American citizen. (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, December 07, 1864, Image 1
VOLUME 2. A Buffalo-Tiger Story. A paper published in India, tells this remarkably exciting story about an ad venture there of an enthusiastic ento mologist : '•Olio very hot day, shouldering His' Entomological net, and with his bottle of cyanide of potassium in bis pocket for the purpose of killing his specimens, he had succeeded in taking several species of moths and beetles, when, suddenly on an open space, a gigantic i female buffalo charged right down upon him. Quick as lightning the narrator sprang up a tree which .fortunately hap pened to be near, and almost before he had comfortably settled down upon one of the branches it buffalo calf appeared upon the scene, and V»oA mother and offspring sat down at the foot of the tree, 'directly under his position. In order to -attract the attention or bis friends, who were in the neighborhood, or of any native \vho wight happen to be near, he shout id Mntil he was hoarse. Kver and anon, \jy way of variation, with the vain hope of frightening away the buffalo, he awak ened the extremest echoes of the jungle with his yells, and perpetrated the most hideous noises ever produced by the hu man voice. All was of no avail; no friendly hand came to aid him. and the brute still lay placidly licking and caressing its call, lie was about to assume a standing atti tude in the tree, when suddenly bis left hand, with which he had seized a branch above his head, was severely stuug or bit- ten by some insect or animal Starting with the acute pain, as the fear of whip or tree snakes flashed through his mind, he involuntarily lossed his hold of the bough, apd thus deprived of support, he lost his balance and fell from his place of refuge. He dropped on the buffalo s back, and in another instant was carried away at a tremendous pace through the long thick grass of the jungle. It was a diffi cult matter to keep his seat, when all at once the buffalo sprang into a large "tank.' and he was immersed up to his neck in water. I liable to swim, he was obliged to cling to the brute, which for a time swam round and round the pool at her pleasure. lie only hoped his legs would not be seized by one of the alligators, of which lie ha 1 seen several in the water during the day. Then, to bis infinite horror, a stinging sensation in his log made him feel sure he had again been bitten by another kind of serpent. And still the buffalo showed no signs of re turning towards the land, when just as he thought she was preparing folic down, lie dug his heels into her side and deliv ered random blows with his fists on her head and neck. Then, striking out for laud, the brute speedily reached the shore, on gaining which .she commenced tier mad gallop. A tew minutes brought tiieni to the spot from which the auiniai had started, where the call was stilt stami tug. i'he animal was preparing to lie down, tvhcu seiziug the blanches ot the tree from which he hau laiteu ou the brute s neck, fie swung himself up 111 tits old position. He had not, huwevei, Oeeu very long there when the smarting in his hand and legs caused hun to remember" that he had been bitten by sna-.es. The very idea of this, and the knowledge that, one of tho.se venomous reptiles was in the tree on which he was perched, caused a deadly faintness. from which it was some time before he rallied. Alternately filiating and reviving, hour after hour passed away, night darkened down upon the jungle, and the buffalo still kept watch and ward at the foot of the tree. At leugth. at au advanced hour of Hie night, he suddenly became con scious that a struggle was going on be pfceen the buffalo and some large wild animal, which he judged to be a tiger. 'The growling of the latter,' he continues, 'the groaus of the buffalo, the noise of their struggles, and the incessant bleat ing of the calf, combined in producing a series of sounds, which, in the darkness of night appeared worthy of the tants of Paudemonium. For full five minutes, which appeared hours to me, the dreadful struggle continued, until at leugth groans of the buffalo subsided into a series of convulsive grasps and snorts, and the sounds of struggling ou the grouud a'uiost ceased. 1 could, however, hear the tiger growling, suarling, and spitting "like an immense eat. Of course desceut was now quite out of the question. 1 therefore determined to remain where I was until daylight, if 1 did not die from the efleets of the snake bite.- before morn ing appeared. 80 strong was the inter est with which I listened and strained my eyes for the purpose of learning what was going on below, that 1 never ceased to thiuk of this contingency, and forgot the death-like swoons 1 had previously expe rienced . AMERICAN CITIZEN. ••After some time spent in listening to the voice made by the animal while en joying his feast of buffalo flesh, the sounds ceased suddenly. I l'elt sure, however, lliitt the beast had not departed, for I had kept my eyes fixed on tl»e dark out lines under the shadow of the trea, aud the mass remained of the sai/.ie appear ance. 1 fancied 1 could "race the form of a tiger lying alongside the dead buffalo, and this was t'.ie shape the dark objects had assumed and retained since the ter mination of the conflict." At length, however, succor was at hand. Seeing a light in the distance, he shouted as loudly as he could, and this attracted tlie notice of a party who had set out in search of him. On coming up to the spot, both tiger and buffalo were found to be dead. On telling bis friends he had been bitten by snakes they first examin ed his hand, and pronounced the wound he received whilst in the tree to have been caused by the sting of a hornet. On turning down his stockings they discov ered several leeches gorged with blood, for numbers of these voracious animals had bitten him during his ride through the water on the buffalo's back. The faintings he had experienced were attrib uted to loss of blood from the leech bites. They then turned their attention to the dead tiger. Not a wound was dis covered about the carcase, but on slight ly moving the body of the buffalo, they discovered the bottle of eyadine of potas sium. which had been intended for ento mological purposes, broken, and partially introduced into the wound in the neck from which the tiger had sucked the blood of his victim. While imbibing the life blood of the buffalo the tiger had also received one of the mrtst deadly poisons known, which in the course of a very short time bad produced its usual fatal result. The position of the two animals and of the deadly bottle left no room for doubting that such had been the case. On ascending the tree in such hot haste the poison bottle and other little matters were dropped, and during the struggle between the animals the former was brok en. and perhaps even Cut its way into the jugular of the buffalo; thus probably as- sisting in the death of the latter, as well as proving so fatally destructive to the tiger. On the appearance of dawn they discovered a small wasps' nest hanging in the tree. Later in the day they had the satisfaction of superintending the skin ning of the tiger, and distributing the meat to the villagers, some of whom regard it as particularly strengthening food. The absence of bullet holes rendered the skin a valuable one. A Model Speech A correspondent'from Missouri sends a newspaper slip containing a report ot ' the speech of Gen. Uilcy.in the House of 1 fleprcsental.ves, l'ebiu.iry X, 1861. Al ' :or a long and heated debate on the ref erence of a bill amending the charter ot lie city of Carondelet to a StandinyCotu mil tee of the House. Mr. Riley obtained _ the floor, and addressed the House: .Hit. SI'KAKKR Every body is a pitch ing into this matter like toad-frogs into a willow swamp on a lovely evening in the balmy month ot June, when the mellow ' light of the full moon fills with a delici -1 ous flood the thin, ethereal atmospheric air. [Applause.] Sir, 1 want to putin a word,- or perhaps a word and a half. There seems to be a disposition to fight. I say, if there is any fighting to be done, i- come on with your corn-cobs and liglit ( ning-bugs : [.\, ■plause.] In the lan j gnage of the ancient Roman. •Tomemie. n«me all, tbia r<rk sball fly 1 From its firm INUW, in a pig's eve." r Now there has been a good deal of bom - bast here to-day. I call it bombast from - "Alpha" to "Omega." (1 don't under- I stand the meaning of the word, though.) . Sir, the question to refer is a great and magnificent question. It is the all-ab f sorbing question —like a sponge Sir—a - largo unmcasurable sponge, of globe 1 shape, in a small tumbler of water; it s sucks up everything. Sir, I stand here . with the weapons i have designated to e defend the rights of St. Louis County, the rights of any other county—even-the t county of Cedar itself. [Laughter and 0 applause.] Sir. the debate has assumed i. a latitudinosity. We have had a little :1 black-jack bumcombe, a little two-bitt r buncombe, bombast buueombe, bung-hole g buncombe, and the devil and his graud t mother knows what other kind ot bun -1 combe. [Laughter,] Why, Sir, just give I some of 'flu ajittle Southern soap, and a II little Northern water, and, quicker than a 1- hound-pup can lick a skillet, they will r- make euough bun'combe lather to wash the y golden flock that roams abroad the azure is meads of heaven. [Cheers and laughter.] o 1 idlude to the stariy firmament. e THE SPKAKKK. The geutleuiau is out of order. He must coufiue himself to the question. "Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end,dare to do our as we understand it"-- A - Lincoln BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1864. Mil. RILEY. Just retain your linen, if you please. I'll stick to the text as close as a pitch-plaster to alpine plank, or a lean pig to a hoi jam-rock.' [''ries of"Go on !" "You'll do !"] I want to say to these carboniferous gentlemen, these ig neous individuals, these detonating de monstrators, these pereginous volcanoes, come on with your combustibles ! If I don't— Well, I'll suck the Gulf of Mexico through a goose-quill. [Laugh terund applause.] Perhaps you think 1 am diniinitive tubers and sparse in the mundane elevation. You may discover, gentlemen, you are laboring under as great a misapprehension as thongh you had incinerated your inner vestment. In the language of the noble bard, "I was nut I'.nn In a thicket To be scared by a cricket/' Sir, we have lost our proper position. Our proper position is to the zenith ami nadir —our heads to the one. our heels to the other, ;rt rjght-angle with the horizon, spandcd by that assure arc of the lustrous firmament, bright with the coruscations of innumerable constellations, and proud as a speckled horse on county court day. [Cheers.] "But how have the mighty fallen !" in the language of the poet Sil versmith. We have assumed a slosh indieular or a diaganological position. And what is the cause? - Keho answers, Buncombe." Sir, "buncombe." 'file peo ple have been fed on buncombe, while a 1 it of spavined, ring-boned, ham-strung, wind-galled, swyneyed, split-hoofed, dis tempered. poll-evilcd politicians have lncl their noses in the public crib until there ain't enough fodder left to make a gruel for a sick grasshopper. [Cheers and laughter.] * * ■ * Mr. Speaker, y°u must excuse me for my laJ.itudino.sity and circumloeutoriness. Mv old thunderbluss scatters amazingly; but if any body get's peppered, it ain't my fault if they are in the way. Sir. these dandadical. super s(|uirtical. mahogany faced gentry —what do they know about the blessings of free dom ? About as much, Sir, as a toad-frog does of high glory. l*o they think they can escape me? I'll follnw them through pandemonium and high water! [Cheers and laughter.] These are the ones that have giit our liberty-pole oft its perpen dicularity. "lis they who woulj rend the stars atuUstripcs—that noble flag, the hi nod ■>f <mr revolutionary fathers em blemed in its red. The purity of the cause for which they died—denoted by the white, the blue —the freedom they attained, like ihe azure air that wraps their native hills and lingers < n their lovely plains. [Cheers.] The high bird of liberty sits perched on the topmost branch, but there is secessiou salt 011 his glorious tail. 1 feat' he will no more spread his noble pinions to soar beyond the azure rogious of the boreal pole. Hut le. not .Missouri pull the last leather from hi- sheltering wing to plume a shaft to pierce his noble breast, or what is the same, make a jen to sign a secession or dinance. [ Applause ] Alas ! poor bird, if they drive you fioiu the branches of the hemlock "112 the North, and the palmetto of the South, coiuo over to the gum-tree of the West, and we w ill protect your noble birdsllip while water grows and grass runs. [lmmense applause.] Mr. Speaker, I subside for the present. HI:F.CIII:R ON 1111: APPLE. — Henry Ward Beecher made an address the other day in a New York fruit convention, the apple, lie said it was the greatest of American fruits, being the hardest, most widely distributed,, aud the most useful. The tree often reaches the great age of two hundred years. 'Hie fruit is always a luxury. I'.ven a pear may not vie with it in luseiousncss, and it has one peculiarity, which not even the peach can share; it never cloys. Mr. Beeeher ran over the various methods of preparing it for the table, alid indulged in a most glowing apostrophe to the apple pie and its blessed inventor. The'usq of cider, he thought, was gradually creeping back from the ablivion to which the progress of temperance lmd consigned it.and, al though as a temperance man, he could not recommend its use, "it you will make .it," said he,"l beg of you to make it good." RKBFL FORCES IN THE FIELD. —The Army and Nary Journal . which is very high authority on all military matters computes the forces which the rebels now have in the field at a very moderate fig ure. Hood's army, now in Tenuessee, it estimates at 35,000. Early's force in the Shenandoah Valley is set down at less than 15.000, and Lee's as less than 50,- 000. These figures amount in the total to 100,000. The forces with which Price recently invaded Missouri, and the garri s>ns of Charleston, Savannah and Mobile, aud a lew other points, may swell the ag gregate to 175,000. -i-Leaky, the weather. KISS AND NEVER TELL. Though yon may sip from beauty's lip The thiil there do dwell, 'Ti» very mean in you J ween, If you shall kiss and tell! What makes the fciss exquisite bli9S, A sweet lllyaian spell» lie always mire the ki.su in pure; But never kiss and tell. This bond of lovo springs from above W here saimsaud angel* dwell; It is but lent, aud never meant That you shonld kiss and tell. It is seal—a balm to heal— A pearl within a shell— The Hybltan dew, forever new; Hut never kiss and tell. It is the plan, wince time began, Appt<i\i*l and honored well; From Kubla Khan t.» Ispahan, They kiss and never tell! In night* in June, beneath the moon, The fairies know it well; Puch rosy breath our Venus hath; We kit* and never tell! Since Eros rose, or Helen's woes,— The monk within bin cell,— The mitred one—the praying nun- All kiss and never tell! WIT ANJD WISDOM. Is death's door opened with a skeleton key? THE newspapers arc full of prophecies, but where is the profit ? Echo atfswers on all sides, " can't see it." SIDNEY SMITH compares the whistle of a locomotive to the squeal of a lawyer when Satan gets* him. A MAN who courts a young woman iu the starlight probably expects to get a wife in a twinkling. WHY is a man who stakes his money at Baden like a star? Because he's an ass to-risk. Is there any truth in the report that the Arabs who live in the desert have saudy hair? WOULD you say a lady was dressed loud who was covered all over jvith bu gles ? Wnv is a pig the most provident of animals ? Because he always carries a spare-rib or two about him. A TAII.OR who, in skating, fell through tlft ice, declared that he would never again leave his hot goose for a cold duck. WHEN a man says " I would not be egotistical," lie might as well add, " if J eould help it." A RICHMOND chap advertises a pair of old shoes as lost, offering a reward for their recovery. NEVKU confide in the young; new pails leak. Never tell your secrets to the aged; old doors seldom shut closely. THE school-girl who "fell into a rev erie" last week has been pronouueed out of danger by her physician. WHY is a person drawing an ox's teelh like tli" sunset ? Because he's an oxy dental phenomenon. JOHN BULL has to pay at the rate of per week for every convict ho keeps under lock and key. A GOOD question for a debating socie ty :—Which is the most delightful ope ration, '-To kiss a fair woman 011 a dark night, or a anrk woman on a fair night?" THEY hung a contractor out in Indiana a few days since, lie had contracted so much, that it was thought advisable to stretch him a little. WiTif a little house well filled, a little land well tilled, a little wife well willed, a husband well skilled, and servants well drilled—a little time may be well killed ! A MAN who had brutally assaulted his wife was brought before Justice Cole, of Albany, lately, and had a good deal to say about ••gelling justice." "Justice," replied Cole, "you can't get it here. This court has no power to hang you." A WONDERFUL story-teller, addicted to humming an air, beginning " Strike the Lyre," was much surprised when one of his acquaintances, taking him at his word, knocked him down. A YOUNG man at Pittsfield, who went in fir exemption from the draft, and who was asked'by the examining surgeon up on what grounds he claimed exemption, told him that "ho never felt hungry af ter dinner." ' " FOR want of water, I am forced to drink water; if I bad water, I would drink wine." This speech is a riddle, and here is the solution. It was the com plaint of an Italian vineyard man, after a long drouth, and an extremely hot sum mer, that had parched up all his grapes. DRAKE of the Trcmont llouso tells a story of una of his waiters that wot'.'j have fitted Same Lover's II a v,ay Andy. '■ Bring me the castor," said a traveler to a newly imported tahlc servant. The boy rushed about in a spasmodic and ob viously distressed mauner, and finally re turned with the auswer, " it's all ate, sir!" As Irishman, in describing America, said," I am told that you might roll Eng land thru it, an' it wouldn't make a dim in the ground ; ther's fresh water oceans inside that ye might droun Ould Ireland in ; and, as for Scotland, ye might stick it iu a corner, and ye'd niver be able lo find it out except it might be by the smell ut whisky." Geii. Butler's Speech. Before leaving New York, (Jen. Butler was waited upou by a goodly portion of the ladies and gentlemen of that city, 011 whose behalf Hon. James Wadsworth, ex pressed to the General their thanks for his valuable services in the preservation of order throughout the city on election day ; as also, for his distinguished servi ces during the progress of the present civil war, and invited the General to favor them with his views 011 the present situa tion of affairs. The following is his re sponse : GEN. lIuTLEn then said : Mr. WADSWORTH, LADIES AND GEN TLE MEN : The citizens of New York have done me honor overmuch, your kindness, exhailsting every form known of Chris tian courtesy, overwhelms me; that I should be ablo to add anything to the sum of intelligence, is a still greater hon or. That I entertain very distinct views upon the subjects just adverted to, is most true, l'eace hath her victories no less renowned than war. and of all the peaceful victories ever achieved in the interests of human freedom, that achiev ed in the peaceful ijuiet that almost brood ed over this land on the Bth of Novem ber, was the greatest, Before we proceed for a moment to look at the material results, let us look at the moral. It has taught to all the world who shall look on, and it is not now a vain boast to be said in America that the eyes of all the world arc upon us, that we are able in the strejig and strain of a civil war like that never seen before, to carry on our institutions in peaceful quiet; that we cau change or re-elect our rulers as we weigh them in the balance and find them either meritorious or wanting, with out so much ef trouble or disorder or riot or commotion as attends a constable's election in a parish in England. The moral, then, is that a Government embalmed in the hearts of the poople, de pendent on the intelligence of the peo ple, is the strongest on earth—strong in the affections, stronger still in the right arms of the people. And when we have heretofore been told that it was necessary there should he either monarchy 01 des potism to wield bayonets, wo sec the bay onets wielded by hundreds of thousands where other countries have not been able to wield them by tens, and these entirely subservient to the peoples' will. The material results are not less strik ing: first in the fact that all disputed questions which have divided the coun try are now settled by an almost unani mous verdict of the people. Does any one complain that in the conduct of mili tary operations there should be the arrest of a traitor, that question has been argu ed and settled and the verdict is ''guilty, and arrest him when he is guilty." [Cheers.] Docs any one complain that the true history of the Constitution has been carried out which enrolls all able bodied men to fight in defense of the country's life and liberties; that question has been settlpd—and hereafter it will be more honorable to be drafted than to vol- Docs any one complain that the Gov ernment in its wisdom has organized troops irrespective of color, and believes that the black man would till as much of a grave as if his color were whiter, when he falls in battle in defeuso of his coun try's liberties—that question has been settled, and has passed away forever to he among the things that arc past. Docs any one now claim, as was claimed in 18G0, that Abraham Liucoln is Presi dent of a minority—that question is set tled by an overwhelming majority. [Cheers and laughter ] And let us look for a mo ment at the fact that-if we count every Hebel against him—if we count every Rebel sympathizer against him, as they were —if we count every untrue, disloyal man against him—yet he is elected by a majority second only to that with which Jackson swept over the land in a season of financial pctil. These material results have been achiev ed. Now, then, what is the duty of the Government in the present and future? The war cannot last always. The L .story of nations and the experience of the world ' liaß shown us this. War, there fore. must come to an end, but how ? Iu what way ? A war of this kind is to be prosecuted for the purpose of breaking down the power of those opposed to the Government, and bringing them into its folds and under the supremacy of its laws. In view, therefore, of the unanimity of the American people, in view ot the streugth, the majesty, the ot the nation, might it not be suggested that now is a good time once afpiiu to hold out to the deluded people of the South the olive branch of peace and say to them "come back, cume back now. this is the last time of asking, coine back and leavo off the feeding on husks and come with us to feed upon the fat of the land, and bygones shall be bygones—if bygones are bygones—our country shall live in peace hereafter." [Cheers.] Are we not able to offer them that ? Are wq not strong enough ? Do we not stand with I'nion enough to be able to offer that to the leaders and to all ? There might have been some complaint, I think, among a proud ami chivralrous people, that they would not desert their leaders in answer to the amnesty procla mation of President Lincoln ; but now, as we come to them and say, "come back and you shall find tlie'laws the same save and except as they are altered by the legislative wisdom of the land." Are we not in a condition i!?t taking counsel of our fears or weaknesses, but froiy our strength and magnanimity, again to make the offer, and the last time to call on them, and then shall we not have exhausted all the resources of statesmanship in the ef fort to restore peace to the country ? And shall we hinder this? And if they do not come back, who shall complain? I ask not for the llebel to come back after he has fought as long as he can and tlien chooses to come back, but state some time—perhaps the sth of January, ISOS, for the association will be as good as any—and when that time shall have come, every man who shall scout the prof fered amnesty of a great and powerful nation, speaking in love, in kindness, in charity, in hope of peace and quiet for ever, then I say to him who then scouts the proffered love and kindness: "let us meet him with sharp, quick, decisive war. which shall bring the matter to an end and to the extinguishment of such men wherever they may be " And how is that to be done ? Blood and treasure lmve been poured out without stint and without measure until taking advantage of the depletion of treasure had uien have banded togeth er by speculating in that which should be the circulating medium, and have raised upon every poor man the price of the coals upon his hearth and the bread upon his table. Let some measure be taken to stop that, and a better measure than any other is to let it be understood (hat hereafter we pay no more bounties from the taxes of the North, but taking counsel from the old lioman method of carrying on war, to say to our young men. " Look on the fair fields of the sufiny South, and unless they take our amnesty, let us go down South and you shall have whetever you get in a fair fight," and we will open land offices wherever our armies march, and distribute their landsand divide them among the soldiers, to be theirs and their heirs forever. This is a harsh measure, everybody will say, but is it not quite as just as that wc should tax ourselves auew aud anew, and raise the price of the necessaries of life for the purpose of paying r,ouutics for the support of the soldiers to fight these men whom we have three times off ered and called to be our friends, in 1802 and in .June ?gain in December in 1864, again by the Bth of January, 1865; and when that clock strikes the last knell of that departing day, then all hope of return to those who have not then made.; progress to that return shall bo cut ofT forever, and they will have togo to .Mex ico, or the West Indies, or some place which I will not name, because I know not any land bad enough to bo cursed by them ; at all events they shall never come here again. I look with some interest to what I be lieve to be the present results of this election, and I believe first that wc have settled the war by determining that the people are strong enough to carry on the war, and I never expect to see in arms or in council a greater victory the one we have just achieved, and I think wc ai'e now strong enough to make them and of fer such a one that the most squeamish of our friends will go with us when they Cud that we have exhausted all the re sources of statesmanship, aud that we are now ready to make peace, and are therefore prepared "to make war to the 'hilt; therefore, I say. I look upon this victory as one which has decided the war, decided it not in a military point of view, but in that overpowering civil point of view which decides the fate of nations everywhere. To this it may be answer ed, aud I desire for a moment to that an swer to call your attention, so that every man may work out in his own miud the problem that if we carry on the war with the strength and stringency with which I have suggested, how shall we ever live in the same land with men whom we thus fought against. Let us go to the teaching of history and there draw also from the history of that laud which we are proud to call our Motherland. Eng land. Every considerable estate in the NUMBER 1. land of England under Cromwell parsed through Courts of Confiscation; and yet when the King came to his own again after a time the nation came together again in friendship nevermore to be divi ded. Is there any difficulty then in the Anglo Saxon race in this land being again in unity and friendship and peace with them with whom •they have had fight. Is it not a well-known rule that those with whom we have fought bitterly if they have fought honorably after the fight is over they are more endeared to us after that fight and we arc the more ready to take them by the hand; there fore I say there will be no difficulty in the good men of the North and the South coming together again, and letting bygones be bygones and I have said that I desire the extinguishment of thebadmen. . Al low me to say that I am honored by this opportunity to tender to the citizens of New-York, who have come here this even ing to do honor to the Government which L represent, my most sincere and hearty thanks; and now me to say stthose who have done m#the honor to say that the presence of the United States troops here tended to prevent disorder, to say that far more did the influence of all good men hete, all tending iu one direction, tend to prevent disorder, and still further the solemnity of the occasion which even the bad men seemed to feel, and from these causes and the certainty that 110 bad man could find any support or countenance from any good man of any party, to that we owe the peace of thj city. I again return you my thanks and am happy to bid you God speed on the morrow when I leave you for the armies in operation at the front. THK AMERICAN SCHOOL OF MINES. —The Loudon Mininy Journal says: Tlie immense value of the mineral deposits of the United States is so well known Englishmen; that it has long been recog nized by them that the judicious appli cation of capital is all that is required to elevate the mineral industries of the coun try to that proud position of being first in contributing to the general wealth of the nation. Hitherto great inconvenience has arisen from the difficulty of obtaining re liable information from America as to the peculiar merits or disadvantages of any particular mineral property brought under the notice of English capitalists: there were no American engineers who especi ally devoted themselves to the subject, and English engineers sent out, wore ne cessarily unacquainted with the peculi arities of the districts reported upon. The difficulty will henceforth be remov ed ; a well-constituted School of Mines, the first session of which will open on November 15, being now attached to Co lumbia Ctllege, New York, the principal chairs having been given to the most competeut men that could be found, many of whom have honorably distinguished themselves at. the Imperial School of Mines at Paris, and other schools of equal repu tation. The standard of instruction will! be as high as in any of the mining col leges of Kuropo. and the advantages which must thus accrue to the mineral interests of America can scarcely be over-estima ted. It must be particularly gratifying to Englishmen to find that Columbia Col lege should be first to found so important an institution as the American school of Mines, since that college must ever re main a connecting link between England and America. It was originally founded as King's College, New York, by George 111., at the same time as the now cele brated University of Gottengen ; and al though some trifling internal dissentiona for a time prevented Columbia College from attaining the distinction of its twin sister, it is to lie hoped that impediments no longer exist to its onward progress, and that as a School of Mines and as a University. Columbia Collage will be known aud respected throughout the world." SIIOWtNd THK DKAI). —There is a cu- \ rious custom at Havana of laying out bodies instate during the night before burial. They are placed close to an op en window fronting the street, on a couch raised four or five feet from the grout-d. The corpse is surrounded by high wax. tapers, and the whole room illuminated. Frequently when returning from a lerlu-- lia, or a ball, I have been startled to see the fixed aud rigid features of some old gentleman or lady, dressed in their best attire, and apparently reclining before the window. It used to appear an unneces sary mockery of death, dressing out a corpse in a new suit of clothes with tight patent leather boots and white neckcloth. I remember one night in particular, t was returning hone through one of the by-streets, when, seeing the lower win dow of a house illuminated, aud conc.u. ding that there was a body lying in state, I went towards it. There close to the window, so close that I eould have touch ed it through the bar 3, lay the body of a young girl about fifteen years of age. She was dressed as for a ball, with flow er in her hair, and white Batiu sb' es on her feet; her hands crossed on her breast, her eyes closed, and her mouth slightly opened ; end altogether her face and ex pression was one of the most be-autiiul I I ever saw.