Middletown transcript. [volume], January 04, 1868, Image 1

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'VOL. I.
MIDDLETOWN, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE, SATURDAY MORNING, JANUARY 4, I8G8.
NO. I.
*
. gehet {loirtrj.
SNOW FI. UCBS.
Flout on, flout on, .
Ye snow-flakes hoverin; down—
All that is fair, aud tender, mil sweet,
tVraii in your pitiless wind ijaVsheet,
«inter the meadows ) i wn.
'Tie well, 'fis »dll,
Your firightesl wreath- to spread,
When (loners hare sunk t, the earth in sorrow,
For the Illicit tea hope of u ummer morrow,
Over the lovely dead.
Floaten. Hoir on,
. UniJor your mantle chill,
Where traitorous hope cad drei
more,
•kin" phmiGiTis have lied before.
Uh ! that this heart w«to still !
Where lu r
Forbear, fori *.ir;
k full thou dost is
;rong—
iQuiitle, so soft itiid warm,
Is slumbering safe, each loveliest form,
Though wintar'jj night he long.
Under
Ye;
not, lit.ir not,
There am bright, bright buds below—
Thou shalt sm them again on the green' hill-side,
When the siliery mist of summer tide
Is born of the winlcr'g snow.
THE ItlEltUY 8LEIÜII«
Jingle, jingle, clear the way,
•rry, merry sleigh,
As.it swiftly scuds along,
Hear the burst of happy song;
S' « the gleam of glanced bright.
Futshing o'er the pathway white;
Jingle, jiuglo—how it whirls,
Crowded full ol' pretty girls.
"i is the
Jingle jiiigh -fast it flies,
Shooting siu*
OnrtlerM n relier* I'll be bound,
Little heeding w hen they w ound ;
»Sv them with capricious pranks,.
Ploughing now
Jingle, jingle—'mid their glee.
rongliish eyes ;
s IV
drifted bunks.
Jingle, jlnglo—on they flow,
Cups and bonnets w hite with si_,
Aud the faces swimming past—
Nodding through the fleecy Must;
Not a single robe they fohl
To protect them from the cold,
Jingle, jingle—'mid the storm,
Fun und frolic keeps them warm.
Jingle, jlnj^e, down the hills,*
O'er the metiaow's, past the mills,
Now * tin slow, now' 'lis fast,
Winter will not always last ;
Kvery pleasure has its time,
Spring will oorne mid stop the chime;
Jingle, jinglcU-oleir the way,
'Tis thu morry. merry sleigh.
■
»
THE FAITHFUL „WIFE.
TmJÿ93. M. de Talleyrandu
<|{itgl«b.whikit crossing. tho>" Act playe.
lie was compelled to Pop hy a long row of
wagons, all loaded with vegetables,
wily courtier, generally so dead to all emo
tion, could not but. \t„k with a kind of
pleasure at these and 'Tin little wagoners,
who, by the by, were young and pretty
country women. Suddenly as the vehicles
came to stand, the eye* of M. de Talley
rand chanced to rest npoi one of the young
women whoappeured more lovely and grace
ful than the others. An exclamation escaped
from his lips. It attracted the attention
of the fair one, whose country dress and
large hat bespoke daily visit a to the market.
As she beheld the astonished Talleyrand,
whom she recognized immediately, she burst
out laughing.
"What! is it you?" exdhimed she.
"Yes, indeed, it is I. iBut you, what
arc you doing here t" 1
"I," said tho young woman; "I a
waiting for my turn to pays on. I *m
f oing to try to sell my green- and vegiti
les at the market."
At that moment the wagons began to
along, she of tho straw hat applied
her whip to her horse, told M. de Tallov
rand the namo of the village where she
..was living, requested him earnestly to come
aud see. her, disappeared, and left him li
ft' riveted on the spot by tho sttengo appa
rition.
Who Wfc* this ' young market woman ?
M, Comtesse de la Tour du I'in, (Madem
cusolle de Dillon) the most elegant among
yhc ladies of the court of Louis XVT, King
of France, aud whose moral and intellectual
worth had shone with so dazzling a lustre
in the society of her numerous friends anil
admirers. At, the time when the French
nobility emigrated, she was young, lively,
endowed with the most remarkable talents,
aud, like all ladies who held, a rank in the
court, had only time to attend to such
dutieB as belonged to her highly fashiona
ble aod courtly life.
last any orte fancy the sufferings and
agony of that woman, born in tho lap of
wealth, and who hail breathed nothing bnt
perfumcH under the gilded ceilings of tho
royal pulace of Versailles; whom all at
•iJnee she fuund herself sutrountllrl with
blood and massacres, and saw every kind
-yf danger besetting her young and b-ilovcd
Sntsbaud and hor infant child.
They succeeded in flying from Fiance.
It was thoir good fortune to escape from
the bloody land where Robespierre in ft his
associates were busy at the work of daith.
Alas! in those times of terror "the poor
'children themselves abandoned with jtf.- the
.parental roof, for no hiding place was se
cure against the vigilant eye of those mob
sters who thirsted for iunooent blood.
The fugitives landed in America, and
•first went to Boston, where they found a !
retreat. But what a change for the young,
pretty and fhshionable lady, spoiled from
infancy by load 1 continual praises of her
beauty and talents 1
'i Monsieur de la Tour du Pin was extrav
agantly fond of hi* wife. At the court i\f
Franca he had seen her, with the prone
eye of a husband, the object of general
,as in Boston
The
move
I:'
admiration. Indeed hemmduct Lad always
been virtuous and exemplary ; but now, ill
a foreign land and among unsophisticated
republicans (171)5) w hfl t was tlio use of
courtly refinements.
Happy as be was in soeiug her escape
from all tlio perils lie had dreaded on her
own account, still lie could but deplore the
future lot of the wife of his bosom. How
ever, with tlie prudent foresight of a good
father and a kind huslijnd, he nerved him
self against despair, and exerted himself to
render their condition less miserable than
that of many emigrant* who were starving,
when the little money they had brought
over with them had been exhausted. Not
a word of English did he know ; but his
wife spoke it fluently, and admirably well.
They boarded at Mrs. Muller's, a good
natured, notable woman, who, on every
occasion, showed the greatest respect anil
admiration for her fair hoarder;.yet Mon
sieur de la Tour du Pin was in constant
dread lest the conversation of thut good,
plain, and well-meaning woman might bo
the cause of great ennui to his lady. What
a contrast with the society of such gentle
men as -M. do Norbouvne, M. de Talley
rand, and the other high-minded and polish
ed nobility of France,.1 Whenever think
ing of this transition (particularly when
absent from his wife, dud tilling the garden
of the cottage which they wore going to
inhabit,) he felt such paugs and heart
throbbings as to make him apprehensive
on his return to Mrs. Muller's to meet the
looks of his beloved wife, whom ho expect
ed to see bathed in tews. Meanwhile the
good hostess would give him a hearty shake
of Me hand, and repeat to him, "happy
husband ! happy husband 1"
At last came the day when the fugitive
family left the hoarding house of Mrs.
Muller to go to inhabit their little cotta
when they were at last to he exempt from
want, with an only servant, a negro, a kind
of Jack of all trades, viz : gardener, foot
man and cook. The last function M. de
la Tour de Pin dreaded most of all to see
him undertake.
It was almost dinner time. The poor
emigrant went into his little garden to
gather some fruit', and tarried as long as
possible. *Ou his return home his wife
was absent ; looking for her he entered tl)e
kitchen, and saw a young coqntry-woiutm
who, with her back to the door, was knead
Pin started, tlio young woman turned round,
It was his beloved wile, who had oxebang
ud her muslins and silk fora country dress,
not as for a fancy hall, hut to play the part
of a real farmer's wife. At the sight ot
Iter husband her cheeks crimsoned, and slut
joined her hands in a supplicating manner.
.•■OU ! my love," said she, " do not faugh
■ „Ute. X am as, expert as Mrs. Muller "
■ 'Dearest .''continued she, "if you knew
how easy : t is. Wc, in a momout, under
stand uLat wo,V.l , „st a eonufty-woman
sometimes one or t'v.i, years Now we shall
he happy—you will no 'lorigfwl,, ofraM-uf
nmZ for mo, nor doubts about n,v abilities,
of which I will give you many proofs,"
said she, looking with i bewitching smile
at him. "Come, come, you promised us
a salad, und L am going to bako to-mor
row ; the oven is hot. To-day the bread
of the town will do-lmt oh ! henceforward
leave it to me "
From that momont, Madame de hi Tour
du Pin kepi her word ; she insisted or,
going herself to Boston tn sell her vo 2 e
tables and cream cheeses. It was et. such
an errand that M. do Tallvraud met her.
The day after lie went to pay her a visit,
aud found her in tlie poultry-yard, sur
rounded by a host of fowls hungry ekickens
aud pigeons.
She was all that she had premised to he.
Besides, her health had been so mueh hen.,
fitted, that she seemed less fatigued by the
hmsowork than if she had attended all
tie balls of the winter. Her beauty, which
had been remarkable in the gorgeous palace
of Versailles, was (Jazzling in her cottage
in the New World. M. do Talh.vr.iud said
so to her '
•Indeed!" rcplW. she with naviete,
" indeed, do you tVok sc ? I an, delight
cd U, hear it. A woman is always and
everywhere proud v her personal attrac
tiens "
At that moment the black servant bolted
into the drawing-room, holding in his
hand 1ns jacket, with a large rent in the
tug dough ; her arms of suowy Whiteness
were hare to the elbow. M. de lu Tour du
!
" Missis, him jacket torn; please mend
him."
She immediately took a needle, repaired
Gullalt's jacket, aud continued the conver
sation with a charming simplicity.
This little adventure left a deep impres
sion ou the mind of M- de Talleyrand, who
used to relate it with that tone of voico
peculiar to his narrations.
No Feu. Moon.— Last February was a
month in which there was no full moon, u
remarkable foot, but not so rare us some
of tlio Italian journalists would mNko it,
for these authorities asserted that this oc-
currence could only take place once iu
25,000 centuries. A Milanese astronomer
who noticed this rush assertion, has just
Bhown that the same thing occurred in
1847, when the moon eatne full on the
morning of .January (list, and next again
on the morning of March 2d following
The .Scientific American says that in 1829
there was a similar occurrence in this
rouutrg.
----—«A—-—
YY rather propU' is v hose sybillinc leaves
•ire . the breastbones of geese say that the
tirst part of this winter will be hard, and
t.(n latter will be milil
A lawyer iselwayaj^iougcst when hois
/-ablest.
% 1'raf from gistorç.
as
to
an
History of llallronds and Locomotives.
The modern researches in Egypt dis
covered that roads with solid stone track
ways were built by tho ancient artificers of
that country for transporting tlio stupend
ous stones of the Pyramids. The remains
of such roads, formed of heavy blocks of
stono, have been actually found. The
Appiun way of the Homans of a later day,
constructed with blocks of stone closely
fitted together, is nnuthcr step towards
the rail way ; and tho same kind of smooth,
solid roadway was used in modern times in
the continental cities, Pisa, Milan, and in
London. In the life of Lord Keeper North,
who figured about two hundred years ago,
it is said that at that time the coals from
the colleries near Neweastle-upou-Tync
were enveyed to the banks of the river
" hy laying rails of timber exactly straight
and parallel ; und bulky carts were made,
with four rollers, fitting those rails, where
by the carriage was made so easy that one
horse would draw four or five caldrons of
This was earlier than 1070. This
was another great step in the line of im
provement. These roads were used in the
Northumberland and Durham coal districts
for about one hundred years, with such
gradual modifications as their use suggest
ed : and in 1705 their construction <
braced the leading features of the modern
railroad, initialing the Hanges upon the
wheels, hut nut the iron surface for the
wheels to roll upon. At this period the
roads were built with square wooden sleep
ers, six feet long, und two to three feet
apart. Upon these were laid tho rails,
with a uniform inalination, as nearly as
possible. The rails were long timbers, six
or seven inches wide and five iuches deep,
and ubnut four feet apart, fastened down
hy pegs, and the space between filled with
gravel. A subsequent improvement placed
a second set of rails upon the top of tho
first, which were then used as the founda
tion. The rails were after awhile further
improved hy straps of iron covering their
upper surface. The wagons witli flanged
wheels carried two to throe tuns of coal
each.
coal."
Tlio first iron rails were introduced just
one hundred years ago, at the iron works
Tho rails were east of
pig iron, in hare, five feet long, four inch
''f ."i'" 1 ®'. T '"" 1 . 1 t,,r, | ' e - fo " ttl 1 ls i™ 1 "*
"""b ) vul1 ,,ulu »"» tlR ' JJ ' *® tho wo,k1 -
L 'tt tun hers. ....
J " U* 1 ', H»'y introduced a rail with a
mpoid.cuh"- lodge on the outer edge to
tl,e . " heeds upon the track ; the ledge,
a ^ r '"T' l 'T g £;" ,sferred V« ,uuur
cd .f , of ^ rai1 '. H>ey were at that time
eallod plate roads, aud afterwards tram
W™}' * P'u"*>'*eu%
»WM 1 w,t1 ' **" 'tenes. In 1,89
d 'ssepa edge rail, with tho top «uluoo
t,M ! lw, »f 'f"* tw .« d ¥ 1 | ru ®' h .°
1 .'»° wheu1 ' W11S lutr< * ,uoed - -Th"
• "tarked improvement was not much appre
mated at fartrt, as it fell mto disuse ; but in
tku rath, were revived at the
sla,u T lum, ' d Lord ^ur.tyn. , J I 'o ™'l
"as at lust made convex, with <l.e wheel
u T' a , vt '' f **• f h.s was fouim to wear,
aud wh, i ul a "'\ r " ll L th f b ® con fP l, fc' ht
uu tr tmk. Ihe wheel and rail
f, 1 ' 0 ' 1 bo,l '- ma , de tiat - and thü »j?™ 1 jZ "
fluU f on ed «*; II ,7", tllat
?>»e horse on this rail would do the work
ot . wl - v °." %•**"""«" r , , , .
r "! 1 ," :LS : m 1808 improved by being made
1,1 the middle than at the ends, and
10 S tu ! 1 the fish-hellicd
rail > H»« toriu «mug the strength where
most needed. It was not, however, until
18 ' ü tba ' ""'"'""m}' fur 1 Inak "'8 o{
" ruu 8 ht ,ron invented. All rail* be
, ore 1 "" woro , cai,t > , uud cm ' ld not - »Imrc
*"7 he more than three or four toot long,
! Uilkll, fe r tb " .l ,mlts «" points of support
m t u , ".' ad Very numerous. Besides, east
,r0 ? had been, troiu its brittleness, found
uu *' for ke * v J r , rualJs a " d k «-' h **P«" d - •
J htw tar the motive power had been
"Imost cxelusively that of h
"h"®' 1 l da,na waa «"H«* . U8cd - th «
de80Wld ' n *. tar . on °"« a,du ^"'8
"ntes attached to another on the opprisito
declivity, ho that the one cud going down
wo "' d draw "!!.' hc T hor - . ..
1 . hc P oaMbll '7 , of cm ' Btnl ® tl "S st( ' u " 1 -
car TO T™* b .f" flw . ta "88'f
cd hy Watt, as early as the perm 1 of tho
American ltevolution ; but it is to Oliver
Evans, of Philadelphia, that is duo the
honor of first making the application of
steam to tho propelling of land carriages.
In 1782 he patented a steam wagon, and
sent the specifications to England as early
as 1787. A locomotive carriage was also
patented hy Watt in 1784. Iu 1802 Rich
ard Trcnithick patented a high-pressure
locomotive engine, and in 1804 built one
for a railroad in Wales, which did well on
a level surface or moderate grade ; but the
wheels, on any considerable grade, would
slip round without advancing. This diffi
culty was not obviated for sornd years.
Wheels with teeth were tried in 1811, and
the next year carriages with eight wheels
were tested in vain. In 1814 plain wheels
wore found to do well on some of the roads
of the English mines, but no application
was made of them except tor moving coal
and ore wagons.
I ihe first passengor railroad opened was
a horse-railroad hetwoen Stockton and
Darlington, a distance of eleven miles, in
the north of England, built in 1825. Se
guin, tho French engineer, in 1826 first
succc.sfuUj introduced locomotives upon
several smull roads in France. Iu 1825,
tho Mancgestcr and Liverpool railroad de
signed for trains at a high rato of speed,
was o itc itenood. Tho expense of fast
rates <r.s so great with horses that it was
of Uolehrook Dale.
were
i:
The edge
orscs. On in
;.*
G
is
ho
ed,
planned to use stationary engines along
the track, aud draw the carriages with
ropes trom station to station. A premium
ot <£500 was otiered for tlio best engine not
prod ueing smoke,—weight, it on four
wheels, not more than four and a half
tons, and not more than six tuns in any
event—dr«wing three times its own weight
ten miles an hour, and costing not above
.£55ü. Iu 1821) four locomotives were
presented for trial, and the prize awarded
to u machine weighing four tons live cwfc.
running fourteen miles an hour with a
gross load ot seventeen tons, and capable,
under certain circumstances, ot double
tliat speed. It was caUcd the Rocket. In
1830 steam carriages were regularly in
trotluced on this road. The small engines
soon gave place to those ot more power,
soine having since attained the enormous
proportious and power ot torty-eight tons
weight, on the English road. The "fish
belly" form of rail was used with these
fitst locomotives. They were spiked down
to square stone blocks, weighed thirty
three pounds to the yard, and were four
feet eight aud a half inches apart, which
has come to be the national guugc.
The first railroad iu America was com
mcnccd iu 182(i, and fiuished in 1827, for
the transportation of granite from the
quarry at (juiney to the tide-waters .of Na
ponaet river, including branches it was
four miles in length, with single track,
iron rails iastened to stone sleepers seven
and a half feet long, and eight feet apart,
The rails were pine, a foot deep, covered
with oak plank, plated with iron. The
guage was five feet. The stones were
conveyed on an inclined plain 385 ft., long,
down an elevation of 85 feet, to the rail
way. The cars were drawn by horses.
Tire second railroad in this country was
coiumcnccd iu Juuuury, and completed iu
May, 1827, from the coal mines of Mauch
Chunk, Pennsylvania, to the Lehigh river,
a distance of nine miles, and, with turu
outs and branches, tho length was tliir
teon-and-a-half miles. The elevation of
the mincB above the river where the boats
received the coal was 93(5 feet, and down
this continued*descent the loaded cars were
carried by gravitation, and drawn by mules.
Fourteen cars, each containing half a ton
of coal, were connected together, aud a
conductor rode on ono of the cars and
regulated their movements, ono of the cars
being used to convey down the mules, who
drew back the empty cars. The rails were
of wood, strapped witji iron. In 1828 the
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
built a railroad from their coal mines in
Luzerne county, J'a, to Honesdule, a dis
taneo of twenty-four miles.
The first railroad, either in this or any
other country, constructed exclusively for
the use of locomotives as motive power,
was a road to counect Charleston, 8. C.
with the Savannah river. Six miles of this
road was tiuished in 1829. It was built
on piles, often very high above the ground,
and this fact is conclusive that horses wore
not intended for the motive power. Their
engineer was Horatio Allen, who had been
Uj su tho engineer of the Delaware and
Hudson Road in 1827, and who was sent
abroad in the autumn of that year by the
Delaware and Hudson Company to pur
phase the railroad iron and three loelo
tives.
Tho first laud carnage propelled by
steam * in America was . constructed hy
Oliver Evans, in 1893-4, in I'hiladelphiu,
It originated as follows : In 1392 the
Hoard of Health of that city
Mr. Evans to oonstruet the first steam
dredging-machine ever used in Ameriea.
It was a flat scow, with a small engine to
work the machinery 1er raising the mud.
When tho machine was ready to be
launched upon the Schuylkill, Mr. Evans,
as an experiment, fitted it upon wheels,
and, steaming up tho engine,, the establish
ment propelled itself a mile and a half to
the river. It was there placed afloat, ami
with a puddle wheel in the stern, it steamed
down the river to the junction of the Dela
ware. The machine was named the Eruc
ton Amphibolis. Mr. Evans atthis period
was confidently predicting tho time when
sneh carriages would he propelled on
railways, and urging upon capitalists
to build a railroad from New York to
Philadelphia. He was u native of New
pert, Delaware, and died in New York
eity in 1819, at the age of (11 years. The
construction of » land carriage, to bo pro
pelled without animal power, was the sub
jeet of his thoughts, aud employed his
grout inventiv powers throughout bis en
tire manhood, commencing when he was
an apprentice boy to a wheelwright. It
was not uutil about 1799 1809, however,
that his moaus and circumstances permit
ted him to embark in earnest to build a
uthoiised
steam engine.
Tho namo of John Stevens, who in the
same year in which Evans built his dredg
ing-machine at Philadelphia constructed a
steam propeller at New York, deserves
especial mention iu this connection. In
1812 ho published a pamphlet urging the
overnment to make experiments iu rail
ways traversed by steam carriages, and it
astonishing to road the details of
struetion of the railway, the locomotives,
and tho carriages, and their operation,
while we remember that the whole thing
hud an exismnoe only in his ftu-scuing,
inventive m|nd.
Tho endfooB, he thought, might trav
ersq the jmad at a speed of fifty miles an
hotfr, tjfough twenty to thirty mijes would
li'imd the practical speed. Ho propos
ed, at this time, if his plan should, on ex
periment, be found to operate well, that a
railway be built connecting Albany and
Lako Eric. IIo was regarded as a vis
ionary, and ft was left to his son, JohnL.
Stevens, who inherited his father's groat
cou
inventive powers, and who was the prosi
dent of the Camden and Amboy Railroad
many years in its earliest history, to see
the dream* of-his father become a wonder
tul reality. The father built a locomotive
as an experiment, and it worked well some
two ar three years after his pamphlet was
published, about 1814.
The first use of a locomotive in Ameri
ca was on the Delaware and Hudson Ca
uni Company's railroad, in Luzerne county
Pa. to which we have alluded. One of
the engines purchased in England by IIo
ratio Allen arrived in New York in 1829,
and of this machine Appleton's Encyclo
pœdia, to which, and to "Mitchell's Uni
ted States," published in 1835,
mainly indebted for these facts, thus says :
" One of the engines built by Clcorge Ste
phenson at his works at NewcuMile-upon
Tvne arrived in New York in the spring
ot 1829, and was to be seen for some time
in the yard of E. Dunscomb, in Water st.
its wlieels raised above the ground, and
kept running for the gratification of those
interested. Another engine built by Fos
tor, ltastwick AOo. arrived soon after, and
was put on the road in tho latter part of
the summer of 1829."
The Encyclopaedia docs not inform us
when nor where the first mentioned engine
was put to use, but says that tho other
one was a four-wheeled
nmltitubular boiler and exhaust blast,
The first American steam locomotive
put into use on the road of which wc have
spoken, running from Charleston, South
Carolina, to Hamburg, on the Savannah
river, late in the summer of 1830.
engine was built by the Kembles, at their
shop in West street, New York, from a
plan made by E. B. Miller, then a resident
Charleston. It was a small four-whecl
engine, with upright boiler, and water
fi ues close at the bottom, with the flame
circulating around them. It was called
" Best Friend," and worked successfully
about, two years, says the authority already
mentioned, when it exploded, and
built with a fine boiler. Upon this road,
in 1831, the great American improvement
°* ^ w0 four-wheeled trucks for locomotives
alu * l°»g passenger cars was first intro
^ueed. They were planned by Horatio
ARcn, who had become the engineer of
fc bis road. This .system of double track
ru, *ning gear, including thisr application of
^e pedestals to the springs, have, with
110 essential change, ever siuce been uni
vcrsally adopted in this country.
Charleston und Hamburg Company offered
a premium of £500 for the best plan of a
horso locomotive, and the award was given
1 ij • Detmold, afterwards uf New York,
v; * i0 constructed a machine to carry- twelve
Passengers ut the rate of twelve miles an
hour, the horse workiug on an endless
c haiu.
There has been recently some controversy
aë 40 the oldest locomotive in America,
^P on this que, stun the Fkiladclphiu Ledger
8ll J 8 :
Maine claimed recently to possess the oldest
locomotive in America. It was broken up die
Ælïïd
was one ot the early machines built iu Ka^rund
by Stephenson, the inventor of the locomotive.
U h .ï H ' ,il Ncw«.stle-upon-Tyne, in 1835,
Zl ZneAug.ltXZâ 18M ' ^
we are
machine, with a
The
was re
The
The Trenton (Inzctte. in allusion to this
item from the Ledger, adds :
In tlii* paragraph there is either ft mistake of
dates
Dull'
Railroad
• facts. The locomotive known as " John
vas running on the Camden and Amboy
' ns early as 1S32. It was built by Steph
enson, at Newcastle, and is, we believe, still in
use. .Sonic time ago it was running regularly on
tlie Jlocky Jlill Load, and is probably still run
ning. Ju 1834 a lococomotive was running on
the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, making
a trip each way daily. Only two trains were
then run over tlie road daily, one drawn by
horses, and the other by tho only locomotive
engine owned by the company. •
The (jrttziKc furtlicrsays that tbe "John
Bull " is still in existence. In relation to
the C&mdeu and Amboy railroad, "Mitch
ell's United States," a statistical work,
compiled with extraordinary care, and pub
lished in i S35, says : " This railroad being
designed lor steam locomotive engines, is
to be eventually constructed in the most
substantial manner ; but at present wooden
rails are used for tbe most part of the line,
in order that the embankment may be con
solidated before laving the permanent track,
to bo completed the present year. Upon
this road, so far as finished, passengers and
merchandize have been carried since Feb
ruary, 1833." This would seem to be in
conflict with the statement of tho Gazette ,
that the John Bull was i mining so early
a« 1832.
Tho first steam propelled cars, running
igularly with passengers and freight, ap
pear, so far as our researches inform us,
to have boon on the Charleston and Ham
burg road, or, as it is now known, " The
South Carolina Rail Road," connecting
Charleston and Augusta, Ga. , the latter
town being on the opposite side of the Sa
vannah river from Hamburg.
The'Raltimore and Ohio road, of which
the first stone was laid July 4,1828 in tlie
presence of an immencc multitude, by the
venerable Charles Carroll, of Carrolton,
though active operations wore not com
menced till the autumn of that year.
1830 the road was finished as far as Elli
ootts Mills, a distance of thirteen miles,
and was originally designed as a horse rail
road. The successful introduction of
Fteam motive power in this country, as
well as in England, however, encouraged
the attempt to use steam locomotives here;
and in 1830 & small locomotive, built by
Roter Cooper, in Baltimore, was put upon
the road. Horse-cars were also used, and
in these ways trains were regularly run in
that year. "Mitchell's United States"
says that in the first eight- months of 1831
this road transported 81,905 passengers,
In
:
and 5,931 tons of freight, yielding an in
come of $31,405, and involving an expense
of $10,994. The rails were of wood, fas
tened to timbers or stone imbedded in the
earth, and were covered with iron plate
from four to five-eighths of an inch thick,
and from two and a half to four aud a
quarter inches wide. These plates often
became detached, and occasionally, caught
by the wheels, were thrust up into the cars
—a danger and a terror to the passengers,
and known as "snake-heads,
not peculiar to this road at that period, ns
the most of the early roads wore constructed
in the same manner.
From 1831 railroads multiplied in every
direction, and in glancing, as we have,
backward to the origin of these enterpri
only over the short space of forty years,
the mind is filled with inexpressible
ment with the stupendous strides of im
provement which have been made in that
time. In round numbers there were com
pleted iu 1855, in the United States, forty
thousand miles of railroad, at an average
cost of forty thousand dollars a mile, in
cluding equipment, aud one-third as much
more projected. The total number of miles
of railway open to traffic in Great liritaiu
in 1859 was, in round numbers, ten thou
sand miles, at an average cost per mile of
twelve thousand pounds sterling, or sixty
thousand dollars. At the same period
there were completed on tho continent of
Europe ten thousand five hundred miles,
and in the Asiatic countries some four hun
dred and fifty miles ; making a total tn the
woild, completed, about sixty-two thou
sand miles. We have no space to speak
of the improvements in railroad machinery
of every kind—in the engines, the car
riages, and the rails—which are no less
marvelous than the extensions of the roads.
This was
: - ,
Anecdote of Q,uecn Victoria*
Grace Greenwood says—An anecdote il
lustrating Queen Victoria's admirable good
sense and strict domestic discipline, came to
me directly from one who witnessed the
occurrence. One day, when the Queen
present iu her carriage at military review,
the Princess Koyal, then rather a wilful
girl of thirteen, sitting on the front seat,
seemed disposed to be rather familiar and
coquetish with some yong officers on the
escort. Her majesty gave several repro ving
looks, without avail—" winked at her, she
wouldn't stay winked." At length, in flirt
ing her handkerchief over the side of the
carriage, she dropped it—too evidently not
accidentally. Instantly two or tlireo young
heroes sprang from their saddles to return
it to her fair hand —but thu awful voice of
royalty stayed them. " Stop, gentlemen !"
exclaimed the Queen—" leave it just where
it lies. Now my daughter, get d
tho carriage aud pick up your handker
chief." There was no help for . it. The
royal footman let down the stop for the little,
royal lady,who proceeded toliftfrom the dust
pretty piece of oambric and laee. She
ihed a good deal, though she tossed her
own from
1M
bluB_
head saucily, and she was doubtless angry
enough, but the mortifying lesson may have
nipped in the bud her first impulse towards
It was hard, But it was whole
ow many American mothors would
ho equal to such a piece of Spartan discip
line?
quetry.
some. H
Co
How the Newa Is Collected.
For some years past the leading journals
in the different cities have combined in an
arrangement, under tho title of tho * 'As
hy means of which—
through the agency of tlie magnetic tele
graph—the news of the day is interchanged
throughout the United States and British
Provinces. Though all huvo tho full
benefit of this organization, still tho system
of special agents and correspondents is
maintained as heretofore; and during the
sessions of Cuugrcss and the various State
Legislatures, the special dispatches by tele
graph, costing thousands of dollars per
week, will often fill several columns.
They have also correspondents, regularly
employed and paid, at each of the leading
points for obtaining news, in Europe, Asia
Africa, and America. Either a letter
a news summary is fowarded by every
mail; in consequence, where steamers
rive from Europo, California, and Havana,
on the same day—as lias frequently hap
pened of late—intelligence from all parts of
tho world, from London to the interior of
Australia, appears in their columns the
following morning.
Tub Pyrenees Disapeabinq.—A Ma
drid paper laments ovor the fact which sci
entific researches have established, that
the range of the Pyrenees mountains dur
ing the space of twenty years has lost about
one hundred feet in altitude, and proceeds
to make a calculation whereby it appears
that after the lapse of one thousand years
the chain separating France and Spain will
bo no more, in which oase the Ebro will
empty into the Bay of Biscay instead of
the Mediterranean.
ot
first
try
sociated Dress,
in
ed
.
a r
the
all
and
American Tin. —For a few weeks
experiments have been conducted by *Dr.
T. R. doubling, of St. Louis, to decide
upon the proper flux for, and the best
manner of roasting and smelting tin
from the Missouri minet. As a final
result, on the 18th inst. was produced the
t pic of pure tin ever made in this coun
Thc yield of pure metal was eight
per cent of the quantity of oro.
t
^
it
one
the
the
same
if
on
The rumor that Secretary Seward has
bought Saturn's ring-, Jupiter's moon and
half a dozen asteroids, is contradicted.
What ÎH tho difference between a baby
and coat ? O
you tree
se-f
you Kcre, ami the other
w.
V
a
. !lgriailtural £L'p;irfmcnt.
To Prevent Weevil let Wheat.
The following article ts of great impor
tance to farmers,
them will give the experiment a trial. It
appeared first in the Southern Cuhiratw,
which is good authority on agricultural
That paper says, through one
of its c rrespondents :
Wc hope that some of
matters.
" Let wheat be salted, and weevil will
never infest it. I have followed this plan
trom 1834 till now, und have never lost
any wheat with weevil after suiting it.
8u certain is this plan to save wheat, that
l never sun mine at all. I let it stand in
the fields in dozens for twelve days, then
thresh, fan aud salt away. I use half a
pound of salt to a bushel of wheat. As it
is measured into garners I sprinkle the salt
and stir after each measure. If the house
be dry wheat is sure to keep well on this
plan.
Now, all farmers know that wheat di
minishes in bulk as it gets older (». e. tho
grain gets less)and that it will not yield as
much nor as good flour as when fresh (Bin
the held. This change is prevented by
salting. If you examine it eight or ten
days after salting, it will be found damp,
with dissolved salt on" the surface of the
grams : but some weeks afterward it will
be found dry, having kept cool all the
time. Ihe salt enters into the grain and
makes the flour saltish, but not enough
to interfere with- any of its culinary uses.
Let us sum up the advantages of this mode
ot saving wheat :
1. It preserves the wheat with
certainty than sunning.
2. The wheat docs not lose in volume
or weight by long keeping.
3. It makes more and much better flour.
4. It costs less labor.
4 1 ■ Ihe wheat is better for seed, because
it is preserved iu its perfect state. There
is not salt enough in it to prevent it from
germinating, but there is enough to stimu
late it to sprout vigorously.
"I suppose that after nil the of labor cost •
sunning, near one-fourth of the nil
wheat produced in the valley of the Missis
sippi is either lost hy weevil or badly dam
aged. This is no small item of less who
the average crop is considered. Were all
farmers to salt their wheat, this enormous
annual loss would he prevented ; and then
one would ever make bread of wheat
not quite spoiled enough to give to pigs,
and yet too had for any person to cat.
have scon wheat
weevil were in it.
In 1830, for want of honsc room, my
wheat was put in hand stacks as it was
hauled up to threshing. When about half
done hauling, it occurred to me that the
woevil might get into it before we shoald
get ready to thresh it ; I therefore salted
the remaining wheat as it was pjit in the
stacks, and it was fortunate it was doue
because-the weevil ruined all which was
not salted, while those stueks which were
suited remained uninjured. In 1852 there
were four separate parcels of wheat put in
my barn: three of them were salted, and
one was not. All three of the parcels
which were salted kept perfectly sound and
free of weevil hut thu one not saltod was
ruined by the weevil. I think Indian
ght be saved by salting.
It is best to unite the two
so
»ore
I
saved by salting after the
corn
principles hero
set forth in saving wheat ; that is, it should
bo kept dry and saltod too. Dec&nse if it
be put up too moist, so mueh salt would be
required to save it that it would make the
Hour too salt for any use, and the vitality
ot the grain would be destroyed, so that it
would be unfit for seed.
Tl»o Cure olio.
Fhe editor of the Germantown Telegraph,
says:-—"YVe know of no other - way to les
sen the number of the curenlio than hy
jurring the trees anil entehing the rascals
in sheets. Removing u limb and Itriking
the stump smartly with a mallet, is a good
way of doing the jarring. All the so-call
ed remedies are failures.
... . We have tried
everything likely to be effectual and found
them to be worthless, and decline to try
Others daily being discovered, which
the face of them absurd."
are ou
To Prevent Smut In XVl.ct
Take one pound of blue oil of vitriol_
dissolve it iu two or three quarts of boiling
hot water, in some earthen vessel. Then
put it in a pail and fill with cold water. .
Now take ten bushels of seed wheat, on
the barn floor, and sprinkle this solution
all over it, and shovel it thoroughly so
that every kernel it wet, and it) two or
throo hours it is ready to sow. Yon may
keep it longer just as well, if yon dry it
and keep it fron, heating. This receipt is
effiricn*^ hut if you have very smutty
wheat^u may raise a little smut the next
year, but none after that.
New Dixtnsc In Apple Tree«.
^ The Gardener'* Monthly speaks of a now
disease in apple trees, in the shape of what
it calls a new species of cryptogamie fungi,
one not kown to exist gn apple trees in
the United State's before.
prevent the spread of this disease,
the editor says it is only necessary to un
derstand that these parasitic fimgi rhn the
same course as other plants, and.therefore,
if tho knot is destroyed before it pomes to
maturity, it will tic prevented from propa
gating its Jf. The scat of t.Hiij is
on the c nds of tkoWjjdfôl,
To
veuld thrive, Aim
11 or tfrive.
IIo that 1-v the plow
se-f must citni