The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1854-04-22
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TAFT. CoRN-We grow "tall cornn in Ana.
rica. The world is beginning to end r ons
Every year brings it more and more home 70
the perceptive and digestive faculties of ali Fl.
vilized humanity: Like all great truths. it did
not gain credit at once. True, everybody eees
it here with his own eyes, but not 30 on the
other side of the water. The first accounts Of
the productiveness ofour Western prairies were
read by the Buckinghamshire farmer with about
as much respect as the fish stories of the Sailor
Sinbad. 1t took even the highest dignitaries of
the land a long while to getfairly up to level
with the actual fact. Even at this day there is
an ear Of corn in the British Museum which Ed.
joys a very distinguished consideration" a. b
curiosity. 1t divides attention, we do not ray
equally, but certainly fractionally, with the
Ninevch Bull and the great KOh-i-noor. It is
perfect marvel to our good cousin John Bull
and yet it has but very simple history and is
not very extraordinary ear of corn after ALL
1t reached its present distinction something irr
this wise:
In the month of January, 1s47, at a certain
dinner party in London, at which Lord John
Russell, Lord Morpeth. and many other distin-
guished men were present, the conversations
turned upon the Irish famine and the remark
was made by Lord John, that he rejoieed that
| so good a substitute for the native breadstuff
had been found as Indian corn. Turning 10 Mr..
Bates the American partner in the house. of
"Wby, Bates, some of the cobs have t,celve or
fourteen rows of grain on them" Mr. Bates
coOlly replied, Yes, my lord, have seen from
ftrenty to t,centy. four rows on a cob." "That
is rank Iankee-ism," was the pleasant retort
OF the Premier. and the whole company shouted
in approval. The burst of incredulous merri-
ment over, Mr.. Bates bought his peace by
wager of dinner for the company all ronnd
that be could produce such an ear. "Done,D
exclaimed Lord John, and the bet was clincbed,
The dinner passed off, Mr.. Bates returned
home, but not entirely at ease He had done a
strange thing for the first time in his life he
had made an engagement be was not absolutely
certain of his ability to fulfil. He had msgiv-
ings that he had rashly pledged the honor Of his
country. 1t had been long since be had looked
upon al American crib; and however patiently
he winnowed the corn-ncopia of his memory, he
found that the cobs of his early days had gone
glimmering through the lapse of time, among
the things that were, and were now so far off
that he couldn't count the rows. He was, as
Plautus would say, redactus ad inritas-in
Yankee parlance, hard up" But fortune fa-:
vors the brave. 1t happened that friend of
ours dropped in the next day at The counting
house of the Barings. Mr.. Bates, with bright
ening face. hailed him, and made known his diff.
fculty. "You are safe" was the response "if
live to get home, you shall have even bigger
ear than you have promised"
way wrote to Messrs. Rogers & Reynolds, of
Lafayette, Ind, telling the story, and begging
them, for the honor of the country, to come to
the rescue, and turn the tables on Lord John.
showing him what Yankees could do. In the
July following Mr.. c. received by express
from Lafayette nicely arranged box contain
ing six ears of horse-tooth corn, two Of which
had twenty-nine rows. two fhirty-on and two
THIRTY-Two. The box was forthwith addressed
to q" J. Bates. Esq, care of Messrs. Barring, Bro.
Il Co., ship. by Black Ball line, care 81 fhe Lii
vcrpool House. 1t reached its destination, ana
Lord John Russell, first Lord Of the Treasury,
third son of the late Duke Of Bedford by the ee-
cond daughter of George Fiscoant Torringson,
and lineal descendant OF Lord William RUSSELL
the martyr Of liberty, "dchno,cledged the
corn" The dinner was won. Joshua Bates
did nat perpetrate "Yankeeism" and the
British Museum holds the trophy. Tipe la Re-
puGlique.-.N Y. Courier.
IL A TRANcE.-An old lady who resides in
Sandwich was taken i'll few days since. and to
all appearances died. She had been living
alone for some time, and it was thought she had
good deal of money slowed away i'm some seI
cret corner, as she bad always been we'll to do
in the world. The neighbors attended her dur.
ing her illness, and when she ceased to breathe
made preparations to perform the last Offices
for the dead. The body was measured fof the
y
work. The corpse was washed and made ready
for the burial Yet the ladies', in performing
these duties, noticed that the body was unusu-
ally timber, and did not exhibit the rigidity Of
corpses in general after being dead for only
half an hour. For the purpose Of obtaining
some clean linen, which was known TO be lock-
ed up in large trunk in corner Of the room,
one of the women got the keys and went to
open it. The instant the lid of the trunk was
heard to crate on its hinges, up popped the old
woman in the bed, like the "rale ould Irish
gentleman" of the song, and screeched out
Let that trunk alone ~ The lid OF the trunk
was dropped like hot potato, and with tni-
the live corpse before them. The nervous
twitching of the lips and the angry flashes from
the little gray eyes was sufficient evidence that
their services were not needed longer, and with
merriment depicted upon their oountenances
they left The undertaken was reluctantly COM
PEELED to give up his job, and the funeral was
postponed sine die The old woman is alive
and we'll, and declares that she was in trance.
But it was the general opinion Of the neighbors
that she was only playing possum.-6etrois
Tribune.
Rousseau says the greatest Triumph Of viftqs
consists in the homage paid to her even by
miscreants. So with the homage paid to the
memory of Washington by European despots.
Thus considered, the block of marble sent by
Pits TX. fof the monument to be raised at the
capitol. is sn acknowledgment on the part Of
the old European world of the great principle
of republican liberty embodied in Washington.
The destruction of this block is to be utterly
condemned for if placed in the monument it
might have been pointed out as an evidences
that despotism itself was forced torecognize the
worth Of Washington, even as is the Tory histo-
rian Alison, who says:-"T The highest glory Of
England is to have produced such man-even
in her Western wilds,"-thus placing his fame
above that Of Tudors or Guelphs, Maribofoughs
or Wellingtons.
It is said that some difficulty occurred in the
recent affair between Mr.. Cutting and Mr..
Breckenridge, on the choice OF weapons. This
ia probably a mistake, so far ss the principals
of the duel were concerned. We understand
that Cen Shields, Of the Senate, as the consult
ing friend of Mr.. Cutting, made the question
against the choice of the rife insisting that the