Worcester daily spy., 1862-12-27
CQ1Ottester Daily Spy



OLD PAPERs.-The high price of paper ma
terial has brought many an old and venerable
document to the paper makers; disentombed
many scrap from its hiding place in some
old attic, and those whose curiosity leads
them to overhaul the sere and yellow leaves
can extract numerous items of interest from
the motley heap.
OneA of the individuals who have turned
their attention to the collection of material for
this most important manufacture, has shown
us little pile of antiques, musty with age.
bills of lading of goods that were delivered
mere at the head of navigation direct from
London, England, IN 1852, commencing ''ship-
ped by the grace of God,' and ending with
the plous prayer for the safety of the vessel.
land so God sends the good ship to her de-
sired port in safety" That was one hundred
years ago. They don't invoke Gods blessing
now in bills of lading. Thankfulness to the
Great Jehovah was long since banished from
the counting rooms of trade. All prayers are
now uttered in magnificent churches by mild
hammered divineS, and the merchants of to -day
pay big pew-rents for the privilege of hearing
them. Did we say all? There may be hon
est, earnest, pious men, who walk uprightly
among their boxes and their bales; who give
OF their abundance to the thinly clad children
OF poverty, whose haggered faces tell of un-
satisfied hunger, and whose bare feet press
the freezing pavement of our cities. Yet
there are many poor wretches who would tell
us, if we asked them, with bitter remem-
brance of the answering curses to their plead
lngs for charity, that the qualification is un-
necessary.
Here is a 'proclamation of Samuel Hunt
ington, Esq, governor of the state of Connec-
hcut, for fast day, issued in the eighteenth
year OF the independence of the United States
OF America. Procamations were not so fire.
quent then as now. This one is printed upon
large sheet, in imposing type, for circula-
ton among the clergy that it might be read
from the queer pulpits in the simple wooden
churches of Connecticut in those days. What
an odd sentence closes the document, "And
all servile labor is forbidden on said day." No
governor of this state is obliged to append this
to hi proclamations now. The dark wither-
ing curse Of human slavery has been put a.
way from our loved commonwealth. Those
of our sister states who have hugged the vile
monster to their bosoms have at slast to feel
its sting. Those who have welded themselves
to this hideous sin have found death to be the
result of this unnatural union. The blood of
their children has enriched again the soil that
slavery has impoverished, and their corpses
Knocked by scanty burial, lie with heshless
arms outstretched from their untimely graves
as if to implore heaven to Danish it from their
kindred forever. And our friends are there
too The stars that peep into our sanctum
windows twinkle over the hospital tents, and
the cold wintry air. that we so carefully ex-
clude strips the covering from mangled bodies
and sends a shiver through brave forms who
never trembled in front of the enemy's batter
les.
Then there are Dllls and e--4a..4;ona.- ,vrits
and love-letters, receipts and indentures, Gu
rious as relics, interesting as souvenirs
Some IN the cramped chirography peculiar TO
old men, and some adorned with the manifold
fiourishes of clerkly penmanship.
A bill of pins, dated Nov. 2, l76l, shows
that these articles, indispensable to the ladies,
were worth at that time about thirty-seven
cents a pack, 'lawful money" This high
price may account for the care bestowed upon
them by gentlemen of the olden time, who
ornament the lappels of their coat with them
so prOtusely.
The authors of these manuscripts have all
receded into the shadowy past-the staid
merchant and the fast clerk, the lawyers and
their clients-and there is little save these bits
of papers rescued from the rejuvenating pa
per mills to certify that they ever existed.
Some day the paper upon which these lines
are printed may be arrested on the same Jour-
ney, and another generation may indulge in
reveries over this article, and wonder that
we should think 1760 so long time ago. But
we are growing as garrious over our scraps
as an old lady over her tea. There's deal
of sentiment in bit of old paper.