Abraham Lincoln Papers: Incoming and Contextual Documents Document mal0043800

THE LOUISIVILLE EXAMINER
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
Vol. I.-No. III. LOUISVILLE, Ky;, MARCH 1850. New Series.
Published monthly, at one dollar per annum in advance, by Paul Seymour.
John H. Heywood, Noble Bulter Editors.
NOTICE.
The Examiner is subject to Newspaper Postage only.
Any person sending us Five New Subscribers will be entitled to the EXAMINER for One Year.

AN OLD ANTI-SLAVERY PAPER IN TENNESSEE--THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS--THE EFFECT OF SLAVERY IN COMPELLING THE GOOD AND THE ENTERPRISING PEOPLE TO LEAVE THE SLAVE STATES.

We have been much pleased with reading several numbers of a paper called THE EMANCIPATOR, published in Tennessee in the year 1820. The paper was about the size of our own paper, and it was also published monthly. It was published in Jonesborough, and edited by Elihu Embree. It was a bold and uncompromising enemy of slavery and oppression of all sorts, taking the high, and true, and only Christian ground, that, if slavery is inconsistent with the Divine will, Christians cannot sinlessly sustain the system as it exists in the States of this confederacy.

In the second number of the Emancipator, the editor speaks of the reception the first number met with. He says his success was greater than he expected it would be, though he had met with opposition in quarters in which it was not looked for. This has been the experience of ourselves, and of all those who have undertaken the great work of removing wrong and oppression. Such men are sure to meet with smiles where they looked for frowns, and frowns where they had a right to expect smiles and encouragement.

There are always many men in every slave-holding community who profess to desire the extirpation of slavery. These men talk in whispers of the many wrongs that the system must of necessity gather around itself as adjuncts, and express their abhorrence in under-tones that seem to be very emphatic and decided. But when other men, on whom is laid the necessity of openly, and candidly, and publicly declaring unceasing warfare against the slave system, come out and frankly take ground against slavery, and thereby produce dissatisfaction among the supporters of the nefarious system, the men, whose opposition to slavery has only been expressed in whispers, are among the first to speak out their sincere regret that any thing should have occurred to interrupt the delightful harmony of the community, and to wonder that any one could be guilty of the imprudence of publicly protesting against a venerable system, to the great peril of peace and concord. These fair-weather friends of right and freedom are to be found in all communities in which the curse of slavery is not prohibited; and from them comes much of that discouragement which the friends of freedom are called on to struggle against.

We always know how to meet an open friend of negro bondage. Such a man is so positive and unqualified in his opposition to every effort to break bonds, that we can find enough points of antagonism to ourselves to make conflict with him interesting. But your poor uncertain man who feels the greatest regret that slavery exists, but who thinks all efforts to remove it must of necessity produce infinite harm and mischief--such a man cannot be met fully and fairly. He has no strong and salient opinions on which truth and logic can make war. To be sure, we can pity to "the top of our bent" such a wretched qualified man, a man who, living in the midst of the strong current of strife, holds himself aloof from its excitements, and seeks peace as the greatest of blessings.

All such men who live in slavery communities are of course unmitigated cowards.

Mr. Embree, the editor of the Emancipator, did not look for opposition to his enterprize from these lovers of peace and tranquility. He expected that all those men who professed to abhor slavery would commend a manly and public effort to bring the system, with all of its hollowness and shams, with all its wrongs and inhumanities, with all its crimes and infernal atrocities, to the tribunals of reason and common sense, in order to have a verdict pronounced against it. But he was mistaken. These men were the first to growl, to wonder at friend Embree's indiscrimination in publicly agitating a question which always excites discord. He did not make any allowance for shams, and he therefore expected the hearty good will of all the professed enemies of slavery. Never was enthusiast more mistaken. He lived to see his error, and to be convinced of what our experience has thoroughly convinced us, namely, that the most contemptible, though not the strongest, of all the supporters of slavery are those men who privately reprobate the system is oily tones, and who publicly abhor all the discord which the earnest opponents of the foul system necessarily engender.

We learn from the Emancipator that in 1820 there was an anti-slavery society in existence in the State of Tennessee. It was known by the name of THE MANUMISSION SOCIETY OF TENNESSEE, and had been in existence for several years. It was formed in Jefferson County in 1815, and several county societies auxiliary to the parent society were formed. The men who were engaged in this effort to produce manumission, were for the most part members of the religious Society of Friends, a Society whose members have for three fourths of a century regarded slave-holding as utterly inconsistent with the spirit and inculcations of the gospel, and as disqualifying a man for membership among themselves. The eight persons who originated the Tennessee Manumission Society were Charles Osborn, John Cownaday, John Swain, John Underhill, Jesse Willis, David Maulsby, Elihu Swain, and Thomas Morgan. We have published their names because the names of all such men are worthy of remembrance. We knew the first named as an earnest and respected and influential minister in the society of which he was a member. Whether he has gone from "works to rewards," or whether he in his old age still continues to oppose the wrong of slavery, we cannot say. A majority of the eight, however, whose names we have given, have ceased to be mortal.

In connection with the fact that the Tennessee Manumission Society originated with members of the Society of Friends, we will state one or two facts which may interest some of our readers. Fifty years ago, there were many congregations of Friends in the slave-holding States. In Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland they were numerous, while in Tennessee there were fewer. As soon as the free territories north of the Ohio were opened to immigration, the Friends, who had long felt a strong desire to place their families where the blighting effects of slavery would not visit them, began to consider whether by removal to these territories, they would not act wisely. The answer to this inquiry was seen in the fact that from all the slave-holding States, the Friends soon began to move toward Ohio and Indiana. They left their well cultivated farms, the graves of kindred and all the thousand clinging and clustering associations of childhood and youth behind, and pressed onward to the wilderness to encounter all the trials, perils, privations, and disadvantages of an unsettled region. Georgia was speedily drained of that portion of its population, and the work of emigration from the slavery States has gone on, until Tennessee has scarcely a meeting of Friends within her borders, and the very large settlements of the members in Virginia and North Carolina have been greatly reduced. In all these States, where thirty years ago the Friends met to perform worship to the Most High, there are now to be seen meeting houses in which the voice of prayer is never heard. They who formerly met there have either descended to the silent grave, or are now enjoying exemption from the loathed scenes which every slavery community exhibits in those sections of country where freedom has her altars, and where chains and slavery are unknown. Those of the Friends who still linger in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, often look to the land lying beyond the Ohio as the land of hope, not of exile, and often speak of removing thither to be united with those of their old neighbors who have already gone there. Ohio and Indiana owe much of their wealth and prosperity to the Friends who, driven from the presence of slavery in

other States, have established homes within
their fruitful borders.

The same influence has ceaselessly been
operating on the conscientious members of
other Christian associations in the slave-holding
States. Thousands and tens of
thousands of families have left their homes
in those States because of the curse of
slavery, and have sought other homes in
the great free States of the west, that are
now moving on with the speed and spirit
of young giants, leaving the palsied and
decrepid slave States far behind in the race
of renown and prosperity. The men who
leave the States in which slavery exists for
the free States, may for the most part be
classed under two heads, namely, the strictly
conscientious, and the poor and enterprizing.
The conscientious men go to the
free States in order that they and their
growing families may escape the deadly
contamination of slavery. They find in
every neighborhood in the slave States a
thousand melancholy facts, all going to
prove the blasting influence of the institution.
They see around them lands badly
cultivated, fences in a bad state of unrepair,
and houses of all kinds in a condition of
neglect, fast going to wreck and ruin.
Worse than all, they look into the families
of slave-holders and find that a majority of
the sons grow up in habits of unthriftiness,
and at an early period fall victims to vice
and crime, and go down to dishonorable
graves before they have seen the lights and
shades of thirty short years. No man who
is familiar with the effects of slavery will
contend that we exaggerate, when we
assert that slavery greatly facilitates, or
causes the ruin of one half of the young
men who are subjected to its unholy influences.

They, therefore, who wish that slavery
may not blast their own family hopes and
affections, have no other resource open to
them but to emigrate, and go to some
State in which slavery does not sit like an
evil genius over every threshhold. As we
said, thousands and tens of thousands of
families of Christian people have left the
slave States, and have gone to the free
States of the west on this account. And
one other fact in this connection deserves
especial notice, and that is, when a conscientious
family seeks relief from slavery
in a free State, the removal is final, as no
such family ever returns. Having got
beyond the reach of the blight of the slavery
institution, they feel no disposition to
jeopard their safety where the wing of
slavery shadows the soil, and darkens the
very atmosphere of human hope.

The other class which slavery expels, is,
as we have said, composed of poor and
enterprizing young men. Go where you
may in the States of Ohio, Indiana, and
Illinois, and you find that many of the
people have emigrated from the slave
States. At least one half of the thrifty and
spirited young mechanics and working
farmers of Kentucky, leave their native
State and establish homes in the free
States.

Thus are the slave-holding States stripped
of the better portions of their population,
for undoubtedly the conscientious and the
enterprizing classes constitute the most
valuable elements in the population of a
community. Any system which expels
such people from a community, must be
regarded as utterly incompatible with the
noblest prosperity to which a commonwealth
can aspire. If there were no other
objection to slavery than that it expels
from the State a large portion of its best
population, that would be a sufficient reason
why slavery itself should not be permitted
to exist. It is clear that all the advantages
which are said to co-exist with negro
slavery, are dearly purchased at such an
expense. Infinitely better is it for a State
to expel slavery from its borders, than to
permit the institution to expel a large proportion
of those classes on which its moral,
social, and financial prosperity depends.

To return, however, to THE EMANCIPATOR.
The editor and his correspondents
were by no means meely-mouthed in their
utterances. They spoke with great plainness
and vigor of speech. They did not
ransack dictionaries, and hunt out all the
mild words to use in their discussions of
slavery. They put proper words in proper
places, and thus wrote effectively. In this
respect they set a good example to those
who have a testimony to bear against
slavery in the slave States. It is not well to
use offensive language, but it is absurd to
make a wholesome rebuke vapid by resorting
to oily words. If a man has any thing
to say, let him express himself forcibly and
to the point. We never felt that there was
any disadvantage in plainness of speech.
On the contrary, we have reason to believe
that the most thorough and uncompromising
advocates of slavery that we know,
respect us for the thoroughness which at
all times characterizes our controversies
with them.

In 1820 then, it was not considered a

grievous offence for the opponents of slavery to have societies, and to publish as paper in Tennessee. We fear that public opinion in that State is less wholesome than it was at that time, and that the editor of a periodical such as the Emancipator was, would meet with more buffetings than caresses at the present time.

Indeed, we think that the slave States have deteriorated in respect to one of the most sacred of all rights, the right of free speech, within the last ten or twenty years. Formerly it was assumed that however absurd a man's opinions might be, no one could justly interfere with the expression of them. Now, however, in some of the slave-holding States, a bold and effective opposition to slavery would place a man's life in peril. The advocates of slavery say what they please, while they who are opposed to slavery are cowed into silence.

This is the worst and most intolerable of despotisms. If a man cannot give utterance to his thoughts, he is under a yoke as grievous as any that human tyranny can fashion. In South Carolina, a conscientious opponent of slavery would not be safe, and yet the public men of that State have the hardihood to talk of their devotion to liberty! We are glad that but few men in Kentucky would shackle the tongue or the press. Here such a despotism as prevails in South Carolina would not be borne. Wherever the right to speak out frankly the honest sentiments of the heart is denied and obstructed, there can be no true freedom. We deeply deplore the despotic spirit which in certain sections has declared, that if a man shall denounce the abominable system of negro slavery, he shall thereby place his body in peril. This despotism is of but recent origin, and we sincerely hope that it may soon pass away, and thus relieve this republic of a despotism as galling as any that is tolerated even in Persia.

WORKING MAN'S HALL IN LONDON.--A benevolent testator names Jenkins has left the munificent sum of $50,000 for the erection of a Working Man's Hall, to be built in some convenient part of the metropolis. The building is to be for the free use of working men of all denominations, under the control of twelve directors. Mr. Saul, the geologist, has expressed his intention, on the completion of the building, to present to it his magnificent museum; and a gentleman, whose name is not announced, has given a library of 1000 volumes.

SENATOR CLEMENS AND THE FACTORY OPERATIVES

The young senator from Alabama, Hon. Jeremiah Clemens, in whom the Hon. Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, has found a dangerous competitor in the race for notoriety, recently took occasion to speak of the men and women employed in the New England factories as being in a state of deeper degradation than the slaves of the South. Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, in a very manly speech, repelled the charges of Mr. Clemens, defended with spirit and success the character of the operatives so rudely assailed, and presented a very graphic picture of their social condition.

The speeches of Messrs. Clemens and Hale were read with great interest in the manufacturing towns of New England. In the town of Dover, N.H., Mr. Hale's place of residence, a meeting of persons connected with the factories was held, and a series of pithy and pointed resolutions passed, which were immediately forwarded to Washington.

Senator Clemens seems to have been somewhat disturbed by the resolutions, and addressed a letter to one of the operatives in Dover, in which he proposed several questions, the answers to which he confidently expected would justify the harsh assertions of his speech. His letter was promptly answered, and in a manner not perfectly satisfactory, we imagine, to the impetuous senator. We understand that the correspondence has awakened a great interest in Washington, and that many members of Congress from the South have expressed much surprise at the disclosure made of the social condition of the operatives and of their moral and intellectual culture.

We subjoin the correspondence, for we believe that it will be read with deep interest by all into whose hands the Examiner may fall. First we have Mr. Clemens's letter:--

MR. Z. D. WALLINGFOR.--I have received the resolutions purporting to have been adopted by the "mechanics and manufacturers" of Dover, N. H.

In declaring that a system of white slavery existed at the North far more odious than the black slavery at the South, I did not mean to express the opinion that mechanics and manufacturers were slaves; on the contrary, I meant that they were masters. I alluded to the operatives--to the day laborers, as a class who are subjected to a horrid tyranny, compared with which the condition of the Southern slave is happy indeed. I made the statement from New England authority. I repeat, now, what I said in my place in the Senate; and I shall continue to do so until it is refuted by something more reliable than senseless resolutions, adopted by the very men most interested in suppressing the truth.

THE LOUISEVILLE EXAMINER. 53

If you will answer the following interrogatories, it
will be something more to the purpose than unmeaning
eulogies upon the "moral and intellectual culture"
of your laborers :---
1. What is the daily pay of a laborer, of each
class, in a New England factory ? and at what age
are children taken from their parents and put to work ?
2. Is it not true that one manufacturer will not
employ a laborer dismissed by another ?
3. How many hours each day do they actually
work ?
4. Does the manufacturer take care of them when
sick, or pay for medical attendance ?
5. How many annually pass from the factory to
the poor house ?
6. Do you allow any one to visit a factory girl
without a written permission from a male overseer ?
7. Who takes care of the operative when old age
or infirmity comes upon him ?
In addition to the foregoing answer--- What is the
kind and the quantity of the food they consume?---
and I shall need nothing more to prove my assertion.
I alluded to the Northern laborers in a spirit of
commiseration, and I meant nothing harsh or unkind
to them. There is nothing which I would not gladly
attempt to alleviate their condition. I spoke of their
task-masters with scorn, and alluded to the hypocrisy
which makes their whole existence a lie, as I thought
it deserved.
Mr. Hale, whom you endorse, expressed the
opinion that no man would like to tell the factory
operatives in a New England village that they were
slaves. Possibly not. Certainly I should not for
any offensive purpose ; but if, by so doing, I could
rouse them to a sense of the injustice and fraud which
are practiced upon them--- if I could devise a mode
of redressing their grievances---it would require something
more terrible than either his or your anger to
stop my speech. Wherever the sons or the daughters
of toil are to be found, my sympathies are with
them ; and I detest the cold, calculating, selfish
tyrant who feeds upon them, no matter whether he
abides in a palace or a factory.
JERE. CLEMENS.
Washington, Jan. 26, 1850.
Mr. Wallingford answers thus:-
Hon. Jeremiah Clemens, U.S. Senate:-
From the tone of your letter, addressed to me through
the New York Herald, of Jan. 31st, I think you have
a very erroneous view of the character of the meeting
which adopted, and instructed me to forward to
you, the resolutions to which you refer. That
meeting was called by working-men, "day-laborers,"
those who wield the sledge and direct the shuttle,
without counsel, or order, except that their own injured
feelings. It was composed of the operatives, both
male and female, who perform the different processes
in the formation of the cotton fabric, from the coarsest
muslin to the delicate and beautiful prints, that adorn
not only themselves, but which they furnish to your
wives and daughters of the South.
Who are these female operatives whom you
degrade by comparing with Southern slaves? They
are the daughters of our New England farmers,
mechanics, merchants, lawyers, doctors, and minis-
ters, who are too independent and conscientious to sit
down in indolence, heedless of the wants of those
around them ; and they often make it the means of
acquiring those advantages of education, and those
various accomplishments which fit them to occupy,
and they sometimes actually do, the highest stations
in society. I, myself, am a "day laborer." For
the last twenty years, with my own hands, I have
earned the comforts I have enjoyed, and thank God,
that, through the freedom which pervades every nook
and corner of our free States, they have been neither
few nor small.
You propose to me a number of interrogatories. In
the absence of statistics bearing on the different
questions, I am unable to give an answer in detail,
but simply refer to them in general terms.
1. "What is the daily pay of a laborer, of each
class, in a New England factory?" It is, I believe,
in all cases, found to be sufficient to procure all the
necessaries, and very many of the luxuries of life ;
and in thousands of instances, after contributing to
the support of aged parents in their declining years,
they are able to become stock-holders in the banks,
railroads, and manufacturing corporations. Should
you wish for any farther statistics on the subject, I
can only refer you to our Registry offices, to see the
farms redeemed, and the homes made comfortable by
the persevering and energetic labors of faithful
daughters.
2. "And at what age are children taken from
their parents to put to work?" This has too much
of a Southern odor to merit the consideration of a
freeman. Taken from their parents ! New England
manufacturers do not send out men armed with
rifles and blood-hounds, to hunt up and "take children
from their parents," but when applied to for
work, they employ and pay them.
3. "Is it not true, that one manufacturer will not
employ a laborer dismissed by another ?" No,
it is not.
4. "How many hours each day do they actually
work ?" From ten to twelve.
5. "Does the manufacturer take care of them
when sick, or pay for medical attendance?" You
almost convince us, sir, that you are sincere, in
calling us slaves. Do you suppose that our well paid
laborers are incapable of providing for themselves in
sickness, and not only of paying for, but selecting
their own medical attendance. You must be world
wide ignorant not to know that Yankees are proverbial
for taking care of themselves. Be assured, the
phrase, "can't take care of themselves," is bounded
by Mason and Dixon's line.
6. "How many annually pass from the factory to
the poor house ?"
This question is too much a tax on my memory,
never having heard of an instance of one of our
operatives being carried from the factory to the poor
house. Our factories and poor houses have occupied
positions so remote, in my mind, as not to be thought
of in connexion with each other. It would be strange
if no person who had worked in a factory had not
become an inmate of a poor house. But it is so rare
an occurrence that no statistics are to be found.
And what do you imagine our poor houses to be ?
Let me tell you that here in Dover, and our neighboring
town of Somersworth, they are among the
handsomest and most commodious of our houses,
and every thing is done to make those who, from
error or misfortune, have found this retreat inevitable,
comfortable and happy.
7. "Do you allow any person to visit a factory
girl without a written permission from a male overseer ?"
It is the custom in this place, and so far as my
knowledge extends, in other places, for persons,
especially strangers, to apply at the counting room
for a pass, which is very readily given. They then
proceed to the mill, where they find a watchman
whose business it is to wait on persons visiting their
friends. There are probably hundreds here every
5"
440

week, and I have no recollection of ever hearing a word of complaint. When out of the factories they are as free as the air of their native hills, and the overseer would prove himself too "green" ever to ripen in our Northern latitude, who should attempt to direct or control the acts of a Yankee girl, except in regard to her specific employment.
8. "Who takes care of the operative when old age or infirmity comes upon him."
It is one of the richest blessings of freedom that by a life of industry and economy, we are able to take care of ourselves.
9. "What is the kind and quantity of food they consume?"
Should your good angel drop you into one of our factory boarding-houses, you might perhaps mistake it for a Southern Hotel, were it not for the absence of "hog and hominy." So thoroughly are you imbued with the spirit and genius of slavery, (I do not say it to injure your feelings,) and so long has your mind been bounded by a peck of corn and two pounds of meat per week as fare for the laborer, that I see no possible hope of enlightening you, unless you can be prevailed on to make a sojourn with us. I will promise for myself and my brother operatives, that you shall be so hospitably entertained, free from charge, that you shall have no cause to regret your visit, unless it should be followed by an attack of the gout; and even then the knowledge gained would be cheaply bought, for you could not fail to become a wiser and a better man.
But really, sir, in answer to these questions, I am disposed, without disrespect, to refer you to the direction of the wisest of men: "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit."
I have now given you my personal experience and observation of factory life. And if it would be of any service I might reverse the picture, since a portion of my life has been spent in a slave-holding State, where I had an opportunity to become acquainted with the operation of your "peculiar institution."
Such questions as you have proposed appear to be an insult to every Northern man, let his occupation be what it may. And the man that has become so far biased by the spirit and institution of slavery as to make such inquiries, and advance such sentiments as you did in the Senate, is believed by all persons here to unfairly represent the free population of any part of this county.
The "spirit of commiseration" which you express for the operatives of the North, I for one do not ask to be a recipient of, but beg of you to bestow it on the millions of victims of the most damnable system that has ever made war on the rights of man.
P.S.--The above has been written without the knowledge of any one beyond the precincts of my own family.
Z.S. Wallingford.
Dover, Feb. 6, 1850.

And here we have another letter, which illustrates, in a very striking manner, the terrible degradation of the factory operatives for whom Mr. Clemens feels so much commiseration:--

To the Hon. Jef. Clemens:--Dear Sir--I read, yesterday, with considerable interest, in the Boston Atlas, your letter to Z.S. Wallingford, upon the subject of the factory operatives of the North. What the resolutions of the Dover "Mechanics and Manufacturers" which called it forth were, I have not had an opportunity of knowing, but can readily imagine what may have been their tenor under the circumstances.
Now I have passed about three-fifths of my life in and about the factories of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and having occupied all sorts of stations connected with these establishments, from that of bobbin boy to that of agent and superintendent, I feel competent to afford some information, even to a member of Congress, upon the subject of factory life and factory operatives. You may reply, that being a "master," I am interested in suppressing the truth. Perhaps I can present the facilities for suppressing the truth in Massachusetts upon such a subject, and the consequent probability of my attempting to do it, in a clear light, in no better way than to give briefly a few historical facts in relation to factory operatives among my acquaintance--and it may also serve to answer one of your questions to a certain extent, as to "who takes care of the operative when old age and infirmity comes upon him." The sort of distinction which you seem to imagine exists between operatives and "mechanics and manufacturers," will also be very well illustrated by this course.
About twenty-two years ago, a boy of thirteen left a very poor home in a town half of dozen miles from Lowell, with a prospect of finding employment in the latter place, in a West Indies goods cellar. He had been brought up by a grandmother who supported herself and him chiefly by hand spinning and weaving. The education he possessed had been acquired by three months' schooling per year, since his arrival at a suitable age to attend school, and consisted of a rather superficial knowledge of "the three R's." He went to Lowell; but after being employed a few weeks in the store before mentioned, he was found, I suppose, to be too green for that vocation, and was dismissed with a dollar (his first one) as a reward for his services. During these few weeks, however, he had become acquainted with some of the boys employed in the mills, and by their assistance got a place as bobbin boy, at 42 cents per day, in one of the Merrimac Co.'s mills. In the course of the next two years he became successively a "cotton bug," or lap boy in a carding room, then card stripper, and then spare hand, or hand of all work- in the same room. After that he spent two years in a printing office as an apprentice; then he went off on a whaling voyage, but after a six months' trial of this business, concluded he "could do better," and came home to Lowell and entered the Merrimac Co.'s repair shop as an apprentice. He spent the following years in the shop and in the mills, as an apprentice, until 1838, when he was appointed overseer of a weaving room. He filled that place in several of the Lowell mills until 1847, having in the mean time married an operative, and been elected as a representative to the State Legislature--when he left to take charge of a factory repair shop near Manchester N.H. He soon left that place to become superintendent of the Waltham mills, and lastly, was about two years ago appointed agent and superintendent for another manufacturing corporation.
The above is my own history, but I give it in no spirit of boasting. It is the history of scores--of a score almost of my own acquaintances and associates--so far as it relates to factory life. Allow me to enumerate some to whom this statement will apply, more than half of whom being men with whom I have myself wrought at the shop bench, or carried yarn and "fixt" machinery in the mill. They are agents or superintendents, or both, for the following

THE LOUSIVILLE EXAMINER. 55

manufacturing companies, among the largest in New
England :
Amoskeag New Mills, Stark Mills, Manchester
Mills and Print Works, Amoskeag Co.’s Machine
Shop, Nashua Co., Jackson Co., Dwight Co., Per-
kins Co , Globe Mill, Salmon Falls Co., Kennebeck
Manufacturing Co., the late agent of the Lancaster
Mills Co., Clinton Co., Lancaster Quilt Co., Merri-
mac Manufacturing Co., Massachusetts and Prescott
Mills, Boott Mills, and Boston Manufacturing Co.
These men are receiving salaries of from $1200
to $3000 per year. Almost without an exception
they have married factory operatives also. They are
among the most successful to be sure, but they con-
stitute but an insignificant fraction of the number of
factory operatives who are more likely to be inde-
pendent of charity when “old age and infirmity
comes upon them,” than any other class of persons
in the community, (and this independence, I take it,
is preferable to the ministrations of the kindest of
southern masters.)
A few years ago, when I was an overseer in Low-
ell, I was one of a class of four who were in the
habit of meeting at each other’s boarding places for
recitations in geometry. One of the other three was
a laborer in a cloth room, at one dollar per day, the
two others were operatives in spinning rooms, at a
dollar and quarter per day. Two of the class are
now agents for respectable manufacturing companies,
a third is an overseer in a spinning room, and the
cloth room laborer is a Professor of Mathematics and
Natural Philosophy in a Kentucky College, with a
factory operative for his wife.
Now, the factories of New England contain hun-
dreds of just such men at the present time - some of
them performing the lowest, with some of the highest
grades of labor. This article will be read by great
numbers of them - in my own village, even - and is
it likely that I shall dare to misrepresent the facts
concerning their condition ? As an instance of what
is going on daily, almost, I may mention that one of
the overseers employed by me, (and who had for
many years been an operative,) some eight or ten
months since, joined a company of three others - one
a carpenter, another a spinner, and a third a shop-
keeper - formed a partnership, hired a mill, and are
now manufacturing for themselves, and quite success-
fully. This overseer’s successor, now in my employ-
ment - having previously been an operative, (a hand
weaver at one time) - is to leave me next week to
go to Patterson, New Jersey, as a superintendent of
a mill. The person who is to succeed him, was, a
few years since, a bobbin boy in a Lowell mill, and
will, I doubt not, in a few years, “follow in the
footsteps of his predecessors.”
I have spoken of overseers as distinct from opera-
tives, in accordance with a common mode of express-
ion ; but, in truth, every overseer who is fit for his
business, is an operative also---if by operative is
meant one who has manual labor to perform himself,
in contradistinction to one who directs the labor of
others. The business of an overseer is not merely to
hire, discharge, and govern help, but to repair and
adjust machinery, and assist and instruct those who
attend upon it. The overseer labors hours every
day at precisely the same work which his girls do,
only that his part of it is that which, by disarrange-
ment of machinery, or carelessness or unskilfulness
of the operative, has become too difficult for the ordi-
nary attendant upon the machine to do. He is, in
fully half the cases, the hardest working operative in
the mill.
The girls employed under the direction of an over-
seer, were, it may be, his playmates at school---they
[** column continues top right] are now his associates and friends. They visit at
his house, board with him, meet him at social par-
ties. From among them he takes his wife---among
them are his sisters and other connexions. "Horrid
tyranny !" indeed ! My dear sir, the factory girls
of Lowell will laugh at you. We may possibly get
a fool into the situation of overseer, but it is rarely
done--the previous training and trials prevent that---
as an overseer is selected from among the operatives
and artisans about a mill, as you would select a suit-
able object for promotion from among a ship's crew
or company of soldiers. Merit, real or supposed,
determines the choice. And none but a fool would
be guilty of tyranny under the circumstances which
exist, for his authority as well as tyranny would of
necessity be short lived. An overseer's success de-
pends more than on any other one thing upon his
popularity with operatives. The supply of help is
generally short ; great competition exists between
different rooms or mills, and such is the state of
things at Lowell, that notwithstanding the restrictions
which you imagine to exist with regard to girls chang-
ing from one employer to another, I have known
more than one full set of operatives to leave a room
in the course of three months, for no other cause
than dissatisfaction with the "going of the work,"
that is, because from poor staple or imperfect prepa-
ration the yarn happened to become more tender than
usual. And the books of the Merrimac Co. will
prove all I say. Now, this being true, you can read-
ily see how poorly a cross or unaccommodating over-
seer would fare. His helps leave him, his machines
stop, he falls behind his competitors in quantity and
quality of work, and eventually he is dismissed.
In another letter I will reply definitely to your
questions. I conclude this, with asking you most
respectfully, in what the factory operatives of the
North, as portrayed in the above, will compare unfa-
vorably with Southern slaves or "their masters?"
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
C. W. BLANCHARD.

If farther proof be needed of the degra-
dation and extreme destitution of the un-
happy inmates of those prisons, miscalled
factories, we have it, abundant and conclu-
sive, in the following paragraph from the
Boston Atlas:–---

"In the city of Lowell, for instance, a city not
thirty years old yet, there are two Savings' Institu-
tions, which [italics] have five thousand two hundred and
sixty-five depositors. The amount of money de-
posited, according to the returns just published by
the Secretary of State, is [italics] Eight Hundred and Sixty
Eight Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty Two
Dollars and Forty One Cents. Yes, $868,262.41.
Aside from this, there is not a mill in Lowell in
which the operatives at work therein do not own a
part of the stock. In the Merrimack Mills alone,
there are upwards of seventy thousand dollars of the
stock owned by operatives. They own largely in the
Lowell Railroad and in other Railroads, also Bank
and other stocks. We can assure Senator Clemens
that the operatives of New England could pay off
the State debt of Alabama, which amounts to several
millions, and then have enough left to take care of
themselves when "old age and infirmity come upon
them."
Poor unfortunate operatives, compelled
not only to work in factories, but also to
become owners of a large part of the stock

441

56 THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER.

in them and sharers of their profits ! Such tyranny is intolerable. The annals of American slavery may be searched, most carefully scrutinized, and its parallel will not be found. The rice fields and cotton plantations of the South know not such oppression. Far from it. In the South, that paradise of labor, men are not only saved from the trouble and wrong of owning money, and stock, and houses, and lands, but they are also exempt from the terrible responsibility of owning themselves.
The friends of humanity certainly owe a vast debt of gratitude to Mr. Clemens, and it is most earnestly to be hoped that he will continue the correspondence, and not rest from his arduous labors until he has made even to the most prejudiced minds the cruelty and degradation of free labor as obvious as the justice and desirableness of slave labor.
____________________________________________
EGYPTIAN PRO-SLAVERY ARGUMENTS.
[To the Louisville Examiner.]

DEAR SIR:---While discussions were in
progress last summer about emancipation,
several gentlemen being together, one of
them remarked that most of the arguments
which he had heard against emancipation
and colonization, could have been made,
and probably were made by the Egyptians
against letting Israel go out free, and
removing to Canaan. Not much was said
at the time ; but after their separation, two
of those who were present, and without
knowing each other's purpose, drew up a
brief comparison of the reasons which may
be supposed from the facts of the case, to
have been urged by the Egyptians, with
those dwelt on now. Both were published,
and present a striking agreement in the
case, as it struck two persons examining it
without concert. I herewith transmit the
main parts of both ; and should you deem
them worth a place in your paper, they are
at your service. Possibly they may interest,
possibly benefit some. Scriptures instruct
and warn much by example. It does seem
to me that God's judgments on Egypt for
enslaving Israel, and refusing to let them
go, reads a lesson of fearful import as to
how he views a forcibly holding people in
bondage, compelling them to serve without
wages, and refusing to let them go out
free. I have placed the articles in the
order in which they were published in the
Shelby News.
A SUBSCRIBER.
[** column continues top right]
There is hardly a plea made now in justification of slavery or an objection to emancipation, which the Egyptians could not have made. They could have said :
1. That slavery was common in the world ; that the forefathers of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had servants. How then could it be wrong ?
2. That if it were wrong, that generation did not begin it. That Israel had been long in slavery, and were now used to it, and fit for no other condition.
3. That, when free, they were too improvident to take care of themselves ; that Abraham had to come to Egypt, and again to go to the Philistines with his family, to avoid starving.---Gen. xii. That Isaac had to do the same.---Gen. xxvi. And that the whole family were so near perishing under Jacob, that the Egyptians had to furnish them food, and even send wagons to move them to Egypt, to save them from perishing.---Gen xlv.
4. That now they were well treated ; had plenty of good food ; and sat by the flesh pots to the full.---Ex. xvi. 3. Num. xi. 5.
5. That it ought to be remembered that it was foretold long before, that Israel would be held in slavery, and the Egyptians were now only fulfilling the prophecy.---Gen. xv. 13, 14.
6. That Israel now constituted the great body of laborers in Egypt, and it must greatly injure, if not ruin Egypt, to free them all at once ; and, as Egypt was the grainery of the surrounding countries, especially in times of famine.---Gen. xli. 56, 57,---it might almost ruin the world, to be thus deprived of all her laborers.
7. That the Egyptians now for generations had been accustomed to have the Hebrews to work for them, and wait on them ; and could not do without them. Could it be expected, that they who had never been accustomed to it, should be willing to do their own work, and wait on themselves---black their own shoes and cook their own food !---must they become slaves ? Was ever any thing more unreasonable !
8. And further : as property, the Israelites were of great value. There were about three millions of them ; and at an estimate of $300 each, the amount would be nine hundred millions. Was this all to be given up ? What on earth might not next be demanded ! And, add to this the claims put in for gold and silver, and raiment in great quantities, as payment for

THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER. 57

past labor ; and such a demand had no parallel !
9. That it was unreasonable to complain, that they were kept in subjection to the Egyptians. That the national prejudices were such they could not eat together. The one was an abomination to the other ; and the only way to have peace and quiet, was to make the one wholly subject to the other. It was right in the Egyptians to keep the upper place for themselves.---Gen. xliii. 32.
10. That while Israel were held in subjection, and made to labor, regard was had to their comfort and welfare ; they were allowed to practice their own religion ; their family relations, the most important of all as regards happiness, were not disregarded ; families lived together ; the marriage and paternal relations were so protected, that now after several hundred years slaves, they could count up and show the genealogy of every family.
11. And what would they do if made free ? They could not expect that the Egyptians would allow them to remain among them, and enjoy equal privileges. The national prejudice made this impossible. They could not expect to have a part of Egypt ; that belonged to the Egyptians ; and must be reserved for their children. 12. As to their emigrating to Canaan, and expelling the Canaanites ; what could be more visionary ? How could three millions of people, men, women, and children, cross the wilderness ? How get food and water ? How meet the expense ? And as to driving out the Canaanites ! how could they ?---just out of slavery, wholly unacquainted with war, without arms and means, drive out seven nations greater and mightier than they---accustomed to warfare, and with many strongholds and towns walled up to heaven ! What could show greater folly than the attempt ? And again, was it not wrong ?---the Canaanites were the original inhabitants of that land : had lived in it nearly 800 years : could a right be more perfect ? And was it right in the Egyptians, knowing the plan of Moses, to allow them to go out, and thus trouble a neighboring nation, and almost certainly ruin themselves ? Was it not better every way, to be content and remain as they were ?
The above is not a full view of the case ; and yet I much doubt whether any one can present as good a plea for slavery as practised among us ; or reasons as valid against

[** column continues top right]

the plan of emancipation, and colonization,which we propose. How much better, had Egypt at once let Israel go free ? Ten fearful plagues would have been avoided ; their country saved from desolation ; their first born from death ; their army from a watery grave ; and after all, they had to let Israel go free ! God and right was for Israel. Near four hundred years afterwards, the Philistines, a pagan nation close by, condemned the folly of Pharaoh and his people.---1 Samuel vi. 6. Christians owe it to God's Word, to their country, and to their own and children's safety and welfare to ponder such examples,---lest they be numbered with those who will not be made wise.
But the point is this : had these reasons been good, would they not have availed to save Egypt from these heavy judgments ? And if they did not avail to save Egypt, how can similar reasons save us now ?
------
The plan of the emancipation party in Kentucky to relieve the State of slavery, is not a new and untried experiment. In the oldest and most authentic history extant, we have a detailed account of the liberation, and colonization of over 600,000 slaves from Egyptian bondage. It has been suggested that the arguments employed by perpetualists in the present controversy, might have been, and perhaps were, urged with equal vehemence and weight, by Egyptian slave-holders against those who plead the cause of the oppressed Israelites. Let us ascertain what truth there is in this suggestion.
1. The Egyptian could have replied to the demands of the ancient emancipation party, as a modern republican pro-slavery stump-orator now does, that the principle of slavery is not wrong. Inasmuch as the God of Heaven has not made all men free and equal, he allows one part of the human family to enslave the rest. Finding these Israelites to be our inferiors, in various respects, we have taken liberty to convert them into property. Now, until you can demonstrate that I am outraging justice, and violating the law of God, I am resolved to hold on to my slaves.
2. Egyptian slave-holders might have argued, even admitting that slavery is a moral and political evil, we are not responsible for its existence. Right or wrong, this was the act of our forefathers. Now, as we find the relation of master and slave has existed amongst us for centuries, as society is constructed upon this basis; and

442

58 THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER.


as great revolutions in social relations are inconvenient, and dangerous, we deem it expedient to make no alteration in our domestic institutions. "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the" enslavement of these people; but, inasmuch as the deed has been perpetrated, we will "garnish their sepulchres" and "fill up the measures of our fathers."
3. The Egyptians could have used the most potent of all arguments to their own minds : These people are our own property, and you have no right to interfere with vested rights. Inasmuch as these people are worth an immense sum of MONEY, we will not give them up. You emancipators are for taking away other people's property. It is our opinion that non-slaveholders should have no voice nor vote in this matter ; but shall wait until the interested slave-holders should voluntarily relinquish their prey.
4. The Egyptians could have maintained, as modern advocates of slavery do, that God had, by a special law, ordained that these people should be slaves. Let us alone, then, that we may accomplish the edict of heaven.---Gen. xv. 13. For aught I know, these sagacious orators might have referred to the shape of the skull, to the color of the skin, to the texture of the hair, and to the formation of the foot, to prove that the great Creator designed the Israelites to be compelled, by cruel task-masters, to "make brick without straw," to gratify Egyptian pride and indolence.
5. The Egyptians could refer to the prosperity of their country as evidence that slavery did not degenerate and impoverish a nation : What nation on the earth can compete with us is in wealth, in power, and learning. Where can you find such renowned temples, such strong treasure-cities, such stupendous pyramids, such educated men, and such improvement in art !
6. The Egyptians could even appeal to the selfishness of land-holders : If we emancipate these people, who will cultivate our land ? Being unaccustomed to work ourselves, our land must lie idle, and will greatly depreciate in value, and we be reduced to starvation. Should your emancipation principles succeed, you will impoverish the country. We must retain our laborers.
7. The Egyptians could maintain, with some show of reason, that the Israelites were prepared for freedom. For several

[** column continues top right]

centuries we have imposed upon them the most vigorous servitude. After having been driven, for so many generations, under the lash of cruel task-masters, their spirit is broken ; never having held property, they do not appreciate its value, and would squander all they make ; intoxicated with freedom, they would refuse to labor ; not having had command of their time, they are uneducated and deplorably ignorant. Are such persons as these prepared for freedom ? If you take them from us, they will revert to barbarism. As persons should never go into water until they have learned to swim, so slaves should not be set free until they are prepared for freedom. Humanity towards these slaves, therefore, prompt us to hold them and their posterity in bondage.
8. The Egyptians, overflowing with philanthropy for the distressed, could find, also, strong objections against colonization. These people, if emancipated, cannot re-main with us. The antipathy between the two races is too great for them to live in harmony. You propose to take them back to Canaan, their own land. Have you pondered the difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. You will have to march through the borders of the war-like Philistines. Can you conquer these people ? If you take the other route, you will have to cross an arm of the Red Sea, will have to pass through a great and terrible wilderness, and come in conflict with powerful tribes. And when you reach your home, you will find it possessed with numerous war-like savage nations. These you will have to exterminate or expel. Have you arms and disciplined armies to accomplish this work ? The truth is, the plan of you emancipators of taking these slaves, in their present condition, and colonizing them, in the face of all these obstacles, in Canaan, is the wildest fanaticism.
I might extend this comparison farther, but will now desist. Should any reader be perplexed concerning the weight which should be given to these arguments, I would advise him to read attentively the book of Exodus, and draw his own conclusions.
We know that these arguments convinced the Egyptians that they ought not to emancipate the Israelites, and through ten successive plagues they held on to their victims. Pharaoh was so blinded by self-interest, that he could not read the signs of the times aright. Being a "waiter on Providence," he thought the time of eman-

THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER. 59
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cipation had not come, and he hardened
his heart and refused to let the people go.
Had he at the first clear intimation of the
will of Providence, yielded to the claims of
humanity, of justice, and of God, he would
have saved himself and his people from an
ignominious doom. But, being often re-
proved, he only hardened his neck, and
was suddenly destroyed.
_________________________
[For the Examiner.]

TO THE SLAVEHOLDERS OF THE COM-
MONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY.

Friends and Fellow Citizens,---That body to whom was entrusted the important duty of framing a constitution to guard our rights, maintain our interests, protect our property, and deliver us from bondage, has adjourned, and the production of the concentrated wisdom of Kentucky is before you ; and you are soon to be called upon to decide whether you will ratify or reject it, whether you will adopt that instrument which hands down to your children and children's children the curse which hangs over you.
By that instrument slavery is to be perpetuated, unless a course be adopted which no legislative power can reach ; consequently, there is no alternative for you, but to reject the constitution or be saddled with the curse. Curse, do I say ? Yes ; and I say it without fear of contradiction : and the curse is with the owner rather than the slave. Interest, therefore, prompt us to rid ourselves of this curse as early as possible, and convert our slave property into something more productive, less demoralizing, and better calculated to promote our happiness. But the question arises, how shall we rid our State of this evil, and injure no man in his property?
I have drawn a plan which I now present you, and which, if adopted, will, in twenty-four years, accomplish the object, injure neither state nor slaveholder, and give to each emancipated subject a small outfit to the colony.
It must be evidence to every rational mind, that emancipation cannot be effected suddenly ; for, in the first place, slavery is so interwoven with our domestic concerns, that a sudden change would greatly injure us and the slave also. Secondly, because the State is unable to pay for the adult portion of them. And, thirdly, if it could, in their present uneducated condition, it would be unsafe to colonize.
The plan presented to you only contem-

[** column continues top right]
plates the emancipation of children, to be purchased at a certain age, and properly educated for the colony, and to remain in the service of the State until they shall not only be old enough to colonize, but shall have earned a sum sufficient to pay for themselves, and give them a small outfit when free. Abolitionists will no doubt make war upon my plan ; but I ask them to stand hands off, and let us get out of our own troubles in our own way. Slavery is a curse, we know, as well as they do ; but that curse was saddled upon our forefathers against their most solemn remonstrances by Old England and New England combined. Those countries have both rid themselves of the evil undistributed, and we claim the same privilege.---Your's truly,
VIRGINIA.
________

PLAN OF EMANCIPATION.
ARTICLE I.---It shall be incumbent on the Legislature of Kentucky to pass an Act authorizing the emancipation of all slave children, in the manner hereinafter provided.
Article II.---All children who have attained the age of fourteen years (and no more), at the passing of the Act, and all who shall attain the age of fourteen years thereafter, shall be purchased by the State, at a price to be fixed by appraisers, one of whom shall be appointed by the County Court, and the other by the owner of the slave ; and in the event of their disagreeing they shall call in an umpire, who decision shall be final.
Article III.---All the children thus purchased shall be the property of the State until disposed of in the manner provided for in Article XIII., and under the control of the County directors.
Article IV.---Labour schools shall be established in each County of the Commonwealth, where state slaves shall be supported, and taught a plain English education. The boys, in addition to this, shall be taught agriculture, or some mechanical art ; and the girls, such habits of industry as shall enable them to procure a livelihood and render them useful to society.
Article V.---It shall be the duty of the County Courts to appoint annually three directors to each labor school, whose duty it shall be to employ a superintendent of the school, with such other assistants and teachers as may be necessary to carry out the act of emancipation ; also to appoint an appraiser of slaves under said act.
Article VI.---It shall be the duty of the appraisers of slave children to visit semi-annually every slave-owner in his county : to receive all children who have attained the proper age, and place them in charge of the superintendent of the school ; also to appraise all slaves when presented to him by the owner, and to administer to all slave owners an oath as to the age of the child, and as to whether they have more children coming within the view of the Act of Emancipation.
Article VII.---Any person having slave children in possession shall report them to the appraiser within six months after they shall have attained the age of fourteen years, or forfeit the child to the State, and any slaveholder who shall refuse to take the oath prescribed by the Act of Emancipation shall forfeit and pay the sum of $100 for each and every offence.
Article VIII.---All children born of State slaves shall be subject to the Act of Emancipation.Article IX.---It shall be the duty of the Board of Directors of each school to make annual reports to the Governor of the Commonwealth, setting forth the number of slaves at school, and their ages and sexes ;

60 THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
also the receipts and disbursements during the year,
together with any other information that they may
deem proper.
ARTICLE X.---The Legislature shall pass an Act
authorising stock to be disposed of from time to time,
as funds may be required, for the purchase of slaves
and their transportation, and for the support of schools,
until they shall have advanced far enough to pay their
own expenses, which stock shall be held by com-
missioners to be appointed by the Legislature, and
redeemed when the Legislature shall think proper.
ARTICLE XI.---When a child shall have remained
long enough at school to receive the qualifications
named in Article IV., it shall be the duty of the
directors to hire it out for the benefit of the eman-
cipation fund, taking care to see that it is properly
treated.
ARTICLE XII.---The directors of each school shall
be authorized to draw on the commissioner of the
emancipation fund from time to time for such sums as
may be necessary to pay for slave children, and for the
support of the school under their care ; also for the
removal of those who are emancipated.
ARTICLE XIII.---Whenever a State slave shall
have attained the age of twenty-four years,* it shall
be the duty of the directors of the county school, under
whose care it may be, to forward it as early as practi-
cable to the colonial agent in this country, preparatory
to its being forwarded to such colony in Africa as
shall be designated by the Legislature of this Com-
monwealth ; the expenses attending the voyage, to-
gether with an outfit of $50+ to each person, to be paid
out of the emancipation fund.
_______________________________________________________________

* Twenty-one years would be better.
+ More than $50 per head should be allowed, if the
slave is kept in servitude until twenty-four years of
age ; in short, every thing should be given that the
condition of the emancipation fund will justify.
_______________________________

THE NOTTINGHAM LACE TRADE.
[From Chambers' Edinburgh Journal.]

The rise of this trade at Nottingham
was marked by very extraordinary circum-
stances. It was about seventy years ago
that a stocking-weaver tried whether he
could apply his frame or loom to make
something which could imitate lace, and
by slow degrees such imitation became
introduced. It was not, however, till thirty
years afterwards that Mr. Heathcoat, in
1809, obtained a patent for a new and
highly ingenious lace-making machine,
which, from certain arrangements of its
mechanism, obtained the name of a bobbin
frame, and hence the name of bobbin net.
Of the envy and strife which drove Mr.
Heathcoat away from Nottingham, and led
him to settle in Devonshire, we will say
nothing ; it is not a creditable feature ;
but we cannot pass in silence over the year
1823, when, Mr. Heathcoat's patent having
expired, all Nottingham went mad––every
body wished to make bobbin net. Listen
to what Mr. M'Culloch says on this point :
"Numerous individuals, clergyman, law-
yers, doctors, and others, readily embarked
capital in so tempting a speculation. Prices
fell in proportion as production increased,
[** column continues top right]
but the demand was immense ; and the
Nottingham lace frame became the organ
of general supply, rivalling and supplant-
ing in plain nets the most finished produc-
tions of France and the Netherlands."
Hear, too, Dr. Ure on the same point :
"It was no uncommon thing for an artisan
to leave his usual calling and betake him-
self to a lace frame, of which he was part
proprietor, and realize by working upon it
20s., 30s., nay, even 40s. per day. In con-
sequence of such wonderful gains, Notting-
ham, the birthplace of this new art, with
Loughborough and the adjoining villages,
became the scene of an epidemic mania.
Many, though nearly devoid of mechanical
genius, or the constructive talent, tor-
mented themselves night and day with
projects of bobbins, pushers, lockers, point
bars, and needles of every various form,
till their minds got permanently bewildered.
Several lost their senses altogether ; and
some, after cherishing visions of wealth, as
in the old times of alchemy, finding their
schemes abortive, sank into despair, and
committed suicide. If the Nottingham
lace makers were now to go mad, it would
not be at the golden dreams before them.
Competition has had its usual levelling
effect, and no more fortunes can be rapidly
made in the lace trade ; the consumption
is immense, but the workers are numerous,
and prices, wages, and profits, have all
alike become low.
___________________________

MANUMITTED SLAVES.

Some five years ago, Mr. S. Saunders,
a wealthy gentleman of Virginia, made
preparations for the establishment of his
slaves, as a colony, in Michigan. Death
prevented him from personally carrying it
into effect, but he committed it into the
hands of two of his friends, and with the
deed of manumission, the sum of $15,000
to carry the settlement into practice. Since
then a place has been purchased in Casso-
polis, and one hundred freed slaves have
been located there comfortably. Some of
the slaves had considerable sums in the
hands of Mr. Saunders, -–one of them
$1,500, others $100, and two or three
more than $600,–--all of which has been
paid over to them. Some portion of the
$1,500 was used for the purchase of the
wives and children belonging to other
planters. In some instances the slaves
have appropriated their earnings to free
their mothers from bondage.

THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER. 61
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE IDIOT GIRL.
[From Chambers' Edinburgh Journal.]

PIERRE LE ROUX's humble habitation
was situated on the banks of the Meuse,
just where it winds its way through a chasm
in the chain of the Ardennes, between tall
cliffs composed chiefly of slate, and crowned
with forests of dark and gloomy pine. It
was a lonely spot, yet had many charms
for its inmates, some of whom had never
known any other home.
Pierre had been a soldier of the Empire,
and was still a young man when his mili-
tary career was unexpectedly closed by the
fall of Napoleon, whom, like most of his
companions in arms, he regarded with
unbounded veneration. For a while Pierre
led an unsettled, roving life ; but when a
few years were past, he married a village
girl of that neighborhood, and fixed him-
self, as he imagined, for life upon a small
farm near the picturesque town of Fermay.
Adèle was a guileless, merry-hearted girl,
and withal a thrifty manager, so that Pierre
had no cause to repent his choice ; and
never was there a happier countenance
than his when, at the close of a long day's
toil, he seated himself by the side of the
blazing log which glowed upon his hearth,
and saw his wife and children gathered
around him. During these twilight hours,
Adèle's hand was ever busy with her distaff,
while she listened to her goodman's tales
of glory, which he would recite with his
snuff-box in hand, modelled after the [Italic & first initial bold *Petit Caporal's*] cocked-hat, and upon which he
usually bestowed an emphatic tap at the
most striking parts of his story.
For a time all prospered with Pierre
and Adèle. Their crops were good ; their
children handsome, healthy, and dutiful ;
and their later years had been blessed with
the gift of a lovely boy, much younger than
any of his ten brothers and sisters, of
whom, as well as of his parents, he was
the plaything and the darling. At the
evening fireside the little Andrè used to
climb up on his father's knee, and listen
with such glee to his recital of perilous
adventures and daring exploits, that the
father would sometimes clap him on the
shoulder, saying, with a smile, 'Ah, [Italics *petit
coquin!*] my life on it, thou, too, wilt be a
soldier. Yes, thou shalt fight for France - [Italics *La belle France! Vive la France!'*] - and
the boy's eyes sparkled with pleasure on
hearing his father's words, although their
meaning could be but dimly apprehended
by his infant ears.

[** column continues top right]
On these occasions Adèle was wont to
shake her head gravely, and say, 'No, no,
my child; thou shalt cultivate the soil like
thy father, and stay at home and take care
of us in our old days;' to which her husband
would quickly rejoin,'Thou dost forget,
[Italics*ma petite femme,*] that I was a soldier first.'
And so the discussion ended.
Pierre and Adèle had no near neighbors
except a fisherman's family, whose circum-
stances were poorer than their own, and to
whom they were sometimes able to lend a
kindly and a helpful hand. Among Louis
Bochart's children was one named Annette,
whose intellect had during her early infancy
been weakened by a violent attack of fever,
which also affected her faculty of hearing
as well as of speech, so that it was not
without difficulty that she contrived to
maintain any sort of communication with
her fellow-creatures. Annette's counte-
nance was but too plainly marked with the
stamp of idiocy ; yet it bore a shade of
melancholy which left the beholder doubt-
ful how far the inward stream of thought
might be flowing on, while its outward
manifestation had been checked and de-
stroyed. Her large dark eyes, wandering
and restless though they were, bore an
expression of gentleness and love which
called forth the kindly sympathies of those
who knew her ; and through her docile
obedience, she contrived to lighten her
mother's daily burthen by doing many little
offices in the household ; for Annette was
the only daughter among a family of many
sons. She delighted also in soothing those
who were in trouble, and seemed to have
an instinctive knowledge of the approach
of sorrow or of evil to those she loved ; so
that before any other eye could detect a
rising cloud upon the brow of one who was
dear to her, Annette would be seated on a
low stool at their side, and by a silent kiss
imprinted on their hand, would give assu-
rance of their sympathy and love. Annette
was a great favorite at Le Roux's farm-
house, and often of an evening would she
glide into the kitchen just as they were
assembled round the hearth, and take her
seat near the old soldier, or rather near
Andrè, by whom she was so fondly beloved,
that the little fellow, on observing her
entrance, would slide off his father's knee,
and climbing up to Annette's lap, would
gently lay his little head on her bosom. It
was an affecting sight at such moments to
behold the idiot girl, heedless of the stirring
tales which seemed to interest all others
save herself, while her vacant eyes were

62 THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER.
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lighted up with affection as they rested
upon her little favorite Andrè.
Thus passed on many days of peaceful
yet busy life at the farm-house of La Met-
traye ; but at length its tranquil course
became troubled by one of those waves of
sorrow which roll over the stillest surface
of human life.
One evening Pierre came in, looking
ruffled, and out of humor. Adèle, unused
to see her goodman return home in this
sort of mood, inquired of him what was
the matter.
'Matter enough to vex all the saints in
heaven,' replied he, gloomily. 'Some vil-
lains have robbed me, on my way home
from market, of half the produce of my
harvest ; and though there were four of
them, they were all so well disguised, that
I could not get one look at their faces ; so
there is no chance of getting back a single
sou of my property. But where is Andrè?
let him come ad cheer up his old father.'
'Andrè ! Andrè !' cried out Adèle from
the door of her dwelling ; 'come in directly.
It is too late for you to be rooting about
the garden : your father wants you.' But
no bounding footsteps were heard upon the
pathway ; no childish voice responded to
her call. The elder brothers hastened to
seek for their little darling ; but no where
was he to be found.
'He must be gone to neighbor Bochart's,'
said the father : 'you will be sure to find
him on Annette's lap.'
'Yes, doubtless,' replied Adèle, whose
motherly tenderness gave wings to her feet,
albeit her step was no longer so elastic as
it had been at the time of her marriage
twenty years before. Quickly had she
crossed the strip of vineyard which lay
between her home and the cottage, and
darting through the door, cried out, 'Andrè!
where is Andrè ?'
'We have not seen the child to-day,'
replied at the same moment Bochart and
his wife.
'Not seen him !' cried out Adèle, turning
pale, and trembling from head to foot.
'No, indeed, neighbor, we have not.'
'Has Annette seen him ?'
The idiot girl, on hearing this question,
and seeing Adèle's emotion, started up
from the corner where she had been
crouching near the fire, and gazed wildly
around her. She shook her head with a
low moan, rushed to the door, and looked
out into the twilight, as if she would pierce
through the gathering shades with her
deep searching glance, and then returned
[** column continues top right]
with her hands clasped together in mute
despair.
All this passed in a moment's time
Adèle hastened home to tell her husband
the dreadful truth ; and although for a
moment he seemed paralyzed with terror,
yet he and his sons quickly dispersed along
the banks of the river, and up the neigh-
boring heights, in quest of the missing
child. Adèle, too, passed the night in
groping about every spot where she thought
it possible that her little one might have
fallen asleep during his play ; and the
silent yet prayerful agony of that mother's
heart, as she wandered along with a lantern
in her hand, who may dare to portray ?
Morning came, with its bright and glad-
dening influence ; but sorrowful was the
repast around which the inmates of the
farm-house assembled, for no tidings had
been received of Andrè, and they met but
for a few moments, previous to the renewal
of their search. Evening closed, without
bringing one gleam of hope to cheer Adèle's
sinking spirit. With that restlessness which
accompanies undefined hope or fear, she
turned her steps towards Bochart's cottage.
The first words that greeted her on enter-
ing it were those of sorrow. 'My child !
my child ! Oh, where can my child be ?'
faintly murmured Bochart's wife, as she
sat rocking on her chair with her face
buried in her hands.
' What do you mean ?' inquired Adèle,
perplexed at her words.
' Do you not know that Annette is
gone ?'
' Gone !'
' Yes, gone ; and her poor father, after a
long day's search, cannot find her any
where. Oh, what shall we do without our
daughter---our only daughter !'
' And when did you miss her ?'
' This morning, on going to her bedside,
I found it all smooth and tidy, as her own
dear hands had left it yesterday. The
poor darling never lay down on it at all ;
and where she passed the cold, dark night,
heaven only knows.'
So saying, the poor woman burst out
anew into a torrent of grief. Adèle gazed
on her in silence. She was stunned by
this unexpected blow. At length, taking
Madame Bochart's hand, and pressing it to
her bosom, she said in a suppressed voice,
' May God have pity on us both !' After a
few moment's delay, she returned to her
own sorrowful home. The next day was
one of deep and quiet grief both at the
farm and at the cottage. It seemed idle to

THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER. 63
¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨
hope that either of the children could have
escaped death ; and the conclusion formed
concerning them was, that in a moment of
unguarded play Andrè must have fallen
into the river, and Annette, in despair at
his loss, have sought death in the same
impetuous current which had borne away
her little favorite.
Another day had passed on - a day of
fruitless search and of bitter sorrow. On
the third evening after her loss, poor Adèle
had seated herself mechanically in her
accustomed corner by the fireside : her
hands, usually so busy in blithesome labor,
lay folded despairingly on her lap ; nor did
she even venture to look up, from a dread
of beholding the silent agony of her hus-
band's countenance. The door opened,
but she stirred not, neither did she lift up
her eyes. The common interests of life
were dead within her heart - its petty inci-
dents concerned her not. A light step
approached her - a soft, warm kiss was
imprinted on her cheek. The little Andrè
lay with his infant arms clasped around
her neck, and Annette, who had borne
him, like a guardian angel, to his home,
fell prostrate at her feet, overcome by
fatigue, hunger, and emotion. Vainly
should we attempt to describe the mingled
feelings of surprise, joy, and thankfulness
which filled the mother's heart at that
moment ; but after one long, tender em-
brace, Andrè turned round, and seeing
Annette on the floor, and his sisters
gathered around her, he leaped to the
ground, crying out, 'Annette, my darling
Annette, speak to me ! - speak to your
own little Andrè !'
The child's voice seemed to revive the
poor exhausted girl more readily than any
of the simple restoratives which had been
used for that purpose. She opened her
dark eyes, smiled a moment upon him, and
then sank for a while to repose. After
some rest and refreshment, the inmates of
the cottage and the farm-house gathered
around the young wanderers, to make
inquiries concerning their three day's
eventful history. Where had Andrè been ?
How did Annette contrive to trace him
out ? When did they meet ? The poor
girl's head was too weak and wandering to
give much information on the subject.
She could only utter a few simple mono-
syllables ; then weep and smile, and em-
brace those around her. But Andrè, in
his childish way, talked of looking for nuts ;
and spoke about a hollow tree, and being
frightened, and Annette wrapping him up
[** column continues top right]
in her cloak, and giving him bread out of
her pocket. And this was all they could
learn on the subject ; but their darling was
safe. Annette was almost idolized for her
devotion to the child, and God devoutly
thanked for His great goodness in this
deliverance.
Within two years of this event Annette
was an orphan ; and on the death of her
mother, who survived Bochart but a few
months, she was received as an inmate at
the farm, and became unto Pierre and
Adèle as a beloved daughter.
About this time, the farmer, owing to
some severe losses, had decided on joining
a party of emigrants who were going to
settle in Texas. Adèle was loth to leave
the land of her fathers, and to live and die
on a strange soil, and among strange
people. In vain did Pierre represent to
her the advantages accruing from emigra-
tion. 'Here we are poor,' said he ; 'but
in yon fine country we shall grow rich
with our children.'
'But it will not be France---[Italics *notre belle
France!'*]
'I thought, Adèle, that wherever you
had your husband and children'----
'Yes, yes,' said she, stopping his mouth
with a kiss ; 'wherever my goodman and
my children are, [Italics *there*] will be France
to me.'
'Now,' rejoined Pierre, 'you are my
[Italics *bonne petite femme*] again. Let us only set
out with merry, cheerful hearts, and we
shall get on famously.' So saying, he
began to carol one of his old songs, whose
burthen was love and glory ; then clapping
Annette on the shoulder, he added, 'And
thou, too, shalt come with us, my girl, and
thou shalt have the care of Andrè on board
ship.'
A tear stood in Annette's eye ; but
whether it had its source in the hidden
springs of joy or of sorrow, no one knew.
That evening she was absent for some time
from the farm-house, and on being sought
for, was found weeping on the humble
grave beneath which her parents slept.
She had shed upon it tears and flowers----
the only offerings which the orphan girl
had to bestow.
A month later, and the whole family
embarked for Texas, and after a pros-
perous voyage, landed at Galveston, to-
gether with a body of 115 other emigrants.
It was a motley party ; most of them well
clothed, and all looking cheerful and happy :
but among the various groups which clus-
tered together upon the wharf, none were

64 THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER.

more remarkable than the family party from the old farm of La Mettraye. Pierre, in his green old age, erect and vigorous, was clad in a blouse, with his fur casquette on his head, and a stout knotted stick in one hand ; while in the other was the wellknown snuff-box, out of which he offered a pinch to some strangers standing by, with that ease and courtesy which are so natural to a Frenchman. Adèle, now a middleaged woman, stood by her husband's side, looking bright and healthy ; while their sons and daughters were gathered around them, and the eldest youth carried his father's gun with evident pride, in the consciousness that be, too, was grown to be a man. Nor was the least striking one of this party the gentle Annette, who stood beside Adèle with the hand of the rosyfaced boy clasped within her own, his eyes wandering about with hers rested fondly and anxiously upon him. It was evident that she regarded him as her peculiar charge. At this time she was a tall, slight girl, whose appearance indicated an extreme attention to cleanliness and neatness of person ; and in spite of the wandering vacuity of her glance, there was somewhat in her aspect which rendered her an object of interest even to the casual observer.
The destination of Pierre and his family was a district of Texas named Bexar ; and on landing at Galveston, they fondly imagined that their journeyings were over, and that they had reached the site of their intended home. 'Is not this Bexar?' inquired one of the sons. But although they looked disappointed on learning that there were some hundreds of miles of difficult country yet to travel before they could arrive at the promised land, yet the cloud seemed to rest but for a moment upon their cheerful countenances. Soon did the spirit of hope and joy revive within them, and they set off for their new home with that earnest and trustful activity which forms the best pledge of success amid the difficulties of a settler's life.
The emigrants from the banks of the Meuse have now been out three years in Texas. May we not hope that ere now they have formed for themselves there a pleasant as well as a happy home, and that Annette's kind heart finds its full reward in the American wilderness, as it did on the favored soil of la belle France?
--------------------
THIRTY pounds have been paid recently in England for an autograph of Milton.
--------------------
CARPETS.
[From Chambers' Edinburgh Journal.]
CARPETS are of undoubtedly Eastern origin, though the only countries in which their use is now general are two of the most westerly--namely, Britain and the United States of America. To no other people do they appear so indispensable. Our continental neighbors content themselves with covering a portion of their apartments when the thing is at all attempted ; and the Orientals, to whom their carpets supply the place of seats, confine them to still more limited dimensions. There is one most popular article of this description in Mohammedan countries called a ' prayer carpet,' without which no Musselman could get on comfortably. It is about the size and shape of a moderate English hearth-rug, and always spread for its owner's devotions, whether in the quiet of his own dwelling, or by the wayside on a journey ; for the stated prayer must be said, no matter where its hour may find the disciple of the Koran. The famous Mosaic pavements of the Greeks and Romans far exceeded our carpets in durability, but would ill correspond with modern notions of comfort, especially in a British winter ; still less would their floors of glass, blocks of which, about the thickness of a common brick, and of various colors, have been found as the flooring apartments in their ruined cities. For insecurity of footing, these floors must have rivalled those of highly polished mahogany and rosewood, the chief boast of notable housekeepers in the Southern States of the American Union. Carpets were first introduced into Spain by the Moors, and, some ages subsequently, into Italy by the Venetians, when they were the masters of the commerce of the East. Their progress towards England was slow ; but in the mansions of rank and royalty rushes formed an early substitute. So late as the reign of Queen Mary, historically termed 'The Bloody,' a functionary was duly appointed to provide rushes for strewing the Queen's apartments ; and this was the only carpet on the dressing room where Mary's hair was powdered with dust of gold, by way of overpowering the snows of time. It is strange how frequently the ornamental arts are found in advance of substantial refinements ; but even the use of rushes proved, as an old writer assures us, ' Ye gret luxury of latter days.' The custom was imported

THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER 65

from France about the beginning of the fourteenth century, and at that period the following is an inventory of the choicest comforts of a feudal castle: "A species of coarse tapestry, which was generally imported from abroad, served to screen the occupants of the state chambers from the rude blast, which entered at a variety of apertures. The floors were rough and bare ; and besides some massive stools, there was a pallet, or couch, consisting of a wooden settle, on which was placed a fusion of some light vegetable matter, covered with skins or woolen cloth ; this was the predecessor of all our modern sofas. There the ladies of the family sat by day spinning with the distaff, and it also served for the state-bed of the mansion. Carpets were known at the court of Henry VIII. ; but they were mere fragments, spread for invalids to recline on, in the Eastern fashion, as Queen Elizabeth's last days are said to have been passed ; or for card companies, as the stakes were liable to be lost among the rushes : yet the walls were then covered from floor to ceiling with the celebrated tapestry of which our window-hangings are now the only representatives."

___________________________

EDUCABILITY OF THE PARROT.

THERE are no birds, says Dr. Carpenter in the London Inquirer, so educable as the Parrot tribe ; but they educability chiefly depends upon their remarkable imitative power, and upon their capacity for associating one sound with another or with a particular visual object, so as together to produce results very much like those which we may witness in the case of a child of two or three years old, that, in leaning to talk, repeats phrases which are learned by imitation, without any distinct idea of their meaning, but sometimes bring them in remarkable apropos. A very good illustration of both faculties is afforded by a couple of anecdotes that were related to me by my late aged friend, Mr. Palmer, of Bristol. In his younger days, when Bristol was largely engaged in the African trade, the large gray parrots (which are far more intelligent than the green) were very numerous in that city, and often created great amusement. There was one which had a remarkable tact at distinguishing sailors ; and would often stop in the middle of singing Handel's 104th psalm (which it performed most correctly) to ask Jack, with an oath, what he was looking at. The sight of a sailor obviously called forth the phraseology, which he had been accustomed to associate with that class. Another parrot caused no small degree of personal annoyance to Mr. Palmer himself. In his younger days, when an attorney's clerk, he was somewhat given to dandyism, and particularly rejoiced in a very long queue. A parrot, which was accustomed to hang outside the window of a house that he passed in his way between his residence and office, was taught by some waggish boys to salute him with - " There goes the man with the long pigtail;" and this the parrot learned to sing out, without any prompting, whenever Mr. Palmer made his appearance ; the continual repetition of which remark was so disagreeable to him, that he had changed his route and went through another street to avoid it. Now, we have no right to suppose that the bird knew the meaning of what it uttered, or was itself cognizant of the remarkable length of Mr. Palmer's pigtail ; it simply learned to distinguish the individual, and to utter the phrase which it had been taught to associate with the sight of him. On the same simple principles we may explain most, if not all, of what appears most marvellous in the following account of a parrot, furnished to Mr. Jesse by the sister of the lady to whom it belonged :
" As you wished me to write down whatever I could collect about my sister's wonderful parrot, I proceed to do so, only promising that I will tell you nothing but what I can touch for having myself heard. Her laugh is quite extraordinary, and it is impossible not to help joining in it oneself, more especially when in the midst of it she cries out, ' Don't make me laugh so ; I shall die ; I shall die,' and then continues laughing more violently than before. Her crying and sobbing are curious, and if you say, ' Pool poll, what is the matter ?' she says ' So bad, so bad ; got such a cold !' and after crying for sometime will gradually cease, and making a noise like drawing a long breath, say, ' Better now,' and begin to laugh.
" The first time I ever heard her speak was one day when I was talking to the maid at the bottom of the stairs, and heard what I then considered to be a child cry out, ' Payne,' (the maid's name) ; I am not well, I am not well ;' and on my saying , ' What is the matter with that child ?' she replied, ' It is only the parrot ; she always does so when I leave her, to make me come back ;' and so it proved, for on going into

the room, the parrot stopped, and then began laughing, quite in a jeering way.
"It is singular enough, that whenever she is affronted in any way she begins to cry, and when pleased, to laugh. If any one happens to cough, or sneeze, she says, 'What a bad cold!' One day, when the children were playing with her, the maid came into the room, and on their repeating to her several things which the parrot had said, Poll looked up and said quite plainly, 'No, I didn't.' Sometimes, when she is inclined to be mischievous, the maid threatens to beat her, and she days 'No you won't.' She calls the cat very plainly, saying, 'Puss, puss,' and then answers mew; but the most amusing part is that whenever I want to make her call it, and to that purpose say, 'Puss, puss,' she always answers mew till I begin mewing, and then she begins calling puss as quickly as possible. She imitates every kind of noise, and barks so naturally that I have known her to set all the dogs on the parade at Hampton Court barking; and the consternation I have seen her cause in a party of cocks and hens, by her crowing and clucking, has been the most ludicrous thing possible. She sings just like a child; and I have more than once thought it was a human being; and it is most ridiculous to hear her make what one should call a false note, and then say, 'Oh, la,' and burst out laughing at herself, beginning again in quite another key. She is very fond of singing, 'Buy a Broom,' which she says quite plainly; but in the same spirit as in calling the cat, if we say, with a view to make her repeat it, 'Buy a Broom,' she always says, 'Buy a Brush,' and then laughs as a child might do when mischievous. She often performs a kind of exercise, which I do not know how to describe, except by saying that it is like the lance exercise. She puts her claw behind her, first on one side and then on the other, then in front, and round over her head, and whilst doing so, keeps saying, 'Come on, come on;' and when finished, says, 'Bravo, beautiful!' and then draws herself up. Before I was well acquainted with her as I am now, she would stare in my face for some time, and then say, 'How d'ye do, ma'am?' This she invariably does to strangers. One day I went into the room where she was, and said, to try her, 'Poll where is Payne gone?' and, to my astonishment and almost dismay, she said 'Down stairs.' I cannot at this moment recollect anything more than I can vouch for myself, and I do not choose to trust to what I am told; but from what I have myself seen and heard, she has almost made me believe in transmigration."

METHODISTS

This term, now designating a very numerous body of Christians, originated in 1729, at the University of Oxford, where John Wesley and his brother Charles were students at the time. They, with a few of their fellow-students who were intended for the ministry, formed the most rigid and severe rules for the regulation of their time and studies, and for their religious exercises. The ardent piety and strict observance of system in everything connected with certain new opinions displayed by the Wesleys and their adherents, as well as in their college studies, which they never neglected, attracted the notice and excited the jeers of the various members of the University, and gained for them the appellation of Methodists, in allusion to the methodici, a class of physicians in Rome, who were rigid systematizers.

THE TWO EMPRESSES AND THE ARTIST
[From Chambers' Edinburgh Journal]

It was the middle of the year 1812, that year, the latter months of which witnessed the annihilation of the French army on the plains of Russia. Such a catastrophe was far from the thoughts of a single inhabitant of Paris, when one morning in the month of June the celebrated artist Redouté was on his way to Malmaison to present to the Empress Josephine some paintings of lilies. He was a great favorite with her, from his having devoted his pencil to flowers, of which she was passionately fond. In full enjoyment of the lovely morning, he was gaily crossing the garden of the Tuileries to get to the Place de la Concorde, where he intended taking a coach, when he saw a crowd eagerly hurrying in the direction of the walk by the water-side. The general cry, 'The King of Rome! - the Empress!' soon told him the object of attraction; and the artist quickened his steps, glad of the opportunity, thus by chance afforded him, of seeing the son of the Emperor, the yet cradled child of fifteen months, whom so proud a destiny seemed to await.

The Louisville Examiner. 67
It was indeed the king of Rome, in a little carriage drawn by four snow-white goats, and the Empress Maria-Louisa walking by its side. She was wrapped in a blue shawl, of peculiar shade, known to be her favorite colour. The crowd had gathered outside the grating, around which they pressed closely; and as Redouté stopped to gaze with the rest, he saw standing near him a young woman with a child in her arms. The garb of both bespoke extreme poverty ; but the child's face was glowing with health, whilst the cheeks of the mother were pale and emaciated, and from her sunken eyes fell tears, which she cared not either to wipe away or conceal.
' My poor little one! - my darling !' she whispered, as she pressed the child still closer to her bosom, ' you have no carriage, my angle ; for thee, desolation, suffering, poverty, hunger ! What is he that he should be happier than you, darling ? Both of you born the same day, the same hour ! I, as young as his mother, and loving you as fondly as she loves him. But you have now no father, my poor babe ; you have no father !'
The artist overheard these words of wo, and stood with his eyes fixed upon the poor young mother, in utter forgetfulness of the king of Rome.
' Madame,' said he, after a moment's hesitated, and in a low voice, ' why do you not make known your situation to the Empress ?'
' To what purpose, sir ?' cried the young woman somewhat bitterly. 'Small compassion have the great ones of this world.'
' But why not make the attempt ?'
' I have done so, sir, already. I wrote to the Empress, and told her that my son was born the same day, the same hour, with the king of Rome. I told her, alas ! that he has no father, that my strength is failing, that we re utterly destitute. But the Empress has not deigned to answer.'
' You will have an answer, rest assured. Perhaps the memorial has not yet been placed before her majesty. Give me your address, I beg of you.' And after taking a memorandum of it, and slipping into her hand all the money he had about him, Redouté was soon rapidly making his way to the Place de la Concorde, where, just as he was stepping into a carriage, he discovered that his purse was empty.
' It is of no consequence,' he said ; ' I have only to walk a little fast.'
Josephine, meanwhile, had been eagerly expecting the promised visit of the usually punctual artist, and was beginning to feel uneasy lest some accident had occurred to occasion the prolonged delay, when he was announced.
' I ought to scold you,' she said, as she received with her wonted gentle grace the artist's offering, ' for delaying the pleasure I feel in seeing this admirable drawing.'
' I must throw myself upon your majesty's goodness to excuse me,' answered Redouté rather inconsiderately. ' I had never seen the king of Rome, and to-day I have been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of him,' Josephine started, and Redouté, instantly aware of the awkwardness of mentioning the meeting, stopped suddenly in confusion.
' I am very glad,' said Josephine, making a strong effort to repress her emotion, ' that you have seen the son of the Emperor. Pray tell me where you saw him, and who was with him.' Redouté hesitated.
' Pray, pray go on,' said she gently, but earnestly. He obeyed; and told her every particular he had observed, as well as what had delayed his arrival by obliging him to walk to Malmaison.
' I see the great artist, as always happens, has a feeling heart,' said Josephine, her sympathy aroused for the poor woman. "If Napoleon did but know the destitution of this child, born the same day, the same hour with his son ! Be with me to-morrow morning at nine o'clock; we will together visit this poor creature.' And the next morning at nine o'clock Redouté was at Malmaison ; and an hour after, Josephine, undeterred by the dark, narrow, muddy passage, and the equally dark, damp stairs, increasing in steepness every step, had entered the wretched apartment, utterly bare of furniture, in the fifth story, inhabited by the widow of Chars. Blanger.
' Madame,' said Redouté, to whom Josephine had made signs to introduce her and the object of their visit, 'you may rest assured that if the Emperor knew your situation he would give you relief; but there is now no necessity to trouble him. This lady, whom I have the honor to accompany, is good enough to say she will take you under her protection, and her protection is all-sufficient.'
' What a lovely boy !' cried Josephine, as the little orphan sat up in his cradle, and smilingly stretched out his little arms to his
447

68 The Louisville Examiner.
mother. 'Redouté,' she said, as she took
the child and kissed it, ' did you not tell
me that he was born the same day with
the king of Rome ?'
' The same day and hour, madame,'
answered the young mother.
' Was it mentioned to the Emperor at
the time ?'
' No, madame ; we were happy then,
and my poor Charles had too independent
a spirit to ask anything from any one
while he could work. He was an engineer ;
and though employment fluctuated, yet
still we were never reduced to want. At
his leisure time he used to construct model
machines, from one of which, novel and
ingenious in the invention, he expected
both fame and pecuniary advantage ; but
he has been suddenly taken from me, and
I am left alone to struggle with misery
and wretchedness. I am sinking lower
and lower, and gradually every resource
has been exhausted. Alas, I need not tell
you !' - and she glanced sorrowfully around
the miserable little apartment.
' To-morrow you shall quit this wretched,
unwholesome abode, said the Empress,
as she gave the child to his mother, after
fondly caressing him, and putting her purse
into his little hand. ' I will send you my
own physician ; his skill, and the comforts
with which I hope to surround you, will
restore your health. I rely on you, my
good friend,' added she, turning to the
artist, ' to arrange all this for me.'
She was rising to quit the room, amid
the tears and blessing of the widow,
whose heart she had 'made to sing for joy,'
when the door opened, and a young lady
entered, at the sight of whom Redouté stood
motionless with astonishment. It was
Maria-Louisa, accompanied by a newly
appointed chamberlain. As Maria-Louisa
was never known to visit the poor man in
his abode of poverty, Redouté had some
excuse for the uncharitable judgment he
formed on the instant - that this unusual
proceeding on her part was intended either
as an attempt to rival Josephine in the
popularity gained by her active and unwearied
benevolence, or to please the
Emperor, as proving the lively interest she
took in a child born the same day and hour
with the king of Rome. But whatever
might have been her motive, certain it
is that she was now standing in the widow's
humble abode without deigning a salutation
to any one in it.
Josephine was sweetness and gentleness
itself ; but there was something in this
want of common courtesy that grated upon
the pride of caste which, as a Creole of an
illustrious race, the wife of the greatest
captain of the age, and as one still feeling
herself the Empress, she retained amid
desertion and the disgrace of her repudiation.
It may be, too, that she recognized
Maria-Louisa, though she had only seen
the portraits of her who now filled her
place ; and she therefore resumed her seat,
as if fearful that her standing might have
been construed into homage Maria-Louisa,
on her part, was far from suspecting
that the female so simply dressed, so
quietly seated in the miserable garret, was
her still envied rival.
As the artist glanced from Maria-Louisa
to the beautiful face of Josephine - for it
was still beautiful, though bearing the
impress of grief even more than of years - he observed that an unwonted expression
of haughty disdain now clouded that brow,
usually so radiant with benevolent kindness,
and he half dreaded the result of
this unexpected encounter. And now
Maria-Louisa, without one caress to the
child, or noticing it in any way explained
in a few words the object of her visit.
' Your intention is most laudable doubtless,
madame, ' said Josephine, still keeping
her seat, ' but you are rather late : the
young mother and child are under my
protection.' Maria-Louisa, with a haughty
glance at her who thus presumed to
address the Empress, said coldly, ' I have
some reason to believe that my patronage
will be a little more advantageous.' Here
the chamberlain quickly interposed, ' It is
quite certain that you, madame, have the
power of elevation the boy to any position
you may choose for him, however high.'
With a momentary bitterness of feeling,
excited by the involuntary retrospect of
what she once had been, Josephine's disdainful
eye seemed to measure the speaker
from head to foot, as she said, ' And pray,
sir, what leads you to conclude that I am
not able to raise whom I will still higher.'
' The lady doubtless intends, said Maria-Louisa
in a tone of irony, ' to place her
protégé on the steps of the throne.'
' Higher still, madame, if such were my
pleasure,' warmly retorted Josephine, now
rising to withdraw. ' For aught you can
tell, I may have given kings to the world.'
' Beware, madame, ' hastily whispered
Redouté ; ' your majesty will betray yourself,
and the Emperor will be displeased.'
Josephine was silent ; and the artist, who
was upon thorns, hastily added, ' I do not

THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER. 69
see why either of these ladies need give up her share in the happiness of doing good. I shall feel honored in accepting for my happy protégés whatever kindness it may please either to bestow upon them.' Josephine made no answer, but with head erect, left the room; and Redouté, respectfully bowing to Maria-Louisa, was following, glad to have prevented an outbreak which might have had serious consequences, when a hand laid upon his arm made his turn round : it was the chamberlain.
'Sir,' said he, in a low whisper, 'do you know that the lady whom I have had the honor of attending here is her majesty, the Empress Maria-Louisa?'
'Sir,' answered Redouté in an equally low voice, 'the lady that I have had the honor of attending here is the Empress Josephine.'
In less than two years from this meeting Josephine had sunk under the never-healed wound that Napoleon's desertion had inflicted, and died at Malmaison; and Maria-Louisa had, it may be joyfully, quitted a country which she had never loved, and in which she never succeeded in making herself beloved. During these two years the widow had lived upon the daily bounty of her royal patronesses, and was consequently now as destitute as when they first entered her abode of poverty. In vain had Redouté often placed before Josephine his view of what patronage, to be really useful, ought to be - the helping of others to help themselves. In vain had he urged her to establish the widow in some way of earning her independence. 'Time enough for this when the boy is grown up.' But death came, and reverse of fortune, and no friend now remained to the widow and the orphan but the artist, and nought remained to him from the vast wreck but his talent and his reputation. Circumstances might indeed render the productions of his pencil less a source of emolument, but these circumstances were but temporary: the artist would again rise to fame and fortune, while Napoleon and Maria-Louisa had fallen irretrievably.
Redouté acted on the principle he would have had the widow's royal patronesses to act: he procured employment for the widow; and thanks to his influence, she was enabled to earn sufficient to place her above want, while he took upon himself the education of her child. But the mother's health was failing; and when Redouté, previous to a short absence from Paris, went to take leave of her, she expressed her belief that he would not find her alive at his return, and with tears she solemnly commended her boy to his care. Though he had not attached much weight to her presentiments, yet it was with a somewhat uneasy feeling that, immediately on his return, he went to the house. The door was open; and as he ran up stairs, a sound reached him which struck upon his heart: they were fastening down the coffin of the widow, and in a corner of the room was the little Charles weeping bitterly. Some distant relations stood by the coffin in cold and audible debate as to what was to be done with the child.
'I see nothing for him but the Orphan Asylum,' said one.
'Oh no, no! pray do not send me there,' cried the child. 'My own dear mamma worked for her bread, and so can I. You do not know how much I can do if you will but try me.' At this instant he caught a glimpse of Redouté, and throwing himself into his arms, he exclaimed, 'You are come back, dear, good friend, and you will not send me to the asylum!' The artist pressed the poor boy to his bosom.
'Have you no hearts?' he said, indignantly turning to the relations. 'This boy shall be my care.' And what the most powerful among the powerful had not done, he did - he, the comparatively obscure and humble artist. He secured to his protégé present comfort and future respectability, by teaching him, as soon as possible, to help himself. Charles Blanger became not only his best pupil, but a celebrated painter, making the same use as his noble-minded master of that knowledge which is power, and of that talent which is one of those possessions described by Aristides in his celebrated maxim, 'Heap upon no treasures save those which, should shipwreck come, will float with the owner.'

CURIOUS PECULIARITY IN THE ELEPHANT.
The Bombay Times notices a paper by Dr. Impey in the 'Transactions of the Bombay Medical and Physical Society,' containing an account of the rise of a malignant pustule from contact with the flesh of a dead elephant. It furnishes a curious new fact in the natural history of the animal. 'It is so seldom,' says the Bombay Times, 'that tame elephants amongst us die from natural causes, or under such circumstances as permit of dissection, that this peculiarity of the car-
448

cass has not, we believe, till now been described, though perfectly well known to the natives. A baggage elephant accompanying the third troop of horse artillery, having died on the march betwixt Mhow and Poona, at the commencement of the hot season of 1846, the elephant was cut up by some of the artillerymen and attendants, under the supervision of Dr. Impey, to see, if possible, to determine the cause of its death. The mochee was ordered to work amongst the rest, but could not be induced to touch the carcase until he had smeared his hands and arms with oil, assigning as the reason of his aversion the certainty of disease supervening, and its liability periodically to attack those who had once suffered from it. This at the time was heartily ridiculed; but the laugh was on the mochee's side when every man employed in the dissection but himself was two days afterwards attacked with acute disease. The character of this was at first purely local: the pain felt like that arising from the bite of a venomous insect; it was accompanied by slight local inflammation. This soon extended, and became a sore. These deepened to the bone, and extended on all sides, manifesting a remarkable degree of sluggishness and inactivity. Fever accompanied the earlier symptoms, exhibiting a remittent type, and being most severe towards the evening. After a fortnight, secondary fever appeared, and three weeks elapsed before the sores could be healed up. The patient had by this time become emaciated, sallow, and enervated, so that active dietetic measures required to be taken for his restoration.'

HEALTH

Horace Mann thus discourses of Health in his new book, just about to be issued from the press of Ticknor, Read, and Fields: "Appetite is Nicholas the First, and the noble faculties of mind and heart are Hungarian captives. Were we to see a rich banker exchanging eagles for coppers by tale, or a rich merchant bartering silk for serge by the pound, we should deem them worthy of any epithet in the vocabulary of folly. Yet the same men buy pains whose prime cost is greater than the amplest fund of natural enjoyment. Their purveyor and market man bring them home head-aches, and indigestion, and neuralgia, by hamper fulls. Their butler bottles up stone, and gout, and the liver complaint, falsely labelling them sherry, or madeira, or port, and the stultified masters have not wit enough to see through the cheat. The mass of society look with envy upon the epicure who, day by day, for four hours of luxurious eating, suffers twenty hours of sharp aching; who pays a full price for a hot supper, and is so pleased with the bargain that he throws in a sleepless and tempestuous night as a gratuity. English factory children have received the commiseration of the world, because they were scourged to work eighteen hours out of the twenty-four; but there is many a theoretic republican who is a harsher Pharaoh to his stomach than this; who allows it no more resting time than he does his watch; who gives it no Sunday, no holiday, no vacation in any sense. Our pious ancestors enacted a law that suicides should be buried where four roads meet, and that a cartload of stones should be thrown upon the body. Yet, when gentlemen or ladies commit suicide, not by cord or steel, but by turtle-soup or lobster-salad, they may be buried in consecrated ground, and under the auspices of the church, and the public are not ashamed to read an epitaph upon their tombstones false enough to make the marble blush. Were the barbarous old law now in force that punished the body of the suicide for the offence which his soul had committed, we should find many a Mount Auburn at the cross-roads."

HOW TO MAKE THINGS PLEASANT IN AN OMNIBUS - Take a bull dog in with you; or a couple of babies; or produce a pistol, and quietly cock it; or take the Police Gazette out of your pocket, and as you read it look most intently at the features of every person in the omnibus.

The friendship of some people is like our shadow, keeping close while we walk in the sunshine, but deserting us the moment we enter the shade.

HAVE A CONFIDANT - Young ladies, confide in your mother, if you have one; if not, still seek out some real friend, and confide the secret of your heart - for it is through that that ruin cometh oft, and shame. It is seldom or never that those come upon one who hath confided in a mother or a friend; but the heart that welcometh a sinful flattery, and layeth it up in secret, harboreth a serpent, and shall feel its sting.

Whoever sincerely endeavors to do all the good he can will probably do much more than he imagines, or will ever know to the day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest.

A TIME FOR ALL THINGS

Time to me this truth has taught,
'Tis a truth that's worth revealing;
More offend for want of thought
Than from a want of feeling.
If advice we would convey,
There a time we should convey it;
If we've but a word to say,
There's a time in which to say it.

THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER. 71
THE CASTLES WE BUILT IN AIR.
BY FRANCIS BROWN.
There were builders strong on the earth of old,---
To-day there are planners rare;
But never was temple, home, nor hold,
Like the castles we built in air.
We piled them high through the long lone hours.
By a chill hearth's flickering brands,
Through the twilight, heavy with wintry showers,
That found us in stranger lands.

The store was small and the friends were few,
We owned in those building days;
But stately and fair the fabrics grew,
That no gold of earth could raise;
For time was conquered and fortune moved---
Our wishes were builders there;
And, oh! but there gathered guests beloved
To the castles we built in air.

No place was left for the bonds or fears,
For the lore so sagely small,
Of this gaining world, that wears our years
Away in its thankless thrall.
Once more we stood in the lights that crossed
Our souls in their morning track,
And, oh! that we had not loved or lost--
But ever the dream comes back!

It was joy to pause by the pleasant homes
That our wandering steps have passed;
Yet weary looks, through the woodbine blooms,
Or the wreathing vines were cast.
But there fell no age, and there rose no strife,
And there never was room for care,
Where grew the flowers of our dreaming life,
By the homes that we built in air.

Oh! dark and lone have the bright hearths grown
Where our fond and gay hearts met,
For many have changed, and some are gone,
But we build the blithe homes yet---
As men have built in the date-tree's shade.
Ere Egypt raised her fanes,
Ere a star was named, or a brick was laid
On the old Chaldean plains.

Even thus have they framed their towers of thought,
As the ages came and went---
From the fisher-boy in his Shetland boat.
To the Tartar in his tent.
And some that, beyond our azure, say
There are realms for hope and prayer,
Have deemed them but lingerings buy the way---
These castles we build in air.

News items.
A new Arctic expedition left the Thames on the
11th ult. with the view of making further investigations
as to the fate of Sir John Franklin.

The Hudson Bay Company have offered to pay the
expenses of Sir John Rae, during another summer, in
order that he may continue his search after Sir John
Franklin.

The English have demanded the annexation of two
small islands to their Ionian possessions. The Greek
Government, to whom they belong, has refused.

Three hundred torpid snakes, of all kinds, were
found in one cave near Murphysborough, Ill., on
Christmas, and were put in a box to be exhibited.

DISCOVERIES IN ABYSSINIA.---The Paris journals
state that Mr. Rocher d'Hericourt, who has lately
returned from a voyage in Abyssinia, brought with
him about a score of manuscripts in the Ethiopian
language, all of vast antiquity and great literary value.
They are folio in form, bound in red leather, with the
Greek cross and strange ornaments on the covers. In
some of them the writing runs right across the page,
in others it is in columns; in nearly all it is firm and
bold in character. Some of the manuscripts are on
history, religion, and science; one is a complete and
very curious treatise on the mysteries of eastern astrology;
and one, which appears to have been written at
the beginning of the eleventh century, contains a copy
of the Bible, which differs in some respects from the
ordinary version.

ANCIENT RELIC --- A few weeks since some workmen
were inspecting the roof of a house in Ringwood,
when they discovered between the chimneys a rush
hassock and a pair of cavalier's boots, such as were
worn in the time of Charles II.: they were in good
condition, and appear to have been taken off wet and
dirty. The high piece to protect the knee is ten and a
half inches deep, and twenty-two inches round. In
the year 1686 James, Duke of Monmouth, was at
Ringwood; is it probable that these belonged to him,
or any of the fugitives from his party? It is evident
that this solitary place was selected for concealment,
and the occupier must have got an aperture twenty
inches square, which was left to have access to the top
of the house. About this time, the unfortunate Lady
Lisle was beheaded for giving shelter to two of the
duke's party at Moyle's Courthouse, near Ringwood.

MEANS OF ARRESTING THE FATAL EFFECTS OF
CHLOROFORM.--- An eminent Surgeon of France relates
two cases in which the exhalation of Chloroform,
proved nearly fatal. He however succeeded in reviving
his patients, after all ordinary means had failed,
by placing his mouth upon theirs, and forcibly insufflating
the lungs by rapid aspirations and expirations.
A medical practitioner in Paris, states, that in two instances
of approaching dissolution by the inhalation of
Chloroform, he recalled life by thrusting two fingers
deep into the throat, down to the larynx and oesophagus;
a sudden movement of expiration followed, and
recovery took place.

An association has been formed in the city of London
Mechanics' Institution, to promote the practice
of decomposing the dead by the agency of fire. The
members propose to burn, with becoming solemnity,
such of their dead as shall have left their remains at
the disposal of the association.

A new novel by Miss Bremer is announced, entitled
"The Light House; or, Scenes in the North."

An illustrated edition of Longfellow's Evangelina,
has just been issued in London; it is embellished with
forty-five engravings on wood.

Sheridan Knowles has a theological work in press.

"A Voice from Danube," is the title of a forthcoming
book, purporting to give the true state of the
case between Austria and Hungary.

"Miss Martineau's last volumes," says the Gateshead
Observer, "have been burnt at Burton-upon-Trent, by
the committee of a local library (who have thereby increased
the sale of the work.) The fair heretic herself
must beware of Burton. Her 'burnt children should
warn her off the fire."

An office for the sale of German titles of honor, is
now open at Paris. A knightship may be had for 5000
francs, a countship for 20,000, and a marquisate for
40,0000 francs.

449

[*Enc. in: 1865 Mar? Fogy, A. to Lincoln]

72 THE LOUISVILLE EXAMINER.

The recent change in the British navigation laws is being adopted by other nations; Sardinia is the next that proposes to reciprocate the liberal policy.

The right of a sub-marine telegraph between England and France guarantees that this telegraph shall, by the aid of a single wire, and of two persons only (the one stationed in France and the other in England) be capable of printing in clear Roman type (on paper) one hundred messages of fifteen words each, including addresses and signatures, all ready for delivery, in one hundred consecutive minutes.

A letter from Venice states that a poor fruit-woman on the Rialto, enraged at a Croat who took her fruit without payment, loudly cursed the Austrians. She was immediately publicly flogged in the Piazza San Marco. She was covered with blood when the sentence had been executed, and cursed the Austrians again. The punishment was repeated; but this time she did not curse the Austrians--she was dead.

Napoleon's tomb, at Paris, was to have cost $100,000. It will really cost $600,000! The splendid red Russian stone, sent for in lieu of the red antique porphyry, turns out to be a sandstone, common in France.

So perfect were the Egyptians in the manufacture of perfumes, that some of their ancient ointment, preserved in an alabaster vase in the museum at Alnwick, still retains a very powerful odor, though it must be between 2000 and 3000 years old.

With a view to discourage gambling in Madrid, the names of all persons found in gambling houses by the police of that city are regularly published in the official gazette.

In France it has been determined to bring all juvenile offenders, convicted of first offences, up as agricultural laborers, instead of exposing them to the temptations of large towns.

They are much more liberal in England on postage affairs than we are. A single printed volume, without cover, and open at one end, can be posted to any part of the kingdom at sixpence a pound.

All the endeavors of the French emissaries to inJuce [illegible] the Pope to return to Rome have proved ineffectual.
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BROTHER JONATHAN,--General Washington placed great confidence in the good sense and patriotism of Jonathan Trumbull, who, at an early period of the American Revolution, was Governor of the State of Connecticut. In a certain emergency, when a measure of great importance was under discussion, Washington remarked, "We must consult Brother Jonathan on the subject." The result of that consultation was favorable; and the words of the commander-in-chief passed into a common phrase, applied indiscriminately by officers and men in all cases of difficulty which afterwards occurred during the war. Thus, from the constant use of the expression "we must consult Brother Jonathan," which soon passed from the army to the people at large, we received from the English that appellation which has stuck to us as closely as their "John Bull" to them.--Lift for the Lazy.
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WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR--Blackstone, in defining "purchase," says: "What we call purchase, perquisitio, the feudists called 'conquest,' conquisitio: both denoting any means of acquiring an estate out of the common course of inheritance. And this is still the proper phrase in the law of Scotland; as it was among the Norman jurists, who styled the first purchaser (that is, he who brought the estate into the family which at present owns it) the conqueror or conquereur. Which seems to be all that was meant by the appellation which was given to William the Norman."--Ibid
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KING WITLAF'S DRINKING HORN.
[From Graham's Magazine.]
Witlaf, a king of the Saxons,
Ere yet his last he breathed,
To the merry monks of Croyland
His drinking horn bequested;

That whenever they sat at their revels
And drank from the golden bowl,
They might remember the donor
And breathe a prayer for his soul.

So say they once at Christmas,
And bade the goblet pass;
In their bears the red wine glistened
Like dew drops in the grass.

They drank to the soul of Witlaf,
They drank to the Christ of Lord,
And to each of the Twelve Apostles,
Who has preached his holy word.

They drank to the Saints and Martyrs
Of the dismal days of yore,
And as soon as the horn was empty,
They remembered one Saint more.

And the Reader droned from the pulpit,
Like the murmur of many bees,
The legend of good Saint Guthlac,
And Saint Basil's homilies;

Till the great bells of the convent,
From their prison in the tower,
Guthlac and Bartholomaeus,
Proclaimed the midnight hour.

And the Yule-log cracked in the chimney,
And the Abbot bowed his head,
And the flamelets flapped and flickered,
But the Abbot was stark and dead!

Yet still in his pallid fingers,
He clutched the golden bowl,
In which, like a pearl dissolving,
Had sunk and dissolved his soul.

But not for this their revels,
The jovial monks forbore,
For they cried. "Fill high the goblet!
We must drink to one Saint more!"

----------

THE PROPHETS.
[From the Dublin Irishman.]
The Prophets lived not for one age or land;
The voice of Nature sounds on every shore--
Creation's page has scholars as of yore--
And every era has its prophet-band.
The "hallowed fire" which touched Isaiah's tongue
Still burns before Jehovah; and the flame
Which glowed on Moses' face is still the same--
The knell of Prophecy is never rung.
Earth now has spirits like to Plato's spirit--
The Christ was crucified--but not his hear;
'Tis throbbing here to-day. We who inherit
Great Shakespere's words may find his counterpart.
Nature, at intervals, renews her feasts,
And never will her rites want fitting priests.
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