The American patriot., 1855-04-28
A TOUCHING INCIDENT.

since On the pennsylvania Avenue, IN w ash |
ington, and which our readers will, we have no
doubt find so much pleasure in perusing, that
they will not regret the space occupied by it.
We give it in the language of our informant,
who was an eyewitness and, as will be seen,
a participant .r ....-..-...t
81 was" says he, looming down the Aven-
ue, engaged in the philosophic occupation Of
thinking about nothing, when my attention
was arrested by an old and feeble man, totter-
ing tardily upon his cane. Approaching me
he stopped, and holding out his hand, said that
he was an old soldier who had come to the
convt ntion held on the 9Th January, in Wash
ington, and he had just been to see General
Scott, Who, on parting with him, had slipped
two pieces of money into his hand MY eyes,
continued he, are dim, and wish you would
tell me, sir, what they are.' Hooked at the
pieces and found they were two quarter eagles,
and told him so. With kind sthank YOU
SIR he passed on. He had gone but a short
distance when he was accosted by poor wo.
man, with squalling infant in her arms, who
asked for aims had passed her, and many
others had passed her that morning, with a
cold look and unsympathising heart. Gay
ladies had passed her, with no other evidence
of their being aware Of her presence than to
gather up their flashy silks, lest they should be
soiled by contact with the poor beggar. Gay
gentlemen had passed her and turned pitiless-
ly aside from the outstretchcd trembling hand.
The wealthy had passed her in their flrs and
ermine, and they had not turned aside to aid
her whom January wind was chilling, and
it was with look of half despair that she
raised her attenuated hand and withered face
to the palsied old soldier for help He looked
at her moment, and then handed her one of
his gold pieces! could not help thinking
that his glistening eye spoke to the suffering
woman more eloquently than the wounded
Sydney's lips to the bleeding soldier of Tut
phen Thy necessities are greater than
mine }.4 o sf
~ turned away rebuked, humbled, morti-
fed, and had only time to hear the breathed
blessings Of the beggar for the noble act of the
old hero of 12"-iSouthside Democrat
A HonnTBLE PfcruRE.-Ihe Dublin Nation
contains a horrifying account of the condition
Of Ireland, from the pen Of Mr.. Duffy. =, He
says: .. -,
NO words printed in a newspaper Or else
where will give any man who has not seen it a
conception of the fallen condition of the West
and the South. The famine and the landlords
have actually created ne,o race in Ireland.
have seen on the streets Of Galway crowds of
creatures more debased than the Yahoos of
Swift; creatures having only distant and hide
GUS resemblance to human beings, gray haired
old men, whose idiot faces had hardened into
settled leer of mendicancy, simious and
semi-human, and women flthier and more
frightful than the harpies, who, at the jingle
of coin on the pavement, swarmed in myri-
ads from unseen places, struggling, screaming,
unclean animals.
In Westport, the sight Of priest on the
street gathered an entire pauper population,
thick as village market, swarming around
him for relief Beggar children, beggar adults,
beggars in white hair; girls with faces gray
and shriveled, the grave stamped upon them
in degree which could not be recalled; wo-
men with the more touching and tragical as
pect of lingering shame and sclf-respect not
yet affected; and among these terrible reali-
ties, imposture shaking in pretended fits, to
add the last touch of horrible grotesqueness to
the picture! l have seen these accursed
sights, and they arc burned into my memory
forever.
Away from the town, other scenes of unim-
aginabe horror disclose themselves The ira
veler meets groups, and even troops, of wild,
idle, lunatic-looking paupers wandering over
!. the country, each with some tale of extermina-
ton to tell. If he penetrate into cabin, and
can distinguish objects among filth and dark
ness, of which an ordinary pig-sty affords but
a faint image, he will probably discover from a
dozen to twenty inmates in the hut-the eject
ed cottiers-clustering together and breeding
a pestilence. What kind of creatures men
and women become, living in this dung-heap,
what kind of children are reared here to grow
UP into generation, have no words to paint
n queer liluSCrauOu OI woman TlSntS
happened in Boston recently. young man
: was tried on the charge Of stealing lady's
5 gold ring, who, in her testimony, stated it had
been presented to her by her "husband, who
is living in the country" Upon this admis
$ sion, the defendants counsel asked for the dis
! charge of his client, upon the ground that the
E property should have been charged in the in
r dictment as belonging to the "husband'
G aforesaid, and after some debate the Judge sus