Raftsman's journal. (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, January 19, 1859, Image 1

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    BY S. B. ROW,
OLEA11F1EL1), PA., "WEDNESDAY; JANUARY 19, 1859.
VOL. 5 NO. 21.
KINO JIEARTS EVERYWHERE.
Why should ire call tbe path of lire,
A bleak and desert spot.
When we ourselves but make it to?
No, no believe it not ;
For though the ills we're doom'd to feel
Are sometimes hard to bear.
The world we live in teems with good
And kind hearts everywhere.
A wisb to calm each other's griof,
To soothe each other's woes,
In every bosom finds a place
And this all nature glows,
ilen of all climes abroad, at home
Ilis gen'rous feelings chare :
The world we live in teems with good
And kind hearts everywhere.
A lid should misfortune's heavy band,
On every side prevail,
)t sorrow's overwhelming storm
Cur happy hours assail,
To grieve is fully, wise men say.
Then why should we despair?
The world we live in teems with good
And kind hearts everywhere.
MY LAST BALE,
iir mortsson snooguass.
Some people stand apart when they waltz,
as if th-y were afraid that they had friction
matches in their pockets, ami might acciden
tally get up a blaze. Others come up to the
work like martyrs, fully resolved to trust to
Providence under desperate circumstances.
Which of these modes is the most proper is
not the question now, because the Rev. Mr.
Spurgeon has put his veto on waltzing of ev
ery description. The reverend gentleman says
persons, when waltzing, are very Jialde to en
tertain unholy thoughts. .Now, inasmuch as
Mr. Spurgeon was telling his experience, it
must be taken as reliable testimony. And I
would add my testimoney to hi., and warn the
kingdom of New Jersey in general and the
rest of the world in particular, against the
practice of kicking up their heels in lime with
the vibrations of catgut music.
I wish to warn others, because I am compe
tent to do so. I have partaken of tbe forbid
ben fruit, and knoiv the consequences by aw
ful experience. I was led into it forced I
may say by women ; those witching imps,
whu have had their flngurs in every pie, since
the Cist apple dumpling was made in the gar
den of Eden. I will tell the reader hew it
happen t-d :
1 am a native of the United States, and
when I first dumped my dunnage in this king
dom I was innocently ignorant of all such
things as surprise parties.-' Well, soon after
casting anchor in NewBrunswick, I was led in
to the mysteries of a . crformance that scdnced
uic from the path of propriety, and brought
n a ftver that allows me no rest day or night.
One dark rainy night, after I was snug in bed,
a faint rapping was heard at the front door.
.My v. ife opened the door, and in rushed eight
ladies, and as many gentlemen accompanied
ly a dancing master, with a fine fiddle under
his arm, and without as much saying "how's
the folks J" galloped into the parlor and made
themselves perfectly at home. On hearing
t'.iat the rua-i of the iiousc was in bed, one of
the ladies entered the bed-rooin door and be
nevolently informed me that if I wanted any
istance about dressing, 1 could have it on
short notice. Being naturally of a modest
iirpoMtion, I declined tbe assistance tt her
ladyship, and got up and dressed myself. When
I entered the parlor 1 was filled with amaze
ment ; there stood eight couple hugging each
$het on tbe floor, and in one corner stood the
fidd'er, with his bow in his band and the butt
-nJ of his fiddle under his chin. I lifted up
tuy voice and says I : "Ladies and gentlemen,
I am a member of an orthodox church in
good standing." What I said after that was
lost, tor, just at that point iu my exhortation,
the blasphemous fiddler U-gan to pull the
nr.isic out of his fiddle, and away went the
whole party around the room in the polka. I
it d'.wn perfectly resigned to my fate, what
ever it might be, and. after contemplating the
scene before rne for a few miuutes, I became
satisfied on two or three points.
first, 1 was satisfied that the fiddler was a
very good player.
Secondly, I was satisfied that the dancers
kept very goid time.
Thirdly and lastly, I was satisfied that those
eight young ladies, in beauty and gracefulness
cwuld not le surpassed by any equal number
that ever rattled crinoline over the floor of a
dancing room.
And there I sat exposed to the fire of a bat
tery that was demolishing the ramparts behind
which I had found protection thro' a long and
ery exemplary life. When I was sufficiently
fascinated by the artistic evolutions of the
dance, one of the ladies walked up to me with,
" Dance in the polka, sir?" at the sime time
extending a hand that was too tempting to be
let alone.
I shall never blame Adam again for eating
that apple that upset all creation, for 1 believe
that Mrs. Eve danced the polka or the High
land Fling just before she 'offered it to him.
And I appeal to the masculine reader to know
w hat he would have done it be had been Adam
r Professor Snodgrass. Only think of it.
There stood a lady right before me, looking
at iuo with a pair of black eyes that must
have seen the wall right through me, and ask
ing mo to dunce. It's no use to tell me what
1 should have done. It's too late for that;
Lut I ask any man who aspires to. the polite
ness of a baboon what he would have done in
!uv case.
1 remember well what I did ; I got up and
sailed out." Sometimes I trod on my part
ner's toes, and sometimes I didn't; when she
was bopping up I was hopping down ; but if
I tried to stop she declared I was a first rate
polker, and away we went again. Before mid
night every lady iu the party had thrashed
out a flooring with me, and after they had do
parted my wife put on her spectacles and took
a long look at me, before she could believe
that I was the chap tbat used to wear such a
long face at sermon time.
Such was tho beginning of troubles tbat
would have set Job to swearing like pirate.
I have been withiu half an inch of fifty cow
hidings for dancing with other men's partnors
without leave, which is contrary to the-roles
of this kingdom, women being considered a
chattel at public dancing parties.
I look back now at tbe exciting scenes thro'
which I have passed, and wonder that I am a
livc. Fifty times I vowed never to lilt a foot
again to tbe music of an infernal fiddle, and
jet I attended no less than two hundred balls
and soirees in two years. One night I went to
a revival, and tbe words of the minister bad
sach an effect on ra tbat I borrowed a Bible
mine had got mislaid in the hope of find
ing something to guide my future course. As
the devil, or the dancing master, would have
it, 1 opened and read how David danced the
fandango belore the Ark of the Covenant, in
the streets of Jerusalem, and kicked so high
that his wife was scandalized. I closed the
book, smoked a penny cigar, and felt better.
After smoking a good spell, and meditating
a spell longer, I began a conversation with
myself, and says I : ''Professor Snodgrass, if
you keep on this way you will soon be a mis
erable old cuss, and your latter end will be too
awful to think of." And then I entered into
an agreement with myself to reform immedi
ately, and for this purpose it seemed advisable
to attend to the next ball, aud strengthen my
moral constitution by acting as an indifferent
spectator, abstaining from all participation in
the deviltries of the occasion.
The next ball soon came, and early in tbe
evening I washed my face uncommon clean,
and turned my cutwater in the direction of
the ball. A goodly company was assembled,
presenting a glorious opportunity for a man
of taste to study the various ramifications of
human and woman nature.
My eyes rested first on the splendid form
and expressive face of Mary Fitzgerald. She
was belle of the ball, beyond a peradventnrc.
It was difficult to decide which fitted the best
her dress to her person, or her person to her
dress. Each seemed made for the other. And
I felt a throbbing sensation in the region of
the gizzard when she moved through the co
tillion with the graceful dignity and elegant
ease of an eastern queen. Thinks I to my
self: "Wh.it a shame it is that that magnificent
girl is destined, in after life, to be burdened
with the little cares and sorrows, and the lit
tle babies of this lower world.
Next on the list stood Maria Oram, the fai
ry humming bird of that galaxy of beauty.
Her little feet, as they played on the floor,
sent forth a soft melody that fell on my heart
like drops of honey ona hot rock.
The band played a waltz, and my friend Jake,
the dancing-master, disappeared in a cloud of
imported muslin. While exploring for his
whereabouts, I became mentally abstracted,
and, while in a state of half-way -betweenity,
I tumbled from the tower of moral rectitude
into the middle of a "cheat and jig." I was
somewhat oblivious till a young lady planted
herself right before me and come the double
pigeon wing. I held out my hands and she
just touched them with the tips of her fingers
threw her body forward to an angle of forty-five
degrees and trotted around me in a
circle of fifteen feet in diameter.
Before long another living specimen of the
feminine gender appeared iu front of my cor
porosity, and when I held out my hands to
swing her. she just lifted her left elbow to a
horizontal position, leaving her belt ribband
exposed as much as to say: "The coast is clear,
old boss, if you want a genuine hug, wade in."
Did you ever see a half-starved jackass walk
into a hay-stack ? If you did, you can gal her
a feint idea of how I walked into the exposed
territory of that lady's physical department.
My arm circumnavigated her waist in the twink
ling of a lamb's lateral appendage, and may
be her skirts didn't crack before I restored
her to the perpendicular.
I am not responsible f;r what occurred after
that, for I was as powerless to resist the cur
rent as a bobtailed gander going over Niagara
Falls. I began to feel salubrious, and ima
gined myselt at a carnival of the graces. Art
and beauty joined hands in the nuptial cere
mony and love and melody tumbled promiscu
ously in the frying-pan of delight. For three
agonizing hours I drifted through a wilder
ness of Hashing eyes, floating ringlets and flut
tering petticoats.
When the company went to supper, I found
myse!f scattered all over the room. Hastily
picking myself up, I went home went to bed
but didn't went to rest ; for liefore I was
half rsleep I dreamed that I was on the other
side of Jordan, doomed to waltz through pur
gatory with ra partner four feet through the
waist, and four feet six inches high. Nothing
daunted I went on, and commenced kicking
the bed clothes up to the ceiling, and the foot
board out of the bedstead.
Let tho curtain fall, time rolled onward in
to eternity since that awful night, and many
who drifted with me through the whirlpool of
excitement have "gone home."
That was my last ball ; I have never been
to one since.
I am older now than 1 was then ; there are
frosty spots in the under-jaw department of
my w:hiskers ; but to my everlasting weakness
be it said, that if one of those institutions
called woman, should look sweetly at me,
within sound of an all-fired fiddle, I should
flv off the handle.
'Perhaps the oldest inhabitants of New
Brunswick have not forgotten Mary Fitzger
ald, the IkjIIc of the ball. There were many
others who flew over the floor of my last ball,
who, perchance ere this, have suffered penance
for the sin of dancing, while scouring dinner
pots and spanking babies.
I have written this veritable story neither
in sorrow nor anger. And I recommend its
perusal to all who have any relish for quiet
rest and pleasant dreams.
If any mau has the hardihood to enter a ball
room after reading tnis warning, let him bear
in mind that the consequences, are on his own
head ; my skirts are clear. That's all.
A Bald Eagle frozen to ms Ice. Several
davs ago a large Bald Eagle caught a Wild
Duck iq the river Susquehanna opposite Dun
cannon, carried it to a cake of Ice which had
lodged on a rock, and commenced a feast. Du
ring the operation, ft is supposed that being
wet, his feet and feathers, from the intense
cold, froze fast to the ice; and being unable
to extricate himself, perished- He was- seen
flapping his wings until dark. There was a
desire to capture tho great "American," but
he could not be approaohed on account of
the great mass of floating ice between him
and tho shore. .
A few days ago two little girls, Lucy Long,
a white child six years old, and Maria, a slave,
ten years old, were playing together at Hick
man, Ky., when a brother of the white child
whipped the colored girl, who, in revenge,
struck Lucy with a billet of wood. Of this
blow-Lucy subsequently died, and Maria, the
littl' slave, has been convicted of involuntary
manslaughter, but recommended to the clem
ency of the Governor, in consequence of be
ing only 10 years old.
Cabba'O contains mote musclo sustaining
nutriment than any other vegetable whatever.
A MIDMGITr ADVENTURE.
Females often possess presence of mind,
and power of self-control under circumstances
of imminent peril, which seems almost foreign
to their nature, and beyond the endurance of
a delicate physical organization. A striking
instarce of self command, by a lady whose
fears must have been powerfully excited, and
whose life of affluence had probably never be
fore given her nerves any severer test than is
incident to the vexation of domestic cares, is
given in Chamber's Journal of last month.
We copy the adventure, presuming by way
of explanation that the lady was the daughter
of a rector residing in a quiet English country
village, and was upon tbe eve of marriage.
The wedding day was to be on the morrow
of that on which our adventure happened.
Grand preparations were made for the wed
ding ; and the rector's fine old plate, and the
costly gifts of the bride were discussed with
pride and pleasure at the Hare and Hounds,
in the presence of some strangers who had
come down to a prize fight which had taken
place in the neighborhood.
That night, Adelaide, who occupied a sepa
rate room from her sister, sat up late, long af
ter all the hosehold had retired to rest. She
had a long interview with her father and had
been reading a chapter to which he had di
rected her attention, and since, had packed np
her jewels, &c. She was consequently still
drsssedwhen thechurch clock tolled midnight.
As it ceased, she fancied she heard a low noise
like that of a file ; she listened but could dis
tinguish nothing clearly. It might have been
made by some of the servants still about, or
perhaps it was only tho creaking of the old
trees. She heard nothing but the singing of
the winter winds for many minutes afterwards.
Housebreakers were mere myths in primitive
Thyndon, and the bride-elect, without a
thought of fear resumed her occupation. She
was gazing on a glittering set of diamonds,
destined to be worn at the wedding, when her
bedroom door softly opened. She turned,
looked np, and beheld a man with a black
mask, holding a pistol in his hand, standing
before her.
She did not scream, for her first thought
was for her father, who slept in the next room,
and to whom any sudden alarm might be
death, for he was old, feeble and suffering
lroni heart complaint. She confronted the
robber boldly, and addressed him in a whisper:
"You are come," she said, "to rob us. My
father sleeps next to my room, and to be
startled from his sleep would kill him.
Make no noise, I beg of you."
The fellow was astonished and cowed. " We
won't make no noise," ho replied suddenly,
"if you give us everything quietly."
Adelaide drew back and let him take her
jewels not without a pang, tor they were pre
cious love-gifts, remarking at the same time,
that two more masked ruffians stood at the
half-opened door. As he took the jewel-case
and watch from the table, and demanded her
purse, she asked him if he intended to go in
to her father's room. She received a surly
affirmative, "he wasn't a going to run a risk
and leave half the tin behind !" She propos
ed instantly that she should go herself, saying-
I will bring you whatever you wish, and
you may guard me thither, and kill me if I
play false to you." The fellow consulted his
comrades, and after a short parley they agreed
to the proposal ; and with a pistol pointed at
her head, the dauntless girl crossed the pas
sage, and entered the old rector's room. Very
gently she stole across the chamber and re
moving his purse, watch, keys and desk, gave
them up to the robbers who stood at the door.
The old man sli'pt peacefully and calmly,
thus guarded by his child, who softly shut the
door, and demanded if the robbers were yet
satisfied.
The leader replied that they should be when
they had got tho show of plate spread out be
low, but that they couldn't let her out of sight,
and that she must go with them. In compli
ance with this mandate, she followed them
down stairs to the dinning room, where a
splendid wedding-breakfast had been laid to
save trouble and hurry on the morrow. To
lier surprise, the fellows eight in number
when assembled seated themselves and pre
pared to make a good meal. They ordered
her to get them out wine, and to cut her own
wedding cake for them ; and then seated at
the head of the table, she was compelled to
preside at this extraordinary revel.
They ate, drank, laughed and joked ; and
Adelaide, quick of ear and eye, had thus
time to study, in her quiet way, the figures
and voices of the whole set.
When the repast was ended, and the plate
transferred to a sack, they prepared to depart,
whispering together, and glancing at the
young lady. For the first time Adelaide's
courage gave away, and she trembled; but it
was riot a consultation against her, as it proved.
The leader approaching- her, told that they
did not wish to harm her that she was "a
jolly wench, reg'lar game," and they wouldn't
hurt her, but that she must swear not to give
an alarm till nine or ten next day, when they
should be off all safe. To this she was of
course obliged to assent, and then they in
sisted on shaking hands with ber. She no
ticed during this parting ceremony, that one
of the ruffians had only three fingers on the
left hand.
Alone, in the room, Adelaide, faint and ex
hausted, awaited the first gleam of daylight;
then, as the robbers did not return, she stole
up to her room, undressed, and fell into a dis
turbed slumber. The consternation of the
family next morning may be imagined : and
Adelaide's story was still more astounding
than the fact of the robbery itself. Police
were sent for from London, and they, guided
by Adelaide's lucid descriptions of her mid
night gnests, actually succeeded in capturing
every one of the gang, whom the young lady
bad no difficulty in indentifying and swearing
to the "three fingered Jack" being the guid
ing clue to discovery. The stolen property
was nearly all recovered, and the old rector
always declared and with truth that be ow
ed his Iifeto the self-possession and judgment
of his eldest daughter.
The only ill effect of the great trial to ber
nerves, was a disposion, on the part of the
young heroine, to listen for midnight sounds,
and start uneasily from troubled dreams ; but
time and . change of residence soon effected
its cure. . ; w
A gentleman met a half-witted lad in the
road, and placing in one of bis hands a six
pence and a penny, asking him which of the
two ho would choose. Tbe lad replied that
"be wouldn't be greedy he'd take the smal
lest." There was "njethod lo bis madness."
ANCIENT rniLOSOPJIY.
Prof. Youmans, in a recent lecture on An
cient Philosophy, assumed that the idea, often
advanced and entertained by many, that the
ancients were wiser than the moderns, is un
founded and untrue. In literature, the fine
arts, and speculative philosophy, it may be ad
mitted, the ancients excelled. Appelles and
Phidias in art, Demosthenes in oratory, Peri
cles in statesmanship, Euclid iu mathematics,
Prostus and Scopus in architecture, Homer iu
poetry, were stars of the first magnitude in the
galaxy of genius ; but in natural philosophy
and useful arts, the ancients were deficient, ig
norant, visionary, in the dark. Man, we may
say, has two natures an outward nature, by
his association through the senses with the
outward world, and the inward, ideal nature
in the realm of mind. The earliest ancient
philosophers, as mental children, were curious
about the cause and origin of all things, and
being without experience, continuously theo
rized upon such subjects. Thales insisted that
water was the primary cause of all created
things ; Anaximenes, that air was the original
element of creation ; Heraclitus and Pythago
ras, that all matter sprang into form and sub
stance by fire ; Eropedocles and others main
tained that there were four primary elements
earth, water, air, and fire. Some insisted
that metals grew in mines as plants giow;
they also argued that lightning was a bolt from
Jupiter, to be prevented by prayers and sacri
fices ; that water rose in a tube void of air,
because nature abhors a vacuum; with Empe
docles and Plato, they thought that light pro
ceeds originally from the eyes, and then is re
flected back to them by the objects lighted ;
they taught that eclipses are caused by a
dragon swallowing the moon ; that death by
carbonic acid gas, in deep wells or cells, was
caused by the fabled Basilisk, and that the
stars moved with the sun in separate spheres
or epicycles, to the "music of the spheres."
Thus the ancients continuously sought an elu
cidation of the phenomena of the outer world
by conjectures of their inner world of mind.
Plato and others insisted that all outward ob
jects, and observations or exercises of the
senses, were positive obstructions to the
growth and happiness of the soul, and that tho
body of man was a prison or dungeon to the
mind. This doctrine led to the detestation,
among philosophers, of material appliances,
so that trades and physical pursuits, or inven
tions, were regarded as only fit for slaves,
while discussions of verbal theories, syllo
gisms, and disputes and asceticism were alone
worthy of philosophical considerations. This
ideal philosophy, with its abhorrence of tho
flesh and the world, blended with the first
espousal of Christianity and Paganism, and
extended through the scholastic periods of the
middle ages, down to Kepler and Bacon's
time, while such men as Turner of England
(or Thomas Aquinas ) inquired "if a hog is
led to market with a rope round his neck, and
a man holding it, is the hog or the man led by
the rope ?" and others disputed long as to how
many angels could dance on the point of a
needlo without crowding. This theoretic,
ideal, mystic system of philosophy even pre
vailed, in some departments, to about the
middle of the eighteenth century, up to which
time the people, and even the physicians them
selves, believed that scrofula or the "King's
Evil" could be cured only by the tonch of a
king on the patient.
HOW CAN HENS BEST BE KEPT 80 AS TO rRO
ciRE Eggs is Winter f Build a commodious
hen-house upon some plan, only that there be
a roosting apartment, a place for feeding, with
boxes for nests. A good plan is to build in
the shape of a parrellelogram, with the roost
ing place across one end. The central portion
can be used for feeding, the boxes for nests
being placed around the sides of the building,
with a small place between them and the wall,
that tbe hens may enter the nests on that side.
Build the house either of stone, wood or oth
er material, as may be thought best; but let
it be warm and comfortable in the coldest
weather, and so made that it can be well ven
tilated. Procure some of the large Asiatic
breeds, as they will lay in winter when the
common varieties will not, with the same
treatment. But the person who expects his
hens to lay much in summer, after laying all
winter, will be disappointed. Give them as
great a variety of food as possible, such as
corn, buckwheat, oats, barley, &c, with-pure
water daily. Give them fresh meat once or
twice a week, or oftener, if convenient, with
an occasional feed of boiled potatoes or ap
ples. In short, make their feed as near as
possible what it is in summer, and don't for
get to give them a free supply of oyster shells
pounded fine, or lime and sand. Mix lime and
sand as for plastering a house, let it dry and
place a box filled with it in one corner of the
hen-house, and it is surptising how fast it will
disappear. Hens will lay some in winter with
out being to all this trouble ; but they must
have good, comfortable quarters. There are
other advantages from . having a good hen
house aside from hens laying in winter. Two
or three wagon loads of good home-made gu
ano, every year, will soon pay the expense,
and help to raise corn to feed them. And
then, again, fresh meat cannot always be pro
cured. They will lay if they have plenty of
corn ; and as this contains a large portion of
oil or fat, it may perhaps be substituted for
meat to some extent. t or. Genesee Farmer.
Lamb on the Liver. Charles Lamb, tho'
not holding a physician's credentials has giv
en a better bit of medical advice on tbe liver
complaint than is to be found in the whole
range of professional books on the subject
Hear him : "You are too apprehensive of your
complaint. Tbe best way in these cases is to
keep yourself as ignorant as the world was
before Galen of the entire construction of the
animal man ; not to be conscious of a midriff';
to hold kidneys to be an agreeable fiction ; to
account the circulation of tbe blood an idle
whim of Harvey's; to acknowledge no me
chanism not visible. For, once fix the seat
of your disorder, and your fancies flux into it
like bad humors. Above all, take exercise,
and avoid tampering with tho hard terms of
art. Desks are not deadly. It is the mind,
and not the limbs that taints by long sitting.
Think of the' patience of the 'tailors ; think
bow long the Lord Chancellor sits : think of
the brooding hen."
"j There is mors meaning and philosophy than
at first sight appears in Coleridge's answer to
a lady when she asked bim whether he belie v
ed In gnosis. "Oh, no, madam, . 1 have teen
too many to believe iu them."
USE OT PORK AS FOOD.
The Scientific-American having endorsed the
opinion that "A fat hog is the very quintes
sence of scrofula and carbonic acid gas, and
that fat pork was never designed for human
food, making no red meat or muscle," etc.,
Dr. llolston, of Zanesville, who is one of the
most intelligent physicians of Ohio, wrote to
the Courier as follows :
A fat bog is truly the qnintessence of scrof
ula, tor scrofula in Greek is hog, and the de
rivative scrofulous means hogish. The disease
scrofula was so called when medical science
was in its infancy, from its supposed resem
blance to some disease of the hog, and then
the inference was easy, that eating the hog
(scrofa) produced the hog -disease (scrofula.)
It is well known, however, that our American
Indians and the Hindoos, who never use pork,
are liable to this disease ; and that in Europe
it prevails chief y among the lil-fed poor, who
hardly taste meat of any kind.
Ou the other band, the Chinaman and onr
own pioneers, who hardly eat any other flesh,
are remarkably healthy and exempt from scrof
ula a disease we have much more reason to
suspect as originating long ago from heredita
ry taint of an unmentionable disease, favored
by irregular living and poor diet.
In the South, from their sleek appearance
and exemption from scrofula, you can at once
distinguish the bacon-fed negro.
These examples may suffice on that head.
Fat pork is not in any sense carbonic acid,
but hydro-carbon, a combination of hydrogen
and carbon. It becomes carbonic acid and
water by combining with oxygen in the act of
being burned or digested, which is much the
same thing giving off during those processes
large amounts of heat and light.
It is true the of fat pork docs not make
blood or red flesh, though the lean which is al
ways eaten also, fors. It is as your article
sJVs truly, material lor breath. Well, that is
a good deal. It is supposed that it the wri
ter's breath had stopped five minutes before
he took his pen, we should never have seen
his article on fat pork.
But it does more. All the fat that goes in
to the stomach, and thence into the blood,
does net undergo slow burning in the lungs by
the process of breathing, but is deposited in
the body as human fat. Now a certain amount
of fat is so necessary for the proper play of all
the parts, muscles included, that without it,
the body, like an ungreased engine, wears it
self out by its own friction. Iu consumption,
the waste of fat is one alarming and most dan
gerous symptom, and the far famed cod-liver
oil acts perhaps chiefly by supplying the blood
with fat.
I am satisfied by experience that fat pork
when the stomach will receive it does just as
well. Moreover, few of those delicate per
sons that have so great an aversion to pork or
other fat, ever live to see forty years. They
die young of consumption. Butter, sugar,
starch, vegetable oils, act to some extent as
animal fat, and in tropical climates are used
as substitutes. But go to the Arctic regions
and see the refined Dr. Kane aud his men de
vour raw walrus blubber with gusto, as we
would take a dish ot ice cream, and you will
conclude that "fat pork," particularly in our
Arctic winters, is not so bad an institution.
We could not live on fat pork alone nor on
sugar and starch though we could on bread.
Bread, the staff of life, contains the materials
both lor breathing and making blood and red
flesh (muscle) in a supereminent degree,
greater even than lean beef or any other sin
gle article of food, and this, or some substi
tute, such as beans, peas, potatoes, etc., is al
ways eaten with fat pork, so that there is a
sufficient supply of blood and flesh-making
material. However, excess is bad, and the fat
pork must not constitute tbe bulk of a meal.
Chemical analysis is a poor substitute for
the observation of facts in the living body,
nor can wo even base very mnch on experi
ments made on Mr. Martin, tbe man with the
holo in bis stomach, by which food can lie in
troduced and digestion observed, for tbat is
not nature's way of getting it there, and a
stomach with such an unnatural opening is
much like a leaky dinner-pot with a hole in
the bottom stuffed with a rag. Extended ex
perience alone can settle such a question.
The Greeks and Romans esteemed pork as
a luxury, and a most wholesome diet. Their
athlctaand gladiators (prize-fighters) were fed
on pork. Our own Saxon (Teutonic Scandi
navian) ancestors esteemed it so highly that
they, even in their heaven, provided a great
hog with golden bristles, called Gulliborstli, of
whose bacon the heroes of Walhalla dined ev
ery day, when at night the pickedTones again
united and became covered with a fresh sup
ply of fat pork. In this estimate of the hog,
the mass of mankind, not of the Shemitic
race, (Jews, Turks, Arabs, &c.,) who follow
Moses' law that bad a spiritual and representa
tive meaning, haVe in all ages agreed, and will
agree, as long as mau has canine teetb, and
lives by drawing his breath. Whenever the
Scientific American or Prof. Liebig will dis
cover a new process of living without breath
ing, we may be guided by their opinion ; till
then, I opine, "good corn-fed pork," (and no
other is good) will rule the roast, of which
they will themselves not be slow to partake.
My remarks are of course only applicable to
men, women and children with comparatively
healthy stomachs, who have sufficient exer
cise, with pure air and pure water.
A whistling match lately came off at Mo
keumne hill. Two whistlers commenced at
half past nine o'clock in tbe evening, and kept
it up till ten minutes of two the next morn
ing, when one of them caved in, and was forc
ed to stretch his mouth into all sorts of shapes
to get the pucker taken out of it. He allow
ed his lips felt like as if they was the toe of
an old boot with a hole it.
"He is a very unfortunate man," said Dr.
Spooner, speaking of a gentleman whoso ill
luck is proverbial ; "and I really believe, if
he should fall on his back, that he would break
his nose." Shouldn't wonder if he did.
When Rothschild was asked whether he
would not like to b?come a temporal King of
the Jews in Palestine "Oh, no," said he, "I
would rather be Jew of the Kings than King
of the .."
The oyster trade of Baltimore last year a
mounted to $1,000,000, and employed 750 per
sons. Oyer 3,000,000 bushels were received
in tbe city.
,i
Tbe lady whose heart swelled with indig
nation has reduced it with poultices.
THE BRAVE ENGINEER. ,
At the station in Syracuse, N. Y., there is
assigned to Mr. Glenn the duty of arranging
each day to which of tbe engines the several
tra ins are to be assigned, so that as the hour
of departure for each comes, tbe engine will
be in readiness to take its burthen.
ne was for a number of years an engineer
in active service, distinguished for courage
and prompt resolution. Thero are some In
stances of this, which by their incidents ought
not to be omitted from the roll of the truly
brave deeds done by men.
He was at his bar, his engine careering an
with the speed that only steam's strength can
give, the road was clear, the busy wheels kept
their regular roll, the huge drivers beneath his
scat made swift circling, and they who In tbe
cars were borne onward, knew no obstacle In
their journey. Everything moved on accord
ing to the card, and they who. were by the road
side found the cat marking by its passage fha
moment as accurately as if it was tbe hand of
a great dial. Suddenly he discovered a small
object near the rail. The human vision growa
sharp beyond the optician's art in such an in
stant. The object moved, assumed form, be
came only too apparent. It was a little girl
playing with the dirt between the ralta
One may in the race pull the blooded horso
to his haunches and in a brier. space control
bis movement; that springing muscle has but
a light weight to control; the backward pad
dle soon changes the course of the steamer ;
but this huge engine, with its rather rush than
roll, ponderous, powerful, In earnest in. its mo
tion that it must have great space of change.
how shall this stop before it shall crnsh onto!
all form of life the feeble child? The play
with the soil is of such impoitance that tho
little one does not bear the roar of tho wheels,
or if it does, it is the child of a cabin proxi
m ate to the rail, and the sound is a familiar
one it continues its play, and nearer by an ad
vance that is the very step of death, the .train
conies toward it. Mr. Glenn determined la a
test accuracv of judgment that his train could
not stop in time ! What if it was checked, and
the speed that was measuring the nme by the
very few minutes, diminished, tbe deathblow
by the swifter would be the more merciful
destruction was certain the little one must
meet the force that would crush it from the
record of the living, and its play went on as if
it were at its mother's feet. ., ,
The brave man read the realities of the
scene in an instant! Ho left his bar! The
fireman's heart forgot to beat ; as for tbe pas
sengers, they were acting out the every day
sceues of a common-place peaceable journey ;
perhaps the checked speed caused somebody
to lay down his newspaper; ot the intense
scene without, he knew nothing.
He left his bar, and walked firmly over the
top of the locomotive over tbe boiler, past the
smoke stack, he climbed over the front and
down the step like framework of the pilot, and
grasping that with a desperate strength, ho
leaned over ! tbe bars of iron seemed to glide
dizzily away beneath him, and now the strag
gle for the child was one between death and
bravery, and as ever in this mortal time, the
King of Terrors seemed to have all the might
in his skeleton band. He leaned over! be.
reached forward ! and at that instant, at that,
period of time, (moment is too long a word to
express this) as the cruel edges ot tbe pilot
was about to crush the little one, he, not tbe
locomotive, struck the child ; if ever there
was a bold love touch this was one ; and the
child laid between the ties! aud on the fast
train darted. Then down went the brakes, tbe
strong arm of the brakesman strained the wheel
lever to crowd the delaying surface against
the speed ; then passengers aroused to find tbe
train coming to a bait, while neither station
nor tank was near; then this brave man trod
his locomotive top back again, and as soon as
tbe power of the advance could be subdued.
jumped from bis fron step aud ran down tbe
road ; the wonder was that agitated limba
could move so fast, and here there was the
child, living, unharmed, not a bone broken,
not quite recovered from its astonishment at
the lifegiving blow which had turned aside
the durt of death.
Restored to its parents, who thronged a-
round its deliverer, the little one too yoaag
to realize tbat it had qntvered on tbe very
verge of another world, was taken home, Mr.
Glenn returned to his engine, and the locomo
tive careered to its grand progress with not a
stain of blood npoa its burnished metal.
And is not this tbe record of the deed of
the highest order of bravery, the courage
tbat saves life f
General Jackson's Dcel. The following
is General Jackson's okn account of the duel -between
Dickenson and himself.
Jackson settled at Nashville between the
years 1790 and 1800, and began the practice of
law. Dickenson was already there following
the same profession. He was a great duelist,
having killed several in duels, aud almost cer
tain to kill at the first fire. His mode of firing
was uncommon. Instead of raising his pistol
from his side to fire at the word, be would
bring it down from above until he got it to the
proper level, and then fire. Ail the merchants
in Nashville had Dickenson retained in their
behalf, and be being the only lawyer there un
til Jackson came, no redress could be obtain
ed by the opposite side. General Jackson re
fused to be tetained by these merchants to the
exclusion of all other parties. Tho conse
quence was that he issued sixty writs for the
first term of the Court in Nashville.
'He issued writs against the merchants who,
until then, had gone scot free. This irritated
them, and they being desirous of getting Gen.
Jackson out of the way, incited Dickenson to
provoke a dnel. He began by acting on trials,
offensive to the General. He remonstrated
with Dickenson, and plainly told him that he
would not submit to such disrespectful treat,
ment. Dickenson persisted and Gen. Jackson
challenged him. The time and place for the
combat was fixed upon, and tbe news spread
for miles around. There were at least two
thousand persons on the ground, and beta were -made
as if it were a horse race. . -
Dickenson himself bet he would kill Jack
son at tbe first fire. Dickenson fired first, and
bis ball hit Jackson on the right pap and peal
ed his breast. He had A callous lump there
until the day of his death- As soon as the
smoke of Dickenson's pistol blew away, be saw
General Jackson standing", and exclaimed,
"Havn't I killed tbe d-d rascal yet V Gen.
Jackson told Gen. Eaton that until then he
meant to give bim his life, but on hearing
these words, be raised his pistol, fired, aw! ki!
led Dickenson iastsntly.