The mountain sentinel. (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, February 13, 1851, Image 1

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    i:
BY JOHN G. GIVEN
THE HOPE OF THE HEART.
BY LORD BYRON.
net noh r I lump cvpr pnri
gged the pen of
- - - - fa
poet. It is the soul-elevating iJca, that no
roan can consider himself entitled to complain
of Fate, while in his adversity he still retains
the love of woman." Edoak A. Pue.
Though the day of my destiny's ovei.
And the star of my fate halh declined,
Thy soft heart refused to discover.
The fault which so many could fiaJ;
Though thy soul with my grief was acquainted,
It shrunk not to share it with -me.
And the love which my ppirit halh painted,
It never hath found but in thee.
Then, when nature around me is binding.
The last inii!e which answers to mine,
1 do not balievs it beguiling.
Because it reminds me of thine;
And when winds are at war with tho ocean,
As the breasts I believed in with me,
If the billows excite an emotion.
It is that they bear mo from tiikk.
Though tho rock cf my last hope is shivered.
And its fragments are punk in tho wave.
Though I feel that my soul is delivered
To pain it shall not be its slave;
'1 here is many a pan? to pursue me.
They may crush , but they shall not contemn.
They may torture, bat ehnll not subdue me
'Tit of tube that I think not of tham.
Though human, thou dnht not deceive me;
Though woman, thou didt not fr.sak?,
Though love, thou forborcat to grievo me;
Though slandered, thou never couldst shake;
Though trubted, thou didst not uoclaim mo;
Though parted, it was not to tl ;
Though watchful, 'twas net to dclamo mo,
Nor mute , that the world miht belie.
Vet I blame not the world, nor despis'j it.
Nor the war of the many with one
If my soul was not fitted to prize it,
'Twaa folly not sooner to shun;
And if dearly that error hath cost me,
And more than I once could foresee,
1 hare found that, whatever it lust me,
It could not deprive me of tube.
From the wreck of the past, which lut'i per-
Thua mrch I at least may recalled, ishcd
It hath taught mo that which I most cheribli-
Deserved to be dearest of all; ed,
In the desert a fountain is springing.
In the wide wasto there still is a tree,
And a bird in the solitude singing.
Which speaks to my spirit of thee.
MISCELLANEOUS.
SLOPED FOR TEXAS.
A TALE OF THE WEST.
This is au answer given in some of
the States in America when a gentleman
has decamped from his wife, from his
creditors, or from any other responsibility
which he finds troublesome to meet or
support. Among the curious instances of
the application of this phrase is an adven
ture which happened to myself.
It is the boast of the bloods of the town
of Rackmsack, in Arkansas, that they are
born with skins like aligators, and with
strength like bears. They work hard,
And they play hard. Gaming is the re
creation most indulged in, and the gaming
houses of the western part of Arkansas,
have branded it with an unenviable noto
riety. One dark, summer night, I lounged as a
mere sDectator, through the different
rooms,
watching the varioas
rames
of
hazard that were being played. Some ot
the players seemed to have set their very
souls upon the stakes; their eyes were
bloodshot, and fixed, from beneath their
wrinkled brows, on the table, as if their
everlasting weal or woe depended there
upon the turning of the dice; others the
finished blacklegs assumed an indifferent
and careless look, though a kind of sar
donic grin played round their lips, but too
plainly revealed a sort of habitual desper
ation. Three of the players looked the
very counterparts of each other, not only
m face, but expression; both the physical
and moral likeness was indeed striking.
The other player was a young man whom
they call a "green one," in this and many
other parts of the world. His eyes, his
11086, bis whole physiognomy, seemed to
project, and to be capable of growing still
longer.
'Fifty dollars more," hc exclaimed,
with a deep drawn breath, as he threw
down the stake.
Each of his opponents turned up his
cards coolly and confidently; but the long
visaged hero laid his stake before them,
and to the astonishment of the three pro
fessionals, won.
Hurrah?, the luck is turned, and I
crow!" he cried out in an ecstaey, and
pocjtetea tne cash. j
The worthy trio tmded at this, and re-!
commenced play. The green young man
displayed a broad but silent grin at his
good fortune, and often took out his mon
ey to count it over, and see if each piece
was good.
"Here are a hundred dollars more,"
cried the sylvan youth, "and I crow."
I take them," said one of the trio.
Tho youth won again, and 'crowed' loud
er this time than he did at first.
On went the game; the stakes were lost
and won. Gradually the rouleaus of the
crovver' dwindled down to three or four
dollars, or so. It was clear that the gen
tleman in black had been luring him on
by that best of decoys, success at first.
"Let me see something for my money.
Here's a stake of two dollars, and 1 crow!"
liut he now spoke in a very faint treble
indeed, and looked penitently at tho cards.
Again the cards were shuffled, cut and
dealt, and the "plucked pigeon" staked
his last dollar upon them.
"The last button on Gabe's coat, and I
or or ; no, I'll be hamstringed if 1 do!"
lie lost this, too, and with as deep a
curse as I ever heard, he rose from the
green board.
The apartment was very spacious, and
on the ground floor. There was only one
gaining table in it, anil not many lookers
on besides myself. Thinking the gaining
was over, I turned to go out, but found tho
door locked and the key gone. There
was evidently something in the wind. At
all events, I reflected, in case of need the
windows are not very tar from theground.
I returned and saw the winner dividing
the spoil, and the poor shorn "greenhorn"
leening over the back of their chairs, sta
ring intently at the money.
The notes were deliberately spread out
o;i! after onother. Those which the loser
had staked were new, fresh from the press,
he said, and they were sorted into a heap
distinct from the rest. They were two
dollar, three dollar and five-dollar notes,
from the Indiana bank, and the bank of
Columbus, in Oiiio.
"I say, Ned, 1 don't think these notes
are good," said one of the; winners, and
examined them.
"I wish they weren't, and I'd crow,"
cried out the looser very chop-fallen, at
his elbow. This simple speech lulled the
suspicions of the counter, and he resumed
his counting. At last, when he took up
the last note, and cvein it keenlv, he ex
claimed in a most emphatic manner, I'll
be hanged if they are genuine! They
arc forged!"
"No, they ain't!" replied the loser, quite
as emphatically.
A very opprobrious epithet was now
hurled at the latter. He, without more
ado, knocked down the speaker at a blow,
capsized the table, which put out the
lights, and in the next instant, darted out
of the window, while a bullet fired from
a pistol, cracked the pane of glass over
his head. He leaped into the small court
yard, with a wooden paling round it. The
winners dashed towards the door, but
found that the "green one" had secured it.
When the three worthies were convin
ced that the door would not yield to their
efforts, and when they heard their "vic
tim" galloping away, they gave a laugh
at the trick played them, and returned to
the table.
"Strike up a light, Bill, and let us pick
up what notes have fallen. I have nearly
the whole lot in my pocket."
The light soon made its appearance.
"What, none on the floor Capital! I
think I must have them all in my pocket,
then;" saying which, hc drew out the
notes, and laid them on the tabic.
"Fire and furies! These are all forged
notes! The rascal has whipped up the
other heap!"
While all this was going on, I stepped
toward the window, but had not stood
there long, before I heard the clanking
hoofs of a horse beyond the pailing, and a
shout wafted into the room
".Sloped for Texas!"
The worst part of the story remains to
be told; it was my horse on which the
rogue was now galloping oil.
.71 Honest Man. A journeyman
watchmaker at Reseanon, having several
watches to mend for his employer, put
them all into pawn, taking care to quit
Uesancon the same night. On leaving,
he had the extreme delicacy to send the
duplicates to his employer, with the fol
lowing note: "Sir, Having pawned your
watches in order to have some money, I
should think myself wanting in my duly
as an ho, teat man, if I did not send you
these duplicates."
Importance of the Boundary Line.
An old lady who did not know whether
her plantation was in Virginia or North
Carolina, found when the line was run
that she was a resident of the former.
"Well," said sdie, "I am glad I don't
live in North Carolina ! It w is always
such a sickly State."
'ffE GO WHERi: DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES POINT THE WAY;
EliENSBUllG, THURSDAY,
MANUSCRIPTS,
FKOM
THE DIARY OF A PHYSIC J AX.
BODY SEARCHER
OR THE WAX FIGI-RE.
"Yes," said the little church warden,
"that's the pleasant sort of row we have
heard all the morning. Now, sir, what is
to be done? It appears that old Mrs.
Flaf kie left with another old woman, a
Mrs. Tweedle, your note, and said she
was going to the address there given, and
this .Mrs. Tweedle Iia-j made all the up
roar, by reporting that as Mrs. Flackie
lias not come back, you must have taken
her for the sake of her body."
"Confound her body!"
"Just so," sa'id the beadle.
"Sir," I said, "I will tell von ail that I
know of this most troublesome business,
and if you come to a conclusion that 1
have not acted with perfect discretion, I
beg that you will believe I meant well."
i then related all that had happened with
regard to No. '-2, Soutn-terracc, an
con-
eluded by saying
"Now, sir, all 1 can say, is that I place
myself completely at your disposal, to act
in any way you may think proper."
"Well, doctor, vou can't say fairer than
that. I only wish j ou had gone to the j
police at once. But what say you now to
accompany me, and our beadle here, and !
the porter of the house, who is a stout man j
and an officer, to No, South-terracf, to I
make inquiry? I
I am ouite ready to do so." i
companying us as we went along, while I j
could still hear the groans and hoots of j
the workhouse people, who were each
moment getting more incensed at the non
appearance of old Flackie, whom they
had been wishing at the devil for years
past. Hut I suppose they made the row
upon principle.
As we got upon some rising ground; The evidence which geology affords of !
which commanded u view Into tin: work the great antiquity of the earth, turns j
jiousu yard, I saw a w retched looking old ' thought to the evidence which astronomy j
woman standing on a washing-tub. and ;' furnishes of its future endurance. From i
addressing a congregation of paupers wiih I the many striking resemblances between j
the most violent gesticulations. j the bodies that compose the solar system, !
The churchwarden intimated that this ' we infer for them a common origin and a j
was Tweedle, I common destiny. The earth, then, will j
"And what is the most extraordinary (! probably live while the system lives, and
tiling of all," he said, "she and Flackie sil- j no longer. What its particular destiny j
dorn pass a day without v iolent quarrel, may be, and by what means brought about, ',
and yet, you see, now Tweedle would pull . we" stop not here to inquire. Our only :
down the workhouse walls in Flakics j purpose now, is to consider some intima-
cause. How do you account for that, tinn furnished us by the system itself, that 1
beadle! it is fashioned for "a long duration. This
'Never accounts for old women, sir; i i indicated by the immense length of j
encumbrance to operations." 'some of the periods involved in this j
"You are about right," said the church- ; system. j
warden. "Come on, come on. I sin-1 According to the commonly received
cerely iiope that this affair will have some j chionologyf the planet of Neptune has j
satisfactory termination." j had but otj of his years since the creation j
It did not take us a long time to rcacli of our race. If the analogy between the !
the house where such mysterious occur- ' earth and that planet holds good, then the j
renecs had taken place, and when there ; first generation of his inhabitants is hardly j
we found that all the blinds were still yet passed away. Some comets have not I
drawn down, and that there was no ap- ! yet had one year since the date of Adam's j
pearadee of anything living in the interior j creation. I
of the dwelling, and we glanced down j But there are periods (if greater length j
towards the kitchen, but there was no ; still. The earth's Perihelion is slowly I
cheerful blaze of a fire to indicate the j creeping around the orbit from West to j
preparation of the morning's meal. j East, at rate which will require 1 1 1,030
AU was cold and desolate-looking. j years to complete the circuit. The Fori- j
"What do you think of this'" said I. J helion of Mercury is moving in a similar ;
Will you knock?" manner, at a rate which will require 200,- !
"Certainly," said the churchwarden, j
I'll knock, and if they won't let us in, 1
shall proceed at once to a magistrate, and
state all circumstances; when the police, I
have no doubt, will force au admittance to
the place. Do you know, doctor. I reallv
begin to be afraid that something very
wrong has taken place."
"Knock, sir?" inquired the beadle.
"Yes yes, certainly, and knock loud,
too, if you please, while I ring."
The beadle executed rather a tremen
dous appeal at the door of the house, while
the little churchwarden, whose pomposity
had all thawed away completely, rung tiie
bell, close to which was a little brass plate
with the words "ring also."
"Enemy won't answer," said the bea
dle. "Have to storm garrison. ( Jet in at
first floor easy enough with a long ladder,
gentlemen."
At this moment a man arrived, and as
cended the steps of the house, carrying in
his hand a key.
"What do you want:'' hc said. "The
lilundercups have gone away. Do you
want to look at the house? cos if you do
you must get a card from the agent. I
can't show it without. It's well aired.
Thev only left at five o'clock this inoru-
ing."
"Is the house empty then? Why, I
cant sec the curtains in the parlor," said
the churchwarden.
. "I hope so," said the man; "it would be
odd if the curtains had walked off. It
was left furnished."
Open the door directly," said the
WHEN" THEY CEASE TO LEAD, WE CEASE TO
FEBRUARY 13, 1851
cm
warden. "We demand admittance. I
am a churchwarden, and these are consta
bles, and this a physician. Opon the door.
We must search the house."
The man hesitated, but the beadle
adroitly enough took the key from him,
and opened the door for us, and in we all
walked, without further deliberation.
We staged, for a strange noise in the
shape o'rn '-unearthly kind of groan, came
I
upon our ears
I fancied it proceeded from a room to
the right of the passage, and I flung a ;
door open, when who should we see seated :
upon an arm-chair, in tho 4 very centre of:
the floor, but Mrs. Flackie herself, looked !
; as blue and cadaverous as though she had
just been risen from the grave.
Her arms were tied to tho back of the
; chair, so that she could not move. A
j large placard was pinned to iier chest, and
descended to her knees, on winch were
the following words: "
"Mrs. liluudercup and .Mr. down Blun-
dercup present their compliments to all
coiners, and be a: to slate that the wax fi'r-
urc recenuv coinpieicu oy mem, ana oro i
here last evening, may be seen for one
shilling each person, at No 2, Hay market;
and as the old woman to whom this pla-
card is attache! would not go away qui-
ctlv, we hav e left her here until iier friends
seek her." ;
The old searcher was iideased. and;
casting a look of determined haired at me, '
hobbled away towards the workhouse. ;
"Fa!e alarm !" said the beadle. "Right :'
about lace, inarch !
1 looked first at the beadle, then at the ;
churchwarden; and then at the man who j
had come to take care of the house, and I :
confess I did not know very well what to
say; so that 1 adopted the best course I '
could, which was merely to wish them all
a good morning, and walk home, belorc :
they could answer me to make any re- ;
marks. '
:
DURATION OF THE EARTH, i
as intimated dy asikd.vomy. '
000 years to complete it. Other planets
exhibit the same movement. Now if all
the planets .in the system were arranged j
along in a line on the same side ol the i mat uicir migniy periods are only com
sun, and all in their perihelia, i. c., all in pleted by millions of years. Are we to
that point of their orbits which is nearest j believe that the Divine Architect construct
the sun, and then all their orbits set re- i ed this admirably adjusted system to wear
volving according to their present laws of j
motion, millions of years must elapse ere i
all of them would meet again under the !
same circumstances to hold their family j
festival, preparatory to another revolution I
of the same length. '
The earth's orbit is now an elinsc, but j system, planets, orbits, inclinations, eccen
is slowly becoming circular; and at its i ttieities, perihelia and nodes will have
present rate of change will become a per-j
feet circle in about half a million of years I
from this time. Then it will begin to re- j
same its eilintical form, becoming- more '
and more elliptical for some millions of Gun at Sundown. i is well known
years, when having attained the maximum j to our readers that it is the practice to give
of ellipticvty, it will begin again to shape a morning and evening gun at the military
itself into a circle. Corresponding with j station at West Point, the reports of which,
this change and caused by it, is a change j unless a strong northerly wind prevails
of the period of the moon's revolution. arc plainly heard in this village. A few,
Its period is now slowly shortening; its : days since, a gentleman on the Point took
motion in revolution, of course increasinc: J into his service a verdant son of ihc Em
and this rate of increase is such as will j erald Isle. On the first day of his serv icj
make it gain a little more than its diameter j he was startled by the report of the eve
in a thousand years. This shortening ofin'mg gun, as it reverberated through the
her period and increase of velocity will
continue until the earth's orbit becomes a
f . 1 . .1 Ml 1 1..
pencci circle, ami men sue win siovviy
reverse her movements and gradually re
turn to her former condition.
From the mutual attraction of Jupiter
d Saturn, their orbits arc passing' thro1
Sit'
I similar changes, the orbit of one becoming '
FOLLOW,
more and more elliptical, while, from the
same cause, that of the other becomes
more and more circular, in consequence
of which motions, the period of one is
lengthening, while that of tho other is
shortening. This oscillation requires more
than 70,000 years for its completion.
The sun has what is called a "proper
motion," i. c. the sun, with all its depen
dent household, is sweeping through space
at tne rate ot 1U2.000 miles per day or
(nearly half it own diameter. It is sun- I
posed by some good astronomers that all I
the stars have a similar movement; all re- '
volving together. in the plane of the milky I
way, about some common centre; that the !
orbit described by om sun-in his "rand i
( inarch is so large, that this inconceivably j
j rapid motion continued for years, forms'
' practically a straight line; in other words, i
. the orbit is so large that the arc of it de-- !
. cube;! since this- motion was first observed, J
1 is so short in comparison with the whole j
orbit, as to seem to be no arc at all. At '
least, in instruments are, as yet, accurate !
enough to detect and measure its rate of'
uevianon irom a stratum line. llerschell ,'
: intimates that the element ot the orbit j
j may perhaps be determined after 30 or 10
years' observation with the nicest insiru- !
: menls. Of course, many millions of years j
' must pass ore this vast circuit can be fallv :
described by the sun. 1
Wc grant there is some little conjecture !
attached to this last illustration, which be- '
longs not to any of the previous ones; and '
yet it is so much in keeping with those ;
demonstrated tacts, that it can hardly be
called improbable:
Although these pcriodsarc inconceivably ;
long, still they are none the less periods,
They arc as truly periods, as if they were '
completed in one day or one hour. I he (
fact tiiat our life is short in comparison :
and tiiat we cannot in our best estates, .
have any adequate conception cf them, is '
110 more of an objection to their existence '
than it is an objection to the length of
Neptune's period, that insects die after a ;
fe w hou rs ex istciice, a nd withou t an y ade-
quate conception of an hundred and sixty .
four years' existence.
From the movements of the heavenly !
bodies through a certain part of their or-,
bits or of their oscillations, science deter- i
mines with the greatest exactness the fact j
that, after a certain point in departure is !
gained, the body will infallably return to !
its former condition and place. On its !
faithfully returning and thus neutralizing
the perturbations caused by its departure, ,
the harmony and stability of the whole ;
system depend. '
Now mark the conclusion. For the
same good reason that we say tiic earth :
could not have been made and set rotating j
merely to car.se fifty or a hundred days, I
br was not set revolving round the sun to !
cause only one or two years, or perhaps j
only a small part of one year for these
good reasons do we say these unmeasured '
and almost immeasurable periods were ;
intended by the Creator to be described, !
gone through with, and doubtless many :
limes repeated, ere the great chronometer ;
runs down. !
ur ideas of 'die pcrteeuou of his work- '
manship are shocked by any other conchi- '
sion. Our minds refuse to admit the idea
of a period of an orbit, or au oscillation
only partially completed. In the language j
of Professor Mitchell, we say: " The cu- j
tiro system forms one grand, complicated j
piece of celestial machinery: circle within '
circle, wheel within wheel, cycle within i
cycle; revolution so swift as to be comple- j
led in a few hours movements so slow
out and fall to ruins, even before one single J
revolution of its complex scheme of wheels
bad been periormed f At the end ot a
vast period amounting to many millions
of years, the entire range of fluctuation
" id have been accomplished : tho entire I
gained their original values and places,
and the great bell of eternity will then j
sound Onc !" j
!
j Highlands, awakening the mountains j
I slumbering echoes, and anxiously asked
,l.rt r ...I- iKi vtlrt::;iM 'rl lid.l ,
mc wu!c j i'.uoiuui
that it was the "sundown gun." "Oeh,
bless nie," exclaimed Pat, "and does ihe
i sun make Micti a devil ot a thunder a
i that going down in this country ?"
VOL. 7. NO. 18.
Brevity iv Woman. We find in a
California dairy, the following glorifica
tion of a quality me should like. 4 A man
of few words is very well, but 'a woman
of few words is a matter open to argu
ment: .
1 encountered, to day in a ravine; some
three miles distant, among the gold wash
ers, a woman from San .lose; She was
at work with a larg? wooden bowl by the
side of the stream. 1 asked her how long
she had been there, and how much gold
she averaged a day. She replied, 'three
weeks and one ounce' Her reply, re
mined me of an anecdote of the late Judge
li , who met a girl returning from
market, and asked her, huw deep did you
find the stream? what did you get for your
butter' .
'Up to the knee and nine-pence,' was
the reply.
'Ah! said the judjc to himself, she n
the girl for me; no words lost there;' turn
ed back, proposed, was accepted; and
married the next week; and a more happy
couple tne conjugal bonds never united;
the nuptial lamp never waned; its ray was
steady and clear to the last. Yo who pad
dle oifnnd on for seven years, and are 3
last capsized, take a lesson of the Judge
Thai up to the knee and nine-pence is
worth nil the rose letter and melancholy
rhymes ever penned.
O.ic of ''Em. A passenger upon on"
of our Mississippi river boats was lauded
at his place of destination with the hast.;
usually- attendant upon such "occasion's,
when he discovered, just as the plank was
drawn in, and the wheels of the boit put
in motion to start, a little fellow of some
five or six years, to whom he had loaned
his knife, standing upon the guards and
whittling. The gentleman called to throw
Ids knife ashore. Continuing the use of
the knife, hc replied that he couldn't "fm
a bit." The owner of the knife pointed
to a larger boy and cried out, "give it to
that big boy quick he can throw it."
The youngster looked at the big boy, then
turned to the owner of the knife and said.
"fV, he can't fro wvf a d n " and con;
tinned whittling with a perseverance that
would have been highly creditable to a
matured Yankee, leaving the gentleman
standing on shore, minus one of Roger's
Ton Had. A bachelor in Albany has
about one baby a month left at his door
accompanied with the request that h
"will charitably provide for it and bring i
up religiously." Au occasional baby in n
regular honest way, is undoubtedly a desi
rable present; but an attack of infantry
by platoons, upon a poor unprotected
bachelor, must be appalling to the last
decree !
IaT'Iu attempting to carve a fowl one
day, a gentleman found considerable diffi
culty in separating the joints, and exclaim
ed against the man who sold him an old
hen for a young chicken.
"My dear," said the enraged man's wifi
"don't talk so about the aged and respect
able Mr. 15. He planted the first hill of
corn that was planted in our ;own."
"I know that," said the husband, "an !
I believe this hen scratched it up."
Xorth Carolina in Fish Tiwe. The
story is lold of them, that if you meet p.
citizen of the pine and tar regions of ihr
North State travelling west in blackbcrry
and persimon time, and ask hint where he
is from, he will sing out from his thin
visajre in a subdued and drawlinjj tone.
From-North-Carol ina-God-bless-y ou-give-me-a-chew-'tobacco.
Hut when you meet
one of them in fish time, and propound to
him the same question, he will answer in
a haughty and saucy tone, which indicates
a sense of complete independence: From
Xorth Carolina, d n you ! IVhct have
you to sny agin it '
CF" In the town of M., Vermont, there
lives a man who is well known for his
gloomy disposition, and for entertaining a
settled notion that he is the most unlucky
of mortals. Let whatever may happen
to him, he considers the event a disaster,
and alwavs grumbles. "Just my cussed
luck !" In spite of his hopelessness, th'
.Ttan is a Universalist in his religious be
lief; but being a little shaken in his faith
one dav, by the arguments of a neighbor,
hc exclaimed "Well, I don't believe there
is a hell, but if there is one, it will be just
my cussed luck to get into it I"
.7 .Model Editor. A correspondent of
the, Boston Museum thus speaks of Mr.
Wrignt, editor of the 'Cbroncty pc. He
has been known to write with a pen in
each hand on two different subjects, rock
the cradle with his fedt, and whistle 'Had
Columbia' for the twin Habies, whil in
tently reading onc of Parker's srmon
all at the same tintc,
l-