The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1808-03-31 00:00:00, page 3

*?st. He then slipped quietly to his
- Own closet, and I saw him Hot till the
•ext morning.
4 He had gone out as soon as he arose,
upon a long walk into the fields. The
children ran to find him, and to ask
those little presents which they.had ex
pected him to bring them from the fair.
My youngest girl, after a short time,
came in, and complained to me, with
some ill humour, that her brother refus
ed to give her a beautiful ribbon which
he wore in his hat. * He keeps it for
Nancy Wilson, (said she pettishly) he
now prefers her to his own brothers and
sisters. A ribbon in his hatJ I was
surprised ; but it could not be a cockade I
I thought with the child, that it must
indeed be intended as a present to his
sweetheart,—if not for one of his eldest
4 He came in soon after, wearing the
ribbon in his hat as the child had said.
1 was about to ask why he wore it, but
he prevented me. 4 Mother, (said he)
I am a soldier. But I have not been
trepanned ; I did' not enlist from any
w him or passion of the moment; it was
r.o dissatisfaction with you, or with any
thing around me, that drove me to it.
I enlisted b.cause I thought it my dutv.
How shall the country be saved if eve
ry stout young man like me, in the
prime of life, leave it to others to fight
against her enemies ? The same s. r.se of
duty which was made me hitherto re
joice to give for your use whatever I
have been able to earn,now urges me to
offer my life and exertions for the de
fence of my king and country. Be not
cast down. It is in a fencibie r g;merit
have enlisted. The wa must soon be I
htppily ov.jr, and I shall th n be free to
return to you. The same God who has
hitherto preserved, will protect tne amid
the dangers of brittle. These guineas,
which I received a3 bounty, will for a
long while supply your frugal wants :
my pay shall he carefully saved for you.
Be not thus unhappy, mother. I could
not have found rest in my bed, if I had
longer delayed to do os I have done !’
* >v nat could I say f I was not satis
fied. I was deeply afflicted. But as it
was not any wild folly that had driven
him to enlist, I knew it would be vain
♦o attempt to win him from his purpose.
His sisters, his little brothers, his dear
Nancy, were not thus to he restrained :
they hung about him, and cried, and in
treated. He strove to sooth them, but
was not hiuiself to be moved. While
the recruiting party with* wKich he had
enlisted continued in the neighbouring
town, he was permitted to be as much
with us as he chose. All his pay he
faithfully gave to me. Those were a
few weeks of tenderness, of sorrow, of
anxiety, above what I had ever before
known. He seemed to become infi
nitely dearer to us all now, since we
were about to lose him. Nor did his
feelings fail to keep pace with ours. It
was easily seen that he suffered much,
even while he strove to hide from- us
all but kindly cheerfulness.-As his
last day of the stay drew near, our ge
neral distress increased, and I believe
that at the last he almost wished he had
not enlisted.
1 It was between poor Nancy and him
that the most distressing scenes took
place. I had never discouraged their
growing affection. I was desirous to
see the time when I and my younger
children might cease to be a burthen on
the industry of my son; that he and this
sweet girl might then marry, and enjoy
together that happiness of which they
seemed both to be worthy. Their
marriage was now to be delayed. But
Nancy was ready to die at the thought
of parting from him who was dearer to
her than all the world besides. With
in a very few days, during which she
hardly ever left our cottage, she seemed
wasted to a shadow. She was ever in
tears. Nor could he for may minutes
converse with her without mingling his
tears with hers. We saw and sympa
thized with their distress. All my o
ther children already loved her as a sis
ter, & to me she was little less dear than
any one of my daughters. What could
I do ? I proposed that they should mar
ry. M y son felt all the imprudence of
the design. But affection, tenderness,
his own anguish in th-- prospect of sepa
ration, his fears for Nancy’s life if he
should leave her, overcame his better re
solution. T hey were married. On
the next day, she accompanying him,
he marched away with the recruiting
party to join his regiment. Four years
have since passed. Oh ! that things
could he restored to me even as on the
morning of his departure.’
From the Providence Gazette.
Natural History.—On the 13th
of March last the inhabitants of Pere
meschajew, in the canton of Wdreja, in
Kussia, were alarmed by an uncom
monly loud clap of thunder ; anti some
men in the fields observed a large black
stone fall at the distance of 4o -p&eev
from them, which penetrated a conside*
rable depth beneatli the snow. It was
dug up, and found to be of an oblong -
square figure, of black colour resemb<
ling cast iron, very smooth throughout,
resembling a coffin on one side, and
weighing about 160 pounds. This stone
has been forwarded by count Koucho
bert to the academy of sciences at Pe
tersburgh.
There are two methods of solving these
phenomena. The first is on the supposi
tion, that some sudden volcanic eruption
discharged these stones in the neigh
borhood of the places where they were
found—as formerly happened at Pana
cura, and at Gonapi. There the stones
were discharged from fissures in the
earth, where volcanoes were not known
to exist. 2ndly, stones have frequently
been formed in the atmosphere, which
on a chymical analysis have proved t®
be compounded of sulphur, nitre, and
such mud as is always found to settle at
the bottom of rain water. On this prin
ciple there is no difficulty in accounting
for the formation of aeriel stones; for it
is a known fact, that the atmosphere
always contains sulphur and nitre—and
from the circumstance that a muddy
substance is always found to settle at the
bottom of rain water, there is reason to
conclude that the exhalations from the
earth carry up numberless small par
ticles of terrene matter. These ingre
dients require nothing but fire to con*,
vert them very suddenly into a hard
stone, similar to those found in Connec
ticut, as any one may prove by experi
ment. Therefore we conclude that as
there was fire present when those
stones were discovered, they were gene
rated hy that fire from the materials in
the atmosphere, and discharged in dif
ferent directions, by explosions occasi
oned by the powerful agency of the e
lcctnc fluid*
The persons composing the Russian
embassy to China, have discovered a
dead Mammoth in the deserts of Sibe-.
ria which did not appear to have died
long before they found it, as the skin
was entire, and the hair remained on it.
From this circumstance, it is concluded
that the Mammoth still exists some
where between Siberia and the country
of the Tongouse Tartars. Z.
From tlu Franklin Repository.
A simple but effectual cure for the Yel
low Jaundice.—Farch Indian corn aud