The Portland daily press., 1862-11-26
Rarular oorrespondence Of the Pross.
Letter from Boston.

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Librnru-LoueUI Institute and the Lectures
| Ministers in the rnr--Eustern r. r.
Stution-Loose Shoulder Straps, dc.
BoRToN, Nov. "a, 1862
My Dear Press The long storm has now
! left Boston, where it has been having sue
cessful week. The barometer, on Monday
last, was said to be much higher than it has
been known to be for years, but its good prom
ises were not fulfilled. Instead of fair wealth.
er we have had foul. The mercury began to
fall on Tuesday, and, if one can judge by his
feelings, don't think it stopped falling before
Saturday night. Then the mist, and drizzle,
and drip cleared of, and we are now enjoying
n bright, sunshiney day. 1t seems to be a
pretty cold morning on Washington street,
for | noticed that in apothecary shops they
had taken down che notice "Coid Soda" and
substituted "Bourbon" in its place. 1t is in
deed pleasant to see the smoke go straight up
from the chimnies this morning, instead of lin
gering like an unwelcome guest, unwilling to
depart
We have had two tragedies during the last
week. On Friday morning the whole city was
excited by rumors of terrible accident on
the Boston & Maine r. r. At first we all
thought the accident must have occurred on
some other road, because the B. d nj. has
been wonderfully free from casualties. You
have already seen by the local papers of Sat-
day an account of the open drawbridge, and
the falling of the engine and baggage car into
very deep water. Even at low tide the en-
gine cannot be seen, so the depth Of the water
must have added not little to the terror, and
increased the danger Of the accident. Isn't it
strange feature Of casualties connected with
steam travel that nobody is ever to blame p
In the old stage coach days either the roads or
the horses were at fault; now nobody is.
The other tragedy to which | referred, was
the suicide of young broker by the name of
Alfred Maddox. He was graduate of Am
herst College in the class of 1861, and held a
very high place in the estimation OF his fellow
pupils, and his instructors. An Englishman
BY birth, he seemed to unite English soidity
to American acuteness, and to be one of those
quiet. strong men to whom no mental work
seemed too hard. He committed suicide on
Wednesday last, by hanging, having first ar
rayed himself in female apparel in a very gro
tesque manner. This, and other concomtant
circumstances, 60 to show that he was labor
ing under an intense mental depression, re-
sulting in temporary alteration of mind.
You may remember, perhaps, an item in the
Press of month ago, in which reference was
made to the successful efforts of Boston gen.
tleman to obtain the guardianship Of his
brother, then resident in Maine. The gentle
man to whom you alluded was the one who
The Public Library is again open for the de-
livery of books. Any citizen of Boston can
draw volumes from the library, when he pleas
es, and change them as often as he likes No
wonder that this city should claim to be the
modern Athens, and rightly too. Its own cit
izens are provided freely with books which
few would be inclined to purchase, and you
may be sure that they improve their privileges
well. / have seldom seen the distributing
room empty; on the contrary 4 is most gene
rally very full. The readng-roon is well sup
piled with American and foreign papers and
magazines, and this room is always full during
open hours.
Another public institution of Boston, which
should be noticed, is the Lowell Institute
By the Lowell fund hall has been provided,
and good lecturers are secured during the
whole winter. Tickets are giren a,oay at the
hall upon certain days before the commence
ment of a course of lectures. If one happens
to be so dilatory as not to obtain a, ticket II he
wishes to attend lecture, he stands at the
door of the hall at precisely halfpast seven.
Then the door-keeper says "all enter who
wish," and the door is locked! Mr.. Norton
begins a course of lectures in a few days, up
on nights alternating with Mr.. Henry Giles
Thus Boston, through public and private lib
erality, has provided for its citizens the two
great sources Of human knowledge, books and
lectures.
Rev. A. L. Stone, of Park St. church, and
Rev. Jacob Manning, of the Old South have
followed many other clergymen to the war.
Rev. Dr.. cleveland, brother of the late Prof.
c., is supplying the vacancy caused by Mr..
Stones departure. Dr. c. went in Buffers ex-
pedition to Ship Island, and having stayed
there as long as the Surgeon would permit,
has returned home with health somewhat i'm
paired. Rev. Mr.. Burlington is preaching in
Mr.. Manning's stead. He is quite a young
man, and is deservedly popular.
The new depot of the Eastern railroad is
now progressing rapidly. The walls are near
ly all erected and the iron roof is partly raised
1t will be magnificent building, and will com-
pensate in measure for the ridiculously small
station with which the company so long econ
omized. 1t was always matter Of doubt to
some travellers, as they alighted from the cars
in the old depot, whether they hadn't made
mistake and stopped at West Scarboro'! But
the new depot will be commodous and its
style of architecture will be referred TO the
present century.
Thanksgiving is casting, not its shadows,
but its lights before. The markets are waking
into new life, and the poultry question is be-
coming one of considerable magnitude.
wish that there could be some organized move
ment at the north by which we could promise
our soldiers enough thanksgiving turkeys to
satisfy all, if they will promise, ON their part,
to eat their dinner beyond the Rappahannock!
1t is useless to disguise the fact that we all
wish that the draft had been pushed ahead as
1t was announced and that we had every avail
ahla SolJiar hafora tho n;t,, AZ Observation-Disclosures