XXIX "The kindness of a friend is not And so, the murderer reached the shore, XXX "He leapt upon his steed and flew, Quoth one, who marked his flight, 'When the boat was swamp'd in the heavy fresh, And the ferryman drown'd, last night?' XXXI "The ferryman died last night, friend, And the boat lay high and dry,And well I know no steed can ford, When the river runs so high.' There was fearful sense in every word, And the murderer's brain grew wild, For still he heard, for evermore, The cryings of a child. XXXII The cryings of a child he heard, And a voice of innocence Then a pleading note and a prayer of doom, To the awful Providence. And, ever and anon, a crash, Like the sovran thunder, came,And he shut his eyes, for out of the wood, There leapt a flash of flame. XXXIII "There leapt a flash of flame, and so, And the blood grew cold in his bosom, when XXXIV "He had no thought, but in a swoon, For a goodly hour he lay; And the gathering crowd came nigh, and strove To drive his sleep away. And while they wondered much, he woke― His eye glared strange with light,-For the face of the murdered man, again Peer'd down upon his sight. XXXV "Downward the eyes of the murdered man Peer'd ever as he lay; And with fury then the murderer rose, And he drew from his bosom a deadly knife, And, with no let, he ran, And plunged it deep in the breast of him XXXVI "He looked like the murder'd man no more, For as, with the stroke he fell, The madness fled from the murderer's eyes, XXXVII "Twill soon be done, for the Judge is there, And they read the doom of death ; And he told the tale of his evil life, With the truth of a dying breath. They hung him high where the cross roads meet, And they left his farther doom, my child, XXXVIII Upstarted then that listening boy,- XXXIX "Out, out, my child,--was it right to tell And they had no word to comfort her, And paler her cheek grew, day by day,-Till the cruel grief, ere a year had gone, Had eaten her heart away." DEAF SMITH. no name at all, the Harvey Birch of Texas, is known by the simple soubriquet of Deaf Smith -, his christian name (which I do not remember to have heard) being obsolete in speaking or writing of one who has rendered many signal services in the struggle for Texian independence and liberty. He is (I suppose) about forty five years old, of very muscular though not robust proportions, a little above the ordinary height, with a face deeply bronzed by severe exposure, a calm, and not very unusual countenance, except the eye, which when "in the settlements," or in the social circle, indicates by its keen, searching glance, just enough to give the bungling movements of the inert Mexicans, and tarried just long enough to greet his family and refit his party, beore he sat out on another expedition. Several friends who had gone from the United States to see the young republic, joined him. They could not have found a better pioneer. As the party took leave of us, and moved off in fine cheer, I was struck by their appear. ance, and we mutually wondered if they would be recognized at home in their present caparison. Each was mounted on a mustang (Deaf Smith's horse bore evi dle, consisting of the bare tree, with a blanket or great coat girted over it, Mexican spurs (the shank about from one to two or three inches long)-bridles of ponderous and very rank bits-a Mexican gourd swung from the saddle bow-holsters--a pair of pistols and bowieknife in the belt, a rifle on the shoulder-a mackinaw blanket rolled up encroupe-a cabarrus or rope of hair around the horse's neck (with which the animal is hobbled while he grazes at night)-a Sumpter mule either following or driven a-head, laden with supplies of salt, sugar, liquors, a small camp equipage, cooking implements, &c. &c. for the campaign. warning of the intrepidity and energies of the spirit that slumbers within. He is a native of the State of New York, and went to Texas about the year 1822 in very feeble health. His constitution was soon renovated by the effects of a good climate and active exercise. He married a Mexican woman by whom he has several children. He is a man of limited, plain education, speaks the Spanish language well, is a close observer of men and things, thoroughly acquainted with the manners and customs of the Mexicans and with the topography of Texas and its frontiers. At the com-dent marks of superior breeding), with a Mexican sadmencement of the revolution, he resided in the town of San Antonio or Bexar, on the San Antonio river, and about the period of its capture by the Mexicans, removed his family to Columbia, on the Brazos. He has been engaged, and with distinguished coolness and courage, in most of the hard fighting that has occurred in Texas, happening always to "drop in" as by chance, just on the eve of battle, though he was never regularly attached to the line of the army. He has the entire confidence of the President and cabinet, and indeed of the citizens of Texas, with authority to detail such men and munitions as the dangerous and irregular excursions (in which he is continually engaged) require. On these excursions, he is accompanied by some twenty five or thirty picked men, well equipped and mounted, who are generally commanded by a captain, who in turn is commanded by Mr. Smith. Thus attended, he leads these scouting parties far into the interior, reconnoitering the outposts of the enemy, surprising their pickets, capturing their expresses, and bringing to head quarters the earliest and most authentic intelligence of events in Mexico. Such a man on such enterprises must have met many a perilous risk, and shed much blood. The history of what this man of the prairie and the woods has seen and suffered, would cast the fabulous heroism of romance in the shade. Deaf Smith is a man of great modesty and propriety of deportment, and when he can be prevailed on to narrate some of his adventures, he does it as if he were not at all conscious of the thrilling interest which they are calculated to excite. Like thousands of others (who have been unjustly and ignorantly regarded as fighting for the spoil of conquest), he has staked his life for liberty-against the oppression of a corrupt clergy, and an impotent court. Like his comrades in arms, he is nerved for the unequal (but already gloriously successful struggle) by the sacred impulse of freedom; and both he and they have learned to endure hardships, and to encounter dangers without a dollar in their pockets, or a ration in their knapsacks. Deaf Smith bears the character of a frank, openhearted, honest, and humane man-for humanity is a virtue not unknown in the camp-the best soldier is he who can and does feel for the sufferings, which duty compels him to inflict. He is very deaf, and hence his name. When asked one day, if he did not find much inconvenience from this defect, when on his campaigns, he answered "No! I sometimes think it is an advantage-I have learned to keep a sharper look out --and I am never disturbed by the whistling of a ballI don't hear the bark, till I feel the bite." Deaf Smith had just returned from one of his incursions on the Rio Grande, when I saw him. He brought back many horses and some valuable information as to X. the most convenient possible shape for the traveller's purposes. The Mexican gourd is a sort of natural bottle-growing in It is large at each end and compressed in the middle, so as to hold a great deal, and to be easily handled or hung to the saddle. THE MARYS. MARY!-A name in every age, Forever dear thy name must be. Shall to enduring fame consign; To charms and sorrows, such as thine? The tear of pity flows for thee; That heavenly favor can inspire, Kindling a pure and sacred fire. Your peace or virtue to annoy ; DISCOURSE ON THE TIMES: Delivered in the Presbyterian Church, Shockoe Hill, Richmond, May 21st, 1837. BY REV. A. D. POLLOCK. Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it? This is a maxim of great interest at all times; but of very special interest at some times. It is the true key by the use of which we are to explore and interpret the calamities of the world in all ages, whether individual, national, or universal. This maxim declares that God, in the maintenance and administration of his government in the world, is to be recognized and acknowledged in all the judgments or afflictions visited upon men. The plan of this discourse is, I. To establish the position just taken; and then, II. To apply the doctrine thus established to the state of things in this country. That Jehovah, the only living and true God, is the universal governor of the world, is plainly a Scriptural | position, since in the Bible he is every where spoken of as "LORD," and "LORD OF LORDS :" as "KING," and "King of Kings:"* "KING OF ALL THE EARTH:"* “True God and EVERLASTING KING." It is there said that "God ruleth in the kingdoms of men." He says there, "by me kings reign.” Again, “his kingdom ruleth | over all." This certainly exhibits him as universal go vernor. That he actually, as king, exercises authority over all, is also plain as a separate position. He directly commands every man to love his sovereign God, and obey him as directed in the Bible; and also to "love his neighbor as himself;" and connected with this, declares it to be his purpose to bring every work into judgment with every secret thought, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." We are very solemnly told, that "every one of us shall give account of himself to God." And again, "we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." This government of God is comprehensive-and minutely comprehensive. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without its notice.§ This government the supreme ruler of the universe maintains in the world with an avowed reference to the following ends: First-His own glory. "As truly as I live, all the earth shall be full of the glory of the Lord."|| And again," before all the people I will be glorified." ¶ The second end proposed is actual and absolute control over men. "The counsel of the Lord standeth forever the thoughts of his heart unto all generations."** "There shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people." "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he will."§§ human race. Thus it appears that the Omnipotent Jehovah is determined to maintain his right to the honor and glory of a CREATOR, and PRESERVER, and SOVEREIGN Go VERNOR of the human race. For this purpose he intends to deal with men, and does deal with them, individually and in all their forms of association, as THEIR ABSOLUTE PROPRIETOR, and RULER, AND JUDGE. And in the meantime, He is efficiently doing them good, according to the dictates of a higher benevolence and wisdom than any of which they are able to conceive. When men trespass upon, or violate any principle of, divine government, they ultimately suffer for their trespass in the retributions of the Almighty, according to a just and righteous proportion. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," whether "sparingly" or "bountifully." Men sometimes sin so flagrantly and so publicly, as to erect their temporal influence and interests, and even their lives, into essential opposition to the government and moveless purposes of God. Then they make it necessary that in the wisdom of God they should suffer promptly and publicly, and in such near and manifest connection with their sin, that the judgment will advertise the true character of the trespass, and thus sustain the government. On this principle Cain was punished, in being rendered "a fugitive and a vagabond on the face of the earth." On this principle too, Nebuchadnezzar was doomed, in a derangement or monomania, to eat grass like a beast in the open field, till the profane pride of his heart was humbled. In this way it was that Er, and Onan, and Nadab, and Abihu, and Uzza, and Ananias, and Saphira, and Herod, lost their lives, having, by their sins, made them a necessary sacrifice to the maintenance of the divine worship and government. It was in this way that Pharaoh (the Pharaoh of the Scriptures) made the history of his imperial reign in Egypt nothing but a chapter of the most unexampled disasters. It was in this way, too, that a whole generation of Israel got to themselves an undesired grave in the Arabian desert. On this subject, the book of Judges and the second book of Chronicles, are especially instructive; perhaps more so than any other part of the Bible; certainly more so than any thing to be found out of the Bible-showing, in the clearest manner, how that A third end proposed, is the promotion of good to the "righteousness exalteth a nation, but" (that) "sin is * 1 Tim. vi, 15. Psal. xlvii, 7. Prov. viii, 15. Psal. ciii, 19. the reproach of any people." In these records we behold war, and slaughter, and + Ecc. xii, 14. Romans xiv, 10, 12. § Matt. x, 29. || Num-slavery, grinding the spirit of an otherwise noble-heartbers xiv, 21. ¶ Lev. x, 3. **Psal. xxxiii, 11. tt Isa. xxx, 29. #Psal. Ixxvi, 10. §§ Prov. xxi, 1. * Genesis viii, 22. † John iii, 16. 2 Chron. xvi, 9. VOL. III.-44 |