bv anybody being forgotten by somebody. The Ostrich has been domesticated in Alge ria. Nine young ones are now in a brood. The flesh ol the grown bml is expected to be come eatable in its new state. Two million two hundred thousand new cents were coined at the Mint, in May, and and about four hundred thousand of the old ones returned. - mmm. ., s Among the patents lately issued is one to ft boy ot fourteen, E. Trumbull of Springfield, Ohio, lor an improved locomotive whistle.. Be above the world, and act from your own sense ol right and wrong.