Southern sentinel. [volume], August 08, 1849, Image 1

About Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858

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SOUTHERN
Ofy
SENTINEL,
VOL II,
PLAQUEMINE, PABISH OF IBERV ILLE , AUGUST 8,1819.
KO. 68.
terms:
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year.
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tion ibère®**''- All advertisements not specified as to
nuin berof insertions, will be published until forbid, and
«barged accordingly. In both languages,charged double.
yrAnnouncements for office $10, to be paid invariably in
advance.
A Pile of Swpents.
In the Savannahs of Izacubo, in Guiana,
South America; I saw the most wonder
ful ind most terrible spectacle that can
*e seen; and though it be not uncommon
to the inhabitants, no traveller has, ever
mentioned it. We were ten men on horse
back, two of whom took the lead; in
order to sound the passage, whilst I pre
ferred the skirt of the great forests.-;
One of the blacks who formed the van
guard, returned full gallop, and called to
me; "Here sir, come and see serpents in
a pile." He pointed out to me some®
thing round in the middle of the savannah
or swamp, which appeared like a bundle
of arms. One of my* company then
said, "This is certainly one of the as
semblages of serpents, which heap them
selves on each other; after a violent tem
pest, I have heard of these, but have ne
ver seen any; let us proceed cautiously,
and not go too near." When we were
within twenty paces of it, the terror of
our horses prevented our nearer approach
to which, however, none of us were in
clined:
On a sndden, the pyramid mass became
agitated; horrible hissings issued from it
thousands of serpents rolled spirally on
each other, shot forth out of the circle
their hideows heads, presenting their en
venomed darts and fiery eyes to us. I own
I was the first to draw back; but when I
saw this formidable phalanx remained at
its post, and appeared to be more disposed
to defend itself than to attack us, I rode
round it in order to view its order of bat
tle, which faced the enemy at every side;
I then sought to find what could be the
design of this numerons assemblage; and
I concluded this species of serpent dreaded
some collossean enemy, which might be
the great serpent, or that cayman, and
they unite themselves, after having seen
this powerful enemy, in order to attack
or resists him in a mass.
A Sensible Paragraph.—The follow
ing paragraph, which we take from the
Christian Intelligencer, abounds in good
sense« and, while it expresses our senti
ments to a nicety, contains ''more truth
than poetry." We commend it to the
careful perusal of all classes; its source
should entitle it to respect:
Important Discovery. —We were dot
aware until recently that the books of
newspaper publishers are consulted to
quite a large extent by people in busi
ness, to ascertain the pecuniary standing
of- persons. Debts for newspapers come
due once a year; and persons who pay up
regularly for their papers, are regarded
as prompt men and worthy of confi
dence; To ascertain whether a man is
«good, they find out what paper he takes,
and contrive in some way to peep into the
account; Men wbc are good are sure to
pay for their newspapers; and if they do
not pay for these they think them not
good. We were forcibly struck with the
idea. A pretty shrewd observer of human
sature said in a newspaper office very
lately: " Give me a printer's book after
all, to tell whether a man's good; they are
a complete thermometer, sir, a credit ther
mometer—we always know a man to be
bad if he don't pay the printer,
{£/*There is a young fop in Roches
ter who is so aristocratic that he cut his
own acquaintance the othet day bv mis*
take.
Dr. Franklin.- Never had I known such
a fireside companion, as he was both as a
statesman and a philosopher; he never
shone in a light more winning than when
he was seen in the domestic circle. It
was once mj good fortune to pass two or
three weeks with him, at the house of a
gentleman in Pennsylvania; and we were
confined to the house during the whole of
that time by the unremitting constancy
and depth of the snows. But confine
ment could not be felt where Dr. Frank
lin was an inmate. His cheerfulness
and his colloquial powers spread around
him perpetual spring. Of Franklin no
one ever became tired. There was no
ambition of eloquence, no effort to shine
in anything which came from him. There
was nothing which made any demand
either upon your allegiance or your ads
miration.
His manner was just as unaffected as
infancy. It was nature's spell. He
talked like an old patriarch, and his
plainness and simplicity put you at once
at your ease, and gavé you the full and
free possession and use of all your facul
ties.
His thoughts were of a character to
shine by their own light, without an ad
ventitious aid. They required only the
medium of vision, like his pure and sim
ple style, to exhibit to the highest advan
tage their native radiance and beauty.—
Cheerfulness was unremitting. It seemed
to be as much the systematic and salutary
exercise of the mind as of its superior or
ganization. His wit was of the first
order. It did not show itself merely in
occasional corruscations, but, without
any effort or force on his part, it shed a
constant stream of the purset light over
the whole of Iiis discourse. Whether in
the company of commons or noblos, wa s
always the same plain man; always most
perfectly at ease, his faculties in full
play; and the full orbit of his genius for
ever clear and unclouded. And then the
stores of his mind were inexhaustible. He
had commenced life with an attention so
vigilant that nothing had escaped his ob
servation, and every incident was turned
to his advantage. His youth had not
been wasted in idleness, nor overcast
by intemperance. He had been all his
life a close and deep reader, as well as
thinker,- and by the force of his own
powers had wrought up the raw ma
terials, which he had gathered from
books, with such exquisite skill and feli
city that he had added a hundred fold to
their original value, and made them just
ly his own.— William Wirt;
{t?*A mania for destruction (says the
Washington Republic) seems to have ta
ken possession of the governments of con
tinental Europe,- and, strangely enough,
the most magnificent cities; so far* have
been the chief sufferers. Berlin and Vien
na have undergone a cannonade. Rome
has been riddled by shells, and, at the last
dates, Radetzsky threatened to bombard
Venice. A short time since, all Europe
pretended to be horror-stricken at the
bombardment of Vera Cruz, clearly an
act of necessity and right; bnt now the
persons who then spoke the loudest see
nothing wrong in the doings of "that re»
public, surrounded by imperial recollec
tions;" or the Kaisers and Kings of Ger
many, against their own subjects, or peo
ple who looked to them for protection ra
ther than hostility.
(t?*The Kentucky Forum says the
use of a base viol in the churches is a
base viol-ation of the Sabbath!
(t/^The British and Foreign
Society have decided to open the
ings witk
with prayer.
Bibl
not
I
Chased by a Locomotive.
The following is a Hoosier's descrip
tion of his first sight of a locomotive, and
his adventures consequent thereon:
"I came across thiough the country and
struck your raiload, and was plying at
about four knots an hour. Now I heard
tell about locomotives, but never dreamed
of seeing one alive and kicking; but jist
about two miles from here I heard some
thing coming behind coughing, sneezing,
and thundering; so I looked around.—
Sure enough, there she comes down after
me, pawing the airth up, aud splitting the
air wide open, with more sftnoke an' fire
flyin' than orto come out of a hundred
burnin' mountains. There was a bun«
dred wagons follerin' after her, an' to
save her black, tarnal, smoky, noisy neck,
she could n't get clear of them; I do n't
know whether they scares her up or no,
but here she come, foaming at the mouth;
with her teeth full of burning hot coals,
fend she pitched right staiglit at me; like
a thousand of bçick. I could n't stand
it any .longer, sol wheeled around, and
broke down the road, and began to make
gravel fly in every direction. No sooner
had I done that, than she split right arter
me; and every jump I made she squeeled
like a thousand wildcats. She began to
gain on me in comin' up a little hill, but
we came round a point to a strait level on
the road. Now, thinks 1, I '11 gin you
ginger, as I'm great on a dead level; so
I pulled to it, and got under full speed,
and come on full chisel, and made the
hull airth shake. But I kept on before,
bounding at the rate of twenty feet at
every step, till 1 got to a turn in the road;
and I was under such headway that I
could n't turn, so I turned head over heels
down a bank, by a house, landed cosmol
lick into a swill barrel, and my feet stuck
out behind, and up in air. Jist at the time
locomotive found that I had got away
from it, it commenced spitting hot water
into me,- and jist latterally spattered it all
over me. I thought Mount Vesuvius had
busted in some place in the neighborhood.
But do you suppose I staid there long?—
No, sir! 1 jist walked right through that
barrel, and came out so quick that it
realy looked ashamed of itself. Now
here I am, a real double revolving loco
motive Snolly Gloster, ready to attack
thything but a combination of thunder
and lightning, smoke, railroad iron, and
hot water."
Death From Fear .—The Covington
(Ky.) Journal relates the following in
stance of the effect produced npon the
nervous system by the action of fear.—
The facts (it says) are derived from un
doubted source, and the case is made
public in order more impressively to in
dicate the importance of maintaining
control over the mind, and discarding all
unnecessary fear and alarm:
"A lady in this city, who enjoyed or
dinary health previous to the appearance
of the prevailing epidemic, became alarm
ed on its advent, and suffered her mind
to dwell on the subject until she became
exceedingly sensitive and nervous; Every
case she heard of increased this morbid
condition of the mind and body. Final
ly, on being told of the death of an imme
diate neighbor, she clasped her hands in
agony and exclaimed, 'My time has come!''
She then went to bed, and a physician
was called in, but no effort could relieve
her of the conviction that she had the cho
lera, and that she was to die of it. Sub
sequently indeed, there were
1 ' »r^aie mo
tions of cholera intphMSf they were in
dical attendait" fear. Thus she died
du
ree
days after she took her h«"*-"|
fl^Why is a kiss like » *umor? Be
bous» it passes fron mouth.
s
The Pledge! The Pludge! —Father
Mathew's success in his Temperance
campaign reminds us of the fairy legends
which are so thickly interwoven with the
recollections of his native land—of the
strongholds and giant towers which hold
captive numberless fair maidens, with all
their horrid tales and frightful surmises of
imps and spells and enchantment, and
which, in some lucky day, fell before the
prowess of some single Chief or Saint
who delivered the thankful inmates from
their live« of slavery and magic.
He has attacked the stronghold of the
giant, Intemperance, in Brooklyn; and
almost at once, we might say, made free
over 9000 souls. To-day he has opened
his campaign in this city, and his numbers
have been greatly augmented. When
we were at the school house in Mulberry
street, at about 12 1-2 o'clock, there
were over 5000 enrolled, and he had com
menced giving the pledge but a short
time. Great numbers were still contin
uing to pour in.
In the course of the day the worthy
Father addressed the people who were
coming and going several times, and re
lated many anecdotes, religious and hu
morous, all tending to enlighten his hear
ers or bearing some point to the Temper
ance question.
Several persons came to shake bands
with the father, who had taken the pledge
in Ireland, some as far back as 14 or 15
years, and others recalled his memory
back to some of the great meetings held
in the "Ould Conntry," at which his face
lit up and his eye brightened as he spoke
of the thousands who were there. We
predict much good from what we wit
nessed.— N. Y. Tribune , 20 th.
The Secrets of Primeval Tiwe. —The
last number of the North British Review
says: Already has the disinterment of an
cient life carried us back to the circles of
the past—to study the catastrophies and
the creations by which the earth was pre
pared for the reception of man. The re
lics of those mysterious times have been
embalmed aud preserved, and the desola
tions of flood and of fire, and we, at pre
sent, know no more of the structures of
organic life, which preceded the creation
of man, than of the early period of our
own current cycle.
From the mounds of Babylon, as from
those of Nineveh, we shall yet recover
her monuments, and indite her annals
of idolatry and crime; and even the an
tediluvain age may yield to the scrutiny
of another century the scanty materials
of her history, and the prestiue monu
ment of her skill. The first city—the
city of Enoch, may yet be surveyed, in
stone or in dust, beneath some nameless
heap where the Armenian shepherd now
feeds his flocks; and the brass and iron
utensils of Tubal Cain may yet exhibit
to us the infant ingenuity of our race.
The planks of Gopher-wood which floa
ted Noah over the universe of waters,
may yet rise from the flanks or the base
of Ararat in lighite or in ôoal; and the
first altar—that which Noah "builded"
to his Maker and Preserver, may yet be
thrown up from its burying place by the
mighty earthquakes that shake the plain
of Araxes.
Over Seven Tons of Laws. —The Jawel
of the ' last session of the 1?ena»y ,<amn
Legislature (5900 copies)^*'' orer Hev "
en tons » dJ <* hilt- aws are not
/t . „^certainly not be for the
want weight.— Harrisburg Union.
Fighting J*- Fun. —A man once rushed
in*« « fight, and after beating the com
faatants indiscriminately, some one asked
him which side he was on: "I beg par
jree jigai. I
the
the
all
of
the
the
re
hu
15
an
of
re
of
our
in
A Man Who Never Saw a Woman.
A very entertaining book of travels,
by Robert Cruzon, entitled "Visits to
Monasteries in the Levant," contains the
following strange description of a man
who had never seen a woman:
"He was a magnificent looking man,
of thirty-five years of age, with large
eyes and black hair and beard. As we
sat together in the evening, in the ancient
room, by the light of the dim brazen
lamp, with deep shid«s thrown across his
face aud figure, 1 thought he would have
made an admirable study for Tilian or
Sebastian del Piombo. In the course of
conversation I found that he had learned
Italian from another monk, having ne
ver been out of the Peninsula of Mount
Athos. Iiis parents, and most of the
inhabitants of the village where he was
born—somewhere in Roumelia; but its
name cr position he did not know—and
had been massacred during some revolt
or disturbance. So he had been told,
but he remembered nothing aboutit. He
had been educated in this or one of the
other monasteries, and his whole life had
been passed on the Holy Mountain; and
this he said was the case with many oth
er monks. He did not remember his
mother; and did not seem quite sure that
he ever had one. He had never seen a
womac, nor had he any idea what sort
of things women were,or what they look
ed like. He asked me whether they
resembled the pictures of the Panagia,
the Holy Virgin, which hung in every
church. Now, those who are conversant
with the peculiar conventional represen
tations of the blessed Virgin in the pic
tures of the Greek Church, which are all
exactly alike—stiff, hard and dry, with
out any appearance of life or emotion—
will agree with me that they do not afford
a very favorable idea of the grace or
beauty of the fair sex, and that there was
a diflerance of appearance between black
woman, Circassians, and those of other
nations, which was, however, difficult to
describe to one who had never seen a la
dy of any race. He listened with great
interest while I told him that all women
were not exactly like the pictures he had
seen; Idid not think it charitable to carry
on the conversation farther, although the
poor monk seemed to have a strong in*
clination to know more of that interest*
ing race of beings from whose society he
had been so entirely debarred. I often
thought afterwards of the singular lot of
this manly and noble-looking monk, whe
ther he is still a recluse either in the
monastery or in his mountain farm, with
his little moss-grown chapel, as ancient
as the bays of Constantine; or whether
he has gone out into the world, and min
gled in its pleasures and its care«."
Q~?**A country schoolmaster thus de
scribes a money-lender: He serves you
in the present tense—he lends you in the
conditional mood—keeps you in the sub
jective—and ruins you in the future.
^Growth of New York. —The Courier
and Enquirer says that there are on an
average fourteen streets added to the city
proper every year; and if the increase
continues in 'h® same ratio, but a few
years will elapse before the whole island
w iU be thickly populated.
The Heighth of Impudence. —We wil
j lingly endorse the following from one of
our exchanges. It is the heighth of impu
, , .
dence now to tell a man to keep cool; it
can't be done.
Inviting.—The Eastport (Me.) Senti
nel says; "The burying ground has been
much improved this season—it is really
worth one's while to pay it a visit."
lar joke upon his creditors.
S