A
'WE GO WHERE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES POINT THE WAY WHEN THEY CEASE TO LEAD, WE CEASE TO FOLLOW.'
BY JOHN G. GIVEN.
EBENSBURG, THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1850.
VOL. 6. NO. 22.
If
II J I
MISCELLANEOUS.
Frm Oodey's Latv't Book for February.
Kate's Valentine
BY HENRY SUNDERLAND.
Katf, rayip rightly neice, like most
young ladies of her age, has her own
opinions on matters and things currently
transpiring. She thinks independently,
and generally speaks what she thinks.
Of course her knowledge of human nature
is not very deep; nor is she as wise in all
her conclusions as she i9 led to imagine. I
do not say this disparagingly, for Kate has
as good ense as nine in ten who have
only numbered her years, which are about
twenty-one.
On one subject Kate had, for a year or
two, been particularly decided in her ex
pressions. The Valentine epidemic, which
has raged so violently, she considered a
social disease emphatically. It was no
healthy manifestation of right feelings in
her estimation.
At last St. Valentine's day approached,
and as the store windows and counters
began to be filled with emblematic love
missives of all kinds, from the most costly,
delicate and refined, down to the cheapest,
coarsest and most vulgar, Kate exhibited
more and more strongly het antipathy to
the custom about to be honored.
If any one was to send me a Valentine,'
said she, 'I would take it as a direct insult
to my common sense.
Oh, as for that, I replied, sportively,
lovers are not so silly as to address the
common sense of those whose favor they
desire to win.'
Whoever wins me,' was her prompt
answer, rnust appeal to that. At no other
point will I be accessible.'
We shall see.
And we will see.
I'll wager a new hat against a spring
bonnet,' said I, 'ihat you receive a Valen
tins this year from a certain young man
named Never mind; don't blush so; I
won't name him.
1 would discard any one who insulted
roe with a Valentine, replied Kate, indig
nantly. Don't say that, for fear you will have
cause to repent the indiscretion.
Yes, I do say it. No man of good
sense would stoop to sucli trifling.'
I don't know, Kate. A little trifling
now and then is relished by the best of
men.
That's rhyme, which does not always
go hand in hand with reason.
You'll grow wiser, Kate, as you grow
older.
If that is the kind of wisdom age brings,
I'm sure I don't want it.'
I answered with a laugh, for to be grave
on such a theme was not in me. As the
fourteenth approached, Kate frequently
repeated her expressions of disgust at the
silly custom of sending Valentines that had
become so popular, and declared, over
and over again, that such a liberty with
her would be taken as direct insult, and
resented accordingly.
Among the visiting acquaintances of
Kate, was a young man named Loring, for
whom I could see she had kindlier feel
ings than for any other male friend; but,
cither in consequence of a natural reseive
of character, or because he was in doubt
as to Kate's sentiments regarding himself,
he never seemed perfectly at ease in her
company, though he sought it on every
proper occasion. I had him in my mind
when I suggested the reception of a Val
entine from a certain young man, and
Kate understood me perfectly.
Well, Valentine's day came round. At
dinner time I came home as usual, and al
most the first words my wife said to me
was .
What do you think? Kate received a
Valentine.'
Indeed'.
It's true. It came by the Dispatch
Post. I received it at the door and sent
it up to her room.'
Have yon seen her since?
No.'
Of course, she's particularly indignant.
I don't know anything about that. It
was a handsome one, I infer, from the size
and envelope, and had in it somethiug
hard, which 1 took for jewelry a breast
pin or a bracelet.
f Where do you think it come from?'
said I.
I've guessed young Loring.' answered
my wife.
If he has sent it, he has committed a
great mistake,' I replied.
How 80?
You know Kate's antipathy to Valen
tines. .
Young Udies often talk a great deal
without -really knowing what they say:
and Kate is not altogether free from the
fault,' said my wife.
I readily enough assented to this. When
&e bell rung for dinner, Kate came down
from her room. Her face was rather more
sober than usual, and she did not join in
the conversation with her accustomed ani
mation. She was first to retire from the
table.
I don't think she is mortally offended,'
said I to my wife.
No, nut if I am skilled in mental indi
cations, was replied.
During the afternoon, two or three more
love missives came; but not a word touch
ing their reception, 01 the feelings produ
ced thereby, was breathed by Kate. It
was plain, however, to one with even half
an eye, that she was pleased at the mark
of attention, or, it might be, token of love.
Evening, instead of being passed as usual
with the family, was spent by Kate in her
room.
On the next morning, at the breakfast
table, I mentioned the fact that a certain
number of Valentines had passed through
the post office on the day before. This
was in order to-introduce the subject, and
call out some remark from Kate; but she
remained silent on the subject, though not
without indicating by her heightened color
and restless eye, that her thoughts were
busy enough.
I rather think our young lady has
changed her opinions,' said I, smiling, af
ter Kate had left the table.
Circumstances alter cases, you know,'
replied my wife smiling in turn.
On the next evening young Loring call
ed in. Ivate was longer than usual in ma
king her appearance, and when she came
into the parlor, was dressed with more
than ordinary care. For the first time, I
noticed on her wrist a new and bcautiiul
bracelet. She blushed slightly as she met j
Loring; seemed a little embarrassed: but
was soon conversing with him in an ani
mated style.
Did you see that new hracelet?' asked
mv wife, when we were next alone.
"'I did.'
Where did it come from?'
Didn't you say that in one of the Val-I
cntines she received, there was something !
hard, like a piece of jewelry?'
Yes.'
That bracelet, probably.'
'No doubt of it.'
And moreover,' said I, 'it is plain that
she believes the Valentine came from Lo
ring, for at her first meeting with him, she
wears it for the first time.'
'Thus,' remarked my wife, 'notifying
him that she receives the token kindly.'
I laughed aloud, for I could not help it.
'Why do you laugh?' asked my wife.
'She was going to discard any one who
insulted her with a Valentine!'
That was idle talk. I've heard such
things said before.
Two or three . evenings went by, and
Loring came again. Sitice his former visit
the new bracelet had not been seen. Now
it was worn again. As we knew the
young man well, and liked him the better
the more intimately we knew him, we
srw no impropriety in leaving the young
couple alone in the parlor.
From that time, there was a marked
change in my neice. She was less spright
ly and more absent-minded than usual.
Next, her appetite failed her, and she be
gan to grow thin and lose her color sure
signs of a heart disease. Meanwhile, Lo
ring was a constant visitor; and whenever
he came, the bracelet was displayed, evi
dently in token that she knew from whence
it came, and wished its full acceptance to
be understood. At last I received a formal
visit from the young man, and a formal
offer for the hand of Kate. Of course, I
had no objection to urge. That matter
was, in my mind, already fully settled.
After that, the bracelet aforementioned,
was always to be seen on the arm of
Kate. One evening, about a month before
her wedding day, as I sat talking with
Kale, for whom my affection had always
been as teiu er as that of a father for his
child, I took her hand and said, as I ex
amined the bracelet
'That is very beautiful.'
'Yes, I have always admired it very
much,' she replied, the color growing
warmer in her cheeks.
A love-token I presume?'
And as I said this, I looked at her arch
ly. The hue of her cheeks became still
deeper.
A Valentine?' I added.
The blood mounted to her temples.
But it was not an ordinary Valentine.
It did not come from ? trifler, it was not
received as an insult. I thought you were
not the girl, Kale, to reject a sincere offer.'
''This little love-token, dear Kate is for thee;
Accept it, and keep it, and woar itfor me."
As I repeated this couplet, the yQng
girl started with surprise, and looked with
inquiring earnestness tn my face.
But I'm afraid, Kate,' said I, with a
meaning smile, and a voice half regretful
in its tone, 'that you wore it less for the
real than for anjmaginary giver.'
She did not reply, but looked at me
more earnestly, while a sudden light ap
peared to break upon her mind.
Dear uncle, said she, at length, bend
ing towards me, had you seen this brace
let before you saw it on my arm?'
Yes, love,' was my tenderly spoken
reply and I pressed her pure forehead
with my lips as I spoke.
And you sent it?
She seemed half breathless as she wait
ed my reply. i
Yes dear.
She covered her face suddenly with her
hands, and sat motionless for some mo
ments. In a little while. I saw a tear
come stealing through her fingers. JMy
feelings were touched, for I feared lest 1
had done violence to hers by this little
confession of the truth. But, ere I had
looked for composure of mind, she with
drew her hands from her face, on which
an affectionate smile shone like a rainbow
amid the parting drops of a summer show
er, and said, as she arose
'Henceforth I will wear it for the real
giver.'
Bending to kiss me, she left a tear on
my cheek, and then glided from the room.
On her wedding night, Kate wore her
Valentine bracelet; and I am weak enough
to believe if trie sentiment may be called
a weakness that she prized it even more
highly than if Loring himself had been
the giver.
A Singular Story.
The Washington correspondent of the
Quaker City, a paper published in Phila
delphia by Mr. Lippard, communicates
says the Louisville Courier, the following
curious account of a recent remarkble dream
had by Mr. Calhoun. We have not much
faith in supernatural appearances, but if
anything could lead the ghost of the "Fa
ther of his Country" to re-visit the realms
beneath the moon, it would be the thought
that his beloved country was in danger of
disunion, which is' but another name for
civil war. We give the story for what it
is worth:
Washington, D. C, Jan. 12.
Mr. Editor: The other morning at the
breakfast table, our friend, the Hon. John
C. Calhoun, seemed very much troubled
and out of spirits. You know he is alto
gether a venerable man, with hard, stern,
Scotch-Irish face, Softened in i's expres
sion around the mouth by a sort of sad
smile, which wins the hearts of all who
converse with him. His hair is snow
while. He is tall thin and angular. lie
reminds you veiy much of Old Hickory.
That he is honest no one doubts; he has
sacrificed to his fatalism his brightest hopes
of political advancement has offered up
on the shrine of that iron necessity which
he worships, all that can excite ambition
even the Presidency of the United States.
But to my story. The other morning
at the breakfast table, where I, an unob
served spectator, happened to be present,
Calhoun was observed to gaze frequently
athis right hand and brush, it with his left,
in a nervous and hurried manner. He did
ihis so often that it excited attention. At
length one of the persons composing the
breakfast party his name I think is
Toombs, and he is a member of Con
gress from Georgia took upon himself
to ask the occasion of Mr. Calhoun's dis
quietude. Docs your hand pain you?' he asked.
To this Calhoun replied in rather a flur
ried manner Phaw! it is nothing!
Only a dream which I had last night, and
which makes me see perpetually a large
black spot like an ink blotch upon the
back of my right hand. An optical delu
sion, I suppose.
Of course these words naturally excited
the curiosity of the company, but no one
ventured to beg the details of this singular
dream, till Toombs asked quietly
What was your dream like? I'm not
very superstitious about dreams, but
sometimes they have a good deal of truth
in them.'
But this. 'was such a peculiar absurd
dream,' said Mr. Calhoun, again brushing
the back part of his right hand 'however
if it does not too much intrude upon the
lime of our friends, I will relate it.
Of course the company were profuse in
their expressions of anxiety to - know all
about the dream. In his singularly sweet
voice, he related it: ;
At a late hour last night, as I was sit
ting in my room engaged in writing, I was
astonished by the entrance of a visttor,
who entered, and without a word took a
seat opposite me, at my table. This sur
prised me, as I had given particular orders
to the servant, that I should on no account
be disturbed. The manner in which the
intruder entered so perfectly self-possessed
taking his seat opposite me, without a
word, as though my room, and all within
it, belonged to him, excited in me as much
surprise as indignetion. As I raised mv
head :o look into his features, over the top
of my shaded lamp, I discovered he was
wrapped in a thin cloak, which almost ef
fectually concealed his face and features
from my view. And as I raised my head
he spoke.
What are you writing, Senator from
South Carolina?'
I did not think of his impertinence at
first, but answered him involuntarily
'I am writing a plan for the Dissolution
of the American Union, (you know gen
tlemen that Lam expected to produce a plan
of Dissolution in the event of certain con
tingencies.) To this the intruder replied in the cool
est manner possible:
'Senator from South Carolina, will you
allow me to look at your hand, your right
hand? 3
'He rose, the cloak fell, and I beheld
his face. Gentlemen, the sight of that face
struck me like a thunderclap, it was the
face of a dead man, whom extraordinary
events have called back to life. The fea
tures were those of George Washington;
yes, gentlemen the intruder was none oth
er than George Washington. He was
dressed in the revolutionary costume, such
as you see preserved in the Patent Office.
Here Mr. Calhoun paused, apparently
much agitated. His agitation, I need not
tell you was shared by the company.
Toombs at length broke the embarrassing
pause.
'Well, well, what was the issue of this
scene?' Mr. Calhoun then resumed.
This intruder, as I have said, rose and
asked to look at my right hand. As though
I had not the power to refuse, I extended
it. The truth is I felt a strange chill per
vade me at his touch; he grasped it and
held it near the light, thus affording me
full time to examine every feature of his
face; it was the face of Washington.
Gentlemen, I shuddered as I beheld the
horribly dead alive look of that visage
After holding my hand for a moment, he
looked at me steadily, and said in a quiet
way:
And with this right hand Senator from
South Carolina, you . would sign your
name to a paper, declaring the Union dis
solved?' I answered in the affirmative- Yes,'
said I, 'if a certain contingency arises I
will sign my name to the Declaration of
Dissolution. But at that moment a black
blotch appeared on the back of my hand,
an inky blotch, which I seem to see even
now. "What is that?' cried I alarmed,
I knew not why at the blotch upon ray
hand.
'That,' said he dropping my hand, 'that
is the mark by which Benedict Arnold is
known in the next world.'
'He said no more- gentlemen, but drew
from under his cloak an object which he
placed upon the table placed it upon the
very paper on which I was writing. That
object, gentlemen, was a skeleton.
There,' said he, 'there are the bones of
Isaac Ilayne, who was hung in Charleston
by the British. He gave his life in order
to establish the Union, When you put
your name to a Declaration of Dissulution
why you may as well have the bones of
Isaac Ilayne before you; he was a South
Carolinian, and so are you. But there
was no blotch upon his right hand' -
'With these words the intruder left the
room. I started back from the contact
with the dead man's bones and awoke.
Overcome by labor, I had fallen asleep
and been dreaming. Was it not a singular
dream?'
All the company answered in the affir
mative. Toombs muttered, 'Singular
very singular!' at the same time looking
rather curiously at the back of his right
hand and Mr. Calhoun, placing his head
between his hands, seemed to be burried
in thought.
ONE OF 'EM!
One Way of Getting a Hat The
Cincinnati Chronicle and Atlas is respon
sible for 'the following: A boy, about sev
enteen years of age, was observed rcmo.
ving a hat from a box outside the door of
a store on Main street, Wednesday after
noon. The owner was at the door and
observed his movements, but was com
pletely thrown off his guard by the youth
placing the hat on his head, walking into
the store, and quite independently throw
ing down a bank note. The assistant in
side handed him some change, and away
he walked. A few minutes afterwards
the owner passed in and asked.' what
he had paid for that hat? 'What hat?'
said the other; 'he only got change for a
five dollar bill. The shopman was done
by the ingenious stratagem.
Little by JMtle. -Those islands which
so .beautifully adorn the Pacific, were
reared up from the bed of the ocean by
the little corai insect, which deposits one
grain of sand at a time," I have seen the
picture of a mountain, with a man at its
base, with his hat and coat lying beside
him, and a pickaxe in his hand; and as he
digs, stroke by stroke, his patient looks
correspond with his wards, 'little by little.
The Snn's Distance from the Earlh.
In will be recollected that Congress, at
the last session, appropriated a sum of
money to send a scientific expedition to
the "West Coast of South America, for the
purpose of making astronomical observa
tions to determine, if possible, the sun's
distance from the earlh with greater accu
racy than has hertofore been done. The
distance is generally believed to be about
ninety-five millions of miles; though some
observations have made it not more than
ninety millions.
A gentleman in this city, who has dis
covered a new mode of determining by the
laws of motion, the mean distance at which
gravitating bodies shall revolve around
each other, has made the calculation upon
his principlesand finds the distance from
the centre of the earth'to the centre of the
sun to be 92,255,593 miles, (ninety-two
millions, 'two hundred and eighty-five
thousand, five hundred and sixty-eight
miles.) In this calculation which requires
Lut a few minutes' labor, he takes the
diameter of the earth at the most common
ly received measurement, 9212 miles. The
gentleman from which we derive the
above particulars has examined the cal
culations alluded to, and discovers no mis
take in them. He says, "The fact that
his (the inventor's) method, which is in-'
tirely independent of all astronomical ob
servations and calculations, comes to a
result which is nearly a medium of the
distances heretorore found by observations
is in itself almost a demonstration that his
principles are correct, and if correct, he
has certainly made a most wonderful and
important discovery. We trust the sci
entific world will ere long receive more
Jight on the subject." AT. V. Com.
Franklin in the Social Circle.
Never had I known such a fireside
companion as he was, both as a states
man and a philosopher; he never showed
in a light more winning than when he
was seen in the jomestie circle. It was
once my good fortune to pass two or three
weeks with him at the house of a gentle
man in Pennsylvania, and we were con
fined to the house during the whole cf
that time by the unremitting constancy
and depth of the snows. But confinement
could not be felt wher-1 Dr. Franklin was
an inmate. II is cheerfulness and his col
loquial powers spread around him a per
petual spring. Of Franklin no one ever
became tired. Thera was no ambition of
eloquence, no effort to shine, in any thing
which came from him. There was n othing
which made any demand either upon your
allegiance or your admiration.
His manner was just as unaffected as
infancy. It was nature's spell. He
talked like an old patriarch, and his plain
ness and simplicity put you at once at
your ease, and give you the full and free
possession and use of all your faculties.
His thoughts were of a character to
shine by their own Jight, without any
adventitious aid. They required only a
medium of vision like his pure and sun
pie style, to exhibit to the highest ad van-
tage their native radiance and beautv.
Hi cheerfulness was unremitting. It
seemed to be as much the systemalicand
salutary exercise of the mind, as of its
superior organization. His wit was of the
first order. It did not show itself merely
in occasional coruscations.but without any
effort or force on his part, it shed a con
stant stream cf the purest light over the
whole of his discourse. Whether iri the
company of commons or nobles, he was
always the same plain man; always most
perfectly at his ease, his faculties in full
play, and the full orbitof his genius for
ever clear and. unclouded. And then the
stores of his mind were inexhaustibl e. He
had commenced life with an attention so
vigilant, that nothing had escaped his ob
servation, and every incident was turned
to advantage. His youth had not been
wasted in idleness, nor overcast by intem
perance; He had been all his life a close
and deep reader, as well as thinker, & by
the force of his own powers, had wrought
up the raw materials which he had gath
ered from books, with such exquisite
skill and felicity, that he had added a hun
dred fold to their original value, and justly-made
it his own. William Tflrt. '
I have, writes a correspondent, a pret
ty, bright, little juvenile friend some five
years of age, named Rosa., Some days
ago she was teased a good deal by a gen
tleman, who visits the family, who finally
wound up by saying r-Rosa, I don't love
you.' Ahbut you've got to love me,'
said the child. Why so?' asked her tor
mentor. Why, said Rosa, 'the Bible
sjys you must love them that hate you,
and I'm sure I hate you!' Was that bad
for a child?
CP A man, the other day, swallowed a
half a dozen glasses; and in less than ten
mJnutes after, he became a tumbler.
Mca end the Soil.
BY SI. OCIZOT, LA1E PEIME MIMSTEtt TO
FRANCE.
Movable property, or capital, may pro
cure a man the advantages of wealth; but
property in land gives him much mors
than this. It gives him'a place in the
domain of the world; it unites his life with
the life that animates all creation. Money
is an instrument by which man can pro
cure the satisraction of his warns and his
desires. Landed property is the establish
ment cf man as sovereign in the mindst cf
nature. In satisfies not only his wants
and his desires, but tastes deeply implan
ted in his nature. lor h:s family it cre
ates that domestic country, called home,
with all the living sympathies, and all the
future hopes and prcjects which, peoplo
it. And whilst property in land is more
consonant than any ether to the nature of
man, it also affords a field of activity the
most favorable to his moral development
the most suited to inspire a just senti.
ment of his nature and his powers. In
almost all the other trades or professions,
whether commer cial or scientific, success
appears to depend solely upon himself,
on his talents, address, prudence, and
vigilance. In Agricultural life, man is
constantly in the presence, and vigilance,
are as necessary here as elsewhere to the
success of his labors; but they are no less
insufficient than they are necessary. It
is God who rules the scasonsand the tem
perature, the sun and the rain, and all
i those phenomena of nature which deter-
mine the success or the failure of the la
bors of man on the soil which he culti
vates' There is no pride which can re
sist this dependence, no address which
can escape it. Not is it only a sentiment
of humility as to his power over his own
destiny which is thus inculcated upon
man; he learns also tranquility and patience-
He cannot flalter himself that
the most ingenious invention, or the most
restless activity, will insure his success:
when he has done all that depends upon
him for the cultivation and the fertiliza
tion of the soil, he must wait with resig
na tion. The more profoundly we exnm
ine the situation in which man is placed
by the possession and cultivation cf the
soil, the more do we discover how rich it
is in salutary lessons to his reason, and
bonign influences on his character. Men
do net analyze these facts, but they have
an instinctive sentiment of them which
powerfully contributes to that peculiar
respect in which they hold property in
land, and to the preponderance which that
kind of property enjoys over every oth
er. This preponderance is a natural, le
gitimate, and salutary fact, which, espe
cially in a great country, society at large
has a strong interest in recognizing and
respecting.
A sensible Article.
We commend the following brief articla
from the Ac 10 Haven Register, to tha
consideration of those busy, meddling fan
atics, who are eternally interfering with
the affairs of their neighbors. If thesa men
"could but realize the fact, that all cut of
their immediate class thought the Reg
ister does, that these attacks upon the
South were mean and dastardly, they
might possibly be induced to mind their
own business, and let us alone?
"We should like the Harttord Courant
to tell us what would iKe Legislature of
Connecticut say to a constant stream of
Resolutions from Southern States, inter
meddling and advising about our factory
system, the over working of operatives,
and against letting out the support of Stale
naupers, at auction to the lowest bidder!
"Would such things be any more improper
than our resolving against the domestic
institutions of Georgia? Not a whit. Is it
not enough that we are rid of the curse of
slavery, and that we vote against it. when
we can do so legitimately, but that we must
pursue a system of Legislative taunts, and
official impudences, to ihe faces of those
States where slavery is tolerated! It is
all wrong mean. We care not how
strong a majority may be, in favor cf
such annoyances, that does not make the
practice right, and it ought to be discon
tinued." Important Decision. The Supreme
Court of New Orleans, ha? recently deci
ded in the case of Heart and others vs.
the owners of the Jane Shore, that the
shipowner who detains a vessel after the
advertised sailing day, to the injury of the
freighters, is responsible for all damages.
The court would not admit evidence to
prove that advertisements and assurances
of owners of the days of departure were
not to be considered binding that the
usare was to disregard them. The Court
veiy properly held that the newspaper
should not be used as a means of decep
tion; advertisements must speak the truth.
E&There were 68 deaths in Boston dt;x
ring the week ending Saturday,