Sunday dispatch. [volume], March 07, 1852, Image 1

About Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854

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VOL. 7. NO. 15.
DAWN.
BY MISS FRANCIS W. D. BRUCE
Lovely she wakes as from Elysian bow’rs,
Some goddess fair dawned on our mortal sight;
Lovely she wakes as on a throne of flow’rs,
Celestial form in glory’s robes bedight;
O'er nature’s quiet in full grandeur breaking,
The eastern skies in floods of brightness laking.
While like a vanquished Queen the dim night
ybddeth,
Till the last star withdraws its timid glances;
And morn the victors sceptre proudly wieldeth,
As on triumphal car she slow advances ;
The earth and air with roseate hues caressing,
Seeming to breathe o'er all a whispered blessing.
The sparkling beauty of her light distilling,
O’er all the world in floods of amber streaming.
The void of space with flames of glory filling,
While in the East the gorgeous clouds are
gleaming ;
Ay ’t were forgiving heav’ns resplendent portals,
Inviting oped to us repentant mortals.
Seeming to bear to all a holy greeting,
From the immortal, the ethereal band ;
The thoughtful skies in robes of splendor sheeting,
Ai ’twere reflections from that better land;
Our truant hearts from this dark earth to win
Unto that world where never entereth sin.
r j he Tyrian dyes like Seraph wings outspreading,
O’er the deep quiet of the heavenly plain;
Now far and near their changeful glances shed
ding,
And pouring to earth like gems of golden ram;
Till the dazzling Monarch of the day ascends,
And with her light his fiery shafting blends.
HARRffiT JEFSON,
THE MANCHESTER. COTTON SPINNER.
A SKETCH OF LIFE IN
S*HI! BJMGIiXSH TACTOB-ISS,
IN SIX CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER 111.
The melancholy with which wo sometimes
contemplate a triumph, is equal to the cha
grin with which wc look back upon defeat.
Our evil passions are called into action, draw
ing forth the evil passions of others; and
those, perchance, individuals who may at one
time have shared our respect, or enchained
our affections. Hence we learn to regret the
encounter, and the causes which led to it,
and find our victory lessened by the loss of
friends, and the creation of new enemies.
Thus Harriet Jeffson, though conscious of
having triumphed over her seducer, or hus
band, as she resolved henceforth to call him,
was conscious of a corroding pain at heart,
and after she had left him subdued and in
mental agony, a lowering and sickening of
spirits which detracted from the greatness of
her triumph, and proved how pungent are
the pains of victory, sunk her ss it were to
the earth. She felt how terrible it was to
hate, and to hate the object of her former
love. She felt that by nature she was form
ed for love, and softness, and submission, —
for drawing forth admiration, commanding
respect, and when melted by its proper ob
ject, for pouring forth her whole soul at the
shrine and upon the altar of affection,—and
now that she had forsaken her proper nature,
drowned every yearning of affection in her
I eart with gall and bitterness, and assumed
the character of the avenging amazon, charg
ed with u mission of destruction, she felt
truly the depth of her humiliation, and the
terrible nature of the work she had shaped
out for herself. Could she have wept, her
brain would have been less charged with fire,
her burning temples have throbbed less
fiercely, and her eyes have shone with lees
unnatural lustre. But tears never came to
her relief, and the intense action of her mind,
producing a species of frenzy, threatened to
shatter its clay tenement, or else to become
itself a wreck, more terrible in its desola
tion, than the earthly ruin could possibly do.
But her ruin and the depth of degradation
into which she was innocently plunged by
the base, the monstrous fraud of Richards
and his accomplices, was constantly before
her : and in vain she had endeavored to op
pose the transformation of her nature, which
had gradually been taking place. Every
circumstance that' might possibly mitigate
the atrocity of the man she had loved she
had carefully and anxiously balanced, and
found them to weigh less than a feather in
the scale against the world of his iniquities
And when his old friend, —yes, his friend,
who knew of her retreat in the environs of
London, announced to her by letter his ac
tual marriage to Frances Burslew, the last
remains of affection for him, which lingered
as if loth to leave the altar of her heart, for
sook it for ever, and left it a prey to the de
mons of hate and despair. Then it was that she
left the abode of quiet she had chosen and re
turned to the scene of her former love and
unutterable anguish, and took up her abode,
as being less open, than most parts, to obser
vation ia that resort of filth and misery, mis
named “Gibraltar.”
Thus, a prey to the most corrosive of all
the passions, and yet preserving unsullied
amidst the ruins of her fair fame, that vir
tue, to subdue and blight, which Richards
had vainly but perseveringly striven, until
by fraudulent and villanous stratagem he dt
last succeeded. When she first came to
Manchester, her friends knew of her resi
dence and regularly corresponded with her :
and even after the marriage, which she was
afterwards taught to believe false, and when
frequent letters passed between them, she
even then, to satisfy the scruples of her hus
band, preserved the marriage an inviolable
secret. After the fatal truth came out, and
she found herself the victim of a fiendish
plot, all correspondence ceased —the blighted
flower resolved to blush in secret and shed
her tears unseen.
Thus she was now alone in the world, the
foot ball of destiny. The low region termed
Gibraltar, where taken up her abode,
anxious to avoid any inquiries of friends,
should any turn up—placed in a deep hollow
immediately under Ducie Brigete, and bor
dering that pestiential stream or puddle
called the Irk, as it rolls charged with the
refuse of dye-works, tanneries, and manu
factories, into the Irwell, is one of those into
which sanitory reform has scarcely pene
trated, and where, in truth, sanatory meas
ures can effect little good until the delapi
dated buildings are removed. The stench
and steam from the Irk, ascending the bank,
hover over the cluster of pauper dwellings
and lodging houses, and even rush with
every breath of wind through the covered
passages and up the flights of steps into Long
Mitigate. The interior of the houses are in
many respects on a par with the exterior
region, and wretched beyond description.
The house where Harriet lodged, was in
every respect the best in this place, whether
as regarded cleanliness or furniture. The
people—fringe-weavers—were respectable
for the neighborhood, and had some innate
notion of modesty and virtue ; and as they
showed every respect for their lodgers, when
well conducted, a considerable degree of
personal comfort, all things being considered,
was realized.' The crowding of beds in the
chambers was the greatest drawnback to
health, but as this could not be avoided, no
objections were made by its denizens.
“ So you have again returned, Miss Bea
ver,” for that was the name they knew
Harriet by, “ and I hope you feel better for
your walk,” said the mistress of the house,
a plain and modest-featured woman.
“ My head aches more severely, and my
heart throbs more fiercely than ever,” re
plied Harriet, calmly.
“Ah ! indeed,” pursued the woman. “ I
see by your eyes that your head must ache
—why, they are really blood-shot.”
•“ Why should you wonder, my good wo
man i”
Truly, Miss Beaver, I need not,” an
swered the dame ; “ I know what head-aches
are myself.”
“But you probably never knew what it
was to have a burning brain and a tearless
eye!” said Harriet, throwing herself me
cnanioally upon a chair, and her bonnet on
an adjoining bed, while the heart sepmed as
if threatening to break with every strong
excited pulsation.
“ Goodness me, no !” exclaimed the little
woman with a stare. “ I could always cry
when I was grieved; and that, you know,
relieved me. Try to cry, Miss Beaver, if
you are distressed. Do so, indeed.”
“ Think you not there are griefs, as well
as thoughts, that lie too deep for tears!” in
quired Harriet.
“ I don’t know,” replied the woman;
“ my tears have been always ready enough,
I know.”
“ But my tears have flowed until the well
is dried up. The very fountain is parched,
and the heart that once could melt has be
come a scorched wilderness. Am I not a
withered tree, struck with the lightning of
the affections!”
“ Goodness me, how you do talk, Miss Bea
ver I I am sure ”
“ Hold ! Mrs. Sloman,” cried Harriet, ris
ing from her clear, and wildly confronting
her landlady. “ Call me no more Miss Bea
ver ; that is only for a particular reason as
sumed. My name is Harriet Jeffson—or, if
you please, Mrs. Richards; the first my mai
den name, the second, that of my husband ! I
am a widow, with a living husband! My only
child is in its grave; and I am alone, and
my heart is steel.”
“ What do you say ? Well, how strange !
Do you know, then, Miss Jeffson, if so please
you,” cried the little woman, with uplifted
hands, “ that just after you had gone out
this morning a youngish gentleman camo
here asking for a Miss Jeffson; but I told
him you know, that no Miss Jeffson lodged
here. He described her appearance, too;
and it was so like you. But I said that my
only lodger was Miss Harriet Beaver, and
said he enould return and see.”
Here was a new theme for wonder, and
Harriet gazed intensely into the eyes of her
landlady, who calmly met her gaze, and said
“ Bless me, how you look ! Can you not be
lieve me! ’
“ I can and do, Mr. Sloman. Do you know
the man ?”
“ Me, my heart! no : I ne’er saw him be
fore,” answered Mrs Sloman.
“ But his appearance, my friend ! ’
“ Very like yourself, Miss Jeffson—with
black hair and whiskers, only taller than
you, though you be tall,” was Mrs. Sloman's
reply.
“ Heaven help me, Mrs.’Sloman,” exclaim
ed Harriet, sinking as if exhausted upon the
bed, “it is my brother! 0 that my head
was crushed, and my broken heart still in
death ! For what further trials am I reserv
ed ! . Merciful God!
“Well to be sure how you do take on, Miss
Harriet,”, cried Mrs. Sloman, sitting down
beside her: then starting up again and
lookingout, she exclaimed, “ Andgracioue
me if there be not the same coming directly
down the brnk.”
Harriet sprung from the bed, and looking
in the direction that Mrs. Sloman pointed
out, saw, in reality, her brother approaching.
But the sight itself, and the knowledge of an
interview with him being certain, affected
her less than the bare anticipation of it had
done when she merely suspected that it was
he who had been inquiring after her. Re
coiling a few steps back into the house, she
calmly, and with apparent humility, stood
awaiting bis approach. Merely adjusting
her dress and throwing back the raven tress
es which half covered her countenance, and
hid its now pale but transcendent loveliness,
was all the preparation she had time to make,
before he darkened the doorway and gaz’d
upon her. Half melted into the woman, he
felt his eyes moist; and she, forgetting for
a time the Roman sternness of her assumed
character, felt at once the fountain of her
rears unsealed, and they gushing forth, and
half shrieking, “ Charles !” she rushed into
his arms.
Mrs. Sloman, with a prudence rarely evinc
ed by the denizens of such neighborhoods,
for a short time left the house, to enable
them all the better, as she observed, “ to say
their say,” and explain to each other matters
which it was evident required explanation.
It is needless to say, that, after the first burst
of their mingled sorrow and gladness was
over, and the frenzied fire burning in Harri
et’s brain and shooting from her eyes was
partially quenched by the tears which she
shed, Harriet, at her brother’s request, gave
him a full unvarnished statement of all the
events that had occurred to herself from the
period of her leaving home until they now
met.
“Had you own dear relatives
into your confidence,” her brother observed,
but in a tone of soothing consolation, “those
occurrences which must cloud your whole
after existence on earth might have been
avoided.”
‘ ‘I acted from prudential motives, Charles,”
she calmly replied. “ I believed him true,
and I so acted at his desire.”
“ But still, my dear sister,” pursued her
brother, with a smile, as if to assure her of
his love, “ does it not appear to you as if all
that has come upon you —and I speak not to
reproach you, for I trust you are indeed in
nocent of voluntary guilt—had befallen you
as a retribution for the want, er let me say,
the oversight, of that guarded prudence
which is in many respects the safeguard of
youi 1 sex—l mean the placing of such impli
cit belief in his avowed truthfulness of affec
tion for you, and his sudden offer of marriage
after so endeavoring to entrap you in his
snares, and in that way accomplishing your
ruin!”
As he spoke the carnation and the lily al
ternately changed on his sister’s counte
nance ; and after pausing for a moment when
he had done, she said, “ Weakness, Charles,
may sometimes appear to be guilt, or at least
may be confounded with it. In the matter
of Henry, I again tell you, I acted from mo
tives of prudence. After resisting his im
portunities long, and, as I thought, certain
that he loved me, I consented to become hie
wife. With his proposals I could not at once
agree—l was suspicious of the lurking ser
pent, but after frequent repetition and being
constantly urged, I consented; and my pro
mise to keep the marriage for a certain pe
riod a secret, I could not lightly break. If
I hava beew Imprudcxx!, I Luvo
“ Severely you have suffered, indeed, Har
riet,” her brother resumed ; “ but pardon
me when I say, that after he cast you off,
like a blighted weed, had you returned to
the bosom of your family, and laid your
grievances before them, the stain which
many may believe to rest upon your charac
ter would never have been fixed so deeply
there.”
“ And who,” she cried, rising up and as
suming her most commanding attitude, while
the color again flushed deeply on her cheek
and neck, “ can affix any immoral stain upon
my character ?”
‘ I know not, indeed, Harriet,” her bro
ther calmly replied, “ who either has done
or may do so ; but you must be aware of the
fact, that your first living with him ss a hus
band, and then your being separated from
him and living upon his bounty and at a dis
tance, and then your latterly returning to
the neighborhood of his abode, and shelter
ing yourself in such a region as I now find
you in, a favorable impression can scarcely
be made upon those aware of only a part of
the circumstances. Such, however, is the
light in which some may view it.”"
Harriet’s cheeks were again made the
channels of a fresh gush of tears, and casting
an imploring glance in the face of her bro
ther, she asked, “ And is that the view
which my brother himself takes of my con
duct ?”
“God forbid, Harriet —God forbid!” he
exclaimed, pained to the heart as he saw the
construction which she put upon his words.
“ I spoke not of myself, but of. others who
knew you not, and the spirit that animates
you.”
“ Charles, my brother Charles,” she cried,
emphatically, “ here before you I stand a
miserable, heart-broken woman. By the
false promises and machinations of one man
I was deluded; through him I became a mo
ther, and by him I was cruelly forsaken when
my hopes of happiness were highest, and
my prospects brightest; but before God and
his angels I can swear, that, apart from that
man, my virtue has never been sullied. —
Through him my heart has been steeled
against the sex; anti to myself I have sworn
that I leave not off tormenting and reveng
ing myself upon him until I have exposed
him fairly to the world, and society hunts
him from its pale for ever.”
Her brother gazed upon her with astonish
ment. He knew her strength and vigor of
mind, and the warmth and tenacity with
which she would pursue any cherished ob
ject; bitt, he was unprepared to hear, from
Her own lips, that she harbored such de
signs, and would pursue them with such an
ardor of passion as she had done and appear
ed to do.
“ Harriet,” he said, “ this is wrong. Pur
sue him yourself no further, but leave him
to me, and I shall pursue him and draw a
punishment upon him more severe than you
can inflict. Return, Harriet, to our home—
to our old hall and estate, again restored to
us (Harriet started), yes, restored to us !
Your father yearns for you; your mother
will sooth your sorrows ; and your sister and
brothers will enable you to forget the evils
that are past, and the griefs that will then
have been quenched in love.”
Harriet, hiding her face on his neck, a
gain lifted up her voice and wept. Long
time had elapsed since she had enjoyed such
a luxury of tears, and she was softened.
How much milder and sweeter beamed her
eye, and how much calmer her whole coun
tenance, so deeply convulsed with the storms
within! Still the spirit of vengeance glowed
in her bosom; and in vain her brother urged
her to forsake her wild pursuit of invoking
vengeance upon him whom she called her
husband. She would not wait the law’s de
lay ; she would forestall it in making him
miserable, even though she involved his wife
in the misery, as that wife, though innocent
filled the place which she had filled, and
should have continued to fill till death. In
his own house she had met him and warned
him; and before his wife and in his own
house she would meet him again and expose
his villany, and then cast round him the
meshes of the law. When strangling in its
folds, she would rest contented ; but not till
then! Was this what is termed a Christian
spirit!—No. Was she ruined in a Christian
spirit!—-No. She would act upon the retal
iative principle, and nothing less.
But here one grave question arose and
was discussed between them, and the settle
ment of which, by proper inquiry would de
terwine a point of paramount importance.
Was it in reality a different village, and not
Gretna Green, where the said marriage had
been solemnized; and was it a disguised
ostler, and not the real legal functionary of
that celebrated village who performed the
marriage service ? Harriet knew not; but
Richards and his friends had told her so and
laughed her to scorn when explaining the
fatce, as they termed it. But Harriet had
the marriage certificate dated “Gretna
Green,” with the current date of day, and
month, and year!
“And now,” said her brother, somewhat
lighter of heart—his lightness transmitting
its influence into that of Harriet—“let me
trace this clue through its labyrinths, and I
may yet make the villain cross the seas.
Come, Harriet, take my arm, and we shall
walk the streets of Manchester together.
Yowcanthen show me Richard’s factory, and
1 shall go and confront its master.”
Harriet, changing her dress, and appa
rently her spirits—and the be iming light of
her countenance for a still serener glow and
more cheerful smile—took her brother’s arm
and departed on their way to Great Ancoat’s
Street; taking a circuit by Market Street
and Oldham Street
Mr. Richards was in the factory chatting
with Mary Pellat in the throstle-room.
Messrs. Grease well and Inkman were in the
counting house together. At noon, and when
at dinner, Mr. Greasewell, for some reason
best known to himself, had doffed his week
day garb and put on his Sunday suit. He
was any thing but an old man; and yet
lie was anything but young-looking. He
appeared at middle age to be one of those
who never pass a certain age, and were nev
er known to have looked much younger. It
may possibly have been that his solemn
grunting mode of speech, and the custom
adopted by some of the “brethren” of whose
club of religious society he was a worthy
member, of smoothing the hair of his head
straight over the brow as if by the imparted
heat to hatch new ideas—it may have been
this or a combination of such causes, that
induced all who knew him to associate with
him the idea of old age, when in truth he
had not reached forty. Be that as it may,
he had been to visit his lawyer, about an
immediate sale of property, had been seen
to talk seriously, and no doubt fraternally,
with Mary Pellat, as she crossed the mill
yard ; and now being in a deep study over
some fractional calculations, and the last
Liverpool Circular of Cotton Prices and Sales
he at last said rather bitterly, as if really
puzzled, “Verily, and of a truth, Mr. Ink
man, I think this perpetual calculation is a
weariness to the flesh.”
“Ay, and the spirit, too,” observed Ink
man with a knowing look; “when one is
thinking of other subjects, you know.”
“You speak truth, my friend ; ah, I wish
I could say brother ,” returned the smooth
browed Greasewell with a twitch of the left
eye. “But lam a single-minded individual,
Mr. Inkman—very single-minded; and man
and boy have been in the counting-house of
the elder and younger Mr. Richards for four
and twenty years, and have always kept
clear books and no mistakes. Old Mr. Rich
ards would not have it, sir. He would daily
inspect his own books sir, and see that proper
eateries were made, and accounts correctly
posted, and invoices filed Ah, sir, he was
a jewel of a business-man. Not like his son,
sir. 0, no !”
“ Did he inspect, wage-books, too, Mr
Greasewell!” inquired Inkman, with a sly
twinkle of the eye.
The cold sweat broke on Greasewell’s skin,
while a palpitating shudder went through
his heart, and he remembered the having
left the safe open in the forenoon. But mas
tering his emotion, he slowly turned his eye
from the table of figures before him, and
said in reply,
“ Did you ever know any establishment,
friend Inkman, where the wage book was
not a very principal book !”
“ Assuredly not,” replied Inkman
“ Well, then, why do you ask such a ques
tion, sir ?”
“ Simply because you did not mention it
among other books, and because our present
master does not seem to heed it much,” an
swered the underclerk
“ Indeed, but he does, sir,” returned Mr.
Greasewell, with a significant shake of the
head. “He saw it to-day, I tell you, and
when at home looks into it every week, sir.
The petty cash book, he seldom. I think, in
spects ; it is in your keeping, Mr. Inkman,
and I have always found it correct.”
“ I trust all my books are, Mr. Grease
well!”
“ Verily and of a truth I believe they are,
friend.”
For a moment silence pervaded the count
ing house, Mr. Greasewell evidently labor
ing with some emotion.
“ Shall I tell you something strange,
friend Inkman ?” he at length said.
“ If it so please you, Me. Greasewell ?”
“ I trust I am always disposed for good,”
continued the oily clerk. “ Well then, bills
to the amount of seven thousand, drawn upon
and payable to Messrs. Branson and Jones,
Lombard street, City, fall due to-morrow,
and the bankers they do business with Aere,
prefer the ready cash to cheques upon our
own bankers, How do you account' for it ?
eh, Inkman ?”
“Here you take me aback, Mr. Grease-
“ Ay, and I am taken aback too,” con
tinued the sleek brother. “ I mentioned it
to Mr. Richards, and he told me never to
mind, and gave his cheque off hand for me
to draw the cash to-morrow afternoon from
the one bank and pay it into the other.
Verily, mine is a responsible office.”
“ Mr. Richards wont trouble himself with
it,” suggested Inkman.
“Oh, of a surety not,” returned Gre&se
well. “ What would be the use of confiden
tial servants like you and me, if he should
take such a trouble upon himself i”
“0, of course not; but it is a strange
proceeding in Mr. Flint the bank manager.
He knows the firm of Henry Richards stands
high.”
“ He does, sir, he does,” pursued the sap
ient Greaeewell: “ but poor human nature,
sir—poor human nature. I. say, Mr. Ink
man—it must not be mentioned out of doors
—the credit of the firm, you know.”
“ I trust 1 know my duty, Mr. Grease
well.”
“ Oh, of a surety, verily so, sir.”
Inkman saw that there was something
wrong, not connected with the firm, but
with the conduct of Greasewell, and accord
ingly resolved to watch him more closely
than ever. The defalcation in the wage
book was a trifle, compared with what the
seven thousand pounds would be, if grasped
by Greasewell and carried off triumphantly
a-.-roes the Atlantic. Yet he dared scarcely
entertain the thought, but still determined
to watch him. The appearance of Mr
Richards crossing the yard towards the
c mnting house, for the time imposed silence
upon the clerks.
“ I have directed Mr Everwell to attend
the large sale to-morrow in London, of
Caldewell’s consignments of Georgian and
Sea Island Cotton, Mr. Greasewell, and
could wish either you or some other compe
tent person to accompany him,” said Mr.
Richards as he entered. “Do you think
you can possibly find time ?”
“ I might my good sir,” replied Grease
well, “ but these acceptances, you know, sir,
must be met.”
“ True, true, Mr. Greasewell,” his master
replied ; “ but I could manage that myself,
you know.”
“ Very well, sir: in that case I have no
objections,” Mr. Greasewell said with a sad
dened air; and Mr. Inkman strangled his
suspicions. “ But what do you think of Mr.
Inkman I” Greasewell again continued, and
Inkmau’s suspicions again broke into new
life. “He has never been in London, and I
know he would like to go. Would you not,
my friend!”
“ I could like very well, I dare say,” an
swered Inkman: “ but I am thinking my
presence may be wanted at home.”
“ Verily,, friend, wo may do without you
for a day or two,” said Mr. Greasewell, with
an incredulous stare at his endeavoring to
set aside such honor.
“ Undoubtedly, Mr. Greasewell, Inkman
shall go,” exclaimed Mr. Richards. “ Let
them have what money they require, and be
in readiness for departing with an early
train. You will enjoy yourself, Inkman.
Tell Mr. Everwell that you accompany him.
I snail leave you for to-night.“
Inkman and Everwell departed, the former
afraid of his master’s property, but also
afraid to drop a hint even to his companion,
lest after all he should be mistaken; and, if
the truth must be told, he was so absorbed
in his long wished for-trip, that the interest
of his master kicked the beam when balanced
with his own prospective pleasure in the
great metropolis. Greasewell had now free
course; and that evening Mary Pellat joined
him in Mr. Richards’s private counting house
where sundry confidential conferences were
held, and prolonged to a late hour.
A man of nobie but still youthful appear
ance, tall and symmetrical in form, with a
profusion of dark curled hair and whiskerrf,
and a dash of intellectual brilliancy glowing
in his eyes, met Mr. Richards face to face,
and as he was on the point of passing through
the gateway of his factory to return home.
Where he had seen him.he knew not, but
positive he was that the countenance was not
strange to him. He paused as they met,
and the stranger, addressing him, said—
“ Mr. Richards!”
“The same sir.”
“You had better return, sir,” the stranger
coldly said, and his voice too seemed familiar
to the ear of the cotton-spinner. “My bu
siness is of an unpleasant nature, and you
may not choose to discuss it in the street,
and before presets-by.”
“Indeed! then follow me,” said Richards,
divining the nature of his mission, though
not as yet suspecting who he was. A room
attached to one wing of the range of build
ings was empty of machinery and workers
and only partly filled with cotton; and
thither, as being furthest removed from lis
tening ears, Mr. Richards led the stranger.
“Now,” said he, “if your business with
me be unpleasant, sir, your promptitude in
stating it will be a favor.”
“My language, sir,” replied Charles Jeff
son, “shall be plain, prompt and pointed. I
had a sister once, pure as the driven snow,
the embodiment of virtue itself, and beau
tiful—need 1 say how berutiful ? She was
reduced, because her parents were reduced
—and consented to work in a factory, be-
NEW YORK, SUNDAY MORNIN
cause her friends and the owner thereof per
suaded her. But at length, when that mas
ter could not conquer her virtue, ho gained
her consent to a private marriage, and when
he became weary of her, told her the mar
riage was void, and that all had been a farce.
What, Mr. Richards, should be the doom of
such a villian ?”
Never before had the eye of human being,
but that of Harriet Jeffson, pierced the cot
ton spinner so deeply; and never before, had
he shrunk so profoundly into himself, or
wished for annihilatiou so intensely as at
that, moment. Nor did his enemy withdraw
the transfixing glance when he ceased to
speak. The fascination still continued, and
it was only after a considerable time that
Richards, breaking the silence, demanded,
but with a quivering voice—
“ Why do you put such a question to me,
sir ?”
“Because, as scripture hath it, thou art
the man
“And what if lam the man?” again de
manded Richards.
“That your villany shall meet its just
punishment.”
“And who shall administer it ?” Richards,
apparently warming and mustering courage,
again asked.
“The person before you—-the laws of your
country which you have outraged—and your
own conscience!” replied the tormenton, with
emphatic firmness.
“A pretty catalogue of ministers, truly !
And you are to be first executioner ?” cried
Richards, with apparent score
“I bandy no needless words, sir,” rejoined
Charles : then opening a small slip of paper
like the leaf of a copy-book, he held it in
his hand and asked Richards to look at it.—
When he had read it, and marked the signa
tures, Charles continued, “these are indeli
ble evidences, sir; and I suppose the signa
tures are genuine ?”
“That does not render the mock-marriage
legal,” obserped Mr. Richards, committing
himself.
“A mock■ marriage!” exclaimed Charles.
“Gretna Green marriages ore legal, sir, and
binding as those of the'church.”
“But the marriage, such as it was, did not
take place at Gretna Green, nor by the legal
functionary. Harriet herself believed so :
but it was oteerwise.”
“Mhen there is conspiracy in the case,”
Charles resumed. “But mark you, sir!
your friends forsake you, conscience-stricken
at the base parts they acted. One of them
says it was at Gretna Green, and by the legal
functionary, and that the signature on this
certificate of marriage ia as genuine as your
own.”
Richards trembled —his face and lips
turned pale—and he answered not
“Mark again ! ’ continued Charles, seeing
he had hit the proper mark, and that Rich
ards was in his power, “to-night I set off for
Gretna Green, to examine the register kept
there, and to see the functionary regarding
this signature. I shall apply for a warrant
to apprehend you for bigamy when I re
turn !”
He departed, leaving Richards thunder
struck and horrified. In a shsrt time ho’fol
lowed, and when issuing from the gate, to
his horror met Charles Jeffson and his sister
arm-in-arm, passing slowly by.
To be continued.
CURRENT LITEIUTIJRE.
Isthmus of Tehuantepec : “ Being
tKc results of a survey for a Railroad to con
nect the. Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, made
by the Scientific Commission, under the di
rection of Maj. J. 0. Barnard, U. S. Engineer
Corps. With a resume of the geology, cli
mate, local geography, productive industry,
fauna and flora of that region. Illustrated
with numerous maps and engravings. Ar
ranged and prepared for the Tehuantepec
Railroad Company of New Orleans, by J. J.
Williams, Principal Assistant Engineer.”—
Such is the title of au elaborate work from
the press of D. Appleton & Company. It is
a worthy companion to Squier’s ‘‘Central
America and Nicaragua.” Whichever of the
two routes may eventually be decided on as
the transit passage between the Atlantic and
Pacific, the surveys of the Central American
and Mexican territories contiguous to either
Isthmus have not been thrown away. They
have brought before the public a mass of
information which the community would not
now willingly lose nor lightly pass over.—
We do not suppose that the transit of Pan
ama will for immediate uses be longer in fa
vor with the trading or travelling classes of
the Union than necessity compels. A short
er, less efficient, and more expeditious route
is asked for, imperatively demanded, and if
Tehuantepec be found, on due trial, the most
favorable transit for commerce, it will be
adopted even if the decision results to the
disadvantage of the other routes. Our com
mercial and trading classes on the Northern
Pacific coast cannot have too expeditious a
means for communication. However, there
will from Europe, and even fom the States,
always be sufficient to employ Nicaragua and
Panama in connection with the South Pacific,
Indian, Asiatic, and South American islands
and coasts. Commerce is steadily increasing
with Chili, Peru, the Sandwich Islands,
Australia and China, and in a few years will
rise to such importance that the two routes
now open, and the Tehuantepec transit con
templated by the New Orleans Railroad
Co. may be found insufficient. The easier
the access, and shorter the time of transit be
tween the two oceans, the greater will be the
increase of interoceanic relations. As a
scientific work —luminous and astute, the
“ Isthmus of Tehuantepec’’ cannot but be
regarded in the most favorable light by the
simple and the learned. The following pas
sage, which is extracted from the chapter on
“Inhabitants,” will be found of interest :
THE INDIANS OF TEHUANTEPEC.
In their persons the Indians are somewhat be
low the medium stature, but squarely built, and
of great muscular strength, being often able to
support a weight of from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred pounds on their shoulders for
several hours, exposed to the rays of the hottest
summer sun. They are copper colored, with
smooth, coarse hair, small beard, diminutive
eyes, prominent cheek-bones, low. narrow fore
head, aquiline features, white teeth, thick lips,
and a gentle expression of mouth, strongly con
tracted with a. melancholic and severe look. The
women, on the other hand, are less strongly
built, imd in some instances beautiful and well
proportioned—a beauty which is enhanced by
their devotion to home, and the natural grace of
their carriage. Their movements are quick and
mercurial, and their manners are characterized
by shyness rather than modesty.
The Abbe Clavigero, in his excellent work on
Mexico, says, in .reference to the physical char
acter of the Indians, that “ there is scarcely a
nation perhaps on earth in which there are fewer
persons deformed; and it would be more difficult
to find a single hump-backed, lame or squint
eyed man amongst a thousand Mexicans, than
among any hundred of any other nation ” This
assertion is literally true of the natives on the
Isthmus. In their habits they are exceedingly
simple, and their chief subsistence consists of
vegetable food ; but they are inveterate drunk
ards, and their passion for intoxicating liqifors
is carried to the greatest excess. When not un
der the influence of drink they are grave and
thoughtful—a gravity which is particularly re
markable in Indian children. Their senses are
exceedingly acute, especially that of sight, and
their constitution-, notwithstanding habitual
inebriation, sound, and their health robust. As
a general rule, they are indifferent to advanta
ges, and little incline! to work; but, from the
natural docility of their character, it seems only
reasonable to infer that under better and brighter
circumstances they would become both useful
and industrious. Every man and boy wears a
machete, and the facility and dexterity of its
use is not a little surprising. It serves as a
weapon for defence, an instrument for killing
beef, an axe for cutting wood, and a knife for
eating, &c. As axemen, to perform the grub
bing and clearing on the route of the prop sed
railroad, their services will be found invaluable.
The American Whig Review, for March.
Champion Bissell. Besides a portrait of Hon.
Wm. A. Graham, Secretary of the Navy, the
Whig Review has short but excellent papers
on the following subjects: To the Farmers
of America; Journalism and Journalists in
Paris; Evenings with some Female Poets;
Blackwood’s Magazine; Mormonism in Illi
nois ; The American Drama; Historical Tra
ditions of Tennessee; Humble Petition and
Remonstrance of a Living Author to Prince
Posterity ; Gallia Capta; Nicaragua and the
Interoceanic Canal; Permanency and Power
of Whig Principles; Epitaphs and Epigrams ;
A Lump from the California Placer; Gen
eral Review; Congressional Summary, and
Critical Notices. From the Historical Tra
ditions of Tennessee, we extract from the
introductory, the following sketch of early
acenes of adventure in the
south west.
Until the year 1700, the territory of North
Carolina and Tennessee, an indefinite region
extending south-west and north-west, in the lan
guage cf the royal British charters, to the South
Seas, was known as “ our county of Albermarle,
in Carolina." Even as late as 1750, the coun
try lying west of tha Apalachian mountains was
wholly unknown to tho peoph of the Carolinas
and Virginia. When, a few years later, the Bri
tish army under Braddock crossed the mountains
from Maryland and Pennsylvania, and marched
to Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburgh, that march
was described by the writers of the times as an
advance into the deep recesses and fastn sses of
a savage wilderness. At. that time the French
owned all the Canadas, the valley of the Ohio
and all its tributaries, and claimed .he rest of
the continent to the confines of Mexico, westward
from the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The old
French maps of that period, and the journals
and letters of French traders and hunters, toge
ther with the traditions of the Indians, afford
the only reliable information in relation to the
then condition of the country now composing
Kentucky and Tennessee. In tho French maps
of those times, the Kentucky, Holston, Tennes
see and Ohio are laid down. The Kentucky is
called k ataway, the Holston is called the Chero
kee ; an 1 the Little Tennessee is called Tana
sees. The river, aft r the junction of the Hols
ton and Tennessee, is called Ho-go hegee, and
the only Indian town marked on its banks is at
the mouth of Bear creek, near the north-west
corner of illabama. There were forts (which
were little more -han trading-posts) at several
points on the Ohio and Mississippi; Fort Du
Quesne, where Pittsburgh now stands, and one
at the mouth of the Kenhawa river ; another at
the mouth of the Kentucky, and Fort Vincennes,
near the mouth of the Oubach, or Wabash;
Fort Massac, half way between the mouth of the
Ohio and the Tennessee, on the Illinois side, and
another on the Tennessee, twelve miles above its
mouth. They also had a fort where Memphis
now stands, called Prud’homme; another at the
mouth of the Arkansas, called Ackensa ; ano
ther tear Natchez, and one at the junction of
the Coosa and Tallapoosa, called Halabamas.—
South of these last forts, the Spaniard-; had pos
session in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas A
greater part of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wes
tern Virginia, was represented on these maps as
wholly uninhabited. Certain it is, that not
more than a dozen years afterward, when the
pioneers of Tennessee and Kentucky first ex
plored that region, they found the bmks of the
Holston, Watauga, Cumberland, and Kentucky,
and their tributaries, wholly uninhabited, it
was all one vast wilderness, into which hunting
parties of Indians from its distant borders enter
ed and roamed in pursuit of game, but in which
they made no permanent lodgment. Numerous
warlike nations lived south, west, and north of
this wilderness, but it was a “ dark and bloody
ground,” in which they loved not to dwell. And
hither it was that the lion-hearted pioneers of
the Cumberland and Watauga came, with axe
and rifle, to subdue at once the savage and the
wilderness.
In 1758, Colonel Bird, of the British army, es
tablish d Fort Chissel, in Wyth county, Va , to
protect the frontiers of Virginia, and, advancing
into what is now Sullivan county. Tenn., built a
fort near Long Island, on the Holston or Wa
tauga. There was not then a single white man
living in the borders of Tennessee The year
before, Governor Dobbs, of North Carolina had,
at the request of the Cherokee Indians, built
Fort Lowdon, and the Indians agreed to make
grants of land to all artisans who would settle
among them. Fort Lowdon was on the Little
Tennessee, near the mouth of Tellico river, in
the centre of the Cherokee nation, and about
one hundred miles south of the fort at Long
Island. Between these forts were the first settle
ments, which struggled for several years against
the fearful ravages of Indian wars, before the be
ginning of the Revolution. During that period,
that region became the refuge of many patriots,
who were driven by the British invasion from the
Carolinas.
From the year 1780 to 1790, best
families of the Carolinas, Georgia,
sought homes beyond the mountains. of
them, patriotic republicans, who had sacrificed
everything for their country in the struggle for
independence, and hoped to have found, in the
secluded vales and thick forests of the West,
that peace and quiet which they had not found
amidst the din of civil and foreign war, soon ex
perienced all the horrors of a savage, marauding,
guerilla warfare, which swept away their prop
erty, and deprived them of their wives and chil
dren, either by a barbarous death, or a not less
agonizing slavery as captives, dragged into the
wild recesses of the Indian borders
Many fearful tales of these bloody scenes,
which would illustrate the early history of Ten
nessee, are only known to a few, as family tra
ditions, and, even amongst the descendants of
the sufferers, are only remembered as stories of
the nursery, and not as chapters in the great his
toric record of the past.
zk History of the Art of Midwifery.
—A lecture delivered at the College of Phy
sicians and Surgeons, November 11th, 1851,
introductory to a course of private instruc
tion on operative Midwifery; showing the
past inefficiency and present natural incapa
city of females in the practice of Obstetrics,
by Augustus R. Gardiner, M. D. Stringer
& Townsend, publishers. We are certainly
not disposed to enter the lists nor join issue
with Dr. Gardiner on the capacity or incapa
city of females in so important a branch of
the healing art as Obstetrics. ,We have ever
entertained the opinion that females are, as
mid-wives, eminently better calculated to fill
this important office than men. Throwing
science aside,humanity and modesty alike call
for the general reintroduction of women
to the practice of the obstetric art. While
we confess that the facta brought forward by
the Doctor in support of hia theory are not
only profound but startling, we do not think
them sufficient to outweigh the sensibilities
of the sick or the delicate attention of the
female manipulator. Interest may desire
that an emasculating practice should be con
fined to present hands, but nature and phi
lanthrophy positively declare, on the other
hand, that unto Cesar should be rendered the
things which are Cesar’s, and to woman the
things which are woman’s. A practice reviv
ed by the prostitute of a king ought not in
our day and in a society pretending to honor
and Christianity, be longer tolerated. Those
elements of modesty which in the women are
slid to be innate, in the presence of the offi
cial adviser, are at every accouchment les
sened, until the exhibition of the blush, by
frequent contact with man, is forgotten alto
gether. Husbands should not only insist,
but even go out of their way, if necessary,
in order to procure as a principal in the sick
chamber a properly educated woman, and in
this opinion, we know that many respectable
physicians unite. We are satisfied, Dr. Gar
diner to the contrary, that women, as accou
chers, are more fortunate in delivery than
men; and fewer accidents happen when the
patient is placed under woman’s charge, than
when under modern practice the confined are
placed at the disposition and tender mercies
of instruments and thoughtless physicians.
Dr. Gardiner never attempts to condemn a
practice which is abhorred by the whole
community, for he, with the attachment of a
scientific man to the mechanical diabelrie cf
his art, thus exultingly refers to the neces
sity and regular use of forceps in delivery.
The paragraph ought of itself to condemn
the lecture.
forceps.
From the general introduction of the forceps
into obstetric practice about the vi ar 1700, one
very happy result was achieved. Previous to this
time physicians, as I have before said, ware otly
called in to wf men ia labor to correct thi blun
ders committed by the ignorant women in atten
di r ca, and as this was generally after hope it
self had almost fled, he was generally considered
aa the messenger of death. Bat the pretentions
of the posses. l ors of this new ins rument to great
ly abridge tho duration of labor when it. was na
tural, and to save life when difficult, changed
the habits of tho people. Every woman al
most was delivered witi tho forceps ! The con
sequence was, tbat the theoretical knowledge of
the physician soon became practicd, what had
been for so long mere chance, quickly adva ced
to the dignity of an art. Vigorcus and educat
ed minds began lo be interested about it; labors
were classified and instruments were used only in
cases requiring them.
RAPID PROPAGATION.
While I am upon the Bible history of tho art
of midwifery, it may not be amiss to mention an
ia tanee of tne most rapid propagation mention
ed in any work. After Joseph was settled as
Governor cf Egypt and his father had gone wiih
all his b'use to join him, “alt the souls of the
hou'6 of Jacob wh : ch came kt) Egypt were
throe score and ten,” which evidently refers only
to the males—the descend»nts, excepting the
t-iba of Levi, ware numbered by Moser, the se
cond year ufter leaving Egypt—which is vari
ously considered to be from 210 j ears to 430
years. The lumber at this 'ime was 6’03 350
fighting men above 20 years cf age. A calcuia
tion is gone into ia the Talmud which has b» en
very much rid ; culed by meny. Allowing for the
e>rly marriages capable of beiog contracted in a
*a m climate, and ordinary length of life, it is
found that for this increase it is necessary that
tiere should be six children at a birth. Those
beli. ving this have been jeered at, because it
was stated thas there never vas an instance re
corded of so many human beings being born at
once But, recently, a woman at Sydney, New
S. Wales, was delivered of this number, which
has proved the thing possible, though none the
less miraculous.
Alexander and the Dragon, a Ro
mance of the Hartz Prison. By Frederic
William Shetton, M. A. John 8. Taylor,
publisher. The objects of the work will be
better understood by quoting the following
paragraph—the preface to the book : “ The
allegory is intended to illustrate the danger
of uttering or of lending ear to the unkind
word or insinuation, a sin which may be just
ly esteemed a sort of bitterness, and from
which, in some shape or other, none but
those who are nearly aogels are exempt
The application being eo general, although
a few of the following pages may appear too
light for the high moral design which we
have desired to convey. Should this little
volume be the means of drawing attention
to the detestable habit of detraction, its ob
ject will be attained.”
As illustrative of the above we quote the
following passage from the text:
HALANDF.R AND THE PRIEST.
Priest Methinks I know you well.
Sal. —My acquaintance is extensive. Who
has not at some time known me I
J, MARCH 6, 18.58.
Priest —An iif you are tr<e one whin 1 take
you t ■ be they bav\ repent d of tbe k-owle>i< e.
Sal —Varioy’a tbe v<ry ?picd of 11 e, &•» well
m convertation. Le- unchange tbe enbject
H.w ftbot those Decro.t&l EpistLs'l 1) > 1 no
•’n Je"st-u:d c >i’ , og»apbv and forced writings ?
Y o • Reyi.re-.ee, I say it p ; ohsly; they are a
cheat.
Priest. —You shall not sp ak o? Holy Church
v * m*. Your name is Salander (Slander.)
8?l —lt is nt Salander now : for 1 have just
found it cenv«nbnt tn spaak the truth
Pl test. —Thou evil Tongue! Thou incarua’e
Lie ! 1 know all abou’ your doings. Tna* which
is so hoi/ as t u ♦> comas hot from you You are
one whom every Christian man i- bound to driv'-
o it of hij 1 o xee, and every prin’e out of his do
urnion ! , and it were hnpy for 'ha world if it
hid not a p-aeoior you to stand on. You are
•*'tcoinmanic.it:’, long t-iuce under an ihema. —
Nooiecm lawfully give you fire, va> c r. food,
clothh g, shelter, yoc you manage to g > arnoniz
people of th? church, and l o in wait to work
mi.-chiff. Whcnc » have you come 1 F»om fr<fud
and cupnir g, and tbe rain of peaceful familkb
and of piivato friendships, -H-ases which an
pear too great to be traced to sujh ae you. Whi
ther aie you going '• Is it not upon tbe same er-
L aod?, to breed suspicion, to jract.i.)« violence 1
What b ings you here '? said the p ies',, s amp
ing his fo -t. end fixing on him an eye whose beam
was like tbe flashing of a sword cherubic
Salander qu tiled
Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine, and
Commercial’-Review, for March Thia
superb monthly now lies before ua, and to
say that it is the first of its class, cannot be
considered as invidious, for we arc not aware
that a publication similar in its objects and
views is issued by any other press in the
United States, and certainly the commercial
periodicals of Europe are in every particu
lar its inferior. Mr. Hunt is indefatigable
in procuring all necessary information, and
as a statistical compendium of commercial
knowledge, the magazine is invaluable. The
principal papers for this month may be enu
merated as follows : Commerce of France in
1850 ; Fisheries of the United States ; A Na
tional Currency—-Real Estate its Basis;
Commercial Cities aud Towns in the United
States; Currency—Gold and Silver; Laws
Relating to Debtor and Creditor in Wiscon
sin ; Fearless Feat of an American Whale
man, and many other brief but important
articles. We select the following from
among the minor papers :
EARLY CURRENCY IN MAINE.
Long before any permanent settlements were
made on the shores of Maine, there was an ex
tensive commerce carried on with the Indites of
that territory hy the fleets which annually camo
from Europe for fish >nd peltry. In such inter
course, cash was scarcely known. The natives
were ready to barter large amounts of skins for
b'-ads, knives, hatchets and blankets, and espe
cially for t bacco, powder, shot, guns and strong
wa er. Phila thropists, who desired the high
est welfare of the red man, and sought to bring
him under the salutary restraints of the Gospel,
according to the professed purpose of every char
ter for American colonies, porooived mat the
most of sucn merchandise tended to demora’ize
and re der him a dangerous neighbor. They
petitioned and obtained restrictions. Their be
nevolent action, as usual in attempts to suppress
gainful but deleterious custom*, caused much
excitement among the numerous traders, Who
set more by their own interest fit. an they cared
for ethers’ ruin.
The article cf peltry, si abundantly offered
by the natives and so eagerly sought by foreign
ers, was received and passed as ca:h by the colo
nists.
Another cimnr dity, adopted by them from
the aborigineI’, 1 ’, for a similar end, was wampum.
This was brought from M-mhadoes, afterward<
New York, on a voyage thither in 1628 It is
thu< described by Governor Bradf.rd: “Tntt
which in time turns m st to cu>- advantage is
the r now acquainting and entering us in o the
trade of wampum; by which, and p ovisio s,
we quite cut off the trade both f ora the fisher
men and struggling planters. And stra »gc it
is, to see the great alteration it in a f w ye rs
makes among the savages. For the Massachu
setts and others in these pirts had scarce any, it
being <nly ma e and kept among the Pequots
and Naragansetts, who grew rich and potent by
it; whereas the reit, vilio use it not, arejo r
and beggarly.”
Here we have the p sition, long assume I by
♦he are «t body cf tbe civilized that a circulat
ing medium, made from the fruits of the field
and of the chase, tends to enrich an 1 st’engihen
a people, coz firmed by ths> exp rience of men ia
a s ate of nature.
Roger Willi uns, in his observati- r s on such
mo ey of the New E jgland Indians, gives the
succeeding account:
“ Their o»n is of two sor s—one whi e, which
they irake of the s'em or stock of the periwin
kle, when all the shell is broken off; a d of this
sort, six of their small beads, which they make
with holes.to string their bracelets, arc curr n
with tbe English fir a penny. The second is
black, inclining to blue, which is male of 'he
shtll of a fish, which some English call heis—
pequihcck; and of this sort, Three make an
English p-nny. x One lathom of this their
stringed money, is worth five shillings.”
The Old Soldier— lllustrated by “ My
Son John .•” Number three. The illustra
tions of this laughable and satirical affair,
are capital. Among the number may be
enumerated, The Non-Intervention Policy of
Uncle Sam; Competition is the Life of Trade;
Lady Teazle in the School for Scandal;
House Hunting; Hypocrisy and Rum; The
Noblest Roman of them All; Heels and
Toes—The African and the Anglo-Saxon;
The Maine Liquor Law —its Operation
Those fond of an hour’s amusement, a hearty
laugh, and are anxious to drive the blues
out of their animate carcases, had better
drop a quarter at the office, 69 Nassau st.,
and secure a copy of the March number of
the Old Soldier.
TRAVELS IN ABYSINIA.
We continue to-day our translation of the
extracts from this forthcoming book, com
menced last week.
A short distance from Angolola M. d’Here
oourt was complimented by several Gran
dee’s of the court whom the king had sent to
meet him.
Angolola is a city upon the frontier of tbe
Gallas country, which was founded by the
present king for the purpose of defending
his country from their inroads, the two tribes
being every year engaged in war. Situated
at the conflux of two rivers, this city presents
a smiling and picturesque aspect. It is built
between two hills and shaded by magnificent
palm and cedar trees Our traveler stopped
some time at this city.
After having climbed the hills and pene
trated several Subterraneous passages, M
d’Haricourt entered a vast court in which
were assembled numerous soldiers and seve
ral great men of the country, who saluted
him with joyous acclamations. In a second
court, in tbe form of a cloister, were a great
number of persons attired in rich dresses,
and it was only upon entering the third
court, that he saw the king At the ex
treme end of this court was an immense hut
in which his majesty gave his grand recep
tions. It differed from the common habita
tions of the country, inasmuch as it was di
vided into two compartments or stories.—
That upon the ground floor was used as a
stable, from which M. d’Haricourt ascended
to the second story, where a door presented
itself which opened into the reception room
of King Sahle-Salassi and opposite this door
in a coridor which surrounded the apartment
the. king was seated upon a sofa His head
was uncovered, according to the fashion of
the country; his taube (mantle) draperied
and looped up in an antique fashion exposed
beneath a robe of Indian gold brocade and
his wrists were ornamented with massive
bracelets of gold.
Snhle-Sallassi was a man of about fifty
years of age; of a copper colored complex
ion, with a noble, intellectual and benevo
lent expression of countenance. As soon as
he saw M. d Haricourt, he rose and held out
his hand to him in the most unaffected man
ner, and the French traveller, without con
forming to the usages of the country, which
required that he should prostrate himself
upon his knees before the king, took the of
fered hand, embraced his majesty cordially,
and seated himself beside him on the sofa.
“ Bon pour Rochet," said Sahle Salassi.—
“Bonjour, mon ami; bonjour mon fils. —
Thou hast overcome danger by thy courage,
and thou hast arrived here in safety. I
have been much disquieted about thee. Tell
me, did the Danakiles maltreat thee.’ I
wrote, to all the chiefs in thy favor. If they
have not treated thee well, thou shalt be
avenged, Dieu le Sait." And thus he con
tinued asking various questions of M. d’Ha
ricourt respecting his journey ; then seeing
that his guest was fatigued, he left him to
take some rest, first informing him that he
(the king) suffered much from rheumatism.
“ Have you no remedy that will cure this
diseasehe asked. Now on leaving Paris
M. d’Haricourt had promised a professor of
the College de France that he would procure
for him a young hippopotamus, so he replied
to the prince,
“ No, I have no remedy for the disease of
which thou complainest; but thou hast a
remedy in thine own country.”
“ What is it ?”
“ It is the fat' of a young hippopotamus,
with which thou must anoint the diseased
parts and thou wilt be healed.”
“In that case,” said the king, “I shall
order a hippopotamus hunt upon the river
Tchia-Tchia ; these animals are numerous in
the neighborhood of Angolola. When thou
hast shown me the presents thou bringest
me, thou may’st go thyself to the hunt, and
I will appoint a troop of my guards to take
care of thee.
We should mention that this was a second
visit that M. d’Hericourt had paid to Ango-
lola, and thus it was that the King was s<
familiar with him
The hut in which he was installed on. thiF
a'-oond visit was the same he had before oc
cupied, and upon entering it he found the
table abundantly supplied with roast meats,
vegetables, fish, and excellent fruits; the
interior was lighted up by torches held in
tho hands of 2-1 men; these torches were
made of cotton cloth dipped in wax. Around
the table stood twelve Abysinian negroes
silently awaiting the orders of their master.
On the following day Sable Sallassi sent
for his gues't at an early hour, so important
was he to satisfy bis curiosity respecting the
presents which the traveller had promised
to bring him from France, and the chests
and bales containing these presents were
soon brought into the presence of the King
and displayed before him and several of his
courtiers and governors of the provinces,
whom he had summoned to be present upon
the occasion. Upon steps elevated in the
form of an amphitheatre, the principal in
habitants of the city were seated upon rich
Persian carpets decorated with foliage, with
branches of aromatic trees and with gar
lands of flowers which emitted the most ex
quisite perfume, this court presented a truly
brilliant appearance.
At the moment when Sahle Sallassi took
his seat upon the throne, M d'H&ricourt.
the tme hero of the fete, entered, preceded
and followed by a body guard of officers
richly dressed, whom the King had appoint
ed expressly to do him honor. Loud aoola
mations greeted his appearance, and the
musicians of the King' composed of drum
mers, fifers and performers on the cymbals
and the tambourine sent forth their sweet
est and most harmonious notes. M. d’Hari
court made a brief speech in which he feli
citated the monarch on the prosperity of the
country and concluded by speaking of France
in such a manner as to arouse the curiosity
and wonder of his audience.
The King replied that he was struck with
astonishment at the grandeur and munifl
cence of the French people and that his
greatest sorrow was that he could not visit
the country-—the objsetof his dreams and
sincerest affection, and it was this idea alone
that rendered the thought of death insup
portable to him as ha must die without sat
isfying his desire. When the King had con
cluded the music broke out afresh, and at a
given signal M. d’Harioourt withdrew a cur
taiu before a tent in which the presents had
been arranged, and pyramids of muskets,
carbines, pistols and swords were exposed to
view, and from beneath a flag rose up twelve
of the King’s guards, whom M. d’l-laricourt
had adorned with sparkling helmets and
brilliant cuirasses and long cavalry sabres
The King was transported with admiration
at this spectacle. Then two small cannons
painted red were brought forward. At sight
of them Sable Sallassi forgot completely his
royal dignity—he behaved like a child with
a new toy—patted and embraced the can
nons—placed his fingers in the touch-holes,
and gavf* way fa nncon troll able burst of joy
ous laughter until the tears coursed down
his cheeks. Suddenly strange sounds were
heard. M. d'Haricourt had approached one
of the boxes which contained the cylindrical
barrels, a turn of the handle set them in
motion and they played the Sicileaine in
the first act of Robert >e diable and then the
Marseillaise hymn M. d’Haricourt’s arm
began to get tried, but the King was not sat
i.-fied, he took the handle in his own hand,
and then in turns deputed the great person
ages of the court to de the same, and they
seemed as though they would never grow
tired. At length the moment for firing off
the cannons had arrived, and at the explosion
the Abysinians fell flat with their faces upon
the earth. Two other discharges followed,
and at the third one of the guns in rebound
ing upset the King. The firing then ceased.
After the presents from the French gov
ernment had been exhibited, came those from
private persons, comprising the rich and ele
gant manufactures of Fiauce which had
been sent by several merchants with the ob
ject of giving the King of Choa some idea of
French ministry. These having been duly
admired, M. d’Haricourt was presented to
the Queen Betsabode, one of the highest
honors he could receive, as very few of her
subjects had enjoyed the pleasure of seeing
her.
This memorable court festivity was closed
with a grand feast after the fashions of the
country, which was in fact one of the great
est curiosities that could have been met with
in Choa.
We shall conclude thia intereating trans
lation in our next The following chapter
gives a description of the feast and of a
Hippopotamus hunt.
THE "SPIRITS” IX INDIANA.
A correspondent of the Richmond Palla
dium, -writing from Knightstown, Ind., tells
some wonderful stories of the “doings” of
the spirits in that locality. As will be seen
by the extracts which we give below, he re
fers to the names of people of all classes in
conuection with these “manifestations.” We
should judge that such “spirits” as those
who appear to have visited Knightstown
could hardly fail to convince the most skep
tical—because if nothing else would answer,
they would knock a proper belief into the
unfortunate individual who ventured to
question their being genuine inhabitants of
the spirit world. Here is a part of the com
munication of Mr. Levi H Stratt.an :
“Now forwhat they done (at Knights
town.) At Maj Culbertson’s (his daughter
being the medium) they have rapped as loud
a* a man could if strikiuglhe table with his
fist; tho table has also followed Mies Cul
bertson across the room! and at her bidding,
tbe Rappers have removed the hearth-plate
of the cooking-stove. She has also been
carried about the room setting in. her chair;
and many other things have been done that
seems incredible, but nevertheless they are
true.
, “At Mark Coon's in this vicinity, the ta
ble has been raised one foot from the floor,
and would stand there for some time, and at
the bidding of his little boy, the table has
shoved men up against the wall of the house
and held them there, notwithstanding they
used all their power to shove it back ; and
at t9e bidding of the medium, the table has
frequently moved from seventeen to eighteen
feet. Andrew Byket, close by Mr. Coon’s,
has a little girl about 13 or 14 years old.—
She is a writing medium, and will, with
great haste and precision, write the signa
ture of the departed, and answer questions
when she is interrogated, and, at the same
time, be reading in a book with her head
turned from the paper. Sh; writes on, and
after finishing a line, she will dot the i’sand
cross the t's without looking at what she has
written There is a young man in the same
neighboohood, by the name of Jesse Byket,
who. has never been known to write, who is
also a medium ; he writes answers to ques
tions, and cannot read it himself after it is
done ! At Nathan Ballenger’s there has also
>?en powerful demonstrationß. I will, men
tion one. Mr. Ballenger’s brother being an
unbeliever, called on him and wished that
the Spirits could be gotten up, as he wanted
to know if it was all a humbug or not. Well
the circle was formed, and the manifesta
tions commenced by moving the table, &o ,
bat still Mr. B. was not satisfied, and re
quested that the candle, in the candle-stick
to arise out of its socket and turn the burn
ing end into the candle-stick. No sooner
said, than the candle raised slowly. Mr. B.
was requested to take hold of the candle and
keep it from turning; ho grabbed the candle
and tried to keep it from turning, but could
not; and down went the candle into the
candle-stick and was put out. It got Mr B.
‘down’ so completely, that he said he would
“now go to bed !”
“At James Woods’house, in our town, the
other evening, Miss Culbertson came over,
and moved chairs, and tumbled them over
without herself or any person being within
four feet of them, and many other things
were dona which proved most satisfactory
that such demonstrations were done by
some unseen, invisible power and not by hu
man agency.
“I have tried J. P. Emsweller’s test, by
putting glass under my table-legs, and on
top of the table , under the medium's hands;
but it had no effect whatever—the table
moved off as it had done heretofore. One
more case of “glass” fixing and I will con
clude. Dr. G. W. Riddle, of our town, told
two of Daniel Mason’s sons, who are medi
ums, that he could fix the table so that if the
Spirits could move it, he would give them his
horse. Well, the doctor wet to work. The
table having six legs, he put six glass
tumblers under the legs, and then pnt two
window-panes of glass under-the boys hands
and on the table, and bid defiance to the
Spirits. One of the boys said, “if the spirit
of my brother, William Mason, is present,
please move the table,” and off went the ta
ble. Th'e doctor’s eyes began to ‘bug out’
about a feet, and scratched his head. A new
idea strack the Doctor’s mind, and he
thought he would triumph, and prove to all
in the house that it was done by electricity
—so he had one of the boys to leave the ta
ble, and ho put a pane af glass on the centra
thereof, and had the other boy to stand on
his feet and reach over the table and put but
one finger on said pane of glass. The boy
then said, ‘if the spirit of my brother, Wil
liam Mason, is present, please move the table
towards Dr. Riddle;’ no sooner said than
s way went the table towards Doctor ! The
Doctor ‘knocked under,’ and offered the boys
I his horse, but they refused to take it,
“In James Wood’s store, last night, the
mediums turned his stand over about half
way down, and made it remain on two legs
in that position—the candle-stick commenced
sliding off, and at their request, it stopped
and remained stationary.
“The Spiritual Rapping excitement'has
been in our State for more than a year, and
no one has been brought to the Asylumn as
yet, who has been made so by the Rapping
excitement, so far as I know. They teach
the doctrine of eternal progression, and de
grees in happiness, as one star different from
another in glory ; they also teach the doc
trine of the final happiness and holiness of
all mankind in the immortal state. They
have told many things which no human pow
er could have known anything about; they
have also made some mistakes, for aught I
know. But when a man says it is all a
■humbug ;’ I consider him much more hum
bugged than those who believe in it.. I do
hope the scientific will investigate the matter
and tell us all about it, on scientific princi
ples if they can.
“I hope you will publish this for truth’s
sake. The Rappers have vindicated them
selves by saying that Emsweller wrote his
letter while under the influence of the
spirit of Corn. I know nothing about that
myself. I could tell you much, more, but
my communication is twice as long as I in
tended it when I began to writs I could get
fifty men to sign this if it were necessary,
and all of the most respectable class, too.”
aaCTnarnmnwcMßßaaa
THE TWO THIEVES.
A most singular and somewhat laughable
occurrence took place in Paris on the after
noon of the 4th of last month. Mrs. Fou
dain occupied a room in the fourth story of
a house in the Faubourg Mont Marten, and
being a most cleanly and decent woman, she
felt greatly annoyed by some dense clouds
of smoke, which every morning made its
way through a crevice in the chimney. So
much, indeed, did she object to these visita
tions, that she made up her mind to speak
to her landlord, though the very small rent
which she paid scarcely allowed of the tak
ing of such a liberty. She was decided,
however, and finding Mr. Billet in the en
tresol, on the morning of the 4th, she cou
rageously walked up to him and preferred
her complaint. Mr. B. was a prudent man;
he did not like to promise a reform before
he had seen the necessity of it; nor did he
like to refuse, lest the thing might bo true;
in which case a non reform would lead to the
loss of a lodger, and that of a small rent.
Ho therefore offered to go up stairs and see,
but Mrs. Fondain had to go to her work,
and she therefore handed out the key to her
room, that he might see for himself, and
without restraint.
Half an hour afterwards M. Billet clam
bered up stairs and approached the door of
the room, but what was his surprise when
he saw that somebody else had got tho start
of him, for in t.bei Jnnr-lock. rtito enough,
there was a key “ A thief,” said good M.
Billet to himself, “ who had taken advantage
of the absence of Mrs. F. to rob her of her
little all, but he shall not succeed.” Having
finished this creditable soliloquy, M. Billet
softly opened the door, byway of making
quite sure. He was not mistaken; a stran
ger of very suspicious appearance was with
in, and engaged in the pleasant occupation
of ransacking a bureau drawer. Quick as
thought, M. Billot slammed the door to, and
turned the key, but quick though he was,
the eye of the stranger had noticed him,
and whilst the worthy landlord caused a
terrific alarm down stairs, by calling upon
each and everybody to assist him in the
cipture of the thief, he heard, to his great
surprise, the voice of the latter, who, from
the fourth story window, spread the same
alarm over the street.
Here, then, was a pretty muss Hun
dreds assembled to take part in the solution
of the question, and the whole mob rushed
up stairs, led by the now gallant M. Billet.
He had lost the key, and axes were brought
to force open the door; it cracked, it burst,
it flew open, and exhibited to view the very
man whom they sought For a moment his
eye glanced over the mass; then it fixed
upon good M. Billet, and in another instant
the latter was seized by the stranger, who
exclaimed in a voice of fury, “ This is the
thief; I recognize him; away with him to
the police.”
“ Me !” exclaimed the worthy M. Billet;
“la thief? Sir, do you know that lam the
proprietor of this house ? It is you who is
the thief!”
The return of Mrs. Fondain, who had
been sent for in all haste, cleared up the
mystery. When the story had been told to
her, she looked long and earnestly at the two
thieves, then indulged in a roar of laughter
which threatened to kill her, and when she
at last recovered, she said, pointing to the
stranger—
■“ Why, he is my husband.”
So, indeed, it turned out. M. Foudain,
who held the situation of a concierge in a
neighboring establishment, and who had
only an hour now aud then during the day
time to come home for a change of linen.
Ho was looking for a clean shirt when M.
Billet espied him at the bureau drawer.
MARRIAGE.
There is no greater plague to a married
woman than when her husband dischargeth
on her back all his jars, quarrels, and pas
sions, and reserveth his pleasures, joys, and
company for another. Let men obey the
laws, and women their husbands. Unhappy
is tbat man that marrieth, being in poverty.
Old age and marriage are alike; for we
desire them both, and once possessed, then
we repent. Give thy wife no power over
thee; for if thou suffer her to-day to tread
upon thy foot, she will not stick to-morrow
to tread upon thy head. No man suffereth
his wife much, but he is bound to suffer
more. The Grecian ladies counted their
years from their marriage, not their birth.
The Caspians made a law, that he who mar
ried after he had passed fifty years should,
at the common aßßcmblics aud fvuisto, cit in
the lowest and vilest place, as one that com
mitted a fact repugnant to nature. Such as
arc desirous to marry in haste, have often
times sufficient time to repent at leisure
Inequality in marriage is often an enemy to
love. The roundest circle hathits diameter,
the favourablest aspects their incident oppo
sitions, and marriage is qualified with many
trifling griefs and troubles. He that marries
himself to a fair face, ties himself oftentimes
to a foul bargain. A good husband must be
wise in words, mild in conversation, faithful
in promise, circumspect in giving counsel,
careful in provision for his house, diligent in
ordering his goods, patient in importunity,
jealous in bringing up his youth. A good
wife must be grave abroad, wise at home,
patient to suffer, constant to love, friendly to
her neighbors, provident for her husband.
Marriage with peace is this world’s Paradise;
with strife, this life’s Purgatory. Silence
and patience cause concord between married
couples. It is better to marry a quiet fool
than a witty scold. A chaste matron, by
obeying her husband’s will, hath rule over
him. The first conjunction of man’s society
is man and wife. — Sam Tewkesubry’s Scrap
Book.
Keel-Hauling. —Capt. Marryatt gives
the following description of this barbarous
method of punishment, which was once con
sidered as necessary to naval discipline as
the lash is at the present day by two or three
members of the United States Senate : —-
“ This ingenious process, which, like many
other good old customs, has fallen into dis
use, must be explained to the non-nautical
reader. It is nothing more nor less than
sending a poor navigator on a voyage of dis
covery under the bottom of the vessel, low
ering him down over the bows, and with
ropes retaining him exactly in his position
under the kelson, while he is drawn aft by a
hauling line, until he makes his appearance
at the rudder chains, generally speaking,
quite out of breath, not, at the rapidity of his
motion, but because, when so long under the
water, he has expended all the breath in his
body, and is induced at last to take in Balt
water en lieu. There is much merit in this
invention; people are very apt not to be
content with walking the deck of a man of
,war, and complaining of it as a hardship, but
when once they have learnt, by experience,
the difference between being comfortable
above-board, and the number of deprivations
which they have to submit to when under
board and overboard at the same time, they
find there are worse situations than being on
the deck of a vessel—we say privations when
underboard, for they really are very impor
tant —you are deprived of the air to breathe,
which is not borne with patience even by a
philosopher, and you are obliged to drink
salt water instead of fresh. In the days of
keel-hauling, the bottoms of vessels were not
coppered, and in consequence were well stud
ded with a species of shell fish which attach
ed themselves, called barnacles ; and, _as
these shells were all open-mouthed, and with
sharp cutting points, those who underwent
this punishment (for they were made by the
ropes at each side, fastened to their arms, to
hug the kelson of the vessel), were cut and
scored all over their bodies, as if with so
many lancets, generally coming up bleeding
in every part, and their faces, especially
their noses, as if they had been gnawed by
the rats; but this was considered rather ad
vantageous than otherwise, as the loss. of
blood restored the patient if he was not quite
drowned, and the consequence was, that one
out of three, it is said, have been known to
recover after this submarine excursion.—
The Dutch have the credit, and we will not
I attempt to take from them their undoubted
PRICE THREE CENTS.
right, of having invented this very agreea
ble description of punishment. They are
considered a heavy, phlegmatic sort of peo
ple, but oa every point on which the art of
ingeniously tormenting is in request, it must
be admitted that they have taken the lead of
much more vivacious and otherwise more in
ventive nations.
A 'Pirate’s Treasure.-—The Elgin
Courier quotes the following singular story
from a private letter, dated Antigua, 28lh
November, 1851 :
“There is nothing particular that I can
mention, except a circumstance that occur
red in St. John’s the other day. When Nel
son was in the way of cruising about the
West India Islands in quest of pirates, &c.,
two, who had given over the trade, with a
negro slave, came to reside in Antigua with
their spoil—three chests of Spanish dollars,'
doubloons, &o. They purchased some pro
perty here, and buried the treasure. One
of them, after some time, poisoned the other;
and the slave, afraid he might be the next
victim, tied in an open boat, was taken by a
slaver, and sold in one of the French islands,
where, after some time, he married and had
a son, to whom on his death bed he bequeath
ed the secret. The son could never find
means to escape, and had in like manner to
hand it down to his son, who, after the eman
cipation, managed to amass some money.
He camo to Antigua a short time since, wish
ing to purchase this property; but the per
son to whom it belonged, intending to build
upon it, would not sell it, although offered
double the value for it; and, moreover, bad
some suspicion that it was not merely for the
ground that it was wanted. When the black
saw that he could not get it by purchase, he
called on the proprietor, and stating the
case, requested one 'chest as his share if rhe
information proved correct, which he would
not accede to. He, however, went to work,
and got the placed railed in, and dug over
the ground; when lo ! two of the chests
were found ; and a little girl in the house
. happening to mention the fact that her mas
ter used to dig in the yard all night, the
thing got wind, and Government have
pounced upon it, and are in search for the
third chest, which is supposed to be under
a stable that had been built in the place. 1
understand that the black will come in for a
share, as there are some papers connected
with it found beside the chests.”
Danger of Kissing.—A few weeks ago,
at a small public-house, within a short dis
tance of Chiddingly, Eng , there was a bail
given, or rather what, in the time of our
grandfathers, would have been called a hop,
an entertainment of real jovial life and hi
larity. Dancing was carried forward with
a zest not known at Almack’s, but fully ap
predated by, the rustics «f this locality.
To see Sal’s face and neck, after the fiddler
had finished his “ Drops of Brandy,” was to
see the counterpart of the rising sun of a
misty morning—such was the glow of heat
—such the dew-drops on the rose ; and the .
hearty smack which each John gave his Jill
as a finisher, caused the room to resound
again Thus far all was delight, but in two
or three days afterwards there was a sad
change of scene. Almost without exception,
the parties present lay on a bed of sickness ;
small-pox had assailed them. It appears
that a servant girl, one of the company,
came over from Brighton to see her friends,
and the day afterwards, was attacked with
small-pox; doubtless, unknowingly, the in
sidious poison was, while dancing, pervading
her whole system, and from her the others
must have received the contagion. The
poor doctor, who attended her day after
day, had his list of patients increased, and
upon each application for his services the
question was asked, “ Were you at the Yew
Tree If the reply was in the affirmative,
his rejoinder was, “ Then I know what is
the matter ; you have got the small-pox.”
Let this be a lesson, not to finish the dances
with kissing, for there may bo poison on the
lip. .
Great Rush of Widows.—A London
paper, not long since, related the following
case of a great rush of widows, in answer to
an advertisement, to the great consternation
of a staid and respqptable citizen, and the
amusement of the rabble:—“Mr. Stroud
having occasion for a housekeeper, to super
intend his domestic arrangements, advertis
ed for ‘ a widow, or a widow and her daugh
ter, to take charge of the upper part of a
tradesman’s house, and to cook for him.’—
The wages were stated to be £3O per annum,
with coals, candles, &0., and application was
directed to be made between eleven and three
o’clock, on Tuesday, at No. 68 Tower street,
Before the clock struck eleven, the widows
began tq arrive, and soon the street was ren
dered impassible by the number of fair ones
crowding toward the house, and in a few mi
nutes Mr. Stroud’s shop and parlor were fill
ed with women, struggling to gain the
attention of the advertiser, and clamorous
ly setting forth their qualifications for the
situation. A report soon got wind that Mr.
Stroud bad advertised for a wife, and people
flocked from all quarters to see the ladies in
search of a husband. Tbe widows, young,
middle-aged, the thin and stout, the dark
and the fair, some in their weeds, others gai
ly attired, and many poorly but decently
clad, continued to arrive, and were greeted
with laughter and shouts by the mob, who
gave free vent to their jokes and ribaldry as
the widows arrived and departed At length
the confusion and noise became so great,
that a posse of the city police were sent for,
who preserved a little better order, and af
forded free ingress and egress for the appli
cants.
Thrilling Incident.—Pres’t. Hitch
cock, of Amherst College, in a letter to the
Amherst Express, from Virginia, whether he
accompanied Mr. Webster on his journey
South, describing seme of the coal miners in
that State, relates the following semi-tragic
anecdote:
“ Major W. related to us a very thrilling
incident that took place in that vicinity some
years ago, which he assured us was literally
true. A hunter, one autumnal evening,
eagerly following In the chase, found himself
sliding down into an old abandoned coal pit,
but, seizing the top of a bush as he slipped
down the craggy sides, he hung dangling in
the air over the black gulf, and felt con
scious, from his knowledge of the place, that
if he fell he must drop at least 200 feet and
be dashed to pieces on the rocks beneath.
He struggled in vain to regain a foothold;
he heard the cry of a fellow hunter, and one
of the hounds, as they bounded past He
shouted with all his might, and the forest
returned the echo, but no voice of rescue
came with it. The wind whistled around
him, and the moon shone upon his face, but
they brought him no relief; his strength
rapidly failed; he thought in agony of his
family and friends, but he must die an awful
death, and even his mangled body never be
discovered. His mind became bewildered ;
his muscles gave out, and down he wont—
down—down —swifter and swifter—nor
struck the bottom till he had reached the
enormous depth of sta: inches.'
Turks and Tea.—The following curious
description of a Turkish tea-party is given
on the authority of a recent traveller. The
writer had just dined with the Turks and
thought to give a treat in his turn :—“ As
we had brought apparatus in our baggage,
we now procured some hot water, and enter
tained our hosts with a dish of tea, which
they had heard of but never tasted. We
sweetened a cup in the most approved man
ner with sugar, aud softened it with milk,
and then presented it. A Turk never takes
anything of this kind but coffee without
milk or sugar, which is as black, thick, and
bitter as soot; when, therefore, he filled his
mouth with the mawkish mixture we made
for him, his distress was quite ridiculous.
He could not swallow it, and he would not
spit it out, for a Turk never spits in com
pany ; so he kept it churning in his mouth,
till he could keep it nolonger ; he then made
a pretext for going out, which he did as fast
as a Turk can move, and got rid of it over
the stairs. When ho returned, however, he
said the ladies of the harem requested to
taste of our tea also. So we sent them in a
specimen ; wo soon heard them bursting into
loud fits of laughter at the extraordinary
stuff; and we are informed they, liked it as
little as the men.”
Eve’s Apple.—There is a tree found
in the Island of Ceylon, which bear’s the
name of Eve’s Apple Tree. The apples on
it are suspended by a long peduncle, or
thread, and bob about in the air like cher
ries, having a strong look of “Come eat me,”
or at any rate, “Come feel me.” It is almost
impossible to pass this curious production
without taking hold of the vegetable ball, as
it hangs at the end of the thread. Eve, it is
but charitable to suppose, indulged in this
natural and inevitable curiosity, and as the
thread is exceedingly brittle, the apple came
off in her hand, without her having any in
tention to pluck it. Having plucked the
fruit, she very naturally tasted it.
Curiously enough, these apples all have
the appearance as if a piece had been bitten
out of them. They are poisonous, and some
of the English soldiers in Ceylon died in con
sequence of eating them.
Glohious"Timi:r for the Ladies.— In
the reign of Queen Margaret of Scotland, the
Parliament passed an act that any maiden
lady of high or low degree should have the
liberty to choee for a husband the man on
whom she set her fancy. If a man refused
to marry her he was heavily fined, according
to the value of his worldly possessions. The
only ground of exemption was previous be
trothal.