1
r v- . - . . ..- . .......... ;
:M S B. ROW.
TOL. (f-JVO. 30.
CLEARFIELD, PA., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, . 1860.
I WOULD ROT.
- I would not kiss the sweetest lip
: Unless it kissed me too ;
! As well as from the young rose bud sip
Tho morning's clear cold dew.
Nor clasli a hand, though soft and warm
, Unless it pressed mine own ;
I'd rather love the perfect form
,; , Carved out of parian stone.
I would not worship eyes, though bright
. '; And beautiful they be.
Unless they bend their living light
On me ;and nly me '.
I would not love a form that heaven
Itself hath stamped divine,
If I but dreamed her love was given
To other heaven than mine.
ADVENTUBES OF DB. CADLWELL.
' In a work, entitled Women of the Revolution,
we find tho following sketch : Tho Rev. Da
vid Caldwell, a Presbyterian minister of North
Carolina, was very much subjected to the per
hecutions of the loyalists. Atonotiine,wbilehe
was absent, a party of British came to the
house and occupied it, taming Mrs. Caldwell
out of doors, who was obliged to seek refuge
in the smoke house, where she remained lor
two days with no other food than a little dried
fruit. Alter remaining lor two days on the
plantation, during which time they had des
troyed everything, they prepared to leave ;
but before doing so, iu order that nothing
should bo left undone which their hatred could
aoggest to do, tho valuable library ot Dr.
Caldwell, containing books that it was impos
sible to replace,and manuscripts that had cost
years of study and labor.was wantonly burned.
' A largo tiro was built lor the purpose, and the
' books brought in armsful and cast upon the
flames.
The persecution of Dr. Caldwell continued
while the British occupied that portion of the
State. His property was destroyed, and he
was hunted us a felon; snares were laid for
him, and pretences used to draw him lrom his
hiding places ; he was compelled to pass nights
in the woods, and ventured only at the most
imminent peril to see his family. Often he
escaped captivity, or death, as it were, by a
luiracie.
. At one time, when he ventnred home on a
stolen visit, the house was suddenly surround
ed with armed men, who seized him before he
could escape designing to carry him to the
British camp. One or two were sent to guard
him, wbilo the others were sent to get such
articles of provision and clothing as could be
found worth taking away. When they were
nearly ready to depart, the plunder collected
being piled in the middle of the floor, and the
'prisoner standing beside it with hisguard.Mrs.
Dunlup, who with Mrs. Caldwell had remain
ed in an adjoining apartmeut, came forward.
.... With the promptitude- and presence of mind
lor which women are often remarkable in such
emergencies,she stepped behind Dr. Caldwell,
leaniug over bis shoulders, and whispered to
, Lim as if intending the qnstion for him alone,
, ' -asking if it were time for Gillespie and his
,. men to bo there. One of the soldiers who
Mood near caught the words, and with evident
alarm demanded what men were meant. The
lady replied that she was merely speaking to
her brother. . In a moment all was confusion,
the wliolo party was panic-struck,exclainations
and hurried questions soon followed ; and in
the consternation produced by this ingenious,
though simple manoeuvre, the tones lied pre
cipitately, leaving their prisoner and their
plunder. The name of Gillespie was a scourge
and a terror to tho loyalists, and this party
knew themselves to bo within the limits of
one of the strongest Whig neighborhoods of
the Mute.
The plantation of Dr. Caldwell and his
brother Alexander were near each other. One
evening, during Alexander's absence from
Lome, two soldiers entered bis house, and be
gan rudely to seize upon everjthing they saw
worth carrying ofl, having ordered his wife to
prepare supper lor them. They were suppos
vd to belong to the army of Cornwallis, at that
time foraging in the neighborhood. .Not know
ing what to do, Mrs. Caldwell sent over to her
brother-in-law for advice. He sent word in
answer that she must treat them civilly, and
have supper ready as soon as practicable, but
she must observe where they placed their gnns
-and set the table at the other end of the bouse.
Jlo promised to come over in the meantime,
jind conceal himself in a hay stack close by,
and she was to inform him as soon as the men
sat down to supper. These directions were
implicitly followed. '
The house was a double cabin,containing two
rooms on the same floor. Whilo the men were
leisurely discussing their repast, Dr. Caldwell
quietly entered the other apartment, took up
one of their guns, and stepping to the door of
tho room where they were so comfortably oc
cupied, presented the weapon, and inlormed
them they were his prisoners, and their lives
would be the forfeit should they make the
least attempt to escape. They surrendered
immediately, and Dr. Caldwell marched them
to his own house, kept them till morning, and
then suffered them to depart on their parole.
AVnAT are we Comixq to 1 The N. Y. Ex
press gives an account of the elopement of
two children from Albany, week before last.
The boy, James Baylis, is 12, and the girl, El
len Shurrer, 13 years of age. They came to
New York in a steamboat. The police had
been notified to apprehend them, but the dis
patch did not reach as soon as the boat, and
so the young "lovyers" landed before the po
lice got to the wnarf. It was, however, final
ly ascertained that the fast young lady had an
acquaintance living on the Eigth Avenue ; and
the police, supposing that the couple would
proceed there, watched the house, and canght
them entering it towards evening. They were
much surprised at the turn aflairs had taken,
and did not relish going to police headquar
te To girl said she had not become a wife,
though wanting to be one, but supposed that
for the present she would have to give up all
hope, owing to the "great fuss" her folks had
created; neither she nor "Jimmy" had been
treated well at home, and they knew no better
course than to come to New York and seek
their fortunes together. They had $3 when
they started, one of which they paid for a
state-room, and the rest they had spent. The
girl is a bright, intelligent little thing, quite
pretty, but rather forward in her manners.
The boy is a fine looking lad, and seemed to
be alarmed, which the girl was not. Both
were poorly dressed, and the supposition is,
that having been ill treated at home, tbey took
this means of redressing their grievances.
Truly, we are a fast people.
ILLUSTRIOUS DUNCES.
An interesting chapter might be written on
the subject of illustrious dunces dull boys,
but brilliant men. We have room, however,
for only a few instances. Pietro di Cortona,
the painter, was thought so stupid that he was
nicknamed "Ass's Head," when a boy ; and
Tomaso Guidi was generally known as "heavy
Tom," (Massaccio Tomassaccio,) though by
diligence be afterwards raised himself to the
highest eminence. Newton when at school,
stood at the bottom of the lowermost form but
one. The boy above Newton having kicked
him, the dunce showed his pluck by challeng
ing him to fight, and beating him. Then he
set to work with a will, and determined also to
vanquish his antagonist as a scholar, which he
did, rising to the top of bis class. Many of
the greatest divines have been anything but
precocious. Isaac Barrow, when a boy at the
Charterhouse school, was notorious chiefly for
his strong temper, pugnacious habits, and pro
verbial idleness as a scholar ; and he caused
such grief to his parents that his father used
to say that if it pleased God to take from him
any of his children, he hoped it might be I
saac, the least promising of them all. Adam
Clarke, when a boy, was proclaimed by his fa
ther to be "a grievous dunce ;" though he
could roll large stones about. Dean Swiit, one
of the greatest writers of pure English, was
"plucked" at Dublin University, and only ob
tained his recommendation to Oxford "speci
ali gratia." Tho well known Dr. Chalmers
and Dr. Cook were boys together at the parish
school of St. Andrews ; and they were found
so stupid and mischievous, that the master, ii
ritated beyond measure, dismissed them both
as incorrigible dunces.
Tho brilliant Sheridan showed so little ca
pacity as a boy, that he was presented to a tu
tor by his mother with the complimentary ac
companiment, that he was a hopeless dunce.
Walter Scott was all but a dunce when a boy,
always much readier lor a "bicker." than apt
at his lessons. At the Edinburgh University,
Prof. Dalzell pronounced upon him the sen
tence that "Dunce he was, and dunce be would
remain." Chatterton was returned on bis
mother's hands as "a tool, of whom nothing
could be made." Burns was a dull boy, good
onlv at athletic exercises. Goldsmith spoke
ot himself as a plant that flowered late. A 1 fi
eri left college no wiser than he entered it, and
did not begin the studies by which he distin
guished himself, until he bad run over halt
Europe. Robert Clive was a dunce, if not a
reprobate, when a youth; but always full of
energy, even in badness. Hist family, glad to
get rid of him, shipped him off to Madras ; and
be lived to lay the foundations of the British
power in India. Napoleon and Wellington
were both dull boys, not distinguishing them
selves in any way at school. Of the former
the Duchess d'Abrantes says, "he bad good
health, but was in other respects like other
boys." John Howard, the philanthropist, was
another illustrious dunce, learning next to
nothing during the seven years he was at
school. Stephenson, as a youth, was distin
guished chiefly for his skill at pulling and
wrestling, and attention to his work. The bril
liant Sir Humphrey Davy was no cleverer than
other boys; his teacher, Mr. Davis Gilbert,
said of him, "while he was with me, I could
not discern the faculties by which he was so
much distinguished." Indeed, he himself in
after-like considered it fortunate that he had
been left to 'enjoy so much idleness' at school.
Watt was a dull scholar, notwithstanding the
pretty stories told about his precocity ; but be
was, what was better, patient and perseverant,
and it was by that means, and by his carefully
cultivated inventiveness, that he was enabled
to perfect his steam-engine.
What Dr. Arnold said of boys is equally true
of men that the difference between one boy
and another consists not so much in talent as
in energy. Given perseverance, and energy
soon becomes habitual. Provided the dunce
has persistency and application, he will inevi
tably head the cleverer fellow without these
qualities. Slow but sure, wins the race. It
is perseverance that explains how the position
of boys at school is so often reversed in real
life ; and it is curious to note how some who
were then so clever have since become so common-place;
whilst others, dnll boys, of whom
nothing was expected, slow in their faculties,
but sure in their pace, have assumed the posi
tion of leaders of men. The author of this
book, when a boy, stood in the same class with
one of the greatest of dunces. One -cher af
ter another had tried his skill upon 'm and
failed. Corporeal punishment, the fool's cap,
coaxing and earnest entreaty proved alike
fruitless. Sometimes the experiment was tried
of putting him at the top of his class, and it
was curious to note the rapidity with which he
gravitated to the inevitable bottom like a lump
of lead passing through quicksilver. The
youth was given up by many teachers as an in
corrigible dunce one of them pronouncing
him to be "a stupendous booby." Yet, slow
though he was, this dunco had a dull energy
and a sort of beefy tenacity of purpose, which
grew with his muscles and his manhood ; and,
strange to say, when he at length came to take
part in tho practical business of life, he was
found heading most of his school companions,
and eventually left the gt eater number of them
far behind. The tortoise in the right road,
will beat a racer in the wrong. It matters not
though a youth be slow, if he be but diligent.
Quickness of parts may even prove a defect,
inasmuch as the boy who learns readily will of
ten forget quite as readily ; and also because
ho finds no need of cultivating that quality of
application and perseverance which tne slower
youth is compelled to exercise, and which
proves so valuable an element in the formation
of every character. Davy said, "What I am
I have made myself ;" and the same holds
true universally. The highest cnltnre is not
obtained from teachers when at school or col
lege, so much as by our own diligent self-education
when we have become men. Parents
need not bo in too great haste to see their
children's talents forced into bloom. Let them
watch and wait patiently, letting good exam
ple and quiet training do their work and leave
the rest to Providence. Let them see to it
that the youth is provided by free exercise of
his bodily powers, with a full stock of physi
cal health ; set him fairly on the road of self
culture ; carefully train his habits of applica
tion and perseverance ; and as he grows older,
if the ri?ht atnfl be in him. he will be enabled
vigorously and effectively to cultivate himself.
At a sale of real estate in London, the prop
erty sold at the rate of $4,000,000 per acre.
The National debt, according to Secretary
Cobb's showing, is $60,202,277 66.
ANCIENT EUINS IN THE UNITED STATES.
Dim and mysterious is the early history of
man on this continent. It is enveloped in
thick darkness, never, It may be presumed, to
be penetrated by human research. And yet
the ruins of ancient cities are frequently dis
covered, that tell of a race that has long since
passed away probably exterminated by the
ancestors of our present Indians, who are
also last departing from the human family
fairly dying out, before the ever-advancing in
fluence of the palefaces. But these monu
mental cities indicate great populations, and
prove the existence ot mighty men of old.
A new 8timulous is likely to be given to A
merican archaajology, by a discovery recently
made some ninety miles north-east of Fort
Stanton, a long account of which has just ap
peared in the Fort Smith (Ark.) Times. We
condense. The plain upon which lie the mas
sive relics of gorgeous temples and magnifi
cent halls, slopes gradually eastward toward
the River Pecos, and is very fertile, crossed
by a gurgling stream of the purest water that
not only sustains a rich vegetation, but perhaps
furnished with its necessary element the
thousands who once inhabited this present wil
derness. The city was probably built by a
warlike race, as it is quadrangular and arrang
ed with skill to afford the highest protection
against an exterior loe, many of the buildings
on the outer line being pierced with loopholes,
as though calculated for the use of weapons.
Several of the buildings are of vast size, and
built of massive blocks of a dark granite rock,
which could only have been wrought to their
preseut coudition by a vast amount of labor.
There are the ruins of three noble edifices,
each presenting a front of three hundred feet,
made of ponderous blocks of stone, and the
dilapidated walls are even now thirty-five feet
high. There are no partitions in the area of
the middle (supposed) temple, so that the room
must have been vast ; and there are also car
vings iu baa relief and fresco work. Appear
ances justify the conclusion that these silent
rooms could once boast of halls as gorgeously
decorated by the artist's hand as those of
Thebes and Palmyra. Ihe buildings are all
loopholed in each side, much resembling that
found in the old feudal castles of Europe de
signed for the use of archers. The blocks of
which these edifices are composed are cemen
ted together by a species of mortar of a bitu
minous character, which has such tenacity
that vast masses of wall have fallen down with
out the blocks being detached by the shock.
We hope, ere long, to be favored with full and
descriptive particulars, as it is probable that
visits and examinations will be made amongst
such interesting relics of the unknown past,
by some of the United States officers attached
to the nearest fort.
What Toney Don't Believe He don't be
lieve that a man is any wiser for having A. S.
S., or any other letters, tacked to his name.
He don't believe a lawyer is any keener be
cause he wears a pair of spectacles.
He don't believe that Schoolmasters, Physi
cians, and Ministers like to be contradicted a
whit better than other folks.
He don't believe that all lawyers are rogues,
any more than he believes an eel is a snaKe.
lie don't believe that the most industrious
man likes to work except when he can't help it.
He don't believe that two young lovers like
to be caught with their arms around one a
nother. ....
He don't believe that a young lady ought to
b married belore she is twenty-one at least.
(He don't believe that young gentlemen sho'd
marry before they are able to support a wife.
lie don't believe in getting up early in the
morning, without going to bed early at night.
He don't believe a man is a fool because he
can't make a speech.
lie don't believe that because both wise and
windy begin with a W, that they end in the
same thing.
He don't believe that a lady is much the
worse for wearing a bustle, though he deci
dedly prefers coffee-bags.
In fact he don't believe in a great many
things that others believe in, and the result is
that he is voted an oddity and a bore, and we
don't believe that Toney has justice done him
in general.
A Lawyer's Oration. We remember once,
when young, living in Hampshire, they dedi
cated a new bridge, and invited a young law
yer to deliver an oration. The lawyer had
never yet, after a fortnight's practice, had the
honor of being retained, and the opportunity
of establishing a reputation was admirable.
The day came,and with it to the bridge came
the multitude and the orator. He had made
no written preparation, that being as he had
been told, unlawyer-like a lawyer being sup
posed Ho be capable ot speaking any num
ber of hours, on any subject, in a style of
thrilling eloquence. So our orator trusted to
the occasion. He stood upon the platform,
and, amid the profound attention of his audi
ence commenced :
"Fellow-citizens Five and forty years ago
this bridge, built by your enterprise, was part
and parcel of the howling wilderness."
He paused a moment.
"Yes, fellow-citizens, only five and forty
years ago, this bridge, where we now stand,
was part and parcel of the bowling wilderness.'
Again he paused. (Cries of "Good, good,
go on."
nere was the "rub."
"I feel it hardly necessary to repeat, that
this bridge, fellow-citizens, only five and forty
years ago, was part and parcel of the howling
wilderness ; and I will conclude by saying that
1 wish it was part and parcel of it now."
Singular. Time roa a Marriage. A loving
couple in Memphis, Tennessee, were last week
married under the following singular circum
stances : Tbey were taking a carriage drive in
one of the principal streets in that city, when
they chanced to meet a Judge Hill, who was
riding leisurely along upon a favorite donkey.
Tbey at once accosted him, and requested him
to unite them in the holy bonds of wedlock.
He acceded to the proposition, and, without
dismounting, performed the ceremony, ma
king the occupants of the vehicle one, and
having for witnesses the mule and two or three
persons who were passing at the time. " '
An old washerwoman used to bang out her
clothes to dry on the railings of a church, and
after repeated prohibitions from the church
wardens, she at last came out with the follow
ing burst of eloquence : "Bless ye sir, ye
wouldn't a go an' take the bread of my mouth
would ye ? 'Sides sir, cleanliness comes next
to godliness, the parson says."
A HAPPY PICTUBE OF TOM C0EWIN.
The New York Herald's Washington letter
writer, in a communication dated the 22d,
gives the following brilliant sketch of Tom
Corwin.
It is Tom Corwin,' and not a call of the
House, that has drawn away the members of
that body in the lump from the speech of Sir.
Douglas. The Little Giant,' in the recitation
ot his Illinois campaign against the Black Re
publicans, was an old story ; but the report
that Corwin was in the House and right amoag
the fire-eaters, in a general and sweeping re
ply to Barksdale, ot Mississippi, was an at
traction which conld not be resisted. So long
ago as 1840, Tom Corwin, the Wagon Boy,'
had won the title of the greatest and most
fascinating stump speaker 'west of the moun
tains.' Since that day he has been a member
of the United States Senate, Secretary of the
Treasury, and Governor of Ohio, and now re
turns to the House of Representatives, of
which he was a member with Henry A. Wise,
and Fillmore, Toombs, and Stephens, when
they all belonged to the good old Whig party.
Mr. Corwin is some five feet eight inches
high, and looks to be not over 50 years of age.
He is a solid and robust man, with a round,
full, jovial face, sparkling with fun and glow
ing with the reflections of a generous and in
telligent mind. His complexion is as dark as
that ot Daniel Webster ; and we believe that
Mr. Corwin attributes it to the fact that be is
descended from the ancient oriental royal
Magyar, a race of Hungary. He occupies an
aisle on the Democratic side ; he has gone a
mong that party so that they may hear him ;
the Republican side of the House is almost
completely vacated. There are half a dozen
members in those benches. Their usual oc
cupants are crowded around Corwin and fused
with the Democratic party and the South A
mericans, for the first time this season.
Mr. Corwin has been upon the floor an hour.
He has proved his metal. He has made an
impression. In the wide range which he has
taken in the examination of the slavery oues
tion, and from the inexhaustible historical
facts, incidents and anecdotes which he has
brought to bear upon the subject, he has se
cured the profound attention of his listeners.
His frequent sallies of wit and humor are re
ceived by spontaneous expulsions of laughter
even from the fire eaters, though his general
argument is directed to the point, that the
extension of slavery was not the policy of tho
government contemplated by the fathers of
the Kepubuc.
The voice of Corwin is soft," round, and
flexible. His gesticulations are singularly ex
pressive and graceful. He is a dramatic spea
ker. He is an orator, possessing in a high
degree the three Demosthenian essentials of
an orator action action action ! And he
also possesses that happy faculty of instantly
choosing for the use of the moment, from the
treasures of the library with which his mind
is stored, any point or factgm history, poli
tics, philosophy, law, literature and the living
events of the age, which may serve either to
strengthen or ornament the fabric which he is
passing through the loom. He thus gives
something of the charm of poetry to the pro
siest constitutional abstractions, and some
thing of the weight of a constitutional quota
tion to the traditions of romance. He speaks
rapidly, and with a remarkable simplicity of
language compasses the most recondite prop
ositions. Within the space of a few brief sen
tences, his voice passes from the mountain
top to the valley, or expands from the lowest
conversational and confidential tone, inaudible
in the gallery, to a climax which starts the,
passenger outside the gallery. The complaint
of the gallery is that Corwin makes all his ten
strikes and spares in a voice so low as to be
limited to the favored few just around him.
But as he is manifestly devoting his argument
to the members of the House, and not to the
galleries, the mountain party must be content
to catch what they can ; and the reporters
must open their ears or they will lose the fre
quent point where the laugh comes in.
We see that Corwin exercises a powerful
magnetic influence over his hearers, not ex.
cepting the fire-eaters. They indeed surround
him like a body guard, and are listening as
good boys listen to a kind, indulgent and com
petant teacher of a lesson which they are anx
ious to understand. He has reduced the
House to a good temper no man among them
thinking of pistols or personal assaults while
listening to Corwin, He is softening down
the irrepressible conflict' while making the
very best defence that has yet been made of
the anti-slavery doctrines of the Republican
party. As Zack Taylor was a Whig, though
not an ultra Whig, so Corwin is a Republican
though not a Helper Republican. The cross
examinations to which be is subjected by the
Southern ultras, only serve to bring out his
good points. He will not be embarrassed by
sharp questions. They rather assist him in
his line of argument, and in his pungent, but
good-natured responses. But the House ad
journs to give him a larger range to-morrow,
for they do not care how long he holds the
floor. His speech is a new feature in these
debates. It is rich in excellent hits, amusing
jokes and solid instruction. Douglas is a
powerful debater, a convincing debater, but
he lacks oriental imaginations, the wit, humor,
fancy, poetry, and copious resources of learn
ing and study possessed by Corwin. Douglas
has studied the law, the Constitution, parties,
politics, and the movements of 'parties, thor
oughly. Corwin appears to have studied ev
erything except the Cincinnati platform. Nor
does be make a vain parade of the facilities at
his command. They come to his aid sponta
neously, and he does not hack them to pieces.
Moderation is the key of old age ; modera
tion in laborland enjoyment ; moderation in
eating and drinking ; moderation in feeling
and thinking. Few people die ; the majority
are self-murderers, committing suicide by de
grees. That is a virtuous community in which
there are many bale old men and women.
That is an ignoble people among whom many
children die, and many youths are sick. For
the health of a people, as Miss Martineau used
to maintain, is the test ot its morality. She
never uttered a truer word.
John Kelly, of North Blackstone, Mass.,
now in his eighty-fourth year, has tended the
same grist mill for seventy years, and still de
lights in his old occupation. Mr. Kelly was
never in a railroad car or steamboat, and nev
er a hundred miles from home.
Life should be fortified by many friendships.
To leve and to bo loved, is 'the greatest happi
ness of existence.
SOKE STATISTICS OF TOBACCO.
The Dean of Carlisle has recently delivered
a lecture in England upon the subject of to
bacco, from which we gather some interesting
statistical information concerning the use of
the weed in that and other countries.
In 1856, thirty-three millions of pounds of
tobacco were consumed in England, at an ex.
pense of $8,000,000, to say nothing of vast
quantities smuggled into the country. There
is a steady increase upon this consumption,
far exceeding the cotemporaneous increase of
population. In 1821, the average consump
tion was 11.70 ounces per bead per annum ;
in 1851 it had risen to 16.S6, and in 1853 to
19 ounces, or at least at the rate of one-fourth
increase in ten years. There are twelve city
brokers in London expressly devoted to to
bacco sales, ninety manufacturers, 1568 tobac
co shops in London, 7,380 workmen engaged
in tho different branches of the business, and
no less than 252,048 tobacco shops in the Uni
ted kingdom. And if we turn to the conti
nent, the consumption and expenditure as
sume proportions perfectly gigantic. In France
much more is consumed in proportion to the
population than in England. The Emperor
clears 100,000,000 francs annually by the gov
ernment monopoly. In the city of Hamburg
40,000 cigars are consumed daily, although the
population is not much over 150,000 ; 10,000
persons, many of them women and children
are engaged in their manufacture; 150,000,000
of cigars are supplied annually, a printing
press is entirely occupied in printing labels
for the boxes of cigars, &c, and the business
represents JE4,000,000. In Denmark the an
nual consumption reaches the enormous aver
age of seventy ounces per head of the whole
population ; and in Belgium even more sev-enty-threo
ounces, or three pounds and three
fifths of a pound per head. In America the
average is vastly higher.
It is calculated that the ent ira world of smo
kers, snuffers and chewers, consume 2.000,000
tuns of tobacco annually, or 4,480,000,000 of
pounds weight as much as the corn consum
ed by 10,000,000 Englishmen, and actually a
cost sufficient to pay for all the bread corn in
Great Britain. Five millions and a half of a
cres are occupied in its growth, the product
of which, at two pence per pound, would yield
$37,000,000 sterling. The time would fail to
tell of the vast amount of smoking in Turkey
and Persia in India all classes and both sex
es indulge in this practice ; the Siamese both
chew and smoke ; in Burmah all ages practice
it children three years old and ot both sexes;
China equally contributes to the general ma
nia ; and the advocates of the habit boast that
about one-fourth of the human race are their
clients, or that there certainly are one bun
dred millions of smokers.
Terrible Tragedt is Virginia. A bloody
affray occurred in Franklin county, Va., on
Saturday 2oth February, and resulted in the
killing of three brothers, named James, Wil
liam and Ralph Clements, at the hauds of
Vincent Witcher, former president of the
Richmond and Danville Railroad, and his
grandson John A. Smith. The Richmond
Dispatch has some particulars of the terrible
affray, from which we copy the following:
Mr. James Clements married the sister of
John A. Smith, and grand daughter of Mr.
Witcher ; the lady afterwards took steps to
procure a divorce from him. On Saturday
last the taking of depositions in the case was
progressing at the office of a magistrate, in
Franklin county, near the Pittsylvania line,
Messrs. Witcher, Smith, and the three Messrs.
Clements and others being present. During
the taking of the depositions, Mr. Witcher
asked some questions which greatly exaspera
ted the husband, Mr. Clements. lie immedi
ately rose, drawing a pistol at the same time,
and fired at Mr. Witcher. Mr. Witcher, it
seems, also quickly rose and drew a pistol
from his pocket and as the ball of his antago
nist grazed around his abdomen, he fired,
striking Clements in the forehead, killing
him instantly.
Mr. Smith, brother of Mrs. Clements, hear
ing the firing rushed into the room. A broth
er of Mr. Clements, who had also been attrac
ted by the pistol reports, fired at Addison
Witcher, a nephew of Vincent Witcher, and
inflicted a slight wound. Upon seeing his
nephew shot,Mr. Vincent Witcher again fired,
striking Clements No. 2, and killing him in
stantly. At this stage of the sanguinary affair, Mr.
Smith drew a bowie knife, but had scarcely
unsheathed the blade when he was fired upon
by a second brother of Clements, the ball ta
king effect in the shoulder, and producing a
painful wound. Infuriated by his wound Mr.
Smith rushed upon his antagonist, and with
one powerful thrust of the knife completely
disemboweled Clements No. 3,the unfortunate
man falling dead on the spot. During the af
fray Mr. Samuel Swanson, a neighbor of Mr.
Witcher was also wounded. So that three
persons were killed and three wounded.
Mr. Witcher is a gentleman over seventy
eight years of age, a lawyer by profession, and
is well known throughout the State. He ser
ved for many years in the lower house of the
Legislature, and subsequently represented his
district in the State Senate with signal ability.
He was a prominent member of the Whig par
ty ,and his name has been repeatedly mention
ed in connection with the office of Governor
of the Commonweath.
An Old Postmaster. Mr. Samuel Milton,
says the Charleston Courier of March 3d, died
recently in Yorkville, South Carolina, in the
seventy-second year of his age. He had serv
ed as Postmaster for thirty-eight years, under
the Administrations of Presidents Adams,
Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk,
Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan.
Large Convent. The Alton, Illinois, Dem
ocrat informs its readers that a large and splen
did convent or seminary for the Sisters of
Charity, is to be erected forthwith in that
town. This will be the largest structure of
the kind in the West, covering an entire block
or square, and costing $30,000.
A merchant who lived at Baton Rouge, La.,
and who was once worth $150,000, was arrest,
ed for vagrancy last week, having in fire years
gambled away his entire fortune.
It is proposed to raise the Atlantic Cable ,
and to make an effort once more to link Eng.
land and the United States.
Doing nothing is so near doing evil, that the
space between theni is scarcely discernible.
A "EEEKPUL SHEPHERD M
Mormonism, says ths Cincinnati Inquirer,
is still in practical operation amongst us. On
last Friday a tall, raw-boned Saint, with a com
plexion very Btrongly resembling that of boil
ed tripe, arrived here from Pittsburgh with a
couple of wives, but deeming his flock too
small to start Salt Lakeward with, held forth
as follows to an admiring audience at a house
over the. canal, with a view to the perfection
of the material necessary to the completeness
of his domestic felicity. His text was :
"Men is skeerce and Weemen is plenty. "
"Brothern and Sistern pertickler the Sis
tern : I want to say a few words to you 'bout
Mormonism not for my own sake, but for
yourn, for men is skeerce and weemen is plen
ty." "Mormonism is built on that high old prin
ciple which sez that it ain't good for a man to
be alone, and a mighty sight worse for a wo
man. Therefore it a man feels good with a
little company, a good deal of it ought to
make him feel an awful sight better.
"The first principle of Mormonism is, that
women air a good thing, and the second prin.
ciple Is that you can't have too much of a good
thing. Women is tenderer than man, and is
necessary to smooth down the roughness of
his character, and as man has a good many
rough pints in his natur, he oughtn't to givu
one woman too much to do, but set each ote
to work. to smoothing some particular pint.
"Don't think I'm over anxious for you to
jine us, for I ain't. I'm not speaking for my
good, but for yourn ; "for men is skeerce and
weemen is plenty.'
"I said woman was tenderer than man, but $
you needn't feel stuck up about it, tor so she
ought to be ; for she was made so on purpose.
But bow was she made so? Where did she git
it from ? Why, she was created out of the side
bone of a man, and the sidebone of a man is
like the sidebone of a turkey the tenderest
part of him. Therefore, as a woman has three
sidebones and a man only one, ot course she
is three times as tender as a man is, and is in
duty bound to repay that tenderness of which
she robbed him. And how did she rob him of
his sidebone t Why, exactly as she robs his
pockets now-a-days of his loose change she
took advantage of him when he was sleep.
"But as woman is more tenderer than man,
so is man more forgivener than woman, there,
fore I won't say anything moro about the side
bone, or tho small change, but invite you all
to join my train, for I'm a big shepherd out
our way, and fare sumptuously every day on
purple and fine linen.
"When I first landed on the shores of the
great Salt Lake I wasn't rich in weemen. I
had but onn poor old doe, 'but men is skeerce
and weemen is plenty,' and like a keeiful
shepherd I began to increase my flock. Wee
men beard of us and our lovin' ways, and they
kept pourin' in. Tbey come from the North
and they come from the South, they coma
from the East, and they come from the West,
they come from Europe, they come from Ai
shey, aud a few ot them come from Afrikey,
and from bein' the miserable owner of one old
yoe, I become the joyful shepherd of a migh
ty flock, with a right smart sprlnklin' of lambs,
friskier and fatter than anybody else's, and
I've still got room for a few more.
"As I said before I'm not talking pertickler
for my benefit, but for yourn 'for men is
skeerce and weemen is plenty.' Still, I'd a
little rather yon'd go along with me than not,
pertickler you fat one with the caliker bunnet.
Don't hesitate, but take the chance while-you
can get it, and I'll make you the 'bell yoe' of
the flock. I'll lead you through green pas
tures aud the high grass ; show you where you
may caper in the sunshine, and lay down ia
pleasant places ; and as you are in a pretty
good condishun already, in the course of time
you shall be the fattest of the flock. Jine in,
jine in now ; 'for men is skeerce and weemen
is plenty."
The appeal was irresistible. At the last ac
counts "the fat woman with the calikec bun.
net" had "jined in," and two or three others
were on the fence, with a decided leaning to
wards the "Keerful Shepherd."
TnREE Children Burned to Death. A
painful and melancholy occurrence took place
in Oxford, in this county, says the Oskaloosa,
Iowa, Herald, on Friday evening, the 2d inst.
The dwelling of Mr. Spencer De Witt took
fire between seven and eight o'clock in the
evening, while he and his wife were absent at
church. The House was burned to the ground ;
and three children two girls, one aged nine,
the other three, and a boy aged five perished
in the flames. It is supposed the fire origina
ted from the stovepipe. The wind was blow
ing furiously at the time. No one reached
the house until it was enveloped in flames.
A voice supposed to be that of the older girl,
was heard once crying "mercy." All effort
to rescue the unfortunate children were fruit
less. When the fire had burned down some
what, the bodies of the children could be seen
in the ashes of the bed, showing that they
had retired, and were probably asleep when
the fire commenced. Mr. and Mrs. De Witt
have only one child left, a babe. In this
heart-rendering and overwhelming calamity
they will have the sincere sympathy of all who
hear of their sad bereavement. The House
was part frame and part log, and was rapidly
consumed.
In a Bad Fix. The Commissioners of Al
legheny county have gotf jthemselves into a
somewhat unpleasant fix by refusing to obey
the writ of mandamus in the case of the Alle
gheny county Railroad Bonds. They were
brought before the Supreme Court at its sit
ting in Philadelphia, week before last, and
fined $1,000 respectively ,and ordered to stand
committed in the jail of Allegheny county un
til the sentence shall be complied with. Jail
or Small is doing everything in his power to
make the Commissioners comfortable,ad they
will undoubtedly remain in their quarters, un-'
less released by the people or the Legislature,
ui'til they bavo completed the term which is
required in default of payment of the 3ne im
posed upon them.
The Mormons. The Mormons now number
120,000, including good, bad and indifferent.
The number in Utah ia put down at 38,000.
Of these, 4,617 men have 16,500 wives.
Men dont generally like to be hampered,
but, it you are going out to spend a week in
the woods, you had better hamper yourself.
Some men's honesty and decorum are phan
toms that feed on the air of opinion, and, like
the chameleon, changes as often as their food.