New-York tribune., 1842-01-12
THE EFFINGHAMS.

TuE ErrrNemAMs OR, HONE AS FOUND 1T: BY The Au-
thor OF The Victim of Churcery &c vsls. S. Col.
man.
This work is an earnest and whole-soued but
M, undi.criminating defence of American Char
#ac,er. Institutions and Customs, by an author
whose Victim of Chancery' has commended him
10 many readers Its sty and scope are not u!l-
like those ot Home as Found but the hero IL u
different spirit from the sinsuarly mild and hand
some Mr.. Efinghnm who figures in that produc-
ton But an extract will best exhibit the char
ac:er of the book before US und we take one de-
scriptiye Of the Great FIRE Of 1885, as follows:
In the evening an alarm of fire was heard u
thing so common ia New y rk, as never excite
surprise, or scarcely attention, until It's conlinu-
ance indicates an extended contiagration. This
evening, the long continueh clang of alarm notes
drew attention from every quarter Of the city
The sky in the direction OF the business parts of
the CITY, which We have but just left, reflected the
lurd calor of flame, rendered more deep and sol
emn by the huze, which az this season of the year
marks the chililness OF the atmosphere below
The wind blew piercing blast, which chilled the
warm current Of the blood, scarcely less than the
liquid fountains OF nature; and as each minute
VOWED the flashes became more frequent, aud shot
higher and higher into the vaulted heavens, and
wider and wider the circle spread, until the liquid
light nclosed the horizon in her ambient wings !;
heaven and earth seemed mingled, and the imagi
native might we'll have supposed that God had
lighted lamp to light the world TO judgement.
From roof to roof the cracking flame glides like
the evening mist; from pillar to pillar, the winding
sheet of flame writing like serpen,s folds,
mounts to the DOME and scatters abroad tue burn
ing embers, to work more ruin. From thence
with nsatiate thirst. descending within the walls,
it'll laps up the work of years in moment, with the
ease and appetite, that the huge monster laps the
cooling spring.
The sloping, pointing spires of flame, now
sweep, ull before them, while with scarcely less ra-
pidity, creeping and gathering backward, they
to threaten universal confagration; all ef-
forts check their progress ceased for time, and
men with less wisdom than the ants, were seen
busily em3tvins the wealth of their warehouse.
into their streets, but to meet the doom of all the
rest in few monentS aiterward: while their al
frighted owners, with the dense and gaping crowd
are driven backward. with power left, but Il
look on and witness their destruction.
As The fire progressed toward the Eas, River
presenting in front one broad phalanX OF towering
fame Of more than quarter OF n mile In width;
the ships were seen locsening from their tssts, and
floating outlnto the river every rope visible in the
distance, traced as It were, in dark lines on the
gilded shv, like unknown wonders Of some other
world, toatin. on the bosom of Illuminated wa
ters.
The shrili CT, o; hundreds of mariners rose or
the blast, the hoarse sound Of the tiremans truu
pet, from hundreds OF mouths, mingled ~ tiit
sin the noisy ,umut from countless thousands OF
every side ieoi the air, ,e, all was feeble III
infant 5 wall compared with the cracking, roar
ing, and rushing noise CT TIC clement tia, gov
crncd the hour.
While all hope was now abandoned in TN. quar-
ter, new thought has arisen il, another, from
which hope gather, confidence. Bands of fcarleS.
sailors are seen IN several quarters CARRYING with
them Quantity o! powder, sufficient, by con,ac
with the eas, spark, TO have blown them all in
stantly into eternily; vet cool and steady as II nc
danger threatened, they march up liz regular order
TO the very margin of the raging element tho no
embers falling all around Them and entering Ii,
building next the one on FIRE, and choosing liz
spot. Ihey prepare their mine deliberately, ant
without haste, that it may be properly done, AM
work its purpose; then lay their train, and depaE
to another. lighting the salphuEsus match as the
60. Presently the ground trembies-a shock
dreadful conclusion OF the air-a thick black vo
unae rises, and, as it is waited away BY the wind
the building which these fearless men had Just lei
is seen no more IL lies PROSTATE on the ground
and the fire is there stayed. In this manner. prs
ceeding from point 10 point, where there no.
danger the windward progress OF the FIRE .
length arrested
And what did these men get for thus riskin
their lives, and rendering service which coul
not be calculated in figures counted in coin p
WHY. the Commodore was publicly thanked, in In
newspapers while he remained at his pest, an
perhaps slsepiRg in hi, bed. le, thi. is fes
,u,s II society IL New-l ork and the world around