refractory and insolent, the judge leaped from the bench, and kicked him out of doors; and then gave 'judgment by default.' The next was a case of suffrage, and decided that the place in which this great prerogative of freemen was to be exercised, was the township where one had his washing done.' The next, the case of a pig; two citizens having bought it in partnership. One insisted on killing said pig, and the other refusing; the former put his design in execution, and was sued. Judgment for the defendant, he having sent a breakfast of the sausages to the Squire on the morning of the trial. The last I will mention, was a Dutch case of crim. con., brought in from the country. Facts stared them in the face. Damages eight dollars, and all parties pleased. Alas! there were none of these cases among us, for there were no women. I remember the very first woman that ever came into the borough; a tailor's wife, from London. A thrill ran through the hearts of the community. It was a first ray of light upon chaos. I shall not soon lose the recollection of this event. I had walked three miles to get a sight of her, through the window, not being able to approach nearer, for the crowd. It was of a summer's evening, at Shoemaker's. She was playing at chess with one of my more pushing acquaintances. But alas! the caprice of human affections! Other women have since broken in, and this original mother, this Eve of Pottsville, is heard of no more, and missed no more, than is a ray from the bright sun, or a summer's leaf from the Alleghany. : This epoch of our village history is distinguished as the time of the Coal Fever.' Such fevers are exceedingly prevalent in this new country. Now it is a township in Maine; now city and town lots; now state rights and nullification; now negroes and abolition; now coal, now multicaulis and the soberest heads of the commonwealth have been demented under these influences. The demure Quaker, with whose very nature precision and dignity are incorporate, you might have seen scrambling on hands and knees among the legs of the crowd, or climbing upon their shoulders, and finally extricating himself, rumpled and flushed, for all the world like one of those rag-babies just from the hands of a raw student and his manequin, at the Ecole Medicine; and this to buy the stock of a new company, to be sold in the lapse of the year at five dollars for one hundred paid down. You may see him, now, with infinite trouble and expense, grub up from his field the worthless mulberry, laid in a year ago at six dollars the dozen. Nor does this fever, like the measles or small-pox, dismiss the patient with a single attack. He may take the infection several times during life. Should you ever fall into it, dear lady, the acknowledged specific (allow me to prescribe for you,) is a sweat-easy enough to be procured. You have but to lend me the money to speculate on, just when the fever is in its crisis. You will sweat before you will get it again. The basis of the Pottsville speculation fever was coal lands, combining lots in the borough, and lots in twenty projected towns; for town-making became a regular business operation; of all which, beautiful maps tapestried the walls of the hotel; though Nebuchadnezzar's hanging gardens were much less aerial than many of these lots. Some were found to lie upon the inaccessible ends of the mountains, with a vertical exposure; others were horizontal, indeed, and well watered and timbered, and but for the single circumstance of not having any terrestrial existence, independent of the map, were exceedingly convenient and ornamental. Bargains and speculations, baited with glozing words, now grabbled the unwary gudgeons, of whom two lines of stages poured out daily a new set, uncombed, unshaven, and unwashed, upon the pavement. It was pleasant enough to mark the first lessons of a novice. In he stalks, tosses down his portmanteau, enters his name, and stands prim and confident in the face of a map. He has been cautioned by his prudent papa, and is a little too wise to be caught. 'If you wish to purchase a tract,' says Mr. Blarney, now at his side, and his fore-finger on a distant corner of the chart, here is one I think I can venture to recommend.' A first rate property, I suppose.' Why, no, I can't say exactly first rate. There is one here, of Squire Ketchum's, acknowledged the best in the place; but except that, I take mine to be a little bit above any thing in this region. However, you had better judge for yourself; better people than you or I have been gulled.' And he retires. the You want to make a purchase, I presume,' said another, taking Mr. Blarney's place at the other ear, and putting his finger upon opposite corner of the map. Now here is a tract of mine, and unless perhaps Squire Ketchum's, down here at Port Carbon, I guess you will not find its match in Schuylkill county.' Squire Ketchum !' says the wary speculator to himself, noting the name in his memorandum; 'I must find him out.' He did so; purchased, and was bit, as the compéres had desired. I cannot afford to give you more than this one example; quite enough for NewYork ladies, who swop their bonnets. [A part of the manuscript, very much to be lamented, is here missing.] About this time, Mrs. Waddy kept a respectable boarding-house, with half a dozen of those who had come out at the fag end of the speculations, as lodgers; both parties at low ebb of cash. For, to confess the truth, the disease had now assumed rather a typhoid character, and the patient fell at last into total collapse. Several towns were entirely deserted by their inhabitants; some of which have been since re-peopled, and others have sunk into ruins, very interesting to antiquarians. Houses, even in Pottsville, became excessively abundant. I remember a friend of mine, whose tenant threatened to move out of the one he occupied rent-free, unless he would build him an oven. Mrs. Waddy's custom was, opening softly the door, then thrusting in diffidently her horrible face, to beckon out one of the lodgers, calling out his name, into the entry, at the close of each breakfast, to hold an inquest upon his purse a kind of post-mortem examination; and upon her success depended entirely the hopes of the ensuing dinner. I leave you to fancy the interesting group, on the approach of these trying emergencies; seated in silence around the table, now and then stealing a look at each other; and finally the general content and satisfaction, the doom being fixed, of those who escaped. 'Assensere omnes; et quæ sibi quisque timebat, The power which men possess of inflaming one another's passions, when acting in concert, in other words, of making fools of one another, forms a branch apart of mental philosophy. With great respect for Solomon, I beg leave to dissent in toto from his doctrine about the wisdom of multitudes. All modern experience, at least, goes to prove that the quantity of wisdom is inversely to the quantity of brains; and that multitudes are either discordant, or unanimous only in folly. I would suggest, with reverence, to Solomon, that the number of counsellors should not exceed two. I used to ride out daily with a gentleman of Philadelphia, and for six months in perfect harmony. We yielded to conviction, and the desire of truth only animated our debates, until at length we took up a Catholic priest. Then came pride of opinion, vanity of display, and I don't know how many other bad passions; and our delightful airings ended soon in a total separation. I wish I could persuade the republic to have itself represented by only two members, in very short sessions, and no admission to the gallery. You would not see North Carolina taking Louisiana by the nose in full senate, were it not for that infirmity of noble minds, the ambition of distinction. I wish I could persuade my readers to go always in pairs. If there is any such thing as a matrimonial quarrel, you will be sure to find a third person, expressed or understood, at the bottom of it. I refer you to the earliest history of our race, where there was the d -1 to pay by the intervention of a third person. Dear Lacedemonians! What a knack you had of laconism! I wish I could have lived under Lycurgus, and not General Jackson and Van Buren. I will try to be more brief. Pottsville, by a native vigor of constitution, has surmounted its youthful excesses, and attained a full and robust health; and I will not interrupt good humor, by farther recalling its follies and miseries. It is indeed the queen of villages, and has a right to set its head much higher than any of your vulgar, untravelled country towns. Its population (between four and five thousand) is perhaps the most various of the earth. 'Coiere nec unquam tam variæ cultu gentes;' thrifty Scotch, lying Welsh, Irish with more brogues on their tongues than their feet, and clever men and women, of all these castes, with our heavy and ignorant native Germans. If Jupiter would speak Dutch, he would be likely to express himself the very reverse of this part of our community. The Scotch and Welsh mine; the Irish labor upon rail-roads and canals; and the Dutch garden and farm. The Dutch girls usually turn themselves into village servants; healthy, awkward maids, and not very squeamish in their loves; loves which the tell-tale months often bring to the light; and peeping Curiosity has once or twice discovered a murdered infant in the mine. The Yankee pursues nearly all these businesses, variously, and is usually more efficient in what he pursues, and without deserving much praise, is less intemperate, less addicted to riot, turning out, and rebellion against authority, than the foreigner. There is a sufficient infusion, in this mixture, of gentility, both foreign and native; in residents, who have enjoyed the advantage of good literary and practical education; in women rich in beauty and accomplishments, and men of high enterprise and public spirit; some of an active benevolence, which no ingratitude of the world or injuries of fortune can repress, and whose merits would adorn the best communities of America or Europe. Joy and prosperity to those who have left us; prayers for the return of health, to those who are ill; and a tear to those who are no more! One there was, in wit almost divine, and so full of life it seemed he could not die; but the blind Fury came one day, and with her abhorred shears clipped his slender thread. May the cypress grow fresh upon thy honored grave, MCGREGOR, and pure maiden hands deck thee with the pride of spring! Centre-street is the dynasty of the shop-keepers, auctioneers, lawyers, and publicans; and when Saturday noon brings the miners out of the ground, they resort with their wives and daughters to this street, to receive their pay, and make their provision for the week; filling up the stores, taverns, and streets, and cheering the long night with a jubilee of feasts. The ale-house rings with its songs around the foaming tankard, and the dancing-room pours out now and then its music in jets through the windows. But a dark and heavy cloud at present broods upon the village: its spirits droop, its activities are benumbed. Is it for the sins of individuals, or the errors of government, that an entire community is thus cursed in the midst of peace, prosperous health, and fertility of the land! All human ills have, however, their infusion of good. The Temperance Society is proud of its new members; eleven hundred from the Catholic church alone! The ale house has become desolate, and the grass grows upon its threshhold. To rub ourself against the genteel world, is something of an honor, to say nothing of the pleasure. For this you must go into Mahantongo, or Market-street, or to the 'Orchard;' where a little group have made a heaven for themselves, and live in it apart. In these streets the élite of the village fashionables, in well-furnished mansions, at respectable distances, ('distances magnifiques,') with tasteful gardens, live their days and nights in undisturbed tranquillity; except that now and then an air from Signor Charivari, ground upon his handorgan, breaks in upon the deep silence; and occasionally a serenade at the window, from the guitar and soft complaining flute,' accompanied by sweet voices, is poured upon the listening ear of the night. Cornelia starts from her couch, as the shepherdess who catches halfdistinct sounds from the brow of a distant rock, and dissipates her dreams. She puts out one leg, then the other; then walks tip-toe, and raises the window slowly, as if hiding the noise she is trying to make; then throws her shawl over the horns of a chair, surmounted by her night-cap, gently fluttering in the wind, and retreats to her pillow. Mount-Carbon House lodges fashionables from abroad, who find here downy beds, limpid baths, and stables worthy the days of chivalry; with parks, pleasure-grounds, and gardens pleasanter far (at least to the present generation) than Armida's, or Ariosto's, or Milton's, or Spenser's Bower of Bliss; and to crown all, sumptuous entertainments, after the fatigues of pleasure or of business: Flora brings bouquets, Pomona strawberries, and Ceres pours cakes, and ice-cream, and Roman punch, upon the ladies' laps. Ramblings by the Tumbling Run I purposely omit, as too tender a subject for my present mood of mind. That silvery grove, preserved by a special Providence, which overlooks the village on the north; where you see a dwelling rude and gray, and lurking in the thicket, is PINE HILL, inhabited by one whom I should be most happy to recommend to your favor, and the only one with whom I would willingly share this advantage. Our friendship is indeed an instance, throughout, of extraordinary fidelity and disinterestedness. With the most opposite dispositions, we have been inseparable; inconstant in our affections, yet always faithful; deceiving, yet trusting still; in a word, without agreeing for an hour together, we have jogged on through this weary pilgrimage of life, having but one heart, one mind, one wish. We have even twenty times adored the same woman, without being jealous of each other. With his wife I am as intimate (I mention this with the strictest injunction of secrecy) as himself. But, see! the air is moist with the evening dew, and lengthened shadows fall from the tall mountain pines. I count the pleasure of your company among the peculiar felicities of the day. Indeed, the very mountain seems conscious of the delight of being sat upon by so smart and amiable a lady; and it is hardly without the expense of a tear, that I now bid you - - Good night! I DREAMED that at the dead of night my false one did appear, II. Then to the garden straight I sped, my myrtle sprigs to see, Which for a garland to my head I tended carefully; Then brake in twain my pearl-band, and ere I could beware, They rolled away midst earth and sand, and not one more was there! III. In pain and fear I sought and sought; in vain! how changed the scene! My lovely cherished myrtle-plot to dismal rosemarine ! What that night's vision did betide, fulfilled is long ago; IV. Now break, O heart! the ring is gone, the pearls, too, wept are well; |