Amador weekly ledger., 1857-11-28
+ NUMBER 6.
who would Open the Bookq


Who would Open the Book?
| We have often heard persons say that ii
the Book of the Future were unseaied and
laid before them, they would open it and zee
their destiny, and we believe that majority
of men and women would They might per-
| haps shrink from the revelation at first, as the
! Prophet hid his face when the mysterious fire
burned before him without consuming; but
curiosity and inborn love of mystery would
at last induce them to read, even at the peril
of a lifelong despair The Greeks had ora
cles located in deep forests, at the sources Of
rivers, on desolate mountains and in gloomy
caves, from which, through the contrivances
of cunning priests, prophecies of the future
were uttered in language so ambiguous that,
whatever might occur, it would, apparently
Ndvg some relation to the response of the or
aclesJ No great enterprise was undertaken
without first consulting the oracle; sometimes
the responses came from sacred oak or
were interpreted from sounds produced by
beating a brazen caldron; at another place
answers were given by priestess, after inha-
| ling vapor from a iissure in q sacred rock;
dreams, visions, preternatural voices, the ex-
traordinary flight of birds, and even trivial
and common occurrences were made to de-
clare the will of the gods, and what was
about to take place. SO firm was the pco-
ples belief In the truth Of these supernatu-
raj revelations that Eusebius declares 600
heather authors wrote against them without
affecting the popular crcdulity. The same
author asserts that oraclcs ceased at the birth
of Christ; but other authorities provo that
they were consulted $50 years after that
event
Later nations and ages have had their
prophets and sooth-saycrs, persons gifted with
second sight and fortunc-tellers, until now
when powers of divination might provoke
ridicule, we send explorers among the mystic
ries of the future under the relinad name of
clairvoyants" or "clear seersD We have
also, among intelligent people, legitimate ne
cromancers or dead prophets who profess
to hold converse with the spirits of the dead,
and who thus unfold the mysteries of the fu-
/ ture.
Thus, in the full light of science, in day
when the elements are made subScryient to
mans will, and when men of learning, having
| explored the mysteries of earth, are studying
the geography Of the planets, and naming
newborn stars the same superstitution which
we were wont to ridcule in the history of the
anclcnts, exists among us, almost tho same in
kind aud scarcely less in degree. Surely no
/ greater evidence of the Immortality of the
soul is needed than that in all ages, from the
time when Grecian warriors tremblcd under
the quakng leaves-of Dodona, to our day
when little circle of necromancers grow pale
in the imaginary presence of restless ghosts,
Heaven itself speaking in the oratorio of the
human SOUL points out an hereafter and in
Inmates eternity to man. Sacramento Age.
VINGr-UN, OR THE GAME OF TwENrY-ONE.
We have frend--or with the emphasis
of the inimitable Toodles, we share" a friend,
who for the noncc we shall call the Major,
though his right to the prefix is somewhat
questionable. Now the Major has had thro'
life one besettiug sin, and that is an uncon-
querabe love Of certain game known as
riAgt-aa. This well known game, q fat wife
and large family, are abort the only weak
nesses that can be laid to the Majors charge
How often he has been married the record
sayeth not, nor is it important Suffice it to
say that during thirty odd years of the Ma
jor's welded life, as his wealth increased and
his hairs became grey, one after another in
regular succession his board was honorcd with
the presence of miniature editions of himself,
until the number had reached twenty, when
the Major concluded things had gone far
enough, and should be stopped. But they
did not, as the Major in due time found out,
for he had calculated without consulting his
wife. There were indications of another bond
OF union and well spring of happiness. The
The Major became nervous, for his nomenela-
turc was exhausted. In his desperation he
finally declared that the coming heir TO his
name and fortunes, whether boy or girl, should
be named riRgt-Hn.
In vain the old woman demonstrated. The
Major was inexorable The new conner be-
ing the t,ceHtyfrst, shonld wag his way thro'
life with that appropriate title. In an ante
room the Major awaited the announcement
of the little strangers SEX The nurse mp
peared and to the Majors horror whispered
the terrible little word-tiois
+" Busted, by thunder /" cried the Major
/" lohy didat / stand on tocaty?D
SIR Peter Lely made it rule never to
look at bad picture, having found by expe-
ricnce that whenever he did so, his pencil
took tint from it. Apply the same rulo
to bad books and bad company.
A good old Quaker lady, after listening to
the extravagant yarns of storekeeper as