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BY JAS. CLARK.
TO DEATIIe
PRO ) THE GERMAN OP GLUCK.
Methinks:it were no pain to die,
On suct,an eve, when such a sky'
O'er canopies the West..
To gaze my fill on yon calm deep,
And like an infant fall to sleep
On earth, my Mother's breast.
There's peace and welcome in yon sea
Of endless blue tranquility,
The clouds are living things
trace theii veins of liquid gold,
I see them solemnly tit:fold
Their soft and fleecy wings.
These be the angels that convey
Us weary children Of a day , —
Life's tedious nothing o'er—
Where neither passions come, nor woes,
To vex the genius of repose
On Death's majestic shore.
No darkness there divides the way
With startling dawn and dazzling day;
But gloriously serene
Are the interminable plains:—
One fixed, eternal sunset reigns
O'er the wide, silent scene.
I cannot doff all human fear :
I know the greeting is severe
To this poor shell of clay ;
et come, 0 Death! thy freezing kiss
• mancipates ! thy rest is bliss!
I would I were away.
Interesting Sketch of Minnesota.
H. H. Sibley, delegate from Mineso
ta, has furnished, at the request of the
Hon. H. S. Foot of the U. S. Senate,
the following interesting description of
the new Territory in the North West,
which is worthy of perusal, as giving a
correct and favorable account of its ex
tent, capabilities and progress :
That port of Minnesota which lies
tostof the Mississippi river, constituted
a portion of Wisconsin Territory, before
the admission into :he Union of the State
of that name, with curtailed boundaries.
The St. Croix, and a line drawn from
the main branch of that stream, to the
mouth of the St. Louis river, on Lake
Styerior, now divide %I isconsin from
Minnesota. On the west of the Missis
sippi, the parallel of 43 deg. 30 min., is
the line of division between the State of
lowa and Minnesota west to thellissou
ri, All the country up the latter stream
to its junction with the W hitewater, and
along that river to the British posses.
sions, thence eastwardly following the
line of 49 deg. to Its intersection of
the extreme north west boundary of
isconsin, in Lake superior, appertains
to Minnesota Territory. The area em
braced within these limits contains be
tween 140,000 and 150,000 square miles,
equal in extent to New York, Virginia
and Pennsylvania combined.
This immense region is bountifully and
watered by the Mississippi, St. Peters
Missouri rivers, and the Red river of the
north, and their numerous tributary
streams which traverse it in every part.
There are also innumerable bodies of
fresh water, which abound in fish of va
rious kinds—the white fish especially
being found in great numbers in the
more northern and larger lakes. The
general character of Minnesota is that
of high, rolling prairie ; but the streams
and lakes are bordered with heavy bod
ies of timber, which contain every spe
cies of wood known along the Missis
sippipi below, except heed) and syca-
More. At a point about eighty miles
above the falls of St. Anthony, west of
the Mississippi, commences a large and
remarkable forest, which extends to the
south, nearly at a right angle across the
Minnesota St, Peter's river to the branch
es of the Maketo or the Blue Earth riv
er. This vast body of Woodland is
mere titan one hundred and twenty
Miles in length, and from fifteen to for
ty in breadth. Many beautiful lakes of
limpid water are Inund within its limits,
which are the resort of innumerable wild
foul—including swan, geese, And ducks.
'the dense thickets along its border af
forded places of concealment for the deer,
which are killed in great numbers by
the Indians. The numerous groves of
hard maple afford to the latter, at the
proper season, the means of making su
gar, while the large cotton woods and
butter-nuts are converted into canoes by
them for the transportation of them
selves and their families along the wat
er courses and lakes. At the approach
of winter, the bands of Sioux, save those
who rely excusively upon the buffalo for
subsistence, seek the deepest recesses
of the forest, to hunt the bear, the deer,
and smaller fur bearing animals, among
which may be enumerated, the raccoon,
the fisher, and the marten. In this beau•
said country are to be found all the re
quisites to sustain a dense population.--
'The soil Is of great fertility and un
known depth, covered as it is with the
mould of a thousand years. The Indi
an is here in his forest home, hitherto
secure from the intrusion of the pale fa
ces; but the advancing tide of civiliza
tion warns him that ere long he must
yield up his title to this fair domain, and
seek another and a strange dwelling
place. It is a melancholy reflection, that
the large and v, arlike tribes of Sioux
and Chippetvas, who now own full nine
tenths of the soil of Minnesota, must
soofl be subjected to the operation of the
Same causes which have swept their
eastern brethren from the earth, unless
nn entirely different line of policy is
pursued by the government towards
them. If they were brought under the
influence and restraint of our benign
laws, and some hope extended to them,
that education and a course of moral
training would at some neriod hereafter,
entitle them to be placed upon an equal
ity, social and political, with the whites,
much good would be the result.
The soil of Minnesota r 8 admirably
adapted to the cultiiation of all the
cereal grains, Wheat ; oats, tin'd barley
are already raised in considerable quan
tities, and corn grown to great perfec
tion. kVheat and barley afford a sure
crop, even at the British Red river colo
ny, which is in latitude 50deg.
1\ but will be the result in the cultiva
tion of fruit trees in our territory has ne
ver been tested ; but there is no reason
to doubt that the experiment will be
sucessful, with all those species which
are produced in the same parallel V
latitude elsewhere. Minnesota is des
tined to be a great agricultural region,
and her prairies are well calculated for
the raising of stock. There is also such
an extent of water power throughout i:s
broad surface, that no reason can be
perceived why manufactures should not
flourish also. The reports of those
scientific men who have explored the
country justify us in the belief!that our
territory is rich in copper ores, and more
particularly in Galena or lead. Whether
coal exists is a problem yet to be solved.
If it shall be found in any considerable
quantities, the discovery will be of more
real advantage to Minnesota than mines
of silver or gold.
On the upper portions of the Missis
sippi and St. Croix valleys lies the
great region of pine, which will continue
to prove a source of wealth to the
Territory and future state for a century
to come. The manufacture of pine
lumber already occupies a very large
part of the industrial labour of the peo
ple. The quantity produced during
the last year must have exceeded eight
millions of feet, although the amount
is but conjectural, as I have no reliable
data upon which to bases calculation.—
Much of this is needed for home con
sumption, caused by the rapid increase
of population, but the larger portion is
ratted to St. Louis, where it meets with
a ready sale. This branch of business
is in the hands of hardy, enterprising
and respectable men, who, enduring
evrey species of privation in their wild
hoMes are too often fated to encounter
heavy losses from the uncontrolable
floods which set nt defiance, equally, the
strength and skill of man.
The climate of 'Minnesota is not sub
ject to sudden variations, especially in
winter. Although in some years the
snow falls to a considerable depth, yet,
as a general rule, we have fur less than
is the case either in New England or in
the northern part of the State of New
York. The compa rat ive absence of mois
ture in our country is attributable to
the fact that no very large bodies of wa
ter are to be found, although ; as I have
before stated, small lakes abound. Du
ring the coldest weather in winter, the
air is perfectly still ; consequently, the
temperature is much mere tolerable, and
even pleasant, than could be supposed
by those who reside ia the same latitude
on the stormy Athintic coast:
'rile navigation of the Mississippi is
not to be relied on, after the first week in
November ; and steamboats arrive in the
spring about the 10th or 12th of April ;
so that the river may be considered as
closed about five months in the year.-
1 have known steamers to reach St. Paul
us lute as the 18th or 20th of Nov., and
to get back safely to Galena, and to re
turn by the first of April ; but this is
not usually the case.
St. Paul is the present capital of the
Territory. It is situated on the east bank
of the Mississippi, about six miles below
Fort Snelling, and eight miles by land
from the falls of St. Anthony. It is now
a town of twelve or thirteen hundred in
habitants, and is rapidly augmenting in
population. Stillwater is a thriving vii
liege on lake St, Croix ; about eighteen
miles from St. Paul by land, and twen
ty-five from the Mississippi. It is sec
ond only to St. Paul in size, and is in•
creasing steadily in wealth and popula
tion. There is also quite a village at
the falls of St. Anthony-, which is one of
the most lovely- spots in the upper coun
try, and also at Marine Mills, on the St.
Croix river, Sank rapids, on the Missis
sippi, seventy-five miles above time falls,
and at Mendota, at the mouth of the St.
Peter's river. Point Douglass is at the
junction between the Mississippi and St.
HUNTINGDON, PA., TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1850.
Croix rivers. It is a charming place
and it is destined to 131 the site of a
town or commercial importance.
Pembina is the name of a settlement
on our side of the line of the British
possessions, and contains upwards of a
thousand souls, principally persons of
mixed Indian and white blood. These
people are active and enterprising, hardy
and intrepid, excellent horsemen, and
well skilled in the use of fire•arms.—
They subsist by agriculture and the
chase of the buffalo. They desire to be
recognised as citizens of :he United
States, as do some thousands of their
kindred, who now reside at Selkirk's
colony in the British territory, but who
are anxious to emancipate themselves
from the iron rule of the Hudson Bay
Company. These people are only await.:
lag some action ori (he part of the gov
ernment of the United States, to join
their brethren at Pembina. They would
form an invaluable defence to that expo
sed frontier, in case of difficulties here
after either with the British government
(to which they are much disaffected) or
with the Indian tribes.
might state in this connexion, that
the Indians generally through our Terri
tory are kindly disposed towards the
whites and anxious to avoid a collision.
This is emphatically the case with the
Sioux and Chippewas.
I would remark, in conclusion, that
the people of our Territory are distin
guished for intelligence and high toned
morality. For the twelve months or
more prior to the establishment by Con
gress of a government for Minnesota,
although, in the anomalous position in
which it was left by the admission of
Wisconsin into the Union as a State, it
was uncertain to what extent if any, the
laws could be enforced, not a single crime
of any magnitude was committed. The
emigration to Minnesota is composed of
men who go there with the well-founded
assurance, that, in a land where'nature
has lavished her choicest gifts--where
sickness has no dwelling place—where
the dreaded cholera has not claimed a
single victim—their toil will , be amply
rewarded, while their persons and prop
erty are fully protected by the broad
shield of law. The sun shines not upon
a fairer region, nue more desirable as a
home for the mechanic, the farmer, and
the laboror, or where their industry
will be more surely requitted, than Min
nesota Territory.
I have thus glanced, in a cursory and
imperfect manner, at the state of things
in our country. Much more might be
written on the subject ; but enough has
been stated to enable you to form a gen
eral idea of a Territory which is destin
ed to be admitted into the Union ns a
State in the course of a very few years,
and to eclipse some of her proudest sis
ters. I am, dear sir, yours,
very respectifully,
H. H. SIBLEY.
The First Marriage,
Marriage is of a date prior to sin it
self, the only record of a paradise that
is left to us—one smile that God let fall
on the world's innocence, lingering and
playing still upon its sacred visage.
The first marriage was celebrated before
God himself, who filled, in his own per
son, the offices of guest, witness and
priest. There stood the two god-like
forms of innocence—fresh in the beauty
of their unstained nature. The hallowed
shades of the garden and the green car
peted earth smiled to look upon so di
vine a pair. The crystal waters flower)
by, pare and transparent its they. The
enhlernished flowers breathed incense
ott the sacred air answering to their up
right love. An artless round of joy
from all the vocal natures was the hymn,
spontaneons nuptial harmony, such as a
world in tune might yield ere discord
was invented. • Religion blessed her
two childern thus, and led them fort
into life to begin her wondrous history.
The first religious scene they knew was
their own marriage before the Lord God.
They learned to love Him as the inter
preter and :Neuter of their love to each
other; and if they had continued in their
uprightness, life would have been a form
of wedded worship—a sacred mystery
of sp irttual oneness and communication.
They did not continue. Curiosity tri
umphed over innocence. They tasted
sin and knew it in their fall. Man is
changed; man's heart and woman's heart
are no longer what the first hearts were.
Beauty is blemished. Love is debased.
Sorrow and tears are in the world's cup.
Sin has swept away all paradisean mat
ter, and the world is bowed tinder its
curse. Still one thing remained as it
was. God mercifully spared one token
of the innocent world—and that the
dearest, to be a symbol forever of the
primal love. And that is marriage.
This one flower of Paradise is blooming
yet in the desert of sin.—Rev. Dr.
Bushnell:
A Monster Balloon.
A discovery, which, if successful, is
destined to change the whole social
system of the World, is to be tried, in
the gardens of the Observatoire, in a few
days. M Patin t the aerotat; after a se
ries of ruinous experienentS, has suc
ceeded in fabricating a balloon, or, rath
er, a collection of balloons, calculated
to convey through the air as many as
three thousand persons at a time. The
whole machine is said to be of dimen
sions as vast as those of Notre Dame.
He has rejected entirely the ancient
system by which these machines have
hitherto been guided. "The talent and
energy of the whole human race tem- .
bined have never been able to'create;"
says he. "Mankind may compile, may
combine, and may apply, but the Al
mighty is the sole creator of all things.
The first navigator was taught his sci
ence by the fishes of the deep; why,then,
have we neglected so long the lessons
which the birds of the air have convey
ed to us, from the beginning of the
worldl" Guided by this principle, M.
Patin has constructed the machine of
his balloon in exact imitation of the ac
ting muscles of the wings of birds. If
it should succeed, what then becomes
of war and conquest—of import duties
and export duties—of sanitary cordons,
and of prohibitory clauses I—Paris Pa
pers.
Take the First Step.
If you are ever to be anything you
must make a beginning; and you must
make it yourself. The world is getting
too practical to help drones, and push
them along, when there is a busy hive
of workers who, if anything, live too
fast. You must lift up your own feet,
and if you have a pair of clogs on which
clatter about your heels, they will soon
be worn off and left behind on the dusty
path-way. Mark out the line which you
prefer; let truth be the object glass—
honesty the surveying chain—and emi
nence the level with which you lay out
your field ; and thus prepared, with pru
dence on one arm and perseverance on
the other, you need fear no obstacle.—
Do not be afraid to take the first step.—
Boldness will beget assurance, and the
first step will bring you so much nearer
the second. But if your first step should
break down, try again. It will be surer
and safer by the trial. Besides, if you
never move you will never know your
'own power. A man standing still and
declaring his inability to walk, without
making the effort, would be a general
laughing stock ; and so, morally, is the
man, in our opinion, who will not test
his own moral and intellectual power,
and then gravely assure us that lie has
"no genius," or "no talent," or "no ca
pacity." A man with seeing eyes keep
ing them shut and complaining that he
ca.tnot see! The trumpeter of his own
imbecility
QD In 1790, when the scat of Gov
ernment was held in New York, certain
discontented and acribilious spirits, who
rnagnfied molehills into Mountains, talk
ed strongly of dissolving the Union.
Gen. WASHINGTON, in a letter to COI.
STEWART, of Abington, Virginia, said it
was impossible to satisfy such men, for
that, being disappointed and chagrined
because, on visiting the seat of Govern
ment, they thought their merits were
undervalued, they sought in a dissolu
tion of the Union a cure for wounded
vanity. When we see men pricking up
their ears at every pretext likely tojiistffy
treason to theft cYunfry i and gloatinir
o'er tthatcver lids a iendeney to minis
ter to a morbid appetite for civil strife
and contention, we cannot help think
ing that the causes assigned by the
immortal WASHINGTON for the discon
tents of his day are equally applicable
to some of our modern political Luci
fers.—Jackson (.41i.)Southron.
DOUBLE EAGLE.—This beautifut ne'iJ
coinage has been issued front the mint,
and far exceeds all the other golden pie ,
ces in elegance as in Value. The device
of the head is from the antique, and is
an emblem of Liberty, as required by law:
The reverse is designed th' ee'nformity
with the act of 178 *bleb decribes the
arms of the Unitcci ntates with the scroll
containing the motto 'E Minibus Unum,'
more extended and ornamented titan
usual, and seeming by its form and
arrangement to indicate the name of the
piece. Mr. Longacre, who designed
the die, deserves great credit for its ele
gance and neatness.—Daily Sun
Somebody has well said, l• The
rich depend on the laboring poor for
their work ; on the merry poor, for their
amusement; on the learned poor for in
struction ; and on the pious poor for
sanctification. "Were it not for the poor,
how mit.erably poor would the rich be ;
yet with all their dependence on those
who work for, amuse ; and instruct them,
they affect an " independence" thut is
truly ludicrous.
(
-9°
VlArita l
(7
NAPOLEON-WASHINGTON.
BY WILLIAM WARREN
Fifty years have not yet passed away, since
two' men, the most distinguished of modern
times, ceased from among the living. They
came forth alike from the midst of a Ilepublic.
Each, for a time, held in his hands the desti
nies of a nation. Toward each was directed'
the admiring gaze of a whole continent. Each
held an absolute sway over those by whom his
superiority was acknowledged.
Never, perhaps, in the history of the human
race, has a man risen from comparative obscuri
ty, to the loftiest heights of military glory, so
rapidly and triumphantly, as Napb'Peoti'. Na
ture, in mingling the element of his character,
seemed bent on mischief. From his childhood
he was distinguished for his firmness, which
not unfrequently degenerated into unreasonable
obstinacy. In early youth, choosing arms for
his profession, and possessed of an ambition
which no disappointment could destroy, and
which no success could satiate, it needed no
Prophetic inspiration to predict his course in
after life. His opinions, once formed, however
hastily, whether right or wrong, were rarely
changed. His plans, which astonish by their
apparent rashness, none but Napoleon would
have devised—none but Napoleon could have
accomplished. He never calculated the chan
ces of a failure. Though any of his underta
kings required the sacrifice of many thousand
lives, yet was his course marked by no hesita
tion. At one time we beheld him traversing
the streets of Paris, with all the honors of a lei. ,
umph. At another, he is surrounded by a te
bellious mob, whose rage the sword and the
bayonet are scarcely able to restrain. To-day,
from the ice-crowned summits of the Alps, he
falls with the avalanche upon his astonished
foes. To-morrow, he seeks in vain for peace
at the hands of his conquerors. Now we hear
the voice of the populace, as with a wild enthu
siasm, they hail him , Emperor of France, and
anon, the lonely island of the &eau has become
his resting place—the dashing billows as they
break mournfully upon the rocky shores of St.
Helena, chant his funeral dirge—and the worm
of the charnel makes a luscious feast on what
was once Nopoleon.
How unlike this was the dazzling, but far
more glorious carreer of our own revered
Washington. Engaging early in the glory of
the colonies for independence, he exhibited tal
ents, which showed that he was destined not to
follow but to lead. Soon is he placed in com
mand of the whole American forces, and ever
shows, by his wisdom, his prudence, and his
firmness, that he is by no means unfitted for his
station. The motives which urged him on
ward, were pure and honorable. Looking into
the recesses of his heart, we find there no traces
of an unholy ambition. The God he worship
ped was the King of kings—the end he aimed
at, the deliverance of his country. Never do
we find him within the walls of the capitol, en
forcing his authority by violence and arms ; but
the breezes of midnight pause and listen, as they
sweep by in some lonely solitude, uttering the
hoMage cf his soul in prayer, or seeking coun
sel of the God of battles. He accomplished his
object. The shackles of oppression were bro
ken. His country was ftee . . He might have
reigned as a monarch; but he preferred the
retifenVent of a domestic life to the adoration of
a land, he might almost be said to have created."
He passed his days in honored repose, and dy
ing, shed a deep, yet hallowed gloom all over a
whole continent.
Napoleon, like motherless Minerva, seemed
to spring into existence, clad in complete pano
ply. For a time he hurried on, with all the fa
ry and desperation of a fiend incarnate, from
conquest to conquest. He hangs for a brief pe
riod on. the lofty summits of the Alps—stays a
moment in his course to apyly the torch to
kindling Moscow—and rushes on madly to de
feat in the plains of Waterloo. Thus robbed of
his imperial power, and deprived of all the in
signia of royalty, the feeble glimmering of his
faded glory sheds but a twilight radience over
the lonely island of Helena. Well may his coun
trymen erect over his rescued bones the stately
mauseletim, and grave the history of his ;glori
ous deeds upon the monumental marble. Per
haps such mementoes are needed to call up the
recollection of the bloody scenes which ware
enacted for the gratification of his mad—his un
restrained ambition.
For Washington, we ask no such memorials.
The toWeting monument, or the time defying
Marble, are unnecessary to perpetuate his fame.
His name is graven deeply upon the hearts of
his countrymen—his virtues are inscribed in
living characters on tablets of memory. We
are unworthy to speak his praise. Let Hamlet
be his eulogist. How infinite in faculties! in
form, and moving; how expressive and admira
ble ! in action, how like an angel I in appre-
hension, how like a god !" Let Marc Antony
give his epitaph
His lire was gentle, and (lie elements
So' mixed in him, that nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, •ruts WAS A MAN."
Loorc.—A gentlemen asked a country clergy
man for the use of his pulpit for a young diSine,
a relation of his. I really do not know," said
the clergyman, , 4 how to refuse }ou; but if
the young man could preach dotter that, we, my
congregation will be diesatisfied with me after..
wards and if he should preach worse, I don't
think WI fit to preach at at?.
VOL, XV, NO. 13,
FROM CALIF ORM.
SACRAMENTO CITY, iiet, 939, 1899
Dear Relatives :—I am now in the thtiVing
city call Sacramento, which nine months agd
was not known; you may think it a big yarn,
when I tell you that this said city now numbers
about nix thousand inhabitants. There are but
few houses here, the majority of the inhabitants
lives in tents, and canvass houses. There are
a gteat many sneering and dying from exposure,
as this is the wet season, and I myself have et
perieneed three days pretty heavy rain. lam
not living in the above named city, but am lo
cated in the gold region about forty miles east.
I came here a few days ago, for a load of pro-
Visions, and wile caught in the rain ; and cense ,
quently was detained about a Week. l'o , mor•
row I shall leave for my home. There are sev
en of us living in a good log building; but only
three of us work together ; we have not made
anything yet. If we have luck in getting this
load of provisions up, we will have enough to
do us for about five months. Provisions are
ve
ry high this fall. Flour $2O, per cwt., Pork
$25 per cwt, Corn meal about the same in pro
poriion, Rice 10 cis. per lb, Apples G.. 5 eta. per
lb., Onions $l, per lb., Coffee 124 eta. per lb.
Sugar 25 per lb. Good beets 530,00 per pair,
(but I bought a pair for $l.O, which was reason.
'able price.) Other things are in about the
same proportion. When persons buy their stuff
they have to pay 50c. per cwt. for having it
carried to the mines; this is California. We
bought two mules, one for $B5, and the other
for $.lO which carry about one hundred and sev
enty pounds each. 1 have a pony of my
.own
which 1 brought over the plains, bSt I must
leave him on the co'romons, fur the wet weather
has near about killed him. If you were here
to-day you Would think it awful' to see the im
mense number of cattle and horses that are lying
dead in town. But man and beast fare about
alike in this wonderful country, though whets
gold can be found in any of the mountains sottlh
of this place ; and on some of the northern, and
eastern also. You no doubt have heard many
exaggerated tales, as well as some true ones
about the gold diggings. The stuff is bete ; for I
have dug it, and hope to dig more if my health
will permit; it is not very good at present.
With regard to the manlier in which we heed
and travelled while coming here. It wan very
rough,
(no fruit,) and when we leave our home,
which was a large tree, we sometimes would
take a mule, and a pair of blankets and a few
sea biscuits; when night came we had to hunt
a new home coder some old oak, where the
ground was smooth, and gram for the mule, for
he had to hunt his own living. IThis is Califor
nia; and this I have done many a night, and
slept as sound as a rock, and expect to do it
going home, and probably a nice moist night I
may have. This is a !mall sketch of gold liv
ing. I will now tell you how we dig it.
We in the fitst place get a pick, shovel, iron
spoon and a large tin pan; and then we get in
some creek, on a bar termed by high water, dig
until we fine solid rock, and there we may find
it ; but if riot on the rock, no stopping there,.
perhaps two or more days work lost, sometimes
we find it in little ravines where it is scattered
all along. Some men make fortunes, while otl,
era make but a living; it is like all gold dig
ging, or gold making ; you must have luck,
work hard, and then save all you get. I have
often seen fifty dollars dug in one day. There
was a lump found close by me one dej , that
weighed three ounces: I have out now worth
nineteen dollars ;' /oh each things and places are
scarce. I got through my journey safe and
sound, and hope to do well. But if any of my
friends have the gold fever give theta a dose of
picks and shovels and work it off with tin pans
filled with gravel and mixed with a few cents
worth of gold dust; and I think it will cure
them. I was offered work the other day at my
trade (which is Tinning) at tell dollars per day,
and board, for the winter, which WWI a very
good offer indeed ; but as I had gone to so much
expense in getting up stuff, I thought I would
wait until Spring and then if mining proved as
it had with nie, I would quit it, and work at
my trade. I speak of Spring, bet it is all Spring
and the proper name would be wet and dry sea
son. It is said here that it stops raining in
rebruary, and then it is Spring. Snow never
falls in the valleys. (the grass is shooting up
finely) but it can be seen ell around us on the
mountains. I shall write no more at present,
but ask you to answer this soon, for I am wiz
ions to hear from you. Give my love to all.
I still remain your sincere friend.
JAMES LOWER,
Diamond cut Diamond.
The other dayagentleman who had occasion to
cross New York in a cab, found, on alighting,
that he had no change in his pocket. The only
shop at hand was a cigar store in which were
some three or four fellows beside the proprietor
putting the villainous weed,
The gentleman entered, requesting, the cab
man to tollow him, and handing a live dollar bill
to the Yorker," asked him to change it. The
cigar vender handed him a three dollar bill and
the rest in silver, out of which the cabman was
paid, and went on his way rejoicing.
But a moment afterwards, the gentleman
looking at the bill, found it to be a very suspi
cious looking document, purporting to be a
promissory note of the llogtown Lumber and
Alining company, or some such ambiguous and
apocryphal institution. Finding that he had
been shaved, he asked the cigar vender if that
was a good bill.
" A 'good bill ! yes ! I wish I turd ten thou
sand of 'em," was the answer. Bill!" (wink
ing to a villainous Whoy) "isn't that 'ere a good
bill 1"
Good as whent said the bey ; and •' good.
good I" was echoed around the shop.
Very well," said the gentleman, € 4 I asked
for inlormation. You seem to have no doubt
of the genuineness of the note, and(ad you were
kind enongh to accommodate me, I think the
hest thing r can do is to break it at your coun
ter. Gentlemen, try another eigat apiece at my
expense.
The cigar man 'Vas regularly taken in and
done for—caught in his own trap. With great
reluctance he changed the spurious note, and the
operation cost the intended victim but about a
As lie was leaving the store, one of the B'hoye
touched hit* bn the shoulder.
" You're otie Of 'em," said he, " and I'll bet
high that you're a Yankee."
ain't any thing else," replied the seaste.
man, "and while I'm in this 'pal! village, 3
mean to keen my PY*4 nrten