The banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1844-1847, 1846-04-29

spRINe.-Wc know not who is the
author OF the following, but it is exqui-
sitely beautiful.
In all climates spring is beautiful.
In the South, it is intoxicating, and sets
a poet beside himself. The birds begin
to sing; they utter a few rapturous notes,
and then wait for an answer in the 81
lent woods. Those green coated musi-
clans, the frogs make holiday in the
nciglboring marshes. They, too, be-
long 10 the ochcstra of Nature, whose
vast theatre, is again opened, though the
doors have SO long been bol,cd with ici-
clcs, and scenery hung with snow and
frostliISc cobwcbs. This is the prelude
which announces thcrising Of the broad
green curtain. Already the grass shoots
forth. The waters leap with thrilling
pulse through the veins of the earth !;
the sap through the veins or the plants
and trees, and the blood yhrough the
veins Of man. What thrill of delight
in the spring time! What joy in be-
ing and moving! Men are at work in
gardens, and in the air there is an odor
of the fresh earth, The leaf buds be-
gin to swell and blush. The white
blossoms Of the cherry hang upon the
boughs like snow-flalies, and ore long
our mex! door ncighbors will be com
pleteIy hidden from us by the dense
green foliage. The flowers open their
soft blue eyes. Children arc let loose in
the fields and gardens. They hold but
ter cups under each others chins to see
if they love butter. And the little girls
adorn themse6 with chains and curls
Of dsndelio,iEpull out the yellow
leaves to see if the school-boy loves
them, and blow the down from the leaf
less stalk to lind out if their mothers
want them at home. ~sAnd night so
cloudless and so still not a voice Of
living thing, not whisper or waving
bough, not Il breath Of wind, not sound
upon the earth or in the air! And over
head bends the blue sky, dewy and soft,
and radicnt with innumerable stars, like
the inverted bell of some blue flower,
sprinkled with golden dust, and breath
ing fragrance. Or if the heavens are
overcast, it is no wild storm Of wind and
rain, but clouds that melt and fall in
showers. One does not wish to sleep,
but lies awake to hear the pleasan,
sound Of the dropping rain.
IMPORTANCE OF INSECTS TO CoMMERcE.
-TEe Importance Of insects to COM
mcrcc Is scarcely ever treated of, at the
present rate; Great Britain does not pay
less than a million of dollars annually
for the dried carcasses of tiny insect
the Cochineal, Gum Shellac, another
insect product from India, is Of scarcely
less pccuniary value. A million and
halt of human beings derive their sole
support from the culture and manufac-
ture of silk, and the silk worm alone
creates annual circulating midium of
between one hundred and fifty and two
hundred millions of dollars. Half a
million of dollars is annually spent in
England alone for foreign honey TO-
600 hundred weight Of wax is impor-
ted into that country each year. Then
there are the gall nuts of commerce,
used Tor dycing, and in the manufacture
OF ink, &c. The Cantharides, or Span
lsh fly, is an important insect to the me-
deal practitioner. Laying aside the
purposes insects perform in the schemes
OF nature, they are economically not the
insignificant and unimportant creatures
which the uninformed mind is but too
apt 10 regard Them.
On the sth FEBRUARY. considera-
bic sickness prevailed among the
American mission family in Wes-
tern Africa. The officers and
crews of the United States vessels
on that station, were all we'll.
There arc said to be twenty-five
millions Of Catholics in Germany.
The trial of Polly Bodine is go
ing on at Newburgh.
A meeting Of the citizens of
Savannah is to be held at the Ex-
change. i'm that citv IN fhoNcO+ /,