Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-06-10

think sbe bites her nails. No. | will not even
now give up my hope. 1t was yesterday but a
straw-to-day it is but the thistle down; but 1
| will clinh to it to the last moment. There are still
four hours left; they will not dine TILL SIX. One
desperate struggle, and the peril is past; letme not
be seduced by this last golden apple, and may
yet win the race" The struggle was made
81 should not dine at home" this was the only
phrase left me; for | could not say that | 'shoHd
dine out" Alas! that an event should be at the
same time so doubtful vet so desirable. only be-"
ged that if any letter arrived, 1T might be
brought to me Immediately,
The last plank. the last splinter. had now
given way beneath me. l was floating about
with no hope but the chance of something almost
impossible. They had s'let me alone" not with
my glory, but with an appetite that resembled
an avalanche seeking whom it may devour. L
had passed one diunerless day, & the halt OF ano-
Their; yet the promised land was as far from
sight as ever. I recounted the chances had
missed. The dinners / might have enjoyed,
passed in a dioramic view before my eyes. Mr..
Phiggins and bis six c~lerks-the Clepham beef
eaters-the charms of Upper Brook street
my pretty cousins and the p%antomlne writ
er-the stock broker whose stories one for
gets, and the elderly lady who forgets her sto-
ries-they all marched By me a procession OF ap.
partitions. Evening" Landlady's invitation. tho
unborne, was not forgotten III summing up my
sacrifices. And for what?
-Four o'clock. Hope was perfectly ridiculous.
! had been walking upon the hair bridge over a
gulf and could not get into Eiysium after all. |
had been catching moonbeams and running after
notes of music. Despair was my only convent
ent refuge; no chance remained unless some
thing should drop from the clouds. In this p%articu-
lar | was not disappointed; tor looking up per-
ceived a heavy shower Of snow. Yet was obll-
gcd to venture forth; for being supposed TO Zine
out, | could not of course remain at home
Where to go knew not: was like my first IA
ther-''the world was al before me-" | flung my
cloak round me, and hurried forth with the feel
ing of a bandit longing for a %stiletto. At the foot
of the stairs. I staggered against two or three
smiling %rascals, priding themselves upon their
punctualily. They had just arrived-to make
the tour of Turkey. How | hated them.-As
l rushed by the parlor, a single slauce disclosed
to me a blazing fire, with Lucy and several love
" creatures in a semicircle. Fancy, too, gave
Inc a glimpse of a sprig of misletoe-I vanished
from the house, like a spectre at day break.
How long | wandered about is doubtful. At
last happened to look through a kitchen window
with an area III front. & saw a villain with a fork in
his hand, throwing himself back in his chair with
ecstacy. Another was feasting With a graver air;
he seemed to be swallowing a bit of Paradise, and
criticising its favour. This was too much for
mortality-my appetite fastened upon me like an
alligator. | darted from the spot; and only a few
Yards farther, discerned a house. with rather an
elegant exterior, and with some ham in the win
dow that looked perfectly sublime. There was
No t;n,a Eor oonc,Jor,E>n - - boc;fa|a ,r,s 10 M
rish. I entered: 1t vas indeed ga banquet-hall
Deserted: The very walters mad gone lone to
their friends. There, however, l found a fire:
and thereto sum up all my folly and felicity
in a single world dined.
-ae9ega-
John BN-Hear him!-The United Service
Journal for April, in a review of Captain Moor
SONS Letters from Nova Scotia. bestows the fol-
lowing compliments on the American Navy.
nv. \. JoW. Com.
1t is a common, though a most absurd prac-
tee. to institute comparisons between the Nary
of the United States and that of Great Britain.
As we'll might we compare a gunboat to the "a
ledonia. or the fleet on the SeIpentine to Nelson's
at Trafalgar. A British fleet of a dozen sail of
the line, with a due complement of frigates and
light vessels, would sweep every American craft
carrying a gun off the seas, and batter every ac-
cessible port in the Union. A squadron of three
or four heavy lrigatcs, with perhaps IA ship of the
line, is the largest combination of force they can
possibly display, in any one quarter, for years to
come: and if the unwieldy and ill-assorted Con-
federation tumbles to pieces, as it probably will
by the collision of discordant elements within it.
self. the day may be indefinitely retarded when
the stars at the mast head shall proclaim an Ame-
rican feet of men-of-war. The efforts of this
country should be directed to the equipment of
single vessels of a class and strength to cope with
the superior and insidious dimensions and weight
of metal of the vessels which the Americans are
pleased TO rate as ~frigates, but which. in fact. are
scarcely matched by our Race seyenty-fours.
Give our captains the right sort of craft, and the
right sort of stuff to man them. and let Jonathan
muster Yankee, instead of British seamen, (as
last war for his crews, and we will answer for
the rest. Upon this subject. Captain MORRISON
has the following remarks, which merit the deep
est attention:
We have heard the American vessels of war
lately described-their supposed excellence stat
cd to be ideal. have not served I'm the Navy: