VOLUME 4.
Ijttiacelhmeoiiß.
Common-Sense ID Reconstruction.
Those who have supposed that a new
plan of reconstruction was likely to be
adopted because of the result of the au
tumn elections have neither observed the
facts of those elections nor reflected very
maturely upon the character of the
American people. The elections do not
show substantial increase nf the Demo
cratic vote; and nothing less than that
could be fairly interpreted as a change
of the popular sentiment and purpose
Republicans have abstained from voting
indeed, and the result will bo a whole
some correction oi many errors into which
a party with an enormous majority is
very likely to fall, flood and generous
nien —met, w ho are earnestly devoted to
virions moral reforms—-naturally ally
thcti'selves with a party whose funda
mental principle is that justice is the
best policy. And such uieu naturally
Wish to advance their reforms bv means
of the great party organization. Hut
those who udhero to the party for its
especial and legitimate purpose are rc
polled by such efforts; ml feeling the
objects of the party to be endangered by
the want of wisdom of some ol its mem
bers, they do not hesitate to rebuke them
by suffering the party to be defeated
upon gome minor issue This brings the
whole party to its bearings, provided its
real purpose is yet unachieved ; and, I'ke
a confident arfttv worsted in the skirs
mishmg of the out posts, it feels the ne
cessity of care aud discipline, and its vic
tory is assured. .
Now the great purpose of the Repub
lican party in the reconstruction of tliq.
Union upon the policy of equal rights.
The War left the rebel States without
civil government and without slaves.
The National authority thus being oblig
ed to provide local State governments
proposes to found them upon the consent
of all the people expressed in the usual
vray. and excepting a certain inconsid
erable number whose disability may be
removed at any time by Congress. It
further ptopoees that in this State gov
eminent no person shall be disfranchise
ed on account of color. This is thj Re
publican scheme of reconstruction. Ic
intends the restoration of all States peace
ably and securely, as soon as possible.
This can not be done by creating arbi
trary political distinction among the in
habitants of the Stato ; least of all by
giving political power to the most di-af
feoted clas . Nosatie man supposes that
there can be an j effective reconstruction
uutil there is a mojority of truly loyal
voters in every- State, or a minority so j
large and important as to hold the ma- |
jority in cheek. There was but one way j
to have this number, and that was to en- j
franchise the whole population, with cer
tain conspicuous and notorious exception. :
Such a system admitted the ignorant ,
white and the ignorant colored inhabit- !
ants to vote. It was a great pity that all
were not intelligent, and that the matter j
Could not be delayed until all were ed ,
ucsted. Rut delay was indefinite mili- j
iafy occupation, which must b# avoided 1
if possible. Public impatience must also
be considered Th > law was therefore j
passed, every honest man feeling that a
man who could not read, but. who was
instinctively loyal, WHS a safer citizen
tliau a niau who could read and was lis
affected
The result has proved the justice of
this view The recent elections in the
Southern States show that this majority
or largo minority of loyal votes has been
developed in every St ta. Unfortunately
it has also taken the aspect of a division
by color. Ho* that is not the fault ot
the reconstruction policy. It is the nat
ural consequence of the situation. The
former slaveholder class was white, and
it fought against the tiovernmont in or
der to perpetuate slavery, the basis of its
political power. It failed, nnd nobody
knew th; purpose of the rebellion better
than the slaves When, therefore, they
Were made free against the will of their
late masters, was it likely that they
would instinctively turn to them as to
their best friends? but having made the
slaves freemen, what was the Government
to do ? Should it leave thein, under the
plea of State rights, wholly to the mercy
of the master class ? or should it guaran'
tee the civil rights which it had confer
ree in the only effectual way, by giving
the new citizeus political power ! There
can be no serious question upon this
point. It is mere folly to say that there
are people who have civil rights and
who are protected without participation
in political power. Does any competent
person belieVe that the colored inhabit
ants of Louisiana or Texas would be So
protected ? Does not every American cit
isen know that they were not ?
The Republican policy of reconstruc-.
tion is that of practical common sense,
and it will therefore be maintained. Its
Btrength bb4 security do not rest upon
any partiality for the oolored race, nor
upon any remarkable love of justice, nor
Upon and vindictive feelling toward reb
els, but upon precisely the instinct and
determination that carried the war to an
unconditional triumph. The people of
this country do not believe that the
Southern States can be safely and eco
nomically restored by givim* them wholly
into ex rebel hands, ard they therefore
will not bring into power a party which
has no oiler policy. Men are not very
logical m politics, and great multitudes
are seldom controlled by a perfectly pure
; principle. It must have the alloy of in
terest, of prejudice, of eooae baser emo
tion, as in nutritious substances tbe fi
brous woody part is larger than the sac
charine element. Thus Ohio rejects ne
gro tuff rage. The question, indeed, was
AMERICAN - CITIZEN.
complicated. But concede that Ohiu
does not wish the colored populatiou to
vote. It is a soiry fact It sfrows how
poorly Ohio understands the relation of
justice to goo I policy. Rut it by no
means shows that Ohio would not vote
for suffrage ir Louisiana. Tbe question
there is wholly different. In Ohio it is
a point of principle : in Louisiaua, of
polioy. It is not necessary that colored
men should vote iu Ohio to keep that
State steadily in tho Union. Rut in
Louisiana it is essential. If the Louisi
ana should reproach tho Ohio voter with
inconsistency, he would reply that he
was not inconsistent, tor if Ohio were in
the condition of Louisiana he would vote
accordingly.
It is not lik'ely, therefore, that tho
people wtH suddenly decide that the only
safe and permanent method of reconstruc
ton is io paralyze the loyal element in
the late rebol States, and commit those
States wholly to the charge of men like
Mayor Monroe, Governor Ferry, and the
malcontents. The country is heavi y
taxed, as Mr. Horatio Seymour perpetu
a'ly reminds it, and it therefore wishes
something t.) show lor its money, and that
something is reconstruction upon its own
sensible, conclusive method, and not
upon terms dictated by unrepentant reb
els, assisted by Mr. Horatio Seymour,
with his abolition of tho Senate, and Mr.
George H. Feudleton, with his repudia
tion of the national debt.— Harper*
Weekly.
The District School Teacher.
The social statistics of tho United
Stales Census Bureau do not give us any
table showing the propoition of male and
female employees in any branch of la
bor; and they do not therefore positively
declare, but there is reason to believe,
that one hundred thousand of the one
hundred and fifty thousand two hundred
and forty-one teachers in the ono hun
dred aud fifteen thousand two hundred
twenty-four public shools, colleges, and
academies in the United States are fes
males. Two thirds of the grand army
which Rrougham was proud to see on
tho march, armed wifh primers, and of
which he justly anticipated such grand
and glorious and progressive, though
peaceful triumphs, arc Amozons; and,
singularly enough, they have formed the
vansguard. The women have really
been pioneers in education, and have
been among the earliest to ponetrate tho
new fields, the opening Territories, and
to invade those forbidden States of the
South whore education a few years ago
was proscribed to oertain classes and col
ors, but where now the school-teachers
form a mighty army of invasion and are
peacefully accomplishing a mighty inv
olution.
Every "village schoy].uiarm," every
distjiet teacher, has a dual existence—
the life in and tho life out of school
She is supposed to be au epitome of all
knowledge, and a combination ol "what
soever things ate pure, whatsoever thiugs
ate lovely, whatsoever things aro of good
report.' Her conversation ii supposed
to be a sort of abstract of all the wisdom
of Solomon put into plain English for
plain Country folks No subj ct is con
sidered too abstvuso for her discussion,
and iiono too trivial to command her at
tention. Iu the little world iu which
she moves she settles all vexed questions
in ethics, mathematics, geography, e'c..
and perhaps the next moment gives her
decision as to the shade of a ribbon or
the fit of a garment. She Writes the bu
siness letters of the farmer with whom
she is temporarily boarding, rnd is often
expected and called onto carry on the
love correspondence of the neighboihood.
frequently writing on both sides of the
stoty, aud entering deeply into all, the
quarrels of lovelorn couples. She reads
the newspaper to the old folks, conduct
ing all the literary affairs of the family
except the morning and evening service.
It is popularly supposed that brain work
is not fatigueing. and that, as she is not
a fie'd-laborer during the day, she can
nurse the sick at night without fatigue.
She is, in short, the cherished confidant
of tl.e troubles, real and imaginary, of
the whole village; at i nee "guide, phi
losopher, and friend." She is usually of
city origin and has been educated at the
"Academy," and is popularly supposed
to know every body and everything in
"the city" as well as in the books. Lo
cal habitation in the village she has not,
but is'hoardcd round" among her pat
rons, leading as migratory an existence
as the birds of the air and the beasts of
the field, and is therefore looked upon as
the fortnight newspaper, and is apt to
give offense if she docs not take to her
newest home the news, and often the
scandal, of her last.
Her legitimate sphere is the school
room. There she is paramount; there
she reigns supreme, without a rival, mon
arch of all she surveys. Over the minds
of the little ones she has a wonderful in
fluence. TLey regard her with amaze
ment and awe, and place tho moat im
plicit faith in what she says They cati
not understand how she ferrets out cv
ery wild prank, discovers every shirking,
of lessons, and sees through every sham;
they only know that playing sick" is
plryed out, and "peeping on" is lost la
bor.
These are bright sides of the picture,
Let no one suppose either position is a
sinecure. Only they know the strange
isolation tbey endure, the heart sicken
ing loner.omcaess they feel, sarrnuotied
by hundreds of frienis but not one of
their own condition of mind, net misnn
derstood but unappreciated. Let th'ise
who imagine this life io the school a
pleasant one try it; and when the nov
elty hi*' worn off, when each day becomes
a counterpart of the preceding, when the
"Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as it"— A - LINCOLN
BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PENN'A, WEDNESDAY, NO VEMBER 13,1867.
mistakes that were amusing at first have
become monotonous, when the interest
ing faces have lost their brightness in
poring over books too deep and wise for
their littlo minds, when cliildian that at
first were overanxious to please have with
increased intimacy grown provokingly
careless and stupid, they will be ready to
admit that these and inuumerablo other
petty annoyanoes require a teacher to
possess her soul in patience. Talk about
Job's patience! He never taught school!
True he endured a severe ordeal—loss of
friends destruction of property, treachery,
disease. We nerve ourselves to endure
great sorrows; it is the lesser ills of life
that overflow the cup of bitterness, and
many of ihese are crowded into each
day's experience of the "District school
mistress."
Aud yet the life has its joys as well as
its vexations ; and our picture will res
cull many little pleasantries to many a
teacher's mind. The picture speaks for
itself. The Teacher's face tells of so
much patience, firmness, and sweetuess
that we know the happy, eager children
are in good hands. That tall girl is a
controlling impulse in tbe school, and
lias already a womanly air. The long
haired lassie is a merry sprite with laugh
ing blue eyes and golden hair. She is
full o r f'un, yet a good pupil, and cvi- |
dently a favorite with her teacher, whose
hand is raised as if to give her a gentle
admonishing pat on the shoulder. The
round baby face in the ccntro has just
finished first day at school, while the
little fellow on the left has an earnest,
sorious lace, as though ho were revolv
ing in his mind some matter ot' grave
importance.— Harper's Weekly.
CHEAP DWELLINGS.
.Jii
Those who have plenty of money can
purchase the brains of an architect to
tell how to construct a house, if they
hare none of their own ; but those who
have but littlo money must plan their
own houses, perhaps build them. The
popular method of constructing wood
houses, particularly cottages, has not
been by any means the most economical
that can be devised. From thirty to for
ty per cent, more lumber has been used
than is necessary, and much labor expen
ded that is who'ly concealed when the
house is completed, and altogether un»
nscessary. A small dwelling need not
be constructed as we would build a ware
house or a grain elevator. It is never
subjected to any test of its strength, and
wooden cottages never fall down so long
as they have a good foundation and chose
little repairs which all houses must have
to staid the ravages of time. No square
timber, and but a few scantlings are res
quired in a small cottage. Mortises and
tenons are of no account —indeed they
are a positive detriment, while braces arc
equally useless.
The studding of a house may as well
be made ef iiieh boards four inches wide
as of double that thickness. These studs
will hold the nails of the siding and lath
just as well as those two inches in thick
ness. Just so the floor joists may be of
inch stuff eight inches wide. Having
laid up the cellar walls of stone and lev
eled theni at the top, boards should be
laid on this wall to form a sill. The
bents of the frame may then be set up,
one after another, and stayed till the sid
ing can be put on. These beuts may be
on the floor, joist, stuJs, cross joints for
the ceiling and rafters, all nailed togeth
er firmly with cut nails while lying upon
the ground. Every pioce of siding nail
ed to this frame tends io make it firmer
and stiffur, and so do the laths upon
which the mortar is to be spread. The
partitions made io like manner, well se
cured, al-o tend to stiffen the whole fab
ric. . ith here and there a good sup
port in the cellar, such a house when
completed, woul I be just as desirable for
all practical purposes as one of the same
size Contaittiug nearly twice as much ma
terial, and it would certainly be just as
warm. A cottage with five or six rooms
may be speedily constructed oil this pria
ciple, at a much less coat than io the pop
ular style ot bu : lding. This is a subs
stantial building compared with those
constructed on leased lands about Chica
go, and they are deemed vary comforta
ble, and their strength and safety are not
questioned. Some method must be de
vised to cheapen the cost of dwellings,
and we know of none that commeuds it
self so well as this that wo have suggess
ted.
TALENT AND TACT. —Talent is some
thing, but tact is everything. Talent
ts serious, sober, grave and lcspectable;
tact is all that, and more too. It is not a
seventh sense, but it is the life of all
the five. It is the open eye, the quick
ear, the judging taste, the keen smell
and the lively touch; it is the interpre
ter of ail riddles—the surmounter of all
difficulties—the remover of alt obstacles.
It is useful in wfitude, for it shows a
man his way into the world; it is useful
iu society tor it shows him his way
through tho world. Talent is power
—tact is skill; talent is we'ght—tact
is momentum, talent knows, what to
do—tact knows how to do it; talent
makes a man respectak le—tact will
make him respected; talent is wealth
tact is reaiiy money. For all the prac
tical purposes of lift, tact carries it a
gainsl tal.iit—ten to one.
—Young man, ynu are waiting for
some door to open into a broad and use
ful future J Dont wait. Select the door
and pry it open, even if you have to use
a crow-bar.
—A man oannot possess anything that
is better than a good woman, nor any
thing that ia worse than a bad one.
WIT AITO WISPOM.
—What goes against the grain? A
reaper.
—A thorn in the bush is worth two
in the hand
—The largest room in the world—room
for improvement.
—The coward says he is cautious, the
miser that he is sparing.
—The course of true love is a race
where often there is a false start,
—Lay by a good store of patience and
put it whero you can find it. _
—The most laudable ambition is to be
wise ; the greatost wisdom to be good.
—Why are hogs the most intelligent
things living? Because they note every
thing.
—A little wrongsgoing in the begin
ning leadeth to a great »iB in tho end.
—Temptation is tho fire that brings up
the scum of the heart.
—lt is pleasant tn be cheatsd ;we love
sweet wild dreams—the greatest cheats
iu the world.
—lf a man cannot readily recognize
merit, it is evident that he has none him
self.
—lt is a good thing to havo utility and
beauty combined as the poor washerwo
man said when she used her thirteen
ohildrcn for clothes-pins.
; —The best quality of mind that any
one can oome in posession of is the
strength to bear up against disappoints
meut and misfortunes.
is a truo science.—•
Tho man of profound thought, tho man
of ability, and above all, the man of gens
ius, has his character stamped by nature ;
the mau of violent passions and the vol
uptuary have it stamped by habit.
IIE IS RIOIIT. —An editor down
South gays he would as soon try togo
to sea on a shingle, make a ladder
of fog, chase a streak of lightning
through a crab apple orchard, swim
up the rapids of Niagara river, raise
the dead or set Lake Erie on fire
with a match, as to stop lovers get
ting married when they t ike it into
their heads to do so.
THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS. —Live
as long as you may, the first twenty years
form tho greater part of your life. They
appear so when they are passing; they
seem so when we look back to them ;
and they take up more room in our mem
ory than all tho years that succeed them.
If this be so, how important they should
bo passed in plunting good principles,
cultivating good taste, strengthening
good habits, fleeing from pleasures which
lay up bitterness and sorrow for time to
come ! Take good carc of tho first twen
ty-years.
A STORY WITH A MORAL. —A Con
necticut exchange tells the following story
of a boy, who was sent from Groton, Con
necticut, to New London one day last
Summer with a bag of green corn. The
boy was gone all day, and returned with
the bag unopened, which he dumped on
the floor saying :
"There is your corn; go and sell it, I
can't."
"Sold any ?"
"No; I've been all over London with
it, and no body said anything concerning
groen corn. Two or three fellows asked
me what I had in my bag, and I toll
them it was none of their business what
it was !"
The boy is not uulike hundreds of
merchants, who will promptly call him
a fool for not telling what he had to sell.
They are actually doing the same thing
on a much larger scale than did the boy.
by not advertising their business.
A POOR MAN'S Wisn.—l asked a stu
dent what three things he most wished.
He said :
"Give me books, health, and quiet, and
I care for nothing more."
I asked a miser, and he cried : "Money
money, money. '
I asked a drunkard, and he called
loudly for strong drink.
I asked the multitude arouud me, and
they lifted up a confused cry, in which
I heard the words : "Wealth, fame and
plersure."
I asked a poor man, who had borne the
character of an experienced Christian.—
He replied that all his wishes might be
met in Christ. He spoke seriously, and
I asked him to explain. He said; "I
grealtly desire three things ; first that I
be found in Christ; secondly, that I may
be like Christ; thirdly that I may be
with Christ."
I havo thought much of his answer,
and the more I think of it the wiser it
see ins.
ETERNlTY. —"Eternity has no gray
hairs." The flowers fade, the heart
withers, man grows old and dies ; the
man lays down io the sepulcher of ages;
but time writes no wrinkle on tho brow
of eternity Eternity. Stupendous
thought. Tho ever present, unborn,
nndeuyiug, the endless chain, com
passing tbe life ot God, the golden
thread, entwining the destinies of the
universe. Karth has its beauties, but
time shrouds them for the grave ; they
are but as the gilded sepulcber ; its pos
sessions, they are but toys of changing
fortunes, its pleasures, they are bursting
bubbles. Not ao in the untried bourne,
in the dwelling of the Almighty, can
come no foot steps of decay. Its day
will know no darkening—eternal splen
dors forbid tbe approaoh of night. Its
foundations will never fail; they are
fresh from tbe eternal throne. Its glory
will never wane, for there is the ever
present God. Its harmonies will never
cease, exhauetlese love supplies the song.
Education in the Southern States.
In the New York Tribune of October
19 there is a very valuable communicas
tion upon education in the South. It is
uot possible to overstate the importance
of this subject in the present condition
Of the country, for if it were essential
that the freedmcn should bo enfranchised,
which is indisputable, it it not less ne
cessary that they should be educated.—
Moreover, as their enfranchisement came
from the free States so must their educas
tion come. To abandon them to the class
which lately held them enslaved, which
is the policy of the Democratic party, is
not only to leave them without any safe
guards of civil rights, but it is to con
demn them to hopeless ignorance.
The article of which we speak truly
states the situation of the country in this
respect at the beginning of the rebellion.
Of the 8,000,000 Southern whites in
1860 only 300,000 owned slaves, and
only 90,000 of the owners had more
than 10 slaves each. Other small slave
holders and a few hundred thousand mer
chants and professional men of some
wealth were the adherents of the great
slaveholders who controlled the 7,000,-
000 poor whites and 4,000,000 blaoks.
Thus 1,000,000 men, owning the land
and capital aud monopolizing tho educa
tion in their section, ruled 11,000,000
laborers without property or education,
and, by the abject subservience of the
Democratic party of the Northern States,
governed the Union
The two chief methods by which the
despotism at tho Sooth was maintainod
wero the discouragement of education
both among the poor whites and the
blacks, and the fostering of prejudice
and hatred between these two classes.—
The free schools of tho South educated
one in every thirteen of the population ;
tho free States ono in every four and
four fifths. The slave States also especi
ally encouraged tho high priced acade
mies, which only the children of the oli
garch attended. From tho last census
it appears that Alabama gave about 800,-
000 to colleges and scadcmies which
w<:re untaxed, and no endowment to the
public schools. Virginia d'd not tax hor
higher colleges and academies, which
was a good thing, but she gave only
£4,410 to her public schools. Tho four
teen slave States excluding Delawaro
and including Missouri, which iu 1800
was fast ceasing to be a slave State, and
contributed 811,522 of the whole amount,
gave only 8130,251 in endowments to
free schools. This tells the story. Tho
alphabet is an abolitionist. If you would
keep a people enslaved refuso to teach
thein to read. When the British Re
foim Bill passed, Mr. Robert Lowe, who
had strenuously opposed it, said, bitterly:
" And now, Mr. Speaker, let us enlrcat
our masters to learn their letters," show
ing that he, at least, knew that the peo
ple had not been taught them before.
The despotic spirit which instinctively
disliked free schools also sought to ex
clude books and newspapers except for
the aristocracy. It actually proposed a
" Southern literature," for the literature
of all modern Christendom was incendiary
to slavery. It abhorred free speech. It
knew that knowledge is power, and it
trembled Tho article of which we arc
speaking traces the means by which
mutual hostility was inflamed between
the poor whites aud the blacks. Rut
nothing could save tho slave region from
Christianity, a real Democracy, and the
nineteenth century ; and the war " has
resulted io the emancipation of 11,000,-
000 of deceived democracy from the rule
of tho aristocracy." Rut the danger of
the Southern section is in the still per
nicious influence of the former aristoc
racy. It ruled through ignorance, from
which spr'ng hatred and prejudice ; and
if we can strike at that ignorance we
wound tho sap root-pf all the national
sorrow and is now our
great duty. It must be, under the cir
cumstances, simultaneous and co-opera
tive with political action.
Our author gives most striking and
interesting facts upon the present condi
tion for tho movement for t l 'e education
of the frcedmen. The chief superintend
ing agency is the Freedmen's Bureau.
On the Ist of January, 1867, there were
1496 schools, 1737 teachers, and 95,167
colored and 470 white scholars actually
in school, besides these studying else
where. " Many of my pupils," writes a
teacher in Southern Virginia, "teach
white children at home wbo are too pre
judiced to come to our school." The
colored peop'e are wholly alive to the
importance of the work. In Georgia
they have organized 172 private schools.
In JB6O, within an area of twenty miles
Chattanooga, there was no school
of any kind whatever. Now Chattanooga
has six colored schools besides others,
and there are numerous others in the
neighborhood. Near Corinth, in Missis
sippi, and old genticman says: "My
little contrabands have been picking up
bullets on the battle field, aud have sent
them to buy spelling books." The re
ports of the capacity, as well as the ardor
of the ucw scholurs are most encour-,
aging
Now what is the duty of an honest
man who wishes peace, and good order,
and good feeling iu this cauutry ? Is it
to be forever idiotically roaring about the
inferiority and barbarism of " niggers,"
and " nigger equality," aud " nigger su
premacy," or to reflect that there is a
very large ignorant populatiou in the
country, who cannot bo expelled uor ex
terminated, and who must therefore be
educatod,tbat they may bo more valuable
citizens ? The demagogue at the North
who was the former political ally of the
slaveholder will pursue the slaveholder's
policy of encouraging hostility of race
and the ignorance of the loborcr But
I the man who believes with Washington
that the security of this Government is
in " tho virtue and intelligence of the
people" will strive to promote that intel
ligence and develop that virtue. Fra '
ternal feeling among tho citizens is the
surest bulwark of the State. Who en
courages that feeling? Those who de
nounce a part of the population as " nig
gers," or those who treat all men as
men ? Those who would leave the re
covered States sunk iu ignorance, or those
who would set a school house at every
cross-road ?
The Smiles That Hide Grief.
Some one said to Dr. Johnson a hat it
seemed strange that ho who so often do
lighted his cumpany by his lively con
versation should say he was miserable.—
" Alas ! it fSi all outside," replied the
sage ; "I may be cracking my joke and
cursing the sun ; sun, how I hato thy
beams !" Boswell appended a foot-note
in which he rcmaikod that beyond adoubt
a man appears gay in company who is sad
in heart. His meriment is liko tho sound
of d/ums and trumpets in battle to drown
tho groans of the wounded and dying.—
It is well known that Cowper was in a
morbidly despondent state when he pen
nod "John Gilpin," of which bclectable
ballad and his cogencts ho himrelf
bears reocord : "Strange as it may seem,
tho most ludicrous lines I ever wrote have
been when in the saddest mood, and but
for that sadest perhaps norer would havo
been written it all."
In the hight of his ill fortune, 1526,
Sir Walter Scott was ever giving vent,
in lis diary or elsewhere, to some wliim
sicial outburst of humorous sally ; awl af
ter indicating an extra gay jeud sprit in
his journal just before leaving his dingy
Edinburg lodgings for Abbotsford, he
follows it up next day by this bitofselfs
portraiture: "Anybody would think from
tbe fa! de-ral conclusion of my journal of
yesterday that I left town in a very good
huidor. But nature has given me a kind
of bouyancy—l know not what to call it
that mingles with mj deepest affections
and most gloomy hours. I have a secret
pride—l fancy it will bo most traly
termed—which impels me to mix with
my distress strange snatches of mirth
which havo no mirth in them.
TIIE EYE OF THE NEEDLE. —Some
traveler to tho Holy Land informs lis that
there is (or was) at the side of the prin
cipal gate cf Jcrusalam, a small one
which, Upon occasions of great urgency,
was opened for the admission of persons
after the great gates were closed for the
night. This gat! from its small size,
was Called the Kye of the Needle, and
to get a Camel through it at all was no
small task—for a lontled camol to pass
was an utter impossibility.
With the above fact before tho mind,
one oan seo that the words of our Savior
when speaking of tho straight gait" and
the "rich man," Were more literally than
many suppose. And we see how as the
man passes into the narrow way, the side
a-id the low top of the straight gale scrape
everything from him to which he had
befora trustod. No one can take anything
but himself through. Far easier is it to
strip a camel of its burden than to divest
a rich man of his trust in riches.
A POWERFUL FERTILIBEIL —Every
farmer has soot at command, whose
presence in stovespipe or chymneys
is not unfreqiiently tho case of fires,
occasioning the loss sometimes of
both propel ty ami life. This agent
for evil is on* of tlie most valuable
manures, and nothing but the most
culpable carelesness and indifference
will suffer it to remain a standing
menace to life arid property, when it
can be easily removed and turned to
good account iu the fields or garden.
Twelve quarts of soot in a hogshead
of water will improve the growth of
flowers, garden vegetables or root
crops. In either a liquid or solid
state it makes an excellant top-drcs
sing for grass or sereal crops.
—Mrs. Lincoln's brothels, as is known,
were in the Confederate army. The
youngest of lhem started April, 1801,
from New Orleans as a private in the
Chausseurs a Ficd. and being discharged
for sickness at Richmond, in October
of the game year returned to his home
but, though still suffering iu health,
he left a wife and two babies to join the
Crescent R«gim?nt, ia response to Boau
regard's call, niid fell at Sliiloh. An
other, Captain David Tod I, started with
Col. Tom Taylor, of the First Kentucky
Volunteers, and was also killed towards
tho end of the war. And third, Dr.
Todd served throughout as a distinguish
ed surgeon.
A BAD TEMPER. —A bad temper is
a regular curse to its possessor , and its
influence is most deadly wherever it is
found. It is a kind of martyrdom to be
obliged to live with one of a complaining
tem.er. To hear a continual round of
complaints and murmuring*, to have ev
ery pleasant thought seared away by
his evil spirits, is iu truth a soro trial.
It is like the sting of a scorpion* or a
perpetual nettle, destroying your peace,
and rendering life a burden.
—Never make use of a woman's name
in an improper time, or in mixed coinpa
ny. Ne»er make assertions about her
that you feel she herself would bluih
no hear. Whan you meet with men who
do not scruple to make use of a womau's
name in a reckless manner, shun them
for they are lost of every seuse of honor.
NUMBER 47
THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION.
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA.
LIY JOHN W. GEARY, GOVERNOR.
From th« Creation of the world, io ail
ages and climes, it lias bseu customary
to set apart certain days for specml reli
gious observance*. This has not always
been influenced by the light of Christian
knowledge, nor hy any proper conception
of ihe character of that Great Heing "!»ho
ruleth tha eirth in righteousness." and
"Who daily loatlclh with his benifits,"
but by au innato sei»«o of the existenoti
of an over-ruliug l'owar, by which the
world and all it can tains are governed
and controlled. Aided by the cultivated
reason, and the teaching of Divine revel
ation, we, however are taught to rocog
nize in that Supreme Ruler a Heavenly
Lather, to whom we are indebted for
existence and all the blessings we enjoy,
and to whome we owe constant and fer
vent thanksgiving and prais. It is he who
■'visiteth the earth and waterethit;" who
"setteth the furrows and blesscth the
springings thereofwho tho
with his pjoodness, and whose path? drop
fatness who "clotheth the pastures with
flocks, and covoreth the valleys with com
who 'rnaketh the out goings of the
morning to rejoice" who "is our refuge
and strength who maketh wars to
cease," and"saveth us from our enemios;"
whose ' throne is for ever and ever," and
who "blesseth tho nations whoso God is
the Lord."
On all sides we have increased assiti
ranee of the "loving-kindness" of an All
wise Parent of Good, who has conducted
our nation through a Ions? and terriblo
war, and prcmited our people to rposes
once more in saftoy, "withot any to molest
thorn or to make them afraid." The mon
strous sentiment of disunion is no lunger
tolerated. Tho Flag of the Union, arid
the Constitution aio esteemed as the safe
guards of the rights and liberties of ths
people, and aro revdred and defendod as
the ark of their political safety.
A kind Providence has not grown
weary of supporting o&r contiuuos wants.
A bounteous harvest has rewarded the
labors of the husbandman. Hooks and
herds aro scattered in countless numbers
over our valleys «nd hills. Commerce
is uninterrupted, and vessels laden with
tho products of nature and of art, speed
unmolested, over tho trackless deeps.—
Neither pestilence, famine, political or
social evils, financial embara»sment-. or
commercial distress have been pnmito 1
to stay the progress and happiness of the
people of this great Commonwealth ; but
peace ,health, education, morality, relig
gion,, social improvement and r fiiicment
with their attendant blesssngs, have filled
the cup of enjoyment and comfort to over
flowing.
Recognizing our re sponsiblity to Him
who controls tho destiny, of nations as
well as Individuals, and"from whom
Cometh every good and perfect gift," and
to whomo we are deeply indebted for all
these and the richer blessings of our
common Christianity, let us uoitorily
give our most devotod gratitude and
hearty thanksgiving.
I, therefore reomtnend that Thursday
the 28th day of November next, be set
apart as a day of praise and t.hankngiv
ing, that all secular and worldly business
be suspended, and the peoplo assembled
in their various places of worship to ac -
knowledge thoir gratitude, and offer up
prayers for a continuance of Divine fa-,
vor.
Given undor my hand and the Great Soul
of tho State, at Harrisburgh, this thir
ty-first day of October, in the year of
our Lord one thousand eiget hundred
and sixty«sevcn, and of the Common
wealth the uinety-sffccond.
J NO. W. GEARY.
By the Governor ;
F. JORDAN, Secretary of State.
Outi Flowers may be blighted, our pic
tures destroyed, our ornaments stolen;
but our beautiful thoughts are with us al
ways, under all circumstances of riches
and poverty, health and sickness, success
or disappointment. They are more safe
ly and surely our own than any jewel wa
oan possess; and what is better still, wo
can bring them out and shore them with
others without the least fear or grudge
ing, because neither friend nor enemy
can rob us of them.
—Selfishness is a violation of natural
law. People say it is natural, ft is
common, it is universal ; everybody is
solfish, and in that sense men use tho
term natrril : but another sense —viz:
that which relates to its design, its or
ganic tendency —selfishness is a violation
of the natural !aw of the miud, and aos
cording to tho structure of the mind it is
| punished . —Bterhif
—Always regard your present condi
tion as a state of pilgrimage, never view
it as anything more. This will regulate
your desires and moderate your wishes
for earthly things. This will keop you
from being too much elevated when you
meet with prosperous sense.
TRUTH.—There is nothing ss pleas
ant as tho hearing and spekiug the truth.
For this reason there is no conversation
so agreeable as that of the man of integ
rity. who hear* without any intention to
betray and ipeaks without any in&cn'iou
to deceive.
—lt is reported that Mrs. Lincoln
is actually proparing to publish a
hook. Miss Olive Logan, the New
York actress and writer, is said to
have been engaged to assist her io
the literary labor.