8 xa THE NEW YORK

WEEKLY. #=-

 

 

IN WINTRY DEPTHS.

BY NATHAN D. URNBR.

 

In wintry depths, when the kindly snow
The waste of the season hides,
There are quict joys in the hearthstone’s glow
That are dearer than all besides.
Then, cuddled away by the ingle warm,
With a favorite book or two,
How pleasant the roar of the angry storm
As it shricks in the chimney flue.

While grandfather cozily eyes the clock,
As he pulls at his pipe alight,
Still rounding ever the latest sock
Gleam grandmother's needles bright.
The tins on the wall in the fire-light vie
With the firedog’s brazen knob,
While the green log sputters a quaint goed-by
As the tea-kettle sings on the hob,

The house-dog hunts in the haunted grounds
Of dream as he doses near.
While kitty halts in ber stealthy rounds
To frown at his high-cocked ear.
And perhaps a neighbor to chat drop#in,
As the little ones troop to bed;
While cheerier waxes the heart within
The louder the storm o’erhead.

This for a picture of evening cheer,
And the morning’s is likewise sweet,

When the air is crisp, and the barnyard near
Resounds with trampling feet;

When, thronging up to the feeding trough,
Press the gentle and soft-eyea kine,

And the rugged horses, with snort and cough,
In hurried, impatient line.

When the farm-boy’s knuckles are at his lips
As he answers the farmer’s hail,

And the milkmaid in from the dairy trips
With frothy and steaming pail

Oh, in wintry depths, when the kindly snow
The waste of the season hides,

Hore are quiet joys of the hearth, I know,
That are dearer than all besides.

Then up from the chimney the smoke-ringa go,
As the new morn kisses the earth,
And the frosted panes of the kitchen giow
With the cheery blaze of the hearth.
Enee-deep on the level, breast-high in the drift,
The snow-king may flurry his storm,
But honest labor and wholesome thrift
Can keep the homestead warm.

 

HISTORICAL SKETCHES.

The Wandering Continental Congress.
BY BENSON J. LOSSING, LL. D.

On Thursday, the 27th day of February, 1777,
Charles Thomson, the permanent Secretary of the
Continental Congress, made the following entry in
the Journal of that date: .

Fhe several matters to this day referred being
postponed, adjourned to ten oMane on Wednesday
next, to meet at the State House in Philadelphia.”

The Congress were then in session in Baltimore,
where they had assembled on the 20th of December,
1776, under peculiar circumstances. John Adams
wrote to James Warren from that city. ‘I wouid
send home my servant and horses, but Congress is
now a movable body, and it is impossible to travel
and carry great loads of luggage without a servant
and horses, beside the meanness of it in the eyes of
the world.” i

Washington, with a portion of the Continental
army, fatigued, foot-sore, and disheartened after a
hurried flight across New Jersey from the Hudson
tothe Delaware River, chased by a British army
flushed with recent victory, had crossed that stream
on the 8th of December. The goal of the race was
the Delaware, and so close were the pursuers at
times, that the drums of the British vanguard might
be heard by the rear guards of the Americans, The
patriots in New Jersey were passive in the presence
of the great danger, and a large number of the sol-
diers had left the Republican army in its swift pas-
sage through that Commonwealth. Panic prevailed
in that State and all over eastern Pennsylvania, for
it was belieyed that the British, led by the energetic
Earl.CornwWallis, would also cross the Delaware
and push on to attempt the seizure of Philadel-

phia, the chosen capital of the English-American
eague.

The Continental Congress shared in the general
alarm. Having the salvation of Philadelphia for
the chief object of his solicitude, Washington sent
the veteran General Putnam to take the chief mili-
tary command in that region, and to co-operate
with General Mifflin in casting up defenses around
that city. There was activity and excitement every-
where... It was evident that in the presence of im-
mediate danger, the Congress could not deliberate
with calmness ;so,heeding the advice of Putnam and
other military leaders, and the dictates of their own
judgments, the members resolved to adjourn to
Baitimore, in Maryland.

Meanwhile the Congress were energetic in pro-
viding not only for the present emergency, but for
future operations. They issued a stirring appealto
the people, in language eloquent with the spirit of
earnestness and patriotism; and adopted measures
for a statutory reoganization of the army, on a
plan which the commander-in-chief had proposed,
and urged with zeal. They offered liberal bounties
to soldiers whose terms of service were about to
expire, who should enlist “for the war,” for shor
enlistments had been the bane of efficiency in the
army. They also authorized a loan of $5,000,000, to
defray the expenses. Placing all the public arms,
ammunition, clothing, and stores in and near
Philadelphia, and all armed vessels in its harbor,
for the defense of the city, under the absolute con-
trol of Putnam, and delegating their executive
power toacommittee composed of Robert Morris,
George Clymer, and George Walton, who were to
remain in Philadelphia, the Congress, on the 12th
of December, resolved to adjourn to Baltimore,
to meet On the 20th.

The British in the chase, had halted at New
Brunswick, believing the American army to be so
shattered and dispersed, that it could do no more
fox the winter. Cornwallis provided for placing his
British and Hessian troops in cantonments along
the line of the Delaware, and at Princeton. Then
returning to New York, the earl prepared to em-
bark for England. ;

Washington’s force,in the meantime, under the
stimulus of offered bounties, had increased to about
ten thousand men before Christmas day. Then he

 

determined to make aggressive movements. Du-|t

ring the darkness of Christmas night, in the face of
a storm of sleet, he crossed the Delaware with
nearly half his army, battling the floating ice all
the way. That passage was made at a point a few
miles above Trenton, at which place Hessian in-
fantry and British horsemen were cantoned; and
early the next morning the Americans fell upon
and captured or dispersed them. This ion
brought British troops from Princeton. These
Washington flanked, and after defeating a detach-
ment of the army at Princeton, on a cold winter’s
morning at the beginning of January, he pushed
on to the hill country near Morristown, in New Jer-
sey, Where he put his troops into winter quarters.
He soon expelled the British from New Jersey, ex-
cepting at two points in sight of Staten Island.
These exploits had inspirited the Americans and
the Congress, and made the British more circum-

spect.

Before they left Philadelphia the Congress invest-
ed Washington with “full power to direct and or-
der all things relative to the department and to the
operations of war;” and_at Baltimore, before they
heard of his triumph at Trenton, they had, by reso-
lution, invested him virtually with the powers of a
‘dictator for six months. There, too, they completed
the great act which had declared the colonies to be
“free and independent States,” by ordering the fa-
mous Declaration to be printed with the names of
all the signers appended, and sent to the several
United States to be put on record. Before that time,
for prudential reasons, the names of the signers
had not been officially promulgated.

Perceiving Philadelphia to be secure from attack
the Congress resumed their sessions then on the
4th of March, 1777, and adjourned from day to day
until the 12th, when they proceeded to business.
There they remained until the middle of September
the same year, when Philadelphia was again threat-
ened by a victorious British army, under General
Howe. During the summer, -that general, in ac-
cordance with the suggestion of General Lee, had

roceeded .o the Chesapeake Bay. He landed at

“lkton, at the head of West Bay, late in August, and

invaded Pennsylvania. Washington pushed for-
ward to confront him and stay his progress. De-
feated in battle on the Brandywine Creek, on the
lith of September, the Americans fell back toward
Philadelphia, followed by the victorious British
army. The Congress, alarmed, resolved, on the 14th
of September, to fly to Lancaster, in the interior, if
necessary, and ordered the papers of that body, in
ease such an event should occur, to be conveyed
thither in wagons, under the care of one of their
members, and guarded by Pennsylvaniatroops. It
was during the session in Philadelphia, so abruptly
terminatéd in the fall of 1777, thatthe Congress, by
resolution, adopted the present device of stripes
and stars for the flag of the United States.

The Congress remained in session in Philadel-
re until the 18th of September, when, after they

ad adjourned for the day, the President, (John
Hancock) received a note from Colonel Hamilton,
of Washington’s staff, which intimated the neces-
sity for the legislature to leave the city at once. The

members were notified, and that night they fled to

 

next day. There they assembled on the 27th of Sep-
tember, the day on which General Howe entered
Philadelphia, in triumph. They did not feel per-
fectly safe there, and resolving to put the broad and
swift-flowing Susquehannah between themselves
and the enemy, they re-assembled in the court-
house at York, the capital of Adams county, on the
30th of September. There they remained until
after the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British
in June, the following year. ,

It was during the sojourn of the Continental
Congress at York that some of the most important
events of the old war for independence occurred.
Burgoyne and his army were made captives; the
alliance with France was perfected and proclaimed;
the American army passed a winter in terrible suf-
fering at Valley Forge: Baron Steuben was made
inspector-general of the Continental troops and in-
fused new life into the army; the conspiracy of
Gates for the place occupied by Washington had
culminated and been defeated; the forts in_the
Hudson Highlands had been captured by the Brit-
ish; a French fleet had come tothe aid of the Amer-
icans, and the British had fled from Philadelphia.

The President and some of the members of
Congress moet in the State House in, Philadel-
phia, on the 2d of July, 1778, and adjourned
from day to day, until the 7th, when a quorum ap-
peared. From that time until the Summer of 1783,
the sessions were held in Philadelphia, without in-
terruption. Then, insulted by mutineers whom
the Pennsylvania Council could not or would not
restrain, the Congress adjourned to Princeton in
New Jersey,

Hostilities had ceased, and preparations were
making for the final disbanding of the Conti-
nental army. The public treasury was empty, and
much back pay was_due to officers and privates.
Discontent appeared here and there; and eighty
soldiers marched from Lancaster to Philadelphia
to demand a settlement. At that city they were
oles by the soldiers in the barracks there, and

or three hours these mutineers besieged the door
of Congress and sent in insulting demands for im-
mediate payment. The call of the Congress on the
authorities of Pennsylvania, being practically un-
heeded, that body, in ema adjourned to Prinee-
ton, where they reassembled on Monday, the 30th
of June, 1783. They ordered all persons who had
been engaged in the late mutiny to be brought to,
trial, and full inquiry to be made concerning the
causes of the outbreak. Washington had sent
fifteen hundred ear’ to Philadelphia, who sup-

ressed the revolt. Several of the mutineers were
ried: by court-martial and sentenced to death, but
they were soon afterward pardoned.

‘the members of Congress were most cordially
welcomed by the inhabitants of Princeton, and the
sessions were held in a room in Nassau Hall, of the
College of New Jersey. To that place Washington
was summoned by the Congress, and on the 26th of
August they presented a formal address to him

nthe 4th of November following, they adjourne
Hto meet at Anhapolis, the capital of Maryiand, on
the 26th of that month, but there was not erie
for business until the 13th of December. The ses-
sions were held in the State House; and there, on
the 23d, Washington resigned his commission as
commander-in-chief, which he had received from
that body in June, 1775. In the same room the
Congress ratified the Definite Treaty of Peace, on
the 14th of January, 1784.

The Ponerees continued to sit at Annapolis until
the 23d of November, 1784, when ppey adjourned. to
New York city, where they reassembled in the City
Hall, on Tuesday, the 11th of January, 1785. They
continued their sessions there until the spring of
1789, when the Continental Congress expired. The
national government, under the new Constitution,
arose from its ruin and began its wonderful ca-
reer, On the 30th of April, 1789. George Wash-
ington was inaugurated the first President of the
Republic, then for the first time taking its place
among the powers of the earthasa nation, not only
inname, butin fact, The weak League of States was
dissolved. Europe acknowledged the dignity of
the new nation, and haughty Britain, perceiving its

ower, sent a minister here for the first time. The
1istory of the Continental Congress is one of the
most remarkable on record. At first they were only a
spontaneous gathering of patriots chosen to repre-
sent an oppressed people in a conference upon the
public welfare; but almost immediately it became,
by common consent in a time of common danger,
a legislative and executive body. with undefined
and almost unlimited powers. With boldness and
faith unexampled they snatched the scepter of rule
over a vast domain from imperial England, of
whose monarch they were subjects, and assuming
the functions of sovereignty, laid the foundations
of a free and independent republic. The course
ofthat Congress astonished the nations of Europe;
and when its important mission was accomplished,
it disappeared forever.

Josh Billings’ Philosophy.
ANIMILE STATISTIX.

Kats are affectionate, they luv young chickens,
yen kream, and the best place in front of the fire-
place.
Dogs are faithful, they will stick to a bone after
everyboddy else haz deserted it. ;
Parrotts are eazily edukated, but they will learn
~ ener well in haff the time they will learn enny
ing else.
The birds eat bugs, and worms for plain vittles,
but their dessert konsists ov the best cherrys, and
gooseberriesinthe garden. |
The pissmires are allwuss in a hurry, but alwuss
listen when they travel, just as tho they had forgot
sumthing. . 5 ;
The owl iz only a picture ov_wisdum bi dalite
when he kan’t see enny thing. When it cums nite,
hiz wizdum wholly konsists in ketehing a field
mouse, if he kan.
The donkey is an emblem ov pachunce, but if you
studdy them klosser, yu will find that lazyness iz
what’s the matter oy them. ; .
The rooster is called a game bird, but once whip,
heis whiptforever. |
We read about the wisdum of sarpents, but next
to the goose, they are the biggest phools in mar-
et

 

 

 

The eagle is the monark of the skies, but the lit-
tle king-bird will chase him to his hiding place, |
The ox knoweth hiz master’s krib, and that iz
all he duz kno or care about hiz master. |
Munkeysare immatatiff, but if they kantimmitate
sum deviltry they ain’t happy.

The goose iz like all other phools—allwuss seems
anxious to prove it. Jee

If mules are ever meek it iz simply becauze the
are ashamed oy themselfs, but mules are hibrid,
ain‘’t ackountable for anything.

The bees are a bizzy people, rather than be idle;
they will rob each other ov their hunny.

The kockroach iz a loafer, and don’t seem to liv
so mutch on what they eat, az what they kan git in-

0.

Duks are only cunning about one thing; they lay
their eggs in suteh sly places that sumtimes they
kan’t find them again themselfs. ,

The mushrat kan foresee a hard winter and pro-
vide for it, but he kant keep from gitting ketched
in the sylliest kind ova trap. 3

Hens kno when it is a-going to rain, and shelter
themse}ts, but they will try to hatch out a glass egg
just az honest az they will one ov their own.
Mudturkles are the slowest ov enny four-legged
kritters, and yet they are allwuss on the move, trie-
ing to git sumwhare else.

ornets hay moge fight in them than ennything
ov their size, but theré iz no method in their mad-
ness; they will pitch into a meeting-house when
they are furious, just az anxious, az they will intoa
Sleeping baby in its kradle. ;
The crow iz the most natral ov all thiefs, they will
steal. and hide, what iz ov no use to them, nor no
loss to enny boddy else.
Ants are the bizzyest ov all the little, or big bugs,
but a large share oy their time iz spent in repairing
their houses, which are bilt whare folks kant help
but step onthem. | :

Flies toil not, neither do they spin, yet ser 9 hay
the first taste ov all the best gravys in the land.
The cuckcoo iz the gratest ekonemist amung the
birds, she lays her eggs in other birds’ nests, and
lets them hatch them out at their leizure.

Rats hav fewer friends and more enemys, than
enny thing of the four-legged purswashun, on the
face of the earth, and yet rats are az plenty now, az
in the palmyest days oy the Roman empire. :
The skunk izasmall animal, yet he knows hiz
strength, more than an elephant duz.

Ov all things lazy the sloth wears the beltwand yet
hiz lazyness iz all thare iz interesting about him.

The frog Sota when it lightens, and the tud
gaps when the thunder bellows.

The kro bilds her nest ov stix, the swallo ov mud,
the squirrells ov leaves, the wren ov feathers, and
wool, and the woodpecker digs a hole for his eggs
in the rotten trees. : .
The sarpent and the krab change their clothing
each year, and the rackcoon livs all winter long on
the memory ov what he et in the summer. ‘
The horse allwuss gits up from the groundon his
fore legs first, and the cow on her hind ones, and
= dog turns around 3 times before he lies
own.
The kangaroo he jumps when he walks, the coon
paces when he trots, and the lobster travels back-
wards az fast az he kan forwards, ;
The fieais quicker than a ghost, and the snailand
the klam, would make good pall-bearers for the

oyster. ,

The elephant haz the least, and the rabbit the
most eye for their size, and a rat’s tale izjust the
length ov hiz boddy. :

The roof ov the thorobred dog’s mouth iz allwuss
blak, so iz the bottom ov the kats foot, who iz a good
mouser. ; ,
I never hav seen a blue jay’s nest, and the quail
has more pluck fn a fight than enuy thing that livs
ov hiz size.  ~ ‘ d
The spider iz the only kritter that ketches its

 

Lancaster, whither their papers were conveyed the

food inatrap, and asheep will liv without water

longer than enny domestik animal.

The fox iz the hardest to ketch in atrap, anda
muskrat the eazyest, and the meddo lark izthe shy-
est ov all the birds oy the air. BST

The crow flies 6 miles, and the wild pigeon 60 an
hour, but the humming bird beats all things on the
wing,

The horse will eat 10 hours.out ov every 12; the ox
lays down and chews hiz kud haff the time; and the
hog never knows what it iz not to be hungry.

The wild turkey kan run faster than he kan fly,
and enny man who iz a good walker kan tire a deer
out in 24 hours.

The oyster doubles hiz size twice every year, and
the duv and the bumble bee are the biggest when
they are fust born.

The rabbitt iz the eazyest, and the oppossum the
tuffest ov allthe small animals to kill, and thare
may be Sane amung the feathered race, but I kant
prove it. )

The vainest oy all things feathered or hirsute, iz
the peakock, until he lozes hiz tale, and the moet
subdued and humble iz the hen turkey. ’

The last place thata fox runs to when he iz hard
pressed, iz hiz hole; and the common hous fly haz
no infaney—they are allwuss full grown when we
fust see them, and all ov a bigness. |

The bedbug haz 4 times the kunning ov the mus-
keeter, and the yung lam and the puppy are az free
from guile as maple mollassiss.

The goose livs to be 75 years old, the raven az
long, and the butterfly hardly az menny days.

Rabbits, and rats, kockroaches, muskeeters, and
bedbugs are the most prolifick, and I think eagles
are the least so; buf the supply ov all ov them, thus
far, haz allwuss equalled the demand, t

I kant think, in konklushion. oy ennything just
now, in art, science, or morality, that mankind ex-
cel in, but what kan be found, more or less deyel-
oped, in the bugs, beasts, birds, and fishes,

 

POLITICAL STRIKERS.

—~nrtiah
BY TOMAHAWK.

 

Desperate men are never without followers. Com-
bustive characters will always attend a certain class
of pusillanimous people whom they can command
at will. «The number of satellites- which usually
surround such persons, isgenerally in proportion
to the audacity of the center to which they are the
peri phere :

The political striker who would be effective must

ave his henehman in various parts of the ward,
district, or county in which he is famous.’ He wins
them to his side in various ways; some unsophisti-
cated followers are dazzled by fair promises of petty
office, and the great numbers are held by the “priy-
ileges” they enjoy at “headquarters” in election
time. Some political strikers have, at such periods,
unlimited credit at no less than a dozen places on
account of a candidate for office, and it is needless
to say that the privilege is enjoyed to the full, for
the purpose of making the retainershappy. Should
any of his followers seem vacillating the striker
speedily casts them out of his ranks and fills their
P acés with fresh friends, who are more easily

ured by his plausible protestations. It is his am-
bition to occupy as much space as possible in the
public eye se that his name will be familiar within
the sphere of his schemes. is ’

He uses his friends and pod ualetamede as & means
of overawing any or all candidates by the import-
ance of the influence hewields; yet in the distribu-
tion of the spoils, the striker rarely ever remembers
the friends upon whom he made his exhibition of
political power. He takes care to ee he gets,
never forgetting, however, to assurethe committees
and candidates from whom he bas wrung money,
that it has been invested to good advantage amon
the boys; that it has been sown in splendid. soil,
and will bear abundant fruit on election Gar.

The class of strikers who manage to make their
way into beneyolent societies. or fraternities of any
kind, for the purpose of creating eons capital
by connection with them, is the most reprehensible
that I know of. It isquitecommon forsomestrikers
to belong toas many as a dozen societies and -or-
ders, and in their mean, mercenary transactions
EY OXF

  
   
 

ey 7D fail to state what influence they can
rawé Sich, sources,
In way they bring discrediton some excel-

lent organizations, and disgrace honorable, well-
meaning members of them. A bafiled.striker, one
who has been disappointed in the fulfillment of his
first schemes in the early part of a cumpaign, fur-
nishes an interesting study.
As election day draws near, and he feels his influ-
ence wanting, h® beconmies desperate, and does not
hesitate to berate both parties. He flounders ina
shallow sea of uncertainty; he is boiling over with
patriotism; prophesies that the country is going to
the dogs; thatsuch candidates are enough to work
its ruin; and in the midst of his desperation he casts
about him fo ir ndidate, generally some
one. overilow 28s lo notions of political in-
tegrity; and haying piacéd “another Richmond” in
the field, he soon beeOmes master of the situation,
and has sold-his:man. successfully. In the event of
a failure to find such a man for third candidate, he
gets a few of his own friends to tender him a “citi-
zen’s nomination,” and having reached that dignity,
he enters upon the triangular fight with a degree
of valorous bluster equal to that of the Swaggering
Pistol in the play, He is generally successful in
scaring down some one of the candidates, and
bringing hi g, or, I regret to say it. all our
politicians ary not emtowed with the highest sense
of honor which eaabied Flueilen to make his bius-
tering bully eat thesleek. and so some yield to the
stratagem, and pay the striker-candidate hand-
somely to withdrawfrom the fleld, which he does
with a loud flourish of trumpets in favor of Mr. So-
and-so0, and the interests of the party.
He forgets to statethe “considerations,” as real es-
tate men term it, forwhich he sold out, but the ward,
district, or county cpmmittee generally know, and
the much lauded candidate feels a certain sense of
*“goneness” in his purse over the fact. ,
This species of political disease spread its con-
tagion throughout the country_ with unusual ef-
frontery at the lateelection, and tosuch an extent
as to permeate andinfeet entire communities and
election precincts, making some ignorant persons
abstain from voting because they did not get money.
To them, it seemed their vote was something to sell,
forgetting that by doing so ae forfeited every
right of citizenship, and deserved to be ruled for-
ever after by the harsh hand of despotism, where
the right of franchise should be kept sacred from
their touch. 1
And what of the candidate in whose interest paid
political strikers work? Is he worthy the trust to
which he aspires? Can he consistently take the
oath of office without reflecting on the mockery of
which he is guilty?
“Just Allah! what raust be thy look,
When such a wretch betore thee stands
Unblushing, with Thy sacred book,
Turning its leaves with perjured hands!”

Honor and truth trampled under foot, and all for
greed; the lust of wealth and influence, and the de-
sire to seize opportunity torch and grow rich, be-
ing theactuating motives. What matters it that the
striker has been at workin the interestof such a
candidate with all his corrupting influences, lying,
libeling, and cheating, and using every other per-
nicious device possible? But toa nation that has
bought its liberties so. de and maintained them
through such trials there iggrave danger in all this,
The profession of & pifical striker must be
made 80 odious that the most depraved shall shrink
from it. It must be considered as bad to be a politi-
cal striker asatraitor. The pec radiag ena must
be shown in its true colors, oven as the Spartans
setthefr drunken slaves before their children’ to
show them how repulsive was drunkenness. The
hideous intoxication of political striking, bleeding,
or job-making, must be set forth, so that the veriest
criminal, by mingling in it, would feel that he had
reached a lower rung inthetadder of life than eyen
he ever imagined it contained. - ,
In the present conditionof affairs the politician
who enters the lists deserves all sympathy if he be
conscientious and honest; and even if he be not
he is to be commisserated. The striker will deal
with him just the same. He will shrink from no
iniquity to accomplish his purpose. He will stuff
ballot-boxes, steal them, commit perjury, repeat,
pr onate, or do any other election outrage under

eaven, if he is only paid for it. Has he not been
at war with the ten commandments ever since he
came tothe use of reason—his eyery act through
life a crime, his every wordalie to hideit? He is
active in workingmen’s movements, and if alabor-
strike is progressing anywhere in the neighborhood
he becomes a. leading spirit. at the_risk of being
kicked out by intelligent workmen. But men, asa
body, are very patient andthe striker—busybody
and all as he is—is tolerated even though his mer-
cenary motives are well know. He is the pest of
politics, and a standing soureypt danger to the re-
public. Although as a gene#™i thing the striker
does not seek political preferment, yet occasionally
there are those belonging tg their number who
arise to position, merely to disfrace our civilization
with a black blot that years cannot efface, Asa
class, however, the striker prefers playing jackall
to the pap ie lion.

Another dangerous species of striker, and one of
the most reprehensible and obnoxious outgrowths
of our politics is the female lobbyist, who sacrifices
even womanly virtue, and makes a parade of her
poor and pretty charms to become effective as an
agent of national wrong-doing. It is a crying
shame, that a patriotism which has saved and main-
tained this republic through the fiery ordeal of war
should remain insensible to the fact that such dan-
gerous and disgracefulinfluences are eating away
the vitals of the nation, and destroying the grand
fabric of freedom. :

What a spectacle it istosee women aspiring to
the dignity of ladies devoting their charms—natural
and artificial—their education, and their lives, to
the work of ‘“button-holding” legislators in the in-
terests of some scheme whose ulterior object is to
plunder the government. This is one of the worst

 

phases of political striking. Before we ery out
against Bult Lake and its iniquities, let us look at
this and kindred evils, that are equally disgraceful,
and tend to poison and enervate our government,
The quasi-respectability of the female lobbyist
tends to make her life a gilded lie, and she gives the
coup de grace to the vile work which the ward or
district striker often sets onfoot. —

In the first place the ward striker is instrumental
in sending corrupt legislators to the halls of Con-
gress, and secondly, the “fair” lobbyist finds him a
valuable target for her overwhelming charms. The
first sullies the stream at its source, the second
makes it muddier at its mouth,and 60 its turgid,
troubled contents rollinto the sea of political opin-
ion filled with political impurities,

“There is a moral of all human tales—
: Tis but the same SOngaren of the past:
Firat Freedom, and then Glory—when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption—barbarism at last;
And History, with all her volumes vast,
Hath but one page.”

Thus spoke Byron while musing over the destiny
i Rome, and doubtless contemplating the future of

merica. If we would avoid such a fate, let us cast
out political strikers and their baneful influences
from our midst.

 

NORTH POLE ADVENTURE.

BY P. HAMILTON MYERS.

 

 

When the renowned and eccentric Captain Hayes
invited my friend, Seth Taber, to join his expedl-
tion to the Arctic regions, in the summer of 1870, the
latter assented with great eagerness, Not that Seth
had anything to gain, more than his subsistence
and small pay, but he hada young man’s craving
for novelty and excitement, and just then he fan-
cied that he was very miserable, owing to a love af-
cane which had resulted in the perfidy of a beautiful

girl. $

Let me tell his story in his own words, as related
to me about two years ago, for Seth, although a
traveled man does not wield a pen himself.

I went with the expedition,” he said. “I shall
not re you a history of my strange journey; I
shall not tell you much about latitudes and longi-
tudes, but I shall simply narrate.a single incident
of our experience, which oceurred in: Baffin’s Bay,
where we had been ice-locked for months; where
the stn did not rise nor set for many weeks, but
circled about the horizcn, sinking a little lower
daily until only arim of its disk was visible, and
we had to climb the masts to get a vanishing view
of even that. It was all very queer, and the wisest
of us (not over wise) had to study our feography
and astronomy to make it all out, thou, our cap-
tain gave us informal lectures on the subject,

‘T’ll be blamed if Ican understand it,’ said Bill
Boson, an old tar who had listened with a puzzled
air to one of these harangues, and had examined a
diagram on the cabin wall, ebscuring it with tobac-
co-smoke as he did so: ‘ Here’s the ’arth and there’s
the sun, or at least the edge of it; now what the rea-
son is that he can’t rise and set as he used to do in
York state, instead of fooling around there, is more
than T can tell or Bagods else I guess.’

“When the great luminary had disappeared en-
tirely for several weeks, this same sailor showed
great uneasiness and would listen to no more dis-
courses on astronomy.

‘You think that ere sun will come back agin, do
you?’ he asked, one day.

» YES.
““Idon’t! It’ll never come back! It don’t stand
to. reason, and if ’d known how things was goin’ to
be I’d never have come on this fool’s errand. It'll
jes grow darker and darker here until it’s pitch
night; then where’ll we be?’

*“We shall have the moon. and the stars, and the
aurora borealis.’ q

‘Oh yes, part of the time; them ain’t daylight,
though. I don’t like it. Jack Halyard says (he’s
got a’stronomy book, too) we’re living almost on
the Me top of the ‘arth, and that’s what’s the matter.
Maybe we'll slide down and off; who knows? I
don’t like it.’

‘Tam ashamed,” contined Seth, “that I amused
myself with Bill’s fears, pretending to believe in
them at times and even exaggerating them toa con-
siderable extent. But there was cause enough for
alarm, aside from any doubts as to the physical
course of nature in the due return of Spring and
summer, for the weather was intensely cold, the
ice-blockade seemed permanent. and there was no
positive certainty that one season or even two would
thaw us out.

“Vain hope! He was close at hand. H :
enter, and his huge head was quickly at Git nponk
ing and protruding through it, forcibly but showly.
as if it found some wuction. I took out my

knife, now my only weapon, and opened it with
teeth, for my fingers refused all service, but thered.
wide-opened jaws, now S90 very close to me, ly
seized my hand, and wrist,and knife e
feb I stopped and hesitated where and

r .

“The situation was terrific. Iste 1 back ;
head advanced, followed by the dele a ee
one paw, while the other seemed to be doubled un.
derhim. Istruck feebly with my knife, and aloud
roar followed, but the beast did not advance nor re-
treat, and then the idea flashed upon me that he
was stuck fast in the small hole into which he had
30 eagerly crowded. Here was a gleam of hope
and I struck again, He only roared and dodged
his head aside; thenI was sure that he was fast,
and I took courage and plied my knife more yigor-
ously, keeping clear of his distended jaws, and aim-
Ree could do I d

atever I cou © I must do quickly. Hi
warm body was already melting the snow and A
aggur d him, and he was thus enlarging the orifice
ich as yet held him fast. A vigorous bound
might bring him through.
Tagain aimed at one of his eyes, but althoughmy
hands were now warming to their work, it was no
easy matter te reach those terribleorbs. I tried his
neck, and although my knife-blade went in it was
without seeming effect; but as he turned his great
head on one side, revealing the cord-like artery, I
athered all my energy and made a thrust at if—a
eep, Slashing eut! The life-blood poured out and
spouted over me,and I knew that my work was
done, and drew back into the hut to rest. ~

“It was done. I poured forth thanks while the
brute poured forth his blood, roaring loudly at first,
but with a bellowing which soon diminished in
volume, until it sank to feeble groans. When I had
rested from my great fatigue, I went to him {pity-
ingly, E must say), but I cut his other artery and
naRened big. eb + ‘a es

ow to get out of my prison was the next.prob
lem. Icould not move the great cer on
fearfully cold, and I had to run and jump to regain
my warmth and vitality. But I was sure that some
of my friends were, by this time, in search of me
nor was I mistaken, for the captain and neatty all
his crew were out on the quest. I a heard their

 

shouts and made them hear mine; and.our reunion
was not long postponed. You may no if was
joyous one, and that the adventure was fully an
minutely discussed around the great carcass, which
&8 SO ovigdgntly dead, when they at last came up,
that mney ¢ id not consider it necessary to re-shoot
or stab him before dragging him out of the hole
into which he was so tightly wedged. <5
“‘Bome of the men had brought dogs and sledges
with them for a probable emergency, and on oné of
these sleds the prize was easily dragged to the ship,
accompanied by the noisy cortege, who made the
winter air ring with their shouts.
,. Of course it belonged to me,” continued Seth,
and I afterward had itsskin prepared and stuffed,
and sold it to the Navy Yard museum in Brooklyn,
wnere it now stands, grinning horribly and some-
times frightening visitors who come suddenly near
it. I cannot look at it myself without recalling the
terror with which it once inspired me.”

———_>-@<+____

A St. Louis MAN, who occasionally absents him-
self from his fireside, without being able to sat-
isfactorily account for his whereabouts, came home
with a shamed look the other morning, shortly
after daylight, and slunk into the presence of his
wife, who noted that his appearance suggested a
comparison with that of a dissipated cat. ““Why
where on earth have you been?” she asked, notie-
ing that his hat was dinged, and his clothes dirty
and spotted here and there with dampsawdust. “At
the lodge. We had a very—{hicl—a very important
meeting—lots of fun—I mean very serious bus—
thic}—business; and didn’t adjourn until an hour
ago.” The wife smiled sarcastically as she said,
“At the lodge, eh? Is your lodge-room sprinkled
with sawdust? Are the members dragged around
the floor until they tremble with nervousness, and
eannot speak without hiccoughing? “Ah, John,
you have pleaded the lodge excuse once too often.
Your appearance indicates that your lodge last

 

 

 

“One day we were watching for seals (Ben Boson
and I) about two miles from the ship where we had
shot one, and were hiding behind a hummock of
ice for others to come up through the air-holes,
which they themselves had kept open, breaking
through them from time to time to permit of their
emerging. ’

“Tt seemed cruel business, but we thought it
sport, for it gave us a pleasurable sort of excite-
ment, besides which we were credited on the ship’s
books with a small sum for each one that we
brought in, and I gave my share to Ben.

“It was daylight, or nearly so, although there was
no sun, for the twilight of the first few weeks is
about the same as day. We had spent an hour or
morein this employment, thickly wrapped in robes.

night was a bar-room or the station-house,”

SHE WAS TOO SECRETIVE.

BY MAX ADELER,

“T know she loved me secretly,” said Mr. Ford,
telling me of his courtship of a Miss Brambk. over
at Hare’s Corner; “but somehow I could never get
her to confess it. Itried to work on her feelings
with presents, but she baffled me. She used to say

 

 

 

and caps, and rubbers, and taking an occasional
run on the ice to keep our blood in circulation, and
Thad just missed my third shot at a seal, seeing the
wounded or frightened game disappearing under
the ico, when we me suddenly aware that we
were hotaloneinoursport. | ;

“Pherewas another hunter in the fleld, who was
by no means hunting seals; he was after us, know-
ing very well that we could not retreat under the
ice as the seals had done, and thus escape him. Ben
and I made the discovery almost at the same mo-
ment that a full-grown white polar bear was with-
in thirty rods of us, making such rapid and direct
approaches that there could be no doubt of his in-
tentions. = she

“There was only one ithing to be done; so we
did not stop for consultation, but started and ran
of course toward the ship, which we considere
under gf? circumstances our ark of safety. Butit
was fully two miles distant—quite too far to be
gained ahead of our fleet-footed enemy, and Bill
was decidedly ahead of me in the race.

“Bruin knew his prey—he made for me. Un-
fortunately, I had just discharged my gun, and
there was no time to reload it with my benumbed
fingers. Ithad been hard work at the best, even
with abundant leisure to effect it. I could do noth-
ing but throw it away, as it only incumbered me,
and I gained some time in this way, as my unrea-
soning pursuer stopped a full minute to examine

““When he had tossed it aside and renewed the
chase, I heard Ben calling to me, and saw him
point, without stopping, toward some old, long-
disused esquimaux ice-huts, which were consid-
erably nearer to us than the ship, and which we
had often seen and examined.
“We knew them to be empty, and that two of them
were entirely frozen up, while in the third, the door
(a-block ofice) only partly filled the entrance, for
we had once crept through the passage to explore
the interior.
“I did not hesitate. My case seemed quite hope-
less on the first alternative, and nearly so on the
-other ; indeed, I think the bear himself so regarded
it, for he did not seem to exert himself, but came
on with a long steady or°: doubtless, measuring
the distance, and the st@ps necessary to overcome
it, quite as accurately as if he had been a land sur-
veyor.

oT now threw off my outermost overcoat, and at
this also the enemy stopped and sniffed, while I in-
creased my 8 , how directing my course to the
ice huts. The panting beast paused only a few

-
cr

she hated gew-gaws and flummery; she was fond
of useful things; and so my first present to her was_
a coal-seuttle—galvanized iron. When I handed it
to her she gave akind of a smile, and I thought she
was going to thaw, but she didn’t. So the next day
I brought her round a coupleof bars of soap, and
a fine-tooth comb. At first limagined she was zo-

ing to fall into my arms and cry, overcome by emo-
tion. But no; it was only her foot that tripped on
the carpet. She took those tokens of affection as
calm as astatue. They never touched her a parti-
ele. The next time I thought maybe I'd fetch her
with sixteen feet of India-rubber hose, with a brass
nozzle to squirt on the flowers inthe garden. But
she held in, she restrained her feelings, she never
let on. once. She grabbed those sixteen feet and
passed them out of the back window, with no more
manifestation of a wildly beating heartthan if she’d
been a clam. : ta
“It puzzied me like thunder. Blamed if I knew
how I could break the ice. I took around a pair of
tongs and a couple of gridirons, but they neyer
fazed her. I offered her a three-legged skillet and
& washboard, butit was no use. She had more self-
control than any woman [ever saw. I wentthere
nally with a molasses jug and three or four flat-
irons, and the only display of romantic interest
that she made was to ask me if I considered her an
infernal fool, and when [told her of course I didn't,
she upped with the flat-irons and heaved them
through the sash, and she chucked the molasses
jug over under.the sofa. But she never said right
out that she loved me; kept repressing herself,
putting her emotion under a safety-valve, so to

speak.

“O. I took her lots of things; cabbage-slicers,tack-
hammers, oe yn DS. sausage-machines,
soap-stone griddies. slop-buckets, dust-pans, dish-
cloths, jelly molds, whalebones, hooks and eyes
legs of mutton. recipe-books, butter crocks, and
ever 50 many articles, which would have stirred up
most women, but she was too bashful to own up;
her feelings were too sacred to be revealed even to
me. §o one day I drop in with a _biue and yel-
low door-mat and a dutch cheese, When she saw
me coming she seemed to be afraid she might give.
way and unloose the torrent of her passion, so she
flew out of the room making some remark to some-
body in the entry about ‘idiots.’ I didn’t catch the
drift of the conversation. Blowing up the servant
irl I s*pose, And directly in came the old_man.,
nd the first thing Ae did wasto kick me. Never

 

seconds this time; and I could plainly hear his
breath, as well as his steps, which were remarkably
uniform in sound. :

“He still gained rapidly, I believed my last hour
to be at hand. In not say that I was afraid; I
was terrified—horrified beyond description, and I
praved as only dying men pray. d
“Bruin was at my heels, certainly not thrice his
ow length distant, when [ came to the first of the
huts. The others, alas, were too distant to reach,
and this was not the one we had squeezed into.

a got behind it, interposing it between myself
and the foe; who, of course, attempted to reach me
by re ng around it. Here a new kind of race began.
and as I kept nearer to the periphery of the circle
than he could_do, owing to the great length of his
body, I think I gained a little advantage.

“After this had gone on long enough to become
monotonous, he suddenly turned, and went the
other way, thinking probably, with a brute’s un-
reason, that that. must be the shorter route. Of
course, I followed his example, and so the chase
went on.

“At last he stopped, and seemed to reflect, after
whieh he made a quick leap toward the top of the
low hut or hummock, scrambling up awkwardly
through the deep snow but gaining the broad apex,
where he looked down upon me with very evident
triumph.

“T was now clearly in his power, for he could de-
scend at any point, but when at the next moment,
he attempted to do so, he slipped and rolled to the
very base ol the hut, where he was for the moment
so imbedded in the snow that he could not instant-
ly extricate himself. ,

“IT took advantage of this mishap to start and
run toward the next hut, haying gained a little
breathing spell, and as I reached this hoped for re-
fuge ahead of my enemy, I ran around it to dis-
cover the entrance into which I had once crept,
but which was now filled nearly to the top with
drifted and frozen snow. g

“TI did not know whether I could get in. I did not
know whether 1 ought to, for if I could enter, per-
haps the gaunt bear could follow. But being cold,
numbed, and nearly exhausted, there seemed no
other chance, and with the aid of both hands and
feet I made an opening, and crawled through,
hoping to fill up the aperture with the loose snow
and hide it from the enemy.

 

 

said a word, mind you. but just walked near me,
lifted my coat-tail and kicked me like thunder!
Then he slung the blue and yellow door-mat into
the street; then he grabbed the cheese and smash

it over my head, until I smelt like a glue factory.
and then he chucked me down stairs, [ve never
been -there since. I love Mary too much to fight
with the old man. Ithought may be she’d write to
me, but she has not, and its queer, too, fora passion
oe she nee 7 oy be killing her by inches,

on’t you thin must?”

Thad an opinion about that woman’s love, but TI
didn’t express it. Ford ‘ll go round there again
some car aan the old man ll puta load of quail
shot in h

 

Two Splendid Books.

G. W. Canurton & Oo., of Madison Square, have
issued “TtaROWN ON THE WORLD” and “PEERIESS
CATHLEEN” in book-form, and they are for sale by
every news agent and bookseller throughout the
country. Price $1.50 each. The millions of people
who read and admired the above stories when they
ran through the columns of the New YoRK WSEELY
years ago, now have the opportunity of procuring
them ina neat bound form, and can add them to

their libraries.
—_———__>-0+—____—

A rrzax of fashion has forced to vanish into thin
air the hopes of a Baltimore inventor, and sent his
business skyrocketing “up in a balloon.” He con-
trived an ingenious air-bustle, which caused the
female form to assume a graceful undulating ap-
pearance, and gaye the dress an artistic curve. He
invested all his capital in the manufacture of this
article; and just as he expected to Beap 4 large
revenue from his enterprise, lo! the caprice of we-
man changes the fashion, and the business of the
Baltimore inventor and his unsalable bustles col-
lapse.

 

ES — a

 

et me fete

 

 

 

 

is

 

 

 

 

 

pace
*