1 ADDRESS OP THE CARRIER. January Ist. 1855. HsAnn ye the sighing sound— e Tint broke the stillness of the midnight hour, The murmur breathed around As sobbing winds, when gathering tempests lower? Did ye not bear upon the breeze a sigh As on its airy pinions it swept by? It was the old year's requiem sung again And marked the hour when it passed from meal And did ye see the tears start, And did ye mark the partings of last night-- That rose from heart to heart? Those tears were joyous nud those partings bright, But ONE was sad, between the Night and Morn When the Now Year was from the Future born And the Old Year, by Time, was captive led: rhi) dews of heaven wore the tear-drops shed. To-day dawns,—the first page 'if a now chaptAir in the Book of Fate, And Prophet, Priest and Sage When It has passed, its fortunes will relate, As ill to rend or pleasant to rmiem:, With fair deeds crowned or those of darker hue may this Year, from nut the rounds of age Ilk known as bright as is the virgin page. • - And since the Old has passed Can we look bark and call its course as bright As that we looked on last, the It was buried in Eternal Night? • Were we as happy in the twelve months gone, An joyous, when the previous year had flown? Are we as prosperous now as when the Sun Ilia last yein'S journey had commenced to run? f`ould but some earthly Call Rouse up our fathers from their dreamless sleep, And_ could their eyes now fall Upon our Town, what pleasures would they reap! - in silent wonder would their minds lye chained, They scarce would know the hulls where once they GEM rtaprov'ements written every where so plain Would awe them to their silent graves again! The tottering piles they knew !lave Me tkwuiseives passed far Oa Momory's bound And on their bases grow Huge stately domes with wealth and splendor crowned! Both Thrift and Enterprise our townsmen lead, Drive manufactures at a railway speed, Turn groaning mills, blow strong our foundry fires Whirl busineSs o'er the Telegraphic wires. The streamlest of the pring Tlast murmured down the craggy mountain side, Its tribute too shall bring, That thirsty tits may have their wants supplied. But while that silver runlet harm/ems bows There is a stream, that rolls its tide of woes And taints our borough, with a withering It the stream whose waves are liquid DEATH. And may that soon be dried I May Duty stern within the balls of State Ilolp atom the burning tide, And other, healthier, stronger laws create; Help bind the curso that withers noble hearts And sears life's hopes with sorrow's poisoned darts; Help bring the gifts of Prohibition down, And gild their brows with an imniortal crown. Our darkened streets shall.glow, In ruddy lustre with tho new-born light= - That Gas-5y lamps shall throw— To brighten up the gathering gloom of night. Our strectts, once rough, a level face display, Have STRUCK their hideous FLAGS, gave MUCKS the sway Would not our fathers say. should this they see "You are advancing In Prosperity." But let us cast an eye Toward events. within the outer world Mankind we hero descry, In fortune raised, to ruination hurled. Dec sds are tumbling, on a tottering throno. Amd structures rising noble as our own. Thu stirring tire of growing Freedom thrills From Turkey's groves, to Russia's barren bills In retrospection's gins's, Let ps scan o'er the fortunes of an age, Let Past and , Presant poles. *vents that dock Timo's ever-filling page, TIM short-lived honor, that but yesterday, • Had 4raced a king, has now all passed away; The bair that scarce could claim four cottage walls Now boasts himself the lord of regal balls! And such has been the fate, Within a TITELVir)IONTII, of the noble band That filled the CIIMISS or STATF,-.. Within this Keystone of our favored land, Proud lu their might and In their purpose strong, Conscious of right they felt intact of wrong. 0 evil hour I The polls have SET THEY I'll/La And raised agair, triumphant Whig:mil From wily demngogueg— Their sorreign rights and sway tho pooplo took And eleanaod of party clogs; Breathed NEnnisaa-trrr a stern rebuke, nava placed Ittrimain to guard the common wool And growleg:ovils of the Stato to heal. 'A beacon star now gilds,tho horizon !nut swirl will Llano into the noonday sun. Aro wo not happy then, Do not our gates shin° with PROSPERITY i When New Year comes again We treat ire shall ten-fold more prosperous be. Succeeding days will newer fortune's bring, r Icroming mouths with fresh improvements ring, Each year more progperous than the former come, Till Freedom shouts its great milleniumi My friends, a - New Year's call Upon you yearly has the Carrier made, Your thanks and nudes, have all On me a lasting obligation laid, BoAll I have, to you that little giyo, .wishos, "Health" and "Wealth," and (MA I' NSW) years to live. • 'Sweet dreams to-night," to-ay tho thought enjoy You've helped topake a happy Stir The best outlay of money is on 'good porirti. CARRIER BOY select Colt. [From Godey'T Lady'R Book.) MY MOTHER-IN-LAW ItY PATIENCE PERKINS I AM the late Patience Trice, immortal by my, history of " My Brother Tong" published originally in this magazine, translated and cockneyized in England, and reproduced in this country as an English affair.* I mar ried a widower with ten children. If you wish to know why, ask my brother Tom, and he will tell you. So much for my antece - dents; now for "My Mother-in Law." .I flatter myself that I have-commonsense; even my brother Tom admits that, as a geri eral rule, though he cites exceptional circum stances. I do know enough to retire into the hous3 when it rains, or to take an om ni us, or spread an umbrella. I have seen children before tc--7ay ; if never,any,of my own, actually own, all those of my sister's (not a few), and my husband's ten by a for mer connection; and I do think that my • husband's mother might give credit for some cap: c'ty. If marrying a man with ten Chil dren is any proof of imfecility, as sonic people pretend, mother-in-law shoUld, at any rate, be the last to reproach me with it. I do not know how good a medlar among fruits may be, but I•dolknow that a meddler in one's household affairs is intolerable. I do not know precisely what the first Mrs. Perkins died of, but if ever a coroner's jury sits upon me, or if the doctormakes a true return to the superintendent of the health office, I know the verdict in the ono case, or the report in the other, will be—"an over dose of mother-in-law." Mr. Perkins, my dear lord and master, is well enough, perhaps I should say very well. I don't think he killed his first wife, but I do hope I shall never be required to declare, upon oath, what are my firm convictions upon the subject.— It might make a disturbance in the family. If the woman was born for a plague, she is fulfilling hermission. Such a peaked face Such a long neck I Such lengthened sour, ness, long drawn out! Such a leaff .and hungry look I lf,she were any body but my husband's mother, I could appeal to him I r protection ; but I cannot ask the man to rise in rebelion against his Own flesh and blood, the author of his being. I wish she could be content with the original production, and not imagine that he needs her continual supervision, as an author supervises , new editions; and makes alerations in every one! My welcome to the house was a damper. Perkins, before his mariage never let me see his mother. Widowers are prompt and artful. Let them hut breathe on the maiden with intent to capture, the proverb says, and the end is sure. The facination of a serpent exerted on a bird, is not more certain. I am half inclined to acuse my husband of du plicity--of (Aiming a wife under false preten ces ; the second offence, too, the monster! A man's children we expect twille plagued withf and perhaps the escape 6om early unrsing, Godfrey's cordial, . palby's carmin ative, teething, and all that sort of thing, is quite an equivalent for any inconvenience which may grow out of being a mother at second•hand, with a family capital all ready to commence married life upon. But why did not the creature tell me that he was to be taken with this other and extra ineumber anee ? Why is not the marriage-service altered to meet such cases, thus: "I, Pa tience, take thee, Timothy {and thy mother], to my wedded husband [and mother-in:law) to have and to hold"—and the rest of iti I am sure I have and hold more, by two thirds, of ttie mother than of the son. 01 poor me! My welcome, as I said, was a damper.— She kissed me heartily enough—too heartily —for she smelt horibly of snuff. She tasted of it, indeed; and if I could believe that any woman ever put powdered tobacco in her mouth, instead of in the proper place—if the nose even is that, proper ,place—she is that person. She turned me round and round, and looked me all over with most wonderful n9iichalance. She wondered whether, my eyes'were black or dark or hazel, suggested caps as part of the toilet of, the mother of ten ten children, and desired to know my Chris. tian name, as she intended to be very kind and Very motherly: "Besides," said she ; "I , am Mrs. Peiknis, and one Mrs. Perkins is enough in a house." . When.l answered that my name was Patience, she said—" Patience! Humph You are well named, for you will have a time of it.. But la, dear, we must be cheerful, and begin with a cup of And such a pleasant look as she put on to second her invitation Efer face is-the habitual in carnation of lamentations, and When she at tempts a smile her features' are so imusetEto it that it seems more iike a twist of pain• than an expression of pleasure. , iartisle ijerato. "You will have a time of it," she repeated, for thy encouragement, as she placed. me at the head of the table, behind a wilderness of cups and saucers, and other tea and toast paraphernalia. "There's no company to night, Patience; just ourselves I . Site watched with a hope for contretemps as I proceeded to tea and. toast the little mul titude, but I survived it. I have learned since that, with malice prepense; she trusted t disguise-and-fort;e-m to surrender to her at discretion. The next morning at break fast she hoped to reap the fruits of her ma_ EE=l "Well, Patience," she said, "will you sit at the waiter, or shall I?" (with a motion to ward the coveted poat---a dignity perhaps, but no sinecure.) "Now, or never," thought I, and slipped into the seat, with a determi nation to assert my prerogative once for all. " Well, then, I must tell you," says mother " Mr. Perkins does not take much cream, Tim don't takciougar, James don't take cream, Will don't take either, Tom has milk and water; Sally has milk, Jane drinks water, John a mustn't have coffee, and you are 'not to give Ruth any butter, Susy has milk and water, sweetened, and Lizzie mustn't have hot bread." " Well," said I, having despatched Mr. "what does grapdmother 'crkin's cup, 13101 You should have seen her eyes! There were the scintilations of fourteen furies in them. " Who? _ Oh, yes, I understand. I —6ll, never mind r t e!l'm - - nobody! And then she .sobbed and sniffled, and Mr. Per• kips was.in an unwonted state of excitement and the children exchanged winks and smiles, and I—sat still. If a woman with ten grati,,ciiilkiren It. tow lot, to say nothing of their probable cousins, is not entitled to the honored name of grandmother, prey who is? So breakfast passed. Mother•in-]aw re covered her serenity before the meal was Husband—dear me, what a word at is for me to write•l=-husband-went about COMI his business, and mother-in-law undertook to invest me with the _power of the keys, enli vening onr progress through the establish ment with some very interesting remarks.— "Mr. Perkins Is a very fine man, my dear, though I am his mother who says it—a very fine man: but he has a dreadful temper, and you must not let him get set against you,— He is very easy to please, but you must be particular to get up his - shirts carefully, for he will storm like an earthquake at a missing; button. He is not at all dillicUlt about his table, but things must,be served up right or he will not eat them. I'm his mother, and am used to his ways. He is very neat and careful, but he never puts anything away, and will keep a person picking up after him all the time; and he wants everything he calls for brought to him just to a tr Mute.- -lle is not at all hard to please when one knows him, only it takes all your thoughts to do it; but I'm used to that.", This was a pleasant introduction, certain. ly, to my,matrial duties. "Then there's the children," she continued ; "a nice family as one need desire. But the oldest, that's Tim othy, has picked up some bad habits. lie will swear dreadftillY, but he is a good boy for all that. And James, that's the second son, isa fine - lad, and willing; but you must not expose him to temptation by leap ing loose money about. Willy is a healthy and well-doing boy in the main, but he likes to creep into the store-room, As sure as he eats a handful of raisins, and he will do it when he can, he,goes into convulsions. Tom is quiet, but dreadful mischievous sometimes; and there's no harm in the girls, except that they guard, as all children will, and won't take care of their clothes ; no children do.— and John, he plagues us almost to death,' and Mr. Perkins Vas no goVernment over any of them, and you'll have to do hall, my dear ;• but you must not be discouraged. int here, and if they don't mind, just turn.thern over to me l" Do you wish to know what' I did? Go marry yourself to a .widower, ten children and a mother-in-law; place yourself, a for eign substance; among three generations of cognates and you'll find out. I "just natur ally." as they say' out west, went to my room, threw myself on- the bed and cried. Tears won't provide a dinner, I know, and I knew, it then ; but I did not imagine that 4ny One expected that I should fall into providing fur the household—l, a stranger, and in a strange place—oh, how strange I I don't know how long I laid there in my - half sleep, half- sob. Presently I heard' "Mother!" screamed in childish treble—";bother!" growled.iiol hobbledehoy accent--" Mother I" whined— " Mother!" shouted " Mother "Mother Mother! ! Mother !II" "Who.isthat wretch of a mother ?" I said; angrily, as I bounced from the'bed to the glass, and then laved away the traces of my tears. "Why is the wretch, and why don't she answer?" I did not dream that ./Could be meant. "What is the matter 7" I asked, opening the door and running out, to find seven or eight of the Perkins young fry sit ting on the stairs. "Who calls 7" " all of us," said the oldest, as spokes man for the whole. "Grandmother said we Were to call you mother."' "But she did not tell you to set up such a horrid concert, did she? If she did, I for. liid it. Call me mother, and I'll try to be one; but never shout the word again, or call me at all' when you are near enough for me to hear you speak in your natural voice.— Come to me when you want me. Where is your grandmother?" "She went out, and said she would dot be in till dinner; and there's no dinner getting ready, and nothing to eat, and we're all han gry;” • "Go then and eat , anything you can find." "But everything is locked up, and you have the keys. Grandmother said s befu:e she went out." "Oh, she did, did she?" said 1, laughing, and running down stairs over a score of legs and.arms. Now I saw the conspiracy. The pantry was speedily unlocked, and the key has not, been in the door since. Leaving the c!iildren to discuss their lunch, I walked on to the kitchen. There sat a great lump of a cook, with her feet in the ashes, and her face turned to-me with an expression which said, ."now for a battle "Where's your fire," said I, and what's for dinner?':' "Sure' yourself, that's On new musthress must tell me what. The ould musthress touhl me I was to do nothing till you dirhect ed." "Did she? And why did you not come to me hours ago?" "Sure, I was tould to wait till you hid me." "Well, then, Ido bid you. Pick up your movables and leave the house. Call in the evening, and Mr. Perkins's mother will pay you your wages." The girl stared as if doubt. ing her sepses. "Come! move!' You are in my way! And she did move, muttering something about upstarts, which I .did not heed. As my first order and last, to that in dividual was obeyed, I cared not with how little grace she did it. I heard her stop to speak to the children in the pantry. The sound of nly footsteps approaching was e nough, and she was off. "Come, children," said, "what's to be had ? Your father will e home to dinner presently, and we must have it up in a,hurry." Each did his or her part, highly amused at what they considered a good frolic. One did one thing, and another something, else. The boys brought fuel and watcm the/A dis covered the edibles and comestibles. A fine dish of ham and eggs, a cold joint, a pie—a decidedly picnic affair—were strvcd up to the moment. Perkins came in, and we twelve were seated in the best' possible humor of pleased excitement. I had found my way straight to the hearts of the children, and had no fears for the rest. Mother•-in law walked in as we were enjoy_ ing ourselves. A strange expression of dis appointment came over her face at seeing everything so comfortable. "I ought to make you an apology for being late," she said "but I make allowances for a young house keeper, and did act think you 'could be so punctual.'' • "No thanks to you," thought I, but I said nothing. No sooner was mother in-law down to the table than she was up a— gain, and calling "Charlotte," at the head of the kitchen stairs. "What is the matter?" • I asked. "That stupid girlof oni•s•I she has put on a dirty table-cloth, and the old knives and the steel fcrks and there's no spoon for the gra vy—and this is stale bread , —Und—and—l'm sure my 8011 can't abide such a table !" "Then it must be me that he finds fault with. I dismissed Charlotte three-quarters of an hour ago, at which time she had not taken a step towards dinner. Since then the Children and I have got up this, such as it is, impromptu." • "And a very good dinner, too," said Per. kins. "I don't desire a better." Mother-in-law gave him an angry glance, and `then, turning to nte, said, with forced emu posure-- "You don't mean that you have turned a girl out of doors, without warning who bas lived here five years!" "I did.not use physical force certainly, but I did employ vei l y . powerful moral suasion.— We are too strong in young_girls to tolerate • . kitchen impertmeiice. • Such was the coup deal, or rather coup de .cuisine, with whichl inaugurated myself. It w t s - etreotti L Motherinlaw was completely 'checkmated, and my authority was establish ed.. Perkins is insensible man. Widowers generally are ,experienced and wise. As a matter of prudent investment, let me .recom• mend the young lady who has love to lay out, to expend it upon a widower, if one in to be had. Such is my experience. My hus band left the whole house to my manapi ment, and I must say that I have succeeded wonderfully. The children are not at all the nuisances that their affectionate grandparent represented them. Indeed, they have become in a couple of years; quite models, so Perkins says,,and he knows them best, of course. 1 stick to my text. I had rather had twenty children all "mothering" me at once, than one brother Tom. But the„ mother•in-law—oh, dear I She is the thorn in my side. I can't discharge her as I did the girl, or manage her as I can the children. Perkins talks of buying her an annuity, that she may set, up housekeeping on her own account. I aliinost wish he would— and yet I don't want her to get up a grand claim for sympathy on the plea that I have separated mother and child, turned her out of doors, and twenty other horrid things, as she would be sure to do. *. * * * * * It is three months since I saw the precetr ing till now. 1 0 ened my portfolio this fine May morning. -Do you know the world looks very cheerful to me. now? I have a new stake in it. As I said, I opened my papers, and have been quite amused at my own non sense about the old lady, which I had really entirely forgotten. Family cares put the pen aside, and authorship, letters to friends are quite unheeded. But I may just remark by way of conclusion, that mother-in-law has be come useful as well as . ornamental. She thinks herself indispensable. Well, no objection. Employment keeps her out of mischief, and I -give her the baby to had. eloquent extract. Mr. Bancroft's Oration The Semi-Centennial Anniversary of thei New York Historical Society, was celebrated o i the afternoon of the 20th ult., and an oration was pronounced on the occasion, by Hon. George Bancroft, the historian. We are sure that our many intellectual readers will peruse with pleasure the extracts below. The orator thus rebukes the material tea• dencies of the age: , * * * "We are enterirrg on a new era in the history'of the race, and though Nje cannot cast its horoscope, we may at least in some measure discern the cause of it! motion " Here' we are met at the very threliholil of our argument by an, afterbirth of the ma terialism of the last century. A feeble effort is making to reconstruct society on the situ. ple observation of the laws of the visible uni-* verse. The system is presented with arrogant pretension under the name of " Positive Philosophy," and deduces its lineage t.hro' the English unitarianism of Priestly and Belsham and the French materialism which culmin_ ated in Broussais. It scoffs at all questions of metaphysics and religious faith as inso luble and unworthy of human attention ; and sets up the banner of an affirming creed iu the very moment that it describes its main characteristic as a refusal to recognise the infinite. How those who take opinions from Hubbes and Locke, and their, continent:! interpreters, and still adhere to the , philoso phy which owns no source of knowledge but We senses, can escape the humiliating yoke of this new system, I leave them to discover. But the system is as little entitled to be feared avto be received. When it has put together all that it can collect of the laws of the .material uni , :rerse, it can advance 111) further towards the explanation of existence : 3 morals,•or reason. They who listen as welt td the instructions of inward experience, may smile at the air of wisdom with which such • a scheme, that has no basis in the soul, i•; presented to the world as a new universal creed—,the Catholic Church of the materiUir, ist. Its handful of acolites wonder why tee', remain ao few. But atheism never holds sway over human thought, except as a Usur per.; no child of its own succeeding. Error is a convertible term with itleetty. Ealse• hood and death :are synorynis. Falseho6kl can gain no purulent foothold in the im• - _ - nortal soul, for there can be no abidink cal faith except in that which is eternality and universally true. The future of the world will never produce a race of atheist* and their casual appearance is but the cvi, denCe of some ill.understood truth some mistaken direction of the human mind; some partial and imperfect view of creation. The atheist . denies the life of life, which is the source of libery. Proclaiming himself the = finite thing of to day-, he rejeam tdi Concluded on 3d page •
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