Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-03-12

before L was called to see her, she was seate
in a gorgeous parlor, surrounded by splendi
mirrors, playing on her piano, and courted b
| rich suitors, and fiattered by q poets love-
The world may not know it, but the wcster
| physician does, that among the surging It'd
of wealth and home-hunting life that swells a
cross the great lakes, and spreads across tn
| prairies of the West, even to the shores of tn
Pacific, there are a smaller number of emf
grants that swarm out from the houses of th
merchant princes of our great commercial me
tropolis. The place is too strait for them, ant
luxury, vice, and Incidence have enervatet
them too much to enable them to buffet tht
rude breakers of city life. These sons. from
the euchre tables, the drinking saloons, anC
club-houSes of that refined and Christian city
are married to the highest bidder who has casl
to give with his daughter; and the young pail
is shipped west with bales of goods and boxe:
of merchandise, to become aristocracy of the
villages and cities of the West While the
West is thus peopled with these ribbon men
and women from the commercial capital, the
hardy sons of toll and exertion flow back from
the farm and places of toll, to fill the places OF
clerks in the great city's trading houses, and
become the future merchants of the vast
Babel of trade.
Among these adyenturerS, in the year "a
was a young merchant of much promise who
ranked much higher than the average of this
class of men. He had become the husband of
the accomplished Miss E. The doting
parents had dismissed them with their blessing
and stock of goods, and they had taken up
their residence in the village of r, where
year or more of prosperity had placed them
at the head Of the village aristocracy.
But fortune has her changes, and rolls her
mad waves over the hopeful and the stout
hearted. One of these tcmpests of fire. that
just God rains on cities, as he did on Sodom
for her sins, came upon New-Yo ork and on
cold night in December, the red tongue of the
and scattered her proud merchants as beggars
in the streets.
The man of millions, in single night, found
himself without means of breakfast; the fam
lily that dwelt in palace, were houSeless
and naked the mothers who toiled for their
daily bread, wcre rich as the richest.
1 shall never forget the strange scene that
was presented at our capital, for the whole
State suffered; so widespread was the dcsola-
ton, that none could measure it; but every
heart was touched with pity for the homeless
and the brcadless.
The nightwaS intensely cold; the water froze
in the hydrants, and the devouring clement
rioted unrcbuked on the labors and the hopes
of men. The sun rose in the east on sea of
smouldering ruins; all night had mothers
mourned and wept, and when daylight came,
fathers of stony hearts, that never prayed be-
fore, prayed then:
ssGivc us this day our daily bread -
So wide was the dcsolation that no one could
see its shore, and thinking men rushed up to
the capital, to ask the loan of million of dol
lars, to blunt for a little time the sea of suffer
ing that none cosld really fathom. 1 saw the
whole struggle, and heard the prayers of the
and the proud buffetings Of those
who held the purse-strings.
Men implored for the love OF God, and the
tears of suffering and helpless women and chill
dren, that aid which the State alone could
give. They repeated the golden ruie, and
wept hot tears of suffering, for the fire had
painted with red fame red spot for once
in the heart of the golden princes. They
knew that men could suffer; they had seen
their own wives and daughters clinging to
them in despair, covered with silk, and spark
ling with bright jewels, and asking where they
should sleep and cat. And the dry-souled
politician now spoke with tongue of fire,
and repeated those golden words, ssDo unto
others as you would that others should do un-
to you," and wept for aid; but those words
sounded as strangely as the song of a seraph
chanted in the halls of Bedlam. 'sNow," said
the willy wire-worker, sis the time to punish
Newly York. She has refused us all succor at
the West, she has no heart when the fame
has died from her ruins, heart of ice will a
gain beat in her bosom. By the grace of God
show her no mercy, for she deserves nome
Give her the silrer rule-she repeats the gold
en- one, but will never live by it."
Such was actually the language that fell
from the lips of Christian men, stung by the
demon of golden scfshness. Said one, 81
will vote to relieve this cry for mercy, but the
words stick in my throat-so much selfishness
deserves no pity" The boon was granted, and
the tried and suffering city drew one long
breath of love and gratitude to the bounty of
the State. Reader, we must now return to the
bedside of our sick patient, prepared to I'M
lerstand who she was and the causes of her
condition. She was the daughter of wealthy
who lost his last dollar in the huge
fba lob Of
swept from him in an hour, and the hope ofhis
family went down in that whirlpool of fire.
His -son-in-law had q few thousands in his