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_He will smile through the night from Ais dazzling
_With her valleys and bowers, her altars and towers,
- Fort Washington on the Hudson river, I
388
‘ - [written for Dodge's Literary Museum.)
THE LUNATIC.
BY JAMES G. CLARK, TENORE OF O8SIAN’6 BARDS.
(The following gem is worthy the fame of Moore.]
“Tuer tell me I'm mad, but my heart is more glad
- . Than tbe hearts of the thoughtless and gay, *
For it dwells ‘in the past, where the blight and the
blast
Of the present are driven away.
‘Lean sing thee a lay of a happier day, .
I can smother my spirit’s dark strife,
_And tell thee a tale of the sorrows that veil
“My soul from the Pleasures of life.
We 1 wander tonight where the misty moonlight
Steals down like a dream from the éky,
And the voice of my song, as it munuurs along,
Shall revel in raptures gone by—
Recalling those hours of music end flowers
Which youth in its sunshine hath worn,
_Ere they fled to the grave with the being ‘who gave
A hue to the giory Imourn:
He will list tomy voice when the bright stars rejoice,
And the moon o'er the silver cloud rolls; :
height
Tn the region ‘of ransoméd souls.
“They tell me I’m wild, but my woes are Leguiled
With visions far purer than they,
For I roam in a light where the darkness and Dlight
Of this life are all banished away.
.O! a beautiful place is the world, with her face
Unveiled in the smile of her
Where the fect of lost ages have tr
But I long for the earth, where this body had birth,
To claim its poor ashes again,
And I love the deep gloom going down to the tomb,
Where my heart’s only treasure was lain.
Whea day’s dying hour giveth forest and tower
A splendor more brilliant than noon,
I muse by a grave where the sun-gilded ware
- Awaits the mild glance of the moo!
J view the warm sun till his Journey is run,
And his fiery eye dimmed iu the sea,
And memory brings one who went down like the
sun,
Leaving earth with its shadows to me.
Yet I feel his deep eyes when the golden stars rise,
And the moon through the silver cloud rolls, |
And his vision moves bright o’er the glories of night,
* In the kingdom of sinless souls.
-And I feel that his, love by the pure streams above -
Never foldeth its pinions to rest;
For I know that the grave chains the body, a slave,
- That the mind may with freedom be blest.
[Written for Dodge's Literary Museum.}
‘Items in the Life of Grant Thor-
coos burns No. 8,
’ BY HIMSELF, NOW 41 YEARS OF AGE.
A Tale of the Sugar-House Prisoners.
I one day. observed a tall, respectable-
looking gentleman enter the Sugar-Llouse
yard. Qn his head was acovked hat, a few
‘dozen snow white hairs gathered: behind,
and tied with a coal black ribbon. ‘ On his
arm hung, not a badge, nor a cane, nor a
sword, ‘bat a handsome young ‘woman, ar-
rayed in white garments, both neat and
clean, her skin like the lily of the valley,
_and her cheek tinged with the rose of
Sharon. This was his daughter Mary. He
had brought her two hundred miles, to see
the place of her father’s sufferings. .
‘Being strangers, I asked them into my
house, and ere we parted I heard the bis
tory of the Prisoner.
“ When the Americans,” he began, “ held
belonged to a company of light infantry
stationed there on duty. The American
army had just retreated from New York,
and Sir William Howe determined .to re-
duce Fort Washington, if possible, it being
the only post we held at that time on York
Island.
“ Our detachment was short of provisions,
and we knew not where to get a supply.
strongly suspected of favoring the British,
by giving them information, &c. Some of
our officers resolved to satisfy themselves,
and if they found their suspicions just, to
make a prize of his stores, as our troops
were much in need of them. From prison-
ers, and from clothes stripped from the slain,
we had always a supply of British uniforms
for men and officers.
“Three of our officers put on the red
coats and walked to our friend’s store. The
color of their uniforms was a passport to his
best affections, and’ to his best wines.. ~The
glass went round ; royal toasts were drank ;
and our officers being now sure of their
man, I was one of a party who went’ next
night to ease him of his stores. That mat-
ters might pass quietly, we again put on the
British uniforms.
“On arriving at the store, we informed
friend B. that the army was in want of
his stores, and as we had no time to make
an ‘inventory, fearing we might be inter-
cepted by the Americans on our return to
camp, he might make out his bill from
memory, present it to the commissary in
New York, and get his pay.
“The storekeeper looked rather ‘serious
at this wholesale mode of doing business,
but the wagons being loaded, remonstrance
was in vain. In less than an hour we were
on the road to Fort Washington.
“ Our friend, suspecting the trick, alarm-
ed the British out-posts; in fifteen minutes
we heard their light horse in pursuit; but
they were too lato—wwe got ‘safe into the
Fort.
- “The Tory had his revenge, however,
for in three days thereafter, our fortress was
stormed by Gen. Kniphausen on the north,
Gen. Matthews and Lord Cornwallis on the
east, Percey and Sterling on the south. So
fierce and successful was the attack, that
many were slain, and upwards of two thou-
sand taken prisoners, most of whom, with
myself, were lodged i in this Sugar-House
“| jail
“Tt is impossible,” continued the prisoner,
“to describe the horrors of that dungeon of
despair. I made several attempts to escape,
but always failed. *
“ At this time I became acquainted with
a young man, the wretchedness of whose lot
tended, by comparison, to alleviate my own.
Ile was kind, brave, and intelligent. Many
a long and weary night he sat by my bed of
straw, consoling my sorrows, and beguiling
the hours with his interesting’ history: -II
was’ the only child of wealthy and doting
parents, and had received a liberal educa-
tion; but, despite their cries and tears, he
ran to the help ‘of his country against the
mighty.’ His parents lay near to his heart,
but there was one whose image was graven
there as with the point of a diamond.
“IIe, too, had the fever, and was nigh
unto death.
“¢My friend, “he would say to me, ‘if
you survive this deadly hole, ‘go tell my
parents and Eliza, I perish, breathing the
most fervent prayers for their happiuess.’
“I tried to cheer him by hope, feeble as
it was; and the crisis being over, he began
to revive,
“ One day we stood by a window, inhal-
ing the fresh air, when we espied a young
woman trying to gain admittance. After
placing something in the hand of the senti-
nel, she was permitted to enter. She seem-
ed like an angel of life in the ‘chambers of
death. “After gazing eagerly around for a
moment, she flew to the arms of her recog-
@
There lived oa the Turnpike, within a mile
of our post, man who kept a store well
supplied with provisions. This mah was
nized lover. It Was Eliza!
“ The scene was affecting in the extreme
Dodge's Witerary Tascam.
and while they wept, clasped in each
others’ arms, the prisoners, and even the
iron-hearted Ilessian, caught the infection.
“She told him she had received his let-
ter, but not knowing how to return an an-
swer with safety, she had traveled through
perils by land and perils by, water, to See
her Ifenry.
“This Hessian sentinel had served us our
rations for months past, and was almost con-
sidered a friend. Eliza, who now made her
home with a relative in the city, was daily
admitted. The nourishing daintics © she
brought in her pocket, together with the
light of her countenance, which caused his
to shine whenever she appeared, wrought a |
cure for him as if by miracle.
“ His parents arrived, and were admitted
by the help of gold and the kindness of our
Hessian sentinel.
“ A plan for escape was arranged. The
Hessian’s turn of duty that night was from
twelve to two o'clock. ‘The signal was giv-
en, when Henry and I slipped out.’ We
crept on our hands and knees ‘along’ the
back of the Middle Duteh church.
“We met the parents and Eliza at the
gate of the Scotch Presbyterian church in
Cedar street. In a few minutes we were on
board of a boat, with two men and four oars,
on the Hudson river. Henry. pulled for
love, I pulled for life, and the men pulled
for money. In thirty minutes after leaving
the prison, we stood on the Jersey shore.
“Tn a week or two thereafter, Eliza was
rewarded for all her trials with the heart
and hand of Henry.
“ They now live at Elizabethtown, N. J.,
in a comfortable and happy state, with a
nursery of olive plants around their table.
Ispenta night and a day at their house,
last week, recounting our past sorrows and
present joys.”
. Thus the old gentleman concluded, simply
adding, that he himself now enjoyed a full
share of earthly blessings, with’ a grateful
heart to the Giver of all good. ,
The Jersey prison-ship, once a sey enty-
fourin the British Navy, was another slaugh-
ter-house for the American prisoners during
the war for Independence, She was moor-
ed on the Long Tsland shore, opposite New
York,’
Sixty years 280, T often came in contact
with one. and ‘another ‘of these mutila‘e]
patriots. “Many tales of suffering and sor-
row I heard from theirlips... Their ungrate-
ful Country never repaid their services, and
their sufferings were set at nought, many of
them dying in the alms-house.
Gen. Eaton spent his fortune at the take
ing of Tripoli. The Government never re-
paid him or his heirs. Report says he died
in the alms-house in Boston. Commodore
Truxton, who won the first naval. victory,
died in the poor-house. . Gen. Lincoln, of
Baltimore, was murdered by a mob; he was
placed under a pump and drowned by the
political infernals; his crime was, being a
Federalist.
It’s only foreign patriots that we model
Republicans delight to honor. It’s a fact,
beyond all controversy, that in the winter of hi
1852, when Kossuth and his sturdy beggars
were faring sumptuously every day. at the
public crib, the Coroner of. New York city
reported five deaths among our own Poor,
in the street, for want of food ! ,
ne ee
AnTI-TEMPERANCE ITURES. ~The
bdinburgh (Scotland) liquor trade have
engaged “Mr. Edmund Hamilton to deliver
a course of lectures to prove that total ab-
stinence js unscriptural and impracticable.
(Written for Dodge's Literary Museum.]
Precocity.
OnE evening, recently, I was lying upon
my bed, engaged in perusing “James's
last,” when my mind was withdrawn from
an intensely interesting passage by the con-
versation of two boys, aged five years, who,
with the injunction to “go to sleep,” had
been put in a “trundle” in the room I oe-
cupied.
The boys were cousins. One had been
born at the South, but came North to spend
the summer. Ie I shall call ‘Arthur, the
other John—out of respect to their parents,
who are still living.
“ Do you know, Arthur, that if you tell
a lie, God will strike you dead?”
“No; will He?” inquired Arthur.
“ Yes, to be sure,” says John.
“What! done dead?” interrogated Ar-
thur. : a
“Yes,” persisted John.
“Will he. do° it before my ° mother
comes?” inquired Arthur, anxiously.
“Well, I don’t know as to that,” answer-
ed John, who evidently felt disposed to be
as lenient as such an aggravated case
would admit of; “but Zz think you had bet-
ter send for her!” JEEMS.
New Titles.
We are tired of “honorables!” . We
know so many honorable and ex-honorable
erson3, whose lives are practical bur-
lesques ‘on the titular dignity, and whose
habits and conduct so completely ex-honer-
ate them from all suspicion of honor, that,
upon the whole, we are inclined to think it
is a distinction more meritorious in the loss
than the acquisition. Besides, we “all are
honorable men,” so that the distinction iin-
plies no difference from the commonality.
We aresick of “esquire!” It has become
the tail after the nite At that remote
period when—as we are informed by cer-
tain philosophers—the human race’ was
adorned with tails, it was right and natural
to, he proud of the appendages ; ; but'when x
the progressive monkey also achieved atail,
man_ forsook ‘the caudal charm, leaving its
use to his aspiring rival. Since that time
he has not found need to resume. it—find-
ing himself quite attractive enough without
it’ des, it is only Every body” who is an
“ esquire.” No American has any claim to”
the title
» As to captain, major. colonel, ‘and gener-
al, they are titles “ run into the ground ”—
too cheap to be of value—so very familiar
that their prevalence has engendered a gen-
eral feeling near akin to contempt. ‘The
mean nothing, i in fact. It is folly for Savy -
the joiner to attempt to impose himel? up: up-
on us as Captain Snug, or for Bully Bottom
to swell himself into. ‘surreptitions import-
ance as General Bottom. | All the world
knows that they are only Snug and Bottom,
after all—™. Y. Sunday Times.
British Ignorance.
A curious illustration of the low state
of general knowledge—what we should call
the “common branches” of education~in
Great Britain, is afforded in this fact :
“ Among four hundred young men, who
lately sought Government employment, on-
\y thirty could pass the following examina-
tion, viz: To write a good business note;
take down a paragraph from a standard au-
thor from dictation; write out the names of
the different counties. in England ; and ex- +
ibit a. knowledge of the four first rules of -
Arithmetic. . Of the incompetents, it. is
said that the majority were off-shoots of the
aristocracy, and not of the middle class
hom Cobbett used'to conjure to ‘turn
away their eyes from Somerset House.’”
i
RELIGION + IN Carirornia,—In_ the
city of San Francisco, of which so,imany
hard things have been said, there are twen-
ty chureh congregations, “embracing nine
thousand members As religion is attended
to, vice gradually diminishes.