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boy days; and the time was rapidly approaching when | quest. A verdict of death by some unknown means he had an opportunity of glutting his malice to the fullest extent.

was the result, although public opinion seemed to lean to the idea of suicide. The son however came to a different conclusion, but still suspicion fell upon no particular person.

Three or four months had passed away and the whole affair seemed buried in oblivion, when one day, in the presence of Benson only, I intimated my intention of setting out the following morning for the town of and he carelessly asked me if I would do him the favor to sell for him a tobacco note, which he had received in payment for some work. As I could see no sort of objection to so friendly an act I readily assented; my reader must be informed that tobacco was at that time a sort of currency and familiarly used in all transactions like money. I went to town, transacted my own business, sold the tobacco, and returned home and paid the proceeds to Benson. I thought no more of the matter until a few weeks after, when to my utter astonishment I was arrested upon the charge of having murdered the old gentleman above mentioned. My

who assured me that the evidence against me was irresistible, and sneeringly asked me how I became possessed of his father's tobacco? The truth flashed instantly upon me, that I had been made the dupe of a

One morning, about day break, in the month of February, 17-, I was crossing the country to my daily employment, in order to gain a public road, which led to the place of my occupation, when just as I struck the highway, my ear caught the rapidly retreating sounds of a horse's feet, and looking to my right I saw the figure of a horseman, just disappearing, at an angle of the road. I thought the figure resembled Benson's, but the view was so transient that I might be mistaken, and I deemed this the more probable because I supposed him at that time to be in another part of the county. I proceeded down the road in an opposite direction, and had not gone more than a half mile, when I discovered near a small thicket on the side of the road, the dead body of a man covered with blood. His hat was placed near him with some papers and his watch in it, and a pistol was slightly grasped in his right hand. At a small distance was a horse saddled and bridled and tied to a tree. It was impossible that the horse-amazement was considered well feigned by his son, man should have passed without seeing these objects, and I therefore supposed that he might have entered the public road at a cross one, which I had passed before arriving at the spot. I immediately recognized the body to be that of an elderly gentleman of the neigh-designing villain, and at once I saw the peril of my borhood, who was somewhat singular in his manners, but he was rich and not known to be unhappy, or under any possible inducement to commit so desperate a deed as self-murder. Upon further examination, I picked up the half burnt wadding of the pistol, and unfolding it perceived that it was a piece of calico, the figure of which was easily discernible; the propriety of its preservation however never occurred to me. I continued to hold it in my hand as I proceeded in my inquiries, and without thinking of it or intending to do so, I put it into my pocket and never thought of it again until some time after. I examined the ground, which was very hard frozen, but could perceive no other tracks than those of the horse which had belonged to the dead, and even those were scarcely to be seen. What should I do was now the question? I concluded it would be best to mount the horse and ride off as speedily as possible to the mansion of the old gentleman and give the alarm to his son who resided with him; I did so, and returned with him immediately to the scene. We made no other discovery which could lead to a development of the mystery; we went to the cross road spoken of, and saw the feint traces of a horse upon it as I had conjectured. The young man informed me that his father had determined the previous week upon a journey to the town of and probably had a considerable sum of money about him, but we could find none. His watch was a very valuable one, and would doubtless have been taken had he been murdered. The placing of his papers and his watch in his hat looked like a deliberate design, which could scarcely be imputed to an assassin, whose hurry upon a public road would have been too great for such deliberation. The pistol however he had never seen before. His father had frequently manifested some slight oddity of manner, but the son had never dreamed of such a termination of his existence. Upon the whole, the matter seemed to baffle conjecture, and so it appeared upon the coroner's in

situation. I replied that I had received the tobacco from Benson, and desired to be confronted with him, that I might see whether he would deny the truth of my assertion; the officer who arrested me, consented, as Benson lived in the village where the jail was, and accordingly I stood before him, searching every lineament of his dark countenance with an eye of fire. Did you not give me a tobacco note to sell for you several weeks ago? No, was his sullen reply. Villain, I exclaimed, do you dare to deny it? and I sprang upon him with all the violence of a man who saw the desperation of his situation, unless he could obtain a confession. I should certainly have strangled the scoundrel with my grasp, had I not been overpowered by numbers and dragged away to prison. My violence served but to confirm the suspicions of my persecutors, who saw in the workings of my countenance nothing but the evidence of vehement passions, capable of any atrocity. Left alone in my solitary prison, it may be well imagined how horrible was the train of my thoughts. I felt like some malefactor whose prison was on fire, and who saw no chance of escape from the irons which held him chained to the wall. What could I do? I had certainly sold the tobacco, and was known by the purchaser and could be identified; no one had seen me receive the tobacco from Benson; nobody had seen me pay him the money on my return. That tobacco, it appeared, was part of a parcel of notes which were known to be in the possession of the old gentleman murdered, and found to be missing when his papers were examined by his son, who was his executor and heir, and who resolved to watch in silence their sale as the clue to the assassin of his father. He had taken his measures wisely, and upon going to town some weeks after my visit to the same, he discovered that the note had been sold to a merchant, who, upon application, described the individual from whom he had bought it, and disclosed his name. Here was a chain

of evidence absolutely conclusive, even if I had not | great ones, and now that I had viewed my condition in been the person who discovered the body and gave the alarm. What would it avail to say that I had no such pistol as the one found near the body? It is always easy to procure materials which might lead inquiry astray. What object could I have in officiously disclosing the murder, and endeavoring to trace the murderer as I had done, in company with the son? The answer was easy; the more effectually to mislead the judgment. How corroborative of my guilt was the circumstance that no trace of another horse was visible on the spot! It would be vain to urge that the author of the deed might have designedly passed on the other road and have crossed to the thicket on foot, and having committed the crime might have returned to his horse on that road. Conjectures of this sort might have availed, had there been any corroborating circumstances to do away with the damning fact of my having possession of the note; but there were none. No one had seen the horseman on that morning but myself; Benson was supposed to be at a distance; nobody else was suspected. Could I refer to my character to screen me? It is true, it had been good since my residence in the county; but from whence did I come, and what was my standing in the place of my nativity? I could not hope for aid in that quarter: No, the death of a felon was inevitable!

all its possible aspects, and had become satisfied that there was no escape from my toils, I fortified my mind and resolved to bear my lot with a firmness which should at least exempt me from contempt. I was sitting with my wife on the evening preceding my trial, and was once more detailing to her the circumstances attending my accidental discovery of the body of the old gentleman murdered. I was at her request more minute than usual, as her mind was anxiously bent upon finding some clue to lead us from our labyrinth of difficulties. The circumstance of the half-burnt wadding of the pistol had until now passed entirely out of my mind, but the instant I mentioned it she started up and exclaimed, what became of it? I told her that it remained unnoticed in my pocket for a long time, but that at length I drew it forth accidentally one day and had thrown it into a drawer at home, which I described, not with any view of preservation, but simply to be rid of it. She clasped her hands and devoutly thanked God that there was yet a hope, and then solemnly addressed me thus: "My dear husband, I would not for worlds awaken a hope in your bosom which may be disappointed. I perceive the enviable state of calmness to which you have been brought by the goodness of God, but nevertheless a sudden thought has occurred to me which I will not reveal to you, lest it should exeite in your breast the same intensity of feeling which pervades mine at this moment. I must be gone; farewell until to-morrow; I cannot return sooner." So saying she hastened away, and I sought that repose which is so difficult in situations like mine. I did sleep however, and strange to say, my dreams were all that night of a character the most pleasing, and my slumbers were more refreshing than those I had for some time experienced. But oh! what were the thoughts which rushed upon my mind, when I awoke and returned to a consciousness of what was to take place that day? Those thoughts, rushing like a whirlwind upon me, have left an impression which can never be effaced while memory lasts. It is true, I hastened to get the mastery of my mind again, and trampled down those thoughts for the day. I bore me up heroically; I attended the summons to court with alacrity; I walked through the gaping crowd with a firm step and manly look, and repeated the "not guilty" with a clear and determined voice. All the horrible pageantry of a trial had passed; the jury were empannelled; the witnesses were sworn, and among them that son of Belial, Benson. The attorney for the commonwealth had recapitulated all the disgusting circumstances of the murder, and showed their necessary and unquestionable connexion with me; my counsel had risen to speak when a slight movement among the crowd behind me caused me to turn my head, and I beheld my wife making her way to the bar. She touched the elbow of my lawyer and whispered in his ear. He received something from her and then begged the court to excuse him for a few mo

Such were the thoughts which occupied my mind during the first night of my confinement! In the morning came my wife and child to see me. It is impossible to convey any idea of the deep sense of degradation I felt, notwithstanding my innocence at the reception of my family in a jail. My angel wife saw my pain and endeavored to soothe me by every means in her power; she assured me that she doubted not my innocence for a moment, and that she trusted in God for my deliverance. My child climbed my knee and asked me why I did not come home and what I staid there for, and repeated a thousand endearing little circumstances connected with home, which wrung my heart, and produced a feeling of bitterness which I had never known before. I caressed him fondly and promised to come back, and beseeched my wife to take him away, as I could not bear the agonizing emotions he awakened. I preferred being alone, as I felt even her company a restraint to me, while my mind was occupied so intensely with the contemplation of my situation. She wisely withdrew, but did not fail to return each day, to offer me all the consolation in her power and to provide for my accommodation, of which she saw me entirely regardless. I will not dwell upon what may be readily imagined. Day after day passed without the smallest ray of hope of escape from my perilous condition. I employed counsel, but had nothing to say to him but the repetition of my innocence, nor could he conscientiously offer me any prospect of acquittal. The examining court was held, and the result was what might have been expected. I was remanded to jail for further trial at the superior court, and spent two dread-ments. They readily consented to do so, and in that ful months of tedious restraint, though each day found me more composed and more prepared to breast the shock of condemnation. I have ever found this the case with me, that I have been impatient under the trials of life, as long as there was a chance of avoiding them. Small matters always harassed me more than

painful interval 1 rose and fixed my eyes sternly upon Benson, determined to watch closely his diabolical countenance. His eye quailed beneath mine, and an evident paleness came over his cheek. What had produced it? Had he seen what was tendered by my wife, or did his guilty soul simply tremble before the keen glance of his

I REMEMBER.

BUCKSKIN.

"Eheu quam minus est cum reliquis versari,
Quam tui meminisse."

I remember well when Love was young-
When bright'ning hopes were ours―
When the joyous harp was ne'er unstrung
Within thy fairy bow'rs:

Or if its notes would sometimes glide

Into strains of gloom and sadness-
Oh, then how sweetly thou would'st chide,
And bid me not my sorrows hide,
But to thy faithful breast confide-
Till the harp again,

In lightsome strain,

Poured forth rich streams of gladness.
Thou could'st not deem that my young heart,
'Mid scenes of hope and love,
Was cankered with guilt's poisoned dart,
Which time could ne'er remove-
Thou could'st not dream, thou angel one!

victim? In a few moments my lawyer returned, and | spot where once stood our school-house. Not a vestige addressed the court with a strong appeal to their feel- remained of it; the fine grove of oaks, beneath whose ings of humanity. He described the great peril of the shade I had so often gambolled, were all cut down, and prisoner, and the difficulties under which he labored in the broomstraw field was all washed by the rains into producing proof to rebut a charge which seemed to be frightful gullies. Just so had time furrowed my cheek corroborated by such strong circumstances, and said with the tears which had coursed them down, and I that he trusted the court would have patience and in-shuddered as I turned away from the scene of the condulge him in any effort he might make to establish the tests of a Benson and a innocence of the accused. He then stated the particu lars I have already related respecting the wadding of the pistol; its casual preservation, and its discovery by my wife in the drawer in which I had left it. He exhibited it to the court, and asked at their hands the immediate arrest of the witness Benson, and the detaining him in custody until a search could be made of his house, and that a warrant might issue for that purpose. He was willing, he said, to rest the hopes of his client upon the result of the investigation to be made, whether there was any thing in Benson's house from which the half-burnt calico could have been torn. It was staking all, he admitted, upon a desperate throw; but seeing no better chance, if the court would have patience to make the inquiry, and it failed, he would at once surrender the cause and give up the prisoner to his fate. The court of course assented. Benson was forthwith arrested; the warrant issued, and the officers of justice went to make the search, accompanied by my wife and my legal adviser. Who shall count the ages which rolled away while that search was making?—The time seemed to me an eternity. Hope was awakened, and I could not suppress the throbbings of my heart. The court seemed as still as death. I fancied amidst that awful stillness that every one could hear the pulsations of my heart. I tried every means in my power to be calm, but each effort seemed to increase my agitation. I listened for the sound of returning footsteps until I thought my heart would burst with the suspension of my breath. I turned my eyes again upon my foe, and he too seemed striving in vain to be calm. He seemed uneasy and restless. What was the cause? Was he indignant under suspicion? or was he fearful of detection? I could not reason; my senses were confused by the rapid circulation of my blood. At last the sound of coming steps was heard; the blood curdled at my heart, and I should have fallen but for the cry of joy which burst forth from my wife as she entered the court. "It is found! It is found!" she exclaimed, "and my husband will not die. He is innocent! He is innocent." In an old chest, covered up by a pile of lumber in Benson's shop, was found a counterpane, from whence had been torn the piece of calico, used in loading the fatal pistol. The figure corresponded precisely, and this, taken in connexion with my constant declaration, that I had received the tobacco from Benson, would have been conclusive against him, but in the same chest was discovered another pistol, the fellow of the one found in the hand of the murdered man. The testimony was thus so conclusive against him, that he acknowledged his guilt, and speedily suffered the penalty of his atrocious crimes.

Such were the baneful consequences which flowed from my education at an oldfield school, where the laxity of authority engendered every vice. In gallopping across the country lately, it was my fortune to lose myself, and to emerge suddenly upon the very

That he, whom thou hadst cherished,
Was doomed to see thy peace o'crthrown-
To walk this wilderness alone-
To mourn beside thy funeral stone-
To drag, with pain,
Life's heavy chain,

When all his hopes had perished!

E'en then, my soul, with restless gloom,
With dark forebodings fraught,
Was rushing, reckless, to its doom,

Urged by tormenting thought;
And when the harrowing tale was told-
The fearful mystery spoken-
How for the cursed demon, gold,

He, thy heart's chosen, his troth had sold,
Thy life's warm current was checked and cold-
While the faint-drawn sigh,

And the wild-glared eye,
Told that thy heart was broken!
With the murd'rer's mark upon my brow,
I'm doomed thro' earth to roam-
No kindly smile to greet me now-

For me,- -no peaceful home!
But in my darkest, dreariest mood-

My brain with anguish riv'n-
My clouded soul shall cease to brood
And batten on its bitter food-
All fiercer feelings be subdued--
When I think that thou
Art an angel now,
Pleading for me in Heav'n!

EREMUS.

DEATH OF MISS PATTERSON.

"They were the first on board, and sought first the one they most loved! Alas, the pale form was there, but the spirit that gave it light and animation had fled! Still the tokens of its

peaceful departure lingered in the sweet composure of her face; the brow was still written with thought-the cheek softly tinged with the dreams of her rest. They had come to greet her, to hear her speak and welcome her home; but the only office that now remained was to consign to the earth this beautiful relic;

with breaking hearts they dressed her grave on the banks of that stream where she strayed in her childhood, and where long the melancholy waves will murmur the music of her name." Colton.*

The ship had left the fair and balmy isles

That glitter o'er the soft Ægean sea

Had left Italia's sky of sunny smiles

Italia's bright and glorious scenery!

And hope's sweet smile in many an eye did stand,
As gallantly she bore towards their native land!

And there was one, whose bright and sunny eyes
Did sweetly beam with joyfulness and hope,
As in her fancy her fair home did rise,

And childhood's cherish'd scenes around did ope!
Sweet visions of the future-a vast throng,
All rainbow-tinted, danc'd her brain along!

She saw again her home-the lov'd ones there-
She heard again affection's accent bland-
She met the eye, with smiles soft and sincere,

And press'd again the long-divided hand!
And only wonder'd why she e'er did roam
From her heart's only paradise-her home!
Slowly the vessel reach'd its destin'd place,
And many a yearning heart awaited there,
To welcome with a sister's warm embrace

The gentle wanderer, so young and fair:
To print again the warm kiss on her brow-
To hear once more her tongue's glad music flow.
With joy to greet her, they were first on board-
Eager was every heart, and bright each eye:
And first they sought their lov'd one and ador'd,
With sweet anticipation's stream raised high.
But, ah! no bounding step nor gleesome tongue
Burst forth-but dark despair on every face was hung!

The pale and silent form, alas! was there

IMPROPRIETIES OF SPEECH.

BY SIMEON SMALLFRY.

There are some public speakers of talents and reputation, who pronounce the last syllable of words ending in ment, as if it were written munt: thus,-argumunt, agreemunt, &c.

In like manner, the letter i is often sounded like u; or rather like er: thus,—possubble, terruble, cituzzy'n (or citterz'n), Missourer;-for possible, terrible, citizen, Missouri. This piece of affectation is not confined to the vulgar.

A popular, and really strong-minded member of Congress, that I wot of, habitually says done, where he ought to say did. Thus,-"I done all I could"-&c. In the western states, they in like manner use seen for saw : thus, "I seen the Governor yesterday."

It is quite common to hear "insid-i-ous" called "insid-u-ous;" even in reading, where it is properly spelt.

Of all the letters in the alphabet, r is that which we in Virginia the most barbarously misuse. Sometimes, we sound it ostentatiously, where it does not properly occur at all; as after a word ending with a, before another word beginning with any other vowel. Thus, "Alabama-r-and Mississippi:" "Indiana-r-and Ohio." I have heard a right well educated and intelligent lawyer, meaning to call the name of Santa Anna very emphatically-pronounce it, "Santa-ranna." He would certainly call my fourth daughter, "Amelia-r-Anne." But the sin of omission is what we are most frequently guilty of, towards this letter r. Many words of which it is a lawful and efficient member, are so pronounced, that its presence never could be suspected from the sound alone. Thus, more, before, horse,-are called moe, befoe, hawce. And so in many other instances.

Who has not laughed over Major Jack Downing's grotesque assemblage of Yankee-isms? We Virginians, are apt to think our dialect singularly pure: but whoever will mingle freely, for a month, with all classes of our people, and vigilantly watch for, and carefully note down their inaccuracies of language, (including phraseology, syntax, and pronunciation); will find them not less numerous, or less glaring, than those which so raise our mirth or spleen, in our steady brethren "down-East." The seeming odiousness of such a quest after trivial imperfections, would vanish, if the seeker's aim were to inculcate a lesson of charity, by showing us, whilst we cry out against the mote in our brother's eye, that we have at least as thumping a one in our own. In truth, however, there are even stronger reasons why impurities of speech should be hunted out; especially, those, (called provincialisms) which pervade only this or that portion of our wide country; and mark, disadvantagestream--ously in each other's eyes, the people inhabiting those

All, all that gave it light and life had fled;
Yet smiles all heavenly ting'd her cheek so fair,
And seem'd to whisper that she was not dead!
But all, alas! were gone-the eye so mild and bright-
The mind so rich in gems of thought and light!

With sad and aching hearts they made her grave
Where she in childhood stray'd-by a fair
Where long the light and melancholy wave

Will murmur sweet the "music of her name."
Where maids will gather oft at evening's gloom,
And deck with flowers fair and bright her early tomb!

Winchester, Va.

E. M. H.

*The Rev. W. Colton, in his "Visit to Constantinople," has given a sweet and touching sketch of the death of Miss Harriet Patterson, daughter of Commodore Patterson.

several portions. Such little diversities are often the first and rankest food for local prejudices: at any rate, they are powerful auxiliaries to clashing interests and warring passions, in making discord more fierce, bloody, and unappeasable. As party names are useful, in giving a bodily form at which faction may hurl its missiles, and thus facilitating the indulgence of men's natural tendency to hate and revile each other,-so, differences of language are hostile badges, which guide, concentrate

and inflame local animosity; and, far more than "mountains interposed,"

"Make enemies of nations, who had else
Like kindred drops, been mingled into one."

The bar, the hustings, and the parlor, afford many such examples of elegance; "like orient pearls," and so forth. I have supplied only the thread upon which they are strung.

THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER.

BY JOHN C. M'CABE.

There is a memory as pure as angels' thoughts on high, Which starts warm drops from feeling's fount, and wakes a mournful sigh;

What made France and England "natural enemies;" so that their blood has dyed every sea, and fattened the soil of every continent, in both hemispheres, through a war of centuries? Not the "narrow frith" that divided them: not any real conflict of interests-for an enlightened political economy (thank Heaven!) is now beginning to show that apparently diverse interests are really sources of harmony; links of mutual dependence and mutual affection. No! it was the Frenchman's “parleyvoo-ing" with so many bows and shrugs; and John Bull's hissing, guttural, and rugged sentences, graced so plenteously with "G-d d-ns." The efficacy of this cause of international hatred was happily indicated by the English sailor, who, after a sojourn in some French town, said to a messmate, in a tone of the sincerest contempt,-"Now Jack, did you ever see such d-It comes when star-lit dews are bright upon the grass

fools as these Mounseers? Why, they don't know how

It comes so sadly sweet e'en now across my swelling
soul,

That every baser feeling sinks before its soft control.
It comes when sunset's rosy beam burns on the western

wave;

grown grave;

poises on its snow-white wing, like meek-eyed wand-
'ring dove,-

Oh, 'tis the holy memory of a fond Mother's love!
It bids me think of life's young morn, e'er sorrow's tears
had stain'd

My now wan cheek, or this sad heart by treachery had
been pain'd;

And oh! how recollection thrills at thoughts of childish bliss,

to talk! They call a hat, a 'CHOPPER' (chapeau), and It
a cabbage, a SHOE"" (chou)! Difference of mere dialect
is a greater cause of enmity than total difference of
language: partly, perhaps, because in the former case
every gibe, every invective, is fully understood, and
lodges its venom effectually in the heart; partly, be-
cause such near similarity of language implies relation-
ship, and relations, when at variance, are always the
bitterest enemies; partly, for the same reason that slight
differences commonly occasion the greatest animosities-
that a heretic is deemed worse than an infidel, and a
member of an opposite party in our own country, is
more hated than a foreign enemy. Some negroes of
Africa used to bear inextinguishable hatred towards the
monkey, because of his resemblance to themselves. They
thought he meant to mimic them. Possibly, our wrath
at a slight difference from ourselves, is heightened by our
thinking that the other party, being so nearly right, is
wilful and obstinate in refusing to be entirely right.

But whither am I rambling? I set out only to indicate a few errors in the Virginia dialect. To illustrate these yet further, let us embody them in part of a speech, which, without doing much violence to fact, we may suppose to have been made by a member of Congress to his constituents, in giving them "an account of his stewardship," on a county-court-day.

"While this terrubble to-do was making, fellow cittuzzy'ns,-I done all that was possubble under existing circumstances, to make the gentleman show his hand, and develop the insiduous game he was playing. I went to the Indiana-r-and Ohio members, and asked

them to tell me, if they could, what he meant by his

When every ill would melt away beneath a Mother's kiss.

It bids me turn to that sweet hour when first, a child, I

knelt,

And, taught by her, I lisp'd a prayer,—tho' young, e'en

then I felt

When her soft voice rose up with mine to Heaven's high courts above,

I

How holy and how pure must be a virtuous Mother's love.

It calls the parting hour back when from my childhood's

home

sped to seek a name 'mongst men 'neath science's classic dome;

When that fond Mother blest her boy, and kiss'd his then smooth brow

O, mocking vision of the past, how beautiful e'en now! launch'd my bark on Folly's sea; on Dissipation's coast, While Passion's breakers round me beat, had very nigh been lost;

But 'mid the tempest of the soul one beauteous star

above,

Came bursting through the mental gloom, it was a
Mother's love.

movemunt?-whether he was for kindling the Missourer question again, and giving the go-by to the sollum agreemunt that the north and south had come to, on that subject? As to his making the President a stalking-hawce | I sought again my Father's halls—no sound of joy was for his insiduous schemes, and just putting a great man's

there;

name in place of argumunt,-I told him he had done I heard my Father's deep full voice in holy fervent that once befoe, but he would never do it any moe; at

prayer

any rates, not to me. For I was too old a bird to be Cold funeral lights around the room their awful brightcaught twice with the same chaff. Yes, fellow cittuzz'ns!

ness shed,

I would be a subject of the Grand Seinor, or of I wildly shriek'd my Mother's name-my Mother! she Santa-r-Anna himself, befoe," &c. &c. was dead.

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