York. An affecting scene ensued. The son feelingly remarked the ravages which a torturing disease had made upon the aged frame of his mother, and thus addressed her :

"The people, madam, have been pleased, with the most flattering unanimity, to elect me to the chief magistracy of the United States; but before I can assume the functions of that of fice, I have come to bid you an affectionate fare. well. So soon as the public business, which must necessarily be encountered in arranging a new government can be disposed of, I shall has. ten to Virginia, and”Here the matron interrupted him, "You will see me no more. My great age, and the disfast approaching my vitals, warn me that I shall not be long in this world. trast in God I am somewhat prepared for a better. But go, George, fulfil the high destinies which Heaven appears to assign you; go, my son, and may that Heaven's and your mother's blessing be with you always."

POUGHKEEPSIE CASKET.

Luckly Missus was too much decomposed to at- lodgings or houses as a chapel! The parsons tend to it, but it will be a Warnin for the rest took the fees, allowing a portion to the plyers, of my days. O Becky its awful work when it &c.; and the tavern-keepers, besides sharing comes to sich a full unbuzoming and you stand || in the fees, derived a profit from the sale of li before your own eyes stript nakid to the very quors which the wedding party drank. In some bottom of your sole., Wat seemed the innocent- instances the tavern-keepers kept a parson on est things turn as black as coles. Even luv- the establishment at a weekly salary of twenty Most of the parsons near the Fleet vers look armless but they ant when all their shillings! kississ cum to fly in your face. Makin free with kept their own registers, in which (as well as in trifles is the same, Little did I think wen I give their own books) the parsons entered the wed. away an odd lofe it would lay so heavy. Then dings.' Some of these scandalous members of to be sure a little of Missus's tea and sugar the highest of all professions were in the habit of seams no great matter, partickly if youve a-hanging signs out of their windows with the greed to find yure own, but as I no by experience every ownce will turn to a pound of led in repentin. That wicked caddy Key give me menny a turn, and I made a pint as soon as the storm abated to chuk it into the botomless otion. I do trust Beeky you will foller my example and give up watever goes agin youre | conshins. If I name the linnin I trust youl excuse. Charity kivers a multitude of sins--to The President was deeply affected. His be shure its a charity to give a ragged shirt of head rested upon the shoulder of his parent, masters, provided its not torn a purpus, which whose arm feebly, yet fondly encircled his neck. is sometimes the case. Pray say the like from That brow on which fame had wreathed theme to Mister. But I mite as well have towld purest laurel virtue ever gave to created man, relaxed from its lofty bearing. That look which could have awed a Roman Senate, in its Fabian day, was bent in filial tenderness upon the

ease that

time worn features of this venerable matron.

I

The great man wept. A thousand recollections crowded upon the mind, as memory retracing scenes long past, carried him back to the paternal mansion, and the days of his youth, and there the centre of attraction was his mo. ther, whose care, instruction and discipline, had prepared him to reach the topmost height of laudable ambition; yet how were his glories for. gotten while he gazed upon her from whom, wasted by time and malady, he must soon part to meet no more!

The matron's predictions were true. The disease which had so long preyed upon her frame, completed its triumph, and she expired at the age of 85, confiding in the promises of immortality to the humble believer. Remember this story, little children. WashI shall ington, you know, was a great man. never expect to see any little boy become a great man who does not love his mother.

MISCELLANY.

From Thomas Hood's Tour up the Rhine.
A STORM AT SEA.

words, 'Weddings performed cheap here.' Keith (of whom we have already spoken) seems to have been a bare-faced profligate; but there is something exceedingly affecting in the stings of conscience and forlorn compunction of one Walter Wyatt, a Fleet parson, in one of whose pocket boooks of 1716 are the following secret (as he intended them to be) outpourings of re

morse:

'Give to every man his due, and learn ye way of Truth.'-'This advice cannot be taken by those that are concerned in ye Fleet marriages; not so much as ye priest can do ye thing yt is the ship to soot itself as my Misses. I verrily just and right there, unless he designs to starve. believe, from her wild starin at me she did not For by lying, bullying and swearing, to extort no whether I talked English or French. At money from ye silly and unwary people, you ad. last Martha says she we are goin to a world vance your business and gets ye pelf, which al where there is no sitivations. Wat an idear! ways wastes like snow in ye sun-shiney day.' "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis. But our superiors are always shy of our society, as if even hevin abuv was too good for servents. dom. The marrying in the Fleet is the begin Butler up at the Hall, he will take a Miss I noning of eternal woe.'-'If a elerk or plyer tells a lye, you must vouch it to be as true as ye Go pertickly as I hav drunk unbeknown wine a long with him, but wen yure at yure last pint pel; and if disputed, you must affirm with an oath to ye truth of a downright damnable false. wat is Port in a storm? Won minit yure a livin cretur and the next you may be like wickud hood-Virtus laudatur et elgetr. May God for. Jonas in the belly of Wales. The only cum- give me what is past, and give grace to forsake fort I had besides Cristianity was to giv Missus such a wicked place, where truth and virtue warnin witch I did over and over between her can't take place unless you are resolved to atiax. No wagis on earth could reckonsile me to a sea goin place.

*

MARRIAGES IN TIMES OF YORE.

One of the most notorious of these scandalous officials was a man of the name of George Keith, a Scotch minister, who, being in desperate circumstances, set up a marriage office in Mayfair, and subsequently in the Fleet, and carried on the same trade which has since been practised in front of the blacksmith's anvil at Gretna Green. This man's wedding business was so extensive and so scandalous, that the Bishop of London found it necessary to excommunicate

To Rebecca Page, at the Woodlands, near Beek- him. It has been said of this person and his

man Kent.

journeyman,' that one morning during the Whit-
un holidays, they united a greater number of
couples than had married at any ten churches
within the bills of mortality. Keith lived till he
was 89 years of age, and died in 1735. The
Rev. Dr. Gaynham, another infamous function.
ary, was familiarly called the Bishop of Hell.
'Many of the early Fleet weddings,' observes
Mr. Burn, 'were really performed at the chapel
of the Fleet; but as the practice extended, it
was found more convenient to have other places
within the Rules of the Fleet, (added to which
the Warden was compelled by Act of Parlia.
ment not to suffer them,) and, thereupon, many
of the Fleet parsons and tavern-keepers in the
neighborhood fitted up a room in their respective

starve.'

THE CONTRADICTORY COUPLE.

'I do believe,' he says, taking the spoon out of his glass, and tossing it on the table, 'that of all the obstinate, positive, wrong-headed creatures that ever were born, you are the more so, Char. lotte.' 'Certainly, certainly, have it your own way, pray-you see how much I contradict you,' rejoins the lady. Of course you did'nt contradict me at dinner time-oh no, not you !' says the gentleman. Yes I did,' says the lady. O, you did,' cries the gentleman; you admit that! If you call that contradiction, I do,' the lady an swers; and I say again, Edward, that when you are wrong I will contradict you—I am not your slave.' 'Not my slave" repeats the gentle. man bitterly; and you still mean to say that in the Blackburns' new house there are not more than fourteen doors, including the door of the wine cellar?' 'I mean to say,' retorts the lady, beating time with her hair brush on the palm of her hand, 'that in that house there are fourteen doors and no more. Well then, cries the gentleman, rising in despair, and pacing the room with rapid strides, 'By G-, this is enough to destroy a man's intellect and drive him mad!' By and by, the gentleman comes to a little, and passing his hand across his forehead, finally reseats himself in his former chair. There is a long silence, and this time the lady begins, ‹ I

196

ever any one of our people been convicted or break of day, the Chinese may be heard chant. appealed to Mr. Jenkins, who sat next to me on even tried for murder, arson, rape, blasphemy, ing the sacred books, and till late at night the the sofa in the drawing room during tea''Morgan, you mean,' interrupted the gentleman. same task is continued. Of one man it is re-adultery, &c.? Does your correspondent know 'I do not mean anything of the kind,' answers lated that he tied his hair to a beam of the house, of a single instance where any one of the Israthe lady. Now by all that is aggravating and in order to prevent his nodding to sleep. Anothelites has abandoned his wife and children and impossible to bear,' cries the gentleman, clench-er, more resolute, was in the habit of driving | left them a charge to the overseers of the poor?”

ing his hands and looking upwards in agony, 'she
is going to insist upon it that Morgan is Jenkins!
'Do you take me for a perfect fool?' exclaims
the lady; 'do you suppose I don't know one from
the other? Do you suppose that I don't know
that the man in the blue coat was Mr. Jenkins?'
Jenkins in a blue coat!' cries the gentleman in
a rage, and with a groan; 'Jenkins in a blue
coat! a man who would suffer death rather than
wear anything but brown! Do you dare to
charge me with telling an untruth?' demands
the lady, bursting into tears. I charge you,
ma'am, retorts the gentleman, starting up, with
being a contradiction, a monster of aggrava.
tion, a—a—a—Jenkins in a blue coat! What
have I done that I should be doomed to hear
such statements?'

Sketches of Young Couple.

AUCTION ELOQUENCE.

The Ladies' Companion tells the following among other anecdotes of a well known Auc.

tioneer:

an awl into his thigh, when inclined to slumber.
One poor lad suspended his book to the horns
of his buffalo, that he might learn while follow-
ing the plough: and another bored a hole in
the wainscot of his cottage, that he might steal
a glimpse of his neighbor's light.

They tell of one who feared that the task as.
signed him was too hard, gave up his book in
despair, and was returning to a manual em-
ployment, when he saw an old woman rubbing
a crow-bar on a stone; he asked her the rea- |
son; she replied that she was just in want of a
needle, and thought she would rub down the
crow-bar till she got it small enough. The pa-
tience of the aged female provoked him to make
another attempt, and he succeeded in attaining
to the rank of eminence in the empire.

Medhurst's China.

ORIGIN OF THE TURF BOGS IN IRELAND.

The writer then makes an appeal to us of the press: "I ask you if ever you have received an advertisement from an Israelite announcing that his wife had eloped, and cautioning the public not to trust the partner of his bosom ?"

SUNDAY.

The day in which the religious man settles his account with Heaven, and the worldly man set. tles his accounts in his ledger; in which the clergyman prides himself upon his new sermon, and his wife upon her new pelisse; which in oth. er countries is characterized by masses, homilies, operas, quadrilles, and fandangoes, and in this by prayer and pleasure, religion and rioting-going out without fear of molestation, and being 'at home to single knocks,' without the dread of their being the precursor of a dun or of a bailiff, and in which every person out of the pale of public

ence on a Sunday-finds some variation from monotony of existence, and makes up for the fag of the last six days, by laying up recollections to amuse the tedium of the six ensuing.

One day a shrewd son of the soil was sent to the house of a Yorkshire farmer upon his mas. ter's business, and, as the good old custom goes there, he had what is called a hearty drinking set before him; but still one part of the refreshment was a puzzle for Luke, being different from any thing he had ever seen before—namely, a whole Dutch cheese. How to begin to cut it Luke was at no small loss to imagine; the master, however, popping in just at the moment. Luke, in a tone of apparent simplicity, said, 'It's very like a foot ball this, measter; where am I to cut it?" "Cut it? why,' exclaimed the farmer, in the midst of a hearty crack of laughter, 'cut it where you like, my man.' 'Why, then,' responded Luke, with a smile, and putting the cheese under his arm, ‘I'll cut it at hoame, if ye please, measter.'

Formerly Ireland was a vast forest; so pow-life-for it is truly impolite to make any differ. erful was the vegetation there, that it was called 'the Island of Wood.' It is now almost destiA piano was up-"Ladies and gentlemen," tute of trees-and when on a fine day in spring, said he, "I beg your serious attention for a few it appears, although bare, full of sap and youth momets. If you look on the front of the piano ||—it seems like a young and lovely girl deprived you will find it to have been made by Osborne of her hair. It is not exactly known at what the lamented Osborne. It is seldom that an in- time and by what process this great destruction strament of this valued make is offered for sale, was effected. We may, however, be assured that and I therefore expect a brisk competition for it was before the Christian era, and probably at the one before us. You all know Osborne's a much more distant date. Some attribute it to He killed himself--and I an extraordinary inundation, which uprooted the melancholy fate. He was continually trees, levelled the forests, and buried them in will tell you how it was. exercising his genius in plans for the improve the bosom of the earth. Others, whose opin. ment of his instruments, and one night a glori-ions are better supported by scientific study, beous vision flashed upon him all at once, of some-lieve that the ruin of the forests was the result of thing so unique, so magnificent, that it would violent storms. When the lofty trees that covbe a wonder to the world-yes, sounds were to ered the country were compact and entire, they be produced by this new arrangement, so heav-afforded each other mutual support and protection against the violence of the tempests; but in enly in all their melodious softness, that the an gels in heaven would all throw down their golden proportion as man, requiring an open space for harps in disgust, and play upon Osborne's pian-his house and field, effected clearances here and there, the trees near those that have been cut os as an accompaniment to their celestial songs! Overcome by the overwhelming enthusiasm of down were without support against the fury of the thought, unable to support the ecstacy of the hurricane, and fell before blasts that were the idea, he leaped from a third story window, previously powerless; every ruin occasioned by a tempest produced a thousand others, rendered and, as you may suppose, made pianos no more! The verdict of the jury should have beenmore easy as they were multiplied; the work of destruction went on, and all the fallen trunks, Died of too much music! Ah, Mr.. am glad to see you! You are one of those who descending by the natural declivities to lakes and can delight the soul by the concord of sweet the mashy parts of the soil, were stopped on this sounds. Now just sit down at this piano, and liquid base, where, heaped one above the other, illustrate a little upon its tone, that its excellence year after year, they were mingled together, may be appreciated, and you will have the de. some preserving their natural form, others de licious satisfaction that you have not spent the composing into vegetable matter, until they forday in vain! There, isn't that superb? Now, med that spungy combustible substance, sometimes red and sometimes black, of which the vast turf bogs of Ireland are composed.

what is bid ?"

CHINESE PERSEVERANCE.

Among the Chinese, eminent learning is at tained only by great application and perseverance. The first years at school are spent in committing the canonical books to memory; another six years are required to supply the students with phrases for a good style; and an ad. ditional number of years spent in incessant toil are needed to insure success. Long before the

I

A small boy heard a preacher preach a sermon from these words: "Ye must be born again," which was frequently repeated during the dis. course. The little hearer paid strict attention to all that was said, and particularly to the textAfter he returned home he became melancholy, and was found weeping bitterly. His father tenderly inquired after the cause of his distress.The boy told him that the preacher had said he must be born again. "Well, my son replied the father, "why do you cry about it?""Oh, sir,” says the boy, "I'm so afraid that next time I'll be

a gal."

THE ABSENT PHILOSOPHER AT HOME.-The following anecdote is related of Lessing, the Ger. man author, who, in his old age, was subject to extraordinary fits of abstraction. On his return home one evening, after he had knocked at the door, a servant looked out of the window, to see who was there. Not recognising his master, and mistaking him for a stranger, he called out."The professor is not at home. “O, very well," replied Lessing; "I will call another time; and so saying, he walked composedly away.

25 11 2, Ohio; one of the United States. 3 18 11 13 14, Utica; a flourishing city, 4 14 10, Gas; a transparent substance. 52 15 17 14, Hosea; one of the books of the of the former place. Old Testament.

16 11 18 8, Kite; the name of a bird. 12 14 10 18, East; one of the cardinal points. 17 1 11 18 14 9 5, Epitaph; an inscription on a tomb-stone.

9 2 18 14 15 15 14, Potassa; the scientific name of potash.

On Monday evening last, at the residence of Mr. 15 13 5 12 14 18, Scheat; the name of a fixed Wing Martin, in the town of Dover, SAMUEL W. KIL LEY, of this village, in the 71st year of his age. He left star. here on Thursday last for a visit to Dover, suffered an 11 2 18 14, Iota; one of the letters of the apoplectic attack on Sunday, and died on Monday eve. Greek alphabet.

7 18 5 11 13 15, Ethics; a system of moral principles.

13 14 10 16 12 18, Casket; a repository for jewels.

14 1 13 15, Apus; a southern Constellation.
15 9 2 3 10 7, Spouse; a married person.
67 4, Keg; a small barrel.

17 4 2 18 11 15 18, Egotist; a disagreeable companion.

18 2 2 18 5, Tooth; a member of the body. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18, POUGHKEEPSIE CASKET, which would be valuable to every family in the United States, Tawners, N. Y.

Messrs. Editors: I send you the solution of the enigma which appeared in the last Casket over the signature of 'R. D.,' and likewise an. other of similar character, for which I request a solution by one of your many readers.

POUGHKEEPSIE CASKET. Solutions,-Pough. keepsie, Ohio, Utica, Gas, Hosea, Kite, East, Epitaph, Potassa, Scheat, Iota, Ethics, Casket, Apus, Spouse, Keg, Egotist, Tooth.

A SEMI-MONTHLY LITERARY JOURNAL.

VOL. III.]

DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF POLITE LITERATUre.

A TALE OF TRUTH.

BY S. G. ARNOLD.

POUGHKEEPSIE, APRIL 4, 1840.

determined to make respectable provisions for her. He accordingly placed her in a well-regu. Catharine was a sweet little girl, of|| lated family, paid her board, and provided for eleven years old, full of life and health, and her education. Here Catharine had every op. beauty, when the prevailing fever of 1812, in portunity for the improvement of her mind and its merciless ravages, deprived her of her pa. the regulation of her conduct, and was quite conrents, brothers and sisters, and left her a desti. tented and happy. Nor did her new friend for. Lute orphan. Her parents resided in this city, sake her here. He visited her frequently, talked || and though they were respectable, honest and with her, directed her education, and took an industrious, yet they were very poor, and the interest in her welfare little inferior to that of illness of the family swallowed up the little rem. parental regard. nant of property which existed in household furniture; so that Catharine was left without a penny, and what was still worse, without relaLves or friends on whom she could depend for support or aid.

Thus bereaved, and thrown upon the cold charity of a selfish world, Catharine was for a while altogether inconsolable. But she was a child, and possessed a light and buoyant dispo. sition, a heart susceptible of present impressions, and she gradually became less sensitive on the subject of her loss, and sometimes suffered her fine countenance to brighten with a smile, and her little tiny voice to ring with the notes of joy and mirth. For some five or six weeks after the death of her parents she found a sort of itinerant home in the families of the neighborhood and made herself useful by taking care of the children, going of errands, and doing such other work as her age and strength allowed. In this capacity she was often sent for water to a pump which stood near the entrance of the Navy Yard,|| where her beauty and good nature frequently attracted the attention of the naval officers, who took much notice of her, and often gave her little presents. She was one day tugging away at the handle of this pump, which she managed with great difficulty, when a man in military costume approached, and, struck with her extraordinary beauty, paused and spoke to her.

Perfectly, self-possessed, she replied in that prompt, unassuming, and artless manner, which always gives fascination and sweetness to the colloquials of a beautiful child, and he was so much interested in her that he continued the conversation. He asked of her home, of her name, of her parents, and Catharine, noth ng loth, related in her childish, innocent man. er, the little story of her life, and as she adwerted to the death of her kind parents, her dear ittle brothers and sisters, her voice faltered, and he burst into tears.

The Lieutenant, (for such in truth he was) ook her by the hand and endeavored to soothe

ner sorrow.

"Never mind, my dear," said he, "come along with me and I will be your father." Catharine brightened up at these words, and he Lieutenant walked with her to the house, where he collected such other information respecting her as he desired, and he immediately

|

[NO. 26.

and not that tender passion which binds together the hearts, and cements the very natures of the opposite sexes.

But the result did not disappoint his expectations. Catharine, with the advice of her friends, consented to the union, and they stood up, side by side, and took upon themselves the solemn obligations of the marriage covenant, admini.. tered by the stranger, and ere the "sun's low purple beams," shed their last mellow lustre on the heights of Brooklyn, the husband was on his way to the broad occan, and his young and beautiful bride was weeping in her chamber.

It was in this family that we first saw Catharine, and, though more than twenty years have since passed away, we can well recollect the impressions which her kindness and beauty made! Time rolled on—the arms of the republic had upon our childish faculties. Mr. G, the been crowned with success, and America was gentlemen with whom she boarded, had been a once more at peace. Catharine had matured to man of considerable wealth, but being reduced the very verge of womanhood, and in her ap. by a series of misfortunes to comparative pover-pearance had fully realized the promises of her ty, taught a select school for the support of his family, and we were among the urchins whom he inducted into the mysteries of spelling and reading, and well do we remember that the height of our felicity was to get a word and a smile from the beautiful Catharine.

She had remained in the family about a year, and had nearly entered on the twelfth anniversary of her birth day, when her friend, in one of his visits, brought with him a plain looking gentleman in black. Catharine was called, and the Lieutenant cxplained himself in a few words. He said that he had been ordered to sea and did not expect to return in two or three years, but that he had made ample provisions for her comfort and enjoyment during his absence-that he felt a deep interest in her welfare, and wished her to improve every moment of her time--that he had watched the developement of her charac. ter with much interest, and hitherto he had not been disappointed.

Catharine," continued he, and he held her hand as he spoke, "you are very dear to me, and I have done what I could to make you happy. You have been a good child, and I hope I have claims on your affection. Catharine wept. "O yes," said she, "you have been a kind friend to me, sir." "Well Catharine," continued he, "I must now leave you; but before I go I wish to confer on you such claims to my protection as will insure you the respect of the world; in short, I wish you to marry me-do you con

sent?"

early days, when her husband returned to the shores of his country, and landed (we think) in Boston. From this port he addressed a letter to his young wife, containing assurances of his continued regard, and a request that she would endeavor to meet him there, for his stay would be short, and his duties would not permit him to visit Brooklyn.

Accordingly, with a heart which had never swerved a moment from its tender obligations, she hastened to the place appointed, though with conflicting emotions of hope and fear, and with a painful uncertainty of the nature of her reception. Three years had passed since she took upon herself the obligations of the altar, and she knew not the changes which time had wrought in her own person or the disposition of the man whom it had become her duty to obey. But the sequel proved that they were worthy of each other. The meeting was full of tenderness and respect, and he, proud of his plebian bride, treated her with that courtesy and consideration which was due to her worth, and introduced her to the scenes of wealth and fashion, to which his rank gave him access, and to which Catherine had been a total stranger. But her stay was of short continuance, and three days from the time of her arrival found the wife on her way to this city, and her husband once more braving the billows of the deep.

But we must here disappoint our readers.-We are sorry that we cannot bring the narrative to a thrilling climax, but there happens to be All this came like a thunderclap to poor none such in the story, and we will not resort Catharine, who, young as she was, can hardly to the aid of fiction to invest it with additional be supposed to have thought at all of her novel interest. Catharine never saw her husband more. situation, and had certainly never considered Her farewell proved an everlasting farewell.to what her obligations would ultimately lead. The Lieutenant was taken ill during the crisis That she loved him sincerely and truly there and found his grave in the billows of the ocean. can be little doubt; but it was a love that flowed The kind attentions of his young and lovely wife from her gratitude, from a sense of the kindness soothed him not in his last illness, and Cathawhich she had received from him--it was the rine was early left to mourn in him the loss of a love of the child for a tried and valued friend, || father, a friend, and a husband.