Wisconsin tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1847-1854, 1854-01-12
FROM OUR NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT.
NKw YoRk, Dec. 81, 1853.

Well, Christmas is over and New Year $ Day IS
fast approaching. We in the middle of the
Holiday week A Holiday in Gotham! With
what anxiety and suspense was the approach OF
Christmas watched for by all I! How intimately
was its advent connected, in the minds OF the
young with cakes, candies, and toys nnumerable,
and, in the minds of those of more mature years,
with sources, convvial reunions, oyster and cham
payne suppers, and all the varied amusements
which the necessities of metropolitan life have
created. The pleasant anticipations which had
entertained of the enjoyment of a merry sleigh
ride on Christmas Day, were not realized; as we
had no snow l endeavored, however, with some
degree of success, to console myself with an ex-
celle:.t dinner. The ministers of our various city
churches delivered appropriate discourses on Sun
day; and yesterday, the scholars of the various
benevole 1t institutions commemorated the ami
versary by substantial banquets, provided by lib
eral-hearted donors But could not help think
ing, as passed through some of the low streets
in the suburbs of the city, and noticed the air of
squalid restitution and misery which pervaded
everything, there were some to whom last Sunday
was not a" Merry Christmas" The miserable
wife of besotted husband the worse than orphan
child Of living vicious parents the unhappy
but honest poor whom sickness or the universities
of fortune had reduced to the last stages of pov.
erty, who were suffering from hunger OF almost
perishing with cold-who dropped the silent tear
and shuddered with apprehension as they con-
sumed the last morsel of bread, or watched The
expiring embers of the last faggot upon the hearth
what was this Merry Christmas to them p
Its merriment only served TO make more bitter
the contrast between their condition and that of
their more favored fellow-creatures As hurried
on could not avoid offering a silent prayer that
those who were possessed of an abundance might
not on this day forget the poor. Poverty, it is
said, is sin but | contend that wherever pow
erty exists, there must be sin-somewhere
Your Geographic dispatches will have already
informed you that a terrible conhagration occur
red here yesterday morning, by which over mil
lion dollars worth of property destroyed
The fire broke out in Front street. and six build
ings and their contents valued at about eighty
thousand dollars, were destroyed there But the
most melancholy result of this fire is the destruc-
ton of the magnificent clipper ship Great Repub-
lic and two other vessels, the Joseph Walker, and
the White Squall. The pecuniary loss though
large, is only secondary TO the loss TO the Ameri-
can mercantile marine in the destruction of the
ship Great Republic. Your readers will have
some idea Of the rush to see this ship, when they
learn that during her stay in this port, nearly six
thousand dollars were received from visitors, who
paid one shilling each for the privilege of viewing
her. The Great Republic was loaded with the
largest cargo ever carried by vessel. She was
soon TO sail tor Australia During the last two
or three weeks this immense vessel has been the
cynosure of all eyes. Even the ladies have strug
gled through the quagmire at the foot of Roosevelt
street. and all along Front street, in order to look
at the largest and most beautiful ship in the world
Her enterprising builder will have the sincere
sympathies of the whole community; and l, in
common with others, deeply regret that his ex-
pertinent has proved comparative failure at
least for the present But he will not, think, be
by this blow Another Great Re-
public will grow to the same size and beauty, !
under his hands; and if he be only as successful
in his plans before, the people of this great |
Republic will rise up and honor him.
Comments upon the Worlds Fair as an exhi- |
bition worth looking at l take to be unnecessary, |
in your paper, at this late date; many of your
readers having seen it, and most of the others |
having read detailed and wellwr;'ten accounts of
il, first published in the daily papers of this city
and then copied into their weekly editions for /
country circulation. Besides, some of the best of
these articles have been reprinted in one half of
the papers of the Union SO that all America may
be said to know much of the Crystal Palace as |
is possible to be known of thing by reading |
about it The general impression is that the en-
terPrise has been of incalculable benefit to our |
country az whole, in many ways, while, on the |
other hand IT has been pecuniarily improbable to
the stockholders. Millions have also been made |
and lost on real estate, in the upper part of the
city, which was expected 10 rise in value higher |
than it did, and to continue be held at enormous
rates. Hardly one of the numerous showmen has
escaped without losing from $500 to $4,000; and
not single rumshop has paid its expenses the |
propretors of of the first class saloons, after
they had vainly endeavored 10 sell out, have been |
obliged to go out, 4" dead broke"
However native inventors and manufacturers of
all kinds have been benefited by the Exhibition,
and great good has been done by bringing them in |
personal contact with Europeans of the same
class, many of whom have made their visit TO New
YORK Immediately and prospectively profitable
An English manufacturer told me, yesterday that
he has already made $4,000 by coming here, and
that he has orders for Sl50,oOO worth Of his
goods-lace goods, believe. This will probably !
result in his having regular trade with Amer
ca. He had none at all before. Our own manu-
facturers of such articles as are made better here
than in Europe, have in some instances been quite
as fortunate in opening trade with Great Britain
and the Continent of Europe. In some cases, they
have even received SO many orders from European
houses, that they cannot supply the home demand
for their goods. Stearns & Marvin, of this city
the manufacturers of Wilder's celebrated safes
with Richs improvement, have received orders
from eleven Kingdoms and municipalities of Eu-
rope, and are contemplating the erection of new
building, TO be devoted solely to the manufacture
OF safes to supply European orders; their present