Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1853-11-19
From Harper's Magazine for November.
Contributions to the Drawer.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM MIR. TIMMINs.

"GENTLEMEN-When your Magazine for Sep
temher came out, and | went into book-stor,
on the corner of the street in which live to gel
a copy, the first thing looked for was to sec
whether you had put in my piece; and took il
home before did look at it, too; and l was We
ry glad when found it, and still more pleased
that you liked my scribblement. 1 felt fiatter-
ed, and am flattered and mean to try to JUS
tify your praise, if l can.
1t was very hot night, and had just come
home from the store: and while my wife was
getting tea ready, and the children were playing
out in the yard, I read over it again and again
it looked so different in print from what it did
i'll my hadwriting, which is far from handsome,
but is very plain, think, or your printers would
have made some mistakes in it but don't see
single one The man who corrects your types
must know his business well, | am sure.
'There is a peculiar smell about some new
books to me; and there is nothing that touches
Memory with me like that, unless il is the scale
OF taste in an apple, or other kinds of fruit.
have come across some apples and pears in the
city sometimes, that have taken me back forty
years, when had to live in the country, and
pick the same kind up off the ground in the or
chard, when there had been high wind to blow
them down.
g But the smell of the fresh leaves of your
book took me back, in memory, further than al
most any thing else that [ remember. Ny IA
Their was hard working farmer in the fir-off
rural districts, and he was not rich man; far
from it; and we boys had to searn our bread
by the sweat of our brows literally. But both
my father, and one of the best of mothers
as, thank God, almost every man says of his
mother-were determined that we should have
an education.
''And now l come to the influence of SMELL in
the case Of your book, upon my memory:
cold Noah Websters Spellngbook was my
first acquisition; with its coarse, blue paper,
and white-yeow sheep-skin back, and the strong
paper or 'new-book odor,' which prevailed its
leaves. when pressed upon. This, together with
the Third Part and the American Preccptor
was our first literary treasure: and faint, wan
dering smell, or rudiment of SMELL" that foated
up to my nostrils as opened your Magazine,
brought back to me the manner in which We
procured them; how we cut with sickles the
grass, when it was ripe, that grew in the corners
OF the crooked, g-zag fences and having bound
it up in bundles, put it in the barn; and when
we had gained the necessary leisure, threshed
it out, winnowed the seed in an old tanning mill,
and then sold it for grass-seed;' and how, also,
we parted the fresh bark from hemlock-logs in
the swamp, piled it up to dry, and then sold it
to neighboring tanner; both of which opera
tons enabled us to 'lay in our hool-books, as
aforesaid, and, likewise, to purchase copy of
Pilgrims Progress and-strange juxtaposi-
ton Roderick Random
"All this came into my head, and it is now
out of it. You can clip it out or let it go in,
exactly as you like. 1t is Renaissance that
interests me, and that is why spoke of it.
But there is one thing that want to tell
you about. was thinking of it yesterday, and
my wife and have talked about it; and one of
the most tender-hearted of our five children
little girl Of eight years-cried last night when
| told her of the circumstance.
when got down to my store in the NOR
ning-and always go early, summer and VIM
ter; for find that if you begin the day well,
you are always sure to continue and end it well
i have been for some eight months particular
ly struck with faithful shoemaker, who. has
few pieces of good sole-leather hanging by his
door, and in a window some lasts and boot trees,
avis, and other parts Of u cobler's 'kit' of
tools.
In the summer time, when the weather was
warm, his little boy( should think he was a.
bout seven years old, when | went down, used
to be riding little wooden rocking horse, with
a pair of leather lines that his father had evil
IDENTIFY cut out for him and many n time have
seen his fathar either come to the door to look
at, and talk little talk with him, or else re-
garding him wstfully and atfectionately, as he
suspended his shoe-hammer for moment over
his work in the shop inside.
"Somehow or other, seeing the little boy al
most always there, in the cool shade of the early
morning, in front of the little shop, and his ia
Their always so interested in his small sports, and
so industrious and faithful himself, withal, that
| began to take great deal of interest in the
shoemaker and his boy, myself.
business; and when I returned, took my usual
walk in the early morning, and by the usual way
down to my store; and as | passed the shoe |
makers shop, saw that his little boy was alb
sent from his accustomed place. The shutters
Of the window were partly closed too; but hear
ing loud conversation within, it occurred to
me that | would enter. I did so. A man, with |
u flushed face, and evidently excited, was hold
ing in his hands pair of old patent-leather
boots, and as entered finished sentence with:
:" '-And l left them with you with that |
promise. You said they should be done las night |
sir; that's what you said-and I relied upon it,
could have had them done, if had left them |
at the shop below
''sI know I promised them, but have not |
had time. Since you were here my little boy |
you remember him, sir, when he asked you to
let him see your watch, when you took it out the
yoA ASi' JouA Uoo'SsJ my pun l1tIc
motherless boy-the only child, almost the only
thing had to love me-has died-and yester-
lay he was buried. have not felt like work;
do not feel like work noo. My heart is too
heavy
"tExcuse me, my dear sir, said his new Gus
Toner Che was father, you may depend on it.,
excuse me, was not aware of all this; have
10 fault to find with you. Do them when you
,an' ~@ #
"He laid down the boots, babe the shoemaker
yood-morning, and left the shop.
I" He would have thought good deal more of
his apparently triaing incident, if he had seen
What had seen for months the affection law
shed by the poor shoemaker upon his only son,
! little boy, left alone with him in the world, by
lis departed mother.
FIeUREs' are good things in their
way. like figures myself. In the first place.
hey 'can't lie $50 they say and | abominate a
lar liar never did any good, in the exer-
Use Of his vocation under heaven, either to
himself or any body no more than man
Who utters profane oaths-the foolishest, the
east excusable vice in all the world. But speak
ng of figures, is there a greater bore to be found
twixt sun and sun, Of a summers day, than
nan all figures as once heard an individual
# this class called? a
stDo you remember poor Tom Hoods Statis-
ical Philanthropist, who, after canvassing the
reat metropolis of London, ascertained that