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Northern Star (1837-1852), 9th October 1852, Edition 1 of 2, Page 12, Untitled Article

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    • LITERATURE. ' t «m-nTk a mtrn T! " ' "
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      Untitled Article

      been taken to our steam mill , 100 cords which have been sawed at the inill , besides poles for the masons , and sticks for the beans , pease , &c . in the gardens . Our two large flatboats , managed by seven men , have conveyed all our wood from the island , upon the Mississippi , in spite of the winter and the high waters . Saw Mill , Distillery . —The scarcity of wheat and of corn this year , the ice . the inundation , and then the low water , have impeded

      the work of the mill and of the distillery . However the mill has furnished to us all provisions , to the country flour , and whiskey to be sold at St . Louis . There is now a sufficiency of wheat and of corn , to keep the mill going without interruption . The workshop of the coopers has furnished the mill with barrels for its flour , the distillery barrels for its whiskey , and the community , tubs , buckets , &c ., &c .

      Hog Pen . —The old hog pen having been destroyed by the inundation , our masons and carpenters have constructed a new one , which now contains 150 hogs , which will be fattened by autumn on the slop from the distillery , and 150 others , including sows and pigs , for next year . Tannery . —This branch of industry has not been well developed . The inundation deranged our vats . Still our tanners have furnished to our boot and shoemakers fifty-one tanned hides and fourteen calf-skins . Weaving . —This business is not yet well developed . We have , however , made and died some stuffs for our workmen .

      Lye and Wash House . —The community desire particularly to facilitate the operations concerning the washing of linen ; the Geranee has prepared , on the shore of the Mississippi , nearthe mill and steam-engine , an establishment which comprises lyemaking , washing and drying . Furnitures . —The joiners have made ninety tables , thirty » six bedsteads , twenty chairs , and all the little articles which have been needed . .

      Our masons commenced , in the spring , a large building , of cut stone , for our schools . Our carpenters and joiners are preparing the timbers , windows and door-frames , sashes , &c . We hope to finish it , ready for use , before the commencement of winter . Our workmen have made convenient machines for lifting the stones and for making mortar . We have already burnt a lime kiln in the spring . We are going still to continue burning them . Diveks other ARTicLES . —Our workmen ( engineers , blacksmiths , waggon makers , joiners and carpenters ) have made ;—a machiue for

      thrashing wheat;—several waggons with iron axles , of which one is completely finished , and three are prepared for the first departure ; —a stable large enough for thirty oxen;—a frame house for a model;—a large well , which is very useful to us;—a skiff , to add to the seven which we had before . Our tailors and shoemakers have made or mended the clothing and shoes of the community . The women have made or repaired their own clothing , bleached and mended the linen of the society .

      Schools . —Education for the childreu of the community is far from being what it will one day be . A great difficulty is that our room is too contracted : a second difficulty is in the great diflerence in the age and instruction of the children when tliey arrive ; a third , is the small number of persons in the colony who can consecrate themselves to the work of instruction . Also the community does not desire to have in its schools the children of strangers , and has been compelled to refuse several , although it will gladly admit a large number when it shall be better organised . Our children , however , have made , in the two schools , sensible progress in . reading , writing , geography , history , arithmetic , drawing , and music .

      Music , TKEATRE .--Ottr instrumental music is well developed ; we have now twenty-two musicians . Our children have made commendable progress in vocal music . Our actors have surmounted all sorts of difficulties to be able to play republican and popular tragedies . Health . —The climate of Nauvoo and especially the plateau occupied by the community , is certainly amongst the most healthy of America . During the whole of the year of 1851 and the first six

      months of 1852 , the health of the , colony was excellent , although the cholera ravaged many other towns on the shores of the Mississippi , This report being only for the first six months of the year , the Gerance need .. not necessarily speak of the losses sustained by the community in July-and August , but these losses are too bitter and our minds are too much preoccupied with the thoughts of them , to finish the report without alluding to them .

      Finances . —The Gerance can present our finaucial situation only at the end of each year , because it is only at this epoch that our inventories can be made . Our account books are regularly kept , and the financial commission can always take cognisance of them and submit its observations . On the 1 st July our account was as follows ( viz . ) - .-Credit , 41 , 402 dols . ; debit , 4 , 822 dols . ; balance , 36 , 580 dols . On the 1 st July our obligations amounted to 5 , 017 dols . or 25 , 085 francs—but our credits have augmented by the value of our new constructions , by the machines which we have bought and paid for , by those which we have made ourselves , by the produce for the mill which we have bought and paid for , and by the value of our prosperous crops , in such a way that our net credits amount to more than 40 , 000 dols . or 200 , 000 francs .

      After the departure of our President for France , we redoubled our efforts to maintain amongst us fraternal union and Icarian harmony to prove the force of our doctrine ; since his return amongst us we will still redouble our exertions and our devotion to insure the triumph of Community . Prudent , Vice-President in the absence of M . Cabet . In August and September the colony was afflicted by cholera , when , in spite of the efforts of the two resident physicians , six men , ten women , and six children perished by that fatal scourge . Tri

      The Popular bune wa 3 suspended on the 6 th of September , preparatory to the issue of a new paper under the title of the Sauvoo Tribune . The colonists also intend to publish a monthly icarian review . . Bingley Industrial Co-operative Society . —On Monday evening last a general meeting of the members of this society was held at Mr . Durrani ' s Temperance Hotel , Mr . Thomas Foster in the chair . After the re-election of the treasurer , two new members were elected and three more proposed . The chairman then read the annual balance-sheet , which gave general satisfaction . After disposing of some other business the question of enrolment under the new act was mooted , but was adjourned until the new model laws make their appearanee . The meeting then broke up in a very friendly spirit . — Wm . Hallam . ' * v

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      Tait ' s Magazine for October . — "Fait has some good things this month , amongst ; which we may instance , " The Complaint of a Strange Character , " " The G-arues of the Ancients , " and " A Few words upon Beards . ' The latter is a good subject for such a style of writing , and might have been made more of , and we expected something different , from the title . It . is very readable , however , as the following extract will sliow ' : —

      > Ve declare ourselves at once as champions of the Ions board ; we regard it with profound respect , and deeply lament that such a comely arrangement should be banished . The veneration and awe , with which in our boyish days we used to contemplate the pendant - ' shades in the mazy appendage of a Jew , " streaming like a meteor" &e . &e ,, is atill fresh in our recollection . With reverential respect we remember , too , a Turk who used to keep a gingerbread and apple-stall not far from our dwelling , at which we used frequently to spend our last penny ( all our pennies were last pennies in those days ) in order that we might have undisturbed right to study the snowy treasure , flowing over his chest like an avalanche . We cannot forget , either , the picturesque effect which the shape of the beard had in the reigns of the Tudors , and we mourn that so refined an adornment should have gone out of fashion , But then , as now , Prance exercised taste tor all Em-ope , Louis the Thirteenth , and Louis the Fourteenth both ascended the

      throne in their minority , and in a spirit of fulsome flattery it was proposed among the courtiers , ani \ carried by acclamation , that to present a loyal compliment to their bald-chinned sovereign they should surrender their cherished beard and moustache , and exhibit their features " feminine and free . " Hence the fashion spread , until , in later times , no one dared Esau-like , to gratify nature at the expense of art . Moreover , we have patriarchal authority for taking pride in the bristly embellishment , Ifc is our private opinion that Adam possessed a beard before the Fall . We have no doubt ( although we have not time now to state the reasons for our belief ) that , being created in the prime of life , he had given to him a brilliant ami flowing beard , waving dreamily in Hie luscious airs of Eden , We are aware that this is a disputed point , it being maintained by many competent authorities that it was not till after Adam had sinned that his beard began to grow , Even the great Lord Byron decides against m ; for he gives it a

      that—Ever since the full , man for his sin Has had a beard entailed upon his chin . But in spite of all authorities , we think we could prove our position , were it worth while to take as . much trouble about Adam ' s beard as Lord Monboddo did to establish his tail . At any rate , Aaron wore a beard ; and < E * culapius is uni - versally represented with a golden beard as big as a dewlap , The gods , too , allowed their beards to flourish most luxuriantly . Jupiter had a precious treasure suspended to his chin , flowing to his feet like a Stuubbach ; and it would seem to be a far from meanly-cherished ornament ; for Thetis , in the first book of the Iliad , wishing to place herself in the most acceptable posture , took hold of his knees with her left hand , and his beard with her right , The practice of

      shaving appears always to have varied with the caprices of fashion in all countries and in all ages ; but it was more generally adopted as society became artificial , ami primitive simplicity was banished . In the age of Homer it k plain that shaving was not only practised , but was au operation of considerable dignity ; for in one of the grandest passages of the Iliad , while describing the uncertainty of the position of Troy , he figures it as being on the edge of a razor . Cicero tells us that , lor four centuries , there was no such person sis a barber at Howe . Facile est bavbato imponere regi , aays Juvenal , while speaking of the unaffected and primitive style of living which characterised the early Roman kings . In later times , the beards agaiu received attention . Those worn in the days of the Heptarchy were pre-eminently tasteful ,

      and are cveu yet celebrated . The iirst Dane that stepped upou our shores was Sueno , surnained Forked-beard . - Then there was the emperor who was drowned in the Cyduus , Frederick JEnobarbus , or Brazen-beard ; and the terrible Haired dire Pasha , principally known to Europeans by the appalling title of B « baiossa , or Red-beard . The Lombards * cultivation of their beards was a perfect dandyism ; indeed , they received the name Lombards , or Longobardi , from their tremendous size and length , dansling at their chin like an iaverted pyramid . Hudibraa ' s beard must havo been perilously attractive ; for The upper part thereof was whey , The nether orange mixed with grey . Bottom the weaver had a very accommodating taste in refereuce to his beard

      for , in allusion to the part of Pyramus , which he was to take , he Says , " I will discharge it in either your straw-coloured beard , your orarige-tdwny beard , your purple-in-grain beard , or your French crown-coloured beard—your perfect yellow . " Not less cheering is \ tjta notice the refined cultivation which was givun to beards in days still nearer to tfur own . The peaked beard * in Vandyke's portraits t ie regard as being very . comely ; and they almost make U 9 think that a more handsome fashion of wearing the beard could not be devised . Sir Thomas Move ' s attention to his classical ornament claims our highest admiration . When kneeling before the block , with the axe already suspended over his neck , he bade

      the executioner " wait till he had put aside his beard , for that had committed no treason . " We are told another anecdote of one of the . victims of the tyranny of those times ; we ~ think it was ' Sir Walter Raleigh , but may be mistaken . When the barber came to him in the Tower to dress his beard , he declined to gire permission , saying , " At present , friend , there is a lawsuit pending between me and the king about this head , and I donU intend to lay out any more money upon it until the cause is trierf ^ and it is decided which of us it is to belong to . ' Xor do we view the value set upon the beard in these times as incredible , looking to the modern estimation of whiskers among a race who have nothing better to boast .

      In the papers on the " Games of the Ancients" we have the following anecdotes relative to chess : — " In illustration of the all-ab 3 orbing power of this game , it will be sufficient to select one or two from the . vast collection of anecdote * that the curious industry of ages has collected and stored up . To commence with one related by the historian Elmakin : The Caliph A . l-A . mir , sixth of the Abbasyd dynasty , was playing at Chess with his favourite Kuter , in the innermost chamber of his palace , when a messenger ran in breathless , with difficulty announcing that the enemy , who had

      for some months past encamped before Bagdad , was on the point of striking a decisive blow for tho maatery of the town . I will attend to the foe without , " replied the Caliph coolly to . the officer ' s earnest inlreaties , " as soon as I have chec k , mated Kuter . " Seneca ( Epist . U ) gives a similar instance in connexion with , the so-called military game , whilst engaged at which Julius , a noble Roman , condemned to a cruel death by the tyrant Caligula , received the summon * ta meet his fate . On the instant he got up , and requesting the officer to be a witness whilst he counted the remaining pieces , "See , " he exclaimed , "thou canst not , friend , after my death , boast of having had the best of the game . "

      We conclude our extracts with the following from " The complaint of a Strange Character : — I of all men , am to be designated as the man who has " played many parts , ** I hare gone through every possible calamity , incidental to the human lot ; verily a great many that are impossible , even to the most unfortunate , and I have been blessed a thousand times in the course of my life / beyond the sura of human felicity —and , what may appear strange , I have never grieved at the one lot nor rejoiced attheother . I have fought desperately , with batsra ; of drapery round my loins , against savage lions and tigers , wrestled with monsters of the forest and the flood

      slept tranquilly in the embrace of the boa-con » trictor ; bean pierced through and through with every description of deadly weapon , ancient and modern ; and been hurled headlong from horrible precipices into horrible gulfs—and here lam , and none the worse for it all . And I have sat at a magnificent feast arrayed in gorgeous robes in " my ancestral halls ; " I hare led my valiant hosts to victory in embattled fields , and have swayed my sceptre on a golden throne—and here I am scribbling in a two-pair back , and none the better for it all . How all this came about , the reader will soon know . The key to my « strange , eventful history" lies in one word—Ladies and gentlemen , lam a model .

      If I nave achieved no triumphs in my own person , my vem effigies , in a thousand characters , has won the applause and admiration of mankind . I have been hung-ahem—in five hundred galleries , as an impersonation of the warrior , the senator , and the hero ; and in as many more perhaps as brigand , bandit , or bold outlaw . I have lent ray head to Achilles , Paris , and Hector—to Eneas , Turnus , and Euryalus . My lower limbs have been substituted for those of haif the great men of the present and past centuries . On feet of mine King Charles the First walks to the block , Napoleon forces the bri ( ige of ^^^ ^ ^^ ^^ ^ ships of the enemy . I have languished in the dungeons of the Inquisition because Galileo could not be had to do it , and been bandaged for execution instead of the wufertunatoD'EnghienfQrttHUMQB reaion ; and lean » % y tnatX have torn * « Uhw

      Untitled Article

      fate with an e < tual mind . Habit , which creates our world f ^^; oiled me to the position which untoward circumstances thrust r ^ ' H i * . creptuponme , I am able to say that neither mv usefulness I" " ' As ' declined . I am as good now ( or at least I was till lately ) i \) V ^ Murty f as I was In infancy for a Cupid , or a babe massacred or at theY ^ Or a senat sidered capital as a cardinal , as I was twenty years ago for a hr '' ain o-But woe to me , now that my head is bald , and my whiskers other signs of years come stealing on , the source of my income " k " Pail - wl 'iie , . —to fail at the time when it will be most wanted , at the approach ^ " * ta faiU ties of age . U was the other day as I lay stretched a hi ° I the l nW

      upon Pt which I had personated Cardinal Wolsey , with chalked cheek , ' leatl 1 - u p * face , for four honrs a day , that the horrible fact dawned , or rather 7 ^ ' ^ kI and prophptic force upon my mind . I hare striven in vain ( T ^ Witil % conviction that then forced itself upon my distracted conscience- 11 o !? ^ be got rid of—on the contrary , it grows daily stronger , and will i vi vrB | ifc away . Have compassion upon me , O my friends ; I am growikg bcc !;( N daily and hourly in every inch of my flesh—and I am a ruined mn ? A ^ 1 ^ I have been going on for the last month , I shall be twenty stone in \ V " v ^ ll ? 1 ' * year—and then /' Othello ' s occupation ' s gone , " and I must take h * " - 1111 ^ ' ' or Falstatf without stuffipg . " Oh that this too , too solid flesh wouVf '" ' ° nifac i 51 vtiwm iiiui t riu

      auu IHU ; au ; uuug | ™ ™» * gut ( II if , arifl retnii ) n 1 " ** manly proportions , and necessary competence . My fllose . fittinf " ^ § ei ) tie already twice let out , in order to take me in . My patrons already beJ ^ l " ' - > the fatal words , " Too stout , " which are more than I can heat . " ^ , mHr | mi \ monosvliable * ' . —they are the terms of my death-warrant r ' -im n t ' l 0 : ie ^ ' * " ¦ a ? nno InOjj el

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      Alarming Scaffold Accident—Narrow Escape of Two Lives . —On Wednesday morning between the honrs of nine and ten an accident which nearly resulted in the loss of two lives occurred in the Caledonian-road , nesr the railway-brid ge , under the following ftreumatances . It appeared that the two men , whose names are lohnMoss , aged 08 , and Patrick Lawley , aged 40 , were at work upon a scaffold erected in front of some new houses near the road in

      question , when , from some unexplained cause , part of the scaffold gave way , and the two men were precipitated from a height of aboxe thirty fret on to some bricks below . Assistance was at once at hand , and the poor fellows were picked up in a most hopeless state , and conveyed in a cart to the IloyalFree Hospital , where it was ascertained they had received -sonw very severe fractures of the skull , besides numerous other injaries .

      Literature. ' T «M-Ntk A Mtrn T! " ' "

      LITERATURE . ' t « m-nTk a mtrn T ! " ' "

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      Bleak House . By Charles Dickens . No . i > . The bleakness of the new number of Charles . Dickons * ia fv , is not much less than in the former numbers , if it 4 ^ lhll brighten up , Box will run a risk of being charged with hav ' mo- « ' "¦ ll ten himself out . " But though not to bo compared with many Tv former productions , there is still enough charms of the I ' avonrito i to unsure a reading for his Bleak House . Tho inimitable . J' ! ) the author , is faithfully pourtrayed in pictures like the lollop ? °

      DEATH 03 ? A CHANCERY VICTIM . \ Ve then took a hackney coach and drove away to the iiai ^ i ^ , Leicester-square . We walked through some narrow courts , for wlTicliM •(> ' ° apologised , and soon came to the Shooting Gallery , the door of which vn . " . f ^ as he pulled the bell-handle , which hung to a chain by the door-post , a ' y , ! . ' peciablc old gentleman with grey hair , wearing spectacles , and dressed ' in ?!!" '' . spencer and gaiters , and a broad brimmed hat , and carrying a lar * a » nh \ \ , cane , addressed him . ' " I ask your pardon , nay good friend ;' , said lie ; " but is tliis Geoi- 'A'W Gallery V " ""' "It w , sir , " returned Mr . George , glancing up at the great letters in wlttoli ti , k inscription was painted on the white-washed wall . " Oh ! To be sure ! " said the old gentleman , follovvin ? his eves ( : Tim ¦ Have you mug the bell ? " * •"

      "My name is George , sir , and I have rung the bell . " 41 > indeed V said the old gentleman . ?< Your name is George ? Then I mi here as soon a * you , you see . You came for me no doubl ' . '" " No sir . You have the advantage of me . * ' " Oh , indeed : * ' said the old gentleman . " Theu it was your young man «! w came for . me . I am a physician , and was requested—five minutes aso-to cnn < f and visit a sick tuan , at George ' s Shooting Gallery . ' " The muffled dvums , " said Mr . George , turning ' to Richard and inu , and grave ! shaking his head . " It's quite correct , sir . Will you please to walk in " °

      The door being at that moment opened , by a very singular-looking little mm in a green baize cap and apron , whose face , and hands , « uid dress , were blackened all over , we passed along a dreary passage into a lar n'e building with bare brick walls : where there wore target * , and guns and swords , and other things of tit kind . When we had all arrived here , the physician stopped , and , talcingoffhii hat , appeared to vanish by magic , and to leave another and quite a diiU'rent 111 : 1 : in his place , " Nuwloolse'e here , George , " said the man , turning quickly round upon him , and tapping him on the breast with a large forefinger . "You know hip , mid [ know you . You ' re a man of the world , and I ' m a man of tho world . My name's Bucket , as you are aware , and I have got a peace-warrant against Griilley . You have kept him out of the way a long time , and you have been artful in if , and it does you credit . ''

      Mr . George , looking hard at him , bit his lip and shook his head . " Now , George , ' said the other , keeping clo 3 e to him , " you ' re a sensible aw , and a well-conducted man ; that ' s what you are , beyond a doubt . Ami wiad you , I don't talk to you as a common character , because you liavo smeil yam country , and you know that when duty calls we must obey . Coiwetuientl ? you're very far from wanting to give trouble . If I required a « isttuice , yonM assist me ; that ' s what you'd do . Phil Squad , don ' t you go a shUlivj ! vonml i \« gallery like that ; " the dirty little man was shuffling about with his . should" ? against the wall , and his eyes ou the intruder , in a manwv llmt tootel threatening ; "because I know you , nnd I won't Imva it . " "Phil ! " said Mr . George . " Yes , Guv'ner . '

      " Pe quiet . " The little man , with a low growl , stood still . " Ladies and gentlemen , " said Mv . Bucket , " you'll excuse anything Unit may appear to be disagreeable in this , for my name ' s Inspector Bucket of the Deter tivo , and I have a duty to perform . George , I know whore my man is , becau ;; I was on the roof last night , and saw him through the skylifjht , and yon alon ; with him . He is in there , you know , ' pointing '; " that ' s where he is—on asofv Now imnstsee my man , and I must tell my man to consider himself in custody bur , you know me , and you know I don't want to take any uncomfortable mea sures , You give me your word , as from one man to another ( anil an old soldiei mind you , likewise !) , that it » *» honorable between us two , and I'll accommofet you to the utmost of my power . "

      " I give it , " was the reply . " But it wasn't handsome in you , Mi Bucket . " Gammon , George ; Not handsome ? " said Mr . Bucket , tapping him w * broad breast again , nnd shaking hands with him . " I don't say it wasn't \ tm some in you to keep my man so close , do 11 Be equally good tempered to m old boy ! Old William Tell ! Old Shaw , the Life Guardsman ! Why , he ' s model of the whole British army in himself , ladies and gentlemen . I'd g'vc fifty-pun' note to be such a figure of a man !"

      The affair being brought to this head , Mr . George , after a little conslderatoj proposed to go in first to his comrade ( as he called him ) , taking Miss Flite *» him . Mr . Bucket agreeing , they went away to the further end of the gn » leaving as sitting and standing by a table covered with guns . Mr . Buc ket »» this opportunity of entering into a little light conversation ; asking ? me if I * afraid of firn-arms , as most young ladies were ; asking Richard if he wweag shot ; asking Phil Squod which he considered the best , of those rifles , and ** it might bs worth , first-hand ; telling him , in return , that it was a pity iie gave way to his temper , for he was naturally so amiable that ho might have

      a young woman ; and making himself generally agreeable , After a time he followed us to the further end of the gallery , and Hicnaw I were going quietly away , when Mr . George came aftev us . He said thathad no objection to see his comrade , he would take a visit from us very The words had hardly passed his lips , when the bell was rung , and my 9 & appeared ; « on the chance , " he slightly observed , " of being able to do any thing for a poor fellow involved in the same misfortune us himselffour went back together , and went into the place where Gridley was .

      It was a bare room , partitioned off from the gallery with unpaintea ww ^ the screening was not more than eight or ten feet high , and onl 5 ' fitl , si sides , not the top , the rafters of the hitjh gallery roof were overhead , own ^ light , through which Mr . Bucket had looked down . The sun was 10 setting—and its light came redly in above , without descending to inn ^ Upon a plain canvass-eovered sofa lay the man from Shropshire—i " ^ as we had seen him last , but so changed , that at first I recognised no »* his colorless face to what recollected i ^^* wnai

      I . . ... < n ..... . v . c , j recouectefl . j , j gi He had been still writing in his hiding-place , and still dwelling oi _ vonces , hour after hour . A table and some shelves were covered witn « papers , and with worn pens , and a medley of such tokens . ^ nl ' t i awfully drawn together , he and the little mad woman were side £ > y ^ wit were , alone . She sat on a chair holding his hand , and none close to them , , |(< v Hii voice had faded , with the old eipressionof his face , wtth ni «« tre

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      140 THE STAR OF FREEDOM . fl **** , ¦ ' ' ' " ' " ~^— —_

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 9, 1852, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1699/page/12/