Alton Spectator from Alton, Illinois • 1

VOL I LOWER ALTON ILLINOIS TUESDAY APRIL 30 1833 1N0 12 rrssr formidable at a distance than when fairly en countered Long after the incident I have just ted 1 lent a hand to save the life of a man on whom the danger seemed to frown much 1 and try to get the grating and then we shall bo They again plied their oars Jn sea it is not easy fora person seated inalittle boat to seeanything floating which does not rise much above the surface: in that Tales Think Another A few years since throe young and thoughtless Americans two of them na-lives of Boston treated this statue with a degree of familiarity which had liked to have drawn upon their heads a fearful penalty They had been dining out and well charged with champaigne and ripe for any thing their way lay across the square in which he statue is situated A whim seized thim to examine it more nearly and convince themselves by tangible proof as well as by occular demonstration of its existence They sprung over the iron fence and clam-bered up the pedestal One more agile or aspiring than his fellows actually succeeded in reaching the top of the statue and from his elevated seat astride of neck lie looked clown triumphantly upon the astonished Russians in the square The others meanwhile were making violent tyit ineffectual elforts to hurl the statue from tho rock Their frolic however was of shojrf deration They were seen by the Boutdschik or police officer stationed at the corner who as soon as lie could recover from his surprise and horror at such an atrocious and unheard of act communicated the information to the commanding officer at tho neighboring guard-house who with his myrmidons hastened to the spot laid violent hands upon our countrymen and conveyed them sans ceremonie to the guard house But they were not sent to Siberia where many a Russian has been exiled for a less offence The officer after having satisfied himself that the offenders were natives of a country where the attributes of royalty are not held in very gieat respect and that the frolic originated more in an exuberance of animal spirits than in a deliberate intent to insult the memory of Peter the Great liberated them after exacting a considerable fino to be distributed among the soldiers and admonishing them in futuic to restrain their mischievous propensities in a country where will is the law of the land Exeter News Letter Economy Nay it was but the other day I saw new number of Peter entitled Tales about Political Economy for Young Political Economy for young Children Let the boys dive into Adam Smith and the girls understand Maltlius and what can you expect from such a system but that tho man will bestow part of his labor in adding to the exchangable value of his own note by forging his name on the back of it and the woman be hanged for committing infanticide lest the supply should exceed the demand? I had hopes that when Jeremy Bentham was dead (may he rest in peace or at least in quiet) we should hear less of Political Economy Jeremy was dead and there was a fair prospect that the Westminster would not long survive him and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number of that set would be to be declared bankrupt or punished under the statute against obtaining goods under false pretences but I know not how it is tho evil advances in the words of the old statutp it lias increased is increasing and ought to be diminished What is the reason why our country is convulsed from north to south by tho Tai iff Question? Why are the Northern men talking of coercion and the Southerners calculating tho value of the Union think you that it is really because they have diflerent and irreconcilable interests? not at all it is because they have adopted different theories in Political Economy and to those fancies notions vagaries of the brain they cling and will cling foievcr for a man will sacrifice any thing rather than his piejudiccs and a regular political economist is the most obstinate of all animals tho jackass not exccp ted The worst of it is that it is corrupting the fair sex Now-a-days if a man seeks as eveiy wise man will to wliilo away an hour with them instead of pretty prattle about diess and scandal the last new novel or poem we have Ricardo and Adam Smith price value utility (that abhorred utility) ds familiar as household words A word to batchelors Did you ever see a lady read Political Economy? avoid her ol course you would not wish to many such an one of that you are but uvoid her: do not walk or talk or dt ink with her above ail things do not play brag with I did once How well she looked in ter rUBLISHKD WEEKLY BY BREATH TERMS 02 50 Pa(i in advance 02 75 within six months or 03 00 at tho expiration of tlie year Advertisements For a square or under $1 OU for the first insertion for each continuance 25 cents A liberal deduction will be made to those who advertise by the year MISCELLANEOUS TIIE LOST SHIP nr MISS LAN nos Deep in the silent waters A thousand fathoms low A gallant ship lies She foundered long ago There are pale sea-flow eis wreathing Around her port holes now And spars and shining coral Encrust her gallant prow Upon the old deck bleaching White bones unburied shine While in the deep hold hidden Are casks of ruby ine There are pistol sword and carbine Hung' on the cabin wall And many a curious dagger Hut rust has spoiled them ail And can this be the vessel That went so boldly forth With the red flag of old England To brave the stormy north 1 There were blessings poured upon her When from her port sailed she And prayers and anxilms weeping Went with her the sea And once she sent home letters And joyous ones were they Hashed but with fond remembrance Of friends so far away Ah many a heart was happy That evening when they came And many a lip presstcl kisses On a beloved name 1 How little those that read them Deemed far below the wave That child and sire and lover Had found a grave But how that brave ship perished None knew save Him on high No island heard her cannon No other bark was nigh We only knew from England She sailed far the We only knew to England She never came again And eyes grew dim with watching That yet refused to weep And years were spent in hoping For tidings from the deep It grew an old story Upon their native shore -a-God rest those souls in Heaven Who met on eaith no more From the London Service Journal RECOLLECTIONS OF A SEA LIFE BI A MIDSHIPMAN or THE LASV CrNTl'Ilt At this lime too wo lost one of our bravest men the mate who had saved the ship in the Noith Sea by discovering that the gun-tacklcs had been cut In the morning about eight we had spread the awnings and prepared as well as we could for another burning day when he was performing some hiding work outside of the hull of the ship and slipping his hold fell ovorboard He swam well and endeavored to catch hold of tho ship as she glided past him and of tho ropes that were thrown to him but nobody scented to be aware of the rate at which we were going for although it was perfectly calm on deck the lofly sails were filled with a light air wind which was right aft and we were sliding along at the rale of about three knots It was not until he was astern that tho helm was put down and an endeavor made to clear tho boat but in the boisterous weather we had been accustomed to encountod the quarter bouts had been lashed and secured as if it were intended that they never should be lowered again By the time she was ready for lowering tho man was a full length on the weather-beam of the ship which had been hove to He was still swimming with his head well above water and until now had been silent but at this time he gave a piercing -scream of despair and we saw him no more It wassaid thatashak must have seized him as ho disappeaied so suddenly but it is more probable that he had been taken withcrampor his power of swimming had been exhausted for although when the boat arrived on the spot too late to see any thing of him tho people in her picked up his hat they saw no traces of blood in tho water and had a shark taken him the water would probably have been atainod with it In the only instance of this kind I ever witnessed tho water was covered with blood to a great extent Tho loss of this poor man seemed to throw a gloom ever us all he was one of the best men in the ship and although wo had had some hair breadth escapes and broken up an squadron lie was tho first man we had lost since we left England The manner of his death too in a fine calm il-lnatrating the poets conception of danger which in the storrn hut in tho sunshine increased the feeling for him: at least I know that I did not got his last and only scream out of my head for a long time The converse of the concep tion of danger namely i's only frowning in the storm every man who bus been accustomed to bravo it becomes familiar with as also with the fact that it looks much more more than our poor friend the mate We were coming across the Atlantic in 74 alone it had been blowing a gale all night from We were under a reefed foresail and close reefed main topsail topgallant yards on deck and top-gallant masts struck During the morning watch the gale increased so much that it was thought right to send the top gallant masls on deck I was the first lieutenant of the ship and at seven bells (half-past seven) I took charge of the ship and permitted the watch to go below to perform his toilet and prepare for breakfast When the masts were sent down one of the fore castle men who had gone into the lee fore-chains to gather in the slack of the top-gallant back stays was washed out by a violent lurch of the ship: and the torn from his grasp by the weather-roll left him at the mercy of the billows of the lie swam well however and bufletted them with lusty sinews The main hatch -way gratings hap pening to have been got upon the poop for tho purpose of stowing hammocks upon them which could no be kept in their accustomed place by reason of the roughness of the sea On the impulse of the moment one of those gratings was thrown overboard to the man with the helm the away the lee-quarter were orders soon given and while the fore-sail was hauling up and tho boat being cleared away I jumped into the cabin to ask the captain whether she should be lowered There are times in the open ocean when the attempt to despatch a boat from the ship would be attended with instant and certain deatli to all who would be sent in her Short of this there are times also when the prospect ot such a result may make the question of whether a boat shall he despatched one of anxious consideration for the olficer who is to give the answer particularly if lie himself is not to paitake of the risk Our Captain was placed in this situation when looking from the cabin windows ho saw the man reach the gratng and secure bis floating by a good hold of it When I got to tho deck again tho boat was ready for lowering but us yet there was nobody in her In ordinary cases a four-oared boat would have been despatched from a seveniy four with a midshipman orjomo officer of less consideration than a st lieutenant who indeed is never sent on business detached from the ship except it bo to attack an enemy Here there was no time to be lost and I felt that the onus rested on me to order men into the boat or to show them the example by going myself The last was tho shot test mode and the which accompanied my spiing out of tiic mizzen rigging was answered by men crow d-ing to follow We did not want a ciowd and when the first four had got in I ordeied the rest back and diiected the men at the tackles to lower away The boat was a small one of four oars built of very light wood and had taken the place of a large heavy one which had been aged so that the tackles weje too for her and her weight was hardly sufficient to draw the rope tlnough their puliies The stern stay was lowered more heely than the other and the moie tho stern of tho bout went down the more the rope of tho foie tackle was jammed in the puliies by ly lying obliquely to their direction so that it stuck fast The roaring of the wind and sea made the ordeis given from the outside of the ship not easy heard and our calling out to fast the stern was not attended to until the stern of the boat came down upon the sea with every lce-lurcb while her bow was still suspended by the fore tackle which could not be unhooked and again wall the wcuther-ioU we took a flying leap into the air of twenty or thirty feet We were letained in the pei-formunce of these involuntary vaultings until they had been several times repeated I had hung the rudder BDd held by the afici tackle in order to be in readiness to unhook it and throw it clear of the boat but when it slackened by her stern coining on the water I luckily hud presence of mind enough before I did so to look forward to see if the foietackle ready to be unbooked at the same time and as the boat was hung by it to hold fast Had I sulfered the after tackle to be unhooked we should have been swung into the air by one tackle alone and coming down with the lee-lurch right on end we should have been dashed not on the water but into it Tho lumcdy was ot length perceived a inan was sent out on tho davtd to overhaul the foremost tackle we unhooked and got clear of tho ship We had nothing now but (air play and a rough sea to encounter To puli to windward was the least dangerous part of our task and we roso over the precipitous waves that met us like a sea gull When wo had worked at tins for about a quarter of on hour we began to fear that our labor was in vain We hud as yet seen nothing of the man and now wo supposed that we must have passed over the place where lie had fallen and that he had gone down The inen looked wistfully at ttio ship which was driving fast to leeward us give way fact it is physically impossible except at such time as the boat and the object looked for happen each to be on the top of a wave at the same instant From the top of one wave the surface can only be seen between it and the next the heads of the more remote only show themselves on a level with le nearest ones Thus we had as yet seen nothing of him and had nearly given tip the endeavor when tho happy coincidence of our rising at the lop of a wave at the same time with him occurred I fancied that 1 saw for an instant an erected man and called out to encourage the men The next wave on which we rose removed all doubt and showed us the man still boldly floating nearly breast high supported by the grating and not far from us A little more rowing enabled us to reach him the bowman laid in us oar and pulled him on board Having ccomplished this he laid hold of the grating to pull it in also This operation appeared to add to the dangerous situation of the boat by pressing her bows down into the waves over which she already seemed to rise us by a miracle I therefore called out to he bowmen to quit it and to resume his oar but the man with more coolness and more foresight than myself remonstrated by aJ'ing may be useful to us lie was allowed to proceed and followed up his irecaution by putting the grating carefully under die thwarts or seals of the boat was lucky ho did so for the buoyant power of the greating thus placed added to the ightness of the boat made her a complete do boat and saved our lives Lord Byron observes that a boat will live in a rough and so she will particularly when going with her bow to it Jut it may prove too much for her and is most likely to do so if following upon her quarter as wo now had it on our way back to the ship The appearance of the waves as they curled over her could hardly justify the hope of her sui mounting them us a black squall came on After lising over many that appeared ready to swallow us one 1 flow came whose curving crcd projected fis head over us with all the gracefulness of a neck As tho stern rose erect on this wave her head was piessing under the surface and the wave impelling lerfurwaid launched us under water while it rolled over us At this moment several thoughts passed fleetly through my mind the chief of which was that tho chance ot meeting my fiiends again in this world was now up We held instinctively to the boat which came out on the oilier side of tin wave not keel up as I should have expected indeed I cannot now understand how it was that the impelling power of the wave did not turn her over when it launched her tin der water head foremost Out she caine however on the other side of the wave waddling like a duck When we foumi that she was not to go down with us we caught three out of the four oars the other went astern with our hats and every loose thing in the boat Tho lightness of tho wood she wa3 bult of and the buoyant principle of tbegiafing which now floated and pressed upwards against tho tfnvaiis bme her up with her rowlocks well out of tho water while ns she waddled from side to side moie of the water which was in her was thrown out When I perceived this I made the man whom we hud saved sit down in the bottom of the boat with his head only above water in order to his displacing his own bulk of it He was a heavy man and not now capable of much exettion Two of the men whose hats were saved by being fastened with rope-yarns were employed to bale with them The oilier two got their oars out while 1 resumed my place at the bilm and steered for the ship no longer but directly before tho sea across her wake For some time il seemed laLoi in vain and once when wc had got the boat half baled oui another sea wuliout the ceremony of litung us as the former had done Killed over us but we had learned by this lime that all is not Inst that is in danger so we baled awuy again and steered with the wind until we got to tle leeward of the ship watched an opportunity to round to and being now able to pull for her with the sea oil our bow we ultimately got safe on board From the Knickerbocker for March FROTEST AGAINST POLITICAL E( ONOMY Tonson come again aye and a gain and again coming coming coming 1 will hear it no longer it is absolutely insufferable This miserable subject ibis detestable Political Economy meets me at every turn In good old times a man could avoid keep clear of quartos estlicw folios and you were safe But now we have Political Economy in octavo and duodecimo besides pamphlets and tracts on Political Economy without number und without end Willi the periodicals it is even worse: instead of one or two dull solid articles per annum in the Edinburgh and Quarterly which any one could slap we have articles on Political Economy in tho monthly's the weekly's mid the Bulwer Campbell Turn Moore and Wilson (who knows bctici) all think it necessary lo fill twenty pages per number with Political WESTERN WOMEN I saw there a couple of splendid western beauties The south prod urea elegant women and the valley of too Mississippi splendid ones Them is an o-iginality a raeiness among the women of the west which is eminently attractive They touch tho confines of civilization' and baibarism with such a daring grace that the precise potiis maitres of tho Atlantic are thunderstruck or tinned into gaping statues at their fascinating wildness and enchanting audacity A western or southern belle fresh from the woods is a sealed book to an Atlantic dandy He cannot understand her helms not the key she is beyond his vision To know them propeily to estimate them accurately we must have been lost on the AI-leghanies shipwrecked on a foreign coast drank sherbet with tho Tmk tasted the river Ionian or been killed and eaten by pirates It is quite distressing to see tho Atlantic belles pick their way through a crowned drawing room They sometimes stand on the outward edge of the crowd and look dcsparingly to a fnend at the other end of the room as one would look upon the spires of Cincinnati from tho pinnacle of the Alleglnmies or a traveller across the Aiabian deserts A western belle dashes through the crowd as she would through the river mounted on horseback Nothing impedes her She makes manners and controls the ruleis of society as she marches through throwing dandies aside as a ship does tho billows The southern fino lady glides like a sylph full of feeling and passion which give edge to her conversation and fire to her MOUNT VESUVIUS The following interesting account of an ascent of the Mountain since the late eruption began is communicated in a private letter received from Naples Tho ascent took place in the week before Christmas has been burning with great force and majesty since we have been here A few days ago the lion Mr Lord Lord 0 and myself made a party to go to the top YVo took our basket of provisions anil left our Hotel tho Victoiia at half past two in the day At Resina the foot of the mountain 1 who arrived there first on horseback engaged Salvatore the guide and a sufficient number of asses for our party and presently after we began the ascent The address and facility with which the donkeys chose their way and got on was quite amusing to sec YVo stopped at the Hermitage tho fiiar pio-vided us with an ornclctlo and a glass of wine YVe deposited our provisions with him YVe then Kok our feet leaving the asses each in the care of its owner to wait for us began the steep ascent climbing as we lest could over tho lava and ashes of former eruptions The ordinary path was occupied by the desending stream of red hot lava and wo look ground further lo the eastward just beyond the stream After an hour and a half of much toil and some it -convouieme ansing from tho rolling down ofcindeis or ralltor stones which occasionally became loosed ami rolled past us and now and then gave some of us a sirmit blow on the legs wo reached the edge of the great or outer crater at about half past eight Nothing could exceed the gn Broadway next an elegant hat Miss best lace veil cashmere shawl My tailor had to wail till next quarter This is but one of the cases in winch the morale of the fair sex has been to my knowlede injured by Political Economy It is the unspeakable cause of half the mischief they do There for example is Miss married to a rich curmudgeon as old as her grandfather Why did she do it? entirely according to McCulloch she found that a hundred thousand dollars was the high price at which she could sell her a price which exceeded by a thousand fold the cost of its production so uf course the bargain was a good one besides her sister at nineteen married a poor lawyer of two and twenty and now at thirty slie lias bad nine children and Malthas more than 1 choose to n-peat but where will the glowing numbers end if I attempt to tell all the mils which result from Political Economy The very name is odious to me it has robbed me of so many pleasing associations that cling to the word Economy 1 had but the Domestic Economy and a bright vision of fireside enjoyments home bred happiness lose before me then Rural Economy the' next well-kept farm warm cemlbrtable house large well stocked barn good crops repaying good all these and more did those sweet woids Rural Economy! what is asssociated with that? etprnal wrangling about principles which few understand and lower every thing estimated according to its uiaiket price to be sold without hesitation for what it will bring But I will follow advice and lake bieatli and end to it again 1 AL8TVFF ANECDOTE The statuo of Peter the Great is not only ornamental to the city of Petcrsburgh but is sometimes useful to foreigner A couple of Englishmen once wandering about the streets of this vast city got completely lost They tiicd in vain for several houis to find then way to their lodgings Undeistanding no other language than the English they could get no intelligent answer to their repeated inquiries and began to despair of ever Lcing able to extricate themselves from the labyiinth in which they were involved when one of them a Captain of merchant ship hit upon an ingenious expedient which was successful lie went to a Dros-ky slund (these droskies are singuluily con structcd iiackney vehicles thousands of which arc constantly plying in the stieets ol St Petcrsburgh) and after again vainly attempting to explain to the driver his wants lie vaulted upon the back of tho horse threw himself into the attitude of the statue of lWr the Great exclaiming (I you do you umleisiuiid Jlc then got into tho drosky Ins companion seated himself beside him the driver giin-ued intelligence lashed his hoi sc and in a few moments drew him up opposite ilic statue! Fioin wheneo taking a iiesh departure they soon fuund their way to their residence 1.